The Concertina was a small ship; a little worn around the edges and with more than a few patches on the hull. It operated with a 6 man crew and specialised in "risky” salvage operations. There were three decks in total, the top deck housed the bridge and navigation. An annex to that was the gunner perch, set slightly above in a call back to vintage spacecraft. The mid deck housed the crew in their quarters, the galley and the infirmary. Below that was the engine room and the cargo bay. A series of discrete tunnels ran between the crew quarters, the cargo bay and the engine room. They appeared to be ventilation shafts (and really they were) but the crew used them more often as stash holes or quick access tunnels.

The crew were a strange collection of men. They were commanded by Captain Bang Minsu, a quiet man who seemed to be slightly puzzled by his leadership. The rest called him Cap for short, striking a balance of friendship and fierce respect for his orders. The second in command and second pilot was callsign: L.Joe. He was more than likely ex-military but no one really knew for sure. Not even Cap. He kept the crew in line with his brooding tendencies and sincere empathy. Only one person on the ship called him anything but his callsign. Chunji, the resident doctor. He was like medicine himself, always cheerful and bright. He kept the infirmary in order and was cool under the pressure of a mission turning sour. More often than not he ran the kitchen as well.

The main pilot and navigator was Niel; overly emotional and rather vocal, he piloted the Concertina as though it was his own beloved. He could fly better than most men could walk and his navigation skills were genius level. When he had first come aboard, the initial crew had wondered just what drew a talented pilot like Niel to an old craft. He lived for a challenge. And a tall, handsome captain didn't hurt either.

In their line of work a risktaker and sharpshooter was a given, Changjo took the title of both. He was an adrenaline junkie; addicted to EVA and the risky aspect of their work. He also manned the gunner perch when things got a little too hot in openspace. Finally, the newest addition to their crew, was Ricky. A small man that seemed as though he would be more at home behind a desk, ran the engine room. He kept the Concertina running on sometimes as little as tie-wire (and hopes and dreams). He lived for engines and was often found napping in his hammock that hung over the drive couplets.

Despite the rag-tag nature of them, they made a solid crew. Working together rather well considering they were trapped in a small space with one another for weeks or months at a time on long haul trips to deepspace. Things occasionally descended into violence but it was more a brotherly kind of attack than true malice. Anything that was disputed was solved with a traditional game of paper-scissor-rock. Their system worked and their ship kept sailing.

Niel sat in the dark. In space, a ship ran on the artificial hours of night and day that were decided by the kitchen; therefore by Chunji. It was currently deemed night, and time for the crew to be sleeping, but Niel knew there was another Drive Gate approaching and he wanted to pilot it in himself. Sure the computers could do it, but he could do it better. He was watching the lightyears tick down slowly, his face illuminated by the lights of the consoles only. Niel loved to be in the cockpit alone in the dark, watching the distance countdown and the stars slowly edge past the windows.

When a pair of hands settled on his shoulders from behind he almost fell from the pilots chair. With a loud cry he struggled around to find who had snuck up on him. Cap was grinning back at him, face mostly in shadow and looking slightly menacing.

"You scared me," Niel grumbled, crossing his arms and turning back to his countdown.

"I knew you would be up here," Cap replied, settling into the copilot chair comfortably. "You know the A.I can do this itself."

"Of course I know," Niel sassed back, side-eyeing his captain. "I can do it better. I get almost 5% more momentum with my line."

"Because the A.I deems it too risky to perform the manoeuvre," Cap laid an ankle on one knee and looked over at Niel.

"Do you have a problem with me piloting the Concertina into Drive Gates?"

"No, you save me a fortune on fuel costs," Cap waved a hand and smiled. "I just like to know what you're thinking ever now and then."

Niel tsk-ed and shook his head. The counter clicked over and a beep sounded from the console. Niel adjusted his chair until he was close to the controls and his fingers flickered over the dials and switches with practised ease. Cap pulled his own chair closer and watched the pilot work.

Copilot chairs were a call back to vintage craft too. A.Is did most of the copiloting these days but the Concertina's copilot chair still had all the applicable equipment, just in case. Too bad Cap was a terrible pilot himself.

As the lightyear counter clicked even lower, a double beep sounded. Niel's face became a mask of concentration as he took control himself.

A new tone sounded as the Drive Gate came into physical view and Cap cursed quietly. Niel didn't look away from his task but his shoulders tensed.

"Was that?" He asked, still guiding the ship.

