BLUE SUN ROOM FAN FICTION - GENERAL

BADKARMA00

Inferno – Chapter Two
Wednesday, December 19, 2007

BDH's to the rescue.


CATEGORY: FICTION    TIMES READ: 2016    RATING: 9    SERIES: FIREFLY

Inferno – Chapter Two You know I don’t own this, just playing. --------------------- “Companion, this is shuttle two, preparing for docking.” “Okay, River,” Zoe called back. “We’re ready for you. Soon as you dock, we’re set to go.” The shuttle eased into it’s port, the clang of the docking lever ringing through the ship. No sooner had the maneuver completed than the door burst open, River hurrying to the bridge. In less than five minutes, Private Companion was on her way. Satisfied that all was well, Zoe waved Mal. “We’re on our way, sir,” she told him. “Be careful, Zo’,” he cautioned. “Whatever I can dig up from here, I’ll wave to you.” “We’ll be fine, sir,” Zoe replied calmly. “I’m more worried about leaving Inara bare in Serenity, to be honest.” “I’ve seen to that,” Mal nodded. “Harwell had three men on his payroll, men he’s known for over twenty years, who have some space time. One with some time in the deep black. And if there’s any trouble, Inara knows I’m only a wave away.” “Still.” “It has to be this way, Zoe,” Mal told her quietly. “You need Jayne and River, and Goldie. Greggs is a good man in a pinch, too. Simon may be needed if anyone’s injured, and there’s no way we could stop Kaylee from going. So this is how it is.” “Well, we’re headed that way,” Zoe nodded. “Good-bye, Baba,” River called from her chair. “See you soon.” Mal’s face softened at that, and Zoe would have sworn, if she didn’t know him better, that his eyes wet just a little. “You be careful, ni zi,” he called to her. “Tell Jayne if anything happens to you, I’ll skin him alive.” River giggled. “He does a very good job watching over me,” she called playfully. “I know he does,” Mal nodded. “You watch yourselves. All of you. Be safe.” “See you on the back leg, sir,” Zoe smiled, and cut the connection. She turned to River. “You’re sure about the fuel thing, right?” River nodded. “I am. It will be close, but not dangerously so. We’ll watch it, and I’ll recalculate every twelve hours.” “Good enough. Jayne and Simon get everything they needed?” “Yes,” River said solemnly. “I. . .watching them prepare made me realize how serious things are. We will need to keep a careful eye on Kaylee, while in transit.” “I thought about that,” Zoe nodded. “Right now she’s busy in the engine room. With Goldie still a bit tender she’ll have to help out. But we’ll talk to Simon. I’m sure he knows, anyway.” “He does,” River nodded. “But he can’t be with her every minute, much as he may wish he could.” River flashed a brief smile, then picked up the com. “Kaylee, are you ready?” “Anytime, River,” Kaylee piped back. Her voice was firm and confident, but lacked it’s normal cheerfulness. “Let’s go, then,” River ordered, and took the controls. Five seconds later, Companion’s thrusters came alive, and the ship shot into the black, on her way to Aberdeen. ------------------- “Get all you wanted?” Zoe asked, watching Simon, Jayne, and Greggs unload the shuttle. “I never get all I want, not for something like this,” Jayne told her, face grim. “This ain’t gonna be pretty.” “Let’s not talk like that in front of Kaylee,” Zoe admonished. “She’s worried enough.” “I wouldn’t say. . .” Jayne started, then shrugged it off. Zoe wasn’t any better than Mal. What the hell. He’d let it lie. “Simon, do you have everything you need?” Zoe asked next, ignoring the abrupt change in Jayne. “I hope so,” Simon nodded. “I mean, I have everything, I just hope I have enough,” he amended. “With no idea what we’ll find there. . .” “Well, so long as we can take care of our own, we’ll be fine,” Zoe commented. Seeing Simon’s frown, Zoe raised a hand. “I know what you’re going to say, Simon, and I agree, to a point. Whatever aid we can give, we will. But our mission, our priority, is to rescue Kaylee’s family, and George Harwell’s sister, and her family. And until that’s done, we concentrate on nothing else. Dong Ma?” Simon nodded. “Okay, then. Once you get this stuff stored, we’ll talk about what’s to come. We need to talk to Kaylee, get some idea about the land and whatnot, and get some kind of plan working. One that we can amend on the fly,” she added. “This is probably gonna be rough.” -------------------- “Mal, I want to thank you,” Harwell said, as he and Mal stood together, watching Serenity lift off. “For?” Mal turned to look at him. “My sister, and. . .” Mal held up a hand. “We were going anyway, no matter what,” Mal assured him. “And even if we hadn’t been, I’d still have sent Zoe to get your family, George.” “I know,” Harwell admitted. “And I want you to know how much that means to me.” “You’re my friend, George,” Mal said quietly. “And that ain’t been a word I been on good terms with for a while,” he added, eyebrows raised. “I consider you a