“You want to do what?” Toothy smile’s eyes narrowed. “Has Dahyun given you the go-ahead?”

“Aren’t you the one in charge?” Mina asked. She sure acted like it. 

“This ship is her baby and if you irreparably damage the software, all the money in the world won’t save me.” The suspicion in her eyes gave way to playfulness. She fluctuated between those states easily. Really easily. She’d also evaded answering the question directly. 

“So I ask her first?”

“When she’s done. Until then, go to Jeongyeon. She’s the tech gal and comms captain,” she smiled, “might be the one glaring over your shoulder the entire time.”

Mina fought the urge to sigh. All she wanted to do was secure the network. She had everything with her and nothing would happen to their software—she’d make it better. 

“Where did Dahyun go?”

The doors of the craft—which she now knew to be called the 2129 Breakthrough—opened at least every half hour, setting on edge each time with each hiss. At least Momo and Sana were in one place, also near the ‘safe place’ the crew had mentioned. 

Momo’s energy had failed her, so she was sleeping. Sana was the first of the three to use the shower. Mina didn’t want all of them to turn their backs on this crew.

“Either making some tweaks up above or handling a delivery. Or several. With the newest events, we don’t wanna keep ‘em waiting.” 

This crew hardly failed to remind them that they were disrupting. It was almost rude, but each mention, each complaint about a delay that she heard, all of it reminded her that they could trust these people. Well, enough to get them back without screwing them over. At least that’s how it was looking so far and it was what she was hoping for. They would rather do something else. This was almost a nuisance for them, but one they’d deal with. Of course they wanted the money, but they weren’t desperate. 

Even the girl in front of her, someone who probably wanted the money for the crew the most, didn’t seem desperate. Or she was just really good at hiding that. 

“So what are you to the Minatozakis? Staff, executive, guard, external help?”

“Protection,” Mina replied. “So’s Momo.”

“So a guard.” 

“Basically.” Even if that was Mina’s job. 

“And why aren’t you roughed up like the rest?” The toothy smile was in place, but the girl’s eyes were focused. Probing. 

The truth would have to be told eventually. Unless this journey would be quick. “I got them out on Sixteen.”

“So you weren’t captured. Why didn’t your people send a full rescue team?” she asked. “Why bother offering a reward if you have the means to do it all yourself? And better.” 

Mina agreed, but she didn’t feel like saying she did. “It was better to keep things small.” 

Her brow rose. “A group of one?”

She just nodded. “I went along transports to follow them.” It had taken far too long, but there’d been little else that she could do. The journey had to be a success, not an efficient one. 

“But why not use your own ship?” Her eyes narrowed again. “I’m sure even inners have scrap machines that fly.”

“I couldn’t risk getting caught.” 

A nod. “Or blasted into the abyss,” she said. “One hero-type tried a rescue mission with his guns out. Got killed before the first shot hit their shields.” 

“Don’t tell that story to Sana.”

A moment passed. The girls eyes were unreadable now. Did that mean irritation or just more suspicion? Mina hadn’t expected to be under so much scrutiny. It was supposed to be the other way round. Which it was as well. 

“We are risking something here too. Dahyun knows the story too and she’s the reason you’re actually here,” she said. “So sheltering your princess from that won’t help much there.” 

Mina shook her head. “We’re not. Just don’t go there.” She stood. “Jeongyeon’s the one in the cockpit?”

“One of them.” She leant back on the bench. The hostility had vanished from her eyes. “Jihyo’s the pilot.” 

She hadn’t seen either of their faces yet, so the names weren’t much help either. None of the names or faces were any she recognised either. Two options there: not threats or just so far under the radar that they could still be. Even if she trusted them to get Sana back home, she wouldn’t feel at ease until she found out which of those options were the right one. 

“You don’t wanna wait until we take off?” The girl stood with her. She hadn’t given her name yet. “They search us and you’re too far from the safe room, we’re all screwed.” 

“You think they’d search you again.”

She shrugged. “Not sure, can never be. Might not even recognise this shapeless lump.” Another grin. “Don’t tell the captain I said that.” 

Was this the problem? She deflected seriousness with humour and an easy smile. It was all too smooth. There was a lot of experience there. Experience with hiding in plain sight. Like Mina. 

“I’m wearing a mask until there.” 

