Author's note: I'm so sorry that this chapter took forever to write/post and I'm so sorry that it's so long. From here on out, I promise I'll do better.

Kim Hyoyeon didn’t like being told what to do and she wasn’t the type of person who ever let anything get in her way.

She hadn’t let her parent’s disapproval stop her from leaving Korea and going to space. She hadn’t let her sub-par grades in high school and college get in the way of her dreams of becoming a successful tech-analyst who traveled the universe. She didn’t let any Cosmos laws, customs or traditions interfere with her unique brand of personal freedom. She didn’t let anyone’s expectations or preconceived notions affect the type of person she was. She didn’t even let the fact that she didn’t have a pilot’s license stop her from flying the Juggernaut.

It wasn’t all that hard anyway.

The ship was so high-tech that it basically flew itself and after a few crash-courses with Hyuna (all of which were focused, of course, on how not to crash), Hyoyeon was more than confident behind the wheel of the fancy ship.

Most of the time, Hyoyeon only flew if Hyuna needed a break. Hyuna was a talented pilot and she handled all of the long, complicated flights. But since they were only a two-woman crew, and since Hyuna couldn’t possibly stay awake forever, she’d taught Hyoyeon how to handle things.

Hyuna was asleep now, snoring away in her notoriously messy bunk while Hyoyeon floated patiently just outside of Jeongbu’s orbit. She had always been known as a woman with a plan and if they did end up landing on Jeongbu and a bunch of stuffy Cosmos officials wanted to know what the their ship had been doing hovering for so long, she’d turn on the waterworks and tell them that they’d been having engine trouble.

There had been a slight change in their original plans and Hyoyeon needed to confer with Hyuna before making any decisions. But she wasn’t about to bust in and wake her friend. It wasn’t an emergency emergency and nothing would be severely impacted one way or the other if she were to wait a few hours.

Besides, Hyuna needed her sleep.

Unfortunately (or very fortunately depending on who you asked), Hyuna’s instincts transcended her own consciousness. She stepped into the cockpit, her hair a mess, Minnie Mouse pajama pants still hanging low on her hips, and said, “Why haven’t we landed?”

Hyoyeon looked over her shoulders, relieved to have backup but upset that Hyuna hadn’t gotten a full cycle of rest yet again. One of these days, she was bound to burn herself out, and then where would they be?

“Bit of a snag in the plans,” Hyoyeon said after a beat. “You know that file we’re after?”

Hyuna raised an eyebrow, deep lines of worry settling themselves on her forehead.

“What about it?” she asked reluctantly.

“Someone already snatched it.”

Hyuna’s face felt hot and she wondered if the flush of her cheeks was visible to Hyoyeon. She hoped not. She liked to keep up certain appearances around her friend. Her father always said that a captain had to remain stoic. Even if the ship was going down, they needed to look cool and collected.

“Who?” she asked. “When?”

“Don’t know who,” Hyoyeon said, her tone casual as though she was telling Hyuna the results of a basketball game. The pilot’s seat swiveled and she used her feet and hips to swing herself back and forth as she spoke, her arms folded comfortably behind her head. “When? Yesterday, I think. I’d say we just missed it. And before you ask how I know for sure, Luhan called me while you were asleep. That little dude knows everything.”

“No ,” Hyuna said before sinking heavily into the seat opposite of Hyoyeon’s. “How did anyone outside of Jeongbu even know it existed?”

Hyoyeon rolled her eyes.

“Stupid question. The leak in the Cosmos doesn’t just drip on us, Hyuna. Taeyong has loose lips.”

Hyuna grunted.

With his big features, sharp chin and platinum blonde hair, Taeyong looked more like a cartoon character than a real person. Hyuna knew him way back when and she still had no idea how a kid that jittery and unreliable ever got a job at the Cosmos with mid-level security clearance. Generally, though, intergalactic screw-ups like this worked in Hyuna’s favor.

In this case, she and Hyoyeon intended to bribe him for a paper file that held information they needed to help them find Jiyong. Truthfully, Hyuna hadn’t even considered the possibility that other people knew about the file – or about Taeyong – and planned to do the same thing.

Who else would’ve known the source of the Cosmos leak? Who else had the know-how to find out about a tangible, off-line file? Who else could’ve connected those dots and gotten to Jeongbu before Hyoyeon and Hyuna did? Who else would have–?

The realization hit Hyuna like an asteroid.

“Kim ing Heechul,” she said bitterly and Hyoyeon cocked her head to the side.

“You think he’s behind this?” she asked, slowly beginning to understand the rare look of cold panic on Hyuna’s pretty face.

“Who else has the means the resources to get to Taeyong?”

Hyoyeon considered this.

“Fair enough,” she decided. “So what do we do now?”

Hyuna leaned back in her chair, her feet coming to rest on the dashboard and the fingers of both hands coming to form a pyramid over her stomach.

“Take us down.” She said, eyeing the blue-grey planet of Jeongbu on the monitor. “I think it’s time we pay that squirrely bastard Taeyong a friendly visit.”

