He didn't even stop to let the attendant scan his bracelet. It had taken him half an hour to find the boarding gate, stopping would be cutting it much too close. Somehow she'd still manage to scan him in, it was a relief to hear the approving beep behind him as he sprinted on. At the entrance another attendant signaled for him to stop by placing her hands palms out in front of her. She gave him a sympathetic smile and told him in a well rehearsed customer service voice, "The flight's been delayed fifteen minutes. Please enter calmly and orderly." She motioned for him to take a seat. He gave an apologetic smile back, unable to say sorry as he tried to catch his breath.

Most of the seats were open, so he took a middling one by a window. He knew these flights were usually fully packed, but this was an unusual middle of the week departure. The starship was an express shuttle dedicated to ferrying Aurelia employees from the moon colony, Aurel, back to the Earth central station in Nevada. This was the second time Eijirou would be riding in such a ship. The first time was three months ago on his way to the moon colony where his once in a lifetime internship waited. This second trip was the contractually obligated return flight after being let go from said internship.

He placed his bag in the overhead compartment, double checking that he had his phone and headphones in his pockets. Then he lowered himself down into his seat, finally able to take a moment to reflect on everything that had happened since yesterday.

They, Aurelia, had rushed him out of the company apartment so quickly, he felt like they had shoved him right out the doors and straight into the starport lobby. They'd given him only an evening to pack and set his affairs in order. It was technically enough given that he owned very little and how fast news spread in the department, but there hadn't been a chance to say his farewells to anyone but his roommate. And yet, the company did take care of almost everything for him. They even had a car, complete with a complimentary bagel and coffee, neither which he could stomach at that moment, waiting at the company apartments at 5 AM sharp. Forcing him to wake up so early was probably the worst part of the actual process. The lack of sleep didn't help ease the surreal quality of his situation. He vaguely wondered how intentionally disorienting this was all meant to be.

Eijirou slapped the sides of his face, attempting to wake himself up. These were his last moments on the first and only moon colony, he felt he ought to be more present.

He took a good look at his surroundings. The cabin was a pristine white room with accents in the Aurelia signature blue. On the screens an animation of the Aurelia logo sparkled, occasionally disrupted by reminders to be courteous and mindful during the flight. Even the other passengers wore Aurelia blue, all dressed in the same travel suits denoting their positions as mid-level traveling sales staff. While his own red travel suit was functionally equivalent, it didn't look as professional or slick. The employees themselves didn't make as good of an impression, though. He guessed they were all only about ten years older than himself given their position, but their faces were worn, weary, and grey. Eijirou's department never dealt with them directly, but he knew enough to infer that this was most likely the staff's C-list. If performance coaching was implemented the same company wide, Eijirou figured these had been delayed a day for special coaching. Not a good place to be, but at least they still had a place.

He checked his phone, quickly replying to his work friends who were all very sympathetic, but unable to do much beyond wishing him luck. Not sure yet how to deal with his Earth friends and family, he made a single public status update, and left it at that. Once the ship took off he wouldn't have access to the lunar public network anymore, excusing him from explaining himself for the duration of the six hour flight.

The past three months had gone wells He had felt so lost post grad, getting the internship had been a tremendous stroke of luck. Then it all vanished in an instant. There was no use crying about it, though. He would land at Nevada, then take a regular airline flight back home. Back to his family and friends, who were probably currently puzzling over his single update post: Going back to Japan. See you all soon.

In all honesty, he still felt like the weight of yesterday's events were yet to fall. Things like his career, his living situation, facing his parents, they were all problems floating somewhere above his head. At the moment what he regretted the most about the whole thing was not saying goodbye to the captain.

The captain was part of the company's space exploration team. Mostly former air force pilots trained exclusively in Aurelia's space travel technology, Despite the company's technological presence all around the world, it's real accomplishments were yet to reach Earth. The allied Earth governments were desperate to catch up, but governments were slow and clunky, bogged down by bickering leaders and bureaucracy. Meanwhile, the company enjoyed the public's fanaticism, sparing nothing to exploit the wonder surrounding the moon colony and its spacecraft pilots.