“Should be one of ours,” she said. “We have a couple extras.” Then she winked. “Clean, of course. So it won’t smell too bad.” She stood. “Jeong and I were also working on giving you false names. We can get you your very own outer system identities set up on this ship.” 

What backend routes would they take to achieve that? And without the necessary barriers in place at that? This was just one more thing where no member of the crew would be bowing down to any of their wishes, not even Sana’s. 

The girl walked out of the common area. Mina followed. 

“I was thinking Sharon Kang for you, because you nail the accent of the belt.” A smirk. “The other one, Momo right? She’s Yenne Lim. Your princess should be Teresa Chan. Both her and Momo should be from a station on the inner system. Not sure about the other one, but Dahyun said Sana can’t hold an accent to save her life.” A look. “So you better tell that to her, because she needs practice.” 

I’ve tried, she thought, but didn’t dare let that part slip. “We’ll work on those identities when we leave.” She could ask Jeongyeon how that was supposed to work if the system was breached. 

Nayeon shrugged. “Whatever you want.” A small chuckle. "Or is this because you don’t like the name Sharon?"

They passed the storage room where she saw the shortest of the crew tying some crates to the floor. The fuel was already secured with thick rubber cords. 

“We’re gonna engage all engines when we’re out of the system.”

“Ever have disasters?” One of their deliveries had been a catastrophe because the pilot wanted to get things done as quickly as possible. A fool. 

Yet another smile. The scars around it tugged on the edges of . “Almost. Ever straddled a fuel cell?”

“No.”

“Don’t try it.” She stopped at the door to the left. Just a few metres away from storage. The girl tapped something in, the code, and then gave it a bright smile and a wink. The door opened, revealing one of the most well kept workshops Mina had ever seen. 

There were four workbenches, eight massive containers, some for tools, others seeming to be for parts, and a collection of racks positioned either on the ceiling or in the gaps on the walls. 

“Alright. Here you go. I’ll pass the other ones to the girls.” She handed the half helmet to her. “Should be your size. If not, Dahyun or Chaeng can loosen it up for you later.”

Mina slipped it on. It actually didn’t smell. The visor came alive. There was a temperature reading on the top corner, the battery reading of the helmet, the oxygen and carbon dioxide concentration, and an empty space with ‘comms’ at the top. She wondered if there were more settings to it. 

“You can hook your comms up to the helmet, but again, we’re doing that later.” 

She glanced at her communications device then. They had gotten them in, given them inner system animal names. Two others had the same, so according to the crew, it wasn’t a ‘dead giveaway’. 

“Who’s Yoda?” They were giving details on the medication she needed bought. Probably the doctor. 

A smile. “That’s Tzuyu. She loves that old inners story.” 

“You know Star Wars out here?”

She snorted. “We do have some appreciation for culture out here.” 

Mina rolled her eyes. She was allowed to do that under the helmet. Then she left the workshop. 

“Need a hand?” She heard behind her. The girl had already gone to the storage room. 

She climbed up the ladder. Her chest tightened as she walked past the main door (apparently there were two others elsewhere on the ship, but no one had told her where yet). She braced herself for another hiss. 

There wasn’t one. She reached the door to the cockpit and knocked. Twice. 

They slid open, revealing a curved room. The focal point was the huge window that opened out into space. She saw the lazy movements of departing and arriving ships. 

Then someone stood up to her left. She had shoulder-length hair. A large computer array was in front of her. 

“Hey you, Mina, right?” She grinned. “I’m Jeongyeon, name's ostrich in the system." She didn't say the numbers attached to them. Mina was penguin37. How they'd come to both parts of that name, she had no idea. 

“How’d you know it was me?” Did their comms put trackers on them? If they did, she'd shut that setting down. 

“I’m not terrible at recognising half a face. Guess it was the training,” she replied. “You exploring or you here for a reason?”

“Reason. The one with the scars said I should come to you.” 

“That one’s Nayeon.”

Nayeon. Also not a name she recognised, but she felt like she should know it. Maybe she'd skimmed over it in one of the many lists she'd surveyed before every conference, every party, and every tour.

Then Jeongyeon’s brow rose. “You wanna make changes?”

“How’d you know that?” 

“I’m omniscient,” she sat down, waving her over as she did, “but actually, I expected it.” Probably noting her frown, she added, “royal . Need to minimise loose ends. This doesn’t seem like the most secure set-up, I get it.” 

