Title: End Game Part I
Author: Proxii Bleu
Summary: While visiting Kaylee's family, River and Mal are captured by the Alliance.
Spoliers: Season One - Fics 'Fragile' & 'Increscunt Animi'
Author's Note: This is a 2-part fic, so there will be a BIG cliffhanger at the end :) Also, I promise that this one won't have a sucky ending like my first big fic Fragile, and I decided to post this early because 'Increscunt Animi" is almost done, so I wanted everyone to have something new to read :)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, just write about 'em
End Game by Proxii Bleu
I
"I need purpose." Mal, Simon, and Inara looked up from what they were doing, and over at River who was staring pointedly at all three of them. It was late in the afternoon, the crew relaxing in the sitting room after having spent the rest of the week including that morning making hauls to different clients in just about every port there was between Helios and Aurora. For once Mal had been able to have five days of hard work, and no nosense.
In as many years as he could count, he hadn't had to put up with Alliance checkpoint guards who acted as if they were the most superior beings in the 'verse, clients who tried to wriggle out of paying for the delivery of their goods, or any bull from Jayne who was usually dependable when it came to making trouble.
At most, he had just gotten stone drunk, and passed out five feet from the loading ramp of Serenity when he'd finally decided to stagger home for the night at six in the morning. Inara who had been out enetertaining a client found him retching in the bushes when she returned to spend the day resting in her shuttle, and drop off a small volume of poetry she had borrowed from Book. On the upside, whenever he had a bad hangover, Mal could count on Jayne to be on his best behavior for at least a week.
It was a rare day when Malcolm Reynolds had a win-win situation on his hands.
Even River had helped with their runs. Normally she was kept on Serenity as far away from the public eye as possible, but she had managed to slip away undetected until she returned with with a nervous man in tow who was looking for a quick transport to Aurora. His name had been J.R. Tooms, and was an Alliance certified chemist. He had been working as a lab technician out on Fritsel, his job dependent on the location of the facility where he was needed. The doctor who had orignally worked in the town of Gaijong had moved to Aurora, and requested that Tooms join him given the quality of his work.
The only downside was that Alliance transports weren't that common out in the territories, and with the chemicals he had on him it would be only a matter of time before thugs from one of the thousands of drug rings that existed in the known 'verse took advantage of lack of immediate protection. Fortunately, he had run into River who just happened to be enjoying her first cream swirl in the little restaurant where he had been having breakfast.
Somehow the two got to talking about chemicals, and before he knew it she was leading him to Serenity. Before arriving there, she had managed to talk him into parting with some of his chemicals in payment for transport to Aurora. Simon needed to restock his drug supply in medbay, but out in the border worlds high quality antibiotics, painkillers, and other therapeutic substances were hard to come by. But Simon had degrees in advanced chemistry, which meant that with the right supplies, and equipment he could make his own.
Firt of all, she had to convince Mal of this fact.
The captain remembered watching her as she came walking out of the desert on Fritsel, her long green dress, and matching sweater slightly dusty from having to walk next to the ancient horse that the lab tech used to haul around his precious drugs. Wash had taken one look at the girl and her companion, and knew that whatever she was up to Mal probably wasn't going to like it.
He was right.
"River where have you been?"
"Finding you another client."
"Huh?" Mal couldn't believe his ears at the time, but there she stood with her delicate jaw set, and her eyes defiant. If she had been Zoe her hands would have been on her hips, but River preferred to cross them over her chest.
"I found you a client. He wants to go to Aurora."
"How much is he paying?"
"It's in trade." Simon who had been worried about River since she vanished had made his way down the ramp, and had started peering into the cart behind the horse. Immediately his eyes spotted the chemicals, and soon realized what his little sister was up to.
"We don't do trade."
"Yes we do."
"No we don't."
"Yes we do." said Simon as he opened one of the containers. Inside were over three dozen vials of liadamine. Mixed with nicase it made Zocaine, a highly effective antibiotic. Here was a proverbial gold mine.
"Excuse me?" Mal had just stared pointedly at Simon as he walked over to where Tooms stood.
"Umm the captain of the ship is a little leery about working in trade, most time-"
"The clients don't pay." said Tooms. "Well I agreed with your sister to trade some of my surplus for safe passage. I'm sure as a doctor, a 'real' doctor, you are already capable of combining these chemicals in order to manufacture the drugs you need Dr. Simms." Simon had at first frowned at the name, and then nodded.
"It would make a difference." He had then turned to look at Mal. "With these chemicals I can fully restock my lab. Unless the next time one of us is shot you just want me to let Book give last rites?" Mal looked at the crates, then at the Tam siblings, and finally at Dr. Tooms.
