Firefly Mafia - Rollup

Here is the consolidated story. What is not referenced is the drama that went on between the players.

Posted here for your readin enjoyment...

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.

Lynch Vote 1 - Maelarya’s toon bites the dust

Sitting on the scaffolds above the main cargo bay, Jayne chewed a bit of apple from the end of a large, and malicious looking knife. Below him some of the other passengers had begun to gather, and though he couldn’t really catch what they were saying, their body language was something he understood all too well. There was hostility there, anger, and something more. Something that years of experience had attuned him too-- there was violence coming.

He chewed the last bit of apple off the knife, then carved out another slice as he watched the group with mixed interest. After a few heated words were exchanged it seemed that it wasn't going to come to much, but that’s when the fight broke out. The big guy, his name started with an S or something, he started swinging first, but from the start it didn’t look too good for him. The others jumped in, and it was over real fast, which wasn’t really surprising, since eleven to one odds don’t usually turn out in favor of the one.

His biggest mistake was turning his back to the airlock, quick shove and a flip of a switch and he was locked in. Saw that one coming. A short decompression later and the guy was floating in deep space without a suit. Not the most pleasant way to go. Jayne finished off another slice of apple and then tossed the rest down to the cargo bay floor. For some reason he wasn’t all too hungry anymore. He heard someone coming up from behind him, and the way their footsteps fell on the grating told him it was Kaylee. Live on a boat this long with the same crowd and you just know that kind of thing.

“I’d lock my bunk tonight I were you,” he said to her, not bothering to turn around. She came up beside him and leaned against the railing. The crowd below had already begun to slink back into the various corners of the ship where they felt most safe.

“What about them? Some of those folks ain’t got no locks on their doors," Kaylee asked, a look of concern on her face that always confused Jayne somewhat. Was rare to find someone who genuinely cared about strangers like she did. He wasn't sure if it was necessarily a good thing. Looing out at the cargo bay, and then at the recently used airlock, he decided that it probably wasn't.

“Some of those folks don’t need ’em,” he said coldly.

Round 2 Mafia hit – Blackrabbit Dies

Serenity :: Inara’s Shuttle :: Lyn

Lyn knew she wasn’t supposed to be here. Then again, she wasn’t –supposed- to be anywhere, thanks to the Alliance. And it was so beautiful here, and warm, and it smelled much nicer than anywhere else on the ship. When one of the other passengers asked her to go tell the beautiful woman that the captain wanted her on the bridge, the glimpse she’d received of the shuttle proved too tempting to resist further exploration.

She bounced on the red sofa and pulled the blanket off the back, wrapping it around her shoulders. So soft! Everything here felt so pleasant to touch, and she wondered why the rest of the ship didn’t have such nice things. She hoped the pretty lady wouldn’t be angry when she came back, but Lyn didn’t see why she should have all these comforts to herself when the rest of the ship was so cold and bare. It wasn’t fair. Story of Lyn’s life, but even so. Maybe the pretty lady wanted a little girl, like her old mistress.

Lyn decided this was a good plan. She would take care of the pretty lady, and the pretty lady could take care of her and let her live in the shuttle.

There was a pot of steaming tea on the small serving table, and she helped herself to a cup. Thinking this might be the start of something good, she drank her tea slowly, curled up on the sofa. It was delicious, though she wished she had some cookies to go with it. Perhaps it was greedy to have another cup, but a girl in her situation learned to take what she could get. Being more comfortable than she had been in ages had the effect of making her awfully sleepy, and Lyn decided a short nap wouldn’t do any harm.

She barely managed to set the empty teacup on the edge of the table before she fell unconscious.

Serenity :: Bridge :: Mal, Wash, Inara

“Inara, if I had a need to speak with you I’d a come to your shuttle, you know that.”

Inara scowled. “All too well, Mal. So there’s nothing more you need from me?”

Mal leaned on Wash’s chair and gave Inara a boyish smirk. “Well now that you mention it…” Wash cleared his throat violently at that moment and pointed to something on the navigation screen before Mal could finish that thought. “Uh, don’t mind me, nothing important happening here...oh wait, the ship is about to explode, right.”

Inara snorted derisively and turned on her heels, walking off without another word. She had been just about to settle in for tea and a chat with one of the passengers when the little girl had knocked at the door. It was a shame they were interrupted; Inara was confident she had found someone trustworthy to give her some inside information on their passengers, let her know who to speak to, who to look up and perhaps investigate further. Together they had researched one suspicious passenger already.

She would have told Mal as much, in fact, but in spite of his never-ending ability to joke it looked like he was actually fairly busy with Wash, trying to go over the route to the space station. The owner of the space station, someone named Niska, didn’t exactly have the most savory reputation, and she wondered what their landing and repairs would end up costing them. In any case, she could always talk to Mal later. Alone. Not that she wanted to talk to Mal alone, of course.

Shaking off traitorous thoughts, she headed back for her shuttle.

Serenity :: Cargo Bay :: Mafia

“Did you see who walked out with her?”

“No, I didn’t. Do you think they suspect something?”

“Naw, I figure she was just ‘entertaining’ if you know what I mean.”

“Somehow I doubt that. Guess this plan is a wash in any case, between the unexpected guest and the little girl going into the shuttle. We’ll have to find another way to get to a terminal.”

“You’re sure neither of them drank the tea?”

“They wouldn’t have been walking around if they had. Knocks a body right out.”

Serenity :: Inara’s Shuttle :: Lyn, Inara

At first she had been annoyed upon seeing someone in her shuttle, but when Inara got a closer look at the sleeping form, she couldn’t help but soften a little. She leaned over and brushed away a strand of hair, reflecting on all of the innocents caught up in this mess.

The little girl felt rather cold.

Inara checked for a pulse before picking the girl up and running to the infirmary, shouting for help as she went.

Serenity :: Cargo Bay :: Mafia

“Guess it was a good thing she didn’t drink it.”

“Wasn’t ‘posed to kill her! Just knock her out!”

“It wasn’t our fault. She was just so little…didn’t look like she’d had a good meal in a while…wasn’t our fault she died.”

Round 2 SK Hit – Laha’s toon dies (Mafia now down one toon)

Serenity :: Forward Hold :: SK
It was so lonely here, and cold. The companion knew, but she hadn’t said anything, she hadn’t complained to anyone, she never just turned the damn heat up—that was the mystery, that was the secret. I watched her, the way she moved from room to room with grace that would make grown men weep. And I did. I wept for her. I whispered her name again and again. Sylvania. Sylvania. Sylvania.

She wasn’t asleep, like the other, like the first. She turned when she felt me coming, but she didn’t know me, only the rage that burns inside my chest. An emotion, nothing less then she had felt inside the chest of every lover brought to her bed, but passion is only a mild symptom. I feel so much more. She tries to run, but the axe sinks deep into her spine and her legs give way beneath her. I turn her over, and open her chest; she tries to gurgle some response, but her eyes say more then she ever intended. She was no stranger.

Earlier I was told we were to land in a matter of hours. How strange to think of things in such terms when slaughter is so timeless; the world dissolves into nothing more than the weight of the blade, the flow of the blood. Screams that no one can hear. No one but me.

This one though, she feels the pain of others and I wonder what she feels now, when she is in so much pain herself. I wonder if she feels the sharp needles I drive under my own skin; not where anyone can see, not yet, but I am compelled to change. This ship is my chrysalis and I am eager to emerge. I had hoped she would remain conscious, to be aware, as she was more so in life then any I had ever met, but she slipped away before I could release her heart from its cage, bring the throbbing mass to my lips, and kiss her more deeply then she knew was possible. Her blood was warm as it flowed down my throat, and comforting. I needed comfort. It would be some time before we would be reunited with the others, and I had so much to learn.

Round 2 Lynch vote – duexe and Ashmore tie, coin toss and both live

Serenity :: Cargo Bay :: Zoe, Mal, Lynch Mob
Zoe watched the tension unfold in the cargo bay. Another day, another fight. How this bunch had managed to survive together on Shadow was beyond her, what with all the arguing and pushing and shoving.

Still, tonight it seemed they were just blowing off a little steam. The fight came to stalemate without anyone dying; there was something to be said for that.

Well, anyone –else- dying, anyway.

Sighing, she turned to Mal, who was regarding the interactions with his usual impassive expression.

"I don’t like it, sir"

Mal kept his eyes on the cargo bay, though Zoe thought she detected a smirk. "What's not to like, folks getting slaughtered in their sleep, or not in their sleep... everything’s been peachy."

"No sir, about stopping at Niska's."

"Now that we ain't got no kind of choice on the matter."

Well, Cap’n was right about that; their options were certainly few. Even so, Niska had a certain reputation; a reputation that made whoever was carving people up on Serenity look like the fairy godmother. And there was the fact that making a stop right now, things being as volatile as they were, just smelled like trouble to Zoe. Hopefully they could get their repairs done and get going without their passengers ever leaving the ship…but somehow things never could be that simple.

