Fic: From Here to Serenity PG-13, 13/?
OMG! Fic!
Yeah. I finally finished the next (13th) chapter of From Here to Serenity. Here's hoping that the 13th was a curse and the next few won't take anywhere near as long (it's been since March that I posted the last one... well, April, if you count the Fake Chapter
From Here to Serenity
Disclaimers, etc., in prologue.
Malcolm Reynolds fell to the floor with a loud grunt and, not for the first time, silently cursed Shepherd Book for pairing him with Zoë. He knew how to fight fine, but his second-in-command was just too damn fast. He stood up at Book’s prodding and was getting ready to set himself up again when a number of alarms began blaring. The ship shook.
“Mal, you better get up here!” Wash yelled over the intercom. Mal was off in a flash, headed straight for the cockpit.
Thirty seconds later, Mal was looking over Wash’s shoulder. “What is it?”
“I’m not sure,” he said. “We received a wave just about the time this started.”
“A wave?” Mal asked. “Out here?”
Wash shrugged. “I was surprised too, but then I got distracted.”
The ship shuddered again, and then stopped rumbling all together. As if…
“Does that sound like the engine turned off?” Mal asked.
Wash tested his controls and punched a few buttons. “We’ve definitely come out of light speed.” He shook his head. “I’m getting nothing. Sub-light engines are fine, but we can’t engage FTL.”
Mal turned to head back to the engine room, but Kaylee ran up the stairs and into the cockpit just at that moment.
“We’re stopped,” she said. “Engine shut down. I can’t find a reason for it, though. Everything’s to be in workin’ order… just won’t go.”
“Captain?” Book asked, stepping into the cockpit.
“We’re stopped,” Mal said, his arms crossed over his chest.
“I’m aware. Is somebody trying to contact us?”
Mal turned at looked at him. “And how in the sphincter of hell did you know that?”
“The same way in the sphincter of hell I know anything, Captain. Can I answer the wave?” Book said.
Mal glared at him. “You knew this was gonna happen?”
Book paused. “I had an idea it might.”
Mal set his jaw sternly. “Next time something like this happens, preacher, and you don’t tell me up front? You and me are gonna have words.” He stepped out of Book’s way and looked down into the hallway. The rest of the crew was standing there. He ducked his head into the hallway.
“We stopped?” Zoë asked.
“Yep,” Mal said. “Workin’ on it. Everybody… go about your business.”
“Cap’n, we’re in the middle of nowhere. What business?”
“I don’t know, just… go play a game, or somethin’. You’re makin’ me nervous all standin’ there. Do something.”
The crowd slowly dispersed, and Mal stepped back into the cockpit. Book was sitting in Wash’s chair, his ID card inserted in the reader. Mal raised an eyebrow at Wash, who shrugged and shook his head.
“Shepherd?”
“Just a moment,” Book said. He reached up and wiped off the small camera as a man’s face appeared on screen. The man looked unhappy.
“Admiral Brubaker,” Book said, smiling. “Good evening.”
“Sir,” the admiral said. “I’d like to say it’s good to see you again, but I’m afraid I have to ask why you’re on a transport ship headed out this way.”
Wash looked at Mal and mouthed ‘Again?’
“I’m not here against my will, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Book said.
“No, sir, I didn’t imagine that you would be. Do you mind telling me what you’re doing?”
Book smiled at the camera. “You know why you’re out here?”
“I do,” said Brubaker.
Book nodded. “Then you know why I’m going.”
Brubaker rubbed his chin. “I was made to believe that you… and your associates… were against such a course of action.”
“Things change,” said Book. “I’m going.”
“I’m afraid I can’t allow that, Derria. You know I can’t.”
“What are your feelings on the matter, Jonah?” Book asked.
Mal and Wash looked at each other again. ‘Jonah?’ mouthed Mal.
“My feelings are unimportant.”
“There was never a case when that was less true,” said Book. “Every man’s life has defining moments, Jonah, whether they recognize it or not. This is one of yours.”
Brubaker leaned back in his chair. “I am not without sympathy towards your goal, Derria, but I have my orders.”
“And I have my faith.”
Brubaker smiled. “You’re going.”
“I am,” said Book. “We are.”
The admiral pointed to somebody off screen and nodded.
