Prologue:
It is the year 2519. Humanity used up most of our home planet and decided to move out to a new solar system. We terraformed dozens of planets and moons, making them habitable for humans. Then we colonized them.
The central planets became the Alliance. They are an interplanetary parliament bent on bringing all of the planets under their rule. The people on the outer planets didn't like that idea.
There was a war. The Alliance won.
For years, anyone who didn't want to be under Alliance control had to find a ship and keep flying. That's what I did. I found a ship capable of interplanetary travel, a crew able and willing to fly under my command, and found jobs to keep the ship in the air and food in our mouths. Sometimes that means taking less than legal jobs and staying out of eyeshot of the Alliance.
Before the Alliance could get the planets on the rim fully under their control, they lost some ground. The legendary Captain Malcolm Reynolds, and the crew of his ship, Serenity, uncovered an Alliance mistake, now called the Miranda Incident, that turned millions of innocent people into the scourge of the untamed wild: Reavers. Reavers are wild people with no known conscience. If they can catch you, they will kill you. But they'll 'do things' to you first.
Getting captured by Reavers is the second worst thing that could happen to you out here. The first is letting the Alliance get you under their thumb.
Chapter One:
It took about two months running at full burn for my ship, The Visage, to get from Earth-That-Was back to the colonies. Nearing the end of that journey, the crew was more than a mite irritated. I understand why. We'd been sent on a fool's errand, running to a dead planet that used to be home for something that doesn't exist.
It was my first officer, Randy McMillan, my pilot, Jen-All, and me, Captain Veron Daniels, all taking our ease at a tavern on the dark side of a desolate piece of moon with no name when we got the job. Randy is bright as fusion reactor and our resident jack-of-all-trades. He stands about 5 feet, 6 inches with hair the color of desert sand. He saw our client coming first.
"I bet this is for us," he said, nudging my arm and glancing in the direction of the door. A thin, short woman with hair down to here and thin-rimmed specs came into the tavern. Even in the dim candle light, I could see she was wearing a suit that was made for a man, but far too clean.
"Yeah, Randy, I think you're right," I commented as she glanced around the room and finally saw us. She came to the table.
"Captain Daniels?" She inquired, looking dead at me.
"You are?"
"Rannity Colmes. I have a proposition for you." She pulled a chair from an adjacent table and sat next to me.
"What kinda proposition?"
"One that requires your particular set of talents. I've heard a lot about you, Captain Daniels." She was a fast talker and she seemed to be sizing us up now. I straightened my brown duster and ran my fingers through my coal colored hair. I am tall enough to be intimidating when I want to be and more than slightly muscular. Aside from the scar on my cheek from a laser burn, I consider myself a relatively good looking man. Hell, even the scar adds character. But the way Rannity was looking at me made me self-conscious as all get out.
"Please, call me V."
"Okay. I've heard you're a tough man to cross, V. You don't back down, no matter what. But two things were more important than that. I've heard about how you handled the Osman Hunt a few months ago. The Alliance was hunting this fugitive for months. Apparently, you were able to track him for the Alliance, across several moons and planets, within a week's time."
"The Alliance wasn't lookin' in the right spots." She chuckled, her glasses sliding down her nose slightly. She pushed them back into place.
"Indeed. Also, I noticed how you weaseled a confession out of that Alliance grifter a while ago. Excuse me for saying, but you have the most finely-tuned bullshit detector I've ever seen." Jen-All snorted into her cup of mead. Rannity scowled at Jen-All.
"I'm sorry. That just sounded so cute coming from you," Jen-All said.
"Do not patronize me."
"I apologize, Rannity," I said. "My pilot is a mite spaced sometimes. Probably on account of her bein' born in space and hasn't been on land long enough for anything else but space to fill her head." I shot Jen-All a look that I hoped meant 'Shut your gorram mouth from now on.' She lowered her head and took a sip from her cup. She got the message. "Please, Rannity, let's get to the meat of this job."
