Paladins Forever

by LadyWordsmith

After saving all of existence, the Paladins of Voltron moved on with their lives. Growing up, following their paths, while continuing to serve the galaxy. Time passes, relationships form, science advances, but the mission, as it turns out, is never really over. A series of consecutive post-series VLD stories, heavy on the Team Punk, new missions, and a very special rescue.

6. 6: Spatial Rift 1- Torn Apart

Chapter 6: Spatial Rift Part 1 – Torn Apart
The Atlas goes on a mission to investigate some missing alien scientists. The investigation does not go according to plan.

---

April 10th, 2332 (2 Years, 2 Months Later)

"You look like you've really got your hands full," Katie commented to Shiro with a sympathetic chuckle as she watched him cradling the infant boy in his arms, the baby, named Nathaniel, suckling contentedly on a bottle of formula. "How did the agency ever talk you into taking three boys at once, and this young?" In the past couple of years, Shiro and Curtis had fostered three other boys, all teens, and all had ended up being short-term situations that were, thankfully, positively resolved. Those three, however, had been one at a time.

Besides the baby in Shiro's arms, Curtis was standing a little closer to the playground equipment in the park near Garrison housing, where Katie had brought Caitlin to play. The other two Filipino-American boys—Gabriel and Joshua—who were early school age, were scrambling fearlessly across monkey bars and down slides with reckless abandon. Caitlin, being two, couldn't necessarily keep up with them, though she was trying. Or at least, she was willing to go down the slide. Katie was grateful she didn't seem interested in trying to hang from the bars yet. At least, not without Hunk there to catch her. She never tried them without daddy.

Shiro shrugged. "What can I say? We're softies. Besides, it was that or the orphanage. When their mother died, they don't have any other relatives to take custody. So, they'll be with us for a while."

"Maybe permanently?" Katie suggested.

"Maybe." Shiro nodded. "It's only been a few days, but they seem to be settling in quickly. They're good boys. We've had some tears, but it's only to be expected. They miss their mother, and it's a big adjustment. It will take time to heal."

"Well, they're lucky to have the two of you to help them through it, and that they can stay together." She could only imagine how much worse it would have been, especially for the older two, to be split up at a time like that. "Still, three of them?"

Shiro smiled and shrugged. "We have the room. Right now, they're all in the second bedroom, but we can turn the other spare room into another bedroom if they need more space when they get older."
"Sounds like you're already making plans."

"We like to be prepared. What about you?" Shiro asked. "Don't you already know what you'll do if you need to make room for another person in your apartment?"

Katie looked at him sidewise. "Is that your not-so-subtle way of asking if we're planning on having more?"

"Maybe."

Katie's mouth was open to reply when her phone went off in her pocket, in the ring pattern that told her it was specifically Hunk calling. "Hold that thought." She pulled it out and hit a button. "What's up?" she asked, curiously. "I thought you had a meeting this afternoon."

"I did, that's why I'm calling." There was an excited note in Hunk's tone. "Can you come to the Garrison? They've got a special mission they really want me on."

"That's great. I take it that means off-world. How long will you be gone?" In the past couple of years, Hunk had only been asked to go off-world a handful of times, and always for very short stints. He had enough trained chefs to handle a lot of the diplomatic dinners with well-established allies, which meant Hunk was reserved for special occasions and very important negotiations.

"That's why I want you to come down here," Hunk reiterated. "They're looking at a few weeks, but they want you to come too."

Then why hadn't they just asked her to come to the meeting as well in the first place? Maybe the Atlas' new captain just hadn't thought of it. Katie shook her head. "Sure, I can come in, but they'll have to wait until I drop Caitlin off at my folks."

"They'll wait," Hunk promised.

"Great. See you in a bit then. Love you."

"Love you, too."

"Sounds like you're about to be very busy," Shiro commented. "If you want, Curtis and I can take Caitlin by Sam and Colleen's for you when we head home."

"I appreciate the offer, but I think you've got enough on your plate at the moment." Katie looked over to where Curtis was trying not to pull his hair out as Gabriel—the oldest—was now standing on top of the monkey bars as if they were a tight rope. "Besides, this may be a very short conversation. As great as a mission sounds, if it's not safe enough to bring Caitlin along, they'll have to make do without one of us." She wondered if the new captain of the Atlas knew that.

Shiro nodded. "Navor's reasonable. I doubt he'd suggest having you both unless it was both necessary and safe."

---

"So it's both a diplomatic, and scientific expedition," Navor, the new Altean Captain of the Atlas explained as Katie and Hunk sat across from him in the briefing room. "The Vidorans are a very technologically curious race, and what they most value is knowledge. Fortunately, they aren't violent. Though that's how the Galra were able to conquer them so quickly. When I asked the senior staff who in the Garrison would be best suited to making diplomatic overtures with them, nearly everyone in the room immediately blurted out your name." At this, Navor looked slightly embarrassed. "I admit, I should have thought of you myself."

"There are plenty of capable Garrison members who are both diplomatically talented, and intelligent," Katie pointed out graciously, before grinning. "But I am the best if you need someone to win them over with tech talk. Did Hunk tell you our terms?"

"I am aware that the Garrison makes dispensation in peace time for keeping married couples assigned to the same postings as often as possible, particularly when they have offspring. There is no reason I can see not to agree to having your daughter on board as well. Presuming she will not interfere with ship's operations."

"Caitlin was born on the Atlas, and a good portion of the crew knows her. I guarantee she won't be any trouble," Katie replied firmly, her tone almost dared him to claim otherwise. Of course, since her father had taken command of the Garrison from Admiral Sonda, she very much doubted that anyone would really try to force her to do anything that ran against her demands, given how few she made, and how rarely she threw around her own rank, let alone her father's.

Navor nodded. "Very well then. We're leaving in three days. I look forward to working with you."

April 14th, 2332

Any Leaving Day for an Atlas mission was nothing more than well-orchestrated chaos. Though to Katie this one seemed a little more chaotic than most. Perhaps it was because of the number of crew changes involved. While much of the crew was the same, there were always people being assigned and reassigned among the various Garrison bases. Not everyone worked at Headquarters.

This was also the Atlas' first mission under its new real Captain. It had taken some time to replace Shiro. Any good officer could command the crew, but to make full use of a connection of any kind to the Atlas, was a little more complicated. Katie had not been at all surprised to find that they had gone with an Altean Captain. Navor had joined the Garrison along with several other Alteans in the past decade. While it was unlikely that he could make the Atlas transform, he could connect with it on a deeper level than the average human.

There was also a new chief medical officer on board. Doctor Corbin seemed qualified enough. Katie met him in brief when she stopped in for the standard pre-mission appointment for both herself, and Caitlin. All their files were in order, and within fifteen minutes she was back out the door and at their quarters, which were the same ones they had always inhabited, since Hunk used them whenever he was on the Atlas as well. Not that it made for much privacy, but Caitlin's crib only took up one corner of the space.

Even though the trip was slated to take a few weeks, it didn't take her long to unpack for them both. Caitlin had more stuff than she did to fit in the space, since most of Katie's work that she wanted to bring along was being situated in the lab, not in their room. The convenient thing about being a Garrison officer was not having to bring a lot of clothes. The uniform worked for pretty much everything.

Katie was looking forward to the adventure. It had been too long since she'd been in space, and she had just found out at that morning's briefing that they were picking up representatives from the Blades, and from Altea, on their way to the Vidoran's home system. Those representatives were Keith and Coran. Without Lance and Shiro it wasn't quite a Paladins reunion, but it was going to be an enjoyable trip.

Since Hunk had to make sure all of kitchen inventory was properly on board, counted, stored, and ready, Katie didn't expect to see him anytime soon. She and Caitlin made a quick trip down to her lab to make sure everything had been moved correctly, and then they returned home for Caitlin's afternoon nap. Not that her daughter had any interest in napping yet. Not with such all the stimulation of being on board the Atlas. Fortunately, she was happy to sit on the floor with her toys, babbling semi-intelligibly as if she was talking to her toys, or someone else, the way toddlers always seemed to do. She had quite a few words she used regularly already, but when she was just talking to herself, it might as well be gibberish. Or, Katie had mused a few times, her daughter might just have invented her own language. Either was possible. Though she certainly seemed to be pausing for responses.

Katie looked up as Hunk entered their quarters a while later, her good mood slipping as she saw the thunderclouds over her husband's head. She had a suspicion what that meant. "I see you met Doctor Corbin."

