Spartan's Quest – Chapter Three
I own no rights to Firefly. No infringement of any kind is intended.
--
"And so, that's where we are, My Lady," Prim finished his update on progress in finding the missing children.
"Well done, Prim," River smiled. "And the others? Those we had yet to identify?"
"We have made no progress there, either, My Lady," Prim sighed. "Doctor Tam has asked for a psychiatrist, however, and we are currently looking for one with. . .discretion, shall I say?"
"He thinks one may be useful then?" River's tone held some hope.
"He hopes as much, yes," Prim nodded. "But he caution's not to get our hopes up. The children are. . .well, they have been traumatized to a great extent."
"Prim," Jayne interrupted. "Which team did you send with Captain Reynolds?"
"Jerl McCann's, My Lord," Prim smiled. "And of course, Neera is on board, as well." Jayne snorted at that, but said nothing.
"If I may, Janos," Prim asked. "Are the two of you planning on coming back anytime soon?"
"Wanting some time off?" Jayne smiled.
"No," Prim smiled. "Just. . .curious, I suppose. No reason."
"Prim, if you need us, we'll come home at once," River frowned at Jayne. "Do you?"
"No, My Lady," Prim smiled at her. "We have things well covered, here."
"If that changes, let me know at once, and we'll head that way." River told him flatly.
"I shall, My Lady."
"Give my love to Inara," River smiled, and Prim's eyes twinkled.
"I will." The screen went blank, and the two sat back.
"I wonder what that's all about?" Jayne murmured. River looked at him.
"What?"
"He's never wondered before when I would be returning," Jayne told her. "But. . .there's never been so much happening at once, either," he added, thoughtful.
"You think something's wrong?" River's brow furrowed with concern.
"No, he would have told us if there were," Jayne said confidently.
"Well, perhaps he just wants more time to spend with Inara," River smiled brightly. "They seemed to be getting on quite well, when I left."
"I'm sure," Jayne smiled back. "Anyway, I'd say it's time for another round of sword play. Up for it? Or have you lost your desire to be bested?" River's eyes narrowed.
"Oh, you'll pay for that."
--
"I'm open to suggestions as to where we start first," Mal told the assembled group. They were well into the black, Willie at the helm and Lucas in the engine room. The others were seated around the table.
"Well," Zoe offered. "There's that list that Julio uncovered, sir. We could start there."
"I was thinking along those lines, myself," Neera added. "We can find some of the smaller fish on there, and lean on them some."
"We want to be easy on that leaning bit," Mal cautioned. "On the ground, we can take pretty much what comes our way. In the black, we're vulnerable. Serenity's a good ship. But she ain't a frigate, or a corvette. We're unarmed, and unarmored."
"True," Neera nodded. "So we don't involve Serenity," she shrugged. "We do it without mentioning the ship, and without you two along," she indicated Mal and Zoe. "Few people know me. Fewer know Jerl and his team."
"Point," Mal nodded. "Okay, if nobody has any better ideas?" No one did. "Then who do we start with."
"This one," Julio Givens slid a small folder toward Mal. "He's middling high on the list, but effectively a nobody, politically."
"Good choice, I like him already," Mal chuckled. "Solson, Chester F. And where might Mister Solson, Chester F., be a political nobody at?"
"Ariel."
--
"Was River happy to hear we've made some progress?" Inara asked, sitting next to Prim at dinner.
"Have we made some progress?" Prim mused, moving his food around, but not really eating. Inara put down her fork at that.
"Well, Julio found that list," she pointed out. "And, he'd still searching through the information that he recovered. There may be something more helpful buried in there, waiting to be discovered."
"It's possible," he admitted. "But there's also the possibility that those children are dead, Ianra. That we're chasing a wild goose, so to speak."
"Yes," she nodded quietly. "There is that possibility." He smiled at her.
"Don't let my rambling bring you down, my dear," he kissed her lightly on the cheek. "I'm just. . .I don't like having to grasp at straws. I don't like. . ."
"Failing?" Inara asked, taking his hand in hers. "Primeter Vatorian, you cannot fail at something like this, unless you don't try to begin with. If those children are alive, then they deserve someone like you looking for them. They have no one else, but us."
"I know," he nodded. "That's what keeps me grasping. No one knows where they are, or if they're alive. What's being done to them, or with them, which is more disturbing. If I could lay hands to the people who would so injure a child. . ." He stopped, but not before Inara had a peek at the violence that lay beneath Prim's calm exterior.
He's not so different from Jayne. Janos, she corrected. For all his civility and charm, this man was, is, a soldier, and always will be.
"I think, maybe, you need something to take your mind off these things. Just for tonight." She stood, offering him her hand.
"Would you care to escort me around the garden, My Lord?" she smiled.
"I would be delighted, My Lady," he stood, smiling in return. "Delighted."
--
"I know many of the people on this list," Jayne said quietly, as he and River perused the information forwarded to them from Prim. Their workout had ended, River losing, again.
"So do I," River nodded. "Some of them have been to my parents home for dinner. Others I've met at ballet functions before I went to the Academy."
"I wonder should we pay some of them a visit, ourselves," Jayne thought aloud. "See what they might reveal when confronted with the truth."
