Chapter 1- Waiting Impatiently

(See end of chapter for notes)

"Lance... Lance... did he fall asleep?" The red paladin's eyes snapped open as Hunk's voice sounded in his ear.

"Wa-huh?" Pidge snorted.

"Yeah, he fell asleep." Lance rolled his eyes, trying not to yawn as he stretched.

"I did not! ... I was just resting my eyes..." There was a loud sigh.

"Lance," Pidge said, her voice snappy. "That's the third time in the last hour that you've dozed off!" Lance scowled.

"All the more reason for us to land on the nearest planet and take a break like I suggested earlier!"

"We'll land on Olkarion in less than a varga, so sit tight!" Coran piped up cheerfully, and Lance slumped in his seat.

"We've been sitting tight for several quintents! My backside's killing me!"

"If you don't stop complaining, I'LL kill you." Keith's voice rang into Lance's ear, and the red paladin winced. "We're almost there! We need to regroup and contact the coalition before we can head home. Not only that, we'll need the Olkarions' help if we want to get to Earth before Sendek realizes how vulnerable we are."

"Chances are, he already has." Krolia's firm, clear voice sounded over the intercom, and Lance cocked his head.

"You think so?" Allura, who had been quiet for the majority of the trip, finally spoke.

"Sendek seems to have eyes and ears everywhere. It goes without saying that he'll hear about Voltron's battle with Lotor soon enough. We just have to hope he hasn't quite yet." Suddenly, there was a loud beeping sound, and Lance jumped as several alarms started going off in his lion's cockpit.

"Uh, what's going on?" Hunk's worried voice came through Lance's comlink. "Guys, is anyone else's dashboard beeping and flashing like heck?"

"Something's wrong!" Lance winced at Pidge's statement.

"Yeah, Einstein, that much is obvious!" he snapped. Before he could make any more snide remarks, however, he was thrown forward, his lion spiraling out of control. Just as suddenly as the commotion had started, it stopped. The alarms stopped, and the Red Lion floated motionless in space, its paladin breathing heavily.

"What in the name of King Groggery the Infirm was that?" Coran gasped, his voice hoarse. Lance licked chapped lips, shaking his head.

"No idea... It's like my lion was... short circuiting or something..."

"Same..." Keith agreed. "They all did it."

"Hey, guys," Pidge's voice rang over the coms. "I'm picking up a strange energy signature from nearby... it's..." She gasped, and Lance leaned forward in his seat.

"What? What's wrong?" There was a long pause before Pidge finally responded.

"Whatever caused that surge in our lions left behind a strong energy marker... it's... it's the same as Voltron's." Lance straightened, instinctively clutching at his bayard.

"Wait, does that mean Lotor's back?!" Hunk asked, panic in his voice.

"No." Allura said firmly. "He couldn't have escaped the Quintessence Field in the state we left him in. It must be something else!"

"Pidge," Keith said, his voice resonating authority. "Figure out what's causing that energy signature. We can't head to Olkarion with the possibility that we've got a threat on our tail."

"I'm working on it, but it may take a while. That energy surge messed with my lion's systems quite a bit."

"Do what you have to. There's an uninhabited planet nearby. We'll land there and rest; give the lions a chance to recover." Lance heaved a sigh of relief. His backside really did ache.

The uninhabited planet the paladins landed on proved to be uninhabited for a very good reason. The planet was shrouded in darkness; gas geysers went off every few moments, cloaking the terrain in a dangerous haze. Acid rain came down from the dark grey clouds, eating away at the dark red clay that made up the planet's surface. It went without saying that the atmosphere could not properly sustain any life.

Lance decided that this was not the best place to stretch his legs.

"Pidge, is this planet even safe? That rain does not look refreshing."

"We should be fine. Our armor is reinforced enough that the rain won't damage it unless we stand outside for a prolonged period of time. As for the lions, they should be just fine. We won't be here long enough for the acid to cause them any harm." Lance nodded, shifting the controls to land the Red Lion.

"Hey, Pidge," Hunk piped up. "I'm running a few modules to compare the energy signature we picked up to the one we got when we first came across that other reality. You know, the time with that weird Altean ship? And the weird Shiro-"

"Um, not to be a bother, but I have a question." Romelle's soft voice came through the coms, quiet, and uncertain. "What exactly are we planning on doing when we discover the cause of this strange energy? As someone pointed out earlier, the lions are not at their best. If whatever this is turns out to be a threat, what are we to do about it?" Lance arched an eyebrow, pursing his lips.

"She has a point, ya know..." He watched as Keith stepped out of the black lion, bending backwards in a stretch.

"We need to go one step at a time. We'll start by finding out what the energy is and then go from there." Lance let out a bark of laughter, exiting his own lion, and Keith glared. "What's so funny?" Lance folded his arms, smirking slyly.

"Oh, I just find this hilarious, coming from you: the guy who used to just charge in, impatient to get the job done." Keith put a hand on one hip, glaring at the red paladin.

"The key words in that sentence being 'used to'. And sometimes, you don't need a plan; you can just charge in. This time, however, anyone with a brain would know that we can't do that." Lance scowled, glaring back at Keith.

"Yeah, which makes me wonder why you knew that." Pidge snorted with laughter, Hunk clapping his hands over his helmet, where his mouth was.

"Oooh! He got you there, Keith!" the green paladin said, pointing meaningfully at the dark haired boy. Rather than retort like everyone expected however, he smiled. It was a half playful smile, and Lance stared, taken aback.

"Nice comeback." Lance blinked, shaking his head hard, before tapping the side of his helmet. His comlink must be malfunctioning.

"Huh?!" But Keith didn't repeat himself. All playfulness gone, he turned to Pidge, who had been watching the exchange with arched eyebrows.

"How's it going? Have you found anything yet?" Pidge snapped to attention, shaking her head.

"No, but I have some modules running. They should be done by now; I'll go take a look." She dashed back to her lion, shaking the rain from her armor like a dog before entering.

"We shouldn't stay out in the rain for too long," Hunk pointed out, looking down at his steaming armor. "It's doing more damage than I expected." Lance and Keith agreed, and the three headed back to their respective lions.

Lance was just assessing how much longer he'd have before he'd need to resume his seated position, when Pidge emitted a loud cry, stammering something nonsensical.

Lance pulled opened a visual channel to the Green Lion, and stared at Pidge, whose mouth was now moving soundlessly, her eyes wide.

"Pidge, what's going on?" The small girl blinked rapidly, as though disbelieving of what was before her.

"The tests... I finished running them, and... is this even possible?!"

"Is what possible?" Hunk said, pulling up a channel of his own. Keith appeared on screen as well, Krolia looking over his shoulder. Allura, Romelle, and Coran followed suit, and everyone waited for Pidge's response.

"The energy is similar to that of a teladove... But, at the same time, it has the quintesinal signature of Voltron, just like that intereality portal we came across a while back! It also has the same gravitational force as the Quantum Abyss..." Keith frowned.

"Been there..."

Lance leaned forward in his seat.

"And what exactly does all this mean?" Pidge grabbed at her laptop, clicking away feverishly.

"Well... all the data suggests that it's hypothetical warped spacetime."

HEY, EVERYONE!

So, like my other fanfiction, "Weak Link" (which I *cough cough* still haven't finished...) I will unfortunately be unable to update chapters regularly... but yeah. I will try putting the next chapter out soon! Spoilers: this story will include lots of Langst (and angst in general) family and bonding moments between the paladins, and LOTS OF COMPLEX SPACE-TIME STUFF! (just a heads-up) Oh, and with the help of a friend... (you know who you are) I hope to put in some awesome fight scenes!

Until next time! :D