Phoenix Feathers Part III, Chapter 2 Disclaimer: Joss is Boss, and all I do is toil day in and day out (with his ideas and few original thoughts) to quiet my inner Browncoat. Aren’t those supposed to go on the outside? Hmm.

*** Open on a stack of crates bundled together with cargo netting. There is lots of background noise- the sounds of soldiers moving about and shouting orders. A head pops above the crates for a second to take a peek at the goings-on. It belongs to Koyi Kiranti, late 20s, of Sinic descent, the sometimes sadistic and always ornery ship’s medic of the Stallion. Koyi ducked back behind cover with a grimace, thinking hard. KOYI: (to herself) Doesn’t look good. We’re pinned down. Koyi felt more than saw Cody move to take a look for himself, and pushed him back down, perhaps with a little more force than was absolutely necessary. The kid was a fair mechanic to be sure, and very handy to have around whenever the Stallion was falling out of the sky- which was becoming more of a regular occurrence these days, thanks to the ever-tightening grip the Alliance had over interplanetary trade- the Stallion’s life-blood- but he was a real pain in the pigu the other 23 hours of the day. Koyi couldn’t really avoid being hostile towards others- it was just who she was- but she did manage to play nice with the rest of the crew when it was required. It was not required at this juncture. In fact, if she didn’t put the boy in his place right now, he’d blow their whole mission. And this was as close to life-and-death as you could get in a situation like this. Koyi turned back to Cody with a snarl. KOYI: Hey! Doesn’t the term ‘pinned down’ mean anything to you? CODY: (wincing from her hold on his arm) Right now? Kinda yeah. KOYI: Just stay down. We’ve got at least 20 feds in spitting distance with no way around. Any bright ideas? CODY: I know this one...Um. Spit? KOYI: Putain! CODY: I- wait. Was that French? Shut up, just shut up, she thought. No need to remind me of my own issues- it’s enough that I’ve got to babysit you at the same time. She wanted to say, ‘just tell me something useful or get lost’, but no. This was definitely a multi-man operation. So instead she said KOYI: I’m trying to think. I cuss when I’m trying to think, and you’re not helping my process any. CODY: Well, sure, but- okay. Still- French. That a new thing? Because I really didn’t- KOYI: What did he say? CODY: Who? Oh. He said no. KOYI: What!? CODY: (continued) -at first. Then I told him what it was about and he said yes- or, you know, what passes for yes. KOYI: Phoenix said yes? Then we’re in business. CODY: (irritable) I know, and you’re welcome. Look, about this French thing- KOYI: (knowingly) Did you tell him it was for Nebula? You did, didn’t you? Koyi had been watching Phoenix, the Stallion’s newest crewmember quite closely since he came aboard all those months ago. Eight, wasn’t it? Just about- and what an encounter that had been. The Osiris job gone wrong, the crash landing, the Blackout Zone. The middle-of-the-night shooting of a boy out in the wilderness who, when he came to, had no idea who or where he was. Nothing but his name. Phoenix. The name was like somebody’s idea of a joke, and Koyi had a hard time believing that a name like that would be self-inflicted. But the little cuts all over his head and neck most definitely were not. Koyi had kept this troubling piece of information to herself. What good would it do the rest of the crew? Some of them- the younger ones (younger than Koyi, anyway, meaning Nebula and Cody)- had taken to Phoenix right away. They were about the same age, after all, and a spaceship like the Stallion could be a lonely place when away from port on a long jaunt through the Black. It stood to reason that they would become close, despite Phoenix’s…oddness. What would this news do to their friendship, beyond confirm him as a broken, perhaps dangerous pariah? Then there was the rest of the crew to think on. Monty and Priscilla were a pair that generally avoided socializing with Phoenix- and who could blame them? It was hard to get two words out of the guy. It seemed to Koyi that their first mate didn’t much care for Phoenix being on the crew, him being slightly bonkers and all, and who knew what she said about it to Monty. But that didn’t change who Phoenix was to the crew- all the miraculous things he somehow knew, did, would do for them. Any of them. Koyi thought she knew what it all meant, but she wasn’t going to be sharing her thoughts with anyone anytime soon, not even Douglas Clarke, the old tracker who was the one person she felt like she could count on these days when it came to Phoenix. The fact of it was that, for the crew of the Stallion, Phoenix was an asset, and over time they