You hummed to yourself as you held onto the hull of the ship with one hand as the other reached for a tool on your belt. The tether around your chest kept you from floating off into the dark expanse of space but left your relatively free to move about wherever and how ever you wished. 

And right now you wished to help Alex fix a nasty shot off section of her hull, despite the repeated pleas of reconsideration from your partner. Alex can fix herself in due time but you were a mechanic and figured it was best to be repaired sooner rather than later. Laureline agreed with Valerian about you not going out there but seeing him get all worked up about you "risking your life for no reason" gave her pause. So with a smirk and a push of a button, Laureline helped you out, no questions asked.

Valerian glowered as he slumped in his chair, his hair covering his eyes and he chewed on the end of an old bit piece. He watched you on one of his many screens, his mind reeling at why you would refuse to listen to his orders and turn Laureline against him while you were at it.  Not only was the ship hit and unable to fly but now he has his best mechanic out there tethered only by a lame piece of cable.

Laureline stepped into the cockpit with Valerian, letting out a little chuckle at what she saw. "You sure have it bad, don't cha?"

Valerian didn't move from his position as he grunted a reply. "I am not in the mood Larueline."

She sat down, checking a few monitors. "But you do know what I'm talking about."

He let out a huff of air before turning to look at her. "With you, you could be talking about a number of things."

"Yup, and your feelings for (Y/n) being one of them."

Valerian clenched his jaw and turned back to watching you, your form inching across the charred section of the hull. "She's part of our team. Of course, I care for her."

"But, you know, a little more than me."

He didn't answer right away. "No."

Laureline smirked. "You hesitated. Please don't spare my feelings."

Valerian turned his glare to her. "You know what fine, maybe I do like her a little more than a partner. But we were partners once and that turned into nothing real fast."

A blinking light on the console pulled Laureline's attention. "Uh huh."

Valerian continued. "So maybe I am a little apprehensive about crossing that line again."

The blinking light turned into three, then seven then twelve. "Uh, Valerian..."

He shook his head. "Not because I'm not happy to have you as a friend, we have talked about that already. But maybe because I'm not happy with her seeing me as just her superior officer or partner or...friend."

"Valerian wait,"

"There's just something in the way she makes me feel when she walks in the room. Like I need to go be with her."

"That's great man, but,"

"Not that I don't like being with you, it's just seeing her out there while I'm in here does something to me. Maybe what we were missing is was I have with her. The only problem is I don't know what she is thinking or how-

"VALERIAN!"

He jumped as Laureline threw something at him. There were over thirty flashing lights now and Laureline didn't have time to console her friend about his girl issues.

"That's nice and all but the real problem is the large mass of ships coming toward us. I suggest you wipe your tears and tell your girlfriend to get her butt back in here."

Valerian turned to the screen with you working, his heart dropping as he spotted the ships in the distance. He turned on the communicator and was about to call you in when Laureline got up and left.

"Where are you going?"

"Alex can't move and the range of her hull guns can only go so far. I'm taking the single rider to hold them off while you get (Y/n)."

"Be careful."

Laureline smiled sweetly. "Oh don't worry about me. I'm not tethered by an old cable dangling out in space. Focus on her, don't worry about me."

She rushed off as Alex's proximity alarm started to go off. Valerian glanced at you on the screen, his heart hammering as he tried to come up with a way to tell you that you were a sitting duck out there without freaking you out.

You looked back at your completed work, smiling to yourself. You got about a fourth of the damage fixed and in about half the time it would have taken Alex to fix it herself. A couple more hours and she'll be good enough to fight another day.

You were about to start on another section when your communicator went off.

"Hey (Y/n)?"

You're smile grew at the sound of Valerian's voice. "Hey, yourself."

"Now I'm sure you are doing a great job out there but I need you to come in now."

Your jaw dropped despite him not being able to see. "Val, I'm not even half way done."

"Yes, but I think that can wait. I need you to get inside. Now."

You heard a bit of edge in his voice. "Valerian. What aren't you telling me?"

"I just need you. You are the best mechanic I know and I would feel better if you were in here."

You shook your head as you got back to work and tried not to react to him saying he needed you. "You sure like to boss me around. I wouldn't normally complain but we can't go anywhere until I finish this."

"(Y/n) please. I'll do and say what ever you want but please, come in side."

"You are scaring me. What's going on? Are you ok? Is Laureline alright?"

"She's a bit busy at the moment with-"

You didn't hear the rest of what he said because there was a big blinding light coming from just behind you a bit. You turned and dropped your tools leaving them to float off as you tried to make sense of what was going on. Around two dozen smaller ships, about half the size of the Intruder, zoomed around, effectively surrounding the ship. They looked nasty, old, and like they could blow up a small moon if they all fired at once. But there was another more familiar ship going around, picking them off and drawing their attention. But seeing them blow up didn't exactly calm your nerves.

