Author's Notes: This is my first Firefly fanfiction. This is the first in a series about the adventures of the crew of Serenity and their new pilot, Mike Arisen. (Warning: Mike is a mild Mary-Sue.) I hope you like it. Note: the characters of Firefly are owned by Joss Whedon. I own the characters of The Controller, Mr. Hob, and Mike Arisen.
Chapter 1
The shadowy person sat behind a desk in a dark office as the Operative stood before the desk. This person, the Controller, looked sternly at him in a black suit and tie. The Operative had failed him, the Parliament, and especially the Alliance. He still agreed that he had to be punished.
"Do you understand the implications of the wave that you were unable to stop? You told me River Tam was no longer a threat. If she has knowledge of this, there is no limit to her knowledge." the Controller spoke with authority. "I was hand picked by the Lord Protector and ratified by the Parliament to prevent situations such as this from occurring. I chose you because I thought you were the most competent to perform this mission."
"An dong, Controller" the Operative answered simply. He had a feeling of what was coming. It would not be honorable, but neither was his precious Alliance.
"You realize that you have failed," the Controller continued. "The future has no need for failure and, it must be eliminated. Someone better will replace you. It is evolution, nature's way of making everything better."
"Yes, Controller," the Operative answered. The Controller pushed a button on the desk and activated an intercom.
"You can enter, Agent Hob," the Controller commanded into the intercom. The double doors at the fore of the office opened. A man with blonde hair and glasses in a black suit walked in with his hands behind his back. The Operative turned around to face him. This is it, he thought, my last stand.
"Mr. Hob," the Controller continued, "Show the operative what we do to people who fail." Hob took his hands from behind his back and reached into his black jacket. He was wearing blue gloves….
Hob removed a short rod from his jacket. Two blue spicules emerged from each end of said rod. He held it before him horizontally and, it emitted an electrical whir. The Operative's nose started bleeding. The Operative turned back to the Controller.
"You should have let me fall on my own sword," he said. Blood started flowing copiously from all of the Operative's facial orifices and fingernails, yet he did not yell in pain. He was still strong but, the Operative finally collapsed into a pool of blood. He had died. Hob returned his rod to his inside coat pocket.
"You know what his sin was Mr. Hob?" the Controller asked.
"What was it, Controller?" Hob replied without emotion despite the carnage he had just wrought.
"Despite years of training as an assassin," the Controller continued, "He still had a soul. To complete this mission, we need someone without a soul. Someone who lost it, someone we can fully control."
"I will initiate Plan Si," Hob answered plainly, "One by one, not two by two."
"You are dismissed," the Controller ordered. "Take the Operative's body to be cremated. I want all evidence of his non-existence destroyed."
"Existence is very relative," Hob stated. "When you don't believe, you can make anything disappear." Hob bowed his head in subservience. He bent over, grabbed the Operative's legs, and dragged him out of the Controller's office.
The Firefly transport Serenity flew through the black away from Mr. Universe's moon after making several necessary preliminary repairs. The fact that a panel had just fallen off made Captain Mal Reynolds think that they were going to need to make a few more repairs, but not just to Serenity. The deaths of Shepherd Book and Wash were unexpected and Wash's especially had left a vacuum on their boat. Mal couldn't pilot the ship forever, even with River by his side and River wasn't good enough to pilot the ship herself.
"We probably do," River stated out of the blue. Mal knew what she was talking about. She was a reader, she could read minds. "We will need a new pilot."
"I'm thinking we'll go back to Persephone," Mal said. "We'll make a few repairs and put out a wave for a new pilot."
"We found Serenity on Persephone," River replied. "It's appropriate to begin a new journey where the first originally began."
"Yeah I guess," Mal answered.
An dong: Chinese "I understand"
Si: Chinese "Four" and "Death"