Firefly, Episode 8: Hold On, Part 1
Five days have passed since our last episode, and our heroes are mostly recovered. Over dinner, our Big Damn Heroes discuss how to proceed. Perez, lays out two things that need to be accomplished for his plans to proceed in dealing with our enemies. The first is that we need to plant some evidence to get the 49th and Lao Fang's forces to fight each other, and the second is that we need an Alliance ship.
The Alliance ship part of the plan involves limping the Fandango into space dock at Highgate, to convince the station to let us dock as we appear to be in distress, and then to steal the Ewing. The idea is floated that Jimmy Woo should play Carmen's husband in the play to get the Alliance ship, which Jimmy is clearly, and humorously, freaked out by. It's also discussed that this will involve painting, or otherwise disguising, the Fandango, something that Tes (and, really, everyone) plainly doesn't want to do. Carmen has an idea to whip up some paint that'll wear off in a few months, returning the ship to it's former appearance. Perez suggests some carefully-placed explosives to do some cosmetic damage. However, this is mostly put on hold, and we decide to deal with the planting evidence problem first.
The idea is this: Perez thinks that we might be able to use Lao Fang's hatred of us against the 49th. We are given a short history lesson: Three brothers, Kalob, Frank, and a third brother, all named Jesseps, all from Regina, and all served together in the war. After the war, they were heavily involved in the 49th, and became it's leadership. When the third brother died, Frank got unhinged, and this is part of why the 49th has started it's campaign of urban terrorism. Kalob stopped caring, and became a thug, and started working for Lao Fang. Frank isn't aware of this juicy detail.
Plan: Plant evidence that connects our characters to Kalob Jessups, which, in turn, may make Lao Fang paranoid. Lao Fang will likely think that we were assassins sent to kill him (as supported by the exposition that took out much of Lao Fang's station last episode), as part of a power play on Kalob's part. When Lao Fang discovers this evidence, he'll try to take out Kalob, which will drag the 49th into things because of Frank's brotherly-bond to Kalob. After the two sides duke it out, we clean up the winner.
The information needs to go into a computer system on Deadwood. We'll also need to be disguised, but be careful to be seen during this mission, so that Lao Fang's people notice us, and think that we don't want to be seen.
The female members of the crew have a discussion about The Little Girl we've all seen in our dreams, and for Tes recently, while awake. "What the Hell?" We wonder.
Carmen is also angry to discover that Duty is still in the possession of Lao Fang, and resolves to recover it.
After a brief trip, the crew lands on Deadwood in disguises (essentially, our characters lent each other clothing), and head for a bar called the Lockjaw. Deadwood is a dead town, it seems - Once a place of economic importance, but now a husk of it's former self. Early on, a pickpocket tries to steal the memory stick we need for the computer, but the kid is thwarted at Tes' gun point. Lina ends up with the memory stick. We arrive at the Lockjaw just in time to see a drunken miner tossed out into the street, and stumble away.
After we enter the place and take in the scene: Card games, drinking. Pretty much what we'd expect from a backwater colony. Carmen notices a back room, where she imagines a private card game is probably taking place back there. Maybe it's also where the terminal is?
Tes and Lina decide to get a drink and see if they can learn anything from the room, though Lina seems somewhat more determined than Tes with regards to the "drink" part. Carmen requests a virgin screwdriver, due to her condition (figuring she can blend in a little better that way, at least). As Tes and Lina leave Carmen alone to get their drinks, Carmen quickly finds a gun in her back!
It turns out that Slade has been laying here in wait for us, and he threatens violence if Carmen doesn't head up the stairs. Carmen cooperates, but tries to catch the eye of Lina and Tes as this is happening. They take notice, and decide that the best way to create a distraction is (naturally) to start a bar fight.
Lina never being one to throw a punch, Tes starts things off by yelling, "You bitch!", and slaps Lina, who stumbles into a card table… and the battle is begun. While the card players are dealing with Tes, Lina runs up the stairs after Carmen.
Meanwhile, Carmen has been directed down the hallway into a room, wherein she expects to find her Master, or perhaps the Alliance has finally caught up with her? From fear comes anger, and Carmen quietly resolves to make life as difficult as possible for the residents of the room, if they intend violence against her or the child… so she's surprised when she steps into the room, and finds her husband, Joseph Yuan!
Lina's path upstairs is blocked by Slade. As Slade and Lina face off, and it becomes clear that Carmen is in no immediate danger, we can see Tess over Lina's shoulder in the back of the shot, fending off drunks, riding Lockjaw and pummelling him about the head, and finally, being thrown out of a window. Lina learns that Slade had apparently been paid a lot of money to look past the group's past transgressions against him.
