The Legacy of Algernon Author: Zoesbackup A/N: I must thank GwenFrewi72 for telling me to shut up and write, as well as Bradcpu for the wonderful advice and beta'ing(you should run over and get your mind blown by all his phenomenal Firefly vids and fics at www.bradcpu.com). Finally I want to thank GWEK for giving me permission to use the episode, "Property Rights" as canon for this story. (You should also go immediately over to www.stillflying.net afterwards and wallow in some virtual firefly continuation of season one) ______________________________________

The men standing at the window were nondescript. Expensive suits and plush surroundings spoke of power, the kind that doesn’t advertise itself, all in muted tasteful colors. Smooth hands and smooth expressionless faces were reflected back by the glass pane. The trivial conversation belied their purpose in being there and anyone listening would receive no indication as to their occupation or agenda.

A quiet beep attracted their attention as a flunky silently entered the room and retreated after placing a sealed folder on the exotic wood table. The men stared at the folder malevolently, as though they suddenly found their task distasteful. Blue Suit approached first, flipping the folder over and, glancing at Grey suit, pulled a small pipette from his coat pocket. Grey suit moved forward and held his index finger out. The pipette had a tiny needle at the end which pricked the finger and sucked the blood up. Blue suit proceeded to do the same to his finger, with the same pipette. The mixed blood provided a DNA code that opened the chemical lock on the folder.

The ‘Verse had brought about an unholy marriage between two entities who despised each other and being fiercely competitive for citizen loyalty, were constantly at each other’s throats. This marriage produced offspring, the like of which had previously only sprung from the imagination of a superstitious Earth-that-was.

The content of this folder was one such abomination. Awareness of it gave one a certain amount of power. It also meant you were damned as far as humanity was concerned. It was the kind of power that caused nightmares that had you waking up feeling as though you were coated with grease and choking on the bile that caked your throat. It made you unclean.

Grey suit watched as Blue suit read the contents of the first page.

“The preliminary results look good. All test subjects have responded favorably to the procedure and are ready to be released for the final stage of the program.”

“Are the subjects aware of the procedure and the testing?” Blue suit paged through the documents, scanning the report until he found the information that Grey suit had requested.

“No,” Blue suit shook his head. “They don’t and won’t remember anything. The past three months will be a blank.”

Grey suit grunted approvingly, “Good, I wouldn’t want the final results to be skewed by awareness of the program.” There was no need to voice their fears about the public learning of their actions. Miranda had been a disaster from which they were still reeling. Damage control on that one had involved a number of heads rolling, some literally. They could not afford another mistake. They could not afford another operative developing a conscience. This program would either solve the problem or quietly be buried along with all the other violations of the Alliance Human Rights Treaty.

“How long do we let the subjects interact in a real-world setting?”

“It looks as though the team wants at least 6 months before they are brought back for debriefing and assessment.”

“How will we monitor their actions, if we release them out into the public?” Grey suit frowned as he pondered the ramifications his question brought to mind. “What happens if there is a problem with the procedure or they get their memories back? What if they require medical treatment that brings attention to the procedure?”

“Their medical files are all annotated; the Medical Elect must be immediately notified if any of the subjects are brought to Core facilities.” Blue suit’s voice communicated contempt for Grey suits ill-concealed fears. “The 14 subjects are all healthy and—“

“What do you mean fourteen? I was told there were 50.”

“The rest proved to be unstable. The procedure was unsuccessful.”

“I thought that was what made them prime candidates” He responded mockingly, “How are we dealing with them?”

Blue suit stared intently at him and said, “We are dealing with them.”

“Fine,” Grey suit visibly cloaked himself in the armor of the bureaucrat, “but I need answers if I am to get Parliament to sign off on your budget request.”

“Of course...you may inform the committee that they will all have unfortunate accidents after being sent to penal colonies for the various crimes they are bound to commit upon release. In the mean time, our successful candidates have shown great promise and we expect great results from them.”

