Kim Taeyeon was the only daughter of legendary Navy Captain Kim and outstandingly recognized Station Controller Kim. Born to such a prestigious family, the expectancy to live up to their name and follow their steps certainly had its weight. What came off as a surprise though was that, especially after the loss of her father in early childhood, Taeyeon rebelliously grew up to be considered a simple troublemaker.

She's the disappointment of the Naval Academy, despite being the student who has achieved the highest test scores in its history and with such an ease that no one expected. Taeyeon performed these tests mockingly. She'd barely bothered studying, she didn't lose any sleep over them, and treated all of it as a joke. Taeyeon mocked the academy in any way she could.

She never wanted to be the formal, risqué, uniformed sailor, she just wanted to have a peaceful life in the place her father had fought so hard for. She never had a taste for prestige, or for following her father's footsteps. Deep down, she didn't want her mother to go through all of that again, to worry and maybe even lose somebody else – to end up alone with two graves to look after.

 Instead, Taeyeon had accepted a part-time job at the Durango Docks, as a mechanic. She was rather known by everyone in the Academy as a bad egg in a good fleet of students, the only person to have ever mocked military service. To some she was a bold hero, to others, simply a bad example.

The obnoxious ringtone filled the room and Taeyeon pressed her pillow over her head, as if the sound of her cellphone was ringing within her skull and begrundingly woke her from her precious sleep. Another day where this beautiful relationship with her bed is abruptly severed. She stretched her arm and grabbed the phone, pulling it to herself under the covers.

"Hello?" she placed it against her ear and answered with her eyes still closed.

"Hello, miss sleepyhead, weren't you going to have lunch with me?" the familiar voice said in a sing-songy tone.

Taeyeon groaned. "What time is it?"

"Lunch time."

"What?!" Taeyeon yelped startled as she suddenly sat up on the bed and looked outside. The rays of sunlight were peeking through the blinds. She snapped her head to the clock on her bedside table.

"I'll be right there." Taeyeon said, kicking the covers and jumping right out of bed.

"Don't rush it." her friend said jokingly.

"30 minutes." she says, toeing off her socks in the bathroom.

"And please comb your hair this time." the other said, reminding her of a mildly embrassing incident which ended in Taeyeon's superior eyeing her disapprovingly for an entire day.

"35 minutes" Taeyeon pleaded as she hung up. She took a second to look at the phone's screen, where it read CHOI SOOYOUNG.

Sooyoung was the daughter of Commander Choi, a man who was to all effects and purposes a hero of the Galactic Federation – surpassed only by Captain Kim himself.

Even though Taeyeon's father had been a privateer (a fancy word for pirate, as Sooyoung's father liked to say), Commander Choi was defacto the Commander of the Galactic Navy. He was one of the supervisors of Taeyeon's tests and has since then taken a small dislike towards her for not exploring her potential.

She's a natural, he'd say. She's a natural, she'd mock.

After a quick shower and straightening her hair, she rushed downstairs to the kitchen, where her mother was preparing a jar of coffee and, absentmindedly hummed and said. "Good morning."

"Morning, mom." Taeyeon smiled brightly for her mom.

Her mother turned around to smile back, but instead gave a quick look to her clothes. "Where are you going? The docks? Has something happened?"

Taeyeon waved her concerned tone off. "I'm meeting Sooyoung for lunch."

"Ahh, Sooyoungie? She's a sweetheart" Her mom said smiling.

"I know." Taeyeon rolled her eyes and poured herself a glass of milk, that she readily gulped down.

Her mother watched her and hummed in a very telling tone. “Are you going to fly on that contraption all the way to Iostea again?”

Taeyeon looked back then sighed. “Yes, mom, she lives in a neighbouring planet and yes I am using that contraption, haven't we gone through this before?”

Her mother smiles faintly. "I just want you to please be careful, you know how much I worry whenever you go to space." she walked towards her daughter and gave her a hug.

"I'll be careful, mom.” Taeyeon's voice softened and placed one hand on her mother's arm in silent support. When her mom released her, Taeyeon stood up and grabbed her things.

"See you!" she said as she left through the kitchen back door.

"Bye, sweetie!" her mom said as she waved from the door, feeling a grip on her heart.

Taeyeon hopped on the motorcycle parked in the backyard. Looking up at the sky and the yellowish distant globe in the sky, a medium-sized planet called Iostea.

 She'd see Sooyoung once more; her friend was probably ported again, or maybe she was on leave. That wasn't likely though, Sooyoung was never on leave. One thing she had learned about Sooyoung was that she never stopped working. Unlike her, Sooyoung did want to follow on her own father's footsteps.

The ride to the space port was quick. Taeyeon walked up to the hangar after leaving her bike parked nearby. She opened the hangar doors and looked inside with a smile. “SP Zephyr." Taeyeon breathed out and strutted towards the ship.

The Zephyr was small and had an uncanny resemblance to the sailing ships of an older era. She had a big mast and two smaller ones, a grand total of 3 solar sails.

It was probably the fastest ship on the Durango Docks if not the whole planet. Somehow, to Taeyeon, it still smelled brand new. She didn't take time getting inside and without as much as peering around, she closed the hatch. It was a single passenger ship despite its attributes and it didn't use the sails to take off, but, instead, its auxiliary engines. Taeyeon activated Manual Ship Command and waited until the motors heated up. When all the right lights were on and the fuel tank was confirmed to be full, she contacted Port Control.

"Port Control Tower 5, this is Kim Taeyeon from the SP Zephyr, runway 12, requesting permission for take off. It will be a 10 minute ride from here to Iostea."

"Taeyeon!" The voice on the other side answered unprofessionally.

Taeyeon acknowledged her coolly. "Good morning, Tzuyu.”

The girl on the other side seemed to remember her composure, as she cleared and politely greeted. "Morning, long time no see. Going to stretch out your sails I see." a loud alarm screeched, signalizing that a ship was about to leave. "PC Tower 5 to SP Zephyr, permission granted. Have some fun out there." The runway lit and cleared up quickly.

"Will do." Taeyeon clicked her tongue, taking off.

In no time the ship was up in the air, and it was in a matter of a few seconds before she could already see space... home.

This was where she felt she truly belonged.