Under the Stars

0300 hours on the clock was the only indication that it was still the middle of the night. On the Xin Caodi platform, the sky never changed, and quite frankly, she liked it that way. No matter the time you could look out over the city and see the soft glow of Djinn's Bane below, offset with the deep black of space above. It was the perfect place for a lifelong pilot to put down roots.

Not that the choice had really been hers... sure it would have come eventually, but with things the way they were... No, she wasn't going to go down that train of thought. It didn’t lead to a good end and right now she wanted to enjoy the good she had... A glance back over her shoulder to the sleeping figure quickly returned the smile to her face.

Elias... how the hell did she manage to get so damn lucky? What had been a chance encounter at a local bar had turned into... well.. maybe that’s what her mind was trying to figure out in the small hours of the morning. Turning from the window, she padded barefoot across the apartment, carefully slipping back into bed without waking him.

Propped up on her elbow, she watched him sleep a while, letting her mind wander, for the first time in as long as she cold remember, her jumbled thoughts peaceful. In just a short few months he had become the center of her universe... something she never thought she'd find again; hadn't found in this life that Wirefly had dumped her into.

For the first time, she found she was actually grateful for the opportunity the madman had given her... the past seemed so far less important now than it once had. Here was this man who had come into her life, stayed by and cared for her whens he was ill, risked his life to help save hers... and even now, with the problems the damn chip they'd put in her was causing; he never once faltered.

So much stayed unspoken between them, and that was just fine. Words only seemed to get in the way most of the time, they either weren’t the right ones or they were just not enough. Most times, it was enough to just let it be.. but tonight was not most times.

With slow gentle movement, she leaned close, whispering softly in his ear as he slept. Nestling back up close, she closed her eyes, maybe some day she would find the right moment when he was awake...

Some Jackpot This Turned Out To Be...

After months of scrambling, disappointments, dead ends, and what seemed like plain, old, bad luck, they had hit what appeared to be a jackpot of a job. Tray Porthos, captain of the Mk IV Firefly class freighter Tsunami, received a wave over the Cortex from Mr. Xue, a notoriously nefarious job broker and disreputable businessman based out of Booty Bay, about an untouched derelict in a remote sector and his broker’s fee was minimal – just one, specific supply container and the need for utmost discretion and timeliness. It wasn’t often you came across virgin derelicts with full crop, food, and medical supply manifests, though, so the need for silence and speed was a no-brainer. As soon as word got out, vultures from across several systems would be out to scavenge the dead for anything that was worth a damn.

Of course Tray didn’t ask questions, so he didn’t know how Xue may have come across such prime information, or even why the normally steep broker’s fee was so light. In his line of business, you didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, you certainly didn’t ask inconvenient questions - not if you wanted to ever get another job, anyway – and you most definitely didn’t ask questions when the person answering was someone as sinister as Mr. Xue. All told, the job was big enough to warrant hiring on more crew, and would still have them all sitting pretty for a good, long while.

Given the short notice of the job, he grabbed what folks were around and looking for work out of Booty Bay: Mikie Rhiadra and Davion Holmeforth. It wasn’t a full crew, but it was enough, and his pilot, Imrhien Fargis, knew full well how to fly under the radar in order to keep anybody from getting curious, which would hopefully buy them the time they needed. Tray and Imrhien had decided not to give any details to either until they were well underway. It wasn’t that Mikie and Davion couldn’t be trusted, but you never knew who 

might say the wrong thing to the wrong person in passing thinking it was harmless, and as the old saying goes, “loose lips sink ships.”

The journey out to the derelict was uneventful. Not wanting to raise any eyebrows, or run into any predators picking off the ships straying off the beaten path, Imrhien kept Tsunami in regular shipping lanes until she could deviate her course without notice. It wasn’t until they came upon the derelict, a hulking freighter that easily dwarfed the firefly, that any hint of unease took root in any of their guts.

Set lazily adrift in the void of space, she was spinning very slowly on all three axes, suggesting there was no power in the ship, and that the distant gravity well of the nearby gas giant had begun needling the vessel, sluggishly drawing her lifeless bulk toward her ultimate destruction in the embrace of its crushing pressure. There was no evident physical damage to the exterior hull, and so it was suggested that the ship had lost power and her occupants had abandoned her. It would have had to have been with assistance, as both of her shuttles were both still nestled into their docking platforms against her massive underbelly.

After a bit of calculating and a frightful amount of gut instinct, Imrhien had managed to dock Tsunami with the derelict, and with much groaning protest from both ships, as well as her three passengers, stabilized the nauseating spin of the larger craft. She remained on the bridge to monitor the conditions of both ships, as well as keep an eye on their surroundings. Just in case. Tray, Mikie, and Davion had moved down to the cargo hold to suit up in EVA gear as soon as their pilot’s eyeball-jarring maneuvers had ceased. So far, things were going better than they could have hoped.

As expected, they had to manually work the airlock doors of the dead craft open. Once inside, no one was surprised to find the life support and artificial gravity control systems offline. They scouted the cargo hold, finding a veritable wealth of crates, thankfully secured and seemingly undamaged. The freight was all stacked neatly, tied down, and obviously organized. Imrhien listened over the com channel as they scanned the cargo manifest and, despite the pervasive feeling of dread, settled in for a boring few hours nailed to the consoles. It wasn’t until they moved further into the ship in order to seek out some clue about what happened and how to restore power that it became quite evident something was very wrong. In the darkness, broken up only by the twinkling of console lights and screens, she heard the change in their breathing. Now they were gasping, breathing rapidly, raggedly, with a few tinny curses and quiet exclamations.

“Uh, y’all okay in there?”

Mikie was the one who responded. “Deadpan, keep an eye out for trouble. Everyone on this boat’s dead, and it wasn’t from natural causes.” That feeling of dread that had taken hold increased tenfold, just based on the fact that Mikie had used her old pilot callsign.

On the derelict, none of the three of them could really have envisioned a more gruesome scene. They had come out of the cargo bay and into a recreational room. Bodies littered the space, no doubt disturbed from where they’d fallen as their artificial gravity had been cut off. Some were riddled with bullet holes. Others had been stabbed. One woman had her throat slit open. Blood was everywhere; smeared, pooled, even droplets hanging in space. The only sounds were from their own, ragged breathing.

What had done this? Or who, was more likely. The obvious answer was Reavers, who came and killed and left. But Reavers didn’t use guns. Pirates would have taken the cargo and anything else of value, yet the hold was brimming with unmolested goods. The pirate activity on the rim had definitely increased at an alarming rate in recent months, but this didn’t fit the pattern at all. Was it some kind of hit? The unanswered questions loomed ominously over them.

As captain, it was Tray’s call, and he made it. “We get the power back on to run interior lights and artificial gravity so we can work faster, we get the cargo, and we get the hell out of here. There’s nothing we can do to help these people right now, but we got hired on for this job, so we have to do what we came here for. Dav, you come with me to track down the engine room. Mikie, you double back and get Tsunami’s the cargo bay sealed off so we can open up the airlocks and pass freely between ships. It’d be nice to work without these suits on, but I don’t relish the idea of finding out what atmo might smell like in here.” Nobody argued.

After sealing off the cargo hold to maintain the integrity of the atmosphere throughout the rest of the Firefly and opening a clear path between the two airlocks, Mikie was able to utilize some of Tsunami’s artificial gravity to begin maneuvering two pallet jacks into place. Once Tray and Davion returned with reports of more of the same carnage throughout the ship, followed by the evidence of the derelict’s power kicking back to life, the fluorescent bulbs lining the ceiling of the bay flickering on, they were able to begin working. Unlashing each pallet of freight, they moved quickly to work out a system, loading it on a hauler and carting it back to their ship with a speed borne of stark fear and hopeful desperation.

Meanwhile, having been fully apprised of the situation, Imrhien moved around the bridge, scanning the dark, as well as familiarizing herself with their location. The gas giant was the closest planetary body, looming somewhere beyond the bridge’s viewport, but definitely within visual range. They were far enough out in rim territory that there were no known settlements even remotely proximate to their position. It was enough to give her a small measure of reassurance that it was unlikely anyone might happen across their path, at least not accidentally.

Still… This was an untouched derelict, its existence, condition, and position were known, at least in parts of the shady underground. How long would it be before some authority came around looking for this freighter, with her tens of thousands of credits worth of cargo, which had never made it to her destination? How long had she been out here? How long had her crew been corpses? Who was missing this shipment of supplies? Do we have a solid alibi if we get caught pulling salvage?

And somewhere, there were the more troubling questions. What had these people, these cold, dead, slaughtered people had to endure? Why were they dead? Did they deserve this? Shouldn’t we take the time to give them a proper burial? But that last question was easily answered: No. When they got back, they could alert someone, get the word down the wire to make sure they were laid to rest properly, but it was too risky to do it here and now, lest they be discovered and blamed for all the murders.

Long, tense minutes ticked by uneventfully, slowly mounting into anxious hours. Imrhien longed to be down there lending a hand, at least to fill that long stretch of silence with physical labor as opposed to sitting back and waiting. The others probably wouldn’t have minded the break. She knew, though, that if something did happen, she needed to be here on the bridge so that she would have time to react intelligently to a new situation, as opposed to scrambling wildly. Still, the uneventful passage of time as they hauled more and more of the cargo on board gave them all a steadily increasing sense of relief.

As if on cue, when they were three quarters of the way finished and their guard had almost entirely dropped, a blip popped up on Tsunami’s sensor screens, triggering a soft alarm. Imrhien cursed loudly, scanning her consoles for any and all information on the incoming vessel, size, type, and their direction of travel, even as she voiced into her com, “We’re ‘bout to have company. Whoever’s comin’s makin’ a beeline for us, and they ain’t doin’ it slow.”

On the derelict, Tray began shouting orders. “Mikie, Dav, get back to the ship now. We’re leaving.” Everything was dropped, the remaining quarter of the cargo abandoned, and equipment rushed back to Tsunami’s cargo bay. As soon as everyone and everything was accounted for, Tray palmed the com panel just inside the cargo bay from the airlock, calling up to the bridge, “We’re back, Imrhien. Get us the hell out of here.”

Once she had the all clear, Imrhien sealed off the airlocks and blew the docking seal, using attitude thrusters to clear the derelict enough to swing the Firefly around. She knew any ship that could come up on them that quickly was likely significantly more advanced and would not only be able to detect that they’d been there, but also easily be able to track and apprehend them.