Round 3 – The Mafia strikes back to kill the SK (and misses), The Shepard bites it

Niska's Space Station :: Upper Deck :: Mafia, Judas
Judas stepped out of the ship and took a deep breath, though in fact he was breathing the same sort of stale, recycled air as he had on board Serenity. They had arrived at the space station an hour ago and were told not to leave the ship, but surely they didn’t mean a man of God would be restricted in such a fashion! Obviously they didn’t mean the person he was following either. Smiling inwardly, he crept out of the empty shuttle, staying low to the ground to avoid being sighted.

He caught up to his fellow passenger at a terminal, typing furiously and not looking quite carefully enough. Altering his expression away from a smirk and into a more serene, peaceful gaze, he approached.

“Perhaps I can help you.”

The passenger seemed startled at first, but upon consideration relented.

“We gotta get in touch with the Alliance. They can get us off this ship and to a safe place; it’s too dangerous in there, we’re all gonna get killed ‘f we stay!”

Judas placed his hands together, fingertips touching.

“Ah, noble reasons indeed. Very noble reasons.” He looked down at the floor for a moment, as though in prayer, though really he was trying to hide his smirk. “And this has nothing to do with the stolen Alliance cargo aboard Serenity?”

“How did you…what? No!”

Judas shook his head in a pitying sort of way and stepped up to the terminal, using the special access to get a direct line to the Alliance but stopping just short of actually connecting.

“Now, if we can just discuss my cut…”

That was, however, a discussion that was never going to happen. Caught off guard by the apparently defeated fellow passenger and perhaps a little overconfident about his untouchable Sheppard status, he found himself tumbling over the railing, falling down, down into the burning reactor core of the space station where flames consumed him like hellfire.

Round 3 – SK kills pooka (the Sheriff bites it)

Niska's Space Station :: Mid Deck, Maintenance :: SK
Everything is different now. There is darkness here, the seedy underbelly of man. My shadow stalks me, my failure, my worthlessness. Skin tight. Suffocating. The ship is to be our prison, but I am no caged beast, no slave to the serene.

This one feels it too, the need to escape. I have but to follow her, and she leads me outward, to salvation. I too seek truth, and we will find it. Together. The carbon wire wraps snugly about her throat, and pulls her into a nearby hollow. She passes out; I close the door behind us with an empty click.

We are alone.

She is everything to me, this one. So precious, so necessary, so conscious of the fact that I am removing her skin. She screams into the greased rag that fills her mouth, and the twisting of her body makes it difficult to drag the blade evenly across her, but I persevere.

Her eyes are wide, frightened, then impossibly empty, leaving me wanting, and lonely. The elemental rage that builds inside of me consumes my senses. My response is visceral, immediate, her blood splashing over my fingertips like a warm glove. I leave her face a broken mass of teeth and bone.

Envy washes over me, and then passes. My scars will surface, in time. I gather up the strips of carved flesh and place them neatly in my pack. When we return here, with the others, and harvest this place. When these halls are filled with blood and terror, a part of her will walk with me, always. Brenda Taylor, the unbeliever.

I feel them coming, ever closer. This marks the beginning of the end.

Round 3 Lynch vote – Jinheim and Elviaz tie (/boggle), coin toss both die (the SK bites it)

“You wanna explain to me one more time why we’re letting all the crazies back on the boat?” Jayne asked as he and Mal made their way back to Serenity. Repairs were just about finished, and Mal was more then ready to get off the station. An unforeseen complication had come up in the deal with Niska’s people, and it made him anxious to be on his way.

“They weren’t s’posed to get off in the first place, Jayne,” Mal answered impatiently. “If I recall, plan was for everyone to stay put.”

“Yeah, well that turned out fine and dandy didn’t it. Should of told ‘em they weren’t supposed to run around cuttin’ on people neither. Don’t you find it a might unsettlin’ that more people got off then got back on? I mean, where’d those other two get off to? Ain’t nobody seen ‘em since we made dock.”

“Maybe they got jobs,” Mal mused. While Jayne did have a point, he wasn’t sure exactly what he was supposed to do about it. They had a hot cargo, a ship full of ornery passengers, and Niska aiming to make their lives far more complicated then he had any right to. Looking for strays wasn’t high on his list. “Those that run off and get left, that’s their problem, but I ain’t gonna force anyone off that’s lookin’ to come with. That’s final”

As they made their way up the gangplank and into the cargo hold, Mal almost had to trace back and rethink what he had just told Jayne. In the center of the hold, standing in a loose circle, were his humble guests. What drew his attention was the fact that slightly above them, twisting from a pair of nooses, hung both Alex Han, and Ivan Vasilyevich. None of the other passengers said a word, just stood there staring up at their handiwork.

“See, that’s exactly what I’m talkin’ about,” Jayne said, pointing an accusatory finger towards the crowd. “These folk ain’t right! I say we round up every ruttin’ one of em, and leave em for Niska.”

“I ain’t saying you don’t have a point there,” Mal started, his eyes moving back to the man hanging in his cargo bay. “I’d like to be rid of them myself. But we drop this bunch here, and something like this happens, Niska’s like to take it personal. That’s trouble we don’t need. We stick to the plan, unload this cargo, then worry ‘bout what needs be done. HEY, CUT ‘EM DOWN!!”

The shout seemed to jolt the group out of their trance, and they set to releasing the pair, the ropes are undone, and the pair fall to the cold metal floor, side by side. Mal throws Jayne a look, who cursed to himself as he made his way down to the floor to get rid of the bodies. As he reached down to lift Ivan, he noticed the man’s arm move ever so slightly.

“Hey Mal, I think this one might still be…” Before he could finish his sentence, Ivan let loose a primal, guttural roar and a flash of metal slashed across Jayne’s chest. Jayne fell back, clutching the wound, and as Ivan moved to pounce on his newly acquired prey, seeming to draw on some hidden, unearthly strength, a shot was fired, and his brains explode out the back of his head. Beyond the crowd, Mal stood with his gun drawn, smoke pouring from the barrel.

“Crazy son of a bitch, how the hell did he survive that …” Jayne spat out, his hands covered in his own blood. As Mal came up on the body, he lifted the man’s shirt, and found a series of long metal pins sticking out from beneath the pale skin.

“He weren’t human no more, that’s how.”


Round 4 Mafia Hit – Tor bites it

Serenity :: Dining Room :: Layla, Mafia

“Feeling lucky?”

Layla looked up sharply at the voice that interrupted her musings, startled, though her gaze turned to confusion after a moment.

“Huh?”

Her fellow passenger slid into the seat across from her and smiled.

“You’re rolling dice. I thought perhaps you were feeling lucky.”

Layla looked down at her hand, then laughed. It was a nervous habit, though in reality she shouldn’t be wasting good rolls. It seemed tonight she was getting the unlucky numbers out of her system, however. She tossed the dice again and frowned down at the snake eyes before regarding the other passenger once more.

“Not so much.”

The passenger nodded, once, and Layla gave a shrug and a grin before the length of rope wrapped around her neck, turning the grin to a grimace and her delicate shrug to desperate clawing at her neck.

The killer regarded the other conspirator for a long moment after it was all over before speaking, harshly.

“Yeah. Not so much.”

Serenity :: Cockpit :: Zoe, Mal, Wash

“I don’t like us bein’ beholden to no one!”

Zoe nodded with her usual stoicism. “Yes sir. We had no choice, sir.”

Mal gripped the back of the chair and scowled, as though this were Zoe’s fault and not his own, before shoving off violently and pacing the cabin. Wash kept his eyes on the screens in front of him as his chair was jostled about, though once Mal’s back was turned he tilted his head and gave Zoe a look. Zoe raised one eyebrow at Wash, and he turned back to his work.

“So now we gotta pull a job for this Niska.”

“Pay in trade, that’s what the men said.”

Wash piped up, adding brightly: “They shoulda just charged us an arm and a leg. Those we have a few too many of these days.”

Zoe kept her snort inward, not wanting Mal any more pissed than he was, and looked over at her captain, who still seemed quite distressed with the arrangement Niska’s people had come up with. “Gotta find us before they can call in their favor sir.”

Mal shook his head. “I’ve powerful little doubt he’ll find us when he needs us. And it’ll be the worst time possible for me and mine.”

Serenity :: Cargo Bay :: Mafia

“How much longer?”

“Not sure. Few hours? Hafta get further out, ‘way from the space station, feds won’t come near that.”

“And our reward?”

“All arranged. Just a matter of getting the Alliance and Serenity in the same place at the same time now.”

“Now if we can just get the goram crate open…”

“Don’t need to; it’s got Alliance markers all over it and they’re willing to chance it even not knowing what’s inside. Though they seemed a fair bit more interested in the ship than in the cargo we’re offerin’.”

“As long as we’re all getting what we want, I’m happy.”

Round 4 Lynch – duexe and Rae tie, coin toss both die (GF kills himself)

Serenity :: Cockpit :: Mal, Zoe, Wash

“I reckon they want us to stop.”

