(no subject)
Title: What the Captain Doesn’t Know Won’t Hurt Him
Prompt#7: Implacable - Impossible to placate or appease: implacable foes; implacable suspicion
Author:
squish_67
Pairing: Jayne/Kaylee
Rating: G
Word Count: 1826
Note: Joint project by myself and
bookaddict43. Click here for the prompt table and previous chapters.
***
Zoe made her way to the bridge to check on their arrival time at Columbus. She hadn’t questioned the captain’s decision to make the deal there. The planet was one of the newest terraforming projects, only inhabitable for a few years now, which meant the Alliance presence wasn’t too strong. They preferred to come in after all the bugs had been worked out, it left the fed troops less susceptible to terraforming mishaps. However, that absence also meant that it was a place filled with questionable individuals. Zoe found the fact that they would fit in to be both a boon and a hindrance.
Her thoughts were pushed aside as she stepped onto the bridge to see Wash holding his toy dinosaurs and muttering to himself. On any given day, that wasn’t an unusual of an occurrence, but the look on his face at the moment gave her pause.
“Something wrong, Husband?”
Wash held up two of the tiny replicas for her to see, as if doing so would explain everything. She raised an eyebrow at him in query.
“There was a monster.” His voice was filled with something akin to awe.
“Uh huh,” she eyed him skeptically.
“There was!” Wash implored as he thrust the dinos towards her. “I saw it. It was huge and vicious and…and multi-colored! It had Steggy in its mouth and Mr. T was trying to fight it off, but it just flung him across the console. And then it…”
Zoe shook her head as she turned her back on her ranting husband. Man sure did have an imagination; was a good thing she had found other uses for it. She decided she could get their ETA from the cortex link in the secondary shuttle.
“No one is safe!” he called out to her retreating form.
***
Rich stood in the small observation deck on his ship, The Perseus, his handsome features taking in the scene before him. He liked to call it an observation deck, but it was really just a small portal perched atop the ship where he could get the view he wanted without his thoughts being interrupted by his pilot Tom. He could see the Firefly-class ship they were tailing. She looked to be a sturdy craft, maybe if things played out right, he’d keep her.
His fists clenched unconsciously as he thought about the man aboard that ship who’d become his obsession. He’d spent the last few years tracking Cobb and the job of ending him was gonna be about as unsavory as they come. But he’d handpicked his crew to take on unsavory jobs and he knew they’d follow him. His crew weren’t like the mercenary they were tracking; a man who’d turned on everyone he’d ever run with, leaving a trail of dead or wounded behind for others to clean up.
No, Rich thought, it wasn’t gonna be hard takin’ his revenge on Jayne Cobb. The man deserved to die for what he’d done to Rich’s kin-his blood. An eye for an eye was the rule of the rim and he was gonna make damn sure he took that eye from Cobb-that and a few other things.
He slammed a fist into the wall next to him, hard enough to break the skin on his knuckles. Better get hold of yourself, Rich, or you ain’t gonna be able to keep a cool head ‘bout this one, he thought. He needed to control his emotions better, needed to pretend like it was any other job in order to get Cobb. He needed a few more hired guns too.
***
“There you are!” Kaylee said, scooping the small kitten up in her arms. “How’d you get out here, girl?” she asked the wiggling kitten.
“We were playing.”
Kaylee looked up to see River peeking around some crates in the cargo bay, her hand wrapped around a long piece of string with a feather tied to the end.
“Well don’t let Jayne know you got her out here. He was awful upset the last time she got away from us.”
River smiled at her, “He worries for her, wants to protect her.”
“That he does.” Kaylee watched her friend tease Misty with the feather, thinking that the kitten had been good for River. She had been more or less understandable since Misty’d come on board.
“River, you know that Misty can’t stay here, right?” Kaylee asked suddenly. She realized it was one thing for her own self to be getting attached to the kitten, but it might be a lot worse for someone like River.
