Title: Crusader
Episode 01
Authors: Sovereign and Elizafan568
Rating: R - Things will get nasty with guns waving about.
Notes: This fic began as a side project for "Manifest Darkness" then erupted into its own series fic, and finally something publishable. We hope it's respectable, it is a crossover after all. Summary: Hope for the future is found in the forgotten remnants of the past.
Feedback: Sovereign - xsovereignx@yahoo.com and Elizafan - elizfan568@yahoo.com
Earth in the year 2517 was a wasteland. A pure, desolate waste, unlivable, unpopulated, and most of all unremembered. The human race ran it into the ground and when they were done they made a run for the stars. Life out there was never discovered, and people, in their various incarnations, made a home on any planet they could. While humans began a government, and a war ensued, followed by a rebellion, then an alliance and another rebellion and finally unification, the tiny planet remained in the shadows.
Until however a entrepreneur came to contact the crew of the firefly class transport named Serenity, under Captain Malcolm Reynolds. Tren Draze said he knew the way back to Earth-that-was and that on there was something most precious. So precious in fact that Captain Reynolds had to eat the refusal he was about to spit out when Draze offered more money than the heist of the Alliance Hospital on Ariel had got them five times over.
Always looking for a heavy haul with a good pay, Reynolds, along with his patchwork crew immediately set about doing what they promised they would. Bring in the cargo, hand it over, then bring in the pay. Easy as pie, at least, that's what it looked like.
"Goram it Jayne! Would you please stop doing.. whatever it is you are doing to that... whatever it is!" Captain Reynolds cussed as he had to stop amid the terrible wind and dust storms to get his mercenary, Jayne Cobb, to quit messing with something that he had found under the sand when he had tripped on it, and now was fascinated by it.
"No can do, Mal. I think I got something here. Could even be what we're looking for, and even if its not, I got a feeling about these things and I feel money." Jayne, the tall and muscular mercenary said in his usual dry, dismissive manner as he continued to pull and tug at the strange container in the sand.
"I swear to ..Jayne why don't you just do what your told for once?" Malcolm stopped, realizing that the thing Jayne was pulling seemed to be a door. A very buried thick metal door handle. "You may have found something there."
Malcolm flipped on his com device in his helmet. "Zoe, you and Kaylee get over here. Think we found what our employer was looking for." he got affirmation then went to digging around the thing Jayne was yanking on. "Nose for these things huh?" he asked as he got to work.
"Oh, you know it. Me and money, we're like this." Jayne said, motioning with his fingers. "The more the money, more I can do." he said, as he pulled with all his strength as they could feel it loosen somewhat.
Soon, Zoe and Kaylee came running over and joined in the pulling. "You think this is it, sir? What that guy wants?" Zoe asked as she pulled and it gave a few more inches.
"I think so, but damned if it isn't jammed in there good." he replied then turned to Kaylee. "Kaylee, sweetheart, I need you to start digging opposite of me. we're gonna try to loosen the sand sitting on this thing, then maybe Jayne can get it open, if not we can get River to pull on it. She seems to be able to do everything else."
"You got it, Captain." Kaylee replied, giving a sweet little salute before getting to the digging as instructed.
The sand around the metal coffin began to give way and Jayne grabbed hold of the lid firmly with both hands and pulled with all his strength. "Goram it. That things on there good." Jayne exclaimed as he plopped down on his ass, catching his breathe.
As the Mal and Zoe continued digging, Kaylee saw what the problem was, and recognized the solution. "You can't get it off because its part of a bigger structure. If I'm right, there should be a way to open it. It's just a door, a very morbid and fancy looking door. Look for a switch!"
Mal looked at Jayne. "A door, you found a door, with your nose. Anyone ever get on you about having creepy nose power? It found a door made of a coffin."
"Well hell, Mal. How was I supposed to know that? At least I found the damn thing. Didn't see you doing much better." Jayne spat back, irritated as always.
"Found it, sir." Zoe said in her flat, military tone as she pressed the button and the door seemed to rumble then slowly slide open, making various creaking noises as it did so. "Now let's get what we came for and get the hell out of here."