Hunk grumbled something unintelligible as he crossed the room and dropped with a crunch onto the sofa. He looked like he might start shouting. Instead, he turned to Caitlin, who was playing on the floor with blocks, and looking up at him curiously.

Caitlin held up a block. "Play, Daddy?"

Hunk's expression softened, as it always did where their daughter was concerned. "Of course, Caity-did. What are we building?"

"Castle ship!" Caitlin giggled and handed him one of the white blocks, before placing another one on a golden yellow block.

Hunk looked at Katie with a bit of wonder. "Did you give her that idea?"

Katie shook her head. "No. I mean, we've told her about the Castle of Lions before, but I didn't think she was really listening. I think that…maybe the Atlas likes her." Since it was the old Castle of Lions, in some part, and they were both Paladins. Maybe their daughter had the same natural attunement, or the ship recognized her as the blood of Paladins. She had definitely experienced weirder things. It would also explain Caitlin's conversational tone even in her babbles.

"Ship." Caitlin demanded, pulling Hunk's hand down so he could place the block.

"All right, all right. Yes! Let's build the castle ship." Hunk slid down the rest of the way to the floor, investing himself in Caitlin's fantasies.

Eventually, even the stimulation of the Atlas and playtime wasn't enough to keep Caitlin from passing out on top of her daddy.

Katie smiled down at them. "You want me to move her?"

"Please." Hunk carefully shifted the sleeping toddler so that Katie could take her without waking her up. Fortunately, Caitlin was a very deep sleeper. Once Katie had her, Hunk was able to get up off the floor.

Katie tucked Caitlin into her crib with her stuffed yalmor. "So, is everything ready?" she asked Hunk as he came out of the restroom.

"Kitchens are ship-shape and ready for any culinary challenge," Hunk smiled, dropping down on the couch. "We don't know a lot about the Vidorans tastes yet, but I've got everything I could possibly need and time to plan the final menu."

"Good. I'm sure whatever you come up with will be irresistible, as usual." Katie smiled as she sat down and snuggled up against his side. "So, you want to tell me what happened in the infirmary?"

Hunk's scowl returned. "Just the usual. New medical officer shows up and thinks they know me better than I do."

Which was about what she had been expecting from his earlier expression. "New diet suggestions?"

"Ridiculous diet suggestions." Hunk pulled a data pad out of his pocket and handed it over.

Katie took it, and opened the relevant file. It was, as she had expected, mostly the standard Garrison regimen suggestions of diet and exercise for human males, per Garrison regulations. Unimaginative, and not personalized beyond age and suggested goals. "It doesn't look too bad," she hazarded a neutral comment. "At least this one didn't try to suggest you avoid temptation by spending less time in the kitchen." There had been some pretty foolish suggestions over the years. Not that Hunk was likely to attempt any of them. Katie wondered why none of them ever seemed able to see past the end of default regulations. "I take it you're going to ignore these as usual?"

"As long as he doesn't try to make an issue of it." Hunk nodded. "I know what works for me. I work out enough. My numbers aren't bad. If they'd just leave it alone this would be so much less aggravating. What they're asking is impossible."

Given Hunk's genetics, as well as just who he was, Katie wasn't inclined to disagree. He was in great shape, even if it didn't match the numbers in the standards. Besides, throwing Hunk off balance never ended well. Hounding him would only stress him out more, and stress meant snacking, and irritability. It was never good. "Then ignore them," she agreed. "If he bothers to look back at the rest of your records it'll be clear that the defaults don't work with you."

"Or all of it," Hunk groused.

Katie squeezed his hand. "Fine, or all of it. Besides, it's not like he can make you follow this. What's he going to do, report you to the captain?"

"Actually, that's exactly what he threatened to do." Hunk took the list back. "He thinks Shiro's been going easy on me all these years, because we're friends."

Katie snorted. "Clearly, he's never been on the receiving end of one of Shiro's sparring exercises. Don't pay him any mind. Once we get underway, he'll be too busy to worry about bothering you anyway."

April 18th, 2332

"Well, she's definitely got the makings of a great leader," Coran commented to Katie with a chuckle.

The two of them stood in Katie and Hunk's quarters, watching as Caitlin played 'Castle Ship' not just with her daddy, but now also her Uncle Keith. The fact that Keith was playing with a toddler on the floor was a source of great amusement to her, and to Coran apparently. Katie supposed they should just be grateful she was more interested in her current game than something more embarrassing, like doing hair. "It's too bad you couldn't talk Acxa into coming," Katie commented.

Keith smiled. "I tried, but she said someone responsible had to be left in charge. She also finds diplomatic talks kind of dull, and Heith's been a bit of a handful lately. I don't think she wanted to juggle him and this too."

"Too bad. I'm sure Caitlin would have found him fascinating." Keith and Acxa's son was just a little over a year younger than Caitlin. The two had not yet met in person, though Katie hoped that they could eventually get to know each other and become friends.

"We'll make sure to come visit Earth when we get a little downtime," Keith promised.

"No talk. Ship!" Caitlin shoved a red block in Keith's hands.

"All right, all right. Wow you're bossy… like your mom." Keith grinned at Katie before taking the block and putting it where Caitlin wanted.

"She really seems taken with this game," Coran commented curiously. "Where did she get the idea?"

"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure," Katie admitted. "It started the day we came on board the Atlas. Do you… think it's possible that the Atlas knows she's here, or something? She's not Altean, but then neither is Shiro. Would it communicate with her?"

"It's possible," Coran nodded. "She's got the blood of two Paladins of Voltron on her, and she was born here. If things had turned out differently, who knows. She could have been one of the next Paladins herself."

"You think one of the Lions would have chosen her?" That had not occurred to Katie.

They were long gone. "Isn't she just a little young to make that kind of personality judgement?"

"Perhaps." Coran smiled. "But I've known every Paladin of Voltron, and if she grows up to be anything like her parents, she's got the potential for greatness in her. I can't say which Lion would want her, but she's a fearless, precocious child. And of course, she has you two to teach her."

It was true that she couldn't imagine raising a child who wouldn't care about the universe, but Caitlin was two. Katie mostly thought about one day to the next, and how nice it would be to get her daughter out of diapers. They were still in the age of learning colors, and letters, and basic numbers. She had to start with the basics like any other child. Though someday… who knew what she would decide to be?

May 12th, 2332

A month into the trip, Katie was beginning to feel a little like a trick pony. Not that she wasn't enjoying herself, but the Atlas had made several good-will stops along their route for in-person contact with the Atlas. This meant that she, Hunk, and Keith had often been one of the star attractions. They had specifically been asked to bring their Voltron uniforms, and Katie was more than a little grateful that King Alfor had designed them to mold to their Paladins, because otherwise they would have looked like has-beens, given they had all been teens, and still maturing, the last time they had fought in them. Keith had gotten taller during his mission with his mother. Hunk had gotten both taller, and broader in the shoulders. Katie, having only been sixteen when the whole thing ended, had gotten taller, and filled out a bit since then, particularly since having Caitlin. As hard as she had worked to get back in shape after having a baby, her overall silhouette definitely had more curve to it than she had then. Now she was unlikely to be able to pass for a boy.

Of course, in a few weeks, she wouldn't really want it hugging her form in public. Not when a quick visit to the medical bay that morning had confirmed that their attempts to give Caitlin a sibling had been successful. They had both agreed that if they wanted more than one, it would be best to have them fairly close together, and just get it done. It meant fewer years juggling infants and her career, and fewer years in diapers.

Not that she had a moment to tell Hunk about it all day. Today's stop, the last before they made the straight sprint out two weeks in space to the Vidorans, was their last Paladin showing on the way out. Since she was just barely seven weeks in, there was no visible sign to give it away. So she, Hunk, and Keith showed up on-planet, greeted probably thousands of the locals, accepted their gratitude graciously, promised them that yes, they were still doing everything they could to keep the universe safe, and that the fact that the Lions were not needed was a sign of how safe they really were. Afterwards, they all went right back to work. Katie left Caitlin with her Uncle Coran, and went to the lab. Hunk returned to the kitchens to prepare that evening's meal for the captain and the planetary delegation.

While on another day she might have gotten lost in her work, Katie wanted to beat Hunk home so she could give him the good news in private. There was really no reason for anyone else to find out this early. They would be home in a few weeks. The Vidoran stop was the only one left of consequence.

She set up a little celebratory spread on the little round dining table in their quarters. Nothing fancy, just slices of cheesecake and a bottle of sparkling apple cider she had managed to sneak out of the kitchen without Hunk noticing—with Romelle's help. It was good to have a friend on the inside.

