Round 11: Ad Astra Per Aspera
Title: Ad Astra Per Aspera
Team: AU
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: DBSK, VIXX
Pairing: none; maybe some hints if you squint
Summary: Star Trek + Winter Soldier AU. Seventy years ago, Captain Jung Yunho commanded the flagship of the Federation. It was thought that he and his crew were lost in the last battle of the First Klingon War. Now the Second Klingon War takes its toll on the peoples of the Federation, and a new generation of fighters is determined to restore peace to the galaxy.
Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who beta'ed my fic! There will be a sequel to this that I will post after Olymfics ends - this is actually more of a prologue to the real action. The title is the motto of Starfleet, adapted from the current motto of NASA. Roughly translated, it means "to the stars, through hardship."
Prompt Used: BTL - Too-G
*
Changmin woke to darkness and silence.
Disoriented, he attempted to regain his bearings. He took a cautious breath, almost surprised that the air he inhaled was fresh, free of the acrid stench of burned-out circuits and dangerously ionized particles. His ears still rang with the sounds of explosions and his captain's voice calmly ordering evacuation as the starship Cassiopeia fell apart around them.
Was he in the afterlife, then? Had he died alongside his captain and his friends?
The thought did not disturb him, even though he had died without preserving his katra in the Hall of Ancient Thought. He had chosen death, after all. Yunho had ordered him away but he had stayed, loyalty and friendship easily outweighing obedience. And the others, too, Junsu and Hero and Yoochun, they had chosen without hesitation to stay with their friends until the end.
They had known they could not escape the Klingons alive if they remained on the Cassiopeia. Outnumbered and stranded, Yunho had set the ship on a collision course with the Klingon flagship to buy his crew a few more precious minutes to escape. And Changmin had watched the Cha'bIp loom larger and larger on the viewscreen until he could see nothing else. He had once feared death, but at the end of all things, he found himself at peace with the knowledge that he would die honorably, with his friends, in service to the Federation.
If the five of them had died together, surely they should share the same afterlife. So where were the others?
At that precise moment, Changmin heard approaching footsteps. A door opened, spilling soft light into the room. "Thank God you're awake," a soft female voice said. "Lights to 20 percent," she added to the room at large.
Changmin ignored the uncertainty gathering in his mind, pulling on the cloak of his Vulcan control as the woman walked closer. "Who are you?"
"Nurse Christine Chapel of USS Starlight," she responded, setting down a medical kit from which she drew a few hyposprays. "You're lucky to be alive, Commander. How do you feel?"
"I am physically well," Changmin said after a moment, still processing his shock at discovering he was, in fact, still alive. He avoided the urge to comment that he was Vulcan and thus did not 'feel'. Medical officers tended to respond to such a remark as though it were a personal insult.
He thought of Junsu, the Chief Medical Officer aboard the Cassiopeia, and realized he had no answers as to how he had survived and whether the others had as well. "Nurse Chapel. Where are the others?"
Chapel hesitated, obviously reluctant to answer. "Captain Jung is in the room adjacent to this one," she said finally. "Lieutenant Commander Park, Doctor Kim, and Commander Hero were...unable to be rescued."
A flash of fury and anguish overwhelmed Changmin for a brief, dizzying moment. He sat up and faced Chapel. "Why?" he demanded, ignoring the illogic of asking such a question.
Chapel looked steadily back at him, pity in her light blue eyes. "Federation backup arrived less than a minute before the Cassiopeia collided with the Cha'bIp. Captain Alexander of the Saratoga tried to beam the five of you onto her ship, but only you and Captain Jung were safely transported. The life-signs of the other three were lost before the collision. I'm sorry."
Changmin struggled to keep his emotions in check, dismayed at his lack of control. The taunts of his Vulcan classmates remained as strong as ever in his memory, disparaging his Human father, questioning his ability to be educated alongside 'true' Vulcans.
"There's...something else I have to tell you," Chapel said, watching his reaction with concern. "Captain Alexander was unable to inform Starfleet of the rescue before the Klingons destroyed the Saratoga. It was thought that all five of you had been lost. But a week ago, Admiral Hwang discovered an escape pod in orbit around the dead planet Ceti Alpha V, containing two stasis tubes along with the log of the Saratoga. Both you and Captain Jung had suffered trauma from the hasty beaming, and Captain Alexander placed you both in stasis to help the healing process. When the Klingons fired on Saratoga, Captain Alexander ordered the stasis tubes and the ship's log shot into orbit, in hopes that another ship could retrieve them."
