Chapter Text
COME SAIL AWAY
~~~
A man knelt in a small chapel in the northern part of the moon-city of Juliette. Heavy necklaces with religious symbols hung from his neck. They swayed as he bowed his head and murmured ancient words, clinking gently in the hushed atmosphere of the chapel. The other worshippers in the chapel stayed a respectful distance away, unwilling to disturb a priest at prayer.
Taemin suspected they wouldn’t be so respectful if they knew exactly what he was praying for. The Order of Juliette’s dogma did not include a belief in hell, but given certain choices Taemin had made, he figured it couldn’t hurt to pray for the spirits not to send him there just in case. It would be awful to live such a fine life, then be doomed to eternal boredom after his death just because he'd neglected his beliefs.
Besides, praying was both comforting and interesting. Taemin had been stuck on this dreary little backwater moon for far too long. He was tired of it.
That was all right. He breathed in slowly, eyes closed, inhaling the incense burning at the altar. Patience was a virtue he really needed to practice more. Things would happen when they did, and there was no point in wasting one’s time by resenting the fact that life was boring now.
He clasped his hands together and studiously returned to prayer.
~~~
He dreamed, and he dreamed of Kibum.
They were sitting on a battered sofa in their own cozy little apartment somewhere in the Sirian star system. It did not matter that neither of them had ever owned a sofa or an apartment in their lives, much less anywhere near the safety of Sirius. This was a dream. It did what it would.
They were watching some third-rate horror movie. Kibum was terrified despite the fakeness of the set and the terrible acting; he screamed every time some extragalactic creature leapt out from the darkness of hovercar parking lots to consume a side character. Minho, unaffected by the cheesy violence, settled an arm about Kibum’s shoulders. Kibum promptly buried his face in Minho’s shirt to hide from the screen.
Kibum smelled soft and sweet and clean, like freshly washed laundry and gentle shampoo. Minho cuddled his boyfriend close and felt a familiar, possessive tenderness flood through him. The dream stretched out into an eternity of a moment, Kibum safe and warm in Minho’s embrace, to love and treasure and protect.
Minho pressed a lingering kiss to the softness of Kibum’s hair. Kibum snuggled closer, lifting his head to smile gratefully up at Minho. His pretty lips parted, mouth opening to speak.
Instead of words, the dialogue from the movie rumbled from his throat.
“Kibum?” Minho whispered, tightening his hold on his boyfriend.
The monster on the viewscreen laughed through Kibum’s mouth. The soundtrack shifted, changed, became darker. Loud screeching noises howled with terrifying volume, shaking Kibum to dust in Minho’s arms. It was Minho’s turn to scream, reaching out desperately for what he’d lost. But it did not matter.
The noise blared like alarms in Minho’s head, like Kibum’s laughter, like sirens, and he cried and he cried, fingers closing on empty air, and the noise of alarms continued to sound-
He woke with a start. There really were alarms sounding, quiet ones, letting him know that his sleep cycle had to be cut short because his presence was required on the bridge for an emergency.
Minho sighed and rubbed sleep from his eyes. Spirits damn it all. You’d think that after several years, the fucking nightmares would stop. But apparently not.
He shook his head and rolled out of bed. A crisply spoken command turned on the viewscreen attached to his wall, letting him know exactly what was happening as he dressed and made ready to report to the bridge.
Apparently, a pirate ship had been waiting for them when they’d dropped out of warp. This was unusual. Pirates didn’t usually attack military vessels.
Once Minho had his uniform on- boots buckled, jacket buttoned, cap settled upon his head- he focused on what the viewscreen was actually showing him.
His jaw dropped, quite literally. He recognized that pirate’s ship; almost everyone who’d seen the Confederacy’s Most Wanted list would have. This was the vessel of the notorious pirate Captain Key.
Pictured in miniature on the viewscreen, the infamous ship floated through the deep recesses of space, its purpose every bit as mysterious as its name. No one understood the meaning behind the ship’s designation. Some said the name had a dark significance in an ancient, forgotten language. Others believed the name was code for something truly insidious.
Still others pointed out that the term ‘Comme des Garçons’ was also the name of a very prominent fashion brand. Of course, this suggestion was duly dismissed by most. It was inconceivable that such a dread pirate would have named his vessel after a line of fancy designer clothing.
Minho, of course, knew better. He distinctly remembered the endless reruns of Project Runway: Mars Edition that Kibum had used to make him watch on date nights.
That memory was irrelevant. Minho switched the viewscreen off. The important thing was, what was the Garçons doing here?
More to the point, what terrifying scheme had the pirates dreamed up now?
~~~
Said pirates were, at that very moment, playing an intense round of poker. Or at least, the captain and his right hand man were. Jonghyun had a habit of playing card games to ease his nerves before embarking on big endeavors like this. It made him feel as if he had control of something, given how all battle plans tended to go awry.
Unfortunately, he also had a habit of losing at said card games, especially when his opponent was Key.
“…royal flush. Suck it, loser.”
Jonghyun flung down his cards in frustration. Key smirked, leaned backward and propped booted feet up on the plastic table.
“You’re cheating, you bastard,” Jonghyun accused him. “Nobody is that lucky.”
“I am,” Key said smugly, fluttering his eyelashes at Jonghyun’s scowl. “They don’t call me the Almighty Key for nothing, you know.”
Jonghyun ignored this. “One of these days I’m going to figure out your secret,” he muttered darkly, gathering up his cards. “Just you wait and see, motherfucker.”
Key flung his head back and laughed. Said laughter was then promptly cut short by the sharp buzz of his wrist communicator, signaling a message from the bridge.
“Captain, the C.S.S. SHINee has come out of warp.”
Key’s grin turned feral as he pressed the button to answer. “Noted. We’ll be up shortly.”
“Aye, sir.”
Key snatched his gray cap up off the table and stood. “You ready for this?”
Jonghyun grinned back, equally gleeful at the prospect of what was to come.
“You bet I am.”
~~~
Jinki stood on the bridge of his ship, gazing out at the star-studded darkness beyond. His crew bustled around him, intent on the task of preparing the SHINee for battle with the Comme des Garçons.