"Yes. . Two of them just before the gate. Can you swing us around in an arc?" Cap muttered, swinging his chair around to focus on their radar system.

"I'll pull a few Gs but I can. I hope everyone is finished sleeping." Niel added under his breath.

Cap reached for his intercom button and called through for his crew.

"Changjo," Cap's voice called through the intercom hanging over the door of the engine room. Changjo was sitting on a stool, Ricky in his lap, one hand was searching the skin beneath Ricky's stained shirt, while the other held the smaller man in place. Ricky's overalls were hanging off his shoulders as Changjo worked. His hands were occupied with patching an already patched hose. He stifled a moan as Chanjo's mouth teased the sensitive part of his neck.

"Changjo!" Cap demanded once more, the intercom speaker crackling a little.

"Cap is looking for you," Ricky mumbled, setting his patch in place with an old handheld heater.

"," Changjo cursed, finally pulling himself out of Ricky's neck and looking up at the intercom speaker. He leant over, almost toppling the pair off the stool, to grab the radio mic Ricky had cannibalised from junk for his extended microphone.

"Yessir?" Changjo replied through the mic, one hand still laying over the smooth skin of Ricky's chest.

"I need you up here. There's something iffy on the scanner."

"Yessir," Changjo nodded and dropped the mic to the floor. It wound it's self back to the wall on its curling wire. He looked up at Ricky wistfully and sighed. The mechanic spared him a glance and a smile.

"Well, off you go. Come back down to lend me a hand whenever you feel like it," Ricky gave him a cheeky wink and stood. Changjo stood a little more reluctantly, towering over Ricky for a moment before making his way for the door. The mechanic paid him no attention, focused on checking the hoses for anymore leaks to be patched.

L.Joe was actually sleeping; sprawled out across his bunk peacefully asleep. Until a growling voice pulled him into consciousness. Cap was calling Changjo up to the bridge. Something must have gone wrong. L.Joe rubbed his eyes and yawned. He knew he would be next to be called.

"L.Joe. report to the bridge."

There it was. Just as he stood and cast around for his pants the door to his room opened and Chunji appeared.

"Hey, what's going on?" Chunji asked sleepily, still rubbing a hand through his messy hair.

"I'm not sure yet," L.Joe answered, knowing Chunji was too asleep to realise he was stark . "You should get some more sleep while you can though."

"Hang on!" Niel's voice snapped through the intercom mere moments before the ship pitched sideways.

Chunji had no hope of 'hanging on' and careened across the small space into L.Joe. The 2IC caught him easily and they collapsed backwards onto the bed together; Chunji on top of L.Joe, straddling him naturally.

"Hi there," Chunji mumbled, now far more awake. "Sorry about that."

"No problem. Are you OK?" L.Joe was comfortably laying on his bed, staring up at Chunji with interest.

"Yes. I think you caught me. But Niel really needs to work on his warnings."

"Tell me about it."

"L.Joe! Report!" Cap's voice crackled through the intercom again and L.Joe remembered he was actually supposed to be doing something.

"Oops." Chunji grinned and began to pull himself off L.Joe. For the first time he seemed to notice L.Joe was . He blushed scarlet and rolled off the other man quickly. "I'm sorry!" He exclaimed, trying his hardest not to look.

"Its fine. You’re my doctor," L.Joe shrugged, finally spying his pants and pulling them on. He grabbed a shirt from the overhead shelf and pulled it on. "Stay here and get some rest OK? I'm sure he'll call if we need you."

Chunji nodded, cheeks still a little pink. L.Joe pulled his boots on and offered Chunji a smile.

"I try and tell myself its good when I'm useless."

"Exactly," L.Joe nodded and opened the door. He shut it behind him, hearing Chunji' s soft voice as the door clanged shut.

"Be careful, Byunghun."

"What the hell was that!" Changjo protested as he crested the ladder into the cockpit.

"I said 'hang on'!" Niel snapped in reply, eyes never moving from his various screens and window.

"Raiders. Get in the perch." Cap ordered, still manning the scanner beside Niel. "Where the is L.Joe?" He muttered to himself, tracing the two blips on the screen that were bearing down on them.

"Orders Cap?" Changjo asked from the perch, he strapped himself into the chair and flicked his displays on to ready the guns.

"Hold until we can see if we can out run them. If we can get back around to the gate we can lose them."

"And if we cant?" L.Joe appeared, taking Cap's usual position in the raised helm.

"Then I guess we show them why its not a good idea to try and to raid pirates." Cap grinned viciously.

