Last Voyage of Delilah, Episode 104: Home Fires Burning, Part 4

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Outside the door, Vikki's eyes go wide. Inside …

Dempsey: All right then.

The comm goes dead. Vikki doesn't stick around but goes off to find Valentine. After a short search, she tries knocking on his cabin door.

Valentine: Come in.
Vikki: (closing door behind her) Um …
Valentine: You all right?
Vikki: I'm … not sure. (breathes) Our farmer couple.
Valentine: (here we go) Yes.
Vikki: They … They have a comm that works—
Valentine: (sarcasm) Well, they're steps above us.
Vikki: Yes, I know.
Valentine: Comm that works. I'm sorry. Go on.
Vikki: (nods) Talking to someone … and one of them said, "They're good people. I think we can trust them." They guy on the other end of the line said, "You do what you have to do". And that was pretty much the end of that. So now I'm wondering—oh, God, now I sound like Tian, I can't believe I'm saying this and—they looked so nice. Um, so … for all I know—the guy on the other end of the line was gruff and fatherly and maybe they were discussing with the grandfather who paid for their passage about their reception on Beaumonde or maybe they're not who they say they are and they're actually spies. What sort of "nice people"? Us sort of nice people? Somebody else nice people? And what do they have to do? Kill us? Like us? What?

Vikki ends in a rush. Valentine closes his eyes for a beat and when he opens them, he's calm. Somebody in this room has to be.

Valentine: One of the lessons I've learned in being a floor manager is, as you wander around you're going to hear lots of stuff and lots of stories and the first thing you've got to do is not to go inventing a long history for every conversation you hear. (off her look) Yes, I'm not saying that there isn't potential for some issues coming from there but on the other hand, if we start assuming that everyone—and I mean everyone—is working for the Triad or for the Alliance or for some other mysterious group looking to murder us, we might as well crawl into a hole and shoot ourselves in the head. And we're not going to do that. So what we are going to do is we're going to keep in mind that we heard this conversation. We're not going to take it to them. We're not going to ask to them. We're not going to question them. Keep your eyes and ears open but you're not going to spy on them. I don't want you standing around the door or following them around.
Vikki: (small) No.
Valentine: All I want you to do is just pay attention when you are near them when you have an opportunity to actually pay attention. Continue to gather information and see if there's something going on. This could be completely innocent. They've paid their coin. I'm not going to persecute them until I've been given reason to.
Vikki: I didn't feel right keeping you in the dark about this.
Valentine: No, this is exactly what I want you to do. If you hear things like this, if you find information like this, don't keep them to yourself. Bring it to me. Let me make the decision about it. Okay?
Vikki: Yeah.
Valentine: Great.
Vikki: Well, I'm … going to … (reaches for the door) ... get back to …
Valentine: You're Russian, aren't you?
Vikki: (cautiously) Yes.
Valentine: No, it's all right. Don't bother her but if you get a chance to start a conversation with our Russian guest—I know it won't put her at her ease but—
Vikki: But it might grease the wheels, right?
Valentine: Anything you can do to make the passage smoother and more comfortable for her and as somebody who is Russian who would help with that … (beat) … And if she tells you to bugger of, then feel free not to go near her again.
Vikki: Sure.
Valentine: (sighing) And if you hear anything else, let me know. Okay?
Vikki: Will do.
Valentine: Thank you, Vikki.
Vikki: You're welcome.

She leaves feeling a little better about the whole business. The Captain thinks her input is worth something and needs her to keep an eye on things. She can do that. Valentine thinks on what Vikki's told him and leaves his quarters soon after to go knocking on Rachel's door. She's a little tipsy but lets the stairs down.

Rachel: Um … (blinks) … yeah, baby, what's up?
Valentine: Sorry if I bothered you. It's hard to tell with the hatch closed. I know we have long range sensors and short range ship's sensors, but do we have something for when someone's banging on sthe hull? Do we have a set of on-the-ground sensors? If we don't, we might want to set a watch, is my point.
Rachel: Uhh … I don't know …? (shakes her head) 'Lilah will let you know if someone's walkin' around.
Valentine: Okay, that's all I need to know.

