To serve as an Executor is to stand as a pillar of the City. Hold your head high. — Laws of the Executors, Vol. 2
Corsair had always attempted to do his best, as most guardians did, except on the rare occasions he would hold himself back. When teaching a new guardian some basic hand to hand, for example, or when executing one of Epsilon's crucible strategies, or even when just not being first to volunteer for what seemed like a boring assignment.
He'd never expected having to hold back in...whatever game this was.
He caught the ball, even as Zoe gave him a light shove to try and move him. He moved with the shove in hunter style, rolling to the side as he kept the ball in the air. He didn't know if there was a rule to keep the ball from hitting the ground. From what he'd gathered, there wasn't a rule until there was one. In the meantime, rather than throw himself into the air with the ease of a guardian, he backed up, and Jayne was suddenly upon him.
The bigger man slapped the ball from his hands to the floor with one hand and shoved him back with the other, Kaylee scurrying over and snatching up the ball. As Corsair pretended to be annoyed, the young mechanic hoisted herself onto Jayne's back, riding him all the way to the hanging goal in the middle of the cargo bay, a cheer arising from what was Kaylee's team at the moment.
Corsair was still on the ground, taking a moment to recover as he smiled. Something about knowing he could jump circles around everyone in the room twice over kept him from being a sore loser. In truth, he welcomed the change of pace from messing with the burned out warp drive in his room, when Kaylee had knocked on his door eagerly asking if he wanted to play a game with the crew. He had been a bit more curious as to what game they'd be playing in a tight ship like Serenity. Jayne didn't seem the type for scrabble.
Mal walked over, catching his breath in the lull of the game, and Corsair raised a hand, the captain's hand finding his and helping him up. "Thought you said you'd played a game like this before." He jested, as Corsair straightened his undershirt, only slightly sweaty. Normally he didn't wear one, but on a spaceship, it tended to be colder than usual.
"Not like this," Corsair said, gently slapping the captain on the shoulder, remembering Rift fondly as Jayne grabbed the ball again and began the game anew, "the game I played had a bit more and...a bit less rules."
Since Corsair's arrival made the teams uneven, Corsair had made the offer that Mal and Book comprise his team, leaving the others on their own team. Corsair may not have been able to expose his talents as a Guardian, but he considered himself enough of an athlete to make a difference. From what Corsair gathered, at least, the game revolved around passing the ball to each of your team members before trying to score, so the less people on their team had a quicker way to score, but the more on the other team had it easier to steal.
Maybe when he eventually returned to the tower, he'd show his fellow guardians the game, to be played with guns and Light.
Book caught and attempted to pass the ball to Mal, when Wash dashed in and caught it, dancing back into the corner behind them as he threw the ball upwards, getting high enough to reach where River was watching the group from the catwalk above. The ball landed in the middle of the group, and Corsair ran up and slid, not to grab the ball, but to kick it outwards. Unfortunately, as the ball bounced off one of Kaylee's legs, Corsair suddenly became trapped as Jayne, Zoe, and Book fell on top of him in a small pile in their quest to obtain the ball.
Before the game could continue further, a klaxon started going off, drawing their attention elsewhere.
"Proximity alert." Zoe said, from her spot beside Book as she managed to stand, everyone taking the moment to catch their breath, "we must be coming up on something."
Wash became almost manic on a dime, "holy Traveler, what can it be? We're all doomed! Who's flying this thing!?" He then dropped his act, "...oh, that would be me. Back to work!" He said, heading up the catwalk stairs to the cockpit. Was it a bridge or a cockpit? Corsair wasn't sure the difference.
Once again, Corsair threw up a hand as everyone else started to untangle themselves from the mess on the floor, feeling Book help him up this time. "You keep endin' up on the floor, Corsair." Jayne teased.
"What can I say?" He replied, stretching his arm slowly, "use all the space you have available."
Kaylee picked up the ball from where it had rolled, "so I guess that makes us one man short."
"Or even," Mal shot back.
Jayne took another opportunity to tease, "little Kaylee's always one man short." He said, earning a punch on the arm.
Kaylee looked up, seeing Simon on one of the upper catwalks, "say, doc! Why don't you come on down, play for our side? Inara won't mind."
"Much rather have him on your team." Jayne nudged Corsair playfully, as the group watched Simon think longly about how to respond.
Corsair was about to say something to encourage the stammering young man, when the ship suddenly shook and swerved. The group barely exchanged a glance as they all ran up the stairs to see what happened.
"Wash," Mal was the first in, followed by Zoe, Corsair, Jayne, and the others, "you have a stroke or something?"
"Near enough." Wash's terse reaction was highlighted by how stiff he suddenly was. Corsair moved to the other side of the control consoles on the bridge, looking out the front window to see...another ship. It wasn't moving, except to spin vertically, and it seemed to just drift, nothing else. Dead, might be another word, with a ragdoll body floating out there in between them.
"Wu de ma..." Jayne muttered, staring at the same sight along with the rest of the crew.
"Anyone home?" Mal asked.
Wash shook his head, "Been hailing her, but if whoever's there is as healthy as the guy we just ran over, can't imagine anyone's going to be picking up."
"Bring us in a little closer."
"get you close enough to ring the doorbell."
"What is it?" Simon asked, new to space travel as he was.
Mal thought a moment, "so, what do we figure? Transport ship?"
Wash's reply was immediate, "converted cargo hauler, maybe a short range scow."
Kaylee stepped a little closer to the front, narrowing her eyes, "you can see she don't wanna be parked like that. The port thrust's gone, that's what's making her spin the way she is."
"A short range vessel, this far out into space?" Simon asked.
Wash nodded, guiding Serenity in a little bit closer, "retrofitted to carry passengers."
Corsair began to tune out the crew again as he edged a little closer to the window, crossing his arms. Something about the aura ship ran eerily familiar in his mind.
After the black garden, he'd spent the better part of a week aboard the Dead Orbit frigate Halberd of Twilight as an attempt by the faction to recruit him into their cause. He'd learned a small amount about long term space travel, but the most notable part of the patrol run was a human transport under assault by the Fallen. They arrived too late, only in time to see the ketch leave at full burn, and the transport explode behind it.
He'd only seen the transport for a moment, but seeing the derelict now, in the state it was in, made him feel like he was right back on the bridge of the Halberd. Corsair knew they were too far a distance from Earth for the Fallen to be in this area, much less unnoticed, but the sight of it was enough for Corsair to begin to wonder.
He still hadn't physically met Reavers, or experienced their handiwork. If this wasn't the work of Fallen, it had to be the only other alternative.
"Tell you what I think," Jayne broke into his thoughts, "I think that fellow we ran into did everyone on board, killed 'em all, then decided to take a swim through space, see how fast his blood would boil out of his ears."
"You're a very 'up' person." Wash said.
"Shouldn't we report this?" Book asked, naturally concerned.
"To who?" Mal asked in turn, cynical, "Alliance? Right. They're going to run out here lickity-split and make sure these taxpayers are okay."
Book's response was immediate, "then we'll have to."
"Shepherd's right, we're closer. Remember, you are officially a New Monarchy ship." Corsair spoke up, getting the spotlight of the group, "doing your civic duty is part of the job description."
Jayne sneered, indignant at being ordered about from on high, "that so, pretty boy?"
Corsair shot him a look, "it's literally what I pay you for." He said, almost indignant in turn, then with a moment of awkward attention, looked to Mal for confirmation.
The captain nodded thoughtfully, "we'll check it out, see if there are survivors." He decided, even though Corsair had been forced to blatantly pull rank-by-paycheck. "If not, then, well, no one's going to mind if we take a look around, see if there's not something of value they might have left behind...?" His tone shifted, and Corsair saw the look in Mal's eyes that was clearly him asking permission. He nodded, not seeing anything wrong with the idea for now.
Jayne sat up, almost too eagerly. "Yeah, no, uh," the merc stammered, "someone could be hurt!"
Corsair took a breath as he heard nothing but the quiet of depressurization. Using the device on his wrist, disguised as a watch, he deactivated his comms. It felt weird, talking with Mal and Zoe right next to him, but they were all in spacesuits, thankfully, they wouldn't hear him if he shouted at them.
"Gale, getting anything?"
