BOOK ONE: THE WAR

This story is rated M. There is sexual content, swearing, mentioned domestic abuse, extreme violence, character death, and adult themes ahead. You have been warned. This story has plenty of humor, love, and fun - but please keep in mind there is also what I just mentioned. There are certain times this story gets very dark, please be mindful of this if you have any triggers with abuse, violence, and death. Thank you.

All characters are depicted as 18+ and please remember - this is a fictional story, I am not trying to sexualize any BTS member or interpret them as bad people. This is completely fictional, please don't take it too seriously. With that being said, enjoy Adrift...

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~22:00~

"A-ha!" he says, pulling the wire free of the panel. He does a small victory dance before floating over to the center of the room, looking up and out of the window above him, where nothing but the vastness of space lies ahead. He smiles to himself, proud that he finally fixed something.

For two years now, Park Jimin has been a low-tier engineer onboard the Hephaestus, a transport vessel used for carrying various minerals, ice, and other supplies to different planets and stations. He never really got any chance to be noticed by his superiors: they never noticed nor cared about his work. He didn't mind it though. Sure, the pay sucks and it's probably the worst job he's ever had, but besides that, everything's fine.

He huffs out a sigh, letting himself float in the 0g. Normally the artificial gravity would've kicked in by now, but those systems haven't been fixed yet. That's his next job. He finally got the main power back on track due to that small wire pull he performed. Some jobs are more in-depth while others are as simple as a wire pull. He knows deep down that the artificial gravity will be much more than a wire pull.

"Silver Engineer Park, what is your status?" a male voice says over the comm panel. Jimin's eyes snap open as he panics momentarily. Someone is talking to him? Someone not on the engineering staff? For a brief moment he gets excited, but he forces it down to instead float over to the comm panel on the wall straight in front of him.

He gulps before pressing the button. "Power should be back on to full capacity, sir." He releases the button, gnawing on his lower lip in dread. Did he mess up? Is power not fully operational? Did he break something? Is something wrong? All these questions linger in his mind as the devastating seconds of silence continue on.

After what feels like years, a laugh is heard. "Well, I'll be damned. I'm slightly impressed. Good work kid," the male voice, he now recognizes as Executive Kim, says.

Jimin replies with a, "Thank you sir!" He releases the button and lets out a small squeal, giving himself a mental pat on the back.

Executive Kim Namjoon, second-in-command. Jimin has always dreamed of being an executive; however, as a silver-ranked engineer, he knows he'll never get there. The ranks are pretty simple. There's bronze, silver, gold, then platinum. Platinum engineers are normally the only ones who speak directly to the superiors, which is why Jimin's so surprised to have been addressed by such a high-ranking officer.

He's about to let out another high-pitched squeal when the whole ship shakes. Mere seconds later, the artificial gravity kicks in, and he falls face-first to the floor. Jimin lets out a loud groan. "Are you kidding me?" he says, although the sound is muffled by the metal floor.

"Silver Engineer Park, please report to the bridge," Executive Kim says, which makes Jimin jump to his feet in fear. Why is today such a good day? After two years of barely talking and being addressed, suddenly the big boss wants to see him. Jimin forces down his fear and navigates his way through the enormous ship, pitter-pattering down several corridors and up countless ladders until he reaches the giant space known as the bridge.

There are several people hustling around, pressing buttons and talking over comms. Jimin spots Executive Kim talking to Captain Kwon. His heart skips a beat. Is he getting a promotion? That wouldn't make sense as he just got promoted to silver half a year ago. Why did the ship shake? Why is everyone in a hurry? Jimin forces his mind to silence itself as he nervously walks over to the two.

As soon as he approaches, Executive Kim gives him a smile and shoos the Captain away. Jimin watches the Captain go, but doesn't say anything about it. "There's been a distress call from a smaller ship not too far from us, we're sending out a small pod of workers to check it out. All of our platinum's are busy with paperwork and handling our next shipment, so we're gathering a small team of rookies to go check it out. I'd like you to be on that team."

Jimin's eyes widen to the point where he thinks they'll pop out of his head. "Me?" Jimin asks, unable to stop the disbelief in his tone.

Executive Kim chuckles. "Yes, I'll be leading the team. A team of five. One executive, one engineer, one agent, one pilot, and one intelligence officer."

"No soldiers or medics?" Jimin asks, raising a brow. He didn't mean to make it sound like he was questioning authority, but he couldn't help but inquire.

