Captain Ahn Elly rarely raised her voice but Solji found very quickly that, given the right circumstances, she could yell very loudly and for a very long time.

Solji hadn’t even been in the cockpit for their crash landing. She’d been…preoccupied. Sooyoung had been at the helm. Sooyoung, the teenage science prodigy who’d gone to college and flight school. Sooyoung, the smartest person Solji had even known. Sooyoung, the perfectly competent pilot who had flown solo hundreds of times.

Sooyoung who had managed to land the Unity right on top of some poor bastard’s ship.

Actually, it was bastards. Plural. Three poor bastards, one of whom was named Elly and was staring at the wreckage and screaming at the top of her lungs like she wanted to wake the dead Berm on passing comets.

They hadn’t quite made it to the introductions yet. Solji only knew the captain’s name because it was embroidered on her hoodie. There were two other girls with her, a brunette and a redhead, and neither were saying a word. They were just staring back at their captain who was shouting wordlessly into the void, her fists clenched tightly at her sides.

Solji cleared and took a step forward so that she was standing awkwardly beside the brunette.

“Is she, uh, is she going to be okay?”

The brunette turned her head and looked Solji up and down, the look in her eyes a mixture of disbelief and mild contempt.

“No,” she said flatly. “I’m thinking probably not.”

“Has she ever screamed like this before?” the redhead asked, looking over her shoulder. The brunette shook her head.

“In five years,” the brunette said, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard Elly yell. Period.”

The redhead turned all the way around, her back now to her screaming friend, and glared at Solji.

“Good going,” she said. “You broke our ship and you broke our captain.”

“Hey,” Hyerin barked up from where she stood a few feet away, her arms crossed over her chest. “Solji wasn’t even driving, okay? It was Sooyoung. Sooyoung broke your ship and your captain.”

Beside her, Sooyoung gasped and grimaced like she’d been slapped. She was already pale and sweating, the feelings of guilt and shame and failure radiating off of her like a furnace.

“It was an accident!” she protested and Solji looked back at Hyerin and shook her head.

“Honey?” she said, trying not to give too much away with her tone. “Not helping.”

Hyerin scowled. She didn’t know these people and she didn’t like what they were implying. Sooyoung had ed up, sure, but Solji hadn’t had a thing to do with it. Was she just supposed to sit idly by while strangers slandered her wife?

Elly was still screaming and it was making everyone, including her own friends, anxious. Yuri, who was the only other member besides Sooyoung and Hyerin who’d followed Solji out of the ship, was fighting the very physical urge to cover her ears with her hands when the brunette decided she’d had enough.

She walked up behind Elly and put her hands on her shoulders with all the gentleness and sincerity of someone who truly needed to comfort a friend in dire need of support.

“Elly,” she said sternly. “Please stop screaming before the farmers storm the bottom of this hill wielding hoes and rakes.”

The captain screamed a few more times and then her shouting slowly faded until it was nothing more than panicked, miserable whimpering under her breath. Solji’s ears rang at the sudden quiet but at least she could hear herself think again.

The brunette patted Elly’s back and then walked over to Solji, her eyes low and her movements reluctant. Solji could tell that this woman wasn’t normally in charge but with their captain currently in shock, she was taking the lead.

After a beat, the brunette held out her hand like she wasn’t sure if Solji would bite her.

“I’m Moonbyul,” she said, finally making eye contact. She nodded her chin to the redhead. “That’s Sunny. The loud one is Elly.”

Solji shook her hand.

“Heo Solji,” she said and then pointed to the three behind her. “The tall one is Sooyoung, my co-pilot. Hyerin is our doctor. She’s also my wife. Yuri is our tech analyst.” At the mention of her name, Yuri waved cheerfully like they’d all met casually at a bar on Geum Haneul. Sighing and shrugging, Solji added, “There’s three more on-board but they’re not as nosy.”

Moonbyul nodded. She looked beyond Solji, locked onto Sooyoung and walked until she closed the gap, angling her neck so that she could look the taller woman in the eye.

“Sooyoung,” she said coolly, and Solji noted the way her second-in-command swallowed anxiously. Sooyoung always had been a nervous person and something about Moonbyul was inherently intimidating. “You crushed our ship.”

