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 8: Polyphony
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Cyn stared at the instruments placed in one corner of the bunk they were in, untouched and it was making her antsy, as if the threat of a pirate attack hadn’t already had got her set on edge. She could almost hear her guitar calling to her, begging for her to caress its neck and pluck the strings. She could not give in to her cravings, even if the music within beckons. Any loud sound could and would alert the pirates to where they were hiding.
“I never thought we would be attacked by pirates,” Amistance said. She was seated across from Cyn; she had removed her barrettes from her hair and was playing with them. “It is almost exciting when you think about it.”
“Exciting?” Dustin asked. He had his knees bent and arms wrapped around them. “How can you say being attacked by pirates is exciting?”
“All those stories I have read.” Her eyes filled with a dreamy look. “I can understand hiding from a whole crew, but wouldn’t it be shiny to meet one?”
“There is never just one,” Dustin’s voice shook. “They always travel in groups.”
“She might mean meet one on the ground,” Ray suggested. He was chewing a wad of gum, restraining himself from making any bubbles.
“Always together on the ground,” Dustin closed his eyes. “You know what they do. They attack you, beat you up, rape you, tear off your skin and eat you.”
“Those are Reavers,” Cyn corrected. She stared at Alfie who was stretched out on the floor with his eyes closed and chest slowly rising. It was amazing what that guy could sleep through.
“What is the difference?”
“Reavers are more like zombies,” Ray tried to explain. “Not undead, but they are not in control of their thoughts and actions. Pirates know what they are doing, and they are not cannibals nor do they sew people’s skins to their clothes.”
“How would you know?”
“I- he was cut off by the loud banging on the door above.
“Tian sa de e mo,” Dustin rocked back and forth. “It is them.”
“Hey kids,” Zoe Washburne greeted from the entrance. “It is over. They are gone and a fed ship is on its way.”
“Thank you,” Ray shouted up to her. “Don’t have to worry about the big bad pirates trying to bite you Dustin.”
“He may need a new change of pants,” Amistance joked.
“Very funny,” Dustin stood up. “If you look at my crotch you can see that it is dry.”
“I would rather not,” Cyn nudged Alfie. “Wake up, the scare is over.”
“Scare?” Alfie moaned the question before he rolled over. “Who got scared?”
“Dustin,” Ray and Amistance said at the same time.
Alfie yawned. “That was a nice nap.” He stretched and paused. “Wait a second. Is Ray smiling?”
“Why I believe he is,” Cyn grabbed her guitar. “Good job Dustin.” She slid the strap over her shoulder and placed the instrument against her back.
“Oh that is right,” Dustin rolled his eyes as he grabbed his own guitar. “Everyone make fun of Mr. Sensible.”
“Since when did one equate cowardice with sensibility?” Amistance asked.
“Fear for is for both the unknown and the fact that there are some things that can hurt and kill you,” Dustin said.
“We can discuss this later,” Cyn reached up to open the door and pull down the steps. “I need to get out of here.”
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James Norrington sat across from River as he waited for her to wake up. He had only looked over his shoulder once at the infirmary while Dr. Tam set Cobb’s broken limbs into place. River did not have any noticeable injuries. She was just drugged and was sleeping off the effects.
He did not have to wait long before her eyelids fluttered and she made a soft moaning sound.
“River?” James reached out for her hand and refrained, thankful for the coffee table in the between them. He did not want to frighten her or make the situation seem awkward.
“James?” River said his name. “They made me sleep. I wasn’t fast enough.”
“You took out seven of them,” James smiled weakly at her. “They also made Cobb sleep.”
“No grace with that one.”
“Grace and Cobb are like oil and water.”
“No one is hurt?” She opened her eyes fully.
“Except for those pirates and Cobb. He broke a few limbs when he fell.”
“Bloody pirates.”
“Yes. They are, and they are gone. You do not have to worry any more. Captain Reynolds spoke with their captain and they left.”
“They talked?” River blinked. “Not Mal. He fights. He makes them surrender and then talk.”
