BLUE SUN ROOM FAN FICTION - GENERAL

CBSTEVE

Shadow of Doubt - Part 3
Tuesday, November 13, 2007

The crew arrives on Shadow and meets an old friend as the Operative closes in on their location.


CATEGORY: FICTION    TIMES READ: 2347    RATING: 0    SERIES: FIREFLY

EXT. FIELD – DAY

OVER – SHADOW

Serenity lands in an empty field.

INT.SHUTTLE II – DAY

Zoe sits at the controls getting it ready as Simon, Mal and Jayne move the laser crates inside.

MAL Ok, that’s it. Simon you have the boat.

JAYNE What? He’s in charge? You never left me in charge before.

ZOE And never will.

MAL Jayne, you’re always on the job so how could you be in charge of the boat?

JAYNE Yeah, but…

SIMON Don’t worry Jayne. We won’t leave you behind. Captain, any orders while you’re gone?

MAL Keep an eye for any feds. Have River keep watch on our sensors. She knows what to do.

SIMON About my parents and Kaylee’s father…

MAL Still thinking on that. We ain’t forgot them. Got a job to do first. Maybe get some insight on what River was talking about. Don’t fret Doc. No harm will come to them long as he thinks he needs them.

INT. INARA’S SHUTTLE – DAY

Kaylee and Inara have tea.

INARA He’ll be fine.

KAYLEE I’m just worried. Daddy might do something stupid to rile them feds up. Simon and him is all I got in the verse. I gotta trade my man to set my daddy free? It ain’t right.

INARA They need your father and the Tams. Mal has a plan. He’ll find out if what River said is true, get people on Shadow on our side. Get people mad at the Alliance.

KAYLEE When people get mad they get hurt. Or killed. No one believed us about Miranda.

INARA They will if we can prove the Alliance is trying to do the same again. It’s Mal’s home planet after all. He must have some friends here. Well, maybe family.

KAYLEE Not too many, way I hear it. His daddy died when he was wee and his momma just before you joined us.

INARA Oh. I didn’t know.

KAYLEE Capt’n is tightlipped about his past. But you ain’t are you? Tightlipped I mean. So tell me what happened?

INARA What do you mean?

KAYLEE Between you and the Capt’n.

INARA (blushing) Nothing happened.

KAYLEE Your Companion skills are slipping. Come on. We all saw you on the bridge.

INARA (smiling) I was distraught and he was…comforting me.

KAYLEE Yeah, right. Which he never done before.

INARA OK. We…have...started…something…not sure what.

KAYLEE (big smile) I knew it! How was it?

INARA Kaylee! A Companion doesn’t kiss and tell.

KAYLEE You ain’t a Companion anym…sorry.

INARA Maybe it’s for the best. If I stay with Mal and be a Companion…it would be too complicated.

KAYLEE Do you love him?

INARA Maybe, I don’t know. How did you know that you loved Simon?

KAYLEE Well, I’m boy crazy as you know. First I was attracted to him, cause he’s so cute. And dapper. Never met a man like him before. Out here. In the black. Saving my life helped. I never blamed him for me getting shot or using me as a bargaining chip. He just was protecting River. So much self-sacrifice, giving up his life for her. Hard to believe but it was his properness toward me that was the final thing. Strange, with me wanting to jump into his bed first time I saw him. His respect for me, his willingness to treat me like a lady, I think that did it. What was it about the Capt’n?

INARA He is a good man, full of contradictions. He’s a crook, and not a very good one at that, which to me means his heart really isn’t into it. At first I thought he was a scoundrel, but the more I saw, the more I knew about him, I knew he was a man who lost something, in the war, and he never found it again. This ship, this crew, are a small bit of his salvation. His protection of this ship, this crew, it’s like love.

EXT. WOODED AREA –DAY

Close on Mal, looking off in the distance with Shuttle II parked behind him, Jayne also outside, Zoe in the door of the shuttle. Jayne and Mal are well armed, Mal with communications earwig in right ear.

MAL We ain’t back soon, you know what to do.

ZOE Head back to the ship?

JAYNE That ain’t funny.

MAL Come on. Faster we dump this cargo happier I’ll be and then we can tend to that son-of-a-bitch.

JAYNE Now that’s the kinda talk I like.

EXT. WOODED AREA/STREAM – DAY

Mal and Jayne walk up to a small stream as Mal checks a map. Looks around, silent, no one here.

MAL This the place. Guess we wait.

JAYNE So, you and Inara? Finally got some of that Companion love?

MAL Not so much want to talk on that subject.

