Over the next couple months, they continued to snag short distance trips that netted them small returns. It was enough to maintain payments and start thinking about upgrading things eventually, but nothing too crazy. Larad and Ercite started staying on the ship when they stayed planet side so that they could get rid of their housing in the city and free up some funds that way. Crawven could stay at a guesthouse near Psitassi’s family’s business, on their dime, provided he pulled a guard shift or two. As for Kibum and Jinki, they switched between the apartment and the Shine depending on the length of their stay between runs.

                At every opportunity, Jinki visited his family and Kibum often tagged along but not always. He certainly heard about it later though. Hajoon was definitely making her mark in the grav jumping world. It was looking like she might well make pro within the next year or so and she hadn’t even graduated yet. Doyun had given up grav jumping entirely and had turned her attention to law of all things. Jinki had no idea where she’d come up with that plan but she was pretty entrenched the last time he came back to talk about it. Siwoo was still doing her low grav gymnastics but since she didn’t think she’d have the talent to excel at it, she was considering coaching as her career path, though it was still early. There was a good chance she’d change her mind later. And as for Daejung, he was still trying to establish his place in the holo gaming world without too much success. Didn’t help that he wasn’t even in high school yet.

                When they weren’t spending time with family or friends, Kibum and Jinki visited the scrap yard or went on salvage runs as often as they could. Kibum was determined to replace the AI in the ship. He really didn’t like the generic voice or the almost complete lack of personality. They’d started a small collection of data chips that could have useful info on them, but they didn’t have the time or money really to get into them and see if they could be utilized later. Jinki’s parents didn’t have the knowhow to repair or access them and it would cost money to take them anywhere else.

                The thought did occur to Kibum to ask his foster father but he wasn’t eager to owe the man anything at this point. It wasn’t a priority for the moment so leaving it on the back burner wasn’t a bad thing currently. That didn’t mean that Kibum was exactly satisfied though. The humdrum existence of mundane runs and typical maintenance and short jumps to the nearest locale were… less than thrilling and not at all what he imagined when he thought of what it meant to be a Captain.

                “We’re getting there,” Jinki told him reassuringly, hugging him close. “Just give it more time. Things like this don’t happen overnight.”

                “Did you know there are captains who lived and died after having never done more than the kinds of runs we’re doing now?” Ercite commented once, a statistic Kibum could have happily done without.

                “Not that I’m complaining or anything, but should I start looking for a part-time job when we land next time?” Larad wondered, obviously worried about funds.

                “I don’t mind the downtime. There are plenty of other Moladhi to practice with when we’re here,” Crawven shrugged when asked about his thoughts of their current plan. The Shine didn’t have enough space for him to really practice and since Larad was usually his only sparring partner, the Moladhi feared getting rusty on their runs.

                It was safe to say the consensus wasn’t bad, but Kibum wasn’t satisfied. He wanted more. He needed more. And not just because he didn’t want to be indebted forever. “How will I ever find my father if we don’t get off this planet for more than a few days at a time?” he demanded, frustrated with their current lot.

                “Give it time, love,” Jinki encouraged, trying his best to soothe the anxiousness in his boyfriend. Jinki couldn’t understand what he was feeling. Kibum knew that, but it didn’t make it any easier to accept the current status quo.

                But inevitably, a small change occurred at last. “Finally! We have a run to Earth 3.0!” Really, it was LDECV-02 but no one other than the officials called it that. And some non-Terrans who spent most of their time in space, but that wasn’t important.

                “Really?!” Jinki exclaimed in excitement when Kibum came home to give him the news.

                “Yes! It’s not even a message this time either!”

                “Oh! What are we carrying?” Jinki asked, running up and bouncing around in his excitement, mirroring Kibum.

                “Interplanetary supplies from Iichi to Earth 3.0. The journey should take at least two weeks!” he flailed in excitement. Larger ships with FTL jump drives could get there in next to no time, but their basic small ship had boosters only. Obviously, the package was not a rush delivery but he wasn’t going to complain. The pay was better than usual and it would put a decent dent in their payback amount when all was said and done. Oh, they’d still have plenty left, but this would help more than the other jobs had.

                “Yes!” Jinki beamed, snatching Kibum up and twirling him around the apartment as his boyfriend clung to him with arms and legs wrapped firmly around. “When do we leave?” he wondered, slowing enough to set Kibum back down again.

