DR: Well, we're getting closeto end now, but we're not home yet. Some action and some 'action' today, if you know what I mean...XD
Chapter 33: Final Act
"Faster, faster... faster would be better!"
For what it was and the design, the Landram was fast. On open ground like on the majority of worlds in this system the ground vehicles would have fallen behind. But in the city on this core world the roads were all paved with tarmac, giving the wheeled SUV's the advantage. True, the Landram was much more comfortable on a road than any local tank, but it still skidded easily. Starbuck had started using that ability to try and throw off their pursuers, but so far it hadn't panned out yet.
Besides, no amount of skidding or speed would throw off the skiffs, which hovered a metre or two above the ground, allowing them to reach speeds that no ground bound vehicle could reach.
Mal ducked back within the Landram as one of the SUV's roared in close. Bullets bounced off the armoured hull, sounding like a swarm of demented bees crashing into it. The plating was only a couple millimetres thick on this civilian model, but that was plenty thick enough to hold back small arms.
Yanking the empty clip from his gun, Mal swore as he peered out of the window. The SUV's were trying to get on both sides, while the skiffs were trying to get angles on the two Colonials driving. So far both Boomer and Starbuck had held them off with their lasers, even landing some good hits, despite having to split their attention on controlling this beast.
Across from him Jayne's repeater fell silent. "They're getting out some big guns!" He barked as he slammed home a new magazine.
Mal cursed then looked for himself. Sure enough, the passengers of the SUV's were bringing out larger, more impressive guns. And one of the skiffs was swinging on to their tail...
"Go left!" he yelled. Up front Starbuck cut the left drive, causing the Landrams nose to swing left. Before they could start to slide however he started the left tracks going again, and with a small jolt they started forwards, at an angle to their previous route... a route that was stitched with impacts as the skiff's nose mounted cannon fired off a burst.
Suddenly the whole Landram was rocked sharply, accompanied by the sounds of crumpling metal and breaking glass. Saffron swore loudly, prompting Mal to look at where she was crouched by Jayne. Beyond her he could see one of the SUV's looking worse for wear.
"You bun tyen-shung duh ee-dway-ro's couldn't think to brake, could you!" She snarled, snapping off a few rounds from the pistol she held point blank into the SUV. Mal noted the pistol was Jayne's.
With a lurch they disengaged from the SUV, twisting back towards the centre of the road. Behind them the SUV's driver must have been hurt, as it ploughed into a wall, mangling the front end further and throwing the front passenger through the cracked windscreen.
A man leaned out of one of the other SUV's, clearly holding a rocket launcher. Before he could fire though, Zoe did. The rocket whistled past them, barely. It raced down the street before crashing into a dark store, which was blasted open.
Mal cursed, before using his left hand to throw small catches on his gun. With a sharp tug he pulled the whole barrel assembly free of the grip, tucking it into his holster. Then his fingers moved back a little, and slid the second barrel section, the one River had made, out of its holder. A few quick catches and the flipping of a switch later, and Mal's pistol was now a deadly Colonial laser. In theory.
Leaning out, he sighted in on one of the skiffs which was lining up for another strafing run. He hesitated for a moment, then pulled the trigger.
A thin, reddish orange bolt stabbed out, significantly thinner than the original Colonial models. But the affect on the skiff was all that was asked for. The bolt struck just to one side of the nose cannon, tearing apart the thin metal skin. Some of the bolt must have penetrated deeper, as something exploded within the craft's nose. The pilot yanked the nose back as the craft shock, clearly trying to avoid a crash while the craft was being thrown about.
Mal's joy however was dampened when he saw an aircraft swing in behind them, starting an attack run. He recognised the silhouette; it was one of the dreaded Vampire ground attack craft, the root of many an Independent soldiers' nightmares. Each one carried a vast array of cannons, missiles and bombs, enough to waste an entire convoy in one pass. Worse though was the howl of their engines. The exhaust ports had been designed to lower the craft's heat signature, but the acoustics also created this bone chilling, deep scream that had driven grown men to throw themselves flat on the ground screaming for mother.
Mal looked ahead... and cursed. They were caught in a long, straight street, with no turn offs which would have allowed them to throw off the Vampire. He met Zoe's gaze, and in her face he saw the same resignation he felt...
A sudden explosion behind him lit up the street, and Mal turned to see the Vampire had disappeared in a large fireball. Small fragments of burning metal were sent flying like streamers.
"What the..." Mal heard Saffron ask aloud, just as series of twined red darts stabbed down towards one of the SUV's. It served violently and managed to avoid the first set, but the second and third blasted the roof off and turned the once imposing vehicle into a rolling bonfire. Seeing the fate of those two, the other SUV's and the skiffs turned and abandoned the pursuit.
