Firefly - Episode 1: Breakout

Captain Jameela Khalil - Aboard Freyja

The monitor blinked twice and a low-rising hum began to emanate within the cockpit. Outside the windows showed nothing. Not a speck of anything else in the entire Verse, just the black. Overhead the cockpit lights twitched ever so slightly, as they always did whenever the display monitors were fired up, stupid gorram wiring in Frejya never had worked just as it should.

Jammer leaned back confidently in her chair, tapping her fingers on the panel beside to screen as she waited for the picture to load. Seconds later a crisp 3-D rendering of a building etched itself into existence. “Now we’re in business,” she said sitting up from her relaxed position, slapping her pilot Taffrey on the arm as she did. “Get everyone up here. Time’s come to bleed the Alliance a lil’ more, but this time it’s going to require some actual skill, not that any of you go tsao de idiots has any. Dunno what Mal was thinkin’ givin’ this mission to us.”

“I think he’s under the impression that your charming personality will drive those alliance bastards to take that last long step out into the black rather sit through any more of your tyen shiao duh monologues,” the sweet, sultry voice of her electronics engineer cooed from below her as she fiddled with a pair of blue wires.

“Bizui Tweety Bird,” she countered. Tweety Bird was the nickname Jameela had giving Bree Shillings after only 10 minutes with the girl who couldn’t resist inserting a sarcastic remark into any conversation she could. Taffrey just smiled, having seen this particular act on more than one occasion. He reached above him and grabbed the Com which was located ever so conveniently at arm’s length.

A whiny moan echoed throughout the entire ship as he pressed the switch, but rather than speak he merely held it out for her. Oh, how he knew how she liked to hear her own voice, “Ahem. Attention valued guests. This is your Captain speaking. We’re cruising at an altitude of approximately 320 million feet from, uh, somewhere. Today’s in-flight movie will be The Academy of Evil, starring, directed, and produced by your friendly neighborhood huh choo-shung tza-jiao duh tzang-huo Alliance. So, I hope you’ve enjoyed your trip up to this point, because one or two of you numbskulls are bound to make my dreams come true and get yourselves good and dead. Thank you and have a wonderful evening.”

“You speak like a poet Capn’” Jammer glared at Bree, kicked her in the side, and practically shuddered as she felt a wave of sexual electricity surge through her body at the sensation of touching the sassy red head. Bree flashed her a look, one that said she was thinking the same thing as her. Once, in what felt like a different life, they had been an item, but now she was Captain of her own ship, a much more delicate position to be in. She had her crew to think about after all.

She muttered under her breathe before finally commanding Bree, “Just fix the damn wiring already.”

-o0o-

Taffrey had put the ship on auto-pilot and joined the rest of the group once the last crew member had arrived. Freyja was a piece of flotsam out in the infinite black of space. The old firefly class ship had served them well though, and Jameela couldn’t imagine having any other ship.

“Got the word from Mal, we’re to launch a raid on an Alliance facility on Londinium,” she waited for the communal groans to dissipate before proceeding, “That’s right, this isn’t no cake walk, lounging round the pool sipping mai tais on Bellorphon, this is going to be state of the art security, and make no mistake about it, we decide now’s a good time to trip over our feet we won’t be getting back up if ya’ll catch my meaning.”

With a finger touch on the display screen the image zoomed in and began panning around one building, the exterior disappearing, replaced with the architectural blueprints. “Now then, we’re fortunate to have these so let’s try not to foul it up. Our target is Yoora Ri, being held here on the seventeenth floor. She’s a psychic, just like Tan.” That got a few reactions.

“Security is pretty standard. Because they’re moving these Academies of theirs every few months now they can’t set up anything too elaborate, nothing that’ll draw attention, but we do know there are always three guards occupying the main lobby that we’ll have to deal with. Now then,” this time her hand clicked on a smaller box that had sat idly in the corner, which took the opportunity to expand into a much larger frame overtop the schematics, “This is the card scanner the facility uses. Pretty standard ‘cept the fact that they plant every chip with a small micro-thermal heat source that is reprogrammed every week to radiate a different amount of energy, and only the scanner is programmed with the code, so there’s no way to fake the cards, we’ll need to get our hands on the real deal which could get tricky.”

“I’m going to open up the floor to you geniuses to see if you have any bright ideas, though, I think we stand a better chance of getting hit by lightning.”

