[JE] [JEF #4] Past Flaws 1/12
Title: JE Fleet IV: Past Flaws 1/12
Series: JE Fleet
Fandom: KAT-TUN
Pairing: Akame (warning: slight Pin at start)
Rating: R (m/m activity)
Genre: AU, crack, sci-fi
Word count: 54,000
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the guys or random song lyrics that appear in this fic. Credit for naming the Yunaka goes to maya_morning.
Summary: When Akanishi Jin runs away from Earth, falling in with thieves along the way, the last thing he expects is to attract the attention of rookie Lunar/InterPlanetary Security officer, Kamenashi Kazuya.
Author's Notes
This is the fourth fic in the JE Fleet series, but it also happens to be a prequel, beginning six years before the start of JE Fleet I, 'Personal Space'. I don't advise reading this one if you haven't read the first three ('Personal Space', 'Attack of Nerves' and 'Photographic Memories'), as I doubt it would make much sense. Hell, it might not make much sense anyway, but I tried! Many thanks to maya_morning for letting me bounce ideas off her, and to lip_stick_love for the constant encouragement.
There are some additional notes and comments from me here, as I didn't want to babble too much in a fic header. These contain some spoilers, so be warned.
Chapter 1
When Akanishi Jin was upset, everyone knew it. Even the door, which ordinarily enjoyed thwarting him, had the sense to behave itself. It gave way under his kick without so much as a groan of protest. Jin stormed through and slammed it so hard the walls rattled, causing a small 'ALL SHOES 20% OFF!' sign to fall down outside into the courtyard below.
A hundred years ago, the building had been one of the most popular shopping complexes in Shibuya - right up until a carefully orchestrated crimewave had sent shoppers scurrying from the area, putting stores out of business and driving down the property value enough that the Kitagawa Family had been able to pick it up for a song. (The song in question being Queen's 'I Want It All'.) Since then, the complex had undergone a radical conversion into a domestic dwelling, though the occasional sale sign remained as a reminder of its more commercial origins. There were fabulously kitsch reception rooms, a kitchen that consumed half a department store, and the sheer number of bedrooms was staggering.
Despite the choice available, Jin still shared a room with his best friend, Yamashita Tomohisa, lately nicknamed 'Yamapi' by JE Fleet Captain Takizawa Hideaki. They'd lived in the same comfortable, pink-and-black twin bedroom for almost seven years, and although they'd been working for old man Kitagawa more than long enough to demand more reasonable quarters, they were happy enough with their living arrangements.
It was their working arrangements that Jin had a problem with.
Yamapi looked up in alarm as Jin proceeded to slam the door a second time, just to make himself feel better. "What's wrong? Your team lose the match?"
Jin glowered at him; a keen soccer player, he played forward for his local team. "Our goalkeeper's just been arrested for manslaughter so they cancelled the game. But that was last week, Pi! Pay attention."
"Sorry." Yamapi shrugged and turned back to his desk to finish packing his bag. "So what *are* you mad about?"
"I'm not mad."
"Of course not. You're just burning a hole in the wall with your eyes because you're so full of joy."
Joy was an emotion Jin had lately been feeling in ever decreasing quantities. "I'll tell you over dinner. Maybe food'll cheer me up."
Yamapi stuffed one final shirt haphazardly in his bag, tried to zip it closed, and ended up wrestling it into submission. It was a close match - the bag was a tricky opponent. "Won't be around for dinner," he said breathlessly. "I've got to head to the spaceport in about an hour. Toma's meeting me there and we're both on the first flight to Luna City Major. Got an appointment."
Ikuta Toma, along with Hasegawa Jun and Kazama Shunsuke, had been stationed permanently with the Sapporo branch of the family since last year, and neither Jin nor Yamapi had seen their former companions in all that time. From Yamapi's eager smile, it was obvious he was looking forward to a reunion.
Jin scowled. "You're always going off-world on business. The old man won't let me go by myself anymore, or even with you. I don't know what trouble he thinks I'm going to get into..."
"Well, there's the time we got caught up in a shoot-out on Neptune...or that restaurant on Deimos when the chef tried to kill you for dissing his desserts...or-"
"I get your point."
Kicking off his boots, Jin sprawled flat on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. He'd stuck fluorescent stars all over it when he was he was fourteen; when he switched off the lights at night, he could map his travels round the Milky Way. Not that he'd have any more of those, if the old man had his way.
It wasn't fair. Jin had no intention of letting his life dry up at the grand old age of twenty, but it didn't seem as though he was going to have much choice in the matter. It wasn't like he hadn't been outside Earth's local space before, and he'd enjoyed every second of it.
Well, almost every second. There were distinct disadvantages to working on the less-than-legal side of the law for a living, in that you often had to take roundabout routes, couldn't tell anybody the truth, and had to have an escape plan. You also couldn't count on getting bailed out if you got into trouble.
When they were kids, it was a lot simpler. Juvenile runaways were welcome in old man Kitagawa's place, because children could go places adults couldn't without arousing suspicion, and when Yamapi had persuaded Jin to leave his family and join him as an errand runner, Jin had been content to work with his friend to carry messages. The tasks were light, right up until Jin had been sent to Ross 154, masquerading as an orphan and carrying banned chemicals in his bag.
After that, things had changed. He'd been given greater responsibility, sent further off-world. It didn't matter what the assignment was - somehow, Jin would always find a way to make it work, even if it meant exercising his creative flair a little. He and Yamapi had eventually stopped working as a team, but their friendship - and more, sometimes - easily outlasted their working relationship.
Except when Yamapi got to fly out to Lunacy, as Lunar City Major was colloquially known, while Jin was spending all his time collecting protection pay-offs round Tokyo. He hadn't been given much of an explanation for the sudden curtailment of his freedom. All the old man was willing to say was that Jin was more useful to him on Earth.
Useful for what exactly, Jin didn't know, since there were dozens of others in the house fulfilling more or less the same role, but it hadn't escaped his notice how people looked at him now. He'd gained a little height and filled out some, letting his hair grow long enough to curl, and he'd switched hair dyes to a more natural-looking brown. He was no longer, as Yamapi kidded him, a gangly blond matchstick.
The changes were only superficial, but they made Jin feel more adult when he looked in the mirror.
Yamapi interrupted his silent musings. "Don't sulk, or I'll have to tickle you out of it before I leave."
Jin immediately pulled his shirt closed where it gaped open to reveal a glimpse of stomach and seized a hot pink pillow in his other hand, all prepared to defend his ticklish collarbone. Yamapi ignored these precautions and threw himself onto Jin's bed, letting out a muffled war cry as the pillow smacked him in the mouth.
"What's in that thing? Rocks?" he asked, checking his lips for damage.
"You should know. It's your pillow."
Yamapi snatched it up, looked it over, and threw it across to his own bed. "Stop stealing my stuff."
"Then don't fling it at me in the middle of the night when you're trying to get my attention," Jin suggested.
"How do you know I wasn't having a fit and hurled it at you by accident?"
"Because you followed it up by asking me if I had any chocolate."
"Ah!" Yamapi's face lit up in comprehension. "I remember. You didn't have any." He settled down next to Jin, no longer trying to tickle him. "Want anything from Lunacy?"
"How about a one-way ticket off this planet?"
Yamapi regarded him seriously. "I don't think they sell those at the gift shop. Are you that fed up? Really?"
Jin sighed, shifting on the bed so there was enough room for the two of them to lie comfortably. He had to turn on his side to do it. Yamapi had gained weight as well, since the last time. They were no longer the same scrawny pair of runaways who'd snuggled down together their first night in the house because they were so scared, nor were they the hormonal teenagers driven crazily into each other's arms by an overwhelming combination of lust and deepening attraction.
