Four Cents
Chapter 2- Firefly
Wash sat in the pilots chair of Serenity, the firefly class cargo ship that was their home, fiddling with something in his hands. His back was to the main vid screen and he failed to notice the face that appeared in a wave.
They cleared their throat, surprising him enough that he dropped the triceratops he'd been playing with as he jumped, swiveling around in his chair.
"Wo de ma! Zoe, don't sneak up on me like- oh." he finished surprised . ."uh, Hello."
The woman on the screen was rather attractive, curly dark hair and a tall slim build. 'She must be a companion,' he thought to himself.
"I'm looking for a Captain Malcolm Reynolds." she began.
Zoe came onto the bridge out of the shadows of the bridge doors, walked over to stand behind Wash, and addressed the screen. "And you are?"
"I need to speak with him about a business proposition. Is he available?" she asked again, not answering Zoe's question.
Zoe merely stared back in silence.
Wash sat silently looking back and forth between the two women, trying to decide which was worse, ticking off the man who paid him, or the woman who slept with him and could easily kill him with her pinky. He finally decided that Mal wouldn't forgive him, while Zoe might one day, and he bounced the wave down to Mal in his room.
Zoe stood silent, contemplating the now dark screen.
"She was just a companion, Zoe." Wash said trying to cheer up his now surely mad wife. "Said she had some business with the Captain."
Zoe snorted at him. "That woman was no companion."
"Sure she was," Wash said convinced. "She spoke well, sounded educated, and was graceful and beauti-" he cut off as he saw the eyebrow on his wife's face shoot up, "if you're interested in that kind of thing."
"-and armed" Zoe finished.
He was silent under her knowing gaze for a moment before continuing. "The Captain knows what he's doing. He's not going to get caught up in any trouble."
Zoe lifted one of her eyebrows and stared back quizzically at Wash, "You do remember Saffron, right?"
Wash opened his mouth wordlessly grasping for a come back and then leaned over and flipped a switch so that they could both watch the vid feed undetected.
...
Down in his bunk Mal dozed fitfully. He was dreaming about his ship, and he could swear that it was talking to him. It kept saying his name. "Malcolm Reynolds. Captain Malcolm Reynolds?" Mal opened his eyes and awoke abruptly as he realized the voice he was hearing came from the vid screen in his room. He sat up abruptly and his covers fell away to reveal a very scar ridden and naked body. "Renci de fozu." Mal said as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and tried to figure out who the hell he was looking at.
Stella Bonaserra was a veteran cop, and was rarely lost for words, but she defiantly was now. She looked at her notes for a moment uncertain and during the silence another figure walked onto the screen.
"Malcolm Reynolds?" the man asked. "We have some business we wanted to discuss with you."
Always ready for business Mal quickly threw on his shirt and pants. Wouldn't want the customer to think him slovenly.
The man on the screen ignored his state of undress and continued speaking. "I'm Detective Mac Taylor with the NYPD," and he flashed a badge.
Mal swore. "Fei fei de piyon. You're Alliance." he muttered.
Mac looked at his notes and shook his head. "No, we're not Alliance."
Mal sat up straighter, the back of his neck prickling. The men silently sized each other up for a minute. Mal had a distinct memory of the way his commanding officer used to look at him in the rebel army. He felt that gaze on him again now. The man defiantly had military training, even if he said he wasn't Alliance.
The man on screen seemed to find whatever it was he was looking for, and then nodded before he spoke. "Captain Reynolds, you don't know me. My name is Detective Mac Taylor, and this is my partner Stella Bonasera."
Mal glanced at the woman he'd first seen on the screen. She could have easily been mistaken for a companion if it wasn't for the gun and holster he noticed at her side.
"You said you had business you wanted to discuss," Mal prompted, "a little anxious to get to the point."
Mac nodded and began his story. "I'm with the New York City Police Department Crime Lab. We investigate crimes and solve them by following the evidence left at the crime scene. I believe that you and I could help one another."
...
20 minutes later, his mind whirling with possibilities, Mal turned off the vid screen, and went top side to speak with his crew. Zoe and Wash sat in the bridge arguing.
"I take it y'all were watching." he said to them both.
Wash just gave Mal an embarrassed smirk, but Zoe stood up in front of Mal, already ready for action.
"Round up the troops. Mess hall in 10 minutes." he told her.
A short time later they all sat around the dining room table. Mal took his usual spot at the head of the table as they all gathered around with their favorite beverage.
