Drive Chapter One – “Picking Up The Pieces”

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Serenity dipped into a barrel roll as a rad-missile passed within inches of the hull. Explosions sent all colors of light through the bridge. It was a sight that could cast fear and awe at the same moment. “I remember this.” Mal said to himself. “We thought it was just a shiny gold coin. They thought it was a gift from their god. They didn’t take kindly to its disappearance.” “Woah.” Wash whipped the controls to the right to avoid another missile. After leveling out, he quickly wiped the sweat from his brow. “Barely dodged death that time, Cap.” Mal laughed and gripped the railing a bit harder. “They must have chased us for hours until you lost them in that asteroid field. Quite a sight to behold.” He looked over to Wash, who was still struggling with the controls. “You were the best pilot I ever laid eyes on.” “Thanks, Mal. You don’t have to suck up to me, I don’t want to die here either.” “I know, Wash…” A serious frown overcame Mal’s look of pride. “You didn’t die here…but you did.” Wash looked up briefly. “What are you talking about?” He had that quizzing smile that he was so famous for. “You died down there on that planet, Wash.” Tears formed under his eyes. “I’m sorry. Ain’t a day that goes by when I’m not.” “Mal, now’s not the time to go all crazy on me. I…” Wash looked out the front viewport stunned. “Oh…that’s right…I did…” A Reaver spike ripped through the bridge and impaled Wash through the chest.

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“噢, 上帝原谅我!!!” Captain Malcolm Reynolds awoke in his bunk with a loss of breath. He quickly scanned his surroundings and calmed himself down. “Just a dream…Just a horrible, guilt-ridden dream.” After his breath returned, he went about getting dressed.

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“I’m not blaming you, Jayne. All’s I wanted to know is why there was a mark-II blaster in the air-comp manifold. Nearly ripped half of it apart when it kicked on.” Kaylee had her arms crossed in the usual manner when something goes wrong in the engine room. Her bunny slippers silently tap against the metal flooring. “Look! I’m just takin’ steps in case we get boarded and need an extra arm to help us out,” Jayne argued through his shortsightedness. “I’ve put guns in every room of the ship.” “Wait…every room?” “Yeah. I even put one behind that pink nightmare of a dress you own.” “What! You went into my room?! And touched my…” Her eyes widened and her arms dropped to her sides. This caused Jayne to take a step back in fear of getting slapped or worse. He quickly played it off as adjusting his weight to another foot. “Just...want to be prepared is all…” Not wanting to say the wrong choice of words, he quit speaking and took the blaster from Kaylee’s quivering hand. She turned about and made her way down the corridor to the engine room. As Jayne stood in the kitchen holding the blaster, feeling as if he had just dodged his own bullet, Zoe walked in and began making herself a cup of tea. “Hey there, Zoe,” Jayne said. “One of your P7-Semis found its way under my mattress, Jayne.” Jayne swallowed but stood with dignity. “Just wanted to be prepared is all…”

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Mal walked onto the bridge to find River still at the helm. In the copilot’s seat, Simon sat with a book, reading aloud. Both acknowledged the Captain as he walked in. “Good morning, Mal,” Simon said in a cheery voice. “Be lyin’ if I said it was.” Mal looked over to River. “How long has she been at the wheel?” “All night. I thought if I read to her she would start getting tired and get some sleep, but I think she’s enjoying it.” River briefly looked up from the controls and threw a big smile in Mal’s direction. “Huh. Well isn’t that something. Seen that smile as much as I’ve seen an Alliance soldier with manners.” Mal leaned against the siding. “Known some kids her age couldn’t hardly ride a bike than pilot a starship. Knew she was smart, but now I’m beginning to wonder if all our jobs are in dire straights.” “Are you thinking you might wake up with another Browncoat on the bridge calling the shots?” Simon joked. “Hey. Browncoats is a derogatory term, and I won’t have that on my ship,” Mal said seriously. “Besides, they're not really brown. They’re more of a hazel-sunset color. Also, I saw our little girl reading over one of your medical dictionaries." "Temifitis is a condition that causes weakening in heart muscles. Can be treated with small doses of epinephrine injected straight into the blood stream," River spouted from left field. "Ha!" Simon chuckled in astonishment. "I guess you'd be a better doctor than your brother. Practically stabs me with those needles. Are we nearing Persephone?" "Three hours, ten minutes, and twenty-seven seconds. Depending on whether or not the flux reverter shuts down again." River responded in a merciless manner. "A simple 'soon' would have sufficed." Mal opened a compartment and pulled out a water bottle. It tasted refreshing after just waking up. "I'll go see if Inara is awake and prettied up." Simon's voice could be heard starting up again as he continued reading to River

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The hatch to Inara's shuttle opened up as Mal approached. Jayne, with his eyes to the floor and his arms grasping a large rocket launcher of some sort, walked out of the doorway. "Just wanted to be prepared is all!" Jayne shouted into the shuttle. After catching sight of Mal, he shook his head. "Women. Don't like anything what isn't covered in pink fuzz." Mal snickered and walked through the doorway. "Inara, are you decent?" he said before parting the curtain. "Mal, I think you've walked in here a thousand times uninvited." She turned away from a mirror and set down a make-up case. "Are you dying?" "A little bit more every time we speak at each other. Have any...propositions this time around?" "Ever since our little run in with...Miranda...business has been from fans more often than clients." She turned back to the mirror. “Well, I wish my fans had their dedication…I also wish I had fans. How’d that even come about anyhow?” Mal asked. “Word of mouth I suppose.” “I suppose it would.” He turned and sat down on her bed and nearly lost his balance after discovering how soft it was. “If I could only get just one passerby that says, ‘Hey, you’re that one guy,’ that would be fine by me. Instead you get adoring fans that pay you to knock about…Say, are the Companions hiring?” Inara had been tuning him out since he started talking. “Will that be all, Mal?” “So rude. I’ma start charging you double, Miss Celebrity.” With that, Mal exited the shuttle, leaving Inara to laugh slightly when he was out of hearing range.

