King of Stars Volume 1 (An interstellar ATEEZ Hongjoong fanfiction)

Part Ten: In Which 10-24 Disobeys Orders

          "So what do we do now?" Seongwha asked the Star King. It had been nearly an hour since we finished barricading the door and was met with nothing but silence on the other side. The spider had yet to make an appearance after the Star king severed its leg. The leg in question sat curled on the floor where it fell. Even now it twitched occasionally as if the leg itself was a living thing.

The crew now all stood around the central station in command, light from the console casting eerie shadows over the men's faces. The Star King stood leaning on his arms over the table.

"First we need to know what exactly we're up against. Yeosang, pull up whatever you can find on it in the database."

"Sure." Yeosang responded before jogging over to his station.

Then the captain scanned over the crew. "Where's San and Wooyoung?"

Yunho cleared his throat. "Wherever San is he's probably with Cerber so he should be alright for now. And as for Wooyoung..." he trailed off looking apprehensive. He shot me a glance and stuck his hands in his pockets. "He had already taken off in one of the jets."

"What?" The captain asked. He brought a hand down over his face and then he looked over at me. "Hey you, did he ever show up for the simulations?"

I met the Star King's gaze and shook my head. He exhaled sharply, jaw tense. "Well wherever he went I hope he stays there. I'll be sure to have a talk with him later..." Then he looked around the room. "Where the hell did Mingi go?"

Everyone looked confused at the disappearance of the second-in-command and there was a moment panic. My eyes drifted around the room until I spotted him huddled in a corner. He was trembling clutching his knees to his chest. In the chaos of the chase he had somehow lost his towel. Other than parts of his body that were covered in green and blue scales he was nude.

"Aish Mingi," The Star King exclaimed. He grabbed the white blanket from his cot and wrapped the cowering man up. "You're going to get sick if you sit there naked."

Mingi looked up, face wet with tears. "It was so big Hongjoong.." He cried.

"It's alright now Mingi." The Star King hushed him patting the taller man's shoulders in consolation. Mingi clung to him and wept.

Seongwha shook his head at the sight. "Alright well what's the plan then?" Everyone quietly contemplated what to do while Yeosang tapped away at the screen continuing his research.

"I have a suggestion-" I began but the captain, who was struggling with a hysterical Mingi, interrupted.

"Absolutely not," He ordered. "We will figure out a strategy without sending you out in your own."

Right then I thought of the simulation. I thought of the deaths of all the crew around me and how helpless we were to stop it. The new emotion pierced through my heart and left a gaping hole behind.

I can't go through that again.

Yeosang cleared his throat gathering everyone's attention. "We've got a huge mess on our hands Hongjoong." He announced grimly. "According to what I've found it's going to be harder to kill than we've ever imagined."

"W-What do you m-mean by that?" Mingi stuttered. He pulled away from Hongjoong his eyes wide with fear.

The Star King placed his hands over Mingi's ears. "Better if you don't know. So what did you find Yeosang?"

Yeosang got up from his chair to stand in front of the crew. "It's an alien hybrid called the Matriarch Arachnid. It's called that because every spider is born female."