Mal looked out the window of Serenity and regarded the Alliance ship headed their way with an almost detached expression. “Well now. We got ourselves an illegal cargo and a ship full of killers from an illegal settlement in the outer rim. Not to mention whatever we might be wanted for this week.” He turned to Wash, nodding his head. “Yeah, let’s pull up and have ourselves a chat.”

Wash blinked, then began going through the motions for slowing the ship down.

“What are you doing?!? Get us the hell out of here!”

Zoe, in defense of her husband, felt the need to contribute. “We just never know what you’re gonna do next Sir.”

Mal shook his head and pulled down the intercom mic.

Serenity :: Engine Room :: Remaining Passengers, Kaylee

Well this was just about the sorriest sight she ever did see. People fightin’ each other over, good people, just regular folk gone all kinds of bad. Kaylee ducked behind the engine block and peered underneath, watching two pairs of feet scuffle back and forth and the arguing reached the breaking point, but she was right back out and in the fray when a flying hunk of metal struck the side of the ship.

“Watch where you’re throwin’ that!”

Angry in a way she rarely was, she charged forward, but halted at the sound of Mal’s voice over the intercom.

“We’re just in a spot of trouble. Might want to take this time to make right with your neighbors…or kill them…or you could just grab onto something.”

Before there was any time to do anything of the sort, the ship gave a sudden lurch and sent Pei Pei and Marko careening into the wall, oblivious to the warnings in their furious battle for supremacy. Marko managed to get to his feet first and rushed toward the engine block, apparently looking for another piece of equipment to throw, but another jolt from the ship sent him right into the spinning fans, chopping him into pieces in seconds.

Kaylee put her hand over her mouth, horrified and yet unable to turn away from the sight.

“What’d he do –that- for?”

The rest of the crowd hesitated, confused for a moment, but then with a collective shrug went back into motion, grabbing the bell ringer by arms and legs and throwing her against the twisting blades.

Round 5 - Mafia hit – Ashmore finally dies

Serenity :: Engine Room :: Kaylee, Remaining Passengers (continued)

Kaylee’s shriek as blood splattered across her face a second time was all but drowned out by the sound of alarms going off all over the ship. Lifting herself off the floor, she shoved her way through the remaining passengers, trying to keep nausea at bay, and struggled to the main control panel.

“Somethin’s wrong with her…c’mon, tell me what’s wrong…”

The other passengers, as though only now aware that something far more dire than petty disputes was occurring, began struggling to find hand holds and try to secure themselves. Metal scraped metal as a part someone was using as a handhold came off in their hands, and Kaylee turned around sharply.

“Don’t –touch- her! Get outta here!”

As one, the passengers scattered.

Serenity :: Cockpit :: Mal, Zoe, Wash

“We’re gonna need to see some fancy footwork outta you, Wash.”

Zoe felt the corner of her mouth go up ever so slightly at the sound of Mal’s voice. They had managed to find their way to a planet and were currently flying low to the ground on the night side. Ahead was a canyon that gouged the surface like a wound, with craggy rocks and tunnels. It was dark, and they were entering a maze, and she never doubted for a second that Wash would see them out the other side. The Alliance ship was still behind them…it wouldn’t be for long. She kept her jaw set as the opposing ship scored another hit; Serenity would hold, and they would survive this.

“I can do that capt’n.”

Wash reached up and flipped three switches that Zoe still didn’t understand the purpose of, and smiled in a soft, distant sort of way.

“I can do that.”

Serenity :: Second Shuttle :: Marconi, Mafia

Marconi had just about had it from the lot of them. Sick, twisted bunch of crazies! Just thinking of the fact that some of these people had come into his shops, ordered his food…and now they were accusing –him- of doin’ killin’! Accusations had died down since that other fellow with the needles sticking out of his skin got shot, but Marconi still thought that maybe it was safer to go off on his own and stay the hell away from the rest of ‘em.

That was when he realized he wasn’t alone at all. Holding onto a support beam was another passenger, and it was this passenger’s voice that made him freeze in his steps.

“Going somewhere?”

Marconi shook his head. “I just wanna get to safety…start a new job…live out my life in peace!”

“Peace.” The passenger sounded doubtful of this, though at that moment Marconi was too busy trying to stay on his feet to dwell on that.

“Yeah, peace.” Marconi gave an uneasy little half smile, then realized his mistake. “Serenity.”

As though the ship heard Marconi call her name, she suddenly took a sharp drop, sending him skidding across the floor.

Right into the other passenger, who grabbed hold of him, refusing to let go, and he realized only too late that he was next, that there was a rather large gun held to his head, and that this passenger would fire.

The gun clattered to the floor, and the last of the conspirators stumbled out of the room, leaving the mess for Jayne.

…to be continued!

Round 5 Lynch – Briare dies (lol – the Doctor)

Serenity :: Infirmary :: Peter, Eliham, Trina

“Please, you have to believe me! I never hurt anyone! My parents…”

Peter shook his head sadly. “…are puppets of the Alliance. Mayhap put you up to this.”

Eliham stood to the side, listening to the proceedings. Unbeknownst to him, the scene was reflected in his large dark goggles. “I must say, this suggestion that you’ve been trying to help people is most creative, considering the great harm you’ve caused.”

Trina, eyes filled with tears, looked at Eliham pleadingly before realizing that her fifteen year old puppy eyes would not have much of an effect on a blind person. Still, she went on begging for her life, her voice rising higher and higher in pitch. “But I –was- trying to help people! I learned at school, I was…” she paused and sniffed mightily as tears began to fall “…I was going to be a doctor before everything went bad!”

Peter just snorted and reached into a drawer, pulling out a large syringe and examining it casually for a moment before looking up with a fierce glint in his eyes. “Well then, ‘doctor,’” he spat, “perhaps you can tell me just what happens when a person overdoses on pure adrenaline.”

Trina turned and shook her head violently. “No, please, no! My parents, they’ll pay whatever you want! Please!”

She took a step backward, away from Peter, and managed to bump right into Eliham, who gripped her arms tightly and snapped.

“Do it!”

Peter jammed the needle between her ribs, into her heart, and pushed down, hard. What would have saved a full grown man near death would surely kill a teenaged girl. Eliham continued to hold her upright as she thrashed and convulsed, her pulse racing and every muscle in her body locking at once, before at last she went still. The two men worked together, Eliham lifting and Peter guiding, to rest Trina on the operating table.

Peter shook his head, then realized that Eliham couldn’t see the gesture. “Shame we had to do it. Real shame. Had to be done though.” He turned away from the sight of the young lady and found Eliham standing much closer than he had thought. He saw his own expression reflected in the goggles, and realized, in a distant sort of way, that he was afraid, though he wasn’t quite sure of why.

Something just felt wrong.

And then Eliham smiled, shaking his head in a pitying sort of way. “I must say, I’m pleased to hear that you’re so…understanding. It is a ‘real shame’, sometimes. Doing what must be done.”

Peter’s eyes widened.

“You!”

Before Eliham could confirm or deny the monosyllabic accusation, however, Serenity rocked violently and in the distance they heard what was quite likely an explosion.

To be continued…

The end – Final Tally Mafia

Serenity :: Cockpit :: Mal, Wash, Zoe
“Did they just shoot at us!?” Mal asked in disbelief as he craned his head to try and get a look back out of one of the peripheral windows. “I think they’re shooting at us!”

“Well, to be fair, we are running from them,” Wash shot back as he glided the ship through a series of ever-narrowing canyon walls. “They tend to frown on that kind of behavior, so I’m told.”

Another hit jolted the cabin, and Mal noticed a sudden drop in speed and altitude. Though Wash was quickly able to compensate for, pulling the ship back up as it raced insanely through the canyon, all it would take would be another well placed hit to force them into one of the nearby walls. If the Alliance couldn’t catch you alive, they sure weren’t going to let you walk away, and while Mal had no problem risking his own life in stunts like this, when it came to his crew…

“Wash, pull her up. We’re landing.”

“You sure about that?”

“Just do it!” Mal shouted, turning to Zoe, who had been watching events unfold, holding on to some cargo netting in the back of the cockpit. “I want the rest of the crew to get all cargo on the floor, in the open.”

“All cargo, sir?”

“You heard me,” he said, noticeably annoyed with all the questions. “Round up our passengers, and bring ‘em down to the cargo bay. Won’t do us no good to look like we’re hiding somethin’. These folk seem in an awful hurry to meet us, let’s not give ‘em anything that’s like to disappoint.”


Serenity :: Cargo Bay :: Crew, remaining passengers, Alliance boarding party.
As the cargo bay door opened, several men donning dark body armor, and armed with pulse rifles poured in. The men formed a defensive perimeter around the crew, who had gathered in the center of the room. Behind them, wearing the steel gray uniform of an Alliance officer, and carrying nothing more then a clipboard, a tall, surprisingly youthful, man took up an authoritative position.

“My name is Lieutenant Higgins.” The man started, in a delicate, balanced voice, seemingly oblivious to the armed men that surrounded him. “At 13:00 hours we received a transmission from this vessel. A transmission that raised a lot of questions. Questions that require answers. That is why I am here.”

