Episode 512: Unusual Alliances, Part Five
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Oh tā mā de!
We’re on a ladder in an elevator shaft. There is no room to move, no time to scramble down to the level below us, no place to hide. There is almost no time for Nika to fill her lungs and yell.
Nika: Grenade! Faceplant!
Nika hauls face against the ladder, Kiera gets up against the metal and concrete. Rina and Joshua make do the best they can. The grenade sails past them and hits the elevator roof …
BOOM!
Everyone in the elevator shaft takes damage. Rina’s already wounded and the additional hurt does her no favors. Nika and Kiera were closest to the explosion and they’re peppered by the debris from the blast. The echoes from the explosion fade and the last bits of debris rattle to a stop.
Kiera: At least now we know they’re hostile.
Nika: Don’t make me kick you off this ladder.
Rina and Joshua shake themselves and start climbing again. There’s no telling if more party favors are going to rain down on our heads or if someone decides to use us for target practice. Either way, the elevator shaft is a killing box and we need to get the hell out of it. And sure enough, from the level above, someone leans into the shaft and aims his gun right for us. “Us” meaning the two people first-most on the ladder: Joshua and Rina. Joshua puts on a burst of speed up the ladder, yelling down to the rest below.
Joshua: Gun!
The enemy above aims and everyone on the ladder squeezes flat against the rungs or the wall or tries to slip between the rungs and the wall, minimizing their profile. A burst of auto-fire screams down the shaft. Bullets spark and ricochet. We take damage.
Rina: I want a gun.
Joshua: I know you do, honey. I’m gonna get you one. That guy up there has one.
The firing stops. The last shot pings echoes to silence. We catch our breath.
Joshua starts up the ladder again in the gap, closing the distance between us and the shooter. It’s balls to the wall time, people. Joshua manages to reach the shooter just as the other man is ready to fire. The man shoots. Joshua is our human shield and takes that damage. His crewmates are counting on him to make it through—his second wind kicks in and he stays conscious. The shooter steps back from the doorway. Joshua grabs for his ankle to yank him into the shaft. The rest of us yell at the shooter.
Joshua: Hello!
Rina: Quitter!
Nika: Quitter!
Kiera: Nika, dammit, get Rina the hell outa the way, fire, and get going!
Nika: Get out of our way!
There’s no room to move. Joshua’s blocking the way up the ladder as he attempts to grapple with the shooter and there’s no way Rina can climb past him into the corridor just above us.
Kiera: I’m not fixin’ you if you don’t get out of the way.
Joshua’s got a hold on the guy, hanging on to the man tooth and toenail. Rina moves upward to assist and to get out of the way of Nika and Kiera. More fire. More damage. Joshua goes rocky. He makes one last desperate grab for the shooter and yanks him into the shaft. Unfortunately, Joshua falls into the shaft with him. Rina grabs Joshua with one hand as he passes her and she hangs on tight to the ladder with the other. She’s weak, however, from old wounds and new and despite her efforts, her grip on the ladder is slipping. Nika sees the inevitable coming and has to make a decision—if Rina falls, she’ll wipe out everyone below her like a line of dominoes. Nika could swing to the side and save herself, but … Nika grabs her engineer.
Barely.
So instead of human dominoes falling over, we’ve got a human chain. At one end is Joshua hanging free over a 40 foot drop. Hanging on to him is Rina and she’s swinging in Nika’s grip. Nika is hanging backwards and upside down with her legs hooked around the ladder rungs, holding on to her crewmates with both hands. Sandwiched between Nika’s back and the ladder is Kiera. She’s hooked her legs through and is holding her Captain off so she doesn’t get crushed.
Kiera: What the hell is going on?
Someone’s got to break up the human chain and lower the injured to safety. Kiera and Nika come up with a plan. Kiera will go back down the ladder and secure herself once she’s at Joshua, then alert the rest of the party on the level below to come up and help lower him down, bucket brigade style. There’s some commotion down below. Someone yells out:
Someone: Hold on a minute!
Jayne leans out and hollers up at us.
Jayne: Either catch or duck!
He draws back and throws a fire hose up the shaft at us. Kiera’s at the bottom of the group and moves to catch it. She has to take her hands off Nika to catch it and furthermore, it hits her a glancing blow on the head … but she catches it. Nika feels Kiera’s hands leave her and all of a sudden her knees are taking on the full weight of her two crewmen.
Nika: Hurry up!