River stared at her for a long moment, head tilted to the side as tears began to well in her eyes and her bottom lip began to tremble. Her breath started to come faster, her hands clenching and shaking the string as the kitten batted excitedly at it.
“They always take them away,” she whispered. “Follow them in the night and steal all the kittens, big and small, and kill them.” She became more frantic. “They’ll take everyone and leave me all alone!”
River ran out of the cargo bay towards the infirmary, Kaylee following with Misty in tow.
***
“River?” Simon questioned as she ran into the infirmary and threw herself at him, Kaylee following. “River, what’s wrong?”
River pulled his arm, clearly agitated, “Simon, don’t let them take the kittens. You mustn’t let them.”
“Kittens? River, there are no kittens.”
“Oh Simon, I’m so sorry, she’s upset ‘bout Misty,” Kaylee explained.
“Misty?”
Kaylee held the kitten up and Simon took note of it for the first time. He recoiled slightly from the small animal.
“Kaylee, it’s a cat…on the ship.”
Kaylee frowned slightly at his response. “Yeah, Simon, this is Misty and River’s upset because we can’t keep her.”
“How did it get here?” he asked uneasily as a grimace crossed his face. “And does it have to be in my infirmary?”
River responded first, all agitation suddenly gone. “Silly Simon, it’s a kitten not a pathogenic micro-organism.”
“What’s wrong, Simon, don’t you like cats?” Kaylee said, moving toward him so he could see Misty. She wondered why he was backing away as she spoke.
“Um, no, it’s not that, it’s just that they’re so unsanitary and…” Simon stopped when he realized that Kaylee and River were looking at him with very unapproving expressions. “Mother never allowed us to have pets.”
He was saved from further explanation by Jayne rushing into the infirmary.
“Kaylee, you seen Misty? She’s gone again an’ Mal’s hollerin’ for me. He better not get wind of her or we’re all in trouble, me most of all.”
“She’s here, Jayne,” Kaylee responded as Jayne began cursing and the captain’s yelling began to get louder.
All four occupants of the infirmary hurriedly arranged themselves as the captain entered the infirmary.
“Jayne, can’t you hear me hollering for you all the way ‘cross the ship?”
“Yeah, Mal.”
“Well that usually means that I’m looking for you.”
“Sure Mal, what’d you need?”
The Captain narrowed his eyes, wondering why three of his crew were standing around looking like he’d caught them with their hands in the cookie jar, the fourth smiling sweetly, swaying a little bit with her hands behind her back.
“I need you to shift some things in the cargo bay, make room for our next job.”
“Right.”
Mal was suspicious but realized he wasn’t going to get much out of them at the moment. It’d be best to keep an eye on them, he didn’t need any more practical jokes erupting on his ship.
“Something goin’ on in here I ought to know about?” Mal thought it best to let ‘em know he knew something was up.
“No, Cap’n, everything’s shiny,” Kaylee said smiling.
“Alright. Jayne, think you might be interested in actually doin’ your job?” Mal said contemptuously.
“Sure Mal, be right there.”
Mal glared at him once more and then turned to Simon. “That medicine you gave me took care of all that sneezin’, Doc, thanks.”
Simon made the connection he hadn’t earlier when treating the captain. “Yes, antihistimes generally work wonders for allergies.” He looked at Kaylee whose eyes were wide.
“Allergies? Sorry, Doc, but the only thing I’m allergic to is cats an’ we’re deep in space, not no cats around for miles.” Mal smirked at Simon, “Think top three percent could do better than that.”
“Back to work, Jayne,” Mal said before leaving the infirmary. Jayne turned to face the others, watching Kaylee open a small cabinet and pull the kitten out of it.
“I’m going to have to disinfect this entire room.” Simon bemoaned.
“Shut it, Doc.” Jayne spat. “Kaylee, you got to keep her locked up. Mal figures this out and it’ll be me gettin’ spaced right along with the cat.”
