I own nothing except the ideas of how I am planning to merge two divergent worlds into a hopefully coherent story.
67ttyu
Malcolm Reynolds was doing the least interesting part of his job. He was currently trying to balance the budget of his fledgling shipping company. They were currently flush with cash, with a nice little bundle of 50 000 platinum stored in a modified wall panel in his bunk. He was looking over the percentages of what he owed his crew from this last job and trying to work out how future payouts will work, considering he now had double the crew and the same 100% potential income. He had an idea for what he wanted to do, but it would require that he try and set aside at least a little of his orneriness and take Zoe's advice from so long ago and let at least a little of the past slide.
Now that none of his crew were wanted fugies, and indeed had been lavished with praise by alliance officials for bringing to light the so called 'black site' and 'illegal research' conducted by 'former' government contractor Blue Sun, who were as recent news stated, being dismantled piece by piece and 'thoroughly investigated' to punish those responsible for the crimes of Miranda and against the unfortunate human test subjects. NO names were released on the subjects, and the families of the victims of Miranda would be compensated for the loss of life and torture any surviving members were suffering as a result of the testing.
"Ifn I can convince them to follow this, then the ship will be shiny." he muttered to himself as he looked over a table filled with numbers and names. "Be hard to get 'en to 'gree but if I do... Don't see how ship keep flying this boon runs out."
"Cap'n? Need ya on the bridge. Got ourselves a situation or two up here." Wash's voice came through the comm panel next to his desk.
Not bothering to reply, Mal grumpily stood and donned his shirt, pulling his suspenders straps over his shoulders. He stalked over to his bunk's door and took the few steps up onto the walkway that comprised the 'neck' of his home. He entered the bridge and stood over Wash as the smaller man's hands flew over controls and his screens flashed to quickly for Mal's limited piloting skills to comprehend. "What's going on Wash? You damaging my ship?"
"Me? No, never1' Wash protested before fiddling with a few controls and the front windows shifted to the left to be filled with a not that distant view that made Mal's mouth dry. "Go se,' he swore at the sight of former Alliance light cruisers floated towards them slowly, damage signs visible to the naked eye even from this distance. "Are they... They seen us?"
"Oh yeah. I've done some slow, easy tuns even doubling back and they've stuck to us like glue. Radiation readings of their engines are clear. We got Reavers and they are looking for diner and a show."
Mal swore as he reached for the radio mic hanging from just above Wash's station. "Get your pigu's in motion people, we humped. Got a pair of Reaver Alliance converts heading our way. At their current speed, about an hour out before they reach us." he released the talk button to ask Wash's opinion even as he heard footsteps coming along the walk way to the bridge.
"Can we run?" he asked nervously.
Wash shook his head. "We could. Serenity's upgrades make her much faster, but we'd be lighting a trail for them to follow us anywhere we go. We'd just be leading them to a meal elsewhere. Those ships were likely at the Battle of Universe Moon. Guess the Alliance missed some stragglers River didn't cut down." A hint of humour in his voice grew as he spoke. "Luckily we don't have to run anymore."
Mal blinked and stared dumbly at his pilot for a moment before his mind flashed back to the other upgrades his ship had undergone. For a moment, a look of distaste crossed his face but that settled just as Jayne came onto the budge followed by Zoe and River. River slid into the copilot seat and started warming up her stations. Jayne went down the small stairs into the viewing well that normally held two curved and padded couch like benches. His palm slammed into a bit of panel that looked like the rest, except there was a hiss of escaping air like an airlock release. At the bottom of the stairs started lifting and in the dark cavity under the stairs lights started flickering on.
Jayne stepped into the revealed opening, and settled into the revealed position. Behind him, the stairs lowered and now there was a hiss of pressure seals locking into place. Mal was confused for a moment then a memory of the list of changes again flashed in his mind as he recalled from reading the new update technical manual given to them by the crew on GreyMalkin that had turned his ship from a peaceful cargo/passenger ship into a potential weapon of war. Jayne had just locked him self into the gunners seat, and as the bridge vibrated slightly, he realized that Jayne was now, relatively speaking, seated upside down from the rest of the crew as the gunner seat hat unlocked and swung 'down' into position below their feet. To Jayne's p.o.v, everything was now rotated on a 180degree horizontal axis and he was to them, hanging upside down under their flooring.
