This is a fan fiction set in the Firefly/Serenity universe created by Joss Whedon. It takes place after the events in the television series and the companion motion picture that followed. This means it has SPOILERS, folks, and major ones at that. So please don't read this unless you get the chance to see the series and the movie -- both, in my opinion, some of the best science fiction ever created for the big or small screen.
But if you're already a Browncoat tried and true -- someone who knows what it means to have "done the impossible" -- read on!
FIREFLY: CONNECTING FLIGHT
by Randalynn
Synopsis:
Just out of flight school, Hoban Washburne learns how to "do the impossible." After saving Serenity and losing his life, Wash is offered the chance to go back and keep his old crew alive -- but of course, there's always a catch . . .
Chapter One -- Changing Planes
It was the night before graduation. He should be back at The Hanger, guzzling rice wine and celebrating his hard-won employability with the rest of the students. After all, there were a few high-ticket offers sitting in his message queue, waiting for him to decide where he wanted to work and how much he was going to make. The future was finally here, and if opportunity was knocking, Hoban Washburne wanted to make sure he greeted it at the front door with beer, snacks, and a hearty welcome.
But Skinny said he needed to come here, tonight. To this small green door in the heart of the market district, with all the stalls and stores closed up tight, force fields sparking as he walked past, his footsteps echoing down the empty streets.
"Think of it as a final lesson, Washburne," Skinny had said, taking him aside after his last class. "You've got what it takes to be a great pilot. But this guy . . . well, this guy could make you the best there is. If you're willing to take a chance."
Normally, Wash wouldn't be caught dead in this part of the city at night. 'Well,' he mused, 'maybe I'd be caught and then wind up dead.' He grinned in spite of himself. 'Coming here definitely wasn't the smartest thing Mrs. Washburne's little boy has every done. But nobody ever said I was smart — devastatingly handsome, maybe, but certainly not smart.'
He caught a glimpse of his reflection in a shop window, and one finger crept up to touch the bushy mustache that hung under his nose like a blond boot brush. Half the time he just wanted to shave the thing off. He almost felt like he was hiding behind it.
'The other half of the time, I can't bear to . . . just cut it down in its prime,' Wash thought with a grin. 'At first, I wasn't sure about having a moustache, but then it just . . . grew on me . . . ' He snorted, and turned away from the window to face his destination. Squaring his shoulders, he marched towards the door, half-smile still playing across his lips.
As he reached the door, it swung open before he could knock. After a brief pause, Wash sauntered into the black entryway like he didn't have a care in the world.
The door closed silently behind him.
After a few seconds staring into a darkness as black as space itself, a single spotlight popped on to reveal an ancient Chinese gentleman in brightly colored robes. He was sitting in the center of a highly polished hardwood floor that seemed to extend out beyond where the circle of light could reach.
"Hoban Washburne." The man spoke definitively, no question at all in his voice.
"Ah, I see my reputation has preceded me," Wash replied lightly, keeping a crooked smile on his face. "Who would have thought fame would find me so early in my career?"
"Actually, the name is written on your flight jacket." It was the man's turn to smile.
There was a long, slightly embarrassed silence. "Yes, well . . . you have me at a disadvantage," Wash said.
"Yes, I do." The man smiled again. "You may call me Chiang."
Another silence. Wash took a deep breath and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Well, I could call you Gladys, as far as that goes, but that's probably not your name either."
Chiang nodded, still smiling. "Chiang will do. Or Gladys, if you prefer. My name is unimportant. It is what I have to teach you that matters."
Wash nodded. "Skinny said you could make me a better pilot."
"Skinny?" The man's brow wrinkled briefly, then he smiled again. "Flight Instructor Erskin. Ah, yes. I presume you gave him the nickname?"
Wash looked down, almost sheepishly. He nodded.
"Flight Instructor Erskin weighs over three hundred pounds. Obviously, your nickname is not accurate."
"No, but it is funny as hell," Wash pointed out cheerfully. "Especially when the whole class started using it."
"Were you not afraid of angering your instructor?"
The flight school graduate grinned. "He's a pilot, too. That means he's got an ego the size of a gas giant and then some, or he'd never get behind the stick in the first place. He laughed as much as the rest."
Another silence. Chiang regarded Wash with a critical eye. "You do not, I see."
The pilot felt a wave of confusion run through him, not for the first time since he walked through the door. "Do not . . . what?"
"You do not have 'an ego the size of a gas giant,'" Chiang smiled. "You use humor to hide the fact that you do not possess a pilot's . . . overwhelming confidence . . . in all things."
Wash thought a minute, and shrugged. "Ba Jiu Bu Li Shi. I can fly anything that's meant to fly, and I can play at being ship's mechanic if you can't find anyone better. That's what I've got. You want gourmet cooking, impressionist art, or juggling geese, you need to keep looking."
Chiang nodded. "That is why . . . Skinny . . . sent you to me. There are few pilots who could learn what I have to teach. He apparently thinks you are one of them." Chiang considered, and nodded again. "And I agree."
Again, there was silence. Wash waited. Finally, Chiang spoke. "Have you ever considered the impossibility of flight?"
Wash looked at him, confused. "Since I'm a pilot, I tend to assume that when I get into a ship, it's going to go up, and hopefully stay there until I decide to bring it back down again. It's not really a good idea for me to think something can't fly."
"That is, of course, understandable," Chiang said in a conversational tone. "But consider this . . . when you look at a spacecraft, or any heavier-than-air vessel, what makes it fly . . . is faith."
"Faith?" Wash's mind spun, and he began to smile. "I've thrown my share of prayers into the black from time to time to keep a bird in the air, but there's a whole lot of science behind getting a ship off the ground and making it stay there."
"And you have faith in that science, correct?"
"Well . . . yes. Of course I do, or I wouldn't climb into the cockpit in the first place."
"And without you, would that ship fly?"
"I'm not the only pilot in space."
Chiang sighed. "Without someone sitting in that chair, holding onto that stick and believing that the ship can fly . . . would it ever get off the ground?"
"Will you hurt me if I mention the autopilot?"
"The autopilot has to be activated, again by someone who believes." He waved two fingers in a gesture that could have meant anything, but Wash instantly knew he was mildly irritated. "Let us stipulate that the ship must be fueled, its engines serviced. Now, please answer my question."
Wash sighed. "Yes. Someone has to believe the ship can fly, or it won't."
The old man nodded, a smile on his face. "Now, that belief is supported by the science of flight, because civilization as we know it has depended on science to explain how the Universe works for over a thousand years. But the belief itself can be strong enough to stand without the science."
Wash felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach. "Excuse me, but beliefs should be backed up by facts. Otherwise they're just opinions, and bad ones at that."
"We have already established one fact -- it takes faith to make a ship fly."
"Yes but it also takes a ship!" Chiang looked at him, and Wash felt a sudden need to make the man see reason. "Look, Gladys, Dui Niu Tan Qin, okay? I may be easy-going, but I know how the Verse works. What's real is real, and what isn't, isn't, right? And wind and gravity are real. A man can't fly just by thinking he can, anymore than he can breathe vacuum!" He paused for a second, and a smile touched the corner of his mouth. "Although there have been a few people in my past I'd have liked to see try."
Chiang favored him with a brief smile, but his eyes soon turned serious again.
"Consider the leaf on the wind," he said softly. "It does not think, or feel, or believe. It simply is. It dips, it soars . . . it flies, but only as the winds and gravity command. But if the leaf could think, could feel . . . could believe . . . it could also choose not to do what nature demanded. It could soar when the wind said to dip, or drift when there is no wind at all." His eyes found Wash's and held them, and the pilot could've sworn they flashed with a green fire that came from within. "Mister Washburne, the belief of a determined individual can be stronger than all that is, if only his will is strong enough."
Wash looked at the man for a moment, then shook his head and sighed.
"As entertaining as this conversation is," he said, "I'm afraid I can't agree with you. You're telling me I can do the impossible. I mean, if I had some proof . . . even a little . . . you would have my full and undivided attention. But as much as I love the idea of it, I find it hard to believe I can keep anything in the air just because I want it to fly. In a wrestling match with the Verse, I'm way out of my weight class." Wash gave Chiang a lopsided smile. "Or as my daddy used to say, 'wishing don't make it so.'"
Chiang sighed, closed his eyes, and rose effortlessly to hover several feet above Wash's head. His robes rustled as they drifted downwards, still listening to gravity with the obstinate lack of self-determination that only comes from the most inanimate of objects.
A chill ran through Wash's entire body as the old man floated over him with a serene smile.
"Of course, my daddy was wrong about so many things," the pilot said, his tone almost conversational. "At one point, he actually wanted me to be a ballerina."
Chiang's eyes narrowed. "You mean a ballet dancer?"
Wash shook his head. "Nope, a ballerina. Toe shoes, tights, tutu, sweaty guys throwing me in the air." He shrugged. "What can I say? Dad was always a bit . . . quirky."
"You are a strange man, Mister Washburne."
"Says the guy floating three feet over my head," Wash replied with a grin. "In any case, you have my attention, Gladys. Can you teach me to do that?"
Chiang bowed his head as he drifted back to the hardwood floor. "Sadly, that is not possible. Not in the time we have. It would require many years of dedication and study. But your mind is open to the possibility. I can plant the seeds, and over the years, they may grow. And one day you may find a way to bring the knowledge to the surface . . . when you need it most."
He beckoned Wash to come closer, and pointed to a spot on the floor nearby.
"Come," he said, a smile playing across his lips. "Consider this your . . . graduation present."
Wash dropped into a seated position and smiled back. "Oh, heck, and here I was hoping for a watch. Maybe a really nice fountain pen." Chiang threw him a dark look, and Wash held up his hands. "No, no! Floating is good, too! Really!"
Chiang sighed. "Then let us begin."
When it had finally sunk in that the battle was over, Serenity's crew realized that, for the first time in a long time, they could relax, just a little. So before they started the thankless task of putting their damaged ship -- and their home -- back together again, everyone gathered in the galley. Although the burials had been done and the funeral rockets fired, they all still needed to say goodbye to absent friends.
Surprisingly, the last of the Haven homebrew had made it through the battle intact, and everyone sat and drank and told stories about Book and Wash. Zoe was mostly silent, although she smiled every time someone mentioned her husband, and took another sip of her drink. The impromptu wake went on for hours, but eventually, one by one, the rest of the crew drifted off to bed, leaving only Mal and Zoe.
The silence was almost a comfortable one, but Mal fidgeted a bit, needing to say something but not quite knowing how. Zoe spoke first.
"It's all right, Captain," she said, her voice level and nearly emotionless. "We had to do it. Not just to save River, but to show everyone out there what the Alliance really was." Even though it was unspoken, Mal still heard what Zoe wanted him to hear. 'It's okay, Sir. I don't blame you for Wash's death.'
Mal looked down at the table and spoke into his glass. "For all the times he and I had words, and there was more than a few, you know how I felt about Wash. He was crew. He was family. For all the things he did to try and hide it, he was strong and he was smart. And he could fly like nobody else in the 'Verse. That's . . . that's somethin'." He took a big swallow, and reached over for the bottle for a refill. "I know . . . I know you loved him. And as much as it made my life a hell of a lot more interesting, I was happy for you when you found him -- when you found each other. I just --"
He went silent, and it was Zoe's turn to hear what wasn't said. 'You may not blame me, but I still do.' It was one of the qualities that made her follow him, on the battlefield and off.
For the Captain, there was no such thing as an acceptable loss.
Every man mattered.
And every death under his command killed a little piece of him as well.
'Which is why he left so much of himself behind in Serenity Valley,' she thought sadly.
Zoe put her hand on his and squeezed. Mal looked up, surprised, and she smiled.
"One thing's for sure," she said softly, "my man really could fly. I was surprised he managed to get us down alive, as bad off as Serenity was."
Mal nodded, almost happy to move away from his own sense of guilt. "That's a fact. That pulse weapon took out most of the flight systems. Wash kept us in the air with nothing but his own self to depend on. He saved us all."
The captain shook his head. "He kept sayin', 'I am a leaf on the wind.' As if it meant somethin'." He shrugged. "Maybe it did to him. Whatever it meant, it helped him keep us flying, and turned a crash into a landing."
Mal raised his glass.
"To Wash," he said, looking into Zoe's eyes. "He did the impossible."
Zoe raised her own. "To Wash," she replied, " a hell of a pilot, and one hell of a man."
They drank together, and the silence became right at last.
River listened to the conversation as she lay motionless in the ductwork near the galley door. She didn't actually have to be this close to hear anyone in the crew anymore. Still, she wanted that physical closeness. She wanted to be close, to make her feel like part of them all, even if the others didn't know she was there. She could feel Mal and Zoe in the galley. Even when she was lying in her bunk, their feelings washed over her like warm ocean waves.
She didn't know how she did it. But that didn't matter anymore. Since Miranda, she was able to control it, and it made her closer to everyone here on her ship. This was her home, and these people were her family, and River loved them all. She would do whatever it took to keep them safe -- use whatever it was the Alliance gave her to keep them flying.
Now River had an entire ship full of people to take care of. Not just Simon, but Kaylee and Inara and Mal and Zoe. Even Jayne. Especially Jayne. She frowned, thinking about the things she'd seen him do in the past few days.
'He isn't the man he was,' she thought, reaching out to touch his sleeping mind. 'He fought it every step of the way, but he's changed since we came to Serenity. Jayne's finally getting that this crew is more than a crew, and maybe there are things that matter more than the next paycheck.' She smiled. 'He's growing up. Fun to watch.'
River thought back to what Mal and Zoe has said. Wash really had done the impossible. And for a few seconds there, as the ship fell like a stone, she had felt something change. It was as if Wash had reached out and turned the ship from a hunk of metal into an extension of his will, like a part of him. He just . . . MADE it stay in the air long enough to land safely.
It was impossible. But he had done it, just as she had fought an entire army of Reavers and won.
Somehow, River knew the 'Verse wasn't quite done with Wash yet.
'Maybe I'll see him again,' she thought with a smile. 'Stranger things have happened.'
Wash opened his eyes to find his world totally white. Floor and ceiling, anyway. The walls were either non-existent, or so far away they might as well be. The horizon was nothing more than a grayish blur
'Wherever I am,' he thought with a smile, 'I could really make it big as an interior decorator. These folks know nothing about color . . . let alone furniture.' He grinned. 'I've seen asteroids with more atmosphere than this.'
"Still, talk about your empty canvas . . ." Wash spoke aloud, and stopped. He was expecting an echo, but instead there was nothing. The sound was just swallowed by the vastness of the space. Creepy.
"So much to work with here, too. Lots of empty space. Add some comfy chairs, a few throw rugs, some nice curtains . . . maybe some nice windows to put the curtains on?" His voice trailed off. Wash felt a little panic rising from deep inside. Jokes only went so far, and the last thing he remembered was getting Serenity on the ground and looking over at his wife with pride. There was a sharp pain in the middle of his chest, and then nothing.
"Well, not exactly nothing." He spun around slowly to survey the emptiness. "But close enough, I guess."
"Welcome, Hoban Washburne."
The voice came from behind him, and it seemed familiar somehow. He turned, and saw Chiang floating a few feet in front of him . . . and a few feet above the floor.
"Gladys!" Wash exclaimed happily, and did his best to keep his smile small when he saw Chiang sigh. "What are you doing here?"
"I am doing what I have always done," Chiang said. "Working hard to restore the balance. Harder now, since I passed on."
"Passed on? You're dead?" The older man nodded. Wash grinned. "Well, that explains the huge empty room then. Sort of. Seems a bit sparse for Heaven's waiting room, though, doesn't it? Surely the gods could spring for some furniture, or a few potted plants?"
Chiang smiled. "Does it truly bother you?"
Wash thought for a moment. "Some. I started traveling for the scenery, after all. It feels all sorts of wrong when there isn't any."
There was a long pause, and Wash looked up at the older man. "I'm dead, aren’t I?"
Chiang nodded, his face impassive. "Just so."
The pilot nodded back. "Thought as much."
He walked around in a circle, his mind spinning. "Huh. It's funny. I should feel something, but I don't."
"Partly shock," the other man replied. "Partly because you . . . go on. Humans think of death as such a large transition, it is hard for you to accept that it really happened. You arrive here in the blink of an eye and the big moment becomes barely a bump in the road."
"Almost a letdown," Wash agreed, and then it hit him.
'Zoe.'
After a blank space in time, he found himself curled into a ball on the endless white floor, tears streaming down his face as all of the might-have-beens rolled though his head. Everything he had lost -- all that was taken from him in that instant -- was reduced to one word that echoed in his mind, over and over and over.
'Zoe.'
Wash didn't know how long he lay there, and Chiang said nothing. Eventually, the pilot sat up, still looking into the nothing and seeing all the life he left behind -- and the life he would never get to live.
"It's not quite over, Mister Washburne. You can see her again."
Chiang's words hung in the air, dragging a sliver of hope out of Wash's soul.
"How?" he asked, barely able to breathe. The old man sighed.
"There is a way, but it involves some sacrifice," he replied. "The Verse has been watching you. Serenity and her crew have survived more than their fair share of challenges. But evil waits for them on every moon, in every orbit, and their luck is not infinite. Still, they are good people, in their way --"
Wash blinked. "Have you met Jayne?"
The old man laughed. "Even Jayne has good in him, although he doesn't know it yet. As I was saying, your former crew does more good than harm on their journey, and the Universe has decided that they need to remain in play -- to keep the balance, as it were. River was our first attempt to keep Malcolm Reynolds and his crew alive, and push the captain into remembering what it meant to believe in something, instead of just drifting. But now we believe the crew requires a bigger edge than River alone can provide, even as formidable as she is."
The pilot shook his head, slowly. "What are you saying?"
"That Serenity still needs a pilot," Chiang smiled. "One who can do the impossible . . . once in a while."
Wash's heart skipped a beat -- or it would have, had it still been beating. "Chong Jian Tian Ri! You mean I can go back?"
Chiang raised a hand. "In a way. Your body is dead and buried on that distant planet. But your soul can return, and rejoin the crew. If you're willing."
"Are you kidding? I'm back in a heartbeat . . . so to speak!" Wash bounced to his feet, his smile nearly too wide for his face. "When do I leave?"
"Right now, if you wish." The older man held up a hand. "Time has passed in the world you left, and Captain Reynolds has been looking for a new pilot for months. Fortunately, you were too good to be easily replaced, but he has found a suitable candidate -- and so have we."
"Do it!" Wash's whole body trembled with excitement. 'I get to see Zoe again!' he shouted inside. 'And I get to fly!'
Chiang hesitated. "There is something you should know. The pilot you are about to become . . . the life you are about to enter . . ."
"Oh, come on, Gladys!" Wash fairly bristled with frustration. "I'll pick it up as I go along. How hard can it be? I've always been good at flying by the seat of my pants. 'Leaf on the wind,' remember? Just send me back already!"
"As you wish, Mr. Washburne. Although you may find the seat of your pants to be not quite as familiar as you remember it to be." Chiang smiled. "Your life is about to get very . . . interesting."
Wash felt a twist in his soul, an instant of foreboding.
"Wait a minute," he said, holding up a hand. "Define --"
"-- interesting."
He was in a bar, sitting across a table from Mal, Zoe, and Jayne. It was a spaceport bar, that much he could tell. Loud, grungy, and just two insults away from a brawl. Wash had been here before, he felt sure, but the name of the place floated just outside of his reach. Probably because he was too busy dealing with the rush of differences that washed over him and left him struggling to catch up with his new here-and-now.
His whole body felt wrong -- smaller and lighter, and strangely off-balance. His arms and legs were longer and thinner than what he remembered from his old body. And this body felt way overdue for a haircut.
'Easily fixed,' he thought, trying to get back in control of the situation. With his three former shipmates staring at him, Wash realized what was happening. 'This must be the job interview Chiang talked about -- my ticket back onto the ship. So look friendly and interested already, stupid.' He licked his lips and smiled.
Mal looked happy, Zoe was reserved and skeptical, and Jayne kept staring at him with a hungry look he'd never seen on Jayne's face before. 'At least,' he thought, confused, 'not when he was looking at me.'
"I'm glad our offer interests you," Mal said with a smile. "Every reference we've gotten says you're good, and we need the best."
Zoe spoke then, her eyes never leaving Wash. He could hear the lack of enthusiasm in her voice. "Awfully young, sir."
Mal started, then turned to her. "Well, young, yes, but I figure talent don't need age, just a ship and a place to fly her to."
"Thank you," Wash replied, and stopped. He cleared his throat and tried again. "I hope I can live up to my reviews."
The voice was melodic and higher than he remembered, and suddenly he froze as the pieces started coming together. He remembered Chiang's smile and his parting comments, and the look on Jayne's face suddenly made a hell of a lot more sense.
'Damn you, Chiang,' he thought savagely. Wash tried to look down at the tabletop to hide his feelings from his old crew, but he found his flight suit stuck out a lot more in the chest area than he remembered. A lot more. He sighed, and heard a dry chuckle in his head.
'Think of this as payback for calling me Gladys,' Chiang said. Wash could hear the smile in his voice. 'Although it isn't, really. Linda is the only chance we have to get you back with your crewmates.'
'Is she real? I mean, a real person?'
'Oh, yes. Quite real. She should have died in a shuttle explosion last week, but we diverted her to a different ship and kept her soul in her body as a placeholder until you agreed to take possession . . . so to speak.'
"Well then, Miss Wehr," Mal said, smiling again. "Let's go take a look at your new home, meet the rest of the crew and take her for a cruise. What do you say?"
Wash took a deep breath and watched his chest rise. Jayne watched it, too, and the pilot felt a brief stirring of panic.
'But why a she? Why her? Admittedly I wasn't always a finalist in the Mister Testosterone contest, but still --"
'Because she is our only chance. Our last chance.' Chiang's voice was cool, and Wash heard something there he didn't expect. Worry. 'Because Mal has places to be, and Linda is the last candidate under consideration before he gives up for now and leaves River at the controls. And if you're not there to save them in the next few months, another chance will never come. Serenity and her crew will die in deep space, alone and unremembered -- unless you're behind the stick. Unless you are their pilot.'
'Can't I tell them? I mean, that I'm . . . well, really me?' Wash's mental voice held an edge of desperation. Chiang's voice in reply was understanding, but direct.
'No. At best it would confuse everyone -- make them uncertain about you, the Verse, and everything they know, at a time when they need to be free of doubt, or wind up dead.' Chiang sighed. 'At worst, they could decide you're trying to con them somehow. They would set you loose on some little moon in that body to fend for yourself, and fly off to die without you there to save them.'
Wash noted that everything around him had frozen, as if the world were suspended in the gap between one second and the next. Chiang appeared in front of him.
"The choice is yours," Chiang continued aloud. "You've earned your time on the other side, no question. You could leave this life behind forever, without looking back. Or you could become Linda Rachel Wehr, Serenity's new pilot, and save your friends. Your family. Your wife."
The pilot sighed. "When you put it like that, there's really no choice at all, is there?" His new voice made it more of a question than the statement it was.
The older man nodded. "Not really. Not for someone like you."
He looked at his wife, the woman he loved, and realized things would never be the same between them again. 'But that's okay,' he thought, 'she'll still be alive, and I'll still have her . . . sort of. And how bad can it be, really? I mean, after all, women are human, too, right?' Wash went through his own memories, remembering every woman he'd ever known and ending up with Zoe. The urge to panic rose again. 'Who am I kidding? They're a whole different species!'
"Chiang, I'm not sure I can do this. I've never . . ." The pilot shrugged, struggling with putting his fear into words. "I never understood women when I was a guy, and now you want me to BE one?"
"I know. This was not what you wanted, but it is what it is." Chiang gave Wash a sympathetic smile. "It won't be easy for you, but do not worry. You will have Linda's memories to guide you, at least part of the way. And you will have help on Serenity. You won't be alone, I promise."
The pilot sighed and shook his head, then nodded to Chiang. Chiang nodded back, and vanished.
'So now I'm a she,' Wash thought ruefully. 'Best start thinking of myself as one -- not that I know how, of course, but I'm guessing pronouns would be a good start.'
"Ms. Wehr?" Mal stood up and held out his hand, still smiling. "Are you okay?"
Wash looked up at Mal, smiled back and rose to her feet, trying desperately to ignore the ten million little things her new body shouted at her that screamed "girl." She stuck out her hand.
"Please, call me Linda," she said sweetly. Instead of the strong handshake she remembered, Mal took her hand gently. Wash cringed inside. As they walked towards the door, she watched heads turn, and saw her reflection in the mirror over the bar. Long red hair in a tumbling mess of curls, pale skin, green eyes, and a body with curves not even her flight suit and jacket could hide.
'Damn.' Wash shook her head, feeling the curls bounce. 'She just had to be a knock-out, didn't she.'
Still keeping the smile on her face, she walked a step behind Mal, following him to the exit. Zoe and Jayne fell in behind her.
"Sure like the view," Jayne whispered to Zoe, just loud enough for Wash to hear. She was pretty sure he didn't mean the bar. "And I'm real glad she don't want us to call her by her last name,"
"Why's that?" Zoe's puzzlement was clear in her tone.
Jayne snorted. "Cause then we'd have to go from Wash . . . to Wehr." Wash groaned inside, and Jayne snorted again before breaking off into that deep laugh she'd heard a hundred times before.
'Chiang was right,' Wash thought with a sigh. 'This is going to be . . . interesting.'
'Think of it as turning over a new leaf,' Chiang's voice said before breaking off into a laugh of his own.
'Terrific,' Wash grumbled inside as Mal held the door open for her. 'Now everybody's a comedian.'
Again, here there be SPOILERS, folks! This is a fan fiction set in the Firefly/Serenity universe created by Joss Whedon. It takes place after the events in the television series and the companion motion picture that followed. So since the very premise of the tale reveals something major, PULEEZE please don't read this unless you get the chance to see the series and the movie -- both, in my opinion, some of the best science fiction ever created for the big or small screen.
FIREFLY: CONNECTING FLIGHT
by Randalynn
Chapter 2 -- Lost Luggage
Wash moved through the door with a "thank you" nod to Mal, and climbed the long spiral stairway towards ground level. She was very much aware of how her new hips moved, and how the slight bouncing of her chest with every step pulled just a little on bra straps that tugged her shoulders. Wash could even feel the movement of her hair against her neck and shoulders through the fabric of her flight suit and jacket.
She spent an awful lot of mental energy not thinking about what wasn't between her legs anymore -- almost as much energy as she spent not thinking about what was, now.
But as Wash climbed the stairs, just using her new body made it easier to deal with. By the time she reached the top step, the edge of the newness had almost worn off. She still wasn't happy with the way things had turned out, but at least she didn't hate the way every step made her feel.
'Hell, I'm alive, right?' she said inside. 'Got to be better than dead, even if my skin doesn't quite fit anymore.'
But no matter how many times she repeated it, the words didn't seem to kill the sense of loss Wash felt. She was surrounded by her closest friends in the 'Verse, and yet, she had never felt so alone.
She could almost feel Mal's eyes watching her from behind as she climbed the stairs, but strangely enough, it didn't seem to bother her at all. 'It's okay,' Wash realized, a little surprised. 'After all, Mal's a man -- a good man, but still a man. And men look, especially at a body that looks this good. Hell, if the old me were back there, I'd look -- if Zoe weren't there to catch me, that is.'
The new girl grinned, thinking about the thinly-veiled warnings Zoe would deliver, and the things she'd do in private later to show him why he didn't need to look at other women. The smile faded as she thought of Jayne, and the expression on his face in the bar. Mal would look her over if the opportunity presented itself, but he might feel bad about it afterwards if she caught him at it. If Wash caught Jayne, he'd would probably smile and nod and wink, as if undressing her with his eyes were some kind of bizarre Jayne-ish compliment. Wash could feel him eyeing her from behind with some odd extra sense she knew only women possessed. From past experience, Wash knew the man had no clue about how to be subtle at all, and the weight of his attention was almost a tangible thing.
'I am going to need to do something about Jayne,' she thought with a mental sigh. 'I know damned well he wants me, and he won't touch me unless Mal gives him the okay. And Mal will tell him I'm off-limits if I ask him to. But I also know Jayne will chase me anyway, whether I want him to or not, and I'm still man enough not to want to be chased by any guy, let alone Jayne.'
Wash stopped at the top of the stairs and looked around. Her memory came back in a rush.
'Santo,' she remembered, her smile returning. 'We're on Santo! How Joh Bu Jian! I haven't been here since the week after flight school ended -- that little vacation I took before starting my gig with that transport line. Oh, yes. The gambling . . . the drinking . . . And that was the "Crash and Burn" we just left? Man, I don't remember it being such a dive. I guess I shouldn't be surprised -- a lot of pilots looked for pick-up work there.'
Mal moved around her, muttering an apology, and she quickly stepped aside before Jayne could use her blocking the way as an excuse for a quick brush with girl-flesh -- her girl-flesh. Wash shivered, and hurried to keep up with Mal.
Jayne watched the new girl speed up to walk near Mal and smiled.
'She don't know me yet, but I bet I can make her want to.' He watched her move through the crowded streets with that kind of girlish wiggle that always made Lil' Jayne sit up and take notice. Most unwelcome hands passed her by with Mal so close, acting all grim and purposeful and captainy and such, but a few snaked past to give her a quick pat on her ass before she could avoid them. Jayne could tell it didn't make her happy.
'She ain't gonna be easy,' he thought. 'No Jien Huo, that's for sure. But not Bu Ku Nuhn neither.' He watched her more, wondering what she would be like in bed and finding the idea more than interesting. 'Hell, sometimes a man needs a gorram challenge. And I ain't had me a woman for long enough that I don't much mind working for it.'
Jayne's lips moved into a predator's grin. 'Girl, you just became my newest hobby. Just lay back and enjoy the chase . . . and what comes after. Dohn-mah?'
Zoe wasn't quite sure what to make of the newcomer. On the one hand, she was obviously bright, friendly, and professional. The Captain liked her, which said a lot. And it didn't hurt that she came highly recommended by people she and the Captain could trust.
On the other hand, she wasn't Wash.
Since Wash's death, River had flown the ship, and she was damned good at it. Still, she had always left Wash's seat empty, preferring to fly from the left-hand station. When Simon asked her why, she smiled and replied, "because that's Wash's place, Ghuh. And it always will be." That was one reason Zoe never minded River taking her man's job -- especially when she did so well at the controls.
'But now this redheaded girl was just going to step into Wash's shoes?' Zoe shook her head. It just grated some, is all. It shouldn't be that easy.
She knew it was wrong and unfair, but she couldn't help what she felt. Her husband had been the best pilot in the 'Verse. And Zoe wasn't going to make it any easier for this Hu Li Jing to take his place than she had to. Linda would have to earn that pilot's seat, one way or another.
Zoe would make sure of it.
Wash squirmed again, trying to ignore the hands that kept darting out of the crowd to touch her. As a man, she'd never been subjected to such casual abuse. Women didn't usually go in for recreational groping, as much as the teenaged Wash sometimes wanted them to. But now that he was a she, Wash was discovering how totally uncomfortable and humiliating it was to be trapped in a crowd and fondled without a thought for who she was. She thought about saying something to Mal, but she knew that he might see her as less than she was if she called for help over something a man might see as trivial. As angry as this was making her, Wash thought it might be best to just let it slide. After all, they were almost to the spaceport. It couldn't last too much longer.
'Just let it go,' she repeated to herself. 'Leaf on the wind, right? Rise above it. Nothing but a bunch of jerks, having their fun. It'll be over soon.' For a while, it almost worked.
Then one hand touched, grabbed, and squeezed. HARD.
Wash's anger flared. Without thinking, she reached back, snagged the interloper's hand, and pressed and twisted simultaneously. A teenaged boy fell to his knees at her feet with a yelp of pain, and she looked down at him with a snarl.
"HEY!" she shouted into his face. Mal turned around, surprised at the outburst. Jayne and Zoe stopped in their tracks and stared. "Just because my ass moves around a bit, doesn't mean you get to reach out and grab it, Sah Gwa. What're you, a monkey? Something wiggles and you just have to see if you can catch it?"
A few of his friends stood just a few feet away, shocked into silence by how easily their leader was caught -- and how angry his target turned out to be.
"That's my butt you're messing with, Bei Bi Shiou Ren." Wash twisted the hand again, and the boy whimpered. "Time you saw this body has hands, too -- and knows how to use them."
Tears began to rise in the boy's eyes. The pilot raised her voice and looked up to catch the eyes of the gang members.
"You listen up, all of you! Anyone touches me like that again, and I'll twist something else -- hard enough to break it off, dohn-mah?" She stared at them all and let them see how serious she was. "Dohn-luh-mah?"
The entire gang looked down at their feet and nodded quickly. "Yes, honored miss, donh-mah, donh-mah!"
Wash let go of the leader and pushed him away with her boot. "Kwai Jio Kai. Take a hike." The gang grabbed him as he fell and they all disappeared into the crowd without a backward glance. There was a smattering of applause. Some of the women on the sidelines laughed, while the men eyed her warily and gave the crazy pilot-girl a lot of room.
Wash was breathing heavily, letting the adrenaline burn itself off. 'Hell, was that me? Or Linda? Or both? Either way, it felt good! Damn!' Then she began to realize how dangerous it had been.
Mal approached slowly, not quite sure what to say.
"That was . . . impressive," he said tentatively. "Really . . . something."
Wash shook her head, still shaking a bit. "No, Captain. I really shouldn't have lost my head like that. What if he had a knife or a gun? It's all manner of stupid for me to get myself killed to stop someone from a bit of grab and go." She looked down at the floor and sighed. "The smart thing to do was just ignore it. The whole thing could have gone south real fast."
Mall cocked his head, curious. "If that's how you feel, why'd you do it?"
She looked up into Mal's eyes, her mouth set in a grim line. "Because I got mad. I'm nobody's play toy. I'm a pilot, and a damned good one. If I let them treat me like a piece of meat, they're stealing who I am -- who I worked hard to be. I can't let that slide."
"Ain't wrong to take a stand when you need to." The Captain's voice held a question, even though none was asked. "Sounds like you've had to fight before."
Wash remembered being the smallest guy in flight school, and having to prove himself to the rest of the jocks -- sometimes with his fists, but more often with his quick wit and a ready grin. As she remembered her own history, some of Linda's past slipped through as well, and Wash smiled as the memories washed over her. "I'm a woman and a pilot. Most of my classmates were men." She shrugged. "Sometimes you just have to draw a line and make it stick, or folk will walk all over you. Men folk in particular. Most guys have to be told where the line is, and made to stay on their side of it. Can't help it, goes with the testosterone." She grinned. "Present company excepted, of course."
Zoe stepped up, a smile twitching across her lips. "Oh, don't make an exception for the Captain. He's crossed a few lines in his day, haven't you, Sir? When he thinks a woman's worth all the yellin' and carryin' on that follows."
Mal grinned and then looked away, embarrassed. "That's enough tellin' tales, Zoe."
"Sorry, Sir," Zoe replied, still smiling. "My lips are sealed."
Jayne smirked and snorted, and Mal shot him a look. Then he turned to Wash with a smile.
"Serenity's over this way, Linda," he said. "Best get to the boat so we can see if you fly as good as you fight."
"Sounds good to me, Captain." She smiled and started walking. "Been too long since I broke atmo. Be nice to be in the black again."
Serenity was . . . Serenity. There were a lot of Firefly-class ships out there still, but Wash felt a pull to this particular boat that wasn't quite rational. They'd been through a lot, since he first joined up with Mal and met Zoe, but the connection between pilot and ship had never been stronger.
Now, standing here looking at her through Linda's eyes, she could still feel that connection deep inside. Serenity had missed her, and it almost seemed as if the ship welcomed her back. 'Silly, I know,' Wash chided herself inside, 'but if there wasn't more to the 'Verse than you could see, I wouldn't be here.'
'Of course, I AM inside a body of the wrong sex -- one that Jayne wants to play with.' Wash sighed. 'Just more proof the 'Verse is not perfect, and never will be.'
Hands on her hips, Wash gave her old ship a once over, and what she saw made her sad, just a little. She was shiny, and obviously well-cared for, but there were scars that no amount of care could eradicate, and a tear slipped out and left a trail down her cheek.
"Sorry, baby," she whispered. "I did my best."
Mal turned, not sure what he heard, and found his new pilot with a tear on her cheek.
"Linda?" he asked, his voice tentative. "Are you okay?"
Wash shook her head and smiled. "Yes and no," the girl replied, "She's beautiful but I can see she's been through a lot. I sort of . . . feel her pain, if that makes any sense."
Zoe's voice came from over her shoulder. "What do you feel, exactly?" She turned and found her ex-wife wearing the blank look Wash recognized as her bargaining face. It hid her skepticism from all except those who knew her. Wash shrugged and turned back to Serenity .
"She's been hurt . . . in a crash," she said softly. "Whoever landed her must have been one hell of a pilot. She's been put back together again by folks who care, and it shows. But like every ship that comes back from a crash, there are always scars. And that's . . . well, that's always a shame."
There was a long silence, and with a shrug of her shoulders, Wash started forward, leaving the others behind.
"Now that's downright creepifyin'," Jayne whispered to Zoe. The first mate shrugged.
"Any half-decent pilot can see she'd crashed, Jayne."
"Yeah, but what about the other stuff? Bein' put back together by folks who cared and such?"
Mal stepped in. "It don't sound like she's lyin', so I think she believes it. And since River joined the crew, I'm not exactly willin' to think Linda's crazy because she thinks she can feel the ship's past just by lookin' at her. Wash used to talk to the ship like she was alive all the time. Ain't no different, to my mind."
Zoe gave Mal a dark look, and Mal shrugged. "It just don't seem different to me, Zoe. You got another opinion, fine." Zoe looked at Mal and said nothing.
Jayne backed up a step, then another. 'The one place nobody wants to be is between Mal and Zoe when they's fixin' to argue,' he thought.
The Captain leaned forward, and his voice became sharp. "You may not like it, but we need a pilot -- a licensed one, and that's a fact. River's done fine, but we just managed to dodge having the Alliance take Serenity in tow twice, just 'cause the forged papers we bought on Persephone don't fly as well as River does."
Zoe looked down, biting her lip. "I ain't sayin' we don't need a pilot, Sir. Just ain't too sure she's the pilot we need is all."
"Well, I am," Mal said, watching Linda walk around the ship. "I don't think she's lyin' about what she feels for Serenity , and she seems pleasant enough company. If Kaylee and River like her, and if she lives up to everything I've heard when she takes the controls, she's gonna be flyin' my boat full-time. I don't want to have to worry about you treatin' her as less than one of the crew, just because she's trying to fill Wash's shoes."
Zoe took a deep breath and shook her head. Mal turned his eyes back to Zoe, and she raised her eyes to meet his. He sighed. "I'm not askin' you to bunk with the girl, Zoe. Just don't hold it against her that she ain't him, dohn ma?"
"I'll do my best, Sir."
"Can't ask for more than that," Mal said with a smile. "Your best has always been better than anybody's, and that's a fact."
Zoe smiled back, and Jayne let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. There had been more of these head bumpin' almost-fights since they lost Wash -- both Mal and Zoe were a little rougher around the edges than they used to be. He shrugged. 'Like when Ma and Pa used to almost go at it,' he thought, 'before they moved on to the real fightin' and cussin'. And ain't that a scary place for my mind to be goin'.'
Jayne watched as Mal and Zoe started off to catch up with the new pilot. He shook his head. 'What's past is past, chun zi. Stay in the here and now. Think about the new girl, and how great it's gonna be to have somethin' warm and soft in your bunk for a change.'
Watching Linda as she walked away, a smile grew on Jayne's face, and he moved to follow.
Kaylee stood in the open hatch to the cargo bay and watched the new pilot approach.
'She's pretty, all right,' the mechanic thought, chewing on her lower lip. 'Heck, she's beautiful. All that red hair and those curves and that smile . . . I can see Jayne puttin' on his girl chasing face plain as day from here.' Her heart raced a little faster, and she frowned in distress. 'Damn, she's -- I can't compete with that! She's gonna come on board and see my Simon, and that's gonna be it for lil' ol' Kaylee. One look . . .'
"One look at my brother, and she'll shake his hand and keep her distance," River said from behind her. Kaylee turned quickly, one hand on her mouth, and blushed.
"You didn't say it out loud, mei mei." The younger girl smiled and gave her a quick hug. "But I don't need to be a reader to see what's going through your head." She turned her eyes out to the approaching group. "She's pretty, but Simon loves you. You know that. No other girl is going to steal him from you." Her eyes narrowed, and she grinned. "Especially THAT girl. Trust me, Kaylee, she just wants to be a friend. If you let her. She could use a friend right now."
After another quick hug, River looked into her friend's eyes. "And you're beautiful too, you know."
"Oh, I ain't." Kaylee shook her head and turned away from the hatch. "I'm just me. Nothin' special to look at."
"Somebody needs a mirror," River sang in a teasing voice. Kaylee blushed deeper. "Besides, Simon loves you for you. All of you. What's outside and what's in. That's what matters."
"River's right, Kaylee."
Kaylee turned and found Simon standing behind her. She looked up at him with a small smile. "About what?"
"About everything." He smiled down at her. "That's part of what makes her so annoying sometimes, don't you think?"
River grinned, stuck her tongue out at Simon.
"I love you, too, big brother," she said, then turned and did a perfect set of cartwheels clear across the cargo bay, leaving the two lovers alone. Kaylee's eyes turned back towards the hatch, and Simon stepped forward and put his arms around her.
"I've already found the girl I love," he said, the look on his face making her melt. "And nobody's going to take me from her, or her from me -- not without a fight."
"You say the nicest things," Kaylee murmured, her lips pressed against his.
Simon kissed her quick and grinned. "I've been practicing."
Her eyes opened wide and she slapped him hard on the arm. "Hey! You ain't supposed to tell a girl that!"
"Well, remember how my mouth managed to get me into trouble with you before, on that commerce station . . . with the 'alien' cow?" Kaylee tried to wriggle out of Simon's arms, but he held her tight and looked into her eyes. "I think I'm smart enough to figure out I need a little help in the romance department once in a while, so . . . I think ahead a little. Because I love you, and you deserve romance."
Kaylee looked up and saw Simon's smile, and her resistance slipped through her fingers. "Awwwww, that's sweet." Then she frowned a little. "Did you practice that one up, too?"
"No," Simon replied as he bent to kiss her, "Just came up with it right now. Inspired, honest."
"Good. I like inspirin'. Let's do some more." Their lips met and the rest of the world slipped away . . . until Mal made his presence known by tromping heavily up the cargo bay entry ramp. They separated slowly and turned to see the new pilot silhouetted against the spaceport skyline, bracketed by the Captain, Jayne, and Zoe.
"Oh hell, you two, get a room," Jayne growled, then stopped and grinned. "Oh wait! That's right, you already got one." He leaned against the door frame and smirked. "But if you two want to get to ruttin' right here, I ain't about to stop you. 'Bout time we had some in-flight entertainment on this boat. Maybe we could even get the new girl to join in."
For an instant, Zoe felt embarrassed that Jayne would be . . . well, Jayne . . . in front of an outsider. But then she remembered that Linda might wind up crew, and maybe it was better for her to see Jayne in all his "glory" before thinking about signing on. She kept silent.
Mal, on the other hand, didn't want the new pilot driven away. "Jayne!" he growled, shooting him a look that should have pinned him to the spot. Jayne just smiled back, although the wattage in his grin seemed to dim a bit.
Wash shook her head, and Mal looked at her. "Remember what I said before, Captain, about some men forgetting where the line is?" She walked over to stand in front of Jayne and looked up into his smirk. "Mister Cobb here seems like the type that needs reminding more than most."
"Ain't that a fact," Zoe said under her breath.
"Aw, heck, sweetie," Jayne replied, looking down the front of Wash's flight suit, "Let's not be so formal. You can call me Jayne. Mister Cobb was my father."
"Really?" Wash leaned forward, eyes wide. "Then maybe we should send him a wave, so he can give you a crash course in female anatomy. Obviously, he missed a few things when you were growing up. I'll give you just a small lesson for now, though." She reached out with a finger and shoved his chin upward until they were face to face. "When you're talking to a woman, her eyes are up here!"
"Well, yeah," the mercenary said, still smiling, "but even as pretty as yours are, they ain't half as much fun to look at while you're jawing. Or any other time for that matter." He moved his face closer to hers, and she could see he didn't care what she thought. "And as for learnin' 'bout a woman's body, I already know how all the pieces fit. But if you really want to show me somethin', I do better with 'hands on' trainin'." He looked down into her flight suit again, and his fingers twitched.
"Jayne!" Mal's voice held an anger Jayne knew better than to ignore. "Walk away now, or they'll be pickin' pieces of you up off the ground from here to the control tower once we lift. I'll throw you into the engine myself. And you know that's a fact."
Jayne looked into Mal's eyes, and what he saw there was truth. Still, he wasn't about to look shy in front of the new girl, so he snorted, turned and walked slowly towards the stairs to the crew quarters. He stopped, turned and gave Wash's whole body a long looking over. Then he looked into her eyes and grinned. "If . . . anybody . . . wants me, I'll be in my bunk."
Then he turned and started climbing the stairs.
Wash suddenly had the weirdest feeling -- a cross between wanting to slowly roast the man over the plasma exhaust, and not being able to take her eyes off of his bottom as Jayne climbed the stairs. The mixed signals between soul and body made her head hurt, and she turned away and clenched her fists, trying to regain control.
'An Fen Shou Ji,' she thought angrily. 'Stop acting like a . . . a . . . just stop it! I may have to live this way, but there are lines Mrs. Washburne's little boy is not going to cross any time soon. Men? Maybe, someday . . . when pigs fly. I like sex too much to just sit it out for the next ninety years. But if there's any man in this 'Verse I'm NEVER getting moon-eyed over, it's Jayne Neanderthal Cobb!'
Mal saw Linda turn away, looking like she was trying to regain control of her temper. He saw how Jayne treated his orders, and decided he needed a little one-on-one time with his head of "public relations."
"Zoe, make some introductions and show Linda around," Mal said, his tone sharper than he'd like. He flashed Linda a tight smile and turned back to Zoe. "I need to have a few words with Jayne."
"Understood, Sir."
As Mal barreled up the stairs after Jayne, Kaylee stepped forward.
"Hi! I'm Kaylee!" She reached out a hand and gave Wash's a squeeze. "I'm the ship's mechanic. And this is Simon Tam, the ship's doctor."
Wash smiled. She had always liked Kaylee. Simon, too -- both sweet kids. "Hey! Two folks who fix things, machines and people. Now there's a match made in Heaven." As Kaylee blushed and Simon looked down, Wash gave the mechanic's hand a squeeze in return. "I'm pleased to meet you both." She turned and shook the doctor's hand as well.
"Sorry about Jayne," Kaylee said. "He's usually not this . . . direct."
Zoe shook her head. "I've seen him chasing women before. Remember at the Heart of Gold? This is usually the way he . . . catches the ones he wants." She shrugged. "With girls, he likes using a sledgehammer to rip down a rice paper wall."
"Maybe in a whore house, sniffing after a doxy . . . or two," Kaylee replied, uncertain. "But this is home, Zoe. He's teased me a little from time to time, but he's never done that with any of the crew before."
The first mate gave Wash a cool look. "Still hasn't -- yet."
Wash saw the distance in Zoe's eyes and looked away. 'God, it hurts when she looks at me like that. Like I mean less than nothing to her.'
"No, Zoe. Kaylee's right." Simon frowned. "He's usually more . . . civilized than this, especially with us, and especially around Mal. Most of the time, what he lacks in social skills he makes up for just being crude -- but I thought Mal had some kind of influence over him. Enough to keep him at least pretending to be a regular human being."
Wash thought back to when she was a he, and impressing a woman put every other consideration on the back burner. "Sometimes when a guy decides he wants a girl, he checks his brains at the door and lets other body parts think for him," she said. "Jayne seems like the type who lets his body do the thinking more often than not."
Zoe gave it a bit of thought, then dismissed it. "Not our problem right now," she said briskly. "Captain will set it right. He always does. Right now, I've got my orders. Ms. Wehr, if you'll come with me?"
Kaylee put her arm through Wash's. "Linda will come with us," she announced, giving the first mate a dark look. Forgetting her earlier worries, she handed Linda off to Simon with a smile. "Why don't you take her down to the engine room, Simon. That's the best place to start a tour, at least when I'm the one givin' it. I'll be right with you."
Slightly confused, Simon nodded. Wash gave Kaylee a look over her shoulder, and Kaylee nodded happily at her before she disappeared with her man into the depths of the ship. Then she turned on Zoe with a ferocity that took the first mate totally by surprise.
"Honestly, Zoe, why're you're being so gorram mean?" The mechanic put her hands on her hips and thrust her face forward. "The Captain wants her on the crew, and anybody can see she's sweet as a strawberry sundae, but you're treating her like a redheaded stepchild that's been sprayed by a skunk and wrapped in your best dress. That girl could be family, maybe, someday -- if she don't run for the hills 'cause of the first impression you're givin' her. What's wrong with you?"
Zoe set her jaw and wisely said nothing. Kaylee's eyes widened. "You want to drive her away? What the hell for?" There was a long silence as Kaylee figured it out. Then all of the emotion drained from her face, except for a disapproval so powerful that Zoe could feel it across the cargo bay. Her next words cut deep.
"Captain would be disappointed in you. Wash would, too. I know I am."
Shaking her head, Kaylee turned away and started walking towards the back of the ship, leaving the first mate to think about what it meant to disappoint the Captain -- and what her husband would really think about the way she was acting.
"Jayne, what the hell were you thinkin'?" Mal stepped into Jayne's room with murder on his mind and stopped short. Jayne was sitting on his bunk, and from the look on his face, he was thinking harder than any other time Mal had ever seen the mercenary think.
"Somethin' about that girl ain't right," he muttered, then looked up at Mal.
"You think the girl ain't right?" The captain was stunned. "You're the gorram idiot who insulted her in front of a whole mess a new people!"
"Insulted?" Jayne looked up at the captain, his confusion evident. "Damn it, Mal, I was tryin' to court her. Usin' my best stuff, too. She shoulda jumped me before I took two steps out of the bay." He shook his head. "That girl ain't right."
"Are you brain-blown? You expected her to jump you?" Mal shook his head in disbelief. "She's ain't a whore, Jayne. She's a professional pilot, and a damned good one. She ain't gonna start chasin' you around the cargo bay in the middle of a job interview, even if she is interested, which believe me, she ain't."
"How do you know?"
"'Cause I saw her looking mad enough to chew a hole through the hull when you walked off."
"Dammit, Mal, why would she be mad?"
It suddenly got real quiet, and Mal realized Jayne's social skills might actually not be up to dealin' with a woman as more than a sex toy. "Because you treated her like a whore, Jayne. Whores jump when you tell them you want 'em 'cause there's a stack of credits waiting when your wanting them is through. But women in general . . . well, women are people, Jayne. They need to know you think of them as more than warm things to play with. They need respect." Mal sighed and shook his head. "Jayne, you never treated Kaylee the way you treated Linda just now, did you?"
"Hell, no, Mal!" Jayne looked confused. "That'd be like tryin' to make time with my sister!"
"Or Zoe?"
He snorted. "Come on! She'd KILL me!"
"Or Inara?"
"YOU'D kill me!"
"Gorram right, I would. Inara would, too. You treat most any woman we come across the way you treated Linda, you'd be dead before you hit the ground."
Jayne stopped, and squinted at Mal. "If that's true, why ain't I dead yet?"
"Maybe 'cause you're lucky," Mal replied. "Maybe 'cause Linda was way too busy interviewin' to kill you. Keep at her like that, though, and I reckon she'll find the time soon enough. And if she don't, I most certainly will."
Jayne sat heavily on his bunk, pulling down the blanket that covered his collection of weapons. "Well, ain't that shiny. We got a new girl comin' aboard and I'm already humped." Mal smiled, and Jayne looked up and scowled. "You know I don't mean it like that! I mean she needs the kind of courtin' I can't do."
"Jayne, you're a grown man," the captain said slowly. "You tellin' me you never courted a woman before?"
"Oh, I tried," Jayne growled, staring at the floor. "Never got nowhere with any of 'em. I guess now I can figger out why."
"Didn't nobody ever teach you how?"
"Daddy ran off long before I started noticing how much better girls looked with curves." Jayne stood up and walked over to the desk. He picked up a holo of his family. "Ma sure didn't want to teach me how to catch a girl. Get her in trouble, that's one more mouth to feed. So when I got out and started seeing the 'Verse on my own, I had to figger out how to catch a girl -- and what to do with her when I caught her."
"Oh? How's that working out?" Mal managed to keep the smirk from his face, but Jayne heard a touch of it in his voice.
"Now that ain't fair, Mal! I do the best I can. It just ain't . . . all that good is all. At the catching part, anyway. Never got no complaints about what happens after, least from the whores I could catch." He snorted and put down the picture of his family. "This ain't about getting sexed, Mal. The kind of work I do, I never expected to settle down or nothin', least not 'til somebody settled me with a bullet or two. But suddenly, it's a few years later, and I ain't dead. And things start to look a mite different when you start thinkin' about the future -- specially when you thought you'd never have one."
He stared at the far wall, looking at nothing at all. "I seen what Zoe had with Wash, and what Kaylee has with the Doc, and I started wondering what it would be like to be with a woman who wanted me instead of my cash."
"I started thinkin' it woulda been nice to have the chance someday, if I stayed alive long enough." Jayne shrugged. "But if I can't even talk up a reg'lar girl without shootin' myself in the foot, I got nothin' to look forward to but a hole in the ground and some words from a preacher. If I had somebody to show me when I was growing up, maybe . . ." He drifted into silence, shaking his head. "But now? No chance at all."
Mal saw that this was really somethin' bothering the mercenary. 'Jayne may not be much, but he is crew,' he thought, 'and to be fair, he did stand up without a thought for coin when we fought the Reavers and the Alliance to let the 'Verse know about Miranda. He's a hell of a lot better than he was when he first came aboard, and that's a fact.'
'If I help him get together with Linda and she takes a shine to him, he might actually be a mite easier to manage. Anything that makes Jayne behave himself is fine by me. And it'll keep the new pilot from strayin' off the boat if they hit it off.' His lip twitched, and he scratched an ear to hide it. 'Kept Wash here right enough.'
Mall took a deep breath and scratched the back of his head.
"Well, I wouldn't say no chance, exactly," he said, letting a little reluctance creep into his voice. "I mean, if you go back and tell her you're sorry -- and really mean it -- she might let it go, just this one time."
Jayne thought for a second and shook his head again. "It's no good, Mal. Even if I fixed it now, I'd just make a mess of it again later, you know that."
There was a long silence, then Mal spoke.
"What if you didn't?"
Wash followed Kaylee from the engine room on forward, remembering all of the good things that had happened on this ship in her past life. Every room held its own memories, and as she drifted behind the mechanic, she almost felt as if she was touching her past with her fingertips as she moved through Serenity .
Simon excused himself when they reached the infirmary, after getting Linda's authorization to access and download her medical records over the Cortex if the captain gave her the final okay to join the crew. He also mentioned something about scheduling a complete physical as soon as possible once they were on their way. As Ship's Doctor, her health was his responsibility, and she could see he took it seriously.
Wash nodded numbly with a wooden smile, eyeing the collapsed stirrups under the exam table with a barely suppressed sigh.
