Something Like TLP [1/2]
❇ Title: Something Like TLP [1/2] for everyone
❇ Pairing: Xiumin/Luhan, Suho/Kris, others as revealed
❇ Rating: R
❇ Length: 13,300+ words
❇ Warnings: Language, “Smut”, unbeta-ed
❇ Author note: Oh geez! I never realized the plot would become this big. I haven’t really stuck to the prompt you gave, but I hope you still enjoy this. TT_TT I have so many ideas rolling around in my head but I just didn’t have enough time to turn them all into words.
>_< Mianhae. Sorry about the bad title too. I couldn’t think about anything else. OTL
❇ Summary: When UES Starship Bethesda is hijacked, the members of space unit EXO struggle to get it back. But there is more than meets the eye when their rogue comrade returns.
Exoplanet 4003
1803H, 30140804
The man inside the quantum laboratory put down his pen and rubbed his eyes. He looked at the clock and saw that it was already an hour past the end of the workday. Suddenly, he heard the swish of the door sliding open.
“Yes, Cath,” said the man. “I’ll be out in a couple of minutes. I just need to finish some tweaks to the emission pump for…”
“Who’s Cath?” The deeper, huskier voice definitely wasn’t his laboratory assistant’s.
With barely a sound, the man reached into his drawer and felt for his gun, ready to shoot whoever the intruder was.
“You can let go of that gun. I know you and your suspicious little mind.”
The voice was really familiar to him. Turning around, his eyes grew wide open at the person before him.
“Hello, little brother! I’m back.”
Exoplanet 3625
1405H, 30140806
The professor adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose as he continued his lecture. “As the positron spins closer to its-“ He looked up and seemed to freeze on the spot.
“Sir?” asked one of the students. They turned to where their professor was looking.
At the back of his classroom, there were a couple of people standing by the door. One of them nodded to the professor, as if signaling him.
The man took a deep breath and looked at his students. “Class, you are dismissed for today. For all subsequent meetings, Dr. Choi will be taking over. That is all. You may leave.”
Not minding the confused looks of the university students, he tucked away his things. A few minutes later and he stepped out of the building together with his visitors.
Exoplanet 9368
2036H, 30140807
The seedy corner bar in the basement of an old building was just beginning to liven up for the night, when the two men walked in. They heard the sound of some old music playing through the place’s sound system. All eyes were upon them, their aura different from the usual bar patrons. From the way the two walked, one could easily distinguish that they weren’t one of the drunkards or whores who came to this place to drink their problems away.
Approaching the bartender, the shorter one between them noticed a hologram card inserted below a half-empty glass. His dainty fingers traced the intricate lines on top before he flipped it over and read what was written on it.
“Damn it,” the man cursed out loud. “Call this in.”
The other one, more than a head taller with ears sticking out the side in a weird way, picked up his phone and pressed the speed dial. When the other end picked up, he said, “No, we couldn’t find a trace.”
“Wait,” said the other one. “There’s some sort of dust on the seat. We’re sending it in.”
Exoplanet 3123
1506H, 30140809
“Baba!!!”
The child’s shout echoed throughout the hallway. The pitter-patter of small footsteps could be heard going towards the kitchen.
“Hi, sweetheart,” said the man, as he bent down with arms open. The child barreled into his arms and both giggled as the man carried the little boy. “How was school?”
“Bobby’s face became green!” the child exclaimed loudly. “Teacher Kimmie was scared.”
“Bobby? You sit beside him, right?” asked the older one. “What happened?”
“He threw up his lunch and Teacher Kimmie had to carry him to Nurse.” The kid began playing with his father’s face.
“What did he-“ The man started to say but someone suddenly said, “The kid’s mom packed a sandwich; didn’t know her child’s allergic to wheat.”
The other man walked over and gave a peck on his husband’s lips. “Han, your kid is hyperactive.”
“Baba, I’m hungry,” said the little boy and started fidgeting about to be put back down.
“That’s good,” said the man to his son as he gently placed the boy on the ground. To the other one, he stuck out his tongue and said, “He’s your kid too, Minseok. Now, go grab a slice of the banana loaf I just baked. And get just a thin one for Chao.”
Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!!” The little boy screamed and ran towards the door.
“Be careful, sweetheart,” said Luhan as he followed in his son’s footsteps.
“Hello, good afternoon.” Luhan heard his son politely greet whoever it was at the door.
“Hello, young man. Are your fathers home?”
Luhan slowed his steps as he heard the voice that was very familiar to him. As he rounded the corner, Luhan met the eyes of their visitor.
“Han. It’s been a while.”
A short time later and they were all in the living room. Little Chao was sprawled out on the floor surrounded by his coloring books. Han sat on one of the armchairs nearest his son. Minseok was half-sitting on one of its arms. They had two visitors who were seated comfortably on the couch. All of them looked at each other warily, while the child was busily playing with the crayons.
One of the visitors cleared his throat and said, “Before anything else, let me introduce Lieutenant Fei Chan. She’s been very helpful in this um… task we have.”
“Task? Really, Yixing?” Minseok raised an eyebrow. “Okay. Then what brings you here to our side of the solar system? Last I heard, you were well on your way to becoming Commodore.”
“Yes, um…” the man named Yixing cleared his throat once more. “Well, it’s Marshal now but when did we ever care about ranks. We’ve come here because…”
Yixing was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.
“That’s not another one of your companions, is it?” Minseok asked.
“No, no. It’s only the lieutenant and I,” answered the other man, sitting uncomfortably under the gaze of the other one before him.
“Minseok, behave,” Han placed a hand on his husband’s thigh and gave it a small squeeze before standing up. “I’ll go get the door.”
A few moments later and Luhan returned. He walked over to where his son was. “Sweetheart, Auntie Mei-mei is here. Why don’t you go over to her house for a while? Your cousins want to play with you.”
“Okay, Baba,” said the little boy with a grin. “Appa, help me with puzzle-bots later, okay?”
Minseok stood for a bit and ruffled his son’s hair. “Sure. I’ll come over to get you when dinner’s ready.”
A few more moments later and everyone had settled back. Now, it was only the four of them in the living room of the Kim household.
“Alright, Yixing, spill,” said Minseok. “Why have you come here? After five whole years.”
“Look, Xiumin.”
“It’s Minseok,” the man interrupted. “Han and I have already retired from the service. What more do you want from us?”
“We need you to take up the uniform once more,” Yixing answered. “One special mission.”
“No,” Minseok answered with such finality and anger that Han had to grab his husband’s hands in his.
“Minseok…”
“I said, no!”
“Honey, let’s hear what Yixing has to say first,” said Han, trying to calm his partner down.
“What do they need us for?” Minseok looked at the other man. “We’ve retired. Doesn’t that say that we’ve had enough of the service life?”
“It’s an EXO mission, Minseok,” Yixing began. “We need everyone.”
“I call bullshit,” the older man replied. “The K unit is still in active service. They should be more than enough. I can’t think of anything that’s been happening in the whole system that would warrant such a massive mission.”
“It’s Suho who specifically requested everyone,” said Yixing. “To be honest, I don’t even know what the mission is. Everything’s being kept hush-hush and the orders are just to gather all of the members.”
“M has been disbanded long ago,” said Han, speaking up this time. “Give us one good reason to take up the uniform once more.”
“I- I don’t know how to answer that.” Yixing could not look at his former comrades straight in the eye.
“Look, Yixing,” Han began, a softer tone to his voice this time. “If this was a year after we retired, heck even two years after we retired, then we’d be jumping at the chance no questions asked. But it’s different now. You’ve met Chao. His interests are our top priority now. If you can give us one reason, just one, for us to go back, then we’ll do our best to arrange things so that Chao can be taken care of.”
“But he will be taken care of. Chao, I mean,” said Yixing. “We have been keeping tabs on all of the EXO members. I guess even if our unit had been disbanded, it doesn’t mean that the whole of EXO has. I’ve heard news that it was the Commander-in-Chief herself who invoked the writ.”
Team EXO was a special team of soldiers formed to serve in the United Earth System military for missions deemed too dangerous for ordinary troops, or too risky to send large contingents. They were not just limited to interplanetary missions; they were the System’s first line of defense against the alien races who wanted to conquer humans. Of course, there were allied alien races but not all would share the vision of peace and harmony in the universe.
The writ of conscription was a special command that would allow only the highest ranking officer of the expanded military or the Commander-in-Chief to assemble the members of EXO. While its members volunteered for the job, its missions were mandatory. Refusal of the writ is equivalent to high treason and warrants capital corporeal punishment, or simply death, so that a new member may replace those who have passed on.
Han and Minseok looked at each other. This was going to be hard for them. They were caught between a rock and a hard place. Both of them would have to leave their son otherwise.
“How long will we be gone?” Han asked, his voice was barely above a whisper.
“A month? A year? I don’t really know. It would all depend,” Yixing answered, feeling doubly guilty that he couldn’t even reassure the couple whom he still considered as close friends even if time had driven them apart. “But, if it helps you to decide, I know one other thing about the mission. It involves him.”
Minseok looked at the other man straight into his eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Positively.”
Han let out a sigh. “Alright, when do we need to be at the red room?”
“A couple, three days tops,” Yixing answered.
“What? That’s too short!” the other man complained. “We need to prepare a lot of things. Tell our parents. Tell Chao. Leave Chao with …”
“Honey, we can do it,” Minseok said, being the one this time to calm his partner down. “We’ll do it slowly but surely. Three days, Yixing.”
“Yes. The lieutenant will pick you up in three days.”
The Ashkelon
2005H, 30140812
Han and Minseok stepped into ship’s red room, the main war room of the fighter-carriers of the United Earth System. There were only less than fifty of the greater fighter-carriers who had red rooms where the top military leaders and strategists discussed battle plans. The starship they were in, the Ashkelon, was one of them. Both of them wondered though, as this wasn’t the usual ship where the team would be in.
Just as what was agreed, the couple was picked up from their home by Lt. Chan. It was a tearful goodbye as their son, who promised he wouldn’t cry, suddenly became inconsolable at the last minute. It was all Han could do to lead his husband away from their child, whom they left in the care of Minseok’s parents. It was barely 12 hours ago and Minseok was still silent.
“Four years old, Han,” Minseok said to his husband the night before. “Our son is barely four years old and we’re leaving him.”
“It won’t be for long, Minseok,” said the other man, holding his husband as they lay on their bed. “We’ll be back soon enough. Yixing promised us this would be the last.”
