Majesdanian.

The word echoed in her head as she stared blankly at the screen that Coran gave her. 

Majesdanian.

That's what she was. 

It was an alien race from the planet Majesdane - their home planet. Her home planet. Ember's eyes read over the bold letters again, letting it sink in. 

Majesdane

Location; Beneath the corona of the white dwarf star.
(Latitude: -22.89910, Longitude: -101.50504, Distortion: 1.18)

Status; Unknown. Assumed to be destroyed.

It was her home planet. 

Allura admitted to trying to contact anyone on Majesdane - trying for many days, before giving up. She said either the planet was gone, or the species were gone. She also told her that before she fell into her deep sleep, the Majesdanians were at a civil war.

One side - the Queen's - was for support of Alfor.

The other - the King's - was support of Zarkon. 

Ember didn't even bother with the 'new information', seeing as its been 10,000 years since the last Alteans even seen a Majesdanian. So, she focused on what they absolutely knew. 

Majesdanians had enhanced Strength and Durability - from their weird gravity, it noted - and they could Manipulate solar energy. It wasn't for stealth though - seeing as when they use their powers, they light up like a light bulb. 

Bioluminescent. 

There was only two known weakness for a Masjesdanian, or that they bothered to put down. Darkness - ironically - and a certain kind of metal. 

They didn't bother to put down what metal it was. 

There was a list of Royals, showing every Queen and King that ruled Majesdane. The last four spots were the last royal family known.

                                                              King                                                      Queen

Frankline Dean (Deceased)             Leslie Dean (Deceased)

Princess(es)

Karolina Dean (Deceased)
Prommisa; Xavin (Deceased)

Ember threw the tablet onto her bed, digging her hands into her hair as she thought everything over. 

How could she not be fully human? Both her parents were human. Her mother didn't talk about her father often, but just enough for her to know he was an asshole. 

Ember pulled her hands back, staring at her hands and willing for the colorful lights come back. Surprisingly, it didn't take as long as it usually did, the speckled star dust changing her skin color.

She abruptly stood up and shook her hands, shaking her head all the while. 

   "Nope, no, non," Ember chanted. "Not real, it's just a prank. Yup, that's it. . .A prank."

   "Ember?" A voice called out, making her look at the door. Pidge was standing there, eyebrows furrowed behind her glasses in concern. "Are you okay?"

   "I'm good," Ember smiled, walking closer to her best friend. "Whattya need?"

   "Uh, we're going to go over everything we managed to get from Sendak's memories. I could use some help with the coding - that and just because we're not on Earth doesn't mean you can't learn more." Pidge adjusted her glasses.

   "Sure thing!" Ember put her jacket on in a fluid motion, moving to exit her room. "Lets roll out!" 

▬ ✦✧✦ ▬

      "Somewhere inside Sendak's memories we should be able to find the inside information that gives us the key to take down Zarkon," Allura spoke from behind Pidge with optimism.  

   "I don't think your father would approve of searching through an enemy's memories." Coran chided. 

   "I know, but we have to do everything we can to defeat Zarkon."

   "Ey, these symbols have the same meaning as these,
 Ember caught, gesturing to the two different languages. "They both mean longitude in English," She added. 

   "Thanks," Pidge said, continuing to decode the memories with her best friends help. 

   "Once we learn all his weaknesses," Lance started. "We can drive up to his front door and challenge him to a fight. Winner gets the universe!"

   "Anything good yet, Pidge, Em?" Shiro asked. 

   "We were only able to salvage bits and pieces," Pidge replied. Keith let out a sigh, taking his arm off of Ember's head. 

   "We need something to work with," Keith stated. "Right now, we don't even have a decent map of the empire."

   "Who needs a map? After 10,000 years of conquering, I could probably fire my bayard at any random point in space and hit a Galra ship." Lance crossed his arms to prove his point. 

   "Technically, your bayards power wouldn't be able to handle it for that long, and eventually-" Ember stopped, glancing at Pidge with a blank face. "I'm starting to hang out with you too much."

   "If we could just find troops locations or supply routes, small targets we could hit-and-run," Shiro said. "Then we could start to free planets one by one."

    "Boring!"  Lance cut in. "I want the big kaboom."

   "Zarkon's been building his empire for 10,000 years. We're not going to tear it down overnight with five inexperienced pilots and one support ship," Shiro reasoned. "Hitting him where he lives would be a huge mistake."

   "Okay, I've cross-reference Sendak's memories with the info I got from the downed ship back on Arus." Pidge interrupted. "Most of it was a garbled mess, but one thing kept repeating, something called a 'Universal Station'."

