Chapter Text
At first Darrell “Pidge” Stoker didn’t realize that he had been absentmindedly humming the tune of Stereolactic’s “Window Between the Worlds” as he completed the latest upgrade of the Castle of Lions’ security systems. It was only when a high-pitched electronic alert blared through the console’s speakers that Darrell realized how ironic his choice of melodies was. Project Looking Glass had finally detected an incoming signal from Universe VLD-2016! It matched with all the quantum relay frequencies used by the decryption key Katie had given him before they said their final farewells. Darrell had managed to make contact with Shorty—the “Pidge” of Universe DU-1984–right after they returned home from their mission to save the Multiverse, but Darrell had tried and failed many times to make contact with Katie “Pidge” Holt and the other Voltron Paladins until now. His heart raced as he activated the sequence that would download and decode the information that was being transmitted from the Paladins’ universe. He pressed a button on his comm that would alert his best friends Lance and Hunk, as well as the Queen of Arus and her royal consort. They would all want to experience this historic moment together.
Queen Allura and Commander Keith arrived first, along with their young son, Prince Alfor Kenneth Kogane. The little lad was dark-haired and had a serious expression like his father. He tugged as his mother’s long blue gown, wanting to be picked up.
Allura smiled down at her child. “Alfor, you know you are getting too heavy for me to carry.”
Keith hauled the lad up into his strong arms with an exaggerated huff. “Your mom’s not kidding.” Allura tickled the boy and he responded with a fit of giggles, which brought a rare smile to his father’s face.
When the automatic doors of the lift opened, Hunk stepped out of the elevator, still wearing his orange and yellow mechanic’s jumpsuit and clutching a wrench, which he hastily shoved in his tool belt.
“Pidge! Is it working? Are we really getting a signal from the Paladins?” Hunk asked excitedly.
“It’s from their universe…There’s a lot of data to download,” Darrell replied. He didn’t speak everyone’s worst fears aloud. The last time they had seen the Paladins of Voltron, they were trying to make sure that the Voltron Force and the Lion Force Voltron pilots were able to return home safely before the cataclysm occurred.
Darrell was the first to realize that the Paladins had devised a plan to sacrifice themselves in order to save their new friends as well as everyone else in the multiverse. It would have taken a miracle to protect them from what happened after the rifts sealed behind the Voltron Force and Lion Force mechas, leaving the Paladins and their own Voltron with little chance of survival. Darrell’s mind raced, analyzing the data that scrolled across his monitor. Everything seemed to indicate that they had finally made contact with Katie Holt. There were many data streams that needed time to convert to useable files: text, audio, video, and hologram. There was a series of still photos that appeared to be an introduction to the data package, a kind of slide show that served as a window to another universe. Clever, he thought, A picture can often communicate more efficiently than thousands of words.Darrell pressed the “record and save” buttons on his console, wanting to preserve this historic moment for posterity.
“We should wait for the others to get here before we open those files,” said Keith.
Commander Lance walked through the double automatic doors at that moment. He was accompanied by Coran, Daniel, Vince, and Princess Larmina.
“Hey Pidge! I just got your signal,” said Lance. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Yes, I am certain that it is,” said Darrell, rotating his chair 180 degrees to face his friends. “We just received a message from Katie Holt.”
The room was filled with a cacophony of cheers and the buzz of conversation as the others began to talk all at once.
“They survived!” Hunk exclaimed. “I knew it, I just knew it!”
Allura dabbed at the happy tears that welled at the corners of her eyes. “I dreamed of this. Somehow, I always knew they’d make it!”
“Me too,” said Keith. “Those kids are real heroes.”
“Who?” asked little Alfor.
“The Paladins of Voltron,” his father replied.
“Yeah,” agreed Lance. “They were willing to give up everything to save us all. That’s what true heroes are, you know?”
Hey, look at that!” exclaimed Hunk.
Darrell turned his chair back around so he could watch the monitor. As one line of pixels after another filled the screen, a group photo was revealed. The picture had been taken in the docking bay of an enormous starship, and the Paladins’ Voltron Lions were at least partially visible in the background.
Queen Allura gasped, “There are the other Alteans. Look, next to Princess Allura,” she said, turning to her royal advisor. “That must be their Coran.” She took her own Coran’s arm and gave it a squeeze. “He raised their Allura just as you raised me. He’s like a father to her.”
The old man smiled. “The young blonde woman beside them must be Romelle then.”
“The other Keith looks so young,” Daniel observed. “The big wolf is named Kosmo, right?”
“Yes, and the Paladins are really young,” said Larmina. “especially Katie. They were teenagers like us when they were chosen.”
“I’m just amazed by how much Captain Shirogane reminds me of our Sven,” Keith commented. “And look at the alien next to Keith. See the family resemblance? She must be his mother, Krolia.”
“Yeah,” said Hunk. “I’ll bet that picture was taken onboard the Atlas. Boy, would I love to take a peek at that starship’s propulsion system!”
“That alien girl with her arm around Hunk must be his girlfriend Shay,” said Lance.
“And the woman who looks so much like Lance must be his sister Veronica,” Hunk added.
“There’s Katie’s family. I would love to meet them, especially Dr. Sam Holt,” said Darrell. He’s brilliant!”
“That tall guy with the ponytail who looks like Katie must be Matt Holt,” Vince observed. “Didn’t you say that the other Pidge was close to her brother?”
Yeah,” said Darrell, “just like Chip and I.” He stared at the image before him in wonder. “We are the first people in our universe to take a look into this particular parallel reality. It’s simply incredible!”
“I know that this technology is groundbreaking, but scientific marvels aside, I am just glad that they made it home safely to their loved ones,” said Queen Allura.
“They really do look like one big, happy Voltron family,” said Lance, “just like all of us.” He extended his arms on either side of himself to envelop Daniel and Larmina in a side hug. The two teenagers made faces of mock disgust. Vince laughed at them.
“These readings indicate that this data package was also transmitted to the Castle of Lions in universe DU-1984,” said Darrell. “That means our friends there can see what we are seeing too.”
New images with captions appeared: There were several professional-looking photographs of the five Paladins receiving medals of valor at a large military base with a beautiful desert landscape behind them. Then there were a series of casual photos of the Paladins and their families vacationing on Earth, which almost always showed clear blue skies or spectacular sunsets. After that there was a photo of the Paladins taken after Hunk and Shay’s wedding, followed by one of Lance and Pidge with Lance’s extended family on a sunny tropical beach. There were loud cheers and applause when the screen revealed a photo of Keith and Allura exchanging vows on a planet with blue-green skies called New Altea, which was followed by even more cheers and applause when the screen showed a closeup of Lance and Pidge in their wedding finery posing for their first photo together as husband and wife. Finally, there was a photo of the same happy couple holding a newborn baby boy.
Darrell’s vision blurred as he read the caption beneath the photo. It was a birth announcement from the Galaxy Garrison Newsletter. He pushed his goggles up to rest atop his head in order to wipe at the tears that were suddenly streaming down his cheeks.
The photo’s caption read: Darrell Samuel Holt-McClain was born on the 27th of September to the Galaxy Garrison’s own Captain Lance Charles McClain and his wife Dr. Katie Holt-McClain, both Paladins of Voltron. The happy couple named their son after a dear friend as a remembrance of him and the other brave Defenders of the Multiverse. Even though they are far away, they will never be forgotten.
THE END.