Up front Starbuck sighed in relief. "Good timing Apollo. It was looking a little hairy for a moment back there."
Over the radio Apollo chuckled. "I have to keep you alive Starbuck, otherwise Cassie would kill me." Then he carried on in a serious tone. "Head back to the landing field. The others are on alert. We'll watch you from the air."
With that the Gunship healed over and rose into the night sky.
X-X-X-X-X-X
Achilles stared at the cluster of asteroids ahead, silent in thought. After their escape, Mal had relayed the location of the Alliance Cabinet. They were not, as had been expected, hidden in some bunker on the planet. Instead they were at the heart of this asteroid field.
And every instinct within him was telling Achilles that this field was a minefield, littered with traps.
Still, they had to go in, in order to end this Civil War. Achilles knew that if they removed the head, the body of the corrupt Alliance would wither and die. Already over half of the system's armed forces had switched allegiance, and without the support of their Black Ops forces the leaders had lost a lot of their power.
Normally, Achilles would not wish to go in and root them out. Against Cylons, it would be a death trap. Whole fleets had been swallowed up by such targets, without significant progress being made.
Still, it may be possible to punch through...
"Summon all officers to the briefing room, one hour." He called over his shoulder.
"Aye sir."
X-X-X-X-X-X
Mal stood on the edge of the gathered pilots, captains and crewmen, all awaiting Achilles. The first time they had met like this, there had been much grumbling and complaining as Achilles had set out the rules of engagement for this war. The second had been ripe with fear, as the Alliance fleet had been dead ahead and only a few hours from battle.
Now though, there was only tense anticipation. Achilles had proved himself worthy of leading this force through his actions in the battle with the Alliance Fleet and the Nightbringers.
A hatch hissed open, and Achilles stepped out onto the raised region at the front of the gathering. He paused at the edge, looking out over the gathered people.
"Thank you for coming. We're at the closing stages of this war, thank the Lords. I know you are all wondering why we are out here, outside this small asteroid field." On the large screen behind him, an image of the asteroids in question appeared.
"It is quite simple really. The Alliance Central Government's nest lies at the heart of it."
Murmurs ran through the crowd at this news.
"According to our scans, and the local archives, at the centre of this field is a tiny moon. It is on this hunk of rock that the Key Members are hidden.
"It is almost certain that the entire field, possibly every single asteroid, is mined with a range of concealed weapons, booby-traps and other surprises. Therefore, we will not risk the fleet attempting to bully our way in.
"Instead..." Achilles raised his voice to overcome the muttering that had begun to pick up. "...the bulk of the fleet will be dispersed, to surround the field and catch any craft that attempts to escape." Behind him the screen changed to display a pictorial image, with a cluster of brown circles in the centre. White arrows moved from a cluster to the left until they completely encircled the field, leaving a small cluster at the start point.
"Due to the nature of the environment, the encircling force will be composed of cruiser type vessels, with frigates acting as links between them. A small force of frigates however, will enter the field alongside Thunderchild, in addition to the Rosetta and Phoenix."
The screen zoomed in on the small group, the field expanding till the edge was only a shallow bow shape.
"However, we are not going to play their game. Both Viper squadrons will re-use one of Major Apollo's tricks. All Vipers will form a wall, cut thrust, and then fire away."
Athena, Starbuck and Boomer chuckled as they recalled when Apollo had created that tactic. Back then Apollo had created it to allow them to burn a safe path through a mine field that filled the Nova Madagon Passage that led to Carrilon.
"Thunderchild will follow the vipers in, using her larger, more powerful lasers on the larger chunks of rock. Once we have reached the central rock and neutralised the defences, we will give the Cabinet one last chance to surrender before we land troops.
"Make no mistake; this is the end of the line for the Alliance. I suspect they'll try and take as many with us as they can before falling though, so watch yourselves and your ships. Dismissed."
As the others began to stand up and leave, Mal remained by the wall. As such, he was able to see how Athena stepped towards Achilles. They stood silently for a long moment, before enfolding each other in a tight, intimate hug. Mal turned away to give them some privacy, but not before he saw Achilles nuzzling into her thick hair.
As he strode out, Mal's thoughts turned to Inara. They had been dancing around each other for some time now, slowly drawing nearer to each other. Now that their lives were becoming less 'Interesting', he had allowed his thoughts to wander onto topics that he had not allowed himself to consider in the past, even in passing. He'd once told Saffron that he'd be 'a terrible husband'. Now though....
Saffron. Mal grimaced. Her political sister had been taken into protective custody by the Colonials, barely holding things together; she'd been terrified the whole time they'd been pursued. But Saffron herself remained on board Serenity. He had been assured that she would not be able to take one of the Colonials ships, but Mal wanted to keep an eye on her, or at least have his crew do so. She was not going to screw them over for a third time.