While they waited in the bushes outside of Taeyong’s apartment building, all Hyuna could think about was Luhan.

If he hadn’t helped wipe her family records from the ‘verse net and change her name, she’d never, ever be allowed on Jeongbu without an invitation. If she’d gotten arrested or needed to serve jury duty, maybe. But otherwise? With all that her father had done? With the reputation that would have preceded her? With the Cosmos’ infamous paranoia? She wouldn’t even be able to get close Jeongbu without sheriffs tailing her.

Before the girls even made it into Jeongbu’s orbit, their ship would be intercepted by pissed off patrolmen who wanted to know just what the hell she was doing near the galaxy’s capital.

But with her new name, her new personal ID and her new squeaky-clean record, she could come and go as she pleased, even if that meant paying a casual visit to Jeongbu to shake down a paper-pusher.

Next time she was on Geum Haneul, she’d have to buy Luhan a beer.

“As soon as all these downstairs lights are off,” Hyuna said, gesturing to a bottom row of well-lit windows, “we’ll make a break for it.”

As they’d just discussed it at-length an hour before, Hyoyeon knew the plan and, therefore, didn’t need reminding but Hyuna hated silence and always felt the need to break it somehow. Hyoyeon had always found that quirk to be strangely endearing.

“We’re not going to, like, kill him, are we?” Hyoyeon asked.

Hyuna shrugged.

“Probably not,” she said, blowing the hair out of her eyes, “but you should never say never, unnie.”

It wouldn’t be hard to get inside. Because Jeongbu was so heavily guarded by sheriffs and military personnel, a lot of homeowners (or, in this case, apartment-renters) dropped the ball on their own personal security. There were no surveillance cameras, no special locks on the doors, not even any motion-detection lights that would illuminate them when they stepped onto the path.

Hyuna had a crowbar in her backpack. All she’d have to do was wait until the rest of the tenants were asleep, walk up to Taeyong’s door and bust it open. As long as she kept it relatively quiet, they’d be in the clear.

It was after midnight. They were crouched in the courtyard of the Wang Jog apartment complex, perched patiently behind a shrub that hid them from view. With peeling paint and leaking gutters, it wasn’t one of the nicer complexes on Jeongbu. Hyuna figured these apartments housed the lower-level employees. Taeyong had decent enough security clearance (Hyuna was still breaking her brain trying to figure that one out) but he wasn’t a wildly important cog in the Cosmos machine. He probably didn’t make a whole lot of money (which was also probably why he was so willing to trade government secrets for cash-cards) and these crappy condos were the best he could do.

“Everyone’s asleep but Taeyong,” Hyoyeon said when all of the other apartments had gone dark.

“Work in the morning,” Hyuna said, her fingers idly tearing up a limp, brown leaf while they waited in the dirt.

In the back of her mind, she was still considering the fact that her new identity was the only reason she was on Jeongbu. It was hilariously ironic, the way they’d been so easily waved through Jeongbu’s landing port. They said they were visiting a family friend and parked the Juggernaut in a forty-eight-hour hangar. For some reason, the ridiculousness of it all was sticking to her mind like used chewing gum.

“Are we waiting for Taeyong to go to bed?” Hyoyeon asked.

Hyuna shook her head.

“As long as his neighbors are down, we’re fine.”

Hyoyeon nodded, standing up so that she could dust off her pants and stretch out her legs. She offered her hand to Hyuna and pulled her to her feet.

“Let’s get after it, then,” Hyoyeon said, gesturing to the second-story window that still glowed with soft, yellow light. “I’m hungry.”

As they made their way up the creaking, squeaking courtyard steps, Hyuna slipped the crowbar out of her bag. Politely, she offered it to Hyoyeon first.

“Care to do the honors?”

Hyoyeon shook her head.

“You’re the designated door-breaker, kitten,” Hyoyeon mused.

Taeyong was in apartment 2H. With the crowbar, it took Hyuna all of two seconds to bypass the lock, sending the door into the wall behind it with a small crash.

The apartment was just as slight as Hyuna expected. Taeyong was standing in the kitchen, clad in a black t-shirt and chili peppers boxer shorts, holding a bowl of cereal. When he saw the girls bust in, each of them looking about as friendly as a rabid dog, he dropped the bowl and stumbled away from the door.

“Hyuna!” he greeted hastily, taking large, fumbling steps backwards. “Hyoyeon! Hi. Hello. Okay! Wow. Uh, so you’re probably pissed, right?”

Because they hadn’t actually broken the door down this time, Hyoyeon shut it behind them. It wouldn’t do them any good if Taeyong’s boyish ing and whining woke the neighbors.

“You gave our file away, Taeyong,” Hyuna said. She dropped her backpack near the door and took long strides towards Taeyong, the crowbar still in her hand. Realistically, if she wanted to bust him up a little, she’d just use her fists but Taeyong didn’t need to know that. The rusted piece of metal gave her even more power than she already had, and Hyuna believed that one could never have too much power. “You knew we needed it, knew we were coming, knew we intended to pay you for it and you gave it away.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, raising his hands defensively. It hadn’t taken very much for them to intimidate him but Hyuna figured that that was a good thing. If anything, it would save them some time. “I’m very, very sorry. Something came up.”