“Very well, sir. We will have no choice but to stop you by force. Prepare to be engaged.” The admiral swiped his hand across his throat to tell his communications officer to cut the transmission, but as he did so, Mal would swear he saw the man wink.
Book stood up from the pilot’s seat and allowed Wash back in.
“Captain, I think you’d better have everybody strap in. We’re going to need some fancy flying to get out of this,” Book told them.
“Did he wink at you?” Mal asked.
“Jonah’s an old friend,” Book said. “One of the best men I know. But he has his orders and he has to follow them.”
Mal shook his head. “Uh uh. No way. We’re just a transport, ain’t even got no weapons.”
Book shook his head. “It won’t matter. We’ll out maneuver them and then engage the FTL drive.”
“That still ain’t working,” Kaylee said. “Don’t seem to be nothin’ wrong with it, neither.”
“I know,” Book said. “But there’s a workaround. Captain, I truly suggest you get people strapped down.”
“You couldn’t have done this before we started runnin’ out here?” Mal asked. “Before we came up against a gorram Alliance Cruiser? You didn’t think this might be something to bring up, and maybe save ourselves the trouble?”
Book looked up at Mal, his eyes narrow. “Some secrets are not mine to tell, Captain, and I will not violate oaths unless I am forced to. That doesn’t change. Ever.”
The two men stared at each other for almost a minute.
“So um… where am I taking us?” Wash asked. After a moment, Book turned to look out the front of the ship and Mal headed back to make sure everyone was secured. Book leaned over Wash’s shoulder. “See that little dot there that’s just a bit too big to be a star?”
Wash squinted. “Yeah.”
Book stood and pushed Kaylee out the door, following her back towards the engine room. “Stay away from that, and anything coming from it.”
* * * * *
“What’s going on?” Xander called as Kaylee ran through the mess. The captain had just run through and told them all to sit down and strap in. He, along with Willow and Simon, had. The ship rocked to starboard.
“Little glitch, nothing to worry about!” she answered, barely keeping her balance and not turning to look at them.
“We’ve got it under control,” Book said. He walked through the room calmly, but with a purposeful stride. “No need to worry.”
Xander and Willow looked at each other. “Problem,” they said. They unstrapped themselves and headed to the front of the ship.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to be doing that,” Simon called after them.
“What’s going on?” Willow asked as they stepped into the cockpit. Wash pulled hard to the left as a couple of Alliance ships passed by.
“That was close,” Xander said.
Wash shook his head. “Not really. They didn’t even fire this time. Are you two supposed to be up here?”
“Captain told us to strap in,” Xander said, pushing Willow toward the co-pilot’s seat. “He didn’t specifically say not to strap in up here.”
“Fine for her,” Wash said, pulling hard back to the right. “What about you?”
“I’ll be all right,” Xander assured him.
“You die and Mal’s going to be very upset.”
“Then I’ll just have to not die,” Xander said.
The ship rocked again as a missile exploded a hundred feet away from it.
“Anything we can do to help?” Willow asked.
“Not unless you can get rid of these guys,” Wash said. He pulled the ship around again, and Xander saw the four ships that were dogging them.
“This sucks,” said Xander, steadying himself against the doorframe, his knuckles white with the strain.
“Not as much as it could,” said Wash. He nodded out the window. “That Alliance cruiser out there carries about fifty of these things.”
“So either they’re going easy on us,” said Willow, “or they’re toying with us.”
“Pretty much.”
“What are you doing up here?” Mal asked, stepping into the cockpit. “Wash, why didn’t you get them out of here?”
“I don’t know if you noticed,” Wash said, swerving the ship away from yet another missile, “but I’m a little busy at the moment.”
“We wanted to see if we could help,” Willow said. “And I could push those missiles away from us, but they don’t actually seem to be trying to hit us.”
The ship rocked again as the missile exploded.
“You might want to get rid of ‘em anyway,” Xander said. “Shrapnel punctures the hull and we’re just a floating morgue. Right, Captain?”
Mal nodded. “Could be that’s so.” He turned to Willow. “Those missiles get too close, you do what you can. Hopefully it won’t be a problem. Shepherd said it should just take them another minute.”
Wash shook his head. “Another minute and we could be dust.”
Mal smiled confidently. “Book and Kaylee’ll get us through.”
The lights on Wash’s console died. Serenity was drifting.
* * * * *
“We’re gonna be dust,” Shepherd Book muttered.
