All disclaimers apply
Ch. 23- Back to Work
"…and I threw the sparklers into the heating grate as I was walking out of the dorm and the next thing you know, all you can see through the windows are guys flying through the air, ducking for cover, sparks flying…"
The entire table roared with laughter. Mal entered the mess scratching his head.
"Well, everybody seems to be in a fine fettle this mornin'," he commented, "'specially see'in as all the work needs to be done."
Kaylee was still laughing. "Oh, Captain, ya just missed one of Wash's flight school stories! So funny…"
"Well, be that as it may, l'il Kaylee, we got us some work to be done." All crew were present and accounted for in the mess this morning, as requested by Mal's 0700 comm call. They had grabbed various forms of breakfast and were currently passing around the coffee carafe for refills. Inara waited in a seat next to Mal's and smiled at Jayne quietly rubbing small circles on River's lower back while they were laughing at Wash's story. David sat at the far end of the table trying to not look at them.
"Wash, the decoy's all set?"
"Yup, crybaby's good to go. We'll pass an asteroid cluster about a half day's ride out from Bristol, Kaylee and I thought that would be a good place to send it. The tag's attached, she got it off the ship without any indicators going off. Should give them something to do for a few hours."
"Good, hopefully they'll go for it. Jayne, we're packing okay in munitions inventory?"
"Yeah, I got 'nough to blow a few things up," he smirked. River giggled and beamed up at him. Great, Mal thought, I've got my resident genius assassin and mercenary giggling 'bought firearms. Should make for interestin' times.
"Simon?" Mal continued to run down his list.
"All set, Captain, for any human repairs that may need to be done." He beamed at Kaylee, proud of his machinery pun. Kaylee rewarded him with a giggle. This was just great, the Captain thought, I've got a crew consisting of giddy lovebirds. He looked to Zoe for support, but she was leaning into Wash and smiling at something he was whispering into her ear. Mal sighed in frustration.
Inara laid a hand on his arm and commented quietly. "This is the best functioning, most efficient they've ever been, Mal. A happy crew is a…"
"I know, it's just a bit disconcertin' is all. My crew is giggling before we get into a possible situation…"
"They're relaxed professionals who know their jobs, Mal," Inara tried to reassure him.
River had started listening in and interjected at this. "Captain, we're ready. I promise." She looked around the table at everyone, paused in their various conversations. They each looked to the Captain and nodded their agreement with River.
"Alright then, I'm gonna turn the floor over to Mr. Janek here, who's gonna explain to us exactly what we're running into."
"Thank you Captain. Well, I honestly don't see any problems after Kaylee and Wash divert the federal officials off of our tail. All of Bristol is strongly anti-Alliance; it's basically been turned into a new Independent stronghold.
David continued. "We'll be meeting with a man by the name of Shaw. He's pretty high up the regime. We just need to drop off the crates your crew repacked and you can be on your way."
"You stayin' or are ya comin' with us?" Kaylee asked.
David hesitated, trying not to see River in his peripheral vision. "I'll be staying dirtside, I think. I can help here."
Mal nodded approvingly. "Alright, then people, let's get set up for this. Hopefully the next ten hours will turn out to less than interesting."
&&&&&&&
Everyone gathered on the bridge to check out the asteroid field. Jayne, River and Kaylee were making bets on which of the rocks flying by on their port side would collide with each other next. Wash had eased up on their speed and was busy double checking monitors.
"See them?" Mal was hanging over Wash, a position everyone could see was not the pilot's favorite. "Are they there? How close are they?"
Wash gritted his teeth and put on his 'super professional' face. "Captain," he said slowly, "the fed boat is currently far enough back that they're not going to notice us dropping off their little present. We programmed the crybaby decoy so it will speed up a bit, then slow down in the field, enough to look like we spotted them and made a little hide-and-go-seek run from them."
Kaylee leaned forward onto the console and pointed. "There, Wash, right near that big one. What do you think?"
Wash looked over to where she was pointing and nodded. "Yeah, that'll work. Alright, you get on down to the engine room. Comm me when you're ready."
David looked around nervously. "Should we, ah, I don't know, strap in or something?"
Jayne snorted. "We're shutting down fer a minute, not goin' faster." River elbowed him lightly and murmured. "Be nice."
Jayne smirked at David and lowered his head to gently kiss the top of River's head. "Anything you want, Baby Girl."
Inara and Zoe rolled their eyes at each other. "Who said guys aren't capable of being catty?" Inara murmured under her breath. Zoe nodded in agreement.
