Author Topic: Blue Sun Down: A SW/Firefly XO--Winner, Best Crossover, 2008 Fanfic Awards
Golden_Jedi 
Registered: Jun '05
14707_Han and Leia
Date Posted: 4/2 5:45pm Subject: RE: Blue Sun Down: A Star Wars/Firefly Crossover --Updated 3/30/2008
Reavers+Vong... *shudders* What a combination... worried

 

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dianethx 
Registered: Mar '02
46246_TFN Turns "10"
Date Posted: 4/3 8:49am Subject: RE: Blue Sun Down: A Star Wars/Firefly Crossover --Updated 3/30/2008
That was great. You've got crazy Sith wannabees killing people because they had a bad day and then you've got Vong just killing or enslaving everyone. Pretty darn dark. I wonder how our heroes are going to get out of this or is it going totally dark...

Either way. Great job.

 

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The_Face 
Title: Fan Fic Manager
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Registered: Feb '03
46155_Rabbit Tooth Logo
Date Posted: 4/4 9:26pm Subject: RE: Blue Sun Down: A Star Wars/Firefly Crossover --Updated 3/30/2008
Darth_Marrs posted:
cggunnersmate posted:

on a side note, anyone know what's up with the funky yellow backround?


It's either an April Fool's Day joke, or the mods truly, deeply dislike us all.


We haven't decided yet. wink

Things are looking bad for our friends from the Firefly 'verse. And anyone else who gets in the way of the "Reavers". I particularly liked the beginning of this post, with the man stranded in space. For a second there I thought it could be Jubal Early. Does that seem right t' you? tongue


Another great chapter as usual! applause

 

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Darth_Marrs 
Registered: Feb '06
15811_Dark Empire
Date Posted: 4/6 7:06pm Subject: RE: Blue Sun Down: A Star Wars/Firefly Crossover --Updated 3/30/2008
TigerofRobare—Thank you, er, I think. Anyway, eventually enough of the SW elements emerge that I think most everyone would figure it out by the end, but the Vong did throw a lot of folks off, so hopefully my little synopsis last week will help.

Callista_gseran—Yeah, you about summed it up.

Independence1776—Honestly I think I might have made him a little over the top, but that’s in relation to his beginnings. And Whitefall is just the beginning.

Cggunnersmate—They have weapons, but nothing on the GFFA level. Also, as you pointed out, they have no shielding to speak of. And the use of Reavers instead of Chazrac goes back to this being a small Praetorite Vong force. We didn’t see the Chazrac in NJO until the main Yuuzhan Vong thrust at Dantooine.

Laine_Snowtrekker—The Emperor had many hands, Mara was just one of them. Plus, this was 19 BBY so Mara may not have even been born yet.

LadyLunas—Overly so? I worry about two-dimensional villains. Unfortunately because of perspective I didn’t have a good chance to fix that in this story. Hopefully the 3-dimensional heroes will make up for it a little. And Patience was a big B, but she was a Big B in a world where you had to be that to survive. I liked her character because she was tough and mean and exactly what a frontierswoman would have to have been like.

Golden_Jedi—Aren’t they just perfect for each other? I knew even in the first version that the Reavers were perfectly suited to the Vong.

Dianethx—Thank you. And Sith wannabe is exactly right. There is a terrible darkness in this story, but I also promise you and the rest that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The_Face—Hehe, liked that. And you know, Jubal Early would have been a great character to include, but I just couldn’t figure out a good place for him. But that was truly an awesome episode in a short series full of awesome episodes.

 

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Darth_Marrs 
Registered: Feb '06
15811_Dark Empire
Date Posted: 4/6 7:08pm Subject: RE: Blue Sun Down: A Star Wars/Firefly Crossover --Updated 3/30/2008
Many questions are answered in this chapter. Enjoy!


Chapter Fifteen: The Fruit of Knowledge


Inara and Mal walked side-by-side. They did not need to hold hands; their bodies touched with almost every step. It was their eighth week in the cavern.

Mal had never had a vacation. It was a foreign term to him. First a farmer, then a soldier, then a freighter captain. The only long periods of inactivity in his life were spent on his ship, in the black, or as a soldier, waiting for the next battle.

The two months had been a real vacation.

That’s not to say he and his crewmates didn’t work. The Shadow cavern, called Eden by its residents, was a true commune. You didn’t work, you didn’t eat. Fortunately the Serenity crew were not unaccustomed to work, and on any given day either Mal, Zoe, Jayne, Book, Afolabi, or even their Jedi, were in the fields helping plant or harvest, or helping with any other chores that needed to be done.