She was in such a good mood, that Katie was entirely unprepared for the furious, red-faced frustration when Hunk stormed into their quarters in the late afternoon.

All thoughts of her announcement fled. "What's wrong?"

Hunk in a mood was a rare occurrence, and probably frightening to anyone who didn't know him well. At the moment he was huffed up enough that he resembled an angry bull. His fists were clenched. "He reported me to the Captain!"

Katie blinked. "Who? Why?"

"Corbin, who else?" Hunk threw his hands in the air, and began stalking the room. "For, and I quote, 'failure to follow orders.' Orders!"

Well, she had to hand it to Corbin… he was definitely more determined than the other medical officers who had dealt with Hunk over the years. The others had usually made their recommendations, and then let things be outside of the required fitness evaluations. The Galaxy Garrison had originally been more of an exploratory force than a strictly military operation, despite its protocols and rank system. While that had changed some in the war with the Galra, and becoming the focal point and headquarters of the Intergalactic Forces, sometimes members had different ideas of how strict certain policies needed to be.

Katie wasn't sure exactly what Corbin and Hunk had discussed today—she hadn't even known they were going to—but a line had clearly been crossed. "Have you talked to Navor about it?"

"No." Hunk shook his head without slowing pace. "Navor's busy on the bridge, and this hardly counts as a ship-board emergency."

"So, find a better time and just… explain why this is a terrible idea," Katie suggested, keeping her tone as calm and reasonable as possible. "If he looks at your previous medical records and reviews in your crew files, he'll know you're perfectly healthy. You're just… not ever going to meet Garrison mandated parameters for the average human male, and you never have." Katie hadn't found Corbin to be particularly arrogant in her own appointments, but then her interaction with him had been minimal. As he wasn't an obstetrician, he had been perfectly willing to simply make note of her condition in her file after confirmation, let one of the nurses who actually knew something about children—being a mother of two—handle basic readings, and let her go about her business. They would be back on Earth before she needed to worry about any major appointments.

"I might." Hunk paused mid-spin in his pacing the very short room. "But I'm not sure he'd actually do anything. Corbin's doing his job as an officer on the ship, and Navor's new to command, and not a physician." He looked down at the cheesecake and cider, and stopped. "What's this for?"

Oh good… he was done venting. Katie smiled, relieved and pleased that he had so nicely segued around to her news. "As much as I would like to pretend precognition that you would want a snack this afternoon, that's not it. Let's just say I was really craving cheesecake."

Hunk looked at her for a moment, before catching the emphasis. His expression lit up. "Already? It's only been a couple of months. Wow."

Katie laughed as he pulled her into a huge, but very gentle, bear hug. "What can I say, we're a very productive team."

May 26th, 2332

The Vidoran system turned out to be rather large, consisting of eleven planets, most with multiple moons, and an extensive asteroid belt, circling contentedly around the star Vidor. Katie had studied all the information the Atlas had on the Vidorans in preparation for the upcoming negotiations. Four of the planets were inhabited currently, though there were two smaller ones at the very edge of the livable zone that were being considered for new colonies. The Vidorans were not much unlike humans, though they were farther along than Earth had been up until getting involved with the war and merging Galra and Altean tech with Earth tech. They had begun on the inner most of the livable planets, and had been slowly colonizing other worlds in their own system for nearly two centuries. As the first and only sentient species to evolve in their own system, they had no competition. Their tech, from the specs Katie had seen, was also simple, but elegant and uncluttered. They preferred that each item serve its specified purpose.

Or at least, so they had thought.

"You wanted to see us, Sir?" Katie asked as she took a seat between Hunk and Keith in the briefing room, across from Captain Navor.

Navor nodded. "We've had a mission specific request for the Paladins of Voltron."

The three of them shared a look. "They know we don't have Lions anymore, right?" Keith asked.

Navor nodded. "No one is expecting you to form Voltron, but the mission does speak to your particular expertise. The Vidorans recently found a site full of ancient technology on one of the less inhabited planets orbiting their sun. Technology that seems to have magical abilities, not unlike Altean technology, though it does not appear to be Altean based on the information I've received."

The wall lit up with images of ruins, and carvings, as well as several close ups of artifacts found in what appeared to be a tropical rainforest type biome. Katie found herself hungering to be down there. It definitely looked fascinating, and if she could just get her hands on it…

"The problem they're having, is that their scientists have gone missing."

Or maybe not. "What do you mean missing?"

"Just that. Communications cut off almost two movements ago. They sent in a rescue team, which found the site, apparently abandoned but with no signs of violence or struggle. No bodies. Then they lost communication with them as well, about one movement ago."

"Did they send a second team?" Keith asked as he looked at the information in front of them.

"A search and rescue team." Navor nodded. "They found the same thing. Everything left in place, no bodies or signs of struggle."

"I'm not sure I like the sounds of that," Hunk commented, and when he looked at Katie, she knew what he was really thinking. He didn't want her going anywhere near some place people were vanishing. He probably didn't much like the idea of going himself, but particularly not both of them. Not with Caitlin on board. What if they both disappeared as well?

"They're not as technologically advanced as the Galactic Coalition." Navor continued. "And they don't have much of a military force. They're explorers, scientists, artists… which is why joining the Coalition appeals to them. We aren't warmongers, but we also offer protection they don't have. We'd be sending you down with a full search and rescue team of our best, and tracking equipment."

"How deep is the site?" Katie asked. "These are caves, right?"

"Underground caverns, carved into rooms, but the site they have investigated so far is only a couple of levels down, and there are entrances that lead further down that have not been explored. Initial reports thought it might be a temple of some sort, a location of spiritual importance, but then they discovered technology more advanced than expected. Since the markings are the same, the assumption is that whoever built in the tech was the same people who originally created the temple. It all dates back to anywhere from fifteen-thousand, to eight-thousand deca-phoebs ago. After that, nothing new, but with no signs of conflict. They think everyone may have just chosen to abandon the site."

"Interesting theories." Katie looked over the data still streaming down the side of the screen. "So, they never got it working? They don't know what it was for?"

Navor shook his head. "Not at the point people started disappearing. They had only been investigating for about a phoeb. This would be both a rescue and information gathering mission. The primary goal, of course, is finding what happened to the missing Vidorans, but anything we can uncover about the site itself and the technology would also be invaluable. Particularly if you can find out why it was abandoned in the first place."

"Or maybe what happened to the Vidorans is what happened to the people who used to live here," Keith said contemplatively.

"We'll do it," Katie said before Hunk could object. As much as she wanted to find whoever was down there, and ply their brains for everything they knew, she had to admit that she couldn't wait to get her hands on new tech. That was probably what they would want her for anyway.

Neither Hunk nor Keith argued, though Katie could sense the disapproval rolling off her husband. Navor nodded. "Excellent. We'll have a briefing for the whole team tonight, and you'll head out first thing in the morning, local planetary time, to give you as much time to search as possible. Meet back here at seventeen-hundred."

---

Back in their quarters, Hunk rounded on her as soon as the door closed behind them. "No, Pidge. This is crazy."

"It's a little late to object now," Katie pointed out stubbornly. "We agreed to the mission."

"Keith and I can go. It's search and rescue. You heard him. People are going missing, underground, in a jungle." There was more than an edge of panic in his voice.

"If it were that dangerous, he wouldn't have asked me to go."

"He doesn't know you're pregnant."

"And you're not going to tell him." The last thing she wanted was to be pulled off the most interesting project she'd had in months, because Hunk was being a worry-wort. "Now stop being overprotective. We'll have protective gear, and an entire team of the Garrison's finest along with us, as well as the best tech in the galaxy and constant communication with the Atlas. Besides, it's not like anyone will be asking little me to do anything dangerous or heavy. I'm the technical expert. They'll want me looking at all of that beautiful, alien technology."

"What about Caitlin?"

"Romelle can watch her. Caitlin adores her, and we'll be back before she even wonders where we are."

"I don't like it," Hunk finished lamely.

Katie's expression softened just a little. She'd won this one. "I noticed. Look, you're not talking me out of it and I already said I'd go. If you're that worried, just make sure nothing happens to me."

May 27th, 2332

Between the twelve people being sent down to the surface, the team from the Atlas went down to the planet's surface in two separate transportation pods designed to hold up to eight each. Hunk, Katie, Keith, and Coran all rode down in one pod, with Keith at the helm and two other garrison officers, while the rest were in the other.

