Expectations: Conception Part 2 of 5
Series: Expectations
Adventure Eleven: Conception Part 2 of 5
Author: Aquariuslover
Pairings: Yunjae, KyuWook, Various
Rating: R
Genre: Crossover, Science Fiction, Adventure, Angst
Length: Chaptered
Beta: tahoeturquoise
Summary: An explosion sends an away team spiraling toward destruction. As the power of the captain and Jaejoong’s timeless bond is stretched to the breaking point, unlikely heroes rise to the challenge. New allies are found, and new enemies emerge. Someone once lost is found, while another is lost.
Prior Adventures
A searing pain shot through his back, and he bit his bottom lip to keep from screaming out. He forced the pain from his mind and studied the flickering readings on the escape pod’s screen in front of him. From the rough landing he had already determined they had landed on dry land. The lights in the pod went black, showing that the pod had not escaped the effects of the rough electrical currents in the atmosphere that had destroyed the shuttle.
He was confident that he would be able to repair the pod, but that was not the priority at the moment. He pulled the handle on the pod and it didn’t open. He gritted his teeth and kicked the emergency lever, and the pod opened to a most unwelcome sight.
An older, dark haired, bearded man glowered down at him, while aiming what resembled an early 1900’s shotgun at him. “Get up!”
He knew it would be too dangerous to grab for a phaser so he slowly got up, ignoring his back pain. His mind raced over the information he had received in the briefings before the mission. They are on Kanzi, a Hangeng controlled world. It was a large class M planet with a population of just a little over two billion people. It was made up of a vast variety of settlements that focused on farming with only a few large cities scattered among its continents. Like all the planets controlled by the warlords, its technological evolution was closely monitored. But unlike the ZhouMi controlled worlds, Hangeng treated his planets much more kindly, and they were fiercely loyal to the warlord in return.
SungGyu took in his surroundings, noticing they were in a clearing surrounded by woods. He quickly counted six other men that were all armed with similar guns. SungGyu then focused on finding the other members of the crew. Not twenty feet from him another escape pod was being opened and SungGyu watched as Ensign Junsu climbed out of it at gun point. Junsu’s gaze met SungGyu’s and he asked, “Where are-”
“Ensign,” SungGyu shouted in warning, interrupting Junsu.
Junsu immediately caught on and clamped his mouth shut, quickly grasping the lower ranking ensign’s warning. Now was not the time to mention the others.
“Where are what?” the man closest to Junsu asked as he nudged Junsu with the gun.
With all eyes on Junsu, SungGyu quickly reached up and turned the volume on his insignia off and tapped it attempting to contact the others. He left the insignia on so if anybody was out there they could listen in, but not be heard by the men.
Junsu said nothing.
“Are there more of you?” A dirty looking, stringy haired blond man asked. “You are from that damn ship the Expectations aren’t you? I recognize your clothing. Are you trying to cause trouble for our Lord Hangeng now? Was ZhouMi not enough for you?”
A clean shaven man with short gray hair, who appeared older than the others walked up to the blond haired man and stated, “Not that we mind you giving that rat faced bastard trouble, but our Lord Hangeng takes good care of us.”
SungGyu debated if he should interject himself into the conversation, when he heard another man yell, “I found another one of them!”
The gray headed man grinned. “Ah, so there was another one.”
“We should just shoot them now,” the blond man insisted. “They are a sneaky lot. If we give them one chance they will have us.”
“Don’t be so hasty, Cob. Pat them down real good. We can’t be rash. We need to get word to Lord Hangeng. We have to follow his orders,” the gray headed man, who appeared to be in charge, replied.
SungGyu watched as Cob patted down Junsu, and he allowed another man, not the one aiming the shotgun at him to pat him down. “Boss, what do we do with this?” the man patting down SungGyu asked as he pulled his insignia off of him.
The gray haired man answered, “Throw it their little ship thing. I am sure Lord Hangeng will want all their equipment.”
A younger man raced up to the gray haired man and exclaimed, “I don’t know if the other one is alive. The little ship he is in is all torn up. We can’t get him out.”
Junsu gasped but kept quiet.
SungGyu quickly offered, “I can get it open.”
“I am sure you can, but why would I let you?” The gray headed man asked him.
“Because you said yourself, that our fate should be left up to Lord Hangeng,” SungGyu quickly reminded the man the others called boss.
The man eyed SungGyu suspiciously and asked, “And is that the only reason?”
“No, I also want to help him,” SungGyu answered, honestly.
“Fair enough, but if you do anything suspicious I’ll have that one over there pumped full of lead,” the boss told SungGyu as he pointed to Junsu.
“Understood.” SungGyu agreed.
They were led deeper into the woods with shotguns pressed against their backs. When they reached the escape pod SungGyu and Junsu were both taken aback by the sight of the damaged pod. It was bent almost in half with a large jagged tear across the center of it.
SungGyu hurried toward the pod and Junsu quickly followed. SungGyu quickly went to work on opening the pod. Having been one of Commander Yoochun’s favorites in engineering, he had overseen shuttle inspections enough times to be extremely familiar with the escape pods. The strange atmospheric occurrences that had destroyed the shuttle had done their best to destroy the pod. The electrical system in the pod was fried beyond repair, but he was able to open the pod with the backup mechanical safety valve.
“I am going to need your help,” SungGyu told Junsu as he tried to pry the door to the pod open and failed. “It’s really beat up.”
Junsu nodded his head and grabbed the door, and told the lower ranking ensign, “On the count of three. One, two, three.”
“Oh, God,” Junsu exclaimed as they managed to open the door. Inside the pod was Yunho, who had blue tinged clammy skin and blood covering his chest and lower body.
SungGyu quickly slid his hand over the captain’s chest and then reached down to feel for a pulse. “We have to get him out of there. He’s barely got a pulse.”
“He isn’t breathing,” Junsu exclaimed fearfully.
SungGyu and Junsu reached inside the pod, each taking a hold of the captain, and pulled him free of the battered escape pod. The movement caused Yunho to let out a small shallow breath.
“We need a doctor,” SungGyu demanded as he turned around and faced the men behind him.
Junsu bent down and covered Yunho’s mouth with his own and gave him two slow deep breaths.
“A doctor? You have to be joking. That’s the captain of your ship. We all know what he looks like. He wasn’t hiding his face when he was threatening the Warlord ZhouMi,” the man named Cob told SungGyu.
SungGyu sized the man up quickly and said in a scornful voice, “You are always talking about the Warlord ZhouMi. Are you one of his fans? Are you hoping he will take over your world some day and turn all your people into his slaves? Or maybe you just hope he kidnaps you someday. Looking forward to being tortured and raped, are you?”
SungGyu evaded Cob when the angered man threw a punch at him. SungGyu easily grabbed him and tossed him on the ground. “You can either save us all, or you and your world can suffer the consequences!”
“Is that a threat?” Cob yelled from the ground.
The young ensign glared down at him and stated matter of factually, “No, it’s a promise.”
“Calm down, men!” The man they called boss ordered. “He’s right about one thing. Anyone who gave the Warlord ZhouMi hell is not our enemy.”
“No, I wish they had killed the perverted fucker,” a man in the background agreed.
Another man agreed, “The sick bastard deserves to die.”
“This isn’t about ZhouMi, this is about Lord Hangeng! He’s always been good to us. This guy is full of empty threats. His captain will be dead soon enough, so that means his Joong is good as dead,” Cob pointed out to everybody.
“Maybe the captain will die, and his mate along with him, but his son won’t be dead. His ship full of loyal crewmembers won’t be dead. They will all be up there, including his best friend who is in command of the ship now. And let me warn you, Commander Yoochun is not somebody you want to make angry. He’s up there right now in charge of a ship that can lay waste to your entire planet, worrying about his friend,” SungGyu bluffed, knowing that a Federation Star Ship officer would never destroy a planet.
Junsu listened as he kept breathing air into the captain, hoping and praying the captain’s breathing would return on its own. The captain’s pulse had grown stronger, but the breathing remained shallow. The captain’s color had improved slightly, but Junsu knew it was only due to the air he was breathing into the captain.
The gray haired man studied SungGyu intently and then turned to a younger man beside him, and asked, “Is Greasy still in town?”
“Yeah, he said he wasn’t going back to the city till the pox had cleared up,” the younger man answered.
“There are supplies in our escape pod that we can use to help the captain, if you will just let me get them,” SungGyu explained to the man in charge.
The gray headed man shook his head. “No, I am sure there are other things in there, too. We can’t risk it.”
The man in charge told the men around him, “Load them up. We will lock them up in the jail. Hangeng can do what he wishes with them.”
*******************************
“Here’s to hoping there aren’t giant sharks in this ocean,” Kangin told the other two men as he looked out on the still ocean. Kangin, Siwon, and Sungmin’s pods had safely landed in the ocean and the magnetism devices in the pods had gone to work immediately pulling the three pods together.