                Kibum took a second to catch his breath and grinned. “In two days. They’ve gotta finish preparing the package and all that, but from there, it’ll be smooth flying!”

                “See babe? I knew we just had to hold out a bit longer,” Jinki encouraged, leaning close to hug Kibum and give him a reassuring kiss.

                “We should tell the others,” he announced. “The sooner they know, the sooner they can get ready and that way, Larad won’t be able to get upset at us for not giving enough warning.”

                Jinki chuckled and nodded. “He can be a bit prickly about that.”

                “Don’t I know it,” he snorted, rolling his eyes with a shake of his head.

                As figured, it didn’t take them long to get ready and sorted. By the end of the next day, they were airborne and on their way. The longer travel time gave Kibum an opportunity to really try out the manual flight controls on the ship. They were fortunate artificial gravity maintained a constant field so that no matter how much he spun them around, they didn’t actually feel it. Though the AI did warn him a time or two about potentially risky maneuvers near possible projectiles…

                Outside of the freedom of simply flying, Kibum and his crew got to finally see the expanse of stars around them. Staring out of the bridge portal, a vast sea of darkness speckled with tiny dots of illumination filled the horizon. Too far out to see any nearby planet and nowhere near the galaxy situated in the left of their viewpoint, everything seemed small and insignificant.

                “You should come up and see this,” Kibum tapped over the coms to the engine room where Jinki spent a fair chunk of his time.

                “What is it?” Jinki asked, the sound of gentle clinking in the background as he tinkered with something.

                “Nothing,” Kibum laughed once, shaking his head in wonderment. “I don’t think I’ve never been able to see a moon or planet or asteroid belt in sight before. It’s…” he hesitated. He didn’t want to say frightening, though it kind of was if he thought about it too long. “It makes me glad we have a navigation system,” he admitted, still trying to spot something familiar in his view.

                “That makes two of us,” Jinki chuckled in gentle agreement. “I’m almost done here though. I’ll be right up and you can show me this nothing you’re in awe of.”

                Kibum snorted. “I wouldn’t say in awe of exactly.”

                Jinki’s laugh over the intercom did not go unnoticed.

                It wasn’t all nothingness though. Sometimes other ships would zip by in the distance. As the AI warned, the odd projectile had to be avoided – a piece of space debris tumbling through the ether or an asteroid. They were fortunate this system had no major asteroid belts or black holes to worry about. But that did mean there were more chances to see the odd voidbits – tiny sparkling creatures that traveled in massive schools like fish; etherians – an umbrella term for any of the larger cosmic creatures that made their way through space; or cosmic entities – intelligent beings (as far as everyone was aware) that lived in space without the assistance of ships.

                Everyone was eager for a chance to see them so it was often a contest in regard to who would stay up for what shifts. Traveling in deeper space, their sleep patterns were slightly different than when they were only heading for a nearby moon. One person was always awake with the AI, just in case. The rest took turns and maintained their posts at their various locations for the most part. When possible, they gathered in the dining hall for meals, as cramped as the space was and simple as the meals were. One day, they’d upgrade the food processor. One day.

                Despite the vessel being small, the way they split up their time and gathered for meals kept their general relations pretty smooth. No one had to be around anyone for too long unless they wanted to be and gathering was mostly a voluntary choice. Kibum wondered how it might be for even longer journeys though. Despite his thoughts, it was a worry for another day.

                As expected, they arrived at Earth 3.0 within a week’s time with no hiccups. Two smaller moons orbited the gemstone hued planet, one considerably smaller than the other. Fully terraformed, the planet had no dome spheres to speak of and they entered the atmosphere to head for Whitelock Spaceport, the massive city that they would need to dock and check in with processing and customs to deliver their goods. Interplanetary traffic was mild but flying into the spaceport, it was bustling with intracity comings and goings that necessitated them queuing up behind other similarly sized vehicles waiting for permission to dock. That was alright. The AI could handle it and it gave Kibum and the crew a chance to really take a look at the city and the surrounding area.

                Larger than Yonichi by at least fifty percent, the sprawling metropolis was full to the brim with towering skyscraper buildings in the city center. A buzzing hive of traffic filled the spaces between them, making it hard to focus on one thing at a time for long. Further out in a descending cascade, the metallic and reflective towers gave way to more mundane domiciles, artificial greenery, and a view of the surrounding countryside. Rolling plains of emerald greens blended with azure blues and amethyst purples, the multihued grasses swaying in a perpetual breeze. Ringing the southern part of the city further out, the plains gave way to an expansive forest of sparse towering trees with overarching branches that played sentinel to a lush biome of shorter trees and growth thriving amidst their roots.

