Title: Crusader
Episode 02
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 serious fic, and finally something publishable. We hope its 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
Zoe hurried back in with a thick blanket and handed it to Mal who, in turn, wrapped in around the cold and naked female. "That's right, Tren. Do you somehow know him? Although that doesn't seem possible. Is there anything about yourself you can tell me? Anything." Mal asked again, slightly more forceful but still in a warm tone.
Fighting to keep herself conscious, the wear and tear of the long hibernation taking its toll, she managed to finally bring her eyes even with the Captain's. "Adrenaline..." she gestured at the tube, then in a much lower tone she husked "mine" past her lips. It sounded more like sandpaper across stone, then any normal voice.
"Did she just say what I think she did?" Simon asked, getting a nod from Zoe.
"Well don't just stand there, give her what she asked for. Now, Doc." Mal ordered Simon, who jumped. Surprised by the unexpected firmness of his tone and order and quickly dug through the medical bag he had brought with them for a single shot of adrenaline he had brought. He has tossed a bit of everything into the bag before coming down here, not sure what he's need and not wanting to want for anything at a crucial moment.
"I got it. One dose of adrenaline coming up." Simon said as he slowly walked over to Mal and the woman with shot in hand. He approached nervously as he did not know what her reaction would be.
She began trembling, as if suffering from an ague as she opened the blanket. Her eyes met his with a weary but firm gaze. She saw his uncertainty, and gave him a small wan smile as she nodded slightly. She mouthed something, but her voice only made a slight cracking noise.
"I'll get her some water. She's probably dry as a desert being in there so long." Kaylee said, giving the girl one last look. "She looks really good for her age though doncha think?" she asked before departing.
"I'll say." Jayne remarked to himself. Finding himself extremely attracted to this woman and in a hurry to get her better. He always loved brunettes.
Simon bent down and swabbed her chest. He then slowly gave her the shot as she tensed a little bit at the needles prick and the entrance of its contents into her body. "There, all done." Simon said as he stepped back and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Thank you, doctor." Mal said as he looked back into the brunettes eyes. "Now, how do you feel?"
She gave a quick nod, the rose slowly to her feet. She repeatedly swallowed, showing Kaylee's assessment was correct. Her throat was parchment dry. She was however able to give the captain a salute. "She's grateful, but unsure. Wants to know where she is.. when she is..based on earth that was time." River said, getting a weird gaze from the newcomer, then a slight nod.
Mal put his hands on her shoulders, helping hold her up as he spoke. "The year is 2517. Best we can figure, you've been in there about 500 years. You're on my ship, Serenity and Earth, as you knew it, no longer exists." Mal said, the words heavy as he spoke them. He knew this would be something nearly impossible to grasp and deal with and he hated having to be the one to tell her. Better now, though, than later.
Kaylee returned carrying a pitcher and a glass of water, which she offered to the stranger. The brunette kept her eyes locked on Mal as she pushed the glass away and took the pitcher, chugging for all she was worth. Everyone stared in amazement as a two quart pitcher got dried up real fast. When done, she offered the pitcher back and now was regaining a more and more healthy demeanor with each passing second.
She cleared her throat, then, still not taking her eyes off Mal, smiled sarcastically. "Cute. Nice try. War's still on. You guys working for someone? That it?" she said looking around. stopping at Jayne, giving him a once over, then turning her eyes back at the captain. Who obviously didn't answer in the two seconds she gave him. "Hmmm?"
Mal looked at her, completely dumbfounded with a look on his face the could only be described as at a complete loss. "Excuse me? What are you talking about, Miss? What war do you mean exactly?"
"Why do you keep saying that? 500 years? I don't even remember how I got in that thing. Something about something being wrong." she wavered slightly. "Hey you, big boy, open that third crate would ya? My clothes are in there." she pointed to Jayne then the box.
"Miss, perhaps you should sit, let us explain what we know, and figure out exactly what happened to you, because, believe it or not, you are five hundred years after your time." Shepard Book said, his baritone voice seeming to calm the tense girl slightly as she sat on the cryotube lid.