   "Universal Station?" Hunk echoed, leaning closer to the screen. "Like, the kind of station that controls the entire universe?" 

   "Well, we are translating it from Galra, so it could also be 'Galactic Hub'." Ember supplied as Pidge moved Hunk's face away from the screen. 

   "Or 'Space Base'," Lance added. Everyone turned their heads to look at Lance, Ember sending him a little smile. "What?"

   "Or Space Base." Ember broke the silence.

   "I'm pulling up the location of your Universal Hub Station Base on our screens now." Coran walked over to the controls, punching in a few things. Three planets popped up, but nothing out of the ordinary seem to show. 

   "So, where is it?" Lance asked the obvious. 

   "I don't know. Our long-range sensors are unable to find anything at those coordinates." Coran replied. 

   "Maybe he remembered it wrong," Keith suggested. 

   "Or maybe we just stumbled across a top-secret base in Sendak's memories." Pidge said. 

   "Only one way to find out. Let's go take a look." Allura declared. 

▬ ✦✧✦ ▬

Ember didn't know how long they've been flying, but after gaining the nerve to talk to Allura, she walked up to the Princess. Hunk was snoring in his chair, laying upside down as Ember passed and stepped up to the pedestal.

   "Allura?"

   "Yes, hommel?"

   "I can use my. . .abilities in a fight, right? Besides making shield for defense." Ember trailed off.

   "Oh, of course! Many Majesdanians used their powers to form flying disks or knives. The more powerful Majesdanians use their ability to form swords, bows, spears, and many more weapons." Allura glanced back at Ember. "Why do you wonder?"

   "Well," Ember coughed, "I want to be more help around here. I'm kinda just, here, since you have advanced pods for healing. But. . .I wanna fight!"

   "Why's that?" Allura asked. 

   "Because. . .if one half of me is already extinct, then I want to fight and make sure the other have doesn't." Ember looked up at Allura. "Is. . .Is there a way for that to happen?"

   "Only if you are absolutely sure," Allura pressed. "Once we start training you, we can't stop. Training your powers is going to be the easy part, controlling them is gonna be the hard part."

   "Then, I will do whatever it takes to control it." 

   "Good." A small pop up appeared in front of Allura, making her glance over and read it. "We should be close enough to get a good scan, but far enough away to avoid being noticed." 

Ember stepped down, making her way over to Keith and leaning onto him. He shifted, uncomfortable, before relaxing. The team watched as they barely passed the planet to their right before a Galra base appeared, ships surrounding the docking bay. 

   "There it is." Shiro announced. 

   "It appears the gravitation between the two planets warps the electron emission spectrum enough to keep the planet off the deep space scanners." Coran explained. 

   "So, you could only see it if you really know where to look." Pidge summarized.

   "This place must handle shipments from all over the Galra Empire." Shiro thought out loud.

   "If this is some big airport where the shipments come and go, why is it hidden?" Pidge asked. 

   "Maybe it's shipments that the Galra don't want getting out to the public eye," Ember mused. 

   "There must be more to this than we're seeing."

   "Then, we'd better go down to take a look. We'll need to enter here: the central control building." Allura highlighted the area said. Keith was the first one to catch on. 

   "I'm sorry, Princess, did you say 'we'?" 

   "I'm going with you," Allura responded innocently. "I've traveled through the Galra transportation hubs many times with my father before the war began. I know more about them than any of you."

   "Princess, I'd rather you stay here," Coran walked closer to the woman. 

   "I'm a part of this fight against Zarkon as much as anyone. I'm going. Does anyone have a problem with that?"

   "Uh," Coran trailed as Lance started to whistle. Ember shrugged. 

   "Well, if she's going, I'm going."  She looked Shiro in the eyes, daring him. 

   "Fine," Shiro shrugged. "Suit up."

Coran let out a scream of surprise while the rest of the paladins made noises of confusion. Ember smiled, grabbing Allura's wrist and dragging her out of the big room. 

   "Come on, Allura, we've gotta suit up now."

▬ ✦✧✦ ▬

   "Interference clear in three, two, one," A male voice echoed in the room as the Paladins crept into the control room. Shiro started to stalk up to the only live Galra in the room as he started to yawn. 

   "Psst, hey!" Shiro hissed, making the Galra make a noise of confusion when he turned. 

Ember almost let out a snort of laughter as the Galra man flew over the panel. The two robots down below turned around, and before they could even draw their weapons, Hunk and Lance shot them. 

Pidge raced down the stairs with Hunk and Shiro following, Lance and Ember simply moved the pieces of scrap metal to the side while Keith kept watch. 

   "How's it look out there?" Shiro asked as Pidge finished setting them up. 