As he watched his crew preparing for their first potential space battle, Mal felt a twinge of regret that he never took the time to study any type of battle plans for this vent. He'd been a ground troop in the war and not a space fighter. He could fly a little and new some battle strategies but he had zero clue of how to implement a ship to ship battle. He glanced to his second and longest known companion, who caught his eye and gave a shake of her head. She clearly had no idea how to navigate this situation either.
Mal brought the mic up to his mouth again. "'Prolly bad time to mention this, but I don't suppose anyone back there knows anything about fighting a ship to ship in space?"
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AS he waited impatiently in shuttle one next to Zoe, Mal swore to himself to try and learn as much about space warfare as he could. He hated feeling useless and waiting on the sidelines while his and his crews lives were on the line. He was a man who needed to be out front and visible as a target to try and protect his soldiers. Thanks to his non existent knowledge and that fact that out of all the crew, only Wash and Inara had any practical training in these situations was galling to him. So here he was, sitting on his pigu next to an equally frustrated Zoe, watching the screens to track the progress of the battle as directed by Wash from Serenity's bridge and Inara from her shuttle where Book was thankfully next to her and in position to manage the shuttles weapons if they were needed.
The Reaver ships were not light cruisers as first suspected, but instead light carriers. A combined half dozen armed shuttles had departed the ships and now Serenity was about to fave off with 8 to 1 odds in the Reavers favour. The only good news was that Wash had mentioned that those class ships usually carried up to a dozen fighters each, so it was likely that the Reavers were throwing out all they could. 8 to 1 sucked but it sure as hell beat 26 to one, or even 26 to 3 if you counted Serenity's shuttles.
"Reaver ships nearly in range. Jayne, get ready to unleash hell on these bastards. I suggest we try and fry 'em with the EMP cannon, then you punch a few hundred rounds of railgun fletchettes through their hulls and we finish them off with a couple of ship busting missiles." Wash's voice came over the 4 way radio connection between the bridge, Jayne's gunner seat, and the 2 shuttles. "Simon, you in position to reload if needed?"
"Half way between bay and bridge, strapped in like you mentioned. Have 3 ammo blocks loaded into the bales for the railgun shaver, and another 3 each hovering and ready to drop in if Jayne runs dry."
"Kaylee, engines set to power guns, thrust and the new fancy shielding? I hope our girl isn't too upset we had to arm her."
"Serenity's right pissed at those Reaver monstrosities She ain't liked the Alliance ships much, says they have their heads up their pigu's, but not even they deserve to have their bodies turned into those monsters. She was tired of not being able to protect her crew and while she still getting used to her new look and abilities, she's glad that she can do a better job of keeping us all safe." there was a pause as Kaylee squealed. "Aw shucks girl. Ya know we love you too and ain't 'cause of no go se new fangled tidbits added to yer hull."
Mal distractedly pulled his three sided coin from his shirt pocket and tossed it in the air as Zoe's fingers crackled with small bolts of electricity. "Jayne, you got those bastards in yer sights?" he asked in order to assure himself by interjecting himself into a role he was more familiar and comfortable holding.
"h yeah. Bastards about to eat a shit ton of metal travelling about 5000m/s with a weight of 5grams. Each should hit with a force of about 25000 Newtons. Should rip right through that compromised hulls."
Mal blinked. "That seems like quite a bit of kick. How those guns gonna manage that?"
River's voice spoke instead of Jayne. "It's simple physics, Captain Daddy. Force equals mass times acceleration. The shaver essentially chips off a small grain of metal from the ammo block, in this case a 12in or 30cm cube of titanium. The magnetic relays of the gun accelerate that sliver of metal, in this case a 2mm by 2mm by 5mm piece up to an acceleration of 5000m/s. The mass of the grain is 5grams. So the force created is 5grams times the 5000m/s which is 25000 newtons of force. The shave can be programmed to shave different sizes of chips or 'fletchettes'. From the default 225 as we are set now, up to a max size for this barrel class of a 202050. Oh, ammo in this class always measured as millimetres, so a 225 is a 2x2x2mm, and a 202050 is 20x20x50mm. So one block of 30cm is a cube of 300x300x300mm. Each block can produce anywhere from 450 to 5400 rounds of ammo.
