Binding Contract

AU: I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender.

Summary: It is a common known fact that Pidge created the alias Pidge Gunderson to infiltrate the Gallaxy Garrison but no one ever asked how she pulled it off. Now her past has returned to collect on a debt she willing entered ino in order to find her father and brother. Pidge/Keith, Lance/Allura, Hunk/Romelle, Past Keith/Acxa

Chapter 1: The Contract

The Past

Fourteen year old Katie Holt walked through the doors of a shady bar about thirty miles away from the Galaxy Garrison. It was dark inside and her eyes had to adjust to the dark lighting. A few of the occupants looked her up and down but they mostly ignored her. She had never been in a bar before so she carefully surveyed her surroundings. She knew going there was a risk but it was a risk she was willing to take.

Six months ago her father and brother, Matt, left on an expedition to visit Pluto's moon Kerberos. It was supposed to be the furthest an expedition team from Earth had ever travelled. Her father was the Mission Commander and Senior Science Officer and Matt was the Junior Science Officer on the Kerberos Mission. It was supposed to be the pinnacle of human achievement if it had been a success but after the expedition team failed to check in the mission was declared a failure and her father and brother were declared dead.

The failure was blamed on pilot error, on Takashi Shirogane, a man her father said was the best pilot the Garrison had ever trained. Her father fought hard for Shiro to be the pilot because he was positive Shiro was the only person that could get the there and back safely and her father was never wrong. It was because of this she didn't believe the official story.

Needing more data to determine what really happened, she broke in to Captain Iverson's office in the Galaxy Garrison. She cracked his password, Iver$oni$thebe$t, a terrible password in her opinion, and pulled up the Kerberos Mission file. She read through it quickly and was surprised by the contents. The Garrison had picked up an anomaly at the Kerberos location and then minutes later they lost communication with the team. In the immediate aftermath they intercepted a transmission and Katie listened to it. From what she could understand, her dad and brother was captured and taken somewhere. The Garrison was hiding the truth! Before she could search more to find out if the Garrison knew where they were taken, she got caught and Iverson kicked her out banning her from the Garrison.

She built her own device to listen to the deep space communications and one word kept repeating Voltron. She knew her father and Matt were in space and there was only one way to get into space, the Garrison Cadet Programme. She couldn't register as herself that much was obvious. She needed an alias. To be sure that her plan was a success she decided to pose as a boy. Captain Iverson would never expect that of her. She chose the name Pidge Gunderson in honour of the nickname her brother called her. It was easy to hack into the Garrison and create the identity; the hard part was the in-person background check and medical test she had to pass.

For the background check she hired a few actors to pose as her family and friends. She knew from the Garrison's system what day the check was going to be carried out so she was able to have everything in place to pass that test. The medical test was a bit trickier. She learned on the dark web that there was a man called The Broker that specialized in getting Garrison cadet's passes on their blood tests and other physical fitness tests. She reached out to The Broker to procure his/her services and that was how she ended up at the bar.

She didn't know who she was meeting but her instructions were to order a Sex on the Beach and take a seat at the table closest to where there would be two guys playing pool. She felt completely ridiculous ordering the alcoholic drink. She was clearly underage and she expected the bartender to take one look at her and laugh in her face but she was left utterly flabbergasted when she was served without a word. She paid for the drink and then moved on to the next step.

There were indeed two men around the pool table. One was tall and lanky, the other short and round, exact opposites of each other. As she sat she could hear them taunting each other. The short one was bent over the table lining up a shot. Katie had never played before and had no idea what the point of the game was. The short one used his stick to hit a white ball that then hit another ball that went into a corner pocket. He gloated to the tall one before bending over and taking another shot using the stick to hit the same white ball.

Katie lost interest in the game and stared at the drink in front of her. She had never had anything with alcohol before. She was way below the age limit but she knew Matt had tried a beer. Surely it wouldn't hurt to take a taste. She lifted the drink to her lips and took a sip. She promptly spat it out. It tasted awful. She wondered how people could drink the stuff.

"Look what we have here, a little innocent," the short one said pointing the stick at her.

She looked up at the men with wide eyes. Her little faux pas had drawn the men's attention to her. She had a sinking feeling that that was a mistake.

The tall man looked at her, "Can't handle your liquor little lady? Why don't you come handle our sticks instead?"

"Huh?" Katie asked innocently not understanding what they were talking about.

