Blue Moon 101: Artemis

by EldritchSandwich

The first episode in my soon to be critically acclaimed Firefly series, following the adventures of the young crew of the Firefly class transport Artemis. In the premiere, Artemis picks up some new passengers, who bring more with them than just luggage…

Captain Rachel Wu had to wrap both hands around the railing to keep from tumbling back down to the cargo bay catwalk when her ship quaked under her feet. Grimacing and holding fast to the tarnished metal, she worked her way up the stairs and turned into the engine room, black hair flying behind her and her stunning face twisted in aggrivation. "Dex, what the hell is goin' on with my boat?"

A long face topped in red hair and thick glasses shot up from behind the engine, pushing back from the machinery in annoyance. "She's half my boat, Rachel, and I got no ruttin' idea." A buzzing alarm on the guage panel drew the scrawny mechanic's attention away and he dashed across the narrow brown room. "Now we're gettin' heat build-up in the starboard pod! I don't know what's…" Dex blinked, cursed silently to himself, and leaped back to the other side of the engine.

Rachel tried to move in closer, but another tremor sent her grabbing the door frame to keep from being thrown back into the hall. "What? What is it?"

Dex pulled open the tubing bulkhead and was rewarded with a drench of frigid blue liquid. "Yi dwei da buen chuo roh!" He wiped the sticky coolant off his glasses and stood back up. "Starboard coolant outflow must have ruptured. That pod's gonna overheat! We have to land. Right now."

Rachel shrugged. "Can't, we're not even in the foothills yet. There's no place to put down."

"Oh, no, jei-jei, this boat's comin' to ground next two minutes. Only choice we get is how many pieces it's in."

Rachel sighed and pushed off back toward the bridge. It was just going to be one of those days. She ran the last few steps and, as the bridge came into view, she could see the wooded mountains on either side of them. "Mona!"

The young pilot turned her head. "Yes, Miss Wu?"

"We gotta land. Now."

Mona's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. "Ain't no place, Cap'n, ain't enough flat ground 'til we get to port!"

"Then you gotta find a place. Dex says the engines are gonna explode or somesuch."

Mona shook her head, turned back to the approaching mountains, and smiled to herself. "Whiner."

Rachel turned to the co-pilot's chair and started at the sight of the cook's massive dark form. He nodded cordially. "Saul, didn't expect to see you up here."

He shrugged. "Never been to Verbena. Wanted to see it before we landed."

Rachel sighed and turned her attention back to the other side of the cockpit. "Yeah, well, we're all about to get a real close look 'less Mona finds us somewhere to set down…"

"I'm tellin' you, Miss Wu, ain't nothin' not covered with trees 'til we get to the docks!"

The intercom buzzed on. "Engine room to bridge, I did mention the part where the engine overheats and we all die, right? Don't think I woulda left somethin' like that out."

Mona smiled. Rachel groaned. She had that glint in her eye that meant she was about to try something that was going to get them all killed. "Dex, cut the thrusters. Then bring 'em back on my mark."

Rachel squinted. "What?"

Mona shrugged. "We cut thrust, maybe I can glide us the rest of the way to town."

"You are out of your already embattled mind, fa kuang mei-mei."

Dex's voice echoed in over the comm. "No, Rach, I think she might be on to something. We cut engines, that gives 'em time to air cool, then we bring 'em back on line so we can land."

It was an absolutely stupid, tze sah ju yi, but it wasn't like they had any choice. Rachel groaned—story of her life. "You really think you can do that?"

Mona grinned. "Sure, why not?" She swiveled back to the front and hunched her shoulders. "There's a first time for everything."

Rachel rolled her eyes and left the bridge, but not before she saw Saul strapping into his seatbelts. Normally she trusted the teenage pilot, but right now she was inclined to tie down to a chair herself. "All right. Do it. But don't blow us up, okay?"

"Not a problem, Cap'n." Mona smiled and turned toward Saul. "If anything, we'll just break apart on impact." The cook knitted his eyebrows and scowled the way he always did when she tried to bring a little sunshine to his life. She winced. "Right. Shut up and drive."

Rachel cupped a hand around her lips and ran to the edge of the dining room. "Dex, shut down the jets!"

"Wei wei!" Dex framed his body agains the back wall and pulled the main engine control lever. As the shudder of the power loss wracked the ship, he stumbled over to the comm. "Mariah, could you come up to the engine room, please?"

Mariah was out of her quarters and up the stairs to the engine room before Dex even took his finger off the comm. She stood in the doorway, hair falling around her face, a nervous smile across her lips. "What is it?"

Dex coughed uncomfortably, like he always did in her presence, and shrugged. "Well, we're about to crash, so I figure the closer you are to the top of the ship, less likely you are to get crushed."

Mariah's smile faded slightly. "Thanks." She didn't know what she'd expected him to say. Still, it was thoughtful of him. She sighed, brushed her curls back, and sat down next to the mechanic.

Mona gritted her teeth against the resistance in the controls. They were over the foothills now, still heavy with trees, She could see the orchard town in the distance, and the red-gray circles cut in the trees for ships to land were approaching more quickly than she expected. She glanced at the altimeter and swore to herself. They were already going too fast—this would have to do. "Dex, give me jet control!"

With Mariah pushing from the other side, Dex wedged the engine lever back into place. As the engines began to spin up, the jolt sent both mechanic and passenger careening into the far wall of the engine room. Dex groaned, and tried to get up, only to find himself pinned by Mariah's body. When the debutante's eyes met his, both managed to stand up much faster than humanly possible, each one with a face the apporximate color of a strawberry, and go about their business.

