Chapter 13a: Hoist the Colours I
Jeffrey Gossard sighed shoving his hands down his pockets and pushing himself off the wall he's been leaning against. "This is..." He trailed on taking a deep breath. "I'm going after her. This isn't right." He decided, shrugging at his injured commanding officer.
"I'm... I'm..." Higgins stood up from his chair a little more resolute than they've ever seen him before. "I'm going with you."
Doc just shrugged. "Someone has to look after Higgins." He smirked following the two.
"You don't even know where she disappeared to," Dizzy pointed out.
"She just left." Brutto tossed the gun towards Doc's direction. "She ain't that fast. Couldn't have gone very far."
"She also said not to roam around the hospital tonight." Carmen argued. "They were armed. You wouldn't want to be caught by the crossfire. What do you think Rico?" The pilot faced the frowning lieutenant.
"I don't know." Johnny Rico admitted letting the small red toy spin on the palm of his hand. "We're way out of our league here." He sighed raising his eyes towards the three that were ready to leave. "I can't stop you from leaving. But I think it's smarter to figure things out first or you're going to go in blind." He chuckled. "I can't believe I miss Intel." He muttered to himself.
"Help." A small moan came from Carl's bed stopping everyone in their tracks.
"Carl?" Dizzy hurried over to his bedside. "Carl are you awake?" She leaned forward watching the trooper furrow his brow in unease.
Then the trooper's lips parted and his unfocused eyes flew open...
-- -- -- - -
It was all so simple now. Carl knew which memories were his and which memories were definitely hers. The problem was the memories in between. Fragments of thoughts that have been, at least in his part, unknowingly filtered through.
It was disturbing in a way to see them up close. He had been trained to just keep them in the far reaches of his mind. To treat them as white noise. But now he realized that everything that was said in Serenity about River Tam was true. Even untrained, the potential psychics on Earth would eventually, yet very crudely, learn some sort of control. Random thoughts of scientists revealed that what Dr. Tam said had been true-- she had no amygdala therefore she would have a very slim chance of learning that precise control.
He saw, through different eyes, what they've done to her. The madness they had encouraged through their experiments was disturbing at the very least. She used to be just a talented young girl finding school painfully slow. A girl looking to be challenged. Carl Jenkins pushed another random memory of a scientist aside even more perturbed at what they contained.
The special ops officer shook his head. River tam had so much information in her head she probably didn't know about. There were secrets lodged in her head that weren't helping her disposition. What happened in this place called Miranda was bad. But there were controversies and events and decisions that could have worse repercussions if the population ever knew about it. And he saw them all. He was witnessing the very truth of this world they had stumbled upon.
"Help." An echoing moan stopped his sorting. He was sure it wasn't from any memory.
And then he saw a blurry scene take over. The was a doctor with an extremely long silver needle.
Carl distinctly watched the man smile before he jabbed the needle right to his forehead.
-- --- - - -
Two screams erupted from the hospital but only one was heard.
Doctors scrambled in the room to hold the patient down as his friends watched helplessly. The sight of a syringe fueled the vain struggle. He was only one man against the hold of several nurses and doctors. After several minutes of struggling, the sedatives were finally seem to be working. Slowly, the doctors released him from their grasp and after a quick check on his board, left the room.
"Rico," A hoarse whisper cut through the silence as he stared at the white ceiling above him.
"Carl?" Johnny Rico replied almost like ti was a question. "You alright buddy?" He asked filled with concern.
"Johnny," Carl Jenkins rolled his head to the side just to see the troopers eying him. "There's something you need to know about this world." He struggled to contain the mounting sense of urgency running through his mind.
-- - - - -
The king and his men
stole the queen from her bed
and bound her in her bones.
Bright lights.
It was just like before.
She grimaced at the bright lights that were staring her down. She knew she was in a medical facility of some sort. Her wrists and ankles were bound to the reclining sensors stuck on her head plugged data to a nearby computer. She looked around struggling to get free.
Because they knew she was awake. There were doctors around her going about their business like this was a natural occurrence. They flexed their newly rubber covered hands, adjusted their masks, straightened their coats-- But they weren't just doctors. Real doctors didn't come to work armed with a gun concealed in their clothes. Real doctors didn't mentally take note where the button to the alarm was everytime they looked at her. Real doctors wouldn't put needles into her making her feel like a imprisoned porcupine.
She couldn't hear anything but she could swear a ghost was in the room telling her to calm down. "I'm coming, mei mei. Hold on, I'm coming."
