surrender ; minsung

landfall

Jisung scours the Ender's infernal maze of ladders and passageways, searching for Lieutenant Vu. His suit is like a second skin, a cage, a tightening noose. His heart is an open wound. He wants out. Now.

He finds the lieutenant in a dorm, smoking with a few other crewers. Vu jumps to their feet when Jisung clears his throat.

"Oh — uh, Commander." They hide their cigar.

"At ease. With me."

Vu follows him out of the room. "I'm sorry for my improper dress. We haven't yet gotten our gear back... Are you okay, sir?"

"Find your gear. We're alighting on Earth 244."

"Heeded, sir. We can begin strategizing posthaste, then we'll be back in business."

Jisung worries the stud in his thumb webbing. "Spread the word. Be ready."

"Yes, sir."

Jisung makes his way to the wheelhouse. It's a large room at the Ender's fore, a glass shield behind a blinking dashboard of gauges and levers, a single pilot at the centre of it all.

The pilot hears Jisung enter. 'Jha' is written on their breastplate. "Greetings, Commander Han. How are you faring?"

"I'm faring. Distance to 244?"

"We'll be berthing within an hour or two."

"Me and mine will be delivered there."

"Heeded. Are you... okay, commander?"

"Yes."

"Truly?"

Jisung stares ahead into the vacuum, hating everything about it. "No, I am not okay."

"Loss is difficult to face."

"That damn ship can rot."

"I didn't mean the Stingray, sir."

He meets the pilot's eyes. They seem... genuine. Earnest. Jisung squares his shoulders.

"Can I trust you?" he says.

"Certainly."

"I want to leave a message. For him."

Jha wordlessly opens a compartment, takes out a pad of paper and a pen. Jisung jots something down, tears out the page and tries again. Jha waits patiently.

Finally/Eventually he places the folded page on the dashboard. "Give this to him after I'm gone. Only if he seems... affected. At all. By my absence."

"And if he doesn't, sir?"

"Burn it."

—

The Ender breaks the atmosphere of 244 and a towering city appears through the clouds. It's an interim planet, used mainly for spacecraft sale, maintenance and anchorage. It's also a hub of tele-travel, which would be helpful if Jisung had a penny to his name.

Once they've berthed, he makes his way to the bomb bay. It leads him past the passageway to Minho's chamber. He only stops for a second, then the impulse has passed.

His company is gathered at the bay. They jump to the platform below, file through the ID scanners and step one-by-one into the tele port. It deposits them in the middle of a busy plaza. Jisung is overcome with the feeling of solid ground, a terrestrial place. Even the litter-strewn, Starbucks-glutted downtown of an anchorage planet. It's marvellous.

He realizes his crew are looking at him expectantly.

"Orders, Commander?" Vu says.

"I have no orders. I've decided to abnegate my position."

They blink at him like a brood of ducklings.

"Commander—"

"Don't. I'm not your commander. I'm sorry to put you on the spot like this, I know it concerns your lives. But I... I'm a fucking wreck. The Stingray is dead. There's nothing more I can do for you."

They don't move. Don't curse him out or spit on his boots.

Jisung rubs his temples. "I suggest you go back to the Ender and ask Commander Lee for a job. If he turns you away, you could ask directions to the nearest merchant hub. Otherwise you could sell or pawn your pressure suits. That's what I plan to do. In any case... goodbye."

He turns and walks away.

After a few steps, he realizes they're following him.

"What are you doing?" he says.

"I think I speak for everyone here," Vu ventures, "when I say that I do not wish to leave your employ."

"Your ship is destroyed and your commander is disillusioned. I have no ambition and nowhere to go."

"Then lead us someplace unexpected."

"Are you suggesting an earthbound merchant band?"

"Perhaps," Vu says. "Or we could, I don't know, look after a farm."

"A farm?"

They flush. "Or not. I just think we'll fare better if we stick together."

Jisung crosses his arms, looks from one eager face to another. They all seem optimistic, even after everything that's happened. They all seem to have faith in him. If this is what they want, he isn't going to turn them down. It's not like he had any plans besides a visit to the nearest bar.

"Okay," he says. "I'll hear you out. But no more 'commander's and 'sir's. No more hierarchy. Agreed?"

"Heeded," they say in unison.

"And no more jargon."

"Heeded," they say again.

He sighs. "All right. Now to find a pawnshop and a TerraFinder. I want off this dump as soon as possible. The fumes are making me lightheaded."

His former pilot pushes to the front of the group. "Actually, sir — um, Mr. Han — we were planning to tell you once we were a little farther from the Ender, but now seems a good time."

She and some others start rummaging around inside their suits. Each presents several thick stacks of cash and offers them to Jisung.

"Where— where the hell did you get all this?"

"The Ender."

"You stole from them?"

"We're merchants, Mr. Han. They should've anticipated it."

He bursts out laughing. This may just be less of a disaster than expected.