The Final Frontier “Shields are down to 14%!”   “Target in view!”   “The engines are failing!”   “Incoming call, do we take it?”   “Lasers are ready to fire on your command, Captain!”   “Do we take the call?!”   “Target still in view, do we fire?”   “… Captain?”   Jongwoon stared at the main screen, seeing 3 small Botanships and one large one firing at them with green lasers. A few more ships could be seen in the distance, but they weren’t close enough yet to be firing at them as well.   “Jongwoon?” Henry asked, as everyone turned to stare at him, waiting for his command on what to do next. Jongwoon unfroze on his spot and nodded to Henry to take the incoming call. From the corner of his eyes he could see Kyuhyun staring at him worryingly, his finger ready to push the fire button but still waiting for the command to do so.   As Henry accepted the incoming call from one of the Botanships, Jungsu’s face popped up on the screen. A few gasps were heard, and silence took over the entire bridge room. Even though everyone knew it couldn’t be Jungsu on the other side of the line, his death was still fresh in their minds, and seeing him like that, alive and well, was still hard for some of them. Especially for Jongwoon.   “Shields down to 6%,” Youngwoon suddenly mentioned, and everyone snapped out of their trance, except for Jongwoon.   “Captain, awaiting the command to fire,” Kyuhyun added impatiently, staring at Jongwoon who seemed completely out of it. “Jongwoon, it’s not real,” he then added a little sympathetically, seeing that Jongwoon was seriously completely losing control of himself and his emotions.    “Shields have been destroyed,” a computerized voice suddenly said. “Intruder alert,” it added, and some of the people inside of the bridge sighed in annoyance.   “Stop simulation,” Sungmin sighed defeated.   The red lights that had been flashing ever since the shields had been below 50% stopped, the bridge vanished and the 6 of them looked around in a nearly empty room. A door opened and Han Geng walked in.   “Good job, guys. We almost had them this time,” he said, smile on his face as usual, and patting Jongwoon on his shoulder to let him know that he actually had done well, even though it had been yet another failure.   “I’ll be in my quarters,” Jongwoon said with an unreadable expression on his face and he walked out of the room without looking back. Kyuhyun instantly wanted to run after him, but Sungmin stopped him.   “Let him be, he just needs some time,” Sungmin said, and Kyuhyun didn’t go against him. Sungmin, after all, had a higher position than him, and he was taught to listen to those with a higher position. That he dated the actual Captain of the ship didn’t give him a free pass to do whatever he liked.   “Maybe we were too hard on him,” Hyukjae mumbled, feeling slightly guilty even though he hadn’t said a word throughout the whole simulation.   “Too hard on him?” Youngwoon repeated, “We were far from too hard on him. He needs to know he can’t hesitate to fire during important moments like these. Simulation or not.”   “But it was Jungsu on –“   “Jungsu is dead,” Youngwoon interrupted Hyukjae, who grimaced at the still painful words.   “Commander Youngwoon, other than you, we are all human. We grieve over those who died,” Sungmin said statically, staring at Youngwoon in mild anger.    Youngwoon is a Janhok, and also the only non-human walking around on the ship. He had helped them a long time ago on one of their missions that had taken place on Youngwoon’s home planet, and he had never left them ever since. Jungsu was the one who had allowed him onto their ship, even though on Earth they were warned to never let another species enter the ship. However, Youngwoon had proven his loyalty to Captain Jungsu a long time ago, and he was now Chief Operations Officer. He was also the 2nd Officer in command, after Sungmin and of course Jongwoon. However, ever since Jungsu had died and Jongwoon had taken over his position as Captain, Youngwoon had started to act indifferently.    Youngwoon sniffed fiercely, but said nothing in return.   “We are reaching Pota,” Kibum suddenly interrupted through the intercom, and Sungmin pressed his earpiece to reply.   “Acknowledged,” he released his earpiece and turned to the others, who were still looking rather cantankerous, “back to the bridge,” he said to them, clapping his hands twice as a way to tell them to hurry the up already. Everyone instantly grabbed their belongings and started walking back towards the bridge hastily.   “Lieutenant-Commander,” Sungmin, who walked behind everyone else, suddenly called out, and Kyuhyun turned around and stared at him questioningly. “Go check on our Captain, you are not yet needed on the bridge,” Sungmin told him, and even though it sounded like an order, he didn’t mean it that way. Kyuhyun nodded firmly, as if he was indeed taking up an order, and walked into a different direction than the others; straight towards Jongwoon’s quarters.      -------ൠ--ൠ--ൠ--ൠ-------     Kyuhyun knocked once, but there was no answer. He knocked again, still no answer. He sighed and then opened the panel right from the door to key in his security code. He was, after all, head of security and he could access every room with his code if he wanted to. Not that he misused that privilege, he only entered rooms if he had to. And only Jongwoon’s room if he wanted to. Really!   The door slid open, and Kyuhyun walked inside the dark room. It took him a moment to get adjusted to the darkness surrounding him, but just a small while later he could distinguish Jongwoon’s silhouette lying on his bed.   Kyuhyun walked over towards him, and sat down on the bed side.   “Captain, are you okay?” Kyuhyun asked, placing his hand on Jongwoon’s shoulder, as the latter was lying on his side, facing the wall. “Captain?” Kyuhyun continued, as Jongwoon didn’t respond.   “Drop the formalities, it’s just us in a room, Kyuhyun,” Jongwoon said, almost in a whisper. His voice trembled a little, and Kyuhyun instantly knew he had been crying.   Kyuhyun lay down behind Jongwoon and put his arms around the latter’s waist. “You don’t need to act strong around me, just let it go,” he said, back-hugging him strongly. And as if that was what Jongwoon had been waiting for, he turned around, hugged Kyuhyun back tightly, and muffled his face into Kyuhyun’s chest before crying his eyes out.   