"I don't get it." she muttered
Jayne picked out some clothes from the crate the woman had instructed. A pair of black jeans, a studded belt, a black top without sleeves and a brown, leather jacket. All clothes that were no longer in existence. He tossed them over and the woman hurriedly but them on. They were a tight fit but that seemed to be the way she liked it as Jayne gave her another once over, taking note of her bared midriff, showing her extremely toned stomach.
"Now that your all nice and decent, Miss. How about you tell us your name and the last thing you can remember?" Mal asked again, more politely this time.
Before she began, Simon intervened. "Captain. A minute if you would. This woman has been cryofrozen longer than any recorded person in history. A person cryofrozen for a week has severe illness. It's why the cryogenics program was saved only for surgery. When that adrenaline runs out, she's going to need medical attention."
"Don't you worry about that cutie." she replied. "I got a good set of genes."
The doctor walked away, slightly flustered and embarrassed.
"You first. Who are the girls and who are all these yummy beef sticks?" she eyed Wash, then Simon again, gave Jayne a crotch stare, then a 'gimme' look at the captain.
Mal was taken aback by this woman's sheer bluntness. Women like her in this day and age seemed to be extremely rare and he was unsure how to deal with it. Normal women were still a mystery to him. "Well, I'm Captain Malcolm Reynolds and this here is my crew." Mal began as he started to go down the line and introduce everyone. "That's Wash, the pilot.....Zoe, my second in command....Simon, our doctor and his sister River.....Shepard Book...Inara....Kaylee, our engineer....and that's Jayne, but pay him no mind. That's what we try to do."
"Hey!" Jayne exclaimed in contempt but quieted down with a stern look from Mal.
"Now you, pretty lady. What's your name and what do you remember?"
"Faith." she replied, wincing slightly as she stretched. "Damned cramp." she walked over to the second crate, then the first one. "Truth is I don't remember much. Big war. Massive killings. Ended up on the losing side.. then someone stuck me in that tube for something wrong." She looked around in the exposed third crate, then finally the fourth crate. "If that was five years ago even.." she laughed to herself. "500 years.. got picked up by Gilligan and crew .." she muttered digging into the fourth crate, after barehanded ripping the lid off with one hand.
"Woah. Now that is decidedly not normal." Wash said looking over at his wife. "Didn't that just take Jayne like half an hour with a crowbar?"
Zoe felt her hand instinctively go closer to her sidearm.
"Pretty strong for a girl...especially one the that just woke up from a 500 year long nap..." Mal remarked, directing it towards Faith as she dug around inside the crates. "Care to explain?"
"Ha ha. Funny. I know you guys are prolly working for the Council." she emerged from her hunt in the fourth crate with a large oddly packed object. "Chocolate. Yummy stuff. Want some?" When no one moved she furled her eyebrows.
"She does not believe you captain. Thinks you a facade, a man of many lies and tests." River replied. "Needs proof, irrevocable proof."
Faith's expression hardened a bit at the girls words, but she said nothing.
"Okay, one, two strange women spouting off things I don't understand is something I'm not taking kindly to and two, I'm telling you the truth, Faith. Everything I've told you is true. Got no reason to be lying now. I have no idea what this council is your speaking of or what war your talking about. All I know is we were hired by Tren to retrieve some cargo from Earth-that-was, which turned out to be you. The fact that someone of Tren's standing even approached someone like me boggles everyone's mind. Believe us or not, it's the truth." Mal said, his tone firm and heavy as he stared Faith in the eyes.
"Now, captain, don't get to carried away with the girl. She's obviously been through a lot and could just be in some form of denial." Book said, putting his hand on Mal's shoulder in an attempt to calm him.