Eijirou had been part of the PR department which launched the campaign for the captain and his team. He'd actually become very familiar with the captain's face weeks before meeting him. The poster mockups were plastered all over the office. There were promotional videos playing on giant public screens, too. Though at the time publicly accessible video interviews and closeup footage were minimal. The reason for that became obvious when finally Eijirou saw the man in person.

At twenty-three, the same age as Eijirou, the newly appointed captain was considerably young for such a status. Everyone said he was a genius back on Earth and he proved to be one on Aurel, too. The department leader had been singing his praises, determined to highlight their new star. But the captain was… a challenge. The initial meeting had been a disaster. Eijirou had been delivering a stack of mail when he saw the captain take a packet of mockups and tear them to pieces. He couldn't hear what was said behind the glass partitions, but the captain's body language was like a pantomime of fury itself.

That hadn't been the end of it, of course. The captain was still required to show up with the rest of the team for the group campaign. Everyone had to play the propaganda game to some extent. Eijirou believed his boss had a fantastic way with people, but he absolutely could not push through the captain's complete disdain for their work. Out of sheer desperation he'd given Eijirou the task of "wrangler" after he witnessed the two talk nearly five minutes with zero destruction of property. And that's how Eijirou and the captain eventually became friends.

The captain, Katsuki Bakugou, was not an easy person to deal with, especially when he was forced to do things he did not like. At first Eijirou thought the captain simply hated being kept from doing actual space explorer things, that his bad attitude was a result of frustration. The rest of the team assured him that he was always like that, nothing ever seemed to make him relax, or be less of a jerk. While partially true, Eijirou had learned on his own that Bakugou just had a very solid, maybe stubborn, outlook on life and didn't appreciate others trying to sway him otherwise.

Over time, after much pushing and pulling, he found that the captain was a actually really great guy. It was just kind of hard to see at first. Even after telling Eijirou what tyrant he was, his team also conceded that the captain was damn good at his job. They trusted him.

Eijirou let out a miserable groan. He wanted and needed tell Bakugou what had happened, but it was too late to call, and sending a message felt wrong.

So he sat there wondering. He wondered what he would have said had there been time to say goodbye in person. Wondered if he'd have the courage to admit some of things he'd been thinking about the past few weeks.

Then he wondered if he'd fallen asleep in his seat, because coming through the sliding doors was the captain, looking as if he was just about ready to throttle anyone who came near.

"Bakugou?"

Bakugou's eyes swung in his direction. His expression didn't change by much, but it did soften slightly.

"Kirishima. What are you doing here?"

"Well, taking a flight?" He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. Was this lucky or unlucky? He couldn't tell.

Bakugou scoffed, then he took a window seat in the back, far away from everyone as possible.

His embarrassment taking a backseat to his desire for Bakugou's company, Eijirou grabbed his bag and followed.

Bakugou roughly secured his bag and slid into his seat. Grumpily, he stared out the window, not showing any signs of noticing or caring that Eijirou was moving towards him.

Eijirou approached him casually, though actually not at all casually. He leaned on the arm rest.

"So… guess who got fired yesterday?"

It was not what he meant to say. He felt like he was becoming more and more a human train wreck everyday.

Even so, it did work great as an attention grabber. Bakugou actually turned and stared at him. Train wrecks were hard to ignore, he supposed.

"What?"

He tried again. "I was fired yesterday. Accidentally walked into the wrong office and smashed an teapot on a desk. It was bad. "

Bakugou kept staring at him, his expression uncharacteristically soft. His usual irritability was mostly displaced by what Eijirou assumed was stunning disbelief.

Once recovered Bakugou crossed his arms, looked right at him, and said, " Fuck them," then, unexpectedly, "Their loss."

Coming from Bakugou, it was the best show of support Eijirou could imagine.

"Thanks."

Feeling better, he set himself down in the empty chair next to Bakugou. They sat there a moment not saying anything when a video began to play on the screens in front of them. A woman in blue bobbed hair and matching company uniform smiled cheerily. "Takeoff will be in five minutes," she informed them, "We thank you for your patience."

The rest of the passengers grumbled for a minute before settling ack down. Bakugou also let out a quiet huff of complaints, but his were aimed at the staff for whining.

Eijirou looked at Bakugou, an obvious question written on his face.

