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 14: Swing

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Malcolm wasn’t sure what he had heard or seen. He had heard the exchange of words and seen both Kaylee and Simon step off the docking platform with a small leather case. He just couldn’t believe what was seeing. First some of his crew had expressed their disgust over the idea of transporting slaves and the next they were making a business deal. Why didn’t anyone tell him they were planning on making a business deal?

“What the hell is going on?” Jayne asked the question that had been brewing in Mal’s mind. “Why are we buying another mouth to feed?” He pointed at the business deal. “Did Jimbo buy him so he can do his chores?”

“I don’t think so,” Zoë was as confused as Mal.

“Can he do my chores?”

“He isn’t doing anyone’s chores,” Mal raised a hand.

“Are we going to allow him aboard our ship?” Zoë asked.

“I’m not certain.” The one thing he did know was that he wasn’t going to allow anyone to board until he figured out what was going on.

“Just type in your name here,” Setzer’s assistant pointed at the miniature keypad. “And then sign at the bottom with this.” He held up something that resembled a plastic toothpick.

“Thank you,” James slowly typed in his name before he used the slender pen to scrawl in his signature.

“Everything is official,” the assistant removed the top part of the electronic keyboard, an actual identification screen, similar to what Mal and Zoë carried around. “This states that you are the proud owner of Thirty Two.”

“Thank you,” James pursed his lips as he read the screen. “Does he have an official name?”

“None of em have real names,” Hawk said. “I thought you knew that by now.”

James nodded. “I knew you gave them numerical names, but before he was a slave, what was his name?”

“They were all born into slavery,” Setzer said. “The majority of slaves are born that way. There may be a few backwater planets that would allow citizens to sell others into slavery, but I will not deal with those.”

“What about those who were attacked and forced into it?” James asked.

Setzer did not loose his disgusted look. “I would report them immediately.”

“Commodore,” Mal waved his hands trying to get James’s attention. “I don’t know what got in your head, and I know that is your money and you can do with it what you wish, but right now I demand an explanation.”

“Everything will be explained as of now,” James said. “I see you have some standards, and I believe that you are unaware the young man I have just freed is Apollo Driscoll, one of the many colonists of Eros who were attacked years ago?”

Mal felt his jaw drop. Many thoughts ran through his head. Did this situation actually happen? If it did how come he never heard of it, much less heard of Eros? Most importantly, how did someone like James Norrington hear of this? The last name was familiar, he was certain it was the last name of the lead singer of that group they brought to Beaumonde.

“He is Cyn’s little brother,” Kaylee whispered.

“The hell?” Hawk removed his sunglasses. “Where the hell did you get a crazy story like that?”

“I have heard of similar stories,” Lila shook her head. “They are modern legends and they all have been debunked.”

“I hope that is just a story,” Setzer said. “But if not we will try to alert the authorities, until then we will research this.”

“Okay,” Mal took a deep breath. “I think the three of us have just been hit with a lot. First of all I want to know how many of you know this.”

“Just River,” Simon said. “She has probably told Inara about it now.”

Mal nodded. “I want a full explanation, on board and after we get off this rock.”

“Where are we heading towards?” Zoë asked.

Mal shrugged. “I just want to get into the waters first. We are going to have ourselves a little meeting.” He stared at Apollo who seemed to stand even taller now that he had been freed. “Actually the first thing we are going to do is get some food into him.”

-

“Sorry it isn’t real bread,” Kaylee apologized to the young man as she set a plate down with the bread she had just baked, considering its size it was more of a large biscuit, and since she hadn’t any yeast it was flat. “There was only a cup of baking flour left and the rest is rice flour, and I made that by grinding dried rice to make it as powdery as possible.”

“You been dipping into the rice?” Jayne raised an eyebrow.

“I have been trying to be creative,” Kaylee smiled and returned to the stove where the soup had just finished cooking. “Maybe I will even make rice flour noodles this way.”

“As long as you do it on your own time,” Mal instructed behind her. She did not try to ignore him, now that she had learned about his recent vow. “I hired you to work with engines, not pastries.”

“I don’t mind if we get pastries,” Jayne said.

“Don’t you worry,” Kaylee ladled the soup into a bowl. “I’ll only play in the kitchen when Serenity is happy.”

“Where do we start?” Simon had asked. Everyone, including Apollo had gathered around the table after they had returned to the black.

“How about I get an explanation that some of you were plotting behind my back,” Mal’s voice rose.

