GR RP "Adventures in GunRunning" ACT 22 by CapnRahn

WHERE ARE THEY NOW >>>
Roundabouts 2000 hrs/ 8:00 PM AMT

MERZ, RIVER, INARA, BOOK, DAMON & MAL - In the Infirmary

THORNE - In Inara's Shuttle sleeping blissfully.

WASH, ZOE, KAYLEE & ROWAN - On the bridge.

JAYNE - Heading for the cargo bay - Wondering just 'Why' River sez he has been cheating.

SIMON, CORVAIR - Off on a tangent.

SLIGHT - Still in the GryFalcon - Preparing for a visitor.

MALICHI - About to apprehend a miscreant! {see above}

JONAS HEXX - In New Hokkaido, casing the villa of The Shop

FROST - Still on ice.

NISKA - Hera - passed out on ly a kliometer from the city.

EARLY - Tied to a Reavers 'Kings Cross' and awaiting his Ceremony.

SAFFRON - Trying to hide from the same Reavers.

OR'SHA - Waiting for Hexx.

XIANG - Oroboros, beginning to feel the 'pressure' of the coup happening to the Enclave.

BOOMER - Selling leather-goods at the Uchigatana ReinAct Faire - unaware of her impending meeting with Nicoallez after the Faire closes

NICOALLEZ - Taking a break from telling stories at the entrance of the ReinAct Faire on New Hokkaido and checking out the Faire grounds.

"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"

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Thursday, October 14, 2004 3:17 AM

Mal's Move

LOCATION - INFIRMARY
As

Mal stands just outside the open Infirmary hatch and watches this passion play unfold. His eyes focus on Merz and River - unwilling to even see Inara. He can smell Thorne's scent all over her. His jaw draws tight as he makes a decision. Things will never change. Inara can never understand a dirt farmer turned ship captain. All this is complicating his boat.

As Merz passes by, he grabs her left biceps. Momentary shock flickers in his eyes at the firmness of her arm, he is nearly torn off of his feet by her inertia. Spinning around, his jaw unclenching, he says:

MAL
...in his best command voice, yet nearly a whisper...
"Stand down solider, and come with me, ... audible to everyone else... "Alone."

Mal heads up the back stairs to the galley - knowing Merz is sure to follow.

EOM

"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"

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Thursday, October 14, 2004 1:23 PM

Damon’s turn:
LOCATION - COMMON AREA to LOCATION - CARGO BAY

Damon watches as Mal stops Merz, whispering something inaudible, then adds to everyone else... "Alone." He turns and heads for the back stairs, Merz close on his heels.

Damon turns to follow Jayne and calls to Mal: “I’ll be helpin Jayne in the cargo bay, captain, holler when you need me.”

OOC: Debs, I assume Merz would follow Mal without hesitation so I hope Damon’s observation is ok

I'm not broken, in my dream I win...

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Thursday, October 14, 2004 3:01 PM

JAYNE - CARGO BAY

Damon clambers through the portal to the cargo bay after Jayne as he lopes towards the airlock doors where his metal beam construct lies. The air gets warmer with each step.

"Guess yer lookin' to be sure all the work gets done so cap'n don't throw nobody out like he said." Jayne can't resist teasing Damon like he has with so many others. "I still got an important job ta do 'morrow, so I figures I'm not going anywhere fer now. More'n likely he'll just toss one of you out to set an example fer the rest."

Jayne stops at the cargo hatch. He looks up and holds, as if studying the crane above him mounted on rails.

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Thursday, October 14, 2004 5:16 PM

INARAESQUE

LOCATION - INFIRMARY

MERZ
How can I help her? What do I need to do? How can I protect her? Help me.

MERZ is unsure; for the first time since INARA met the woman, she is obviously in the grip of some intense struggle, confusion, emotion, and INARA finds she likes MERZ better for it.

BOOK steps forward, standing between INARA and MAL, and INARA feels the faintest flicker of amusement. It's probably very, very wise of the Shepherd to do that: she should not be out and about in her robe when there's a client in her shuttle. THORNE may be sleeping, but he is still in her shuttle. And yet, how could she not respond to the terror in RIVER's screams? Contrary to what MAL seems to believe about her, INARA is not made of stone.

BOOK
Inara is telling you the truth child, no one here would hurt her... or you. You don't need to do anything to protect River right now. I'm afraid the future is quite uncertain though... we may all need you then.

Isn't that the truth? INARA thinks, sighing softly, taking in the faces around her, judging the situation as best she can. Her mood is still good, still hopeful, thanks to THORNE's generosity, his offer of her cure, but her heart goes out to those around her.

RIVER calms herself in MERZ's arms, and addresses MAL directly.

RIVER
He's gone again. It's the second time he's had to leave home for me. If the letters stop coming we must find him.

INARA follows her gaze to the Captain, feeling that ever-trecherous pang in her chest as he refuses to even acknowledge her presence. She has hope now, though, and she will not let him ruin her good mood. In time, she will be able to share it all with him, she hopes, in they will learn to understand each other. In time.

For now, the shuài bèn dàn will continue to snarl like a tiger with a sore head, and she will continue to keep her own counsel. In time, she tells herself. In time...

She looks away from MAL, only to catch MERZ's eye briefly. INARA smiles reassuringly at the other woman before MERZ turns to MAL.

MERZ
The interruption in my duties was an momentary occurrence. I will return to work now.

Her deferring to the captain doesn't surprise INARA. The fact that, as she turns to go, MERZ smiles almost tenderly at RIVER, however, does a little. MERZ moves past them all, only to be grabbed by MAL, who drops his voice to barely discernable: his manner is almost as military as MERZ's is, though, and that in and of itself is rather intriguing to INARA. He finishes speaking audibly, once again pricking her curiosity.

MAL
Alone.

The two soldiers exit, MERZ trailing MAL without hesitation, and INARA surpresses a tiny, nasty little jealous pang. It's foolish and hypocrital of her, just like her tears over MAL and Nandi had been...

DAMON
I’ll be helpin Jayne in the cargo bay, captain, holler when you need me.

With that, INARA is left alone with RIVER and BOOK.

INARA
Well, that was certainly interesting, she murmurs, mostly to herself. She crosses to RIVER's side, offering the girl and the Shepherd gentle smiles. Feeling better, mei-mei? she asks, smoothing River's hair with a gentle hand.

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Thursday, October 14, 2004 9:46 PM

Damon’s turn:
LOCATION - CARGO BAY

Quote:
"Guess yer lookin' to be sure all the work gets done so cap'n don't throw nobody out like he said. I still got an important job ta do 'morrow, so I figures I'm not going anywhere fer now. More'n likely he'll just toss one of you out to set an example fer the rest."

Damon has to fight the impulse to snap a threat in self-defense (though he can’t help taking note of Jayne’s holstered gun, the knife in Damon’s boot, and his pocketknife)- from what he’s seen, Mal isn’t that kind of captain. Jayne’s either joking or just trying to pick a fight. Either way, Damon mimics Jayne’s edgy tone and locks his dark gaze onto Jayne, deciding to let him determine whether he’s serious or not.

“Over my dead body. ‘sides, what are you doing tomorrow that’s so damn important? There’s nothing you can do that I can’t, except maybe apply make-up, an I’m makin half of what you’re getting so who’s to say he won’t throw you out and save himself the money?”

I'm not broken, in my dream I win...

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Thursday, October 14, 2004 9:58 PM

River
LOCATION - INFIRMARY

River glares after Mal as he turns and leaves with Merz without even acknowledging her.

"IGNORING THINGS WON'T MAKE THEM GO AWAY!"

She gives Inara a frustrated look. "It's past his bed time."

OOC: gotta love counting the # of meanings in River's lines

I'm not broken, in my dream I win...

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Friday, October 15, 2004 4:36 AM

JAYNE - CARGO BAY

"Over my dead body."

Jayne mutters, "Generally how it's..." before Damon continues.

"‘sides, what are you doing tomorrow that’s so damn important?"

Jayne continues to eye the crane above with occasional glances to the cargo hatch below his feet. Damon is certainly as defensive as they come. It isn't even any challenge getting him riled up. Heck, that's pretty much his natural state. "I'll be down planet side gettin' shot at t'morrow."

