Shiro walked in and saluted. “Reporting as ordered, sir.”
	He noticed the commander – in fact all the officers in the room, save for Major Iverson – frown at the prosthetic. “At ease, Captain. Take a seat.”
	It was a small conference room at the local Garrison base. Rectangular tables arranged in a U-shape dominated the room. They’d left a chair for him at the base of the U, facing a blank wall.
	He was in here with Iverson, Dos Santos, a Lt. Colonel, and a full-bird, Colonel Hastings. They were seated along the arms of the U, but they were all looking at him. He doubted this was going to be good. 
	“As I’m sure you know, Captain,” Commander Dos Santos said, “the EGC has been interrogating the lone survivor of Mulcahy’s team.”
	He nodded. “Yes, sir.” By now, he’d seen most of it; Pidge had created a highlight reel of what she’d gotten so far, skipping the boring and repetitive parts. The interrogation had taken hours, and once they’d finished, they’d clamped down on it hard. She was bringing her hacking skills to bear on the remaining half hour of footage.
	“We haven’t gotten much of use out of him, but he did bring something up that concerns us. Lights.”
	The room went dark and the wall opposite him lit up with footage. 
	The EGC SecDiv guy had shed his jacket, unbuttoned his shirt, rolled up his sleeves. Duffy looked as crazed as ever, and there were a couple empty water cups near him.
	The interrogator asked, “But we sent people to Altea. They came back telling us that peace and trade with the Alteans would be a great boon.”
	“You fool!” Duffy snarled. “Don’t you understand that they’ve been compromised?! Who knows what the aliens did to them while they were there?! They’ve had their minds hacked or something. They could be moles, planning to hand our planet over to them at the first chance!”
	“And what makes you think that?”
	Duffy sighed and settled a little. “Look, I didn’t have anything to go on but the major’s word before this, but did you see Shirogane? He was on that mission! He’s probably dead by now, and for what? To protect alien royalty? Do you think he’d do that if he wasn’t brainwashed?”
	“That was his job.”
	“Awfully eager to do it. He’s compromised. They’re ALL compromised. Every single one of them who went there! I mean, you have to at least consider the possibility! WE DON’T KNOW. We have to be careful…”
	The footage stopped. “Lights,” Dos Santos said again, and they came back up. 
	Everyone was still looking at him.
	Shiro sighed. “Look, I don’t know how to convince you that I’m not compromised, if that’s what this is about. But if you’ll forgive me for saying so, sir, Duffy clearly drank the Kool-Aid.”
	“Chugged it, more like,” Iverson said under his breath.
	“Major,” Hastings warned.
	“Sorry, sir.”
	“Nonetheless,” the commander said, “we’ve been talking to everyone who went up on the Altea mission. We’ve cleared everyone except you.”
	Shiro nodded. “I’ll do whatever’s necessary to prove myself to the Garrison, sir.”
	“Oh, that’s hardly necessary,” the Lt. Colonel – Bundy, according to his nametape – said. “Lights.”
	Shiro was confused as the room darkened again. But he found out why almost immediately.
	There he was, showing Allura her suite. He kept her from going outside, she turned to him. There was no sound, but it was unnecessary as she kissed him, and he clearly kissed her back. The footage jumped between moments: the two of them hugging, kissing, cuddling on the couch. That time she picked him up and threw him over her shoulder to cart him off into her bedroom. 
	“How…?” he asked. 
	“Lights,” Bundy said, and the room responded.
	“The hotel doesn’t have cameras in the penthouse suite. The security details I was given clearly said…”
	“The hotel doesn’t have cameras there. So we put some in,” Dos Santos told him. “Only in the main living areas, but frankly, whatever went on in her bedroom is… kind of obvious.”
	Shiro sighed. He looked over at Hastings, who seemed to be trying to glare a response out of him. “I love her.” 
	“So you admit you’re compromised,” Lt. Colonel Bundy said.
