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Again, there's this big problem I'm facing when writing AI characters because I'm trying to stay grounded to what actually makes sense. And I'm afraid that because of that I'm either creating something that's been done (EDI) or simply making them autistic-coded (well, I suppose it's a reason why I relate to AI characters so much). Or worse I can make them straight up bland and boring. Which is something I don't want to do. So, if you feel like telling me my version of N-7's character is meh I get it. Perhaps, I can do something better for her if I'll ever write anything for this.

But I do think connections are a better way to define a character so let's get on with it. I've talked about Mary Ann and N-7, and briefly mentioned Ozar taking care of her in Mary Ann's stead. I see N-7 working with Ozar as sort of a secretary. They'd have a mentor-mentee relationship where Ozar's experience helps N-7 form her own values and understanding of the world. And in turn Ozar could revaluate some of his life choices according to feedback N-7 would give to him. Obviously, this shouldn't be exclusive to these characters only, but given the context of them having a deeper bond I thought I'd mention it. And I see this bond as important because in my headcanon lore N-7 would be mostly isolated from others (until S4) just working and rarely making an effort to try and define herself outside of being helpful. To Te-Osh she will be the part of her old friend. Te-Osh was there to oversee the progress during N-7's development and was just as proud of the result as Mary Ann was. They didn't up growing as close as N-7 and Ozar would but they still respected each other. Te-Osh trusted N-7 enough to let her train Matt in her stead while she had an injury. So, you could say Te-Osh and Ozar were the few proper connections N-7 had prior to joining Olia's cew. As before that no one really made any effort to try and relate to her on a personal level. Mostly due to isolation and the way she holds herself. And because she's a robot, yes.

So, it's really good when she puts herself out there and gets more involved with other rebel officers. From what we've seen, which isn't a lot or anything to begin with, Olia and N-7's relationship is that of mutual respect and I imagine Olia just trusts N-7 wholeheartedly to do her best job. Olia likes to figure people out no matter what they're made of. She's a good judge of character. This gets challenged by N-7's usual upbringing but they make it work. It may get to a point where their beliefs clash but it's alright. Olia has a large collection of books from her homeworld that N-7 reads in her spare time. Sometimes Olia has to step in to clarify that what the books depict may not always be the accurate portrayal of how something works in real life. Like, when it comes to romance books. Especially when it comes to romance books.

And now we finally get to Matt. Because this whole thing has always been Matt-centric in my head. Kinda like SW Rebels is Ezra-centric. Oh, god, why do I have to justify this being Matt-centric. Anyway.

Matt is kind of a mess. A panicked, lost, traumatized and withdrawn kind of mess. He gets abducted by aliens (which in other circumstances would be quite exciting), gets separated from his father, almost has to fight the beastman (which we know would get him killed) before Shiro injures him and fights in his stead, then gets sent to another prisoner ship for workers. He's isolated from the only people he knew. And even they can be as good as dead for all Matt knows. That's a lot to handle for someone his age and experience. Then he gains a new cellmate. The only person who seems to understand what he's saying. It's his first real bond with someone in what feels like an eternity. It's what makes their friendship special to him. Gus gave Matt support and hope that he can make it through. And save his dad, and potentially Shiro, given the latter's not dead. And this hope is paid off by the appearance of the rebel squad that later comes to their rescue.

Matt is rescued by the rebel fighters and taken under Te-Osh's wing until he is able to stand his own ground. His injury is generally taken care of and Matt can begin to receive his combat training. Soon enough he is able to participate in some of the ground missions like raids and scouting. It's not without occasional mishaps but nothing fatal.