Chapel paused, and sighed in frustration. "I don't know how else to tell you, Commander. You've been in stasis for seventy years. It's been seventy years, and the Federation is at war again."
*
Changmin stood shoulder to shoulder with Yunho in Admiral Hwang's office. The admiral himself was receiving a transmission in the other room, and Changmin gazed out at sunlit San Francisco Bay through the wide windows while he and Yunho waited. He found no reason to believe that Nurse Chapel had been lying; there were a number of unfamiliar high-rises that must have been built in the past seventy years, and even Starfleet itself had changed. Now it was less of a peacekeeping force and more of an armada against the omnipresent threat of the Klingon Empire.
He was reminded of his mother's disapproval of his decision to join Starfleet instead of attending the Vulcan Science Academy, a choice that had kept them from speaking cordially for so many years. She had seen it as a rejection of Surakian pacifism, because Starfleet often used violence to defend the Federation's interests.
At the time, Changmin had simply found it illogical to pass up the opportunity to explore strange new worlds, and not only by poring over scripts and records. After all, infinite diversity in infinite combinations was one of Surak's teachings as well-the one that had fascinated his father most.
His father had certainly already passed away in the seventy years Changmin had been in stasis. He was not yet allowing himself to grieve, nor even to contact his family; for him, his Vulcan control was sufficient to permit him to function at normal levels. He suspected that Starfleet would immediately require his presence.
Now that Starfleet was no longer pacifist even in name, Changmin was sure the Admiralty would accept his resignation on ethical grounds. Yet he knew he would not simply be able to leave. It was true he had never felt at home either on Vulcan or on Earth; but more than that, those last moments on the bridge of the Cassiopeia would haunt him for the rest of his life unless he could ensure that Junsu and Hero and Yoochun had not died in vain.
They had died dreaming of peace, and as illogical as it might sound, Changmin would see their dream realized or die trying.
Yunho stood tall and proud next to Changmin, clad in outdated command gold, but Changmin knew him well enough by now to read his uncertainty in the way his gaze darted around the room. The Vulcan wanted to reach out and comfort his captain, who he knew was struggling to cope with the loss of his family and his crew, but he did not know how. Yunho was so thoroughly Human in every aspect that Changmin wondered if Yunho would not soon feel some subconscious resentment that it was Changmin who had survived with him, Changmin who never failed to be confused by Yunho's whirlwind of Human emotions as none of the others were.
Before he could think further on the topic, Admiral Hwang returned. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting," he said sincerely.
"I understand Starfleet is very busy these days," Yunho replied, at once gracefully accepting the Admiral's apology and smoothly directing the conversation to what he wished to ask. "What is the current status of the war?"
Admiral Hwang sighed. "Not good. We've been losing to the Klingons for a while now, and morale is low. But the Admiralty hopes that your presence can revitalize the troops."
Yunho frowned, perplexed. "How so?"
Admiral Hwang raised an eyebrow in surprise, before comprehension dawned on his face. "Of course, how could you know? You've become known as legends in our world. Even before the First Klingon War, your five-year exploratory mission did so much for peace in the galaxy, and the information you and your crew gathered proved invaluable during the war."
Yunho blushed slightly at the praise, bowing his head. "Thank you, Admiral."
Changmin allowed himself a flicker of affection. Yunho had spent nearly ten years in the service, ten illustrious and highly publicized years, yet he remained as shy as any cadet at accepting praise, no matter how much he deserved it.
"If the Klingon advantage is a matter of technology," Changmin began, "I would offer my services."
Admiral Hwang shook his head. "Your offer is greatly appreciated, Commander, but I don't know if you'd be able to help much. The Klingons' main advantage over us isn't tech, it's fear. They're rumored to have super-soldiers who are quicker and stronger than any of our best. No one's ever seen their faces, no one knows how many there are, and some people don't even believe they exist. But they're called the Winter Soldiers, and they're deadly."
"The most difficult thing in war is to fight a faceless enemy," Yunho mused, and Admiral Hwang nodded grimly.
The door chime sounded then, and Admiral Hwang strode over to his computer terminal to key in a code. To Changmin's surprise, the door appeared to become transparent, revealing a young woman on the other side-yet she didn't seem to be able to see into the room.