had all come to depend on his strange talents to save the day. As for example, Koyi and Cody, in their present predicament. CODY: Yeah. He…yeah. KOYI: Ah. (pause) And that was another problem. If it was indeed possible for Phoenix to have developed real feelings for Nebula, enough for him to actually demonstrate those feelings and exhibit some kind of emotional response to them (representing a departure from his usual impassivity that was, in its own way, a miraculous feat- at least to Koyi, who rarely held her tongue on most issues) then it was no secret (to Koyi at least) that Cody himself had once entertained his own high hopes for Nebula. But then Monty and Priscilla had gotten married, and it suddenly seemed like the two were brother-and-sister-in law, at least to Nebula. Koyi knew that blood ties were stronger with border folk than amongst Coreworlders, and Cody was Monty’s relative- a cousin or something, while Nebula was Priscilla’s niece and god-child. After the marriage, Nebula treated him differently, and Cody felt the loss of prospects quite keenly. Well, get over it, Koyi thought. KOYI: So…where is he? (she peeps over the top of the crate again) CODY: I don’t know where he is, I don’t know where he goes...the guy’s like a ninja or something. (he pauses, considering) You ever notice how smoothly he moves? It’s like a cat. Like a big cat-thing. KOYI: (Observes without comment as Cody talks.) Do you have the package? CODY: The what? KOYI: The package? The- tell me you didn’t forget it. CODY: (mimes frantically checking the pockets of his jumpsuit, then holds it up where Koyi can see it- an unremarkable foil container the size of a small parcel.) Gotcha. Relax, it’s right here. KOYI: Relax? Last thing I want to do is relax. Do you know what he’s going to do to those people? CODY: All too well. Believe me, the last thing I want to do is be here when he starts in on- oh, here he comes. KOYI: (slowly) I said stay down! CODY: No more of that. Let’s dance! KOYI: All right. We wait for the kid to do his thing, then we get into it. Wait for my word…Cody? (She looks around, but Cody has already up and left their hiding spot, leaving Koyi by herself.) Great. Just great. Koyi took a deep breath and used it to whisper a few choice expletives that formed a brief commentary on the deficiencies of Cody’s upbringing, then stepped out from behind the crates and into… INT- STALLION- MAIN BAY Where what amounts to around twenty Alliance Federal agents are kitting up for what looks like a war. Specialized equipment, customized weapons, grenades…They are locking and loading. There is something different about these troopers, however, that sets them apart from the run-of-the-mill tv episode extras. Their body armor and weapons look old and well-used- battered, even, and all painted matte black, not the purple of the regular troops, or the silver of the Specials. It is evident from their discipline, plain manner, and the quiet efficiency of their preparations that these men know their craft well. They have commandeered the Stallion’s main bay as a staging area, and stand around in groups of four, assembling and double-checking their gear or that of the men around them. They take little note of Cody and Koyi as the two crewmembers make their way uncertainly across the room. As the camera weaves through the melee of activity, we pick up the trail of a new figure, this one wearing a red padded jumpsuit. The figure slides through the traffic with ease, setting down a black oblong case in a corner of the bay. He opens it professionally, and removes the contents. A soldier notices him. TROOPER: Hey, what are you- PHOENIX (For it is Phoenix, albeit older and with longer hair than when we first met him in PF Parts I and II) brings the FIDDLE up to his shoulder and starts to play a lively jig, rustic and with some flash- To our surprise, he is a fairly virtuosic violinist. His performance draws the attention of the Alliance troopers in the main bay. Koyi slides up to a quartet of troopers near the hatch to the main corridor and the bridge beyond, and starts chatting them up, allowing Cody to slip through the door unnoticed, on into the darkened corridor with the small foil package. INT- STALLION- BRIDGE We follow Cody as he stealthily (for a gangly, youthful, adventurous-type of young adult) makes his way to the bridge, pausing briefly at the bridge doorway to make sure nobody is watching. He enters. Inside, Nebula sits at the controls. NEBULA: You shouldn’t be here. CODY: Good to see you, too, and why’s that again? NEBULA: (matter-of-factly) Because it’s a restricted zone. They don’t want visitors. CODY: Please, it’s like my second home…not that I live here or leave things around or anything (Nebula gives him a