“Captain Reynolds,” Mal said stepping forward and lifting his arm to single himself out. “This is my boat and I figure you’re here for an explanation of sorts...” The next words out of his mouth were to be an excuse for why they took off running rather then stopping for inspection, but suddenly realized that nothing he was about to say held any bearing whatsoever to the situation the Lieutenant just laid out for him. “Wait… what?”

“I was the one who sent the transmission, Lieutenant,” a voice said from behind him. Mal’s head shot around, and a confused look washed over his face, as a well built man of medium height sporting a pair of dark goggles stepped forward. “These men are criminals, in possession of stolen alliance cargo. If you knew what I had to go through just to get that transmission to you…”

“Excellent work,” the Lieutenant interrupted. “Arrest this man.”

“WHAT!?” Eliham shouted as a pair of guards moved in and seized his arms, forcing them behind his back. Bindings were forced over his wrists, and a second pair of guards took position behind him.

“Eliham McCullough,” the officer began, reading from his clipboard. “You are under arrest for violation of the Interplanetary Secrecy Act, theft of federal documents, the sale thereof, and high treason. You are entitled to a fair hearing on the planet of your choosing, should you give up this right, sentencing shall be administered by the governing council on your home planet, Ariel. Captain?”

“Right here,” Mal answered, still somewhat shocked that he wasn’t the one in shackles.

“We are also looking for these persons, if you would be so kind,” Higgins said, coolly handing the clipboard over to Mal. On the display were two images, one of a gruff looking man who looked to be in his mid thirties, the other a strikingly attractive woman in expensive clothing. Both had been on his ship. Both were dead.

“Never seen ‘em.”

“He’s lying!” Eliham screamed. “They were here! Check the crates, the locked ones in the back! These men are criminals!”

“Strong words seein’ as how I ain’t the one in shackles,” Mal quipped back. “If it’s these crates here you’re talkin’ about, why don’t we open ‘em up so all’s clear and honest?”

Lieutenant Higgins nodded, then gestured for his men to pull one of the crates in question to the center of the cargo bay. Mal knelt down and keyed in the pass code, then released the locks. The top lifted off with a sharp hiss, as compressed air escaped from within. The Lieutenant stared gravely inside, as the men around him gripped their rifles nervously. Higgins reached inside and drew out a piece of the suspect goods. Above the tension, a tiny squeak was heard.

“Dolls,” he said to Eliham. “Wobble-headed geisha dolls.”

“What… NO!”

“I’m afraid so,” the Lieutenant answered, seemingly un-amused by the turn of events. “Take this man to detention.”

Eliham screamed as the guards forcibly removed him from the ship. The Lieutenant turned back to Mal, and handed him the doll. “Now,” Higgins started, “I must apologize for firing on your ship, captain. It was deemed necessary to prevent this dangerous criminal from escaping. You fled from us, no doubt, under duress?”

There was a hint of understanding in the man’s voice, and Mal suddenly realized he had been underestimating him from the moment he stepped onto Serenity. “Yes, absolutely… tons of it.”

“Excellent, then I see no wrong doing on your part, Captain. If you wish to file a complaint for damages, you will need to submit your legal registry to the central authority and make an appointment to have your ship inspected and appraised.”

“I’ll be sure to get right on that,” Mal said.

Higgins gestured to his men, and they began to make their way off the ship. As the officer turned to leave himself, his eye seemed to catch on one of the other passengers. He frowned as he lifted his clipboard and moved his fingers over the surface. “WAIT!”

Higgins motioned to the two remaining guards who stepped forward, grabbed Peter and pulled him from the crowd. “This seems to be our lucky day, you’re a wanted man, Mr. Jepsen! How clever of you to make your way this far from the core, and interesting that you keep such company. Do you have any objections to us relieving you of this crew member, Captain Reynolds?”

“Oh, he ain’t one of mine,” Mal quickly responded. “Picked him up on Shadow not five days ago, rescued him you might say. Was planning on dropping him off, next stop we make, but if he’s running from the law it’s first I’ve heard.”

“Wonderful, I’ll make note of your cooperation in my report,” he said as he turned on his heels and left with Jepsen close behind. In stark contrast to Eliham, Peter made little effort to break free from his bonds, but rather seemed silently resigned to his capture. After two years of running, it was though he was relieved that it had finally come to an end. Mal watched as the cargo bay door closed behind them, and for the first time in nearly five days, he was alone with his crew. He turned the bobble-head doll in his hands, and wondered what the hell had just happened.

To be continued...
Part 2
Ariel :: Alliance Prison :: Guard

Civilization. Peace. Order. These were the values that the Alliance stood for, the ideals Rebecca, as a former officer and current prison guard, kept in place.

These were the things she found in Eliham. She was visiting him too much, she knew. Finding little excuses to talk to him through the bars of the cell. ‘I brought you a blanket.’ ‘Do you want me to put on some music?’ ‘I could read you a book if you’d like. No really, it’s slow tonight, I can do my paperwork another time.’

He told her he didn’t need sight to know she was beautiful.

And he never asked her to set him free.

But he chose her, and Rebecca had no chance in the ‘verse against that.

She cried for days when he disappeared, and hardly noticed that the bars were on the other side of her now. Arrested for high treason. It wasn’t until she saw the look in Peter’s eyes as they passed each other on the way to their respective hearings that she stopped believing Eliham would find her, somehow, some day.

What a fool she’d been.

Serenity :: Inara’s Shuttle :: Mal, Inara

“Geisha dolls.”

“That’s right.”

“With giant heads.”

“You know, your powers of observation…”

“…that wobble.”

Mal crossed his arms over his chest. “What. Is your point?”

Inara threw up her hands in response. “This was your secret cargo! Unbelievable!”

Feeling somewhat indignant and not a little sulky, he tapped his foot against a support beam and frowned before answering. “We’re getting a fair amount of payment for these. Doesn’t matter what’s in the cargo, just matters that we stay in the air.

Sighing, Inara turned away, arranging her overnight bag. They would be landing soon so that the crew could meet their middle man and she could meet her client. She supposed for the rest of them it was back to business as usual. All those innocent people dead, and two companions, or former companions, involved in the killing, led by that fellow who didn’t know who he was or where he came from. Her source had dried up all too quickly, skinned alive by a deranged killer, which was a horrible way for anyone to go, particularly a curious but innocent journalist. The worst of it, though, came early in the morning, when she saw the teenager’s parents on the feed, begging for their baby to be returned to them.

She was going to be a doctor.

Persephone :: Bar :: Badger, Zoe, Mal

“Dolls, eh? With big wobbly ‘eads?” Badger gave a little shrug. “They’ll sell.”

Mal did his best to keep from sneering at the odd little man with the absurd top hat and stood patiently.

“30 credits a piece then?”

Zoe rested her hand on her pistol.

“A’right a’right, 50 credits. And I got another job for you. Salvage work, even you can’t screw it up.”

Mal shrugged. Work was work, after all. He turned to Zoe, who had relaxed her grip on the weapon at her side. “Back to business I reckon.”

Ariel :: Space Port :: Eliham

A shame about the guard, really. Someone had to take the fall for this mess, though, and Peter and the guard were both…convenient.

Eliham smiled at that thought as he boarded the craft. Peter had been quite useful indeed, unbeknownst to him. Perhaps he was going soft in allowing him to live. Of course, Peter wouldn’t live long, now that he was in the hands of the Alliance, but it was hardly Eliham’s fault that he got caught, just like the guard getting arrested wasn’t his fault. He wondered for a moment what would happen to her.

His shoulders brushed against someone else’s as he boarded the craft, and the young man reached out, apologetic, stuttering, nervous.

“I beg your pardon. I didn’t…”

Eliham smiled inwardly at the young man’s embarrassment. “See me?” He shrugged a little. “It happens.”

He accepted the young man’s offer to find a seat, though he could have done it on his own. It never hurt to appear more helpless than you were, after all. Fellow didn’t seem inclined to speak much, and Eliham guessed he was still a little embarrassed.

That was alright by him; he was busy mulling over how to get a new crew together and get back to working. Marko had made for a good leader and Sylvania’s way with people was helpful, but both were dead now and it was time to move on.

“You’re going to Persephone?”

Realizing the young man had spoken, he pulled out of his reverie. “That’s the first stop, anyway.” Eliham hesitated for a moment. This fellow spoke without a trace of accent or the slur of the core planets. His hands were soft and he smelled clean. He was polite and soft spoken, perhaps a little shy.

He was ripe for the picking.

“I’m Eliham, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Simon. You’re alright here?”

“Better if you join me.”

There was a slight pause and Eliham wondered if he had scared the jumpy young man away, but when Simon spoke again he thought he heard regret. “Oh…Ariel is my stop, actually…I’m getting off here, I just…”

Eliham waved his hand. “Then you’d best go, or you’ll find yourself in Persephone anyway.”

Probably didn’t have much worth stealing anyway.

duexe 19 years ago
Here is the consolidated story. What is not referenced is the drama that went on between the players.

Posted here for your readin enjoyment...

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.

