62) It's Like We're Chasing All Those Stars
Serenity was quiet around them, the rest of the crew gone to bed, Bea and Jayne in the passenger dorms. The empty crew bunk he'd taken was nice, private and had a locking door, plus that ladder he couldn't help but hear should someone come down it. He liked the quiet, knowing no one could sneak up on him. The only downside was not bumping into River when she was half dressed. He had enjoyed finding her there waiting for him the one time she'd done it though. Hopefully in the future he'd see more of that behavior. And the kissing (and hopefully more) that went along with being alone with her.
Jack hadn't been thrilled (not that he'd really cared about her opinion at the time) but Carolyn had stayed down in the passenger dorms with her and probably would for a while. At least until she and Mal broke and finally had sex. Emma's bassinette moved from bunk to bunk depending on what shift it was, the baby took it all with a fairly good nature.
River handed him a mug of tea and he sipped it, breathing in the steam and letting the heat work to relax him. "Think we've got about all of the angles figured," He murmured. "Only one problem left."
"He is a name," River nodded, taking a seat in the co-pilot's chair. "I am become a name; for always roaming with a hungry heart, much have I seen and known."
"Yeah, and I'm not altogether sure how Mal's gonna take that," Riddick looked at her thoughtfully. She'd known, from the get-go, she'd known who the three of them were. She hadn't said anything. Reassured Mal that none of them were a danger to Serenity or her crew but the secrets they carried were theirs for the keeping. He kept going back to that, amazed by it and grateful both.
"He will take it how he does," She shrugged at him. "Cannot hide what he is any longer. Truth will out."
"I know," Riddick nodded. The plan they'd come up with, the plan that was damn near guaranteed to work, depended on him being recognized by the authorities. He was a big enough payday and a big enough problem that any slam would be glad to have him on their books. If Mal didn't know beforehand, he'd for sure find out afterwards. And Mal didn't do so great with surprises.
"She and Carolyn could be his jailors," River suggested. "Pretend to be Jack."
"That could work," That had been the only sticking point. Who would look Core (sophisticated) enough, or tough enough to have caught him? "What about the big fella with the goatee? Cobb." He knew the man's name, but it was old habit to pretend ignorance. He'd fooled too many people with the dumb convict act to completely give it up.
"Jayne," River wrinkled her nose. "Large enough and greedy enough to pose as a merc."
"He gonna be a problem down the line?" Riddick wasn't sure how attached Mal, and the rest were to their old crewman, but he didn't have any issues personally with getting rid of a man who might want to sell him out. Mal didn't seem thrilled with the man, or Bea either, but neither had he actually thrown the two of them off the boat.
"There is potential for that," River nodded slowly. "He has changed somewhat, but still took money to track down Serenity." She tilted her head, "We must also consider that Carolyn's old life is dead. She cannot be resurrected only to capture you and die again."
"Yeah, that's an issue," Riddick nodded. "Abu made it off, we could say he saved Jack, you use her name... Maybe Carolyn could use Shazza's. The woman's dead and I doubt she'd mind. If we can trust your merc we could call him Zeke."
"It has potential," River's eyes were flicking back and forth as if evaluating something he couldn't see. "We will need to speak with Mal."
"Yeah, I've noticed that he doesn't care for surprises," Riddick agreed dryly.
They'd decided to get Mal when he came up for his shift on the bridge. It was the most private place on the boat besides Mal or Riddick's bunk and had the advantage of being the most neutral ground. River dozed in the co-pilot's chair while Riddick kept an eye on the Black around them.
When Mal stepped onto the bridge River yawned and stretched as she woke, smiling at the Captain. "River," Mal greeted her cautiously. "There a compellin' reason you ain't sleepin' in your bed?"
"Needed to be here for the discussion of the plan," River told him with a shrug.
"Got somethin' figured then?" Mal took a seat at the navigator's station and Riddick stood to close the bridge doors behind him.
"Yeah…" Riddick leaned against the wall lockers next to the pilot's chair. "Biggest problem is you have to get into the prison to get her out. Follows that we need a reason, a tiān shā de good reason, to be there."
"The Dyton Penal colony ain't known for visiting hours," The Captain agreed.
"Exactly," River agreed. "We can take a shuttle in, and once someone is in the prison, they can guide Zoë out to the rendezvous area where we can pick them up."
"Place is mostly desert," Mal pointed out. "One direction'd be just as deadly as another."