The men advanced on her, the short one pulling out the seat opposite her and taking a seat while the tall one chose to stand behind her chair. A surge of adrenaline rushed into her system. She was hyperaware of how close these men were to her. They had effectively closed off any escape route she had. How could she be so stupid to let them get so close? She was losing control of the situation fast and the panic was beginning to rise inside her.

"Leave me alone," Katie said angrily.

The men laughed at her. The short one grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her forward across the table towards him.

"No chick tells me what to do," he said.

His breath smelt awful and Katie turned her face away. "You really should listen when someone suggests a breath mint."

"Why you little…" he said lifting his hand to strike her.

"Bruno, Holmes," a harsh voice rang out and his hand stopped in midair. "I've told you time and again to leave my clients alone," a tall man dressed in a three piece suit said to them. He was standing about three feet away from them with a briefcase in his hand. Besides wearing a suit in the obviously low class bar, the grey streaks that ran through the sides of his black hair stood out the most to her. His grey eyes narrowed, "Leave now!"

"She's your client?" they asked in disbelief.

The man lifted his hand and pointed to the bar. The men tossed their sticks on the table and quickly headed towards the bar. In two strides the man was standing over her. His grey eyes surveyed her carefully.

"I have to admit you are not what I expected Ms. Holt," he said taking the seat that the short man vacated and placing his briefcase on top of the table. "I am The Broker."

Katie swallowed, "You should know that if I don't return home in half an hour I've programmed an alert to go to the police. They will know where I was and with whom I was doing business."

The man smirked at her. "I wouldn't expect anything less from Commander Holt's daughter."

"You know my father?" Katie asked surprised.

"I know of him. Your request is very intriguing. 63% of my business is providing services to the cadets at the Garrison. 30% of that is the provision of performance enhancers to pass the physical fitness and performance tests and another 30% to ensure they pass the medicals once they've taken the enhancers. The other 3% is the provision of false pregnancy tests to women who want to get out of the Garrison. Never have I had a client ask me to assist in passing them off as a member of the opposite gender. The last I checked the Garrison accepted female cadets and if you want to be a boy there are procedures for that." He leaned back in the chair and looked at her expecting her to say something.

She didn't want to give him more information than she had already provided so she decided to be direct. "Well can it be done or not?" she asked.

The man laughed at her, "Anything can be done," he paused looking at her with a twisted smile, "For the right fee of course."

"This is as much as I have," Katie said putting all her money on the table. She hoped it was enough. She had sold a few of her prototype programs to make money to pay for her infiltration mission.

The man laughed, "That cannot even pay to change one test."

"It's all I have," Katie said desperately. She needed to get into the Garrison.

"I have another payment option for clients that I believe hold promise," The Broker offered.

"What is it?" Katie asked hopefully.

"A binding contract," he elaborated tapping his briefcase on the table.

"Contract?" Katie asked skeptically looking at the nondescript briefcase on the table. That didn't sound good.

"Are you willing to enter it?" he asked in a smooth voice.

"Can I see it first?" she asked reasonably nodding to the briefcase.

The Broker sighed," Sure." He opened the briefcase in front of him. The upper lid of the briefcase blocked her view of its contents. He stood from his chair and came to stand behind her, his hand resting on her shoulder. There was no contract in his hand.

"Where is the contract?" Katie asked as she finally caught site of a syringe he had in his other hand.

She tried to move but his hand held her still while his other hand injected the contents of the syringe into her neck. Once the action was completed he let her go and returned to his seat, placing the syringe back inside the briefcase.

"What the hell was that?" Katie said panicked.

"You're binding contract," he replied nonchalantly.

"That was a contract?" she asked confused.

He pulled a little remote device from his inside suit pocket. It had a dial and he turned the dial to one bar and Katie felt discomfort in her neck. He turned it back to zero and the discomfort went away. He turned it back to bar one and the discomfort returned. He turned to the second bar and the discomfort started to become pain. He turned it back to zero.

"I think you understand what will happen if I turn it up higher. No medical scanner can pick it up and it stays dormant until I activate it. When you fulfill your contract it will be removed," The Broker explained.

"And when will that be," Katie asked fearfully. She had gotten herself into a real pickle.

"Whenever I determine I have use for you. Don't worry it won't be right now. I have more than enough help in my network already. You'll be far more valuable later in life. See you in a few years Ms. Holt or should I call you Cadet Gunderson."

Katie sat there stunned as the man walked away. She had gotten her wish but would it be worth it in the end?

An: Thanks for reading. In the next chapter we skip forward about a decade and Pidge gets a visit from an old 'friend'.