Despite the differences in the situation, Hunk tried not to feel too much trepidation, or a sense of impending doom, at landing on the surface of an obscure jungle planet in the middle of nowhere they had ever been before. There were phantom twinges in his leg, memories of pain, every time he thought about it. The last time he and Katie had investigated a temple in a jungle, he had broken a tree, his leg, her glasses, and his pride. As much as they had discovered, it had been a difficult trip, and it had definitely been the cause of the roughest spot in their relationship.

Hunk tried to focus on the differences. For one thing, they landed in a nice, open grassy field that was at the edge of the jungle, and only a short walk from the ruins in question. For another, they were met there by a team of fifteen Vidorans. They were not going in blind, and they had friends and allies with them.

They also had plenty of supplies, and the weather, while warm and humid, was not nearly as oppressive as the other planet. Everyone was also slathered in UV and insect protection. This was the winter season though, which explain why it was cooler, and Hunk hadn't been turned into a bug buffet the moment he stepped on planet.

Katie was looking around with enthusiastic interest, and had already hurried over to the Vidoran rescue and science team, and they were chatting away animatedly. She had her pack on, despite the fact Hunk had tried to insist on carrying her supplies. Not that it was that heavy. Almost everything she had brought was her own personally designed scanning equipment for identifying and analyzing unfamiliar and new technologies. That included the ability to analyze magical/alchemical properties. It was very lightweight, portable stuff.

Coran joined them. As the foremost expert on Altean tech, especially older tech, he had also been a perfect addition to the team.

If not for the fact that most of the Vidorans and the Atlas team were actively armed—though no one currently had a weapon at the ready—it might have seemed like a fun exploration mission, instead of an attempted rescue. Too many scientists had gone missing without a trace.

Hunk didn't hear what they said at the front of the group but a moment later they moved out, across the fields towards the edge of the trees, and then into the jungle. He hurried to catch up to Katie.

"—fascinating flora. I've never seen hues quite this color. I'd love to take a closer look at them and analyze their photosynthetic processes." Katie was talking enthusiastically with the head Vidoran scientist, whose name was apparently Ouz. Hunk tried not to chuckle, since it sounded a like ooze. Instead of worrying, he focused his own attention on the plants around them, keeping an ear out for animals, but finding himself wondering if any of the large mushrooms he saw on the sides of trees were edible. There was also a smell in the air reminiscent of cinnamon among the other vegetation.

"It's just up here," their lead guide called back much sooner than Hunk had expected. "Beyond the ravine."

"Ravine?" Hunk swallowed.

Katie smiled up at him reassuringly. "I'm sure it's fine. I really doubt we're crossing on dead trees."

"If we are, I'm going back."

Seconds later, they came around a turn in the path and Hunk breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever the Vidorans were or were not, they were thorough and cautious. They had installed a small, but perfectly sturdy metal walking bridge across the ravine in question, which was only about five meters deep, and only three meters across.

"Keep moving," Keith quipped behind him. "Even you can't break this thing."

A couple of minutes later they came out of the trees into the cleared rock area that was the front of the ruins in question. The temple—or at least it certainly looked like one—towered several stories above them until it merged with the mountain side, with no obvious windows, though there were a few slit openings that could have been used once for projectiles, like arrows. Carvings crawled across the face underneath generations of thick vines that had overtaken most of the structure, so it looked more like a giant chia pet.

"I'm seriously getting a Temple of Doom vibe here," Keith chuckled.

"Doom? I don't like doom," Hunk commented.

"He means like that really old movie," Katie pointed out. "The one where they eat monkey brains."

Hunk shuddered. "Yeah… I didn't like that part either. Who eats brains?"

Keith shrugged. "I dunno…zombies?"

"And they are an ingredient in several Earth delicacies… though that's kind of weird," Katie agreed as they followed their guide inside.

"Yeah, I know that. It was more of a 'ewww' thing," Hunk clarified. It was almost enough to make him not hungry.

SCENE BREAK SCENE BREAK SCENE BREAK

The inside of the temple was a technological wonderland, even if it was a cave in a jungle on a planet in the middle of nowhere space. Katie managed not to outwardly drool over the first room they were led into, which aside from all the rock carvings, included several very metallic consoles full of buttons and a few primitive looking screens that were mostly for read-out data, she suspected, more than images. No holographic tech here. There was no power, which was disappointing, but that didn't mean they couldn't get it up and running. Scattered about was the signs of obvious scientific inquiry. Tools, and at least one partially disassembled individual unit in the middle of the room. Diagnostic tools hooked up to the systems even though they weren't on. Rubbing of some of the wall carvings. Scientists had been here, working furiously, and had vanished… twice.

She was grateful for the noise of over two-dozen people spreading out to look through the ruins for additional signs, because the spaces suddenly seemed a little vaster, and echoing. What had happened to the people who lived here? What had happened to the scientists who were studying them?

"You will remain here with the science team, and continue the work," Ouz said to her and Coran. "We will see if we can figure out what they had discovered before their disappearance, and what else we can about this site. Anything might help us figure out what happened. The others will investigate further in and the immediate surrounding area."

Katie nodded. "Absolutely. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this." She pulled off her bag, and crouched down, pulling out her instruments. It was time to get to work.

---

The first day yielded nothing as far as identifying what had happened to the previous two teams of scientists, though Katie and Coran made tremendous progress in working out where the scientists' work had left off, and learning more about the technology they were analyzing.

The search teams combed the jungle around the outside of the building, as well as the first two levels of the temple. The one at ground, where they had entered, and the one below. Aside from the fact that they almost certainly could not have left the planet itself of their own will—the other landing ships were still at the site where they had landed initially—there was no sign of struggle or anyone having landed elsewhere nearby either. No bodies. No smell of decay. No blood. Other than their work left behind, it was as if the caves were still undisturbed.

Katie's team had a much more productive day. Enraptured in new technology, her personal equipment was far higher tech and efficient than anything the Vidorans had, and the head-start they got from reading through the previous research was also helpful. Detailed scans showed that the missing power was almost certainly brought in using a combination of solar and geo-thermal power sources. Given the nearly extinct volcanoes nearby, and the copious amounts of sunshine, both made a lot of sense. Sending a cautious scientific team up the stairs into the top of the temple—with armed guards—proved fruitful. A door at the top let them out closer to the top of the ridge, where they located photovoltaic cells, and several vine-coated solar panels. It took a couple of hours to clear some of them off, but by then it was time for lunch, and they would need time to charge before anything below would work anyway.

After lunch—where she repeatedly assured Hunk that she was fine, she'd eaten enough, and she was staying hydrated—it was back to work. She was ecstatic to find that there was just enough power available to get readings on the power sources. Knowing which wiring belonged to the solar cells, it was clear that the system for bringing in geo-thermal power was not working at all. Though they didn't need to follow the system to the source just yet, as there was enough power to bring a single console up. It took forever it seemed, to boot up, but as soon as it did, Katie hooked in her equipment. Translation algorithms made everything much easier. Thanks to the Vidorans having added the thirty languages in their own database to hers—which was awesome—it only took about half an hour to get a rudimentary translation of the language in which the system was programmed, and an understanding of some of the markings on the walls. Katie spent the rest of the afternoon taking detailed three-dimensional scans of every single inch of the walls that she could reach, and downloaded as much as she could off the ancient systems themselves to take with them. Overnight, the data would be compiled, organized, and she could finish running the translations to develop a detailed understanding of the language. Then, maybe tomorrow, they would know precisely what the systems were for.

She felt exhilarated as they headed back to the ships. The search teams looked beat. There was no sign of the missing people, but also none of them had gone missing or gotten hurt. There was that at least.

When they returned to the Atlas everyone headed almost directly to the mess. Normally, Katie would have gone straight to her lab, but other than a quick diverting to check on Caitlin, she was as eager for a full meal as anyone. Fortunately, given the late hour, Romelle already had Caitlin tucked in and asleep.

Only as they settled down at one of the tables in the nearly deserted mess hall did Katie realize just how exhausted she really was, and starved. While she had been good about hydrating all day, and eating off the rations the team had brought, it hadn't been quite enough even though it would have been normally. She looked at her plate for only a moment before digging in happily. The dish was heaped with fresh salad, thick slices of roast beef, and some potato-salad like concoction full of ingredients she couldn't entirely identify other than Hunk had designed the recipe so it was delicious even though it wasn't quite the same thing.

Fortunately, everyone else seemed just as famished, so her enthusiasm went without comment or notice. Though Katie notice Hunk watching her out of the corner of his eye. He need not have worried, she was starving, but thankfully the nausea and exhaustion that had plagued her early in her first pregnancy had not yet reared its head. She desperately hoped it would hold off until the mission was over.