Kiera loops the fire hose over the rung of the ladder and ties it around Joshua. Jayne braces himself and slowly plays out the rope, lowering Joshua down to the rest of the party, pulley-style. Rina lets him go and grabs the ladder. Nika hauls upright and her knees weep in relief. From below, River is climbing up the inside the ladder, between the rungs and the wall and she scampers up to the next level with the agility of a monkey.
Joshua comes to on the floor, revived by Arden. He receives painkillers for his wounds and has them hastily patched up.
Kiera jumps ahead of Rina on the ladder and the three women continue climbing to the next level. River is waiting for them. A man lies unconscious on the floor, a gun lying next to him. Kiera picks the gun up. River tells us that the elevator to the next level is stuck in the shaft above the floor.
So we’re kinda stuck.
Just when everyone from the floor below our level has joined us we hear a hissing sound. It’s the decon gas venting into the corridor. We need to get out of here. Rina and River find a way to bleed the hydraulics off the lift line just enough to allow the elevator to descend to our floor. It drops two-thirds of the way even with the open doors. Good enough! We tie off the line, scramble through the elevator hatch to the shaft and take to the ladder again. Kiera and Nika get to the top first and Kiera covers the corridor with her weapon while Nika pulls everyone out onto the floor again.
River and Joshua are waiting their turn to go up the ladder when River pulls Joshua aside.
River: You should lead.
Joshua: Okay.
Joshua goes first up the ladder and River follows and again, before they get to the top she makes him pause.
River: You know we can’t go with them. We need to stop her. I think we can find her.
Joshua: (considers it) Yeah. I think we can.
Meanwhile, in the corridor above, Nika pulls Rina aside when the engineer emerges.
Nika: We’re going to have a conversation when we get back to the ship about you being butt-buddies with Joshua all the time and you not doing your job.
Rina: I thought I was doing my job. What was my job?
Kiera: (chiming in) You’re the wounded person right now.
Nika: Right now, you’re the wounded person.
True enough. She is wounded. Not as bad as Joshua but … wait. Where’s Joshua? Kiera’s doing the headcount as people climb out of the shaft. There are twenty in our party. Sixteen … seventeen …
Kiera: We’re missing two.
Nika: (counting) One, two, three, four, five, six … seven … Headcount.
Rina: Eighteen.
Kiera: (to Nika) Do you wanna go after them or do you want me to go after them?
Joshua and River are missing. Nika hisses in frustration. Why did it have to be those two?
Kiera: See? What did I tell you about leaving him for last?
Nika: Cao ni ma—
Rina: See? That’s why I’m butt-buddies with him. At least I’m behind him and can keep him from haring off.
More Chinese cursing from Nika.
Rina: Took a bullet for you, Captain.
Kiera: Captain.
Growls from Nika. Kiera hands her assault rifle to Nika.
Kiera: Go on and lead them up and I’ll stand by here. If it turns out that I hear something, I’ll go after them. They need you to lead them up. Do you want the assault rifle, just in case there’s guards?
Nika: No matter what they’re doing—(throws vague gesture outward)—we gotta take care of the guards.
Kiera: Then I need to get ahead of everybody, then.
Nika: Yes.
Kiera squeezes by the people in front of her and takes the lead.
Meanwhile, River and Joshua have ducked back into the vents and have leapfrogged the party to the top level. They emerge from the vents and get their bearings. They’re in the main corridor leading to the hangar at one end and the other end leads into the far distance, too far to see the end of it.
River: Serenity’s that way. (Points to the unknown end) Or do you think she stayed in the garage?
Joshua: I don’t think she stayed in the garage. I don’t think she can get out the front door. She going to want to get out right quick. So, Serenity.
The ghost down the tunnel. The painkillers are kicking in and Joshua’s feeling pretty floaty. Woo. Maybe that’s why River doesn’t seem to touch the ground as she takes the lead. Maybe. It’s nearly half a kilometer before they emerge from the tunnel into a crater that’s hollowed out of the mountain. A vast cavern of a space. Parked in it is an Aught-3 Firefly, with the name Serenity blazoned on her hull. River and Joshua crouch in the shadow of the tunnel entrance and eyeball the ship.
Joshua: Do we have a plan?
River: She’s a bad person. We should stop her.
Joshua: I’m on board with that.
River: Plus, that’s my ship.
Joshua: I’m on board with that.
They creep forward to the bow of the ship and find Kappa frantically fiddling with the locks on the cargo bay doors.
