FIC: What Was Before (for Azarsuerte)
Title: What Was Before
Author: Raggedy Edge
Fandom: Firefly
Summary: Azarsuerte requested a story fleshing out Book's backstory and how a killer might become a man of God. This is my humble take on it.
Authors notes: I actually had more ideas on what happened in the abbey than what came before, so it took me awhile to get this one going, but I hope that it was what you were looking for! Also, HUGE thanks to Rachel for the beta, you kept me on course and I owe you big time. Any defects are mine.
What Was Before
I
Derrial Book killed for the first time at the age of 18.
He had joined the Alliance at 16, under age, but his parent's signed the consent form willingly... life on the border planets was hard, and if he was enlisted, at least he would have food to eat and a roof over his head, that much they could give him as parents at least. He adapted quickly to military life, showing an aptitude for strategy, and for unquestioning obedience that was noted and approved of, and shortly after he completed his first year in the infantry, he was selected for Agent training. They told him that someday he might even make Operative if he worked hard and showed enough initiative.
It was on his first mission as an Agent that he made his first kill. It was a recon mission, supposedly a simple in and out. He had been given a layout of a house and the combination to a safe. He was to retrieve the contents of the safe without anyone knowing he was there. Unfortunately as he was making his was back to the rendezvous point, he ran into one of the security guards on the estate. In the 3 seconds that he had before the guard brought his gun around to bear, Derrial considered his options and made his decision. In the next 30 seconds he fought with an intensity and fervor that took the guard, who was expecting nothing more than a farmer trying to steal some food for his family, completely by surprise. He knocked the gun out of the guard's hand and almost before either of them knew what had happened, he had broken the guard's neck.
At his debriefing session after the mission was over, he told the facts of the struggle dispassionately, and he was commended for his clear thinking and ability to carry out the mission objectives by his captain.
When he went to bed that night all he could think about was the crisp sound of the vertebrae separating, and when he closed his eyes he could still see the dead man's name patch in glowing in the moonlight.
II
By the age of 22, he had become a full Agent, and was known as the man to go to when there was a problem. His commanding officer had once described Agents as half lawman, half hetman, and Derrial found that he could fit into either role with ease.
When he was not on assignment, he was stationed on Persephone, working the slums. Mostly his job was to make sure that none of the crime lords got too powerful, and that the carefully balanced status quo was kept. He knew the name of every grifter, dealer and smuggler that did business on Persephone, information after all was his trade. For a price, he would share that information, and for an even higher one, he would double cross you. That was the way the game worked, and no one played it better than Derrial Book. The only reason he wasn't running things was that he had no real interest in the details; it was just one more commodity to trade when the time came.
One day an assignment came across his desk that detailed the actions of a local crime syndicate that had branched out to open up a brothel. While this was in the normal course of things not an issue, the fact that the brothel was staffed entirely with kidnapped children, and one of those children was the daughter of a prominent noble family, made it an Alliance issue. The need to locate and shut the brothel down quickly and decisively, and get the children out without anyone realizing who they were made it Agent Book's issue.
Trading in on the contacts he had made, he was able to learn the location of the brothel almost immediately. Unfortunately as he surveilled the brothel compound, he knew it would not be quite so easy to complete the rest of his mission. Locating the room the children were being kept in, he realized there were too many guards and patrons to allow for a single man operation, but as he peered in to get an estimate of how many children there were, he realized that perhaps it wouldn't be so much of a problem after all.
Returning quickly to his office, he sent waves to several people; each one was told the same thing and given a time and a place to meet. When he arrived at the meeting place, there were over 30 men there, he had only sent 5 waves, but as it turned out, the kidnappers had been rather lax in their research, and several of the children belonged to the families of some of Persephone's largest crime families. He quickly went over the plan with them all, it was simple. Save the children, kill anyone else who was there. It had the benefit of being easy to remember, but also would serve as warning for anyone else who might consider something similar in the future.
The rescue was a success. All of the children were retrieved, most of them had been unharmed, the brothel had only been open for a day so most of them were spared, including the daughter of one of Persephone's founding families. When Agent Book returned her to her parents' home, they were so overjoyed to have her back they swore that if he ever needed anything, he need only show his Ident Card and if it was in their power, they would make sure it happened. He said that he needed no payment, but they insisted, placing a call to his commanding officer while he stood there in the living room still covered in the blood of those he had killed during the rescue.
