Matthew Madison lit a cigarette and stared at the mountain of paper in front of him. Paperwork, always ruttin paperwork he thought as he took the first welcome drag. He’d been stuck on this gorram crate for a nearly week now. One week stuck in the passenger dorm on this hole of a ship, if you could even call it that. The Lucky Star it was called; Lucky, he’d need more than luck to get anywhere in one piece on this dump. He didn’t expect things to get much better when they arrived at Persephone in two days time. He still had masses of paperwork to do before then. This was hardly the bright future the Alliance had promised them at the end of the war. He hadn’t even requested this assignment why would he want to go a border world anyway he’d seen enough of them in the war. Madison looked over at the clock on the wall: 0257. It was whatever passed for night on a ship like this, he wasn’t thinking straight though, he never slept well during spaceflight and the past week had been no exception. He stubbed out the remains of the cigarette and pulled a bottle of scotch from his pack, filling the tumbler a quarter of the way up. Sleep by any means necessary. How had he ended up here as a pen pusher for the Parliament, he’d grown up on Ariel, a supporter of unification, fought in the war, becoming a Lieutenant no less. That was where it all began to go wrong; he’d survived the war but not the reconstruction. When the war ended he transferred out of the military, met a pretty girl, got a proper job, got married even. But that was where the fairytale ended. Marie had gone, left him for another man. It had hit him hard, he’d fallen behind with work missed deadlines. All that resulted him being passed over for promotion, stuck in the same job for what, six years now, had it really been that long? Then the icing on the cake, that son of a bitch Malcolm Reynolds and his broadwave about Miranda that was when things really began to hit rock bottom. He’d been as appalled as anyone to see what had happened there but it hadn’t surprised him, the Alliance had always liked to meddle. He saw that now, the idealism of youth had blinded him to it during the war but now after so many years he knew the war and all that went with it had been a mistake, what the hell had they been fighting for? And now after the broadwave things had become chaotic. The official party line was that everything was being handled, everything would be investigated and those responsible for what had happened on Miranda would be brought to justice. Behind the scenes things were falling apart and fast. That was the reason he was being sent to Persephone, things were worst on the border planets and they needed “loyal people out there to keep the locals quiet” at least that was Minister Jurgensen’s explanation. How would the special assistant to the governor help keep things quiet anyway? “It’s a promotion” his colleagues had kept telling him and then sniggering about it behind his back. He gulped back the rest of the scotch and went over to his bunk. Then he just lay there and let the effect of the alcohol just wash over him.

Madison was awoken by the sound of a klaxon blurring outside his room. He awoke with a start and banged his head on the underside of the top bunk. He cradled the point where his head had hit the bunk for a minute before remembering what had awoken him. Madison leapt from the bunk still fully clothed, put on his boots and ran into the passageway that ran from the mess hall to the passenger dorm of the Lucky Star. Looking around he saw no one and raced to forward towards the mess hall, the sound of his feet drowned out by the klaxon. The corridor was darkly lit by the red emergency lighting; Madison pushed open the door to the mess hall. In the corner of his eye he saw Locke the ship’s young apprentice mechanic racing down the stairs to his right. “What the hell is going on?” Madison screamed over the sound of the klaxon. “Ship’s lost power, I’m going down to the engine room to help Cash figure out what’s going on.” Came the hurried reply, “Listen I gotta go, the Capt’n wants all passengers up in the common area ASAP so I’d get up there if I were you.” And with that he was off down the ladder into the bowels of the engineering deck. Madison watched for a minute before racing up the staircase that Locke had descended just seconds before. Gorramit he knew this had been a bad idea the second he’d stepped on this boat. Why? Why? The same question raced through his head. Pull yourself together Matt he thought, stop feeling sorry for yourself and do something useful for a change. The Lucky Star was not an overly large ship but surprisingly easy to get lost in. A four deck, tri-hulled heavy cargo hauler; the main central hull was where the crew and passenger quarters were located, along with the bridge and engine room, the two smaller outer hulls contained the cargo and loading bays of the Lucky Star and stretched about two thirds of the length of the main hull and three decks in height compared to the main hulls four. He approached the top of the staircase and looked round, to his right was the hatch that lead to the starboard cargo bay, sealed off during flight for safety reasons. To his left the common area occupied by a small huddle of worried looking passengers. Madison looked to a grey haired man holding his also greying wife in his arms. “Where’s the Captain?” He demanded over the noise of the still blurring klaxon. “I just saw him heading towards the bridge.” Said the Grey Haired man in response. Madison turned and headed toward the forward towards the bridge. “You’re not supposed to be up there!” Said one of the crew behind him, but Madison did not see which one, he ignored them and walked calmly down the corridor to the bridge.

“Could someone turn that gorram racket off?” Yelled Captain Abraham Spitzer walking onto the bridge of the Lucky Star, the noise stopped abruptly leaving everyone slightly deafened by the ringing noise that had now appeared in their ears. “Charlie what the hell is going on with my ship?” Spitzer continued. Charlize Hackett the ship’s bleach blonde pilot spun round in her chair from the central pilots position, her perpetually messy short bob hairdcut almost getting caught in her mouth as she turned. “I dunno Capt’n we were runnin’ fine an’ then power just cut out. Now we’re just drifting out here.” She promptly replied. Madison walked on to the bridge, catching her off guard. Spitzer turned to see what she was looking at. “What he hell are you doing up here? No passengers are allowe….” He started before Madison cut him off. “Captain Spitzer what the hell is going on here?” “It ain’t your gorram place to ask. This is my boat Mr Madison now get the hell off my bridge!” “Captain Spitzer I’m sure that I don’t have to remind you that this is a government chartered ship, carrying government cargo to Persephone. I am the senior government official on board therefore my word is scripture to you, do you understand?” Spitzer backed down, the threat of Alliance interference was the last thing he needed right now even if it was from some lowly pen pusher with ideas above his station. Better to co-operate than risk losing his freight license. “We lost power somehow we’re working on fixin’ it, now I’m sure you’d be more comfortable with the other passengers in the common area Mr Madison.” Said Spitzer gesturing back down the corridor. “I’d prefer to remain here if you don’t mind Captain. I want to ensure our cargo is being properly looked after.” Replied Madison practically smirking, at least this job had some perks. Spitzer scowled and looked back towards the pilot. “This is weird” Said Charlie “Engines and main power are gone but primary life support and gravity are still working fine.” Spitzer picked up the radio. “Cash what the hell’s going on down there” He shouted down to the ship’s mechanic. Silence. “Gorram mechanic been on this ship two weeks and the ruttin thing breaks down.” Still silence, he tried again “Cash you there?” There was a small scream in the common area, and Spitzer, Madison and Charlie looked round to see the figure of Cash with a gun to Locke’s head slowly progressing up the corridor. “I wouldn’t try anything Capt’n if I were you.” He said still walking. “If you value the lives of your crew you will do exactly as I say.” There’s a cliché thought Madison, but kept it to himself. “Why you he chusheng zajiao de zanghuo!” Screamed Spitzer. “Language Captain, like I say if you cooperate no one will be harmed.” Came Cash’s reply. “This is crazy Cash! How do think you’re getting off this boat?” Said Charlie “ Simple darlin’ just look out the window.” They all turned in unison to see the silouette of a ship coming straight towards them, shocked and angry they looked back at Cash. “You see this is where you all get off.” He chuckled to himself. Charlie looked back at the ship. “We are so humped!” She choked.

** To Be Continued **