Something About Us

Chapter Two

~ A Voltron Fanfiction ~

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Voltron or the characters. I only own my OC, Andromeda Galilei.

Author's Note: Enjoy! Please consider leaving a review.

I blankly stared at the now empty space in front of me, trying to process the fact that Shiro, our captive, had managed to escape while all three of us were in the other room. A mere curtain separated the two rooms, and yet, he had somehow managed to get away undetected. He had definitely mastered escaping from perilous situations.

"I told you we should have eaten him!" Remdax hollered as we scrambled to figure out what our next course of action was.

I sighed. I still couldn't figure out what his obsession was with saying that. As far as I knew, he had never actually eaten anyone. But, I honestly wouldn't put it past him to make an attempt. He was pretty weird and off-putting like that.

"His leg is hurt. He can't be far. Let's split up. Andromeda and I will check outside. You check the tunnels," Vakala commanded.

"Why do I have to check the tunnels?' Remdax groaned.

"Because, you're slow. You can chase him out of the base, but you wouldn't be able to chase him through the snow like Vakala or I would," I said jestingly as I slapped him on the shoulder.

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After Vakala and I emerged from the base, I frantically searched around the snow for any sign of footprints. He couldn't have gone very far, but he was probably just as good at hiding as he was at escaping.

"I'm not seeing anything, Vakala. I don't think he's been out this way yet. He must have gone out the back exit," I declared, "I'll start making my way around. You stay here in case he comes this way."

I started briskly jogging around the side of the base, fighting against the heavy blanket of snow in hopes that I would find Shiro before Remdax would. That oaf had a bad habit of shooting first and asking questions later. I was already too invested in Shiro to let him get seriously injured or die, especially at the hands of my fellow idiot rebel. I finally had a huge lead on the crew members of the Kerberos mission, and I wasn't going to let it slip through my fingers that easily.

Before I could reach the back door of the base, I heard shouting from Vakala, quickly followed by the sound of blasters coming from up front. Remdax and his itchy trigger finger, no doubt. I bet he didn't even try to tell Shiro to halt or lay down whatever he was armed with.

"So much for that," I grumbled to myself as I high-tailed it through the open back entrance. The door was normally closed, but it seemed that Shiro had indeed used this exit to make his escape.

I hurried through the not-so-small base, energetically winding through the rocky tunnels as I tried to locate my incompetent team members.

"I don't want to have to hurt you! Please stand down!" I heard Shiro's voice echo off the barren rock walls in-between blaster shots.

"You keep missing him! Let me shoot! Give me that!" Vakala shouted over the live fire.

When I finally emerged from the tunnel, I witnessed Remdax and Vakala struggle with each other for possession of the blaster. It was like watching two small children fight over a toy.

"No, it's mine!" Remdax yelled.

I heavily sighed; some things just never change. Those two never cease to amaze me with their outlandish rivalry.

Before I could jump into action to aid my two inept colleagues, Shiro tossed Vakala's blaster straight at Remdax, causing the big oaf to lose his balance and tumble right to the ground. Vakala juggled the now-airborne blaster, and somehow managed to catch it with the right end facing Shiro. Pure luck, if you ask me.

"Stop right there! I'll shoot!" Vakala yelled nervously.

He aimed at his target, and I watched with bated breath as Vakala pulled the trigger.

"Vakala, no!" I shouted as I closed my eyes tightly.

I didn't want to see what was about to happen.

I had witnessed countless deaths throughout my many years on Earth, but for some reason, this felt entirely different. I hadn't felt this way since the Earth year of 1642, when my mentor died of natural causes. Why was there a tightness in my chest?

The next thing I heard was not what I had been expecting. Instead of hearing the loud thud of a possibly dead body falling to the ground, I heard a whirring noise and a struggle, followed by Vakala's voice.

"You're on the wrong side of this war," Vakala groaned.