friend as well, Mal,” Harwell smiled. “To me, to us,” he waved toward where his ships normally sat, “friends means family. We take care of our own, come what may.” ----------------- “We’re looking good, ma’am,” Holly called to Inara. “Thanks, Holly,” she answered him. An hour out of Argo, she placed the ship on auto-pilot. Rising, she was startled when she saw one of the new men standing in the doorway. Seeing her start, he quickly whisked off his hat. “Beg pardon, ma’am,” he said quietly. “I was just wondering, would you like me to see to the cooking? I’m a fair decent hand in the galley.” Inara smiled. “That’s fine, John. It works for me. We’ll be about three days getting to Astra.” “Yes ma’am,” he nodded. “Made the trip several times, as a younger man. Working on a transport. Not that bunch,” he added when Inara frowned. “I wouldn’a worked for them three did it mean starvin’.” “I can’t say I blame you,” she nodded. “Anyway, I got Pete checking the cargo, and Willie on cleanup duty in the bay. Anything else I should see to?” “No, this is the boring part,” she smiled. “Just hurry up and wait.” “Ain’t it the way, ma’am. Ain’t it the way.” -------------- “Momma, we’re comin’ ta get you, all o’ you,” Kaylee said tearfully, looking at her mother’s face on the cortex screen. “Kaylee, you shouldn’t oughta,” the older woman warned. “The atmo is gettin’ bad, here, child. We’re okay, so far, and the ‘lliance has promised to send ships to help fight the fire and all.” “You can’t stay there, momma, and you know it!” Kaylee said sternly. “Now, you and daddy, you get everyone together, hear? With everything you can carry. We’re already on our way. It’ll take us about six days to get there, but we’re coming fast as we can.” “Okay, sweetie, I’ll tell’em,” Momma Frye relented. “Momma, I need for you to do something for me,” Kaylee said. “We need to find another bunch. Our employer’s sister, and her family. Name of Weldon and Linda Mann. Can you. . .” “Weldon Mann?” Momma Frye asked, face showing surprise. “Why, he’s the surveyor! He shows the oil companies where to dig!” “We need to find him, momma,” Kaylee told her. “And he and his family need to get to your place, if they can. We’re ‘sposed to get them out for Mister Harwell. Tell’em we work for Mrs. Mann’s brother, George, okay?” “Kaylee, I’ll try,” Momma Frye assured her. “But the reavers. . .” “We know that she survived, at least, Mrs. Frye,” Zoe said over Kaylee’s shoulder. “George Harwell received a wave from her this morning. So she’s alive. According to our information, she lives about one hundred miles from you. We only have intermittent wave contact with her.” “If you can locate her, tell her we’re coming, and if she can travel, come to your place. If she can’t travel, for whatever reason, find out where she is, and tell her to stay there. We’ll come to her, once we’ve got all of you aboard.” “We’ll find her, somehow,” Momma Frye nodded. “Kaylee, you all be careful now,” she admonished. “No sense gettin’ killed or hurt trying to get here. Won’t help no one, that way.” “We’ll be fine, Momma,” Kaylee told her. “It’s you I’m worried about.” “We’re tougher’n we look, child,” her mother said gently. “We’ll make out. Everyone is here, and safe. That’s all that matters.” “Good-bye, momma,” Kaylee said, tearing up. “I’ll wave again tomorrow, if we can.” The screen went blank and Kaylee dissolved into tears. ---------------- “How you doin’?” Jayne asked River, leaning down to hug her in the pilot’s chair. She leaned back into him, sighing. “I’m fine,” she told him. “Tired, but other than that, I’m well.” “Well, we didn’t get a lot o’ sleep last night,” he chuckled, and River felt her face heat. “And then. . .” “Yes,” she nodded, looking up at him. “I’m sorry, Sean, for ruining our honeymoon.” “How do you figure that?” he asked, puzzled. “Ain’t none of this your fault, Angel.” “With my. . .” he placed his finger tips on her lips to silence her, then replaced them with his own lips. “That’s bull,” he told her bluntly, when he released her. “Don’t let me hear you say it again, either. Would you rather we’d stayed, and let this bunch tear out after Kaylee’s folk un-chaperoned?” She smiled at that, and reached up to caress his face. “They do take so much looking after.” “They need us,” Jayne told her. “And, way I figure it, we got plenty o’ time to honeymoon, once we get started on our little ranch.” River’s smile widened. “I do look forward to that,” she told him. “We’ll need to build a house.” “And we will,” he nodded. “Fact being, I don’t see why we can’t peruse the cortex while we’re on the way to Aberdeen. Be a good way to pass the time.” “You are so inventive, Zhang fu,” River mumbled against his lips, kissing him again. “Takes a lot to keep up with a genius,” he replied with a chuckle. “And you’re doing very well.” ------------- “Okay”, Zoe told the people assembled around the table. “We have two missions. Really one