Faith released a bit of a breath she held. Arguing this was getting her no where. These people were either stone cold crazy, or damned well trained to look like it. She also wasn't fond of having her mind read, so she conjured a horrific image she recalled, a horrid three horned two mouthed needle toothed creatures eating a bunch of half dead people in an old hospital. She didn't remember where it was, only that she had seen it. She then thought the thought as 'loudly' as she could and gave the odd girl a hard look. When the girl's eyes got big as saucers, she knew she was having a desired effect. Girl wants to read a mind? Then let her get the nastiest read she can get. She then watched and smiled at the girl puking her guts up on the stairs she was standing on.
Mal took note of River's puking as he watched Simon rush over to start comforting her. "Position? What position? What are you...." Mal started but was stopped by a voice from the top of the stairs.
"That's enough of this interrogation, I think, Captain Reynolds." Tren yelled from the top of the stairs as he began his slow but deliberate descent downward into the cargo bay.
"Why, Mr. Draze? What are you doing up at this late hour? And...how did you get out of your room?" Mal asked is a sarcastic manner.
"I had a feeling you'd try something like this after what that girl River was saying so I took steps, don't worry about it." Tren said as he reached the bottom and came face to face with Mal. "Now, you and your crew have made a very grave mistake here. I wonder what I should do about it. What do you and your people have to say for yourselves?" Tren said, staring at Mal through his dark sunglasses.
"We found a real pretty girl in your tube there." Jayne replied. "Thinking you might have some not so honorable intentions towards such. Just can't have at that now can we?"
Everyone balked at Jayne's sudden chivalry and probably would have laughed, if it wouldn't just get them in a whole new mess of trouble. The group all took a step back from Tren but kept themselves between him and the newly awoken Faith. "What say we just start with why you felt he need to keep such a living and obviously illegal cargo on board my ship. After that we talk about how we are not planning on letting you lay one creepy person from Mizal finger on her 500 year old body. We clear on this so far?" Mal spoke, readying himself to draw if need be.
Faith turned and watched the tableau. She opted to keep her mouth shut, but noted that this crew, for lack of better word, was now between her and danger of their own accord. *If I am 500 years in the future, this must be the scooby gang's descendants* The thought brought a mental chuckle.
Tren suddenly let out a laugh as he looked over Mal and his crew. "Oh, my dear captain. You really do have no idea what's going on here, do you? Best stay out of it, if you value the lives of you and your crew." Tren then lowered his tone a very deep and serious one. "Trust me when I say, you don't want to be dragged into this. Let me handle it. It's my job and my destiny. My purpose for existing. You have no idea what this woman means to me or what she could mean to the universe. And if things are not handle as they need be, not only you and your crew, but the universe as a whole may eventually pay for it. Stand aside."
"No." Malcolm replied, almost sounding like an insolent child. "I have no guarantee you won't hurt her and I will not be responsible for a single person on this ship getting hurt unless I'm doing the hurting." he stuck out his chin a little more. "Not under my command, and not while I'm alive either."
Zoe smiled inwardly at the captain. He was still ever the leader of troops. Maybe that's why the eccentric and oddball group fused so well, the mutual respect of Malcolm Reynolds. "Why don't you just head back up to your room and stay there till we figure out what comes next?" she replied, backing her captain.
Still, Faith said nothing. This Tren guy wanted something, she'd wait to see what it was. The sunglasses were bothering her though. A lot.
"Well, I can see your not going to listen to reason, and if you want to be dragged into this I won't stop you. I think, however, that once you hear the full story, you will wish you hadn't. I can't afford a mistake at this time and if telling you is the only way to get me what I need, then so be it. Just be glad I'm unarmed, or things would be going much differently." Tren said, defiantly as ever. "So, knowing that hearing my purpose will ruin your lives, you still want to know? Or do you have a change of heart and step aside, because I'm not leaving this room without talking to my....I mean...talking to Faith." Tren said, realizing he had almost spilled something before it was time.