The voice came through his helmet's speakers, "nothing. Wash was right when he said they just weren't responding." Gale said, "fortunately, the Wu Cheng doesn't seem to have advanced security, I'm already in their systems."
Corsair continued to breathe slowly as the door to the derelict was opened, the trio moving inside. "Anything in their logs confirm our theory?"
Gale made a sighing noise, "unfortunately, yes. Sensor logs show another ship approaching several days ago. The ship's been drifting ever since."
He cursed to himself, taking up second in the marching order as they made their way down the deserted hallway into a galley, which looked worse than deserted. Meals were left unfinished, a balloon was still tied to the back of a chair. Corsair had to stop to avoid kicking a tricycle, just left out in the middle of it all.
"Whatever happened here, happened quick." Mal remarked, Corsair kept silent for the moment, staying on guard. Whatever attack had happened obviously happened a week ago, just looking at the food. He didn't want to take any chances, the whole nature of the place had him on edge, to the point where his gun hand stayed right next to his hip.
A thought occurred to Corsair, "Gale? Are we alone on this ship?"
"I would guess so, but they don't have any internal security. All I can tell is there's a cargo bay that's completely sealed off." Gale responded, as the group kept moving.
"Wonder what's in there..."
Finally, they came to what seemed to be the bridge, a small semicircular alcove with a small array of computer equipment. "Everything was left on," Zoe observed, "ship powered down on it's own."
He looked over the dead screens and unmuted his radio, "can we tell what happened here?"
"No sign of a struggle," Zoe said, looking around as well, "they're just..."
"Gone." Mal finished, with finality.
"Sir," Zoe gestured to a computer screen, "video log, someone was in the middle of an entry." She moved closer, tapping the keyboard, only for the screen to short out.
Corsair muted his radio again, "Gale, was that you?"
"Let's just say..." Gale said slowly, "no one here wants to see that video."
Once the ship pressurized, Corsair followed the lead of Mal and Zoe in taking off his helmet, placing it carefully off to the side. It had been weird learning to remember where he'd put things, but thankfully it hadn't been too difficult to learn.
Mal cleared his throat, "What might you be thinkin', Corsair?" he asked, cutting into Corsair's thoughts.
Corsair tried his best to act like his secret conversations with Gale hadn't happened, "What makes you think I'm thinking of something?"
"You like to talk, Mr. Pryce," Mal fixed him with a look, "you ain't said a word since we've been on this boat."
He sighed, glancing down at the screens before back at Mal, "I'm thinking this entire scene looks...very familiar." He admitted, not wanting to tell his captain that aliens existed.
"Familiar?" Mal raised an eyebrow.
"Familiar, but not quite the same." Corsair reached down and turned off the log computer, his mind imagining the differences between reavers and Fallen, at least based on his personal experiences.
The silence of the derelict was broken by 5 transmats, the guardians' helmet lights flashing into the darkness together like an omnipresent lighthouse.
"Looks clear," Cal said, his voice somehow sounding more scottish than usual.
Corsair kept his rifle raised regardless, "We did disable that skiff trying to escape." He noted.
"So?"
"So, we don't know for sure how many passengers it had."
"You're paranoid," came the voice of Nicho-8, who had lowered his shotgun. "We've done runs in infested places before. We keep ourselves covered, we have no problems."
Corsair didn't share the titan's cavalier attitude, but shrugged in noncommittal acknowledgement. "Alright, where to?"
Cal tapped a device on his wrist, pulling up a holographic display, "first things first, we go to the cargo hold, verify if the loot's still there." He gestured to the display. The damage seemed mainly superficial, likely it had only been run down by fallen. To think it had only been a few hours ago.
"Cornelia, you'll join Corsair and me for the hold," Cal continued, pointing at it on the display, "Nicho, you'll go with Riyal, try and get main power online. If we can fly the whole thing out, we will."
"And what about the crew?" All eyes drew to Corsair.
Cornelia spoke, unconcerned, "what about them?"
Corsair was taken aback, "aren't we going to save them?"
Cal sighed, "look, chosen one, it's your first run with us, so I won't hold it against you. Situations like these? You don't really want to find the crew."
Corsair hesitated in confusion as Riyal put a hand on his shoulder, "you're noble, but in the words of our fearless leader," she switched to a scottish accent, "those fallen 'er a ripe bunch of bastards!"
Even Corsair had to smile at the impression, while the others laughed, no one more than Cal. "But really, it's been 6 hours," Riyal pulled away when the laughter died down, "either they're dead, or they want to be."
Corsair could accept that, he hoped.
He'd met the guardian named Callistan where most hunters met other hunters: a bar, or a hunter hideout, which always had a bar. In this case, it was the hideout under the Inconspicuous Flower shop (the most famous hunter hangout in the whole city) on Cortez lane, a few miles from the wall. The two drank, swapped tales and stories, and Cal had invited Corsair to watch his crew in action.
They weren't the only salvage crew, but they were one of the best and quickest. Their warlock, Cornelia, kept tabs on Vanguard and Dead Orbit freighter movements through her boyfriend. Riyal was an expert at mechanical matters (no surprise for a hunter), Cal had a nose for which risks to take and leave, and Nicho was the muscle. Altogether, a solid crew, plus one godslayer.
He wasn't sure if the Vex statues in the black garden counted as one god or three, or even if the mass of Darkness counted as a god at all. In any case, that was how Cal introduced Corsair to the crew, and they, in what little ways they showed, seemed excited to work with him.
The trio came to the cargo bay door, walking casually as they held their weapons. The lights were thankfully on in the cargo hold, as it shined through the door. As they drew closer, Cal's stance changed to one of stealth, Corsair and Cornelia doing the same.
Cal leaned into the doorframe, as did Corsair, seeing nothing but a half full cargo hold. Cal looked up at him from where he'd crouched, "let me show you a trick, chosen one." He whispered, unholstering his hand cannon before stomping really hard on the floor in front of him.
The life support had still been operational, so a dull thud sounded out, and a few pairs of bright blue eyes popped out from behind some crates. Cal's hand cannon rang out, killing two and injuring a third, which ran back into the shadows.
Corsair nodded in approval, "not bad."
Cal gave his gun a twirl, "after you." He gestured forward.
Corsair walked in, ready to take on the fallen that had run, when a dreg dropped right on top of him, dropping him to the ground. He yelped, whipping out his knife and stabbing it as the blood dripped onto his armor.
Cal and Cornelia laughed as he pushed the dreg off him, slowly following. "I didn't think godslayers could squeak that high!" Cornelia fired a shot with her rifle, killing the fallen in the shadows.
Corsair groaned, "did you know that was there?" He asked, ignoring Cornelia's teasing.
Cal helped him stand, "nope," he grinned, "but rule of thumb, chosen one, always look up." He dusted off Corsair's shoulder pauldron. "Always."
The three of them began looking over the contents of the cargo bay that the fallen hadn't snuck off. Most of it was there, with the exception of a few crates which had clearly been rummaged through.
Their process was interrupted by the lights coming back on, the ship suddenly humming as if coming back to life. Cal grunted in approval, "was wondering if Riyal was getting rusty."
Speak of. "Cal, things look good on your end?" Came Riyal's voice over the comms.
Cal chuckled, "bright and shiny, was hoping we weren't going to have to take just the cargo."
"So we'll give it back to Jalal, then?" Corsair asked, forcing the lid down on the crate he was looking through.
"Hell no, at least not all of it." Cal turned to him, frowning slightly at the look he was given. "The factions like to hoard, Corsair, sometimes it's best to cut out the middleman."
Corsair stepped closer, "is that what we're doing?"
Cal shrugged, "reappropriation is a good thing, Corsair. It'll get where it needs to go, and we'll get some nice glimmer for it." He said, easing Corsair a good amount. "Besides," Cal leaned in, "would you want it in the hands of those emo nihilists?"
Corsair broke into a chuckle, "you know what? I can get behind that."
Everyone suddenly froze as shots broke out over the comms.
"Riyal, Nicho, report." Cal said, moving to the door and peeking out.
Sounds of a scuffle came through, and Nicho spoke, "a whole gang of fallen came out of nowhere, must've been alerted when we turned on the-" he broke off, and the sound of a shotgun came through.
"Gotcha," Cal said, "fall back to the cargo bay!"