Sungmin, who was busy studying his tricorder, answered, “It just shows small aquatic life near us at the moment. There is a small grouping of islands 84 kilometers from us. It does not appear to be inhabited.”
“Still no sign of the other three pods?” Siwon asked.
Sungmin looked up from his tricorder, frowning. “They are over 8000 kilometers away from us.”
Kangin reached over the side of the pod and ran his hands through the water. “Can you tell if they came down on land?”
“There is a high probability that happened. The tricorder can’t pinpoint exactly where they are but it’s in the middle of a continent. The systems on the shuttle were going haywire and the atmosphere was so unstable,” Sungmin answered, continued to check the tricorder. “We are lucky we all didn’t end up on land.”
“How dangerous is it to crash on the land?” Siwon asked Sungmin.
“In theory the pod is supposed to withstand any kind of landing, but landing on rough ground is always problematic. It greatly increases your risk of injury. The pods are programmed to find water to land in if at all possible. It’s just safer.”
“So, do you know what went wrong?” Siwon asked, remembering the last minutes on the shuttle when everything had gone haywire.
“There was massive surge of energy…I hope the ship is okay,” Kangin told them. “Yunho will be fine, but it does worry me that he won’t answer our hails.”
“Me too,” Sungmin agreed as he hit his insignia again trying to contact the captain.
Siwon smiled at Kangin trying to lighten the mood and stated, “Perhaps we should avoid shuttle crafts from now on. It does not appear that we have great luck with them.”
Kangin snorted, remembering back. “You have a good point. I also couldn’t help remembering back to the last time the three of us went swimming together.”
Sungmin looked up from his tricorder and frowned at Kangin. “I was drowning. I hardly call that swimming. If I recall-”
All three of their insignias chirped and they instantly tapped them. Voices could soon be heard, along with the voice of Ensign SungGyu. They listened intently till the voices faded away as the men went to the other damaged pod.
“Fuck,” was all Kangin could say.
Sungmin let out a sigh and explained, “If Ensign SungGyu is doing all the talking then we can assume the captain is in the damaged pod.”
“What about Junsu?” Siwon asked.
“Junsu wouldn’t be doing the talking. Junsu is the higher ranking ensign, but he is a pilot; he never took command courses at the academy.”
“That Gyu boy is Yunho’s pet project. I have heard him and Yoochun fight often enough over him,” Kangin added.
“True,” Sungmin agreed. “But he’s young. He was just a cadet when he got trapped on the ship.”
“He got them to take him to the captain though. Let’s hope Yunho’s faith isn’t misplaced,” Kangin told Sungmin.
Sungmin let out a small uneasy sigh. “He’s never even been on an away mission before.”
“Well then, let’s all hope he gets the pod open and Yunho emerges and takes charge,” Siwon, always the optimistic diplomat, told them.
“Let’s hope,” Sungmin agreed.
***********************
Kyuhyun and Ryeowook lifted an unresponsive Jaejoong onto an exam table in sickbay. Ryeowook looked up at the sensors that were meaningless when it came to his Joong friend. Ryeowook turned to face Kyuhyun and asked, “Do you really think the captain is dead?”
“It depends; how long does it take a Joong to die when their mate dies?”
“I don’t know for sure…I just always assumed it happened instantly.”
Kyuhyun looked around the room of flashing red lights, and told Ryeowook in a firm voice, “I have to get to the bridge. Something major has happened. It could still be happening for all I know. I need to be in charge so Commander Yoochun can be in Engineering.”
Ryeowook looked up and met Kyuhyun’s eyes, swallowed back his fears, and spoke to the computer, “Computer, this is Cho Ryeowook, Chief Medical Officer of the USS Expectations. I hereby reinstate Commander Cho Kyuhyun to all his former duties.”
The red alerts paused long enough for the computer to announce ship wide, “Acknowledged. Commander Cho Kyuhyun has been reinstated as the second in command of the USS Expectations per order of Cho Ryeowook, Chief Medical Officer of the USS Expectations.”
Kyuhyun gave Ryeowook a quick look of gratitude and hurried from sickbay.
“What the hell is going on? How is a girl supposed to get any beauty sleep with all this blasted racket?” Heechul demanded, storming into sickbay.
“Heechul, now is not the time,” Ryeowook scolded as he tried to wake Jaejoong again.
Heechul walked up to the exam bed and asked, “What happened to him, her, or is it both these days? I can’t keep track.”
“Changmin thinks…thinks the captain is injured.”
Heechul looked at Ryeowook with sharp eyes. “Injured? Jaejoong can’t heal Yunho from here.”
“No, he can’t. Is there any chance you can snap back into your former brilliant self?”
Heechul reached for Jaejoong’s wrist and felt for his pulse, and told Ryeowook, “I’m always brilliant, but the doctor is still out.”
“Maybe Yunho is-”
“Doctor, we need you,” Ensign Yang yelled, entering sickbay holding up Ensign Henry. “His leg is broken and Commander Yoochun badly needs him in engineering.”
Ryeowook rushed to Ensign Henry and helped Ensign Yang to get him on an exam bed. “Ensigns, do you know what happened?”
With gritted teeth Ensign Henry answered, “It was like a giant wave of energy…we didn’t have any warning. We barely got the shields up in time. The warp core is so unstable now, I don’t know if we are going to be able to save it. We might have to jettison it.”
“Jettison the warp,” Ryeowook said nervously as he ran a scanner over Henry’s broken leg. Ryeowook was no engineer, but everybody knew that if the warp core was lost then they would lose their ability to travel at warp speed. “Then we better hurry and get you back to Engineering.”
“Yes, sir,” Henry agreed as Ryeowook quickly took care of his leg.
“All done,” Ryeowook told Henry, patting his leg. “Get back to work, Ensign.”
Henry jumped up from the table and hurried toward the door with Ensign Yang. “Thank you, Dr. Cho,” he hollered on his way out.
Changmin almost collided with the ensigns when he rushed into sickbay with Sulli close behind him. “Is he alive, Doctor?”
“Yes, but he’s in some kind of trance,” Ryeowook answered as he headed with Changmin and Sulli toward Jaejoong.
Changmin reached down and grabbed a hold of Jaejoong’s hand. “Yunho must be alive then. It was my understanding that one can not live without the other.”
“That was also my understanding.”
Heechul, who had his eyes glued to where Changmin held Jaejoong’s hand, reached up and covered his heart, and declared, “It’s all so moving.”
Changmin quickly explained, “A child can strengthen its parent’s bond.”
“I didn’t know that,” Ryeowook told Changmin.
Changmin explained, “I once suffered from epistaxis. Jaejoong healed me and afterwards he explained healing bonds between Joongs. If Jaejoong is keeping Yunho alive from even this great distance, then I will help if I can.”
From Changmin’s side, Sulli said encouragingly, “I am sure you are helping them.”
“I am not so certain. Jaejoong was not even certain if I would be able to heal others, due to the fact that I am a hybrid. He hypothesized that it would be easier for me than healing myself, but we never tested the theory.”
“But you are just lending them your strength,” Ryeowook said hopefully as the ship was rocked again with another wave of energy. This time the inertia dampers held, and they all remained standing.
“Do you notice any change in him?” Changmin asked.
“No,” Ryeowook had to reluctantly admit. “I don’t, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t helping.”
“It would be illogical-” his insignia going off interrupted Changmin. He reached up and tapped it.
“Changmin, I need you on the bridge now,” came Kyuhyun’s voice.
“Understood,” Changmin answered.
Ryeowook sighed, knowing the ship must always come first. With a great sadness he nodded his head as he watched Changmin regretfully let go of Jaejoong’s hand and make his way toward the bridge.
Sulli watched with tears in her eyes as Changmin left sickbay and returned to duty. She took Jaejoong’s discarded hand, knowing she could not help him or Yunho, but wishing for Changmin’s sake she could. She squeezed Jaejoong’s hand tighter as she listened to Dr. Cho speak to the ship’s computer and reinstate Changmin to full duty.
*******************************
Junsu watched SungGyu pace the cell they were in. The men who had captured them had thrown them in a jail that looked like it was straight out of the old west. They had learned they were in a small town called Coppin in the western hemisphere. Junsu sat on the floor with the captain’s head in his lap. The captain was breathing on his own again, but it remained shallow and irregular. Junsu had taken off his own jacket earlier and pressed it against the wound in the captain’s chest that still oozed blood.
Junsu had focused on taking care of the captain while SungGyu had taken on their captors. Once they had gotten to Coppin the gray haired man had lost control of them, and the mayor of the town had taken over. The mayor had refused at first to allow a doctor to see Yunho, but SungGyu had persisted with his demands that Yunho be treated, and finally the mayor had relented.
“He is continuing to breathe on his own,” Junsu told the pacing younger man.
