Drive Chapter Three - The Case

--

In the middle of the large desert just north of the main city on Relanor, a tiny vehicle made its way across the terrain. It was the only thing that cast a shadow for as far as the eye could see. Inside, the driver cranked up the volume on his music player. He sang to whatever played completely off pitch, but he knew every word. From under the seat, he pulled a tiny flask of off-brand alcohol. At some point in his life, he had heard that hard liquor lowers the blood temperature. Even if it was a myth, it was a nice one to buy into.

POP!

The car began to bounce and wiggle all over the place. “Aww, bloody hell!” He spouted out, spraying the liquor all over the windshield. After coming to a stop, he muttered all kind profanity as he stomped over to the flat tire.

“Damn it all!” He cursed to the sky before walking to the trunk to get a spare tire. After rolling the spare around to the flat, he came to the realization that the spare was also flat. “诅咒这个残暴的工具 and all who invented it!” The driver was about to activate the emergency beacon that the Alliance had provided, when a small vehicle appeared in the distance.

“Ah-ha! What luck!” The driver hurriedly reached over and ripped off the rear view mirror. “Hallo, there!” He yelled while waving the mirror above his head. “Halloooo!!!”

The small hovercraft pulled up along side the car. A man with a brown duster stepped off of the craft and surveyed the damage.

“Looks like you’ve got a bit of a problem there.” The man said.

“A bit of a problem? That little piece of rubber just stranded me out here.” The driver explained. “Haha! I’m glad you folks came along.”

“Just passing through.” The man leaned over and felt the tire. His fingers traced the grooves in the rubber until they reached a hole. “Huh. Surprised a bullet could do that much damage.”

“Yeah...uh…well I’m not so sure if it was a bullet or not.”

“Yes it was.” Mal said as Jayne pulled Vera up from the floor of the Mule. He aimed the massive weapon at the driver’s head and fought back temptation to test the modifications that River had made.

“Now, what is all this?!” The driver held up his hands and inched towards the car, remembering the beacon.

“Ever had a bullet go through your head?” Jayne realized how little sense that made, but his confidence was reassured when he remembered how big of a gun he had. With it, he didn’t have to make sense.

“I hear you’ve had some work thrown your way by the Alliance.” Mal said, circling the driver. “Not a bad way to earn some credits…but…” Opening the trunk of the car, he finds a cylinder-shaped cased sitting next to some wrenches and oil-stained rags. After picking it up and observing the Alliance markings around the case, he began to walk back towards the driver. “…I really, really want this more that the Alliance does.” He spotted the small beacon on the passenger’s seat and grabbed that as well.

“No…no, you can’t take that case…” The driver said nervously. The gun was still quite scary. “You can’t take that case.”

Mal climbed back onto the Mule. “Um…yeah. I am anyways so…have a nice day now.” He switched on the engine and began to pull away. He threw a large bottle on the ground next to the driver. “It lowers the body temperature!”

The Mule sped off into the distance.

--

Fortunately for the crew, River had been getting some sleep while Mal and Jayne were away. As soon as the Mule pulled up into the cargo bay, she awoke and sprinted to the bridge.

“We’re gonna have to be makin’ our getaway now, little one.” Mal spoke into the intercom. “Get us pointed towards Persephone.”

“Aye, Captain.” River responded.

Mal started up the stairs to the kitchen. He looked back and noticed that Jayne was following very slowly, with a sad look upon his face.

“What’s eatin’ you?” Mal asked.

Jayne rocked his head around. “I didn’t get to shoot nobody.” He looked down at Vera.

“Ah, don’t worry Jayne.” Mal continued up. “I’ll make you a deal. If you haven’t gotten a chance to shoot anybody in a month, I’ll take you anywhere in the Verse and you can off whoever you want. Alright?”

Jayne sighed. “Okay.” A month is too long, he thought.

--

“What do you reckon is in it?” Kaylee asked. Her eyes fixed on the case. “Some kind of weapon or a…treasure map?”

“It’s none of our business is what it is.” Mal sat at the kitchen table sipping some green tea. “The job was to snatch the case. Whether there’s something in there or not, there’s still payment. So, closed it will stay.”

Zoe was sitting across from Mal. “You couldn’t get it open, huh?”

“Practically broke my arm tryin’.” Mal replied, stretching his arm out. “Was about to have Jayne come and shoot the top off of it.”

Jayne walked into the kitchen, his ears burning. “Offa what?”

Mal nodded to the case.

“Oh…” Jayne grabbed a dumpling from the cupboard and sat at the table. Sulking as he ate.

“It must not be that important for the Alliance to transport it that way.” Simon said. “…Right?”

“Well, it certainly was inconspicuous.” Mal took another sip. “If I knew a rare artifact was being moved around, a rickety old car would be the last thing I’d wanna shoot up lookin’ for it. Yep, this is a new one for the Alliance. It’s smart…well…not too smart I guess since we got the item.”

“Captain, please report to the bridge.” River spoke through the intercom in an official sort of tone.

Everyone raised an eyebrow and stared at Mal. “What?” He said. “Makes me feel more captainy.”

--

“We’re getting something over the cortex.” River said.

“Pull it up.” Mal said.

River punched the button to connect the signal and a bald man with Chinese symbols tattooed up both sides of this head appeared on the screen.

“Hello, Mal.” The bald man grinned.

“Ott…Nice to see that shiny head of your’s. Like to put a bullet in it if you’d let me.” Mal struggled with his anger.