“I know, Jayne, it’s just that she needs to get out some.” As angry as he was, Kaylee wasn’t about to tell him that it had been River who’d retrieved Misty from his bunk.
“Wait! If the captain finds out about the cat, Jayne gets spaced? This could work out well for all of us.” Simon retorted.
River moved to stroke the kitten’s cheek as Kaylee held her. “Won’t space the little cat, but can’t say the same for the big man.”
Jayne’s mouth hardened as he glared at the doctor. Turning on his heel, he left the room, completely missing Kaylee’s next remarks.
“Weren’t no need for that Simon.” She snapped, acutely aware for the first time how much trouble Jayne might get in ‘cause of her.
“Mustn’t belittle the protector, he is needed,” River chimed in as the two girls turned to leave Simon to deal with his infirmary.
“But I didn’t…” Simon’s protest died on his lips as he was left alone. He began the long process of scrubbing his infirmary thoroughly.
***
“Rich, been a long time since I heard from you.” The grizzled face on the vid screen smiled, but the man’s eyes were wary.
“Long time since I been to Columbus, Hanson. I’ll get right to the point,” Rich replied tersely.
“Figured you would.”
“Need some guns for a job. Pay’s decent, no questions asked, on either end.” Rich wanted to make his meaning clear to the man called Hanson.
“Yep,” Hanson replied casually. “Got some boys might do ya. Gonna need to know the general nature of the deal in order to get ‘xactly what you need though.”
Rich had expected as much. “Takin’ out one man, but he’s skilled. Might need to take out his entire crew too. Need some boys who don’t mind gettin’ bloody.”
Hanson nodded, he had just the right men for the job, ruthless enough that even he was intimidated by them. “Know just the ones; let’s talk terms.”
When they finished their deal, Rich had four more gunhands to add to his crew. If they were as lacking in morals as Hanson had said, this job would go real smooth.
***
Had a really hard time with this one, sorry if it sucked. That's what weekends away will do.
Prompt#7: Implacable - Impossible to placate or appease: implacable foes; implacable suspicion
Author:
squish_67
Pairing: Jayne/Kaylee
Rating: G
Word Count: 1826
Note: Joint project by myself and
bookaddict43. Click here for the prompt table and previous chapters.
***
Zoe made her way to the bridge to check on their arrival time at Columbus. She hadn’t questioned the captain’s decision to make the deal there. The planet was one of the newest terraforming projects, only inhabitable for a few years now, which meant the Alliance presence wasn’t too strong. They preferred to come in after all the bugs had been worked out, it left the fed troops less susceptible to terraforming mishaps. However, that absence also meant that it was a place filled with questionable individuals. Zoe found the fact that they would fit in to be both a boon and a hindrance.
Her thoughts were pushed aside as she stepped onto the bridge to see Wash holding his toy dinosaurs and muttering to himself. On any given day, that wasn’t an unusual of an occurrence, but the look on his face at the moment gave her pause.
“Something wrong, Husband?”
Wash held up two of the tiny replicas for her to see, as if doing so would explain everything. She raised an eyebrow at him in query.
“There was a monster.” His voice was filled with something akin to awe.
“Uh huh,” she eyed him skeptically.
“There was!” Wash implored as he thrust the dinos towards her. “I saw it. It was huge and vicious and…and multi-colored! It had Steggy in its mouth and Mr. T was trying to fight it off, but it just flung him across the console. And then it…”
Zoe shook her head as she turned her back on her ranting husband. Man sure did have an imagination; was a good thing she had found other uses for it. She decided she could get their ETA from the cortex link in the secondary shuttle.
“No one is safe!” he called out to her retreating form.
***
Rich stood in the small observation deck on his ship, The Perseus, his handsome features taking in the scene before him. He liked to call it an observation deck, but it was really just a small portal perched atop the ship where he could get the view he wanted without his thoughts being interrupted by his pilot Tom. He could see the Firefly-class ship they were tailing. She looked to be a sturdy craft, maybe if things played out right, he’d keep her.