SungGyu stopped and turned to face Junsu. “The bleeding?”
“Still bleeding some, but-”
“He can’t have that much blood left,” SungGyu finished for the older ensign.
“No,” Junsu admitted as he looked down at the captain sadly.
“Where is that doctor?” SungGyu yelled loudly for the people in the other room to hear.
“Do you think they are really going to get us a doctor?”
SungGyu nodded his head. “I think I have convinced them that Commander Yoochun will blow them all to hell if they allow the captain to die.”
Junsu frowned. “You don’t think he would, really, do you?”
“Depends on his mood,” SungGyu told Junsu, eyeing the doorway, hoping that somebody was eavesdropping on them. “If that energy wave that destroyed the shuttle affected the ship’s engines, then he will be out for blood. You know he can’t tolerate the slightest drop in efficiency”
“Plus he will be pissed if he doesn’t get to pinch my ass again,” Junsu said, making himself smile.
SungGyu nodded his head, unable to hide his own smile, and agreed loudly, “That will really piss him off. This poor planet doesn’t stand a chance in hell. Too bad two billion people have to die due to the actions of a few inbred idiots.”
“Shut the fuck up,” the man they knew as Cob yelled as he walked in. “Against my advice the mayor said he will allow a doctor to see your damn captain. Greasy is on his way.”
“Well, he needs to hurry,” SungGyu informed the stringy haired blond man.
Cob glared at the young ensign, still angry that he had been knocked down in front of his friends so easily. “He’s busy treating the pox; it’d be a damn shame if he infected all of you.”
“We will take our chances.”
Cob just smirked and walked out.
SungGyu went to back of the cell where Junsu was sitting and looked out the small window that was above Junsu’s head. The window was much too small for either of them to fit through. SungGyu looked out for a moment at the lively town that appeared similar to early 1900’s Earth. He knew other parts of the planet were more evolved, but this small town was still using very primitive forms of the automotive type for their main source of transportation. “A doctor named Greasy; doesn’t that just sound ominous?”
Junsu watched as SungGyu winced as he sat down beside him. “Maybe he will look at your back, too.”
“I’m fine.”
“I think Cob is starting to like you,” Junsu joked with a smile. “He didn’t even threaten to string you up this time.”
SungGyu smiled back at the older ensign. “I knew I would eventually grow on him.”
“It’s all the sweet endearments you heap on him.”
“I always was a sweet talker.”
Junsu’s smile faded as he looked down at the captain. “I should just stop going on away missions.”
SungGyu arched an eyebrow. “Why do you say that?”
“I have bad luck on away missions. Giant bears, vampires, brain damage…although I did luck out and miss the gender switch.”
“At least you have that going for you.”
“I don’t think I would make a good girl.”
“You would still be a great pilot.”
Junsu groaned. “How can you say that when the shuttle was completely destroyed?”
SungGyu, who was now studying the captain’s shallow breathing, told Junsu, “If anybody else had been flying that shuttle, we would all be dead now. You gave us the needed time to make it to the escape pods.”
Junsu couldn’t help but smile a little. “Thanks.”
“No, thank you. I intend on getting off this planet and living a long life. If it were…” SungGyu paused as he heard a new voice in the outer room. “I think the doctor is here.”
“I pray he is good.”
SungGyu stood up gingerly, and agreed, “So do I.”
A young man walked into the room, grinned at both of them after overhearing their exchange, and informed them, “Don’t worry, I’m good. Some would even say great.”
SungGyu looked at the disheveled, dark haired younger man who looked like he hadn’t shaven or slept in a week. His clothes were oversized and hanging off of him, and he reeked of alcohol. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
Cob and the two other men that were following behind the young doctor just started laughing as they lifted their guns and aimed them at the Star Fleet officers as they opened the jail cell for the doctor to enter.
SungGyu watched dumbfounded as the doctor who reeked of alcohol entered the cell with his medical bag and immediately went toward the captain.
“Greasy, holler when you are done,” Cob said with a chuckle, loving the appalled look on SungGyu’s face. Cob closed the cell door and locked it, and then he and the other men left the room shutting the door behind them.
“I can’t allow you to treat him,” SungGyu declared as the doctor pulled out a stethoscope and started listening to Yunho’s chest.
Junsu blinked as the strong alcohol fumes hit him as the doctor listened to the captain’s breathing. “Are you intoxicated?”
“Or did you just take a bath in it?” SungGyu snapped, highly irritated.
The young man called Greasy pulled the stethoscope off and stood up to face SungGyu. “Actually, I did. I have been treating people with the pox for almost a month now. It’s highly contagious, so yes I did bathe in alcohol. It’s the closest thing I could get to a sterile bath. These clothes don’t belong to me either; all my clothes are covered with pox germs.”
“Oh,” was all SungGyu could manage to get out as small, dark eyes cut into him.
“Are you done now?” the young doctor asked.
“Yes.”
The doctor turned around, bent back down and started going through his bag. “Now that the interrogation is over, I can get to work. This man is severely injured.”
“Sorry,” SungGyu mumbled as he watched the doctor start an IV on the captain and give him an injection. He then watched the young doctor pull out a bottle of alcohol and a massive needle from his bag.
Junsu watched as the doctor removed his jacket from the captain’s wound and poured alcohol all over the captain’s chest. “What’s wrong with him?”
“He has major chest trauma; several broken ribs, and a pneumothorax because of it. I’m not going to lie to you, it isn’t good. I don’t have the proper equipment with me. He needs to be in a hospital but that isn’t going to happen. So we are just going to do what we can to save him,” the doctor told Junsu.
“What can we do to help?” SungGyu asked.
The doctor pulled a bandage from his bag and covered the captain’s chest wound. The doctor then instructed Junsu, “Hold it in place.”
Junsu quickly did as he was told.
The doctor looked up at SungGyu and told him, “I don’t think he will move, but just in case, hold him still. I’m amazed he’s still alive.”
“He’s bonded to a Joong,” Junsu explained as he held pressure on the captain’s wound.
“I know; your captain is a very famous man. He recently had a fun time on Valmont, I heard.”
SungGyu knelt down to hold on to the captain. “Too famous it seems.”
“He’s a good man, and he doesn’t deserve to die in this backwards hick town,” the doctor told them as he pushed the needle into Yunho’s chest.
Junsu grimaced as he watched the needle being pushed in. They waited patiently as the captain’s breathing slowly improved.
“Will he wake up now?” Junsu asked.
The doctor shook his head as he taped the needle in place, and connected a valve to it. “I doubt it. He’s lost a lot of blood. Do you two know what blood type he is?”
“I think he is A,” Junsu answered.
“I also have A type blood; he can have all my blood that he needs,” SungGyu offered.
“It doesn’t matter right now; they won’t give me that much time with him. He sure would benefit from a transfusion though, but I doubt it would save him. He’s needs his Joong mate. Their connection is probably all that is keeping him alive; I am just trying to help in any way I can,” the doctor explained as he removed the bandage from the captain’s chest and started stitching him up.
SungGyu, who was still kneeling down beside the captain, told the doctor, “I am very sorry about earlier. We are really grateful for your help.”
“Yes, we are,” Junsu quickly confirmed.
The doctor who was finishing stitching the captain’s wound, told them, “You are welcome. I know how this town can be. I know your captain is a good man, and I want to do whatever I can to help him.”
SungGyu studied the doctor intently and asked, “Are you not from here?”
“I was, but I left a long time ago,” the doctor explained as he placed a new pressure bandage over the captain’s wound.
Junsu looked up from the captain to face the doctor, “But you are not very old.”
“No, but even as I child I wanted to leave this town. Luckily for me, I showed an aptitude for healing, and I had the intelligence to get sent to a large city for my education. I left here when I was ten.”
“So you were back visiting?” SungGyu asked as a plan started taking form in his mind.
The doctor nodded his head. “I don’t visit often, but my mother had contacted me telling me of the pox outbreak, and asked for my help. I happened to be on the planet at the time and my guilt got the best of me…nobody can guilt you like your own mother. I haven’t been back here in three years.”
“On the planet?” SungGyu repeated.
The doctor smiled at the young ensign and explained, “I am a traveling doctor. Hangeng paid for my education and sometimes I get sent to other Hangeng ruled worlds when I am needed.”
“You are not loyal to him like the others though?” SungGyu questioned, noticing how the doctor left off the ‘Lord’ on Hangeng’s name and didn’t say his name like he was a deity.
The young doctor looked at SungGyu uneasily and whispered, “I think he is by far the kindest of the warlords…but he’s still a dictator. I can not in good conscience allow you three to die just because it might make things easier on him.”
“Then you will help us?” SungGyu asked.
“I think I just did,” the doctor reminded him.
“Doctor…Greasy, no, I mean will you help us to escape from here?”