Of the 2 forward guns can hold 3 blocks of ammo in a hopper or magazine called a bale. The main issue with this type of weaponry is that it has limited firing angles. Can only adjust about 45degrees lateral with no vertical adjustment. Jayne's got those and the 4 missile launchers and the EMP cannon controlled from the gunner seat. I have control of Serenity's more rudimentary cannons, a sextet of autofire 100mm calibre Callahan class recoil-less autolock ship cannons. 2 forward mounted with 180degree lateral and 90degree vertical fire. 2 rear facing with similar firing range, and mid mounted below the shuttle docks." River paused as the ship shook and rattled for a moment. "Battle is engaged, shield just deflected a salvo from the leading fighter. Totally unshielded engine core, pilot is already dead just doesn't know it yet."
There was a flash of light blooming far too close for Mal's comfort followed by a yell of glee from Jayne. "Bastard knows he's dead now."
The next few minutes went by in a haze as Mal and Zoe watched and listened to the battle from the shuttle screens and the distant pounding and shaking of the shuttle through the docking connection that tied it to Serenity's side. The thud-thud-thud of the Callahan autocannons firing hundreds of rounds at the circling predators and the silent firing of the railguns were interspersed with River, Jayne and Wash shouting out orders and reports on the battle to each other. Occasionally Inara would pipe in with a suggestion for Jayne to target or for Wash or River to adjust the ship's position to get better firing lanes on their targets.
"Kaylee, how those shields holding?" Wash's voice called over the radio as he flicked the ship into a quick 180 center mass spin making the ship go from facing towards the large carriers to pointing it's rear at them and now facing the 3 fighters had snuck around to take pot shots at the glowing bulbous engine. Jayne and River opened fire, the nose mounted EMP cannon striking one fighter to be followed by a few hundred rounds from Jayne's railguns and Rivers autocannon, tearing it to useless shreds of lifeless scarp. Another few flicks of Wash's controls, the engine was facing the remaining fighters and River let loose with the rear and mid cannons as well as a missile from Jayne to finish the last of the pesky fighters.
"Shields holding at around 45% but Serenity's starting to feel the strain. Some of those bastards are prickling her hull and she's starting to feel it. This almost over Wash?"
"Fighters are done, Kay, but we still got their mother ships to take out. And they have the big guns and are gonna be in range in . . .say 2 min." Wash's eyes roved over the reports from the sensors and that river was sharing with him about their ammo supply. "Simon, can you reload the guns now and then see if you can load the missile bays. Passage under the walkway, where the extra crew bunks were converted. Just have to place the missiles in the cradle. Should load into firing positions on their own from there."
"On it." came Simon's voice and the rattling of feet pounding on the grilled walkway.
River looked to her copilot and grinned. "We are leafs on the wind... The wind that brings death to our enemies."
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"So how badly my ship damaged?" Mal asked several hours after the battle, sitting at the table in the mess with a bottle of cheap booze in his hand.
"A few scratches and some dents, but all things considered, practically nothing. Well, Kaylee reports that those last few harpoons and the missiles they hit us with blew a lot of the relays and fuse whatnot's for the shields. Gonna take her a while to get it fully up and running again. Damn, never saw a spear or harpoon that size. Needle tip but spread out to at least 5feet wide. I wonder where they got the metal to make those things."
"Scavenger from damaged parts. Merge, melted, bound together to form weapons of destruction." River stated from her seat next to Jayne. The events of the day were having a strong effect on the girl, and she was waving in and out of her former disjointed method of speaking. Jayne arm was around her should and she was snuggling into his side like it was the only place in the world she belonged.
"Biggest bit of damage was to ammo supply." Wash continued. "Jayne fired off at least 2 blocks of ammo and most of a 3rd Somewhere in the neighbourhood of at least 13000 rounds from the rails. In comparison, River fired off maybe 200 to 300 rounds from forward guns and twice that for the others. We also spent 5 missiles from our stockpile, leaving another 15 or so."