“You mean someone named Kim Heechul offered you more money than we did,” Hyoyeon said, joining the conversation and stepping over Hyuna’s bag so that she, too, could advance on Taeyong. “You saw all that green and you decided to screw us.”

His silver-blonde hair was a mess and there were bleach stains on his t-shirt, probably a laundry mishap. Hyuna hadn’t seen Taeyong in two years but somehow, he looked younger than she remembered. For a second, she couldn’t believe he was old enough to work for the Cosmos. He certainly didn’t look like a government employee.

“I-I-I didn’t mean to screw anyone,” he said, stammering as he stepped backwards into the living room. “Heechul is a very scary man and I just–”

“Oh, honey, you don’t even know scary yet,” Hyoyeon said and no sooner had the words left than Taeyong took one step too far and tumbled -first over his own coffee table. He stared up at them, eyes wide, skin pale, and Hyuna shook her head.

“We’re not even going to need to slap him around,” she said, resting one hand on her forehead and the other hand on her hip. This kid was pathetic. All they’d done was walk towards him and he was already tripping and sweating, looking like he was about to wet himself right there on the floor. “He’s going to tell us everything we want to know.”

Hyoyeon shot Hyuna a look and then shook her head.

“I spent the last two hours hiding in a bush because of this ,” she said, closing the gap between her and the coffee table. “I want one shot at him.”

Taeyong looked up at Hyuna, his eyes pleading for mercy in hopes that she’d call off her goon, but Hyuna just nodded.

“As is your right, unnie,” she said quietly. “Do as you wish.”

Smiling, Hyoyeon leaned down, reached over the table, grabbed Taeyong by the front of his t-shirt and pulled him up just long enough to slap him across the face. He made a noise of surprise and then she let him go, dropping him back onto his .

“Proceed,” Hyoyeon said, satisfied.

“Tell us who you gave the file to,” Hyuna began sternly, “or I’m going to step outside and let Hyoyeon go full-fledged crazy on your skinny, skinny .”

Taeyong swallowed hard, gently touching the red mark forming on her cheek.

“Her name was Taeyeon,” he said slowly. “Kim Taeyeon. I think the ship was called the Flea or the Termite or something like that. She was very tiny and she had long, blonde hair. I swear I know nothing else about her.”

Hyuna and Hyoyeon exchanged curious glances.

“You didn’t give the file to Heechul?” Hyuna asked.

Taeyong shook his head, peeling himself off the floor so that he could take a seat on the low, patchy couch just behind him.

“Heechul called me a few days ago. I don’t know how he knew about the file but he offered me double what you did and told me that I’d deliver the file to a petite blonde girl at a café downtown.”

“You think Heechul’s outsourcing?” Hyoyeon asked.

Mulling it over, Hyuna set the crowbar down, crouching so that she was eye-level with Taeyong.

“What was inside that file?” she asked and when Taeyong began to protest, Hyoyeon took a step forward, effectively silencing him. “You’re really going to tell me you didn’t look inside?”

“Only to make sure the ID number was correct,” he swore, gesturing wildly with his hands. “I did not read the information inside. What good would that do? I made sure it was the right information and then I met the girl and got paid. That’s it. I couldn’t tell you even if I wanted to.” He glanced up at Hyoyeon. “And believe me, ladies, I really, really want to.”

Hyuna’s jaw was set tightly, her lips pressed into a thin line as she tried to contemplate their next move. Without that file, they were up a creek without a paddle. That information, whatever it was, was going to be the roadmap to their next stop. They needed it. Without it, they would fall behind in their tracking and lose Jiyong’s scent.

And that was unacceptable.

“Hyoyeon,” Hyuna said lowly, “can you bring me my bag please, unnie?” Hyoyeon nodded. “Taeyong, my twitchy, little friend, you have put us in a real pickle.”

“Noona, I already told you that I’m sorry,” he said and the honorific made Hyuna chuckle. “I didn’t mean–” Hyoyeon appeared back at Hyuna’s side and gave her the back and in an instant, Hyuna retrieved her favorite blaster from the front pocket. She didn’t miss the way Taeyong’s eyes widened impossibly further and he recoiled back into the couch cushions. “Oh, Jesus, I really don’t want to die in my lucky underwear.”

“You really need to give us a better answer than ‘I didn’t mean to screw you, noona,’ or you’re going to find yourself on the business-end of my friend Molly.” Smiling, Hyuna waved the blaster. “If you didn’t piece it together, this is my friend Molly.”

Taeyong swallowed hard, his hands gripping the cushions below him.

Hyoyeon cocked her head to the side.

“I’m going to slap him again,” she said, leaping forward.

“Okay, okay! Alright! Listen!” He was shielding his face with his hands but they wouldn’t do him any good against Hyoyeon or Molly. “There’s one more file.”

Hyuna raised an eyebrow.

“Another file?”

