Shindong studied the fast-moving blip on his console. He could see that it’s a ship, diving too steep and too fast into the planetary atmosphere. Extrapolating the trajectory and velocity of the blip, it was going to crash a few klicks west of sector-8. Just as he was reaching for comms, the blip seemingly stopped and started, suddenly veering off to a different trajectory and a much reduced velocity.

“But it’s still going to crash,” Shindong said under his breath before punching in the codes for Donghae’s comms. He watched as the blip maintained its new heading, silently admiring whoever was behind the ship’s controls.

“Hello HQ,” came Donghae’s voice over comms. Shindong could hear the background roar of the rover over the sand dunes.

“Hey, Donghae,” Shindong replied. “You have eyes on that crashing bird?” He only heard Donghae grunt over the revving engine of the rover.

“You and your terrestrial references again, Chief,” Donghae said. “But yeah, I got eyes on the ‘bird’ and already on intercept... it’s trailing smoke, not that hard to detect.” There was a brief silence as Shindong heard the rover slow down, maybe because Donghae is starting an up-dune drive. “It’s coming in too fast, Chief. You reckon it can come down safe?”

“I didn’t say ‘crashing’ without implying it can land safely,” Shindong sagely reminded Donghae. “Ship’s signature doesn’t read anything from the Kang Alliance, but nothing also comes up in the known ships registry - so it’s either something new, or something we’ve never encountered before. I advise to proceed with caution. Check in every hour.”

“Copy HQ.” Donghae’s line went dead.

=====

Fast and sturdy as the rover was, Donghae was covering an area that wasn’t helpful to wheeled drives. He could have taken the fliers when he started patrol but those just didn’t give him a feel of the lay of the land. Not to mention that the fine sand tend to clog the flier’s engines more often than not, so HQ made a policy for those to be used on high altitude drives only.

By the time Donghae reached the crash site, the sun was already halfway down towards the horizon. The ship had dug itself a new crater that buried its nose in the sand, but other than a smattering of debris in its wake, the ship was largely intact and upright.

Donghae was safely hidden over a rise when two figures emerged from the ship’s airlock. Humanoid, judging from the one head, two arms and two legs configuration, and that they walked upright in what Donghae could identify as spacesuits. One held what looked like a rifle while the other held a scanning device, judging from the way the humanoid held it up and turned around to get readings. He tensed when the humanoid reached to its neck and the spacesuit started to retract the helmet. Donghae was surprised that what emerged was a human face, as familiar as his own, give or take, and the people he lived with.

The second humanoid also retracted his helmet, dark haired where the first one is blonde. He couldn’t hear what they were talking about at this distance but they must have come to some agreement as they both headed off away from the ship and start climbing up the other side of the crater. Donghae followed after them once they were a distance away.

He doesn’t know how it happens when the brunet suddenly swung the rifle in his direction. Not waiting to find out what kind of discharge their weaponry had, he charged, shooting his own disruptor rifle on the sand infront the humans’ feet, causing hot sand to spray up. With everyone distracted, it was easy enough to shoot at the rifle-toting humanoid and drop him unconscious before he dealt with the other guy.

At a disadvantage as he was, the other humanoid was no wilting lily either. Still blinded by the hot sand on his face, he spun a roundhouse kick that would have sent anyone else flying and in pain, except that Donghae was made of sturdier stuff. The kick connected onto his shoulder, but other than a grunt, it didn’t look as if the kick even hurt him. With the human already out of balance on the shifting sand, it didn’t take much for Donghae to swipe his feet from under him and send the poor guy tumbling down the crater. By the time the human was clambering onto his knees, Donghae trained his weapon onto his face, not really needing words to convince the human to play nice.

=====

Things happened too fast and all Hyukjae could remember was getting assaulted by something vaguely humanoid right after Siwon went down. Now that he had time to observe, the humanoid was wrapped head to foot in something similar the desert-people wore - turban, tunic, pants, boots - in drab grays and browns. Except that the turban was fully wrapped around the humanoid’s head, goggles where the eyes would be. Only the arms and neck is bare, where Hyukjae could see the humanoid has skin like him. Except that the neck had gill-like appendages and this close, Hyukjae could see they weren’t some cosmetic addition, not with the way the gills flapped with the humanoid’s breathing.

Staring at the wrong end of the barrel after that harrowing escape and near crash landing was enough to make Hyukjae growl. “I’ve been born dying, you stupid fish, brought into a world with a dying sun and trained since birth to live in vacuum - by some miracle I’m still alive, after getting shot at in space and almost, almost blowing up coming down here. And you think you get to kill me? Me?!” Somehow, the stress of thirty plus years learning to survive everyday had finally caught up to him.