Bakugou looked out the window before letting out a heavy breath. "Do whatever you want."

So he had permission to stay. Eijirou went ahead and placed his bag in the second compartment next to Bakugou's, then sat and secured his safety belt. He watched Bakugou secure his own.

"Hey, Bakugou, can I ask you something?"

Bakugou threw him a knowing look. "No, but I'll tell you what you want to know anyway." In a low, restrained voice he told him, "I'm being sent back as an adviser . My time in the colony is considered valuable and absolutely must be shared in person."

"You were re-assigned to an Earth office? But you're a space pilot.."

"Not anymore." There was a lot of bitterness in that statement.

Before Eijirou could ask for details, an attendant with a shaved head came out in person to greet them.

"Good morning everyone, I'm Moira. I'll your attendant today. We're sorry for the delay, we will now be departing for the Nevada landing base. We ask that you all stay seated and fastened until takeoff is complete."

His questions would have to wait.

—

Take off went smoothly. It wasn't as exciting as the time Bakugou had taken him for a ride in his private ship, for several reasons, but it was still a fantastical novelty to him. Having flown hundreds of times, Bakugou was obviously unimpressed. Even so, he thought Bakugou almost looked amused when Eijirou told him how amazing it was.

With plenty of opportunity to talk ahead of them, he decided to wait before plying Bakugou with questions. He seemed preoccupied with something anyway. So he reached into his pocket for his headphones. They were a gift from the company when he first joined. This model wasn't available to the Earth public yet, and possibly was never meant to be. They were a set of unattached white, smooth shells that went over each ear. He activated them by double tapping the sides on the right shell. He'd originally been given the ones with the blue edge lights, but his roommate, and fellow intern Denki Kaminari in the engineering department, agreed to to swap him a red pair. When the company came to collect, Kaminari had handed them the original blue pair.

"A going away present," he'd insisted.

They were free and sounded great, but there was a drawback. They only worked with the company's public lunar network, which of course wasn't available off the moon's surface. Unlike his phone which could connect to the usual WiFi once they reached Earth, non-lunar radio signals were completely blocked on the shells. Kaminari had tried messing with them while Eijirou packed, but there hadn't been enough time, even for someone as talented as Kaminari. Eijirou still appreciated the attempt. It didn't really matter, he could still listen to the audio files he uploaded last night. He'd get a replacement pair for streaming later on.

He made an attempt at distracting himself with an audio book. He couldn't really follow along as all the while his eyes kept wandering back to Bakugou. Something big had obviously happened for the company to have sent their star pilot back home, and in such short notice. He hadn't heard anything about this from his former boss at all. And while Bakugou wasn't acting much different than usual, Eijirou knew he must be just as upset as he was, if not more.

He was still trying to think of how to best broach the topic when he heard a deep, garbled voice overlapping the book's narration. Curious, he rose slightly in his seat, trying to catch sight of who was making the sound. He couldn't see most of the scattered passengers, but the ones he could see weren't talking, or reacting.

He removed one of the shells to confirm that the sound was coming from them. Skipping to a new song didn't help. The voice was still there, low and unintelligible. It was possible, he thought, that Kaminari had managed to remove the block after all. He paused the book and tried to make out what was being said.

"Help me...don't want to...don't make me goooo." The voice rose and fell, as if the speaker was under physical stress, talking between breathes.

Eijirou didn't know what to make of it. He shook Bakugou's shoulder.

"Hey, something weird is coming through my headphones."

Bakugou had been resting his head, eyes closed, against the window. He opened one bleary eye to look at him. "What are you talking about?"

Keeping his own voice low, Eijirou leaned in to explain, not wanting to be overheard.

"There's a weird voice, from my headphones asking for help. Listen."

Bakugou straightened up and took Eijirou's offered left shell, despite seeming less than convinced. He put it on and tried to listen.

They both could hear it now, the same weak but deep voice, pleading, asking not to go.

Bakugou focused suspicious crinkled eyes at him. "Is this some kind of prank?"

He quickly denied it. "No! I don't know where this is coming from."

"How are you listening to this? We're too far out from the network."

"A friend in the engineering department tried to modify them. I don't know how successful he was, just that I'm picking up something weird."