"Already on it!"
Corsair looked at him, concerned, as Cornelia laid a tripmine across the threshold of the door, "so what are we doing? Taking the cargo and running?"
They both stared at him, "running?" Cornelia asked, "is the godslayer suggesting we run?"
Cal cackled, "Corsair, you really are young." He sauntered up to him, "you misunderstand, no way in hell we're running, not with a score like this." He gestured to the cargo bay at large. "This part, Corsair? This is fun."
Cornelia pulled the door open, just as Riyal and Nicho sped past the threshold, hopping over the mine like they knew it was there. "The fallen?" Cornelia asked.
"Right behind us!" Riyal whipped out a fusion rifle, grinning madly.
They all took positions, and Cal looked over at Corsair, "this is how we work, Corsair, think you can stomach that?"
Corsair thought a moment, before raising his scathelocke, "I think I can, Cal." He finally decided, letting himself smile as the fallen poured in, the five of them cheering as they met the fallen head on.
Corsair had excused himself as the captain radiod Serenity, calling for Kaylee and Jayne to come over, saying that he would take a look around. Neither Mal nor Zoe questioned it. "What'd you get from that log, Gale?" He asked, guessing his ghost had scrambled it wirelessly.
Gale responded through his earpiece, "the people here were attacked by reavers," he said, "...it's messy."
He winced, the ship suddenly seeming that much more cold and dark around him. "Are we going to tell the captain about this?" Gale asked him, as he found himself lost in thought.
Corsair looked back down the hall where Mal and Zoe remained in the control center, and let out a tired sigh. His time on Serenity had almost been a vacation compared to what he was used to. "Somehow I think he already knows," he admitted, wondering where the captain might've encountered the reavers before.
"You think so?"
Corsair shrugged, "I don't know, actually. He plays things close to his chest, may-" he stopped, hearing a noise. After years of time out in the wilds, every hunter got a sense of ambience to a location. It didn't have to be specific, a human ship was still a human ship (different than, say, a Fallen ketch), but things still felt right, to certain degrees. Even on Serenity's bridge, there was a sense of wrongness, and especially now, that he could absorb it with his senses.
It was a very sophisticated way of describing a gut feeling.
Tapping his fingers together, he felt the familiar metal of his hand cannon appear in his hand. He still had to come up with a good name for it, but for now it's presence was enough to reassure him. Even an immortal guardian of the Traveler had a survival instinct, the urge to flinch away from whatever might jump out at them from a dark corner.
Yes, he was thinking about the time Epsilon vaporized a rabbit. Hopefully history repeated itself, and the derelict was infested with cute rabbits in hiding.
He hugged the wall of the hallway, closing his eyes for a split second. Besides the ship's hum, there was the sound of various mechanisms and the distant sounds of Mal and Zoe's conversation down the hall. He strode onwards, eyes focused ahead as he drew his knife in the other hand. In a pinch, one could be dropped in favor of the other, to be used accordingly.
As he spun around with raised gun, he jumped back at Kaylee's short shriek of terror.
Jayne shoved him back, "gorramit, Corsair!" He nearly shouted, "'hell you playin' at?"
Corsair had lowered his weapons the moment he'd seen them, "I'm sorry!" He said, only now realizing how fast he was breathing. "I thought I heard something."
"Was me you were hearin'," Jayne huffed, shoving himself past him.
Corsair had to push down his shame at almost shooting his friends, especially when Kaylee shook herself to get her courage back. It was a new feeling. Guardians didn't take too much offense to poor trigger discipline.
Whatever apologies he had died in his throat as the two moved on. "That went well." He muttered to himself. He hoped Kaylee was quick to forgive. Jayne, he wasn't worried about, as Jayne seemed to be more in the moment than the others. As he glanced at the floor, he noticed another reason to be afraid.
Sighing, he took Thorn from the magnetic holster on his hip, "Gale, I thought we were in the clear."
"Not my fault." Gale appeared, scanning and dismantling it without hesitation. "34 hours this time."
"It's really confusing me." Corsair admitted as Gale vanished again. It had been so long since it had last shown up. The time before that, not so much. 13 hours, then 10 minutes, then 5 minutes, now 34 hours. That 15 minutes in the middle, despite his experience with the Hive and the Vex, qualified as some of the scariest 15 minutes of his life.
"Well, who can expect a weapon of sorrow to make sense?" Gale said, and vanished from sight yet again.
He shook his head, turning back and heading towards the control room again. "Who would?" He groaned, before taking a breath and rejoining the others.
Corsair hunched over the ship's monitor, "I'm in the ship's manifest. Looks like these people were hauling genseed, as well as other crop supplements, in one of the cargo bays. C-deck, aft." He read off the screen, before pausing and looking to Mal, "is that a find?"
Thankfully, Mal just assumed Corsair was joking. "Everything a growing family needs to make a fresh start on a new world."
Kaylee seemed sympathetic, "won't the settlers come back?" She began to say before a light shone across their faces. The group turned to look at the newcomer, Simon gracing their presence in one of the pressure suits..
"Uh, hi." Mal said slowly, addressing the young doctor, who put down his flashlight and attempted to remove his helmet. "Um, what are you doing here, and what's with the suit?" Kaylee ran up to help him take it off, and Jayne burst into a snicker. Corsair, admittedly, had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing himself. He cared for Simon's plight, and had sworn to die for him at least once, but it was funny how a rich kid like Simon acclimated to life on the frontier.
Simon found it less funny, "you're hilarious," he said to Jayne, "sadist."
"Alright, enough." Mal changed his tone, regaining control of the situation, "as long as you're here, you may as well lend a hand. You can run with Kaylee. Let's be quick about this, people, alright? A few loads each, no need to be greedy."
"Where are all the people?" Simon asked.
"Ship says lifeboat launched more than a week ago. We're going to assume everyone got off okay." Mal instructed, causing Corsair to look down at one of the monitors, not knowing if anyone would be able to see his face at that statement. "Anyway, we're just here to pick the bones. You two start in the engine room. Jayne, you take the Galley."
"C-deck, aft." Gale said while Mal talked to the others, "that's the cargo bay that's sealed off."
"Stay close to each other," Corsair called to them as they started to walk off.
As the footsteps receded, Zoe turned to the two of them, "I count 14 families signed on, lifeboat wouldn't hold a third of that."
"One thing at a time," Corsair said, answering her and Gale simultaneously.
"Corsair, even if they all got off, they still would've found room for some of that stuff." Zoe insisted, sounding more like Ikora Rey than ever.
He looked off to the side, leaving Mal to clear his throat softly, "I guess we'll see if they did." Mal remarked, darkly.
The three of them made their way deeper into the ship in search of their plunder, the ship still eerily silent. Normally, Corsair might've retreated back to his quarters to resume his work while Mal and the others attended to theirs, but in truth, he was getting a little bored. Hunters didn't take to boredom well.
That, and the issue of this derelict. It wasn't a simple innocent wreck in space where life support or something else had failed; something had happened here. It certainly didn't help that Corsair felt like he was being watched. If he had a choice, he'd have preferred to be here with his fireteam, or Cal's salvage crew, but with a crew of mortals, much less one where only a handful had combat skills, he wouldn't leave them alone for a second.
"This looks to be it." Mal said, as they came to a door.
Zoe walked up and tried to open it, "locked."
"Well now," Mal said, with an opportunist's tone of voice, "that's like to be a very good sign." With that, he stooped and took a small cutting torch from his satchel.
"Or a bad one," Corsair muttered, drawing his companion's gaze. At the least, Mal and Zoe were soldiers, they could steel themselves accordingly. "Ask yourselves," he took out his hand cannon, "on an open ship of 14 families, why is the cargo bay locked up so tightly?"
The three exchanged a wordless glance, before Mal began to torch the locking mechanism. Corsair raised his hand cannon beside his head, facing away from the door and out into the hall. Zoe took out her weapon, doing the same.
It felt like forever until Corsair heard what might've been an important piece of the door clatter to the deck. Corsair decided to take point, Mal taking out his shooter as well.
