There was nothing. There was nothing but darkness surrounding them in every direction. They could see small specks of light in the distance but nothing helped the feeling of hopelessness as they floated in a bubble in the cold, dark, unforgiving emptiness of space.
Rocket was the one protecting them, keeping them secure in a force bubble reinforced with Zatanna's magic. But she was growing tired. She couldn't hold the bubble forever and there was no sign of life anywhere. They were growing distressed and claustrophobic as they were all huddled together in the small space.
Kid Flash and Artemis were especially close. After being separated for so long, they held hands tightly, not wanting to let go of each other.
Nightwing kept a close eye on Rocket, seeing beads of sweat drip from her brow as she gasped heavily through her mouth.
"I got you," he said as he held her by the shoulders.
"I see something!" Their spirits lifted and everyone turned to Superboy as when they heard him. Their eyes trailed in his direction, looking for whatever he saw. But they saw nothing but large chunks of space rocks in their path: another obstacle they had to go through.
"The asteroids?" Kid Flash replied.
"Not just that," Superboy replied. "It's my supervision. Among the asteroids, I see some kind of an outpost. Infrared vision shows no heat signatures but…"
"But, if we can get there, we can send out a beacon to get people to our location," Nightwing finished.
"Yes," said Aqualad. "Even if no one come, we can use it as a temporary shelter for the time being."
Zatanna touched Rocket's shoulder. "Just a little bit longer."
Pidge remained at her seat, in the bridge of the Castle of Lions, looking at a map of the surrounding galaxies. Suddenly, a beacon appeared on the map with coordinates of an abandoned Galra outpost on the Karlian asteroid belt. The others soon filed into the bridge.
"What is it?" Shiro asked as he walked in.
"I've suddenly picked up a distress beacon from what looks like an abandoned Galra outpost," she explained as she typed on the keypad in front of her. "Here's the transmission."
An audio message played on the computer. "Hello, to all who receive this. My name is Kaldur'ahm. I a protege of Aquaman of the Justice League from Earth. There are eight of us total. My friends and I have been stranded in space and found this outpost by luck. We need help. If anyone gets this transmission, please help us. Contact the Justice League. That is all. Thank you." The message ended.
"I don't get it," Lance said. "What's the Justice League?"
"I don't know," Shiro said. "But he says that they're from Earth and as far as we know, Earth doesn't have the technology to come this far into deep space."
Pidge placed her hand under her chin. "Could they be from another reality?" She typed away on the computer. "I saw a strange burst of energy in the Skylar System, but it disappeared a second later, so I didn't pay it any mind. But looking at the location from where the transmission came, that's the Karlian asteroid belt in the system. If they're from another reality, they're stranded without knowing anything about this place. They must think they're still in their own reality and completely confused." The room remained silent as they looked at the color-coded holographic map on the bridge.
"The last time we met people from another reality, they were conquerors who wanted to use Voltron," Allura said as her eyes narrowed remembering the encounter with the Altheans. "There's no way we can be sure that this not just a trap, like last time. It is coming from a Galra outpost. Not to mention, the Skylar System is on the border of the Galra Empire. If we met the Galra there, we may not be able to fight a huge fleet."
Hunk also took his seat, looking at his computer. "I can't find signatures that match Voltron, which means, there is no trans-reality comet that could have allowed them to come here from another reality."
"But if they are who they say they are, and they're from Earth and stranded on the asteroid, they could fall prey to the Galra. That signal was sent out for anyone to receive," Shiro said as he crossed his hands across his chest. "They'll be confused and in danger." He turned to Allura. "As you've said before: Voltron is the Defender of the Universe. If someone is in danger, we have to help, even if there is a risk."
Allura furrowed her brow before she sighed.
"But we will be taking precautions." Shiro finished with a smile.
