contest entry #19
Just a note: I'm amending the rules, just because it's not fair for me to have told so many people the 22nd and given them the illusion of more time. As it's my mistake, this contest will be extended until then. ^^ So you've all got another two days and 1.5 hours!
Title: Death Warmed Over
Pairings: Yesung/Ryeowook, Yesung/Sungmin
Length: ~3050 words
Notes: Because apparently when I think "future," I think "outer space!AU," and when I think "outer space!AU," I think this. Also, in case the title didn't give it away, character death warning.
They found him huddled in a corner of the aft hold, eyes blank, shivering, uneven breaths visible in the stale chill air and fitfully rising towards the ceiling like distress signals. His shirt and hands were crusted with dried blood and there were tiny flecks of red-brown sprinkled over the swollen purple bruises covering his face. He should have been unrecognizable, but Yesung knew it was him even before he saw lips move, forming a word too quiet to be heard over the strained whine of the emergency life support systems-Jongwoon. He waited for his heart to slow before he touched his finger to the comlink on his lapel.
"Captain to First Officer: we have found a survivor." There was a slight pause, and then he continued, voice hoarse, "Sungmin, it's Ryeowook."
***
Sungmin was efficient; he had already ordered teams back into the wreckage through the airlock behind them and slid Ryeowook's other arm carefully over his shoulder before Yesung could help Ryeowook more than a step forward. He talked quickly and quietly as they half-carried the younger man towards the elevator.
"I've taken the liberty of sending a tech team aboard the wreckage to try and salvage the ship's mainframe, and I've alerted Dr. Choi that we'll be bringing him a survivor." At this, his eyes darted worriedly to Ryeowook's swollen, filthy face, then back to Yesung. "He says he'll need to examine you too, Captain, and that in his professional opinion as ship's doctor you've put yourself and your crew at a great risk by entering that vessel without a bio-lock suit." Sungmin's lips tightened slightly, and Yesung knew that meant he agreed.
"I cleared the scan in the airlock; I'm sure there's nothing wrong with me." He tried to sound casual, but Sungmin's lips only tightened more. "I knew he was there, Sungmin. I knew," he said, voice hushed. Sungmin opened his mouth as if to say something back, then snapped it shut again when the elevator doors opened to reveal Siwon with a hoverchair.
"I was coming to meet you at the airlock. I can take it from here." They eased Ryeowook into the chair, and when Yesung made to keep going towards the clinic Siwon laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I can take it from here," he said again, voice sympathetic but firm. He shook his head decisively when Yesung opened his mouth to protest. "I'll need to see you after I look at him, so you'll know as soon as we're done. For now, you should go to your room and rest."
Yesung looked to Sungmin for help, but he too shook his head. "I agree with the doctor, Captain, you should rest. I'll take the bridge."
Then Siwon had disappeared with Ryeowook down the hall and Sungmin was already transmitting instructions to the bridge over his comlink, and Yesung realized he might as well heed their advice as he had nothing else to do but worry.
***
His sleep was fitful; he tossed and turned and dreamt.
He saw Ryeowook, tasted his lips and his skin, felt him quiver and crumble in his arms. The alternating waves of pleasure and desire for more rocked him like they always did when he was with Ryeowook, in him, and his hands grasped at Ryeowook's hips, his face, desperate to connect further, to break down the barrier of skin on skin and be not just inside him but inside him. Then he looked up and Ryeowook was standing in front of him in his dress uniform, waving sadly and moving further and further away without taking a step, and when he looked down in confusion it was Sungmin beneath him, breathtakingly beautiful and not at all what he wanted. Sungmin was crying, and when he called out Ryeowook's name, called for him to come back, Sungmin groaned and came like an earthquake, and then he came too and collapsed. There was a bang, and when he looked he saw Sungmin was dead, a bullet hole placed neatly between his unseeing eyes. In the distance Ryeowook was holding a gun to his own head, and there was another bang-
Yesung woke in a cold sweat. He didn't know how long he had been sitting on the edge of the bed, legs spread wide, face held between them in his hands, when he heard the hiss of the hydraulic doors opening.