They were merely friends - the very best.
And friends comforted each other. Yamapi turned as well, cuddling up against Jin's back so Jin could feel warm puffs of air tickling his neck.
"I thought you had to go to the spaceport?" Jin tried hard not to sound sullen, but failed miserably.
"In an hour, I said. You don't listen, Bakanishi."
"Akanishi!" Jin corrected grumpily.
Yamapi curled an arm round his waist and gave a gentle squeeze. "That's what I said. Hey, maybe if I talk to the old man you could go with me? I'm sure Toma'd like to see you again. We're only going there to be impartial witnesses to a deal - it's not like there's anything dangerous about it."
"I don't think it's danger he's worried about."
It was comfortable, spooning together on the black and white duvet. Jin could almost pretend it was three years ago, before Yamapi had developed his poorly-concealed crush on Captain Takki, back when Jin was the only person he wanted and both of them were happy with that. But things hadn't been that way for a long time, and somewhere along the line, the sparks had fizzled out.
"Anyway," Jin continued, "I'd still have to come back here afterwards. This house, this country...this planet. Haven't you ever wanted something more, Pi? To go out there, where everything hasn't already been mapped to within an inch of its life and there's no telling what you might find? Where it feels like you can do anything?"
"Sometimes. Mostly when I've been on a ship for a while and come back here. Then it just feels weird being able to see blue skies."
"I don't mind seeing the sky - but I want to see more. It's not enough just to go up occasionally. Not anymore. It's like...it's like I'm being smothered here."
"Your home?"
"But it's not my home, is it?" Jin didn't like the whine his voice was developing. "I just live here, that's all. This isn't my place."
Yamapi asked the obvious question. "So where is your place?"
Jin would've shrugged, but he'd only have ended up knocking out his best friend's teeth with his shoulder. "No idea. But I'm never going to find it if I spend the rest of my life here, am I?"
-----
Tokyo Central Spaceport was a great place to visit if you didn't mind getting hopelessly lost in a maze of department stores, gaudy souvenir shops and restaurants offering every cuisine known to man. Even the staff were prone to taking wrong turns, occasionally returning from a four-hour lunchbreak in a state of heightened panic and with a great many shopping bags.
Jin knew it well, had taken scores of passenger flights off-world during the course of his career. Not many lately, though. He'd also spent his fair share of time on unpaid jaunts.
Well, that wasn't strictly true. He'd paid, but not with money. The trips had been his reward for a job well done - flying lessons from some of Kitagawa's older employees. The pilots and their ships were strictly legal, docked properly at the spaceport, all the papers would hold up under the most stringent of checks. Everything looked above board, and it was...except that Jin had been learning to fly since he was fourteen - four years underage.
With six years of experience under his belt, he figured by now he ought to be able to handle anything from an interplanetary shuttle right up to a six hundred ton Lynx Carrier. (Anything bigger, he felt, might be a bit ambitious for a guy who'd only gotten his pilot's license two years ago, particularly if he was trying to blend in.) He wasn't a good pilot, exactly - Kitagawa's boys had taught him more about coaxing speed from anything with an engine than how to cruise at a safe, legal speed through the Sol System and play nice with the Lunar/InterPlanetary Security forces - but he had a firm grip on the basics.
He wasn't there to fly a ship, though. If he rented a private vehicle he'd leave a paper trail as surely as if he'd taken a passenger flight, and he didn't have any fake IDs that the old man didn't know about. For a kid looking to leave Earth before anyone noticed he'd gone, that left only one option.
Stowing away.
Commercial flights were out. Too many people, and the security checks were tough. He'd never make it through to the docks.
Private crafts, however, didn't require nearly as much effort to reach. They had a separate docking bay over in the East Wing of the spaceport, with individual access to each berth. Of course, their flights were fewer in number, and the details weren't public. No point stowing on board a ship that might not go anywhere for another couple of months.
But even privately-owned ships had to file flight plans. Tokyo Central was the biggest Spaceport in Japan, and the traffic controllers didn't want private and commercial vehicles getting in each other's way. All Jin had to do was get a look at the plans for the day, and he'd know which ships were going where and when.
He finished his coffee, slung his backpack over his shoulder and hoped he was projecting the image of just another bored kid waiting around for his flight. He usually managed it well, but today he was feeling nervous.
And why shouldn't he be? Running out on Kitagawa wasn't something to be taken lightly. The old man accepted that the kids who'd come to him had been runaways, and in return for their services, he'd kept them fed, clothed and privately tutored. (Naturally, not all of those lessons had involved material fit for schools. Most teachers tended to look down on skills such as lock-picking.) They'd even received pocket money, based on their age and relative usefulness.
So the kids were usually content to stay. If they left, no one wasted the time to search for them, and the old man wrote them off as an acceptable loss. None of them ever came back, and Jin hoped they'd moved on to something better. A real life, maybe.
The adults were a different story. Most of them were ingrained into a lifestyle that was quasi-legal at best, and they weren't likely to change their ways. Any one of them left without Kitagawa's approval - which was rarely given - and he'd never work in Japan again. That would be seen to. The Kitagawa Family had international and even intergalactic contacts - the unfortunate soul would probably have to go straight to earn a living, and he'd have a hard time doing that with a criminal record the length of his arm, thoughtfully provided by the old man's pals in the justice system.
That was assuming he survived in the first place, of course, and after what Jin had seen last night, he didn't have much confidence in the prospect.
Yamapi was still in Lunacy, probably having the time of his life with Toma. He'd sent Jin an electronic postcard a couple of hours after landing, and while he'd forgotten to actually fill in the text box, the sentiment had come through. The very next morning, Jin had packed up as much as he could fit in his backpack, acted like he was just going out to meet up with friends, and headed straight to the spaceport.
Unlike Yamapi's usual eclectic choice of postcards, this one depicted the Milky Way. 'Reach for the stars!' it declared, so Jin had decided to do just that. He'd had his reasons.
Last night, Jin had been raiding the pantry when he'd seen one of the men brought back to Kitagawa's place in Shibuya. He hadn't been tied up. There'd been no need; his arms were hanging at awkward angles by his sides and what little expression could be discerned from his swollen face suggested that escape was the farthest thing from his mind.
No talking, not even any threats. Jin only knew the guy had walked out because he'd heard gossip round the building. Tried to defect to a group in Mexico, so the rumour went. He hadn't lasted long on his own.
Jin hadn't felt much like snacking after that. Watching an unarmed man take a blaster shot in every major organ tended to have an adverse effect on the appetite. He'd sneaked out of the pantry afterwards, once the corpse had been moved for disposal, and all but run back up the stairs to bed. Sleep had been hard to come by.
He didn't know if he qualified as an adult now or if the old man would still see him as a kid, but he didn't want to wait around long enough to find out. If he was ever going to leave, it had to be now, while he was still young enough that he might get away with it. He needed to get clear, to take the time to think a little, and that meant he had to get a damned sight further away than Lunacy. Earth's moon was too obvious; he figured he'd have to get to Jupiter, at least, before he could start to breathe easy.
Luckily, Jupiter's Red Spot Terminal, noted for the excellent view it provided of its namesake, was a popular destination. Not only was it the home of Core Tours, a company famed for providing wild, breakneck rides through Jupiter's gaseous interior, but it regularly won awards for the high quality of its drinking establishments.