Kyuhyun tried to soothe him with sweet words, telling him that everything was going to be okay, his hair lovingly, and waited for Jongwoon to finish his crying. He didn’t tell him to stop crying, because it had been just 2 weeks since Jungsu had died. And in those 2 weeks, Jongwoon had tried to be strong for everyone else. He had been the First Commander, and when Jungsu died, he automatically had taken over his position as Captain. However, Jungsu had been his best friend since young, and losing a best friend couldn’t be easy, Kyuhyun figured. But as a Captain, you had to be strong and couldn’t show anyone any sign of weakness. He had to support his crew, and therefore he had forgotten to grieve himself.   “I miss him, Kyuhyun. I miss him so much,” Jongwoon eventually managed to choke out, as the crying subsided a little. Even though he felt completely horrible, the crying did make him feel slightly better. And he was happy Kyuhyun was there with him, because he really needed someone. And Kyuhyun was actually the only one who he would show his weakness to. And Sungmin, maybe, as Sungmin was a very good friend of his as well. And Jungsu, of course, when he was still alive.   “I know,” Kyuhyun replied softly, “I do too.”   They remained lying like that for a few minutes. Kyuhyun still soothing Jongwoon as far as his abilities let him, and Jongwoon slowly returned to his strong self.    “If we ever get attacked like in the simulation, just shoot and don’t wait for my command, okay?” Jongwoon said, laughing through his tears a little as he thought about how badly he had screwed the simulation once again.   “You know I can’t d—“   “I command you to shoot without my command during dreadful situations like that,” Jongwoon interrupted firmly, and Kyuhyun smiled before saying that he would shoot if he really needed to to save their lives, even though Jongwoon hadn’t given the command.    “Sungmin will probably kill me after, though,” Kyuhyun thoughtfully said, and Jongwoon smiled at the thought of Sungmin running after Kyuhyun with his laser ready to fire, only because Kyuhyun had just saved all of their lives.   “He really would, wouldn’t he?”   A sudden sound interrupted them, and both of them looked towards the door to see who it was, standing in front of Jongwoon’s door. Sungmin’s impatient-looking face was clearly visible on the tiny screen next to the door, Jongwoon sighed before standing up and walking towards it to answer Sungmin’s call, while mumbling, “speak of the devil.”   “Commander,” he answered after reaching the panel, and Sungmin nearly jumped. He hadn’t expected Jongwoon to answer, and he was about to use the same tactic as Kyuhyun had used before to get inside.   “Captain, we are reaching Pota,” Sungmin said, and Jongwoon nodded before turning off the tiny screen. He wiped the remaining tears off his cheek, pulled his act back together and opened the door for Sungmin to walk in.   Sungmin instantly stared at Kyuhyun, who was still lying on the bed as if it was completely normal to lie on your Captain’s bed, and then stared at Jongwoon suspiciously, eyes squinted together like a hawk, “Everything okay here?” he asked, still suspicious.    “Everything is fine,” Jongwoon answered politely, every sign of him breaking down earlier had completely vanished. Sungmin nodded restrainedly, as if he wasn’t buying it at all, but knew he had no other choice but to accept the answer, and told them to come to the bridge immediately. They couldn’t land without a Captain requesting to land after all. Kyuhyun stood up quickly, and Sungmin led the way towards the bridge.     -------ൠ--ൠ--ൠ--ൠ-------     “I am Commanding Officer Kim Jongwoon, Captain of the Jayuuï Jeonsa,” Jongwoon replied the Potaniën, who had requested to speak with the Captain of the ship to Sungmin, who had kindly requested to land on Pota earlier.   The Potaniën looked down on his paper for a little, before looking up again, “Where is Captain Park Jungsu?”   Sungmin, Kyuhyun, Henry and Hyukjae turned to stare at Jongwoon worryingly, but he wasn’t dropping his façade at all.   “Two weeks ago, we encountered Maishas on what seemed to be a deserted planet. We ended up in a fierce fight, and our Captain died while trying to protecting us,” Jongwoon answered vehemently. The Potaniën looked down at his paper once again, flipped a few pages, and suddenly looked up with a much more friendly appearance.   “Very well, Commanding Officer Kim Jongwoon, Captain of the Jayuuï Jeonsa. Landing request approved.”   The Potaniën broke contact, and Jongwoon finally noticed everyone looking at him concerned. He quirked one of his eyebrows and turned to stare at Hyukjae, who looked more worried than everyone else in the room combined.   “Cornet, what are you waiting for? Get us to the ground!” he ordered, and Hyukjae instantly snapped out of his concerned mode.   “Certainly, Captain!” he replied, and he turned around to his controls to stir them towards the tiny planet. Finally they could set foot on some ground again, the first time since Jungsu had died.     -------ൠ--ൠ--ൠ--ൠ-------     They had come to Pota to speak with a certain Potaniën named Kim Heechul. Heechul was one of the higher positioned Potaniëns, and he could help Jongwoon and his crew in their seemly never-ending battle against the Maishas.    The Maishas are from the planet Menthu. They are a green and slimy species, yet they still look a lot like humans. They aren’t difficult to kill, as a well-aimed laser shot would do the trick, but they have an extraordinary specialty. A specialty that makes humans vulnerable. They can shape-shift. Shape-shift into those who they have touched. Humans, more than most species, can easily be led by feelings, and shape-shifting into someone they care about will easily distract them. The Maishas know that. They had killed Jungsu, and taken his body along with them as precaution so they could easily shape-shift into him when needed.    That is one of the reasons why Han Geng is trying to get Jongwoon ready for a Maisha-Jungsu encounter. He had to be able to shut down his personal emotions and continue being the assertive Captain that he should be during important times. It was still hard for Jongwoon to do so, but he would get there, eventually.   