Mal stood at the bottom of the boarding ramp, his hand drifting to Winona at his waist and resisted the urge to check the time again.
"Sir, she's still has ten minutes until the time we told her." Zoë's voice came from inside the ship and Mal knew she was sitting on a folding chair sharpening the bowie knife she usually kept strapped to her back.
He resisted the urge to argue as he thought about what their newest passenger possible crewmember told them of the job.
FlashbackMal blinked and looked around the bar before looking at Zoë, "Did she just?" he questioned his first mate.
"She did sir." Zoë said in an even tone.
Across from him Miranda Lawson sat back and cocked an eyebrow as the captain was processing her words.
Mal looked at her and leaned in, his voice low but the anger was there.
"Are you out of your gorram mind?" he looked around before focusing on Miranda, assured his first mate would keep an eye on anyone approaching.
"You want to break into a base…a black ops base of an organization that is denied to exist even in whispers and steal from them a cargo you have yet to identify."
"I'm glad you understand, I was afraid I'd have to use smaller words." Miranda said.
"Lady, if you want to die, there are easier ways to go about committing suicide." Mal fired back.
"The risk is minimal." Miranda said when the captain remained quiet. "Cerberus might be a large black ops group, but each cell is separate and contact between them is down to monthly reports."
"And how would you know this? Sleeping with one of those gathering reports?" Mal said downing his drink and was about to signal Zoë they were leaving when Miranda's next words stopped him.
"I know the workings of Cerberus since I was employed by their leader."
Mal blinked and it took a second for his mind to reboot with the information. It was Zoë's hand on his that he realized that his hand was on Winona.
"You work for that bastard Edwards?" Mal hissed.
"No." Miranda said. "Edwards isn't in charge of Cerberus."
"Bullshit." Mal snapped. "It was his pet project."
"Edwards was never in charge of Cerberus. He was the figurehead that was presented to the investors and to the military. The real leader works behind the scenes."
Mal contemplated demanding who it was then shook his head. "Whatever. Dealing with any version of Cerberus is a bad idea."
He once more stood when Miranda spoke, "Its not anything Cerberus related other than having her in their possession."
Mal sat and looked at her, "Her? The cargo you want us to retrieve is a person?"
"My sister." Miranda said softly. "I need you to smuggle my sister."
End FlashbackAgainst his better judgment, Mal agreed to help Miranda retrieve her sister and smuggle her around, while Miranda offered her services as ships doctor and leads to several caches of Cerberus warehouses on remote worlds that would be payment for down the road.
Mal thought of the money chip in the safe in his quarters. Miranda wanted him to do this and was putting up half a million for him to do this.
Illyana was off in her shuttle seeing "clients" while Sienna was on a walkabout. Mal had Zoë tell them both they were going to be off planet for several days and would be back to pick them up.
Tika and Tylee were crew so they were on the job as much as Mal wanted to keep them safe and off the radar.
Things with Cerberus have a way of going sideways and this could get messy no matter what Ms. Lawson assures. The captain thought and looked up seeing Miranda approaching. She was wearing a white and black suit similar to her other one. He noticed a pendant he hadn't seen since he was with the Alliance, the gold C logo that Cerberus seemed to slap on everything to do with them, daring others with a big "Here we are, suck it." He noticed she was armed and carried a duffle bag.
"Ms. Lawson." He said as she reached him.
"Captain." She greeted in a clipped tone.
"Do we need to wait for any luggage?" Mal asked.
"No. I have all I need, and your first mate assured me the infirmary was stocked." Miranda answered as the boarding ramp began to cycle closed.
Mal tapped the intercom. "Tika, take us out."
"Aye captain." The Quarian's voice answered and they could feel the ships gravity kick in replacing the planets as they lifted off.
Mal gestured towards Zoë as he spoke again. "Zoë will show you to your quarters. For now you'll be in the passenger cabins as during this you are basically a client. For now you are only allowed in your cabin and the galley unescorted."
"Understandable." Miranda replied. "Will we be going over the information on my sisters location?"
"After we've hit the relay." Mal said. "And I want to know where you got all of this information from, because I don't need it to lead back to us afterwards."
"Understandable." Miranda remarked. "Nearly all of the information I assembled myself while working under the Illusive Man. The rest I purchased off of the Shadow Broker and that was over encrypted channels and the use of disguises and VI's."
Mal frowned when he heard she had dealt with the Shadow Broker. "ETA to the coordinates you gave us is five hours. We'll use two of the hours going over the information and then spend the rest of the time preparing the gear needed."
Miranda was silent as she followed Zoë and Mal turned to see his mechanic peering over the rail. "What are you doing lil' Tylee?"
"Wow, she's so gorgeous."
Mal shook his head as he climbed the stairs. "Your mamma ever tell you about pretty packages?"
"She used the rose and thorns more." Tylee admitted as the captain joined her leaning against the rail.
"Zoë and I will be dropped with Ms. Lawson while you and Tika take Serenity to the southern pole and use the electromagnetic interference to mask the ship from any sensors Cerberus might have."