“No we’re not!” Kaylee protested. “You’ll get it!”
Book pulled a couple of wires from under the FTL drive and twisted them together. “It’s like I’m fifteen and boosting hovercarts again,” he said. Book glanced up at Kaylee. “You didn’t hear that.”
“I didn’t hear nothin’,” Kaylee said.
“Duct tape?” Book asked. Kaylee handed him a roll of the silvery tape and sat back. She wasn’t used to having anybody else work on her engines, and she didn’t really like it, either.
“Almost got it, I think,” Book said. He wiped his hands on his pants and slid out from under the engine and nodded. “Hit it.”
Kaylee pressed a button, and they waited for the drive to light up. Nothing happened.
“Damn,” Book muttered.
“Shepherd, come out from under there,” Kaylee said. “Tell me what you’re tryin’ to do, and I’ll do it. Nobody knows Serenity like I do.”
Book looked up at her and looked ready to explain, but was distracted by the sound of footsteps running towards the engine room. A moment later, Xander appeared.
“Wash’s controls died,” he said. “We’re sitting ducks, and -”
An explosion rocked the ship and threw them all hard to the left. Kaylee fell back against the wall, and Xander managed to stop himself just short of slamming into her. Mostly.
“Oh, God! Sorry!” he said, backing away and pulling his hand away from her like he’d been bit.
Kaylee waved him off. “No harm done,” she said, rubbing her boob. “Not much, anyways. Shepherd, you best let me in there.”
Book nodded and stood away from the engine. Kaylee slid under it with a practiced ease. “Shepherd, you got things all messed up under here.” She pulled out her pliers and a wrench and undid everything the Shepherd had done. “Looks like you were tryin’ to bypass the primary engine kill,” she said.
“Yes! That’s it exactly,” Book said. Kaylee shook her head and clicked her tongue.
“I think that means you did it wrong,” said Xander.
“This is going to take me a minute,” Kaylee said. She disconnected the buffer, then re-routed the power from the -
“What’s an engine kill?” Xander asked. “It doesn’t actually, like, kill the engine, does it? Because that seems… like a bad idea.”
“Not kill in the sense of it’ll never work again,” Book said. “Kill in the sense of stop. Kill the power, for instance.”
“Thought so,” Xander said. He fell into silence and Kaylee regained her concentration. She re-routed the power from the secondary converter to the primary stabilizer coil, then disconnected the dump wire from the -
“What use would an engine kill have, anyway? Other than, apparently, this?” Xander asked.
“Well, it has any number of uses,” Book said. “In fact, it’s one of the primary means by which a total engine failu-”
“Hey!!” Kaylee shouted at them, sliding out from under the engine. “I ain’t never done this before, and we’re like to die if I do it wrong!”
Xander and Book looked ashamed. Kaylee sighed. “Y’all can stay, but I need some peace and quiet.” she said.
“I’ll be quiet,” Book said, nodding.
Xander grinned. “I’ll be peace.”
Kaylee chuckled at him, slid back under then engine and got to work.
* * * * *
Book stumbled back into the cockpit. He turned to Willow. “Xander’s looking for you.”
Willow slipped out of the cockpit and headed down the hall toward the kitchen.
“Can you call them up?” Book asked of Wash.
Wash eyed Mal for approval, which Mal granted with a nod. Wash pressed a few buttons, and slid out of the seat. Book replaced him and again wiped off the camera.
“Derria,” said the admiral. The man nodded off screen, and a moment later Book watched the fighters pull away, back towards the Alliance Cruiser “Come to your senses?”
Book smiled. “Jonah, I just wanted to say that you are a true friend. Remember me to all the men, if I don’t return.”
“I’m sorry, Derria,” said Brubaker. “Your last transmission was breaking up. Did you say you were surrendering?”
Book saluted the screen lazily. “Goodbye, old friend. Thanks for everything.” He cut the transmission, sighed, and stood up.
“Captain,” he said, “we should be in the clear.”
“He know you from your Watchering days?” Mal asked.
Book stood aside as Wash slipped past him and into the pilot’s chair. He smiled enigmatically at Mal. “Something like that.”
“Well?” Wash asked.
Mal nodded. Wash turned to his console, pressed three buttons, and they were gone.
----------
End Chapter 13
<<< [13] >>>
So that's that. I really really want to get going with this story. Hope you all liked it... but whether you did or not, please tell me!