Proper planning does, as it turns out, prevent piss poor performance, as well as awkward and uncomfortable situations, such as trying to explain to some authority force why you were docked with a derelict craft full of dead bodies and expensive cargo. By the time she was positioned to move, Tray, Mikie, and Davion were on the bridge, watching tensely through the viewport. Hitting a few buttons and flipping one switch, Imrhien sent her plan into action, casting off one very small and hopefully undetectable item before proverbially putting the petal to the metal and hauling off at full burn toward the distant gas giant. Data poured down her screens, readings from the planet before her, as well as regarding the approaching ship. Halfway to her intended destination, she hit another series of switches, which resulted in a loud metallic clanking for a few seconds. Tray quickly scanned the various displays and gauges. He thought he knew every squeak, rattle and groan his ship was capable of making, but this one was new. While alarming, he kept his concern to himself; he knew that Imrhien was in ‘the zone,’ as it were, and he was not going to do anything to break her concentration.

Once she’d found what she was looking for on the planet, the furthest magnetic pole from the derelict site, and had adjusted trajectory, Imrhien killed power to Tsunami, keeping only life support systems online as she guided the firefly toward the blind spot with the intent that they would leave less of a heat or particle signature for their pursuers to chase. Also, just in case her first plan didn’t work, not leaving a trail straight to their hiding spot could give her a few moments to figure something else out. Or run.

--

The Federation vessel, USS Heinlen, had slowed on their approach to the derelict. The order to go investigate a report of a ship stranded at these coordinates had, so far, been legitimate. The captain was worried, given that there had been another ship docked to the craft in question, but it had fled upon the Federation ship’s arrival. It meant that this other ship was probably up to no good. If there were crew and passengers on the stranded vessel, they might be in need of medical attention.

The Starfleet captain ordered a full scan of the damaged freighter. The fact that his crew reported back that there were no life signs onboard was terribly worrisome. It made the decision to leave the derelict to pursue the fleeing ship much easier. Based on their scans, the vessel was somewhat substandard technology for the human civilizations in nearby systems, a firefly transport. It was obvious that the ship was heading for the gas giant to hide, probably in one of the magnetic fields. Those ships lacked any kind of FTL capability, so it wouldn’t be too difficult to apprehend it. Ordering his own ship to follow their course for intercept, he settled back into his chair, wondering what exactly they were going to find. His gut told him nothing good.

A series of small explosions shuddered against the hull as the net of photon flash-bang grenades Imrhien had left behind annihilated. It wasn’t enough to do any damage, or even give them any turbulence – they made a loud boom and a blinding light – but it had triggered an alarm. The captain looked around, the fact that all of the sensors were down took a moment to sink in.

--

“You weaponized my ship without telling me?” Captain Tray Porthos exclaimed. He couldn’t decide whether he wanted to strangle his pilot or kiss her, but decided that either course of action would be extraordinarily dangerous.

Imrhien simply smiled, shrugging. “Like hell I was gonna go flyin’ ‘round the ‘verse in a defenseless boat. Anyhow, ain’t like I broke their ship or nothin’, prol’ly didn’t even scratch her. Flash-bangs just play merry hell with their sensors. They’ll be blind for a bit while we hide in the magnetic field o’ the pole o’ this handy planet here.” Mikie was laughing, already having figured out what Imrhien’s plan was. Davion looked a bit pale, but chuckled with reassurance from Mikie’s obvious mirth.

Tray shook his head slowly. “Right, because they’ll never think to look for us behind the gorram planet, let alone hiding in its magnetic field!”

Rolling her eyes, but still kept most of her attention on her instruments, watching. “Would you relax, Cap’n? They ain’t comin’ over here. They’ll haul off here in a few minutes, ‘n we can get the hell outta dodge.”

“How in the nine hells do you know that?” her captain queried, his calm demeanor starkly contrasting with his question.

--

The captain of the USS Heinlen was experiencing a moment of anger, as well as a sardonic sort of sympathy for their quarry while he paced the bridge, waiting for their sensors to come back online. If that was the best they could do to throw a Federation ship off their trail… Especially if they thought it had any chance of working…

Finally, he heard, “Captain, the sensors are clearing, but I’m picking up a distress signal from a ship approximately a half of a light year from our location…”

Sighing, he ordered his ship to make all haste to assist the distressed ship. Despite being just about positive this was a decoy to draw them away, there were regulations, and he had to follow them. A ship in trouble trumped chasing down a ship of potential pirates. He would just have to track them down later using their scan logs.

--

“That’ll be a story to tell the grandkids: How we narrowly outfoxed a Starfleet ship using only flash-bang grenades and a crybaby.” Davion was still chuckling once they were well out of hot water and safely camouflaged in regular shipping lanes. All of them were still trying to shake off the tension.

With her course set, Imrhien had turned navigational controls over to autopilot in order to join the others in the cargo bay. The four of them stood around the crate that Tray had found and dug out. They had agreed that they definitely needed to find out more about what was going on here, and the best place to start was inside the container that Xue had sent them after in the first place.

“We need to know what it is,” Tray began, “But there’s a good chance somebody already tried to frame us for killing all those folks. How can we be sure this thing isn’t wired with enough explosives to blow us back to Earth That Was set to go off as soon as we crack the lid on it? Maybe the crate’s insurance that we’re outta the way, one way or another.”

“Less we gotta worry ‘bout if we do explode.” Imrhien lifted up a crowbar and smacked it against the plywood shell. “But I don’t reckon that’s gonna blow.” She glanced over at Mikie, who was also brandishing a crowbar, and arched an eyebrow. “What’cha think ‘bout this?”

Mikie answered by ramming the blade of the crowbar under the wooden lid. “I think Xue wouldn’t betray me. I also think if he wanted to kill or torture us, he wouldn’t send us out and have the authorities do it; he’d want to do it himself. And given who’s in this ship right now, framing us and turning us over to the authorities would be an incredibly stupid move on his part. Xue ain’t stupid, so this ain’t a bomb.” Imrhien had also jammed her crowbar under the lid, and together, they pried it open enough for Tray and Davion to strongarm it the rest of the way off.

A container lay nested within, a large metal tube that looked frighteningly like a missile, but without any kind of propulsion system attached. A line of clear material ran across the top, the inner sides of each pane lightly frosted around the edges. The four of them leaned in to investigate further. Inside the metal container were two bodies. Both appeared to be alive, sleeping, maybe frozen, but definitely in some kind of stasis.

“Oh Jesus,” Imrhien said, arching back from the container, her face pale.

“What the hell, Xue’s buying bodies now?” Davion lowered himself to get a closer view.

“Like he’s never done that before,” Mikie snorted. “Man ain’t got the morals of a hungry tomcat.”

 

“So, we’re trafficking humans? That’s what this is about?” Tray asked.

Imrhien folded her arms across her chest and stepped back up to the crate. “I’m pretty sure this ain’t a slave trade thing, y’all. It’s way worse.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Tray furrowed his brow at her.

“’Cause that,” Imrhien said quietly as she pointed at one of the bodies, “is Jo Massenberg.”

(untitled) - Start of another crossover

((Another victim of writer's block, would still like to see where this one goes one day))

"Galactica, Starbuck," The pilot spoke though the microphone inside her headset. "I'm picking up an abnormal reading bearing 127,39 karom 4, request permission for closer scan." the CAP had been the standard very dull routine that it had become since the truce. She'd been one of the few to argue it was still necessary as many had just fallen into a sense of security surrounding the whole thing. Her main reason had been it kept her flying.

"Copy Starbuck, we're not picking up anything from this range, permission to take a closer look granted." Came back the crackled reply.

"Copy that Galactica, Starbuck out." It was obvious they were humoring her, nothing of any significance had been turned up the last five times she'd thought she saw something. Likely they hadn't even looked.

Shrugging the thought off she angled off fro the fleet to go investigate the faint blip on her dradis, setting a direct heading. As she approached, the blip remained weak but constant. "Galactica, Starbuck, looks to be a glitch in the dradis system. There's nothing here..." There was nothing but static on the comm, though she was sure she'd not moved out of comm range... likely a short in the helmet system, again.

She moved just a little further out, to see if the signal changed, intending on turning back when the small craft was seemingly jerked from the spot it had been, lurching sideways through what felt like an extended FTL jump.

The viper jerked to a stop, throwing her against the canopy, descending her into blackness as she lost consciousness from the impact.

She didn't have time to determine how much time had passed when the radiological alarms on the console kicked in full force. The display indicated a massive radioactive concentration just ahead, and she looked up to see the most grotesque ship she had ever come across.

Nothing she had ever seen could even come close, cylon or human. It was big, battered, looked like it had been patched together from a dozen other ships. That was the pleasant part, what wasn't so pleasant was the fact it was reading as a giant mass of radioactivity, and had what looked like scorched skeletons strapped along its hull like trophies.

Before the shock of seeing it passed and she cold bank away, a thin harpoon on a chain shattered through the canopy, impaling her shoulder and pinning her to the seat. Had she been sitting straight it would have gone straight through her chest. "Son of a frakkin bitch!:" She hissed out, taking hold of the flight stick. Arming the two heat seekers the viper carried, she released them at the ship. No way in hell was something like that going to take her without a fight.

The explosion tore the ship into a hundred pieces, sending the viper end over end. The tear in her flight suit would burn up the oxygen in her reserve pack in a matter of minutes, she might be able to buy a few more if she could path the canopy with something and get its life support online.

Resigned to the fact it would likely do little good, she flicked on the distress beacon and closed her eyes, floating among the rubble of the other ship.

Wings Across the Sky - Chapter 4/4 - Unfinished

“Just tell me what you want from Inara.” If Mal had known how far his voice would carry from the quiet bridge through the mostly silent ship, he wouldn’t have said a single word to the Companion when she stepped into the bridge. He was on watch, like he was most nights. Sleep wasn’t his friend anymore. Too many bad dreams mingled with worse memories.

“I just want to know how long this layover is going to be Mal. I have an appointment on Persephone, and for once I’d like to not be late.” Her lips were painted the same swollen berry red that they’d been the first time he’d seen her when she’d come to rent his shuttle.

“We’ll be there in plenty of time. Ath, will be able to get his jollies right on schedule. We’re in good shape and makin’ good time. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with Serenity for a change.” When she’d left him, them, he’d missed her every single day and night, but now he was wishing that she’d never agreed to stay on board. He had made her a whore this time. It wasn’t the Guild that he could blame.