"Fascinating," Changmin muttered. "One-way transparency technology."
"I'm sure there's been a ton of new tech invented," Yunho murmured to him. "I'm sorry you can't have more time to look at it all."
Changmin half-turned towards him, wanting to reassure Yunho that his apology was unnecessary. But before he could speak, the door opened and the young woman strode inside, her eyes widening when she saw Yunho and Changmin.
"So it's true," she said after a moment, awestruck. "The legends have come back to life."
Not all of them, Changmin thought, and mentally winced. He forced his mind away from thoughts of the others, aware that he could not afford any loss of control now.
The woman shook her head slightly, as if clearing her mind as well. "My apologies, sirs," she said, and saluted crisply. "I'm Cha Hakyeon, captain of the USS Starlight. It's an honor to be able to meet you."
"Pleased to meet you," Yunho replied warmly, and returned the salute. Changmin followed his lead.
"Hakyeon is one of my protégés," Admiral Hwang explained, a hint of fatherly pride and affection in his voice. "If the two of you have no objections, she has agreed to show you to your temporary quarters and answer any questions you may have. The temporary truce we've reached with the Klingons should hold for a few more days, but I wouldn't count on it."
"I'll introduce you to my crew, too, if we have time," Hakyeon added cheerfully.
Changmin realized, after a beat of silence, that Yunho was looking at him expectantly. "Thank you, Admiral," he said awkwardly. "That would be...adequate."
Admiral Hwang smiled briefly, the small weary smile of an old soldier. "Please don't hesitate to ask for anything. Starfleet is at your service."
As Hakyeon led them through the familiar hallways of Starfleet HQ, Changmin pondered his distinct discomfort at Admiral Hwang's choice of words. He did not believe himself worthy of being called a legend, nor of Starfleet feeling as though they owed him something. Of course, Yunho deserved the praise and more, as one of Starfleet's most skilled captains, but Changmin was merely a good navigator.
"Hakyeon?" Yunho's voice drew him out of his thoughts. "Could I ask you a question?"
"Sure," she said immediately, glancing back expectantly over her shoulder at the two of them.
"Feel free to tell me if I'm being unnecessarily intrusive, but," Yunho gestured to her uniform, "isn't that a male uniform you're wearing?"
Changmin had thought the same when they first saw her, but dismissed it as perhaps a change in uniform style over the years. He realized something was different after they had passed several female officers who wore the female uniform Yunho and Changmin were used to, but Changmin had not thought it his place to ask.
Hakyeon shrugged. "Yeah. I feel more comfortable in it, that's all."
"I don't mean to pry," Yunho apologized. Hakyeon waved a dismissive hand.
"It's fine. I expect you'll find a lot of things different from what you're used to."
They reached an aerial walkway that allowed them a breathtaking-if somewhat unfamiliar-view of San Francisco on either side. Hakyeon kept walking at the same brisk pace, seemingly used to the sight, but Yunho slowed and looked towards the bay, an expression of indescribable sadness on his face.
Changmin wanted nothing more than to be able to comfort his captain, but before he could muster the courage, Hakyeon was at Yunho's side, laying a slim brown hand tentatively on his shoulder. Neither of them spoke, but after a few moments Yunho drew in a shuddering breath and sighed, leaning into Hakyeon's touch. Changmin realized, with a pang, that Hakyeon must be an empath like Junsu.
"Don't forget, Starfleet is at your service," Hakyeon reminded him softly. "If there's anything you want, just ask."
Yunho nodded, his gaze still fixed on the distant houses by the bay, where he and his family had lived more than seventy years ago. Finally he sighed again, and turned away. "For now...let's just keep going."
*
"You two will be staying in quarters in this complex, which right now houses only me and my officers," Hakyeon explained as they reached a small living complex. It looked like many of the newer buildings Changmin had seen on the way, all utilitarian steel and glass, with no warmth in the design. "You'll need a security code and a retinal scan to get in, so I'll get you set up."
Changmin was surprised to find that the inside of the building did not reflect the outside. Hakyeon and her officers had decorated what appeared to be a common space with small trinkets and old-fashioned paintings, mementos of their lives which came together in this room.
Five other people were there, sparring or reading or discussing what looked like engine plans on a wall-sized holographic screen. Changmin's fingers itched with the desire to try out the screen; he had always dreamed of implementing holographic technology, though it had always been too expensive and difficult to use.
