It had been five hours since Keith had been brought to the med unit and although he was stable, the fact he was still unconscious worried the doctors. The upper half of his torso was covered with white bandages and he had a breathing mask on. He had lost a lot of blood and had received a transfusion from Allura at her insistence, but they had not yet gotten any good news about his condition.

Keith's still form laid across the hospital bed, various tubes coming in and out of his body from underneath his hospital gown. Allura had an army of doctors checking over him and she watched with Lance and Sven from behind a glass partition. She stood away from them and was frowning as she watched the doctors check him over, wincing every time he got a hypospray.

All she could think was that he had protected her without a single thought despite the fact that she had been rude to him as well as untrusting. It was the most selfless thing she had ever witnessed. He may end up giving up his life for her if the doctors couldn't fix him up for the shot had landed near his heart and he was in critical condition. Keeping her eyes on his pale face, she forced herself not to look away because she owed him that, at the very least. She put a hand up to the glass.

Sven glanced at the Princess. He could see how worried she was, how confused she was with the situation, and was glad to finally see a glimmer of humanity in the otherwise granite-faced woman. It took a lot for Keith to finally earn her trust, but Sven could see that he finally did. He just hoped that his friend would be alive long enough to see it.

Lance rested his head against the glass. His best friend was in there and he could do nothing about it. He never felt more helpless and frustrated in his life. Although they had been fighting in this war as soon as they were old enough to be drafted, none of them had yet to suffer a serious wound. Keith was the first. Lance had seen other friends go down, but not one as close as Keith. They had grown up together and he couldn't imagine his life without the man who kept him on the straight path.

"Can't say he can't be trustworthy now," Lance said to Allura in a low, dangerous voice.

"I can't say anything at all," she said, turning away and walking out of the medical ward.

She made her way to main where Coran sat in the big seat. He turned when she walked in, worry written all over his face.

"How is he?" he asked.

"He hasn't woken up yet," she replied. "Did you contact GG and ask for a bomb squad?"

"They're sending two experts who are coming in from Malonius. They should be here in another hour or so."

"What about the bomber?" she asked.

"We have him in custody. Arusian custom states that Keith is responsible for his sentencing, but Alliance regs say we turn him in to them since he injured an Alliance officer."

"Turn him in for now," she said. "I don't think Porterfield has the strength to take care of him."

Allura studied the status screen before Coran. It was a map of the compound and there was an area lit up in red. The explosion was not a large one, but made enough damage to destroy three rooms. They had cleared out what Keith had told them to and no one had been near the bomb since Keith had been shot. They did not want to touch it before the two experts from Malonius had arrived and from what Coran had gathered, they were Alliance officers as well. Lieutenant Commander Henry Yearling and Lieutenant Peter Nicholas.

"Let me know when they get here," she said to Coran. "I'm going back to med."

"Of course."

When she got back there, Lance and Sven were sitting in the seats in Keith's room, making themselves comfortable. She stepped up to the bed, getting a closer look at the man who had saved her life. Dark brows knit together, Keith looked like he was in pain and guilt settled in the pit of her stomach for putting him in this position--as well as treating him so badly before it. Slowly, her hand crept up to clasp his. The other two occupants in the room watched quietly. She pulled a chair up to his bed and sat next to him, not letting go of his hand. She stared into his face for a long time, her heart filled with gratitude for his unselfish act.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"He's a good guy," Sven said, hearing her words.

"He's more than proved that," she said, not looking at him. "I do feel bad about the way I treated him and I hope I'll be able to tell him that."

"I bet he'll wake up just so you could apologize to him," Lance joked lightly.

Allura threw him a look but his attention was back on his friend. She saw the worry on his face and on the other one's face, and had to wonder about the relationship between the three of them. Camaraderie as close as this was alien to her because she had learned the hard way that the more people you had close to you, the more likely you were going to get hurt when they were ripped away. Somehow, these three had made it through the war alive and together, and she decided that some people just had luck.

She was not one of those people.

She didn't know how long she was sitting there before her communicator chimed. Letting go of his hand, she turned it on and found herself looking at Coran.

"Lieutenant Commander Yearling and Lieutenant Nicholas have arrived," he said in a no-nonsense voice.

"Thank you. Meet me at the hangar to greet them."

"Lucky for them, you changed your jumpsuit today," Lance said.

She made a face at him and rose. She patted Keith's hand, and left the room to make her way to the hanger. Coran met her halfway and they arrived just as two fighters appeared. She frowned.

"I thought they were engineers," she said.

"They are, but they are pilots as well," Coran replied.

She rolled her eyes. "That's great. That's just what I need. More pilots."

A large, hefty brown-haired man and a scrawny boy with glasses got out of the fighters and faced Allura with smiles. She regarded them archly, finding the picture they presented a little ridiculous. Yearling had at least a foot and a half, as well as a hundred pounds over the younger Nicholas, but from what she knew, they were close friends and associates. Thinking of the three she had left inside, she wondered if there was something about GG that brought together the oddest groupings of people.

