Chapter Text
“Yes, that’s right. Six crew members.”
“Six… You’re absolutely sure?”
“Affirmative.”
“Mhm. Well according to these readings it looks like there are seven beings on your ship, Captain.”
Doyoung curses in his thoughts, nails digging ever so slightly into the armrests on his chair though he does manage to keep a straight face. The being on the transmission is not nearly as stoic, a playful, knowing smirk on his face with lazy yet predatory eyes.
“I think,” Doyoung starts, then clears his throat so he sounds a little less shaky. “I would advise you to check again.” He hopes with all of his heart that a certain two people on his ship are on top of each other like usual and their heat signatures blend together enough to be mistaken as a single entity.
“If you say so,” the other singsongs. He looks down briefly, hands flying over the keypad in front of him to initialize another scan. Doyoung can’t help the way he flinches when the screen flashes red and beeping echoes throughout the bridge. A pair of wide, nervous eyes glance over at him and he sends Mark a tiny nod of assurance, though he’s not exactly sure yet how they’re going to get out of this one.
The being counts tauntingly slowly with a lazy drawl, “One, two, three. Four, five… six…."
Doyoung's left eye twitches.
"Seven."
Doyoung grits his teeth while the other leans close to the screen and almost leers at him. “Looks like you’ve got a stowaway aboard, hmm?”
Doyoung weighs his options in his head quietly, then eventually releases a long sigh as he resigns to the truth, “No, no. Not a stowaway. He is a member of our crew, just not registered yet.”
“Pity.” The quality is a bit grainy, but not enough that Doyoung misses the mock pout on the screen. “Well, it looks like I have no choice but to take you in for questioning. You understand, of course, being an alumnus of our federation, isn’t that right?”
“Of course,” Doyoung affirms blithely, still maintaining his neutral expression. “Please send us the docking coordinates and we will happily cooperate with the investigation.”
“Lovely,” he croons. Shortly after, the digits appear on the navigation display accompanied by a three-dimensional visual representation of their assigned docking station. “I'll be seeing you soon~”
Doyoung nods in reply and the feed cuts off, flickering away until the projection returns to the inky blackness of space. His poker face dissolves into a frustrated scowl as he slams his fist onto the table with a disgruntled, “Argh!”
Mark jumps about three feet into the air at the outburst, “Whoa, dude, are you alright?” He pushes himself up from his seat and totters over to give Doyoung a few consoling pats on the back.
Doyoung buries his face in his hands and lets out a loud groan, “Spaces, we’re in it now.” He drags his fingers down his face and glares at the screen as he snarls, “Where’s Yuta. I’m going to kill him.”
“Uh, down in engines probably?” Mark offers. “You banned him and Yangyang from being on the bridge during transmissions ever since what happened with-”
“Don’t say it,” Doyoung hisses, whipping around to cover Mark’s mouth with his hand. Mark’s shoulders shake with silent laughter that escalates into small giggles when Doyoung releases him to slump dramatically onto the table.
Static crinkles briefly, then a bright voice filters in through the speakers to ask, “Are we in trouble?”
“Yes,” Doyoung grumbles into his arms. “Where’s Yuta?”
“He’s, uhhhh,” Yangyang drawls. “Hiding.”
“Am not!” an indignant voice rings out in the distance.
“I’ll get to him later then,” Doyoung grumbles as he leans back in his chair. “How much of that did you hear?”
“Enough,” Yangyang answers casually.
Doyoung rests his chin on one hand while the other starts plotting their course. “I thought you programmed something for those scanners.”
Yangyang blows air out through pursed lips, then says, “Man, so did I. I thought their tech was supposed to be, like, ancient. I have no idea how this guy got through my stuff.”
“Not ancient,” Doyoung shakes his head. “Just regulated.”
A series of shuffling noises occur, then a different voice adds, “Yes, regulated. And proprietary.”
Doyoung heaves out an exasperated sigh, “Yuta…”
“Ah-bup-bup!” Yuta interrupts. “Before you start, hear me out. There’s no way we would have found the part we needed in time anywhere else. I’m good but I’m not that good. This is better than breaking down and being stranded in the middle of nowhere when it eventually gives out for real.”
