TEENAGE REBELLION
By: Harliquinn
Several years ago (more than I care to remember) I wrote several Highlander fanfics, but never journeyed outside of that universe. Lately, I've been getting the urge to visit with the cast and characters from Firefly. This is my first foray into Firefly fan fiction. Hopefully, I have and will remain true to the characters as they act the little play I have envisioned for them. I don't own any of the Firefly universe or its characters, and hope Joss Whedon and Tim Minear don't mind me playing in their sandbox for a while.
This story takes place after the series and the feature movie, Serenity, and contains spoilers for both. While knowledge of the background might be helpful, it isn't necessary to follow the story.
The premise is that after the events in Serenity, River becomes a bit rebellious, and Malcolm doesn't quite know how to deal with it. The story will contain the disciplinary spanking of a teenager in later chapters. You have been warned, so if you don't like it, don't read it.
Any feedback and constructive criticism you wish to give would be greatly appreciated.
* * * * *
Chapter 1
"Sir." Zoe caught Mal's attention as he exited the engine room, where he had spent the last several minutes arguing with Kaylee about the latest part she wanted to purchase for one of Serenity's many mechanical workings.
Captain Malcolm Reynolds shook his head and looked back over his shoulder at the door to the engine room. He thought of Kaylee as a member of his family – the little sister he'd never had. In one way or another, each member of the crew of Serenity were his family. "One of these days, Zoe. One of these days, she's going to push me too far." He turned and looked at Zoe Washburn, his second in command and, in many ways his confidant. "What do you need?"
Zoe fell into step beside Mal and together they walked down the hallway into the ship's galley. "Sir, you've got to do something about River."
Mal stopped and turned to look at Zoe. "What's the Lil' Albatross done this time?" River Tam was a seventeen year old genius who had come onboard the ship the year before along with her older brother, Simon. Dr. Simon Tam had given up a promising career as a trauma surgeon at one of the Alliance's top medical centers to rescue his sister from and Alliance run academy that served as a front for a military lab that turned human beings into weapons. No one was really sure what had been done to River at the academy, but by the time Simon had rescued her, she had been driven insane. She's come onto Serenity as a jumble-mind, barely coherent piece of humanity. Mal had learned long ago to lock his heart and his feelings away from the eyes of those around him, but he had developed a soft spot for young River. It was true that she had been turned into a human weapon and developed into a strong mind-reader. It was also true that when the secret behind the creation of the Reavers on Miranda had been discovered and revealed to the universe, something had changed in River. While not completely sane, and still with her warrior abilities and mind reading skills, she was quite a bit more coherent. In fact, Mal and Zoe had been grooming River to take over as ship's pilot. The position had been left vacant when Zoe's husband had been killed during their attempt to reach Mr. Universe and broadcast the truth about Miranda over the cortex.
"I found her on the bridge. She'd reprogrammed all of the information to display in … well, I think it's French."
A rash of pranks had been plaguing the crew of Serenity for the last few weeks, all of which had been traced back to River Tam. Mal could put up with the occasional prank. Hell, he'd been known to pull a prank or two himself. But, River's pranks had been growing steadily more annoying and were beginning to approach being dangerous. He didn't know what had gotten into the girl, but he had a feel he was going to have to find out soon.
"You tell her to change it back?"
"I did." Zoe hooked her thumbs in the belt loops at her waist. "She looked right at me and told me she didn't have to, and I couldn't make her do it. I tried to reason with her that I had to be able to read the displays. She then said she could read it just find, so why did it matter that no one else could."
Mal sighed heavily and rubbed his hands up and down his face. Zoe was right, he thought. He was definitely going to have to do something about River. Things were starting to get out of hand. "I'll go talk to her."
Zoe caught Mal's arm as he passed. "You're going to have to do more than talk to her, Captain. You've tried that before and it didn't work. She's going to end up getting someone hurt if she isn't stopped soon."