The humanoid still held the weapon to Hyukjae’s face, the gills down his neck flapping less now than it did earlier, making him look less threatening, though the goggles and covered face left Hyukjae clueless as to what the humanoid actually looked like.

Except that the humanoid chuckled somewhere beneath the covering. Or at least what sounded like a chuckle. Before the humanoid slung the weapon behind him and started unwrapping his face.

Hyukjae tensed, bracing himself for what might be his first contact with an alien species. So he was confused when a human-like face emerged instead. When the goggles came off and placed over the humanoid’s head, Hyukjae was staring onto a human face with hazel eyes, prominent nose and thin lips. A very handsome face, he thought, as he started to blink rapidly.

“Fish, huh?” the voice chuckled again, the gills flapping in time with it.

Hyukjae didn’t realize his jaw had dropped, his eyes flitting between the gills and the face, his brain still trying to stitch together how both familiar but diverse biologies could exist on one body. He really should have made a landing party with Sungmin who’s the actual biologist and martial arts expert rather than the unconscious Siwon who’s a geologist and a very useless security guy.

“I’m human, actually, an Augment,” the human waved to his gills, Hyukjae still surprised that he also spoke Terran Standard. “Didn’t expect to meet more humans crash landing on this planet, so, sorry about the reception.” He waved in Hyukjae’s direction this time, who’s still on his knees.

Hyukjae dubiously looked at the bare muscular arm and gloved hand extended to him, intending to help him up. But the, man, had apologized, and was apparently taking the first steps to properly welcome him this time. Hyukjae took the proffered hand and stood up, dusting his suit as he tried to gather his thoughts. Now that Hyukjae wasn’t staring at the wrong end of a weapon, he found it understandable that anyone’s first reaction anywhere was to defend against intruders, but he was also wary, not knowing if these would be the same people who attacked them in the first place.

“The last of the augments have been bred out a century ago,” Hyukjae decided to say instead, recalling his general studies about the earlier spacefarers. Augments were genetically modified to adapt to planets they land on, but limited resources have stopped that program, and the world government decided humans would have to rely on natural selection and human adaptability for the latest spacefarers to make it in space.

Hyukjae didn’t realize why the augment eyed his suit and the ship behind Hyukjae before replying. “I’m one of their descendants,” the augment explained. “The gills help with the oxygen.”

=====

“The last of the augments have been bred out a century ago,” Donghae had taken a look at the human’s suit and ship and could see they were of a design he is not familiar with, and relatively new. The latest of the spacefarers from Earth, then.

Earth. That planet was as familiar yet as alien to someone spaceborne like him. The planet of their origins, yet an origin shrouded with controversy and necessity as his forebears bore the mark of genetic modification in man’s desperate attempt to equip their race with all the necessary tools to possibly survive a new planet, a new environment. But in doing so, created something not wholly human.

Donghae is comfortable in his skin, in who he is. But whenever he encountered non-augmented humans, he couldn’t help but feel different, especially with the prolonged staring at his gills. Perhaps because there were few of them, spread across multiple ships and rarely making planetfall. And finding out they were stronger and better built physically made Donghae careful around non-augments. All this time he thinks of them as something frail and fragile.

That Donghae is kind of a rogue among his kind also didn’t help with his feeling different. Him and his band are misfits as far as the augments are concerned. There was rigid discipline instilled in their ranks, because ship life made it a necessity. The early augments mostly left earth in sleeper ships, highly trained pioneers forging their way into space during the long years it took to travel between the stars. There was only so much that cryosleep can do for a human body, augmented or not. Most of the first augments didn’t reach their destination, leaving to progeny the responsibility of doing so.

And so Donghae was born into this regimented life.

“I’m one of their descendants,” he explained. “The gills help with the oxygen,” he gestured to his appendages.

He looked over the human again - blonde, whose skin had a translucent glow (not pasty) even when on the pale side, and while lanky, had an underlying strength if Donghae had to base on his grip earlier. Not much taller than him but the human did have on those ridiculous space boots that made them taller than they actually were.

The human absently nodded to his explanation about the gills, staring when the said gills flapped again to Donghae’s secondary breathing. Donghae detected a slight shake of his head before the human continued. “We circled the planet twice, had also deployed survey probes, but we did not detect any signs of a colony, or habitat.”

“Hmm - your ship looks shot - maybe a sensor malfunction?” Donghae only said. “We did detect the network of probes that suddenly appeared overhead but it’ll take more than two orbits for scans to finish.”

Donghae could feel the human becoming guarded at the mention of “we”, or that he’d implied they were capable of detecting extraterrestrial activity. He was surprised, though, at what the human said next.

