hi, I'm so sorry for the long wait, but school just knocked the hell out of me. but I'm back now, both me and kara (who you can thank for correcting tenses, typos, and other stuff so you don't have to read them) are on break now, so hopefully I can get this back on track before school starts again. the warnings here are for homophobic attitudes and statements, and that's pretty much it. enjoy~

Hyukjae blinked at the large holographic map of the Zhang Empire, then rubbed at his eyes and looked again to make sure that he was seeing things correctly. “I'm not seeing things, right?” he asked.

“I am as stunned as you are,” Meng Jia said quietly beside him. “This is beyond anything that we ever expected. I was anticipating that we would have to fight for several cycles to legitimize my rule... not two farn.”

Hyukjae whistled lowly. Well over half of the worlds in the Empire had already publicly given allegiance to them, and multiple systems were in open rebellion to overthrow their governments that were still maintaining loyalty to the Zhou patriarch. “I'm not going to complain if it keeps us alive.”

“I agree with that,” she replied. “Wang Fei's brother should be arriving shortly with his fleet, as well.”

Hyukjae shook his head. “This is too easy, it's making me nervous.”

“All of us are nervous at the possibility of a downturn in fortune,” Amber said as she walked around the projection. “But we have no option but to continue on this path.”

Hyukjae sighed and nodded. “Would he run?” he asked Meng Jia.

She shrugged. “He is not accustomed to plans not going his way. He may attempt to provoke Zhou Mi into trying to kill him as a final strike.”

“Either Song Qian or myself can take care of that issue since the twins can't. Neither one of us are related to him or beholden to him in any way,” Hyukjae returned, picking up on the immediate issue surrounding that possibility. “That way you two are removed from the allegations of killing your patriarch.” He looked over just in time to see Meng Jia chewing on her thumb, her eyebrows pulled together nervously. “Hey, you okay?”

She started, looking at him for a moment before she shook herself out of whatever thoughts she had been in. “Yes, I am well. Just... consumed with the worries about this title I accepted.”

“One step at a time,” Amber told her. “Change will not arrive quickly, but your rule will foster an atmosphere for change to happen at all.”

Hyukjae smiled proudly at her. He would always have the twins break things down in their minds and do one task at one time when they weren't having an easy time with their memories.

Meng Jia seemed to stand up straighter, her face relaxing. “You are correct, Amber. It will not be instantaneous as I wish, but it will happen. I likewise have trustworthy people for advice in correcting the path that the Empire is taking.”

“That's the important part,” Hyukjae said. “You've got this. You are the Empress that the Empire needs, and from what Zhou Mi told us, you're just as stubborn as he is and you'll make your vision of the Empire last.”

Her smile was bright. “Thank you for that.”

“Let's work hard to get you there,” Hyukjae said, pointing at the bright dot that represented Yangshi.

“When do you have to return to your planet?”

Hyukjae shrugged. “They said to give them about a li fan, and it takes a couple of farn to get back there, so maybe in another farn or two. It all depends on when we want to make our move on Yangshi.”

“We should travel together with the fleet,” Amber broke in, her eyes glowing. “Your people cannot see past the gas giants in your system, and I do not want to be trapped on the ship and unable to assist again or have us be ambushed by flagships. Empress Jia has promised to protect your system from undue influence.”

Hyukjae reached out and folded Amber's hand in his, knowing what was causing Amber stress. “You're right. The Empress will protect my people, and traveling with the fleet would be additional protection that we may need, especially if Zhou Li has sent more ships to Earth.”

“He most likely would not with so many planets in open rebellion against him, but your caution is well-founded. Let us leave the station with the fleet that is arriving,” Meng Jia agreed.

Hyukjae looked at Amber. “Want to blow this place up when we leave?”

Amber's shoulders sagged, her eyes closing. “Yes,” she finally said, her voice soft. “It is difficult being confronted with memories even though twin and I are attempting to move past them.”

“My brother will not have an issue with that logic,” Wang Fei said as she walked up to them, delicately stepping over the debris in her path. “Some memories are better left in the past.”

“Has he arrived?” Amber asked.

“Yes, his ship just dropped into the jump point and he made contact. As soon as we are aboard, we may begin on our journey,” she replied with a smile.

“Excellent. Let us depart.”

It didn't take them long to pilot their ships into the empty hangars, and they were met by Wang Xian, his senior officers, and much of the crew. As Meng Jia descended the ramp, dressed simply in black pants, a black shirt and her hair braided over a shoulder, everyone knelt to the floor.

“Rise,” she commanded, her voice strong. “We have much to do.”

Once shown onto the bridge, Hyukjae shuddered a little as he looked out of the transparent walls. He could remember all too well the fear of crashing into the spikes and his frantic measures to keep himself from being impaled. He felt a familiar, solid body against his, wrapping comforting arms around his waist. He relaxed into Donghae's embrace, reminding himself that he was alive.