Mina took in the array. It wasn’t completely archaic, but it wasn’t up to date either. If it were targeted by anyone in the Earth system, they’d break through it like tissue paper. 

“Okay, hit me.” 

“What?”

Jeongyeon laughed. “Not like that. Tell me what you want to do with my system.”

‘My system’. Dahyun’s ship. Just how had this crew begun? And how did it work? 

“We need a secure communications line. Maybe yours is advanced here, but I could break it with a Mars monitor.”

She blinked. “I’m not sure if that’s an insult or a terrible compliment.”

“It’ll help us contact the company. We could get to Neptune’s orbit and get an established. Maybe even in the neighbouring system.”

A small nod. “What else?”

“Do not take it as an insult, but I must know how you intend to make our identifies. There will also need to be a small change made to how you’d appear on one of our radars. If you’re in range without it, you might be shot down.” We might be shot down. 

“You don’t think they’d have one of those radars too?”

That caught her off guard. 

“The ones after you. Those advanced systems’d probably be in place with them too? They’d spot the radar change and then we’re toast there too.” 

The words hit her like a slap in the face. She’d been so stupid. 

“But we will need it on in the system. They’ll try to board, or just shoot us down.” 

She smiled. “It’ll take a little time ’til we get there.” She stretched her arms above her head. “I’m good with those changes though. I’ll show you what those identities should look like ‘fore the captain gets back. You still need her okay.”

“Fine,” she said. So Nayeon was in charge of something, Dahyun was too, so was Jeongyeon it seemed. She didn’t get it. This was a group of six people. That much variation in leadership couldn’t work long term. 

The identities didn’t have pictures. Even though these were the legitimate ones. She knew that the outer systems allowed a lot more to fall under the radar, but it still unsettled her. 

“Nayeon and I both agree you should be from the belt. One of the stations, One through Nine might work.” 

“Why do you say I’m from a station? Not one of the planets originally?” 

“You could be from a moon or an asteroid. Most don’t care.” She shrugged. “Some of us actually were born on one of those stations. It also carries a little more of a story. Your root is Eight, you’re probably part of the water transports. Or you were.” 

“And the other two?”

“We got two of our own from Kepler. If we said that for them, they’d be upper class, very unlucky workers, or ex-soldiers.” 

What did that make the two from Kepler? She wondered which ones those were. The identities on the screen didn’t show those. They seemed to only care about the names and current positions. A terrible system, but one they might be able to use to their advantage. In the short term. 

Then the comms chimed. She felt her own buzz, but saw the message on one of the monitors. 

Dubu: Engines ready. Fuel secured??

“,” Jeongyeon put on her helmet, “come on, we’re going to storage.” 

They rushed out. She didn’t have to ask what the message meant. Her heart plummeted. She’d thought their problems would only be at the very beginning and somewhere else in the middle. 

“How’re you going to explain the one empty room?" The mechanic/captain had actually gotten it clean between the stations. 

“There’s a couple on board,” she said. “The numbers’ll match up.” 

A lucky coincidence. What if they’d taken two rooms? Would they explain a guest the search party had just missed? What if they hadn’t had enough rooms in the first place? Too many possibilities for everything to go wrong. Too much risk. Too late to consider all that now. 

When she got down, she saw Momo and Sana waiting at the doors. Why weren't they already hidden?

Mina strode over. “What are you waiting for?” 

They just shook their heads. 

“Mentioned that package deal again.” The girl, Nayeon, emerged with a scowl. “We’ll let you out when we take off. Don’t touch anything in there.” The way she said it, Mina felt like an inconvenience again. What would happen next depended solely on them being an inconvenience the crew was willing to deal with. Too much risk. Too much trust. These were strangers. They didn't have much of a choice. 

There was a space in one of the mismatched scrap walls. The panel belonging to it had been slid to the side. 

She made the other two climb through first. 

The hiss sounded. She heard voices and footsteps. The panel closed behind her. Mina closed her eyes. She had a weapon on her side. Momo had her own skills. Sana was capable in her own right. If all went wrong, she prayed it was enough. 

____

Dahyun had barely sent the warning before she slid down the side of the ship. 

“Something the matter?” She gave them a smile. Three of them had made a beeline for them. They weren’t the ones who’d hurt Tzuyu, but they also weren’t anyone Dahyun wanted to see right now. Cube boys. 

