Spartan's Quest - Chapter 16
Author owns no rights to Firefly, and writes only for his own amusement.
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"Stay with Mal and Zoe!" Jayne ordered, drawing his sword as he ran. "I'll help Neera!"
"There are too many!" River shouted back, her own blade in hand.
"Lambs to the slaughter," Jayne growled, his voice like gravel. River knew without looking that his fangs had fallen. "You stay with Mal. Some of them might get by, and there might be more, somewhere. They'll need you more'n we will. And you might can find the folks they're here to get!"
River nodded, accepting his reasoning.
"Be careful!" she shouted, and ran harder, following Mal and Zoe.
Jayne ran faster, seeing Neera and Julio charging their opponents.
"Don't kill them all, Neera," he breathed.
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A charge had been the last thing Wilson had expected. With the odds clearly in his favor, he had thought the two would be more cautious. Perhaps even flee. But it was not to be.
His men opened fire, striking the oncoming couple over and over. Wilson expected them to go down in a heap, but that didn't happen. Instead, the two absorbed the punishment, and kept coming. They were slowed, yes. But nothing close to stopped.
What the hell? his mind raced. That's almost like. . . .
"They're like us!" he shouted to his men. "Use your blades!"
His warning came too late for some.
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Jayne smiled as he watched the idiots in front of him panic when their gunfire didn't drop Neera and Julio. He moved to attack before they could recover.
"They're like us!" he heard one yell, and figured he was in charge. Jayne's sword rose, flying through the air with a deadly whisper. The man in the rear never knew what hit him, and his head flew away in a cloud of red. His friends didn't know what had happened until they heard his body hit the ground. Three of them turned.
One never finished, as Jayne's sword took his head on it's way back from the first strike.
Wilson panicked for real, then.
"Run for it!" he ordered, obeying his own orders even as he gave them. "Head for the ship!"
One man ran right at Julio. The hacker impaled the man on his sword, then took his head. Neera leapt at the others, catching one in the leg with a lunge of her blade, and he went down. Neera stood over him, her face a mask of rage.
"Wh. . .who are y. . .you?" the tough gasped.
"Death," Neera growled from behind her fangs, and plunged the sword into him again. Withdrawing it, she poised to finish him off.
"Wait!" Jayne ordered. Neera caught herself, looking at him.
"I didn't expect to see you here, milord," she said calmly, once more in control of herself.
"Had a hunch," Jayne shrugged. "We need this one alive," he pointed to Neera's victim. "For a while, anyway," he added. "We need to know who, and what, we're up against. Mal gone for the kids?"
"Yes," Julio nodded. "Him and Zoe."
"River's gone after'em," Jayne nodded. "You two get this hundan secured, on Athena," he ordered. "I. . . ." He broke off at the sound of a ship leaving. He turned to see Artemis lifting from her berth, clawing for space.
"What the hell?" he demanded.
"Mal's orders," Neera told him. "If anything happened, Jerl was to head for. . . .the manor, without delay. We'd find another way." Jayne considered that, and nodded.
"Good idea. All right, I guess you two can ride with us. Get this piece o' work over to the Athena, and make sure he's secure. I'll round up Mal and the others, then we'll get the hell off this rock. Watch for the others," he warned. "Now that the shock is gone, I don't look for them to be so easy, next time."
Without waiting for a reply, he started for the terminal. Neera and Julio watched him go, then bent to retrieve their prisoner.
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The terminal was a madhouse of activity. Mal and Zoe looked around in despair.
"We'll never find'em in all this!" Mal exclaimed.
"Find who?" a familiar voice came from behind them. Both whirled in surprise, to find River looking at them calmly.
"River!" Zoe threw her arms around the smaller woman. "What are you doin' here?"
"Thought you might need help," River smiled. Mal eyed her.
"Thought we might need help, huh?" he asked.
"Jayne had a feeling," River shrugged. "He couldn't shake it, and couldn't figure out what it was about. So he gambled, and here we are."
"Well, I can't say I'm sorry to see you," Mal admitted. "We're in a hell of a mess, and with the Reavers. . . ."
"No reavers," River smiled again. "Just a trick to buy you some time, and get things moving. There were several of Brockman's men in the area, most if not all of them having been turned. We needed a diversion."
"No reavers?" Mal eyed her hotly. "'Tross, someone could'a got killed in all this. Maybe did get killed!"
"More would have died had we been forced to confront them in the open, surrounded by innocent people," River shrugged again. "Sometimes you have to make tough choices, Captain Daddy. This was one of those times. There's a lot at stake."
"Tell me about it," Mal muttered. "Well, thanks to your little 'diversion', we ain't got a clue in hell o' where to look for our. . . ." He trailed off as River smirked slightly.
"I do."
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Wilson and his men stopped near their own ship, still suffering from the bewildering turn of events. His second in command looked at him, crossly.
