Fan Fiction Name: Firesong.
Chapter Name: Beginnings
Blurb: A year after the Miranda Wave, Jonah, Tomas, and rest of the crew of the Firesong makes their way of life through collecting bounty. Some spoilers ahead!
Disclaimer: Can you guess what will be said here? If you guessed "Firefly is not mine", you'd be right. OC's galore here! See Authors notes below.
Start
Bars on the border moon of Whitefall were known throughout the system to be crowded, smelly, and packed full of all manner of unseemly folk. The Child of Paradise in particular earned this reputation in spades, often playing host to the nimblest of pickpockets, the greediest of mercs, and the bloodiest of cutthroats. It was a literal magnet for the worst of the Alliance.
And it is for this reason it is also a great place to catch and claim bounties. Today, the bounty was an ogre of a man named Maurice Gordy. Murder and vagrant wanted on the Core world of Beaumonde for the murder of two Alliance officials and three Alliance soldiers. The price on his head: 5,000 credits. It was time to get paid.
At least, it should have been time. Gordy was nearly an hour late to the bar.
"Damn criminals. Never know when they need to show up on time," a man muttered to his two companions while looking at his nearly empty glass. This man, clad in all grey, twisted his unshaven face into a boredom driven grimace. His right hand, calloused from much work with his hands, unconsciously stroked his revolvers hilt as the other grasped at the cup before bringing it to his lips and finishing the last of the sake.
"Jonah, are you sure Graces info is right?"
Jonah is shaken out of his thoughts as he turns to the right to look at the man who talked to him. This mans clean, deep colored clothing was a sharp contrast to Jonahs own dull-colored clothing. His clothing, like his face and his talk, is clean and well kept. His attention, however, obviously was ragged and torn. For the last forty five minutes, he was turned to the nearest Cortex feed, amusing himself with the random commercials while Gordy was more and more late.
"You know Grace. She says she got reliable info that he comes here every other day. Right around this time, too. You should trust her to do her job, Tomas," Jonah replied, his gaze moving from his glass to the Cortex feed.
"Yeah, and she probably got it by sucking on some honorless hundan," the third man said suddenly, his voice touched with bitterness. This man, despite Tomas' deep, richly colored clothing, looked most out of place in rather flashy clothing. His clean face and small stature gave him the appearance of someone just on the end of their teens.
"Watch it, little man," Jonah says angry, growling slightly at the young man. "She's good at what she does, Mordy…"
"Mordecai," the young man interjects immediately.
"..and it don't mean anything to you how she gets the info. Plus, anyone who insults my blood've been known to be missin' teeth afterwards." Jonah continued, ignoring Mordecais' interjection.
Jonah was starting to open his mouth again when a series of taps on his shoulder turned his attention to Tomas.
"Jonah, look," Tomas said, his voice serious. Jonah turns to Tomas, whose eyes are glued on the Cortex feed. Jonah turns his head quickly to see a woman s fearful face as her mouth moved noiselessly in such a loud bar. In front of her, images of long dead bodies flash.
The Miranda Wave. It had been nearly a year since this lovely piece of forgotten history was brought to the light of day. Broadwaved from the relay station on the moon of Constantinople, it was more than just a disturbing showing of a Reaver attack. It showed that not only had the Alliance known of the Reavers, but that they somehow created them. It destroyed the ruling party and the Prime Minister, making her and most of the Parliament resign. The Alliance was thrown into chaos, but they eventually were able to crawl back. The ruling party now, jokingly referred to as the Rangers, had actually done some good (as politicians go), and uncovered a couple other conspiracies. The biggest one included the Blue Sun Corporation. Jonah doesn't really know the details, but it had to do with someone high on the bounty list that was no longer available.
"Earth-that-was to Jonah."
Jonah was again knocked out his thoughts by Tomas, who had a large grin plastered on his face.
"Huh, what? Oh, just thinkin' is all. What's up?"
"Big and ugly finally decided to make his entrance," Tomas said, nodding his head in the direction of the bar.
