Story [Serenity] Eyewitness - Entry 5.0: The trial. The compensation for the crew. The finale.

It's time I reveal my other story in the 'Verse. This was the first and probably only time I would ever need to use 1st person in a story. I wanted to have an outsider look at our beloved crew from their point of view. See how you think I did.
Btw, this is a five parter, so if you like what you read here, tell me to add you to a PM list.

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Eyewitness

Setting: Set ten and a half years after the Miranda incident.
Summary: A young prince who just became King of Londinum describes an event in his journal an event that happened ten years before regarding an adventure he went through with the crew of Serenity while he was still a Prince.

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KING D. AUGUSTUS III - BEGIN LOG ENTRY 1 : 7 July 2528: 22:50

Ok. So, how do I start this? I guess I should start at the beginning. My official title now is King Dekterius Oliver Augustus III. It?s a long one, huh. My friends and family call me Deke. I was born here on Londinum into a high class court family in which my father, King Phillip Oliver Augustus II, was King of Londinum years before I was born. My father had taken ill this past year and finally last week he lost his battle to sickness. Therefore, I was crowned King. I have no mother. She died after having me. I have lived all my life as a Prince. I collected a number of friends and a greater number of enemies over the years. I have only been to two planets, here and Persephone. I have never really had an adventure to speak of. That is, until ten years ago when I was fifteen.

So, as you may have guessed, this is my first entry as King. Yet my first entry will not involve mundane activities as tradition calls for. No, I?m a more open kinda guy than that. I will have more personal insight of my own on the goings on in my court. Hee, my court. Sounds weird. However, there is one thing I must do now before I begin the standard entries. It is more like a promise to myself, and indirectly to my father. I cannot let it fade into memory any longer.

In the next few entries, I will finally disclose an event that, up till now, officially never happened. My father at the time warned me that the event would be detrimental to the court if exposed. I always felt since that it would be a disgrace to the people involved if I didn?t expose it. My father said throughout my life, ?Wait until you are King? or ?When you are King you can do whatever you want, but right now you are not King and I am.? Well, here I am. I?m King and he?s dead. So, without further adieu, let me begin.

Let?s go back ten years. 2518. I was fifteen. I was more or less a bratty kid then. Spoiled. I had an overabundant ego. I would challenge people. I had several babysitters in my childhood. It got to a point where people were afraid to apply for the position. I was constantly in trouble with the law. The criminal acts I performed were more along the lines of harmless pranks. I was never bound by law due to my direct connection to the leader of the entire planet. Though, that didn?t give me license to do anything I wanted. My father saw to that. Sitting here now thinking of how I used to act then makes me cringe. The next thing that happened brought me down to reality.

I had an interest in bracketball and still do. My father thought it would take my mind off other nefarious activities I was fond of. It did, for the most part. Well, there was one night when I was at the practice field and after kicking a few I retired to the locker room. Once I entered the darkened locker room, I heard voices inside. I recognized one of them being my only friend and confidant, Bishop Oscar Mandalay. The other was the deep sinister voice of my father?s newly recruited Chief Court Advisor, Gus Busby. Oscar was the only being who wasn?t afraid of me. He would always have my father?s permission to scold and punish me as he saw fit. Therefore, Oscar was the only person I ever trusted.

In the locker room, my presence being obscured from their view, I could hear them not talking, but shouting at one another. At that time, I didn?t know

 

Awesome! I really like this story so far!

Your main character is really neat- I like how he is not perfect and he is kinda spoiled, it makes the story interesting.

I also think your characterizations are good, especially Mal.

If you are having a PM list, I would love to be on it!

Keep up the great work!

 

KING PHILLIP: You are very astute.

JAYNE COBB: Ass-what?

I also loved River's line about the chicken with fertile eggs. I have no idea what it means, but it sounds just like her. Great start!

 

Thanks to my two reviewers. Now for something really cool. I imagined River post Serenity being not so mad or crazy for the most part, but will revert back to her maniacal self when emotional or angry. Plus, she's bad ass. Allow Prince Deke to explain...