“At least this way we’ll die instantly from getting shot rather than slowly suffocating out in the empty void of space!” Yangyang chimes in.
“Exactly, thank you Yangyang,” Yuta nods. The sharp sound of their hands smacking together trickles through the feed.
“They do kind of have a point,” Mark nods. Doyoung looks at him absolutely betrayed, and Mark stammers as he hurries to explain himself. “J-just. I mean, like, we go through their checkpoints all the time. We would have gotten caught eventually, best to just get it out of the way now since we needed to make the stop anyway.”
“We don’t even know if he wants to stay with us for sure,” Doyoung frowns. “We freed him, yes, but he doesn’t owe us anything. There’s nothing keeping him here if he wants to leave once we get to the next safe zone.”
A deafening silence follows, and Doyoung feels a little lost as even Mark blinks down at him with utter bewilderment.
Doyoung’s cheeks gradually warm to almost a boil when he finally demands, “What?”
Yangyang clears his throat awkwardly, “...Who’s gonna tell him.”
.
A dim light stretches across the expanse of the room with the power humming a cool blue that casts faint shadows like small curtains up and along a few pieces of furniture. The view outside the window shifts slightly as a course is set starboard. Distant, shimmering silver dotted beyond the glass promises infinity with countless new stories, new beings, new adventures.
Jaemin lazily blinks one eye at a time, golden amber and cerulean blue alternating at the expanse he’s seen on hundreds of thousands of occasions before. But it never gets old. Though he enjoys exploring what the universe has to offer, he also cherishes the time he gets to himself in his room, marinating in the mortality of his own existence as billions of others pass by.
Like this, it makes him feel so very small, such a tiny blip in the grand expanse of the universe that a chill creeps across his spine, though it’s pleasant from the tinge of familiarity. Just a few cycles ago, he would never even have dreamed of stepping foot in a spaceship, yet here he is now, a licensed crew member with dozens of missions under his belt.
It’s not exactly the most put together group nor do they have any fancy titles, but it’s definitely better than what little he had before. Better than using what he had to help those who had even less because he can do it on a bigger scale now.
Regardless of how it used to be, he can’t help but feel lucky. Lucky to have been found by a pair of kind, olive eyes and sharp, ivory orbs that belie an even deeper kindness. And especially lucky to have been at just the right place and the right time to be found once again by such a genuine, good soul.
They’re not exactly drowning in money, so the temperature regulators are rather low on their ever-growing list of priorities, but lately for Jaemin it hasn't been quite as cold as usual. In fact he’s warmer than he’s ever been as he turns to look down at the softly snoring lump that’s attached itself to his stomach.
With a fond smile, Jaemin reaches a hand out to gently card through messy, dark locks, then gingerly stroke the side of a white, fluffy ear. It twitches under his thumb, and the lump burrows deeper into the comforter with a dull groan, further tightening the bundle of arms and fabric around Jaemin’s waist.
Jaemin leans back with a soft sigh, letting his eyes flutter shut as he continues idly petting his companion. Truthfully, everyone including him was surprised at how easily they got along, especially considering how skittish Jaemin tends to be around strangers. Somehow the two of them were drawn to each other like nothing else, so much so that it was almost frightening how easily the newcomer had slotted himself into a part of him that Jaemin didn’t even know was missing.
“Mmh, Jaemin?” A hand paws at the blankets around his mouth so his words come out a bit clearer. “What are you doing up? Is something wrong?”
“Don’t worry about it, Jeno,” Jaemin croons, brushing his knuckles softly against Jeno’s cheek. “Go back to sleep.”
Jeno hums drowsily, and he melts back down onto the covers. He doesn’t get a chance to drift asleep again, but his breathing is no less peaceful as he relishes in the serenity of this moment. The idle sounds of the starship a fine backdrop for the feeling of Jaemin’s fingers through his hair and the silent comfort of being so close together.
—
“Don’t worry, Doyoungie knows what he’s doing,” Taeyong waves away Yangyang’s concern with a placid smile. “He’s a great negotiator!”