Every step a person makes produces some amount of noise on our ship.

Valentine: Because we got enough people in the mood to take our heads or our cargo or both, that it would be nice to have somebody paying attention.
Rachel: I reckon you could have somebody stay up but I would just lock the hatches.
Valentine: As long as everything's going to be locked and you're going to be staying in here. All right. Just lock the ship. (He nods) Thanks.
Rachel: You're welcome. Want an apple, Val?

She tosses him one. He catches it and takes the stairs down.

The evening advances and the souls aboard Delilah settle for the night. The passenger quarters are nicer and the crew relinquishes them to the passengers. The crew bunks down in the crew accommodations, shipping containers converted smaller quarters sleeping two to a room. Vikki and Tian share one and Poco takes over the other. Poco has very little body modesty and when the temperatures on board get warm, he has taken to walking around in as little clothing as he can get away with. As the passenger and crew quarters are on different decks, the passengers are spared the sight of him walking around without a shirt … or even less. Valentine doesn't have to shift his sleeping arrangements: he's claimed Lazarus's quarters as his own. A man's got the right to compensation for all the pain and suffering his inheritance has put him through, right? Rachel has her quarters on the bridge deck, separate from all the others.

Later in the night, Tian jerks awake from the nightmares that plague her. She hears a hissing sound. Tian is a military veteran and has seen combat in the field where a variety of weapons have been deployed. She recognizes the faint odor and realizes that the room is getting filled with knock-out gas. There are gas masks aboard the ship but none are in the bunk room. Tian checks Vikki and finds she is completely overcome by the gas.

Tian is five foot nothing and ninety pounds sopping wet. Vikki has substantial inches and pounds on her. There is no way she'll be able to move the young woman on her own. Tian will have to try to escape alone and either find help before she succumbs to the gas or stop whoever is gassing them. Tian holds her breath and moves for the door. Unfortunately, she's managed to breathe in just enough that holding her breath does her no good: the amount already in her bloodstream knocks her out halfway to the door.

In the bunk room next door, Poco is a light sleeper and likewise wakes. He's been burned too many times to sleep heavily. When the hiss wakes him, his first thought is aw, hell, what's broken? Then his paranoia kicks in and he immediately pulls the big-assed pistol he'd appropriated on Anson's World, appropriately named "The Baron". He runs barefoot to his door and goes outside.

He sees Maggie Halverson with a canister and a hose. Maggie sees him. She stands up and fans her face.

Maggie: (coughing) There's something wrong with the ship.
Poco: What the hell're you talkin' about? This is knock-out gas, not engine exhaust!

Poco doesn't believe her for a second. He raises The Baron to shoot her. She sees the gun.

Maggie: Aw, hell!

And she strikes ninja-fast before Poco can shoot. She aims a kick for his head and lands a glancing blow. Poco's shot is ruined and the bullet goes wide.

BANG!"'

That shot rings throughout the ship. So does the rumble of the cargo ramp going down.

The shot wakes Valentine up. He blinks, getting his bearings. Outside his door, in the open area of the crew lounge, Maggie is frowning at Poco, her pleasant tone at odds with her expression.

Maggie: If you'd just gone to sleep, then this wouldn't happen and be a problem.
Poco: Well, apparently it's going to be a problem.

Maggie throws a punch and he dodges. Poco is panicking but somehow he's keeping it together well enough to try shooting her again. The shot goes wild and it throws her off balance and she nearly falls. She rights herself, wrenching aside to avoid falling, but now she's favoring an ankle. It's obviously twisted.

Valentine hears the sound of the fight outside his door—the grunts and the bangs, the hiss of the gas and the rumble of the ramp—and grabs Rose, his gun. He calmly exits his quarters in his skivvies, gun up and ready to shoot. He scans for a not-his-crew target and finds it in Maggie.

He shoots Maggie.

