7 「Ivory」

Yawning, Nemoi opened his eyes slowly as the light would flood into his eyes. He blinked several times until he was used to the light all over again. When he finally came to his senses, he felt a weight at his side and arms around his torso. Turning his head, while keeping it on the pillow, he looked at the small human female who was clinging to his side.

A small smile across his lips gave away the bliss that came to mind. He doubted she was conscious when she had hugged onto him. Yet, he couldn't help but feel wanted at the time.

He could see her face was streaked with tears she shed in her sleep. He wasn't all that much different. His eyes felt sticky, they were red and sore. He let out a light sigh and sat up, gently unwrapping her arms from around him.

Glancing over at the clock in the corner of the room, it appeared he woke about ten minutes prior to the alarm's intended time. He had no problem with that, and instead slowly slid off of the bed.

As he gained footing, he stood up and looked back down at Pidge. Her pants were partially undone, probably having been hot from the blankets. He could see the green boxer briefs she wore underneath. A small chuckled escaping his lips as he saw this.

"Cute," he muttered to himself, but he didn't dare to reach over to button them back up. He didn't want her to get the wrong idea and hit him, or worse, shoot him. Instead he simply dropped the comforter back onto her, tucking her back in and walking to the bathroom.

Using the shower, he quickly cleaned himself of the ten thousand year old dirt which covered him. He then proceeded to get dressed in a casual outfit, layered top with black sleeves and grey base color. His pants were a deep earth brown, and he wore a pair of black leather boots.

Exiting the bathroom, he looked over at the bed, he saw her shape still beneath the covers. His eyes then glanced over at the alarm that was going to go off in about two minutes. "Record shower," he snickered to himself quietly as he opened his inventory.

There was only the Armor and Weapons pack. He opened it and his inventory was flooded with a handful of goodies. A Guns of Gamara themed set of Paladin armor. Unlike the typical armors, the legs were a bit baggy and the visor of the armor was more akin to the Guns of Gamara design, so it encompassed the majority of his face.

There were three different firearms, a blaster rifle, a pistol and a short barrel shotgun. There was also a pair of bladed shotos. All of them seemed to be black and grey with neon green accents.

The most prevalent detail of the helmet and armor however was the glowing symbol of Voltron rather than Guns of Gamara. It was a neon green, like the accents which decorated all of the items. The bodysuit piece beneath the chestpiece carapace was black. The lower area of the chest was a dark grey, while the higher area was black. There was a Voltron symbol in the center of the chest over the sternum and on the shoulder guards.

In addition to that, the armor had skirting, which made him off to appear more as a warrior. When he equipped the items, there was a pair of holsters on the skirting which actually turned out ot be a War Kama. On the right skirt was a holster for the pistol and on the left was for the shotgun.

On his back hung his rifle, and the shotos seemed to be incorporated into his armor, much how the baynards could be in the Paladin armor. So they weren't initially visible unless he thought about using them.

Moving about in the armor, he was just getting used to the feeling of being in it, only for the alarm to go off. He froze almost immediately as Pidge shot up like a rocket and reached out to the nightstand looking for her glasses, fumbling them, and then putting them on.

The alarm suddenly ended and she seemed to calm down a bit and stared at him. She was now standing on the bed, her pants sloping to one side since they were undone.

"Um..." Nemoi pointed at her pants, just as the central cooling turned on.

Feeling herself partially bare, Pidge squeaked as she dove back down into the blankets. "I told you not to try anything!"

"I didn't do it!" Nemoi argued anxiously, he believed himself to be innocent in that mess. He thought she did it. Maybe she did, or just by moving around, her pants became undone?

It wasn't impossible, was it?

"Whatever!" Pidge snapped and threw a pillow across the room.

The pillow smashed against his helmet, but it barely made him move. Instead it just bounced off the helmet and landed on the ground. After a few moments, she peered out from beneath the blanket, staring at him.

"Where'd you get the armor from?"