“Yes!” he admitted. “There’s a copy, okay? Files like that, the important hard-copy files, they tend to have duplicates. A lot of them are housed on this old, docked ship a few miles north of here. It’s a really just an ancient ship that was used in an old battle. It’s memorialized now, kind of like a museum. There’s a storage facility where the engine used to be. The file should be there.”

“Should?” Hyoyeon countered.

Taeyong nodded.

“The information isn’t anywhere online but they use the file IDs to voucher the hard-copies. I double-checked after Heechul called me. It should be on the ship. It’s called the Entity. I can give you directions.”

Hyuna her lips, returning the blaster and the crowbar to her bag before slipping the backpack over her shoulders. She stood up and looked Hyoyeon in the eye, a whole conversation passing between them in just one look. The silence made Taeyong rightfully nervous and Hyoyeon moved to the kitchen to grab a pen and pad.

“We will take the directions to the ship, Taeyong,” she said. Hyoyeon threw chucked the pen and paper at Taeyong’s chest. “And any other information you may have that will help us get that file.”

“It’s not going to be easy,” he said. “It’s a military ship. Even out of commission, it’s still guarded. You two thugs are going to stick out like a sore thumb.” Not liking being called a thug, Hyoyeon hurdled the coffee table and smacked him again. This time, Hyuna pulled her away before her friend could do any more damage.

While shoving a smirking Hyoyeon towards the door, Hyuna noticed something on the kitchen counter – the unmistakable outline of a cash-card underneath a dish rag.

She smiled as she yanked the towel away, relishing in the disappointed groan that came from the couch.

“Keep writing, kid,” she barked, palming the cash-card before handing it off to Hyoyeon.

“You’re not going to give me any, are you?” he asked. “Not even the money from our original deal?”

Pocketing the card, Hyoyeon snorted.

“That’s what you get,” Hyuna said, “for being such a goddamn scammer.”

“I’m getting real sick of hiding in shrubbery,” Hyoyeon said.

It was morning. After they’d left Taeyong’s, Hyuna sweet-talked a landing port employee into letting them sleep in the Juggernaut while it was still in the hangar instead of forcing them into a hotel. The less of a paper trail they left on Jeongbu, the better.

Now they were, once again, parked behind a bush, waiting. They were a few hundred feet from the Entity, far enough away and shrouded in enough shadows that random passersby wouldn’t glimpse them. Hyoyeon was sitting in the grass, eating one of the dozen power bars she’d thrown in Hyuna’s backpack before they’d left the ship. Hyuna wasn’t sure how long they’d be out there and Hyoyeon got mean when she got hungry. Hyuna was kneeling beside her, using her hands to hold open the bush so that she could watch the Entity with a keen eye.

She needed a plan and she didn’t have one.

The Entity was at least twice the size of the Juggernaut. There seemed to be three levels but since the engine room would’ve been on the bottom floor, Hyuna didn’t give much thought to the other two. They needed to get inside somehow and once they got in, they needed the freedom to roam. Hyoyeon’s research found that Taeyong was right – the Entity was a historical ship used in a great battle hundreds of years before and now it was something of a museum.  

But even if they could get inside under the ruse of being fascinated tourists or history students, they probably wouldn’t be given permission to wander freely. If the Entity didn’t have bona fide docents, they probably had low-ranking employees in charge of things like showing tourists around, especially if they had top-secret files lying around.

Hyuna wondered if they could split up somehow. Maybe if Hyoyeon could provide a big enough distraction, Hyuna could slip in the front door unnoticed. From there, perhaps she’d be able to sneak into a break room and steal someone’s clothes. She saw a lot of military uniforms and white lab coats. There was bound to be a spare outfit in her size that she could borrow.

She even considered the old cartoon trick of luring two people away, incapacitating them and stealing their clothes. It always worked in kids’ movies but she doubted things would work quite as smoothly here on Jeongbu.

“I have no idea how we’re getting inside,” Hyuna admitted finally, closing the gap in the hedge so that she could sit back down and face Hyoyeon. “Even if we got in, we wouldn’t be able to snoop. This place is crawling with soldiers and scientists. We are neither.” Hyoyeon yawned and Hyuna cocked her head to the side. “Am I boring you?”

Wiping the peanut butter crumbs from with the back of her hand, Hyoyeon rolled up her sleeve. On her right wrist was the fancy, high-tech smart-watch that she’d bought a year before at what she called a black market trade show. Hyoyeon had always been a talented hacker and programmer, and with this watch, she could do almost everything she could do on her computer when she was away from her office.

“You are not boring me,” she said, beginning to swipe her way to something Hyuna needed to see. When she found the correct screen, she peered up, admiring the way Hyuna stared back at her both blankly and expectantly. “Do you give up?”

“What?”

“Do you give up on thinking of ways to get inside?”

Hyuna paused but eventually said, “Yes, I give up. Tell me why you’re looking at me like you know all the galaxy’s secrets.”

Hyoyeon smirked.

“I’ve got a plan.”

Hyuna groaned the way she always did when she felt like Hyoyeon was playing her.