"What the hell, boss?" he demanded. "Brockman never said nothin' 'bout we'd be facing others what was like us!"
"No, he didn't," Wilson agreed, angry. "Lyin' hundan. I'm a good mind to dump this go se right back in his lap, and leave it for him to fix!"
"They killed Cates, Graff, and Johnny, boss!" another of his men objected. "We can't let them get away with that!" Wilson looked at the man for a moment, clearly deciding whether to kill him or not.
"Bud's right, boss," another spoke quietly. "We can't let this go."
"I'm still in charge around here!" Wilson snarled, turning on the group. "We just lost four men! Has it struck either one o' you idiots that them folks was like us? We ain't dealing with some rim world trash hauler no more! He's got some serious back-up. We go back against them without a plan, we'll all get out heads handed to us."
The three men still with him fell silent at that. One because they hadn't thought about the fact that their opponents were. . .unusual. And second, because Wilson wasn't someone to take a lot of backtalk.
"Anybody see where Reynolds got to?" Wilson demanded. The one called Bud nodded.
"He went into the terminal, looked like," the man pointed. "He was headed that way, anyhow. When the reaver alarm sounded."
"That's another thing!" Wilson snarled. "Anyone see any ruttin' reavers?" Everyone looked skyward, searching. Wilson fought the urge to sigh. He was surrounded by morons. Too bad the 'bite', as he called it, didn't do anything to boost intelligence. Had it doubled theirs, they would still have been morons.
"That whole thing was a ruse, and we fell for it!" Wilson almost spat. "We've been set up but good, here, boys," he growled. "I just don't know if Brockman's to blame, or Reynolds. Either way, I ain't aimin' to fight against that on ground o' their choosin'. There'll come a time to even things with Reynolds and his crew for our friends," he told them, more calm. In truth he didn't care a whit about the loss of four idiots. Wouldn't do to say that, though.
"Meantime, we get shut o' here. It's time Brockman got his own hands dirty, and that some o' his people got their heads handed'em. Dong ma?" He looked from one man to the next, and each nodded in agreement.
"Then let's get loaded."
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River led Mal and Zoe to a shelter, walking almost as if she was in a daze. She smiled, finally, and turned to face them.
"We're lucky, for once. All three families are inside. Scared, but uninjured." Mal sighed in relief. He stepped forward, banging on the door with the butt of his gun.
"It's all clear, folks!" he called. "Shows over." For a moment, he didn't think anyone was going to respond. He knew that he'd be less than excited about opening a shelter door after someone had told him reavers were coming. Then, he heard a bolt thrown.
A man wearing a security uniform looked out, his rifle in his hands.
"Who're you?" he demanded.
"Name's Reynolds," Mal replied amiably. "Looks like this whole reaver thing was a mistake. There ain't a sign of'em no where. Skies clear, and so is the ground."
"We ain't heard nothin' from the tower, or from Security," the man objected. Mal nodded.
"I 'spect they're in a shelter, just like you," he pointed out reasonably. "I know I would be."
"Then why ain't you?" the guard demanded. Mal chuckled.
"Got caught out here, too far away to make it in," he admitted. "We hunkered down outside, figuring we was reaver meat. But like I said, ain't nothin' happened. Ain't a ship to be seen, nor a reaver to be found. Not that I'm complainin', mind you," Mal added, with a shiver he had no need to fake.
"I hear you," the guard nodded, opening the door a bit wider. "Let me call and give the all clear."
"Sure thing," Mal nodded, as people started filing out. He looked at River, who nodded. She and Zoe were scanning the crowd, looking for their people.
Mal decided that he'd just keep watch over the rest of the crowd. That was how he saw Jayne, making his way to them. He frowned as Jayne got closer.
"Got some blood on you, Jayne," he pointed out calmly. Mal was getting used to that. Seemed like he was getting used to a lot of things, lately.
"Ain't mine," the big man replied. "You guys okay?"
"So far," Mal nodded. "Neera okay?" he asked, and Jayne grinned.
"Fit as a fiddle," he laughed. "Artemis is gone. You guys and the others'll have to make do on Athena. Neera and Julio are on their way over there with a. . .prisoner, of sorts."
"You caught one of'em?" Mal was astonished.
"Neera did," Jayne nodded. "She's a caution, that woman," he added with a chuckle. "You manage to grab our people?" Before Mal could answer, River and Zoe walked up, leading several frightened looking people, most of them children.
"We're all here, and ready to get the hell off this rock!" Zoe announced. Everyone behind her nodded in agreement.
"Right then," Mal nodded. "River, lead off. Let's make tracks, but not look too suspicious like. Jayne, get the rear. Me and Zoe'll stick with our guests."
"You got it, Cap'n," Jayne smiled, and for a moment, things were like they used to be. But only a moment.
"Let's go then."
The little group headed across the field to where Athena waited, engines already hot. Ready to carry them to safety.
