“First thing’s first,” Nayeon said. “Why were you in the Coruscant system?” It was definitely one of the richer ones, one she preferred to steer clear of nowadays. Yet compared to Earth, as well as the Moon and Mars, Aphrodite, its main planet, was almost as bad as the Kepler belt. Almost. 

“You know it well?” Mina asked. 

She wanted to ask if that really mattered, but things had to be kept light. If these girls were staying, then Nayeon wouldn’t resist biting back at this one. Something about her set her on edge. 

Thankfully, Dahyun replied before she could actually snap. “Not badly. A few jobs took us there.” 

Both legitimate and not, but Nayeon wasn’t going to say that any time soon. She was also glad Dahyun wasn’t making this a session of ‘getting to know your past’. 

It was a day after her co-captain had gotten shot. Jihyo had gotten the ship on a proper course and they were nearly ready to engage the full of the engines. They just had to get past the last gas giant and its moons, drop off one delivery, pass the periphery guard station, and then they were good. If they voted for leaving the girls, they’d either be on the largest moon, Selena 8, or even at the border station. That would depend on the odds of finding a new transport. 

For the sake of Dahyun’s leg, they were gathered in Tzuyu’s domain. She was handling it pretty well. Granted, this wasn't the first time Dahyun had gotten shot, but it always hurt like hell. You also went over every thing that you could have done better to avoid the split-second moment of a trigger being pulled. 

“We were first at the peace conference between Aphrodite and Artemis,” Sana said. “After that we had to handle things with the trade route to the system. Only worked after the fighting stopped.” 

“And why’d they allow you in for the truce?” Nayeon asked. A prickling sensation traveled up through her shoulder. She shook out the arm and ignored it. 

“It was a peace treaty,” Mina said. Her gaze had flickered to her only after Nayeon had wrung her arm out. “Not a ceasefire.” 

Sorry. She gave the others an apologetic look. These three couldn’t be that naive. “Stations never say they’re just taking a break,” Nayeon replied. And Artemis wasn’t going to be any different. "Or else they’d be shot to the next black hole.” Were there no station-planet conflicts in the Earth system? Or were those conflicts glossed over like much of everything there? Maybe they just had a lot of trade wars. “They’ll wait ’til your trade lines bring in the goods they need, then it’s back to annexing a moon or something.”

Dahyun had aimed a raised brow at her when she started speaking, but now she nodded. “And when did they get you?” Her mind was working behind those eyes.

“On Artemis.” 

Her co-captain frowned. “Any chance the ones who got you were from one of the two? Would make a whole lot more sense.” 

“How?” Mina didn’t sound clueless, but she was still asking the question. Was this all to gage what their standing was? A test? Nayeon couldn’t figure it out, but she’d indulge. Sana and Momo still looked pretty out of the loop. The rest of the crew had never been involved with their wealthier neighbouring system like Nayeon and Dahyun had. They just knew stories and occasional updates. What happened in the system you were currently in was what mattered. That meant Earth was usually a nuisance—like right now—and Coruscant was irrelevant. Or at least it had been until now. 

“Weapons developer slash empire’s heiress way outside her system, heading a potentially unsatisfactory or very worrying trade deal for one side,” Nayeon said. “If they were desperate enough, a nameless merc group might get you exactly what you need.” 

"And they'd successfully get business their way," the princess's eyes narrowed, "by storming our ship?"

So they’d been undocked when it happened. And unable to get away. What exactly was the level of tech of that group?

“Made a statement for sure,” Jeongyeon said. “Certain people won big. Here and there.”

“But here the attitude seems to be that Kepler would be the battlefield,” Sana replied. “Not to mention every jab between systems has had that reaction. In all three of the systems.” 

“But have Minatozaki ever had that stable an increase? Aphrodite’s Odin line and Artemis’ Cyberpoint shot up too. Even we were able to push our prices a bit.”

