Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own any of these wonderful characters, or even the setting and world of Firefly. They all belong to Fox/Universal and Joss Whedon.
James Norrington and related belongs to Disney, Gore and Ted and Terry.
Setting: Takes place right after Down the Aisle
Pairings: Kaylee/Simon, Mal/Inara
Can’t Stop the Music
Chapter 10: Grave
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Malcolm stared at the looming planet in the sea of darkness and stars. It was not much larger than the dot of an I, but he knew what it was and how much longer it was going to be before they arrive. He still liked to ask his pilot what she thought, it wasn’t just a test to see if she knew, but to make small talk.
“How much longer do ya reckon?” Mal asked when she hadn’t said anything, either she wasn’t reading him or she also wanted to participate in conversation as well.
“Two hours, considering our speed,” River kept her eyes on the windshield, “however it would be better for two hours and fifteen minutes to assure we will have a safe landing.”
“I can’t remember the last time we were in Sector Seven City,” Mal chewed the bottom of his lip thoughtfully. He knew it was thousands of miles away from where Mingo and Fanty had resided.
“We have never been there,” she turned toward him. “It is a nice city; there are many buildings with columns, just like the ancient Greeks.”
“Does that mean there will be chariot races and gladiators?” Mal asked. Several ranch hands had taught him about the civilizations of ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt and the Byzantine Empire, not only did they make Mal read books on the subject but had shown several films, both educational and entertaining.
“It has some buildings, but it is a modern city, more like the city of Washington on the Northern American continent.”
“I figured as much,” Mal shrugged. “Almost a pity we won’t get to see that. It would have been exciting.”
“They do have something similar, but it happens three months from now. They have land bound vehicles trimmed in metal spikes, with large tires, the crash into each other and crush smaller land bound vehicles.”
“Doesn’t really sound like my kind of entertainment,” Mal sat back. “Jayne might like it.”
“Yes he would,” River nodded.
“I’m going to be making my rounds,” Mal unbuckled his belt and stood up. “I’m going to be letting everyone know we are going to be landing soon.”
-
James stared at the butterfly shaped jewel on Amistance’s ring as her fingers moved across the keys of her instrument. She had explained the song was a slow piece, easy to listen and for her it was easy to play.
“I don’t know if I can mimic that,” James said as he stared down at his own keyboard. “There are a few songs I have learned by ear, but there are hundreds more that have eluded me.”
“Don’t stress it,” Amistance pressed a mid octave c note. “When I learned how to play I learned by watching and by reading. There are a few songs I have learned by ear, but mostly it was by watching and reading, of course it is totally different when you are writing your own music and creating your own song.”
“True,” James pressed the exact same key on his.
“Then it is like this,” she pressed a few more keys, using only her left hand. “This is how the song starts.”
James copied her exact movements.
“Then these two,” she played two more notes. “Then you just repeat the same five notes three times.”
“This does seem to be quite simple,” he felt idiotic that he wasn’t able to catch on faster.
“Then as you play the last two notes for the third time you play the d note on higher octave.” She pressed the key with her right middle finger, and you hold it down.”
“Do I need to use a pedal?”
“What do you mean by pedals?” Amistance asked.
“I forgot,” James stared at the instrument on his lap. “I used to play on larger instrument, it had pedals.”
“I have read about those,” her eyes lit up. “Now you got me envious. How were you able to acquire a classic instrument like that?”
“It was an heirloom,” James fought back the urge to sigh. Everything he was used to was considered an antique, or ancient, or classic.
“Lucky.”
“Don’t mind me,” Captain Reynolds shouted from the cargo hold. “Just informing everyone that we will be landing in a few hours.”
“Thanks Captain,” they heard Dustin say before he strummed his guitar. James may not have been familiar with the make and model of that type on instrument but he could tell it was off.
“Um son,” Mal had lowered his voice, but he still could be heard. “You might want to be fine tuning that before you enter any kind of contest.”
“I’ve been trying,” Dustin said.
“Have you tried it this way?” Malcolm asked before his voice lowered to the point where James and Amistance couldn’t hear him.
“That was thoughtful of him,” the keyboardist said.
“The Captain does care for his crew and passengers,” James said before he performed what he had recently learned.
“He always was kinda aloof around us. He barely said anything and now he is helping Dustin with his guitar?”