That morning, Luhan and Minseok donned their EXO Galaxy uniforms, specially made just for the members. Minseok had to hold back a sob when Chao told them that his baba and appa were really handsome and he wanted to grow up just like them. An hour after breakfast and they were on their way to Minseok’s parents to drop Chao off before they continued off to the planet’s launch pad.
“Luhan, Xiumin. I’m glad you’re here.” It was Yixing who greeted them. Being as they were already inside a military ship, all of them knew they would have to use their proper military names.
“Lay,” said Luhan in greeting. Xiumin merely nodded at the man and immediately took one of the seats.
“The rest are on their way. I believe the K unit is already at the receiving dock. I trust that your travel was good.” Lay was trying to make small talk, but Xiumin was just sitting on his chair with a couple of fingers on his temple while Luhan was staring out of the room’s starboard window as sunrays peeked out of the planet’s edge below them.
A few more awkward minutes and they heard the door slide open to reveal six men in their military dress blues walking towards the room. In front was one of the shorter ones. His jet black hair was a bit on the long side and bounced lightly with each step. He had a stiff gait and seemed to carry the world on his shoulders. Two more men around his height walked just a couple of steps beside him, their hair were different shades of brown and also sported different cuts. The other three were also walking in a row behind. The tallest was in the middle with wide ears and deep red hair with a slight wave. The last two were on each of the tallest one’s side; one had spiked, platinum blond hair, while the other had a light metallic pink tint on his.
They were but a couple of feet away when they saw the others who were already inside. Immediately all, except for the one in the middle, ran towards either Luhan or Xiumin. Hugs and kisses were being exchanged all around, acting like it was the first day of school at the playground.
The man who was up front and in the middle though quietly approached Lay and held out his hand. The other man gave it a firm shake. “Admiral Kim,” Lay greeted him.
“Drop the formalities, Lay,” said the man, a corner of his lips slanting upward in the ghost of a smile. “We’re all here as EXO now.”
“Of course, Suho,” said the other one, slightly embarrassed at his gaffe. “Sorry about that.”
Suho merely shrugged it off and went towards the others who were already there before. “Luhan, Xiumin, I’m glad you could make it.”
“Suho,” said Xiumin, taking the hand the man had offered. “It’s been a long time.”
“Yes, it has been a long time,” Luhan interjected and grabbed the shorter man in a hug, ignoring the handshake that he was just offering. He let go after a few more moments.
“Well then, everybody settle down and let’s get started,” Suho declared as he made his way towards the chair at the front of the room.
“What?!” exclaimed the man with the spiked, platinum blond hair. “Talking shop already? We just got here, Suho.”
“Yeah, Kai’s right.” said the one with pink hair.
“Sehun, don’t you two start now,” said the one with the shorter, darker brown hair.
“Yeah?” Sehun stuck his tongue out. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Hey! Don’t be like that to D.O!” Kai slapped Sehun’s wrists.
“Oh, hell no! You did not just do that.” Sehun slapped the other one’s wrists back, and the two began trying who could slap the other’s wrists more.
The tallest among them leaned into the other one with brown hair and whispered, “Hey, Baekhyun. Since the maknaes are at it again, wanna go and check out our room?”
“Chanyeol,” the man being whispered to grumbled. “Not now.”
“That’s it. Everyone, take your frickin’ seats right now!”
Suho’s voice boomed throughout the room, and the rest who weren’t already seated meekly followed his orders. They knew that when Suho started to spew even just a speck of a semblance of a curse word, they had to follow or risk the man’s wrath upon them.
“Now, moving on.” Suho pressed a button and a rainbow of lights began to fill the space in the middle of the chairs. “Luhan, Xiumin, I’m sure you two must be tired but everyone needs to be briefed about this mission. We don’t have much time.”
With a stroke of Suho’s hand on the panel, a man’s image appeared as a hologram projection. “I’m sure everyone knows who he is.”
Kris. Yifan. Former EXO member. Former M unit leader, who’s counterpart was Suho in the K unit. Co-leader of the whole team. Their best pilot, and now, vigilante. He disappeared more than five years ago and hasn’t been seen hence. That is, until recently.
“Eyewitness reports have found him hanging around sector Beta-6,” Suho continued. “We’ve tried to track him down after those reports came in, but we’ve come up with nothing.”
“We’d have to concur,” said Baekhyun. “Chanyeol and I had checked out four leads but they were all duds.”
“Only the last one had promise since he left a card behind,” Chanyeol added. “Still got away though.”
Xiumin was looking around and counted everyone in the room. There were only nine of them. EXO was a team of twelve. “Wait a sec. Is this everyone? I mean, aside from Kris who has gone AWOL, shouldn’t there be eleven people here now?
“Yes, but, um, perhaps aside from the number of people, all of you must be wondering why we are using the Ashkelon’s red room, right?” Suho replied evasively.
Some of them nodded. Not all of the K members had been completely briefed as to what was going on. Aside from Baekhyun and Chanyeol, the K unit had also just been gathered.
Suho touched the panel once more and the image of a large starship was being projected. It was the Bethesda, the greater fighter-carrier deployed with a special task of housing EXO’s galaxy flight-mechs. The GFM’s, or “G-M-F” as the members called them, was the UES military’s best kept secret and that which also kept the mysterious aura of EXO as a whole. Those specialized vehicles were the UES’ thunderbolts of wrath against anyone who would dare to cause trouble to the system whether from inside or out. They were able to fight both in space and on planetary surfaces.
Only uniquely-trained people were able to pilot the GFM’s, as each was customized to its pilot’s neural system. No one outside its team of inventor-scientists knew the architecture of each GFM, other than the fact that no one vehicle functioned in the same way.
EXO had two types of GFM’s. The first was a solo-piloted, highly customized vehicle tailored to each individual member. These were small, very mobile fighter-mechs that were able to fight in smaller skirmishes and on planetary surfaces. The other kind was the more specialized dual-pilot units that were used in missions that needed more firepower and maneuverability. There were less customization on these units but it needed pilots who were neuro-compatible, as one would have to exclusively pilot the unit, while the other was its exclusive gunner.
Eighteen vehicles were fielded all in all, and it wasn’t a cheap investment by the military; twelve of the smaller units and six of the larger ones. Neuro-compatibility was the limiting factor on who could pilot the larger GFM’s. While both units had three each of pilot-status and gunner-status members, it wasn’t unusual though that pilots and gunners had better neuro-compatibility with someone from the other unit. Thus, when missions called for EXO as a whole, it was the pairs who were best neuro-compatible that piloted the GFM’s. These pairs were largely permanent, as trying to pilot the vehicles below par in neuro-compatibility, even at just .001%, would be suicide.
It was a direct blow to EXO and to the UES military when one of the team members went AWOL. Not only did they lose their best fighter-pilot, but Kris had direct insider knowledge that the System’s enemies could use to their advantage should he choose to defect. More than Kris’ disappearance, it also set off a domino-effect leading to retirement of most of the M members from the service and the eventual disbanding of their unit. Only Lay remained in active service and was assigned to another battalion outside of EXO.
The team dynamics also changed; Suho had lost his pilot and they were one GFM short. It just grew worse when Luhan , Xiumin, Chen and Tao retired, effectively leave only two of the larger GFM’s able to take flight for most missions. Sehun, who had Tao for a partner, had less than stellar compatibility with the K leader. It had to take a mission against a large black market cartel that EXO was forced to field in a third GFM, when they found out that Suho and Lay had just enough neuro-compatibility to fly out.
With another touch, a smaller panel of a surveillance map appeared with a blinking point. Seconds later and the blinking disappeared. Suho continued to speak, “This was the last surveillance transmission of the Bethesda from sector Theta-5.”
Luhan noticed the date on the transmission video and said, “Wait, isn’t that the day before you came to our house, Lay?”
“That is right,” Suho answered for the other member. “It was a good thing that Lay was in your sector when the transmission signal disappeared. There were no explosions noted or danger warnings from the other ships in the sector. The Bethesda just simply disappeared, and considering its status as a greater fighter-carrier, the others might have just ignored it until it could get into hyperspace territory.“
“Doesn’t the Bethesda have an escort?” asked D.O. Being another pilot-status member, he was more into the flight plans of the various military units.
“At the time, no,” Suho shook his head in reply. “It was during one of its non-perimeter patrols and being that it was Theta-5’s assimilation day, only a skeleton crew was available at the time.”
“You think it was Kris who hi-jacked it?” Kai, D.O.’s gunner partner, asked.
Suho let out a sigh. “I’m almost 80% sure. Considering that he has been under the radar for the past five years, and he appears just a few days before the Bethesda disappeared, I would find it rather suspicious too. There seemed to be no evidence of a struggle though.”
“But the Bethesda is a high-security ship,” D.O. spoke. “I’m sure everyone’s been warned about Kris, so it’s not likely that the crew, no matter how few they were, would be inviting him inside for a cup of tea.”
“D.O., look around,” said Lay. “There were only two successful trainees who didn’t die in that ill-fated Chrono-Spatium Soldier project. Both were conscripted into EXO and only one of them is with us.”
Everyone eyes went for Kai, who was one of the two soldiers that survived the research experiment to try out technology for bending time and space corporally. Because of its high mortality rate, the project was only able to churn out two time-space specialist soldiers. The whole thing was eventually abandoned, before it could reach the ears of the masses.
The EXO leader touched the panel once more and brought out a surveillance camera feed from inside a laboratory. Suho spoke once more. “This is from one of the R&D laboratories at Iota-9.”
“That’s where Tao works,” Luhan exclaimed.
The feed changed to one of a man with spiked, dark hair working at a table. He seemed to be talking to someone from beyond the camera. They saw the man reach for something into the drawer, but he was holding onto nothing when the hand came out. The last thing they saw was the man standing up and walking out as if nothing happened.
“Was that him and… Kris?” Luhan spoke, once more.
“Yes.” This time it was Lay who answered. “Zitao, associate researcher at one of the UES military power labs. Colleagues knew him for working late into the night and sometimes the day after. He never logged out that day. A missing alert was only sent out the next afternoon.”
“Tao took his elder brother’s disappearance the hardest,” Xiumin commented. “He wasn’t the same after the day Kris left.”
“Yeah, he wasn’t his usual cheery self anymore,” Sehun concurred and Kai added, “Those first couple of weeks were the quietest he ever was.”
“But it does make sense that Kris would come for his brother first, for whatever he was planning when he took the Bethesda,” Luhan commented.
“Okay, that accounts for M member numbers 4 and 5,” said Xiumin. “But where’s Chen? Wasn’t he teaching at some university back at his home sector?”
