Firefly: The Geshen Wars: The Rrift
Chapter 5: Journey
…
I don't own the Firefly franchise. If I did, there'd be an animated series playing right now. I mean, how cool an idea is that?
…
Chapter 5: Journey
"We have to get to my ship," John was telling them. "It's the only way to enter the territory of these Reavers, especially if the Rrift are there, and I am almost certain they are. Neither the shuttle nor the Serenity would last long enough. And that's assuming we're dealing with only Reavers. If the Rrift are there, then…" He left the sentence unfinished, but they could all fill in the blank. The unarmed Serenity, going up against Rrift warships? Not hardly.
"So where is your ship?" questioned Mal.
John pulled up a three-dimensional schematic of the local planetary system. He pointed to a small moonlet just outside of Alliance patrolled space. "It is circling in a very low, forced orbit around this body."
"Wow. That low, radar would never detect it. It'd be too close to the ground. Smart move."
John looked at him peculiarly. "Of course. I told you I was trying to fly beneath the radar, didn't I?"
…
The journey to the moonlet was not without danger; John and Wash were both needed at the controls of the ship. There were Alliance patrol ships in the area, and, without proper clearance, the Serenity would have, at best, a hard time getting past them. "Can't you use your weird alien powers to make 'em let us through?" asked Jayne.
"I don't have any 'weird alien powers,'" responded John, exasperatedly. Then, "Well, okay, I suppose by your standards, I do, but they don't work like that! I have to have eye contact, or at least line of sight, in order to influence other beings." He thought hard. "But I do have something in my shuttle that might help."
"What?"
"It's a…misdirection device. Stealth fields require a great deal of energy, but this simply projects the image of the ship to…another place. If I can connect it to the Serenity's power source, it should project the ship's image elsewhere. Hopefully that will buy us the time to make it to the ship."
"I don't know…Alliance missiles rely on gravity signatures as well as radar. Your image wouldn't project that, would it?"
"No, but it is all I have to offer. And it may buy us some time."
…..
John worked with Kaylee to connect the Serenity's power source to the shuttle's imaging device. "How does this work, again?" said Kaylee, wiping her brow, her eternal interest in machines coming to the fore.
"It is based on what you call holographic technology, only the image it projects is a solid—well, reasonably solid-force-field. Not as solid as a true ship, but solid enough to reflect radar and be seen as a ship."
"But what about our ship? Won't it be seen? You said you didn't have the power for a true stealth field."
"Unfortunately, there is little I can do about that. The best we can do is be beyond the range of their detectors, or perhaps behind something. Send them on a wild duck chase."
"Wild goose chase," she corrected, her usual cheery smile decorating her face. Truthfully, even in spite of his alien appearance, John was…a really nice guy. Too bad he wasn't human.
Hm. But…he could shift into a human form….
Now stop that.
"Yes, wild goose chase, thank you. My mastery of your language is sometimes imperfect."
"Don't worry about it. I got what you meant." She sobered. "But, speaking of ducks, if this doohickey of yours takes too much power, we're gonna be sitting ducks."
"That euphemism I fully understand. And you are correct: we may be."
…
The Operative sat in his ship, gazing ceaselessly at his monitors. He knew, or, rather, intuited, that the Serenity, and the fugitive, or, more accurately, the fugitives, were not far away.
He would find them. He would capture them, especially the one called John Smith. The survival of the Alliance was at stake.
…
The first Alliance patrol ship they encountered was patrolling the asteroid belt Mal and Wash had currently hidden the Serenity in. There was no indication that they'd been "painted" by radar. "Okay, John. Now's the time for your gizmo."
Without a word, John pressed several recently-installed controls. The lights inside the ship dimmed a bit as power was drawn, projected to the device.
"Is it working?" asked Wash. "I…can't see anything." He was straining his eyes.
"It is working. Check your own radar; it should reflect. Just be careful not to let the radar beam spill over and strike the Alliance vessel."
The radar did indeed indicate a reflection of something several hundred klicks off the starboard bow. The Alliance patrol ship moved to investigate. "Unidentified craft. You are trespassing in proscribed space. Transmit your identity or be destroyed." Of course, the simulacrum did nothing. The Alliance ship moved to within firing range. "Unidentified vessel. Transmit your identification now. You will not receive another warning." Again, still nothing.
