It took a few days to be able to fit into Passeri’s schedule. Once something opened up though, Kibum, Jinki, and Taemin found themselves back at the Syrinx Main Office in the same room they’d met her in previously. Ceyxin was their guide once more though he did bow out upon leading them to the office. Surprisingly, Ming and a compact data disk were waiting in the room as well.

                “Kibum! Jinki!” Psitassi beamed, moving closer to them so she could grab their hands in hers once more, like she had before. “I’m glad to hear that you’ve made a decision.” With practiced ease, she pulled them deftly back towards the table where Ming watched them with speculative eyes. “I took the liberty of preparing the Weapons Master program in the interim,” she explained, letting go to gesture at the data disc on the table.

                “But-” Kibum started to say, raising one hand in objection.

                Psitassi winked as she turned. “I know. You had some questions and some tweaks to add to the contract, correct?” Her question was more a statement of fact than anything else.

                Kibum glanced at his pin and mumbled, “Just how much did you tell her?”

                Everything we discussed that was in reference to the contract, he answered proudly, obviously thinking he’d done a good thing.

                Really, Kibum couldn’t blame him exactly. Taemin had done what they’d asked – or rather what he’d volunteered for. Kibum had just wanted to field a few things himself. He quietly coughed into his fist and nodded. “Yes.”

                While he was thinking about what to say next, Psitassi gestured for them to have a seat as she pulled up another contract. “Here. I’ve made some alterations and this is the new version.” She immediately scrolled through it to the points they’d discussed previously in regards to length of time for the contract and information concerning Ming. “While I would personally prefer this to be a lifetime arrangement, I realize that might not be the most agreeable for a Terran,” she admitted coyly.

                “Lifetime?” Kibum and Jinki gasped at the same time.

                Psitassi’s smile widened in delight and she waved a hand at them. “I changed it to a 20-year limit instead. How’s that?” she inquired with a subtle shift in her tone.

                Jinki gasped and Kibum’s guard went up immediately. “2 years,” he stated firmly, eyes narrowed slightly.

                “Oh, come now,” she responded, taking a small breath. “Fifteen.”

                She is changing her tone, Taemin commented curiously, catching on to what Kibum had suspected almost immediately.

                “Psitassi,” he warned while he pointed at his throat and glanced at hers before meeting her eyes again.

                She ducked her head in immediate acknowledgement and raised a hand. “Recently acquired habits,” she explained in a softer more neutral voice.

                In Kibum’s periphery, Jinki shook his head and frowned slightly at the Moladhi. “5 years he finally offered, sniffing lightly as if that was a worthwhile gesture.

                The edges of Psitassi’s mouth pulled taut and she exhaled. “I realize the times seem long but I do wish for this to be mutually beneficial for both of us,” she explained, gesturing between them. “10 years.”

                Kibum and Jinki exchanged wary glances. “That’s all well and good but long contracts feel like traps,” Jinki reminded her. “Especially since we don’t usually live as long as Moladhi.” She tilted her head in acknowledgement but didn’t offer any new number.

                “7 years. And that only because we’re friends,” Kibum conceded with a guarded expression.

                “With the possibility of renegotiating at the end of it?” Psitassi asked with an excited tone and one finger raised in a very Terran manner.

                Once more, Kibum and Jinki exchanged looks. No vocal manipulation this time, Taemin explained quietly.

                The pair nodded slowly before turning their attention on Psitassi once more. “7 years with the possibility of renegotiating at the end of the initial contract,” Kibum agreed.

                “Wonderful!” Psitassi clapped once, obviously excited about the agreement. She made a quick change on the contract, pausing so both her guests could see, and then gestured at the medbot. “Insofar as Ming goes, I’d like for the same time frame to apply. To keep it simple. Though I must admit to hoping you might be agreeable to simply keep me in the loop well beyond should anything else develop,” she admitted, struggling to keep her voice neutral.