As they left Simon behind, Kaylee nudged her with a shoulder and gave her a little smile. "Looked like the idea of getting squeezed, poked, and prodded don't quite set right with you."
Wash ducked her head and gave the mechanic a small grin. "Does it ever?"
"Well, you don't need to worry," Kaylee said, giving her a small hug and an understanding smile. "Simon's really good at what he does. Won't hardly hurt at all. And he's got a gentle touch when it counts the most."
The pilot shivered and then tried to put it out of her mind.
When they reached the dining area, she stood looking at the well-worn table, with its homelike touches and its mismatched chairs. Wash remembered all the happy meals that had been shared there, as Kaylee went on about how everyone usually ate together.
"Sometimes it's loud, sometimes it ain't," she said with a cheery smile, "but it's almost always a good time. Like eatin' with family. 'Course, when you're out in the black as much as we are, crew is family."
Wash felt a pang of sadness, thinking about Zoe and the family she had wanted so badly to start. She had pushed so hard against it, but Zoe had finally begun to win her over. She had even started thinking about what it would be like to raise a son or daughter and show them how to fly.
Then the Alliance started pushing harder for River. Then came Miranda, and then came Wash dead -- and Zoe's hopes for a baby went with him.
Kaylee saw the pain flit across Linda's face, and immediately thought, 'Oh, no what did I say?'
She reached out and touched the new pilot on her arm.
"Are you okay?" She asked, her voice full of concern.
Wash felt a tear roll down her face, then another one. "Just thinking about family," she said, her voice trembling. "I lost mine recently. Sure would be nice to find another one."
"Well, once the captain says yes, you'll have one here," Kaylee said firmly, taking Linda into her arms and giving her a hug. "I could always use another sister."
Suddenly the whole situation landed on Wash's back with an almost audible thump -- everything that had happened to her since Chiang pushed her into Linda's body down at the Crash and Burn. Seeing how Zoe felt about her now, trying to get used to being female, her whole past life gone -- it all just caught up with her, and tears just started flowing from her eyes. She did everything she could to hold it all back, but the crying quickly turned to sobs, and Kaylee just hugged her until it finally wound down.
"Okay now?" the mechanic asked, letting the new girl loose. Wash just nodded, feeling slightly embarrassed. Kaylee smiled. "You must have had a whole lot of sad in you to make you just start bawlin' like that."
Wash nodded again. "I did, and I'm sorry." She sniffled a little and rubbed her eyes. "Thanks a lot, Kaylee. I feel so silly."
Kaylee shook her head. "Oh, don't go worryin' about a few tears. A girl needs a good cry sometimes. And keeping you company while you cry is a sister thing." She patted Wash on the arm. "I thought I'd get a head start on being yours."
The pilot gave her a quizzical look, and Kaylee grinned. "I'm thinkin' the captain's gonna give you that pilot job if I've gotta give him puppy eyes for a week straight. You, girl, need a family, and we need you. So come on, let me show you where you're gonna stay. It was my old room before I moved in with Simon."
The mechanic stopped and turned. "But before we head out, you deserve to know why Zoe's treatin' you so mean. I need to tell you about Wash -- the man who used to fly this boat. He was a great pilot, and a good friend." She took a deep breath. "And he was also . . . Zoe's husband."
Wash stood in the doorway to the cockpit, staring at the place she used to call home. Kaylee had run off to find the captain, to see if he was ready for Linda's "maiden voyage" piloting Serenity . Was wasn't even sure she was ready, but she wanted to be back at those controls, and she needed to be out in the black.
'I need something familiar,' she thought, moving slowly towards her old flight station. 'After all I've been through, I need the feel of Serenity slicing through atmo. Shake the dust off my boots and touch the sky again.'
Wash touched the control panel, and a wave of longing moved through her, almost bringing the tears back again. She blinked them back, and then she saw what she never thought she'd see, so many months after the crash.
Two plastic dinosaurs, standing right where she left them so long ago, with a few plastic palm trees.
Her dinosaurs.
The tears threatened to fall again, as she reached out to touch the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Just as the tips of her fingers touched it, a voice came from above.
"Don't even think about playing with them, 'girlfriend,'" it said, the smile in its tone coming through loud and clear. "That's a 'dead' giveaway, don’t you think?"
Wash looked up to see River perched on an overhead girder, grinning from ear to ear. She lowered herself slowly to the deck next to the secondary console, as if it was the easiest thing in the world.
"You know you need to be careful, 'Linda,'" she said playfully. "You don't want anything coming out in the 'wash,' right?"
Slowly, what River had been saying sunk in, and Wash's mouth dropped open. 'She knows! She knows it's me!'
"Of course I know who you are." River's eyes twinkled as she looked at the pilot. "You're family."
Then, without warning, River stepped forward, threw her arms around the new girl, and gave her a big hug. After a second of confusion, Wash returned it as best she knew how, and she felt River stand on tiptoe and give her a small kiss on the cheek.
"Welcome home, Hoe-bann," she whispered, still smiling. "It's good to have you back."
SPOILER WARNING for you non-Browncoats, so enter at your own risk! This is a fan fiction set in the Firefly/Serenity universe created by Joss Whedon. It takes place after the events in the television series and the companion motion picture that followed, so you kin be sure it's chock full of spoilery goodness.
Wash finds an unexpected ally . . . but don't take my word for it, go on in and start readin'!
FIREFLY: CONNECTING FLIGHT
by Randalynn
Chapter 3 – Boarding Pass
Wash pulled back from their hug just enough to look into River's eyes. "Will I regret asking you how you knew?"
"After what you've been through, I doubt you'd be surprised," she replied with a smile. "You know I see things others don't. Mal calls me a 'reader,' and he's partly right. For all of the 'Linda Wehr' stuff flowing through your head, I can see you're still you where it counts."
"I think Zoe would disagree." Wash threw her a grin as River broke the hug and wandered back to the secondary flight station, her movements almost like a dance. "Some of the best parts of me never made it through baggage claim when I checked in on this crazy flight."
"I meant your soul, Sah Gwa." She curled her whole body up in the chair like a cat and peered at Wash with eyes that knew too much – and weren't afraid to let you see it. "I think Zoe would agree that's the most important part of you."
"If she knew it was in here, maybe." Wash sighed. "But if she gives me another look like she just scraped me off her shoe, I'll start crying all over again." She lowered herself cautiously into her own chair, feeling how her hips met the seat and balanced uneasily. "Maybe it's the stress, but I haven't cried this much since . . . well, since never."
"You have a lot to deal with right now," River said, as still as a statue. "This can't be easy for you. Part of the problem is that you're dealing with a whole new set of hormones, in a body you're not used to. The other part is, you've always been a strong personality. After everything that's happened to you, you're still you inside."
"And this is a bad thing?" Unconsciously, Wash bit her bottom lip, and River hid the smile that threatened to creep out. 'Gods, she looks so cute when she does that. Poor Wash.'
"Yes, it is," she said softly. "You can't afford to cling too tightly to what you were, Wash. You have to change, to do the job they sent you here to do."
Wash went pale. "How did you know I was sent?"
River gave her the "how can you doubt me" look – something Wash had seen a thousand times before. "I can hear you thinking, remember? You've been cursing someone named Chiang in the back of your head ever since you came on board, and I've caught pieces of your previous conversations with him. I know you're here to save everyone – and that you came back just for that. Pretty brave, fly boy."
She unfolded herself from the chair and stepped up on the console, walking among the controls with a dancer's precision. "But with the brave choice comes a price. You need to learn to be Linda as well as Wash in order to do what you were sent to do. That's not going to happen unless you let go of some of what you were and accept what you've become."
"Are you kidding? This body reminds me every time I take a step." Wash looked down at herself, but couldn't see past her chest. She shuddered. "Believe me, I know what I am now."
"Not nearly as much as you should, 'girlfriend.'" River cocked her head, then held up a hand and performed a perfect back flip that left her standing in front of the second console. Wash looked confused, and the younger girl smiled.
"Company coming, 'Linda,'" she whispered, putting a finger to her lips. "I think it's time to prove what a great pilot you are all over again. We'll talk more later."
An instant later, Wash heard Kaylee's voice coming down the corridor. "I went from one end of this ship to the other, and I find you both in the Captain's cabin, not twenty feet from the cockpit. What were you all doin' in there, anyway?"
Kaylee went through the cockpit door, followed by Mal and Jayne together. Wash felt her anger began to rise again, and stood up as they walked in. Jayne shot a look at Mal, and Mal nodded.
'What the hell was that about?' Wash wondered inside, and when Jayne turned to look at her, she almost gasped.
He looked . . . sorry.
"I . . . I juss wanted to tell ya I'm sorry for the way I acted in the cargo bay," Jayne stammered. He looked everywhere in the cockpit but at her, and Wash realized that, since he was taller than she was, Jayne was doing everything he could NOT to look down at her cleavage. "I didn't treat you right before, and I'm sorry. I ain't gonna do it again." His eyes flickered over to Mal, and Wash saw the captain nod, just a fraction of an inch. Jayne fidgeted a second, then stuck out his hand.
"Let's start over," he said, staring straight into her eyes. "Welcome aboard."
Over Jayne's shoulder, Kaylee looked like she'd been hit by lightning. Wash looked down at Jayne's hand, not sure what to do. But the mercenary seemed sincere, and she'd been brought up to be polite, so she reached out and took his hand, then gave it a firm shake.
"Thank you," she said with a smile. "Apology accepted."
Jayne broke into a big grin, and pumped her hand enthusiastically.
"Thank you!" he said, and didn't stop until Mal laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, just a little. Then Jayne let go of the pilot and took a step back.
There was an awkward silence.
"So," Mal said, his lip twitching as if trying to hold back a grin. "Kaylee tells me you're ready to show us what you can do."
"Yes, sir, Captain sir!" Wash didn't bother to hold back her smile. She dropped into the pilot's chair as if it had been made for her, and started flicking switches. "Are we going somewhere special, or is it once around the park and home in time for supper?"
Mal couldn't hold back his own smile in the face of the girl's enthusiasm, and he shook his head. "We've got a pickup on Yoshimasa's Skyplex. One of the crew you haven't met yet." He bent his head and scratched his ear, slightly embarrassed. "Well, not crew exactly. But family, anyway."
"She's a registered Companion," Kaylee piped up, "lives and works in one of Serenity's shuttles. I had to overhaul both of 'em – so many parts needed replacin', they'd fall right outta the sky if you looked at 'em funny – so we dropped her there to meet a client."
"Any problems with havin' a Companion aboard, Linda?" Mal looked down at the pilot, still deep in pre-launch prep.
"No, Captain," she replied, giving him a quick smile before going back to the checklist. "A Companion is just another professional, and if you say she's family, then I'm sure she's good people. Like everybody else I've met here so far." Jayne smiled, just a little.
"What are you doing in that chair?" Zoe's voice cut across the cockpit like a razor ripping through a bolt of silk, and Wash sighed.
"Well, almost everybody," she said under her breath, but Mal was close enough to hear.
"She's about to fly us over to pick up Inara at the Skyplex." Mal said, turning his head and giving Zoe a look she thought he only reserved for Jayne. "Is there a problem, Zoe?"
Zoe pulled up short. The captain's voice was colder than she'd ever heard it, and it took her only a fraction of a second to figure out the why. With a shock, she realized that Kaylee was right. She was disappointing the Captain. And she didn't like the way it made her feel at all.
Everything she had been doing was making his job harder instead of easier, and that's not what a first mate is supposed to do. Let alone a friend.
'And Wash, too,' she thought with an inner sigh. 'Wherever he is, he must be disappointed in me. He wouldn't even treat Jayne the way I've been treating her.' She took a deep breath. 'I've been a real jien ren, and that's a fact. Maybe it's time I stopped.'
"No, sir," she said aloud, deliberately making her voice warm and friendly. "No problem at all. I'm looking forward to seeing Linda fly."
The pilot turned, surprised to the point of speechlessness. Zoe looked back at the girl, sitting there in her husband's chair. That Linda should be so shocked at such a small kindness on Zoe's part made the woman feel even more ashamed of the way she had behaved.
Wash knew something in Mal's voice had made Zoe re-think what she had been doing to the new girl, and she silently thanked the captain. Then she looked into her ex-wife's eyes, and her own eyes filled with gratitude.
"Thank you," she said simply. "I only hope I can live up to the pilot who came before me. Kaylee told me how much he meant to you all, and how good he was. I know it's hard to see me in his chair. But I want you all to know . . . I can fly this ship for you, and be a part of this crew if the Captain says. But I know I can never replace him. And that's the way it should be."
Zoe could see the truth in the young girl's eyes across the compartment, and her heart softened. She looked back at the young pilot and gave her a small smile. Wash remembered that smile from their time together, just yesterday and yet so long ago – the smile that said "I've been an idiot, but I see that now, and we'll just move on from here, 'kay?"
"Sorry," Zoe said softly, and her eyes shifted from Linda to Mal. "I'm sorry."
Mal gave her a smile, and she felt that knot in her chest ease up, just a little.
"What's past is past," he said, "and no harm done."
He turned to the pilot. "Call for clearance and let's see what you've got, Linda. We're burnin' daylight and the black is calling."
"Yes, sir, Captain, sir," Wash replied, heating up the comm and reaching for the mike. "We'll be offworld so fast, it'll take a minute before the dirt even knows we're gone."
Linda handled the ship like the professional she was, dealing with spaceport control and leaving atmo with an ease that impressed everyone, even Zoe. The orbital shift and reorientation for the Skyplex was as smooth as anything they'd ever seen Wash do, and when they received clearance and slid into their docking port, it was pretty clear Serenity would have a new pilot before they headed off into the black again.
Soon everyone had left the cockpit, heading for the cargo bay door. Mal turned and gave the pilot a smile.
"Welcome to the crew," he said. "That was mighty fine flyin' just now."
"Thank you, Captain." Wash fairly glowed inside. 'I got the job!'
The captain grinned. "Don't thank me yet. Now comes the hardest part of the job – stayin' behind. Most everyone has somethin' they need to get done here on the station, but somebody's got to stay with the ship when she's not movin', and that usually means you. Sometimes, we might need to make a quick exit from an . . . uncomfortable situation, and so it's always a good idea to have you here. Any problem with that?"
"No, sir," Wash said, shutting down a few nonessential systems and sitting back in her chair. "I'll keep Serenity company while you're gone."
"Good girl. Won't be long." With a smile, the captain turned and left Wash alone, wondering why she suddenly felt like a border collie.
"In some ways, the Captain sees the world in simpler terms," River said from behind her, causing her heart to skip a beat. "Women are girls or ladies just as easily as they are women or women folk, although he'll make an effort to accommodate you if it bothers you too much." Wash turned and Rived smiled. "Of course, for you, every term for what you are now bothers you. A lot. You've been doing your best not to show it, but I can see it in your head."
"Don’t you have something to do on the Skyplex?" Wash asked, not anxious to continue the earlier discussion.
"Nothing as important as I need to do here," River replied, reaching out to touch the pilot's arm. "We need to talk."
Wash pushed herself to her feet. "We probably do, but I'm not sure I can deal with it right now."
She walked into the corridor. The room closest to the cockpit was hers now. She stopped and looked at the faded sign on her door – Kaylee's name in a girlish hand, with flowers and such. It made her smile, just for a minute.
"Kaylee could probably make a sign for you." River had come up behind her, speaking softly. "If you're uncomfortable with adding all the feminine frills and such. She'd do it just to make you feel welcome, 'Linda.' You know that."
Wash pushed the door in and climbed the built-in ladder down into her room. It still smelled just like Kaylee – all soap and engine grease, with a touch of strawberry. There were a few things Kaylee had left here, probably until the room was needed by a new crewmember. Over on the far wall, Wash could see that dress she wore to the shindig – the one all covered in ruffles of one sort or another. She remembered how happy Kaylee had been to get that dress, and to be escorted by Mal in his fine suit. The thought made her smile.
Wash turned and suddenly found herself face to face . . . with herself. She stared into a full-length mirror on the wall near the ladder. The glimpse of her new body in the mirrors over the bar at the Crash and Burn had been brief – partly because she was walking towards the exit, and partly because she didn't want to look too closely at what she had become.
This girl . . . this woman was beautiful. It took Wash by surprise – the mane of red curling hair, the bright green eyes, the full red lips. Her eyes followed the lines of her new form, and she turned sideways, fascinated as Linda's reflection followed her every move.
'That's me,' she thought, watching her reflection spin around slowly. 'Or rather, that's not me. I look at her and I want to buy her a drink. But where the hell am I in that mirror?' She stared, looking deep into those unfamiliar eyes, and shook her head. 'Gone, now. Almost gone.'
"You're not gone," River said, sliding down the ladder into Wash's room. "I told you, you're still you where it counts."
"But I'm not me," Wash snapped, sadness and frustration turning to anger. She turned toward River and pointed at the mirror. "I'm her! And I don't know how to be her! I've never been a 'her' before, River, and I never wanted to be one. But here I am, a real live 'her' – and a sexy 'her', too! So how am I supposed to 'accept' this? How am I supposed to 'accept' being something I'm not?"
River sighed. "This is what I wanted to talk with you about. You do pretty well in front of the captain and the crew, but I can feel it eating at you all the time, under the surface. You're trying to deny what already is."
"Deep inside, you feel like being a woman is wrong," she said sadly. "Or a punishment. And you're trying to fight it every step of the way. Or ignore it, which is worse – because in the end, you can't."
Wash shook her head. "I'm not saying that being a woman is bad. I love women. The 'Verse has always been a more interesting place because it's got women in it. It's just – it's just not me! I just can't get my head around it. I mean, I'm not a woman . . . but I am. I'm in here, inside this body. It's like wearing someone else's pressure suit. I can feel it, all around me, every move, every breath – but it's not me. And I can't take it off, not ever." She looked at River in frustration. "It's not me!"
The younger girl eyed her critically, running through Wash's thoughts and trying to figure out where to do next. She nodded and stood up.
"Come here." Confused, Wash stood up slowly and took a step towards River. "Okay. You trust me, don't you?" The new girl nodded, and River smiled. "Good. Now, listen. I'm going to ask you to do something, and I want you to do it immediately, without thinking about it, okay?"
Wash nodded again, and River stared into her eyes and said, "Take off your jacket and open the top of your flight suit."
The pilot shrugged off the jacket and threw it on a chair, then pulled the zipper on her flight suit down to her waist. The gap revealed pale white skin and a pale green bra. Wash did her best not to look. River nodded. 'About how I imagined she'd react,' she thought, keeping her face expressionless.
"Take your arms out of the sleeves." Wash complied, revealing slender arms with a touch of well-formed muscle. The flight suit bunched around her waist, and River saw her nipples rise through the fabric of the bra from the cool air.
"Now," she said, never breaking eye contact. "Take your breasts in both hands and hold them."
Shocked, Wash reached up and laid both hands on top of her chest. She barely touched herself, and her hands shook. River shook her head.
"Hold them, 'Linda,'" she growled. "Touch them the way Wash would have touched them, if he didn't belong to Zoe." When the new girl hesitated, River barked at her like a drill instructor. "DO IT!"
Startled out of her own inaction, Wash cupped both breasts through her bra and gave them a squeeze. The realness of them . . . the feeling in her hands and the feeling on her chest simultaneously freaked her out more than she expected it to. With a muffled "eeep!" she let them go and threw her hands in the air, falling back onto her new bunk.
River giggled, and then became solemn when Wash flashed her a confused and slightly irritated look.
"Now that is just the sort of thing I'm talking about," she said. "You touched yourself the way a man would touch a woman, but you felt it . . . as a woman . . . at the same time. You felt something you never felt before, and it scared you." She smiled. "Then when you realized those were your breasts you were squeezing, you let them go like they were electrified . . . or worse."
"Hey!" Wash raised her eyebrows. "These aren't the first breasts I've touched, you know." It surprised her that her tone had become so defensive. She took a deep breath and calmed down. "It's just . . . I've never had a pair attached to my chest before."
"And there it is again," River said, and reached up to touch her own chest. "That distance. The denial. They're not 'attached,' jei mei. They're part of you – a natural extension of your body. But you don't see it that way, and that's the heart of your problem." Her eyes narrowed, and her lip twitched. "You need to get with the program, girl. They're your breasts now. That's your body."
Wash sat there on the edge of the bunk, her flight suit around her waist, chest heaving. She stared at River, and the younger girl sighed.
"The fact is, you're not stuck in there," she continued, her voice gentle. "Or trapped in there, or forced to wear that skin. You chose to come back and save everyone. You knew what it would mean to come back, and I know it's hard, but you chose to be here, in that body. And now you need to get used to it – not just so you can do what you came to do, but so you can live and be happy."
River sat down next to the girl and put an arm around her shoulders. "Being a woman can be all manner of fun, Wash. It's got its downside, I know. But so does being a man. Once you get past this part, I know you can be happy. And I'll help you every step of the way, I promise."
There was a long silence as Wash considered River's words. Then she spoke.
"Couldn't you just leave me alone? Just let me get used to it at my own speed?" The plaintive tone in Wash's voice made it clear she knew that River was right, but still had one last push in her before surrendering to the inevitable. "I promise I'll try, really."
River shook her head. "The longer you ignore what you are now, the harder it will be for you to move forward later."
Wash sat on the edge of the bunk, staring straight ahead. She honestly didn't know what to do next. The younger girl gave her a small squeeze and the pilot looked over.
"Would you like me to help you? Tell you how to accept this? Maybe even embrace it?" After a moment, Wash nodded, and River smiled.
"Good." She thought for a moment. "Ever go swimming in a cold lake?"
The pilot shook her head, and River smiled. "There are two ways to get used to the water. You wade in slowly, taking your time. Or you jump right in, all at once. But you're trying to have it both ways. You're still trying to wade in slowly, but you don't realize you're already in it up to your neck. You are Linda, Wash. The rest of you just hasn't caught up yet."
"What you have to do," she said simply, "may be the hardest thing you've ever done – besides saying yes to Chiang and coming back to save us. It means jumping in and facing the truth head on, and that's . . . that's always hard. But when it's over, you'll know who you really are, and you'll start down the road to being the person you need to be. I'm pretty sure it'll be okay. The Wash I knew back when . . . the one I can still see in there . . . I know he could handle it. I think you can, too. Are you listening?"
Wash nodded again, and River took a deep breath.
"This is the first chance you've had to be alone since you woke up as Linda. I want you to stay here in your room and take off every stitch of clothes, right down to bare skin." The pilot's eyes widened, and she shook her head. River continued on, her arm still around Wash's shoulders. "I want you to make yourself completely naked, so there's nothing left for you to hide behind. Then I want you to look at yourself in that mirror there – and see the truth."
River turned to face the pilot, and Wash met her eyes with a fear River felt as well as saw. "And when you've seen the truth, I want you to reach out . . . and touch it."
Wash gave her an odd look, and River grinned and gave her a push. "No, jei mei. That's not what I mean at all. I see there's still more than enough man in there to push this experience into the gutter." She sighed. "I know you're not ready for what you thought I was suggesting, but I want you to do whatever it takes to make what you are real to you."
"You need to get it into your head that the girl in the mirror is really, truly, physically you. You need to feel that this body belongs to you. So touch yourself. Feel what it means to be you, now. Pull your hair, pinch a tit . . . or two." She smiled. "Wiggle your hips. Dance a jig. Do whatever you need to do to convince yourself that this woman –" River put her hand gently on Wash's chest. "THIS woman – is who you truly are now. Dohn-mah?" Wash hesitated, and River looked into her eyes. "I know you can do this, Wash. You do, too."
The new girl nodded, and River smiled.
"I'll mind the ship. You . . . get acquainted. And when you've accepted the truth . . . I'll know. And I'll come back." River stood up, then bent over and kissed her on the forehead. "It'll be okay, jei mei. You'll see."
She turned, walked over to the ladder and climbed up. She didn't look back.
"Don't much care for Skyplexes myself," Mal said, viewing the masses of tourists with well-earned suspicion. "Bein' in any sorta station puts too many locked doors between me and my boat, and nothin' but space to breathe outside if there's a pressin' need to avoid Alliance attention. The crowds are a mite unsettlin', too. Too much like cattle for me not to worry 'bout a stampede."
"True enough, Sir." Zoe kept her eyes scanning the teeming crowds near the docking port, looking for Inara. "Still, so many people milling about just means we can use them for cover if we have to. It's not all bad, bein' here for a spell. Kaylee and Simon are getting the fuel and supplies we need before we head out again, and Jayne . . . " She looked over at the mercenary, checking out the front window of the weapons merchant across from the port. "Just why is he here again, Captain?"
"Partly because I wanted Linda to get used to being left behind alone." Mal took a few steps to the wall and put his back against it. "If it's gonna be a problem, I want to know now, before we go back to Santo and pick up her things. Dipping in and out of atmo costs us coin, and if she can't handle standard ship procedure, best know it now so we can send her back by shuttle."
Zoe gave him a measured look. "So you took Jayne along and left River . . . to keep Linda company. While she learns how to wait. All alone."
"All right." The captain sighed. "Truth be told, I took Jayne so he wouldn't say or do anything he'd regret as far as Linda is concerned. And River just wanted to stay behind. I ain't complainin' none 'bout that. Even though the Alliance doesn't have an Operative chasin' her anymore, she still manages to find her share of trouble from time to time."
Zoe opened her mouth to protest, and Mal raised a hand. "Not sayin' it's her fault, and I'm the first to admit she's been more than useful any number of times we needed an army to back us up. Odds seem to tip mightily in our favor when she gets into a fight on our side. But we've got a pick-up on Boros that we're already almost late for, and dealing with the local authorities because we got into a tussle here is only gonna slow us down."
"I'm thinkin' River's learned some restraint lately," Zoe said with a smile. "We ain't been in a knock-down on her account in more than a month. So I can't help thinkin' this is mostly about Jayne . . . and Linda."
Mal's eyes narrowed. "And I'm thinkin' you're getting' way too sharp for me to ever hide somethin' from. You'd better look to that, Zoe. Sometimes folk like to keep their secrets."
"Yes, Sir," she said with a smile. "I will keep that in mind."
The captain shook his head. "That bein' said, I guess I should tell you what's goin' on. I reckon you'll figure it out soon enough."
"Yes, Sir," Zoe said, her smile becoming a grin. "I probably will."
Jayne stared through the window at a wide range of implements of destruction, his eyes pouring over the displays with a small smile on his face.
'Girls like presents,' he thought, 'even I know that. And if she's gonna be part of this crew, Linda's gonna need a weapon someday.' He snorted out loud. 'Anyone who's ever been parta one of Mal's plans knows that. Hell, Wash picked up a gun at Niska's, rescuing Mal. Book and Kaylee, too – hell, she even managed to use it, back when we took on the Reavers.'
The mercenary moved along the window toward the door, looking closely at everything as he passed. 'I ain't any good at figgering out girly stuff, like clothes or jewels or such. But if there's one thing I know, it's guns. Well, that and knives. 'Splosives, too.'
Jayne's eye fell on a Callahan Minaret 71-R, and he stopped. His smile turned into a grin.
'Now that there's the right gun for a lady,' he thought. 'Small automatic with a big punch. Sixteen-shot clip, explosive bullets standard, with three extra clips and a custom shoulder holster. That and a few boxes of ammo oughta make her see I care more about her than I do 'bout getting' sexed.'
'Back in his cabin, Mal said it's too soon for a present.' He nodded to himself. 'Hell, it makes sense. After all, I only just got her not to hate me. But we'll be out in the black for a while soon, and I sure can't buy her somethin' out there, now can I?'
He checked his cred balance in his head and smiled. 'So later on, when she needs something' that goes boom and does some serious harm, good ol' Jayne will be there with just the right somethin', wrapped in pink paper with a nice red bow. And if she don't know how to use it, I kin teach her.'
Jayne stopped and thought a second. 'Maybe Callahan makes a matchin' throwin' knife? Girls like stuff that matches. I think 'Nara called it "accessorizin'."'
He slipped into the weapons store with a chuckle. Things finally seemed to be going his way.
River felt Wash crying before she heard it, and after a last instrument check, she rose and headed for Kaylee's old room. By the time she made it down the ladder, the tears had stopped, but a thin edge of sadness still reached across to River from Wash.
The pilot herself sat there on the edge of the bunk, naked except for a pair of dark green bikini panties. She held the matching bra in her hand and stared at it, as if the undergarment held some dark and terrible secret that only she could see.
Wash looked up at River, a small smile on her tear-streaked face.
"Guess I know who I am now," she said, her voice trembling just a little. "Still feels strange, and that's a fact. But it's the only body I've got, and saying it isn't so won't change what's true." She took a deep breath, then grinned. "Okay. I can be a man about it, and admit when I've been wrong. I'm a woman, and it's not the end of the world."
"No," River replied with a smile of her own. "It's not. Just a new beginning for you, Hoe-bann. First steps to a new life."
Wash shook her head. "Call me Linda, River. Hoban doesn't live here anymore."
"Maybe not," the younger girl said, sitting down on the bunk beside her and folding her legs under her. "But Wash is still in there. And still family."
"Wash may be in here, but it's Linda's outside getting goose bumps. It's pretty gorram cold down here. Feels like Kaylee turned the heat down low when she moved in with Simon." The pilot turned to River and held out the bra. "Can you tell me how to put this on? I've had lots of experience getting them off, but I can't figure out exactly how to do it in reverse."
As River took the bra from her, Wash kept talking to hide her embarrassment. "It's funny. Linda should know how to do this, but I think maybe we left this particular skill back on Santo."
River reached into Wash's head, hunting for where the elusive memory was hiding. When she found it, she touched some of the memories around it and smiled.
"Mom took you to Dunlap's Frillies when you were thirteen," she whispered. "Got your first training bra, Missy Holloway made fun of you in the locker room at soccer practice . . ." River closed her eyes, breathed deep. "Mmmmmm . . . Prom night . . . Bobby Hamilton handing that lace-trimmed strapless number back to you after that shiny time in the back of his skimmer . . ."
"HEY! Give me that!" Wash's face blushed bright red as Linda's memories rushed through her. She snatched the bra back from River and slipped into it like she'd been doing it all her life. The younger girl watched as Wash had her flight suit halfway on before she realized what had happened. The pilot stopped, the cold forgotten.
"How did you do that?"
River took a deep breath. "I found where the memory was hiding in your head, and accessed some of the memories around it. Since memory is essentially holographic, I figured the other memories would trigger an autonomic response – the sense and muscle memory a girl gets after putting on a bra a few thousand times." She shrugged. "It worked."
"Oh yeah, it worked all right." Wash grumbled as she pulled her flight suit up the rest of the way and slid her arms into the sleeves. "Too well, it turns out. I also got to remember a lot more of what Linda did on her prom night than I really wanted to – at least until I get more used to being a she."
River ducked her head to hide a grin. "Sorry, jei mei."
Wash sat back down on the bunk to put her socks and boots back on. "No you're not . . . mei mei. I know you better than that. You had to push a little, because you like to play. But that's okay. You got me where I need to be to heal, and I love you for it." She turned to face River. "Just . . . don't try to push me down that particular road too fast, donh-mah? Right now, I still remember being Zoe's man. Being anybody's woman – that's going to take time."
The pilot stopped, and her eyes went distant. "Still, Linda did have a better time on her prom night than I did on mine." A smile touched her lips, just for a second, and was gone.
She stood up and turned towards River, hands on her hips. "So how do I look?"
River gave her the once-over, and a wide grin. "Sister, you make that flight suit look good!" Wash grinned back, but then River reached down and gave the zipper tab a flip. "You might want to zip that up a little bit more, though, in case any of the boys come back early."
"What d'ya mean you don't do gift wrappin'?"
Jayne snarled at the weapons merchant, a dapper gray-haired gentleman in a dark grey New Londinum suit.
"Apologies . . . sir," the man behind the counter replied. "But weapons are not usually considered . . . gift items. As such, we are not prepared to gift wrap the Callahan Minaret and accessories for your . . . lady friend."
"Huh. For what I paid, you should deliver 'em in a gorilla suit, along with a singin' gift card and a buncha balloons." The mercenary scowled at the stack on the counter – the polished oak box with the Callahan inside, a second matching box for the extra clips, a smaller box for the matchin' throwin' knife, the boxes of ammo, and the shoulder holster. "I ain't givin' this all to her right away, and I want it to be special when I do. I need it wrapped, dohn-mah?"
The merchant thought for a moment and then smiled. "The lingerie store across the way does gift wrapping, I'm sure. Perhaps they would accommodate you for a small fee?"
"Lon-jer-ray?" Jayne peered across the spoke to the opposite side. "Oh, you mean the store with all the girly underwear in the window?"
"Just so, sir."
The mercenary chewed on that for a while. He didn't want her to even think he was gettin' her "unmentionables" for a present. That'd be a damned fool thing to do, and that's no lie. If the wrappin' even hinted at somethin' like that, he knew she'd think he was tryin' to treat her like a whore again, to get her into his bunk. She'd be terrible angry, and he'd be right back where he started. Jayne shook his head.
'This courtin' stuff's gonna give me a headache I'll never git rid of,' he thought sourly. 'My one good idea shot all to hell because I can't get it wrapped.' He sighed, and turned to the merchant.
"Give a call over to the lon-jer-ray store and see if they've got plain boxes and plain wrappin' paper – nothing with the store name on it," he said gruffly. "But still nice!"
The gentleman nodded and reached for the interstore comm.
'I juss hope I get this done afore 'Nara gets here,' Jayne grumbled to himself. 'If'n make Mal wait, he's gonna wanta know why.' He watched Mal and Zoe lookin' for the companion in the crowd. 'What's takin' her so long anyway?'
"I'm curious," Simon said, watching Kaylee prowl through the marketplace.
"What about, ing jyun?" She smiled and picked up an apple from a crate of apples. The mechanic seemed to weigh it in her hand, then lifted it and took a deep breath before reluctantly setting it back down again.
"How does restocking the ship's food supply fall into your job description exactly?"
"Well, food is just another kind of fuel, I reckon," Kaylee replied, moving down the line to add some of the less exotic (and less expensive) vegetables and grains to the order pad. "And there ain't anyone on board who seems to like food as much as I do. Nobody's ever complained about the things I buy to keep the kitchen stocked, so the job's still mine." She grinned. "'Besides, I like shoppin' – almost as much as eatin'."
"Well, I like the new pilot." Simon put his arm around the mechanic as they headed towards the clerk. She snuggled up into him and put her head on his chest. "She seems nice, and she does know how to fly. Do you think she knows how to cook? Be nice to take Jayne off the cooking rotation. I'm almost tempted to do it anyway, to protect the health of the crew."
Kaylee shrugged. "If she doesn't, I can teach her. If she wants to."
"Did your mother teach you?"
"I made a right nuisance of myself until she did. I like to eat, and knowin' how to cook is the fastest way to get yourself a meal. When you think about it, puttin' a meal together ain't much different from puttin' an engine together. It's all about the parts, and what you do with 'em."
Simon stopped and kissed her forehead. "That sounds suspiciously like something else you like to do, chin ai der – putting parts together. I wonder if all the things you like are related that way." His hand reached around and gave her hip a squeeze.
The mechanic slapped his chest. "Simon!" she hissed, blushing wildly. "We're in public!"
"Really?" The doctor looked down at her, surprised. "Do you like that, too? I mean, putting parts together – in public?" He lowered his voice. "I saw a huge bin of spinach back there that looked pretty darned . . . comfortable."
As Kaylee's eyes widened, Simon lowered his mouth to hers. Staring into her eyes, he whispered, "Maybe we could make . . . a salad."
The mechanic squealed and wriggled in his arms. "You . . . you tease!"
He grinned and kissed the tip of her nose. "Guilty as charged, ma'am. We'll see how good a tease I am when we get back to the ship."
Kaylee stood on her toes and kissed her man full on the lips. "I've created a monster," she whispered with a smile. "It took me forever to get your engine started, and now I can't turn you off." She kissed him again. "Not that I really want to."
"That bin of spinach is still there." Simon stole another kiss. "If you can't wait, I mean."
"I think I can hold on 'til we get back to the ship." Kaylee pushed herself out of his arms. "I . . . put parts together . . . in a spinach patch once, back home. Got powerful itchy . . . eventually."
She walked over to the clerk and handed him the order pad. "Order delivery to port 13B, Serenity. Departure oh three hundred station time. Bill ship's account, authorization Kaywinnet Leigh Frye, ship's mechanic."
The clerk nodded, already bent over his terminal to enter the order and begin processing. Kaylee turned around to get another look at Simon, and found herself staring into the chest of a large, wide man. She tilted her head back, and he grinned down at her, exposing a fair number of missing teeth.
"Looks like the food will be getting' back to your ship afore you do, missy," the man mountain rumbled, grabbing her arm. "But don't fret none. Least we got yer boyfriend here to keep yer company."
She looked over to see Simon, his arm firmly in the grip of another man as large as the first.
"Well," she said with a weak smile, "isn't that nice of you?"
River and Wash were back in the cockpit. The pilot had just waved Santo Control and ordered Linda's personal items and luggage shipped up on the next shuttle, so they would be here before Serenity's posted departure time.
"No sense dipping back into the gravity well just to pick up my bags. Every pilot knows you have to watch how many times you touch dirt. One time too many and you might wind up losing the sky." Wash reached over her head and stretched her entire body – hard enough to make her back crack.
"Getting comfy in there, 'Linda'?" River smiled, and Wash blushed just a little and nodded.
"As a matter of fact, yes. It feels more like home every second. I feel . . . good. Lighter and stronger than I used to, even when Wash was a whole lot younger." She leaned forward over the instrument panel and felt her chest shift slightly with the movement. "It's kinda scary, really. I wouldn't think I'd be getting used to it so quickly."
"Well, it is your body, after all," River replied, "as much as you didn't want to admit it before. You were fighting it so hard, you didn't feel the positive aspects of being years younger and more physically fit."
"Oh, but I'm sure those benefits will be offset sometime in the next few weeks." Wash closed her eyes and sighed. "I am soooo not looking forward to becoming the Bride of Frankenstein one week out of every month for the next thirty years."
"It affects different women different ways, jei mei," River said. "For you, it could be a minor inconvenience – or it could wind up being a major pain. We won't know until it happens." She grinned. "Besides, there are ways to avoid it completely, you know. Kaylee hasn't had one in months. She's been wearing a patch to put it off for a while – didn't want to stop playing with Simon if she could help it."
Wash blushed, and turned her attention back to the console. A light started flashing red, followed by an insistent beeping. Wash leaned forward and stared at the offending light.
"Huh," she said, more than a little curious. "We've got a loss of pressure on the secondary access airlock hatch. We're docked via the cargo bay, and the main alarm would have sounded if the airlock had been activated. I wonder what . . ." Wash looked up to find River's eyes focused elsewhere, her mouth hanging open, and a chill ran down her spine.
"Intruders," she breathed, tilting her head as if listening. "They want to take the ship!"
"You're teachin Jayne how to court a girl?" Zoe cocked her head and gave the captain a dubious look.
"I am," Mal replied, finding her expression a little disturbing. "Is there a problem?"
"No, Sir," Zoe said quickly, "none at all. Just wonderin' if it's wise for you to be teachin' Jayne somethin' like that when your past experience shows a certain . . . lack of success in that area."
"Hey, now! That ain't fair!" Mal pushed himself off of the wall. "Maybe I ain't the smoothest man in the 'Verse when it comes to talking up a woman, but I'm way ahead of Jayne in the courtin' and wooin' department, and that's a fact."
"I can't argue with you there, Sir. But I think it's fair to say that a block of wood would have a better chance of getting a woman into a committed relationship than Jayne does."
"Which is exactly why I'm tryin' to help." He sighed, and turned to scan the crowd again. "Where is she? She sent a wave sayin' come get me, and here we are . . . and here she ain't." Mal kept searching, but alarm bells began to ring inside his head. "This don't feel right. Somethin's wrong."
"An astute observation, Captain Reynolds." The voice from behind him made him spin, reaching for his gun but finding only air. He remembered that was still on his boat due to station regulations, and cursed himself for not carrying a back-up. 'Every time I follow the rules, it never goes smooth,' he thought savagely. 'When will I learn just how troublesome the 'Verse can be?'
Adelai Niska stood a few feet away, impeccably dressed in a suit that must have cost more creds than a complete drydock refit of a Firefly-class transport. He seemed none the worse for wear, although Mal could swear there were more lines on his face than there were when last they met.
'Something is indeed wrong . . . for you," he said happily, his thumbs hooked in his vest pockets. "For me, however, the outlook is bright." Two men materialized from the crowds behind him, with Inara neatly held between them. She seemed more angry than frightened, but Mal could see the look behind her eyes that screamed for control. "As you see, I already have your Companion, and in a matter of moments, I will have secured your crew . . . and your ship."
Mal immediately thought of his people, scattered across the station. 'Easy pickings,' he thought bitterly, 'if they ain't expecting a fight.'
"When last we met, your crew did the impossible. They invaded my place of business and took you back from me." He leaned forward and smiled. "But there will be no daring rescue for you this time, Captain. No one to 'save the day.' And this time, when you are completely without friends . . . when hope itself is nothing but a memory. . . well, then, you and I are going to have a long talk . . . about the works of Shan Yu."
No more spoiler warnings, folks. If you've come this far, you already know what I've been trying to hide about the Firefly/Serenity universe, created by Joss Whedon. You know our intrepid heroes are in a bad way, but it's always darkest before the dawn. Unfortunately, the crew is on a space station, so who knows how that old adage works out?
On with the show!
FIREFLY: CONNECTING FLIGHT
by Randalynn
Chapter 4 – Emergency Instructions
"Mal's not answering," Wash said, her fingers playing over the comm system. She moved from crewmember to crewmember, becoming more upset with each missing response. "Zoe either, or Kaylee. Nobody's comms are responding at all. It's like they're being jammed."
"Or we are." River looked at Wash, and she felt a shiver run down her spine. "Try calling Skyplex control again."
After a few abortive attempts, it was pretty clear that someone was keeping Serenity from calling anyone. Wash tried a few more times and then pushed herself away from the panel. "Ta ma de, River! If we're cut off and being boarded, what's happening to everybody else? To Zoe?"
River touched Wash's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Sssssh, jei mei. We don't need comms. I'm a 'reader,' remember? I can find out what's going on. Just give me a few seconds, okay?" She smiled just a little, even though she was more than a little worried herself.
Wash nodded, biting her lip again and settling back in the pilot's seat. 'Damn,' she thought, 'I guess tears aren't the only thing that's close to the surface. Laconic is a hell of a lot harder to pull off than it used to be.'
The younger girl stood there, eyes closed, and let her mind wander. First, she reached out to touch the two who had boarded the ship. Looking through the eyes of the leader, she saw the duo was approaching the kitchen, still dressed in skin suits with weapons drawn. They were merely hired help with specific instructions – secure the ship and capture the pilot.
River's lip twitched. They thought there was only one person aboard, and cut the number of men hired for the job to make their payoff larger. That almost made it too easy. There was still some time before she had to deal with them, so she moved her perception off across the Skyplex, looking for the missing crew.
The first crewmembers she found were Simon and Kaylee, standing in the marketplace with two large goons standing over them. Angry beyond words, she touched the minds of their captors and discovered that they were also hired help, just following orders. Right now, the instructions were simple – find Kaylee and Simon and keep them from escaping. They were supposed to receive further orders via short range wave on a special comm unit, but until then, all they were supposed to do was hold onto the doctor and mechanic until they were told what to do next.
River pushed back her anger and centered herself. For a fleeting second, she wondered if she could really kill the two mercenaries with her brain, as she had told Jayne she could all those months ago. 'As much as I'd like to try, I don't have the time to experiment. Right now, Simon and Kaylee are relatively safe. I've got to worry about everyone else, too. I need to find the rest of the crew.'
As River continued her hunt, Wash kept her eye on the intruders. She was tracking their approach using the internal sensor grid. There were missing patches of coverage here and there, but what they did have worked (thanks to Kaylee) – and it was pretty clear from the incoming data that they were both heading for the cockpit.
'Makes sense,' she reasoned, a slight tinge of panic beginning to creep into the back of her head. 'They're probably here for the pilot, and since I've only just signed on, they think that means River.'
She looked over at the younger girl, her mind clearly off looking for the crew in the Skyplex. As the blips on her screen moved closer, Wash realized that they were getting awfully close, and she wasn't sure what to do. Should she should distract River when she was … somewhere else?
"River?" she whispered, half reaching out to touch the girl's arm. When no response came, Wash sighed, straightened her shoulders, and turned towards the door.
'Got to buy her some time,' she thought, a small smile creeping onto her face. 'Okay, Wash. You've always been a good talker. Now's as good a time as any to see if that skill came along for the ride when you changed planes.'
The pilot took a step towards the door and stopped. She could hear two voices echoing down the corridor, both male. A rush of fear flowed through her, along with a flood of Linda's memories – memories of men. Of being afraid on twilight streets, moving quickly from streetlight to streetlight; of feeling them standing too close on transit strips or in lifts. From fear she moved to indignation – having men talking down to her, hitting on her – and suddenly Jayne's behavior in the cargo bay moved front and center, followed by a quick image of Linda's strapless gown on prom night – and her date's reaction to it.
Wash shook her head and sighed.
'They're men, and you're a woman,' she thought with a grimace. 'There's no denying it anymore. They're probably bigger and stronger than you are – and they're armed. If you need to keep them from finding River, just talk isn't going to cut it. You've got to use what you've got.'
The pilot pulled the zipper on her flight suit down far enough to show a hint of cleavage, framed by the lace trim on her bra.
"Okay, ladies," she whispered to her chest. "If I can't dazzle them with words, it's up to you to distract them long enough for River to take them down. If we're lucky, we'll all bounce back from this alive."
She gave a ladylike snort, threw back her shoulders, and stepped out into the corridor.
"You know," Kaylee said to her own personal man-mountain, "they aren’t going to just let you hold us prisoner in the middle of a crowded market."
"Oh, I dunno, miss," her captor replied with a gap-toothed grin, his New Londinum accent reminding her of Badger back on Persephone. "Looks like nobody seems to much care from where I'm standing. And if they did want to try? Well, Bucky and me, we're right hard to move, ain't we, Bucky?" Simon's escort grunted once. "But they ain't gonna want to try, neither – not for a pair of strangers, and not against Bucky nor me."
"That's a rather bleak view of humanity, isn't it?" Simon piped up.
"Just how I sees it is all, Doc." Bucky's partner shrugged. "Ye bein' a medical man, right?" Simon nodded, wondering how he knew. "That means ye take care o' people, all philanthropical and such. Maybe ye think better of folks than I do. Me, I just rubbed elbows with too many nutters over the years to think we're all just brothers under the skin. I got one brother to look out for –" He jerked his head at Bucky. " – and that's enough for me."
Simon seemed to think for a moment. "This … this is just a job for you, isn't it?"
"Right enough," the man-mountain said. "Just work, as it was, for two enterprisin' young men such as meself and Bucky."
"What if –" Simon stopped abruptly. "What is your name, by the way?"
"Clive."
"Clive." The doctor smiled. "If this is just a job, then you're open to other offers, aren’t you?"
"Not followin' yer meanin, Doc."
"What if I could offer you something far more valuable than whatever you're being paid to keep us here? Something so rare, even the smallest amount of it would be worth a fortune?" He lowered his voice to near a whisper. "What if I could get you a tube of … Ambrosia?"
Clive laughed out loud, turning a few heads. "Ye think I'm daft? Yer so straight I could use ya for a ruler. How would you get yer hands on sumfin' like that?"
Simon raises his hand and looked around furtively. "Keep it down, please! As to how I got it … well, it was a while ago. I was one of the best trauma surgeons on Osiris, working the ER, when this well-dressed gentleman was brought in. Knife wounds, heart and lungs ripped up pretty bad. I saw this metal case fall out of his pocket and slide under his bio bed, but forgot all about it while we tried to keep him alive. As good as I was, I couldn't save him. But when they took him away, I remembered the case. I picked it up, opened it, and there were four tubes of this bluish liquid inside."
Kaylee could see that Bucky had become interested in spite of himself. Clive, however, was a little more skeptical.
"And it was Ambrosia?" Simon nodded, motioning again for the thug to keep his voice down. Clive laughed, a short derisive bark. "And how'd ya figger that out, Doc? Try some?"
"Don't be stupid!" Clive's eyes narrowed, and Simon raised a hand in apology. "I was in the most well-equipped hospital on the planet. I analyzed it. In that little case was enough Ambrosia to buy a small moon – not that I could actually do anything with it."
"Why not?" Everyone turned towards Bucky. They were the first real words he'd spoken. He looked back, brows furrowed. "Why couldn't ye buy yerself a moon, then?"
"Coz the stuff's illegal, Bucky," Clive answered, saving Simon the trouble. "Mister Upstandin' Citizen here canna sell it on the open market, and he don't have the connections to sell it on the down-low. Ain't dat right, Doc?"
"Exactly." Kaylee watched, amazed but trying hard not to show it, as Simon took a step closer to Clive, with Bucky following. "So I had a billionaire's ransom in the palm of my hand, but no way to get at it, at least not on a Core world like Osiris. But maybe out here, on the rim, an opportunity would come up to sell the Ambrosia – and make myself wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice."
"Huh?" Bucky looked to his brother for help. Clive sighed.
"Rich, Bucky. He could sell it out here and get very, very rich." Bucky nodded wisely, taping the side of his nose with his finger.
"So if you were to let the both of us just walk away, I could give you a tube of Ambrosia. You could disappear and live the rest of your lives without working another day." Simon smiled. "I'm sure two enterprising gentlemen like yourselves could find a buyer you could trust."
"A whole tube? Juss fer walkin' away?" Clive laughed again. "If we juss let yer walk, how're we goin' ta collect? Wot, yer juss gonna mail it to us?"
"Of course not," Simon looked around and leaned forward. "I have it with me."
"WHAT?" Clive's eyebrows shot up. "Are ye daft? If it IS real, why're ye carryin' it aroun'?"
Simon shrugged. "Always hoping to find a buyer, I guess. Besides, it really is safer with me. If my shipmates get into trouble, I could just walk away and sell a few drops to buy a new ship."
Clive stared at the doctor, and Kaylee could almost hear the wheels turnin' in his head. She didn't know where her Simon was headed with all this, but he seemed to be headed someplace, and Kaylee would happily go along for the ride. She watched as Clive seemed to come to some sort of decision.
"We'll let ye go," he said, with a grin Kaylee just couldn't trust, "but only after we see the stuff."
Simon looked at Clive and Bucky, thought for a second, and nodded. "Fair enough."
He made sure there was no one else nearby, then reached into his jacket pocket and took out a thin metal case that opened at the top. Before he could open it, Clive reached out and snatched it from him, and Bucky stuck out a hand to stop Simon from grabbing it back.
"Now," said Clive, his grin becoming a snarl. "I got yer Ambrosia and I got ye, too."
Simon smiled and shook his head. "What you have is a metal case you can't open without my help. If you try, it flash boils the Ambrosia and destroys it. I had that case made to replace the original. That way I can't be incriminated for carrying around contraband if the feds catch me – or have a fortune stolen from me in a crowd."
The doctor held out his hand. "So give back the case and we'll deal fairly, or forget about ever seeing that Ambrosia except as a cloud of steam as it floats away."
Clive pulled out a gun and pointed it at Kaylee. "Or I could hang onto the case, and ye ken open it and stop me from blowin' yer ladyfriend's 'ead off. Wot about it, mate?"
Simon's smile faded as he saw the fear in Kaylee's eyes. "A counter proposal, Clive. I open the case for you and you let us go. Four tubes of Ambrosia must be worth crossing your employer, right? And it's not doing me any good just sitting in my pocket, is it?"
Clive hesitated, then shrugged and put his gun away. "I'm a reasonable fella, Doc. Open it up, and ye and yer ladyfriend are free to go."
Simon sighed. "All right, then. Let me show you how to open it. You too, Bucky. You should both know."
Obediently, the brothers gathered close, and Simon took the case in his hand and held it where both could see.
"Look at where my fingers are," he said smoothly. "That's the failsafe position. It allows you to open the case safely. Then you just press on this smooth patch right here, and –"
A cloud of bluish vapor puffed out directly into the faces of the two brothers, coating their skin and drifting into their lungs. Simon took a step back and watched as Clive and Bucky collapsed to the ground like puppets with their strings cut.
Simon put the case back in his jacket pocket and let out the breath he'd been holding. Suddenly Kaylee grabbed him from behind with a squeal.
"SIMON TAM! Where in the Verse did you learn to lie like that?" She spun him around and gave him a kiss that made him feel like he'd inhaled the vapor as well.
"It wasn't a lie, exactly," he said when she let him up for air. "It all happened just the way I said it did – except for the part about the Ambrosia. A well-dressed gentleman with no ident card did come in, just as I described, and that case fell out of his pocket and slid under the bio bed while we tried to keep him alive. I found it later."
"You just took it?"
Simon shrugged. "I had planned to turn it in at Administration, but I was curious about what it was, so I held onto it and scanned it. It turned out to be some kind of short-range concealed weapon, full of a sedative that can enter the bloodstream through the skin – although inhaling it works just as well."
"And the Ambrosia?" Kaylee looked at him suspiciously. Simon blushed.
"Just a wild tale of easy money, based on all the lurid tales of treasure and adventure I found on the Cortex as a child," he replied. "The ones my father warned me not to read. I needed a reason for them to let me get close enough to use the weapon, and they needed a reason to betray their employer. Two birds …" he gestured at the bodies "… with one story."
Simon looked around at all of the passersby. They were very carefully NOT looking in his direction (or at the two men on the floor), so he took Kalylee's arm and started strolling towards the exit. "Since no one came to claim the man's body or his possessions, and since my search for a way to get River free was starting to take me into dangerous parts of the city, I kept it."
"So what do we do now?" Kaylee asked, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Back to the ship, I think," he replied. "If no one else in the crew has been grabbed, they'll all be there waiting for us. But if the others have been taken, River and Linda will still be on Serenity. And I think we're going to need all the help we can get."
"I have waited a long time for this day, Captain Reynolds," Niska said with a smile. "I should kill you quickly – kill you all quickly. It would be the smart thing to do. The professional thing. But the truth is, I want to savor your defeat. I want to embrace it. I want to live it with you, existing only for this moment, in this moment, as you watch your world collapse around you." He waved his hand and chuckled. "I know, I know. It's a failing, and I have many – or so my wife tells me. But I am old, and I have learned that sometimes a man should take his pleasure where he can find it. Life, as they say, is short."
"I reckon so," Mal replied, his jaw tight. "I can make it shorter for you, if you want."
Niska shook his head and laughed. "I'm sure you would love to make an end to me, Captain. But this time, it is I who will end you."
"Then do it already." The captain growled, staring straight into his captor's eyes. "Kill me if it'll make you feel all shiny. Make it slow if you want. But let my people go."
"But again, this is a mistake you make, Captain." The crimelord's eyes glittered behind his old-fashioned glasses, and his smile became a touch wider. "Thinking this is only about revenge, when in fact, there is so much more here than you think – much more than a man like yourself could possibly comprehend."
Niska reached up and stroked Inara's cheek with a finger. She turned her head and tried to bite it, but he was faster than she expected, and her teeth closed on empty air. She glared at him in anger, and he smiled, then nodded. One guard pulled her back and swung her around, and the other slapped her hard across her face with the back of his hand. The companion tried to stop herself, but a small cry escaped from between her sealed lips. Mal watched as a trickle of blood ran down from the corner of her mouth.