“Yes, Jongdae,” said Suho, bringing up a picture of the other member. “Works at the Kim Taewon Planetary University. Lay?”
The man shook his head. “He wasn’t there. I went to his classroom but the students told me that he was already gone for a couple of days. A different professor had taken over his class. I confirmed it with his department head and Chen did file for an indefinite leave of absence.”
“Do you think he’s with Kris?” Luhan asked.
“I don’t want to assume wrongly,” answered Suho. “But I would think so. Chen isn’t one for the disappearing acts. He wouldn’t be gone without a reason. “
“But why would he be with Kris?” asked Baekhyun. Chen was one of his closer friends from the M unit, as they would be pulling pranks on the other members together with Chanyeol whenever they were bored.
“Damn it. I should have known,” Xiumin’s voice could barely be heard that Suho had to ask for him to repeat himself.
“Kris only had one reason to volunteer for EXO, despite its rigorous testing and training,” Xiumin began. “It was to fight against those alien invaders who fried his home planet and killed his parents.”
“The Masagons!” Baekhyun remarked, to which Sehun adds, “Uggh! Those lobsters!”
“Don’t they look more like crabs?” Kai commented.
“They’re ugly, merciless, mindless bastards,” D.O. said with finality. “That’s what matters.”
The said race of aliens was the primary reason that the EXO Galaxy Specialist team was formed, uniting twelve unique individuals in fending off the invaders. They appeared almost 25 years ago at sector Beta-8. The first attack was so sudden that the military took time in mustering enough forces to fight off the invaders. Almost 60% of the sector was turned to empty wastelands before the Masagon queen, commanding the hive-minded aliens, was killed. Since then, there had been sporadic skirmishes and every few years, the aliens would amass a large force and lay waste to different sectors. They were relentless.
“Kris had a deep obsession for those monsters,” Xiumin continued. “We’ve already fended off a few of their large attacks and more than the fair share of the smaller ones, but Kris wanted more. He realized that finding the source of the Masagon attacks wasn’t the current path that EXO was taking, so I guess that was why he ultimately left.”
“You knew all this time?” Luhan said, incredulous that his husband would be hiding something this big from him.
“I didn’t know it for a fact,” said Xiumin, defending himself. “It was just that Kris and I had our talks. I only put two and two together now.”
“And you couldn’t share that with me?” Luhan’s voice was rising.
“Calm down, Luhan,” Xiumin’s voice deepened. “I had Kris’ confidence and I am not going to betray it. All of us have our own secrets to keep. I would not be surprised if you kept some from me, and I will understand if won’t tell me.”
“Okay, settle down, you two,” said Suho, talking as if the couple weren’t older than him. “Xiumin, why do think this has something to do with Chen?”
“If Kris is still obsessed with those lobsters as he was before, then I think he has found some information about where they came from,” Xiumin answered. “Chen has been doing research about the patterns in the various Masagon attacks over the years. Kris might need that information which could be why he would take Chen.”
“Well, everything we have now are all just speculations,” said Suho. “But the fact is that the higher-ups want Kris back, even just to keep him under surveillance if he doesn’t want serve as part of EXO anymore. They believe he’s a ticking time bomb, and they’d rather have him explode where he could be contained rather than anywhere else.”
“Okay, but why does it have to be such a big gathering?” asked Sehun, already starting to doze off.
Lay scoffed at the question, “Sehun, we know each other’s abilities. We’ve been together as a team long enough. There was a reason why Kris was the M leader, and co-leader with Suho. I doubt any one of us could take him on one-on-one. With Tao, and possibly Chen, at his side, that just spells trouble if we have take to them all on.”
The youngest member only rolled his eyes and went back to dozing off. Lay fumed.
“But that would only happen if we could find the Bethesda,” said D.O. “The whole system is already very big. If we have to go to the outliers…”
“No, we don’t have to go that far,” answered Suho. “I have just received the report on our way here that the Bethesda has been sighted at sector Mu-9.”
“Well, what are we waiting for then?” asked Sehun, perking up.
“I’ve already told the pilot team to set course for Mu-9,” said the leader. “For now, I’d rather have everyone get a good sleep. We’ll talk strategy when we wake up.”
Vicinity of the Bethesda
1106H, 30140814
The people at the bridge were awestruck at the immense size of the fighter-carrier before them. They say that the most powerful ships of the UES were named alphabetically, and the Bethesda did not disappoint. Suho and the rest of EXO were already used to it though as the Bethesda was under their command in most missions back then. When the M unit was disbanded, the K members would only set foot on the Bethesda to get into their GFM’s. Even then, those times were only few and far between as the GFM’s could be controlled remotely as long as the fighter-carrier was within a certain distance.
Now, they were approaching it with caution. Right then, none of them felt that it was the home that kept together twelve people who came from different paths in life before. They left the Ashkelon at one of the major military bases in the sector when they arrived from hyperspace travel. Suho decided that it would be better to approach the Bethesda from a smaller ship, rather than intimidate its hijackers with a bigger ship.
“Admiral,” said the ship’s captain, “The Bethesda’s docking bay is open.”
“He knows we’re here,” commented Xiumin.
“Alright,” said Suho, raising his voice so everyone could hear. “Set for the starboard hatch, captain. That docking bay might just be a trap and I do not want this ship to get caught in it. Once we’ve boarded, I want you to leave immediately.”
“But Admiral-“ the captain began but Suho quickly cut her off.
“I do not wish to involve anyone else, captain. We can settle this on our own. We already have enough hostages inside the Bethesda; I do not want to add more.”
Nothing more was said and with Suho’s signal, he and the rest of EXO prepared to board. Other than the docking bay, all of the greater fighter-carrier ships had a starboard hatch which can serve as a direct ship-to-ship entry connection for emergencies. Suho hoped Kris had forgotten about this one safety feature.
The nine quickly entered the quiet hallway from the Bethesda’s starboard entry hatch. No one usually came to this area anyway, so everyone was not worried yet. They made their way down the hallway, which ended in an open door.
“Now, that’s just tacky,” said Chanyeol. “We’re so not going to take an obvious trap.”
“But what if the trap is that closed door beside it?” D.O. countered, eyeing the room that the contested door opened into which was empty, but brightly lit.
“There is no way Chen would think of that, would he?” Chanyeol looked at his partner who just shrugged at him.
“Alright, we’re taking the open door,” suddenly Luhan announced and dragged Xiumin along with him.
Chanyeol and Baekhyun soon followed. Just as Sehun was about to enter, the younger man was suddenly forced to jump back when a shock ran through him.
“Shit, that hurt!” Sehun exclaimed. “There’s an electric panel blocking the way. Well, that confirms the trapped door.”
“Chen!” Luhan was shouting to no one in particular. “Chen, you let us out of here this instant!”
Suddenly, the man in question appeared at the doorway, but it was just a holographic image. “Hello, everyone! Long time, no see. Sorry Luhan-hyung, Duizhang says I have to keep you guys in.” The image turned back to the others who were outside of the room and said, “Sorry guys, better try door number two.”
The hologram suddenly disappeared and the door closed tightly. Sehun tried to pry it open but the electric panel was still there and he was once more shocked.
“Damn it! When I see that Chen, I’m gonna…” Sehun’s voice trailed after as he continued to mutter to himself.
“Still think we shouldn’t have gathered everyone, Sehunnie?” Lay said with a smirk, to which Sehun just ignored.
“Come on, we don’t have any other choice,” said D.O., going into the other door.
The others soon followed and they found themselves in a long hallway with an open door at the end leading into another hallway. Because the space was a bit cramped, they walked single file. It seemed to be just one very long hallway and Sehun had begun to notice it.
“Okay, this sucks!” the youngest complained. “I know the Bethesda is a big ship but we’ve been walking for ages. We should have at least arrived at a room or another by now.”
“Come to think of it,” said Lay. “I don’t remember this ship having this very long hallway before. It seems… wait, where’s Suho?”
Everyone stopped and looked around for their leader. The man in question was nowhere to be found.
“He was supposed to be behind me,” answered Kai. “Suho-hyung? Where are… Damn it!”
“What?” said Lay. “What is it? Did you get hurt or something?”
“Any of you guys notice the walls?” Kai asked.
D.O, Lay and Sehun looked around and shrugged their shoulders, unable to determine what Kai was asking.
“That scratch there.” Kai pointed to a small, almost imperceptible scratch and dent on the wall to their left. “We’ve gone past that before. I don’t think we’re getting out of this hallway.”
“What do you mean we’re not getting out?” said Lay. “The door’s right there.”
“We go through that door and we just end right back where are,” Kai muttered out loud.
Suddenly, they heard a snicker echoing throughout the hallway. A screen went down before them and lit up to show Tao’s face. “I was wondering when you guys would realize that. Hello, everyone!” Tao said with a wink and a smirk.
“Damn, cheeky brat!” Kai screamed at the screen. “Let us out!”
“Sorry, kid!” Tao shot Kai an imaginary bullet from his hand. “Duizhang’s orders.”
“Damn,” D.O. cursed out. “Suho-hyung’s somewhere out there?”
Meanwhile in another hallway, Suho was deep in thought thinking about how Kris would use Chen and, with great probability, Tao against them. The man could have just disappeared quietly, but he just had to surface again. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone else but Suho was torn.
“Admiral Kim, we have received reports that Special Flight Officer Wu has been sighted. We want you to apprehend him.”
The UES central command had summoned him almost a month ago because of the news.
“I beg your pardon, Sir, but wouldn’t it be more expedient that someone nearby would be tasked to apprehend the man, Sir,” Kim Junmyeon wasn’t one to question direct orders, but he was stalling for time to think. It had been years since Kris, Wu Yifan, had disappeared from them, and Junmyeon wasn’t ready to see the man yet.
“You are his direct superior, Admiral,” Junmyeon’s superior stared hard at him. “Wouldn’t you want to get him yourself? Besides, you were his partner. I believe you should know him better than anyone else. I do not wish to risk having some newbie allowing the man to escape once again. He needs to be brought to justice.”
Junmyeon swallowed drily. “What would be his punishment, Sir?”
“The court martial will take care of that, Admiral. Your job is just to bring him before the tribunal.”
The high tribunal, court martial of the UES Military. Suho shuddered thinking about what they would do to Kris. He knew that Kris, being a member of EXO, knew that what he did was equivalent to treason and would warrant capital punishment.
‘You stupid, brat,’ Suho thought to himself. ‘Why couldn’t you have just disappeared forever? Go to another galaxy and become a refugee there?’
