RSTC/ Firefly:: Lost
Chapter 5: Onward
--
Simon Tam was about to get a bite to eat when he saw three figures in the bridge. The bridge, according to Captain, was off limits unless he or Zoe were there. He knew it wasn't one of them. Kaylee was still unconscious in the infirmary and he had just put River to sleep. Deciding that Mal would get awfully angry at him, not at them, if something happens to his dear beloved firefly, he slowly made his way into the bridge just to find the three troopers. One Carmen Ibanez was sitting at the pilots chair carefully observing what one Jeffrey Gossard was doing on the open panel. One Ashley Anderson was staring at the ceiling, eerily reminding him of his own sister, small laptop on her lap with wires running out of it making its way to Gossard's hand.
"What are you doing?" He demanded entering the bridge completely taken aback at the sheer audacity these people had to tinker with something that isn't theirs. The youngest trooper shifted uncomfortably on her seat before looking down at the screen of her laptop. But the other two just eyed him innocently.
"Stuff." The pilot answered simply.
"Stuff?" He repeated in a mixture of awe and annoyance. "Do you know how angry the Captain will be when he gets back and sees that you have made... this?"
"What he doesn't know won't hurt him." Replied the mechanic.
The doctor's face fell. "I will not be made an accomplice to your insubordination." He challenged knowing that he was outmatched.
"You're jumping into conclusions. One, we haven't even threatened you to keep silent yet. And two, who says we're being insubordinate?" Carmen Ibanez smiled wryly.
He started pacing nervously. "Please just stop what you're doing and put everything back to where it was before Mal--"
"Oh hey! I'm in. Much thanks." Andy cheered grinning at her companions before typing away on her laptop.
The good doctor was appalled. Not only were they playing games with him, they were also ignoring him. He marched over to the co pilot seat and slammed the laptop screen down. There was a sharp intake of breath behind him but he didn't care about what was proper now. The girl was just staring at his hand on top her computer. "You seem to be the instigator of this whole ordeal so I'm going to tell you a little piece of trivia--"
"Please get your hand off my computer. I have work to do." Andy requested cutting him in mid sentence.
"What work?" He shot back. "You're not even in your own territory. You're a fish out of water trying to swim in a puddle of mud. You have no concept of what goes on here." He leaned forward seeing that she was trying her best to maintain a calm facade but failing.
"Chill out. The L.T. Gave orders. I'm following those orders. It's on a need to you know basis. You don't need to know." She answered simply.
"And if your lieutenant tells you to commit harakiri will you follow that order?" He looked expectantly at the trooper.
"That's the job description. Besides, to some people, enlisting, especially enlisting for infantry, is a form of suicide." She countered.
"Ni jiushi tiandi zuida de sha qiu." He shook his head in disapproval.
The girl raised both her hands and rolled her eyes in indifference. "Suibian."
"I don't know what you both just said."Carmen Ibanez suddenly interrupted. "But I'd move away from her if I were you." The doctor turned around just to see a much bigger and not to happy Jeffrey Gossard glaring not a foot away.
"Fine." He started to walk away angrily. "Do what you want but if Serenity doesn't fly, we're going to be stuck in Higgins' Moon with people who wants us dead." He said walking down the stairs.
"Did you just say Higgins' Moon? As in Magistrate Higgins' moon?" The pilot called out exchanging glances with the other two. "I thought this rock was called Canton."
Simon placed his hands on his hips sighed in frustration. "Canton is a city. Magistrate Higgins owns the moon. You would know this if you actually live here. Which surprisingly is my point all along." He huffed making his way back to the dining area.
"But what's Magistrate's first name?" Ibanez called after once more.
--- -- -
Jayne eyed the man going up the hill with great disdain as he fell backwards and rolled back. He can't see where the shots were coming from, and judging by the twenty soldiers that were down and out on the ground, neither did they. He didn't blame them. It was pitch dark where they were. But the little blue syringes that stuck out of their bodies were a tell tale sign of one thing.
He wasn't the one who got to use those new shiny guns first.
The one who did get to use them first came running down another hill with two soldiers behind him. Jayne never thought he'd hate the sight of cavalry but he did today. "Gorram it Mal, you knew in earnest I wanted to shoot those first!" He complained Johnny Rico fished the keys off one soldier and moved to uncuff them.