After all, he knows his crew. Tian is paranoid but that doesn't mean people aren't after her. Poco is not going to get the energy up to fight unless someone else brought it on. And now here's this passenger mixing it up with his engineer? Shots fired? Cargo ramp going down, possibly the cargo going out the door? Cargo that belongs to the Triad that must not be messed with? Valentine has to keep his priorities straight: he can't get killed now because he has to get killed later.

Maggie is down, alive but not getting up, no. Valentine says to her from where he stands:

Valentine: We're not as nice people as you think we are.

The shot doesn't even finish echoing through the ship when Valentine hears from the stairs leading to the cargo deck:

Dempsey: I need you gentlemen to put the guns down.

Poco and Valentine see Dempsey holding a nasty looking stick-like weapon. And that nasty stick-like weapon is pressed against the throat of none other than Ms. Tall and Frosty. Dempsey has her in his clutches and doesn't look inclined to let her go.

Valentine calculates his chances of shooting Dempsey without hitting Selezneva … and doesn't like the odds.

Meanwhile, Rachel is one deck above and woken by the noise. She swears, pulls her pistol, and drops the stairs to investigate. She creeps down the stairs to the crew deck but even though Dempsey has his back to them, he hears her coming. He doesn't turn around but calls out.

Dempsey: I got a hostage here.
Valentine: (to Rachel) He does.
Poco: (Yeah, so?) And?

Rachel calls out from the bottom tread.

Rachel: Good mornin' and who the hell are'ya?
Dempsey: I'm just … one'a the simple farm folk.
Rachel: Simple farm folk have hoes, not guns.
Poco: He's got a ho.
Rachel: Poco.
Dempsey: That's my wife you're talking about.
Valentine: Wait.

Dempsey looks understandably insulted. Rachel finally sees who he's holding.

Rachel: Why are you holdin' …? What'cha holdin' our nice passenger hostage for?
Dempsey: Well, they shot my wife.
Poco: Well, she tried to gas us first.
Dempsey: I'm not sayin' it wasn't justified.

Like Maggie, his tone is Minnesota-nice. Good googley, but we're all bein' so civilized.

Dempsey: And that's why I'm holdin' a hostage.
Rachel: Why don't we all put our guns down and talk about why you were tryin' to gas us?
Dempsey: Cuz there's three of you with guns and only one of me. So I need a little edge, here.
Valentine: What—
Dempsey: So I'm gonna start easin' down these stairs. Would you guys would grab her and bring her down, too?

Dempsey nods at Maggie on the deck, now unconscious. Rachel rolls her eyes.

Rachel: Really?
Valentine: (steely) Rachel.
Dempsey: I can't hardly give up my hostage, here.
Rachel: Here, Val, take my gun and you—(to Dempsey)—you drop our passenger and take me hostage. It's not like you can take off without me anyway.

Rachel calmly walks over to Valentine, shoves her gun at him, and walks over to Dempsey, easy as you please and puts her hands up. Here you go, sweetie. One nice willin' hostage. Dempsey swaps Selezneva out for her and backs up a bit, pressing the weapon a little harder against Rachel's neck.

Valentine: Now let's stop for a second. You've got a hostage. We've got your wife on the floor over here, it seems.
Dempsey: She's not my wife, so you can't use that against me as leverage. She's a partner and not really my wife. Or even a lover. That's not to say that we wouldn't but probably will eventually. You know how there's that tension when you're working together and there are times when you—
Valentine: Yeah, I can see that.
Dempsey: And you're play acting and all that kinda stuff, and people are all waitin' to find out "will we or won't we"—

Rachel can't believe the man is digressing into mixing romance with business.

Rachel: What is wrong with you?
Valentine: Rachel.
Rachel: We don't give a rat's ass if you're sleepin' with her.
Dempsey: Well, you were askin' if she—
Valentine: I know. Before we go wandering off anywhere, why don't we talk about what you want? Because you obviously want something.
Dempsey: I think our guys are taking them already.

Poco coughs.

