Chapter 8: Split
"Incoming." Kaylee sang outside the infirmary where the troopers, Inara, Jayne, Zoe and River were getting patched up. She could see the Captain was angry. It wasn't in just the way he walked. It was how the lines on his face looked deeper than normal. When the Captain was angry, he looked older.
She couldn't understand why he was angry though. They successfully lived through a Reaver invasion and they didn't blow up while doing an emergency landing in Beaumonde. In fact, they should be celebrating they were still alive. Serenity needs a few parts but she could be fixed. But there he was, marching down the stairs in a terrible mood.
He went straight to Dizzy Flores who was currently sulking while getting stitches on her arm from the good Dr. Tam. "What kind of fengkuang junren charges in alone in the heat of battle?" He demanded.
"Now, Captain." Kaylee tried to calm him down even just a little bit. " She's getting patched up still Maybe you could scream and yell and such later?" She suggested.
Unfortunately for the mechanic, her call for clemency was ignored by both parties. "I might not know what a fengkuang whatever is, but I was just trying to help." She defended herself.
"That so?" Mal answered back. "Girl, you could have gotten us all sliced up and eaten alive. Don't they teach you how to stay in line in your fancy school?"
"You would've been goners if we didn't help." Dizzy poked the Captain.
Kaylee cringed. This does not bode well. The Captain was turning a weird shade of red. She exchanged worried glances with the trooper beside her. "Shouldn't we do something?" She asked. But the reporter just shook his head and shrugged. It was already too late.
"Well, anymore of this kind of help from you folk is not appreciated in my boat." Mal replied eying the girl with contempt.
"Fine. Then take us to a medical facility in this rock and we'll be off your boat." She requested.
"Mal..."
"Dizzy..."
"What!" The two shouted in unison to their respective groups.
"The proper authorities can get us back home faster than these people. We can't fly around helping them out in their illegal activities. We helped them enough and look what we get? Rico hasn't woken up. That girl busted Carl and we get shot at by the space scum. If nobody's taking command, I am." She argue before the troopers could put a word in.
"Captain, they don't know what it's like in these parts--" A deeply worried Kaylee reminded Serenity's crew of their predicament.
"No. They want out. Shiny." The Captain said quickly. "Zoe, when you're done, prep the hover and drop them in a hospital" He ordered.
Kaylee gave the older woman a tentative glance and shook her head lightly. Zoe, to her credit just sighed. "Mal, maybe you should wait until cooler heads prevail." Zoe suggested in her usual strict demeanor.
"Zoe." The Captain turned. " When you're done, prep the hover and drop them in a hospital." He repeated slowly these time.
Zoe gave the mechanic a small apologetic look. "Yes Captain." She finally submitted.
Out of the side of her eye, Kaylee saw a hand waving from someone seated on the floor. "Captain Reynolds?" A trooper stood up slowly. "I'm technically still all paid for a ride to Ariel and I don't mind doing the odd jobs along the way as long as I'm not required to kill anyone. If I stay, will you take me there?" She asked curiously.
"If you got no issues with being part of the crew until Ariel, I don't see anything wrong with you being here." The Captain smirked before he disappeared back up the stairs. "Always wanted a cook."
Kaylee's eyes grew wide when all the troopers turned their heads to the only other girl in their squad. The girl just gave them a guilty smile. "I think I'm going to stay." She said in a quiet tone that wasn't lost on the others. "I'm definitely going to stay." She nodded decisively.
-- -- -- -
Jeffrey Gossard just fixed his gaze on the girl calmly sitting on the floor beside him. In the Valley Forge she had the tendency to keep to herself with her computer and her odd habits like going to sim training alone while everyone's asleep, reading everything she can get her hands on or having music blasting in her ears while she's asleep. She always answered questions honestly, although, sometimes it required a decoder ring to decipher. There were moments when she acted like she was much older than her age and others when she became completely were things the Roughnecks have gotten used to. It was almost endearing.
What they haven't quite reconciled was how her thought process works. Whenever he catches her just mindlessly staring onto the distance, he always wondered if they were seeing the same things. She once told him that she thought plasma bugs reminded her of a really cool lava lamp. She wouldn't go against Dizzy or anybody else for that matter, during hand to hand until forced to. She thought it was silly. She reasoned she was never going hand to hand with a bug, after all, so why bother. (Which is not the point of hand to hand combat. H2H is for training.)
So when she said she was going to stay, it occurred to the mechanic that this was going to be one of those moments when they weren't matching up again. Only, this time, the matter on hand wasn't as trivial and Dizzy wasn't as patient as Rico or Zim. "What?" Dizzy had deadpanned raising an eyebrow at the younger girl after Serenity's crew cleared the room at Higgins' prompting. "You're going to stay?" She crossed her arms against her chest more frustrated than confused.