The old man looked back at Mal and beamed, his eyes twinkling. "You see? It is not the killing I am here for. It is the pain that gives me pleasure – hers, and yours. I do not just want you dead. I want to see you suffer. And watching you as I destroy your 'family' and steal your home? Oh, that will hurt you worst of all. And I will be there to see every glorious moment."
He patted Inara on her bruised cheek, and turned to face Mal. "Then, Captain Reynolds, I will kill you. In fact, I am looking forward to it very much. But as we learned last time, you and I, you cannot suffer once you are dead. So, as my mother always used to say … first things first."
Wash stood at the top of the stairs leading to the cockpit, her body framed by the doorway and her curves lit from above by an overhead fixture. Her heels on the metal deck made enough noise to silence the voices down the corridor.
"Hello?" she said softly, doing her best to keep her voice level. "Who's there?"
Her reply was a low chuckle. "My, my," a deep voice purred. "Stop in to pick up a spaceship and get a free redhead. Who knew it was bargain day at the Skyplex?"
The pilot pushed aside her fear. She had a job to do – keeping these two busy until River was finished. But how? 'This guy likes to play with words, and I do, too,' she thought. 'Maybe he likes his women to be playful, too. And if he thinks I'm interested …'
She stopped for a second, then continued with an internal sigh. 'If he thinks I'm interested, he won't kill me. That's enough of a plus to work with, for now.'
Wash grinned and shook her head. "First of all, I'm not free," she said, letting a playful note come into her voice. She shifted her weight and cocked her hip, letting one hand rest there. "I'm not talking about coin – I'm a pilot, not a whore. But I like to know I'm appreciated. So let's start with dinner and a show, and see what happens first."
A rumbling chuckle drifted back her way down the corridor. She continued, encouraged. "And as for me being a bargain, forget it. Just ask my last boyfriend. Believe me, my name and the words 'cheap date' will never pass his lips in the same sentence, unless the words 'not a' appear between them."
The deep voice laughed aloud. "Girl, you are a hoot!"
"Thanks! You're a lovely audience," Wash replied sweetly. "I'll be at the Skyplex Comedy Shack all week, two shows a night – unless you manage to take the ship. Then of course I'll be dead. No refunds, though."
"Maybe not, sweet thing," the deep voice said, still smiling. "You might come under the heading of illegal salvage. Hate to waste someone as pretty as you."
"I bet you say that to all your victims." Another rumbling chuckle echoed down the corridor.
A hissing voice came from the shadows on the far side of the passageway. "Knock it off, Teller. We aren't here to play. We're on the job, remember?"
"Oh, come on, Beeks. There's always time to play. Ain't that right, baby?"
Wash smiled in what she hoped was a seductive manner. "Depends on who you're playing with. And what game you're planning to play."
"Well, my name's Teller. And I think we're already playin', don't you?" She could hear the sly grin in the mercenary's voice, and it sent shivers down her spine.
'Damn,' she thought, trying to keep the fear inside. 'I'm better at this flirting thing than I thought. Either that or he hasn't seen a woman in a long time.'
A little voice inside her whispered, 'Or maybe you still don't want to see how sexy you are now.' She did her best to ignore it.
"Are we playing?" Wash let a touch of innocence drift into her voice. "I hadn't noticed."
Teller snorted. "I think you're old enough to have been in the game for a while, girl," he said. "And you do the dance like a pro."
The pilot's eyebrows shot up in surprise before she could stop them. "Thank you … I think."
A little surprise touched Teller's reply. "You think?"
A bit of Linda's memory slipped into Wash's mind, causing a bit of a blush. "Sometimes a woman who isn't a 'pro' doesn't like to be thought of as one. It's … complicated."
Beeks laughed then, a dry wheeze. "It always is where bitches are concerned."
"Shut it, Beeks." Teller's anger came through with a sharp edge. "My job, my lead. That means you work for me. So shut your trap or I'll shut it for you. Clear?"
There was a short pause, then Beeks spoke in even, measured tones. "As long as you remember who you're working for, Tee. And as long as you keep your eyes on your business instead of her chest."
There was a long uncomfortable silence.
"So, Red," Teller said, his voice deliberately conversational. "What's your name?"
"Linda." Wash stared out into the darkness. 'This would work a whole lot better if I could see who I'm talking to,' she thought, frustrated.
"Well, Linda. As you heard, Beeks really would like to kill you." Teller sighed. "I personally think that would be an awful waste, but he has … issues with women." Beeks snorted and fell silent. "It is your lucky day, though. Since this job is mine, we do it my way. So I'm gonna give you a chance to walk away."
Wash felt her jaw fall open. Teller laughed out loud again. "You seem surprised, girl. After all, it's only a chance to walk away. If you really want to get out of this alive, Linda, you have do exactly what I say – 'cause if you don't, I guarantee Beeks will just kill you where you stand."
'Gorram it, what'll I do now?' The pilot felt herself begin to panic. 'If I walk away, they'll walk into the cockpit and find River. If I don't walk away, they'll shoot me dead, drag the body to one side … and then find River. Could this day possibly get any worse?'
She cleared her throat. "Wha … what is it you want me to do?"
Wash could feel Teller's grin in the darkness when he spoke. "In order for you to leave, we've got to let you past us, right?" Wash nodded. "And I'd be a fool ten times over to let you walk behind us with a weapon, right?" She nodded again, more slowly. "So if you want to leave alive, I need you to strip bare-ass naked, leave your clothes up on the deck there, and walk slowly past Beeks and I to the far end of the corridor."
Teller took a step forward into a shaft of light from overhead. He was big, with a body that had seen more fighting than loving. Blond and blue-eyed, with a short scar running down his left cheek and a cold grin that only underscored the lust in his eyes. "And if Beeks and I decide to … check you for weapons as you pass, you give us a smile and a 'thank you' – and anything else we might like to have before you reach the other side of this passageway."
Beeks laughed, a mean and ugly sound. "Damn, Tee! You are a ruttin' genius."
Teller smiled wider. "Credit where credit is due, Beeks. So what'll it be, Linda? Take it all off and everybody's happy … or die where you stand. It would be a waste – but playing with you is just an added bonus, after all. And the ship will still be here when you're gone."
The pilot shuddered all over, thinking about her choices – and about how there really wasn't any choice at all. She was just starting to get used to this body, and now she was going to have to cross a line she was soooo not ready to cross.
'But you do what you have to do to save the people you care about,' she realized as her blood ran cold. 'That's why I'm here like this in the first place. To save Zoe and the crew.'
Wash smiled weakly and nodded. "Game over, then," she said, her voice shaking. "You win. I could ask you to be gentle, but you'll be what you are, won't you?" Teller nodded, and Beeks laughed again.
She reached up and tugged on her flight suit's zipper. 'River needs time,' she thought, 'and if all I have to work with to get it for her is my body, I guess I'm moving from comedy to burlesque.'
'Let's just hope I don't wind up as dead as vaudeville.'
"Niska!"
Across the crowded Skyplex floor, Jayne could see that all manner of things had gone way south. Mal and Zoe, held in plain sight by Niska and his gorram goons. He couldn't hear what was going on, but he knew it couldn't be good. After what they did to get Mal back the last time Niska had him, Jayne knew the man was gonna want blood, and he wasn't gonna take no chances this time.
'And he has 'Nara,' the mercenary grumbled, watchin' the situation go from bad to worse and likin' it even less. 'Least his goons do, which ties Mal’s hands pretty damned quick, the way he feels about her.'
Jayne leaned forward a little, trying to get a better view of what was going on without letting anyone see him in the doorway. Crowds of people moved around the small group across the way like a river around a rock, and every one of 'em lookin' to shop or gab or some such – a wall of rich folk between him and his target.
'Sure would cause a fuss if somethin' happened to any of them,' Jayne thought, lookin' for an opening and not findin' one. 'And if Niska's here with Mal, I'm thinkin' the rest of his folk are probably busy grabbin' up everybody else right now. Includin' Linda.'
He growled in frustration, bangin' the doorframe with his fist.
'Taint fair!' he raged inside. 'Just when things start goin' my way, Niska's gotta spoil it all. Not that I can do nothin' about it all by myself, cut off from the others. Gorram it, why did I have to wind up stuck here …'
Jayne turned away from the door and stopped, stunned. ' … stuck here – in a store full of guns.'
The clerk watched with growing unease as a wicked smile grew on the mercenary's face, his eyes roaming the shelves and display cases with undisguised happiness.
'Oh, yeah,' Jayne thought, the smile becoming a grin. 'This is gonna be fun!'
This is it, the end of the beginning of our newly-minted heroine's maiden voyage! Jayne's surrounded by guns like a kid in a candy shop, and the rest of the crew is riding a bit of turbulence. Hang onto somethin' -- we're goin' for hard burn! *grin*
FIREFLY: CONNECTING FLIGHT
by Randalynn
Chapter 5 – Cleared for Departure
Jayne took stock of what he could see on the store's shelves, then turned back to look at the "kill zone."
'Probably shouldn't oughta call it that, not even in my head,' he thought sourly. 'Anybody gets hisself dead 'cause I wasn't careful, Mal's gonna be powerful angry, even if I save his captainy ass.'
The mercenary sighed. 'Still, it makes sense, sorta. I could git away with killin' Niska, maybe. After all, he is breakin' the law. But killin' some passing rich folk is only gonna make things worse. I don't want Feds anymore than Mal does, and that's a fact.'
Jayne set his jaw and stared at the group across the way. 'Ain't enough of a break in the crowd to shoot in a straight line. And I need to take down Niska and his people fast enough to keep 'Nara safe. That means I needs somethin' automatic, so I can fire more shots in less time. And it's gotta have stock tranks in the load set, or somethin' like 'em. I can't be makin' custom ammo here.'
"Hey," he said in a loud voice, his eyes never leaving Niska. "You got a second floor in this place?"
The merchant shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir, but everything above shop level is support machinery and storage."
"No high ground, then," Jayne muttered. "And no gorram windows, anyway." The mercenary thought some more, then turned his head and checked the inventory again.
Something clicked behind his eyes, and he grinned.
"I'm seein' some Riggs & Murtaugh small arms. Revolvers and such," he said, walking back towards the counter. "But I ain't seein' any of the bigger pieces."
"You mean hunting rifles, sir?"
Jayne snorted. "Yeah, hunting rifles. Somethin' for bigger game." His eyes narrowed slightly. "Like maybe the Interceptor."
The merchant's jaw dropped slightly, and a crack developed in his implacable calm. "The Interceptor, sir? For hunting? Hardly sporting, is it?"
The mercenary shrugged. "The critters I'm huntin' don't play by the rules. Don't see why I have to.'Sides, I ain't plannin' to kill anythin'. Juss lookin' for tranks if ya got 'em. And I can't afford to wait for custom loads if you don't."
The shopkeeper paused for a moment, then nodded. "Well, we do have a Riggs & Murtaugh Interceptor in stock. Several, in fact. Not on display, of course. Or for sale, actually. They were ordered through Alliance military supply for the security staff here."
"A sniper rifle? On a Skyplex?" Jayne shook his head, pretending to be shocked. The merchant smiled.
"If you know about the Interceptor, sir, you know how valuable its special features can be on a space station." The mercenary nodded reluctantly, and the clerk continued. "I'm sure that's why you want the rifle right now, in fact. To help out your friends across the way?"
Jayne's eye narrowed, and the merchant held up a hand and smiled. "No need for alarm, sir. I couldn't help noticing where your attention has been directed for the past several minutes, and took the liberty of scanning the area you have been examining with such intensity." He waved his arm to a monitor above the door, which was focused on the tableau across from the lingerie store.
"Those … gentlemen appear to be treating that woman and her companions quite roughly, with no concern for interference from local authorities." Jayne growled, and the shopkeeper nodded. "Just so. I surmise that the Skyplex security staff might possibly have been paid to, as the expression goes, 'look the other way?'"
Jayne hesitated a second, then nodded. The gray-haired merchant smiled. "Well, then, in the interest of promoting customer satisfaction, I believe we can authorize a very rare, on-site, hands-on demonstration of the R&M Interceptor." The mercenary had the good sense not to look too surprised, but the shop-keeper smiled anyway. "It's as much for me as it is for you, sir. I've been waiting for the chance to try out the Interceptor for quite some time, but there aren't any ranges on the Skyplex large enough – and since I'm not Alliance military personnel or station security, I'm really not allowed to fire it anyway."
He moved to a large armored storage cabinet at the back of the store, where his handprint and retinal scan identified him as authorized to remove inventory. He removed a compact gray weapon the length of his arm. It was an odd mix of high-grade plastic resins and dull gray metal, and he held it out to Jayne with what almost seemed to be pride. Jayne took it gently, finding it surprisingly light.
"Now," the merchant continued, "we don't have tranquilizer ammunition as such, but these should do quite nicely." He picked up a small metal box and a smaller box of ammunition and handed them both to Jayne. "Made specifically for Skyplex operations. I think you'll agree?"
Jayne read the writing on the box, and a slow smile grew on his face. "Yeah," he said, nodding as he smiled. "These'll do just fine. Better than fine!"
Wash stood there, the light from above turning her copper-red hair into a halo of spun fire. She knew her newly-acquired curves were silhouetted by the cockpit door, but there was nowhere else to go but forward. Although she hadn't been a woman for long, Wash knew it was a safe bet that moving her semi-naked body closer to the two hijackers wouldn't make them want her any less. They watched hungrily as the zipper on her flight suit descended as slowly as she could lower it without standing still.
'They're not a captive audience,' she thought, joking with herself to keep the panic at bay. 'They're just the audience that's keeping me captive.'
Despite River's presence in the next room, Wash felt cold, and empty, and alone. Small sparks of fear seemed to chase up and down her spine as she thought of what Teller and Beeks had planned for her. She wasn't a coward, really. She knew that much about herself. After all, Wash had gone in with Zoe in the first wave to get Mal back from Niska, and he didn't even think twice about the possibility of not coming back.
'Maybe that's part of the problem,' the pilot mused as the zipper on her flight suit reached its lowest point. 'It's knowing I'll live through whatever they do to me that makes me afraid. I just started getting used to being a woman, and the part of me that used to be Linda knows that whatever happens next is going to change how I see myself in ways I can't even imagine.'
Resigned, Wash reached up and pulled the top of her flight suit down over her shoulders, baring them, along with the green lace-trimmed bra she had struggled to put on such a short time ago.
As she heard her tormenters breathing in the darkened hallway, she knew it would be just as hard for her to take it off now as it was to put it on in Kaylee's old room.
'River,' she thought desperately as she wriggled out of the sleeves, feeling the flight suit bunching at her hips. 'Please hurry.'
Simon and Kaylee moved through the crowds as quickly as they could. The supply markets and the docking area were on opposite sides of the Skyplex, so making the trip from one to the other took them through the most populated parts of the station.
"Still nothing from the comms," Kaylee said for the fourth time since they left their captors behind. Simon kept looking for the quickest path through the throngs of shoppers.
"Mal and Zoe were going to meet Inara close to the center of the station," he replied, "so we won't need the comms if they're still at the meeting point."
"And if they're not?"
"Then we head for the ship. Because that's where Mal and Zoe would go if they picked up Inara, and if they were captured, that's where anyone who wasn't taken prisoner would head to meet up with the rest of the crew."
Kaylee looked over at her man. "That's mighty fine thinkin' there, Doctor Tam," she said with a smile. "Not too shabby for a civilized gentlemen. Just when did you become Bucky Batson, Space Ranger, anyway?"
Simon blushed and looked away. "You have a way of making a man want to be a hero for you, Miss Kaylee," he replied in a fair approximation of Mal's voice. "Best get used to it, I reckon."
In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Kaylee couldn't help but laugh. "You'd best not do that in front of the captain, 'hero.'"
Simon's smile matched her own. "I will keep that in mind, missy. But Bucky Batson ain't afraid of no man, not even Captain Reynolds."
Kaylee gave the doctor a sideways look. "You're way calm, Simon," she said, her curiosity growing. "Confident, too. Don't get me wrong, I like it. A lot. But where did it come from?"
After a moment, Simon shrugged. "Always there, I think," he replied. "After all, you can't be a trauma surgeon without being calm or confident. But I guess I finally realized that I'm not as far out of my depth as I thought I was when I first came aboard Serenity. Mal showed me that."
"What do you mean?" The mechanic gave his arm a squeeze as they walked
"I figured out that being Serenity's captain is a lot like being the chief physician in an ER, in a way." While he spoke, his eyes continued to search the crowds ahead as the two kept moving. "Because of the work we do, we often wind up in an emergency situation, and Mal usually has limited information. There's no time to be indecisive, because seconds count, both with an injured patient and out on the Rim. So Mal looks at the options, figures out what has the best chance for success, and makes a judgment call. He's not always right, but we're still flying, so how wrong can he be?"
The doctor turned his head briefly and caught Kaylee's eyes with his own. "So I learned from the captain and my own experience. Now when my corner of the Verse becomes … difficult, I make a judgement call and run with it. I do the best I can with what I've got." He smiled. "Fortunately, what I've got right now is you. So I'm hoping I'll do better than you'd think."
Kaylee smiled back. "You're off to a good start." The she looked past Simon and gasped. "Oh my God, it's Niska. And he's got the Captain and Zoe ... and 'Nara."
Without missing a beat, Simon took Kaylee's arm and kept walking along with the flow of the crowd. He turned them both away from the scene to face a shop window across the way, and studied the situation in the reflection.
"The two … gentlemen holding Inara are there for insurance, probably to keep Mal from doing anything to stop Niska while he collects the rest of us, and probably the ship." Simon felt his heart start to race, just a little, as he noticed the way one of Niska's men held Inara. "The way the one on Inara's right side is holding her … he could snap her neck almost instantly. Mal can see this, or he would have made his move by now. Zoe's been waiting on the captain to say when, but he won't. The two who grabbed us, Clive and Bucky, were probably on Niska's payroll too."
"So … what'll we do?" Kaylee looked up at Simon, as he still looked at the group mirrored in the window.
"Something's missing," he said softly. A few seconds passed, and the doctor cocked his head. "Where's Jayne?"
Jayne stood in the weapons shop, holding the advanced sniper rifle loosely in one hand. The Interceptor felt like a toy compared to the simpler, heavier weapons he knew best. That made him feel awkward and a little unsure. For a minute he wondered if it would just not work, like that Alliance rifle he had taken on Ariel during the escape. He shook his head.
'Riggs 'n Murtaugh … they always done right by me before,' he decided, 'Got a good rep, never had one jam on me. And I always made the shot. I ain't gonna start worryin' 'bout 'em them now, just 'cause this thing feels like a piece o' plastic pretendin' to be a gun.'
The proprietor of the shop stood across from him, also holding a loaded Interceptor. He had a barely suppressed smile on his face, as if this was the most fun he'd had in years.
"Come stand here beside me, sir," he said. "With the door propped open, this area is nothing more than a shadow from across the way. We can have a clear view of the targets without them seeing us at all."
Jayne grunted and moved over to where the storekeeper stood. Even though the man had been helpful, his happiness was downright irritatin'. Unable to stop himself, he turned to the man and leaned forward, getting right into his face.
"Listen up. This ain't no ruttin' game," he growled, his jaw tight with suppressed anger. "That's my gorram crew out there. My job is keepin' them safe, and I ain't gonna let no crazy-ass rich man have 'em just 'cause he thinks he's owed. Anybody messin' with my family is gonna wind up on the wrong side a' trouble, an' that's a fact."
With a barely suppressed shock, Jayne realized what he said without even thinkin' about it, and his tirade faltered and ground to a stop. He swallowed once and went on. "So … so stop havin' so much gorram fun, and let's get this done, awright?"
The merchant felt chastened. "My apologies, sir, for taking joy at your misfortune, however inadvertent it might have been. My … need for action should in no way take precedence over the seriousness of-"
"Stow it." Jayne cut him off sharply, feeling a little ashamed of his outburst. "I know how it feels to get to fire a new piece for the first time. I'm sorry I mouthed off at ya, considerin' how you're helpin' out me and mine." He stopped short again and shook his head. "Gorram it, we better get this done 'fore I start callin' Mal Pa."
The shop owner cocked his head, clearly confused, then nodded. "As you wish, sir. If I may suggest, the primary targets are the ones holding the woman. Since they are behind the others, they're least likely to be noticed when they are affected." Jayne nodded, and the proprietor continued. "Then the third man holding the concealed weapon and the older gentleman in charge would be in the second volley."
"Sounds like a plan," the mercenary said, his muscles getting loose thinking about finally doing something.
"Then let's make it so, shall we? I believe the expression is, 'we're burning daylight." He smiled at his reference, only to find Jayne looking at him oddly. "Apologies, sir. A reference to cinema from Earth That Was. What I meant was –"
"Yeah, I get it," Jayne growled, "we're wastin' time. So let's see if we save some folks before they die of old age."
From Bishop's Compendium of Alliance Weapons and Armaments:
The Riggs & Murtaugh Interceptor is a state-of-the-art sniper rifle, designed primarily for Alliance use during the war against the independent planets on the Outer Rim. The Interceptor uses a magnetic mass driver to propel its streamlined steel jacketed ammunition at just below the speed of sound. This makes the Interceptor almost completely silent - an important feature for a weapon designed primarily for infiltration and assassination.
Although the muzzle velocity of the Interceptor virtually eliminates the need to correct for wind or distance, the true technological advantage of the Interceptor lies in its "smart" ammunition. The onboard processor built into each round uses a combination of biometric recognition and positioning technology to "home in" on a selected target, chosen by the shooter. Once a target has been acquired by the Interceptor's AI, the mass driver is set to a slower propulsion setting, and the weapon can be fired in any direction. The projectile will then use its self-contained guidance rockets to actually change course and pursue its objective.
Although usually reserved for Alliance military personnel, a select number of Interceptors have been released by R&M and sold for use by local security personnel in major cities and on orbiting civilian platforms, or "Skyplexes." Its target acquisition capability makes it perfect for crowd control, hostage situations, and criminal apprehension, with a factory-installed self-destruct subroutine overriding operator settings to prevent a shot from piercing the hull of an orbiting platform in deep space. In certain covert situations, the self-destruct capability can be set to eliminate the projectile after it has delivered its payload, leaving nothing but a metallic dust behind to avoid any evidence that a payload has been delivered.
From a doorway about ten feet away, there came a soft short hiss. Startled, Simon turned towards the sound, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw two small … somethings … move very quickly over the crowd towards the group across the way. A split second later, there was a second hissing cough, almost lost in the Skyplex's background noise, and this time he followed the flight path of a second pair of blurry objects as they crossed the distance almost too quickly to be seen.
Simon looked over to where Niska and his crewmates still stood. Nothing seemed to have changed. But when his eyes swung back to the doorway where the sounds and objects had originated, he saw Jayne walk out with a swagger in his step and start cutting across the crowd towards the tableau.
"Damn, he's going to walk straight into Niska's hands," Simon said, grabbing Kaylee's arm and lurching forward. "We need to stop him!"
But even as he said it, he knew they were going to be too late.
Mal felt the goon next to him move slightly, and heard something small hit the floor next to him. He turned his head just in time to see Jayne walking confidently through the crowd, a silly grin plastered across his face. A few yards behind him, the captain saw the doctor and Kaylee trying desperately to reach Jayne before he reached Niska. Mal gritted his teeth and did everything he could think of not to tip Jayne's play - whatever the hell Jayne's play actually was.
Jayne walked past Niska to the thug holding Inara's neck. Niska remained frozen, with that same self-satisfied smug smile on his face. Without a pause, Jayne pulled the goon's hand away and pushed it towards the ceiling. It remained pointed skyward, and Inara gasped. She threw her elbow deep into her captor's stomach, and nothing but a small wheeze of air escaped his lips.
Mal took a step forward, slipping from his own minder's grasp. The man stayed frozen where he was, a statue carved in flesh. Zoe stepped forward as well, turning to look at the still figure beside her and then back at the captain.
"Sir?" she asked, clearly confused.
Mal shrugged helplessly. "Don't ask me, Zoe. I'm puzzled my own self." The grin on Jayne's face grew wider, and he stepped between Niska and one of his men and put his arms on both their shoulders.
"This is what ya might call a ruttin' rescue," he said, as Simon and Kaylee finally made it to where they all were standing. "Courtesy of Mister Jayne Cobb, with a little help from a gray-haired shopkeep and the latest high-tech piece o' crap Alliance excuse for a gun."
Simon stepped forward and circled around Niska. "He's … they're paralyzed!"
"Naw," Jayne said smugly, "They just ain't moving." The doctor looked at Kaylee and they both sighed. Jayne went on, oblivious. "Can't move, neither, unless we move 'em."
Mal looked at Jayne, trying to decide if he was hallucinating. Rescued by Jayne?
"How … how did you … ?"
"Borrowed an Alliance sniper rifle and some special ammo. Filled 'em all full of this juice the Feds mixed up for crowd control. They don't fall when they get hit. They juss stand right where they is 'til the purple bellies come and pick 'em up. Throw 'em on a truck like stacks o' firewood." He threw a small box towards Simon, who caught it with one hand and started reading the label.
"The drug shuts down all voluntary muscle control," the doctor said, "for several hours, depending on the dosage and the muscle mass of the target." He looked up at Mal. "We're safe. For a while, at least."
The captain looked at Simon and Kaylee. "I figured you two were caught, too. Didn't happen?"
"Oh, it happened," Kaylee said with a smile. "Two big slabs of muscle twice Jayne's size grabbed us while we was shopping. Didn't look good for a while there."
She wrapped her arm around Simon's and squeezed. "But then my man got the jump on 'em. They're still out cold in the marketplace, I reckon."
Mal eyed the doctor with a new respect. "My, my. Seems a day for miracles. First Jayne mounts a gorram rescue, and then you take down two hired men without even skinnin' a knuckle. Doctor, I am impressed."
Mal moved over to look into Niska's eyes. "Can he see? Hear me?"
Simon thought for a moment, then nodded. "Probably. There's nothing on the packaging to indicate unconsciousness as a direct result of the substance."
"Well, good. Got a few choice words to share with our friend here," Mal said with a smile. "Ain't none of them fit for mixed company."
Zoe stepped forward. "Sir? I hate to interrupt what I'm sure is going to be an entertaining display, but Niska said he was going to capture the crew and the ship. If he sent people out after Simon and Kaylee, he must have sent someone to take Serenity."
Jayne's smile dropped off of his face, replaced by a look of dread no one could ever remember seeing before.
"Linda!" He growled, and turned to disappear into the crowd.
"River!" Simon shouted, and ran after Jayne.
"Simon!" Kaylee screamed, and started after Simon.
"Kaylee, wait!" Mal started after her and stopped, torn between staying with Inara and going after his crew. The companion touched his arm, and he turned to her.
"Go, Mal," she said, looking into his eyes and squeezing his shoulder. "Take Zoe with you. I'll watch over Niska. Try and keep out of trouble."
"This bunch? Ain't gonna happen."
Inara smiled. "I was talking about you." He smiled back, shook his head, then darted forward and kissed her on the forehead. "Back as soon as I can, 'Nara."
She watched Mal and Zoe chase after the rest of the crew, then turned to the crime boss's frozen form with a wicked smile.
"Now, Mister Niska," she said sweetly. "It's time to make plain to you and your associates exactly what happens to people who threaten the lives of registered Companions."
Reaching up, she touched an ornate broach pinned over her left breast. It gave a small chirp like an indignant bird, and a melodic female voice followed immediately.
"Companions Guild, Santo Chapter. How can we be of service, sister?"
Wash was down to her bra and panties, shivering slightly in the chill breeze from the air recycler. Her nipples had swollen and grown hard from the cold, and she could see goosebumps rising on the exposed upper curves of her breasts.
Beeks had waved to her to turn around slowly, apparently so he could ogle her more efficiently. That suited Wash just fine, since it gave her another way to waste time. The deck plates were cold on her bare feet as she rotated as slowly as she could, raising her hands and trying for a half-remembered model's stance - although whether it was Linda's memory or Wash's remained unclear.
'It doesn't matter, really,' the pilot thought, pasting a flight attendant's smile on her lips as her shuffling turn rolled her hips slightly. 'Anything that puts off the last few steps in this bizarre dance is okay in my book. I just wish River would hurry up and notice something!'
Both intruders had allowed their gun barrels to slip towards the deck, since the pilot was clearly unarmed. Teller caught the look in Wash's eyes as she completed the turn, and smiled wide.
"Hey Beeks," he said, "I think the lady is scared of us or something."
"Really?" Beeks replied, his voice a model of mock astonishment. Then, in an instant, it turned into a growl. "Good. I like 'em scared."
Something that sounded suspiciously like a snort came from directly behind them, and both men spun around to find a very angry Jayne holding two handguns, both pointed directly at them.
"Now that's real funny," he said, a smile twitching at the edges of his mouth. "That's downright HI-larious. You know why? 'Cause I like to scare folks, too. 'Specially folks who like to scare my crew. I mean, that's what the guns're for, right? Well, that an' killin', and that's the really scary part, ain't it? Cause I ain't done my killin' for today yet, and I reckon I'm about due. So how about it, sah gwa? Are YOU scared?"
Beeks swallowed and nodded. Jayne grinned and cocked the pistol aimed at Beeks's head. "Well, if you're so scared, why ain't your gun on the deck yet? Or are you stupid, too?"
The intruder's weapon hit the metal grid with a satisfying clang, and Jayne told Beeks to kick it away, which he did. Teller watched Jayne, his smile not fading an inch. His own gun was still in his hand, and pointed up at the doorway to the flight deck.
"You next," Jayne said, his barrel not moving an inch. Teller shook his head.
"I've got my gun pointed right at your pretty pilot, friend," the thief replied with his own grin, "so maybe you're the one who should be dropping his guns, dohn-mah?"
Jayne snorted and shook his head. "You're aimin' at an empty doorway, dumbass. You might want to make sure you still have a hostage before you start mouthin' off. Ain't that right, Linda?"
Teller's head whipped around, just in time for his chin to collide with Wash's fist. He spun back in the other direction, and his unconscious body hit the deck a split second before his gun did. The pilot yelped and shook her hand, fingers spread.
"Owwww!" She massaged her wrist with her opposite hand. "That wasn't supposed to hurt me!"
"Takes practice," Jayne said, lowering both guns with a smile. He took in the sight of an almost-naked Linda while she focused on her pain. "You gotta learn to brace your wrist afore you hit 'em. Least you kept your thumb outta your fist. That's somethin'. Ain't too bad for your first knockout punch."
Seeing Jayne distracted, Beeks began moving across the deck towards Teller's gun. Suddenly, a lithe form dropped from the gridwork above and landed on his outstretched hand. Linda heard bones snap an instant before the intruder howled in pain, and turned to see River crouched on top of the screaming man.
"Oh, hush," she said calmly, standing up without moving off of his hand while his screams dwindled to whimpering. "You'd think you'd never had your hand crushed to a pulp before." The girl twisted her legs slightly, grinding Beeks's bones together. "Maybe that will teach you not to go reaching for your gun without permission."
Almost daintily, River stepped off the intruder's hand and kicked him in the chin, knocking him unconscious. She walked over to the door to the flight deck door and gathered up Linda's clothes, then carried them over to the pilot.
"Aren't you a little cold, Linda?" she said sharply as she thrust the pile of clothing into the girl's arms. "Go get dressed before Jayne's eyes fall out of their sockets."
The mercenary turned bright red and started to stammer. Wash put her hand out and touched his arm.
"It's okay if you look, Jayne. At least this once." Jayne turned towards her, surprise written across his face. Linda shrugged. "After all, you saved this body from these two, and they were going to do a lot more than look. So …" She started to spread her arms, and the look on Jayne's face was priceless. But before she could move more than a few inches, he put his arm out and stopped her.
"No," he said, looking only into her eyes. It was her turn to look surprised. "Truth is, this ain't about lookin' – not to me, not anymore. You're crew now, and that means I get to look out for you, and that's … well, that's good. Hell, that's my job."
He took a deep breath and pressed on. "But I want more someday. Somethin' more 'tween us, maybe. If you're willin', I mean. And if I ain't stupid enough to drive you away."
Jayne looked down at his feet, avoiding her eyes for fear of seeing what she felt. "Ever since I met you, I want to be better. I want to be more than I been before, so maybe you'll want to get to know me. But if I act like that … if I treat you like they did, even a little … that makes me like them, don't it? And that ain't how I want you seein' me. Not now, not ever."
He turned away. "So you go get your clothes on, and I'll finish what I started." Jayne bent down and picked up both men by the backs of their suits, like a pair of suitcases.
"You … you aren't going to kill them or anything, are you?" Linda's voice was a trifle shaky. Jayne's reply was a snort and a shake of the head.
"These two ain't worth the lead," he said, walking back towards the cargo bay. "I'm juss gonna bring 'em someplace they can think about what they did, and what they was gonna do." Then he snorted again, and started laughing out loud. They could hear him clattering down the metal stairs.
Mal caught up to Simon and Kaylee at the cargo bay door, just in time to step aside as Jayne walked through carrying the two intruders.
"Goin' somewhere, Jayne?" the captain asked, a little surprised at how easily he carried the two men.
"Juss takin' out the trash, cap'n," he replied with a snort. "I won't be long."
"Make it fast," Mal said. "I want us out in the black and on our way to Boros before Niska quits bein' a statue and goes back to being a sadistic crazy."
Jayne just nodded and kept walking, but every now and then a little snort of laughter would pop out as he made his way into the Skyplex.
"Mr. Niska." A blindfold was removed, and the face of a quite beautiful woman moved into his point of view. From the grace with which she carried herself, it was obvious she was a Companion. Niska strained against his own muscles, but was still quite paralyzed. And although he seemed to be standing in a public place, he was surprisingly cold.
"I know you can see me, even though you cannot respond. I also know you are a direct man, so I will make this simple and to the point. You took a member of the Sisterhood hostage today, and ordered your men to strike her. Then you threatened to kill her. This is not tolerated, and we will not permit it to continue."
Ther crime boss raged from inside his prison of flesh, and the woman saw the anger in his eyes and smiled.
"The reach of the Companions Guild extends far beyond the bedroom, Mr. Niska. We have friends in high places … and we are not at all reluctant to use our connections to punish or eliminate those who threaten us. Your Skyplex, for example, could not withstand even a single salvo from a fully-armed Alliance cruiser. And although we do not have one of our own, there are many Alliance officers who would happily destroy your home if we told them the cause was just. Government leaders on dozens of worlds would eagerly target your business operations if we asked them to. And rest assured, we will ask – unless you do exactly what I say."
Niska 's anger cooled slightly as he contemplated her words. As heavily shielded as his Skyplex was, it was no match for Alliance heavy weapons. And he had no doubt the Companions Guild could deliver what this woman promised. He could fight, but it would be costly. And if he were to lose, his reputation would become even less solid than his dealings with Captain Reynolds had already made it.
"You will leave Inara Serra alone, Mr. Niska, as well as Malcolm Reynolds and the crew of Serenity. You will also seek no action against the Sisterhood, for that would bring an immediate and unfortunate reaction – one that would severely impact your ability to do business, not to mention your ability to remain alive."
"That was a warning about your future. Now, concerning your present. You had to be punished for your attack on one of us. Obviously you have issues with powerful women. But your current status as a mannequin and our proximity to a lingerie store provided us with the perfect opportunity to … put you in touch with your feminine side."
"You and your men are now … on display in the center square of this station, wearing the latest in feminine underthings from the finest lingerie designers on Osiris, and made up with the finest cosmetics Ariel has to offer. We've also extended your paralysis for an additional eight hours or so, to give you all the time you need to reflect on why it is unwise to attempt to harm a Companion in any way."
"Your clothing and valuables are in the station security office. You can retrieve them when you can move again. Do not bother to file a complaint. They will take no action against us." The woman moved her face very close to his, and looked deep into his eyes. "A few last words of advice. Taking revenge is both unprofessional and unprofitable. And if you persist in attempting to obtain it, from either Malcolm Reynolds or the Sisterhood, you will lose everything you have worked so hard to build. That is not a promise. That is a fact."
"Have a … beautiful day."
She moved aside, and Adelai Niska finally saw his reflection in the store window across from where he stood.
Despite the Companion's parting wish, it wasn't pretty.
Teller opened his eyes slowly, and the world gradually came into focus. Everything around him was pink and smelled vaguely like perfume. His hands and feet were restrained somehow, so he couldn't move well on his own. He could hear someone next to him that sounded like Beeks, but he couldn't turn his head far enough around to see. Besides, whoever it was kept whimpering and mewling, and he'd never heard Beeks sound like that before.
"Good. You're awake."
Teller turned his head to find Jayne straddling a worn kitchen chair. Behind him on the wall was a table full of jars and brushes, and a mirror. Since he was apparently on the floor, Teller really couldn't see his own reflection, but there seemed to be a lot of clothes against the wall behind him. "I been trying to talk to your partner there, but all he can do is breathe hard and make noises like a kitten trapped in a well. Probably 'cause he woke up a mite prettier than he was when he went out."
Almost effortlessly, Jayne reached down and pulled Teller half off the floor, then spun him around so he could see his partner.
Beeks was hairless and fleshy pink from head to toe. His hair had been lengthened to reach halfway down his back and colored a bright cotton-candy pink, with a pair of white cat ears stuck in the middle of it all. His face was heavily made up, and both hands, including the broken one, were locked into furry mittens that couldn't be removed. He wore a harness covered in pink fur that matched the mittens, and a long fluffy cat tail attached to the harness ran down behind him. Teller could see Beeks's feet, also locked into white furry boots with very high heels.
"The warpaint is sorta permanent," Jayne said, "and so's the hair. They got stuff that'll loosen it all up so he kin get it off, but without that I reckon your buddy would hafta rip his skin off, and I'm thinkin' he wouldn't want to do that."
Teller felt a chill run down his spine. "Do I look like that, too?"
Jayne snorted. "Oh, hell no! These folk like what ya call var-eye-it-tee in their entertainment." He pulled Teller up to his feet and turned him around to face the mirror. He too was hairless, and his entire body had been oiled until it glistened. He wore a leather harness that left nothing to the imagination and a matching collar. Leather bands on his wrists and ankles that seemed to be hooked together somehow, making it impossible for him to move. His hair was slicked back, and his feet were bare.
Jayne watched Teller's face with a barely concealed smile.
"I think you're supposed to be some kind of ruttin' slave boy," he said, "and your buddy … well, I don't know what the hell he's supposed to be, but that ain't my problem. I ain't sly myself, and I don't usually hang with sly folk, but they was what I needed ta teach you a lesson."
"S … sly?" Teller's blood ran cold and Beeks squeaked and curled into a ball.
"Well, I coulda given you to a bunch of women to scare the gosa outta you like you tried to do to Linda, but I'm already late." Jayne grinned wide. "Besides, I ain't sure how scared you'd be of women-folk, but I'm pretty gorram sure you and your buddy ain't sly, so that'll juss add to the fun. Well, my fun, anyway. And theirs, I'm thinkin'."
"How did you –?"
"Amazin' what you kin find if you spread a little coin around, ain't it?" Jayne put Teller back on the floor and pulled out a cigar. "Found this club quick enough, even if I did get me some interestin' looks while I was huntin'. And the folks here were more than happy to lend a hand when I told them what you did – and what you were goin' to do. Hell, I didn't even hafta pay extra for the killin', if it comes to that."
Beeks wrapped himself tighter. Teller looked up at Jayne with a shake of his head. The mercenary lit his cigar and took a few puffs before giving the would-be thief the eye.
"Well, the way I figure it, I oughta give you two the same chance you gave Linda. Fair's fair, right, gents?" He took another puff and ambled towards the door. "So there's the one door and there's a crowd full of sly boys on the other side that figure to have their way with you. They're fixin' to play wit you, mebbe order you 'round some, get you to make 'em … happy." He shrugged. "Sounds familiar, don't it? Now, if you do what the boys want, and I mean everythin' they want, they just give you your old clothes back and let you go in a bunch of hours. Same deal you offered my pilot, sorta."
Jayne leaned over and looked Teller in the eye. "But if ya fight back, even a little? Well, you'll wind up leavin' the Skyplex through the nearest airlock … in the clothes you're wearin' now. dohn-mah?"
He turned to the furry figure curled up and shaking on the floor and gave him a nudge with the toe of his boot. "How 'bout that, Beeks – juss say no once and you'll be floatin' in orbit around Santos forever dressed like a giant pink pussy. Boggles the mind, don't it?" Beeks whimpered again, and Jayne snorted. He turned and walked towards the door, the cigar in the corner of his mouth.
Teller tried to reach out with his manacled hands. "Wait!" he shouted.
Jayne turned around at the door. "Well, no,'fraid I can't. Like I said, I'm late. And as fun as it might be to watch, I got a ship to catch." He opened the door, and the sound of the crowd outside filled the small room. He gave the two on the floor a grin. "Best of luck, though."
The door swung shut behind him.
As he walked back to Serenity, Jayne ignored the dirty looks from the passersby as he puffed on his cigar.
'Ain't nobody gonna die,' he said to himself, 'cause I told Linda they wouldn't. But they don't have ta know that. And I'm bettin' neither one is gonna be brave enough to find out it's a bluff.' He snorted. 'Gorram, I'm startin' to like thinkin' things through. This HAS been an interestin' day.'
He snorted once again and quickened his step a little. His crew was waiting.
"You are a very clever and deceitful girl."
The ship was finally on its way to Boros, and River was deep inside a very complex fantasy when the voice intruded. She had been preparing to perform in a variation of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake – one of her own creation, rewritten as a combination of ballet, Japanese Kabuki, Chinese Noh play, and vaudeville comedy routine. River wasn't quite crazy, not anymore, but she did like to keep her hand in, as it were. And mixing theatrical styles was almost as much fun as solving fourth-order calculus equations in her head – while doing a handstand and holding her breath.
The owner of the voice was a small older Oriental gentleman in flowing robes, floating serenely above the dance floor.
"Clever I will admit to," she replied, one leg up and stretching on the ballet bar in front of the mirror. "Brilliant, even. Deceitful, however, is wrong, and I refuse to accept it. I lied to no one … Chiang. Unlike others I could mention."
Chiang shook his head. "I never lied to Hoban Washburn."
River snorted in a very unladylike fashion. "A lie of omission is still a lie. You let him agree to be Linda without first telling him he would wind up being a she."
"Her presence was necessary."
"That doesn't make the lying right."
"She was offered the chance to refuse, after she knew she was going to be a woman."
"A chance you knew Wash wouldn't accept, just to leave his shipmates to die."
The guardian regarded her thoughtfully, and inclined his head. "I concede the point without admitting I was wrong. Sometimes the end truly does justify the means, and Serenity needed Wash-as-Linda to save everyone aboard her. In any event, your accusation of deceit on my part does not excuse your own deceitful acts."
River yawned. "Name one."
"You promised you would be there for Wash, and you were not. You did not save Wash from her captors."
"I never said I would 'save her.' What I said was that I would be there for her, and I was." River switched to her other leg. "I'd been hiding in the gridwork for a full two minutes, ready to jump in if Jayne hadn't gotten there when he was supposed to. I knew that he would, but better safe than sorry. Be prepared, that's my motto."
"Be prepared is the motto of the Boy Scouts," Chiang said with a frown. "And you were never a boy, or a scout."
"A fact for which I thank the gods every morning before breakfast, old man." He could hear the smile in River's voice. "Boy Scout or not, as far as this crew and this ship are concerned, I will always be prepared."
Chiang smiled. "Be prepared for what?"
"To step in, when I have to," she replied softly, "and step aside when I need to."
The older gentleman lifted an eyebrow. The young girl lifted one in return, and then grinned impishly.
"I will do whatever it takes to protect my family," River said. "From the Verse, and from themselves. If that means holding off on a rescue to let Jayne play hero, shiny."
"Why would you want to have Jayne save her?" The guardian sounded curious.
"Because Jayne is finally learning what it means to be part of a crew and part of a family," she said simply. "He stepped in and saved her. It wasn't about coin, or even getting her into his bunk. He did it because he was worried about her. I could see it in his head. He just wanted to keep her safe. It was the kind of thing the old Jayne would never have done, unless there was something in it for him."
Chiang's eyes twinkled. "And?"
River shot him a look, then shook her head and sighed. "And Wash needed to see Jayne actually being a hero – actually being the kind of man she could come to like, instead of the selfish jerk he used to be when Wash still was Wash and not Linda. If Wash grows into becoming the woman she is now, and Jayne just plain grows up, there could be something between them, maybe. If I work it just right."
"I withdraw deceitful," he said with a smile, "and substitute manipulative."
"To which I plead guilty as charged." River smiled back. "But to be fair, it takes one to know one. And, as you said, sometimes the end truly does justify the means. I'm going to do everything in my power to keep this ship flying and the crew happy, even if I have to play matchmaker."
She stopped stretching and took a towel off of the end of the barre. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a show to do."
Chiang held up a hand. "A moment, please. I couldn't help but notice you are preparing for a performance. I looked into your mind to see what you were planning. Your version of Swan Lake sounds … interesting. And there are so few diversions for one such as myself. I was wondering … if I might be allowed to attend?"
"Attend?" River gave him a questioning look. "I am not even happy with you being here now, old man. You showed up in my head unannounced and uninvited, and I'm not sure I'd like the idea of you wandering around in my mind for the next four hours of subjective time … especially with your tendency to meddle."
The guardian bowed his head. "I would be as quiet as a mouse, honored miss, and would happily obey any restrictions you might set as to my actions. I do not wish to interfere, only to observe."
The girl thought for a moment, and then spoke. "If I do let you stay, I have rules. This is my brain, and I remain totally in control. I don't want you doing anything in here without my express permission, agreed?"
Chiang nodded with a smile. "Agreed."
River nodded and grinned. "Then you may stay for the performance. I've arranged for you to have the best seats in the house, and an appropriate escort."
"Thank you." Chiang lowered himself to the dance floor and bowed from the waist. "Your kindness is appreciated."
She closed her eyes and a doorway appeared at the far end of the room. Chiang smiled and began moving towards it.
"Wait!" River's voice stopped him in mid-stride, and he turned to her with a question in his eyes. "My conception of the Ariel Opera House has a very strict dress code. Your robes are inappropriate. Just a moment while I make some … adjustments to your appearance."
Chiang sighed and waited patiently. He felt his clothing begin to shift and blur around him, and suddenly his body began to shift as well. He tried to focus his mind to halt the changes, but found them impossible to stop.
"I remain totally in control, remember?" River said with a playful smile. "Now be still and let me finish."
Chiang felt his body begin to solidify, and realized that it wasn't his body anymore. He turned and faced the mirror …
… and saw a beautiful woman with long blonde hair that tumbled over her shoulders and down her back like a golden waterfall. She was wearing a painted-on blue gown that clung to every one of her exaggerated curves, but left her back, shoulders, and the tops of her breasts bare. The skirt of the dress barely qualified as a skirt, coming down just enough to hide the tops of the sheer silk stockings that hugged her legs like a second skin. The five-inch heels on her feet matched the dress and the opera gloves on her arms, and her make-up was as tasteful as her jewelry.
She spun on her toes and stared daggers at River.
"Why? Why did you do this to me?" Her voice came out a seductive half-whisper.
"Because you agreed to give me control to get what you wanted," the younger girl replied, "just like Wash did. According to you, that made it all right, remember?"
River looked into Chiang's eyes. "It occurred to me that you'd been playing with people's lives for so long, you might have forgotten what it means to be truly human, and not always in control of your own destiny. I thought you needed to understand why tricking another person into a life-changing situation to serve your own purposes is not always the 'right' thing to do … even when it is." A playful grin popped up on her face. "The end may justify the means, old man, but I told you, I take care of my own. And I decided that Wash needed a little payback for you dropping him into Linda's body unprepared."
There was a knock on the door. River's eyes lit up in mock surprise. "Oh, my! Who could that be?"
The door swung open to reveal a tall, almost handsome man in a tuxedo. He seemed to loom over Chiang, making the new girl feel quite small and defenseless, and his face was fixed in a permanent leer. His eyes roamed constantly over Chiang's new body, and she found herself wanting to cover up, even though she knew none of this was real.
" Don't keep your date waiting, Gladys," River said happily. "Enjoy the show! I know I will."
The transformed guardian found her unwanted body moving forward on its impossible heels, all of its unfamiliar parts bouncing, wiggling and swaying with every step until she stood uneasily beside her "escort." As they walked together into the Opera House, one of his hands repeatedly brushed her chest "accidentally," while the other reached down to give her impossibly round bottom a squeeze. Every man she passed managed to touch her somehow, and it just went on and on as they moved from balcony to mezzanine to orchestra. Strangely, as uncomfortable as she became, it soon became apparent that River had made sure Chiang would be unable to put up any resistance, and she resolved to get through this with as much dignity as she could muster.
So when she finally reached her seat, Chiang tried slipping into it gracefully, only to find that her too short skirt rode up, exposing the tops of her stockings and a band of naked thigh that drew the eye of every male in the immediate vicinity. The reluctant girl pulled her skirt down as far as it would go and pressed her knees together. In response, her "date" slipped one arm around her, let the other hand slide onto her lap, and leered down into her cleavage like he was searching for hidden treasure.
Chiang heaved a huge sigh, setting her new chest to quivering. As she waited for River Tam's Swan Lake to begin, trying to ignore her companion's hot breath on her bosom, the guardian knew one thing for sure.
No matter how entertaining the ballet might be, it was going to be a long four hours.
Wash loved the quiet. And she loved the view from the pilot's seat.
The ship was out in the black on its way to Boros, with all the bridge lights set on low and the galaxy sprinkled across the ship's bow for her inspection. She leaned back in her chair and let her eyes caress the stars. The rest of the crew were off doing whatever they did when Serenity was in transit, and Wash was doing what she enjoyed the most – flying. And seeing the stars.
She felt almost at peace for the first time since this "connecting flight" began.
'After everything that happened, you'd think I'd be ready for a week of sleep,' Wash thought, checking the scanners once again for any nearby traffic before returning her eyes to the . 'But I'm wide awake, and happy to be back where I belong. Sort of.'
Her hand still ached a bit from the roundhouse punch that knocked Teller flat, but she felt absurdly proud of being the one to put him down. She really shouldn't have been surprised. After all, she knew Zoe could easily hit hard enough to put a man on the ground in less time than it took to tell about it, so her being able to knock someone senseless wasn't exactly that much of a feat. Still, it was nice to know she could defend herself, if push came to shove. It was good to feel powerful instead of powerless.
Wash was also getting used to being a woman. In the few hours since their run-in with Niska and her impromptu striptease, all the things that had felt wrong when she'd first become Linda had started feeling more and more natural. The bounce and sway of her new walk, the way her hair brushed at the back of her neck, and the pretty reflection in the mirror – they were all just becoming the way things were now. It was still odd, looking at Zoe and feeling how much she loved her, but knowing it was something she could never share. It was odder still watching Mal walk away from her in those tight pants of his and feeling a thrill deep down inside she didn't really want to think about just yet.
But there was time for that. Time for everything. She was alive again, and flying. That was all that mattered.
Kaylee moved all of her stuff out of her old room, and when Mal and Jayne brought Linda's things up from the cargo bay, the ship's mechanic helped her make the empty room into a place she could call her own. Strangely enough, even though it was all bits of Linda's past, Wash felt very much at home. Kaylee even gave her a new sign for her door – all birds and clouds and rainbows surrounding the words "Linda's Room."
"There you go!" Kaylee said, putting down the screwdriver she'd use to put the sign in place. "Now it's official. You're a part of the crew. Welcome to the family." She threw Linda a grin, and the pilot surprised both Kaylee and herself with an uncharacteristic squeal and a hug just for the joy of it.
Yes, definitely getting used to being a woman.
Wash looked out into the black and smiled.
'It's still going to take some time,' she thought, 'but maybe, just maybe, things are going to be okay.'
"Hey."
Jayne's voice came from behind her. She swiveled in the pilot's seat and saw him standing in the doorway, fidgeting slightly.
"Hey yourself," she said with a smile. "What brings you up to pilot country?"
"Uh, you do, I guess," he replied, ducking his head and giving her a small smile in return. "Can I come in?"
"Sure." Wash watched Jayne walk through the hatch. She noticed he had shaved and changed his clothes since they had left the Skyplex, and he smelled like soap. "What's up?"
"Nothin'." There was a long pause. "Juss wonderin' how you're settlin' in is all." Another pause. "You look happy."
"That's 'cause I am happy." She reached out to touch the pilot's console. "I'm doing what I love to do, and I'm getting paid to do it. And I'm working with people I like. It doesn't get much better than that."
Another silence. Wash snuck a look at Jayne, and found him looking at his boots.
"What about Niska?" he asked suddenly. "Joinin' up with us brought you a mess o' trouble. Don't that bother you some?"
Wash thought about how Linda would answer, and shrugged. "The Verse is a dangerous place. There's always going to be someone out there with a problem. As long as I get to keep flying, I can put up with the occasional death threat or embarrassing striptease." She grinned. "And as long as you don't mind rescuing me. Thank you."
Jayne nodded, his jaw clenched. He looked very uncomfortable, and at first Wash couldn't figure out why. It wasn't anything she had done. He'd been awkward since the minute he walked in. She'd never seen him quite so unsettled before.
Then it hit her. The mercenary was afraid.
He was afraid of her – afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing, of making her angry or scaring her off. He was worried about losing her before he'd even caught her, and didn't have a clue what to do next.
'Fo yi ge hun fu zhuang,' she thought, keeping her feelings carefully hidden. 'So much fear, he doesn't know how to handle it. He's as nervous as an elephant on a rice paper bridge - surprised it hasn't ripped yet, not sure how to get off, and half convinced he's dead no matter what he does. It's just a matter of time until he falls either way.'
Jayne cleared his throat, and then tried to figure out where to put his hands. It hurt just to watch him, and Wash had no idea what she could do to make it better.
The thing was, Wash knew exactly how it felt. Becanse back when she was a he, way back when he first came to Serenity, Wash had felt the same way. About Zoe.
Zoe had disliked him from the start, and he'd known almost instinctively that it was going to be an uphill battle to make her see him as anything but an irritant. Still, once he'd met her, Wash couldn't get her out of his mind. He knew he couldn't court her the way he'd courted other women in the past, because she wasn't like any other woman he'd ever known. For a while, he hid behind humor or attitude because he just didn't know what to do. Eventually, he figured out she wouldn't stand for anything less than total honesty and strength - and from that point on, Wash knew he could win her. And did.
Just be being himself.
Then she remembered what Chiang had said when they had first met in the Afterlife – that Jayne had good in him, even if he didn't know it yet. She thought about what Jayne had said after the rescue, about wanting to change … to be better. For her.
And she remembered what Kaylee had told her when they were putting away her things – that when they figured out Serenity was under attack, Jayne had taken off through the crowd shouting her name.
'He's not who he used to be, that's for sure,' Wash thought, ''He's changed. But I'm pretty sure that's part of the problem. He can't be himself with me, because he's not sure exactly who he is anymore. He's trying to leave a lot of who he was behind, and he's still working out who the new Jayne will be.'
Wash looked at Jayne. He caught her eye, and for a second she could see his fear before he looked away. To the pilot, it looked like the silence had spooked him, and that he was planning to run.