Grey suit stared off into space for a moment and then replied,” I am authorized to grant you an interim budget increase until full committee approval is received. This authorization depends greatly on the comfort level I feel regarding the success of your program. I would like to study these documents alone and determine for myself whether the committee’s faith in your team is warranted.”

“This room is at your disposal. Take as long as you like.”

“Thank you. I shall require a data pad with access to the cortex and coffee, if you don’t mind.”

Blue suit smiled. ”I’ll have the attendant fill your request immediately, let him know if you require anything else or have questions and I shall immediately return.”

Blue suit retreated from the room and left Grey suit with the folder. Moments later, the same flunky returned with his requested items. Grey suit opened the folder and began reading the report, leafing through the pages until he came to the photos of the subjects.

Jayne Cobb’s face stared up at him with shark eyes and grim expression. Grey suit picked up the delicate china cup and sipped, contemplating the Blue Sun logo that matched the one inlaid in platinum on the wall facing the window.

_____________________________________

THREE MONTHS, FOUR DAYS, SIX HOURS...and twenty two minutes early, Jayne Cobb’s face stared up at the blurry figure that was, presumably, the reason the ceiling was in view instead of a comforting wall or door. Jayne Cobb was familiar with ceilings but under normal circumstances he was incredibly drunk and not minding so much. His present feeling of self-righteous indignation was not directed at the bottle, which had connected with the back of his head in a less than neighborly manner, but the fact that the introduction was done before he had even finished his first drink. It wasn’t right to engage a man in a barroom brawl if he had not the liquid fortitude supplied as was his right by tradition.

He groaned, wondering if the person, yakking, was planning on finishing the job by talking him to death. His honed tracker senses, sadly unaffected by alcohol, kicked into gear. There was little activity in the room and the only noise an occasional moan from others equally unfortunate. The voice interrupted his assessment by becoming more insistent and the actual phrases began to take form.

“...Hereby bound by law for unlawfully engaging in violent activity and bringing weapons into a public establishment. Anything that you have to say will be recorded and annotated into the public record as established by the Allied Federation of Planets Judicial Code and may be used either in or against your defense.”

“What?”

Twenty two minutes later, Jayne Cobb was receiving a retinal scan that verified his identity, vital statistics, and criminal record. Forty seven minutes later, he was led out to a source box where he was given the opportunity to send a wave to Serenity, currently in high orbit awaiting Jayne’s call.

Jayne’s purpose here wasn’t recreational. Normally a spacer heading for the nearest bar wasn’t worth commenting on nor a bar fight. Normally, Jayne would not be given the task of rendezvousing with the contact and normally Jayne would not be left alone during said task. Mal had been given no choice in the matter when their most recent business deal resulted in Zoe acquiring a perforated intestine. Simon had refused to allow her anything but light duty. All Jayne had to do was make certain that their contact wasn’t feeling antsy, bringing along more than a token thug or two to balance out the intimidation equation.

Mal was on Serenity nervously pacing and chewing a hangnail while River sat in the copilot chair mentally humming the last Zhu Tzu O’Malley string quartet performance she had heard on the cortex, desperately trying to tune out the dissonant clang of Mal’s emotions.

The take was a real windfall and there were plenty of buyers if you could be discrete about it. Twenty cubic meters of silicon smoke could fetch a high price from anyone not of the mood to advertise their presence to the Feds. The stuff was the consistency of cotton candy and when doped with the right chemicals, was an effective polarizer or scattering agent. It could also do this to targeting and tracking systems if you smeared it on your ship. Their potential buyer was a front for a chop shop syndicate that was well known on both sides of the law. Mal was justifiably nervous, he didn’t want anyone to learn how they had gotten the cargo and muscle them out of what could be a lucrative niche market.

______________________________

“Mal, wave.”

“What? From who?”

“Dirt-side.” River began to hum out loud. “Jayne.”