"Don't worry. You'll get your turn." Mal replied caddishly at him.
"That ain't the point." He growled. "What are you doing little girl?" He asked the red head picking off the darts that were on soldiers and gathering them to one place.
"Can't leave evidence that we were here." Dizzy shrugged changing the settings of of her morita. A red line of laser soon melted the syringes and the surrounding sand into one big pool of glass. "Done!" She skipped towards Rico's side.
"Captain." Zoe greeted suspiciously.
Mal grinned taking the cuffs off his friend. "Zoe." He greeted in the same curt manner. "Now why do I get the feeling that you ain't happy to see me."
"Sir, with all due respect," the girl grimaced. "I know that look." She honestly replied.
"I don't have a look." The Captain feigned innocence.
"Yeah you do." Jayne grunted. "You have that 'aim to misbehave' sign on your face." He did his best imitation of that look and rolled his eyes.
Mal smirked. "Well my plan happens to pair you with 'em guns." He revealed much to the delight of the larger man. "You in or not?"
"Ain't ever said I wasn't." Jayne replied.
"Shiny." Mal motioned for the group to follow him. "Coz we're taking that vault."
"Come again sir?" Zoe paused. "I thought I just heard you say we're taking the vault."
"Zoe, we always do the job." Mal cheerfully hopped in the transport craft and grinned.
-- -- -
Inara was disappointed. The night had not gone as she wished. The proposal that she wanted was left unsaid. The man she had accompanied seemingly grew distracted as the night wore on. Now that they were heading back to Serenity through her shuttle, she could only think that one of her greatest fears has gone to pass. It was a companion's worst nightmare.
She had lost her touch.
As she docked the shuttle back to be just another part of Serenity, she couldn't shake the deflated feeling that this was the beginning of the end of her. She took a deep breath before pulling the curtain back revealing the magistrate's son cautiously drinking the last of the tea that she had laid out earlier. He smiled nervously and her heart leaped.
Maybe she wasn't slipping just yet. There was time to turn the tide.
"Shall we finish your business with the Captain and get on our way?" She suggested coyly.
Fess pushed his glasses up and nodded following her out of the shuttle and into Serenity. She lead him down the stairs into the main cargo bay where his bounty should be waiting. But when they reached the bottom, there was nothing there. Instead, Mal was leaning on one of the crates just waiting for them to present themselves.
"Mal?" Inara narrowed her eyes with suspicion seeing the mixture of innocence and sarcasm on the Captain's face.
"Ah, Inara. Lord Higgins." He stepped forward a bit too cheerfully for her liking "I hope your evening was as pleasant as ours."
"What are you doing?" She asked under her breath.
"Saying hi." He replied in the same manner.
"Quite pleasant. Thank you." Fess eyed the empty bay. "It went well I suppose?" He prompted.
"Yes." The captain turned his back to take the rolled up documents from the top of the crate. "Your share of the take is at this location." He handed a tube and a piece of paper to his employer. "We took our share of course as agreed upon." He smiled warmly at the young man.
Fess merely glanced at the piece of paper and nodded graciously. "Of course. Thank you, Captain. It was good working with you." He held his hand to the companion with a small bow. "My lady?" He grinned.
Inara took his hand and moved towards the shuttle once more but not without giving Mal a confused look. She learned long ago that it was never this simple with Serenity's Captain. The fact that the ship was extremely quiet just added to her suspicion. "Oh, Lord Higgins." Mal's voice echoed through the cargo hold. "I forgot to ask." He called out before they could reach the stairs. The two turned just in time to watch the captain lower the cargo bay's ramp. "What do you want us to do with these folk?" He asked pointing to the injured men tied up right outside the bay.
Fess shrugged confused at the situation. "I do not know who they are." He said.
"That's him!" One of the men said to someone hidden in the darkness outside. "That's the guy who hired us. Fess Higgins, the magistrate's son."
"Nonsense." Fess shook his head in denial. "I don't deal with assassins." He reasoned.
But the man kept talking. "We were paid in advance. He wanted us to get you all, he did. As a present for his pop-- Jayne Cobb's crew." He continued as desperation crept into his voice.