“He knew her,” James still couldn’t believe his captain’s reaction to Captain Chalmers. He was expecting the shock, but not the hospitality afterwards. “She was one of his soldiers.”
“War hurt.”
“I cannot recall a war that never hurt anyone,” he rose to his feet. “He had her injured crew members treated and he let them go.”
“Those who fought hate them. Still do, maybe for always.”
“Still does not give them the right to attack innocent people, even if they are supported the Alliance during this battle.”
“You just don’t know,” she frowned at him. “But then impossible for you to know. You skipped that chapter when we took you.”
“There were several chapters that I skipped,” James had looked up historical text and watched educational programs on the Cortex. He read about the American Revolution, the Napoleonic era and the War of 1812. There was still far more for him to read and learn.
“They hurt me.” She pointed at her head.
“That is the reason why I dislike the Alliance.” He held out his hand. She took it without a second thought and he pulled her until she was sitting up. “This isn’t too fast for you?”
“There are no fish in my head.”
He took that as a no. “Still does not give them the right to hunt down innocent ships.”
“We are not always innocent.”
“While are cargo is legal we are,” he was going to try to guide Captain Reynolds to hopefully take more honest jobs over dishonest ones. “I don’t think they have found out about Miss Driscoll or the others.”
“They can’t steal a band.”
“They might want their instruments.” He held out his hand again. “I’m surprised He wasn’t disappointed with her. I can almost understand what fueled her need to steal in the beginning, but she continued and he wasn’t disappointed.”
“You were disappointed with the one who called Serenity a beast.”
“He had a problem with authority,” James knew she was talking about Gibbs. “But he was a skilled sailor.”
“What about you?” She tapped his wrist after she was helped to her feet.
“I was disappointed in myself.” He stared at the scarred over brand.
“She needs me,” River turned towards the direction of the helm.
“I will se what duties Captain Reynolds has for me.” James walked besides her, only barely noticing she was still holding on to his arm.
-
Mal leaned against the railing while he waited for the feds to show up. He wasn’t too surprised they were taking their sweet time to get there and was kind of thankful for that since it gave Katy and her crew plenty of time to leave. He had ordered Zoë to tell his guests they could come out and instructed the commodore to help them bring their instruments back to their rooms. River had come to and was on her way back to the helm.
“Captain,” River’s voice carried through on the intercom. “Lieutenant-Commander Horton is here.”
“Tell him I will meet with him in the cargo bay,” Mal said to the screen before he released his finger from the button. He examined the floor. There were only a few signs of a struggle. He also had enough time to think of a cover story.
The door to the airlock slowly opened. Several armored alliance soldiers came in along with the uniformed woman who kept her dark hair in a bun. Her heavy set jaw was clamped in a frown as she surveyed the ship.
“Captain Reynolds of Serenity,” the woman raised her eyebrows at him.
“That would be me,” Mal crossed his arms. “Are you Lieutenant Horton?”
“It is Lieutenant-Commander Horton,” she corrected.
“Sorry about that. I am not familiar with space rank.”
“I had thought you were once in the military yourself,” she pointed at his coat. “That is a Brown Coat I take it?”
“I was an Overlander, not a Spacer.”
“I am not here to talk rank,” she stared into her eyes. “We had relieved a distress call that your ship was under attack.”
“We sent the signal after they fired the first warning shot,” Mal glanced at the purple bellies as they continued to sniff around his cargo hold. “Seeing as this is a transport ship we cannot fire back.”
“What happened?”
“Seeing as how there was no way to get out of this without your esteemed help,” he refrained from using sarcasm. “We did the most logical thing possible considering the situation.”
“Meaning?”
“We hid.” Mal smiled sheepishly. “I ordered everyone to stay hidden, although a few members of my crew ignored that order.”
“Are they injured?”
Mal nodded. “One tried to attack from above, but let go when they shot their sleepy juice at him.”
“Tranquilizer dart has been found,” one of the armored soldiers held up the dart that had been in River.
“Did they take anything?”