Yangyang narrows his eyes skeptically, “Wasn’t he the one of the ones who defended you in your trial? That you lost?”
Taeyong opens his mouth, then closes it, then opens it again, but before he can get a word in, Doyoung manages to reply first, “That trial was rigged from the start and everyone knew it. Hold out your arms.”
Yangyang shrinks backwards with wide eyes and protectively covers the openings of his sleeves. Doyoung raises his eyebrows expectantly, and a few seconds later Yangyang rolls his eyes and shuffles forward to obey. He pouts as Doyoung starts methodically removing all the gadgets shoved up his sleeves.
It’s quite absurd just how much Yangyang had managed to hide inside of his uniform, and Taeyong wordlessly walks away and comes back a few seconds later with a large storage bin to toss everything into. Yuta slowly tiptoes over and adds something he had in the ankle of his boot to the pile.
Jeno watches with wide eyes as more and more things clatter into it. Jaemin chuckles softly at the way Jeno’s head angles down to follow the path of each and every one, then snaps back up to see what else Doyoung digs out.
Doyoung’s face scrunches up with disbelief as he slowly pulls out a large, metal sphere.
“Oh!” Yangyang exclaims. He cups his hands below it with a pleading smile. “This one’s pretty important actually, could I take it from you? That’s the last of it, I swear.”
Doyoung huffs out a short laugh, “Sure. But you better be back here in 5 or we’re all going to get it.” Yangyang nods and scurries away as soon as Doyoung returns him the strange device.
“So what’s the plan?” Jaemin asks. He keeps his face blank, but his ears twitch nervously under the fabric of his cap. Jeno softly nudges his arm and gives him a soft smile of support that Jaemin returns gratefully.
“I dunno,” Doyoung shrugs. “We’ll play it by ear.”
“By ear,” Yuta echoes unamusedly. “Who are you and what have you done with Doyoung?”
“Something’s off about this guy,” Doyoung muses aloud, ignoring Yuta’s quip. “The place he had us dock isn’t regulation either.”
Taeyong comes back from putting away the container, brushing his hands off before he asks, “Do you think we’re in any danger?”
“No, no,” Doyoung shakes his head. “We’re still within the station, I’m not too worried about getting jumped.” Yangyang jogs back inside the hull just in time for him to hear Doyoung add, “Getting hit with a fine and then being imprisoned because we have no credits is a different story, though.”
“I could make some credits for us if you want,” Yangyang chimes in.
“Good thinking,” Tayeong smiles, “but that would definitely get us in even more trouble. I like the energy, though!”
“What if it is a fine?” Jeno asks timidly. “Would they… would they let all of you go if I turned myself in?”
“Jeno-” Jaemin frowns, glad that his uniform is a bit big on Jeno so he can easily grab the sleeve to tug him close.
“You’re not going to do that,” Doyoung finishes for Jaemin who accentuates the sentiment by interlacing his fingers tightly with Jeno’s. “And don’t worry, if it comes to it I have a secret weapon.”
“Weapon?” Jeno's mouth quirks. “I thought all of those needed to go in that basket.”
“It’s a different kind of weapon,” Yuta grins slyly.
The ship lurches forward as the tethers finally start reeling them into the hangar. Everyone rushes around with last minute preparations, smoothing down the wrinkles in their clothes or the knots in their hair. Jeno turns to the side to delicately adjust Jaemin’s cap, then reaches back down to squeeze their hands together comfortingly.
Mark snorts as he finally trots in and sees Yuta fidgeting uncomfortably in his uniform rather than the beat up shirt covered in grease and grime he usually wears everyday. “Is it a little funny to anyone else that we’re all putting on our Sunday best just to get arrested?”
Jaemin turns to him slowly with a furrow in his brows, “Sun Day best? What does that mean?”
“Oh,” Mark replies dumbly. “Right. Hah. Sometimes I forget I’m the only human on this ship.”
“I think you’re a great human, Mark,” Jeno offers with a kind smile.
Mark looks genuinely touched and holds a hand over his heart as he replies, “Thank you, Jeno. I think you’re a great… you, too!”
“Thank you,” Jeno grins. He looks around the room curiously, and asks to anyone willing to answer, “So… what should we do?”