"Captain." Sungmin's voice was hesitant. "Shall I come back later?"
Yesung sighed, didn't look up. "No, First Officer. What is it?"
"Dr. Choi has finished his examination of Ensig-First Officer Kim. He says that there is nothing physically wrong with him apart from the contusions, which he thinks will heal normally. And he says he will examine you tomorrow, Captain. He," and now the hesitation was back in Sungmin's voice, "seemed very tired; I think the examination took longer than he had expected."
"Very well, First Officer," Yesung said into his hands. Even without looking up, he could tell that Sungmin was not leaving, and though he knew what he was waiting for he could not bring himself to broach the subject. "Is there anything else?"
After a few moments, he felt Sungmin sit gingerly on the bed next to him, felt Sungmin's hand rest softly on his shoulder. "I've handed control of the bridge to the night watchman. Shall I stay with you tonight, Captain?"
Yesung had been fucking Sungmin since Ryeowook accepted the commission as first officer aboard one of the smaller reconnaissance vessels and left the flagship. At first, he had done it because Sungmin's skin was soft and his lips were moist and if he closed his eyes he could pretend he was with Ryeowook. He soon stopped closing his eyes, though, because when it was over he eventually had to open them again, and the disappointment became too much to bear. After that he fucked Sungmin with his eyes open, pushed into him rough, kissed him hard enough to draw blood, anything harsh enough to make him forget, and it was good, or at least good enough. But with Ryeowook back on the ship it seemed...
"No, I think that will be all for tonight," he said, looking up for the first time and seeing something he couldn't quite place in Sungmin's eyes-surprise? hurt? jealousy? When the other man didn't move, Yesung sighed and said, "You are dismissed, First Officer."
Sungmin's eyes flashed. "Yes, sir." And then Yesung was alone again.
***
He awoke early in the morning to the sound of Sungmin's voice echoing tinnily through the comlink on his shirt lapel.
"Captain, you're needed in the clinic. It's Dr. Choi, he's...he's dead, sir."
When Yesung reached the clinic he found Sungmin and Kyuhyun, the secondary medical officer, standing over the body. Siwon was propped up on the examination table in a natural sitting position, and if Yesung could couldn't see his face he would have thought he was just resting. He stared into Siwon's dull, glazed eyes as he listened to Kyuhyun.
"I haven't been able to determine the cause of death. There are no signs of violence, no traces of toxins in his body. It's as if his heart just stopped. I'm going to run some more sophisticated tests once I get the bioscan booted up, but at this point I really can't even begin to speculate..."
Yesung let Kyuhyun's voice fade into the background as he stared at Siwon. They had entered the service at the same time, gone through basic together. He had personally picked Siwon to serve as his ship's physician back when he received his first commission on a small, inner-system ship-
"Captain."
Yesung jumped; he hadn't realized Sungmin was so close.
"Captain, there's something I think you should know," Sungmin said quietly, and gestured significantly towards Siwon's office. Yesung nodded, and when they were both inside Sungmin closed the door behind him and began to speak, voice soft but tense. "The tech team I sent into the wreckage was able to salvage some of the ship's mainframe, and I've reviewed the captain's log and surveillance footage. Captain, the damage to the ship's hull wasn't caused by an external attack; it came from explosions inside the ship. And before those, people on the ship had been dying, sir. Inexplicably. Just like Siwon. People died, and then ship systems began to malfunction, and then the explosions happened."
Yesung took a deep breath. "Are you suggesting, First Officer, that-"
"I'm not suggesting anything, captain, but you must admit this is worrying. No System Defense servicemember would ever sabotage his own ship, so something very strange must have happened. I think we should investigate the cause of Siwon's death and," and now Sungmin looked straight into Yesung's eyes, "I think we should see what Ryeowook can tell us about what happened.
***
Yesung went alone to the berth they had assigned Ryeowook-his old one, from when he had been an ensign on the ship-and stood in front of the door. He counted, slowly, to three, then keyed in his code and waited as the door slid open. He saw a form prone on the bed, chest rising and falling in the calm rhythm of sleep, and was about to leave when he heard a sleepy voice call out, "Jongwoon?"
