Those Who Stare In The Black, Game 18: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Friday, 27 Oct 2519
Alliance Ship, Longbow Class
Time unknown

We're still in the TDU, waking up from a particularly restful sleep we don't remember taking. Of course, this hinks more than a few of us.

Xiu: (to Oksana) Doc, I think we need you to check my meds. I'm feeling a little swishy headed.

Before Oksana can do anything for the engineer, the Operative walks in.

Operative: My apologies. It looks like you and your ship and Serenity were caught in a fest of a new propulsion system. It reacted strangely with your life supports. We got most of the information from Serenity's crew and records, as they were affected longer. They were the ones who stumbled upon the original test site. We have done what we can to mitigate the effects and that was mostly due to the medicines you've made. (nods at Oksana) Thank you, doctor, for that.
Oksana: You're welcome.

Cuz, really, what else could she say?

Operative: We have repaired both your ships. Most of the repairs were done to Serenity, as she sustained the most damage. We will allow you back to your ships momentarily. The guards will take you to your weaponry.

He bows and exits and as the guards file in to escort us out, we hear the Operative delivering the same speech to Mal and his crew in the next cell over. Of course, we hear Mal too. He's a bit more mouthy than our captain.

Oksana asks the guard nearest her what the date is. He obliges: 27 October, ma'am.

Once we've our weapons returned to us, we're led out to the docking bay and escorted aboard. We're relieved that the guards do not stay but get right off again. We seal up our ramp and once we're finally free of Fed eyes and ears, Stone issues his orders.

Verity is to check our records and systems on the bridge. Xiu is to do the same in engineering. Oksana is to do the same in med bay. Stone will check everything else that's left. We don't want to find out the hard way we've picked up any "presents" courtesy of the Feds.

Verity double-duties it: even as she's doing a malware/spyware sweep, she's going through pre-flight as fast as she can. The Feds hail us with an order.

Feds: Take off in 10 minutes. We have another place we have to be.
Stone: Can we fly out or are we getting tractored.
Feds: You can fly out.

With the implication we'd better be off their deck in 10 minutes. Hell yes, we're gonna be off their deck in 10 minutes or less. Can't say we enjoyed their company so much that we'd like to stay. Serenity and her crew feel the same way and they make off as soon as they can warm up their engines.

'Feds: Space Otter. Proceed with undocking or be disgorged.
Stone:' Thank you. We are underway.

Verity gets us out of there as quick as you please and once the Longbow is off, we remain for a bit to get our bearings and to complete our scans.

It doesn't take long for the results to come in, because our ship logs have been wiped all the way back to the point we burned atmo out of Aberdeen and hit burst for Ghost.

Damn.

Stone checks his covert Black Box, the one he uses as back up for the official Black Box. The info in it comes out garbled. Looks like the Feds found it and corrupted the info in it too. We can't tell if they copied it first.

Double damn.

Stone writes up a detailed report from memory of what happened to us before, during, and after our detainment and burst transmits it to the Merchant's Guild and Ebenezer Scrooge back on Aberdeen.

Oksana's records are fine, likely because they didn't have anything in them except medical information, devoid of anything sensitive that would worry the Feds, like a description of their little test devices.

Stone transmits on tight beam to Serenity, who's still in range.

Stone: So, we gonna finish that repair work before we continue on?
River: If the Captain were here, he's say yes.
Oksana: If he were still here? Is he not on the ship?
River: Yes, he is. He's down below putting away his pretty blue bonnet.

Oh.

Stone still has pictures of Mal in that bonnet. Whacky fun.

Meanwhile, the Longbow powers out of here the second our ships are clear. They really are in a hurry to get somewhere. We have the immediate patch of space to ourselves and Serenity, who is hanging out with us to one side. We can see her through our bridge windows but luckily we don't have to Morse them with the flashlight anymore. Their comms are back online, courtesy of repairs by the Feds. Stone hails them.

Stone: You checked for riders and whatnot?
Mal: Yeah, we plan to.
Stone: Check your logs. Ours got partially wiped.

Mal checks. Sees. Swears.

Mal: Everything from Ghost forward is gone. <Chinese swearing>
Stone: Everybody okay over there?
River: Yeah. I can read people again.

Click! The channel goes dead.

Two and a half hours later, the full search results come in.

Verity doesn't find anything out of the ordinary besides the missing ship logs.

Xiu sees they've copied two-plus months of our propulsion and engineering logs.

Oksana finds nothing missing.

Stone has found his covert Black Box compromised. His failsafe on it got activated and it garbled the info on it. He thinks he can reverse the process.

Xiu suggests to her captain that we lock up our sensitive information behind biometric locks and passcodes. Stone tells her he'll take it under advisement.

Xiu takes herself off to med bay after that. She wants Oksana to scan her. She felt odd when waking up in the TDU. There might be something wrong with her. Oksana obliges.