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Eyewitness: Entry 2.0

KING D. AUGUSTUS III - BEGIN LOG ENTRY : 8 July 2528: 10:38

Ok. I?m back. All freshed up and ready to spill. I had some Kingly things to do early but I got those out of the way and I told my aides to leave me alone for a few hours. Not in so many words, of course.

Where were we. Oh, yes. The journey to Jiangyn. I remember now someone told me it was a nine hour trip there. Can?t remember if it was Inara or Mal. I went into my bunk and my sulking session became a sleeping one.

It was Inara who awoke me. Seeing that beauty when I opened my eyes I thought I was still dreaming. I asked her if we were there yet. I moved to switch on my ring recorder from underneath the covers.

?Almost,? Inara answered. ?It?s time for supper.?

?I?ll just eat in here.?

?Nonsense. On Serenity we eat dinner together.?

?Oh...wonderful. So, is the cooking well enough here, or do I have to worry about my safety there too??

?Are you always this incorrigible??

?All my life.?

?Hmm...I guess that would probably help you pose as a man of age, wouldn?t it??

I shot up from the bed like a cannon shot. ?You...you knew that was me??

She stood and smiled. How I so wanted to melt in that smile. She then stated, ?I do now.?

I was played. By a Companion, no less. Not even my friends would have been brave enough to attempt to dupe me. She went on to admit that she had known the Companion I had asked for as a full grown gentleman. In fact, it was a Companion-in-training who I had asked for. It was one of Inara?s students and I was to be her first client. Instead, I turned out to be her first hard lesson. I apologized to Inara and she said it didn?t matter now, for the girl was now an accomplished Companion and doing well now. Or...then. You know what I mean.

Inara left after telling me dinner was in five minutes. I freshened up, brushed my mane of white blond hair, and washed my face. I climbed up the stairs and came to a corridor where I had two directions. To my left was the way into the engine room. It seemed so small for what its purpose was. To my right was where I heard voices. I followed that path and came into the dining area and kitchen. The lights were dimmed but sitting at the large wooden table was a hydro-lamp providing all the light needed. The entire crew sat around the table and they busied themselves by passing food around. Inara was just sitting down when she saw me in the doorway.

?Come sit with us and eat something.?

Then it hit me. All my life I had been surrounded by friends, aides, Oscar, and my father the King. I never experienced a sense of family since I had no mother. It wasn?t until that moment seeing all of the crew together when I felt that sense of family. I couldn?t show that to them. I had to project an image of strength. To them it probably read as cockiness. I read a wise man once say that cockiness is the illusion of confidence.

I sat down at the empty chair and was impressed with the array of foods displayed. A main meal was in a large bowl that looked to be a combination of beef and noodles. Whole tomatoes. Various fruits. I spotted a bowl of strawberries sitting in front of Kaylee. She was busy placing food in Simon?s mouth, so I took advantage to reach for it. Without warning, I was slapped by Kaylee?s hand.

?Do you know how to ask for things?? she demanded.

Upon seeing my embarrassment, Simon took his ?sticks and placed some strawberries on a plate. ?I have learned in the past months, Deke, that not even I can come between Kaylee and her strawberries.? He handed me the plate and added, ?I?m sure she can relinquish a few.? He looked at her and smiled.

?Well, ok,? she surrendered. ?He can have some. But, that?s all.?

River remarked, ?My

 

Wooohooo go River!

That was really awesome- I love how the pulse beacon came into the story as well.

And that kid better get his act together before he gets killed!


Keep up the great work!!!

 

Thanks to snowspeeder_gunner!

Wooohooo go River!
- Just the reaction I was hoping for. Thanks!

That was really awesome- I love how the pulse beacon came into the story as well.
Thought to add some of the movie elements to bridge the gap so to speak.

And that kid better get his act together before he gets killed!
Eh, he won't get killed. He may have a few threats here and there, though.


Keep up the great work!!!
Will do. And thanks for reading. Spread the word around!

And now on to part 3....


