Zoe's Bad Day PG-13 (Serenity FanFic)
ZOE'S BAD DAY
Part II
Serenity hung in space, her lights flashing while her bow slowly marked the hours. Her not-so-lazy spin from port to starboard periodically eclipsed the bluish glow from the cockpit, the winking as much a distress signal as any radio beacon.
"Captain, are you there?"
More static, then: "--gorram Alliance policeman! Zoe, can you maneuver?"
"Checking!" She flipped switches, turned to call Kaylee, then remembered and cursed under her breath. "Main drive's down, sir. We got thrusters for now but with this hefty tumble and our speed away, there might not be time or fuel enough to stop us, much less make it back to you. If we had Kaylee..."
"Well, you don't. And there ain't a single place left on this gorram cruise ship that has a bit of air in it!"
"Sir, what is going on?"
"Don't worry none about that. You need to talk to Kaylee, figure out how to get main drive back."
Zoe heard him call to Kaylee in the background. She looked over at Simon. He was just picking himself up off the deck. "Do you know how to run the radio?"
"More or less, what --?"
"I need you to maintain the link with Kaylee and relay back and forth." She was already up and running aft. "Intercom's locked on, just talk like I'm in the corridor."
She heard Simon's hesitant calls and hoped he didn't over-think the simple task. The galley was empty. "Inara?"
"I'm here." She came into view with a cloth pressed to her forehead. "What was that? Are Mal and the others okay?"
"Not sure and got more important things. You think that bump'll slow you down?"
"I think it's more blood than bump. What can I do for you?"
"Grab the packs and suit down in the cargo bay, load 'em in your shuttle. I'll be back to help.." She cocked her head and listened; Kaylee was on the link. Running down the corridor, she called back, "We're sending you back to the Wish, so prep the shuttle."
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"Zoe, are you there?"
She flipped the intercom to two-way. "Here, Simon. There's some smoke around but nothin' looks like it's on fire right now."
Simon relayed the info. "It's prob'ly the wiring somewhere..." Zoe could hear Kaylee's voice in the background, very faint and obviously wavering with anxiety. "Pull the hood back and ... what you see."
Zoe grabbed a flash and shoved the hood aft. With the drive down, it was hard to see what was what, especially since she had little aptitude that ways. Everything looked like ... drive parts.
"Can't find anything, there's nothin' smokin' or broken or..." She looked again, frustrated, then scanned the entire engine room. Something caught her eye. "Wait a minute..."
"What is it, Zoe?" Simon's voice broke her concentration.
"The press regulator controller..." She pulled off the box's cover and groaned. "Tell Kaylee it's fried."
"Well, at lea--... smallish. We got ... and wire harnesses and cable joins, it might just ... while to figger it out."
"A while? That's kinda understatin' the case."
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In the cargo bay, she slung the parts bag across her chest, slammed shut the hatch, and grabbed the last pack and the suit. Taking the ladder two rungs at a time, she almost barreled into Inara coming down from the shuttle hatch.
"Sorry, we gotta get you off right away."
"I've never unlocked in a tumble before." She took the suit from Zoe and led the way into the shuttle. "Is there anything in particular I should do to avoid hitting Serenity once I take off?"
Zoe shoved the pack on top of the others and closed the storage locker. She turned and surveyed the shuttle as Inara hung the suit and helmet in the small suit locker. Tea cups were strewn across the rugs and the pot was leaking its contents all over the silk-covered chaise. A mirror had fallen from the wall and lay shattered on the deck. She crouched to pick up the larger pieces of glass. "You need to move quick when you unlock. Soon as you have clearance, turn in the direction of the tumble with just a slight angle away. Keep pilin' on the power 'til you're clear."
She dumped the shards into the trash bin and locked it down. She added over her shoulder as she moved to the pilot's chair, "I'll program in Ariel's Wish. Keep firin' her slowly and steadily to build speed. Once you're halfway there or your fuel's down to a third, turn the engine off, just the attitude jets to stabilize her and keep her on course. When you're within range of the Captain's link, he'll take over, tell you when to do the hard burn to brake you."