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-Persephone-

“Never seen you take ‘em back like this. Something wrong?” Jayne swirled his shot of sake around as Mal poured another from the bottle. “You wanna talk about it, brave soldier. ‘Cause I’m the talkin’ sort of guy.” “Everything’s shiny, Jayne. Ain’t a rule says that a man can’t drink in a bar.” Mal took the shot back and slammed the glass on the table. “Yeah, but you ain’t drinkin’, you’re drunk.” Jayne took his shot as well. “Never thought I’d find a drinkin’ buddy in you, Mal.” “Things change. Things are always changin’.” “Right. Well, I’m gonna get us another bottle to celebrate.” After picking up the empty shot glasses, Jayne stumbled off to the bar. After, what Mal thought, was a slight exchange of words between Jayne and another patron, Jayne followed the man out back with his hand tapping at his holster. “Hope he gets shot,” Mal said to himself after pouring yet another glass full. “Hey, Captain Reynolds.” Simon sat down across the table. “Starting the day a bit early I see.” “We’ve been in space. Haven’t had a day for nearly a week. Just makin’ up for it, doctor.” Simon knew why Mal had been throwing himself into the bottle lately whenever they got shore leave. It wasn’t exactly a subject that he wanted to touch on, but knew that he had to. “So, Captain…I…” “How’s that sister of yours?” “Oh! She’s good. She’s good...She’s seeing that Serenity gets refueled on time.” Time to bring it up. “It seems like she’s taken on all of Wash’s duties for the time being.” Mal took another drink. “Knew you wanted to talk about this, doc. To answer your questions in full: No, I do not blame myself for Wash’s death. The man was killed and he will always be missed; ain’t nothing gonna change that. Yes, it is fine that your sister pilots my ship as long as she doesn’t go into one of her episodes and decides to make a landing nose first. And finally, yes, I think we need to hire new people. Hell, nine was barely enough for the sum of our mischief.” “Mal…I didn’t mean…” On his time on Serenity, Simon observed the Captain’s uncanny ability to read people, but not to this extent. “But, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Mal spotted a clock on the wall. “Now, we best get to our meeting.”

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Mal and Simon met Zoe and a bruised-up Jayne at Badger’s place of business. “You don’t reckon Badger has some pent-up aggression?” Zoe asked. She knew he had taken his time at the bar. “Aggression?” Mal’s brow raised. “Aggression from us leaving him out in the middle of the desert…Ring a bell?” “Ah. It’s funny how the most amusing memories are the first to go as time passes. I’m sure he’ll be 罚款和愉快 about it. Just like he practically forgot about yanking our funds at the last minute before sending us on a cattle run. In all honesty, we should a tad bit more disappointed with him than he should with us.” “That’s a fine way of looking at it. But he may just be as 罚款和愉快 with shooting us on sight.” “That he may.” Jayne stopped poking at one of the cuts on his right cheek. “Hell, I’ve been wantin’ to put the guy down from day one. It wasn’t me who grew a conscience at the last second.” “Jayne…” Mal spoke up. “…you should try listening to your conscience. It’ll keep the bruises off your face.” He turned to Simon. “Doc, you’d best keep walkin’ on towards the ship, we’ll be there shortly.” Simon didn’t want to leave, but he knew that his negotiation skills were at zero. Jayne had some, but that was on account of the large gun. “Alright, Mal.” He began walking towards Serenity, looking back every few steps. A large man opened the door to the shop. He said nothing, but motioned for the crew to enter. The cloth that covered the rest of the place flapped gently with the gusts of wind caused by hovercraft over head. “Welcome back to Persephone, ol’ chums.” Badger said in his thick accent. “Pleasure to see you again, Badger.” Mal threw up a fake smile. “Badger? That blighter?! Nah, mate. I’m his twin brother, Boyle.” Jayne looked over to Zoe and Mal to make sure they were as confused as he was. “Well…what happened to Badger? Not that we ain’t delighted by his absence.” Mal asked. “It seems he got into a deal he weren’t suppos’d to. Got snatched up by an Alliance agent. Now he’s up at the penney doing a dime. Serves him right.” He spit on the ground. “Dumb bastard couldn’t even beat half of what Fanty and Mingo rake in on the daily.” “Ain’t that a shame. You got work for us?” “As a fact of the matter, I do.” Boyle turned around and pulled a piece of paper out from his desk. “Now, I’ve heard of you a lot ‘round here. The word on the street says that Captain Malcolm Reynolds is a man that gets the job done. I must apologize for my brother puttin’ a damper on the process of things a few jobs ago. I’ll be damned, I won’t make the same mistake.” He handed the paper over to Mal. “Is this the job?” “It is. You see there’s a certain…artifact that is, on occasion, transferred from one Alliance outpost to another. They never keep records of its transportation if it goes through the Alliance itself. But on this particular transport it’s being handled by an independent contract, so we were able to get our hands on this…the contract.” Zoe could see that this was definitely not Badger, but she could also see a shared trait the two had. Slight of the tongue. “What did you mean by ‘artifact’?” Boyle’s eyes broke contact for a split second. “It’s an item of ideal importance that, I believe, should not be kept by those of the Alliance. You understand.” Mal smiled at this. “Indeed we do. What’s the timeframe after the artifact goes missin’?” “I figure it takes the vehicle the better part of three hours to reach the port before it’s shipped off-world. Best be disappearing by then. Good luck to you, Mister Reynolds.”