“It’s not what’s wrong with Serenity that has me concerned Mal. I’m worried about you.”

“Well don’t be. Let’s make a deal,” his voice went cold as his eye turned to ice. “You don’t want me walkin’ into your shuttle unannounced, how ‘bout you stop comin’ on my bridge whenever you feel like bein’ a nag.”

“Fine!” Inara took a step back, and Mal fought the urge to say he was sorry. He shoved the concern back under the anger. Her feet made barely a sound as she raced back to her shuttle. “I won’t bother you any longer Captain Reynolds.”

“Good!” He picked up his coffee cup and took a long drink before he realized how cold and nasty it had gotten. With a frown he stomped on down through to the kitchen to get a refill.

“You need to stop doing that sir,” Zoë said from behind the counter where she was getting her own cup of what passed for coffee on Serenity.

“Please Zoë; I’ve already gotten into one fight tonight. Don’t want to get into one with you too.” He passed her his old blue cup and watched her fill it instead of making eye contact. He felt like a heel for the way he’d treated Inara.

“Why don’t you tell her the truth Mal.” That caught his attention. Zoë never used his name unless she meant for him to listen. “I lost Wash in a blink of my eyes. We thought we were safe, and then he was dead. She’s left you once. Why can’t you admit that you love her?”

“It wouldn’t do me any good if I did. I ain’t good enough for her Zoë, and I never will be. Any chance we had died when she went back to work.”

“But she did it to help us.”

“That’s what makes it worse, don’t you see?” Mal scrubbed at his face. “When she did it for her callin’, she was a companion. She does it now to make sure we’re never as desperate for money as we were when she was gone. I’ve made her a whore Zoë. I’ve ruined Inara, like I’ve ruined everything else I’ve ever loved.”

“You didn’t ruin Serenity Sir,” Zoë said as she reached over and squeezed his hand. “And you didn’t ruin me or River or Kaylee. Notice I only mention those of us you do love. You’ve got no responsibility when it comes to how fucked up Jayne is. He came that way.”

An alarm went off before Mal could say another word; he dropped his cup in the sink and raced back through the ship to the bridge. The ship rocked as a low powered shot hit them. Checking the scanners, Mal sent out a long string of curses as he answered the wave that was chiming in.

“Serenity, this is Alliance Captain Milton of the Starship Destiny. Prepare to be boarded and your cargo seized.”

((Hoping one day will find the thread to finish this one))

Wings Across the Sky - Chapter 3/4 - Unfinished

The room she'd beens shown to was small by most standards, but it was far more space than she was used to. Life in the fleet had been pretty much living in one another's back pockets, and on Lilac it had been worse. Not enough shelter or supplies to go around meant overcrowding and general misery.

She'd not even hesitated once Zoe had left her, grabbing a relatively clean change of clothes she'd kept packed in the bottom of her duffle since landing on that desolate rock. She filled the small washbasin, stripped off her dust encrusted shirt and proceeded to wash away what she could of the dirt that clung to her skin. Never did she think she would be so appreciative of freshly recycled water.

The engines of the ship firing up made the deck plates tremble, the water in the sink rippling rapidly. A sigh of relief met the sound as she closed her eyes. She was finally going to be free of here.

Changed and feeling considerably cleaner, she eventually made her way to the lower common area near the passenger berths. Up several winding metal staircases she eventually found the common dining room, which was painted an abnormally cheerful yellow. What caught her eye most was when she looked up, the stars now visible through the high windows.

She'd been sure to stay back out of the way, just letting herself get lost in the view as they left the atmosphere completely, leaving the dustball behind.

***

After two days on board, she was wishin like hell she had forever to stay, but with each passing day they got closer to Persephone where she'd be parting ways with the crew. It wasn't as though she'd made close friends with them, but they were for the most part pleasant with her.

The Captain, he kept to himself, she mostly only saw him at mealtime. He was deeply troubled by something. He spoke little and hung around even less. What was more telling were the looks the crew would exchange among themselves when he'd leave. There was definitely something going on that had him troubled.

In her mind she'd dubbed Kaylee the ambassador of cheerfulness. She was pretty sure nothing could bring that girl down. And at times it was infectious…. She'd seen it in action at the dinner-table, The girl could even make Captain Reynolds smile.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to see Kaylee was sweet on the ship's doctor, Simon. Somon seemed to manage his time well between his sweetheart and his younger sister River, who was nothing but an enigma to Kara.

Zoe was one Kara understood, in fact she was much a mirror image of herself. Career military, fiercely loyal to her captain, and recently widowed… They'd traded stories the night before over a bottle of weak whiskey. It was badly watered down but neither acknowledged. It made it easier to talk, pretending it was the whiskey doing the talking. All things considered, it was a good thing the whiskey had been watered down to nothing but flavor, otherwise they would both have very large painful heads today.

However, the bonding with the first mate may never had happened had it not been for Jayne.

It turned out Janye was the epitome if big dumb muscle. It hadn't mattered in the least how often she'd told him she wasn't the least bit interested in his gun collection, he still insisted. He would just not let it go. Sure as she was he really did have quite a collection, no way in hell was she going down into his bunk to see it.

Add that to the constant harassment he dished out upon the other women on the ship… She was pretty sure she'd seen Captain Reynolds throw him a warning glare or two over dinner the night before. He was pretty much everything she disliked in a man.

That made it pretty easy when he'd finally cornered her. He towered over her by a good foot in height, and he'd definitely had a drink or two, it was all you could smell on him. Likely thought it would give him the courage to push her just a little. She'd never worried he would push to far, he was dumb, not a creep. She just needed to give him a lesson that was on his level. A lesson that wound up with him kissing carpet, his wrist making friendly with his shoulder blades and a rather heavy boot holding his head still.

She'd let him up right away and he got up, looking a little wounded as he stated simply. "Gorramit woman, coulda just said no…" What followed was the first time Kara had seen Zoe smile. She'd later find out it was because that moment made her think of her late husband, as he was always amused when Jayne got put in his place by a woman.

That left just one other person on the crew for her to really meet. Inara. She'd seen the woman several times, though usually it was after Inara had been talking to the Captain, which always seemed to put her in a foul mood and she'd disappear for hours. Kaylee had once tried to explain that Inara was a companion and the Captain didn't much like it, though kara hadn't bothered to ask what exactly a companion was. The name pretty much put some ideas in her head as to what it entailed.

It was late, everyone had long since retired to their bunks, so she did the same. As she lay on her bunk she could hear the faint creak and groan of the metal hull. The low hum of the engines as the small ship coasted through space.

Tomorrow would be a long day. They had a stop to make, so she'd been told, ships business… Which, just being a passenger didn't concern her at all. So why the hell did the thought bother her so much?

Wings Across the Sky - Chapter 2/4 - Unfinished

When the call had come in about the job, an actual mostly legal job, Mal had been happy about catching the Wave. But the happy lasted only as long as it took for Zoe to tell him where the job was. A dry swallow ate the name Lilac, and he shoved it down into his gut with all the rest of his guilt and regrets.

“Captain?” Kaylee rocked on the toes of her boots beside him, a bright smile on her face. They both watched as the ramp lowered onto the dust bowl moon that was all the Reavers had left behind. “You all right?”

“Ain’t nothin’ wrong with me,” he said as he tugged on his gloves. “Make sure we’re ready to go soon as they get their cargo. Don’t want to spend anymore time here as we have to.”

“Don’t worry. Jayne an’ I’ll handle it. Where are you goin’?” her dark eyes filled with concern as Mal started walking down the ramp.

“Need to see a man ‘bout a mule,” was Mal’s bitter reply. The sun was brilliant, and not for the first time he wished that he wore a hat to shade his eyes. Serenity had landed near the new settlement where the Colonial refugees had made their home, but it wasn’t too terribly far from the old settlement where he and a trio of his crew were the last people to walk out on their own.

Even through the thick patina of dust and grime, he could still see the battle scars from the Reaver weapons on the walls of the surviving buildings. Here and there were the brown stains of the blood of the fallen. The Alliance had done a shiny job of hiding what had happened, but Malcolm Reynolds knew better he’d been there.

He stopped in front of the bar where he’d shot a man who’d been begging him for help. He’d called it a kindness to justify what he’d done, but that kindness was churning in his belly like a snake made out of broken glass.

“I’m sorry,” he said as the wind tore the words from his lips, drying the tear that slid down from one blue eye. “Should’ve taken the chance. Won’t forget what I done to you. I ain’t never goin’ to leave another soul behind that wants away from this or anyplace long as I can get to the Black.”

Reaching into his pocket, he drew out a pair of silver coins. Hunkering down on his heels, Mal scooped out a few inches of dusty soil and buried the twin coins. “They used to put coins on the eyes of the dead. This is the best I can do for you and yours.”

By the time he walked back to Serenity, he was more than ready to leave. Then she came asking for passage. It was almost as if he’d been the one who could read the future and not the little Albatross. He looked at the coins he’d been given by Kara Thrace, wasn’t nearly enough to get her off of any normal piss hole planet. He’d have tried to up the ante, see what else he could get from her.

But not on Lilac. Any amount of change was good enough on Lilac.

###
The cargo bay was empty when he prepped Serenity to break atmo. It’d be a good long time before the colonists had anything to trade to the outside world. For now all they had was money. Mal hoped that the seeds they’d brought would help them make something out of the place.

“There are worse planets,” Jayne said as he stomped onto the bridge. “Least there ain’t no more Reavers.”

“There are still Reavers, Jayne,” Mal answered as he started flipping switches along Wash’s station. It would always be Wash’s station, no matter how long Mal was filling in as pilot. Even if he hired a new one, they’d be told to use the co-pilot’s. ‘They just ain’t all covered in skin and piercings. Some of ‘em just work for the Feds is all. Our passenger all settled? I want off of this piece of shit now.”

“Think so. Zoe’s doin’ the tour.” The big mercenary rubbed at the back of his neck and shrugged. “She’s pretty.”

“Zoe?” Mal’s thought he heard Wash’s voice scream in his head that Jayne was NEVER to say that he thought Zoe was pretty. But then again, it might have been his own voice. “Yeah, Jayne Zoe’s pretty, but don’t tell her that. She’ll get a big head.”

“No, not Zoe Mal. The passenger. She’s pretty.”

“Didn’t notice,” Mal said with not a small amount of relief. The last thing he wanted was to watch Jayne get some kind of insane crush on Zoe. She was still hurt. She tried to hide it, but Mal knew her better than he knew himself. “All I noticed was her money was good.”