Bakugou touched the side of the shell, raising the volume. He concentrated on the sound, trying to find something in it that might hint at its origin. Eijirou watched him, wondering if a pilot might know more about things like mysterious radio waves.

"I have no fucking clue what this is."

The disappointment must have shown because Bakugou frowned at him and said, "Stop making that stupid face."

He handed Eijirou his shell back adding, "Starships have access to the private network. You're probably picking up audio from some shitty podcast the pilot is listening to."

That response did little to reassure him, but he couldn't think of what else to do. If he brought it up to the attendants, he'd have to explain about the headphones. No need to risk them reporting it and putting Kaminari on a ship back to Earth, too.

He decided Bakugou had the better idea, and hoped a short nap would help his nerves.

—

The screaming woke him up first, before the violent shaking even registered.

"Kirishima, wake up. Wake up, you idiot." It was Bakugou shaking him.

He wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth. "I'm up. I'm up. What's happening?"

Bakugou was looking at him, expression serious though not panicked like one would expect on a ship of screaming people. He spoke while pointing out the window, "Something's chasing the ship. Something gigantic."

Kirishima gently pushed Bakugou to the side, and peered out. Something was indeed chasing the ship, but he didn't think it was that big, not until he looked further out. The bulb like shape creeping up the side of the ship narrowed and extended far behind them, like a tentacle. Pressing hard against the window, struggling to see, he could tell whatever was attached to that tentacle was enormous. He could practically feel himself turn white with shock. It felt like jumping into a river at winter.

Bakugou had to move him away from the window.

"I've seen similar animals further out in the system. Just never one this fucking huge."

"I didn't even know anything like that existed! It's a real life alien. "

Bakugou gave him a curious look, but didn't comment.

One of the sales staff rose from her seat and shouted at them. "Oh my god, you know what that thing is?" Stumbling out to the aisle she demanded Bakugou explain. "What in the hell is that thing?"

The rest of the passengers were listening now, no longer screaming, but yelling. One man recognized Bakugou from the campaign ads. "Aren't you that famous space captain? Aren't you going to protect us?"

Bakugou scowled. "Calm the fuck down! I'm not here to babysit any of you."

This only resulted in an even louder eruption of yelling. Bakugou ignored them all, shoving past them towards the pilot's cockpit. A second attendant, one with coral pink hair buns, finally came out from behind a partition. She tried to block the doors. "Sir , the pilot is attempting all he can at the moment to keep us all safe. Please refrain-"

Bakugou shoved her away, towards the other attendant hiding behind a partition.

Eijirou looked around at the rest of the passengers. He threw them all a fast apology, and chased after Bakugou.

He walked up behind him, watching as Bakugou pounded on the doors. "Open up! This captain Bakugou from the exploratory force!"

No one answered. He kept banging on the door, shouting to be let in, but still, nothing.

Fearing the worst, Eijirou suggested they try ramming the doors open. They quickly gathered three others, those who had calmed down enough to listen, and took turns ramming the door with a large emergency oxygen tank brought out by the attendants. It finally opened on the fifth attempt.

Like a cliched nightmare, they found no one inside. The cockpit was empty.

Everyone had gathered to look. Eijirou regretted not keeping them away. There was nothing to lessen the dread that was now wholly washing over them.

While Bakugou searched the cockpit, Eijirou glanced out the nearest side window. He could see the giant tentacle was now almost along the entire length of the ship, though not any closer to touching. It was terrifying, but now wasn't the time to stand and gawk. Their pilot was missing, something had to be done. Despite not knowing anything about the console, he tried to find a the radio. Bakugou stopped him.

"They're all disabled. We're being piloted by an onboard system." He leaned in, whispering, "There's no signal coming in or going out."

Eijirou didn't react, afraid he might alarm the others. By now the two attendants had regained their composure and were trying regain order.

The pink bun attendant clapped her hands for everyone's attention. "In light of our current situation, we will now be implementing the emergency evacuation protocol. Moira," she motioned to the shaved head attendant standing by the back wall, "will open the escape pod door, and seat you now. For a single file line and remain calm as you board."