“We weren’t plotting,” Kaylee set the bowl and spoon down next to Apollo. He had already sipped some of his tea and broken off a piece of the bread and consumed it. “I hope you don’t mind the meat is actually from a protein pack, I tried to make it taste like chicken.”

“No need for apology,” Apollo dipped his spoon into the bowl. “Best food I had in years.”

“Oh,” Kaylee smiled. “Thank you. Just want to let you know everything is actually what it tastes like.” She had used vegetables from the cans and the noodles came from a bag.

“Sit down,” Mal pointed at her. “And one of y’all better start ‘splaining.”

“I tried to tell everyone,” James began. He had removed his naval coat and hung it up in his bunk. Without it and with the way he was dressed it was difficult for Kaylee to actually picture him as an 18^th century naval officer. “I did have to digest everything at first when I learned Apollo was who he was, and then I had to figure out a plan.”

“When did you know about him?” Zoë asked.

“A few days ago,” James answered. “And I told everyone as long as they were no where near Hawk and Lila. I had no idea if they knew the truth about Apollo.”

“That is why you asked Setzer,” Simon pointed out.

James nodded.

“Well I knew you were all working on limited time,” Mal said after a full minute had passed. “I had just wished that one of you had found out a way to get through to me, or us.”

“Jayne would have talked,” River said.

“What?” Jayne had stopped staring at Apollo and the food.

“He would have talked, too much of a risk, he talked and the herdsman would know, didn’t know if they were dogs or wolves disguised as dogs.”

“Now the new guy is gonna know she is crazy.”

“It is a metaphor, Cobb,” James glared at him. “Sane people use them.”

“Sane or not, she ain’t firing with a full deck.”

“We are not here to discuss if she is or isn’t crazy,” Mal turned towards River. “I would have appreciated if she had told me when I was at the bridge.”

“You would have lost your calm,” River said. She was right. Mal would have stormed straight to Hawk and Lila and demand where they had gotten their slaves. He would have sent a wave to the nearest passing Alliance ship and even refused to finish the delivery.

“Okay,” Mal nodded. “Good point. I do not like the point, but I can still see it.”

“I remember when I heard of Eros,” Inara spoke up. “It wasn’t long after the Unification War had ended. There were a few waves asking for volunteers.”

“My parents volunteered,” Apollo spoke with a mouthful of food. “All five of us boarded the ship.”

Inara stared at him. “I don’t know what had happened, but after several months there were reports that Eros was uninhabitable.”

“Like Miranda,” Simon suggested.

“Just like Miranda,” Inara nodded. “I have heard a few stories about the colonists just disappearing, like a modern day Roanoke, but they were just stories.”

“Seems more and more stories are becoming real,” Jayne said.

“There are reasons for people disappearing,” James pointed to himself.

“This does come back to another point,” Mal pointed at the former commodore. “Where did you hear all of this?”

“Miss Amistance Woolong told me. She and I exchanged a few stories. She told me how a group of savages had attacked and enslaved the colonists and Miss Driscoll had escaped with a few others.”

“Did all of her band mates know this?” Zoë asked.

“She had tried to tell as many as possible, but not everyone believed her.”

“How come River didn’t know?” Zoë pointed at River.

“She pushed it down,” River explained. “Tried to keep it hidden. I saw a curtain and knew not to dig too deep. I saw her work for coin, clean hoses and learn how to play. I knew she wasn’t a danger and that was all that I was asked to read.”

Mal blinked. “You didn’t try to read any further?”

“Some of it leaked,” River nodded. “Mostly in dreams. I didn’t know if it was real, not all dreams are real. The pink bunnies in Jayne’s dream weren’t real.”

“Pink Bunnies?” Several people, including Kaylee repeated and turned towards Jayne.

“Hey,” he pointed at River. “How many times do I gotta tell you to stay out of my head?” He looked like he was about to stand up, and he would if Zoë wasn’t holding onto his arm.

“Why didn’t she tell the captain?” Kaylee asked. She had wondered why she hadn’t asked the question before.

“It may have to do with the fact Captain Reynolds had fought on the same side as the Independents.” James said.

“They were once Browncoats?” Kaylee blinked.

“Many wore coats that were brown,” Apollo said. He had licked the bowl clean and there was not even a crumb left on his plate.

“Do you need any more?” Kaylee asked. “There is still some more soup left and I can bake some more bread.”