At the same time, he noticed that all of them were dressed in military gray and black uniforms, except for one who wore medical blue. Changmin supposed that in a state of constant war, it would be unsafe to so clearly advertise which function an officer performed aboard a ship. Medical officers, on the other hand, would need to make themselves known quickly.
Hakyeon cleared her throat to announce their presence and the five of them stopped what they were doing and saluted-not Hakyeon, Changmin realized, but him and Yunho.
"At ease," Yunho told them with a small smile.
"These are my bridge officers," Hakyeon said, no small amount of pride in her voice. Changmin glanced over at Yunho in time to see him stiffen slightly, clearly remembering a time when he would introduce his own crew with such pride.
One of the officers stepped forward to introduce himself. "Commander Kim Wonshik, sirs." He appeared to be Human, with dark hair and a handsome face. "Communications officer. It's really amazing to be able to meet you two."
"Ensign Han Sanghyuk, sirs," said the person to Wonshik's right, expression open and earnest. "I'm helmsman and I prefer they/them pronouns." Changmin thought Sanghyuk looked rather young to be a commissioned officer-even an Ensign-much less one assigned to such a promising crew as Hakyeon's appeared to be. But Starfleet must have had sufficient reasoning behind the decision.
He carefully noted Sanghyuk's preferred pronouns and returned his attention to the doctor, who had stepped forward to introduce himself. "Lieutenant Commander Lee Jaehwan, sirs," he said cheerfully. He had silver eyes that shimmered in the light. "I'm chief medical officer, as you can probably tell. I'm also a shapeshifter, but most people use he/him pronouns for me. I'm pretty comfortable with any pronouns though."
"Lieutenant Commander Lee Hongbin, sirs," the next person said after Jaehwan stepped back again and looked expectantly at him. "I'm chief engineer on the USS Starlight."
Finally the last person stepped forward, a Vulcan, and formed the ta'al with his right hand. "I am Commander Jung Taekwoon, chief tactical officer." His voice was soft and almost timid, quite at odds with his tall stature. Changmin noticed Yunho leaning forward slightly to hear Taekwoon better. He suspected Taekwoon's superior Vulcan hearing was at least part of why he spoke so quietly; when Changmin had first joined Starfleet, he had found it difficult to adjust his voice to a volume comfortable for most non-Vulcan species.
However, Taekwoon's name did not reflect his Vulcan heritage. Changmin wondered briefly if Taekwoon was half-Vulcan, or had simply been raised among another race. Or both-Taekwoon's officer duties directly conflicted with many Vulcan ideologies and he would have to be far removed indeed from his Vulcan heritage to perform those duties regularly. Yet Taekwoon seemed outwardly like any full-blooded Vulcan. His emotions were meticulously controlled and even his dark eyes betrayed no sign of what he was feeling.
"I didn't mention this earlier," Hakyeon added, "but I'm half-El-Aurian. My mom..." She trailed off, the cheerfulness disappearing from her demeanor. "My mom was El-Aurian," she finished quietly.
"I'm so sorry for your loss," Yunho said softly, his eyes wide with concern. "Was she killed in the war?"
Hakyeon was silent for a moment, and Changmin wondered if perhaps Yunho had crossed a line. "I guess you could say that," Hakyeon replied finally. "She wasn't a soldier. Most El-Aurians aren't, you know, because of our empathic powers. But the Federation invaded my home planet to stop the Klingon advance, and my family was killed in the crossfire."
"I grieve with thee," Changmin murmured softly.
"Actually, all of us have lost our families to the war," Jaehwan offered, his silver eyes subdued and sad. "Hongbinnie is the only one who had family members in the military. The rest of us were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's why we're willing to do anything to prove to Starfleet that it's possible to secure a fair and lasting peace with the Klingon Empire. No more innocent lives should be lost because of hostilities between two entities so powerful and dehumanized that they measure their casualties by the thousands."
Yunho nodded. "Seventy years ago...Starfleet was an agent of peace. It was one of the Admiralty's greatest fears that Starfleet might someday become an agent of war." He paused, looking at the six of them. "Although you are young, I can tell you have great promise. Together, perhaps it's possible to end this nightmare of war."
"What are we waiting for, then?" Wonshik spoke up, trying to lighten the gloomy atmosphere that had settled in the room. "We've got a war to end."