"Zoë mentioned that to us already. She said if the plan goes right you'll steal a shuttle from Cerberus. If not we're to swoop in and be big damn heroes." Tylee said.
"Yes, but swooping is bad, it makes my ship a target." Mal said and managed to not laugh as Tylee acted out the plan with her hands and added sound effects.
"Serenity's the fastest ship in the 'verse." The mechanic said looking at him. "Granted we don't have the guns like an Asari cruiser or a Turian dreadnaught but we can out fly anything."
"I spent a lot of coin making her the fastest, some of the modification are strictly black market." Mal admitted. "And I was never looking to make her a warship, just enough to get her out of any trouble."
"Yeah, but one of those ship cutters would be great!" Tylee said. "I saw a ship stop on Eden Prime, and one of the gunners showed me his gun…"
"I hope this doesn't turn into a story of you molesting a fine young man." Mal cut her off.
"Captain, I wouldn't do that…besides I have a thing for older men with their own ships." Tylee said with a grin and cackled when the captain took a step back and gave her a look. "Don't worry Captain, your virtue what there is of it is safe from me. Zoë explained how you preferred something more exotic."
Mal sighed. "Remind me at a later time to hang my first mate somewhere embarrassing."
Tylee laughed. "I'd pay to see you try."
"So would I."
Both captain and mechanic turned to see Zoë leaning against the rail by the stairs leading to the cockpit.
"Oh, hey Zoë. Been there long?" Mal greeted.
"You suck at poker sir." Zoë reminded him. "Tika said we just got a communication from Hunt. He wants to hire us for a job. He said it could wait a few days if we're in the middle of something."
Mal was surprised that the SPECTRE was calling him for help, he thought for sure the man would have called for C-Sec or Alliance aid first.
"We'll finish this job and depending on our status we'll see what the first human SPECTRE wants with us criminals as Udina calls us."
Zoë nodded and looked at Tylee. "So you know, the reason we don't have those ship cutters as you call them, is that the captain was banned from having them by his mother."
Mal glared. "Public nudity will be involved with the revenge I am planning for you."
Zoë smirked. "Bring it." She said and sauntered back towards her quarters.
"I don't think Zoë is bothered by that threat sir." Tylee said. "and with her looks, I get the feeling she might turn it around on you."
Mal sighed. "Yeah…and she's done that before." Mal said before heading to the cockpit to check on his pilot.
XX
The world that the Cerberus base was not on any star maps. The nearest Relay was three systems away and Mal was nervous as that if there was trouble it would take a lot of effort to escape. Miranda assured him that Cerberus had no ships in system.
"We're entering the target system now." Tika reported.
Mal tapped the intercom. "Entering the system now, Tylee shutdown all non vital systems. Ms. Lawson, Zoë come to the cockpit." He shutdown the intercom, watched as Tika shutdown systems, the cockpit lit by only the low glow from certain instruments and screens.
"Max burn in five…four…three…two…one." The Quarian counted down and after a minute she flipped a switch.
"Now comes the drift."
Mal had decided to use only minimal thrusters once in system hoping any sensors Cerberus had would not detect the small amount of output from the ship.
"Captain." Zoë said taking her seat as Miranda entered.
"Tika estimates we'll reach the planet in thirty minutes." Mal informed her as she took a seat on an acceleration bench at the back.
He turned to look at her. "Now the plan is we're doing sub-orbital drop in an evac-pod that Tylee's prepped for us."
"Won't that be cramped?" Lawson asked.
"Yes." Mal said and looked at his first mate.
"I've stored the gear we'll need, the issue isn't weight, its that two of us will be strapped in together."
Miranda had a look, "I'll share with the captain."
"Or you could stay with Serenity." Mal said.
"You'll need me with you Captain. We went over this already. Not only do I have the layout memorized, but I have all of the access codes needed to get in and out." Miranda said arching an eyebrow. "That and you'll need me to get my sister."
Mal was about to respond when Tika called for him, "Captain you best take a look at this."
Mal turned his seat and hopped out peering over his pilots shoulder.
"Is this one of your videogames?"
"No captain, you know I don't play those when flying." The Quarian said as she made an adjustment. "Its at the edge of our scanning range."
"What is it?" Miranda asked.
"Put it up." Mal said and stepped back as a screen lowered and an image filled it. "Looks like a interplanetary shuttle." Mal said. "Seems to have run afoul of a space storm."
Miranda studied it. "It's a Cerberus shuttle." She pointed to the badly damaged insignia. "Its capable of using the relays."
"Tika, can you get any scans off of it?" Zoë asked.
"Its still out of range." The Quarian pilot said.
"Zoë?"
"We can't avoid it, and if it does spot us and gets a message out this whole mission is Vorcha crap." The first mate said.
"Tika, three second burn on thrusters, lets check this out." Mal said.
"What are you going to do Shepard?" Miranda asked.
