Strange (Keith x Altean!Reader)

¡°\/ [12]

I stalked into the central command room, the paladins walking closely behind me. I never broke focus as I whirled around corners and sped down hallways. Once we reached the hallway leading to the control centre, I moved faster. The door opened and I burst into the room.

"Pidge, find the location of Zarkon's central command," I said quickly, walking up to the platform where Allura typically stood. "Look wherever you have to- I don't care."

"On it!" She called, sliding into her paladin seat.

"Hunk, I need you to run a diagnostic on the lions," I spoke, pulling up our map of the universe. "Check how charged their power cores are and if they need any last-minute repairs."

"Yes ma'am!" He called, then rushed over to his seat and began working.

"What happened?" Coran asked, rushing up to me. "Where's Allura?"

I gripped the pillars my hand rested on. I knew the story. He wasn't at fault.

"They captured her," Shiro stepped in. "She sacrificed herself to save me and the information. I didn't have a choice."

"How is that possible?" Coran demanded.

"Coran, please," I looked over at him. His gaze fell, and we shared a sad stare. "We can't blame anyone... she knew the risks. Our top priority right now is saving her."

He grit his teeth, then breathed out. He looked at me, "What do you need?"

"I need you to check the status of the ship. I don't want anything interfering. I know we have cleared the crystal from our system, but I'd like you to run a diagnostic on the ship," I started immediately. The best way to ignore your anger is to throw yourself into work. "I want full access to the ship's weapons arsenal and fully powered shields."

He nodded, "Right away."

"Keith," I turned to the red paladin. He was immediately attentive. "I need you to go down to the ship bay and find an escape pod. Take Lance with you."

He looked distastefully at the blue paladin.

"I need you to make that ship look like it was in a battle," I explained. "I'm going to board the ship and pose as a Galra soldier who narrowly escaped a fight with Zarkon. I just need to board the ship, but it needs to look convincing. Shoot at it and beat it up, but make sure it can still fly."

He widened his eyes, "Are you sure that will work?"

"I'm positive."

"How will they believe you?" Lance asked.

"Because I'm going to warn them that you're coming. Go. Now," I said, watching as they exited the room. I quickly turned to Pidge. "How are the coordinates coming?"

"What? You're taking our only advantage away," Shiro protested. I turned to him.

"Do you think the Galra are stupid?" I demanded, "They already know we're coming. They took the only person who can operate the teleduv and a valuable member of our team. The element of surprise is not an advantage we have, but that means I can do something they aren't expecting. Pidge?"

"Yeah, I've got it, but... look at this," the screen showed the large central command ship.

"It's massive..." Coran muttered.

"I think we should go in right away," Pidge spoke urgently, "Every minute we waste gives Zarkon time to prepare for us."

"We need a plan before we go guns blazing!" Coran protested.

"I agree," Shiro said, "We have to have some sort of tactic."

"No. You don't."

"What do you mean?" Coran asked, "You don't think we can't beat Zarkon's armies in combat!"