Poll
Team: AU
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: DBSK, VIXX
Pairing: none; maybe some hints if you squint
Summary: Star Trek + Winter Soldier AU. Seventy years ago, Captain Jung Yunho commanded the flagship of the Federation. It was thought that he and his crew were lost in the last battle of the First Klingon War. Now the Second Klingon War takes its toll on the peoples of the Federation, and a new generation of fighters is determined to restore peace to the galaxy.
Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who beta'ed my fic! There will be a sequel to this that I will post after Olymfics ends - this is actually more of a prologue to the real action. The title is the motto of Starfleet, adapted from the current motto of NASA. Roughly translated, it means "to the stars, through hardship."
Prompt Used: BTL - Too-G
*
Changmin woke to darkness and silence.
Disoriented, he attempted to regain his bearings. He took a cautious breath, almost surprised that the air he inhaled was fresh, free of the acrid stench of burned-out circuits and dangerously ionized particles. His ears still rang with the sounds of explosions and his captain's voice calmly ordering evacuation as the starship Cassiopeia fell apart around them.
Was he in the afterlife, then? Had he died alongside his captain and his friends?
The thought did not disturb him, even though he had died without preserving his katra in the Hall of Ancient Thought. He had chosen death, after all. Yunho had ordered him away but he had stayed, loyalty and friendship easily outweighing obedience. And the others, too, Junsu and Hero and Yoochun, they had chosen without hesitation to stay with their friends until the end.
They had known they could not escape the Klingons alive if they remained on the Cassiopeia. Outnumbered and stranded, Yunho had set the ship on a collision course with the Klingon flagship to buy his crew a few more precious minutes to escape. And Changmin had watched the Cha'bIp loom larger and larger on the viewscreen until he could see nothing else. He had once feared death, but at the end of all things, he found himself at peace with the knowledge that he would die honorably, with his friends, in service to the Federation.
If the five of them had died together, surely they should share the same afterlife. So where were the others?
At that precise moment, Changmin heard approaching footsteps. A door opened, spilling soft light into the room. "Thank God you're awake," a soft female voice said. "Lights to 20 percent," she added to the room at large.
Changmin ignored the uncertainty gathering in his mind, pulling on the cloak of his Vulcan control as the woman walked closer. "Who are you?"
"Nurse Christine Chapel of USS Starlight," she responded, setting down a medical kit from which she drew a few hyposprays. "You're lucky to be alive, Commander. How do you feel?"
"I am physically well," Changmin said after a moment, still processing his shock at discovering he was, in fact, still alive. He avoided the urge to comment that he was Vulcan and thus did not 'feel'. Medical officers tended to respond to such a remark as though it were a personal insult.
He thought of Junsu, the Chief Medical Officer aboard the Cassiopeia, and realized he had no answers as to how he had survived and whether the others had as well. "Nurse Chapel. Where are the others?"
Chapel hesitated, obviously reluctant to answer. "Captain Jung is in the room adjacent to this one," she said finally. "Lieutenant Commander Park, Doctor Kim, and Commander Hero were...unable to be rescued."
A flash of fury and anguish overwhelmed Changmin for a brief, dizzying moment. He sat up and faced Chapel. "Why?" he demanded, ignoring the illogic of asking such a question.
Chapel looked steadily back at him, pity in her light blue eyes. "Federation backup arrived less than a minute before the Cassiopeia collided with the Cha'bIp. Captain Alexander of the Saratoga tried to beam the five of you onto her ship, but only you and Captain Jung were safely transported. The life-signs of the other three were lost before the collision. I'm sorry."
Changmin struggled to keep his emotions in check, dismayed at his lack of control. The taunts of his Vulcan classmates remained as strong as ever in his memory, disparaging his Human father, questioning his ability to be educated alongside 'true' Vulcans.
"There's...something else I have to tell you," Chapel said, watching his reaction with concern. "Captain Alexander was unable to inform Starfleet of the rescue before the Klingons destroyed the Saratoga. It was thought that all five of you had been lost. But a week ago, Admiral Hwang discovered an escape pod in orbit around the dead planet Ceti Alpha V, containing two stasis tubes along with the log of the Saratoga. Both you and Captain Jung had suffered trauma from the hasty beaming, and Captain Alexander placed you both in stasis to help the healing process. When the Klingons fired on Saratoga, Captain Alexander ordered the stasis tubes and the ship's log shot into orbit, in hopes that another ship could retrieve them."
