Chapter Text
News reports chime in the early morning. A young man stretches his arms over his head, getting a glimpse of the news report. “No.” He grabbed the remote and turned up the volume and the reporter spoke on the Kerberos mission. “The Galaxy Garrison mission to the distant moon of Kerberos is missing, and all crew members are believed to be dead. The Galaxy Garrison has said the crash was believed to have been caused by pilot error. It is—.” The television soon shut off as the man fell to the ground, in utter disbelief as he cried out the name who was the pilot. “Why, Shiro? To throw away not your life, but the others too,” He threw the coffee mug he held in his hand, the mug shattered against the wall. In the process, it knocked over a photo, making the glass crack. Rising to his feet, he picked up the photo. “You were such a fool, Shiro. Was I not enough?” The question lingered in the small room, as tears fell to the broken photo frame, of the two sharing silly moment followed a second photo with a kiss, Adam holding his hand up, showing off a ring.
Though it has been a full year since the failed Kerberos mission, nothing seemed the same. Another man soon came up and wrapped his arm around his colleague. “There you are, Adam. I’ve been looking for you,”
“What do you want, Curtis?” Adam asked, pulling his colleague’s arm off him.
“Sheesh, did you wake on the wrong side of the bed?” Curtis held his hands up in defense, accidentally hitting a sore spot. “Right…sorry. I didn’t mean to offend. Things have been hard since that mission, huh?”
Adam pulled his glasses off, rubbing his tired eyes. “I still don’t want to believe it.” They soon entered an office, Adam taking a seat at the desk, Curtis the seat in front. “Why did he have to go on the mission? He broke every record there was to beat, what was one more trip in space?”
“Come on, you know how Shiro is. Space was part of his life. Besides, I’m not believing what the Garrison says about the pilot error.”
“Curtis, even you should know Shiro’s illness could have been the caused of the crash.”
Curtis shrugged. “I don’t know. Shiro seemed to have it under control.”
Adam rested his head on his folded hands. “How many more of our friends do we have to lose? It’s been eight years since Alyssa disappeared and Kat passing just a few months before the mission. Now Shiro, I can’t take this anymore.” His voice soon broke his last words. Curtis immediately stood up and comforted his friend.
“Hey, I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a thousand times more. Alyssa is resourceful. I am positive she and Shiro are alive.”
Adam sighed, but softly chuckled. “You know, you are too optimistic for your own good.”
“One of us has to be,” Curtis smiled. Adam sighed again, defeated. They both eventually left the office and began to start their individual classes within the Garrison. Unbeknownst to them, a young cadet came out from under the desk and out of the office. They managed to get a few feet away from the office before being caught. “Halt, cadet.”
They froze, afraid of being busted. “Turn around and state your name.”
They turned to face the commander. Commander Iverson to be exact. “Pidge Gunderson, sir.”
“Ah, the newest cadet. You should be in history class. Unless you’re lost.”
“Yes, sir. I might have taken a wrong turn.”
“At ease, cadet. Follow me. Class will begin shortly.”
Pidge followed Iverson to the classroom. “Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, who is Alyssa? I’ve seen honor photos of her in the agility course.”
Iverson looked at Pidge and paused a moment. “Alyssa Knight, she was an astounding cadet. Bright for her age and smart to boot. She took after her parents who became well renowned here in the Garrison. Many of the tech we use today was thanks to Xavier and Luann Knight.”
“My father had told me stories of their many inventions,”
“Indeed. Their minds were unlike anything we have seen in generations. Even when tragedy struck our young cadet, she still stayed strong and fought for a dream she wanted. Though Alyssa was never the best fighter pilot, she still had a goal to explore space. Sadly we lost contact with her space craft and she has been lost to use for the past eight years.” Iverson said, entering the simulation hall. Many young cadets awaited the commander and Pidge thanked him for telling them about the girl.
The classes were boring as usual. Pidge would answer every question, flawlessly. Not a single person mocked him for it. Lunch would soon start and Pidge took a seat on the far edge of the cafeteria. He would be joined by two other cadets. Supposedly, these two are part of his flight crew. Lance McClain and Hunk Garrett, the pilot and engineer respectively. “Ready for flight class, Pidge?”
“Not really.” He said. He stared at the meal in front of him, unable to take even a bite. Lance noticed this and was about to tease him when a smug face stood over Pidge, staring at him.
“What do you want, Griffin?”
“Oh nothing. Best of luck in the flight simulator, Lancy boy. You’ll need it. Unless you wanna drop out too,” The boy, James Griffin, taunted him. “Come on, James, be nice. It’s not his fault Keith flunked out.” Another voice spoke. James turned to a woman, with those usual kind eyes. “Nadia, I was being encouraging.” He said, shrugging. Nadia rolled her eyes and shoved him away from the trio, giving soft sorry’s as she passed them. Hunk watched them leave, meeting up with Ryan Kinkade and Ina Leifsdottir. Though the other two rarely spoke, those four were already the best of the best.
The encounter with James was everyday, ever since the best fighter pilot had been expelled. Keith Kogane, Lance’s “imaginary” rival since the very first day they enrolled in the Garrison. Lance was trained as a cargo pilot and soon transferred into the fighter class.
Hunk patted his friend’s shoulder, who happened to tense up. “You okay, Lance?”
“What’s with that guy?! He’s smug and arrogant!” Lance nearly shouted for the entire cafeteria. Hunk managed to sit him back in the seat. “The nerve of that guy, comparing me to that mullet!” Lance went on and on about Keith and how he wants to best him as the best pilot. “Just because he’s the best of the best.” He mumbled the last sentence, more so from deep within himself, almost in comparison.