The blue-flecked Firefly plummeted toward the open landing circle, engines tipped earthward in a desperate attempt to slow its pace. The boat was too low, and the trees that had the bad fortune to be closest to the edge of the circle found themselves toppling back toward the rest of the forest, leaves singed by engine fire. As the emergency crews scrambled to put out the fires while staying out of the way of the landing ship, Sir Anderson Chen smiled and tapped his nephew on the shoulder. When Leopold turned around, his uncle gestured with a dagger-straight finger to the settling craft, "Artemis" painted along its neck in deep blue. "There, wu zhi. That's the one."

…

Captain Wu craned her neck as the ship's cargo ramp rolled open and the smell hit her. The entire planet of Verbena smelled like fruit, a sweet sticky scent hanging on the air. Not nauseatingly so, like the di lian air fresheners Mona insisted on spraying all over her bunk, but still very heavy. She smiled. This was a nice planet. "All right, Dex, get whatever repairs done that you can, then fuel her up and grab any supplies we're lackin'. Mona, see if you can wrangle us some passengers. I'm gonna track down the cargo sergeant and try to find our shipment."

Rachel took a few steps forward, then felt Saul's shadow fall behind her. "Sir?" She looked up expectantly. "We still got some coin from the Beylix run, I was hopin' to grab some produce. Like to be cheaper here, green planet like this."

Rachel nodded. "Sure. See to it."

As the rest of the crew split off, Mariah stepped forward into the cargo bay. As she did, Mona flashed her a grin and trotted back to meet her. Mariah smiled gingerly. "So what am I supposed to do?"

Mona shrugged. "You know, you're a passenger, technically, you ain't supposed to do anything." The teenager grabbed Mariah's hand and pulled the hesitant young woman toward the cargo doors and the yawning forest. "Come on, you can help me trick some more suckers like you into flyin' with us."

It had taken the Chens some time to get their baggage and papers in order, and a great deal more to track down the Firefly, as its docking permit had not been filled out correctly. Sir Anderson took this as another sign that this was exactly the kind of ship he was looking for.

Rachel waved off the last of the teamsters and picked up the pen the sergeant offered her, sweeping her signature across the gel impression plate. The cargo sergeant nodded and checked the signature, then slid away the clipboard. "Shipment's just vac-packed fruit headed for the Core. All you gotta do is get it as far as Paquin, then transfer it to the captain of the Morningstar. He'll pay you t'other half."

Rachel nodded. "Right." As the local suppliers walked off the boat, Saul walked on, a burlap sack over one arm and a wooden crate under the other. "What'd you get?"

Saul shrugged and dropped the box. "Less than I'd like. Got some apples and such, but this rock's mostly about fruit. Soil ain't right for vegetables, or somethin'. Got plenty ammo, though."

"All right, get it stowed."

"Cap'n."

Rachel turned back toward the ramp, and saw Mona and Mariah walking back up. "You score us any fares?"

Mona winced. "Not really. Don't seem like there's no one on this rock with the cash and the motivation."

Rachel nodded and moved to the comm on the door controls. "Dex, is Daph back yet?"

"I don't think so. I mean, I didn't hear the shuttle come in."

Saul frowned. "She's near an hour late."

Rachel sighed in frustration. "Yeah, big surprise. All right, Mona, get us prepped, we fly as soon as Daphne's back with my shuttle."

"Yes, Miss Wu."

Saul turned to pick up the box of ammunition, and suddenly found himself confronted with a pair of immaculately clean black dress shoes. He followed them up to a pair of immaculately pleated black trousers, then to an immaculately starched dress coat, then to an immaculately trimmed beard. Sir Anderson smiled and extended his hand. "Captain, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Sir Anderson Chen, and I understand your ship is booking passage to the Rim?"

Saul blinked, snorted, and picked up the crate, extending to his full height a good head taller than the elderly gentleman. "Captain, someone to see you."

Sir Anderson swiveled to face the direction in which the large black man had been speaking. The woman who held out her hand was young, beautiful, and absolutely in no way capable of being a starship captain. "You…are the captain of this vessel?"

"Rachel Wu, at your service." When he didn't shake her hand, she frowned and withdrew it. "Is there a problem?"

"No, I merely imagined…how old are you, exactly?"

Rachel blinked. "Twenty three. How old are you, sir?"

"No, I'm sorry, I meant no disrespect, I…" Sir Anderson cleared his throat. "I am Sir Anderson Chen. My nephew and I need to book passage off this planet."

Rachel gritted her teeth. This fu gu ge had a lot of nerve. "I'm not sure we're the right boat for you, your lordliness."

Sir Anderson frowned as she turned away. This was going to be trickier than he thought. He turned his eyes, pleading, to his nephew. Leopold grinned. "Excuse me, Captain." She turned back, only now seeing the younger, no less well-groomed man as he stepped out of his uncle's shadow. She looked him over; he was handsome, in that annoying, clean Core-world way, but there was a spark in his eyes as if he, unlike his older relative, actually knew what he was doing here. "I noticed you don't have a ship's medic registered on your crew manifest."

Rachel's annoyance deepened. He was just as bad as his uncle, then. "Well, one more reason not to travel with the likes of us."

"No, no, you don't understand…" The young man raised one of the pieces of luggage he was carrying, a steel briefcase embellished with a blue caduceus. "If you allow us to fly with you, I'd gladly offer my services for the extent of the journey."

This gave Rachel pause. Since most of their work was legal, it was only rarely that they managed to get themselves in a firefight, but there had still been situations when it would have been better to have a doctor on board. That, and there was something in this one's eyes. Unlike the old man, this doctor was an adventurer. While Sir Anderson was obviously running from something, it seemed more as if his nephew was running to something. Rachel nodded. "All right. We leave as soon as our last passenger's back. Mona?"

The short girl appeared from behind one of the cargo crates; she'd obviously wanted to catch a look at the new arrivals. "Yes, Miss Wu?"