Jinki sighed. Pirates. He hated tangling with them; they never fought fair. And Key was the worst of the lot in that regard.
“Sir!”
Jinki turned to see his second in command approaching, boots clicking sharply on the metal deck and coattails of the red jacket snapping briskly behind him.
“Commander,” Jinki said, acknowledging his second with a nod. “I assume you understand the situation.”
Minho nodded, coming to a halt a respectful few steps away. Minho was, without fail, a very proper, dutiful officer. He went by the book and put not one toe out of place.
Of course, he was also comfortable scrapping the book when times called, and could be a right ruthless bastard at times. Jinki wouldn’t have put up with him as a 2IC otherwise.
And having Minho around now might be especially useful. Jinki tilted his head at the viewport.
“What do you make of this, Commander?”
Minho swallowed, for once not quite as perfectly composed as was usual for him. Interesting, and possibly worrisome.
“I’m not sure,” Minho said. He frowned. “Key wouldn’t be here for no reason, but this isn’t a shipping thruway. There’s nothing for him to prey on, so I’m not sure exactly what he thinks he’s doing.”
“Do you think he knows you’re here?”
Jinki watched Minho wince at this bluntness, then take a breath and square his shoulders.
“I don’t know, sir. I wouldn’t think so, since Navy assignments are classified, but, well…”
“Key does have a good spy network for a pirate,” Jinki agreed. “And this mission isn’t very highly classified, which would make it easier for his people to hack into the specs.” His eyes narrowed. “I do have a question for you, Choi.”
Minho’s back stiffened. “Sir?”
“Do you think you can handle this situation?” Jinki asked, sparing only the most fleeting of regrets for how harsh this question was. He had to know, or they might all get killed. “I know the two of you were once close, but he’s a target and an enemy now, not your friend.”
Or more than friend, but Jinki wasn’t about to say that in public, not with all the bridge crew listening.
Minho nodded, still tense. “Yes, sir. I understand my duty.”
Jinki allowed the set of his face to soften a little. “We will aim to capture him in order to give him a fair trial according to the dictates of Confederate law, but we can’t guarantee we’ll succeed.”
“Yes, sir.”
“We might have to kill him.”
Minho drew in a shuddery breath. “Yes, sir.”
Jinki nodded, satisfied. Minho was a very good officer indeed.
“Thank you, Commander. Helm! Bring us about; it’s time we engage these bastards.”
A chorus of resounding Aye, sir!’s came from the crew. Jinki crossed his arms behind his back and returned his attention to the menacing form of the pirate ship lurking not too far away.
~~~
“They’re moving!” yelled the helmsman. “Shit, Cap’n-”
“Stop panicking,” ordered Key from where he was sprawled in the captain’s chair, twisting a strand of long dark hair about his fingers. “They might be bigger, but we’re faster.”
“Size isn’t everything,” Jonghyun added from his seat at the weapons panel.
“You’d know,” Key agreed, and smirked when Jonghyun glared at him. “Helm, take us forward and angle up, then drop on them. Weapons, concentrate fire on the engines and the bridge. Communications, how’s the scrambling effort going?”
The blue-skinned comm officer shook her head. “Not well. They’ve got hella good security on their channels.”
“Well, keep trying.” Key returned his attention to the rapidly-approaching shape of the SHINee. “Helm, what the fuck are you doing? Faster.”
“I don’t want to crash into them,” muttered the helmsman through gritted teeth. “I like my life and bones intact, thank you very much.”
He obeyed anyway, of course, and the ship picked up speed. The indicators in the bridge flashed bright yellow, warning of an imminent collision if they kept on their present course.
Key grinned, satisfied, and went back to playing with his hair.
~~~
“Are they trying to ram us?” Minho said incredulously.
He swayed a little on his feet as the viewport shifted to a technical display of the action which was more useful for planning battle tactics than a normal view. The ship’s gravity was perfectly stable, of course, but just knowing the speed at which they were moving tended to make Minho feel automatically unsteady.
Well, that and the fact that the Comme des Garçons was accelerating almost straight at them, with only the barest hint of an upward incline.
“Keep below them and fire as we pass,” the captain was ordering the crew, ignoring Minho’s words. “Our objective should be to gut their warp drive. In a ship that make, the drive ought to be on top of the ship. Distract them with fire at the bridge, then force them into a roll so we can target the drive.”
Minho tuned out the technical chatter and frowned at the giant, flickering green readout. Undoubtedly, the Garçons really wasn’t trying to ram them. Pirates weren’t the suicidal type; there would be no profit in dying to maybe take out a Navy destroyer.
Unless it wasn’t profit on Key’s mind, but some inexplicable form of vengeance…but no, that didn’t make sense either. Key liked living. More to the point, so did his crew; they’d surely mutiny if their captain ordered them on a suicide run.
Further, Minho thought resentfully, Key had been the one to leave him. Thus, the pirates’ objective couldn’t be vengeance. It had to be profit…didn’t it?
But what was profitable about attacking a military ship? The only thing of value aboard was perhaps refined military technology, but a Navy ship would self-destruct before letting such valuable material fall into the hands of pirates. There was just no point to targeting the SHINee, rather than a nice big freighter or expensive luxury cruise-liner.
“Commander.”
Minho shook his musings away and straightened.
“Yes, sir?”
Jinki regarded him silently for a moment. Then he said: “Keep a sharp eye out as we maneuver. Let me know the instant you think Key’s got a surprise in store.”
Minho nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Jinki offered him a faint smile of encouragement and returned his attention to the display and the crew. Minho adjusted the glossy brim of his cap, trying not to panic.
Predicting Key always had been an impossible task.
~~~
“They’re falling for it,” Key said softly. He swung his legs over the arm of the captain’s chair, all casual ease gone and replaced by intense focus now that the battle had begun in earnest. “Remember your instructions. Get ready. We’ll drop any moment now.”
Sweat dripped down Jonghyun’s neck as he prepared the weapons for activation. The helmsman looked about to faint from terror as he nudged the ship up slightly, preparing their course
Jonghyun just grinned. He loved the adrenaline surge of near-death experiences.