The one exception was Simon, whose skills as Doctor were quickly put to good use among the population of the cavern.

However, there were always a few hours of free time every day, and Mal found himself spending that free time with Inara.

The Captain was still nonplussed about the Companion. While she had not taken any clients since Miranda, he knew that was always a possibility. The thought at once enraged and terrified him, and he simply didn’t know how to handle it.

“Stop thinking, Mal,” she said. She always did that. With that hint of a smile, she seemed to be able to look into him during their quiet moments. He could frustrate her so easily, and she him. But in those quiet moments, like now, she knew him better than he knew himself.

They reached their destination and sat down on a patch of thick grass on a hillock within the cave overlooking both houses and fields. If not for the walls, it could be a hillside bordering any of the border world towns.

Large groups of the town’s inhabitants still clumped around the large wave screen for bits of news about the Reaver rampage. Mal himself understood and shared the concern, but there was little he could do about it at the moment. Instead, he placed an arm around her shoulders, and simply sat.

“River’s sleeping with Quin,” Inara said when they had shared a few moments of luxurious silence.

Mal looked over at her. “Is that so? Why does that vision make my heard hurt?”

“Kaylee’s thrilled,” Inara said. “She said Simon was taking it rather well. Sort of.” She peered over at him. “You’re not upset.”

“I told her not on my boat. They’re not on my boat.” He shrugged. “She’s eighteen. He’s…whatever he is. ‘Verse is falling apart around us. Might as well get love where you can.”

Inara leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I’m surprised, Mal.”

“Course, he touches her on my boat, I’m throwing them both out an airlock.”

Inara laughed. The sound was like water running through rocks. Like wind through crystal chimes. He looked at her and his mind swirled in poetry. His heart soared. His mouth opened and he said, “You’re purty.”

“I love you too, Mal,” she said with a gentle smile, as if she could see the art in his head and ignore the dribble from his mouth.

Then Jayne was there. Jayne was always there when he wasn’t wanted. He just stood there, staring at the two in open disgust. He shook his head, threw his arms up, and said, “Everybody on the gorram ship’s getting sexed up but me!”

He turned and stalked away before Mal could shoot him.


* * *


When others got sexed and he didn’t, Jayne got irritated. It wasn’t fair that Simon and Mal had the two prettiest girls in the ship, and that Quin fellow had… Jayne stopped. Contrary to popular belief and overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Jayne was capable of profoundly deep thought. However, it just so happened that when his brain kicked into overdrive, everything else stopped.

So, ignoring the odd looks from the cavern’s inhabitants as they continued to and from their work, Jayne stood frozen in the middle of the path engrossed in thought. It was a thought he would never had admitted to anyone alive, not even his own mother.

Jayne liked River.

He even…well, he really liked River. More than he would have imagined possible. The fact that she seemed to put him in the infirmary all the time really didn’t matter. In a way, it even made her even more attractive. Jayne suddenly had a flashback to when she went nuts back on Beaumonde when they were meeting the twins. The way she moved, the lethal grace of her kicks and the way she could swing her whole body, pulled at him with animalistic desire.

As realization struck, Jayne forced his eyes up from the path and saw the two of them fighting with their laser swords: River and Quinlan Vos. She was smiling with joy, laughing as she flew over the tall man’s head with impossible speed and power. That gorram Operative was there too; good guy or not Jayne didn’t trust him any more than he trusted Vos.

Jayne liked the one girl he could never have.

His bad mood turned homicidally black. He stalked down the path toward the quarters the crew shared, muttering curses to himself. If a naked woman dropped into his path demanding his attention, he would have walked right around her, he was so mad. Well, probably, anyway. Maybe.

He continued walking through the open door (why close the door when there weren’t no weather to keep out, he thought) and walked grumbling up the stairs to the men’s room and stepped into a sight he most certainly did not expect to see.

Shepherd Book sat on his knees, his head bowed, before what looked like some fancy type of hologram of the same creepy old man that scared River so bad back on Osiris. “Prepare the girl for delivery, my Hand,” the grizzled old voice said in Corlingua. “It is my command.”

Book bowed to the image and said, “Yes, my master.”

The hologram blinked out and only then did Book notice his company. “Jayne,” he said casually, right before Jayne flew across three steps and threw a right hook that sent the preacher flying across the room.