Poco: Boss, you gotta drop him. You know he's not gonna let a hostage walk away from this. I know his type.
Dempsey: As long as we get our stuff. We're thieves, not murderers. You're the ones shootin' people. We were just gonna friendly-gas you. And this is just a stun stick.
Rachel: Whaddya takin'? Our food?
Valentine: No, I know exactly what they're taking.

Selezneva's cargo. Her babies.

Poco: (to Demspey) You may be able to talk your way out of it … (to Valentine) But once they're off the ship, you gotta drop 'em.
Valentine: (to Dempsey) You do know—(breathes a laugh)—You do know who you're pissing off by doing that?
Dempsey: Oh, I don't think I'm too worried.
Valentine: I'd be worried. Just so you know. I am worried.

He looks the right picture of worry, calmly standing there in his skivvies. Selezneva cuts a look at Valentine.

Selezneva: What are you implying?
Valentine: I'm implying that there's some—
Selezneva: This is my personal property.
Valentine: Is it?
Selezneva: It doesn't belong to anyone else.
Valentine: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply it wasn't your property. I meant to imply that there's some very bad people that have some interest in getting this somewhere else and getting you where you need to be.
Selezneva: Oh, well, they are just doing me a favor. But yes, very bad people.

Very bad people. The way she says it, she could be discussing the weather. It's raining. I think I shall need an umbrella. All the while we can hear noises drifting up from the cargo deck. Stuff is being moved. Selezneva looks worried. Rachel looks annoyed.

Rachel: Waitaminnit. All you got is a stun stick on me?
Dempsey: We're not murderers.

She elbows Dempsey in the gut. Dempsey stumbles back, fumbles the stunner and stuns himself. He goes down. The stunner falls to the deck.

Valentine: Grab that.
Poco: (to Valentine) It's good to know that you don't trust every pretty face that walks by, then.
Valentine: Thank you.
Rachel: Where's the girls?

Yeah. Tian and Vikki. Remember them?

Valentine: Don't know. Find them.
Poco: Well, that container's leakin' knock-out gas—(points)—so my guess is there.
Valentine: There you go.
Rachel: Knock-out gas? What the … ?
Poco: They tried to knock us out.
Valentine: Let's go see what they're doing. My guess is they're doing exactly what he said they were doing.

Valentine moves for the stairs. Rachel sees Poco's gun and blinks.

Rachel: Where did you run off with that big gun?
Poco: Anson's World.
Rachel: Poco, that thing's as big as you are.
Selezneva: You need to go to stop them from stealing my cargo.
Valentine: That's where we're headed.
Selezneva: Enough chit-chat! Go, go, go!
Valentine: Yes, Ma'am.
Rachel: (eyeroll) Yes, Your Majesty.
Selezneva: Bozhe moi!

Valentine hits the stairs and Rachel stops him with a suggestion.

Rachel: They're inna big hole. (nods at our cargo deck) We ought'a just drop somethin' on their head.

Valentine recalls Vikki saying something about building some bombs at some point. If they could wake her up … Rachel's already there.

Rachel: Y'all go stop 'em. I'll go see if I can slap the girls awake. (hands Val the stunner) Here, have a stick.
Valentine: Sure. (holds up his gun and hers) Why not?
Poco: (to Rachel) You could always just take your gun back.
Rachel: I don't know what to do with damn thing. (shoos them off) I'll go wake them up.
Poco: Well, I don't want to be responsible for losing Triad cargo. (to Valentine) We could try going down the back way.
Valentine: I wish we had one of those.
Poco: We do. It's called not having stairs.

They take the stairs down anyway, cautiously, so as not to be seen. They step off onto the upper cargo deck catwalk and study what's going on down below.

There are two people, a man and a woman, moving the cargo. Unlike your typical smash-and-grab job, they seem to be taking great care moving that cargo around. The man is in the middle of sliding a hoist sling under it. The other end is already in the straps slung around the woman's shoulders. She's standing hunched over, waiting to lift the tube off the deck. Poco leans over and whispers in Valentine's ear.

Poco: I think we should pluck 'em off.
Valentine: I agree.

