huge giant warnings for violence go here. I've kept the gore to a minimum, and this shouldn't be far over anything you could see in an action movie, but take care if you need to do so. also, school starts tomorrow (lol like in 12 hours more like) so there might be larger gaps in writing, or not, it all depends on the workload and how I wind up reacting to the stress.

“You're telling me that you are planning to mount a rescue operation in hostile territory with absolutely no plan and in under two hours?” Admiral Thorn bellowed.

“We have a plan,” Hyukjae said. “Kind of.”

“Surprise can be a greater success than plans that were discussed and thought of for long periods of time,” Zhou Mi said, grabbing one of the larger weapons, one that would be fully capable of blowing holes in the hull of a ship. They were highly illegal and restricted for that reason, but Hyukjae was glad that they'd been able to keep two back for themselves.

“You all have never worked together as a unit like this. Do any of you even know what you're doing for each other?”

Seungchul shrugged as he loaded up on the meltpacks and a few things Hyukjae was sure the man could figure out how to explode. “We're working it out, and taking some educated guesses.”

“Sir,” Samuel interrupted before the next argument could come up. “We're aware that this is extremely dangerous, and both Park Seungchul and I volunteered for this mission. We understand that you're our commander and have to consider our safety first, but we cannot in good conscience leave approximately one hundred minor children in slavery where they are likely abused and under constant threat of death for them and their siblings.” He shrugged a massive shoulder. “You can court martial me when we get home, but I personally cannot let this continue.”

The admiral sighed deeply. Hyukjae guessed that was the entire point behind the bluster – that two people under his command were going off on their own, possibly to their death, and there were no plans other than surviving and with four virtual unknowns. “You would get on a high horse with me Latu,” the admiral grumbled.

“Always, sir.”

“Are they going to have those shields for themselves?” he asked, directing his question to Hyukjae.

Hyukjae shrugged. “They could, but it's doubtful that they'd be using them outside of the guards for the kids.”

“I'd personally feel better if you were taking a gun. Just in case,” Hyukjae's father muttered.

Hyukjae shrugged. “Up to the others if they want to hand over the guns or not. We should be fine with what we have. Like Zhou Mi said, we've got a massive amount of surprise on our side, and the glow knives will get through any personal shielding.”

“That gets a little messy,” Zoe said, her arms folded across her chest.

“But quiet and efficient,” Seungchul returned. “We'll be back.”

With all of their gear loaded up, they moved to the attackers, where they split up into two groups, Hyukjae leaving Pioneer and grabbing the second full attacker. “Any questions before I start flying?” he asked as he warmed up the engines and flipped the stealthing generator on.

“Are all prison ships set up the same?” Seungchul asked.

“Mostly, yes. Our ship is a good template for how they are arranged. The prison levels and large cargo hold are the most interior spaces. They will be using the ramp, so we will appear next to the smaller cargo holds,” Zhou Mi explained.

“Three flights down from the flight deck, right?”

“Yes. Five One said that their ship is possibly only one model newer than ours, so it is near identical. The communications area is placed next to the flight deck, instead of on the same level as crew cabins as it is on our ship.”

“Also getting into the prison level is going to be the most difficult part,” Hyukjae added, waiting for the indicator beacon to show that Donghae was moving his attacker out of the hangar. “We permanently opened our prison level, but they'll have theirs working.”

“How thick is the door?” Seungchul asked, his voice quietly confident.

Zhou Mi patted the large weapon lying across his lap. “Not enough to withstand one shot from this.”

“Noisy, though.”

“As is your preferred method,” Zhou Mi returned, and Hyukjae knew the man was smiling.

“So we try and make them open it for us.”

Hyukjae smiled and lifted the attacker off the floor, boosting it out of the hangar. His entire attention was absorbed in flying as they made the short journey towards one of the northern, remote regions.

“I have located the ship,” Donghae said. “Not even trying to hide,” he added, baring his teeth over the small holographic display.

“We'll make them suffer for that arrogance,” Hyukjae soothed. “Have you found a good landing area?” Adjusting his course, he rapidly flew to Donghae's location, as they had split up to find the ship they were looking for.

“Yes. Slightly less than a li from the ship. Follow the beacon to us, and approach from the north.”

“Confirmed,” Hyukjae replied. He was landing within a couple of minutes and he placed the engines on standby.

“How far is a li?” Seungchul asked.

“It's a little less than a kilometer, so we'll be fine, even moving fast,” Hyukjae answered as he flipped the safety off his weapon and warmed up the glow knife. “Got your communicator?”

Seungchul tapped the small device hooked onto the collar of his t-shirt.

“Perfect, tap the earbud once,” Hyukjae said, tapping his own to begin transmissions. “Song Qian?”

“Listening,” she replied into his ear. “I am pulling up your locators and will monitor your positions.”

“Thank you,” he replied. “Donghae?”

“We are located near the line of trees to your left,” Donghae said, his voice soft in the earpiece.

Jogging to catch up, they were all together within a minute.

“Twin will lead,” Donghae said, pointing at Amber.

“Perfect, you guys go ahead, I've got the rear,” Seungchul said with a wave of his hand.

Donghae frowned briefly. “I will do that.”

Seungchul shook his head. “I know you have the senses, but I have the explosives. I make sure that no one will follow us. I do this all the time, trust me to do my job.”

Donghae tilted his head after a moment, his eyes glowing in the dark. “Very well. I will travel just ahead of you to inform of any dangers.”

“Thank you,” Seungchul said.