“Empress, your commands?” Wang Xian asked politely.

Meng Jia glanced at Amber, Donghae, and Song Qian before pointing at the station. “Destroy that before we depart. Lee H..yek...jae will provide our temporary destination,” she said, stumbling over Hyukjae's name. “Did I pronounce it right?”

Hyukjae smiled. “It's close enough since your language doesn't have those sounds. Thank you for trying, Empress.”

“It took us almost two cycles before we were able to pronounce it correctly,” Zhou Mi commented as the weapons targeted and struck the station.

They were silent as they watched large pieces of the station peel off, large bursts of pressurized air escaping into the low pressure of space in a cloud of white gas. When the next burst of weapons hit, the gas ignited and turned into multiple shades of orange and red against the darkness. The station began sinking down into the deep brown cloud tops, multiple explosions opening more of the station to space. Hyukjae knew that once the station had sunk below the clouds, the gravity of the planet would begin ripping the station completely apart until it was scattered pieces adding to the mass of the planet itself, and hopefully taking some of the burden of memories with it.

He looked at Amber and Song Qian, both of them holding onto each other and he covered Donghae's hands around his waist.

“Thank you,” Amber whispered.

Meng Jia nodded her head.

Hyukjae took a deep breath and turned his head to give Donghae's cheek a kiss. “Let's get moving.” Donghae let him go, and Hyukjae went directly to the navigation station. He'd memorized Earth's galactic coordinates as soon as he'd seen them, allowing him to find his way back from anywhere. He mentally thanked whoever it was that had every ship in the Empire using the same system and input the coordinates for Earth, letting the computer pull up a map of jumps that flickered to life over the holographic projectors built into the floor. Their starting and ending points were brighter points, and the best guess for a route was a pulsing orange color.

Wang Xian's eyes were flickering over the route, his hands manipulating the projection to zoom in and out of certain points before adjusting the route. “The Fang's fleet is still loyal to Zhou Li, and it would be beneficial to avoid him,” he explained as he made further alterations.

“Is he aware of your support for Empress Jia?” Wang Fei asked.

“I'm sure the news has gotten to him. He does not know of our movements aside from our eventual arrival at Yangshi, but I feel it best to avoid his normal patrol area to prevent any loss before it is necessary.”

“Hyukjae, where are we dropping out?” Amber asked.

“We should drop out just past Neptune's orbit, which should prevent the fleet from being seen from any ground-based telescopes and from getting nailed by anything in the Kuiper Belt, or alternatively it's far enough out to stay hidden from a fleet,” Hyukjae replied. “We can take our ship in after we make contact.”

Wang Xian tilted his head, confusion all over his features. “Why not just arrive closer?”

“The majority of my people are unaware that we aren't alone in the universe,” he explained as he walked over to the projection.

“Then how are you here?”

“Accident with a wormhole generator shot me across the galaxy with no control and nearly impaled me on the deck spikes of the Victorious Rycan. We found our way to my home system in another accident.”

“That was you?” one of the officers asked in the rapidly spreading silence.

“Hey, it was a total accident. I popped out of the wormhole spinning with only this much space between my ship and one of those damn spikes,” Hyukjae protested while gesturing between himself and the navigation area he had just left to indicate the distance. “I tried to avoid it, only to get the entire back end of my ship sheared off by another one for my trouble. Totally not my fault that the engines impacted on the flight deck after the spike ripped it off.”

“It was a random accident that no one could have predicted or prepared for,” Zhou Mi interrupted, his voice calm and soothing. “Having seen the repairs he has had to conduct on Pioneer, it occurred the way he said.”

“I have pardoned all of them for any so-called crimes they may have committed while attempting to survive without assistance, as we are all aware of how difficult it can be, as well as any accidents that were claimed as crimes. We will stay in the position you indicated while you negotiate for the goods you were promised,” Meng Jia said in what Hyukjae was about to start calling her Empress voice. “I swore to protect your system and it shall be done either by preserving their innocence or by forcing Zhou Li's ships away.”

Hyukjae inclined his head. “We ready to go?”

“Of course. I will transmit the path to the other ships and we will depart.”

As they neared Earth, Hyukjae's nerves grew about what they could potentially find, and he'd taken to working out his nerves with anyone willing to spar with him in the expansive gym Wang Xian had invited them to use while their ship was checked out and repaired under Song Qian's supervision.

He waved his hand in front of his sweaty face, trying to cool himself down as they lingered at the last jump point not far from Earth for the entire fleet to travel together. Ever since he'd been tortured, he had to carefully watch and stop exerting himself when he started feeling the beginnings of heat exhaustion since a good chunk of his back didn't sweat from the scarring. Donghae was seated nearby, having already gotten Hyukjae a cool cloth and some water, parts of his now-short hair spiked up from his fingers while other strands stuck to his face. While Hyukjae would miss the way he could tug on Donghae's hair during , his shorter hair made more tactical sense, which was why all of them, save for Song Qian, had immediately taken time to get their hair cut.