"Could you help these two get their bags to the passenger dorms? They can have the right side rooms." Mona nodded and gestured for Mariah, who had been standing off to the side. "This is Mariah Boleyn, she's staying in the quarters across from yours. And that's Ramona Dezi."

She smiled, wide. "Call me Mona."

Rachel turned as she heard the clink of Dex's feet against the stairs. She smiled. Finally, she had some backup. "This is Carl Dexter, ship's mechanic and co-owner."

He nodded, and shook the passengers' hands briskly. He wasn't so good with new people. He turned toward Rachel's ear. "Coolant line's all patched up, and Daphne just docked in the Longbow."

Rachel nodded. "Excuse me, gentlemen. Mona and Mariah will show you to the passenger rooms." She started for the stairs that led up to the shuttle airlocks, Dex following after.

Mona grinned. "Come right this way." As the group stepped through the door into the lounge, Mona glanced up at Leopold. "So, you're a doctor?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. I was a call surgeon back home."

Her gaze turned to the older, dour man. "And what about you?"

When he responded only with an annoyed look, Leopold shot his uncle a tetchy glance and answered for him. "Uncle Anderson's a barrister."

Mona's nose wrinkled in distaste. "Can I call you Andy?"

Sir Anderson glared down at her. "Absolutely not."

Leopold shook his head. "You can call me Leo."

Mariah gestured to the rooms, Mona grinned, and Sir Anderson finally looked down at her in earnest. "How old are you, child?"

"Sixteen."

"And you work here? Stewarding?" Sir Anderson's eyebrows knitted together. "I'm almost positive there's a law against that."

Mona shook her head as she dropped the bags she had been carrying rather indelicately. "Oh, no, I don't steward. " Sir Anderson gave an approving nod. "I'm the pilot."

Before he had a chance to reply, Mona and Mariah were off through the lounge, leaving the older man shaking his head in despair and glancing up at his nephew. "Good lord, what have I done…"

As they walked toward the cargo bay, Mona nudged Mariah's shoulder. "That doctor's pretty cute."

Mariah smiled sweetly. "Don't tell me the bai fa bai zhong queen of flying has a schoolgirl crush."

Mona grinned devilishly, doing her best to look hurt. "Maybe." Mona paused, then looked up. "Do you really think I'm bai fa bai zhong?"

Doctor Chen watched them walk away, his eyes riveted to the dark hair cascading in ringlets down Mariah's tapered back. Then his uncle grabbed his shoulder and he turned, forlornly, to the luggage.

Rachel was fuming when Daphne opened the door of her shuttle. Daphne just grinned. "What'd I miss?"

Rachel's glare tightened. "You're an hour late."

Daphne shrugged, trying to pass Rachel on the catwalk, brushing her hip against the captain's. "Sorry, I got…swept up." The Companion's hand settled on Rachel's arm, fingers brushing delicately across the burgundy fabric of her shirt. "Maybe you need to learn to relax, fei fei jian zhang…"

Rachel blushed almost imperceptibly, jerked her arm out of Daphne's grip, and stormed off down the catwalk toward the bridge. "We've got some new passengers on board, why don't you go try that huo fu dong ren on them?"

As Dex fell into step beside her, Rachel let out an exasperated sigh. "I swear, Dex, that jien huo's libido's gonna get us all humped one of these days." When she turned to Dex, his eyebrows were peaked. She cleared her throat. "So to speak. I don't know why I let her stay on board."

Dex sighed and fell back a pace so Rachel could take the stairs up the bridge ahead of him. "Come on, jei-jei, you let her rent the Longbow 'cause, you gan xing jiao open door policy or not, she's managed to keep her license with the Guild, which makes docking easier more or less everywhere."

"Startin' to think it ain't worth it, and who are you to talk, you can't even say a complete sentence to her."

Dex shrugged, blushing for at least the third time that day. "She makes me a mite uneasy. Feel like she's gonna jump me."

Rachel clucked her tongue as she pulled herself up to the bridge. "A reasonable concern. Mona, you ready to fly?"

Mona finished strapping herself into the pilot's chair and flashed her best suicidal grin. "Ready as ever, Cap'n."

"Dex, you sure you got that engine room squared away?"

Dex smiled and shrugged. "Yeah." His smile faded a little. "I mean, reasonably sure."

Rachel groaned as the engines whirred up and sank back into the co-pilot's chair. Just one of those days…

…

Before he had signed on with Artemis, Saul Horton had been a bounty hunter. Before that, he had fought for the Independents during the War. Before that, however—before the ten year spiral of violence that had taken over his life—Saul Horton had been a chef. Had the War not interfered, Saul would probably have been headlining his own restaurant on the Core. Unfortunately, upon retiring his guns a year ago, Saul had discovered that no one was willing to hire a Browncoat who had spent the last four years hunting and killing people, no matter how much they deserved it or how good a cook he was. And he was good. That was something Artemis' new arrivals were just learning.

Sir Anderson shook his head in amazement. "This is actually rather tasty." He glanced first at the muscle-bound cook, who was just taking his seat, and then at his nephew, who nodded in appreciation. "The chicken seems a little overdone, but I'm amazed one could find it at all this far from civilization."

Rachel saw Saul smile. He had the nobleman exactly where he wanted him. "Can't, least not what folks are willin' to part with. 'S just packaged protein, actually."

Rachel let a morsel of the Stir-Fried Protein a la Horton (Mona named all Saul's dishes for him, whether he wanted her to or not) slide down her throat and smiled. As humble as he was trying to seem, she knew this was exactly what he'd signed onto a passenger ship for in the first place. If he could catch the eye of some rich passenger, maybe he could earn a place on his staff and go back to the Core life he had been forced to abandon a decade ago. He'd tried the pitch several times before, but never on someone as rich or gullible as Sir Chen. From the gentleman's reaction, it looked as if, when the Chens got off Artemis, Saul might be going with them.

