BLUE SUN ROOM FAN FICTION - ADVENTURE

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Passing through the storm - Part Eight (Repost)
Monday, December 10, 2007

River's senses give them a new destination to head for, which leads to a completely unexpected cargo.


CATEGORY: FICTION    TIMES READ: 2395    RATING: 10    SERIES: FIREFLY

At quarter past eleven the next day, River and her party were already waiting in a large private booth at the Draco Etamin tavern. Jayne hadn't recovered enough to make the trip, to his disappointment, (though he hadn't stubbornly contested his doctor's orders more than once,) and he had stoically refused to let anyone else stay aboard Serenity to keep him company - therefore, the group was made up of River herself, Simon, Kayle, and Zoe.

The tavern was fairly busy and noisy, however a number of these booths seemed to have been constructed with soundproofing in mind - probably a reason that Garcia had suggested meeting here. Zoe had even used a bug detector on the table and seats, the walls of the small alcove that they all sat in, and had found no signs of outside observation. So they waited.

"Wonder when the captain and Inara will be getting back here," Kaylee said in a soft voice. "Didn't think that they'd have to stay long up on the moon."

"Well, Inara's friend probably wants to show them proper hospitality," Zoe pointed out, "especially in light of what happened on their way there. A little crashland and some backpacking may not seem like much of a big deal to us, but to some settled Companion lady, it must seem like they nearly died." Simon choked slightly at that sentiment. "Well, I know that they could have died in the crash, but - you know."

"Yeah, I guess I do," Simon muttered. River knew that he wouldn't be sanguine about Mal and Inara until they were back on Serenity and he could check over their blood himself - or something like that.

"So, River," Kaylee said, a bit too brightly, trying to change the subject. "You said that you met a guy yesterday? What's he like?"

"Umm... actually, I just picked him up because I needed a ride out of the city," River admitted, "but he was kinduv cool. Around my age, really smart, and his name is... oh, wait." Something that had been nagging at River suddenly snapped into focus - somebody crossing the room towards them.

"Unusual name," Zoe joked.

"Hello again," Simon put in as Garcia stepped up and took his seat, alone this time.

"Okay, my ship is leaving in an hour and a half, so let's make this quick. You got something new for me, little girl?" he said, looking at River.

"Umm... I'm not sure," she hedged. The complexity of Garcia's mind was coming at her more and more strongly, without her wanting to delve into it, and the sensation was making her dizzy. "Can - umm, can I see the message one more time?"

"Okay, I guess." Garcia made a big production of digging through his bag, while Simon shot River an inquiring look - apparently he knew her well enough to tell that something was wrong, though nobody else was noticing. Garcia produced the plastic sheet and sent it around to River.

As soon as she saw it, everything snapped into focus - well, better focus than before, anyway - including the important thing about Garcia's mind. She continued staring at the words before her, trying to memorize as much of the message as possible while maintaining a slightly puzzled, pensive look on her face. Finally she passed it back. "Sorry, I - I thought I'd have something, but no."

"No hints at all?" Garcia seemed to be very upset at having come down here for nothing. "Umm, I think that I can manage a rendezvous with..."

"I don't think that will help," River blurted out, and suddenly she couldn't struggle against an urge to *get away!* Quickly rising to her feet, she slipped out of the booth, and rushed towards the nearest side exit from the building. Once she was out in the open air, she felt able to breathe and relax a bit more. Turning around, she wasn't too surprised to see Simon hurrying over to her.

"What... what is it?" he asked. "You know *something* - I'm sure that you do. Why not tell Garcia what it is?" He hesitated. "Is it something as horrible as Miranda was?"

She had to give him a faint smile in reply. "No, though the implications are... unsettling. I *can't* tell Garcia - that's part of what I know." River lowered her voice. "He's under and influence. If - if the man you knew as Garcia gets concrete evidence to where the Eight are, he will report them to... I'm not sure who. Somebody connected with the Parliament or the Academy - those who were funding it."

"Garcia's an alliance agent?" Simon exclaimed, a little too loud. "Umm, sorry. But - that's hard to believe."