“Please don’t call me that; that’s an old nickname my stepfather gave me. I hate it,” the doctor explained, not answering SungGyu’s question.
“I will call you whatever you want to be called as long as you help us get out of here,” SungGyu promised.
“WooHyun is my name. Where could you go if I did help you escape? Where could you possibly go on this planet?”
“I’d like to know that, too,” Junsu questioned.
“We need to get back to where we crashed,” SungGyu whispered. “The ship will be searching for us and without our insignias it will be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“But they moved our pods. You saw them load them up. No doubt they are guarding them,” Junsu reminded the younger ensign.
SungGyu lowered his head and said softly, “I slipped the captain’s insignia off of him when we were getting him out of the pod, and I dropped it on the ground. They didn’t notice.”
“You did that?” Junsu asked amazed. “I didn’t even notice.”
“The captain had all of your attention and theirs, too,” SungGyu explained. “We have to get back there. I am still not sure they will keep us alive. If that asshole Cob gets his way they will hang us and offer our bodies to their precious Lord Hangeng as a present.”
“True, he is the worst of them,” the doctor agreed.
SungGyu looked back at the doctor and asked, “If you help us, we will drop you off wherever you want. I don’t think it would be safe for you to stay here.”
“That asshole Cob is my stepfather, so I have no problem with not coming back to this town. My mother will just have to understand,” WooHyun explained as he finished with the captain.
SungGyu promised, “We do repay our debts.”
“We have to make it to the ship first,” Junsu added, and looked at SungGyu questioningly, “How do you plan on getting us out of here? What is the escape plan?”
“We are going-”
WooHyun stood and said with a grin. “Leave that up to me.”
SungGyu stood quickly, ignoring his back pain. “No, I have a plan.”
“Not as good as mine.”
“No, really; we have to be very careful,” SungGyu stated, alarmed.
WooHyun reached over, patting SungGyu on the cheek like he would a small child and confidently told him, “I’ll take care of it.”
“No, at least let us compare plans-”
“You are too young to be so uptight,” WooHyun told SungGyu as he walked toward the door of the jail cell.
“I am not uptight, I am cautious. We can’t afford to make any mistakes.”
“I know that; your captain doesn’t have much more time left. I bought him some, but he needs a blood transfusion and he needs a proper chest tube if we are going to buy him some more time till his Joong arrives,” WooHyun explained as he rattled the bars to the jail cell and yelled, “I am done in here for now.”
WooHyun turned around, noticing the look of dread on SungGyu’s face and grinned. “Don’t look so worried. I hate my nickname but I come by it honestly. I can be really slick when I need to be.”
Before SungGyu could reply two armed men entered the room to let the doctor out.
Junsu watched as the doctor left and the other ensign turned around to face him, hiding none of his trepidation. Junsu groaned, looking down at the captain, “We are going to need a lot of luck.”
SungGyu leaned against the wall. “A freaking miracle is more like it.”
*************************
“How the fuck does astrophysics miss that three stars are about to go supernova?” Commander Yoochun demanded as Commander Cho followed the fuming Chief Engineer through engineering inspecting the damage.
Commander Cho explained, “They said there wasn’t any warning.”
“Like hell there wasn’t! Stars do not just go supernova without a warning. There is like millions of year’s worth of warnings!”
“Well, apparently there wasn’t this time.”
Commander Yoochun turned around glaring. “Do you know who I really blame for this?”
Commander Cho frowned. “It isn’t anybody’s fault.”
“It’s your damn husband’s fault!”
“How is it his fault?” Commander Cho asked in dismay.
“In order to justify not letting you return to duty, he kept Changmin off the bridge and locked away in his labs doing minor shit. If Changmin had been on the bridge this wouldn’t have happened,” Yoochun spit out hatefully as he pulled up a screen and scanned the readings.
“Minho is-”
“Isn’t Changmin!” Yoochun snapped, interrupting Kyuhyun.
“So first it was astrophysics fault, then it was Ryeowook’s fault, and now it is Ensign Choi’s fault. Is there anybody you don’t want to blame, Commander?” Kyuhyun snapped back at Yoochun harshly.
“Commander-”
“No,” Commander Cho said, stopping Yoochun. “You listen to me. This isn’t time for the blame game. I need facts from you, not one of your mood swings. How bad off are we?”
Commander Yoochun let out a breath, and answered, “Bad, but better than we were. The warp core is stabilized for now, but our dilithium supply is dangerously low. I should have the engines back up in a couple hours.”
Kyuhyun let out a sigh of relief. “So we are not going to blow up…that’s good.”
“That’s always a plus,” Yoochun agreed. “What about getting down to the planet?”
“The atmosphere is too unstable even for a shuttle now, and it isn’t letting any signals pass through it either.”
“The planet wasn’t damaged though, was it?” Yoochun asked, unable to hide his worry.
Kyuhyun shook his head. “Changmin said the planet most likely only suffered from massive blackouts, but it shouldn’t have any permanent damage.”
“So Yunho and the others could still be alive?”
“I don’t know. Changmin doesn’t even know,” Kyuhyun answered honestly. “We are going to have to find a way down there…to know for sure.”
Yoochun paled and told Kyuhyun, “Our goal needs to be to get to Trysor. We have to replenish our dilithium supplies.”
“And leave the away team here to die?”
“No,” Yoochun answered quickly. “Yunho has been my friend since I was fourteen years old and Kangin too. I am not eager to leave them behind…or the others, especially Ensign Junsu; but without dilithium we are dead in space.”
“I know,” Kyuhyun admitted. Kyuhyun’s insignia chirped and Kyuhyun hit it.
“Jaejoong has awakened,” Ryeowook announced.
“I’m on my way,” Kyuhyun answered, heading toward the lift. Kyuhyun was surprised to find Yoochun following him. “You are leaving engineering at a time like this?”
“We are about to find out if Yunho is alive…for that I will leave engineering.”
The two men headed toward sickbay without a word between them until they reached the sickbay entrance, where Kyuhyun held out his hand stopping Yoochun. “Not one word out of your mouth about blame, do you hear me? That’s an order.”
Yoochun fought the urge to roll his eyes. “Yes, Sir.”
They entered sickbay and made their way to the exam bed that held Jaejoong. Ryeowook and Sulli were each on one side of Jaejoong. Sulli was still holding the Joong’s hand. Jaejoong’s eyes were open but he just stared up at the ceiling, not saying a word. “Has he spoken?” Kyuhyun asked as he came to stand beside Ryeowook.
“No,” Ryeowook answered with a shake of his head. “Changmin is on his way. I’m hoping he can speak with him telepathically.”
“That’s a good idea,” Yoochun told the doctor. “He isn’t pregnant, is he?”
“No,” Ryeowook answered.
“Then that is good? Right?” Yoochun asked.
“He wouldn’t say so,” Ryeowook answered, remembering the shifting Joong’s desire to become pregnant.
“But Changmin exists still…if Yunho and Jaejoong die here, then how can Changmin exist? So, this is good news,” Yoochun clarified for them.
“Your logic fails to take into account that time isn’t a fixed point,” Changmin replied as he entered sickbay. “The Joong race would not fear the misuse of the Guardian of Time if time was a forever fixed point. No, it is constantly changing.”
Yoochun watched as Changmin walked up next to Sulli and took Jaejoong’s hand from her. “I prefer to think of it as forever fixed.”
Changmin ignored Yoochun and said gently, “Jaejoong, can you hear me?”
Jaejoong closed his eyes but made no attempt to answer Changmin. Changmin frowned and asked telepathically, “Jaejoong, are you there?”
“Not Mom?”
“I thought since we were in a very dire situation I would be respectful.”
Jaejoong gasped and turned his head. “Yunho…he’s…he’s so hurt.”
“But not dead?”
“No, the moment he dies I will also die…our lives are forever linked.”
“How badly is he injured?”
“His life ticks away with every beat of his heart, and I can’t continue to sustain him from this distance...that he is even alive is a testament to the power of our bond.”
“How can I help?”
“You must bring me to him.”
“I can not do that. It is impossible at the moment.”
“Then you must make it possible.”
“Are you not able to take strength from me?”
“Some but not enough…our bond is only that of humans. We do not have the birth parent/child bond, but even it would not be enough for long. Yunho is the one that must be healed.”
“Then I must focus on breaking through the atmosphere of this planet.”
“Hurry…there was an improvement in Yunho, but it is fading away. You must…hurry…”
“Jaejoong, can you tell if the others are alive?”
“No…hurry…just hurry…” Jaejoong begged before their telepathic connection was broken.
Changmin looked up and met Commander Cho’s questioning gaze. “Yunho is alive, but not for long if we don’t break through the atmosphere.”
“Do you have any ideas how to do that?” Commander Cho asked.
Changmin motioned for Sulli to take Jaejoong’s hand from him and told Kyuhyun with absolute determination, “No, but I will find a way.”
