81) I'm Not Crazy, I'm Just a Little Unwell
The problem, Carolyn decided, with being involved in an activity that took blood flow away from the brain was that she didn't really feel prepared for the situation in which she found herself. Namely that Jack had taken it upon herself to spy on Bea due to Mal's obvious distrust of the young woman. And then, on top of that, found something that pretty much justified Mal's suspicions.
Mal had woken up the rest of the crew, meaning Simon, Kaylee and Zoë, and herded everyone to the bridge. But he also locked Zoë's shuttle and brought the baby comm to the bridge. He'd then shut the doors and made Jack sit down and put her ankle up. "Simon, she's gonna need some bandagin' and an X-ray most likely," He told the Doc as Simon frowned at Jack's foot and ankle.
"Thank you Mal I'll take your expert medical opinion under advisement," Simon could do sarcasm so well it might be mistaken for sincerity.
Mal just let it roll off his back of course, "See that you do." He looked at the rest of them, "Reason I got you all out of bed is 'cause we've got a problem."
"Somethin' wrong with Serenity, 'cause she don't feel hurt none," Kaylee was immediately anxious and Mal shook his head.
"This is more of a human issue," Carolyn told her.
"River, you find what she was lookin' into," Mal looked at the dark-haired pilot sitting at the console across from her boyfriend (and so weird to associate that word with Riddick).
"Shì," River nodded and set her portable cortex on top of the console, connected it with a cord and began to pull information up on the screens. Carolyn groaned.
"That prison break gave her just enough of a line to tug," Zoë observed as warrants and wanted posters popped up.
"Yep," Mal sighed. "It was the safest way," He glanced at Riddick apologetically and the huge man shrugged.
"I agreed to do it," His rumbling thunder of a voice made it clear he was less than thrilled. But he also didn't blame any of them. "I knew the risks."
"Her plan," River murmured, and he shook his head, standing up and pulling her out of her seat to sit down in it with the diminutive woman in his lap, his arms around her. Carolyn occasionally found herself marveling about that all over again. No one would expect Riddick to be so openly affectionate with anyone much less a tiny Core woman.
"It was a good plan," He shook his head. "Ain't your fault there's a jiàn huò on board that can't be trusted."
"Any bets that if Rick said he wanted to join the New Resistance she'd forget about his warrants," Jack commented dryly.
"This does have a kind of blackmail-ish feel to it," Mal nodded.
Carolyn pushed her hair behind her ears in annoyance. Her hair had gotten long enough that she could pull it back from her face, whereas Jack's was now about the length Carolyn's had been when they met (maybe a little longer). When she didn't pull her hair back it got in her eyes and tickled her cheeks and in general irritated her. "So do we know how far she got with this?"
"Well, it ain't hard to find the warrants if you got the idea you should be lookin'," Jack looked at Jayne who nodded his confirmation of that.
"So, it could be a fishing expedition," Zoë leaned against the lockers.
"Or she could intend to call the law down on us," Mal added.
"We ain't done anythin'… well we ain't done anythin' looked illegal," Kaylee shrugged. "'Cept for the prison break, which the prison don't know about 'cept thinkin' Zoë and Rick are dead."
"'Tross, tomorrow mornin', get on the cortex, see if Dyton's got 'em listed as live and on the books," Mal seemed to be coming up with some plan of action. Only time would tell if it was the 'by the seat of his pants type plan' or one with a little more structure to it.
"Shì," River nodded. "Shouldn't be too difficult."
"Jayne," Mal looked at the scruffy gunhand. "While she's doin' that, you bring Bea some rations. We ain't gonna let her out of her room but we ain't gonna starve her either."
Zoë looked at Kaylee, "We'd better add some additional security to the locks on the shuttles and bridge."
"And nobody leave their portable cortex lyin' around," Mal added. "Jack, I know you like to do lessons at the table, and it should be safe enough there but-."
"Nah, I get it. I can put it in one of the lockers here when I'm not working on it," Jack nodded, gesturing at the lockers Zoë was using as a backrest.
"Doc, you got lockin' drawers in the infirmary, I expect you to do the same with your encyclopedia and diagnostic cortex," Mal looked at Simon who nodded silently. "River, I don't gotta tell you to do the same."
"Never left unattended," River patted hers solemnly. "As much of a weapon as the gun or sword."