His fists clenched unconsciously as he thought about the man aboard that ship who’d become his obsession. He’d spent the last few years tracking Cobb and the job of ending him was gonna be about as unsavory as they come. But he’d handpicked his crew to take on unsavory jobs and he knew they’d follow him. His crew weren’t like the mercenary they were tracking; a man who’d turned on everyone he’d ever run with, leaving a trail of dead or wounded behind for others to clean up.
No, Rich thought, it wasn’t gonna be hard takin’ his revenge on Jayne Cobb. The man deserved to die for what he’d done to Rich’s kin-his blood. An eye for an eye was the rule of the rim and he was gonna make damn sure he took that eye from Cobb-that and a few other things.
He slammed a fist into the wall next to him, hard enough to break the skin on his knuckles. Better get hold of yourself, Rich, or you ain’t gonna be able to keep a cool head ‘bout this one, he thought. He needed to control his emotions better, needed to pretend like it was any other job in order to get Cobb. He needed a few more hired guns too.
***
“There you are!” Kaylee said, scooping the small kitten up in her arms. “How’d you get out here, girl?” she asked the wiggling kitten.
“We were playing.”
Kaylee looked up to see River peeking around some crates in the cargo bay, her hand wrapped around a long piece of string with a feather tied to the end.
“Well don’t let Jayne know you got her out here. He was awful upset the last time she got away from us.”
River smiled at her, “He worries for her, wants to protect her.”
“That he does.” Kaylee watched her friend tease Misty with the feather, thinking that the kitten had been good for River. She had been more or less understandable since Misty’d come on board.
“River, you know that Misty can’t stay here, right?” Kaylee asked suddenly. She realized it was one thing for her own self to be getting attached to the kitten, but it might be a lot worse for someone like River.
River stared at her for a long moment, head tilted to the side as tears began to well in her eyes and her bottom lip began to tremble. Her breath started to come faster, her hands clenching and shaking the string as the kitten batted excitedly at it.
“They always take them away,” she whispered. “Follow them in the night and steal all the kittens, big and small, and kill them.” She became more frantic. “They’ll take everyone and leave me all alone!”
River ran out of the cargo bay towards the infirmary, Kaylee following with Misty in tow.
***
“River?” Simon questioned as she ran into the infirmary and threw herself at him, Kaylee following. “River, what’s wrong?”
River pulled his arm, clearly agitated, “Simon, don’t let them take the kittens. You mustn’t let them.”
“Kittens? River, there are no kittens.”
“Oh Simon, I’m so sorry, she’s upset ‘bout Misty,” Kaylee explained.
“Misty?”
Kaylee held the kitten up and Simon took note of it for the first time. He recoiled slightly from the small animal.
“Kaylee, it’s a cat…on the ship.”
Kaylee frowned slightly at his response. “Yeah, Simon, this is Misty and River’s upset because we can’t keep her.”
“How did it get here?” he asked uneasily as a grimace crossed his face. “And does it have to be in my infirmary?”
River responded first, all agitation suddenly gone. “Silly Simon, it’s a kitten not a pathogenic micro-organism.”
“What’s wrong, Simon, don’t you like cats?” Kaylee said, moving toward him so he could see Misty. She wondered why he was backing away as she spoke.
“Um, no, it’s not that, it’s just that they’re so unsanitary and…” Simon stopped when he realized that Kaylee and River were looking at him with very unapproving expressions. “Mother never allowed us to have pets.”
He was saved from further explanation by Jayne rushing into the infirmary.
“Kaylee, you seen Misty? She’s gone again an’ Mal’s hollerin’ for me. He better not get wind of her or we’re all in trouble, me most of all.”
“She’s here, Jayne,” Kaylee responded as Jayne began cursing and the captain’s yelling began to get louder.