"I don't think we should interfere with Prim's operations," River told him. "He has things well in hand, for now."
"I'd like to be doing something other than just waiting for information," Jayne threw the list on the table in front of them.
"You are," she smiled at him. "You're training me, remember?"
"I didn't mean that your training wasn't important, River," Jayne smiled at her. "It's just that. . .seeing what a monster Neethos had become, I can only shudder at the possible reasons those children might be missing."
"Well, there's no way to ask him, unfortunately," River replied. "But, do you know anyone else he might have been close to? Maybe even someone like you?"
Jayne looked at her for a moment, almost in wonder.
"I. . .I hadn't even thought of that," he managed to say, finally.
"You're not a genius," River smirked at him. "Do you know someone like that?"
"Yes," he nodded. "As a matter of fact I do," he answered, reaching for the com.
"Yes, sir?" Harry answered at once.
"Set a course for Osiris," he ordered, and heard River gasp.
"Yes, sir," Harry replied. Jayne switched off the com, and looked to River.
"Want to visit your parents?"
--
Serenity hit Ariel during mid-day. Plenty of ships in port, and people bustling about.
"Okay, here's the plan," Mal said to the assembled group. "Zoe and I will look for work. Lucas, you and," Mal pointed to one of McCann's team, but couldn't remember. . .
"Clara," Neera supplied helpfully.
"Clara," Mal nodded. "Sorry, Clara. Will head to the yards, get whatever parts you need. Talk to folks, be seen. That leaves Willie and. . .Jonathon," Mal looked triumphant at having remembered the other's name, "watching the ship. And Neera and Jerl can go and discuss our interests with Mister Chester F, along with our resident specialist," he nodded to Amanda. "Any questions?"
"Cap'n, are we supposed to be part of. . ." Lucas began.
"Nope," Mal shook his head. "Serenity is here to look for work, and get parts. Don't be mixing into nothin' else. The whole idea is to keep suspicion away from the ship. Dong ma?"
"Yes, Cap'n," Lucas nodded. Clara looked bored.
"Let's go, then."
The various pairs started off. Zoe waited until out of earshot, then looked at Mal.
"Think it's wise to leave the interrogation in their hands?"
"Think so," Mal nodded. "This is something that's hit Neera pretty hard," he informed her. "She was one o' the ones that went in to get them kids from 'special holding'. Including that little gal we got on board now," he added.
"Hadn't thought about that," Zoe nodded.
"Well, she ain't said nothing," Mal admitted. "But you saw how she reacted when Amanda came in the room, back at Jayn. . ." Mal broke off at that.
"Yes, sir," Zoe nodded. She missed the big man too.
"Anyway," Mal went on, after a minute. "She stiffened up, like, when Prim mentioned it over the wave. And thanked me for taking the job. Said it was important to her."
"Thanked you, huh?" Zoe smirked, and Mal's ears reddened.
"Zoe," he warned, but she would have none of it.
"I recall you didn't much approve of shipboard romances at one time," she drawled. "Wonder why that changed."
"I. . .she. . .that is. . ." Mal broke off, flustered.
"She hates rules, huh?"
Mal rolled his eyes, knowing it was no use. He'd never hear the end of this, no matter what.
--
Neera and Jerl walked briskly along, Amanda following in their shadow. The girl didn't seem afraid, but Neera knew she had to be nervous.
"It's okay, sweetie," Neera told her quietly. "Jerl and I won't let anything happen to you."
"I know," Amanda smiled back. "I trust you." Neera's heart swelled at that. Even Jerl smiled a bit.
"I think living with mortals has made you soft, Neera," he murmured, only to get a glare from the Amazon.
"I am not soft," she hissed. "I'm. . .cuddly," she grinned.
"Cuddly as a grizzly bear," he nodded in agreement. "Captain Reynolds seems to like you, though," he added, eyes twinkling in merriment.
"He's. . .different," Neera admitted, with a little smile. "He's very unusual, for a mortal."
"He's a good man," McCann nodded. "Proved that on the last op."
"Yeah," Neera smiled again. "He did. This is the place," Neera said slowing.
The building in front of them was in the industrial sector of the city. There were several factories and warehouses along the street. This building, however, was an office building. That alone was enough to make Neera suspicious. She looked at McCann, who shrugged, and then opened the door, stepping inside.
The interior of the building, what they could see, anyway, was laid out in a lavish lobby. A receptionist occupied a round station in the center of the room. Behind her were three elevators, and hallways leading to ground offices. Neera walked up to the reception desk, and smiled.
"Hello. We're looking for Mister Chester Solson. Could you direct us to his office, please?"
"You have an appointment?" the woman didn't quite sniff in disdain. Neera gripped the desk so hard that the wood creaked.
"He's expecting us," she smiled. "We're rather old friends. But I've never been to his office before." The glint in her eye didn't go unnoticed.
"Down the north hall, room one-oh-seven," the receptionist replied.
"Thank you, dear," Neera smiled. "Please don't call ahead, he wasn't expecting us till this afternoon, late. I hoped to surprise him, and treat him to lunch."