   "All clear," Keith replied. 

  "This shouldn't take too long," Hunk reassured them. 

   "We'll have all the information we need in a few minutes," Pidge said, typing away a the laptop beeped. "Hunk and I have made some improvements since the last time I tried to download Galra info. We should get a nice, clean translation immediately."

   "Oh! I think I remember watching you two!" Ember exclaimed, beaming suddenly. "Hunk had a great idea about how to do it, one I actually understood!" 

   "Do you guys remember when we studied algorithms at the Garrison," Hunk started his story, sitting down on one of the drones. "and Mr. York told us that joke about the ghost learning symbolic logic and innumerably infinite sets?" 

   "Boring!" Lance called out, keeping a look out on the other side of the room. 

   "Right, yeah, totally, it was boring." Hunk agreed and turned back to the rest of them. "Anyway, the joke goes-"

   "Ugh!" Lance groaned loudly. 

   "Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt, but I think we got company." Keith said, just as a shadow passed over them. Ember ducked down quickly, looking up  to see another big ship docking. 

   "Think we should get out of here?" Keith asked, as him, Lance, and Ember crawled over to the rest of the group.

   "We just need a few more seconds." Pidge replied. 

   "Stay low. We need this intel." Shiro ordered lightly. The computer beeped, making Pidge jump in surprise and an image of a Galra solider walking up was viewed. 

   "Get down!" Keith hissed as everyone threw themselves away from view. The solider seem confused, most likely because the room was empty. 

   "He's still looking. I think he's waiting for a signal or something." Lance suggested. 

   "Maybe a signal to land the ship?" Ember offered. 

   "I got it," Hunk grabbed the dead drone in front of him and propped it up in view of the screen. Making the drone do weird signals before giving him a thumbs up, the Galra solider waved and disconnected the called. 

The team sighed in relief.  

   "Nice job, Hunk," Lance praised. 

   "Thanks," The two of them high-fived, Hunk raising the drones arm up. 

   "Okay, download complete." Pidge announced. 

   "What's it say?" Ember leaned over Pidge's shoulder, eyes scanning the page. 

   "Nothing. This place doesn't have any useful information. Just a schedule of the ships coming in and out." 

   "Well, I guess this mission was a bust." Lance sighed. 

   "Let's get back to the Castle," Shiro suggested. 

   "Hold on," Allura spoke. "Pidge, do you know where that ship is headed?"

   "Um, it's scheduled to be here for about a half an hour, then head off to Central Command." Pidge read. 

   "That's where they have the information we need," Allura stated. "I'm going to sneak aboard that ship and get it for us."

   "What? No way!"

   "Hold on a minute!"

   "How are you going to get in?" 

Allura took off her helmet, eyes bright. "I'm going to walk through the front." She closed her eyes, and the tan skin that was there turned into a light purple of Galra. She even started to grow a foot or two. 

The team gasped in surprise and watched as Allura changed a few features.

   "I didn't know you could do that," Ember breathed. 

   "How the heck did you do that?" Hunk asked. 

   "The Alteans are a chameleon-like people who can blend in with the local populations." Allura explained. "It's the ability that's made us great explorers and diplomats throughout our history."

   "So, can you turn into, like, a balloon?"

   "How many different colors can you be at once?"

   "Do you gain the same abilities as the race your changing into?"

   "Aren't you afraid you'll rip your pants?" 

Allura tilted her head and looked almost uncomfortable. "No, just one at a time, another no, and I will need a change of costume." She looked over at the only Galra solider there. "I can use his uniform as a disguise."

   "I can't let you go in there alone." Shiro stated. 

   "That's why I'm going!" Ember smiled. 

   "No," Keith and Lance deadpanned. 

   "Excuse me? I do not need your permission." She looked over at Ember. "She may come if she wishes. Do not speak for her."

   "It's too dangerous. I'm going with you," Shiro stepped forward. "Ember can join us." 

   "You two will stick out like a Choferiak's nose."

   "You're going to need that nose, Princess," Pidge intercepted, raising Shiro's robo hand. "Shiro's hand is made from Galra tech. It's the only thing we have that will allow us to interface with their systems and gather intel. I can monitor the download remotely from here." 

   "But!" Ember added in. "It's best to have tech support with you! Even if I am an apprentice, I know my way around the basics!"

Allura looked at the group of humans and plus one, seriously debating. She sighed, "Fine, you two can come."

   "Uh, you guys better hurry up if you want to get on and off before the ship leaves for Zarkon central." Hunk relayed. 

   "How are you going to get Shiro and Ember on board?" Keith asked. The three exchanged glances, clearly not thinking this far ahead. 

