Kolivan stood in the spacious cockpit of the Blade’s ship behind the pilot, his face twisted in its usual grim expression. Ahead of them was a small green planet, growing steadily larger as they approached it.
“We’re almost ready to descend into Eioa’s atmosphere. It looks like there is some debris that we need to watch out for,” the pilot said. Kolivan nodded, but he looked no less worried.
“Let’s get in contact with the Castle to let them know we’ve made it safely,” Kolivan said to an officer standing near him. Behind them, the doors opened and Keith stepped inside.
Kovilan turned and acknowledged him. “Are you ready?” He asked him. Keith came up next to him and looked out onto the planet.
“You already know how I feel about Lotor,” Keith said. “It’s been almost ten years since he’s been to this planet. Even if it’s not a trap, we have no idea if the status of his alliance with the Eioans is still in intact and if the Galra he sent there are even still alive.”
“There’s a lot of uncertainty,” Kolivan agreed. “But whether we like it or not, Lotor offers the potential of good resources. We’ve already come this far. We need answers.”
Keith frowned but thought against saying anything. While the thought of walking into a potential trap had him on edge, he was growing ansy just waiting on the ship and needed some action. It had been almost a month since the fight at Naxzela and he hadn’t had much contact with the others back at the Castle; his biggest concern was what Lotor was up to, but he trusted them to keep an eye on him.
“Something is coming up on your left,” the officer said to the pilot. Keith peered out and spotted a large shape float towards them amongst the space debris. While it wasn’t very large, its dark purple hull was unmistakable.
The officer turned back to the pilot. “Wait! It’s not debris-”
“A Glara ship,” Kolivan growled. “Take us down now!” he ordered the pilot.
The pilot launched their ship forward as a beam of vibrant purple light shot out from the Galra ship and hit them dead on, causing the cockpit to shudder. Another shot fired, hitting the end of the ship as they veered towards Eioa.
“They shouldn’t be out this far!” The officer cried. “We’ve lost power to our launch bay. It will take us while to get access to our fighter ships.”
“We stay the course then,” Kolivan said firmly. He looked at the officer. “Omek, have you made contact with Coran?”
“I’m trying.”
Kolivan scowled. “We can’t risk getting stuck out here. Prepare for a crash landing.”
“We can’t just let them get away,” Keith argued.
“If we’re lucky, we can lure them down close enough and Eioa’s defenses can take care of this.”
“But we’re already catching the Eioans off guard. What if they’re not prepared for a Galra ship?”
They shot back at the Galra ship, but it didn’t stop the larger vessel from advancing. Keith clenched his fists and ran out of the cockpit.
“Keith, don’t!” Kolivan ordered, but Keith was already making his way down the hall and past other blade members. The ship was hit again, knocking him to his knees. He held on to the lip of a door as the ship began a slow spiral towards the planet. The lights gave out, plunging him into a brief darkness until the alarms started blazing, flashing an eerie red. The ship lurched once again, causing Keith to lose his grip. He fell back down the hall, smacking his head on the metal floor and causing him to instantly lose unconsciousness.
***
Keith awoke to the sight and sound of the alarms still blaring around him. He slowly pulled himself to his feet and formed his mask over his face before cautiously checking the cockpit to see if they had landed. Kolivan and the others were still in the cockpit, a little shaken, but not hurt. Keith looked out to see them surrounded by the thick foliage of a jungle with massive trees and flowers; they had luckily landed near the edge of a wide river.
“Did it follow us?” Keith asked Kolivan.
“It’s probably not too far behind,” he said with a snarl. “Don’t run off like that again. It didn’t do you any good.”
“You’re right,” Keith said, glancing down at his feet, but he was glad that Kolivan couldn’t see his face. He only wanted to find a way to help; he didn’t regret running out.
“Let’s go,” Kolivan said, leading them out of the cockpit. “We should try to find any Eioans and warn them about the ship.”
“What about the Castle?” Keith asked.
“The signal was received, but Coran didn’t respond. We can’t risk staying in here though.”
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Kolivan led the dozen blade members out of the ship and they started along the river. Keith looked back at the ship and noticed the sizable damage on its left side. He reluctantly left the ship, taking up the rear of the group.
They walked along the water’s edge, carefully scanning the jungle for any signs of Eioans or any other life. Keith held his blade close to him, on edge as he gazed out into the dense jungle. Flowers, with sturdy purple and red petals stood nearly twice his size, swaying slightly in the breeze; , he had to admit Eioa was beautiful. The sky above him was a rich mix of orange and pink, painting a fiery sunset, but leaving them little time to find anyone before night fell. He focused back to the path in front of him, noticing that he was a bit behind everyone else. Ahead of him, he heard Omek yell and panic shot through Keith. He raced along the river when a hard force hit him from behind.
Keith rolled forward and caught himself on his feet, quickly pulling himself up and activating his blade. In front of him, someone stepped out towards him. Their suit was a myriad of colors, constantly changing to mirror its surroundings and blending seamlessly into the terrain. Keith focused on them, holding his blade out.