Mal gave Jayne a look. "I'd have found it. I was just checking something else out, but I was coming here next." he defended as he went inside, having to turn on a flashlight to see in the tomb like structure.
The room was thirty feet by thirty feet and had various things hanging off the wall. Swords, axes, knives, maces and various other hand held weapons. Another wall was covered in boxes, sealed of course, with clothes, food and water. The far wall had words that had faded words that were readable, but the language was unseen before. All that was paled in comparison to a silver tube shaped object that sat quietly upon a pedestal.
It was about six feet long, and also had odd markings on it. There were handles on the sides, but didn't seem to have any buttons or levers on it, and there seemed to be no seam between top and bottom, front and back, or left and right. Just a silver tube with handles.
"What in the hell do we got ourselves here?" Mal asked, looking over at Kaylee. "Give me a scan on this whole place Kaylee, let me know what we got, and don't nobody touch nothing. Five hundred year old booby traps might kill any of you and that would upset me terribly."
Kaylee pulled a small device out of a pack at her side and started pressing various buttons. A red beam emanated from it and ran the corse of the entire room three times. "No traps, capn'. No nuthin except a very faint life sign in that tube." she said, pointing at the strange object.
"Life?" Mal asked, looking over at Zoe.
"We came this far for someone to pick up a tube with what? An old friend?" Zoe asked, looking at the tube closely, but not touching it.
"Old fashioned cryo?" Mal asked. staring at the tube. "Alright. Jayne, get as much, no everything form this room. The sealed boxes, the weapons, everything. Might be a good piece of profit in antiquities from Earth-that-was. Zoe, you and Kaylee help with that. No one opens or touches the coffin until we are back on Serenity. No matter what is in there, it ain't gonna be alive long without a suit in this environment."
"Oh, I can't wait. I can just smell the money from all this stuff." Jayne said with a gleam in his eye as he started around the room, grabbing everything he could get his hands on eagerly. When big money was involved, Jayne could do almost anything.
Zoe took one end of the tube while Mal took the other. Kaylee grabbed it in the middle and the three of them lifted it with a bit of strain and slowly moved toward the exit, leaving Jayne to his little weapon collection adventure. Once outside, Mal took the lead and directed them towards the ship that, thankfully, wasn't too far away.
"Wash. Be ready to haul the stuff Jayne is bringing with him in the hold, then go help." Malcolm spoke, then trudged forward. He glanced down at the place where his weapon would be and saw only the environmental suit. If whatever was in the capsule hopped out, and wasn't affected by the weather, well, it wasn't going to be too much worrying later that he believed he wouldn't be taking in more air.
Carefully, the three got back aboard, carrying the tube, Jayne behind them with a large haul of weapons in a sack. With a relief they set the tube down in the middle of the hold. With several more trips, they cleaned the room out, and closed the hold for the last time. Shepard Book was already looking down at the tube with a great interest. A concentrated look on his face. "This is extraordinary. What is it?"
"Best guess. Cryo tube." Mal said casually. "Worse guess, Jayne's ex wife."
"Eh...I told you, she wasn't like a cold popsicle....she looked like she'd been cooked too long, there's a difference there, ya know?" Jayne remarked almost hurtfully as he started to examine the weapons. "These things are antiques, all right, but still capable of doing some serious damage. What say I keep a couple of em' for my own personal collection?" Jayne said with a sly grin to Mal.
"Only if you pay us for them." he said calmly, as the Simon, Inara and River joined them. "I think we can work a deal."
Zoe looked up at the incoming crew members, smiling slightly at the protective nature of Simon towards his sister. River Tam was a tragedy, but her big brother would not give up on her, and she admired that. "Seen our guest lately? We got his haul."
"Yes actually. It's why I came down here in such a hurry. He said he did not want any of us touching the tube. Ever. He said we can have anything else we found, he only wants the tube." Inara looked up at the empty doorway leading to the guest quarters. "He was very adamant and rude about it."