Nayeon was glad she didn’t mention all the companies. Even T9 had its weapons branch and those had gone up 5%. They were beyond crappy, but they were still selling. It wasn't hard to have a 'business' in the Kepler system. Some people thought that Dahyun had a mini branch of her own. What they didn't know was that they were scrambling enough as it was. To combat that, they'd diversified their goods to be both weapons and ships—hence why people thought they had a business. Even if it was shaky, Nayeon wouldn't trade it for the world. The Breakthrough might look terrible, but it was the best ship Nayeon had ever flown with. Jihyo could back her up on that. And that wasn't even mentioning the crew.

“Anyway,” Dahyun wrung out her wrists, “I’m guessing you don’t know who they’re linked with?”

“We didn’t get much,” Momo said. “Mina said there wasn’t much to go on at the time she came after us either.”

“Was the getaway easy?” Nayeon asked. Better than going around in circles speculating. What could they actually know about these people?

“Easy isn’t the right word,” Mina replied. 

Great. She couldn't take much of a euphemism either. “But you did it by yourself?”

She didn’t respond, but it said enough. This girl definitely wasn’t a guard. Nayeon should have seen it sooner. Was she some type of mercenary, spy, or other type of agent? There was a lot of loyalty there. Genuine looking too. So she wasn’t an emotionless shell or completely indoctrinated to serve the empire. Key word: completely. 

“Simply put,” Momo said. She’d never pass for a belter with that language. “I’m surprised they even took me prisoner.” 

It was said casually, but the reaction in the princess was immediate. She held herself well, but Nayeon watched her expression crumple. She knew that expression well. Too well.

Sana had said they'd been on a ship. That meant the rest were dead. Killed. 

This was messier than she’d expected. 

She caught Dahyun’s eye then. The other captain looked sombre. She was definitely reconsidering her stance. Nayeon was too. One of her closest friends in the literal galaxy had been shot because of this. The money no longer looked as promising as it did before.

Before the shot had sounded, Nayeon had been close to calling off the whole charade and telling them exactly where the princess was. She knew a shot would come, but something had held her back. Dahyun had kept on stalling, allowed very precious enzymes to be exposed, and let three guns be pointed at her. If she’d intended on handing over the girls, they would have been dragged out before Dahyun even opened the door. Nayeon would have helped. Jeongyeon may have joined her. Chaeyoung would have been either/or. Jihyo and Tzuyu would have refused. 

But this: Sana and Momo having been on a ship that was stormed, the rest of the people killed. Not only would they be feeling a huge amount of survivor's guilt, but also the guilt of putting people in danger too. She wasn't sure about Momo on that last part, but as the main target of the merc group, she was pretty sure Sana was being eaten alive by that guilt. 

Then Dahyun broke the silence. “Our turn then,” she said. “Cube's not gonna be coming after us until we come back. We don’t owe anyone desperate. There’s gonna be one delivery point at Luna 4, but they don’t let our types of ships land. We just have to stop at their guard station. As for the worst thing in your system that concerns us, apart from the risk of being arrested, is Nayeon’s ex.” 

She smiled at that. “And she knows this ship. Called it a gold-mine before, and a piece of junk afterwards.” And said something mildly similar about Nayeon, but she wouldn't say crude things like that. Nothing for a royal audience to hear. 

“Good riddance.” A pause. “But the biggest risk I see is someone getting another tip off and coming after us that way.” The mechanic adjusted her glasses as she hummed once. “We can pray it was a coincidence the whole ride to Earth, but we’re acting like it wasn’t.” Then her eyes hardened and she looked at Mina. “I heard you want to upgrade the software, make it more secure. Do it. Just don’t leave a trace.” She looked to the other two. “Now do you think we can manage without making you fake identities? If we suddenly get three new crew-members, that’s a confirmation to any suspicion if our software's breached.” 

“Then we don’t do it,” Sana said. “If someone comes, we just have to hide, right?” At least she was willing to go back to that spot. 

Nayeon nodded. “You bet. For the time being, I think we can tell you people the combinations. Not to our goods, since I heard you took apart one of our guns,” she gave them a wink, “but to get around without having to knock.” 