“And yet you let me sit here for two hours without mentioning it?” she complained. “Why?”

“Because my plan has a time limit,” she said. “Honestly, I was hoping you’d come up with something. This was really a last resort.” She angled her wrist so that Hyuna could see the screen but the younger girl had no idea what it was she was meant to be seeing. “I can temporarily reassign our fingerprints so that when they scan us at the front desk, we will be registered as military officers from Byeongsa.”

Hyuna perked up, surprised and impressed.

“Well then what the hell are we doing sitting here, unnie?” She moved to stand up but Hyoyeon grabbed her arm and yanked her right back down.

“Temporarily is a very important word in that sentence, kitten.” She swiped to another screen and Hyuna nodded like she understood what it was. “It’s just a smokescreen. It’s incredibly likely that this ship, as old as it is, is fit with some really impressive security software. It’ll only take twenty minutes for their programs to work through my code and determine that we’re not who we say we are.”

“Will they know who we actually are?” Hyuna asked.

Hyoyeon shook her head.

“No,” she said. “Not the way I’ve set it up. As long as we’re out of there before our time runs out, they might not even notice us at all. It’s complicated but we could get out of here completely undetected if we can move fast enough.”

Hyuna chewed her bottom lip as she mulled it over.

“Any chance you have a blueprint or something that tells us where the engine room is?”

Hyoyeon smirked.

“Way ahead of you, kid.” She swiped one last time and finally, Hyuna understood what she was looking at – security footage of the hallway that led to the storage facility in question.

“I know where it is,” she said. “We can get inside and we can get to the engine room. From there, it’s just a matter of doing it quickly and not getting caught.” Hyoyeon lowered her head slightly so that she could look Hyuna in the eyes. She could usually tell what her friend was thinking by the emotion that was burning in her dark eyes and now, she saw determination.

A sly smile pulling at her lips, Hyuna said, “Then let’s go do this, unnie.”

Hyuna’s watch was not an expensive piece of top-of-the-line space technology but it did keep pretty good time and so as soon as their fingerprints were in the system, Hyuna set a timer for twenty minutes.

It was plain to see that this was an old ship. Boasting narrow hallways, wooden doorframes and plaster walls with chips in the paint, the ship looked more like an old house than a spacecraft. Newer models – newer meaning within the last three or four hundred years – boasted Plexiglas and acrylic and combinations of elements that were proven to be endlessly strong.

It smelled stale, dusty. There were medals, plaques and framed photos on every wall, memorializing battles, generals and military achievements. Everything felt as old as it was. If they hadn’t needed to be so focused, Hyuna would have stopped and admired the décor. Her father had raised her with a profound respect and appreciation for the galaxy’s military.

But they were on a deadline.

Hyoyeon had hacked the Entity’s surveillance feed and was using her watch to determine which corridors were empty and which were not. The less people they encountered, the better. The more people that saw them, the bigger the chance that they’d be exposed for who and what they were.

The engine room was at the back of the ship. They passed several doors and Hyuna wondered in the back of her mind what each was. From the layout of the craft so far, she assumed they were mostly barracks.

“People in this next hallway,” Hyoyeon said quietly. “Act natural.”

Hyuna perked up.

“Wasn’t I already?”

When they turned the corner, they were met with two older men in dark green camouflage. One was bald and the other had grey hair and a salt-and-pepper beard.

“Morning, gentlemen,” Hyoyeon said, flashing her most charming smile.

Both men bowed their heads, the bald guy looking just a little awestruck as he passed by.

“That was natural?” Hyuna smirked.

Hyoyeon just shrugged.

“I’m very charming,” Hyoyeon said. “Naturally.” She looked back down at her watch and narrowed her eyes. “There’s a fork in the hallway up here. One side is closed for maintenance. It looks it’s being cleaned. The other will bring us past the cafeteria.”

“High-traffic area,” Hyuna noted.

“Lots of higher-ups, too,” Hyoyeon continued. “What’s the call, kitten?”

They approached the fork before Hyuna had given her orders.

Slapping a hand down on Hyoyeon’s shoulder, she said, “We’re going to have to get sneaky.”

The cafeteria was noisy. Hyuna assumed it was breakfast time. She could smell maple syrup and her stomach rumbled, a friendly reminder that she’d skipped her last two meals.

They were freestyling. On her watch, Hyoyeon could see a half-dozen decorated officers eating their pancakes at the table nearest to the open door. They just needed to make it past the cafeteria and down one more hallway and they’d be at the storage room. They’d figure out the rest when they got there.

Hyoyeon went first. She used that impressive charm to strike up a conversation with the first man who passed by, grabbing onto their arm and having them laughing within three steps. It seemed to easy and so natural that the men at the table near the door didn’t even look up. Hyoyeon patted the man on the shoulder and sent him on his merry way, shooting a challenging look at Hyuna before turning the corner.

Hyuna wasn’t half as charming as Hyoyeon and she looked at least twice as out of place. She wouldn’t be able to latch onto a kind stranger and she wasn’t cool and confident enough to just walk by without drawing attention to herself.