Adventure Eleven: Conception Part 2 of 5
Author: Aquariuslover
Pairings: Yunjae, KyuWook, Various
Rating: R
Genre: Crossover, Science Fiction, Adventure, Angst
Length: Chaptered
Beta: tahoeturquoise
Summary: An explosion sends an away team spiraling toward destruction. As the power of the captain and Jaejoong’s timeless bond is stretched to the breaking point, unlikely heroes rise to the challenge. New allies are found, and new enemies emerge. Someone once lost is found, while another is lost.
Prior Adventures
A searing pain shot through his back, and he bit his bottom lip to keep from screaming out. He forced the pain from his mind and studied the flickering readings on the escape pod’s screen in front of him. From the rough landing he had already determined they had landed on dry land. The lights in the pod went black, showing that the pod had not escaped the effects of the rough electrical currents in the atmosphere that had destroyed the shuttle.
He was confident that he would be able to repair the pod, but that was not the priority at the moment. He pulled the handle on the pod and it didn’t open. He gritted his teeth and kicked the emergency lever, and the pod opened to a most unwelcome sight.
An older, dark haired, bearded man glowered down at him, while aiming what resembled an early 1900’s shotgun at him. “Get up!”
He knew it would be too dangerous to grab for a phaser so he slowly got up, ignoring his back pain. His mind raced over the information he had received in the briefings before the mission. They are on Kanzi, a Hangeng controlled world. It was a large class M planet with a population of just a little over two billion people. It was made up of a vast variety of settlements that focused on farming with only a few large cities scattered among its continents. Like all the planets controlled by the warlords, its technological evolution was closely monitored. But unlike the ZhouMi controlled worlds, Hangeng treated his planets much more kindly, and they were fiercely loyal to the warlord in return.
SungGyu took in his surroundings, noticing they were in a clearing surrounded by woods. He quickly counted six other men that were all armed with similar guns. SungGyu then focused on finding the other members of the crew. Not twenty feet from him another escape pod was being opened and SungGyu watched as Ensign Junsu climbed out of it at gun point. Junsu’s gaze met SungGyu’s and he asked, “Where are-”
“Ensign,” SungGyu shouted in warning, interrupting Junsu.
Junsu immediately caught on and clamped his mouth shut, quickly grasping the lower ranking ensign’s warning. Now was not the time to mention the others.
“Where are what?” the man closest to Junsu asked as he nudged Junsu with the gun.
With all eyes on Junsu, SungGyu quickly reached up and turned the volume on his insignia off and tapped it attempting to contact the others. He left the insignia on so if anybody was out there they could listen in, but not be heard by the men.
Junsu said nothing.
“Are there more of you?” A dirty looking, stringy haired blond man asked. “You are from that damn ship the Expectations aren’t you? I recognize your clothing. Are you trying to cause trouble for our Lord Hangeng now? Was ZhouMi not enough for you?”
A clean shaven man with short gray hair, who appeared older than the others walked up to the blond haired man and stated, “Not that we mind you giving that rat faced bastard trouble, but our Lord Hangeng takes good care of us.”
SungGyu debated if he should interject himself into the conversation, when he heard another man yell, “I found another one of them!”
The gray headed man grinned. “Ah, so there was another one.”
“We should just shoot them now,” the blond man insisted. “They are a sneaky lot. If we give them one chance they will have us.”
“Don’t be so hasty, Cob. Pat them down real good. We can’t be rash. We need to get word to Lord Hangeng. We have to follow his orders,” the gray headed man, who appeared to be in charge, replied.
SungGyu watched as Cob patted down Junsu, and he allowed another man, not the one aiming the shotgun at him to pat him down. “Boss, what do we do with this?” the man patting down SungGyu asked as he pulled his insignia off of him.
The gray haired man answered, “Throw it their little ship thing. I am sure Lord Hangeng will want all their equipment.”
A younger man raced up to the gray haired man and exclaimed, “I don’t know if the other one is alive. The little ship he is in is all torn up. We can’t get him out.”
Junsu gasped but kept quiet.
SungGyu quickly offered, “I can get it open.”
“I am sure you can, but why would I let you?” The gray headed man asked him.
“Because you said yourself, that our fate should be left up to Lord Hangeng,” SungGyu quickly reminded the man the others called boss.
The man eyed SungGyu suspiciously and asked, “And is that the only reason?”
“No, I also want to help him,” SungGyu answered, honestly.
“Fair enough, but if you do anything suspicious I’ll have that one over there pumped full of lead,” the boss told SungGyu as he pointed to Junsu.
“Understood.” SungGyu agreed.
They were led deeper into the woods with shotguns pressed against their backs. When they reached the escape pod SungGyu and Junsu were both taken aback by the sight of the damaged pod. It was bent almost in half with a large jagged tear across the center of it.
SungGyu hurried toward the pod and Junsu quickly followed. SungGyu quickly went to work on opening the pod. Having been one of Commander Yoochun’s favorites in engineering, he had overseen shuttle inspections enough times to be extremely familiar with the escape pods. The strange atmospheric occurrences that had destroyed the shuttle had done their best to destroy the pod. The electrical system in the pod was fried beyond repair, but he was able to open the pod with the backup mechanical safety valve.
“I am going to need your help,” SungGyu told Junsu as he tried to pry the door to the pod open and failed. “It’s really beat up.”
Junsu nodded his head and grabbed the door, and told the lower ranking ensign, “On the count of three. One, two, three.”
“Oh, God,” Junsu exclaimed as they managed to open the door. Inside the pod was Yunho, who had blue tinged clammy skin and blood covering his chest and lower body.
SungGyu quickly slid his hand over the captain’s chest and then reached down to feel for a pulse. “We have to get him out of there. He’s barely got a pulse.”
“He isn’t breathing,” Junsu exclaimed fearfully.
SungGyu and Junsu reached inside the pod, each taking a hold of the captain, and pulled him free of the battered escape pod. The movement caused Yunho to let out a small shallow breath.
“We need a doctor,” SungGyu demanded as he turned around and faced the men behind him.
Junsu bent down and covered Yunho’s mouth with his own and gave him two slow deep breaths.
“A doctor? You have to be joking. That’s the captain of your ship. We all know what he looks like. He wasn’t hiding his face when he was threatening the Warlord ZhouMi,” the man named Cob told SungGyu.
SungGyu sized the man up quickly and said in a scornful voice, “You are always talking about the Warlord ZhouMi. Are you one of his fans? Are you hoping he will take over your world some day and turn all your people into his slaves? Or maybe you just hope he kidnaps you someday. Looking forward to being tortured and raped, are you?”
SungGyu evaded Cob when the angered man threw a punch at him. SungGyu easily grabbed him and tossed him on the ground. “You can either save us all, or you and your world can suffer the consequences!”
“Is that a threat?” Cob yelled from the ground.
The young ensign glared down at him and stated matter of factually, “No, it’s a promise.”
“Calm down, men!” The man they called boss ordered. “He’s right about one thing. Anyone who gave the Warlord ZhouMi hell is not our enemy.”
“No, I wish they had killed the perverted fucker,” a man in the background agreed.
Another man agreed, “The sick bastard deserves to die.”
“This isn’t about ZhouMi, this is about Lord Hangeng! He’s always been good to us. This guy is full of empty threats. His captain will be dead soon enough, so that means his Joong is good as dead,” Cob pointed out to everybody.
“Maybe the captain will die, and his mate along with him, but his son won’t be dead. His ship full of loyal crewmembers won’t be dead. They will all be up there, including his best friend who is in command of the ship now. And let me warn you, Commander Yoochun is not somebody you want to make angry. He’s up there right now in charge of a ship that can lay waste to your entire planet, worrying about his friend,” SungGyu bluffed, knowing that a Federation Star Ship officer would never destroy a planet.
Junsu listened as he kept breathing air into the captain, hoping and praying the captain’s breathing would return on its own. The captain’s pulse had grown stronger, but the breathing remained shallow. The captain’s color had improved slightly, but Junsu knew it was only due to the air he was breathing into the captain.
The gray haired man studied SungGyu intently and then turned to a younger man beside him, and asked, “Is Greasy still in town?”
“Yeah, he said he wasn’t going back to the city till the pox had cleared up,” the younger man answered.
“There are supplies in our escape pod that we can use to help the captain, if you will just let me get them,” SungGyu explained to the man in charge.
The gray headed man shook his head. “No, I am sure there are other things in there, too. We can’t risk it.”
The man in charge told the men around him, “Load them up. We will lock them up in the jail. Hangeng can do what he wishes with them.”
*******************************
“Here’s to hoping there aren’t giant sharks in this ocean,” Kangin told the other two men as he looked out on the still ocean. Kangin, Siwon, and Sungmin’s pods had safely landed in the ocean and the magnetism devices in the pods had gone to work immediately pulling the three pods together.