Taffrey, after jokingly asking Bree if it was safe to leave the ship in the autopilots hands, followed the Captain to the rest of their bunch. He listened, munching gingerly on a pear that was skewered by the hook where his left hand used to be. At first the loss of his hand had been detrimental, then he'd learned to work around the injury and then it had become a novelty.

Standing quietly, he listened, scratching his belly idly with his hand. He was only wearing a cotton undershirt underneath the harness that held his hook to his body, with an unremarkable waistcoat over that. The Captain talked. He thought about whether or not he'd shave his chin later or not.

The outlay of the plan came to a finish with Jameela saying “I’m going to open up the floor to you geniuses to see if you have any bright ideas, though, I think we stand a better chance of getting hit by lightning." Her words left a pause, and Taffrey stepped into it.

"Shore I've got an idea," he began, his particular brand of the Dyton Colony accent making no efforts to appear hidden. "How abouts ye wave boss Reynolds and tell him to go back to Shadow. Londinium, Cappa? Who do you think we are?" he asked, gesturing with his skewered pear.

Taffrey paused. He was once Senior Airman Tanner, an Independant. He still thought he was brave, and he was good at what he did, even after giving one hand for the service. But besieging Londinium, one of the the two primary core planets was more than one boat could handle.

"Just saying, Cappa, I'm sure yer ones awfully pretty and reads minds and all, but can we rightly get this done? Alive? Just tell to me we can do this," Taffrey concluded, taking another bite of his pear. Nothing like real fruit to get a man on his toes before a job.

Bree "Tweety Bird" Shillings

"Aye Aye Capn! I'll be along shortly," Bree sang back to Jammer as she was given the command, sounding less affected than she had truly been by their brief bodily contact. While connecting the two wires by touch only she peaked out at Taffrey and smirked.

"Hah! Compare to your skills we'll be in heaven, Tanner!" she teased him with and then watching him in silence as he left. Now Taffrey was not really her kind of guy, but there was something awfully exciting about a man with a hook. It only took her a couple of minutes to finish up and she dragged herself out from underneith the control board and went to find the others.

Being the last to arrive she remained in the background listening to Jammer's voice. If she closed her eyes she knew that the very same voice would take her back in time, but not really interested in walking down memory lane for now she focused upon the rest.



Yoora Ri - Academy, Londinium
Yoora was sitting alone in a small clean, almost on the border of being sterile, room. The door was locked and impossible to open from the inside, as always. Her mind was for the moment focused on a paper in front of her where she was drawing an image she had pulled from the back of her mind. Her mind always felt better if she was able fo focus on something, if not she never knew where it would wander. There were some dark places inside her mind she simply did not want to visit.

A face was beginning to emerge on the paper, a male with features much alike hers. It was Hyun-Su, her father, a kind man and a great father whom she had not seen since she was 12. 8 long years had passed. While many would feel that time just flies by, a month in the care of these men and women that held her felt like eternity. It felt like it would never end.

'You are right. It will never end. You will never escape.'

It came from a place where only Yoora could hear it. From the inside of her mind. She looked up to find a mirror image of herself leaning against the wall with her arms crossed on her chest. The image wore the same blue clothes, reminding very much of hospital scrubs. She had the same clean shaved head and a pair of eyes, so very familiar to Yoora, looked at her. The only thing that differed was the smirk the image wore.

"Please go away," Yoora said outloud and she shut her eyes and covered her ears as if she could shut out the presence. "Please just go away."

A couple of seconds later she opened her eyes as no other word had been uttered. Perhaps it was gone. To her disappointment the image was still staring at her with contempt.

"'Ta love, we bein' called in by da boss lady, son."

"Shut up Jack."

The 7 foot 150 pound of gangly slab of muscle stalked the empty corridors, it's occupants happy enough to leave the sad maniac to his chattering. It had been nearly 2 years since he left the hell hole of San Monica's Reach, his home, his prison, his hell, yet everyday it never seemed that he had left at all. Not the smell of rusted piping creaking with overuse, not the sound of screaming nights left in the wail of lust and hate, not the empty crushing of dazzling lights that pounded into his skull every night since he left the dark place. But Jack knew where they were. Jack always knew where they were.

That's why Jack walks out there free.

Tha's why youse walks in da shadow, bro.

The smiling clown rested his massive shoulders on the walls when the cap'n walked in. A damn fine woman, damn fine. He'd met some damn fine women in his lifetime, sho' none of them be as strong-willed as this lady, though he'd met some even more foul-mouthed than this one. Briefly he ran the information back to Gatro, with a little embellishment and florid flourish on the buxomity and callous beauty o' da cap'n, as he so puts it to Gatro, and retreats back to reality before he rouses the deep oceanic rage dwelling inside his head.

