Fan Fiction Name: Firesong.

Chapter Name: Bounty

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.

Readers Challenge: Hey, I'm thinkin' of making this a normal occurrence. Spot the geeky subculture reference made in the chapter. This time around, it's video games. Find the reference if you can. (Also, I'm surprised no one caught the reference from Chapter 1. Here's a hint, it's from another sci-fi series.)

START

Firesong, in all its antiquated majesty and grace, entered the atmo of Beaumonde with a shudder. Its entrance into the upper atmosphere was fiery and majestic. There was, however, one problem with this wondrous entrance.

Firesong wasn't supposed to shake around.

Jonah cringed inwardly and stumbled into a wall when a second shudder rocked the ship. He was in the dining area minding his own business while Johansen cleaned her guns and Wham! The whole ship starts shaking like a wooden roller coaster. A loud thud and string of hoarse Chinese curses from the common area indicated that either Duke had just decided to take up some as of yet unknown drinking game involving hammers or he had just become intimate with a bulkhead.

"Ma de! Tomas, what in the sphincter hell are you…" Jonah begins when he sees the cockpit doors shut. Stumbling forward as another bout of violent shaking overcame the ship he was glad to see he wasn't alone. Grace, unlike her namesake, was stumbling across the floor like a drunk after a half-dozen shots. Jonah and Grace cautiously went forward as the ship became silent, save the hum of the lights and the distant rumble of the engine. Jonah opened the door to Tomas' childlike laughter.

"That was bracing!" Tomas said excitingly as he turned to face the now open door, a large, goofy grin plastered across his face.

"Are you feng le? What just happened?" came Jonahs rather irritated response.

"Nothing Jonah. We were just coming into atom just a bit steep. Why?"

"You were shakin' up the ship! I thought she was gonna ruttin' come apart!

"You shouldn't worry, Jonah. Firesong is really well built," Tomas responded as he began to lovingly pat the helm.

"Well so was the Hindenburg. Don't do that again, dong ma?"

With a small nod from Tomas, Jonah turns to face Grace, who's face betrays her curiosity and eagerness.

"Why are you looking at me that way and what did you do?" Jonah asked as he walked by his sister, her face now showing shock and insult.

"I didn't do nothin'!" Grace said as she followed behind her brother. "I just wanna know who your gonna take with ya to see Hortance and tell her we got the hit."

"I was just on my way to wave her. And why exactly are ya so interested in whos comin' with me?"

"Well…"

"No, no, no! We've had this discussion before! I'm not gonna take ya! Not yet!"

Graces begins to pout slightly as the two make their way to the dining area. Johansen, in her normal duds of extremely loose pants and shirt, holds one of her many rifles as she rubs it vigorously with a cloth. Damn woman always keeps her guns clean. Almost too clean.

"Sir. Normal approach?"

"No. I'll be takin' Mordy this time. He needs the experience with Hortance and should see how hard it is to not get killed when he becomes so gorram stupid," Jonah replies. He opens his mouth to say more when a muttering Duke makes his way into the room.

"Ai ya! Bet I…Oh. Hello," came his awkward response to seeing three sets of eyes on him. He was talking to himself. Again.

"Hows Gordy?" asked an amused Jonah, whose face was screwed up as he tried not to smile. So far, it had failed entirely.

"Well, he was getting to be a bit uppity. Also, he thought it would be a convenient time to turn cannibal," Duke says as he points to a sharp cut on his arm "…so I decided to give him a smoother. He stopped gnawing on my arm, but theres a nice little surprise on the floor of the med bay."

The members of the crew in the room, save Johansen, began laughing. Dukes hoarse chuckles masked the appearance of Mordecai, who stood at the doorway leading to the common room.

"Whats so funny," he intoned as he looked curiously upon the laughing crew.

"Nothing. Oh, Duke told me of something in the Medbay needs work on. Why don't you do that while we get ready to dock."

"O…kay? I'll do that." With that, Mordecai turns and disappears. Once he is presumably out of ear shot, all of them began laughing hysterically (this time included a slight chuckle from Johansen).

"Well, I'll be sendin' Hortance that wave. Get ahold of the 'proper' authorities while she's at it," Jonah says as the laughter dies down. The crew there nods when the intercom crackles and Tomas' voice comes on the speaker.

"Attention, crew. We'll be setting down in the New Dunsmuir docks in about five minutes. Until then, I suggest that we make ourselves very shiny for the Feds."

"I'm off," Jonah says as he begins down the stairs. He makes his way without incident until he gets to the bay. Mordecai, mouth covered by his hand, gives a death glare to Jonah. Ignoring it, Jonah continues to pass the restrained seats, where a very confused Gordy sits.

"How we doin' there Gordy?" Jonah says conversationally as he settles in front of the bays Wave center. Gordys eyes are unfocused as he turns slowly and opened his mouth.

"I…don'…wannna…go…ta…school," came Gordys slurred voice as a little drool dribbled onto his jacket . Smirking slightly, Jonah inputs Hortances Wave address and places the wave.

"Hortance Gainsborough here," came a gruff and deep voice as a rather heavy-looking womans face appeared on the screen.

"Hortance, it's Jonah. We'll be settin' down in the New Dunsmuir docks in about five minutes."