Mal closed his eyes and sighed before going to the console, glancing irritably at River as she hummed. “Is that really necessary?”

“Yes.” Mal chopped off the comment that was going to follow and closed his mouth with a snap. He sat and watched the recorded message, the muttered curses getting louder as Jayne attempted to explain the situation without actually mentioning how it went down. When the signal cut off, he leaned back in the seat and rubbed his forehead.

“Will you quit with the gorram humming!”

“You quit with the yelling and I’ll quit with the humming.” It got louder.

“Fine, you hum. Keep the ship prepped for de-orbit, we may need to leave in a hurry.”

“You say that every job, no wonder Wash constantly fantasized about his dinosaurs devouring you. When will you accept that it is unnecessary to incessantly remind me of these trivial details?”

“That is NOT a trivial detail and I don’t---Wash did that? “

“Besides, I will be accompanying you on this trip.”

“No. No! This is not up for discussion, I need you here making sure that the ship is---“

“Prepped to leave, which it is. High orbit escape sequence has been automated and coordinates set for DeKuyper’s mining station. We could sustain hull breach and everyone die, Serenity will still arrive at DeKuyper’s in approximately 73 hours from the moment the shuttle equalizes internal pressure with the ship.”

Mal stabbed his finger at the air and worked his jaw in frustration. She always won their arguments, it was maddening. Zoe never fought with him and Jayne was easy to out-logic or stare down. She, however, backed him into a corner of his own making every time and left him determined to gain the upper hand at their next disagreement. Something caught his eye as he turned to leave the bridge. It was Wash’s T-Rex glaring at him. ___________________________________

Jayne was still wondering how and why he had landed in a jail cell when the sheriff’s voice pulled him out of his reverie. The cell door was opened and Jayne was led to another room where Mal and River sat behind a plexi-glass wall.

“You’ve got 10 minutes.” Jayne was pushed in and left.

“Mal I didn’t do nothing, I hadn’t even finished my beer when I get knocked flat! Next thing I know the gorram law is dragging my ass back here.”

“Doesn’t matter. My concern is getting you out so we can finish the task that we came to do. The sheriff said bail won’t be set till morning, so you gotta hold tight until we figure out how we’re to scare up the credits to pay.”

“Mal, they said I was carrying. You know I didn’t bring naught but my pigsticker and I never pulled it or nothing. So why they telling me that I had illegal weapons? I don’t wanna get sent up for something I ain’t done. You tell ‘em I didn’t have a gun!”

The slight whine in Jayne’s voice kept him from snapping at him for messing things up. It was just dumb luck and Mal was insightful enough to realize that Jayne had wanted to do right. He also knew that saying anything to anyone at this point could do more harm than good.

“I’ll talk to the sheriff and find out what happened back there. You just stay quiet and don’t start nothing, dong ma? You pretend you’re back at your ma’s place serving tea to her church friends.” Jayne just nodded his head and glanced at River who merely gazed serenely at a spot on the wall behind him.

“You tell him I ain’t lying.”

“You didn’t lie.” Her declaration seemed to be what he was looking for, the fear receded a bit and he was about to reply when a buzzer sounded and the door opened. He nodded again, not looking at either of them, and turned to go.

________________________________

“Damn Damn Damn, we’ve got to figure out how to get this deal done without Anderssen knowing we ain’t got backup. These guys aren’t the most ethical of entrepreneurs; they will clean us out if they figure they can, without bringing undue attention to themselves.” They were walking back to the port as Mal fumed over their limited options.

“Is Anderssen local?”

“Doubtful, this is a bit out of the way for the syndicate, they only agreed to negotiate price on neutral territory because we offered to deliver to Dekuyper’s.”

“Then that must be his ship.” She nonchalantly gestured in the direction of an Italian Bugatti Chiron; it was a rich kid’s boat, lots of power and practically piloted itself. There were a couple of goons idling outside the hatch. He looked at her skeptically and visually inspected the few other ships that were docked there.