                “Wow,” Jinki whispered, the sound painfully loud in the silence of their awed wonderment.

                “I saw the pictures but this is something else,” Ercite laughed once, a disbelieving sound.

                “There’s nothing like it anywhere on Star Seeker’s Rest,” Kibum murmured, reaching out to grab the edge of Jinki’s shirt in his fingertips.

                Jinki wrapped his hand around Kibum’s and shook his head. “But maybe one day.”

                “Kind of reminds me of what my home world is supposed to be like,” Crawven commented, scratching at his jaw distractedly. “The tall trees anyway,” he clarified when all eyes turned to look at him for further explanation.

                “Were those here before or was that after the terraforming?” Kibum wondered aloud. He knew terraforming had been necessary to shape the atmosphere to be suitable for Terran life, but he wasn’t sure how much had been needed.

                “The big trees were here before,” Ercite explained, pointing at the towering behemoths that worked to blot out their view of the southern horizon. “Terraforming didn’t kill them outright but they haven’t had a chance to adapt the way the forest below has. That’s why the branches look skeletal. But see all those vines?” they asked, pointing at the dark growths that twined up the trunks and hung off the limbs in vast swathes like unkempt hair.

                “Yeah,” Jinki answered for everyone.

                “They’re literally growing from the trees. You’d think it would kill them, but it’s actually a symbiotic relationship. The vines grow on the trees and since they are high above the forest, they get plenty of sunlight. The roots of the trees provide nutrients from the ground while the vines bring in nutrients from the sun, creating a positive reinforcement cycle.”

                “Why do you know that?” Jinki asked in bemusement.

                For a second, Ercite waved their hands around their head, a thoughtful expression on their face. “One of my progenitors used to live here,” they explained at last, expression softening when the answer came to them.

                “I guess life finds a way, doesn’t it?” Kibum laughed softly, shaking his head as he looked at the Dawbn.

                “Same goes for the city,” Larad reminded them with a gesture towards the metropolis directly in front of them. “I know none of us have the money for it, but do you think we’ll have a chance to see what’s available here? Last I heard, they have a rather interesting assortment of rare good and novelty shops.”

                “And a Red Light District ‘with no equal in this galaxy’,” Crawven added with a knowing smirk as he quoted an advertisement he must have heard when he was looking into it. When everyone else scoffed at the comment, he puffed up and looked around at the other members of the crew. “What? As a single male Moladhi, I should know these things,” he almost proudly reminded them.

                “Fine, fine,” Kibum sighed with a wave of his hand. “First things first. We have to deliver the package and then we can decide how much time we want to stay. Just remember, time is money, and we don’t have much of it…” he added with a shrug.

                “Not yet. But we can certainly take a minute to look around and see what we might want to come back for later,” Jinki encouraged, squeezing Kibum’s hand once.

                “That is an idea I like,” Larad agreed with a slow nod.

                “Oh. Maybe we can talk to someone here about the processing chips,” Ercite suggested, their eyes settling on Kibum. When he wrinkled his nose preemptively, the Dawbn reasoned, “Chances are good they can give a quick consultation with little to not charge. And really, it might let us see if any are worth anything. Especially if we take Crawven.”

                “Huh?” he chirped in confusion after hearing his name.

                “At least his eyesight is better than his attention span,” Larad chuckled, clapping the slightly taller male on his shoulder and shaking his head in amusement.

                Captain. We have been assigned docking bay B, row 5, platform 14. Shall we proceed?

                “Yes, Computer,” Kibum answered immediately.

                Understood.

                “Okay! Let’s do what we came here to do! We’ll figure the rest out after,” Kibum grinned, moving to take his seat at the front once more.

                “Aye, Captain!” the rest of his crew responded in relative unison, dispersing to secure themselves before they docked. Artificial gravity – and now standard gravity since they were planet side – kept them stable and secure on the deck, but docking could still be interesting. No one wanted to risk an injury due to the unexpected impact when securing the ship. Especially not when they were finally on a planet worth exploring in a city that was as far from Yonichi as they’d ever been yet.