Yeah. I finally finished the next (13th) chapter of From Here to Serenity. Here's hoping that the 13th was a curse and the next few won't take anywhere near as long (it's been since March that I posted the last one... well, April, if you count the Fake Chapter
From Here to Serenity
Disclaimers, etc., in prologue.
Malcolm Reynolds fell to the floor with a loud grunt and, not for the first time, silently cursed Shepherd Book for pairing him with Zoë. He knew how to fight fine, but his second-in-command was just too damn fast. He stood up at Book’s prodding and was getting ready to set himself up again when a number of alarms began blaring. The ship shook.
“Mal, you better get up here!” Wash yelled over the intercom. Mal was off in a flash, headed straight for the cockpit.
Thirty seconds later, Mal was looking over Wash’s shoulder. “What is it?”
“I’m not sure,” he said. “We received a wave just about the time this started.”
“A wave?” Mal asked. “Out here?”
Wash shrugged. “I was surprised too, but then I got distracted.”
The ship shuddered again, and then stopped rumbling all together. As if…
“Does that sound like the engine turned off?” Mal asked.
Wash tested his controls and punched a few buttons. “We’ve definitely come out of light speed.” He shook his head. “I’m getting nothing. Sub-light engines are fine, but we can’t engage FTL.”
Mal turned to head back to the engine room, but Kaylee ran up the stairs and into the cockpit just at that moment.
“We’re stopped,” she said. “Engine shut down. I can’t find a reason for it, though. Everything’s to be in workin’ order… just won’t go.”
“Captain?” Book asked, stepping into the cockpit.
“We’re stopped,” Mal said, his arms crossed over his chest.
“I’m aware. Is somebody trying to contact us?”
Mal turned at looked at him. “And how in the sphincter of hell did you know that?”
“The same way in the sphincter of hell I know anything, Captain. Can I answer the wave?” Book said.
Mal glared at him. “You knew this was gonna happen?”
Book paused. “I had an idea it might.”
Mal set his jaw sternly. “Next time something like this happens, preacher, and you don’t tell me up front? You and me are gonna have words.” He stepped out of Book’s way and looked down into the hallway. The rest of the crew was standing there. He ducked his head into the hallway.
“We stopped?” Zoë asked.
“Yep,” Mal said. “Workin’ on it. Everybody… go about your business.”
“Cap’n, we’re in the middle of nowhere. What business?”
“I don’t know, just… go play a game, or somethin’. You’re makin’ me nervous all standin’ there. Do something.”
The crowd slowly dispersed, and Mal stepped back into the cockpit. Book was sitting in Wash’s chair, his ID card inserted in the reader. Mal raised an eyebrow at Wash, who shrugged and shook his head.
“Shepherd?”
“Just a moment,” Book said. He reached up and wiped off the small camera as a man’s face appeared on screen. The man looked unhappy.
“Admiral Brubaker,” Book said, smiling. “Good evening.”
“Sir,” the admiral said. “I’d like to say it’s good to see you again, but I’m afraid I have to ask why you’re on a transport ship headed out this way.”
Wash looked at Mal and mouthed ‘Again?’
“I’m not here against my will, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Book said.
“No, sir, I didn’t imagine that you would be. Do you mind telling me what you’re doing?”
Book smiled at the camera. “You know why you’re out here?”
“I do,” said Brubaker.
Book nodded. “Then you know why I’m going.”
Brubaker rubbed his chin. “I was made to believe that you… and your associates… were against such a course of action.”
“Things change,” said Book. “I’m going.”
“I’m afraid I can’t allow that, Derria. You know I can’t.”
“What are your feelings on the matter, Jonah?” Book asked.
Mal and Wash looked at each other again. ‘Jonah?’ mouthed Mal.
“My feelings are unimportant.”
“There was never a case when that was less true,” said Book. “Every man’s life has defining moments, Jonah, whether they recognize it or not. This is one of yours.”
Brubaker leaned back in his chair. “I am not without sympathy towards your goal, Derria, but I have my orders.”
“And I have my faith.”
Brubaker smiled. “You’re going.”
“I am,” said Book. “We are.”
The admiral pointed to somebody off screen and nodded.
“Very well, sir. We will have no choice but to stop you by force. Prepare to be engaged.” The admiral swiped his hand across his throat to tell his communications officer to cut the transmission, but as he did so, Mal would swear he saw the man wink.