“Now try it,” Malcolm suggested. A few chords of music had followed and it was on key and in tune. “There, that did it.”
“You made it better,” Dustin’s voice carried an impressed tone.
“He sure did,” Amistance was equally impressed. “I didn’t know he knew anything about instruments.”
“He certainly can surprise you,” James felt himself smile. “Seems he and I do have more and more in common with each other. We both have our own sense of honor and we uphold it, we both were military men once, both know about music.”
“Did you fight for the Alliance or the Independents?”
“Neither,” James shook his head. The war was recent for them, but it was another event that occurred during the big jump between 1760 and the 2519.
“You said you were a soldier.”
“No I didn’t. I said I was a military man. Naval officers are not soldiers.”
“I know there was not much action on the waters but there were a few battles.”
“It is a pity that I missed them.”
“Wait, you said you were in the Navy, but you didn’t fight during the Unification War?”
“I may have said too much.” That was the last thing he wanted to tell her or anyone else.
“Why won’t you tell me?” She raised her pencil thin eyebrows.
“Because I simply can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because you will think I have gone mad.”
“Try me.” She crossed her arms, indicating she was up for the challenge.
“Very well, just promise you won’t inform anyone there is an insane man on this ship when we do land.”
“Cross my heart,” She made the motion of the cross over her chest. “I will even inform you of a small secret we are carrying.”
The trade off did seem fair enough. “I was once a high ranking officer of His Majesty’s Royal Navy, stationed at Fort Charles in the town of Port Royal.”
“Where is that?”
“Jamaica, an island in the Caribbean waters,” he had a feeling of what she was about to ask next. “It was on Earth, or as everyone calls it, Earth That Was.”
She didn’t move, nor did she blink. “What?”
“I knew you wouldn’t believe that part, or what I am about to say next,” he took a deep breath. “I was born over 700 years ago. My name and title in the Navy was Commodore James Norrington.”
“Commodore James Norrington,” Amistance repeated the name and furrowed her brow. “I have heard the name before, and I know there is a story, a historical story,” she was silent for a few minutes. “Now I remember there was a big fight involving pirates and he vanished without a trace.”
“It was after the battle,” James explained. “There was a device and Mr. Cobb played with it when he shouldn’t have touched it, caused Serenity and everyone aboard to go back into time. They became involved with the battle and after the ship wouldn’t move unless I was aboard. I had to come back with them.”
“That would explain how you disappeared,” Amistance did not loose the puzzled expression on her face. “How did they get a time machine?” She held up her hand. “That is really far fetched.”
“I knew you wouldn’t believe me.” James sat back.
“That is kind a hard to swallow, Cyn’s story is more believable. Do you know where she was from?”
James shook his head. “She never told me which planet she had come from.”
“Probably never heard of Eros have you?”
“All I know is that is the Grecian name for Cupid.”
“Also a planet they tried to colonize, just a few months after the war ended. They sent a few ships, each large enough to carry two dozen families. Things started out well, they build shelters, planted crops, raised their meat and then they came.”
“Reavers,” James had guessed.
“Not nearly as bad as Reavers, they were Browncoats.”
“What?” James rose to his feet. “The Captain and Mrs. Washburne were once Browncoats.”
“Well this group of Browncoats were different. They were already living on Eros when the colonists had come. These Browncoats were armed and the colonists weren’t. They attacked the colonists and forced them into slavery, after several months the Browncoats wanted to move to a different planet and take the slaves with them. One group of slaves managed to steal a small ship and escape, Cyn’s mother tried to make sure all her children were on that ship, but only Cyn escaped.”
James was speechless. “Why hasn’t anyone alerted the Alliance about this?”
“They tried, the Alliance didn’t believe them and when they did send several ships to Eros to investigate the slavers had moved on, along with the former colonists. Cyn had tried to inform everyone she came across, some believed her like the guy who taught her how to play and several didn’t.”
“The band believes her?”
Amistance nodded. “We do. That is why she wanted to form a band that is why she wants to win the battle of the bands. If we win we will get a contract. There will be millions of people listening and we will inform them of truth, just like everyone knows about what happened on Miranda, but this time we can save the colonists.”
“I need to inform the captain,” James turned towards the stairs and paused when he felt Amistance grab onto his arm.
“You can’t tell him, Cyn doesn’t want him to know.”
