Details of the War (Part IV) NC-17
TITLE: Details of the War (Part IV)
AUTHOR: Niki
RATING: NC-17
DISCLAIMER: Not mine.
PAIRING(S): River/Jayne-centric with of Mal/Inara & Simon/Kaylee.
SUMMARY: “They were raining bullets down on them and the dead were already rivaling the last two battles put together.”
A/N: Muchos thanks to my beta, Chicafrom3. Any mistakes are totally her fault and everyone should send her hatemail. >:) Just kidding, I luff joo, pookie.
PROLOGUE, PART I, PART II, PART III
River traced over the gun's barrel, her fingertips dipping in and out of the crevices and circling around the trigger guard.
She toyed with it, transferring it back and forth between her hands and rubbing her thumb absently over the trigger guard. She could barely see the welding marks where Jayne had carefully made it smaller and easier for her to handle. The trigger itself wasn't as stiff and she didn't have to struggle with it like she did his own guns to fire.
River peered down at the trigger guard. It would have taken Jayne hours of careful work to customize. She gently palmed the gun, imagining his large hands clumsily welding the pieces together with her in mind.
She glanced down worriedly at the planet swirling below her. Every so often she could see a mushroom cloud of smoke from an explosion and her grip on Serenity's controls would tighten.
The comlink, her only link to the Colonel and Jayne, remained silent. The last thing Mal'd told her, in a hurried voice, was that there were too many skiffs down there for her to break atmo.
He was right, without Kaylee in the engine room, River was limited in what she could do. She'd barely managed to out maneuver the Alliance skiffs that had been targeting her during their last battle.
She'd put Serenity on autopilot and run to the engine room, trying to do the work of two people and barely managing. They'd just gotten lucky that Serenity hadn't taken any direct hits while River had been in the engine room.
Kaylee had fought to be allowed to stay onboard Serenity during the battles, but Mal had put his foot down, saying he needed her out of harms way, fixing up whatever needed fixing.
“Ain't gonna be no one to put her back together if you get shot down with her,” he'd told her, not unkindly.
So that had left Mal and Jayne on the ground, doing the legwork and keeping the platoon together and River up in the sky, doing her best and just barely making it.
Sometimes, she liked to think of herself as their Angel of Death, raining fire and brimstone down on the Alliance troops. River had snatched the term from Jayne's thoughts when the blast doors had opened so long ago in Mr. Universe's complex.
It was part of what had taken her to him. She wasn't a little girl to him. She wasn't his mei-mei or something fragile to be protected. She was dangerous and volatile and everything that Simon and Kaylee and to an extent, the Captain, refused to see.
He saw what she was and he could appreciate it.
River's shoulders went rigid as the dashboard lit up and the proximity alarms began to blare. Her fingertips flew over the controls until she brought up the screen. The center blip, she knew, was Serenity. The surrounding blips were likely Alliance ships.
They fanned out as they came up behind her and a little blinking icon at the corner of the screen told her that they were hailing her.
“03-k64-Firefly, registered name Serenity. You are hereby bound by law to stand down and prepare to be boarded.”
River's small hands encircled the controls again and she fleetingly wished Kaylee were in the engine room to give her full burn. But, she wasn't, and River would have to do her best.
***
It wasn't going well.
Jayne could tell that much from where he was hunkered down in the trench. Every few seconds clumps of dirt would rain down on him and he'd have to wipe it out of his eyes and spit it out of his mouth.
Mal had taken off down the trench to man the M30 the minute the Alliance skiffs had shown up. They were raining bullets down on them and the dead were already rivaling the last two battles put together.
He hefted Vera up on the shoulder that Simon hadn't pulled lead out of just the day before and climbed up on the fire step. He sighted the Alliance purple-belly manning their machine gun and squeezed off a few quick rounds. The bullets hit their target and the man crumpled to the ground.
Another quickly took his place, stepping over the body with out so much as a second glance.
Jayne sighted this one too and brought him down just as quickly as he had the first. Didn't matter much though. They'd keep coming just as fast as he could shoot them. There could be a pile of bodies ten feet deep and they wouldn't even falter.