They just have to figure how to do it without making them drop and damage the cargo. Valentine contemplates a warning shot but he has to be careful where that bullet goes. He doesn't want to hit anyone and he definitely doesn't want to hit the cargo. He decides against it. There's so much junk in the hold that the bullet might ricochet into the people or cargo anyway. Instead, he stands up and pitches his voice to carry.

Valentine: (steely) You might want to stop doing that and let's have us a conversation.

The man below cranes his neck and spots Valentine on the catwalk. He stops. He smiles in an oily sort of way.

Man: Sure … I'm sure that there's been a misunderstanding here.
Valentine: Yeah. I've got two of them lying on the floor up there. And I'll have two more lying on the floor down here unless you step away from those cargo container and right out that cargo ramp.

The man below holds a stun stick like Dempsey's and looks around the hold, as if figuring out what he's got to work with.

Valentine: Tick-tock, tick-tock. I didn't think that this was a large negotiation here.

The man stuns his partner with the stun stick and she falls. He bugs the hell out of there at a pretty fast clip. Poco grunts.

Poco: Well, that's par for the course.

Valentine orders Poco to the deck to fetch the unconscious woman while he goes back up to check on Rachel's progress. Rachel has moved the girls out of their bunk and is trying to slap them gently awake in the cleaner air of the lounge. Valentine stands watch over our would-be thieves. When they wake, he intends to question them. After all, Valentine doesn't know if there are more of them out there.

Rachel's efforts to wake Tian and Vikki don't work. Katarina flicks vodka in their faces. Tian groans and Vikki sputters awake.

Vikki: Ow! That stings! (wipes, licks) Oh … that's … vodka?
Selezneva: Wake up. You nearly lost my cargo.
Vikki: Oh … wow …
Tian: (muzzy) What is going on?

Selezneva sniffs and turns to Valentine.

Selezneva: Did you scare them off?
Valentine: Yes. One of them stunned the other one and ran.
Tian: What?
Valentine: So we have three that are knocked unconscious. I don't want to keep them but—
Selezneva: We should get rid of them immediately and we should leave.
Vikki: That's a good idea.
Valentine: I would like to know if there are more of them. Can we expect more of these types?
Selezneva: I don't know if we should.
Poco: Let's wake up the ringleader, which I'm guessin' is the woman. I dunno ….
Selezneva: We should get rid of them. You're right. We don't know if we are going to get more.
Poco: I'll go spin up the engines.
Valentine: That would actually be great.
Selezneva: We could kill them or—
Valentine: We're not going to kill them. That creates more problems than it's worth.
Vikki: Just roll them off the cargo ramp, seal her up and take off.
Valentine: (curt) That's where we're heading. I need help to drag them down.
Vikki: Okay, okay. C'mon … (grabs Dempsey) … Why don't we just drop them over the side?
Valentine: Because I would like to ask one of them some questions before we drop them over the side. Ask, then drop. When we're ready to go, then we'll go.
Vikki: All right.

She starts dragging Dempsey for the stairs. His head thuds a little on the treads but Vikki keeps going. Ka-thud, ka-thud, ka-thud. Once all the thieves are on the cargo ramp, Valentine has to choose which to question first. Vikki points out Maggie as the first choice.

Vikki: We can grind our thumb into her wound to make her talk.
Valentine: I don't want to make her talk.

Ooh, but Tinkerbell has a nasty streak in her. Poco nods at the unconscious Maggie.

Poco: I could be wrong but I got the impression that she was in charge. (off Valentine's look) Maybe she wasn't in charge.
Tian: (fed up) Do we care?
Valentine: I do.

Valentine orders Dempsey and the woman from the cargo hold rolled off the ramp. He keeps Maggie aboard for questioning. She's revived and Valentine squats down to look her in the eye.

Valentine: Who are you? And are there more of you?
Maggie: (muzzy) …. More of us? …
Valentine: You were here for the cargo. Who are you?
Maggie: … What do you mean, who are you?
Valentine: (steely) Why are you stealing the cargo? Who are you? It's a pretty simple question.
Maggie: … We heard that this was valuable cargo …
Valentine: From who?
Maggie: … Can't tell our sources …

Vikki gasps and her eyes go wide. God only knows what she's thinking … but it doesn't look good. Valentine motions her back. Maggie reconsiders her reticence.