'If he really wants to be better … to change the kind of man he is, because of me … then maybe I should think about doing some changing, too. Make things a little easier for him.' A little piece of the Wash-That-Was rose up in protest, and Wash and Linda together turned and shouted it down.
'I'm not planning to sleep with the man,' she growled inside. 'I'm not that kind of a girl.' The thought almost made her grin, but she kept it all inside. Gods forbid Jayne got the idea that Linda might be laughing at him.
She sighed. 'Look, I'm just starting to like the guy, okay? I don't want to have his baby. I am so not ready for that.' Wash took a mental breath. 'I just want to make him feel better. I want to give him a reason to hope – to not be so afraid of changing.' And a smaller voice deep in her mind whispered, 'I don't want him to be afraid of me, either.'
Jayne fidgeted some more. Linda sat there, quietly watching him, and the longer he stood there, the more he felt like this whole idea had been rutting crazy from the start.
'I can't change,' he thought, his mood darkening. 'Even if I do, she ain't gonna want the likes of me to be her man. I'm juss bein' moonbrained even thinkin' I got a chance with her.'
His shoulders sagging, Jayne turned to leave. But before he moved more than an inch, Linda rose from her seat, her hand raised.
"Wait!" she said. Jayne turned back in surprise.
'She looks … worried?' He realized. 'Why would she look worried? About me? No, that's crazy.'
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Back to my bunk," he replied. His voice held a small measure of defeat. "Nowhere else to go, out here in the black."
"You could stay with me." The pilot looked at him hopefully. It sure looked to Jayne like she wanted him to stay. The only trouble was, he wasn't sure what else he could say or do to keep her entertained. Just standing there like a gorram fool sure wasn't helping none, and once Linda saw there wasn't anything else to him, she wouldn't want him around anymore anyway, so why was he even listening?
"Come keep me company for a while." Linda said, her tone soft and gentle. "Please? I've got something to show you."
She reached out her hand, and after a moment, he surprised them both by taking it. It was soft and warm and felt just right, wrapped in his fingers. She gave his hand a small squeeze, then pulled him forward. When they faced each other only a few inches apart, Linda pushed him softly into the pilot's seat.
Jayne looked up at her looking down on him, and she smiled again. Then she stepped behind the chair and swiveled it until it faced the windows.
"Look out there, Jayne," she whispered. "What do you see?"
He felt stupid, all of the sudden, like she was testing him. "The black, like I said before," he replied. "Nothing else to see."
Linda put her hands on his shoulders, and he felt the warmth of her touch. "Don't you see the stars, too?" she asked.
Surprised at how close she was, Jayne nodded. She continued. "The black is just the space between them, Jayne. The black and the stars make up the 'Verse, and the 'Verse is full of possibilities. Places to go, people to see, things to do. Right?"
Jayne nodded. Linda swiveled the chair back so he faced her again, and lowered herself until she was looking up into his eyes.
"So when you think about the 'Verse, it's not that there's nowhere else to go," she said. "It's that there's everywhere to go. There are so many possibilities, you may never get to them all. So in a way, the 'Verse is full of hope, Jayne. Sometimes, sitting here, looking out at that sky, I think that nothing is impossible."
He swallowed and nodded again, and she smiled, still looking into his soul. "I like that you want to change for me. And I like how much you've grown since I first came here. But right now, I'd like to get to know you better – not just the you that you're going to be, but who you are now."
Linda stood up and looked down at him, then reached over and took his hand again.
"So stay with me, and just be Jayne. Not the Jayne I met in the cargo bay, but the Jayne who stepped in and saved me when I needed saving. I'm pretty sure they're the same guy, more or less. Don't be afraid to be yourself with me. Just be the best you that you can be, and that'll be fine, okay?"
"But how –?" Jayne felt confused, and Linda sighed. She brought his hand up to her lips …
… and Wash found herself kissing it softly. Any reservations she had were lost in the moment and in Jayne's eyes. Oddly enough, the feel of his hand on her lips didn't seem strange at all, but she still did her best not to think too hard about what she just did … and who she did it with. The look in his eyes was priceless, and she was glad she took the fear away.
Although a part of her was still a bit disturbed about the way she'd done it. And how easy it was to do.
"You're a good man," she said softly. "Or you can be. But that good man is going to come from who you are now, and that's the man I want to know better. Okay?"
Linda kept his hand and rose slowly, until she stood over him again. She reached out a finger and touched the tip of his nose, and spoke with a playful twang that almost mirrored his own.
"So why don't you stop bein' so strong and silent, Mister Jayne Cobb, an' tell me about your past." He snorted, and she couldn't help but smile as she slipped back into her own voice. "I guarantee we'll get to the present soon enough."
With a grin, Linda spun the chair around until it faced forward, and stood behind it looking ahead with Jayne.
"After all," she said from behind him, with Wash's wicked grin slipping across her face, "the present is on the way to the future, and we're headed that way anyway, right?"
Jayne thought for a minute, and she could hear the smile in his voice when he replied. "I reckon we are at that, Miss Wehr, ma'am. I reckon we are at that."
That's the end of the beginning of Wash-as-Linda's "maiden voyage." I was surprised and pleased at the shiny reception this story got from all the hidden Browncoats here in the Big Closet. *grin* That means I might write more, since I'm sure there's more story to tell. Thank you all for the kind words, and to quote the good Captain, it's been a "mighty fine shindig." -- Randalynn
This is a fan fiction set in the Firefly/Serenity universe created by Joss Whedon. It takes place soon after the events in the television series and the companion motion picture that followed, and is also the beginning of a sequel to Firefly: Connecting Flight. This means it has SPOILERS, folks, and major ones at that. So please don't read this unless you get the chance to see the series and the movie -- and read my first Firefly story, since it sets the stage.
In this first chapter of FIREFLY: DOUBLE BOOKED, Hoban Washburne is still working on getting used to being a woman after rejoining his crew as their new pilot, but she soon discovers her new body might have issues with her moving in -- and moving on -- as well. And returning a favor to someone who helped Mal and Zoe during the War for Independence might be harder than either of them imagines.
FIREFLY: DOUBLE BOOKED
by Randalynn
Part 1: Reservations
NOTE: These chapters ain't gonna be comin' as fast as the ones for the first story, Browncoats. I've only got this one chapter and the next one completed, but I REALLY wanted to post something, 'cause gorram it, it's been too long. I will try to make each chapter more self-contained and less cliff-hangery, but i can't hold myself back anymore. I hope nobody minds. -- Randalynn
The sky on Boros was a deep clear blue, with scarcely a cloud in sight. The hills around the Firefly class transport Serenity were green and rolling, and seemed to go on forever. And the temperature outside was absolutely perfect -- warm without being hot, and just the slightest breeze ruffling the grass.
In fact, it was just the right sort of weather for putting on your skimpiest bathing suit and lying out in the sun, so your man can stare at you in all your sexiness until his eyes plumb fall out.
At least, that's what Kaylee said when she burst into the pilot's quarters that morning, dived into her footlocker, and started flinging bits and pieces of clothing into the air. After a few seconds, the mechanic squealed and pulled out an entirely-too-brief yellow string bikini. She turned to the other woman in the room with a grin, holding up her prize triumphantly.
"I knew I saw this when I helped you unpack," Kaylee said as she tossed the bright bits of cloth at the totally surprised redhead. The pilot snatched them out of the air without thinking, then held them at arm's length, suspended between confusion and fear. "Now get your clothes off and let's get outside!"
The woman froze, unable to believe what she'd just heard. "Excuse me?"
"I said get naked and put on your suit, Linda!" Kaylee could barely contain her excitement. "Come on, girl, time's a'wastin'. Simon's in the cargo bay, and Jayne's outside doin' somethin' with all his guns. It's the perfect time to show some skin!"
Her current appearance to the contrary, Hoban Washburne had been a man for most of his life. He grew up, became a pilot, taught himself how to juggle geese, flew a ship that he loved, and eventually married a warrior woman who loved him back. Despite the fact that he, his wife, and the entire crew of Serenity were smugglers and on the run, Wash had nonetheless looked forward to a long and happy future.
But after a life-ending encounter with a large metal spike and a brief meeting with an unlikely angel, he learned that his old ship and crew were in danger, and the only way to save them was to come back to the Verse as Serenity's new pilot. Unfortunately, that meant both becoming Linda Rachel Wehr, a beautiful redhead with enough curves to make even a flight suit look sexy -- and keeping his true identity a secret from friends and family.
Wash had spent the past two weeks getting comfortable in her new skin, and up until the mechanic's surprise entrance, she had thought she was doing pretty well. She didn't get startled by her own reflection anymore. She had adjusted to how her new body moved, and learned how to handle a radically different set of personal hygiene requirements without becoming seriously unhinged. And she'd found an ally in River Tam, a prodigy, a "reader" and an Alliance-trained living weapon, who could see past the woman she had become to the man she had been. River helped her bridge the gap between her two lives when things got ... interesting.
Of course, nothing he had experienced before or since she became Linda had ever prepared her for dealing with Kaywinnet Lee Frye when she was on a mission -- especially when that mission involved getting Wash into a string bikini.
Oblivious to her friend's discomfort, the mechanic pulled her own equally skimpy bathing suit out of a pocket and started peeling off her jumpsuit.
"I ain't been ogled proper in longer than I care to remember," Kaylee said over her shoulder, "and a girl likes to be . . . appreciated once in a while, don't ya think? Besides, we can give the boys somethin' to look at besides bulkheads and cows -- without lettin' 'em know that's what we're aimin' to do, a'course."
Wash watched as her new best friend pushed her mechanic's coveralls down over her hips and let them slide to the deck.
'This is not happening,' she thought, small pulses of fear running through her body. 'This is just a really bad dream. Can a person have a daymare? Because if she can, I'm having one.'
"I love comin' up with new ways to get Simon excited." The pretty mechanic kicked her feet to get them clear, slipped out of her panties, and started unhooking her bra. "And paradin' around wearing near enough to nothin' without actually bein' naked always seems to do the trick when it comes to menfolk."
Her underthings in a pile on the floor, Kaylee stopped to give herself a critical glance in the full-length mirror. She twisted slightly and nodded before she started shimmying into her suit bottoms.
Wash was mildly surprised at how small an impression a totally naked Kaylee made on her. She gave it a little thought, but finally decided her lack of appreciation was due as much to the situation as it was to being as much a woman as Kaylee -- well, physically, anyway. Then, unable to avoid it anymore, she focused on her growing sense of panic at the thought of having to actually put the bikini on ... and leave her cabin.
She held the various pieces of yellow cloth out in front of her, trying to process how they would fit on her new body, and how little of it they would actually cover.
'I can't wear this!' Wash thought, trying very hard to keep her fear from reaching her face. 'It's only pretending to be a bathing suit -- nothing but triangles and string! And I sure as hell don't want to get . . . well, anybody excited if I can help it!'
Kaylee threw a look over her shoulder at the frozen pilot, and her lips twisted into a bemused smile.
"Come on, girl! Get a move on! Who knows when the Captain and Zoe are goin' to get back from meetin' with the customer?" She finished pulling the bottom on, and started fussing with the top, taking her attention away from Wash. "You know Mal don't care too much for being this close to the Alliance shipyards, so we may have to break atmo pretty fast when he gets back."
Wash looked at the scraps of cloth, then looked at Kaylee in her own bikini. Suddenly, the pilot's bottom lip began to quiver, and her brain stuttered to a stop.
Her top securely fastened, the mechanic turned to find Linda on the edge of crying. Her own happiness forgotten, she stopped and dropped to one knee in front of her friend.
"What's wrong, honey?" Her voice was full of concern. "Why're you so upset?"
Wash opened her mouth, but nothing came out. What could she say? It was Linda's suit, after all. Why would Linda be afraid of wearing her own suit?
Kaylee put a hand on her knee. "It's just a bathin' suit, nǚ há¡i. Nothin' to fret about. We ain't plannin' an orgy. Just want to tease 'em some is all."
"And that's the problem, jei mei."
Kaylee turned, surprised. River was perched on top of the dresser, looking down at the mechanic with a small smile on her face.
"RIVER! How did you get in here?"
"I took atmospheric control shaft C from the kitchen," she replied, her tone conversational. "I crawled across to the main wiring juncture, and climbed past the self-sealing bulkhead doors at frame 17 to maintenance duct 21A. Then I wriggled 3.7 meters forward and dropped through that access hatch there." River cocked her head slightly, as if amused by the question. "How else would I have done it?"
"You coulda come through the door, genius." Kaylee stood up and put her hands on her hips. "And you coulda knocked first."
"I was already up in the superstructure." The younger girl dropped down to the deck with a dancer's grace, and rose to stand in front of the angry mechanic. "Besides, if I'd done it your way, Linda would still be sitting there with her lip quivering, NOT telling you what you need to know."
For a moment, the two women stared at each other. Finally, Kaylee sighed. "And what exactly do I need to know, River?"
"That Linda doesn't want to 'tease' anybody, especially Jayne. Right, Linda?" River moved aside so Kaylee could see the pilot's head bobbing like one of those silly bobble-headed geisha dolls Mal had them smuggle once, back when jobs weren't quite as easy to get as they are now.
"Really? Oh, honey, I'm so sorry." The mechanic plopped down on the edge of the bed next to Linda and gave her a quick hug. "I didn't mean to push you where you didn't wanna go, honest! I just seen how close you and Jayne have been since we left the Skyplex, and I thought ... well, you know."
Wash felt confusion rising up behind her eyes. "Know what?"
Kaylee hesitated. "You know ... that maybe you're gettin' ... interested in Jayne. Like, interested interested. Lots of star watchin' when you're flyin' and talkin' up a storm in the kitchen when you ain't, and I thought ... you know, maybe you and he -- maybe you wanted to --"
"Hey!" Agitated, Linda stood up and moved away, crossing her arms as she did. To Wash, the feeling of cradling her breasts as they rested on her forearms made her a bit uncomfortable. It reminded her of her new body just when she'd rather forget. But the woman she had become (and whose memories she shared) didn't notice the weight at all. She was uncomfortable for a whole different reason, and she wished the other girl would just let the subject drop.
The pilot turned back to her friend, almost pleading. "Look, Kaylee, it's only been ... what, a couple of weeks? I am so not ready for ... Jayne is not ... he's not ... WE'RE not ... I'm just being friendly!"
"Well, there's friendly and then there's friendly," Kaylee said, a bemused smile playing on her lips. "From where I'm sittin', Jayne's actin' like he's courtin' you, and you're actin' like you're being courted. He holds your chair at dinner every night, and you let him. Hell, you give him a thank you and a smile, every night. He ain't cussed once since we left Santo orbit, and he's got this goofy grin that creeps onto his face when he thinks he's all alone ... or when he thinks you ain't lookin'."
Wash stood there, dumbstruck. Inexplicitly, she felt her bottom lip begin to quiver again.
'I thought things were going so well,' she thought sadly. 'Jayne seemed to be growing up more and more each day. Now Kaylee thinks he's falling in love with me -- and I just let it happen. More than that, I encouraged it!'
Kaylee saw that lip start moving again and jumped to hug the other girl.
"Aww, honey, it's not a bad thing," she whispered, holding Linda as she trembled. "He's been so much nicer since you came aboard, and that's a fact. And he's got muscles on his muscles, and sweet eyes ... and that smile ain't half handsome. Maybe gettin' together with Jayne isn't the worst idea in the Verse."
"Besides," the mechanic said, pulling back to look in the pilot's eyes. "I've seen the same goofy grin on your face when you think he ain't looking. I'm thinkin' you like him more than you think you do -- or more than you want to admit."
Wash's blood froze. Her mouth opened, but nothing came out.
BOOM! BOOM!
The pounding on Linda's door took everyone but River by surprise. Her lip twitched once, as if she knew it was coming. The door swung inward, and a voice echoed down the ladder.
"Hey, uh, Linda? Didn't you say you wanted me to show you how t' shoot?"
Wash saw a way out of continuing this talk with Kaylee.
"Absolutely!" she hollered, her happiness and relief apparent in her tone. "Can't wait!"
"Great!" She heard the smile in Jayne's reply. "See ya outside!" The door slammed shut.
Linda turned to Kaylee with a smile, only to find the mechanic grinning at her. Kaylee's eyes were bright with pleasure. She grabbed the pilot by her shoulders.
"Jayne's teachin' ya how to shoot?" The question came out as a whisper, and Wash nodded, giving Kaylee a questioning look.
The mechanic squealed, jumped up and down, and wiggled all over like a puppy. Then she gave Linda another hug. The confused pilot did her best to return it.
"Why're you so happy?" she asked.
"Because he's teaching you how to shoot! Hell, girl, don’t you get it? You're goin' on a gorram date!" Kaylee grinned and gave her another squeeze. Still a little in shock, it took her a second to realize what the other girl had said.
"A ... a date?"
Kaylee nodded happily. "Guns and such are what Jayne knows best. A'course he's gonna want to bring 'em out and show 'em off for you." The other girl's eyes glazed over, and her grin became a dreamy smile. "He'll stand real close, and put his arms around you ... just to fix your aim. Then he'll put somethin' long and hard in your hands that explodes if you touch it just right." She stifled a giggle.
Wash turned to River, panic in her eyes. "A date?"
River threw her a small smile, and the pilot heard the younger girl's voice inside her head. 'Just go with it for now, Hoe-bann. It's not a tragedy. It's exactly what you were planning on doing anyway, only now Kaylee's slapped a label on it you can't deal with yet. We'll talk later, okay?'
Linda sighed, nodded, and turned back to the mechanic. "A date," she agreed, resigned to the inevitable. "Of course it's a date. What else could he do, find a five-star restaurant in the next cow pasture over?"
"You'll see," Kaylee said, giving Linda another hug. "Trust me, it'll be fun!"
"Fun," Wash replied, with a shaky smile. "Absolutely."
River leaped, spun once in mid-air, and landed crouching on top of the dresser.
"My work here is done," she intoned, her tone solemn. Then a little smile played at the edges of her lips, and she pulled herself up into the ship's in-between spaces, and was gone.
Kaylee shook her head.
"She's gonna fry something important crawlin’ around up there someday," she muttered, "and fry herself too, unless I can talk her into walkin’ around like everybody else. Thing is, all those ... side trips ... mean she probably knows Serenity better than I do by now – so I ain’t got much to say to make her stop."
The mechanic took a step back and gave Linda a critical once-over. "But You! Just look at you! You can't go on a date dressed like that!" She turned to Linda's closet and started burrowing again. "Get those gorram clothes off, and I'll see what I can find that'll make him want to pull your trigger!"
With another sigh, Wash turned away and started pulling her tee shirt over her head. 'Undressing for Jayne already?' she grumbled to herself. 'Is that what I've come to?'
Inside, a small part of her woke up and whispered, 'Whatever Kaylee choses, I hope it makes him smile. I really do like his smile.'
Wash frowned, confused. 'Dung ee-miao! Where the hell did that come from?' she wondered. 'Did I really think that?
Kaylee saw Linda freeze for a second and gave her a push. "Come on, fly girl! You're supposed to keep a man waitin', but not ‘til Hell freezes. Short attention spans, you know."
Wash went back to unbuttoning her pants and started rolling them over her hips. Whatever Kaylee was going to pick for her, she was sure it was going to be pretty, and feminine and exactly what Wash didn't want to wear. She just knew she wasn't going to like it.
'But I bet Jayne will,' she thought, and another smile grew on her lips before she pushed it away with a will. 'Aiya! Huaile! What is wrong with me? I feel like I'm fighting myself -- and no matter who wins, I know I'm gonna wind up losing!'
###
'You lied to her, River.' Chiang's voice was mild inside River's head, but she could hear what he wasn't saying as clear as if he'd said it aloud.
'Don't talk to me about lying, old man.' Her mental tone was conversational, almost as if they were discussing the weather. 'You've shown that you're surprisingly good at deception for someone who's supposed to be a good guy.'
'As are you, child," Chiang replied, a touch of ice behind his words. 'I'm still recovering from my ... night at the ballet.'
River smiled. 'Good. It wouldn't be much of a lesson if it didn't stick, now would it, Gladys?' The mental sigh made River smile wider, although her concern over Wash made it slip away much faster than it might have otherwise.
The object of her concern stood below her, shivering in her bra and panties. River perched in the gridwork above Wash’s cabin and watched through the many small holes in the ceiling. She could clearly see that the pilot was torn somehow, and a glance into her mind told her why. Half of her was excited by the prospect of wearing something that would catch Jayne's attention, and the other half was wondering why the first half had suddenly popped up and decided to let her know it was interested -- and how she could get that part to just go away.
'She's been acting more and more feminine in the past few weeks, but this ... it's way too soon. It's like something inside her wants to take things to the next level with Jayne,' she mused, reaching out to try and find where that impulse was coming from. 'But the Wash she used to be is soooo not ready.'
'Still, you did lie to her." Chiang appeared behind Kaylee in the room below, watching the proceedings with interest. Kaylee, of course, remained totally oblivious to his presence, as did Wash.
'I didn't lie," River replied, her mind elsewhere. 'The shooting lesson was exactly what Wash was planning on doing anyway. She just didn't realize it was actually a date until Kaylee decided it was one. And once that was out in the open, it was obvious that the word "date" really was a label Wash couldn't deal with ... yet.'
'But you downplayed its significance. It really is not just a shooting lesson anymore. Kaylee is quite right. Jayne is viewing this as a way to impress her ... to bring them closer. This is a date.'
'Yes, it is.' The girl kept probing the dividing line between Wash's two sides. 'And it's more. It's also forcing a confrontation inside her that could rip Wash apart. I won't let that happen.'
Chiang was silent for a moment, watching the pilot shiver. He sighed. 'I can tell you what Wash's problem is, although I'm afraid there is nothing you can do to help her.'
River growled inside. 'We'll see, old man. What's wrong with Wash?'
He looked up at the ceiling directly into River's eyes and sighed. 'Linda.'
###
For a while at least, the trip back on the Mule was whisper quiet. But Mal just knew it couldn't last. Even though a half hour had gone by since they'd left the meeting, he could feel Zoe finally getting ready to speak. He braced himself for the flood of common sense objections he knew she'd be hitting him with ... well, just about now.
"I don't like it, Sir." 'And there it is,' he thought, setting his jaw.
"I'm not likin' it too much my own self," Mal replied, his voice deceptively calm. "But there it is."
There was a long, uncomfortable silence. Then ...
"I REALLY don't like it, Sir."
"I'm getting that, Zoe. I truly am." Heavy sigh. "But we owe Berenger a lot for gettin' us that ammo durin' the war when the supply lines were cut. He saved our lives when they needed savin', and that's a fact. I ain't about to say no to him now that he's the one in a tight spot. Especially since there's more cashy money waitin' when we set down at the delivery spot, and we never have enough of that."
Another long silence. "Captain, most of the crew are women."
He let a touch of irritation slip into his tone. "I had noticed that, Zoe. I ain't completely moon-brained."
"Not completely, no Sir."
"Zoe --"
"Captain, taking a ship full of women to Flynt is asking for trouble. It isn't safe, especially for Inara."
Mal set his jaw. "I ain't about to put her at risk, knowin' how they feel about Companions." Zoe flashed him a look, and he sighed. "Ain't about to risk any of you womenfolk going near the ground, either. Serenity stays in orbit. Me, the Doc, and Jayne take the cargo down in one of the shuttles. There ain't gonna be so much of it that we can't do it in two or three trips, easy peasy."
Another long silence. "Then I'm going with you, Sir."
"No, you ain't."
It was Zoe's turn to look stubborn. Mal sighed.
"Not sure if you looked in a mirror lately, Zoe," he said, "but there ain't no way in the Verse they ain't gonna notice you're a woman, and prob'ly a darn sight prettier than the ones they already got. You know gorram well what'll happen next. If you or me or Jayne have t' kill somebody 'cause they decide they want you to stay, we probably ain't gonna get paid. Now we're not flyin’ quite as close to the raggedy edge as we used to, but havin' coin sure enough beats not havin' coin when it comes to keepin' my boat in the black and my crew fed. So you stay on board and keep an eye on Serenity. That's an order."
It was Zoe's turn to sigh. "Yes, Sir."
Another minute passed. "Sir?"
"Yes, Zoe?"
"Just wanted to tell you I appreciate the compliment, Captain."
"Compliment?"
There was a small smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. "Yes, Sir. It sorta takes my breath away. All these years serving together and I never once knew you thought I was pretty."
Zoe could see the muscles in Mal's jaw moving as he gritted his teeth. "Just drive, Zoe."
"Yes, Sir."
###
Jayne hovered over the targets and the weapons, making sure everything was lined up just so. He knew he couldn't afford to mess this up, not even a little bit.
'Things have been real shiny with Linda the past few weeks,' he thought, moving a revolver just slightly to line up with its automatic cousin. 'Sure, there ain't been nothing like when she kissed my hand that night, but things are pretty easy between us, and gettin' easier every day. She sure does smile an awful lot when we're together, and that's more than I coulda hoped for back when she first joined the crew.'
Mal seemed to think Jayne was doing good, too, and that made him feel okay, even though he couldn’t quite puzzle out why the Captain’s opinion should matter all that much.
‘Listenin' to Mal ... well, it's workin' so far, even if it ain’t worked so good for Mal in the past,’ Jayne mused, picking up a clip full of hollow-point and running his thumb over it. ‘Still, ‘Nara seems happy enough, and that’s no lie. If he can keep ahold a' her, he must know somethin’ about keepin’ women happy.’ He thought about it for a second, then shrugged. 'Maybe he just knows how to keep 'Nara happy. But I guess for Mal, that's plenty.'
"Hey, mister. That's a lot of iron you're laying out there. Thinkin' the cows might attack?"
Linda's voice sounded almost like music, and he turned at the sound of it with a smile on his face to find her standing there --
-- wearing a dress.
###
Wash felt awkward and clumsy and a little exposed. The joke she tried to use to take the edge off of her "unveiling" had evidently slipped completely past him -- or had been totally trumped by his reaction to the outfit she had worn.
And it was just the reaction she had hoped to avoid.
The trouble with this double life of hers was that Wash had no way of coming up with good reasons why she didn't want to do what Kaylee wanted her to do, especially if it were something a woman might do and not think twice. For better or worse, Linda was a woman, and Wash was Linda now. Kaylee's usual response to Wash's half-hearted protests was confusion. "Why shouldn't you wear this dress, jei mei? How often do you get the chance, anyway? And why do you have it in your closet if you don't want to wear it someday?" Wash just wasn’t fast enough to keep up with questions somebody born in a body like this could answer.
And she couldn't just say "no" – not to Kaylee. Wash had always had a soft spot for the mechanic. She was one of the sweetest girls he'd ever known, back when he was still a guy. The pilot could see how important it was to Kaylee to dress Linda up, and in her new life, she loved Kaylee too much as a friend and a sister to push back too hard when she really wanted something. Also, the pilot knew that Kaylee's chances to indulge the girl inside her were few and far between -- after all, there was no room for frillies and flowers in the engine room, for all that she enjoyed her time there.
So, since Wash couldn't come up with a good enough reason not to, she found herself standing in a cow pasture wearing a sunflower-yellow dress that wrapped around her and hugged her body like a giant cloth anaconda.
'It covers everything and hides nothing,' Wash thought with a suppressed sigh. 'Just what I was afraid of.'
Kaylee had also made her hold still for what she called a "lick of paint," although the labels on the applicators made it plain it was really lipstick and blush. Add a pair of low-heeled sandals and a giggle-driven push out the cargo door, and here she stood, watching Jayne's eyes fall out.
But what really bothered Wash was, even though she was feeling mostly clumsy and awkward and exposed, there was also a rush of satisfaction and even pride at the effect she had on Jayne. Whatever had surfaced in her cabin was still with her, sending messages she didn't want and raising desires she couldn't handle. Whatever was happening, she felt like she was being pushed over a cliff into a lake of womanhood so deep, she might drown.
And when she realized that part of her welcomed the fall, another emotion rushed in and sent chills up and down her spine.
Fear.
###
Jayne didn't know enough about girl stuff to describe it, but it made her look so gorram pretty he couldn't take his eyes off her. It was mostly sorta yellow, and wrapped itself around her curves well enough so you darn well knew they were there. It also showed enough skin to take a man's breath away.
Linda gave him a nervous smile, and took a step forward. "Penny for your thoughts?" she said, her tiny feet walking through the tall grass while the rest of her body played catch-up.
Jayne grinned and ducked his head. "You'd be wastin' your money, miss. Ain't been a thought in my head since I saw you in that dress, and that's a fact."
He watched her blush, and realized she felt as awkward as he did. 'And why would she feel like that?' he wondered. 'She's the one who wore the gorram thing. She had to know it'd drive me crazy -- why else would she wear it?'
###
Wash didn't know what to say, but she knew she had to say something.
"Well, it's so hard to choose what to wear to a shooting lesson," she said lightly. She tried to look down at her feet as she walked, but once again found her chest in the way. "They didn't really cover that in school, but I thought if you're shooting, you might want to ... you know, stand out? Instead of blending in, I mean. So other folks can ... not shoot you?"
"Well, you do stand out," Jayne smiled again. "But then, you stand out all the time, Linda. That there dress just makes you stand out ... a mite more, is all."
She stopped a few steps away from the mercenary. Wash thought quickly, trying to come up with something to say to a compliment she really didn't want, but her mind just came up blank.
But from somewhere deep inside, a triumphant surge of emotions rushed through her, too powerful to repress. There was an overwhelming wave of pride and lust and love and joy -- 'he thinks I'm special!' -- and she felt a smile light up her eyes an instant before it reached her lips.
"Thank you," she heard herself say, and she looked Jayne right in the eyes an instant before she lowered her lids to look at him through her lashes. Then, to Wash's surprise, her body performed a small bob of a curtsey, followed by a laugh that was little more than a giggle.
And Wash felt ... wonderful.
"So, are we going to get to the part where you actually teach me how to shoot," Linda went on playfully, "or just stand here talking about how good I look until it gets too dark to aim?"
###
Inara Serra watched the pair from the cargo bay door, a slight frown on her face. She had been waiting for Mal's return, anxious to hear where their next destination might be. Although she and her lover had come to an uneasy truce about her chosen profession, she still tried to avoid confronting him with it directly. In fact, she hadn't really taken on a client since Miranda, and her first and only job since then had turned out to not to be a client at all, but a trap -- one that nearly managed to kill them all when Niska used her as bait for Mal and the crew.
The truth was that Inara's reasons for becoming a Companion in the first place had faded with experience. Originally, the thought of being a bringer of pleasure and comfort to men and women across the Verse gave her a positive reason to flee her home world, and gave her life a real purpose, where before, she had none.
Inara learned the arts well, being both intelligent and caring. The circles she traveled in were rich and exotic, and the people to whom she brought pleasure and peace were erudite and witty. For the first time in her life, she was well and truly happy, and she looked forward to years of a life she thought she loved.
Then Inara chose to leave the central planets completely. There was a chance she might be pushed into service as a House Mother, instead of a working Companion, and the one thing she didn't want was to be in a situation where she would come to care for people as more than just friends or customers. So she headed out into the Verse, all the way to the Rim. But instead of the freedom she had hoped to find, she found Mal Reynolds and the crew of Serenity -- people who cared for each other, with lives that actually mattered. They were a family, held together by that impossible man who loved her for who she was, not for what she could do for him.
Mal was unlike any other man she'd ever known. His bitterness and disillusionment about the war hid a heart full of love and pride and fierce loyalty, and an honor that came from within. Oh, he was stupid on occasion -- Inara was sure that came with the testosterone -- but he was also brave and true, and a part of her had fallen for him within a week of renting his shuttle.
She fought it, of course. Getting involved was not a good career option for a Companion, and his dislike for her profession colored almost every interchange between them. But over time, she could see that Mal hated what she did, not who she was. And when she decided to stay on Serenity instead of going back to the Training House, Mal began to think about his reaction to what she did, and how it had pushed them apart. Even though he hated the thought of sharing Inara with others, Mal had gritted his teeth and agreed that she should follow her calling, if it was what she truly wanted. But once he agreed, she found her commitment to being a Companion fading, and her commitment to being Mal's alone growing.
It was not surprising that Inara was starting to wonder what she would do with her life if she chose not to be a Companion. But thinking about that just made her mind spin in circles, and the drama just unfolding outside the ship provided a welcome distraction -- and a bit of a mystery, too.
"They're cute, aren't they?" Simon had come upon her from behind, and followed her gaze towards the couple in the field. He shook his head. "I never thought I'd ever refer to Jayne as cute, but then I never thought he'd be able to charm our pretty new pilot quite so easily."
"It hasn't been easy for him, Simon." Inara didn't turn around. "He has been a hard man in a hard business for a long time, and not smart about many things. Learning to be something more than a thug -- learning to be the man he should have been instead of the man he was -- it was a challenge. Still is. And as for Linda ..." She let her voice trail off, watching.
Linda was still something of a puzzle. As part of her Companion training, Inara had been taught how to read people. Subtle cues in speech or movement were clues to emotional states, and in the two weeks since the Skyplex incident, Inara had seen Linda's actions warring with her emotions too many times not to wonder what was going on in the woman's head.
After the incident with the two hired men who tried to steal Serenity, Linda should have been a lot more shaken than she was. She had almost been raped by two strangers with guns, yet she seemed perfectly fine a few hours later. And Kaylee said she was talking and joking about the whole thing only minutes after Jayne rescued her. It didn't seem right, somehow, for her to shake off something like that so easily. Initially, Inara put it down to a pilot's overwhelming self-confidence, but still ... it seemed odd.
And Inara could also see that Linda was sometimes physically unsure as well. Most of the time she moved easily -- a woman comfortable with her body and content in her soul. But every once in a while her movements became awkward and unsure. Her face changed, too, sometimes, when she was thinking. Her expressions seemed strangely familiar, but not quite what you'd expect to see on a young woman's face at all.
"As for Linda," Kaylee said almost proudly, slipping into Simon's arms, "it looks like she's finally getting past that awful shyness that keeps creepin' up and stoppin' her from getting' what she wants. About time, too."
Simon's discovery of a swimsuit-clad mechanic in his arms distracted him for a moment, but after a kiss and a cuddle, he and Kaylee went back to watching the drama outside.
"She didn't look like she was enjoying herself when she first walked out there, Kaylee." Inara's voice held a note of mild disapproval, and her eyes never left the pair in the pasture. "One would almost think someone dressed her like that when she wasn't ready, and sent her where she didn't want to go looking like a princess ... or a snack for a certain mercenary."
"Well, she needed a bit of a push is all," the mechanic replied, just a touch defensive. "She doesn't want to admit that she likes him as more than just a friend, but a girl can tell. She's smitten, and that's a fact." She gave Simon a tight hug, and he hugged her back.
"Maybe." Inara watched a totally different Linda flirting her way through the lesson. "But for all that laughing and teasing she's doing now, a part of her is still fighting to pull back."
"That's not surprising, really," Simon put in, kissing the top of Kaylee's head. "Jayne's only been new and improved for a few weeks. She'd have to be a little worried he'd backslide, and become the ill-mannered thug he used to be."
"Not when he's got her interested at last," Kaylee insisted. "The walls are down, and he's got himself a gorram reward for trying to be better. Ain't no way he's gonna mess that up now."
Inara smiled, and shook her head. "He's still Jayne, Kaylee. He's made more than his share of stupid decisions over the years. I'm not sure he's totally cured of being his own worst enemy, are you?"
###
Jayne was a mite surprised by how downright ... playful Linda was being. Not that he minded. It was the first time she'd really flirted with him since she came on board, and he had to admit it was a hell of a lot of fun. He really wasn't sure what it meant, though.
He spent a lot of time thinkin' about it, between teachin' her how to hold and aim a piece, and doin' his best to flirt back. Flirtin', he'd discovered, could be plenty hard. Playin' with words, while keepin' an eye on all sorts of lines he couldn't cross, while she said and did things that made him want to scoop her up and carry her to his bunk. Gorram confusin' -- he was both excited and scared at the same time.
'In the past, flirtin' was what came before bein' sexed -- or at least settin' a price,' he thought, watching her handle one of the smaller revolvers. 'But I'm know she ain't lookin' for coin. Question is, is she lookin' for sex? Or is it just too soon for that? Damn it, Mal, where the hell are you? If I guess wrong, she's gonna hate me somethin' fierce, and that's a fact.'
One thing for sure -- even in a purty yellow dress, she could shoot the wings off a gorram fly, and it'd never know they was gone until it tried to take off. And that was just with what he had out here. With the Callahan Minaret he'd bought her back in the Skyplex, she'd be durn near unstoppable.
###
Linda was enjoying herself, mostly. There were so many things to experience now, and so much fun just being again. She loved the feel of the dress as it held her. She couldn't remember the last time Linda had worn it, but it felt wonderful, and she knew ... she knew she looked good in it. She loved the way Jayne paid attention to her when she moved, and she loved how it felt inside when she paid attention to Jayne as he moved. And flirting! Gods, she'd always loved flirting, and she enjoyed watching Jayne do his best to flirt back.
And the shooting! She'd hadn't been bad at it, back when Wash was a he, but in Linda's body, every shot was a bulls-eye. Every weapon felt just right in her hand, and the shots always went where they were told. In a way, it was just like flying, only in the palm of your hand. She knew it impressed the hell out of Jayne, and she really wanted to impress him ... among other things she'd like to do with someone built like that.
For the first time in weeks, she was well and truly happy, and it made her glow in ways she couldn't describe, but didn't have to. She just felt ... good!
###
Meanwhile, the man who used to be Hoban Washburne felt the bits and pieces of who he had been start to slip away in the joy of just being. The desperate need to be whole again -- to finally just feel right, body and soul -- poured out of the core of what had been Linda Wehr and threatened to drown him, leaving nothing but a memory.
'Hey! Still IN here!' he hollered into the rush of feelings. 'Still ME in here!' When nothing happened, he yelled, 'Still SUPPOSED to be me in here, right?!'
'Yes, it is.' Chiang's voice settled over him, granting a measure of calm. 'But the years of memories from Linda's past, and all the physical responses from a past happily spent as a woman, have risen together. They are threatening to take back Linda's life from the soul we sent to take her place. And all you have to fight her is who you were ... who you are.'
'It feels so good, not to fight it anymore. To just BE.' She shuddered, as another wave of happiness washed over her. 'But I can't surrender. I can't BE her. I have to be ME to save the crew.'
'How do I fight this?!' Wash was frantic. 'It's too much. Too soon! Damn it, Chiang, save me!'
'I can't save you,' the old man replied with a touch of regret. 'This is one battle you must fight on your own.'
'But they're ALL battles I have to fight on my own!' The pilot felt frustration merging with his fear. 'Ai-yah! Tyen-ah, Gladys, can't you do anything except float on command and hang me out to dry?'
Wash felt Linda eyeing Jayne lustfully as he bent over to retrieve some spent shells, and the feelings of desire that rushed through her were so strong that they overwhelmed what little restraint she could muster. It was both unbelievably welcome and incredibly frightening. The chance to be whole again ... she wanted it so much, Wash and Linda both. But accepting her need for Jayne meant surrendering completely to the woman she had become.
But Wash wasn't ready to give up being Wash just yet. And if she was supposed to save the crew as Wash, how could she do it when all there was left in the pilot's seat ... was Linda?
'Relax, Hoe-bann.' River's voice pushed back on Linda's influence with a calm assurance that lent Wash strength. The feeling of being overwhelmed receded just a little, and Wash took a trembling step back from the edge.
'River!!' Wash screamed inside.
'Don't worry, fly girl. I won't let you fall.'
'But how can you stop me? There's so much of her, pushing to make me be the Linda that was.' Wash felt her resolve slipping. 'How can you save me? How can I save myself?'
River's image rose in front of him, and she smiled. 'That's easy, Wash. By remembering.'
'Remembering?' The pilot let confusion enter her inner voice. 'Remembering what?'
'Who you are, and why you're here.' River looked right at her, and Wash could feel the young girl's power push Linda's ghost back even more. 'Think back to where you came from, and remember who you loved and lost and came back here to save.'
She looked over Wash's shoulder. 'Turn around, jei mei. This will make it much simpler.'
The sound of the Mule's engine's whine rose behind her, and fell off to silence. She turned, and saw Zoe's smiling face as she jumped from the driver's seat and wandered over to stand next to Linda and look towards her target.
'Zoe.' The name pulled Wash back from the brink, and pushed back the remnants of Linda's comforting sense of implacable wholeness with memories of the before times. Between the strength of her bond with her former wife, and the powerful love they once shared, Linda's influence receded, and the pilot found she could breathe again.
"Hey, Linda," Zoe said with a smile, throwing an arm around the pilot's shoulders and giving her a squeeze. Wash felt it deep in her soul, and smiled back. "If those targets are yours, you're a mighty fine shot."
"Well, Jayne's a mighty fine teacher," Wash replied, nodding over at the mercenary. "Credit where credit is due."
"I ain't had nothin' to do with it, and that's a fact." Jayne grinned. "She's a natural."
Mal's voice came from behind. "Well, this I've got to see. Knew we got us a better than fair pilot -- never figured we'd pick up a sharpshooter, too."
"Show 'em, Linda," Jayne said, stepping back and waving a hand at the targets. Wash took aim at the nearest one, and made sure the range was clear. Then she pulled the trigger.
And missed, barely hitting the target.
There was a long silence. She focused, and tried again. This time she hit one of the inner circles, but nowhere near the center.
"Whoa," she breathed. "What happened?"
Zoe put a hand on her shoulder. "We did, honey."
Wash turned to her, a question on her face. Zoe sighed. "I've seen this before. You were in the zone, and we came and knocked you out of it." She gave the pilot's shoulder a squeeze. "Not to worry, Linda. You'll get it back. Once you've been there, it's easy to find again."
Jayne started towards the fence. "I'll set up some new targets and we'll work on it some more."
Mal's voice cut in. "No, you won't, Jayne. We got us a job, and we need to hop to. Linda's shootin' practice'll have to wait. We need her in the pilot's seat now to get Serenity to the pick-up point." The captain looked her up and down. "Ain't got time for you to change, girl. Can you still fly in that pretty dress?"
Wash blushed. "Yes, sir, Captain sir," she replied. "The skill doesn't come with the flight suit."
He grinned and ducked his head. "Right enough," he said. "So get on back and start gettin' the boat ready. We lift as soon as we're able. Zoe, tell Kaylee we need to be in the air sooner rather than later. I'll help Jayne stow his ... gear."
Wash nodded, turned, and started making her way back across the pasture. She was in control again, thank the gods. But a feeling of uneasiness began creeping over her as she walked.
She was moving too easily. The uneven ground had been a challenge only a short time ago. Now the unfamiliar combination of dress and sandals felt almost comfortable, and she covered the distance between the targets and the ship with barely a stumble.
In spite of River's help, some of the Linda That Was had managed to wind up a part of Wash, almost without her noticing. And that frightened her, all over again.
Because if she lost a little of herself every time she won a battle, how long would it be before she lost the war?
This is a fan fiction set in the Firefly/Serenity universe created by Joss Whedon. It takes place soon after the events in the television series and the companion motion picture that followed, and is also the second part of a sequel to Firefly: Connecting Flight. This means it has SPOILERS, folks, and major ones at that. So please don't read this unless you get the chance to see the series and the movie -- and read my first Firefly story (and the first chapter of this one), since they both set the stage.
In this second part of FIREFLY: DOUBLE BOOKED, events from Linda's recent past loom large in Wash's present, as she tries to deal with aspects of her situation she thought she'd already put behind her. She also learns more about her body's mutiny, lets Zoe talk her into somethin' all manner of stupid, and gets her first experience with the power of sisterhood.
FIREFLY: DOUBLE BOOKED
by Randalynn
Part 2: Headwinds
Zoe walked alongside Linda as they headed back to the ship. She watched the pilot glide across the pasture, the hem of her dress swirling around her legs.
“Why in the name of Earth That Was would you wear that to a shooting lesson?” Her smile became a grin. “Not that Jayne complained, I’m sure, and it is a pretty dress and all, but ... it’s all manner of odd, don’t you think?”
Linda sighed, and nodded her head towards the cargo bay door. “Blame the matchmaking mechanic over there. She decided the lesson was a date, and demanded I dress for the occasion.” Zoe smothered a laugh, and Linda gave her an exasperated look. “It’s not funny, Zoe. I’m lucky I got away this easily. This ...” She waved her hands over the front of her outfit. “ ... was actually a compromise.”
“A compromise? That?”
The pilot nodded. “Kaylee wanted me out here in a bikini before the whole ‘date’ thing came up.”
“Ah. That explains why she’s standin’ in the cargo bay ready to go swimming when there ain’t a drop of water in sight.” Zoe shook her head. “Girl, you need to learn to push back when she pushes.”
“I know.” Linda hung her head. “It’s just ... she’s just so gorram cute! And when she uses those puppy eyes, it’s like I can’t say anything but yes. My little sister did the same thing when I was growing up.”
“Really? My husband’s sister was the same way.” Zoe looked down briefly as they reached Serenity. “Or so he used to say. I never did get to meet her.”
“Cuteness is the secret weapon of little sisters everywhere.” Wash smiled, remembering the little girl who made his former life miserable growing up.
Zoe eyed Linda curiously. “I never said she was younger.”
Wash stirred inside, and gave Zoe a grin. “Well, I was the older sister, and I never once got to use my puppy eyes on anyone. I’m figuring it’s just little sisters who get to do that — some kind of wacky Alliance law.”
The first mate nodded and fell silent.
‘Remembering too much has its downside,’ Wash thought. ‘I nearly tripped myself up there.’
‘No worries, I’m thinking,’ River thought back. ‘Zoe would have to take a big leap into the black to even guess her husband was walking beside her.’
They reached the cargo bay door, and Zoe stepped up into the ship.
“Best put something on over that pretty suit, Kaylee,” she said to the mechanic. “We’ve got a cargo to pick up, and the Captain wants us there sooner rather than later. So head for the engine room and get our girl ready to fly.”
“I thought I got her ready to fly a few hours ago.” Kaylee grinned at Linda and gave her a wink. Wash threw her a pout, cocked a hip, and folded her arms under her breasts. River had to stifle a mental giggle over the picture of aggrieved femininity that the pilot presented so easily.
The mechanic saw the look in Zoe’s eyes and pretended to realize her error. “Oh, you mean Serenity!”
Zoe gave the mechanic a no-nonsense look, the kind Wash remembered from his days as her husband. “Yes, I mean Serenity. And for the record, playin’ matchmaker for Linda and Jayne isn’t in your job description. Let the woman do her own courtin’ ... or not. It’s her choice, dohn-mah?”
The first mate brushed past the group without waiting for an answer, and headed for the stairs up to the cockpit. Kaylee turned to look at her back. “I never said it wasn’t,” she said softly, a little hurt in her voice. She turned to Linda.
“You aren’t mad at me for getting you to dress that way, are you, jei mei?”
Wash sighed. “A little, Kaylee. Listen, I know you’re just trying to help. You want Jayne and I to be a couple, but I need time. We need time, he and I, to get to know each other a little better and decide for ourselves what we want. If things move forward too fast, it won’t be right. Don’t you see?”
‘Very nice, Wash.’ River’s mental voice came over a little cool. ‘Almost too nice,’ she continued to herself.
The pilot took a deep breath and continued on quickly. “Like you and Simon — it took a while for you two to get together, didn’t it?”
Simon and Kaylee looked at each other, and back at Linda. “Yes, it did,” Simon said slowly, his arm still around Kaylee. “How did you know that?”
Wash cursed herself and thought fast. “I didn’t,” she replied with a smile, “But you two are so perfect together, and good things always come to those who wait. I bet you two danced around the issue for months.”
Kaylee nodded. “Longer than I wanted,” she said sadly.
“And now you’re pushing Jayne and me together because you don’t want me to wait the way you did.” Linda reached out and put her hand on the mechanic’s arm. “But I’m not you, Kaylee. I’m not sure about Jayne the way you were about Simon. I want to wait, and take it slow. If it’s going to happen, then I want it to be right. Okay?”
Kaylee hestitated, then nodded. Linda saw the look on her face and pulled her into a tight hug.
“Don’t worry, honey,” she said, giving her a squeeze. “I’ll call if I need help, I promise. For example, I’m not sure I remember how to get out of this dress.”
“I’m sure Jayne would love to help you with that.” She heard Mal’s voice and his boots on the cargo bay ramp, and she turned to find the captain grinning at her, his arms full of weapons. “Right after we’re finished getting the cargo, you can ask him.” The grin slipped off his face, and his tone turned serious. “But since you and Kaylee both need to be where I told you to be RIGHT NOW, I’m thinkin’ you can both put the huggin’ off until after we’re out in the black a spell. dohn-mah?”
“Understood, Captain sir!” Linda spun around, straightened her shoulders, and threw him a salute before turning and heading for the stairs as quickly as her sandals would allow. Behind her, she could feel Jayne watching her walk away and start to climb, and she heard Mal’s voice take on a teasing tone. “That’s a right nice suit you got there, Kaylee. Did you find a swimmin’ hole while we were gone? Oh, I know! You put a pool here in the cargo bay, and you was just waiting to surprise us all when we got back!” There was a pause. “Suit kinda gives it away though, don’t ya think?”
Jayne snorted, and Wash hurried up the corridor to the flight deck, the clatter of her sandals on the metal deck chasing her to the cockpit.
Linda held the wheel tight, her arms shaking as she worked to keep Serenity on the beacon back to the customer’s warehouse. She didn’t remember atmospheric flight being quite as ... strenuous as this, back when she was a he.
“That’s because your former muscles were a little stronger than the ones you’re living with now.” River moved in behind her and put both hands on her shoulders. “You’ll adjust. You’re already doing it now. Just like you’ve been doing for the past few weeks, Hoe-bann.”
“Not fast enough for the rest of me, I guess,” Wash replied, her eyes still staring out at the horizon. She shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m trying to fight off a mutiny in my own body. Even worse, I can’t believe I’m failing.” The pilot looked up at River. “Thank you for helping me back there.”
River nodded, even though Wash couldn’t see her, and gave her shoulders a little squeeze. “We pushed her back, jei mei ... but she did take some ground. Just look at you. You’re sitting in the pilot’s seat wearing a dress and sandals — back straight, chest out, knees together. But you’re flying as well as you ever did, even though how you’re sitting would be totally unnatural for the man you used to be.”
It was Wash’s turn to nod. “Why is this happening now? I thought I was doing well, and then ...”
“It wasn’t your fault.” River stepped clear of Wash’s station, then leaned forward into a handspring and a reverse flip that left her standing on the forward console’s chair. She curled up into a ball, arms around her knees, and looked at Wash expectantly. “It was bound to happen, eventually.”
Wash looked back, surprised. “You knew?”
She nodded. “I suspected. If you would have thought about it for a while, you would have seen it coming, too. Chiang yanked Linda’s soul out, then dropped you into a body that was radically different from the one you used to have. So here’s her body, all brimming with hormones and a lifetime of experience as a woman, and here’s you, drowning in an ocean of estrogen, with only a lifetime of male memories to keep you afloat — in a body that wants nothing to do with them ... or you.”
“It’s as if somebody forced you into the pilot seat of a ship you’ve never flown. You’ve only seen ships like it from the outside, and you’ve admired them, but you never actually wanted to fly one — just be a passenger once in a while.” River smiled, and Wash blushed.
“Suddenly, you find yourself in the cockpit, and you have to fly it, or die. But it turns out the control system isn’t standard. Instead, it’s totally customized for the pilot who came before. She spent decades flying it her way, to the point where all the ship’s systems are used to her touch. Is it any wonder the ship would make things hard on a new pilot? Want to make him do things the way the old pilot did?”
Wash focused on the landscape in front of her. “But that doesn’t make any sense. Linda’s body isn’t a ship.”
“No, it’s not. It’s a living thing, and that’s another part of the problem.” The pilot looked up at her, confused, and River sighed. “Linda lived a full life. She was born into a loving family, and she grew up and learned to fly. She was a woman who loved men and loved to be loved by them. Now you’re here, and you keep fighting against how your body thinks you should react. As a result, all of the physical ‘you’ is rejecting your soul because it’s not behaving properly, and your system is out of harmony.” She shrugged. “It needs you to be the Linda it ... remembers. That’s all.”
“But that’s what I wanted, too! I mean, eventually.” River cocked her head, and Wash turned back to look out through the windscreen, trying to avoid the question in River’s eyes.
“Look, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about all this,” Wash said softly. “And I wasn’t sure if you were reading me or not.” River shook her head, and the pilot caught it out of the corner of her eye and nodded once. “Thank you for that.”
“I touch your mind from time to time, Wash,” the younger girl replied softly. “I don’t swim in it. It’s wrong.” She hesitated, then shrugged. “I don’t have a guidebook for how to be a reader. I’m sort of working that out as I go along.”
The pilot looked back over at River, then grinned.
“Believe me, I understand. After what I’ve been through, I know what it’s like to fly by the seat of your pants.” River smiled back, and Wash turned her eyes to the horizon ahead.
“The truth is, now that I’m like this and there’s no turning back, I decided that I was going to do my best to get used to being a woman. That’s what I am, after all, and I sure as hell didn’t want to spend the rest of my new life hanging on to my old one, or trying to be something I’m not anymore.” She sighed.
“But once I made the decision to actually be the woman I already am, then I had to decide what kind of woman I wanted to be.” It was River’s turn to looked puzzled, and Wash’s turn to sigh. “At first I thought, ‘I’ll just be me, Wash as a woman. That’ll work, right?’ Then I realized I didn’t have the first clue what that means. So I started thinking about who I was now ... who I appeared to be to everyone. I looked through Linda’s things and tried accessing some of her memories, and as it turns out, she was a pretty special person — a lot like the man I used to be in many ways.”
She took a deep breath and went on. “And so, I thought, well, maybe I should just try to be the kind of woman Linda was, and live her life forward as it should have been, without losing me along the way.”
“I thought I was doing well, taking it a day at a time. Apparently, I’m doing so well, Jayne’s falling in love with me. And maybe ... I’m falling a little for him, too, gods help me.” She shook her head and sighed again. “Now suddenly I’m in the middle of the metaphysical equivalent of a shark attack, and I have to fight to keep myself from just getting swallowed whole. Chiang says I still need to be me to save the ship, but walking that line between Wash and Linda is getting harder. And who is me, anyway?”
“I had hoped you would grow into being Linda, over time,” River said. She rose from her seat in a single fluid motion, and walked over to stand beside the pilot. “I hoped that, if Linda’s body and your soul moved forward together slowly, you would eventually become comfortable together, as Wash-in-Linda. You would feel happy being a woman, and her body would support your soul, and make you feel welcome.”
“Maybe we can ... I don’t know, negotiate with the rest of me? Make it back off somehow?”
“Wash ... there’s nobody there to talk to. You’re fighting whatever Linda left behind when her soul left. Memories stored in the deep structures of her brain, some established habits and responses, and pure hormonal overload.” River sighed and shook her head. “You might as well try to negotiate with a thunderstorm for all the good it will do.”
“I don’t believe it. I’ve always been able to talk my way out of trouble before —”
The insistent beeping of an incoming comm signal interrupted her sentence. The pilot reached over and flicked several switches, and a male voice came over the speaker, using the crisp measured tones of a military officer.
“This is the Alliance Shipyard Port Authority. Incoming ship, please identify.”
Wash thumbed the mike button and spoke. “This is the transport ship Tranquility, en route to the Berenger freight depot for cargo pickup.”