“You gorram traitor!” Jayne yelled.

Book slammed against the wall, then with surprising speed shot back to his feet. Jayne brought his foot up in a round-house kick that should have taken the preacher right off his feet. His jaw fell open when Book caught the powerful kick in the crook of his arms. “That’s enough of that, young man,” the shepherd said firmly. He snapped his foot up between Jayne’s legs and the mercenary dropped with a groan.

A second later Quinlan Vos flew through the open, second-story window with one of his sabers ablaze. A second after that River flew through another window, her own saber glowing bright in the dimly lit room.

“What’s going on here?” Vos demanded. They could hear the sound of footsteps as the rest of the gang rushed up the steps as well, with Mal in the lead.

“What in the name of shu ma nyaow is going on here?” the captain demanded.

“Ask that traitor preacher,” Jayne said. His voice cracked as he held himself without any conscious thought for how it looked to everyone else.

“Shepherd?” Mal asked.

“He attacked me,” Book said innocently.

“’Cause I saw you talking to that old monkey-lookin’ hwon dahn from Osiris! The one scared River so mighty.”

River locked her eyes on Book but did not shift from her battle-ready stance. “You knew,” she said. “You knew what Quin was the moment you saw him.”

Quinlan for his part took a step back and deactivated his saber. His dark eyes scoured the floor until he found the fist-sized black device. He opened the fingers of his right hand and the device flew to them. “Why would a preacher from a primitive society such as this have a state-of-the-art holovid communicator?”

Book drew himself and slowly turned to stare at each one of them. Finally, he said, “Okay, you caught me. I’m one of the bad guys.”

Mal stuttered, looked at Inara as if somehow she could provide independent confirmation, and then summed up the moment with a single sound: “Huh.”


* * *


“So, what’s it gonna be?” Book asked after they tied him to a wooden chair with hemp rope. “Beatings? Tooth-pullings? Gonna cut me with your light saber, Master Vos?”

“I was thinking talk is all,” Mal said. “Traitor or no, you’ve bled for me. I don’t take that lightly. ‘Course, you want those things, I bet we could figure something out.”

“Who are you?” Quilan Vos demanded abruptly.

“Derrial Book, confirmed Shepherd of the Blue Catholic Church.”

Vos almost smiled. “What were you before that?”

“Derrial Book, ExGal 13 Xeno-anthropologist.”

“What now?” Jayne grunted.

“He’s a researcher from the Galactic Republic,” Vos said. “Was this system your assignment?”

“It was,” Book said. He sighed at the memory. “I’ve studied it for thirty years, since we first made contact with the Anglo and Sino coalitions. Senator Palpatine thought it might be useful for us to guide the primitives here to higher level of technology and society. Then Chancellor Palpatine insisted on it. The first step of that was unification.”

“Whoa now!” Mal said. He looked at Quin. “You mean to tell me Book is one of you gorram aliens?”

“He is,” Vos confirmed. To Book he said: “You said the first step was unification?”

“The civil war,” Book said.

“And then social engineering,” River continued for Book. “Corlingua. The language of the Core. It’s Republic Basic.”

“Wouldn’t be much use to the rest of the galaxy if you couldn’t speak a civilized language,” Book said bluntly. His face was impassive, but his eyes glistened.

“So you’ve been studying them this entire time? Studying us?” Afolabi said. “That’s why you’ve been able to obtain medical assistance from Alliance cruisers even after you ran off with this crew.”

“My security ranking was higher than yours,” Book said to the former Operative. “But I stopped actively studying you for the Republic when the Clone Wars started.”

Vos stood near the shepherd, imposing not only with his height, but with the fearsome power that seemed to ooze from him like musk. “Explain.”

“I received news of the wars, and the Jedi fighting in the middle of it. I realized what was happening, and why the Chancellor sent such a large force of Social Engineers out to this little slice of the Unknown Territories. I believe he wanted to use the people here for cannon fodder for the wars. Imagine, Master Jedi, a single super-massive solar system with hundreds of worlds and moons and a purely human, possibly even base-line human population. The people around you are pure descendents of the original human stock. You are their descendent, in a way. And there are billions of them. Over thirty billion humans, just waiting to be unleashed on the galaxy. Can you imagine?”

“So what did you do?” Inara asked.

