My Serenity
WARNING: Rated M for some violence, language, and sexual situations. This fic contains (eventual) femmeslash and sexual situations between two female characters. Do not continue if this is not to your liking.
Xxx
Chapter 31 – Timing It Right
They had to work quickly, which wasn't exactly easy when they had to be so quiet. Of course, all were at least vaguely aware that the reavers would not be able to hear them through the void of space, but that did not change the fact that all of them, even reasonable, logically inclined Maura Isles, were terrified beyond words. Frankly, Maura had no reason to believe that such things existed, but that didn't stop her heart from racing as Korsak made the necessary preparations from the helm.
"I don't understand," Maura whispered, "who's flying that ship out there?"
"Not who," Giovanni said as he handed Maura a rifle, "what."
Maura inspected the gun. She hadn't handled one since Regina, and even that had been Jane's pistol. She wasn't much worried about using one—she was a fairly good shot—so much as she was concerned about the use of firearms in enclosed spaces. Especially with dynamite on board, she thought.
"What do you mean, Giovanni?" Maura frowned. "What's on that ship?"
"Reavers," he simply said.
"What are reavers?" she asked.
Korsak responded, "Men. Men who live on the fringes space—who've lost their humanity."
"Reavers ain't men." Giovanni insisted. "They're animals."
"Animals?" Maura scowled, looking between the two of them.
Korsak didn't respond. He turned to Giovanni, "You take the helm. I'm going to go help Jane. The sooner we get that shuttle ready, the sooner we can lure them away."
Maura followed Korsak as best she could. He walked at a fast pace, practically running down the catwalk to the port shuttle. Maura wished someone would just tell her what the hell they were planning. Korsak and Jane's abilities to read each other were sometimes hard to believe. If I didn't know any better, I'd think they could read each other's minds, Maura thought.
Frankie and Frost were carefully loading bundles of TNT into the shuttle while Jane was preparing the engines. Korsak went to help Jane, "We're going to need a fuse."
"I'm still working on that," Jane said checking the auto-pilot settings. She turned to Maura, "What are you doing here?"
"When is someone going to tell me what the hell is going on?" Maura said, struggling not to raise her voice.
"We're going to lure them away," Jane muttered, taking Maura by the arm. She led Maura off the shuttle. "We can't let them take the ship."
"What?" Maura breathed; Jane's fear was contagious. "What happens if they take the ship?"
"If they take the ship, they'll kills us off one by one, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing" Frankie said as he stepped out behind them, "and if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order."
Maura turned deathly pale.
"We placed the dynamite in the engine access panels," Frost explained. "The engines will explode almost immediately. If we can time her right, it'll blow their engines too. They're flying with no radiation containment. It'll work to our advantage."
"But won't the radiation hit us as well?" Maura gasped.
"That's why we have to time it right." Jane said, thinking frantically. She turned to Frost, "We don't have any detonation caps?"
"Nothing remote," he said, shaking his head.
"We'll have to rig the airlock."
"Do you think they'll bother boarding such a small shuttle?"
"They must be hungry … to wonder this close to Alliance-controlled space."
"Does the Alliance know about these people?" Maura interrupted.
"They deny the legitimacy of the stories," Jane said, "but if they're willing to let Hoyt get away with what he did, then I don't see letting the border planets being ravaged by reavers to be too much of a stretch."
"So, she's set to max speed," Korsak said. "As soon as I release the docking clamps, the autopilot will engage."
"Alright," Jane nodded, "Frost, you rig it up. Korsak, you get ready at the bridge. Send Giovanni to the engine room. We need to prepare to ride that wave the hell out of this junk yard."
"Jane," Maura stopped her, "what if there are more of them out there? We already know we don't have the fuel to outrun them."
"We can't just sit here, Maura," Jane said. "Camouflage or not, we're running out of supplies. We just gotta hope we make it to Dyton in one piece. We'll figure that out after we get the hell away from here."
Maura nodded uneasily. She was more of a plan-every-possible-detail kind of person, but she trusted Jane—they all trusted Jane. Besides, they didn't seem to have much of a choice.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Find Ma. Pack up our supplies onto your shuttle. If they get on board, there's no point in trying to fight them off—we abandon ship."
Xxx
Maura and Angela wordlessly packed up the kitchen. There weren't many supplies left. They had already been talking about rationing what they had left. The only thing they had enough of was water—that, at least, had been easy to come by before they had left Persephone. But even that would run out eventually.
The only thing they couldn't ration was air. The crew had found that out the hard way when they had escaped on Maura's shuttle the first time. This time, Maura wasn't taking any chances. While she and Angela were packing up rations, she had instructed Tommy and Frankie to remove as much furniture as possible from the shuttle. Of course, this process was not an easy one.