	“I love her, but I have done everything I was ordered to do.”
	“And then some, apparently.”
	“I was ordered to protect the princess and I did.”
	“You protect her better with one gun than the other?”
	“Bundy,” Hastings snapped. “Captain, between this and… well, that,” he nodded at Shiro’s right hand, “it just doesn’t look good.”
	“I understand that, Colonel.”
	“I’m not in a position to judge whether you are or aren’t compromised. I can’t see into someone’s heart and mind. But if this footage got out, it would look like you’re compromised. It looks like that madman might be right about you, and if he’s right about one thing, he could be right about others.”
	“You don’t believe him, do you, sir?” Shiro asked.
	“It’s not about what I believe, it’s about what the public will believe.”
	Shiro nodded in understanding. “I’ll resign immediately, sir.”
	“No, no, we can’t have that.”
	“Sir?” Shiro was now very confused. If you don’t want me to resign, then… what?
	“You’re a hero, after all. Hailed as such in the press. No, we’re going to give you a medal. And, unfortunately, a medical discharge. After all, you lost an arm. Our current prosthetics are good, but not good enough for you to remain in service. And you certainly do not have any other recourse on that front, do you?”
	“I understand, sir.”
	“In fact,” Bundy put in, “we’d like you to leave that with us.”
	“It’s just an arm, sir.”
	“It could be useful.”
	“It doesn’t have military applications, sir.”
	“If it could mean fewer medical discharges for our troops, then it does,” Hastings put in. “That’s our deal. You give us that fancy alien prosthetic so we can study it and keep it out of the eyes of the public; we give you an honorable medical discharge and a nice shiny medal. After that, I suggest you do everything you can to stay off the radar.”
	“Understood, sir.” Did he really have a choice? Of course not.
	Shiro stood and unbuckled his belt. He unbuttoned his uniform coat, looking straight at Hastings the whole time. He hung the coat carefully on the back of his chair. His shirt was the next to be removed, and he tried to keep from angrily ripping it out of his waistband. He draped it over the coat. A simple twist, and the arm detached from its docking base on the remains of his right arm. He laid it on the table.
	“I’m going to assume I don’t have to tear the base off to give that to you as well, sir?”
	“Captain,” Dos Santos growled warningly. 
	Shiro kept his eyes on Hastings. Look at what little is left of my arm. Look at the scar over my heart, the blast on my side. Look at the gash across my face and my hair that’s gone white. All of this obtained while doing my damn job. Look me in the eye when you dismiss me.
	And Hastings looked him right in the eyes. 
	“Dismissed.”
	Shiro grabbed his clothes with his only remaining hand and left.

	“They did what?”
	He was being nonchalant about it. “Well, I guess I can come with you back to Altea, at least?” He flopped onto the couch. “There’s not much else here for me now.”
	Allura frowned and sat down next to him. “But they can’t just take your dream from you like that.”
	“They can, and they are. I’m lucky enough to get an honorable discharge.”
	She sighed. “I admit, I would love nothing better than to take you with me back to Altea, but… you deserve so much better than this, my love.”
	He smiled at her. “Better than living with you on a far-off planet? I dunno, that’s kind of hard to improve on.” He kissed her cheek.
	“You’re a hero!”
	“I’m happy enough to be your hero,” he murmured, kissing his way over to her ear.
	“Stop trying to distract me.”
	“I dunno, is it working?” he whispered, running his fingers along her neck.
	“And that’s another thing!” She shot to her feet and Takashi sighed. “You had to give them your arm?!”
	“I, uh, hope that’s not a problem? I mean, I know it was your tech, but it was my arm, and I don’t think they were going to let me leave without…”
	“No, no, it’s not that; they’re welcome to it, and we can make you another. But the demand that you give up your arm. I just… HOW DARE THEY?”
	He stood now as well. “Allura.” He looped his left arm around her waist to pull her in to him. “Settle down. Or at least let’s find a way to put all this energy of yours to better use?” He bent to kiss her neck.