Moira touched the wall, pressing her hand into a blue circle. The wall split, and slid away. There were two escape pods, each meant to house fourteen people. Twelve passengers, one attendant, and one pilot. Moira smiled when three or four of the passengers sighed in relief. She pressed another circle on one of the pod's doors.

Nothing happened. So she tried again.

Nothing.

The other attendant rushed forward, and tried herself. When it still wouldn't work she smiled reassuring them, "There's a manual backup, do not be alarmed."

Under his breath Bakugou told Eijirou the bad news before the attendants confirmed it themselves. "The system's cutoff. They're totally useless."

—

Eijirou watched while the attendants desperately tried to keep full on panic at bay. Luckily they had a relatively small group to deal with. Bakugou was having a difficult time, too. Most everyone was looking at him now for some kind guidance. But there wasn't anything that could be done as far as he could tell. They were completely cut off.

Then Eijirou remembered.

"My headphones, they're still receiving a signal." Who knew where from, but it was something. He reached into his pockets and pulled them out.

Bakugou took them, and put them on.

His eyes narrowed.

"It's clearer now."

Eijiro I grabbed the right shell and listened. The voice was crystal clear, no longer staticky, but still deep and labored.

"Help me. I don't want to...but my friends...help me."

Eijirou stood very still. An unfamiliar prickly sensation was spreading up and down his back.

"Kirishima?"

He didn't answer. Instead he walked into the open escape pod, to the window furthest back. Everyone watched him, saying nothing.

Eijirou looked out the window, out to the giant squid-like behemoth coming nearer and nearer. It's body was long. It's skin spotted black and magenta. He could see one the creatures giant eyes, shiny and bottle green.

The deep voice then said, "Little human with the red fur, help me."

Behind him Bakugou let out an astounded, "Holy shit."

One of the attendants raised a hand, as if asking permission to speak. Bakugou motioned for her to stay quiet.

Eijirou quickly activated the mic.

"Uh, hello? This is… the red fury thing on board the ship. My name is Eijirou Kirishima."

The deep voice greeted him. "Hello, Eijirou Kirishima...can you help me?"

"Uh, well...with what exactly?"

"I don't want to kill you or your friends."

He fought the sudden panic crackling in him like static charge. He was glad only he and Bakugou could hear.

"Kirishima," Bakugou said firmly, "Let me talk to it."

A small woman in large round glasses loudly exclaimed, "Christ! He's talking to it."

Although Bakugou had a lot over him, like being a (former) exploratory force captain, he wasn't sure why, but he felt he needed to be the one to do this. His voice came out even and sure, "No, just back me up."

Bakugou's eyes widened a little with surprise, but he understood.

Eijirou stayed focused. "We haven't refused to help you. Don't attack."

There was a brief moment where nothing was said. Eijirou could almost feel the staff and attendants holding their collective breath.

Then the voice replied, "Nooo...Eijirou Kirishima. I was sent to kill… but I do not want to…"

He heard a loud bang near him, Bakugou had slammed a fist against the wall.

"Those double crossing, piece of shit cowards."

Eijirou shushed him, and said to the giant, "Well, I'd be pretty thankful if you didn't."

The deep voice let out a sad bellowing sound. "But my friends...they will die…I am meant to kill before entering the Earth's atmosphere…They will know…If you do not help...I will do what I have to…"

Kirishima was in over his head. He needed to know more. "Give me a minute."

He turned to a fully enraged Bakugou and turned off the mic.

"Those bastards. They sent this giant astropod after us."

"Which bastards? What's an astropod?"

Bakugou went to the door, he was about to shut it before catching sight of the staff. They were staring wide eyed, confused, suspicious. He cursed and grabbed Eijirou by wrist, dragging him back to the cockpit. Eijirou shouted back at the attendants, "We'll be right back. Just need to discuss something, I guess."

The group exploded into a chattering mess, loudly whispering amongst themselves, as if afraid the creature might be annoyed by their noise.

Bakugou pushed Eijirou inside and forced one of the sliding doors partially closed. It was too bent to fully shut.

He sat on one of the empty pilot seats, waiting for Bakugou to talk.

"The company is trying to kill me. They figured it out. That I know."

"Know what?"

Bakugou let out an exasperated breath. "Their plans to break away from Earth."