Meanwhile, Jane was busy helping Giovanni in the engine room. "Are you sure she can handle it?" she asked, eyeing his legs sticking out from under the engine. He seemed to know what he was talking about, but she didn't really understand how he was explaining it—and this was Giovanni.
"Yeah," he said, his voice muffled underneath the engine, "I've been rigging up babies like these for races for years."
"Wait," Jane said, "Races? As in 'street races'?"
"Yah," he said, climbing out from under the engine and opening a service panel, "back on Shadow."
"Isn't that illegal?" Jane laughed.
"You're one to talk," he smiled.
Jane shrugged, "Nah, I just thought you'd gone legit. Until you joined us, that is."
"Legit don't pay much. Besides," he winked, "this is way more fun."
"Dodging the Alliance and escaping reavers?"
"What can I say? I'm a man of adventure."
Back on the bridge, Korsak and Frost double-checked to make sure everything was prepared. Frost kept an eye on the monitor, "They're getting awfully close. Aren't they ready yet?"
"It's not like she can just use the intercom," Korsak grunted.
"Could they really pick up on that?" Frost said.
"I'd rather not risk—"
"We're ready," Jane said, panting. She had run all the way from the back of the ship. Radio silence is really inconvenient, she thought. "As soon as you release the shuttle and they change course, start up the engines. We've got enough cover from that asteroid that they shouldn't notice us at first. When they go to board the shuttle, we'll have to set off at full speed to get out of the worst of the radiation. Whatever you do, do not engage the grav-drive until you get word from Giovanni. If you do, the reavers won't be the only ones going up in a ball of flames."
Korsak simply nodded.
Jane turned to Frost, still trying to recover her breathing, "You run this time."
Begrudgingly, Frost sprinted off, stealthily as possible.
"You okay?" Korsak questioned.
"Let's just say this wasn't the excitement I had hoped for today," Jane said, sitting in the co-pilot's seat. "You ready to do this?"
"Not even close," he retorted, "but are we ever? I'll release the port shuttle."
"Now's the time to say your prayers," Jane muttered as they watched the carcass-adorned spacecraft drift by.
"They're changing course." Korsak whispered.
"Wait …" Jane said, "not yet."
They waited with bated breath. Everything seemed to slow down. The ship crept closer to the speeding shuttle. Korsak's hand hovered over the controls. The reaver ship was within meters of the shuttle.
Suddenly, the shuttle exploded.
"Go!" Jane yelled.
Thankfully, Korsak's instincts were as quick as Jane's. He engaged the engine, shifting into high gear as they rocketed out from behind the asteroid. He had her in full gear within seconds.
"We won't outrun—" said Korsak as a flash of light erupted from the ship off the starboard side.
Jane slammed the intercom, "Vanni go!"
"What—" Korsak tried.
Suddenly, Serenity hurtled forward even faster, but they knew that the wave of radiation would hit them any second.
"No!" Jane said, grabbing Korsak's hand. His brain knew better, but the instinct to go into grav-drive was hard to control. "Not yet."
"We can't outrun—"
"We have to."
"She ain't going to make it much longer," Giovanni shouted.
"Are you sure the radiation shields—"
The ship was then abruptly tossed forward again, this time significantly faster. The whole ship shook. Jane held on to the control panel desperately as she heard things falling and crashing behind her. A scream echoed down the hallway from the canteen. Korsak cursed under his breath.
A few moments later when the shaking lessened some, Jane shouted, "Now!"
Korsak and Giovanni engaged the grav-drive immediately. They sped forward even faster than before.
"We can't keep this up for long."
"Only as long as we can. We'll have to coast the rest of the way."
Xxx
They were forced to cut the main engines half an hour later. The rest of the fuel would have to be saved to keep the ship's life support running for the next five to six days it would take to reach the Red Star System. They had that much time to figure out what the hell they would do when they got there. Greenleaf was the closest planet, but as an Alliance planet, it was not their first choice for a landing. It's moon, Dyton, was closer but much more densely populated.
"Jane!" Maura said, running into her arms in the canteen.
Jane squeezed her close, kissing her forehead gratefully. "You're okay?"
Maura smiled up at her, "I'm fine. Angela and I got tossed around a bit, but we're fine."
"Did you finish packing the supplies?" Jane said, still holding onto her. She had struggled not to think about all the horrible things those reavers would do to Maura and her family.
Maura hugged Jane back enthusiastically. She had wanted to trust that Jane wouldn't go off again, but her track record said otherwise. It was easy to trust Jane with her life; what Maura did not trust was that Jane would think about her own life.
"Mostly," Maura said, her hand on Jane's shoulder, "I still don't understand why you want us to keep it in there. We escaped them, right?"
"We have no idea what we'll run into on our way. We need an escape plan."