	“You’re not going to seduce me out of this.”
	“You seduce me in and out of things all the time,” he said against her skin.
	“That’s different. That’s me doing it to you.”
	He laughed, his hand sliding down to cup her ass through her dress. “Come on, can’t you just be happy that I get to go home with you?”
	She considered it. He nipped at her neck lightly, squeezed once with his hand and started pulling her skirt up. He shifted one of his legs to be between hers and pressed up against her panties.
	“No.” 
	He stopped and looked at her.
	“No, Takashi, I can’t just let this go.”
	He let go of her entirely and fell back onto the couch. “I don’t know what you think you can do. This isn’t Altea; you don’t have the authority to throw around here that you have back home.”
	“No, but I still do have some power at my beck and call.” She turned and headed for the elevator. “I’m going down to 19 to talk with Coran and the others. Stay here. And if you want to be naked when I come back up, I wouldn’t complain.”
	He snorted. “That seems like you’d lose all the fun of ‘unwrapping’ me.”
	She beamed and pushed the button. The elevator doors opened for her. “I love you.”
	“I know.”
	They smiled at each other fondly before the elevator doors closed again.

	Allura squared her shoulders. “Thank you all for being here today. I thought I should give you a preview of what my address to the EGC will be tomorrow. But first, let me explain my reasons for all of this.”
	She looked out over the conference room occupants: Colonel Hastings, Commanders Dos Santos and Holt, Major Iverson, Ms. Jiang, Ambassador Roberts, Mr. Mazurkiewicz from EGC’s Security Division, and, of course, Takashi and his team. Also, Coran and a couple of her guards standing beside her.
	“King Alfor asked me to come here to, first of all, repay your visit to our world with one of our own, and, secondarily, to see about establishing trade: commercial and educational. Although he didn’t say this to me, I believe he had a third objective, because he is my father, and he knows me better than I’d like to admit sometimes: he had figured out how close I had become to Captain Shirogane, and wanted me to see him again, for my own happiness.” She gave Hastings, Dos Santos, and Mazurkiewicz a glare, daring them to comment. They all wisely chose to remain silent.
	“While I was here, the very people who were supposed to be protecting me – your Galaxy Garrison – attacked me. If it had not been for Pidge’s warning and Shiro’s fast thinking, I might have been seriously injured or killed. Our medical technology is clearly superior to yours, but even we cannot bring the dead back to life.
	“And now, you want to be rid of this brave man as if he were some sort of embarrassment. And why? Because he loves me? I love him in return. And I’m happy to take him with me.”
	Colonel Hastings was on his feet in no time flat. “We cannot allow that.”
	“Why not? You clearly don’t want him here.”
	“He has knowledge of our military readiness, our command structure, codes, and…”
	“You can change codes. You can rearrange your command structure – and you might have to, after this incident,” she reminded him, “and, frankly, I care little for your ‘military readiness.’ One thing that lunatic was right about is that our technology is much more advanced than yours is. If laser weaponry is the best you have, then we are not terribly afraid of you.
	“But we do want peace. I believe that most of this planet would welcome this. But the fact remains that some of you – oh, do sit down already, Colonel,” she waited for him to regain his seat before continuing, “some of you, including members of your military, are hostile to us. So here’s my proposal, and I suggest you listen to it fully before you protest.”
	She cleared her throat. “Captain Shirogane will get his honorable discharge, but not a medical one. We will make him a new prosthetic, and he will be allowed to wear it when his medal ceremony is broadcast for the world to see. I want to hear the word ‘hero’ at least once in there.
	“We are extending the offer for Earth to set up an embassy on Altea. I expect Ambassador Roberts would be your first choice for the post. He and my father get along well. We can take whoever you choose to be your ambassador, their families and staff, and all their belongings with us when we leave. And yes, I will be bringing Takashi Shirogane with me. I’ve finally found the word I want to translate arlnath: soulmate. He is my soulmate, and I don’t care if you believe me or not. I will not leave him behind, especially on a planet that could be hostile to him. He wants to see the stars, and so he shall.