"I'm telling you Captain, I have no hand in this." He tried defending himself. "Lady Inara can vouch for my actions. I have been nothing but honest about this from the very start." He faced the companion with pleading eyes.
"Honest?" Mal asked as Inara pulled herself away slowly. "Coz she ain't look so trusting now."
"Yes!" Fess insisted pushing his glasses back. "Inara, believe me. My intentions--"
"Mal never said they were assassins. How did you know they were assassins?" She took several steps back shaking her head.
"Smart for a whore ain't she?" The captain quickly said pulling a gun and aiming it on the man's head. "Must be all that schooling." He motioned for the bay doors. "You're a smart kid I give you that. You almost had us-- all that 'wanting to make things better' nonsense. Unfortunately for you, the lot of us are smarter. Now, I don't care why you want us dead but I do know this-- The job's done and I don't particularly feel like cleaning up after bodies. So, you're going do the smart thing and leave my ship right now. No funny stuff or I will shoot." He warned eying the man carefully.
Fess Higgins shook his head ruefully as he slowly walked away. "I did want to make things better." He said out loud. Inara gasped at the considerable change in the tone of his voice. "This is all your fault you know. My father hates me for letting you people go the last time. He made my life a living hell." He revealed. "So I thought, hey! Why not capture you on his birthday? I'd even get the credit for ruining another Jayne Cobb robbery." He smirked humourlessly. "I thought you'd at least be dead." He sneered at the assassins as he stepped off the ship.
"Well, I have a pretty merciful lieutenant." Mal replied as Johnny Rico came out of the shadows and stepped in the ramp with a gun expertly trained at the assassins.
"Truly?" The magistrate's son suddenly turned.
A gunshot echoed through the air as Inara watched the young lieutenant fall. Her eyes grew wide as she witnessed a trooper rush out of the infirmary where she watching the whole event. Less than a second later, the Captain fired. Fess Higgin's gun flew out of his hand. He fell to knees grasping his bleeding side yet he still managed to lock his gaze with Mal's. It was then Inara saw it. The shy Fess Higgins she knew was long gone.
This man has dipped into the pool of madness.
The magistrate's son laughed without humour. "You're not going to be able to fly out of here anyway. You're land locked and Alliance is all over the sky." He chuckled before moaning in pain.
"That right? You think so?" The Captain challenged and hit the bay door's controls. "Watch us." He growled as the door rose to a close.
-- -- - -
Zoe Washburne entered the bridge. "Sir, the doctors say Lt. Rico is stable for now and Kaylee hasn't woken up." She reported as evenly as she could. She waited for his reply but none came. The quiet hum of Serenity's components filled the air as she watched the Captain watch the vast expanse of space in front of him. She sighed and nodded to herself before making her move to leave the man alone.
But she paused when his voice suddenly called softly for her. "Zoe," She turned to find him still staring at the black. "Today ain't that good a day."He said.
"Yes, Captain." She agreed.
"They had our backs." He continued.
"Yes they did sir." She agreed again.
His chair turned to face her. "Lt. Rico could've ordered that girl to call the proper authorities. They would sure get home a bit faster and we'd be somewhere in lockdown-- if we're lucky. But no, he ordered her to fool around with Serenity and have her seem like she's Magistrate Higgins' boat. Gorramit, the land lock didn't even work on us." He stated amazed.
"Not necessarily sir." She chuckled at the confused expression he had.
"Say that again Zoe?" He prompted.
"Had a talk with the girl hiding down at the engine room, she had Serenity temporarily registered to Robert Higgins." Zoe grinned taking a seat as his co pilot.
"That's the magistrate's name." Mal pointed out.
"Also the name of that paperboy of theirs. 'Bobby' ain't his full name Captain. It was short for Robert." She leaned back placing both hands behind her head. "Robert Higgins." She finished.
She watched the dumbfounded captain stare back into the black. "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle." He muttered under his breath.
"What do we do now Sir?" She asked after a moment of silence.
The Captain shrugged. "We make do with our word. We get them to Ariel. If we get jobs along the way, the better." He sighed.
Zoe eyed the vast expanse of space ahead of them and nodded. "Sounds like a plan."
-- -- -
translations:
Ni jiushi tiandi zuida de sha qiu= you must be the verse's biggest ball of stupid.
Suibian= whatever. [well, at least how it's used here, it means whatever.]