"Yeah, it's me." Yesung was suddenly aware of the sweat trickling down his back, the tightness of his collar. The silence between them from the day Ryeowook left the ship until the day he whispered Yesung's name in the wreckage loomed large, almost suffocating.
"Come here." It seemed the furthest thing from Ryeowook's mind. He was pushing himself up into a sitting position, smiling serenely at Yesung, and so Yesung walked into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed.
Ryeowook kissed him. It was sudden but not forceful, soft and longing and when Ryeowook pulled away he smiled again and said, "I missed you."
Yesung couldn't trust himself to say only I missed you too back, so instead he caressed Ryeowook's face with his fingertips, retracing the textures and the contours he knew by heart. The bruises had already almost disappeared, he noticed; he would have to ask Siwon what he-oh.
"Ryeowook, I need you to help me. I need you to tell me what you remember before the...incident on your ship."
Ryeowook looked down, brows furrowed. "I'm sorry, I don't remember much. There were sirens...and an explosion...and I remember crawling, and blood, and..." His voice was steady, but when he looked up there were tears in his eyes.
"Ok, it's ok," Yesung said quickly, his hand automatically running in circles over Ryeowook's back. "I want you to rest. If you can remember anything else, let me know."
As he got up to leave, Ryeowook grabbed his hand and gripped it, hard. "Thank you," he said, voice small, lost. "Thank you for saving me."
Yesung still couldn't trust himself to speak, so he left the room in silence.
***
That night the life support systems went out.
Yesung sat calmly on the bridge through the warning klaxons, listened as Eunhyuk read off the diagnostic assessments and watched as the images appeared on the main monitor.
"Oxygenation, down; heating, down; gravity production, two generators offline, down 30%, 35%. Initiating system override...negative, system irresponsive. Switching to secondary systems...negative, secondary systems corrupted. Captain-"
"Input override code alpha foxtrot solo. And send out a ping; I want to know exactly where everyone aboard this ship is," Yesung said.
"Yes, sir. Inputing override code alpha foxtrot solo...code confirmed. Tertiary systems actived...tertiary systems online. Estimated time until further measures will be needed: three hours."
"Very good. Send the ping map to my screen." Yesung watched as a floor plan of the ship appeared and tiny dots labeled with the names of crew members blinked to life on it. When about half of the crew were accounted for, he began to hear hurried footfalls. They grew louder with each passing second, and then suddenly Ryeowook burst through the door onto the bridge. His eyes were wild, hair ruffled, face covered in sweat. A guard made to intercept him, but Yesung negated his movement with a flick of his hand.
"Jongwoon," Ryeowook said, voice panicky, and grabbed onto Yesung's arm. "I remember this! This happened! This happened on my ship too!"
The bridge crew was too professional to show it, but Yesung knew that they had heard Ryeowook, knew they must be as alarmed as he was. He took Ryeowook's hand in his, then asked, keeping his voice calm and low, "Ensign, who has not yet responded to the ping?"
There was a short silence, and then Eunhyuk replied, "Just First Officer Lee, sir."
Sungmin. He touched his finger to his comlink. "Captain to First Officer, acknowledge." Silence. "Captain to First Officer, acknowledge and state your position." More silence, and then Eunhyuk's voice, halting, surprised.
"Captain, the system is...Captain, I believe we have system restoration. Running diagnostic...oxygenation, online; heating, online; gravitational generators all online. Captain, systems are nominal."
Yesung was about to respond when Sungmin walked through the door and onto the bridge. He was breathing heavily, as though he had been running, and when his eyes turned towards Ryeowook Yesung could have sworn he saw them narrow slightly. "Captain, could I have a word with you in private, please?" Sungmin asked, voice tight, eyes locked on Ryeowook.
"No, First Officer, you may not." Sungmin's eyes widened, looked at him. "You may, however, tell me where you have been and why you ignored a direct order to report in."