"He's not an agent - agents know who they're setting out to betray, they realize it," she corrected him in an undertone. "Garcia has no idea that anybody's got to him - but he'd doom them all the same. I'm just lucky that his orders made no mention of narcing on me."

"So - you mean he's been conditioned somehow?" Simon said, getting it. "Behavioural modification triggers or something similar. If the people who were running the..." He shied away from exactly what they were running. "If they can do that..."

"I don't think that there are too many with that kind of control, and they're probably most worried about keeping their own anthills standing up now," River pointed out now. "Oh, good, he's leaving."

"Alright," Simon said, smiling and not questioning how she knew that. "Should we go back in, or do you want to tell me what else you found out now?"

"Ehh, both, it won't take long to tell you now," she said, falling into step next to him. "One is that we should go to Hera first. That's part of the message. I'm not sure if we'll be able to find them there or just another clue, but that's where it said to go - and I do feel as if the message is mine to take now, even if it wasn't sent to me."

"Okay." Simon sighed. "You realize that if we're staying with Serenity, we don't get the final vote in where it goes, right? Mal might not want to sign up for another wild scheme like this - he has to go where the work goes, and the work we can find here might take us somewhere very different."

"I know," River admitted. "Being part of a family is all about compromise. Just saying what I want. And the second - is that I'll need a rare book from Earth-that-was to understand more of the secret code."

"A book?" Simon asked. "Something about cryptography."

"Not really." River sighed. "'Alice in Wonderland' - the annotated edition by Martin Gardner."

"Whew." They were coming back into the busy tavern now. "Tall order. I've heard of 'the Annotated Alice,' of course, but calling it rare - even as a computer file - would be an understatement."

"Well, I like to share these challenged with you, because I know how bored you get with the simple days of saving lives, taking a small part in thrilling heroics, and trying to keep a girlfriend," she pointed out.

"Hey, what happened?" the girlfriend said as they went back into the booth. Simon just shrugged at her with half a smile. "Well, the waitress has already been - I ordered for both of you."

"What am I getting?" Simon shot back.

"No... don't tell him, Zoe," Kaylee insisted. "It's a surprise." Pause. "That goes for you too, little witch," she added as an afterthought to River.

River didn't even try to find out. She liked surprises - most of the time.

-----------

When the four of them got back to the ship, they could see a new and shiny shuttle in the number one dock - Mal and Inara had gotten back just a few minutes before. Everybody gathered in the dining room to catch up on stories, which took a while.

"So, umm, as soon as we'd gotten to the mansion," Mal said, wrapping up his tale. He shot a quick look over at Inara just to try and see how much of the Guild stuff he should tell the crew, but she had a very good bluffer's face on, and wasn't revealing anything. He tried for the very basic minimum that would be needed to tell them, to finish off the story. "There were important people there, from the Companion's guild, who wanted to talk to her - to both of us, actually. About Miranda, among other things. Inara was so good at it that they offered to pay her as a roving scout."

"Oooh, so that means you'll be staying with us permanently?" Kaylee exclaimed, nearly clapping her hands in excitement. Actually, she sortof made the sound of one hand clapping, since her left arm was wrapped firmly around Simon.

"Yes, yes, I'll be here, wherever we may go," Inara assured her. "And that's when they offered us the Thunderhawk, since we'd been on our way to meet with them when the old one got destroyed." She looked over at Mal. "Oh, and somebody mentioned that you'll be credited for the salvage operation on both wrecks, Mal - minus the fines for starting a forest fire on Ares." Mal sighed slightly.

"Speaking of 'wherever we may go,'" he resumed after a moment. "Does anybody have a lead on a job that would take us away from here? I... I think that I've had nearly enough of the Boros neighborhood for now, though I might want to enjoy the city for a night or so. Didn't really get a chance before."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Jayne put in, stiffly reaching for a drink. "But no, the one job I sussed out here wasn't one to take us elsewhere, and that didn't work out so well." Several of the others chimed in with similar sentiments, about wanting to leave soon but not knowing where to go.

"I... I told you why I want to head for Hera," River said in a small voice. "But that's not really a paying proposition I suppose."