“I tried to resign,” Book said. “The Chancellor not only refused my resignation, but told me I’d be killed if I tried again. So instead I entered a monastery, and became a shepherd. I sought comfort in faith, since I lost all comfort in the world.”

“Is this Chancellor fella behind the Reavers?” Zoe said.

Book shook his head. “I don’t think so. He’s put too much work into trying to get the Alliance on a level to join his new little Empire to risk blowing them all away. No, I think the Emperor’s afraid of what’s happening with the Reavers. That’s why he’s so determined to get River.”

He looked at her, and she looked right back. “Why me?”

“The Emperor is Sith,” Book said. “Master Vos knows what that means, but none of you do. It is a religion of sorts, but a dark one. And there can only be two-the master, and the apprentice. I understand he has a new apprentice now. But even he knows that isn’t enough to rule the galaxy. So he’s seeking out Dark Jedi. And where he cannot find them…”

“He makes them,” Vos said.

“Yes.”

“How many?”

“I left before that project came into fruition,” Book said. “I know however that it was one of the reasons behind Outbound Flight. The Emperor knew the project was doomed, but with so many Jedi on board it would provide a fine source of Jedi genetic material.”

Mal popped the knuckles in his hands slowly. “So, Book, that brings us back to the question of what you were doing talking to that Chancellor or Emperor or whatever the hwon dahn calls himself.”

“He called me, Mal,” Book said. “I have a tracer in my neck, just under the skin. If I remove it, it will be a death sentence. Once the local Alliance operatives had that frequency, it was just a matter of scanning. The Alliance is going to be here in a matter of hours. I’m sorry.”

Vos stepped quickly to Book’s side and held a hand over the other man’s neck until he nodded. “It’s there. I can feel it.” Book suddenly grimaced as the tiny device ripped through his skin and into the Jedi’s hand. “They track this?”

“They do,” Book said as blood ran down his neck and over his shepherd’s collar.

Mal nodded immediately. “I know what your thinking, Vos. Give it here!”

They exchanged the tracker and Mal ran out of the room. When the captain was gone, River moved to Book’s side and knelt down. “Where you really going to give me to the Operatives?”

“Give them?” Book said. The glistening in his eyes turned to open moisture. “No, child. I was going to die. They’re not just coming to take you, but to kill us. All of us, myself included. Palpatine didn’t say as much, but he didn’t have to. I betrayed him when I found my faith. No one betrays a Sith Lord and lives.”

River stood and looked slowly around the room, then back at Book. “I believe you.”


* * *


“Ma!” Mal called as he sprinted out of the room.

Kat Reynolds sat with a gathering crowd around the screen as the Cortex showed another fleet of Alliance ships getting blasted out of the sky by the strange Reaver ships. She stood and pointed toward the screen. “Don’t that just beat all, Mal?” she said.

He barely glanced at the screen. Instead he held up a bloody chip. “Gotta a problem, Ma. Tracker. We brought it in with the Shepherd. You gotta way to move it fast and a place to move it to?”

Kat Reynalds forgot all about the Reavers. “You brought a gorram traitor into this cave, Malcolm Reynolds?”

That statement brought every pair of eyes in the cave square on him. “Didn’t do it purposeful or such,” he said quickly. “Look, Ma. Tracker. Here. Us. Here. Wanna move one or the other away from here. You pick.”

She grabbed the tiny chip from his hands with a huff. “If your father weren’t dead he’d a whipped your hide off, boy,” she muttered.

“If my Pa were alive we wouldn’t be living in a cave,” Mal shot back.

“Maybe so,” she conceded.

As they started walking toward the back of the cavern, a loud, blaring claxon went off. Every person there froze and looked up. “I take it that’s bad,” Mal said.

“Might be at that,” his mother agreed. “Someone’s broke the door down.”



 

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TigerofRobare 
Registered: Jan '06
8082_Howard the Duck
Date Posted: 4/6 8:35pm Subject: RE: Blue Sun Down: A Star Wars/Firefly Crossover --Updated 4/6/2008
Blue Catholic? Is that a Dune reference?

Great chapter. I'm glad Book is really a good guy. He was always one of my favorite characters.

 

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Golden_Jedi 
Registered: Jun '05
14707_Han and Leia
Date Posted: 4/7 5:22am Subject: RE: Blue Sun Down: A Star Wars/Firefly Crossover --Updated 4/6/2008
O_O Can't wait for the next chapter! applause applause applause

 

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VaderLVR64 
Title: Fan Fic Who Runs w/ Scissors
Registered: Feb '04
46263_The Dark Knight - Joker
Date Posted: 4/7 8:51am Subject: RE: Blue Sun Down: A Star Wars/Firefly Crossover --Updated 4/6/2008
So many things to love in this chapter! grin

“River’s sleeping with Quin,” Inara said when they had shared a few moments of luxurious silence.