“Is everything on this ship blocked by a passcode?” Momo asked. 

“Almost,” Jihyo said. “The fridge should be, but it’s not. And for some reason only my room has a passcode in addition to voice recognition.” She threw a pointed look at Jeongyeon. 

She held her hands up. “You were the one who wanted absolute privacy.” Jeongyeon was clearly fighting a smirk. 

“Right.” The pilot smiled sheepishly. “Anyway, Jeong here will be taking down most of the locks, because your faces won’t be entering the system any time soon. As for the passcodes that we keep up, I can tell you those now.” Then she winked. “And the grand finale will be the cockpit. The best designed place on the ship.” 

“Didn’t you design it?” Tzuyu asked. 

“Exactly.” 

Nayeon couldn’t stop the next laugh. Dahyun’s eyes were wide. 

“I think they call that mutiny,” she muttered. “Okay, tour for you and desecuring for you,” she told Jeongyeon. “I also changed the cockpit to voice recognition.” 

“I know,” she said. “Only opened when I swore at it.” 

The princess spoke up then. “I thought we’re only supposed to speak well about the ship.” 

“We are,” Nayeon replied. “But we also value honesty.” She patted Dahyun’s head. “And I prefer honesty.”

She stuck out her tongue. “Doesn’t mean any of you can lay into the aesthetics of the Breakthrough.” 

Thankfully, the expressions of their new passengers had brightened. Even that of the Mina girl whose face had gone from a frown to a blank state. Even if she wasn’t, she wore the emotionless shell look well. Yet another reason Nayeon didn't trust her. It wasn't hard to find new ones. 

Then the three left with Jihyo, while Jeongyeon left to deal with the doors. 

When the door closed, Nayeon turned to the rest. 

“So are they staying?” she asked. “Jihyo votes yes. Jeongyeon, and I quote, said, “‘As long as they don’t report me for hacking them, I’m good’.”

“Did she tell them that?” Dahyun asked. “I’m not sure if that’s worse than me forging their stuff.” 

“Might treat you both equally,” Chaeyoung said. “But I vote yeah too. I checked the ship all over. Didn’t find anything out of place.” 

Except for every part of the ship. Nayeon didn’t say that. Dahyun was able to take a lot of comments about her ship–if they were from her crew, but there could be too much. She wasn’t about to make things worse by being an . At least not right now. 

“Do you trust them?” she asked instead. It was aimed at all of them. She wouldn’t say their crew had bad instincts when it came to people, but they had different criteria. Chaeyoung was sometimes too trusting, so was Tzuyu, especially if it caught on her heart, but she also had her moments when she was extremely distant. In the years they'd worked together, she'd learned that Dahyun meandered between great instincts and pretty bad ones. A lot of the time it was tamed by the fact that she could be super paranoid. There were also moments where Nayeon’s judgement was clouded and Dahyun swooped in, bringing a voice of reason to the table. Other times, the rest of the crew had to step in, because both were out of it. It was all a mixed bag. They needed to be open with each other for that reason. 

“I mean,” Chaeyoung started, “they’re probably the ones who’ve been asking that question ever since they came on board.” 

Nayeon shrugged. “And I think we’ve made a pretty good impression on that front.” All of them had kept their mouths shut. Dahyun had been shot. If these people didn’t trust them to get them from one part of space to the next, she’d almost be offended. “But do we think they’re fit to have on?”

“You don’t mean them,” Dahyun said. “You mean her. Mina.” 

Busted. 

“You don't trust her as in you think she’s hiding something from everyone, including the two people she came with?” Chaeyoung asked. “Or like, you think she’s hiding a big thing from us?”

“Second. Nothing that’ll get us killed.” At least she didn’t think so. “But something. She said she's a guard for Her Royal Highness, but she doesn't act like a guard.” 

Dahyun nodded. “So she might be their trained assassin for all we know." 

She put her palms up. "Or their High Inquisitor. Dunno."