   "We'll figure that out on the way down," Ember drawled, starting to push the two taller people out. "Don't do anything stupid, Keith, Lance! Watch out for them, Pidge, Hunk!"

   "Ember!"

The girl looked back at the Red Paladin, tilting her head. "Yes?"

   "Be careful, alright?"

   "No promises!"

   "Hey!!" 

The doors slid shut before anymore could be said, Allura having to drag the Galra solider with them. 

   "So," Ember turned. "How are you going to do this?"

▬ ✦✧✦ ▬

   "You know, you have really pretty eyes,"

   "Ember, now is really not the best time to start a conversation like this." 

   "Oh, Adam doesn't have to worry about, your all his. I'm just stating the obvious." 

   "Will the two of you shut it?" Allura hissed lowly. "We're just about to enter the ship."

   "Aye, captain," Ember mocked. 

Trying not to move, Ember stared blankly at Shiro. The two of them were shoved in a cart full of metal parts, Shiro laying on his left and Ember laying on her right. They were staring face-to-face and were clearly uncomfortable being curled up. 

   "Halt." A voice from outside commanded, making Allura stop in her tracks. Shiro and Ember exchanged nervous glances, Ember pursing her lips together. 

   "Move along."

Allura started pushing them again, and let out a breath of relief. After walking down a few hallways, and making sure they weren't being followed, Allura helped Ember and Shiro out of the container. 

   "Lets see where we're at," Shiro suggested, slowly leading the way to what sounded like a main hallway. Shiro and Allura peaked around the corner before quickly ducking back behind the wall. Ember pressed her back against the wall as a drone walked by. 

Shiro suddenly let out a gasp, groaning softly and closing his eyes in pain. 

   "Shiro, are you alright?" Allura asked. Ember crouched over Shiro's legs, lifting his head up slightly. 

   "He's having a small attack. It could be from the PTSD, he's back on a Galra ship and that isn't helping."

   "I just remembered how I escape from the Galra prison ship," Shiro murmured out, gently moving Ember out from in front of him. "I'm fine, listen. Most of the ship's personnel are sentries-"

   "I thought they were drones," Ember muttered. 

   "When I was a prisoner, I timed their pattern."

   "Do you remember it?" Allura asked. 

   "Let's find out." Shiro took Allura's wrist and stood up, Ember following close behind as they turned down a different hallway. They only stayed long enough for the sentries to pass before retracing their steps and going to opposite direction. 

Shiro checked the corner and had them pause for a moment before they ran out. Ember couldn't honestly comprehend how the Galra knew where they were going. All the hallways looked exactly the same to her.

Then again, Ember wasn't smart enough to memorize most things. Finally, they arrived at the room they were suppose to be in. Ember smiled up at Shiro and summoned her bayard, holding it up. Shiro huffed but nodded, letting Ember run in first. 

Being no-so-quiet, Ember spun her scythe around and cut one of the sentries down. When the other turned to blast her, Shiro sliced it in half. Allura threw them into a corner. 

   "We only have a few minutes before the next patrol comes by. Watch the door." Shiro ordered Allura, grasping Ember's shoulder and tugged her to the console. "You're with me."

   "Got it." Allura nodded. Shiro placed his hand on the controls, turning on his coms. 

   "Okay, Pidge, start the download." 

   "I'm gonna do some Galra surfing," Ember walked over to the panel next to Shiro and started to type again. Although it was a bit slow, she double checked to make sure she was pressing the write symbol. 

   "Generating access code."  Pidge replied. "Ember, you do know you don't have to do that."

   "Well, there isn't anything else for me to do until things go wrong!" 

   "You could always keep an eye on the alarms, making sure we don't trigger anything." 

Ember paused, slowly pressing a button on the keypad and nodded. "Yeah, I can do that."

   "We're in."

   "And no alarms have been set off," Ember added, holding a hologram of notes in front of her face as she tried to read Galra language. 

   "Pidge, I think there's a problem," Shiro said as a big red mark appeared on screen. 

   "I got it," Ember muttered to herself, quickly tapping some keys. "We've just gotta go around this, change this. . .Did I do that right, Pidge?"

   "That's one way to do it, a better way is like this," Ember watched as some commands were changed and the red sign disappeared on her screen. 

   "I'll just leave this to you."

   "You're learning still."

   "What's going on here? Who are you?"

Ember jumped at the new voice just outside of the doorway. She turned quickly, watching Allura try to hide the two. "Keep your attention on that," Ember hissed quietly, crouching down and getting closer to the doorway.

   "It's about time you got here. Where is the rest of your squad?" Allura demanded. 