"I don't know you." Faith finally spoke, walking up and gently putting a hand on the captain's shoulders. "These people say I'm some five hundred years in the future. They say you paid for this trip, to find me, pull me back from the long sleep I was having but they don't know why. You say you do, but you threaten these people, who I don't know, but saw stand between me and you. Hell you can see only a few of them are real fighters, but still you make threats. Makes me not like you." she pulled up a crazy looking knife and sharpened piece of wood was stuck in her belt. "Makes me want to do things.. now talk."
"You're just as I new you would be and feisty as ever I see. Very well then, I will tell you, but remember, I warned you all." Tren said as he walked over to the stairs and sat down, stretching a bit.
"Tren is just a title, not my real name. Although there are very few people alive today that now that, much less where the title originated. Anyway, I won't bore you with the details of the war on Earth that Faith spoke of because it's of no consequence at this point. Faith, here, is what we call a Slayer. A human that is more than a human. A human endowed with the powers of a demon to fight the forces of evil that, at this point, no longer exist other than the evil that can be the human race." Tren stopped, waiting for reactions from the group.
They looked over at River. Inara spoke first. "River mentions creatures that attacked the people on Earth-That-Was. We've never seen any of those types of creatures."
"Got wiped out with earth that was." Jayne added. "Big bomb, bad sun, crappy air, whatever happened, humans got off the planet, the rest, died."
"Makes sense." Book added. "The problem is, if people left, and these 'demons' as you called them were eradicated, then why leave this girl alone in a cryotube for five hundred years. Surely that was nothing more then cruelty. Her friends, family, her world is gone. She, by all rights, should be buried along side of them, yet here she is. Why?"
Faith kept the twinge in her heart concealed as the Shepard's words almost made her believe the 500 year story. She played it as going along as she waited for Tren's answer.
"As everyone was fleeing Earth, most who knew of the existence of demons thought it best to forget....to let them die with Earth, but a small group a people found that unacceptable. The demons, and the warriors of good that fought them had to be remembered..deserved to be remembered. They are part of our history and, unknown to the masses, helped shape the world and the human race into what it is now. This group, who called themselves the Remembrance, are the ones who froze Faith. They need proof to show the masses but did not have the means or resources to do it at the time so found it best to keep their evidence a secret until the time was right. This story and the location of the evidence has been passed down from one generation to the next, waiting for the right time."
Tren then stood up and started to pace back and forth as the group seemed top be hanging on to his every word. "At last, one of us has achieved the power, position, and means to show the human race the history it has chosen to forget. That's why I hired you to retrieve Faith. I need her to do this. She is my evidence and I had to do it under the table before certain members of the Alliance and Blue Sun did." Tren again stopped, knowing those to groups being mentioned together would draw some responses and questions.
"Now you wait a Gorram minute. Why would the Blue Sun want something separate from the Alliance? I thought those two groups were as close as close gets?"
"They have a huge genetics wing, I mean the works. I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted something horrific like a massive cloning project." Simon said. "They're probably the bastards who did what was done to my sister."
"Why Faith is an easy question. If what mister Tren says, then her genes could be used to make an entire army of super human assassins, brain altered in the way River was. Mind you this is just one guess at what they could do." Book fell into deep thought after that statement.
"That ain't right none at all." Jayne shot off. "I mean, ain't no one got a right to do that to a person. Shoot em, sure, but not some kind lab rat thing. Ain't right. I ain't standing for it." Again he got looks for his sudden attacks of chivalry.
"Blue Sun and certain key Alliance members, in secret from the Alliance as a whole, want to do just that. Use Faith to create an army of artificial Slayers, if you will. They're intention behind this, I'm not sure of. River here, is the closest they have come to achieve they're goal, is my guess. She's a prototype if you will. The mental instabilities are something they have not been able to correct, however, and need Faith to do so, as well as to be able to totally match her strength." Tren said as he motioned to River, still feeling sick but hanging on the words with a child's interest. "If they get they're hands on Faith, the universe as we know it will cease to exist and we will see oppression like has never been seen before. Something I'm sure none of you want."