Sir Anderson was still staring down at the browned "meat" on his platter, moved, for once in his life, to speechlessness. It was Doctor Chen who finally spoke for him. "That's incredible. I never thought anyone could make that Blue Sun shu se taste like actual food."

When the young doctor said that, Rachel's eyes narrowed and she spared him a second glance. He might have looked like a Coreworlder, but he certainly swore like a frontiersman. The old man obviously didn't approve. "Leopold, language."

Leo's chummy smile faded, and his eyes flitted ashamedly to his plate. "Sorry, bo." He glanced around the table. "Sorry, everyone."

Rachel glared at the old man. He certainly had the boy on a tight leash. "It's fine, really. This ain't exactly the floor of Parliament."

Leo smiled up at her, just a little. Sir Anderson frowned. No one spoke for the next few bites. Finally, Mariah cleared her throat. "So, you're from Osiris?"

Sir Anderson and Leopold both looked up at the mousy mulatto woman. The older nobleman cleared his throat. "Well yes, but…I don't recall…"

Dex piped in. "Mariah's…real good with accents. She knew I was from Beaumonde few minutes after we met."

Leo's focus shifted from the young woman to the red-headed man seated next to her. "So, then, you two are…"

He didn't have to finish the sentence. As soon as he made the implication, Dex and Mariah's eyes shifted into each other's then, upon meeting, quickly back down to their plates with a series of nervous coughs. Mariah shook her head uncertainly, and Dex made a sound that could probably be interpreted as a 'no.' Rachel sighed. She was used to Dex melting at the knees around womenfolk, but she imagined the dilettante must have had plenty of experience with fawning admirers. The way the doctor was staring at her practically spoke to that. He cleared his throat. "So, Miss Boleyn, what, uh…what do you do on board? Other than…guess peoples' birthplaces?"

"She ain't crew. She's a passenger," Rachel cut in a little more pointedly than she'd intended. Mariah tightened her lips and looked back down at her plate. Dex shot Rachel a glance that said 'Come on, play nice.' Rachel sighed. It wasn't that she didn't like Mariah, she just found it a bit presumptuous how she always acted like she was part of the crew. That didn't happen until Captain Rachel Wu said it did.

The ensuing silence was even longer.

Finally, after what seemed like an interminable length of time, Sir Anderson turned back to Saul. "I'm curious, Mr. Horton, how a chef of your ability ended up in a, well, shall we say 'rustic' environment such as this."

Saul was about to feed him the standard story he told people he didn't see fit to inform about his politics, when a rap on the door frame drew all six pairs of eyes to the aft corridor. When those eyes met the sight, Rachel's rolled, Dex's and Mariah's flitted back to stare intently at their plates, Saul's narrowed, and the new guests' bugged practically out of their skulls. Daphne flashed a grin and sauntered toward the table. "Sorry I'm late, but I heard we had some new faces and I wanted to make a good first impression. I hope I'm not overdressed."

Rachel glared at the Companion's rather flimsy interpretation of the word 'overdressed' as she slid in next to Leo, on whom she immediately began to make as good a first impression as she could with other people present. Rachel smiled bitterly. "I doubt anyone'd say that." She turned her focus to Sir Anderson and his increasingly confused nephew. "This is Daphne Penn. She's a Companion, rents one of our shuttles. If you ever need her for anything, all you have to do is ask." Rachel took a sip of canned milk from her tin cup and muttered, "If that." Daphne shot her a look of mock pain. Rachel ignored it. "Daphne, these are Sir Anderson Chen and his nephew Leopold. They'll be flyin' with us for a while."

As if it was the first time it had occured to him, Dex perked up from his plate. "Yeah, uh, exactly where're you bound, don't mind my pryin'?"

Sir Anderson shrugged. "Just wanted to get away from the Core for a while. Stretch our legs, as it were."

Rachel nodded, entirely unsatisfied. "Funny, folk like yourself don't often take to a vessel such as this. I mean, there's tour liners and the like…"

Sir Anderson shrugged. "We have…an interest in going unnoticed."

"Don't we all." Rachel's eyes flicked to the opposite side of the table where the good doctor squirmed between arousal and terror at whatever it was Daphne was doing with her feet under the table. "Well, most of us anyways."

Leo was growing very uncomfortable, both with the direction of the conversation and with the direction of the Companion's leg. He cleared his throat. "Tell me, Miss Penn…I, uh…that is, one certainly doesn't expect to find a registered Companion this far out into the Black."

"Please, call me Daphne," she cooed. "Anyway, I decided the Core didn't appreciate my style. Thought I'd try my luck out here."

Rachel smiled bitterly. "And she certainly is trying."

Daphne shot Rachel a look that as obviously designed to make her blush. "Oh, now Rachel, don't you try to spoil my reputation just so you can have me all to yourself."

Dex flinched as Rachel pushed back from the table and flung to her feet. "It's Captain, and I'm thinkin' maybe you should get back to the Longbow. There's people here tryin' to eat."

Daphne smiled acerbically and pushed herself back from the low dinner table, bending down to press a whisper against Leopold's ear. "Stop by when you get tired of Captain Hur Bao Duhn and I'll make sure you learn somethin' new." Daphne turned and swept majestically out of the room, leaving a collection of confused headshakes and relieved sighs in her wake.

Sir Anderson squinted. "What exactly is her style?"

Dex frowned. "Indiscriminate."

The elder Chen shook his head. "Certainly not what I expected from a Companion, even this far out."

Leo blinked, his panic finally starting to ease down to a simmer. "Captain, what did she mean about—"

Rachel was out of the room before he finished the sentence, storming toward the crew quarters as forcefully as a 115 pound woman could.

For the second time that evening, Mariah was the one to break up the awkward silence. "I think I'm going to get to bed."

Dex stumbled over himself getting up as she did. "Oh, here, uh…let me, uh…walk you to your room."