JAYNE You always said no shipboard fooling around. So, we got Zoe and Wash, Kaylee and the Doc, you and Inara, and Jayne, and let’s see, oh yeah, “nobody”. Seems I’m the only one followed “your” rule.

MAL Only one you ever followed. Besides, everyone on board knows your habits too well to go near you.

JAYNE (mad) What the gorramn hell is that suppose to mean?

MAL You’re a rutting…

LOUD CLICKS of weapons being chambered. Mal and Jayne go to draw guns but don’t get a chance as about ten armed men appear from camouflage hiding places and from across the stream. Mal and Jayne raise their hands.

MAL Nice welcoming committee.

A tall man, blond going to grey, late 40s, BRENNER, steps forward.

BRENNER Malcolm Reynolds?

MAL Depends on who’s asking.

BRENNER You got a shipment for Brenner?

MAL Could be. But he won’t be seeing it till them guns are taken out of our faces and I see some coin.

Brenner signals his men to lower weapons, then takes out a coin sack and tosses it to Mal, who catches it. Mal opens it, looks inside, and closes it.

MAL You be Brenner?

BRENNER I am. Welcome to Shadow.

Another man, CHESTER, short, scruffy, approaches, looks at Mal.

CHESTER More like welcome home, ain’t it Mal.

MAL Thought I recognized your ugly mug Chester.

CHESTER (mocking) Malcolm Reynolds. Went off to the big war and came home with his tail between his legs. Still hauling garbage through the ‘verse?

Mal SLUGS him and down he goes.

MAL Jayne, meet cousin Chester.

JAYNE Howdy.

Men raise weapons, as Chester gets up with murder in his eyes.

BRENNER Enough! We got Alliance trouble enough without this . Chester, you touch your gun I’ll shoot you myself for he gets a chance.

MAL Like the sound of that.

BRENNER Look, you got our goods or not?

MAL I got them. Just wondering why you need such fancy hardware. Fixing to start a war?

BRENNER Was told you don’t ask too many questions about what you carry. Why the interest in our cargo?

MAL Cause I ain’t gonna be part of some new war of independence.

BRENNER Ain’t asking you to fight.

MAL Really? So why’d my crew get this job?

BRENNER I ain’t one hired you. We’re just a pick up team. Look, you got our goods or not?

MAL You and Chester come with us. Rest stay here. You can keep your gun on our backs. We take you to the spot. Then you let us leave.

BRENNER Fair enough.

EXT. WOODS – DAY

Mal, Jayne, Chester and Brenner unload the crates from the shuttle as Zoe stands nearby, looking around warily. Chester gives Mal a dirty look.

MAL Don’t be holding no grudges Chester, they eat you up.

CHESTER Guess you know all about that with the grudge you got against the Alliance.

MAL And who exactly are you guys fighting?

BRENNER We got enemies plenty. Alliance just at the top of the list.

The last crate is unloaded.

MAL We heard there was some kind of Alliance scientific station nearby. Any truth to that?

BRENNER Yup. Up in the Saddle Range. Been digging and moving equipment up there for quite a few months now.

MAL Any idea what it’s about?

CHESTER Now why the big interest in Shadow after all these years? You ain’t set foot here since your momma died.

MAL We got word Alliance was up to no good here. Fixing to do the same to Shadow as they did with Miranda.

CHESTER Miranda? That’s a lot bull cock. No such place.

ZOE It’s real. We’ve been there.

BRENNER That’s the edge of Reaver space.

JAYNE More like the middle. With lots of ugly on all sides.

MAL The broadcast. That was us.

BRENNER You? You’ve seen Miranda, saw what they did, turned those people into Reavers? Played that clip? Maybe it’s so, maybe not. But all we saw was a minute long clip of a woman talking then getting killed. Maybe getting killed. I hate the Alliance much as you Captain. I want to believe it, want to know it’s true. Now you’re saying they fixing to do the same to Shadow. For a fact?

ZOE We got an idea, not facts.

MAL Nothing solid. Just a rumor. Anyway to get inside to see for real?

CHESTER No rutting way. All workers is from off world.

JAYNE Hell, we’re from off world.

BRENNER Maybe can be arraigned. You need to meet someone first.

INT. OPERATIVE’S SPACESHIP BRIDGE

The Operative stands on the bridge. He looks at another man, the CAPTAIN of the ship.

OPERATIVE Any reports of Serenity, Captain?

CAPTAIN No, sir. But this just came in. We have a report of stolen lasers from Landsdown.