Pulling open the door, Corsair stood on the threshold with his gun raised, holding up a fist to let the others know to hold. The cargo bay was empty, save for the cargo. Curious, Corsair gave a quick stomp with his heel, making an obvious thud as he kept his ears pricked for any noises to indicate a response. His eyes flicked left and right, seeing nothing, but instinctively, he glanced up...to see the mass of mutilated and bloodstained bodies hanging from the ceiling.
Well, the Fallen had never done that before.
"Jen dao mei" he breathed out, stepping forward.
Mal stepped in with Zoe, cursing similarly, "I know what did this..."
"Can't you hear them calling out?" A soft voice came behind them.
All three of them practically jumped, spinning around with guns raised...at River. "Son of a-" Mal cut himself off, grabbing his radio as he looked to Zoe, "get her out of here," he gestured to River before pulling the radio to his mouth, "Jayne? Jayne, drop what you're doing and get to the engine room. I want you to get Kaylee and the doctor off this boat."
"Reavers?" Corsair looked to Mal.
"Reavers." Came Mal's curt reply. He raised the radio to his mouth yet again, "Jayne?"
Corsair tried to picture it in his head, but found he didn't want to. The place was touched by savagery, and if Corsair had his fireteam by his side, they'd call out a challenge and charge forward without hesitation.
Today, however, as Kaylee's scream came through the radio followed by a few gunshots, Corsair found himself charging forward all on his own, leaving Mal and Zoe to drop their equipment and catch up.
The three of them, River in tow, burst into the ship's mess, guns raised. They didn't have the time to get River back to Serenity, so they figured the safest place for River to be was in the middle of them, and told Wash to lock down the ship in the meantime.
The galley itself had the signs of a struggle. Things were knocked off tables, strewn about...and Corsair saw blood spots on the floor. He raised his hand cannon as he scanned the room with the three others, ready for any sort of attack. A noise drew everyone's attention, the three of them pointing guns at a single figure who moved out from a corner with a flashlight and a gun. Kaylee and Simon peeked out after him, Kaylee with a bandage over her face.
Mal lowered his gun immediately upon seeing him, "what'd you see?"
Jayne was panting, "didn't, came at us from behind." The mercenary finally lowered his gun, eyes flicking among the surroundings, "big, though. Strong. I think I might've hit him."
Simon moved forward, nodding to the floor, "you did." He said, everyone following the blood trail to the opposite side of the galley, where a screen covered a small cubbyhole. Now that they were closer, Corsair could hear gasping, especially after Mal removed the screen.
"No, no, no..." Corsair heard him whimper.
"Shh...easy now, no one's gonna hurt you," Mal said, trying to assure him. Corsair moved closer so he could potentially back Mal up if the worst should happen.
"No, no mercy, no..."
Mal paused, "I mean, more than we already did...we got lots and lots of..."
Corsair recognized a punch when he heard one, and Mal reached in, dragging the man out from the crawl space. It was only when Jayne moved beside and pushed him forward an inch in the process that he realized everyone had gathered around the perfectly ordinary man, now unconscious.
"Oh, yes, he's a real beast." Simon looked up at Jayne, voice dripping with sarcasm. "It's a wonder you're still alive."
Jayne snorted indignantly, "looked bigger when I couldn't see him."
It was later they'd gathered around the infirmary, where Simon and Mal tended to the man they'd found on the Wu Cheng. Kaylee was waiting on the couch, silently, not wanting to be near him. Apparently she, Simon, and Jayne were in the galley when the man attacked them, going after Kaylee with what used to be the lid of a can before trying to run. The cut hadn't been too deep, and thankfully wouldn't scar with the technology Simon had at his disposal, but Kaylee still seemed shaken up from the event.
Inara was the first to speak after all had been hastily explained. They'd been silent for a short time after that. "I wonder how long he'd been living like that."
"At least a week." Corsair kept his arms crossed, leaning against the wall. He tried not to feel guilty about what happened. If something were to go wrong, the sealed cargo bay was still the most likely place for something to happen. It was just bad luck, he rationalized to himself as they stayed silent, watching. Kaylee's new wound hadn't shaken up just Kaylee, it seemed.
Finally, Mal and Simon left the infirmary.
"So, how's our patient?" Inara asked, warily.
"Aside from borderline malnutrition, he's in remarkably good health." Simon told her.
Book seemed relieved, "so he'll live, then?"
"Which to my mind, is unfortunate." Mal glanced back over his shoulder into the medbay.
"Not a very charitable attitude, captain."
"Charity'd be putting a bullet in his brainpan." Mal was serious as a heart attack.
Inara looked aghast, "Mal!"
"Only save him the suffering." Mal turned around, closing the door to the infirmary, "alright, no one goes in here. Nothing more we can do for him, not after what he's seen."
Simon looked at him, "what do you mean?"
Corsair cleared his throat, "the ship was hit by reavers."
The group quickly relocated up to the dining room, which was far less a galley than the galley of the Wu Cheng. The difference between the two was that Serenity was simply more lived in.
"Corsair, how do you know?" Inara demanded as they reached it. Corsair had moved to stand next to Mal, who took the time to make himself a cup of something.
"He don't! That's how." Jayne interjected. "No way. It was that other fella, the one we ran into, like I said before, he went stir-crazy, killed the rest, then took a walk in space."
Corsair leaned on the counter in the kitchen, "let me put it this way. Zoe, do you think a bunch of pirates did what we saw in that cargo hold?" He asked, crossing his arms.
Zoe was stiffer than usual, "no, had to have been reavers."
"Believe me or not," he made solemn eye contact with Inara, "I've seen their handiwork before, and..." he let out a breath, not sure what else to say to convince them. Thankfully the captain was more of an expert than he was, so he wasn't alone. "First survivor I've met, though, that's something."
Jayne sneered his usual sneer, "reavers don't leave no survivors."
"Strictly speaking, I wouldn't say they did," Mal said calmly, taking a sip from his drink.
Book drew closer, "what are you suggesting?"
"Doesn't matter that we took him off that boat, Shepherd, it's the place he's going to live from now on."
"I don't accept that. Whatever horror he witnessed, whatever acts of barbarism, it was done by men, nothing more."
"Reavers ain't men." Jayne cut in.
"Of course they are. Too long removed from civilization, of course, but men. And, I believe there is a power greater than men, a power that heals."
Corsair chuckled, "Traveler's a bit far off from where we are, shepherd." He said, even though by saying it and still having his Light with him, he knew it to be incorrect.
"Reavers might take issue with that philosophy. If they had a philosophy. If they weren't too busy gnawing on your insides. Jayne's right, Reavers ain't men. Or they forgot how to be. Now they're just nothing. They got out to the edge of the galaxy, to that place of nothing, and that's what they became."
At the very least, everyone seemed to agree with the idea of reavers after that. Unfortunately, it led to the next problem. "Why're we still sittin' here?" Jayne asked, "if it was reavers, shouldn't we be gone?"
"I believe all the good salvage is still in that cargo bay," Corsair locked eyes with Jayne, "we have the ship cleared, we grab what we need, and then we leave."
Jayne's very posture became defensive, "Whoa. I ain't going over there with them bodies, no ruttin' way. Not if Reavers messed with them."
Zoe gave Jayne a deadpan look, "Jayne...you'll scare the women." She said in a deadpan voice to match.
"I'll go." Simon spoke up from behind everyone, resigned in his words, "I've dealt with bodies, they don't worry me."
Book nodded his approval, "I'd like to go with him. Maybe see what I can do about putting those folks to rest."
"Those folks already resting pretty good, Shepherd. Reavers saw to that."
"How we treat our dead is part of what makes us different than those that did the slaughtering."
Mal's face spoke of his relent, "all right, you go say your words. Jayne, you'll help the doc and Shepherd Book cut down those people, then you'll load up the cargo."
"I don't believe this. We're sitting put for a funeral?"
"Yes, Jayne, that is exactly what we're going to do. Not going to have these people looking over my shoulder once we're gone. I'm not saying there's any peace to be had, but on the off chance there is, those folks deserve a little of it."
Inara walked up to Mal with a smile, "just when I think I've got you figured out." She said, before turning to leave with the others. Corsair wondered if she had something for him.
With that, only Kaylee, Wash, Mal, Zoe, and Corsair were left in the dining room.
"That was real pretty, captain, what you just said." Kaylee said, smiling despite the bandage on her face. With her energy back, she seemed just like herself.