Mariah smiled and blushed. Leo pushed back and nudged his uncle. "Oh, we'll come with you. We still need to finish unpacking." As the large group moved aft toward the stairs, Saul shook his head, looked around at the dirty dishes littering the table, and decided they'd still be there in the morning. With that, he pushed up from the table, left for his quarters, and bumped into Mona coming the other way. She shot him an overly friendly smile and squeezed past into the kitchen. "All right, we got a course for Paquin, now what's for supp—" Mona blinked, glanced around at the empty dining room, blinked again, then looked back at Saul. "Did I miss something?"

…

Mona blinked. "Wow." As the ship came to rest, nestled between the hills outside the glowing city of Xiao Chou, Mona released the controls and leaned back, taking in the panoramic sight as the sinking sun met the ocean that stretched out in front of the ship.

Dex skipped up the stairs ahead of Rachel and, when he looked up through the cockpit glass, let out a low whistle.

Mona nodded in agreement, eyes still fixed on the seemingly infinite variations of pink, orange, and purple splashing across the sky. "I mean…I'd heard the sunsets on Paquin were beautiful, but…"

Dex collapsed into the copilot's chair. "Wow."

"Exactly."

In spite of herself, Rachel shook her head in amazement. "'Verse never does stop surprisin' a body, does it?" Reluctantly, she tore her vision away from the reflected lights splayed across the water below them. "Mona, put us down for four hours in port. You wanna walk the grounds a little, feel free, but I want Saul with you. Vacation spot or not, Paquin's got more'n its share of disreputable folk."

Mona frowned. "Yes, Miss Wu."

A soft buzzing wafted from the console to his left, and Dex tapped the controls. "Speaking of disreputable folk, the captain of the Morningstar just sent us a wave. Says he's waiting for the shipment at the wet-docks on the north spit. Pier six."

Rachel nodded, gesturing for Dex to come with her, and taking one last, longing gaze at the setting sun before turning back down the stairs.

As they followed the stairs into the cargo bay, Dex nudged Rachel's shoulder. "Rachel, I was thinkin'…I know you don't consider her crew, but could be Mariah might help us out on this one." Rachel cast a skeptical glance back at her mechanic. "I mean, from what I heard, Captain Farr, man owns the Morningstar, he's an an ru pan shi bargainer, likely try to haggle us down."

Rachel landed on the cargo bay catwalk and turned on her heel to face the redheaded man above her. "And?"

"Well…Mariah's good with people as you are, and you know I ain't no help at negotiatin'."

"That's it? Couldn't be that you don't want to let a nice romantic sunset go to waste?" Dex's cheeks turned crimson, and his pace down the stairs slowed. Rachel shook her head and continued down to the cargo bay floor. "I swear, way you two bat eyelashes at each other, think you were a couple school kids…" Rachel glanced up at her mechanic, now teetering on the edge of the stairs and bashfully avoiding eye contact, and sighed. "You're gonna get her, best do it before I get the mule loaded." Dex looked up at her, smiled a little, and jogged back in the direction of the guest bunks.

Mariah looked up from her databook at the tap on the door frame, and a smile unwittingly washed over her face when Dex waved at her. "Hey."

"Hey. Uh, listen, we, uh…we're headed across town to get rid of this cargo, I thought…you know, if you wanted to…maybe come along, help us talk up a better price…"

"Oh, yeah, I…all right." Mariah put down the databook and Dex flashed a smile of relief.

"All right."

Saul looked up from his book at the tap on the ladder, and groaned as Mona's upside-down face smiled back at him. "That hatch was locked."

Mona grinned. "Not well." Saul growled and moved his eyes back down to the old-bound classical novel. "Cap'n says I wanna go planet-side, I gotta take you with me, on account of all the slimy folk around." Saul didn't bother to look up. If he ignored her, eventually she might go away. "New passengers are gettin' a mite twitchy too, think fresh air might do 'em some good." Saul tried very hard to concentrate on the book. "Come on, it's the gypsy planet! Ain't you even a little curious?" Saul was having trouble remembering which paragraph he was in the middle of. "All right, but if I go out there and get kidnapped or some huckster gets Andy and Leo to go down some dark alley somewhere, it's gonna be on your head, you know." Saul finally gave up and slammed the book down. Slowly, he rose to his feet, and Mona grinned in victory. She was about to congratulate him on making the right choice when he rushed forward and pressed his palm against her mouth.

"I'll go. Long as you don't say another word 'til we're off the boat. Think you can do that?"

Mona nodded, hair flipping back toward her neck as she lifted herself out of her position hanging down the ladder into the cook's quarters. As Saul strapped on a shoulder holster and followed her up into the corridor, he shook his head. Kid was going to be the death of him.

"Hundred-twenty. Ain't no debatin'."

Rachel scoffed, in the carefully prepared manner that generally made price negotiations much shorter. "More trusting soul might think you got a different price sheet than we did, since we got a fair assurance of one-fifty."

Captain Farr shrugged, eyeing the fruit crates casually. "Firefly ain't got refrigeration storage. Can't break the seal 'fore this shipment gets to Ariel. Means for all I know could be rottin' already. Consider it insurance I don't lose more'n I have to. Got a crew of my own to look after, you know."

Rachel rolled her eyes and looked pleadingly at Dex; this had been going on for the better part of ten minutes, and they still hadn't gotten anywhere. Dex gestured to Mariah, standing, arms folded and head bowed, at the mule. Rachel shrugged and nodded. She didn't really have much left to lose. Dex smiled, and Mariah stepped forward coolly. Farr leaned his head back and nudged his first mate as if to say 'Oh, good, another dance hall girl.' The first mate grinned, gap-toothed, and blew Mariah a kiss. Mariah blushed and her eyes wavered. Rachel turned to Dex pleadingly. He shrugged.

