Day one: Mafia/SK - Sabotage

Serenity :: Captains Quarters :: Mal
“Nee ta ma de! Tian-shia suo-yo de ren doh gai si!” Mal cursed as his legs tangled up in his blankets, sending him flailing to the cold metal floor of his cabin. All around him an alarm screeched like some hateful bird, and though he’d never heard Serenity make this particular noise before, from the sound of it something very bad was happening. Hastily dressing himself, Mal made his way up the ladder to the main deck.

“Wash?” he called up to the cockpit in a raspy, irritated voice. “You wanna tell me what the hell is going on?”

“I can’t say for certain,” a voice shouted back at him. “But according to all these flashing red lights… we’re about to explode.”

Wonderful. The last thing Mal needed with a boat full of refugees was for Serenity to go and explode on him. He reached over and thumbed the nearby intercom to connect to Kaylee down in the engine room, but all he got back was a sharp crackle of static and then the faint smell of ozone.

“Huh choo-shung huh…”

He threw his suspenders over his shoulders, and made his way through the ship.

Serenity :: Engine Room :: Mal and Kaylee
When Mal got to the engine room, he saw Kaylee running about like a mad woman. She had removed several of the wall panels, and a nest of wires spilled out onto the floor.

“Kaylee, what in the ‘verse are you doing to my ship!?”

“Weren’t nothin I did cap’n, honest.” She shot over her shoulder as her fingers danced across a nearby terminal. “Something forced a coolant flood in the main chamber. Serenity burned it all up and weren’t none left for the ion stabilizers, and so they overheated, which caused the reactor to overheat, and now ain’t nothing I can do to stop the catalyzer from melting.”

“English Kaylee!”

“We got full containment breach, in…” she reached over and tapped her finger on the terminal before racing across the room and using a wrench to pry another wall panel down so she could gain access to more of Serenity’s inner workings. On the screen where she had pointed was a timer. It was at two minutes and counting down.

As the numbers sped ominously towards zero, Mal watched his mechanic pull out a box cutter and strip a series of thick red wires. If she couldn’t do something, and do it fast, they were all about to find out how unpleasant being on the receiving end of a containment breach was. She was the best he’d ever seen, but even the best have limits.

Time inched on, the alarm hovering angrily above them.

“Kaylee…” Mal started, but before he could finish, both the alarm and the timer stopped. Kaylee got up off the floor and nearly knocked Mal over as she checked the ships status on the terminal. Her face was covered in grease and sweat, but beneath it he saw the faint hint of a smile. “Is it…?”

“For now. Was able to divert the excess heat into the auxiliary chambers,” she said triumphantly “But without more coolant it’s just a matter of time ‘fore she starts up again.

“How long we lookin’ at?” he asked cautiously. They were a fair distance from friendly port, and if the reactor was putting out unhealthy doses of radiation it was going to get real ugly. Radiation sickness was no way to go.

“Few days, ‘fore we start feelin’ it. This weren’t no accident neither. Look,” she said pointing to the screen again. “See that? Left a data trail plain as your nose. Went and overrode the safety locks on the coolant chamber by remote.”

“Why the hell would anyone…”

Behind them, Mal heard footsteps clanking towards them against the metal grates that made up the hall flooring. He turned around to see Zoe, she was panting and there was something in her eyes that told him the reactor was the least of their troubles.

“Sir?” She said between breaths. “You’re going to want to come see this.”


Serenity :: Kitchen :: Sarah Smolly
Sarah Smolly sat down at the kitchen table with her head in her hands, picking at the protein concoction someone had generously labeled “dinner.” She hadn’t had much in the way of appetite at mealtime, and soon the busywork of getting places for everyone to sleep occupied too much of her time for much else. There were a few empty rooms, but the rest had pretty much taken up whatever place they could find. An empty shuttle might have supplied them with more room, but the Captain, Mal Reynolds, had made it clear that was off limits.