"What about docking? I've only ever done that on Serenity. It's been so long since--" She tried to retrieve a memory. "Well, I did do it a few times on a space station over Sihnon -- but that was a long, long time ago."
"Should be like that whole ridin' a bike thing," Zoe assured her. "Biggest problem will be finding an intact hatch."
"That's reassuring!"
"You can handle it."
"Well, since the alternative is unbearable, I'll have to handle it. But do we have enough time?"
"I figger it's been about 20 minutes since the hit. They'd been on the Wish about half an hour so they've got at least 3 hours of air left. We're moving pretty fast now -- we could be beyond fuel's reach by the time we get Serenity fixed. But you could make it back to the Wish in an hour or less -- if we have any luck left at all."
"Luck. On Serenity?"
"We've made it this far. Between the air packs and shuttle life support, you should have plenty, even with the extra person."
Inara looked out the hatch at Serenity and sighed. "All in all, Zoe, I think I have the easier job. Good luck, chin-ai duh JEH-jeh.
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"Got somethin' for you, Doctor."
Zoe locked the hatch and moved past Simon down to the forward bay.
"What is that?" He clattered down the ladder behind her and stared as she spilled the contents of the parts bag on the deck. He looked at her in disbelief. "Nee shuoh shiaow-hwah! I'm a doctor, not an electrician!"
"Don't need a doctor right now." She picked up a tablet and flipped through the screens. "Either you're an electrician or you're dead weight." She held it out to Simon. "Your choice."
"Well, if you put it like that..." He tried to smile but Zoe's gaze was uncompromising. He sighed and took the tablet. "Yes, but you'll have to show me how to use a --" He frowned and pointed at the screen. "What exactly is that?"
"That's a sautery, used to sauter wires together or to other things." She picked up the sautery and pointed at the controls. "First button coats the wire with flux, second button heats the flux to melting point."
"Similar to a cautery..." he murmured to himself.
"I brought an extra roll of wire for practice, but there's not much time, so -- practice fast." She climbed the ladder to the cockpit. "I gotta stop this tumble 'fore it blows the grav drive."
"I'll call if I set the ship on fire."
"You do that."
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Serenity's movements slowed. The spark of the attitude jets and the occasional glow of the thrusters were like an arcane code, signal fires deep in the Black. As time passed, the fires appeared less often, the Firefly hanging nearly motionless in space. Less apparent was her continuing flight away from Ariel's Wish.
"How you doin', doctor?"
He looked up at Zoe. "I think I'm making progress. It's hard to tell when you have no idea what you're doing. How about you?"
She knelt down beside him and picked up the tablet. Comparing what was on the screen with what Simon had done, she nodded. "Looks as good as I coulda done. If it's not good enough --" She sat back on her haunches. "Well, we don't have time to worry 'bout that. Hand me that harness."
They worked in silence for a few minutes.
"You didn't answer my question."
Zoe looked up from clipping wires and connectors. "It's not good." Simon passed another set to her then waited. She sighed. "Took me a lot of fuel to get Serenity stabilized. Not enough left now to stop her with just thrusters. And what we got left will probably dissipate before we fix main drive. So we need main drive."
He looked at the rat's nest of wires, cables, connectors, lines, pins, etc., shook his head, and returned to his task. Their progress was steady but they were only three-quarters done when the radio crackled. Zoe was up in the cockpit before Simon could even stand up.
"Jahng-lahng duh PEE-goo! Jen boo-shr DOONG-shee!"
"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" The smiling face of Lt. Womack mocked her fury.
"What do you want?"
He leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head. "Think I already got what I want. In case you haven't caught on yet, that's you right where I want you."
"I don't know what you're talkin' about."
"You did a good job stabilizing that loh-chee duh fay-woo-shiahng. Too bad it was a waste of time."
Zoe covered the vid camera with her hand and leaned back to check the scan just in case. Tah mah duh. The only ship in sight was Womack's, circling Serenity like a hyena waitin' for ‘em to die.
"Hey! Let me talk to that so-called captain a'yours."
She stilled, then moved back to the link and took her hand from the camera. "I really don't like to bother him for every passing ship. Perhaps you could come back later."