“Brother, may we continue training?” Kekoa, the boy from group Twenty-three, asked. He'd chosen his name almost directly from Samuel's mind, much to everyone's surprise, and Hyukjae doubted that he'd forget Samuel's look of surprise. His sisters were still running laps to try and work out some of their energy while he stayed beside Donghae and Hyukjae.

“We will continue after we have arrived within Hyukjae's home system. Run after your sisters and clean yourselves to appear next to the Empress,” Donghae replied.

“Yes, Brother,” Kekoa replied with a wide smile before running after his sisters.

Hyukjae blew out his breath. “We need to do that too.”

“It can wait until you have cooled down.”

Hyukjae leaned over to give Donghae a kiss. “I'm fine, the headache's mostly gone now.”

Donghae kissed him again before standing and pulling Hyukjae up as well. “Let us shower and we will return to the flight deck with the others.”

They quickly aired off, dressing in their preferred dark clothing, and though Hyukjae still had some residual dizziness and the occasional throb from his head, he felt well enough to stand for the time it would take to get to Earth. Song Qian was already on the flight deck in her normal clothing, with her hair held up with several hair pins.

“Hey,” Hyukjae greeted. “Where's everyone?”

“Amber is still napping, and the others will join us soon. Are you well?” she asked, looking him over.

Hyukjae shrugged. “I over exerted myself again. I stopped as soon as I felt the headache, though.”

Her fingers immediately went to the pulse on his neck while her other hand pressed against his forehead. “You are still warm and heartbeat is higher than normal,” she replied. “What other symptoms?”

“I'm still a little dizzy, but it's more of a transient thing and it's going away rapidly,” he assured. “Donghae got a cool cloth on my back almost immediately and I stopped and drank water.”

was still turned down a little, but she nodded and dropped her hands.

“You are well?” Wang Xian asked, tugging on his uniform jacket to straighten it as he walked up, apparently having heard the last part of Hyukjae's sentence.

“Slight heat exhaustion, he is recovering rapidly,” Song Qian said, the authority in her voice stopping any further inquiry.

Everyone drifted onto the flight deck, Meng Jia surrounded by Kekoa and his sisters, along with a detachment of the older adults. Amber was the last to arrive after they had started the jump towards Earth, her hair still mussed from sleep. She immediately hugged Hyukjae, leaning into him and sniffing slightly.

“You should go back to sleep,” he chided softly, his fingers smoothing out the shorter pieces of her hair and securing the longer strands in her hair clip.

She grunted her disapproval of that plan. “I will be with you upon the return to your planet. I am becoming more alert.”

Donghae hugged him from behind and eventually both Song Qian and Zhou Mi had joined in on the group hug, all of them being soothed by the contact and blatantly ignoring the questioning looks. He looked up as Zhou Mi petted his hair.

“You are well?”

“Yeah, just worried and nervous. I'm hoping for the best and that Earth is still officially undiscovered, but I keep going around and around with all the what ifs.”

The lights dimmed briefly and Hyukjae looked around.

“Shields on, stealthing enabled,” the security officer reported. “We are arriving.”

“Confirmed. Initiate scan of... which planet?” Wang Xian asked Hyukjae.

“Third one from the sun,” Hyukjae replied, keeping a close watch on the projection that filled in images of the planets he knew well. Breaking away from the hug, he touched the planets on the projection. “Neptune,” he named as he touched the bright blue planet, then moved inward, naming all of the planets up to Mars. He smiled at Saturn's rings tilted beautifully and the jumble of lines forming around Jupiter to indicate moon orbits. “Earth,” he said, expanding the visual of the planet.

Everything looked as it should look from space, but Hyukjae felt his stomach sink as the undeniable outline of a Zhang flagship orbited into view and the battle alarm sounded. He felt long arms circle his chest, but he couldn't stop staring at the flagship, tears coming to his eyes.

“Breathe,” Zhou Mi said sharply into his ear. He took a breath in, suddenly realizing that the shock and dread had made him stop breathing for a moment. “It is not your fault that your system was discovered,” he continued.

“I wanted to stay to see them...” Hyukjae whispered, the guilt crashing over him.

“We could not be aware of the probe until we had a reason to stay somewhere,” Zhou Mi pointed out, and Hyukjae's ears gradually tuned into the barked, terse orders that occurred within a battle. Within two deep breaths, he had shunted the guilt and fear, probably only enough for it to reappear in his nightmares. Turning his head, he watched the weapons from the ships around Earth fire at them. The sight of the return hits being scattered across shielding reminded him of the unprotected nature of the ISS, and he hoped that the astronauts there had been brought back down to Earth after they'd left. As the r