Carmen and Joseph have a long and awkward discussion about the state of things between them, made more difficult by feelings, and an encroaching feeling that, while Carmen may have felt betrayed by Joseph's reaction to her when she got back from the war, he certainly didn't deserve what she's done to him (even if it was never meant to be about him). It is messy, and emotionally, still quite tangled. Carmen, wanting someone from her past to come over to her way of thinking, tries to convince Joseph that she's on the right side of things using every reasoning she can think of, appealing first to his sense of duty to others, and somewhat out of desperation when that doesn't seem to work, to his careerism to get him onto her side. They discuss The Signal, and how people out here are rallying around it. He says that The Signal was a hoax ("Everyone knows that!"), but Carmen points out that she was decorated highly for the slaughtering of innocents - the Miranda project isn't that far removed from that, especially if it was accidental. Joseph doesn't seem convinced, but maybe has more doubts than he did before the conversation started. The door is left open for contact - they might speak again. Joseph leaves, and Carmen rejoins Lina in the corridor. Carmen insists to Lina that she's fine, while Slade settles in to watch the bar fighting.
Tes, meanwhile, has dragged on with the fighting. Lina leads a slightly-shaken Carmen in an attempt to get into the back room, and "away from the fighting." Lina presses Carmen to use her pregnancy to her advantage in convincing the folks in the back room to "help" them. Though Carmen doesn't much care for this use of her unborn child to further her own goals, she follows Lina's lead and ends up faking sick to distract the gentlemen. Lina talks their way into the back room, and then sneaks off to plant the data while Carmen distracts the gentlemen with fake groaning and retching.
Lina manages to turn on the computer in Kalob's office, but without any knowledge of computing, she's at a loss as to how to proceed. She ends up radioing Tes and getting Tes to walk Lina through the process (though Tes' split attentions during this proceeding probably don't help this). After an epic struggle and epic-er expenditures of drama points, Lina manages to plant the data... Just in time to be found by the Kalob in the back room!
Lina and Carmen end up getting handed off to the bartender to be "dealt with", justifiably distracted by the events in the front room. As the bartender is escorting them away, Tes bursts in through another window and decks the bartender, and our heroes make a break for it. Lina blows a kiss back to Kalob as they were fleeing, for any onlooker's benefit. All this results in much laughter from Slade.
Our heroes make their way into a crowd. Tes distracts the grunts that are being sent after them, while Carmen and Lina sneak off down an alleyway to make their way back to the ship. Tes loses the grunts, and eventually does the same. They leave together, though each of our protagonists seem a little worse for wear.
To Be Continued!
Note: See also athenalindia 's summary
The Alliance ship part of the plan involves limping the Fandango into space dock at Highgate, to convince the station to let us dock as we appear to be in distress, and then to steal the Ewing. The idea is floated that Jimmy Woo should play Carmen's husband in the play to get the Alliance ship, which Jimmy is clearly, and humorously, freaked out by. It's also discussed that this will involve painting, or otherwise disguising, the Fandango, something that Tes (and, really, everyone) plainly doesn't want to do. Carmen has an idea to whip up some paint that'll wear off in a few months, returning the ship to it's former appearance. Perez suggests some carefully-placed explosives to do some cosmetic damage. However, this is mostly put on hold, and we decide to deal with the planting evidence problem first.
The idea is this: Perez thinks that we might be able to use Lao Fang's hatred of us against the 49th. We are given a short history lesson: Three brothers, Kalob, Frank, and a third brother, all named Jesseps, all from Regina, and all served together in the war. After the war, they were heavily involved in the 49th, and became it's leadership. When the third brother died, Frank got unhinged, and this is part of why the 49th has started it's campaign of urban terrorism. Kalob stopped caring, and became a thug, and started working for Lao Fang. Frank isn't aware of this juicy detail.
Plan: Plant evidence that connects our characters to Kalob Jessups, which, in turn, may make Lao Fang paranoid. Lao Fang will likely think that we were assassins sent to kill him (as supported by the exposition that took out much of Lao Fang's station last episode), as part of a power play on Kalob's part. When Lao Fang discovers this evidence, he'll try to take out Kalob, which will drag the 49th into things because of Frank's brotherly-bond to Kalob. After the two sides duke it out, we clean up the winner.
The information needs to go into a computer system on Deadwood. We'll also need to be disguised, but be careful to be seen during this mission, so that Lao Fang's people notice us, and think that we don't want to be seen.
The female members of the crew have a discussion about The Little Girl we've all seen in our dreams, and for Tes recently, while awake. "What the Hell?" We wonder.
Carmen is also angry to discover that Duty is still in the possession of Lao Fang, and resolves to recover it.