"It's nothing serious, the call looks like they ran out of fuel unexpectedly."

Jimin hums, then bows his head. "I would be honored. Thank you, Executive Kim." Bowing may be considered too formal in this situation, but Jimin keeps his head dipped anyway. That is, until he hears his superior's next words.

"Please, call me Namjoon."

Jimin fights the urge to turn red and hop around in joy. "A-Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure... Jimin," Namjoon replies.

Jimin gulps, "Alright... Namjoon." Gosh, saying it out loud has his head go stiff. In some strange way, he feels as though he's breaking the rules.

"Gear up, we leave at 23 hundred." With that, Jimin lets out a mental squeal and walks away.

~23:00~

"Check ins. Agent Jung?" Namjoon asks.

"Well, I'm alive," Agent Jung replies, Jimin glancing at the man who just spoke. A sharp jawline and fluffy hair. To an untrained eye, his hair may seem unkept. But Jimin knows from experience that long hair doesn't mean Mr. Jung let himself go. Not yet, anyway.

"Pilot Byun?"

"Present and ready for liftoff sir," he says from the cockpit, the walls of the Athena seeming to close in around Jimin's body. That's not the case, but the tightness in his lungs tell a different tale.

Namjoon chortles, "Officer Kang?"

"Present!"

"And Engineer Park?"

Jimin's throat tightens with his lungs, his hands gripping anything they can latch onto. Despite that, he keeps his tone as soft as possible while also displaying a hint of enthusiasm. "Also present!"

"Alright rookies, let's get this show on the road."

Almost immediately, Silver Pilot Byun Baekhyun takes off, beaming out of the hangar and towards the much smaller ship in the distance. Jimin observes the approach through the monitor in front of him, his eyes wide in amazement. He's seen so many planets, so many stars - but never in any ship other than the Hephaestus. This ship, named Athena, is much faster than the Hep, so they'll arrive at the distress signal in only a few minutes.

Jimin tries not to squeal for what feels like the eighteenth time today. When he realizes no one's nearly as excited as him, he sinks back in his seat, his shoulders slumping. His eyes still dance back and forth between the monitor and his mag boots, but he attempts to keep attention off of himself. As always.

"In and out, keep your suits on. The ship is named Blackwell, don't touch anything," Executive Kim says. After everyone hums in response, the rest of the ride is dead silent. Jimin lets out a breath. Something tells him this is going to be a long day...

~23:10~

"In and out!" Namjoon says as the airlock opens. Each member of the team is armed with a basic pistol, but Namjoon made sure each rookie had it holstered at their side. No touching the sidearm unless absolutely necessary. Namjoon leads the way, trekking with the other four frightened rookies behind him, peeping around in bewilderment. Jimin is one of those rookies, his eyes darting around the empty halls with flickering lights. Although he knows something is off, he doesn't raise his voice, he simply follows Namjoon and hopes the Executive has the same feeling. "Keep your eyes peeled, I don't know what happened here," Namjoon whispers through the comm, which makes the four rookies place their hands on their holsters all at once.

"Wait. What is that?" Gold Intelligence Officer Kang Seulgi asks, pointing towards an open door with a bright light inside. Jimin instinctively walks towards it, peeking inside.

His eyes expand. "Whatever that is... it's not human." He sees blobs of dark green floating around a spire in the middle of the room. He also sees... bodies. A lot of bodies and blood. He's about to step forward when Namjoon pushes him back.

"Back to the ship! Now! Pilot Byun run and get the ship started! We're done here!"

As soon as the words leave his mouth, everyone sprints in the opposite direction. Jimin can hear his heartbeat in his ears, his pulse skyrocketing and his adrenaline kicking in. He can't remember a time he's been this petrified.

Everyone sprints for a solid minute before they reach the Athena, practically jumping inside and strapping themselves in. "This is Chief Executive Kim calling in to Captain Kwon. The small transport vessel named Blackwell is infected with what we believe to be an unknown life form. There... T-There was this dark green slob everywhere, and no one was wandering the halls." Jimin slightly shakes as Baekhyun takes off, getting as far away from the Blackwell as possible. He's never heard any executive scared before, let alone Namjoon. Doesn't help that he's not used to the acceleration the Athena has. Of course he's used to the Hep, but being in a tinier, faster ship makes him want to vomit.