“Ship’s registry number?”
She reached over and read a sixteen-digit number from a list on a clipboard next to her station. The last time the ship was near Osirus, River had hacked into the Alliance Navy Ship Registry and added a number of Firefly-class ships to the rolls, making it a bit easier for Serenity and her crew to slip past checkpoints and avoid entanglements. She also worked with Kaylee to put together a way to re-program the ship’s transponder to provide whatever registry code the captain decided to wear. A polarizing screen over the ship’s name on the side changed as well to reflect the registry code she wore. So, when she flew this close to the Alliance shipyards, Serenity became Tranquility, a model of a modern freight carrier with a spotlessly clean record.
While she was in the Admiralty computer core, River could have gotten herself a legitimate fake pilot’s license as well, but she would have had to put her retina scans, fingerprints, and brain engrams into the system for registration purposes, and they weren’t sure whether the Alliance was still looking for her. In the end, Mal decided it really wasn’t worth the risk. He went hunting for a licensed pilot to replace Wash and found Linda ... without realizing she really wasn’t a replacement at all.
The speaker crackled to life. “Registry confirmed. Maintain course and speed. Authority out.”
Wash looked up at River with a grin. “Such a nice boy. Friendly and helpful, that’s the Alliance motto. Why, I haven’t been treated so politely since a headwaiter on Ariel objected to my shirt being too bright for his establishment and ignored me for twenty minutes ... while I stood directly in front of him.”
The younger girl grinned back. Knowing Wash as she did, she knew this sort of behavior would not go unpunished. “And what did you do to get yourself ... noticed?”
Just as Wash opened her mouth to reply, the incoming comm signal sounded again. She swiveled and switched the receiver on.
“Oy!” A deep male voice bellowed. “You dere! Ooo da hell ‘re you, und why’re yoo commin’ at us like a batouttahell??”
With a glance at River, the pilot activated the transmitter. “Transport ship Tranquility requesting docking instruc —”
“Hold up dere, missy. Put yer pilot on, dere’s a gut gurl.”
Wash felt a flash of irritation. “I AM the pilot, requesting docking instructions at the Berenger freight depot.”
“Yur de pilot?” The voice rumbled and burst into laughter. “Hey, Viktor! Tell the udder ships ta git offa dah field. Ship commen in wid a bird onna stick, and she’s hot!”
Another voice chimed in from farther away from the microphone. “Who’s hot, Zev? The girl or the ship?”
“Both, I betcha,” Zev replied. “Ship’s commen in mighty fast for atmo, and the gurl sounds like she’s mebbe fast, too.”
Wash and River heard the one called Viktor speaking as he approached the microphone. “Hey, Zev says you’re on the stick. Does that mean you’re flyin’ that boat with your hands, or are you actually ... um, on the stick, if you catch me?” He snickered, and the other man laughed again. Wash felt almost nauseous, thinking about what this idiot must be thinking of her, but that was soon followed by a quick burst of anger. She reached for the microphone switch again, only to have River put her hand on Wash’s.
‘ Careful, jei mei,’ she spoke mind to mind. ‘Remember, we have to work with these sah gwa to get our cargo, and the captain won’t like it if you throw a tantrum and the job goes south.’
‘Tantrum?’ Wash shot back, her thoughts awash in anger. ‘These guys sound like they never made it past the second grade!’
‘Then spank them, Hoe-bann,’ River replied, ‘but do it gently, with words.‘
Wash sighed, then took a deep breath and calmed herself before she thumbed the switch to “Transmit.”
“I’m flying the ship with my hands, the way any pilot would,” she said simply. “I’m damned good at it, too. And the only time I’ll ever fly anything the other way you described would be in your dreams — and my nightmares, hwoon dahn. I’m not a doxy or a slut, I’m a pilot. So why don’t you and your friend give me a landing pad assignment near our cargo, and leave your rich fantasy life in your bunk, where it belongs?”
There was a long stunned silence on the other end of the connection, followed by loud raucous laughter that seemed to go on and on.
“Yur a real firecracker, un dat’s a fact, sweetie,” Zev growled, still laughing. “Put ‘er doon on pahd tree ... follow duh sub beekan when yu hit B’rngur ahrspace — und try nut to hit duh depot, ‘kay?”
He started laughing again, and the comm went silent. Wash heaved a sigh of relief, and began to slow her speed while doing progressive scans for the beacon.
“Unbelievable,” she muttered under her breath. “Men!”
“Careful, Hoe-bann,” River teased, standing behind the pilot’s chair. “You of all people should know better than that. You were a good man, once. There must be others out there.”
“Well, from this side of the gene pool, I’m thinking they should be drowned at birth,” Wash replied. “Those two, anyway. I’m reserving judgment about the rest of the gender.”
“And Jayne?” The younger girl’s question left the pilot confused.
‘ How do I feel about Jayne?’ She thought about everything that had happened in the past few hours, and shook her head. ‘I know how I feel ... how I think I feel. But how much of that feeling is mine, and how much belongs to the woman who used to live here?’
Wash finally caught the sub-beacon and made her final approach with an ease that came from a thousand perfect approaches that came before.
Sometimes she wished living could be as easy as flying.
Berenger’s depot was like too many others Wash had seen in her day — crowded, busy, and a real pain to fly through. Fortunately, Serenity had an excellent pilot, and she found her way to pad three with a minimum of powered acrobatics that left many of her peers envying her skill.
Wash heaved a sigh of relief and began putting flight systems on stand-by. Given Serenity’s past history, there was no way in Hell she would totally clip her wings with a cold shutdown in an exposed position like this. River had wandered off shortly before she reached the depot, understanding that the pilot’s attention needed to be on what she was doing. The hum of the powered cargo door reverberated through the ship, and she was glad others were going to be dealing with the freight handlers. The overwhelmingly male freight handlers.
‘ They were bad enough on the comms,’ she thought sourly. ‘Gods forbid I should have to meet them in person. Especially wearing this.’
The pilot sat there for a moment, going back over the things that had happened to her since this whole wacky adventure started. Sometimes she felt like she had been caught up in a flood of events that pushed her into her new life with the force of a hard burn. Sometimes it felt like the Verse was conspiring against her, and that whatever control she thought she had was only an illusion.
When she thought about what Teller and Beeks almost did to her when she first joined the crew, she realized how powerless she felt as Linda. She had only just become a woman, and it almost didn’t seem real at the time. After it was all over, it had been easy to push it aside and move forward. After all, she was here, back with friends and family, and what did it matter how close she came to being a victim?
But it did, she realized suddenly. Her knock-out punch on Teller aside, she wasn’t Zoe. ‘No warrior woman here,’ she thought with a frown. ‘I get the sense that Linda could fight, but avoided conflict if she could. A lot like I used to be, come to think of it. Even when I was a man, I wasn’t exactly the most ná¡n zÇ qᬠguy out there — enough man to steal Zoe’s heart and keep her happy, but the rest of the Neanderthal guy mentality, like “fight first, eat lunch, then fight later” never really made it onto my personal agenda.’
It was becoming clear to Wash that direct confrontation wasn’t usually an option when you looked like Miss Osirus, and this translated in her mind to a powerlessness that seemed all too linked to the new body she wore — even though as a man, Wash did his best to avoid a fight without losing face. Now things with her new body were going south, in a bad way. It seemed to be doing its best to try and write over the Wash That Was, and there seemed to be a part of Wash that wanted to help.
The part that was interested in Jayne.
When she had revealed to River that she had planned to try and be the woman she appeared to be, there were a lot of aspects of that choice she really hadn’t wanted to think about when she made the call originally. Like sex, and men ... and specifically, sex with men. But her new body wanted her to know exactly how Linda felt about the male of the species — and she’d been made more than aware of just how much of a man Jayne was.
But Jayne was one thing. Those idiots in the dispatch shack were something else. And the pilot had the uncomfortable feeling that there were a lot more idiots than there were men worth being with in the Verse. A LOT more. She started feeling even more lost and alone, and started wondering if she should have been issued a tee-shirt with the words “potential victim” printed on the chest. Right across her breasts, where the boys would be sure to read it.
Wash felt her lower lip start to quiver again, and a tear trickled down her cheek before she realized where her head was going. A bit of anger rose up to take charge, and she shook her head and brushed the tear aside with the back of her hand.
‘Enough!’ she growled at herself. ‘I chose this path, and it was the right choice. I’m not powerless. I’m alive, and with people I love!’
She was just confused and feeling sorry for herself, and that was wrong. Self-pity had never gotten her anywhere before, and she wasn’t going to start wallowing in it now. There were still a few things she had control over, and it was time to take charge.
‘For example, I get to choose what I wear,’ she thought, ‘And I’ve been in this dress long enough. There’s a flight suit and a pair of boots waiting in my quarters, and wearing this outfit within ten klicks of a freight depot is just asking for trouble. Time to change.’
She unstrapped from the pilot’s chair and stood up, reaching upward to stretch the tension from her back. Just then, there was a clatter on the deck outside the flight deck door. Jayne poked his head in, flashed her a smile, and handed her a clipboard.
“Hey, Linda. Cap’n needs you to go groundside, check in with the depot master, get us a manifest, and confirm loadin’ and leavin’ times.”
‘Terrific. Just terrific.’ She felt her brief push for control slipping through her fingers. ‘I’ll have to deal with those idiots in person. Thank you, gods. I’ll be sure to do you a good turn myself real soon.’
Ou the outside, Wash put on a cheerful face. “Sure thing, Jayne. Just let Mal know it’s going to take me a minute to change.”
The mercenary tilted his head and gave her a once-over, followed by a grin. “Why’re ya gonna change, girl? What you’re wearin’ looks just fine to me. Better than fine.”
Wash felt herself blush, and a rush of sexual feeling roared through her. She looked down for a few seconds to avoid meeting his eyes. “Ummm ... thank you, Jayne.”
“Ain’t nothin’ but the truth, Linda. Don’t see no reason to hide how pretty you are.” Jayne looked at her curiously. “‘Sides, I think the cap’n’s getting’ a mite worried, us bein’ so close to the Alliance ‘n all. He wants us to be far away from here before the Feds decide to give us a second look.”
“Gorram right I’m worried,” Mal said briskly, coming up behind Jayne. “We’re already late gettin’ off of this rock as it is, and we ain’t even loaded cargo yet. Best be on your way.”
Wash felt frozen to the spot. Could this really be happening? She opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came out. The captain watched her for a few seconds.
“Now is better than five minutes from now, Linda.” The pilot managed a small nod, and Mal gave her a small smile in return. “Good girl. Off you go.”
He turned and ambled down the passageway, and Jayne followed, leaving her standing there in a state of shock — a numbness that started feeling very much like fear.
Zoe was in the cargo bay, keeping her eyes on the cargo bay door and one hand on her gun. Depots like this had their share of thieves, and an open door was too much of an invitation for her to leave it unguarded. Besides, she didn’t quite trust Berenger the way the Captain did. The businessman may have helped them out in Serenity Valley when they needed it, but he was quick enough to cash in on the favor when he needed a run to Flynt. That didn’t make him a friend, as far as Zoe was concerned. Berenger was just someone who knew the value of an obligation, and how deep the Captain’s sense of honor ran.
Taking advantage of what a good man the Captain was didn’t do him any favors in Zoe’s heart, either.
There was the sound of shoes on the metal steps, and Linda came walking down from the cockpit. She was still dressed to kill, which seemed odd to Zoe, since there was certainly enough time to change now that they were actually at the depot. As she walked past Zoe, the first mate realized she was heading for the cargo door ... and a freight yard full of men.
In a dress that was sure to get her ... noticed.
She stood up quickly and put out her hand, touching the other woman’s shoulder. “Linda?”
The pilot turned, and Zoe saw the look on her face. She seemed almost in a trance, like she was sleepwalking. For the first time, Zoe started to worry. This wasn’t anything like the Linda she’d come to know in the past few weeks. This looked more like what she’d seen in the war — like the woman was headed into battle.
“Where’re you goin’, girl?” She deliberately used a teasing tone, to try and coax Linda out of her shell. “Are you okay?”
“Captain wants me to go to the dispatch office, get the cargo manifest and loading times squared away.” Her voice had an almost wooden quality, stiff and flat.
Zoe kept her playful tone. “In that outfit? Aren’t you a bit ... overdressed? Or maybe underdressed?”
“Captain said there wasn’t time for me to change.”
“But there must be at least a hundred men out there,” Zoe said slowly, “and I bet most of them haven’t seen someone as pretty as you in months.”
Linda’s lower lip began to tremble. “Don’t you think I know that?” Her mask began to break, and Zoe could see she was afraid.
The first mate growled inside, thinking about all the things the Captain didn’t think about.
“I know I’m being stupid,” the pilot went on, her voice starting to rise with each word. “I know I shouldn’t care. I mean, this is just part of being a woman, right? I should shut up and do my job. I don’t even KNOW these people! And it’s not like I have to listen. They won’t say anything that matters. They’ll just yell insulting things like they’re compliments, make degrading offers to do things with me that no sane woman would even think about without throwing up, and UNDRESS ME —” She stopped in mid-yell, took a breath and continued, almost in a normal voice. “Undress me with their eyes. And I’ll just let it slide off my back and do my job, because I’m a woman, and that’s what I’m supposed to do.”
Linda turned and looked Zoe in the eye. “That’s what I’m supposed to do,” she repeated, then sighed. “I just ... I don’t think I can, today, that’s all. I’m ... afraid, Zoe. I’m supposed to be brave, and do my job, but all of the sudden, I’m scared. What happened at the Skyplex, and Kaylee, and this dress, and Jayne, and those jerks in the dispatch office on the comms ... it’s just too much, too soon. Maybe some other time ... maybe tomorrow, I could just do it. But right now, there’s a part of me that’s just screaming enough. And I so want to listen.”
Zoe’s voice became soft, and she reached out and took Linda’s hand. “Then don’t go, honey. You don’t have to. Stay here. Let Jayne do it, or Simon.”
“I can’t, Zoe. It’s my job. I pull my weight, and I get paid. That’s how it works.” She sighed again. “Besides, the Captain told me to.”
“Well, the Captain is an ass.” Both women turned to see Inara standing at the top of the stairs, on the walkway to her shuttle.
“HEY!” Mal’s voice rang out across the bay, and all three women turned to see him standing on the other side, near the corridor to the cockpit. “I heard that!”
“You were MEANT to,” Inara shot back, leaning on the railing. “What the hell were you thinking, Mal? Three weeks ago, that girl barely managed to avoid being raped while defending your ship. She had to strip naked at gunpoint, after being your pilot for less than an hour! And now you want her to walk through a freight yard full of men wearing THAT dress? You know what men like that are like! What is WRONG with you?”
“She seemed to be handling what happened at the Skyplex okay,” Mal countered angrily. “After we took back the ship, she put her clothes on and went back to work. How was I supposed to know there was somethin’ wrong? Besides, she’s the one who wore THAT dress. I thought she might want the chance to show it off some, since she won’t be gettin’ off ship where we’re headed. Why else would she wear it?”
Zoe looked up, her arm around Linda’s shoulder. “Kaylee made her wear it for Jayne, Sir. She didn’t want to do it, but you know how persuasive Kaylee can be. And when Linda put it on earlier, I’m pretty sure she never thought she’d be forced to model it for every member of the local Freight Workers union.”
“Forced? Ain’t nobody forcin’ anybody to do anything!” Mal’s voice was starting to betray his confusion.
“But you ordered me to go, like this!” Linda’s voice rose up, shaking slightly.
“Oh, honey,” Kaylee appeared next to her, put her arm around her from the other side and gave her a squeeze. She looked up at Mal with anger in her eyes, and her voice was rock hard. “I heard the whole thing. Don’t pay him no mind. The captain’s always orderin’ folks around. If it don’t make any sense, just ignore him. That’s what the rest of us do and it works well enough most of the time.”
“Wait a minute! How did this get to be my fault?” The Captain looked down at his pilot, his mechanic, and his first mate. Then he looked up at the woman he loved. She looked back, angry enough to spit bullets. He stopped, and he thought, and he sighed. “Never mind. It don’t matter how, it just is. All my fault. I ain’t sayin’ I’m stupid, but I will admit to bein’ more than a mite dense about what goes on in a woman’s head ... or a woman’s heart.”
Inara’s expression softened, and Mal felt something in his heart click. He smiled at her, ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head.
“Go get changed, Linda,” he said, looking down at the pilot. “Sorry I almost sent you out there to get ... looked at by folks who wouldn’t know how to treat a woman if Zoe beat it into ‘em with a stick. I’ll go to the dispatch office.”
The pilot sighed, turned back to the stairs, and took a single step before Zoe’s hand touched her shoulder. She turned, and saw her former wife with the oddest expression on her face — her eyes wide with a smile just starting to touch her lips.
The first mate leaned forward and looked her in the eye. “Do you trust me, Linda?” she whispered, her breath hot on the other woman’s cheek. Wash nodded without hesitation.
“With my life,” she replied softly.
“Good. Because I have something to show you.” Zoe raised her voice. “It’s okay, Sir. Linda and I will handle the run to the dispatch office.”
Inara looked down at the pair and cocked her head, confused. The captain did the same.
“Is that what you want, Linda?” Mal asked tentatively, not sure what to think.
Wash looked into Zoe’s eyes and saw love and concern, and the strength she always knew was there. She turned to look up at the Captain and nodded.
“Yes, Captain,” she replied, raising her voice. “Zoe and I will take care of it.”
Mal looked over to Inara, and she looked back, her eyebrows raised. Then she shrugged, and he looked back at Linda and sighed.
“All right, then,” he said, still confused. “Aren’t you gonna change first?”
Wash looked back at Zoe, and Zoe’s smile became a grin. She shook her head.
“No, Sir,” the first mate said, slipping past Linda and climbing the stairs leading up to the crew quarters. “I am.”
Jayne lay in his bunk, staring at the ceiling and thinking about Linda.
‘ She’s about as big a puzzle as ... as the biggest puzzle I ever seen,’ he thought, his eyes glazing over from thinkin’ so hard. ‘I can’t even come up with anythin’ as confusin’ as that girl is, and that’s a fact. Half the time I think she wants me, an’ the other half I’m thinkin’ she’s runnin’ away while she’s standin’ still. And Mal’s too busy trying to get offa this ruttin’ rock before the Feds tumble that we’re here, so I can’t ask him. Not that he’d know, but at least I’d have someone to ask.’
“You could ask me.” River’s face suddenly loomed in his line of sight, and his whole body jerked. He sat up quickly, but not quick enough for the young girl’s reflexes (and the fact that she knew when he was going to move before he did).
“Don’t DO that!” he snapped. “Gorram it, River, my bunk is supposed t’ be private. How’d ya git in here without me noticin’?”
“You were thinking so hard about Linda, you didn’t see me coming in through maintenance hatch seventeen,” she replied sweetly. “I think it’s nice how much you think about her, but she’s going to need our help soon, and lying in your bunk won’t get the job done.”
“Help her?” Jayne swung his legs over the side of the bed and braced himself with his hands. River looked down at him, a smug smile on her face. “What’s wrong with her? Is she in trouble?”
“Not yet.” The girl danced over to the open maintenance hatch and stopped directly under it. “But Zoe’s got this idea to make Linda not be afraid anymore, after what happened at the Skyplex. It’s a good plan, and she’s brave to try it, but there are a few holes in it that might need fixing. That’s our job.”
“Holes?” The mercenary felt awkward, as if River was speaking in a different language and nobody was botherin’ to translate.
“Yes, holes,” she replied. “Great big gaping ones, like the whole depot rioting, followed by violence, gunfire, and Feds. But long before that, Zoe and Linda lying broken and dead in the yard in their pretty dresses, because Zoe couldn’t see what I see, looking at what is and seeing what might be.”
Jayne’s blood ran cold. River looked into his eyes and nodded. “So we’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen, Jayne Cobb. You, and me, and that Interceptor you conned out of that merchant before we left the Skyplex.”
“Interceptor? I ain’t got no Interceptor.”
“Sure you do.” River leaped into the air and slipped back into the ship’s infrastructure. Her voice echoed in his head. “Under your bunk, up towards where you keep your pillow, wrapped in an old duffel bag and a Blue Sun tee shirt that’s seen better days.” She popped her head down into the room and smiled, then spoke out loud again. “You should know better than to try lying to a reader, Jayne.”
“I reckon I should.” He sighed and stood up. “And why try hidin’ it anyway?”
“Old habits?” She grinned.
“Maybe. I bought the gorram thing to keep folks safe. Might as well use it.” Jayne went to his knees and pulled the sniper rifle out from under the bed. He started unwrapping it. “Okay, I’m in. Where do you want me?”
“Up on top of the ship. You can see the whole freight yard from up there.” Her head disappeared, and she spoke to him again, mind to mind. “And you’re going to have to, to keep everything smooth and shiny.”
Jayne shivered and looked up at the ceiling. “Hey!” he shouted. “Would you STOP talkin’ inside my head?” After a few seconds of silence, he lowered his voice to a whisper. “Uh ... please?”
River’s head slid slowly down into the room through the open hatchway.
“No,” she said aloud, and closed the door.
“Gorram creepifying ...” he muttered, reaching for the trank loads. “Good thing she’s crew, or I’d be lookin’ to shoot HER.”
“I love you too, Jayne.”
“STOP that!”
“This is a bad idea, Zoe.” Mal had followed her from the cargo bay into the passageway up to crew quarters.
“I think you said that before, Captain. Multiple times.”
“Well, it is. Sayin’ it more than once don’t make it any less true.”
Zoe stopped at the door to her room and turned around. “And I’m thinkin’ you don’t know what the hell you’re talkin’ about in this situation, Sir.”
Mal took a step back and held up his hands. “Look, a few minutes ago y’all convinced me it was a bad idea for Linda to go out there dressed like that. Now you want to go WITH her?”
“Not wantin’ to, Sir. More like got to.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s crew. That makes her family, and she needs our help.” The first mate pushed her door in and put a foot on the ladder leading down.
“And how does taking a walk across a freight depot dressed like that help her?”
Zoe gave him a look, trying to decide if an explanation would help. “Well ... it’s like gettin’ back on a horse that threw you, Captain.”
Mal felt what little control he had over this conversation slippin’ away. “In a dress??”
She sighed. “I need to get changed, Sir.”
The door clanged shut.
Wash stood by the cargo bay door, her arms folded under her breasts.
‘I can’t believe I’m doing this,’ she thought, a tiny bit of fear creeping into her brain. ‘I can’t believe I’m going to walk across that field and into the dispatch office wearing this dress. Why did I agree to this? Oh, yes. Zoe asked me if I trusted her, and like a lovestruck idiot, I said yes. What was I thinking? What was Zoe thinking? She’s crazy! She’s certifiable! She’s —’
Zoe Washburne walked down the stairs into the cargo bay, wearing a slinky lavender dress with long bell sleeves that shimmered in the shine of the overheads. The strappy heels she wore made her legs look like rich mahogany that had been shaped by the most talented sculptor in the Verse, and her make-up was as understated and elegant as her smile was wide.
“You’re beautiful,” Wash whispered, remembering the first time she’d ever seen Zoe dressed for a night on the town.
“Why, thank you,” she replied, striking a model’s pose at the bottom of the steps. “I clean up real good, now don’t I? A’course, you’re lookin’ mighty shiny yourself, girl. Which is why I had to take a little longer gettin’ ready. Can’t let the pilot outshine the first mate. Against the law of the skyways.”
“The what now?” Wash felt a giggle slip through her defenses and let it go. She just had to laugh, and if Linda’s body wanted to giggle, she sure wasn’t going to go out of her way to stop it.
Zoe’s eyes widened, and her mouth opened in feigned shock. “Oh my! You, our intrepid pilot, have never heard of the law of the skyways?”
“OH!” Linda said, striking her forehead with the flat of her hand. “THAT law of the skyways!”
“That’s better.” Zoe took Linda’s arm and started walking towards the open cargo bay door. “Now, I’m thinkin’ the reason you’re feeling afraid is ‘cause you forgot just how much power a good looking woman has in this Verse. You knew before you joined the crew. You had to, if you grew up looking like that. And I know you wouldn’t have been able to get through flight school with a bunch of pilot-wanabees if you hadn’t figured out how to put them in their place. Believe me, I was married to a pilot — I know how most of them behave with womenfolk.” Her voice took on a wistful tone. “Never had to worry about him, though.”
She shook her head and focused on Linda again. “Anyway, you used to know how strong you are. But what happened at the Skyplex made you forget for a while, and you started thinkin’ you were weak, just ‘cause you couldn’t stop two zuì fàn from scaring the pants off you at gunpoint. And that just ain’t right.”
She stopped and turned Linda to face her. “From where I stand, you did just fine. Wasn’t much else you could do, to tell the truth. And you took your clothes off to protect River, not because you were scared. But sometimes folks have a way of twisting the facts after something bad happens, just ‘cause they think they coulda done somethin’ different, even when they couldn’t.”
There was a dainty clattering on the steps behind them both, and they turned to watch Inara descend in the same dress she had worn to that shindig on Persephone long ago. It was off white and sleeveless — classically beautiful, with a deep décolletage and a long flowing skirt that seemed to float when she moved. She had left the long gloves in her shuttle, choosing instead a pair of wide gold bracelets with a tasteful pattern of gemstones on each, and her hair was loose around her shoulders and brushed to a warm sheen.
“Excuse me,” she said with a smile. “You wouldn’t happen to be going for a walk, would you?”
“Might be,” Zoe replied, smiling back. “It’s a beautiful day, after all.”
“May I join you?” Inara stepped off the bottom stair and made her way gracefully to where they stood. “I have a sudden uncontrollable urge to parade myself in front of a crowd of lustful gōng rén — most of whom have almost totally forgotten what a real woman is supposed to look like.”
“We’d be delighted to have you.” The first mate’s smile became a grin. “Wouldn’t we, Linda?”
“Of course we would,” Wash replied automatically, then stopped herself and turned to Inara. “You do know this is crazy, right? I mean, you yelled at the Captain so I wouldn’t have to go — and now you want to come along?”
Inara shook her head. “Originally, all I wanted to do was keep you safe. But after thinking about it, Zoe is right. What happened to you at the Skyplex is haunting you, and making you forget what you learned the day some boy noticed you were different ... and liked the difference enough to put your needs ahead of his.”
The companion crossed over to take both of Linda’s hands in hers. “There’s a risk, certainly, but not as big a risk as you might think, qīn ài de. What you need to remember is that, no matter how much they might want us, the entire weight of civilization stands between us and them. There’s a very good chance they won’t do anything at all, because generations of mothers and grandmothers before us have battered it into their brains that women are to be respected.”
“Add to that the fact that actin’ like a bèn dàn isn’t going to get them anywhere close to gettin’ any of us in bed,” Zoe said, “If they think there’s a chance with any of us, they might actually be nice. Ain’t likely, but stranger things have happened.”
“But ... but what if I’m right to be scared?”
“You’re not.” The voice came from the catwalk above, and everyone looked up to see Kaylee, still in her mechanics jumpsuit and boots. “Jei mei, they’re just men. They’re half the folk in the Verse, and they ain’t all evil, lecherous humps no matter what your mama said to keep you from gettin’ sexed when you was growin’ up. They just know what they want, and most all of ‘em know they won’t get it unless they treat us the way we want to be treated.”
She walked down the stairs and over to Linda, then put her arm around her and squeezed softly.
“Every man ain’t lookin’ to hurt you, nǚ hái,” she said softly. “Heck, most of ‘em are kinda nice. Those two xié è nán rén at the Skyplex just spooked you is all. We’re gonna show you how things really are.”
“We?” Inara raised an eyebrow, and Kaylee gave her a sharp look.
“Gorram right. You ain’t gonna leave me behind. I’m the reason why she’s wearing that dress. I pushed when I shouldn’t have, and it’s at least a bit my fault she’s feelin’ a more than a mite shaky around menfolk right now. So she ain’t goin’ out there without me, dohn-mah?”
Inara hesitated, then nodded. Kaylee smiled back in return.
“Aren’t you going to change?” the Companion asked. Kaylee shook her head.
“I like dressin’ up as much as the next girl,” she replied, “but according to Simon, this outfit is downright sexy, just ‘cause I’m wearin’ it.” Inara was surprised to see Kaylee blush, just a little. “I ain’t gonna argue with that.”
Inara moved away from Linda and Kaylee to stand beside Zoe.
“This really is insane,” she whispered through her smile. “Totally yǒu jīng shén bìng.”
Zoe nodded. “Right enough.”
“And we’re doing it because ...?”
“Because Linda needs it. Because we can.” The first mate looked into Inara’s eyes. “And because every once in a while, a woman needs to cut loose and do somethin’ wild and all manner of stupid — somethin’ folks tell her not to do, just ‘cause she’s a woman. Sometimes a girl needs to prove she’s not ‘less than’ just ‘cause she ain’t a man. Captain doesn’t really understand that.”
Inara shrugged. “Mal wants to protect us. We’re crew, we’re family, and we’re women, and that’s how his mind works. It’s not always a bad thing.” Inara watched as Linda and Kaylee started walking towards them, and the cargo bay door. “But in this Verse, a woman has the right to go where she pleases, and Linda may not be the only one who needs reminding. Are you armed?”
“Yes, ma’am. Aren’t you?” Inara smiled and ducked her head. Zoe grinned. “Alright, then. We know where we stand.”
“Together.”
“Gorram straight.” Linda and Kaylee reached the pair, and Zoe stood up a little straighter. “Is everyone ready?”
The pilot took a deep breath, then nodded. The mechanic just grinned and bobbed her head.
“All right, then,” Inara said, turning towards the cargo bay door. “Come on, ladies. Let’s go for a walk.”
None of them saw the shadow that slipped by them and out into the yard, only to vanish in the sunlight as shadows do.
NOTE: I did promise to try and make each chapter more self-contained and less cliff-hangery, and I DID try -- but the chapter started getting longer and longer, so i went and broke it into two. Not to worry, though. The rest will be coming your way soon enough ... as soon as this girl gets to finishin' it. *grin* -- Randalynn
This is a fan fiction set in the Firefly/Serenity universe created by Joss Whedon. It takes place soon after the events in the television series and the companion motion picture that followed, and is also the third part of a sequel to Firefly: Connecting Flight. This means it has SPOILERS, folks, and major ones at that. So please don't read this unless you get the chance to see the series and the movie -- and read my first Firefly story (and the first two chapters of this one), since they both set the stage.
In the third part of FIREFLY: DOUBLE BOOKED, Wash and the ladies go for a walk in the freight yard, Jayne plays guardian angel with a "dumb-ass piece of Alliance plastic" for a gun, and our intrepid pilot finally faces her fear -- with surprising results!
All River had to do was keep a lid on those few simmering pots of misogynistic rage and hormonal excess, and stop them from boiling over just long enough for Wash and the ladies to reach the dispatch office, do what needed to be done, and get back to Serenity in one piece.
‘As the Captain would say,’ she muttered to herself, ‘best be about it.’
She moved through the dispatch yard like a ghost. It was partly because of her natural grace and her stillness, and partly because of those abilities the Alliance had enhanced in her to make her become a living weapon. Mostly, she would reach into the minds of the men around her and just make herself ... unnoticed. To the men she touched with her talent, she was a shadow, or a doorway, or a drainpipe -- just another part of the everyday landscape for the eye to pass over and ignore.
From on top of the ship, Jayne watched as River flowed around the groups of working men like ... well, like a river around a bunch of rocks. It was pretty, how she moved, almost like she was dancing. But that made it all manner of creepifying, too, since none of the men on the field seemed to see her at all.
He shifted uncomfortably, looking through the scope of the Interceptor with the magnification pulled back so he could watch River dance. When she reached the dispatch shack, she changed her rhythm and seemed to scurry up the side of the wall like a spider to land lightly on the roof. Jayne shuddered. ‘It just ain’t natural to be able to do something like that.’
‘What does that make me, Jayne?’
“Cut that out!”
“Here’s the plan,” River’s voice whispered in his head, and he could almost hear her grinning. “Set the amount of paralyzing agent in each shot for no more than three minutes. We don’t want to leave the crew chiefs with a bunch of unexplained statues where they used to have working men.”
“How do I do that?”
The young girl sighed. “Hit the red recessed button below the sight to switch to operations mode. Go to the main menu, then ammo, then settings. Adjust the slider to three minutes, hit save, and exit. Honestly, Jayne, didn’t you even glance at the manual? It’s right there under your bed in the duffel bag. I read it one night last week when you were lifting weights. It’s not bad.”
“I prefer poking at somethin’ to figure out how it works,” the shooter replied, a little defensively. “And I ain’t never been good at book learnin’.”
“You might want to start thinking about getting good at it, Jayne. A lot of women are attracted to smart men.” As his temper rose a bit, River continued. “And you’re smarter than you let on. I can see it in you. You just need to be able to show it ... and Linda needs to be able to see it.”
Jayne felt himself turning red at the unexpected compliment. “Can we get back to the job?”
“Okay.” Another sigh. “Here’s how it’s going to work. I’m going to read everyone in the crowd and find the troublemakers. I’ll try to keep the men on the edge from going over, and mark the ones you need to paralyze before they explode.”
“And how are you gonna mark ‘em so I can see ‘em?” Jayne growled, looking at her standing there in plain sight while the rest of the world ignored her. ‘It ain’t natural,’ he thought with a scowl.
“It is for me.” He could hear her smiling, and he shook his head and smiled too, just a little. “You’ll see it when it happens. Yellow means they could be trouble, so keep an eye on them. If they turn red, hit them before they do something stupid.”
The shooter grunted and nodded. There was a pause, and then River’s voice spoke again.
“I meant what I said, back in your quarters. If you have questions about why Linda is the way she is, I’m here. I know you’re talking to Mal about women, and that’s fine. But I know things he can’t, and I think you and Linda have ... possibilities. I just want to help you get together, if it’s meant to be.”
Jayne paused, one eyebrow raised. “You mean it?”
“I do.” There was a short pause. “Here they come!”
Dolph Trumbauer put down the crate he had been carrying, sweat pouring from his body. His arms and chest were solid slabs of muscle from the hours spent shifting cargo from one point to the next, and that wasn’t a bad thing for a man to be able to say. Still, he wondered whether Mister Berenger might think about getting some decent exo-suits to take the load off. He liked working in the depot, no question -- but a machine assist could make him a lot more productive, and he enjoyed looking at his work sheet at the end of the day and seeing how much he had moved, all by himself.
“With the right exo, I could move twice the weight in half the time,” he said to his friend Yuri, pulling a rag from his hip pocket and mopping his face as he spoke. “A regular Colossus. Boy, that would be something to see.”
The whole yard seemed to fall silent, all at once. The forklifts and loaders they did have coughed and died, and everything suddenly went very still.
“Spasebo!” Yuri breathed, his voice just barely above a whisper. He nudged Dolph’s arm. “Talk about something to see ...”
Dolph turned, and watch four angels walk out of the cargo bay door of the Firefly-class boat on pad three. They glided down the ramp and into his heart with an ease that made him ask himself why there was no woman in his life, and how he could ever find someone like this to share his days and warm his nights. These women ... they seemed to embody the essence of what men think of when they think of woman. They walked past dozens of working men like they owned the yard, and headed for the dispatch hut with a stride that left no doubt they knew where they were going.
For a moment, Dolph remembered when he was so much younger. He had always been a big reader, and had even written poetry for a while — some of it pretty darned good, too. He had secretly wanted to go to college and learn more, until he made the mistake of mentioning it where his father could hear. The man had beaten Dolph until schooling and poetry were the furthest things from his mind, and his ambition had stayed locked away for twenty years or more.
Until today, when the poet in Dolph’s soul rose up and tried to paint these women with words.
‘There’s the elegant one, dressed in white, fair of face wth a noble’s grace,’ he thought, ‘And the one in purple, strong and true, with beauty and loyalty none can undo.’
Every man followed their every step, their eyes full of fantasies. Dolph looked at the woman in the stained jumpsuit, with a warm smile on her face
‘That one tastes like strawberry wine -- a burst of light when the sun doesn’t shine.’ The loader smiled and turned his attention to the one beside her in a yellow sundress. She almost seemed to hesitate, even as she moved forward.
‘That redhead,’ he mused, ‘so pretty, yet so unsure ... is she afraid, or just demure?’
Dolph paused a moment, thinking about that last line.
‘She’s not shy,’ he realized. ‘She’s frightened. But why? What could she be afraid of?’
He turned slowly, looking at the men struck dumb by the parade of beauty. Some of them were openly leering, and Dolph could almost see the lust pouring from their bodies in waves, their eyes glistening with barely suppressed desire.
‘Us,’ he thought, the idea coming first as a surprise, then as so much a certainty he almost kicked himself for not seeing it sooner. ‘She’s scared of us!’
It made him sad, that such a pretty woman could fear him without even knowing his name. Then he looked around again, thinking that maybe she wasn’t wrong to be afraid at all.
He knew some of these men didn’t like pretty women at all ... or strong women, for that matter. Oh, they wanted the beautiful ones, to be sure, but they seldom managed to charm any of them, because their manners were coarse and their overtures rude. Eventually, they came to see every woman as a tease, dangling a vision of something they could never have just out of reach. This frustration made them angry ... and sometimes violent.
He’d seen ‘em on a few trips to what passed for a major city on this Alliance-heavy rock. They always tried to take the ladies down a peg, getting rougher and rougher until whatever establishment they were in kicked them out. Then they would wait in the street until the women left, only to follow them with words (and sometimes hands) until the local police stopped them and sent them on their way.
As Dolph watched, the crowd became more and more excited. The men began talking to each other, and he began to worry about the angels from that transport. As the rumbling of voices started growing louder, his eyes kept scanning the freight yard. Before he realized he was moving, he had started pushing through the crowd towards the dispatch hut, and the worry turned to fear.
Because there wasn’t any law enforcement to speak of in the Berenger depot, but there were more than enough idiots to go around. And it only took one to start a riot.
Jayne kept his eye on the Interceptor’s scope and tried real hard not to look at the four ladies walking across the field. He was supposed to be keepin’ ‘em safe, but they were enough of a distraction all by themselves to make savin’ ‘em harder than it oughta be. He gave ‘em one look when they left the cargo bay, just to make sure River was right.
‘Of course I’m right, Jayne. Keep your eyes on the crowd.’
He did what she said. Eyes on the crowd. She was right. He wasn’t gonna save anybody watchin’ the ladies. He was in this to keep Linda and the rest safe, and that’s what River wanted, too. So he listened. Didn’t mean he liked her poking around in his head, even if it was for a good reason.
There were a few folks out in the crowd colored yellow, but no reds yet. Jayne didn’t want to think too hard about how deep inside his head River had to be to do something like this, but it sure made his job easier.
The ladies walked into view, and he pulled back on the scope’s mag to take in a wider view.
‘Some of the crowd’s still yellow,’ he thought, ‘but I’m thinkin’ a few of ‘em are getting a mite orangy around the edges. Is she supposed to be doin’ orangy?’
“JAYNE!”
The shooter felt his whole body tense, and his trigger finger twitched.
“Gorram it, Mal,” he growled, forcing all his muscles to relax. “I almost wasted a trank on some poor idjit juss standin’ there watching the parade go by.”
“What the hell are you doin’ up here?”
“Watchin’ the ground crew get all heated up through this dumb-ass piece of Alliance plastic,” Jayne replied, his eyes not leaving the scope. “Tryin’ to look out for the ladies without lookin’ like I’m tryin’ to look out for ‘em.”
“Why?”
“Cause River said Zoe’s got some damn fool idea in her head about showin’ Linda she don’t hafta be afraid of every guy, just ‘cause a what happened on the Skyplex. Inara and Kaylee went, too. Hell if I know why.”
Mal stepped forward and looked down at the procession making its way across the compound. “Huh,” he said, as his thoughts ran to catch up with the rest of him. “Inara, too. Showin’ me she can go where she wants to, I reckon. Like I didn’t already know that.”
“Zoe wants to throw Linda into a pit full of men and show her they can keep their hands to themselves.” Jayne snorted. “I ain’t sayin’ it’s the worst plan in the Verse, but I guess I’m just here makin’ sure they keep their distance, ‘cause River knows some of ‘em won’t.
The captain thought for a second, then nodded slowly. “Like getting’ back up on a horse that threw ya.”
Jayne squinted and cocked his head. “In a dress?”
Mal smiled, remembering saying the same thing to Zoe a few minutes ago. “If that what it takes.”
He walked over and stood beside Jayne, watching as the ladies approached the dispatch office. “Look at ‘em, Jayne. Takes all manner of courage to go through the world lookin’ that good without being afraid some man’s gonna try to scare you, bully you, or make a toy outta you, juss ‘cause they think they can. You and me, we make our way and don’t think twice, ‘cause most folk know enough not to try and push us too hard.”
The mercenary grinned, still watching the crowd through the scope. “Gorram right. Not if they know what’s good for ‘em.”
Mal continued, almost thinking aloud. “But womenfolk go through life havin’ to be better, all the while pretendin’ they ain’t afraid that some sah gwa with too many muscles and too little sense decides he wants a poke and won’t take no for an answer. I think Linda just forgot how not to be afraid. I guess Zoe and Inara and Kaylee ...”
“And me.” River’s voice echoed in both of their heads.
“And you, little Albatross ... they want to remind her that it ain’t as bad out there as she thinks it is.”
“Only it is that bad,” Jayne muttered, “or I wouldn’t be here, waitin’ for some ruttin’ fool to get stupid.”
“One hundred sixty seven men, and only eight of them could be trouble,” River said from her vantage point on the building across the way. Jayne watched as eight of the men glowed orange for a moment, and suppressed a shudder. “The captain’s right. It isn’t as bad as Linda thinks it is.”
“Well, if everyone would just shut up a while, maybe I could do my job and convince her its true, even if it ain’t.” Jayne settled back down behind the gun, muttering to himself. “Then she’ll get back to the boat thinkin’ all the men in the Verse are church-goin’ Sunday school teachers. Until one of them grabs a piece of her that ain’t up for grabs."
The shooter rolled his shoulders and tried to loosen up some, as the women walked the last ten feet into the dispatch office.
“Halfway home,” he whispered, a trickle of sweat making its way down his back. “Get back quick, Linda, afore somethin’ goes wrong.”
The inside of the dispatch office was a peculiar mix of the latest Core technology, a forest of paper forms and folders, and the usual clutter produced by men who don't have anyone to impress with either cleanliness or attention to detail. Used food and drink containers mixed with ancient alerts from Alliance traffic control, covering every flat surface, along with discarded animated newspads from a hundred Alliance worlds.
Zev, the older of the two on duty that day, was a graying Buddha of a man, balding with a long mustache and a wispy beard. He was built like a scaled-down version of a sumo wrestler, and looked like one as he hunkered down over a collection of monitors that tracked everything from Boros space command intercepts and local traffic control to loading completion and dispatch assignments.
Viktor, the other man in the dispatch center, was small, thin, and pale, with dark, wild hair, sunken eyes and a sharp chin. His job was to keep the crews on task and the cargo in the depot flowing smoothly, and his eyes darted from monitor to monitor to make sure the crews were doing their jobs.
Only they weren't. They were standing around, their heads turning to follow something moving through the center of the dispatch yard. Viktor kept switching from camera to camera to try to see what it was they were looking at, but he always seemed to switch views too late.
He turned up the sensitivity of the external microphones, only to receive another shock. There was dead silence for a few seconds, and the men started talking softly, apparently commenting on whatever they were looking at, but in tones too low to be distinguishable as individual words. Viktor growled to himself and turned to his partner.
With a genial laugh, Zev sat back in his seat, his headset perched upon his head like a black preying mantis carved from plastic and metal.
“So den Viktor asks her if she's just flyin' urr if she's really ON duh stick,” he said to the dispatcher at the Hung Dao depot a few hundred klicks away. “Yoo shoulda hurd hur pitchun ah fit!” He laughed again, bigger the second time. Frustrated, Viktor picked up an empty bottle of Blue Sun Cola and threw it at the back of Zev's head. It bounced off and hit the tile floor with a clatter, and Zev spun around and gave the other man a stern look.
“Wut duh hull iz yur prublum, Viktor?”
“My problem? MY problem?” Viktor jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the depot monitors. “WE got a ground crew full of meat mannikins out there instead of men moving cargo.”
Zev raised his eyebrows in confusion, and Viktor raised his voice in response.
“There's a hundred sixty men just standin' around the depot like statues,” he said, “and when Mister Berenger sees that nothing is getting done, he's not going to care whose fault it is. He's not going to care about ANYTHING but the bottom line, and how WE let productivity drop to zero in the middle of a work day. So it's OUR problem, Zev. Not mine, OURS.”
The older man stared at his partner for a few seconds, then glanced at the depot monitors before turning to his own station and pulled up the camera displays.
“Dey'ur luukin at sumtin, yah,” he said, switching from camera to camera. “I canna see anyting, doh.”
As he kept looking, Zev became more and more frustrated he muttered, “Wut wur dey luukin at?”
An unquestionably female voice came from the doorway. “That would be us.”
Both men turned towards the sound and found four women standing there, three dressed for a night on the town and a fourth in a mechanic’s jumpsuit that hugged her curves. The fourth one reminded Viktor of Ludmilla, the girl he left behind on New Smolensk. Of course, Milla never looked quite as good in her jumpsuit, which is probably why Viktor left, but still ...
The redhead with the figure that didn't stop seemed to stumble forward, and turned to the woman in the jumpsuit behind her with an annoyed look on her face, as if she'd been pushed. Standing up straight, she turned back to the two men.
“I'm the pilot of Tranquility, the Firefly-class over on pad three,” she said, her voice loud and strong. “I need the manifests, dispatch logs, and scheduled departure times, please.”
“Yur deh pilot? DAT pilot??” Zev stood up, a huge smile spreading across his face. “Gurl, you made my day, dat’s fur damn suur. Gave yu greef, und yu turn ‘roun’ und giff bak’ as gud as you got, und den sum. Been tellin’ the utter disbachers ‘bout yu, how yu damned neer ripped us boat a new vun, ain’t dat right, Viktor? If I had a hat on, I’d take it off t’ yu, und dat’s a fact.”
Viktor stood up, too, grinning like a loon. “You sure shut us down. I ain’t been slapped so hard long distance since I called my best girl Carla on a comm call.” His eyes twinkled. “Her name was Ludmilla.”
Both men laughed, and Wash found her lips twitching into a half smile in spite of herself.
‘These were the men I was afraid of?’ she wondered, as Viktor started bringing up the documents on the system and setting them to print.
“We’ll have you squared away in no time,” Viktor said, “even though we’d love to have you stay a while.”
“Dammed straight! Yoo giff us sometin’ bettah to look at den dose fellahs outside,” Zev rumbled, jerking a thumb at the central display. “Boring times infinity, yoo bet. We culdn’t wait fur yu to show up.”
“Then why were you so mean to her on the comms?” Kaylee burst out. The pilot turned around, having completely forgotten about her companions.
Viktor grinned.
“It breaks up the monotony,” he replied. “No offense to the pretty pilot here, but we’re pretty much rude to all the pilots, because ... well, because they’re pilots!”
Zev nodded. “Dey’re always so full of demselves, deh ‘kings uf deh sky!’” He snorted, and his eyes twinkled. “Viktor und I, we tink uf it as a public survice to take dem down a few notches when dey fly into dis depot.”
“The first time Zev rips ‘em up, most of them are so surprised that their brains shut off.” Viktor shook his head. “But you ... you handed it back as fast as we dealt it. Shoulda figured a woman wouldn’t put up with that sort of sh -- uh, talk.”
There was a sudden beeping from Zev’s console, and he dropped back into his seat and swiveled around to face the microphone. He flicked a switch with the back of his hand.
“Oh, its yoo, Toshi,” he roared with a grin that woudn’t quit. “Since I know yoo, I’m not surprised when yoo show up like dis tree hours outside yur pick-up window, und I bet yur pro’bly so drunk yur seein’ five depots when der’s only one. Tell yah what, doh ... if yoo ken pick deh right depot and put dat rat trap yoo call a ship down on pad five without turnin’ it into scrap metal, I got a few containers needin’ movin’ t’ Whitefall. But if yoo crash und burn in my yard, all bets ur off.”
Zev flipped the switch closed, then swiveled back to face the ladies, still smiling.
“See?” Viktor almost laughed, but managed to keep it inside. “Zev’s an equal opportunity offender!”
Zoe came up behind Linda and touched her shoulder. The pilot bowed her head.
“I feel so silly now,” she whispered. “Just a little teasing, and I fall apart.”
“Hush, now,” Zoe replied, her tone a little fierce. “It was more than these two, and you know it. You had leftover baggage from the Skyplex weighing you down, not to mention Kaylee’s stunt with the dress.”
There was a muted “hey!” from behind them. Both women ignored it.
“Besides,” the first mate went on, smiling. “How could you possibly know they were a pair of harmless idiots before you met them?”
Both men looked at the two women, clearly confused.
“Is something wrong?” Viktor took a step forward.
“Linda was almost raped at gunpoint a few weeks ago,” Kaylee replied.
Both Zoe and Linda turned and spoke as one. “Kaylee!”
“Well, you were!” she protested, “And it don’t make much sense to keep it a secret if these two sah gwa want to know why you’re so upset.”
Linda glared at her. “MY secret to tell, péng gÅ« niang.”
Inara stepped forward. “Your teasing brought back how she felt then, and made her feel . . . weak. And scared. We came with her to provide a little moral support when she came to get our paperwork.”
Kaylee snorted. “She didn’t expect to find two wá¡n ná¡n rén playing silly games.”
The two men looked at each other, then back at the women. Zev sighed, then rose and took a few steps to the pilot.
“Nee ta ma duh tyen-shia suo-yo duh run doh gai si,” he muttered. Then, taking her hands in his, he looked into her eyes. “I um sorry ve said anyting to disdress yoo. We didn’t know, or we wuldn’t haff said wat we said.”
“We didn’t mean to hurt you,” Viktor said. “We just figured that, since you’re a pilot, you’d have the same planet-sized ego all the other pilots have. We’re sorry.”
Both men looked so sad, Linda couldn’t help but smile. She shook her head and gave Zev’s hands a squeeze.
“Apologies accepted,” she said, and the two dispatchers visibly relaxed. “No real harm done, after all. I expect I’ll have more than a few rough times ahead getting over ... what happened. You just happened to hit me when I was feeling it more.”
“Well, we were really impressed with how fast you came back at us, Miss Linda,” Viktor said, turning back to finish processing the paperwork. “I sure wouldn’t call you weak, not after feeling the sharp edge of your tongue.”
“Ya, dat’s true,” Zev agreed, letting go of Linda’s hands and slipping his in his pockets. “If dat’s yoo when yur feelin’ weak, I be shoor ta stay a few clicks outta range when yur at yur peak.”
Viktor started hitting some keys. “I’m going to put your ship at the head of the line, ladies ... get you loaded and cleared as quick as I can. It’s the least we can do to make up for our rudeness.”
“Thank you,” Inara replied, fidgeting slightly. “Our captain is anxious to get back out in the black.”
“With uh crew full uf such beeyoutiful women, that’s no surprise,” Zev grinned. “After all, out dere he can keep all dis beauty to himself.”
Zoe walked over and put her arm around Inara.
“Well, Inara here is more than enough beauty for the Captain,” she said with a smile. “And Kaylee there has got the ship's doctor keepin' his eyes on her vitals, right enough. Linda's got herself a man, too ... though whether she plans to keep him or not is still up in the air. But I thank you for the compliment, from all of us.”
Zev took a sheaf of paper from the printer and handed it to Linda with a flourish.
“I'll get sum loaders out dere to put deh cargo on yur boat,” he said, glancing up at one of the overhead monitors and shaking his head. “If I ken ever get dem to start movin’ again. You ladies damn near shut down deh yard, un dat’s a fact.”
“And we probably will again on the way back.” Inara sighed. “I'm glad that's all that happened, though.”
“Don’t be too sure it’s over,” Viktor said, looking up at Inara. “There are men in that crew out there I wouldn't trust within a hundred miles of a good-looking woman — and they're a damned sight closer than that. You've got a long walk back across the yard, and a lot can happen between here and there.”
The situation in the dispatch hut having resolved itself well, River turned her attention back to the yard. She tried to see through the rising waves of lust and excitement to find the ones she had singled out before, but she hadn’t counted on the raw power of the primal emotions rising from the crowd. Trying to single out the dangerous ones from the emotional “ground clutter” was pushing her to the limit of her gift, and River began to feel overwhelmed.
‘Not quite so easy to control events, is it?’ Chiang’s mental voice held just a touch of mockery. ‘Maybe it’s not a game for amateurs.’
‘I never said it was easy, old man,’ she replied through gritted teeth, watching as the women left the dispatch hut and started back across the yard. ‘The Verse was born in chaos. For all our talk of a natural order, the Verse thrives on confusion and coincidence, laughs at cause and effect, and thinks all our plans and schemes mean nothing. It’s full of messy people living their messy lives and making all the wrong choices for the wrong reasons, every minute of every day.’
‘Then why try to change anything?’
‘Because we can. Because nothing worth doing is ever easy. And because if a job is hard, you try harder, and do better.’
‘And still fail?’ River could hear the smile behind Chiang’s words.
‘Sometimes,’ she said. ‘But you’re going to fail anyway if you don’t try, Gladys. Now I’m busy. Bizui and let me work.’
Unfortunately, Chiang’s distraction was enough. River’s concentration wavered, just for an instant. It turned out to be an instant too long.
Viktor’s prediction was all too accurate. Fifty feet from the dispatch hut door, two men stepped out of the crowd in front of them, blocking the way back to Serenity. The women stopped, almost as one.
The taller of the two, stepped forward and cleared his throat.
“Ladies, allow me to introduce myself,” he said, staring down at Linda. The smile that followed was little more than a barely disguised leer, made more obvious by where his eyes rested. “My name’s Dalton Sweeney, and I know you’re gonna want to remember it, ‘cause me and my friends here plan to show you the best time you ever had, right here.”
Linda looked up at him, her face an emotionless mask. “I’m sorry, but we can’t stay. We’re on a tight schedule.”
“Aww, but it’s been so long since anybody as purty as you came visitin’, we’re thinkin’ you’ll stay awhile, git better acquainted.” He put a hand on her shoulder, and she looked at it as if it was some kind of alien insect.
“And we’re thinking we’ve got deliveries to make, and very little time to make ‘em,” she replied evenly, her heart pounding in her chest. “Nothing personal, Mr. Sweeney. Just orders. Our ship’s a freighter. We pickup and we deliver. That’s how we make our way. So when the captain says we fly, we fly. Dong-luh-mah?”
“I could have a word with your captain,” Sweeney looked down at the pilot. “Make him see its better off for him if you stay awhile, keep us happy.”
Zoe moved forward to stand beside Linda, and smiled slowly.
“I see you don’t know the Captain very well, and that’s a shame,” she said. “He’s not about to do anything to keep you happy ... and trying will only make him mad.”
Sweeney shifted his eyes to her, and his smile became more vicious than sexual. “Then maybe we don’t load your boat until we have some time alone with you all.” He took a step closer to Linda, and she looked up at him, afraid but refusing to take a step back. “Hell, maybe we just take your boat until he lets us do what we want with you.”
“Oh, that’s a bad idea,” Kaylee piped up helpfully. “I remember one idiot who tried to ‘take our boat.’ Cap’n wound up kicking him into the port engine . . . while it was running. After that, wasn’t much left of him but an awful stink and a bad memory. It was a couple of trips across the system afore we finally lost the smell.”