Nemoi simply watched her as she got out of the bed with her pants fixed up, no longer sliding off her hip. "It's a personal piece. You'll be getting one of your own should you be chosen by a Lion." He responded as he cracked his back slightly, stretching a bit. Showing off the armor as he did so.

Within seconds Pidge was only a few inches away. She was taking in all of the applications which were visible to the naked eye. A jetpack, protection of the senses, ballistics and energy resistant armor. It was well above anything that humanity had in their arsenal.

As she took a step back, he summoned the blades from his guard shotos, they appeared like wrist blades on either side of his arms. Posing as if he was getting ready to do some mixed martial arts, he had his arms in front of his face. A menacing look on his face as he tried to look cool doing it.

Pidge chuckled a bit as he let a few punches go into the air. "That's pretty cool," her eyes gazed over the small interfaces on his wrists. One of them seemed to look like it could be used as a scanning device or communications. She blinked a few times seeing how compact everything was and sleek it appeared to be. "So I'm going to have something similar?"

He nodded slightly as the helmet's visor retracted and revealed his face, without him reaching up to do anything. "It listens to the wearer's thoughts and needs. If you're about to be thrown out into space, as long as you're wearing your helmet, it'll keep you alive and breathing."

The fact that she'd have such a high tech suit in her hands, she was excited. She could use it to be an unstable force, that will get her family back. Though it was entirely unrealistic to hope that she'd be able to instantly get everything back that she had lost. She only had to keep her mindset looking forward. She had to make a future for herself, for her family and for the universe at large.

"Well, today's the day. Iverson, it's time to acquire him."

The way he said Acquire was a bit strange to Pidge, but she nodded in agreement. They had no choice but to get the man here. They didn't want to Galra to pick up Altean Energy.

This was the only place he could hide from the arcane detection capabilities of Haggar.

A few hours later they were all in the ships hangar. Keith having left for his shack however, instead of joining in on this operation. He was more interested in the Blue Lion, and his mother's background, though he knew that he wasn't meant to be its pilot. At least, not yet.

Lance and Hunk were looking over the cockpit, there were two seats. Though they could easily see there was a back door in the back of the ship.

Clearly no one wanted Lance at the pilots seat. It was rather hilarious seeing all three of them doing rock paper scissors in order to see who would win. However, it would seem Nemoi had different plans.

"Pidge, you never flown in the simulator," Nemoi said aloud, "But you always wanted to be a pilot, am I right?"

Pidge and the others froze for a moment. She then glanced over at him when he addressed one of her few desires which she held for herself. She wanted to be a pilot, she always wanted to try her hand at it. "How did you know that?"

"Anyone ever tell you, that you talk in your sleep?" Nemoi winked lightly, though no one could see beneath his helmet since the visor was closed again. Instead she had watched his head dip very slightly from the movement.

"No... no they haven't..." She almost droned off as she glanced over at Lance and Hunk which were both looking at her.

"You slept with him?" Lance asked looking down at the person he believed to be a boy. "You really roll that way, why didn't you say anything?" He laughed frivolously, waving his hand slightly. Clearly accepting something that wasn't exactly true.

Pidge raised a brow slightly, mildly agitated by Lance's antics and punching his arm. Though it didn't appear to be playful this time around, it was more so done in a correction of this thoughts. "Shut up, Lance!"

"It's time to get Iverson," Nemoi stepped between them and handed the USB flash drive to Pidge who he trusted and cherished the most out of the group. He had given her two gifts for humanity, a gun and information.

Pidge took the item and stared at it within her hands. It was the key to everything she wanted. The key to saving her parent, her brother and the world. She looked up at him with a brief smile across her face.

That's when he leaned in, placing a hand on the top of her head. The visor retracted just enough to show his mouth as he whispered into her ear. "Don't hand over the gun until you're en route. If he finds out who you are, you'll no doubt be arrested for Treason. If you are arrested, I will risk myself to save you."

Pidge nodded slightly, giving a sarcastic salute and a mocking tone as she spoke. "Yes, Sir!" She winked at him, and patted the side of his helmet before walking over to the Altean shuttle supplied to them and climbed into the pilot's seat.