Jonah followed Tomas' gaze to a very large man who was now sitting at the bar, imbibing in the finest of alcohol this sort of establishment could provide. Maurice Gordy was all manner of ugly. His large bulbulous nose looking like it had been broken multiple times. His wild, greasy hair was strewn about over the pale, pockmarked skin of his face. He looked to weigh a good 300lbs, and looked to be nearly six and a half feet in height.
"Wow. Grace wasn't kidding," Mordecai said incredulously.
"And why would she do that for?" Tomas asked as he quickly drew one of his short barrel rifles off of his shoulder holster. He starts inspecting the gun, his face serious.
"Well, she did tell me that…" Mordecai started.
"Whoa, whoa. Ain't no need to start with that again, Mordy," Jonah interrupted. His hands snaking down his sides and under his coat, both hands on revolver hilts.
"Mordecai. She did lie to me when she fist came on," Mordecai said, his eyes moving towards Tomas, who is still examining his gun. After a second, he looks up, a confused look on his face.
"What? She said something about me?"
"Yeah. She said the two of you were 'sweeties.' Plus a little tidbit that you'd break my neck if I tried anything with her."
Tomas begins sputtering as Mordecais lips twist into a smirk.
"She just didn't want you to try and get into her pants is all," Jonah said non-chalantly, his attention still on the man at the bar.
"I would not have, either. I am a gentleman," Mordecai hissed back.
"She told you that she and I were together?" Tomas asked weakly.
"Yeah, she did."
"Ta-ma-de."
"Plus the fact that she hung off of your shoulder every chance she got."
"Really?" Jonah said, his eyebrow arched at Tomas.
"Uh….yes…sir…but it was only for the first month…" Tomas started quietly.
"Month?"
"…"
"Right. We get back to the Firesong, we're gonna have a talk. Till then, lets get paid. Now, Tomas, you and I are gonna get behind him. We're gonna try to Freud him," Jonah said, his voice low and serious.
"I don't think we've tried that before. Should be fun," Tomas said, his face immediately covered in a small smirk.
"Shiny. Now, Mordy…" Jonah starts. He stops when he sees Mordecai get up out of his chair, his hand on the hilt of his revolver.
"Mordy, sit down and before you put yourself into really stupid go-se," Jonah says in a warning voice.
Mordecai mutters something under his breath before drawing his revolver out of the holster and walking towards the bar, his target clear.
"Guay," Jonah muttered.
"Are you Maurice Gordy?" Mordecais voice and accusatory tone quiet the majority of the bar, most of them turning to see a young fool about to get himself killed.
"Who'd be askin'?" the deep, scratchy voice of Maurice Goodly responds, the big man not even turning around.
"I am Mordecai Zanabek, and I am bringing you to justice. You are hereby…"
"Bind me by law and I'll put ya in a world a hurt," Gordys deep voice interrupts as the big man gets off the stool he sat on. He slowly turns towards Mordecai, his serious face turning to a sadistic grin as he sees the young man.
"You ain't the law, boy. If'fn you be a bounty hunter, I've left many a yer kin fer dead. You ain't wantin' to be in that number, would ya?" Gordy asks.
"Too bad I shall not be among your dead. You shall meet justice," Mordecai says back, his voice tinged slightly with fear.
"Justice ain't gonna do ya any good, little man," Gordy says, slowly stepping towards the little man.
"Justice armed with three guns is pretty helpful if you ask me," came Tomas' voice from behind Gordy, followed by three loud, audible "Clicks".
"Ma-de," the big man said as he raised his hands and turned his head, looking down the barrels of Tomas' single drawn rifle and Jonahs revolvers.
"Don't much care for your language, but I'm glad to see your cooperating. Now, do anything stupid, I'll shoot ya," Jonah says, before a rather sick grin stretches across his face. "Hell, I'll shoot ya now!"
"Yeah, we'll…wait, what?" Tomas said, his face showing deep confusion.
"I said 'I'll shoot him now'. You have a problem?"
"Well, didn't the warrant say 'Alive'?"
"Yeah. So?"