“Just smile and nod and let Cap do the talking. And whatever you do, don’t say,” Yangyang looks around furtively even though the hatch hasn’t even opened yet. “Don’t say the p-word,” he finishes in a comically loud whisper with a hand shielding the side of his mouth.
Jeno tilts his head and blinks in confusion. After a few moments deep in thought, he asks to clarify, “...Penis?” Yangyang bursts out in laughter, nearly bowling over with it while the door finally starts to open.
“Jeno, no,” Mark adds, though he’s also fighting off giggles himself.
Jaemin leans even further into Jeno’s space and explains softly into his ear, “Pirates.” Jeno’s mouth forms a little ‘o’ in understanding and he turns to give Jaemin a thankful smile.
Doyoung blinks one eye closed while the other squints at the harsh light of the hangar creeping in through the gradually lowering hatch. A small crowd has gathered near the opening flanked by two armed guards each on both sides.
The metal finally hits the floor with an echoing thunk to reveal the being from the transmission waiting calmly for them at the bottom. The same playful smile is still there as he takes a moment to lazily examine them, hands behind his back and casually pacing left and right with an easy, yet calculating composure.
“Greetings, commander,” Doyoung hails with a small bow. “We are ready to cooperate with the proceedings. Might I request an exemption for our mechanic for the electromagnetic dampeners on account of his vital augments?”
“No need,” the commander replies. “We’re all friends here, I trust there will be no need for restraints. And please, call me Ten.” He slides his gaze over to Jeno and adds with a slight squint of his eyes, “But because we have no information on the seventh, we do need to take some extra precautions.”
Jaemin steps in front of Jeno protectively, but Doyoung turns to hold an arm up to him before he can do anything too rash. He shakes his head, pleading with Jaemin to trust him and stand down. Jaemin eventually relaxes his shoulders albeit with a reluctant frown.
Doyoung turns back to Ten with a small frown of his own. “He is not a threat, you have my word.”
Ten appears to look genuinely apologetic, worrying his lip and glancing at the crowd before he states firmly, “This is not up for negotiation. It’s simply procedure. You understand.”
Taeyong inhales sharply at the statement, but thankfully the ambient mumbling of the crowd is enough to keep it from being noticed. Jeno manages to catch it though, darting a quick glance at Taeyong from where he’s obscured behind Jaemin’s frame.
Doyoung doesn’t visibly flinch at the noise, but his tone does become somewhat biting when he replies, “If you’re going to restrain him, then restrain all of us. Whatever you do or wherever you take us, we’ll all do it together.” Yuta peeks at him with a question in his eyes, but remains silent when he sees the corner of Ten’s lip quirk upwards.
“How inspiring,” Ten grins, nodding to himself. He raises a hand and points three fingers forward, then the four guards exchange their weapons for long, chrome bands with a central light running horizontally that pulses magenta. They march forward and up the ramp towards the crew.
“Arms up and to the sides,” the guard in front grunts. Doyoung obliges, staring straight ahead as the guard hovers the band across his arms, in front of and behind his torso, along his legs until a soft beep sounds and the magenta turns neon green.
“Wrists together,” the guard commands. He slides his hands towards the edges of the band, then curls it around Doyoung’s wrists. He lets go and it hovers in the air, rotating around a few times until it halts in place and glows an icy blue. Doyoung wiggles his hands around to test the grip, pleasantly surprised to find that it’s not too uncomfortable and he can still move his fingers.
A blaring set of three harsh beeps occurs slightly behind Doyoung and he turns to find a guard warily eyeing a very sheepish Yangyang. “You must be the mechanic,” the guard deadpans.
“That’s me,” Yangyang chuckles nervously.
“He’s clean,” Doyoung supplies. “The augments are all in his papers.” The guard looks towards Ten for a second, then looks back and exchanges the chrome band for a pair of standard metal bonds.
Once they’re all bound, they are guided into a single file line with a guard in the front, in the back, and covering them on both sides. Ten spins on his heel and leads them through the center of the hangar towards the largest doorway at the very end.