"Just a little look." Mal said heading aft. "You might want to suit up."
XX
It took nearly ten minutes drifting for Serenity to reach the damaged shuttle. Tika's skill was shown as she managed to align the ships and the clunk of the hulls magnetizing to one another had her sit back and release her breath. Tapping the intercom "We're hooked Captain."
Down at the entrance ramp, three suited figures waited as the pressure released and they floated the short distance between ships. Their boots touching the surface and magnetizing.
"Keep an eye on the scopes Tika, last thing we need is to be caught with our pants down."
They moved along the hull. "Zoë?"
She was looking at her omni-tool. "No signs of life. Scans show that the hull is damaged and vented air."
Mal nodded and headed towards the top hatch. "Then we'll see what they were carrying, and anything useful we'll take back to Serenity."
The hatch was fused by an electrical fire and Mal pulled out a small cutting torch. Miranda stood back watching, "Do we really have the time for this? Scavenging a wreck."
"They could have a new report or information we could use." Mal said passing the torch to Zoë to work on the other side.
"We are wasting time." Miranda said.
"You're more than welcome to return to Serenity." Mal said as Zoë finished cutting her section and shut off the torch.
He watched as she kicked it in and used her helmet light to peer into the darkness. Emergency lights flickered sporadically most of them out. Mal dropped down and looked around.
"There were two passengers." He called up, both died from rapid decompression with no time to save themselves, still belted into their seats. He made it to the pilot and winced seeing the man was dead due to debris lodged into the remains of his face, the hole in the windshield telling Mal all he needed to know on how the shuttle met its final death.
He turned to see Zoë and Miranda checking over the cabin. Miranda grabbed the cases near the dead passengers while his first mate was trying to open the cargo hold.
"Captain?" Tika's voice came over the com-link.
"Report." Mal said tapping the control on his helmet.
"Scanners are still clear. Tylee wants to know do you need her to suit up?" the Quarian pilot questioned.
"Negative. Tell her…"
"Captain!" Zoë called from the hold.
"Standby." Mal said cutting off communications with the pilot. He released the magna-locks and floated towards the back of the shuttle where Zoë was in the hold. She gestured and he frowned. "Ms. Lawson, you best come look at this." He called.
XX
Tymora Lee Scott sighed as she spun the wrench in her hand with a practiced ease as she waited by the holds door controls. She would be the first to admit her waiting for anything was bad because of her inability to stay still. It was why she was always fiddling with something because she was just to full of energy.
"Tylee, the captain and the others are returning via the cargo hatch." Tika's voice came over the intercom.
Tylee grabbed a breather just in case and waited for the signal. She heard the hatch cycle and waited as the light went from red to green. She hit the release and watched as the middle of the cargo hold began to open. And in the belly of the hold was three figures and several crates as well as a long cylinder tube.
The cargo doors barely finished opening when the captain called out. "Lil' Tylee, tell Tika to get us out of here, full burn to the relay."
Doing as she was told she watched as the Captain and Zoë held Ms. Lawson out of the hole.
"What about the rescue mission?" the mechanic asked.
She watched as the captain gestured towards the cargo tube. "Cerberus was nice enough to gift wrap and deliver." He turned to the client slash turned crewmember. "I do suggest you wait until we reach a planet before opening that container."
"I assure you captain that…" Mirada began but the captain cut her off.
"No. Cerberus might have rigged that. You didn't know they were moving her. Which means they didn't trust you with everything. So until we can ensure that isn't rigged to explode or something else." He pointed at her, "And there will be no blowing holes in my ship I don't care how tight your pants are or how much cleavage you push towards me."
With that the captain stomped up the stairs to the catwalk leaving the three women alone.
"Cleavage?" Miranda inquired.
Zoë snorted. "You do tend to lead with your boobs."
Tylee shook her head, "I'm more interested in the fact the captain is accusing someone else of having tight pants."
XX
Mal sat back as he studied the galaxy map on the screen in his quarters. He was relieved that they avoided the base, but his mind was wondering about the cargo they just scavenged.
His door chimed and he looked up as Zoë entered.
"Cargo secure?"
"Behind heavily password protected blast shields." Zoë said.
"Its not that I don't trust Ms. Lawson…" he said leading in.
"You don't. what's the plan now sir?" Zoë asked.
"We stop at Illium and pick up our wayward passengers, then we find out what Hunt wants with us." Mal said.
"Where are we going to open those containers?" Zoë asked.
"Damn good question. We should do it before we hit something populated." Mal answered and spun the screen towards his first mate. "You pick."
The flat look he got told him his first mate was contemplating on shooting him.
XX
AN: First post of 2014. I argued with myself while writing this chapter. I originally had the whole base written out and I hated it. Then I thought about what if and rewrote it where they find her sister being moved. More will be revealed as to how and why and Orianna was being moved and what Hunt needs from a simple ships captain. (wink, wink). Writing has been difficult with health issues and real life. I ask for patience and thanks to those who give it. TTFN ~ ESM