Sooyoung’s gaze flickered to look at Solji, seeking guidance or permission, and when she was met with only a blank stare, she said, “It was an accident.”

Moonbyul cocked an eyebrow.

“Your behemoth squashed our ship like a bug and all you can say was that it was an accident?” she implored. “That’s the best you’ve got? Really?”

Behind them, Elly was muttering to herself, her fists opening and closing at random, her head shaking back and forth. Where Moonbyul looked mad, Sunny just look concerned. Soon, she was standing beside Elly, her hands covering her captain’s.

“It was parked in the shadow of the cliff,” Sooyoung stammered, speaking quickly. “I’ve made hundreds of smooth landings. It looked clear to me. I didn’t think anything of it, okay? It was an honest mistake. I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to–” She trailed off, one hand on her forehead in despair and the other on her hip. Hyerin still looked irritated but, just like Sunny, Yuri looked compassionate and worried. She moved to stand beside her, hooking her arm around her waist.

“It was an accident,” Yuri said soothingly. “A genuine mistake. These things happen.”

“These things happen?” Moonbyul parroted. “Ships just accidentally get crushed to a million pieces? That just happens?”

Solji bit the inside of her cheek, trying to think of something to say. These things didn’t happen, no. But somehow it had and now she had to figure out how to handle it. What was the social custom when your co-pilot destroyed someone’s ship while you were in your cabin, playing doctor with your wife?

“I’m sorry,” Sooyoung said, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. “I-I-I don’t know how it happened. Maybe I was looking at another screen? I don’t know what I did wrong. I’ve done it a million times! I don’t think I did anything different. Your ship is so small but and the shadow covered it and I just–”

For the first time, Elly turned away from the wreckage and her gaze was so intense and so full of rage that it stopped Sooyoung dead in her tracks.

“It was a small ship,” she gritted out, “but it was a damn fine ship. It may have had cheap landing gear but it was a damn fine ship. It may have had a leak in the fuel tank but it was a damn fine ship.” She took a step forward and Sooyoung flinched. “It may have been a little busted up but it was my goddamn ship and it was perfect, okay? And you wrecked it.”

Sooyoung blinked in response, her face regaining its color long enough to turn a deep shade of crimson.

“Wait,” she said. “Your ship still had a fuel tank? You don’t use an anti-matter converter? You still use rocket fuel?” She cocked her head to the side the way she did when she was deep in thought. “Huh, I had no idea people really still used fuel. That must’ve been a seriously old engine.”

Immediately, Elly’s face fell, erasing any trace of an expression that may have lingered a second before.

With clenched teeth and alarming softness, she said, “Okay. That does it. I’m going to beat your .”

She lunged forward and Sooyoung screamed, scrambling to hide behind Yuri who was already raising her hands defensively. But Moonbyul cut Elly off at the pass, wrapping her arms around Elly’s waist and effectively keeping her from pummeling Sooyoung into the ground.

“Okay!” Solji shouted over the commotion. “Sooyoung, no more talking, okay?” Still cowering, Sooyoung nodded and Yuri slowly lowered her hands. That was good. Solji didn’t think Yuri could actually win a fight against anyone, not to mention someone as pissed off as Captain Elly. She focused on Sunny, thinking that the redhead might be her best bet for a rational conversation. “Are you girls here looking for Jiyong, too?”

“That’s none of your goddamned business,” Elly said, struggling against Moonbyul’s grip.

“Yes,” Sunny said, speaking over her captain for the sake of finding some semblance of peace. At this rate, they wouldn’t get anywhere and the seven of them would be standing on this muddy planet that smelled like manure for the next two days. “We followed a lead and came to check out some people who might’ve known them.”

Solji nodded.

“Us, too,” she said. “That’s why we’re here today. We’re all after the same here thing. I am really sorry about your ship. We will pay for the tow that’ll take you to the refueling station of your choice and we will pay to have your ship repaired. Okay?”

Sunny opened to speak but Elly, having freed herself from Moonbyul’s arms, fired first.

“No, not okay. Absolutely not okay. Do you have any idea how long it’ll take to repair the entire front half of our ship?”

