BLUE SUN ROOM FAN FICTION - GENERAL

BRIGLAD

Birthday - Chapter 4
Thursday, January 1, 2009

Allan wakes up in Niska's clutches. the Big Damn Rescue gets underway and River takes a little walk


CATEGORY: FICTION    TIMES READ: 2416    RATING:     SERIES: FIREFLY

Disclaimer: Joss, Fox, Universal Own em’. (Except for Allan. He's mine) I’m just playing. No money being made.

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This story takes place nearly four years after Serenity (BDM) and has the established couples of Simon/Kaylee, Mal/Inara, Zoë/Allan and Jayne/River. Follows after Big Blue.

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A/N: Warning for some four letter words... Swearing if you will.

Thanks again Chris for the Beta.

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Birthday

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Chapter Four

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Allan's awareness returned slowly. First was his hearing. Somewhere near him someone was gasping for breath while the sounds of leather on flesh thudded into his ears. A short cry of pain brought Allan more awake.

Next his sense of smell returned. His nostrils were filled with the sickening odors given off when a human looses control of their bodily functions combined with the coppery metallic smell of fresh blood.

Allan knew that smell all to well from his days as a Paramedic.

He tried to move but every muscle in his body screamed in pain. A groan escaped Allan's lips.

“Sir? I think he is coming around.” said a distant voice.

“Release his hands. We do not want him to choke when he vomits from the drug, yes?” said a second voice, thick with an Eastern European accent.

“Yes sir.”

Allan felt rough hands undo the restraints holing his wrists. Snapping his eyes open and despite the pain, Allan's right hand shot out, connecting with the swarthy man standing over him.

Allan felt a satisfying crunch as the man's nose was shattered by the heel of his hand.

He wasn't a brown belt in Ti-Kwan-Do for nothing.

Allan's own body conspired against him. Suddenly his stomach decided that it needed to empty itself, bringing up what felt like most of his internal organs at the same time.

When he stopped retching, Allan realized that he was as naked as the day he came crying. His legs restrained to a hard metal table.

The first coherent thought that went through his mind was 'Oh shit!'

“Ahh, Mr. Bryant, you are awake.” said the European voice.

“Wish I wasn't,” tumbled from his lips almost unbidden in reply.

“Yes, yes. That is the usual reaction from my guests.”

Allan cracked his eyes open again and glanced around the room. Bare metal walls covered in blood spatters and various implements of pain and torture covered the walls. In the center stood a rack like structure. Strapped to it was a young woman, naked, bloodied and battered. She appeared unconscious.

Next, his eyes fell on the writhing form of the man who had unstrapped Allan's hands. He was trying to staunch the flow of blood from his nose. Allan allowed himself a slight smile of satisfaction.

Next his eyes alighted on a tall man dressed in an expensive gray suit. Hard cold eyes peered out from behind wire rimmed glasses.

The man looked about sixty five or seventy years old. Standing with a slight smile on his face and hands clasped behind his back.

Allan reached for the restraints on his feet but was stopped by the click and whine of weapons being cocked behind him.

“I wouldn't do that if I were you, Mr. Bryant,” the old man said.

“Probably a good idea for the moment,” Allan rasped. His voice still rough.

Surprisingly the old man handed Allan a glass of water.

“This will help your throat. I need your voice working when we have our... chat. Yes?”

Allan gulped the water while keeping an eye on the old man.

“Oh, forgive me, I know your name but you do not know mine. I am Adeli Niska.”

'Fuck!' Allan thought in his head.

Drawing on his somewhat quirky sense of humor, Allan looked around the room again, noting points of access and other details, “Nice place Adeli. High tech meets Spanish Inquisition... well done.”

Niska laughed, “Ah, a sense of humor when faced with peril. I like that in a man. Much like your friend Captain Reynolds.”

“Captain who?”

“Come now, Mr. Bryant. Captain Reynolds is why you are here. He and his first mate... Oh, she would be your wife now, wouldn't she, yes? They sullied my reputation several years ago. I intend to repair my... reputation... You are like the candle to the moth.”

Allan's eyes burned with fury. This son of a bitch would get his hands on Zoe over his dead body. Trying to focus on the here and now, Allan looked over that the helpless woman bleeding a few feet away.