Mal looked over at her. “Is that so? Why does that vision make my heard hurt?”

“Kaylee’s thrilled,” Inara said. “She said Simon was taking it rather well. Sort of.” She peered over at him. “You’re not upset.”

“I told her not on my boat. They’re not on my boat.” He shrugged. “She’s eighteen. He’s…whatever he is. ‘Verse is falling apart around us. Might as well get love where you can.”

Inara leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I’m surprised, Mal.”

“Course, he touches her on my boat, I’m throwing them both out an airlock.”

Inara laughed. The sound was like water running through rocks. Like wind through crystal chimes. He looked at her and his mind swirled in poetry. His heart soared. His mouth opened and he said, “You’re purty.”

“I love you too, Mal,” she said with a gentle smile, as if she could see the art in his head and ignore the dribble from his mouth.


Perfection! laugh applause

 

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dianethx 
Registered: Mar '02
46246_TFN Turns "10"
Date Posted: 4/8 4:16am Subject: RE: Blue Sun Down: A Star Wars/Firefly Crossover --Updated 4/6/2008
I love that Jayne realizes that he really is into River. Mad enough to ignore a naked woman.... what a description.

I loved that Book was a spy, an Emperor's Hand, but now he's trying to help. Or is he? The way of the Sith is treachery.

Great job.

 

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Freeze frame - http://boards.theforce.net/s/b10476/27820434
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The_Face 
Title: Fan Fic Manager
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Registered: Feb '03
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Date Posted: 4/8 2:09pm Subject: RE: Blue Sun Down: A Star Wars/Firefly Crossover --Updated 4/6/2008
When others got sexed and he didn’t, Jayne got irritated.

laugh Well put. tongue

Didn't see the revelation about Book coming, but it makes a lot of sense. Which is really what you want from a good twist. I always enjoyed that Jayne and the Shepherd of all people were friends. Bit of a shock to see them fighting - if only for a moment.


Great chapter! applause

 

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callista_gseran 
Registered: May '06
8131_Barriss Offee
Date Posted: 4/8 4:12pm Subject: RE: Blue Sun Down: A Star Wars/Firefly Crossover --Updated 4/6/2008
I love how you write Jayne, it's perfect!

Book kinda creeps me out, but I remember one line from Serenity, that fits this. Mal was talking to Book, and Books says, "I wasn't always a Sheperd, Mal"
"You'll have to tell me about that some time..."
"No, I don't..."

Or something like that. It fits well here.

 

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Thumper09 
Registered: Dec '01
14731_X-Wings
Date Posted: 4/10 2:06pm Subject: RE: Blue Sun Down: A Star Wars/Firefly Crossover --Updated 4/6/2008
I'm sorry for getting behind, but I'm all caught up now. happy

Wow, so much has happened in the last few chapters!

First the appearance by the Vong. I felt bad for all the Alliance ships getting totally annihilated by them, but the Alliance doesn't really have a chance. Once I started reading that part I could see how the Vong could find "allies" in the Reavers.

Cain is definitely a dangerous character. Poor helpless bystander woman...it's never good when even close proximity to a certain person can be lethal. The nonchalant way Cain killed her convinced me more than anything else that this isn't someone I'd want coming after me, and the Serenity crew is going to have lots of trouble from him, I imagine.

Seeing the Reavers' advance over to Whitefall was powerful too. I can completely see Patience wanting to stand and fight for her piece of land, but unfortunately that didn't work this time. sad

And wow...the revelation about Book! shock This explanation really works with the bits and pieces we've been able to glean about his unknown/secret background. Now I'm torn about how to feel about him. tongue


River stood and looked slowly around the room, then back at Book. “I believe you.”

I got a double meaning from reading this line. happy I hope I'm not misinterpreting it, but I could see River's response as either the fact that she believes that Book wasn't going to hand her over to the Operatives, or that she believes it when he said that no one betrays a Sith Lord and lives.

As always, you had many great lines with the Firefly characters, but this was my absolute favorite:

He looked at her and his mind swirled in poetry. His heart soared. His mouth opened and he said, “You’re purty.”

laugh Loved it.