“What makes you think that one? Low-level middle men aren’t usually granted pretty boy toys unless they got stock in the company.”

“They’re speaking in Dutch.”

“You can hear them from this distance?”

She sighed. “No Mal, I can’t hear them from this distance.”

“Oh. Yeah. Well, what are they say—thinking?”

“I have no idea.”

“Yeah, but you just said that you could hear them.”

“Yes, but I don’t speak Dutch.”

‘It figures’ he thought to himself, ’what use is a gorram mind-reader if you had to know all the different languages in the ‘Verse.’ A delicate throat clearing and arched eyebrow brought this particular train of thought to an abrupt halt.

_________________________________

Back at the ship, everyone gathered at the dining table as Mal summarized the situation and what needed to be done.

“...so the problem is we need Jayne in order to get paid but if we don’t get paid, we won’t have enough for bail.” Mal glanced around the table taking in the various expressions. Zoe had an odd glint in her eyes.

“Ok, Zoe, what’s your take? Got anything that might save the day and Jayne’s ass?”

“Well, I’ve had a bit of extra time on my hands, lately, and caught up on the latest gossip floating around. Seems that the Sanchez brothers are back in business and it’s Mariposa Castillo-Sanchez running the show this time.” Mal colored slightly at the name but kept silent as Zoe continued, “Monty has a base of operations over on New Dunsmuir that looks to be almost legit and Nuc Trang waved me just to say hello.”

“Huh. Now isn’t that something, never knew you to be the social gadabout and, by the way, you can fill me in on that transformation later. Now what does your reunioning have to do with our current predicament?”

“We sell options to those that might be interested, giving them the opportunity to purchase smoke.”

“We can do that? I mean, why would anyone pay money for a handful of maybe?” Mal couldn’t hide his skepticism. Much as he hated to challenge the validity of the idea, this was a new Zoe he was seeing and it caught him off-guard.

Inara and Simon spoke in unison with the Companion continuing at Simon’s gesture. “The seller accepts bids for a guarantee on a certain price or quantity within a limited time. It’s rather like the disastrous auction we held to sell the Lassiter, but with less disaster or owners showing up to demand their property back.” Mal scowled, Inara ignored. “Selling options can prevent such things from occurring.“

“Sounds like something the door-to-door salesman would pester us to buy back home. My daddy sicced the dogs on him a couple of times before he got the hint.”

Mal snickered at Kaylee’s observation and covered his smile when Simon took up Inara’s lecture.

”It happens to be perfectly legal and a common investment practice. If we send out feelers to anyone and everyone who might have an interest, we could make quite a lot of money up front and still have the assurance of selling the merchandise.” Mal nodded at Simon approvingly but saved his grin for Zoe.

“I knew I kept you around for a reason.” His relief was a little too obvious. __________________________________

Six hours later, Jayne lay in the darkness of the cell trying to catch some shut-eye. He was determined not to think about anything. It usually wasn’t a problem. It made him feel like his skin was stretched too tight, this wanting Mal to be able to rely on him. He had no aspirations of filling Zoe’s shoes but he hoped Mal might look to him as more than just a hired thug. Ever since "Everything” had happened, Zoe was different; she no longer had a patiently amused comment at the ready when Jayne stepped on his dick. Sometimes he found himself, lately, acting even more pig-headed or crass just to see if perhaps she might smile gently and rip him a new asshole. In some ways he was in greater awe of Zoe than of Mal. Zoe didn’t mind agreeing with him out loud, it made him feel like he was the tiniest bit smarter than he knew he actually was. Mal was erratic in his treatment of Jayne but Zoe was a barometer by which he could gauge his value.