   "Uh, what squad?"

   "The squad that is to escort me and my associates to our ship."

   "Who's back there? What's going on?"

   "We are part of Zarkon's high command," Allura stated, shoving the Galra solider back out into the hallway. "Our work must not be disturbed. 

   "Where's Chief Information Officer Plytox?"

   "Uh, he's in there. Say hello, Plyrox."

Ember turned and gestured for Shiro to say something. Shiro glanced around before trying to deepen his voice. "It's 'Plytox'!"

   "Oh, sorry. See?"

   "Oh. Vrepit sa, sir!" 

   "Repit what?" Ember questioned as the solider walked away. Allura and Shiro didn't reply, just sighing in relief. The solider must have walked back, because Allura started to speak to someone outside again. Ember gritted her teeth, pulling up her screen and going over everything. 

   "Merde!" She cursed suddenly, typing rapidly on the Galra keyboard. But it was already too late. The alarm was triggered. 

   "Fugitive prisoner 117-9875 detected." The computer announced. "Remain where you are. Security alerted."

Shiro took his hand off screen quickly, turning towards Allura as the Princess stepped back with her hands raise. 

   "Uh, help! Intruders!" The Galra solider from before shouted as Allura hit the button to close the door. 

   "I think we're in trouble." Shiro said. 

   "You think?"

   "I saw it too late," Ember rushed out, switching back and forth between keypad and screen. "I couldn't deactivate it in time-"

   "It's not your fault," Shiro reassured her. "We didn't know."

   "They're gonna end up opening the door-"

Allura rushed through suddenly, knocking the door out of its place and running the solider into the wall. 

   "We could also do that." Ember muttered, Shiro gaping at Allura as she took the gun away. She looked back at the two. 

   "What?"

Multiple footsteps caught their attention and they looked up to see a squad of sentries heading straight towards them. 

   "Let's go!" Shiro ordered as they ran the other way. Ember squeaked as a purple blaster went right by her helmet. "Pidge, fire up the Green Lion! We're coming in hot!"

Ember skidded to a halt before she ran into Shiro, summoning her bayard for defense as Allura pulled the trigger to the gun she gained. But, instead of firing at the two in front of them, she fired at the group behind them. 

   "What?" Allura questioned as Shiro quickly deactivated the two in front of them. 

   "Did you not know you were holding it backwards?!" Ember exclaimed as Allura threw a offline sentry at the group. 

   "I thought you said you'd traveled around the galaxy. I mean, you fly a spaceship." Shrio uttered, taking the gun and facing it the right way. "How could you possibly not know how to hold this correctly?" 

   "I tense!" Allura defended herself, grabbing Ember's wrist and pulling her to start running. "This is a tense situation." 

   "Secure hatches. All personnel take positions for departure."

   "Can't we have a break?" Ember whined. "Doesn't this job have vacation time?"

   "The escape pods are up here!" Shiro responded, as Allura properly turned around and shot at the enemy. 

   "Formulating navigation. All crew assume secure hyper-speed positions."

   "Shut up! We get it!" Ember wheezed. 

   "Hurry! We can't leave once the ship goes into hyper-speed!" Allura called out, throwing her helmet off. They ran into the escape pod room, Shiro hitting the button to shut the door while Ember ran ahead. She skidded to a stop, tossing her bayard on the ground and backtracked. 

   "Guys-" Ember stopped as a sentry tried to force itself in between the two closing doors. Allura rushed forwards, trying to close the doors with her strength. Shiro and Ember were quick to dart forward to help, Shiro making his hand light up to melt the two doors together. 

   "It's taking off! Get in the pod!" Allura demanded. 

   "I'm not leaving you!" Shiro snapped. 

   "We can't all make it," Ember gritted through her teeth, trying to help Allura keep the doors close. The doors to the pod started to shut, making Ember and Allura exchanged quick glances. They were on the same page. 

   "You have to!" Allura retorted, grabbing the back of Shiro's armor and throwing him into the escape pod. Just as Allura let go of the door, Ember pulled herself close to Allura and threw her hands out. 

   "No!" She heard Shiro cry as the sentries flooded towards them. With a cry of frustration, Ember created a dome around Allura and herself. Ember glanced back around Allura and made eye contact with Shiro. Knowing this could be the last time she saw the Black Paladin, she sent him the biggest smile she could muster while shaking. 

She cried out in surprise at the sudden bang and watched as the sentries try to bust open the shield with their fists. After a while, they tried to shoot it, but nothing happened. 

   "You got this, hommel," Allura assured her, placing a hand on Ember shoulder as the dome started to shrink little by little. "Just hold on, help is on the way,"