"There’s nothing you can do that I can’t, except maybe apply make-up, an I’m makin half of what you’re getting so who’s to say he won’t throw you out and save himself the money?"

Calm and nonchalant, he lets Damon get it all out. Then he adds flippantly, "Good point. I wonder why yer not coming down tomorrow to secure the drop spot? Maybe 'cause ya draw on yer own crew? Or Mal might want a team down there who knows how ta take the safety off. Either way, I guess I'm just worth what I make."

Now they lock eyes for a second. Jayne wears a slight grin. He turns back and walks towards his project.

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Friday, October 15, 2004 4:56 AM

Keep the Shiny side up

Thorne's Move

Location: Inara's Shuttle/Sickbay

THORNE wakes and reaches over to touch INARA, but finds only an envelope on her side of the bed. Curious, he wonders if she left the traditional approval reimbursement, meaning she would consent to see him again, but decides to not peek until the evening is over.

Suddenly realizing that it was a scream which awakened him, he begins to retrieve and don his scattered clothes. Expanding his awareness he feels RIVER's emotional flareup, now beginning to subside a bit.

Dressing more quickly, he decides to head for the sick bay and see if he can make connection with RIVER again. Even though his enhancements were voluntary, and far less invasive than hers, they are parts of the same family of 'modified' humans and he feels a responsibility to help her.

He leaves the shuttle and heads down the catwalk. Feeling MAL's bad mood moving towards the galley, pulsing like loud bad music, he instead goes down the aft cargo bay stairs and enters the common area without being seen by JAYNE or DAMON, who appear to be playing with some sort of large rope.

As he approaches the sick bay door, THORNE feels RIVER's mood turn from unease to childish petulance. Someone has managed, perhaps unwittingly, to get her mind off her fears. That was good work. He enters, throwing a quick nod at the SHEPHERD and giving INARA a lingering 'I missed you' glance.

[to RIVER]"Hello, little sister. You seem to be having a bad night. Is there anything I can do to help?"

EOM

OOC: It's been a long day's night.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Friday, October 15, 2004 7:46 AM

MERZ and MAL BLEND

LOCATION – TRAVELING:INFIRMARY TO GALLEY
As ...

MAL tries to stop her, as she pushes past. The expression on his face as he fails is … gratifying. She slows as he is dragged around, to allow him to get whatever it is off his chest. However, his voice pulls her, and forces an instant obedience from her, an automatic response to her earliest training. It matters not how soft his voice is, the command is unmistakable.

MAL
“Stand down solider, and come with me, and to everyone else, "Alone."

He strides on up the back stairs towards the Galley, and she falls into place behind him, eyes locked on the back of his head, no longer aware of anyone else around.

There is no one in the room when they arrive. As MAL steps into the galley area he says,

MAL
…To Merz, but not looking around - proceeding to the Fore Hatch as Merz enters the Aft Hatch…
“Dog it.”

And she does, securing the Aft Hatch behind her. MAL paces across the room, and secures the other door as well.

Not knowing what comes next, MERZ comes to a halt, at rigid, unwavering attention, in the center of the room, near the foot of the galley table, and there she waits. MAL, coming back her direction detours near the comm, and verifies that it too, is secure.

Once he is satisfied that everything is as it should be for a private chat, MAL approaches the end of the table, near where Merz is; he boots the chair at the foot of the table out of the way, and rests one hip on the surface. Secure and comfortable, he contemplates MERZ carefully for a few minutes.

MAL
…when he has collected his thoughts…
“Now, just what do you need from me?”

She stands mute under his scrutiny. There is just something familiar about all this. Does it always come to the same pass, a confrontation with the voice of authority over her – differences? She remembers … and almost in the same words. She does a quick conversion in her head. Has it really been twenty years ago now …

Quote:
FLASHBACK - 20 YEARS
IKC BEAU GESTE
On the Cavalry flight deck, Sgt. Marovech was poised, one hip resting on a bench. Merzedes stands before him, uncomfortably neither at rest or at attention, uncertain what is called for. Rank had never been an issue before, this new situation was perplexing. Merzedes knew her rank was above Sgt. Marovech’s, but she had seen those of a higher rank than her current posting deferring to this man. She was instructed to study and integrate, so she followed the pattern she had observed.

SGT. MAROVECH
“What do you need from me? To make this easier for you, I mean. You can’t go stirring the crew up like this.”

She is listening to this ‘civilian’. Not sure why – but three years ago, he taught her a hard lesson in hand-to-hand combat that has served her well ever since. Last time aboard the “Geste”, she was an observer, an outsider. She was under a certain amount of ‘control’, and not really a part of the newly forming team. The A.P.E.s have formed a cohesive team now, and she has this … rank. Lieutenant, ElleTee some such … it has no meaning to her, and no interest for her, merely a civilian convention. Which she is expected to treat as if it has import. He continues to speak in the face of her silence; caution would dictate she should attend to his words.

SGT. MAROVECH
…speaking in a soft, yet penetrating tone…
“ElleTee it has been…what…3 years since you were last aboard the Geste and I understand that things may be waaay different from your last posting. Here, things are not the same in every situation; nothing is ever black and white. Like white light, there are an infinite number of colors and shades of perspective within the A.P.E.s and others. People are different and thus react differently. Their perspectives may not conform to the ones you are used to dealing with. You need to keep that in mind and observe and analyze the differences. It is really a hard path to tread, but it will help your responses to understand these shades of perspective.”

Merzedes does listen. She has seen others show respect to this man, others who, in her understanding “rank” him; have a higher status within the group. There is a difference between ‘rank’ and ability – and Marovech; ~Maro~ has ability to impress even a Troy, in spots. His immediate superior Chief Master Sergeant Morave is a case in point. He always listens. He sometimes questions, but always listens.

End flashback

MERZ
…still at attention, answers him...
“I cannot answer that question, sir. I do not know.”

MAL
…nods, chewing on his lip and stroking his jaw...
“At ease … Merz.” He studies her face intently, watching for any reactions. “Fair enough. Next question: Do you represent a danger to my boat and my crew?”

MERZ
…relaxing to a rather stiff parade rest…
“Sir. That remains a possibility. I can not deny that there may be consequences for allowing me to remain here.”

MAL
… nods again …
“Ok, we deal with that when it comes around. Won’t be the first time. But, are you, yourself, standin’ right here, going to be a present or future danger to my boat and my crew?

MERZ stares straight ahead, eyes locked on infinity. Her teeth clenched tight enough to see the standing muscles at the base of her jaw and neck. Thoughts chase themselves across her face.

Corvair’s voice suddenly rings in her head ~lie to him. civilians do it all the time…

Merz is momentarily stunned at the reality of Corvair’s sudden vocal intrusion, is she going insane? …i can not … she whispers internally.

Or’Sha’s soft spoken soprano voice counters ”…you must, or you leave at the next stop, is that what you want?”

Merz fights to maintain her mental balance, …yes … no … NO!

Corvair’s phantom voice slams down with authority “…then you must learn to lie, they are nothing but fodder … ”

… no. i will not! let them take me as i am or not at all … ~ something grips her, causing her chest to tighten in a manner unknown to her.

Then the soft serene, yet gravelly voice of Bem Wa drifts forward ... follow your heart...

To her surprise, only a fraction of a second has passed.

MERZ
...collecting herself...
“Sir. That also remains a possibility. Not by intention … Not by inaction. Accidents can occur.”

Mal ponders this a moment and realizes he is letting his personal feelings interfere with the functioning of his ship and people.

MAL
…leaning back a bit and visibly easing up…
“Always the way – ain’t it … OK, ‘nuff said fer now. Git back to…“
… he pauses, realizing he doesn’t know what the gorram hell Merz and Damon had been working on …
“… work. Just what were you doin’ with those bungee cords?”

Merz is again caught flatfooted by this civilian’s ability to prioritize on a dime. This she can report easily.

MERZ
“Your Engineer” … A flash of Heropa’s armless and legless burned torso on a gurney roars through her mind like a plasma back-draft… …Kaylee, requested we do so. I surmise it is to retard the inertia of the conex upon its expulsion from Serenity.