                For one moment, Kibum felt a degree of pity for her. Psitassi had never been one for much vocal manipulation when she’d been in the University. Accidentally when she’d been excited of course, but intentionally for her own gain… that was a new development. And he was almost certain it was likely because of her new position and whatever she was trying to do in her new life. It mattered that she still cared enough to try and moderate herself in their presence so on this… he was willing to go out on a short limb at least. He glanced over at Ming who gave him a wave with a smooth smile. Kibum still had reservations about the quality of the medical programs on the medbot but he was in no position to be a choosy beggar, however.

                “Agreed,” he finally stated, looking at Jinki who nodded in approval as well.

                By her sigh, it was obvious that Psitassi was relieved about his answer. “Fantastic,” she smiled, turning to make another adjustment on the contract. With a wave of her hand, she brought it before them so they could see. “Were there any other questions you wanted to ask?”

                You should ask her to help with the ship, Taemin encouraged in Kibum’s ear.

                Kibum frowned and shook his head as he glanced down at the pin.

                “No?” Psitassi wondered, obviously a little surprised.

                “Actually,” Jinki spoke up, hiding his smile when he realized what had happened. “We were wondering how much the reprogramming would cost,” he explained, pointing at the data disc on the table.

                Psitassi’s smile was enigmatic. She hummed thoughtfully and tapped her bottom beak before explaining, “Two dinner gowns, a full-body aesthetic prep session, two feather dying appointments, and a reserved full-course dinner meal at Adhi’s Delight.”

                With each new item, Kibum’s mouth fell open a little more until he forced himself to close it to hide his surprise. That… was a lot actually. He could tell by Jinki’s slightly confused frown that he had no idea of the actual value of everything listed but having spent more than enough time around Passeri, who’d done quite a few of those things when he’d still worked at The Stars Align, he had a general idea of how much it would cost on the lower end of the spectrum. And honestly speaking, Adhi’s Delight was one of the most exclusive restaurants in Yonichi. He could only dream of actually ever going there.

                “You know… seven years doesn’t seem so bad anymore,” he admitted half-jokingly.

                “See?” Psitassi gestured at him with a pleased smile.

                At Jinki’s still confused look, Kibum waved at him once and whispered, “I’ll tell you later.”

                “Ah,” he nodded in acceptance, smoothing his features out as he glanced at Ming. In return, he received a wave and a smile much like he’d given Kibum. “So… once we sign - the contract - what then?” he asked, gesturing at the data disc and Ming.

                Psitassi turned thoughtful and rubbed at her bottom beak like a Terran would their chin. “The contract timer starts and they’re yours for the taking.” She gestured at the disc and the medbot but kept her attention on Kibum and Jinki. “Though considering my investment, I am hoping you can get your ship up and running soon. I can help…” she offered, extending her hand towards them with a small shrug.

                Kibum immediately shook his head and swallowed. “We’ve asked or accepted too much of you already,” he stated with a guilty look at Jinki. Immediately, the other man reached out to grab his hand and give it a reassuring squeeze.

                “You do realize I’m free to say no if I wish, correct?” she asked in a teasing manner, one feathered brow raised archly in an expression Kibum himself had worn on various occasions.

                The look made him laugh once and some of the guilt bled away, though not all of it. “I’m aware,” he answered with a nod and a sigh. “But this part we should be able to handle through MTV+. Now we just need to get to the Hub to make it happen,” he added, focusing on Jinki. There was a ball of worrying dread sitting in the pit of his stomach as he spoke and could only hope that Jinki would know how he felt.

                Again, there came a reassuring squeeze from Jinki’s hand and he smiled harder. “We can handle it from here,” he said, the words meant for Kibum but he did finish them by turning to look at Psitassi.

                “Fair enough,” she conceded with a shrug of both hands. “I might not be able to help as much in the future, but this should be a good start, no?”

                “Yes. It is,” Kibum confirmed, trying to settle his uneasy stomach. “So? Shall we sign?” he went on, nodding towards the still floating contract.

                “After one more once over,” Jinki agreed, glancing at Psitassi with a crooked smile when she feigned hurt at the suggestion.

                “You don’t trust me?” she whined in mock offense, putting on an air of injury that quickly faded to amusement as she shook her finger at them. “Smart. It’s always good to read anything legally binding at least one more time,” she agreed with a spectacular roll of her eyes and a suffering sigh.