	“Have him ‘check in’ with your embassy as often as you like, to make sure that he’s not betraying any secrets to us. We will be happy to provide Earth and its people with information to advance your medical and communications technology. This is why I don’t mind that you were so interested in his prosthetic, though I do care that you deprived a man of the aid he needs to live his life fully. You could have asked us, and we would have happily provided you with one. But as it stands, you can keep it. Call it the first of many gifts we will be giving to you.
	“Ambassadorial staff will be given communicators, as will necessary EGC and Garrison officers so that they can communicate with you back on Earth without the time delay that your current technology has. Family members can come with or they can stay on Earth and be given communicators as well. We are happy to arrange trips back and forth between Altea and Earth as necessary until we feel safe enough helping you with transportation technology. I should tell you now, it will be a long time yet before you get any weaponry out of us.
	“Those are my terms. Are they acceptable?”
	The room was silent. Takashi was staring at her, dumbfounded.
	“And what if we say no to any part of this?” Commander Dos Santos asked her.
	She waved her hand in elegant dismissal. “If we do it my way, everyone saves face, you have a way to keep him on at least some sort of leash, since you’re so worried about his being ‘compromised,’ and your planet gets significant advances in fields that can help your people live longer and communicate better. But if you don’t want that, then I will simply take my arlnath with us and we will depart. No embassy, no upgrades.”
	“I think we can come to some sort of accord,” Ms. Jiang said smoothly. “I personally see no problem with the terms set out by Her Highness.”
	Colonel Hastings wasn’t having it. “With all due respect, Secretary-General…”
	“You wanted him to keep a low profile after his discharge, did you not?” she replied. “Hard to get lower profile than off the planet entirely.”
	“And, if I may,” Commander Holt volunteered, “his security clearance has never been high enough to access anything truly damaging. Even if he gave up every bit of info he had, it wouldn’t make much difference. Considering the wealth of what we’d gain in this deal, it seems an easy choice.”
	Dos Santos stayed quiet, even after Hastings looked to him for help.
	Ms. Jiang smiled. “We’re happy to accept your terms, but if I may make one suggestion?”
	“Which is?” Allura asked tightly.
	“Perhaps don’t mention Captain Shirogane quite as much in your broadcast?”
	Allura laughed airily. “Oh, yes, of course not. He’s far too shy to put up with all of that.”
	“Oh my god,” he groaned from his seat, dropping his face into his hands…er, hand. She hadn’t seen his expression before he did it, but his ears were red.
	“You see?” she said. “Proof!”
	“This is what happens when you give an alien princess the good lovin’, Shiro,” Lance commented.
	“McCLAIN,” both commanders said simultaneously.
	Lance just grinned.
	Allura turned to Ambassador Roberts. “My address is tomorrow night, but I’ll give you until the end of the week to gather your team, their families, and belongings. Does that sound reasonable?”
	He nodded. “Quite, Princess. And I look forward to seeing your lovely home again.”
	“Thank you, Ambassador.” She looked around the room. “So, we’re done here, I believe?”
	“I’d say so,” Major Iverson said. 
	There was a smattering of agreement around the table. People began to stand up and leave, but she noticed Takashi was still sitting there with his head in his hand. She walked over to him and slid an arm around his shoulders. “Beloved?”
	His voice was slightly muffled. “I can’t believe you said all of that in front of my superior officers.”
	“It’s the truth, is it not? Am I not supposed to tell them the truth?”
	“I didn’t say that. But it’s just…”
	She leaned down to whisper, “Would you rather I tell them about how I’ve never come so much or so hard as I have with you?”
	He sat up straight. “DEFINITELY NOT.” 
	Everyone who was still in the room turned to look at him.
	Allura just giggled. “You’re adorable when you blush.”
	“You’re going to kill me, I hope you know that.”