The crowd disperses as they pass by and the lights transition from a nauseating white to a warmer auburn when they enter the main hallway. The sounds of their boots as they click along the metallic floors echo against the layered walls, though it’s impossible to tell how long it stretches.
It’s also impossible to tell how far down they’ve walked as well when every unit of the hallway looks exactly the same. Yangyang stifles a yawn and Ten glances back at him with a small smile.
“Don’t fall asleep on me now,” he hums. “This is where it gets interesting.” A few paces later, Ten elbows a section of the wall causing a square panel to sink backwards into the metal. Shortly after, a larger rectangular portion follows it and pulls upward to reveal an entryway into another long passage.
Ten winks at Yangyang, then pivots into the new hallway this time illuminated by softer, blue lighting. The walls here are a little tighter and a lot smoother with more lights turning on one by one as they make their way down the corridor.
They eventually reach a thick, chrome door at the end. Ten scans the badge hanging from his belt, then his hand, then his eyes before the door finally clicks and opens inward to a rather modest-looking office. He trots inside and hops up to sit on the edge of a projecting table in the center of the room just a little smaller than the one currently on their bridge.
The guards escort the crew members inside but remain at the edge of the door until they all file in, weapons still tucked away behind them but in a stance that suggests that can change in an instant if the need arises.
Ten raises a hand to wave them away, “That’ll be all.”
The lead guard that restrained Doyong looks back and forth between the commander and the suspects nervously. “But- Sir, are you sure?”
Ten rolls his eyes, kicking his legs as he sighs indulgently, “Fine. You can stay if you want to. The rest of you can guard the hallway.”
The remaining three guards salute Ten, then scuttle outside as ordered. Ten reaches underneath the table and presses a button.
The bright blue bands immediately dim to a weak gray, a series of clunk’s echoing throughout the room as they all go limp one by one and drop onto the floor.
“Wh-Ten!” the guard groans. “Do you have any idea how expensive those are?”
Yuta bends down to pick his up, thumbing along the edge of the material and examining it with careful appraisal. Jeno peeks over at him curiously, and Yuta holds a finger up to his lips, smiling conspiratorially as he tucks it under his waistband.
“Uncuff the last one,” Ten orders, sitting up and leaning back on his hands. The frustration from the huffy sigh the guard lets out can practically be felt even through the barrier of his helmet. Still, he obediently walks over to release Yangyang, then weaves his way around everyone else to gingerly pick up each inactivated restraint.
He gets to Yuta and clears his throat expectantly with a hand held out. Yuta shows him his empty palms with an innocent shrug and Jeno laughs quietly to himself.
Doyoung rubs his wrist and asks with a questioning frown, “What’s your game here?”
Ten peeks over his shoulder and stretches his arm out, rapidly pressing a complicated sequence of buttons on the screen. A few moments later, a hologram flickers to life. Ten turns back around to face them, cat-eyed and smug as a floating projection of their 6 profiles is displayed just behind him.
“Quite an interesting crew you have here, Captain,” Ten says in an exaggeratedly impressed tone. Doyoung narrows his eyes and watches Ten carefully.
The crew in question is currently playing hot potato with the chrome band since Yuta has since passed it behind his back to Yangyang who tossed it over to Mark who fumbled with it for a few seconds before tripping over himself and dropping it on the floor. The guard was so preoccupied with backing away from Mark’s flailing limbs that he missed the band clattering over to Jaemin who is stepping on the edge of it and making it invisible.
“A top graduate and five nobodies,” Ten hums. Without looking, he presses another button and everyone’s profiles but Doyoung’s flicker to something different. “Five nobodies that are actually two disgraced expellees and three borderline-criminal delinquents.”
Ten leans forward so he can cup his chin in his hands as he adds impishly, “So tell me, is the seventh one of the former or the latter?”
“Commander, with all due respect, I don’t understand how any of this is relevant,” Doyoung responds calmly. “We were taken in for questioning concerning an unregistered crew member and we are ready to pay the fine and sign the paperwork required to solve it. These are some serious allegations and if you plan on formally accusing us of fraud, I hope for your sake that you have more concrete evidence than a few lines of text.”
