Chapter Text
Hoseok huddled next to his space heater and bit into his thermostabilized ham sandwich. The stringy meat was almost comforting in its familiarity. It tasted just like the thermostabilized ham sandwich he ate for breakfast. And he suspected it would also taste a lot like what he was going to have for dinner. Which was, you guessed it, another thermostabilised ham sandwich.
In an attempt to cut costs, Novus Life had made a company-wide policy to decrease their food variety dramatically. So dramatically, in fact, that there was no more need for a cafeteria or reheating pods. The sandwiches came pre-assembled, and were always comfortably room temperature. Hoseok wasn’t sure who made the decision that ham sandwiches were the optimal meal for space travel, but he would like a word with whoever they are.
The reheating pods had been reconfigured into space heaters (because who needs centralized heating in the middle of space? Surely not the employees who lived and worked on a freezing cold ship), and the space the cafeteria used to take up was reconstructed to fit even more cryopods. For a company that catered to the ultra-rich, Novus Life could be stingy as hell.
Hoseok finished his sandwich as quickly as humanly possible (no need to draw out that experience), and resumed his quarterly cabin check. Four times an hour, Hoseok walked through every podroom, checking for any alarms or lights that might have gone off. As a cryo technician, his primary job was to ensure the safety of all the lifeforms on the ship. And there were many lifeforms on this particular ship.
Most of the inhabitants were from Hoseok’s home planet, Earth. Earth had been experiencing a catastrophic event called pollution for quite some time, and was quickly becoming uninhabitable. Of course, many people still lived there. It was once home to 16 billion people, after all. But some Earthians had decided to relocate to other planets nearby. There were many planets within Earth’s galaxy to choose from, and with the invention of lightspace travel, it didn’t take too long to get there.
However, there were always the wealthy few who were too picky for any of the other planets, and wanted to maintain their Earthian lifestyle. The problem was, there weren’t many planets that could replicate the environment of Earth. They were either too hot or too cold, too dark or too light. That’s where Novus Life came in.
Novus Life was a planet development company, whose goal was to terraform planets to replicate Earth almost exactly. Unfortunately, terraforming was a hundreds years long process, and the planets that were the best candidates were outside of the Milky Way. To solve this issue, Novus Life put people into a cryosleep and promised them that when they awoke, they would be on a fully developed planet.
The work was steady, yes. But it was also boring as hell. On really dull days, Hoseok sometimes even found himself reminiscing about his time working for the Human Collective. He tried not to think about those days, but with a mostly empty ship, and few people to talk to, it seemed like all Hoseok could do was think.
He missed how it felt to command his own ship, how amazing it was to travel the galaxies and explore the stars, all while keeping the people from the collective's planets safe. He had felt so free those first few years as captain. He had a tight crew, and he loved them all like family.
Now, every time he thought of them, he felt a pang in his chest.
“We’re under attack!” cried Jimin, the second in command. The ship had been alerted to a distress call close to enemy borders, and Hoseok hadn’t realized it was a trap until it was too late.
“Our defense shields are down.” Taehyung’s voice rang out through the speakers. “I repeat, our defenses are down!”
The ship was in total chaos, everyone running around to get into defense positions after being completely unprepared for a fight.
“How is this happening?” Hoseok asked Yoongi, his communications specialist.
Yoongi shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t even know who we're up against. They won’t respond to my attempts at contact.”
Another blast hit the Bangtan, and the whole ship jolted. Hoseok knew it wasn’t going to last much longer. This was supposed to be a simple rescue mission for a ship that had run out of fuel, so they weren’t equipped for a fight.
“Jimin,” Hoseok commanded. “Evacuate the ship. I want everyone on an escape pod in the next five minutes. Don’t leave anyone behind.”
Jimin hesitated for a moment, but then stood up and bowed his head toward Hoseok.
“Yes, captain.”
Hoseok nodded back, then took Jimin’s seat at the ship’s control board. The next four minutes were the longest of his life, as he managed the ship’s navigation and weaponry, trying to buy his crew enough time to escape.
Jimin spoke through his communicator, “All crewmembers are accounted for, captain.”
“Good,” Hoseok replied. “You have my permission to launch all escape pods.”
“What about you sir?”
“I said launch all escape pods.”
“...It’s been an honor, captain.”
Those were the last words he heard from any member of the Bangtan crew.
As soon as the escape pods were deployed, the enemy ship struck. A beam of light radiated from the front of the warship and encompassed all the pods, halting them in their escape.
“No!” Hoseok cried. But it was too late. In a flash, all eight pods were gone, and so was the enemy ship.
Hoseok sighed and shook his head, trying to clear the memory. He finished his cryo cabin checks and headed back to his quarters to check on the ship’s navigation system. The ship was on autopilot, flying a direct path to the future planet, so Hoseok didn’t need to do any steering. But captain habits never die, and he liked to check on the flight path periodically anyways.
As Hoseok examined the map, he was surprised that he recognised some of the planets and landmarks they were flying by. Head tilting in curiosity, he leaned in closer to the screen and zoomed in. It dawned on him that he had been here before. The Novus Life ship was currently flying the same airspace that the Bangtan had been attacked in three years ago.