May 28th, 2332

The second day was far more satisfying. Katie was thrilled to find that during the evening, and the following morning before their arrival back on planet, the systems had recharged a decent amount of power, and they were able to get two more consoles up and working. With the translators they were able to read the data streaming across the screens. It was different from what was on the walls. The walls, as her overnight translations had identified, read as ancient religious scripts: dedications to the gods, prayers, a calendar, and some records of major events. Lastly there was what appeared to possibly be alchemical recipes, which was definitely the most interesting. Coran was looking over those translations with the greatest care, comparing them to what he knew. Katie wished Allura could have seen them. She would have known exactly what they were looking at, she was sure. They would have to settle for showing them to Navor, and any of the handful of other Alteans living now with any talent for alchemy whatsoever.

"So, what have you found so far?" Coran asked after a while, peeking over her shoulder at the screen. "They're logs," Katie replied. "Though the most recent ones start several hundred years after our mysterious culture seems to have disappeared. Whatever this was for, it was designed to run autonomously, so it just kept running until it ran out of power. There's giga quads of data on here, and the logs look like they go back… millennia: weather patterns, geological data, shifts in the planetary crust, and it's not just this area. There's data here for the entire planet. It's possible that this is just one location out of several, all connected at one point." Her brain was racing as she considered what that meant.

"Honestly, it looks like someone tried to colonize the place, came, adapted, settled in for a few thousand years, and then something happened big enough to make them abandon their home," Katie drew the only logical conclusion she had from the data available. "There's a lot of seismic activity, though it doesn't look too bad. We don't have the data for the time we think they left yet though. That might give us an idea of it the issue was natural." If they were here long enough to solve the mystery itself. She had a feeling that as soon as they figured out what happened to the missing scientists, the Atlas' job would be done.

---

Hunk did not like this place. The second day was as grueling as the first. They widened the exterior search to cover over a mile in every direction, including using ship scanners and fly-overs in a couple of the MFEs to determine that there were no bodies or suspicious remains to be found in the jungles. He was grateful that the local wildlife appeared to be mostly small, and nothing obviously large or predatory was lurking in the immediate vicinity.

Even without extreme heat, the jungle was hot and humid enough he was sweating buckets well before midday. Not that he complained. He had been assigned to the ground teams because he was strong, and efficient with a knife. Or in this case, a machete. Assigned to helping set up perimeter alarms, he hiked several miles in the heat, lugging a good portion of the supplies. He would have much preferred being assigned to the cave crews, which were working their way down through the third level, since the first two had been declared clear and safe. It was darker and cooler in the temple, and there were no signs of life down there at all, not even moss or fungus.

They could hear the incoming reports from down there over the radios as they worked. The third floor appeared to be more of the same: carvings, rooms that might be living spaces, but no other clues. There were no signs of furniture, or bodies, or pottery or any of the usual items that might tell them anything useful.

"Sounds like the original occupants cleared out on purpose," Keith commented during a break as they sat leaning against a tree, sweating, and draining canteens of water that was, thankfully, still cool.

"Maybe they got tired of the heat," Hunk quipped as he finished one canteen, and pulled out a second, and wiped his face again with a bandana. "Ugh. If I wanted to sweat this much, I'd go to a sauna."

"It's pretty miserable," Keith agreed, drinking deeply. Not that he looked like the heat was bothering him much. He was barely perspiring.

"Well, on the bright side I'll probably sweat off a few pounds. Then maybe Corbin will get off my back." It was the closest thing to a bright side Hunk could think of, which was pretty sad, all things considered.

"I think you should just challenge him to a fight," Keith suggested, grinning. "You'd pulverize him, and then he'd have to shut up."

"I'm pretty sure beating up other officers is frowned upon." Though that sounded like a very satisfying idea.

"I mean a sparring match." Keith shrugged. "He's guaranteed to underestimate you, and he's an idiot for doing it."

"Thanks, Keith. I appreciate the vote of confidence."

"Anytime, buddy."

May 30th, 2332

Katie sat on the couch in her quarters staring at the data streaming across multiple projected screens at once. She was so close to cracking this, she was certain, but there was still something she was missing and it was going to drive her crazy if she didn't figure it out.

The past two days had yielded plenty of ancient systems data, going slowly backwards. The few encryptions she came across were easily broken. The problem was the further back they went, the more the data was corrupted, with pieces missing at random intervals.

Hunk had showered right after dinner and passed out on the bed, where he lay sprawled now, snoring loudly. Given how hard the search crews were working, she could hardly blame him for being exhausted. Caitlin was down for the night, and that left her plenty of time to think on her own.

She really wished she knew what had happened to the missing people. Over those two days the rescue teams had searched down another three levels, but they had found nothing except more rooms, and finally a few artifacts that looked to be the remnants of ancient furniture or clothing that had been preserved by the drier air in the caves. Some of them were kept in chests. They had also found the pipework, limited as it was, that used to bring up the geothermal energy that was no longer working. There had been no obvious way to fix it or to show what was wrong. Katie suspected geologic shifts over time had simply sheered it off somewhere further down.

The data she had so far definitely indicated that, at some point, the system had relied not only on geothermal and solar energy, but the alchemy on the walls had been almost certainly related in some way. It was integrated into the systems the way Altean alchemy had been part of the Castle of Lions, and Voltron.

"That's it!"

At her exclamation Hunk snorted and rolled over. In her crib, Caitlin stirred, made an unhappy small weh noise, then also fell asleep.

Like father, like daughter, huh? Katie shook her head, but refrained from any further loud exuberance. Instead, she pulled up communications and sent a message to Navor's private channel.

"Something I can help you with?" Navor asked. He did not look as if he had been asleep, thankfully. It wasn't that late.

"I'd like to see if the Atlas can talk to the technology on the planet," Katie jumped right in, quickly outlining her thoughts on the similarities between the alchemical formulas on the walls, and what had been used in the creation of Alfor's work, and the Atlas itself. She sent him a quick stream of her data while they spoke. "What do you think?"

Navor looked it over, and listened as she explained. "It seems worth a shot," he admitted, nodding. "I admit it's fascinating to find another race that so thoroughly connects with alchemy in the same way as Alteans. If it is in fact the same. We won't know unless we try however. Meet me in my briefing room."

"I'll be right there."

As soon as the communication ended, Katie changed back out of her pajamas, and into fresh clothes, grabbed her computer, slipped on shoes, and left. Hunk and Caitlin would hardly miss her.

When she arrived, Navor looked almost as excited about the prospect as she did. He waited until she synched up her system. He had also summoned Coran, who was definitely excited. "I don't know why we didn't think of this before," he admitted.

"We've all been working pretty hard." Katie shrugged.

"All right. I've been talking to the Atlas, as it were," he said. "And I think it's willing to give this a shot. I mean, it doesn't really communicate in words so…"

"Trust me, I know." Katie smiled.

"Oh yes, of course. You would, wouldn't you?" Navor looked briefly embarrassed, but it passed in a moment. "Very well then. Let's see what your new friend the planet can tell us."

Navor closed his eyes, and focused inward. Katie waited, watching, patient, and a little jealous. The Atlas had only ever connected with her directly once, in a moment of emotional crisis. It made her miss Green, and their bond. I hope where-ever you are you're doing okay girl.

After a couple of minutes, the main screen lit up, and several smaller screens appeared streaming information. Much more information, and much faster, than she had been able to collect it so far. "Wow! What are we seeing?"

Navor opened his eyes. "The Atlas says that the technology is fused through most of the planet, connecting many centers like this one, though most of them are now entirely inactive, and a couple have fallen in. Its primary mission is to do exactly what we've seen it do, record all the data, track changes, and make predictions."

That made sense with everything she had so far. "It's basically a really sophisticated farmer's almanac that references actual meteorological and geological data, then. Fascinating! Though I think if we can get back to the point where people were actually living here, we can find out if there are more detailed historical records as well, and what they did with that data once it was collected."

"At least it's not likely some kind of planetary weapons system," Coran concurred, clearly relieved. "It's a very interesting way of combining alchemy and technology though. It implies that this species had far more alchemists than we do on Altea. Possibly a more natural, instinctive connection."

"It is astounding," Navor agreed. "This is excellent work. If nothing else, the Vidorans should be very pleased with what you've discovered."

"We," Katie corrected him. "Without your ability to talk to the Atlas directly, we would never have gotten this much. If we can get it to give us the other historical records, who knows what more we'll find out?"

