Strange (Keith x Altean!Reader)

.• [7]

"We will be arriving at the Balmera soon," Allura hummed, "Liberating these Balmerans from Zarkon's grasp will not be easy."

Coran and I examined the scan results of the Balmera. It was in terrible shape- Hunk was not exaggerating when he said that the Galra had nearly killed the creature.

"So, what's the plan?" Lance asked, "We go in there and just- pow, pow, pow! Then free the prisoners?"

"What was that noise?" Keith asked, narrowing his eyes at the blue Paladin in confusion.

"Laser guns," he grinned. Keith rolled his eyes.

"No way, Lance. I think you mean: braow, braow, broaw!" Hunk replied, imitating the motions of lasers firing.

"That sounds like fireworks," the blue Paladin protested.

"Technically, they're more like ba-choo, ba-choo, ba-choo!" Pidge joined in.

"Okay, enough with the bad sound effects," Shiro sighed, rolling his eyes. He paused for a moment before speaking again. "Besides, it's more like: blam, blam, blam!"

"What?"

"You're crazy."

"No way."

"You're just wrong."

There was a chorus of disagreements among the paladins. I rolled my eyes, turning around.

"Focus, please?" I asked, and Allura gave me an awkward, thankful smile.

"Anyway, we can't just shoot at the Galra," Hunk sighed. "The Balmera, it's... like, alive. From what we've seen, it doesn't look very good."

"Yes," Coran agreed, "It's an atrocity what the Galra have been doing to this great beast. They are stealing its crystals- its very life force- without ever performing the proper energy rejuvenation ceremonies to heal it. It is like ripping all quintessence from within Alteans- they're killing it slowly."

"After seeing Shay's people enslaved, it made me realize how bad Zarkon really is," Hunk mumbled. "And we're the only ones who can stop him."

"So we can't go in guns blazing," Shiro concluded.

"Exactly," I hummed, bringing the Balmera scans to the larger, central area so that the paladins could see. "Which means you need to strike tactfully and carefully. Several crucial buildings are centralized at these mining stations."

I zoomed the large image in. "By attacking all of the facilities on the surface, you will draw the Galra up to the surface. This will minimize damage to the creature and, hopefully, group the majority of the Galra soldiers together in one area where you can take them out. Then, you can all head into the mines, kill any remaining Galra, and save the Balmerans."

"How will we know how many are left in the mines?" Keith asked, "They could have a whole army down there and we wouldn't know."

"We can track the Balmerans and Galra through Biothermal Life Indicator Point technology," Allura smiled.

"Oh, BLIP tech!" Pidge grinned, smiling at the small device that appeared on the screen. Allura and I gave her a strange stare. "What? It's an acronym."

"One of you will need to fly around the Balmera and drop these sensors into the mining shafts. The deeper they land, the more accurate our readings," I explained. "I am going to highlight specific points on your lions' scanners where you must drop these scanners. Unfortunately, stealth is not a quality the lions possess."

"I can do it," Pidge smiled. I raised an eyebrow at her, "I just modified the green lion with the invisible maze's cloaking ability. I should be able to fly around unnoticed."