Tren stopped his pacing and looked square at Faith, slowly taking off his sunglasses for the first time. It revealed fiery red eyes that seemed to glow. "I am that person of position in Blue Sun with the means to make all this...the forgotten history and the true intentions of Blue Sun known, but I fear they are close to finding me out and I must move swiftly. I am the leader of the current generation of the Remembrance, but with a bit of a twist." Tren stopped, looking over the group with his red eyes.
"I don't care." the words came cold and dead. Faith turned, still clutching her knife, her eyes watery and tear tracks down her face. A face that seemed torn between a deep heart broken sadness, and a fiery hate fueled anger. "My world is ashes, my friends dead five centuries, and stupid little men squabble over what new weapon they can blow each other up with again, all for a relic that should not even be here!" she screamed, then pointed out the knife towards Tren. "Because people like you could not just let it go. It's over, all over. Why couldn't you just let it be that way you stupe bastard!?" Accusation straight at Tren was the only thing that the crew of Serenity could be sure, but they all understood the sentiment of being far from home and never being able to go back.
"I'm sorry, Faith, I really am, but I had nothing to do with it. I am just as much a victim as you, as a matter of fact. That is the twist I mentioned. The founding members of the Remembrance were afraid of losing their evidence and took steps to have a piece of it live on in some form forever in case they were never able to achieve their goal. So, after they froze you but before fleeing earth, they extracted your ovaries and eggs and fertilized them with an unknown members sperm, thus giving birth to your son. Once he reached adulthood, he became the leader and desperately looked for a way to reach you, his mother but was unable to do so. So, using some less than legal, black market means, the Remembrance had him cloned...once each new generation to continue to lead the group."
Tren looked Faith in the eyes, baring his soul to hers. "I am the current leader and clone of your son. My real name is Draze Winters. I'm your son and you are my mother, Faith, and at last I've found you." Tren said, tears flowing from his red eyes, down his cheek. "This is the way things are and have been for the past 500 years. I am so sorry, my mother." Tren said, dropping to his knees in tears. Everyone looked on in shock, barely able to comprehend everything they'd just heard. Faith turned and puked on the floor, a full hardy lunch launching festival of digestive color. She wiped her mouth on Jayne then looked at the man on his knees in front of everyone. She then turned her head to captain Reynolds. "I'll pay you Captain, to see him off safely where ever he calls home, and then I'll pay you to take me back to Earth." she said as she watched the reaction of everyone around. "And use of one of your rooms.. Finding out that you've been removed form your time, have freaks planning to play with your genes after having been essentially raped with lab equipment and not having eaten in 500 years makes one a bit tired." she turned, tapping the nearest girl on the shoulder, Kaylee. "Could you show me where to get something to eat?" The girl nodded and quietly led Faith away.
"No, you can't go back to Earth. There's nothing there. You'll die there. Please, stay. Stay with me and help me get this over with. Then we can go someplace and disappear. I've finally found you and I can't lose you know. Please. mother....mommy." Tren said, his voice breaking at the end as the tears continued to flow. Everyone looked on, unsure of what to say...what to think...or anything for that matter.
"I died there a long time ago. Should have." she muttered as she followed the quiet mechanic.
"Wow, and I thought I was capable of some really twisted stuff." Jayne said, removing his now dirty shirt, then walking off towards his bunk.
Simon lead River away towards the infirmary to give her something for her stomach. Wash and Zoe made a line for the Cockpit, and Inara left for the shuttle, to commence with her departure plans in a few days. Leaving Mal alone with the extremely distraught Tren. He looked down at the man in front of him, a look he gave only sad people he could not bring himself to shoot on the spot. "I'm not going to say much at all. Only thing I want from you is the answer to one question. Do I still drop you off at Mizal after we get picked up, or somewhere's else?"