III
After 20 years of service, Derrial retired from the corps. He retired a decorated Agent with 18 kills on his record (20 in fact, but 2 were on missions classified high enough that only Operatives or those who had ordered the missions in the first place had access to those files,) and a service record that was unblemished. He could have stayed in for another 20 if he wanted, but the last year and a half he had been having problems sleeping. When he would go to bed at night, he would find himself sneaking across that compound from so many years before and relive that first fateful kill over and over again in his dreams. He would wake to the sound of a neck popping as it was twisted with deadly force, and he could never go back to sleep after that.
He tried hiring on as private security for awhile, drifting from town to town and planet to planet, wherever the job took him. He found that he loved outer space, something about the vastness of it, the silence, the majesty, calmed something in his soul. But eventually he would have to land, and the dreams would come back.
One night found him in a dive bar somewhere downside on Persephone. It had been a few years, but still it felt like coming home when the ship had landed that afternoon, and celebrating his latest job and lucrative payoff seemed to be a good idea. And it had been for awhile, a few drinks and an appreciative eye on the dancing girl across the room, a good night. But then there had been a fight, and the dancing girl wasn't quite so pretty after a drunk had slit her throat with a broken bottle when she refused to leave with him. And he had been too preoccupied by the sight of her and the way the local police didn't seem to care about another dead whore to notice the men who followed him as he left the bar, sloppy for an ex-Agent, but it happened.
When he came to, he was lying facedown in a puddle, and it felt like every inch of his body had been beaten. Lungs on fire, he managed to roll himself over and call out for help before he blacked out again.
This time when he woke up, he was lying on his back in a dimly lit room. He could smell lavender nearby, and hear wind chimes outside the door. When he tried to sit up, he realized his chest was bound tightly, most likely to hold his ribs together he deduced as he took a deep breath and felt the burning that accompanied it. Falling back against his pillow, he heard a door opening and turned his head towards the sound.
"It’s good to see you awake," the man said to him as he approached. “We were worried about that bump on your head. It’s been 2 days since we found you in that alley.” He carried a bowl in his hands and it looked like he had a towel folded over his arm. "I am Shepherd Robb, welcome to Southdown Abbey."
Author: Raggedy Edge
Fandom: Firefly
Summary: Azarsuerte requested a story fleshing out Book's backstory and how a killer might become a man of God. This is my humble take on it.
Authors notes: I actually had more ideas on what happened in the abbey than what came before, so it took me awhile to get this one going, but I hope that it was what you were looking for! Also, HUGE thanks to Rachel for the beta, you kept me on course and I owe you big time. Any defects are mine.
What Was Before
I
Derrial Book killed for the first time at the age of 18.
He had joined the Alliance at 16, under age, but his parent's signed the consent form willingly... life on the border planets was hard, and if he was enlisted, at least he would have food to eat and a roof over his head, that much they could give him as parents at least. He adapted quickly to military life, showing an aptitude for strategy, and for unquestioning obedience that was noted and approved of, and shortly after he completed his first year in the infantry, he was selected for Agent training. They told him that someday he might even make Operative if he worked hard and showed enough initiative.
It was on his first mission as an Agent that he made his first kill. It was a recon mission, supposedly a simple in and out. He had been given a layout of a house and the combination to a safe. He was to retrieve the contents of the safe without anyone knowing he was there. Unfortunately as he was making his was back to the rendezvous point, he ran into one of the security guards on the estate. In the 3 seconds that he had before the guard brought his gun around to bear, Derrial considered his options and made his decision. In the next 30 seconds he fought with an intensity and fervor that took the guard, who was expecting nothing more than a farmer trying to steal some food for his family, completely by surprise. He knocked the gun out of the guard's hand and almost before either of them knew what had happened, he had broken the guard's neck.
At his debriefing session after the mission was over, he told the facts of the struggle dispassionately, and he was commended for his clear thinking and ability to carry out the mission objectives by his captain.
When he went to bed that night all he could think about was the crisp sound of the vertebrae separating, and when he closed his eyes he could still see the dead man's name patch in glowing in the moonlight.
II
By the age of 22, he had become a full Agent, and was known as the man to go to when there was a problem. His commanding officer had once described Agents as half lawman, half hetman, and Derrial found that he could fit into either role with ease.
