Disclaimer: I own nothing. No rights to Firefly, none to Codename: Kids Next Door. I've gotten over it and you copyright lawyers out there should too!
Eavesdown Docks was always a buzzing hive of activity. Hundreds of ships, thousands of people, and almost three times as many merchants and street vendors desperate to make a buck. Cramped in such a small space. It wasn't good if you were scared of large crowds or hated endless droning noise. At least it was a social place. Pilots and captains of ships would often congregate and swap tales of harrowing adventures over cans of soda. It reminded them of a time before. A nicer time, back on Earth-That-Was.
Nigel Uno and his crew members, Abigail Lincoln and Wallabee Beatles, were not in a social mood. Nigel, in particular, hated Persephone, the planet the docks were located on, and wanted off as soon as possible. He was strictly business today. As such, he led his fellow crew members to their destination, a shack-like structure at the edge of the docks housing their contact. It didn't look secure, or big, or even permanent (Nigel was certain that their contact had multiple shacks just like this one all over Persephone), but it was where she'd be regardless.
The trio politely pushed their way through the crowd (no reason to cause a scene or give anyone reason to steal anything they have) and, in short order, arrived at the shack. It was unguarded, a testament to the cockiness of the contact inside, and unlocked, so Nigel and co. merely pushed open the door and walked in.
The shack consisted of what appeared to be two rooms, the meeting room they were in now and the large back room that acted as a storage area. The meeting room was sparse in colour and lightly furnished, only having a desk table and chair on the far wall near the back room. There were three teenaged goons stationed there, one stood next to the back room and two stood at the exit to the shack. The trio automatically assumed that the goons were armed. Wally mentally smirked. "Glad we brought guns now, aren't ya?" he thought to himself.
The crew weren't here to meet with the goons, though. They were there to meet with the individual sat behind the desk. Cree Lincoln.
"Well, hello there, Mr. Uno!" she greeted in a half mocking tone. "And you brought company! Just delightful."
"Hello, Cree." Nigel tried to soldier on with the deal. Cree, however, was in for dragging this out.
"Hey, sis!" she called out to Abby. "How's life on the fringe treating ya?" Abby moved close to Nigel.
"Permission to knock the smug off of her entire being, Captain?" she asked, almost begging.
"Denied," was Nigel's immediate response.
"See?" Cree gestured to the three goons in the room with her. "That's how you deal with a troublesome subordinate! Words not violence! You know, Nige, you could just so easily slip into my little organisation, if you fancied?"
"I don't much fancy."
"You're so not fun, anyone ever tell you that?"
"Multiple times," Wally chided. Nigel flung his upper body round and gave Wally the most terrifying look he was capable of giving anyone before turning back to the conversation.
"So…" Cree let the start of her sentence hang for a second before continuing. "What brings you fine upstanding citizens to Persephone? I should inform you, most real estate has been snapped up so I wouldn't plan on staying longer than sundown if you want a ship still here in the morning."
She already knew why there were there but she just wanted to hear the exceedingly prideful Nigel Uno admit it out loud. He, indeed, proceeded to swallow his pride and press on with his engagement.
"We need a job."
Cree laughed. "Yeah, brilliant. You know, there's a litter picker position open just along the way. I'm sure you folks will do a fine job…"
Nigel was not in the mood. "Highly amusing, but you may have misconstrued my point."
"No. Maybe I perfectly got your point and I just chose to, instead, make jokes at your expense to get away from the issue at hand."
"Which is?"
"I don't want to give you a job."
Silence then made an unwelcome entrance into the room along with its good buddy Tension. Cree's last line had made things unbearably awkward for all parties involved. The crew had, in theory, come down to Persephone for nothing. This did not sit well with Nigel. Not at all.
"Well, can you direct us to someone who can give us a job?"
"Can't do that."
"Why not?" Anger was now penetrating through his usually cool and calm voice. Cree was wasting his time and he was sick of it.
"Because, Nigel… buddy… pal, you and your fellow crew have a history. The Adults have a little list on you and having The Adults have a list on you tends to make people jumpy. I mean, what kind of idiot entrusts their highly dangerous and difficult missions to a bunch of kids who The Adults have tabs on?"
Now Nigel was certain that Cree was trying to wriggle her way out of their prior arrangement. Yes, The Adults did have a file on Nigel and his crew, but they'd known that for months. However, during those months, it had never been a problem in the transaction of business. He'd dealt with crooks way larger than Cree and they'd not considered it an issue. The Adults have dossiers on everyone, and those who don't are more valuable than pixie dust. Hence Nigel's conclusion: Cree was purposefully wasting his time.
"So give us some remedial work, then."
"'Fraid I can't do that either."
"Why not?" The others members of the room realised that violence was going to go down soon and primed themselves accordingly. Guns in holsters were flashed and nobody wanted to be the one to make the first move; just in case things didn't go south.
"Because… you're too good."
"Define that for me."
"Look… Nige, I know your whole deal. You work with what you'd class as 'two bit thugs' like me one minute, then turn around and try and get as close to official Adults work as you can get the next."
"I take what I can get to keep flying."