The viewscreens showed missiles fired from the Alliance ship towards the fake ship. Of course, they exploded upon contact… "Now!" said Mal, nudging Wash. "Get us past that thing while the sensors are confused!"
Wash immediately kicked the Serenity's thrusters into high gear, shooting it past the Alliance ship, attempting to match the course and vector of any supposed debris.
They got extremely lucky. The sensors of the Alliance ship were momentarily confused by the blast, and didn't take notice of the real ship.
But another ship did. One the crew of the Serenity wasn't aware of. One following in the wake of the Serenity. One with much better sensors.
…
More torture for River. She wasn't sure how much more she could take.
They hadn't yet tried to "hack" (as John had called it) her brain…perhaps because they were puzzled by it, and didn't wish to waste a precious specimen. In time, though…
Her thoughts no longer made much sense to her. She wasn't sure where she was, only that she didn't like being here. Where were the others? Were there any others?
She remembered Simon, her brother. She wished she could have married him. It would have been so very good. He understood her, loved her, better than anyone else.
She vaguely remembered Inara, who'd been kind to her. The rest were blurs. Who was "Mal"? Was "Mal" short for something? She wasn't sure.
Other names surfaced: Wash, Kaylee (Kay Lee?), Zoe (Zo E?) and someone named "Jayne." Odd name for a man, but…
But who were they?
For that matter, who was she?
…..
"How much further to your ship?"
"Not much further. That's the moonlet up there-*"
"Attention Serenity. This is the Alliance Ship Vigilance. I have you in my sights. Turn over the ones called 'River Tam' and 'John Smith,' and I have no further interest in you."
"It's that bastard Operative," muttered Jayne. "I'd recognize that wu hui de voice even in hell."
"We may be about two seconds away from hell," replied Mal. "So…" He looked around.
"You may turn me over," said John evenly, "but I will not surrender. I have to rescue River."
"Will you relax? I wasn't about to suggest turning you over. Wouldn't work, anyway. This bastard wouldn't honor any agreements, or he'd find a loophole. But does anybody have any ideas?"
"I have one," said John. "If we can get within two thousand klicks of my ship…I have something that may help."
"Right. You heard the ma-* Er, you heard John, Wash. Evasive." And the Serenity began looping and diving.
Well, thought the Operative, I suppose I couldn't have expected any other response. Pity. And he readied weapons designed to disable the ship. After all, he wanted River Tam and John Smith alive, not blown to space dust.
On board the Serenity, John was fiddling with some controls in his shuttle. "What're you doing?" asked Kaylee. Machines just plain attracted her.
"I am attempting to initiate…a certain feature of my ship that, I hope, can be activated remotely. I only hope it has been repaired enough to function."
"What feature? You said your ship didn't have any weapons…."
"You will see. For now, just get ready, on my mark, to shut the Serenity completely down. Everything. Including life support."
"Ohhhh," said Kaylee knowingly. "I see what you're about to do. And you got it." She disappeared back into the engine room.
Alright, thought the Operative. He'd given them enough time. He readied the EMP projectors…they should take out the ship's entire mechanical system. Then he could simply retrieve his objectives, and leave the rest for whatever fate they'd called down upon themselves.
Suddenly, the drive signatures of the Serenity went completely blank. The ship was dead in the water, to use the ancient term. But he hadn't done anything….
In the next moment, his own ship was blasted by an EMP of enormous power. Sparks abounded, and consoles burst into flame. His ship's power went completely out…including life support.
They'd beat him to the punch, but how? The Serenity didn't have that kind of power…
And here he was a long way from any Alliance help, and without communications to boot. Even his life support was compromised.
This could pose a serious complication.
…..
"You did it!" shouted Kaylee. "Wow! That ship of yours must be one powerful muther!"
"It serves its purpose. I only hope the star drive is repaired."
"What if it's not?"
"Then…I go it with just the space drive." He turned to Kaylee. "Kaylee, nothing will stop me from rescuing River from the Rrift. Nothing must." He paused. "Then there is the matter of the Rrift presence here in your solar system. That cannot go unchallenged. Given only a little time, the Rrift will be well on their way to conquering this entire system. I do not think you would like that."