The Maishas are an almost distinguished species though, there are only a few ships left and their home planet had been destroyed under Jungsu’s lead nearly a year ago. As far as the Jayuuï Jeonsa crew knows, there are only 5 ships of Maishas left. One mothership and 4 smaller battle ships. Even though they don’t want to destroy an entire species, the Maishas have proven that sometimes you just have to. But they couldn’t do it alone, though. The Maishas also have proven to be worthy enemies, and therefore Jayuuï Jeonsa is looking for companions to help them in their battle.    As soon as Hyukjae had navigated the ship onto the planet, Jongwoon had told Sungmin, Youngwoon and Kyuhyun to join him, fully armed, while the rest were free to explore the planet on their own, as long as they stayed in the main street, and didn’t wander off to unknown territories.   Jongwoon, Sungmin, Youngwoon and Kyuhyun soon entered a churchlike building not too far away from their ship, where Heechul was supposed to be waiting for them. A choir was singing a song to them in an unknown language, and when they finally spotted Heechul sitting among the audience and were about to greet him with words, he put up his hand and subsequently pointed towards the choir; they had to be silent until the choir had finished their singing.   Jongwoon and Sungmin silently sat down next to Heechul and handed him a translator device for their much-needed conversation later, while Youngwoon and Kyuhyun remained standing as some kind of bodyguards. They were taken along to protect their Captain and first Officer after all.   The choir continued singing for another 15 minutes until they finally stopped and walked away.   “Captain, Sub Commander,” Heechul greeted both Jongwoon and Sungmin, touching his forehead with his middle and index finger; the way Potaniëns greeted strangers. Jongwoon and Sungmin made the same gesture, “Had a safe trip?”   “No encounters for the past two weeks, they might be preparing as well,” Jongwoon replied, and Heechul nodded understandingly before standing up, leading them towards a more private corner of the building.   “I have talked with my superiors, they have agreed to help, however not with full force,” Heechul whispered.    “How many ships?” Jongwoon asked, seriousness written all over his face.    “Two,” came the answer.   “… Just two? We can’t –“ Jongwoon started, but Youngwoon interrupted him.   “We are being watched, Captain.”   The four others who hadn’t noticed that they were being watched instantly turned and glanced around. The building was pretty crowded, yet they were  standing at a more quiet area. They instantly noticed 3 pretty strong looking men –well, they thought they were men– from an unknown species staring at them intensely.    Kyuhyun instinctively reached for his laser, but Heechul stopped him by grabbing his arm powerfully. Kyuhyun flinched at the strength of the Potaniën, but made no sound.   “Do not show any violence towards them. They are Kipi warlords, one wrong move and you are dead,” Heechul hissed, and Kyuhyun gulped, feeling as if he had somehow already doomed all five of them.    Heechul glanced around the building for a little before he noticed a small door just a few meters away from them. It was an emergency exit, and honestly, this counted as an emergency.   “Slowly walk towards that door,” he explained in a whisper, gesturing his head towards the tiny door, “Do not make any unexpected moves if you want to survive,” he added warningly, before going in front.   Kyuhyun was silently forced to go next, as he was the youngest among all of them, and he was followed by Youngwoon, Sungmin and Jongwoon respectively. They walked backwards, not averting their eyes from the violent-looking men, and made it to the door entrance without any trouble. However, as soon as Heechul went through the door, and therefore disappeared out of the men’s sights, they started to look more pissed off. They talked with each other exuberantly, and Sungmin gulped loudly, while they all instantly stopped moving to not piss them off even more.   “Why were they allowed to land on this planet in the first place?” Youngwoon grunted disapprovingly, before pushing Kyuhyun towards the door harshly. Kyuhyun nearly fell down, but managed not to, much to his own relief. The last place he wanted to be with three warlords around was lying vulnerable on the ground with his face flat on the tiles.   As Kyuhyun also hastily left through the door, the three warlords started to walk towards the remaining members slowly. Their antennae –or whatever they were—instantly sprung up, their tentacles started to make odd movements, and their eyes started to glow a bright shade of poison green.   “I think we need to dash out of here fast,” Sungmin gulped, knowing that as soon as Youngwoon would leave the room, Sungmin and Jongwoon had no time to spare but to dash outside before those three men could get to them. And then the only thing they could do was hope that the small wooden door would be enough protection and would keep them safe.    “On my command,” Jongwoon said, tense, and Sungmin and Youngwoon nodded in agreement. “Three. Two. One... Go!” Jongwoon ordered hissy, and Youngwoon dashed outside. The moment Youngwoon had left, the three warlords bent forward and started running forward on what seemed like 8 feet. They dashed forward in a speed that was in no way a speed a human being would be able to make on just two feet, and Sungmin and Jongwoon made a sprint for the door.   Sungmin reached for the doorpost and was about to just throw himself through the door, when something slippery suddenly crawled up his leg. He looked down briefly and gulped as he noticed it was a tentacle holding him tightly. He did one last attempt to shake the tentacle off his leg, but failed and he was pulled back harshly. He still managed to keep a hold on the doorpost, though, and he was now holding onto it with all his might, while his leg felt like it was about to be torn off.   