Mal wasn't wrong about the slam. Dyton Penal colony was only part of the planet, the portion that was considered livable, where lower risk offenders worked for time off their sentences. They were slowly expanding the colony, turning desert into land that would grow something (anything really) and gradually turn sand and dust into soil. The process would take decades and it was doubtful the double max slam would ever be unusable considering the nature of the planet.
Terraforming had given the rock air, ground and water (albeit deep underground), so technically people could live there. But you couldn't change the nature of a planet any more than you could change the nature of people. There would always be a vast desert on Dyton. Which meant that Double Max slam wasn't going anywhere.
"We figure to drop a crate of minimal supplies a couple klicks out from the main yard of the prison," Riddick explained quietly.
"And have a signal device for the someone going into the prison, dormant until it's activated so it won't be detected," River added.
"You still need a reason to be there, someone to put into the prison," Mal shook his head.
"Trick of it is, prisons, even Fed slams, are run by private enterprise right," Riddick kept his gaze on the Captain. This would be the delicate part of the explanation. The man nodded slowly, and Riddick pushed his goggles up, exposing his eyes and their shine in the dim light of the bridge. Since Cobb and Bea had come aboard, he'd started wearing the goggles all the time (not that he'd ever really discarded them). He didn't know either of them; long held habit to consider any advantage he could get was a good one. "And slams won't take anyone they think will be more of a drain on their resources than the payment coming in for him or her."
"Right, because they're paid per prisoner," Mal nodded again.
"Exactly," River murmured. "They pay the posted reward for any wanted person, with well-known convicts going at a higher rate, and are reimbursed by the Alliance. Then they are paid for the prisoner, food, clothing and medical care."
"So, what you want, if you're infiltrating a prison, is someone who's wanted, a big enough name and reputation that the prison'll get paid something worthwhile to keep whoever in the slam," Riddick half smiled when it seemed Mal didn't get it. "Mal, mining planets aren't the only places you can get a shine job."
"Uh—Rick…" Now the Captain looked faintly alarmed.
"You can also get one if you pay off a prison doc," Riddick continued quietly. "In a Triple Max slam, like say…Ursa Luna…where they tell you that you'll never see daylight again."
Mal stared and stared some more before he opened his mouth and closed it again fruitlessly, several times over before he got some words out. Typical of Mal, they weren't what Riddick had expected, "Take it you ain't from Deadwood?"
"No," Riddick shook his head. Mal wasn't doing bad, better than most when confronted with him. "Richard B Riddick; escaped convict. Murderer." He offered his hand and Mal shook it automatically.
"River—" the Captain looked at his pilot.
"Knew who he was," River nodded, completely relaxed. "Knew from the day they set foot on the boat. Means us no harm. Likes us. Likes the boat."
"And you didn't say anything why?" Reasonable question, and if Mal smelt like nerves at least he wasn't squawking fit to burst Riddick's ears. Small mercies.
"Trying to rejoin the human race," River shrugged as if the Captain was being ridiculous. "Needed a little belief from us before he could believe himself." Her gaze, steady and calm seemed to ease the Captain's worry some, "Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith first, the trust part comes later."
"Dà xiàng bào zhà shì de lā dù zi. Any other surprises?" Mal pinched the bridge of his nose as if to stave off a headache.
"Nope," Riddick cautiously took a seat. "Carolyn was the pilot of a ship that crashed. Jack and I were passengers, even if my passage was paid for by a merc. We figured to use some of the other passenger names as aliases." He could see Mal making the connection between the 'No early release' cryo tube, the story they'd told about the Hunter Gratzner, the convict and the merc. The convict in question shrugged, "Trouble is we aren't sure if Carolyn and River would be believed as mercs. It'd work better with a three-man crew. Four if we could manage it but that's not likely."
"And you can't use me, or Simon," The Browncoat understood that instinctively. "Me they'd probably arrest, and Simon don't look the part, take a lot of doin' for that to work."
"How trustworthy is your old gunhand," Riddick wondered.
"Cain't be sure," Mal frowned. "Jayne's a wángbā dàn de biǎo zi but he's pretty predictable where money is concerned."
"The creed is greed," River murmured. "Wishes to prove himself worthy of returning, but temptation is a mighty and constant force. Worry for his mother and family drives temptation."
"That's the problem," Riddick nodded. "He goes in as the third merc there's no way to keep him from hearing who I am. You don't keep him as crew he doesn't have much reason to keep quiet. You do keep him, it's another share lost and that's not easy either."