It also had the advantage of being off the old man's radar. The Kitagawas' influence extended far beyond the Inner Planets of the Sol System, but Jupiter's governor took a tough line on organised crime. It was as good a place as any to disappear, and the heavy traffic levels meant Jin wouldn't have too much trouble finding himself another ride.
He strolled casually through Departures, took a short cut round Seibu's bakery, resisted temptation all along the maze of ramen stalls, but did stop by the men's room to tidy himself up. In a couple of hours, no one was going to care what he looked like, but for now, Jin intended to make the most of his natural charms. (Or not so natural, in the case of the hair dye.)
After all, it was a lot easier for Jin to talk information out of some hapless spaceport staff member than directly from their computer systems.
-----
Less than an hour later, Jin had brightened the day of three bored young women, all of them foreigners, who clapped and laughed over his attempts to talk to them in their respective native tongues. English, he could manage, having spent six months living in America a couple of years ago on Kitagawa's orders. His French was limited to greetings, some horribly inappropriate chat-up lines, and some drivel about monkeys in trees. As for Russian...that was better glossed over.
Fortunately, it being a Japanese spaceport, all three staff members spoke fluent Japanese. And even if his story about being a university student collecting statistics on the destinations of ships leaving Earth sounded flaky, they were nice enough not to comment on it. Mostly. One did point out that he didn't even have a clipboard, but the other two shushed her and explained that the nice young man was probably using his datband to record this information.
Jin didn't feel like informing them that his datband was actually switched off to avoid trackers, and was now nothing more than a shiny silver bangle. He'd have to find an electronics store and have it re-configged later - not on Jupiter, though, since the procedure was illegal. He planned to contact Yamapi once he could guarantee secure communications, just to let his best friend know that he was okay and would not be back for breakfast.
It didn't take long for his trio of helpers to unearth a suitable ship - when he'd casually asked if there were any going to Jupiter, the first one they'd mentioned had been of interest.
Three hundred and fifty ton Chartreux Courier (an old model, but still spaceworthy), only two registered crew members, leaving for Red Spot Terminal in an hour. What got the girls gossiping and piqued Jin's attention was the revelation that both men were apparently performers, having had some small success round Japan with their rap and beatbox routine and some short comedy numbers. They'd both been around earlier, carrying out a little maintenance while they were docked, and stopping to chat with the ladies.
Well, one of them had. The other was on the shy side when not on stage, it seemed. It sounded perfect to Jin. Entertainers were hardly notorious for beating up stowaways - they might even be willing to offer him a lift, if he asked nicely.
Tanaka Koki and Nakamaru Yuichi. The Russian told him their names. Jin sneaked a peek over her shoulder to check out the details on the screen, learning that the Yunaka was currently in Berth 94 of the 'Visitors' side. He listened for a few minutes more, then thanked them for their time and said he had to go meet his study partner.
(The closest thing Jin had ever had to a study partner was Yamapi, who was, no doubt, eating his way through half the restaurants in Lunacy and writing it all off as expenses.)
November was a busy month for travel - a lot of people liked to fly to Earth to do their Christmas shopping - so the Visitors side was packed. Few heads turned as Jin negotiated the corridor. He located Berth 94, noted the closed saloon-style doors, and ducked behind an enormous billboard advertising Kimura Takuya's latest movie. (The critics all said no one could possibly be a holovid star and a captain in the JE Fleet, but somehow he managed to juggle both careers simultaneously, once even playing himself in a dramatisation of his first mission.)
The shape of the doors allowed him to see into the berth, but prevented him from going either over or under. Inside, two young men were arguing over a can of spraypaint. One, with short blond hair and more jewellery than Jin himself, was trying to put the finishing touches on the hair of a bombshell blonde in a bikini who decorated the side of the ship. The other, more normal-looking man tried to explain that the paint was probably going to be ruined during take-off and that they would be better served by going back to the convenience store near Berth 1 and picking up some snacks.
The frustrated painter eventually gave in, disposing of his now-empty can and following his friend out the door, past the billboard where Jin was hiding.
Jin made a beeline for the door. He knew he didn't have long, not if they were planning to leave in less than an hour, and he needed to conceal himself before they got back. Fortunately, the doors didn't lock except when the berth was sealed for take-off/landing, the assumption being that if someone broke into your ship, it was your own fault for not taking the proper security precautions. At those times only, the room went into lockdown mode, with the ceiling withdrawing into the walls and blocking access from the corridor. The rest of the time, it was only decorum that kept intruders out.
He quickly scanned for witnesses, then darted through the swinging doors and round the side to use the ship's bulk as cover. The Yunaka was an attractive ship, with smooth, sleek lines and a clean white hull - under all the spraypaint, anyway. But as Jin approached the entry hatch, electronic pick in hand, he noticed old, deep scars under the purple painted slogans.
Plasma burns.
Who would fire on a couple of performers? Was their act *that* bad?
No time to go find another ride. Jin held the pick, a flat card, against the lock, and let it select the correct combination of symbols. One minute later, the hatch slid open with a growl.
Inside, the crew had left the lights on, for which Jin was extremely grateful. No sirens started wailing - always a good sign - and no one leapt out to attack him. One of the more useful features of his datband was a pulse that knocked out alarm systems, very handy for anyone in Kitagawa's employ, but that would involve reactivating it and Jin wasn't prepared to do that.
Thirty seconds skimming the cockpit told him three things. First, that he could probably fly the ship if he had to but he stood as much chance of switching off the life support as activating the hyperdrive. Second, the two crew members owned enough clothes for six, with jackets, hats, and random feather boas scattered all over the place, even though the ship had two cabins and presumably more than enough space for garments.
And third...his unwitting chauffeurs weren't as harmless as they appeared to be.
Jin stared at the storage locker in alarm. The last person to close it had been sloppy; the door hung open, revealing a mess of handguns, rifles, spare power packs and one odd-looking weapon that Jin would have classed as a toy if not for its deadly companions. He plucked a blaster and power pack from the clutter, certain that no one was likely to notice their absence.
He'd been carrying a knife since he was sixteen, the consequence of an ambush in Lunacy, but guns he hadn't had much practice with. Naturally, the kids weren't allowed them. But children grew up.
Jin checked the safety, slotted the powerpack into place, and went to find a suitable spot to conceal himself for the voyage.
-----
Jin had to admit, whichever one of the guys was in the pilot's seat, he was good. Smooth take-off, no veering into the walls, very little shaking. Jin appreciated that, seeing as how he was the only person on the ship who wasn't strapped in - a situation he might have reconsidered if he'd realised just how old a model the Yunaka actually was. The artificial gravity was prone to flickering on and off, and he had to keep a tight hold of the box next to him to keep his seat on the floor.
The boxes were strapped down to the floor, fortunately, or they'd have been floating at odd intervals as well - not to mention, falling. There were at least two dozen of them, all sealed shut, and bearing the somewhat unexpected label of 'party supplies'.
What kind of party, Jin wasn't sure, but it was a fair bet none of the guests would be from the law-abiding community. Prying open the lid of the nearest box revealed a collection of assorted leather bags, and inside the bags...
Diamond rings. Emerald earrings. Pearl necklaces. And that was just in one box.
Either Tanaka Koki and Nakamaru Yuichi were phenomenally successful - and yet relatively anonymous - entertainers who could afford to carry around billions of yen in jewellery, or they were crooks. Based on the plasma burns and the weapons he'd found, Jin was going with the second option.
He licked his lips nervously. As long as they were still headed in the right direction, things might work out. But why would a pair of criminals file their real flight plan?