Ding dong! Hello! Avon calling.
Kappa senses their approach and Joshua gets some head-swimming mental feedback as the woman turns around to face them. Casey—Joshua remembers her name from the Academy. Her name is Casey. He drags his attention back to the present. Casey—Kappa—is talking.
Kappa: Come on. We’re all the same. They’re the different ones. They’re the ones who are going to try to get rid of us.
Joshua: We’re not any different from them. Not really. It’s not about what we can do. It’s about who we are. And I’m not … sure you should like who you are very much at the moment. You’ve not … been doing … good things. You’ve been hurtin’ people, Casey. You’ve been hurting a lot of people.
Kappa: They made me do it. Joshua. They made you.
Joshua: You always have a choice. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s you always have a choice. Always.
Kappa softens, her face twists sadly.
Kappa: Not everybody is as strong as you two. Or had friends to help them. I was there the whole time. I was tortured more than any of you.
Joshua: And I’m sorry for you. I actually really am, in that regard. But … for somebody who was tortured so much, you were doing a lot of it.
Kappa: Maybe I learned that’s how to survive in this kind of business.
Joshua: No. It’s not.
Kappa: You two escaped but not everybody escaped. Not everybody’s there. You don’t know. You left.
Joshua: Yeah, I did.
Kappa: You were doing—you were working for them before you escaped.
Joshua: Yeah. It doesn’t excuse what you’ve been doing.
Kappa: And those people that you … stole … do they—do they even know what you did? Are they still alive?
Joshua can’t answer that. The end of the missions for him cut him off from ever knowing that part of the job.
Joshua: I don’t know.
Kappa: Don’t think you’re better than me.
Joshua: I’m not better than you. Well, other than that part where you’re torturing people.
River has remained silent throughout this exchange. While Joshua has Kappa’s attention, River carefully, slowly, picks up a rock from the cavern floor. Despite her efforts, River’s action does not go unnoticed. Kappa’s eyes narrow as she sees what River’s doing.
Kappa: (softly) It’s two on one … but … I’m not as crazy as you two.
Kappa slips her hand into her lab coat.
Joshua: For all that you’ve done, I don’t want to kill you but I don’t think you’re going to leave us much choice, are you? I don’t want to kill you.
Kappa draws her wicked little dart gun from her lab coat. River hefts the rock and raises her arm to throw it. Kappa aims her gun at River. Joshua dives for Kappa, hoping to stay low enough to avoid spoiling River’s shot with the rock, but still able to knock Kappa down.
Kappa dodges and Joshua lands in the dirt.
River throws and the rock goes past Kappa.
Kappa shoots at River and scores a hit.
River goes rigid and falls.
The rock bounces hard on the door controls.
WHAM!
The cargo ramp slams down and squashes Kappa to a red smear. Joshua rolls and it misses him by mere inches.
Score: Kappa’s dead, River’s stiff, Joshua’s alive.
Joshua picks himself up and goes over to River. She’s stiff and still and Joshua picks her up in his arms and carries her aboard Serenity. If he’s lucky, there’s an infirmary aboard.
It’s Joshua’s lucky day. The infirmary is there. He makes her comfortable as he can and takes off for the upper deck of the ship, thinking to fly her out of there and rejoin the rest of the crew. He goes up the nearest set of stairs and comes out in the upper corridor and the sight of the engine room to his left stops him in his tracks, stunned. It’s not at all like Rina’s engine room, rigorously clean, organized and in good repair. This engine room looks like … um.
Somebody sabotaged their ship? Who knows? One thing’s for sure, Rina’s going to have a stroke if she ever sees that engine room.
Joshua doesn’t linger to sort out the mess but goes back to check River. When he arrives, she’s already up and walking and … talking to the ship?
Joshua: You all right?
River: Oh. Ahhh ….Hey … (strokes the doorframe) … Hey, girl …
Joshua: I’m hoping you know how to start her cuz … (jerks a thumb engine-ward) I don’t know what you did to her.
River: Sure. I can start her. Can you fly her?
Joshua: I can fly.
River: I’ll get her started.
Joshua helps her up the stairs into the engine room and takes off for the bridge.
Back at the base, the rest of the crew have avoided the guards, have made it outside, and are piling onto our mule. Rina’s worried about the weight allowance of the vehicle. Eighteen people on a craft made to carry six at most … God knows if she’ll be able to move. We’re going to be riding low. River and Joshua still haven’t rejoined our party and Nika waits until almost everyone’s aboard before she tells Kiera to give her the assault rifle. She’s going back to look for our missing crewmates. Kiera refuses.