The nose of the SHINee drew nearer and nearer, at speeds made comprehensible only by the computerized readout. Once it came close enough- the distance between the two ships small enough for alarms on the Garçons to start blaring with proximity alerts- the helmsman reacted with lightning-fast reflexes.
He cut the ship’s forward speed and sent it falling straight down on top of the SHINee. Jonghyun’s fingers flashed over the weapon’s panel, sending streams of bright laser-fire at the Navy vessel, strafing both its sides where the engines were located and the broad, flat expanse of the bridge’s outside.
The SHINee returned fire, of course, but it had clearly not been prepared for the Garçons to hurtle straight at it from above. It accelerated on its former path, diagonally down and away from the path of fire, trying for an escape route.
“One target down!” Jonghyun yelled as fires sputtered out on the surface of the SHINee, damped by the vacuum of space. “I got their starboard engine!”
Key was sitting rigidly straight, hands curved over the arms of his chair in a white-knuckled grip.
“Follow them,” he ordered the helm. “Mark a parallel course. If they try to circle, circle with them. Systems, warm up the tractor beam.”
The Garçons’s angle of descent changed to match that of the SHINee, the two ships speeding together like two wheels locked together by the same axle. Lasers continued to flash between the vessels as they exchanged fire. Fortunately, the Garçons’ nose was facing away from the SHINee as they accelerated backwards, keeping the bridge viewport free of distracting color.
Jonghyun squinted hard at the weapons display, mind spinning with a thousand different considerations for how to take out the other main engine on the SHINee. Engines were one of the best-protected parts of any ship, along with the communication arrays, the bridge and the warp drive. It wasn’t easy to damage them, let alone destroy them.
Additionally, any ship worth its salt had a set of back-up engines for redundancy in case of main engine failure, and Jonghyun had no idea where the back-up engines were located on the SHINee. Most Navy vessel specs were classified.
He shot at the port side of the SHINee anyway, targeting the obvious bulk of the main engines. The other weapons specialist on the Garçons directed her fire across the bridge- a standard distraction tactic- and the main part of the ship, trying for as much damage as possible without getting at the warp drive.
A puff of smoke and flame, quickly extinguished as oxygen fled the site, signaled that Jonghyun had managed to cut out the second main engine. He whooped with glee.
“Captain, I got the port engine!”
“Good,” said Key, eyes still intent on the viewport. “Helm, bring us in a circle around the ship, slowly. Let them get in a good couple of hits. Comm, have you scrambled-”
“I can’t,” said the communications officer, shaking her head. “Sorry, Captain, they’re too well-secured.”
Key huffed out an aggravated sigh. “Fine, then. Weapons, wreck the communications array, or at least damage it. Systems, grab the SHINee with the tractor beam and slow it down. We don’t want them spiraling endlessly off into space because their engines have cut out.”
“Aye,” the systems officer chirped. She reached out with one feathery wing to engage the beam.
The Garçons rocked with laserfire as it dragged the larger ship to a shuddering halt.
~~~
“Captain, they’ve locked us in their tractor beam!”
Jinki permitted himself a small frown. “Keep firing. They’ll back off if we damage them enough.”
“Aye, sir!”
As the weapons personnel increased their efforts, Jinki glanced over at Minho. His 2IC still looked disturbed and thoughtful, his brows settled into a pensive frown over his eyes.
“If we get hit any worse, we’ll have to start evacuating the ship,” Jinki said quietly to him, placing a hand on Minho’s upper arm. “Commander, I’ll need you to-”
“Sir, we got them! Damage on their starboard wing!”
Jinki looked sharply back at the viewport. The Garçons had indeed lost a big chunk of its right wing. Large pieces of metal and wiring tumbled off into space to float aimlessly out into the void.
As he watched, the fire from the SHINee intensified, taking advantage of the already damaged wing to tear apart more of the Garçons’ structure. Of course, the Garçons’ fire didn’t let up either. Jinki growled quietly as the readout flashed a warning that their communications array had been hit.
Then, to his surprise, the SHINee gave a shuddering groan that indicated the unlocking of the tractor beam. Only a moment later, the Garçons sped off into space, accelerating into a blur of stretched-out light as it went into warp and vanished.
“They’re gone,” said Minho, with slow incredulity. “They just…gave up and went.”
“Maybe we damaged them too badly,” said Jinki. He raised his voice. “Speaking of which, how badly are we hurt?”
Reports filtered back to him from the crew. Neither main engine functional. Back-up engines working but unreliable. Communications array damaged, barely functional. Various other minor systems operating at less than full efficiency.
Jinki sighed. It might just be barely possible for them to limp back to a Navy starbase for repairs, especially since nothing much was wrong with their warp drive, but given the extent of the damage, it wasn’t a good idea. Besides, it was against protocol. Damage this severe required repairs as soon as possible.
Minho seemed to be ahead of him on this vein of thought.
“Where’s the nearest repair yard?” his second was asking. “We need somewhere that’s approved to handle military repairs on a vessel of this type, and somewhere near.”
A galactic map spun into holographic view on the viewport. Suitable starship repair yards were marked by little yellow dots. The map zoomed in on their current location. It was depressingly devoid of dots.
No, wait. There was one little yellow glow flickering at the bottom left of the zoomed-in screen.
“There,” said Jinki. “Romeo’s Repair Yard on…what planet is that, anyway?”
“It’s a moon, not a planet,” said Minho, reading the notes on the display. “A large moon, but it doesn’t have its own designation.” His mouth quirked. “The locals call it Juliette. I wonder if the yard or the moon was named first?”
Jinki couldn’t help but smile. He had a secret weakness for wordplay.
“Set course,” he ordered the helm. “Use a low warp speed; I don’t want us exploding en route.”
“Aye, sir!”
~~~
Key sighed and leaned back in his chair, eyes closed. He let Jonghyun deal with the mess of the damaged wing for the moment. There was a small asteroid nearby with a repair yard that catered to those with not-exactly-legal interests. The damage wasn’t that bad, anyway. It would get fixed, and then…
A small thrill stirred low in his stomach, aided by the knowledge that a certain commander had been on the SHINee just now. Key grinned happily.