MAL
…uncertain, but focused…
“OOOK, I’ll ask her. You, you go finish up and tell the others to git done with what they’re doin’ and … relax or somethin’.
…a sudden grin creases his mouth…
“OR, I’ll hav’ta take anybody not havin’ fun fer a ‘Spin’.”
…as quickly as it came, his good humor vanishes…
“Book is suppoz’d to tell Kaylee to ‘open the cabinet’, if ya see her ‘fore he does, let her know I said so. Gonna be quite a day tomorrow. Dismissed.”

Mal hops off the table and begins to move towards the fore hatch.

MAL
”Oh yeah, tell Damon to come to my ‘office’ when he is finished up.”

Over his shoulder, he throws a wink at Merz. A small attempt to set her mind at ease, he hopes.

EOM

"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"

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Friday, October 15, 2004 8:49 AM

Damon's turn:
LOCATION - CARGO BAY

Quote:
Originally posted by Saint Jayne:
Calm and nonchalant, he lets Damon get it all out. Then he adds flippantly, "Good point. I wonder why yer not coming down tomorrow to secure the drop spot? Maybe 'cause ya draw on yer own crew? Or Mal might want a team down there who knows how ta take the safety off. Either way, I guess I'm just worth what I make."

Now they lock eyes for a second. Jayne wears a slight grin. He turns back and walks towards his project.

Jayne's smile disfusses Damon's unease and he can't help but smile. "Fair enough. Just don't let my blunder in the galley earlier give you the wrong impression- I've got plenty experience with guns- maybe tomorrrow I can help you drop a few purple bellies-or whoever we are fighting. Though I don't plan on gettin shot again, I'll leave that to you, I've had enough medical care to last me a good long while."

I'm not broken, in my dream I win...

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Friday, October 15, 2004 9:04 AM

JAYNE - CARGO BAY

Slapping his dark leather gloves on, Jayne keeps talking with Damon. "If ya do plan fer gettin' shot, it just means yer better prepared when it happens."

He pulls on his goggles, then bends down to retrieve the stick welder and fires it up.

"I said you must be eager to finish up here and you started getting all defensive about who's gettin' spaced. Yer not thinking of just sitting around in a' hopes that I'm the first tossed off, are ya? I got 30 minutes work left. You could cut it down ta 15 if you check the fuses and power supplies in those explosives." Jayne indicates their location with a swing of his head. Two large duffle bags sit against a stack of crates chained to the hull.

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Friday, October 15, 2004 9:39 AM

LOCATION - FRONT HALL
As ...

Mal stomps up the hall, burning out a minute bit of his frustration physically. Feeling much better that he got some truth out of one of the new folks, he grins like a maniac.

MAL
...a little high pitched and playful...
"KAYWINNET LEE FRYE, you got some 'splainin' ta do!!!"

EOM

"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"

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Friday, October 15, 2004 10:37 AM

Damon's turn:
LOCATION - CARGO BAY

Quote:
Originally posted by Saint Jayne:
"I said you must be eager to finish up here and you started getting all defensive about who's gettin' spaced. Yer not thinking of just sitting around in a' hopes that I'm the first tossed off, are ya? I got 30 minutes work left. You could cut it down ta 15 if you check the fuses and power supplies in those explosives." Jayne indicates their location with a swing of his head. Two large duffle bags sit against a stack of crates chained to the hull.

Damon looks at the bag Jayne indicated to. Explosives? They sure go all out don't they? He walks over to it and kneels down to open the bag. Explosives aren't something he's had a whole lot of experience in- his owners would've had to be daft to let him anywhere near an explosive- but he knows fuses and power supplies so it shouldn't be a problem. He pulls one out carefully, and inspects it. He recognizes the types of wires- all seem to be in place- the fuse also gets inspected and checks out, along with the power supplies. He sets it down and pulls out the next.

"What are these for anyway? Looks to me like you guys have enough weapons and fireworks to start a war."

OOC: SJ, I don't know where you are, but I've been on AIM almost the entire morning

I'm not broken, in my dream I win...

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Friday, October 15, 2004 10:38 AM

INARAESQUE

Inara's Move

LOCATION - INFIRMARY

"IGNORING THINGS WON'T MAKE THEM GO AWAY!" River glares after Mal, her words probably intended for him, for his ignoring her, but Inara can't help but think that is good advice in general. And certainly in keeping with the way her thoughts have been wandering since Thorne stepped in to help her out. River gives Inara a frustrated look. "It's past his bed time."

"You know how cranky the Captain can be," Inara offers another soothing smile to River, even as a familiar presence arrives. She doesn't need to look to know it's Thorne, but she turns to smile at him anyway, offering her hand as he approaches to talk to River.

"Hello, little sister. You seem to be having a bad night. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Inara smiles to herself, allowing Thorne's presense to calm the ruffled feathers Mal left in his wake.

EOM

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Friday, October 15, 2004 10:51 AM

River
LOCATION - INFIRMARY

River smiles when she sees Thorne enter.

THORNE: "Hello, little sister. You seem to be having a bad night. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yes." She beams and gets off of the med bed. Before either of them can say more, she glides past them and skips to her room. Half a minute later, she returns to the common room and sits down on the floor with her box of jacks. She smiles up at Thorne. "Kaylee taught me." She opens the box and looks up at Thorne expectantly.

I'm not broken, in my dream I win...

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Friday, October 15, 2004 11:36 AM

JAYNE - CARGO BAY

Jayne continues his welding with his back to Damon, shielding him from the flare of the torch. He hears Damon ask, "What are these for anyway? Looks to me like you guys have enough weapons and fireworks to start a war."

"Had these for near a half year. Plenny of opportunity to use 'em too, but Shepherd never wanted me to. Good Lord's got enough work without me sendin' up any more than I gotta."

Jayne falls silent for a moment and picks up another bar from the deck.

OOC: Squee, I can't AIM from work! I'll see you in the evening, or on the weekend.

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Friday, October 15, 2004 2:07 PM

Damon's turn:
LOCATION - CARGO BAY

JAYNE: "Had these for near a half year. Plenny of opportunity to use 'em too, but Shepherd never wanted me to. Good Lord's got enough work without me sendin' up any more than I gotta."

Damon glances up at Jayne, clearly having different notions on that topic but he decides not to say anything. If there is a God and He's good to other folks, that's their business. Damon pulls another explosive out of the bag and begins its inspection.

I'm not broken, in my dream I win...

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Friday, October 15, 2004 6:56 PM

MERCEDESTROY

KAYLEEs move

LOCATION - BRIDGE

They share a touch and a glance, two women who are momentarily in sync with each other. In some ways they are alike, but then in some ways, all women are.

She is happy that Rowan understands why she elected to retain the Solo Systems package. Speed should never be an option over functionality, and that package is NOTHING if it is not functional. It is not fast, and it is not pretty, but it sure works.

As ROWAN leans back to gaze calmly out the window, KAYLEE turns to smile fondly at WASH, and his delusions of ownership. But as often is the case his attention if not nailed to the ships control, has transferred to ZOË. Their bond is something KAYLEE can only envy.

With the last of her tools gathered up and nothing more required of her on the bridge, Kaylee glances around one more time to make sure everything is as ship-shape as she can make it. Seeing nothing amiss she turns to ROWAN once again.

KAYLEE
“Rowan, you get the least little red light from that diagnostic, you give me a holler pronto. I’ll come runnin’. But I got a couple other irons in the fire, before I can relax tonight so I’d best get to it. I got all night to work, ‘cause I can sleep tomorrow - not much for me to do once it hot’s up, except keep an eye on the gauges.” ~and no matter what our fearless leader wants, I’m not much for a partying mood just now.~

She hauls up the clanking toolbox and moves down the stairs towards the cargo bay. From what the Captain says, first step is to fetch up some party supplies and get them to the Shepherd. At the foot of the stairs, she sets down the toolbox and turns towards her special storage. She been putting odd supplies in that little bit of space ever since she’s been aboard, and mighty useful it’s been too. There are a couple casks of inter-engine hooch right now and one is darned near 2 months old – ancient for this kind of potable. Yeah, tonight she’s gonna break out the good stuff. She was lucky to score some empty aluminum faced wooden casks a while back, from an enterprising thief what had no clue the worth of what he was sitting on. One o’ them was making it’s maiden voyage tonight; she’ll explain how to tap it correctly to Book when she hands it over.

