"Please, sit" Dr. Wyman instructed, motioning towards the shoddy yet mostly serviceable chairs pulled up hastily around a wobbly table. Mal and Zoe simply exchanged glances with each other as Jayne let out a derisive sneer.
"Sorry Doc, but we just aren't ones to be much for taking up the Alliance on offers of courtesy. Generally in my line of work and in dealings with Alliance getting comfy just makes it too easy to be getting dead."
"Captain Reynolds, like I told you before, I am not here on behalf of the Alliance. And even if I were here to haul you back limp and hog tied to them you would be there already. We would not be standing around this dusty table in a filthy little warren which smells like piss, posturing like animals over territory. My business with you is entirely concerned with the skills and abilities of your crew and your ship. I could care less what the Alliance wishes to do with you as a result of your Miranda transmission, although the transmission is partially the reason I choose to contact you and your crew Captain Reynolds, for the job I propose. This is not a quick and simple smuggling drop off I am interested in arranging with you and the details are likely to take awhile to work out so please, just sit, it will make things easier for the all of us." Wyman implored.
The man was a hard one to read. Physically he looked old and worn, like someone who very well deserved to be released from duty with the Alliance. Yet his voice, his mannerisms, and something about his eyes when he spoke made Mal question his original assessment of the man as an Alliance retire. In fact the more Mal looked at him the more he thought that the man probably was around the same age as Mal, most likely younger, although he obviously must have seen his share of trouble in his life to make him look as old and battered as he was.
Mal conceded to the request and pulled back a chair. Making quite a ceremony of sitting down he was sure to pull his jacket aside with a flourish to display his readily accessible gun as he settled to the chair. Jayne made a move towards another chair yet Zoe shot him a glance, stilling his forward momentum, and causing Jayne to regain his position standing on guard next to her at Mal's back.
"Most excellent Captain Reynolds, shall I begin with my proposal.?" A glance from Mal filled with utter disgust was all the motivation Wyman needed to get on with it already. "Very well then, I suppose I should start by elaborating on myself. As I already told you, I was the head Researcher on Alliance's Terrraforming Team until a grisly event which occurred recently caused superiors to decide otherwise. I had held that position for the last 9 years after attaining the position at an unusually early age of 26. I don't know how familiar you are with the scientific community but to obtain a position that prominent and prestigious at such an age is unheard of. Yet I did, partially because my family has always placed great emphasis on success and hard work, but mostly because I have always been enthralled by research and the search for truth.
Eventually my interest gravitated towards examining the unusual anomalies which arise as a result of terraforming, such as Bowden's Malady, and working to either eliminate those conditions or to prevent them from ever developing. Even as head researcher I still maintained my love for field work and while most head researchers of their department become beurocratic desk jockeys, I demanded to continue my projects in field work personally. At this point I had assembled a top notch team including myself, several senior and junior researchers and a handful of field and lab assistants. Of the senior field researchers included on my team was one in particular who was nearly as driven and brilliant as myself. Many commented on how I better watch myself or else be replaced by my charismatic rival, Adrian Wyman. My brother.
Despite their assumption that our relationship was tumultuous as a result of my superiority, in fact we were incredibly close and Adrian was not one to be bitter of my good fortune. His passion was not so much the search for truth but of adventure and exploration. He loved piloting the research vessels and reveled in nothing more than combining his love of machines with his scientific knowledge to improve upon the technology we used for research. In fact I remember one time…"
A groan of utter boredom and monotony escaped Jayne's lips as he shifted his weight, breaking off Dr. Wyman's trip down memory lane.
"I would have to agree with Jayne as well." Mal concurred. "I was told something about a job offer and all I've heard so far is a tale of tedium and your credentials. Now how's about the job?"
"Yes naturally, but as I was getting to the most relevant details. My team and I were stationed on a small moon recently terraformed but sparsely populated in an attempt to determine unusual conditions which may arise among the colonists and how to address them. On the day of the infamous occurrence I had jettisoned off world to place vital equipment in the moon's orbital path which are used to record changes in land and atmospheric conditions and their composition. When I returned I was greeted by a scene of such carnage and destruction of which everything I had ever heard of paled in comparison. Bodies, body parts, fragments of things, people, or so I thought I'm not sure, everywhere. The research facility, the town, everything, everyone destroyed. Nothing was left, just me."
"Reavers." Jayne hissed, suddenly at full attention.
"Yes, Reavers. I searched to see if anybody else survived. After awhile I just searched for anyone to bury but even that was hard seeing as…seeing as…the bodies…" The doctor shuddered as his mind traveled back to the grisly scene.
"That's all right, we follow." Mal offered, recalling his crew's own experiences with Reavers.
"Well afterwards I sent out distress calls and waited for someone to pick me up, since my little craft which was all that was left not stolen or hacked to pieces was not fit for interplanetary travel. Pick me up someone did, eventually, after sitting along for weeks with carnage and death all around me, and they took me back to the core. I gave my report to the Scientific Council which was passed on to Parliament and they dismissed me. Said that I was foolish to travel so far from the core planets in the first place, that it was my fault to waste my time on backwater asteroids. Then they suggested I take a leave of absence in order to compose myself and perhaps they would get back to me at a later date.
That was it, I was finished and alone. My research, my team, my brother. All gone, or so I thought. It was months later when I got an unexpected blip on the interface communications system I had salvaged from my research facilities. Somehow the unit had been turned on and it was getting a signal from one of the small spacecrafts which had been stationed at the research facility right before the attack. I was elated, the impossible had happened and somebody else had managed to escape and was alive. I had been driving myself sick with survivor's guilt but finally, I wasn't the only one to escape.
It amazed me that somebody must have noticed the incoming Reavers and made it off planet without being pursued but I wasn't questioning the details, I had found a miracle. I was unable to contact anybody in return through the transmission but I was ecstatic when biofeedback showed that the person in closest proximity to the controls in the ship's cockpit was none other than my brother. But my hopes were quickly soured, and this is the reason I am here to hire you and your crew Captain Reynolds." Dr. Wyman said, his eyes blazing into Mal with fiery fervor Mal had not seen outside of combat in many years, "I need you to help me find my brother, track him down and kill him."