It was then that Suho realized that he was alone. He looked around and no one else was there. He was sure he was following Kai a while ago, but it would seem that everyone had disappeared.
‘Damn it,’ Suho thought once more. ‘Either those four are trapped or I am.’
Suho tried to pace himself slowly and checked where he was. The hallway had become familiar to him. It was the way to the bridge. Trying to think back, he would have to still be halfway from where they entered the ship to the bridge.
“Oh, right,” Suho muttered out loud. “Tao is somewhere in the vicinity. The brat must be happy knowing he got to play around with his time-space toys again. Kai’s going to go nuts that Tao got him first.” Suho chuckled thinking about his two younger brothers and the slew of obscenities they were going to spit at each other when they meet.
“The bridge, eh? Kris you never changed,” Suho said to himself as he made his way to the door that was separating him from his quandary.
Ever since he received his mission, Suho had told himself a million times that he was ready, that seeing Kris again would be just like seeing anyone else, that he wouldn’t be affected. He knew at that moment how very wrong he was.
As the door slid open with barely a sound, Suho stepped inside and saw the tall man standing on the captain’s point. It was a breathtaking sight as Suho saw Kris’ back against the background of a blanket of stars shining through the open window of the Bethesda’s bridge. There was no doubt why Kris was his co-leader. The man was born to stand there.
Barely noticing, Suho found himself walking slowly towards the other man. When he was but a couple of feet away, Kris had turned around with an ambiguous look on his face. Suho realized that Kris had his EXO dress uniform on, a big contrast to the combat suit that the other leader had donned.
“Suho,” the other man whispered out loud.
Unable to answer, Suho raised his arm back, and with the greatest force he could muster, he let his fist fly to Kris’ face.
The other man felt the knuckles when they hit his face but he barely flinched. “Can we talk? Please…”
Suho could only take deep breaths, unable to decide if he wanted to back down or hit the other man again. His knuckles were smarting a bit though; it was a long time since he’d used his fists. In the end, Suho’s rational self won over.
Unable to look Kris in the eye yet, Suho closed his own and said, “Alright, talk.”
“I’m sorry it had to be this way, Suho,” Kris apologized first. “I didn’t think there would be any other way.”
“First things first, Kris,” Suho’s voice almost cracked. “Why did you hijack the Bethesda?”
“I had to,” Kris answered.
“You had to?” Suho was incredulous. Leader or no leader, Kris was really testing his patience.
Meanwhile, the rest of the EXO members including Tao and Chen had made their way inside and were standing by the door. Kris looked behind Suho to acknowledge them. He wanted to greet his comrades but he knew that the more pressing concern was the man directly in front of him.
“I’ve found them, Suho,” Kris exclaimed. “Do you hear me? I found them! The protomorphs and their cogent. We can finally stop them once and for all. No more unnecessary battles, no more lives lost! Heck, we can finally stop this madness that is EXO!”
“Kris, you are out of your mind,” said Suho, still unable to believe what was coming out of the mouth of his former comrade.
“Look, you may not agree with my means. But, I had no other choice. All I’m asking is for you to help me, Suho.” Kris’ voice dropped to almost a whisper as he approached the shorter man. “Please, help me. I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you before, I realize that now. But this… this is bigger than all of us. Those monsters, those lobsters killed the people closest to me before. I will not let them do it over and over again.”
Suho did not know what to say. Everyone else continued to remain quiet, as they usually did whenever the two unit leaders did not see eye to eye. Suho barely felt the air move beside him as Chen and Tao slipped silently past him to stand behind the other leader.
“Look,” Kris said with a sigh and swept his gaze from Suho to everyone else. “If you guys won’t help, then at least leave us alone in peace. Me, Tao and Chen. We’re not trying to be heroes or anything. We just want to get rid of that cogent and stop this war.”
“You’re being ridiculous!” Suho declared. “This-“
“We’re staying, Duizhang,” Lay suddenly announced, interrupting Suho. “Or at least me, Luhan and Xiumin are.”
Kris couldn’t help but look a bit relieved at what he had heard. The three had also made their way towards him.
“Thanks, Lay,” said Kris as he shook the man’s hand.
Turning to the other two members of EXO-M, Kris said, “Luhan? Xiumin? Are you guys sure? What about little Chao? I’ll understand if you guys want to go home to him.”
“We realize you’re right, Duizhang,” said Xiumin. “This is bigger than all of us.”
“But we also realize that it is also more about us than we realize,” Luhan continued. “We can only pray that our child will be safe from everything bad that could happen to him now or in the future. But if we have one chance to stop one big tragedy from happening, for him and for all, we’ll take it.”
Kris made a step towards the couple and gave them a tight hug. He whispered to their ears, “Thank you.”
“Well, I guess EXO-M’s back together again,” Tao declared with a big smile, as he and the other two members went in for a big group hug.
Suho didn’t know what to do. He felt that everything around him was utter chaos. In the end, he simply declared, “This is just absurd. Are you guys even thinking any of this through? This is…”
Before the leader could say anything else, the other five members of the K unit had already joined in the group hug. Suho just facepalmed and shook his head. He looked up a few moments later and saw the other 11 making a space for him. Kris had his arms out, waiting.
“Come on, umma! We all know you want to,” Tao teased, while the rest were giggling.
Suho stood rooted to where he was. Chanyeol and Baekhyun had to make their way over to push and pull their leader towards their huddle. When Suho was near, Chanyeol gave him a hard push towards the inside of the circle. Suho stumbled for a bit but Kris was already there to catch him. It was then Suho knew that it felt right. They would always be one.
Sometime later and the twelve were gathered around the ship’s red room. Since the Bethesda was designed for EXO, all twelve had made their way to their favorite chairs as they looked at the holographic images that were being projected on the space in the middle. Kris was briefing the rest of them about what was going on.
“Based on our calculations, we should be half a day’s travel from the outskirts of where we believe those lobsters are hiding the cogent and protomorphs. According to Chen’s research, that cogent will become active again in a couple of days. That means those protomorphs will turn into queens and lead yet another attack.”
“The last lobster strike was barely a year ago,” Baekhyun pointed out. “Are you sure they would really attack again at this close of a time interval?”
Kris nodded to the expert.
Chen pressed on the panel to change the holographic images before them. Clearing his throat, he said, “From the information I’ve managed to dig up, the first lobster attack was 19 years ago at the Beta-8 sector.” He pointed to an area on the star map.
Kris looked at his younger brother, who nodded back at him. It was their home that first fell to the invading aliens.
“We know now that when the queen leading the attack is killed off, the aliens seem to die off when they are cut off from their neural net. They end up atrophied and desiccated. The next attack wasn’t for another five years, this time from the adjacent Kappa-2 sector. The prevailing theory back then was that there were survivors who colonized the destroyed planets and these would become the platforms from where the new lobsters would spring up from their attack.”
“Yes, the massive rehabilitation program on those two sectors after the queen was killed,” D.O. commented. “My family has been heavily involved in that program with minimal success. While the main objective was to reclaim those planets, the real purpose was to look for these survivors. Nothing could be found.”
Chen pushed another button and the image before was changed once again. “The next attack was after another five years. This time, there were two queens leading skirmishes at sectors Theta-6 and Gamma-9. Both sectors were far apart, and were not adjacent to either Beta-8 or Kappa-2. Because the attacks were spaced a couple of months apart, the military was able to fend off both easily. But the theorists were in a panic.”
“I really don’t want to bore everyone with the details but,” the man pressed on the panel again and animated images began to appear. “What I’ve managed to gather, is that the attacks are increasing in frequency and intensity.”
“High command says the attacks are sporadic and random,” said Suho, echoing out mission directives sent to them whenever they would intercept Masagon attacks.
“Yes, leader-nim,” Chen nodded. “But contrary to the popular theories, the areas are localized to one big area of the star map. Look!”
The others became mesmerized when Chen zoomed out the map and saw the dots, which appeared to be random and sporadic as what they were thought to be, become one big area as Chen drew a circle around them.
“I told Kris once before that high command may be looking at the wrong direction,” said the research expert. “They’ve been wrong once before, when they thought that the queens were the ones spawning the aliens when instead they were just leaders and extensions of the neural net of the cogent. This made me think that the cogent itself should be nearby. I asked what if we were being misled.”
“Chen only told me a general area where the thinks the cogent is,” Kris continued. “Which was why I disappeared after that last mission which brought us a few sectors away from where we are now.”
“I’m sorry to everyone but I kept contact with Duizhang but he wouldn’t tell me where he was really,” Chen confessed. “Please don’t get mad, Suho-hyung.”
Suho sighed out loud. “Would it still matter if I get angry now? Let’s just move on. I think everyone’s getting tired.”
“It took me a few years of failure as I tried to search for the whereabouts of the cogent,” Kris continued. “As Chen got more data, he was able to pinpoint a smaller area and I finally found evidence of where those aliens are hiding their central neural net.”
“I am not even going to ask how you managed to do that, Kris,” Suho commented. “The less crimes I know of, the better. So I guess that brings us to where we are now. You’ve found the cogent. You hijacked the Bethesda. What were thinking of trying to do?”
“I…” Kris stuttered. “I needed the firepower to kill that cogent.”
“Chen? Tao? Why bring them into this?” Suho continued, with the stare he had perfected conducting interrogations on many hardened criminals directed at the other man.
“We chose to, umma,” answered Tao before his elder brother could speak. “Kris-ge might need back up to ward off any alien guards.”
Suho did not take notice of Tao’s answer as he continued to direct his gaze at the other leader. “What firepower would you have, Kris? You know for a fact that your own GFM was designed for perfect maneuverability in flight and not equipped to destroy.”
“I…” Kris was stuttering badly. “I would have piloted the 00-1.”
“You would have gone on a suicide mission,” Suho said, in a really deep voice. “Or you would have just simply killed yourself as soon as you turned on that ship. There is a reason why two pilots are needed for those Great Motherfuckers.”
The EXO members were stunned. This was the first time that their leader had used the nickname they made for their larger fighter-mech ships. Their leader was almost at his boiling point.
“Suho-“
“Don’t ‘Suho’ me, Kris,” said Suho in a low, seemingly calm voice. “You are not piloting that ship without me. You say you’re not trying to act like a hero. But guess what, you are. Just like any other selfish hero we hear in our childhood stories with delusions of grandeur. If I see you step foot on the 00-1 alone, I will personally cut off your balls and throw them out to space before I kill you. Is that understood?”
Kris swallowed, and instinctively grabbed his crotch just like everyone else. “Y-yes, Suho-ssi.”