"No, I guess not," Mal said, looking at her. Considering how much that tiny little girl had turned their lives upside down - and shaken, at least, the rest of the whole 'Verse, he wasn't quite sure what he thought of going after eight other Academy escapees. "Also, it's a long way to get to that world, at this point."

"Not if River does her shortcut," Jayne pointed out. "She showed it to me for Higgins' moon, but Athens is just past Hera at this point, right??"

"Nearly ninety million klicks further on," Zoe shot back. "But what's this shortcut, girl? Some kind of a deep-slot across the heart of the system?" River nodded vaguely. "Well, I always did like those... you sure that you're up for it, though?" She narrowed her eyes at River, perhaps trying to measure the younger girl up against her lost beloved as a pilot.

"Ten and a half days, working the slingshot off Verbena," River insisted.

"Well, maybe if we can work out some other business there," Mal said. "Zoe, think you're strong enough to pound the pavements?"

"Not pound on them too hard, sir," she replied dryly. "But maybe they'll talk anyway."

-----------

Mal was quite surprised to see a guy in the uniform of the Boros independents fall in next to him as he returned from a fruitless search towards the ship. At this point, all Mal wanted to do was sneak off somewhere with Inara. "Yes?"

"Captain Reynolds, sir, I was just coming over to meet with you and your crew," the man said. Now Mal realized that he had been there at his meeting with the Administrator.

"Um, look, I've considered the offer, and I just can't... I can't give up my ship yet," Mal blurted out, surprised enough by this meeting to fall back on the truth, if not the whole truth. "I admire what you're trying to do here, but I can't be a part of... of this new government you're trying to start. Not if it would keep me in one place for too long."

The man smiled slightly. "Oh. Well, Mister Weedun will be disappointed, but frankly the office pool was against you taking him up on his offer. Bit of a long shot. I was coming mostly about something else - dropping off the bounty for your man Cobb." He extended a small cloth bag. "Figured that he'd want it in hard currency - I can trust you to see that this makes it to him and his partner, yes?"

"Um... minus my cut, yes, but... but why?" Mal was blinking furiously. "They - they didn't bring the man or the gear in."

"Well, no, but they were brutally assaulted and nearly killed in the course of bringing him in." Mal stared, not quite understanding why that should matter. "The - the alliance might not have cared about anything other than who actually brought the accused to them, and turned a blind eye to poaching between bounty hunters, but we're putting a stop to such things. All marshals had to sign a contract of behaviour before being approved, and your people were clearly in the wrong. They found the suspect, they apprehended him. They get the money, and we'll be pressing charges against the man who actually brought Snowton into the justice department. Of course, now he's claiming that he didn't fire the shots, but I think we'll still have a case. Cobb and Washburne will have to give depositions before you leave the planet. Any notion where you'll be heading next, captain, by the way?"

Mal's head was swimming slightly, and he reached out to steady himself against the nearest ship - which was actually Serenity. "Umm, not really - some business to attend to on Hera, but I'm not sure if we'll be able to get there right away."

"Really? Amazing." The flunky, who Mal was actually starting to like somewhat, smiled eagerly and looked around to make sure that nobody was listening. (Mal idly wondered if River might be spying on them at this moment.) "There is an Independent faction on Hera that is almost ready to declare itself openly as the legitimate government of this world, as Boros has done, except there are a few requirements to consolidate their position first. We have agreed to supply them with armaments, some other badly needed equipment, and a few personnel posessing key skills - we need to make sure that the shipments aren't intercepted by Alliance patrols, and arrive as soon as possible. I think that your ship might be one of the ones that we need."

Mal couldn't help his interest. "How much would the whole job pay?"

"A sliding scale, depending on the time of arrival, assuming everything and everybody arrive in excellent condition."

"My pilot says that she can get there in ten and a half days."

The man's eyes widened. "What, with a deep-slot trajectory?" Mal nodded. "Those are dangerous... but I think that we can come to an understanding."

"Great," Mal said. "By the way, I don't think I remember your name."

-----------

"Oh, yeah, this really was a great idea," Inara said, running a hand over Mal's chest as she lay back in the pool. "Especially since once we get up into space, it's back to nothing but sponge baths for a week and a half, at least."