Sungmin's eyes darted back and forth between Yesung and Ryeowook. "I'm sorry, Captain, but I'd prefer to tell you in private-"
"Your preferences are irrelevant, First Officer. Where have you been?" Yesung said.
Sungmin's eyes were now helpless, pleading. "Captain, if I could just have a bit of your time in private-"
"That is enough, First Officer. You are confined to your quarters until further notice. Second Officer Kim will have the bridge. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir." Kibum looked alarmed; Sungmin looked devastated, desperate.
With a curt nod, Yesung grabbed Ryeowook's hand and stalked off of the bridge.
***
Ryeowook wouldn't let go of his hand when Yesung tried to drop him off at his room, and so Yesung stayed, and made love to Ryeowook for the first time in more than a year. It was as intoxicating as he remembered, and the more he drank in of Ryeowook's scent, his moans, his touch, the more he wanted. He came in him once, twice, three times before he finally fell asleep, exhaused, against his chest.
When he woke the next morning, the first thing he saw was Ryeowook standing against the wall, shivering, with his hands in the air. The second thing was Sungmin, standing in front of the door and pointing a gun at Ryeowook's head.
"I'm going to kill him, Captain. Please don't try to stop me," Sungmin said. His voice was remarkably calm and his aim was steady.
"S-sungmin, please-"
"Don't talk!" Sungmin snarled at Ryeowook, and the younger man cringed. "Captain, this is all his fault."
"How is it Ryeowook's fault, Sungmin?" Yesung asked, moving his hand slowly under the sheets.
"No, not Ryeowook, him!" Sungmin said angrily, gesturing at Ryeowook with his pistol. He's gone crazy, Yesung suddenly realized. He must've been behind all of this. "He's responsible for Ryeowook's ship, he's responsible for Siwon, he's responsible for the system failure yesterday, and now he's trying to set off the bomb. But I'm not going to let him." Sungmin finished cooly. "Down on your knees. Now!"
Ryeowook fell to his knees, shaking even more now, and Sungmin stepped forward and placed the gun against his forehead.
"You took Ryeowook and Siwon, but you're not taking the captain. I won't let you. Say goodbye-"
A gunshot rang out and Sungmin fell to the floor, dead, a bullet hole placed neatly between his eyes. Yesung dropped his sidearm onto the bed and ran to Ryeowook. "Are you alright?" He threw his arms around the younger man, held him until the shaking stopped, and then Ryeowook kissed him. He could feel the sparks, the electricity flowing through their kiss, and then-
-he was no longer Yesung; he was slithering through the wreckage of the ship he had destroyed from the inside, tentacles searching through the prone bodies for Ryeowook, the one the ship's computer had told him used to be stationed on the flagship. He found him still alive, watched impassively as he struggled against the tentacle around his throat, waited until his hands stopped grappling and his lips formed the word Jongwoon and he went slack, then pried his mouth open and slid into his body. He sent tendrils throughout Ryeowook, sucked the information out of his brain, fused to his nerves, and then he was Ryeowook...now he was inside Siwon-Ryeowook was hidden in the closet; he would use him again later-telling Sungmin that the examination had been fine and that he would see Yesung tomorrow. The doctor had been an easy target, and his tendrils had been able to heal the signs of damage quickly...now he was back in Ryeowook, running away from the terminal where he had implanted the virus, away from Sungmin, who had caught him there and was now desperately trying to undo the damage he had done. He was sure now that his plan would work, that he would soon be in possession of the captain with the rest of the crew none the wiser. He would use the captain's clearance to learn the secret position of the humans' planet and bring the rest of his race there...
The kiss broke and Ryeowook stood up, smiled. Yesung scrambled to his feet too, backed away. His foot brushed against something, and he looked down and saw Sungmin's dead body. His eyes flew back to Ryeowook. "No."
"I'm afraid so, Captain," Ryeowook said, advancing towards him. "I'm sorry; I'd imagine this has been very hard on you, but don't worry. It will all be over very soon now."