“What did she do?” Allan asked.

“She was a Companion who displeased me.”

“Guild might take a dim view of her treatment.”

“They think she is dead. Killed in a shuttle crash.”

“I see,” Allan said, “So, what's the next step?”

“Have you ever read the works of Shan-Yu?”

XXXXXXXXXX

“Okay everybody, this is the deal,” Ora 'Oso' Tangaroa said to the troops assembled in the briefing room aboard the Destroyer, IAV Hong Kong.

“The man were are rescuing is the President and CEO of Blue Sun,” Oso continued. A capture of Allan popped up on the screen behind the big man, “Allan Bryant is a friend of the Prime Minster and a very good personal friend of mine.”

The men and women in the room nodded.

Oso continued his briefing, “Also on the good guy list. Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of the Firefly that's going to be hitting the skyplex first,” Mal's picture popped up on the screen.

“Zoe Bryant. Allan's wife. She and Captain Reynolds were Browncoats. Politics aside. They fought at Serenity Valley and are superb soldiers.”

“Gorram Browncoats,” muttered one of the Marines who would be backing up Oso's Hostage Rescue Team.

“What was that Gunny?”

“Nothing Captain.”

“That's what I thought,” Oso growled, “Moving on. Next on the good guys list, River Tam, Simon Tam, Jayne Cobb and most of you all know Reggie Michaels.”

The crew's captures appeared on the screen as Oso said their names.

“These people are as important as Mr. Bryant. You see one of them in trouble, you help... Dong-ma?”

“Yes Sir!” chorused throughout the room.

“One more addition to the good guy list. Marion Vorrasi. Used to be with the fourth SOG working for me and Major Michaels.”

“On to the bad guys...” Oso continued as a new face came up on the screen, “Adeli Niska. Gangster, sadist and all around bad apple. If you can, take him alive. If not... full of holes works for me.”

A murmur of agreement went around the room.

“From what we can gather, Niska has approximately sixty men who are his enforcers. Some are well trained Mercs. Most are just hired thugs who barely know what end of a gun to hold. They are not soldiers. They spray lead. You will take them out with your training. There are also around one hundred support staff on board the skyplex. Some know how to use a gun, some don't. If in doubt... shoot em'.”

“Weapons and gear check in one hour. We hit the skyplex in two. This is what they pay us for... let's do it people!”

“Hoo-Rah!” chorused the troops.

XXXXXXXXXX

“We good 'Tross?” Mal asked his pilot.

“Autopilot is set. Jammer is active. ETA forty-five minutes, twenty seconds.”

Mal patted the young woman on the shoulder, “Best be getting suited up.”

“Yes sir,” River replied as she turned to exit the bridge.

“River?”

“Yes Captain?”

“You be careful... hear?”

“I will Captain Ba-ba.,” River replied as she kissed Mal on the cheek.

“You don't have to call me that anymore you know.”

“I'm blessed to have two Father's and an Uncle who is in trouble.”

“Well, lets be getting your Da-shu back then.”

River ran from the bridge heading for the cargo bay.

She found Zoe assisting Marion into Zoe's own EVA suit. Jayne stood by with the suit River wore whenever she went EVA.

River kicked off her boots and began sliding into the suit., bunching the skirt of her dress around her waist.

“I ain't likin this,” Jayne mumbled.

“This is the only way, Zang-fu.” River replied.

“It's plum crazy, floatin through the black near on two hundred miles...”

“Remember who you're talking to,” River grinned just before kissing Jayne.

“Just you come back to me, baby girl.”

“Can't get rid of me so easily.”

“They always like this?” Marion asked Zoe.

“Nah, sometimes they're worse.”

River turned and stuck her tongue out at Zoë, who despite her worry about Allan actually chuckled.

“Are you ready Marion?” River asked the other woman.

“As I'll ever be,” She replied as Zoe assisted her in strapping on the small maneuvering backpack, “I ain't done anything like this since basic.”

River smiled. The more that she hung out with the crew, Marion's Boros accent that she worked so hard to get rid of, reared it's head.

“Let's go then,” River said as she hefted the bag that held weapons and body armor. They wouldn't be able to fight effectively in the space suits.

The two women stood below the upper airlock. Marion clicked a tether between her and River's suits. Clumsily, the pair climbed the ladder into the lock.