As they moved forward, they agreed on a plan. They used the teludavs to create a wormhole, for the Green Lion, with Shiro and Pidge aboard. In camouflage mode as they entered the asteroid belt. They navigated through the asteroid belt, until they found the small outpost, landing the Green Lion right on top of the outpost. They created a small hole and flew into the outpost with the jetpacks. Pidge quickly connected to the electrical panel as she tried to get a security feed from the cameras on the ship. As they watched the feed from room to room, they saw a group of eight sitting in silence in the control room of the outpost. There was a young woman unconscious on the floor with two others watching over her, one of which had green skin. There was another girl sitting with a guy, holding his hands tightly and three other guys in the room as well, one of which seemed to be petting a white wolf . They wore strange clothes and some wore masks, like something out of a comic book. But they all looked human.
Scanning the ship again, Pidge made sure there was no one else in the building before she sent a message to the main computer of the outpost. She also sent a message to the rest of Voltron, telling them they were coming back. .
Just as planned, the Team received the message Pidge sent to the computer and met up near the entrance of the outpost. They greeted each other with glee before they all loaded into the Green Lion after Nightwing mentioned another transition from another ship that was coming. In no time, they returned to the wormhole to leave the territory before the Galra arrived.
Nightwing was the one holding Rocket upright when they arrived on the strange planet where the Castle would be. The planet also used to belong to the Galra before Voltron drove them out. The planet was only used for mining so there was no life in sight. As they exited the Green Lion, the rest of the Voltron cast - Allura, Lance, and Hunk - came to meet them, leaving Coran in the ship.
"Thank you for rescuing us," Aqualad said.
"No problem," Pidge replied. "But who are you guys and how did you get here?"
"Well since we're from another universe, there's no reason to keep our identities," Nightwing said. Although reluctant, he still removed his mask. "I'm Nightwing. This is Raquel, Zatanna, Megan, Wally, Artemis, Kaldur, and Conner. Where we come from we're a team of young heroes under the tutelage of the Justice League."
"Yeah, sorry," Lance replied. "I till have no idea what a Justice League is."
"We're from another universe," Kid Flash said again.
"If you're from another reality, how do you know you're in another reality. And how did you get here?" Allura asked, skeptically.
"Well, while we were waiting for our rescue, I hacked into the outpost's information logs. We know about the Galra and Voltron. But we couldn't find any information on Earth or the Justice League, which led us to believe we're in an entirely different universe."
"But that still doesn't explain how you got here," Allura said with hostility.
Before the Team could answer, several shots flew between them, causing them to duck on the ground. They looked in the direction of the shots and saw a bunch of Galra soldiers firing on them.
"What is the Galra doing here?" Lance said.
"Sorry. They came in through the other side of the planet so the monitors failed to pick them up," Coran said through the radios in their helmets.
Suddenly a large battleship appeared above them, deploying several small ships and galra soldiers on the ground.
"We have to get out of here," Allura cried.
Lance's gun appeared and began to fire at the Galra as he tried to cover everyone's retreat.
"We'll help," Artemis said. She picked up an arrow in her quiver, firing it out the group of Galra soldiers on the ground. She continued to fire several different arrows, that exploded at the enemy. Megan took to the skies, using her telekinesis to force the ships to crash against each other white Superboy was taking out the soldiers.
"Cool," Hunk said.
But they didn't notice when the Galra were attacking them from the back. As Nightwing was helping Raquel, he was handicapped and unable to fight. Aqualad came to their rescue.
"We can't hold back an army for long," Aqualad called.
"Quick, into the Castle," Allura called. As they retreated, they saw that three of them were missing. Pidge returned to the Green Lion and tried to fight.
"Wait, Dick," Zatanna called. In the distance, they saw Raquel, Dick, Kaldur get blasted with some kind of laser and fall unconscious. They were loaded onto a ship and were suddenly getting pulled up into the large battleship.
"Oh no," said Wally.
Superboy kept Zatanna back as they were retreating into the Castle, while being bombarded by lasers. Pidge flew the Green Lion into the docks before the Castle took off into hyperspace, leaving the Galra with Dick, Raquel, and Kaldur in their possession.