Book stood up from the pilot’s seat and allowed Wash back in.
“Captain, I think you’d better have everybody strap in. We’re going to need some fancy flying to get out of this,” Book told them.
“Did he wink at you?” Mal asked.
“Jonah’s an old friend,” Book said. “One of the best men I know. But he has his orders and he has to follow them.”
Mal shook his head. “Uh uh. No way. We’re just a transport, ain’t even got no weapons.”
Book shook his head. “It won’t matter. We’ll out maneuver them and then engage the FTL drive.”
“That still ain’t working,” Kaylee said. “Don’t seem to be nothin’ wrong with it, neither.”
“I know,” Book said. “But there’s a workaround. Captain, I truly suggest you get people strapped down.”
“You couldn’t have done this before we started runnin’ out here?” Mal asked. “Before we came up against a gorram Alliance Cruiser? You didn’t think this might be something to bring up, and maybe save ourselves the trouble?”
Book looked up at Mal, his eyes narrow. “Some secrets are not mine to tell, Captain, and I will not violate oaths unless I am forced to. That doesn’t change. Ever.”
The two men stared at each other for almost a minute.
“So um… where am I taking us?” Wash asked. After a moment, Book turned to look out the front of the ship and Mal headed back to make sure everyone was secured. Book leaned over Wash’s shoulder. “See that little dot there that’s just a bit too big to be a star?”
Wash squinted. “Yeah.”
Book stood and pushed Kaylee out the door, following her back towards the engine room. “Stay away from that, and anything coming from it.”
* * * * *
“What’s going on?” Xander called as Kaylee ran through the mess. The captain had just run through and told them all to sit down and strap in. He, along with Willow and Simon, had. The ship rocked to starboard.
“Little glitch, nothing to worry about!” she answered, barely keeping her balance and not turning to look at them.
“We’ve got it under control,” Book said. He walked through the room calmly, but with a purposeful stride. “No need to worry.”
Xander and Willow looked at each other. “Problem,” they said. They unstrapped themselves and headed to the front of the ship.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to be doing that,” Simon called after them.
“What’s going on?” Willow asked as they stepped into the cockpit. Wash pulled hard to the left as a couple of Alliance ships passed by.
“That was close,” Xander said.
Wash shook his head. “Not really. They didn’t even fire this time. Are you two supposed to be up here?”
“Captain told us to strap in,” Xander said, pushing Willow toward the co-pilot’s seat. “He didn’t specifically say not to strap in up here.”
“Fine for her,” Wash said, pulling hard back to the right. “What about you?”
“I’ll be all right,” Xander assured him.
“You die and Mal’s going to be very upset.”
“Then I’ll just have to not die,” Xander said.
The ship rocked again as a missile exploded a hundred feet away from it.
“Anything we can do to help?” Willow asked.
“Not unless you can get rid of these guys,” Wash said. He pulled the ship around again, and Xander saw the four ships that were dogging them.
“This sucks,” said Xander, steadying himself against the doorframe, his knuckles white with the strain.
“Not as much as it could,” said Wash. He nodded out the window. “That Alliance cruiser out there carries about fifty of these things.”
“So either they’re going easy on us,” said Willow, “or they’re toying with us.”
“Pretty much.”
“What are you doing up here?” Mal asked, stepping into the cockpit. “Wash, why didn’t you get them out of here?”
“I don’t know if you noticed,” Wash said, swerving the ship away from yet another missile, “but I’m a little busy at the moment.”
“We wanted to see if we could help,” Willow said. “And I could push those missiles away from us, but they don’t actually seem to be trying to hit us.”
The ship rocked again as the missile exploded.
“You might want to get rid of ‘em anyway,” Xander said. “Shrapnel punctures the hull and we’re just a floating morgue. Right, Captain?”
Mal nodded. “Could be that’s so.” He turned to Willow. “Those missiles get too close, you do what you can. Hopefully it won’t be a problem. Shepherd said it should just take them another minute.”
Wash shook his head. “Another minute and we could be dust.”
Mal smiled confidently. “Book and Kaylee’ll get us through.”
The lights on Wash’s console died. Serenity was drifting.
* * * * *
“We’re gonna be dust,” Shepherd Book muttered.
“No we’re not!” Kaylee protested. “You’ll get it!”