Lynch Vote 1 - Maelarya’s toon bites the dust

Sitting on the scaffolds above the main cargo bay, Jayne chewed a bit of apple from the end of a large, and malicious looking knife. Below him some of the other passengers had begun to gather, and though he couldn’t really catch what they were saying, their body language was something he understood all too well. There was hostility there, anger, and something more. Something that years of experience had attuned him too-- there was violence coming.

He chewed the last bit of apple off the knife, then carved out another slice as he watched the group with mixed interest. After a few heated words were exchanged it seemed that it wasn't going to come to much, but that’s when the fight broke out. The big guy, his name started with an S or something, he started swinging first, but from the start it didn’t look too good for him. The others jumped in, and it was over real fast, which wasn’t really surprising, since eleven to one odds don’t usually turn out in favor of the one.

His biggest mistake was turning his back to the airlock, quick shove and a flip of a switch and he was locked in. Saw that one coming. A short decompression later and the guy was floating in deep space without a suit. Not the most pleasant way to go. Jayne finished off another slice of apple and then tossed the rest down to the cargo bay floor. For some reason he wasn’t all too hungry anymore. He heard someone coming up from behind him, and the way their footsteps fell on the grating told him it was Kaylee. Live on a boat this long with the same crowd and you just know that kind of thing.

“I’d lock my bunk tonight I were you,” he said to her, not bothering to turn around. She came up beside him and leaned against the railing. The crowd below had already begun to slink back into the various corners of the ship where they felt most safe.

“What about them? Some of those folks ain’t got no locks on their doors," Kaylee asked, a look of concern on her face that always confused Jayne somewhat. Was rare to find someone who genuinely cared about strangers like she did. He wasn't sure if it was necessarily a good thing. Looing out at the cargo bay, and then at the recently used airlock, he decided that it probably wasn't.

“Some of those folks don’t need ’em,” he said coldly.

Round 2 Mafia hit – Blackrabbit Dies

Serenity :: Inara’s Shuttle :: Lyn

Lyn knew she wasn’t supposed to be here. Then again, she wasn’t –supposed- to be anywhere, thanks to the Alliance. And it was so beautiful here, and warm, and it smelled much nicer than anywhere else on the ship. When one of the other passengers asked her to go tell the beautiful woman that the captain wanted her on the bridge, the glimpse she’d received of the shuttle proved too tempting to resist further exploration.

She bounced on the red sofa and pulled the blanket off the back, wrapping it around her shoulders. So soft! Everything here felt so pleasant to touch, and she wondered why the rest of the ship didn’t have such nice things. She hoped the pretty lady wouldn’t be angry when she came back, but Lyn didn’t see why she should have all these comforts to herself when the rest of the ship was so cold and bare. It wasn’t fair. Story of Lyn’s life, but even so. Maybe the pretty lady wanted a little girl, like her old mistress.

Lyn decided this was a good plan. She would take care of the pretty lady, and the pretty lady could take care of her and let her live in the shuttle.

There was a pot of steaming tea on the small serving table, and she helped herself to a cup. Thinking this might be the start of something good, she drank her tea slowly, curled up on the sofa. It was delicious, though she wished she had some cookies to go with it. Perhaps it was greedy to have another cup, but a girl in her situation learned to take what she could get. Being more comfortable than she had been in ages had the effect of making her awfully sleepy, and Lyn decided a short nap wouldn’t do any harm.

She barely managed to set the empty teacup on the edge of the table before she fell unconscious.

Serenity :: Bridge :: Mal, Wash, Inara

“Inara, if I had a need to speak with you I’d a come to your shuttle, you know that.”

Inara scowled. “All too well, Mal. So there’s nothing more you need from me?”

Mal leaned on Wash’s chair and gave Inara a boyish smirk. “Well now that you mention it…” Wash cleared his throat violently at that moment and pointed to something on the navigation screen before Mal could finish that thought. “Uh, don’t mind me, nothing important happening here...oh wait, the ship is about to explode, right.”

Inara snorted derisively and turned on her heels, walking off without another word. She had been just about to settle in for tea and a chat with one of the passengers when the little girl had knocked at the door. It was a shame they were interrupted; Inara was confident she had found someone trustworthy to give her some inside information on their passengers, let her know who to speak to, who to look up and perhaps investigate further. Together they had researched one suspicious passenger already.

She would have told Mal as much, in fact, but in spite of his never-ending ability to joke it looked like he was actually fairly busy with Wash, trying to go over the route to the space station. The owner of the space station, someone named Niska, didn’t exactly have the most savory reputation, and she wondered what their landing and repairs would end up costing them. In any case, she could always talk to Mal later. Alone. Not that she wanted to talk to Mal alone, of course.

Shaking off traitorous thoughts, she headed back for her shuttle.

Serenity :: Cargo Bay :: Mafia

“Did you see who walked out with her?”

“No, I didn’t. Do you think they suspect something?”

“Naw, I figure she was just ‘entertaining’ if you know what I mean.”

“Somehow I doubt that. Guess this plan is a wash in any case, between the unexpected guest and the little girl going into the shuttle. We’ll have to find another way to get to a terminal.”

“You’re sure neither of them drank the tea?”

“They wouldn’t have been walking around if they had. Knocks a body right out.”

Serenity :: Inara’s Shuttle :: Lyn, Inara

At first she had been annoyed upon seeing someone in her shuttle, but when Inara got a closer look at the sleeping form, she couldn’t help but soften a little. She leaned over and brushed away a strand of hair, reflecting on all of the innocents caught up in this mess.

The little girl felt rather cold.

Inara checked for a pulse before picking the girl up and running to the infirmary, shouting for help as she went.

Serenity :: Cargo Bay :: Mafia

“Guess it was a good thing she didn’t drink it.”

“Wasn’t ‘posed to kill her! Just knock her out!”

“It wasn’t our fault. She was just so little…didn’t look like she’d had a good meal in a while…wasn’t our fault she died.”

Round 2 SK Hit – Laha’s toon dies (Mafia now down one toon)

Serenity :: Forward Hold :: SK
It was so lonely here, and cold. The companion knew, but she hadn’t said anything, she hadn’t complained to anyone, she never just turned the damn heat up—that was the mystery, that was the secret. I watched her, the way she moved from room to room with grace that would make grown men weep. And I did. I wept for her. I whispered her name again and again. Sylvania. Sylvania. Sylvania.

She wasn’t asleep, like the other, like the first. She turned when she felt me coming, but she didn’t know me, only the rage that burns inside my chest. An emotion, nothing less then she had felt inside the chest of every lover brought to her bed, but passion is only a mild symptom. I feel so much more. She tries to run, but the axe sinks deep into her spine and her legs give way beneath her. I turn her over, and open her chest; she tries to gurgle some response, but her eyes say more then she ever intended. She was no stranger.

Earlier I was told we were to land in a matter of hours. How strange to think of things in such terms when slaughter is so timeless; the world dissolves into nothing more than the weight of the blade, the flow of the blood. Screams that no one can hear. No one but me.

This one though, she feels the pain of others and I wonder what she feels now, when she is in so much pain herself. I wonder if she feels the sharp needles I drive under my own skin; not where anyone can see, not yet, but I am compelled to change. This ship is my chrysalis and I am eager to emerge. I had hoped she would remain conscious, to be aware, as she was more so in life then any I had ever met, but she slipped away before I could release her heart from its cage, bring the throbbing mass to my lips, and kiss her more deeply then she knew was possible. Her blood was warm as it flowed down my throat, and comforting. I needed comfort. It would be some time before we would be reunited with the others, and I had so much to learn.

Round 2 Lynch vote – duexe and Ashmore tie, coin toss and both live

Serenity :: Cargo Bay :: Zoe, Mal, Lynch Mob
Zoe watched the tension unfold in the cargo bay. Another day, another fight. How this bunch had managed to survive together on Shadow was beyond her, what with all the arguing and pushing and shoving.

Still, tonight it seemed they were just blowing off a little steam. The fight came to stalemate without anyone dying; there was something to be said for that.

Well, anyone –else- dying, anyway.

Sighing, she turned to Mal, who was regarding the interactions with his usual impassive expression.

"I don’t like it, sir"

Mal kept his eyes on the cargo bay, though Zoe thought she detected a smirk. "What's not to like, folks getting slaughtered in their sleep, or not in their sleep... everything’s been peachy."

"No sir, about stopping at Niska's."

"Now that we ain't got no kind of choice on the matter."

Well, Cap’n was right about that; their options were certainly few. Even so, Niska had a certain reputation; a reputation that made whoever was carving people up on Serenity look like the fairy godmother. And there was the fact that making a stop right now, things being as volatile as they were, just smelled like trouble to Zoe. Hopefully they could get their repairs done and get going without their passengers ever leaving the ship…but somehow things never could be that simple.

Round 3 – The Mafia strikes back to kill the SK (and misses), The Shepard bites it

Niska's Space Station :: Upper Deck :: Mafia, Judas
Judas stepped out of the ship and took a deep breath, though in fact he was breathing the same sort of stale, recycled air as he had on board Serenity. They had arrived at the space station an hour ago and were told not to leave the ship, but surely they didn’t mean a man of God would be restricted in such a fashion! Obviously they didn’t mean the person he was following either. Smiling inwardly, he crept out of the empty shuttle, staying low to the ground to avoid being sighted.