                “Mm. Hajoon almost got tripped up with that in her first contract,” Jinki explained. “Nothing too crazy but I’m glad mom made her send it to an attorney first before she officially signed it.”

                “Ah.” That explained it. Kibum vaguely remembered hearing something about that but for a while there, he hadn’t been in the right headspace to fully appreciate everything he’d been catching up on. “Shall we then?” he asked, taking a seat as he pulled the contract closer so they could both read it over once more.

 

                For at least a week after signing the contract, Kibum and Jinki spent the majority of their time at home, closeted in their shared room with Taemin, the new Weapons Master AI Jonghyun, and the medical android Ming. Having gone through the process once himself, Taemin walked Jonghyun through the steps of creating his own appearance so he could present a visual front for everybody else.

                Like mine! Taemin grinned, popping into the visual sphere.

                A short moment later, another AI popped into view, but its initial appearance made everyone gasp. Except Ming of course. He was, as yet, unflappable. That being said, Jonghyun showing up with a humanoid frame and a blank face was otherwise disconcerting. Like this? the program asked, lower face moving like it was talking but with no visible mouth.

                Eh…

                “You have a body but no form yet,” Ming commented, framing his jaw with his thumb and index finger. “You could model yourself off of Kibum’s delicate masculinity-”

                “Delicate?” he scoffed.

                “-Jinki’s genial comeliness-”

                “Eh?” he grunted in confusion.

                “-Taemin’s innocent childishness-”

                Hey!

                “Or my own devilish handsomeness,” he finished explaining with a confident smirk as he eyed Jinki and then shifted his attention to settle on Kibum.

                Ah, Jonghyun hummed in apparent understanding as the body immediately started to shift in front of their eyes.

                Slightly unnerved by Ming’s attention, Kibum looked away a bit reluctantly but was more fascinated by the fluid changes he was witnessing on Jonghyun. A mass of hair sprouted first, going through different styles, colors, and lengths in a seamless cycle. At the same time, facial features appeared with a similar fluctuation pattern. Eyes, nose, and mouth all took different forms simultaneously. Furthermore, his entire body started to elongate and then shorten, bulk up and smooth out, add feathers and rocky surfaces and then back to hairless skin as he tried various permutations. It was rather like watching a character creation screen from a video game in real time and it was far more jarring than Kibum had ever thought it might be.

                Ming started making comments about points that looked good almost immediately. Then Taemin, who overcame his surprise at the situation relatively quickly. Eventually Jinki and Kibum joined in too, laughing when a combination came out as odd or strange and nodding in agreement when Jonghyun shifted to something nice after the fact or despite their first approval.

                This, Jonghyun announced with his arms out and a look down at his own less but masculine body. He seemed to be a smidgeon shorter than most of them with a physique of a similar nature as the rest of the crew. A crown of black hair covered his head in wavy medium length strands. And when he finally looked up for them to see with a tentative smile on his high cheekboned face, he had thick eyebrows, brown eyes, and a mouthful of straight white teeth framed by full bottom lip and a thinner top one.

                “Looks good,” Ming nodded in agreement with a speculative tilt to his head.

                Hmm. You should change your hair color. We all have the same color, Taemin semi-complained, almost immediately applying the same idea to himself. The black bowl cut shifted to grown up and lighten into a white blonde that framed his eyes and face to just below his cheekbones.

                “Oh,” Kibum hummed in surprise.

                I see, Jonghyun commented, looking around the room and then glancing upward. Lightening from black, he phased it out to bleach blonde again and lengthened the strands to his cheekbones, mouth quirking to the side when Taemin complained.

                Hey!

                The bleach blonde shifted to a softer carnation pink and the hair shortened, the longest strands just touching the tops of his ears and gently covering his eyebrows. This.

                He got a small series of applause from the trio with physical bodies, and Taemin grinned in appreciation. Nice!

                “Now you just need clothes and we’ll be good to go,” Jinki encouraged, sliding his arm around Kibum’s waist as he got closer.

                “Or a more anatomically correct form,” Ming suggested with a sly look towards Jinki and Kibum.

