Drive Chapter Four - Backlash

--

“G’day there, Captain Reynolds.” Boyle tipped his hat through the cortex. “I understand you’ve hit a bit of a snag, have you? Seeing how I don’t have my artifact here in my hand.” “Boyle, you may have a slightly better disposition than Badger had, but he never got us in this thick.” Mal paced in front of the screen in his cabin. “Do you even know what’s in there?!” “Course I do, Reynolds. Wouldn’t be very good at what I do without knowing what I’m after.” “Then you know how hot it’s gonna get around my ship. I’ll have the whole gorram Alliance fleet coming after me. How do you even expect me to deliver this on Persephone?!” “You’re looking into this far too much, mate. You stole it in the middle of the desert from an old man with a drinking problem. They could put you in a bloody line up and he wouldn’t be able to spot you out. Just take a deep breath and bring me my artifact.” “Don’t try and spin your words around on me. You know as well as I do that the Alliance will track down every ship that came and went off Relanor. We aren’t exactly in their good graces either. Plus, if Ott is still on that rock, he’d sell us out in a nano-second to get the feds off of his ship. So…what? What am I gonna do with this? On second thought, what would a weasel like you need that thing for?!” Mal was shouting now. “You can yell all you like, but you’re taking shots at me pride now.” Boyle threw on a stern face. “Look, Captain. I want that item. I don’t care how you get it here, but I want it. I’ll have you know I have big plans that involve what you just nabbed. Big plans. Get it here and you’ll get your coin. Then we never have to do business again.” Mal grabbed the screen. “You don’t get it, do you?! The Alliance would go to war over something like this! Think about how they covered up Miranda. What lengths they went through. They’d gladly kill you and you’re entire operation just to keep this out of the public’s hands!” “N-No they wouldn’t…They wouldn’t dare…” Boyle scratched his head. “Wouldn’t be the first time.” Boyle seemed extremely nervous now. He took a handkerchief out of his coat pocket and wiped the sweat from his brow. “Alright, Reynolds. Get rid of it. I’m a man of my word so I’ll still hand over the coin. Just get that far away from here.” “Just what do you expect me to do?” Mal was fuming. “Afraid I can’t tell ya how to do that. Just get rid of it.” Boyle disconnected. Mal continued to stare into the monitor. The rage settled and he began to unwind on his bunk. “Well, Mr. Reynolds…How are you gonna get yourself outta this one?” He said to himself. “You were never one to be backed into a corner like this, Mal.” Shepherd Book said. “I don’t think I’ve been in a predicament like this before, Shepherd.” Mal picked up a stick and poked some more wood into the campfire. “Not sure we can get ourselves outta this clean. Whether we have it or not, they’ll just keep on comin’. Won’t be long before we’re just floatin’ belly-up in the black.” “As long as I’ve known you, whenever things were at their worst, we always found ourselves running. Which was always fine.” “Runnin’ was always a more pleasant alternative to death, explosions, torture and such. Rather be colored yellow than red.” “Well, ask yourself this. Instead of ‘where’ can you run to, think of ‘who’ you can run to.” “Not exactly a long list there after Miranda...” Mal remembered someone. “There ya go, Mal.” Book smiled widely. “There ya go.” Mal’s eyes opened. He had fallen asleep. “I need to get some medication or something this is ridiculous.” Then, he remembered the dream. He leapt up and flipped on the intercom. “Little one, are you on the bridge?” “Yes, sir” She responded. “Get ready for a change in heading.”

--

Jayne had since snuck a peek into the case. He sat at the kitchen table with a large bottle of sake. For some reason, he had pulled a shot glass from the cupboard but went about chugging the stuff straight from the bottle. “Can I have me some of that?” Kaylee had also looked at the paper not too long after Jayne had. “Uh…” He burped. “Yeah, sure.” Jayne ignored the empty shot glass, stood up, walked to the cupboard and pulled a new glass from it. He set it gently on the table next to Kaylee and attempted to pour the sake in. Most of it dripped onto the table before Kaylee grabbed the bottle from him. “Do you have the case ‘round here?” Kaylee asked. “Heck no.” Jayne sat back down. “The thing probably has a gypsy curse on it er something. Probably wake up with my hands and feet switched around.” Simon walked into the room with a small stack of papers. “These just came in through the cortex. We’re getting quite a bit of air time at the moment.” Each of the pages was a wanted poster for each of the crew members. One was for the ship itself. “What’s wrong with you two?” Simon asked. “We uhhh…” Kaylee began. “…We…looked into yonder case.” “You did?! But…I thought we weren’t…I’m gonna look, where is it?” Simon was determined now. “Put it down in the secret compartment.” Jayne replied. “You should put on some of yer fancy doctor gloves when you look at it.” “There’s no gypsy curse on it, Jayne.” Kaylee scolded as Simon left the room. The two heard the compartment being slid open on the lower deck. Jayne began to count down. “Three. Two. One.” They heard the compartment being closed up again. Seconds later, Simon entered the room with a blank expression. He stared into nothing before snatching up Jayne’s empty shot glass. “Give me some of that.” Simon demanded.