"If my mother is staying...planning on returning to Earth and ending things there, then I will as well. I took the DNA samples from the Remembrance with me when I left. So, if she plans on dying, so will I, right next to her, and this will all end." Tren said, wiping his tears and slowly getting to his feet. "My mother...wants nothing to do with me but is doesn't change the fact that I love her with everything I am. I may just be a clone of her real son, but I have all his thoughts, feelings, and memories. I am him, and I will not leave her no matter what." And with that, Tren slowly and somberly walked up the stairs and toward his room, lost in his own world. A world that had just crumbled to dust and left him with nothing. At this point, death seemed like a welcome release.
"Why can't I just pick up old ladies and flowers?" Mal muttered to himself as he headed down the hall to see to turning the ship back towards Earth-that-was.
**
Unknown to the crew of Serenity, they were being tracked and followed by a ship that far outmatched their own. It was a Blue Sun Assault vessel. Fast and with enough firepower to destroy Serenity ten times over. Its was under the command of one Draco Klem, the most vicious and experienced captain employed by Blue Sun with a flawless track record.
"We have them on the view screen now, sir. Distance: 3000 Kilometers." the radar officer said.
"Good, but remember, only fire to incapacitate the ship. There are things on board we want, undamaged. We want to force them to make an emergency landing on the nearest planet. That is were we will take them." Draco said with an evil grin as he watch the view screen.
"Targeting Main power coupling." The weapons officer replied. "Postive lock. One quarter charge. Ready to fire on your command sir." he looked up from his screen, his blind left eye colorless as he waited for the command
"FIRE!!!" Draco shouted as they let lose with their plasma cannons, hitting the mark with an accuracy that boggled the mind.
"Hit confirmed sir. Target is descending in a rapid fashion. They should be headed for a landing on Mergo withing the next few minutes. Pursue from a distance?" the chief weapons officer asked.
"Yes, and keep us in stealth mode. We don't want our exact presence known just yet. Now do not lose them." Draco command as he watched the Serenity try and fail to keep itself steady.*This is going to be one hell of an enjoyable mission* Draco though to himself. The though of getting some decent action made him extremely happy. He couldn't wait to come face to face with this so-called Slayer.
**
Faith was cussing mad. She had just started in on a bowl of soup, it tasted like heaven, and her three sentence conversation had been nice with the likeable girl named Kaylee. Of course, even five hundred years in the future a Slayer's life could not be peaceful for two minutes. As she made her way back to the hold, against the rocking of the ship, she was followed by the mechanic for part of the way, then left to be on her own as she got to the crates that held her things. Future or no, an attack was an attack and she was damned sure not going to stand around looking the fool when whoever shot them tried to board. These idiots had never seen a Slayer, but they were going to, the hard way.
A crossbow across her back. Another in her left hand. A long Bowie knife in a scabbard on her right thigh. One knife in each boot. Habitually she stuffed a wooden stake in the small of her back and didn't even think of how useless it might be. Then she saw it. At the bottom of the crate was a chrome .45 auto loader. She smiled, figured what the hell and jammed that in the left hip side of her pants. "Now we play." she said holding on to the crates as the ship rocked back and forth wldly as it fought to avoid crashing.
"Wash, what the hell is going on here." Mal exclaimed as he marched into the cockpit where Wash and Zoe were.
"Something just hit our power couplings captain, and I'm losing her fast. Got nothing on radar but if definitely looks like the work of some sort of plasma weapon. Gonna have to sit her down on the closest planet."
"Do it." he said as he got on the radio. "Crew, brace for impact.. and possibly exploding."
Shepard book came onto the bridge, having overheard some of the conversation. "It's a Blue Sun ship. Stealth mode would be my guess, and with their weapons, they could destroy us easily. They want something." he looked at the captain. "Or someone."
"Great...just great. Can things get any worse?" Wash exclaimed as he guided the ship into the atmosphere.
"Still full of surprises, aren't you preacher?" Zoe said as she strapped herself in.
"One could say life is nothing but one really long surprise." He replied, strapping himself in across from her.