"Trade huh?" The lab tech nodded.
"Throw in any spare equipment you have so he can do this right, and you've got yourself a deal."
"Done." Simon and Tooms had headed onto Serenity, while River stood staring at the dirt as if there was something in it that only she could see. Mal on the other hand could care less if the ground beneath her feet suddenly came alive. Going out into town by herself was stupid for one, but meddling in the business affairs of Serenity was just plain idiocy.
"What was that all about? Last I checked I did all the negotiating for clients."
"You do, but Simon needed the drugs. Would you really want to die?"
"No, but River unless you've forgotten, you're a fugitive right now."
"I'm also a person, I am tired of-"
"Tired of what?"
"Not having purpose. Everyone on this ship has purpose. Book is a Shepard, Simon is a doctor, Inara is a Companion. Everyone has purpose, the Alliance stole mine at the academy, I want it back!" Mal watched as she stalked into the cargo bay.
"I just want pupose." That was the first time River had said that, and now she was saying it again. Mal stared at her as she toyed with her pastels from her art box, her brow furrowed as she thought. He understood what she was saying. Everyone on the ship had some kind of job, while the only thing expected of her was to take care of Hairball, and stay out of the way.
The fact that she was still prone to having 'bad days' hadn't inclined Mal to give her anymore responsibility outside of that, but her recruiting Tooms as a client was a sign that she was craving something more to do with her life. He couldn't blame her. She had been raised in the Alliance where the whole world had been at her fingertips, and after the Academy all of that had been ripped away. As her mental health improved, it wasn't surprising that she would want to start reclaiming her life.
"Well River if you want purpose, then you have to find something that you want to do, and have a good time at doing." River turned her gaze at Mal, and studied him closely. Somehow along the way he'd figured out that she she did that she was scanning a person, but he already knew that she couldn't read his mind. Just sense his emotions. He had a suspicion on why she was unable to truly see through him, but that was something best bought up at a later time. The last thing he needed was Simon poking and prodding him in the name of science.
"Finding a job is rather difficult. My options are limited." Inara who had been napping on the far couch, opened her eyes, and looked at the girl. Normally she would have continued feigning sleep, but the conversation had piqued her interest.
"Why not try looking through the Cortex? See if there is something there that you would like to try?"
"I have already consulted the oracle, it hasn't spoken to me." Inara looked over at Mal. Given his ability to sometimes figure out what River was saying, he was now the unofficial guide to River's code-talk.
"She said been there done that." Simon who was carefully mixing chemicals in order to produce the painkillers that he was low on looked over at his sister who was still frowning.
"If you want something to do, you could always-"
"I don't like your profession Simon, it's filled with things that bite and cut."
"Not all doctors are evil River."
"No, just what they do." Simon sighed and dropped the subject before it got out of hand. The last time he had tried to argue the finer points of medicine with his sister, she'd thrown her cereal at him, and accused him of approving of what the Alliance doctors had done to her. Obviously it was another line of conversation that probably wouldn't be safe to broach with her until her recovery was a little further along.
"Well there is always something to do," said Inara as she stretched out of the soft cushions. "Eventually you will find whatever it is that will make you happy and give you purpose River, you just have to keep looking. Maybe you could be an artist?" River looked down at her pastels, and shook her head.
"To make my hobby my passion would only turn it into a prison."
"Well I guess you'll have to keep looking." said Mal. Flicking back on the screen of his flexi, Reynolds wen't back to reading the downloads of the latest news off the Cortex when Kaylee came bounding into the room. Earlier in the day the crew had picked up their mail from Gray Station. For many of them it had been the usual. Bills and a few death threats for Mal, flyers for upcoming retreats for Book, presents from some of her clients for Inara, parenting zines for Zoe and Wash, letter from his family for Jayne, nothing for Simon and River, and Kaylee had gotten a box from her family.
The container was long gone, it had contained cookies, and the ship's mechanic had left them in mess for everyone to share, but in her hand was a letter that was currently being strangled in the grip of her left hand. From the look in her eyes Mal guessed that it was either a birth, marriage, or both.
For once he was going to be surprised.
"Mal remember when you said that the crew could pick a place to go for shore leave next week."
"Those were my words."
"Well how about going to Carousel?" Mal arched his eyebrows. If memory served correct, that was where Kaylee was from.
"Hmm?"