"Ever heard of overkill, Jayne?" Zoe asked with a bit of mirth in her tone.
"To be fair to Jayne, ammo for the rails is not an issue. Can use just about any type of metal, just need to gather and shape it into a cube of the right size. Even with what he fired, we have a stockpile of at least 20 blocks. Next time though, I would recommend using a larger flechette, say a 557 or a 5510. More then double the mass means a much larger impact and more force delivered means less rounds need to be fired." Inara stated from where she was holding a portable cortex screen.
"Well then, seems we managed to get through with nothing to worry about for mow. Unless 'lliance takes exception to us trashing some of their scrap again." Mal stated. Now that the battle tensions as slowly easing out of him, his mind returned to his previous situation and he knew he had to find a way to ease into the coming discussion.
"I know this ain't the best time, but we have some decisions to make." he stated as he looked over his crew, pulling out the sheet of paper he had absently stuffed into his pocket before the battle. "Been going over some numbers and things ain't gonna work the same as they have been.'
"Whatcha' mean, Mal?" Jayne asked suspiciously.
"Well, ain't enough percentage to cut every one in on the takes." Mal replied, laying out the seemingly pointless series of calculations and formulas. "You and Kaylee getting 10%, Wash and Zoe combined get 25%, ship gets 50% for food, upkeep, fuel and the like, and I take 15% fer meself. Only ain't just 4 o' us no more. Got 4 new crew to pay. Simon, River, Book and 'nara. So what I need to ask, and I don't like it none either, but to keep the boat flying, gonna need to get some pay cuts agreed."
Jayne's frown deepened and even Kaylee's sunny expression darkened slightly. "How much?"
Mal took a breath before going into his plan. "Fer you and Kay, a drop to 7.5%. That will free up 5%. I'll drop my take to 10%, giving another 5%. This will give 10%, which I want to split 5 each to River and Simon." He turned to the two. "Not that i think you're not worth more, but ye are the newest crew and most of what ya need is gonna be covered by the ship anyway. All meds and other stuff gonna be paid by ship account, so ya'll only need to worry about yer clothes and incidentals." He turned back to Kaylee. "Know it's a cut little Kay, but same fer you. Any thing to fix or improve ship, gonna be charged to ship. No more spending yer own money on her, less there something shiny she be wanting that ain't a regular part of operatin'."
He turned to Jayne, who he knew would be the hardest sell. "Jayne-" only to be cut off by Jayne's gruff voice.
"Save the speechifyin' Mal. Don't need to hear it. I agree. 7.5%, long as you continue to get real food when we can."
A sense of hope washed over Mal and he felt a tingle of excitement at the prospect that his wayward, potentially turncoat merc, had changed enough with recent revelations and events to become a true member of their little family unit. 'Oh yeah, 'verse better watch out, Serenity's finally coming together and like the little one says, 'Ain't nothing in the verse can stop us now.'
He looked to book and Ina- Sara. "Preacher I know you might not agree, but you are crew same as every one here and that means you on this ship, you get yer 5%. Can take it out of ships cut."
Book shook his head. "I neither need nor want the money Mal, but I know you well enough to know you will insist on something. So make it 2.5% as chief cook and use the rest to increase the food budget." the older man smiled at his younger companions, feeling more at ease among them then at any time since his miraculous resurrection.
There was still a lot to work out, and struggles to come, but for the first time since that horrible day in Serenity Valley, Mal felt light and hopeful. As he locked eyes with Inara, Sara, Whatever. He knew that it would be a bitch to get her to agree to take a cut, but the major obstacle holding them back was gone, and now, with a true family forming around them, they could start to explore long suppressed longings both had suffered. Now it was time to heal and grow.