 

                As with most of their previous runs, the actual delivery part was a breeze. The staff they worked with – mostly Dawbn, surprisingly enough, were efficient and cordial. The on-deck staff – largely Terran based Varium and Moladhi, wasted no time in carrying things from here to there. And those few Terrans that were in the mix followed suit, but often with supplemental equipment to help them match their larger counterparts.

                From a distance, Kibum and his crew collectively stopped to stare at a real live Kyanwa outside of what was presumably their ship. It was hard to guestimate, but they looked to be both taller and broader than either Crawven or Larad. Not surprising since they were supposed to be around eight feet tall in general. This one had fluffy sandy blonde fur with large tufted ears that flicked and rotated irregularly. A lengthy tail swished behind them while they appeared to be scanning the area. They wore no clothes but they didn’t need to. The Kyanwa did look a little put upon though.

                “I’m surprised it’s not inside on the ship,” Ercite commented as they looked across the dock.

                “Why?” Kibum asked in automatic response.

                “Their planet has a lower natural gravity than more Terran worlds. This one functions at a gravity that’s approximately 90% of Earth’s original gravitational force. The Kyanwa home world has a gravity level closer to 80% of Earth’s.”

                “Right!” Kibum said with a snap of his fingers. “I should have remembered that. It was on one of my tests,” he exhaled, shaking his head.

                “No wonder they look tired,” Jinki murmured sympathetically, reaching out to pat Kibum’s back sympathetically.

                “They should probably not go to Star Seeker’s Rest then,” Larad commented. Everyone nodded in mute agreement. Their home planet had a gravity slightly higher than Earth’s. It wasn’t so bad in the dome, but as soon as you left…

                Crawven was the first to shake himself free. “So we’ve seen our first Kyanwa. We’ll probably see more later,” he reminded them, stepping in front of the group to break their line of sight. “Aren’t we going to go see the rest of the city?”

                “I don’t know about the rest of the city…” Jinki trailed off with a laugh.

                “We can at least take a quick look around. A day isn’t gonna hurt us that much,” Kibum confirmed, looking over to smile at Jinki and feeling relief when he got a reassuring smile in response.

                “I still think we should see if we can find a consult for our data chips,” Ercite reminded him.

                “And check out the Red Light District!” Crawven chimed in.

                “That is the last of our priorities today,” Kibum snorted, one brow raised and an amused smirk tugging at his mouth.

                “Oh, come on!” he whined, shoulder slumping as he groaned in frustration.

                Larad patted him on the back consolingly. “A handsome Moladhi like yourself might find more trouble than you’re looking for in such a place.”

                “But that kind of trouble is good,” he reasoned.

                “If you have the money.”

                “Ugh…” the Moladhi groaned again, finally reluctantly giving up on the idea.

                “Next time,” Jinki whispered, reaching out to pat the taller male’s arm.

                “Will there even be a next time?” he grumbled back.

                “There better be,” Kibum grinned, fully confident that since they’d snagged one run here, it would be possible to do another and more.

                “Alright then. Let’s go!” Jinki cheered, pumping his fist into the air and giving Kibum a nudge to get him moving.

                They did wander for the day, their heads on swivels and eyes as wide as data disks. Even if they didn’t get to the Red Light District, the bright lights of the city center assaulted them as if they had, screaming for their attention at every turn. The vendors were mostly silent, or at least respectfully moderate in volume, but their ads and decorations did the speaking for them. At one point, Kibum was afraid his eyes might well fall out of his head because he’d never seen an actual piece of ‘fresh’ fruit and there was a stall selling them amidst the mix of goods. He was so ready to burn a hole in his pocket to buy a piece too, but then he saw the price.

                “On second thought…” he sighed wistfully. He could buy an entire meal for the cost of one piece and he simply couldn’t justify it today. Not until they had returned to confirm delivery and picked up the rest of their pay.

                “One day,” Jinki soothed, giving him a gentle one-armed hug around his shoulders.

                Dejectedly, they moved on and continued their jaunt. Most of the other shoppers were Terrans by nature, making it easy for Larad, Crawven, and Ercite to figure out the best places to go next. The majority of the sellers were non-Terrans. That wasn’t to say the businesses weren’t owned by Terrans behind the scenes though. Considering it was a Terran planet, that was likely the case. Non-Terrans just often had better sales’ records due to their natural abilities in reading Terran body language more effectively.