Yesung had just enough time to whisper Ryeowook's name before the tentacle burst through Ryeowook's stomach and wrapped itself around his neck.
Title: Death Warmed Over
Pairings: Yesung/Ryeowook, Yesung/Sungmin
Length: ~3050 words
Notes: Because apparently when I think "future," I think "outer space!AU," and when I think "outer space!AU," I think this. Also, in case the title didn't give it away, character death warning.
They found him huddled in a corner of the aft hold, eyes blank, shivering, uneven breaths visible in the stale chill air and fitfully rising towards the ceiling like distress signals. His shirt and hands were crusted with dried blood and there were tiny flecks of red-brown sprinkled over the swollen purple bruises covering his face. He should have been unrecognizable, but Yesung knew it was him even before he saw lips move, forming a word too quiet to be heard over the strained whine of the emergency life support systems-Jongwoon. He waited for his heart to slow before he touched his finger to the comlink on his lapel.
"Captain to First Officer: we have found a survivor." There was a slight pause, and then he continued, voice hoarse, "Sungmin, it's Ryeowook."
***
Sungmin was efficient; he had already ordered teams back into the wreckage through the airlock behind them and slid Ryeowook's other arm carefully over his shoulder before Yesung could help Ryeowook more than a step forward. He talked quickly and quietly as they half-carried the younger man towards the elevator.
"I've taken the liberty of sending a tech team aboard the wreckage to try and salvage the ship's mainframe, and I've alerted Dr. Choi that we'll be bringing him a survivor." At this, his eyes darted worriedly to Ryeowook's swollen, filthy face, then back to Yesung. "He says he'll need to examine you too, Captain, and that in his professional opinion as ship's doctor you've put yourself and your crew at a great risk by entering that vessel without a bio-lock suit." Sungmin's lips tightened slightly, and Yesung knew that meant he agreed.
"I cleared the scan in the airlock; I'm sure there's nothing wrong with me." He tried to sound casual, but Sungmin's lips only tightened more. "I knew he was there, Sungmin. I knew," he said, voice hushed. Sungmin opened his mouth as if to say something back, then snapped it shut again when the elevator doors opened to reveal Siwon with a hoverchair.
"I was coming to meet you at the airlock. I can take it from here." They eased Ryeowook into the chair, and when Yesung made to keep going towards the clinic Siwon laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I can take it from here," he said again, voice sympathetic but firm. He shook his head decisively when Yesung opened his mouth to protest. "I'll need to see you after I look at him, so you'll know as soon as we're done. For now, you should go to your room and rest."
Yesung looked to Sungmin for help, but he too shook his head. "I agree with the doctor, Captain, you should rest. I'll take the bridge."
Then Siwon had disappeared with Ryeowook down the hall and Sungmin was already transmitting instructions to the bridge over his comlink, and Yesung realized he might as well heed their advice as he had nothing else to do but worry.
***
His sleep was fitful; he tossed and turned and dreamt.
He saw Ryeowook, tasted his lips and his skin, felt him quiver and crumble in his arms. The alternating waves of pleasure and desire for more rocked him like they always did when he was with Ryeowook, in him, and his hands grasped at Ryeowook's hips, his face, desperate to connect further, to break down the barrier of skin on skin and be not just inside him but inside him. Then he looked up and Ryeowook was standing in front of him in his dress uniform, waving sadly and moving further and further away without taking a step, and when he looked down in confusion it was Sungmin beneath him, breathtakingly beautiful and not at all what he wanted. Sungmin was crying, and when he called out Ryeowook's name, called for him to come back, Sungmin groaned and came like an earthquake, and then he came too and collapsed. There was a bang, and when he looked he saw Sungmin was dead, a bullet hole placed neatly between his unseeing eyes. In the distance Ryeowook was holding a gun to his own head, and there was another bang-
Yesung woke in a cold sweat. He didn't know how long he had been sitting on the edge of the bed, legs spread wide, face held between them in his hands, when he heard the hiss of the hydraulic doors opening.
"Captain." Sungmin's voice was hesitant. "Shall I come back later?"