“But nothing that says they shouldn't stay,” Tzuyu said. 

“Is there anyone who says no?” Dahyun asked. Then she reached for the bowl on the side-table. “I can eat now, right? I’m starving.”

Their doctor nodded. 

She took the first bite. Her eyes widened. “Did Jihyo get this from that place?” The next bite came, then another. The seriousness from just now faded from her eyes.

“That’s actually courtesy of our passengers,” Nayeon said. “So if she stayed, we’d have two cooks, not just one.” At least she’d voiced her worries. She really didn’t think Mina would be a danger to them, but there was something about her that just made her feel uneasy. 

“Interesting pitch,” Dahyun nodded, still chewing, “but those guys killed a whole crew, almost a whole one. And it was probably one of those MZ crafts.” 

“Could have been an inside job,” Nayeon said. “Someone who knew the blindspots. Or was just good enough to find them themselves.” 

“Whoever it was, I don’t want to get mixed up with them,” Dahyun replied. “But,” she trailed off. 

“It feels wrong to leave them?” Tzuyu suggested. “You’d be abandoning them to start everything all over again?”

“You don’t have to make me feel worse,” Nayeon’s co-captain grumbled. “But yeah.” She looked at her. “What do you think?”

“We’re on our way anyway, and we can always drop them off on a dwarf planet.” Chaeyoung shrugged. “But if we pull this off, it’ll have been worth it.” 

"Hopefully.” A part of Dahyun’s mouth tilted downwards. “They’ll stay.” 

____

“Right,” Jihyo said. “Before I show you the proper layout, first I’ll show you everywhere you can go for a quick getaway.” Her eyes were light as she said it, but the words sounded very authoritative. Then she led them past the main doors. “It might seem a little counter-productive to have a ramp to get in. It actually wasn’t always that way. This used to be just the docking port for other ships, until Nayeon said we could always use the extra seconds before being boarded by search parties.” She shrugged. “And today, I’d say it worked.”

“Where was the old entrance then?” Momo asked. 

“The storage room. Still works.” 

“Are you saying you put us in a door?” Mina looked bewildered. Sana was glad she wasn’t shielding her expression as much. Mina was trained to school her features whenever she could. The only time she didn’t was when Sana forced both her and Momo to take a break. Then she’d start to smile, slowly, before eventually grinning. Sana wondered if she’d show this side of hers here as well. 

The pilot glanced over her shoulder. “Don't worry, it's sliding one. Unless you’re really really dumb, no one gets hurt and nothing gets crushed.” 

“And what if people accidentally open the secret door?” Now the tone of her spymaster grew harsher. Sana was about to reach out and squeeze her hand. She had no idea where they stood on this ship, both literally and figuratively. They didn't need tensions to rise even more. Even if the crew had every reason to throw them out. Whether or not they figured it out or not, they'd have a pretty good idea about what happened when Sana and Momo were captured. They'd know about the deaths Sana was responsible for. They had every right to be afraid she'd bring even more. 

She in a breath. If that was what they decided, she wouldn't blame them if they actually left them behind. 

Jihyo didn’t seem to mind. “They don’t. We lock it with a passcode and fingerprint, so the code only works if the right person punces in the numbers.” She frowned then. “It wouldn’t be hard to put your prints into the system, but if those guys are from Artemis or Aphrodite,” a shrug, “well, they’d see new prints.” She led them to the other side of the upper levels of the ship. There were mostly storage containers. here. 

Sana sighed. “I'm sorry for making this so complicated.” She wanted to apologise for a lot more, but she already had. 

“Please,” she laughed, “complicated is manoeuvring this ship through asteroids. We’ll just have to make sure one of us is always close enough to get you in there.” She pointed up to her left and then above them. “Those are the hatches to do outside repairs. Double layered so, you know, we don’t all die.” 

“Why are there two?” 

“There are four in total. Dahyun was saying it’s just in case we get hit at one or two of them and they jam. Makes sense, but the fourth one was just to make her happy.” 

