55) Roll Away Your Stone
'War's long done. We're all just folk now.', Mal remembered saying that, once upon a time. It had been sort of truthsome. The war might have been over but the fight for independence never stopped. He just didn't fight with bullets anymore.
He could see how the Miranda wave might rouse folk's ire towards the Alliance. He'd felt fairly enraged himself upon seeing that poor girl who'd only meant the best for folks talking about the Pax and what had happened because of it. And he'd known, in the back of his mind, that what he'd done might set the 'verse on its ear. Might have started another war. He hadn't done it for that.
It was the only way that they'd stop hunting River. Stop killing everyone she came in contact with. The only way he'd seen to keep his crew alive. And when it came down to his crew or the rest of the 'verse, he'd choose his crew every gorram time. And twice on Sundays, not that days of the week had much meaning out in the Black, but it was the sentiment that counted.
He'd heard the rumblings in the 'verse. The whispers that the Dust Devils had never truly been cowed. That the Browncoats would rise again. Mal had done his best to steer clear of anything to do with those mutterings.
And yet somehow, they'd caught up to him anyway.
Well, not somehow, more like someone, Mal scowled.
The day they'd launched Serenity out into the Black again, repaired and made as whole as she could be, River had murmured beside him, 'Storm's getting worse.' He'd taken it literally at the time, since rain had been pummeling Serenity's windows, and reassured her, 'We'll pass through it soon enough'.
His Lil Albatross stood at his elbow, where Zoë usually planted herself, and murmured the same words. "Storm's getting worse." And now he thought they might not be as literal as he'd assumed however many months ago it had been.
"I'm hopin' we'll pass through it safe," He tried a more realistic reassurance and got a frown in return.
Carolyn came down the hall from the bridge, "Kaylee's got one of the crybabies gone and we're on the other side of the rock where we picked up these two." She gave the other occupants of the galley table a glare. "River, you mind checkin' my course? Still not as good as you are with the adjustments."
"Improves constantly. She will get there," River's voice held a smile. Not a big one, but it was something considering the circumstances. She left for the bridge and Carolyn took her place at Mal's side. It was a testament as to how far Carolyn had come in the past six months that she wasn't pushing to know what was going on immediately. Not that she'd ever been bad about it, but she had made a point of asking questions or keeping a sharp eye on situations she found alarming.
"New pilot huh? Damn sight better lookin' than Wash at least," Jayne drawled with his usual courteous (for Jayne) leer.
"Jayne, you wanna commence skippin' to your point," Mal wasn't feelin' any more patient than Carolyn at the moment. "Bein' as her ship practically shanghaied us so's we'd hear whatever it was you've got to say."
"Ain't my point Mal," The big gunhand turned captain turned bèn dàn (though to be fair Jayne always had gotten stupid when the money was too good) shrugged. "It's hers." He indicated the woman sitting beside him.
"Jayne, you recall my dislike for surprises," He kept his voice even. "Now I let you two on this boat. Give me a good reason I oughtn't pitch you right off again, let you fall through atmo and land with a big ugly splat on that rock we're circling."
"Took a lot of time and money to find you," The slender woman regarded him calmly. Black hair wound back with an inch of blue surrounding her face, she had a vague similarity of feature with River and Simon, but the resemblance ended there. Her voice was pure Deadwood and her posture more like Jayne's or Jack's than River's. "We need your help."
"Who's we," Carolyn asked coolly. Nice of her. He liked to look as if he knew more than he did and if she asked the question, he didn't have to.
"Browncoats," The girl couldn't be any older than Simon. "The New Resistance."
"Oh, for the love of—" He could hear Carolyn rolling her eyes as she cut herself off.
"Caro, maybe go down and grab Rick?" Mal suggested in a 'it's not really a suggestion' type of tone.
"Yeah," Her hand squeezed his shoulder as she moved towards the aft stairs. "One huge grumpy babysitter coming right up."
"Babysitter," Jayne frowned. "Why's someone else watchin' the baby? Where's Zoë anyway? Mal what's goin' on?"
Rick must have run (in that disturbingly soundless way he had) all the way up the stairs. Or he'd been closer to the upper deck than Mal had thought. Little Emma had likely been passed off to Simon or Kaylee, since the huge man was empty handed. Once he and River had come down from their snipers' perches on the catwalks (a precaution in case someone came aboard guns ablazin') Rick had been assigned to soothing the baby. Little Emma had a distaste for anything but soft landings and made her displeasure known. Loudly. "Gave her to Simon," He answered the question Mal must've had on his face. "So, who do I get to gut?"
"Whoa! Ain't no need ta gut anyone," Jayne protested.
Mal had to admit, for sheer intimidatin' size Rick had Jayne beat. The man was also smart, fast, lethal and disturbingly capable, four qualities of which Jayne could lay claim to maybe one and a half. "Rick, this's Jayne and that's Bea."
"They the suǒyǒu wú mǔ shānyáng zhōng de wú mǔ shānyáng been doggin' our steps so we're out on the raggedy edge where there aren't any hospitals, but Alliance controlled and/or allied facilities?" The growl of thunder voice came out decidedly unfriendly, not that Mal blamed him. He wasn't feelin' too friendly his own self.