As he tracked some of the others out, he saw Inara stood just outside, looking in apprehensively. Steeling himself, he stepped over towards the Colonel.
X-X-X-X-X-X
They lay together, sweat slowly drying across their skins. He lay spooned behind her, one arm wrapped around her waist. He muzzled gently into her thick, dark hair.
He'd been wanting to be with her like this since they got back to the ship, but there hadn't been the time to slip off together before they'd landed on Thunderchild. Even after they'd off loaded the Minister he'd been called away to attend a briefing for all captains. They'd barely had time to discuss something important.
But once he'd returned... they had barely been able to rein in their passions while around the others. The secret knowledge they shared had gnawed at their self control, until it was at the point when he had been at the verge of telling his crew to go away. She'd slipped out early, saying she was tired. In fact she took the loop around the dining area, before heading to his bunk, where she had gotten ready for him.
When he'd finally escaped from his crew, there had been no time for words. They'd thrown each other into the bunk, throwing the gates wide open.
Now, at last, they were spent, lungs gasping for air. There had been a frantic, almost desperate aspect to their passion, fuelled by the fear of never seeing each other again, which had been a very real threat only a couple of hours ago.
As she lay there, she examined the simple ring that marked her finger. It didn't stand out much: she'd always worn rings, many more ornate, but this one was special.
"Mal?"
"Hmmm?"
"Where will we go... I mean, what do you plan to do when Achilles launches his attack?" She asked quietly.
Mal sighed lightly as he considered things. "We'll stay on board 'Nara. We can't do any good out there, but maybe here..."
Inara nodded slowly. "Miranda will be pleased."
Mal chuckled. The young woman had all but run off the ship before Serenity had settled down into the arms of Vega, and neither had been seen since.
Inara once more focused on that simple ring on her finger. She knew that she'd recall their earlier conservation until the day she died...
..."Inara, a word?" Mal asked politely. Nodding, she followed him out of the hold and into the passenger area, beyond the sick bay. Once they were as far as they could get from the others he stopped... and then found himself wrapped up in her arms as she kissed him hard.
"I thought I'd..." she couldn't say it, the tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes.
Mal didn't say anything, he just held her while she pulled herself together. But there was something he wanted to ask, and he knew that time was short.
"Inara...It's a sure thing that Achilles is going to pushing hard for a final battle. He wants to bring this war to an end." He stepped back a little so he could look into her eyes.
"You know I ain't one for fancy words and such like... I say it as it is. Things down there got rather... hot for a moment, and I realised something." He paused to look at her squarely. Inara found her heart beating faster and harder.
"Inara... I want you. I don't know what'll happen over the next few days. But I do know that I want to find out with you. By my side."
The tears had returned to her eyes, but this time they were of happiness. She knew what was coming next.
"I want you... to be my wife."
After her resounding 'Yes!' she'd insisted that they be married right then and there. Mal had frowned, then smiled. After the big meeting, they'd gotten Achilles to wed them, with Athena, Apollo and Sheba acting as witnesses. All three Warriors had been full of congratulations for the two of them.
As she lay there, with Mal's body pressed up against her back, Inara wondered when Achilles would ask Athena, and how long before the two kids went that far...
X-X-X-X-X-X
Down in the bay where he'd stayed, the Fury growled lightly. The Zoid could taste the tension, the anticipation in the air. A battle was in the offing.
And yet... he was relegated to the sidelines. Growling once more, he scuffed the deck with his claws. He knew, in his core, that he could make very little contribution to the battle that was coming. But he yearned to do something. Vega may have tamed his bloodlust, but still...
Thoughts of Vega pulled him up, and he twisted his head to look at the small transport that he had used to reach the planets. The nominal crews were off preparing their battle stations, so the craft was deserted. Or should be...
Leaning forwards, he peered in through one of the cockpit windows, shading his own eyes light so that it would not distract the two young humans within.
Vega and Miranda were snuggled together on one of the bench seats that were to the rear of the cockpit, joined at the mouth in a desperate make-out session. Fury chuckled slightly. They'd been at it for a good couple of hours now, interspersed with some talk and reminiscing.
Right now their motions were not as furious as they had at first. Now they were taking their time, enjoying the moment.
As he watched, Fury saw how Miranda's hand slid down Vega's arm, before gently grasping his wrist. Then she did something that startled the old zoid, and clearly Vega too: she guided his hand around and inside her shirt.
Vega froze, clearly shocked at her actions. But she kept her lips against his, and her hand held his arm where it was. He began to kiss her back again, and then slowly, tentatively, his captured hand began to move under her clothing.
Fury sighed as he pulled back, returning their privacy. He doubted they'd go any further, but he respected them both enough to leave them to it.