Eyewitness 3.0

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KING D. AUGUSTUS III - BEGIN LOG ENTRY : 8 July 2528: 23:15

And all my Kingly duties are finished and my official entries are logged. I just have time enough to enter more in the supplemental log about the Serenity crew before I hit the hay.

After what happened during their deal, I didn?t know what to think of River. How could she learn those moves at such an early age? It got me thinking of why the Alliance had wanted her. To possess that level of quick reflexes and skill would be of use as an assassin. I so wanted to ask about her, but I felt I had overstayed my welcome with my antics of the night.

I was so speechless when we got back to the ship, even Kaylee questioned my silence.

Mal had answered, ?He witnessed River in action. Funny, it?s the same reaction you had when you saw River shoot Niska?s men without looking.?

When I thought of anyone shooting without looking, I shuddered. I had to ask. ?What happened to them,? I asked.

It was the first time I saw Kaylee even slightly disturbed, as if remembering a bad memory. ?She killed them.?

?Without looking?? I cried.

Kaylee corrected. ?Oh, she looked all right. For about two seconds.?

I turned to see River nonchalantly climb up the stairs to the cockpit. She walked in the same graceful manner as if nothing had happened. I turned back to Mal and Kaylee. ?Who is she??

Mal forced out a hard tone. ?Don?t be expectin? any answers from us. What you did today only put you in more danger than we would like. Don?t think Daddy King would like it if you got harmed on your own.?

Instead of fighting back, I slowly agreed with him. I even said the words ?sorry?.

?Tzao gao,? Mal said back. He turned to Kaylee and asked, ?Did you hear that? I know The Mule?s engines may have ruptured my hearing for a bit, but I do swear I heard ?sorry? come out of the boy.?

?Heard it too, Captain.? Kaylee sweetly smiled.

?There may be hope for you yet, son.?

I took that with a grain of salt and told them I?d be retiring to my bunk.

?Would that be you going to your bunk or only your clothes?? This from Kaylee. She went on. ?Just so you know, Mr. Prince, the next time you try pretending to be sick in front of my Simon, he ain?t gonna treat you unless you?re dying.?

I nodded to tell her I got the message and went on to my temporary room. I removed all my clothes from under the covers and plopped them on the floor with no sense of order then climbed on top of my bed. I didn?t even turn the light out. I stared into space for close to an hour it must have been. Inara knocked at some point and I beckoned her in. She came in silently and sat at the foot of my bed.

Before she spoke, I remarked, ?I figured you?d be the one to talk to me.?

?Are you all right??

?Relatively.? I paused and noticed the vibrations. ?Did we leave Jiangyn??

?Yes. A while ago.?

?Where we headed??

?Off to the next thing.? She paused herself and looked at me. ?I heard you had questions about River.?

?Am I to be debriefed on your little secret, now??

?River?s no secret. Not now. Alliance took care of that. Did you know they tried to say she made it up??

I nodded. This was all on record that I researched. ?And that she falsified the wave originally from Miranda? How dumb does the Alliance think we are??

?If you did your research on us, which I?m sure you did, you would have known they wanted her back.?

?Wanted her b

 

Uh oh, looks like trouble.

Glad to see the crew having fun, but Zoe still seems to be walled off.

Can't wait to see what happens next.

Keep up the great work!!

 

Thanks, snowspeeder_gunner for the reply. I still am continuing with the posts. Only 1 more after this one.





KING D. AUGUSTUS III - BEGIN LOG ENTRY : 9 July 2528: 11:25

My apologies for keeping you in suspense from the last entry. It was getting late and my eyes were getting heavy from staring at the screen for so long. I just wanted to be awake as I entered this entry. This will be the ?meat and potatoes? of the whole reason why I am adding this event into the official logs. So, I have told my aides that I am not to have any contact for several hours.

Ok, enough suspense. Let me start where I left off. I was kidnapped.

Being confined to the dark for an unknown handful of hours is more or less scary. The whole time I was out I could not think. It wasn?t until I realized I was captive inside a dim, cold cell when I remembered the name of my captor.