Everything was going just as planned.
~~~
The SHINee drifted ponderously into an open-vacuum hangar in the repair yard. With the main engines destroyed and the back-ups faltering perilously, the ship had to rely on the tractor beams of some of the yard’s drones to move it at below-warp speeds into the proper hangar.
Jinki spent the entire trip standing stiffly on the bridge, teeth clenched. It didn’t matter how damaged the ship was already; it made him incredibly nervous to rely on someone not his own crew handling his baby.
Once the ship was docked, Jinki gave permission for non-essential crew members to rotate through shore leave. There was really no point to keeping two hundred-odd bored sailors locked in the SHINee while the ship did nothing but suffer through repairs.
That done, he went to meet with the manager on duty for the repair yard. He couldn’t quite repress a sigh as he rode a shuttle into the space station main. Fighting pirates may not be his favorite thing ever, but handling the immense amount of paperwork sure to come was most definitely worse.
~~~
Minho strolled through the main streets of the moon-city Juliette and tried to enjoy his shore leave. It wasn’t easy. Half of him felt like he should be back on the ship, helping his captain oversee the repairs, although there really wasn’t much either of them could do at this point. It was mostly just filling out forms and letting the repair crews have their way.
The rest of him just felt…unsettled. It wasn’t every day one found oneself in a space battle to the death with one’s ex-boyfriend.
Except…Key and company hadn’t really seemed to be trying to kill them. And there were just so many strange things about the whole encounter. What had Key been trying to accomplish? Why on earth had the pirates spared the SHINee’s warp drive, and then simply fled? And it couldn’t have been an accident that Key had decided to attack the vessel Minho served on. It just couldn’t be. The galaxy was far too large for such a thing to be merely coincidence.
Minho sighed and shook off his lingering unease. He seemed to be doing a lot of that recently.
He focused on his surroundings instead. Juliette was a fairly standard vaguely-industrial backwater moon, covered in a single sprawling city. The local fashion seemed to consist of a lack of any bright color, and oversized floppy hats. Heavily styled eyelashes seemed to be in as well. Minho felt incredibly awkward in his bright red and white uniform, like a flashing beacon in the midst of a flock of Betelgeusian penguins.
Well, never mind that. He adjusted his sunglasses- the light from the gas giant planet reflected above was a bit bright- and strolled on. He only had about an hour left before he was supposed to check in with the captain about the repairs.
He didn’t get very far before he ran into the priest.
Literally ran into him. A warm, skinny body crashed into him with far more force than Minho would have expected from someone just ambling down the sidewalk. They both stumbled backwards, the priest catching himself with uncanny grace and a truly amazing near-pirouette.
“I’m sorry!” the priest exclaimed once they’d both regained their balance. “I totally didn’t mean to walk into you like that, I swear. I just wasn’t looking where I was going. Um.”
The priest smoothed nervous hands down his front. He was wearing the atrocious local floppy hat, though it didn’t look quite so awful on him, and a black and white skirt, leggings and skirt-thing ensemble. A collection of heavy chains with religious symbols dangled from his neck, marking him as a priest.
He was also incredibly pretty. Minho hadn’t been brought up religious; he’d always had the vague idea that servants of the spirits were weathered old folk with gray hair and far too many wrinkles.
Apparently not.
“It’s all right,” Minho said hastily, realizing he’d been staring quite rudely at the other for far too long. “I wasn’t really looking where I was walking either.”
The priest visibly relaxed. “Oh, good. I wanted to ask you something- well, not you, but one of the sailors on that ship- and it wouldn’t be a good first impression if you didn’t like me.”
“I assure you that I don’t dislike you,” said Minho as politely as he could, given that he wasn’t quite sure what title to address the other with.
“Really?” The priest bounced up and down on the balls of his feet. “Then can I ask you my question?”
“Yes,” said Minho. He couldn’t help smiling slightly, despite his mood. He was an odd duck, this priest. “Ask away.”
The priest blinked rapidly, as if trying to recall from memory some complicated string of words.
“I ask to invoke the right of religious accompaniment aboard your vessel- no, wait, that’s not right, it’s religious sanctuary, isn’t it? No, that’s when you’re being persecuted. Um. Religious hitchhiking? Do you know what I’m talking about?”
He gazed hopefully up at Minho, who sighed. Minho did indeed know what the priest was talking about, although he couldn’t quite recall the proper term for it either. The Star Navy had a policy of permitting officials of recognized and approved religions to ride aboard military vessels free of charge in order to aid them in their spiritual wanderings.
Essentially, it really was religious hitchhiking, although Minho was pretty sure that wasn’t what the rulebook called it.
“We may not be going anywhere for a while,” Minho told him. “Our ship got pretty beat up in a fight with some pirates. We’re to remain on Juliette until the repairs are done.”
“Oh, I know,” said the priest, apparently unbothered. “It’s the talk of the town.” Then, before Minho could ask how on earth the entire bloody moon already knew about the SHINee’s status, the priest stepped closer and laid an appealing hand on Minho’s arm.
“Please,” he said, eye going very wide. “I know you might be here awhile, but I’d like to acquaint myself with the ship before you go off again. If it’s no trouble…”
It was going to be a lot of trouble, Minho thought. The poor captain would have to deal with humoring some random priest while involved in the repairs and figuring out what the hell had been going on with the pirates.
All the same, he couldn’t exactly go against Navy policy.
“All right,” said Minho, trying not to show his reluctance. “Do you want me to take you to the SHINee now?”
The priest shook his head. “Can we drop by my place and pick my things up first? There’s not a lot,” he added hastily. “I promise. It won’t take long.”
Minho fought back another sigh.
~~~
Taemin was pretty sure the handsome Navy commander didn’t like him. Then again, with the dull way he was staring about at everything, Taemin suspected he didn’t like much of anything at the moment. That was all right. Everyone had bad days.
He touched the dangling spiritual symbols of his necklaces and smiled. Commander Choi Minho’s life would pick up soon enough. Taemin wound the chains about his fingers. This was going to be such fun.