I imagine because of his help to Gus while on the prisoner ship he got the attention of the rebel officers who would invite him to join their forces. And while hesitantly Matt decides to take the offer. Because he understands they're his only way to find dad and Shiro and go back home. He sees it as an opportunity. So, that's his priority at the time. It's only after spending time with the rebels and learning more about the Galra and what they've been doing to everyone his priorities begin to shift from his needs to the greater picture. And then a bigger mishap happens. And Matt allows himself to be seen without a mask while also pissing someone off so bad they put a bounty on his head. Tbh I haven't exactly thought out the way it happens. Only that it was mostly because of Matt's carelessness or trusting nature. I will have to think about that some more. So, for him it's only logical he is to be transferred to a remote location hidden from everyone and contributing to the cause by listening in on the Galra radio chatter. There begins another period of isolation for him.

Until his location is compromised by Pidge. Damn, bro, it's like the Paladins can't do anything without compromising Coalition bases. But, yeah, Matt takes care of the equipment and leaves with Pidge. As for his time in isolation I can't say anything interesting happens. Matt collects the data and reflects on his life. It's not a very great time for him. Isolation can do a number on one's mental health. Especially if it wasn't that great in the first place. Tbf there are barely any signs of this when Pidge finds him in canon. But canon who? It's at this point when Matt finally gets to meet people he was separated from for Bob knows how long. And in addition to that he also gets to learn that Shiro did survive the arena and is doing well (even though that wasn't the real Shiro but okay). Only thing left to do is find their dad. Except now Matt knows not to put his wishes before the mission/the needs of others. That's why he wouldn't come back to Earth given the opportunity.

But I went ahead of myself. Prior to Lotor joining the party Matt has to regroup with his former rebel squad. He joins Olia's crew and reunites with some of the familiar faces. Except for Te-Osh. Who is dead. But I'm not going to get into that here. He also gets to meet some of the new people like Meloi (the alien rebel with long ponytail looking ears? or whatever it is? the name is original), Slav, and the trouble trio - Nyma, Rolo and Beezer. They're Spare Pirates and they haven't fully joined the Coalition but they're willing to lend their help in the upcoming attack if it means getting back at the Galra and because extra credits are extra credits.

This is also that time period when the Paladins were making fools of themselves during the Voltron show. It gets the attention, sure. But I can't help but think of how tone deaf it all seemed to the rebel fighters. Who at the time were busy doing the dirty work.

The cooperation between the rebels and the BoM is another thing I should think more about. So far it's unclear how involved they are with each other. And I wonder if they ever crossed each other's path before Voltron. It's important because it's very unclear what Matt and Keith's relationship is like in the show. They clearly care about one another but have they had interactions off-screen? Joint missions or something? Unclear. I like to imagine that they did.

And Matt continues to learn as much as he can about the alien tech while living out his Mass Effect dreams. Which becomes even easier when Lotor joins the party. Because his knowledge has been a great help for the Coalition. That is until he becomes the Emperor and Shiro decides it would be a great idea to sync the Galra map with the one from the Castle of Lions. Which in hindsight was a pretty bad idea (I mean, yeah, that was the clone Shiro, but no one objected either). I can't even begin to imagine the Coalition's reaction to learning that all of their secret bases were now revealed to the Galra Empire. It's especially fucked up for the Blades for how much they relied on secrecy. Damn, they didn't deserve this crap. It still bothers me how no one talks about that.

So, the disappearance of Voltron. Another event that left a huge impact on the state of the Coalition. It still pains me that they decided to pull the time-space-skip to force the plot to take place on Earth. I mean, you know how the beginning of S6 had this whole thing going on about the Galra Civil War and how Lotor needed the Quintessence field to stop it. And then they just... dropped it. Like they never even wanted to deal with that and skipped right to the end. It's just sad because to me it seemed like a very interesting plot point. We were given some basic info on the Civil War and how it affected the Coalition. For one many rebel fighters have been wiped out. How that happened is a whole other story that I would have to think about some more later. But, damn, that's 3 whole years that they just skipped and it's the most interesting time period too, because we know so little about it. I mean it surely boosted Matt's character development as evidenced by the second glow up. He must have been devastated to learn that his little sister disappeared along with the rest of the Voltron - their symbol of hope.