OPERATIVE That’s two sectors from here. How does this concern us?

CAPTAIN Our forces on Landsdown cracked a criminal ring that was dealing in stolen goods. Two hundred new lasers went missing from a shipment a week ago. For a reduced sentence the gang leader told our men that he sold the lasers to another gang on Shadow.

OPERATIVE Shadow? That’s Reynolds’s home world.

CAPTAIN Yes, sir. They also report that the criminals gave the cargo to a Firefly commanded by Malcolm Reynolds.

OPERATIVE Set course for Shadow. All possible speed, Captain.

CAPTAIN Shall I inform the local authorities, sir?

OPERATIVE No. I do not want the quarry escaping the trap again. This time I will personally deal with Reynolds and the Tams.

INT. SERENITY BRIDGE - DAY

River sits in the pilot seat as Simon enters and sits in the co-pilot seat. She is checking sensors and scanners.

SIMON Thanks for our honeymoon suite. Kaylee loved the strawberries.

RIVER Zoe found them actually. (pause) What’s going to happen to Mom and Dad?

SIMON I don’t know. I fear the only way to ensure their safety is to turn ourselves in.

RIVER We should. The Captain and the others have done so much for us. We owe them a future of peace.

SIMON Then there are no guarantees that he will let our parents go or leave our friends alone even if we turn ourselves in. Maybe we should just run, disappear, you, Kaylee and I. It’s a big verse.

RIVER And our parents? Don’t you care about them?

SIMON I care about them but River, I can’t help but remember that they abandoned us.

RIVER They’re still our parents. We don’t know what pressure was put on them, what they had to go through, are going through now, because of us.

SIMON They never believed what was happening to you. They were so afraid of losing what they had that they refused to believe the Alliance was harming you. Their own daughter.

RIVER Simon, we have to do whatever we can to ensure their safety.

Kaylee comes onto the bridge, breaking their conversation. Simon cheers up as he sees her. SIMON How’s my lovely wife?

She strides over to him, gives him a peck on the cheek.

KAYLEE Not so shiny. Just worried about my daddy.

He slides an arm around her.

SIMON We’ll get him back, no matter what it takes.

KAYLEE Not if it means you two are taken in his place.

SIMON We’ve been thinking on that. Not sure he’d turn them loose even if we went to him. Or leave Serenity alone.

They go quiet thinking on their bleak prospects.

KAYLEE Can’t stand all this sitting and waiting. (pause) Any word from the Captain yet?

SIMON Nothing. Is that unusual?

KAYLEE Standard procedure is not to break radio silence until he does first. But it’s been more than an hour.

RIVER Nothing on the military or police wave bands.

KAYLEE (concerned) Where are they?

EXT. RANCH – DAY

Shuttle II flies over a large ranch, with lots of horses and cows in fields, workers about, a few vehicles near the main house and barn. The Shuttle lands behind the barn, under the shade of some large trees.

As the shuttle lands, a truck pulls up in front of the barn. The barn door opens and the truck drives in.

INT. BARN – DAY

Chester, Brenner and other men are out of the truck and unloading the laser crates, putting them in a secret cache under the barn floor. Mal, Zoe, and Jayne enter from the back of the barn.

MAL (to Brenner) Nice place. Kinda exposed ain’t it?

BRENNER Not really. Hide in plain sight. It’s an operating ranch, all the crew is hand picked and loyal. Beside, it’s more comfortable then living in a cave or in some gorramn forest.

MAL Reckon you got a point. Who we suppose to meet?

MONTY (O.S.) Me, you old war dog!

Entering the barn is MONTY, Mal’s old war buddy and one of the many husbands of Saffron. He’s grown his beard back.

MAL Monty!

They have a big embrace.

MAL You got your soup catcher again!

MONTY Day that she devil left me I threw away my razor and ain’t shaved since.

ZOE Monty, been too long.

MONTY Zoe! Where’s that crazy man of yours?

ZOE (flat) He’s dead. About two months ago.

Awkward silence, all the joy of the meeting sucked away.

MONTY Don’t I feel like the fool. I’m awful sorry, Zoe.

ZOE You couldn’t have known.

MONTY What happened?

MAL It’s a long story. What’s going on here, Monty?

BRENNER Let’s get inside first.

INT. HOUSE KITCHEN – DAY

Monty, Mal, Zoe, Jayne, and Brenner sit at the table, the men with drinks from some kind of Chinese wine bottle on the table.

MAL You were the one hired us Monty?

MONTY No, Mal, that’d be Brenner here.