“Is this it?”
Taemin broke from his distracted musings and glanced up at the towering form of the shabby hotel where he’d been staying the past month. How boring. He’d be glad to be gone.
“Yep,” he said in answer to Minho’s question. He gestured vaguely about. “You can wait here; I’ll just go up, grab my stuff and check out, okay?”
“Sure,” said Minho. He ambled over to sit on of a pair of ashy benches in front of the windows of the hotel lobby. The contrast between the bright, vivid red of his uniform jacket and the dull gray of his surroundings was really quite amusing.
Taemin grinned, adjusted his hat, and went in.
It had taken them about fifteen minutes to walk here. It took Taemin twenty minutes to get his things, pack them up, and check out. The hotel receptionist argued with him for the longest time about the bill, insisting that the discount they’d agreed upon beforehand wasn’t legal enough to follow. Taemin had to tap his fingers against the counter very severely and remind the receptionist just which organization he worked for before the irritating woman relented.
Only then did Taemin manage to finally escape the hotel’s damp, smelly confines.
“All done!” he chirped at Minho. “Lead me to your ship!”
They were perhaps ten minutes into a hover-taxi back when Taemin realized he’d forgotten his extra pack back at the hotel. Minho, face very aggrieved, ordered the taxi around. He lifted his communicator and messaged his captain in order to explain that he would be late.
Taemin gazed dreamily out the window, wondering what a Navy spaceship might look like on the inside.
~~~
Jinki, despite himself, was pleased at the arrival of the priest. He shouldn’t be, of course, because it was mildly cruel of him to be pleased at the opportunity to foist the overseeing of the endless nitpicky details of the repairs onto his 2IC. All the same, there was a certain bounce to his step as he waited in one of the rooms adjacent to the shuttle bay to welcome Minho and their priestly guest.
Given the put-upon tone of Minho’s voice when he’d called, Jinki had expected the priest to be of the endlessly preachy, annoyingly opinionated type, reminiscent of the paper-pushers he’d been dealing with all day.
He had not expected him to be so, well…attractive.
Jinki straightened his shoulders as the priest approached, trailing curiously in Minho’s wake. Shit, the guy really was one of the prettiest people Jinki had ever seen, with those eyes and those lips and that softly interested tilt to his head...
“Sir,” said Mino, and dutifully saluted. “This is Taemin, priest of the Order of Juliette.”
Jinki raised an eyebrow, trying for cool courtesy. He had to be professional about this, damn it all.
“I wasn’t aware that the moon had its own religious order,” he said, offering the priest a bow in greeting. “Welcome aboard.”
“Our order is kinda small,” Taemin said, returning Jinki’s bow with a dip of his own head. “I’m pretty sure it’s mentioned in the Navy list, though.”
“It is,” said Minho. “I looked it up on the way back.” He glanced at Jinki. “Sir, should I…?”
Jinki did his absolute best not to grin with un-captainly glee. “The yard’s manager is waiting in my office,” he said. “You’d probably better go see what he has to complain about now.”
Minho’s face twitched. “Yes, sir.”
Jinki clapped him on the arm in sympathy as Minho strode forward towards the corridor. Once the door had hissed shut behind him, Jinki held out a hand to the priest.
“Please, let me take some of your things,” he said. “I’ll show you to your quarters.”
Taemin let Jinki slide two of the bags over his shoulders. “Thank you,” he said. His fingers anxiously played with the necklaces looped about his slender neck. “I hope this isn’t too inconvenient for you, Captain.”
Jinki shook his head. “Of course not, Taemin-…?” He let his voice trail off, indicating that he was asking what title Taemin’s order preferred.
Taemin shook his head. “Just Taemin is fine,” he said, smiling finally. “The Order of Juliette isn’t formal.”
Jinki smiled back. Something low in his stomach flipped over at the way Taemin’s eyes crinkled at him.
He was going to have to do some research on the Order of Juliette, he decided as he led Taemin out into the corridor. He deeply hoped they were not one of the celibate orders. It would be nice to invite the pretty priest out to a bar on his off-duty cycle and see if there was a possibility for things to…progress.
In the meantime, it was going to be hell trying not to accidentally flirt with the guy.
~~~
Finally off-duty after several hours of dealing with micro-managing bureaucrats, Minho headed back to his quarters in anticipation of a nice, refreshing sleep.
Once alone, he shucked off his boots, cap and jacket. Then he stretched, rolling his head around to ease out the tension in his neck. If he’d had to deal with one more complaint from Resources about misfiled circuitry restocking requests, he’d have set the bloody computer on fire.
But with both him and the captain off at the moment, that joy would fall to the unfortunate lieutenant commander ranked third on the ship. Minho winced sympathetically to himself. Good luck to her.
He padded over to the dresser opposite his bed, socked feet slipping a little against the plastic floor. He was in need of some stress relief.
He pulled open the top drawer and fished around for the wooden box he kept buried under random office supplies, spare socks and other odds and ends. The box contained four very special items, all of which Minho treasured dearly.
Once he had the box in hand, he went and curled up on his bed. He carefully undid the latch on the box and lifted the lid.
Nestled between layers of soft cloth were four gently glittering star orbs.
A star orb was a very rare, very precious piece of art from a guild of artists whose mission was to capture the cosmos in all its exquisite glory through artwork made by the appendages of sentient beings. The guild’s artists wove tapestries, sculpted pottery, carved statues, painted canvases splashed with the color of nebulas, and more besides. If there was an art form out there, the guild was likely invested in it.
The star orbs were based on an ancient Earthen custom of making little glass balls with snow falling over a tiny sculpted landscape. Unlike the glass balls of the ancients, the star orbs were breath-takingly realistic. Each contained a miniature starscape crafted with such intricate detail that one could almost mistake the orb’s interior for a viewscreen looking out into the depths of actual space itself.
The insides of the orbs were not holograms. Nor were they sculptures. No one apart from the orb-crafters knew quite what they were, only that they were beautiful beyond description.
Minho had four of these orbs. He’d have liked more, but they were incredibly expensive and a sailor’s salary- even an officer’s salary- did not pay nearly enough to indulge himself with purchasing large quantities of them.