It took Eijirou a moment process that statement. "The country of Aurelia, formerly known as the moon" was a tongue-in-cheek phrase people joked about for years. Aurelia was so large its presence was felt in every corner of the planet. It might as well be its own governing body. But to actually declare sovereignty on the moon...it sounded unbelievable. The colony relied heavily on Earth for its resources. If they seceded from the allied Earth governments, they'd be risking complete devastation of Aurel and everyone living there. And it was outright treason.

Bakugou shook his head. "Whatever you're thinking, you don't know enough to make the judgement. I'm telling you, they've set up the board to get exactly what they want. And part of that plan is using the astropods."

"Astropods, what are they?"

"They're man made animals. The company breeds them far in the outer system. My team used to be sent out there to gather them up for study. They're not very aggressive, but pretty dangerous if agitated. I used think they were about as intelligent as dairy cows."

"Wait, it takes like three years to reach the outer system, doesn't it?"

"My- their explorer crafts don't. They just haven't told anyone else about it."

"They let me in on a lot of information," he continued, "And I found out a lot more than they wanted me to."

"But why kill the crew? The rest of the passengers?"

He didn't sugar coat it, "You're all just acceptable collateral."

"So they're using the astropods for what exactly? As an army against the allied government?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Then?"

"I think they're planning a full-on attack, but making it seem like the astropods are doing it on their own. Then they'll send the exploratory force out to 'save' Earth, and use that as leverage to get what they want."

"Give us power and stuff, and we'll protect you from the scary aliens."

"Yes."

Eijirou felt sick, but more than that, he felt his own anger swelling.

"Would the exploratory force follow along? I mean, they know about the astropods."

Bakugou grimaced, "They don't know Aurelia made them. They'll just think these new big ones are getting revenge or something."

"How long have you known?"

"Just a day. I was planning to contact Earth as soon as I could gather any proof, but the bastards must have found out. They baited me with some jarhead jackass and used the fight to demote me then send me off." He sounded strained, slightly different from his usual irate tone.

Bakugou then kicked the bottom of the console, catching Eijirou off guard.

He got up and tried to calm him down. He placed a hand on Bakugou's shoulder and one on his chest, attempting to guide him away from the console.

"Look, we can still do something. We just need to think of a plan."

Bakugou huffed, then shrugged Eijirou's hands off. "I just wanted to let you know."

"Yeah, thanks."

There was an awkwardness there he hadn't expected, and no time to dissect it.

"We should, maybe get more information out of the giant astropod now."

Bakugou gave him a single nod. "You're the one talking to it, so go."

"Yeah."

Eijirou smoothed out his suit and marched out. He returned to the window, prepared to find out... whatever it was he needed to find out. Meanwhile, Bakugou told the attendants to get everyone seated and buckled in. They pretended to listen at first, but ended up crowding around the pod's door anyway.

"Eijirou Kirishima...are you going to help me…?"

"Hi, well, we need more information. Like, do you know if the company can hear us?"

"The company…the blue coats...they speak to me...but they cannot hear my voice...only you…"

"Okay. So they ordered you to attack the ship. How do they know you understand?"

"I clap."

"Clap?"

Somewhere near the doorway, the woman with the large glasses screamed. "Oh my god, it's going to flatten us!"

Kirishima frantically waved at the creature. "Wait! Please, don't show me, I believe you."

"Okaaay…"

He could piece it together now.

Eijirou turned off the mic, not wanting the giant astropod to listen. He looked to Bakugou, "We can't do anything from here."

"We could just say we did. We'll reach Earth and warn them."

Kirishima wouldn't have it. "No, they're intelligent beings. We can't let them die. Anyway, how would we even convince it we did anything?"

Bakugou didn't seem at all surprised by his answer.

"You won't like the other option then."

Eijirou already knew, but asked anyway, "Which is?"

"Kill it. Then reach Earth and warn them."

"No."

"So what do you propose?"

Shit. They were up against a lot. They could lie, but he couldn't even think of anything believable to tell it. And even if he agreed to killing it, how would they even pull that off? Did Bakugou have a plan?

A man from the sales team tried to interject, "Just kill it. It started it by chasing us."