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The operative stared impassively into the area of destruction before him. The debris field was massive and a hazard to travel in this region. It would have to be cleaned up, but that would wait until he had cleaned every last detail of the battle that had taken place here. Someone had managed to destroy 2 light carriers and at least 6 military grade fighter craft, and judging from engine residue, it was only the one ship that had destroyed the 8 vessels. Scans of the area reveal absolutely no scrap from any source other then the Alliance ships, meaning whoever had destroyed them had insanely think and strong armour or some type of advanced shielding beyond anything the Alliance acknowledged as existing. Neither could remain loose and must be caught and contained before more hostilities started after the disastrous reveal of Miranda and the Academy programs. Already trillions of credits lost not only in the research itself, but the cover up and payouts to families were crippling Alliance advances and the sheep of the verse were beginning to stir gain against their rightful masters.
"sire, we recovered some telemetry from the carrier. It has a profile of the ship. It's similar, but not quite a Firefly." a nameless tech from the ship carrying him called softly from his left. Turning way from the remains of the battle, he stared eerily at the man, enjoying the look of fear in the other's face. He held out a hand silently, and the man placed a cortex pad into it before backing way. He turned back to fave the window again before calling up details on the pad.
The image was indeed similar but not quite identical to the Firefly class transport. The shuttles were actually huddle up against the sides of the ship, the bridge head was larger somehow and the neck that normally extended the bridge about 10ft above the main body was only slightly angled, making a rise of perhaps 4 or 5 feet instead.
The neck area was bulkier as well and even the bottom seems slightly more rounded then the normally square bottom of Firefly. The most effective change however was that this ship was clearly sporting exposed weaponry. He counted at least 6 autocannons of 100 calibre, a nose fixed EMP cannon and multiple railguns both fore and aft. That was enough firepower to class this ship as a light cruiser or heavy escort vessel. It matched or possibly exceeded the weapons capacity of the vessel he was currently using as his travelling base. He made mental note to request a heavier lass vessel.
"Though it has been modified, I have no doubt that this vessel is our quarry." He stated to the crew who all stiffened to attention. "Was any other information received? What about the registration?"
"sir, registration comes back 'Weeha Namaste' and origin port listed is . . . A Westchester on GreyMalkin? Never heard of it. Must be a real backwater, sir."
The Operative spun and face the man who had just spoken. "Westchester on GreyMalkin?" he demanded clarification in a dangerous tone.
The lieutenant gulped and rechecked the readout. 'ah, Yes sit. Also lists ship as a Phoenix cargo vessel, and has permits for salvage and for light arms and defensive platforms."
The Operative moved forward, his hand flashing through the air quickly and the lieutenant dropped to the ground. Blood poured out from the ruins of the mans eyes and his mouth as he gasped and gargled and choked on his own blood. The Operative sighed and moved again and within 2minutes, all 10 bridge crew were dying on the ground or already dead. He hated having to kill loyal soldiers, but the existence of GreyMalkin and the freaks and abnormalities that existed.
They could not allow to be known to any outside of the Inner council and their Operatives. Idly, he wondered if his now excommunicated brother knew what had infested the crew of the petty transport he had exonerated from public persecution. If the man thought he was protecting the crew, he was sadly mistaken. Now that they could not coat their search in legal niceties, the vessel could be hunted openly by the less savoury of their number and the entire crew, and all their families it seemed, would be sterilized from the verse. No trace of the blood of those freaks could be allowed to exist in the coming world, and if that meant pacifying a dozen world like Miranda, then the Operatives would see it done.
From the bridge console, he transferred all data of the battle collected by the advanced computers of the ship to a pair of high end cortex pads. He then initiated his personal shuttles start sequence and set a lock down command that shut and sealed all doors on the ship, trapping all crew in their current locations. He then also initiated the auto-destruct sequence of the ship, saying a silent prayer of farewell to the 115 remaining crew members that were about to be lost as a 3rd ship in this battle. Once he was sure the sequence was set and that over ride was impossible he left the bridge carrying the pads and made his way to his shuttle. He'd have to report immediately to he Council about this situation. If the crew had ties to GreyMalkin, then a lot more blood was going to be needed to be shed. Oceans of it.
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AN
well my firs try at a space battle and some financial discussions.
Thanks to all the crew on MC Toon discord in the math and formula thread who help me work out some mental kinks for this and future chapters.