A few moment's later, River and Marion emerged and began walking across the upper hull of Serenity. Simultaneously, Inara extended the launch cradle holding her shuttle to the ship.

River hopped on top of the small craft and crawled across the hull until she was peering through the shuttle's windshield. She waved at Inara inside.

“River, can you hear me?” came Inara's scratchy voice over the suit radio.

“I can Inara.”

“Me too,” Replied Marion.

“Launching in five, four, three, two...”

With a bump, the shuttle detached from Serenity. River and Marion had attached tethers to hold them to the craft since it's weaker artificial gravity field wouldn't keep them attached to the hull.

Engaging the engines, the shuttle pulled away, following the precise course, River had programmed into the nav system.

Back on Serenity, Zoe and Jayne finished stacking the crates that would help protect Simon from gunfire.

“Simon,” Zoe said to the doctor, “Stay hid and behind the barricade. Shoot only if you have to. Use the rifle first, Vera is a last resort.”

“I understand.”

“If it gets too hot, retreat to the bridge and lock the door. Hang tight until the purple bellies show up.”

“Okay.”

“And if you loose Vera... Brother-in- law or not. I'll hurt you,” Jayne snarled.

Simon's response was a glare.

XXXXXXXXXX

Allan had never in his life been in so much pain.

Niska was thorough, he had to admit. Starting slowly and then ramping up the pain level.

The gangster had started by breaking two of the fingers on Allan's left hand. Then the thug who's nose Allan had broken, had pounded on him for a while.

Allan knew he had a couple of loose teeth, a cracked or broken rib or two, the beginnings of an impressive shiner and numerous cuts from the flogger Niska's man had used on him.

Allan had been left alone a few minutes, trussed to the rack in the center of the room. The unconscious woman tied beside him. Niska mentioned something about Waving his wife and letting her know where he was.

Allan smirked at that thought. Every thirty minutes, he felt a slight buzz from his wedding band. Assuring him that the beacon was active. With a bit of luck, Zoe, Jayne, Mal and River would be breaking the door down any second.

Allan heard a low moan from the woman.

“You awake over there?” he asked, voice raspy.

“Hurt.” came the nearly silent whisper.

“Me too. Hang on there. Cavalry is coming.”

“No.”

“Huh?”

“No cavalry,” she said, voice getting a bit stronger, “Guild thinks I'm dead.”

“Not coming for you but for me. We'll get you out of here.”

“We're going to die.” She said with a voice so flat it made Allan want to comfort her.

“Whats your name?”

“Alison.”

“Pleased to meet you Alison. I'm Allan.”

Alison coughed up some blood.

“You hang in there Alison. I'll get you home. I promise.”

“Promise?”

“Yep, just ask my wife when she gets here. I always keep my promises.”

XXXXXXXXXX

At the proper moment, River and Marion stepped into space from the back of the shuttle. Inara peeled away, heading for the surface and the home of her former client. She, Kaylee and Alisha would be safe at the Commissioners home.

The two women maneuvered their suits so that they were facing each other. With the jamming signals transmitted by Serenity, their com's only had a range of a few feet.

“Doing okay?” River asked her partner.

“Shiny,” Marion replied.

“Ten minutes twenty three seconds until we have to begin breaking.”

“Where are you from River?” Marion asked, “You sound like you're from the core.”

“I am. Osiris.”

“Wait a minute... didn't you and your brother have warrants out on you a while back?”

River nodded and grinned at Marion through the faceplate of her helmet, “Rescinded. No longer wanted.”

“What did you do?”

River's expression grew dark. After a moment, she answered the question.

“Simon broke me out of an illegal lab, run by Blue Sun under the oversight of Parliament. They... experimented on me.”

“My god.”

“That's why we had warrants. Wanted their experiment back.”

“What did they do to you?”

River locked her gaze with Marion. While her lips didn't move, the former soldier heard River's voice loud and clear in her brain.

“I can read minds”

“Wu-de-tyen-ah!”

River shook her head as if to clear it, “Sorry. It's quite hard for me to do that. It's much easier to listen than speak. We are short of time and that was the best way to show you.”

“That's... amazing.”

