Disclaimer : I do not own Firefly/Serenity People, Places or Things
Chapter 28:
Bomb in a Birdcage
Mal barely registered his trip from the sick bay to the helm, his mind was spinning. How to keep his crew safe, his ship in one piece, to get Kaylee back, confront Reeve, and Liara….
"Mal?" Wash's voice broke through his jumbled thoughts. Mal realized he stood in the doorway, staring blankly ahead, not seeing the bustle of people wending their way along the docks.
He turned to his pilot. "What did you find?"
"This." Wash pointed to a small screen. The fuzzy image showed a small, boxy shape sitting on a curved metal surface.
"And this is…?"
"Not supposed to be there. I did a scan and it picked this up. It's an explosive."
"Liara was right." He cursed Reeve. "Where is this?"
"On the outer hull of the second shuttle."
"How can we disarm it?" Mal muttered, more to himself than to Wash.
"Carefully?" Mal just stared at Wash. "Sorry. I'm no expert on this by any stretch of the imagination Mal, but it seems magnetized."
"Can't see a timer on the bugger. Reeve must have a remote detonator."
"You're probably right." Wash put in, staring at the little box on the screen.
"We can start by detaching it, figure out how to take care of it when we can get a better look. If we had Kaylee…"
Wash suddenly turned to a panel where a little light was flashing on the corner of the console. "Uh, Mal. Removing it might be a problem. "
"Shouldn't trigger it."
"No, that's not it. The shuttle is prepped for takeoff. "
"What!"
"Someone triggered lock detachment and taking it out. "
Gorrammit- "Liara!" Mal went to move, reflexes strained to catch her.
"Too late Mal, she's out." he flipped a switch and turned a dial. "Try hailing her."
Mal grabbed the hand com above his head. "Shuttle two do you copy?" He released the button- static. "Liara do you copy?" Nothing but white noise. " Gorrammitt Liara! Pick up! There's a bomb on the shuttle! Come back to Serenity now! That's an order." He paused and took a breath, his voice quieter. "Don't do this alone. Come back and we'll get it done together. "The only answer was the crackle of an empty line.
"Maybe the coms are out."
"No. She's decided to face Reeve alone." Mal rubbed the back of his neck. He felt his heart sink and a gripping in his gut.
"What! Why?" Wash protested.
"To protect us. She's going to trade herself for Kaylee."
"That's crazy Mal. She can't…will it work?" Wash's voice rose, frantic.
"He'll take her back alright. Reeve will toy with her, make her hurt more than she can take. Then when he tires of that and he's broken her, he'll kill her. He may not even let Kaylee go."
"What's the plan then?"
"We go after her. " A thought seeped in, dark and unbidden. If they couldn't get her away from Reeve…The words she had said sounded in his head. "I'd rather die than let him take me back." He reached for the com again. "Jayne, Zoe to the bridge. ASAP." He hung it up and turned to his pilot once again. "Track the shuttle. We have the coordinates we were supposed to use to meet Reeve. Let's see if that is where she is. "Zoe and Jayne trotted up the corridor, boots ringing on the metal grating. Mal stepped out onto the top step. "Let's finish this."
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I settled back in the flight seat and gripped the controls with cold hands as I eased the shuttle out of the docking bay. She responded smoothly and I was separated from Serenity. I felt a sinking feeling, a sickening jolt in my stomach as I wrenched myself away from the ship's secure embrace and those aboard. I knew I was being rash- I'd blame it on the Hawke blood but I'd hold fast to the promises I'd made and one way or another this would end. My courage hung be a thread woven of family honor, twined with loyalty to my crewmates and my affection for Kaylee and a shred of revenge.
The cost of my courage had been high- Mal's trust. I couldn't let it fail me now. I closed my eyes and took a breath. "This will work…it has to work." I checked the rendezvous coordinates for the millionth time and adjusted course. I would land the shuttle just shy of Reeve's meeting place- Valkery's berth. Instead I would tuck the shuttle on the outskirts of one of the many freight yards around the docks of Liann Jinn.
"Liara!" Mal's voice over the com startled me. The underlying plea I could hear in it nearly surrendered my resolve, as did his next words. "There's a bomb on the shuttle…come back…we'll do this together…" My heart racing, I squared my shoulders and tightened my grip on the controls. I flipped a switch and cut out the coms and turned a steely eye on my chosen landing site setting her down with only a slight bump as she settled, blowing up a bit of dust that puffed over the window. I turned dials and lowered a lever and the comforting hum of the shuttle engines went quiet. Too quiet. I was truly out here alone. One problem at a time.
