(no subject)

[flybywash]

[ooc: from here.]

From orbit, some people swear that New Vanderbilt could pass for Earth-That-Was. It's certainly better-looking than the majority: there's a higher ratio of land to water than most border planets, with only a few scrubs of desert speckling the continents, and white wisps of cloud drift through the reasonably clean atmo. Practically paradise out here on the Rim.

Mal's already waiting for them when they step onto the bridge. His eyebrows fly up when he sees Lilly, but he nods a greeting to them all the same; Wash, after a casual, "Hey, cap'n," drops into the pilot's chair, thumbs the overhead switches, and grasps the yoke to ease Serenity lower.

During their approach, Mal gets to work filling in Alain on all the details of the plan. To keep with the ruse, they'll be landing the ship a good distance from the drop point -- far enough away so Ming won't see their takeoff or landing. From there, Lilly and Alain will take the mule to the chosen spot ("do not set that thing on fire," Wash interjects without looking away from the windscreen, "we finally got a new one and I'll cry if it blows up, too"), Lilly posing as the captain of the Rose and Alain as her intrepid first mate. Both will have earpieces to stay in contact with the ship. As he says that part, Mal hands them over: two beetle-shaped objects that easily tuck out of sight in the ear canal.

Then, once the deal's done, they'll drive back, Serenity will head out of the world, and they'll return to Milliways. Easy as lying.

....Which means, clearly, that something's bound to go wrong.

Comments

[flybywash]

When they're a mile up, Mal leads Lilly and Alain to the cargo bay. Wash swings the ship's thrusters so they're pointing downward, extends the landing gear, and lets the ship settle with a slight bump. The hum of the engines winds down into silence.

Then he taps out several rapid-fire commands to adjust the comm frequency and unhooks the unit. "You guys hear me okay?" he asks through their earpieces, as his fingers skitter over a few more buttons. Beneath him, there's a rumble as the airlock opens and the ramp lowers.

[awesome_lilly]

"Shi a," Lilly says, and she glances over her shoulder.

"You ready to go for a ride, Alain?"

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

To Wash, "Yes."

Then, to Lilly, he snorts.

"If you're sure you can work this thing."

He's already settled into place, though.

[flybywash]

Wash's voice crackles through the earpieces again. "Remember what I said about the exploding?" he reminds Lilly. "And how you shouldn't?"

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly tosses her hair over her shoulder and smiles. She may look ten years older, but that particular smile hasn't changed. She revs the engine a bit for Wash's benefit and drives away from the ship onto an alien planet.

"Huh. You know, this is the first time I've ever been off-roading on a whole other planet."

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Drily, "Isn't it the first time you've ever been on another planet?"

[awesome_lilly]

"Yes," Lilly says, beaming at him and incidentally taking her eyes off the road for a moment. She's looking again before there's a chance at disaster, though, and it's just another few moments before they pull up to a cluster of buildings in what looks decidedly like the bad part of town.

"And here we are."

[walk_ins]

This is Dyton Colony, or close enough to it to be considered as such. There's no true bad part of town. Every place is a "bad part of town."

Leaning against one of the buildings is an elderly ferret of a man -- Ming -- who's busily striking a match on his thumbnail. He glances up sharply when the mule roars to a stop, cigarette almost tumbling from his lips. Quickly, he lights it and makes two equally sharp gestures with one hand.

Two other men, each with a gun that would make Jayne himself go bug-eyed with desire, step from within the building.

Ming himself shakes out the match and drops it, sizing up Lilly and Alain without a word.

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly's smiling inside. It's showtime.

She gets off the mule, walks over to Ming, and the way she moves has changed. It's the way she used to walk down the hallways of Neptune High when she was in full Lilly Kane, ruler of the universe mode. In respect to the difference in the situations, though, she leaves out some of the hip action.

"Nĭ hăo, Mr. Ming."

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Alain follows, silent and watchful. Close enough to Lilly that it's clear he's accompanying her, but not too close; automatically, he's keeping some distance between them. Canda: the situation-dependent distance that ensures that two gunslingers can't be killed with a single shot. Lilly's no gunslinger, but the principle remains, and the training.