“Well, then,” Suho clapped his hands together. “Battle plans.”
❇ Pairing: Xiumin/Luhan, Suho/Kris, others as revealed
❇ Rating: R
❇ Length: 13,300+ words
❇ Warnings: Language, “Smut”, unbeta-ed
❇ Author note: Oh geez! I never realized the plot would become this big. I haven’t really stuck to the prompt you gave, but I hope you still enjoy this. TT_TT I have so many ideas rolling around in my head but I just didn’t have enough time to turn them all into words.
>_< Mianhae. Sorry about the bad title too. I couldn’t think about anything else. OTL
❇ Summary: When UES Starship Bethesda is hijacked, the members of space unit EXO struggle to get it back. But there is more than meets the eye when their rogue comrade returns.
Exoplanet 4003
1803H, 30140804
The man inside the quantum laboratory put down his pen and rubbed his eyes. He looked at the clock and saw that it was already an hour past the end of the workday. Suddenly, he heard the swish of the door sliding open.
“Yes, Cath,” said the man. “I’ll be out in a couple of minutes. I just need to finish some tweaks to the emission pump for…”
“Who’s Cath?” The deeper, huskier voice definitely wasn’t his laboratory assistant’s.
With barely a sound, the man reached into his drawer and felt for his gun, ready to shoot whoever the intruder was.
“You can let go of that gun. I know you and your suspicious little mind.”
The voice was really familiar to him. Turning around, his eyes grew wide open at the person before him.
“Hello, little brother! I’m back.”
Exoplanet 3625
1405H, 30140806
The professor adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose as he continued his lecture. “As the positron spins closer to its-“ He looked up and seemed to freeze on the spot.
“Sir?” asked one of the students. They turned to where their professor was looking.
At the back of his classroom, there were a couple of people standing by the door. One of them nodded to the professor, as if signaling him.
The man took a deep breath and looked at his students. “Class, you are dismissed for today. For all subsequent meetings, Dr. Choi will be taking over. That is all. You may leave.”
Not minding the confused looks of the university students, he tucked away his things. A few minutes later and he stepped out of the building together with his visitors.
Exoplanet 9368
2036H, 30140807
The seedy corner bar in the basement of an old building was just beginning to liven up for the night, when the two men walked in. They heard the sound of some old music playing through the place’s sound system. All eyes were upon them, their aura different from the usual bar patrons. From the way the two walked, one could easily distinguish that they weren’t one of the drunkards or whores who came to this place to drink their problems away.
Approaching the bartender, the shorter one between them noticed a hologram card inserted below a half-empty glass. His dainty fingers traced the intricate lines on top before he flipped it over and read what was written on it.
“Damn it,” the man cursed out loud. “Call this in.”
The other one, more than a head taller with ears sticking out the side in a weird way, picked up his phone and pressed the speed dial. When the other end picked up, he said, “No, we couldn’t find a trace.”
“Wait,” said the other one. “There’s some sort of dust on the seat. We’re sending it in.”
Exoplanet 3123
1506H, 30140809
“Baba!!!”
The child’s shout echoed throughout the hallway. The pitter-patter of small footsteps could be heard going towards the kitchen.
“Hi, sweetheart,” said the man, as he bent down with arms open. The child barreled into his arms and both giggled as the man carried the little boy. “How was school?”
“Bobby’s face became green!” the child exclaimed loudly. “Teacher Kimmie was scared.”
“Bobby? You sit beside him, right?” asked the older one. “What happened?”
“He threw up his lunch and Teacher Kimmie had to carry him to Nurse.” The kid began playing with his father’s face.
“What did he-“ The man started to say but someone suddenly said, “The kid’s mom packed a sandwich; didn’t know her child’s allergic to wheat.”
The other man walked over and gave a peck on his husband’s lips. “Han, your kid is hyperactive.”
“Baba, I’m hungry,” said the little boy and started fidgeting about to be put back down.
“That’s good,” said the man to his son as he gently placed the boy on the ground. To the other one, he stuck out his tongue and said, “He’s your kid too, Minseok. Now, go grab a slice of the banana loaf I just baked. And get just a thin one for Chao.”
Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!!” The little boy screamed and ran towards the door.
“Be careful, sweetheart,” said Luhan as he followed in his son’s footsteps.
“Hello, good afternoon.” Luhan heard his son politely greet whoever it was at the door.
“Hello, young man. Are your fathers home?”
Luhan slowed his steps as he heard the voice that was very familiar to him. As he rounded the corner, Luhan met the eyes of their visitor.
“Han. It’s been a while.”
A short time later and they were all in the living room. Little Chao was sprawled out on the floor surrounded by his coloring books. Han sat on one of the armchairs nearest his son. Minseok was half-sitting on one of its arms. They had two visitors who were seated comfortably on the couch. All of them looked at each other warily, while the child was busily playing with the crayons.
One of the visitors cleared his throat and said, “Before anything else, let me introduce Lieutenant Fei Chan. She’s been very helpful in this um… task we have.”
“Task? Really, Yixing?” Minseok raised an eyebrow. “Okay. Then what brings you here to our side of the solar system? Last I heard, you were well on your way to becoming Commodore.”
“Yes, um…” the man named Yixing cleared his throat once more. “Well, it’s Marshal now but when did we ever care about ranks. We’ve come here because…”
Yixing was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.
“That’s not another one of your companions, is it?” Minseok asked.
“No, no. It’s only the lieutenant and I,” answered the other man, sitting uncomfortably under the gaze of the other one before him.
“Minseok, behave,” Han placed a hand on his husband’s thigh and gave it a small squeeze before standing up. “I’ll go get the door.”
A few moments later and Luhan returned. He walked over to where his son was. “Sweetheart, Auntie Mei-mei is here. Why don’t you go over to her house for a while? Your cousins want to play with you.”
“Okay, Baba,” said the little boy with a grin. “Appa, help me with puzzle-bots later, okay?”
Minseok stood for a bit and ruffled his son’s hair. “Sure. I’ll come over to get you when dinner’s ready.”
A few more moments later and everyone had settled back. Now, it was only the four of them in the living room of the Kim household.
“Alright, Yixing, spill,” said Minseok. “Why have you come here? After five whole years.”
“Look, Xiumin.”
“It’s Minseok,” the man interrupted. “Han and I have already retired from the service. What more do you want from us?”
“We need you to take up the uniform once more,” Yixing answered. “One special mission.”
“No,” Minseok answered with such finality and anger that Han had to grab his husband’s hands in his.
“Minseok…”
“I said, no!”
“Honey, let’s hear what Yixing has to say first,” said Han, trying to calm his partner down.
“What do they need us for?” Minseok looked at the other man. “We’ve retired. Doesn’t that say that we’ve had enough of the service life?”
“It’s an EXO mission, Minseok,” Yixing began. “We need everyone.”
“I call bullshit,” the older man replied. “The K unit is still in active service. They should be more than enough. I can’t think of anything that’s been happening in the whole system that would warrant such a massive mission.”
“It’s Suho who specifically requested everyone,” said Yixing. “To be honest, I don’t even know what the mission is. Everything’s being kept hush-hush and the orders are just to gather all of the members.”
“M has been disbanded long ago,” said Han, speaking up this time. “Give us one good reason to take up the uniform once more.”
“I- I don’t know how to answer that.” Yixing could not look at his former comrades straight in the eye.
“Look, Yixing,” Han began, a softer tone to his voice this time. “If this was a year after we retired, heck even two years after we retired, then we’d be jumping at the chance no questions asked. But it’s different now. You’ve met Chao. His interests are our top priority now. If you can give us one reason, just one, for us to go back, then we’ll do our best to arrange things so that Chao can be taken care of.”
“But he will be taken care of. Chao, I mean,” said Yixing. “We have been keeping tabs on all of the EXO members. I guess even if our unit had been disbanded, it doesn’t mean that the whole of EXO has. I’ve heard news that it was the Commander-in-Chief herself who invoked the writ.”
Team EXO was a special team of soldiers formed to serve in the United Earth System military for missions deemed too dangerous for ordinary troops, or too risky to send large contingents. They were not just limited to interplanetary missions; they were the System’s first line of defense against the alien races who wanted to conquer humans. Of course, there were allied alien races but not all would share the vision of peace and harmony in the universe.
The writ of conscription was a special command that would allow only the highest ranking officer of the expanded military or the Commander-in-Chief to assemble the members of EXO. While its members volunteered for the job, its missions were mandatory. Refusal of the writ is equivalent to high treason and warrants capital corporeal punishment, or simply death, so that a new member may replace those who have passed on.
Han and Minseok looked at each other. This was going to be hard for them. They were caught between a rock and a hard place. Both of them would have to leave their son otherwise.
“How long will we be gone?” Han asked, his voice was barely above a whisper.
“A month? A year? I don’t really know. It would all depend,” Yixing answered, feeling doubly guilty that he couldn’t even reassure the couple whom he still considered as close friends even if time had driven them apart. “But, if it helps you to decide, I know one other thing about the mission. It involves him.”
Minseok looked at the other man straight into his eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Positively.”
Han let out a sigh. “Alright, when do we need to be at the red room?”
“A couple, three days tops,” Yixing answered.
“What? That’s too short!” the other man complained. “We need to prepare a lot of things. Tell our parents. Tell Chao. Leave Chao with …”
“Honey, we can do it,” Minseok said, being the one this time to calm his partner down. “We’ll do it slowly but surely. Three days, Yixing.”
“Yes. The lieutenant will pick you up in three days.”
The Ashkelon
2005H, 30140812
Han and Minseok stepped into ship’s red room, the main war room of the fighter-carriers of the United Earth System. There were only less than fifty of the greater fighter-carriers who had red rooms where the top military leaders and strategists discussed battle plans. The starship they were in, the Ashkelon, was one of them. Both of them wondered though, as this wasn’t the usual ship where the team would be in.
Just as what was agreed, the couple was picked up from their home by Lt. Chan. It was a tearful goodbye as their son, who promised he wouldn’t cry, suddenly became inconsolable at the last minute. It was all Han could do to lead his husband away from their child, whom they left in the care of Minseok’s parents. It was barely 12 hours ago and Minseok was still silent.
“Four years old, Han,” Minseok said to his husband the night before. “Our son is barely four years old and we’re leaving him.”
“It won’t be for long, Minseok,” said the other man, holding his husband as they lay on their bed. “We’ll be back soon enough. Yixing promised us this would be the last.”