“She sounds a bit paranoid,” Momo said. 

Sana felt the urge to shush her, but she had to agree. 

The pilot laughed. “She is, but it works.” She then showed them what was in the cupboards, including suits for the vacuum, different helmets. “In case we don’t want to be all matching.” And then she pulls aside one of the other mismatched panels. “This leads to the escape pod. It took a lot to get Dahyun to only have one, but you can guarantee that when we have the money, she’s building a second one. Might stick it on one of the hatches.” 

“Is that another door?” Sana pointed to a more uniform collection of scrap. It was beside the escape pod. 

“Leads to the hardware room," she shrugged, "dunno what they call it. Engines and all that stuff is there."

The layout of the ship was strange. On the top were the cockpit, health bay, and accesses to the engines and the exterior of the ship, including an escape pod. Below were the rooms, the common area, the storage area, and a few other rooms Sana had not yet seen. Yet she couldn’t help but think there was a purpose to every little placement, even of the scrappy panels. She wasn’t sure what exactly that was yet. 

As they returned to the ladder, she saw Tzuyu and Chaeyoung walking out, Nayeon and Dahyun’s laughter following them. One was a vibrant cackle, the other hearty. 

Jihyo glanced at the storage room. “You all know this room already. Same goes for the common area, and I hope ya know how to get back to your rooms.” She pushed out her cheeks. It was an unexpected expression for someone who sounded so authoritative.

Then again, those who were explicitly the leaders swung between acting like it and acting exactly the opposite. It was a trend with this crew. 

She still took them into the kitchen. There was a thin window that showed they were passing by a gas giant. Were they nearing the delivery point? Or the drop-off point for Sana, Mina, and Momo? She had hope that they'd let them stay, but she couldn't shake the feeling that they were more unwelcome here. For good reason too. 

"Under the window's another little escape hatch type-thing slash way to get out of the ship." She rolled her eyes. "We've never used it, but just so you know." Then she tapped her knuckles to her head. "Knock on wood." Another smile. "Anyway, let's get to the place you're most likely to find one of our captains or Chaeyoung. Either there or by the engines." She walked out of the room. "You'll have to ask one of them for the other access point to hardware. It's not important for you three to know, but if you're curious." Another shrug. 

They walked past the rooms, the storage room, and the ladder. Then they came to a door slightly wider than the rest. Almost as wide as that in the storage area. 

Jihyo typed in a code and the door hissed open. It revealed a workshop. The best looking room, perhaps, in the entire ship. At least that’s what Sana thought.

Jihyo looked between them all, her gaze now serious.

“Don't start taking apart the stuff in here. Our mechanic duo would not take lightly to that.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Especially Chaeyoung, because she does stuff without much of a plan.” 

“Does she always get it to work?” Sana had tried that once with a gun. She’d ended up making a slot for the trigger on the top of the gun. Not very practical. At least it had looked good. 

“She’s gotten better.” Jihyo opened the door and started going outside. “I mean, it usually all works, though Dahyun’s made it a policy that the trigger and barrel have to be planned beforehand.” She grimaced. “Or else you got something that literally backfires.” 

Sana was about to follow when her eye caught on something. It was a delicate set of rings. From the maps she’d studied, she recognised it. The Coruscant system, a live depiction of the things in orbit around its sun. She wondered if the mechanic had made it herself. There was the usual scrappiness where two of the rings were copper, one of the planets steel, and the sun was a block of iron. Yet the movement was easy, almost elegant, and every now and then numbers or text appeared. News or market prices. She went closer to it. 

Aphrodite had raided an Artemis trading ship. The Minatozaki prices on Artemis had doubled. Search parties were being made to find Sana. 

“We got one of those near the kitchen for Kepler,” Jihyo said. “Now we get to the grand finale. The cockpit.” 

"Wait." Mina's gaze had gone stony again. "How do you all know so much about the Coruscant system?"