Mal shook his head. We don’t have any cargo this time. A handful of rock star wannabes from Salisbury paid for passage to Beaumonde.” He already knew she was going to ask about them. “I had them hide themselves in one of the bunks in the crew’s quarters along with their instrument.” He pointed to the passenger bay. “They are backing their now if you want to speak with them.”
“Ma’am,” one of the soldiers came out of the direction of the infirmary. “We found one of these.” He held up a black sleeve covered in blue deflect pad, a bullet as imbedded in one of them. “The crew’s doctor said he found it on the floor when he came out of hiding.”
“He didn’t touch it?” Horton asked.
The armored man shook his head. “He said he didn’t want to tamper with evidence.”
“See if he has a bag to put it in.” She turned back to Malcolm. “I no longer think this was a prank call. We have come across victims of this group of pirates before.” She walked off towards the passenger bay.
“Tee wuh duh pee-goo,” Mal sighed and placed his hands behind his head. If they had flown out of there they would have dealt with the Alliance. If they had cleaned up every sign of evidence they would be in trouble with the Alliance. He hated having more evidence so they could point a finger at Katy, but he had his own crew to worry about.
“We have a problem?” Zoë approached him.
“They know we were not making stuff up,” Mal said. “We aint going to be taken in for a false alarm.”
“That is good,” Zoë did not remove her eyes from the troops. “What has you fretting?”
“Can’t say,” Mal mouthed at her. “Got their instruments back?”
“Everything is back where it should be.”
“Good,” he felt a small rumble in his stomach. “We haven’t had breakfast yet.”
“My turn to prepare breakfast again?”
“Not quite,”
“You want James to cook and me to supervise?” It was amazing how she could read his mind at times.
“That is the plan.”
“I’ll get right on it,” Zoë headed off towards the passenger bay, passing by Horton.
“Lieutenant-Commander,” Mal greeted using his most sugary tone of cheeriness he could muster. “How is the investigation?”
“Everything checks out Captain,” Horton’s face remained stoic. “Hopefully we will be able to capture this group as soon as possible.”
“I wish you the best of luck,” Mal gave her a mock salute.
“You fly safe and a word to the wide. You might want to rethink that cocky attitude of yours.”
Mal wanted to ask what cocky attitude, but he kept his mouth closed. He heard footsteps above, possibly Inara emerging from her shuttle, but he did not look up. He kept his eyes on the Horton and the rest of the purple bellies until they had left his ship.
“So they are gone?” Cyn whispered from the common area.
“Yeah they are gone.” The airlock closed with a hiss. “We will be moving soon. Might be more like five and half more days till we get you to Beaumonde.”
“Good, I am kinda glad they are gone. Even if we do need them.”
“I know. I shoulda asked about your ship.” The question did not appear in Mal’s mind at all and even if it did he probably wouldn’t have asked if there was an update.
“Don’t smoke it,” she shrugged. “I have overheard you were an Independent.”
“Yeah?” What was she getting at?
“Nothing. I’m not really fond of Independents or Alliance forces.”
“Which side did you support during the war?”
“I was too young during the time,” she shrugged again and slipped off towards her bunk.
“What was that about?”
“What ever it is she won’t say until she is ready to say it,” Inara descended down the stairs. “She has a lot of secrets, but it is not my place to question them.”
“When did you adopt this attitude?”
“Not soon enough,” she inhaled. “I should have realized your refusal to play had something to do with the war and I had no place to ask. I am sorry.”
“You apologizing for what happened a few days ago?” He should have known. Women tend to remember those details. “It was nothing.”
“I hit a nerve when I shouldn’t have even been looking,” Inara stared at her hands.
“Did River explain?” He thought he told her not to tell.
“Zoë told me,” She ran a finger against the surface of the railing. “You are not going to get mad at her, are you?”
“Naw,” Mal held up his hands. “Like I said I’m over it. We got a job to do and I gotta make sure it gets done. He thought of apologizing to River, but when she saw that he and Inara were getting along again she would warm up. “I’m going to set the table.” That was his next concern, eating breakfast.
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