"Sure, V. I work for a high profile arts and antiques dealer. He has a contact on Earth-That-Was. A man by the name of Lester. Lester has something very valuable for my employer. I simply need you to go and retrieve it."
I thought for a moment and instantly had questions. "That sounds too easy. What's the catch?"
"There is no real catch. As expected, since the Miranda Incident, tensions are high. So my employer's contact may try to give you some flack. But I'm sure you can handle that. Also, this is a very sought-after item. Keep it low profile, and you should have no other trouble."
"Why can't your man's contact just bring it?"
"There are several reasons, none of which I care to go over with you at this moment."
"Fair enough," I said. Randy shifted in his seat. "What's the pay?"
"Seven thousand now. Upon completion of the job, an additional twenty-three thousand. Thirty thousand total."
It took everything I had not to show how impressed I really was.
"As you can tell, Captain, this item is of dire import to my employer."
I nodded. "Certainly. Well, Rannity, I appreciate you coming out here. I need to have a sit-down with the crew to give you an answer, though. I'll send you a wave in an hour to let you know."
"Absolutely," she said, pushing the rotting wooden chair away from the table and standing. "I look to hear from you soon." Then she trotted away. Randy broke his unfazed facade.
"Cap't, are you kidding me? Thirty thousand? That would keep The Visage in the air for nigh two years."
"I know that. I'm twitchin' a bit with this one, though. The money is too good for too simple a job." I cast a glance back toward the door. "There's somethin' she ain't tellin' us."
"I've never been to Earth-That-Was," Jen-All chimed in.
Jennifer Alltirs, or Jen-All as she liked to be called, was a wiry spit of a girl, barely eighteen. But, like I'd quipped earlier, she has spent her whole life in the air. She's the best pilot I've ever seen. I watched her once pull off a Gritty Nelson in a first generation Firefly ship. That ain't no simple maneuver. She was being chased by a man who claimed she stole something from him. I reckon the only thing she stole was his affections.
Without warning, she spun the ship belly up (shaking up everything and everyone inside) and skimmed the back of the ship on the ground. Then she enabled the grav dampeners to give the ship enough momentum to push off of the ground, fly in a tight arc, and shoot past her follower. It didn't do much good, as his ship was small enough to turn tail and keep up the chase, but it was an impressive move. I figured Jen-All could do anything. So to hear that she'd never once flown to Earth-That-Was took the wind out of my sails some.
"Really?" That was all I could say. She nodded, staring into her drink.
"I've heard about it. But what I've heard isn't too great. On the Cicero, the ship my daddy flew, there was an old man. He would spin tales about the time before everybody left Earth-That-Was. He told us of poisonous air and ground so hot and dirty that you sink in it when you walk. And creatures. Vicious, biting animals as crazy as Reavers and even more dangerous." She shuddered. "I dunno if that old man was crazy or not, but I had nightmares about Earth-That-Was for weeks after that."
Randy spoke up next. "I've been there, xiao yi," he said. "Its not as bad as all that. In some places, its like livin' on the rim. Every man for himself and God for us all, you know? But there are some places that's almost as civilized as Osiris. But the air is kind of toxic. Most people there wear masks. The others, well they don't live too long."
"What do you think, V?"
I sighed. It was a difficult question. The money was good. But the risks were enormous. The trip was long. Earth-That-Was was volatile and its inhabitants are crazy or strung out. And if this object we're supposed to fetch is as high profile as Rannity led me to believe, then we have to be on our toes. As captain, however, I can't afford to mince words, especially with my crew. I made up my mind.
"We'll take the job." Jen-All's face fell. Even with Randy's encouraging words, she was none too pleased about going. "The coin will be appreciated and we need the work. The Alliance is crippled, but they ain't gone. And they're pushing those such as us harder and harder now. So we'll take the work."
"Good choice, Cap't." Randy stood up.
"Looks like I'll find out if that old man really was crazy."
I chuckled. "Shiny. Now let's get back to the ship."