Andy nodded easily enough. "Yup. I'm going to stay." She reaffirmed with a small smile.
"Why?" Dizzy demanded.
"Because I think it's a good idea to stick to the original plan." She shrugged.
"I don't know if anybody's told you," Dizzy kept her stunned expression in check, "but the "original plan" isn't working out. My plan might be a long shot and it'll take a bit of convincing but at least we'd be getting somewhere."
Higgins stepped forward and winced. "Rico did get shot, Andy." He said.
"Jenkins' brain is fried." Doc added slowly.
"Not to mention what they do is illegal." Carmen continued.
"Hate to say it, Anderson, but Flores' plan sounds pretty good. We're just getting hurt here." Max Brutto admitted.
The girl tilted her head slightly to one side and shrugged again. "So go. I didn't ask you to stay with me." She stood up and sighed. "And I'm not stopping you from doing what you guys want to do. Leave if you want to leave." She replied firmly.
"Andy, what part of 'We don't leave a man behind' did you not understand. We're in this together." Dizzy emphasized. "I don't even know why you want to stay. Everytime that doctor of theirs is in the same room as you he ends up calling you things in Chinese which you don't even want to translate for us. His little sister is a crazy freak. The lady Brutto likes so much is a hooker. And the Captain and his followers are just plain dangerous." She exclaimed.
"Diz." Andy said in such a serious tone that even Gossard was surprise that it came out from her. "I didn't want to help them escape Higgins' moon." She revealed. "I didn't want to go through a system I didn't know that well and temporarily register this ship. I warned Rico that if we get caught with these sort, we're going to get into trouble we know nothing about. But he ordered me to do it anyway. He said-- and I quote-- "Helping them will help us." The fact that we got away shouldn't be merited to any skill of mine. That was pure luck. Bonus that I didn't have to lie on the register either because we actually know a Robert Higgins." She continued on. "You have a good plan. You should follow it. I just want to see if Rico's way works out too." She finished.
"Well, he was wrong." The red head replied bitterly.
"Just want to let you know, the hover is ready. We're going to do two trips. We'll get you all there first then come back for the other two." Zoe interrupted and just as quickly left.
That's when the younger girl smirked. "Interestingly enough,nobody knows if that's true yet." She smiled. "The chariot awaits." She motioned for the door.
Gossard watched bitterly as the troopers said goodbye one by one before heading towards the cargo bay. She told Higgins to remember to breathe. She exchanged a big friendly hug with Doc. She reminded Brutto to be smart and told Ibanez to stop crashing planes. She turned and smiled at him just as Brutto reluctantly left the room. "You're going to miss your ride." She pointed at the doorway.
"Andy, I'm staying with you. You can't stay here alone." He managed to say.
"Yes, I can. You know I can. Besides, you want to go and they need you more than I do." She grinned taking several steps forward then stood on the tip of her toes." Because here's the secret second reason, Mech." She whispered into his ear. "We both know it'll take more than a day to fix everything here. If Dizzy's plan heads south, you have time to head back here within that timeframe. It'll be much easier to convince the Captain to let you back in if one of us stays behind. And if it works out, you'll know where I'll be." She explained then took a step back. "So stop fretting, Jeffrey Gossard. I'll be- ahem- shiny." She folded her arms obviously proud of herself.
Gossard eyed the girl in awe and shook his head. "You're crazy." He chuckled pulling her close for a hug. "You know, I'm going to come get you right?" He asked before releasing her.
She just gave him a thumbs up sign. "So long and thanks for all the fish." She smirked.
-- -- - -
The Maidenhead bar was as busy as usual. The lights just as loud as the patrons that often the place. It was perfect. So many things were happening at the same time-- the pair of legs enticing men as they went past, the noisy screens showing whatever happens to be transmitted, the ladies dancing with fans and of course the indistinguishable Sino influenced music blaring through the speakers-- that he could simply hide in plain sight.
He had taken many identities in his travels. It was easy to slip by with the use of common names. Today for example, he is using one that a sports minded family would give their male children. According to the bartender, he's already had two Michael Jordan's come in. He would be the third.
He sat on a private booth alone with his drink just watching this disgusting world spin when he caught a curious figure relinquishing his gun on the locker wheel. The man simply stopped at the head of the stairs eying everything below like he owned the establishment before starting his way, in his opinion, down the rabbit hole.
Michael Jordan's eyes grew when he recognized the man and quickly bowed his head pretending to be drunk although he kept his eyes on the newcomer. A pair of twins greeted him at the foot of the stairs. "Mingo," The man shook the first twin's hand before taking the second's. "Fanty."
"I'm Mingo, he's Fanty." The second twin grinned.