She was just about to double back and try her luck down the other hallway when she spotted a covered dessert cart.

Hyuna was suddenly very glad that Hyoyeon had already turned the corner because she wouldn’t want to see the look in her friend’s eyes as she took a deep breath and darted towards the cart with abandon. She only had a few seconds to pull this off. Dropping to a crouch, she grasped the sides of the cart and took off in an awkward, hasty crabwalk towards the corner.

With the dessert cart blocking her, the officers at the table couldn’t see her. When she actually got around the corner, though, she realized that someone did see – Hyoyeon.

Laughing, Hyoyeon grabbed Hyuna’s arm and pulled her hurriedly towards the storage room.

“The mighty Kim Hyuna,” she teased. “That was completely and utterly ridiculous.”

“Let’s just hurry,” she said, glancing down at her watch. “We only have fifteen minutes and eleven seconds before they bust our fine asses.”

The engine had been fully removed from the engine room, transforming it instantly into just a normal room – but room filled to the brim with old fashioned filing cabinets.

“Jesus H. Christ,” Hyoyeon said, stopping in the doorway. Hyuna actually had to push her friend aside to get through and when she did, she saw the reason for her hesitance. “Where the do we even begin?”

“Taeyong gave us the file ID number,” Hyuna said. “Are the cabinets labeled?”

Hyoyeon turned to the first cabinet on her left, a four-tier black cabinet with silver handles. She looked at the drawers first and then checked both sides and the back, her hands running smoothly across the metal.

“This one isn’t,” she declared. “Are the others?”

Hyuna could feel a headache forming behind her eyes.

“Only one way to find out,” she said bitterly.

It turned out that the cabinets were not labeled, at least not in any conventional way that Hyuna had been expecting. She’d really had her heart set on something clear and numeric, a sign that read Files 2500-3000 taped to the front of a drawer. But no such luck.

If they were arranged somehow, it wasn’t anything visible to an outsider. Hyuna figured that made sense. It was a security measure, a way to confuse and deter crooks and unwanted visitors. This wasn’t an insurance company with an alphabetized filing system for employee personal files – these were government secrets that needed protecting.

As clever as it was to have them hidden away on a historical ship, they needed another line of defense.

But these people hadn’t been counting on the combined powers of Kim Hyuna and Kim Hyoyeon.

The cabinets were not arranged numerically but they did house files sequentially. So while the cabinet with numbers 2500 through 3000 was not next to the cabinet that held 3001 through 3500, the files inside were actually in order rather than completely randomized.

It wasn’t the most impressive system but it sure was slowing them down. Hyuna and Hyoyeon were looking for file number 8125. Hyuna estimated that was somewhere between ten and fifteen thousand files in the engine room and so the girls got down to business, each taking a side of the of the room and pulling open drawers, hoping to see something starting with the number 81.

They moved as fast as their hands and eyes would let them, desperately wanting to get what they came for and get the hell off of Jeongbu. Hyuna was very, very aware of the time limit. She felt like she was being jolted with electricity with every second that ticked away on her wrist. She didn’t know what exactly would happen when they ran out of time (and she didn’t think that it would happen at exactly twenty minutes, either, and she wondered if it would all hit the fan at seventeen minutes or twenty-two minutes) but she didn’t really want to find out.

“What numbers do you have over there?” Hyuna shouted over the rustling of papers and the creak of rusty metal.

“How the did I end up back in the threes?” Hyoyeon said miserably, ignoring Hyuna’s question but still managing to answer it. “This system is nonsensical.”

“Hang in there, unnie,” Hyuna said. She risked a look at her watch and actually gasped. “Okay, we’re down to five minutes.”

This time, Hyoyeon looked up.

“I hate to be dramatic,” she said, slamming the drawer on the cabinet full of threes, “but I hope you’re ready to fight your way out of here.”

In spite of the way she was sweating through her tank top, Hyuna smirked.

“You know I’m always ready for that,” she said.

They had just reached the two-minute mark when Hyoyeon slammed her fist down against the top of a beige filing cabinet with rust splotches.

“Son of a ing Berm,” she said. “I’ve got it.”

“Sweet merciful Christ,” Hyuna said, abandoning her side of the room to rush to Hyoyeon’s side. The older girl read all of the file numbers out-loud, one at a time, until she found 8125 and Hyuna had to stifle a squeal of joy.

It was just a manila folder in a dusty cabinet but it looked more like a bar of gold to Hyuna’s tired eyes.

“Is this the right information?” Hyoyeon asked, holding the folder open like a treasure chest. Hyuna shrugged. She genuinely had no idea what they were looking for and they didn’t have a lot of time to sit around and find out.

“I haven’t a clue,” she said, slipping her backpack off of her shoulders. “Do the file numbers match on every page?” Hyoyeon flipped through all of the sheets and nodded. “Then throw it in my bag and let’s get the  out of here, unnie.” Having thought ahead the way she always did, Hyuna pulled a replacement file from her backpack and slipped it into the slot that once held file number 8125. It wasn’t much of a countermeasure but at least this way, if someone were casually browsing this cabinet, they wouldn’t notice that one was missing.