Wasn’t really all he’d noticed. But he didn’t really want to warn Jayne that Kara Thrace looked like she could kick the shit out of him just as easily as Zoe could. Where would the fun be in that?

“I’ll tell ‘em we’re leavin’ then.”

“You do that,” Mal said as he sat down in Wash’s seat. He waited until the sound of Jayne’s boots stopped echoing down the passageway, and started up Serenity’s engines. With his eyes closed, he listened to the rough thrum of the engine turning, and waited until he heard the sweet sound of her settling in. That was when it was time for lift off, not before. The take off was smooth as one of Inara’s silk dresses. “Well now, seems I’m gettin’ pretty good at this.”

“Thankfully,” Inara said as they broke into the Black. The stars in the sky nearly as bright as the sparkling jewels she’d woven into her hair. “But you do need to work on the landings. I still need to replace one of my tea sets.”

“I’m sure y’all make enough to replace it Inara.” He glanced back at her. She was dressed for work. A job he’d hoped she wouldn’t go back to, but it was the only way she knew. At least she was out there with them, and not at the temple teaching new girls. But with them, was never going to be the same as with him, and he knew it. “Picked up a passenger. Why don’t you go say hello?”

Wings Across the Sky - Chapter 1/4 - Unfinished

((Another I started working on with a friend, unfortunately bad writer's block stalled it indefinitely, and I have since lost touch with the friend, who knows if it will ever be finished))

The dust whipped around, biting at any exposed skin, stinging eyes and making breathing difficult. The cloud was so thick one could barely see the metallic bulk responsible for it settle to the ground. Nine months on this desolate rock and this was only the second transport ship to bring supplies. The first had been two days after they'd arrived. Basic food supplies, crop seeds, theoretically enough to get them settled. Not everyone was thrilled with the idea of farming, but they were alive. If you could call this dust ball living, it made New Caprica look downright inviting, and all things considered, that was not saying much at all.

What was worst was what they took. Most of the ships had been barely flight worthy, and coming into the atmosphere had done nothing to help that, so they'd become permanent fixtures on the ground, serving as homes and shelters against the unforgiving climate. The ships that had still been air worthy had been taken, apparently to be returned sometime later, but Galactica and the crew that had remained on board hadn't been seen or heard from since.

Zarek had assumed leadership. It was frakked up all to hell but he did look out for the people, and he sure the hell couldn't do worse than Baltar had. Hell had he been in charge at the time the Alliance encountered them maybe they would have found a better rock to dump them on. One that hadn't already been wiped out before. A scouting party had found the abandoned settlement the same afternoon the transport had dropped off supplies. The signs of struggle were evident but not a trace of who had been there before remained. Orders had been to scavenge everything they could and keep quiet. They'd established their own settlement several miles from where the other had been. Those who knew of the ghost town decided it best not to mention, things were dire enough without a panicked population.

They'd had no contact from the Alliance since. No supplies, no word… hell who knew if they were even still out there. The few thousand that remained went about setting up a new life, though sickness had claimed so many over the winder that had passed. Now there were less than twenty five thousand, and I was beginning to look like they'd just been left out here to die.

Then things had changed, word came about the transport arriving and there was a spark of hope among the colonials once again. Kara wasn't really sure how Zarek had managed it, but there was now a transport touching down with much needed medical supplies, food, and whatever else they were able to scrounge together. What was on the transport, she really wasn't interested, what she was looking for was a way out.

As the transaction took place, money and goods changing hands, she hung back, just observing the crew. Her hand settled over her pocket, a pouch of coins tucked inside. Coins she'd scavenged from those burned out buildings on that first scouting trip so many months ago. Most they'd turned over to the government, but Kara had tucked away a portion of whatever she found for herself. She'd been planning even then to find a way to buy passage away from here, away from everything. She just hadn't expected it to be so long in coming.
The dust had settled, and the supplies were being hauled back towards the settlement when she approached the ship. The man she assumed was Captain was looking out over the filed towards the old settlement, his expression almost haunted. He turned to Kara as she approached, eyebrow slightly raised in curiosity, though it would have been hard for a trained soldier to miss the slight flinch in his hand, prepared to go for his gun should he need to.. He was obviously used to things going bad.

"You take on passengers? I can pay…" She called out as she approached. At the mention of money his posture shifted, far more welcoming than before, some of the defensive stance gone.

"Depends, where you're intent on traveling to, we don't tend to go into toe core none to often."

"Suits me fine, just want off this rock, get somewhere I can find work." She pulled one of the small bag of coins from her pocket, tossing it to him." To be honest I've no idea how far that will get me, but we haven't got much here…"

His expression stayed mostly neutral, he'd have made a good gambler, as he looked at the contents of the bag. "Well, if you don't mind making a few little stops along the way, we can get you to persephone inside of a fortnight."

"Suits me fine…" She smiled a little, the prospect of getting off the rock finally making her feel a little bit lighter.

"In that case. I"m Malcom Reynolds, your captain, welcome aboard Serenity." he said with a lazy smile extending his hand which she took in a firm handshake.

"Kara Thrace… and you have no idea just how happy I am to meet you." Her eyes lit up with a smirk and for a moment it felt like she had already lifted off.

With a nod he turned, motioning her to follow him up the ramp and into the belly of the transport. "Zoe will show you to the passenger quarters, generally cargo bay is off limits to everyone but crew, so best you take whatever you need with you." He nodded towards a beautiful, dark skinned woman. "Mealtime's round about two hors from now, you might well go get settled" he said before moving off once more.

Kara followed Zoe through into the passenger bunks, listening as she set out the ships rules, gave her a general indication of where things were, then disappeared once Kara'd been shown her room.

Overall, the crew seemed to be a sad lot, yet there was a closeness between them. Something she could relate to well… you had to be able to count on the people you flew with… your life could depend on it. And thought he ship itself may have seemed old, and they were complete strangers to her, there was a familiarity she could relate to and she felt she'd secured herself a relatively safe journey into the unknown.

Stranger in a Strange Land - Chapter 11 FF/BSG Fic

Reluctantly, he let his hand slip away from her waist. She was going to tell him what he'd feared; that his touch was unwelcome now they were partners rather than just friends, that they had to keep a line between them now they were working together. He kept his eyes closed, not wanting to see hers as she told him. He forced himself to keep thinking of the only upside; they could at least still be friends. There was too much between them - too much shared - for them to stop being that, surely?

She looked away at first, afraid he may not want to hear what she had to say. Words weren't her strong point, but he hat to know.. she had to know where they stood... She took a careful breath, staying in his embrace.

"I fell in love with a friend once. Turns out he had fallen for me too, but we never told one another. There was too much between us back then, things that over time became less and less relevant but we still let it hang between us. We focused everything on our friendship... each of us trying only once to take it beyond that point... but we always hit the same walls. In time we both moved on, found other people to love... and in doing that drove a rift between us that was uncrossable. "

He listened to her draw breath, ready to start talking ... felt his heart sinking when he opened his eyes only to see her turn her head away, avoiding his gaze. He fought the urge to turn away himself, knowing that he might never get to hold her this close again when she turned him away.

He listened to her talk, the words making her move slightly against him, telling her of her friend ... her love ... that she'd let pass by, that had drifted away. He could understand that; he knew just from the way he felt when he looked at her that he'd be risking everything to tell her he wanted more than friendship, that it would destroy him if he'd said anything and she'd said no.

Then she turned back to him, hazel-green eyes open, everything about her bare in them. And she said it. He knew that she was braver than sin ... but she actually said it. He couldn't keep a slight tremble out of his arms as he looked at her, too stunned ... too happy ... to even think of breathing. He smiled, softly at first, then wider. Wonder evident in his voice, he spoke softly. "Darlin' .... Kara, don't you see? I'm already yours. You found me, dyin' in some ratpit from too much booze and too much death... and you saved me. You made me whole again ... you fly like an angel, fight like the devil, and touch me like you're made out of pure fire. Fallin' for you? I fell for you hard that night we shared a bathtub and more; I've been walkin' round here like a bison on eggshells, tryin' to avoid driving you away by askin' too much..."

She took a nervous breath, turning her face to look at him; watching his face... knowing he was likely thinking the worst. "The biggest mistake I made was never really telling him how i felt, because i was afraid to take a chance, that it would ruin what we had if we tried for something more... I won't make that mistake again." Her voice wavered a little and she took a calming breath before continuing. "I think I'm falling in love with you Mal Reynolds... And I don't want to stop falling."

She had to fight back the urge to cry... his words touching her, dispelling the fear she had held that he would push her away, that she would have to live with him day after day knowing he wasn't interested... but instead he stole her breath when he spoke.

No words could have described the way she felt at that moment... even if she could have spoken them. So she did the only thing she knew felt right. She brought her hands to cup his face, pulling him in to a long, emotion packed kiss that left her trembling in its wake.

When she kissed him, it was as if she were pouring everything she was, everything she felt into it... and he found himself responding in kind, unable to even think, let alone try and speak. His arms moved up from her waist, wrapping around her, trapping her arms between them as he held her close.

The breadth of emotion she was throwing at him left him literally breathless, unable to do anything but gaze into her eyes when she broke the kiss off, everything else about who they were and where they were lost to him.

It took a moment for her to catch her breath, a playful smile spreading across her face, eyes locked onto his. "You love me? You really love me?" She asked in an almost singsong voice. "There's no take backs you know.."

It was childish in a way, true. but she needed to hear him say it... that would make it real...

He wasn't one to ever back down - unless he needed to. "Take backs? Why would I want a take back?" He leaned against her, tipping her head back a little so that their noses touched, his mouth almost on top of hers. "I love you, Kara Thrace."

The playful grin that had been on her face was replaced with a smile that lit up her eyes. Just hearing him say it, so confidently.... it soothed away old aching memories and wrapped her in a comfortable blanket of warm feelings. "I love you too, Malcom Reynolds..." She whispered softly before closing the distance between them, her lips brushing his once more.

He loved that playful grin of hers. Every time he saw it, it warmed him through, shining like a beacon in the dark ... but it wasn't anything like that slow, glorious smile that replaced it. And she loved him. Him, Malcolm Reynolds. That was the last thing he thought of as he felt her lips move to brush against his, soft and open. He knew one thing for certain; he was never going to get tired of kissing her.

She sighed softly against his mouth, savouring the kiss as he pressed her back against the wall. They had come so far in so little time together. Everything just felt right with him...