It was too soon to tell. Jin hadn't felt the unmistakable shudder that came with the change from sub-light to faster-than-light engines; the ship's hyperdrive had not yet been activated. They were merely sitting, probably not that far out of Earth's atmosphere, maybe waiting for the lanes to clear so they could move further away. There was bound to be a lot of traffic, and it was bad manners - not to mention fatal - to screw up someone else's jump.
Yeah, that was it. Traffic. That's why they weren't moving. Nothing more sinister than that.
Jin had just about convinced himself that all was well when footsteps outside the door persuaded him that this might not be the case. He peeked round the corner of the box to see the more normal of the two crew members enter the cargo hold, seemingly searching for something, and talking into the datband on his wrist as he moved.
"I don't think it's here, Koki." The man, who must by default have been Nakamaru Yuichi, peered round boxes, under tarp, and inside a hidden compartment in the floor. "Sorry, but I think I must've left it on Earth. Are we cleared to go yet?"
Koki's response was audible even to Jin, though the sound verged on tinny. "Another twenty minutes, at least. The LIPS are running some kind of operation."
Jin stifled a groan. The Lunar/InterPlanetary Security force policed the Sol System on matters that didn't fall under jurisdiction of the United Solar Navy, like pilots making jumps in forbidden zones, felons violating their parole by crossing interplanetary borders, and smugglers running illegally-modified weapons to Earth's moon.
He figured they probably weren't too fond of ships carrying billions in stolen jewellery, either.
"They're not doing a stop and search, are they?" Nakamaru sounded worried. This couldn't be good for Jin.
"Nah. I think it's just one of their standard checks for hot ships - they run our registration, find everything's in order, we get out of here." There was a pause, then, "It is in order, right? You renewed the tax chit?"
"Everything's fine, other than me being unable to remember where I left your black nail polish."
There was a laugh from the other end of the datband connection. "You're buying me another one when we land - that stuff's expensive!"
Nakamaru grinned. "Once we sell all this, I don't think that's going to be a problem. I'll come back up in a minute." He signed off, cutting the connection, and continued checking the cargo hold while Jin held his breath and concentrated on staying absolutely still.
Unfortunately for Jin, staying still had never been one of his strong points.
His left leg was falling asleep, and he couldn't help moving it a little to wake it up. Despite his caution, the buckle on his boot scraped against the wall, the sound of metal on metal frighteningly loud.
Loud enough to catch Nakamaru's attention. He drew a stunner from his belt and approached Jin's hiding place, just in time to feel the tip of a blaster barrel against the back of his head.
"Drop your weapon," Jin ordered. It was the first time he'd ever deliberately held anyone at gunpoint; he figured he should sound authoritative but his voice betrayed him, emerging higher-pitched than usual and desperate into the bargain. The semi-dozing left leg didn't help matters; his balance was off and one solid hit would topple him.
Nakamaru froze. "It's just a stunner," he said carefully. "Not dangerous."
Jin begged to differ. That time he and Yamapi had gotten caught up in a shootout on Neptune, both of them unarmed and dependent on the protection of their hosts, he'd caught a stunner blast to the head. After he'd regained consciousness, the resulting hangover had left him feeling wretched for ages afterwards, and Pi had made fun of him for walking into things.
He tried not to squeak when he spoke again. "Drop it anyway. Hands away from your datband."
Nakamaru set the stunner on the ground and kicked it away; Jin prodded him down to his knees. He had no idea what to do next. Stun his hostage? Restrain him somehow? Ask him for his favourite colour?
The one thing he definitely couldn't do was shoot him. Not with the blaster. Not like this. Shooting a man in self-defense was one thing, but opening fire on an unarmed stranger for having the bad luck to discover Jin hiding on his ship was out of the question.
He blurted out the first question that sprang to mind. "Are you really going to Jupiter?"
"Eh?" Nakamaru started to twist his head round, then thought better of it. "Yeah, we're going to Jupiter. But you know, this isn't a passenger ship-"
"I know."
Nakamaru gulped. "Good. Just so we're clear on that. Now we understand each other, do you feel like taking the gun away?"
"Not really." Not that Jin would be adverse to holstering his weapon - if he'd been wearing a holster, anyway - but no matter how harmless his prisoner sounded, there was no reason to believe he wouldn't kill Jin the moment he got the chance.
"Okay." Nakamaru took a deep breath. "How about you tell me what you want and we'll see if we can work something out?"
The other man was shaking, belying his apparent calmness, although Jin's hands were none too steady either. Both of them jumped when Nakamaru's datband crackled into life, with Koki wondering if his partner in crime had decided to take a nap. The cockpit wasn't *that* far away.
Jin made up his mind. "I want you to get up - slowly - and go back to the cockpit. I'll be right behind you, so don't try anything."
The two of them crept along the corridor, Jin's sights set firmly on the back of Nakamaru's black jacket. Just to be on the safe side, Jin retrieved the stunner from the floor before they left; the less formidable weapon expanded his options.
Tanaka Koki was happy to see the return of his friend, right up until he spotted Jin following behind. He was even less enthused when the gun wavered in his direction. The torrent of invective gave it away.
Jin didn't have quite enough street cred to understand some of the insults, but he got the picture. "Shut up and listen for a sec, will you? Just don't move - don't do anything suspicious - and nobody's going to get hurt."
"Especially not us, since you've still got the safety on," Koki pointed out.
It was an obvious trick, and Jin fell for it. As he cast a discreet glance down at the blaster Nakamaru turned and kicked him; by sheer coincidence the kick connected with Jin's weakened left leg, which still hadn't come back to life properly.
On the positive side, this dulled the pain somewhat. On the negative, it didn't help one damned bit when he crashed into a console, dropping the weapon as a heavy panel fell off the side and slammed into his hip. Jin howled in sudden agony and clutched the console to try to pull himself up.
"Not that one!" Nakamaru yelled, but it was too late.
All three of them stared in horror at the main viewscreen, where a pair of luminous green bolts skimmed the nose of a large freighter waiting its turn to leave Earth's local space.
"The pulse laser." Koki sounded disgusted. "You fired the pulse laser. Of all the..."
"It was an accident!" Jin protested, still sprawled in an undignified heap on the floor. He extended an arm and just managed to retrieve his fallen weapon. "And you lied! I knew I hadn't left the safety on!"
As he waved the blaster triumphantly in the air, the other two ducked for cover. There was no telling what their lunatic intruder might do next.
"Don't fire it in here!" Nakamaru scrabbled around for his stunner, but it was buried somewhere under Jin. (Luckily, stunners were a) extremely durable and b) almost impossible to switch on by accident.)
Jin was about to insist that of course he wasn't stupid enough to actually fire it in the cockpit - there were enough mirrored surfaces inside that a stray shot could quite easily do the rounds - but his attention was drawn back to the screen.
Dozens of commercial and private vessels alike were waiting patiently for their registrations to be checked by the Lunar/InterPlanetary Security, whose ships were forming a loose blockade around them. All the talking between these two groups was done from a distance - evidently, no one had yet merited a stop-and-search.
Not until now. One of the purple and white LIPS cruisers broke away from the rest, rounding on the Yunaka and coming to rest worryingly close. The comm station lit up and Koki, after shooting a wary glance at Jin, emerged from behind his chair to jab a sequence of buttons. A small corner of the main viewscreen sectioned itself off and turned completely black.
Koki snorted and thumped another button, but nothing happened. "They must be on audio-only," he muttered.
There was a crackle, and then a stern, slightly raspy voice emitted from the speaker.
"This is Officer Kamenashi Kazuya of the Lunar/InterPlanetary Security vessel Murasaki," the voice said. "Chartreux Courier-class Yunaka, you have fired illegally upon a civilian vessel in a secure zone. Disarm all weapons and stand by to be boarded."