“I had enough for now,” Apollo rubbed his mouth and face with the napkin Kaylee had given him. “Maybe a little later.”

“You don’t want to rush,” Simon instructed. “Too much food and too fast can make you sick.”

“Ya can never have enough food,” Jayne stood up. “And if he don’t want anymore-“ He was pulled down by Zoë.

“Sit down,” she ordered.

“Apollo needs to tell us what has happened,” Inara said.

“We spent a few months in that ship,” Apollo said softly. “I think it was named The Discovery. Our parents thought it would be good to start a new life on a new world, Sally was the only one who was excited about it, then again she was only four and didn’t have any real friends like Cynthia and myself. I made a few friends on the ship and Cynthia gradually accepted a few days before we landed.”

“Great he is starting from the beginning,” Jayne grumbled.

“Jayne,” Mal spoke sharply and pointed at him.

Apollo flinched. “I can jump ahead sir.”

“Don’t call him sir,” James glared at Jayne. “You do not have to address any of us in that way, not anymore.”

“I don’t want to hear another word out of anyone,” the captain instructed. “Not until he is finished.”

“I remember when it had happened,” Apollo continued. “Our house had finished being built and dad even made us a swing, Cynthia was pushing Sally in the swing and I was complaining about how it was my turn.” He smiled briefly. “I was just being a child. Then the ships came. There were two of them. No one knew why they were there, but they had landed and several men and women ran out. They were all wearing brown coats. Dad and several others ran to see why they had arrived. They were killed in an instant.” Apollo paused and closed his eyes.

“Oh God,” Kaylee gasped and winced. She wasn’t supposed to be talking at all. “Sorry.”

Mal waved his hand. “Reactions are expected.”

“We ran into our house and were told to hide, but they found us anyway. The adults who survived, including our mother were beaten. We children were kept in a different prison. They took over our homes and forced us to serve them. It was that way for a several months and then the leader heard about how several Alliance ships were heading our way. They planned to leave the world and take us with them.” He paused to take another drink from his tea.

Kaylee stood up. “Do you need any more?”

“I have had enough,” Apollo smiled. “Thank you,” his face grew solemn once more. “Mother had heard about escape plans and arranged for the Cynthia, Sally and myself to leave. We had all nearly reached the ship when Sally fell. I and a few others had picked her up. Cynthia tried to run back to us but she was dragged to the escape ship. We tried to catch up but the enemy had caught up with us. We were dragged back to our prisons and the adults involved were beaten. They knew the Alliance would come for certain and they left Eros and took us along with them. The adults, including mother had their tongues cut out.”

Inara gasped along with Kaylee and folded her hands.

“They figured we children would never speak if our spirits were broken, a few years later they decided to sell some of us to other slave owners and slavers. Mother tried to fight to keep Sally and me from being separated from her. They sold me first. The last time I saw my sister and my mother was four years ago.”

“And you never tried to tell anyone?” Simon asked.

“You saw how Hawk and Lila treated them,” Zoë said. “He was probably forced into the near silence with all of them.”

“Some of us tried to avoid the cargo bay,” Simon told her.

“I tried to speak,” Apollo said. “When I was first separated, but they thought I was just making up stories.”

“Cynthia has been trying to find you,” James said. “She and those who had escaped had tried to spread the word about what had happened, but not everyone believes her.”

“Shouldn’t she be trying to let the Alliance know the truth?” Zoë asked. That was another good question.

“She is,” Inara had finished her prayer. “That is why she is so adamant about winning the battle of the bands. If her band wins and receives a contract then people will listen.”

“Can’t stop the signal,” Mal said softly. “Music can be the strongest signal of them all.”

“Sir,” Zoë addressed him. “What are we going to do?”

“We are going back to Beaumonde,” Mal said. “Gonna reunited Apollo with his sister, on the way I’m going to try to reach some folk.”

“I know you have to consider fuel and food until we can find a new job,” James said. “I still have some money from that coin and I want to give it all to you.”

“What?” Mal blinked. “First Inara and now you?”

“’Nara?” Kaylee turned towards the companion.

Inara nodded. “I promised I would give Mal more of my wages if things became desperate.”

Kaylee stared at her captain, her best friend and James before she stood up. “I don’t know who to hug first; I want to also hug Simon because I love him.”

“This will make it easier,” Inara ran to her and pulled her into a friendly embrace.

Kaylee giggled while she watched River hug James and this time he did not turn into a statue but embraced her back.

-