In truth, he’d only paid money for half of one. He hadn’t originally been interested in the orbs. He’d learned about them from Kibum, who’d received one as a gift from his grandmother and had become subsequently obsessed with the things. Kibum had saved endless pictures of the orbs on his computer tablet, written reviews on fashion blogs that featured orb-inspired collections and gazed for contented hours at the ever-changing drifts of starlight in the orb his grandmother had given him.
Somewhere along the way, Minho had been swayed by Kibum’s fascination with the things. They’d saved up together for two years to buy a second, working extra jobs, saving gifts of money from their families, and risking their small fortune in casinos to attain enough money for the purchase.
When Kibum had deserted, he’d left the pair of orbs behind. Minho still had no idea why he’d abandoned his most precious possessions, but he’d been too broken-hearted at the time to question it.
He’d kept the orbs, of course, even though their presence was a painful reminder of what he had lost. Those two orbs thus accounted for half his small collection.
The third orb had been a depressing sort of gift. During the deep-space exploratory mission Minho had been on for most of the past few years before he’d returned and subsequently been reassigned to the SHINee, his former ship had encountered a broken-down wreck of a ship slowly dying amongst the stars.
They’d tried to rescue the crew and passengers, who’d apparently miscalculated a warp jump and wound up hopelessly stranded in the middle of nowhere. They hadn’t completely succeeded.
One of the dying passengers of the ship had had an orb in her possession. Her sister had given it to Minho in thanks for his efforts to save her. He’d attempted to refuse, of course, but the sister had been adamant that the orb should go to someone who would appreciate it properly.
The fourth and final orb had been a welcome-home gift from his parents after returning from deep-space. Minho was amazed that they’d managed to find the money for it; it had taken Kibum a particularly good string of betting luck at poker to rack up enough money to purchase their second orb.
Despite the painful memories attached to the first three orbs, they were soothing to hold and contemplate. Minho suspected this had something to do with the mysterious fashion in which they were crafted.
He carefully lifted out the first two orbs now. For some reason, ever since Kibum had left, these orbs had seemed to lose some of their starlit beauty, as if they could sense that they too had been abandoned by the one who’d owned their hearts.
Minho settled himself into his pillows. Then he gazed into the heart of a flickering red giant and let himself by comforted by sights no living being could ever see.
~~~
Key slouched in a chair in the illusion room and frowned.
A series of illusory holograms danced about him, presenting him with a view of racks and racks of clothing and models and hats perched jauntily on thin air. Key waved impatiently and the sets of clothes shifted and changed, different styles and brands appearing.
A beeping alert sounded. Key sat up straight.
“Come in,” he called, pressing the button on the chair for the doors to unlock.
They hissed open and Jonghyun strode through. He ran an agitated hand through his sweaty silver bangs as he approached Key.
Key frowned. He had a feeling he knew what this was about.
“The intel just came in,” Jonghyun said without preamble. “Stage B is a go, but the repairs on the SHINee are going faster than expected. They’ll be flight-ready within the week.”
Key tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair. “A week isn’t long enough.”
“I know,” said Jonghyun. “We’ll have to come up with something fancy to keep them grounded.”
Key shook his head. “Won’t work. Juliette doesn’t have the best space fleet, but I am not taking on an entire moon’s defense force just to keep the SHINee where it is.”
“I thought you might say that.” Jonghyun swung his head sideways in a sympathetic hair-flip. “I don’t see that there’s much we can do, though, otherwise.”
Key paid no attention to this pessimism. He waved a hand at the floating holograms of clothing instead. They transformed into dark military suits and white trousers, neat collared shirts, comfortable sweaters.
Jonghyun poked curiously at one of the floating caps.
“That’s a Navy captain’s hat,” he said. He glanced sideways at Key. “Don’t tell me you’d already received the intel report before I came down here.”
Key’s mouth twitched into a faint grin. “I won’t tell you, then.”
Jonghyun sighed. “So, tell me, what great strategic insights have you gained from Captain Lee Jinki’s fashion choices?”
“When off-duty, he really likes enormous clutch bags,” said Key absently, and laughed when Jonghyun glared pointedly at him. “Don’t look at me like that. Every aspect of someone’s selected wardrobe is important to understanding their psyche.”
Jonghyun rolled his eyes and dropped his hand from the floating holographic cap.
“I’ll leave you to it, then. Can I assume we’ll have a plan of action in a couple hours?”
Key nodded, distracted by a pair of illusory ripped denim trousers.
“Mm-hm.”
Jonghyun smiled and turned to leave.
~~~
Taemin dug his bare toes into the thin sheets of the bed in the guest quarters he’d been assigned. He decided he didn’t like the SHINee much. It was too big and too sterile, all modern angles and lines and utilitarian lack of color.
Its captain, on the other hand, was very much worth liking. Taemin smiled dreamily, remembering that sweet smile and those truly amazing thighs. He had no idea who had decided to embroider an anchor on the crotch of a Navy captain’s uniform, but he very much appreciated it.
He tilted his head consideringly, eyeing the chrono on the far wall. He didn’t really have a set schedule, did he? Well, then.
He slipped his array of necklaces off and set them on the nightstand, the chains clinking gently against the plastic. Then off came the hat, then the skirt. He tugged his leggings off as well and slid his fingers into his boxers.
He was more than a little hard already, just from fantasizing about the captain’s glorious thighs. Taemin tipped his head back and allowed himself a moan as he stroked the stiffening length of his cock.
What would Jinki look like if he were here to join in the action? Taemin pictured the scene in his head- that golden hair, those intense eyes, that fucking smile-
The doors hissed open just as a deep and throaty moan made its way past his lips.
The captain himself stood in the open doorway, eyes wide.
“Oh,” said Taemin, and tried to calm his breathing. “Shit. Sorry, come in. I think I forgot to lock the door.”
“Er,” said Jinki. He fidgeted, all his maddeningly polite self-control replaced by mortified awkwardness. “You know, I can come back later…”
“It’s fine,” Taemin reassured him, slipping his hand free of his boxers. “We of the Order of Juliette are very free about this kind of thing. Sex is just one of many great ways to calm the soul and put one in communion with the spirits. Come on in.”