For weeks, he'd been on tenterhooks around her, not knowing whether their first hectic, passionate days together had been just a once off, a reaction to stress and too much trauma ... or maybe something more. Now, with his arms around her, lips moving softly against his... everything meant more. Each kiss felt like the first, shaking him down to his boot soles.

She groaned softly, kissing him long and slow. Lords but she'd missed this... they had backed off of one another when they'd fallen into getting Serenity ready to fly... but it had been painful. She'd ached every moment wanting to touch him again. But she didn't want to drive him away. She'd done that far too many times already. She needed this. needed him... the rest of the 'verse be damned.

He'd been scared of pushing her away; with no-one else in the 'verse left who gave a damn, she'd become the only solid thing left, the person he could count on. They'd worked together on the Serenity, talked the days away, inches from touching but always a little held back; he'd thought she was keeping her distance, but truth was, they'd both paused, unsure of where the other was. Well, he knew where he was, where he wanted to be; right here with her. When the kiss finally broke, he moved to keep one hand on her cheek, softly brushing her skin with his thumb as he stared at her for a second, smiling softly; then he bent to kiss her again, tasting those soft, red lips again.

She pulled back from the kiss slowly, swallowing hard. "How about... we forget lunch..." She brought her hand to his cheek and kissed him again, a little deeper, hungrier.

He watched her swallow... she looked so tender, so ... vulnerable. The kiss did more than shake him to his boots; it made his blood turn to fire. He felt the folded cuff of his shirt slide a little more towards his elbow as he stroked her cheek again, and when the kiss finally ended... he sighed softly, and said the first thing came to mind. "I think... I forgot everything else in the verse but you first instant you kissed me... and I want to do a whole lot more than kiss you..."

"Then what are you waiting for..." She said, her voice low, gravelly with emotion. "its been to damned long..."

He didn't hesitate; jaw set, he started moving quickly towards his quarters, one hand catching hers to tow her along with him. "I thought... you might not want to be more than friends. Didn't want to drive you away. Now... wu de ma, I ain't never lettin' you go."

She gripped his hand following him. "Damned right you're not..." She grinned as they reached his quarters. She took hold of the ladder and climbed down, dropping the last few rungs as she jumped down.

He dropped straight down, feet slowing his impact; he couldn't be bothered to wait long enough to climb safely. His knees bent as he hit the deck, but he used the momentum, turning to catch her in his arms, mouth moving to seek hers out hungrily, the intensity of his kiss a sharp contrast to the gentle touch of his arms.

She groaned, pressing into him, returning the kiss hungrily, aching for him, Gods they'd wasted so much time dancing around already... she had been a little scared of the intensity of her feelings for him at first, but when they had both pulled back... that had scared her even more... She needed this. Needed him... her hands found their way to his shirt, fisting into the fabric as she kissed him long and hard.

He kept his arms around her, too intent to shake, much though he felt like he was trembling inside. every taste of her, every touch had seemed like drinking paradise in human form. She was soft through the fabric of her shift, soft and warm. He'd told himself he could do without her touch if she just wanted friendship and no more; he'd been lying like Bester in heat. He couldn't do without her any more than he could do without air.

He tugged her shirt up out of the britches she wore, pulling her braces down so that the shirt hung lose around her hips. He kept kissing her, not bothering with undoing her buttons; instead, he simply gathered two large handfuls of her shirt and started lifting it in one piece, up towards her shoulders.

She pulled back, lifting her arms so he could pull the shirt off before her hands went back to his shirt, tugging at the last buttons before shoving it off his shoulders, fingers tracing down newly exposed skin as her mouth south his once more.

He let the shirt flutter to the ground unnoticed, his mouth moving down to kiss softly along the line of her jaw and down along the side of her neck, nuzzling softly as his hands moved slowly, fingertips tracing along her shoulders and down her back.

"Gods... I've missed you..." she whispered, burying her face into his neck, letting her hands roam over shoulders, gently gripping biceps before moving to his back, down to his waist.

He could feel her hands exploring him gently, same way he was hers... none of the frenzied urgency of their first time. He traced over the skin of her back, feeling the muscles shift underneath as she moved; he ghosted his hands around her hips, tracing the line of her pants before moving up over her stomach, his lips only leaving her neck once ... to whisper "Wanted you so much..."

She moved to slip a hand beneath his chin, lifting his mouth to hers once more. "You've got me..." She breathed against his lips before kissing him slow and sensual.

Her mouth was hot and hungry against his, and he couldn't help but respond in kind; one of his hands moved up to her hair, keeping her mouth pressed tight against his as he walked her backwards towards the bunk, following her down onto it when the bunk hit the back of her knees.

The weight of him over her wrapped her in a warmth she couldn't even begin to compare. Her hands ghosted down his back settling over his hips as her fingertips traced along the waistband of his trousers, barely dipping below as her mouth moved to his neck, trailing down to the hollow of his throat.

When she started to move down towards his neck he moved his mouth up, kissing the tip of her nose, then slowly along the line of her forehead and across her temple towards her ear, where he paused to gently nibble gently on her earlobe. Not wanting to take his eyes off her, he moves his hands slowly down to bring her knee up so that he could start tugging her boot free, lips never leaving her body.

She slipped her foot from her boot, chuckling a little when she heard it hit ground a short distance away. She brought her bootless foot to hook over his leg, pressing her hips to his with slow, deliberate movements.

He moaned softly as she pulled him close, stroking herself against him with slow, even movements that sent the blood singing through his ears. He paused for a second, trying to breathe, then moved his hips slowly against hers, pressing down against her through the fabric of their remaining clothes, his mouth moving to let him nip softly at the nape of her neck.

The feel of him rubbing against her sent a jolt of delicious heat surging through her, her heart racing as she responded back with a slow, erotic grind of her hips. She managed to work her other foot free of its boot using the side of the bed, before wrapping her other foot over his leg.

She was wrapped around him, legs and arms pulling him tight. He had to stop to rub his feet together, working his boots to drop away; one, he heard clatter to the deck; the other shot off somewhere, landing with the sound of breaking glass... but whatever that was, it wasn't important. He reached up and titled her chin back, letting him kiss his way down from the point of her chin to the notch at the base of her throat as his hips started to move again, spiralling inside the circle her legs created, rubbing deliciously against her.

"Gods Mal..." she gasped, her body arcing beneath his, pressing against him. She shifted her weight, rolling him so she was sitting astride him, hands on his shoulders as she ground her hips against him, bucking and grinding slowly as she nipped at his lip.

Oh, he liked that. He found himself grinning faintly, same way he did when he could feel that winning hand come through; lord, but she was sweeter than any victory in battle, any hooch he'd ever tasted. Seeing as she'd put him so perfectly in place, he had to oblige; he let his hips move automatically, slowly rolling and grinding up against her as he ghosted his hands up to tug her bra free, letting her fill his hands with the soft gentle warmth of her breasts, palms and fingers slowly moving.

A low, sensual moan escaped her and she ground down against him harder, feeling his need for her even through the layers of clothing... gods but she felt so damned good, the way he touched... just right... and gods yes… right there... She leaned forward slightly, sweat damp hair tumbling over her face as she continued to work her hips against his, trembling with each movement now, so frakkin' close...

He moved his head up to kiss her softly, her hair thick around their faces as he arched his back; the kiss tasted of her, hot and smoky-sweet, but the movement pulled him away from her, and he couldn't live with that. He sank back against the bed, pressing up against her as she rocked against him, his breath coming in short, sharp gasps. He swept his palms slowly along the underside of her breasts, then ghosted his thumbs across her nipples, lightly at first, then more heavily, slowly rolling and teasing them.

"Oh... oh gods...'' she gasped, her body quivering as she pressed against him, trying to keep the rhythm steady as she shattered, waves of raw pleasure coursing over her as she gripped his shoulders.

He watched her as she broke, hands moving to sweep around to her back, pulling her down against him. He cradled her in his arms as she shuddered, his arms shaking from the surge of pleasure she'd sent through him. Her bare skin was felt like hot electricity against his chest, his lips seeking hers out automatically.

"Love you..."' she gasped, nuzzling his neck, hands trailing over his chest. Gently she rolled her finger around one nipple, her mouth finding his neck, biting lightly, then suckling the reddened skin.

He moved his hand up, catching and twirling a lock of her hair between thumb and forefinger before stroking gently along the line of her ear. "I love you, too... more'n this ship, even..." he whispered, then hissed softly as she bit his neck. Even that sent a ripple through him, emanating out from her sharp white teeth. He moved to grasp her hips, lifting them up a little from him so that he could slip one hand between them, starting to work at the fastenings on her britches.

She braced her hands against his shoulders, forcing herself upwards, sitting back up to give him access to her pants even as she began to work on his, slowly unfastening them

For some reason, he couldn't help chuckling softly as their hands worked in tandem. "Always did love a woman who looked good in a pair of britches... and I ain't never seen one look as good as you." He grinned at her, eyes shining as he tugged her up by her waistband, slipping her pants over her hips slowly.

She grinned, rolling off of him as she kicked the pants off, flinging them away with a kick, resulting in another crash against the floor.

He bucked his hips up off the bed, pulling his pants and shorts off together in a few jerked motions, kicking his legs until they fell against the deck. "Good thing I wasn't wearing a fightin' iron..." he muttered before rolling onto his side, slipping an arm around her. "And now the only thing protectin' your virtue is some feminine undergarments..." he muttered, bending his head to nip at the base of her throat, stinging the skin a flushing red.

She groaned, arching against him as his mouth found her neck once more. "I.. I think you can take care of that... can't you?" She asked, slow and teasing, her hand guiding his to her hip.

He let his hand rest on her hip for a few seconds, fingers slowly stroking. "It might take me a few moments... I might get all distracted..." he murmured against her neck, his hand slipping under the elastic of her panties, running down along the notch of her hip to slip completely inside that last piece of clothing, his fingers slowly stroking along her core.

A low moan escaped her, hips pressing onto his hand as he touched her, already slick and hot, aching for his touch. "Gods...." she gasped, breathless.

He ran his fingers slowly back and forth along her, feeling them glide over her skin already slick for him. "You have any idea how good you feel?" he whispered, having to pull his mouth back from her neck so that he could get back some smidgen of control. He leant his forehead against hers, his arm moving around her shoulders to keep her close. He kept moving his fingers slowly along her until her eyes flickered open. He stared into those perfect hazel-green eyes of hers, and slipped a finger gently inside her, stroking softly.