"O' don' worry yer 'ead about it, son." Jack grins at Taffrey, tossing his snake-like arms around his shoulder. "Be bout right time we's go inta da sweet release o' actual air, plus I be thinkin' ye could use de excercise, bro." He joked, jabbing a painful finger into Taffrey's gut. He cupped Taffrey's face in a vice-like grip, and planted both their cheeks together, looking at Jameer as he did so.

"Why cap'n, I says you takes me and Taffer 'ere and we go's down, sneaks right up da homes o' one o' their peoples, and Taffer 'ere, he sweets talks their mothers while I slit up their babies 'fore one o' them give's us e's card, eh?"

He looks around, then sighs. "Ok, ok, I don' slice up them babies, but I says a little 'encouragement' will loosen up them wagging cards, don't you think? A quick run, in an' out, once youse get me in, I let Gatro out, lot's o' bodies start flying, we grab the little meat-sucka and we gets out."

"Whatcha think?"

Bree "Tweety Bird" Shillings

"Ever heard of stealth?" Bree chimed in, arms crossed leaning against the wall. "I'm fairly sure the place will be stuffed with alliance, like a turkey ready for thanksgiving."

"Cap'n," she continued, her green eyes focusing on Jammer for a moment. "Do we know the exact position of the psychic?"

Okay, so perhaps breaking someone out wasn't Bree's forte, but running wildly through the door waving them guns around sounded like an ill formed plan. A rash plan. A plan that could get them all killed. Not that that particular notion was something new.



Yoora Ri - Academy, Londinium

'Weak.' Yoora looked up at her mirror image.
'If you were stronger you would see. Clear your mind and you will see instead of just accepting your fate like this. But you have always been weak. That is why I am here.'

"Go away! Get out from my head! You are not real!" Yoora screamed and for a moment the image flickered in front of her.

'You know,' the voice inside her head said. 'I am only trying to help you. If you would only open up your senses you would see that.'

And just like that the image was gone, the voice in her head had fallen silent again. And the madness that was reality came back. Yoora rolled into a ball on the bed, pressing her arms tight around her torso, as if she was trying to cover herself from the darkness that began to creep inside her mind.

Taffery shrugged the other mans hand off his shoulder. To say he was comfortable with such a presence - he never was sure what to call him, Jack, Gatro, whatever - was like saying the Alliance gave out tea and cake on a weakly basis to the rim world. A deranged psychopath on what he very strongly considered to be his boat was not precisely pleasing to the Dyton man. Trust for one man came slowly, where he was from, and trust for two, or one in a half, or whatever, that came slower.

Bree answered first. She also asked a valid question.

"Sure, and isn't that the question? Can't be telling to me we've got a lot of contacts in Londinium what knows where they keep the readers, sure." Taffrey grinned then, for a moment, and gestured at Jack with the skewered core of the pear.

"Though, say we let dear Jack have at 'er. Your man gets shot up, they move her, we catch her in transit, yeah? Sure, and isn't that a fine plan."

Aboard Freyja

"The odds aren't in our favour, for sure, but is it ever?" the Captain spoke. "Here, like I said," she continued, throwing Bree a quick look while pulling up the building's blueprints again. Bree managed to hold her attention for a few long seconds before she turned her attention back at the blueprint.

"Our reader is here, on the 17th floor. The intel suggest that she is being held here." She zoomed in on a corner room.

"Remember the intel comes from Mal," Bree added in jest. "So it means it's almost a fifty-fifty chance the intel is right." She threw Jammer a provocative look but to her disappointment Jammer ignored that particular comment.

"Now, I'm no expert... shush Tweety Bird," the Captain continued when Bree opened her mouth to throw out another comment. "But I wasn't born yesterday. If we just go inside and let ol Jack here have a go, sure they'll move her, but security around her will be tighter than normal. For this mission to go down in the history books we need to put our velvet gloves on. We stand a better chance to take her down when they don't expect it."

"But then we'll have to get our hands on those security cards," Bree chimed in.

Jammer nodded.
"I'm guessing we'll land this bird in 'bout an hour. If you have any favours on this shiny orb to collect, now is the time to do so. Without those cards we can kiss this mission good bye before it even started. Dong ma?"

OOC: Don't feel restricted with coming up with your own solutions of actually getting those cards. :)