He wondered briefly what it was about war that made otherwise decent men brutal.
Overhead there was a low rumble and then the earth shuddered as one of the skiffs fell to the ground. Pieces of shrapnel flew through the air, just as dangerous as bullets.
This was all going wrong.
The Alliance troops had been there, lying in wait. They'd claimed the higher ground and forced the Independents to dig their trenches in the lowlands. They hadn't even gotten four feet in when they hit water and there was only so much the duckboards could do to keep a man dry.
His pants were soaked with mud up to the knee and if this lasted for more than a day, they'd be lucky if all they ended up with was trench foot.
They'd dropped Simon, Kaylee and 'Nara off on one of Beylix's moons. They were safe, tucked away in one of the colonies up there so that Simon and 'Nara could take care of the wounded and Kaylee could get to work on some of their skiffs that needed fixing.
And bury the dead.
Every colony they stopped on became a make shift burial ground for the soldiers who'd died in the last battle. They'd buried 56 people that morning and another 80 lay waiting in the schoolhouse that had been turned into a morgue after they'd run out of other places to store the dead.
Serenity was turning into a gorram hearse.
His eyes flicked upwards, even though he knew that was stupid. Wasn't like he'd be able to see her up there, circling around just outside of atmosphere.
Ready when they needed her.
And gorram if they didn't need her.
But there was no way that Mal would call for Serenity with those jeeps still shooting anything in brown. Serenity was powerful and quick, but they were smaller and faster. They would fly circles around River and shoot Serenity out of the sky the second she broke atmo.
Truth be told, Jayne was glad that the girl was up there and not down in the trenches or flying around over their heads.
He didn't know which way was up anymore when the girl was around.
She spun him around something fierce.
Wasn't right.
Overhead, there was a shrill squeal and another one of the Alliance skiffs fell out of the sky. Jayne dropped down to his belly to avoid the shrapnel. The ground shook under him, rumbling against his chest. When he pulled himself to his feet, he was covered neck to toe in mud and dirty water.
He was beginning to think that no amount of water and soap was going to get him clean again if he made it back to Serenity.
***
The Alliance skiffs seemed to never stop.
It felt like every time that Mal shot one of them out of the sky, two more took their place. He sighted another skiff on the gun's radar and fired off a few rounds. His bones shook with the backfire and his teeth rattled against each other.
Every advance they attempted to make, the Alliance was right there, cutting them down at the knees. He'd sent a battalion around behind the Alliance troops. The idea was that they would come up over the hill behind the Alliance's trenches and it'd be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Should have been like shooting fish in a barrel anyways. Except that the Alliance troops had been waiting for them at the top of the hill as they'd come up. Out of those men only 2 had come back, running like they had the devil himself at their heels.
Every move they made, the Alliance seemed to know about it even before they did. Every move was countered and thwarted. It was starting to look like suicide to even leave the trenches.
And it was lending credibility to River's theory that they had readers over there, anticipating every strategy he came up with.
They'd already retreated at least 30 yards from where they'd started and there were boys back there right now digging them even more trenches in case they had to fall back even farther. And if things kept going this way, they were going to lose Beylix.
Gorram, but that would be a big hit to their troops. If they couldn't get food and supplies, their numbers would fall drastically. He'd seen it at Serenity Valley, people starving to death or getting sick and dying off from disease. Entire troops were running out of ammo and those as still had it were eating their own guns to stop their bellies from growling.
Overhead, there was a low rumbling. Almost like thunder, but there weren't a cloud in the sky and for that Mal was thankful. The last thing they needed was rain making everything muddy and filling up the trenches with water.
Mal dropped down, his shoulders sore from bracing up the anti-aircraft gun, and fished around in his pocket for the comlink.
“You doin' alright up there, Lil Albatross?”
Silence.
The crackle of static was starting to make him uneasy. “River, you got exactly three seconds to answer me 'cause this eerie silence is getting on my last nerve.”
There was more static and a loud rumbling noise overhead. Mal shielded his eyes and cursed loudly. Serenity was burning through atmo and plunging straight for the ground, smoke streaming out behind her and three Alliance cruisers right behind her.