Her fingers instantly dug into his shoulders, her hips pushing against his hand. "Oh... Oh gods Mal..." She groaned, small tremors already working through her as she ground against his hand, her breath short and ragged.

"Maybe ... maybe we should let you ... keep those feminine undergarments, and just... do this a lot." He couldn't help the wide, feral grin on his face at the sight of her, mouth open and eyes shut as she groaned. He kept moving his hand gently, finally slipping a second finger in too work with the first; the feeling of her clamping around his fingers... dear lord in heaven.

She gasped, pressing her hips down onto his hand, hips writhing against him, "gods Mal... Want you..." her breath hitched as her body trembled, tightening around his fingers.

He slipped his fingers out of her slowly. He had to go slowly; if he didn't, then he'd lose more than just the power of thought. He ran his fingers back to the elastic again, slowly working her panties down her legs until he could drop them onto the floor; that done, he shifted, moving to lie against her as his arms moved around her again. He kissed his way slowly back up her jaw then paused, trembling. He looked at her for a second, eyes soft and open, then without saying a word started to slowly slip into her as he kissed her softly again, breath sighing out of him.

She met his eyes, holding his gaze as he pressed into her, the sensation making her skin tingle. She fought the urge to close her eyes, instead she watched, arching against him as he sunk into her, filling her, more than just physically, emotionally.... gods but she needed him....

She rose up around him like a healing balm, until he felt as if his entire being had been enfolded in soft warmth. She was so utterly perfect... felt so utterly perfect... and her eyes were enough to swallow him whole, leave him floating in perfect bliss. "Love you..." he whispered... the only words he seemed to be capable of.

Her response was a breathless, feather-soft brush of her lip over his, fingers tangling in his hair as she moved with him, arching and grinding her hips to his, savouring each movement.

The feather-light kisses seemed perfect for the moment... he started matching her soft, open mouthed kisses with his own, moving himself slowly against her, every movement letting them arch together, move together, grind together.

She wrapped her legs over his, fingers gripping hold of his shoulders again as she strained against him, so damned close to breaking....she gasped sharply, her voice sinking into a low, sensual moan.

He shivered as she gasped sharply in his ear; he could feel himself racing towards the edge with every movement, and the way she strained up against him, moved with him and against him... he felt his head come to rest next to hers, gasping sharply as he started to shake. "Kara..." he whispered...

"Gods… love you..." She moaned, breaking over the edge, a wash of raw pleasure coursing over her, fingers digging into his shoulders, her face buried against his neck to muffle the screams that escaped her.

He shuddered hard against her, losing all sense of rhythm as he broke, growling out a deep moan of satisfied pleasure, his arms pulling her up tight against him. He heard her say she loved him again... but it was seconds before he had the breath to answer her, his vision drawn down to red-flecked darkness for a few seconds. "Love you ... too. Love you ... so much..." He found himself rocking her gently in his arms, her legs still wrapped tightly around him.

She looked up at him, her hand brushing over his cheek. "So where do we go from here, Captain?" She gave him a soft, sly smile, content to just rest in his arms for now...

Stranger in a Strange Land - Chapter 10 FF/BSG Fic

Four days. Just four days after Mal kicked bester off Serenity and hired Kaylee they were in the air... Serenity was actually in the air. Kara was in her element' for now. She knew deep down they needed another pilot, she and Mal were partners, and they worked together. Which meant that there was no one around to have Serenity ready if things didn't go so well.

It wasn't as though they intended to get into scrapes and tight spots, but they were known to happen... and things like that had a habit of following her around. For the moment, however she was content to be flying again.

Kara'd lifted Serenity off the ground gentle as a bird ... one that didn't make those vigorous flapping motions and flap into things on takeoff, too. He'd got them a decent contract, shipping agri supplies out to New Horizons. Of course, that's what the paperwork called the planet, now trying to be all respectable like now it was supposed to be on the alliance flick, but the man hiring him had been happily calling the place "Crotch." No pretensions ... much more his sort of place. Of course, there was under alliance control and under alliance control; the agri supplies would be useful, but the black market template constructor stashed inside one of their bulkheads, that'd get them a pretty penny more.

Still, they were up. Flying. Flying free, in fact; he'd spent a fair amount of time up on the bridge, staring out the window. He'd seen more worlds than he'd liked during the war, all of them in a bad way, but he'd never had the chance to just sit and watch. Of course, Kara was off busy a lot of the time too; Kaylee knew more about engines and technical stuff than Mal cared to think about, and Kara was helping her out. He'd been banished from the engine room after trying to help .... how did he know that bit didn't like being prodded with a screwdriver?

Still, she was up on the bridge now, as they were getting near some gravitational eddy they'd need to move the ship round, and he had a fancy to watch her work. So, he'd done a little work in the kitchen, then set off for the bridge, clutching two steaming mugs, a third waiting in the galley for Kaylee whenever she was ready. Of course, he'd had to trade in a few belongings to get it... but he had a feeling that as his crew was two thirds female, having enough of the best powdered hot drinking chocolate he could find aboard to last three months would help keep things running happy.

The hatch to the bridge was open, so he stepped carefully over the raised step. "Hey there, darlin'. Thought you could do with this, seein' as you're going to be doin' the hard work for a while..."

She looked over and couldn't hide the broad smile that spread across her face. With all the work they'd been doing on Serenity, they'd hardly had but a minute to spend in one another's company. And what little time they did manage usually found one of them sound asleep before they could even talk. She took the offered mug, her smile growing wider. "Gods this is just what I need..." She took a sip, groaning a little.

She had to keep her attention on the controls, despite her making it look effortless. "We've got a large gravity well a few hundred clicks ahead... not an uncommon anomaly... but they can be tricky." She gave him a reassuring smile. "They can also be very handy... how'd you like to get to Crotch a day early and on half the fuel?" her smile widened into a feral grin, eyes sparkling.

Dear lords, but whenever she groaned... He sat down quickly in the co-pilot seat, trying to avoid spilling hot chocolate down himself in the process. "I thought you could do with a drop. Got to look after my gi... " He tried to cover, frantically. "Crew, after all..."

"So those old nav charts we paid out for are already makin' themselves useful? Or..." He gave her a quirky half-grin. "Or is that the intrepid Starbuck talking of usin' her secret pilot knowledge to bounce us well ahead and confound everyone with her derring-do?" He didn't have much idea what derring-do was, but it was in one of those old talking films and sounded like something she'd do.

So, a day early and half the fuel... that'd be a nice bit of extra cash to throw in the pot, and it'd get them a good reputation. He sipped from his mug, and grinned. "Saving us time and money... not bad. Not to bad at all, darlin'."

"Well... then I suggest you finish up that mug and strap in. I'll show you a little trick." She drank a good portion of her own mug before reaching for the comm. "Buckle yourself in somewhere Kaylee... it might get a touch bumpy in the next few minutes." She finished her mug and set it down on the floor.

He polished off his chocolate in fairly short order, watching her work as much as he did the view out of the window. He wedged his empty mug against a convenient control, and asked "So will this little trick be as impressive as the last?"

He strapped himself in, and couldn't help saying "So when you say bumpy ... you mean..."

"I think you'll be fairly impressed..." She gave him a saucy wink. "And by bumpy I mean hang on tight. Going to use a little trick I learned at the academy, with small craft its used as an emergency measure, can shake them right apart. Big ships like battlestars, doesn't work, their mass is just too great, but Serenity, she's just the right size." She commented as she maneuvered Serenity so that they were heading straight into the gravity well, picking up speed.

He chuckled at her wink... and then realized what she was saying. "Ta ma de..." He shifted his feet under the console and braced against the support struts as the gravity well started to seize hold of the ship.

"Kara, this is our nice new ship here... you break it and kill me, I'm going to be a mite upset..." Well, this was going to be interesting ... and just how sure was she of the ships mass. He drew a breath in, and waited for the ride to get bumpy. Well ... bumpier.

She kept focused as they neared the edge, reversing the thrusters just enough to hold position, letting Serenity swing around the center of the well, shaking, but holding up well. After the ship began to swing around faster, she adjsuted the thrusters, spinning round and punching out, the small ship rocketing back out into space, cruising at nearly three times the speed they had been going previously, with thrusters cut. She looked over ad Mal and gave him a wink. "There ya go..." She couldn't help an amused chuckle at the expression on his face.

He was awful glad that he didn't suffer from motion sickness, the way the ship had bounced and juddered around on the way into the well... and back out again. Even so, he couldn't help feeling that his eyes were about to fall out of the front of his head.

"That's some real fancy flying' .... Are you going to be doing that a lot?" Her grin was infectious, and he couldn't help grinning back. "After all, you already make my life excitin' even when you aren't playin' with the vast and immutable forces of nature..."

"Only if you want me to... and we're not carrying something thats likely to make a mess..." She laughed, setting the ship on autopilot as it rode out the momentum of the slingshot. "Likely won't need to draw on the engines for a good half a day.

"That's good ... it'll give Kaylee more timr to shake 'em down, make sure she knows what makes this old girl tick." He dropped on hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. "You're one hell of a pilot, Kara. There anythin' you aren't good at?"

"Lots of things... but... nothing that matters really..." She gave him a smile, a hint of sadness in her eyes for a brief moment. "What say we enjoy the rest of the day... cook up something to eat and just be lazy a couple hours..."

He saw a flicker in her eyes, a quick look that reminded him of things he'd rather forget. "That sounds mighty fine to me, Kara." He wasn't quite sure what to do ... but if you can't do somethin' right, to something right now. Or somesuch. He tugged her up out of the chair easily, one arm going around her waist. "A little celebration sounds like just the thing."

She laughed as he tugged her up and swept her into an almost embrace. She took the liberty of pushing her limit and leaning in to plant a kiss on his cheek as they walked to the galley. "So... you gonna teach me how to cook?"

"Well now, that depends..." He shot her a quick grin, unable to help himself after that electric touch to his cheek. "What're you gonna teach me?" He bent and kissed her lightly on the forehead, steering them around the junction of the corridor towards the Galley

The easy banter and gentle affection was warm and comforting, familiar.. yet not. Thing had rarely ever come this easy... "What do you want me to teach you." She couldn't hide the almost seductive purr in her voice.

Lord, but he loved that voice, that throaty almost-purr. "What I'd like..." He had top stop himself short. Friends, remember? "Why don't you let me think on that one a while?"

"Alright... but don't make me wait too long..."