Chapel paused, and sighed in frustration. "I don't know how else to tell you, Commander. You've been in stasis for seventy years. It's been seventy years, and the Federation is at war again."
*
Changmin stood shoulder to shoulder with Yunho in Admiral Hwang's office. The admiral himself was receiving a transmission in the other room, and Changmin gazed out at sunlit San Francisco Bay through the wide windows while he and Yunho waited. He found no reason to believe that Nurse Chapel had been lying; there were a number of unfamiliar high-rises that must have been built in the past seventy years, and even Starfleet itself had changed. Now it was less of a peacekeeping force and more of an armada against the omnipresent threat of the Klingon Empire.
He was reminded of his mother's disapproval of his decision to join Starfleet instead of attending the Vulcan Science Academy, a choice that had kept them from speaking cordially for so many years. She had seen it as a rejection of Surakian pacifism, because Starfleet often used violence to defend the Federation's interests.
At the time, Changmin had simply found it illogical to pass up the opportunity to explore strange new worlds, and not only by poring over scripts and records. After all, infinite diversity in infinite combinations was one of Surak's teachings as well-the one that had fascinated his father most.
His father had certainly already passed away in the seventy years Changmin had been in stasis. He was not yet allowing himself to grieve, nor even to contact his family; for him, his Vulcan control was sufficient to permit him to function at normal levels. He suspected that Starfleet would immediately require his presence.
Now that Starfleet was no longer pacifist even in name, Changmin was sure the Admiralty would accept his resignation on ethical grounds. Yet he knew he would not simply be able to leave. It was true he had never felt at home either on Vulcan or on Earth; but more than that, those last moments on the bridge of the Cassiopeia would haunt him for the rest of his life unless he could ensure that Junsu and Hero and Yoochun had not died in vain.
They had died dreaming of peace, and as illogical as it might sound, Changmin would see their dream realized or die trying.
Yunho stood tall and proud next to Changmin, clad in outdated command gold, but Changmin knew him well enough by now to read his uncertainty in the way his gaze darted around the room. The Vulcan wanted to reach out and comfort his captain, who he knew was struggling to cope with the loss of his family and his crew, but he did not know how. Yunho was so thoroughly Human in every aspect that Changmin wondered if Yunho would not soon feel some subconscious resentment that it was Changmin who had survived with him, Changmin who never failed to be confused by Yunho's whirlwind of Human emotions as none of the others were.
Before he could think further on the topic, Admiral Hwang returned. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting," he said sincerely.
"I understand Starfleet is very busy these days," Yunho replied, at once gracefully accepting the Admiral's apology and smoothly directing the conversation to what he wished to ask. "What is the current status of the war?"
Admiral Hwang sighed. "Not good. We've been losing to the Klingons for a while now, and morale is low. But the Admiralty hopes that your presence can revitalize the troops."
Yunho frowned, perplexed. "How so?"
Admiral Hwang raised an eyebrow in surprise, before comprehension dawned on his face. "Of course, how could you know? You've become known as legends in our world. Even before the First Klingon War, your five-year exploratory mission did so much for peace in the galaxy, and the information you and your crew gathered proved invaluable during the war."
Yunho blushed slightly at the praise, bowing his head. "Thank you, Admiral."
Changmin allowed himself a flicker of affection. Yunho had spent nearly ten years in the service, ten illustrious and highly publicized years, yet he remained as shy as any cadet at accepting praise, no matter how much he deserved it.
"If the Klingon advantage is a matter of technology," Changmin began, "I would offer my services."
Admiral Hwang shook his head. "Your offer is greatly appreciated, Commander, but I don't know if you'd be able to help much. The Klingons' main advantage over us isn't tech, it's fear. They're rumored to have super-soldiers who are quicker and stronger than any of our best. No one's ever seen their faces, no one knows how many there are, and some people don't even believe they exist. But they're called the Winter Soldiers, and they're deadly."
"The most difficult thing in war is to fight a faceless enemy," Yunho mused, and Admiral Hwang nodded grimly.
The door chime sounded then, and Admiral Hwang strode over to his computer terminal to key in a code. To Changmin's surprise, the door appeared to become transparent, revealing a young woman on the other side-yet she didn't seem to be able to see into the room.