When he was not on assignment, he was stationed on Persephone, working the slums. Mostly his job was to make sure that none of the crime lords got too powerful, and that the carefully balanced status quo was kept. He knew the name of every grifter, dealer and smuggler that did business on Persephone, information after all was his trade. For a price, he would share that information, and for an even higher one, he would double cross you. That was the way the game worked, and no one played it better than Derrial Book. The only reason he wasn't running things was that he had no real interest in the details; it was just one more commodity to trade when the time came.
One day an assignment came across his desk that detailed the actions of a local crime syndicate that had branched out to open up a brothel. While this was in the normal course of things not an issue, the fact that the brothel was staffed entirely with kidnapped children, and one of those children was the daughter of a prominent noble family, made it an Alliance issue. The need to locate and shut the brothel down quickly and decisively, and get the children out without anyone realizing who they were made it Agent Book's issue.
Trading in on the contacts he had made, he was able to learn the location of the brothel almost immediately. Unfortunately as he surveilled the brothel compound, he knew it would not be quite so easy to complete the rest of his mission. Locating the room the children were being kept in, he realized there were too many guards and patrons to allow for a single man operation, but as he peered in to get an estimate of how many children there were, he realized that perhaps it wouldn't be so much of a problem after all.
Returning quickly to his office, he sent waves to several people; each one was told the same thing and given a time and a place to meet. When he arrived at the meeting place, there were over 30 men there, he had only sent 5 waves, but as it turned out, the kidnappers had been rather lax in their research, and several of the children belonged to the families of some of Persephone's largest crime families. He quickly went over the plan with them all, it was simple. Save the children, kill anyone else who was there. It had the benefit of being easy to remember, but also would serve as warning for anyone else who might consider something similar in the future.
The rescue was a success. All of the children were retrieved, most of them had been unharmed, the brothel had only been open for a day so most of them were spared, including the daughter of one of Persephone's founding families. When Agent Book returned her to her parents' home, they were so overjoyed to have her back they swore that if he ever needed anything, he need only show his Ident Card and if it was in their power, they would make sure it happened. He said that he needed no payment, but they insisted, placing a call to his commanding officer while he stood there in the living room still covered in the blood of those he had killed during the rescue.
III
After 20 years of service, Derrial retired from the corps. He retired a decorated Agent with 18 kills on his record (20 in fact, but 2 were on missions classified high enough that only Operatives or those who had ordered the missions in the first place had access to those files,) and a service record that was unblemished. He could have stayed in for another 20 if he wanted, but the last year and a half he had been having problems sleeping. When he would go to bed at night, he would find himself sneaking across that compound from so many years before and relive that first fateful kill over and over again in his dreams. He would wake to the sound of a neck popping as it was twisted with deadly force, and he could never go back to sleep after that.
He tried hiring on as private security for awhile, drifting from town to town and planet to planet, wherever the job took him. He found that he loved outer space, something about the vastness of it, the silence, the majesty, calmed something in his soul. But eventually he would have to land, and the dreams would come back.
One night found him in a dive bar somewhere downside on Persephone. It had been a few years, but still it felt like coming home when the ship had landed that afternoon, and celebrating his latest job and lucrative payoff seemed to be a good idea. And it had been for awhile, a few drinks and an appreciative eye on the dancing girl across the room, a good night. But then there had been a fight, and the dancing girl wasn't quite so pretty after a drunk had slit her throat with a broken bottle when she refused to leave with him. And he had been too preoccupied by the sight of her and the way the local police didn't seem to care about another dead whore to notice the men who followed him as he left the bar, sloppy for an ex-Agent, but it happened.
When he came to, he was lying facedown in a puddle, and it felt like every inch of his body had been beaten. Lungs on fire, he managed to roll himself over and call out for help before he blacked out again.
This time when he woke up, he was lying on his back in a dimly lit room. He could smell lavender nearby, and hear wind chimes outside the door. When he tried to sit up, he realized his chest was bound tightly, most likely to hold his ribs together he deduced as he took a deep breath and felt the burning that accompanied it. Falling back against his pillow, he heard a door opening and turned his head towards the sound.
"It’s good to see you awake," the man said to him as he approached. “We were worried about that bump on your head. It’s been 2 days since we found you in that alley.” He carried a bowl in his hands and it looked like he had a towel folded over his arm. "I am Shepherd Robb, welcome to Southdown Abbey."