BRENNER Sorry to lie to you, but had to make sure about you first. I’m in charge of this group. Was a Major in the 24th Independent Brigade.

MAL Seems we spilled blood on the same ground.

BRENNER Serenity Valley.

Mal, Monty, and Brenner drink. Jayne hesitates a second and then joins them in draining glasses. Jayne starts pouring refills.

JAYNE What’re you guys supposed to be beside a bunch of farmers?

BRENNER That’s just our cover. We pull jobs here and there, only against Alliance facilities or businesses. Keeps us on our toes and them off balance. Run into a few criminal types now and then but we’ve pretty much pacified this area of Shadow. Crime free almost. Except for us.

ZOE This ain’t the beginning of some kinda of rebellion here, is it?

BRENNER Just a bunch old Browncoats and a few locals who don’t like having the Alliance stepping on our throats, that’s all.

MAL Let’s back up a bit here. Where the hell is your ship and crew Monty?

MONTY Crew gone, ship confiscated by the Alliance.

JAYNE You got pinched?

MONTY It was that she devil Bridget. You guys left her to rot in some trash can on Bellerophon, way she tells it. When the authorities got her and her other husband came forth to tell his tale, she was looking at a long stretch in a penal colony.

MAL Wouldn’t shed too many tears if she did.

ZOE Like to lock the door and throw away the key myself, sir.

MONTY She cried like a baby, told them everything, about every illegal activity this side of the galaxy she knew about, including me and my ship. We landed in Persephone, with real, legit cargo and they got us, all of us. Had a trial, she was witness against me, but I got off since she had no proof except her word. Ship was sold to pay my “expenses”. . Crew needed work and I had none so they up and left.

BRENNER Monty and I kept in touch after the war. He needed a place and I needed a good man. He recommended you for the Landsdown run.

MAL Now you wouldn’t be looking to convince me to join your team, would you? Cause I gotta tell you, we’d be more trouble than help. Alliance is after us in a powerful way for broadcasting about Miranda.

MONTY That was you?

ZOE It was. We tangled with the Alliance and Reavers. (subdued) That’s when we lost Wash.

MONTY I’m so sorry, Zoe.

An awkward silence.

BRENNER Ever since that broad wave about the Reavers, we’ve been trying to figure out who sent it. We know it came from Mr. Universe’s complex but we got word he’s dead.

JAYNE He’s dead alright.

MAL That’s a fact. Saw the body myself. Killed by the Alliance.

BRENNER Now you’re saying it’s you that sent that broadcast from his complex and that scientific complex here is another attempt to pacify worlds.

MONTY The hell you say. Any truth to it?

ZOE Heard a rumor.

MAL It ain’t solid.

JAYNE Damn near…invisible, you ask me.

Mal shoots him a “shut the hell up” look.

MAL We trust our source.

BRENNER Could use you to lead a team inside first, small team, maybe three, give us the lay of the place, find the truth, maybe find a weakness. We got worker’s uniforms, set up to make ID badges, planning a cover story, the works. Three strange faces have better chance than any of us.

MAL You fixing to hit that station?

BRENNER Was and still am, especially if it’s what you say it is. They got a company of Alliance fed marshals guarding it. That’s what the lasers are for.

ZOE We ain’t here to start another war.

MONTY No one’s talking about another war.

MAL You guys look like you’re getting ready for one. You all remember how the last one turned out?

BRENNER We ain’t gonna stand around while they turn Shadow into another Miranda. An hour ago you seemed ready to storm that place yourself. This my home and yours too Reynolds or have you forgotten that?

MAL Only home I got now is a Firefly called Serenity.

He stands, downs his drink in one shot.

MAL But I still got enough love for this place and it’s folk to see that no harm comes to it or them. I gotta get word to my ship, let them know we’re still breathing. I’ll let you know where we stand after I put it to my crew.

INT. SERENITY CARGO BAY – DAY

Mal stands before his troops.

MAL Small team, three I’m thinking, in and out, find out what’s what, real quiet like, don’t cause a ruckus.

JAYNE More I think on this, more it feels like suici…

MAL Don’t need you.

JAYNE (surprised) Don’t need me? Hell, Mal, I’m always on the job.

MAL Not this time. You neither, Zoe. Not the inside team anyways.

ZOE Sir? Who were you planning on taking?

MAL Me, Kaylee, and the Doc.

Shocked looks from all. JAYNE Now that’s suicide!

INARA Mal! They’re not soldiers.

SIMON Surprisingly, for once I agree with Jayne. Mal, Kaylee and I aren’t up for this.