--

Mal was on his way to the bridge when he noticed Zoe’s cabin. He hadn’t heard much of her since they left planetside. The hatch was open so he lowered himself down into her room. “Zoe?” He whispered. “Here, Mal.” Zoe replied. There was sadness in her voice. After reaching the floor, Mal saw Zoe sitting on the edge of her bed looking at a piece of paper. “Y’all right, Zo?” Mal caught sight of what was on the paper. He sighed. “I’m sorry you saw that.” “They still think he’s alive. They still think he’s with us, Mal.” Her tears dripped onto a wanted poster with Wash’s picture on the front. “He’d still be with us if it weren’t for them.” “He knew what he was getting into. Just like the rest of us.” Mal was short on words, and what he said didn’t exactly help. “I remember…” Mal brought a painful memory back into his mind. “…I remember this one time. It was just before we ran into Dobson at Sturges. Wash took me aside and says to me, ‘This is an unhealthsome gig, Mal. It’s stupid.’ He was of course referring to our line of work. But he said, ‘Doing something stupid to keep the woman you love nearby, even for a little while…Well, that’s the kind of stupid I don’t mind.’” Zoe smiled briefly but was overcome by grief. Without thinking she leaned over and began to cry on Mal’s shoulder. “I miss him so much, Mal.” She sniffled. “I miss him so damn much.” Mal couldn’t think of what to do. He laid his hand on Zoe’s head in an attempt to comfort her. “Let it all out, soldier.”

--

When everyone on the ship retired to their bunks and Mal had redirected Serenity’s course to Whitefall, River reached back in her mind and remembered a time when she walked up onto the bridge. She found Wash humming to himself and rocking the controls back and forth. “Why are you doing that?” River asked bluntly. “Woah!” Wash was spooked. “Oh, it’s you, River. Scared me half to death just now.” He clenched his chest and took a deep breath. “Why were you doing that?” She asked again. “Uhh, doing what?” “You’ve been changing our trajectory constantly for the past hour and a half. Why?” “What?...Oh! Oh, oh, oh. Sorry about that. Did I keep you awake?” “No. I was confused as to why you were doing it.” “Well, it’s a bit of a story in itself. I never really thought about it too much.” Wash cleared his throat. “A while back, Zoe told me about all about her time with the Independents. Their lines being constantly driven back. Their losses and their wins…mostly losses. But she told me how when the soldiers made camp, she could only sleep when there was fighting going on. Because as long as there was shooting or bombs going off or something rumbling the ground, then that meant the Alliance was being kept at bay, so she could sleep peacefully. It was when everything was completely silent that she could hardly blink. Cause that meant the Alliance could sneak up on them any which way in the night.” “So…the rocking helps her sleep?” “I’m not completely sure. Whenever I’m up late driving, then I rock the controls back and forth a little. She’s always dead asleep by the time I get down there. So, if giggling the controls a bit can put my girl to sleep, then I’d do it all damn night.” Wash smiled. River, getting her answers, walked right out of the bridge without a word. “Nice talkin’ to ya.” Wash called after her in a sarcastic tone. This conversation had always sat in her mind as he piloted Serenity. Tonight, the most important thing she could do was keep the ship off of autopilot. She gripped the controls with both hands and began to slowly rock them back and forth. Back and forth. River smiled as she felt the sadness somewhere on the ship being withered away.

--

“Inara, there isn’t a thing in the Verse you need to worry about right now. We’re fine. You’re fine. Everyone’s fine.” Mal was at the cortex in his cabin again. “Your faces are plastered everywhere, Mal. What did you get yourself into?” “Nothing Alliance related, that’s for sure. Don’t let your client see you all a flustered like this. It’ll be bad for business.” “Mal.” Inara’s face was completely serious now. “Mal, what did you do?” Mal looked towards the floor and rubbed his forehead. “I…” Inara waited impatiently for a response. “You what?” “I…think we found the way home.”