Firegate: The Big Damn Circle

By Hah and Mer

- 1. An Unfortunate Spacebug -

(bridge of Serenity)

"Wash, that planet's coming up a might fast, don't you think?" Mal questioned, with only a hint of panic in his voice, as he stared at the cloud formations rapidly approaching them.

"Something's wrong with Serenity's engines, captain, I can't control her... now might be a good time to fasten your seatbelt and scream like a girl."

"Seatbelts cost extra. Might want to hold onto something..." The ship shook violently as it descended. "Ta ma duh!" Panic crept onto Mal's face and he called to his mechanic. "Kaylee, what is going on down here? Was it the spacemonkeys again?"

But she didn't have time to explain that there were, indeed, spacemonkeys in the engine room before the ground came up to greet Serenity like a windshield greets an unfortunate spacebug.

- - - - -

(meanwhile, on the planet's surface)

"I'm getting a strange energy reading coming from..."

"McKay, when are you not getting a strange energy reading?" Sheppard rolled his eyes.

"...up there." McKay continued, oblivious, and pointed to the sky.

Sheppard followed McKay's pointing finger in time to see an object blaze through the sky, skim the top of the trees, and crash some distance away.

"Ha!" gloated McKay, and Shep shot him a look that said we won't be seeing any slash in this particular chapter.

"Alright, everyone head back to the jumper," Shep spoke into his radio "we're going to check out that crashed… something."

- - - - -

(close-up on Mal's purty eyes as they open)

Mal woke up in the smoke-filled bridge as sparks, steam and clichés exploded from various consoles. He lifted his head up and saw his pilot coincidentally waking up at the very same moment. He groaned.

"Tah mah duh hwoon dahn... Wash, did you crash my gorram ship?"

"I was hoping you hadn't noticed..."

"Better go check on my crew. You head to the engine room and I'll check their quarters."

Mal discovered his crew miraculously escaped any serious injuries, save for Book whose leg was injured when he was mauled by plot bunnies. Jayne shed a tear of relief to find his precious Vera was undamaged. Wash found Kaylee safe, but the vicious spacemonkeys did a number on Serenity's engine.

Zoe turned to Mal "Any idea where we might be, sir?"

"Not a clue. I'm thinking you, me and Jayne should take a look outside and get our bearings, while the rest stay behind to tend to the injured."

"Sounds like a plan, sir."

- - - - -

(jumper approaches and lands by the crash site, smoke billowing from poor Serenity)

Hidden behind some bushes, Sheppard peered at the crashed ship through binoculars. McKay, Ronon and Teyla crouched down beside him. He watched as three figures kicked open a hatch and climbed from the wreckage of the ship.

"They look human enough. Not a Wraith ship, that's for sure."

"Looks like a giant bug" snarked McKay.

"I thought we weren't going to mention bugs, ever again?" Shep snarled, and changed the subject. "Let's go see if those people need our help."

Shep slowly got up and raised his P90, as a thousand fangirls swooned, and cautiously strutted towards the ship while signaling the rest of his team to follow his lead.

"Do we have to strut too?" McKay whined, as Ronon shot him his usual glare of doom.

- - - - -

Mal glanced at his surroundings. He was sure he'd never been to this place before, but something about the trees seemed awfully familiar.

"Hey Mal? I think I see someone moving in the bushes" Jayne whispered as he gripped Vera more tightly.

"Alliance? Fangirls? Who is it?" Zoe questioned, raising her gun.

Jayne aimed Vera at the motion in the trees...

- - - - -

"Sheppard!" Ronon whispered harshly, "those survivors have weapons aimed in our direction. Very large weapons. We have to defend ourselves!"

"Hold your fire. We don't know who they are ye-"

His sentence was interrupted by a bullet shattering a tree branch inches from his head. Ronon leapt into action and fired in the direction the shot came from.

"Woah woah woah!" shouted Shep, as Teyla moved to stop Ronon. "We're not looking for a fight!" He called out to the strangers, "if we could just put down the guns and talk like civilized people-"

"Ain't no civilized people this far out" Mal countered. "Identify yourselves. You Alliance purple bellies?"

McKay turned to Shep "What did he just call us?"

Shep emerged from the dense trees, weapon still cautiously raised. "Colonel John Sheppard, US Air Force. And you are?"

"I told you they was Alliance! Can we get on with the shooting already?"

Mal glared. "Take it easy, Jayne. They don't look like no Alliance officers I ever seen." He stepped forward.

"The name's Malcolm Reynolds, and this here's my crew, part of them anyway. And that's my ship Serenity, or what's left of her." He gestured at the wreckage behind him.