"Yeah, I know," Mal sighed again. "I just wish I knew what I should do." He clinched his right hand into a fist and rubbed his left hand over his knuckles. "If it were Jayne, or even Simon, I know what I'd do." Both hands dropped to his sides. "But, I can't take that approach with River. I'm going to have to conjure on that awhile."
"Don't take too long, Sir." Zoe stepped past Mal and started down the hallway. Mal watched until she stepped into the ship's galley, then turned to make his way up to the bridge. As he approached the bridge he heard the angry shouts of Jayne Cobb, the ship's resident mercenary and weapons expert, mixed in with those of River.
"Whatta you mean you ain't gonna change the display back? How in the gorram hell am I supposed to know you ain't programmed this thing to fly into the nearest asteroid?"
"I can kill you with just my mind. Why would I want to fly the ship into an asteroid to do that. Besides, there aren't any asteroids anywhere near here."
"I don't care if there ain't any asteroids within a hunnert miles of here. Change it back"
"No."
Just as Mal stepped onto the bridge he heard Jayne growl and saw him take a step toward River. "Bizui! What in the gorram hell is going on here?" Mal demanded.
"She's done mucked with the controls. All the data is being displayed in some foreign language." Jayne gestured River, who was sitting at the co-pilot's control station. Her small feet were perched on the edge of her seat, and her knees were tucked up under her chin. Her slender arms were wrapped around her knees, her hands folded. In short, she looked as innocent as an angel – except for the sly smile on her face.
"I have no idea what he's talking about, Captain." River sat up and lowered her feet to the floor in a movement so fluid that neither Jayne nor Mal had seen her brush the control that changed the data displays back to their usual mix of English and Chinese. "I haven't done anything. I promise." She stood as Mal, with a hard glare at Jayne which told the large man to stay exactly where he was, approached the control panel.
Mal looked at the control panel and saw that everything, was, indeed, as it was supposed to be. He turned his glare on River. "If you ain't done anything, why are Jayne and Zoe both sayin' you did?"
River shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Maybe they are both hallucinating. They should go have Simon check them out. Could be something serious." She sent a concerned look in Jayne's direction, then turned to look at Mal with her most innocent smile on her face.
"No. You did something, alright. I just don't know what." Mal turned to Zoe, who had just entered the bridge. "Zoe, come check and make sure all the coordinates are right and that we're still on course for Boros. Jayne, go make yourself busy somewhere else." He turned and leveled a hard look at River. "You, young lady, go to your room and wait for me there. We're going to have a serious discussion about all of these pranks you've been pulling."
"But, I haven't done anything," River pleaded again.
"You keep tellin' yourself that, and maybe you'll start to believe it." Mal grabbed River gently by the upper arm and gave her a slight shove toward the door. "If you know what's good for you, you'd better be waitin' for me in your room when I come lookin' for you. Dong-ma?" He watched as River gave him a sharp salute, a pout on her face, stomped out of the room, pausing only to punch Jayne hard in the arm as she passed him.
"Ouch, gorramit River!" Jayne started to follow the girl and exact some measure of revenge for the punch.
"Jayne, let her go." Mal said as he turned back to the control panel. "Zoe, you think you can figure out what she's done."
"Give me a minute, sir." Although she was no computer expert, Zoe knew enough about piloting ships and Serenity's controls that she could tell something wasn't right. She flipped a toggle switch and the display against showed in some foreign language. When the switch was flipped again, the display returned to normal. "I don't know what she did, yet, sir. But she definitely did something." Zoe looked up at Mal, who was leaning against the control panel, his arms crossed against his chest, and his legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles. "It's going to take me awhile to figure out exactly what she did."
"That's good enough for me." Mal straightened. "See what you can do to figure it out and undo it." He started walking toward the doorway. "I'm going to go have a talk with River." As Mal passed Jayne, who was lounging just inside the doorway, he thought he heard the big man say under his breath, "gotta tan her hide." Mal looked up at Jayne, only to see the big man staring at him. "Maybe."
* * * * *
I hope to have the next chapter posted soon.