Series: JE Fleet
Fandom: KAT-TUN
Pairing: Akame (warning: slight Pin at start)
Rating: R (m/m activity)
Genre: AU, crack, sci-fi
Word count: 54,000
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the guys or random song lyrics that appear in this fic. Credit for naming the Yunaka goes to maya_morning.
Summary: When Akanishi Jin runs away from Earth, falling in with thieves along the way, the last thing he expects is to attract the attention of rookie Lunar/InterPlanetary Security officer, Kamenashi Kazuya.
Author's Notes
This is the fourth fic in the JE Fleet series, but it also happens to be a prequel, beginning six years before the start of JE Fleet I, 'Personal Space'. I don't advise reading this one if you haven't read the first three ('Personal Space', 'Attack of Nerves' and 'Photographic Memories'), as I doubt it would make much sense. Hell, it might not make much sense anyway, but I tried! Many thanks to maya_morning for letting me bounce ideas off her, and to lip_stick_love for the constant encouragement.
There are some additional notes and comments from me here, as I didn't want to babble too much in a fic header. These contain some spoilers, so be warned.
Chapter 1
When Akanishi Jin was upset, everyone knew it. Even the door, which ordinarily enjoyed thwarting him, had the sense to behave itself. It gave way under his kick without so much as a groan of protest. Jin stormed through and slammed it so hard the walls rattled, causing a small 'ALL SHOES 20% OFF!' sign to fall down outside into the courtyard below.
A hundred years ago, the building had been one of the most popular shopping complexes in Shibuya - right up until a carefully orchestrated crimewave had sent shoppers scurrying from the area, putting stores out of business and driving down the property value enough that the Kitagawa Family had been able to pick it up for a song. (The song in question being Queen's 'I Want It All'.) Since then, the complex had undergone a radical conversion into a domestic dwelling, though the occasional sale sign remained as a reminder of its more commercial origins. There were fabulously kitsch reception rooms, a kitchen that consumed half a department store, and the sheer number of bedrooms was staggering.
Despite the choice available, Jin still shared a room with his best friend, Yamashita Tomohisa, lately nicknamed 'Yamapi' by JE Fleet Captain Takizawa Hideaki. They'd lived in the same comfortable, pink-and-black twin bedroom for almost seven years, and although they'd been working for old man Kitagawa more than long enough to demand more reasonable quarters, they were happy enough with their living arrangements.
It was their working arrangements that Jin had a problem with.
Yamapi looked up in alarm as Jin proceeded to slam the door a second time, just to make himself feel better. "What's wrong? Your team lose the match?"
Jin glowered at him; a keen soccer player, he played forward for his local team. "Our goalkeeper's just been arrested for manslaughter so they cancelled the game. But that was last week, Pi! Pay attention."
"Sorry." Yamapi shrugged and turned back to his desk to finish packing his bag. "So what *are* you mad about?"
"I'm not mad."
"Of course not. You're just burning a hole in the wall with your eyes because you're so full of joy."
Joy was an emotion Jin had lately been feeling in ever decreasing quantities. "I'll tell you over dinner. Maybe food'll cheer me up."
Yamapi stuffed one final shirt haphazardly in his bag, tried to zip it closed, and ended up wrestling it into submission. It was a close match - the bag was a tricky opponent. "Won't be around for dinner," he said breathlessly. "I've got to head to the spaceport in about an hour. Toma's meeting me there and we're both on the first flight to Luna City Major. Got an appointment."
Ikuta Toma, along with Hasegawa Jun and Kazama Shunsuke, had been stationed permanently with the Sapporo branch of the family since last year, and neither Jin nor Yamapi had seen their former companions in all that time. From Yamapi's eager smile, it was obvious he was looking forward to a reunion.
Jin scowled. "You're always going off-world on business. The old man won't let me go by myself anymore, or even with you. I don't know what trouble he thinks I'm going to get into..."
"Well, there's the time we got caught up in a shoot-out on Neptune...or that restaurant on Deimos when the chef tried to kill you for dissing his desserts...or-"
"I get your point."
Kicking off his boots, Jin sprawled flat on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. He'd stuck fluorescent stars all over it when he was he was fourteen; when he switched off the lights at night, he could map his travels round the Milky Way. Not that he'd have any more of those, if the old man had his way.
It wasn't fair. Jin had no intention of letting his life dry up at the grand old age of twenty, but it didn't seem as though he was going to have much choice in the matter. It wasn't like he hadn't been outside Earth's local space before, and he'd enjoyed every second of it.
Well, almost every second. There were distinct disadvantages to working on the less-than-legal side of the law for a living, in that you often had to take roundabout routes, couldn't tell anybody the truth, and had to have an escape plan. You also couldn't count on getting bailed out if you got into trouble.
When they were kids, it was a lot simpler. Juvenile runaways were welcome in old man Kitagawa's place, because children could go places adults couldn't without arousing suspicion, and when Yamapi had persuaded Jin to leave his family and join him as an errand runner, Jin had been content to work with his friend to carry messages. The tasks were light, right up until Jin had been sent to Ross 154, masquerading as an orphan and carrying banned chemicals in his bag.
After that, things had changed. He'd been given greater responsibility, sent further off-world. It didn't matter what the assignment was - somehow, Jin would always find a way to make it work, even if it meant exercising his creative flair a little. He and Yamapi had eventually stopped working as a team, but their friendship - and more, sometimes - easily outlasted their working relationship.
Except when Yamapi got to fly out to Lunacy, as Lunar City Major was colloquially known, while Jin was spending all his time collecting protection pay-offs round Tokyo. He hadn't been given much of an explanation for the sudden curtailment of his freedom. All the old man was willing to say was that Jin was more useful to him on Earth.
Useful for what exactly, Jin didn't know, since there were dozens of others in the house fulfilling more or less the same role, but it hadn't escaped his notice how people looked at him now. He'd gained a little height and filled out some, letting his hair grow long enough to curl, and he'd switched hair dyes to a more natural-looking brown. He was no longer, as Yamapi kidded him, a gangly blond matchstick.
The changes were only superficial, but they made Jin feel more adult when he looked in the mirror.
Yamapi interrupted his silent musings. "Don't sulk, or I'll have to tickle you out of it before I leave."
Jin immediately pulled his shirt closed where it gaped open to reveal a glimpse of stomach and seized a hot pink pillow in his other hand, all prepared to defend his ticklish collarbone. Yamapi ignored these precautions and threw himself onto Jin's bed, letting out a muffled war cry as the pillow smacked him in the mouth.
"What's in that thing? Rocks?" he asked, checking his lips for damage.
"You should know. It's your pillow."
Yamapi snatched it up, looked it over, and threw it across to his own bed. "Stop stealing my stuff."
"Then don't fling it at me in the middle of the night when you're trying to get my attention," Jin suggested.
"How do you know I wasn't having a fit and hurled it at you by accident?"
"Because you followed it up by asking me if I had any chocolate."
"Ah!" Yamapi's face lit up in comprehension. "I remember. You didn't have any." He settled down next to Jin, no longer trying to tickle him. "Want anything from Lunacy?"
"How about a one-way ticket off this planet?"
Yamapi regarded him seriously. "I don't think they sell those at the gift shop. Are you that fed up? Really?"
Jin sighed, shifting on the bed so there was enough room for the two of them to lie comfortably. He had to turn on his side to do it. Yamapi had gained weight as well, since the last time. They were no longer the same scrawny pair of runaways who'd snuggled down together their first night in the house because they were so scared, nor were they the hormonal teenagers driven crazily into each other's arms by an overwhelming combination of lust and deepening attraction.
