A/N: I really, really ought to be studying, yet I can't seem to tear myself away from this. I really want to get to the action part, but it seems to be taking a while to get there. It probably won't even be next chapter, but I'm hoping it'll be soon. I have lots of stuff planned for this story that I can't wait to write.
On another note, most Firefly fans are probably aware of this, but it's canon as going by the supplementary comic books that Zoe is pregnant by the end of the Serenity movie. Therefore, as I'm the kind of person who likes to stick with canon as much as possible, she is going to be pregnant in this story.
I've also decided that Inara decided to stay on board Serenity after the events of the movie. I considered having her go back to the training house for the sake of making the plot less complicated, but then I decided she could have an important role to play in this so I left her in. I'm toying with an idea for her later on which I'm not sure I'll go through with yet, but for now she's back in her shuttle.
Disclaimer: I don't like doing disclaimers every single chapter when really it's exactly the same as the disclaimer I wrote on the first chapter, so this is the last time I'm saying it: Alien and Firefly are not mine.
Chapter Three – Trouble Again
Simon turned to see Mal standing on one of the catwalks at the back of the bay, looking down on them with an expression of angry bewilderment. He was barefoot and his hair was sticking up in messy tufts, suggesting he'd run here straight from getting out of bed. Judging from the way only two buttons on his shirt had been done up it had clearly been flung on in a hurry, but there had been time enough for him to grab his officer's pistol which he now had in hand. The gun was lowered towards the floor and not pointing at Simon and River, but the fact Mal had brought it at all showed he'd been expecting trouble. And now he was expecting an explanation.
Simon didn't have time to give him one before Jayne appeared beside Mal, his own weapon raised and looking ready for a fight. Upon noticing River and Simon, Jayne lowered the gun and gave them a disgruntled glare. "Might'a known it was you and that crazy sister of yours causing trouble again, Doc," he said irritably. "Now I appreciate River flying the boat for us an' all, but could you tell her to keep the yelling and banging down while the rest of us are sleeping?" At that point Jayne seemed to notice they were standing by the controls to the door, and his eyes widened slightly. "Wait, was she trying to suck us out the airlock?"
Simon didn't answer immediately, knowing that telling them River had in fact been trying to open the airlock might mean even more trouble. However, as he tried to think how to respond River gave Jayne an exasperated look and answered for him. "The vacuum pressure wouldn't be enough to suck solid matter out of the crew quarters," she said, as if that much as obvious. "Only air."
Jayne glared at her. "So she was try'n'a suffocate us," he said, "Either way, looks like we was near dead 'cause of her. Again."
Simon held his breath. Even though he thought Jayne had begun to warm to River more since Miranda, the mercenary still hadn't fully gotten over the time River had attacked him with a knife. Or the time after that when she'd knocked him out in a bar fight. Her doing something like this now really didn't help things.
"Gorramit, Doc, why now? Eight weeks she's been acting almost normal, so why are we back to this again?," Mal said, looking from Jayne to Simon to River as if he were at a loss what to do. Which he probably was. Mal needed River to fly the boat, and he couldn't have her reverting back to her previous levels of crazy.
"She's been more stable, certainly," Simon began to say in an attempt to stop tensions escalating further, "But after what they did to her her mind's still in a fragile state. Even without the secret of Miranda it doesn't mean there aren't other things that could trigger a reaction like this."
Mal looked like he didn't like that answer one bit. "That so? Because if these relapses are gunna be a frequent thing you ought to have made that clear to me, Doc. I thought she was so supposed to be getting better."
"She is," Simon said, wishing he knew how to explain everything rationally, but in truth he couldn't understand River's behaviour any more than they did. "But it's not going to be a smooth ride. There's a long way for her to go yet."
Mal nodded in acceptance of what Simon had said, but he was still struggling to understand. "But what happened?" he asked. "River, what got you so spooked that you had to start yellin' and try'n'a get the airlock open?"
River looked up at him with wide eyes. Simon thought that she still seemed scared, but he was reassured by the fact that despite being angry about the situation Mal still seemed concerned for her. "It's the bug," River answered him simply.
Both Mal and Jayne looked completely bewildered by that. Simon too was still confused. "Bug?" Mal repeated.