“How much time do we have?” Hyoyeon asked. “Enough to make it out of here?”

Hyuna bit the inside of her cheek.

“How fast can you run?” she asked.

They only made it three feet out of the engine room when an announcement came crackling over the intercom, a monotone voice caked with authority.

“General Choi and General Scott, please report to the first-floor clearance office. Level-orange security breach, grade-two protocol initiated.”

Hyuna stopped so quickly that her sneakers squeaked on the linoleum.

“Any idea what a grade-two protocol might entail?” she asked over her shoulder.

“We should probably start running,” Hyoyeon said.

And run they did.

This time, when they reached the fork in the two hallways, they took the one that didn’t take them past the cafeteria. Maybe it was still being cleaned. Maybe the floors would be wet. Maybe they’d have to knock over a janitor. But Hyuna figured not running by a room full of military personnel during a level-orange security breach would significantly decrease their chances of getting shot, and that seemed well worth the risk.

“You are lagging,” Hyuna said, pumping her arms as she jogged smoothly around a corner. “I’ll never leave a man behind but why are you lagging?” Hyoyeon was focusing more on her watch than on where she was going and Hyuna found herself reaching back to pull her to the side of the hall so that she didn’t run headfirst into an open door. “Unnie!”

Hyoyeon glanced up from her wrist just long enough to say, “They’re coming.”

Hyuna didn’t have time to register that. Hyoyeon had been watching the security feed, tracking their route and trying to determine the safest place to run. Two strong-looking men dressed in desert camouflage and armed with bo staffs were coming around the next bend and heading right towards them.

Staffs were better than blasters but Hyoyeon still wasn’t entirely ready for a fight.

Looking back at her watch, Hyoyeon reached ahead and grabbed Hyuna’s wrist, forcefully yanking her friend inside the nearest open room. That turned out to be a janitor’s closet. Hyoyeon must’ve read the map wrong because she’d been expecting the boiler room. Nevertheless, they had a few seconds to figure out what the hell they were doing next and that was a blessing.

“Do you, by chance, have any weapons on you?” Hyoyeon asked and Hyuna shook her head.

“I knew they had metal detectors,” she said. “Any blasters or blades would’ve tipped them off. I was lucky to get my bag in here.”

Flustered, Hyoyeon looked around. It was a standard, run-of-the-mill supply closet – a bunch of bleach bottles, some signs about wet floors, a dust pan, a broom.

The janitor must’ve taken his cart with him to clean another hallway, but Hyoyeon didn’t have time to think about that.

“We’re gonna have to get creative, kitten,” she said. Before Hyuna had a chance to ask what that meant, Hyoyeon grabbed the broom, ripped off the head, tossed it aside and broke the handle over her knee. She tossed one of the jagged pieces to Hyuna who caught it with a smirk on her face. “Do you remember the Yin-Yang formation?”

Hyuna snorted.

“Baby girl, I taught you the Yin-Yang formation.”

“Good,” Hyoyeon said. “Because that’s the only way we’re making it out of here without answering some uncomfortable questions about our intentions.”

They clanked their makeshift staffs together in a display of teamwork and ambition and then they threw open the door.

Hyoyeon remembered the names they’d heard over the loudspeaker – Generals Choi and Scott. She assumed the Asian man who threw the first punch was probably General Choi. Hyuna deflected it away with her half of the broomstick and dove backwards, landing steadily on both feet and assuming the position.

Hyuna was a better fighter than Hyoyeon but Hyoyeon had always been a fast learner. Early in their partnership, Hyuna had put Hyoyeon through all sorts of weapons and combat training so that she could protect herself out in the ‘verse. It had come in handy time and time again, Hyoyeon always proving herself.

Now, years later, Hyoyeon was well-versed in the art of fighting, though she couldn’t get anywhere close to Hyuna’s level. But that was the beauty of the Yin-Yang formation – it was meant to bring two very different fighters together to improve their power and accuracy by combining their skills.

They stood back-to-back, their right hands clenched into twin fists, extended in front of them. They held their portion of the broom in their left hand, close to their body and ready to strike. With only about two feet to work with, the impromptu broomstick weapons felt more like tonfa than any kind of staff but it would have to do.

They didn’t need to defeat an army. They just needed to get off the Entity.

General Choi took another swing with the staff and blocked it with the broom, ducking so that he was forced to follow her and throw off his center of balance. While he was leaning forward, she went for his knees, planting the sole of her boot firmly between his shin and thigh and sending his left leg out from under him.

Hyoyeon had her hands full with General Scott who seemed to be a lot quicker on his feet than his friend. His lunges were smoother, cleaner. He whacked at Hyoyeon’s sides with his staff, trying to knock the wind out of her lungs. But when he leaned back too far, cocking the staff so that he could bring it down on her forehead and stun her, Hyoyeon took a page from Hyuna’s playbook and swept his legs.