"Well I wrote my Momma about two weeks ago and asked her if we had shore leave if the whole crew could come, and well Momma usually doesn't like guests in the spring because it's when we have our big family dinner for solstice, but Aunt Marylin read the letter and she and Momma got in a big discussion about how you've been taking care of me and all and making sure I'm safe out here, and when Aunt Marylin says something Momma usually goes along because she's older and actually is in charge of the family which is why Uncle Paul-" Mal cut Kaylee off before everyone ended up hearing about the infamous Uncle Paul / Aunt Marylin feud which had been going on since the two were babes in their mother's arms.
Long story short, Marylin Lee Frye was the oldest of all the Frye children, and hence was the matriarch of the clan. Her sister Hannah who was Kaylee's mother married Paul's brother Carl much to Marylin's chagirn, mainly because his brother Paul had been her nemesis ever since the day when they were five and he'd rubbed roofing pitch in her braids as a joke. Well the only way to get the stuff out was to literally cut the poor girl bald, and as a result Marylin had hated Paul since.
After Kaylee's father died, as per family tradition that had been in place since the very first Lee Frye all of Carl's children had been listed under his wife's maiden name, and Paul accused Marylin of trying to steal his blood as revenge for the whole pitch incident which had happened over fifty some odd years ago. As far as Mal was concerned being a neutral party in the whole affair, it was pure nonsense. It wasn't as if Paul had double-crossed Marylin, or tried to kill her, but it wasn't his family.
"Kaylee, as much as I'm sure the rest of us are all interested in your Uncle Paul, would you please get to the point?"
"Well Momma said that you're all welcome to spend shore leave with the family, even though it's spring solstice."
"Thank you."
"So can we go?" Mal scratched the back of his neck. On the one hand he 'had' said yes to allowing the crew to pick a shore leave spot, but on the other depite what many thought Mal really wasn't all that comfortable around crowds. Kaylee's family was basically a tribe, and when he had first hired Kaylee on as a mechanic a small herd of them had been present to see her off.
He didn't know how he'd handle the whole lot, but he had given his word -
"Okay, we can go." Kaylee let out a happy whoop, and ran out into the hall to tell everyone. Simon and River watched her go with identical expressions on their faces. The two siblings looked at each other, and then at Mal.
"Why do I get the feeling that Kaylee is holding a magnifuing glass, and I'm the bug under the lens?" asked Simon. Mal shrugged.
"At least she hasn't pulled your wings off."
"Yet." said River ominously.
Author: Proxii Bleu
Summary: While visiting Kaylee's family, River and Mal are captured by the Alliance.
Spoliers: Season One - Fics 'Fragile' & 'Increscunt Animi'
Author's Note: This is a 2-part fic, so there will be a BIG cliffhanger at the end :) Also, I promise that this one won't have a sucky ending like my first big fic Fragile, and I decided to post this early because 'Increscunt Animi" is almost done, so I wanted everyone to have something new to read :)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, just write about 'em
End Game by Proxii Bleu
I
"I need purpose." Mal, Simon, and Inara looked up from what they were doing, and over at River who was staring pointedly at all three of them. It was late in the afternoon, the crew relaxing in the sitting room after having spent the rest of the week including that morning making hauls to different clients in just about every port there was between Helios and Aurora. For once Mal had been able to have five days of hard work, and no nosense.
In as many years as he could count, he hadn't had to put up with Alliance checkpoint guards who acted as if they were the most superior beings in the 'verse, clients who tried to wriggle out of paying for the delivery of their goods, or any bull from Jayne who was usually dependable when it came to making trouble.
At most, he had just gotten stone drunk, and passed out five feet from the loading ramp of Serenity when he'd finally decided to stagger home for the night at six in the morning. Inara who had been out enetertaining a client found him retching in the bushes when she returned to spend the day resting in her shuttle, and drop off a small volume of poetry she had borrowed from Book. On the upside, whenever he had a bad hangover, Mal could count on Jayne to be on his best behavior for at least a week.
It was a rare day when Malcolm Reynolds had a win-win situation on his hands.
Even River had helped with their runs. Normally she was kept on Serenity as far away from the public eye as possible, but she had managed to slip away undetected until she returned with with a nervous man in tow who was looking for a quick transport to Aurora. His name had been J.R. Tooms, and was an Alliance certified chemist. He had been working as a lab technician out on Fritsel, his job dependent on the location of the facility where he was needed. The doctor who had orignally worked in the town of Gaijong had moved to Aurora, and requested that Tooms join him given the quality of his work.
The only downside was that Alliance transports weren't that common out in the territories, and with the chemicals he had on him it would be only a matter of time before thugs from one of the thousands of drug rings that existed in the known 'verse took advantage of lack of immediate protection. Fortunately, he had run into River who just happened to be enjoying her first cream swirl in the little restaurant where he had been having breakfast.