"Really?" Mal asked, grinning. "I thought that the Thunderhawk had a shower stall in back."

"You're kidding!" Inara looked into Mal's eyes and saw nothing but slightly amused sincerity there. "I... I didn't see a door for one when taking a look around it, but then, I suppose I might have missed it." She moved closer, rubbing her bare skin against Mal's in a way that made him groan. "Not big enough for both of us at once, I suppose."

"No, actually, I think that whoever designed it probably didn't think of that," Mal agreed. "More's the pity."

"Oh well." Inara sighed, completely relaxed. "We'll be able to think of other ways of having fun together, but this won't be one of them."

"No, it won't." Mal shifted slightly so that he could look at his lover's face, and all kinds of things that he wanted to say but couldn't ran through his mind. 'Yes, Inara, I'll leave the ship behind for you.' 'Tell the guild you'll stop seeing clients.' 'Let's get married.' 'Is the way you make me feel when I'm in your arms the way you feel?' And more and more...

"So, I've told the Guild that we'll be on our way to Hera," Inara continued on. "In addition to whatever general dispatches I might file, they've alerted me to a possible investigation - something about two Guild members being held against their will - not clear if it's a legal proceeding, a hostage incident, or something in between." She sighed. "Of course, Guild authorities on Hera are already looking into it, but they might ask for my help in some capacity once I get there."

"And might you ask for mine, or that of the rest of the crew?" Mal asked. Inara hesitated. "If... if you ever do need help, with this or any other Guild assignment, I do hope that you'll speak up about it."

"Yes, of course I will," she agreed, idly waving her hand around in the water and making tiny little splashes.

"And - and why did you REALLY live Sihnon?" Mal suddenly couldn't help asking. "Did you really just want to see the 'Verse outside the core worlds? Were you angling for a job as roving reporter, that you've finally gotten??"

"Ohh!!" Inara let the sound out as a gasp, her whole body trembling. Mal reached up to run his fingers through her wet hair as reassuringly as he could, without even thinking about the gesture. "No, umm, it wasn't anything so simple. Mal... I don't want to keep secrets from you now, but I'm not ready to tell you this yet. Maybe it was unfair for us to get involved without me completing full disclosure, but..."

"Shh," Mal whispered, even as some part of his mind was racing, wondering what could be so bad. "Whenever you're okay to tell me..."

"Before we land on Hera," she blurted out suddenly, and Mal realized that she was nervous over having given herself a deadline like that. Well, maybe it was for the best.

"Okay," he said. "But never think that it was unfair of you to share yourself with me like this, no matter what." Inara smiled a little wryly, but then started giggling when Mal brought his lips to caress her earlobe.

----------

When Mal entered his ship again, (*without* Inara, as she would be returning about ten minutes later so as to not lead anybody too easily to the conclusion that they had been spending time together,) the cargo bay was a buzz of activity. Zoe and Kaylee had pretty much taken care of the loading, and Mal stared slightly at the piles of ray emission tubes, hypercapacitors, sophisticated scanning gear, and other items packed within the belly of his Firefly.

"Hey, buddy - yeah, I'm talking to you, the guy who's just standing around and waitin' on an exciting picture show," Kaylee called out. "There are bungees right next to you - look alive and start securing the power generator rods. We can't just leave them piled up like so, they'll shift and bump into the rocket warheads as soon as we take off. Lord a'mighty!!"

The guy that she'd called out at did indeed start to make himself useful, and Mal grinned slightly at forewoman Kaylee, (she didn't even notice him lookin' at her,) and headed over to where Simon and River were watching the progress - either lollygagging or supervising in a less active way.

"Any word on our passengers?"

"We've got two all checked in," Simon replied, and Mal was pleasantly smiled that the doctor should be so well informed. Maybe he'd have to start revising his usually cynical opinion of the man's competence in non-mdeical matters upwards. Possibly it was Kaylee's influence. "The third should be arriving presently."

"Right, three," Mal muttered aloud. "Did Inara pack up out of her room in the stern before leaving?" He knew that she had, having stolen a moment with her in the shuttle, but didn't see any harm in playing dumb on that score. "Well, there's one more matter then. River, it hasn't escaped my notice that you've been wanting a spot up front, with the rest of the crew - you're entittled, and now that we have real and true passengers, it only makes sense to keep you seperate from them."