I slowly, and hesitantly, opened my eyes to find that Vakala had joined Remdax on the floor. They both seemed utterly apprehensive, as Shiro had a blaster pointed right at them.

He wouldn't hurt them, would he? He said he was a Paladin of Voltron, and I believed him, even though he had crash landed on this planet after supposedly escaping a Galra cruiser.

Could he actually be a Galra spy? No one escaped the Galra after being captured. Everyone in the rebellion knew that.

So, why was I trying to make myself believe that he was on our side? What was it about him that made me forget all of my training?

I gingerly reached for the blaster that rested in the holster on my hip. It was now or never. I needed to make my move, and make it quick.

"No, I'm not. I'm on your side," Shiro said calmly, "My name is Shiro, and like I said before, I'm a Paladin of Voltron."

My hand quivered as I grasped the latch of my holster, fingers anxiously waiting to pull my blaster out at any moment.

Shiro narrowed his eyes at the two bumbling idiots in front of him.

"I know that no matter what I say, you won't believe me."

He let his actions speak for themselves, and he chucked the blaster to the ground in an act of peace.

I sighed a huge breath of relief, and I moved my shaking hand away from the holster.

Both of my bungling partners looked around in disbelief, no doubt counting their blessings for still being alive. I took a few deep breaths to calm my nerves, slowly but surely getting my heart rate back to normal. Human hearts were so fickle in situations like these.

"I need to get to my team and I need your help," Shiro explained with urgency in his voice.

I approached him cautiously, still a bit weary from what had just transpired in front of me.

"We'll do whatever we can for you, Shiro. I'm certain that we can come up with a solid plan to get you back to your team. I bet they are pretty worried about you. I know I would be." I immediately blushed as the words tumbled out of my mouth.

"I mean, if either Remdax or Vakala were missing, I would be worried about them, too. Even though they both get on my nerves, sometimes." I choked out a small nervous laugh.

I mentally slapped myself. Keep your cool, Andromeda Carina Galilei.

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.

"There's Thayserix. It's a giant gas planet. According to the communications we intercepted, Voltron is there." Vakala affirmed as he pulled up coordinates on our system.

"Or was," I added, "By the time we receive these communications, everything is pretty much already over."

"I need to get there. Do you have a ship?" Shiro asked.

"Just a shuttle. It's designed to dock with low orbiting ships, not travel across the universe." Vakala mentioned.

I nodded. "You'll be lucky if you can even make it halfway to Thayserix in the thing."

Remdax coaxed a can towards Shiro. "Here. Sorry for hanging you up by your wrists."

Shiro took the can from him, and cautiously inspected the contents.

"Thanks. Sorry for hitting you in the face with your friend's gun."

I snickered rather loudly at Shiro's words. Seeing Remdax get knocked down had been a rather hilarious sight for me. It wasn't too often that the big oaf was bested by someone other than me.

Remdax narrowed his one open eye at me. He groaned at Shiro.

"Wasn't the first time it happened. Won't be the last," He said as he walked away.

"Shiro," Vakala piped up, "there just doesn't seem to be any way to get you to Thayserix."

"What about the Galra cruiser heading there?" Shiro questioned.

I raised an eyebrow. Attaching the shuttle to the cruiser to piggyback all the way to Thayserix wasn't a terrible idea, but if Voltron was already gone by the time they arrived, then Shiro would be stuck up a creek without a paddle. So to speak.

"What about it?" Vakala enquired.

"Well, if it's passing close enough to this planet, maybe I can hitch a ride," Shiro suggested.

"Hitch a ride on a Galra cruiser?!" Vakala shouted in surprise.

"You just escaped from a Galra ship, and now you're talking about breaking back onto one? You're crazier than me! And I volunteered to live on an ice planet for five years," Remdax marveled at our current guest.

"Is it possible or not?" Shiro demanded.

"What if I went with you?" I suddenly blurted out.

All three of them looked at me with eyebrows raised.