That morning, Luhan and Minseok donned their EXO Galaxy uniforms, specially made just for the members. Minseok had to hold back a sob when Chao told them that his baba and appa were really handsome and he wanted to grow up just like them. An hour after breakfast and they were on their way to Minseok’s parents to drop Chao off before they continued off to the planet’s launch pad.
“Luhan, Xiumin. I’m glad you’re here.” It was Yixing who greeted them. Being as they were already inside a military ship, all of them knew they would have to use their proper military names.
“Lay,” said Luhan in greeting. Xiumin merely nodded at the man and immediately took one of the seats.
“The rest are on their way. I believe the K unit is already at the receiving dock. I trust that your travel was good.” Lay was trying to make small talk, but Xiumin was just sitting on his chair with a couple of fingers on his temple while Luhan was staring out of the room’s starboard window as sunrays peeked out of the planet’s edge below them.
A few more awkward minutes and they heard the door slide open to reveal six men in their military dress blues walking towards the room. In front was one of the shorter ones. His jet black hair was a bit on the long side and bounced lightly with each step. He had a stiff gait and seemed to carry the world on his shoulders. Two more men around his height walked just a couple of steps beside him, their hair were different shades of brown and also sported different cuts. The other three were also walking in a row behind. The tallest was in the middle with wide ears and deep red hair with a slight wave. The last two were on each of the tallest one’s side; one had spiked, platinum blond hair, while the other had a light metallic pink tint on his.
They were but a couple of feet away when they saw the others who were already inside. Immediately all, except for the one in the middle, ran towards either Luhan or Xiumin. Hugs and kisses were being exchanged all around, acting like it was the first day of school at the playground.
The man who was up front and in the middle though quietly approached Lay and held out his hand. The other man gave it a firm shake. “Admiral Kim,” Lay greeted him.
“Drop the formalities, Lay,” said the man, a corner of his lips slanting upward in the ghost of a smile. “We’re all here as EXO now.”
“Of course, Suho,” said the other one, slightly embarrassed at his gaffe. “Sorry about that.”
Suho merely shrugged it off and went towards the others who were already there before. “Luhan, Xiumin, I’m glad you could make it.”
“Suho,” said Xiumin, taking the hand the man had offered. “It’s been a long time.”
“Yes, it has been a long time,” Luhan interjected and grabbed the shorter man in a hug, ignoring the handshake that he was just offering. He let go after a few more moments.
“Well then, everybody settle down and let’s get started,” Suho declared as he made his way towards the chair at the front of the room.
“What?!” exclaimed the man with the spiked, platinum blond hair. “Talking shop already? We just got here, Suho.”
“Yeah, Kai’s right.” said the one with pink hair.
“Sehun, don’t you two start now,” said the one with the shorter, darker brown hair.
“Yeah?” Sehun stuck his tongue out. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Hey! Don’t be like that to D.O!” Kai slapped Sehun’s wrists.
“Oh, hell no! You did not just do that.” Sehun slapped the other one’s wrists back, and the two began trying who could slap the other’s wrists more.
The tallest among them leaned into the other one with brown hair and whispered, “Hey, Baekhyun. Since the maknaes are at it again, wanna go and check out our room?”
“Chanyeol,” the man being whispered to grumbled. “Not now.”
“That’s it. Everyone, take your frickin’ seats right now!”
Suho’s voice boomed throughout the room, and the rest who weren’t already seated meekly followed his orders. They knew that when Suho started to spew even just a speck of a semblance of a curse word, they had to follow or risk the man’s wrath upon them.
“Now, moving on.” Suho pressed a button and a rainbow of lights began to fill the space in the middle of the chairs. “Luhan, Xiumin, I’m sure you two must be tired but everyone needs to be briefed about this mission. We don’t have much time.”
With a stroke of Suho’s hand on the panel, a man’s image appeared as a hologram projection. “I’m sure everyone knows who he is.”
Kris. Yifan. Former EXO member. Former M unit leader, who’s counterpart was Suho in the K unit. Co-leader of the whole team. Their best pilot, and now, vigilante. He disappeared more than five years ago and hasn’t been seen hence. That is, until recently.
“Eyewitness reports have found him hanging around sector Beta-6,” Suho continued. “We’ve tried to track him down after those reports came in, but we’ve come up with nothing.”
“We’d have to concur,” said Baekhyun. “Chanyeol and I had checked out four leads but they were all duds.”
“Only the last one had promise since he left a card behind,” Chanyeol added. “Still got away though.”
Xiumin was looking around and counted everyone in the room. There were only nine of them. EXO was a team of twelve. “Wait a sec. Is this everyone? I mean, aside from Kris who has gone AWOL, shouldn’t there be eleven people here now?
“Yes, but, um, perhaps aside from the number of people, all of you must be wondering why we are using the Ashkelon’s red room, right?” Suho replied evasively.
Some of them nodded. Not all of the K members had been completely briefed as to what was going on. Aside from Baekhyun and Chanyeol, the K unit had also just been gathered.
Suho touched the panel once more and the image of a large starship was being projected. It was the Bethesda, the greater fighter-carrier deployed with a special task of housing EXO’s galaxy flight-mechs. The GFM’s, or “G-M-F” as the members called them, was the UES military’s best kept secret and that which also kept the mysterious aura of EXO as a whole. Those specialized vehicles were the UES’ thunderbolts of wrath against anyone who would dare to cause trouble to the system whether from inside or out. They were able to fight both in space and on planetary surfaces.
Only uniquely-trained people were able to pilot the GFM’s, as each was customized to its pilot’s neural system. No one outside its team of inventor-scientists knew the architecture of each GFM, other than the fact that no one vehicle functioned in the same way.
EXO had two types of GFM’s. The first was a solo-piloted, highly customized vehicle tailored to each individual member. These were small, very mobile fighter-mechs that were able to fight in smaller skirmishes and on planetary surfaces. The other kind was the more specialized dual-pilot units that were used in missions that needed more firepower and maneuverability. There were less customization on these units but it needed pilots who were neuro-compatible, as one would have to exclusively pilot the unit, while the other was its exclusive gunner.
Eighteen vehicles were fielded all in all, and it wasn’t a cheap investment by the military; twelve of the smaller units and six of the larger ones. Neuro-compatibility was the limiting factor on who could pilot the larger GFM’s. While both units had three each of pilot-status and gunner-status members, it wasn’t unusual though that pilots and gunners had better neuro-compatibility with someone from the other unit. Thus, when missions called for EXO as a whole, it was the pairs who were best neuro-compatible that piloted the GFM’s. These pairs were largely permanent, as trying to pilot the vehicles below par in neuro-compatibility, even at just .001%, would be suicide.
It was a direct blow to EXO and to the UES military when one of the team members went AWOL. Not only did they lose their best fighter-pilot, but Kris had direct insider knowledge that the System’s enemies could use to their advantage should he choose to defect. More than Kris’ disappearance, it also set off a domino-effect leading to retirement of most of the M members from the service and the eventual disbanding of their unit. Only Lay remained in active service and was assigned to another battalion outside of EXO.
The team dynamics also changed; Suho had lost his pilot and they were one GFM short. It just grew worse when Luhan , Xiumin, Chen and Tao retired, effectively leave only two of the larger GFM’s able to take flight for most missions. Sehun, who had Tao for a partner, had less than stellar compatibility with the K leader. It had to take a mission against a large black market cartel that EXO was forced to field in a third GFM, when they found out that Suho and Lay had just enough neuro-compatibility to fly out.
With another touch, a smaller panel of a surveillance map appeared with a blinking point. Seconds later and the blinking disappeared. Suho continued to speak, “This was the last surveillance transmission of the Bethesda from sector Theta-5.”
Luhan noticed the date on the transmission video and said, “Wait, isn’t that the day before you came to our house, Lay?”
“That is right,” Suho answered for the other member. “It was a good thing that Lay was in your sector when the transmission signal disappeared. There were no explosions noted or danger warnings from the other ships in the sector. The Bethesda just simply disappeared, and considering its status as a greater fighter-carrier, the others might have just ignored it until it could get into hyperspace territory.“
“Doesn’t the Bethesda have an escort?” asked D.O. Being another pilot-status member, he was more into the flight plans of the various military units.
“At the time, no,” Suho shook his head in reply. “It was during one of its non-perimeter patrols and being that it was Theta-5’s assimilation day, only a skeleton crew was available at the time.”
“You think it was Kris who hi-jacked it?” Kai, D.O.’s gunner partner, asked.
Suho let out a sigh. “I’m almost 80% sure. Considering that he has been under the radar for the past five years, and he appears just a few days before the Bethesda disappeared, I would find it rather suspicious too. There seemed to be no evidence of a struggle though.”
“But the Bethesda is a high-security ship,” D.O. spoke. “I’m sure everyone’s been warned about Kris, so it’s not likely that the crew, no matter how few they were, would be inviting him inside for a cup of tea.”
“D.O., look around,” said Lay. “There were only two successful trainees who didn’t die in that ill-fated Chrono-Spatium Soldier project. Both were conscripted into EXO and only one of them is with us.”
Everyone eyes went for Kai, who was one of the two soldiers that survived the research experiment to try out technology for bending time and space corporally. Because of its high mortality rate, the project was only able to churn out two time-space specialist soldiers. The whole thing was eventually abandoned, before it could reach the ears of the masses.
The EXO leader touched the panel once more and brought out a surveillance camera feed from inside a laboratory. Suho spoke once more. “This is from one of the R&D laboratories at Iota-9.”
“That’s where Tao works,” Luhan exclaimed.
The feed changed to one of a man with spiked, dark hair working at a table. He seemed to be talking to someone from beyond the camera. They saw the man reach for something into the drawer, but he was holding onto nothing when the hand came out. The last thing they saw was the man standing up and walking out as if nothing happened.
“Was that him and… Kris?” Luhan spoke, once more.
“Yes.” This time it was Lay who answered. “Zitao, associate researcher at one of the UES military power labs. Colleagues knew him for working late into the night and sometimes the day after. He never logged out that day. A missing alert was only sent out the next afternoon.”
“Tao took his elder brother’s disappearance the hardest,” Xiumin commented. “He wasn’t the same after the day Kris left.”
“Yeah, he wasn’t his usual cheery self anymore,” Sehun concurred and Kai added, “Those first couple of weeks were the quietest he ever was.”
“But it does make sense that Kris would come for his brother first, for whatever he was planning when he took the Bethesda,” Luhan commented.
“Okay, that accounts for M member numbers 4 and 5,” said Xiumin. “But where’s Chen? Wasn’t he teaching at some university back at his home sector?”