Sungmin, who was busy studying his tricorder, answered, “It just shows small aquatic life near us at the moment. There is a small grouping of islands 84 kilometers from us. It does not appear to be inhabited.”
“Still no sign of the other three pods?” Siwon asked.
Sungmin looked up from his tricorder, frowning. “They are over 8000 kilometers away from us.”
Kangin reached over the side of the pod and ran his hands through the water. “Can you tell if they came down on land?”
“There is a high probability that happened. The tricorder can’t pinpoint exactly where they are but it’s in the middle of a continent. The systems on the shuttle were going haywire and the atmosphere was so unstable,” Sungmin answered, continued to check the tricorder. “We are lucky we all didn’t end up on land.”
“How dangerous is it to crash on the land?” Siwon asked Sungmin.
“In theory the pod is supposed to withstand any kind of landing, but landing on rough ground is always problematic. It greatly increases your risk of injury. The pods are programmed to find water to land in if at all possible. It’s just safer.”
“So, do you know what went wrong?” Siwon asked, remembering the last minutes on the shuttle when everything had gone haywire.
“There was massive surge of energy…I hope the ship is okay,” Kangin told them. “Yunho will be fine, but it does worry me that he won’t answer our hails.”
“Me too,” Sungmin agreed as he hit his insignia again trying to contact the captain.
Siwon smiled at Kangin trying to lighten the mood and stated, “Perhaps we should avoid shuttle crafts from now on. It does not appear that we have great luck with them.”
Kangin snorted, remembering back. “You have a good point. I also couldn’t help remembering back to the last time the three of us went swimming together.”
Sungmin looked up from his tricorder and frowned at Kangin. “I was drowning. I hardly call that swimming. If I recall-”
All three of their insignias chirped and they instantly tapped them. Voices could soon be heard, along with the voice of Ensign SungGyu. They listened intently till the voices faded away as the men went to the other damaged pod.
“Fuck,” was all Kangin could say.
Sungmin let out a sigh and explained, “If Ensign SungGyu is doing all the talking then we can assume the captain is in the damaged pod.”
“What about Junsu?” Siwon asked.
“Junsu wouldn’t be doing the talking. Junsu is the higher ranking ensign, but he is a pilot; he never took command courses at the academy.”
“That Gyu boy is Yunho’s pet project. I have heard him and Yoochun fight often enough over him,” Kangin added.
“True,” Sungmin agreed. “But he’s young. He was just a cadet when he got trapped on the ship.”
“He got them to take him to the captain though. Let’s hope Yunho’s faith isn’t misplaced,” Kangin told Sungmin.
Sungmin let out a small uneasy sigh. “He’s never even been on an away mission before.”
“Well then, let’s all hope he gets the pod open and Yunho emerges and takes charge,” Siwon, always the optimistic diplomat, told them.
“Let’s hope,” Sungmin agreed.
***********************
Kyuhyun and Ryeowook lifted an unresponsive Jaejoong onto an exam table in sickbay. Ryeowook looked up at the sensors that were meaningless when it came to his Joong friend. Ryeowook turned to face Kyuhyun and asked, “Do you really think the captain is dead?”
“It depends; how long does it take a Joong to die when their mate dies?”
“I don’t know for sure…I just always assumed it happened instantly.”
Kyuhyun looked around the room of flashing red lights, and told Ryeowook in a firm voice, “I have to get to the bridge. Something major has happened. It could still be happening for all I know. I need to be in charge so Commander Yoochun can be in Engineering.”
Ryeowook looked up and met Kyuhyun’s eyes, swallowed back his fears, and spoke to the computer, “Computer, this is Cho Ryeowook, Chief Medical Officer of the USS Expectations. I hereby reinstate Commander Cho Kyuhyun to all his former duties.”
The red alerts paused long enough for the computer to announce ship wide, “Acknowledged. Commander Cho Kyuhyun has been reinstated as the second in command of the USS Expectations per order of Cho Ryeowook, Chief Medical Officer of the USS Expectations.”
Kyuhyun gave Ryeowook a quick look of gratitude and hurried from sickbay.
“What the hell is going on? How is a girl supposed to get any beauty sleep with all this blasted racket?” Heechul demanded, storming into sickbay.
“Heechul, now is not the time,” Ryeowook scolded as he tried to wake Jaejoong again.
Heechul walked up to the exam bed and asked, “What happened to him, her, or is it both these days? I can’t keep track.”
“Changmin thinks…thinks the captain is injured.”
Heechul looked at Ryeowook with sharp eyes. “Injured? Jaejoong can’t heal Yunho from here.”
“No, he can’t. Is there any chance you can snap back into your former brilliant self?”
Heechul reached for Jaejoong’s wrist and felt for his pulse, and told Ryeowook, “I’m always brilliant, but the doctor is still out.”
“Maybe Yunho is-”
“Doctor, we need you,” Ensign Yang yelled, entering sickbay holding up Ensign Henry. “His leg is broken and Commander Yoochun badly needs him in engineering.”
Ryeowook rushed to Ensign Henry and helped Ensign Yang to get him on an exam bed. “Ensigns, do you know what happened?”
With gritted teeth Ensign Henry answered, “It was like a giant wave of energy…we didn’t have any warning. We barely got the shields up in time. The warp core is so unstable now, I don’t know if we are going to be able to save it. We might have to jettison it.”
“Jettison the warp,” Ryeowook said nervously as he ran a scanner over Henry’s broken leg. Ryeowook was no engineer, but everybody knew that if the warp core was lost then they would lose their ability to travel at warp speed. “Then we better hurry and get you back to Engineering.”
“Yes, sir,” Henry agreed as Ryeowook quickly took care of his leg.
“All done,” Ryeowook told Henry, patting his leg. “Get back to work, Ensign.”
Henry jumped up from the table and hurried toward the door with Ensign Yang. “Thank you, Dr. Cho,” he hollered on his way out.
Changmin almost collided with the ensigns when he rushed into sickbay with Sulli close behind him. “Is he alive, Doctor?”
“Yes, but he’s in some kind of trance,” Ryeowook answered as he headed with Changmin and Sulli toward Jaejoong.
Changmin reached down and grabbed a hold of Jaejoong’s hand. “Yunho must be alive then. It was my understanding that one can not live without the other.”
“That was also my understanding.”
Heechul, who had his eyes glued to where Changmin held Jaejoong’s hand, reached up and covered his heart, and declared, “It’s all so moving.”
Changmin quickly explained, “A child can strengthen its parent’s bond.”
“I didn’t know that,” Ryeowook told Changmin.
Changmin explained, “I once suffered from epistaxis. Jaejoong healed me and afterwards he explained healing bonds between Joongs. If Jaejoong is keeping Yunho alive from even this great distance, then I will help if I can.”
From Changmin’s side, Sulli said encouragingly, “I am sure you are helping them.”
“I am not so certain. Jaejoong was not even certain if I would be able to heal others, due to the fact that I am a hybrid. He hypothesized that it would be easier for me than healing myself, but we never tested the theory.”
“But you are just lending them your strength,” Ryeowook said hopefully as the ship was rocked again with another wave of energy. This time the inertia dampers held, and they all remained standing.
“Do you notice any change in him?” Changmin asked.
“No,” Ryeowook had to reluctantly admit. “I don’t, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t helping.”
“It would be illogical-” his insignia going off interrupted Changmin. He reached up and tapped it.
“Changmin, I need you on the bridge now,” came Kyuhyun’s voice.
“Understood,” Changmin answered.
Ryeowook sighed, knowing the ship must always come first. With a great sadness he nodded his head as he watched Changmin regretfully let go of Jaejoong’s hand and make his way toward the bridge.
Sulli watched with tears in her eyes as Changmin left sickbay and returned to duty. She took Jaejoong’s discarded hand, knowing she could not help him or Yunho, but wishing for Changmin’s sake she could. She squeezed Jaejoong’s hand tighter as she listened to Dr. Cho speak to the ship’s computer and reinstate Changmin to full duty.
*******************************
Junsu watched SungGyu pace the cell they were in. The men who had captured them had thrown them in a jail that looked like it was straight out of the old west. They had learned they were in a small town called Coppin in the western hemisphere. Junsu sat on the floor with the captain’s head in his lap. The captain was breathing on his own again, but it remained shallow and irregular. Junsu had taken off his own jacket earlier and pressed it against the wound in the captain’s chest that still oozed blood.
Junsu had focused on taking care of the captain while SungGyu had taken on their captors. Once they had gotten to Coppin the gray haired man had lost control of them, and the mayor of the town had taken over. The mayor had refused at first to allow a doctor to see Yunho, but SungGyu had persisted with his demands that Yunho be treated, and finally the mayor had relented.
“He is continuing to breathe on his own,” Junsu told the pacing younger man.