I'd been right about Aldren's volatile present. Now, how to get it off? I closed my eyes and pictured the shuttle tucked away in its dock on Serenity, like a chick nestled under mother hen's wing. Not inside, not on the port side, where she linked up with the hatch- nor the nose. No access. It had to be the outer hull starboard side, I was sure of it. I looked up and found the emergency hatch in the ceiling and climbed the rungs in the walls and popped it open. I blinked into the bright sun and the brisk breeze that whipped along the hull.
I squinted and searched the expanse of metal before me. Had he sent a man climbing up Serenity's side to plant this thing? Unlikely. But they could use a drone. He had commandeered one on a past job and had used it on heists, for casing targets and for reconnaissance and scouting those hard to reach places. If that were the case they'd have been quick about attaching it, keeping the drone in line of sight. Even with the control panel cameras. I inched across the metal plating on hands and knees away from the hatch toward the bow first and when that didn't pan out, aft to the stern. And there it was, hugging the outward curve of the hull. A boxy little contraption the size of a protein supplement block, seemingly innocuous. A little yellow light flashed steadily on one end but I didn't see a timing device attached. That was good. For me.
I eased forward and leaned over the side until my face was inches away. A remote receiver capped the other end. Flight school readouts and lessons on anti-craft weapons flashed through my mind. This was a modified 'ship-stopper' on magnets. I could pry this thing off. It wouldn't go boom until Aldren wanted it to, of that I was positive. He needed the control and the power and the satisfaction. "You're not going to get any." I muttered while I carefully slid the dull dirk beneath the body of the device to use as leverage. The blade flexed dangerously but didn't snap, the knife edge scraped the hull with a cringe inducing shriek as the device was freed from the shuttle. I grabbed it gently in one shaking hand. "I'm crazy, that's what I am." I took a deep breath to try to slow my galloping heart. Aldren's weakness evident yet again. His men were truly inept, attaching a bomb to one of the only detachable parts of Serenity, her shuttle. But I wasn't going to get overconfident. To underestimate Aldren Reeve was to have a death wish.
I climbed back in the small craft and stood for a moment, staring at the killing device in my hand. "One problem solved, well, partly. On to the next." And idea struck and a smiled, slow and sly. "I am officially off my head. Doc should lock me up." I turned to the console and hit a button to open a fresh feed. I typed a code. "And throw away the key."
I met the eyes of the face that appeared on my screen. "Hello again."
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Mal hefted the weapon Zoe had handed him from behind the wall grate of the hidden cache in the cargo bay and lay it on a crate. "One more should do it." He called to his first mate. She rustled around and emerged, her favorite sawed off shotgun in her holster and a rifle braced over her shoulder. "That's all we need. Book's down, Doc and his sister aren't joining us on this venture and I need your husband here, keeping Serenity warm and ready to run. It will be just the three of us."
"Not good odds, is it sir?"
"Are they ever?" Mal quipped.
"More interestin' that way." Jayne put in, entering the bay bristling with knives and pistols, like a deadly hedgehog. He paused and rubbed the back of his head.
Mal looked at him. "You good to go Jayne? Even with that goose-egg on your noggin?"
"Let's go get our girls back."
The captain raised an eyebrow in question at the merc. "No hard feelings?"
"Liara's grown on me some. And we can't let that scum take her. "He tightened his grip on Vera.
"Alright then, let's-"a hollow clanking made them all pause and exchange glances. Mal nodded at Zoe who closed up the grate and drew her shotgun after slinging the rifle on her back. Mal drew as well as the sound echoed through the bay again. Someone was knocking on the outer hatch.
"You spectin' company?" Jayne huffed as he peered through the glass. Mal darted over and took a peek.
"Gorammit." He breathed. "It's Liara's brother." Mal hefted the bar latch and pulled the door open, pistol still in hand, just in case any Alliance buddies had joined the lieutenant. Braden Hawke stood stiffly outside, out of uniform and in civvies Mal noticed. Least the man had some sense it seemed. He nodded at the soldier. "Hawke."
"Captain. I'm here at your request to speak with my sister." He replied formally.
"Come aboard if you would." Mal ducked back inside and nodded the all clear to his crewmates who holstered their weapons and stepped back from the doorway as Braden Hawke stepped aboard Serenity. He looked around in interest taking in the spacious bay and those occupying it.