Mal Reynolds. Supposedly some sort of browncoat war hero, and that alone earned a measure of respect from the old timers of Shadow. His response to finding out she was the Mayor of Lone Province (though she had told him nothing of the kind) was both curt and telling.

“Good, you’re responsible for them then.”

She had always believed that the essential part of their town was the people; it was clear now, though, that they were in Mal’s world, and it seemed the subtle dynamics of their group had disintegrated before her eyes. She was nobody up here; just another passenger on Serenity to be ordered around. That was fine with her; she wasn’t the Mayor for the power, ‘fact she’d never even asked for this, but she was concerned nonetheless.

People had a way of acting a sight unpredictable in such situations. Some reliable authority might do them good.

Giving up on food for the moment, she pushed away from the table and made her way down to the lower deck. Some folks had set up camp right in the cargo bay, and Sarah figured she would end up sleeping there as well.

Serenity :: Cargo Bay :: Mafia and Sarah Smolly
A wrench clattered on the floor, the sound making the stream of curses emitting from one passenger’s mouth nearly inaudible.

“That’s a stroke of genius right there! Wake e’eryone up why don’t you!”

The passenger sighed, frustrated with the efforts to get the container opened. “Do -you- want to attempt this? Not as easy as it looks.”

A disgusted snort was the response, though they might have continued bickering if not for an urgent “shhh.” The group went completely still, listening intently.

~*~

Sarah crouched down behind a large crate, suspicious of just what the group of passengers were doing touching the cargo. They had all been instructed to leave the crates alone, and she had considered boldly walking up and telling them as much, but curiosity stayed her desire to bring discipline to the situation.

Much to her own sorrow; there was a moment of quiet, long enough to make her anxious, and then she was grabbed by the hair and flung bodily into the nearby crate.

~*~

“We want to finish her off?”

“I reckon we ought.”

“And I reckon not; might be we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves right about now and a dead Mayor is liable to do just that. I say we drop her somewhere and do some damage control when she comes to.”

A short discussion on the logistics of this improvisation later and the group was dragging the unconscious Mayor to the Infirmary. Once there, they dumped the limp form on the examining table and headed out to the hallway to work on getting their story straight.

They did not have long; it was at that moment that an alarm wailed through the ship, and the group decided to take advantage of the confusion, fleeing from the scene.


Serenity :: Infirmary :: SK and Sarah Smolly
The alarms are a nice touch. Screaming for help in the dark, as though someone could save you. She didn’t see me coming. Didn’t know that I was gutting her like fresh fish until the damage was done. This one doesn’t see me either, the polished steel table holding her above the ground. A waiting sacrifice upon the alter. The surgeon’s blade feels cold in my hand, and then warm as I sink it into her belly. Like fresh fish. Like the other, she was someone important. Wakes, and screams, but I don’t stop. They all scream. Always. Forever. And then the screaming stops, and the alarms stop, and the footsteps come. Clank. Clank. Clank.

Time to go.


Serenity :: Infirmary :: Jayne, Mal, and Zoe
"What would bring you to cut on someone like that," Jayne asked as he looked at the bloody mess that had been left on the operating table. "I mean, I been known to use a knife from time to time…"

"Make a lot of enemies in politics," Mal said coldly. "Why I never felt the draw to public office. Jayne, I want this mess cleaned up 'fore Kaylee sees it."

Jayne regarded Mal with a slack jaw and slumped shoulders, squinting his eyes as though trying to navigate the murky waters between comprehension and indignation with two hands and a flashlight. "Hell, why am I always the one on clean up?"

Mal’s return quip was delivered almost lightly, though his posture showed he was dead serious. "On account of your lacking all those delicate sensibilities the rest of us got to live with."

Indignation seemed to have won out for Jayne. He threw his hands in the air. "Then why don't Zoe have to do it?"

"Because I outrank you," Zoe said, coming up behind them. "I just spoke with Wash, he's set course for Niska's Space Station. With any luck we'll actually make it there."

Nodding at the progress his crew had made, Mal left in Zoe’s company, leaving a cursing Jayne behind them.