On her hands and knees, rolling out the dusty mini-barrel, she remembers her second thought, and her second stash. They had a couple lucky hauls in a row and were temporarily heavy in the pocket when she made this find. Real chocolate bars, not that nasty, Blue-Sun choc-o-synth nastiness. She fingers the box thoughtfully. Even if she claims her own share, there is enough in here to give half a bar to everyone on board. ~Yeah,~ she thinks, ~send this along too. Make a real treat.~ She adds the box to the burden she is pushing out of the space.

Once she is outside and the door closed and concealed once again, she pushes the barrel and the box under the stairs out of the way and picks up her tools once again. ~I’ll just put this away, and come back for the rest; find the Shepherd then.~

She heads for the engine room.

EOM

Sometimes, chocolate is the only comfort ...

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Saturday, October 16, 2004 5:12 AM

Keep the Shiny side up

THORNE's Move

Location: Sick bay

...(RIVER) returns to the common room and sits down on the floor with her box of jacks. She smiles up at Thorne. "Kaylee taught me." She opens the box and looks up at Thorne expectantly.

THORNE looks at the jacks. He looks at RIVER's imploring eyes. He looks at INARA; desirable as ever, even when she's trying hard not to grin. He looks at RIVER again, throws back his head and laughs a full guffaw at the absurdity of it all. Returning INARA's now full-blown smirk, he bows to her and speaks.

THORNE: "Demoiselle Sera, It appears that I am called away from our engagement by pressing matters involving tactics and complex game theory. Be assured that I have noted the progress of our collaboration so far, and that upon resumption of our meeting I will be ready to resume it at the point which we have already achieved."

Bowing again, he turns and sits crosslegged on the floor facing RIVER.

THORNE:[to RIVER] "All right, little one, let's play. But go easy on me; I'm way out of practice. And one more thing. No moving the jacks with your mind."

EOM

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Saturday, October 16, 2004 9:08 AM

i DO aim to misbehave

Rowan's Move
LOCATION: BRIDGE

KAYLEE: “Rowan, you get the least little red light from that diagnostic, you give me a holler pronto. I’ll come runnin’. But I got a couple other irons in the fire, before I can relax tonight so I’d best get to it. I got all night to work, ‘cause I can sleep tomorrow - not much for me to do once it hot’s up, except keep an eye on the gauges.”

ROWAN: "I heard that. Shame there isn't more engaging pursuits on a ship this small."

Rowan looks over to give the girl a wink, only to find Kaylee is already on her way out the hatch, toolbox in hand.

Hearing Kaylee's footsteps fade, she hears another set from somewhere farther off, confirming the pricking of the tiny hairs on her neck. Leaning forward a bit, she realizes it's coming from the Galley and relaxes as those pesky hairs smooth down and turns back to the forward window. It's probably just a crew member in search of leftovers. Hearing the sound of a hatch closing draws her attention back from the star field again just as she hears Reynolds' voice.

MAL: "Dog it."

Turning in time to see Reynolds close the hatch leading into the galley, Rowan frowns. Seems an odd thing to do. Common area hatches on cargo ships generally stayed open unless there was some manner of emergency. Since there obviously hasn't been one, that would imply the captain was up to something. Something he'd rather the rest of the crew didn't take part in.

Instincts on overload, Rowan looks down at her screen again. She touches the area marked GALLEY on Serenity's schematic, pulling that area up in a three-view close-up. A list on the side outlines the systems available in the Galley area and she touches the one marked COMM.

SERENITY (a smooth female voice in Rowan's earpiece): Unable to comply. That system is secured.

ROWAN (inwardly as she lifts an eyebrow): Secured, is it? We'll see about that.

Pulling a platinum stylus from the bottom frame of the sourcepad, she lets her mind fall into a familiar arena that blends logic and creativity. Pulling up Serenity's main comm system first, she locates the common areas branch and follows it. The branch leads her past all the crew quarters first before reaching the Galley. Once there, she finds the code for the security setting and nimbly rewrites it, reversing the quantifiers.

SERENITY (in Rowan's earpiece): Galley comm security deactivated.

Rowan smiles slowly, seeing on her screen that despite Serenity's very helpful notification, anyone actually looking at the comm. panel would see the red light, indicating the security feature was engaged. It's all she can do not to let loose a maniacal little chuckle.

SERENITY (in Rowan's earpiece): Secondary anomalous magnetic signal re-engaged."

Rowan frowns at her screen, seeing that there is indeed a secondary signal, independent from Serenity's main comm frequency. Tapping that area on the schematic, she is able to bring up the statistics. Serenity has been monitoring the signal subversively according to a set of parameters that has no author name attached to them. It looks like she's been doing it for awhile too - six months or better. Unfortunately, since it's an independent system, Serenity has no way of recording what that signal is for.

ROWAN (inwardly): Maybe the captain has his own little monitoring system? Odd... Reynolds doesn't seem the type.

Following a hunch, she sets the sourcepad to hold onto that secondary signal, minimizes the galley and brings up the captain's quarters. That little venture is quickly finished once she sees that Reynolds has only the usual set up for a crew quarters comm. Meaning he can call the bridge, end of story. As there are no secondary signals in his quarters - or any of the others - she returns to the original site.

Time for some more in-depth research. Just like the good old days.

EOM

Fans come and fans go...but zealots are with you until the bitter black end.
I draw...therefore I am.
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922

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Saturday, October 16, 2004 10:28 AM

DECOY

Wash's Move:
Location - On the Bridge, looking over at Rowan's console

Wash (To Rowan, who is buisily scribbling on a small computer pad over the gunnery console): "Whatcha' doing? Looks to me like you're hacking into the comm system... I know what it looks like, because on my last ship, the captain nearly spaced the cook for trying to eaves-drop on one of the sleeping quarters, namely his. My brain is getting tired of this course plottin'... Can I help? Rex knows about as much as I do, and 4 hands are better than two."

As the Alliance turns, so do the days of our lives: 19:07AMT (7:07pm). We all really do live in a space opera.

Decoy, they make me go first.

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Saturday, October 16, 2004 11:12 AM

i DO aim to misbehave

OOC to DECOY: when you get here, pop on over to the OOC thread. I left you some notes.

Rowan's Move
LOCATION: BRIDGE

WASH: "Whatcha' doing? Looks to me like you're hacking into the comm system... I know what it looks like, because on my last ship, the captain nearly spaced the cook for trying to eaves-drop on one of the sleeping quarters, namely his. My brain is getting tired of this course plottin'... Can I help? Rex knows about as much as I do, and 4 hands are better than two."

FLASHBACK
"What are you doing?"

She smiled as she watched her screen. Robert was in a hallway with one of the security personnel, a particularly buff and beautiful raven-haired individual named Cordelia. Robert had been fascinated with the woman from the first, but Cordelia barely gave him a sidelong glance, so naturally he made it his singular mission to pursue her. Like a flame to the moth.

"Robert's trying to chat up Cordelia," she said.

Feeling him behind her, she waited while he studied the screen. "Where are they?"

"Two floors up, outside corridor by the lifts," she said, as casually as she could. She looked up to see his eyebrows raised and his little smile.

"You got it to work," he said.

She nodded, and watched his smile grow until he bent his head and rewarded her with a warm kiss of triumph.

END FLASHBACK

Rowan has to stop scribbling on-screen and wait for the twinge to pass, pushing aside the sight of the beautiful smile she still unconditionally adores. She can't think about that now. There's no time for it anymore.

She smiles slowly and twirls the stylus in the fingers of her right hand as she glances up at Wash. She should have known he would be monitoring things on his end. Turns out the flyboy in the flashy shirt has more going on upstairs than she thought. Then again, her thinking is if Reynolds wanted the entire crew to know what he was up to, he wouldn't be closing doors and keeping folks out.

ROWAN: "Much as I appreciate the offer--and the warning--I'm just doing a little tweaking on the comms, see if I can eliminate some of the tinniness."

For good measure, she also pulls up the Cortex access and logs in.

ROWAN: "Checking my Cor-Mail too, as it happens, see if the UBA sent my packet yet."

