Warning: This story is rated M. There is sexual content, swearing, drug use, violence, and adult themes ahead. You have been warned.

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 Astray.

Please note: This is a sequel to my previous sci fi adventure titled Adrift. Also also, there will be a MAJOR time skip in the second chapter, this is just a prologue to the concept.

Vote, follow, comment, and add to your library for more. This is a passion project, so any support on this story is much appreciated.

~~~

All he does is float.

Park Jihyun is a low level engineer onboard the Tokyo, a battleship run by his brother; otherwise known as the legendary Park Jimin. Yes: the Park Jimin. The one who saved the solar system on multiple occasions. That Park Jimin.

Has Jihyun ever been a little jealous of his brother? Of course, but he's also happy for him. Jimin's married and has a kid now, so Jihyun can't be anything but happy for his older brother. However, he does wish he was part of the Moonchild crew. The same crew that saved the entirety of Earth.

He sighs, letting himself float. The artificial gravity is on, but not in this part of the ship. He has his magnetic boots like everyone's required to have, but he's too lazy to use them. It boggles his mind even though he's an engineer: how does the artificial gravity work on ships? It's like it can be turned on and off in certain rooms, like the main reactor he's floating in now. The reactor needs less gravity so it's easier to work on all the equipment planted around the room, including on the roof. Just makes life easier.

There's some other engineers around, but they don't matter to Jihyun. The only thing that matters is him and his thoughts. But he's quickly interrupted in a way he never thought he would be.

The main ship's comm dings, the loud speakers almost hurting Jihyun's ears. Then, his brother's voice calls out to him.

"Silver Engineer Park Jihyun, please report to the bridge."

Just like that, Jihyun snaps into serious mode. He turns on his boots, landing on the metal walkway with a loud 'thunk' before going as fast as he can out of the room. It's hard to run when mag boots are turned on, but he's managing about as well as he can.

The real question is why the hell is Diamond Commander Park Jimin asking for him? If he wanted to talk, there's always phones or comms. Is there an emergency? Jimin knows what he's doing; he's quite literally the leader of the solar system. He's a Diamond Commander. The only one there is, promoted by a higher up on Earth because of his service. Jimin is the leader of the entire solar system.

Jihyun manages to make it to the bridge in only two minutes, panting as he heads inside. He's surprised to see the place calm, everyone at their stations.

"Executive Jeon, Commander Park," Jihyun's voice calls, rushing over and standing at attention.

"At ease, lil bro," Jimin says, turning to face him with a bright grin. "Ah, look at you, all grown up."

Jungkook chuckles at the Commander's words, and Jihyun takes a moment to notice him. Jungkook has gotten more reserved these days, probably because he's a father now. Him and his husband Tae are two of the most popular faces in the system. Jihyun can't help but be envious of their popularity and success. And happiness. And love. That's one thing Jihyun needs. Love. A lot of it.

"You see me every day, weirdo," Jihyun replies, giving his brother a nudge. "Having a kid making you sentimental?"

"Park Namjoon, our baby boy," he whispers, peeking over at his wife. Mrs. Park sits in the pilot's seat, shooting them a small smile and a wave Jihyun's quick to return.

Jihyun loves Jimin's wife more than he does. She's iconic. Speaking of iconic, Kim Seokjin is dashing around, guiding engineers. He's Chief Engineer, after all; technically, he's Jihyun's commanding officer. Well, Jimin is the commanding officer, but Jin is like the second in command for Jihyun, even above Jungkook.

"New father's, always like this," Jihyun teases. "Now why am I here, sir?"

"Sir? Only my wonderful wife can call me-"

"You have a kid and you're still this horny?" Jungkook interrupts, Jimin pouting at his best friend's words.

"As if you aren't like this around Taehyung."

"Guilty as charged," Jungkook says with a proud smile.

"Sir," Jihyun repeats. Just like that, Jimin and Jungkook snap back into their professional modes.

"We have a situation. I'm assembling a team of rookies to go check it out. A distress signal near Ganymede, coming from the ship named the Aphrodite. I want you to be on that team. It's a team of seven, you included. I have a higher up that's going with you as a supervisor."

"And the others?" he asks.

"Akira will be your commanding officer, but there's also a medic, a pilot, an intelligence officer, an agent, and a solider."

"A soldier?" Jihyun asks.

"It's nothing serious from what we can tell, but rather be safe than sorry," Jimin explains with a shrug. There's a few beats of silence, Jimin letting a sigh pass his lips. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. Totally up to you."

Jihyun gives Jimin a sly smile. "Oh please, I'm definitely doing this. Wouldn't you feel better knowing your lil bro is handling this?"

"I'm not sure if I'd feel better or worse," Jimin teases. Jungkook laughs, giving Jimin an amused look he's quick to return. Sometimes Jihyun wonders if they're secretly dating, then he remembers that they're both married with kids and drops the thought. "Alright, gear up, you leave in ten minutes," Jimin says.

Jihyun grins. "Sir?"

Jimin raises a brow. "Yes?"

"I only need five."