After a brief trip, the crew lands on Deadwood in disguises (essentially, our characters lent each other clothing), and head for a bar called the Lockjaw. Deadwood is a dead town, it seems - Once a place of economic importance, but now a husk of it's former self. Early on, a pickpocket tries to steal the memory stick we need for the computer, but the kid is thwarted at Tes' gun point. Lina ends up with the memory stick. We arrive at the Lockjaw just in time to see a drunken miner tossed out into the street, and stumble away.
After we enter the place and take in the scene: Card games, drinking. Pretty much what we'd expect from a backwater colony. Carmen notices a back room, where she imagines a private card game is probably taking place back there. Maybe it's also where the terminal is?
Tes and Lina decide to get a drink and see if they can learn anything from the room, though Lina seems somewhat more determined than Tes with regards to the "drink" part. Carmen requests a virgin screwdriver, due to her condition (figuring she can blend in a little better that way, at least). As Tes and Lina leave Carmen alone to get their drinks, Carmen quickly finds a gun in her back!
It turns out that Slade has been laying here in wait for us, and he threatens violence if Carmen doesn't head up the stairs. Carmen cooperates, but tries to catch the eye of Lina and Tes as this is happening. They take notice, and decide that the best way to create a distraction is (naturally) to start a bar fight.
Lina never being one to throw a punch, Tes starts things off by yelling, "You bitch!", and slaps Lina, who stumbles into a card table… and the battle is begun. While the card players are dealing with Tes, Lina runs up the stairs after Carmen.
Meanwhile, Carmen has been directed down the hallway into a room, wherein she expects to find her Master, or perhaps the Alliance has finally caught up with her? From fear comes anger, and Carmen quietly resolves to make life as difficult as possible for the residents of the room, if they intend violence against her or the child… so she's surprised when she steps into the room, and finds her husband, Joseph Yuan!
Lina's path upstairs is blocked by Slade. As Slade and Lina face off, and it becomes clear that Carmen is in no immediate danger, we can see Tess over Lina's shoulder in the back of the shot, fending off drunks, riding Lockjaw and pummelling him about the head, and finally, being thrown out of a window. Lina learns that Slade had apparently been paid a lot of money to look past the group's past transgressions against him.
Carmen and Joseph have a long and awkward discussion about the state of things between them, made more difficult by feelings, and an encroaching feeling that, while Carmen may have felt betrayed by Joseph's reaction to her when she got back from the war, he certainly didn't deserve what she's done to him (even if it was never meant to be about him). It is messy, and emotionally, still quite tangled. Carmen, wanting someone from her past to come over to her way of thinking, tries to convince Joseph that she's on the right side of things using every reasoning she can think of, appealing first to his sense of duty to others, and somewhat out of desperation when that doesn't seem to work, to his careerism to get him onto her side. They discuss The Signal, and how people out here are rallying around it. He says that The Signal was a hoax ("Everyone knows that!"), but Carmen points out that she was decorated highly for the slaughtering of innocents - the Miranda project isn't that far removed from that, especially if it was accidental. Joseph doesn't seem convinced, but maybe has more doubts than he did before the conversation started. The door is left open for contact - they might speak again. Joseph leaves, and Carmen rejoins Lina in the corridor. Carmen insists to Lina that she's fine, while Slade settles in to watch the bar fighting.
Tes, meanwhile, has dragged on with the fighting. Lina leads a slightly-shaken Carmen in an attempt to get into the back room, and "away from the fighting." Lina presses Carmen to use her pregnancy to her advantage in convincing the folks in the back room to "help" them. Though Carmen doesn't much care for this use of her unborn child to further her own goals, she follows Lina's lead and ends up faking sick to distract the gentlemen. Lina talks their way into the back room, and then sneaks off to plant the data while Carmen distracts the gentlemen with fake groaning and retching.
Lina manages to turn on the computer in Kalob's office, but without any knowledge of computing, she's at a loss as to how to proceed. She ends up radioing Tes and getting Tes to walk Lina through the process (though Tes' split attentions during this proceeding probably don't help this). After an epic struggle and epic-er expenditures of drama points, Lina manages to plant the data... Just in time to be found by the Kalob in the back room!
Lina and Carmen end up getting handed off to the bartender to be "dealt with", justifiably distracted by the events in the front room. As the bartender is escorting them away, Tes bursts in through another window and decks the bartender, and our heroes make a break for it. Lina blows a kiss back to Kalob as they were fleeing, for any onlooker's benefit. All this results in much laughter from Slade.
Our heroes make their way into a crowd. Tes distracts the grunts that are being sent after them, while Carmen and Lina sneak off down an alleyway to make their way back to the ship. Tes loses the grunts, and eventually does the same. They leave together, though each of our protagonists seem a little worse for wear.
To Be Continued!
Note: See also athenalindia 's summary