At least then if he decides to come look over her shoulder, she'll have proof. Spyhopper is already connecting with the wireless operating system on the sourcepad even as she speaks. If she had been in the private sector when it was developed, one of two possibilities could have happened; either she would have won a government contract, or been hauled in and questioned by the Feds for subversive cortex activities. As it was, when the Independent Council learned she had developed the ability to tap into independent video and audio systems, she did get a bonus in the form of a week's leave that she had never been able to take advantage of. The true shame of it was that Spyhopper was finished too late to be of any use to the Independent cause.

SPYHOPPER (a male Asian-accented voice in Rowan's earpiece): "System activated."

Rowan twitches involuntarily and quickly taps the audio to off. She had forgotten that she used Xiang's voiceprint for the audio interface. He hated it, of course, but she found it utterly delightful. Or had, once.

She sets Spyhopper into pursuit mode, and it zeroes in on the magnetic signal almost immediately. Only it isn't in the galley--the signal it found was in the bridge.

Frowning, Rowan asks it to paint locations of all the signals it can find on the overall schematic. Ten seconds later, she doesn't feel her eyebrows lift together of their own accord as Spyhopper gives her a comprehensive map of networked signals, positioned throughout the ship.

ROWAN (inwardly): Well now. This could be highly revealing.

EOM

Fans come and fans go...but zealots are with you until the bitter black end.
I draw...therefore I am.
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922

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Saturday, October 16, 2004 4:34 PM

RAVENWHYTEWING

Slights move:

Slight grips his head and drops to his knees, the handle clattering to the floor. Another memory rush. He gulps in air. The memories are so disjointed. . .but relevant. With a mental thought as natural as breathing, he triggers the RNA tapeworm learning systems.
These memory banks were stored inside his neck, near the DR. These were updated weekly, and had the latest in memory downloads of knowledge. Within minutes, nueral synapses are rearranged, and he has new memories. Hollow, but they teach him what is going on.
He is undergoing "memory cascades." IN times of near death, when the brain roars to life, it takes time to repair the memories kept inside. In a normal human being, it took weeks, if ever. With the nanyte swarm going full tilt, it would happen hourly, maybe less. But memories are often stored catagorically to the emotions tied into them. So whenever new emotions are sensed, these memories were "reinstated." All at once. Slight tries to understand, why these memories?

Slight watches the train come up on him. he has to jump at just the right time. . .

Slight can see the five zealots close in on him, all of them with eyes totally blacked out. . .he can feel their need to kill him. . .

He is standing at an alley. His target is moving past. He moves in behind him, the "sticky" unfolded, his gloves making sure the blood vessel rupturing device doesn't affect him. There may be one or two civilian deaths. Irrelevant. . .

Merz's face. Impassive, and hidden. . .such a mystery. . .

EOM

OOC: will add more soon

We can't all be heroes, since some of us have to sit at the curb and clap as they go by.

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Sunday, October 17, 2004 11:26 AM

JAYNE - CARGO BAY

The welder goes out and the goggles come off as Jayne begins to scrutinize his own work on the drop arm, starting with the far end that has already grown cold.

"How's it goin' over there?" Jayne shouts across to Damon. "I think after this I'll head on up to the galley and grab some vittles. Haven't eaten all..." Jayne pauses before he accidentally slips that he didn't eat the chicken dinner. "Hour." Not his smoothest recovery.

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Sunday, October 17, 2004 1:58 PM

Damon's turn:
LOCATION - CARGO BAY

"How's it goin' over there?" Jayne shouts across to Damon.

Damon gives the last explosive one last check before returning it to the bag. "They all look fine, shouldn't be any problems." He starts putting the rest of them back in the bag.

JAYNE: "I think after this I'll head on up to the galley and grab some vittles. Haven't eaten all... Hour."

Damon pauses to look up and give Jayne a calculative look. "You gonna say 'day'? Might be more accurate seeing as you spat your bite of food out into my cup and dropped the rest of it over there on the floor."
He watches Jayne, waiting for an answer. He has a feeling the whole incident had something to do with fact that Rowan cooked.

OOC: you didn't forget that Damon was present for both those events did you SJ?

or maybe you was hopin I'd forget

I'm not broken, in my dream I win...

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Sunday, October 17, 2004 5:12 PM

River
LOCATION - PASSENGER DORMS or COMMON AREA

THORNE:[to RIVER] "All right, little one, let's play. But go easy on me; I'm way out of practice. And one more thing. No moving the jacks with your mind."

River arches a brow at Thorne. "Telekinisis is beyond my capabilities, silly. I'm crazy, not a witch." She smiles at her inside joke and hands Thorne the little rubber ball.

"You first."

OOC: help! I have no idea how to play this game! you bounce a ball and grab jacks right???

EDIT: nevermind, Debs educated me

I'm not broken, in my dream I win...

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Monday, October 18, 2004 1:36 AM

Keep the Shiny side up

THORNEs Move

Location: Sickbay floor

"You first."

THORNE takes the ball from RIVER's hand, noting that it is carefully painted to resemble a planet seen from space. He holds it in his right hand, and with his left picks up the ten jacks, shakes them a couple of times in his closed fist, and scatters them across the floor. Since he is first, he gets to set the game, and chooses the simplest. He moves the ball back to his left hand, lofts it into the air, picks up one jack, and catches the ball. he repeats this until he has completed "onesies" and all the jacks are in his left hand with the ball. Scattering them again, he begins "twosies", picking up two at a time.

As he plays he begins to talk, his eyes more on RIVER than on the game.

THORNE: "I haven't played this game in more than 40 years. Hope I can remember what to do. Yes; it seems to be coming back to me. After I got interested in the army, at around seven, I kept stealing the jacks to use as chevaux-de-frise in my sandbox battles, and my sibs finally hid them away from me. Guess I was the troublesome brother."

At the words 'troublesome brother', THORNE pauses, as though awaiting a reaction.

EOM

OOC: How to play jacks. http://www.ehow.com/how_2964_play-jacks.html

chevaux-de-frise = A defense consisting of a timber covered with projecting spikes.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Monday, October 18, 2004 5:14 AM

JAYNE - CARGO BAY

"I'm touched you care so much 'bout my diet, but I did eat a couple hours back, an' now I'm gonna do it again."

Jayne turns and heads for the stairs after dropping his gloves next to the goggles on the floor. He's never too eager for conversation to get personal, especially when he's trying to be discrete. This Damon was blabbing everything, right here out in the open! He seemed so quiet to begin with.

At least Jayne can be pretty certain Damon isn't one of Rowan's cronies. Those two are absolute black and white when it comes to tact.

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Monday, October 18, 2004 7:15 AM

MANIACNUMBERONE

Book's Move
Location: Infirmary

Book leans back against the counter and watches River and Thorne begin to play. The smile on Thorne's face is so easy now, telling volumes about his state of mind. Such a contrast.

Quote:
FLASHBACK - The Thorne Family Farm - Walking slowly through the still war-blasted landscape, Book sees himself approach Thorne's Farm. Watches the Man grieving for his loss. Feels his own loss well up within him. Book steps back from his flashback in an interesting way, becoming a third person in the scene, moving independent of his memory. Moving forward in time.

THORNE:"Shepherd, it may be Providence that you came along. It's not in my creed, and I don't believe it's in yours, but I'd like you to hear my confession.

Book feels the need in Thorne's voice.
"I will." he sees himself say.

Book watches himself listen to Thorne's part in the Battle for Serenity Valley, and himself responding in the wrong way. A moment he couldn't forget, as Thorne helps him retrieve his windblown Bible pages and then throws him to the ground, hallucinating. The look of intense madness and utter disbelief curling around the corners of his eyes. Just as quickly, the look is gone.

THORNE:"My Lord, Padre, I don't know what came over me. This place just makes me so sad and angry at the same time. I swear I didn't know it was going to come out like that. You have no call to, but please forgive me. I'm not usually a crazy man...when I'm away from here." END FLASHBACK

Thorne's eyes crinkle in delight as he snatches up foursies and laughs aloud. Book lowers his head and with difficulty supresses a bodily shake.

EM

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Monday, October 18, 2004 3:15 PM

MERCEDESTROY

Blended post, DAMON and KAYLEE

LOCATION - CARGO BAYAs ...