Mariah smoothed her skirt out straight and turned her gaze to the crates. Then she smiled. "The fruit's vacuum-packed." She said it more to herself than to anyone else, but Rachel immediately understood where the debutante was going. How could she not have caught it herself?

Farr's eyes narrowed. He shrugged. "So?"

"So, no air, no bugs, no reason for it to be rotting."

Farr's grin faded. "That may be, girl, but…"

"I'm Miss Boleyn, not 'girl'." Dex smiled. She seemed to have caught her stride. He knew she could do it. "The only reason there'd be any damage is if someone broke the seal on one of the crates, isn't that right?" Captain Farr didn't respond. The first mate shot him a sidelong glance. Dex nudged Rachel. She shrugged in grudging respect. "Come to think of it, five crates with a standing price of a hundred and fifty credits comes out to thirty a box. Payment of a hundred and twenty is exactly enough for four."

Rachel stepped forward. Mariah'd weakened them, but now it was time for the kill. "What's your game, Farr? You were gonna deliver four and filch t'other for yourself?"

Mariah turned to Dex and flicked her eyes for him to join in. He folded his arms and stepped forward. "Probably gonna tell the buyer we only gave him four. Broke into one ourselves."

Rachel grinned back at the shrinking transport captain. "Folk back on Verbena take their fruit pretty seriously, Cap'n. I'm sure they'll be more than honored to hear how much you like it."

Captain Farr cast a nervous glance back at his first mate. The skinny man shrugged. The captain cleared his throat. "How 'bout we go to a hundred 'n forty?"

Rachel almost laughed. This guy certainly had ju ren gao wan. "How 'bout you give us what due us and be on your way?"

Farr's shoulders collapsed. He was out of options. Cursing under his breath, he passed her a dirty bundle of Alliance notes. As she counted them, he gestured for his men to load the crates onto the Morningstar. As he and his first mate backed toward their ship's cargo doors, Rachel smiled. "Pleasure doin' business with you."

Farr scowled as the cargo doors closed, and she could hear him mutter "Can biao zi." As soon as the ship's panel doors slid closed, Mariah sighed and collapsed against the side of the mule.

Dex shook his head in amazement. "How'd you do that?"

Mariah shrugged, still shaking from the excitement. "Grew up rich. Got pretty used to handling people who think they're better than they are."

Rachel shrugged and climbed back into the mule's driver's seat. "'Verse never does stop surprisin' a body, does it?" She glanced back; Dex and Mariah had been staring into each other's eyes just a little longer than was necessary. She whistled. "Let's get back to Artemis, think up a few good ways to spend this loot." The others climbed onto the back of the three-wheeled workhorse, still fawning in each other's general direction. Rachel smiled in spite of herself and stepped on the gas pedal.

Leo was having trouble keeping up with Mona, who was currently dragging him by the hand through the brightly colored streets of Xiao Chou. Saul and Sir Anderson followed far enough behind so as not to be in danger of being hit when the doctor swung back in their direction. Both were watching the streets warily, since con artists were hardly the worst danger that the unprepared faced in Paquin's bohemian cities.

Sir Anderson tapped the larger man on the arm. When Saul looked down, the noble was glancing nervously behind them. "Mister Horton, I don't mean to alarm you, but I believe we're being followed."

Saul glanced back at the street, and at the small party of black-clad men who weaved through the crowd. "The guys in black? They been followin' us for almost three blocks." Saul looked down at Sir Anderson who, despite the fact that Saul had not known him very long, seemed to the cook to be scared out of his mind. "Friends of yours?"

Sir Anderson glanced up at the cook, back toward the advancing men, and forward to where Leopold was being dragged further ahead of them. "Not by any possible definition." He took a few long steps forward and grabbed his nephew's arm, grinding him and Mona to a halt. "They followed us. Could be trouble."

Mona wrinkled her eyebrows. "What? Trouble from who? Who followed you?"

Saul was wondering the same things himself, but didn't have time to ask. Their shadows must have spotted them, because they had begun to shove through the crowd. Saul drew his weapon amid the shouts from the street performers and their audiences as the black-clad thugs pushed into the open, leveling sub-machine guns at the group. Saul's eyes widened. "Down!"

As the first volley of shots ended, Saul hunched himself up behind the overturned knick-knack cart and slipped the radio palmset from his belt. "Captain, this is Saul! We've got a serious problem!"

…

Rachel grabbed the radio from its nest on the front of the mule. "Saul? What is it?"

Saul squeezed off a round at the closest thug, who dropped to the pavement grasping his thigh in pain. The rest of the posse scrambled for cover in the surrounding alleys, taking pot shots as Saul ducked down behind the overturned kiosk and tossed the radio to Mona. "Miss Wu, this is Mona. Saul's…" She trailed off as the cook peeked above their cover and sent a few shots ricocheting against the wall of the nearest alleyway, forcing the black-clad man who had been trying to line up a clean shot to duck back into the alley. Mona shrugged. "He's occupied."

Rachel cast a worried glance back at Dex as the mule skidded to a stop at Artemis' open cargo ramp. He shrugged helplessly as he helped Mariah off the trike. "What the hell's going on?"

"We're downtown, corner of…" Mona bent her head away from the kiosk to get a look at the flickering street marker, then yelped in surprise as a bullet cut through the composite less than an inch from her left ear. "Corner of Bian Xi Fa and the the Triway! These five xuan huen dahn just came outta nowhere, started shooting at us!"

Rachel drove the mule aboard and hopped off as it slid to a stop, cursing under her breath and drawing her eyes across the cargo bay, hoping to be suddenly inspired by…well, anything. "Hang in there, mei-mei. We're on our way."

Dex squinted. "On our way? How?"

"Still workin' on the details."

