Published June 20, 2018

Takes place throughout season 5

"One More Thing to Live For"

Acxa, Zethrid, and Ezor thought they had only to turn the valuable Earthling prisoner over to Zarkon before they would be welcomed back into the Galra ranks. But Zarkon wanted them to remain with him and personally participate in a hostage exchange. After that, he said, they would receive military assignments befitting them. They complained to each other in private, but did not dare argue with Zarkon. Thad thrown their lot in with him and his Empire, and they had to follow through.

They had not known that Lotor was in the Voltron paladins' custody. The Galra themselves did not know whether he was a prisoner or a guest among them, but they were sure he was responsible for feeding them information that had given them the upper hand in many recent exploits.

It stung to think that Lotor had replaced his generals with their enemies. It made some sense, though, Acxa reflected. As a last resort, after all other possible alliances failed, Lotor had appealed to a former enemy—the enemy of his new enemy—just as his three remaining generals had.

Acxa wondered if Lotor and the paladins talked about her and the other generals. Did Lotor now know the details of her adventure with the red and yellow paladins, how they had cooperated and saved each other and spared each other? She supposed she no longer had any reason to feel ashamed of that, since Lotor was now doing the same thing she had, allying himself with the enemies of the Empire because it was the only way out of a bad situation. So Lotor had turned his back on the Galra Empire. Or he wanted the paladins to help him regain control of it. Perhaps it did not matter at this point.

Three Earthlings delivered Lotor to the rendezvous point. The only one the generals recognized from their previous fight with the paladins was the short female in green-accented armor. She was accompanied by two men who the generals had only seen in Zarkon's communication feed: a rebel, and a paladin they had not seen before, whose armor had black accents.

At first, it seemed as though they had the upper hand, but after their hologram ruse was discovered, Lotor revealed he also had a trick up his sleeve, almost literally: he produced a weapon seemingly out of nowhere. From there, everything fell into chaos.

After being ejected from the shuttle, the trio of former generals were stranded and had to wait for someone to pick them up. The paladins thankfully did not give chase; they scooped up Lotor and fled before Zarkon's fleet arrived. When it did, the officers took the three women back as prisoners.

Zethrid and Ezor did not blame Acxa, nor did she suggest it was her fault, since was the one who had initiated this plan involving the prisoner and Zarkon. They were not much worse off than they had been before. Zethrid had been convinced that they would wind up dead; at least Acxa had convinced them to try one more time.

None of them felt particularly sad about the prospect of death, whether it be by execution or slow starvation. At this point, none of them had much to live for, because they were no longer in a position to gain anything. No one in the Galra Empire would accept or advocate for them. The only motive they had for fighting at this point was out of pride, defiance, and spite. Zethrid was the most enthusiastic on this point, but Acxa and Ezor also stood ready to defend themselves against whoever came in to kill them. If they had to die, at least it would be on their feet, asserting their dignity and whatever power they still had, rather than on their knees, relinquishing both.

As it turned out, their readiness was unnecessary. Haggar, the witch Lotor had so despised, came to them with an offer of recruitment. They were not sure what to make of this.

It felt wrong to help someone besides Lotor contend for the right to rule. But accepting Haggar's offer was the only chance they had to escape punishment for serving Lotor and failing in their service to Zarkon. They did not like or trust Haggar, but working for her was preferable to imprisonment or death. They would continue to find one more thing to live for.

It did not take long for them to find the kind of candidate Haggar wanted. They knew who Sendak was, though they had not met him before. Zarkon had trained the man himself, a privilege and opportunity he had denied his own son. While Lotor and Sendak were both calculating and sometimes brutal, Sendak possessed a quality that Lotor lacked and Zarkon had valued: a propensity for cruelty.

What Haggar said about only accepting a natural-born Galra, and calling Sendak the purest of them all, made the generals feel uncomfortable, because they knew it ruled out Lotor on the very principle he had always rejected and taught his generals to reject.