                Eventually, they did find a consultant for their data chips, but the upfront cost was too much for them this time. It was another ‘later’ shop they’d hopefully return to in the future. As the time went on, the sunlight faded and the lights of the city became ever more intense. Worse than the heart of Yonichi, it was bright as day even in the dead of night.

                Kibum had thought he was used to such environments, what with his work at The Stars Aligned and all, but even he had to admit it was getting to be a bit much for him. Looking at the rest of his group, Ercite seemed the least bothered by it all, their expression a natural façade for whatever they were thinking. But Larad had a subtle frown, Crawven’s feathers were slightly raised – like the hackles of a dog, and Jinki looked a bit paler than usual, though he put on a brave smile when he noticed Kibum looking at him.

                “We should probably call it,” Kibum announced as they came to a stop out of the way of the general flow of pedestrian traffic. The flying cars and scooters overhead never seemed to stop, the patterns dizzying if one looked at them for too long.

                “Do we want to try and find a place to get a bite and take a break?” Jinki asked, obviously hungry.

                “I’d rather go back to the ship. Everything’s too expensive here,” Larad chimed in, his voice flat and curt. That was a sure sign he was done with their current adventure. Ercite patted him on the head in a quiet soothing gesture but said nothing in response.

                “Seconded,” Crawven agreed, raising his hand as he looked to Kibum.

                “Let’s go back then,” Kibum nodded with a half-hearted shrug. “At least the food processor supply is currently paid for,” he added with a weak laugh. He got weak snorts in response, the group tired and overwhelmed, just like him.

                It was plain fare but satisfying. No one was interested in staying up late though and it was generally agreed that they would all just… go to sleep early and head out in the morning.

                In the circle of Jinki’s arms, Kibum couldn’t quite manage to fall asleep. He stared at the top of their room and tried not to fidget so he wouldn’t wake his boyfriend up. But he wasn’t surprised when he heard, “Can’t sleep?”

                “No,” he admitted quietly, shaking his head.

                “What’s up?” Jinki asked, pulling Kibum closer and nuzzling into his hair.

                Kibum wrinkled his nose but took a breath to answer. “I thought I’d enjoy the city more.”

                Jinki laughed once, his breath brushing against Kibum’s scalp. “It was a bit much, wasn’t it?”

                “I just… I thought Yonichi was big.”

                “It is. Just not as big as Whitelock.” When Kibum didn’t say anything, Jinki raised his head to peer at him out of one partially open eye. “What else?”

                Kibum gave him a half-hearted glare with a pout. “It was really expensive too.”

                Jinki chuckled and managed to open his other eye. “That’s just because we have no money yet,” he promised, leaning close to kiss Kibum’s head.

                “And when will that be?” he grumbled with a disappointed sound in the back of his throat.

                His boyfriend traced a stray strand of hair off Kibum’s forehead and smiled down at him, leaving his hand to gently cup Kibum’s face. “When we pay off this ship and you keep finding us contracts that take us further into the cosmos.”

                “You could help me find those contracts too,” Kibum grumbled, hands gripping the light blanket loosely.

                “Gladly. But… I seem to recall you having much better luck,” he admitted with an embarrassed smile.

                Kibum’s scoff turned into a genuine laugh. “That’s because you’re too nice, dummy.”

                “So you always tell me,” he agreed without complaint. “Now sleep, love. We’ve got a ways to go to get back and you need your beauty sleep,” he teased with a wink.

                Kibum gasped and lightly slapped Jinki’s chest. “I’m always beautiful, thank you.”

                “Yes, you are. Even with dark circles under your eyes and dry skin,” he nodded back, apparently serious.

                “If we had more money, I could afford products to deal with that,” Kibum grumbled, turning over onto his side in mock-anger.

                “I know, love,” Jinki said as he simply hugged Kibum from behind, spooning him tenderly. “One day.”

                “One day, indeed,” Kibum grumbled, not sure if he was complaining about or affirming the statement. Maybe a bit of both. It was hard to say. Harder still to stay annoyed with his situation when he had a man like Jinki holding him close in the ship they owned together though. At least with those things, ‘one day’ was actually a possibility.

 

(a/n: Apologies for the delay. Life has been a bit much lately... Ugh. Keep your fingers crossed this weekend is kinder to me so I can actually get something done for the next update. haha Regardless, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Please look forward to the next update!)