“At least a few months,” Yuri interjected.

“You’re also not helping,” Solji said over her shoulder.

“The fact that we got here before you shows that we are better trackers than you,” Elly said, stepping closer to Solji. Moonbyul was close behind, ready to step in again if Elly looked like she was about to throw a punch. But Elly just wanted to get in Solji’s face. “Is that your game? You see that someone is doing better than you, that someone is closer to finding Jiyong, and you decide to take them out? You crush their ship and then put them out of commission for months so that you can swoop in and take the glory? Really? Is that your plan, Captain Heo Solji?”

Elly’s tone was dripping with venom, her words cloaked in hatred and rage, but Solji didn’t react. She didn’t frown or recoil or have a fit. She just stared back at her challenger, a straight face and straight back.

“I think we’re at an impasse,” Solji said after a moment of uncomfortable silence. “And I think that we’re all tired and hungry.” She took a casual, comfortable step back and turned to face the Unity, still parked atop the fuel-soaked wreckage of the Pandora. “Our chef, Yoona, has been cooking all day. I think we should go inside, have dinner, and talk this over. We are strong, smart women and I think we can come to a reasonable solution, don’t you?”

Sunny didn’t give Elly a chance to answer. She was hungry and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a decent meal. They weren’t going to decide anything standing outside, screaming at each other. They were all adults. Why not go inside and break bread while they talked it out?

“I think that’s a great idea,” she said, ignoring Elly’s wordless whine of protest.

“Excellent,” Solji said. “Hyerin, can you show these ladies inside?”

Swallowing the reasons that this was a bad idea, Hyerin nodded, gesturing welcomingly to the front of the ship.

As they strolled from the main doors down the long, spacious hallways that eventually led into a clean, well-stocked mess hall, all Elly could think was that she really, really hated rich people.

What did they do all day? People who didn’t need to worry about debt and repairs and fuel prices, what did they think about? People with co-pilots, people who didn’t need to stay glued to their seat, wrestling with manual controls, what did they do with all their free time?

This ship had a state-of-the-art kitchen. On the walk, they’d passed a gym with working equipment and something called a UV spa. The one wing they’d walked through was bigger than the entire Pandora and Elly was biting her tongue so hard that she was surprised she didn’t taste blood.

There were three other girls waiting in the mess hall, all three of them looking at Elly, Moonbyul and Sunny like they were expecting them. Solji had been lagging behind the rest of the group – maybe she’d sent out a group message summoning the rest of the team to the galley.

Hyerin gestured to the empty seats opposite of her three girls and, somewhat reluctantly, they sat down. There were trays of food on a high counter and beside that were two bottles of soda and a box of LifeForce powder. There were cabinets and coolers and something that looked like a deep freezer and Elly’s rumbling stomach gave her away. Ever since their bills had started piling up, the ladies of the Pandora had mostly been living on beef jerky, whole-wheat crackers and freeze-dried oranges from refueling station mini-marts. Whatever was in those trays smelled amazing but Elly’s pride didn’t want her to accept a meal from the people who’d killed her ship.

“Ladies,” Solji said, addressing the rest of her team. “We’re going to host the crew of the Pandora for dinner tonight.”

“We never have dinner guests,” said a young woman with dark hair and a grease-stained denim shirt. There was a knowing smirk on her face, like she already knew the answer, but still she asked, “What’s the occasion?”

“We got into a little fender-bender,” Solji said. “The least we can do is feed them.”

“That is the least you can do,” Elly mumbled and that made the brunette with the dirty shirt smile.

“This is Elly, Moonbyul and Sunny,” Solji said before pointing across the table and adding, “and that’s Solar, Wheein and Yoona.”

“Moonbyul, Sunny and Solar,” Hyerin said fondly, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. “Clearly, your parents had space aspirations for you kids.”

Moonbyul smirked.

“An astronaut by any other name would be as sweet,” she teased and the girl in the stained shirt, the one that Solji had introduced as Solar, smiled.

