Tales of the Verse – Patterns etched in Starlight

Author note – This is the first ( and hopefully not last) Tale based in the Firefly verse. However most of these tales will be based on viewpoints and activities of characters not of the Serenity crew.

Spoiler note – this fic is based after ‘Objects in space.’

‘Well, here I am.’

Jubal Early sighed; he had been spinning in zero G for the last half hour. Truth be told the bounty hunter was feeling a little angsty. He watched with lazy disinterest as the Firefly class vessel began to fade in the distance and became nothing more then a speck, a shimmering of light.

Almost like a star.

Early floated there, a splash of red contrasting against the dark and light. He wasn’t angry that he had been beaten, surprised to be sure but not angry. The crew had come together and that little minx had outsmarted him.

Early was surprised, even puzzled.

But not angry.

For a moment he gazed into the black, the kinetic whirlwind that was his thoughts twisting and turning underneath his dark skin like a living storm.

Casually he mentally reached out and grabbed one.

The big dreaded black.

The unforgiving sea which man flies through and keeps away with steel hulls and artificial light. But you can’t really keep it away, it seeps in and twists you and makes you more honest, more real. Solid, yes solid was the word he was looking for.

The thing about the black is that its not. It’s full of stars and if you listen they whisper to you, if you concentrate they share secrets. The trick is too stop listening when they scream to you or else all is lost.

Just ask the Reavers, they knew the secrets.

Early wondered if he would ever see any of the others again. Mal, the not Shepard, the good doctor and the sweet little engineer.

Kaylee.

All smelling of grease and sweat but for her ‘essence’, for lack of the better word. So raw, so vital and full of glorious life and hope it burned at the touch. Part of him had wanted to bathe in it, to feel something again.

But the more honest part of him, the solid, wanted nothing more to be the one to destroy it. To feel the godlike power of taking away all that fire. It didn’t make him a bad man; more honest he would like to think.

Her real ‘smell’ was of strawberries. Of sunlight, of the color red and sweet goodness. Honestly orders aside, he proberly would have spared her life.

Only hers.

Under his normal operating method he would have killed everyone else without a thought. But these where not normal circumstances, he had his orders and he followed them.

Speaking of which…

Pressing a button on his gauntlet he watched as his ship came for him. His mysterious employer had come through on the retrival function built into the ship.

Early almost considered staying a little longer in the company of the black but duty called. A few minutes later he was swinging into his cockpit, free of the suit. He was relieved that the prodigy had made his ship go walkabout instead of destroying it.

Concentrating, reaching out like he was taught so long ago. He ‘felt’ the cockpit, the girls ‘essence’ much like his own. But nothing else to set off his warning bells.

Satisfied he sat down and keyed in a communications protocol. At the rear of his ship a communications relay system more expensive then the Serenity itself unfolded. Typing in his code and activating his scrambler the hunter waited patiently.

It took three minutes for the signal to bounce off ten different satellites before reaching its destination.

The screen came to life and he found himself staring into the face of one of the most powerful and for that matter unknown men in the verse.

Solomon Kane, man, myth and legend.

Noone knew who he was, all that was known he had credits to burn. That he had connections that God would envy. That he was all knowing and all seeing.

The One eyed King in the kingdom of the blind.

Well Early assumed he was a man; all that came to screen was a vague shadowy form and a bright background.

But Early had a ‘feeling.’

‘Report’ the voice was distorted beyond any reorganization.

Reaching out from the monitor he was viewing Early unhooked a strange data box which was blinking on and off. He pressed a series of buttons which caused it to hum.

‘Sending Data now.’ Early said.

Megabytes of data flew on the encrypted line, data picked up from prototype scanners that read River as she sat in his chair. Scanned and analyzed as her neurons flared and burned. As she was stressed and as she was focused.

Early was impressed, the sensors in the chair had picked up things he had never heard of, and Early was very smart.

‘Your impressions?’ asked the same distorted voice.

Early fought a random urge to do an ‘impression.’ Perhaps of the good doctor with his haughty taughty tones. Smiling a wide and unnatural smile he shrugged.

‘Girls wicked smart for one thing…’

‘And?’ The voice was impatient.

‘I’m guessing she is a low level precog, she felt me coming but could get a real feel. She is obviously a ‘reader’ able to read objects and people. But she has her limits, she can not really predict another’s actions but she can guess possible actions based on his or her actions.’

The vague form on screen nodded. ‘Did you finish all Mission objectives?’

Early grinned. ‘Get in; create a stressful situation to increase reading of subject. Create dark and fearful emotions to heighten the subjects Empathy readings. Send data once subject has left ship.’

‘And the prerequisites?’

Early sighed.

‘You are dealing with a professional my friend, no extensive physical trauma to subject or crew. No killing and in the end Subject must be allowed to move on but not be aware under test.’

The form nodded. ‘I will have the data reviewed; your services are not required for now. But if needed will contact you via the normal channels.’

Early darted forward. ‘Wait!’

The form looked as irritated as much as a mesh of pixels could look. ‘Yes’

Early realized that his temporary employer was baiting him. Making him beg for his reward to remind the bounty hunter who was top dog in this arrangement. Early didn’t care, he had to know.

‘Show me.’

For a moment there was nothing, suddenly the picture flickered to show an elderly woman in bed. Her features where pale with grey hair but bright and alert eye. She was in some sort of hospital, surrounded by machinery that looked clean and pristine.

It was a room with a view (something Early demanded). At one of the most expansive and exclusive hopitals in the core.

It was secluded and usually catered to members of the royalty or the richist of the rich.

But for her only the best.

It was day where she was as the sun was bathing her serene features that made her glow.

But in his mind she always did.

That’s what mothers do after all. They glow with an inner light that is blinding; to a son it never fades. Even when they let bad men take you into the dark.

‘Your mother’s surgery was a success,’ reported the distorted voice calmly.’ The experimental Gene therapy has cleaned up most of the cancer cells. She should make a full recovery; my agents can organize a visit…’

‘That won’t be needed, our business is concluded. Till next time.’

The blur nodded. ‘Next time.’

After the screen went dark Early stared back at the stars. He vaguely remembered a boy, much like him. The boy loved his mother a lot, but the boys mind was a little too sharp and his mind tended to dissct things. Unfortunately his mind wasnt the only thing doing the disecting.

That boy was not real, he was not solid. Early was solid and he intended to stay that way. As per agreement with Kane the treatment for his services, he was also given a hefty retainer to stay away from River and the others until ordered.

Early may have been a little unsteady but he was not stupid.

Still there was a part of him that felt…happy. Happy that his mother was alive, he didn’t like the feeling because it wasn’t real. It was a lie, he knew that deep down.

Knowing that made him feel a little lonely.

Soon he would have to move on; he was a predator after all. But for now he would listen and learn. The stars would talk to him oh yes.

Of powerful and mysterious men who hire monsters, but tell them not to kill.

Of mothers who give their loving sons away to men incapable of love.

Of strawberries and fear.

Of a tiny little thing that reminded him so much of another lost thing.

He stared into the dark, and listened.

The End