“A few lines of text,” Ten repeats emotionlessly. “Do you really think that’s all I have? Captain, I’m hurt.”
“Fine, I was expelled,” Taeyong steps forward. Doyoung whips his head around in shock, but something on Taeyong’s face makes him bite his tongue and let Taeyong continue. “But that shouldn’t be a problem. We aren’t under the federation, we’re just formally recognized as… not hostile. Again, what does that have to do with the issue of registration?”
“I think it has everything to do with registration, doctor,” Ten explains. “You see, I’m sure you’re well aware that your particular situation enjoys a certain set of… freedoms… that are unique to your crew and your crew only.”
Doyoung interrupts the monologue with an unimpressed frown, “Commander, what exactly are you insinuating here?”
Ten snorts good-naturedly. “A little sensitive, aren’t we? I’m just thinking out loud. Wondering if having special privileges also warrants special consequences when rules are broken.”
“I swear to you we are not as rich as I think you think we are,” Doyoung declares. “We are not a war ship, we are a simple scavenger ship.”
“Okay, let’s talk about that,” Ten nods, happy to continue the game. “Your papers say one thing but your extra cargo here says something else entirely. Please explain to me how the space equivalent of a janitorial crew somehow managed to stumble right into the middle of a pirate war and come out mostly unscathed with one of their most coveted prizes.”
Jeno’s ears flatten back on his head and he unconsciously picks at the scar on the underside of his wrist. Jaemin gently tugs his hand back and replaces the nails with a soothing thumb, then turns to glare daggers at Ten.
“Not a prize,” Jaemin hisses.
“He said the p-word,” Yangyang whispers in awe. Mark elbows him in the side to get him to keep quiet.
“Not just ‘the seventh’ either,” Jeno adds with a small pout. “I have a name.”
Ten tilts his head, “And what would that name be?”
“Don’t answer that,” Doyoung throws over his shoulder. He's slightly panicked now, and he turns to his left to address Taeyong, “Okay Taeyong, let him have it.”
Taeyong nods and determinedly marches forward. Ten holds a hand up to signal the guard to stand down, following Taeyong’s movement with an interested smile and an easy slouch. Mark, Yangyang, Jaemin, and Jeno also watch with bated breath while Yuta mutes his laughter with a hand over his mouth.
Ten goes from looking up to looking down when Taeyong suddenly sinks to his knees in front of him and pleads with the largest, roundest, most watery, quivering eyes, “Please let us go.” A few pale flowers peek out from behind his ears, shimmering gold pollen framing his expression and floating into the space between them.
Ten throws his head back with laughter and Mark and Yangyang can’t help but join in with small snickers. Even the guard lets out a quiet snort of his own.
“Was that supposed to be the secret weapon?” Jeno whispers to Jaemin.
Jaemin replies despondently, “Unfortunately, I think it was.”
Ten wipes tears from his eyes as he gradually calms down, then offers a hand to Taeyong to pull him back to his feet. “That was incredible,” he chuckles. “Honestly, I almost said yes.”
“Really?” Taeyong beams excitedly.
"Ohhh,” Ten intones, drying his eyes one last time. “No.” Taeyong’s face drops and the flowers wilt back into his hair, then he stomps back with a huff to return to his place beside Doyoung.
“What do you want,” Doyoung glares. “Really.”
“I told you,” Ten tuts. “I want his name.” He juts his chin at Jeno and chuffs at how Jaemin practically bristles at the gesture.
“Why?” Doyoung demands.
Ten leans back on his hands again and kicks his legs nonchalantly as he remarks, “You sure have a lot of questions for the guy who’s about to do you all a huge favor. Don’t you get it? I want his name so I can register him for you.”
Doyoung’s mouth falls open and it takes him a few seconds to collect himself to blurt out, “What?”
Ten rolls his eyes. “There he goes with another question.”
“What’s the catch?” Yuta inquires suspiciously.
Ten leans forward to rest his elbows on his thighs, “In exchange for this favor to you, I need you to do a favor for me.”
