ᴜɴsᴇᴀʟ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀ ᴋɪss │ᴛᴋ [complete]

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"Jackpot!"

The voice echoed in the empty cockpit, save for Captain Jeon who could not believe his luck. The screens before him flashed with streaming statistics, confirming the nearby presence of rare minerals, ranging from fluorite to zircon with traces of baryte, titanite, and perhaps other ores which were practically impossible to come by. Especially in this corner of space, where he had drifted for days.

You see, galactic maps were pricey. And if you couldn't afford one, the only option left was to explore, which meant allowing the spacecraft to drift on a random stellar trajectory and let your on-board AI collect the necessary data to fill in the cosmic blanks. That is, if you were equipped with an adequate intelligent retrieval, something Jungkook doubted when listening to Zin ramble on the superiority of fossil foods such as P-A-S-T-A and other noodle-based dishes long lost to history.

At present, however, he was more than willing to overlook the AI's odd obsession with extinct edibles and kiss it senseless for this discovery which was bound to change his looting existence into something much more respectable such as spacetrotting. Perhaps he could even consider an early retirement. The list of rare minerals was expanding by the minute and Jungkook did not resist taking a peek at what this floating Ali Baba's cave to see what it looked like.

"Zin, any harmful radiations nearby?"

"Negative."

"Then turn off all ambient light and deactivate photo wavelength filters," he commanded.

The cockpit was plunged into a brief darkness. The distant shine of trillions of stars seeped through the windows, covering every surface with a thin layer of eerie glow. A black mass appeared, its ragged silhouette cutting off the faraway twinkles with its shade.

"Zin, identify the debris."

"Analysis in progress. First results indicate it is a man-made object."

"What?"

"It is also inhabited."

Captain Jeon felt his legs shake a little and stepped away from the panels to rest on his recliner. "You mean to tell me there are living organisms sitting on that rock at present."

"Affirmative."

Jungkook had been flying long enough to know that creatures which could sustain their survival in deep space were not to be messed with. "What kind of life forms?"

"Organic."

"I thought they required oxygen to thrive."

"They do. Presence of O2 confirmed."

Could these beings — whatever they were — threaten his dreams of a better existence? If so, they would soon come to regret it for Captain Jeon was determined not to let go of them without a fight. "Hostility probability? On a scale of one to ten?"

"One."

Okay. Well, perhaps the fight could be avoided. "So these are friendly organisms."

"Correction: these are dormant organisms."

"Dormant?"

"Dormant."

"Dormant."

"Do I need to repeat myself, Captain?"

"That won't be necessary, Zin. Prepare for boarding."

"Boarding as in emplaning?"

"Correct."

"Boarding as in climbing onto?"

"Do I need to repeat myself, Zin?"

"Negative. Boarding protocol initiated."