The rest of Shep's team took up position beside him, facing down the Serenity crew. Ronon stood directly in front of Jayne, staring him down. They eyed each other's weapons. Then they eyed each other's guns.

"That's a mighty fine piece you have there" said Jayne to the dredlocked stranger.

"Likewise" Ronon replied, to the large ape-like man.

"Does she have a name?"

"What?" Ronon looked confused.

The staring contest continued.

"Do you folks need any help? Medical assistance?" Shep asked.

"We've got a doc, but Serenity here is pretty badly damaged. More than we can fix with our supplies, in any case."

"Maybe we can help you out, if we could all just put down the guns..."

Shep slowly lowered his P90, and his team followed suit, Ronon most reluctantly. Mal gave a signal to his crew to do likewise. Then a glare at Jayne. Then a few cuss words in Mandarin. Jayne finally obliged.

"Good!" said Shep, as he flashed a charming grin. He turned to his team to make introductions. "This is Teyla, Ronon, and Dr. McKay. We're from a city called Atlantis, on another world."

"Never heard of it," muttered Jayne.

Mal spoke up. "This is Zoe, my first mate, and this is Jayne…uhh…public relations. We have more folks inside the boat, and one man needs immediate medical attention, but our infirmary is more likely to injure someone in its current state."

"We can take you back to Atlantis," Shep offered, "and get your crew any kind of medical attention they need. And then maybe see about fixing your ship."

Mal considered the offer carefully. He wasn't in the habit of trusting strangers with his own life or his crew's, but there was something in this man's eyes that felt trustworthy enough.

Jayne leaned over to Mal and whispered, "if there's more like her where they come from, I'm all for it," and made a rather rude gesture at Teyla.

Mal smiled. "Zoe, go on and get the rest of the crew. We're going to visit this city of Atlantis."

- - - - -

Shep's team and the entire Serenity crew made their way back to where he had skillfully parallel parked the Puddlejumper. Shep glanced behind him at the woman who had been introduced to him as Inara, an ambassador. Her elaborate dress looked inappropriate for both walking through the forest and for space travel, though she seemed perfectly at ease. Her beauty more exotic than Teyla and her grace more refined than Elizabeth. Her body… woah woah, stop staring at her body! He snapped his head back around while narrowly missing smacking himself into a large tree.

Mal glared.

Wash helped Book along with his injured leg, and he damned those plot bunnies to a Special Hell. Simon and River walked together, close by.

Teyla and Kaylee made cheerful conversation about cheerful things, like how cute Shep's butt looked when he walked, and why his ears were so pointy.

McKay tried and failed to make small talk. "So… Jayne… isn't that a girl's name?"

Fortunately for McKay, Ronon had very fast reflexes, or he might have been short a few limbs after that.

- - - - -

"Here we are," said Shep, as they arrived in the clearing.

"Huh? I don't see nothin." Jayne returned to his usual state of confusion.

Shep hit the button on his remote and the jumper uncloaked in front of them.

"Woah," said Mal.

"Woah," said Wash.

"Shiny!" said Kaylee.

"Ours is bigger," said Jayne.

"This is what we call the Puddlejumper," explained Shep. "It goes through the Stargate back to our world."

"The what?" Mal asked.

Sheppard explained the big round thing and gestured with his arms, but the Serenity crew still looked confused. They had never heard of a Stargate, by any name.

"Oh, you're going to love this!" Shep grinned.

- - - - -

(Inside the jumper. Shep flies, McKay rides shotgun, Mal and Zoe sit behind them, while Ronon and Teyla keep an eye on the crew packed into the back)

Sheppard flew towards the Stargate and pointed it out in the distance.

"We're flying through that?" asked Mal. "How does it work?"

McKay piped up, "It's simple. We're going to travel through the event horizon, be demolecularized, transmitted through the wormhole, and then rematerialize on the other side."

"Demo-wha? ..WHAT? That don't sound like a good ide-"

With a sploosh, the jumper dove through the Big Damn Circle, into the Stargate's puddle.

"I think I'm going to be sick" groaned Jayne.

"Again!" River cheered.

"Wuh de ma! That was some ruttin' ride!" exclaimed Mal. "That how you always travel, Sheppard?"

"Usually. The jumper can't get too far without using the Stargate."

"Almost seems like cheating to me. The journey can be the best part… well, when you got a boat like Serenity to take you." Mal thought about his damaged ship and his expression darkened.

"Hey, we'll get your ship fixed up, don't worry. Dr. McKay here can fix anything."

"That's what I say about my girl Kaylee" Mal gestured to her in the back of the jumper.

Shep looked over and noticed she was staring at him. He caught her eyes for a moment and she smiled sweetly, then looked away. He really hoped they wouldn't fix the ship too quickly.