A series of alarming trills sounded and Changjo cursed.

"Hang on!" Niel called again, sparing a moment to touch the intercom button. The ship lilted backwards as the G force overwhelmed the momentum dampeners. L.Joe saved himself at the last moment by grabbing the rail that ran around the helm controls (for just that purpose).

"ing hell Niel if you break my Stinton Electros again I will make you fix them yourself!" Ricky's voice screeched through the speaker.

"Would you prefer holes on the hull?" Niel sniped back through the coms, rolling and levelling out the craft as he did. ", I cant make it now Cap, that evasion put our course out too far." The pilot reported swerving to the portside as an alarm trilled again.

"Open fire Changjo," Cap ordered, tapping away at his console as he readied their defences. "L.Joe you're on shield status. I'll take countermeasures."

"Sir," L.Joe nodded, clipping a harness around his waist and pulling up his delegated task. "Niel, Chunji kindly requests more notice in your warning system." The 2IC called across the space.

"Does he ask for it when you’re fu-"

"Niel! I need you focused," Cap cut across him, trying to smother his grin.

"Good evening passengers," Niel spoke into the coms using a soothing tone, "This is your pilot speaking. We're currently experiencing a teensy bit of trying to not die. Please, strap yourself into your harnesses and harden the up while I show these raider es how to fly." He smirked and glanced at Cap. "Good enough?" He asked in a cocky tone.

Cap shook his head in defeat.

"Here we go!" Changjo crowed from his perch, opening fire on the raider ships still tailing them to to gate. A series of concussive sounds were heard and felt as Changjo fired. Slight shuddering impacts rippled through as they were shot in reply. L.Joe called his shield stats as Cap multi-tasked his countermeasures. Niel's eyes were afire with ego as he rolled and swerved through the space to avoid the enemy attacks and line them up for Changjo.

They overshot their gate and swung back under their own path, spiralling up between the two raider ships and destroying one as they did. L.Joe was kept on his feet by the harness and everyone else in the ship were flung wildly in their seats as Niel manoeuvred like a madman.

"Holy ing ," Cap muttered, constantly amazed by his own pilot.

"Nothing to it, Cap," Niel gloated. They came around once more, the last raider ship now limping away from them towards the drive gate. They had overshot, just like the Concertina, and had to make a wide arc to come in on course.

"It's almost too easy!" Changjo complained, lining up his shot.

"Finish it." Cap ordered. He took no prisoners and would not tolerate raiders preying on Drive Gates. Some days he wondered if he was a pirate or a space-age Robin Hood.

The Concertina bore down on the damaged ship before Changjo blew it to spacejunk.

"Nice work everyone," Cap commented, leaning back comfortably in his chair once more. Niel aligned the ship to the Gate, ignoring the wild beeping from the AI. They were into the artificial gravity and slingshot out the other side, heading back into cruising space towards their destination. He fiddled with some more buttons and the AI resumed control.

"Well, if that's done I'm going back to bed," L.Joe said, unhitching himself. He grinned as he remembered just what he had left in his bed.

Changjo jumped down from his perch and waved a lazy salute to Cap as he went by. He was tempted to return to the engine room, but when his adrenaline wore off he would crash hard. Changjo opted for bed and followed L.Joe down the ladder.

Niel slid his chair back from the controls and swept his eyes over Cap. The quiet man returned his gaze levelly.

"Well, 700,000 lightyears to go until we make port in the markets. I'm going to get some sleep too," Niel stood and stretched.

"Goodnight then," Cap nodded, staying in his relaxed position.

"Night," Niel smirked and wandered away to the ladder, feeling Cap's eyes follow him all the way.

============

A/N: Ah hahaha, SPACE OPERA!

I love space operas. Last night I went out to dinner with a friend while my fiance went out with other people to drink. I don't drink so my friend and I went to a 24hr pancake place and, like the adult I am, I ate chocolate pancakes for dinner! When we finished our pancakes we went home and watched Titan A.E because I had never seen it. It was good, I love space operas. I then went and picked up the slightly drunk fiance and drove us home. I was all set for bed, snuggled down and waiting to sleep at 12am and I COULD NOT STOP WRITING THIS IN MY HEAD! Sleep was literally impossible so I mashed it out on my phone from like 12:30am to 2:30am. Maybe it was my overdose of sugar or space opera amazingness but here we have a drabble!

PS i know this is irrelevant and rambling but I actually didn't sleep at all last night (insomnia yo) and so I'm a little wacked out on sleep deprivation ^.~