Wash grinned as he walked in closer, "yeah, I didn't think you were one for rituals and such."
"I'm not," Mal said, putting down his empty cup, "but it'll keep the others busy for a while. No reason to concern them with what's to be done."
Corsair narrowed his eyes, scrawling through his knowledge of the Fallen in his head, knowing they were comparative. "Oh...don't tell me."
He did, and not long after they were on the bridge, looking at a ventral camera view of some snaky cables attached from the Wu Cheng to Serenity.
"What is that?" Wash asked, intrigued.
"I'm gonna guess a booby trap of some kind?" Corsair glanced at Mal from where he had leaned in to see the screen.
Mal nodded his confirmation, "reavers sometimes leave them for the rescue ships. Triggered it when we latched on."
Wash started to get panicked, "and when we detach?"
"It blows."
"Okay, so...we don't detach, we just...I dunno, sit tight until..."
"What?" Zoe asked, "reavers come back?"
Corsair shrugged, "just give me access to all the weapons onboard if that happens." He said to Mal, with a slight smile, even though the captain didn't see the humor in his remark. He lost his smile, reassuring himself that he'd tell them he was a guardian someday.
Kaylee was focused entirely on the screen, "Looks like they've jerry-rigged it with a pressure catch. It's the only thing that'd work with all these spare parts. We could probably bypass that easy, we get to the DC line."
Mal touched her shoulder, "You tell me right now, little Kaylee, you really think you can do this?"
Kaylee seemed to hesitate, "Sure. Yeah. I think so." She managed, not very confident, "'Sides, if I mess up, not like you'll be able to yell at me."
Kaylee crawled up from the open hatch, gasping for breath. Her bandage had slipped off her face, and she was holding it there. "I couldnt-" she shook her head as Zoe and Wash helped her up. "I'm sorry, cap'n." She said, her accent coming out, "it was so hot and my bandage came off and it was hard to se-"
"Okay, okay." Mal gripped her shoulders, making her focus on him, "you did your best, mei mei. Just breathe." He whispered, as she went in for a hug.
Corsair sighed, pulling his knife from his sleeve, "alright, I got this. Everyone stay calm." He said, before pushing himself down into the crawl space exposed after the cargo bay floor bulkheads were opened. He was only thankful he could fit. "Gale?" He whispered as he got far enough away from the rest of the crew.
The ghost appeared before him, "should be right this way," he said, floating along past a few of the hanging wires.
Corsair crawled after him, to where the DC line was, he assumed. It was all wildly different from a city jumpship's systems. He raised his knife, "okay, this one?"
"The big black one, just make sure not to-"
Corsair poked the black plastic tube with his knife, resting it on something that looked like barbed wire right next to it. He felt his arm stiffening, he couldn't move it. His entire body was frozen.
Gale sighed, "-not to touch the wire, it's live." He finished, transmatting the knife from Corsair's hand, as he felt the numbness slowly subside.
After about a minute, he slumped against the wall of the crawl space, "why is a live wire open to the elements where anyone can touch it?" He exhaled, his heart pounding.
"Maybe Kaylee just knows about it. To be fair, you wouldn't be touching it unless you meant to reach there, and if Kaylee knows about it..."
Corsair groaned, annoyed as he held out his hand, reclaiming his knife, "right, let's do it properly." He said to himself, cutting into the black tube, a similarly black sludge oozing out where he cut..
Gale held himself in the air for a moment, "it's done, the trap is disabled. I can see it in the Wu Cheng's systems."
He nodded, turning around. "Here's hoping we never do this again." Corsair muttered as he heard Gale vanish once more.
Corsair took a breath as he crawled back up from the crawl space. The relative cool of the cargo bay washed right over him. "Alright, alright, alright, we're good." He said, grinning as the bulkheads closed.
It was at this time Jayne entered, bearing the crates of Genseed. "What's going on?"
Mal was casual as always, smiling, "Well, I'd have to say, right at this particular moment, not a thing. Right?"
"Right." Corsair smiled with him.
"Not a gorram thing." Kaylee beamed, looking a bit awkward as she held her bandage on her face.
Jayne looked skeptical, "looked like a thing to me." He said as Book and Simon entered behind him.
"Thought we might've had a situation," Mal said as Corsair wiped his hands, "but it looks to be taken care of. Let's get that merchandise put away."
It wasn't seconds after Serenity detached that a proximity alarm sounded, and Corsair and Mal raced up to the bridge. "What is it? Reavers?" Mal asked as they got in the doorway, but his question died in his mouth as he noticed the green glow shining in the cockpit, becoming agape.
It certainly looked too nice to be a reaver ship, and far too big, and the man on the comms sounded much too nice to be a reaver. "Firefly class transport, this is the alliance vessel Guardian, you are ordered to release control of your helm and prepare to be boarded."
Corsair groaned at the ship name, "I really hate irony."
"What?" Wash asked.
He shrugged, "nothing."
Mal's response was more subdued, "looks like civilization finally caught up with us."
"So what was it?" Jayne called up as Mal and Corsair speedwalked down the catwalk. From the looks of things, they'd just gotten done putting the genseed away.
Mal had no time to explain, "open the stash, pull out the goods."
"What?" Jayne threw out his arms, "just got done putting it in."
"Yeah, and now I'm telling you to take it all out again."
"Why for?"
"I got no notion to argue this. In about two minutes time this boat's going to be crawling with Alliance."
That got everyone's attention, as they immediately got to work with no further complaints. Well, one further complaint.
Simon looked horrified from the moment Mal spoke, "no, no, we've got to run."
"Can't run, Simon." Corsair walked up to him, "they're right there."
"If they find us they'll send River back to that place. To be tortured." He stammered, "I'd never see her again."
"Simon." Corsair grabbed the doctor's shoulders, forcing him to focus on himself instead of the orders Mal gave or the impending disaster. "What did I swear to you the day we met?"
Simon took a moment to speak again, "yo-you said you'd protect us!" He pushed Corsair's hands off his shoulders defensively.
Corsair nodded, "and I will, even if I have to fight through everyone on that ship."
Mal interjected, "mighty noble of you." He addressed Simon, "now go run and fetch your sister."
Simon looked even more shocked, "what?"
"Simon, now." Corsair put his hands on his hips, staring into the young man's eyes until he acquiesced, practically running off. Corsair sighed, turning to Mal, "tell me you've got some plan, because I don't feel like invading an alliance ship."
Mal smirked, "not one the doctor's gonna like."
A short time later, the main doors opened to reveal a force of armed soldiers. Corsair frowned, glad he wouldn't have to fight through all of them. Simon and River were in the perfect spot, in spacesuits on the outside of the ship. He just hoped Mal was correct about no exterior cameras on the alliance vessel.
"Well, quite a lot of fuss." Mal acted amused by the display, addressing the clear cut commander who walked within the group, right up to the crew, "If I didn't know better, I'd think we were dangerous."
The commander ignored his remark, "is this your vessel?"
"It is, bought and paid for. I'm captain Malcolm Reynolds."
Corsair stepped forward, "and I'm Alexander Pryce, of the humanitarian agency New Monarchy. Serenity is under our commission, and I'm the closest authority in that regard." He offered his hand, which the commander didn't accept. He slowly lowered his hand after that.
The commander looked between the two of them, "And is this everyone, gentlemen?"
Mal began talking, and Corsair decided to let him handle it. "By way of crew it is, though in our infirmary you're going to find a fellow that we rescued off that derelict. Saved him, guess you could say."
The commander seemed nonplussed, gesturing for two of his men to investigate Mal's claim.
"Straight through the back! Next to the common area." Mal called to them, watching them move before turning back to the commander.
"And these items," he nodded to the genseed crates, "I take it you rescued these as well?"
Mal seemed to stop at that, as if not sure how to spin it. Corsair had something pop into his head, however, "I believe they're the property of the man in the infirmary."
"Yes," Mal ran with it, "we decided he'd want to take those with him."
"Would he?" the commander said, seeming even more suspicious than before, "looks to me like an illegal salvage operation."
"Does it?" Mal crossed his arms, "well, that's discouraging."
"Yeah, and Alliance property. You could lose your ship, captain. But that is a wrist slap compared to the penalty for harboring fugitives. A brother and sister." The man paced around the cargo bay while he talked, eyes taking in his surroundings before turning back to Mal. "When I search this vessel, I won't find them, will I?"