"Fascinating," Changmin muttered. "One-way transparency technology."
"I'm sure there's been a ton of new tech invented," Yunho murmured to him. "I'm sorry you can't have more time to look at it all."
Changmin half-turned towards him, wanting to reassure Yunho that his apology was unnecessary. But before he could speak, the door opened and the young woman strode inside, her eyes widening when she saw Yunho and Changmin.
"So it's true," she said after a moment, awestruck. "The legends have come back to life."
Not all of them, Changmin thought, and mentally winced. He forced his mind away from thoughts of the others, aware that he could not afford any loss of control now.
The woman shook her head slightly, as if clearing her mind as well. "My apologies, sirs," she said, and saluted crisply. "I'm Cha Hakyeon, captain of the USS Starlight. It's an honor to be able to meet you."
"Pleased to meet you," Yunho replied warmly, and returned the salute. Changmin followed his lead.
"Hakyeon is one of my protégés," Admiral Hwang explained, a hint of fatherly pride and affection in his voice. "If the two of you have no objections, she has agreed to show you to your temporary quarters and answer any questions you may have. The temporary truce we've reached with the Klingons should hold for a few more days, but I wouldn't count on it."
"I'll introduce you to my crew, too, if we have time," Hakyeon added cheerfully.
Changmin realized, after a beat of silence, that Yunho was looking at him expectantly. "Thank you, Admiral," he said awkwardly. "That would be...adequate."
Admiral Hwang smiled briefly, the small weary smile of an old soldier. "Please don't hesitate to ask for anything. Starfleet is at your service."
As Hakyeon led them through the familiar hallways of Starfleet HQ, Changmin pondered his distinct discomfort at Admiral Hwang's choice of words. He did not believe himself worthy of being called a legend, nor of Starfleet feeling as though they owed him something. Of course, Yunho deserved the praise and more, as one of Starfleet's most skilled captains, but Changmin was merely a good navigator.
"Hakyeon?" Yunho's voice drew him out of his thoughts. "Could I ask you a question?"
"Sure," she said immediately, glancing back expectantly over her shoulder at the two of them.
"Feel free to tell me if I'm being unnecessarily intrusive, but," Yunho gestured to her uniform, "isn't that a male uniform you're wearing?"
Changmin had thought the same when they first saw her, but dismissed it as perhaps a change in uniform style over the years. He realized something was different after they had passed several female officers who wore the female uniform Yunho and Changmin were used to, but Changmin had not thought it his place to ask.
Hakyeon shrugged. "Yeah. I feel more comfortable in it, that's all."
"I don't mean to pry," Yunho apologized. Hakyeon waved a dismissive hand.
"It's fine. I expect you'll find a lot of things different from what you're used to."
They reached an aerial walkway that allowed them a breathtaking-if somewhat unfamiliar-view of San Francisco on either side. Hakyeon kept walking at the same brisk pace, seemingly used to the sight, but Yunho slowed and looked towards the bay, an expression of indescribable sadness on his face.
Changmin wanted nothing more than to be able to comfort his captain, but before he could muster the courage, Hakyeon was at Yunho's side, laying a slim brown hand tentatively on his shoulder. Neither of them spoke, but after a few moments Yunho drew in a shuddering breath and sighed, leaning into Hakyeon's touch. Changmin realized, with a pang, that Hakyeon must be an empath like Junsu.
"Don't forget, Starfleet is at your service," Hakyeon reminded him softly. "If there's anything you want, just ask."
Yunho nodded, his gaze still fixed on the distant houses by the bay, where he and his family had lived more than seventy years ago. Finally he sighed again, and turned away. "For now...let's just keep going."
*
"You two will be staying in quarters in this complex, which right now houses only me and my officers," Hakyeon explained as they reached a small living complex. It looked like many of the newer buildings Changmin had seen on the way, all utilitarian steel and glass, with no warmth in the design. "You'll need a security code and a retinal scan to get in, so I'll get you set up."
Changmin was surprised to find that the inside of the building did not reflect the outside. Hakyeon and her officers had decorated what appeared to be a common space with small trinkets and old-fashioned paintings, mementos of their lives which came together in this room.
Five other people were there, sparring or reading or discussing what looked like engine plans on a wall-sized holographic screen. Changmin's fingers itched with the desire to try out the screen; he had always dreamed of implementing holographic technology, though it had always been too expensive and difficult to use.