Great updates, and I'm looking forward to more! applause

-Thumper

 

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Laine_Snowtrekker 
Registered: Jul '03
41669_Leia Organa
Date Posted: 4/13 3:06pm Subject: RE: Blue Sun Down: A Star Wars/Firefly Crossover --Updated 4/6/2008
Nice post.

Wasn't expecting the twist about Book--but it does make sense, in the context of your story. Sweet.

Thanks for the PM.

 

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Darth_Marrs 
Registered: Feb '06
15811_Dark Empire
Date Posted: 4/13 8:07pm Subject: RE: Blue Sun Down: A Star Wars/Firefly Crossover --Updated 4/6/2008
TigerofRobare—Hmm, maybe. whistling If you’ve read my Legacy of the Red Sun, Kale says Obi-Wan is his Baliset instructor.

Golden_Jedi—Thank you!

VaderLVR64—Thank you, I’m glad it’s still working for you.

Dianethx—Sometimes I’m not just that bright. It took reading a few fanfics on the subject before I saw it and realized it made sense. I will say for the record that Book was an unwilling accomplice to the Emperor. He really did enter a religious order out of a need for penance.

The_Face—They never showed the episode Heart of Gold on TV, but that was a great line. Loved it so much, I had to use it here. As for Book, there was so much made about his mysterious past that I just had to bring him back to life. It fit just so perfectly!

Callista_Gseran—Thank you. I think that line was from the movie, but I’m not sure. But there was also the scene were Book was shot and got VIP treatment on an Alliance cruiser when they saw his ident card.

Thumper09—Glad you got caught up. It’s fun to have a few chapters to read. I intentionally made Cain over the top. You’ll see where he started from pretty soon. He’s overcompensating. Anyway, I appreciate as always your reading and reviewing!

Laine_Snowtrekker—I’m glad that worked for you. I have another twist coming too that I hope people also enjoy!

 

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Blue Sun Down
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Darth_Marrs 
Registered: Feb '06
15811_Dark Empire
Date Posted: 4/13 8:16pm Subject: RE: Blue Sun Down: A Star Wars/Firefly Crossover --Updated 4/6/2008


Chapter Sixteen: Expulsion


“That’s a lot ‘o trouble if I do say so,” Jeb Reynolds said as he, Mal and their mother looked at the security cams. The front door was a slagged scrap of metal. The rail gun defense was blown up from the air and what was parked in front of the main cavern entrance was nothing less than a troop transport.

“Looks like they’re smart enough not to try the tunnel,” Kat said. She pointed to the large weapons the troops were setting up just outside the destroyed door. All wore heavy, full-body armor to shield against the radiation-laced winds of Shadow.

They all heard the first thud reverberate down the lift tube. “We got explosives and booby traps, but they’ll get through,” Jeb said. “Ma, might be time to move on.”

She looked up at Mal with narrowed eyes. “I reckon it is. But you, boy, and your ilk are not coming. You just cost us our homes.”

Mal knew better than to argue. “All right, Ma. Me and mine’ll be on our way.”

“And take that traitor, whoever he is, with you.”

“T’was the Shepherd,” Mal said. “But it’s all of us they’re after. We’ll be gone.”

“Jeb, show your brother the supplies. I’ll get the folks to moving.”

“Supplies?”

“Food, mostly,” Jeb said. “Blood is blood. We’ll do what we can for you. We just can’t risk everyone.”

“I know, Jeb. Let’s go.”

Mal was expecting wide-spread panic. Instead he saw people hurriedly going about their business with grim, determined faces. As his brother showed him the food supplies and other odds and ends for Serenity, he felt a touch of pride in his people. This was the heart of the Resistance that allowed a few rim worlds with hardly any industrial base to hold the Alliance at bay for so many years. They had lost, but they were never defeated.

The booming suddenly got louder. “That was one of ours,” Jeb noted.

They were loading up a low train of linked cars at the end of the cavern at the mouth of one of the escape tunnels. The other tunnel was bustling with the people in the cavern driving similar cars or often riding foot-powered bicycles or tricycles with carts filled with belongings, food, and kids. The goats had already been herded in.

“Will you make it?” Mal asked. He noticed Zoe, Jayne, Vos and the others of his crew approaching the train.

“We’ll make it,” Jeb said.