Kiera: Captain. You’re the only one who can fly.
Rina: I’ll go.
Kiera: Then who’s going to start up the engines?
As we’re debating this, the garage doors open with a groan behind us and a dozen guards spill out with their weapons up and aimed for us.
Rina: Oh, f—
Snow showers down from above and a gust of wind buffets everyone as Serenity thunders down the slope of the mountain. Joshua’s voice blares from the PA.
Joshua: Lay your sāncì de zǔzhòu weapons down or I’ll kill every single one of you where you stand.
This is Joshua? The guards falter and eyeballing the ship, they slowly comply, backing into the garage and shutting the doors.
Nika: Wow.
Kiera: Yeah, like that’ll happen. (hauls on one of the party) Get on the truck!
Nika: Onto the truck people.
Joshua’s bought us some time. Best we not waste it. We fire up the mule and hovering low to the road, Nika drives it for the lowered ramp of Serenity. Joshua and Nika manage to get our mule into the hold with no one left behind in the cold. Nika cuts the mule’s engine, the craft sinks to the deck and as we start climbing off, we hear Joshua over the PA again.
Joshua: Will the actual pilot of this ship please report to the cockpit.
Nika makes it a point to ask if Zoë’s little girl is fine. She is, thank you for asking. Mal and his crew take to the stairs up and Kaylee runs into engineering. Nika follows in Mal’s footsteps.
Nika: Captain, do you mind if I head to your bridge to give the coordinates for my vessel?
Reynolds: Go ahead.
Nika: Thank you. If you don’t mind dropping us off—
She steps aboard the bridge. Joshua turns in the pilot’s chair and pats the console.
Joshua: Look at what I found, Captain.
Nika: (steely) We’re gonna have a discussion.
Joshua: (grinning) There’s always a discussion.
Kiera steps in behind Nika.
Kiera: Where did you go?
Joshua: To the ship. I thought that was pretty obvious. Duh.
Kiera: You do remember I have an assault rifle.
And so we fly to Equinox and settle Serenity next to her. From Serenity’s bridge windows, we spy a shuttle taking off from the vicinity of the base and take off for parts unknown. The Operative is with us, however ...
Rina: So who the hell’s in the shuttle?
There are a dozen or so guards we’ve scared back inside with Joshua’s daring rescue. Seems like they’ve arranged for their own escape. Kiera hands the Operative the comm.
Kiera: You need to radio.
The Operative: Yes. My ship is in orbit. If you can just take me there at your leisure.
Kiera: Sure. We can … not sure about this one but … (looks around dubiously at Serenity)
Nika: Sure.
Joshua: Well, it all worked out for the best.
Rina: (hugging Joshua in the chair) You saved our lives.
Nika: Is everybody in one piece?
Joshua: Oh, hey … (looks at self) … That’s blood.
Joshua’s beginning to wilt. Kiera and Arden haul Joshua out of the pilot’s chair.
Kiera: Arden, let’s go check on the hero and patch him up.
Joshua: This is actually a nice ship…
Kiera: Define nice.
Joshua: (over shoulder to Rina) I have no idea how the engine room, like, even works.
Rina: This I’ve got to see.
Kaylee pokes her head out of the engine room as they draw near.
Kaylee: Could someone tell the Captain we need to get a new capacitor and a flux relay valve, because look at what I’ve done. (waves at the engine room) I have to do this and that’s not safe…
Rina: (looks, sees) Bozhe moi. How are you even still managing to fly?
Joshua: I don’t understand it. It defies all the laws of physics.
Nika: I don’t want to see this. I don’t want to know.
We’re stunned at the magnitude of what Kaylee’s managed to do.
Kaylee: She’s held together mostly with love, but it works well.
Joshua: Love runs a lot of stuff.
Rina: (to Kaylee) Good job. Good job. (points) How did you do that?
Kaylee: Well, you know. Just things I find along the way.
Rina: (peering closer) Is that what I think that is?
Kaylee: It didn’t fit no more so I thought it would work for that.
Rina: That … it … (looks some more) … but … ?
Kiera and Arden get Joshua moving again for the infirmary and Nika follows, leaving the two engineers to get better acquainted. As they get him on the exam table, Joshua quietly tells Nika what he and River had done.