Hoseok tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut.
It wasn’t unusual for a Novus Life ship to fly close to enemy territory, he told himself. After all, many of the planets that were marked for terraformation were far outside the Milky Way. The company had coordinated with the leaders of the nearby planets in advance to obtain permits to terraform an uninhabited planet in the outskirts of their solar system. He reminded himself that he was on a sanctioned ship, and everything was done above board.
But still, he worried.
The last time he had been here, his failure had cost him the lives of his entire crew and his captaincy. The faces of the Bangtan crew still haunted his dreams every night, taunting him to do better. He would be damned if he failed the 600 cryopreserved lives he had sworn to protect.
*****
After eating his third thermostabilized sandwich of the day, Hoseok figured he had a few hours of downtime before he had to turn in for the night. His shift was over and another cryotechnician was monitoring the pods. Since there was no “night” or “day” in space, everybody on the ship operated on a different circadian rhythm. It was nice, because technically, nobody had to work the night shift.
Hoseok set the lights of his room to a gradual dim setting that would mimic the sun going down. He put on his headphones and settled onto his desk chair to see what was playing on the intergalactic broadcasts.
He had just clicked into a show that looked interesting, when the ship suddenly lurched to the side.
Alarmed, Hoseok pulled out his headphones and sat up. It could be nothing. The ship might have encountered some space debris or an unexpected gravitational pull from a celestial body. These sort of things happened during long distance space travel. But something told Hoseok this wasn’t ordinary interference.
The ship shook again. This time, Hoseok didn’t hesitate to jump to his feet and hit the emergency alert button. After years of captaincy, he had learned to trust his instincts, and his instincts were screaming at him to abort the mission and get out of there.
Flashing red lights and sirens screeched through the hallways of the ship, waking up anyone who had been sleeping. Hoseok ran towards the command center, hoping to manually take control of the ship and maneuver it to safer space, but he never made it that far.
His body slammed against a wall as the ship was suddenly pulled out of light speed and yanked to a stop. Dazed, Hoseok blinked the fuzziness out of his vision and pulled himself to his feet. The sirens had somehow gone quiet, although the ceiling lights were still flashing red.
“Greetings, travelers.” A staticy, robotic voice boomed from a speaker on the wall. The emergency alert screen had been hijacked by the broadcast of an unfamiliar figure. Hoseok would have thought he was human, except for his unnaturally angular facial features and long, disc-shaped ears. The mismatched lip movements to sound told Hoseok that his words were being translated to Earth's common tongue.
“This vessel has been seized by the Calidus Empire. Thank you for your cooperation. Prepare to be boarded.”
The broadcast abruptly cut out. Hoseok ran to the nearest port window and looked out. What he saw made him freeze in shock.
The same exact warship that had been responsible for the death of the entire Bangtan crew three years ago now towered over the Novus Life ship. It looked exactly the same as it had in Hoseok’s nightmares, with a large, arching hull encompassing a massive main deck. The entire structure was lined with weaponry, with fourteen different torpedo tubes jutting out from the sides like some kind of pufferfish from hell. It shimmered in the scarce starlight with what appeared to be an advanced shielding technology.
Hoseok felt numb as he pushed himself away from the window and stumbled back into his quarters. With shaky hands, he attempted to send out a distress call, but the signal was jammed. He tried to radio his fellow colleagues aboard the ship, but that didn’t go through either. They were cut off from all contact, even with each other.
His body felt floaty as he engaged the electronic lock to his room and pushed all the furniture that wasn’t rooted to the floor against the door. He knew it was a shabby attempt at a barricade, but he couldn't think of what else to do.
Novus Life hasn’t invested in enough escape pods for every occupant of the ship, and even if they had, he couldn’t abandon the people trapped in cryosleep.
His head was filled with static and horrifying flashbacks raced through his mind as he huddled on the floor next to his bed. He wanted to get up and at least put up a fight, but he was too terrified to move. He could only wait for the inevitable.
*****
Namjoon pulled on his helmet as he prepared to board the small transport ship. He learned through experience that boarding the ship immediately after ending the broadcast was the best way to go. It left the occupants with less time to flee or attempt to put up a defense. Not that he was worried about this shipment.
Based on his intel, this carrier ship didn’t have any defense system. He knew they wouldn’t put up much of a fight, but he wore his armor anyway. It was less about his actual need for protection, and more about the impression he was giving off. The sooner the newcomers realized escape was impossible, the sooner they would adapt to life on Calidus and accept their new roles.
“Do you think I’m going to need this?” asked Jungkook, as he held up a pulse rifle.
Namjoon raised an eyebrow. “Did you even read the mission packet?”
Jungkook looked sheepish.
“It’s just a carrier ship, and ninety-five percent of the occupants are in cryosleep. The rest are, like, engineers and scientists.” Namjoon laughed. “No, you will not need your rifle. ”
Jungkook pouted, but put the gun away. Together they walked toward the airlock to join the rest of the taskforce. Once everyone was in position, they extended the robotic arm to clamp onto the other ship’s docking port and override their locks. The door connecting the two ships opened with a hiss as the air pressure equalized.