Just then Kat Reynolds arrived. “That last booby trap’ll make ‘em slow down a bit, but there’s nothing left. When they come through, that’s it. We’re gonna blow the dome and all the tunnels.” She held up a palm-sized disc with a single red button. “Already got it rigged to go.”

“It’d take a lot more of the bastards out, though, if they got a good ways in before we blew it,” Jeb said.

Both were looking at Mal. “They can take our love,” the youngest Reynolds said. “They can take our land.”

“They can’t take the sky from me,” Kat finished. “You remember that song, boy. Just like I taught. Now you do this too, just like Pa taught you. Let’s show those gou tsao de fwoon dahn why they had to nuke Shadow from orbit.”

“Go on now,” Mal told his family. “I’ll take care of it.”

Jeb slapped his shoulder. Kat slapped his cheek, albeit gently. “You take care of that pretty woman of yours. And don’t come back here ‘less you’re bringing me grandbabies!”

Just as she left, Inara and the rest joined him. “What was that about?” she asked when she saw the captain’s bright red face.

“Err, nothin’,” Mal lied. “We’re going to blow the dome as soon as soldiers come crashing in.”

“Which should be any moment,” Wash noted. He walked to the steering wheel of the car train. “We might as well get ready to go.”

“Tracker in place?” Mal asked.

“Yes,” Vos said. They watched as River and Afolabi escorted Book to one of the cars. The discussion on whether to take the Shepherd or not had been a long one. It was finally Vos and River that convinced them that Book was as much a victim as they were. And, as Mal said, “He’s bled for us.”

They just finished loading their supplies and personnel when a cloud of dust and smoke came billowing out of the main entrance on the other side of the gently curving cavern. From the cloud came Alliance soldiers, weapons firing. Mal stood there in his brown coat while the others waited behind him, as more and more soldiers poured in. They spotted him quickly and ran in an intercept course as still more of their companions joined them.

Mal slowly raised the hand with the remote. The soldiers slowed as they came closer and saw his motion, and the reflective glint of metal in his hand. “I was gonna say something profound and witty-like,” Mal yelled out at the soldiers. “But I realized I was talking to Alliance. You ain’t worth the effort!” He pushed the button.

The roof of the dome exploded. Rocks the size of houses didn’t just fell, but were ejected like bullets toward the cavern floor. Mal turned and dove in a flat run onto the last car even as Wash gunned the engine and tore off down the cavern.

Behind them, the tunnel was lost in shadow as additional explosions obliterated the cavern. “That was refreshing!” Mal said.

The sound of splitting rock pierced the tunnel even over the now retreating thunder of explosions. “That’s not so refreshing,” Wash said from the front of the train. “The tunnel walls are cracking!”

“It’ll hold,” Vos said.

“Is that the Force talking?” Book asked.

“No,” the Jedi said.

The only light in the tunnel was provided by the car train’s running lights, but those were enough. When after half an hour they reached the end of the tunnel, all sound of cracking rock or explosions had receded.

“Wash,” Mal said as they stopped to open the outer doors. “Let’s drive the whole train into the hangar. We can sell ‘em next stop if we have to.”

The two men walked to the door when suddenly a slim shadow slipped between them. River stalked to the door and gently put her ear against it, lifting her left foot off the ground as she leaned over to listen.

The rest of them congregated to the front as well. “What’s she doing?” Jayne muttered.

“She’s trying to detect the trap on the other side of the door,” Vos said calmly.

Everyone turned to stare. The Jedi shrugged. “You thought they’d attack without tracing out other likely exits?”

“I sense twenty soldiers,” River said. “And something else.” She backed away from the door and shook her head. “Dark.”

Vos stepped around the others until he was by her side. He held his hand to the door and closed his eyes. “I sense a Force presence,” he said at last. “One strong in the Dark Side.”

“So what do we do?” Wash asked.

“There’s only one thing we can do,” Mal said. “Ain’t no goin’ back. That leaves only one way.” He pulled his pistols. Zoe and Jayne also prepared their weapons.

“If I may make a suggestion?” Book said from where they left him tied to the car. “Perhaps we might want to plan a little before charging out there.”

“Couldn’t hurt,” Wash said. “I mean, I’ve been almost dead. That’s close enough to all dead as I wanna be.”

“Then let’s get to planning,” Mal said.


* * *


Cain could feel them on the other side of the door. He didn’t care about the rabble; he cared only for the two shining so brightly in the Force. He had them trapped at last, even if he knew his master would not appreciate the number of men lost in the process. The young Dark Jedi had not anticipated the rebels blowing their own cavern. He fully expected his men to rush into crowds of terrified civilians who would gladly give up the ones he wanted.