Amber easily navigated a trail for them to follow, and Hyukjae felt like he was making the most amount of noise of anyone, all of whom had been trained to move silently. The time passed quickly through the trees, and they hovered at the edge of the tree line. The ship had been parked near the edge of an inland sea, and Hyukjae's mouth pulled down, knowing that the landing had been done on purpose to further scare all of the kids into obedience, as the sea could be used as a dumping ground for bodies.

“Two guards roaming, two at the ramp,” Amber said, her voice barely heard. “Twin.”

Hyukjae put a settling hand on Seungchul's shoulder to keep him there as Donghae melted off into the darkness, and he saw Zhou Mi doing the same to Samuel. They all waited there, waiting for any sign to move ahead, which finally came after about ten Earth minutes.

“They do have personal protective shields, but they did not have them ,” Donghae said. “You may approach the ship openly. We waited for their check, so there will be some time before the next check raises an alarm.”

“Do they have anything that could pick up body heat?” Samuel asked as he rose out of his crouch.

“No, that requires engine power. Their ship is currently shut down and they are not expecting difficulties,” Amber replied.

“We are approaching,” Zhou Mi said into the earpieces, leading their smaller group to where Donghae and Amber waited near the ramp, the guards dead at their feet, and they all stepped quietly into the ship and immediately into the open cargo area to plan their next moves.

“Two groups?” Samuel offered up. “Both of us split up and neutralize everyone in the rest of the ship then meet back up to prepare to assault the prison level?”

“That sounds reasonable,” Zhou Mi agreed. “I will take Amber and Park Seungchul with me into the crew level and we will work our way to the engines.”

“Is that a good idea to keep all of the mass weaponry in one group?” Seungchul asked.

“The others are going to the flight deck and communication area. They need to kill on an individual basis and potentially gather information,” Amber said.

“So every adult aside from us is dying?” Samuel asked, his voice neutral.

“Yes,” Hyukjae answered easily. “These people are slavers, and will have no hesitation in killing us and the kids we're supposed to be rescuing. Also, we would literally have nowhere to keep them as prisoner, and no authority to hand them over to. Slavery is legal out here, and we'd be laughed out of any administrative office even if we could just walk into one. Just because we find it morally wrong doesn't mean everyone else does.”

Samuel shrugged a massive shoulder. “Fair enough, and thanks for not lying to me about that.”

“No point in lying, you'd figure it out fast enough,” Hyukjae returned. “Everyone come back in one piece, I'd hate to track your down in whatever afterlife you believe in just to kick it,” he said as they split up at the cargo door. Moving through the halls would be more dangerous than crawling through access areas, but it was also faster and they had minimized the danger as much as possible.

“Same goes for you,” Seungchul replied, his voice amused.

Letting Donghae lead, Hyukjae followed him while Samuel brought up the rear of their little group. They only moved into the access area next to the lifts to move up the levels to where the flight deck was. Donghae paused them before they moved out, his head in the characteristic listening pose.

“You have three moving down,” Donghae warned over the earpieces. “They are unsuspecting.”

“Confirmed,” Zhou Mi answered. “Four are already dead.”

Hyukjae caught Samuel's surprised look when he looked down the ladder. “Confirmed,” he said. Donghae scrambled out of the access area and Hyukjae quickly followed. Samuel was the last out, but the large man moved so silently that Hyukjae had to turn and look to make sure that nothing had happened.

The communications area was right where they expected it to be, but what was unexpected was that only one man was in there. Hyukjae had personally expected at least three, and he and Donghae shared a brief look of confusion and worry. It was highly unusual for a lean band of thieves and slavers to understaff the communications area, as they were usually scanning for additional auctions to replace those that had died, run away, or were unable to continue their “duties” due to a variety of conditions. But there was only one there.

Tapping his earbud, Hyukjae pressed against the wall, checking the immediate area. “Zhou Mi,” he whispered.

A quiet grunt answered him.

“There's only one in the communications area. I don't think this is your standard group of slavers and thieves.”

“Agreed,” Zhou Mi replied. “There are many signs pointing to this being a military and administrative side project.”

Hyukjae felt the news settle low in his stomach, his lip curling into a snarl and the anger exploding in his blood. Those who already had more than enough were looking to line their pockets with even more at the expense of children who were most likely sold into slavery to feed their families; while he shouldn't have been surprised at this possibility, he was still upset. He pulled the glow knife out and tapped Donghae's shoulder with his free hand.

Donghae's eyes flickered up to his, understanding held within the solid bright blue color. Donghae reached over, tapping Samuel's arm and nodding towards the flight deck. The insinuation was clear – Hyukjae would take care of the communications area and they would begin to check out the positions of those on the flight deck. He took a deep breath in through his nose and let it out slowly.

He slipped into the communications room, the quiet murmur of open communicators filling the space of silence. Letting his mind go blank, he concentrated on only the job he had to do – clear the communications area. He didn't let himself overthink anything, and as he dragged the warm, dead body to a more concealed area, he quietly closed all of the open communications, knowing that the ones at the market wouldn't find out until they tried to speak directly to someone. There was also another reason Donghae trusted him so much with communications areas, and it was Hyukjae's ability to remember large chunks of visual information very quickly, an ability he discovered after he woke up from being rescued from being tortured.

Glancing over the open screens, he memorized what he could, and he turned to leave. Turning his head, he stared at the one screen that caught his attention. Scanning the information, he quietly sighed. He wouldn't interrupt again, but this was definitely something that Zhou Mi needed to see. Catching back up to Donghae and Samuel, he squatted down next to them.

“News?” Donghae asked quietly.

Hyukjae nodded. “It's still up on the screens. How many inside?”

“I spotted six, which Donghae confirmed. How are you wanting to take this