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 11:
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It had begun to rain, not long after Serenity had made port and the Captain and the others had begun to unload the crates of coffee beans. Simon Tam was able to hear the pitter patter of rain outside against the hull of the ship. Simon had paused in his own work of mopping the kitchen floor to listen to the rain.
“Firefly ship,” a distant voice came from one of the comm. Screens. “Serenity, do you read me?”
Simon set the handle of the mop against the edge of the table. “This is Serenity,” he knew whoever is sending the wave would want to speak with the Captain, however Mal was currently busy.”
“Good afternoon Serenity,” The man on the screen was in his late forties or early fifties. Fine lines had formed under his dark eyes and around his mouth. His salt and pepper hair was cut short, gelled and spiked like a hedgehog. “Am I speaking with the captain?”
“No sir,” Simon shook his head. “I’m just the doctor. I can go and find Captain Reynolds.”
“That would not be a problem,” the man smiled briefly. “My name is Lee Setzer. I am located on Lian Jiun.”
“Not too far from here,” Simon nodded. The planet was about a three day trip.
“I have some cargo that needs to be picked up,” Sezer continued, there will be thirty in all. I will be paying a thousand for each.”
“Yes sir,” Simon spun around trying to find something to use to write down the information. “Where in Beaumonde is the pick up.”
“Crimson Bay port, in the city of
“Yes sir,” Simon nodded.
“I expect the delivery to be made within seven days.”
“We will be there on time,” Simon said.
“Thank you,” Setzer’s image faded from the screen.
“Delivery,” Simon muttered the name
as he raced back to the table, lucky for him there was a pencil and a scrap
from a napkin. “Pick up at
-
“I wonder why they call it
“It is sir,” Zoë stood with her hips against the edge of the table.” At least from what I had read about it. My guess is the crimson came from how the water reflected the sunset.”
“An actual bay,” Malcolm grinned. “With actual sailing ships?”
“There is a small ocean. There probably are some sailboats and others.”
“The commodore is certainly going to want a gander at that image,” Malcolm took a long sip from his glass. We might come on by just for fun one day.”
“Or we can go to New Melbourne,” Zoë suggested. “They do have some nice beaches there.”
“Yeah and Jayne would want to seek out a nude beach,” Mal set his glass down. “That was a fun job.”
“Certainly prepared us for our little trip across time.”
“I just wish I had a capture of their faces.”
“Captain,” River’s voice came out loud and clear. “We are landing.”
“Better see what we are carrying,” Mal took another sip.
“There are thirty sir,” Zoë reminded him.
“I know that,” Mal still had the slip of paper; Simon had given him in his back pocket. “I wish he asked what we were shipping.”
“That isn’t exactly his job.”
“You did his job for him, did a good job too when you removed that bullet and stitched up the wound.”
“He was giving me instructions, sir.”
“I’m just hoping it isn’t cows again.” He descended down the stairs down to the cargo bay, now mostly empty after they had dropped off that band, and to Mal’s relief, nice and quiet. He wouldn’t admit it to the others, but he was still itching to know if Cyn’s band actually won their contest.
“We’ll know soon enough,” Zoë pressed the buttons to open the air locks and lower the docking platform. “Have you sent a wave to Inara?”
“She is on her way back,” Mal nodded. “She knows we will be here.” He turned to the entrance and blinked when he saw no one or anything that resembled cargo. “Looks like our wish is granted.”
“Unless they are invisible,” Zoë followed behind him. “Would they be waiting for us?”
“I’m not certain,” Mal stepped onto solid ground. He still couldn’t see where the possible new cargo would be. He did see small buildings, smelled the tangy scent of the sea air and could hear the cawing of several gulls. “Might as well have a look around. Zoë, get Jayne and the Commodore and tell them to get down here.”
“Yes sir,” his second in command turned around.
“Now what in the rutting hell am I looking for?” He continued to walk around, waiting for someone to address him and kept his eyes open for anything that may have resembled cargo. He paused when he came to an alley and on the other side he could see wooden piers, sail boats, and a yacht. There was even a clipper ship in port. Mal knew the outer hull was probably made out of metal and it had an engine that large sails were only for show and to use in case the engine failed. He was certain James still would have liked to see it.