"Damn, your quick, Browncoat," Hortance replied as Jonah cringed inwardly. How she found out he was an Independent, he'll never know. But it hasn't brought him much grief, save the irritating nickname. "So I'll take my standard fare and give you a new hit. And he better not be missin' a limb…"

"It was a FINGER! And that wasn't my fault. Johansen was the one who shot her!" Jonah yelled indignantly. Hortance chuckled a little before becoming serious again. "Like I said, I'll get your new hit…"

"Wait, whats up? Why you actin' weird?"

"Well, I was contacted for a bounty on someone who's supposed to be on Haven. Othing on the surface smelled, but I've been looking over the file and its weird. I'll tell you when I get there." With that, the screen went blank. Jonah didn't have long to consider before the ship was again shaking. This time, it was controlled and methodical. The New Dunsmuir Docks were based around a canyon, where massive arms would grab mid-bulk and smaller ships. Firesong, despite being large for a ship of that type, would still be grabbed by these. After a few seconds, the shaking stopped and Jonah opened the bay doors to the large New Dunsmuir Common Market. From his vantage point, he could see the many sights. Well, sights that could exist for someone who ain't a tourist. The flea Market, the brothel (not that Jonah went there often. That was Dukes place of interest), and the two bars of note in the area: the Red Tengu and the Maidenhead. Jonah didn't stay long to gaze, however, as he immediately turned to Mordecai.

"Mordy…

"Mordecai."

"…get Gordy unstrapped and bring him up front. Also, call Duke and Tomas. Tell Duke he can go to his place of business, and tell Tomas to get down here."

Mordecai acknowledged Jonah, pulling off Gordys restraints and pulling Gordy to his feet.

"Yay…I…gedda…go…park…" Gordy mumbled as Duke and Tomas came to the bay. Without saying anything Duke walked past Jonah and was making a bee line towards the brothel, wearing a disturbingly happy face as he did so. Jonah only give Tomas a knowing look while Tomas shakes his head at the retreating figure of Duke. Mordecai comes up behind the two, his left hand of his revolver and his right on his hip.

"Hey, Mordy…" Jonah starts.

"Mordecai."

"Don't stare at Hortance."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

After three minutes of waiting, and a small scoff from Mordecai on how time sits still for the waiting, a big meaty woman who turned out to be Hortance walks up with three Federal marshals. One, presumably the leader, stepped forward, to address the crew.

"Nate Colliran, Federal marshal. I have been informed you have a fugitive aboard this ship."

"Yes. We caught him and claim any and all bounties on his head. The fugitives name is Maurice Gordy. Any bounties will be payed to broker Hortance Gainsborough," Jonah said as he pulled Gordy up to the head of the group, who was still muttering to himself.

"All well and good. Maurice Gordy shall be bound by law. Payment shall be in credits. Is this acceptable?" came Collirans practiced response. Hes dealt with bounty hunters before, Jonah mentally noted before turning his attention back to the dealings.

"I want this thing bound now. I must say you have done the Alliance a great deed." Colliran said, his face almost indignant as the other two marshals picked up Gordsy and helped (well, mostly dragged) the doped Gordy down the ramp.

"Good for the Alliance," was Jonahs response, dripping with sarcasm. Collirans look went from dignified to confused before turning and saying something inaudible to Jonah in the loud atmosphere of the docks. Hortance merely nodded before the feds left. Once the feds were out of sight, Hortance turned to the crew and walked up to Jonah.

"Heres the info for the next hit. If you wanna look over it, go ahead. You'll see what I meant when I said weird."

Jonah scanned the holographic document for a second before furrowing his brow.

"Wait, this guy don't have a capture."

"It gets stranger. It only lists alias', but gives no real name. I'd turn it down, but the money was way too good."

"How many…" Jonah as he finally saw the amount on the holodoc and nearly choked oh the air he was breathing.

25,000 credits.

25,000 credits for finding a nameless man. No wonder Hortance accepted it.

"Last confirmed sightings of the man were on Xingyang year and a half ago and Haven about a year ago. Hes also thought to have ties on Persephone and Higgins Moon of the unfriendly kind. Since Havens only about an eight hour ride from here this time of year, you could start there. And if it turns up cold, I got another hit lined up."

"Sounds good Hortance. We'll wave ya once we get there."

" I'll transfer the credits into your account. Good flying, Browncoat," Hortance calls as she turns and walks away from the bay doors. Jonah again cringed before turning away.

"Why did you say not to stare?" Mordecai asked as Jonah began to walk towards the common room.

"What?" Jonah said as he turned to face the younger man.

"You said I'd stare at Hortance."

"You didn't? Good job."

"Why did you think I'd stare at him?"

"Her," Tomas interjected from his position, his face now holding a smirk.

"Hortance was a she?" Mordecai asked.

"Yep. Hence the name. When Duke gets back, we head off to Haven, dong ma?"

Mordecai simply nods, his mouth hanging open in shock.

Yep. It was always good to make him to leave him stupidly speechless.

FINISH

Authors Notes: Chapter three is up for your viewing pleasure! And congrats to Panda-Kun (sp. Sorry man!) for getting the reference from the last chapter! You mental pats on the back are being sent via Pat-Mail Psychic services!