look that says “you’d better not”) but you can’t just shut me out of things- At that moment, the Alliance Sheriff, ROGERS, comes in, with a sergeant, TENBROOK in tow. SHERIFF ROGERS: (calmly) Obviously not. A full contingent of federal agents can’t keep you from chatting up my pilot. NEBULA: Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. CODY: Wasn’t really chatting. I brought food! (He proffers the package to Nebula, who digs in with gusto) CODY (cont’d): Well, sir, what’s the word? ROGERS: It’s time…We’re wheels up in 10 minutes. CODY: Wheels up? ROGERS: It’s an old expression from Earth-That-Was, before micropulse technology. You’re a ship’s mechanic and you don’t know that one? What do you kids learn in school these days? CODY: I knew that. NEBULA: He did. He’s really secretly a genius, he just acts silly sometimes. ROGERS: I see. (to Cody) Well, do you think you can get that genius brain of yours over to the drive system? I don’t want the wings to fall off this bird before we get a chance to earn our pay. CODY: You got it, Sheriff. ROGERS: Sergeant Tenbrook, make sure he gets there all right. (He looks meaningfully at Cody. “Don’t wander off”) CODY and TENBROOK exit the bridge, leaving NEBULA and SHERIFF ROGERS alone. Nebula finishes eating her meal and sits thoughtfully at her control console. NEBULA: Is this really going to work? ROGERS: That’s the question of the hour. A lot of this rides on that boy of yours- Nick, wasn’t it- doing his job without a hitch. Think he can manage? NEBULA: Oh yes, sir. He’s…well, he can do anything that he puts his mind to. You can depend on him. ROGERS: I am- we all are- your Captain included. Let’s just hope he can grow some wings. Any signal from the forward team? NEBULA: Not yet. But not too worry, Sheriff- This crew can get it done. (matter-of-factly) They’re extremely good at what they do. ROGERS: Then our window should already be open. All right, Miss. Move to waypoint beta, quiet as you can. INT- STALLION- MAIN BAY ROGERS’ VOICE (intercom): Attention. Moving into position. All squads report to your designated areas, snipers are topside. Shuttle Two away and make your run. 5 minutes. PHOENIX puts away his fiddle and turns around, and there is Cody, with Sergeant Tenbrook looking on like a much put-upon parent. TENBROOK: Let’s get on to the engine room, Mr. Russell. CODY: No, it’s okay. He needs me for this. PHOENIX: Is it time to play, then? CODY: (tentatively) Yeah…um. Yeah, Nick. Let’s get you into that harness, okay? (Cody begins helping Phoenix into a harness with what looks like a pretty cobbled-together backpack of odds-and-ends.) PHOENIX: I shouldn’t like to fall from Heaven all at once. Zoom! Does God love me, precious? Cody doesn’t know exactly what to say to that, as KOYI walks up to the group. A lot of the hustle and bustle in the Stallion’s main bay has died down, and the soldiers now stand ready to do their thing. Koyi eyes the apparatus dubiously. The harness has begun to take shape- something between a SCUBA backpack and a hoverboard, with parts scavenged from the Mule, which sits immobile in a corner of the Main Bay. KOYI: Will that even work? CODY: Yeah, we’re about to find that out, right? (off her look) Okay- what we’ve got here is a pretty sweet bunch of parts, but there’s minimal flight surfaces for control- there’s only so much I could do with the parts we had on hand. Should do the job, if he is right on the money with his initial boost. He gets a tether, though, so he can keep coming back for more if it’s not. ‘If at first you don’t succeed,’ and all that. KOYI: Easy for you to say. Whose genius idea was this, anyway? CODY: (to himself) Everybody’s saying that these days. KOYI: Excuse me? CODY: Um, it was a group effort. PHOENIX: Too many. I…hurt. Koyi winced internally. The thing that nobody seemed to get about Phoenix was that the boy had no trouble blending in or even socializing with others- albeit to the limited degree afforded him by his particular circumstances- as long as those others were either very familiar to him or else very limited in number. When he became overstimulated, he tended to get…odd. More than usual, even, which was usually enough to make the crew uncomfortable. Twenty unfamiliar bodies in the Stallion’s main hold? Yeah, that should do it. Yet the crew hadn’t thought twice about taking on this job. As far as Koyi knew, that was a good sign. If the crew became to receptive or responsive to Phoenix’s behavior, then they might begin to look more closely at his actions and start to connect the dots. Then it would be almost impossible for Koyi to keep the facts from them any longer. But while Koyi knew what was hurting Phoenix, the medic couldn’t exactly talk it over with the boy in a ship’s bay