"Exactly," Mal nodded. "An' I'm thinkin' that might've been how Bea was intendin' to use what she found."
"Like a gun to our backs," Simon murmured. "Do this or I'll turn you in."
"Question is, whadda we do with her once we find out," Jayne asked.
Carolyn looked at Mal and knew that he hadn't gotten that far with the planning yet, "Let's wait and see what exactly she's done, what steps she's been taking." She suggested quietly, "For all we know the girl was curious and that's it." She got eight incredulous looks and shrugged, "I'm not sayin' it's likely." She conceded, "But jumping to conclusions gets us nowhere right now."
"True enough," Mal half smiled before he scrubbed his hands over his face. "All right, alla this don't change that it's the middle of the night. Everybody, do what's immediate and then go to bed. Rick, just set the autopilot for the next eight hours, ain't none of us gonna be much for piloting until we've got this settled."
"You got it," Riddick nodded.
Carolyn watched as Kaylee and Zoë went to lock up Shuttle two. That was about all that could be done for the moment. Jayne helped Jack up and shook his head, scooping her into his arms like a kid, "Watch your head Jackie girl." He warned her, "Doc, better go on ahead a me and get the machines warmed up. We'll be there in half a tick."
Simon nodded and hurried away while Jayne and Jack followed at a slower pace. Carolyn smiled as Mal took her hand and brushed his lips over her knuckles before wrapping his arm around her waist and guiding her down the steps and hall to his bunk.
Maybe they could forget their troubles by picking up where they'd left off.
Carolyn was glad they'd gotten a good night's sleep (when she and Mal actually slept) because the news River had in the morning was not good.
"Reaching out, tenuous contacts, to the merc guild," River murmured. "Guild protocols in the cortex tried to get a pin in Serenity. Foiled by our precautions after the pirate AI." She looked at Mal, "Found old warrants, for nearly all of us. Carolyn, Jack and Kaylee the only exceptions besides Emma."
Carolyn chuckled, "Well she is a little young to have started a life of crime." She smiled as the baby ate cereal and kicked her legs.
"We figured to wait until she was toddlin' before takin' her on a heist," Zoë returned, deadpan.
River smiled briefly but her gaze remained solemn, "Dyton Double Max still shows Riddick and Zoë as on the books." She shrugged, "Should be good news, but if someone tells the Guild that they are not there, are in fact flying the Black..."
"They'll go lookin' to see which is true," Mal concluded. Correctly unfortunately.
"And the naked eye cannot be fooled," River closed her cortex.
"Yeah, that's not good." Carolyn looked at her coffee mug.
"Well, we've all eaten, we've done as much as we can to secure all the places needed securin'," Mal looked at Riddick and Jayne. "Why don't the two of you go an' get little Miss New Resistance and bring her up here."
"Don't know that you need be polite about it either," Zoë added pointedly.
Jayne's face echoed the smirk on Riddick's and he nodded, "This could be fun. I ain't got to torture nobody in forever." He could be heard exclaiming as they descended the stairs.
"Cobb, I'm really starting to think folks on this boat are crazy," Riddick chuckled, an evil reverberation, like the beginning of a rockslide.
"Not crazy," Jayne laughed and Carolyn had to admit, he didn't sound entirely sane. "Doc just says sometimes we're all a little unwell."
"In the head," Riddick added before their voices faded as they reached the lower decks.
Carolyn looked at Mal and Zoë, "What will we do if she is planning on blackmailing us?"
"Well, considering Rick and River are two of the more deadly individuals on board and she's threatening them directly and me indirectly, I do believe we might have to keep Rick from killin' her," Mal rubbed his chin, ruminating on the possibility with all the concern he might have for the type of skirt was currently in fashion. Which was to say, none at all.
"Mal," Carolyn knew he hated to be pushed. "He's…he's trying…"
"Yeah, I know Carolyn," The Captain nodded. "And if it comes to that, I'll try to keep him from it."
"He told me once, the price of staying free was the lives of the people he'd killed, that he knows every one of them, someone's son, or brother or husband," She said quietly. "He told me he doesn't regret it, because they'd put him in a cage. But he hasn't had to actually murder anyone in a while. Kill yes, but murder…"
"Sir, we're not too far from Dyton," Zoë reminded him quietly.