"At this point don't know that we've really got much choice," Mal admitted. "We got to deal with what's in front of us."
Riddick shrugged, "I'd offer to gut him but as you may have guessed I'm trying to turn over a new leaf."
"Jayne already took money to track us and spill the beans about where we are," Mal looked at River. "And I know havin' him here isn't easy on you."
"Can deal with it if I must," River assured him. "And monitor him for thoughts of betrayal." She slanted a glance at Riddick and he half grinned.
"I'll keep an eye and ear on him too," He agreed. "I think between the two of us we'll catch anything he tries." Riddick looked at Mal, "How's the rest of the crew likely to react to this?"
"Oh, I'd say the range would run from 'Buddha be merciful' to 'huh, knew there was somethin' odd goin' on'," Mal shrugged, not nearly as blasé about the situation as he was pretending to be. It was an indicator of how rattled he was about Riddick that he hadn't even noticed River saying something that gave away her talent as a Reader. He looked at the two of them, "But you're gonna need your rest so scoot on to bed and let me think on this a little more. Figure how we're gonna break it to everyone what the plan is and why it'll work."
River chuckled softly as she stood, "Sailing the Black on Serenity is not for the faint of heart." Her fingers rested lightly on his wrist and stroked up his bare arm before she left the bridge with that drifting walk he found so enticing. And that brought another question to mind.
"Mal, is there a reason your main pilot doesn't live in the crew quarters?"
That caught the man off guard, those twitchy nerves flaring as he startled, "Wha-the wha?"
"River's flies the boat, but she don't live in crew quarters," Riddick rephrased the question. "There a pressing reason why?"
"Mostly it's to reassure her brother," The Captain wasn't completely relaxed but he seemed to be setting aside his unease and outright worry in favor of focusing on how to get his First Mate back. He was reacting fairly well to the whole 'escaped convict, murderer' thing. A lot better than most would. Despite being pretty unnerved. "She wasn't well when they first come aboard, and it don't feel like long ago that she recovered."
"She the reason the Alliance sent a broad wave with warrants for yours and Zoë's arrest?" Riddick had the idea that Readers weren't exactly thick on the ground. Made sense that if the government knew about her, they'd want her for their own. Argued that the government had something to do with that Academy that'd turned her into one in the first place.
"Well…we are fairly naughty folk," Mal hedged and Riddick shook his head.
"I know she's a Reader Cap'n," He kept his voice low even with the honorific. Mal always seemed more relaxed when people called him Captain.
"How'd you—She's—No—"
Riddick sighed, "Hey she's kept my secrets. I can keep hers." He met Mal's eyes, "I don't mean her any harm."
"Really didn't figure you did," Mal sighed. "We don't bandy it about though."
"Carolyn and Jack don't know," Riddick assured him.
"Probably for the best," Mal rubbed the back of his neck. Riddick wondered if keeping that secret from Carolyn bothered him more than he liked. Once they got Zoë back there was a lot of stuff to deal with that they'd been letting slide. "After the Miranda wave…the warrants for Simon and River were cleared…but that don't mean the Alliance wouldn't love an excuse to take all of us. They weren't too happy about the wave. But accordin' to River, warrants on me and Zoë aren't connected to that."
"Yeah, she said some jackass on Persephone's behind it, and she's working on proving you two didn't do what he claims," Riddick nodded. "She seemed to think she could get it dismissed, least when we talked about it last."
The Captain frowned as he took the pilot's chair when Riddick stood, "Let's deal with one problem at a time all right?"
"Gotcha," Riddick gave a low chuckle. "First the prison break. Then the 'New Resistance' and after that, warrants."
"Yeah sure, easy stuff first," Mal remarked whimsically.
"Prison breaks are easy Mal," Riddick smirked as he left the bridge.
Author's Note: So…Mal took that pretty well. Considering. Now the real question is, how soon before it's an interesting day and does Jayne decide he should try to cash in? Or has he actually changed?
Chinese Translations:
tiān shā de (Goddam! / goddamn / wretched)
Dà xiàng bào zhà shì de lā dù zi (To have the explosive-type diarrhea of an elephant)
wángbā dàn de biǎo zi (whore's bastard/son of a bitch(insult))
Quote Sources:
I am become a name; for always roaming with a hungry heart, much have I seen and known. – Ulysses – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Truth will out – The Merchant Of Venice – William Shakespeare