"Yeah, but, but what can you do about it? From what you've said, it's a Rrift armada!"
"I can do…what I can do." Something about the way he said that chilled her to the bone.
….
"So is this star drive of yours repaired?"
"Not completely. It will take us where we need to go, but not where I want to go."
"Where's that?"
"Home."
….
The Operative worked feverishly to repair at least the bare minimum of his ship. So far, he hadn't had much success.
He'd managed to get the life support back online, so he guessed that was good. But there was no propulsion. And no sensors worthy of the term. Since he was in the outskirts of an asteroid belt, that could pose a problem. He could just imagine his ship being rammed by an errant 'steroid.
Damn that alien! It had to be his fault. He was better familiar with the schematics of the Serenity than most of the crew. He knew it didn't possess any such capabilities.
Well, if he died, he'd die in the service of Mankind, trying to save lives, not take them. He knew about the alien incursion into the 'verse, and what their obvious goal was. His hope had been that he'd be able to combine Alliance technology with the tech of the alien, John Smith, and spread it across the 'verse. Without that, humans didn't have a chance against these invaders.
Damn John Smith, anyway!
In the midst of his silent cursing, he noticed the one single sensor he'd been able to repair beeping. Good. An Alliance vessel must have been in the area; he could get their help to repair his ship, and-*
And then his long-range sensors showed the silhouette of the ship. It was black and covered with spikes, much like a picture of a sea urchin he'd seen in ancient records from Earth, the planet the worlds of the 'verse had been populated from.
It was no human ship. It was no human ship at all.
Things had just gone from bad to the absolute worst they could possibly be.
…..
"Is that your ship?" wondered Jayne. The rest of them were impressed, too.
"Yes. It is a converted mining and transport ship. Hence the size." He gazed at the ship proudly. "I got a good deal on an online auction." John's people didn't shrug, but he'd acquired the habit from the humans he associated with. "A friend of mine helped me fix it up."
Orbiting low around the moonlet was a large dumbbell shaped craft, either end being larger than the middle, which was half the width of the two ends and served as their connection. The sections on either end were wider towards the end than they were where they met the middle shaft. There was a hollow cavity running the entire length of the ship. "Yes," replied John. "I only hope, scooping so low to the moon, that it has found sufficient raw materials to fully repair the star drive."
"What if it hasn't? I mean, it's been in orbit. There isn't much up here," said Kaylee, fascinated by the alien vessel.
"Then I use it as it is. The fact that I was able to activate the electromagnetic pulse indicates the space drive, at least, is repaired enough to be operational."
Under his and Wash's control, they brought the Serenity in closer. The ship was larger than they'd supposed, but John had explained to them how his people tended to overbuild. There was what looked like a large closed bay entrance ("Of course. For the storage of ores and goods.") near the middle of the ship, and he directed Wash to that area. "It may be big enough for the Serenity. If not, then we can attach the ship to the outside of mine."
"Is that possible?"
"Electromagnetics. That might even be better. Then you could detach easily." He paused, a very human gesture. "And you may have to. Swiftly."
….
They were able, barely, to get the Serenity into the cargo bay. John blessed his people's tendency to overbuild; the bay had been designed for the transport of ores, even small asteroids. The Serenity barely fit. "Good," he said, "this way, you're ship will be well within the protective fields of mine."
"What about your star drive?" asked Kaylee. She would've cheerfully given an arm to get a look at it.
"Not fully repaired. But the space drive is, and we can use that." He thought. "We can pass through the outskirts of that asteroid field, and perhaps scoop up enough raw materials to go a long ways towards repairing that, as well. Loose gravel…"
"John? I'm curious. When you were stranded before, you went looking for help. But your ship has this self-repair feature. Why did you need to go anywhere?"
"Truth? I had hoped to find a, a repair station. Something that would have sufficient raw material at the ready for the nanobot repair unit to repair my ship sooner. After all, the sooner it gets repaired, the sooner I can rescue River." Even as he spoke, he entered the coordinates for Miranda, with a side trip through the outskirts of the asteroid belt they'd previously hidden behind. "With luck, perhaps we can avoid these Alliance patrols. If not, we can probably outrun them. My ship's space drive is…a bit more efficient than the ones I've seen used by your people."