"Val..." you all but whimpered.

"I see them. Laureline is out there fighting them off. I just didn't want to scare you."

You blinked, your hands going numb with how tight you were holding onto the ship. You turned your back to the silent fight scene, your breathing becoming shallow.

"Yeah well, I suggest you practice on that."

"Sorry. Just breathe and focus on getting to the entry point. I'll meet you there."

You shook your head as you inched your way across the hull. You tried to do your best not to think about the battle behind you despite the bright flashes of explosions and the occasional sight of floating ship debris. You grit your teeth as you made slow progress.

"Have they noticed me yet?"

Valerian's voice back sounding like he just ran but he was a bit calmer than before. "No, not yet. Laureline has then distracted for now. But to be honest there are a lot of them. I'm not sure how they found us or who they are."

You found talking to him and hearing his voice helped you. "It's not all that surprising. We weren't moving and there are three life forms moving about. Easy target for anyone passing through."

"Maybe now you will listen to me next time I ask you not to risk your life."

"You very well can't take credit for the ambush. But I believe I get what you mean."

"That's good enough for me. How close are you to the docking point?"

You glanced around to get your bearings. You spotted it not too far off, but it was in a more exposed area of the ship. "Close. You already there?"

"Sure am. Let me know when you-"

Laureline's voice suddenly cut in. "Guys one got past me and it's heading straight for you (Y/n). Valerian, can you get Alex back on line?"

Valerian swore. "No. I'm by the docking hatch waiting for (Y/n)."

You took a deep breath. "Just shut up guys and let me focus. It's clear they don't want to harm the ship or else they would have already." You continued to make your way to the dock port.  "They must be from some kind of scavenger colony and that means they need the ship as undamaged as possible." You glanced behind you and sure enough, one of the ships sat hovering close by, it's guns unnervingly close. "I'm too small a target to get shot off without further damaging the hull. Let me focus on getting to the port hole. Laureline, keep the others busy. I'm almost inside."

The others stayed quiet as you came up to the entry point. You peered into the windows and smiled at Valerian standing on the other side of the vacuum chamber. He smiled back and waved. You nodded to him.

"I'm here. Go ahead and open it." You were almost breathless with anticipation to get inside. Safty just at your fingertips.

"Don't forget to unfasten your tether."

Oh, that's right. You turned to tug at the knot but something out of the corner of your eye gave you pause. Three ships now stationed themselves close by but one of them moved to where it was above the ship. You watched it frozen horror as its guns moved and started shooting. You screamed, ducking your head and wincing. But nothing hit you.

The port door opened and you could hear both Valerian and Laureline call your name. You looked up and reached for the open doorway but in your fear, you had let go and was now floating off. You would have been fine with that had your tether not been the target of those shots. You stared in shock at the frayed edge of the old cord, your stomach dropping.

Valerian banged on the inside door, calling out your name. "(Y/N)!!!!" The other ships were just waiting for you to get farther away from the ship before firing. He stood back and thanked the stars he had kept his suit on. With a push of a button, his helmet clipped on and he shut the outside door.

"I'm coming out."

Laureline came on. "You better hurry. I don't think they are interested in me anymore."

Valerian looked around for his own tether, finding an air duct hose poking out of the wall. Quickly he grabbed it, wrapped it around his hand and arm then opened the inner door, stepping into the chamber He gave himself more than enough slack then shut the door behind him before opening the outer door.

"I'm right here (Y/n), hold on."

One of the ships inched closer, getting a better angle on you. You turned your head nearly cried at seeing Valerian. He pushed off the ship and shot toward you. He opened his arms and wrapped one around your middle.

"Hold on to me, I need to pull us back in."

You just nodded, your shock slowly wearing off. But the ships were moving again. You wrapped your arms and legs around his front as he pulled hand over hand on the hose. You looked around him and found one of his guns. You took it out, and knowing full well it would do nothing you shot at the ships. That provoked them and they started firing, debunking your first thoughts on them.

Laureline's voice chimed it. "Great job. You made them angry. I'm back on the Intruder. Once Alex is back on line we will do with what we have and get out of here."

Neither of you spoke until the both of you were on the floor of the vacuumed chamber, breathing hard and not letting go of each other. The air pressure changed and the door to the ship opened. Valerian shut off his helmet as you did the same, all the while you held on to each other.

Breathing heavily Valerian leaned forward pressing his forehead to yours. "Don't scare me like that again please."

You just nodded closing your eyes as you felt him pull you closer. "Yes, sir."

The ship shook with sudden shots as Alex came back on line. Soon the Intruder was moving but Valerian didn't let you go. You opened your eyes and looked into his bright blue ones.

"Thank you for saving me."

"I'll be your knight in shining armor any day."

You laughed a bit, shaking your head as you glanced down at his lips. "I prefer dirty space officers."

Valerian smirked as he closed the distance between you. "Yes, ma'am."