"Yes, sir," River answered. "On the other hand, I'm not sure I'm lookin' to share a bunk - as nice as you are, and Zoe and Jayne..." She trailed off, considering. "Maybe I could sleep in shuttle two..."

"Actually, I guess it's escaped your notice that there's actually a fifth forward cabin, now," Mal said, and smiled with pleasure at the Tam's expressions of complete shock. "Somebody back at Eavesdown docks got our blueprints mixed up with a Firefly model one, and so we got ourselves a bit of a redesign a few ways, and that's one. The hatch isn't in the same corridor as the others, it's off around the corner, near the ladder to the topside airlock, but it's a perfectly good room."

"Okay, maybe," River said, considering this. "Still don't make much sense, for me to be in the bunk closest to the engine room - and the infirmary, and Simon and Kaylee to be in one of the ones nearest to the cockpit..."

"Oh, don't start that, please," Simon replied. "Kaylee loves that bunk - she doesn't care how small it is or how far it is away from her engine, so you'll only stir up trouble by..."

"I don't know, maybe we can manage to convince her," Zoe put in, startling Mal slightly. "There's a few things could do with getting shaken up around here, I think."

"Don't tell me that you want to give up your room, Zoe," Mal muttered. "I'll believe that one when I see it."

"Well, we'll see." She smiled a trace of a smile. "In the meantime, here's our final passenger, a Mister Derek..."

"Derek!" River exclaimed, her eyes bugging out at the pleasant young man standing beside Zoe.

"River!" he replied. "What a surprise to see you here - I thought you said you lived on a really big freighter. Or did your family change postings?" River didn't reply. "Are you Mister Frye, sir?" he asked Simon. "Is your wife around? I'd like to meet the sister-in-law that River mentioned."

River turned around at this point and ran up the stairs, out of the bay entirely. Simon looked at Mal, who just shrugged.

-----------

A few hours after takeoff, half of the crew was gathered in the cockpit to watch as River made the Verbena slingshot. After this, Serenity would be nearly motionless in interplanetary terms, left behind as Boros and its two moons continued on their orbital course through the sky. It would begin to fall towards the sun, and River would use the ship's drive to accelerate that plunge through the heart of the 'Verse, so that they could come out on the other side, near Hera, in only a few days.

This was the point of no easy return - once the slingshot was negotiated, it would take a lot of time and fuel to catch up with Boros again and return to that world, if such a course were even feasible. Mal could see the knowledge of that in the faces of River herself, of Simon and Zoe as they watched.

Mal had to admit that he'd never seen Wash handle a slingshot better. Despite the name, they didn't really catapult off with much more velocity than they had approached Verbena, but the mass of the moon allowed River to easily change their vector of flight.

And as the lavender half-circle dwindled to the size of a playing ball behind them, Inara suddenly rushed in. "News just broke over the Cortex," she told them. "Unrest has just broken out on the Core worlds!"

"What kind of unrest?" Zoe asked. "Is there battle in space?"

"What about Osiris?" River couldn't help but ask.

"I... I don't think so, yet, and I'm not sure," Inara told them apologetically. "On - on Londinium, the civil defense forces have declared 'for the rights of the free people', and there's been skirmishes between them and the Parliamentary guard." Mal groaned. "And - and in the Great City of Sihnon tonight, the lights are of buildings burning."

Mal's heart went out to her as he heard those last words. He knew now, how dear Inara's hometown was to her heart, even after being away for so long. And he knew what it was like to suddenly hear of a disaster afflicting one's home. Without stopping to think if it would look suspicious, he opened his arms and enfolded Inara in them, as her composure failed her and tears started to stream down her cheeks.

"What kind of a hornet's nest are we going to be flying through?" Simon muttered, his voice faint and quavering.

THE END.

(Sequel will probably be forthcoming soon.)

COMMENTS

Tuesday, December 18, 2007 8:16 PM

DESERTGIRL


oh you can't leave it there. It was so well written and there are to many things I want to know. I hope your sequel is almost finished.


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