Eijirou opened his mouth to tell him off, but Bakugou beat him to it. "Shut the fuck up, dumbshit. You don't even know what's going on."

The man looked around at the other passengers trying to gain support, but they avoided his gaze. Not out of respect for the astropod's life. It was just that one wanted to be at the center of the captain's fury. So the man went and sat alone making snotty remarks as he went.

Eijirou was glad for it. If only someone could stand up for the astropods the way Bakugou did for him.

Maybe someone could.

"If we find a way to contact the exploratory force, would they protect the astropods?"

"It wouldn't be that easy. The most I can promise is that they might be able to give them a head start."

"That'll have to do. But the real problem is we still don't have a way to contact anyone off this ship. Besides the astropod, I mean."

Gazing out the window, Bakugou seemed to be making up his mind about something.

In a resolute, yet hushed tone he declared, "I know what we can do."

Eijirou was hopeful.

"If we can get it to turn around, it can get close enough to Aurel to make contact. We're only about a fifth of the way to Earth. There's time."

"But how? Do we send one of the shells and hope someone takes it? Attach a note?"

Eijirou watched as Bakugou walked to the doorway. Arms crossed and mind made up, he announced their course of action.

"We're landing the starship on Earth, but Kirishima will be returning to the moon colony."

He nodded towards the window, "And he'll be riding that."

—

It took some convincing, but the giant astropod finally gave in, agreeing that there wasn't any other option. It would place its faith in Eijirou's promise that the exploratory force was not going to hurt his friends any more. They would free them.

There were no other arguments. No one needed to say it, staying on the starship with a space captain sounded much less terror inducing than being carried away by a gigantic space cephalopod. "And anyway," said one of the men, "At least we're not the bait ."

Bakugou gave him a swift punch to the gut for that comment.

While the attendants faithfully continued with their duty, and loaded one of the emergency oxygen tanks onto the pod, the other passengers helped themselves to champagne. Bakugou called them all a pack of slack-jawed morons, but let them be. He called Eijirou back to the cockpit for their last private exchange before they separated.

"Let me add this contact to your phone."

He watched him type, "Uraraka" into the name section. "Is this like, your vice captain?"

"No. She's just annoying. But I have her private contact info. It's better if you don't send anything to anyone's work phone."

He didn't know what he'd say to this person yet. There was a lot to explain. Well, he thought, I'll have a long while to think about it.

Bakugou handed back his phone. They stared at each other for another second.

Eijirou's face was too honest, he knew that. Bakugou could read it easily. He really wished he was better at hiding it, because it was having a difficult effect.

"I can go instead. The autopilot is good until you reach the atmosphere. I can talk you through the landing."

"No, we can't risk it. There's no way I can pilot a starship. Plus, everyone in there trusts you to land them in one piece, and the giant out there is waiting for me."

He gave Bakugou the biggest smile he could muster. "It'll work. I'm sure."

Before he could think better of it, Eijirou pressed a chaste kiss on Bakugou's lips.

"I'll see you again in a couple of hours. We should hang out on Earth, you know, once things get figured out."

Eijirou didn't know Bakugou could blush so red. He was looking forward to learning a lot of new things about him.

-

Everyone watched him return and enter the escape pod, alone. Bakugou sealed him in, while the attendants prepared to manually release the pod into the waiting giant's tentacle. Terror couldn't begin to express what Eijirou was feeling. But it would be okay. He believed that. He smiled and gave them a thumbs up once he was strapped in.

"Okay," he told the astropod, "Let's go."

The giant slowly touched one of its tentacles the surface of the escape pod, careful not to crush it. Eijirou thanked his lucky stars that it seemed to be more dexterous than one might expect.

Then they released him, cutting off the pod from the ship's life support systems. Eijirou made sure to keep the oxygen mask well secured.

It would be hours before the astropod reached Aurel. He wouldn't hear back from Bakugou for a long time. First he would have to explain everything to Bakugou's team, then wait for them to succeed, and still, after finding a safe space to hide, he'd keep waiting for news of the starship. Because they would land. Bakugou would make sure of it.

Before he set to the task of composing a message to Bakugou's contact, he spent a moment dictating another message to the giant astropod. He asked it to repeat it back, before the ship would be too far out of range.

"I'll come find you soon."