Damon zips the bag of explosives closed, leaving Jayne to do whatever it is he's doing. The guy seems pretty weird sometimes. He stands up and spots Kaylee closing her locker. Now's as good a time as any to ask her about the cords. "Kaylee, is this what you had in mind?" He motions toward the two braids of bungee cord. "Merz and I just finished."

Kaylee sets down her toolbox again, to inspect the hanging cords. "Well will you look at that. Just what I had in mind. That's pretty good. Now all we need is some cable ties to make one piece out of it, and tie up the ends. I got some o' those around."

"Well, I don't know when Capn will be done so I got time to start tying them for you if you want."

She sets the toolbox down on the floor and rummages through it once again. Coming up with a package of long cable ties she hands a couple to Damon and then places one around the end of the combined cords nearest her. Damon watches closely and then goes down to the other end and repeats the prcess. Then they start towards each other and place a couple more in the middle, making a single strand out of the double.

"There, that otta hold it for as short a time as we are going to need it. She grins at Damon.

Damon nods and motions to her box of tools and the items she pulled out of the locker. "What you workin’ on now?"

That's party supplies. Our captain has passed the word that tonight's gonna be a night off. He has made a request and I'm happy to be able to fulfill it for him. Fresh inter-engine squeezin's for the festivities. And a little sumpthin' extra from me. You feel like a little party?

Damon smiles and lets out a chuckle. "A party huh?" He looks past her at the keg and cardboard box. Isn't that the box with the chocolate in it? Looking at the keg, he can tell there won't be enough to really do him any good, not once it's been split with everyone. And even if there was enough, he knows it wouldn't be a good idea. But a glass or two can't hurt... "Yeah, I could go for that. How strong is that stuff?"

"Hard to say, no two batches ever seem to match. But don't let it fool you, that ain't beer, that's hooch. I acquired some shot glasses for that stuff, ya don't dare put it in a water glass, lest you forget what you're drinkin'". She grins again and punches him lightly on the shoulder "I reckon it will do what you need."

Damon jumps back half a step at the unexpected punch- if you could call it one. He quickly calms himself down and nods. "I'm sure it'll do fine." He motions toward the stairs. "I better go... Mal wants to talk to me, at least I think he does."

She is startled when Damon jumps back at her touch. She didn't think she hit him that hard. If MAL wants to see you, then probably best not to keep him waiting..

On the heels of that speech a yell echos through the cargo bay.
MAL
KAYWINNET LEE FRYE, you got some 'splainin' ta do!!!" Well, he did not sound mad really, but after what she just told Damon, better get on up there and find out what was up.

EOM

If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress

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Monday, October 18, 2004 4:22 PM

MERCEDESTROY

MERZ move

LOCATION – TRAVELING: GALLEY TO CATWALKS

He confuses her. How can he shift from one emotion to another like this? How can he keep track, keep any control?

MAL
“OOOK, I’ll ask her. You, you go finish up and tell the others to git done with what they’re doin’ and … relax or somethin’. he smiles at her, “OR, I’ll hav’ta take anybody not havin’ fun fer a ‘Spin’.”
His face falls into a more somber expression. “Book is suppoz’d to tell Kaylee to ‘open the cabinet’, if ya see her ‘fore he does, let her know I said so. Gonna be quite a day tomorrow. Dismissed.”

Mal hops off the table and begins to move towards the fore hatch. Taking her cue from him, MERZ pivots and returned to the aft hatch to undog it as well.

MAL
“Oh yeah, tell Damon to come to my ‘office’ when he is finished up.” When she turns to look at him as he speaks, he is looking back at her over his shoulder. One eye twitches. Possibly in that civilian gesture she has heard called a ‘wink’. There is significance to that. She just does not know what it is …

~… talk to KAYLEE if Kaylee has not spoken to Book. pass a message to Damon. i still need to hunt up ROWAN and pass on the test results. finish rigging the conex, which means finding a structurally integral point to anchor the cord to. Kaylee would know…~ Merz exits the common area blindly following the hallway in front of her, going she is not sure where.

Deciding to look ROWAN up first, MERZ pauses, closes her eyes and concentrates. Serenity is a relatively small, enclosed space. She might be able to locate ROWAN from here. MERZ is just outside the aft hatch for the common room, in the back hallway towards the engine. She can hear fragments of conversation from several areas, and the usual assortment of smells. But whatever she is doing and wherever she is, Rowan is not speaking right now. Or Merz is losing her touch. A possibility.

She drifts slowly down onto the catwalk, across under the common room. There had been conversation from that direction, and she did not want company right now. By the time she is halfway through the cargo area she decides 75% probability ROWAN is on the bridge and slowly moves in that direction. MAL is in the front hall, in earnest conversation with Kaylee, MERZ hangs back, not wanting to come under his scrutiny just yet again. She stands on the catwalk, running over puzzling events of the day.

EOM

If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress

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Monday, October 18, 2004 7:32 PM

JAYNE - CARGO BAY to FORE HALL

Jayne decides to leave the tools right where they are for the time being. Before he flashes his manly chest to any more of the passengers, he decides a shirt is the first order of business. Jayne tromps up the stairs to his quarters.

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Tuesday, October 19, 2004 3:16 AM

i DO aim to misbehave

Rowan's Move
LOCATION: BRIDGE

Rowan sends Spyhopper back to the anomalous signal in the Galley and starts the piggyback. In less than five seconds, she has not only audio, but video of the goings on inside the galley.

MAL: "Now, just what do you need from me?"

Reynolds has himself parked on the table, hands folded under his arms, eyes focused on a point just inside the aft hatch. Seeing a pair of booted feet just inside the frame, Rowan uses the stylus on the on-screen toggle controls, redirecting the video to see who he's talking to. Then she sees Merz standing at stiff attention and feels a chill go up her spine.

ROWAN (inwardly): Lashi - what the hell does he want with her?

Closing in on Merz's coldly composed features, Rowan sees a flicker in her eyes that surprises her. TROYs were trained from birth how to hide their emotions. She shouldn't have allowed any inward thought process to show, and just that little break in protocol indicated the height of her emotional state.

And if at any point she were to feel personally threatened, would Merz reach on over and snap Reynolds' neck like a twig?

MERZ: "I cannot answer that question, sir. I do not know."

On another impulse, Rowan calls up Spyhopper's recording feature and proceeds to get the rest of their conversation. At one point, after Reynolds asks about whether Merz might pose a danger to Serenity or the crew, Rowan closes in on Merz face again in time to see what looks like an internal conflict. Almost as if she's hearing contradicting voices in her head, each warring with the other. Did TROYs have the capacity to communicate among themselves through internal transmitters?

Or worse, was detachment from her structured environment causing some manner of fragmentation?

And now Reynolds is calling her on the carpet for something. What had he witnessed that caused him to orchestrate a confrontation with a TROY?

After a prolonged moment of silence, Reynolds lets his hands fall to his sides. He rests his palms down on the edge of the table, visibly more at ease than before. He seems willing to accept Merz's determination that accidents could occur - she is stronger than all of them combined, with more finely honed reflexes and instincts set to more or less break bones first and ask questions later. He seems satisfied, however, that she is not about to cause harm deliberately. What surprises Rowan is how easily he's able to relax about it. In her experience, former Browncoats weren't generally that calm about anything.

MAL: "Just what were you doin' with those bungee cords?"

Rowan smiles. He's got an awfully adorable scowl. So does Merz, although she's likely not aware of it. Realizing she's gone from surveillance to voyeurism - reminded of how Cordelia basically started ravaging Robert before the system could deactivate - Rowan begins disengaging Spyhopper from active surveillance. She creates a static copy of the map of what she now figures are microcams for future reference.

Now that the more private part of the Galley encounter is over and done, Rowan lifts her gaze to see Wash watching her - or trying not to look like he is - out of the corners of his eyes. From down the hall, she hears the sounds of the hatches being reopened.

ROWAN: Say, Wash? Serenity's just mentioned detection of an anomolous magnetic signal. What do you make of that?

MAL: "Kaywinnet Lee Frye, you got some splainin' to do!!!"

EOM

Fans come and fans go...but zealots are with you until the bitter black end.
I draw...therefore I am.
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922

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Tuesday, October 19, 2004 7:38 AM

River
LOCATION- COMMOM AREA

THORNE: "I haven't played this game in more than 40 years. Hope I can remember what to do. Yes; it seems to be coming back to me. After I got interested in the army, at around seven, I kept stealing the jacks to use as chevaux-de-frise in my sandbox battles, and my sibs finally hid them away from me. Guess I was the troublesome brother."