KAYLEE We ain’t no good in a fight.

MAL Exactly the point. This ain’t a fight. It’s a recon in a scientific complex. Kaylee, you know machines better than any of us and I reckon there’ll be more than a few things in there we’ll need your talents for. We need captures and vids of what’s going on, too. That’s your job. Simon, have to say, got more schooling than all us, especially in science. If what River said is true, if they have chemicals, drugs whatever in there they’re planning to pump into the atmo, Simon’s only one who knows what it is and what it can do. Also, need to take samples, and he’s trained better than any of us for that. This ain’t gonna be no Miranda. We get the proof this time, solid proof that no one can question.

ZOE Don’t like it, sir. It’s too risky.

MAL I ain’t ordering anyone to do anything.

SIMON I’ll go, but Kaylee…

KAYLEE You ain’t going without me.

SIMON Kaylee…

KAYLEE Ain’t up for discussion. They got my father, too. We do this together or not at all.

SIMON (resigned) Together then.

RIVER Simon…don’t go.

They all look to her.

RIVER It’s…dangerous.

MAL Not saying its not. But you were right on one thing little albatross. One way or another, this has to end.

INARA Mal….

She doesn’t say anything else, her face tells all the fear and worry she has and she turns and climbs the stairs to her shuttle without another word.

A beat as everyone feels the weight of this new relationship on Serenity, Mal most of all. He shrugs it off in his usual way by concentrating on business.

MAL We leave in thirty minutes. Take shuttle two. Jayne and Zoe, you’re coming as support and to watch our backs. Trust Monty but don’t know about the rest of this bunch. Doc, take what you need to gather samples of the chems they have. Kaylee, take any vid equipment and transmitters we got. Hope Brenner and his bunch have some, too. Jayne, give Simon the smallest gun you got and help him conceal it. River, never thought I’d say this, but you got the boat. Find a place to conceal Serenity in the mountains near by, not too close to the station to draw attention, but not so far away you can’t be of help if we need it.

RIVER Aye, Captain.

They start moving to do their jobs.

JAYNE (grumbling) Everybody gets to be in charge but me.

As they set off Mal starts climbing the stairs to Inara’s shuttle.

INT. SERENITY INARA’S SHUTTLE

Mal enters to see Inara sitting on her bed, a bundle of nerves.

INARA Don’t go.

He sits next to her, gives her a hug and a kiss.

MAL I have to go. Kaylee and Simon be pinched for they got within a lightyear of that place.

INARA River’s right, it’s dangerous. Simon and Kaylee aren’t trained for this.

MAL Alliance’s got their parents. Planning on turning Shadow into another Miranda. I need them. Someone’s gotta step up and do what’s right.

INARA Why does it always have to be you?

MAL Cause that’s who I am.

INARA Monty and Brenner and those men, they’re looking to you to join them. What do you owe them? What happened in the war? In Serenity Valley?

His face clouds over, he stands, paces and the atmosphere becomes tense.

MAL Don’t wanna talk about it.

She approaches him from behind, puts her arms around him.

INARA You have to let it go.

MAL Some things can’t be forgot. Not ever.

INARA I need you. The crew needs you. We’d be lost without you. Don’t go.

He turns around, looks deep into her eyes.

MAL I ain’t looking to be a leader for those men or start a new war. I jus’ wanna go my way. Serenity and the ‘verse are my home now. And I want you at my side. But the Alliance won’t let us in peace. We need to find a way to get them to leave us be. That Operative is out there, right now, scanning the verse for us. And it ain’t because of Simon and River no more, or me, or Serenity. They got their hooks into him too, and he has no choice.

INARA What do you mean?

INT. OPERATIVE”S SPACESHIP

The Operative sits in a chair on the bridge, his face lined with exhaustion. He absentmindedly rubs the back of his neck. A thought comes to his mind and he looks at the Captain.

OPERATIVE The doctor on board, how good is he?

CAPTAIN Highly trained, of course, but the best doctors don’t go into the military, sir. They set up in private practice or at one of the elite hospitals on the Core planets.

OPERATIVE Of course. (beat) How long to Shadow?

CAPTAIN Be a few more hours, sir. Fast as we can go.

OPERATIVE Time is of the essence, Captain.

He stands and walks over to a computer consol, sits and touches the screen with his five fingers spread out in the five ID points. The screen comes to life and the computer speaks.

COMPUTER How can I be of assistance?

OPERATIVE Bring up all files on Simon Tam related to his time at medical school and his practice on Osiris.

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