Mal shook his head, "No children on this boat."
"Hmm. I didn't say 'children'. Siblings, adult siblings."
"I misunderstood."
"No chance they could have stowed away? No one would blame you for that Captain. I know how these older model Fireflies tend to have those troublesome little nooks." The commander said, his demeanor suddenly generous.
"Do they?" Mal perked up in interest.
"Smugglers and the like tend to prefer them just for that reason." The commander said, before one of the soldiers returned, whispering something in his ear. Corsair was too far away to hear what he said, but the commander's expression hardened. The commander straightened, "we will continue this discussion in a more official capacity. I want every inch of this junker tossed." He gestured to his men, as they pushed the crew towards the airlock.
"Junker?" Kaylee asked, in a huff.
Corsair winced, "oh, dear."
"Settle down, Kaylee!" Mal called back.
"But captain! Did you hear what that purple belly called Serenity?" She said, followed by some very colorful language that lasted for a while.
Corsair paced around the sparse prison cell, glad it at least allowed for privacy. Well, as much as a security camera would allow. The cell itself was white, possessed a toilet, a bench/bed, and had bare walls with no possible exit save for a heavy bulkhead door. Gale had naturally interfaced with the ship's computer systems the moment they'd been brought onboard. While his ghost could easily unlock the door from the inside, there were still guards immediately outside, and no way past them.
His escape would have to be subtle.
"Is that enough footage?" Corsair asked, sitting down on the bench.
Gale appeared in front of him, "done. Cameras are looped." He floated up to the ceiling, where a vent cover awaited him.
Corsair gave the alliance credit, there was no way for a normal person to escape the brig cells. The vent cover was tightly screwed on, and all of them had been searched before being processed, any potential screwdrivers being confiscated. The vent itself, though wide enough for a human, went several feet up, so no one could get high enough to crawl up it even if they had a screwdriver. The only way a normal person could get past that was if they had a second person in their cell, and could sneak a screwdriver past the security scanners while being initially processed.
Fortunately, there were better ways. Gale ran a beam over the vent, making the cover dematerialize into nonexistence, and Corsair double jumped right up into the shaft.
"Good timing, too," Gale floated ahead of him, "commander Harken just brought Jayne into the interrogation room." As Corsair gripped the ledge and narrowly pulled himself up, he thanked the Traveler the Alliance didn't polish their vents.
"Jayne's being interrogated?" Corsair began to shimmy along after Gale, "I wonder how long that's going to take."
It ended up taking almost half an hour.
In that time, Corsair navigated the vents to a nearby hallway, and when Gale vanished that vent cover as well, he dropped down, but not as silently as he'd hoped.
He froze, looking around. No one was there, but he heard footsteps. He ducked back into invisibility just before a security guard rounded a corner. She looked around suspiciously, before moving on, right past Corsair.
He let out a sigh of relief when she was finally out of earshot, "that was close," he said, letting himself become visible again. Corsair looked down at himself, still in his casual clothes, minus his jacket. Needless to say, he stuck out. "Gale, think you can synthesize something to blend in a little?"
"Let me think..." Gale said before Corsair felt his clothes disappear, instantly replaced with an Alliance navy uniform, perfectly fitted, just like the first time he'd ever been resurrected.
After that, nobody gave him a second glance. All he did was keep walking, keep his hat pulled low, and keep his head down. It was like they couldn't even imagine someone sneaking through their defenses like this, and as he meandered into an auxiliary control center, populated by two other officers, and took a spot at one of the stations, he realized that was exactly the case. In fairness, no normal human could.
"Morn...ing?" One of the officers said as Corsair tried his best to ignore them.
Corsair wondered what to say. In the end, he gave a noncommittal grunt and shook his head.
There was a pause before one of the officers let out a breath, "well, someone needs coffee."
It seemed even outside the last city the premise was true. Act like you belonged, or in this case, act like you belonged while behaving like you didn't want to be there. He'd used the technique to avoid being recognized in the last city, and people were apparently the same everywhere.
"Alright, now what?" He whispered to himself so they wouldn't hear them.
Gale's voice through his earpiece was immediate, "open your hand, I'm transmatting a USC drive."
Corsair did so, looking at the small drive in question, "not USB?"
"The Alliance modernized it." Gale explained. Even during the golden age, despite the state of flash drive advancement, the USB connection had always been universal. "Supposedly, it transmits data more quickly and securely."
Corsair didn't know how a hard connection could be potentially insecure, but he didn't feel the need to ask. He had work to do. He inserted the drive and put his hands on the controls, not to do anything, just to pretend he was busy doing something while Gale actually did the something.
That something was Alexander Pryce's military record, from birth to family to battle records. He watched on the terminal as information flashed onscreen. He and Gale had discussed it earlier after he'd messed with the Alliance computers during Corsair's processing. Gale was able to get a feel for the wider system. The ship's own computers didn't have as impressive cybersecurity as an Alliance datacenter might (on the fact that Corsair had an AI, and as far as he knew, the Alliance did not).
"Oh, I think we have a problem," Gale said, "I think they're finally done with Jayne."
"Crap," he whispered, "how long do you need?"
"Leave the drive in, it's generic and I have all the access I'll need, now go!" Gale said, hurriedly. With that, Corsair took his leave, ignoring the comments of the two officers as he did so.
Making it back to the hallway, he cursed under his breath and ducked back around a corner. Commander Harken was walking through the hallway with Jayne and a few men. Thinking quickly, he became invisible again just as Jayne and the guards passed, leaving Harken and one of his officers in the juncture.
"He certainly knows to keep his mouth shut." Harken remarked, obviously annoyed.
"Jayne literally didn't say a single word," Gale whispered, "and neither did commander Harken." Corsair forced himself to not laugh as he pictured that in his head, conscious of how sound could still travel while one was invisible, even if it was muffled.
The officer's voice gave him pause. "Do you want to bring in Pryce next?"
Corsair considered his options, ready to run all the way back to his cell if need be, but Harken helped him relax. "No," he said, "we'll save him and captain Reynolds for last."
Corsair exhaled, perhaps a bit too sharply, as Harken looked in his direction. Despite the invisibility, he froze. It wasn't until Harken brought Wash out that Corsair felt it safe to move back to his temporary prison. He had a feeling it wouldn't be long.
It was almost an hour before Corsair was brought in to see Commander Harken. With nothing else to do, Gale had regaled him with the antics of Serenity's crew in their interrogation. Kaylee wouldn't shut up about engines, Wash wouldn't shut up about his wife, and Jayne had just shut up. From what Gale gleaned, Harken had grown annoyed with the rest of the crew.
Maybe that would work in Corsair's favor.
There were two more guards escorting him than with the others. Harken evidently took into account his military history. Even so, the extra guards stayed outside the room.
"Mr. Alexander Pryce," Harken paced around the interrogation room, which had similar themes as the rest of the ship, "or should I say, captain Pryce, of the 106th. An honor to meet what I presume to be a distinguished serviceman." He said, sitting across from where Corsair sat at a simple shiny metal table with a simple tan folder in hand.
Corsair smiled, "let me guess, not high enough clearance?" He relaxed, playing the role of an Alliance veteran as best he could. Captain may have meant something different in terms of naval versus army designation, but Gale felt it would be better considering how old he looked and how many more doors it might open.
Harken seemed to reluctantly shake his head, "not even for a commander."
He gave a shrug, "some things I'll keep secret, commander, but..." he trailed off, "I think we both know the brass get a bit overeager with all the details."
To his surprise, Harken groaned softly, "you have no idea." The man admitted, relaxing a little himself. Maybe it was the feeling like he was among a friend, even if that friend was a suspect as well as a serviceman.
Harken gave Corsair an annoyed look, "you're sure there's no siblings aboard Serenity?"
"No," he shook his head, "we've met one or two people since I came onboard. Can you tell me anything else about these siblings?" Corsair asked, leaning forward in interest.
"...not a thing." Harken admitted, after a moment's hesitation.