	“C’est juste une petite mort,” she told him. 
	“Oh, god, I forgot about the French,” he muttered. “And don’t think I don’t know what you said.”
	“And don’t think I don’t know how badly you want to learn to pilot our vessels.”
	The look on his face was so boyishly cute that she almost couldn’t stand it. “Really? You’ll teach me to fly Altean ships?”
	She beamed. “If you’re good.”
	“I will be on my best behavior,” he promised immediately. 
	“So,” she asked, “how soon can you be packed, and how many of these ‘movies’ can you bring with you?”
	He laughed. “I’m not sure if I can get our ancient technology to be compatible with yours.”
	“I can help with that!” Pidge offered. 
	Hunk was right there next to her. “Me, too!”
	“I have to help you pick out some decent flicks,” Lance declared.
	He looked around at all of them. “Thanks, guys.” Then he rose and went over to Keith, who was standing off to the side. Allura decided not to listen in on their conversation, and asked Lance, as they all started to walk out together, “So tell me about this Predator movie?”
	“Is it about klanmüirl?” Coran asked, trailing after them.
	“What even is that?” Lance asked.
	“Something tells me I don’t want to know,” Pidge guessed.

	“I’m glad your friends are coming with us,” Allura said. The ambassadorial team was loading up, but she’d said she was going to personally show Shiro where to put his things. “And their families.”
	“Well, Pidge’s anyway. Lance’s and Hunk’s opted to stay behind. Lance told me he had quite a time trying to teach his grandmother how to work the communicator.”
	Allura laughed that lovely, musical laugh of hers. “I look forward to getting to know Commander Holt and his family better. They seem very nice and sensible people.”
	“Don’t say that too soon; you don’t know what Matt and Pidge are like when they get going, especially on pranks.”
	As if on cue, he could hear Pidge outside, saying, “Major, I got you a little something since you’re staying behind. Open it when you get home.” I really ought to warn Iverson, but… plausible deniability. 
	And anyway, Allura was still talking, “But I have to ask: is this truly all you have?” 
	“What? This is ten years’ worth of stuff!” he declared. He had a duffel bag slung over one shoulder and a box in his arms – now that he had two of them again. “I was living in the barracks, after all. And I was off-world for some of that time, too.”
	“Off gallivanting across the universe, seducing alien princesses wherever you went?” she teased.
	“Yeah, pretty much. But we only went to the one place.”
	She mock-glared at him. “You better have.”
	He chuckled. “No one else could ever be you.” He could feel how happy that made her, as if her joy was the warmth from a nearby fireplace.
	“And no one else could ever be you.” And hearing her say it filled him with joy as well. 
	“Here we are! You can put your things in here.” The door opened.
	It was a huge bedroom with a large bed. He noticed a vanity against one wall, and, sitting on it, a small aetherite cube. 
	He smiled at her. “Let me guess: I don’t get this room all to myself, do I?” He walked in to set the box down.
	“No, sorry. You will have to share.”
	“Damn. Well, I suppose I’ll just have to make do.” He slung his duffel down next to the box.
	“Yes, you will. Princess’s orders.”
	He walked over and slid his arms around her. “As you wish,” he whispered, before he kissed her.
	When they broke, she sighed happily and snuggled into his arms. “Ah, it’s so nice to have my brave, handsome captain with me here.”
	“Ah ah,” he corrected her. “I’m a civilian now.”
	“True. And such a shame!” She pulled away enough to look him up and down, running her hands over the vest he was wearing. “You always looked very impressive in your uniform.”
	“You only love me for my uniform!” he lamented, hamming it up. “And here I love you in everything you wear!”
	“You seem to especially like it when I’m not wearing anything,” she pointed out.
	He blushed but didn’t deny it. “I do love the dress you’re wearing now. This shade of pink is very becoming.”
	“I’m glad you like it. It means ‘forever’.”
	“Really? I like the sound of that.”
~The End~