Mrs. Delphi Busby.

This had to be Busby?s wife. Or Ex. Why in the gorram ?Verse would she have reason to take me? Well, I will tell you, of course.

I was well awake when she entered my prison. Long before that, I was alone with my thoughts. One of many was what she had done to Serenity?s crew. To see Inara lying face down motionless was an eerie image. Delphi had to have used the same stun pistol on the crew as she did me, so they couldn?t have been dead. Unless they fired upon the Firefly from afar to destroy her.

Funny how I?m now referring to Serenity as a ?her?.

Delphi opened the thick iron door and she stood in front of me. She glared at me all too silently. She dressed in ratty, though colorful clothing that was close fitting to her body. She was by no means a beauty but her long strands of ebony hair across her face in random directions gave the illusion she was. Until you pushed back the hair to reveal the scars and blemishes. Her attire and her demeanor right then gave her a sinister look.

I prepared for her words as I reached to my ring to start a new file. I thanked the toy makers of the ring that the thing made no noise. Then, I was true to form and started my tantrum.

?Where am I? What am I doing here? Where is the Serenity crew?? I yelled at her.

She must have known my weakness because my outburst created no reaction. She kept on glaring at me. "You are here for a very important opportunity.?

I stared back at her and said, ?And that means...?

?Our opportunity.?

?You mean you and your husband, Gus.?

?Precisely. Smart boy.?

?Some tell me I?m too smart.?

She acknowledged my comment with a nod, but she was not prepared for my next statement. ?You know, your husband stabbed my friend Oscar to death.?

She finally stopped smirking and she turned aggressive. ?That was necessary.?

?How is death necessary??

?Indeed. A very rhetorical question that may never be answered. In this case, it was. Mandalay knew too much.?

?Too much of what??

?You also talk too much.? She went back to her smirk. ?I do need you for a simple task, however.?

?What? You?re crazy if you think I?m going to help you.?

?I didn?t say you had a choice.?

?What did you do with the crew of Serenity??

?Those fools? They didn?t know what hit them. My men and I came in invited on their pathetic ship because of their curiosity and greed. Don?t worry, we didn?t kill them. They would have been out for several hours and we were long gone before then. They had no clue.? She stopped to consider. ?Although, they must have known you were a target. You were secure inside that trunk in the Companion?s shuttle. Until you revealed yourself that is.?

She let the knowledge of my failure sink in a bit before she continued. ?I need for you to follow me. Don?t bother hesitating. I gave my guards orders to use extreme force if you even flinch.? She neared me and stated while staring straight into my royal blues, ?I have a mission and it can be accomplished either with you alive or dead.?

?You won?t hurt me. I?m just a kid,? I dared.

She sneered and replied, ?I have killed children younger than

 

Whoa, intense!

That was great, and I like how Mal tracked the prince down- it sounds like something he would come up with.

Also, River is badass as usual.

And my favorite part was how it ended with "toodles"

Keep up the great work!

 

Catching up on this and I'm really enjoying it! You've got the voice of the crew down pat.

Great job! Can't wait for the last piece.

 

Also just got caught up, and am thoroughly enjoying.

It's been so long since I've seen even a single episode of Firefly, but I loved the series and the Serenity movie... and this is so much like watching an episode... I can see it all play out in my head.

Can't wait for the rest!

 

snowspeeder_gunner - Thanks. I tried to figure some way they'd track him without Delphi knowing. It came out of an accident that I remembered he had tea with Inara, and the idea went from there. Just love those happy accidents.

Miana Kenobi - Thanks for saying I had the voices of the crew down. I just hear the differences in each speech pattern and write how each would speak. The last piece is below.

Lithiniel - Welcome first time reader. Though this is the last entry, I still appreciate your reading. I saw all of this as a show too.

Thanks to all who read. All three of you. Thanks to those who read but didn't add a comment. Hope this put some joy and the feel of Firefly/Serenity back into you. And without further adieu, on with the last entry.