They were merely friends - the very best.
And friends comforted each other. Yamapi turned as well, cuddling up against Jin's back so Jin could feel warm puffs of air tickling his neck.
"I thought you had to go to the spaceport?" Jin tried hard not to sound sullen, but failed miserably.
"In an hour, I said. You don't listen, Bakanishi."
"Akanishi!" Jin corrected grumpily.
Yamapi curled an arm round his waist and gave a gentle squeeze. "That's what I said. Hey, maybe if I talk to the old man you could go with me? I'm sure Toma'd like to see you again. We're only going there to be impartial witnesses to a deal - it's not like there's anything dangerous about it."
"I don't think it's danger he's worried about."
It was comfortable, spooning together on the black and white duvet. Jin could almost pretend it was three years ago, before Yamapi had developed his poorly-concealed crush on Captain Takki, back when Jin was the only person he wanted and both of them were happy with that. But things hadn't been that way for a long time, and somewhere along the line, the sparks had fizzled out.
"Anyway," Jin continued, "I'd still have to come back here afterwards. This house, this country...this planet. Haven't you ever wanted something more, Pi? To go out there, where everything hasn't already been mapped to within an inch of its life and there's no telling what you might find? Where it feels like you can do anything?"
"Sometimes. Mostly when I've been on a ship for a while and come back here. Then it just feels weird being able to see blue skies."
"I don't mind seeing the sky - but I want to see more. It's not enough just to go up occasionally. Not anymore. It's like...it's like I'm being smothered here."
"Your home?"
"But it's not my home, is it?" Jin didn't like the whine his voice was developing. "I just live here, that's all. This isn't my place."
Yamapi asked the obvious question. "So where is your place?"
Jin would've shrugged, but he'd only have ended up knocking out his best friend's teeth with his shoulder. "No idea. But I'm never going to find it if I spend the rest of my life here, am I?"
-----
Tokyo Central Spaceport was a great place to visit if you didn't mind getting hopelessly lost in a maze of department stores, gaudy souvenir shops and restaurants offering every cuisine known to man. Even the staff were prone to taking wrong turns, occasionally returning from a four-hour lunchbreak in a state of heightened panic and with a great many shopping bags.
Jin knew it well, had taken scores of passenger flights off-world during the course of his career. Not many lately, though. He'd also spent his fair share of time on unpaid jaunts.
Well, that wasn't strictly true. He'd paid, but not with money. The trips had been his reward for a job well done - flying lessons from some of Kitagawa's older employees. The pilots and their ships were strictly legal, docked properly at the spaceport, all the papers would hold up under the most stringent of checks. Everything looked above board, and it was...except that Jin had been learning to fly since he was fourteen - four years underage.
With six years of experience under his belt, he figured by now he ought to be able to handle anything from an interplanetary shuttle right up to a six hundred ton Lynx Carrier. (Anything bigger, he felt, might be a bit ambitious for a guy who'd only gotten his pilot's license two years ago, particularly if he was trying to blend in.) He wasn't a good pilot, exactly - Kitagawa's boys had taught him more about coaxing speed from anything with an engine than how to cruise at a safe, legal speed through the Sol System and play nice with the Lunar/InterPlanetary Security forces - but he had a firm grip on the basics.
He wasn't there to fly a ship, though. If he rented a private vehicle he'd leave a paper trail as surely as if he'd taken a passenger flight, and he didn't have any fake IDs that the old man didn't know about. For a kid looking to leave Earth before anyone noticed he'd gone, that left only one option.
Stowing away.
Commercial flights were out. Too many people, and the security checks were tough. He'd never make it through to the docks.
Private crafts, however, didn't require nearly as much effort to reach. They had a separate docking bay over in the East Wing of the spaceport, with individual access to each berth. Of course, their flights were fewer in number, and the details weren't public. No point stowing on board a ship that might not go anywhere for another couple of months.
But even privately-owned ships had to file flight plans. Tokyo Central was the biggest Spaceport in Japan, and the traffic controllers didn't want private and commercial vehicles getting in each other's way. All Jin had to do was get a look at the plans for the day, and he'd know which ships were going where and when.
He finished his coffee, slung his backpack over his shoulder and hoped he was projecting the image of just another bored kid waiting around for his flight. He usually managed it well, but today he was feeling nervous.
And why shouldn't he be? Running out on Kitagawa wasn't something to be taken lightly. The old man accepted that the kids who'd come to him had been runaways, and in return for their services, he'd kept them fed, clothed and privately tutored. (Naturally, not all of those lessons had involved material fit for schools. Most teachers tended to look down on skills such as lock-picking.) They'd even received pocket money, based on their age and relative usefulness.
So the kids were usually content to stay. If they left, no one wasted the time to search for them, and the old man wrote them off as an acceptable loss. None of them ever came back, and Jin hoped they'd moved on to something better. A real life, maybe.
The adults were a different story. Most of them were ingrained into a lifestyle that was quasi-legal at best, and they weren't likely to change their ways. Any one of them left without Kitagawa's approval - which was rarely given - and he'd never work in Japan again. That would be seen to. The Kitagawa Family had international and even intergalactic contacts - the unfortunate soul would probably have to go straight to earn a living, and he'd have a hard time doing that with a criminal record the length of his arm, thoughtfully provided by the old man's pals in the justice system.
That was assuming he survived in the first place, of course, and after what Jin had seen last night, he didn't have much confidence in the prospect.
Yamapi was still in Lunacy, probably having the time of his life with Toma. He'd sent Jin an electronic postcard a couple of hours after landing, and while he'd forgotten to actually fill in the text box, the sentiment had come through. The very next morning, Jin had packed up as much as he could fit in his backpack, acted like he was just going out to meet up with friends, and headed straight to the spaceport.
Unlike Yamapi's usual eclectic choice of postcards, this one depicted the Milky Way. 'Reach for the stars!' it declared, so Jin had decided to do just that. He'd had his reasons.
Last night, Jin had been raiding the pantry when he'd seen one of the men brought back to Kitagawa's place in Shibuya. He hadn't been tied up. There'd been no need; his arms were hanging at awkward angles by his sides and what little expression could be discerned from his swollen face suggested that escape was the farthest thing from his mind.
No talking, not even any threats. Jin only knew the guy had walked out because he'd heard gossip round the building. Tried to defect to a group in Mexico, so the rumour went. He hadn't lasted long on his own.
Jin hadn't felt much like snacking after that. Watching an unarmed man take a blaster shot in every major organ tended to have an adverse effect on the appetite. He'd sneaked out of the pantry afterwards, once the corpse had been moved for disposal, and all but run back up the stairs to bed. Sleep had been hard to come by.
He didn't know if he qualified as an adult now or if the old man would still see him as a kid, but he didn't want to wait around long enough to find out. If he was ever going to leave, it had to be now, while he was still young enough that he might get away with it. He needed to get clear, to take the time to think a little, and that meant he had to get a damned sight further away than Lunacy. Earth's moon was too obvious; he figured he'd have to get to Jupiter, at least, before he could start to breathe easy.
Luckily, Jupiter's Red Spot Terminal, noted for the excellent view it provided of its namesake, was a popular destination. Not only was it the home of Core Tours, a company famed for providing wild, breakneck rides through Jupiter's gaseous interior, but it regularly won awards for the high quality of its drinking establishments.
It also had the advantage of being off the old man's radar. The Kitagawas' influence extended far beyond the Inner Planets of the Sol System, but Jupiter's governor took a tough line on organised crime. It was as good a place as any to disappear, and the heavy traffic levels meant Jin wouldn't have too much trouble finding himself another ride.