mission, in two parts. The first part is to lift Kaylee’s family off that rock, along with such sundries as we can get aboard the ship. The second part, is to find and rescue Harwell’s sister. The Mann’s live in. . .what was that town, again, mei mei?” “Hopewell,” Kaylee said softly. “It’s about one hundred miles from where my folks live.” “Right then,” Zoe nodded. “That’s where they live. Mrs. Frye is gonna try and contact the Mann’s, and tell them to come to her place, if they can. We don’t know if they’re injured or not, haven’t had any contact with them since the bit of a wave she sent George earlier.” “Kaylee’s family is all together, at her folks place, and doing well, right now. Right, mei mei?” “Yep,” Kaylee’s attitude warmed some at that reminder. “Daddy built a big old safe-hold under the house. When the word went out, they all hid out there.” “How many people are we talking, here?” Jayne asked. Kaylee pondered a bit. “If all my sister’s and brother’s and all their kids are there, ‘bout fifty.” Jayne let out a low whistle at that. He looked to Zoe. “We’ll need to land the ship, if we can, Zoe,” he said calmly. “Lotta people to try and lift out by shuttle. We’ll need to keep a close eye on the environmental’s too, that many on board.” “I agree,” Zoe said reluctantly. “We’ll use the shuttles, if need be, to search for the Mann’s. I don’t fancy taking Companion into that soup anymore than we need to. River, if we need to land, and then break atmo, what’s that do to our fuel?” “We’re fine,” River told her at once. “I calculated the fuel based on the need to enter and then leave atmo. I added ten percent to that, not knowing the specific gravity, or what effects the fire will have on the ship.” “Fine. All right. Kaylee’s gonna use the cortex to see if she can figure out a map of Hopewell, if we need it, and download it to both shuttles. We need to find a specific point, we should be covered. Now, Simon, say what’s on your mind.” “I want to know what we’ll do for any other we come across,” Simon said hesitantly. “I can’t. . .I can’t, in good conscience, leave injured people laying unattended.” “In so far as we can assure the safety of the ship, the crew, and those we’re there to protect, we’ll render all the aid we can,” Zoe told him. “But Simon? Once I say we’re leaving, we’re going. Dong Ma?” “Wo dong,” Simon replied. He didn’t like it, but there was no point in re-hashing it. And, he knew, Zoe was right. They couldn’t endanger the ship, or the others, to help someone. Then they’d all be trapped. “Okay. We’ll be at the fueling station in a day and maybe a half. Between now and then, let’s work on getting the shuttles prepped, and getting the arsenal up to speed. I know, Jayne, your guns are fine,” she smirked when Jayne snorted. “But let’s see to what’s in the armory, okay? Not to mention our personal weapons.” She hesitated a minute, face grim. “I know no one wants to hear this, but it’s got to be said. By the time we get there, Aberdeen will have been burning for over a week. Expect anarchy to be rampant by then. We know that people are desperate to get off world. A ship landing will attract attention we likely don’t want.” “In desperate time, people become desperate,” she cautioned them. “People you normally would never think of as violent will attack you to get what they need, or want. I don’t want anyone off the ship, unarmed. Period. Don’t forget our mission,” she stressed. “Protect the ship, at all costs, since it’s our only way off the planet.” “Get Kaylee’s family,” she continued. “Find and retrieve the Mann’s. Those things are our priorities. I know that may sound callous, but the truth is, we can’t possibly help everyone. That’s just the hard reality. And I don’t want any of us dying, because we can’t do the impossible.” “Everyone understand?” Heads nodded all around the table. “Does anyone have a problem with it? Other than Simon, whose protest has already been addressed.” No one objected, but Kaylee looked sad. “What’s wrong, Kaylee?” River asked softly. Kaylee looked up. “It’s just. . .some of the folks we’ll have to leave behind, they’ll likely be people I knowed all my life. It’s just sad ‘sall.” Zoe nodded in sympathy. “I know, mei mei,” she said softly. “And I promise you, so long as it doesn’t endanger the rest of us, we’ll take as many of those friends as we can. Okay.” “‘kay,” Kaylee smiled a little at that. “Okay, then. Let’s be about it.”

COMMENTS

Wednesday, December 19, 2007 10:51 PM

JANE0904


Wow. This is building so well. It's going to be very difficult for the crews once they get to Aberdeen, and people are likely to die, and not just those on the planet. I can see this story getting into darkness, and - if it doesn't sound awful - I can't wait!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007 10:52 PM

JANE0904


Damn - didn't pick up my rating. Should now!


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