Hunk chose to sit in the shotgun, while a rather disheartened lance made his way into the hold of the vessel. "So how exactly are we supposed to get to the surface?" He asked with an awkward and nervous titter.

"There's an air hole five degrees east of the hangar bay door. It should be big enough to squeeze on through. Good luck my friends," he tapped his helmet as the shuttle's cockpit covered itself and its launch began at a hover.

Nemoi didn't leave where he was standing. Instead he watched as Pidge steadily piloted the little vessel out of the hangar and into the open, large, underground cavern. He listened to the soft hum of the engines as it slowly made its way out and vanished from his unaided senses overall.

Returning to the control center, he watched on a holographic map, as the shuttle made its way to the Galaxy Garrison. He could see and hear everything the vessel could see and hear. It recorded the entire trip, which allowed him to see the earthly surface for the first time in ten thousand and sixteen years.

The entire command center was engulfed in a realistic hologram. It was as if he was flying, standing upward as it were. He closed his eyes partially as she watched the shuttle land, under the pressure of a handful of VTOLs which had launched to intercept it.

When the vessel landed and the cockpit was shown, the soldiers which were armed to the teeth were found to be in shock.

"We need to see Commander Iverson! Immediately!" Pidge announced as she stood on the pilot's seat. The soldiers looked at one another then narrowed their sights on her.

Yawning slightly, Nemoi would watch as two soldiers put their hands against the side of her helmets as if taking in an order. They seemed to nod, and gestured for the rest of the soldiers disarm. It would be easier for Iverson to talk with the cadets, than to forcefully ring them in.

Within a few minutes, Iverson made his appearance flanked by Adam an instructor and pilot at the garrison. When they arrived in front of the shuttle, it seemed that the trio had a short discussion.

"An Extraterrestrial called an Altean, hiding under the surface near the Mountains? Are you sure?" Pidge nodded to Iverson asked for assurance.

Hunk joined in with the nodding, "Yeah, yeah!" He used his fingers to imitate Nemoi's ears. "He's like some sort of space elf!"

Iverson blinked a few times as he looked a Hunk for a few moments, then glanced over towards Pidge. "And you say he wants to give us... Technology and information? What's he want in exchange?"

Pidge sighed quietly, "He wants to negotiate with you personally."

Iverson stared for a moment then glanced over at Adam for a moment, then back towards Pidge. "And we can trust this... Altean?" He asked, seeing how Pidge seemed to be trustworthy on the surface. Though it seemed they were hiding something and appeared even more similar to someone else the more he looked at her. He just couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Pidge nodded slightly, "He knows what happened on the Korboros Mission. He says they're still alive in captivity by a hostile warmongering race known as the Galra. He wants to arm humanity."

Iverson turned to Iverson, they were whispering to one another. Then after just a few more minutes, they both turned and looked at the cadets. "Will he allow me to bring a plus one?" He was rather interested in an extraterrestrial. In addition to that, he was interested in the weaponry and technology that was there to offer.

Pidge looked over at Adam, a person who was a close from of Shiro's. "I don't see why not." She reached into her pants pocket and held out the USB drive, "As a sign of good will. He will give translated information and blueprints. There's a thousand exabytes on this..."

"Exabytes?" Iverson's head almost exploded hearing this. He reached out and swiftly took the drive from Pidges hand and looked at it for a few moments. "Impressive..." He muttered seeing the piece of technology up close. He then handed it to Adam who looked over it and then handed it off to another officer who ran back towards the academy.

"Should you accept his terms, he will give you three of these shuttles and a handful of weapons to reverse engineer." Iverson began to think this was too good to be true, but from what they told him, it seemed like it was a good thing rather than bad.

Adam and Iverson stepped into the back of the shuttle and it after clearance, made its way towards the hidden location of the castle. It took them only mere minutes to transverse the desert to their destination.

Landing in the hangar, Nemoi would be making his way towards their spot in the hangar. He was still dressed in the armor, but his face was completely revealed. His ears twitching slightly in an anxious manner.