An inclined head to Mr. Ming, and a shallower one to his two bodyguards.

He's observing, sizing up; the men, the weapons visible and not, the buildings and the terrain.

[walk_ins]

Another moment's silence as Ming drags on his cigarette. His dark eyes never stop darting from Lilly to Alain and back.

Finally: "Nĭ hăo," he says. His accented Chinese is flawless, which makes it all the more startling when he switches to English and begins speaking, unmistakably, like someone from working-class London. "Cap'n Kane, I'm guessin'?"

[awesome_lilly]

"You'd be guessin' right," Lilly replies, smiling and polite.

Twitchy was right, she thinks, remembering what Wash had said about this man. Definitely not a good idea to move too fast around him.

[walk_ins]

"And the first mate." His eyes flick to Alain again. "Well. Ain't we prepared."

He knocks a few ashes off his cigarette and jerks his head toward the door. "It's waitin' in there. Ah-ah-ah!" he adds as Lilly and Alain start to move, and points to them. "Lemme get a look at your payment first, cap'n."

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly arches an eyebrow.

"Oh, I'm thinkin' we need to see the shields first. I like to know what I'm payin' for, you know?"

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Twitchy indeed. A man who wants to be in control of the situation, without the charisma to manage it.

There's a third man behind a heap of crates, near the door. Undoubtedly he thinks he's hidden. Alain's eyes don't pause, in their sweep of the surroundings, but he notices the tiny sliver of hat showing, and the oiled gleam as a rifle barrel catches the light for just an instant.

"Payment before we take them anywhere, as agreed," he comments mildly.

[walk_ins]

Ming smiles, all attention on Lilly now. It's rather unpleasant.

"Come now, love. Not askin' you to hand it over now, all I'm askin' is {for a little look}. To make sure everything's in order, like."

[flybywash]

"He said he's, uh, just asking for a little look," Wash quickly translates. "Lilly, go ahead and do it, just let him see like a corner of it or something. But be ready to move."

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly reaches slowly into her jacket and pulls out a black drawstring sack. She opens it just enough to let light glint off a few facets of the diamond, then carefully closes the bag and stows it away again.

"That look good enough for you, Mr. Ming?"

[walk_ins]

Ming, in the middle of taking another drag, fumbles his cigarette.

The two bodyguards stare.

It's stunned them all badly, that much is clear from their wide eyes and slackened looks; not, though, unpleasantly. Eventually, a little shaky, Ming licks his thumb and pointer finger and uses them to pinch out the cigarette, tucking the half-finished butt behind his ear.

"Think that'll be more'n adequate, cap'n," he croaks.

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly's even more wary now, seeing the looks on Ming and his men's faces. Greedy men are dangerous men. Her face, however, remains calm.

"Glad to hear it, Mr. Ming. And I'd take it as a kindness if we could look at those shields, now."

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Alain's attentiveness just went up several notches, though none of that shows on his face.

Twitchy, and greedy. They're stunned now, but that won't last long. Odds are increasing that this won't end bloodlessly.

Silently, he watches.

[walk_ins]

Ming nods, a swift, jerky movement. "Shìa."

And then, he points to Alain.

"He stays back. So'll mine. Don't wanna go attractin' any more attention's than necessary, yeah?"

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly does not think that heading off alone with a weird twitchy man on an alien planet is any kind of a good idea, and she has a very low threshold of good idea.

"Course not," she replies. "But I guess I don't see how four's going to be so much more noticeable than two."

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

"Captain and I stick together." It's mild, without challenge -- challenging this man would be a bad idea, when Ming is defensive from the start -- but he means it. "Usual way of things, isn't it?"

[walk_ins]

"Five," he corrects Lilly, and folds his arms tight. Contempt glitters in his eyes.

"How long's a woman like you been tourin' the border?" he asks her, ignoring Alain entirely. "Two months? Three?" Leaning in, as he speaks careful and measured: "Everyone watches in Dyton, băobèi, and everyone talks. He stays, we go, or the deal's off."