Title: Contact
Rating: T
Summary: In bitter emptiness, detached and alone, the brightest star begins to fade...

Chapter 1

From childhood, one would think that being in space meant that the stars would be a lot closer. That those bright shiny specks of light that dotted so close together the night sky would suddenly be closer for the orbs of glowing warm light to be even more wondrous and breathtaking. Aqua eyes full of awe at the thought of shining stars turning into glowing paper lanterns the size of basketballs hanging from the heavens as you could wade between them in the pool of black. Of course from a logical stand point it was good that most stars were not actually that close since they are in fact humongous giant balls of ignited gas and would incinerate close flying objects. That space was on a much grander scale than ever possibly conceived. However, from the stand point of a child's eyes whose dream was to some day navigate the those stars... the universe was imagined as a playground filled with fascination and discoveries at every turn, gently lit by shimmering stars and still be home.

Lance learned hard way that the universe mostly instilled the feeling of being incredibly and utterly alone. That at any moment, the cold messenger of death could take his hand and no one would ever know.

From the moment he had left Earth, the blue pilot longed for home. The moist soil beneath his bare feet, the salty ocean breeze whipping at his hair with the cries of the hungry gulls overhead, his hardworking mom calling him in for a delicious homemade dinner, his younger and older siblings bickering over this and that... The memories could go on and on, each more detailed than the last. Though with his other teammates, he wasn't exactly alone in his homesickness and that seemed to make him feel not so bad while he was with them. He never imagined that it could ever get any worse.

He did not know how long he had been unconscious, Blue's internal red lights had been silently flashing after having been stirred about in a wormhole and deposited out in some unknown part of the universe, how ever long ago that was. Lance's eyes ever so slowly started to open as he became more and more aware of himself and the fact that he was still breathing and alive. He groaned softly at a slight sharp pain at the front of his head as his eyes blinked to bring his vision into focus, a hand immediately moved to gently slip under his helmet to cup the front of his skull above his left brow in hopes he wasn't bleeding. There was an abrasion caked from dried blood that trailed down the side of his face, sighing in relief that his skull hadn't been cracked open like an egg. A little scrape he could handle.

With initial injury assessment out of the way, the pilot leaned forwards as his fingers slowly skimmed over the console controls with the red light still dimming and brightening to his left. The blue lion's power readings were low as though her systems were in some sort of power down mode while Lance was knocked out with the propulsion offline, the pilot hoping it wasn't damage related. The holographic screens were still lit and the view window was still active so that was a good sign, though the bad news was according to the read outs he was no where near any recognizable solar systems at all. His finger pressed on several of the screen's buttons hoping to bring up communications, he needed to get in contact with the others and the castle as soon as possible. The silence around him was the first thing he noticed, that and the vast emptiness of space, and he felt a small knot in his chest begin to form as he quickly activated the comm system.

"Hey guys, that was one heck of a ride wasn't it? I think I got thrown overboard though, anyone have a guess on where we are? ...Guys?" Lance had laughed into his helmet mic with a shaky confidence that drained as the silence wore on. Was he even transmitting?

His voice grew more unsettled and poked at the holoscreen again, "Hunk? Pidge? Shiro...? ... Keith...? Anyone? Allura... Coran?! ANYONE?!" He leaned forwards as though that would force his voice to penetrate the vacuum of space and then his confidence grew even weaker as his finger repeatedly tapped at the controls, "Is anyone listening...?"

**Zzzzzzhhhhnn!**

"Ahck!" Suddenly blaring white noise static filled his ears and with a yelp of shock, Lance ripped off his helmet and threw it away from him as quick as he could. The helmet bounced off the window and tumbled behind his console chair with it landing on the round surface with the insides sticking out. He stared at it, stunned, with wide eyes as it was still blaring static that simmered down into silence and then his stunned gaze slowly traveled towards the blackness of space and the pin prick light of stars out the view screen window.

They looked so far away, if he wasn't drifting in space he could have sworn he was looking at them as if he was on Earth, but he was sure he was no where near any planets according to Blue's charts. His teammates could be anywhere if they didn't end up in his little section of space. However, if he could get the thrusters up and running he could possibly reach something. Gripping the handles of the main steering, Lance murmured, "C'mon Blue, don't quit on me now..." as he tried to coax his lion into powering up. Nothing happened as he jerked at the handles back and forth over and over again.

"Blue! Get your ass in gear!" Lance growled as he grew frustrated as none of the important parts in his giant metal cat seemed to function, it was his luck that the viewer and touch screens were still working. Slowing his His frustration quickly gave way to a sense of dread, his lion wasn't even communicating with him let alone turning on the jets. His brow knit together with worry and his mouth had begun to dry out, "Blue...? Are you even listening?" He swallowed saliva as he tried to remain calm ...Still no answer.

The silence was swiftly turning into the sounds of the hard beating of his heart, throbbing at his ears which made it too hard to ignore. The air was starting to feel thin even though he could see that life support systems were within normal rates, he was gulping the air to calm his fast heavy breathing. Great, now his hands were starting to sweat and grow numb. Taking off the gloves of his uniform, he tossed them back to where his helmet landed on the floor and rubbed his hands on the thighs of his paladin uniform to dry them as if that would stop these feelings from infiltrating his body and mind. Wrapping his arms around his torso, he found himself shivering as he could feel himself freezing even though his whole body was now sweating.

He was alone, his lion damaged and adrift in a barren sector of the dark, cold universe with hopelessly no way out and unable to call for help.

No planets, no castle, no contact...

End chapter 1