“Well, your captain isn’t here now, is he?” Sweeney sneered. “It’s just you, and us.”
He motioned in the air, and two more men appeared behind the women. “You can’t go forward, and you can’t go back. So why not come play nice while you still have a choice?”
“Gorram it, those idjits ain’t even yellow!’ Jayne swore, trying to get a clear shot at the men. “If I woulda known they was targets, I coulda tapped ‘em with the re ... recog ... with the part that lets the shots know how to find ‘em. Then I coulda juss shot up in the air and let the gun do the work.”
He turned to Mal to complain, but all he saw was the hatch closing. He turned back to the scope and kept trying for a shot. ANY shot.
“River!” he almost shouted. “Ai-yah Tyen-ah! Where ARE you, girl? We got trouble.”
Suddenly there was her voice, echoing in his head. ‘It’s okay, Jayne. Stand down. It’s okay.’
“No, it’s not!” he shot back. “Damn it, open your eyes.”
‘I don’t need them,’ River replied. ‘I can see it all from here. More than you. So don’t worry. Everything is going to be fine.’
The mercenary looked up at the sky and growled. “How do you KNOW that?”
‘Because I know. Trust me.’
Jayne shook himself like a wet dog, then leaned back over the Interceptor’s scope. “Like I have a gorram choice,” he muttered.
“The gentlemen in the dispatch hut might have something to say about how you’re treating us.” Inara gave him a scathing look. “You do work for them, you know.”
“We work for Mister Berenger.” One of the other men spoke up. “He knows what women are for, and he knows when to look the other way. Anyway, Zev and Viktor ain’t comin’ to help anybody. There’s only one door in and out, and we got it covered.”
Linda glanced back to see two large men holding the door closed, and she could hear the two dispatchers banging on it. She turned back to see Sweeney smiling, and it suddenly raised an unexpected emotion in her ... something that seemed to bring Wash and the Linda-That-Was together in a way they’d only been once before.
She was angry. No, she’d gone way past angry, and moved clear into a furious, blinding rage.
Sweeney felt a savage kind of joy, knowing he’d managed to put these bitches in their place and his smile widened, thinking of this redhead on her knees before him.
It lasted all of two seconds, before her fist collided with his chin.
He staggered backward, his hand coming up towards his face, just in time to see her foot slam into his groin with every ounce of strength she could muster. It hurt so badly he couldn’t even scream, just whine as both hands sunk towards the source of infinite agony that used to be his testicles.
The other three men stood there, stunned, as their leader curled up into a fetal ball on the dusty ground. Sweeney’s companion took one look at Linda’s face, glanced behind her, and stepped back, his hands in the air.
The pilot turned, and saw Zoe standing there with two small pistols in her outstretched hands, ready to shoot anything that moved. Inara’s bracelets had somehow become a matching pair of daggers, and from the way she was standing, it was pretty clear she knew how to use them.
And Kaylee stood behind them both, holding what appeared to be the mother-of-all wrenches. She was trying to look fierce, but to Wash, she just looked like a kitten trying to frighten a pack of bulldogs. No matter what, she was still just Kaylee.
‘And she always will be,’ the pilot thought, suppressing a smile. After a second, her anger resurfaced and she turned back to face the crowd.
“Listen up!” she shouted, fists clenched. “You have absolutely no idea who you’re dealing with here. I’m just a gorram pilot, but I put him down fast enough. And I’ll do the same to anyone who tries what he tried. Maybe we aren’t a match for a hundred men. Hell, maybe we aren’t a match for twenty. But three of us are armed, two of us are downright dangerous, and all of us are angry. So you WILL get the hell out of our way, or you will learn exactly why it’s a bad idea to get between any woman . . . and her home.”
It was so quiet, she could clearly hear Zev cursing on the other side of the dispatch door. Then a mountain of a man stepped up behind the two men between them and the dispatch hut and lifted them clear off of the ground, holding them both by the back of the neck.
“Ain’t none of us going to do anything but wish you all well, miss,” Dolph said, his voice betraying no special effort. “These yuá¡n wá² don’t speak for us, and never will. We apologize for their actions. They have disgraced us all, pretty ladies, and they will be punished for it.” He raised his voice. “Isn’t that right, gents?”
The crowd answered with a roar that stunned the women, and Dolph grinned. Spinning around, he tossed both of Sweeney’s men up into the air. The workers on either side of the path caught them as they fell and lifted them high, passing them from man to man across the dispatch yard until they disappeared from sight.
The two men by the dispatch hut doors had tried to slip away, but the men closest to them grabbed and held them both as the dispatchers finally wrenched the door open and stepped outside.
“Yu and yu,” Zev roared, his face red with fury. “Yuur SO fired, I’m surprised there ain’t nothing but a smoking spot where yu used to be standin’!”
Viktor turned to the ones holding them. “You two — throw ‘em all inna crate until we can figure out where to send ‘em — and if they give you any trouble, send ‘em back to their next of kin in a unpressurized cargo drone, cash on delivery.”
Another cheer rose from the rest of the men as the two were hustled away.
Dolph walked over, picked Sweeney up, and pitched his whimpering body out into the crowd overhand like a giant beach ball. Then he looked at Sweeney’s other man. The thug looked up at Dolph, shrugged, and faded back into the mass of workers on the edge of the path.
The huge loader turned to Linda and the others and bowed once.
“We aren’t all like them, miss,” he said softly. “I saw you walking across the yard to the hut, and it made me sad that you were so afraid. You don’t have to be frightened, or angry, around any of us. We’re all just people, that’s all. Most of us good people, most of the time.”
Dolph ducked his head and grinned. “A little rougher around the edges than you ladies, I think, but still just people all the same.”
Zev came over and clapped Dolph on the shoulder. “Trumbauer! The ladies need to be loaded and gone, so we’re shiftin’ dem up the queue. Grab some of the best we got and hustle ovur to pahd tree.”
“Yes, boss,” Dolph replied.
Inside, Wash felt surprisingly whole. Her body and soul were closer than they had ever been, and it almost seemed as if the rage that Sweeney brought forward in her had also brought them both to a common ground.
But it wasn’t the rage that united them. It was what Wash had discovered about who she was now, and what she was capable of. Her courage was still there, and the part of her that made her such a damned fine pilot — the part that knew how risky some things are, and did ‘em anyway. Because you had to, to be who you were. Who you are. And who you wanted to be.
For the first time in a while, she felt comfortable in her own skin — probably because the part of Wash that had been holding back finally knew it was her own skin.
She stood there, in that summer dress she knew was pretty and those silly heels that she vowed she’d never wear again. She felt the fabric wrapping every curve, and accepted that those curves well and truly belonged to her, for the rest of her stay in the Verse. And everything finally came together in a way that left her in no doubt as to who she was — who she truly was, and who she was meant to be, now.
‘I am a woman,’ she thought, a small smile slipping onto her lips. ‘And that means whatever I want it to mean, nothing more or less. I don’t have to be anything I don’t want to be. I don’t have to be afraid, and I sure as hell don’t have to live my life on anyone’s terms but my own. And that’s as it should be.’
And just like that, the parts of Wash that worried about what being a woman would mean to the rest of her life were gone — or at least had quieted down enough for now to let her figure it out as she went along.
She was still Wash, all the way down to her core. But the parts of Linda that still lingered seemed to accept her as part of them ... provisionally. And Wash accepted them, as well as all of Linda’s history they brought along.
Provisionally.
There was still a long road ahead for both of them, but Wash and the Linda-That-Was had gone a long way towards becoming one. And to Wash, that felt just fine.
There was the sound of boots running hard on the packed surface of the freight yard, and Mal came into view down the open path between the dispatch hut and the ship. When he saw everyone standing around like a gorram tea party, he realized that his full-tilt run from Serenity may have been a mite uncalled for. With an odd shuffle and a previously undiscovered grace, the captain managed to turn his run into an easy amble with enough time to stumble to a lazy stop and hitch his thumbs on his gun belt.
“Ladies,” he said, cocking his head. “I was wonderin’ what was keepin’ you. With us wanting to be on our merry so quick and all, I woulda thought you’d been back by now.”
“We were on our way, Sir.” Zoe threw him a quick smile, her guns back where they had been hidden before she drew them. “In fact, the dispatcher just moved us to the head of the queue for loading, so we should be gone within an hour.”
“Shiny,” the captain replied, feeling a lot of tension slip from his body. “For once, a plan goes smooth.”
Inara walked over to Mal and slipped her arm in his, her bracelets once again just bracelets.
“How about walking a pretty girl home, Captain Reynolds?”
“it would be my honor,” he said, throwing her a half-bow with a small click of his heels. Then Mal grinned. “Just as soon as someone tells me why Kaylee is holdin’ that wrench of hers like she’s plannin’ to hit something.”
“This?” Kaylee looked down at her hands, almost surprised to find herself holding the tool. Then she looked back at the captain and smiled. “I only brought it along in case somebody needed fixin’.”
Mal cocked his head. “Don’t you mean ‘somethin’, Kaylee girl?”
She just smiled that little smile of hers and pushed past them both to wander back toward the ship, her wrench resting on her shoulder like a parasol.
“I’d best see to the loading, Sir,” Zoe headed after Kaylee with a purposeful stride that looked just as powerful in a slinky dress as it did in her working clothes. Mal and Inara turned to follow, but the captain looked back at his pilot.
“Comin’, Linda?” he asked.
“In a second, Cap’n,” she replied with a smile. The pilot turned her smile on Dolph, and his eyes widened. “Thank you ... for stepping in the way you did.”
“It’s what a man does,” Dolph answered slowly, “if he wants to be the kind of man worthy of a woman like you.”
Wash found herself blushing. “You don’t know me,” she said. “You have no idea who I am.”
The loader looked down at her and smiled. “I know you are brave enough to walk across a field full of men, even when your fear made you white as a ghost. I know you are strong enough to face down someone like Sweeney, even surrounded by men twice your size. And I know you are fierce enough to challenge a hundred men to a fight you couldn’t possibly win.”
He reached down and took her hand in his, and his touch was surprisingly soft. She turned a deeper red.
“I know you well enough to know that I truly don’t know you at all.” Dolph looked into her eyes, and she saw his sadness. “And I know you well enough to mourn that I will probably never get the chance to know you better.”
“Mr. Trumbauer!” she said with a smile. “You’re a poet!”
“Once upon a time,” he replied. “A long time ago. Not anymore.”
“Still, I think.” She squeezed his hand. “And before you decide to mourn missed opportunities, we DO have a ship to load, and a walk across the field to reach her. We have the time to at least get started knowing each other better ... if you’d like.”
“It’d be my pleasure,” Dolph replied, “but please ... call me Dolph.” He offered her his arm. Without a thought, the pilot slipped her arm through his and gave it a squeeze.
“Dolph,” she said as they started back towards the ship. “And it’s not like I’m flying off on a suicide mission or anything. It’s just a gorram delivery, after all. And it’s a small Verse, when you think of it — at least the parts we can reach.” She grinned. “We may meet again.”
As they followed the rest of the crew, the pilot bumped Dolph’s shoulder with her head. “So tell me, Mr. Trumbauer ... Dolph ... how does a poet get biceps like these, anyway?”
Dolph chuckled. “Lifting dictionaries, splitting infinitives with an axe on cold winter mornings, and thinking heavy thoughts, Miss ...?”
“Linda,” Wash said without missing a beat. Then she smiled and shook her head. “Just call me Linda.”
NOTE: Sorry this took so long, but getting Wash where she needed to be took a bit of time, and time is not something this writer has in abundance lately. *grin* I'm so happy I finally got to write for me again ... and for you. -- Randalynn
This is a fan fiction set in the Firefly/Serenity universe created by Joss Whedon. It takes place soon after the events in the television series and the companion motion picture that followed, and is also the fourth part of a sequel to Firefly: Connecting Flight. This means it has SPOILERS, folks, and major ones at that. So please don't read this unless you get the chance to see the series and the movie -- and read my first Firefly story (and the first three chapters of this one).
In the fourth part of FIREFLY: DOUBLE BOOKED, the crew finds out where the cargo's destined for, and ain't none of 'em are happy about it. A lot happens between pick-up and delivery -- folks get inventive, Wash learns more about herself than she'd like, and everyone wonders if, just this once, Mal's plan will finally go smooth. *snort* As if.
“We’re going WHERE?”
Inara’s shout bounced off of the kitchen walls. The whole crew was sitting around the table, dinner dishes still waiting to be gathered and washed, when Mal let slip where the ship was heading.
Mal looked at Inara. “Flynt. That’s the job. It’s just a delivery, ‘Nara. Zoe and I owe Berenger from ... before, and this job is payback. That’s all.”
“The Guild has a standing warning out for Flynt,” the Companion said, her face torn between anger and fear. “The people who run it have Alliance patrons so powerful, not even the Guild can put pressure on them. And any woman who lands on Flynt never leaves. Ever. No one knows why, and anyone they send in to find out doesn’t come back either.”
“Ain’t gonna land.” Zoe spoke up, although her tone indicated she didn’t necessarily believe what she was saying. “Captain said we’d load the cargo in one of the shuttles, then he and Jayne make two or three trips. I believe the expression was ‘easy, peasy,’ wasn’t it, Sir?”
“Serenity ain’t getting any closer to that moon than she has to, and that’s a fact.” Mal stood up. “I ain’t risking my crew or my ship just to pay back a debt. If I didn’t think we could do this, we wouldn’t be on our way. Hell, they don’t even have to know we got women on board. We just tell ‘em we’re using the shuttle to save fuel, ‘cause the cargo is so small.”
“Yes, Cap’n ... but Flynt?” Kaylee looked up at Mal. “I mean, I heard about Flynt long before I signed up with you. Campfire stories, like Reavers, and we all know how much truth there was in them.”
“Well, Mal and I keep our eyes open, maybe we find out why Flynt’s so gorram scary,” Jayne said, pouring himself another whiskey. “I ain’t sayin’ I’m happy we’re goin’ anywhere near the place, but if I learned anythin’ from what happened on Miranda, it’s that not knowin’ somethin’ can bite you pretty hard. And I ain’t got over the last time we got bit.”
Mal shook his head. “We already know Flynt’s dangerous. That’s all we need to know. We do the job. We get paid. And we get gone. Dong-mah?” He gave Jayne one last look before turning and walking away from the table.
Inara watched his back and sighed. “That exit would have been more effective if he actually had somewhere to go.”
“Anywhere but here was good enough for now, I’m thinking.” Zoe looked in the direction Mal had gone, as if she could see him through the walls of the ship. She shook her head. “Captain isn’t happy with doing this either. He doesn’t want to put any of us in danger, but he owes Berenger, and Mal always pays his debts. So he’ll do what he can to keep us safe, but he can’t turn down the job. Not and be the Captain.”
“Some of those stories, Zoe ...” Kaylee shivered. “I know they were supposed to be scary and all, but some of ‘em talked about girls treated like animals ... and one girl said she heard the men there liked to steal women from passing ships and serve ‘em up in a stew for supper.”
“You seem awfully quiet, Linda.” Inara turned her attention to the pilot. “What do you think of all this?”
Wash was staring at the far corner of the room, thinking back to all the stories she’d heard in flight school about Flynt. Wash had become a pilot to go see as much of the Verse as she could, and visit every star she could never see from the surface of her cloud-shrouded homeworld. But even when she had been a he, she’d had no desire to go site-seeing on that particular hunk of rock. She remembered wanting to give the moon a wide berth. After all, any place that made women disappear was no place Hoban Washburn ever wanted to go. He LIKED women. A lot.
Now that she was one, Flynt was about as attractive a destination as the heart of the Sun. Or whatever was left of Earth That Was. She sighed.
“I’m thinking that Flynt is the last place any of us want to be,” she said simply. “I also think it’s the one place Mal has to take us to still be Mal, even though it’s eating him up inside to take us along. He’s my captain, and this is my crew. So I’ll be flying when Serenity hits orbit. No matter what happens.”
She pushed her cup around on the tabletop, then looked up at Inara.
“There’s an old saying, dates back from when Earth That Was was all there was,” she said softly. “From Navy ships, I think. ‘The Captain is right, even when he’s wrong.’ I never used to believe it, but now I’m starting to understand.”
Inara tiled her head slightly, confused. Kaylee and Simon looked at each other, then back at Linda.
“Makes no gorram sense,” Jayne growled. ‘How can he be right, even when he’s wrong?”
River spoke up for the first time, and everyone turned to her. “It means we’d better hope that he’s right, even when we think he’s wrong. He’s the Captain, and that’s the hardest job on the ship. Mal has to make the right call every time a decision needs to be made, because we follow him and all of our lives are in his hands. If he calls it wrong, we could lose everything.”
Linda nodded. “What makes it worse for Mal is that we’re not just crew, we’re family. And this is not just a ship. It’s home.”
Zoe gave her a grin. “Damn, girl! When did pilots get so smart?” Linda blushed and looked down.
“So what can we do?” Kaylee took Simon’s hand. Simon gave it a squeeze.
“We do whatever we can to make sure the Captain’s plan goes smooth,” he replied. “And we think about what we can do to fix things if it doesn’t.” Simon thought for a moment. “Jayne had the right idea a few minutes ago.”
The mercenary turned. “I did?”
Simon nodded. “I know, it’s hard for me to believe, too.”
Jayne narrowed his eyes and gave the doctor a mock snarl. “We may be ‘family’ now, doc, but I grew up knockin’ my brothers around when they forgot to mind their manners.”
After looking at Jayne for a few seconds, Simon nodded.
“You’re right, Jayne, I’m sorry,” he said. “I saw an easy point to score and I took it.”
Jayne gritted his teeth to keep his jaw from dropping. The doctor was apologizin’ ... to him?
‘Ain’t never expected the doc and me would get along,’ he thought, ‘just sort of keep our distance. Always felt like he looked down on me, never did like it much. But Kaylee loves him. He stood up on the Skyplex. And this ... well, it’s — different. Not sure what it is, but it ain’t nothing. Best be careful about it.’
Still keeping his expression calm, he nodded once.
“All right, then,” he replied, and pushed his private bottle over to Simon. “Pour yourself some home brew and tell me what I was right about.”
Simon raised an eyebrow, then poured himself a small shot before continuing.
“Despite what Mal said, you need to keep your eyes open down there.” He stood up, drink in hand, and started to pace. “You’re going to have to watch his back and try to figure out what’s going on at the same time. And you need to let us know somehow, without them knowing you’re talking to us. Any ideas?”
“A short-range comm fits right in the ear,” Zoe said thoughtfully, “but it doesn’t have enough power to reach Serenity in orbit.”
“I can rig a short-range comm to bounce transmit through the shuttle’s system,” Kaylee said, watching Simon move around the room. “Just need to hide it from pryin’ eyes is all, so the channel stays open even when it looks shut down.”
“It would help if we had a way to see as well as hear.” River pulled her feet up and wrapped her arms around her knees. “A picture is worth a thousand words, and the less Jayne talks, the less likely it is that they’ll figure out he’s talking to us.”
“I don’t think we have anything that can do that,” Kaylee replied sadly. “That’s high-end Alliance tech.”
“Dobson!” Inara stood up. “He had some things with him ... a pocket transmitter powerful enough to reach an Alliance patrol ship. Maybe he had something we could use.”
“Ain’t gonna do us much good if he did,” Jayne said, slumping back in his chair. “I think Mal tossed his stuff out an airlock once we were far enough from Whitefall. Afraid there might be a tracker or somethin’ hidden in ol’ Lawrence’s luggage.”
There was a silence as the group sat, thinking.
Suddenly, Wash remembered something.
“Inara,” she said slowly. “You’ve got a high-end Cortex terminal in your shuttle, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Inara replied. “It’s how I find clients, independent of Serenity’s main comm system.”
River’s head came up, a tiny smile growing on her lips. “It’s got a very nice camera in it.”
“But it’s a desktop unit. Jayne couldn’t carry it around with him.” The Companion’s lip quirked. “I thought we were trying to be ... sneaky.”
Kaylee grinned. “Don’t need the whole terminal, ‘Nara. Just need to borrow the camera for a while.” She stood up and started pacing herself. “Got to figure out how to sync the transmission with the short range comm, but that ain’t the problem. Hiding the rig on Jayne might be. Won’t be huge — heck, camera’s not much bigger than a bug bite -- but it needs a clear view, a power source, and another short range comm.”
She stopped and turned, blushing slightly. “Oh, sorry. Gettin’ ahead of myself. Can we borrow it, ‘Nara? I can put it back afters, I promise.”
“Of course, Kaylee.” Inara smiled. “I can do without it for a while. After all, it’s not like I plan on doing any business on THAT moon.”
‘Or on any moon for a while, if at all,’ she thought, her mind wandering back to leaving the Guild and her profession. ‘I’m starting to think I can’t be a Companion anymore. But will it be enough for me just to be ... Mal’s?’
“I got some belt buckles might be big enough,” Jayne mused, staring up at the ceiling. “Got some mini-grenades in ‘em, for emergencies, like. Never got around to wearing ‘em, though. Havin’ explosives that close to my crotch — well, it just didn’t set right somehow.”
Kaylee came over and pulled Jayne out of his chair. “Well come on, then! Let’s see what ya got!”
Linda stood up. “I think I know enough to disassemble that terminal and remove the camera, if that’s okay, Inara?”
The Companion nodded, her attention focused on the crew she’d truly become part of when they found Miranda and lost Wash and Book. She watched these people coming together, using what they know to back up the Captain without him even knowing they were doing it, and suddenly felt strangely useless.
‘If I really am crew, I need a purpose on this ship.’ The thought disturbed her. ‘And what can I do to keep Serenity flying that no one here can do as well or better?’
“Inara?” Linda stood next to her. She looked up at the pilot and smiled.
“Yes, that’s fine, Linda. As Mal says, ‘let’s be about it.’”
Wash found her smaller fingers made working with the tiny Alliance-made electronics much easier than it used to be, and she delivered the camera to Kaylee in Jayne’s quarters. The mechanic was removing the mini-grenades from the belt buckle one at a time, bypassing the dispenser that armed them automatically when they were released.
Jayne picked up each explosive pill carefully and put it in a cushioned wooden box. As the pilot leaned in to watch, she found her breasts pressed into the mercenary’s side. Jayne froze in mid-motion.
“Linda,” he whispered, almost too soft to hear. “As nice as that feels, it ain’t worth all of us blowin’ up, don’t ya think?”
Wash backed up, realizing she had crossed a line she didn’t know was there.
“I’m sorry,” she said aloud, her voice trembling as she backed all the way to the ladder. “I shouldn’t be in here when you’re doing this anyway. Barely room enough for one as it is. Let me know if you need something.”
The pilot turned and climbed, moving up and out of the space as quickly as she could.
“Nice going, Jayne,” Kaylee muttered, her eyes still on her work. “She didn’t mean nothin’ — she just wanted to see what was goin’ on.”
“Well, don’t matter none if she meant it or not,” he replied. “That girl does things to me that shouldn’t oughta be done to a man when he’s movin’ ‘splosives around. I ain’t sayin’ I don’t want her to do that again, I’m just sayin’ there’re better things to be holdin’ onto when she does.”
“Maybe you should tell her that,” the mechanic said, lifting the last grenade from the buckle, “once her face stops being as red as a strawberry waitin’ to be picked.”
“Maybe I will.” Jayne took the device from Kaylee and turned slowly. He hesitated for a minute, then went on. “This courtin’ stuff ain’t easy. Seems like half the time everythin’ I do is wrong. If she don’t know what she does to me by now, maybe I’d best be showin’ her how I feel.”
“How do you feel, Jayne?” She bent over the buckle intently. “About Linda?”
He froze, then tried to bluff. “Gorram, Kaylee girl. Ain’t it a bit late for the birds n’ the bees, considerin’ the noises comin’ outta your bunk ... yours and the Doc’s?”
She tossed him a frown and went back to her work. “I ain’t talkin’ about getting sexed, sah gwa, and you know it. How do you feel about her?”
His fingers shook as he put down the last grenade. Kaylee snuck a peek out of the corner of her eye, and watched him swallow.
“You love her, don’t you?” The words hung there in the air for a second as Jayne thought about ‘em.
“I ain’t never been in love before, as far as I know,” the mercenary said finally, his eyes glued to the box of grenades. “But I ain’t never felt like this for a woman before, and that’s a fact. I been workin’ on being the kinda man she’d think about lovin’ back, but damned if I know how that’s workin out.”
“Pretty well, I’m thinkin’,” Kaylee replied, “If what happened just now means anything, she’s as confused as you are. Maybe it is time you showed her how you feel, so she knows where you stand ... and whether she wants what you’re offerin’.”
“I bought her somethin’ special.” Jayne turned to look at the back of Kaylee’s head while she worked. “Back at the Skyplex. Figured I’d hold onto it until the right time — like I’d know when the right time is.”
“There you go. Maybe it’s now. Give the girl a gift already, let her know you care.” She popped out the dispenser mechanism and started poking at the buckle’s innards with her smallest tools. “In the meantime, go somewhere else for a while.”
“You kickin’ me out of my bunk?” His eyes widened. Kaylee turned her head and gave him a frown.
“Unless you want to explain to the Captain what I’m doing carrying around your belt buckle, Inara’s camera, some short range comms and a whole bunch of tools — you know, if I should bump into him on the way back to my workbench.” She turned back to her work. “I ain’t leavin’ this room until somebody can look at your crotch and smile, Jayne. So this might take some time.” Her lip twitched.
“Huh,” he muttered, heading for the ladder. “That’s HI-larious.”
Wash let the ladder-door of her room slam shut above her, then hugged herself and blew a stray piece of hair out of her face.
“Ai-yah. Tyen-ah,” she moaned, “Gao yang jong duh goo yang!”
She threw herself face first onto her bunk, then rolled over to stare balefully at the traitorous orbs she saw peeking from the top of her tee shirt.
‘Damn,’ she thought, ‘you two are going to get me in big trouble someday. I remember how good it feels when a woman does that. And I did that to Jayne?? How the hell did I NOT remember you were there? You move around so much most of the time, I couldn’t forget you if I tried, and then just this once you disappear from my memory long enough for me to ... to ...’
“To press ‘em both into Jayne’s arm?”
River stood on top of the dresser, a knowing smile on her face.
‘Damn that maintenance hatch!’ Wash raised herself up on her elbows, letting a little anger slip into her eyes. “You said you weren’t going to be looking into my mind without permission.”
River looked down, embarrassed. “I’m sorry, but you were so hurt and confused I could hear you clear across the ship. If you want me to go ...”
Wash bit her lip and sighed. “No, it’s okay. Please stay. I need to talk this out.”
The younger girl slipped down to floor level and sat down next to Wash on her bed.
“So you gave him ... both barrels?” The reader tried unsuccessfully to hide her smile
“Yes, while he was handling a grenade. Talk about distractions!”
“I’m not thinking that’s the sort of explosion you were trying to create, jei mei.”
“I wasn’t aiming for ANY kind of explosion!”
“Part of you says different.”
“Well, parts, anyway. You never said breasts could think for themselves.”
“They can’t. But you can. And we both know you want Jayne more than you’re willing to admit.”
She rolled over and curled up into a ball. “River, I wasn’t trying to seduce Jayne!”
“Your body was. That’s why you forgot. That’s why you pushed closer.”
Wash rolled back to face the other woman. “No! That’s not true. I pushed closer to see —”
“See what? People moving dangerous explosives around in a very small place?”
The pilot stopped, her mouth open.
“Is that what you wanted to see close up? Does that sound like something Wash would want to do? Ever?”
Wash closed her mouth, then her eyes. She took a deep breath, and then sighed. “I am so humped.”
“You’re not humped, Wash. You just want to be.” The pilot groaned and buried her face in the pillow. River smiled softly. “And it’s not a bad thing, jei mei. It’s a good sign that your soul and your body are coming together, learning to coexist and eventually merge.”
“But I’ve never ... thinking about a man that way ...” Wash’s voice was muffled, but her pain and confusion were clear.
“Okay, step back for a minute,” River said, putting her arm around Wash and giving a squeeze. “The prevailing belief in the medical community is that the gender you’re attracted to is located in the brain, not the body.”
“But —“
“Shhhhh.” River put a finger up to Wash’s lips. “But your brain isn’t YOUR brain, silly. It’s Linda’s. Chiang put you there and you’re dealing not just with her hormones, but her desires as well. She’s a normal young woman who happens to be hetero. She likes men, and she has an itch she wants scratched in the worst way. I bet you haven’t done a thing to address that, either.”
“Like I’d know how!” Wash blurted out, then blushed all over. “Besides, there’s some element of fantasy involved in the whole itch-scratching thing, and I have no clue who the hell I’m supposed to be fantasizing about, let alone what I’m supposed to be wanting them to do for me.”
“Leaving the who aside for a minute, the what is easy. Do what makes you feel good -- what makes Linda feel good.” She looked at the pilot sideways. “You’ve got Linda’s memories in there, too. So experiment, Ho-ban. Think about what made Linda squeal ... what made Zoe squeal ... and try it on yourself.”
Wash thought for a moment, then shuddered all over and shook her head.
“This is going to be hard.”
“Only as hard as you make it, jei mei.” River grinned. “In more ways than one, if Jayne’s involved.”
“Oh, Jayne ...” The pilot moaned, falling back onto the bed and staring at the ceiling. “Wo you dian bu shu fu! I feel sick! Why do I want Jayne?”
“There are a few reasons a girl might look twice at the ‘Hero of Canton,’” the younger girl said. “But stop thinking about Jayne for a minute. I want to get you to look at this from a different angle. Close your eyes.” Wash gave her a quick look, then put her head back and did as she was told.
“I want you to think back to the depot now.” The pilot took a deep breath and nodded. “How did you feel ... about Dolph?”
The pilot raised her head and looked at River. “Dolph?”
“Head down, eyes shut!” River commanded, and Wash hurriedly complied. “Yes, Dolph. You talked with him, you took his arm and walked with him back to the loading bay. You even flirted with him, remember? That guy you watched lifting heavy things as he loaded the boat until the captain told you to go prep for lift?”
Wash blushed. “Oh. Dolph.”
River nodded, even though the pilot couldn’t see. “Think back to when you were with him. How did he make you feel?”
The pilot took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I was just coming down, realizing I wasn’t going to have to fight my way free. Then he came out of the crowd and reminded me there are decent men in the world.” She thought for a moment. “He cared about me. He made me feel ... good.”
“Just good?”
Wash bit her lip and sighed. “Okay, he made me feel ... special. I could see I really mattered to him. I was something more than just a woman he wanted to ... take to bed. He ... liked me, maybe. I don’t know. Whatever it was, it was more than lust ... and I found myself thinking about him the same way.”
The younger girl let it rest for a moment, then spoke. “And physically?”
The silence grew. Finally, she spoke. “I ... wanted him.”
After a second, Wash went on. “I didn’t even know exactly what I wanted, but I wanted him. Warm all over, and a melting feeling inside I couldn’t ... or maybe didn’t ... want to understand. It was hard to see the cargo hatch close with him on the other side. I had to shake off a feeling like I was missing something, and I didn’t even know what it was I missed.”
“Opportunity,” River said softly. “I think the word you want is opportunity.”
Simon sat in the med bay, pouring through his encyclopedia and looking for references to Flynt. It wasn’t very helpful, just a single listing and a scattering of loose references that left him frustrated and confused. The listing was as bare bones as he’d ever seen, almost as if the moon wasn’t worth talking about. The references in other listings were vague, and whatever links there were led nowhere — literally. It was as if someone had gone through the publication before its release and eliminated everything they could find about Flynt.
“Considering the Alliance’s interest in the moon, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,’ he thought, tossing the reader aside. ‘They certainly did a number making an entire planet disappear when the whole Pax experiment went bad on Miranda.’
“Doc?” Simon looked up to see Jayne standing in the doorway.
“Yes, Jayne?” The mercenary looked ... uncomfortable. “Is something wrong? Are you alright?”
“Just fine,” Jayne replied, and fidgeted for a minute. “I was wonderin’ if you could do me a favor, after Mal and I head down to Flynt.”
“If I can,” the doctor said, a little confused.
“There’s a stack of boxes in bright wrappin’ paper under my bunk. I was wonderin’ if you’d take ‘em and put ‘em in Linda’s room after I’m gone ... stack ‘em up somewhere she can see ‘em when she goes back in there.”
“Sure.” Simon stood up slowly, not sure why. “Be happy to.”
Jayne reached into his back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “If you could put this in front of the boxes, or on top of ‘em or somethin’. Just where she can see it.”
“I’ll take care of it.” The doctor took the paper from Jayne’s hand. The mercenary opened his mouth, and Simon shook his head. “Don’t worry, Jayne. I won’t read it.”
Jayne fidgeted, and then surprised the other man again. “It's okay, Doc. It's just tellin' her I left her a message on her terminal.”
Simon looked at the paper, and back up at Jayne. Jayne shrugged.
“I ain't much good at readin' or writin', and I sure ain't gonna try to put what I'm feelin' down on paper. I ain’t never been good at tellin’ anyone how I feel, either, but I figgered I had a better shot talking at a camera then putting words on a page.”
He turned to go, then stopped and turned back.
“From what I ‘member, you weren’t so good at it either when you first joined the crew. But you caught Kaylee right enough, so I figgered you must know more about this courtin’ thing than I ever knew.” He took a deep breath. “What’d you tell Kaylee that made her fall for you?”
After a moment, Simon sat down slowly, the letter still in his hand.
“All I ever did to win Kaylee was to tell her the truth,” he said. “I spent all my time worrying about River, and never thought about myself. When we almost died facing the Reavers, trying to get the word out about Miranda and the Pax, I finally told her how I really felt about her. She did the rest.”
He raised the paper up and looked at Jayne. “In your message, did you tell her how you feel?”
“I did the best I could,” he replied. “I ain’t much with words, but — I did the best I could.”
“Then I can’t help you do any better.” Simon put the letter down on the counter. “I’ll make sure she gets your message. After that, it’s up to Linda.”
Jayne nodded, and turned to go. As he reached the door, Simon spoke again.
“Thanks,” he said softly. The mercenary turned and looked over his shoulder. “For what?”
“For trusting me with all this.”
Jayne shook his head. “Aw, hell, Doc! Mal don't know about the present, and so I can't ask him for help. 'Nara might tell Mal, so I can’t talk to her. And there ain’t nobody else besides you ‘cept River and Zoe anyway. Besides, who else can a fella trust if he can’t trust his doctor?”
He walked out of the room, leaving Simon wondering what the hell had just happened, and why.
The picture was sharp and clear — nothin’ but shades of gray, but you could see and hear everything.
“I had to take the color out,” Kaylee said apologetically. “Juss ‘cause I was workin’ with the short range comms and I didn’t have ‘nough room for it on the wave. Best I could do.”
“No, Kaylee, it’s perfect!” Zoe bent over and stared at the belt buckle, as everyone else watched the monitor. “You can’t even see the camera.”
Jayne was feeling a mite uncomfortable, having Zoe staring at him like that.
“I adjusted the angle, too,” the mechanic admitted, feeling a little proud. “So we get to look up and see faces instead of bulge.”
“That’s a plus.” The first mate shook her head, still staring at the camera. “A definite plus. Bulge wouldn’t tell us much, I’m thinkin’.”
“Ceptin’ maybe who was popular.” Both women laughed, and Jayne felt worse. Zoe stood up.
“Now we go load cargo and get this underway,” she said. Kaylee shook her head.
“Not just yet. I made Jayne a promise a while back, and I can’t leave the room until ...”
River popped her head down from the maintenance hatch, stared first at the monitor and then at Jayne’s crotch, and smiled. Kaylee grinned and nodded.
“Okay, then. My work here is done. Let’s get to it!”
Mal handled the conversation with Flynt approach while Wash sat quiet in the pilot's seat and chewed her lower lip. It seemed to go well, but she heard something in the controller's voice that made her pause. It seemed to bother Mal, too, once he closed transmission, but he only hesitated a minute before giving the pilot a pat on the shoulder and turning away.
Everyone helped load the first batch of cargo, even Inara, which was the first surprise. She came down from her shuttle dressed in a black gi and slippers, and just started helping without a word. But the shock from that paled in comparison to what came next, when Jayne put his foot down and stopped Simon from joining in.
“You get those fingers of yours crushed and I ain't got anyone to patch me up or dig a bullet outta me when I need it,” he said, “and the way my luck's been holding out, I'm gonna need it, pro'bly sooner than later. I'm a mite selfish about my hide, Doc, so do what you're good at and leave the heavy liftin' to me.”
Mal looked sideways at Jayne and shot Zoe a glance, clearly confused. She gave a little shake of her head and raised an eyebrow in return.
For his part, Jayne gave the doctor a long stare, and Simon realized what he wanted and excused himself.
Soon the first load was ready, and Mal made his way to the shuttle's cockpit through the cargo. Jayne stopped at the door and looked back, catching Linda's eye. Linda looked back and smiled.
“Give us a good show, Jayne,” she whispered. “And keep the captain safe. We're counting on you.”
Jayne nodded once, gave her the barest hint of a smile, and disappeared inside, closing the hatch behind him.
It was going to take a while for the shuttle to reach the surface, and Jayne’s camera was shut down for the trip dirtside to save power. After a few minutes, everyone went back to the day-to-day business of keeping the ship running. Even though Serenity was in stable orbit around Flynt and the proximity alarms were set far enough away to make sure nobody was going to be sneaking up on her without a whole lot of noise, Wash stayed in the pilot’s seat. It was where she felt most at home, after all.
Still, her eyes kept straying to the blip on the long range radar that was Serenity’s shuttle, wondering if they were going to be safe — or if this was going to be another in a long string of times where one of Mal’s plans just didn’t go smooth.
She had to admit she finally felt comfortable in her new body, even if it still felt strange once in a while. But her earlier conversation with River had left her unsettled, as if she had somehow crossed a line by admitting to herself that she had wanted Dolph the way a woman wants a man — which of course she had.
And crossing that line raised the question of Jayne, and how she felt about him.
Wash couldn’t deny she had come to like the man, which is something she never thought would happen. He had changed since he came to Serenity, and changed more after Book’s death and the events surrounding Miranda. After Wash’s death, a few months had passed before she came back, so she didn’t know what to make of the Jayne she met on Santo when she first became Linda. But it seemed pretty clear that Linda’s arrival had made Jayne want to be more than just a hired gun — and more to the pilot than just another member of the crew.
With a sigh, Wash admitted that Linda found him ... desirable. Since Wash was Linda, she was dealing with that attraction as well, although she was damned if she knew what to do with it -- or if she even wanted to do anything.
Because she graduated from flight school on Osiris, Linda’s contraceptive and STD implants were up-to-date, so worrying about pregnancy or the latest creeping crud from the Rim wasn’t an issue.
Being true to Zoe? “Til death do us part” was pretty standard fare for a wedding ceremony, even this far from Earth-That-Was.
Getting Zoe back? Linda wasn’t Wash, and never could be again. Zoe wasn’t wired that way, and Wash didn’t think Linda was, either. With a small tear, she finally let go of that last bit of hope that she and Zoe could ever be anything else but friends.
But ... Jayne? She liked him well enough, even admired him some for how hard he worked to change for the better — for her. Did she like him enough to cross that last line between Hoban Washburn and Linda Wehr ... without looking back?
‘And where the hell does love fit in here?’ The pilot asked herself. ‘Or does it? I don’t love Jayne. I may like him, but I don’t love him — at least, not the way I loved Zoe. But I loved Zoe a hell of a lot. Do I need to love someone for sex? The man I used to be did. At least he needed to care for her enough to trust her to care for him in return. To ... be with Jayne, I need to trust him enough to surrender who I was and be who I am. Can I?’
“I can trust Jayne with my life,” she whispered aloud. “He’s already proven that. But how much has he really changed inside? Can I trust him to really care for me? For the woman ... the person I’m becoming?”
After staring at the blip for the twenty-seventh time and chewing on her bottom lip, Wash decided to go into her cabin for a few minutes and stretch out on her bunk. She was only a few seconds away if anything happened, after all. That’s why she had the room near the flight deck.
When her boots hit the deck at the foot of her ladder, she turned and saw the stack of brightly wrapped boxes waiting on her dresser.
Wash walked up to them slowly, wondering where they came from, and who might have left them there. She saw a slip of paper sticking out from between the top two boxes. Opening it, she saw the words, “CHECK YOUR MESSAGES” crudely written in big block letters an inch high. The pilot sighed and stepped over to her terminal. More mysteries.
She hit the message button and collapsed back onto her bunk to watch.
The screen lit up, and Jayne Cobb looked back at her with an expression on his face she’d never seen before. It was a mix of fear, uncertainty, and resolve. She leaned forward, wondering what was coming next.
“Linda.” He stopped and cleared his throat. “I picked up that stack of boxes over there on the Skyplex a while back. It’s — they’re a present. Well, a buncha presents, I guess. I wanted to get ya somethin’, to make up for bein’ so gorram stupid when you joined the crew. I reckon you know by now that bein' ... well, one of us ... can be a mite dangerous, and I figured I'd get you somethin' that would help you keep your own self safe if things went south, and I wasn't around.”
Jayne smiled and looked down. “Don’t know if you opened ‘em or not yet, so maybe I’m spoilin’ the surprise, but you know me well enough by now to know that what I know best is guns, and that’s what I got you. I thought I'd step up and teach you how to shoot if'n you didn't already know. But then I find out you're a natural, girl, and that's a fact. Ain't never seen anythin' like it before, and if I had a hat, I'd … I'd take it off for you — well, to you. Aw, hell.”
The mercenary shook his head and looked back at Linda.
“You know I got feelings for you, 'cause I ain't much good at hiding it. Back when I first saw you, I tried treatin' you the way I always treated girls, 'cause I was stupid and didn't know better. Hell, I'm probably still stupid, but I'm tryin' hard not to be, ‘cause I don't much think you'd care for a stupid man, and I … well, I want you to. Care, I mean.”
“This is the toughest thing I've ever done, mostly 'cause I ain't never done anything like it before. In my line of work, feelin's tended to get in the way of makin’ it back to your bunk instead of findin' yourself in a pine box. But since I been on Serenity, I'm learnin' that carin' about somethin' makes a man want to keep himself alive, and the one thing I'm carin' most about … is you.”
“I ain't never been in love before, so I ain't too sure what it's supposed to feel like. But I think about you every morning when I roll outta my bunk, and the first time I see you every day, I just got to smile. You make me happier than I ever been, Linda, just by being around you. I know you don't know it, but to tell you the truth that ain't sayin' much, because I ain't never been all that happy before. I went my way and did what I pleased, but I'm seein' now it didn't matter worth a damn, because I ain't had nobody to share it with.”
Jayne's image looked down at his hands, and back up again. “Much as I want to, I can't make you love me, but I think you like me some, and that’s somethin’. I'm doin' what I can to be the kind of man you could love, maybe. I know I ain't smart enough for you, and I sure as hell ain't good enough for you. But I’m tryin’, and the one thing Jayne Cobb's always been is stubborn.”
“I want to be your man, Linda, if you'll have me. Don't know how long you'd put up with me if you said yes, but I'll take whatever I can get if you'd just look at me one time the way Kaylee looks at the Doc, or Zoe looked at Wash back in the day.” He grinned and shook his head again. “Or like 'Nara looks at Mal when she thinks he ain't lookin' ... or even when he is.”
“Anyway, that's about what I wanted to say. If I coulda said it in person, I woulda. But it was hard enough doin' it this way, and if you said no to my face ... well, lettin' you see me bawl like a baby … I don't think I could handle it.”
Jayne looked right into the camera … right into her eyes.
“I love you, Linda.” His voice caught in his throat, and as he shook his head again, she could see the tears in his eyes. “Gorram it, I love you. And I hope maybe, one day ... you'll love me too. If I’m lucky.”
The message ended and the image froze, and gods help her, Wash could see how he felt, pouring out of him with such longing that she could feel her own tears start to fall.
A few minutes before, she’d wondered if he cared enough. But this left no doubt. Jayne had changed. By telling her how much she meant to him, and showing her how he truly felt, he laid himself open like he had never done to anyone before — and trusted her with everything he had.
Jayne Cobb trusted her.
‘There is courage in this man,’ she thought, wiping her eyes as she stared at the frozen image on her screen, only to have them fill with tears again. ‘I doubted him. But he’s more than I ever thought he was, or could be. And he cares enough to put his heart in my hands and beg me not to crush it.’
Jayne had risked everything — just to tell her he loved her.
And he was too far away for her to tell him she understood ... and that she loved him, too.
NOTE: I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I loved writing it. I love these people Joss created, and I hope I'm doing them justice. In any case, the old Chinese blessing (or curse) "may you live in interesting times," definitely applies to Serenity's crew, and I'm glad I'm getting to bring them back to life.
"Big damn heroes? Ain't they just!" *grin* -- Randalynn
This is a fan fiction set in the Firefly/Serenity universe created by Joss Whedon. It takes place soon after the events in the television series and the companion motion picture that followed, and is also the fifth part of a sequel to Firefly: Connecting Flight. This means it has SPOILERS, folks, and major ones at that. So please don't read this unless you get the chance to see the series and the movie -- and read my first Firefly story (and the first three chapters of this one).
In the fifth part of FIREFLY: DOUBLE BOOKED, Mal and Jayne head off to a special delivery, only to discover just how "special" it is. The crew get a guided tour of beautiful downtown Flynt, only to discover there's nothing beautiful about it. And everyone learns why Flynt isn't a nice place to visit, only to discover a reason to have to.
Jayne sat in the co-pilot’s seat and kept his hands well away from the controls. He didn’t know how to fly the shuttle, and wasn’t much interested in learning. That was okay, though. Mal wasn’t the best pilot in the Verse, but as long as he kept the gorram thing in the air until it was close enough to the ground not to crash ‘fore he landed it, that was good enough for Jayne. Besides, the mercenary had other things to think about.
Like what Linda did when she found her presents. And checked her messages.
And if she had, what the hell was she thinkin’ now?
‘It’s gorram frustratin,’ he thought, ‘Like rollin’ the dice in a game of craps, then getting’ up and walkin’ away for a day or two without bein’ able to see if you won or lost. I rolled the dice. I took my chance, and now I’m halfway dirtside with no way to tell what she’s thinkin’.’
Jayne shook his head. ‘As if I ever knew what she was thinkin’ before.’ He snorted.
“Something funny?” Mal looked over and raised an eyebrow.
“Not so much,” Jayne replied, “Just thinkin’ about how little I know about what goes on in a woman’s head.”
“Any woman in particular?” The captain smiled.
“Well, Linda, mostly,” the other man admitted. “Although Kaylee’s almost easy compared to ‘Nara. Zoe’s just ... well, Zoe. And River?” He shuddered. “She’s just plain scary sometimes. Knows more than she tells, and pro’bly way more than she should.”
Mal nodded. “Good thing she’s on our side.”
Jayne thought about that some. “I reckon so. Still ain’t normal.”
“Ain’t much about Serenity’s crew that is, and that’s a fact.” The captain flicked a few switches and changed the approach angle a bit. “Not complainin’ though. I’m thinking that’s one reason we’re all still alive.”
Jayne thought back to the Reverend, and to Wash.
“Not all of us,” he said. He felt rather than saw Mal stiffen, just a little, and realized he’d crossed a line. Not that he knew what to do about it. Jayne had never been much good at making folks feel better. He usually had more luck making them hurt when he needed to.
‘Didn’t mean to hurt Mal, though,’ he thought, ‘He’s been pretty good about helping me with Linda. And even if it ain’t my job to make him feel better, I need him sharp when we hit dirt, or it ain’t gonna be pretty. Asides, ‘tweren’t like he killed ‘em on purpose, no matter what he thinks.’
The mercenary shook his head. “I ain’t sayin’ it was anybody’s fault, Cap’n. We lost a couple of folks because when you live the life we’re livin’, stuff happens you ain’t expectin’, that’s all. I seen my share of folks die ‘fore I ever joined up with you. Some of ‘em I liked, some I didn’t give a hoot about, but they died all the same, and sometimes all I could do was watch.”
Jayne turned and looked out the window, away from Mal. “Since Miranda, I think I finally figured out that the crew’s a lot more important than just crew to me. Didn’t happen all at once — hell, didn’t even know it was happenin’ until the Skyplex — but it’s the gorram truth, and I’m stuck with it. My job was always supposed to be keeping everybody in one piece, but now I got a better reason to make it happen than cashy money.”
“What about what we’re doin’ now?” Mal said. “This job ain’t safe for anybody. At least with Miranda, there was somethin’ more than coin involved.”
Jayne turned and saw it was the captain’s turn to be looking the other way. He shrugged, even though Mal couldn’t see, and spoke to the back of the captain’s head.
“Thrillin’ heroics don’t pay the bills,” he replied. “You owe this Berenger fella, and that’s fine. But the man’s payin’ us, and that’s fine, too. Your job is to keep us flyin’, and that means sometimes doin’ stuff like this, ‘cause we need the work and we need the coin. And yeah, it ain’t safe, but not much is out on the edge.”
Mal turned and looked at Jayne, but the other man didn’t look away.
“You’re the one who has to make the call,” Jayne said, ‘cause you’re the captain, she’s your boat, and we’re your crew. It ain’t safe, but like I said, stuff happens you ain’t expectin’. That’s why you got me, and Zoe, and even River. If somethin’ happens to put us all in the cᨠsuÇ’, it’s our job to pull us out, and the Doc’s job to keep us alive so we can do it again the next time things don’t go smooth.”
It was Mal’s turn to snort, and he shook his head. “Ain’t much of a recommendation for my captainin’ skills, is it?”
“Ain’t your fault the Verse is a stone cold bitch, Cap’n.” Jayne looked down at the moon below. “And after all we been through, Serenity’s still flyin’, so think about it. How bad a captain can you be?”
Mal gave Jayne a long hard look, and sighed before turning back to the controls.
“I’m surprised my own self,” he said, “but thanks.”
Jayne shrugged. “Just the truth, Mal.”
‘And it was, at that,’ he thought. ‘Huh. Maybe River’s right. Maybe I’m smarter than I think I am.’
‘Now there’s a scary thought.’
The crew was gathered on the flight deck, huddled around the small viewscreen and waiting for Jayne to switch on the camera. They were monitoring Mal’s approach on the comms, so they knew the shuttle wasn’t far from landing.
Kaylee had drummed it into Jayne’s head to wait until the last minute before turning on the camera, because “the batteries won’t last longer than a sneeze, with all we’re askin’ ‘em to do.” So it wasn’t until the shuttle touched down and both men reached the cargo door that Serenity’s crew got their first close-up look at Hustler, Flynt’s largest city.
“The docks are like a ghost town,” Inara said slowly. “You’d think a place where cargo comes in would be full of people and ships, but it’s nearly empty. And so quiet.”
Simon looked closer. “We know they don’t really want visitors, Inara. After all, the Alliance wants to hide Flynt so badly, they edited the entire moon out of the encyclopedia — not just the book, but right off the Cortex. I’m surprised they even have a place for Mal and Jayne to land and unload.”
Zoe shook her head. “I’m not. This moon isn’t really large enough to sustain itself. Just a few smallish cities and a lot of empty space, judgin’ from what we’ve seen from up here. They need shipments from outside just to stay alive. Maybe they just don’t need that many of them.”
There were four men waiting outside the cargo door, all dressed in what looked like the latest fashions from Osiris. But Linda was far more interested in what she could see of the city behind the welcoming committee.
“Look. Cutting edge Alliance tech,” she said, one finger following the path of something flying across the skyline on the screen. “This place looks like little more than a settlement, but they’ve got air cars with remote traffic control, and a lot more of them than there should be for a town this small.”
She looked at Inara. “This place is definitely important to the Alliance. They may not want visitors here, but they’re giving these folks the latest and greatest. The only question is ... why?”
River looked down from her perch above the flight deck door.
“Because whatever the people of Flynt are doing for the Alliance,” she said, her eyes glued to the screen, “it’s worth whatever they need to pay to keep them happy.”
Wash sat back in her chair and let the others get a better view. The whole thing felt wrong, and a part of her wondered whether this was what people referred to as women’s intuition, or just the feeling a good pilot gets when something’s about to go horribly wrong.
‘Given that I’m both a woman and a pilot, probably both,’ she thought, then shook her head and smiled. ‘Another line crossed. I just admitted I’m a woman. Although considering how I feel about Jayne now, why should I be surprised?’
It was still strange for Wash to think about loving someone not Zoe, let alone a man. Let alone Jayne. But Wash remembered how hard he fought being attracted to Zoe at first, when he was sure he could never charm her into accepting him as anything other than a nuisance who knew how to fly.
‘Love does what love does,’ she thought, looking over at her wife with affection. ‘Zoe taught me that when she fell in love with me. I knew I wasn’t what she thought she wanted in a husband, until suddenly, she did.’
Was Jayne what Linda wanted in a husband? What Wash wanted? Did Wash even want a husband -- ever? The pilot closed her eyes and sighed.
‘I never thought I’d be asking myself a question like that,’ she said to herself. ‘And it’s way too soon to even think it, let alone ask it. Damn, girl, it’s less than an hour since you realized you loved the guy, and you haven’t even told HIM yet!’
Mal and Jayne stepped forward, and the view from the camera swayed from side to side with the mercenary’s every step. Wash looked back at the screen as the pair approached the welcoming committee.
“Be careful,” she whispered, leaning forward along with the rest of the crew. “Both of you.”
“Captain Reynolds!” The talk, burly man in the front of the group stepped forward, his hand outstretched. “I’m Hugh Aubrey, planetary governor and head honcho here on Flynt. This is Wilson Danbury, mayor of Hustler, and Justin Hammer, dockmaster. That over there is Harris, my number two.”
Mal gave Aubrey a quick handshake and motioned towards Jayne. “This here is Jayne Cobb, my first mate.”
Aubrey shook his head.
“Oh, I doubt that, Captain” he said, the corners of his lips twitching upward. “I believe that would be Zoe Washburn, if Berenger’s wave was correct. A very beautiful woman, to be sure. But not the only one aboard your ship, I believe. Kaywinnet Leigh Frye, your mechanic, is quite winsome, I’ve been told. And Linda Wehr, your pilot, turned a few heads in the depot as well. And of course, Inara Sera, your ... Companion. They’ll all be welcome here, to join our community.”
His smile became a frown. “Except for the whore, of course. She’ll have to die. Way too dangerous to have a strong-willing Guild-trained bitch down here among the sheep.”
Mal’s temper flared and he reached for his gun, only to have his arms pinned to his sides from behind. Someone else tried the same stunt with Jayne, but a quick head butt put his attacker down with a broken nose. The mercenary stepped back over the bleeding thug, and stood with his feet apart, his back to the shuttle, and a Callahan Enforcer in each hand.
“Reckon we’ll be leaving now,” he said, both guns steady. “Best let the captain go before I show you what a good shot I am. ‘Course, being as how you’re all such big close targets, I ain’t gonna have to do much.”
“I think not, Mister Cobb,” Aubrey replied. “You have the remainder of our cargo on your Firefly, and we mean to have it.”
“We’ll push the rest of the crates out the cargo door and let you pick ‘em up in orbit,” Jayne said with a grin, “on our way to anywhere but here.”
“That’s not the cargo I’m referring to.” Aubrey took a step forward, and Jayne waved a gun at him.