Her brow rose. “I don’t. It’s just Nayeon and Dahyun.” Then she sighed. "Don't tell them I said that. Also don't ask them about it." 

“So why, well, how do your captains know so much about Aphrodite and Artemis?” Sana asked. Jihyo'd said they shouldn’t ask the captains directly, which was an important detail in and of itself, but one she knew should be saved for later. 

She sighed. “You let one thing slip out and it haunts you, huh?”

Mina frowned. "Why is that a slip-up?"

Yet another shrug. "It isn't really. It's just one of those things we didn't hear about until they told us.” 

Something was wrong with that sentence, but Sana didn't want to comment on it. 

None of them responded, waiting for the answer. 

She closed her eyes. "Well, it wouldn’t take you a whole lot of brains to figure out, but both are from the Coruscant system.” She glanced at the door. “Jeongyeon's from the Earth system. Rest of us were born and raised in the Kepler system.” 

“And why did you act as though it should be a secret?” Mina crossed her arms. “Why would it matter that we know where you and the others come from?” She was doing that tone where it’s not exactly an attack, nor a proper question. 

By Jihyo’s expression, she saw though it in an instant. “Because sometimes it’s better to be in the now,” she snapped. “Sorry,” her expression softened, “it’s just—just keep it at that.” The door opened. "Now let's go." 

Sana saw Mina's point. Unless there was something to hide, it shouldn't be such an issue. A system change was never insignificant. There was such a distance between you and your home. It took long to cover. Sana was very conscious of the distance to Earth. Unless there was a more painful memory, or reason to reject the system. Coruscant wasnt exactly known for its standard of life, even if it was an overall wealthier system than Kepler. She doubted Dahyun, as well as Nayeon, had come to Kepler for the money when Coruscant had more than enough opportunities. There had to be something else. There was probably even more to it than Sana, Momo, or even Mina could imagine. 

She took another look at the system model before following. That there was a model in the workshop at all—didn’t that mean Dahyun wasn’t completely rejecting of where she came from? Was it the same for Nayeon? Or something completely different? If they were allowed to stay, she wondered if they'd ever find that out. She found she wanted to. 

_____

Author's Note

First thing's first, you do not need to know the layout of this ship! I just thought I'd leave it here so it's clear what exactly is on this ship. It's a mish-mash of rooms, partially because of how it was built in the first place (though that's a story for another day). 

Second, I hope you'll pardon me for the Star Wars reference with the Coruscant system. This story was born from a SW marathon I was doing before watching The Rise of Skywalker. 

In terms of their 'states', the Earth system is the wealthiest (being the original as well) and is more or less well established. The best way I could describe them is that Earth is a bit of a chaotic good system (might not be using this term very well) where they have laws and live by them, but there's certainly a darker side to it (which will be touched upon soon). Coruscant is chaotic neutral, as they are a wealthy system, but there is a lot of internal strife, particularly between the Artemis station and Aphrodite (the Earth-like planet). The Kepler system is just about in the middle (neutral), but they are the least organised and least wealthy of the three systems. They are essentially aligned with and dependent on Earth. Crime is present in all three, but in Kepler it is the most 'obvious'. For example, forgery and smuggling are highly common, while certain 'crews' can be considered space pirates or space mafia. 

Finally, this is certainly a light-hearted space romp, but there's a few worldbuilding hurdles in place beforehand. I hope you'll bear with me as we explore this universe! If you have any questions, do ask. A lot of it isn't quite so pressing for the crux of the story (Saida and the side-ship of Minayeon), but for me personally I have to include some of it. 

If you can't tell, I might have been having too much fun with this world. Lately my stories have been taking a turn for the worse (fic-terms: angsty?) and this story is exactly what I need. The next chapter will be up soon as well. I've got a 'free day' tomorrow, so I'm excited to get back to developing the relationships on this ship. I hope you are too. 

I'm sorry for the really long note, but I would love to know your thoughts on this. Feedback is welcome, especially if you think I'm getting out of control and things are a bit too muddled. 

See you next chapter!