Jinki edged inside the room, letting the doors slide shut behind him. He tugged nervously at the edge of his cuffs.
“If you’re sure…”
“Mm-hm, I am,” Taemin said. He sat upright and licked his fingers clean.
He noticed the captain definitely swallowed at that, tongue poking out to lick unconsciously at his lips. Taemin felt his hopes rise. Maybe the attraction was mutual.
Or maybe not. He never had been very good at figuring people out. It was entirely possible he was mistaking Jinki’s reaction for something else entirely.
Jinki took a few steps further into the room. He took a deep breath and stood, hands folded, with that natural commanding ease that came of being the master of a Navy starship. Taemin was hard-pressed not to lick his own lips in return; the stance was incredibly attractive.
“I’m off-duty for the next several hours,” said Jinki. “I was wondering if you’d be interested in going out somewhere to get better acquainted?”
Taemin blinked at him. “Sure,” he said. “Is this a ‘good host’ invitation or a ‘you’re hot’ kinda thing?”
Jinki’s eyebrows twitched at Taemin’s bluntness. “The second one,” he said. “That is, if you don’t mind…?”
“Oh, no, of course not!” Taemin said, fumbling about for his leggings. “I think you’re hot, too. Give me a moment to get cleaned up, and then we can go?”
Jinki smiled at him. Taemin forgot about the leggings and gazed back, entranced by the expression. One could get lost in Jinki’s smile, he thought dreamily.
“I’ll wait outside for you then,” Jinki said. “Also, since you’ve been here longer, I’d appreciate any suggestions you might have for where to go.”
“I’ll think about it,” Taemin said. He waved as Jinki bowed politely and turned to leave. “See you in just a moment!”
Then he rolled out of the bed, feeling immensely pleased with himself. Who’d have known he’d get the chance to score with a sexy Navy captain on this little venture?
~~~
They wound up going to a crowded little club named the Ring Ding Dong. Jinki wasn’t sure if the name was sexual innuendo or not. It was locatedin a section of the city that was ever so slightly too-seedy for Jinki’s tastes. Still, he’d been worse places, and the club had a cheerful, drunken vibe that did quite a bit to lift his spirits after the woes of the past few days.
Taemin wasn’t the only member of his religious order there, which, after reading up on the Order of Juliette, didn’t surprise Jinki a bit. The Order seemed to be of the opinion that the way to achieving enlightenment and communion with the spirits was through having as much fun in life as possible, so long as that fun was moral in nature and balanced by acts of kindness towards other beings.
What did surprise Jinki was that Taemin appeared to be a bit of a lightweight. A few drinks in, he was flushed and giddy, his words cheerful and slurred. He’d also begun playing with his shot glass and gazing hopefully at the dance floor.
Jinki’s numerous skills in life did not include dancing. Still, Taemin was cute and most of the dancing seemed to consist of grinding ass-to-crotch about the floor, which didn’t take much skill to do. Jinki slid off the barstool and offered Taemin a hand.
“Dance?” he said, quirking an eyebrow up.
Taemin lit up like he’d never heard a better proposition in his life and hopped nimbly off his own stool.
“Let’s go!”
Once they’d reached the sweaty press of crowded bodies, Jinki realized that Taemin was not a good dancer- he was a fantastic dancer. His slender limbs moved to the music like his blood was filled with melody, and his hips rolled and snapped to the deep, booming notes of the bass with a fluid, casual grace. Several people turned to watch him, impressed by his skill.
A jealous, scratching itch rose in Jinki’s chest at the sight. Taemin was his for the night. He stepped forward and caught Taemin’s hands in his.
“I’m not great at dancing,” Jinki warned him. “Just so you know.”
Taemin beamed and tugged him closer. “That’s okay. Just stay close and have fun, Captain.”
Jinki laughed and did as ordered.
~~~
In the end, the dancing and the alcohol and Jinki’s tempting everything proved to be too much for Taemin. He turned them about on the dance floor and slipped his arms about Jinki’s waist, holding him close.
“There are rooms available in the back for rent,” he whispered in Jinki’s ear, grinning as the other shivered. “Wanna get one?”
One of Jinki’s hands slid down and around from Taemin’s hip to squeeze his ass. Taemin grinned.
“I like that idea,” Jinki breathed back, equally playful. “Show me the way.”
Taemin stepped back from the embrace, immediately missing the full-body contact of Jinki pressed against his front. Never mind; there’d be more than enough of that soon enough.
It was simplicity itself to call one of the bartenders over and ask to reserve a room for the night. Jinki insisted on paying, and Taemin let him. They followed a member of the club staff back through a maze of hallways and to a small room with a bed, a nightstand and an attached bath.
“Have fun,” said the staff member, winking lewdly, and left them.
Taemin locked the door and tucked the key in a pocket. Then he turned and yelped, finding Jinki several steps nearer to him than he’d expected him to be.
Jinki laughed softly, then pinned him to the door and kissed him.
Taemin shuddered, heat pooling in his belly at the kiss. He splayed his hands on Jinki’s back, feeling the angles of the captain's shoulder blades beneath the dark jacket. Jinki kissed him harder. Taemin hooked a leg over Jinki’s hip, moaning happily at the sensation of the stiff cock pressing eagerly against his stomach.
“It’s too hot,” Taemin breathed once they parted, panting for air.
Jinki nipped at Taemin’s earlobe. Taemin moaned again.
“Bed?” Jinki suggested, voice several notes deeper, smoother.
Taemin just nodded, his mouth occupied with sucking at the barest hint of stubble underneath Jinki’s jaw. Its faint roughness against the tip of his tongue sent tingles straight down through the shaft of his cock.
They stumbled together to the bed, shucking garments as they went. Something in Taemin’s chest warmed at how carefully Jinki handled his priestly necklaces, setting them delicately down on the night table. He wriggled out of his boxers and dragged Jinki to him.
“I like you,” said Taemin, and kissed Jinki again.