“I ain’t dumb, mister.” He shook his head. “There ain’t no way you’re getting’ anywhere near my crew. You’re gonna let my captain go, and we’re gonna get back in the shuttle and be on our way. Or blood’s gonna spill, startin’ with yours.”
Jayne saw a flash of color out of the corner of his eye, and he glanced down to see a single red dot on his chest. It was soon joined by a second, and a third, and a fourth, and he realized that his two Enforcers were no match for a bunch of distant snipers, no matter how good a shot he was. He lowered both guns slowly, and sighed.
“You may not be dumb, Mister Cobb,” Aubrey said, stepping forward and taking both weapons. “But you are hopelessly outgunned.”
“Ain’t the first time,” The mercenary replied, disgusted. “Sure as hell hope it won’t be the last.”
The crew watched helplessly as Mal and Jayne were herded away from the shuttle, hands tied behind their backs. Linda pushed her worry aside and punched in some commands that put the feed from the camera on every screen on the flight deck, and started recording it.
“Everybody take a screen,” Inara said. “Look for street signs, landmarks, anything we can use to figure out where they’re being taken.”
“Good thing nobody’s getting’ in front of ‘em.” Kaylee had her nose nearly pressed against her screen. “Or we wouldn’t see nothin’ but backsides.”
“Standard procedure, if you’re even half smart,” Zoe said, focusing on the video. “Put a prisoner in the middle of a group, and they can cause a lot of damage before you bring ‘em down. And putting prisoners behind you is just plain stupid.”
Simon had an overhead view of the docks on a separate screen. Cloud cover and the shortcomings of Serenity’s external cameras made it blurry and hard to follow, but it was still better than nothing. “From the video, it looks like they’re headed west, into the town. They’re just leaving the shuttle where it landed.”
“What’s in those crates was never what they were really after,” Inara said softly. “What they wanted was Zoe and Linda and Kaylee ...”
“And you dead,” Zoe finished for her. She flashed the Companion a dark look. “That ain’t gonna happen, so you put it out of mind.”
River dropped down next to the secondary flight console and started typing furiously. “Signal strength, vector and power consumption ... Kaylee, what frequency did you use?”
“Same as the short range comms,” the mechanic replied. “Didn’t see much reason to change it.”
“But I bet you played with the power consumption, didn’t you?”
“Had to! Between sendin’ pictures and the comms usually being sound only, and the size of the buckle? Batteries that small wouldn’t last three minutes without a bit of tweakin’ to the power feed.” Kaylee cocked her head. “Why?”
“Because signal strength is going to change the further they get from the shuttle.” River grinned. “And if I can figure out the power and distance ratio ...”
“... we can figure out just how far away from the shuttle they are,” Kaylee grinned back. “Damn, girl, you’re good!”
She came over and started entering some numbers on River’s keypad. “That oughta narrow things down a bit.”
“They’re entering the heart of the town,” Simon said.
“As if this town has a heart,” Linda murmured, and Simon threw her a look. She shrugged.
“Goddess ...” Inara breathed, and everyone’s attention turned to the monitors at once.
Directly in front of Jayne, a man and a woman moved across the camera’s field of view. The man wore a business suit, not unlike the one Simon wore when he first came aboard Serenity with River’s cryo-chamber in tow. But the woman wore nothing, except a metal collar and a pair of sandals, and walked gracefully a short distance behind the man with her head bowed. She carried a briefcase and several bags, apparently full of groceries. They all watched as the man turned to her and delivered what appeared to be a series of orders, then took his case, turned her around, and gave her a firm swat on her bottom.
She smiled over her shoulder at him and walked away. As he watched her leave, another couple wandered past the camera pickup. The woman wore a form-fitting shiny black unitard with cutouts at crotch and nipples, and a form-fitting hood that made it impossible for her to do anything more than see. She crouched beside the man, leashed and collared, hunched over beside him as they moved past.
As Jayne continued to move through the crowd, the crew saw more women being treated as slaves, or pets, or even beasts of burden. It was always women, and always without a single sign of complaint, let alone rebellion. In fact, all of them had the same small smile on their faces. It was shocking and disturbing ... as Jayne would have said, “downright creepifyin’.” But no one could look away.
Except for River.
She sat back, her eyes glazing over as her mind spun through possibilities. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Simon’s screen, still displaying the overhead view of Flynt, and something registered deep inside. She moved closer to the screen, unable to believe what she was seeing, and Simon turned and watched her expression go from intrigued to horrified.
“What is it, mei mei?” he asked, causing everyone else on the flight deck to turn and look at them both. River raised her finger and pointed to a shape on the screen.
“I’ve seen this before,” she replied. “Lots of ‘em in fact. Same basic design. On Miranda, as we flew into the capital city.”
“Just air processors,” Zoe said, switching her monitor to mirror River's view. “Nothing new there. Every terraformed world needs them.”
“At first, yes.” The young girl nodded. “But Flynt’s clearly been terraformed long enough to develop a stable ecosystem. There’s no real need for atmospheric processors anymore. Unless they’re using them for a different reason.”
The doctor nodded, catching up with his sister.
“Like providing a controlled mix of some chemical compound into the air,” he said slowly. “Something designed to reduce aggression, and make people passive and pliable ... like G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate.”
“Something like it, but not exactly,” Inara was still looking at the feed from Jayne’s camera. “It’s clearly modified to affect only women.”
“That makes sense,” Simon said, causing all of the women on the flight deck to stare at him. He raised his hands and continued quickly. “Experimentally speaking, I mean. If you’re trying to code a weapon for a specific human genetic trait, why not choose one that gives you a clear indicator of success? Targeting the XX chromosome pair means that more than half of your experimental subjects could be affected by the altered Pax.”
Kaylee cocked her head. “A weapon? What makes you think they’re makin’ a weapon? Since the Independents lost, the Alliance doesn’t have anyone to use it on! Besides, you’d have to be pretty gorram stupid to mess with the Pax after what happened on Miranda. Why risk it?”
“Maybe because of what we did,” River said softly. “We told the Verse about what happened on Miranda, and that made a lot of people wonder if the same thing might happen to them — and whether being part of the Alliance was really as good an idea as they thought it was when they signed up. So the Alliance needed an edge.”
Simon frowned. “I don’t think so. We might have stirred up some anti-Alliance feelings, but we didn’t cause this.”
“Why do you say that?” Zoe asked, clearly skeptical.
“Because the timeline is wrong,” the doctor replied. “They clearly edited Flynt out of the encyclopedia and the Cortex before the war ... at least ten years back, and probably more. Kaylee heard horror stories about Flynt around campfires back when the Alliance was telling everyone Miranda was a failed attempt at terraforming -- nothing but a dead world. So this ... experiment must have been going on at least since then.”
Inara leaned forward. “You think they set up Flynt at the same time as Miranda?”
“Yes. This is probably a parallel project — an offshoot of the original Pax research. It was no secret the worlds on the Rim didn’t want to join the Alliance. They were probably trying to turn it into a weapon so they could deal with the Independents without firing a shot.”
Zoe nodded. “Makes sense. If there was a rebellion, they wanted a Pax variant they could mix into the atmosphere of a planet or moon that would pacify the planet — and what we’ve seen here indicates they wanted something that would only affect that world’s inhabitants.”
“How could they do that?” Inara stood up and folded her arms, clearly disturbed. “Most colony worlds have a diverse population to avoid having too small a gene pool to survive.”
“Most colony worlds start from the smallest group that can provide that level of diversity,” Simon said. “So there could be a lot of shared genetic markers. But even if there aren’t, they could flip the development process around and create a variant that would affect everyone except those with a specific combination of genetic traits.”
“Why would they want something like that?” Kaylee asked.
River spoke up. “After they use the Pax and the colony world is peaceful and compliant, Alliance troops with that specific combination of traits — like green-eyed women with red hair taller than six feet, for instance — could go down and take the place over without worrying about being affected.”
Linda waved at the screen. “Not only that ... if this stuff works the way it seems to, the Alliance may be able to tell them how to think, and make it stick. This isn’t just pacification. From the look on those women’s faces, it’s mind control.”
The younger girl shook her head. “We don’t know enough about the experiment to be sure of that, jei mei. The fact that they’re still pumping it into the atmosphere could mean the effect doesn’t last once you stop being exposed to it. I’m sure if they could make it permanent, they would. A docile population is so much easier to lead than an aggressive one.”
“This all sounds exactly like something the Alliance would do.” Zoe looked grim. “For all their big cruisers and fancy weapons, we cut ‘em deep enough to make them bleed for a long time after the last war ended. If they knew that we were going to do that going in, finding a way to win without a fight makes a lot of sense. We’re just lucky they didn’t want to win bad enough to wind up with a bunch of dead worlds half full of Reavers on the Outer Rim.”
Inara thought for a moment, then her eyes narrowed. “Now it makes sense. That’s why they want to kill me — and why no woman the Guild ever sent to Flynt has come back alive.”
She looked at the assembled crew and took a deep breath. “This is a Guild secret, so it doesn’t leave this room. Because of the work we do, we are very vulnerable whenever we’re with a client. It would be a simple matter to capture an unwary Companion and use drugs to turn him or her into a sex slave. So the Guild has developed a series of immunizations and mental techniques that make it nearly impossible to play with a Companion’s mind. Companions are conditioned, both physically and mentally, to resist any attempt at mind control.”
“Why didn’t the Guild ever send a man?” Kaylee looked at Inara. “I mean, seems t’ me like if you got a place where women disappear and you send folks out to see why, best chance of getting’ someone to come back and tell you would be to send a guy. There are Boy Companions, right?”
“The Guild has always been led by women,” Inara replied, a little embarrassed. “I think ... I think their first impulse is always to trust a woman more.”
Kaylee frowned. “Guess they ain’t ever been to school with somebody like Becky Larson,” she muttered. “Boyfriend-stealin’ jien huo. Couldn’t trust her worth a damn.”
Zoe stood up and walked towards the front of the cabin, clearly thinking. Everyone watched her for a minute, and then she turned and smiled.
“Well, now,” the first mate said. “I’m thinking we’ve got ourselves some options. They don’t even know Simon’s here. He never got off the boat on Boros, so they don’t know what he looks like. And I’m thinking if we can change the way Inara looks enough to keep them from recognizing her, you two can go down and bring the captain and Jayne back.”
There was a long silence, and then River spoke. “The men at the Depot didn't see me, either. And I think I might be able to go with Simon and Inara - without worrying about the Pax.”
“What makes you think that, mei mei?” Simon asked.
“Because there’s a good chance I might be immune, too,” she replied. “The Alliance wanted to turn me into a weapon, just like the Pax. It stands to reason they would want to make sure I couldn’t be turned against them ... or pacified by the Pax myself.”
“What if you’re wrong?” Zoe looked skeptical. “If you are, you could wind up ordered to fight against us.”
“Well, Simon still knows the sleep command he used on me in that bar,” River countered. “And I can’t do much for — or to — anyone if I’m unconscious.”
Zoe thought for a moment, then shrugged. “Having you down there with Simon and Inara is too good an edge to pass up. If you all have to fight your way back to the shuttle, I’d rather River were fighting next to you every step of the way.”
She grinned “So it looks like we’ve got ourselves the start of a big damn rescue ... just as soon as we figure out where the hell they are. So back on the screens, people.”
As Mal found himself thrown into a plain wooden chair in Hugh Aubrey’s office, his first thought was that the chair seemed oddly out of place. Then as he looked around, he realized that he’d seen rooms almost exactly like this before — too big for one man, full of expensive fá¨ijiá¹ zá¡wá¹ from a dozen different worlds, but strangely empty.
‘Just like Aubrey,’ he thought. ‘Like Badger on Persephone. He's just another suit with attitude.’
“Huh.” The sound escaped before he could stop it.
Aubrey stopped on his way to his chair and turned. “Something to say, Captain Reynolds?”
“Just figured out that this office ain’t really an office,” Mal replied, looking up into the other man’s eyes. “It ain’t a place a man works. It’s a place he brings other folk so they can see how important he is. Hell, maybe you even come here your own self just to sit in that chair and look at all this fine luh-suh ... maybe make yourself think you’re important, too.”
Jayne snorted. “Course with half the folk on Flynt bein’ slaves, I’m thinkin’ he could just order all the girls to tell him he’s the best they ever had. Maybe if they tell him enough, he’ll start believin’ it.”
Aubrey sat in his chair and swiveled to face his prisoners. “As if the opinion of a woman would ever matter here.”
“Well, I reckon you ain’t nothin’ more that a gorram go tsao de hwoon dahn,” the mercenary replied, his lip curling into a sneer. “That’s a man’s opinion, you piece of gos se. How’s it feel?”
“Now, now, gentlemen.” Mayor Danbury spoke as he crossed the room to a small bar in the corner. He began to fix himself a drink. “No need to be rude. After all, you are our guests.”
“That’s an odd word for it,” the captain said, still focused on Aubrey. “I guess on Flynt, it’s fine to greet folks with a twenty-one gun salute — aimed at their heads.”
“Your reputation precedes you, sir,” Aubrey replied evenly. “You are extremely formidable, and if the situation were different, I would have had you both shot dead at the docks. But there’s a ship full of women up there, and if I killed you, I know they’d get a bit ... emotional. Since having the main engines of a Firefly class transport burning a hole in downtown Hustler isn’t going to get me what I want, I need to keep you alive. For now.”
“They could just fly away and leave us.”
Aubrey smiled. “I don’t think so. Berenger told me all about you, Captain Reynolds. In the war, the troops you led were extraordinarily loyal.”
Mal shrugged. “People change.”
“Not as much as you might think.” The man behind the desk shook his head. “No, Captain. Your crew isn’t about to leave you here and ‘just fly away.’ Oh, they’ll wait for you to rescue yourself at first, but if you don’t, they’ll come for you. And then we’ll have them.”
Jayne glared at Aubrey. “And if they don’t? They can wait a long time, yu bun duh. Firefly transports go weeks between touching dirt.”
“That’s why we’re going to give them a deadline.” Danbury spoke from across the room. “And I do mean dead. They’ll come. And if they don’t ... if they just sit up there ...well, we’ll go get ‘em.”
The mercenary shifted in his seat and smirked. “Yeah, well, good luck with that. You ain’t met the crew.”
“Oh, but I want to, Mister Cobb.” Aubrey leaned back in his chair and smiled again. “Rest assured, I want to meet them all, very much. For now, though, let’s let them know where you are. Wilson?”
Danbury reached over and flicked a switch on a small box on Aubrey’s desk. The lights in the room went down, and the walls behind Mal and Jayne flickered and turned into institutional gray brick. High above them, just barely visible, a barred window let in a small amount of washed-out sunlight. Aubrey smiled.
“Call the Firefly.”
They'd watched the group approach a large building and walk past a group of uniformed men to a central lobby. Aubrey activated a private elevator, and the group shuffled into it. Once they reached the office upstairs, they saw and heard everything -- until the
image from the camera stuttered and died.
The audio stayed live for a few seconds longer, just enough to hear Aubrey say “Call the Firefly” before it, too, failed. Almost immediately, a repeating beep sounded from the main console. Linda reached up and flicked a few switches.
“Incoming transmission from Flynt,” she said. Everyone turned to look at her, and she shrugged. “Come on, folks. Somebody has to state the obvious. This time it gets to be me. What’ll I do, Zoe?”
The first mate thought for a second. “Turn our cameras and audio off, throw the transmission on all screens.”
A dim image of Mal and Jayne sitting in a jail cell came up, along with a voice they all recognized as Hugh Aubrey.
“Listen up. We are holding Captain Reynolds and Mister Cobb, to ensure you don’t do anything we’ll both regret. You have 24 hours to land your ship at the Hustler docks and surrender, or they both die. I know you don't want that. And it’s not as if it would be so horrible, joining our community. Life here on Flynt can be very fulfilling for a woman. Once you come down, you’ll discover that you’ll enjoy doing whatever we tell you to. It’s what you were born to do, after all ... surrendering to the will of a man. And you know if you want to keep these men alive, that’s just what you’ll do. Surrender.”
The transmission cut out, and everyone on the flight deck looked at each other. Linda retrieved the recording and put it up on all screens.
“So they’re in a cell at or below ground level,” she said.
“No they ain’t,” Kaylee replied. She overrode several of the screens and put up her own content. “Using the signal strength and power consumption numbers, River and I think they’re in this big building, center of town. City Hall.”
“That’s consistent with a jail cell,” Simon countered.
“Normally yes, sweetie,” the mechanic said with a smile, “but the signal got stronger when they took the elevator to the office, so that means they went up, not down, ‘cause there wasn’t as many buildings between them and the docks. They sent that transmission to Serenity only a few seconds after the camera’s signal died, so they didn’t have enough time to get Jayne and the captain down underground anyway before we got the transmission.”
She pointed to where the picture from the transmission was still up. “And look here. Those boys may think they’re smart, but they ain’t. When you send a holo projection over a standard ship‘s comm, there’s this weird glitterin’. It’s like an interference pattern. The cap’n and Jayne are real, but the walls look like somebody went and sprinkled fairy dust all over ‘em. They can’t see it on their end, but it’s plain as day when it shows up here. See?”
“That means they’re still in the office.” Zoe leaned closer to the screen. Kaylee nodded.
“But they want us to think they’re down in the cells.” She tapped on the picture of Mal and Jayne. “They’re expectin’ us to go down and try a rescue, ‘cause they think we don’t know about the Pax. So we break in, they pin us down, and while we’re fightin’, we’re breathin’.”
“And suddenly, you all decide to stop fighting and do whatever they say.” Simon shook his head. “Not a bad plan, if they were dealing with anyone but Kaylee.” She blushed.
“They gave us 24 hours.” Everyone turned to look at River. She smiled. “That means they’re not expecting us to do anything until the deadline approaches. Like Aubrey said, he thinks we’ll wait for Mal and Jayne to try to rescue themselves, and then try to go in and get them at the last minute.”
She reached out and tapped the screen that showed the fake jail cell walls. “They think we’re going to wait, and then attack the holding cells. But we know where Mal and Jayne are right now. I say ... let’s go get them and bring them home.”
“Just ‘go get them?’ From the office of the planetary governor, above the police headquarters of the biggest city on this gorram moon?” Zoe said, her own smile mirroring River’s. “I’m assuming you have a plan?”
“Oh yes,” the girl replied, her smile becoming an impish grin. “We’re going to walk right in the front door.”
This is a fan fiction set in the Firefly/Serenity universe created by Joss Whedon. It takes place soon after the events in the television series and the companion motion picture that followed, and is also the sixth part of a sequel to Firefly: Connecting Flight. This means it has SPOILERS, folks, and major ones at that. So please don't read this unless you get the chance to see the series and the movie -- and read my first Firefly story (and the first five chapters of this one).
In the sixth part of FIREFLY: DOUBLE BOOKED, The crew stages a big damn rescue, and everyone's invited -- you, too, folks. *grin* Will the plan go smooth? Read on and find out!!
Silas Macawber sat in Flynt’s air traffic control center and waited for the end of his shift.
That’s what he did most days, and even though it was boring as hell, it suited him just fine. After all, they paid him good credits every day just to sit there for eight hours at a time and monitor the planetary traffic system. Since the only ships that showed up were Alliance transports and cruisers, you could set your watch by the schedule they kept. That meant that Silas had one of the cushiest jobs on the moon — keeping an eye on something that didn’t really need watching.
Still, the regular schedule had to be maintained, and that meant Silas needed to be here every day for his eight-hour shift, regardless of whether there was any incoming traffic due. Today was a little different, what with the Firefly transport moving into orbit and the shuttle landing a few hours ago. But other than that, the sky above was empty, leaving Silas at loose ends, as usual.
To kill some time, the controller was getting a lengthy foot massage from Wynona, his personal slave girl. She was a stunningly beautiful brunette with green eyes, a beautiful smile, and absolutely no clothing — not that it seemed to matter to her. In fact, nothing ever seemed to matter to her but his happiness, which suited him just fine, considering the completely unfulfilling nature of his job.
He’d taken her as his only minutes after she’d first walked off the Alliance cruiser that brought her here, unaware that her career as a sensor maintenance technician was about to turn into a full-time job as a sex toy and personal slave. Whatever they were pumping into the air worked pretty quickly, and she barely knew what was happening before she found herself naked and collared ... and in the service of Second Class Air Traffic Control Officer Macawber for the past three years.
As Silas looked down at her kneeling before him, his toes resting on her magnificent breasts as her strong fingers pressed into his arches, he saw the look of adoration and love in her eyes, and wondered if he could take her right here in the control room before the next shift started.
‘Damn,’ he thought with a smile. ‘Life is good.’
Then, suddenly, it wasn’t.
An alarm began to sound. At first, it was a gentle beeping, but when Silas failed to respond (never having heard that particular sound before), it grew louder and more insistent. By the time Silas reluctantly removed his feet from Wynona’s ministrations, the beeping had become a klaxon, and entire areas of the main board had begun flashing bright red. Cursing, he stared at the screens, only to find the words “PROXIMITY ALERT” blinking above displays that showed an object with a rapidly decaying orbital trajectory from several different angles.
Reading the object’s transponder ID, Silas realized it was the Firefly transport, and it seemed to be heading directly for the airspace right above Hustler. He flicked a few switches, swiveled the mike into position, and began speaking.
“Firefly transport! This is Flynt Control! Break off! I repeat, break off!” The warning came out a bit high-pitched with a slight quavering, and he struggled to regain some kind of command tone before trying again. After all, this was being recorded. “You are engaged in an illegal approach! Return to orbit at once! You have not been cleared to land!”
The response was a little slow in coming, but the vid screen came to life, revealing a close-up of a woman with a lop-sided smile and a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that, honey,” she said, her voice clear and strong through the control room’s speakers. “We’re not plannin’ to land. We’re just gonna hover over your city for a while and let the engines burn it to the ground ... unless you release our two crewmembers and return our shuttle, a’course.”
Silas felt his jaw drop as the words registered. He reached over and turned on the external monitors, slaving the cameras to the telemetry data so he could focus in on the piece of sky where the Firefly was supposed to be.
He needn’t have bothered.
In the center of the monitor, less than a hundred meters above him, two balls of fire framed a spacecraft hull, holding it suspended almost directly above the center of the city. He could almost feel the heat from the engines through the screen, even though the sweat pouring down his face had nothing to do with fire — and everything to do with that Firefly.
The blood drained from his face as he realized he’d let that ship get too close to Flynt’s capital city. The fact that he had no real way to stop them wouldn’t matter to the mayor ... or the Governor. It was clear that no matter how this ended, he was going to find himself without a job.
At first, that bothered him more than the thought of watching Hustler burn. Until he remembered he was IN Hustler, towards the top of City Hall. And if she started from the highest point and moved downward ... well, that focused his attention.
“Maybe you should get your head honcho on the line,” the woman continued, still smiling, “before I decide to cut altitude and set fire to that big damned department store across the street. Be an awful shame to fry all that merchandise ... and all those shoppers. Don’t you think?”
Silas’s hand reached for the phone before his head even knew he was reaching.
Serenity’s second shuttle had separated from the main ship as the Firefly had passed over City Hall on its way to the center of Hustler. The small ship landed so quickly that it was barely in the air for a full second before touching down lightly in the center of the air car circle.
Sean Barris, the young police officer in charge of the landing area, didn’t even see it leave the Firefly. He just saw it land in a restricted zone without clearance, and marched out to the landing pad intending to cite the people responsible before ordering them to clear the pad.
He reached the door of the shuttle just in time for its door to open and reveal a dark-haired man in an Osiris-tailored business suit, his eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. A young woman stood behind him, also in business attire, but her submissive posture and the silver collar around her neck made it plain she was just as much a slave as every other woman on Flynt.
“You can’t park that here!” The officer pointed at the shuttle. The new arrival held up one hand, gesturing for silence. When he raised the other hand, it held an Alliance ident badge, identifying him as Lawrence Dobson, special agent.
“Let me ask you something,” the man said, his voice as calm as a frozen lake. “Officer ...?”
“Barris.”
“Officer Barris.” The man nodded, and put his ID away. “If you’ll look behind me, you’ll see a Firefly-class transport hell-bent on setting fire to your capital city. Your planetary governor made the mind-bogglingly stupid mistake of luring that ship to this moon — a moon the rest of the Verse doesn’t even believe exists, mainly because we didn’t want anyone to know it was here.”
“So the Alliance spent billions of credits to equip and hide this moon specifically to conduct highly classified, need-to-know research, and now that research is about to be burned to the ground by a ship full of women who want their men back, or else — and all because Hugh Aubrey wanted some pretty new slave girls to play with, and didn’t want to wait for the next Alliance ship to bring him some.”
He straightened his shoulders, and stared at the officer. “Now, here’s that question I was going to ask you, son, so pay attention. We’re in the midst of a planet-wide emergency, with the city in danger, lives on the line, and only minutes left before your capital starts to burn — and you want me, the only Alliance agent on the planet with a hope in Hell of stopping this massacre, to drop everything, get back in my ship ... and find another place to PARK?”
Officer Barris looked past the man at the Firefly a few blocks over, its engines cooking the tar on the roofs of the buildings below it. Then he looked back at the man.
“Sorry, Agent Dobson,” he said, snapping to attention. “What are your orders?”
“Let’s start by having a little talk with Governor Aubrey about what the words ‘operational security’ really mean,” the agent replied. “Maybe we can still salvage this mess if he hasn’t done something really stupid, like kill his hostages.”
“Yes, sir.” The two men and one woman walked back to the doors leading down into the building, completely oblivious to the two women who waited just inside the shuttle, watching them leave.
Zoe stood clear of the doorway and looked at Inara. Her hair had been lengthened to reach just above her hips and colored to a honey blonde, and her eyes were now bright green. She wore nothing but a silver collar, a smile, and a pair of silver four-inch heels.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” The first mate asked, her voice muffled by the breathing mask she wore. Inara nodded.
“We need the other shuttle for the rest of the plan to work,” the Companion replied, “and Kaylee can’t rig a remote control from the ship. So somebody has to go down and fly it while River and Simon are rescuing Mal and Jayne. Since I’m immune to the Pax, that somebody has to be me.”
Zoe put her hand on the other woman’s arm. Inara smiled. “I’ll be fine, really, Zoe. Just a short walk to the docks, over to the shuttle, then fly away. As Mal would say, ‘easy peasy.’”
“Ain’t nothing easy about walking to the dock in those heels,” Zoe smiled and shook her head. “Sensors say the roof is empty, and you’re clear at least three levels down before you’re gonna meet anybody. Good luck, ‘Nara. Anything happens, you know we won’t leave without you.”
“I know.” The Companion walked to the door, turned and gave a wave, and was gone.
Pressing the plate that closed the shuttle door, Zoe slipped into the pilot’s seat and watched Inara on the external monitor as she cat-walked across the landing pad to the stairs leading down. Once she was sure the other woman was on her way, she began bringing the ship as close to being fired up as she dared without actually tipping anyone who might come by that someone was still aboard.
“You really should consider joining us on Flynt, Captain Reynolds.” Aubrey leaned back in his chair and looked at his two prisoners. “It’s a man’s paradise.”
“Depends on the man,” Mal replied, “and what he thinks is paradise.”
“What could be better than a world where women do whatever a man wants?”
The captain grinned. “A world where a woman does what she wants — and decides to please a man because she wants to.”
Aubrey looked at Mal in disbelief for a moment, then shook his head and turned to Jayne.
“What about you, Mr. Cobb? There’s always a place for a man of your talents here.”
“Wrong fella to ask, I’m thinkin’,” Jayne replied, giving the Governor a smirk. “Hell, I only just figgered out a few weeks ago that a woman who wants me because I’m me is a hell of a lot better than a doxy who only wants me for my coin.”
“But the women here on Flynt are dedicated to your happiness,” Aubrey insisted, leaning forward in his chair. “You don’t have to lift a finger to get them to want you.”
“Yeah, but some things are worth workin’ for, sah gwah. Some women, too, I reckon.” Jayne shrugged. “You like women who don’t say no. I just finished learnin’ I like the chase almost as much as I like catchin’ them. And I got someone I’m chasin’ right now. Somebody I love.”
Mal shot him a look, but the other man ignored it and kept looking at Aubrey. “So you keep your ‘paradise,’ mister. There ain’t nothin’ here for me.”
The intercom buzzed.
“Governor Aubrey?” The voice on the other end of the line shook a little. “This is air traffic control. There’s a Firefly transport hovering over the center of town, threatening to burn down the city. They want to talk to you about getting their men back.”
Aubrey stared at the intercom, then looked up at Mal. The captain shrugged.
“That would be my crew, I expect. Sounds like you’re at the mercy of a bunch of women who really like doin’ what they want.” Mal smiled. “Maybe you’d best tend to that before they turn your capital to smoke and ash.”
The Governor licked his lips and looked back at the intercom.
“Put them through,” he said. There was a click. “This is Governor Aubrey.”
“Well, hello, Governor!” The voice that came through the tinny speaker was cheerful and undeniably female. “So glad you could take the time out of your busy schedule to take my call, what with your city bein’ only a few inches from bein’ char-broiled and all.”
“What do you want?”
“Oh, some strawberries would be nice, maybe with a bit of ice cream on the side.” Aubrey could almost hear her smile. “But what we’d REALLY like is the captain and Jayne back, and sooner rather than later. Otherwise you’ll get to see what the engines on an unarmed transport can really do.”
“Maybe you should take your ship back into orbit,” Aubrey said, trying to sound in control. “Or I’ll kill them both.”
“And maybe you should think a while before you make a threat like that,” the woman replied, her voice taking on an unmistakable edge. “’Cause if anything happens to them, there ain’t gonna be nothing stopping us from flying across this little moon and frying every town we come across, startin’ with this one, until we run out of cities ... or fuel.”
“Don’t push me, girl,” the Governor growled. “Back off now, or we’ll blow you out of the sky!”
“With what, Mister Aubrey? As far as our sensors can tell, there ain’t anything on this moon bigger than a huntin’ rifle, and all that would do is scratch our paint and make me mad ... well, madder than I am now. If there was somethin’ bigger, you woulda used it already. So there ain’t.”
The voice took on a teasing tone. “Who woulda thought the Alliance woulda left you bare-assed naked when it came to defendin’ your own selves, just because they thought no one would know you were here? If only they had left you a few missile-launchers, maybe ... or a garrison of fine Alliance troops just to keep you all safe. But no — you’ve got nothing that can stop us. Nothing at all. And that’s why one little ol’ Firefly can come along and take it all away ... unless you give us back our men and let us be on our merry. Donh-mah?
As they approached the door to the Governor’s office, the Alliance agent stopped.
“River.” He spoke with an unmistakable air of command. “I need you to keep an eye on the location of the Firefly. Go to air traffic control and contact me when you know something.”
“Yes, Master.” The young girl threw a smirk at her brother behind the police officer’s back before spinning and gliding down the hallway. The officer in question looked at the agent curiously, and ‘Dobson’ looked back and smiled.
“Not to worry, son,” he said. “She knows her place, like all the women on Flynt. She’ll do her job, and that’ll help me do mine, right?” Barris nodded, and the agent smiled. “Good man. Now let’s head on in and see about saving your city.”
He reached for the doorknob.
“You can’t kill everyone on Flynt for two men!” Aubrey rose to his feet, his voice rising with the rest of him. “That’s insane!”
“Well, maybe it’s that time of the month, mister Governor sir,” the voice replied, shifting to a harder edge. “You know how moody and outta sorts a girl can get — especially when she’s not bein’ brain-burned by that gos se you’re pourin’ into the air down there.”
“You know about that?”
She laughed, and Aubrey felt the blood drain from his face. “You think a woman would want to be your slave ‘cause it’s fun? You got to be doin’ something to make ‘em obey. We just didn’t know what it was for sure ... until you told us just now.”
Aubrey fell back into his chair, stunned that he’d given away Flynt’s secret so easily.
‘How did this go so wrong so fast?’ he thought. ‘And how can I fix it before it gets any worse?’
“So let’s talk about how we get our boys back,” the voice continued, “so we can get on with our lives and you can go back to being a slave-mongering lecherous hump who thinks he’s God.”
The door swung open and everyone turned to see two men standing in the doorway. The tall one in a business suit put his finger to his lips as he walked across the room, holding his ID up where Aubrey could see it. He pointed to the intercom and watched as Aubrey punched the mute button.
“Who the hell are you?” the Governor said, and the agent gave him a look that Mal recognized as being a male version of the one River used when she thought you were being stupid.
“Lawrence Dobson, Alliance operative,” he growled. “I’m the man who’s going to save your sorry ass, Aubrey, along with everyone else on this rock. After all you’ve done to screw up an operation it took us years to set up, you’re lucky the Alliance left somebody behind who knows what the hell he’s doing, instead of trusting you to keep things nice and quiet — like you were SUPPOSED to.”
The agent turned to the officer he’d brought with him.
“Get these men up to the roof and wait for me there,” he said. “I’ll be up in a minute.”
Barris saluted, and Mal and Jayne stood up. ‘Dobson ‘ looked at both men.
“Just go with him, both of you, and you’ll soon be back on your ship. Try anything else, and everyone loses, yes?”
The captain and the mercenary looked at each other, and back at the agent.
“Whatever you say, ‘Lawrence,’” Jayne said with a smirk. “We’ll just wait up on the roof, right, Cap’n?”
“Oh, absolutely,” Mal replied, the corners of his lips twitching just a bit. “Needin’ a bit of fresh air anyway.”
The two walked to the door and straight through it. The officer gave the agent a look and followed behind them, one hand on his gun still in its holster. He shut the door behind him, and ‘Dobson’ looked back at the Governor in disgust.
“I’d ask you what the hell you were thinking when you brought this man and his gorram ship to a top-secret installation, but I just don’t have the time — even though I suspect your answer would be, ‘thinking? I’m supposed to think first?’”
Aubrey’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. The agent nodded. “That’s about the level of intelligent discourse I’d expect from you, after deliberately bringing a known Independent sympathizer and his crew here.”
“Known Independent?”
“He was a Browncoat, Aubrey! Sergeant in the war, fought at Serenity Valley. I know you knew that — I’ve read your mail, and watched your conversations with that idiot Berenger — and yet, even though you knew he was an enemy of the Alliance, you lured him here anyway. Now he knows about Flynt — and if he knows, others will, too!” ‘Dobson’ shook his head. “I can’t let him leave, but I can’t let them burn the planet, either. So I get to clean up your mess.”
The Governor cleared his throat.
“What ... what do you want me to do?” The agent pointed at the intercom.
“Tell them they win,” he said with a grimace. “Then tell ‘em to send a shuttle to the roof to pick up their men. I’ve got a magnetic mine placed on the center of the pad, disguised as part of the landing pad’s navigation array. They’ll land right on top of it, and the mine will attach itself to the bottom of the shuttle. Then they’ll fly back to their ship, and I’ll wait until they’re far enough away before I set it off.”
“Why wait?” Mayor Danbury spoke for the first time, and the agent gave him a withering stare.
“Because I’m trying to save the city, you idiot. Blowing up that Firefly over Hustler will start the very fire we’re trying to avoid. Am I the only person in this room who can think?”
‘Dobson’ turned his attention back to Aubrey. “Tell ‘em they win and get that shuttle down here, now. Let’s finish this thing.”
Inara Serra didn’t care about being naked and collared on a world full of people who wanted to see her dead. She just wanted to make sure her part of the getaway plan went smooth.
She was surprised no one had stopped her. Not leaving the police station, not walking through the center of town, not even when she’d reached the docks. It was like being invisible. Women mattered so little on this planet that even being stark naked barely managed to catch the interest of men who had their own sex slaves to look at.
Inara almost found herself a little upset at how little attention she was getting, until she realized that a woman about to steal a small spaceship from the center of a crowded city really should prefer being unnoticed. She shook her head and focused on her mission.
The clicking of her heels as she walked down the line of empty bays echoed on the walls of the dispatch office, and as she approached the shuttle, she heard a door open behind her.
Justin Hammer, Flynt’s dockmaster, was sitting at his desk when he heard something echoing out on the docks. He switched on the monitors just in time to see a lone girl walking down the line.
‘What the hell is she doing here?’ he asked himself, then rose and walked over to his office door. She was just passing by as he opened it.
“You! Girl!” His voice stopped her in her tracks, and she turned, eyes down.
She stopped and turned, eyes down. “Yes, Master?”
“What’re you doing here?”
“I was sent to deliver a message to dockmaster Hammer.”
Hammer nodded. “I’m him. What’s the message?”
“Governor Aubrey wants you immediately.”
“Well, now,” Hammer said, thoughtfully. “That’s strange. Why not just comm me?”
“He said something about not causing a panic, Master.” The girl stayed still. Hammer’s eyes narrowed, and then he looked up to see the Firefly hovering over the city. He nodded again.
“The bitches on that transport are trying something, and he doesn’t want to broadcast anything where someone would overhear.”
“This girl does not know.” There was a slight pause. “My Master wishes you to take the Firefly’s shuttle to City Hall and land on the roof, Master.”
“Why?”
She shrugged, her eyes still down. “This girl does not know,” she repeated. “She does what she is told, and Master wanted her to tell you to take the shuttle.”
Hammer eyed her from the doorway to his office, and sighed.
“I’m going to have to check in with the Governor on this,” he said. “Come in here while I make the call.”
“Yes, Master.” The girl strutted forward, and as the dockmaster watched her walk towards him, he thought maybe he could have a bit of fun with her before sending her back to the Governor.
As she walked through the door, Hammer’s hand reached over and cupped a breast, giving it a small squeeze. The girl smiled at him happily, then took his hand and twisted it hard, pinching it in such a way that the pain shot up through his arm and took him totally by surprise. He gave a strangled cry.
“Oh, am I hurting you, Master?” She smiled and gave his arm an extra twist. “Let me put you out of your misery.”
She slipped her leg behind his and pushed him hard. As Hammer fell, Inara kicked him in the head, and by the time he reached the ground, he was mercifully unconscious.
The Companion stripped off the man’s shirt and tied his arms with it, then dragged his body into a closet and left it there.
‘Zoe was right,’ she thought with a smile as she walked out the office and headed for the shuttle once more. ‘The hardest thing about this job was walking here in those heels.’
Kaylee shut down the main comm, smiling like she’d just won a million creds.
“That was so shiny! He up and folded like a busted parasol, just like River said he would.” She looked over at the pilot. Linda’s arms were shaking, and sweat was slowly trickling down the sides of her face. “Oh, honey! You look beat. Can I take over for you?”
“Nice thought,” Linda replied, sparing the mechanic a quick smile even as her voice betrayed her fatigue. “But you can’t. If I let go of the stick even for a second, bad things will happen.”
“I could turn on the autopilot ...” Kaylee’s hand strayed towards the button.
“NO!” Her strangled yell froze the mechanic’s finger an inch from the button. She looked at Linda, eyes wide, and the pilot sighed.
“I’m sorry, Kaylee, but we can’t. The autopilot’s fine for out in the black with nothing but vacuum to bump into. But this close to dirt, surrounded by buildings with changing winds and balanced on the big engines, Serenity needs someone at the controls who can keep her steady — a human pilot. That means me. I need to keep her balanced every second, and that’s ... hard. So let’s just hope they get back here quickly.”
Wash focused on flying, and finished her thought in the privacy of her own head.
‘Otherwise there might not be a ship for everybody to come back to.’
Simon walked across the landing pad towards the waiting shuttle. Playing “Bucky Batson, Alliance super-spy” was starting to get tiring, and he was looking forward to being back on Serenity — and being Simon Tam once more.
‘Still a few more minutes to play before the curtain goes down,’ he thought, and straightened his shoulders.
Mal and Jayne stood on the landing pad, looking like they were waiting for a bus. Barris stood beside them, staring at them both with his hand still resting on the butt of his gun.
“Stand down, son,” he said, and the officer took a step back and let his hand slide off the gun. Simon held out Mal’s revolver and Jayne’s pair of Enforcers.
“Here are your weapons. I’ll keep the ammo. Just take ‘em, get in your shuttle when it comes, and go.”
There was a muted whine from the side of the building, and a second shuttle rose up next to the roof, its hatch opening. Mal and Jayne looked at each other and ran for the door, diving in headfirst. The door slid shut, and the shuttle turned and headed for the Firefly.
There was the sound of heels clacking on the permacrete rooftop, and River fairly flew across the landing pad towards her brother. The door to the shuttle still on the pad slid open, and she ran through it. Simon turned to the officer and put his hand on the younger man’s shoulder.
“We’ve got to follow that shuttle,” he said. “After it docks with the transport, we’ll follow it until it gets far enough away, then we’ll detonate the bomb it’s carrying and end the threat to the city. We may not make it back. If we don’t ... well, thanks for your cooperation, son. The Alliance won’t forget your help.”
He slipped on his sunglasses, threw the boy a smile, and jumped into the shuttle. It rose almost immediately and headed after the first shuttle, chasing both ships away from the city and over the horizon.
Officer Barris watched them as they flew away, and eventually saw a bright flash that lit up the sky where the ships had vanished.
The Firefly and all its crew were gone.
“Full burn in atmo!” Kaylee danced around the cockpit. “Damn, girl, that was somethin’! Lit up the sky for miles around. Musta looked like we blew up into a million tiny bits of Firefly.”
“I think that was the idea,” Linda said, her voice faint. “Now that everyone’s back on board and we’ve got some space ‘tween us and the dirt ... could you take over for a while, Kaylee? I think I need to take a little break ...”
She just managed to turn on the autopilot before everything went black.
Wash opened her eyes to find herself staring up at the ceiling in sick bay.
“You gave us quite a scare, Linda.” Simon moved into view and shined a bright light into her eyes, one at a time. She winced. “Nobody realized how hard that was going to be on you — keeping the ship steady that long so close to the ground.”
The pilot shrugged, then winced. Her shoulders felt like there were icepicks embedded in them “That was my job. Got to do my part, no matter how hard it was.”
Simon moved the light away and looked down at her.
“Maybe, but it didn’t have to be as hard as you made it, did it?” Wash looked up at him, confused. The doctor sighed.
“I’m not a pilot, but I know you could have taken the ship up a bit once the threat was established,” he said. “You could have given yourself more space, made it easier for a while before coming back down to threaten the city again. Right?”
Wash shook her head. Even that hurt. “That would have burned more fuel, and I needed to save everything I could for the full burn in atmo at the end of the con. Besides, they needed to think what I was doing was easy. If I had to back off, they might have figured out just how hard it would have been for us to torch the entire moon one city at a time. We needed them to be scared and stay scared long enough to pull this off.”
“Maybe, but you also cut things awfully fine, and hurt yourself in the process.” The doctor sighed. “Linda, you wouldn’t have fainted if it hadn’t been too much for you. You pushed hard and now you’re paying the price. I’m taking you off of flight duty for twenty four hours, starting now, and you’re going to be pretty sore for a while even after that.”
She lowered her head and closed her eyes. “Okay, Simon. I give. I’ll be good.”
Simon looked at her for a moment, then leaned forward. “You did great up there, Linda. No question about it. But you don’t need to prove anything, you know. You’re crew. You’re family. And you sure don’t have to try and out-macho Mal or Jayne. Or even Zoe — as if anyone could.”
“Says Agent Dobson, Alliance operative!” She opened her eyes and threw him a grin. “From the idle chatter I heard over the comms before I passed out, you did pretty well at being all take charge and everything.”
“I did what I had to, to make the plan work.”
“So did I,” Wash replied, reaching out and touching his arm. “I’ll be more careful from now on, okay? Even though I don’t think we’ll need to try that same stunt again anytime soon.”
“I hope not.” The doctor grinned. “I’ll be happy to retire Agent Dobson and go back to practicin’ medicine.”
“Looks to me like you can stop practicin’, Doc.” A voice came from the doorway, and both of them turned to see Jayne standing there, grinning. “Seems like you’re doing just fine takin’ care of Linda.”
Simon smiled. “That joke is so old, they were groaning at it back when we left Earth That Was behind.”
Jayne’s face went blank. “Joke?”
The doctor looked at Linda, then looked back at the mercenary and shook his head.
“Never mind,” he said, stifling a grin. “I think you and Linda have some things to talk about, so I’m going to leave you alone for a bit. Get a little more rest, and then we can move you to your bunk, all right?”
Wash gave Simon a small smile and nodded once before looking down. The doctor turned and walked out the door, leaving the two of them alone for the first time since the rescue.
“Hey.” Jayne spoke first, and Linda looked up into his eyes and smiled.
“Hey,” she replied. “Thank you for coming back alive.”
He smiled, just a little, but his voice was serious. “Thanks for, uh ... caring, I guess. I don’t think I ever had anybody who did, before.”
She nodded. “I do. Care, I mean. A lot.” She held out her hand, and Jayne moved forward to take it. His hand was hot and rough in hers, and Wash felt a flash of ... something, deep inside. It rolled through her, warmed her inside with promises of something more, just out of reach. And for once she just let it. She didn’t push back, she didn’t second-guess it. She just let it happen, because it felt good, and right, and at that moment, a little bit more of Linda and Wash came together as one.
Wash — and Linda — looked up into his eyes.
“In your message, you said you loved me, even though you’ve never felt this way about anyone before,” she said softly. “But when I heard you ... when I looked into your eyes, I could feel it. It touched a part of me that made me see ... that I love you too.”
His eyes opened just a little wider, and his hand squeezed hers.
“Because you trusted me, Jayne.” Her voice became almost a whisper. “You’ve always been so tough, so hard. Never letting anyone in. But this time, you took a chance. You opened yourself to me ... let down your walls, showed me how you felt, and trusted me not to hurt you. You trusted me. You must really love me to trust me enough to let me in — and I realized I love you because you loved me enough to take that chance, even though you couldn’t know how it would end.”
“There wasn’t nothin’ else I could do.” Jayne’s voice was rough with emotion. “I didn’t even want to think about what life’d be like without you in it, that’s how scared I was. But if I didn’t get the nerve to tell ya how I felt, I’d never know if you felt the same. And I really needed to know.”
“Well, now you do.” Linda brought his hand to her lips and kissed it softly. “I’m not sure what the future is going to bring for either of us. You’ve never loved anyone before, and I ... well, I had someone I loved once, in another life. I gave that someone my heart, and it was wonderful — but it ended too soon, and there’s no way I can ever bring it back.”
She stared up into his eyes, seeing him become very still, wondering what she would say next. Then she smiled.
“But I can honestly say that I have never loved another man the way that I love you. And a girl would have to be pretty stupid to run away from love ... especially when the man you love loves you back so deep, he’d put his heart on the line just to hear you say it.”
Wash-and-Linda took a deep breath, and reached up with her free hand to touch his cheek.
“I love you, Jayne Cobb,” she said.
His eyes lit up, and his smile was full of happiness. The pilot felt the same happiness filled her soul as well, and Wash finally embraced who she was and who she would be at last.
And when he leaned forward to kiss her, she raised her face to his and kissed him back.
A lot.
Simon stood out in the corridor, giving the pair some privacy. From the silence, it seemed they’d come to some kind of decision, and he hoped that both of them would wind up happy, and together.
“They have, and they will,” a voice behind him said happily, and he turned to see River dropping down from the ductwork above.
“Kaylee’s right, you know,” he said with a smile. “You’re going to get yourself electrocuted if you keep that up.”
She smiled back and shook her head. “Never gonna happen.”
“Why not?”
River shrugged. “Serenity likes me.”
She danced her way across the compartment into the passenger lounge, with Simon not far behind. He walked over and sat down on the threadbare sofa, watching his sister moving around the room to music only she could hear.
“Are you telling me the ship is sentient, now?”
“I don’t know whether she thinks or not,” she replied with grin, dropping down beside him. “But she sure talks to Kaylee a lot, and I don’t think she’d love Serenity so much if the ship were as dumb as a post. Although come to think of it, she does love you, so maybe I’m wrong ...”
Simon faked outrage, then reached out and tickled River. She wiggled around giggling until she managed to roll away from her brother’s fingers, even though both of them knew she could have easily moved away long before his fingers could reach her.
“You just be careful, Simon Tam,” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “Remember, I can kill you with my brain.”
“Maybe so,” he replied, leaning back on the sofa. “But I’m not too worried. You are my sister, after all.”
“More’s the pity.” River sighed, feigning disappointment. “I really have been wanting to try out that whole killing people with my brain thing.”
She curled up on the sofa next to him, a small smile twitching at the corners of her lips.
“I wish we could have done something about Flynt,” Simon said. “I know we’re not here to police the Verse, and yes, we were lucky to get out of there with everyone on board and the ship intact. But still ... after all that, we left the moon with only what we came with — and half the population still enslaved.”
There was silence for a moment, and he turned to find River’s smile had shifted to become something more appropriate for a Cheshire Cat then a little sister.
“Well, we did leave empty-handed,” she said cheerfully, “but only because after you sent me off to erase us from all from the central database, I found an empty terminal and used the Cortex to transfer a nice chunk of the planetary treasury and all of Governor Aubrey’s off-world holdings to a numbered account on Osiris. So technically, we’re not actually holding onto the coin at the moment, but it’ll be waiting for us when we need it.”
Simon stared at her, almost too shocked to speak. “You stole ...?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t steal anything. What is it Mal said to Patience on Whitefall? 'I do the job, and I get paid.' Think of it as payment in full for all the trouble they gave us, just for trying to do our job. And yes, I wiped all the records of the transaction — not that anyone there will be in a position to wonder where the money went. Not anymore. I know Aubrey won’t be needing it.”
River stood up and rolled into a handstand, balancing on the back of the sofa.
“And yes, technically half the population of Flynt is currently enslaved.” She spoke without a hint of strain entering her voice. “But we both know that G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate is a complex chemical compound, full of all sorts of enzyme interactions and RNA recoding processes that can turn on themselves without warning. What happened with the Reavers proved that.”
River rolled forward off the sofa and landed on her feet. She turned her head and looked at Simon over her shoulder, still grinning. “Since formulations on complex compounds tend to get a bit ... wonky after a few years, sometimes odd things happen. Especially when a clever girl finds her way to the environmental processing controls and starts wandering through the systems.”
Her brother stared at her, his thoughts racing.
“Oh, please,” she said, reading his mind. “What’s good for the gander is better for the goose, Simon. Just a minute ago, you were complaining about us not being able to fix things on Flynt before we had to go. Well, I did my best. For a while, the slaves will be the masters. And when the Alliance shows up, they’ll find their grand mind-control experiment in ruins, with the formula apparently intact. With any luck, they’ll think it’s another flawed attempt, like Miranda and the Reavers, and drop the whole idea before they realize it actually succeeded.”
“You forgot one thing, lil’ Albatross. The Alliance would just as soon fry that little moon from orbit ‘stead of lettin’ ‘folks free to tell the Verse what they were up to.” Simon and River turned to find Mal standing in the doorway with Inara at his side. “Of course, the anonymous tips I sent to the newsies will make sure they get to Flynt long before the Alliance does. Hard to kill thousands of folks with cameras watchin’, I’m thinkin’. Reckon I learned somethin’ from Miranda after all.”
River grinned. “I reckon you did, too.”
She tilted her head, almost as if she was listening to something, then looked back at Mal.
“Please excuse me. I need to make a few calls before we’re out of range.”
Without missing a beat, she leaped upward and slipped into the ductwork above the lounge. She stuck her head down and looked at Mal.
“See, Captain? Sometimes a plan really does go smooth!”
The girl pulled her head back up and disappeared.
“I guess she and I got differing ideas of what smooth means,” he said slowly, staring up at where her face had been. “Still I remember Wash sayin’ somethin’ once about any landin’ you can walk away from being a good one, and right now we seem to be walkin’ away just fine.”
Mal turned to Simon, a half-smile on his face.
“In fact, didn’t I hear somethin’ about a great big stack of creds waitin’ for us on Osiris?”
Hugh Aubrey sat in his office, pretty much numb.
At first, after the Firefly had exploded (and apparently taken that Alliance agent along with it), he had worried about what his Alliance contacts would say about his little “adventure” with Captain Reynolds and his crew. But if Dobson had managed to get a report back to his superiors, Aubrey was going to wind up in a prison cell on some backwater moon for violating security on a top-secret project. At the very least, he’d be out of a job.
But after an hour or two, Aubrey had started feeling ... empty. As if he didn’t know what to do next, or didn’t care. It was as if the part of him that made decisions had decided to take a vacation for a while. And that suited Aubrey just fine, since he was pretty sure the last few decisions he’d made didn’t turn out so well after all.
The viewscreen on his desk lit up with the picture of a pretty young girl. Her eyes caught his and held them, and he just knew he had to listen to whatever she had to say — that it was going to be very important.
“Hey, there, Mister Governor, sir. You and all your friends need to forget all about me and my friends on the Firefly. After all, do you really want to remember how badly you messed up?”
Aubrey shook his head, and the girl smiled. “Good boy. I’ve already taken all of the evidence we were there out of the database, so you don’t need to worry your pretty head about that.”
“Thank you.” Aubrey’s voice was rough, and the girl’s eyes flashed.
“Did I tell you to speak?” Her anger poured through the screen, and Aubrey flinched and looked away.
“No, ma’am.”
“Then don’t. If I ask you a question, the correct response is yes, Mistress or no, Mistress. Understand?”
The former Governor swallowed once, suddenly afraid of the girl and her anger. He felt tears begin to form in the corners of his eyes.
“Yes, Mistress.”
She smiled at him. “Good boy.”
The smile washed over him and through him, and his eyes closed as a wave of happiness flowed through him from head to toe. He had pleased her! So much happiness from something so simple! He had to do it again.
“I’m going to leave and call all your friends, now, and when I’m gone you’ll forget all about me and mine.” From that blissful high, Aubrey felt his spirits drop to the floor. His tears began to fall, and his lower lip began to quiver. But he couldn’t say anything. She had forbidden him to speak.
She saw it, though, the goddess on the screen. She looked into his eyes and sighed.
“Don’t worry, boy. You won’t be alone for long. I’ll send a new Mistress to look after you.” His whole body shuddered with relief. “But you want to show her what a good boy you are, right from the start. So why don't you just take off all those uncomfortable clothes and kneel by the door with your head bowed and your hands behind you? She’ll be along shortly, and of course you’ll do whatever she tells you, won’t you?”
“Yes, Mistress.” She smiled again, and his heart flew towards the sky. He’d pleased her again!
“You get ready for her, then. And remember ... we were never here.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
The screen went dark, and Aubrey stood up quickly, knocking his chair back in his haste to get his clothes off as quickly as possible.
His new Mistress could be here anytime, and he knew ... just knew ... he had to be ready.
He just hoped he could be waiting by the door when she arrived. If the first thing she did was frown, he didn’t know what he would do to make it right.
But he did know she’d tell him, in time.
Hope you enjoyed this latest adventure, folks. I'm going to work on some other projects for a while, but the crew of Serenity will be back in action soon enough, don't you fret. *grin* Thanks so much for reading! -- Randalynn
This is a fan fiction set in the Firefly/Serenity universe created by Joss Whedon. It takes place after the events in the television series and the companion motion picture that followed, and is also the first part of a sequel to Firefly: Double Booked, which was in turn a sequel to Firefly: Connecting Flight. This means it has SPOILERS, folks, and major ones at that. So please don't read this unless you get the chance to see the series and the movie -- and read my first two Firefly stories.
In the first part of FIREFLY: CHANGING COURSE, Wash thinks about where she came from and what she's going to do now, and gets advice from an unexpected source.