Any signs of being messed with? Catheterized? Cut on?

Nope.

Her hormone levels are off, with adrenaline and dopamine numbers running high—not surprising given the stress of captivity combined with her paranoia. Her electrolyte levels are off, too—but given that it's been a minimum of 11 hours since the engineer ate anything, that's to be expected. Oksana gives her a sports drink to tide her over while she ushers Xiu to the galley, where she rustles up a meal for her on the spot. Oksana actually cooks a meal for everyone, Verity and Stone, too. It's just as easy to cook for four as it is for one.

Mal hails the bridge. Verity answers.

Mal: Your captain up for visitors?
Verity: (via in-ship comms) Captain? Mal's asking to come over.
Stone: Tell him yes.

Stone delivers Verity's meal from the galley even as Serenity's shuttle detaches and scoots over. Mal must have been in the shuttle cockpit when he made that call. They make a soft seal via umbilical and walk aboard onto our cargo deck. It's only Mal and Zoe. Stone greets them as they come aboard, escorts them to the lounge, and comms Oksana to meet him there. Oksana is already prepared with tea and food. Mal looks a little pained at her offer of tea but he graciously accepts her hospitality. Oksana makes no mention of his recent difficulties and instead does her job as Steward.

Mal: (motioning with his cup) I can't believe you ended up with so nice a ship.

The conversation immediately turns to comparing our memories against the evidence in front of us. The 11 hour gap in memory is worrying, as is the possibility the Feds might have done something to us and our ships in that gap. Stone admits the existence of his covert Black Box and that its information is garbled, but he also confides that he might be able to ungarble it.

All Mal remembers is the Feds showing up after Mal kissed dirt on Ghost. That convinced him to leave. He burns atmo off Ghost, loses comms soon after that, and then realizes they'd picked up the Fed's "tagalongs", as he calls them. The debris we found upon arrival was mostly Serenity's. But that also implies not all of it was. Where did the rest come from? It's a question left begging but in the end, it remains unaddressed.

Xiu comes in during the pow wow and sits next to Oksana, listening in with the doctor. She leans over and whispers.

Xiu: Why am I still here? They had me. Why didn't they ship me off to the Academy?
Oksana: Perhaps the Operative didn't have orders to detain you? And perhaps he radioed back and was told someone would pick us up. (to Stone) We should leave.

Stone acknowledges with a nod but continues his discussion with Mal.

Mal: We were told the effects were unexpected and produced unintended consequences. Simon and Kaylee looked it over and said our life support systems were acting weird and the mix coming out our atmo vents was messed up.
Xiu: So … Reaver pacification device?

Oh, that sends the conversation down a nasty rabbit hole. Even Oksana contributes. Being Russian, she as cultural paranoia to fuel her speculations. Upshot: though it seems unlikely, we can't entirely discount the possibility.

Oksana copies all her information and notes, along with medical fixes, for recent events and gives it to Mal for Simon. Make as many copies as he wants, she tells him. Spread the word and the remedy where you can. Mal thanks her and assures her they will.

Mal: Not sure how well we'll do it, as we're plumb out of jobs at the moment.
Stone: We might have a way to help you with that. I've recently come into a partnership with a merchant who's looking to expand his network. Decent enough man. Our doctor vouches for him.

He goes on to tell him a little more about Ebenezer Scrooge. Mal is interested enough to promise looking into it. Stone gives him Scrooge's contact info and an encryption algorithm to create a secure comms channel between Space Otter and Serenity.

Mal thanks him again and rises, asking permission to see Verity on the bridge, catch up on old times. He astutely saw that she wasn't present in the lounge with her crew. Stone gives him permission to go right on up. Mal excuses himself and sticks his head onto the bridge.

Mal: Hey, mei mei.
Verity: Hey, you.
Mal: How'd you fare in all this?
Verity: I guess I'm okay.

Mal takes a seat near her and delivers the news he didn't share with the rest of our crew.

Mal: One of the things we found on Ghost may have been responsible for Patches.
Verity: The El Dorado? The captain of?
Mal: (shakes head) Didn't catch him yet but he's why we went to Ghost. He's been running with a group associated with the Alliance. We heard he jumped onto Ghost a couple of months back, grabbed a couple'a girls from villages there. You interested in getting a piece of this action?
Verity: I'm interested. In kicking his ass.
Mal: (nods) Okay. I'll let you know if I found out any more. I'll keep an ear out. Looks like we're flyin' to Aberdeen, so I'll see you dirtside there. We need the work.

He rises and leaves Verity to what she does best: piloting. Mal doesn't linger with the rest of the crew in the lounge either. He gathers Zoe and shuttles back to Serenity and before long, both ships get underway to Aberdeen, a day's flight away.