She dropped her broomstick, dropped down into a split and propped herself up on both hands so that she could employ an old school breakdancing move, swinging her legs and taking him out at the ankles. It was sloppy and unprofessional but it worked and General Scott ended up on his back.

Behind them, Hyuna had brought her fight with General Choi to the ground. They were wrestling, sparring. He was bigger but she was faster and smarter. She ended up on top of him, both of their weapons having clattered to the linoleum below, and when he brought his legs up to try and get her in a triangle choke, she elbowed him dead in the nose.

Hyoyeon wasn’t a doctor and, therefore, didn’t know if she’d broken his nose but from the gushing blood and the muffled crack, she figured it was a strong possibility. With incredible grace, Hyuna planted her hands on either side of his body and front-flipped over him, landing on one knee and sprawling to her feet. Without a moment’s hesitation, she snatched up his staff and took a cutting slice in Hyoyeon’s direction.

Hyoyeon gasped but realized instantly that Hyuna was aiming for General Scott who, in her hesitance, had gotten back to his feet and was getting ready to charge behind her. As soon as the bow struck his face, he was down for the count and Hyuna tossed the bow to the ground, no longer seeing any use for it.

Only sixty seconds had passed but now, both generals were on the ground, one of them was bleeding, and the girls were back on the run.

They weren’t jogging anymore – they were sprinting. It undoubtedly looked suspicious to anyone watching but they didn’t give a . They just had to get out the door.

Hyoyeon couldn’t hear any aggressive footsteps behind them but that didn’t mean they weren’t being chased. They just had to make it to the goddamn front door and the rest would be a cake walk. Once they were outside, once they had gotten out of this unfamiliar, enclosed space, they would be golden. They could hoof it back to the hangar and then they could get off of Jeongbu.

So far, Hyoyeon was really not a big fan of Jeongbu.

She recognized the trophy case coming up on their right. They were close. They were rapidly approaching the lobby.

“Slow down,” she huffed and Hyuna looked back at her like she’d just suggested they light themselves on fire. “Just trust me!”

Nodding once, Hyuna complied. By the time they reached the final corner that would lead them into the lobby, they’d slowed to a casual walk.

“Did you girls find everything okay?” the young woman behind the desk asked when she recognized them from check-in.

“Yeah, definitely,” Hyoyeon agreed. “And, hey, I don’t want to cause any trouble but I saw these two guys just kind of loitering by the offices. They were wearing heavy jackets and baseball caps. They’re probably harmless but I heard the announcement about the security breach and I just wanted to make sure they were on the up-and-up.” She flashed a beautiful smile and Hyuna had to fight a laugh.

The young girl looked troubled but said, “I’m sure it’s nothing but we’ll look into it. Thank you! Come back and visit us soon.”

As soon as they were outside, they bolted like their asses were on fire.

“You’re right,” Hyuna wheezed as they put distance between themselves and the Entity. “You are really charming.” If she wasn’t so focused on running, Hyoyeon would’ve smiled. “And was that a breakdance move I saw earlier?”

Hyoyeon’s laugh was something of a choke and a chuckle.

“I knew all those dance lessons would pay off someday,” she said. “Now stop talking and run.”

Although they were sweating profusely and gasping like out-of-shape kids in gym class, they didn’t have any trouble getting off of Jeongbu.

They retrieved their ship, thanked the attendants, gave them a huge tip (courtesy of Taeyong’s cash card) and got themselves off the planet before any kind of hit any kind of fan.

As soon as they were out of Jeongbu’s orbit and barreling safely to the other side of the galaxy, they both breathed an enormous sigh of relief.

“Kitten,” Hyoyeon said, reaching over to offer Hyuna a friendly fist-bump, “we are still damn good.”

Hyuna giggled. She was in the driver’s seat, combing through the contents of the file with sharp, focused eyes. They’d gone through a lot more than they’d bargained for to get this folder and Hyuna really hoped that it would be worth it.

“Baby girl,” she said, smiling a little when she felt the air conditioning kick on, “I’ve got a whole long list of people that you’re going to need to look into.”

Hyoyeon saluted.

“My specialty,” she said. “Who?”

“According to this,” Hyuna said, turning a page, “Kang Daesung is a person of interest. I’d start there.”

“You got it, boss,” she said, hopping out of her seat with the intention of retreating into her office to get to work. “I’ll have something for you by dinnertime.”

“But before you do that,” Hyuna said, turning in her seat, “I need you to get me absolutely everything you can on this blonde woman named Kim Taeyeon.” Knowingly, Hyoyeon smiled. She should’ve seen that request coming. As soon as Taeyong had mentioned her name, Hyoyeon made a mental note to run an extensive scan when they got back to the ship. “If she’s working for Heechul, I want to know her inside and out. I want to know who she is, what she does and how Heechul found her. I want to know exactly what she’s doing. If she blows her nose, I want to know about it.”

Dramatically, and because she felt her friend deserved all the respect in the world for the skills she displayed on a daily basis, Hyoyeon bowed.

“Give me an hour,” she said, “and I’ll tell you exactly where to find this Kim Taeyeon.”