“I’m sorry. If we had detected earlier that this planet already had a colony, we’d have aimed for the fourth planet instead.”

Donghae found himself shaking his head and blurting out more than he needed to. “Bad idea - Bohoja’s mostly rock, suitable only for mining. Greater chance of you really blowing up had you crash landed there.” He started taking out his communicator, pausing to show the human the harmless gadget before speaking into it.

“Sunshine to Prodigy,” Donghae paused as he waited for Shindong to respond. “Hey, have made contact with the crash lander - looks like one of the latest Earth seed ship configuration... still largely intact but I’m guessing needing repairs, judging by the smoke still coming out of the engines.” He looked over the two humans before continuing. “We also have human guests, most probably grounders, one conscious, the other one I’ve unfortunately stunned.” At which the conscious human remembered to check his companion.

“Seed ship, huh,” Shindong said quietly into the line. “There’d be more people inside, most probably the core colony, and the seeds. You’re cleared to do recon while I take this to Sora and Hangeng, but they’ll most likely want to talk to the colony leader. You need me to send reinforcement?”

Donghae half-listened to Shindong, and half to the human who finally contacted his ship. “Yeah... nope. I don’t think they’re hostile, Prodigy. And I’m most likely better equipped already to subdue any threats considering the one I stunned is the security guy.” He cut off Shindong’s chuckle as he ended transmission and turned to the human.

“So, Hyukjae,” the human rolled his eyes at Donghae at the mention of his name. “Why don’t we do as your Sungmin suggested and take this Siwon to your medbay.”

Hyukjae had to marvel at how the augment could hear the conversation inside his earcuff at this distance. “Sure, Sunshine,” Hyukjae wryly shot back. And before he could haul Siwon up, the augment had already marched over to pick Siwon up by the seat of his pantsuit and hoist him on his shoulders.

The augment just grinned at Hyukjae’s wide-eyed look as he effortlessly carried the taller human. “It’s actually Donghae. Lead the way, Hyukjae.”

=====

Hyukjae pouted the whole time he stayed frozen in his bottom bunk. He had offered to stay in the bridge and give up his quarters to their guest but he had a suspicion Leeteuk barred the bridge to force Hyukjae to keep an eye on their guest.

Who was currently making obscene sounds in the shower that made Hyukjae flush hotter than he aught to be. He grimaced. Maybe because it had been a long time since he was used to having a roommate - while he had one at the Yuseong, they worked different shifts so they mostly had the quarters to themselves after their shifts. He rearranged his thoughts, amending that the sounds weren’t obscene - it was downright delirious and giddy.

“Woohoo! Gah, this is the first water shower I’ve had in weeks!” Donghae kept saying as the water splashed him, before proceeding to slosh around the narrow space and continuing making delirious sounds.

The shower stopped and Hyukjae’s eyes widened when the shower door slid aside and let out a , dripping wet fish. Who toweled his hair dry before taking care of the rest of him. Hyukjae didn’t realize he’d shut his eyes like a shy maiden after the first glimpse of their guest’s impressive physique. He had to open them, relieved to find Donghae wrapped the towel around his waist, because their guest was still talking.

“Hey, thanks for this - it had been weeks since I’ve showered with water. Resources back at camp are rationed, and shower credits are at a premium.” Donghae was saying.

“No worries,” Hyukjae replied. “We’ve just landed, and until all the colonists are thawed out, we can indulge a bit on these niceties before we’d start rationing too.” He didn’t bother to volunteer that he hadn’t had a bath in days, starting with their emergency flight from the Yuseong. Other than quick visits to the loo, his suit had done a remarkable job so far of regulating his bio. Which still did not stop Hyukjae from wanting to crawl out of it and jump into the shower too.

“Your clothes are at the laundro. I’ll get it back after a quick shower myself. But you can have the spare pjs.” Hyukjae waved at the pile of clothes he’d set out while Donghae was in the shower.

Donghae touched the cloth, marveling at its softness, though he suspected the clothes are tougher than it looked. “Thanks again. Yours?”

Hyukjae was bewildered by the question before he understood that Donghae was asking if the clothes were his. “No, no, I got it from ship’s store - you can actually take it back with you. Don’t worry - this early in the mission for the seed ship, our supplies are still mostly intact.”

Leeteuk had been frank enough with their guest to inform him of the Jinju’s plight, ignoring Hyukjae’s misgivings about giving too much information. That had prompted a call by Donghae to whoever he reported to, and an invitation to their camp, which they all decided to do the next day at Donghae’s recommendation, citing things that go bump in the night in the surrounding sandy terrain. Hyukjae was momentarily concerned about the Jinju sitting on the same sand until he was informed that with the way they glassed and compacted the surrounding crater during their crash, the ship wasn’t in any immediate danger.