He caught up to his fellow passenger at a terminal, typing furiously and not looking quite carefully enough. Altering his expression away from a smirk and into a more serene, peaceful gaze, he approached.

“Perhaps I can help you.”

The passenger seemed startled at first, but upon consideration relented.

“We gotta get in touch with the Alliance. They can get us off this ship and to a safe place; it’s too dangerous in there, we’re all gonna get killed ‘f we stay!”

Judas placed his hands together, fingertips touching.

“Ah, noble reasons indeed. Very noble reasons.” He looked down at the floor for a moment, as though in prayer, though really he was trying to hide his smirk. “And this has nothing to do with the stolen Alliance cargo aboard Serenity?”

“How did you…what? No!”

Judas shook his head in a pitying sort of way and stepped up to the terminal, using the special access to get a direct line to the Alliance but stopping just short of actually connecting.

“Now, if we can just discuss my cut…”

That was, however, a discussion that was never going to happen. Caught off guard by the apparently defeated fellow passenger and perhaps a little overconfident about his untouchable Sheppard status, he found himself tumbling over the railing, falling down, down into the burning reactor core of the space station where flames consumed him like hellfire.

Round 3 – SK kills pooka (the Sheriff bites it)

Niska's Space Station :: Mid Deck, Maintenance :: SK
Everything is different now. There is darkness here, the seedy underbelly of man. My shadow stalks me, my failure, my worthlessness. Skin tight. Suffocating. The ship is to be our prison, but I am no caged beast, no slave to the serene.

This one feels it too, the need to escape. I have but to follow her, and she leads me outward, to salvation. I too seek truth, and we will find it. Together. The carbon wire wraps snugly about her throat, and pulls her into a nearby hollow. She passes out; I close the door behind us with an empty click.

We are alone.

She is everything to me, this one. So precious, so necessary, so conscious of the fact that I am removing her skin. She screams into the greased rag that fills her mouth, and the twisting of her body makes it difficult to drag the blade evenly across her, but I persevere.

Her eyes are wide, frightened, then impossibly empty, leaving me wanting, and lonely. The elemental rage that builds inside of me consumes my senses. My response is visceral, immediate, her blood splashing over my fingertips like a warm glove. I leave her face a broken mass of teeth and bone.

Envy washes over me, and then passes. My scars will surface, in time. I gather up the strips of carved flesh and place them neatly in my pack. When we return here, with the others, and harvest this place. When these halls are filled with blood and terror, a part of her will walk with me, always. Brenda Taylor, the unbeliever.

I feel them coming, ever closer. This marks the beginning of the end.

Round 3 Lynch vote – Jinheim and Elviaz tie (/boggle), coin toss both die (the SK bites it)

“You wanna explain to me one more time why we’re letting all the crazies back on the boat?” Jayne asked as he and Mal made their way back to Serenity. Repairs were just about finished, and Mal was more then ready to get off the station. An unforeseen complication had come up in the deal with Niska’s people, and it made him anxious to be on his way.

“They weren’t s’posed to get off in the first place, Jayne,” Mal answered impatiently. “If I recall, plan was for everyone to stay put.”

“Yeah, well that turned out fine and dandy didn’t it. Should of told ‘em they weren’t supposed to run around cuttin’ on people neither. Don’t you find it a might unsettlin’ that more people got off then got back on? I mean, where’d those other two get off to? Ain’t nobody seen ‘em since we made dock.”

“Maybe they got jobs,” Mal mused. While Jayne did have a point, he wasn’t sure exactly what he was supposed to do about it. They had a hot cargo, a ship full of ornery passengers, and Niska aiming to make their lives far more complicated then he had any right to. Looking for strays wasn’t high on his list. “Those that run off and get left, that’s their problem, but I ain’t gonna force anyone off that’s lookin’ to come with. That’s final”

As they made their way up the gangplank and into the cargo hold, Mal almost had to trace back and rethink what he had just told Jayne. In the center of the hold, standing in a loose circle, were his humble guests. What drew his attention was the fact that slightly above them, twisting from a pair of nooses, hung both Alex Han, and Ivan Vasilyevich. None of the other passengers said a word, just stood there staring up at their handiwork.

“See, that’s exactly what I’m talkin’ about,” Jayne said, pointing an accusatory finger towards the crowd. “These folk ain’t right! I say we round up every ruttin’ one of em, and leave em for Niska.”

“I ain’t saying you don’t have a point there,” Mal started, his eyes moving back to the man hanging in his cargo bay. “I’d like to be rid of them myself. But we drop this bunch here, and something like this happens, Niska’s like to take it personal. That’s trouble we don’t need. We stick to the plan, unload this cargo, then worry ‘bout what needs be done. HEY, CUT ‘EM DOWN!!”

The shout seemed to jolt the group out of their trance, and they set to releasing the pair, the ropes are undone, and the pair fall to the cold metal floor, side by side. Mal throws Jayne a look, who cursed to himself as he made his way down to the floor to get rid of the bodies. As he reached down to lift Ivan, he noticed the man’s arm move ever so slightly.

“Hey Mal, I think this one might still be…” Before he could finish his sentence, Ivan let loose a primal, guttural roar and a flash of metal slashed across Jayne’s chest. Jayne fell back, clutching the wound, and as Ivan moved to pounce on his newly acquired prey, seeming to draw on some hidden, unearthly strength, a shot was fired, and his brains explode out the back of his head. Beyond the crowd, Mal stood with his gun drawn, smoke pouring from the barrel.

“Crazy son of a bitch, how the hell did he survive that …” Jayne spat out, his hands covered in his own blood. As Mal came up on the body, he lifted the man’s shirt, and found a series of long metal pins sticking out from beneath the pale skin.

“He weren’t human no more, that’s how.”


Round 4 Mafia Hit – Tor bites it

Serenity :: Dining Room :: Layla, Mafia

“Feeling lucky?”

Layla looked up sharply at the voice that interrupted her musings, startled, though her gaze turned to confusion after a moment.

“Huh?”

Her fellow passenger slid into the seat across from her and smiled.

“You’re rolling dice. I thought perhaps you were feeling lucky.”

Layla looked down at her hand, then laughed. It was a nervous habit, though in reality she shouldn’t be wasting good rolls. It seemed tonight she was getting the unlucky numbers out of her system, however. She tossed the dice again and frowned down at the snake eyes before regarding the other passenger once more.

“Not so much.”

The passenger nodded, once, and Layla gave a shrug and a grin before the length of rope wrapped around her neck, turning the grin to a grimace and her delicate shrug to desperate clawing at her neck.

The killer regarded the other conspirator for a long moment after it was all over before speaking, harshly.

“Yeah. Not so much.”

Serenity :: Cockpit :: Zoe, Mal, Wash

“I don’t like us bein’ beholden to no one!”

Zoe nodded with her usual stoicism. “Yes sir. We had no choice, sir.”

Mal gripped the back of the chair and scowled, as though this were Zoe’s fault and not his own, before shoving off violently and pacing the cabin. Wash kept his eyes on the screens in front of him as his chair was jostled about, though once Mal’s back was turned he tilted his head and gave Zoe a look. Zoe raised one eyebrow at Wash, and he turned back to his work.

“So now we gotta pull a job for this Niska.”

“Pay in trade, that’s what the men said.”

Wash piped up, adding brightly: “They shoulda just charged us an arm and a leg. Those we have a few too many of these days.”

Zoe kept her snort inward, not wanting Mal any more pissed than he was, and looked over at her captain, who still seemed quite distressed with the arrangement Niska’s people had come up with. “Gotta find us before they can call in their favor sir.”

Mal shook his head. “I’ve powerful little doubt he’ll find us when he needs us. And it’ll be the worst time possible for me and mine.”

Serenity :: Cargo Bay :: Mafia

“How much longer?”

“Not sure. Few hours? Hafta get further out, ‘way from the space station, feds won’t come near that.”

“And our reward?”

“All arranged. Just a matter of getting the Alliance and Serenity in the same place at the same time now.”

“Now if we can just get the goram crate open…”

“Don’t need to; it’s got Alliance markers all over it and they’re willing to chance it even not knowing what’s inside. Though they seemed a fair bit more interested in the ship than in the cargo we’re offerin’.”

“As long as we’re all getting what we want, I’m happy.”

Round 4 Lynch – duexe and Rae tie, coin toss both die (GF kills himself)

Serenity :: Cockpit :: Mal, Zoe, Wash

“I reckon they want us to stop.”

Mal looked out the window of Serenity and regarded the Alliance ship headed their way with an almost detached expression. “Well now. We got ourselves an illegal cargo and a ship full of killers from an illegal settlement in the outer rim. Not to mention whatever we might be wanted for this week.” He turned to Wash, nodding his head. “Yeah, let’s pull up and have ourselves a chat.”