“Maybe you’ll find your mate on this one.” Jungkook joked as they boarded the smaller ship.
“Yeah, whatever.” Namjoon grumbled.
He knew that the entire purpose of these missions was to find more mates for the Calidans, but he personally never had much interest in mating. Despite his father’s constant hints that he wanted grandchildren, he just never understood the appeal.
Ever since his older brother Jin found his mate three years ago, he had lost his edge and become soft. It seemed all he wanted to do was dote on his new mate.
The mate was cute, Namjoon could admit that, and he was happy for his brother, but he couldn’t understand what Jin saw in the small human. Jin talked about him like he hung the four moons. Namjoon just didn’t get it.
He was much more interested in going on missions for the emperor. Luckily, as the second son in the clan, he had the freedom to go on adventures like this one, without the pressure of producing an heir. That was Jin’s job. This was his.
The boarding party split ways, Namjoon leading one group, and Jungkook joining another as they systematically combed through the ship. The ship was dead silent as Namjoon walked through row after row of cryopreserved humans. They all seemed to be in good condition, and the ship didn’t appear damaged in any way by their forced entry. The emperor was going to be happy.
After walking through a few more rooms full of cryopods, Namjoon and his squad entered the living quarters. He sniffed the air.
“Do you smell that?” he asked the soldier next to him.
“Smell what?” The soldier stopped and looked around, immediately on high alert.
“I don’t know,” Namjoon replied. “It smells like…”
Like the way sunshine feels on your face, like the first flowers of spring, like happiness.
“...nevermind.” Namjoon muttered. No way he was going to say that shit out loud.
The soldier gave Namjoon a quizzical look but continued walking.
One by one they broke open every door and checked for inhabitants. Most of the rooms were empty (Namjoon briefly wondered if this particular ship was understaffed), but there were a few workers hiding in their rooms. They rounded up the stragglers as they went. They looked terrified and begged for their lives, but as expected, none of them put up a fight.
As they continued their path down the hall, Namjoon felt himself growing restless. The scent in the air was becoming more potent, and his need to find the source was getting stronger and more overwhelming.
As they neared the last couple doors, the smell suddenly became so strong that Namjoon couldn’t hold himself back anymore. He broke open the door with brute strength instead of hacking the electronic lock like they had been doing. He pushed through the furniture that had been stacked in front of the door and frantically looked around, trying to locate the source of the scent. His eyes widened when he saw the small human cowering behind the bed.
Usually the sight of tears didn’t phase Namjoon. Humans were weak and emotional, he knew that much. But for some reason the sight of this human’s tears stirred something fierce and angry in his chest.
“Get out!” he commanded. “Everyone out!”
Surprised at his outburst, his team quickly fled the room.
As he approached, the Earthian curled into an even smaller ball and whimpered. Namjoon felt a little bit calmer, being able to see the human, but he still felt this irresistible need to be closer to him. He knelt down and reached out a hand to touch him.
The human pushed him away. “No!”
Namjoon understood the word. He had picked up a lot of Earthian Common during his missions and was semi-fluent.
“It’s ok,” he said in the language the human could understand. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
The human looked surprised, but not any less scared. He backed up further against the wall. Namjoon felt a sudden illogical fear that he was going to escape, so without thinking, he plucked the human out of the corner and into his arms.
The Earthian yelled and kicked out at him, squirming and twisting to get away, but Namjoon was much stronger. He easily maneuvered him into a position where he couldn’t move and secured the human’s arms and legs against his own body. Eventually, the human fell still, although Namjoon could still feel his body trembling.
With the human in his arms, Namjoon had unfettered access to the delicious smell. He pushed his nose into the earthian’s hair and took a big sniff. Instantly, he felt at ease. He squeezed the human to his chest a little harder, causing him to emit a cute squeak. Namjoon’s heart warmed.
He was a bit light-headed as he wandered out of the room. He felt like he was in a daze. All the colors in the ship looked brighter than before, and the weight in his arms felt right. He was perfectly content in the moment. Nothing could possibly be better—
“Umm, Namjoon?”
A tug on his arm pulled Namjoon out of his trance and he suddenly remembered where he was. Every member of Namjoon’s squad was staring at him with varying degrees of bewilderment. Even the earthians they had captured looked on at the scene in confusion and fear for their colleague.
“Uh.” Namjoon felt like his tongue was too big for his mouth. “Finish the search, meet up with unit two, and rendezvous back on the ship. Bring anyone you find aboard.”
Not the most eloquent command, but it will get the job done.
“Yes, sir.” His team nodded their understanding, but they were still giving him funny looks.
Namjoon ignored them completely. Without another word, he headed back to his ship. He felt exposed with his newly acquired human out in the open. He needed to get him back to his quarters immediately. In a turn of events he never saw coming, the importance of the mission had paled in comparison to what he just found—his mate.