"You might could say," He nodded slowly. "We any closer to a goal?" Strictly speaking he didn't really need to ask, was fairly aware of River and Rick's progress in the search. But it never hurt to remind someone with a thick skull (like one Jayne Cobb) that they had business and dealings that didn't involve him. Remind him that he wasn't part of this crew anymore. Thankfully Mal could count on Rick to play along pretty well.
"It's coming…slowly but River's got ideas," Rick leaned against the galley cabinets, goggles in no way making him less scary as he considered the two newcomers at the table. "Fill you in later?" Mal jerked his head in a nod and Rick tilted his head at Jayne and the girl, "What's their story?"
"Near's I can tell she paid Jayne here to figure where we were, so she can try to tug on my heartstrings and get me to join the New Resistance," Mal kept his gaze on the two people at the other end of the table.
"Yeah, because playing to sentiment works so well with you," Rick snorted and moved to the stove. "You want any coffee?"
Mal shook his head, he'd picked up a mug from the table after leading the two visitors up to the galley. If it gave them the impression that he'd been occupied before they'd practically played chicken with Serenity then all the better. "I'm good with the tea I've got." He stared at the two people at the other end of the table. "Maybe you didn't notice, but we're a working boat. Work ain't easy to find in the best of times and these are decidedly not the best of times."
"Tracking us all over the 'verse ain't exactly endearing," Rick added and Mal managed not to sigh. Rick was like a double-edged sword; he'd go through any bullshit argument like a hot knife through butter, but he tended to take over a conversation. It did leave Mal to watch the other two though, so there was that.
"Didn't mean to put you on the run," Bea shook her head. "Just needed your help."
"Jayne, did I ever, in the entire time you were on this boat, say anything that gave the impression I wanted to fight another war," Mal asked testily.
"Mal, long's I've known you, you've been keen to stick your thumb in th' Alliance's eye," Jayne pointed out not completely incorrectly. "Why wouldn't I think you'd be glad of another war?"
"Not likin' the Alliance, enjoyin' givin' 'em a poke in the eye if safely I can, an' wanting to go my way don't mean I'm eager to take up arms against them. Again," He retorted testily. "Lived through the first war by the skin of my teeth. Lost a lot of good people." He looked at the girl, Bea, near young as River and five times as wide-eyed, "And if you're that eager to fight a war you ain't ever seen one."
"My father fought in the Unification War," Bea shook her head. "He wrote me about you, said you were going to turn the tide. He laid down his life in Serenity Valley believing that you would win the war for them." She met his gaze, no idea about the ghosts that lived behind his eyes, what he saw in dreams, nightmares, "I sought you out thinking the same."
"War's over," Mal shook his head.
"Could've fooled me," Bea snapped back.
Mal sighed and glanced at Rick before he looked back at Bea, "How many people you got on that boat?"
"Twelve, not including me or him," She pointed at Jayne. "All of 'em ready for a fight."
"Uh huh," The Captain frowned at her. "There's plenty people'd pay something handsome to know our whereabouts right now."
Rick nodded, his eyes on the girl, "Twelve crew plus Jayne…" He looked at Mal before he continued. "Someone talked. You likely were followed here."
"I didn't say nothin'," Jayne protested and Mal shook his head.
"We weren't followed," Bea told them firmly.
"Which means you put me and mine in danger when we got plenty of that without your help." He concluded grimly.
"We weren't followed," She repeated.
"And how is it you know that for sure?" Rick asked pointedly. "That fèi tóng làn tiě of a boat didn't exactly look top of the line. Alliance has got plenty of tech capable of tracking without you seein' 'em."
"We'd know," Dark eyes hardened. "They'd have blown us out of the sky long before we found you."
"Not if finding us was their aim all along," Mal retorted.
Rick straightened up from his deceptively relaxed position, "Mal, you mind if I head up to the bridge?"
"I do not. We should be comin' up on the rendezvous point so we can put these two right back on their boat," The Captain nodded. "You see anything else, you even get that itch on the back of your neck, don't wait for orders, just hightail it out of the immediate vicinity so we can figure what's happening."
"You got it," He nodded and in long silent strides left the galley.
Mal regarded Jayne, "Why're you here Jayne? Could've told her where to go to find us. Why come along?"
"Missed it here," Jayne confessed quietly. "Only place that's ever felt like home that wasn't where my ma was. Wanted to come back."
Mal felt the ship shift under them and stood, "Well looks like you're both stayin' a while longer than we'd planned at least." Unfortunate in that it meant a problem, fortuitous because at least he didn't have to make a decision about Jayne immediately.
"What's goin' on," Bea frowned, standing up.
"Well unless I am sorely mistaken, Rick saw somethin' he didn't like and did just as I said he should," The Browncoat looked at her coldly. "And if I could delay our departure any, I'd set the two of you down to meet it. But I can't spare the time."
He turned and hurried to the bridge. Anything that made Rick treat Serenity so abruptly she shook, without any warning, was not of the good.
Author's Note: Things are picking up a bit...So now we've got two people on the boat who technically aren't part of the crew. One of whom knows about River (obviously) and isn't too bright to boot. And what do we think happened on the ground?
Chinese Translations:
bèn dàn (fool / idiot)
suǒyǒu wú mǔ shānyáng zhōng de wú mǔ shānyáng (Motherless goats among all motherless goats)
fèi tóng làn tiě (scrap metal / a pile of junk)