Somehow the two got to talking about chemicals, and before he knew it she was leading him to Serenity. Before arriving there, she had managed to talk him into parting with some of his chemicals in payment for transport to Aurora. Simon needed to restock his drug supply in medbay, but out in the border worlds high quality antibiotics, painkillers, and other therapeutic substances were hard to come by. But Simon had degrees in advanced chemistry, which meant that with the right supplies, and equipment he could make his own.
Firt of all, she had to convince Mal of this fact.
The captain remembered watching her as she came walking out of the desert on Fritsel, her long green dress, and matching sweater slightly dusty from having to walk next to the ancient horse that the lab tech used to haul around his precious drugs. Wash had taken one look at the girl and her companion, and knew that whatever she was up to Mal probably wasn't going to like it.
He was right.
"River where have you been?"
"Finding you another client."
"Huh?" Mal couldn't believe his ears at the time, but there she stood with her delicate jaw set, and her eyes defiant. If she had been Zoe her hands would have been on her hips, but River preferred to cross them over her chest.
"I found you a client. He wants to go to Aurora."
"How much is he paying?"
"It's in trade." Simon who had been worried about River since she vanished had made his way down the ramp, and had started peering into the cart behind the horse. Immediately his eyes spotted the chemicals, and soon realized what his little sister was up to.
"We don't do trade."
"Yes we do."
"No we don't."
"Yes we do." said Simon as he opened one of the containers. Inside were over three dozen vials of liadamine. Mixed with nicase it made Zocaine, a highly effective antibiotic. Here was a proverbial gold mine.
"Excuse me?" Mal had just stared pointedly at Simon as he walked over to where Tooms stood.
"Umm the captain of the ship is a little leery about working in trade, most time-"
"The clients don't pay." said Tooms. "Well I agreed with your sister to trade some of my surplus for safe passage. I'm sure as a doctor, a 'real' doctor, you are already capable of combining these chemicals in order to manufacture the drugs you need Dr. Simms." Simon had at first frowned at the name, and then nodded.
"It would make a difference." He had then turned to look at Mal. "With these chemicals I can fully restock my lab. Unless the next time one of us is shot you just want me to let Book give last rites?" Mal looked at the crates, then at the Tam siblings, and finally at Dr. Tooms.
"Trade huh?" The lab tech nodded.
"Throw in any spare equipment you have so he can do this right, and you've got yourself a deal."
"Done." Simon and Tooms had headed onto Serenity, while River stood staring at the dirt as if there was something in it that only she could see. Mal on the other hand could care less if the ground beneath her feet suddenly came alive. Going out into town by herself was stupid for one, but meddling in the business affairs of Serenity was just plain idiocy.
"What was that all about? Last I checked I did all the negotiating for clients."
"You do, but Simon needed the drugs. Would you really want to die?"
"No, but River unless you've forgotten, you're a fugitive right now."
"I'm also a person, I am tired of-"
"Tired of what?"
"Not having purpose. Everyone on this ship has purpose. Book is a Shepard, Simon is a doctor, Inara is a Companion. Everyone has purpose, the Alliance stole mine at the academy, I want it back!" Mal watched as she stalked into the cargo bay.
"I just want pupose." That was the first time River had said that, and now she was saying it again. Mal stared at her as she toyed with her pastels from her art box, her brow furrowed as she thought. He understood what she was saying. Everyone on the ship had some kind of job, while the only thing expected of her was to take care of Hairball, and stay out of the way.
The fact that she was still prone to having 'bad days' hadn't inclined Mal to give her anymore responsibility outside of that, but her recruiting Tooms as a client was a sign that she was craving something more to do with her life. He couldn't blame her. She had been raised in the Alliance where the whole world had been at her fingertips, and after the Academy all of that had been ripped away. As her mental health improved, it wasn't surprising that she would want to start reclaiming her life.
"Well River if you want purpose, then you have to find something that you want to do, and have a good time at doing." River turned her gaze at Mal, and studied him closely. Somehow along the way he'd figured out that she she did that she was scanning a person, but he already knew that she couldn't read his mind. Just sense his emotions. He had a suspicion on why she was unable to truly see through him, but that was something best bought up at a later time. The last thing he needed was Simon poking and prodding him in the name of science.
"Finding a job is rather difficult. My options are limited." Inara who had been napping on the far couch, opened her eyes, and looked at the girl. Normally she would have continued feigning sleep, but the conversation had piqued her interest.