Jongwoon had pretty much the same fate. Only he hadn’t been able to reach the doorpost and was now being dragged towards one of the warlords who had a hold on his leg. He instinctively grabbed his laser and shot. It was a direct hit, however, the Kipi warlord didn’t budge at all. He just smiled –or it looked like he did, as his face was pretty much covered in tentacles as well—and continued pulling Jongwoon towards him.   Youngwoon was the first one to respond. He instantly grabbed Sungmin’s arms, as he was closest to him, and tugged him harshly. Kyuhyun, on the other hand, ran back inside in search of Jongwoon.   Heechul reached into his pocket and got out a small blade, before sighing and looking up into the sky briefly, saying a silent and quick prayer. He then took a good hold on the blade and also ran back inside, passing Youngwoon and cutting the tentacle that was still trying to detach Sungmin’s leg from his body. The tentacle was cut off completely, and the grip on Sungmin’s leg vanished. Sungmin panted and Youngwoon instantly pulled him outside and checked for injuries.   “Does this hurt?” he asked, as he grabbed Sungmin’s leg imprudently . Sungmin instantly cursed violently, and Youngwoon took that as a yes. “I think your leg is broken, other than that you are fine,” he concluded. Sungmin glared at him, when he suddenly noticed that it was just the two of them outside.   “Where are the others?” He asked confused, thinking that he was the only one who had been attacked by the warlords.   “Saving our Captain,” was the reply, and Sungmin instantly tried to stand up to save his Captain and friend as well. Youngwoon pushed him back onto the ground harshly and told him not to move.   “But we need to help Jongwoon!” Sungmin yelled frantically, still trying to get up.   “Stay down,” Youngwoon said, throwing a laser to Sungmin so he had something to defend himself with, and ran back inside as well.   Inside, the situation had only gotten worse. Two warlords were hovering above Jongwoon, who seemed to be unconscious, while Kyuhyun tried to attack one of the two with his bare fists. The third warlord was trying to knock out Heechul with his many tentacles, completely outraged because Heechul had dared to cut one of his precious tentacles off. Heechul, however, skillfully managed to dodge most of the tentacles, and only took a few minor hits.   As Heechul seemed to be doing just fine, Youngwoon dashed towards Kyuhyun and the two warlords hovering over Jongwoon. He found Sungmin’s laser, which he had lost earlier, along the way and instantly started shooting at the two warlords when he could. Kyuhyun suddenly seemed to snap out of his fury and his brain registered that it was indeed smarter to use a laser than bare fists in this battle. He too grabbed his laser and shot at the two warlords. They seemed to be taken by surprise, but didn’t back off without taking Jongwoon with them.   As soon as Youngwoon accidently hit one of the warlords’ larger tentacles, it seemed to make a weird sound that probably meant that it was in pain. Youngwoon and Kyuhyun instantly made good use of the newly discovered knowledge and aimed at the larger tentacles of both the warlords.    The warlords eventually dropped Jongwoon and retreated rapidly, much to Youngwoon’s and Kyuhyun’s relief. The third suddenly ran past them as well, and instantly everything was silent. Some of the Potaniëns, who had been inside the building when the attack started, crawled from underneath their hiding place to ascertain whether the battle was indeed over.    “Jongwoon hyung!” Kyuhyun yelled from beside Youngwoon, and he dashed towards their injured Captain. Youngwoon noticed the lack of formalities that Kyuhyun had just used, but didn’t say a thing about it. Everyone knew there was more between those two than they actually showed, and it was something that had already long ago been accepted, even though the two of them didn’t know that yet and still tried to hide their supposedly secret relationship.   Kyuhyun fell down next to Jongwoon and checked his heartbeat first. It was still pounding as it was supposed to, and even stronger than Kyuhyun had expected it to be. Jongwoon’s leg was completely blue, though, and he had lost quite an amount of blood due to some cuts the warlords had caused to him. But other than that, he seemed to be fine on first sight.   “Is he okay?” Someone asked, and Kyuhyun glanced up. Heechul was standing behind him, and looked at him questioningly. “Is your Doctor still inside the ship? We should get him and the other one there,” Heechul continued.   “Oh, right,” Kyuhyun replied, and he gritted at the thought that Donghae was probably exploring Pota with Hyukjae. “Doctor, are you there?” Kyuhyun asked, using his earpiece to connect to everyone of their crew.   “Donghae speaking,” came the reply just a few seconds later, and Kyuhyun sighed in relief. He actually hadn’t known for sure if communication would be possible, as some planets use jammers for safety reasons.   “Captain Jongwoon and First Officer Sungmin are hurt, your assistance is required,” Kyuhyun explained, amazed that he was actually able to explain everything as calm as he did; he was feeling anything but calm.   “Hurt?” Donghae replied astonished. They had all lived in the understanding that the Potaniëns were on their good side.   “Long story, return to the ship immediately,” Kyuhyun replied, terminating the conversation just like that.   Heechul lifted the still unconscious Jongwoon from his place and walked towards the tiny door they were supposed to flee from earlier. Youngwoon was already carrying Sungmin in his arms, who was complaining that he could walk on his own perfectly fine and didn’t needed to be carried bridal style, and they walked back towards the ship, which luckily wasn’t too far away.     -------ൠ--ൠ--ൠ--ൠ-------     They returned to the ship before their Doctor did. They walked towards the sickbay and placed both Jongwoon and Sungmin onto a bed. Sungmin remained sitting up, while Jongwoon was told to keep lying down. He was conscious again though, but still quite hazy.    Donghae soon returned to the ship, and he had dragged Ryeowook, his ‘nurse’, along with him.   Ryeowook was ordered to splint Sungmin’s broken leg, while Donghae looked after Jongwoon.   “Kyuhyun, you really need to move aside. I can’t take care of Jongwoon properly like this,” Donghae sighed, and Kyuhyun reluctantly let go of Jongwoon’s hand and took a few steps backwards.   Donghae, as their Doctor, was on a more personal level with every crewmember on board of their ship. He never used honorifics, not even to their Captain.    “Hmm, you need a few stitches, and you have a mild concussion. I forbid you to fight any warlords for the upcoming week,” Donghae said solemnly to Jongwoon, and Jongwoon smiled strenuously before trying to sit up.   He instantly turned green when he sat up, and was about to fall forward when Donghae pushed him back down, “That’s it, you are staying here overnight.”   “I can’t, I have duti—“   “You take care of your duties from within the sickbay,” Donghae ordered, making clear that there was no room for negotiations. Donghae warningly stared at Kyuhyun, making sure that he wouldn’t come up with some kind of plan to get Jongwoon out of the sickbay anyway, before eying their guest who had been standing in the corner silently ever since they had arrived back at the ship.   “Hi there, I’m Lee Donghae, Jayuuï Jeonsa’s amazing Doctor,” he introduced himself, sticking his hand forward, which was warily eyed by Heechul.   “What is he doing?” Heechul asked suspiciously, to no one in particular, and Donghae eyed him wide eyed.   “What language is that? Hasn’t Henry added the Potaniën language to our system yet?” Donghae looked at Jongwoon confused, nearly afraid, and he jabbed at his translator viciously. To him, Heechul’s words had made no sense.   “Did you even switch it on?” Jongwoon eventually asked, as Donghae seemed to freak out and was about to kill his translator devise and Heechul, who to him was an unknown intruder, all together.    “Switch it—Of course I switched it on! I am not a moron. Like I wouldn’t—like..,” suddenly Donghae blushed and started to whistle as if he hadn’t just freaked out completely.   “It was off, wasn’t it?” Jongwoon laughed, still strained as his head was throbbing in pain, and Donghae instantly walked to him.   “Didn’t I say you needed to rest? Lay back down, and go get some sleep. Everyone else, OUT!” Donghae ended the discussion, and he pushed everyone out of his sickbay, including Ryeowook. He closed the door shortly after, and everyone outside of the sickbay stared at each other, still slowly realizing that they had just been pushed out of the sickbay by Donghae out of all people.   “Humans are really interesting,” Heechul thought out loud, and everyone turned to stare at him blankly.   “Aren’t we?” Sungmin eventually interrupted the silence, balancing himself and his broken splinted leg by hanging onto Kyuhyun’s shoulder. “Let’s continue our conversation in our conference room, shall we?”   With Jongwoon out of the picture, and with them lacking time to wait for him to get better to continue the important conversation, it was Sungmin who had to continue the arrangements.   Heechul nodded once and Kyuhyun, with Sungmin still hanging on his shoulder, led the way towards the conference room. Youngwoon joined in as well, and with that the company was complete.      -------ൠ--ൠ--ൠ--ൠ-------     After long hours of talking, Heechul eventually had managed to convince his superiors to send in 3 fully crewed battle ships. Heechul would be the Commanding Officer of these 3 ships, while he directly would take orders from Jongwoon or, if needed in the situation, by his temporary replacement.   The three battle ships were instantly being prepared and ought to be ready within the next 5 days. Until then, the crew from Jayuuï Jeonsa was treated like guests on Pota.   Jongwoon remained on the ship, as Donghae had prohibited him from leaving, for those 5 days.   Donghae and Hyukjae, together with Ryeowook, bought basically every store empty, while Sungmin and Henry –well, mostly Henry—enjoyed talking to the citizens in their native tongue.    The other crewmembers only ate outside of their ship, other than that they remained inside just like Jongwoon. But not because they were ordered, they just didn’t like wandering around on strange planets anymore, ever since Jungsu had passed away because they did something similar to that.   Kyuhyun remained on the ship as well. He had no reason to leave if Jongwoon wasn’t allowed to leave, and he spent most of his relatively free days in Jongwoon’s quarters with the latter.    It was 3 days after the small encounter. Kyuhyun was sitting in Jongwoon’s quarters, reading some of his Captain’s logs, while Jongwoon was sleeping because Donghae once again had ordered him to. Jongwoon suddenly stirred and Kyuhyun knew he was about to wake up. He walked towards Jongwoon and sat down onto the bed. Jongwoon’s eyes fluttered open and Kyuhyun smiled.   “Feeling better?” he instantly asked concerned, and Jongwoon nodded in reply. The reason he was ordered to sleep was because he had been complaining about headaches for the past 3 days, ever since the small battle.  Donghae was starting to get concerned, and had talked about all kinds of scary things it could mean, that even Kyuhyun was about to order Jongwoon to sleep already. Not that he did, he was still his boss, but he was worried as hell.   Jongwoon sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Sleeping sure was tiring. As soon as his vision was getting used to the light, he opened his eyes again slightly and found Kyuhyun looking at him with utter concern. Jongwoon couldn’t help but laugh a little.   “Since when are you so concerned? I’m fine,” he said, and Kyuhyun sighed.   “I was concerned all the time, I just couldn’t show it to you because Donghae kept mothering around you,” Kyuhyun mocked, and Jongwoon laughed once again. “Stop laughing, it’s tiring to keep this relationship of ours hidden when you almost died, okay?”   “Almost died?” Jongwoon asked pensively, knowing that he hadn’t even been near dying, “And they already know, mind you.”   “Know what?” Kyuhyun asked, obliviously.   “We are as obvious as Hyukjae and Donghae. Even Sungmin and Henry are less obvious than us, and everyone knows about them too. How can someone not know about us yet?”   Kyuhyun blinked in confusion and Jongwoon drew his hand through Kyuhyun’s slightly curled hair, “Did you dye your hair?” he asked curiously, only to get his hand being slapped away by Kyuhyun.   “Hyung, that was two months ago,” he replied annoyed, and now it was Jongwoon’s turn to blink in confusion.    “Really?”   “Yes, this color was actually Jungsu’s idea because he said you—,” Kyuhyun’s voice trailed off as he noticed Jongwoon’s look saddening upon hearing Jungsu’s name. Kyuhyun bit his lower lip out of frustration; stupid him, always talking before thinking stuff over. “I’m sorr—“   “Don’t be. Jungsu gave you some good advice there,” Jongwoon interrupted, and his smile returned, though it was less bright than before.   “He always gave good advice,” Kyuhyun mumbled, and he turned his head away. He didn’t want Jongwoon to see that he was feeling rather uncomfortable with Jungsu lingering in their conversation.   “Hey,” Jongwoon suddenly exclaimed, and Kyuhyun looked back at him. Jongwoon was suddenly very close to Kyuhyun’s face, and he moved back a little out of reflex. It didn’t stop Jongwoon, though. He closed the distance between them and gave Kyuhyun a small yet meaningful kiss on his lips.   Startled, Kyuhyun looked at Jongwoon. The last time they had shared a kiss was 3 weeks ago, the night before Jungsu had died. After that fateful night, Jongwoon simply hadn’t had the mood for any romantic activities, and Kyuhyun more than understood. He would feel the same if Henry, his best friend, had died. He still had missed the kisses, though. And he had tried really hard not to impose any kisses. But as Jongwoon had started this one, Kyuhyun didn’t feel the least guilty when he moved forward again himself, and kissed Jongwoon on his turn.   Jongwoon smiled, though sadness remained in his eyes. He didn’t feel like he should be happy when his best friend was dead. He hadn’t deserved happiness because it was basically his fault that his best friend had died.   It was Jongwoon that Jungsu had tried to save. Jongwoon was shot in his leg during the attack, and because he couldn’t walk as fast as the others anymore, he fell behind. Jungsu had run back to give him backup, and was shot in the process. Jongwoon escaped only because Youngwoon had dragged him away from Jungsu’s body, which was then being taken by a Maisha. Jongwoon had never forgiven himself for his friend’s death, and still thinks that he is the one who is supposed to be dead.   But Jongwoon also knew that because of these thoughts, Kyuhyun suffered as well. If Jongwoon had died, it would have been Kyuhyun who would have felt like how he does now, and maybe even worse. Jongwoon didn’t want that, so he was also thankful towards Jungsu for saving his life like that, which in turn saved Kyuhyun’s life as well. And Jongwoon also knew he needed to show Kyuhyun that he was still there, and as the grieving process progressed, he would slowly become his good old self again.   A few more kisses were shared. Tiny, shy kisses. As if they had just started dating even though they had started dating more than a year ago.   “I missed this,” Kyuhyun suddenly mumbled almost inaudibly in between the kisses, and Jongwoon pulled back slightly, staring Kyuhyun in the eyes. Kyuhyun was instantly saddened at the loss of the kisses, and Jongwoon could tell that he started to feel guilty for taking advantage of Jongwoon’s one initiated kiss. And that was true, Kyuhyun really felt like he was taking advantage of Jongwoon’s well-meant first kiss, that he was pushing and basically begging for more.   “I’m sorry,” Kyuhyun continued, and he backed off as well, though reluctantly.  Jongwoon stared at him dejectedly, but Kyuhyun didn’t notice as he was too preoccupied with staring at the very intriguing floor.   Jongwoon knew he had hurt Kyuhyun, and that Kyuhyun had no idea how to cope with what had happened nearly 3 weeks ago, and Jongwoon also knew he had to take actions now, or eventually they would grow apart. And Jongwoon didn’t want them to grow apart. Not at all, actually. He would be nothing without Kyuhyun.   He pushed Kyuhyun onto the bed, as they were still seated on the bedside, and Kyuhyun stared at him bewildered.    “I should be sorry,” he said, before falling backwards as well, and lying on his side next to Kyuhyun, their faces merely a few centimeters away from each other. “And I really am,” he whispered, as he closed the distance between them once again. But this time it wasn’t just a shy small kiss. Jongwoon tried to put all his feelings for Kyuhyun in that one single kiss, and judging from Kyuhyun’s moans, he was doing a darn good job.   Their tongues slowly danced along each other, Kyuhyun took a good hold on Jongwoon’s shirt to make sure he wouldn’t back away until Kyuhyun himself was out of breath, and Jongwoon shivered at Kyuhyun’s determination. Kyuhyun reluctantly broke the kiss a mere minute later, but he smiled nevertheless.   “Welcome back, Kim Jongwoon,” he whispered, and Jongwoon smiled sadly, feeling as if he really had been gone for the past 3 weeks. “Don’t ever leave me again.”   “Never,” Jongwoon said firmly, and he raised his hand to show Kyuhyun that he was being serious.   Kyuhyun laughed at the gesture and grabbed Jongwoon’s collar before pulling him back down again, wanting to take advantage of their last 5 minutes of free time before Donghae would come in and check on Jongwoon once again.     -------ൠ--ൠ--ൠ--ൠ-------     “You look awfully happy,” Henry said, as soon as Kyuhyun walked into his office. Kyuhyun just smiled extra brightly but said nothing, Henry knew anyway.   “Have you finished the translators?” Kyuhyun asked, as that was what he was sent to Henry for. Henry nodded and pointed towards a table at the side of the office.   “76 pieces, all ready for action,” he said contentedly. “With alien-protection, of course, so they can’t steal our technology,” he added firmly.   “Henry, they aren’t helping us for free. They will get some of our technology anyway,” Kyuhyun laughed, and Henry grunted disapprovingly. He had never been much of a pro-activist of them sharing their hard-earned knowledge with some alien species for just one lame mission.    “Where is the Henry who told me yesterday that he liked the Potaniëns that much?” Kyuhyun laughingly continued, questioningly eyeing Henry. Henry just shrugged in response. “Well, make sure they are all working before packing them, I’ll come pick them up in a few hours.”   