"In sea faring days, should a man mutiny, he would be marooned on an island," River was clearing the table of dirty dishes as she spoke. "He would be left with a day's worth of food, a bottle of water and a pistol with one bullet so he might commit suicide."
"It's an…elegant solution," Carolyn looked at Mal who nodded grimly.
"And I know just where to set her down," He looked towards the doors. Kaylee and Simon were helping Jack, Kaylee having made the girl a cane of pipe wrapped with foam on the handle and a rubber washer on the end. It was a smaller twin to the one she'd made Mal actually. (Might even be the same one just with one bit of pipe taken out to shorten it.) Opposite them Jayne and Riddick were bringing in Bea and none too gently.
River rolled her eyes at them, and Riddick just grinned though it faded into a grim expression not long afterwards. "Jack should keep her ankle elevated," She glanced at her brother and got a nod. "Use her chair, she will sit elsewhere."
Carolyn guessed, rightly after everyone seated themselves, that River intended to use Riddick's lap as her chair, hopefully keeping him calm. Well, calmer. She doubted anyone in the room was feeling calm at the moment.
"Bea," Mal pointed to a chair and the woman sat, defiant in the face of his authority. "It's come to our attention that you've been sneaking around places you shouldn't be." He nodded towards the shuttle two airlock, "Now what've you got to say for yourself?"
Carolyn leaned back in her chair and studied the girl. Bea had been caught off-guard by Mal's reference to the shuttle and the blonde guessed that most likely she'd believed no one was aware of her late-night snooping. "You've been a guest on this ship for how long now," Carolyn added mildly. "Ate our food, slept in safety."
"Just what are you accusing me of doing," Bea lifted her chin, likely thinking they didn't actually know anything.
"Researching," River said quietly.
"That ain't illegal," Bea's eyes snapped to Riddick.
"Exactly was your endgame," Simon inquired in the cultured tones damn near guaranteed to set Bea's nerves on edge. "You locate warrants on some of us, most of them canceled, and what?"
"Threaten to call the Merc Guild on us if Mal don't fall in line and lead your New Resistance," Zoë inquired in her stoically cool tones.
"Seems like there are a couple of people here who belong in jail, or at least someone'll pay money to put 'em there," Bea retorted with a smirk.
"Well, I had hopes," Mal shook his head. "River, you an' Rick go onto the bridge and get me those co-ordinates I asked for."
"On it," Riddick stood, River in his arms and headed to the bridge without a look back. Carolyn had to wonder at his calm. The woman sitting across from them had just threatened to put him back in prison.
"Sir," Zoë was looking at the blue haired woman with an expression Carolyn could admit she found unnerving. "How much digging did River do on the New Resistance?"
"Quite a bit," Mal shook his head. "Feds caught some of 'em. Most got away." Bea smiled triumphantly but her expression faltered as Mal continued, "Seems the Feds were aware one of the big ring leaders wasn't at any of the locations. Out on a recruitment drive."
"That's interestin'," Zoë looked at Mal. "They got any idea where she is?"
"So far as we can tell, no," He shook his head, his eyes still on Bea and Carolyn wondered what he and Zoë had cooked up with River. The undercurrents of this conversation were getting stronger. "But that's the sorta thing changes with the wind, dependin' on who's lookin'."
"You? You'd turn me in to the Alliance? After what they've done?" Oh, now the girl was furious.
Carolyn sighed quietly and glanced over at Kaylee, Simon and Jack. Jayne had just leaned back in his chair, sipping his coffee as if he was bored. The other three, well Jack was biting her lip and Carolyn guessed she didn't know what to think. Kaylee seemed worried, though whether or not it was for Bea or her crewmates only she knew. Simon…he had his doctor mask on. Cool, calm, unflappable.
"Don't need to," Mal shook his head. "I'm just gonna set you down and let you go your way. And I'll go mine."
Jayne leaned forward with a smirk, "I told you. He's stubborn. You push him, he digs in his heels. I told you, play on his sympathies, tug on his heartstrings. Mal's got morals. But you don' listen. Had to do it your way."
"Jayne, get her back to her room," Mal ordered and the goateed man nodded and hauled Bea to her feet without ceremony.
Author's Notes: So a little shorter than the last few but this is something of a transition. Bea finally pushed Mal too far. Wonder where they'll set her down?
Chinese Translation:
Shì (is / are / am / yes / to be)
jiàn huò (bitch / slut)