“Are you Captain Malcolm Reynolds?” A gravely voice asked from behind.
“That would be me,” Mal turned around to face a sunburned man in a sleeveless denim shirt and khaki shorts. “And you would be the guy with cargo Mr. Setzer told us about.”
“They call me Hawk,” The man held out a hand and smiled a mouthful of surprisingly white teeth.
“Nice to meet you,” Mal took Hawk’s callused mitt into his own.
“You don’t seem too pleased,” Hawk ran a hand down the orange Mohawk on his head.
“I don’t have the best luck with men named after birds,” Mal stared into the sunglasses perched on top of Hawk’s nose. There was a slight discoloration and Mal wondered if it had been broken recently.”
“Don’t worry about me,” He turned at the sound of several approaching footsteps. “Just got to worry about cargo.”
Mal turned along with him and saw large group of people, both men and women and all dressed in the same gray short sleeved shirts and pants. They all had their hair cut short and were wearing a bronze band around their ankles.
“What is this?” Mal pointed at the group with a thumb.
“That would be what Mr. Setzer wants,” Hawk answered. “All twenty eight of them.”
“Wo de ma,” Mal wanted to remake his wish. They were slaves, and he was going to be paid to take them. “Twenty eight slaves?”
“And Lila and I round out to thirty.”
Before Mal could even ask a woman stepped out from behind the group of slaves. “Not one of them tried to run,” she had skin the color of cocoa and wore a red headband under her long and dark hair. The rest of her outfit consisted of a tank top, pale green shorts and thick and heave shoes. “And they are all answering in numbers.”
“Good,” Hawk nodded.
“I have to transport slaves?” Mal stared into the dead eyes of the slaves.
“You don’t have too,” Hawk said. “I know some people have limits and standards, and I respect that. You probably didn’t know until now.”
“I didn’t know,” Malcolm said.
“And you don’t have to transport em. We can always find someone else.”
-
“I can’t believe it,” Kaylee stormed her way through Serenity, tripping on her way to the medical bay. Her captain has her so angry she couldn’t see straight.
“I agree with you Mrs. Tam,” James followed behind her. He also had the same shocked expression when he had heard what the cargo would be. “I am afraid he does have the final say, unless we can vote on it.”
“We can’t,” Kaylee sighed. If the cargo had been for anything else she would be right behind her captain, ready to transport it across the verse. She would have a song in her heart and her grease smudge face would be smiling as she tinkered around in the engine room, but slaves? How could they transport those poor people?
“What is going on?” Simon stared through one of the bay’s windows. “Kaylee what is wrong?”
“We are transporting slaves,” Kaylee stared at the floor. “Can you believe it?”
“No,” Simon shook his head. “I can’t believe it. Why would the captain agree to this job?”
“My only guess would be the money,” James sat down. “And that shouldn’t be a good enough reason.”
“He could of said no,” Simon said. “He went back on a job once.”
“It came back to him,” Kaylee said softly. She could not get the image of the Captain’s severed ear out of her mind. “Still should have said no.”
“We never had slaves,” Simon said softly. “We had hired servants, they worked for us and we paid them.”
“We gave them a home,” River entered the area. “We gave them shelter and money, invited them to big meals. Their children played with us.”
“I also had a hired servant,” James stood up. “She cooked and cleaned for me and I treated her with the utmost respect.”
“There were slaves back then,” River said.
“You are more used to this than we
are,” Kaylee added. She was certain she had seen some slaves during that brief
moment in
“I remember and I disliked it,” James sighed. “Slavers, rum runners, and pirates were the blemishes of the sea, and sadly I could not arrest the slavers, as long as they had the proper paper work in order, but if I could I would have riddled the slave runner’s bodies with grapeshot.”
Kaylee bolted towards James and wrapped her arms around him.
“Mrs. Tam?” James asked before Kaylee felt another pair of arms against her. “River, what are you both doing?”
“Thank you,” Kaylee whispered.
“What is going on?” Inara asked. Kaylee was so caught up with their new job and James’s words she hadn’t noticed when her best friend had returned from her client.
“I am not exactly certain,” James answered in an uncomfortable tone.
“He is uneasy with this,” River removed her arms and stepped back. “Our warm and sweet is tearing off clothes and having sex in front of everyone for him.”