"Why not try looking through the Cortex? See if there is something there that you would like to try?"
"I have already consulted the oracle, it hasn't spoken to me." Inara looked over at Mal. Given his ability to sometimes figure out what River was saying, he was now the unofficial guide to River's code-talk.
"She said been there done that." Simon who was carefully mixing chemicals in order to produce the painkillers that he was low on looked over at his sister who was still frowning.
"If you want something to do, you could always-"
"I don't like your profession Simon, it's filled with things that bite and cut."
"Not all doctors are evil River."
"No, just what they do." Simon sighed and dropped the subject before it got out of hand. The last time he had tried to argue the finer points of medicine with his sister, she'd thrown her cereal at him, and accused him of approving of what the Alliance doctors had done to her. Obviously it was another line of conversation that probably wouldn't be safe to broach with her until her recovery was a little further along.
"Well there is always something to do," said Inara as she stretched out of the soft cushions. "Eventually you will find whatever it is that will make you happy and give you purpose River, you just have to keep looking. Maybe you could be an artist?" River looked down at her pastels, and shook her head.
"To make my hobby my passion would only turn it into a prison."
"Well I guess you'll have to keep looking." said Mal. Flicking back on the screen of his flexi, Reynolds wen't back to reading the downloads of the latest news off the Cortex when Kaylee came bounding into the room. Earlier in the day the crew had picked up their mail from Gray Station. For many of them it had been the usual. Bills and a few death threats for Mal, flyers for upcoming retreats for Book, presents from some of her clients for Inara, parenting zines for Zoe and Wash, letter from his family for Jayne, nothing for Simon and River, and Kaylee had gotten a box from her family.
The container was long gone, it had contained cookies, and the ship's mechanic had left them in mess for everyone to share, but in her hand was a letter that was currently being strangled in the grip of her left hand. From the look in her eyes Mal guessed that it was either a birth, marriage, or both.
For once he was going to be surprised.
"Mal remember when you said that the crew could pick a place to go for shore leave next week."
"Those were my words."
"Well how about going to Carousel?" Mal arched his eyebrows. If memory served correct, that was where Kaylee was from.
"Hmm?"
"Well I wrote my Momma about two weeks ago and asked her if we had shore leave if the whole crew could come, and well Momma usually doesn't like guests in the spring because it's when we have our big family dinner for solstice, but Aunt Marylin read the letter and she and Momma got in a big discussion about how you've been taking care of me and all and making sure I'm safe out here, and when Aunt Marylin says something Momma usually goes along because she's older and actually is in charge of the family which is why Uncle Paul-" Mal cut Kaylee off before everyone ended up hearing about the infamous Uncle Paul / Aunt Marylin feud which had been going on since the two were babes in their mother's arms.
Long story short, Marylin Lee Frye was the oldest of all the Frye children, and hence was the matriarch of the clan. Her sister Hannah who was Kaylee's mother married Paul's brother Carl much to Marylin's chagirn, mainly because his brother Paul had been her nemesis ever since the day when they were five and he'd rubbed roofing pitch in her braids as a joke. Well the only way to get the stuff out was to literally cut the poor girl bald, and as a result Marylin had hated Paul since.
After Kaylee's father died, as per family tradition that had been in place since the very first Lee Frye all of Carl's children had been listed under his wife's maiden name, and Paul accused Marylin of trying to steal his blood as revenge for the whole pitch incident which had happened over fifty some odd years ago. As far as Mal was concerned being a neutral party in the whole affair, it was pure nonsense. It wasn't as if Paul had double-crossed Marylin, or tried to kill her, but it wasn't his family.
"Kaylee, as much as I'm sure the rest of us are all interested in your Uncle Paul, would you please get to the point?"
"Well Momma said that you're all welcome to spend shore leave with the family, even though it's spring solstice."
"Thank you."
"So can we go?" Mal scratched the back of his neck. On the one hand he 'had' said yes to allowing the crew to pick a shore leave spot, but on the other depite what many thought Mal really wasn't all that comfortable around crowds. Kaylee's family was basically a tribe, and when he had first hired Kaylee on as a mechanic a small herd of them had been present to see her off.
He didn't know how he'd handle the whole lot, but he had given his word -
"Okay, we can go." Kaylee let out a happy whoop, and ran out into the hall to tell everyone. Simon and River watched her go with identical expressions on their faces. The two siblings looked at each other, and then at Mal.
"Why do I get the feeling that Kaylee is holding a magnifuing glass, and I'm the bug under the lens?" asked Simon. Mal shrugged.
"At least she hasn't pulled your wings off."
"Yet." said River ominously.