River watches Thorne's hand as he continues snatching jacks from the floor.

"Simon was never troublesome. I had to convince him that it was okay to sneak into the neighbor's yard to get our balls back."

She looks up at Book and smiles sadly. "Now he's running around the verse getting into all kinds of trouble."

I'm not broken, in my dream I win...

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Tuesday, October 19, 2004 7:45 AM

MANIACNUMBERONE

Malachi's Move
Location: Unchanged

Peering through the mechanical eyes of the msr, Malachi considers his options. The remote video feed had shown him opposition at first, but now... Why is he kneeling on the floor? Is he trying to feign injury, or is he really injured? Who injured him and why? Putting his hands behind his head, Malachi stretches quickly, then swivels around in his chair to reassure himself of what he knew he would see on the monitoring device attuned to Book's card. It's still on that ship.

His decision made, he rises and goes to the msr port control. He deploys another, and manuevers it a few hundred meters off the port bow of the other ship. Turning his attention back to the first msr, he engages the auto-destruct on the miniature robot and watches with satisfaction as the window it was attached to explodes silently out into space. He waits a few seconds then sends in the second msr to investigate.

Assuming the death of the fool onboard the other ship, Malachi reaches up to a shelf above his head and pulls down his helmet and gloves. Attaching them to the black spacesuit he preferred when on a mission, he starts the life support function built into the suit and turns back to his monitor to inspect the damage caused by the first msr before proceeding.

EM

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Tuesday, October 19, 2004 7:55 AM

Damon's turn:
LOCATION- FOLLOWING KAYLEE

Damon watches as Kaylee turns toward the stairs, bringing her box of tools with her. Not knowing what else to do, he decides to follow her and find out if Mal still wants to talk to him or if the matter has (hopefully) been dropped or forgotten about. Suddenly remembering that Mal probably has his gun now, he mutters a silent curse. He'll have to talk to him sooner or later if he wants the gun back. All the more reason to get it over with.

I'm not broken, in my dream I win...

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Tuesday, October 19, 2004 8:25 AM

INARAESQUE

Inara's Move

LOCATION - COMMON AREA

THORNE: "Demoiselle Sera, It appears that I am called away from our engagement by pressing matters involving tactics and complex game theory. Be assured that I have noted the progress of our collaboration so far, and that upon resumption of our meeting I will be ready to resume it at the point which we have already achieved."

She nodded, smiling coquettishly at her friend and client. "Well, if it is a pressing matter of tactics and complex game theory, how could I possibly object?"

Inara smiles to herself as she watches River convince Thorne to play a game with her -- she's more than content to postpone their continued arrangement to get to see River smile. Her heart aches a little for the girl, for how lost she is without Simon, and, once again, Inara offers a silent prayer that the doctor will be safe when they find him. There's not a doubt in her mind that they will find him. There's no way that Mal would --

She's not going to think about Mal right now.

THORNE: "I haven't played this game in more than 40 years. Hope I can remember what to do. Yes; it seems to be coming back to me. After I got interested in the army, at around seven, I kept stealing the jacks to use as chevaux-de-frise in my sandbox battles, and my sibs finally hid them away from me. Guess I was the troublesome brother."

RIVER: "Simon was never troublesome. I had to convince him that it was okay to sneak into the neighbor's yard to get our balls back. Now he's running around the verse getting into all kinds of trouble."

Inara isn't shocked at either of those statements -- that Roosevelt had been a 'troublesome' child, and that Simon absolutely hadn't. The sadness, however, in River and her smile is painful to see, though. She crosses to stand behind the girl and gently strokes her hair.

"We will find him, mei-mei," she murmurs reassuringly.

EOM

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Tuesday, October 19, 2004 10:51 AM

RAVENWHYTEWING

Blue Sun Headquarters, Londinium.

Davis walks into the conferance room. All around him are the twenty-two Powers of the Blue Sun, seated randomly about the table. This is going to be unpleasant.

Eleventh Power Michelob rises ponderously. He is a large, doughy sort of man, with the darkest of skin. He surveys the room, waiting until the very second until Davis takes his seat.
"What has happened to First Power Helsing?"
Davis sighes. "He suffered from cerebral shattering. Preservation treatments, as some of you are aware, work by by hardening the parts of the body that are generally immobile, or move in the most basic of ways. This allows a failing body to focus its own regenerative capabilities on the more active functions, such as breathing or pumping blood through the brain. This can, however, make muscles, bones and particularly veins brittle, and easy to shatter. In a protected arena such as the Headquarters, such activity is easily avoided, unless blood pressure rises too high. At least, that is what I'm told. A full medical explaination is in your Cortex accounts."
The Fourth Power rises, waiting for Michelob to take his seat. Amongst civilians, he is CEO Robert LeBlanc of the Blue Sun Corporation. This man resembles a bug of some kind, with spindly arms but a thick body. His voice is smooth, if a bit thin.
"What of the Corporation?" he hisses, full of concern, Davis thinks dryly, for the Sun and what it benefitted from the Corporation.
Davis slits his eyes. "The Corporation still gives us an extreme monopoly over the Core, as well as a vested competitional strength over the more successful colonies on the border planets. We own seventy-nine point twenty-two percent of the economy here, Fourth Power. In fact, investment has gone up, no doubt helped along by the stories of the Reavers making their way further into the border planets." It was true. The military received most of its weaponry and supplies from the Blue Sun; as a result, they received an obscene amount of support from the civilian quarter. Davis turns to the Seventh Power. "And what of the recovery of Brink Helsing?" He strains to keep control of his. . .excitement? No. Desperation.
The beetle sits down. The third man rises, his well-built frame graceful, as his gravelly voice makes its report.
"The location of his body seems to be changing. The Alliance showed an ounce of intelligence, and reportedly did not destroy the observation craft. They negated such intelligence, however, by not reporting its precise whereabouts, nor its course."
"I see. Our final piece of pressing business. As you all are aware, we have received a promotion due to the unfortunate death of the Father of the Blue Sun, may he dream forever. This leaves an empty space among the powers. To dispell any secret desires to further your own, however benificial to the Sun they may be, I am placing the Nemesis-class operative Bolo as a reward for his completion of his ritual."
The Seventh hasn't sat down yet. Davis turns his head slowly. "Yes?"
"First Power Davis, Bolo reported himself near the last known location of Brink Helsing. Perhaps he may make a slight detour to investigate?"
Davis nods. "Excellent. Wave him immediately."

EOM

We can't all be heroes, since some of us have to sit at the curb and clap as they go by.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 4:34 PM

JAYNE - FORE HALL

There she is again, the source of all Jayne's current confusion. He'd managed to forget about her for a while. What was she doing up there in the bridge? Jayne procedes slowly so he can snatch a bit of their conversation without looking like he's listening in.

One hand comes up to engulf his face, and whips backwards over his head, sending a spray of sweat behind him.

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Thursday, October 21, 2004 10:27 AM

RAVENWHYTEWING

Slights move:

Slight gasps for air, as he tries to assimilate the memories flooding his mind. He tries to focus. Threat. There is a threat nearby.
Brink Helsing focuses.

We can't all be heroes, since some of us have to sit at the curb and clap as they go by.

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Thursday, October 21, 2004 2:28 PM

DECOY

Wash's Move
Location - Bridge

ROWAN: "Say, Wash? Serenity's just mentioned detection of an anomolous magnetic signal. What do you make of that?"

Wash (Standing up, and stepping over to Rowan, and looking down at her): "That's odd... I've never seen a reading like that before... I suppose we'd best call the Captain and Kaylee and tell them... No, wait... (Wash leans over, close to Rowan, and continuing in a wisper) Maybe that could be a spy thingie? Hooked into the intercom system? Can you shut it off the bridge, if there is one here? (Turning away from Rowan, speaking normaly) That's my collection of antique cool-storage magnets, or it could be just a glitch in the sensors, don't worry about it, I'll find the time to fix it, one day."