“I’m sorry,” Kaylee stepped back. “What you said caused an impulse.”
“Do not trouble you,” James smiled at her before he looked up at Inara. “Welcome back Miss Serra.”
“Thank you James,” Inara removed the shawl from her shoulders. It shone like silk, possibly was silk, and moved like the wind whenever Inara moved. “I heard there was a new job.”
“We have new cargo,” Simon said in an uncomfortable tone and refused to meet his eyes with anyone.
“They are not cargo,” Kaylee folded her arms. “They are people.”
“We are taking more passengers?” Inara asked.
“Slaves,” River answered.
“Oh Mal,” Inara closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to her forehead.
“Nobody knows why he did it,” Kaylee said. “The money can’t be the only reason.”
“I may know why,” Inara lowered her hand. “He feels he is doing it for us. He wants to make certain we are all fed, we have enough fuel and medicine.”
“Can we tell him that he doesn’t have to take the job?” James asked.
“Hurt him,” River answered. “Feels we are against him if we said no. Serenity can’t say no, and he has to take care of her.”
“How are we going to be able to get through this?” James asked.
“Hopefully we won’t have to see them,” Inara said. “We can try to stay out of the cargo hold.”
“I will have to treat them if they get injured,” Simon stared at his hands. “And he may ask James to go down for some task.
River uttered a string of curses. “He is impossible.” She threw up her hands and turned on her heel. “I have to fly her.” She nearly spat out the words.
“I take it there will be more of the silent treatment during our next meal?” James asked.
“No we are going to address this issue,” Inara said.
-
Jayne half heard Mal speaking with the man, what was his name, Eagle? Whatever it was they were talking about the guidelines, basically the gist was the slavers don’t mess with the crew and the crew don’t mess with the slavers. It was a perfect idea.
“Now I understand if either you or Lila want’s to sleep with cargo,” Mal continued in the negotiations. “I am just saying that you both don’t have to, not at the same time. That is why we have to at least make one bed for you in the passenger bay. You can take turns.”
“It does sound reasonable,” Lila answered. She was holding onto some sort of remote device.
“Sounds reasonable,” Hawk turned towards his partner. “You want the nice bunk for the first night, or am I going to have Janken you to make certain you take it.”
“Don’t pop a vein in your ass over it,” Lila said. “I will take it.”
“Great,” Mal said in his fake happy tone. “Jayne, why don’t you and Zoë get some bedrolls and blankets out here for the cargo.”
“They don’t need that,” Hawk said. “The floor is good ‘nuff for em.”
“You might think so, but I aint gonna chance on of em getting a chill, or a sore for sleeping on the cargo floor. Your boss is paying to make sure they are all healthy, and I don’t plan on loosing a bit of cash.”
Hawk smiled and held up a finger. “You got your mind entirely on the money. I like the way you think.”
“That is why they are going to have bedrolls and blankets,” Mal clapped his hands. “Zoë, Jayne, hop to it.”
“I’m on it,” Jayne removed the lid of the nearest storage crate. Where are the others? They should be helping out with the chore. He had seen the look of disgust on Jimbo’s face when he learned what the job was and Kaylee had gasped and ran off. What kind of problem did they have, so they were slaves, so what? Slavery was legal on most planets. They shouldn’t wine when there was money involved.
The Captain didn’t have a problem, and even if he did he didn’t show it, neither did Zoë, but then again Jayne usually had a hard time trying to read Zoë while they were on the job.
“None of you fight for these,” Jayne dropped an armload of blankets in the middle of a group of slaves. His eyes were on one that was crawling close to his bench. “Hey get away from my bench.”
“Fifty-two,” Lila shouted at the slave. “Return to the center.”
The slave wasn’t much more than a kid but technically an adult. He glanced at Jayne as he crawled past them. “Apollo,” he whispered.
“What?”
“Don’t speak to them,” Lila glared at him. “Fifty-two, do not speak to anyone.”
The slave numbered Fifty-Two nodded before he sat down next to two other slaves.
“I like a woman who can take command like that,” Jayne grinned at Lila.
“Don’t even think about it,” Lila brushed past him.
“Nice,” he stared at her backside as she continued to walk. He will win her and he was going t get some sexing before this job was over.
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