Another lesson learned, he told himself.

Finally, the door handle began to spin. “Be ready,” Cain said to his men.

Without warning, a flash of blue light severed the hinges of the heavy door, which then burst out from its frame, turned in mid-air, and slammed painfully into a grouping of five soldiers. From the darkened hole of the cave a train of connected electric cars buzzed out toward the ship where Cain waited.

Behind him, the main hangar door opened by remote to accept the cars.

Cain reached out with his senses. “They are in the cars!” he called over his mic. “Open fire on the cars!”

As soldiers stood to open fire in the dust-strewn air of small valley where the Serenity was hidden, Cain felt a wave in the Force and realized the depth of his mistake only as six more people emerged from the cavern, guns blazing and lightsabers humming.

Seven soldiers were down before they even realized where the shooting was coming from. Cain cursed the terrible visibility of the blasted planet and pulled his own saber. As always, it would fall on him to get things done.

On the other side of the bowl-shaped depression, Quinlan and River separated, providing cover for Mal, Afolabi, Zoe and Jayne as the four of them split and continued firing. Though none of the four knew the Force, even Quinlan admired their remarkable aim. What was once a force of twenty was quickly reduced to a force of nine, providing much better odds.

It was just as he was reducing the number of the enemy to eight when he felt a flash of rage and dark energy through the Force. “River!” he called.

River felt it also and rolled clear just as a short, blond figure came down where she was, red saber flashing. Zoe and Jayne took a look at the newcomer and scrambled for cover, but he ignored them.

Even over the howl of the wind, Quinlan heard when the young man called out: “River my love, it’s time to go home.” He charged at River with obvious Force-speed.

River caught his first swing, then his second and third on her blue blade. Her face had become a mask, and Vos felt through the link they had formed over the past few days as she gave in wholesale to that mechanical part of her psyche that changed her from beautiful young woman to deadly killing machine.

What disturbed Vos, though, was that the Dark Force user did the same exact thing. His face became a blank mask and he moved with the same fluid steps as River did. Though he was not tall, he was taller than she, with greater reach. And though their physical skills were similar, Vos sensed this one had more intensive Force training than River.

“Mal,” Quin said.

“Do what you have to do,” the captain shot back. Beside him, Afolabi stood and picked off another Alliance soldier.

Quin nodded and bound across the depression in one Force-borne leap. The Dark Sider felt the power through the Force and looked up in time to see Quinlan flying toward him. Rather than roll away, the Dark Sider held his ground and pointed his saber, hoping to impale his target with his own momentum.

Trained as he might be, the new enemy had obviously never fought a Jedi Master. Vos Force-pushed the young man. The ground around him cracked and he flew like a bullet from a gun into a group of his own soldiers just as Vos landed on the ground. Without pause Vos lifted his hand and unleashed a volley of blue Force lightning that instantly killed the soldiers who caught the Dark Sider, and threw the Force user himself against a stone wall, where he crumpled.

“Let’s go!” Vos called. He and the shaken River resumed their guard duties, warding off shots from the remaining soldiers as Hal, Jayne and Zoe boarded. Then they two climbed aboard. The ship was airborne instantly.

Wash and Zoe were already on the flight deck. Jayne, Mal and Afolabi were helping Simon, Inara, Book and Kaylee extricate themselves from the middle of the train cars where all the supplies had been piled on them.

River ignored them and collapsed cross-legged to the floor. Quinlan knelt beside him. “You know that man.”

She nodded, and then covered her face as she bent over. Vos rested a hand on her back and looked up as the others slowly approached. When River straightened, her eyes were red and moist. “He was on the bus with me when we first went to the Academy. His name was Derek Wonsowski. He liked geometry and had a real cat named Hooky. He told me he would take me to an Opera one day and that we would get married.” Her whole body shook. “He was so angry.”

“The Dark Side consumes its own practitioners, until the man is gone and only the darkness remains,” Vos said. There was a catch in his voice—a memory too intense for even the Jedi master to articulate.

“So what do we do now?” Simon asked.

“I wish I know,” the Captain said. He stared down at the tearful River, then to her brother. “I wish to hell I knew.”

 

-----signature-----
"Spock!" "Yes Captain!" "Be one with the horse." "Yes, Captain."
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Blue Sun Down
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