"I don't see what all the fuss is about..." Jayne said as he walked over to the tube and reached down to touch, "..just some old.." He was stopped by the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs, fast and deliberate. He looked up to find Tren Draze marching over to the group, calm and composed as always but the air about him told them he was not happy. "Well, about time you got here."
Tren was a man of normal stature. He was six foot tall with a medium build and jet black hair. He always wore equally black sunglasses and, in fact, none of the crew had even seen him without them as of yet. He shoved Jayne out of the way and walked up to Mal, his face mere inches from the captain's. "I thought I told you, captain. No touching....none." he said dryly.
"Sorry about that. Jayne sometimes is stupid." Mal plastered a fake smile on his face. "Alright. Now time for you to hold up half of your end of the deal. Half when we get the cargo, half when we get you where you're going with it." Mal reached out his hand. "Pony up cowboy."
Tren shook his head a let out a bit of a mock laugh. "That's what I like about you captain, one thought at a time and you always know what you want and what your place is. Good way to be in your line of work." he said as he reached into his black trousers and pulled out a small, leather pouch. "Here's your 50,000. You'll get the rest once we reach our destination."
Mal smiled back. "and that's what I like about you Tren. You use a lot of words, and too many to pay up with." He slung the money over to Zoe who caught it easily, and the others all looked on in awe at that much cash. They could just about buy a fleet of fireflies for what they were getting.
"Where are we going now boss?" Wash asked, as Tren had not told them that part yet.
"Oh yes. Our destination. We are going the planet Mizral. I have people there waiting on me and this cargo. We have a lot of work ahead of us and need to get there in haste. If that's not a problem for you, captain." he remarked, giving the Mal a mock bow as he did so.
"Of course not." He smiled, though the planet he mentioned was slightly beyond the rim, and was rumored to be in heavy Reaver territory. "Wash, get us on our way please." Mal said, still with the plastered smile on his face.
"The silver is scaring him, he doesn't know what's become of the last soldier down." River spoke out loud, causing heads to turn instantly.
"Excuse me...what was that Miss?" Tren asked in shock. With more emotion than anyone had seen from him thus far.
"Don't mind River. She says odd things from time to time. No need to pay it any attention." Simon said as he put his hands on River's shoulders and started leading her out of the cargo bay. It was apparent that what she had said had struck a cord with Tren and the last thing they needed was to know more than they wanted about the situation. That always made things worse.
"She's a psycho." Jayne added, making a crazy gesture to his head.
"Well, then, let us have some repast in the dining room, and celebrate our mutual good fortune." Book interjected, attempting to smooth things over.
"Yes of course. That is a wonderful idea Shepard. " Mal joined, wishing Simon had found a way to fix his sister and her 'ability'. "Would you care to join us Tren?"
"Yes, of course Captain. I would imagine we're all a bit hungry after this." Tren replied as he followed Book to the dining room, eyeing River and Simon as the exited through a separate door.
"Okay, that guy is starting to give me the creeps too." Jayne remarked offhand as he went back to admiring the weapons.
"Inara. Can you see what River was talking about?" He whispered and got looks for it. "You all know she sees things different then us. If this cargo could be dangerous, I would like to know."
Inara nodded, but didn't spend too long looking at Mal after. She simply got up and went about the request. "If that thing in the tube is alive, we have no idea what might happen if it gets out, or what it is either. I'm not looking to get eaten by a five hundred year old house cat." Wash added, but everyone agreed with the sentiment.
"Wouldn't it be great if it were just a cute little kitty." Kaylee spoke with a dreamy smile on her face. "We could name it Tracey. for you guys' friend and all.. so we don't forget." her voice, and her expression grew somber a moment. "I think he'd like that."
"Well that's an awfully sweet sentiment, Kaylee but I highly doubt it's a cat." Mal said somberly as he turned and head toward the dinning hall. "Anyways, lets all get some food and get some rest. Got quite a journey ahead of us and unknown cargo on board. Lets try to stay civil." he remarked, knowing the chances of things going south between now and their destination where extremely high.