"So many things we could learn from you…" She was interrupted by Mal, just then coming onto the bridge. "John? How goes the repairs?"
"Quite well. There's a lot more gravel—high grade gravel, at that—here on the outskirts than I anticipated. It shouldn't be long before the star drive is operational.
"In the meantime, we are making good headway towards Miranda."
Mal shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe we're actually going back to Miranda." He shook his head once again, obviously changing his line of thinking. "So what will we do once we get there?"
Now John shook his head, a habit he'd picked up from humans. "I haven't made any firm plans beyond that, yet. Too much is unknown. We'll have to see-*" But his words were interrupted by a squeal too high for humans to hear. "This is…unusual. I am picking up a Rrift tachyonic broadcast. It seems to be coming from Miranda." He flipped a few switches…
"Hey, everybody," intercomm'd Mal, "Drop whatever you're doing and get up here. Pronto."
Soon, the entire crew was assembled on the bridge. Jayne was in an especially foul mood; he'd just been torn away from some "quality literature," as he called it. Mal grinned; he knew what kind of "quality literature" Jayne was so fond of. "Your girly books will still be there for you later. But for now we got us a situation. John?"
"Yes, I'm getting the 'cast." The screen came alive, showing a group of Rrift standing around a large bonfire, in a deserted area of the planet.
Two Rrift came up, bringing a struggling, enraged Reaver between them. The leader grabbed the creature in his two left arms, and, with one swift movement, gouged its eyes out. Then he threw it into the circle they'd formed. The circle with the bonfire at its center.
Mal had a sick sensation that he knew what was coming next.
The Reaver screamed again, in pain and rage, and charged out into the circle. Two Rrift caught it and shoved it back into the middle of the circle, throwing it directly into the fire.
Another scream, and the Reaver rolled out of the flames, again charging blindly at the perimeter. Again, two Rrift caught it and threw it back into the fire. They kept on doing so, the Reaver beginning to show signs of injury and fatigue, until several Rrift got some long wooden poles and held the creature in the blaze, watching as it screamed and burned. Finally, it ceased moving, the flames consuming it…
"Deus," said Jayne, "I never thought I'd feel sorry for a Reaver." The rest were too horrified to say anything. John had told them about the Rrift, but to see them in action…
On the screen, the leader Rrift and another were seemingly conversing. "What're they saying?" asked Mal.
"You don't want to know."
"Yes I do. What're they saying?"
John sighed. He wished he hadn't synched into this particular broadcast; it made him all the more conscious of what River might be going through. "The first one, the leader, asked the other, 'how long?' The other, a subordinate, replied, more or less, 'fifty-nine minutes.' The leader replied, 'Disappointing. I had hoped these creatures would be more durable. They'd make good cannon fodder, if they could be properly controlled.' Then, he asked, 'how many are in the confinement cells?' 'Fifty-six,' replied the subordinate. Understand," said John, looking around at them, "I'm having to translate their terminology and numerical system into your language.
"The leader then said, 'select seven more at random and test them similarly. If they prove no more resilient than this one, dispose of the lot. But first, see if they can be hacked. And if not, then see if they're edible. We might at least get a meal out of them, if nothing else.'" So saying, he closed down the vidscreens.
Nobody said a word for several minutes. Such cold-bloodedness…even the Reavers, at least, had the excuse of being crazy.
"You're right," said Wash, speaking up for the first time. "We didn't want to know."
…..
"Oooh, John," Kaylee moaned, "put it in me. Go on, put it in me now…the tail, too!" Kaylee's face and breasts were flushed from the exertion…and what had led to that exertion. She'd already finished a little experiment of hers. He deliberately hadn't shifted to his human form, at her request.
Being a metamorph (though he stressed there were limitations to what he could do in that regards), he could harden his scales, make them more impervious to attack…or soften them, for another reason that she was finding extraordinarily pleasant right then. Rubbing herself against his softened scales was a fantastic experience!
