Chapter Summary: Set 15 years after the Voltron season 7 ending. Lance and Keith have been mysteriously missing for 4 years. While everyone looks for them, the Atlas rescues a human boy from an emergency pod. Shiro thinks the boy they rescued and the sudden disappearance of the red and black paladins are related.

My first Votron LD fic. Please let me know what you think!

A shrilling beep resounds in the air.

Hazy visions show big translucent bubbles floating in neon-colored liquid.

A twitch. Two twitches.

A big gulp of air but nothing comes in but thick a thick semi-viscous liquid.

A choking feeling and wanting relief but bound hands hindered the motion of grasping the throat.

Shrill high-pitched sustained beeps-

"-rt! -ck! -boy! Abort!"

Liquid pours out as the medical pod opens. The boy, soaked to the bone, falls to the floor. A pair of arms, one skin-like, and one metallic wrapped a big towel around the small boy.

The boy has dark hair and eyes, his skin, a little tan but from the supposedly long time that he was inside the emergency pod floating in space, it seemed paler than a normal human tint would be. Scraggly, short and thin, his presence was almost ghost-like. The only solid proof that he was alive was his heavy shallow breathing, making his shoulder-length wavy hair move with his lithe body's rhythm.

"Someone, give me a stabilizer!" the white-haired man shouts to one of the medics. As if waiting for the cue, one of the medics handed him a cylindrical pump syringe which was soon plugged into the boy's arm. A few seconds after the administration of the drug, the boy opens his eyes and painfully blinks before he snuggles into the stranger's arms.

The stranger puts his arms around the boy cradled in fetal-position, "I'll bring him to the wards. Once you're done sanitizing the pod and his belongings, bring the boy's stuff to me."

"Yes, Commander" the medics salute as the ship's commander leave with the boy.

Commander Shirogane sat next to the infirmary bed, looking at the mysterious patient. His vital signs are stable. He sighed. All was peaceful again.

It was 12 hours ago when the Atlas was alerted of an incoming opening wormhole. Everyone came on full alert, Earth was signaled to open its defenses. Earth's galactic defense had only been developed 12 years ago but new technological advances had been happening every year. Unlike 15 years ago when there was very limited quintessence energy available, Earth now utilizes Balmeran crystal energy.

While the past decade had been relatively peaceful since the Galran Empire was re-founded after the great war, Earth still had to keep it's defenses up to keep it safe against occasional skirmishes of rebels and space pirates.

Usually, when an unidentified wormhole would appear, it's usually a raid or a guerrilla attack from some rebels, usually a big fleet with a couple of battle carriers. This time, however, the wormhole only transported one vessel -an unidentified unresponsive emergency vessel.

Shiro stood up to get a better look at the kid, there was something about him that seems familiar, he just can't point it out. The kid looked human- a helpless human child. The red alert that blared through the whole ship now seems like a joke. Inside the alien pod was just another one of his race, and even if it wasn't, Shiro wouldn't be that heartless to not help. But where did it come from? Since the Earth-Galran war 15 years ago, Earth had been introduced to alien lifeforms, and while it took a while to get the trade and cultural exchange going, many humans now felt more confident participating in intergalactic programs and exchanges. Still, it wasn't like humans have colonies outside Earth yet, other than a few labs in some Jovian moons and Kerberos. And even if humans did leave Earth to go to other planets, they would either be part of Atlas' crew or aboard other science lab ships - and while Atlas can jump through space, thanks to Altean technology and Balmeran crystals, those lab ships can't. Earth is still on the verge of developing technology that can equal itself with its contemporary alien civilization.

Aside from the Atlas, the only other humans that can space jump are the Paladins of Voltron - or at least, what's left of the paladins of Voltron.

Just as he was pondering, the ward door opens, one of the cadets came over with a box. The cadet left the box by the infirmary bed for his COmmander to came over to the other side of the bed to reach over the box.

Inside the box were some clothes made of alien cloth something akin to spandex- the bodysuit he was found in when the pod was retrieved from the outskirts of Jupiter. Other things inside the box was a small circular object about half an inch thick. In the middle of the circle is another circle that looks like a button - a remote for something. Shiro looked at it puzzled, he stopped himself from pushing the button just in case it was a bomb or a trap.

That was it.

Nothing else was inside the box. "Maybe it's an emergency evacuation?" Shiro mumbled to himself. "Sir?" the cadet tried to listen harder, "If it were planned, they would have more belongings with them...plus, he had nutrients plugged in him, he must have been unconscious.

"Bring this to the lab and try to figure out what this is." Shiro waved the circular remote back before placing it back to the box. The cadet gave a silent salute and left the ward.

When the cadet was out of sight, he tapped the small earpiece over his right ear, as if on speed-dial, it immediately connected to the Voltron lions, "Allura, this is me, any updates on the whereabouts of Keith and Lance?" he clenched his fists as he waited for the response. The familiar soft ring of Allura's voice echoes in his ear, "Sorry Shiro, we detected another hiccup in time-space but we don't see anything. We've been sweeping through the last coordinate they reported in but nothing's in here: not even any debris or trace of the planet Qanag- not even a trace of the black and red lions," the last couple of words were almost whispered as if she herself couldn't accept what she was seeing, "I asked Coran to look at it and see if there's a connection between the hiccups and the disappearance of the whole planet." Shiro could hear her grit her teeth, "...there has to be."

Shiro waved his hand as if the empress can see her, "Thanks Allura, keep me posted. I'll call you again to update you about something we found...I'm not sure if it's related but I need to get Pidge and Hunk here first. Pidge? Hunk?" Pidge and Hunk who were listening in on the conversation between Allura and Shiro, both made sounds to confirm their presence. "I'm on my way Shiro. Just coming back from my mission." Pidge reassured the Atlas commander. "I'm coming back from the Kerberos, so I'll be there in a few. Anything you need us to do?" Hunk asks.

"I'll tell you more about it when you get here. See you in a bit. I'll get things ready." Shiro taps his earpiece again. He rubbed his temple and groaned a sigh out of frustration. "It's been 4 years, where are you guys?"

The peaceful beeping of the machinery and the shallow breathing of the frail figure next to him hurt