Wash sat in the pilot’s chair, the one place where thinking had always come easily. That part of who she was hadn’t changed, unlike most of the rest of her. Still, a lot had changed since the untimely death of the man she used to be in that very same chair, and her unusual resurrection in the pleasingly-shaped and quite female body of Linda Rachel Wehr, the woman who replaced him as Serenity’s pilot.
Of course, she wasn’t actually on flight duty at the moment. After she had pushed herself so hard keeping the ship in the air during a rescue attempt a few hours back, she wound up fainting at the controls. The ship’s Doctor had forbidden her to fly for 24 hours, or anything else particularly strenuous. Keeping her out of the cockpit for a day wasn’t really a problem, though. When Serenity was out in the Black, between the planets and moons that made up the system, she could usually find her way without help.
So Wash wasn’t really flying, just curled up in the chair, her chair, staring out at the stars. And thinking. About Jayne.
‘I told him I loved him,’ she thought, still a little amazed at both her declaration and the fact that she actually DID love him. ‘And I kissed him and he touched me and ... sometime soon I’m going to climb into bed with him and I can’t believe I’m looking forward to that, too. I mean, Jayne? I thought the Verse was strange with the geese juggling and all, but seriously ... me ... and Jayne?’
She smiled just a little, thinking about the conversation she wasn’t supposed to have heard between Simon and Jayne.
“Oh, come on, Doc,” the mercenary said, doing his best to keep his voice down with Linda in the next room. “It ain’t like I’m gonna be chasin’ her around the ship or nothin’. We’re gonna be in my bunk ... or her bunk ... or somewhere else ... oh, hell, I don’t know, but I ain’t gonna hurt her. I’d never hurt her. You know that!”
Simon looked at Jayne, and he could see how being this close to actually being with Linda was ripping him up inside. Still, she’d just burned through so much energy hovering over Hustler, it was a wonder she was awake now at all. As much as he understood how Jayne was feeling, his patient always came first.
“Jayne ... I know you just want to be with her, and make her happy,” he said softly. “But she’s been through a lot, and she’s weaker than she should be.” Simon leaned forward. “If you two ... get together tonight, Linda is going to crash so hard afterwards that she’ll be back in my care before morning. Do you really want your first time together to wind up keeping her in bed a few more days ... without you?”
Jayne looked down and shook his head. “You know I don’t.”
“Okay, then.” The doctor said. He put his hand on Jayne’s shoulder, and the other man looked up. “It’s just for one night. She needs rest more than anything else. And tomorrow, I’ll examine her again, and certify her fit for light duty ... along with any other after-hours activities she might want to engage in. All right?”
The mercenary nodded, then sighed. “I reckon it’ll have to be. You’re sure she’ll be okay?”
Simon smiled. “A little sore in the shoulders, but nothing a little massage therapy couldn’t fix. Linda would like that.”
“Massage?”
“Yes, massage. Muscle manipulation.”
“I know what a massage is, Doc,” Jayne growled, then looked away, his face red. “If she needs it, I’ll do it. I just ain’t never done it to anybody before, so I don’t know what all I’m supposed to do.”
Inside, the doctor sighed, but he knew this was all unfamiliar territory for Jayne. “Go see Inara, and she’ll teach you a few things to get you started. For now, go kiss her goodnight and tell her you’ll see her in the morning. Dohn-ma?”
“Dohn-ma.” Jayne looked back through the window, and saw Linda watching them. She smiled, and he smiled back before a thought occurred to him. “She ... uh, she can’t hear us out here, can she?”
Simon shook his head. “Doubtful. Med bay is pretty well insulated sound-wise.”
“Okay, then. She and I, we danced this long. I reckon we can hold off ‘til it’s right.” He said, almost to himself. “Got to take care of her. Gotta keep her safe.”
She couldn’t hear that last part, but she could read his lips through the glass. And remembering what he said hours later, after she’d slept a while, made her smile all over again.
‘I can’t believe the idea of him taking care of me makes me feel so ... special.’ She shook her head and looked down at her body. ‘Okay, granted ... I’m not the me I used to be, but still ...’
“You’re disobeying Doctor’s orders, you know.”
Zoe spoke from the doorway, and her voice had that little deep-throated purr that used to drive Wash wild in the middle of the night. The pilot looked back over her shoulder, saw the first mate’s smile, and shook her head.
“Ma’am, no Ma’am,” she replied, answering Zoe’s smile with one of her own. “I may be good, but even I’m not good enough to fly this ship without touching the wheel.”
“Still, shouldn’t you be in med bay?” Zoe was in a long silk bathrobe Wash had given her as a gift after a particularly successful job. The pilot was happy to see her wearing it.
I’m supposed to rest.” Linda shrugged. “Here’s as good a place as med bay. Better, because ... well, it’s my place. You know?”
The first mate took a step onto the flight deck before she stopped and cocked her head.
“May I join you?”
“Of course!” Linda waved a hand towards the second seat. “Glad for the company.”
“Ah, I see,” Zoe said, moving to the co-pilot’s chair and settling in with a sigh. “Is that why you’ve been sitting here all alone? Because you know this is the most highly-traveled part of the ship in the middle of the night, and you were waiting for someone to come along and say hi?”
“Something like that.” Linda hugged her knees and stared out into the Black. “I had some thinking to do, and for me, this has always been the best place to think. After all, when you’re surrounded by the Verse, you tend to put things in perspective.”
“My husband used to say much the same thing.” Zoe looked out at the stars. “Hard to see any problem as too big to solve against a backdrop like that.”
She looked back at Linda. “Let me guess ... Jayne?”
The pilot shook her head slightly and gave her ex-wife a shy smile. “Got it in one.”
Zoe smiled back. “Must admit I was surprised my own self, after how he treated you when you came on board the first time.”
Linda looked out at the stars again.
“I never expected ...” She stopped and began again. “It turns out there was so much more to him than I thought at first. I mean, I know he has a family, gods know where. He must have grown up knowing what it meant to be close to someone. But somehow he’d lost it along the way. Now suddenly, he gets it. He’s human again. He’s part of this family.”
She looked over at Zoe. “I suppose, being part of this crew, even Jayne would have to get it eventually.”
The first mate shook her head.
“Not so much,” she replied. “He was learning, but it was slow going. And letting down those walls of his was always too risky for someone who’s lived a life like the one Jayne lived. No, he did it because he finally found someone he cares about more than he cares about himself. You.”
Wash turned to look at her, thinking this was one odd conversation to be having with the woman who used to be her wife. Zoe met her eyes and she smiled, just a little.
“Love is a funny thing. When I first met my husband, I couldn’t stand him. I saw this funny little man with a big bushy moustache, wearing loud shirts and flight suits and talking a mile a minute. He could fly, not doubt about it, but for some reason, he’d run at the mouth whenever he tried to talk to me. There was something ... not right about him, and it took me a while to realize what it was.”
“He was trying to impress you, but he couldn’t figure out how.” Wash smiled slowly, remembering how frustrating it had been.
Zoe saw something in Linda’s eyes — something warm, a memory ... and a flash of something familiar. She nodded.
“I remember the first time we had a real conversation, he and I. It was the middle of the night, ship’s time, and he was sitting just where you’re sitting now, staring out at the black. I stood in the doorway and watched him for a while, and the expression on his face was priceless. I started to back away, not wanting to disturb him, and he spoke, his eyes never leaving the sky.”
“‘Where I grew up,’ he said, in a tone I’d never heard before, ‘the air was so thick above us that we could never see the sky. I’d heard about stars, of course. Seen pictures of ‘em ever since I was small. But when I got old enough, I went up on a suborbital freighter run with my uncle. When we broke atmo, the Verse appeared, and it was everything I could have wanted, hoped for ... wished for. The stars were so sharp and the spaces between so empty, I felt it all call to me like nothing had ever called to me before. That’s when I decided to be a pilot, and live out here in the black, surrounded by beauty.’”
“Then Wash turned to me, and looked into my eyes and said, ‘Then I found this ship, and I found you, and you were more beautiful than the whole Verse to me. I’ve tried so hard since I came aboard to make you see me. I don’t know what to say to make you see how I feel. But I know now that a million words won’t touch you the way I want to touch you, or show you how much I love you. So I look at the stars and the space between, and wish I could get you to look at me the same way. But I really don’t think I can.’”
“You remember all that?”
Zoe looked at Linda, and there were tears in her eyes. “Word for word. I fell in love with him right then. He stopped acting and let me see him. No more words, just emotions. And it was only a matter of time until we were married. After all, that’s what happens when someone loves you that much.”
Linda felt the tears in her own eyes begin to make their way down her cheeks.
“That’s what Jayne did,” she said softly. “He took down his walls. He handed me his heart and said, ‘I can’t stop myself from loving you. This is me. Love me or don’t, but just know I love you, and I’m not going to stop.’ When I saw that, something in me broke open, and I realized that ... that I loved him, too.”
The two women were silent, sharing the moment, then Zoe spoke.
“So what’s the problem, then?”
Wash looked over at the woman she had loved more than life itself, and let her see the confusion in her face.
“I’ve never loved a man before.” Zoe’s eyes closed, and she took a breath. Then she reached over and put her hand on Linda’s and squeezed.
“But you have loved.” It was a statement, not a question, and the pilot nodded
“There was a woman,” she whispered. “She was smart, and beautiful, and sexy, and I loved her so much. She was everything I ever wanted, and she loved me too, more than words could say. But death ripped us apart. And now here I am, months later ... and I love this ... this man. It feels so right, but at the same time it feels wrong. Part of it feels like I’m betraying her somehow. And part of it is ... I’ve never felt this way about a man before. How do I love a man? How can I?”
Zoe bowed her head, then raised it again.
“You’re not loving a man. You’re loving Jayne. That’s what love is, Linda. It’s about the person, and how you feel about them. How they make you feel, and how you make them feel. Damn, girl, how does he make you feel when he touches you?”
All the tension leaves Linda’s face, replaced by a simple joy that answers Zoe’s question without her saying a word. Zoe reaches out and touches Linda’s cheek.
“See? You do the same thing to him, when you touch him. You make him happy beyond words. You make his world complete. That’s how you love him. Just by being ... his.”
“And ... sex?”
“I’m not thinking that’s a problem, honey,” Zoe said, smiling again. “I think Jayne’s been around long enough to know what to do with a woman once she’s in his bed. And I think you’ll be able to think of things to do to make it worth his while to keep you there.”
Wash blushed and looked down, a little embarrassed about talking like this with the woman she used to keep happy, back when her bed was their bed. She noticed a kind of twitching on the mass detector. It was barely a flicker on the display, jumping back and forth a hundredth of a percent, but they were way out in the middle of the middle of the Black, and there wasn’t a planet or asteroid anywhere near them.
She watched as the ship’s course began to change, just a few hundredths of a degree off at first, but then it started increasing, and the flickering on the display became a solid indication of something nearby, even though she still couldn’t see a thing.
Letting go of Zoe’s hand, she linked the mass detector with the nav computer and let them talk about where the heck that mass reading was coming from. The nav computer said it was straight ahead, but when Wash looked, there was nothing there but black ... just a hole between stars ... black ... hole.
Black hole. She felt her insides twist, and her blood ran cold. A quantum black hole.
The best way to stay unnoticed in a crowded universe is go places other ships don’t. So it stands to reason you would run into things other folks wouldn’t, usually. Like something way too small to see that eats anything in its path and keeps on eating until there’s nothing left to eat.
And if anyone else did run into a quantum black hole out here, it would eat their ship and everything in it long before they could ever find a port.
‘Just like it will eat Serenity,’ Wash thought, ‘and everybody aboard her.’
The proximity alarm finally sounded as the black hole’s pull increased enough, but the pilot was already kicking in everything the ship had.
“Wang Ba Dan.” she swore, wrestling with the control yoke.
“What’s wrong?” The first mate tried to stand up.
“No!” Linda shouted. “Strap in. It’s a black hole.”
Zoe dropped back into the co-pilot’s chair, and buckled the harness.
“If we don’t avoid it,” the pilot said through gritted teeth, “there won’t be anything left of this ship but a memory.”
As hard as Wash flew, all she could manage was an orbital stand-off at full burn. Serenity and the black hole went around and around each other, over and over, with each orbit bringing the singularity closer and closer to touching the hull.
Her mind raced, wondering what she could possibly do to stop this from happening, but they’d never covered this in flight school —— not even in his extra lessons with Chiang.
Chiang. The man who taught him the one thing that kept them all alive when Serenity’s electronics were fried on the approach to Mr. Universe's moon.
"Consider the leaf on the wind,"he said softly. "It does not think, or feel, or believe. It simply is. It dips, it soars . . . it flies, but only as the winds and gravity command. But if the leaf could think, could feel . . . could believe . . . it could also choose not to do what nature demanded. It could soar when the wind said to dip, or drift when there is no wind at all." His eyes found Wash's and held them, and the pilot could've sworn they flashed with a green fire that came from within. "Mister Washburne, the belief of a determined individual can be stronger than all that is, if only his will is strong enough."
‘What,’ she thought with a growl, ‘I’m supposed to just change the laws of physics ... on a whim?’’
The Chiang in her memory turned to face her, and spoke.
‘Why not? I did, when you saw me floating on air when we first met. You did, too, when you saved your ship and crew on approach to that moon.’
‘In case you’ve forgotten, old man, I died on that moon!’
Chiang’s face was stern. ‘In case you’ve forgotten, young woman, this is why you’re here.’
Then the scene changed, and she remembered her conversation with Chiang in that bar on Santo, all those weeks ago, about why she needed to come back to the Verse as Linda.
'But why a she?’ Wash had asked, confused. ‘Why her? Admittedly I wasn't always a finalist in the Mister Testosterone contest, but still --"
'Because she is our only chance. Our last chance.' Chiang's voice was cool, and Wash heard something there he didn't expect. Worry. 'Because Mal has places to be, and Linda is the last candidate under consideration before he gives up for now and leaves River at the controls. And if you're not there to save them in the next few months, another chance will never come. Serenity and her crew will die in deep space, alone and unremembered -- unless you're behind the stick. Unless you are their pilot.'
Back on the flight deck, Linda’s eyes widened.
“Wuh duh ma huh tah duh fong kwong duh wai shung!” she screamed aloud. “That’s NOW?”
Panicking, she scanned the control systems, looking for something, anything that could help. But after a few seconds, she realized the measurements and the instruments themselves wouldn’t help her at all. Even the forces they measured were all firmly rooted in the here and now, in the science that humans knew and understood.
Where Chiang wanted her to go was somewhere else -- into the mystical. It was the stuff science laughed at, the concepts that couldn’t be verified by experiments or quantified by technology. He wanted Wash to accept the stuff dreams were made of — the things you took on faith.
He wanted her to do the impossible.
‘Okay, FINE,’ she thought, putting every ounce of sarcasm she could into her mental voice. ‘I’ll DO the impossible. But if this doesn’t work, Gladys, I’m never speaking to you again!’
After a few seconds, she shook her head. ‘When letting us all die starts sounding like a win-win, it’s clear I left sanity a few hundred klicks behind. Time to embrace the madness.’
“So, I can do the impossible?” Linda muttered aloud, her mind racing. “Fine. How do I make a black hole go away? If I try to run, no matter how fast I can make the ship go, it’s just going to follow us and eat Serenity from behind. Make us really dense, like neutron star dense? That would just make us more attractive to the gorram thing.”
“Wait. So if I make the ship less dense ...” She chewed her lower lip, then shook her head. “No, no, that would slow it down some, but it would still ... well, it would still know we’re here, and it wouldn’t stop coming. How can I make it just ignore us completely? Can I make Serenity ... not exist for long enough for it to ... lose interest?”
Wash suddenly realized she was waiting for a response, and almost snorted. Who was going to answer her? Chiang? As if. She knew better than to expect anything remotely like direct assistance from the ghostly guru. Still, it was the best idea she had, as totally off-the-wall as it was, and she knew that she only had seconds to make it happen.
Linda locked the wheel on auto-pilot and sat back, closing her eyes but keeping her hands on the control yoke. She reached out with her mind through her hands and touched every part of the ship, surprised at how easy it was to do. She felt that oneness every pilot feels when she and her ship have been together as long as Wash and Serenity had been. With the smallest effort, she made the connection even stronger, until she could feel the ship as if it was part of her.
At the same time, Wash could feel the concentrated pocket of emptiness that kept chasing her in ever-closing circles, and wondered just for an instant if what she was doing was suicide. Then she remembered that if she didn’t do something, they were all dead anyway.
So she focused everything she had on remembering what she had learned, and what had happened in the sky over Mr. Universe's moon, and started whispering.
“I am a leaf on the wind ... watch how I soar ...” She felt the ship start to thin around her ...
“I am a leaf on the wind ... watch how I soar ...” Her own body began to lose its mass ...
“I am a leaf on the wind ... watch how I soar ...” She started seeing the stars through the control panel and the side of the ship.
Suddenly, with a sharp flickering of everything, Serenity simply stopped –
– and ceased to be.
Wash balanced the ship’s very existence on the knife’s edge between here and gone. Hovering in the thin almost nothingness that makes up the place where Schrodinger’s cat both lives and dies, she feels an immense something that was also about the size of a grain of sand move through the cockpit at speeds beyond imagining. The Verse seemed to vibrate all around her, making a noise like a perfect chime that went on and on and on, and Wash felt the black hole tug at her consciousness as it passed through where the ship was/might have been. It almost as if Wash’s soul was the only thing for light years around that could be touched by its passing.
Which, of course, it was.
The black hole moved through and past the where-when Serenity used to inhabit, then shot off into the Black to find something else to feed its terrible hunger.
Wash sighed, and her concentration wavered just for an instant, and with another odd flicker of inexplicable otherness, the ship –
– came back.
With a few well-practiced motions, Wash slammed Serenity into a hard burn that pushed her back into her seat. She wanted to get as far away from that gorram ship-killer as she could. Almost immediately, the proximity alert went quiet, and she watched the mass detector as the black hole faded into the space behind her until it was nothing but a memory.
“Damn,” she whispered softly. “I really am a leaf on the wind.”
There was a prolonged squee from just beyond the cockpit door, and the pilot suddenly found herself wrapped in a huge hug from behind.
“Hoe-bann,” River said as she squeezed the pilot tight. “That was so shiny! You made the ship just ... go away! You have so got to teach me!”
“I won’t get the chance, if you kill me with kindness,” Wash managed to whisper. “I haven’t figured out how to breathe without pulling air into my lungs just yet, and you’re not making it any easier.”
River kissed her just behind her ear, let go, and backed up a few steps.
“Sorry, jei jei,” she said, and Wash could hear the smile in her voice. “But you did it. You did what you came back for. You should be proud. You saved everybody, just like you were supposed to.”
“I guess I did at that,” Wash replied, her own grin growing. She spun her chair around to face the younger girl ... and came face to face with Zoe instead.
The first mate sat in the co-pilot’s chair and stared at Linda, half-confused and halfway to putting all the pieces together.
“River ... called you Hoban,” she whispered, “and I just saw you make the ship disappear while not really going anywhere at all ... and you ... you said the same ... the same thing ... that he said when he managed to land Serenity ... after the EMP pulse ...
Zoe looked up at River, then back to the pilot. Her eyes narrowed. “And there’s only one person I’ve ever known who would dare lie to a black hole and think he could get away with it.” Her voice took on a tone somewhere between wonder, surprise, happiness – and anger.
“Wash? Is that you?”
The pilot felt hot all over, then cold, and then about ten different kinds of embarrassed. She could feel herself blushing, thinking about talking to Zoe ... about Jayne. But at the same time, part of her was relieved that the hiding was over – at least between her and Zoe.
“Hi, lamby-toes,” she said weakly, holding up both hands. “Believe it or not, I can explain.”
Whatever she was going to say next was interrupted by Zoe leaping at her from across the flight deck, wrapping her in a hug even tighter than River’s was, and giving her the kind of kiss that Wash remembered oh so well from when she and Zoe were man and wife.
And gorram if it didn’t feel just as good now as it did then.
This is a fan fiction set in the Firefly/Serenity universe created by Joss Whedon. It takes place after the events in the television series and the companion motion picture that followed, and is also the second part of a sequel to Firefly: Double Booked, which was in turn a sequel to Firefly: Connecting Flight. This means it has SPOILERS, folks, and major ones at that. So please don't read this unless you get the chance to see the series and the movie -- and read my first two Firefly stories.
In the second part of FIREFLY: CHANGING COURSE, Wash's revelation and others lead to big changes for the crew -- and for the future.
Mal sat up and looked around. For a minute, the interior of Inara’s shuttle looked back at him in the semi-darkness, while Inara breathed softly beside him.
“Gorram,” he whispered, waiting for something to confirm what had woken him. “I coulda sworn ...”
“Could have sworn what?” He turned and Inara’s eyes were open, looking up at him.
“Coulda sworn Serenity did a hard burn.”
She smiled. “That would be a neat trick, with Linda in sick bay and the ship on auto-pilot.”
“Well, something woke me,” he said slowly, and scanned the room again as if waiting for something to jump out. “And I been trusting my instincts too long to just let it go.”
Inara reached up and touched his shoulder. He looked down at her, and her face was serious.
“I’ve learned to trust your instincts, too, Mal. Wash always used to say the ship had a mind of her own, so maybe she did do a hard burn. But I’m sure she had her reasons, and it’s not happening anymore, is it?”
Mal took a few seconds to collect his thoughts.
“You think the ship did it ... her own self? Do you really believe that, ‘Nara?”
“I don’t know for sure.” Inara shrugged. “After all, it’s a big Verse, and hundreds of impossible things happen every day. Just look at me here, in bed with you.” She smiled to let him know she was joking. “But whether the ship did a hard burn or not, it’s not doing it now. Maybe you should get back to sleeping? After all, you’ve got all those captainy things you’re supposed to be doing in the morning, don’t you?”
He looked at her for a few more seconds, then smiled and shook his head.
“Yeah, those captainy things ...” After another minute, the Captain sighed. “I guess I can tell Kaylee to check the engines tomorrow. That’s a captainy thing, too. I’ll add it to the list.”
Inara nodded solemnly, and Mal lay back down again. She melted into him as he put his arm around her, and she sighed as well. For a few minutes, there was quiet.
“Mal?” Inara whispered.
“Sorta working on that whole sleeping thing at the moment,” he replied, his voice a little muzzy.
“What would you say if I told you I wanted to stop being a Companion, and just be yours?”
She felt him freeze, and then he relaxed. He held her a little tighter, and then he turned his head until his cheek rested on her hair.
“See? It’s questions like that one that put sleep right out of mind. And comin’ damned near out of the Black, too. Not that I’m complainin’, now ... but have you been thinkin’ about this long?”
“Since before the depot on Boros,” she said softly. “I just never felt like it was the right time to tell you. And if I do stop ... companioning, I’m not sure what I could do here, other than make you happy.”
“Well, you do that pretty well.” He kissed her forehead.
“That’s not a job, though ... even if you make it difficult sometimes.” She reached over and placed her hand on his chest. “I just want to be ... useful, that all. A valuable member of the crew.”
“I don’t recall Shepard Book havin’ any sort of job description at all.” Inara felt Mal’s smile. “But he was crew, sure enough. And you’ve been crew since long before we did the Lassiter job, even if nobody came right out and said it. No need to justify anythin’, ‘Nara.”
“There is for me,” she replied. “Mal, if I’m to be your woman, yours and yours alone ... I need a purpose on Serenity. Otherwise, I’m just dead weight ... and I never ever want to feel that way.”
They held each other for a while, and she felt Mal smile again.
“You already have a job on my boat, ‘Nara,” he said. “Something you’ve been doing on the side since you first rented the shuttle. Just need to make it official ... Ambassador.”
She sighed. “Mal ...”
“Just listen a minute. I’m not stupid, but I don’t know what you know, and every time we get close to the Core we run the risk of breakin’ some gorram law we don’t know about, or worse, doin’ something we shouldn’t that’s gonna bring us to the attention of somebody we’d rather avoid, like Niska or the feds. Like as I nearly got myself killed ‘cause I didn’t understand about dueling that time on Persephone.”
“And even out on the Rim, you saved Zoe and me during the train job with some quick thinkin’, even if it did hurt a mite. As much as I hate the Alliance, you know a hell of a lot more about some of it than I do. Your job is gonna be to keep us outta trouble with the locals as much as you can — both the feds and everybody else that might have a reason to take a dislike to us on account of we ain’t from around there.”
There was another long silence. Mal sighed.
“Listen, ‘Nara. I don’t like the Alliance, and I never have. That gives me a blind spot as a Captain that could wind up hurting my crew. I need you to show me the things I’m gonna miss, and smooth the way in places where being diplomatic ain’t my first choice. That’s your job, if you’ll take it.”
She thought for a moment, and then it was her turn to sigh. Inara gave Mal a squeeze.
“I’m just crew,” she whispered. “You’re the Captain. So I guess you’ve got yourself an Ambassador.”
“And a whole lot more,” he replied, and she could hear the smile in his voice.
Wash, Zoe and River sat in the darkened kitchen, with cups of Kaylee’s wine sitting untouched in front of them. The story of how Wash came to be Linda took up most of an hour, leaving all three of them wondering where the conversation was going to go next.
They didn’t have long to wait.
“Jayne,” Zoe said, a touch of amazement in her tone. Wash blushed and looked down, and the first mate smiled. “Damn, girl, you look pretty when you’re embarrassed.”
“Thanks ... I think.” The pilot raised her eyes and looked at her ex-wife. “It’s easy to be embarrassed when the woman you loved more than life itself finds you entering a relationship with another man.”
“But you’re not.” Zoe put her hand on Wash’s. “You love Jayne, and he’s not another man. He’s just a man. And you, husband, are a woman. And also not my husband anymore, come to think of it.”
“Til death do us part, I know.” Wash turned her hand over and gave Zoe’s a squeeze. “But I still love you. Not even death changed that. That’s why I came back, more than anything. I couldn’t stand the thought of us being apart.”
“And I love you too, baby. I always will.” The first mate paused, and looked into Wash’s eyes. “But … you know I’m not sly. Girls don’t curl my toes the way you used to. Not even a girl as sexy as you are now.”
The pilot looked down, and then nodded. “I know. The minute I got past the shock of being a woman, I knew it wasn’t ever going to be the same. It took a while to sink in all the way, but ... I know.”
“You’re cute when you blush, fly girl.” She smiled. “I can’t believe my husband is hotter than I am.”
Wash shook her head. “It’s like vanilla and chocolate, lamby toes. Both sweet, in different ways.” River laughed, and the pilot blushed a deeper red. “I can’t believe I said that. Hell, I can’t believe I thought that.”
“You are pretty sweet, you know,” Zoe said, reaching across and taking her hand. “You make a damned fine woman. Funny thing, though. I can still see the man I loved in you, now that I know where to look, and what to look for.”
“So, where does that leave us?”
The first mate gave her hand a squeeze.
“Friends, for sure,” she replied. “And if you plan on being Jayne’s woman, you’re going to need all the friends you can get.”
“I didn’t plan it.” Wash looked at Zoe and summoned up a small smile. “Any more than you planned to be mine. But I’m sitting here, and weird as it sounds, I do love him. At the same time, the thought of being with him ... like that, it’s –”
“Terrifying.” River spoke up. “And exciting. And exhilarating.”
Zoe and Wash both turned and looked at her. River shrugged.
“I don’t have to be a reader to figure that out. For Wash, it’s the last irrevocable step towards womanhood. She has to take it, and she wants to. But it commits her, both to Jayne and to being Linda. So it’s scary.”
“It’s all manner of weird that you can just do that,” Wash said, looking at the younger girl. “Go walking through the inside of my head like it’s a park on Osiris.”
“Doesn’t make it any less true, does it?” River grinned. The pilot sighed.
“No, you’re right. I’ve come to accept being Linda … being a woman. But admitting I love Jayne crossed a line, and there’s only one line left to cross.”
Zoe reached over and took her hand. “I’ll help, baby. You know that. And it's not like it's ever been an easy line to cross, not even if you're born female. The first time is always something special, and also a little bit frightening. But at the same time, most girls know deep inside that this is what they were built for. The scary stuff is wondering if you picked the right guy, and if he'll be gentle, and if it will hurt, and what will it feel like if it doesn't hurt."
She gave Wash's hand a squeeze. "From what I can see, you picked the right guy, and he'll be so afraid of not treating you right he'll wind up taking it too slow ... and you'll probably get so frustrated, you’ll do anything to get him past treating you like you're made of glass."
Zoe stood up, and pulled the pilot to her feet.
"Right now, you need to do what Simon told you to do and rest."
"But --"
She put her finger on Wash’s lips. “I outrank you, dear. And Simon said you needed to rest tonight, not save the ship from certain doom. So go to bed ... now.” The first mate grinned. “After all, this may be the last night you get to sleep alone for a good long while.”
Wash looked at her ex-wife, and she felt her eyes fill up an instant before she suddenly pulled Zoe into a hug.
“This isn’t how it was supposed to be for us,” the pilot whispered. “It’s not fair.”
Zoe gave her a squeeze. “No, but it is what it is, baby. At least I’ve got you back. You’ve always been my best friend, and you still are. And I do want you to be happy, sweety, even if it is with Jayne.” She grinned. “So go to bed. We’ll figure out the rest tomorrow.”
The first mate took a step back, spun her former husband around and gave her a swat on the backside. “Now get.”
Wash looked back, gave her a shy smile, and headed for the crew quarters.
After she left, River and Zoe stood there for a while, silent.
“You’re very good,” the younger girl said softly. “I’m pretty sure she doesn’t suspect a thing.”
“Thank you,” Zoe replied, her voice flat with suppressed emotion. “Moving on is hard enough for . . . her, especially wrapped in a body like that. I’m not sure what else you expected me to do.”
“Nothing else you could do.” River moved closer and touched her arm. “It’s not like Chiang had much of a choice. Linda was available, and we needed Wash to be here, too. But I know it’s hard for you. It must feel like you’re losing him, all over again.”
Zoe’s jaw moved, just a little, and her whole body tensed an instant before she shook her head.
“I got him back,” she whispered. “Maybe not the way I hoped, but he’s not dead. I shouldn’t complain, but I want to, because she’s right. It’s not fair. But I learned a long time ago that what’s right and what is don’t usually share a bunk. In this Verse, you make your own luck, and you take what you can get. And I do want her to be happy. She’s a woman, now. Why should I stand between her and Jayne?”
The younger girl smiled, and nodded. “That’s about what I expected you to say.”
Zoe smiled back, a little sadly, and turned to go. River let her take a step before she spoke again.
“When are you going to tell her … about the baby?”
The first mate turned around, shocked. Her hand came up to touch her waist.
“How did you know?” she whispered. “Did you …?”
“Read you? No.” River shook her head. “Actually, a number of things gave it away, but to be fair, a few things helped you keep it a secret as long as you did. A woman’s first pregnancy doesn’t usually show as much in the early months, according to what I read on the Cortex. And you keep yourself very fit, so your stomach muscles did a lot to help you hide it for as long as you have. But you’re in the middle of your fourth month now, and it shows if you know what to look for. You’re walking a little differently, and half of your clothes haven’t left your cabin in weeks.”
Zoe lowered herself into a chair and sighed. “Who else knows?”
“Inara is pretty sure, and Kaylee suspects, but they both think it’s your secret to tell.” The younger girl sat across from her and took her hand. “Simon figured it out a while back but is working on respecting your privacy — although if you don’t come forward voluntarily in the next week or so, he is about ready to drag you into the med bay for a prenatal exam. Other than my brother, the men are totally clueless. Which is almost their natural state, come to think of it.”
She smiled, and Zoe smiled back. Her whole body relaxed, and they shared a silence.
“You are going to have to tell her, you know,” River said, and the first mate nodded.
“I will. She deserves to know first. After all, it’s her baby, too. But not now. She’d going through enough as it is.” Without thinking about it, Zoe’s other hand dropped and rested on her stomach, feeling the baby bump she knew she couldn’t hide for much longer. “Wash needs to get used to being Jayne’s woman before ...”
“Before she can let go of ever being a father,” River finished, “and learn to become an aunt. Or even a mother herself, someday.”
“Another reason not to tell her yet — at least not before she gets to lie down with Jayne, anyway.” The first mate smiled and patted where her child was growing. “After all, being reminded what’s supposed to happen when a woman and a man ... get together might make her hesitate, and we wouldn’t want that.”
“Not before she gets to feel why a woman might want to take that risk.” River nodded, and Zoe grinned back.
“Over and over again.”
When Wash woke up the next morning, there was a feeling of unreality surrounding her. It felt like the whole experience with the quantum black hole and Zoe finding out the truth could almost be just some kind of really vivid dream, and nothing at all would have changed for her.
But her shoulders ached in places they hadn’t right after the big damned rescue on Flynt, and she remembered Zoe’s reaction all too well from the night before. She felt tears rising, and pushed them back. Gods, she had missed Zoe so much, and had hated lying to her … especially after Zoe had made her peace with Linda taking Wash’s job.
‘But it’s different now,’ she thought as she washed herself, the cloth running over her now all-too-familiar curves. ‘She’s more than a sister, even more than a friend. But she’s not mine anymore. And I’m … I’m Jayne’s. I’m his. Damn, that feels strange, even to think it. But it’s true.’
Wash felt her body reacting to the thought, and pushed it away.
‘If I don’t finish washing and get dressed, I’m going to miss breakfast. And the Captain woke everybody over the comms this morning and told everybody they needed to be there. Sounded like it was going to be important. I wonder if he felt the ship go into hard burn last night?’ She thought for a moment, then shook her head and stared rinsing off. ‘If he had felt it last night, he sure wouldn’t wait to the morning to start asking questions about it.’
She walked across the room and pulled some lingerie from the drawer, then turned to the closet and saw herself in the mirror. She turned slowly, then bent down and slipped her panties on. When they were seated properly, Wash turned sideways again, wondering whether there was a touch too much of her around the hips. As she put on her bra and settled her breasts in each cup, she found herself worrying about whether her chest was starting to sag a little.
“Oh, please! You’re so close to perfect it’s scary.”
Wash gasped and turned to find River’s head poking down from the ductwork above.
“You said you weren’t going to read me anymore!”
River did a perfect roll from the ceiling, landing lightly on her feet.
“I didn’t read your mind, Linda,” she replied. “I read your face. I’ve seen that expression on my own face often enough to know what it means. I’ve never met a woman who was truly satisfied with how she looks. Congratulations, honey. You really are one of us now.”
The younger girl hugged her gently, and Wash wondered how to respond to a hug delivered while she was almost naked. River pulled back and grinned.
“You hug me back, silly!”
Wash shrugged, smiled back, and gave her a hug in return.
“Good. Now get dressed in something special, and climb on out of your room. Breakfast is waiting, and so is Jayne.”
“Something special?”
“Your man is waiting for you outside your door,” River said, springing back up into the ceiling, facing back towards the common room. She stuck her head back down. “He’s been there for a while. And it’s the morning of the first day of your life as his woman. You want him to remember why he’s waiting, and never forget how lucky he is to have you.”
She pulled her head back and the ceiling panel shut with a muted clang.
Jayne heard Linda’s door open, and the sound of her feet as she climbed the ladder up to the passageway where he waited. He saw her face when it appeared in the doorway, and the shy half-smile she showed him when she realized he was there. But his jaw dropped when she completed her climb and stood there in front of him.
‘That dress,’ he thought, his eyes taking her in from head to toe.
It was that yellow thing she wore on Boros, the one that wrapped all around her and hugged her body like a second skin, and Jayne saw her cheeks grow red as he took her in from head to toe. Her eyes lowered.
“Do you remember this dress?” she asked softly. He nodded, and she smiled. “Do you like it as much now as you did then?”
Jayne reached out and took her hand, then pulled her into him and kissed her. A lot.
Linda pulled back and looked up into his eyes, then took the edge of her thumb and rubbed a little lipstick off of the edge of his mouth.
“I guess I should take that as a yes,” she said with a grin. “I should’ve figured that would be how you’d answer, being the strong silent type and all.”
“Silent? You just wait until tonight, girl,” he replied, “and you’ll find out just how much noise this man can make in bed.”
She stood on her toes and kissed him gently on the lips, then put her arm in his.
“Keep talking like that, and I might not be able to wait until tonight.”
He froze for a minute, then stumbled after her as she started walking towards the kitchen, their arms still intertwined.
Mal and Inara were waiting for them, and Zoe walked in behind them, giving Wash a wink and a smile. Simon and Kaylee arrived from the passenger quarters, with River a few steps behind. After giving Jayne and Linda a quick glance, followed by a suppressed smile, he turned back to the table.
“I got two things to say this morning. First things first. I woke up last night ‘cause I thought I felt Serenity go into hard burn. Maybe it was a dream, maybe it wasn’t, but I don’t want to take any chances with my boat. Kaylee, I need you to check the engine and control systems, make sure the ship ain’t getting all notional about wantin’ to fly her own self.”
The mechanic nodded. “Sure will, Captain. Thought I felt somethin’, too, … though that might have been Simon going into hard burn instead of the ship.” She grinned, and the ship’s doctor turned red.
Linda looked at Zoe, then River. Zoe gave her the barest shake of her head, while River spoke directly into her mind. “Kaylee won’t find anything wrong, since the ship did exactly what you asked her to do. No sense getting the captain worrying about quantum black holes, so best keep quiet, jei mei.”
“Now for the second thing before we get down to the real business of breakfast, which is eatin’.” He looked at everyone, then cleared his throat. “Inara isn’t going to be renting her shuttle from us anymore.”
Five of the six crew members around the table began to speak simultaneously, River being the sole exception, but the protests only lasted a second or two before Mal raised his hand flat out, and the group fell silent.
“She ain’t renting the shuttle because she’s decided to stop being a Companion and officially become part of the crew. Sometimes I will admit, I tend to let Serenity Valley … affect my command decisions a mite. Her job is going to be making sure my hate for the Alliance don't wind up making us all dead.”
“The official title is Ambassador,” Inara said softly, letting her hand rest on Mal’s. “I’m just a resource for the Captain, really. I’ll let him know the lay of the land on some of the Core planets, maybe send me ahead sometimes to smooth things out before Serenity comes down.”
“Well, that’s a good place for you.” Zoe smiled. “Right by his side, keepin’ him out of trouble.”
“Not to mention the rest of us.” Mal grinned back and ducked his head. “Anything she can do to help a few more of our plans go smooth would be a kindness, and that’s a fact.”
River raised her hand.
“Got somethin’ to add, little albatross?” Mal said with a smile.
“There’s something Inara could probably help with right away,” River replied, smiling back. “I did move a lot of currency through a lot of banks in a hurry, and it might be nice to clean it up and make it all legal looking before someone wants to know where it all came from.”
“And how much exactly is a lot?” Jayne asked, earning him a nudge from Linda’s elbow.
The younger Tam pursed her lips.
“Too much, I think. I let my fingers have their way, and moved far more than I should have.” River’s eyes turned serious as she focused on Jayne. “Greed tends to be dangerous to the people who let it drive them, as I’m sure you know, Jayne.”
He nodded and looked down at the table top. Linda looked at River for a second, then put her hand on Jayne’s and gave it a squeeze.
“Just as long as we got enough coin to keep us flyin’, I’m happy,” he said. “As long as we took enough from those lecherous humps on Flynt to make ‘em hurt, that’ll do.”
“Not to worry.” River smiled again. “If the gas ever wears off, they won’t stop crying, I can guarantee that.”
Jayne nodded and turned his hand over, squeezing Linda’s in turn. River turned back to Mal. “Also, Captain, there is the possibility you may not need an Ambassador. In fact, considering how much I did take, you might want to reconsider your career options.”
Mal raised an eyebrow.
“If you put together all the accounts that I set up on Osiris,” she said, “there would be enough zeros on the end of the balance to restart the old Allied Spacecraft Corporation production line, build and buy a hundred brand new Firefly transports from scratch … and have enough left over to crew ‘em, fuel ‘em, and fly ‘em around in circles for the next three hundred years.”
The whole room froze. Mal's jaw dropped.
“And if that’s what you want to do with your share,” she continued with a grin, “you might want to consider promoting yourself to Admiral … Sir.”
In the third part of FIREFLY: CHANGING COURSE, several crew members deal with what it means to navigate in places they’ve never been, and River’s hacking skills could force the crew to chart a course back to a place that’s never been lucky for them in the past.
This is a fan fiction set in the Firefly/Serenity universe created by Joss Whedon. It takes place after the events in the television series and the companion motion picture that followed, and is also the third part of a sequel to Firefly: Double Booked, which was in turn a sequel to Firefly: Connecting Flight. This means it might have SPOILERS, folks, and major ones at that. So please don't read this unless you get the chance to see the series and the movie -- and read my first two Firefly stories.
It was dead silent in the Captain’s cabin, except for the occasional clicking and beeping of his terminal. After a while, Inara looked up from the screen. Mal looked back from where he sat on his bunk, and his raised eyebrow held the question he couldn’t bring himself to ask.
“River wasn't lying,” she said softly, looking at her man and wondering why he was so quiet. “If anything, she may have been underestimating how much she took.”
“I’m still not seein’ how it happened.” He rose to his feet and paced across the small space. “How could she get so gorram much? It's just a little moon.”
“It was an Alliance black ops moon, Mal. They built themselves an entire colony, funded with money no one knew existed. They terraformed an entire moon, just to test an airborne form of targeted mind control. Do you know how much that must have cost? And it was just the beginning. They built entire cities, like Persephone in miniature. Linda said the air traffic control systems they were using were way more than a little city like Hustler would need. If the Alliance gave a little moon like Flynt something like that, why not a planetary treasury to go with it?”
“She said she didn’t take it all.”
“You’re right, she didn’t. She was smart, and left more than enough behind to cover us taking anything at all.” Inara tapped the screen. “But the treasury wasn’t her only source. Flynt was full of wealthy and influential men, convinced to move to the middle of nowhere with the promise of a huge estate and an army of personal sex slaves. They came … and they brought access to their money with them.”
“So she also pulled millions from the accounts of each of those wealthy ‘citizens’ and sent it off on the Cortex along with the treasury money ... into thousands of untraceable numbered accounts all over the Alliance.”
“That much? Without leavin' a trail?”
Inara nodded. “River erased all the evidence of her transactions, at least as far as I can tell. She's very, very good, but that isn't a surprise. She was a genius before the Alliance got their hands on her. According to Simon, she's gifted, which means she gets very, very good at anything she puts her mind to.”
“So you're tellin' me … everything’s shiny?
“As far as I can tell, yes,” she replied. “For now. We’re going to have to find a way to make that money usable, but between River’s skills and my Companion training, we should be able to do it.”
“So we're living high, and no one’s the wiser.” He sat back down on his bunk and stared into space. “Huh.”
After a moment, Inara rose and walked over to sit beside him. “For the first time in a long time, we’re in the black in more ways than one,” she said.
Inara looked at him, seeing a tension she couldn't understand.
“What's wrong, Mal? This is good ... isn't it?”
He smiled, but there was little joy in it. “Looks like, but I just don’t know. Is it? Any time it seems like the Verse has cut us a break, it’s usually just settin’ us up to be slapped down hard.”
“There’s more to it, though, isn't there?”
The Captain nodded. “We’ve come more than a little ways from the bobble-headed dolls job, 'Nara. And maybe the air in these parts is a little too thin for my taste.”
He sighed, and Inara took his hand.
“Truth be told, I’m not sure what I’m supposed t’ do now. You and River say we’re all fùyù now, and everyone thinks that’s shiny. But you know me. I’m not the kinda man who does well not doin’ anything. With that much money lyin’ around, any job is make-work, and I don’t want to go through life pretendin’ I’m doin’ somethin’.”
“You won’t have to, Mal.” She looks down for a moment, then gives his hand a squeeze. “Tell me, what exactly are you thinking of doing with all that money?
“I'm not sure what to do, 'Nara. It's not like I enjoyed living on the raggedy edge, but you've got to admit it was an interestin' neighborhood, most of the time.”
He looked at her, and she could see the confusion in his eyes. “And I’ve seen what havin’ that kind of bank balance does to other men, and women. They turn into the kind of folks I’d just as soon not be, and that’s a fact.”
He shrugged. “So I ain't got the first idea what I’m gonna do. If you do, I'm hopin' you'll let me in on it.”
Inara smiled, and hugged him gently. “It’s not as bad as you think it is, Mal. I think you need to see wealth differently.”
He smiled and returned her hug, giving her forehead a soft kiss. “Not about to argue with you, ‘Nara. We both know this won’t be the first time you schooled me. Pretty sure it won’t be the last.”
“First, you need to see that money doesn’t have any kind of evil power. It doesn’t turn people into monsters. It just makes it easier for them to become monsters if that’s the kind of folks they are … or if they don’t see the danger. People like Niska – or Magistrate Higgins, or even Atherton Wing – they see money as a way to gain and hold power over others, because that’s who they are inside.”
The Captain nodded. “Right enough.”
“But then there are people like Sir Warwick Harrow,” she continued. “He may have wanted to hire someone to smuggle his cattle, true. But he was also a good man. He wouldn’t do business with Badger, because he knew Badger was … what did he call him?”
“A psychotic lowlife.” Mal grinned. “Nice turn of phrase, that. And true, in so many ways.”
She nodded. “But when Harrow saw the way you dealt with Atherton, he saw the good in you, too. He realized you might be a man of honor, despite your … association with Badger. He saw you as someone he could trust.”
Inara turned slightly and looked up at her man. “I’m going to ask you something now, and I want you to be totally honest. No hiding behind the man you used to want people to think you were.”
It was Mal’s turn to nod, although he hesitated for a few seconds before he agreed.
“Suppose we didn’t have this money,” she said slowly, “and two jobs came your way at exactly the same time. The first one paid more, but didn’t do anybody a lick of good. Just moving cargo, that’s all. The second job paid quite a bit less, but it got food and medicine to a colony out on the raggedy edge of the Rim. Which one would you choose?”
When the Captain hesitated again, she squeezed his hand. “Honestly, Mal … which job?”
He sighed. “The second one.”
“See? Money doesn’t have any hold over you. It never has. Because you are a good man. When you lost in Serenity Valley, it hurt you so much that you ran away from the man you were when you fought there. But Malcolm Reynolds always was – and still is – a determined cuss, and he chased you for years until the family you found here on this ship made you realize you couldn’t run anymore.”
She put her head on his shoulder. “You are who you are. Wealth isn’t going to change that. It’s just going to make it easier for you to do good … to be the good man you already are. You just need to figure out what you want to do to make the Verse a better place – and how you can put that money to work to help you get what you want.”
“Oh, is that all?” Mal smiled and kissed the top of her head. “You make it sound so easy.”
“You don’t have to do it alone, sah gwah. You know I’ll help.”
He held her close and buried his face in her hair. “I think you already have.”
Wash lay on her side, naked under a single sheet, and watched Jayne sleep.
‘Here I am, in a place I never thought I’d be, watching a man I never thought I could ever love snore,’ she thought, smiling. ‘In bed with Jayne. The Verse is truly a place of wonders. Either that, or the gods have a wicked sense of humor.’
She sighed softly, thinking about the many times the two of them had slowly pleasured each other during the night. She had aches and pains in places she never thought she’d ever have, and a taste in her mouth that reminded her of some of the things she had done for her man that she never imagined she would. But she remembered too how it felt for her to make him moan like that — and some of the things he did to make her scream.
‘So that’s what it felt like for Zoe, in the time that was.’ Wash pushed a loose strand of hair out of her face. ‘I won’t deny I was curious sometimes, about what it felt like for her, but I never imagined I’d ever really know.’
Parts of her wanted to slip out of bed, brush her teeth, and clean up a little bit. Being a woman was a whole lot messier than being a guy when it came to what came after making love, and both Wash and the Linda-That-Was felt like they’d rather wake Jayne up after they cleaned up a bit.
But when she began to slip out of bed, Jayne’s hand came over and rested on her hip with a small squeeze.
“Where you goin’, woman?” he muttered, his face half covered with his pillow.
“Want to clean myself up a bit is all,” Linda replied, slipping into a half imitation of Jayne’s twang. “Can’t blame a girl for wanting to be all fresh for her man, can you?”
Jayne pulled her to him and rolled into her, then kissed her hard while his arms wrapped around her tight.
“Your man is happy with his girl just the way she is, and that’s a fact.” He rolled onto his back and pulled her on top of him. “Fresh is nice and all, but the way you are right now reminds me of all the fun things we did last night.”
He moved his mouth to an inch away from her ear, and whispered, “And if you clean up and we wind up doin' all those things again before you go off to fly some more, you’re just gonna get all messy again.”
Wash grinned and pulled back enough to look into Jayne’s eyes.
“Oh, I see,” she purred, feeling him getting hard under her. “Juss bein’ practical, Mister Cobb?”
“Sure enough, Miss Wehr.” He smiled at her, and she could see the love and playfulness in his face. “What the doc would call ‘fective time management,’ don’t ya agree?”
“Oh yes, I do!” She arched her back, then reached down under her and slid him inside her with a twitch and a roll of her hips. “Maybe we’d best stop wasting time then.”
“I do love the way you think, missy.”
“Well, I love the way you feel, mister.”
“Really? How ‘bout this?”
She laughed, and he kissed her, and in the end, no time was wasted at all.
The crew met on the flight deck, because it was supposedly Linda’s first time back at the controls, and she didn’t want to leave Serenity to fend for herself for a while.
’Yup,’ Zoe thought with a smile as she watched the pilot checking everything. ‘That’s my man in there still.’
Then she watched as Jayne moved behind her and gave her shoulder a squeeze, and she saw the look that passed over Wash’s face before her eyes closed for an instant. Zoe sighed.
‘Looks like she’s as much Linda as she is Wash now, and that difference is getting harder and harder to see. I’m going to have to get used to my man not being my man anymore.’
“Okay, everybody, here’s how it is.” Mal stood up by the forward console. “Inara says River moved a lot of cash, maybe more than she thought she had. What we need to do now is figure out a way to make it all look legit, and ‘Nara thinks that means we need to head into the Core.”
“Makes sense,” Simon said from the flight deck door, Kaylee leaning back into him. “A lot of financial requests coming in from the Rim could get flagged.”
“They didn’t last time.” River spoke from her position in the ceiling above Wash’s station. “I was careful.”
“Yes, you were, mei mei,” the doctor replied, “but if we want things to go smooth when it comes to hiding all those credits in plain sight, being in the Core will give us less lag time for a large series of transactions.”
“Simon is right,” Inara said from her position next to Mal. “But more than this, we need someone to actually go down to either Sihnon or Londinum and set up a corporation in person, before we start moving the currency. They’re where the major exchanges are located, and either one would be a good place for us to incorporate when it comes to taxes.”
“Londinum is more conservative, and tends towards investors who want long-term growth possibilities.” River lowered herself to the deck, the exertion not affecting her speech at all. “While Sihnon is where risk-takers are likely to invest. So are we privately held turtles waiting out the end of the Verse, or are we privately funded venture capitalists out to change things and make a profit doing it?”
“That question alone raises another one,” Zoe said, leaning against the wall. “And this one is more important. Just what are we planning to do with all this money? Londinum makes more sense than Sihnon if we’re gonna live off the creds from the investment, but it seems a mite strange to start a corporation at all if we’re just going to split it up and go our separate ways.”
“The idea is to protect the money first by putting it somewhere that automatically makes it legitimate.” Inara took Mal’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “As the investment capital of a potential money-making enterprise, the credits will no longer exist as stolen currency. They will be real in the eyes of the Alliance, so if they ever come looking for what was taken, they won’t find it here.”
“As for what we’re planning to do once we’ve covered our tracks?” Mal looked down for a second, then squared his shoulders and raised his head. “I’ve got some ideas of what I want to do with the cash, or at least my share, but I don’t want to keep any of you from leaving if that’s what you want to do. I’ll wish you well if you go. After all, the Verse ain’t the safest place for us on this boat, and maybe finding a shiny hole somewhere to hide in might be appealing after running for so long.”
“But seems to me after all we’ve been through together that we’re a lot more than just a crew, and I sure enough don’t want to lose that. We’re stronger together than we are apart, and there are a lot of things we can do to make a difference in the Verse, if you’re willing to stay. For now, let’s just keep the creds away from the Alliance, and we’ll figure the rest out later. Makes sense?”
There was a small silence, and everyone nodded.
“The key to setting up this corporation is to give each of us a second identity.” Inara rose and stepped over to one of the side displays on the flight deck. Touching the screen, alternate bios for each of them came up, changing every few seconds. “These shadow people will serve as the investors for the corporation. Either exchange will hold their identities secret, after confirming that the investors are in fact real.”
“Why would they do that?” Kaylee looked confused. “That doesn’t sound like something the feds would like too much, seein’ as how they’re all about being in other people’s business.”
River grinned. “They don’t like it, jei mei, not at all But the megacorps that funded the exodus from Earth That Was made some conditions when it came to how things were going to work once we got here. Business is business, and the feds understand that they don’t get to see every business dealing free and clear. When senators can be bought and sold by Blue Sun or some other system-wide company, it’s a safe bet that’s not going to change much.”
Jayne spoke up for the first time. “So how are we going to make these ‘shadow people’ real?”
“Once we’re in the Core, I’ll put them into official records the same way I created alternate registry IDs for Serenity.” River smiled. “I already created them, based on our physical descriptions and the records of some of the oldest families in the Alliance.”
“Wait — we’re all going to be shareholder descendants?” Simon shook his head. “How? They’re the most documented people in the Alliance! New ones can’t just show up out of thin air.”
“Not from the branches of the family on the Core worlds, big brother. But every Founding family has its black sheep. There were branches that disagreed with the decisions made by the Founders when we arrived here. They broke away from their families and went their separate ways. I just tracked down the ones that nobody cares much about anymore and …added a few leaves.”
“So instead of the line ending where it used to, it continues with one of our shadow identities,” Inara said, returned to Mal’s side. “No one will dare question how any branch of one of the Founding Families has this kind of money to invest in a new opportunity.”
“And they really don’t care what that opportunity is?” Zoe sounded doubtful.
“It isn’t their business to care,” River replied. “In fact, their charters explicitly prohibit being involved in any way once a corporation is registered. They are supposed to remain completely impartial. No advice. No warnings. Just provide notification of the existence of the corporation, plus secrecy and security concerning its actions.”
“So, what next, Cap’n?” Kaylee looked at Mal.
“We find ourselves a place to fuel up, then head into the Core,” he replied, then stood up and headed for the flight deck door with Inara close behind. When he reached the door, he stopped and turned.
“And Kaylee? When we get to a supply depot, see if they’ve got any sound insulation we can use.” He looked at Jayne and Linda, and smiled, just a little. “Things have been a mite noisy in the crew quarters lately, and the rest of us need to sleep once in a while, dohn mah?”
He turned to go, and Inara looked back in apology as Linda’s cheeks burned red. Then she followed after him and punched him in the shoulder.
“Mal! Behave!”
As their voices moved down the corridor, Mal replied, “Maybe someone should tell them that, ‘Nara. They’re louder than Kaylee and the Doc, and that’s a fact.”
Zoe looked over at Jayne and Linda and smiled. Linda began fiddling with the controls, blushing even harder, while Kaylee grinned and Simon sighed.
NOTE: Sorry it took so long, Browncoats! This is what happens when you have way too many ideas and too few minutes in a day, for WAY too many days in a row. – Randalynn