SungGyu stopped and turned to face Junsu. “The bleeding?”
“Still bleeding some, but-”
“He can’t have that much blood left,” SungGyu finished for the older ensign.
“No,” Junsu admitted as he looked down at the captain sadly.
“Where is that doctor?” SungGyu yelled loudly for the people in the other room to hear.
“Do you think they are really going to get us a doctor?”
SungGyu nodded his head. “I think I have convinced them that Commander Yoochun will blow them all to hell if they allow the captain to die.”
Junsu frowned. “You don’t think he would, really, do you?”
“Depends on his mood,” SungGyu told Junsu, eyeing the doorway, hoping that somebody was eavesdropping on them. “If that energy wave that destroyed the shuttle affected the ship’s engines, then he will be out for blood. You know he can’t tolerate the slightest drop in efficiency”
“Plus he will be pissed if he doesn’t get to pinch my ass again,” Junsu said, making himself smile.
SungGyu nodded his head, unable to hide his own smile, and agreed loudly, “That will really piss him off. This poor planet doesn’t stand a chance in hell. Too bad two billion people have to die due to the actions of a few inbred idiots.”
“Shut the fuck up,” the man they knew as Cob yelled as he walked in. “Against my advice the mayor said he will allow a doctor to see your damn captain. Greasy is on his way.”
“Well, he needs to hurry,” SungGyu informed the stringy haired blond man.
Cob glared at the young ensign, still angry that he had been knocked down in front of his friends so easily. “He’s busy treating the pox; it’d be a damn shame if he infected all of you.”
“We will take our chances.”
Cob just smirked and walked out.
SungGyu went to back of the cell where Junsu was sitting and looked out the small window that was above Junsu’s head. The window was much too small for either of them to fit through. SungGyu looked out for a moment at the lively town that appeared similar to early 1900’s Earth. He knew other parts of the planet were more evolved, but this small town was still using very primitive forms of the automotive type for their main source of transportation. “A doctor named Greasy; doesn’t that just sound ominous?”
Junsu watched as SungGyu winced as he sat down beside him. “Maybe he will look at your back, too.”
“I’m fine.”
“I think Cob is starting to like you,” Junsu joked with a smile. “He didn’t even threaten to string you up this time.”
SungGyu smiled back at the older ensign. “I knew I would eventually grow on him.”
“It’s all the sweet endearments you heap on him.”
“I always was a sweet talker.”
Junsu’s smile faded as he looked down at the captain. “I should just stop going on away missions.”
SungGyu arched an eyebrow. “Why do you say that?”
“I have bad luck on away missions. Giant bears, vampires, brain damage…although I did luck out and miss the gender switch.”
“At least you have that going for you.”
“I don’t think I would make a good girl.”
“You would still be a great pilot.”
Junsu groaned. “How can you say that when the shuttle was completely destroyed?”
SungGyu, who was now studying the captain’s shallow breathing, told Junsu, “If anybody else had been flying that shuttle, we would all be dead now. You gave us the needed time to make it to the escape pods.”
Junsu couldn’t help but smile a little. “Thanks.”
“No, thank you. I intend on getting off this planet and living a long life. If it were…” SungGyu paused as he heard a new voice in the outer room. “I think the doctor is here.”
“I pray he is good.”
SungGyu stood up gingerly, and agreed, “So do I.”
A young man walked into the room, grinned at both of them after overhearing their exchange, and informed them, “Don’t worry, I’m good. Some would even say great.”
SungGyu looked at the disheveled, dark haired younger man who looked like he hadn’t shaven or slept in a week. His clothes were oversized and hanging off of him, and he reeked of alcohol. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
Cob and the two other men that were following behind the young doctor just started laughing as they lifted their guns and aimed them at the Star Fleet officers as they opened the jail cell for the doctor to enter.
SungGyu watched dumbfounded as the doctor who reeked of alcohol entered the cell with his medical bag and immediately went toward the captain.
“Greasy, holler when you are done,” Cob said with a chuckle, loving the appalled look on SungGyu’s face. Cob closed the cell door and locked it, and then he and the other men left the room shutting the door behind them.
“I can’t allow you to treat him,” SungGyu declared as the doctor pulled out a stethoscope and started listening to Yunho’s chest.
Junsu blinked as the strong alcohol fumes hit him as the doctor listened to the captain’s breathing. “Are you intoxicated?”
“Or did you just take a bath in it?” SungGyu snapped, highly irritated.
The young man called Greasy pulled the stethoscope off and stood up to face SungGyu. “Actually, I did. I have been treating people with the pox for almost a month now. It’s highly contagious, so yes I did bathe in alcohol. It’s the closest thing I could get to a sterile bath. These clothes don’t belong to me either; all my clothes are covered with pox germs.”
“Oh,” was all SungGyu could manage to get out as small, dark eyes cut into him.
“Are you done now?” the young doctor asked.
“Yes.”
The doctor turned around, bent back down and started going through his bag. “Now that the interrogation is over, I can get to work. This man is severely injured.”
“Sorry,” SungGyu mumbled as he watched the doctor start an IV on the captain and give him an injection. He then watched the young doctor pull out a bottle of alcohol and a massive needle from his bag.
Junsu watched as the doctor removed his jacket from the captain’s wound and poured alcohol all over the captain’s chest. “What’s wrong with him?”
“He has major chest trauma; several broken ribs, and a pneumothorax because of it. I’m not going to lie to you, it isn’t good. I don’t have the proper equipment with me. He needs to be in a hospital but that isn’t going to happen. So we are just going to do what we can to save him,” the doctor told Junsu.
“What can we do to help?” SungGyu asked.
The doctor pulled a bandage from his bag and covered the captain’s chest wound. The doctor then instructed Junsu, “Hold it in place.”
Junsu quickly did as he was told.
The doctor looked up at SungGyu and told him, “I don’t think he will move, but just in case, hold him still. I’m amazed he’s still alive.”
“He’s bonded to a Joong,” Junsu explained as he held pressure on the captain’s wound.
“I know; your captain is a very famous man. He recently had a fun time on Valmont, I heard.”
SungGyu knelt down to hold on to the captain. “Too famous it seems.”
“He’s a good man, and he doesn’t deserve to die in this backwards hick town,” the doctor told them as he pushed the needle into Yunho’s chest.
Junsu grimaced as he watched the needle being pushed in. They waited patiently as the captain’s breathing slowly improved.
“Will he wake up now?” Junsu asked.
The doctor shook his head as he taped the needle in place, and connected a valve to it. “I doubt it. He’s lost a lot of blood. Do you two know what blood type he is?”
“I think he is A,” Junsu answered.
“I also have A type blood; he can have all my blood that he needs,” SungGyu offered.
“It doesn’t matter right now; they won’t give me that much time with him. He sure would benefit from a transfusion though, but I doubt it would save him. He’s needs his Joong mate. Their connection is probably all that is keeping him alive; I am just trying to help in any way I can,” the doctor explained as he removed the bandage from the captain’s chest and started stitching him up.
SungGyu, who was still kneeling down beside the captain, told the doctor, “I am very sorry about earlier. We are really grateful for your help.”
“Yes, we are,” Junsu quickly confirmed.
The doctor who was finishing stitching the captain’s wound, told them, “You are welcome. I know how this town can be. I know your captain is a good man, and I want to do whatever I can to help him.”
SungGyu studied the doctor intently and asked, “Are you not from here?”
“I was, but I left a long time ago,” the doctor explained as he placed a new pressure bandage over the captain’s wound.
Junsu looked up from the captain to face the doctor, “But you are not very old.”
“No, but even as I child I wanted to leave this town. Luckily for me, I showed an aptitude for healing, and I had the intelligence to get sent to a large city for my education. I left here when I was ten.”
“So you were back visiting?” SungGyu asked as a plan started taking form in his mind.
The doctor nodded his head. “I don’t visit often, but my mother had contacted me telling me of the pox outbreak, and asked for my help. I happened to be on the planet at the time and my guilt got the best of me…nobody can guilt you like your own mother. I haven’t been back here in three years.”
“On the planet?” SungGyu repeated.
The doctor smiled at the young ensign and explained, “I am a traveling doctor. Hangeng paid for my education and sometimes I get sent to other Hangeng ruled worlds when I am needed.”
“You are not loyal to him like the others though?” SungGyu questioned, noticing how the doctor left off the ‘Lord’ on Hangeng’s name and didn’t say his name like he was a deity.
The young doctor looked at SungGyu uneasily and whispered, “I think he is by far the kindest of the warlords…but he’s still a dictator. I can not in good conscience allow you three to die just because it might make things easier on him.”
“Then you will help us?” SungGyu asked.
“I think I just did,” the doctor reminded him.
“Doctor…Greasy, no, I mean will you help us to escape from here?”