“Yes, Jongdae,” said Suho, bringing up a picture of the other member. “Works at the Kim Taewon Planetary University. Lay?”
The man shook his head. “He wasn’t there. I went to his classroom but the students told me that he was already gone for a couple of days. A different professor had taken over his class. I confirmed it with his department head and Chen did file for an indefinite leave of absence.”
“Do you think he’s with Kris?” Luhan asked.
“I don’t want to assume wrongly,” answered Suho. “But I would think so. Chen isn’t one for the disappearing acts. He wouldn’t be gone without a reason. “
“But why would he be with Kris?” asked Baekhyun. Chen was one of his closer friends from the M unit, as they would be pulling pranks on the other members together with Chanyeol whenever they were bored.
“Damn it. I should have known,” Xiumin’s voice could barely be heard that Suho had to ask for him to repeat himself.
“Kris only had one reason to volunteer for EXO, despite its rigorous testing and training,” Xiumin began. “It was to fight against those alien invaders who fried his home planet and killed his parents.”
“The Masagons!” Baekhyun remarked, to which Sehun adds, “Uggh! Those lobsters!”
“Don’t they look more like crabs?” Kai commented.
“They’re ugly, merciless, mindless bastards,” D.O. said with finality. “That’s what matters.”
The said race of aliens was the primary reason that the EXO Galaxy Specialist team was formed, uniting twelve unique individuals in fending off the invaders. They appeared almost 25 years ago at sector Beta-8. The first attack was so sudden that the military took time in mustering enough forces to fight off the invaders. Almost 60% of the sector was turned to empty wastelands before the Masagon queen, commanding the hive-minded aliens, was killed. Since then, there had been sporadic skirmishes and every few years, the aliens would amass a large force and lay waste to different sectors. They were relentless.
“Kris had a deep obsession for those monsters,” Xiumin continued. “We’ve already fended off a few of their large attacks and more than the fair share of the smaller ones, but Kris wanted more. He realized that finding the source of the Masagon attacks wasn’t the current path that EXO was taking, so I guess that was why he ultimately left.”
“You knew all this time?” Luhan said, incredulous that his husband would be hiding something this big from him.
“I didn’t know it for a fact,” said Xiumin, defending himself. “It was just that Kris and I had our talks. I only put two and two together now.”
“And you couldn’t share that with me?” Luhan’s voice was rising.
“Calm down, Luhan,” Xiumin’s voice deepened. “I had Kris’ confidence and I am not going to betray it. All of us have our own secrets to keep. I would not be surprised if you kept some from me, and I will understand if won’t tell me.”
“Okay, settle down, you two,” said Suho, talking as if the couple weren’t older than him. “Xiumin, why do think this has something to do with Chen?”
“If Kris is still obsessed with those lobsters as he was before, then I think he has found some information about where they came from,” Xiumin answered. “Chen has been doing research about the patterns in the various Masagon attacks over the years. Kris might need that information which could be why he would take Chen.”
“Well, everything we have now are all just speculations,” said Suho. “But the fact is that the higher-ups want Kris back, even just to keep him under surveillance if he doesn’t want serve as part of EXO anymore. They believe he’s a ticking time bomb, and they’d rather have him explode where he could be contained rather than anywhere else.”
“Okay, but why does it have to be such a big gathering?” asked Sehun, already starting to doze off.
Lay scoffed at the question, “Sehun, we know each other’s abilities. We’ve been together as a team long enough. There was a reason why Kris was the M leader, and co-leader with Suho. I doubt any one of us could take him on one-on-one. With Tao, and possibly Chen, at his side, that just spells trouble if we have take to them all on.”
The youngest member only rolled his eyes and went back to dozing off. Lay fumed.
“But that would only happen if we could find the Bethesda,” said D.O. “The whole system is already very big. If we have to go to the outliers…”
“No, we don’t have to go that far,” answered Suho. “I have just received the report on our way here that the Bethesda has been sighted at sector Mu-9.”
“Well, what are we waiting for then?” asked Sehun, perking up.
“I’ve already told the pilot team to set course for Mu-9,” said the leader. “For now, I’d rather have everyone get a good sleep. We’ll talk strategy when we wake up.”
Vicinity of the Bethesda
1106H, 30140814
The people at the bridge were awestruck at the immense size of the fighter-carrier before them. They say that the most powerful ships of the UES were named alphabetically, and the Bethesda did not disappoint. Suho and the rest of EXO were already used to it though as the Bethesda was under their command in most missions back then. When the M unit was disbanded, the K members would only set foot on the Bethesda to get into their GFM’s. Even then, those times were only few and far between as the GFM’s could be controlled remotely as long as the fighter-carrier was within a certain distance.
Now, they were approaching it with caution. Right then, none of them felt that it was the home that kept together twelve people who came from different paths in life before. They left the Ashkelon at one of the major military bases in the sector when they arrived from hyperspace travel. Suho decided that it would be better to approach the Bethesda from a smaller ship, rather than intimidate its hijackers with a bigger ship.
“Admiral,” said the ship’s captain, “The Bethesda’s docking bay is open.”
“He knows we’re here,” commented Xiumin.
“Alright,” said Suho, raising his voice so everyone could hear. “Set for the starboard hatch, captain. That docking bay might just be a trap and I do not want this ship to get caught in it. Once we’ve boarded, I want you to leave immediately.”
“But Admiral-“ the captain began but Suho quickly cut her off.
“I do not wish to involve anyone else, captain. We can settle this on our own. We already have enough hostages inside the Bethesda; I do not want to add more.”
Nothing more was said and with Suho’s signal, he and the rest of EXO prepared to board. Other than the docking bay, all of the greater fighter-carrier ships had a starboard hatch which can serve as a direct ship-to-ship entry connection for emergencies. Suho hoped Kris had forgotten about this one safety feature.
The nine quickly entered the quiet hallway from the Bethesda’s starboard entry hatch. No one usually came to this area anyway, so everyone was not worried yet. They made their way down the hallway, which ended in an open door.
“Now, that’s just tacky,” said Chanyeol. “We’re so not going to take an obvious trap.”
“But what if the trap is that closed door beside it?” D.O. countered, eyeing the room that the contested door opened into which was empty, but brightly lit.
“There is no way Chen would think of that, would he?” Chanyeol looked at his partner who just shrugged at him.
“Alright, we’re taking the open door,” suddenly Luhan announced and dragged Xiumin along with him.
Chanyeol and Baekhyun soon followed. Just as Sehun was about to enter, the younger man was suddenly forced to jump back when a shock ran through him.
“Shit, that hurt!” Sehun exclaimed. “There’s an electric panel blocking the way. Well, that confirms the trapped door.”
“Chen!” Luhan was shouting to no one in particular. “Chen, you let us out of here this instant!”
Suddenly, the man in question appeared at the doorway, but it was just a holographic image. “Hello, everyone! Long time, no see. Sorry Luhan-hyung, Duizhang says I have to keep you guys in.” The image turned back to the others who were outside of the room and said, “Sorry guys, better try door number two.”
The hologram suddenly disappeared and the door closed tightly. Sehun tried to pry it open but the electric panel was still there and he was once more shocked.
“Damn it! When I see that Chen, I’m gonna…” Sehun’s voice trailed after as he continued to mutter to himself.
“Still think we shouldn’t have gathered everyone, Sehunnie?” Lay said with a smirk, to which Sehun just ignored.
“Come on, we don’t have any other choice,” said D.O., going into the other door.
The others soon followed and they found themselves in a long hallway with an open door at the end leading into another hallway. Because the space was a bit cramped, they walked single file. It seemed to be just one very long hallway and Sehun had begun to notice it.
“Okay, this sucks!” the youngest complained. “I know the Bethesda is a big ship but we’ve been walking for ages. We should have at least arrived at a room or another by now.”
“Come to think of it,” said Lay. “I don’t remember this ship having this very long hallway before. It seems… wait, where’s Suho?”
Everyone stopped and looked around for their leader. The man in question was nowhere to be found.
“He was supposed to be behind me,” answered Kai. “Suho-hyung? Where are… Damn it!”
“What?” said Lay. “What is it? Did you get hurt or something?”
“Any of you guys notice the walls?” Kai asked.
D.O, Lay and Sehun looked around and shrugged their shoulders, unable to determine what Kai was asking.
“That scratch there.” Kai pointed to a small, almost imperceptible scratch and dent on the wall to their left. “We’ve gone past that before. I don’t think we’re getting out of this hallway.”
“What do you mean we’re not getting out?” said Lay. “The door’s right there.”
“We go through that door and we just end right back where are,” Kai muttered out loud.
Suddenly, they heard a snicker echoing throughout the hallway. A screen went down before them and lit up to show Tao’s face. “I was wondering when you guys would realize that. Hello, everyone!” Tao said with a wink and a smirk.
“Damn, cheeky brat!” Kai screamed at the screen. “Let us out!”
“Sorry, kid!” Tao shot Kai an imaginary bullet from his hand. “Duizhang’s orders.”
“Damn,” D.O. cursed out. “Suho-hyung’s somewhere out there?”
Meanwhile in another hallway, Suho was deep in thought thinking about how Kris would use Chen and, with great probability, Tao against them. The man could have just disappeared quietly, but he just had to surface again. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone else but Suho was torn.
“Admiral Kim, we have received reports that Special Flight Officer Wu has been sighted. We want you to apprehend him.”
The UES central command had summoned him almost a month ago because of the news.
“I beg your pardon, Sir, but wouldn’t it be more expedient that someone nearby would be tasked to apprehend the man, Sir,” Kim Junmyeon wasn’t one to question direct orders, but he was stalling for time to think. It had been years since Kris, Wu Yifan, had disappeared from them, and Junmyeon wasn’t ready to see the man yet.
“You are his direct superior, Admiral,” Junmyeon’s superior stared hard at him. “Wouldn’t you want to get him yourself? Besides, you were his partner. I believe you should know him better than anyone else. I do not wish to risk having some newbie allowing the man to escape once again. He needs to be brought to justice.”
Junmyeon swallowed drily. “What would be his punishment, Sir?”
“The court martial will take care of that, Admiral. Your job is just to bring him before the tribunal.”
The high tribunal, court martial of the UES Military. Suho shuddered thinking about what they would do to Kris. He knew that Kris, being a member of EXO, knew that what he did was equivalent to treason and would warrant capital punishment.
‘You stupid, brat,’ Suho thought to himself. ‘Why couldn’t you have just disappeared forever? Go to another galaxy and become a refugee there?’
It was then that Suho realized that he was alone. He looked around and no one else was there. He was sure he was following Kai a while ago, but it would seem that everyone had disappeared.