Mariah glanced nervously out at the near-darkness, punctuated by the lights of the city outskirts. "What's wrong? You guys know how to handle a gun…"

Rachel sent her an annoyed leer. Dex winced and shrugged apologetically. "Ain't soldier types, but well enough. Ain't the problem, though; how we gonna get there in time? Near twelve miles, even the mule'd take too long."

Rachel's eyes flitted around the bay, then lit themselves up. "Dex, you know how wide the Triway is?"

Dex stared at her in confusion, then blinked, then grinned. "Pedestrian mall, 'bout thirty yards, at least."

Rachel nodded. "Room enough for a fishhook."

Mariah squinted. "A what?"

"We fly Artemis in low, drop a harness out the lower doors. Everybody on the ground grabs the line, we haul 'em back up. 'S a classic train robbin' trick." Dex shifted back to Rachel. "'S tricky flyin', though."

The captain nodded as she punched the button to lift the ramp. "You do it. You're better'n I am. I'll give 'em some cover fire while they get to the harness."

Dex turned back to Mariah, entirely overwhelmed by all of this. ""You're gonna have to work the winch." Rachel was about to object, but he shot her a glare. "She's th'only one else here. She can do it."

Rachel glowered. The girl could negotiate, but she wasn't certain how she'd handle herself in action. Of course, as usual, she didn't have much of a choice in the matter. "Get up to the bridge. Tell Daphne she might have to cut it short and meet us in the air."

"On it." Dex clattered up the stairs as Rachel turned to Mariah, still frozen with confusion. "Help me with the winch."

Dex strapped himself into the pilot's seat and dialed the sequence to hail the Longbow.

"Ohhhhh, god…" Daphne rocked her hips forward to meet the theater owner's. He was gasping heavily, and she could feel his hot breath on her neck. "Oh, Avery, right there. Oh, god…" Daphne shocked back into reality as she heard the beeping from behind the golden curtains. She sighed as the owner of the second largest opera house on Paquin looked up at her like a lovesick puppy.

"Do you have to answer that?"

Daphne pouted. "I'm afraid so."

In one fluid motion, the Companion slipped out from under the hairy gentleman and slipped through the curtains, tapping the receiver. "I'm on business."

Dex's voice warbled through the speaker. "We got some violence down in town. Looks like we're gonna have to make a quick exit."

Daphne sighed. "Now?"

"Well…that's the reason I called."

"I thought you just wanted to interrupt so you could finish the job yourself…" Daphne grinned. She could literally hear the mechanic blush.

"Look, I…if…"

Daphne rolled her eyes. "Fang song hu. I'm on my way. I'll dock once we break atmo."

The theater owner was sitting up on her bed, exposed from the pot belly up, a curious expression on his face. Wrapping herself in a velvet bedsheet, Daphne guided him by the hand to the door of the shuttle. "I'm sorry, I had a really great time…" she continued to talk as she tossed his bundle of clothes to him, "but I've got to go. I really hope we can get together the next time I'm in the system." The theater owner was about to say something when Daphne clicked the door closed. Then, as an afterthought, she slid the door open. "No refunds." The door slipped closed again, and the owner of the second largest opera house on Paquin was left standing naked on the landing pad of his chateau, desperately trying to find the correct pieces of clothing to keep him from dying of embarrassment when his butler responded to the sound of the departing shuttle.

Daphne sighed as she maneuvered the Longbow out of the foothills where Paquin's well-to-do made their homes. He hadn't been all that good anyway.

Dex grunted and shifted his weight into the stick as Artemis tried to pitch left. "Gorrammit, Dex, keep her steady!"

"This is as steady as she gets, Rach! Go!"

What remained of the civilian crowd dispersed when Artemis turned her engines toward the ground, and two of the thugs were blown out of their positions. Saul almost smiled as he saw the bay doors open and the leather harness drop down. Almost. Then, instead, he leveled his pistol at the enemy who'd been blown into the street. Mona winced as the bang resounded through the pavement. Saul grimaced. "Let's go."

As the four piled into the straps of the harness the last two assailants crawled from their hiding places and opened fire. Mona shrieked as the line began to tow up toward the belly of the ship, lead whizzing around her head. Saul fired a few shots, echoed by Rachel above them, and made one man dive for cover, but the other let out another burst of gunfire. Saul let out a roar of pain as the bullet tore through his calf muscle. The bundle of people swung onto the cargo bay deck, and Mona immediately rolled over to check on the cook. "Saul! Cap'n, Saul's shot!"

Doctor Chen skirted the crowd as Mariah resealed the bay doors, and leaned in to get a closer look at the wound. "The tissue damage doesn't look that bad. But we need to get him to the infirmary."

Rachel nodded. "All right, I'll help you lift him. Mona, get up the the bridge and tell Dex to go to the engine room. We gotta get runnin'."

"Wei wei, Cap'n." Mona sprinted up the stairs as Rachel and Leopold guided a limping Saul through to the medical bay. Mariah opened the door and, with a grunt, the captain and doctor dropped Saul onto the exam chair.

"Do you have an extractor?"

Rachel shook her head. Sir Anderson stepped back toward the door. "I'll get your medkit."

The intercom buzzed. "Cap'n, Daphne's on board, and we're ready to break atmo, but…I think you might want to get up here."

Rachel let out a frustrated grunt and whipped toward the door. "On my way!"

Leopold took the sterilized briefcase from his uncle and opened it on the instrument cart. He turned to Mariah. "Do you think you could assist?'

She smiled sheepishly. He nodded and grinned, a little more than he needed to just for finding a new nurse.

As Rachel cleared the last steps onto the bridge, Mona tapped the screen and a wave image of an Asian man with straight, tightly tied hair appeared. "Firefly transport, you are carrying two gentlemen with whom we have some business to complete. If you land and allow us to speak with them, we promise no one else need be harmed."