He twisted on the cot and stared at the wall. He kept telling himself; they would come back, they would get him out of jail, and Mal wouldn’t leave him here to rot. It dawned on him that if it were someone else lying on this cot, he would be lobbying to get a move on and forget about ‘em. He would have justified leaving them because it furthered his/their survival and that it was stupid to do anything else. Serenity had become his home and protecting his home from someone else’s mistakes was a personal charge that he took seriously. He desperately hoped Mal would do what he usually did, that being the stupid thing. _______________________________

Mal was jittery, letting someone else take the lead made him nervous. He wanted terribly to be able to trust that Zoe’s idea was sound but he kept feeling as though this was a stupid idea. This type of deal was foreign to him and it should have been to Zoe. They’d been together for so long that it unnerved when she knew things he didn’t. He hated it when the ‘Verse handed him a riddle in the form of a woman, he wasn’t partial to having another on his ship. It didn’t surprise him that Inara knew about this stuff but Zoe? Zoe was a soldier, period. Zoe wasn’t acting like a soldier, though, she was acting like Inara.

“Are you finished?”

“I’m not—finished with what?” he asked suspiciously. River didn’t bother to blink.

“Searching for the ends of Gordion’s knot?” She smiled at him. “Use of a ‘swat will get you much further.” River continued on her way through the dining area and didn’t look back.

Mal looked around for someone to commiserate with but was thwarted by the emptiness of the room. He got up and stomped off to his bunk for a good pout. ________________________________________________________________

Zoe rubbed her temples and cracked her neck.

“Well, how are we doing?”

Inara smiled at her. “Zoe, are you asking for a market opinion or my guidance?”

“A little of both, I suppose. You are on much firmer ground than I, in this particular arena.”

“Perhaps my experience is greater, but I have never doubted that you would find terra firma, regardless of the arena.”

“Your praise moves me deeply. Now, how much money can we make off this brave new world I’ve so recently conquered?” Inara rolled her eyes and shook her head in mock frustration.

“This particular commodity isn’t really my specialty.” Inara thought for a moment and stood up. “I need more information.”

“Are you certain you want to actively involve yourself in this? This isn’t the Lassiter and we ain’t talking about a couple of rich guys who are lustin’ after antiques. This stuff is high on the Alliance watch list." She smiled at Zoe’s caution and raising her chin, adjusted her shawl.

“The wealthy and powerful are even more eager to stay off the Alliance radar than your smuggling associates. I do appreciate your concern for me, Zoe, but you mustn’t fear. A Companion is the embodiment of discretion and I am the embodiment of a Companion.” Inara’s haughty demeanor dissolved into a smirk and with a theatric flourish she exited the bridge.

__________________________________

Almost twenty hours passed before the bail hearing took place. It had been almost seventy two hours since Jayne had encountered a bar of soap. Jayne glanced nervously around hoping to see Mal scowling at him. The pasty solicitor next to him sniffed and peered down his nose at Jayne. Of course it was more of a bend backwards and stare up type of peering, but the intent was there.

The solicitor and judge mouthed appropriate legalese at each other for the next fifteen minutes or so while Jayne picked at his teeth with a datapad stylus he found sitting on the table.

“Bail is denied, the charges go beyond the purview of this court. He is remanded to the town jail until extradition to an Alliance Interplanetary Court can be arranged.”

“ARE YOU RUTTIN’ CRAZY, why don’t I get bail?” Jayne felt dizzy. The room was getting very small. ”What’d I do that you need the gorram feds for?” The judge smiled at him and triumphantly replied,” Mr. Cobb, perhaps you are unfamiliar with the inside of a court room and the manner in which justice is served. When interplanetary fugitives are wanted by Alliance federal agents, we are not in the habit of releasing them on their own recognizance.”

His jaw slackened when the words, ‘interplanetary fugitives’, were translated by his brain. A more cultured man might find the irony poetic.

________________________________________________

“I thought we were scheduled for a meet and greet, Reynolds?” Anderssen’s question belied the furious tick that made the man appear to be winking lasciviously. He just had that type of face, Mal supposed.