And with four arms, he could not only hold her in some interesting ways, but do some…even more interesting things with those arms not in use.
And the tail…
The tail was fantastic!
Now she was calling on him to make use of that organ that seemed to be universal equipment in males throughout the cosmos. "Yes-s, go on, put it in me…put it in me hard!"
"Kaylee? Kaylee!" She snapped awake, to find herself in the quarters on board John's ship, in her bed, straddling a soft pillow. John was standing at the door, looking both puzzled and worried. "You weren't answering your 'comm. We're coming up on Miranda. Mal thought you and Wash might be needed in the Serenity, in case we need to boost it out of the cargo bay at top speed." He looked at her, noting her flushed face and body, her stance over the pillow. "Are you alright? You look a little feverish."
"I'm…alright." I was about to be a lot more alright, at least in my dream. Lot to be said for human-alien sex… "Let me get dressed, and I'll head on down that way."
He turned to go, but then hesitated, looking back at her. "Kaylee? I don't mean to get too personal, but one thing I've always wondered, and was never able to find much reliable information on. If I might ask, what are those…protuberances on your upper torso?"
"These?" She ran her hands over her breasts. "You mean these? They're for providing nourishment for…er, that is, they, they're filled with mankind's hopes and dreams." That's kinda true, in a way.
She hadn't thought it was possible, but John's midnight-black eyes seemed to get larger. "Indeed? Then, I must make a mental note. We must all take special care that nothing happens to them. It would definitely not do for mankind's hopes and dreams to be damaged in some way.
"Thank you for telling me that. I had no idea."
…
Caliban: Miranda's one single moon. "I am sure there is a Rrift contingent in the area," said John. "We may be able to conceal ourselves behind the moon, especially if we keep very close to its surface."
"How long until your ship is fully repaired?" Mal was sitting in what would be the co-pilot's seat, very uncomfortably. It was designed, after all, for the different Geshen anatomy… He noticed Zoe, sitting at attention in another seat, close by the communications setup, didn't seem to be fidgeting as much as he was. But that was Zoe; even if she were uncomfortable, she'd never show it.
"It should not be much longer."
"Say," said Wash, his voice coming over the connected 'comm line. They'd rigged wired communications links so that their conversations didn't get "leaked" out into space. Even if the Rrift had been unable to decipher such wireless internal communications, just the fact that such comm traffic was there in the first place would have told them way too much. "What, exactly, is your ship's name, anyway?" Somehow, it had never come up.
"It doesn't have one. My people don't have that custom. My ship has string of registry numbers, combined with letters of our alphabet, to designate its identity."
"We gotta change that," said Kaylee's voice, also over the 'comm. "A ship without a name? That's bad luck."
"'Bad luck'?"
"Yeah, bad luck. How 'bout 'Traveler'? Or…'Sojourner'?"
"I've an idea," said Shepherd Book. "Since you came from so far away, carrying the message you did, about the Rrift, what about something to do with angels? That's what the word 'angel' originally meant, after all: messenger. You could call it, say, Angel One."
"'Angel One,'" mused John. "I rather like it. And it fits, somehow."
Kaylee's amused voice came over the 'comm line. "Hm. Bet I can pillow-talk you into my suggestion."
A disgusted-looking Jayne turned to Mal "You do realize," he said, "that you have one sick puppy-ette in the engine room of your ship, right?"
Mal sighed. "I know. But she's good at her job."
"I hear she's good at all her jobs…"
"Excuse me," broke in John, "But what did Kaylee mean by 'pillow talk'? Pillows can't talk. Or is this some human technology I'm unfamiliar with?"
"Never mind," said Mal. Jayne turned away to hide a grin; he noticed a small smile on Zoe's face, as well. "That's just Kaylee talking. You know Kaylee; she…talks a lot."
…
Miranda: Unlike the last time they'd been here, there didn't appear to be any Reaver ships in the space around the planet-moon system. No functional ones, anyway. Most were in bits and pieces.
But some were not. It was those that disturbed John the most. There were no indications of life on any of the intact ships.
But there most definitely was indication of life on the single black, spiky Rrift ship that swung around the moon, and zeroed in on them.
To be continued…
Hopefully.
….