Wash goes back and sits heavily back into the helm chair... wispers to himself: "Inevitable betrayal...Early". (He types a message to the gunnery console: Can you shut it off the bridge? We had a Bounty Hunter here a while back, he broke into Serenity, and tried to take someone. He must have left it here. We need to warn the Captain, before he says something wrong, or worse.)

EOM

The time is= 19:09AMT (7:09pm) Does that seem right to you?

Decoy, they make me go first.

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Thursday, October 21, 2004 4:16 PM

i DO aim to misbehave

Rowan's Move
LOCATION: BRIDGE

WASH (Text Message to Gunner Station): Can you shut it off the bridge? We had a Bounty Hunter here a while back, he broke into Serenity, and tried to take someone. He must have left it here. We need to warn the Captain, before he says something wrong, or worse.

Receiving the message from the gunnery console, Rowan looks up from the sourcepad, catches his eye and turns a slight toss of her hair into a discrete nod. Then she starts scribbling a return message.

ROWAN (text message to Helm): You folks get some interesting visitors on this little ship, don't you? First the wizened little maniac, then a bounty hunter?

Sending the message, she repositions her feet and pulls up the map from Spyhopper. Accessing the bridge cam, she works her way quickly back into the secondary system and performs a similar code rewrite that she worked out on the Galley comm., only this time in reverse. The microcam would show as active, but would only show about thirty minutes of looped video. With any luck, whoever "No Name Author" was, they would think the microcam was just malfunctioning and not intentionally tampered with.

ROWAN (text message to helm): It's reset. I worked it so whoever put these in could think it's behaving badly. I can monitor it, see if someone taps in and tries to fix it. I may even be able to trace it back. I've got a map of all the others too. Might interest you to know, there aren't any in the crew quarters.

Looking up again, she lifts a significant eyebrow.

ROWAN (text message to helm): I can only imagine Zoe's reaction if she were to find out there were some possibility your private activities were being recorded for posterity.

Hearing footsteps again, she leans ahead and sees Jayne trying to be inconspicuous out in the hallway. Shirtless and sweaty, she notes the broad shoulders, and can just see a light dusting of hair on a fine set of pectorals. The smell of him drifts up into the bridge.

FLASHBACK

He came straight in from the workout, sweaty and flushed, and in a rush. "I am going to be late for the meeting with the Councilor."

"Meeting's not for an hour and a half," she said looking over, as he pulled the tunic over his head and watched the play of muscle along his back.

"On the other side of the planet...practically," he mumbled and headed for the shower.

The hot water was running when she stepped in with him, wrapping her arms around him from behind. He stood still for a second, then turned to peer over his shoulder at her. "You are going to make sure I'm late, aren't you?"

She grinned at him. "With any luck - EXTREMELY late."

END FLASHBACK

Rowan closes her eyes and has to sit back in her chair. Not just pain this time, but a touch of aphasia too, not as severe as the black out on the steps, but pretty darn close. She has to work at it to come back, clear her vision with Wash probably looking on the entire time. So far she's managed pretty well without the "So, Rowan, what's your story," questions. Hopefully her luck is still holding.

ROWAN: "You know, I was just thinking about making bao for the little shindig the captain has planned. You wouldn't happen to know if Book stocks scallions in the Galley, would you?"

EOM

Fans come and fans go...but zealots are with you until the bitter black end.
I draw...therefore I am.
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922

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Friday, October 22, 2004 3:50 AM

DECOY

Wash's Move:
Location - Bridge

(Wash settles back into the helm, and suddenly looses the serious expression he has been wearing... He picks up Rex, and says in a stage wisper): "I think I need a hug" (as these messages pop onto his helm console screen):

ROWAN (text message to Helm): You folks get some interesting visitors on this little ship, don't you? First the wizened little maniac, then a bounty hunter?

ROWAN (text message to helm): It's reset. I worked it so whoever put these in could think it's behaving badly. I can monitor it, see if someone taps in and tries to fix it. I may even be able to trace it back. I've got a map of all the others too. Might interest you to know, there aren't any in the crew quarters.

ROWAN (text message to helm): I can only imagine Zoe's reaction if she were to find out there were some possibility your private activities were being recorded for posterity.

(He turns to Zoe, and as he puts down his dinosaur, he holds out an arm, and says): "Hug?"

(He turns to Rowan, and says): "I probabally don't wanna know how you discovered that, but right now we gotta warn the crew, and figure out what to do... can you jam the rest of them? Don't do it, let's just know what our options are, when the captain asks."

19:10 AMT (07:10 pm) Ok, this one is unadorned. I ment it to be this way... No additions to it at all.

Decoy, they make me go first.

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Friday, October 22, 2004 4:37 AM

i DO aim to misbehave

Rowan's Move
Location: Bridge

WASH: "I probably don't wanna know how you discovered that, but right now we gotta warn the crew, and figure out what to do... can you jam the rest of them? Don't do it, let's just know what our options are, when the captain asks."

Rowan smiles enigmatically. And if he knew what else she could do if she put her mind to it? According to the readings from Spyhopper, the microcam is incapacitated, leaving her feeling more confident about speaking aloud.

ROWAN: "Jamming them is easy, I can even fry them if it comes down to it. I'll admit, though, I'm a bit curious as to why someone would go to the trouble."

Thinking on it for a bit, taking into account the crew she's with, she decides she can through a little caution to the wind.

ROWAN: "This wouldn't have anything to do with River, by any chance?"

EOM

Fans come and fans go...but zealots are with you until the bitter black end.
I draw...therefore I am.
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922

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Friday, October 22, 2004 7:10 AM

Keep the Shiny side up

THORNE's Move

Location: The Jacks Game

RIVER: "Simon was never troublesome. I had to convince him that it was okay to sneak into the neighbor's yard to get our balls back. Now he's running around the 'verse getting into all kinds of trouble."

As THORNE searches for a reply...

INARA:"We will find him, mei-mei,"

...and there's the opening.

THORNE:"But to find him, we need to understand why he left, and why he's getting into so much trouble. Why would such a cautious man get so reckless all of a sudden? RIVER, did he seem himself the last time you saw him? Was there anything out of the ordinary about his actions or demeanor? Have you sensed anything strange since he left?

The ball and jacks lie forgotten on the floor as THORNE waits for an answer.

EOM

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Friday, October 22, 2004 8:08 AM

ASTRIANA

ZOE'S MOVE:
LOCATION - BRIDGE

WASH settles back into the helm, and suddenly looses the serious expression he has been wearing... He picks up Rex, and says in a stage whisper: "I think I need a hug" as ROWAN's messages pop onto his helm console screen.

He turns to ZOE, and as he puts down his dinosaur, he holds out an arm, and says: "Hug?"

ZOE leans forward into her husband's embrace, amused at WASH's evident delight with his new "toy", and wraps her arms around him. As they pull apart, she glances over WASH's shoulder and reads the messages she's seen flashing back and forth between him and ROWAN.

WASH turns to ROWAN: "I probably don't wanna know how you discovered that, but right now we gotta warn the crew, and figure out what to do... can you jam the rest of them? Don't do it, let's just know what our options are, when the captain asks."

{{OOC: Placeholder until I can get the rest of the post together...

}}

~Astriana~
~Mostly-Invisible Long-Winded Goddess of Inter-Board Communication and Diplomacy a/k/a El Jefe Magnifico's Mistress... of Communications and Harems~

...I'm still free,
You can't take the sky from me.

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Friday, October 22, 2004 12:45 PM

LOCATION - FORE HALL
As ...

After not getting an immediate response from Kaylee, Mal decides to drop down into his bunk and retreive Damon's weapon. Upon quickly climbing back up he spies Jayne, bare to the waist and shining from exertion, doing his own bit of spying of the folks on the bridge.

Barley ducking a spray of flicked sweat, Mal stealthy approches Jayne and smacks him on the back of the head, spraying a dense rain that patters softly on the deckplate of the stairs.

MAL
... overloud and tinged with humorous anger while waving Damon's pistol around...
"JAYNE - Wha'choo doin' stinkin' up my hall all half nekkid and sweatin' like a ruttin' bull?"

Mal then takes a disgusted sniff at his Jayne-juice drenched palm and flicks it away like he just picked up a dead skunk. This has the effect of spraying Jayne with his own 'essance'.

EOM

"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"

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Friday, October 22, 2004 4:38 PM