May 31st, 2332

Katie was having a fantastic day. Still riding the emotional high of having made a major breakthrough, she was thrilled the next day when less than an hour after arrival, they got news that the search teams had finally found something down on the seventh floor. The utter lack of dust meant they had neither left nor made any real footprints, but there was a long, narrow cavern, and at the end of it a huge round mandala carving full of pictograms and more of the ancient language. Katie and Coran were the first ones to join them, and she was happy to see that Keith and Hunk were there. The two teams had traded places that morning, so that not everyone would spend the entire mission outdoors.

She, Coran, and the three Vidorans who had been the most useful in extracting new information so far, approached the carvings carefully, but without any real trepidation. So far, at no point had anyone on the mission found anything resembling a trap or security system. "Is this as far down as the temple goes?" she asked the others.

"This appears to be the bottom," Ouz agreed. "The rest of this floor has several collapsed areas, however, so if there was a secondary exit, it may have been destroyed."

Katie held up her recording device and first took the same detailed three-dimensional scans she had with all of the symbols on the main floor, and the floors below. "All right. Let's see what we can find out. This might be the main temple, or where they keep their most private information." There were no signs of shelves, but it was possible that, the way they stored information, everything needed to unlock the truth was carved in the rocks. She ran the images through her translation matrices. "We should know what we're dealing with in just a minute."

"Whatever it says, it's quite… stunning." Coran approached the giant round surface cautiously. "It appears to be carved from a single piece of rock. Granite perhaps. The colors… that isn't paint. They're inset jewels."

"Which could mean something specific, or maybe they're just art lovers too." Katie smiled, stepping up beside him. It's really—" she cut off as around them, the earth began to rumble, and the floor to vibrate.

"Earthquake!" someone shouted, and the room was filled with shouting in the general chaos as several Vidorans sprinted for the exit.

"Let's go." Katie spun around, tripping as she almost fell into Coran, and fell backwards, her back connecting with the wall behind her, catching her fall. She breathed a moment's relief. That was a lucky—

A huge flash of bright white light blinded her, and the world spun as it felt like she was falling backwards again without anything catching her as she tumbled, and spun, until everything went black.

---

"Earthquake!"

"Quiznak. I knew this was a bad idea!" Hunk shouted as chaos erupted around him and Keith. "It's always earthquakes!" He surged forward, pushing against the fleeing Vidorans and Garrison officers. "Pidge! We've got to get out of here!" he shouted, as he saw her spin around his direction. Then she tripped, and fell backwards, grabbing Coran's arm. Hunk stumbled as the ground lurched, and then fell to the ground as a blast of light and heat blinding him. His hands scraped against the rock, and his breath ran out in a rush. Gasping, he scrambled back up, blinking frantically to clear his eyes as the roar of the earth filled his ears. "Pidge? Where are you?" Dancing spots moved in a haze as his eyes slowly readjusted to the dim light of the portable lights the scientists had brought and left behind.

"Pidge!"

"Hunk!" But it was Keith's voice behind him.

Hunk stumbled forward. The rumbling sound was fading and the floor stabilized. "Pidge? Answer me!"

His eyes cleared, but what he saw wasn't possible. It couldn't be. "Where are they?" He spun around and looked at Keith, who was still braced in the doorway with two other Garrison officers. They hadn't tried to scramble back up the stairs.

"I don't know," Keith replied. "There was that flash and then they were just… gone."

"Gone—what? No…" Hunk turned and stared at the wall in front of them, with its circles of text and images… Altean alchemy. His chest constricted, and an overwhelming terror seized him. "She can't be gone. I've got to find her." He charged forward. They had fallen against the wall. If he could just—

Someone tackled him from behind, sending Hunk sprawling once more into the dirt, and slamming his face into the rock.

"Owww! Get off!" Hunk struggled, bucking as he dragged himself up.

"Stop it, Hunk!" Keith shouted, shoving his knee down between Hunk's shoulder blades and sending him sprawling again. "You can't touch that wall! You saw what happened!"

"I've got… to… find her." Hunk struggled against him. "If I can make the wall… do it… again, I can find…"

"Or you could be dead!" Keith pushed down harder. "Think!"

Dead…No. Nonononono. The fight went out of him as Hunk collapsed. If he didn't stop struggling, Keith would never let him up. Agony welled within him, overpowering him. "They can't—you don't believe that. Tell me… you don't believe that."

"I don't know," Keith admitted, his voice quieter. The last of the shaking ebbed, and around them everything went quiet, save the panting of the few officers still on the stairs. "We have no idea what happened. It wasn't an explosion so… they could be fine. But that doesn't mean it's safe. We have no idea what we just…witnessed." Panting, Keith slid off Hunk's back, landing with his butt on the stone. "We're going to need more information before we know what happened, and how to get Coran and Pidge back. But I think we know what happened to the missing Vidorans."

Coran. Hunk hadn't even thought about Coran. He should feel bad about that, he thought, but everything inside him screamed to go after Katie. His insides churned, and halfway to his knees, he vomited all over the cave floor.

---

Keith had long had a rule: someone on the team had to be the one to keep their head straight if everyone else was panicking, even if they felt like panicking too. In this situation, it had to be him. He was shocked and worried about Katie and Coran. He had no idea what had just happened, other than they were gone, with no traces left behind. Logically, it hadn't been an explosion. There were no bodies. No charred remains. It might have been a wormhole of some kind, if a very small and strange one. Or it could have been a short-range transport to one of the other sites they had just learned existed elsewhere on the planet. He wasn't holding out hope on that last one. If that had been the case, the other scientists would have been found somewhere on the planet. Or maybe it just didn't work right.

Right now, they had to see what kind of damage the Earthquake had done, and who else was injured, before they could report this to the rest and figure out if there was any way to find where Coran and Katie had gone.

He also needed to get Hunk functional. His friend's reaction was entirely reasonable. If it had been Acxa, Keith wasn't sure he'd be in any better shape mentally. He could only hold it together now because he had to. Katie and Coran were family, though he doubted Hunk's overwhelming response had anything to do with their friend, and everything to do with his soulmate.

Keith rubbed Hunk's back gently as Hunk vomited all over the floor. Not that he thought it was really that soothing. Then he stood, and offered Hunk a hand. Hunk took it, hauling himself to his feet, wiping his mouth on his dusty sleeve. "I need your help, Hunk," Keith said, falling back into command voice. He motioned the three Garrison junior officers over as he spoke. They cautiously joined them. "We need to get upstairs, if we can, and survey the damage, and take care of any wounded. Then, we need to get a team back down here to figure out what the hell happened." He looked at the Garrison officers, whom he knew by name only because of the past few days. "Syun, as soon as we get upstairs, I want you to contact the Atlas. Tell them what's happened and find out if the ship can tell us anything about the earthquake we just experienced. Navor can interface the Atlas with their computers directly now, so we should get some data. Tell them we have missing and have them scan the entire planet for any signs of Coran, Lieutenant Commander Holt-Garrett, and three Vidorans."

Syun nodded.

"All right, let's go see what we need to do."

---

Hunk's brain felt sluggish, but it started to work again as Keith took charge. He followed Keith and the others back upstairs, picking up the pace as he went. The sooner they got back down there and figured out how to retrieve Katie, the better.

There were, miraculously, no additional cave ins on any of the floors leading from the bottom level back up to the first floor. Hunk found himself passingly impressed at the building quality of the structure. That, or there just wasn't anything left in any real danger of falling apart.

Upstairs, things were organized chaos. With the earthquake over, Vidorans and Garrison officers alike were patching each other up, though the wounds seemed to be mostly scrapes and bruises. Ouz had a lump on his head from a bit of falling debris.

The Garrison officers all stopped to look at them as they came out. There were many expressions of relief, then concern as they counted and realized no one else was coming.

"Lieutenant Commander," one of the female junior officers stood up from the ground as Hunk approached. "Where are the others?" The words came out very softly.

Hunk's throat closed.

Thankfully, Keith's was working, and Syun was already sprinting over to the communications array as ordered. "We have five missing," he announced to the room. "As we were fleeing, Lieutenant Commander Holt-Garrett, Coran, and three Vidoran scientists were… transported, as best we can tell, somewhere else. At least that's our best guess. There was a large flash of light, and they disappeared. Where they ended up is anybody's guess, but we need answers. Officer Syun is informing the Atlas, and they will be scanning the entire planet for bio-readings. I think we can safely say that this… device… is what caused your other teams of scientists to go missing. When we find Pidge and Coran and the others, we may find them as well. Who here is most familiar with the research completed here over the past few days?"