"Yeah well, I'd like the surprise that has us surviving this crash." Mal yelled as he desperately worked his strapping as had the others.
Wash guided the ship down through the clouds and they could finally see the ground. Nothing but dense forest as far as the eye could see. "Looks like if we survive the landing, we'll be going on a bit of a safari." Wash exclaimed sarcastically as the ship started to hit trees and rock the occupants back and forth.
Zoe put her hand on Wash's shoulder. "Come on, baby, I know you can do it." She said in a loving tone despite the situation.
With strengthened resolve, Wash pushed forward and they skidded across the ground, throwing up dirt, bushed and trees. At last they finally came to a stop after about a mile of ground surfing, wedging in between several huge trees. "See, easy as pie." Wash said dryly.
"Pie doesn't wreck my ship." Mal groused as he unhooked himself. He got up to the intercom."Kaylee, make sure the engine is okay, then have a look at those couplings." he made for the back of the ship. "Get ready people, Blue Sun borders, lets try to be real inhospitable okay?"
Jayne met him part way down. Jayne was never going to win any awards for brilliance, but when it came to the art of war, he was a genius. He was carrying Vera, and he had two hand guns strapped to his hips and another in the small of his back. "Felt like a plasma blast that hit us. We're getting boarded I take it?"
"Definitely. Stay sharp, Jayne. This is as serious as it gets." Mal said as he didn't break stride. With Jayne in tow he headed for the weapons chest, were most of the crew had already gathered, Faith and Tren included.
"We got very dangerous and well armed men about to board us, so I hate to ask, but its gonna take everything we got to fight them off. If your not up to it, speak now. No one will blame you for backing out now." Mal said in a somber tone, looking at his crew.
"Fighting." Faith said niching an arrow in the cross bow. "Always fighting. No rest from it ever, not even five hundred years later. Fighting. Yeah, I'm going to kill everyone on that ship. I can do that, write 'Faith wuz here' and send it back to them, cuz I'm really pissed, and I'm really old and I'm armed." she looked around. "Uh, I mean, yeah, count me in Captain Kirk." she giggled, no one else seemed to get it.
"Good to have you aboard. Everyone else ready?" Mal looked on as everyone nodded, Tren included. Then he noticed the sword at his side. "Where'd you get that?" Mal asked, motioning toward the sword.
"Blue Sun technology. I had it with me when I came onboard. Don't feel embarrassed you couldn't find it Very few people could have." Tren said, turning his gaze over to Faith, his mother, who simply turned her head away in seeming disgust. Tren slumped his shoulders but kept it together. He would protect her no matter what.
"Okay. Simon, take your sister and Inara and go down to the engine room to help Kaylee. Stay with her and watch each others backs. The rest of you, follow me to the cargo bay and arm yourselves. We got company coming." Mal commanded as he pulled his trusty gun and marched out.
Faith looked at the cargo bay for the first time with a practiced eye. "Only way in here from out there is going to be that door. They're going to be careful with their shots. They want their precious artifact in one piece now don't they?" She glared at Tren for a moment, making sure he got the message, not realizing she had taken command, and that there was a stunned and irritated Mal next to her. "Alright. Jayne, you got the long rifle, you should be farther away, easier for you, harder for them. Zoe, you should be up high on the cat walk. Wash, you and Tren need to be on the ground floor, hand cannons and swords don't mean crap at a distance. You.. uh .. Book. Get in tight as you can to the door controls. We may need to cut them off from their ship. Mal you can.. oh.. um.. be captain."
"Well thanks, glad we got it all sorted out who's in charge here." Mal said stunned, looking at his equally stunned crew. "Well, don't' just stand there, you heard the lady, move." Mal shouted and his crew got to it, following Faith's commands to the letter with a precision that impressed her. They didn't look like much but they sure could handle themselves in a pinch.