“Sounds like you have a crush on this guy.”
Lance’s eyes widened at Pidge’s words. “I do not have a crush on that guy!” To his unfortunate luck, he literally shouted that out loud for the whole cafeteria. His face would soon turn red from seer embarrassment. Pidge got a good laugh out of it, Hunk tried to comfort him.
Lunch break would soon end and their first flight simulation as a crew.
“Galaxy Garrison flight log 5-11-14. Begin descent to Kerberos for rescue mission.” Lance jerks the simulator while descending.
Visible sickened from the sudden motion, Hunk tried his best to compose himself. “Augh. Lance, can you keep this thing straight?”
“Relax, Hunk, I'm just getting a feel for the stick. I mean it's not like I did this!” He jerks the simulator wheel which causes Hunk to groan. “Or this!”
“Okay... unless you want to wipe beef stroganoff out of all the little nooks and crannies in this thing, you'd better KNOCK IT OFF, MAN!”
The monitor activates. “We've picked up a distress beacon!” Pidge calls.
Lance nods. “All right, look alive, team! Pidge, track coordinates.”
“Copy.”
The simulator starts to rumble and alarms blare. “Knock it off, Lance, please!”
“Oh this one's on you, buddy. We've got a hydraulic stabilizer out.” Hunk pulls up a monitor, not looking so good.
“Oh no—” He desperately tries to chokes down his vomit.
“Oh, no—Fix now, puke later!”
Visibly annoyed, Pidge frowns at the pilot. “I lost contact. The shaking is interfering with our sensors.”
The trio bantered among themselves, Hunk losing his lunch, twice. Eventually it got bad enough that the simulation flight crashes and the simulation ends. The door opens and Iverson stands at the doorway. “Roll out, donkeys!”
The three exit the simulator and stand before Iverson and their class, ashamed.
“Well let's see if we can't use this complete failure as a lesson for the rest of you students. Can anyone point out the mistakes these three so-called cadets made in the simulator?”
“The engineer puked in the main gearbox!”
“Yes, as everyone knows, vomit is not an approved lubricant for engine systems. What else?”
“The Comm Spec removed his safety harness.”
“The pilot crashed!”
In the class of cadets, Ina was among the students. Watching, analyzing and calculating. Though the blank stares were awkward at best, she was stoic. Soft whispers traveled around the group, yet still reached her ears. To her, she saw potential, it just needed a little boost.
“Correct. And worst of all, the whole jump, they're arguing with each other! Heck, if you're going to be this bad individually, you'd better at least be able to work as a team! Galaxy Garrison exists to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of elite astroexplorers, but these kind of mental mistakes are exactly what cost the lives of the men on the Kerberos Mission.”
“That's not true, sir!”
“What did you say?!”
Lance clasps his hand over Pidge’s mouth, but tries to continue; his voice muffled by the hand.
“Sorry, sir! I-I-I think he may have hit his head when he fell out of his chair. But point taken.”
“I hope I don't need to remind you that the only reason your here is that the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue and flunked out. Don't follow in his footsteps. Next!” Lance seemed to have shrunk a bit by the harshness of his words. The words alone stung as the trio dejectedly watch as their classmates board the simulator. Just before curfew is to begin Lance comes up with an idea to play hooky for the night. Hunk still didn’t like the idea, after all, he was a worrywart. And for good reasons too.
During their early days at the Garrison, Lance and his “ideas” always dragged Hunk into the principals office, a lot. But Hunk ends up following Lance without hesitation. As the duo slowly crawled passed the instructor’s lounge, voices could be heard, which interested Lance.
“It’s about that time. Should we head to the launch deck?”
“I don’t need to be reminded of what we have lost again, Curtis. You can go yourself,” Lance could easily recognize Staff Sergeant Adam Wright. Next to Shiro, Adam was the top fighter pilot to graduate the Garrison and become an instructor for the advanced level. The other man, Tech Sergeant Curtis Diaz is an expert in communications and intel analysis. Hunk frowned at Lance, who seemed to be gawking at two idols within the lounge.
“Lance, come on man, we are sitting ducks out here.” He whispered, a bit too softly. Lance obviously didn’t pay any attention to him as the small conversation continued.
“Adam, you can’t keep sulking. We all feel the weight of losing Shiro. You forget, its not just him we lost, we also lost Matt and Sam Holt. I cannot imagine how much it pains you, but dreading the what ifs isn’t healthy for you either.”
“There isn’t what ifs, Curtis! It was plain in the news report!” He shouted, making all heads turned to him. “Look, I appreciate your concerns, but there comes a time even you need to face reality. Our friends are gone, Shiro is gone.” Adam soon left the lounge, Curtis quick to follow, slightly making the two boys panic and hurry around the corner.
Curtis sighed. “I’m more worried about your health, friend.” He said. Just before he returned to the lounge, something caught his eye. A soft chuckle escaped him, remising how many times he broke curfew. “If I was a young cadet breaking curfew, I’d hid on the roof or a secret door by the cafeteria.” The doors to the lounge open again then shut.
“You don’t think he saw us, right?” Hunk asked.
Lance frowned. “No, he was just talking to us! Of course he saw. But I don’t understand why he didn’t rat us out.”
Hunk shrugged and followed Lance without any problems afterwords. They ended up in the local town and began to have a fun time with karaoke and chatting with some girls. Which promptly dismissed Lance’s advances on each of them. Hunk comforted his friend as they slowly made their way back to the Garrison. Luckily it was a lot easy entering than leaving.