Mal was struck by the resemblance between siblings as Hawke turned his attention back to Serenity's captain. They share the same eyes. Though, while Liara's were warm and sorrowful, ringed by dark lashes, her brother's were a hard gray, on guard, reminiscent of the uniform he was no longer wearing. Hawke stood like a soldier too, alert and ready to drew the pistol strapped to his hip. His hand casually rested on his belt, fingertips brushing the weapon. His jaw fixed and tight. Not that Mal blamed him.
"Alright Captain. Where is Liara then?"
There was no way to make this situation any better. So Mal spoke the truth. "She's not here."
Braden stiffened. "Where is she?"
"Gone to face her demons."
"What is that supposed to mean? She was meant to be here!"
"Aye Hawke, she was. It's a long story and it's not all mine to tell."
Braden had his hand on his gun now, but didn't draw. "Captain, tell me where my sister is." Braden's voice hardened and heated. An unspoken threat hung between them.
"She's gone to trade herself for a crew member who got kidnapped."
"Why would she do that?"
"The terms of my mechanic's release was Liara."
Braden took a swing but Mal wasn't quite fast enough to dodge the blow that glanced off his jaw and sent him reeling. Jayne lunged forward and grabbed Hawke. "Tian sha de e mo!" Braden spat.
Zoe stepped between the men. "Yi qi shen hu xi." She said calmly. "Captain didn't turn her over to Reeve, she gave us the slip against his orders."
Mal gingerly felt his jaw. "If you know your sister at all, you'd realize that when she sets her mind to something nothing will stop her."
"And while we're sitting here jawin' and bickerin' he might be getting' away." Jayne put in as he let Braden go. The lieutenant shook himself off and straightened his coat.
"Reeve? Of the Valkery?" The disgust in Hawke's voice was unmistakable.
"I take it you know the piece of go'se?"
"Been on Alliance warrant sheets a long time. Always slips our nets and the noose." Hawke's face went a little pale. "My sister is going to him…"
"Going back, she escaped his ship months ago." Costing her a piece of her soul and nearly her life. Mal kept that bit to himself. It still could claim her life, even after all this.
"Mercenary, marauder, murderer, slaver…we've got to get her back." Braden clenched his fists.
"That's the plan, where we were headed when you showed up. We are not leaving her to the wolves." Mal's vehement tone made Braden pause.
He stepped closer to the captain. "What is my sister to you?" He asked, voice low.
"She's on my crew, we look out for each other on this boat. Isn't it that way with you purple bellies?"
Braden's eyes narrowed. "At the D'Arbanville's you- "
"You comin' with us or not Hawke? We don't have time for this, and neither does Liara or Kaylee." Mal interrupted. They'd get both of them back and then get off this gorram core planet.
Wash's voice crackled over the coms. "Mal, you've got a wave."
Mal stepped to a wall panel and punched a button. "Not now Wash."
"But Mal, it's from Liara."
"Jayne, Zoe, ready the mule. I'll be right there Wash." Mal turned towards the corridors to the helm. Hawke grabbed his shoulder.
"I'm coming too."
Mal nodded and led the way. Up on the bridge Wash pulled up the message. "She just sent this, she recorded it about 10 minutes ago according to the time stamp."
Liara appeared clear eyed and calm in the message. A far cry from how he'd last seen her- panicked and pale after her flashback or from their moment in the galley- vulnerable with her cheeks flushed and tearstained with his arms around her and the scent of her hair… He cleared his throat and focused. She seemed to steel herself before she began.
"Mal, no doubt you've figured out where I've gone and cursed me a thousand times a fool but we both know if had to be this way. I don't know much, it's true, but I know two things with absolute certainty. If you had shown up at the rendezvous Aldren would have killed you on the spot and reduced Serenity to smoking debris. The second thing being…" She paused and glanced down and then back up to the camera. Mal felt the look in her eyes like a punch to the gut. "I couldn't live with myself if I let that happen, knowing that you were no longer…" her voice caught. Mal heard Braden shift uncomfortably beside him. Liara blushed. "So, I flew away from you to save you. I sacrificed your trust in me so you could fly another day. Better for me to suffer the evils I've known than to lose you. I hope one day you'll forgive me for that Mal. And Braden if you are there I hope you'll forgive me for running off before we had the chance to talk. I pray we'll get our chance. But if it's not too late for me, I hope you get this in time because I'm going to knock Aldren Reeve on his ass and take him down once and for all. For all his men, power and cunning he's made a serious mistake. He's underestimated me. And I have a plan." She gave a slow, sly smile Mal had never seen before. He liked it. A lot. Mal exchanged a look with Braden who managed a grin in return. Mal looked back to the screen and whispered, "That's my girl."