Corsair felt his face fall in a surprise aligned with the innocence of Alexander Pryce. "Wait, nothing?" He asked, slowly, "they give you a general description, and that's all you have?" He honestly was surprised. The Vanguard always gave their guardians all necessary intel, even if that intel was 'bad guys over there doing something shady'. For the Alliance to be so shy of detail, when there was certainly plenty available, it made them incompetent...or worse, desperate.
Harken nodded, and Corsair shook his head. "Then I can't help you. I honestly haven't met any siblings onboard."
"I suppose there's more Fireflies than Serenity," Harken straightened, getting down to business as he opened the folder before him. It was almost weird to see paper, after seeing the scrolls akin to tablets. It probably had something to do with the scarcity of paper on a border planet versus an alliance cruiser.
Corsair leaned back in his chair, "a needle in a very large haystack." He mused, deciding to draw in the captain. "Reminds me of Du-Khang."
Harken looked up at him, interested, "you were at the battle of Du-Khang?"
"That I was," Corsair said proudly, lying through his teeth, "had a target of my own I can't say much about, but I was there."
Harken smiled at him, "it's funny, so was I." He said, "It was a big one, bloody one."
Corsair could only guess, "it was. Where were you?"
"Aboard the Saitama," Harken replied, "what about you?" Corsair didn't know where to begin with faking an answer, but thankfully, he could hide behind two special words.
"That's classified." He responded, simply enough.
Harken let out another exasperated sigh, "so it is. Tell me," he began, retaking the interrogator's persona, "how does a decorated war veteran become..." he read the paper in his folder, "an executor of a humanitarian agency?"
Corsair glanced down at the table, closing his eyes, "we all did things during the war." He said slowly, looking up at Harken again, "my CO offered a way to give back to the people we invaded."
"Unified," Harken corrected, sharply.
"Invaded," came Corsair's sharper reply, "they declared independence, and we marched into their homes and made them join us at gunpoint."
Harken leaned forward on the table as if seeing Corsair as a suspect for the first time. "Shall I take that to mean you disagree with what the alliance did?"
"Absolutely not, just how they did it." He said, relaxed, but still apprehensive. If handled wrong, his whole plan could go up in smoke. "The whole motto of New Monarchy is that only together we will rise. How can we be unified if we treat a 10th of our people like second or third class citizens?"
"The ones that lived in poverty and squalor on the rim? If they truly wanted to fix things, they would."
"All four million of them? Nothing to do with the fact that we invaded them?"
"We did not-"
"Harken," Corsair raised a hand, "if you're about to say we didn't handicap them, then shut the hell up."
Harken's eyes widened slightly, "I beg your pardon?"
"Beg." Corsair leaned forward, "you were at a control station on the Saitama, I was on the ground, tracking my target through a city we bombed, and because of those bombs, I lost him. You can sit in that chair, but don't deny who we are."
Harken looked stiff, as if he'd been attacked (and he had been.) After a moment, he spoke again, "we've gotten off topic."
"So we have." Corsair leaned back again and gestured for the man to continue.
Harken took a breath before conferring the file folder again, "what happened aboard that freighter, Mr. Pryce?"
Corsair recounted it briefly, from encountering the derelict to the bodies in the hold to the passenger in their medbay. Throughout it all, Harken stayed focused on him, as if tearing Corsair's story to pieces in his head.
"You officially admit you looted the vessel?" Harken asked, turning over a paper.
He nodded, "that's correct."
"You're aware this is a felony without a proper license?"
"Were we supposed to go get one and come back?" Corsair asked, "it's a 6 month waiting period for that license."
Harken actually looked as if he hadn't expected that question. "You were supposed to...leave it for the proper authorities."
"Were we?" Corsair couldn't help but smile, "by your own admission, you weren't even aware the ship was lost, much less hit by Reavers. Was the genseed supposed to sit there for the rest of time?"
"And I imagine you would've made a tidy profit off of that salvage."
"That's the whole point, to reallocate the wealth of the alliance so everyone gets a fair stake. We're planning on raising money for a stimulus package for the outer rim. The genseed and more like it is going to be part of that." He hadn't been planning to sell New Monarchy to Commander Harken before, but the way Harken described it, he made it seem like the alliance would be reappropriated via the alliance. He hoped that wouldn't be the case.
It was only a small point, but the fact that the alliance would rather leave valuable resources lost forever rather than let smaller people potentially profit was abhorrent to him. Even if he wasn't on a salvage crew himself, to the city, every little scrap was precious. A single wire could be the difference between life and death in the wilds of Sol.
"A stimulus package?" Harken scoffed, "wouldn't that just make them dependent on you?"
"I thought we both didn't like independents, Harken." Corsair smiled at him.
The Commander rolled his eyes, "you know what I mean."
He shrugged, "the rim needs help, Harken. Maybe if you left your ship here," Corsair gestured up all around them, "you'd see it. Famine, disease, reavers..."
"Reavers," Harken scoffed derisively, "they're a myth."
"You know that for a fact?" Corsair had met and encountered too many myths to not take issue with that.
Harken looked like he wanted to be elsewhere, out of boredom, "you can't imagine how many times men in my position hear that excuse. 'Reavers did it'"
Corsair tried his best not to be cynical, "then again, I don't know what else to tell you."
"Very well, answer me this," Harken went on the offensive, "you said you've done things you regret. Would torture and mutilation be among those things?"
Corsair blinked, actually surprised by that line of questioning, "and...how exactly is that relevant, Commander?"
"That man you rescued, the one in your medbay, that captain Reynolds said you saved, his tongue was split down the middle. His face was mutilated. Did you find him like that?"
He stopped, feeling awkward at the very least, "I...no." Corsair managed to catch himself, "he attacked Kaylee with a jagged soup can lid. Most we did was knock him out, but that was it."
"So he attacked your crewmate? And for this you tortured him?" Harken pressed, finding an opening.
Corsair steeled himself from the accusation, "Harken, do you think I'm a vengeful man?"
"I don't know. In my experience, most people don't know how vengeful they can be. Everyone has a breaking point. For some, it's the rejection of a woman, for others...it can be attacking a family member." Harken said, closing his hands together on the table.
"Family?" Corsair asked.
"Or something comparable." Harken said, and there was a pause as both men sized each other up. "Do you know what your breaking point is, Alexander?"
In a split second, Corsair leaped at him, knife materializing in his hand, as he jammed it into Harken's throat, blood spurting onto him while he watched the commander die. Thorn was in hand as the guards charged at him-
And then he blinked, and he was still in his chair, Harken still staring him down. He felt unnerved, like someone had walked over his grave. He forced himself to look down, seeing his curse in his lap between his legs.
"I don't..." He scooted his chair forward, hands under the table as he grabbed Thorn by the barrel, holding it up under the table at an angle nobody could see. He tapped it silently with two fingers, hoping that Gale would notice.
"Talk about bad timing," Gale whispered as Harken began to talk again. "Make a noise at some point. I'll do what I can."
"You know what I think," Harken closed his folder, "I think you attacked that transport."
Corsair's eyes widened, "excuse me?"
"Run me through it again, you encountered the transport, you boarded them, tried to relieve them of their possessions, and then the man in your infirmary attacked Kaylee?" Harken stated like he was reading it off a page.
"That's a lie!" Corsair almost shouted, and if any of them had super hearing, they would've heard the scanning beam of a ghost active beneath the table. As he felt Thorn vanish from his hand, he levelled his voice again, "don't you dare put words in my mouth. I know what I've done, Harken, I didn't do that. It went down like I described."
Harken smiled, "well, I think that would be for a federal court to decide."
"And if I made a call to my CO? Pulled a string or two?"
Harken paused, considering what Corsair said. "We'll see. I'll interview captain Reynolds, and see what he can tell me." Corsair saw right through him. Harken was trying to placate him for the moment, not knowing what connections Corsair had.
A bluff on both their parts, to be sure, but a damn good one.
He let out a curse when the door closed on his cell. Gale materialized next to him, probably having messed with the camera. "Gale, did you know anything about the guy from the ship?"
"Unfortunately, not much. If I probed any deeper into security feeds, I might be discovered." Gale floated around. Gale had hacked harder systems in the past, but hacking wasn't always a subtle thing. Hacking secondary systems could reveal your presence, while hacking tertiary systems wouldn't, and they had agreed if Gale couldn't get to something without being noticed, he shouldn't bother.