"I mean, with my abilities, I could take the form of a Galra if you were to be discovered. Or at least make myself look enough like a Galra. I don't have to enter the full shed process if I don't have to."

I turned to Vakala and Remdax. "I'm not really needed here on this ice planet, and you both know that. I don't want to use up any more of the scarce resources that are left, and I know I can be more helpful somewhere else. I know you don't like that idea, but I can't stay on this planet knowing that I could be more useful in the fight against Zarkon."

No one said anything. The whole room was quiet for a moment.

"The cruiser is currently within range, but it's gonna make a jump to hyper-drive any time now." Vakala muttered in defeat.

I had pleaded my case for what seemed like the hundredth time since I had gotten stationed here, and I had finally won.

"Then we'd better hurry." Shiro nodded to me.

I dashed out of the comm room, and headed straight for my barracks room. I threw the door open, dragged my duffel bag out from under the cot, and tossed all of my belongings into it in essentially one fell swoop. A few clothes, my prized gear, and a few trinkets from Earth were clattering around in my bag as I jogged to the loading bay.

Shiro and I boarded the ship, and began donning our flight suits. I had to shed several layers of clothing in order to even squeeze into the suit, but after a few minutes of discarding a number of thermal undergarments, I was finally able to zip it up. The suits were old and dusty, but still usable. They smelled a little stale, like an old coat that had been locked away in a wardrobe for decades.

As we readied the ship for takeoff, Vakala and Remdax blasted the wall of ice that caged us in the bay. Sheets of broken ice tumbled off the mountain side.

I saluted my two comrades through the window before strapping into the co-pilot seat.

"Are you ready, Andromeda?" Shiro asked as he flipped some switches.

I gave him the customary Earth signal of a thumbs up.

"Good, then let's go find Voltron," Shiro declared as we lifted off.

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The flight through the atmosphere was really bumpy, and I clutched the arm rests of the co-pilot seat tightly. Even after traveling all the way across the universe, I still wasn't used to flying. The turbulence made me extremely nervous.

"It's okay, Andromeda. Everything will be alright." Shiro reassured me as he continued to fly the shuttle through the sky.

I relaxed my grip a little bit, but still clung to the arm rests as we passed through the clouds.

"How did you learn to fly?" I quizzed Shiro as I nervously stared out into the blue.

"I attended the Galaxy Garrison on Earth, and then became an instructor, until I went on the Kerberos mission. Do you know anything about the Garrison?"

I shook my head.

"No, I left Earth quite some time ago. Long before technology boomed. I've been away for-" I did some quick math on my fingers, "at least two hundred years. Maybe more?"

Shiro was dumbfounded.

"You've been out here in space for more than two hundred years? I know you said you wanted to make sure Zarkon never enslaved Earth, but is that the only reason you left?"

I went quiet for a moment, drumming my fingers on my thighs nervously.

"I'm sorry if that's too personal," Shiro stammered as he attempted to retcon his earlier question.

"No, it's okay. You should probably know a little bit about me, since you are putting your trust into me." I sighed as I gathered my thoughts.

"Being a Korrelian, from the planet Korrelia, I live much longer than any regular human does. As I said before, Korrelians live for thousands of years before we perish. I watched for almost five thousand years as all of my friends and lovers on Earth withered away before my eyes. I couldn't stand it anymore. After my mentor died in 1642, I decided that Earth wasn't really meant to be my home."

"Who was your mentor?" Shiro asked somewhat quietly.

A bittersweet smile crept onto my lips at the thought of my greatest friend.

"The great Galileo Galilei. He taught me everything he knew about astronomy, math, and science. That's why I carry his last name, as a sort of remembrance. I've had many names throughout my lifetime, but my current name is by far my favorite. Galileo picked it out. He said that I remind him of the Andromeda Galaxy, so close to Earth and yet still so far away. He always said that he could never figure me out, and that he felt a great distance between he and I, despite the fact that I was right beside him. I never told him about who I really am, even when he was on death's doorstep..."

