"What is your name?"
Judy waited a moment for the ringing in her ears to subside, then she looked up at Jack and said, "You know my name."
"I need to hear you say it," the doctor replied.
"Judith Laverne Hopps."
"Where are you?"
"In the cargo bay." She started to get up.
"Please stay on the floor for now. Can you tell me what happened?"
"M'bogo went nuts. I got too close. Is he okay?"
Jack moved to the side and gestured up at the cape buffalo, who was dangling just below the winch, snorting and thrashing his limbs violently. "I'm not sure. We used to get overdose cases on the night shift at the ER, but nothing this bad."
"Judy, are you okay?" the shepherd asked.
"I'm fine!" She stood, held her paws out, and shrugged. "See, I'm fine. Let's take care of M'bogo."
Shepherd Woolrich turned towards Jack. "Son, do you have anything that can sedate him?"
"Yes, but I can't get close enough with him thrashing around like that."
"Don't worry about that." The ram smiled reassuringly. "Just get the sedative ready."
As Jack left, the ram held out four stun guns towards Judy, "Are there any other non-lethal weapons on board?"
"The armory's supposed to be locked. How-"
"It was locked. I'll explain later. Right now, I need to know: are there any other non-lethal weapons on board?"
"But... um... no, those are the only ones, I think."
"Judy, do you know how to operate one of these?" the shepherd asked.
"Aim and pull the trigger, right?"
"Aim, wait until I say so, and then squeeze the trigger gently." He handed Judy the smallest stun gun, then looked up at the catwalk. "Gazelle, do you know how to operate one of these?"
She hesitated a moment before answering. "Yes, I do. Assuming that it works like a regular firearm."
He gestured for her to come down, and Gazelle descended the stairs to the cargo bay deck.
A minute later, Shepherd Woolrich, Judy, and Gazelle were ready when Jack returned with a loaded syringe. The shepherd said, "Son, you won't have long. These aren't really big enough for him, and after we stun him, Judy will still need to lower the winch, so you can reach him."
He raised the remaining two stun guns, one in each hoof. "Judy, Gazelle, aim for his chest, right between his armpits." They raised their stun guns as well.
"Okay, on the count of three, squeeze the trigger gently. One... two..."
The small town of Paradiso was abuzz with activity as the train stood in what passed for a station. Nick and Sherani made their way down the steps of a passenger car, pulling their jackets closed as the winds buffeted them. They walked away from the train slowly, taking in their surroundings without staring at any one thing for long.
They passed a gray wolf wearing a worn plaid shirt with a shiny gold badge pinned to it. If he had an official uniform, the sheriff hadn't bothered wearing it today.
As a scrawny goat carrying a clipboard ran up, the gray wolf shouted over the storm, "What's the story, Handy? Don't tell me they lost the meds again."
"No, the meds are safe, Sheriff," replied the goat. "The conductor says a roof hatch blew off one of the baggage cars, but everything has been accounted for. They're unloading the meds now. And once they replace the hatch, they'll be on their way again."
With that, the goat turned and ran into Sherani. Nick extended a paw as the apologetic goat scrambled to his feet, mumbling, "I'm so sorry. I should look where I'm going. And... Oh, you're new here, aren't you?"
"Is it that obvious?" Nick asked with a practiced smile.
"Well, yeah, not many mammals live here in Paradiso, so it's easy to spot new folk. Anyway, the mine's employment office is down the street behind you. Assuming you're looking for work, but-"
"Thank you. Handy, was it? Thank you, Handy. And I'm sure we'll see you around once we're settled in."
The pair of mammals walked slowly in the direction the goat had indicated. As they neared the employment office, the train pulled out of the station. Sherani broke the silence.
"This can't be good, Sir."
"Yeah, we lift an Alliance crate that's worth a pile of credits to Mr. Big, and the Feds won't even admit that anything's missing. Not good at all."
The bunny doctor backed away from the cape buffalo that was lying motionless on the cargo bay floor.
"I don't see anything out of the ordinary. If I hadn't seen his behavior earlier, I'd say he's in perfect health."
"Are you sure?" the ram shepherd asked. "Drugs can be introduced in any number of ways."