He stopped, one hand on the hatch trigger to the galley, his other arm snugged around that perfect waist. He kept her moving a little ahead of him, but didn't trigger the hatch straight away, instead just looking at her.

She turned to look at him, inquisitive eyes trying to read his expression. Lords but he was handsome... not to mention fun loving, kind hearted... and damned sexy... she had to fight the thoughts of the few times they had been together back when they first met up... before they had bought serenity... they had both pulled back then... but the feel of his hands on her still haunted her and made her ache and gods she had to stop thinking about it or he would know exactly what she was thinking...
"I don't like you lookin' sad, darlin'..." He was practically whispering, Kara tucked against him as the galley hatch turned the end of the corridor into a quiet alcove. She was so damned beautiful. "Angel like you shouldn't never have to look sad..." He couldn't help himself. She could push away if she wanted. He leaned his head forward to rest against hers, forehead to forehead; then, he dropped his head a little further and kissed her softly, keeping his touch gentle.

Her hands came up against his shoulders, hesitating a moment before slipping around his neck. She kissed him back, slow and gentle, her heart racing but her actions were tender.

He felt her hands slip around his neck, the touch achingly familiar from before, when they'd been together back on that dismal little world. He let go ofthe hatch control and let his hand instead float across to her, a finger stroking first through the hair of her temple and then down along the line of her ear, the kiss achingly sweet.

She let out a soft, contented sigh, letting herself sink into the kiss, savoring, each light brush of his lips over hers leaving her wanting more, the gentle caress of his hands making her want to scream at him to take her... If she could only admit to herself that she actually felt something more then friendship for him she just might have...

His hand ghosted down, stroking the side of her neck softly before moving down along the line of her back, touch just heavy enough to be felt through her clothes, his breath coming in short, soft noises as he let the kiss linger.

She tried to fight the emotion surging within her... tried to fight the fears of past relationships gone wrong... of losing someone she let get too close... She had fallen for her best friend and it ended up devastating their relationship... not because they gave in to that new level... but because they both fought it, tooth and nail, trying to hand on to something good, just in case better didn't work out... she couldn't go through that again... she couldn't take losing another friend. She pulled away slowly, her forehead pressed to his as she fought to get her breathing under control. "Mal... There... there's something I need to tell you..."

Stranger in a Strange Land - Chapter 9 FF/BSG Fic

They'd hired a full-time mechanic and engineer, a guy named Bester. Pale-haired and tanned, he had a reputation as a genius mechanic; Mal wasn't so keen on him wandering around all shirtless and tanned in front of Kara, but it wasn't something he could stop without looking like he was jealous and possessive with no good cause to be.

He'd put his foot down as best he could with Kara, though; no more repair work that involved hitting anything with hammers, wrenches, pry bars or her head ... at least until her finger had healed up some. Course, no-one could tell Kara what to do when she had her mind set against it, but he'd managed to at least point her in the direction of the systems wiring, rather than the hard components themselves. Running wires and switching circuit boards didn't usually involve hitting things with hammers... although he kept off the bridge for a while, just in case.

He'd managed to secure them plenty of rations that looked to be decent quality and fresh food whilst they were in dock. It felt strange, having Bester aboard; where before there'd been a comfortably easy feeling, almost cozy come mealtimes when it'd just been two of them, now he seemed to be on edge. Of course, it didn't help none that Bester obviously thought Kara was worth considerably more than a once over. Still, she was her own woman; she wanted to take him up on his not-so-silent offer; that was her prerogative, not his.

He'd scrounged a remarkable amount of furniture, most of it old but still good; couches and chairs dotted one corner of the cavernous main bay, and a rugged little all terrain vehicle of the MULE pattern now hung from securing chains in that same bay. Next to what had once been the main med bay was a small room that seemed pretty fine for somewhere to sit, seeing as it could be compartmentalized, so he'd added a couple of leather couches and some odds and ends there, plus other bits for the crew quarters, empty or not.

Soon, they'd be ready to launch. That meant he should really be finding some sort of work for them.


It had taken her hours to get the wiring straightened out. There were more hacks and patches on the wiring than she'd ever seen on all of the G's old Mark II's put together. Theoretically, all she needed to do was to fire her up and things should run smooth. She was more than anxious to get the ship powered up and running, get her off the generators. She walked over to the console and started through the ignition sequence... and nothing. Time to track down where the next short was. Taking out the meter she started at the conduit to the bridge console itself... dead as a doornail, which meant that frakwit hadn't managed to get the engines online. She tossed down the meter and headed towards the engine room. "Bester! You better have a frakkin good reason why I've still got no engines online. You promised me they would be online YESTERDAY!" her temper was already flaring and she hadn't actually laid eyes on the supposedly genius mechanic yet.

Bester stood next to the engine shirt off to display his tattoos and coveralls belted around his waist. "What's with the bad karma? The engines'll be fixed when they're ready to be fixed. They ain't ready yet, they're just building up. Can't rush these things ... like a lot of other stuff..." He gave her a long, appraising look from toe to crown, and seemed to preen a little, pulling a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of the waistband of his coveralls.

With eyes blazing angrily she snatched the cigarettes from his hand. "I want those engines fixed now. Actually I want them fixed yesterday. And I don't want to hear that it can't be done..."
Apollo: "Oh, it can be done... just need parts, which I've gotta go to town for. Maybe pick up a few other supplies as well..." He looked at his cigarettes, not even phased by her. "Stealings bad karma, you know?"

She waved them beneath his nose. "Consider these... insurance. You get them back when I get power to the bridge... you understand that?" angrily she knocked on his head for emphasis. She was more than a little riled up, bordering on the adrenaline high she used to get from combat...

"Don't be like that ... surely you don't need to try and ride me so hard, pretty lady. Well... at least, unless that's what you're into..." He gave her a broad grin, all easy confidence, and cocked his head at an angle probably designed to be charming or whimsical.

She was pretty sure her eyes would roll right out of her head, he didn't' honestly think that would work on her, did he? "Save the charm grease monkey, you're not my type, just get my frakkin engines fixed" Gods what she wouldn't do to have Cally or the chief around, the Serenity would have been in the air weeks ago...

He looked a little deflated at that, but shrugged and went back to the engines anyway, idly turning the main drive unit and poking various bits of it with a long-bladed screwdriver. "It ain't no big thing. We'll be off the ground before you know it, all alone in space..."

"Now that is what I'm looking forward to... space... after all, that's what this ship was built for..." she grated out as she turned to leave the engine room.

He grunted, already too busy poking at the engines to pay any attention to what she was saying, one hand scratching reflectively at the back of his head.

She stuck the cigarettes into the jacket of her pocked and stalked out, heading back towards the bridge.

Mal had been planning to be up on the bridge for the launch, but the hwoon dahn mule had come loose, and he'd been forced to lash it back into place. He'd come bustling up the passageway, all keen and eager ... only to see Kara walking away from the engine room, looking all hot and bothered. That made him stop and stand as still as he could so that he wouldn't be noticed.

She was so pissed off she didn't even pay any attention to her surroundings. Gods damned idiot... she was beginning to wonder if he knew an engine from a bottle of tanning lotion... her mood was completely ruined. She found herself heading back to her quarters for a shower.... she needed to clear her head before she started ripping pieces off of the would be mechanic.

He stood in the corridor like a gorram idiot for a few minutes, before heading down and around the corner towards his quarters. He'd done everything he could to make this place perfect ... and he'd managed it, by bringing Bester aboard. Now, Kara had what she wanted ... and it wasn't him. He shouldn't feel like this of course, because they were just friends.


Two hours later she was back on the bridge, checking the power relay once more, she fought the urge to scream in frustration. Still no power… "Frakkin idiot..." she muttered before calling out to Mal who was working in the galley. "Mal! Go find out why I've still go no frakkin power up here.... this is really startin to piss me off.

He couldn't make out what it was that he'd just heard, but it sounded like Kara calling out. Great. Now she was going at it with Bester in the middle of the day, loud enough to reach him even here in the galley. He should just ignore it; accept that she was moving on. After all, he kept telling himself that they'd made no promises, regardless of whatever her looks meant. That was the sensible thing to do. He wasn't feeling particularly sensible ... so instead, he took himself of to engineering. He didn't have to put up with Bester around - him, he could throw off the ship.

She poked her head out from the bridge, having not heard a response, "gods it figures.... why, twice in one frakkin day, do I have to go deal with that idiot." This time she made sure she kept the wire cutters in hand as she made her way to engineering

No sooner had he opened the hatch to the engineering compartment than he heard them; by the sounds of it , the two of them were going at it right between the main engine drive cylinders.

She made her way through the galley, taking a look around... she could have sworn Mal had been here just a minute ago, and the half cut up vegetables spoke even louder to that effect, but where the frak had he gone? She shrugged, a little confused, and started on her path to the engineering compartment.

"Alright Bester, you can drag your scrawny ass off my boat - I aint' havin' you aboard her..." He started to bellow as he set out into engineering, only to splutter into embarrassed silence as he discovered that the woman braced between both cylinders and hanging on to him for dear life wasn't Kara - not unless her hair had gotten a mite longer than he remembered.

Kara walked into engineering just a few moments after Mal, commenting over his shoulder. "Well... that explains why I still have no power on the bridge...

"That's not you ... you're not..." He did a double take. "Bester, who the hell is that gorram prairie harpy you brought on board my ship??"

Stranger in a Strange Land - Chapter 8 FF/BSG Fic

The Serenity was taking shape more and more each passing day. Kara, oddly enough, turned out to have more than a basic grasp of shipboard engineering, and a very thorough grasp of what it took to keep salvage operators honest. Mal had a strict policy on bloodstained clothing; so long as it wasn't his blood, he didn't ask. He'd made himself useful, looming behind Kara as needed for the first couple of days, and the workers had got the idea they were a unit pretty damn quick.

Unfortunately, that left him with a mite less too do since they'd gotten that idea. So Mal had been forced to improvise. Kara weren't doing much more than sleeping, eating and working, which meant he had free run of the ship, outside the areas she was working on. Well, Kara was building him a ship... And given that she was building the ship, he felt he ought to do his part to at least make it a little homier. Point of fact, he was feeling positively domestic as he wandered up to the bridge ... right up to the point where he heard cussing and swearing in terms he'd never even heard before.