Saturday, 28 Oct 2519
Airspace over Aberdeen

Just as we make Aberdeen's airspace, who do we see parked in orbit but our old friends with the Longbow. If they recognize us, they make no overt sign of it.

Longbow: Please follow the flight path we've provided and prepare for scanning.
Verity: Getting' tired of this.

Serenity receives the same message. Both our ships comply. This is not a fight we want.

Longbow: State the nature of your business.
Stone: Returning for cargo, thank you.
Xiu: (in-ship comms) Cuz the Doctor's got a da-aaaaaate, with a handsome ma-aaaaan.

Humor. Cuz, whaddya gonna do?

We are scanned and we are cleared. We are assigned the same berth we occupied the last time we were there. Starting to feel like home.

Stone analyzes the scan as it sweeps over us. It's the standard. Nothing weird. It covers the basic composition of our systems, radiation, gravimetrics, engine profile … the usual stuff.

Once we land we find a wave waiting for us. It's Ebenezer Scrooge.

Scrooge: You're back from the engine test. I trust all went well. Can we meet to discuss the results?
Stone: Sounds wonderful. Shall we meet in a couple of hours?
Scrooge: I have a potential business partner who will be coming in soon after you. Here are the directions to the meet.

It's at his place outside of town. Stone verifies receipt and our attendance. The wave ends and we get busy securing our business. Stone looks to getting his other business matters squared away so nothing's left hanging while we're at that meeting. Oksana does some supplies shopping to fill any empty holes in our pantry. We may be travelling for a while. Everything gets squared away and we take the mule to our meeting. Verity, predictably enough, declines going and stays with our ship. When we arrive, we're let in by a butler and ushered into the conference room. Scrooge gets up from the table, shakes Stone and Xiu's hands, but hugs Oksana in greeting.

We settle at the table.

Scrooge: How did it go?
Stone: About as bad as things can get and we can still come back.
Scrooge: Interesting, then.
Stone: We seem to attract it. I'm not sure if it's me or if it's the ship or ….
Scrooge: I hate to say it but, yes.
Stone: Did you get my burst transmission?
Scrooge: No.
Stone: Odd. I know I sent it.

Stone had brought a copy of the information, just in case. He hands it over and Scrooge plugs it into a reader and reads it. It takes a few minutes. He sighs.

Scrooge: (to self) So now it's going into testing. (louder) We didn't expect the EM drives to be deployed for another year. Thank you. (hefts the reader) I'll pass this intel along.
Xiu: Pass along the fact we lost 11 hours, too. It's significant because … well, because.
Stone: Another possible significance is the fact that the Longbow in orbit at this very moment is the same Longbow that detained us.

The door to the conference room opens and the butler ushers in Mal, Jayne, and River.

Scrooge: River. (bows with head) If you will have a seat.

Mal recounts everything that happened to us over Ghost. It takes about 45 minutes. At the end, Scrooge says:

Scrooge: Mal, you've brought us good info. I know you've had hard times. Would you work with me? Not for me. With me?
Mal: (narrowly) What kind of work?
Scrooge: My company provides things the Border and the Rim planets need for day to day living. We're not as big or as widespread as Blue Sun is, but we are an alternative to the same. I need people to help me deliver that to people who need it. If you're willing to ship for me and keep an ear out, we can pay you for any info you bring. We'll see how things go with this …. ramp up …. with the Feds.

Mal thinks. Trades a look with River. She nods and smiles.

Mal: I gotta talk with my second-in-command, but technically … yes. We ain't spies. We're just keepin' things together while flyin' the Black.

Mal rises and shakes on the deal, then nods at Xiu and smiles. We're all friends here, after all. Mal leaves with his crew, and Stone and his crew make ready to leave in their wake. Scrooge stays Oksana with a request.

Scrooge: Are you willing to stay for dinner?
Oksana: I would be delighted.
Xiu: (sings to self) Doctor's got a da-aaaaate with a handsome ma-aaaaan ….

The crews, sans doctor, leave for their respective ships. Otter is parked where we'd parked her before, Serenity has a berth across town from her. The Captains of both go back to their ships and get back to the business of making a living. Dinner for the doctor is not so business-related.

Once Stone and the rest of his crew arrive at Otter, they catch up on the news feeds. Topmost on the news is this: The Alliance has announced that they are now scanning wave traffic for the populace's safety.

Which news has Verity's nose all out of joint. Damned Fed Purplebellies, sticking their noses where they aren't wanted!

And so on.

Stone leaves her to it. He checks with the Guild to see if his burst transmission made it through to them. No, it didn't. Huh. He'll have to resend it. Given the most recent news, Stone decides against using the regular comms channels but instead hires a courier to deliver it. He hands over (a copy of) the file with his complete burst report, including the medical fix for the tagalongs, pays the man and sends him on his way. He comms the Guild to tell them to expect a package. They comm him back a little while later to ask when he expects it to arrive.