“You like Shakespeare?” she asked. Moonbyul her lips. It wasn’t wasted on her how pretty this girl was, even in dirty clothes, and she was hoping that her stare came across more friendly that predatory. This woman, Solar, had a perfect, bright smile and long, dark hair that fell loosely over her shoulders. Her eyes were dark and warm and there was something about her that was just… enchanting. Charming. She was obviously stunning but there was an extra layer there that had Moonbyul’s head spinning.

“We go on a lot of long flights,” Moonbyul explained. “Sometimes it’s nice to sit and read the classics.”

Solar’s responding smile made Moonbyul’s heart flutter.

“Well, you girls must be hungry,” said Yoona, clapping her hands together as she rose to her feet. “You three like Korean beef?”

Regretfully, Moonbyul’s first thought that getting their ride smashed up would be more than worth it if it meant she’d get to eat some well-cooked Korean beef.

But she didn’t say it out loud.

Yoona gave them each a plate of beef and rice before asking what they’d like to drink and she didn’t sit down to join them until everyone had started eating.

Solji sat at the head of the table and Hyerin sat literally at her right hand. They’d known each other less than a half hour but Moonbyul couldn’t help but notice the way they looked at each other. It was kind of nice. Moonbyul couldn’t remember the last time someone had looked at her like that. There was something comforting about being in the presence of true love. It made everything seem a little better and brighter.

“Did you really have a leak in your fuel tank?” Solji asked when there was a break in the polite chitchat. Elly was scowling while she ate but at Solji’s question, Moonbyul thought he expression softened just the slightest bit.

“The Pandora had some issues, yes,” Elly said after taking a long sip of peach-mango LifeForce. “And one of those is issues is a slight leak in the gas tank.”

“What are some of the other issues?” Hyerin asked, sounding genuinely interested. Moonbyul understood that. Sometimes you spent so much time with your own crew that talking to other people felt like a rare and special privilege.

“Problems with the ers,” Sunny said, speaking with full. “Problems with the landing gear. Problems with the furnace. Problems with the lighting.”

“We haven’t had a functional missile system in, like, eight months,” Moonbyul continued, still keeping her eyes on Solar. “Our intercom system doesn’t work. We had to trash our rover a year and a half ago.”

“Almost all of our systems are manual now,” Elly added bitterly, hesitantly.

“We don’t even have an escape pod anymore,” Sunny snorted.

Solji gawked at them. From across the table. Sooyoung choked on her rice. Hyerin narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to the side as though Sunny had just started speaking Dutch.

“You don’t have an escape pod?” Yuri asked, her face twisted in confusion and concern. “What happens if something happens onboard and you need to abandon ship?”

Elly shrugged like it was a stupid question.

“We die.”

There was a pause.

“She’s succinct,” Solar said, leaning close to Wheein. “I like her.”

“Does your offer to pay for repairs still stand?” Moonbyul snorted, her mood having improved considerably now that her stomach was full of warm food. “You won’t be able to distinguish the damage you did from the crap that was already wrong with it.”

Solji’s smile was soft.

“I intend to pay to get your ship back up and running,” she said. “My father always taught me to be true to my word and make good on my promises. We made a mistake and we’ll fix it.”

“Not just by fixing our ship you won’t,” Elly said, dabbing at the corner of with the red cloth napkin she’d been giving.

“I don’t follow,” Solji said.

“Like I said before, repairs will take too long. It’ll completely knock us out of the race to find Jiyong and that is unacceptable. We need the money and we need it too badly to be sidelined for months while the rest of the ‘verse is making progress. That just isn’t fair. We shouldn’t be disqualified just because your co-pilot can’t see through shadows.”

Sooyoung raised her hand.

“I resent that,” she said.

Elly looked to her for just a second.

“Noted,” she said and then took another sip and continued. “My point is, Captain Solji, that just fixing our ship isn’t repaying what you owe. If it wasn’t for this little accident, we would be back in the sky and on our way to our next stop right now.”

That was only halfway true. They’d probably be in the sky but Elly had no idea where they would’ve gone next. They’d come up empty on Cheoeum and they had no clear next step but goddamn it, they should’ve been confused and lost in their own ship. It was the principle of the thing.