He strolled casually through Departures, took a short cut round Seibu's bakery, resisted temptation all along the maze of ramen stalls, but did stop by the men's room to tidy himself up. In a couple of hours, no one was going to care what he looked like, but for now, Jin intended to make the most of his natural charms. (Or not so natural, in the case of the hair dye.)
After all, it was a lot easier for Jin to talk information out of some hapless spaceport staff member than directly from their computer systems.
-----
Less than an hour later, Jin had brightened the day of three bored young women, all of them foreigners, who clapped and laughed over his attempts to talk to them in their respective native tongues. English, he could manage, having spent six months living in America a couple of years ago on Kitagawa's orders. His French was limited to greetings, some horribly inappropriate chat-up lines, and some drivel about monkeys in trees. As for Russian...that was better glossed over.
Fortunately, it being a Japanese spaceport, all three staff members spoke fluent Japanese. And even if his story about being a university student collecting statistics on the destinations of ships leaving Earth sounded flaky, they were nice enough not to comment on it. Mostly. One did point out that he didn't even have a clipboard, but the other two shushed her and explained that the nice young man was probably using his datband to record this information.
Jin didn't feel like informing them that his datband was actually switched off to avoid trackers, and was now nothing more than a shiny silver bangle. He'd have to find an electronics store and have it re-configged later - not on Jupiter, though, since the procedure was illegal. He planned to contact Yamapi once he could guarantee secure communications, just to let his best friend know that he was okay and would not be back for breakfast.
It didn't take long for his trio of helpers to unearth a suitable ship - when he'd casually asked if there were any going to Jupiter, the first one they'd mentioned had been of interest.
Three hundred and fifty ton Chartreux Courier (an old model, but still spaceworthy), only two registered crew members, leaving for Red Spot Terminal in an hour. What got the girls gossiping and piqued Jin's attention was the revelation that both men were apparently performers, having had some small success round Japan with their rap and beatbox routine and some short comedy numbers. They'd both been around earlier, carrying out a little maintenance while they were docked, and stopping to chat with the ladies.
Well, one of them had. The other was on the shy side when not on stage, it seemed. It sounded perfect to Jin. Entertainers were hardly notorious for beating up stowaways - they might even be willing to offer him a lift, if he asked nicely.
Tanaka Koki and Nakamaru Yuichi. The Russian told him their names. Jin sneaked a peek over her shoulder to check out the details on the screen, learning that the Yunaka was currently in Berth 94 of the 'Visitors' side. He listened for a few minutes more, then thanked them for their time and said he had to go meet his study partner.
(The closest thing Jin had ever had to a study partner was Yamapi, who was, no doubt, eating his way through half the restaurants in Lunacy and writing it all off as expenses.)
November was a busy month for travel - a lot of people liked to fly to Earth to do their Christmas shopping - so the Visitors side was packed. Few heads turned as Jin negotiated the corridor. He located Berth 94, noted the closed saloon-style doors, and ducked behind an enormous billboard advertising Kimura Takuya's latest movie. (The critics all said no one could possibly be a holovid star and a captain in the JE Fleet, but somehow he managed to juggle both careers simultaneously, once even playing himself in a dramatisation of his first mission.)
The shape of the doors allowed him to see into the berth, but prevented him from going either over or under. Inside, two young men were arguing over a can of spraypaint. One, with short blond hair and more jewellery than Jin himself, was trying to put the finishing touches on the hair of a bombshell blonde in a bikini who decorated the side of the ship. The other, more normal-looking man tried to explain that the paint was probably going to be ruined during take-off and that they would be better served by going back to the convenience store near Berth 1 and picking up some snacks.
The frustrated painter eventually gave in, disposing of his now-empty can and following his friend out the door, past the billboard where Jin was hiding.
Jin made a beeline for the door. He knew he didn't have long, not if they were planning to leave in less than an hour, and he needed to conceal himself before they got back. Fortunately, the doors didn't lock except when the berth was sealed for take-off/landing, the assumption being that if someone broke into your ship, it was your own fault for not taking the proper security precautions. At those times only, the room went into lockdown mode, with the ceiling withdrawing into the walls and blocking access from the corridor. The rest of the time, it was only decorum that kept intruders out.
He quickly scanned for witnesses, then darted through the swinging doors and round the side to use the ship's bulk as cover. The Yunaka was an attractive ship, with smooth, sleek lines and a clean white hull - under all the spraypaint, anyway. But as Jin approached the entry hatch, electronic pick in hand, he noticed old, deep scars under the purple painted slogans.
Plasma burns.
Who would fire on a couple of performers? Was their act *that* bad?
No time to go find another ride. Jin held the pick, a flat card, against the lock, and let it select the correct combination of symbols. One minute later, the hatch slid open with a growl.
Inside, the crew had left the lights on, for which Jin was extremely grateful. No sirens started wailing - always a good sign - and no one leapt out to attack him. One of the more useful features of his datband was a pulse that knocked out alarm systems, very handy for anyone in Kitagawa's employ, but that would involve reactivating it and Jin wasn't prepared to do that.
Thirty seconds skimming the cockpit told him three things. First, that he could probably fly the ship if he had to but he stood as much chance of switching off the life support as activating the hyperdrive. Second, the two crew members owned enough clothes for six, with jackets, hats, and random feather boas scattered all over the place, even though the ship had two cabins and presumably more than enough space for garments.
And third...his unwitting chauffeurs weren't as harmless as they appeared to be.
Jin stared at the storage locker in alarm. The last person to close it had been sloppy; the door hung open, revealing a mess of handguns, rifles, spare power packs and one odd-looking weapon that Jin would have classed as a toy if not for its deadly companions. He plucked a blaster and power pack from the clutter, certain that no one was likely to notice their absence.
He'd been carrying a knife since he was sixteen, the consequence of an ambush in Lunacy, but guns he hadn't had much practice with. Naturally, the kids weren't allowed them. But children grew up.
Jin checked the safety, slotted the powerpack into place, and went to find a suitable spot to conceal himself for the voyage.
-----
Jin had to admit, whichever one of the guys was in the pilot's seat, he was good. Smooth take-off, no veering into the walls, very little shaking. Jin appreciated that, seeing as how he was the only person on the ship who wasn't strapped in - a situation he might have reconsidered if he'd realised just how old a model the Yunaka actually was. The artificial gravity was prone to flickering on and off, and he had to keep a tight hold of the box next to him to keep his seat on the floor.
The boxes were strapped down to the floor, fortunately, or they'd have been floating at odd intervals as well - not to mention, falling. There were at least two dozen of them, all sealed shut, and bearing the somewhat unexpected label of 'party supplies'.
What kind of party, Jin wasn't sure, but it was a fair bet none of the guests would be from the law-abiding community. Prying open the lid of the nearest box revealed a collection of assorted leather bags, and inside the bags...
Diamond rings. Emerald earrings. Pearl necklaces. And that was just in one box.
Either Tanaka Koki and Nakamaru Yuichi were phenomenally successful - and yet relatively anonymous - entertainers who could afford to carry around billions of yen in jewellery, or they were crooks. Based on the plasma burns and the weapons he'd found, Jin was going with the second option.
He licked his lips nervously. As long as they were still headed in the right direction, things might work out. But why would a pair of criminals file their real flight plan?
It was too soon to tell. Jin hadn't felt the unmistakable shudder that came with the change from sub-light to faster-than-light engines; the ship's hyperdrive had not yet been activated. They were merely sitting, probably not that far out of Earth's atmosphere, maybe waiting for the lanes to clear so they could move further away. There was bound to be a lot of traffic, and it was bad manners - not to mention fatal - to screw up someone else's jump.