"Executive stay exactly where you are, we have an incoming ship on our radar. I repeat - stay where you are," Captain Kwon replies. Kwon Ji-young. A very popular Captain, especially among transport ships. He's been a Captain for almost 10 years. A star student at the academy. Jimin once considered bouncing around different jobs, but his respect for the Captain is what made him stay.

Jimin notices the Hep through the monitor, creasing his brows when he spots a ship approaching the giant transport vessel. "All men, get in defensive positions! They're aiming their missiles at us!" Jimin hears Captain Kwon shout. Why would anyone attack a transport ship? What's the point?

"The ship is heavily armored and shielded, once they realize this, they'll leave," Namjoon says to the rookies, who are all tense from the experience. He sounds calm enough that Jimin believes him, but he can't shake his feeling of dread.

"First missile incoming! Engage shields!"

The missile impacts.

"See? They're fine," Namjoon says, although Jimin can tell he was holding his breath. Everyone was, but it's intriguing that the superior office was as well.

"Fire back!" Captain Kwon says, his voice clawing at his throat. "Executive Kim, we have to take another missile here, but I want you to leave us, and that's an order."

"Sir, I can't just lea-"

"That's an order! Take what you saw as far away from here as possible! This is our fight, not yours!"

Namjoon goes quiet. Jimin peers over at him to see him glancing down. "What do I do, sir?" Baekhyun asks.

Executive Kim takes a deep breath. "We can't leave them. I won't leave them. Start towards the Hep. As soon as we're closer we can see what the damage is and give a full report so they can start repai-"

He's cut off by the ship going off balance, rattling around like crazy. Like a shockwave. An explosion. Everyone snaps their heads towards the monitors, where they see nothing but debris left. There's an eerie silence amongst the crew. No one moves. No one has truly processed the situation yet. Jimin's jaw drops.

The Hep is gone.

Captain Kwon is gone. His engineer friends are gone. His job is gone. Everything he's ever truly known has been reduced to ash and debris by some ship no one knows. That's not how anyone should go out, let alone a transport ship. He's left with one question: what the fuck just happened?

Jimin feels tears sting at his eyes, him glancing over at Namjoon, who's still processing what he saw. Baekhyun stops the ship, and everyone watches as the enemy speeds away. "It... it looks like I'm the Captain now," Namjoon whispers, the reality sinking in.

"It's... it's gone! The Hep is gone!" Agent Jung cries out, his tone nearing a scream. As if his voice were a dam breaking, the entire team begins to speak.

"How is this possible?" Baekhyun asks.

"Who was that? Why the Hep?" Seulgi says. Jimin keeps quiet, deciding to observe Namjoon closely, studying how he reacts to being left alone with a team of rookies. Captain Kwon, the man he had spoken to only twenty minutes ago, is gone. Surely Namjoon must be devastated. Right?

"Dammit I know it's gone! I don't know how this happened or who's behind it! But right now, we need to get out of here, and we need to get out of here fast!" Namjoon says. "Do it!" he repeats when no one moves to start the ship. The other two rookies dash to the cockpit to help the pilot. Meanwhile, Jimin stays put.

"I'm so sorry, sir," he mutters. For a split second, Namjoon shows his face to him.

His face is covered with tears.

~00:12~

After what feels like forever, the rookies managed to recover enough to drive the Athena in the opposite direction of the explosion. There's not much they can do other than fly to the nearest station. The Hep was going to Ganymede, one of Jupiter's moons, so they're stuck near Mars. They'll either have to land on Mars or stop at a closer fueling station. But one thing's for sure - no one knows what to do, not even Namjoon.

Jimin stands in front of a coffee machine, watching it spill the familiar liquid into his mug. The Athena might be small, but the dining hall supplies a moment of solitude Jimin needed. He takes a sip of his drink, not really enjoying the bitter taste, but accepting it. Today is a bitter day. When his brother convinced him to go out and explore the galaxy, he didn't think this would be what it's like. He can't believe how lucky he is. He goes from being a nobody on the Hep, just another engineer, to now a sole survivor with knowledge of possible alien life on another cruiser.

He rubs his temple with his fingers, the past three hours crashing down on him all at once. "You doing okay?" a male voice Jimin recognizes as Namjoon's asks from behind him. He turns around slowly, not hiding the tired look on his face.

"I'll be fine once we have a plan. I need something to focus on."

Namjoon sadly smiles at his words. "To think a few hours ago we thought we were going to help someone with a fuel issue..."