**
Simon helped his sister to the infirmary, where another batch of his most recent attempt to treat River was waiting. He so desperately wanted to find the mix that would work, that would give her her mind back without sending her lunch flying around the room, or make her sick in some other way. This new batch seemed to work well, but not nearly as long as the others.
"I'm not crazy this time Simon. There's no need to stab me with your doctor's needle." River complained in a mostly lucid voice.
Simon turned around and looked at her. "Then why did you say that in the hold? It didn't seem to make any sense."
River nodded. "It did make sense Simon, but, it didn't make sense to you." she smiled. "My dum dum brother."
Simon smiled at her warmly. "Yes. I'm a dum dum. Always." and they both laughed warmly.
"Pardon my intrusion, but I was hoping I could speak with River for a moment about what she said in the hold." Inara said as she stepped into the lab, her posture as elegant as ever, giving off the air of a woman of high class, which she was indeed.
Simon looked at his sister. "Are you okay with that River?" he asked, and got a smiling nod.
"Inara is very pretty, and she's always very nice, and dreadfully afraid the captain doesn't agree." River's eyes opened wide and she clamped her mouth shut.
Simon gave a look at Inara, then moved out of the room quickly.
"Well, River, you seem to be doing much better these day, that's good to see." Inara said with a warm smile that River returned in kind. "Now, about what you said back there. What did you mean exactly? What is it about Tren and that tube?" she asked very plainly.
"He's scared of it." she replied simply. She looked as if she would say more, then stopped. Fidgeted slightly, the added. "It's from a time when things were very different Inara. Old things were alive, and things that made no sense were real."
"So, the thing in there, its alive, and it's dangerous. Do you think we should get rid of it?" Inara asked with more than a little concern on her face and in her voice.
River stood up, bending her arms and putting her hands into clawed shapes. "Things crept and crawled and slithered and slouched. They came Inara... " she charged around the room, making as ugly a face as she could. "Killed the many, killed the Earth. Earth that was. The tube knows it, from before times... the much before times."
"The thing in the tube is one of these creatures that killed people? Or is it someone who was lucky enough to escape them? This isn't really making much sense to me, River, I have to say honestly." Inara remarked as she started to get slightly frustrated. Talking with River, even when she was fairly lucid, was always a bit of a challenge.
River smiled, then got an angry look on her face. "I hate not being a girl. I'm never a girl, always River. River is not helping." she became agitated, then in one of her bizarre motions she moved quickly across the room, grabbing the needle Simon was about to inject her with and pressing the medication straight into the body. She tensed for a moment, then looked up at Inara
"The tube, holds... a human.." Rivers eyes rolled up in her head. "sa-fe" and the prodigy hit the floor like a rock, smacking her head hard.
Inara rushed over to River, cradling the girl in her arms. "River, River are you alright? River?" she exclaimed then turned her head toward the entrance. "Simon,...Simon get in here quick, it's River." she yelled.
Simon came in running into the room and his jaw dropped when he saw River on the floor. "My God, what happened!?" he exclaimed as he rushed to River's side.
He saw the needle and immediately set about getting his sister on the table. He flashed a light into her eyes and check several vitals. "She'll be alright." he said relieved, " but she'll be out the rest of the night. She gave herself a megadose of what I had for her, and that knot on her head is not helping either."
Simon set about getting several more things from a drawer. "Why did she do that? Why would she risk her life with that injection?"
"It's my fault. I pushed to hard for answer and wasn't getting what she was saying so she did this." Inara replied as her voice broke a bit. Guilt over River's actions starting to loom over her as Simon went about helping his sister.
Simon spared the companion a forgiving smile. "It's not your fault Inara. River should be able to talk and act just like any other young girl, and she did once. I swear she did." he attached a heart monitor to his sisters chest. "Until those Alliance goons butchered her brain." he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Thinking what those madmen did to his sister always got him fighting mad, and not having anyone to fight just got him more angry, so he tried to keep himself as calm as he could on the matter, which wasn't very calm at all.
"I'm sorry, Simon. If you feel up to joining us for some dinner, everyone's gathering in the dining room. If not, I understand. River's more important than food right now." Inara said with a soft smile as she patted Simon on the shoulder and got to her feet. "I'll leave you two for now so you can work. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."