“What is this?” Doyoung scowls. “The procedure here is that we pay whatever we owe for the violation, then someone holds our hand and watches us closely while we go through the registration process. Nothing more nothing less. Yet here you are accusing us based on conjecture, threatening us, mocking us-”
“I don’t think you have the right to lecture me about regulation,” Ten cuts in with a challenging raise of his eyebrow. “Besides, did you really think you were the only one who’s been playing both sides?”
Doyoung shuts his mouth, lips forming a thin line as he glares down at the floor. Taeyong crosses his arms and steps forward. “What is it exactly that you’re proposing, commander?”
“A trade,” Ten smiles. “Your freedom and a free registration in exchange for a little bit of clean-up.”
“And if we refuse?” Yuta poses.
Ten looks up at the ceiling in thought for a few seconds, then answers, “Then you’d have to pay a fine that I estimate you wouldn’t be able to afford. And I can promise you whoever audits you next won’t be nearly as generous as I am.”
“Fine,” Doyoung grouses. “On one condition.”
“You’re not exactly in any position to make demands, but I’ll humor you just this once for being so cooperative.” Ten crosses his legs and rests his arms on his lap. “Let’s hear it, then.”
“Give Jeno Vagabond clearance.”
Ten opens his mouth to object, but something tells him Doyoung isn’t going to back down on this one and also that Jeno doesn’t seem like the kind of character to abuse such freedoms.
Instead, he holds his hand out and nods firmly, “Done.”
Doyoung strides forward and shakes Ten’s hand with another nod. “What do you need us to do?”
Ten grins and hops off the table to stand at the head of it, then swipes the screen over to a new display with a large map and several highlighted points of interest, “I’m so glad you asked.”
He turns and beckons the rest of the crew forward, “You can come closer, I don’t bite. You’ll all want to see this.”
To the guard’s dismay, Ten also says to Jaemin who hesitates to move his feet, “You can keep that band by the way, it might come in handy.”
—
“It’s just about ready to go, Mark. Give it a few minutes to run its self-test then we’ll be set for take-off.”
“Great! Thanks, Yuta,” Mark beams.
The door to the bridge hisses open and Doyoung storms inside with Taeyong just a few paces behind calmly following him in.
“-can’t believe the nerve of that guy,” Doyoung seethes. “And the worst part is we can’t even do anything about him openly admitting to it, too. Even if there’s seven of us, who would ever take our word over his?”
Taeyong sighs and pats Doyoung on the shoulder, “Just like old times, huh?”
Doyoung rests his hand on top of Taeyong’s and groans as he slumps into his chair, “It really is.” He closes his eyes for a bit before they snap open with renewed frustration, suddenly remembering, “And he was an Iocris, too, I can’t believe I missed that.”
“Hey, you’re not the one who made a fool of himself accidentally finding that out,” Taeyong pouts. “My poor babies put in all that hard work for nothing.”
“I’m sorry,” Doyoung apologizes, making sure to turn and look Taeyong in the eye. “To you and to them.” Taeyong smiles gratefully and takes his seat next to Doyoung around the navigation table. Mark then scoots his chair down from the pilot deck over to Doyoung’s other side.
“Yuta said we’ll be ready to go in a bit, so they should be joining us soon,” Mark reports.
“Good,” Doyoung nods. “The sooner we get off this station, the better.”
As if on cue, the door to the left of the bridge hisses open to let Jaemin and Jeno in while the door to the right reveals Yangyang and Yuta.
“Look, it can’t just be me thinking that the guy was kind of hot,” Yangyang babbles as he walks to his seat.
Yuta snorts, “Of all people, did you have to pick the one that’s extorting us?”
“Sorry, you think what?” Taeyong probes with an incredulous grin.
“I mean it’s not even only his looks,” Yangyang prattles on, swiveling in his chair from side to side. “The way he carried himself too, you know? C’mon, I can’t be the only one.” He stops in place and locks eyes with his target. “Mark, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Uhhhh,” Mark drones, cheeks a little pink and eyes darting nervously back and forth between Yangyang and Doyoung.
“Please stop,” Doyoung begs while he rubs fingers into his temples. “It’s bad enough that we’re stuck helping him, I don’t want my crew falling in love with him, too.” He tugs at his hair in aggravation, “And what do you mean the way he carries himself? He was insufferable, I’ve never wanted to punch someone so badly in my entire life.”