Wash blinked, then began going through the motions for slowing the ship down.

“What are you doing?!? Get us the hell out of here!”

Zoe, in defense of her husband, felt the need to contribute. “We just never know what you’re gonna do next Sir.”

Mal shook his head and pulled down the intercom mic.

Serenity :: Engine Room :: Remaining Passengers, Kaylee

Well this was just about the sorriest sight she ever did see. People fightin’ each other over, good people, just regular folk gone all kinds of bad. Kaylee ducked behind the engine block and peered underneath, watching two pairs of feet scuffle back and forth and the arguing reached the breaking point, but she was right back out and in the fray when a flying hunk of metal struck the side of the ship.

“Watch where you’re throwin’ that!”

Angry in a way she rarely was, she charged forward, but halted at the sound of Mal’s voice over the intercom.

“We’re just in a spot of trouble. Might want to take this time to make right with your neighbors…or kill them…or you could just grab onto something.”

Before there was any time to do anything of the sort, the ship gave a sudden lurch and sent Pei Pei and Marko careening into the wall, oblivious to the warnings in their furious battle for supremacy. Marko managed to get to his feet first and rushed toward the engine block, apparently looking for another piece of equipment to throw, but another jolt from the ship sent him right into the spinning fans, chopping him into pieces in seconds.

Kaylee put her hand over her mouth, horrified and yet unable to turn away from the sight.

“What’d he do –that- for?”

The rest of the crowd hesitated, confused for a moment, but then with a collective shrug went back into motion, grabbing the bell ringer by arms and legs and throwing her against the twisting blades.

Round 5 - Mafia hit – Ashmore finally dies

Serenity :: Engine Room :: Kaylee, Remaining Passengers (continued)

Kaylee’s shriek as blood splattered across her face a second time was all but drowned out by the sound of alarms going off all over the ship. Lifting herself off the floor, she shoved her way through the remaining passengers, trying to keep nausea at bay, and struggled to the main control panel.

“Somethin’s wrong with her…c’mon, tell me what’s wrong…”

The other passengers, as though only now aware that something far more dire than petty disputes was occurring, began struggling to find hand holds and try to secure themselves. Metal scraped metal as a part someone was using as a handhold came off in their hands, and Kaylee turned around sharply.

“Don’t –touch- her! Get outta here!”

As one, the passengers scattered.

Serenity :: Cockpit :: Mal, Zoe, Wash

“We’re gonna need to see some fancy footwork outta you, Wash.”

Zoe felt the corner of her mouth go up ever so slightly at the sound of Mal’s voice. They had managed to find their way to a planet and were currently flying low to the ground on the night side. Ahead was a canyon that gouged the surface like a wound, with craggy rocks and tunnels. It was dark, and they were entering a maze, and she never doubted for a second that Wash would see them out the other side. The Alliance ship was still behind them…it wouldn’t be for long. She kept her jaw set as the opposing ship scored another hit; Serenity would hold, and they would survive this.

“I can do that capt’n.”

Wash reached up and flipped three switches that Zoe still didn’t understand the purpose of, and smiled in a soft, distant sort of way.

“I can do that.”

Serenity :: Second Shuttle :: Marconi, Mafia

Marconi had just about had it from the lot of them. Sick, twisted bunch of crazies! Just thinking of the fact that some of these people had come into his shops, ordered his food…and now they were accusing –him- of doin’ killin’! Accusations had died down since that other fellow with the needles sticking out of his skin got shot, but Marconi still thought that maybe it was safer to go off on his own and stay the hell away from the rest of ‘em.

That was when he realized he wasn’t alone at all. Holding onto a support beam was another passenger, and it was this passenger’s voice that made him freeze in his steps.

“Going somewhere?”

Marconi shook his head. “I just wanna get to safety…start a new job…live out my life in peace!”

“Peace.” The passenger sounded doubtful of this, though at that moment Marconi was too busy trying to stay on his feet to dwell on that.

“Yeah, peace.” Marconi gave an uneasy little half smile, then realized his mistake. “Serenity.”

As though the ship heard Marconi call her name, she suddenly took a sharp drop, sending him skidding across the floor.

Right into the other passenger, who grabbed hold of him, refusing to let go, and he realized only too late that he was next, that there was a rather large gun held to his head, and that this passenger would fire.

The gun clattered to the floor, and the last of the conspirators stumbled out of the room, leaving the mess for Jayne.

…to be continued!

Round 5 Lynch – Briare dies (lol – the Doctor)

Serenity :: Infirmary :: Peter, Eliham, Trina

“Please, you have to believe me! I never hurt anyone! My parents…”

Peter shook his head sadly. “…are puppets of the Alliance. Mayhap put you up to this.”

Eliham stood to the side, listening to the proceedings. Unbeknownst to him, the scene was reflected in his large dark goggles. “I must say, this suggestion that you’ve been trying to help people is most creative, considering the great harm you’ve caused.”

Trina, eyes filled with tears, looked at Eliham pleadingly before realizing that her fifteen year old puppy eyes would not have much of an effect on a blind person. Still, she went on begging for her life, her voice rising higher and higher in pitch. “But I –was- trying to help people! I learned at school, I was…” she paused and sniffed mightily as tears began to fall “…I was going to be a doctor before everything went bad!”

Peter just snorted and reached into a drawer, pulling out a large syringe and examining it casually for a moment before looking up with a fierce glint in his eyes. “Well then, ‘doctor,’” he spat, “perhaps you can tell me just what happens when a person overdoses on pure adrenaline.”

Trina turned and shook her head violently. “No, please, no! My parents, they’ll pay whatever you want! Please!”

She took a step backward, away from Peter, and managed to bump right into Eliham, who gripped her arms tightly and snapped.

“Do it!”

Peter jammed the needle between her ribs, into her heart, and pushed down, hard. What would have saved a full grown man near death would surely kill a teenaged girl. Eliham continued to hold her upright as she thrashed and convulsed, her pulse racing and every muscle in her body locking at once, before at last she went still. The two men worked together, Eliham lifting and Peter guiding, to rest Trina on the operating table.

Peter shook his head, then realized that Eliham couldn’t see the gesture. “Shame we had to do it. Real shame. Had to be done though.” He turned away from the sight of the young lady and found Eliham standing much closer than he had thought. He saw his own expression reflected in the goggles, and realized, in a distant sort of way, that he was afraid, though he wasn’t quite sure of why.

Something just felt wrong.

And then Eliham smiled, shaking his head in a pitying sort of way. “I must say, I’m pleased to hear that you’re so…understanding. It is a ‘real shame’, sometimes. Doing what must be done.”

Peter’s eyes widened.

“You!”

Before Eliham could confirm or deny the monosyllabic accusation, however, Serenity rocked violently and in the distance they heard what was quite likely an explosion.

To be continued…

The end – Final Tally Mafia

Serenity :: Cockpit :: Mal, Wash, Zoe
“Did they just shoot at us!?” Mal asked in disbelief as he craned his head to try and get a look back out of one of the peripheral windows. “I think they’re shooting at us!”

“Well, to be fair, we are running from them,” Wash shot back as he glided the ship through a series of ever-narrowing canyon walls. “They tend to frown on that kind of behavior, so I’m told.”

Another hit jolted the cabin, and Mal noticed a sudden drop in speed and altitude. Though Wash was quickly able to compensate for, pulling the ship back up as it raced insanely through the canyon, all it would take would be another well placed hit to force them into one of the nearby walls. If the Alliance couldn’t catch you alive, they sure weren’t going to let you walk away, and while Mal had no problem risking his own life in stunts like this, when it came to his crew…

“Wash, pull her up. We’re landing.”

“You sure about that?”

“Just do it!” Mal shouted, turning to Zoe, who had been watching events unfold, holding on to some cargo netting in the back of the cockpit. “I want the rest of the crew to get all cargo on the floor, in the open.”

“All cargo, sir?”

“You heard me,” he said, noticeably annoyed with all the questions. “Round up our passengers, and bring ‘em down to the cargo bay. Won’t do us no good to look like we’re hiding somethin’. These folk seem in an awful hurry to meet us, let’s not give ‘em anything that’s like to disappoint.”


Serenity :: Cargo Bay :: Crew, remaining passengers, Alliance boarding party.
As the cargo bay door opened, several men donning dark body armor, and armed with pulse rifles poured in. The men formed a defensive perimeter around the crew, who had gathered in the center of the room. Behind them, wearing the steel gray uniform of an Alliance officer, and carrying nothing more then a clipboard, a tall, surprisingly youthful, man took up an authoritative position.

“My name is Lieutenant Higgins.” The man started, in a delicate, balanced voice, seemingly oblivious to the armed men that surrounded him. “At 13:00 hours we received a transmission from this vessel. A transmission that raised a lot of questions. Questions that require answers. That is why I am here.”

“Captain Reynolds,” Mal said stepping forward and lifting his arm to single himself out. “This is my boat and I figure you’re here for an explanation of sorts...” The next words out of his mouth were to be an excuse for why they took off running rather then stopping for inspection, but suddenly realized that nothing he was about to say held any bearing whatsoever to the situation the Lieutenant just laid out for him. “Wait… what?”