Yesung sighed, didn't look up. "No, First Officer. What is it?"
"Dr. Choi has finished his examination of Ensig-First Officer Kim. He says that there is nothing physically wrong with him apart from the contusions, which he thinks will heal normally. And he says he will examine you tomorrow, Captain. He," and now the hesitation was back in Sungmin's voice, "seemed very tired; I think the examination took longer than he had expected."
"Very well, First Officer," Yesung said into his hands. Even without looking up, he could tell that Sungmin was not leaving, and though he knew what he was waiting for he could not bring himself to broach the subject. "Is there anything else?"
After a few moments, he felt Sungmin sit gingerly on the bed next to him, felt Sungmin's hand rest softly on his shoulder. "I've handed control of the bridge to the night watchman. Shall I stay with you tonight, Captain?"
Yesung had been fucking Sungmin since Ryeowook accepted the commission as first officer aboard one of the smaller reconnaissance vessels and left the flagship. At first, he had done it because Sungmin's skin was soft and his lips were moist and if he closed his eyes he could pretend he was with Ryeowook. He soon stopped closing his eyes, though, because when it was over he eventually had to open them again, and the disappointment became too much to bear. After that he fucked Sungmin with his eyes open, pushed into him rough, kissed him hard enough to draw blood, anything harsh enough to make him forget, and it was good, or at least good enough. But with Ryeowook back on the ship it seemed...
"No, I think that will be all for tonight," he said, looking up for the first time and seeing something he couldn't quite place in Sungmin's eyes-surprise? hurt? jealousy? When the other man didn't move, Yesung sighed and said, "You are dismissed, First Officer."
Sungmin's eyes flashed. "Yes, sir." And then Yesung was alone again.
***
He awoke early in the morning to the sound of Sungmin's voice echoing tinnily through the comlink on his shirt lapel.
"Captain, you're needed in the clinic. It's Dr. Choi, he's...he's dead, sir."
When Yesung reached the clinic he found Sungmin and Kyuhyun, the secondary medical officer, standing over the body. Siwon was propped up on the examination table in a natural sitting position, and if Yesung could couldn't see his face he would have thought he was just resting. He stared into Siwon's dull, glazed eyes as he listened to Kyuhyun.
"I haven't been able to determine the cause of death. There are no signs of violence, no traces of toxins in his body. It's as if his heart just stopped. I'm going to run some more sophisticated tests once I get the bioscan booted up, but at this point I really can't even begin to speculate..."
Yesung let Kyuhyun's voice fade into the background as he stared at Siwon. They had entered the service at the same time, gone through basic together. He had personally picked Siwon to serve as his ship's physician back when he received his first commission on a small, inner-system ship-
"Captain."
Yesung jumped; he hadn't realized Sungmin was so close.
"Captain, there's something I think you should know," Sungmin said quietly, and gestured significantly towards Siwon's office. Yesung nodded, and when they were both inside Sungmin closed the door behind him and began to speak, voice soft but tense. "The tech team I sent into the wreckage was able to salvage some of the ship's mainframe, and I've reviewed the captain's log and surveillance footage. Captain, the damage to the ship's hull wasn't caused by an external attack; it came from explosions inside the ship. And before those, people on the ship had been dying, sir. Inexplicably. Just like Siwon. People died, and then ship systems began to malfunction, and then the explosions happened."
Yesung took a deep breath. "Are you suggesting, First Officer, that-"
"I'm not suggesting anything, captain, but you must admit this is worrying. No System Defense servicemember would ever sabotage his own ship, so something very strange must have happened. I think we should investigate the cause of Siwon's death and," and now Sungmin looked straight into Yesung's eyes, "I think we should see what Ryeowook can tell us about what happened.
***
Yesung went alone to the berth they had assigned Ryeowook-his old one, from when he had been an ensign on the ship-and stood in front of the door. He counted, slowly, to three, then keyed in his code and waited as the door slid open. He saw a form prone on the bed, chest rising and falling in the calm rhythm of sleep, and was about to leave when he heard a sleepy voice call out, "Jongwoon?"