"Thank you." he replied kindly, then set about tending to his sister, just as he always had, just as he always would.
**
The crew of Serenity was gathered around the dining table, save Simon who was busy attending to his sister. They were eating the usual basic foods that everyone had grown tired of but could no longer complain about because it was all they had at the moment. Jayne was stuffing his face as fast as possible, much to the dismay of everyone there. Tren, in particular, found Jayne's eating habits to be quite unpleasant.
"Excuse me, but must you eat like that? I'm sure you must have some table manners. Why not use them?" Tren remarked, shooting Jayne a knowing look.
"Been eating this way since ever." Jayne replied in his plain and simple way. "Get the food on the fork, get my fork in my mouth, chew and swallow. Only way I know of right?" he looked up at the others, stopping when he saw Mal's bad tempered expression.
"What our guest means is one, can you not stuff your face like a pig and two can you not chew like a cow. Now you either close your mouth when your eating or go eat in your bunk." Mal leaned back, then got back to his food, still keeping serious eyes on the mercenary.
"Well, Mr. Reynolds, it's good to know that you have good control over your crew. I think you best make sure they all know not to go snooping around my property less there be serious consequences to everyone involved, but I'll leave that to your discretion," he said, staring straight into Mal's eyes through his dark sunglasses, "for now at least."
Mal never liked being threatened, and that sounded too close to being a threat. However, the man was paying huge and so it tended to keep Mal's temper in check. "Of course Tren. My crew does understand the need to take orders and no one will be sniffing around your box, or tube, the silver thing in the hold. Just for my understanding though, the sealed boxes and all those antique weapons, we keep them right, no charge or nothing right?"
"Oh yes, do with them as you will. They are of no concern to me. What's in that tube is worth more than all the world's riches combined to me." Tren said, still flatly and not hinting at his true emotions.
"We are not trying to be rude, so please do not think so, but those items that you are giving away so freely are worth a ransom. We do not often find many or rather, any in the verse willing to part with that much, and yet you are. We're just surprised is all, and grateful." Shepard book gave the man a respectful nod, then went back to work on eating.
"You're welcome for the jester, but I don't really consider it so. I am well aware of their rareness and value but it concerns me not and who gets it and what they do with it, I could care less about. Now that I have what I've been searching for years, that's all that matters to me now." Tren said as he took a final bite of his food then stood up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to examine the tube in private. Thank you for the meal but I'm full for now." he said, giving a small bow and leaving the room without another word.
"Still say I don't like that guy." Jayne said, gulping down more food.
"I'm with Jayne." Kaylee said surprising everyone, especially Jayne. "There's something really wrong with the way he acts." She looked at Jayne, who nodded back at her. "Like he wouldn't bother killing us if he had to."
"Did I just hear Kaylee agree with Jayne?" Wash asked. "Okay, if that happened, seriously, we might wanna keep our eyes and ears open."
Book looked at the group and then the captain. "I agree. There's an air of mystery and anger to that young man. I wouldn't take my eyes of him if I were any of you. I'm not saying he's bad, but maybe very desperate. They way he talks about the contents of that tube, its like his whole life has been based around it."
"Great, just what we need. Another guy obsessed over the contents of a strange container. What are the odds?" Wash remarked sarcastically as he threw his arms up into the air.
"Just once, once I say, Why can't we get a bunch of old ladies obsessed over a shipment of flowers huh? Why?" Mal grumbled, then looked over at Zoe.
"Maybe next time sir. Old ladies and flowers." she patted him on the arm and they all continued to eat.
"Alright, that's enough talk for now, everyone finish up and get some rest. Got a long journey ahead of us." Mal commanded as he went back to eating. There was definitely something up with this guy and his cargo and Mal figured it best to keep it under wraps for now. He'd do his own personal snooping if need be, but for now, he just wanted to get some rest. The trip to Earth-that-was had been a killer.