River stifled a smile as the doctors injected her with a green fluid.
He was coming. Just like before.
The seas be ours
and by the powers
where we will we'll roam.
"Roger that." A man sighed over his radio. He signaled three of his men to follow him and they did. But he really didn't believe what the guys at Security were telling him. Five people are using the elevators down to their level without any authorization except Atherton Wing's card. That's plausible. But the part where there was a puff of smoke and then the sensors couldn't find the five, well, that was just unbelievable. After all, they were just using cameras for visual confirmation. The elevator was state of the art with infra reds and what not installed inside.
If there were five people in that carriage, their systems should still detect five people even if they are clouded in smoke.
He lifted his rifle and aimed it at the elevator doors knowing that the other three would quickly follow. There was a small sound signaling that the doors were about to open. Smoke slowly spread into the corridor. And they went in the carriage.
"Maybe there's a glitch in the system." He grumbled when they found it empty.
Suddenly, something was dropped into the middle of the carriage. He quickly turned around just to see a canister spewing out smoke. He saw his buddy across from him drop. Soon, even his world became a bit hazy. There was a shadow above him. A panel was being pulled off from the ceiling and five figures fell landing deftly on the ground.
As much as he wanted to do something about it, all he could do was sleep.
Yo, ho, all hands.
Hoist the colours high.
"She's in here!" Simon Tam told his other two companions securing the hall adjacent to them. He peered into the small window on the door and saw his sister squirming on her seat. The doctor nearest to her threw a syringe on the trashcan before taking his gloves off. "It's River. She's in there." He said letting Jayne take a look through.
He saw the wordless exchange between the two gun hands. Jayne merely tilted his head ot one side quickly and the girl nodded heading to the right side of the door while Jayne went to the left. They looked like they've been doing this for years. Simon suddenly felt out of place.
"Doc." Jayne pointed at the space behind the girl.
"I'm a doctor not a soldier." He shot back heading to his place. He watched Jayne plant a small explosive on various parts of the door. Then he took a detonator out of his pocket and another silent conversation between the two took place. The girl nodded. Jayne nodded.
And without so much of a warning to him, Jayne pressed the button. Small explosions sent off sparks and streams of smoke. The metal door become red at the edges. "You're stayin here til it's clear, dong ma?" Jayne sneered at him.
Dr. Tam watched Jayne stand infront of the door just to forcefully kick it down. The instant the door fell, he saw Andy charge in first, followed by Jayne. He pasted himself on the wall listening as several shots were fired. Then there was silence.
"Get the little crazy out of the chair." Jayne's head popped out of the room for a second.
Simon came in carefully avoiding the bodies on the ground. There were eight doctors in all and by the looks of it, all of them were armed. He resisted his better nature to help them. Instead, he went straight for his sister. He took the sensors out from her head, arms and legs before very gently taking the needles out. Jayne was already cutting her binds loose while Anderson was collecting the smaller guns. "River? River can you hear me?" He asked trying to get her to open her eyes.
"Simon." River collapsed against him. "I knew you would come."
"Shiny." Jayne smirked. "But you reckon you can walk?" he asked.
"Give her a moment. They probably gave her a sedative." Simon glared at the larger man.
Suddenly, there was a gunshot. Simon turned in time to Andy going after a doctor who was about to hit a button near the door. She got there to him a second too late. The doctor had grazed the button sending an alert all throughout the basement before the girl could neutralize him with a backhanded hit. The doctor slumped to the ground unconscious. He watched the trooper zip up her jacket before turning around to face them.
"I thought you shot that guy." She frowned.
"I did." Jayne merely shrugged. "Hey Cap, we got River. We're heading back." The man announced to his earpiece. "Do I have to carry you?" He asked the psychic. Dr. Tam's eyes grew wide in disapproval. "Not like you can." Jayne defended himself.
"River can you walk?" He asked. His little sister nodded weakly getting to her feet. "Good, because we have to go."
Heave ho, thieves and beggars,
never shall we die.
"She's here. River Tam is here." Carl Jenkins panicked as the drugs started to take hold. He knew there wasn't much time until the drugs did their work and puts him to sleep. "They're going to start again. Need to get her out." He tried to lift himself off the bed but found that his limbs wouldn't comply.
"Carl." He faced the voice that had so carefully called his name. "You have to chill out." Johnny Rico said. "Relax and tell us, in English, what you're talking about."