Yeah, that was it. Traffic. That's why they weren't moving. Nothing more sinister than that.
Jin had just about convinced himself that all was well when footsteps outside the door persuaded him that this might not be the case. He peeked round the corner of the box to see the more normal of the two crew members enter the cargo hold, seemingly searching for something, and talking into the datband on his wrist as he moved.
"I don't think it's here, Koki." The man, who must by default have been Nakamaru Yuichi, peered round boxes, under tarp, and inside a hidden compartment in the floor. "Sorry, but I think I must've left it on Earth. Are we cleared to go yet?"
Koki's response was audible even to Jin, though the sound verged on tinny. "Another twenty minutes, at least. The LIPS are running some kind of operation."
Jin stifled a groan. The Lunar/InterPlanetary Security force policed the Sol System on matters that didn't fall under jurisdiction of the United Solar Navy, like pilots making jumps in forbidden zones, felons violating their parole by crossing interplanetary borders, and smugglers running illegally-modified weapons to Earth's moon.
He figured they probably weren't too fond of ships carrying billions in stolen jewellery, either.
"They're not doing a stop and search, are they?" Nakamaru sounded worried. This couldn't be good for Jin.
"Nah. I think it's just one of their standard checks for hot ships - they run our registration, find everything's in order, we get out of here." There was a pause, then, "It is in order, right? You renewed the tax chit?"
"Everything's fine, other than me being unable to remember where I left your black nail polish."
There was a laugh from the other end of the datband connection. "You're buying me another one when we land - that stuff's expensive!"
Nakamaru grinned. "Once we sell all this, I don't think that's going to be a problem. I'll come back up in a minute." He signed off, cutting the connection, and continued checking the cargo hold while Jin held his breath and concentrated on staying absolutely still.
Unfortunately for Jin, staying still had never been one of his strong points.
His left leg was falling asleep, and he couldn't help moving it a little to wake it up. Despite his caution, the buckle on his boot scraped against the wall, the sound of metal on metal frighteningly loud.
Loud enough to catch Nakamaru's attention. He drew a stunner from his belt and approached Jin's hiding place, just in time to feel the tip of a blaster barrel against the back of his head.
"Drop your weapon," Jin ordered. It was the first time he'd ever deliberately held anyone at gunpoint; he figured he should sound authoritative but his voice betrayed him, emerging higher-pitched than usual and desperate into the bargain. The semi-dozing left leg didn't help matters; his balance was off and one solid hit would topple him.
Nakamaru froze. "It's just a stunner," he said carefully. "Not dangerous."
Jin begged to differ. That time he and Yamapi had gotten caught up in a shootout on Neptune, both of them unarmed and dependent on the protection of their hosts, he'd caught a stunner blast to the head. After he'd regained consciousness, the resulting hangover had left him feeling wretched for ages afterwards, and Pi had made fun of him for walking into things.
He tried not to squeak when he spoke again. "Drop it anyway. Hands away from your datband."
Nakamaru set the stunner on the ground and kicked it away; Jin prodded him down to his knees. He had no idea what to do next. Stun his hostage? Restrain him somehow? Ask him for his favourite colour?
The one thing he definitely couldn't do was shoot him. Not with the blaster. Not like this. Shooting a man in self-defense was one thing, but opening fire on an unarmed stranger for having the bad luck to discover Jin hiding on his ship was out of the question.
He blurted out the first question that sprang to mind. "Are you really going to Jupiter?"
"Eh?" Nakamaru started to twist his head round, then thought better of it. "Yeah, we're going to Jupiter. But you know, this isn't a passenger ship-"
"I know."
Nakamaru gulped. "Good. Just so we're clear on that. Now we understand each other, do you feel like taking the gun away?"
"Not really." Not that Jin would be adverse to holstering his weapon - if he'd been wearing a holster, anyway - but no matter how harmless his prisoner sounded, there was no reason to believe he wouldn't kill Jin the moment he got the chance.
"Okay." Nakamaru took a deep breath. "How about you tell me what you want and we'll see if we can work something out?"
The other man was shaking, belying his apparent calmness, although Jin's hands were none too steady either. Both of them jumped when Nakamaru's datband crackled into life, with Koki wondering if his partner in crime had decided to take a nap. The cockpit wasn't *that* far away.
Jin made up his mind. "I want you to get up - slowly - and go back to the cockpit. I'll be right behind you, so don't try anything."
The two of them crept along the corridor, Jin's sights set firmly on the back of Nakamaru's black jacket. Just to be on the safe side, Jin retrieved the stunner from the floor before they left; the less formidable weapon expanded his options.
Tanaka Koki was happy to see the return of his friend, right up until he spotted Jin following behind. He was even less enthused when the gun wavered in his direction. The torrent of invective gave it away.
Jin didn't have quite enough street cred to understand some of the insults, but he got the picture. "Shut up and listen for a sec, will you? Just don't move - don't do anything suspicious - and nobody's going to get hurt."
"Especially not us, since you've still got the safety on," Koki pointed out.
It was an obvious trick, and Jin fell for it. As he cast a discreet glance down at the blaster Nakamaru turned and kicked him; by sheer coincidence the kick connected with Jin's weakened left leg, which still hadn't come back to life properly.
On the positive side, this dulled the pain somewhat. On the negative, it didn't help one damned bit when he crashed into a console, dropping the weapon as a heavy panel fell off the side and slammed into his hip. Jin howled in sudden agony and clutched the console to try to pull himself up.
"Not that one!" Nakamaru yelled, but it was too late.
All three of them stared in horror at the main viewscreen, where a pair of luminous green bolts skimmed the nose of a large freighter waiting its turn to leave Earth's local space.
"The pulse laser." Koki sounded disgusted. "You fired the pulse laser. Of all the..."
"It was an accident!" Jin protested, still sprawled in an undignified heap on the floor. He extended an arm and just managed to retrieve his fallen weapon. "And you lied! I knew I hadn't left the safety on!"
As he waved the blaster triumphantly in the air, the other two ducked for cover. There was no telling what their lunatic intruder might do next.
"Don't fire it in here!" Nakamaru scrabbled around for his stunner, but it was buried somewhere under Jin. (Luckily, stunners were a) extremely durable and b) almost impossible to switch on by accident.)
Jin was about to insist that of course he wasn't stupid enough to actually fire it in the cockpit - there were enough mirrored surfaces inside that a stray shot could quite easily do the rounds - but his attention was drawn back to the screen.
Dozens of commercial and private vessels alike were waiting patiently for their registrations to be checked by the Lunar/InterPlanetary Security, whose ships were forming a loose blockade around them. All the talking between these two groups was done from a distance - evidently, no one had yet merited a stop-and-search.
Not until now. One of the purple and white LIPS cruisers broke away from the rest, rounding on the Yunaka and coming to rest worryingly close. The comm station lit up and Koki, after shooting a wary glance at Jin, emerged from behind his chair to jab a sequence of buttons. A small corner of the main viewscreen sectioned itself off and turned completely black.
Koki snorted and thumped another button, but nothing happened. "They must be on audio-only," he muttered.
There was a crackle, and then a stern, slightly raspy voice emitted from the speaker.
"This is Officer Kamenashi Kazuya of the Lunar/InterPlanetary Security vessel Murasaki," the voice said. "Chartreux Courier-class Yunaka, you have fired illegally upon a civilian vessel in a secure zone. Disarm all weapons and stand by to be boarded."