~~~

Akira, Rosalind, Axel, Jamal, Sky, and Xena; the entire crew.

The commanding officer, Akira; the medic, Rosalind; the soldier, Axel; the intelligence officer, Jamal; the agent, Sky; and the pilot, Xena. Of course, Jihyun is the engineer. The Aphrodite is a smaller ship; much, much smaller. Being on it feels strange. What's even stranger: no one's around.

The ride to the tiny ship was silent, everyone watching the approach on the monitors. Jihyun found himself amazed that he was flying in a ship other than the Tokyo. It's been a while since he's seen space from another ship. Jihyun finds himself wishing he was part of the Moonchild crew. He would've gotten to dart around the solar system in such a beautiful ship.

When they actually arrived, Jihyun ended up being the last one out. Rosalind had to practically push him out when she saw he was lagging behind. Now, they're sauntering down the metallic corridors with steam hissing at them from broken pipes, Jihyun gazing around in a poor attempt to find a clue of some sort.

Despite searching for clues, Jihyun's mind wanders to his parents back on Earth. Jimin cut off all contact with them after he signed a deal with the Tokyo. Jihyun took longer, but he recently did the same. He ponders the idea of reaching out one more time. A check-in. Such a simple thing. Simple but effective. Jihyun often thinks-

"Eyes open, hands on your pistols but don't draw unless I tell you to, understood?" Akira's deep voice says. Jihyun gulps but obeys, just like the rest of the rookies. No one speaks. Everyone here is rank silver or below except for the medic, so there's no real point in even trying to argue.

Akira is leading the way, Rosalind next to him. She's the highest ranked here, a gold. Gold Medic Rosalind. Very bright, ginger hair. Long too, but that's covered by the helmet they were told to put on before entering. Now here they are, coming up on the bridge after seeing nothing for the entire trek up here.

The ship itself feels like a horror movie Jihyun and Jimin watched as kids. There's broken pipes on the walls, the corridors made of a hard metal that has stains and dents on it, and the lights are fluorescent; they practically burn Jihyun's eyes. Even his helmet beeps, trying to put on a filter to protect his eyes.

"Stay behind me," Akira mumbles, the others wordlessly agreeing.

Soon enough, the door is being opened, Akira rushing inside with his pistol out and pointed at the ground. Jihyun swallows his nerves and sprints inside with his fellow rookies, surprised to see five people on the bridge. Just five. No more, no less. But that's not all: their backs are facing them.

"My name is Akira Cromwell from the Tokyo. Diamond Commander Park Jimin sent us, can you please tell me your names, positions, and current situation?" he calls, slipping the pistol back into the holster strapped around his thigh. Jihyun relaxes at his commanding officer's ease, but that doesn't stop his gut from tying up inside him.

There's a few beats of silence, Akira halting and reaching for his pistol again. "Excuse me, where is your commanding officer?"

Again, nothing. Then, they turn around.

Jihyun's eyes widen as he takes in the pale color of their skin, watching as they slowly blink with their gray eyes. They look distant despite the close proximity. Like they're physically here, but mentally somewhere else.

"What the hell?" Akira asks, squeezing his pistol. "What happened here?" He gets no response. The group of five stare and stare, no emotion in their eyes. Before Jihyun can move to grab his pistol, he feels hands grabbing his arms.

"Hey!" Jihyun yelps as he gets pulled back. Just like that, all of the crew is getting grabbed. Gunshots go off, but Jihyun is too busy fighting the man holding him to care. "Get the fuck off me!" Jihyun keeps yelling, going for a kick but missing. Akira and Rosalind are the only two shooting; the others got grabbed before they could go for their guns.

Jihyun is dragged away by a force twenty times stronger than him. The gray-eyed man's grip on him almost seems to be crushing his bones. He wants to go for his comm, to call Jimin and ask him for backup, but his arms are being held so tightly he can barely feel them.