The psychic narrowed his eyes for a second and then gave up. Times like these, he shouldn't care that they were talking to him like a two year old. What's important is to make them understand. "They made her. They experiment on people. Children mostly. Talented kids." Jenkins tried to expain quickly. "A number of them died on the table. A lot of them went crazy or seemed to go crazy. River." He shook his head. "She wanted out early on but they wouldn't let her. So she eventually just wrote to her brother in code. She knew-- she knew he would come. And he did." There was a ghost of a smile on his face. "Dropped everything that was going for him and just did everything he could to get her out." The smile disappeared on his face when he turned to face the Roughnecks once more. "Johnny, they were military experiments. They were going to be made to the perfect weapon. Psychics with the skills of a perfect assassin. If it ever succeeds, one of them could take whole squads of us out. How do you defend or attack someone who already knows what you're about to do?" His tried to move but couldn't. He sighed even more frustrated now than ever. "They were made to deal with two things they considered a threat. The Reavers and SICON." He revealed.
Max Brutto could literally feel his blood turn cold. "SICON?!" He exclaimed. "Reavers, I get. But they want to destroy SICON?"
"No. The Alliance wants out of SICON." Carl corrected quickly. "Government thinks that they don't need us. They don't like that they're paying SICON... tribute. People in higher positions of Parliament, the same ones that observed the experiments, they know about SICON and the deal and the bugs. So, they were going to build better ships to get to Earth and arm the ships with them. They were going to start a civil war in secret. We wouldn't stand a chance." He predicted.
"But Atherton Wing was willing to help us get--" Carmen Ibanez started.
"If he knows who we are then don't trust the guy." The psychic warned cutting off the pilot. "This place is corrupt. The head Alliance guys, they're just puppets to this--- this corporation. " He cringed remembering the fruity oaty bar commercial. "This Blue... Blue Sun Corporation." He stammered. "Blue Sun has their fingers in everything. Nobody gets ahead without their say so. Pulls all the strings and they're really careful to make sure nothing bad gets stuck to them. Nothing taints their logo." He scowled. "And that's what River Tam is. A spot on their record. Their best experiment escaped. They've been trying to find her. They even used subliminal messages on their ads just to find her. They almost succeeded. They need her to replicate her." He tried fighting off the drugs that were telling him to sleep. "Captain... Captain Reynolds got in the way so now they want him dead too." He pointed out eying the silent troopers one by one. "It was in her head. Everything was in her head and she didn't know it. That's why she freaked. The colour blue. Blue Sun. It's not her fault." He explained. "It's not her fault. She didn't know. She wasn't aware." He went on.
"Jenkins, you have to relax--" Doc suggested.
A new wave of panic rushed over him. But it wasn't his feeling. It was someone else's-- River Tam's. He could feel her mounting concern. She was in trouble. They were all in trouble. Jenkins shot his silent friends a look of disbelief. "Johnny, you can't let them have her--" He stifled a groan when saw a faces flash before his eyes but these people weren't in the room. There was the concerned brother, Simon Tam wiping something on his head-- not his head. River's head. Then there was the larger man, Jayne Cobb guarding the door. Then there was a girl tugging her jacket's zipper up and checking her hand gun. "Andy." He murmured realizing there was indeed, one Roughneck missing in the room. "Seriously, why is everybody else still here?" He eyed his best friend in shock. "Don't you understand anything I've said? If the Blue Sun Corporation-- the Alliance figures out how to make an army of River Tams, there's going to be a bloody war." He raised his voice as much as he could. "Get. Her. Out." He growled.
"Andy said there's a secret basement." Johnny Rico replied calmly. "You know how to get there?"
"Elevator needs a key." Carl shook his head trying to ward off the medicine. "But--" He steeled himself as he tapped into the minds of the people in the hospital. "Air shaft." He finally gasped. "Air shaft in the northwest quadrant goes down." He said.
"Gossard, Doc, Higgins..." Rico paused biting his lower lip. "Diz." He nodded. "You're the only ones with four limbs. Go help them out. " He said. "That's an order, private." He quickly added before the red head could complain. "And Goss," He motioned for the mechanic to come near and handed him the red box. "If you see a computer, plug it in. Maybe it'll get us out of here."
-- -- - - -
Note:: For some reason, I thought one posting for this rescue part would be enough-- until i got to close to 10000 words with bits more to write. Then i decided that it might be smarter to post it in parts in case it got much much longer... SO. I apologize. This part was done days and days ago.
oh! also, i just got a challenge to do roughnecks/ t:tscc (sarah conner chronicles ). so i've been staring at my ceiling a lot trying to see if there's anyway to reconcile the two timelines... yup. that's where my head is at. :)