“Sometimes...” River trailed off for a moment, “I can sense Allan now. He's awake and in pain. There's another prisoner with him.”

“All the way from here you can... do whatever you do?”

“Yes.”

“Would have liked to have you on the teams...”

“Would have replaced the teams. I was designed to be an assassin. Kill without remorse. They almost succeeded,” River almost looked like she was about to cry.

“I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bring up something so painful.”

“Not your fault. They removed the part of my brain that controls emotions. I override it with my mind, but sometimes my control can slip.”

“Tell you what girlfriend. I ever bump into one of the hundan's that did that to you... I'll express my displeasure in a most personal way.”

River giggled, “Not if I see them first.”

“I think you're right on that one.”

“Get ready to brake.”

The two women separated, floating to the end of the tether. River fired the small jets on her maneuver pack to align the pair of them for the burn.

At the proper moment, River fired the jets on her suit at full power. A second later, the tether snapped taut between the two young women. After a minute, River's pack ran out of fuel.

River hauled on the tether and switched positions with Marion. Seconds later, Marion's jets roared to life. Slowing the pair even further. As soon as Marion's pack ran out of fuel, they passed beneath the bottom of the skyplex.

They were close, but not close enough. River estimated that they would miss by three hundred meters.

“Umm, River?” Marion's scratchy voice said over the psychics headphones.

Without answering, River unzipped the bag tethered to her waist. She quickly removed a cable gun and pointed it at the stations hull.

She only had one shot.

Pulling the trigger, the gun fired a projectile across the void trailing a two millimeter monofiliment line. The projectile itself contained a vacuum hardening adhesive.

The projectile struck the skyplex's hull just before it ran out of cable. The fragile tip shattered on impact and the adhesive welded itself to the metal.

With a jerk, River came to a halt relative to the station, the gun nearly ripped from her hands as Marion hit the end of the tether and also jerked to a stop.

“That was breezy,” Marion commented.

River giggled and engaged the rewind motor on the gun, pulling the pair towards the station.

When they made contact with the hull. River looked around to orient herself.

“Maintenance airlock is fifty meters to our left.”

“Lets go.”

The pair crawled across the hull, reaching the airlock in just a few minutes.

“Serenity will be docking in eight minutes. We have to hurry.”

Marion pulled a sticky from her own equipment bag She drew a bead around the periphery of the airlock door.

The door itself was alarmed but by melting through it with the sticky, the alarm would be bypassed.

River tied a length of line between the door and to a grab handle on the skyplex's exterior. Marion activated the control unit for the sticky.

The sticky quickly ate through the metal of the door. In a rush of condensation, the cut away piece of metal shot away until hitting the end of the line securing it to the station.

The two women crawled inside through the opening. River pulled the chunk of door behind her and fitted it back into place. A tube of hull sealant made the door airtight again.

As soon as the lock pressurized, they began to remove their space suits.

Marion's eye's nearly popped out of her head when River stripped down to her underwear, discarding the dress she had worn under her suit.

“What are you doing?”

“Need to change.”

“Damn girl, if you weren't married...” Marion said, gazing at River's lithe form.

“Business before pleasure,” River giggled as she pulled on a black, nearly skin tight coverall. She stepped into her boots and began strapping on her body armor and weapons.

Marion's jaw dropped when she saw the Samurai sword River strapped to her back.

“What is that?”

“A sword.”

“Don't you have a gun?”

A sword never jams and needs no ammunition... And of course I have a gun. Three to be precise.”

River strapped her pistol into it's tactical holster low on her right hip.

“Is that what I think it is?” Marion asked as she saw the large automatic at the bottom or River's bag.

“It is. Colt model 1911, 45. caliber semi-automatic. It's Allan's... as is this,” River finished as she pulled out Allan's M-4 Carbine.

“Those things are antiques. Worth a fortune.”

“So is Allan.”

Marion couldn't dispute that.

“Time is short. Serenity will be here in less than three minutes... time for some thrilling heroics.” River grinned.

“Got that right,” Marion agreed as she strapped on her gun belt.

Quiet as mice, the two women entered the lair of the snake.

TBC

COMMENTS

Friday, January 2, 2009 5:22 AM

JANE0904


Let the games begin! And I love the idea of Simon only being allowed to have Vera if he promises not to lose her!


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