“Please don’t call me that; that’s an old nickname my stepfather gave me. I hate it,” the doctor explained, not answering SungGyu’s question.
“I will call you whatever you want to be called as long as you help us get out of here,” SungGyu promised.
“WooHyun is my name. Where could you go if I did help you escape? Where could you possibly go on this planet?”
“I’d like to know that, too,” Junsu questioned.
“We need to get back to where we crashed,” SungGyu whispered. “The ship will be searching for us and without our insignias it will be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“But they moved our pods. You saw them load them up. No doubt they are guarding them,” Junsu reminded the younger ensign.
SungGyu lowered his head and said softly, “I slipped the captain’s insignia off of him when we were getting him out of the pod, and I dropped it on the ground. They didn’t notice.”
“You did that?” Junsu asked amazed. “I didn’t even notice.”
“The captain had all of your attention and theirs, too,” SungGyu explained. “We have to get back there. I am still not sure they will keep us alive. If that asshole Cob gets his way they will hang us and offer our bodies to their precious Lord Hangeng as a present.”
“True, he is the worst of them,” the doctor agreed.
SungGyu looked back at the doctor and asked, “If you help us, we will drop you off wherever you want. I don’t think it would be safe for you to stay here.”
“That asshole Cob is my stepfather, so I have no problem with not coming back to this town. My mother will just have to understand,” WooHyun explained as he finished with the captain.
SungGyu promised, “We do repay our debts.”
“We have to make it to the ship first,” Junsu added, and looked at SungGyu questioningly, “How do you plan on getting us out of here? What is the escape plan?”
“We are going-”
WooHyun stood and said with a grin. “Leave that up to me.”
SungGyu stood quickly, ignoring his back pain. “No, I have a plan.”
“Not as good as mine.”
“No, really; we have to be very careful,” SungGyu stated, alarmed.
WooHyun reached over, patting SungGyu on the cheek like he would a small child and confidently told him, “I’ll take care of it.”
“No, at least let us compare plans-”
“You are too young to be so uptight,” WooHyun told SungGyu as he walked toward the door of the jail cell.
“I am not uptight, I am cautious. We can’t afford to make any mistakes.”
“I know that; your captain doesn’t have much more time left. I bought him some, but he needs a blood transfusion and he needs a proper chest tube if we are going to buy him some more time till his Joong arrives,” WooHyun explained as he rattled the bars to the jail cell and yelled, “I am done in here for now.”
WooHyun turned around, noticing the look of dread on SungGyu’s face and grinned. “Don’t look so worried. I hate my nickname but I come by it honestly. I can be really slick when I need to be.”
Before SungGyu could reply two armed men entered the room to let the doctor out.
Junsu watched as the doctor left and the other ensign turned around to face him, hiding none of his trepidation. Junsu groaned, looking down at the captain, “We are going to need a lot of luck.”
SungGyu leaned against the wall. “A freaking miracle is more like it.”
*************************
“How the fuck does astrophysics miss that three stars are about to go supernova?” Commander Yoochun demanded as Commander Cho followed the fuming Chief Engineer through engineering inspecting the damage.
Commander Cho explained, “They said there wasn’t any warning.”
“Like hell there wasn’t! Stars do not just go supernova without a warning. There is like millions of year’s worth of warnings!”
“Well, apparently there wasn’t this time.”
Commander Yoochun turned around glaring. “Do you know who I really blame for this?”
Commander Cho frowned. “It isn’t anybody’s fault.”
“It’s your damn husband’s fault!”
“How is it his fault?” Commander Cho asked in dismay.
“In order to justify not letting you return to duty, he kept Changmin off the bridge and locked away in his labs doing minor shit. If Changmin had been on the bridge this wouldn’t have happened,” Yoochun spit out hatefully as he pulled up a screen and scanned the readings.
“Minho is-”
“Isn’t Changmin!” Yoochun snapped, interrupting Kyuhyun.
“So first it was astrophysics fault, then it was Ryeowook’s fault, and now it is Ensign Choi’s fault. Is there anybody you don’t want to blame, Commander?” Kyuhyun snapped back at Yoochun harshly.
“Commander-”
“No,” Commander Cho said, stopping Yoochun. “You listen to me. This isn’t time for the blame game. I need facts from you, not one of your mood swings. How bad off are we?”
Commander Yoochun let out a breath, and answered, “Bad, but better than we were. The warp core is stabilized for now, but our dilithium supply is dangerously low. I should have the engines back up in a couple hours.”
Kyuhyun let out a sigh of relief. “So we are not going to blow up…that’s good.”
“That’s always a plus,” Yoochun agreed. “What about getting down to the planet?”
“The atmosphere is too unstable even for a shuttle now, and it isn’t letting any signals pass through it either.”
“The planet wasn’t damaged though, was it?” Yoochun asked, unable to hide his worry.
Kyuhyun shook his head. “Changmin said the planet most likely only suffered from massive blackouts, but it shouldn’t have any permanent damage.”
“So Yunho and the others could still be alive?”
“I don’t know. Changmin doesn’t even know,” Kyuhyun answered honestly. “We are going to have to find a way down there…to know for sure.”
Yoochun paled and told Kyuhyun, “Our goal needs to be to get to Trysor. We have to replenish our dilithium supplies.”
“And leave the away team here to die?”
“No,” Yoochun answered quickly. “Yunho has been my friend since I was fourteen years old and Kangin too. I am not eager to leave them behind…or the others, especially Ensign Junsu; but without dilithium we are dead in space.”
“I know,” Kyuhyun admitted. Kyuhyun’s insignia chirped and Kyuhyun hit it.
“Jaejoong has awakened,” Ryeowook announced.
“I’m on my way,” Kyuhyun answered, heading toward the lift. Kyuhyun was surprised to find Yoochun following him. “You are leaving engineering at a time like this?”
“We are about to find out if Yunho is alive…for that I will leave engineering.”
The two men headed toward sickbay without a word between them until they reached the sickbay entrance, where Kyuhyun held out his hand stopping Yoochun. “Not one word out of your mouth about blame, do you hear me? That’s an order.”
Yoochun fought the urge to roll his eyes. “Yes, Sir.”
They entered sickbay and made their way to the exam bed that held Jaejoong. Ryeowook and Sulli were each on one side of Jaejoong. Sulli was still holding the Joong’s hand. Jaejoong’s eyes were open but he just stared up at the ceiling, not saying a word. “Has he spoken?” Kyuhyun asked as he came to stand beside Ryeowook.
“No,” Ryeowook answered with a shake of his head. “Changmin is on his way. I’m hoping he can speak with him telepathically.”
“That’s a good idea,” Yoochun told the doctor. “He isn’t pregnant, is he?”
“No,” Ryeowook answered.
“Then that is good? Right?” Yoochun asked.
“He wouldn’t say so,” Ryeowook answered, remembering the shifting Joong’s desire to become pregnant.
“But Changmin exists still…if Yunho and Jaejoong die here, then how can Changmin exist? So, this is good news,” Yoochun clarified for them.
“Your logic fails to take into account that time isn’t a fixed point,” Changmin replied as he entered sickbay. “The Joong race would not fear the misuse of the Guardian of Time if time was a forever fixed point. No, it is constantly changing.”
Yoochun watched as Changmin walked up next to Sulli and took Jaejoong’s hand from her. “I prefer to think of it as forever fixed.”
Changmin ignored Yoochun and said gently, “Jaejoong, can you hear me?”
Jaejoong closed his eyes but made no attempt to answer Changmin. Changmin frowned and asked telepathically, “Jaejoong, are you there?”
“Not Mom?”
“I thought since we were in a very dire situation I would be respectful.”
Jaejoong gasped and turned his head. “Yunho…he’s…he’s so hurt.”
“But not dead?”
“No, the moment he dies I will also die…our lives are forever linked.”
“How badly is he injured?”
“His life ticks away with every beat of his heart, and I can’t continue to sustain him from this distance...that he is even alive is a testament to the power of our bond.”
“How can I help?”
“You must bring me to him.”
“I can not do that. It is impossible at the moment.”
“Then you must make it possible.”
“Are you not able to take strength from me?”
“Some but not enough…our bond is only that of humans. We do not have the birth parent/child bond, but even it would not be enough for long. Yunho is the one that must be healed.”
“Then I must focus on breaking through the atmosphere of this planet.”
“Hurry…there was an improvement in Yunho, but it is fading away. You must…hurry…”
“Jaejoong, can you tell if the others are alive?”
“No…hurry…just hurry…” Jaejoong begged before their telepathic connection was broken.
Changmin looked up and met Commander Cho’s questioning gaze. “Yunho is alive, but not for long if we don’t break through the atmosphere.”
“Do you have any ideas how to do that?” Commander Cho asked.
Changmin motioned for Sulli to take Jaejoong’s hand from him and told Kyuhyun with absolute determination, “No, but I will find a way.”