"I'm not sure how far my shuttle could get us …"
"Trust me, it'd be better to suffocate on your shuttle than be stuck on this ship with reavers."
Xxx
Later that night, Maura found Jane sitting at the helm. She was looking up at the stars again. Her eyes were on a tiny red star, dead ahead. It wasn't the brightest star in the Verse, but it stood out from the rest as it was their only hope for survival.
"I seem to be having déjà vu." Maura said, her hands on Jane's shoulders.
"Huh?" Jane said sleepily.
"Didn't you cover for Korsak last night?" Maura said, massaging Jane's shoulders.
"I'm just covering for a bit," Jane said, rolling her shoulders. She sighed as Maura pressed into the knots there.
"Your shift was over three hours ago," Maura said softly in her ear.
"Mmhm," Jane mumbled. She was fairly sure that Maura's hands were having the exact opposite of her intended effect.
"You should get some sleep," Maura said softly in her ear.
"I'm fine …" Jane yawned.
"Let me rephrase that," Maura said, stepping in front of her, "You're going to go to sleep. Tommy's coming to cover the bridge."
Jane let Maura pull her up by the arms, but she continued to protest, "Tommy? He can't pilot—"
"A wonderful thing, autopilot," Tommy laughed as he stepped onto the bridge. "Get some sleep, sis. You look like shit."
Jane smacked her brother's shoulder, "Hey!"
Tommy plopped into the pilot's seat and smirked at his sister, waggling his eyebrows, "Go get some sleep."
"Ew," Jane complained as Maura led her off by the hand, "Don't be gross Tommy."
"I don't see what's so gross about getting sleep," Maura said, still dragging her along.
"No," Jane shook her head, "he was implying that we were going to…"
"Oh," Maura said, stopping in the hall, "he was implying we were going to have sex."
Jane blushed, "Shh." They were standing right above crew quarters.
"Is the thought of sex with me shameful?" Maura said, looking a bit hurt.
"No!" Jane whispered, wishing Maura would lower her voice, "Of course not."
"You said it was gross." Maura frowned.
"Maura," Jane said, her hands on the honey blonde's hips, "you are not gross. I am not ashamed to be with you. It's just—I'm a private person. And Tommy's my brother."
Maura placed her hands on Jane's chest, looking up into her eyes, "You're sure?"
"Yes, Maura," Jane said, her forehead on Maura's, "I'm very much okay with the idea of sex with you."
"It's just that—" Maura tried.
"I want the moment to be right." Jane admitted. She lifted her eyes so that she could look Maura in those gorgeous green eyes. A yawn escaped her mouth, though she tried to hold it in.
Maura smiled softly, "You'll need some rest before that."
"Sorry," Jane smiled. "Are you going back to your shuttle then?"
"There's not much room in there now," Maura stated.
"I forgot about that, sorry." Jane grimaced.
"The only thing they couldn't get out was the bed."
"It's a nice bed."
"It's covered in boxes at the moment."
"Well," Jane said pulling Maura closer, "my bunk ain't much, but I'm sure we can squeeze into my bed."
Maura smiled, "Can I bring some of my stuff over?"
Jane laughed, "What, are you moving in?"
"Like you haven't practically lived in my shuttle this whole time."
Xxx
Jane awoke the next morning to the smell of Maura's hair. The honey blond was asleep with her head on Jane's shoulder. Jane was stiff, and her head hurt. Her bed was not the luxurious queen size of Maura's shuttle—it wasn't nearly as soft either. To be truthful, it was barely more than a cot.
Maura was breathing softly. Jane couldn't feel her arm at all, but if she moved it, Maura would certainly wake up. And she was so beautiful when asleep. Even with bed hair and a little drool. Especially so, Jane thought.
She looked around her bunk. "Some of my stuff" had turned into quite a few things. A pile of clothes sat on her chair, a box of jewelry was open on the shelf, several bags in the corner, one of Maura's blankets lay atop them on the bed. And that was just what Jane could see. Based on the number of trips Maura had made, there was a lot more stuff currently out of Jane's line of sight.
"Hm," Maura hummed softly as she awoke.
"Morning," Jane sighed as Maura lifted her head from Jane's chest. "Sleep well?"
Jane shifted unto her side, facing Maura. The honey blond smiled, "Well enough."
"So," Jane said, tucking the hair behind Maura's ear, "did you finish moving in? I must have dozed off."
"I'm sorry," Maura said, looking shy, "is it too much?"
"No, of course not." Jane said leaning forward giving Maura a soft kiss. "I love you in my space."
Maura smiled at her brightly. Jane searched those hazel eyes. The brunette was overwhelmed by the feeling in her chest as she did so. And instead of overthinking it, instead of waiting for the perfect moment, Jane just let the words slip out.
"I love you."
[To be continued]