"Yeah? Well your lack of selective pickiness is starting to ruffle a few people's feathers. How can they take a job from you if you're just as likely to hogtie them and drop them off on some bounty hunters doorstep the second you get paid, as you are to shake their hand?"
"Bounty hunting is way above me…"
"And how about when it's not, hmm?" Cree leapt over the table and got straight up in Nigel's face. "Loyalty is hard to come by nowadays, Nige. And we 'two bit thugs' thrive on loyalty, it's how we survive. Your only loyalty is to your crew and that whore you drag around with you who," she laughed, "I don't even know why you bother to treat as kindly as you do!"
"We go back," he replied. "And you leave Rachel out of this."
"Oh, I'm more than happy to," she snapped. "Because you, your little buddies and the whore you have on that godforsaken rickety bucket of bolts you call a spaceship are blacklisted from my organisation!" The elder Lincoln sister then returned to her desk. "And when our wonderful little chat is over, I'm getting on the horn to every other criminal worth their salt and they'll get on blacklisting you too!"
Nigel turned to leave. "So much for negotiating."
As he finished his sentence, he spun back around and, in one fluid motion, un-holstered his pistol and fired a shot at the head of the goon in the corner. Abby and Wally, at the same time as Nigel (as if the trio were synchronised), un-holstered their guns and took out the guards stood behind them. The trio then aimed their guns directly at Cree's head, positioned as such so that she was staring down four barrels (Wally's double barrelled shotgun included in the count). She sighed.
"Now I have to hire some extra help," she quipped, dejectedly.
"Let's try this differently," Nigel began. "You are going to give us a job and we are going to get paid for it."
"And if I refuse?" Cree remained cool the whole time. Nigel pulled back the chamber on his pistol.
"I'm thinking of going into bounty hunting. Tell me, Abby, how much do you think The Adults will want for a 'two bit thug' like your sister?"
"About enough to buy a unicorn with, sir," she deadpanned.
"And that's not counting the emotional wealth that Abby here will gain from being reunited with her dear sister."
"Shoot me," Cree replied.
"Well that can certainly be arranged," Wally butted in.
"Why don't you just rob me and shoot me?" Cree suggested.
"I don't work that way," Nigel stated.
"Huh, nobility. That's rare. It'll get you killed, one day."
"I'll take my chances. Give us a job."
Cree sat back for a second, trying to find a job that she wouldn't miss giving out to people she actually liked. Then, she remembered the perfect one.
"Follow me."
The trio followed Cree to the back room where she stopped next to a giant box.
"I have a client on Whitefall. Goes by the code number 274. Ring any bells?"
Nigel knew precisely who Cree was talking about.
"Yes… it does," was his only response.
"Well, he knew you were a frequent visitor of me, so he dropped this box off here the other week and specifically asked for you to deliver it back to him."
Abby was suspicious. "And you're only just telling us now?"
"Yeah?"
"Why didn't you just give us the job when we came in, then?"
"Because, sis, I enjoy messing with y'all."
"What's in the box?" Nigel tried to steer the conversation back on topic.
"Oh, hang on, I have specific instructions!"
The trio's guns followed Cree as she bent down to pick up the piece of paper. She dusted it off and read it aloud.
"'You are not to open the box. Apart from moving it onto your ship, you are not to touch the box. You are not to rattle the box. If you spend too long staring at the box, I will know and you will be punished accordingly. You are to let me know 2 days in advance of your arrival on Whitefall that you have the box with you. If you stick to all of these instructions, you will be paid, by me, in full, on your arrival on Whitefall.'"
Nigel thought it over for a moment. On the one hand, it was easy money, something that the crew on his ship desperately needed. But, on the other hand, he hadn't seen 274 in a long time. And that last meeting hadn't ended so well. Then again, last time he didn't have his crew with him. That evens the odds, right?
"And you'll leave us alone?" Nigel wanted to make certain about that part seeing as Cree now had a legitimate reason to hate him.
"Please! Why would I waste my time going after you saps? I've got bigger fish on this rock to flambé."
"You just threatened to get every single client we know to blacklist us."
"I needed to see if you had balls. And you've got a set bigger than the breasts of a Companion, I like that. Now, are you going to take the job or not?"
Again, Nigel thought it over briefly. Easy money vs. dangerous client. A few moments later, he came to his decision.
"We'll take it."
It took a while but eventually, the large box was loaded onto a cart that the crew could push back to their ship.
"Well, it's been a pleasure doing business with ya!" Cree smirked to them.
"Glad that it was a pleasure for someone," Abby quipped under her breath. She'd had a rocky relationship with her sister back on Earth-That-Was as is. That relationship had derailed by the time they were forced into the 'verse and their time apart had only exacerbated the poor relationship. She hated Cree and, if it weren't for the fact that their way of life necessitated Cree's continued existence, Abby would happily leave her in a ditch somewhere on this godforsaken rock. As for now, she got to pushing the cart with Wally and Nigel. Cree watched the trio leaving from the entrance to her shack…
…until Nigel stopped suddenly, turned around and ran back to her, as if he forgot something. "This'll be good," she thought to herself. Nigel made it back to Cree, stopped for a second to catch his breath, and then asked his question.
"Do you have a primary buffer panel lying around we could use?"
