Battle Scars

Chapter 2 - Discovery

The Setup

Mal Reynolds and the rest of the crew of Serenity are on their way to Paquin. In their cargo hold hidden away in several of those secret places on Serenity that “don’t exist“, is booty acquired by another one of Badger’s contract ship’s for hire named the “Vulture”.

Vulture is captained by a descendant of people native to the old North American continent on “Earth That Was” . His name is Ira Eggers and he is a veteran of the battle of Serenity Valley.

Ira, recently was freed from a government detainment center and now he and his crew are on the run. They still need to eat though so they are hired by Badger on occasion to perform tasks that are risky and dangerous.

Ira had been held on a testing planet because, after the war, it was found that he had certain powers that the government was interested in exploiting for their benefit. Not as skilled as River, yet Ira’s abilities were worth Parliament experimentation. He and his crew now roam the universe, and like many of the old independent fights, are being driven further and further away from the core worlds in order to make a living and survive. God help them…..

PS: Ira Eggers, his ship, the “Vulture” and his crew are properties of Bruce Pluto and Z…..their writer and creator. They are fine actors, whiny at times, but like I keep telling them “If you can find a better job, take it!”. I pay them in beaver pelts because…..I can, and they are constantly wanting more money! If any other fan-fic writer on this site would like to hire them, then they’re yours for a measly two square. I’ve about had it with Ira and his crew. They are continually wanting more outta life than just being a character on a page. I keep telling them, “ Hey, that air that you breath cost money! I pay taxes for those government run terraforming operations so quit your belly aching!”….and so it goes….

Anyway, those are my problems, sorry to think I can burden you with my inability to control what I write on the page. So, now on to the story…..

Battle Scars- Chapter 2: Discovery

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Malcolm Reynolds and his crew on Serenity were sitting in the galley talking about the cargo which they were hauling for Badger to the world of Paquin. He, Reynolds, like the rest of his crew, was curious as to what was in those crates that was so important that another ship wasn’t able to deliver it themselves.

“ Well, how about we go down there and check it out!” Mal said as he stood up from his chair.

“ Now hold one minute there Mal!” Jayne jumped in., “ Last time I had a gander at something we were transporting for Badger I nearly got my head chewed off!”

“ Well this is different!” The captain said.

“ How?” Jayne was still trying to prove a point.

“ Because we ain’t been told not to look.” Mal finished.

He took a crowbar from an adjoining locker and proceeded down towards the cargo hold.

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In the cargo hold, Mal instructed Zoe and Jayne to open one of the side panels to one of Serenity’s secret compartments. They then pulled out a heavy wooden box all crafted up looking like it belonged in warehouse 13 or something.

Mal then proceeded to open it with the crowbar. The lid fell open and all looked inside.

“ Geisha Dolls!!?” Wash and the others mouths hung open.

“ Well Mal…” The pilot looked over to the captain, “…….unless they’re geisha time-bombs I think we need to be in total fear of our live if we get stopped by the Alliance!” Wash, always the character.

Mal only looked at his Serenity pilot.

“ Let’s open another one.” He instructed.

“ Ok, but if it’s more dolls then River will be able to start her own “ Dollhouse”. Wash chuckled at the captain as he assisted his wife in sliding another box from the shelter.

This time the crate revealed something a little different.

“ M-57s!” Mal said as the lid fell off the second crate.

“ A bit more interesting I would think.” Shepherd Book stated as he stood on the sidelines watching the captain and his band of renegades uncork the secret of the boxes.

“…….And look at this Mal!”

Malcolm Reynolds turned toward Jayne as the big merc pulled what looked to be a 2x3 inch battery out of the inside of one of the geisha dolls.

“ O-2 packet!” The big man said. Mal studied the little idem.

“ Used for those M-57s….” Jayne informed Mal. “ Yeah, this can be used so that these weapons can be fired in space.”

It made sense. With the O-2 distributors, oxygen would be supplied around the chamber while the weapon was in the void of atmosphere. This would allow the rifle to fire even when there was no air around the firing pin. Jayne had basically done the same thing with the space suit when Serenity was in the process of being captured for parts by the scrap thugs.

There was other equipment used to do the same thing but these were different.

“ They’re new!” Jayne said, “ State of the art! I seen one of these when we was on Boros some time back.” He continued.

“ Well improved over the old stuff.” Jayne seemed fascinated. Maybe there was an app on Vera for one of those.

“ Interesting.” Book commented for the second time. Mal looked at the preacher. Did Jayne know more’n he knew about this latest bit of technology? Mal slapped himself in his own brain. Reynolds, get a hold of yourself, he thought. If Jayne knows more about this than the Shepherd right now then it’s only a matter of luck.

“ Ok, let’s box this stuff back up!” Mal said, “ Time to discuss our options on this if we get caught by the authorities! Meeting in the galley in 5.” The captain ordered.

Wash looked at Zoe.

“ We have more meeting than Parliament does over a verse disaster.” He said. Zoe just looked at her husband.

“ Amuse him.” She offered.

“ I’ll bring my dinos.” Wash finished.

End Part 2