“I was the one who sent the transmission, Lieutenant,” a voice said from behind him. Mal’s head shot around, and a confused look washed over his face, as a well built man of medium height sporting a pair of dark goggles stepped forward. “These men are criminals, in possession of stolen alliance cargo. If you knew what I had to go through just to get that transmission to you…”

“Excellent work,” the Lieutenant interrupted. “Arrest this man.”

“WHAT!?” Eliham shouted as a pair of guards moved in and seized his arms, forcing them behind his back. Bindings were forced over his wrists, and a second pair of guards took position behind him.

“Eliham McCullough,” the officer began, reading from his clipboard. “You are under arrest for violation of the Interplanetary Secrecy Act, theft of federal documents, the sale thereof, and high treason. You are entitled to a fair hearing on the planet of your choosing, should you give up this right, sentencing shall be administered by the governing council on your home planet, Ariel. Captain?”

“Right here,” Mal answered, still somewhat shocked that he wasn’t the one in shackles.

“We are also looking for these persons, if you would be so kind,” Higgins said, coolly handing the clipboard over to Mal. On the display were two images, one of a gruff looking man who looked to be in his mid thirties, the other a strikingly attractive woman in expensive clothing. Both had been on his ship. Both were dead.

“Never seen ‘em.”

“He’s lying!” Eliham screamed. “They were here! Check the crates, the locked ones in the back! These men are criminals!”

“Strong words seein’ as how I ain’t the one in shackles,” Mal quipped back. “If it’s these crates here you’re talkin’ about, why don’t we open ‘em up so all’s clear and honest?”

Lieutenant Higgins nodded, then gestured for his men to pull one of the crates in question to the center of the cargo bay. Mal knelt down and keyed in the pass code, then released the locks. The top lifted off with a sharp hiss, as compressed air escaped from within. The Lieutenant stared gravely inside, as the men around him gripped their rifles nervously. Higgins reached inside and drew out a piece of the suspect goods. Above the tension, a tiny squeak was heard.

“Dolls,” he said to Eliham. “Wobble-headed geisha dolls.”

“What… NO!”

“I’m afraid so,” the Lieutenant answered, seemingly un-amused by the turn of events. “Take this man to detention.”

Eliham screamed as the guards forcibly removed him from the ship. The Lieutenant turned back to Mal, and handed him the doll. “Now,” Higgins started, “I must apologize for firing on your ship, captain. It was deemed necessary to prevent this dangerous criminal from escaping. You fled from us, no doubt, under duress?”

There was a hint of understanding in the man’s voice, and Mal suddenly realized he had been underestimating him from the moment he stepped onto Serenity. “Yes, absolutely… tons of it.”

“Excellent, then I see no wrong doing on your part, Captain. If you wish to file a complaint for damages, you will need to submit your legal registry to the central authority and make an appointment to have your ship inspected and appraised.”

“I’ll be sure to get right on that,” Mal said.

Higgins gestured to his men, and they began to make their way off the ship. As the officer turned to leave himself, his eye seemed to catch on one of the other passengers. He frowned as he lifted his clipboard and moved his fingers over the surface. “WAIT!”

Higgins motioned to the two remaining guards who stepped forward, grabbed Peter and pulled him from the crowd. “This seems to be our lucky day, you’re a wanted man, Mr. Jepsen! How clever of you to make your way this far from the core, and interesting that you keep such company. Do you have any objections to us relieving you of this crew member, Captain Reynolds?”

“Oh, he ain’t one of mine,” Mal quickly responded. “Picked him up on Shadow not five days ago, rescued him you might say. Was planning on dropping him off, next stop we make, but if he’s running from the law it’s first I’ve heard.”

“Wonderful, I’ll make note of your cooperation in my report,” he said as he turned on his heels and left with Jepsen close behind. In stark contrast to Eliham, Peter made little effort to break free from his bonds, but rather seemed silently resigned to his capture. After two years of running, it was though he was relieved that it had finally come to an end. Mal watched as the cargo bay door closed behind them, and for the first time in nearly five days, he was alone with his crew. He turned the bobble-head doll in his hands, and wondered what the hell had just happened.

To be continued...
Part 2
Ariel :: Alliance Prison :: Guard

Civilization. Peace. Order. These were the values that the Alliance stood for, the ideals Rebecca, as a former officer and current prison guard, kept in place.

These were the things she found in Eliham. She was visiting him too much, she knew. Finding little excuses to talk to him through the bars of the cell. ‘I brought you a blanket.’ ‘Do you want me to put on some music?’ ‘I could read you a book if you’d like. No really, it’s slow tonight, I can do my paperwork another time.’

He told her he didn’t need sight to know she was beautiful.

And he never asked her to set him free.

But he chose her, and Rebecca had no chance in the ‘verse against that.

She cried for days when he disappeared, and hardly noticed that the bars were on the other side of her now. Arrested for high treason. It wasn’t until she saw the look in Peter’s eyes as they passed each other on the way to their respective hearings that she stopped believing Eliham would find her, somehow, some day.

What a fool she’d been.

Serenity :: Inara’s Shuttle :: Mal, Inara

“Geisha dolls.”

“That’s right.”

“With giant heads.”

“You know, your powers of observation…”

“…that wobble.”

Mal crossed his arms over his chest. “What. Is your point?”

Inara threw up her hands in response. “This was your secret cargo! Unbelievable!”

Feeling somewhat indignant and not a little sulky, he tapped his foot against a support beam and frowned before answering. “We’re getting a fair amount of payment for these. Doesn’t matter what’s in the cargo, just matters that we stay in the air.

Sighing, Inara turned away, arranging her overnight bag. They would be landing soon so that the crew could meet their middle man and she could meet her client. She supposed for the rest of them it was back to business as usual. All those innocent people dead, and two companions, or former companions, involved in the killing, led by that fellow who didn’t know who he was or where he came from. Her source had dried up all too quickly, skinned alive by a deranged killer, which was a horrible way for anyone to go, particularly a curious but innocent journalist. The worst of it, though, came early in the morning, when she saw the teenager’s parents on the feed, begging for their baby to be returned to them.

She was going to be a doctor.

Persephone :: Bar :: Badger, Zoe, Mal

“Dolls, eh? With big wobbly ‘eads?” Badger gave a little shrug. “They’ll sell.”

Mal did his best to keep from sneering at the odd little man with the absurd top hat and stood patiently.

“30 credits a piece then?”

Zoe rested her hand on her pistol.

“A’right a’right, 50 credits. And I got another job for you. Salvage work, even you can’t screw it up.”

Mal shrugged. Work was work, after all. He turned to Zoe, who had relaxed her grip on the weapon at her side. “Back to business I reckon.”

Ariel :: Space Port :: Eliham

A shame about the guard, really. Someone had to take the fall for this mess, though, and Peter and the guard were both…convenient.

Eliham smiled at that thought as he boarded the craft. Peter had been quite useful indeed, unbeknownst to him. Perhaps he was going soft in allowing him to live. Of course, Peter wouldn’t live long, now that he was in the hands of the Alliance, but it was hardly Eliham’s fault that he got caught, just like the guard getting arrested wasn’t his fault. He wondered for a moment what would happen to her.

His shoulders brushed against someone else’s as he boarded the craft, and the young man reached out, apologetic, stuttering, nervous.

“I beg your pardon. I didn’t…”

Eliham smiled inwardly at the young man’s embarrassment. “See me?” He shrugged a little. “It happens.”

He accepted the young man’s offer to find a seat, though he could have done it on his own. It never hurt to appear more helpless than you were, after all. Fellow didn’t seem inclined to speak much, and Eliham guessed he was still a little embarrassed.

That was alright by him; he was busy mulling over how to get a new crew together and get back to working. Marko had made for a good leader and Sylvania’s way with people was helpful, but both were dead now and it was time to move on.

“You’re going to Persephone?”

Realizing the young man had spoken, he pulled out of his reverie. “That’s the first stop, anyway.” Eliham hesitated for a moment. This fellow spoke without a trace of accent or the slur of the core planets. His hands were soft and he smelled clean. He was polite and soft spoken, perhaps a little shy.

He was ripe for the picking.

“I’m Eliham, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Simon. You’re alright here?”

“Better if you join me.”

There was a slight pause and Eliham wondered if he had scared the jumpy young man away, but when Simon spoke again he thought he heard regret. “Oh…Ariel is my stop, actually…I’m getting off here, I just…”

Eliham waved his hand. “Then you’d best go, or you’ll find yourself in Persephone anyway.”

Probably didn’t have much worth stealing anyway.
Verileah 19 years ago
I don't know if I'm just really out of it or what, but I honest to god can't tell what Ras wrote and what I wrote, save the SK scenes which were entirely Ras's.

Thanks
Verileah 19 years ago
I don't know if I'm just really out of it or what, but I honest to god can't tell what Ras wrote and what I wrote, save the SK scenes which were entirely Ras's.

Thanks