‘Damn it,’ Suho thought once more. ‘Either those four are trapped or I am.’
Suho tried to pace himself slowly and checked where he was. The hallway had become familiar to him. It was the way to the bridge. Trying to think back, he would have to still be halfway from where they entered the ship to the bridge.
“Oh, right,” Suho muttered out loud. “Tao is somewhere in the vicinity. The brat must be happy knowing he got to play around with his time-space toys again. Kai’s going to go nuts that Tao got him first.” Suho chuckled thinking about his two younger brothers and the slew of obscenities they were going to spit at each other when they meet.
“The bridge, eh? Kris you never changed,” Suho said to himself as he made his way to the door that was separating him from his quandary.
Ever since he received his mission, Suho had told himself a million times that he was ready, that seeing Kris again would be just like seeing anyone else, that he wouldn’t be affected. He knew at that moment how very wrong he was.
As the door slid open with barely a sound, Suho stepped inside and saw the tall man standing on the captain’s point. It was a breathtaking sight as Suho saw Kris’ back against the background of a blanket of stars shining through the open window of the Bethesda’s bridge. There was no doubt why Kris was his co-leader. The man was born to stand there.
Barely noticing, Suho found himself walking slowly towards the other man. When he was but a couple of feet away, Kris had turned around with an ambiguous look on his face. Suho realized that Kris had his EXO dress uniform on, a big contrast to the combat suit that the other leader had donned.
“Suho,” the other man whispered out loud.
Unable to answer, Suho raised his arm back, and with the greatest force he could muster, he let his fist fly to Kris’ face.
The other man felt the knuckles when they hit his face but he barely flinched. “Can we talk? Please…”
Suho could only take deep breaths, unable to decide if he wanted to back down or hit the other man again. His knuckles were smarting a bit though; it was a long time since he’d used his fists. In the end, Suho’s rational self won over.
Unable to look Kris in the eye yet, Suho closed his own and said, “Alright, talk.”
“I’m sorry it had to be this way, Suho,” Kris apologized first. “I didn’t think there would be any other way.”
“First things first, Kris,” Suho’s voice almost cracked. “Why did you hijack the Bethesda?”
“I had to,” Kris answered.
“You had to?” Suho was incredulous. Leader or no leader, Kris was really testing his patience.
Meanwhile, the rest of the EXO members including Tao and Chen had made their way inside and were standing by the door. Kris looked behind Suho to acknowledge them. He wanted to greet his comrades but he knew that the more pressing concern was the man directly in front of him.
“I’ve found them, Suho,” Kris exclaimed. “Do you hear me? I found them! The protomorphs and their cogent. We can finally stop them once and for all. No more unnecessary battles, no more lives lost! Heck, we can finally stop this madness that is EXO!”
“Kris, you are out of your mind,” said Suho, still unable to believe what was coming out of the mouth of his former comrade.
“Look, you may not agree with my means. But, I had no other choice. All I’m asking is for you to help me, Suho.” Kris’ voice dropped to almost a whisper as he approached the shorter man. “Please, help me. I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you before, I realize that now. But this… this is bigger than all of us. Those monsters, those lobsters killed the people closest to me before. I will not let them do it over and over again.”
Suho did not know what to say. Everyone else continued to remain quiet, as they usually did whenever the two unit leaders did not see eye to eye. Suho barely felt the air move beside him as Chen and Tao slipped silently past him to stand behind the other leader.
“Look,” Kris said with a sigh and swept his gaze from Suho to everyone else. “If you guys won’t help, then at least leave us alone in peace. Me, Tao and Chen. We’re not trying to be heroes or anything. We just want to get rid of that cogent and stop this war.”
“You’re being ridiculous!” Suho declared. “This-“
“We’re staying, Duizhang,” Lay suddenly announced, interrupting Suho. “Or at least me, Luhan and Xiumin are.”
Kris couldn’t help but look a bit relieved at what he had heard. The three had also made their way towards him.
“Thanks, Lay,” said Kris as he shook the man’s hand.
Turning to the other two members of EXO-M, Kris said, “Luhan? Xiumin? Are you guys sure? What about little Chao? I’ll understand if you guys want to go home to him.”
“We realize you’re right, Duizhang,” said Xiumin. “This is bigger than all of us.”
“But we also realize that it is also more about us than we realize,” Luhan continued. “We can only pray that our child will be safe from everything bad that could happen to him now or in the future. But if we have one chance to stop one big tragedy from happening, for him and for all, we’ll take it.”
Kris made a step towards the couple and gave them a tight hug. He whispered to their ears, “Thank you.”
“Well, I guess EXO-M’s back together again,” Tao declared with a big smile, as he and the other two members went in for a big group hug.
Suho didn’t know what to do. He felt that everything around him was utter chaos. In the end, he simply declared, “This is just absurd. Are you guys even thinking any of this through? This is…”
Before the leader could say anything else, the other five members of the K unit had already joined in the group hug. Suho just facepalmed and shook his head. He looked up a few moments later and saw the other 11 making a space for him. Kris had his arms out, waiting.
“Come on, umma! We all know you want to,” Tao teased, while the rest were giggling.
Suho stood rooted to where he was. Chanyeol and Baekhyun had to make their way over to push and pull their leader towards their huddle. When Suho was near, Chanyeol gave him a hard push towards the inside of the circle. Suho stumbled for a bit but Kris was already there to catch him. It was then Suho knew that it felt right. They would always be one.
Sometime later and the twelve were gathered around the ship’s red room. Since the Bethesda was designed for EXO, all twelve had made their way to their favorite chairs as they looked at the holographic images that were being projected on the space in the middle. Kris was briefing the rest of them about what was going on.
“Based on our calculations, we should be half a day’s travel from the outskirts of where we believe those lobsters are hiding the cogent and protomorphs. According to Chen’s research, that cogent will become active again in a couple of days. That means those protomorphs will turn into queens and lead yet another attack.”
“The last lobster strike was barely a year ago,” Baekhyun pointed out. “Are you sure they would really attack again at this close of a time interval?”
Kris nodded to the expert.
Chen pressed on the panel to change the holographic images before them. Clearing his throat, he said, “From the information I’ve managed to dig up, the first lobster attack was 19 years ago at the Beta-8 sector.” He pointed to an area on the star map.
Kris looked at his younger brother, who nodded back at him. It was their home that first fell to the invading aliens.
“We know now that when the queen leading the attack is killed off, the aliens seem to die off when they are cut off from their neural net. They end up atrophied and desiccated. The next attack wasn’t for another five years, this time from the adjacent Kappa-2 sector. The prevailing theory back then was that there were survivors who colonized the destroyed planets and these would become the platforms from where the new lobsters would spring up from their attack.”
“Yes, the massive rehabilitation program on those two sectors after the queen was killed,” D.O. commented. “My family has been heavily involved in that program with minimal success. While the main objective was to reclaim those planets, the real purpose was to look for these survivors. Nothing could be found.”
Chen pushed another button and the image before was changed once again. “The next attack was after another five years. This time, there were two queens leading skirmishes at sectors Theta-6 and Gamma-9. Both sectors were far apart, and were not adjacent to either Beta-8 or Kappa-2. Because the attacks were spaced a couple of months apart, the military was able to fend off both easily. But the theorists were in a panic.”
“I really don’t want to bore everyone with the details but,” the man pressed on the panel again and animated images began to appear. “What I’ve managed to gather, is that the attacks are increasing in frequency and intensity.”
“High command says the attacks are sporadic and random,” said Suho, echoing out mission directives sent to them whenever they would intercept Masagon attacks.
“Yes, leader-nim,” Chen nodded. “But contrary to the popular theories, the areas are localized to one big area of the star map. Look!”
The others became mesmerized when Chen zoomed out the map and saw the dots, which appeared to be random and sporadic as what they were thought to be, become one big area as Chen drew a circle around them.
“I told Kris once before that high command may be looking at the wrong direction,” said the research expert. “They’ve been wrong once before, when they thought that the queens were the ones spawning the aliens when instead they were just leaders and extensions of the neural net of the cogent. This made me think that the cogent itself should be nearby. I asked what if we were being misled.”
“Chen only told me a general area where the thinks the cogent is,” Kris continued. “Which was why I disappeared after that last mission which brought us a few sectors away from where we are now.”
“I’m sorry to everyone but I kept contact with Duizhang but he wouldn’t tell me where he was really,” Chen confessed. “Please don’t get mad, Suho-hyung.”
Suho sighed out loud. “Would it still matter if I get angry now? Let’s just move on. I think everyone’s getting tired.”
“It took me a few years of failure as I tried to search for the whereabouts of the cogent,” Kris continued. “As Chen got more data, he was able to pinpoint a smaller area and I finally found evidence of where those aliens are hiding their central neural net.”
“I am not even going to ask how you managed to do that, Kris,” Suho commented. “The less crimes I know of, the better. So I guess that brings us to where we are now. You’ve found the cogent. You hijacked the Bethesda. What were thinking of trying to do?”
“I…” Kris stuttered. “I needed the firepower to kill that cogent.”
“Chen? Tao? Why bring them into this?” Suho continued, with the stare he had perfected conducting interrogations on many hardened criminals directed at the other man.
“We chose to, umma,” answered Tao before his elder brother could speak. “Kris-ge might need back up to ward off any alien guards.”
Suho did not take notice of Tao’s answer as he continued to direct his gaze at the other leader. “What firepower would you have, Kris? You know for a fact that your own GFM was designed for perfect maneuverability in flight and not equipped to destroy.”
“I…” Kris was stuttering badly. “I would have piloted the 00-1.”
“You would have gone on a suicide mission,” Suho said, in a really deep voice. “Or you would have just simply killed yourself as soon as you turned on that ship. There is a reason why two pilots are needed for those Great Motherfuckers.”
The EXO members were stunned. This was the first time that their leader had used the nickname they made for their larger fighter-mech ships. Their leader was almost at his boiling point.
“Suho-“
“Don’t ‘Suho’ me, Kris,” said Suho in a low, seemingly calm voice. “You are not piloting that ship without me. You say you’re not trying to act like a hero. But guess what, you are. Just like any other selfish hero we hear in our childhood stories with delusions of grandeur. If I see you step foot on the 00-1 alone, I will personally cut off your balls and throw them out to space before I kill you. Is that understood?”
Kris swallowed, and instinctively grabbed his crotch just like everyone else. “Y-yes, Suho-ssi.”
“Well, then,” Suho clapped his hands together. “Battle plans.”