Out side, the Blue Sun ship had landed but a few yards away in a clearing. Draco had decided to personally lead the assault, which was a very rare thing. Sword at his waist and an unusual looking hand gun in his hand, he lead his team of ten men towards the prone Serenity ship. The team fanned out and took positions. They had decent cover and a good view of the door and what lied behind it. Draco and the squad commander, s young and merciless man by the name of Vince, approached the control pad to the side of the door. Vince pulled out a small device and began hacking the pad with ease. Shortly the doors opened and both sides took am, but held first as Draco strode into the bay of the Serenity, fearless and confident.
The hold of Serenity was dark as night, lit only by the light coming in from the outside, via the door. Instantly they went to flashlights, the heavy duty devices illuminating only a fraction of the hold. There was the sound of something that sounded like a polite cough, and one flashlight exploded into darkness, a long shaft sticking out of where the lens used to be. "Why are you here?" came a female voice, seemingly everywhere and no where at once.
Draco looked at the destroyed flashlight in his and stared through the darkness. He could see just find, for he wasn't an ordinary human. He hid top of the line cybernetic enhancements that made him the perfect killing machine, and he enjoyed it. "I take you to be the Slayer, Faith. The cargo we have been sent to retrieve." he said snidely, staring right at Faith through the darkness.
A moment another cough, and one of his men fell over with a crossbow bolt jammed in one ear and out the top of his head. "Yep. Keep talking. Helps my aim." she grinned a feral grin. "I wanna know why you freaks think I'm so special."
"Yes, there were many Slayers at the time of your freezing and any one of them could have been used. But only on possessed true darkness and an unmistakable killer instinct. That would be you, my dear Faith. That is why you were chosen, nothing more and nothing less. You were simply the most unique. That is why the Remembrance chose you and that is why we want you. Surrender now." Draco commanded. His voice reverberated throughout the bay as everyone looked on, unsure of if they should just open fire or let him talk more.
"You really don't get the Slayer thing do you?" Faith replied, seeing that he was obviously onto her. She stood up but stayed behind the cover she had found. "Earth, the real one I mean, since I've been told there are like seventy now, was part of the whole thing. We were created to defend the people there, and when they died.. when it all died.. it left me behind. You want clones? You can't have them, because you might be able to grow exact copies that look and act like me, but the power, the thing that would make them a 'Slayer' has been dead five hundred years." her voice became patronizing. "I can not believe you have bothered me... for this. Mass producing Slayers.. its been tried. I'm tired, so now you .. go .. away." She readied herself to go for cover, reading his type as someone who was only going to face someone up when he believed he was going to win.
"Hard way it is then." Draco said as he leapt straight up towards Faith with lighting speed, tackling her over the railing and bringing them crashing down onto the cargo bay floor. Faith took the brunt of the fall and had the wind knocked out of her. Draco kicked her in the stomach several times, with a strength hat no normal human could posses. He picked her up off the ground and slammed her into the fall, her sense dull from the years of sleep.
"NO!!!!" Tren screamed out as he charged Draco from behind, sword drawn. Draco quickly dropped Faith and turned toward Tren, blocking his sword with his own. "I see you stole the prototype Meta sword. Good thing we had a spare." Draco remarked as he pushed Tren away. "What are you idiots waiting for!? Open fire! Kill them all but the Slayer." he shouted to his troops who blindly started firing into the darkness, Only Draco and Vince were equipped for the night vision.
Jayne, sitting high up, easily targeted the gun flashes and fired, hitting his target. He took out a second man before fire got directed his way. Mal and Zoe and each come up on opposite sides of the party and began a lethal crossfire into the group, killing or wounding four more. As reinforcements came towards the door, Book hit the button, effectively closing Vince and Draco within the hold of serenity.
Faith however, had just had the lights kicked out of her, and saw that Tren and Draco were fighting it out for all they had. She watched the genetic clone, for she could not come to call him anything but, fight for her life. It pissed her off. Super fast cyborg versus Slayer holding big gun made perfect sense to her and she picked the heavy side arm off her hip and aimed it, pulling the trigger without thought, or care as to who it hit.
