Ch.46

Weeks later we were having fun on a break when a proximity alert went off and we found a derelict colony ship. When we saw it, I grunted, speaking for the first time in a while. "Free supplies. Gen seeds."

Mal was thinking the same thing and said we'd check it out. Once we did, I carried the Gen seeds and all the goods I could find on the derelict. I made a manifest while the others were dealing with the crazy man Jayne found. I told Mal I was shiny and ready to go before Kaylee cut the cup-link bomb the reavers left for us.

When we got free, the alliance came and I had to hand over my manifests with my ID. I was questioned a lot, but Inara was able to help me translate to them, telling the commander that my brain got scrambled in the war from a blast and since then talking had been a long process for a few words. She told him my manifests are legitimate and the guild seals and approvals are up to date. He questioned me more and more about the war but a nose bleed and a severe migraine made me throw up all over the floor.

Inara got him to stop before he could give me a stroke or seizures by pressing. She rubbed my temples and told him I was a gentle giant and I wouldn't harm anyone. She said she'd report him to the alliance for attacking a guild member if he continued to push and it gives me a stroke before begging him to stop. He threw some slander out and said I was just pretending only I went into a seizure and convulsed, causing him to call for a medical team.

They were able to measure my brainwaves with an EKG and what they found was straight up horrifying. I flatlined several times before they were able to stabilize me. The results had the commander apologizing to me especially when he heard from Mal that I was a civilian in the war that got caught in a blast and scrambled my brain so the Independents got me to fighting on their side, caught up in the mess.

I was physically tired when they released us and Jayne had to help me to the ship. On the bright side they let Inara keep the EKG readouts so I had some clue as to how scrambled my brain was once Simon looked it over. I got to keep my manifest and Mal was let off with a warning which made everyone happy. I spent my time in the med bay with my head swimming.

Unfortunately the pain meds Simon managed to give me were burned off in minutes so I was shit out of luck there. That being said, a shower and holding Inara while I slept helped a great deal. I wasn't exactly up for stealing from slave traders a month later but I worked with Kaylee to strip their ship of useful parts to sell or use while Mal and Jayne got the basic money theft done.

We left Santho in a hurry but that's how we left everywhere mostly so I wasn't concerned about that. We headed to Persephone and Inara engaged a favorite female client for an evening for a ball. It seems her exclusive changes to females only made her a favorite amongst the ladies that felt they needed a woman's touch to get their satisfaction.

I headed out with Mal and the rest to do sale and get supplies we desperately need. I spent most of my money on a new compression coil. The rest I spent on things I needed for the garden before I traded half my weapons stock for a necklace I just felt Inara would like. Jayne called me crazy, but Mal just asked that I keep enough weapons to defend the ship if necessary.

There was plenty of weapons between my stash and Jayne's so when Mal told me he and Kaylee were going to the ball, I told him to name me as his second if he gets into a fight because they duel with swords and unlike him I wasn't so easily cut up. He agreed and no more than a few hours later I was brought to the ball by Sir Warrick Harrow's men. I was to face Atherton Wing who insulted Inara for not choosing him as her evening choice.

Mal punched him and now I was named his second or more aptly, the only one because Mal told him I'd fight with the fancy sword stuff in his stead. Warrick said I was impressive before telling Mal that I'd better fight as impressive as I looked. I signed to Mal and he got the gist, telling Warrick that he and I were partners and I was literally the silent partner of our enterprises because of a war wound.

He told him while I looked at Warrick that I saved his life in the war and now I was the main muscle for our crew. I was left in a room with swords and asked if I could keep them. Warrick said if I won and Atherton's dead I could have all the swords there. I smiled and Mal said Atherton would be sorely missed by someone because I was going to slaughter him.

The next morning Atherton stood across from me and he tried to toy with me. I cut his hand and buried my sword into his head. He fell down and it split his head open further. I turned to the others and asked in sign language if he had a second cause I could do this all day and not get bored of killing snob little assholes which Inara translated.

They backed off and I cleaned my sword before picking up Atherton's sword and sheathing them both. Warrick said the rest of the swords would be delivered tonight with the cargo he wanted us to transport. We headed back to the ship and after shower sex, I gave Inara the necklace in bed.

I struggled but told her it reminded me of her. It was a purple love heart pendant necklace and she called it amazingly beautiful. I touched her cheek as she looked at it and told her with difficulty. "It has facets so deep you can look at it for eternity and not know it completely. To see something new, simply look in different lighting."

Her smiled softened and she kissed me before I held her while I put it on her. She looked at it from different angles seeing what I meant. The colors and lighting shifted the beauty of it as it shimmered in the light. She asked how I could afford it and I shrugged, telling her of what I traded for it.

I spent the next three weeks growing a hydroponics garden while keeping the cows calm. They stayed perfectly still when I was around the cargo hold so I was around it a lot. When we arrived on Jiangyin, I helped herd the cattle off which practically obeyed my every word even going so far as to ignore Jayne smacking them. One by one they left the ship to the cattle pins.

Mal called it an animal thing and Jayne said it was because they were so rutten scared of me. He told me he grabbed my workout shirt and set it in the cargo hold one time and he swears they went dead silent and stayed as perfectly still as possible. I smacked him upside the back of his head and grunted. "Where's my shirt?"

He pointed to the shirt hanging from the top railings before saying it wore off after a few hours. Once they were gone, I cleaned up the cow patties and mixed it with dirt and mulch before using some of it in the hydroponics while the rest was left off the ship. I grabbed a filter hose gun I made for cleaning and used it to spray off the rest of the dirt, shit and cattle smell. In less than twenty minutes I'd scrubbed all of the hold with cleaner and washed it away leaving a clean metallic and soapy smell.

A switch to the air dryer head ended up sending a cool gust of wind through the ship before I got it to warm and aimed it at the floor. All the water was dried or blown off the ship in seconds. Shepherd was caught in it and blown off his feet onto the cow patty pile outside. I apologized slowly and he said it was alright before saying Mal wanted me because the less reputable people were here.

I nodded and he went to go change while I met with the brothers we were selling the herd to. Mal was a lot more smiles when I arrived saying the cargo hold was clean. Inara and Kaylee came back before I growled and signed to Mal the signal for feds he knew well. They asked what I was doing with my hands and Mal told them. "My friend here lost his ability to speak properly in the war for independence. He's just letting me know the ship is clean and ready to go."