“Haha! Still holding a grudge, are we?” Ott said.

“Considering you robbed us of coin that was rightfully ours, I’d say there’s still a grudge lingering about.”

“Of course. You did get there first, Mal, but this business doesn’t exactly have a place for men of honor. That old saying holds true.”

“Okay. Well if that’s all, I have stuff to do.”

Ott smirked through the cortex. “I’m afraid it’s not so easy, old friend. You see, you’ve beaten us to the punch yet again, and I’m afraid what you’re carrying is far too valuable to let slide.”

The case. “What exactly am I carrying? All we picked up was some mining equipment, but I’ll be more than happy to part with that if it’s as valuable as you say.”

“Don’t think me for a fool, Malcolm Reynolds. We are men of action, lies do not become of us.”

“Well, whatever I got or don’t got is my own business and I expect you to be on your merry way. Don’t make things rough for the two of us again.”

“As I said, it’s not so easy. I will have that case, Mal…and your gun.” Ott was beginning to burst into laughter when Mal disconnected the signal.

“Little one…” Mal laid his hand on River’s shoulder. “…I need you to fly like you’ve never flown before.”

River smiled and nodded. Serenity was only seconds away from hitting atmo, but River brought the ship about and pointed the nose to the ground. Below them, Ott’s ship sped upwards towards them. She lined Serenity up with the ship and began a rapid plunge towards it.

Mal flipped the intercom on. “Everyone hang on to something that can save your life.” He switched it back off and strapped into the copilot’s seat.

Serenity violently ripped through the sky, full throttle towards Ott’s ship. She was playing chicken with him.

“You’re still a bit psychic aren’t you?” Mal asked. “I mean, y-you’ll know if he’s gonna turn or not…right?” River didn’t answer. She kept a large smile on her face as she struggled to keep the nose of the ship on course. The ship grew larger and larger in the view port. Mal gripped the armrests of his seat as hard as he could. Everything rocked around on the bridge and he could hear the sound of breaking glass coming from the kitchen.

“Persistence will get you nowhere, Ott.” River muttered to herself. Mal looked over confused. “Oh, Ott. You think yourself so brave. But you’re not. Is that why you kill anyone on your crew who questions you? Do you fear being killed yourself? Ah, you are afraid. You’re afraid now. But you won’t show it, she’s watching.”

Mal thought it best not to say anything and continued to brace for the possibility of an impact. Ott’s ship was clearly defined in the viewport now. The sun cast a reflection off of their hull. Closer and closer they came. Their engines could be heard now. It was now or never. Now or never. Mal winced as the two ships met. At the last second, Ott’s ship veered off to the right. Half way through a sigh of relief, River whipped the controls to the right as well.

“What are you…?!” Mal began, but the crack of an impact echoed through his ears. Afterwards, River pulled up out of the drop and began to head upwards towards the sky once again.

Mal got on the intercom. “Are we damaged?!”

“Not at all, sir.” Kaylee responded. “We hit something, but looks like it only caused a bit of body damage. Nothing a few whacks with a sledge can fix.”

After clicking off the intercom, Mal began to freak out. “Why?! Why would you do that? You had them pegged, why would you go and do that?”

“I didn’t want them following us.” River said.

“You didn’t…What? Did you think a kamikaze mission was the only way to accomplish that?”

“I managed to ram their fuel line. They’ll have to land now. For a long time. Might even need a new engine if I did it right.”

Mal couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but after checking sensors, he found that Ott’s ship did in fact make a landing of some sort. He turned back to River. “Wha…wuh…You’re a crazy lady, you know that?”

--

As Serenity broke atmo, Mal returned to the kitchen. The rest of the crew slowly returned to the kitchen from wherever they strapped themselves in.

“We have a great pilot,” Zoe said, “but we almost died again, didn’t we?”

“Too close to call.” Mal replied. He found the case on the floor and set it onto the table.

“You gonna try and open it again?” Kaylee asked.

“I gotta see what Ott was willing to shoot us down over.”

“I think you’re gonna need some kinda key.”

“Well, you know what our motto is on things that don’t cooperate. Shoot it.” Mal said, placing the case on the middle of the table. “Jayne, would you?”

Jayne pointed Vera at the case, grinning as he pulled back on the trigger. A loud pop echoed through the kitchen and the case went flipping into the wall.

“Thank you kindly.” Mal walked over and picked up the cylinder-shaped case. The bullet had struck the lock dead on and the seal opened easily.

“What’s in it?” Simon asked anxiously.

“Looks like a piece of paper.” Mal reached in with two fingers after attempting to fit his whole hand in. “Why this would send Ott into a frenzy is beyond me.” He pulled out the paper and flipped it around in different directions until he could read it.

“Well?” Jayne said, still gripping Vera.

Mal took a few more seconds to read it. His face went pale and his expression overcome by fear. He quickly rolled the paper back up and shoved it back into the container.

“What? What is it?” Jayne asked.

Mal sprinted to the intercom. “River, get us out of here. Don’t go to Persephone. Pick any place that the Alliance won’t follow us. Now!”

River didn’t respond, but Mal could feel the ship changing directions.

“I ain’t seen that look in a long time, Mal.” Zoe said quietly.

Finding the nearest seat, Mal dropped onto it and stared into nothing. Pondering in the back of his mind.

Jayne walked over and tried to grab the case. “Gimme that.” But Mal moved it out of reach.

The captain looked over to his crew and gathered his wits about him.

“We have ourselves a very serious problem.”