A Winding Dirt Road Chapter 1: All Work and No Play

“You know,” he said, holding out his arm, “I’m gettin’ a little tired of havin’ needles stuck in me every few gorram minutes.”

“Be that as it may,” Simon replied as he injected the syringe into his crewmate’s arm, “if you’re going down to the scrap yards you’ll be around a lot of rusted metal. If you slip at all-” he threw the syringe into the wastebasket and wiped his hands “- and scratch yourself on something, you could easily get tetanus, which could only lead to-“

“I know, I know,” Jayne said, rolling his eyes and pulling his sleeve back up. “Just don’t like gettin’ all these ruttin’ holes all over me is all.”

“Something tells me you can handle it,” said Simon, giving the man a mock-reassuring pat on the back before closing his drawer full of syringes.

“Besides, you’re worryin’ too much, doc. You really expect me to cut myself down there? I ain't no greenhorn at /walkin’/, doctor.”

“It’s best to take as many precautions as we can,” Simon replied. “And it’s the captain’s decision, not mine. Now go out-” he made a dismissive gesture with his hands “- and do something useful.”

“Oh, I’ll show you somethin’ useful you gorram /joo bah jeh hu shi/,” the gruff man muttered as he climbed the stairs out of the infirmary, leading into the upstairs hallway. Zoë walked past him once he got into the hallway.

“Oh, Jayne,” the woman said, turning around to look at the man she was addressing. “/There/ you are. Captain wants us down in the cargo bay, what’s taking you so long?”

“/Ah ya tien ah/, Zoë, I’m comin’, I’m comin’. Keep your ruttin’ pants on,” he replied, starting off towards the cargo bay. Over his shoulder he said, with a grin, “Or don’t, ‘s your decision.”

Zoë just shook her head and turned on her heels, following Jayne down to the cargo bay.

* * *

“Alright, either of you wanna come?” Mal asked, looking between Wash and the Shepherd as River walked the catwalk above them, her mind obviously wandering into some other dimension or something of the sort.

“I don’t think either of us has reason to follow you, captain,” Shepherd Book said, in his regular, respectable tone.

“Speak for yourself, Shepherd,” Wash said with a bit of a laugh. “I’m getting so tired of sitting around on the same old chair waiting for you all to get back from your... I think I’m actually getting space sick for once.”

“Oh, honey,” came Zoë’s voice. The three of them looked to see Jayne and Zoë having just slid down the ladder into the cargo bay. “You could’ve just said ‘please’, you know. Captain doesn’t mind you coming, does he?” She walked up to her husband and they started to have a sort of private conversation as the others conversed.

“Ain’t no problem to me, you won’t screw anything up,” Mal said with a nod.

“Well, suit yourselves,” the Shepherd said, “but I feel like a bit of rest today. You don’t need my help.”

“Oh, preacher, you’re always restin’,” Jayne said with a grin, “swear you must be doin’ things to yourself while you’re alone. How could a man /not/, you’ve gotta be a big damn liar.”

“You can think whatever you want, Jayne, but I’m just going to /nap/,” Book said with a sigh.

“Ain’t that called sloth, Shepherd?” Mal asked with a playful smirk on his face. He always enjoyed trying to make the good Shepherd angry, and it never worked.

“I do my share of work around here, captain.”

“Right, right, not holding no grudge against you, just saying. Respectable man like yourself shouldn’t go committing any sins, especially one with your… Ranking,” Mal replied, but Book could tell he was kidding so he finally walked off to his quarters.

“Where’d Kaylee get off to, anyways?” Jayne asked, looking about the cargo bay and spotting no sign of the mechanic.

“Probably spending some ‘quality time’ with our good doctor,” Mal said with a laugh. “Ain’t no problem to us, though, neither of ‘em need to be here for this drop-off.” A beat. “Just a drop-off anyways, don’t need more than me and Jayne. Doing you folks a charity, letting you out into the sun to frolic every once and a while.”

“Oh, all hail the generous captain,” Wash said jokingly, finally breaking away from Zoë, though he left his arm hanging around her neck in a side-along hug.

“Time, captain,” Zoë stated pointedly. “We don’t want to be late for a meeting with men wanting what they do, sir.”

“Right you are, Zoë,” Mal nodded and looked about the cargo bay for a second before pointing at Jayne. “Couldn’t you have gotten the crate as we spoke?”

“I do what you ask, Mal, so might be that next time you should start by askin’,” Jayne replied, looking a bit surprised. He shrugged, bent his knees and lifted up the huge, blue-gray metal crate that was sitting on the ground beside him. Full of illegal drugs, he knew.

Costeron was a mite popular down on Beylix (the planet they were sitting on), used to relieve the stress of daily farming life. It was an illegal, addictive drug that caused people to forget all of their worries and get real light-headed and happy. Sort of like dope on dope.

Since the planet was mostly used for storing garbage, it wasn’t watched much by the Alliance. Drugs could slip by pretty easily, drug lords just ordering them from off planet.

A local drug lord, of the farming community they had landed near to, unfortunately lost contact with his usual group of couriers and got in contact with the crew of Serenity, hoping they could help him. As it turned out, they could. They were to meet the drug lord and his bodyguards near a small scrap yard near to this farming community.

“Oh, Jayne, you’re such an overachiever,” Wash commented, earning a smirk from his wife and a glare from Jayne.

“Least I’m doin’ work here, little man. Earnin’ my pay luggin’ around boxes.”

“I’ll guess, in a friendly way, that you just forgot who /flies/ this ship, and I’ll let that one go. I don’t want to hurt you and your sensitive demeanor.”

“/Chiu se/.”

“/Fang pi/.”

“Girls,” Mal said loudly and for a reason. “Quite your belly-achin’ so we can get to work.”

“I will if he will,” Jayne replied spitefully, walking over to his captain’s side slowly, weighed down by the box he was carrying.

“Well, no promises on my part,” Wash said with a bit of a glower.

“/Ni men dou bi zui/ and let’s get to gorram work.”

On time with the captain’s words, Zoë pulled a lever, lowering the ramp, which the four of them then walked down, into rural Beylix.

* * *

My first Firefly fanfic. I only have a vague idea of where I’m going with this, so it should be fun. I also have no planned posting schedule or anything, so the next chapter comes when it comes. If you leave a comment, though, I think I’ll put it higher on my list of priorities. XD

Trying to get a feel for writing as the characters, I think I did an all right job and I’d like to know if you do, too. Being able to stay in character is, of course, the first step to writing fanfic worth reading, after all.

Translations:

Joo bah jeh hu shi = ugly nurse. Ah ya tien ah = merciless hell. Chiu se = go to hell. Fang pi = asshole. Ni men dou bi zui = everybody shut the hell up.