This is a fanfic. These characters aren't mine. They belong to either Fox, Mutant Enemy, or Joss Wheton, or all of the above. Don't sue me for copyright infringement.

“ADRIFT” Part One

Dramatis Personae

Captain Elsa Schroeder Pilot Malcolm Reynolds Jayne Cobb Kaylee Frye Wash Warren Zoe Warren Simon Tam

(sound of footsteps coming closer on a metal floor)

Captain Elsa Schroeder: (thick German accent): What the Hell are we slowing down for?

Pilot: We’ve been hailed. A crippled freighter is adrift and will enter Newhall’s atmo in less than 20 minutes. Looks like all they have is life support and communications.

Captain: It is not our problem. Let the authorities handle it.

Pilot: No authorities around, Captain. We’re too far out on the rim.

Captain: What about the planet’s…?

Pilot: The settlement’s too small and besides, it’s on the other side of the world. They wouldn’t make it in time.

(a moment of silent contemplation)

Captain: Did they hail us, or did they send out a general S.O.S.?

Pilot: General S.O.S. Why?

Captain: Ignore it. Don’t stop. Don’t answer the hail. Keep going.

Pilot: Captain?

Captain: You heard me. If they’re reavers, they’ll kill us. If they’re pirates, they’ll kill us and take the cargo, and if they just take the cargo and let us live, Niska will kill us. I’m not putting ourselves in that position. We cannot afford to make ourselves easy prey.

Pilot: We don’t even know if they are reavers or pirates. It’s an unarmed freighter. You can’t just let them die. (silence) You’re sentencing them to death, you know!

Captain: Better them than us. You have your orders.

*

Jayne: Kaylee? Move your gorramn head! I can’t see.

Kaylee: Go look out another window.

Jayne: I was here first, dong ma?

Kaylee: I don’t see you’re name on this window.

Jayne: Yeah, well I don’t see yours!

Mal: Both of you, quiet.

Jayne: But, Mal, She’s pushing me.

Kaylee: But Cap’n. He started…

Mal: SHUT UP!

Kaylee: (pouting) You’re so mean.

Mal: Well, I’ll be as kind as Claus if that boat would do us a favor and slow down and stop for a little old freighter that’s in a jam. Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng! (incredulously) It’s not stopping! You sent out a distress, right, Wash?

Wash: Yeah! I…yeah!

Mal: Why can’t anything ever go smooth? (sighs) All right, start her up. The chase is on. Send a message to both Inara and Book and let them know that the meeting time is changed.

Wash: Aye, Aye Capitan! (silence) I said, Aye, Aye Capitan! What the…? Tzao gao! Mal, If ambushing the mark is Plan A and starting Serenity and chasing down our mark is plan B, then what’s plan C?

Mal: Plan C is where you DON’T start Serenity. We drift into the atmosphere and plummet from the sky and to our deaths. I hope you don’t have a problem with plan B.

Wash: Well, the ship’s not responding.

Mal: Kaylee?

Jayne: She’s already gone to the engine room, Mal. What’s wrong?

Mal: What’s wrong?

Wash: No power.

Mal: No power.

(advancing footsteps)

Zoe: What’s wrong?

Mal, Wash and Jayne: No power.

Zoe: Tah-mah-duh hwun-dan!

Jayne: I hope that ruttin freak weren’t in here tearing up the place. By my word…

Mal: Jayne, stop. Wash, go see if you can help Kaylee find what’s wrong. I’ll hail the others and let them know that we have a peck of trouble. Shuttle one? This is Serenity. Do you copy? Shuttle one? Gorrammit, Inara, quit yer whorin’ and answer your ruttin’ hail! Shuttle one, do you copy? (silence) Shuttle Two? This is Serenity. Do you Copy?

Simon: (over the radio) Serenity, this is shuttle two. Mal is that you?

Mal: Simon, where are you?

Simon: (over the radio) River and I are at the Newhall settlement…River don’t touch that! Ah, waiting for Book to return. He’s in town getting the, um, “chuck” that you wanted.

Mal: I need you back here ma shong. We’re drifting toward atmo, and we can’t get Serenity’s engines started. How far away do you think you are?

Simon: (over the radio) I don’t know. An hour?

Mal: We’ll be dead in an hour. Have you heard from Inara?

Simon: (over the radio) No. She’s with a client, isn’t she?

Mal: Yeah. Standby. (soft click) Kaylee? How are we coming along?

Kaylee: (over the intercom) Cap’n. We can’t find what’s wrong. Everything looks o.k.

Mal: Well, Everything doesn’t look o.k. up here. Fact, things look a might un-ok. Keep looking for the problem. I’m working on something.

Kaylee: (over the intercom) Cap’n? BOTH shuttles are gone?

Mal: Don’t get worked up little Kaylee. We’ll be jest fine, over. (soft click) Zoe, I do believe we might die.

Zoe: That’s not comforting, Sir.

Jayne: What if we sealed off all the compartments and opened the cargo bay? We could shoot off like a balloon.

Mal: That won’t work. The air isn’t propelled out. It’s sucked out, so we wouldn’t go anywhere. We would be in the same predicament, only with half as much air. Hold on. (soft click) Simon?

Simon: (over the radio) Yeah, Mal.

(silence)

Mal: Round up Book and meet us at the coordinates I’m feeding your nav-system now. It will be the five of us in suits.

Zoe and Jayne together: WHAT?

Mal: The sooner you get here the better. Do you copy?

Simon: (over the radio with uncertainty) Yeah, I have the coordinates now. I’ll get Book. We’re on our way. Over. (soft click)

Mal: Kaylee? Round up Wash and meet us in the common room. Bring two suits.

Kaylee: (over the intercom) We just need a little more time is all, Cap’n.

Mal: We don’t have time. Even if you figure out what’s wrong, you may not be able to fix it before we start our free-fall. Meet us in the common room ma shong, dong ma?

Kaylee: (over the intercom) Yes, Capn.

Mal: We’re going to suit up, go outside, and kick off of Serenity away from the planet. When the shuttles come, we’ll hitch a ride.

Zoe: Sir, that is the lamest idea I’ve ever heard. If we kick off too hard and fly into space, we could be miles away before shuttle one or two arrives. You know there would be no way to communicate with the shuttles if they are more than a mile away, and if we don’t kick hard enough, we could enter the atmosphere in nothing but our suits.

Mal: Look, I don’t like the idea of abandoning the ship anymore than you do. LESS matter of factly speakin’. But what other options are there?

Zoe: We could…

(hollow metallic clanking noise)

Wash: (over the intercom) Mal, did you hear that?

Mal: Yeah, what was that?

Wash: (over the intercom) That was a magnetic grapple latching onto Serenity!

Jayne: REAVERS! Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou doh sai-jin wuh dhu pee-goo!

Zoe: We are far enough out on the rim for reavers, Sir.

Captain : (thick German accent over the radio) This is Captain Elsa Schroeder of the starship Bismark. Firefly class starship, we are attached to you with a magnetic grapple. We will now tow you away from the planet. If you resist, if you try anything funny, we will reverse the polarity and send you into the atmosphere. Do we have an understanding?

Mal: Captain Schroeder, this is Captain Malcolm Reynolds of Serenity. You will have our full cooperation. Over. (soft click) Zoe, do you believe this shee?

End of part one.