crowded with military types, mere minutes before a mission. So instead, Koyi deliberately jumped to the wrong conclusion, the one that everyone would expect her to make. It was the kind of thing that had kept them away from Phoenix for eight months. KOYI: You probably will, if this garbage flips out on you. (to both of them) Just don’t expect me to clean up your mess when this goes downhill. CODY: (Clamps helmet on Phoenix) Ssh…not in front of Nick. He needs to focus. PHOENIX: (through helmet speaker, calmly) I like redness. (the voice feed blips off) Not even Koyi was prepared to comment on the meaning of a statement like that. KOYI: I’m gone. (She leaves) CODY: (To Phoenix) There we go. You’re all set, buddy. Let’s show these people what we can do! Cody taps Phoenix on the head to tell him that he’s buttoned up, and Phoenix moves off towards the stairs as Cody and Sergeant Tenbrook look on. Cody heads for the engine room, but pauses as he hears TENBROOK: All fireteams! Atten-SHON!!! The soldiers snap a salute to PHOENIX, who is at the top of the stairs. Phoenix tilts his head curiously, studies them for a moment, then leaves, climbing a ladder into a topside airlock. CODY exits unnoticed at the back of the main bay, heading down into the engine room, a bit irked that he didn’t get a salute as well. TENBROOK trots over to a crate and hefts a combat shotgun, moving to a group of three soldiers who are waiting for him near the hatch that leads to the bridge. His faceplate slides down and lights up from the inside with a datastream, and the quartet files into the corridor beyond. NEBULA’S VOICE (intercom): All crew be advised- two minutes. Two minutes to Jump, people. EXT- SHADOW-TERRAFORMING STATION 334 EQUATORIAL Pan down and around the exterior of the Terraforming Station. Terraforming Station 334 Equatorial is a massive, almost conical structure, made irregular by the numerous solar arrays, smokestacks, landing platforms, and other elements of industry jutting out in all directions. Visibility is terrible- gale-force winds pick up torrents of snow, effectively masking most of the surroundings from view, although the station juts up against a mountain range. The abysmal weather, a product of wind being funneled down from a gap in the mountains, effectively hides the gigantic Terraforming Station from view, rendering visual sensors ineffective at anything greater than a half-mile. This is the same type of structure that we see in the beginning of the BDM. We recognize a ship’s shuttle docked on one of the station’s topside external landing pads. There is space for a few more small vessels, but none are present. A crew is at work along the top of both of the parallel docking spars that jut out from the side of the station like the armrests of a chair. The figures are struggling against the weather in their yellow environmental suits. EXT- SHADOW-TS334/E- STARBOARD DOCKING SPAR A figure weaves surreptitiously through the work crew, making for the airlock at the junction between the docking spar and the main structure itself- an entrance that is watched by two security guards in red enviro suits and a shift supervisor in yellow who wields a clipboard, occasionally letting men in and out of the airlock. The first figure is dressed in one of the worker suits, but as he turns to look over his shoulder, we recognize that it is none other than DOUGLAS CLARKE of the Stallion. His advance towards the hatch is stalled, however, when a half dozen security guards spill out of the base and query the supervisor, who consults his chart. Two of the new arrivals stay by the door while the other four, joined by the two guards posted to the work crew begin to make a sweep of the workers, moving steadily towards Clarke. They could only be looking for intruders. CLARKE: (into helmet radio) Two, One. We’re blown. Do nothing. He turns around and moves away from the advancing guards, farther out onto the docking spar. There is a hatch at the far end of the spar, just above the airlock itself, and he makes for it- blending in at first, but his actions become more conspicuous- his cover, the work crew, only extends so far out along the spar- most of their work is maintenance on the main structure, so within seconds Clarke stands alone, with half the distance to the airlock remaining. A shout goes up behind him, and a bullet zips past his head. Clarke sprints for the airlock as the volume of fire increases. He’d be a sitting duck, alone on the spar with no cover, except the security guards are not yet clear of the work crew (or comfortable in their bulky enviro suits), and visibility isn’t exactly perfect. Clarke dives and rolls over the airlock, a square hatch topside of the spar which projects no more than an inch