“I don’t know, I thought he was kind of cool,” Jeno admits shyly.
“What?” Doyoung balks with a comically scandalized expression.
Jaemin shrugs, “Honestly, me too.”
Doyoung buries his face in his hands with a groan, “Not you, too...”
“Okay, big guy, chin up,” Taeyong gives a few soothing rubs to Doyoung’s back to mollify him. “Let’s just think of it like a vacation, yeah? He didn’t give us a strict deadline cause he had such limited intel himself, so we can take our sweet time on each planet.”
Doyoung smushes his hand against his cheek petulantly, “I guess.”
“I don’t know what kind of vacations you guys have had growing up, but I don’t recall them typically involving blackmail,” Mark ponders aloud.
“Eh, potato tomato,” Taeyong brushes him off with a wave of his hand, then pauses. “Did I say that right?”
Mark laughs brightly, “Close enough.”
“So where are we off to first?” Jaemin posits as he scrolls through the mission files on his tablet. He’s holding it out so Jeno can see it too and resting it on the thigh of the leg that Jeno has thrown over his lap.
“Well,” Doyoung starts, tapping a few buttons on the table to initialize the display and select the projection of the map. He runs a few mental calculations in his head, then points his finger at one of the highlighted planets. “Cytisus I is the closest to us right now and a straight shot to either Tenebria or Vastitio afterwards depending on how long we take.”
“I say we take very long,” Yuta grins, leaning back and folding his arms behind his head. “We deserve a nice, lengthy break after what we just got out of. Especially Jeno.”
“I agree,” Doyoung nods. He turns to Jeno and cracks a small smile at how he and his ears perk up expectantly. “And you can take this opportunity to get more familiar with what we do. So you can figure out for yourself if you want to stay or if you want to explore on your own with your shiny new license.”
Jeno tilts his head and purses his lips in thought. He glances at Jaemin, then asks to no one in particular, “What does Jaemin do?”
“Er, officially, he’s our scout,” Doyoung explains. “But really, he’s sort of more like a…” He wiggles his fingers as he struggles to come up with the right words.
“A professional pickpocket,” Jaemin finishes with a wry smile. “For things or information. And most recently,” he pauses briefly to place his hand over Jeno’s knee and leave it there. “People.”
“Like Cheshire cat meets Robin Hood!” Mark supplies, not helpfully because everyone turns to stare at him like he’s grown a second head. “Uh. A good thief and a. Okay, nevermind, but I swear you guys would think that was really funny if you were humans.”
“Thank you, Mark,” Jeno still smiles at him politely. He then turns to address Doyoung, “Would it be okay for there to be two scouts?"
“Sure,” Doyoung approves easily. “Of course Jaemin has to be okay with it, then we could have you shadow him to see how it all works.”
Jeno twists to face Jaemin and before he can even get the question out, Jaemin is already saying, “Yes. I am.”
“Great, then it’ll be you two and Taeyong as the leads for Cytisus I,” Doyoung affirms. “You can take it as slow as you need and call any of us for help if you need it. In the meantime, rest up as much as you can.”
Yuta’s tablet beeps and he skims over the report briefly, then announces, “Core pneumatics are all green, we’re ready to launch.”
Doyoung drags his fingers across the screen, then swipes it up to switch the display mode to astral so he can start plotting the course. “Then let’s get out of here. Mark, if you would do the honors?”
“Aye aye, captain,” Mark salutes, scooting back from the table and up to his original seat locked into the flight controls. A few pressed buttons and twisted pulleys later, the engines roar alive of which the vibrations can be felt through their feet until the equalizers kick in to dull it to a quiet hum.
“Five”
“System, activate safety harnesses.”
The bases of the seats lock into the floor of the bridge and precautionary bands triggered by tension wrap loosely around the occupants.
“Four”
“Oh, shoot.”
“What?”
“Uh.”
“Three”
“Did you leave something behind?”
“Two”
“No, I just uh. Wish I had given the commander my contact.”
“One”
“Yangyang.”
“What!”
“Take-off”