Two hands went up, one Vidoran, the other Garrison. It was the same junior officer who had asked after the others.

"What are your names?"

"Junior science officer Terry Caldwell… Sir." Apparently, the fact that Keith was no longer an official member of the Garrison meant nothing in the face of everything that was going on.

"Researcher Twyll," the Vidoran said as she joined Caldwell. She didn't look any older than the officer, if Hunk had to guess. Over the past few days, he had started to get a pretty good feel for what age looked like on the Vidoran face.

Keith nodded. "All right then. Caldwell, Twyll, you're with me. Anyone else who thinks they will actually be helpful, come along. We'll want teams to spread out and search the area locally. See if you can find any sign that that thing leads to somewhere outside. If we're lucky, they're just somewhere nearby."

"I'm coming with you," Hunk said as Keith turned towards the stairs.

Keith paused, then nodded. "Yeah. Of course. Come with me."

---

Keith had experienced a longer two hours, though he couldn't remember when. He had been very tempted to put Hunk to some other tasks, anywhere else on the planet, or send him back to the Atlas. Except he knew that if he had tried to make him go, Hunk would have refused. Despite all of the dangers they had faced over the years, there was something extra behind Hunk's fear; an edge to it that bordered on overwhelming him. Hunk had always been afraid but he had never let it slow him down, no matter who was in danger.

Of course, things changed. And back up on the Atlas was Caitlin, who had no idea that her mother was missing.

Hunk's leonine pacing was distracting, but at least he had stopped asking questions. Caldwell and Twyll looked anxious even as they focused on getting scans and analyzing the wall and the rest of the room as much as they could from a safe distance outside of even accidental touching reach of the alchemical circle. As long as the only thing that could set it off was touching it, that was what they would avoid until given evidence of some other theory.

"There are residual energy readings," Caldwell said finally, "Though they're odd. If this thing transports people, it's not the same thing as the teludav. It's got a different signature. Or at least, I think it does. I need to send this information up to the Atlas for analysis. There might be something more useful in the database."

"Is that it?" Hunk asked, breaking his silence.

Caldwell looked uneasy. "Yes, for the most part. There's nothing else here. I mean, that could be good news. There's no trace of any kind of remains. No blood, or skin cells, or…" she stopped as the blood drained from Hunk's face. "What I mean is, that the possibility of transporting them somewhere makes the most sense."

"Thank you, Terry." Keith smiled reassuringly. "Let's go report your findings to the Atlas. They might have something for us by now."

Back upstairs, Syun waved them over. "I just got a report, Sir!" he exclaimed.

"News? Anything? Did they find them?" Hunk practically sprinted to the console.

Syun shook his head. "Not yet. They said they've scanned the entire planet for signs of human, Altean, and Vidorans anywhere besides our location. They found nothing, but they also confirmed that they were looking for genetic signatures, not just bio-signs, so that means that, wherever they are, they aren't on this planet."

"Then where are they?"

"Hunk." Keith gave him a meaningful glance, then nodded to Syun. "Good work. Was the Atlas able to… interface with the systems?" It was much easier than trying to explain to everyone how the Atlas could literally communicate with and talk to other systems like a consciousness, but not quite.

Syun nodded. "Yes! The planet systems apparently confirm that at some point there was a, well it called it a door on the lowest level that leads elsewhere."

"So, it is a wormhole, or teleportation device." That was good news, presuming it was working properly. "Did it say where the door leads?"

"Kind of. Apparently, it hasn't been used in millennia, not until the teams of scientists accidentally triggered it. It's not part of the main systems. But the records call the place Kydaxin. It's kind of a strange name."

"Strange or not, it's something to work with." Keith had never heard of a planet with a name anything like that. But it might not have been a planet. It could have been a specific city or town on any planet in the universe. "Have they been able to find it on a map?"

Syun's face fell. He shook his head again. "No, Sir. Nothing on that name shows up anywhere in the Atlas' records. Not as the name of a galaxy, solar system, star, planet, moon, comet, or any other space object. It also doesn't show up in the records of place names on any of the bodies in our database… or the updates we were given by the Vidorans."

"Which means it may be somewhere we haven't been yet." Or, more grimly, that it might be a place that no longer existed. Not that Keith was even going to suggest out loud in Hunk's hearing that Katie and the others might have been ejected out into space. If that had happened, or the transport had not worked properly, they might all be dead after all.

Apparently, Hunk had come to that realization on his own. He was looking decidedly green. "That's not good enough! There's got to be some way to know. Somewhere to look. Have they tried running a tri-spectral analysis all the way to the planet's core? What about the rest of the system? We could—"

"Hunk! Stop it!"

Startled, Hunk went quiet, and so did everyone else in the room. Now they were staring at them both. Keith took a deep breath. "There's nothing more we can do here today," he spoke aloud, to everyone in the room. "While I can't speak for the Vidorans, I think it's time for the rest of us to go back up to the Atlas. It will take some time to run the new information through the database and see what else we can learn, but there's no reason for us to stay down here over night. Especially not until we know that we aren't due for another earthquake, or aftershocks."

"What if they come back through?" Hunk asked in a rush. "We should have someone here… a watch, at least."

"We will leave a team here," Ouz cut in immediately. "I will have fresh guards sent over from Vidora, and make sure they are properly briefed. I… will also stay. Dyn, Lowax, and Priin are all colleagues, and friends."

"Thank you." Keith nodded to Ouz and then looked at the rest. "All right. The rest of you, gather your things and head back to the pods."

---

A hazy, nauseating dread fell over Hunk like a fog on the way back to the Atlas. He could barely focus on what anyone else was saying around him as they walked back to the pods, boarded, and flew back into space. His mind kept going back to the look of shock on Katie's face the moment before the blinding light had torn her from his view… and possibly his life. She's not dead. She can't be dead… But would he know? Really? Mushy movies always talked about how soulmates could simply tell if something was wrong with the other, or if they were all right, even halfway across the galaxy. It was all sap to sell tickets, of course. But given the bond all the Paladins had established between their lions, and then themselves, he had often felt that way.

Except now he could feel nothing. Nothing but terror and worry. If only he had a mission, an objective, something he could do to find her. Hunk didn't like feeling helpless. He would go back over all of the data on the Atlas himself, line by line. Every word, every bit of code, every map and star-chart and archaic reference. He had to find Katie. She had to be alive. If not… then he had just lost two people he loved. He didn't even know if the new baby was a boy or a girl, but the idea of introducing Caitlin to a new sibling, to having another child around… he had been so excited. This time, they were ready for it. And now… it might never be.

No one else in the pod spoke to him directly on the flight back, which was a blessing really. Hunk didn't want to graciously accept their concerns, or worse… their condolences.

His one real shred of hope was Katie herself. He knew that, if she was alive, she would find a way to get that thing working again and come back through it, or find a way to send a signal to the Atlas from her current location. She and Coran were both capable and experienced space adventurers.

And he couldn't stop working to find her either. There had to be something they hadn't tried, and he would demand to see everything for himself. Hunk would find the answer himself, if he had to.

By the time they docked, he had found a new resolve. As soon as the hatch opened, he was out of his seat, and striding out of the hanger and down the halls of the Atlas, straight to the briefing room, after only the shortest pause to ask an officer where to find the captain.

"Hunk, wait up!" he heard Keith behind him, but Hunk didn't slow down.

Tavor turned, looking not a bit surprised to see Hunk arriving. "Lieutenant Commander Garrett," he nodded simply. "I received the report from the science officers en route and we are waiting for the results now."

"Good," Hunk replied, coming to a stop beside the table. He had expected a little more of an argument, for some reason. "Have you scanned the other planets in the system? Moons? Is there any chance they're on another space object nearby?"

"We're scanning them now, with the Vidorans help, of course, but we're not finished yet." Tavor shook his head, regretfully. "So far, they have confirmed that they definitely aren't on any of the inhabited planets. We have them scanning for not only human and Altean readings, but the odd signature on the quintessence and energy that came from the residual readings after it opened." He looked wary at that. "We may have to consider the possibility that they were sent to another reality."

Hunk's stomach dropped. He hadn't even considered that possibility. "Can we even scan other realities? I mean, we've been to… a few of them. But I don't know how you'd do that from here." There might be a way. "Has anyone contacted Slav?"

"In fact, I have sent him a message," Tavor replied. "Though he hasn't yet responded. I'll let you know as soon as he does. I presume you'd like to talk with him yourself."