It is at this point I am also struggling with what I want to write down in this point and what I want to omit for the sake of any of my future works. But to keep it brief it's a very bad time period for the Coalition. They're forced to adapt to changes brought by Lotor and Voltron which is extremely difficult when they also have to navigate Galra's Civil War and avoid being hunted. Some rebel officers ended up joining Galra warlords to escape their fate in exchange for the information on the Coalition. Rebel forces have been divided which made them easier targets for space pirates. And at this point Matt and the gang are just trying to stay alive and lay low. Matt's skills at keeping himself hidden come in handy. They also are constantly on the move, making sure they leave no trails. With how unstable the state of the galaxy is there's really no telling what will happen the very next minute. And then they're also struggling for resources all the time. Now more than ever. There is a need to regroup and rebuild the alliances which becomes nearly impossible when the Galra's craft is simply superior to anything the rebel fighters have. It almost feels like they have to start from the ground up. Fortunately, some of the rebel officers managed to stay low for as long as they could thanks to being stationed on various listening outposts. You know, like Wakala and Remdax. It's really helpful to have all these "sleeper agents'' when it's time to assemble. So, it takes 3 years for the state of the galaxy to stabilize a little. And for the rebels to regroup. Galra beating the hell out of each other meaning there's less warlords potentially coming after their asses. And the Fire of Purification basically built their own Empire. Rebel fighters take every opportunity they can get from this nonsense and rebuild their support system. They take it step by step and help who they can.

When the Fire of Purification moves to Earth it's an opportunity because that leaves the biggest enemy out of the picture (to be completely honest with you I cannot find anything that suggests the possible time of when they attacked Earth. I am probably missing something but all I can find is that it happened during the time-skip. No sign of when exactly that is except maybe for the confirmed "not earlier than 6 months after Voltron disappeared". This obscutiry gives me anxiety because I feel like it was mentioned somewhere and I'm just too stupid to find it.). Okay, so obviously those are not good news for Matt especially when they receive Sam's transmission. Thankfully, soon comes Krolia who is there to tell the rebels about everything that happened. And later they arrive on Earth. That's basically it for the general history of events.

I know I haven't exactly discovered America with this post but writing it has been both fun and exhausting. I'm glad I got to put my thoughts out there and I hope others will enjoy it as well. For the rest of the post I'll just write some of the headcanons... like I was supposed to from the beginning... instead of writing some stupid essay. Well, anyway.

Matt is good with kids, so Olia's pups love him. They call him Uncle Matt.

Olia has this no nonsense attitude. Slav finds it especially intimidating because of her fangs.

Speaking of Slav, my man has been a great addition to the coalition thanks to his brains. Matt enjoys spending time with him. There's a lot of interesting theories Slav talks about that Matt is intrigued by.

Rolo didn't die. He found the few remaining members of his species including some very old friends and stayed with them to help. He still has ways to contact his rebel friends, so it's all good.

Nyma became a proper rebel officer. For the most part because she had nowhere else to go and the coalition needed every help they could get. And she does care for Matt and the gang too. Her charisma proves to be helpful when the situation calls for it. I also like to think she's got some medical training as well. And that area she grew up in specialized in medicine. Weed too.

Beezer is hard to headcanon because I have to also make sure I'm not treating him as an astromech from Star Wars. He was likely stolen from the Space Mall as we've seen a similar looking model at Vrepit Sal's cafeteria. Both Rolo and Nyma understand what Beezer's saying perfectly and they use it to their advantage quite often. Matt would learn the droid language soon too.

Being Space Pirates Rolo, Nyma and Beezer would often get bored with nothing to do. So they have Beezer broadcast the closest TV channel they can connect to. They become quite knowledgeable in the lore of that one Bii-Boh-Bi sitcom. And they've watched so many trash shows like this they have to restrain themselves from making a reference in random situations. It makes them insufferable when they decide to tease someone. Like Matt.

N-7 accidentally jumpscares people. She also uses a longsword as her weapon of choice.

Olia rarely fights, she's more of a pilot, but when she does she usually just uses a pistol.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16823581/chapters/63214807

Preview below.