“Because he once was a Browncoat?” James asked. “I have told you he is a man of honor and has a sense of nobility.”
“You still can’t, not when we are here.” She winked.
“I’ll let them know after you disembark.” He would feel a heavy weight upon his shoulders until then.
-
There was not much time left until Serenity touched down on one of Sector Seven City’s ports. Zoë had to contact their latest client and let them know they would be landing soon.
“Zoë?” Inara stuck her head outside of her shuttle as Zoë walked past. “Have you seen Mal?”
“He is at the helm with River,” Zoë answered with a raised eyebrow. She wandered why the companion had wanted to see the Captain. “Do you need him for anything?”
“I just wanted to let him know that I am about to disembark myself,” Inara explained.
“You don’t always let him know when you leave for a job.”
The other woman shrugged. “I thought it would be polite on my part. He may not like to tell everyone about everything that goes on in his ship, but I do.”
“So you are trying to rise above him?”
“Exactly,” Inara nodded.
“I will inform him.”
“Thank you,” Inara stepped inside and closed the inner airlock door behind her.
“I wonder which one of them is going to make the first move,” Zoë muttered as she made her way to the nearest comm screen. She had overheard Kaylee and Jayne discuss the subject and both agreed it would be Inara who would do anything. “I wonder if we should start a betting pool.” She paused in front of the screen and pressed a few buttons, coming into contact with their latest client.
“Mr. Barley?” Zoë asked as the static on the screen faded away to reveal a middle aged man with gray hair and dressed in a burgundy suit.
“Ah Mrs. Washburne, it has been a few days since we spoke.”
“I hope you still want to hire us for the job.”
“We still want you,” the man continued to smile. “The folk I usually hire for this job all had went on strike, some sort of beverage transportation union. Won’t be pleased that I am hiring you guys, but I do have deadlines to make.”
“I know,” Zoë nodded. “We will be there in half an hour. We are already coming in for a landing.”
“Wow, you guys are faster than I thought,” the man blinked. “I thought it would be at least another day before you would get here.”
“I have promised this was a fast ship,” Zoë nodded. “It is just to the other side of the planet?”
“That will be all.”
“We will be there several hours ahead of schedule,” one small job to deliver coffee beans, wasn’t much, but the money was good and they will try to find more jobs along the way.
-
Cyn had offered to help with unloading the entire luggage, but Captain Reynolds had told her to just grab the light stuff and he and the rest of his crew would unload the rest. She carried her bag of bare essentials over her shoulder, her guitar was placed across her back and she carried Guadalupe in her hands. The others also carried their instruments, save for Ray. The captain thought the drums would be too heavy for him to lift alone.
“The building this is being held in is not far from here?” Malcolm asked.
“Not too far,” Cyn said. “It would be a bit of a walk, but we can afford ground transport.”
“Are they providing places for you to sleep and eat?”
She shook her head. “From what I have read they provide practice tents that come with cool water to drink, and there will be a banquet a few days from now, but we have to play for food and bed.” She noticed the way he frowned and rose his eyebrows and wondered if that was genuine concern for her well being or not. “There are a lot of cheap motels and places to grab chow near the building, and from what I heard they provide discounts for the competitors.”
She turned at the thud behind and watch as Jayne set down the last of their cases. The large oaf still had a scowl on his face, which is until Amistance placed a small peck on his cheek. He smiled as he stood and told the keyboardist they better win.
Cyn sought out James and found him standing next to the pilot. He smiled politely at and while Cyn could be as bold with her affections as Amistance it seemed it would not be right to do it to someone like James.
“Goodbye James,” Cyn nodded towards him. “and thank you four putting up with us.”
“It was all part of the job,” James nodded at her. “I wish you the best of luck in the competition.”
“Once everything is unloaded the rest of y’all can get aboard,” Malcolm pointed to his crew and ship before he turned back to face Cyn. “Miss Driscoll I did enjoy doing business with you.”
“Thanks for the ride, it has been an experience,” Cyn said. She did not imagine pirates or Alliance officials to get involved.
“At this point I would ask you to recommend us to your friends, but we are not in the habit of taking on passengers, even though you were more pleasurable than most.”
She shrugged. “I get you.”
“I do wish you good luck for when you perform.”
“Thank you,” Cyn turned away from the crew, from Serenity and headed straight to where the rest of her band had gathered and Alfie was contacting local transportation.
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