                Kibum flushed with a coughing noise. Jinki managed to keep most of his composure though his voice was a bit rougher than usual when he explained, “That’s fine if he wants but also clothes.”

                “Very well,” he conceded gracefully, the smile on his lips more natural but with a hint of amused satisfaction.

                “Are we sure he’s an android?” Kibum asked, glancing at Ming and then at Jinki for reassurance.

                “According to Psitassi,” he responded with a shrug, though he did pull Kibum a little closer almost reflexively. Ming’s smile was unchanged as he turned his attention to Taemin and Jonghyun instead, apparently aware that he was being a little much or perhaps just losing interest.

                “This is going to be interesting, isn’t it?” he wondered, looking into Jinki’s eyes before he appraised the rest of their crew.

                “Always,” Jinki agreed, grabbing one of Kibum’s hands and raising it to his lips so he could kiss the other man’s fingers.

 

                Getting to know the crew was one thing. Getting their ship back up and running was something else entirely. Now that they had a full crew for the size of the ship they desired, the Hub was the next place to go to see what they could work out. With Ming accompanying them in person, Taemin riding along with Kibum, and Jonghyun traveling in a pin on Jinki, they went to visit the MTV+ office in the city center. The MTV+ representative they got in touch with was happy to break down their options regarding renegotiating their contract and having a new ship built to replace the Shine.

                With the insurance payouts after their accident, a new ship would cost roughly half the amount of the first one, especially with the modifications and adjustments they were hoping to include. The one non-negotiable point for Kibum was the boosters of the ship. He could not abide by ones that rotated as they had previously on the Shine. He would not risk that malfunction happening ever again.

                It took them several days to hash out the details but eventually both parties came to an agreement. More or less. “That being said, our records show you haven’t been cleared for flight yet, Captain Kibum. We can certainly start putting her together with the core components, but there won’t be much point in finishing it if you can’t even fly.”

 

                It was upsetting but Kibum couldn’t argue the point. It was just difficult to swallow. Harder still to come to terms with. “I want to fly again, Jinki. I do,” he explained to the other man, a desperate edge to his voice as he stared at his palms. “I’m just scared.” He closed his hands into fists and pursed his lips.

                I can help you with the flying! Taemin spoke up quickly, his voice emerging from the pin before his image shortly followed.

                Kibum smiled at the exuberance but shook his head. “Not for reinstating my manual flight captain’s license,” he sighed, shoulders slumping at the realization that he would need to put in the time and effort to make this a reality.

                “You’ve got this, love,” Jinki encouraged, grabbing both fists in his and tugging on them so Kibum would look at him.

                “We can help you as well,” Ming reminded him, gesturing between himself and Jinki specifically.

                I am here for support, Jonghyun finally chimed in, appearing into view with a white t-shirt and black pants. He raised his hand as if he was volunteering for something but offered a smile in response.

                “I can help you too,” Ming added, focusing his attention on Jinki, one open hand gesturing at the other man.

                “Me?” Jinki chirped, obviously caught off guard.

                “Jinki?” Kibum asked, looking between the two as if he was missing something.

                “Captain Kibum’s challenge is more obvious but you still need to work on your hand dexterity, no?” Ming inquired, gaze all too perceptive as he focused on Jinki’s hands.

                “Is that true?” Kibum wondered, immediately holding Jinki’s hands himself as he searched his boyfriend’s face.

                Jinki gave a slightly embarrassed smile as he looked down. “At least a little bit.”

                “You should have told me,” Kibum whispered, cupping Jinki’s cheek with one of his hands. “You’ve been so good with me lately, I had no idea.”

                “I didn’t want to worry you,” he admitted with a hesitant shrug.

                “Well, it seems as if we have our work cut out for us,” Ming commented as he crossed his arms with a smugly satisfied smile. “In the process, I can also ascertain your health preparedness for returning to space at a physical level primarily. I am also able to give suggestions based on mental and emotional responses as well, though those are not my areas of expertise,” he disclosed with a single nod.

                Kibum frowned slightly but then took a steadying breath and nodded as if to himself. “Okay then. Where do we start?” he asked, looking around the group with a hopeful smile and a belly full of nervous tension.