NEXT.
AUTHOR: Niki
RATING: NC-17
DISCLAIMER: Not mine.
PAIRING(S): River/Jayne-centric with of Mal/Inara & Simon/Kaylee.
SUMMARY: “They were raining bullets down on them and the dead were already rivaling the last two battles put together.”
A/N: Muchos thanks to my beta, Chicafrom3. Any mistakes are totally her fault and everyone should send her hatemail. >:) Just kidding, I luff joo, pookie.
PROLOGUE, PART I, PART II, PART III
River traced over the gun's barrel, her fingertips dipping in and out of the crevices and circling around the trigger guard.
She toyed with it, transferring it back and forth between her hands and rubbing her thumb absently over the trigger guard. She could barely see the welding marks where Jayne had carefully made it smaller and easier for her to handle. The trigger itself wasn't as stiff and she didn't have to struggle with it like she did his own guns to fire.
River peered down at the trigger guard. It would have taken Jayne hours of careful work to customize. She gently palmed the gun, imagining his large hands clumsily welding the pieces together with her in mind.
She glanced down worriedly at the planet swirling below her. Every so often she could see a mushroom cloud of smoke from an explosion and her grip on Serenity's controls would tighten.
The comlink, her only link to the Colonel and Jayne, remained silent. The last thing Mal'd told her, in a hurried voice, was that there were too many skiffs down there for her to break atmo.
He was right, without Kaylee in the engine room, River was limited in what she could do. She'd barely managed to out maneuver the Alliance skiffs that had been targeting her during their last battle.
She'd put Serenity on autopilot and run to the engine room, trying to do the work of two people and barely managing. They'd just gotten lucky that Serenity hadn't taken any direct hits while River had been in the engine room.
Kaylee had fought to be allowed to stay onboard Serenity during the battles, but Mal had put his foot down, saying he needed her out of harms way, fixing up whatever needed fixing.
“Ain't gonna be no one to put her back together if you get shot down with her,” he'd told her, not unkindly.
So that had left Mal and Jayne on the ground, doing the legwork and keeping the platoon together and River up in the sky, doing her best and just barely making it.
Sometimes, she liked to think of herself as their Angel of Death, raining fire and brimstone down on the Alliance troops. River had snatched the term from Jayne's thoughts when the blast doors had opened so long ago in Mr. Universe's complex.
It was part of what had taken her to him. She wasn't a little girl to him. She wasn't his mei-mei or something fragile to be protected. She was dangerous and volatile and everything that Simon and Kaylee and to an extent, the Captain, refused to see.
He saw what she was and he could appreciate it.
River's shoulders went rigid as the dashboard lit up and the proximity alarms began to blare. Her fingertips flew over the controls until she brought up the screen. The center blip, she knew, was Serenity. The surrounding blips were likely Alliance ships.
They fanned out as they came up behind her and a little blinking icon at the corner of the screen told her that they were hailing her.
“03-k64-Firefly, registered name Serenity. You are hereby bound by law to stand down and prepare to be boarded.”
River's small hands encircled the controls again and she fleetingly wished Kaylee were in the engine room to give her full burn. But, she wasn't, and River would have to do her best.
***
It wasn't going well.
Jayne could tell that much from where he was hunkered down in the trench. Every few seconds clumps of dirt would rain down on him and he'd have to wipe it out of his eyes and spit it out of his mouth.
Mal had taken off down the trench to man the M30 the minute the Alliance skiffs had shown up. They were raining bullets down on them and the dead were already rivaling the last two battles put together.
He hefted Vera up on the shoulder that Simon hadn't pulled lead out of just the day before and climbed up on the fire step. He sighted the Alliance purple-belly manning their machine gun and squeezed off a few quick rounds. The bullets hit their target and the man crumpled to the ground.
Another quickly took his place, stepping over the body with out so much as a second glance.
Jayne sighted this one too and brought him down just as quickly as he had the first. Didn't matter much though. They'd keep coming just as fast as he could shoot them. There could be a pile of bodies ten feet deep and they wouldn't even falter.
He wondered briefly what it was about war that made otherwise decent men brutal.