Joshua: Captain. Kappa’s dead.
Nika: (softly) Okay.
River: Serenity killed her.
Joshua: Which is actually true.
Nika: More power to Serenity.
To that end the two engineers do what they can to put Serenity’s engine room to rights while the rest the combined crews do their jobs. We patch our hurts, fix what needs fixing. Simon steps into the infirmary when Kiera and Arden are tending to Joshua and Nika offers her thanks to Simon Tam. He seems puzzled by this.
Simon: For …?
Joshua: Brian.
Simon: Oh. Okay.
Nika: You did brain surgery on a friend of mine who was very very badly injured.
Simon Tam operated on Brian after we escaped from Miranda. It’s only though Simon’s skill that Brian is even able to live a life other than a comatose vegetable.
Simon: Well, I’m a doctor. It’s what we do. Is he doing okay?
Nika: Last I saw, he was coping.
Kiera: Seeing as how you’re a doctor, can we borrow you for a minute?
Joshua: (snark) I’m coughing up blood but other than that …
Kiera: Doctor Tam, can we borrow you a minute?
Joshua: We can do this on Equinox—
Kiera: Yeah, cuz you’re on painkillers and so happy. Let’s see how much has leaked out.
Joshua: No, it’s okay. Once we’re on the move. The painkillers are still good.
Kiera: Yeah … but you’re still leaking.
Joshua: Nyeh … coughed up a little blood ...
Kiera and Simon start working on Joshua. Nika watches and asks Simon if he can help wean Joshua off his drugs.
Joshua: I’m off the drugs. (a beat) Except for the painkillers part.
Simon: Ah …
Nika: He’s been trying to wean himself off Flomoxipan.
Joshua: I’m off. I’m off.
Kiera: (to Simon) Flomoxipan. Is that familiar to you as one of the ones they were using?
Simon: I don’t have a whole lot of experience with the Academy. They didn’t give River Flomoxipan. They used a different drug on her which I used a bit.
Nika: I figured it was worth it to ask anyway.
Simon: They used it to control her outbursts before we went to Miranda. And then after that her symptoms weren’t—aren’t too bad. But perhaps I can consult with Dr. Arden about that so we can compare notes.
Joshua struggles upright and looks directly at River, who’s sitting nearby.
Joshua: River. Who am I? (a beat) Just to verify. I’m a little messed up. Do you remember me as Joshua?
River: Yes.
Joshua: Okay. Thank you. That’s all I really … there’s a lot of confusion about who I am and—it doesn’t necessarily solve the problem but …
River walks up to Joshua and touches his face and says:
River: You’re okay.
Joshua: Cool.
Malcolm Reynolds steps in and catches Nika’s eye.
Nika: Captain Reynolds.
Reynolds: Captain Earhart. (jerks thumb over his shoulder) Is that the Exeter?
Nika: Yeah, it is.
Zoë: (joining in, thoughtfully) The Exeter … I thought that was …
She names the Captain who had it during the war.
Zoë: So how did it end up in your hands?
Nika: That’s a long story.
Kiera: We won it.
Nika: Tell you what. Let’s have some dinner, I can seriously use a drink, and I’ll tell you about it.
We do that. We spend the evening over that dinner, getting caught up and telling our respective stories. The Operative calls down a transport to pick her up before things get underway. She gives us a cordial adieu and Joshua extends his hand for a farewell shake.
Joshua: Let us know if you need anything again.
The Operative: Oh, I don’t’ think it’s worth the effort, honestly.
She winks at Joshua and boards her transport and we watch it take off. Joshua’s still mulling over her parting comment.
Joshua: I don’t know how to feel about that. She should feel really lucky. The only two Operatives I’ve run into directly die shortly thereafter.
We eye the contrail of the transport burning atmo out of here. Nope. No explosions. She’s still in one piece. Kiera laughs and returns inside to clean her newly-acquired assault rifle. She’ll add it to our growing collection. This trip wasn’t an entire wash. Rina isn’t so cheerful about it. She’s out a vest, a gun, a knife, her pocket tools—basically all her usual suspects. Still, she got to talk shop with Kaylee. This trip wasn’t an entire wash, nope.
Malcolm Reynolds and his crew don’t linger long after dinner but move on. As much as they would like to believe the good wishes of the Operative, they’ll feel safer taking themselves out of her reach, thanks. We watch them leave then turn for our own ship and take off for the Black ... and home.
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