Book pulled a couple of wires from under the FTL drive and twisted them together. “It’s like I’m fifteen and boosting hovercarts again,” he said. Book glanced up at Kaylee. “You didn’t hear that.”
“I didn’t hear nothin’,” Kaylee said.
“Duct tape?” Book asked. Kaylee handed him a roll of the silvery tape and sat back. She wasn’t used to having anybody else work on her engines, and she didn’t really like it, either.
“Almost got it, I think,” Book said. He wiped his hands on his pants and slid out from under the engine and nodded. “Hit it.”
Kaylee pressed a button, and they waited for the drive to light up. Nothing happened.
“Damn,” Book muttered.
“Shepherd, come out from under there,” Kaylee said. “Tell me what you’re tryin’ to do, and I’ll do it. Nobody knows Serenity like I do.”
Book looked up at her and looked ready to explain, but was distracted by the sound of footsteps running towards the engine room. A moment later, Xander appeared.
“Wash’s controls died,” he said. “We’re sitting ducks, and -”
An explosion rocked the ship and threw them all hard to the left. Kaylee fell back against the wall, and Xander managed to stop himself just short of slamming into her. Mostly.
“Oh, God! Sorry!” he said, backing away and pulling his hand away from her like he’d been bit.
Kaylee waved him off. “No harm done,” she said, rubbing her boob. “Not much, anyways. Shepherd, you best let me in there.”
Book nodded and stood away from the engine. Kaylee slid under it with a practiced ease. “Shepherd, you got things all messed up under here.” She pulled out her pliers and a wrench and undid everything the Shepherd had done. “Looks like you were tryin’ to bypass the primary engine kill,” she said.
“Yes! That’s it exactly,” Book said. Kaylee shook her head and clicked her tongue.
“I think that means you did it wrong,” said Xander.
“This is going to take me a minute,” Kaylee said. She disconnected the buffer, then re-routed the power from the -
“What’s an engine kill?” Xander asked. “It doesn’t actually, like, kill the engine, does it? Because that seems… like a bad idea.”
“Not kill in the sense of it’ll never work again,” Book said. “Kill in the sense of stop. Kill the power, for instance.”
“Thought so,” Xander said. He fell into silence and Kaylee regained her concentration. She re-routed the power from the secondary converter to the primary stabilizer coil, then disconnected the dump wire from the -
“What use would an engine kill have, anyway? Other than, apparently, this?” Xander asked.
“Well, it has any number of uses,” Book said. “In fact, it’s one of the primary means by which a total engine failu-”
“Hey!!” Kaylee shouted at them, sliding out from under the engine. “I ain’t never done this before, and we’re like to die if I do it wrong!”
Xander and Book looked ashamed. Kaylee sighed. “Y’all can stay, but I need some peace and quiet.” she said.
“I’ll be quiet,” Book said, nodding.
Xander grinned. “I’ll be peace.”
Kaylee chuckled at him, slid back under then engine and got to work.
* * * * *
Book stumbled back into the cockpit. He turned to Willow. “Xander’s looking for you.”
Willow slipped out of the cockpit and headed down the hall toward the kitchen.
“Can you call them up?” Book asked of Wash.
Wash eyed Mal for approval, which Mal granted with a nod. Wash pressed a few buttons, and slid out of the seat. Book replaced him and again wiped off the camera.
“Derria,” said the admiral. The man nodded off screen, and a moment later Book watched the fighters pull away, back towards the Alliance Cruiser “Come to your senses?”
Book smiled. “Jonah, I just wanted to say that you are a true friend. Remember me to all the men, if I don’t return.”
“I’m sorry, Derria,” said Brubaker. “Your last transmission was breaking up. Did you say you were surrendering?”
Book saluted the screen lazily. “Goodbye, old friend. Thanks for everything.” He cut the transmission, sighed, and stood up.
“Captain,” he said, “we should be in the clear.”
“He know you from your Watchering days?” Mal asked.
Book stood aside as Wash slipped past him and into the pilot’s chair. He smiled enigmatically at Mal. “Something like that.”
“Well?” Wash asked.
Mal nodded. Wash turned to his console, pressed three buttons, and they were gone.
----------
End Chapter 13
<<< [13] >>>
So that's that. I really really want to get going with this story. Hope you all liked it... but whether you did or not, please tell me!