Not a Participation Game

Lance didn't realize he fell asleep until he woke up with Red practically in his arms. He blinked slowly. He felt something bump his leg. Lance looked up to find Green standing above him. Green kicked Lance's leg and said "It's cute how you two get along, but it's time to get up now. We have a mission to do."

The first stage of the mission went perfectly. Lance sniped the few soldiers who came near them (just stunning them, of course) and Green was able to not only get them in without being detected, but also download and give them all maps of the base, which would be extremely valuable if they needed to find the nearest exit.

After the maps were handed out, they split, making an agreement to contact the others to give them their position and status every ten minutes.

Lance did his best to keep moving so he wouldn't get caught. He would find something to plug the flash drive into, wait until he heard someone coming, then unplug it and run until he found another plug in a secure location.

His strategy worked, at least for him. Lance had no trouble doing this for hours, so he only had to listen to the others for their check-ins and check in himself.

Lance kept track of everyone's positions in his head, doing his best to move to locations where the others weren't. After some time, Lance said "Hey, when was the last time we heard from Red?"

He heard Gray's voice. "Sharp ears, Blue. Red's missed the last two check-ins."

"Red, do you hear us?" Green asked. Lance heard soft tapping from the other end that must have been Green fiddling with the technology. "Red's not responding because his communication device malfunctioned. He can hear us, but we can't hear him."

"What should we do?" Lance asked.

"Who's closest to Red?" Gray asked.

There was more tapping. Then Green answered, "Blue."

"Blue, Red, head towards the rendezvous point. Red can then check in using Blue's communicator. After that, the two of you must stay together until the end of the mission."

"Got it," Lance said. He hurried to the landing bay, careful to be as silent as possible as he maneuvered the maze that was the Galra base.

Lance turned the last corner to find a long hall. He quickly took a few steps back and peeked around the corner. Red wasn't anywhere to be seen. Lance rounded the corner and carefully made his way down the corridor, looking out for any sign of Red.

Suddenly, Red appeared, running from the other end of the hall. He was being chased by sentries.

Lance got his bayard out and activated it as he got down on his knee. He took a deep breath and aimed, then he fired at the sentries. One by one he took them out, but they kept getting closer.

Finally, when there were only a few left, Red turned and started cutting them down with his blade. Lance fired one last time, hitting the last one standing. He deactivated his bayard and ran towards Red.

"Red! Are you okay? What happened?" Lance half-asked, half-yelled.

"It's a trap, they knew about the mission!" Red yelled, "We have to get out of here–now!"

Lance spoke into his communicator. "Gray, Green, did you hear–"

Gray cut him off. "We heard Red. Everyone, get out immediately. We'll meet up at the camp. Good luck."

"You too," Lance said back.

Lance turned his attention back on Red. "Alright Red, let's go."

Lance and Red ran towards the nearest escape route. They only made it fifty feet before another crowd of sentries intercepted them. Before Lance could react, Red said "Cover me."

"What-" Lance started, then he watched as Red ran directly at the sentries, taking them down one after another. Lance got his bayard out and helped Red.

By the time the last sentry was down, Lance and Red were exhausted. "Nice work, Sharpshooter," Red said in between breaths.

Lance smiled. "Not so bad yourself," he responded as he turned to face Red. Lance noticed that something was off. There was a bump on Red's shoulder. It was made of metal and blinking red and that's when Lance realized.

The bump was a bomb that was about to blow.

Suddenly, everything was in slow motion. "Red, watch out!" Lance yelled, reaching for the bomb. He was too far away. Red looked at where Lance was reaching, and wedged it off with his knife. The bomb leapt into the air between them, and it detonated as it fell.

Lance was swept off his feet and thrown away from Red. When he finally had the strength to get up, he made a beeline straight for where Red was.

"Red!" Lance yelled. He started running. As the smoke began to clear, Lance saw the shape of a crouching figure. Relief filled his body. Red's still in one piece. He's alive, Lance thought. Lance got closer and eventually was right next to Red and he saw what he was looking at.

Red was holding his helmet, the one that protected him in space, the one he needed to get back to camp, broken in his hands. A large piece of it fell to the floor.

"No..." Lance whispered. All the relief he had felt was gone. Red wouldn't be able to survive the vacuum of space without his helmet. Neither of them knew what they could do.

Red dropped what was left of his helmet and faced Lance.