None of them felt as though they belonged to either of their parents' cultures. The Galra shunned them for not being fully Galra, while their respective other planets' cultures shunned them for being Galra at all. Lotor was the only person who had ever suggested to them that being a part of two worlds could be an advantage rather than a detriment. He had encouraged them to further develop whatever skills they possessed from either or both of their heritages.

Lotor was the one who had told them to embrace and not be ashamed of their mixed heritages, to not let it hold them back; and now they were standing by someone who called him a half-breed and told him his mixed heritage should disqualify him from contending for what was rightfully his.

They watched as Lotor and Sendak dueled on the steps. Then, suddenly, someone came out from inside the structure, knocking Lotor down the stairs; mere seconds later, fire poured out from the same opening, and there were several explosions inside.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, everyone could see that this newcomer who had just saved Lotor from a fiery death was a member of the Blade of Marmora. That put Lotor in an even worse light than bringing the Black Lion. That could be seen as a triumph, since Zarkon had once piloted it and spent millennia seeking out the lions of Voltron. But colluding with the secret society intent on disintegrating the Empire could not be called anything besides treason.

At this point, everyone who had been standing back and watching the major contenders started to turn on each other. Commander Trugg drew back to attack Haggar, but Acxa noticed and shot Trugg. As chaos broke out both on the ground and in the sky, as the officers fought one-on-one and fleets opened fire.

When not personally threatened, Acxa tried to keep her eyes on her former and current allies. It was when she was watching Lotor interact with the Blade and resume his fight with Sendak that she saw Commander Gnov run up and attack the Blade. The blow dissolved the Blade's mask, and even from a distance Acxa recognized the pale skin and dark hair of the Voltron paladin who saved her in the weblum and fought her in the Ulippa System. Now he was a member of the Blade of Marmora, confirming that he was part Galra, as Acxa had suspected based on the yellow paladin's words to him in the weblum.

He had probably come there to sabotage the ceremony, as that blast must have been intended to do. But he had saved Lotor, something Acxa would have wanted to do had she known it would be necessary. So when Gnov disarmed him and raised her sword to kill him, Acxa returned the favor by saving him.

The Earthling stood tall and looked down at Acxa. She returned his gaze coldly before turning away and running to where Haggar and her friends stood waiting for her. Acxa asked whether they should go back to Sendak, since he was the one they had brought to put in a place of power, but Haggar called off their original mission, stating calmly, almost without resignation, that the Empire had fallen. Acxa did not like that, not only because it suggested Haggar would not care about the three generals, but also because it was against her nature and her conscience to leave behind an ally, especially a member of one's team.

Haggar kept her word, allowing Acxa, Zethrid, and Ezor to remain free, so far as being in her employment could be considered freedom. They learned who won the Kral Zera shortly after their departure from the chaotic scene. They had mixed feelings when they learned Lotor had not only survived, but also lit the flame.

Lotor was the Emperor now, and they had not been there to support him and share in his glory.

There had been a time when there was no one Acxa would rather have for Emperor than Lotor. Now, after his generals had betrayed him and aligned themselves with the people he had hated and conspired against, he would never welcome them into Galra ranks or society. If they ever lived under his rule, it would be as outlaws.

Acxa did her best, as usual, to keep Zethrid and Ezor focused on each mission and content in the interims, but it was difficult when the present and future were so uncertain. They all wanted to survive and find places where they felt like they belonged, but their desires differed in some particulars. Ezor wanted comfort and amusement. Zethrid wanted a combination of control and challenge.

Acxa did not like this flip-flopping from one leader to another. It made her feel like a mercenary, someone whose loyalty could be bought rather than earned. She missed being someone's trusted follower and partner.

She doubted they would ever find a worthier leader than Prince Lotor. Though Acxa had not forgiven him for turning on Narti, she missed the way things had been when there were five of them. She missed the sense of loyalty they had fostered. It lingered between Acxa, Zethrid, and Ezor, but they no longer had a strong goal uniting them, or a leader they wanted to follow out of respect and admiration rather than mere self-interest.

Nevertheless, they would continue to find things to live for.