"There is no sign of ingestion or inhalation. I didn't find any injection sites. Something might have been absorbed through his skin, but I saw no sign of that either. I don't have the equipment to run a full tox panel, but I suppose-"
"Why'd we steal flowers?" Judy asked.
"What did you say, child?" the shepherd asked.
"Why'd we steal flowers? Look at the shipping papers, Shepherd. It says 'mendicampum holicithius'. Those are flowers, blue flowers, a type of crocus. On my family's farm, we grow them around the fields to keep the bugs off the produce."
"What else were they used for?" the shepherd asked.
"Well, nothing really. They're a Class ะก botanical. As kits, we were always told to stay away from them on account... on account..." She blinked. Her violet eyes widened as her mouth fell open. "That's it! That's gotta be it! When my mom was a kit, Uncle Terry ate one and went completely nuts. He bit my mom, took a chunk out of her arm. She still has a big scar. That's gotta be what happened to M'bogo!"
"Actually, I think it's worse than that." Pointing at a small amount of dark blue liquid pooling near one corner of the crate, he said, "I think we should all stay away from this crate. Someone seems to have found a new application for your blue crocus."
Benjamin, who had been watching quietly, spoke up. "So now that we've taken care of M'bogo, can we go get Sherani and the captain? They could be in trouble, or in jail, or... We gotta get them back!"
"We can't just fly into town and pick them up," Judy said. "I mean, what if they've been arrested or something?"
The shepherd looked at Gazelle. "Actually, that's not necessarily true. Someone respectable enough, like a registered companion, could walk in and take them, even if they were in jail."
"It would not be that simple," Gazelle said. "Even if I had the appropriate paperwork showing they were indentured to me, I might still need to post their bail."
"I could help with the paperwork," the shepherd said. "But you're right. Posting bail might be a problem."
"So what are we gonna do?" the chubby cheetah demanded. "We can't just abandon them! We gotta get them out of jail!"
"Son, I understand your concern," the shepherd said, placing a hoof on the cheetah's shoulder. "But we don't even know that they are in jail. If Gazelle takes her shuttle into town looking for her 'indentured servants', then she can at least find out what the situation really is."
"And in the meantime," Jack said, "I can-"
"Honey, I'm home," Sherani's voice rang out. The others turned to see the fox and tigress standing inside the door at the far end of the cargo bay. Their fur was windblown, their jackets were still pulled tightly closed, and their shoulders sagged with fatigue.
"Sweetie!" Benjamin screamed, as he ran toward her.
The ram turned his eyes away from the embracing felines, then said to the fox, "I take it you weren't arrested, Captain?"
"No. No, we weren't. Long story. But how's Bogo?"
"He's sedated. Long story." The shepherd smiled weakly. "But here's the short version-"
Jack had listened quietly as the shepherd explained to the captain why they had sedated the cape buffalo, and how they had managed to do it. He continued to listen quietly as the captain explained what had happened on the train, and what they had heard in Paradiso.
"Wait," the doctor finally interjected. "I don't understand. You went to all this trouble to steal a crate of mendicampum holicithius, or whatever the stuff in that crate really is, and the Alliance didn't notice that you had even stolen it?"
"Actually," the shepherd said, "I think it's worse than that."
The doctor closed his eyes. "They noticed but couldn't acknowledge that it had been stolen."
"Exactly." The shepherd nodded.
"Fangmeyer and I came to pretty much the same conclusion on our way back from Paradiso," the captain said. "But first things first, Doc, how to we cure Bogo?"
"I... I honestly don't know. I haven't had time to research mendicampum holicithius, or to analyze the blue liquid seeping out of the crate. I can keep him sedated for a while longer, which will keep him from injuring himself or any of us, but... I just don't know."
"First things first, you are delivering merchandise as agreed."
Everyone turned toward the door at the far end of the cargo bay. Just inside the door stood four large polar bears dressed in expensive black suits.
Author's Note:
Thanks again to Steefwaterbutter for beta-reading this story.
Mathew5641, what can I say? The Firefly quote that originally started me thinking about this crossover was Mal's line in the episode "Safe": "Never goes smooth. How come it never goes smooth?"