"Gods damned motherfrakking sonofabitch." Kara slipped out from beneath the console, dusty, dirty and smudged with grease, rubbing her knuckles. The sensor relay should have been a simple refit, but so far it had cost her several hours, one faulty relay, scraped knuckles and she was pretty sure she just broke her little finger.

He strode up on the short flight of stairs to the bridge with a deliberately cheerful expression. "Why darlin', you're sounding just a mite out of sorts." Springing onto the bridge, he tried to keep a smile off his face as he took in the sight of her, dirty, smeared, smudged, bruised, tangled, and all together too fine-looking for words.

"Frakkin relay... thing was jammed in so tight it wouldn't budge so I had to give up on the friendly persuasion." She carefully cradled her injured hand in the palm of the other, very carefully, yet discretely probing along the finger to see if it was indeed broken.

He made a show of looking around the bridge, even going so far as to poke his head under the console. "Well, I don't see a great big hammer lyin' around anywhere ... so what'd you hit it with?" Knowing her, sheer force of personality...

"The wrench..." She commented casually. "Though I did slip once..."

"And decided to hit your finger instead of our expensive mechanical components? See, that's why I'm glad you're the engineer and I'm just the pretty face, I ain't up to makin' difficult decisions like that." He smiled, and gestured towards her injured finger. "If you've broken that, it'll make it harder for you to eat the delicious meal I just cooked up for us ... assumin' you don't want to put off eatin' in favour of beating some more of the ship..."

"You cooked dinner? I'm impressed. Given that I’ve not eaten since I started on the relay... it sounds pretty good right about now."

"Well, everyone has a skill..." Well, to say he'd cooked dinner was an exaggeration. In fact, he was probably having about as easy a time with the food heating unit and the pre-packed meals as she was with the sensor relays. That didn't matter, though; he was more interested in seeing what she thought of the changes he'd made down in the galley.

She smiled, nearly chuckling thinking how many times she'd used that exact same line. "Come on, lets get us some food then... that relay’s not going anywhere and I don't have to worry about it getting cold."

"See, that's what I love about you, you're not choosy when it comes to eatin'". He spoke over his shoulder as he headed back down the stairs to the main corridor ... and tried hard not to kick himself for his slip. Last thing he wanted was Kara feeling pressured when they were about to head off into space. Just friends, he reminded himself. That's all; just friends.

She lightly bit her lip to stop the smile that threatened to split her face in two. Just hearing him say that; even if it wasn’t in the context she wanted to hear it... made her heart race. She wouldn’t jeopardize things with him by telling him how she felt. She would far rather take the casual, comfortable relationship they had now rather than go spouting off her feelings for him and driving him away. A mistake she'd made too often in the past. She followed him into the galley, eyes going wide as they stepped inside. "Gods, someone's been busy."

"Hi honey, you're home... I made dinner!" He made a mock bow, fluttering his eyelashes and gesturing towards the meal he'd laid out, on the new table he'd acquired from Lofty, surrounded by some eight-odd new chairs. Rough and ready, it belonged in a farmhouse rather than a starship, but it felt right to him. Of course, that's assuming that she actually didn't mind him going around buying such things out of their communal funds; well, her funds, really, she being the one who won the game in the first place. And she'd not tried the food yet...

Well, so much for stifling the smile. "It looks incredible. Like a real home..." She bit her lip a little, she remembered a friend of hers when she was just a kid. They'd had a big table just like this one... and Kara could still imagine the wonder of the whole family eatin together... she just got her meals on a TV tray in the corner of the room... they didn’t even have a kitchen table. Now staring at the wooden beauty, she finally felt like she had a home.

"Well, I'd sit you at the head of the table, but I don't want you gettin' no ideas about who the man in this family is..." He gave her a huge grin. She'd called it a home. Not a ship, not a boat ... a home. He walked over to the nearest chair at the top end of the long edge of the table, and hiked it out for her to sit on. Before she could give him an evil look, he had to add "Only because I don't want that finger of yours gettin' any worse before you fix my ship, of course..."

She smirked a little, giving him a wink. "OUR ship..." she corrected teasingly as she brushed past him, taking the offered chair. once seated she pulled out a roll of electrical tape from her tool belt and tore off a couple of strips, using them to bind her now purple and slightly swollen baby finger to the one next to it, effectively immobilizing it for the time being.

He busied himself some in the galley, hiking out various bowls to serve up in, before giving her a considering look, and filling another with hot water. He started ferrying them back and forth from the galley stove to the table, right up until she made to reach for one, at which point he slapped her lightly on her good hand. "Now now - no eatin' til you wash your hands." He gave her his best imitation of a prim look, fighting the urge to grin.

"Yes dad” she teased, getting up to go over to the small sink, nudging the tap on, which spluttered to life slowly. "Better add check plumbing to the to do list..." s he called over her shoulder as she washed, very careful of her damaged hand. She grabbed a towel and dried her hands, walking back over to the table. Free of the dozen layers of dirt, grease and general grunge, she could get a good look at her hand, which was several mottled shades of purple.

As soon as he got a good look at her hand, he stopped serving and instead took hold of her hand gently at the wrist, bringing it up to where he could see. "That looks broken to me - we'd better get you to see the station sawbones. I don't want you off work, given you're the one who claims to understand how this ship works." He realised he was keeping hold of her wrist longer than he needed to, and let go; she'd got funny about the idea of seeing a doctor before, and if it came down to it ... he'd need both hands to block her swing at him, as she had a fearsome hook when riled up.

"It'll heal, not much a doc can do I haven't already done." She tried to make it seem as light as possible. but truth was her hand was hurting like hell... not so much from the break, she'd done that before, but it felt like her knuckle might just be dislocated as well.

"Kara..." he fought to keep the irritation out of his voice. Damn, but she could be stubborn. "That knuckle looks like it's dislocated to me, and it's gonna hurt like hell to fix. We've got enough foldin' money that we can afford to get a sawbones to do it..."

She looked up, locking eyes with him, prepared to fight tooth and nail on the matter, but the genuine concern in his eyes made her falter. "You know I don't like doctors..."

"The alternative is I try and fix it myself, and it's been a while since I had to do that... and we're not on a battlefield. I've heard you talk about flyin', remember ... do you really want to risk your hands?" He'd do it if he had too, but the idea of causing her that much hurt ... well, it didn't sit right with him.

"Alright... but you have to come with me... I know its crazy but I'll just feel better if you're there..."

"That's a given. Ain't lettin' you out of my sight." He started to pack the food away; that could wait. Main thing was getting her fit and whole again.

She just nodded, fighting the nauseated feeling... She wasn’t sure if it was from the pain in her hand, or from the thought of going to see a doctor about it. Lords she'd known Doc Cottle back on the G for years and she STILL had trouble going to see him... never mind a complete stranger...

"Kara?" He managed to move up next to her again without her noticing. She must be seriously distracted, and given the way she'd ignored broken ribs, it wasn't pain likely to be doing it. He took her hand carefully in his again, avoiding her injured finger. "Would you rather the two of us tried to fix it here?"

She nodded. "Yeah.... I would... ‚” She looked at him, eyes almost pleading.

"OK darlin', you ever had a dislocated finger before?" He moved her down to the far end of the table, gently pushing her down into one of the chairs. If she didn't want the doctor that badly, then he'd do his best. One of the things they'd agreed on was not to answer any questions they didn't want too; she didn't want to talk about doctors, he wouldn't ask.

She nodded "A couple of times..." Well more than a couple... but she wasn't ready to talk about that, nor about the questions that would come if a doctor x-rayed her hands...

"OK. First things first ... if you're finger is goin' blue anywhere, or if any part of it's numb, we're goin' to the Doc. No arguments, ok?" He moved into the galley, collecting some odds and ends that'd be useful for a splint and bandage.

"Alright..." She set her hand up on the table, carefully unwrapping the tape she’d used to steady the injured finger.

Setting everything out on the table, he took her injured hand in both of his. "This is goin' to hurt, Kara. I don't have anything to give you for it, unless you want some cheap booze..." He kept his finger gentle as it probed at her finger and knuckle. No sign of it going blue, at least...

She drew in a sharp breath, steeling her expression. "I'll be ok... just do it..."

He made sure that she was in front of him, and moved her finger so that it was slightly flexed, trying to ignore her hiss of pain. He moved one hand so that it was holding the tip of her finer, and the other he rested below the base of her finger. Then, in a sharp motion, he drew the finger forward as if trying to pull it into a straight line, other hand pushing the joint back into place.

"FRAK!" She yelped, but kept her hand steady. Ok, now she was pretty sure she was going to be sick..... But thankfully the pain passed quickly. She could feel the sweat trailing down the back of her neck, her heart still racing. "How's it look?"

He ran his fingers over her injured one slowly. There didn't seem to be any fluid swelling the joint, so maybe the blood vessels were ok. "Not too bad, considerin' ... how's it feel? Any numbness?"

"Right about now... I only wish, hurts like a sonofabitch

"Well, it don't look to bad at all. It swells up or starts changin', you're going to see the doc, though." He improvised up a padded bandage, and taped her little finger to the finger next to it.

"Thank you...” she said softly. It was a think you for not only understanding her, but for not forcing her to the doc as well

He nodded, not trusting himself to answer with her looking at him like that, all vulnerable. Kara didn't do vulnerable; she was pretty much the strongest woman he'd met ... maybe even more than Zoë. "Don't thank me ... until you've tried the food. I ain't exactly no gourmet chef, you know."

"Anything beats dried ration packs... and my cooking” she added... she was ahorrible cook, mostly from lack of trying, living i the military one didnt have muc opportunity to cook more than instant noodles once in a while

"Well, come try some. It should still be mostly hot... the bits that are supposed to be." He made a point of holding her chair out again, but when she went for the eating irons, he batted her hands away. "Nope. Not having you strain that finger none." Picking up his own, he offered her a forkful of food from one of the still steaming bowls. "Besides... I want to make sure it's safe to eat first, and I ain't got no pigeons to try it on..."

She gave him an almost flirty smile. "Talk about service... careful I might get used to being waited on..." She teased.

He grinned back at her. "Well, only so long as you go on breaking bones and suchlike."

She bit her lip a little. "Don't get used to it..."

"You still haven't tried the food yet... I'm gettin' worried..." Lords, but she looked pretty when she bit her lower lip like that. Even more so, because it was so obviously natural.

She leaned in and snagged the forkful "Mmm gods, that’s pretty good...

He helped himself to a forkful, and loaded up another for her. Not too bad. Not great, but not too bad. Of course, he really shouldn't tease her with the next forkful...