At the same time, he noticed that all of them were dressed in military gray and black uniforms, except for one who wore medical blue. Changmin supposed that in a state of constant war, it would be unsafe to so clearly advertise which function an officer performed aboard a ship. Medical officers, on the other hand, would need to make themselves known quickly.
Hakyeon cleared her throat to announce their presence and the five of them stopped what they were doing and saluted-not Hakyeon, Changmin realized, but him and Yunho.
"At ease," Yunho told them with a small smile.
"These are my bridge officers," Hakyeon said, no small amount of pride in her voice. Changmin glanced over at Yunho in time to see him stiffen slightly, clearly remembering a time when he would introduce his own crew with such pride.
One of the officers stepped forward to introduce himself. "Commander Kim Wonshik, sirs." He appeared to be Human, with dark hair and a handsome face. "Communications officer. It's really amazing to be able to meet you two."
"Ensign Han Sanghyuk, sirs," said the person to Wonshik's right, expression open and earnest. "I'm helmsman and I prefer they/them pronouns." Changmin thought Sanghyuk looked rather young to be a commissioned officer-even an Ensign-much less one assigned to such a promising crew as Hakyeon's appeared to be. But Starfleet must have had sufficient reasoning behind the decision.
He carefully noted Sanghyuk's preferred pronouns and returned his attention to the doctor, who had stepped forward to introduce himself. "Lieutenant Commander Lee Jaehwan, sirs," he said cheerfully. He had silver eyes that shimmered in the light. "I'm chief medical officer, as you can probably tell. I'm also a shapeshifter, but most people use he/him pronouns for me. I'm pretty comfortable with any pronouns though."
"Lieutenant Commander Lee Hongbin, sirs," the next person said after Jaehwan stepped back again and looked expectantly at him. "I'm chief engineer on the USS Starlight."
Finally the last person stepped forward, a Vulcan, and formed the ta'al with his right hand. "I am Commander Jung Taekwoon, chief tactical officer." His voice was soft and almost timid, quite at odds with his tall stature. Changmin noticed Yunho leaning forward slightly to hear Taekwoon better. He suspected Taekwoon's superior Vulcan hearing was at least part of why he spoke so quietly; when Changmin had first joined Starfleet, he had found it difficult to adjust his voice to a volume comfortable for most non-Vulcan species.
However, Taekwoon's name did not reflect his Vulcan heritage. Changmin wondered briefly if Taekwoon was half-Vulcan, or had simply been raised among another race. Or both-Taekwoon's officer duties directly conflicted with many Vulcan ideologies and he would have to be far removed indeed from his Vulcan heritage to perform those duties regularly. Yet Taekwoon seemed outwardly like any full-blooded Vulcan. His emotions were meticulously controlled and even his dark eyes betrayed no sign of what he was feeling.
"I didn't mention this earlier," Hakyeon added, "but I'm half-El-Aurian. My mom..." She trailed off, the cheerfulness disappearing from her demeanor. "My mom was El-Aurian," she finished quietly.
"I'm so sorry for your loss," Yunho said softly, his eyes wide with concern. "Was she killed in the war?"
Hakyeon was silent for a moment, and Changmin wondered if perhaps Yunho had crossed a line. "I guess you could say that," Hakyeon replied finally. "She wasn't a soldier. Most El-Aurians aren't, you know, because of our empathic powers. But the Federation invaded my home planet to stop the Klingon advance, and my family was killed in the crossfire."
"I grieve with thee," Changmin murmured softly.
"Actually, all of us have lost our families to the war," Jaehwan offered, his silver eyes subdued and sad. "Hongbinnie is the only one who had family members in the military. The rest of us were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's why we're willing to do anything to prove to Starfleet that it's possible to secure a fair and lasting peace with the Klingon Empire. No more innocent lives should be lost because of hostilities between two entities so powerful and dehumanized that they measure their casualties by the thousands."
Yunho nodded. "Seventy years ago...Starfleet was an agent of peace. It was one of the Admiralty's greatest fears that Starfleet might someday become an agent of war." He paused, looking at the six of them. "Although you are young, I can tell you have great promise. Together, perhaps it's possible to end this nightmare of war."
"What are we waiting for, then?" Wonshik spoke up, trying to lighten the gloomy atmosphere that had settled in the room. "We've got a war to end."
Poll