Hello. Iverik here. Just a reminder: This story uses characters created by someone other than me.
Facing the Black
Lieutenant Ned Philio of the Qingdao stared out his viewport. "Is that a gorram autodemarch ship?" He asked rhetorically.
The dark ship was just sitting there, drifting. Repeated scans showed that it was uninhabited. Several of its missiles had been fired, and recently. Nebulae of exhaust were still detectable- barely. Soon the solar winds would sweep them away.
"Any sign of that civilian vessel?"
"No sir. None. Some residual heat... in line with a transport going to full burn."
"Just what we need," the lieutenant thought of all the havoc enemy soldiers in disguise could cause. "Follow that transport."
"Sir! We've got five enemy gunships on LIDAR, they've got missile lock!"
"Well break it! Return fire!"
Mal hurried. His diminished force was wounded, and there was a high likelihood of enemy or quasi-friendly contact at any moment. He kept his face away from Killer- no sense in triggering premature suspicion.
He had regained a sense of their position. They'd be there by this evening.
Paul was quietly saying a prayer for Aria. Zoe's eyes warned Mal off of trying to shut him up. Still, it was driving Mal slowly insane.
Insanity got people killed out here.
Wash was thoughtful as he touched down. A map of the planet was sufficient to tell him the full story. Mal and Zoe- especially Zoe- were still alive, and still sticking to the plan. He'd be glad to get out of this place. Every day came reports of pilots downed, marines killed.
He couldn't wait to leave, and yet he was starting to feel like a coward.
"Talmut!" Jayne roared happily. A startled young man with a ghostly beard turned- and then returned Jayne's roar with one of his own.
"Jayne! How're you doing, you old cattle monger!"
"Fine fine- as fine as can be expected in this tian sheng de war."
"Thought you liked fighting."
"And you used to scold me for it."
"Aw, well... things change. People try to kill your people, you kill them first."
"Sounds like ya finally got some sense into ya," Jayne approved.
Talmut scowled. "I'm still me," he insisted.
"Trust me," Jayne said, "ya ain't. Not after this. Not ever. Buy ya a drink!"
The next morning, Jayne was woken by his sergeant with a profound hangover. Then it was patrols, sentinel duty, and make-work for hours. He was very tired when he walked past the signal location. He almost missed it.
"Ta ma de!" He stared. It was time. The gorram plan was going into action. He took off at a run. No tellin' how long that signal had been in place. He had to make up for lost time.
Mal caught sight of the installation first. It was disguised to avoid detection from the air, but from the ground it stuck out like a sore thumb. He let Zoe know silently. She cocked an eye towards the sun. Almost time. Almost time.