Maggie: His name's Kimura … He's the Port Master.
Valentine: Okay. Great. Have a nice night.

He waves at the open ramp. Maggie drags to her feet. We give her a helpful shove to send her on her way. Valentine calls at her back.

Valentine: You might want to have that wound looked at.
Poco: Don't stand by the engines!

Valentine engages the ramp and it starts to whine. Rachel comms down to the hold.

Rachel: Tell 'em to roll away cuz there's a nasty exhaust when we fire off.
Valentine: Two of them are unconscious.

Maggie grabs hold of one of the unconscious men. She's stronger than she looks and manages to get both her fellow thieves clear. Valentine watches through the ever-shrinking gap of the cargo ramp and whistles softly. Damn, girlfriend. The ramp closes and Valentine checks the seal. He comms his crew.

Valentine: Tell me how we're doing. Are we good to go?

He gets a chorus of responses as his crew works to make it happen. By the sound of the engines, we just might make it off the ground. He mounts the stairs to the crew deck and finds Selezneva on the couch, smoking cigarette and fuming. She murmurs under her breath, her expression possessive. Valentine joins her. She cuts him an angry look.

Selezneva: … They were messing with my cargo …
Valentine: (unfazed) Yes. They were attempting to take the cargo off the ship.
Selezneva: Didn't I ask you not to let anyone mess with my cargo?
Valentine: Yes you did. And I'm sorry we got raided and almost killed. We'll try not to have that happen again.
Selezneva: Please … (raises her hand) … No excuses.
Valentine: Right. Are these valuable enough that we're going to expect people to be chasing us all the way to Beaumonde?
Selezneva: (arch)… They are just …. trinkets.
Valentine: No.
Selezneva: Sentimental value.

Vikki speaks up on her way through the lounge.

Vikki: "Sentimental value" is your cat's ashes when they die. This is not cat's ashes.
Valentine: I couldn't have said it any better. I'm going to have to agree with her.
Selezneva: They are bodies to be buried, that's all.
Vikki: So I was close.
Valentine: Why would someone want to steal bodies?
Selezneva: They are freaks, I suppose.
Valentine: We'll have this discussion once we get moving.

He quits the couch and joins Rachel on the bridge. She looks at him and shakes her head.

Rachel: I'm tryin' to find out what the hell I found myself in the middle of.

Valentine: If you can figure out the answer to that question, let me know. Because I would really like to know.
Rachel: Funny thing was, this wouldn't happened until you showed up. It's followed ya.

SNAFU magnet much?

Clearly, Valentine's been cursed. Rachel, on the other hand, has not. She nurses Delilah like an expert, coaxing the engines to lift off. Of course, we're lifting off hours ahead of schedule and that makes Traffic Control to squawking. Rachel talks them down.

Rachel: You said "morning". Could you erase off your morning and put in our morning? You know that sign I put up? Erase the take-off time and put it in as "now". Thank you kindly …

Cuz she's taking off, regardless.

Valentine leaves it in her hands and rejoins Selezneva.

Valentine: So. Let's go back to this conversation we were having before we took off. Bodies. Why? They didn't look like freaks. They looked like nice farm girls and boys. Why would they want bodies?
Selezneva: They were clearly—
Valentine: Yes, they were clearly well prepared.
Tian: And they didn't wish to kill us.
Selezneva: Perhaps my … fallen cousins were … perhaps assassinated and they needed body to show people. That's something that could be happening.
Valentine: But is this something that is happening?
Selezneva: Maybe their bodies have …. ah! Make mutation. Like disease.
Valentine: Why don't we stop with the maybes. You said they weren't secret.
Selezneva: What is not secret?
Valentine: Your cargo. You said you didn't need secrecy around it, so why don't I take you up on that offer and you tell me.
Selezneva: Tell about what? You can't look at them or open them.

