backyardbbq | THIS IS VOLTRON

THIS IS VOLTRON

[Shiro has no clue what is going on. He was given no explanation beyond 'go do your job' before he was shoved through a door, as usual. Mephisto is really, really terrible about the whole 'giving enough information to actually work' thing. Shiro hates having to come up with stuff on the fly because his boss can't be assed to give some basic intel.

But this time? This is too much, even for him. There's purple people everywhere and they're shouting at him in a language he sure as hell doesn't understand, and somehow he got them to start shooting at him. Which means running time and trying to get the hell out of whatever building he's in.

Or ship, apparently. Because of-fucking-course he ended up in outer space. The 'king of time' can control space too, it seems.

But it's pointless to whine about it. Shiro knows that his only value to Mephisto is in amusement, and that if he doesn't keep himself alive then Mephisto sure as hell isn't going to save his sorry ass. So he just runs through the ship, looking for some way off. Surely there is an escape pod or something? Those always exist in science fiction movies, so they must be true.

Those sirens that are going off are annoying as hell, though. Shiro wishes he could at least shut those off.

Somehow in his escape attempts, Shiro ends up in the holding cell area. Which, miraculously, isn't locked down yet. Probably because Shiro appeared close to the bridge of the ship when he suddenly popped into existence there, so they didn't think to lock this area down.

That's when he sees another of the weird purple guys, but he's locked up? Apparently? He must be in trouble. But if he's in trouble, maybe he would want to bargain with Shiro. It's worth a shot at least.]

Oi! You there, You wanna make a great escape from this shithole?

[Assuming this guy even speaks a language from Earth, at least.]

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[ Well, this sure hasn't gone how Ulaz wanted it to. True, the risk of capture was definitely present in his plan, has been a present risk ever since he first went undercover all those centuries ago, but that doesn't mean he's at all pleased that it's happened. And who would be? All he has to look forward to now is endless torture until his body gives out, and that could take... Well, it's not something he's looking forward to.

At least Shiro got out successfully. That makes it worth it. The mission will continue. He can't ask for more than that.

And then the alarms started. That's very curious. Were they under attack? By who? The Blade of Marmora doesn't act so openly, but other, smaller rebel groups certainly exist. They don't tend to last long, but there's always something. This... This could be good. There's no promise they'll come this way, and even if they do, the chances that they'll trust a Galra are slim, no matter how imprisoned or injured he is, but even a slim hope is better than none, so by the time Shiro makes it to his cell, he's already on high alert, straining to get a better view despite being strapped to a vertical table.

When it's a human that shows up on the other side of the door, though, he's temporarily gobsmacked. ]

You-- You're human?

I guess you could say that, sure.

[Don't mind him he's just joking about his life so far, nbd. He's human. Even if his white hair and red eyes are very unusual for a human.

And he's also looking for a way to get into Ulaz's cell without making too much noise. As much as he hates stealth missions, he'll try to at least be a little quiet. He needs to bust out his new buddy if he's going to make it off of this ship alive. Right now he's looking for a master console somewhere, one that has buttons that might unlock everything.]

You gonna ditch this place with me? Because it looks like things aren't so great for you either, and I need help from someone who actually knows how to get out of here.

[Shiro figures Ulaz is a criminal of some sort. Why else would these aliens lock up one of their own? But that's fine by Shiro, he can deal with criminals. He does it all the time back home.]

[ There's a small panel next to the door showing a stylized (though clearly still non-human) handprint, and maybe even a proper console with a holographic interface nearby, but unless Shiro's secretly got Galra lineage, neither will respond to his input. ]

What are you doing? Shoot the panel out!

[ SURELY THIS GUY DID NOT JUST WALTZ INTO A GALRA SHIP UNARMED ]

[Don't judge me you don't know my life.

Actually he isn't unarmed, because he's got a huge shotgun with him. Which is loud. Very loud. Sorry Ulaz your ears might be ringing for a bit after this.

But hey, he blasts the panel and the door opens up, so there's that! And unstrapping Ulaz from the table will be short work at least. Which is good, because there's no way everyone ever didn't heard that shotgun blast.]

Hopefully you can run, because time's short now.

[ the fuck kind of weapon makes that kind of noise, alien jesus christ

Ulaz can at least stand on his own once he's freed from the table, but he's not really in the best of shape. Part of the armor over his chest has been blasted away, and the flesh underneath is... badly burned? Sliced up? It's hard to tell, on account of the wound is very irregular and, more to the point, glowing with an eerie violet light. Whatever's going on there, it sure looks painful.

But Ulaz can deal with that. He's going to have to. He picks a knife up from a table in the room, and it extends to a long, curved blade in his hands. And with that taken care of, it's time to blow this joint. ]

Where is your ship?

[It's something for Shiro to treat later. He's used to having to deal with weird biology, he's confident he can figure out some way to help his new purple ally.

Speaking of which.]

Well there's the fun part: we're gonna 'borrow' one from these guys here.

[Yep, that's his master plan. They're stealing one. It's flawless, clearly.]

I think I saw what looked like escape ships about two floors back, so we might be able to circle around to them.

[ Hmm. The escape pods will be guarded. Only by a handful of sentry robots, granted, and even in his current state, Ulaz feels pretty confident that he could take down a couple of sentries, but it's not going to do his condition any favors, and he can't be sure of how useful his new companion's going to be in a fight. Stealing a fighter would be easier, but it'd be pretty crowded, and fighters aren't exactly designed to travel long distances. And a fighter's not going to have any first aid supplies, but an escape pod would.