"And now everything is gone," Jimin finishes. A silence falls over the two, mostly to mourn the thousands of lives lost on the Hep. Jimin feels a flash of anger inside him. He didn't have many friends on the Hep, but no one was bad. Everyone was getting by. They all had families and friends and casual lives. They were decently happy.

"We'll make them pay, right?" Jimin asks, staring straight into Namjoon's eyes.

"What?"

"Whoever did this, we have to make them pay. For the Hep, for Captain Kwon." Namjoon observes Jimin's sudden change in attitude, raising a single brow. As soon as he's about to reply, static comes in from over the comms.

"Sir, there's an unknown signal trying to reach us, should I block it?" Bronze Agent Jung Hoseok asks.

Namjoon leans on the balls of his feet, crossing his arms over his chest and poking his tongue against his cheek/ "Yes, we don't know who it is."

Jimin steps forward despite his mind telling him not to. "Isn't that exactly why we should answer it?" he asks, his airways burning from the very prospect of Jimin talking back to Namjoon.

Namjoon studies Jimin, scanning over his body like a hawk. Like he's testing him. "What if they track us? Ever think of that?"

The engineer's mind grasps at the knowledge he acquired over his years of experience. Yet it still doesn't feel like enough. Regardless, there's no backing down now. That'll be even more embarrassing. So, Jimin snatches any words he can and throws them out. "Do you have any training in engineering sir?"

Namjoon shrugs. "Some, why?"

"When someone can connect a comm to your ship, they're already tracking you. They must have a built-in tracking beam. There's no harm in answering the link, it could be a survivor of the Hep, or the ship that harmed them. If they wanted to destroy us, they have our location already, so we can't stop them." There's a few beats of hush, then, Namjoon grins.

"So, does that mean I shouldn't block it?" Agent Jung asks.

Namjoon holds back a laugh. An ironic one, but a laugh nonetheless. "I'm mildly impressed rookie. Alright Jung, put it through."

A few clicks later, loud static is heard. "H-Hello? Hello?! Can anyone hear me? Is anyone out there?" a female voice says from over the comm.

"We hear you loud and clear. Who is this?" Namjoon asks, stepping closer to the comm panel.

"I-I don't know what happened. I woke up and heard an explosion and there's bodies all around me a-and oh my God!"

"Slow down! Who are you? Where are you?" Jimin hears her take a deep breath, and his palms moisten from the sound whacking his mind.

"My name is Y/N L/N, and I believe I am the sole survivor of the Blackwell."

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Disclaimer: Please note that all images and gifs, including the one on the cover, are not mine unless otherwise stated. All work belongs to the proper artists and they deserve every bit of praise for creating such masterpieces. Some of these were posted on Pinterest as free to use, others were general pictures and gifs taken of the boys. Please let me know if any image or gif bothers you and I will take it down! When there is a known artist/photographer, there will be image credit underneath it. Thank you!

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Please read:

I write on Wattpad for fun to escape the stress of my daily life. I am not perfect, so as much as I put a lot of effort into these fics, there may be moments you dislike or disagree with, and that's fine. No story is perfect, but this is mine, and I want to be proud of it. Please remember I am a human behind the screen, just like you. Any negativity, unsolicited advice/criticism, and or judgment will be deleted. 

Do not read my book because you want to criticize it, read it because you want to escape reality and hopefully enjoy a story in the process. I hate to sound entitled, but I spend hundreds upon hundreds of hours making these fics for you to enjoy for free. If you have negative feelings, simply keep them to yourself. I don't see why you would share them when you know they're going to hurt the author working hard to provide you free content.

It's fine if you dislike or even hate something I write, but that doesn't mean I have to know about it. I am already a professional writer irl; trust me, I get enough negativity and feedback on a daily basis. I'm not asking for much by asking you to keep negativity to yourself.

Again: I write on Wattpad for fun. I'm not on here to improve my writing, which is why I don't want to deal with negativity. It's like if you play a club sport for fun, then the coach yells at you for making mistakes. It's a club sport. The whole point of a club sport is to be fun and not serious. It's Wattpad, it's not that deep.

Not to mention this fic is over three years old. I am focusing on my current work now, so worrying about the old work is something I simply do not have time for.

I'm sorry if any of that sounds harsh, but please try to understand that I don't want to put up with negativity, especially on an old story. I've seen a spike in unnecessary negativity and hatred toward my stories, and I'm fed up with it.

I just don't see the point in typing a comment you know is negative and rude, then proceeding to post it. I will delete and block anyone who does this without warning.

TL;DR: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all.