"In the box. It's trying to get out." River said matter-of-factly.
Mal looked over at the crate she'd kicked up against the airlock, and Simon saw his expression darken as he realised it was their cargo bound for Copernica. "You know what's in the box? You opened it?" Mal asked, not sounding too pleased.
River shook her head. "No, it was making noise," she answered, as if that explained how she knew what it was.
There was a pause as they all listened for the noise River was referring to, but they couldn't hear anything. "Don't sound noisy to me," Jayne commented.
Mal looked to Simon for clarification, clearly not understanding what River had meant at all. "Doc, care to explain what your sister's on about?"
"I think that maybe... she means psychic noise?" Simon replied, but he didn't sound too sure of himself.
It was Jayne who spoke next, in a tone that was a mixture of confused and derisive. "You're telling me we've got a psychic bug on board?"
Simon was about to say something in response to that, but then there was the sound of another voice speaking as someone else appeared behind Jayne.
"What's going on? I heard shouting." It was Kaylee. Simon noticed she was wearing green pyjamas, which he was certain she hadn't had on when he left her, but he didn't have time to lend much thought to that before he saw Zoe appear beside her.
"Is everything alright, Captain?" she said, addressing Mal before glancing down at Simon and River with a slight frown.
Simon thought she looked tired. Zoe's left hand was cradling the slight swell of her belly – prominent enough now that her pregnancy was three months along – and she was bleary eyed, despite trying not to show how exhausted she was. Her fatigue was understandable. The morning sickness pills Simon was prescribing her had the side effect of drowsiness, but Simon knew it was more than just that. She was still struggling to come to terms with the loss of Wash. Really, her pregnancy should be some of the happiest months of her life, but how could she really enjoy it when her husband wasn't there to go through it all with her?
Although she was still trying to put on the front of the tough Zoe they all knew, it was still apparent to all of them just how hard Wash's death had hit her. The grief was taking its toll on her, and combined with natural anxiety over the pregnancy, she really didn't need anything more to be worrying about on top of that. So of course, the fiercely protective Mal would not be happy that something like this had happened to stress her out even further.
"Everything's fine, Zoe," Mal answered, for once not wanting her to get involved. Although normally he would let her know about everything important that happened on Serenity, at the current time he didn't want to tell her that their pilot had just attempted to suck them out of the airlock before even he was sure what had happened. "River seems to have taken a dislike to some of our cargo, is all. It's nothing I can't deal with. You and Kaylee go back to bed."
Zoe gave him a stern, don't-you-patronise-me sort of look. "Captain, I'm pregnant, not stupid. Now tell me what's going on."
Mal was about to insist that he could handle it, but then realised there was no point trying to keep something like this from Zoe. Even though his instincts were telling him to protect her, like they had been ever since he'd found out she was pregnant, the rational part of his mind knew that the last thing Zoe wanted was special treatment from him. She wouldn't appreciate him trying to hide things from her, even if he thought he was doing it for the best of reasons. Mal was about to give her a proper answer when another voice sounded from the opposite end of the catwalk. "I thought I heard something. What are you all doing out here?"
They all turned to see Inara approaching them, apparently having just stepped out of her shuttle to find the source of the disturbance. Even in her nightdress and not wearing make-up she still looked as lovely as ever. Her delicate features were set in an expression of confusion and, like the rest of the crew, she appeared to want to know what was happening.
"Inara," Mal said, preparing to explain things to her, and then realised that he himself didn't really known what was going on. "I, um…well, I'm not sure what we're doing. You'll have to ask Simon and River."
Inara looked at him for a moment and then glanced down into the cargo hold. Upon noticing Simon and River standing at the bottom, she began to make her way to the stairs that led down to the floor. "Alright, I'll ask them. Why's the airlock open?" she said calmly as she began to descend the steps.
Simon was just about to give some kind of an answer to that, but was cut off by a sudden exclamation from Kaylee.
"The airlock's open?" she said, her eyes widening slightly as she turned to look for herself. Upon noticing she could indeed see the stars through the window in the inner door, she let out a quiet, "Oh."