Wait. What? Stone asks them to clarify.

The courier never arrived.

Oh gǒu shǐ.

The courier's company is upset—he's a good worker, never had any complaints or got into any trouble. Maybe he's delayed?

Stone does some checking around. He doesn't find the courier but a detail in the scenery does stand out: There are no Merchant Guild ships in orbit. No one's idling in orbit except the Feds. All ship were grounded or sent on their way.

That doesn't seem right, but Stone has no time to ponder it. He resends his information in a burst transmission, encrypted with a standard Merchant Guild code.

Thirty minutes later he gets a reply back: We got something but we can't tell if … is that MAL … in a DRESS?

Wait. What?

Gǒu shǐ, our comms are compromised. Stone alerts Verity to it and orders her to move our ship to the first open berth that's nearest to the Merchant Guild HQ. Maybe if they shorten the distance between Otter and the HQ, they can get that burst trans past the Feds. He also waves Oksana with the news. She asks him if he needs her to come in. Stone thinks a beat and tells her it isn't necessary. She thanks him and tells him she'll stay where she is. Verity replies back that the berth they're currently occupying is the closest available berth.

Great.

Stone calls all the other Merchant Captains and the Guild for a meeting—without telling them much about what it's for, in case the Feds are listening in—and the Guild instructs everyone to convene at the HQ. Two of the Captains respond back. Stone makes copies of our information before we leave and he delivers it by hand to them, just to make sure they have a copy. One captain hands it back, saying it's fèihuà. The other captain, by name of Roberts, says he'll go with Stone to the meeting at HQ.

Stone sends a wave to Scrooge before he leaves, informing him of his meeting at the Merchant Guild HQ to discuss his difficulties in getting his information sent. He also tells him of Roberts and his intent to attend the meeting as well.

Once at HQ, the captains are split up. Roberts is sent in one direction, Stone in another. Stone is shown into a conference room and asked to wait. Xiu is with him and Oksana has yet to arrive. Verity, as always, declined in preference to staying aboard our ship. A little time later, a well-dressed man enters the conference room.

Well-dressed Man: What's this about one of our couriers going missing?
Stone: Well … (sighs) … Let's start from the beginning.

Stone gives him the thumbnail version:

• Burst trans in the Black: failed
• Wave it once dirtside: failed
• Courier it once dirtside: failed

Stone: Here's the chip with everything on it. Do you want it and risk disappearing?

The Well-dressed Man seems up to the challenge. He takes the chip, plugs it into a reader, reads for a moment, then says:

Well-dressed Man: Other than the medical problems, what are we to do?
Stone: Make alarms to alert crews their systems are being affected by this. Also? Stock meds.
Well-dressed Man: Most captains aren't as rich as you. They can't afford it. As such, we can't mandate it. But we will spread the word.
Stone: At least give them the info. For use, if possible.
Well-dressed Man: Thank you. I'll get this out to those who need it.

Stone and Xiu are ushered out. Stone tracks down Roberts. There are two other conference rooms and three offices. Roberts is busy talking to someone in one of them and he looks rather heated about it. The secretary sitting at her desk in front says as much: He's talking to someone and isn't to be disturbed.

Stone gets into our mule, turns the engine over and starts back to Otter, thinking on what to do next. Something's not right, that much is certain and Stone wants to find out if that not-right is somehow tangled up with the Guild. He looks at Xiu riding beside him.

Stone: Wanna go on a stake-out and see who comes out?
Xiu: Ooh! Yeah! But where?

There's no good place to park the mule in line-of-sight of the HQ. They have to park it and go in on foot to find a good place to surveil from. There's a coffee shop half a block away that suits. Stone and Xiu settle at a window table in the front and keep an eye on their target. They watch for Roberts to come out and see if he's being tailed.

Stone: I guess the Alliance is going to find out just how stubborn I am.
Xiu: I can out-crazy your stubborn any day.
Stone: We'll see how that rock fares against that ocean.

Time passes. No results.

Meanwhile, dinner for Oksana turns toward dessert … and it's not being served at the table.

Back at the coffee shop, Stone and Xiu give up their table. They've spent too long doing basically nothing and it's starting to look strange. Time to find another surveillance point. They're moving the mule when Xiu spies someone leaving the Guild HQ. She grabs Stone by the shoulder to warn him.

It's the Operative from Ghost.

Ohhhhh …. Gǒu shǐ.

HOW TO SPEAK CHINESE

Mèi mei =妹妹= May may = Sister, younger sister Sound clip
gǒu shǐ = 狗屎 = gow shih = dog shit Sound clip
fèihuà = 廢話 = fee-hwah = bullshit, nonsense, rubbish, blah, bunk, guff Sound clip

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