off the surface, affording just a hint of cover to someone lying prone behind it. As he rolls, he slaps an ELECTRONIC DEVICE on the small control box on the side of the hatch and it beeps. A second later, the hatch dials open and Clarke slides inside, pulling the electronic lock-breaker in behind himself. The hatch dials shut a moment later. Two security goons have sprinted after him, and they make it to the hatch just as it closes. One presses his hand to his ear, transmitting a report, while the other looks around. Nothing else is out of place on the station’s exterior. Back at the other end of the Starboard-side docking spar, the supervisor and remaining guards are recalling the workers. The same is happening on the Portside docking spar- just to be safe. EXT- STALLION- TOPSIDE One of the topside airlocks opens and PHOENIX in his red jumpsuit and his strange backpack ascend into the blizzard that surrounds the Stallion like a cloak. He looks around to see several figures in black body armor positioned around the hull- they are braced and at the ready, with weapons already trained into the clouds. One moves to assist, and connects several long cables to Phoenix’s harness as Phoenix checks his gear and his numbers. The man picks up his sniper rifle off the hull, nods to Phoenix, and resumes his position. NEBULA: (over ship’s comm) Waypoint beta reached. Sixty seconds to launch. We move away from Phoenix, along the neck of the Stallion, and enter the bridge, where we find Nebula, sitting alone at the controls. NEBULA: (cont’d) Shuttle two reports no bogeys- air cover is sleepin’. Cut to Cody, listening in the engine room, alone and uncertain. NEBULA: (ship’s comm.) (cont’d) No signal from forward team, but they’ve got their job done. Cut to Sheriff Rogers, checking his sidearm and glancing at the troopers around him, gauging their readiness. These men are good to go. NEBULA: (ship’s comm.) (cont’d) So let’s get in there and get ‘em back. Cut to Phoenix, topside. NEBULA: (helmet comm -personal) Phoenix? You there? Listen- be careful, all right? Come back to us. Cut to Nebula, worried. NEBULA: (into ship’s comm.) Fifteen seconds…ten… Cut to Phoenix, steadying himself atop the neck of the Stallion. We see his eyes close, and the sounds of Nebula’s countdown fade out. Incredibly, we can hear the wind- not the gale raging outside his helmet, but a calm breeze. Then- NEBULA: One. Launch. It seemed as if she was standing right next to us, her voice was so clear. (Think River in Objects in Space) Phoenix’s eyes snap open on “One” and he snaps into motion, sprinting along the length of the Stallion’s neck. He presses some control on his wrist, and a high-pitched whine is emitted, followed by a huge- BUMP! There is a noise (think the spring-board effect we get from the sonic guns that the Alliance boys tote around in Ariel, Trash, and other Firefly episodes) and a brief flare of light from his backpack, almost masked by the snowstorm, and Phoenix is catapulted into the sky and out of sight. Quick cut to Nebula, silently leaning forward against the bridge viewports, trying in vain to catch a glimpse of Phoenix as he makes his leap. Cut to Cody, sitting alone in the engine room, bracing himself against the floor and walls. He looks amazed and slightly stunned- he clearly felt the effects of Phoenix’s future pogo-stick even in the bowels of the freighter. CODY: ohhhYEAH! (He looks around, guilty, but nobody is there.) CODY: (cont’d) Yeah. That’s cool. That was me- I did that. Oh yeah. EXT- SHADOW PHOENIX is on a high ballistic trajectory through the clouds with almost no visibility or control, and at a very high speed. He might be yelling in fear or excitement, but we can’t know for sure- the wind’s too loud, and besides, it’s not really like him to display any emotion whatsoever. It’s a whole thing with that guy. All of a sudden, the snowstorm parts and we- and Phoenix- can see the Terraforming Station’s starboard docking spar. There are two guards trying to get an airlock open, and there are probably more that we can’t see positioned along the length of the spar. Everything looks okay as Phoenix arcs towards the end of the spar, but he isn’t prepared for the bone-jarring impact which bears no resemblance whatsoever to a controlled landing. Phoenix hits the roof of the spar once, twice. His backpack “Pogo-stick” and harness with its support cables, all now as smashed up as their owner, are torn away. Phoenix skids along the roof, rolling and clawing at the surface of the spar, trying to gain some type of hand-hold to arrest his momentum- but there isn’t enough room. Phoenix, with nothing to hold onto or to pull him back, slides over the edge of the spar and down into the nothingness below.

END CHAPTER 2