All of them worked to stabilize the Jinju, putting out fires and finally stopping the smoke coming out from the engines and setting to rights anything that got dislodged in the crash. Sungmin joined them as soon as he was done confirming that Siwon was only unconscious due to the stun effects of Donghae’s weapon. Initial assessment revealed the ship will need extensive repairs, but nothing that their engineers couldn’t handle. Leeteuk decided they need to wake some of the colonists early the next morning before they headed out to Donghae’s camp.

By the time the sun disappeared from the horizon, all four wearily trudged into the mess hall and took whatever processed food could be quickly had for dinner. After which Hyukjae had the unenviable task of bunking with their guest and making him comfortable, so to speak.

Hyukjae didn’t waste time jumping into the shower, not when their guest just started dropping his towel to get dressed. He really shouldn’t be bothered, Hyukjae thought as he got out of his suit and started the shower, but he had to wonder at Donghae’s lack of modesty, if it was a trait uniquely his own, or shared by everyone in his camp. He’d have to inform Leeteuk and Sungmin, and even if he didn’t think Leeteuk and Sungmin had any qualms, Leeteuk used to being in cryosleep and Sungmin being the biologist/medic, maybe it might lessen any culture shock.

Donghae, of course, was outside with a wolf’s grin on his face. He particularly relished the fact that he can make the blonde skittish by just showing skin.

=====

Hyukjae glared at Donghae’s back during the whole drive to Donghae’s camp. They are currently in the rover, Leeteuk sitting up front with Donghae while him and Sungmin sat at the back. Siwon was half outside where the turret gun was but he was using it as a station while he took survey readings of the area.

Donghae had apologized to Siwon that morning, which the taller guy just took in stride, already briefed with what went on while he was unconscious. But what got into Hyukjae’s craw was that Donghae hadn’t apologized to him yet, for the stress he gave the blonde that morning. It was called invading his personal space.

Hyukjae was a light sleeper, but he had woken up to the best sleep he had in years. That was before he realized someone was spooning him from behind. He wanted to howl upon seeing that beefy arm about his chest but he forced himself to keep still, thinking of how he could extricate himself without waking up Donghae.

“Morning Hyukkie,” Donghae suddenly drawled close to Hyukjae’s ear, and he couldn’t stand it. All politeness went out the window as he scrambled up and over Donghae as he got himself out of bed. It wasn’t easy as the bunk is a single, so two bodies on it was a literal squeeze.

He was about to lit on Donghae once he was free but stopped when he saw the fish groggily stare around him, still half-awake.

“I thought I said you can have the top bunk?” he looked over the top bunk and saw signs of it being occupied sometime.

“I did, but it got cold, and I couldn’t find a blanket,” as if still feeling cold, Donghae curled into himself, trying to hide his exposed feet and arms.

Hyukjae was instantly apologetic. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry,” he said as he pulled out a spare blanket from the locker. It was locked to Hyukjae’s fingerprints so Donghae wouldn’t have been able to get it himself. He draped the blanket over Donghae, who happily squirmed into it and continued to sleep. Their clothes are designed to regulate temperature but maybe it was different for augments like Donghae.

He would have brushed it off as a one-off but Donghae kept crowding him after - on the way to the shower, at the mess after breakfast, on the rover. He did not appreciate the heart attack every time he looked up or around to find Donghae’s handsome face too near. Or that Donghae deliberately brushed by him as he passed by. Not that he could complain, as it happened in spaces too narrow for two people. So Hyukjae was prickly by the time they started the ride, all the more fuming at Donghae not realizing he was invading Hyukjae’s personal space. Or maybe he didn’t care, in the same way he could be immodest. Yes, they had another towel dropping episode that morning, two actually, before and after the shower, and Hyukjae didn’t even realize he could go out of his quarters instead of actually staying around, considering he himself was done preparing.

Hyukjae was only distracted from his ire by the view of rolling sand dunes, a reminder of his training days back on Earth. They’ve had training runs at the Gobi and Sahara deserts, as well as other parts of the world that emulated alien terrain. If he had his way, he would have stayed back on Earth with their parents, but ever since the worldwide diaspora started, rules have been in place about who should stay and who should go: all able-bodied young men and women who aced their respective tracks were required to go, while the elders and the washouts had to stay behind. Which is not to say there weren’t enterprising civilian ships that took on passengers for a hefty sum, but only the richest of them could afford it, and for Hyukjae and his sister Sora, there was only the UKS program for them.

He briefly thought of Sora, who’d still be in cryosleep in the seed ship Duwun, hoping against hope that the other seed ships found havens, or at least safe from whoever attacked them.

__________________

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