“Yes, well, we’ve had a few mechanical problems, didn’t want to make promises we couldn’t keep.” Mal hoped his smile seemed honest and forthright. It didn’t pay to upset these syndicate types.

“A polite man would have given notice if he couldn’t make an appointment,” Anderssen leaned forward winking faster. ”A proper business man wouldn’t stand a potential client up and then go behind his back and attempt to deal with others, now would he?”

“Anderssen, I’m going to use small words and speak slowly. You are a go between for a deal that is not yet an actual deal. There is no jingle in my pocket that makes me beholden to you or your boss. Now as our meeting wasn’t to occur until today, I fail to see how I might have been impolite or failed to meet any unspoken obligation. When you feel to do some business, send me a wave. In the mean time I have other things to attend to.” He gave Anderssen his patented ‘fuck-you-very-much’ smile and hit the comm switch. He heard steps coming up behind him.

“Ever the diplomat. When are we heading down to relieve the locals of Jayne’s company?”

“We?” Mal pushed away from the console and turned to Zoe. “You ain’t going no where until the doc gives the all clear.” A slight pursing of lips was his only rebuttal.

“I know it’s been a month since you got shot but I know that you know how easy infection can set in.” He punctuated his words by stabbing the air. Eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

“I don’t care if you gotta stay up here for another month, Zoe; you ain’t going out on the job with us!” An eyebrow went skyward.

“Yes, ‘us’, River is going down with me and no, I don’t expect shootin’. Once we got the cash, we’re gonna get Jayne out legal and proper. No point in drawing attention to ourselves and besides it’s just the bail hearing.” A tilt of the head and flaring nostrils were followed by a snort.

“Zoe, I need you here.” He glared at her. He squared his shoulders and, adjusting his balance, fired off his final salvo.

“What if one of the buyers wave us?”

“I’ll prep the shuttle.”

“...and don’t take all day.”

“No, Sir.”

They shackled him before leading him out of the court room. There were two uniformed deputies, this time, who took him to a set of stairs. He was forced to hop sideways down each step, as the chain between his ankles wasn’t quite long enough to allow him to walk normally. The stairs ended in a corridor with several offshoots which the deputies ignored. The awkward shuffle ended at a steel door with several locks.

______________________________________________________________________

“Hi, we’re here for the bail hearing.”

“Judge already heard all the pleas, the court’s been adjourned for three hours.” The clerk went back to his paperwork as if in dismissal.

“Ah, I think you’re mistaken, the bail hearing for Jayne Cobb wasn’t scheduled to occur for another half and hour.” The clerk sighed and looked up.

“Sir, all bail hearings occurred earlier and all defendants have registered their pleas. Therefore, this Ms Cobb--”

“It’s Mr. Jayne Cobb, now check.” Mal was ten minutes past impatient and doing a poor job of concealing it. The clerk sighed again and swiveled to the sourcebox at his side.

“I’m sorry sir, but we have no record of a Mister Jayne Cobb.” Mal reached over and yanked the clerk out of his chair.

“He was here yesterday, so you must have lost him. Find him.” The clerk stared at Mal and then down at Mal’s fist gripping his shirt. He looked at Mal again and tentatively reached up when Zoe placed her hand on Mal’s.

“Sir, he can’t find Jayne until you let him go.” Mal released his grip and stepped back which merely placed the clerk in the untenable position of being precariously balanced over the counter. He looked helplessly about as if there might be an offer of assistance before inching his way backwards.

“I’ll just do a visual check of the cells and ask the sheriff.”

“You do that.” The clerk turned and ran.

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P.S. 4 million edits and I am still finding typos,please feel free to point stuff out! Whether it be inconsistencies, typos, or moments of pure unadulterated joy that filled your sould and left you desperate for another chapter. As with everything, I am honestly interested in hearing about what bits you liked/hated or felt apathetic about. Did you laugh, cry, get pissed, throw up in your mouth a little? I want to know!