"Akira!" Jihyun hears Jamal yell. Jihyun glances up in time to watch as Akira gets tackled by four men at once. Jihyun writhes around, but nothing works. The five rookies get pulled away from the scene on the bridge, entering a different room.

"Fuck you! Get away from us, assholes! We're supposed to be saving you!" Axel shouts.

He manages to land a few kicks on his attacker, but the one holding him doesn't even flinch. What is this power? What the actual fuck is going on? Jihyun doesn't have time to process it seeing as they're brought into the reactor room, his eyes bulging once he takes in the sights. It's dark, but there's undeniably one thing in the center of the room: a ring.

Instead of there being the reactor, it's an enormous, round, ring-like structure. It's gray, seemingly made out of some kind of metal Jihyun doesn't recognize. But that's not the shocking part: it looks like a portal. The black, shadow-like fog radiating from the center of the ring calls to him, as if inviting him in. Jihyun feels entranced by it, all his fight leaving him while he gets taken closer and closer to the object.

The writhing and cries of the other rookies halts, everyone going stiff once they see the portal. The people holding them let them go, and as if on instinct, the rookies go closer. And just like that, everything changes.

Jihyun steps through the portal.

~~~

"Where is he?!"

Jimin punches the center console, his wife looking at him like he has ten heads. "Sir, I'm trying to get in contact, but the ship is moving constantly. It's like it has a mind of it's own," she says, tapping away on the map in front of her.

"Our lives were supposed to be peaceful," Jimin mumbles. As soon as she hears the words, Y/n stands and hugs him. He sighs, hugging her back as tightly as he can. "I lost him for two years, Jagi. I can't lose him again."

She nods, rubbing his back soothingly. "We'll get them back, okay? We'll find them. We'll find Jihyun."

He nods, believing her despite the situation. It's been two hours since they left, and the Aphrodite is on the move. It's moving fast, and since it's a smaller ship (especially compared to the battleship that is the Tokyo), it's outrunning them.

He pulls away from their hug, letting the girl plant a kiss on his cheek. "It's gonna be okay. I promise," she whispers.

"Thank you, princess," he whispers back, sniffling as tears threaten to spill from his eyes. She gives him a firm nod, sitting back down to help pilot their course. Jimin motions to Jungkook. Executive Jeon steps forward, awaiting Jimin's orders. "I want you to send all our probes out. We don't know if the ship is armed. Have the probes track them. When we determine what their weaponry looks like, we'll send teams out to board. Prepare our EMP cannon. When we get the OK from the probes, aim the EMP to disable their engines. How long will it take to charge?"

"A minute, sir."

"Charge it now. Get the probes out there-"

"Sir, their course," Y/n interrupts.

"What is it?" Jimin asks, fearing the answer.

"They're going right for Pluto."

He resists the urge to slump to the ground. Even though the ship is still in range, Jimin knows it: he lost his brother. Jungkook holds him steady while the realization hits his brain. It makes him dizzy, his vision blurring in and out.

"Wait, I lost them!" Y/n yells.

"What?" Jin asks, rushing over.

"I don't have them on the scanner anymore! They just fucking disappeared!"

"What, like a cloaked ship?" Jin asks.

"I have no fucking idea!"

Jimin almost faints upon hearing these words, Jungkook the only thing keeping him standing right now. There's silence for a few moments, the bridge going quiet while staring at Jimin. He swallows the lump in his throat, tears burning his eyes.

"I... send a ship out... investigate," he mumbles. "Keep an eye on the scanners if they come back. We're going to Pluto. Inform the Earth Council about what happened. I leave that to you, Executive Jeon." Jimin's eyes fall to the ground as he ignores Jungkook's gaze and the gaze from the other workers.

"Get back to your stations, let us handle this!" Jungkook says. The stares stop, the bridge going back into full activity again. Jimin wants to cry, but he can't. Something's holding him back. Jungkook attempts to comfort him, but it's pointless. It's safe to say that Jihyun's ship doesn't pop up again. The Aphrodite doesn't pop up again. The Tokyo doesn't find anything near Pluto. It's over. Jimin lost him again.

He lost Jihyun.

~~~

A/N: After debating for over a year, I'm deciding to put Astray on Wattpad. I wanted to keep it as a Quotev exclusive seeing as Quotev is where I started, where Adrift started, and where I have a large following. However, Adrift is somehow more popular on Wattpad than it is on Quotev. Adrift has almost 30k reads on here, which I am very grateful for. I hope you guys enjoy this surprise, and I'll see you in the next chapter!