"Apologies." The nobleman motioned to a nearby booth-- the very booth behind his in fact. He has decided that this new man did not know who he was dealing with. Fanty and Mingo played a game with their appearances. This was how they judged the character of the man they're dealing with. They were nearly identical. Nearly. To a careful observer like himself, the difference in height was staggering. Fanty was shorter by only the tiniest measure and therefore, he actually had them right the first time around. Showing that he didn't care which one was which not only gave the twins notice that he was green but he also risked not being taken seriously.
Michael shifted in his seat so that he would look like he was looking at the bar's main floor instead of the hazy figures behind the veil of red. "We were quite surprised that a man of your stature would be calling on us." The real Fanty said.
"So shocked in fact that we couldn't resist meeting you ourselves." Mingo continued.
"Well, gentlemen, things have changed." The nobleman tossed a two kilogram sack their way. There was a clinking noise when it landed on the table-- which meant only thing. Money was passing hands.
Mingo carefully took one out of the sack and let it roll on his fingers. "It has changed indeed." He agreed.
"However, we're even more tickled now." Fanty took the coin from Mingo to inspect it.
"This is well and good. However, a person like yourself should understand that we profit much more than this." Mingo mentioned casually.
The man nodded taking a card out of his breast pocket and sliding it to their direction. "Yes, he said you might say that." The man grinned.
Fanty nodded reading the card and passing it back. "He has quite an impressive reputation." He said with a charming smile.
"But so does the man you're after." His brother added. "We wonder if you know how weixian our dear Malcom Reynolds really is."
"We know." The man nodded before rising and taking his leave.
Michael Jordan shook his head hoping that Malcom Reynolds was far far away from this part of the Verse. "Barmaid!" He called out to a passing girl. "Something stronger." He pointed to his cup. He needed something to help disinfect his mind from the event he just witnessed.
Greed had just made a deal with Wrath and Envy.
-- - - -
Andy sat atop a crate and sighed when the hover carrying Carl Jenkins and Rico faded into the busy city. She smiled humourlessly just thinking about the situation she was in. The fact that the Roughnecks were really gone struck her a bit odd. She had always considered herself as the outsider of their little merry group, largely because she lacked the history they all had. She was the only one without any sort of connection with the lieutenant they close to dietify. Maxi at least was the son of the sergeant who served under Lt. Razak. But now that they were gone, there was something weird that she couldn't quite place her finger on. "Oh well. We don't say goodbye." She shrugged to herself jumping off the crate just to come face to face with a waiting River Tam who was just staring at her.
"Helloooo little psychic." She gave the girl a small poorly delivered wave not knowing what else to do.
River just stood still and blinked. "You're wrong you know." She said.
"I think you need to be more specific." She replied amused by how the girl acted and reacted. Her psyche seemed so childlike. It was hard to believe she was only a few years behind her.
"You are alone." River stated.
"No I'm not." Andy defended in a self assured manner. "You're here." She pointed out.
"Yes. But I am not a Roughneck." The psychic argued.
"But you're a psychic. And, apparently, you can't control your ability much." Andy grinned bending down so they could see eye to eye. "So,I'm sure several things have coursed through you. " She smiled mischievously. "What's up with Doc and the strawberry blonde medic from the Valley Forge?" She asked. River's eyes grew wide and her pale cheeks blushed a slight crimson. Andy's jaw dropped. "I knew it!" She announced to no one in particular.
"What are you two ladies going?" The Captain suddenly interrupted coming down from the catwalk above.
"Gossiping?" Andy offered lightly.
Captain Reynolds just eyed the two and slowly nodded. The trooper recognized that expression. That's the one everybody gives her when they don't know whether to take her seriously or not."Okay." He finally replied deciding to disregard her answer. He handed her one of SICON's hand guns. "Might be smart to be armed seein' as you're coming to town with us. This ain't the safest place in the verse." He said looking out into the city.
Andy inspected the gun before hiding it behind her underneath her black jacket. "Out?" She asked taking a look at all the dented and scorched metal, loose hanging panels and sparking wires that seemed to surround them. "We're not going to weld the night away?" She inquired curiously.
The Captain shook his head. "You can make this place as pretty as you want but she still won't fly. That grappler did more damage than you reckon. Serenity needs parts. Parts need money. Money we don't got right at this second. Which leads us to the need to get job." He explained. "Maybe a little one on one time would do it." He mumbled, which Andy guessed, she was not meant to hear. "Besides, I thought you, not being from around these parts, wouldn't oppose to some sightseeing. Little Albatross here makes a great tour guide." He smirked.
"Cool." Andy replied smiling at the daunting neon city ahead of her. "The city of blinding lights."
--
translation:
fengkuang junren -- insane soldier
weixian -- dangerous