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“How long will the repairs take?” Chaeyoung asks, trying not to sound as impatient as she feels. They’ve been looking for someone with experience working on Bixia vessels for hours, but it seems like no one on this damn planet even knows where Bixia is , much less how to handle their tech. She finally found a dingy little repair shop tucked into Deck 39 of the port--between a Ulian Glassblower’s shop and a food stall selling cones of roasted...well, they sort of look like nuts?--but they were on lunch break when she found it and had to wait a half an hour before they returned.
It’s honestly not that much of a surprise that no one here knows where Bixia is. It’s a yiqu colonized planet, so their knowledge of galactic history is whatever yiqula learn, and Chaeyoung doubts they go very in-depth on Solar colonization history.
Mina hovers behind her with a neutral expression, the only sign of movement a little whirring motion in her lilac irises. She’s wearing a thin, black Aura vest--made to repel blaster fire--over a grey turtleneck sweater that brushes her chin. Her dark hair is pulled up into a ponytail, and her neatly trimmed bangs brush over her brows.
Compared to Chaeyoung, with her messy pixie cut and mismatched, well-worn clothes, Mina could easily be mistaken for an incredibly wealthy being’s personal bodyguard. And she was, once, but that’s not the point--people never connect the two of them, much less jump to the conclusion that they’re girlfriends (which they are, absolutely). It’s led to some trouble in the past, but it’s never been anything they couldn’t handle.
Chaeyoung looks back at Mina and smiles as the repair shop attendant titters on about costs and parts. Mina’s lips quirk up, and she inclines her head slightly.
The attendant clicks their tongue and finally says, “I’d say it’ll take about a week. If we work overtime. That’ll be an extra two thousand credits, plus five hundred for expedited shipping on the wiring.”
“That’s not an issue,” Chaeyoung assures her. “We just need it spaceworthy as soon as possible.”
She pays ahead, finalizes forms, gives them her dock key, then takes Mina’s hand and leads her away, smiling. “Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I reckon we should have some fun, eh?”
Mina blinks. “We have not yet completed the task list Captain Irene gave us.”
“Psh,” Chaeyoung says, waving a hand dismissively. “Irene can suck it. I wanna hang out with my girlfriend.”
“But Seulgi said--”
“Seulgi can suck it, too,” Chaeyoung insists, letting go of Mina’s hand and skipping ahead a few feet. She turns around, walking backwards, and grins with a wriggle of her eyebrows. “Let’s go down to the lower docks.”
Mina, of course, does not object. The lower docks aren’t exactly the pinnacle of safety, but Mina is perfectly equipped to handle any form of combat they might get themselves into--not to mention an intimidating air about her that will prevent anything like that happening in the first place.
Chaeyoung’s eyes light up the moment they step out of the elevator onto Deck 179 (out of the 200 decks, 200 being the lowest), and she immediately drags Mina over to a bike shop near the elevator. “Hey look! A bike shop! I need that part for my hoverbike, do you remember the, uh, the call number thing?”
“C482789-8578 replacement grav-belt for a Keres 9 by Crowe Terrenean,” Mina supplies immediately, her voice taking on a slightly robotic tone. It returns to normal when she asks, “Do you have nine hundred credits?”
“All of my personal is still in aul and I don’t wanna deal with exchange rates fucking me over again. I’ll use the ship card and have her take it out of my next allotment.”
“She won’t be happy.”
“No shit,” Chaeyoung chirps. “That’s why I’m gonna ask for forgiveness, not permission.”
Mina’s lips quirk up into that little smile again as Chaeyoung pulls open the door to the bike shop and skips inside.
Three hours later they still haven’t completed anything else from the list and instead have found themselves in a lively (and probably not strictly legal) canteen on one of the lowest levels of the port. Chaeyoung’s on her third shot of fizzy mirasolia , a carbonated liquor from Teres, and Mina has been sticking dutifully behind her all day.
Except, she’s nowhere to be seen.
Chaeyoung, unfortunately, is too drunk to notice. Mirasolia isn’t exactly potent to the species that created it, but to humans it’s got an extra special punch in the form of low level hallucinogens. So, while Chaeyoung is giggling away to a bemused bartender, Mina has been desperately trying to escape a game of cards she’s been roped into by a red-headed yiqu named Lalisa and a pink-haired teredi with glimmering red markings named Roseanne. The two of them have been chatting away, shuffling cards and tossing bets, all while Mina robotically goes along with it, a bit confused but wholly unconcerned. These being saw her standing alone and decided to drag her into the game. No big deal. She can see Chaeyoung from here, anyway.
Trouble comes about five minutes later, however, in the form of another yiqu with a blaze of firey orange hair and red-rimmed eyes, wearing a skin tight red dress that’s slitted at her thigh and leaves little to the imagination. Mina’s processor scans her face automatically and puts a name to her face--Kim Hyuna, twice convicted of smuggling while crewing the ship Suhari and once convicted of consensual prostitution management (which is illegal on Sora Navellion, where the charges were raised).
She slides into the seat beside Chaeyoung and gives the girl a small smile. Immediately, Mina tenses up and sensitizes her hearing to listen to what Hyuna says.
“You’re quite the handsome little girl,” Hyuna drawls, her Lixing accent lifting the edges of her words. She brushes her finger against Chaeyoung’s cheek--a flirty gesture in yiqu culture. Chaeyoung just giggles and bats her hand away, but Mina narrows her eyes. Yiqu have retractable talons, and in this day and age it’s irregular for them to keep them sharpened, but Hyuna’s are clearly sharp as a blade and on full display.
Definitely not a good sign.
Hyuna leans forward to rest her chin in her palm. Mina is barely aware of the card game--she places cards down without a care, and listens. “Honey, you’re too cute,” she says languidly. “Humans…” her eyes glint. “I haven’t seen a human from Bixia in a long while. It really is true that you’re much... softer than the Solan ones. You’re such a tiny little thing.”
Like all yiqu, Hyuna is pretty tall--even taller than Tzuyu, Mina notes, scanning her body. She’s just over six feet--short for a yiqu but tall compared to Chaeyoung. Mina isn’t terribly concerned about that, though. Chaeyoung can hold her own. But she does happen to be drunk and slightly high, which makes her less adverse to flirting attempts by interstellar criminals.
Her hand moves to her hip, and she waits, tense.
Chaeyoung laughs and Hyuna’s hand brushes her thigh, and that’s the breaking point. Mina’s across the room with her blaster out and loaded to kill in an instant, aiming at the center of Hyuna’s forehead.
“Stay away from my girlfriend,” she says lowly.
Hyuna doesn’t look at all alarmed. She just gives a little smirk with her full red lips and tilts her head. “An android like you with a girlfriend like this.” She clicks her tongue. “Quite the rebel, aren’t you?”
“None of your fucking business,” Mina replies. She lowers her blaster and grabs Chaeyoung’s arm, already dragging her out of the canteen.
--
“Did you complete the tasks I gave you?” Irene asks when Mina reports to the temporary rooms they’ve set up in while their ship is being fixed. She just put Chaeyoung to bed in their room, but Irene sent her a ping requesting her report.
“We found someone to fix the ship.”
Irene sighs. “And that’s it?
“That’s it.” Mina pauses a moment, then adds, “Chaeyoung spent 1678 credits from the ship account today on personal expenses. Take it from my monthly allotment.”
Another sigh. “That damn girl. I suppose it was another part for that piece of scrap metal in our hangar bay?”
“Yes. And alcohol, food, and souvenirs.”
“Of course.” Irene waves her hand dismissively. “Go get charged up, Mina. I’ll be sure to scold her in the morning.”