A nice long sleep is what Mal was thinking about as he headed towards his bunk. It would be nice to have some shut eye, then get about the business of getting rid of this creepy character and his mysterious living cargo. Mizral was a miserable planet. It was called Mizral because the name was a shortening of the phrase Misery for all. Mal had no desire to be within a universe away from that place, but, money drove him onward. He was still thinking about that as he reached his door, unaware of that around him.
Inara put her hand on Mal's shoulder from behind, causing him to jump and snap out of his deep thoughts. "Sorry, Mal, didn't mean to scare you but thought you might wanna know what I found out from River."
"Bells. I swear to all that I never believed in that I am going to make you wear bells. I know you got them I heard you tell a client you did." he grumbled and then stopped. "Sorry, bit edgy, what did River say?"
"She wasn't all that clear, but with River that's usually the case. Anyways, she said that back on Earth-that-was, when is was still inhabitable, there were lots of creatures that existed...evil creatures that hurt people and that the person inside has something to do with them. She said something about the last soldier down, so I'm thinking maybe this person was a warrior of some kind that fought these creatures." Inara said, the utter incredibility of what she was saying not lost on her and evident on Mal's face.
Mal got a deep expression on his face. "Not a lot really known about Earth-that-was before the exodus. Maybe what River said is more like a fable. Some folks was really into trying to clasp other people around the throat, this person inside.. oh hell. We got a human in that gorram tube!?" he yelped, then lowered his voice. "There's a five hundred year old person in that tube?" he said a strained hush.
"Apparently so, yes." Inara said lowly. "What do you think we should do?"
Suddenly, Mal felt a need to explain himself to the companion. "First of all. You know me some Inara. I'm not some Slaver going to sell the men women and children into bondage. I don't even like those people. Find them contemptible and not well bathed. If I had known there was some human in that tube, you know I wouldn't have.. you do know right? I mean, you know?"
"Yes, Mal. I know that. I hate slavers too, but do think this guy is some kind of slaver, or something more to it than this? Doesn't make sense that he'd go through all this trouble just to get a slave." Inara said with a questioning look on her face that Mal always enjoyed.
"A five hundred year old slave from Earth-that-was." he added. "makes that a might more valuable than the weapons and other stuff he let us have." the Captain furled his eyebrows in deep thought. "Now I'm getting an urge to play with his tube." he stopped and looked at Inara, and chuckled slightly. "Not exactly the way that sounded in my head, now was it?"
Inara giggled slightly and almost seemed to blush at Mal's words. "No, not really. You really think we should open that tube? Things could get dangerous. No telling what Tren might try to pull if we do something with it."
"Get the crew out of their quarters Inara. Then we can lock Tren in his quarters just long enough to take a looksie inside. If all goes well, he won't even know we got the thing opened, and maybe just sell him Jayne in the tube. I mean.. sell him an empty tube." Mal took a deep breath. "Either way, Not real comfortable selling someone into someone else's possession. Smacks of slaver work, and they might be worse than the alliance."
"I think your right. I'll go tell everyone right away. Better now than later." Inara said as she turned and walked away, leaving Mal to his thoughts of what to do once they opened it.
**
The crew quarter locks were thrown, and the crew of Serenity stood around the tube bewildered. The combined knowledge of the nine crew mates could not figure out how to get it open. It seemed to have no handles, no switches. There was no card slots or key holes. No hand print or eye scanner devices were in site, and Jayne had busted three knives trying for a pry job that had not even scratched the metal.
"Yep. This worked out well. Reminds me of being left naked on a planet once." Mal looked at the tube. "Maybe we need a blowtorch."
"Well, I got one cap'n if you want me to try it?" Kaylee piped up a little to cheery for the situation at hand.
"Why does Kaylee sound like Jayne again?" Wash asked. "It's getting scary Captain, make her stop."
"Yeah stop that Kaylee, its freakin me out." Jayne added.
"It says to speak in the words of words." River spoke, having recovered much faster than her brother had anticipated. "The words of many being one opens the chosen door." she furled her eyebrows. She knelt over and ran her hand over the tube tracing it over and over again, feeling the top and sides. She seemed to just be having one of her wild moment again, but something about the way she moved seemed with purpose. Finally, at the very far end a tiny razor thin panel fell open, revealing three inscribed words, that no one knew.