"Yeah, it's me." Yesung was suddenly aware of the sweat trickling down his back, the tightness of his collar. The silence between them from the day Ryeowook left the ship until the day he whispered Yesung's name in the wreckage loomed large, almost suffocating.
"Come here." It seemed the furthest thing from Ryeowook's mind. He was pushing himself up into a sitting position, smiling serenely at Yesung, and so Yesung walked into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed.
Ryeowook kissed him. It was sudden but not forceful, soft and longing and when Ryeowook pulled away he smiled again and said, "I missed you."
Yesung couldn't trust himself to say only I missed you too back, so instead he caressed Ryeowook's face with his fingertips, retracing the textures and the contours he knew by heart. The bruises had already almost disappeared, he noticed; he would have to ask Siwon what he-oh.
"Ryeowook, I need you to help me. I need you to tell me what you remember before the...incident on your ship."
Ryeowook looked down, brows furrowed. "I'm sorry, I don't remember much. There were sirens...and an explosion...and I remember crawling, and blood, and..." His voice was steady, but when he looked up there were tears in his eyes.
"Ok, it's ok," Yesung said quickly, his hand automatically running in circles over Ryeowook's back. "I want you to rest. If you can remember anything else, let me know."
As he got up to leave, Ryeowook grabbed his hand and gripped it, hard. "Thank you," he said, voice small, lost. "Thank you for saving me."
Yesung still couldn't trust himself to speak, so he left the room in silence.
***
That night the life support systems went out.
Yesung sat calmly on the bridge through the warning klaxons, listened as Eunhyuk read off the diagnostic assessments and watched as the images appeared on the main monitor.
"Oxygenation, down; heating, down; gravity production, two generators offline, down 30%, 35%. Initiating system override...negative, system irresponsive. Switching to secondary systems...negative, secondary systems corrupted. Captain-"
"Input override code alpha foxtrot solo. And send out a ping; I want to know exactly where everyone aboard this ship is," Yesung said.
"Yes, sir. Inputing override code alpha foxtrot solo...code confirmed. Tertiary systems actived...tertiary systems online. Estimated time until further measures will be needed: three hours."
"Very good. Send the ping map to my screen." Yesung watched as a floor plan of the ship appeared and tiny dots labeled with the names of crew members blinked to life on it. When about half of the crew were accounted for, he began to hear hurried footfalls. They grew louder with each passing second, and then suddenly Ryeowook burst through the door onto the bridge. His eyes were wild, hair ruffled, face covered in sweat. A guard made to intercept him, but Yesung negated his movement with a flick of his hand.
"Jongwoon," Ryeowook said, voice panicky, and grabbed onto Yesung's arm. "I remember this! This happened! This happened on my ship too!"
The bridge crew was too professional to show it, but Yesung knew that they had heard Ryeowook, knew they must be as alarmed as he was. He took Ryeowook's hand in his, then asked, keeping his voice calm and low, "Ensign, who has not yet responded to the ping?"
There was a short silence, and then Eunhyuk replied, "Just First Officer Lee, sir."
Sungmin. He touched his finger to his comlink. "Captain to First Officer, acknowledge." Silence. "Captain to First Officer, acknowledge and state your position." More silence, and then Eunhyuk's voice, halting, surprised.
"Captain, the system is...Captain, I believe we have system restoration. Running diagnostic...oxygenation, online; heating, online; gravitational generators all online. Captain, systems are nominal."
Yesung was about to respond when Sungmin walked through the door and onto the bridge. He was breathing heavily, as though he had been running, and when his eyes turned towards Ryeowook Yesung could have sworn he saw them narrow slightly. "Captain, could I have a word with you in private, please?" Sungmin asked, voice tight, eyes locked on Ryeowook.
"No, First Officer, you may not." Sungmin's eyes widened, looked at him. "You may, however, tell me where you have been and why you ignored a direct order to report in."