"Okay, Wash, ready on your mark," Kaylee's voice came over the comm.
"Right, now, when I say 'now', everyone needs to be nice and quiet for a few minutes," Wash instructed them. "We want them to believe we took a little detour into the asteroid field and we can't do that if we're giving off any residual chatter to their sensors."
Mal glared at everyone. "You heard the man, everyone shut it. That means you too, Jayne." Everyone started to giggle.
"Okay people, in five, four, three,…"Wash counted down. "Now, Kaylee," he finished calmly. The ship was suddenly engulfed in darkness and total silence as Kaylee cut all the power excepting life support. A small whoosh was heard, and in the distance they could see the launched decoy light up and speed off into the field, rocks flying by narrowly missing it. They lost sight of it after it passed a particularly large asteroid.
Wash glanced down at his console. "We're good. It's still flying."
Everyone let out a collective sigh but continued to keep quiet. Serenity drifted forward on the course Wash had set, her momentum carrying her past the asteroid field.
A few more minutes ticked by. Wash suddenly sat back, put his hands behind his head and looked up, grinning at everyone.
"They took it. They took the bait, they're slowing up and turning in."
Mal clapped his pilot on the shoulder. "Good job. Kaylee, let's give them a couple more minutes to get tangled in there, and then we can fire her back up."
"Okay, Cap'n," she commed back.
&&&&&&&
Four hours later Serenity approached Bristol Moon. While it didn't seem like much to look at, it had evolved rather well as a small farming community. That's the way it looked to outsiders anyway. The few centralized townships were haven to an underground stronghold.
"There," David pointed out as Wash piloted the ship towards the outskirts of one of the smaller townships. He deftly set the boat down beside a worn, but efficient looking, docking area. Workers scurried to and fro, repairing and re-supplying the three other ships already there.
The ramp lowered and Mal looked around and grunted, apparently satisfied that they weren't walking into a hot zone. Zoe hailed a dock worker over and pointed to the crates. He turned and started waving at others and a couple of dollies appeared. In a matter of seconds the crates were whisked away, David signing off on some official looking clipboard. He turned to Mal.
"I need to bring the, um, item, to the meeting place," he said hesitantly. He wanted to get off the ship as soon as possible, and he was trying to say good-bye. Mal smiled at him.
"It ain't that easy, son. We'll be going with you to make sure the right people get this 'key'. I ain't inclined to just let you wander off with a device that could be horribly destructive in the wrong hands."
David sighed. He had actually been hoping that the soldier would accompany him as he had not met these people face to face yet and he was nervous. He gestured out to the street. "Let's go then."
&&&&&&&
Mal and Jayne trudged up the back streets of town following David. David had not been thrilled when he heard that Jayne would be coming, but looking at the huge, armed mercenary out of the corner of his eye, he realized that as long as the Captain had him under control that maybe he was an asset to have on your side.
"So what exactly do you know about this guy that makes you trust him?" Mal was questioning.
"Miranda," David answered. Mal and Jayne stopped in their tracks. David turned back around and smiled grudgingly at them. "Shaw had family on Miranda, his sister's. He had a small successful machine shop, then his relations disappeared. Couldn't get straight answers out of anybody, so he went back to school nights, expanded his business. Turned it into a right little industrial monopoly. All your basic industrial services, his company manufactures the equipment for. The boring kind of business that everyone ignores, but turns the owner into a multi-millionaire. The kind that has money and influence with people that can make things happen.
"Then one day there was a little wave from Miranda- to everyone in the 'verse. Shaw stopped looking for his family. And started looking for a way to prevent others from losing theirs. We're here."
David stepped up to the door of the warehouse in front of them and knocked a sequence. The door cracked open and a face appeared.
"Yes?" a young man politely inquired.
"I'm looking for some fresh lemons," David answered. Jayne snorted, Mal glared. The door opened wider.
They stepped through into the dimly lit warehouse, Mal and Jayne spreading out behind David and looking around. The young man led them further into the dimly lit warehouse then turned around.
"Do you have it?"
David hesitated. "You're Shaw?"
"No, he was busy. He asked me to fill in for him."
Mal stepped forward. "Now wait just a minute here…"
The lights suddenly turned fully on, flooding the room. At least a dozen Alliance soldiers stepped forward, surrounding them. And approaching with a cocky walk was none other than Lt. Trace.
"You didn't think that little stunt you pulled near the asteroid field would really work, did you?" he snarked. Mal sighed.
"Never goes according to plan. Never."