Inara nodded. "Yes, the outer hatch appears to be down. Simon, aren't you going to close it?" she said as she reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Oh…yes," Simon replied, realising he hadn't had the presence of mind to do that yet. He reached out to hit the button to bring the hatch back up, and River pulled away from him, looking frustrated.
"You're all too close now. Should've stayed sleeping," she whined.
Mal and the others followed Inara's lead and began to head down to the floor of the cargo bay. Simon looked from them back to River, hoping that there was some kind of explanation for this that would make sense. "River, what were you trying to do?" he asked her gently, wishing she'd give him a coherent answer.
To his dismay, she didn't seem to want to give him much of an answer at all. "Get rid of it!" she shouted, pointing at the crate. "Simon, we have to get rid of it." That was all she seemed prepared to say, but Simon still couldn't understand why she wanted to get rid of it. And what did she mean by 'the bug'?
The others had reached them by now, and Mal and Jayne in particular didn't look too happy. Mal met Simon's gaze, his eyes hard, but Simon got the impression he was thinking something that he wasn't letting on. "Am I to understand that she was trying to throw the cargo that's going to make us a fine sum of money out into space?" Mal said, as if requesting clarification.
Simon let out a slow breath before answering. He didn't much want to have to tell them that if it meant even more trouble, but it appeared to be the truth. "Yes, it seems that way."
At that answer Jayne shot him a glare. "Well you best tell her she can't do that, Doc," he said aggressively, but Mal put up a hand to quiet him.
"Jayne, wait."
Jayne gave a confused scowl, unable to understand why Mal now appeared to be taking Simon's side. "That's the best money we've been offered in ages, Captain. We can't just let her…"
Zoe interjected. "Jayne, I think we ought to give River chance to explain."
The mercenary's scowl deepened even further. "Explain? She's crazy. Ain't gunna get no sensical explanation outta her."
Zoe wasn't fazed. She was used to dealing with Jayne's often obtuse aggressiveness. "But she knew about Miranda," Zoe explained. "She knows things the rest of us don't – or can't – know. If she thinks there's something bad about whatever it is that's in that box, then it may be in our best interests to listen."
Jayne remained scowling and was about to protest to Mal, but upon seeing the expression on the captain's face he instead settled for grumbling, "Fine, you listen to her talk crazy if you want. Just make sure she don't think to do something that might get us all killed again." That final part was directed with a glare at Simon, who glared right back, but neither of them said anything further. Although the atmosphere was still tense, it seemed that now Jayne had said what he wanted to say he was prepared to shut up and let River talk.
Zoe and Mal exchanged glances. They'd known each other long enough to not have to say it out loud, but Zoe knew Mal was grateful that she'd spared him the trouble of being the one who had to deal with Jayne. Neither of them had any clue as to what had just happened with River, but they both knew Jayne's hostile attitude could only make things worse. Mal gave Zoe the slightest nod of thanks before he turned his attention back to River. "Right. So River, you gunna tell us what in that box is so bad you want to throw it out the airlock?"
"The bug," River stated simply, repeating what she'd said earlier without any further explanation.
Mal looked over at Simon as if asking him to translate what that meant, but judging by the blank expression he got in return Simon clearly didn't know either. There was a moment's pause during which Mal gave Simon a look that clearly showed his frustration, before he went back to trying to coax more of an explanation from River.
"And what is the bug? What does that mean?" he asked her.
River fixed him with a hard stare, her expression blank but with an intense, burning look in her eyes. "The bug is dangerous. And if we don't get rid of it, the only outcome is going to be death."
End note: The characters are all a little off. I can tell they are, but this is my first ever attempt at writing them so it may take a few more chapters and a few more times rewatching Firefly until I get the hang of it. I'm hoping that by the time I get stuck into the action and the main plot of the story that it'll work better. These first few chapters are meant as more of a warm-up and to establish the setting; the 'meat' of the story is going to start in one or two chapters time. I have a lot of stuff planned with the aliens and the Alliance and going into what happened to the Weyland-Yutani Corporation after the mass exodus from Earth-That-Was, so if you've found the pace of this a bit slow so far then please hold out for that, because I think I can and will do better.
As always, reviews would be much appreciated if anyone cares to leave one.