Sungmin's eyes darted back and forth between Yesung and Ryeowook. "I'm sorry, Captain, but I'd prefer to tell you in private-"
"Your preferences are irrelevant, First Officer. Where have you been?" Yesung said.
Sungmin's eyes were now helpless, pleading. "Captain, if I could just have a bit of your time in private-"
"That is enough, First Officer. You are confined to your quarters until further notice. Second Officer Kim will have the bridge. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir." Kibum looked alarmed; Sungmin looked devastated, desperate.
With a curt nod, Yesung grabbed Ryeowook's hand and stalked off of the bridge.
***
Ryeowook wouldn't let go of his hand when Yesung tried to drop him off at his room, and so Yesung stayed, and made love to Ryeowook for the first time in more than a year. It was as intoxicating as he remembered, and the more he drank in of Ryeowook's scent, his moans, his touch, the more he wanted. He came in him once, twice, three times before he finally fell asleep, exhaused, against his chest.
When he woke the next morning, the first thing he saw was Ryeowook standing against the wall, shivering, with his hands in the air. The second thing was Sungmin, standing in front of the door and pointing a gun at Ryeowook's head.
"I'm going to kill him, Captain. Please don't try to stop me," Sungmin said. His voice was remarkably calm and his aim was steady.
"S-sungmin, please-"
"Don't talk!" Sungmin snarled at Ryeowook, and the younger man cringed. "Captain, this is all his fault."
"How is it Ryeowook's fault, Sungmin?" Yesung asked, moving his hand slowly under the sheets.
"No, not Ryeowook, him!" Sungmin said angrily, gesturing at Ryeowook with his pistol. He's gone crazy, Yesung suddenly realized. He must've been behind all of this. "He's responsible for Ryeowook's ship, he's responsible for Siwon, he's responsible for the system failure yesterday, and now he's trying to set off the bomb. But I'm not going to let him." Sungmin finished cooly. "Down on your knees. Now!"
Ryeowook fell to his knees, shaking even more now, and Sungmin stepped forward and placed the gun against his forehead.
"You took Ryeowook and Siwon, but you're not taking the captain. I won't let you. Say goodbye-"
A gunshot rang out and Sungmin fell to the floor, dead, a bullet hole placed neatly between his eyes. Yesung dropped his sidearm onto the bed and ran to Ryeowook. "Are you alright?" He threw his arms around the younger man, held him until the shaking stopped, and then Ryeowook kissed him. He could feel the sparks, the electricity flowing through their kiss, and then-
-he was no longer Yesung; he was slithering through the wreckage of the ship he had destroyed from the inside, tentacles searching through the prone bodies for Ryeowook, the one the ship's computer had told him used to be stationed on the flagship. He found him still alive, watched impassively as he struggled against the tentacle around his throat, waited until his hands stopped grappling and his lips formed the word Jongwoon and he went slack, then pried his mouth open and slid into his body. He sent tendrils throughout Ryeowook, sucked the information out of his brain, fused to his nerves, and then he was Ryeowook...now he was inside Siwon-Ryeowook was hidden in the closet; he would use him again later-telling Sungmin that the examination had been fine and that he would see Yesung tomorrow. The doctor had been an easy target, and his tendrils had been able to heal the signs of damage quickly...now he was back in Ryeowook, running away from the terminal where he had implanted the virus, away from Sungmin, who had caught him there and was now desperately trying to undo the damage he had done. He was sure now that his plan would work, that he would soon be in possession of the captain with the rest of the crew none the wiser. He would use the captain's clearance to learn the secret position of the humans' planet and bring the rest of his race there...
The kiss broke and Ryeowook stood up, smiled. Yesung scrambled to his feet too, backed away. His foot brushed against something, and he looked down and saw Sungmin's dead body. His eyes flew back to Ryeowook. "No."
"I'm afraid so, Captain," Ryeowook said, advancing towards him. "I'm sorry; I'd imagine this has been very hard on you, but don't worry. It will all be over very soon now."
Yesung had just enough time to whisper Ryeowook's name before the tentacle burst through Ryeowook's stomach and wrapped itself around his neck.