He growled. "I’ve had about as much as I can take of that crap. If I come back later, it'll be to pick up the trash that's left after I blow that can the hell out of the sky!"
"Fine. Captain ain't here."
"Ain't ther--!?"
He pounded the vid. She flinched then sat stolidly as his face ballooned to fill the screen.
"You get me that pansy-ass captain or I swear --"
"What? You've already threatened to blow us up. What else you gonna do, send Reavers over to board my ship and torture us? That is something you will not survive!"
"Where the hell is he?"
She stared him down.
"Wait a gorram ruttin' minute..." A smile twitched his lips then slowly spread across his face. "Don't tell me he's on the Wish?" A short bark of a laugh. "And here you are, a hundred thousand clicks away already and no main drive. Could I have planned a better result?"
"What do you want, Womack?"
"I wanted the bodies! Guess I got a few more'n I planned on."
"What is it with you and wetware?"
"You're missin' the point, little girl. Where was the Wish headed when it exploded?"
"Sihnon," she answered impatiently. "Everybody in the 'verse knows that cuz they were takin'..." Her voice trailed off. "No. They already took off the Living Buddha."
"Yes. But they didn’t have room for his entire retinue. And I want those corpses!"
"I can't believe the Cap--"
"You think I'm the idiot? You think I'd tell the whole ruttin’ 'verse I was going after the servants of the not-so-Living Buddha of Sihnon?" He flicked the vid again, this time without getting the desired response from Zoe. "They got a huge expedition planned in 2 months to rescue the rest of those bodies. I got me a client who wants His Holiness' handmaidens for her own little ... collection."
"What'd you do, blackmail our client?"
"Didn't have to! Just provided some backing, some pointed words of encouragement, and shoved him in Serenity's direction when your idiot captain showed up at Bellerophon looking for him. I got me lots of arrows on my string, just need to keep track of which one is ready to loose." He leaned close and smiled meanly. "You mighta survived this job. I mighta been magnanimous."
"And you mighta been dead when I got my hands on you."
"Well, that ain't gonna happen now, is it? Dzai-jiehn, sweet stuff!" He saluted her with two fingers. The comm screen went dead and Zoe checked the scanner. He was circling Serenity again, nosing out a weakness for a death strike.
"RUN-tse duh FWO-dzoo! Hang on, Simon!"
A long moment of agonizing silence. Zoe's mind blanked in anticipation, then suddenly turned back on, feverishly trying to remember if she had locked down all the hatches on her trip from the engine room to the cockpit or just the ones on the lower deck. The forward bay, the forward bay...
She lunged up from her seat and practically jumped on the board. Dinosaurs scattered across the cockpit. "Simon, check the cargo bay ha--!"
Womack chose that moment to strike. Serenity jumped, then twisted. The groans of her agony traveled up through her metal skeleton to the cockpit. Zoe flew head over heels, slammed against the forward screen, dropped like a stone into the forward bay.
Simon hung on to the rail for dear life. He tried to cover his head when the controller parts flew into the air but lost count of the blows he took. Blood ran down his forehead. Serenity sighed and twisted again, this time settling into familiar patterns and connections. Silence spread over the ship.
He pried his fingers off the rail and tried to wipe the blood out of his eyes. Crouched on the floor, he rested for a moment. He cautiously raised his head and looked around.
"Zoe!"
GLOSSARY
Chin-ai duh JAY-jay: Qin1ai4 de jie3jie: Beloved older sister.
Dzai-jiehn!: Zai4jian4!: Good-bye! So long!
Jahng-lahng duh PEE-goo!: Zhang1lang2 de pi4gu4!: Cockroach's ass!
Jen boo-shr DOONG-shee!: Zhen1 bu4shi4 dong1xi!: Son of a bitch!
Loh-chee duh fay-woo-shiahng: Lou4qi4 de fei4wu4xiang1: Leaky trashcan.
Nee shuoh shiaow-hwah!: Ni3 shuo2 xiao4hua4: You're joking!
RUN-tsuh duh FWO-dzoo!: Ren2ci2 de5 Fo2zu3!: Merciful Buddha!
Tah mah duh: Ta1 ma1 de5: Dammit.
Here's Part 3.