I let myself trail off to take a moment of silence. Talking about Galileo always choked me up, as he had been the only human on Earth I was ever truly close to. I fought back tears, and had to take a few deep breaths to keep talking to Shiro.

"My parents and I moved from Italy to Japan shortly after Galileo passed. The Edo Period had already begun about forty years prior, and I think I left Earth two or three years after the Edo Period ended. It's hard to keep up with Earth being this far away, but I've gotten my hands on various intel here and there. Technology has really taken off since I left."

Shiro and I both chuckled.

"I think you would really like it now, if you ever went back."

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After the shuttle departed the atmosphere, we hurriedly made our way straight for the Galra cruiser. It would make its jump into hyper-space at any moment, and we couldn't waste any more precious time.

I transmitted Vakala's message (which would walk us through what we needed to do in order to successfully infiltrate the cruiser) through the comm system.

"The battle cruiser's sensor will identify the shuttle once it gets within range. The single shuttle is such a small object that the bridge won't be notified. Its defense system is programmed to destroy on sight. At this point, the sensors will ID you as debris. You must move quickly. Make your way to the blasters. That's where you'll get in. These weapons retract just before hyper-drive."

Once we had gotten close enough to the cruiser, we began to carefully set up our plan. After engaging the auto-pilot system, I quickly grabbed my duffel bag from behind my seat, and we exited the shuttle. Our jet packs weren't very powerful, but we managed to get far enough away from any potential danger.

The blaster cannons deployed from the side of the cruiser, whirring as they slowly powered on. I watched as they aimed for the shuttle and fired, blowing up our ship into tiny pieces.

Shiro and I flew towards the cannons, hoping to slide into the openings before the cannons completely retracted.

We made it in just the nick of time, and I chaotically flew around in my attempt to land. I bounced all over the place before finally landing facedown on the ground.

"I guess I need to get better at sticking my landings," I groaned as I peeled myself off the metal floor.

Shiro chuckled a bit, and I could feel a blush creeping up on my face.

"Let's find somewhere to hide until the ship exits hyper-drive," I quickly suggested as I took my bag off of my back.

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"Exiting hyper-drive. Shields up. We're under attack! We have a visual on Voltron. Voltron is within range," a male voice announced over the ship's comm system.

Shiro and I dashed out of our hiding spot, hoping our pathway would be clear. A lone sentry was roaming the hallway, but Shiro quickly and quietly dealt with it. We jogged down the empty corridor until we found ourselves overlooking the hangar.

"Prepare Fighter Squadron One for immediate deployment," the same male voice commanded over the intercom.

"Shiro, what do we do now? These fighter ships only have room for one, and I've never really piloted anything made by the Galra."

"I'm sure we can figure something out. Just give me a minute to think," Shiro advised as he surveyed the bay.

"We don't have very much time, Shiro. You have to go now! Don't worry about me, I'll catch up with you soon. Hurry, you have to get back to Voltron before it's too late," I shouted over the humming of the ships.

Before Shiro could leave my side, I started to shed my human morph. Tears streamed from my eyes as I gave up the only form I had ever really known. I gave up my Korellian form so long ago, I almost didn't remember what it looked like.

I could feel my bones and organs rearranging themselves into the form of a Galra. I clenched my teeth, enduring the pain that came with the shed process.

"Shiro, go now! You have to hurry!" I shoved him away as my skin slowly darkened to a purple hue.

He watched in horror as my body contorted and twitched every which way.

"Go, Shiro, please," I pleaded with him one last time, "You're running out of time!"

"Voltron is out of range. Fighters, abort launch. I repeat, abort launch," the male voice once again commanded.

Shiro took one last glance at me before jumping down into the bay to snatch up a jet. Before departing, he fired at all the other fighters in the room, destroying them one day one. When he was done, he launched his jet out of the now-closing bay door.

"Godspeed, Shiro. I hope you make it in time," I muttered as a layer of fur slowly cropped up across my body.