Overhead there was a low rumble and then the earth shuddered as one of the skiffs fell to the ground. Pieces of shrapnel flew through the air, just as dangerous as bullets.
This was all going wrong.
The Alliance troops had been there, lying in wait. They'd claimed the higher ground and forced the Independents to dig their trenches in the lowlands. They hadn't even gotten four feet in when they hit water and there was only so much the duckboards could do to keep a man dry.
His pants were soaked with mud up to the knee and if this lasted for more than a day, they'd be lucky if all they ended up with was trench foot.
They'd dropped Simon, Kaylee and 'Nara off on one of Beylix's moons. They were safe, tucked away in one of the colonies up there so that Simon and 'Nara could take care of the wounded and Kaylee could get to work on some of their skiffs that needed fixing.
And bury the dead.
Every colony they stopped on became a make shift burial ground for the soldiers who'd died in the last battle. They'd buried 56 people that morning and another 80 lay waiting in the schoolhouse that had been turned into a morgue after they'd run out of other places to store the dead.
Serenity was turning into a gorram hearse.
His eyes flicked upwards, even though he knew that was stupid. Wasn't like he'd be able to see her up there, circling around just outside of atmosphere.
Ready when they needed her.
And gorram if they didn't need her.
But there was no way that Mal would call for Serenity with those jeeps still shooting anything in brown. Serenity was powerful and quick, but they were smaller and faster. They would fly circles around River and shoot Serenity out of the sky the second she broke atmo.
Truth be told, Jayne was glad that the girl was up there and not down in the trenches or flying around over their heads.
He didn't know which way was up anymore when the girl was around.
She spun him around something fierce.
Wasn't right.
Overhead, there was a shrill squeal and another one of the Alliance skiffs fell out of the sky. Jayne dropped down to his belly to avoid the shrapnel. The ground shook under him, rumbling against his chest. When he pulled himself to his feet, he was covered neck to toe in mud and dirty water.
He was beginning to think that no amount of water and soap was going to get him clean again if he made it back to Serenity.
***
The Alliance skiffs seemed to never stop.
It felt like every time that Mal shot one of them out of the sky, two more took their place. He sighted another skiff on the gun's radar and fired off a few rounds. His bones shook with the backfire and his teeth rattled against each other.
Every advance they attempted to make, the Alliance was right there, cutting them down at the knees. He'd sent a battalion around behind the Alliance troops. The idea was that they would come up over the hill behind the Alliance's trenches and it'd be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Should have been like shooting fish in a barrel anyways. Except that the Alliance troops had been waiting for them at the top of the hill as they'd come up. Out of those men only 2 had come back, running like they had the devil himself at their heels.
Every move they made, the Alliance seemed to know about it even before they did. Every move was countered and thwarted. It was starting to look like suicide to even leave the trenches.
And it was lending credibility to River's theory that they had readers over there, anticipating every strategy he came up with.
They'd already retreated at least 30 yards from where they'd started and there were boys back there right now digging them even more trenches in case they had to fall back even farther. And if things kept going this way, they were going to lose Beylix.
Gorram, but that would be a big hit to their troops. If they couldn't get food and supplies, their numbers would fall drastically. He'd seen it at Serenity Valley, people starving to death or getting sick and dying off from disease. Entire troops were running out of ammo and those as still had it were eating their own guns to stop their bellies from growling.
Overhead, there was a low rumbling. Almost like thunder, but there weren't a cloud in the sky and for that Mal was thankful. The last thing they needed was rain making everything muddy and filling up the trenches with water.
Mal dropped down, his shoulders sore from bracing up the anti-aircraft gun, and fished around in his pocket for the comlink.
“You doin' alright up there, Lil Albatross?”
Silence.
The crackle of static was starting to make him uneasy. “River, you got exactly three seconds to answer me 'cause this eerie silence is getting on my last nerve.”
There was more static and a loud rumbling noise overhead. Mal shielded his eyes and cursed loudly. Serenity was burning through atmo and plunging straight for the ground, smoke streaming out behind her and three Alliance cruisers right behind her.
NEXT.