"Doesn't shooting someone make them the opposite of alive?"
"Not if it's in the leg. I'll make sure to shoot 'im there."
"Well, 'leg' for you has more often than not become 'gut'."
"Hell, it ain't…"
Jonahs sentence is cut off by a sudden movement from Gordy, followed by a muffled "whump." Jonahs attention is diverted from the "Freud" to Gordy, who is running towards the door in a way too fast for a man his size, knocking Mordecai to the ground with a painful yelp. Tomas is the first to level his weapon, his rifle barking. His shot only clips the big man as he makes his way through a crazed and confused crowd. Jonah tries to level his revolvers when he sees Gordys proximity to the door.
"Guay," Tomas yells as he tried to level his rifle again, trying carefully to hit Gordy.
"Its shiny, Tomas," Jonah says as he brings his hand to his ear, tapping a radio receiver hidden in his ear. "Johansen, he's running. Now!"
There is no response on the receiver, but when Gordy gets out of the door, two things happen: The first thing that happens is a loud gunshot rings out, scattering the people near the door. The second was Gordy yelping loudly as he hits the ground. Jonah runs towards the door, slowing a bit to shake Mordecai a bit, who is still on the ground holding his nose. Mordecai rolls a bit before painfully making his way to his feet. He staggers slightly to see Jonah and Tomas leveling their guns on the big man. However, it seems a bit excessive, as the man is holding a blood-soaked leg with a very large wound in the middle of the shin.
"Good shot Johansen," Jonah said into the receiver, his mouth slightly agape.
"Just doing what you pay me for sir," the small voice whose gender was unclear on the other end responds.
"Well, get back to the Firesong. We should be done here soon and I don't think we'll have any more problems," Jonah says, his voice turning authorative.
"Yes, sir," Johansen responds. After a second, the voice pipes up again. "Oh, sir?"
"Yes, Johansen?"
"You have something in your teeth."
Jonah ponders a moment before shutting his jaw quickly, looking up towards where Johansen had been.
'Snipers,' Jonah thought bitterly as he turned towards Tomas and Mordecai, who were tying the now still man. Jonah looks towards Tomas, who looks up and, upon noticing Jonahs gaze, nods his head as he begins dragging Gordy, who is still but his eyes are locked in a death gaze on Tomas.
Jonahs hand reaches for his ear again, tapping on the receiver twice before speaking again. "Mei mei, are you there?"
"Ni hao, Jonah. How'd the job go," a second voice responds. This time, the voice on the end of the receiver was strong and feminine.
"It went okay, Grace. But tell Duke to prep the medbay. We need treatment for two gunshots…"
"Liu kou shui de biao zi he hou zi de ben er zi," the muffled but loud voice of Gordy says, followed by a sickening "whump."
"..and a concussion. Plus, get some soap." Jonah continues, sounding as if nothing happened.
"Huh? Gunshot and concussion I get. Why soap?"
"For Gordys' mouth."
The voice on the end begins giggling before it becomes serious again. "Take care, Jonah."
"You too, Grace."
The receiver fizzles slightly as the connection is broken. Jonah pulls the receiver out of his ear before turning his attention back to the scene ahead, with Tomas and Mordecai pulling the now-unconscious Gordy. Once the big man was on the small hovercraft, Tomas looks up to Jonah, his face less than serious looking.
"Hey, Jonah?" Tomas asks, his voice almost humorous in tone.
"What is it, Tomas," Jonah said as he mounted up the 'craft.
"We still got some time. How about we get something to eat?"
"Do ya always get hungry after a job?" Jonah asks back, a smile crossing his face.
"We have been working together for eight years Jonah. All the way back to the War. Of all the things you should know about me, its that," Tomas says chuckling before settling down in the seat adjacent to the pilots seat.
"Well, this was certainly a victory for us. I guess a little celebration be in order."
"Victory is sweet, and it often tastes like fresh Bao."
Finish
Authors Notes: This is my first story, let alone Fanfic. Feedback is appreciated. Hell, if I don't get it…my head might explode. You don't want that, do you?