Mal loosed a long, tired sigh as the last of their charges entered the ship, out of sight. They'd done it. Everyone was accounted for, and safe.
Now it was time to turn things around. Mal headed into the ship himself, and closed the hatch behind him.
Minutes later, Athena was screaming through atmo, chasing her sister.
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"I told you, don't underestimate them!" Brockman raged over the wave. For once, Wilson raged right back.
"Yeah, but you didn't tell me we'd be facing people like us!"
"What?" Brockman's face went from rage to shock so fast that Wilson didn't even see the transformation. There was no doubt this was news to his boss.
"The people helpin' Reynolds are like us," he repeated, albeit more calmly this time. "Killed four of my men without so much as breakin' a sweat. Seven men fired on two of them, and they never went down. Them same two killed two o' mine. Another one, great big man, showed up and got two more."
"Are you sure?" Brockman almost whispered. Wilson nodded.
"Ain't no question," he replied firmly. "And I don't know how many more of them there were. The reaver alarm went off, and the whole damn place went crazy. We were lucky just to get clear."
"Is there any chance you can find out where Reynolds is going?" Brockman's mind was racing. The Old One had never even hinted that there might be more like him out there.
"Can't even find his ship," Wilson shook his head. "We couldn't see what ship he arrived on, but there wasn't a Firefly anywhere around. Not one. He's on another ship, apparently. In the confusion, there was no way to see which one he was on."
"Come back here, then," Brockman ordered. "This changes things. We need to work on this, but wisely. Make sure what we're up against before trying again. We'll repay them for your men, I promise you." Brockman's words sounded sincere, but Wilson knew better. His crew, though, nodded in satisfaction.
Morons, Wilson fought the urge to sigh and shake his head.
"We're on the way," he nodded instead, and killed the wave. His men stood there, looking at him.
"You heard the man," Wilson sighed. "Make for Ariel." His men turned to their duties, while Wilson himself leaned back and pondered.
Brockman was as shocked as he had been to find that they didn't have the market cornered on being 'different'. It was a rude awakening, to say the least. For several months now, Wilson and his crew had operated with near impunity, doing as they pleased to whom it pleased them. Always safe in the knowledge that no one could really harm them.
Now, in the space of a few minutes, four of their kind were as dead as they could be, with nothing to show for it but injured pride and a failed job. And one other thing that. Something that none of them had experienced in nearly a year.
Fear.
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Artemis was sailing smoothly when Jerl heard the pilot calling.
"Wave from the boss, Jerl." McCann went forward, dreading having to explain that he had left Mal and the others on the planet. He went straight to the screen.
"Jerl," Janos looked calm, he noted. "How are things?"
"We hit a snag, milord," McCann replied. "We were forced to leave Captain Reynolds and the others on the planet due to a reaver attack. The Captain. . . ." McCann trailed off as Janos smiled, raising his hand.
"Don't worry, Jerl," Janos assured him. "I've got them. We were planet side already, and the 'reaver' attack was a diversion. Turns out that Brockman has turned a fair number of thugs, and had sent several of them to Idlewild. We managed to run them off, secure the passengers, and collect your strays."
"That's wonderful news, milord!" McCann sagged visibly. "I didn't want to leave, but. . . ."
"You did exactly right," Jayne told him flatly. "Don't let it worry you again."
"Thank you, milord," Jerl bowed slightly. "If I may, how did they know to hit us at Idlewild? Do we have a leak?"
"Don't think so," Jayne shook his head. "I'm thinking it was a lucky guess. We laid on the pickup pretty quick. Likely they found someone who knew where they were going, and got it that way. In any case, no one knew where we were headed once we picked them up, so we should be clear."
"Sir, if you have a moment, there's a very upset teenager who'd like to speak to Captain Reynolds," McCann said, and Amanda peeked around his shoulder, face red from tears.
"Hello, little one," Neera smiled.
"Hey, Neera," Amanda smiled. "I was so afraid you were. . . ."
"Not even close, nizi," Mal assured her. He hadn't thought about what impact this would have on the girl. "We're fit as a fiddle. We're right behind you, and we'll see you again once we hit dirt. Don't let Jerl take any o' my stuff," he added with a grin. Amanda laughed at that, and Mal was glad.
"I would never take any of your stuff, Mal," Jerl sniffed in disdain. "Now, Neera's stuff, well. . . ."
"Lay one hand on my things and we'll fight," Neera threatened, and everyone laughed.
"You get some rest, nizi," Mal ordered Amanda. "We'll see you soon."
"Okay," Amanda smiled, and nodded. The wave ended, and Jerl looked down at her.
"Think you might oughta get some rest, little one," he said gently. "You've had a rough day, though it's ended well."
"Yes, it has," she nodded. Turning, she headed for her bunk, thanking anyone that might be listening that her. . . .that Mal was okay.