Before Rachel had a chance to answer, the wave ended. "Why don't I believe him?" She turned over Mona's shoulder. "Where'd that wave come from?"

"Unregistered ship behind us."

"Rear vid. Now."

Mona flipped a series of switches and the image from the rear camera faded into view on a side screen. Rachel's gaze narrowed. "Ai ya." The ship was black, tapered, not unlike an Alliance gunship, but with sharper angles. "Can you outrun that thing, mei-mei?"

Mona cast a nervous glance back at the monitor. "Boat like that's built for speed. Never be able to lose it. Might be able to outmaneuver 'em, though, get 'em turned around, keep 'em from gettin' a missile lock."

"How?"

"We're about to break atmo. I can run for the moonlets, duck and weave."

Rachel nodded and dove for the copilot's chair, strapping herself down as she flicked the shipwide comm. "Attention, everyone, we're about to have some heroics. Hold tight to something." She released the comm button, thought for a moment, then pressed it again. "And pray we don't all blow up."

Leo had to grab the arm of the exam chair to keep from falling over as the ship banked. "I thought the artificial gravity was supposed to keep you from being knocked around."

Mariah shrugged as she righted the briefcase full of surgical tools. "Nothing's perfect."

As he dropped the bullet into a pan, Leopold stole a glance at Mariah. "I wouldn't say that."

Mariah smiled awkwardly, then averted her eyes. Leopold cleared his throat and made a mental note not to push too hard. "All right, the bullet's out, now I just have to put a weave on it." Artemis pitched again, sending the doctor and half his medical equipment flying to the floor.

Mona pulled up on the controls, slinging the ship around one of Paquin's tiny moons. Rachel was horrified; the girl had the maniacal grin on her face, the one she only got from flying that had a good chance of blowing up her ship. A frenetic beep from the console drew Rachel's attention. "They've got a lock on us!"

"Not a problem, Cap'n." Mona tugged the pod control and the engines swiveled around in unison. Artemis jerked backward, a rocky moonlet nearly grazing the top of the hull. Mona turned to her captain and grinned wider. In a split second, the attacking ship passed by overhead, Mona reversed the engines, and Artemis descended back toward the planet at a much greater speed than Rachel would have liked. Mona hit the radio. "Dex, I need full burn on my mark!"

"Ying ran!" Dex braced himself against the engine lever.

Artemis dipped close to the atmosphere, heat glinting off the nose paneling. As the ship gained speed, Mona dragged the controls upward so the boat was skimming the atmosphere. Rachel glanced at the rear vid feed; the other ship was still trying to come about through the moons. As soon as those moons disappeared behind Paquin's curvature, Mona pulled up on the controls, Artemis groaning as she lifted from the planet's ozone and up into bare space. "Full burn, now!"

Dex forced the main lever and Mona slammed down on he controls, letting out an exuberant shriek. Rachel glanced at the camera feed. Paquin was slipping into the distance, and there was no sign of the other ship on scanners. As Mona evened out Artemis' flight path and relaxed, Rachel bent her head back and sighed. She'd been right. It had been one of those days.

…

Dex slipped into the dining room and sat down on the lounge couch next to Mariah, eyes fixed on the closed door to the bridge. "How long they been in there?"

Saul turned, nodded to acknowledge the mechanic's presence, then looked back toward the cockpit. "Near twenty minutes."

Mona leaned around the edge of the door frame, as if the extra inch of distance would let her hear the conversation going on behind the door. "What do you think's gonna happen?"

Saul shrugged. "Captain's smart, she'll leave those ma fan tai zi men on the closest farm rock."

"Saul, 's that nice?"

He glared at the pilot. "Bullet hole in my leg says they ain't done nothin' to earn nice."

Mariah turned to Dex. "Still, we can't just abandon them. Especially if they're in danger."

Dex sighed. "Rachel'll do what's right."

Rachel had her arms folded as Sir Anderson finished his story, Leopold leaning against the sealed door. "So, short version, you got into business with the Yao Tong, lost their money…"

Sir Anderson raised a finger in protest. "I didn't lose their money. The project didn't come through, but that's hardly my fault—"

"'S a whole Sihnon crime family says otherwise, your lordship." The nobleman shut his mouth and cast his eyes to the floor. He was at her mercy, now, and everyone in the room knew that. "Now, you got their killers come after you to settle the score. What makes you think you'd be safe with us? Found you on Paquin easy enough."

"The Yao have a club on Paquin. They didn't know we were there. One of their men must have seen us on the street."

"Now they know you're sailing in a Firefly. Might be could throw 'em off easier you got off and found another mode of transportation."

"Please, Captain, I have thought about this. The further we go from the Core, the looser the grip of the Tongs. We need your transport and…your protection."

Leopold stepped forward, breaking the silence as Rachel mulled over the facts. "Name your price, and we'll pay it. I'll keep serving as medic as long as you want me. Please."

At this, Rachel's eyes flitted up. The young doctor was almost reason enough to consider something this fa kuang. "And, if you ever need legal counsel, I am at your disposal," Sir Anderson added, as if this was some sort of great advantage that no supply ship should be able to do without.

Leopold stepped closer to the captain. "Please."

Rachel sighed. "Four hundred a week, plus your services in whatever capacity I reckon necessary."

Sir Anderson immediately nodded. "Of course. That's more than fair."

Rachel stepped toward the door, clicking the latch and stepping through. As she hit the stairs, she turned back for one last look at her two newest tenants. "Lot of black out there, gentlemen. Be sure you know what you're doing."

The Chens watched her go, walking back toward the kitchen to inform the crew about their new arrangement. Sir Anderson shot his nephew a worried look. Leopold smiled weakly, then turned down the steps and headed back toward the guest bunks, leaving the great barrister and businessman Sir Anderson Chen standing alone on the humming bridge of the Firefly-class transport Artemis, fifty million miles from home.