“Care to explain what special cargo you’ve got?” The middle one was holding a pistol. Loosely, but it was still out of its holster. On T9, there was a possibility he’d be reported. Until they saw the emblems on their arms. Then even the guards would hold back. This wasn’t good. 

“What cargo I had,” Dahyun corrected. “Friend of mine is sending the delivery off to Luna 12.” It was a big delivery. As long as they didn’t intercept it, the cargo size and payment might convince them. 

His eyes gleamed. Like an Earth shark. “Seemed awful heavy for human cargo.” 

The words made her feel sick. Not only because he was suggesting they did human trafficking, but also the other possibility the words implied. Was there some sort of tip?

“Mind taking us inside? Would love to see the state of your stores.”

There were a sequence of scrapes and taps as the other two adjusted their grip on their guns. Rifles. 

“Might find something to settle your debt too.” He winked. Then they walked past her and over to the main door. 

Dahyun ran through the options. 

First: tell Jeongyeon to lift off. She and Jihyo could catch up eventually. Jihyo could at least. Maybe she’d be taken hostage to get the rest to turn back. They most likely would. Not an option. 

Second: use her charms to convince them that no one else was on the ship. They’d probably end up trying to beat the answer out of her. At least there they could file the report for safety violations—their evidence being a collection of injuries. Jihyo was still out. She could get someone over before anything irreversible happened. Potential option.

Third: give up the passengers. These guys would also want them alive and pretty healthy. The chances of great showers and decent food weren't high. They’d also make even more demands than they would. Expensive ones. Even so, their bigger debts might be let off—Cube weren’t the most crooked crooks she knew, hence why she was mostly in their debt and not another’s. If they let things slide, paying the rest back would be a whole lot easier. The burden of getting to Earth wouldn’t be theirs. Also possible. 

If they gave them up, they’d not be sitting ducks every time they docked on a station. There’d also not be a risk of getting arrested even if they brought the group back safely. But giving them up now, to Cube at that, when they were, hopefully, in the safe room—it rubbed her the wrong way. Weren't they trusting them not to pass over 'custody'?

She went to the panel and punched in the combination. She wasn’t tall, but she wasn’t so short that the code would be exposed. She needed time to think. The others needed time to adjust. When she turned back to them, they also weren’t looking, but surveying the milling crowds around them. Some glanced their way, but looked away just as fast. The effect guns could have. The bystander effect was raised by a factor of ten. 

“Come right in,” Dahyun said. When she got in, Nayeon was climbing up the ladder. Clumsily. She was singing along to one of the Kepler jigs. She sounded drunk. Also wasn’t wearing her helmet. 

“Still on station duty?” Her co-captain was leering at the middle one. Then she cackled. "I thought you're rising up ranks?" A frown. "The ranks?"

“Shut it, Im,” he shot back. 

“Fine,” she zipped shut, “I’ll go freshen up.” She winked at Dahyun. She found herself silently applauding the girl for her act. “Thought you were gonna bring the fun troop.” With that, she slid down the ladder again. The landing was followed by a soft, “.” Then a chuckle. “Get your out here, cub. We got guests!”

“How you people function, I’ll never understand,” one of the group said. 

They made her go first, three guns probably aimed at her head. Then they also went down the ladder. She saw Nayeon lounging in the commons area, but a gun was hanging from her waist now. 

“Securing the fuel? Got a journey in mind?”

“Ceres,” she said. It wasn’t completely false. “Gotta swap an engine.” 

It earned her a chuckle. “More like six. How old is this junk?” 

She scowled. “This junk can fly circles around the Pentagon.” 

“Yeah yeah,” the middle one waved her off, “mind opening a couple?” He pointed to the crates. 

“Look,” Dahyun said. “Some of this is temperature sensitive. I can’t be opening all of it, but I can tell you what’s in them.” 

“You’ll open that one.” She was shoved towards the one marked with -20˚. Damn them. The doors of the storage room had been opened for a while too. It was too warm. Maybe that was the point. Target the concern for prized goods to get access to the rest. Not a bad strategy. 

“What are you looking for?” she asked. “So desperate for enzymes?” The response was a sharp contact with her leg. Nothing broke, but the leg went dead. She stumbled. 

“Here’s the list,” Chaeyoung said. Her dimpled frown was apparent. 

Dahyun pulled herself back up and opened the freezer box. She tensed, hoping to whatever space power there was that the enzymes and other samples were stable. Choices. She might be sparing herself a world of hurt if she told them the princess was just a few metres away. 