Mal glanced around at the faces gathered at the table.
River clutched her hands over her head as though she was in agony. "Universes...colliding, People, too many conflicting thoughts, places...can't go to the gray place..I can't..." she whimpered. Simon gently patted her hands and pulled her back to the table to listen to Mal.
"We've got contacts for a new job." he started off as everyone got settled. "Folks we ain't never worked with before. It seems they're in a spot of trouble, and could use our help. It seems that they're a TV show like we were and they want us to help them start the largest fanfic crossover the verse has ever seen." He took a sip of his drink before continuing. Their boss, Mac figures that by helping them out we could find ourselves some new viewers in the process."
"Those who want to help are welcome," Zoe said as she made eye contact with everyone at the table. "those who'd rather just stay out of it, are welcome to do that too."
"Good," Jayne muttered into his drink. "Don't know these people, don't want to."
Mal folded his arms across his chest. "They'll be going up against the Fox Network executives." he said quietly.
Jayne looked up and without pausing declared. "I'm in."
Mal hid a small smile behind the rim of his cup. "They'll be going up against all of the executives of the major studios. It seems that the executives refuse to meet the demands of the writers, and the writers are going on strike."
"Damn the Man." River said as if in a daze, then looked up at Mal, her eyes clear and sane as he'd seen murmured, "Keep on writing."
Mal looked down at the young fugitive and wondered where in the verse she got some of those ideas.
"Has that ever been done before?" asked Kaylee who was scrunching up her face, more than a little perplexed.
Not especially," Mal admitted, "which is why they are going to need all kinds of help." He put his cup down on the table and lifted his head to catch the eyes of each member of his crew...his family. "Somebody has to speak for these people. You all got on this boat for different reasons, but you all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Cause as sure as I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, or more they'll swing back to the belief that they can make TV...better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave." he said finishing with a grin.
The room was silent for a moment as Mal's words took effect.
"Do we have a plan?" Simon asked the group at large.
"I could talk to Serenity," Kaylee offered, "she what she can give us."
"Good." Mal said. "We're going to need to spread out word to all our loyal browncoats to lend a hand."
Book, who had been leaning against the kitchen door, stood up and moved forward so that he could see everyone clearly. "Wash and I could spend some time sending waves and making contacts with folks. We're only in about half of the fanfics anyways. We have more than a few free hours each day that we could spend putting the word out. I'm a Shepard. I'm supposed to spread the good word," he said with a smirk.
"Here comes the 'Rayne' again," Jayne said with a groan as he looked over at River. She in turn looked back at him and cocked her head to the side as if considering...
As each crew member turned to leave Mal found himself alone with the one person who had yet to speak.
"Well Inara, this affects you too you know. We start rattling some cages and you know there will be loads of fanfics about us. Do you think you could stoop to be on my arm again?"
Inara gave him a look. "Are you ever going to wash it?" she asked him with as much sarcasm as she could muster as she brushed past him heading for her shuttle.
"I thought that's what your specialty was." Mal said trailing behind her.
"That's feet, you fei fei de piyon."
Wash and Zoe sat together in the pilots chair on the bridge listening as Mal and Inara headed back to her shuttle arguing all the way.
Wash sighed and looked up at his wife. "Are they ever going to wise up?" he asked her.
Zoe smirked at his teasing and sat in his lap. "The Captain knows what he's doing." she said with conviction.
"Now whose forgot Saffron." he muttered good naturedly, and winced as she gave him a nudge in the stomach with her elbow.
"Hey aren't you supposed to be somewhere getting drunk and trying to get over me?" he asked her.
She rested her forehead against his and took a deep breath.
Wash wrapped his arms around Zoe's waist. "Never gonna happen Lambie-toes." he assured her, and they held each other as they started to make plans.
A Special note that many of these lines were actually from the Firefly series and or the Serenity movie, just taken out of context and moved around. I highly encourage everyone out there who has a sense of humor to watch the pilot of this show (the real one, not the TV aired version) and get yourself hooked on firefly.
The writers strike has ended- thank god, but we are still faced with the problem of losing good and/or new shows that didn't get enough air time. Help support the cast and writers of those shows who may still be on the chopping block by helping me continue this story line. Again, anyone who wishes to write something for this story line please email me and offer your help.
Thanks also to the constant reviews on this and my other fanfics. They have been really supportive, thank you.