"Yes ma'am," the receptionist nodded.
The three walked briskly down the hall to the appointed door. Sure enough, there was a plaque on the door announcing the offices of one 'Chester Solson', on the door.
Neera opened the door, and walked right in.
A short man in an ill fitting suit, looked up from a desk piled with paper-work. He frowned at the intrusion.
"Can I help you?" he demanded. Neera smiled, as Jerl closed the door, and stood by it.
"I'm almost certain you can."
--
"Sorry, Reynolds, ain't got anything at the moment," the man said around his cigar. "Be here long?"
"Well, until tomorrow, unless we get a job," Mal admitted. "Keep us in mind?"
"Sure will," he nodded. "Say, whatever happened to that merc, Cobb, you used to carry around?"
"Got a better offer," Mal shrugged. "Took it."
"Trouble with that sort," the man nodded knowingly. "Get something, I'll let ya know."
"Thanks." Mal and Zoe walked on.
"What are you gonna do if we happen to get a job?" Zoe asked.
"Take it," Mal said at once. "If anyone on the list is at the destination, it'll be a good cover. If not," he shrugged. "Can't turn down work when we go shopping for it. Blow the cover."
"Makes sense," Zoe nodded. "I wonder what River's up too, these days?"
--
"I don't want to do this," River said for at least the fifth time in an hour.
"We don't really have to see your parents, you know," Jayne smiled at her. "I just need to see a man who lives here. Or did, anyway."
"Don't we need the cover of meeting my parents in order to keep your being here from looking suspicious?" she asked, looking up.
"No," he smiled. "I'll just be sneaky. I just thought you'd like to see the look on your parent's faces when you landed your very own ship on their landing pad."
"It would be. . .comical," she mused, thoughtful. "But, no," she shook herself. "There would be questions I don't want to answer, and they'll want to know where Simon is, and I haven't asked him if he wants them to know, and. . ." She stopped rattling as Jayne kissed her.
"It's okay," he told her when their lips parted. "I don't want you to do anything that you don't want to do. I didn't know if you'd want to see them or not. Now, I know."
"Thank you," she whispered. "I don't. . .I mean I. . ."
"River, remember what has happened," he told her firmly. "They cannot possibly harm you. Not anymore. There's nothing they can do to you. Nothing. While your parents are certainly well off, their money wouldn't equal your pocket change, these days." River giggled at that.
"It's still your's, silly," she exclaimed.
"Ours," he smiled. "If anything, it's ours. But enough of that. Let's go see a man about a secret, underground complex that's part of a government conspiracy."
"Oh, let's."
--
"Who are you?" Solson demanded.
"Who I am doesn't matter, little man," Neera growled softly. "Your name came up on a very important list of contributors to something called The Project. We'd like to know why that is, and what you know about The Project."
"I'm calling security," Solson picked up his com. "You'd better. . ." he broke off as Neera grabbed his hand, and squeezed. Solson's face paled as he felt the bones in his hand pop.
"I wouldn't," Neera smiled, her eyes glazing. "I'm not fond of rules, Mister Solson, so they wouldn't do you much good. Now, sit down, and tell me all about The Project, and what your connection is to it."
"Who are you people?" Solson managed to blurt out.
"No one you'd want to lie to, Chester," Neera smiled. "You were telling me about The Project?"
"Weapons research," Solson blurted. "It was weapons research. But it's. . .it's shut down. Has been for months."
"Ah, and how would you have known that?" Neera purred. "Someone call you and let you know it was closing down?"
"Yes," Solson nodded vigorously. "The man who had always served as the conduit between me and the Director. He informed me that The Project had failed to bear fruit, and the contract was cancelled. Money down a dry hole, he called it."
"So you were funding them?" Neera asked.
"I arranged funding for them, yes," he nodded. "High risk investments. People who want high returns. Willing to gamble on what looks like a long shot. I work deals between people like that."
"So you didn't have a direct interest in the Project, yourself?"
"No," Solson shook his head. "Too far outta my league, the money they were needing. Like I said, I broker deals between the business men and the investors."
"Ever meet this middleman of yours?" Neera wanted to know. "Got a name for him? And before you lie, bear in mind that I'll come back if I find you've lied. And you really won't enjoy that visit nearly as much as you have this one."
"Brockman," Solson replied at once. "Said his name was Mister Brockman. Even his card, that was all it said," he stammered, reaching for his rotary index. Neera let him fish through it, and he finally held up a card, in triumph.
"Here it is!" he cried, giving her the card as if it was gold. "That's all I know. I was just brokering a business deal. I. . .I never thought about it not being legit."
"Liar," Amanda spoke for the first time. "You knew it was illegal." Solson looked at the girl, eyes wide.
"Is she a reader?" he asked. Neera frowned.
"I'm sorry you found that out, Mister Solson," she told him, her tone apologetic. "I'm afraid, now, you know too much."
"Wait!" Solson almost screamed. "I do remember something else. Brockman was always talking about shipping needs! Wanted to know if I knew anyone who brokered shipping deals who could get things done, and keep their mouths shut."
"I think, perhaps," Neera sat down on the desk beside him, "you need to start over. From the beginning."