"Hi, Princess," Lieutenant Nicholas said cheerfully. "I hear you've got something for us to look at."

"Yes, I do," she said with no preamble. "I'm sure you know all the details concerning the bomb."

"Your advisor briefed us," Lieutenant Commander Yearling replied.

"Good," she said and turned to Coran. "Show them to the bomb. I'm going to go to main and make sure nothing else is going to the dogs."

"As you wish."

Coran led the two men down the corridors as Allura went in the opposite direction. Nicholas looked around him like a child in a toy store.

"Who built this place?" he asked in awe.

"The Princess' father, King Alfor. He wanted to make sure his people always had a safe haven so he built this compound."

"How many levels does it have?" Yearling asked.

"We are only in the battle area," Coran replied. "It has ten levels. The living area is fifty levels and stretches for miles. Only Allura knows its actual location. When the men want to visit their families, she blindfolds them and puts them in an automatic subterranean vehicle."

"Wow," the lieutenant breathed.

Coran stopped before the partition that the men had put up. Yearling and Nichols ducked underneath it. Coran followed them, but at a more cautious pace.

"Commander Yearling, shouldn't we have protective gear on?" he asked nervously.

"Not much can protect you from a bomb other than a hundred pound suit, so I guess the only thing that could possibly help is a pair of protective goggles," was the light response.

"Oh."

"And please, call me Hunk. I can't stand being called Commander," he said. "I think that it had the same sound as nails on a chalkboard."

"A what?"

"It's an old Terran term," Nicholas put in. "And please call me Pidge."

"As you wish."

The two officers stood before the bomb, eyeing it critically before getting down to work. With sure movements, they removed the covering of the bomb's core and exposed all the wires inside it. They both paused.

"This is a mess," Hunk exclaimed.

"Never seen anything like it," Pidge said. "Except for maybe my fourth grade science project."

Hunk gingerly separated the five different colored wires to see where they were leading. There was a lot of wire to sort out and he began to sweat. Pidge removed a small chip from behind the cover and put it in a small bag.

"What was that?" Coran asked.

"Remote access," Pidge answered. "And it looks like it's the fuse too."

He turned back to watch Hunk who had half the wires hanging to the floor. They could see that each was attached the the four other charges outside the core. But what the other ends were attached to was still open to suggestion. Hunk unraveled the wires slowly, careful not to tug for he might set off the sensitive charges.

"I think you should get out of here, Coran," Pidge said. "It could get hairy from here on out. And have everything within a..." He looked to Hunk.

"Within a fifty meter radius," Hunk prompted.

"Have everything within a fifty meter radius cleared out," he finished.

Coran nodded and hurried out of the partition. Pidge crouched down beside Hunk and untangled the wires that were hanging down. At last, Hunk reached the end of the wires and they found themselves staring at the motherboard.

"What is that?!?" Pidge exclaimed, pointing at a small red chip.

Hunk ran a scan over it. "It looks like a trip wire and it's going to make the bomb go off the second we pull it off." His eyes followed the wires and he saw that they went behind the casing. "It looks like we can't take this off the wall either."

Pidge studied it carefully, the complexities of their problem going through his brilliant mind. He stared at the core as he tossed the scanner back and forth in his hands. Hunk waited for his partner's solution. Pidge reached out and traced one of the wires, a red one, from the motherboard to a charge. He frowned. He tugged it slightly. Hunk's hands shot out reflexively and a word of warning was on his lips, but closed his mouth when Pidge threw him a silencing look. He gasped as the wire came easily out of the charge and let out a breath when he realized he wasn't splattered all over the north wall. Hunk had covered his face with his hands and was peeking through his fingers. His young friend was holding the red wire in a death grip, his hand shaking slightly.

"I suppose you knew that was going to happen," Hunk said wryly.

"S-sure."

Before he could chicken out, Hunk pulled out the rest of the wires.

"Obviously built by amateurs," Pidge said. "I'm surprised the first charge went off."

"So, I guess we can pull this off the wall now."

They looked at each other uncertainly.

"No hidden charges anywhere?" Pidge asked.

Hunk ran the scanner over it. "None that I can detect. This thing does have a point-one percent chance of error."

Pidge reached out, his eyes squeezed shut. He put a hand on the core and pulled it off in one swift motion. He and Hunk smiled in relief. Hunk took it in his hands and studied the back. He frowned when he saw a small square shaped metal piece attached to the back. He peered at it and his eyes widened when he realized what it was. Pidge, who had never heard his friend shout expletives to that extent before, took a peek at it. In an instant, he had his communicator out.

"Is it disarmed?" Coran asked.

"Yes, but we have another problem," Pidge replied.

"What has happened?"

"There's a homing device on the back of the core. We have to evacuate."