Jinki’s tongue curled through Taemin’s mouth, winding wet and slick against his own. Taemin fisted fingers in that golden hair, shivering at how silky it felt against his calloused palms. Jinki ran his own hands up and down Taemin’s bare back, making him arch and gasp as blunt fingernails skimmed against sensitive places on his skin.
Jinki’s mouth broke from his. Taemin growled with displeasure and tightened his grip in Jinki’s hair. Jinki just chuckled and kissed Taemin’s chin instead, then tugged his head back and started nibbling his way down the arch of his throat. Each little scrape of teeth was followed by the swirl of tongue and the warm pressure of lips.
Taemin imagined what else Jinki could do with that talented tongue. It made his cock throb and his breath catch and fuck he needed more.
“Captain,” he said, pulling at Jinki’s hair from where he was licking delicious little stripes of slickness against Taemin’s collarbones. “Captain, fuck me.”
Jinki lifted his head and gazed at him with that intense, dark-eyed stare. Jinki’s cock bobbed in the air, enormous and thick and leaking. Taemin wasn’t sure what he wanted more- to taste its gorgeous length or to have it thrusting hard and deep inside him.
“You sure?” said Jinki. Taemin could barely contain himself at the sound of that voice, all velvety and low with desire.
“Mmm,” he said. He reached out and trailed one finger teasingly up the length of Jinki’s cock. Jinki gasped and shuddered. “Actually, I think I’d like it if you’d suck me a bit first.”
Jinki chuckled. “I think I’d like that too.”
Taemin shifted backwards and spread his legs. Jinki didn’t immediately take Taemin’s cock into his mouth. He kissed his way down Taemin’s front first, licking at his nipples and lingering on the sensitive dip of his groin. Taemin contorted one leg about to run his toes playfully against Jinki’s cock when he felt the captain was taking too long to appreciate how responsive Taemin’s body was to his touch. This strategy backfired when Jinki just moaned and nipped teasingly at the inside of Taemin’s thigh instead of hurrying the fuck up.
Then Taemin’s cock was in Jinki’s mouth, and he forgot all about playing with Jinki in return. Taemin’s back arched off the sheets as Jinki sucked and lapped him into a dizzy, heady haze of pleasure, tongue curling around Taemin’s cock with expert, sinful skill.
“Captain…” Taemin whimpered, hand curving about the back of Jinki’s head to urge him deeper.
Jinki obliged, taking Taemin’s cock in far enough for the sensitive tip to brush the back of Jinki’s throat. Taemin moaned aloud, flinging his head back at the sensation, heat pooling deep and low within him.
Jinki’s talented tongue licked its warm, slick way up the underside of Taemin’s shaft. There was the faintest scrape of teeth, the contrast between that sharp roughness and the smoothness of saliva and tongue too fucking much to handle. Taemin spiraled over the edge with a cry, lost in the electric thrill of lust still running up and down his spine.
His fingers tightened in Jinki’s hair as a warning, but it was too late. His hips jerked and he came hard into Jinki’s mouth.
“Sorry,” Taemin gasped, still breathless with the aftershocks of pleasure, when Jinki half-gagged and spat. “Your tongue feels too fucking good.”
Jinki laughed softly, the sound roughened by the come he’d just choked on. He licked swollen, reddened lips and dropped a hand to slide up his own large cock, hard and veined and throbbing still with need.
“You wanna give me a hand here?”
Taemin, despite the sated tiredness seeping into his bones, nodded eagerly and crawled forward to take Jinki in hand. Jinki’s cock really was huge, a nice, solidly heavy weight in Taemin’s palm. Taemin hummed contentedly- big cocks were his favorite- and began stroking Jinki off, learning moment by moment how to turn his wrist and rub his thumb over the sensitive skin in just the right ways to have Jinki panting and moaning and begging for more.
“You like that, Captain?” Taemin asked, eyes flashing wickedly up at Jinki as he dipped his hand low enough to brush teasingly against Jinki’s balls.
“Mmm,” Jinki breathed, eyes very dark. He pulled Taemin in for a quick kiss. “Don’t fucking stop.”
Taemin did stop, though, because he wanted to taste that beautiful huge cock with more than just his fingers. He settled down between Jinki’s muscled thighs and sucked Jinki into his mouth, humming with pleasure at the thick taste and musky scent.
“Fuck, Taemin-”
Taemin hummed again. He lost his breath when Jinki’s hips jerked forward, driving his cock deep into Taemin’s mouth, sliding over the wet slickness of Taemin’s tongue. Taemin encouraged this development by hollowing his cheeks as he sucked his way just off Jinki’s cock, letting a string of saliva dangle obscenely between his swollen lips as he gazed up at Jinki through his eyelashes.
Jinki groaned, shuddering hard. He fisted a hand in Taemin’s hair, and roughly dragged him forward again. Taemin eagerly swallowed him down, eyes fluttering closed as Jinki fucked into his mouth, hard and fast and shivering on the edge of release.
Jinki’s cock hit the back of Taemin’s throat, and then he was coming with a low yell, hot jets of come spurting into Taemin’s stretched-full mouth. Taemin happily swallowed the stuff, tongue lingering on the pulsing shaft still filling his mouth up. Then he let Jinki’s cock slip slowly out from between his lips with a slick, wet slurp.
Jinki pulled him up into a kiss, tongues tangling lazily together, enjoying the aftermath of their fun. They rolled backwards onto the come-stained sheets, Jinki a deliciously solid weight on top of Taemin.
“Thank you,” Jinki whispered, nuzzling into Taemin’s shoulder.
Taemin smiled and wrapped his arms around Jinki’s chest. “You too. Wanna get some sleep? When we wake up, you can fuck me with your awesome cock.”
Jinki chuckled and turned his head to kiss Taemin’s neck.
“Sounds like a good idea to me.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” said Taemin. He giggled, a little giddy from the alcohol and the sex, and the lovely weight of Jinki on top of him.
Jinki shifted so he could kiss Taemin’s mouth again. Taemin kissed him back, and rubbed one of the soles of his feet against Jinki’s calf.
He couldn’t wait ‘til morning.