Corsair groaned as he sat on the bench. "I don't suppose you have any theories on Thorn?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.
"Not one." Gale floated closer to his shoulder. "What now?"
"We wait for something to happen, I guess." Corsair thought on his vision in the interrogation room. If only it was as simple as shooting his way out and commandeering the ship.
Gale thought for a moment, "so, improvise?"
He chuckled, "hey, always plan for the plan to go wrong." He quoted Epsilon as he laid down on his bunk. He probably wouldn't be here long, but he'd learned how to take quick naps. Sometimes in the wilds, those were all you'd get.
He was woken not long after by one of the guards, who quickly escorted him out of his cell. It had only been 20 minutes since his conversation with Harken, and the guard refused to tell him what was going on. According to Gale, an alert had been placed and the ship itself was on yellow alert. The crew of the Serenity were still in their cells, save Mal, who hadn't been returned.
As it turned out, Mal was with Harken at the airlock they'd been brought in. There were four security officers with them, and Mal was handcuffed. Interesting, given Corsair wasn't.
"Good, you're here." Harken said, looking relieved, "alright, let's get captain Reynolds back to the brig."
"No, no, no." Mal protested, "I should go with you!"
Corsair cleared his throat, "and who should be going with who for what?" He asked, getting the attention of both men.
Harken focused on Corsair, hesitating for just a moment before beginning, "the man from the Wu Cheng you took onboard. He's broken out of the O.R., attacked our surgical staff, and came here." He gestured to the airlock, and Corsair noticed for the first time the dead guard on the floor with a slit throat.
Corsair winced, "I don't suppose you'd chalk that up to trauma?" He asked, trying not to seem smug. A man was dead, after all.
Harken seemed like he was resisting the urge to roll his eyes, "considering...everything we talked about, Mr. Pryce," he sighs, "I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt."
"I'm guessing that's why I'm not handcuffed." Corsair held out a hand to the nearest guard, gesturing with his eyes to the woman's gun. She looked at him with suspicion, before Harken nodded to her, and she unclipped her gun from her belt, handing it to Corsair.
Harken took a gun of his own, "let's get moving. You two, guard the entrance, make sure he doesn't come out. Shoot to kill-"
"I think captain Reynolds should come with us, sir." Corsair said, while checking his gun.
Reynolds seized the opportunity, "nobody knows Serenity like I do, Commander. How many more of your men do you feel like losing today?"
Harken nodded after a moment of consideration, "we let him go first."
Mal grimaced, "right, you want to, uh?" he gestured to his hands behind his back. Commander Harken took a set of keys and moved behind Reynolds, uncuffing him.
Corsair raised an eyebrow as Harken moved to cuff Reynolds' hands in front of him instead. "Really?"
Harken opened his mouth to retort, but shook his head, leaving Reynolds uncuffed. The captain smiled, "well now, that's much better. Onward it is."
Despite everything, it hadn't taken that long. Harken, Reynolds, and Corsair pushed through the ship via the medbay, while the other guards held the cargo hold. The intent was to flush the man towards the security officers, if not apprehend him themselves. He was surprised Harken trusted them enough to be alone with the two of them, maybe their conversation had an effect on the man.
The most obvious thing Corsair, and anyone, could see, was that everything had been strewn across the place. Truly every inch of Serenity had been tossed, down to the plates on the dining table. Seriously, were they expecting to find the Tam siblings under the plates?
The alliance's protocols were beginning to confuse Corsair immensely.
Corsair froze as he caught sight of something, throwing up a closed fist. The Tam siblings would've had to come back for air sometime, after several hours, after the alliance had finished searching the ship. They had, and they had, as evidenced by the pressure suit helmet lying on one of the crates by the door.
The Tams were here, as was the man from the derelict, as was the alliance. Wonderful.
His mind spun with potential options as he glanced over to Mal, who looked as if he saw the helmet as well. Harken, not knowing of the plan, wouldn't have known the helmet's significance if he did see it. With a nod, Mal moved not so silently towards the door, peeking beyond the threshold. At his angle, Corsair could see him make a facial expression to something beyond, and knew Simon and River had to be around the corner.
Corsair opened his mouth to suggest going a different way, when there was a shout and the man jumped with a knife toward Harken, closing the gap before he could fire and embedding one of the kitchen knives into Harken's right shoulder area, shoving the commander down. The man had mutilated his face, decorated it with metal inserts that still bled, stretching out his flesh, and when Corsair slammed his heel into the ground, the man looked at him, and Corsair saw the reaver in his eyes.
Corsair put two shots into him, one into the reaver's chest from his hip, before he raised the gun to look down the sight and put one in his head, the man collapsing backwards, lifeless.
It was seconds later before the three security officers burst through the entryway they came in, thankfully, at the back of the ship. Corsair and Mal were already on the ground, crouched around Harken, groaning in pain from his wound. Mal looked up at them, "he's injured, knife wound, get a medic!" He shouted, as one ran back to call it in while the other two remained.
Mal sighed, as Harken groaned underneath them, "didn't hit anything important, long as we don't pull it out, should be fine." Mal said to Corsair and the security officers, as he grabbed a cloth from the ground and went to wash it in one of the sinks before placing it around the wound.
Corsair smiled at that, looking down at Harken, "isn't it fun meeting your first myth, commander?"
"So, we can sweep this under the rug?" Corsair asked hesitantly, as he and Harken walked slowly down the hallway towards Serenity's airlock a day or so later. The rest of the crew had already been released, starting the general cleanup of the ship. Corsair was very glad most of his stuff was in his inventory, safe and sound.
Harken nodded, "I can't say we'll forget we saw you, but more or less. You're not being charged with anything, and...I think if the genseed was lost aboard the Wu Cheng..." He smirked softly.
Corsair smiled, nodding, "a damn shame." He slid his hands into his pockets, almost as if to make sure Thorn hadn't popped up again. "Thank you, commander." He turned as he shook Harken's left hand. His right was still in a sling, after all, healing.
Harken smiled, "anytime, captain." He turned as if to walk away, but stopped, with a curious expression. "Your target at Du-Khang, did you ever find him?"
"You know I'm not allowed to tell you that."
Harken chuckled, "and I'm not allowed to let salvage go missing."
"Fair," Corsair admitted, "yes, I did find him."
"Who was it?" Harken asked.
"Mr. Pryce?" Mal called from the airlock ahead, "we're about ready to detach, just waitin' on you."
Corsair nodded to Mal, "be right there!" He wondered what to say for a moment, before remembering another thing he'd read about sergeant Malcolm Reynolds. Perhaps the story of Alexander Pryce could use a little bit of spice. He moved to face Harken, gesturing with his eyes towards Mal as the captain turned to head back inside.
Harken's eyes widened, glancing over, "you were hunting-"
"No one in particular." Corsair grinned, winking at Harken before moving to rejoin his friends on Serenity.
Corsair made it halfway before he heard Harken call out to him, "you'll keep an eye out for any suspicious siblings on fireflies?"
He turned, walking backwards into the airlock, "Harken, you'll be the first one I contact, you have my word."
Corsair, Wash, Mal, Zoe, and Jayne stood in the cockpit as Serenity detached from the Guardian, slowly taking it's engines to full burn to bring themselves back on their course. "Can't believe he let you keep the cargo." Jayne muttered, arms crossed.
"What did you two talk about? In the interrogation room?" Zoe asked, sparing a glance over to where Corsair leaned against one of the consoles.
Corsair opened his mouth, before closing it, not sure whether to say. "You really wanna know?" He looked back to Zoe.
Mal cleared his throat, "ain't gonna force you to tell us."
"So, yes, you want to know?"
"Pretty much."
He sighed, lowering his head, "we talked about what we did to you, and I speak generally, during the war and all." He gave a pointed look at Mal and Zoe, "and I guess he believed me when I said I was trying to make things right." He gritted his teeth. Something felt wrong, apologizing on the alliance's behalf when Corsair himself had nothing to do with it, but he was committed to his story.
Mal's face was almost pained, but he kept his resolve. "Don't think I believed that myself, 'till now."
Corsair forced himself to look forward, watching the two missiles from the Guardian blow the derelict to dust, putting the entirety of the ship to rest. He nodded silently, before turning around and walking out, down the stairs. He still had a warp drive to fix.