KING D. AUGUSTUS III - BEGIN LOG ENTRY : 9 July 2528: 23:10

I have found many obligations as King and otherwise. If someone would have told me ten years ago that I would someday be King of Londinum, well, I?d believe them actually since I am the only heir. By no means does it say that I was ready. I am the age of twenty-five now and I still do not know what I am doing. Those who admit their ignorance are full of wisdom, as my father says.

Anyway, I digress.

When we left Boros with Delphi and the evidence in tow, we were barely hours from the beginning of the trial. Boros was quite a ways from Londinum, but River and Kaylee made it their mission to high tail it back in time. As Jayne tied up the still unconscious Mrs. Busby, Mal came from behind me as I watched with glee to announce, ?We?ll get to Londinum just in time for the trial. That evidence will do them good for somewhere on the side of infinity being locked up.?

Being the arrogant teen that I was then, I had to say back, ?Then you and your crew will take your coin and shove off.?

Jayne looked back at Mal and Mal looked down at the grated floor with a solemn look and said, ?That?s not entirely exact.?

I was confused. ?What does that mean??

?We sorta contacted your dad to get him all caught up on our misplacement of you.?

?I bet that went well.?

?Yeah,? Jayne replied, ?we got ourselves one fine talkin? to.?

I chuckled, ?I know all about those talking to?s. So, he?s paying you less now??

?Much less,? Mal answered. ?In fact, the figure is actually down to one single digit.?

?Uh huh. That digit wouldn?t be a zero, would it??

?That?d be so.?

?Wait a minute, you mean you?re not getting paid for your rescue of me??

?Not unless we get paid in kindness,? Mal said.

Jayne quipped, ?And that ain?t likely, neither. King Daddy was pretty steamed.?

?He ordered us off the job and said something about sending his Army. We had your position from the tracking gel and we gave it to him.?

?Yeah, but some Captain who shall be nameless grew a heart and convinced the others to come after you anyway.?

Mal shrugged. ?We figured we were in a closer position and could get to Boros faster.?

I then asked the obvious. ?Why would you come after me if you knew you wouldn?t get paid??

Mal just said back, ?Oh...well, Jayne, untie Mrs. Busby there and I?ll hand her back her memory slide. Apparently, the Prince liked it better in her captivity. Must be a sorta complex with a fancy psychological name.?

?If I let her go, can I hit her like River did??

?Don?t think you could manage that level of grace even in violence. Besides, I do believe that if we do let her go, River will come down from piloting and treat Mrs. Busby to some more good sense knocked into her.?

?Ok!? I said. ?I get it.?

In actuality, I didn?t then. I do today. Consider this. You accept a task in which you were told you would be paid a considerable amount of money. Somehow, circumstances beyond your control prevent you from succeeding the task. Upon that failure, you?re told the compensation to you is forfeit and another party would be called upon to complete the task. What would it take for you to ignore the refusal and attempt to complete the task anyway, knowing you wouldn?t be compensated?

 

Aww. Great job! Thanks for writing it.

 

Awesome!! This was so great! I'm really sad that it's over

This paragraph in particular was amazing:

Humanity. The entire crew reeked of it. Even Jayne, though he did well to hide it. I knew about hiding emotions well at that time. I have learned since to let them out once in a while and allow them to breathe. Let them get some air. If they stay hidden, the amount of humanity inside you escapes. Just ask Mrs. and Mr. Busby.




Jayne interrupted right then and questioned, ?Why will you be keeping a breast for??

Haha! That is so something he would say.

And I was going to quote some from when he said goodbye to everyone, but I would have just quoted the whole thing. His convo with Zoe was so sweet and sad- great work.


Aaaaaand there needs to be a sequel! With more adventures!

 

Yay! That was a wonderful ending for a wonderful story. I even got a little misty toward the end, when he was talking to Zoe about Wash.... *sniff*

Overall, a very nice job. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

 

Lovely story.
You really did nail the crew's characters. Near perfect even. And I very much enjoyed reading about them from an outsiders perspective.
Thanks for writing,
Fanficfan