"How in the hell does she always do that?" Jayne remarked. "You ask me, we got too many freaky people on this ship right now."
"Well no one did ask you Jayne." Mal spat back as he bent down to examine the words but could make nothing out of them. "Anyone here fluent in chicken scratch?" Mal asked to the group.
Shepard book looked at it. "Vaguely familiar. I think it's a language from Earth-that-was, a dead one at that even before it was abandoned." he stared at it for a while. "I heard of such things in my studies but, I'd venture it was..." he stopped again, blankly looking at it as he thought back. "yes, in the monastery on Terrace, there was a bible from Earth-that-was, it was written in a strange dialect, and when I asked, the head monk replied that the language was called Latin."
"No one speaks Latin here." Kaylee said. "We're all pretty dumb really." Everyone stared at her in shock, unable to comprehend that she had said something mean.
"Well us dumb people have got to figure out what this thing says." Mal grumbled.
"It can't be that difficult. Just because its an old language doesn't mean its hard to understand. Shepard Book, can you tell us anything about this language known as Latin." Inara asked elegantly.
"What I learned is very little. It's sort of the parent language of what we use now. Died out because of its complexities. I would say.." he never finished as Simon, who mostly had been quiet, said something offhanded.
"E Pluribus Unum." he said. "I saw this in a museum when I was a kid on what they called a 'dollar'" he smiled. "It was currency for Earth-that-was." he was feeling sort of proud of himself until the tube cracked, and the lid began to move inexorably slow towards the goal of opening.
"Jayne was right. Too many freaky people." Zoe dead panned as they all reacted by stepping back and away from the tube.
As the tube opened, cold air came worth along with a white cloud of ancient air. Everyone continued to step back and look on in amazement at what was happening before them. They lid finally came to a stop when it was fully open and the cloud slowly began to disperse, making the tube and its contents visible to anyone close enough.
"So, who wants to go over there and take a little peek?" Mal asked dryly, looking at crew.
There was a bit of movement with the dispersing clouds, and everyone jumped back even further, this time pulling weapons. No one was really sure what they should do, run, hide, see, wait, attack, everyone was more frozen than the poor soul within the tube. Then they caught a sound of naked flesh hitting the deck plate and realized whatever was in the tube, was no longer within it. At last someone caught a glimpse of the passenger.
Inara raised her hand to her mouth in shock as she laid eyes on what was clearly a young woman, a mess of brunette hair hiding her face from view as she struggled to get up on all fours. "Don't shoot. She's unarmed."
"How do you know?" Jayne asked unable to see from his angle.
"I can see her you idiot." Inara snapped.
"Alright, everyone just calm down and steady your hands, especially you Jayne." Mal commanded, bringing instant silence. He slowly walked over to the prone form on the ground and bent down to her level. "My name is Captain Malcolm Reynolds. You're on a spaceship in outer space. Do you understand me?" Mal asked in a tone of kindness he very seldom used, but felt this case called for it.
The form grumbled, trembled, then almost pitched forward onto her face. Regaining her balance on all fours again, she coughed a few times, the managed a dry and cracked voice. "C-ol-d."
"On it." Zoe took off to go get a blanket for the new arrival.
"Now, miss, can you tell me your name? And why where you in that thing?" Mal asked softly, motioning to the tube now seemingly lifeless.
"Mal, don't drill her now. She's been in there for 500 years. Give her a break." Inara said, aghast at Mal's seeming lack of tact.
"Well, I'm sorry, but we just don't have time. I need to learn all I can before Tren wakes up and finds out what we've done." Mal said back over his shoulder, not wanting to take his attention off the brunette.
"T-ren." the figure managed to gasp, the name seeming to galvanize her as she tried more forcefully to get upright, looking almost as if it were urgent. Her efforts got her up to her knees, and the crew got a look at her still naked form, but most importantly, her face. Pure human, not a Reaver or something worse.
T..B..C