“Okay,” Solji said, leaning forward so that her elbows were on the table and she could join her hands together at her fingertips. “I hear you.” Her eyes were narrowed in earnest contemplation. This was a much more reasonable side of Elly. Maybe the food had helped clear through the haze of her shock. And at least she wasn’t screaming anymore. “How do you propose that we handled this?”

“I’m so glad you asked, Solji,” Elly said with a dark grin. “I do agree that you should pay to fix our ship.”

“Fair is fair,” Solji interjected, almost amused. Elly was feisty and quick-witted. She could certainly go tit-for-tat in a verbal dispute, something that Solji appreciated and respected. Solji wasn’t one who shied away from conflict and a little confrontation now and again was healthy outlet.

“But there’s no way that we’re sitting in some roach-infested motel while you’re out and about looking for Jiyong and winning millions of dollars,” she said. “That’s just not fair.”

Solji leaned forward, suddenly starting to catch on to where Elly was going.

“You’re not suggesting–”

“The only reasonable choice,” Elly continued, cutting Solji off, “is that we team up. The only thing that makes sense is if the Pandora joins the Unity and we work together to find Jiyong.”

The table erupted in a surprisingly quiet explosion of questions, comments and protests from both sides. The only person not fruitlessly interjecting their two cents was Hyerin, and that was because she recognized that this was a conversation between two captains. As much as they loved and respected their crews, it didn’t really matter what anyone else thought.

They were going to make this decision.

“And split the money?” Solji asked over the commotion.

“Fifty-fifty,” Elly nodded. “Fifty-million is almost as good as a hundred-million anyway.” The frantic, hushed debate had already died down, everyone shooting each other frenzied, confused glances across the long table. “And, of course, you still have to pay for my ship. Fair is fair.”

Solji smiled. Maybe she’d like this girl after all.

“Okay,” she said, much to the shock of every other person in the room. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

The whispering returned, quieter this time but somehow harsher and more aggressive, and Hyerin leaned back in her chair.

“Solji,” she said, her hand on her wife’s arm. “Sweetie, can I have a word?”

Solji nodded but when she stood, she gestured for Yuri to follow them.

“Yoona,” she said before turning to leave the room, “if you have dessert, now would be the time to serve it.”

Yoona lit up like she’d been waiting to hear those words all day.

“I hope you guys like chocolate cake,” she said brightly.

In the corridor, far enough away that their words wouldn’t carry to the galley, Hyerin stared up at her wife like she wasn’t entirely sure the last forty-five minutes had really happened.

Yuri’s presence was the only thing keeping Hyerin from launching into an expletive-laced spiel about why this was a bad idea. In front of the crew, in front of the kids, they had to be united. Always. Hyerin would never question Solji’s judgment in front of the team. It just wasn’t how it worked. When Hyerin voiced her opinions, it was as Solji’s wife, not as the Unity’s doctor.

Solji read her mind.

“Yuri doesn’t care,” she insisted and Hyerin thought her expression was too light for the situation. These circumstances called for something much more serious. “Say what you’re thinking.”

“Is this a good idea?” she asked, pulling back the intensity she was feeling. She’d save her real feelings for the next time they were behind closed doors. “We don’t even know these people.”

“I had Yuri run background checks while we were eating,” Solji said, nodding her chin to the tablet Yuri had suddenly produced from inside her jacket. “What’d you find out?”

“Boring stuff,” she said. “Where they went to school, what their parents do for a living, where they refuel. Moonbyul and Sunny don’t have records but Elly was arrested once a few years ago for something minor.”

“What was the charge?” Solji asked.

Yuri shrugged.

“It’ll take me a little longer to get her records but she isn’t flagged and she didn’t serve any time in prison so it wasn’t anything important.”

Solji turned back to Hyerin with a gesture that seemed to suggest that all of Hyerin’s worries should have dissipated with that knowledge.

“Solji, we can’t just adopt three strangers.”

“We don’t really have much of a choice,” she said. “The truth of the matter is Sooyoung ed up. If Elly really wanted to, she could sue us. She could get us tied up with legal for the next six months and then what? How would we find Jiyong if we were stuck on Jeongbu, spending all of our time in court?”