...Yeah, escape pods it is. ]

This way. Be prepared to fight.

[ Ulaz leads Shiro along a different path than the one he took in. A longer, less direct path, but that's probably to be expected. It's the direct path that the Empire's soldiers are going to take, after all.

He leads them to the escape pod bay without incident (Shiro's new friend apparently has ample sneaking experience), and just as he expected, there's a few robots around the hangar. He ducks into a convenient cranny by the entrance. ]

What is the range on your weapon?

[Fighting, huh? Shiro can handle that much, at least. He's in his 40s and starting to look his age, but he can hold his own. Ulaz will just have to see him in action, that's all.

Speaking of action, he's pleasantly surprised to find that Ulaz is so sneaky. That makes it easier to sneak out of an armed ship, at least.]

It's most effective within 20 feet, but it can hit multiple people at once. I've got other stuff for things further away.

By the way, if you get hit don't worry. I can probably patch you up later.

['probably'.

But hey, there's the hangar! All those escape pods are lined up and ready to go. It looks like the extra soldiers haven't arrived here yet, but the sentry robots and the handful of maintenance workers are still in there. Shiro's not one for hurting innocents, either.]

Shit. Think we can sneak past the people there?

[ ...Oh, right, he. Set a bomb off in here earlier to cover Shiro's escape. Of course there would be more people here than normal to address that damage. Maybe they really should have gone for a fighter instead. Well, it's too late now. Maybe they could still go sneaking off in that direction, but the longer they stay on this ship, the more danger they're in. They need to take one of these pods and get out.

There's one fewer than there should be. That's heartening, at least. He was already pretty sure Shiro's escape was successful, but the extra confirmation certainly doesn't hurt.

Now to make sure his escape is successful. ]

No. Even if we get to a pod unnoticed, it will take time for the door to open, and it will make noise. It is better to take them out now, before they can raise the alarm.

It sounds like we need a distraction then.

[And suddenly Shiro is placing a hand on Ulaz's shoulder.]

I'll keep them occupied, you get the thing ready to go. But I'm trusting you not to leave without me, you hear?

[Now that he knows where the escape pods are, he probably could escape on his own without Ulaz. If Ulaz does betray him, then he'll be fine. He can figure something out. But this is him extending the olive branch, giving Ulaz a chance to prove he's not a huge piece of shit.]

Just give the signal when you're ready to go, and I'll get there.

[ He's really going to try and take them all on alone? Humans are so bold. Ulaz admires that about them (or at least he admires it about the two humans he's met so far), but still, wouldn't it be safer to fight them all together first? Well, he is injured, and splitting up would be faster, so okay, they'll do this the human's way.

Ulaz nods. ]

Understood.

[ Go on, Shiro, show him what a good distraction you can be. ]

[Hell yes he will distract on his own. Watch him go, he's a master at this.

Meaning he sneaks around to the other side of the hangar and tosses a fucking grenade down a hallway before ducking behind some boxes.

Explosions happen, and both people and robots hurry towards that hallway to find out what the fuck happened.

Meanwhile Shiro will just slip around the boxes to the other side, and give Ulaz a big thumbs-up. DISTRACTION SUCCESSFUL MAYBE?]

[ ...That's a good distraction, Ulaz approves. Now that the hangar's vacated, he runs to the rear of one of the escape pods and presses his hand to the panel by its door. It's a pretty big door, and it takes its time in opening, but once it's most of the way there, he waves at Shiro to get his ass over here. ]

Hurry!

[ He doesn't wait for Shiro to come over before he enters the craft himself, wasting no time in getting himself settled in the pilot's seat at the front. ]

[It's fine, Shiro can get over there fast enough. Well, mostly-fast-enough. Because as soon as he reaches the ship there's going to be shouting and shooting following him. He's shouting to Ulaz as he dives in the door and smacks a few buttons to try to get it to shut.]

Drive Drive DRIVE!

[Or pilot. Whatever. All Shiro knows is that he really doesn't want to get shot today.]

[ Well, they have that much in common. As soon as the door slides shut, Ulaz is launching the pod, taking them out into open space. If Shiro looks outside, whether through the "windshield" in front of Ulaz's seat or the small viewport set into the door, he'll see a massive fleet of warships milling about the area. Luckily, none of them seem to take notice of them as Ulaz guides their craft away from Zarkon's ship, simultaneously keying things into the console to disable any tracking or signaling coming from their vessel.

Eventually he brings the pod to rest behind an asteroid once they're safely outside the fleet's perimeter. ]

To the left, there should be a closet with a box of medical supplies in it. Bring it to me.

[ He's already working on removing his ruined chest armor. ]

[There's no need to tell him twice. Shiro is already off gathering the medical supplies and getting ready for whatever he might need to do to treat this strange alien that he has somehow befriended and made a 'ride or die' pact with for the time being.]

First off: yes, I am a doctor. But I have to admit, I've never even seen anyone who looks like you before, much less treated someone like you. I might need a couple pointers if you've got weird organs or bones or whatever.

[The most professional of doctors, clearly.

But yes he's got medical supplies, and he's going to try to treat Ulaz. What's wrong with him currently?]

[ What's wrong with him currently is whatever this bullshit is, courtesy of evil energy magic. ~~It's a kid's show, it's not super forthcoming on the gory details.~~

Really, what Shiro has to contend with first is Ulaz trying to take the medical supplies away from him so he can handle it himself. ]

I am a doctor. I can treat myself.

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THIS IS VOLTRON

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