Henry nodded and Kyuhyun made himself ready to leave. But before he could walk out of the door, Henry stopped him by calling out his name.   “Kyuhyun?”   Kyuhyun turned around and stared at his friend questioningly, and a little impatiently. He had a lot of stuff to do before tomorrow, before their departure.   “Sungmin and Jongwoon are busy tonight, because we are leaving with the Potaniëns tomorrow. So, do you want to hang out with me in Pota tonight instead?”   Kyuhyun blinked for a little, before saying that of course he didn’t mind at all. He would love to hang out with Henry, and that too had been 3 weeks since it had last happened. Mainly because Jongwoon and Sungmin had been really affected by Jungsu’s sudden death and needed their boyfriends for some cheering up.   As Kyuhyun walked back towards the bridge to take his position, he smiled. First Jongwoon is turning into himself again, and now Henry invited him to go and do something together for the first time in weeks as well. Things were slowly getting better, finally.     -------ൠ--ൠ--ൠ--ൠ-------     “How is the stocking going, Chief?” Jongwoon asked their Transporter Chief, Chief Shin Donghee, as he and Sungmin stared at some large boxes being lifted into the ship.   “These are the last boxes, Captain. It should be enough for the upcoming 2 months,” came the reply, and Jongwoon and Sungmin nodded approvingly. They usually stocked up for 2 months, just in case they couldn’t find a friendly planet fast enough. They made stops every month to buy their next stock of supplies though, but it couldn’t hurt to have some extra lying around.   Donghee continued supervising the men who were lifting the boxes into the ship, and Jongwoon and Sungmin looked around satisfied. It seemed that everything had been arranged for their departure. Next to their ship stood 3 smaller Potaniën battle ships, which were also in the progress of being stocked up enough for a longer journey.    Heechul, who was supervising the stocking up of his ships noticed Jongwoon and Sungmin staring his way and waved friendlily before walking towards them.   “Humans heal faster than I thought,” he mentioned, pointing at how Sungmin was already able to stand on his feet –not knowing that he was on lots of medication to not feel any pain—and pointing at Jongwoon for even being able to walk around already after being injured the way he was.   Potaniëns are one of the slower healing species. What would take a human a week to heal from, it would take a Potaniën a month. They also had less blood inside of them, so the chances of them bleeding to death by smaller injuries were larger than when a human would have those injuries. So even though Humans were in many standards weaker than Potaniëns, they were stronger with the healing and dealing with injuries.   “Thanks for helping us back then,” Jongwoon took the opportunity to thank Heechul for his help in their fight against those Kipi warlords. If it wasn’t for him, it might have ended a lot more serious than it had.   “Of course,” Heechul replied politely, “I hope me and my crew can expect the same treatment if we are in danger,” he added.   “Most certainly,” Jongwoon replied with a smile, “We are allies, after all.”   They talked a little about their upcoming trip, and where they would head to first to look for the Maishas, when Kyuhyun suddenly came walking their way with a large box in his hands. He struggled to drag the box along, and Jongwoon, Sungmin and Heechul couldn’t help but look amusedly towards the struggling younger one.   “No need to help, it’s not heavy at all,” Kyuhyun panted as he was within hearing range. Jongwoon instantly walked towards Kyuhyun and tried to grab the box from him, but Kyuhyun fiercely declined the offer. “You are still injured, go away,” he snapped when Jongwoon made yet another attempt to grab the box from him.   “Didn’t you just sarcastically remarked for us to come and help you?” Jongwoon asked, slightly insulted that Kyuhyun took him for a weak person who couldn’t even lift a box; he was perfectly fine, really. Even the headaches had disappeared, much to Donghae’s relief.   “No, it’s really lightweight,” Kyuhyun mocked, and he pushed the box into Heechul’s extended hands, as soon as he reached the latter. Heechul, being the strong Potaniën that he is, didn’t budge at all under the weight and just stared at Kyuhyun amusingly, as the latter nearly got angry for Heechul acting as if the box was really lightweight.   “What is in it, oh strong human?” Heechul asked politely, and Kyuhyun glared at him.   “76 translating devices, fresh from Henry,” he replied, and he stopped his glaring as Jongwoon dangerously glared at him to let him know he should not glare at Heechul. Ever.   Heechul hadn’t seemed to notice, though, as he took the box happily back towards one of his battle ships and started to give each and every crewmember one of the devices.    “What? He is even more sarcastic than me,” Kyuhyun tried to reason, as Jongwoon was still eyeing him authoritatively. As Kyuhyun started to cringe under Jongwoon’s gaze, he hastily said his goodbye and ran back inside the ship.   Jongwoon grinned lopsidedly and stared at Sungmin, who was still standing next to him, complacently.   “Yeah yeah, you still got it, Captain,” Sungmin laughingly mentioned, as Jongwoon used to be known as the person who could make everyone shut up with only his authoritative stare. That was what had gotten him the respect from every crew member in the start in the first place, and why he had been easily accepted as the new Captain of the ship. Jongwoon smiled genuinely at Sungmin’s words, and Sungmin patted him strongly on his shoulder. “Let’s eat a little before doing our final round of inspections?”   Jongwoon wholeheartedly accepted the invitation, and they walked towards Pota’s capital city together, towards a restaurant which had become their crew’s favorite. Jongwoon hadn’t been there before, though, because he wasn’t allowed to leave the ship for the past few days because of Donghae, but Sungmin was happy he could finally take his friend there; the food was more than outstanding. And they could all use some good special meal before starting their next big quest, namely destroying the Maishas.      -------ൠ--ൠ--ൠ--ൠ-------     “Everything seems to work well, Captain,” Youngwoon informed Jongwoon, as Jongwoon took place on his Captain seat. He nodded in reply, to let Youngwoon know he had heard him, and Youngwoon turned around back to his panel once again, keeping an eye out on all important things he was in charge of.   “Start the engines,” he ordered, and Hyukjae did what he was told. They waited for a little, until Han Geng informed them the engines showed no defaults as well, and neither did the main computers.   “Ready for takeoff, Captain,” Hyukjae mentioned, as he placed his hands on his configurations panel.   “Course 407, 803,” Jongwoon replied, and Hyukjae entered the coordinates, “Maximum warp as soon as possible,” he added, and Hyukjae nodded in confirmation. He piloted the ship away from Pota, and the three Potaniën battle ships followed shortly behind. As soon as Hyukjae confirmed they were far enough from Pota to go into warp, all ships entered warp speed in a flash.   Everyone knew where they were heading. Maishas weren’t really known as travelers and usually stuck around places for a long time. The last time they had encountered the Maishas was when Jungsu was still alive, and every crewmember was certain that the Maishas still remained on that doomed planet, awaiting their return. Awaiting their chance to finish what they had started.   It was a 2 week travel, though. It had taken them 2 weeks to go from that dreadful place to Pota, and they had traveled in warp drive pretty much the entire time. Warp drive being their fastest way of traveling meant that the travel time couldn’t get any shorter anymore.   “Are the Potaniëns holding up?” Sungmin asked Kyuhyun, who was in control of the radars.    “Yes, sir,” he replied firmly, as he noticed the three ships shortly behind them on the radar.   They traveled for a mere hour, with no complications happening whatsoever, when Han Geng entered the bridge. “Why don’t we try another simulation?” he suggestively asked, staring at Jongwoon directly. Jongwoon nodded, strained, and told Kibum to take over his spot, while the other vital members were to join him in the simulation room.   “Cornet Kim Kibum, contact me as soon as there are any complications,” Jongwoon contacted Kibum through his earpiece as he stood inside the simulation room, the simulation having not yet started.   “Affirmative, Captain,” Kibum replied, and Jongwoon sighed deeply, trying to get himself ready for yet another simulated fierce battle. Sungmin massaged Jongwoon’s neck for a little, while everyone else took their places behind their panels as the simulation started to form.   “Let’s do it right this time,” Sungmin mumbled into Jongwoon’s ear, before walking towards his own place. Kyuhyun glanced back towards his boyfriend, and smiled at Jongwoon encouragingly.    “Five Botanships ahead, Captain,” Kyuhyun suddenly announced, as the simulation had started. Jongwoon sat down on his place, determined, and started giving out orders.     -------ൠ--ൠ--ൠ--ൠ-------     Han Geng looked through a small window at how the simulation was progressing. Jongwoon seemed to be more determined this time and hadn’t shown any flaws just yet. However, Jungsu’s face hadn’t popped up at the giant screen, and he usually didn’t really falter before that.   As inside the simulation room they were being hit by yet another laser, and they all shook violently on their seats, Han Geng strangely enough felt a small vibration as well. Something he was not supposed to feel. A few seconds later, the same vibration was felt, only slightly fiercer this time.   “Commander Han Geng for bridge,” he tried to contact the bridge, but to no avail. “Bridge?” he repeated, but still no one from within the bridge replied. “Anyone?” he tried, hoping to reach anyone else on the ship.   The vibrations slowly intensified. As Han Geng was in an enclosed area, he could not see outside, but he knew there had to be something really wrong. The ship would not shake this fiercely if they weren’t under direct attack. He tried to open the door to the simulation room, but strangely enough, it didn’t comply.    Han Geng cursed as he tried to open another door, the one that led to the main hallway, but this one didn’t budge as well. Another shot was fired at the ship and it shook violently again. Han Geng nearly fell down because of the power, and he started to worry.   Kibum, the current lead on the bridge, was in no way compatible to lead an attack. Especially not when all the usual bridge crewmembers were not on the bridge but inside a simulation, not aware of the threatening danger at all.   The doors to the simulation were strengthened, and no matter what item Han Geng used to open it, nothing worked. The normal door, however, hadn’t been enforced and was easily broken open. He rushed towards the bridge and broke open that entrance door with force as well.    The first thing he noticed on the big screen were two large ships aiming their lasers at them, and Kibum trying vehemently to contact Jongwoon while giving orders to shoot at the two ships and asking for status updates from everyone. Han Geng admired the way Kibum tried to cope with the situation, but soon snapped out of it and rushed in to help.   “Status?” he asked Kibum, who looked almost relieved to see someone of a higher rank than him.   “They started shooting instantly, I have no idea who they are,” he mumbled dejectedly, and Han Geng nodded understandingly. Most of their enemies worked that way. However, these two ships were a kind Han Geng or anyone currently located on the bridge had never seen before.   “Did you try to contact them?” Han Geng asked, as he took over Kibum’s Captain seat, pointing for Kibum to take a seat in the Sub Commander seat.   “Of course, no reply,” he answered.   “Shields and laser statuses?” Han Geng ordered, and the two currently in control of the shields and lasers looked it up hastily.   “Shields at 76%.”   “Lasers all still intact, and ready to fire at your command, sir.”   “Aim all lasers at the left ship, and contact Commanding Officer Heechul and tell him to do the same,” Han Geng commanded, instantly earning 2 nods.    He tried his earpiece once again, but it was still not working. “I’m going to th