Valentine is coming to the end of his rope. Tian interjects before he can lose it.

Tian: Knowing what we know about this so far, are these in fact cryotubes?

Tian is a doctor and knows that they're not your standard cold storage for corpse transport. They're more specialized than that. They're custom-built. Perhaps whatever's inside is still alive. Tales have been told of people getting smuggled in boxes such as these. And didn't Selezneva call the cargo her babies? Are we smuggling babies inside the—?

Oh hell, no.

Valentine refuses to entertain that option. For one, it's pure speculation. He doesn't want speculation. He wants facts. He pulls something Maggie said from memory and uses it.

Valentine: So the Port Master is the one who told them?
Selezneva: See, you can't trust people these days.
Valentine: That's true. Now—
Selezneva: (standing) Well. Mystery solved.
Valentine: Not solved. That is not a mystery solved.
Selezneva: Unlike my … luxury accommodations.
Valentine: You're not going to make me feel guilty over that. I need to know what—
Selezneva: You don't need to know anything. All you need to know is, yes, people are interested.
Valentine: Lots of people?
Selezneva: You. (spreads her hands) I'm on your ship and not regular ship. Right?
Valentine: That's … actually … (thinks) … Have a nice night. Let me know if I can do anything for you in the morning.

Half of winning any battle is knowing which battle you can win. He returns to the bridge and regards it bleakly.

Valentine: How did I end up here?

Every time he thinks he's come to the end of the current mess, he finds he's at the beginning of a new one. Every take-off, every landing, the question is always the same: how did he end up here? He turns to Rachel.

Valentine: You sure you don't want this ship?
Rachel: No. I'm beginnin' to think I should'a taken that job. That job is lookin' sweeter'n sweeter'n sweeter.
Valentine: What? The one that you turned down?
Rachel: I didn't turn it down. I was gonna think about it.
Valentine: So let me tell you: you turned it down. No one's going to let you think it over for four weeks to decide whether you'd take it or not. You turned it down.

Rachel looks smug for the first time since Valentine's known her.

Rachel: Val, there ain't no job that I wanted that I can't get.
Valentine: I'll buy you that, but I'm still pretty sure you still turned down that one.
Rachel: No pilot job is ever closed to a McAllister. Ever.

As Valentine says later once they've taken off and everyone's gravitated to the crew lounge for beers:

Valentine: Five weeks ago, I had a job. I had a real job. And yes, my employers were potentially difficult to deal with if you crossed them. But I didn't cross them. I made an effort not to cross them.
Vikki: Look at it this way. Now you're Chief Bullet Dodger and Cat Herder and there's no place to go but up.
Valentine: No. There are places to do down. We have not hit down yet. There is bottom to be had.
Rachel: There is always a little bit further down. Just when you think you're surfin', you get smacked by the surf. And then gutter surfin' ain't low enough.
Valentine: I've got advantages. Surprisingly, the four random people I seem to have ended up with are at least good at what they do.
Rachel: (laughs) We got a professional criminal engineer who, it's not that he has your back but that he'll shoot you in the back. That's what he's dependable for. "Poco's got my back. No, honey. He's gon' shoot you."
Vikki: He's got your back all right. In his sights.
Poco: I'm willin' to shoot through you to hit somebody on the other side.
Rachel: Yup!
Poco: Well, my favorite part is we haven't taken off yet without bein' shot at or chased.
Vikki: Gee, I wonder what that would be like?
Valentine: She's right. I have to accept that things are dangerous enough that we're going to have people chasing after us. It's just my life's on the line and it's… been a rough day.
Rachel: (laughs) I am perfectly convinced that y'all're nothin' but trouble with a capital T.

Maybe so, but we seem to have the knack of getting ourselves out of whatever trouble we land in. We're all willing to drink to that and hope our luck, however variable it is, continues to grant us that. For the moment, we've eight days of relative peace and quiet before we reach Beaumonde. Until then, eight days is soon enough to discover what sort of welcome is waiting for us when we get there.

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