“Elly doesn’t have the money to hire a lawyer,” Yuri said. She waved the tablet, indicating something on-screen. “Financial records. That ship hemorrhages money. Sooyoung might’ve done them a favor.”

“Hyerin, we have more than enough room and more than enough money to take on three new crew members.”

“Moonbyul is an engineer and Sunny is a tech analyst,” Yuri said. “You can never have enough hands on deck. Extra help means a more efficient ship and a more efficient ship means we find Jiyong and cash in.”

“And make half of what we wanted,” Hyerin said.

Solji smiled.

“Sooyoung can live without heated floors for another year,” she said. “Elly’s crew did get here before us. Clearly they’ve got intel just as good as ours. And who knows how beneficial three pairs of fresh eyes could be!” Because Hyerin was pouting just slightly, Solji gave her a nudge and flashed her the smile that always got her out of trouble. “I know what I’m doing here.”

“Do you?” Hyerin countered. She knew she was being unnecessarily belligerent but she hadn’t been sure about this whole Jiyong thing to begin with. Then to take three strangers into their ship, into their home? She had to draw the line somewhere. She couldn’t stay quiet forever.

Still smiling as though she hadn’t a care in the world, Solji looked to Yuri and nodded back towards the kitchen.

“Keep digging,” she said, “and go get some cake.”

“Aye-aye, Captain,” Yuri said before disappearing down the hall and through the double doors that led to the galley.

“What happens if they’re dangerous?” Hyerin continued. “What if they’re plotting to murder us and take our nice, big luxury ship with working missiles and four escape pods?”

Having already deciding that she’d won the argument, Solji rested her hands softly on Hyerin’s hips and pushed her back up against the clean, white wall.

“Well, then, we throw them in space jail.”

Hyerin frowned. She was still pissed at Solji her captain but when Solji her wife was holding her like this, it was hard to feel anything but butterflies. And it was hard to look anywhere but her lips.

“We don’t have space jail,” she said.

Solji bit the inside of her cheek.

“We’ll turn Sooyoung’s room into space jail,” she said. “We’ll make her sleep in the gym. This is all her fault anyway.” Hyerin’s smirk was faint and begrudging but Solji kissed her anyway. “I saw that smile. You can never stay mad at me.” For the first time in their conversation, Solji’s tone turned serious. “Listen, I know this is a leap of faith but I need you to trust me, okay? I know it’s a lot but I’ve got a plan. It’ll all work out. Just trust me.”

Hyerin huffed and puffed and rolled her eyes but said, “I always trust you.” Despite her apprehension and all the holes she wanted to poke in this so-called plan, she just reached up and gently touched Solji’s cheek. “Just do me a favor and try not to get us killed.”

“Always the goal, sunshine,” Solji said and she punctuated it with a kiss to Hyerin’s lips. Then a kiss to her jaw. Then to her neck. Then to collarbone.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Hyerin said. “This is how we got into this mess.”

Solji snorted.

“Sooyoung probably would’ve crashed even if we were upstairs in the lab reading the Bible,” she teased. “But you’re right. We should probably get back in there and figure this thing out.” She took a deep breath and tried to get herself back into stoic captain mode.

She held out her hand and looked at Hyerin expectantly. In spite of everything, Hyerin didn’t hesitate.

They walked back into the galley with their fingers locked.

“Why don’t you girls go back to your ship,” Solji began, “and collect your things?”

“What’s left of our things, you mean,” Elly muttered.

Solji nodded.

“Gather what you can. I’m sure we can find you anything you’re missing.” She looked to Sooyoung. “Arrange for a tow so the Pandora can get back to Geum Haneul and repairs can start as soon as possible. When you’re all settled in, Moonbyul, Solar will show you to the engine room. You two can get acquainted.”

Moonbyul shot Solar a glance across the table and Sunny noticed the way Solar smiled, blushed and looked away.

“Oh, Jesus,” Sunny breathed to herself. “Here we go.”

“And Yuri, I trust you’ll take Sunny under your wing and introduce her to our computer systems.”

Yuri nodded and gave Sunny a salute.

“Good,” Solji said. She squeezed Hyerin’s hand. “Go get your stuff and I’ll show you each to your new rooms.”