“So who’s this for?” 

“Luna 4’s institute. Short term stay.” She snapped it shut. 

“Hey now,” the middle one came over, “I never seen fresh enzymes.” 

“Because you’re not supposed to. They’re tiny.” 

He wrenched the box open. “Where are the people you’re transporting?” 

Dahyun forced herself to look from Chaeyoung and back to him. “You mean my crew?” 

A sigh. “Open that one.” He turned to the one with -80˚. 

She took the opportunity to grab the box and close it. Then she locked it. 

“It’s not like people’ll fit in that. ‘Less they’re corpses.” Nayeon was leaning against the door frame now. Her eyes were unfocused, but Dahyun knew she’d leap at them if things really got serious. Jeongyeon was next to her.

“Don’t play this with me,” he growled. “Where is Minatozaki?” 

Damn it. “Ah,” Dahyun said. “I get it. You lost your chance to save her yourself. Now you think we got her?” 

Two hands then grabbed her head and wrenched off the helmet. It clipped her ear and caught on some of her hair. “We got a tip she’s here. Either fess up or we’ll tear the ship apart.” 

She put a hand to her ear. Wasn’t bleeding. The door above hissed. Jihyo was back. It would be so easy to tell them where the girls were. 

“We already got searched,” Chaeyoung said. “Nothing came up. Nothing’s gonna here.” As she said it, Nayeon caught Dahyun's eye. Her brow rose a fraction. It was her call. Would she say the words? Take the trust placed in her and blast it to pieces?

She chose to deflect. Promise something else. “You wanna catch up with us after Luna 4, you can pick up those signals,” Dahyun added. “It’ll be enough for the steel.” 

Then the gun was pressed to her temple. “Once we get the girl, you can forget about the steel,” he hissed. “How about that?”

“So look for her,” she replied. “Because she’s not here.” 

The gun left her head, but a shot still sounded. 

She fell. It burned, but there wasn’t a lot of pain. The world of hurt would be coming soon. 

Then she heard a surprised yell. 

Nayeon had tossed two guns in the hall. Ripped them away. Dahyun saw her slam her own gun into the head of one and flip the other onto their back. They nearly missed one of the more fragile containers. Chaeyoung and Jeongyeon took care of the rest. The middle one had turned the gun on her co-captain, but he hadn’t gotten to shooting yet. A crack sounded and the guy cried out. He was lying beside her then, panting, his arm held behind him at a very awkward angle. If she hadn’t just been shot, Dahyun would have felt sorry for him. But she was lying on the ground, her leg bleeding onto the floor, her floor, so she counted the dislocated shoulder as a petty win. 

“Who told you she’s here?” Nayeon asked softly. “Ms. Cube herself?”

“We don’t know,” the one who’d been flipped said. That was fast. 

“So you come here on an anonymous tip?” A scoff. “Then why haven’t they stormed us? You really think someone would let this score go to Cube?” 

“Was worth the try,” the middle one gasped as Nayeon twisted his arm more, “can’t blame us for being curious. You guys could use that reward. Would also sell her if you had her.” 

Ouch, Dahyun thought, though forget it when the pain flared. There it was. Ow. For a brief moment, she wondered if their passengers thought that one of the crew had shot someone. They’d be in for a shock. 

“Now go bother someone else. Get any other fun tips?”

“You’re the only ones.”

That was even worse. The trust may have still been intact, but what about everything else? Of all the stations, of all the ships on T9 alone, to get a tip that was actually true. It should have been impossible, but here they were. What if the next one actually took apart the ship? What if they were more experienced than these scouts? What if the next shots weren’t just to the leg? 

_____

Author's Note

Chapter length seems to be all over the place right now. This isn't quite the story where I have cliffhangers all over the place, or else the chapter probably would have been cut in half. Still, it might be a tad chaotic, but I'm greatly enjoying myself. Life is a little hectic at the moment, so it fits! 

Either way, Mina and Nayeon are sizing each other up, Mina wants to revamp the ship's software, and there was a close call on T9. The poor crew's getting in the mix of this hunt through an anonymous tip. Will this be enough to fulfil the conditions to just leave the girls on the next station? Or are they there to stay now?

Side note, I was on Twitter when I saw this on the Saida feed (not sure what you call that). I couldn't believe my eyes, but I love it. So to the person who drew it, thank you very much! 

See you all next chapter :D