The Eioan touched their shoulder and their suit changed to white with a silver mask obscuring their face.
“Now it can be a fair fight,” a female voice said lightly, pulling out a metal rod about a foot long. It extended in length in her hand, stopping once it had reached her shoulder. Keith scowled and took the initiative, racing towards his attacker, ready to swing his blade down across her. She easily dodged, coming around to his side and countering. Keith spun around, stopping her attack, causing the two metals to grind against each other. She pulled back and swung her weapon over her head. Keith attacked again, but she was quickly able to deflect it. Using the pole, she pushed herself up and flew over him, landing behind him and swiftly swinging it down near his legs.
Keith jumped out of the way, smiling to himself as he caught an opening. He brought the blade across again, but the Eoian whipped the pole up with impressive speed, hitting his wrist. His blade fell out of his grasp and he dived for it, only to be hit again across the chest with the polearm. He stumbled back, but managed to grab the pole by the end.
The Eioan pressed a button, and three blades at Keith’s end jutted out, forcing him to let go before it cut him. To his surprise, she threw the polearm away over to where his blade lay and rushed towards him. Catching him in the stomach with a forceful kick, she sent him flying backwards into the river. Before he could bring himself to his feet, she lunged at him and kicked him down again. Without hesitation, she crouched on top of him and brought an elbow down onto his mask. The mask crackled and the purple lights went out after she gave another strike. With one hand she held him around the neck while she grabbed at the mask with her other hand and ripped it away from his face. She let out a faint gasp and briefly touched his forehead. Keith stopped fighting for a moment and looked at her in shock.
“Sorry about that,” she said. She let go of him and stood up, offering her hand out to him. Keith pushed himself away from her and stood up on his own. “I thought you were a Galra.”
“Why’d you touch my face?” Keith demanded angrily.
“To see what you were up to,” she said simply. “But I can now see that you’re not here to attack us. You need help.” She ran and grabbed her polearm and shrunk it down to its original small size. She grabbed his blade and held it out to him.
Keith approached her carefully. “Why did you throw your weapon?”
“I told you I wanted it to be a fair fight. I’m not gonna fight someone without a weapon.”
“... But you’re the one who knocked it out of my hand in the first place.”
She nodded and started racing towards the rest of Blade members. Keith ran after her.
“You’re a good fighter,” she said as they ran along the river. They stopped when they got to the others fighting with the Eioans. Because they still had the camouflage on the Eioans’ suits, the Blades were on the edge of chaos in the fight.
“Wait!” Keith’s attacker yelled, leaving his side. “Rixel wait!” She rushed out to meet Kolivan.
“Hey, wait-” Keith sprinted towards her. She put herself in between Kolivan and his unseen adversary and Kolivan brought his blade up to strike her down.
“Stop,” Keith cried, putting up his blade to stop Kolivan. Kolivan struck the blade down, but stopped when he realized it was Keith.
“What’s going on?” He growled at Keith.
“We thought you were from the empire.” the female Eioan said. “But you’re here looking for the Grangint.”
Kolivan called off the Blade members. And the other Eioans revealed themselves in matching white suits; glancing around, Keith noticed five of them, including the one that attacked him.
“How do you know that?” Kolivan asked her.
The Eioan behind her removed his mask and hood, revealing an angled face with dark gray skin and black eyes. Dark horns curved around his forehead.
“We protect the Grangint and their research,” he said smiling. “Are you allies of Lotor?”
Kolivan removed his mask as well and regarded the Eoian skeptically. “We are the Blade of Marmora. We’ve come here on behalf of Prince Lotor. I’m Kolivan.”
“Rixel,” The Eioan said putting out his hand and Kolivan took it and shook it firmly.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Kolivan said. “How did you know we were looking for the Grangint?” He looked to Keith who just shrugged.
“Oh Jira probably figured that out,” Rixel said, gesturing to the female Eioan and she gave him a small wave. “We’ll explain everything to you later, but your ship was shot down. Who did it?”
“That was a Galra ship,” Keith explained.
Rixel’s smile fell. “We need to get back to the Kafa. Come with us.”
Rixel took off, the other Eioans doing the same. Kolivan followed and the other Blades obeyed and they ran after them. The Eioans stopped in a batch of flowers where a group of large hover bikes were stashed. They climbed on to them, taking 2 or 3 Blades with them before zooming off.
Jira climbed onto hers and looked to Keith and Omek. “Get on,” she said. Keith gave Omek an uneasy look before they hoisted themselves up and joined her. She sped off through the jungle, skillfully driving them away from the river.
“What’s the Kafa?” Omek yelled behind Keith.
“It’s where the Grangint are,” Jira said. “And where we keep some fighter ships… I hope you two know how to fly.”
“I can fly,” Keith smirked. As they neared the edge of the jungle, he looked up and saw that they’d need to get to the Kafa quickly; the Galra ship had broken through the atmosphere and was making its way towards them.