 

                Two months, three weeks, and five days. That was how long it took the crew to get ready so they could actually get final approval on the construction of their new ship.

                Weeks of stress tests and simulations for Kibum led to numerous panic attacks, emergency sessions with his therapist, and lots of manual rehabilitation with Ming – literal massages to force him to relax, and Jinki – cuddles. So much cuddling. He logged pages of hours working with Ming especially as the medical android sat with him, monitoring his vitals and grounding him when he practiced flight simulations. Countless more hours were spent at Jinki’s side or in his arms, talking things out and working through sticking points he was having trouble overcoming.

                It was also weeks of Jinki practicing complex hand movements with Ming as the medical doctor observed and made notes. He was an ideal partner for such practice since his synthetic components posed no risk of actual injury if Jinki accidentally went too hard. Though he would be expensive to repair if something did happen to break…

                There were weeks of Jonghyun and Taemin familiarizing themselves with the blueprints and plans for their prospective ship. Between the two of them, they could run simulated programs in a controlled environment and go through the possible problems and solutions as many times as they wanted.

                And amidst everything, there was still Doyun coming in from time to time to pester her big brother and his various friends, demanding help with her homework. More versed in legal terminology, she wasn’t quite ready for University yet and was still getting ready to apply and head off to try her luck in the world of law. Since Kibum and Jinki had already done it once, she was bound and determined to use them as sources of help.

                It hadn’t taken Siwoo long to discover Ming’s capacity for medicine. Her interest was still geared towards coaching but she was considering shifting to an athletic trainer or physical therapist. Needless to say, she demanded his attention or absconded with him as often as she could get away with when they were all in the same vicinity.

                And Daejung had apparently hit upon a gold mine of possibilities when he realized he could take Taemin and Jonghyun with him using the attachment pins. Still dead set on becoming a famous holo gamer, who better to practice with than actual AI programs? Of course he could have ordered some to work with him, but why spend money (or get his parents to pay) when there was a free option instead?

                While such things could have been distractions, though sometimes annoying, Kibum found Jinki’s siblings to be welcome in that arena. They were loud and imposing and frustrating at times, but they also absolutely kept him from isolating himself or pulling away or getting mired in his own failures. Of which there were many along the way.

                He saw the same for Jinki as well, who struggled with his own rehabilitation in ways he hadn’t allowed Kibum to see before. Kibum saw that Jinki was much stronger than he’d been previously. He could break things with ease and lift heavy objects that would have been beyond him before. But for all that power, it was an equally terrible curse. If he wanted to work in the engine room, delicate movements and nimble dexterity were musts. And galaxies forbid if he panicked or had an adrenaline rush that pushed him to react too strongly. So some evening embraces were as much for Jinki as they were for Kibum.

                And when the time finally came for Kibum himself to take his flight test again, with the clearance of his psychiatrist and therapist, he froze the first time. Panic set in and he couldn’t shake it, leaving him to fail before he could even begin. But a second attempt a couple weeks later brought him closer. He didn’t pass on a technicality and a sloppy landing, but it was a massive step in the right direction. Still hard to swallow the loss but close was better. A couple weeks after that, the impossible happened.

                Kibum passed his flight test and was able to have his Captain’s license reinstated.

                With that, MTV+ was able to continue commissioning his new ship so that they could get up and running. “We should be able to pull everything together within a month or so at this point,” their representative explained with a proud smile. Smaller ships took less time to prepare. A small blessing that.

                But Kibum and Jinki knew from previous experience that the work didn’t end there. If they had a ship, they could accept contracts. Now they just needed to find one or two to have on deck for when they could head back into the stars.

 

(a/n: Woohoo! And we're getting there! The crew is assembled and they've got a ship in the making! Thank you for being patient here. I got distracted with a teacher's conference over the weekend and it consumed all my free time. haha That being said, I am having a smidgeon of trouble with finding my footing in the next chapter so please bear with me. >.> I predict we should have two more chapters here. More than likely. At least for the origin story anyway. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I hope you've enjoyed this latest update and that you're looking forward to the next!)