"Yes… I would." Again, no objections. Hunk had definitely expected more pushback on his involvement. Maybe Tavor had actually read Hunk's records and taken note of the fact that his "Chef" was an engineering genius, too. Not that being a good cook would have gotten him his rank either.

"Excellent. I've already taken the liberty of linking all of the data we've analyzed directly to the subsystem in your quarters. I expect you'll want to look it over for any other avenues we can explore." Tavor looked pinched, and tired. He sighed. "And… Hunk. I'm sorry."

Hunk shook his head. "It's not your fault, Captain. Katie was the perfect expert to send on this mission and she wouldn't have had it any other way. What happened was an accident. We'll get her back. I'll search every corner of the universe if I have to, but I will find her… and Coran and the others."

Eventually the room fell into silence, aside from the occasional beeps of information on the monitors. Hunk stood there watching, waiting. Tavor waited as well, and three science officers and an engineer who were monitoring all of the data as it came in. Keith was there too, and Hunk knew he was just there because Hunk was there.

Hours passed. Planet by planet, moon by moon, reports came in of scans that turned up no anomalous readings of any kind; definitely not the ones they were looking for. Reports from the temple on the surface reported no change. No signs of life or energy in the bottom level at all. The Atlas' communications with the planetary system showed minor aftershocks, but some renewed activity in volcano roughly fifty miles from the temple that was almost certainly related to the quake they had experienced.

The time grew late, not just on the planet, but on the Atlas. Hunk received word from the kitchens that dinner was over and the kitchens cleaned and closed up for the night. Everything was ready for tomorrow's dinner for the formal negotiations. He had almost forgotten about it entirely.

Romelle contacted him just after, to let him know that Caitlin had gone down for the night. She had not told his daughter that her mother was missing, which was a mixed blessing. Hunk had no idea how he was going to explain the situation to his toddler.

"Hey," Keith finally tapped him on the arm. "We should go get something to eat and get cleaned up."

Hunk looked down at his uniform, which was still sweat-spotted and covered in dirt. "I'm not hungry."
Keith crossed his arms. "Don't lie to me. Your lunch is all over a cavern floor and you haven't eaten anything else in ten hours."

Had it been that long? "Fine. I don't feel like it." He didn't want to leave. He couldn't leave. He might miss something critical, something everyone else didn't see. Besides, he really didn't. His stomach was such a roiling mess he was sure anything he ate would just end up on the floor again, or down a toilet.

"Go ahead," Tavor turned to them both. "I promise I'll contact you the moment I hear anything new," he added as Hunk opened his mouth to object. There was a look in his eyes that said don't make me order you out of here.

"Fine." Hunk turned, and followed Keith out of the room. They had quartered Keith just down from him and Katie, so they were walking the same direction.

Hunk tried to pretend he didn't notice Keith watching him, obviously full of concerns and questions. Hunk didn't make eye contact, and was grateful Keith didn't try to make small talk. When he got to his quarters though, Hunk sighed and turned to him. "The kitchen's closed for the night. Meet me there and I'll pull something out for you."

"Sure. Sounds great." Keith nodded. "See you in a bit."

Hunk slipped into his quarters as quietly as he was able. The very last thing he wanted to do was wake Caitlin. He had set up a video feed alert on his hand-held communicator for nights like this one. If she woke up and moved around, he would get a notification anywhere on the ship and he would be able to see and hear her. More importantly, he could talk to her in their quarters and let her know he was coming. Katie had rigged it up herself, and they had both found it occasionally useful. It wasn't like her room on the ship was all that different from a room in a house. Just the house was much bigger, full of fighters, and flying in space.

Caitlin was out cold, wrapped around her yalmor. Hunk stripped, and made his way in to the shower, where he soaked away all of the day's dirt, and the dried blood in the scratches on his hands, and a bit off his nose. He was amazed no one had commented on any of it earlier.

The hot water was cathartic, and there, in the privacy of his shower, Hunk felt the salt sting at his eyes, and the tears roll silently down his cheeks. He'd been helpless. He had been right there, and yet Katie was gone. All his misgivings about letting her go on this mission… he had told himself it would be fine. They were protected this time, and not alone. Her part was just to talk science with other scientists, nerd out over new tech, and stay away from danger.

But… he couldn't get any kind of sense if she was even alive. Hunk closed his eyes, and tried to calm his mind, even as the tears continued to flow. He tried to reach out to Katie… or Yellow… anyone, to find that connection they had shared mentally. Yellow…buddy… if you can hear me. Now would be the best time for an unexpected reappearance. I could really use you… we've got trouble.

But there was nothing. Not that he had expected a response, but he had hoped. Nothing from the lion… but worse was the feeling of emptiness… a void instead of any assurance that Katie was alive, just distant. He didn't want to think about what that might mean.

When he couldn't put it off any longer, Hunk turned off the shower, changed into civilian clothes, and headed to the kitchen. Going to the refrigerator that always held the available leftovers from completed meals, Hunk started looking through it.

"So, what's the on menu?" Keith asked from behind him.

"Looks like cold sandwiches, leftover potato salad, or I can reheat some rather mediocre meatloaf I'm going to have to have a conversation with someone about later." It looked edible, but that was about all he could say for it.

"Sandwiches and potato salad it is," Keith agreed heartily. "Here, I'll help slice."

In quick order they had whipped up two sandwiches out of cold cuts, sliced cheese, an alien lettuce Hunk had found worked great on sandwiches, with plenty of good old Earth condiments. Hunk always kept mayonnaise and a good Dijon mustard on board. That, and piles of potato salad was about as basic, but tasty, a meal as anyone could hope for in the middle of the night.

"Looks great. Thanks." Keith said before digging in.

Hunk took his first bite without enthusiasm. As the flavors hit his tongue, however, his stomach remembered that it was completely empty, and even though he barely tasted it, Hunk found that in almost no time at all he had devoured the entire sandwich, and a mound of potato salad, along with seconds, which cleaned out the remains of the potato container. He also drained four glasses of water.

Keith didn't eat as much, but he ate with more enthusiasm. "Feel better?" he asked after a while.

"Maybe a little," Hunk admitted. "Will you stop looking at me like I'm going to lose it? People have been staring at me all day."

Keith's expression softened to one of concern. "Hunk, they're just worried about you. I mean, you did already kind of totally lose it earlier."

"I did not."

"I had to sit on you."

"So, what about it? Pidge is missing. She could be…d… gone. I have no idea where she is, or if she's hurt. Or—I never even wanted her on this stupid, dangerous mission in the first place, but she wouldn't listen."

Keith's eyes widened a bit. "Oh really? That's the first I've heard about it."

"Well, it's not like we discuss all our private disagreements with you."

"Hunk, what aren't you telling me?" Keith met his gaze, locking eyes with him in that intense way that made it hard to blink. Kind of like looking into the face of a wolf. "Why wouldn't you want our best tech genius on this mission? Whatever possessed you to try and dive into an unknown and potentially deadly phenomenon to go after her?"

Hunk set down his fork, and wished he could just avoid this conversation all together. No one had to know. Aside from the medics, they still hadn't told anyone else. Caitlin didn't even know. "Pidge w—is… she's pregnant."

Keith's mouth fell open in a small O.

"Yeah. I didn't want her going because we didn't know how dangerous it was going to be, but you know Pidge. She insisted she was fine, and I was just being overprotective. I—damn it—I wish she'd been right." His throat caught again, and he bit back tears.

"That's what you meant by them."

"Yeah. I mean, I'm worried about Coran too, and the others…. But I have got to find her, Keith. I will search every corner of every reality out there to bring her back to me… if it's possible." Realities… wolves… "Hey! I don't suppose Cosmo could—"

Keith was already shaking his head. "I really wish he could, Hunk, but he's got to know where he's going. I have no idea how he makes sense of that without losing his way, but he's not a bloodhound. We can't just give him one of Pidge's devices and say fetch. If we could, it would have been one of the first things I suggested."

"I appreciate that." Hunk's momentary hope faded again, and flickered weakly. "And I have no idea what I'm going to tell Caitlin when she wakes up tomorrow."

"The truth would be a start."

"But what is the truth?" Hunk asked. "We don't even know anything except she's missing. I'm not even sure a two-year-old understands the concept of missing. All she will understand is she wants her mom, and she won't be there. Maybe not ever again."

"We'll do everything we can to find her, Hunk. Just hold in there, okay? Whatever happens, you've got me, and you've got the rest of our friends, our families. Right now, you've got everyone on the Atlas, and the entire Vidoran people, and they're going to work their asses off to find Pidge and the others and bring them home."