All four occupants of the infirmary hurriedly arranged themselves as the captain entered the infirmary.
“Jayne, can’t you hear me hollering for you all the way ‘cross the ship?”
“Yeah, Mal.”
“Well that usually means that I’m looking for you.”
“Sure Mal, what’d you need?”
The Captain narrowed his eyes, wondering why three of his crew were standing around looking like he’d caught them with their hands in the cookie jar, the fourth smiling sweetly, swaying a little bit with her hands behind her back.
“I need you to shift some things in the cargo bay, make room for our next job.”
“Right.”
Mal was suspicious but realized he wasn’t going to get much out of them at the moment. It’d be best to keep an eye on them, he didn’t need any more practical jokes erupting on his ship.
“Something goin’ on in here I ought to know about?” Mal thought it best to let ‘em know he knew something was up.
“No, Cap’n, everything’s shiny,” Kaylee said smiling.
“Alright. Jayne, think you might be interested in actually doin’ your job?” Mal said contemptuously.
“Sure Mal, be right there.”
Mal glared at him once more and then turned to Simon. “That medicine you gave me took care of all that sneezin’, Doc, thanks.”
Simon made the connection he hadn’t earlier when treating the captain. “Yes, antihistimes generally work wonders for allergies.” He looked at Kaylee whose eyes were wide.
“Allergies? Sorry, Doc, but the only thing I’m allergic to is cats an’ we’re deep in space, not no cats around for miles.” Mal smirked at Simon, “Think top three percent could do better than that.”
“Back to work, Jayne,” Mal said before leaving the infirmary. Jayne turned to face the others, watching Kaylee open a small cabinet and pull the kitten out of it.
“I’m going to have to disinfect this entire room.” Simon bemoaned.
“Shut it, Doc.” Jayne spat. “Kaylee, you got to keep her locked up. Mal figures this out and it’ll be me gettin’ spaced right along with the cat.”
“I know, Jayne, it’s just that she needs to get out some.” As angry as he was, Kaylee wasn’t about to tell him that it had been River who’d retrieved Misty from his bunk.
“Wait! If the captain finds out about the cat, Jayne gets spaced? This could work out well for all of us.” Simon retorted.
River moved to stroke the kitten’s cheek as Kaylee held her. “Won’t space the little cat, but can’t say the same for the big man.”
Jayne’s mouth hardened as he glared at the doctor. Turning on his heel, he left the room, completely missing Kaylee’s next remarks.
“Weren’t no need for that Simon.” She snapped, acutely aware for the first time how much trouble Jayne might get in ‘cause of her.
“Mustn’t belittle the protector, he is needed,” River chimed in as the two girls turned to leave Simon to deal with his infirmary.
“But I didn’t…” Simon’s protest died on his lips as he was left alone. He began the long process of scrubbing his infirmary thoroughly.
***
“Rich, been a long time since I heard from you.” The grizzled face on the vid screen smiled, but the man’s eyes were wary.
“Long time since I been to Columbus, Hanson. I’ll get right to the point,” Rich replied tersely.
“Figured you would.”
“Need some guns for a job. Pay’s decent, no questions asked, on either end.” Rich wanted to make his meaning clear to the man called Hanson.
“Yep,” Hanson replied casually. “Got some boys might do ya. Gonna need to know the general nature of the deal in order to get ‘xactly what you need though.”
Rich had expected as much. “Takin’ out one man, but he’s skilled. Might need to take out his entire crew too. Need some boys who don’t mind gettin’ bloody.”
Hanson nodded, he had just the right men for the job, ruthless enough that even he was intimidated by them. “Know just the ones; let’s talk terms.”
When they finished their deal, Rich had four more gunhands to add to his crew. If they were as lacking in morals as Hanson had said, this job would go real smooth.
***
Had a really hard time with this one, sorry if it sucked. That's what weekends away will do.