Too Pretty To Die Chapter 2 DA2/Firefly Crossover

[miri1984]

Title: Passengers
Words: 1400
Characters: Captain Hawke, Fenris, Sebastian, Isabela, Finn, Rolan
Summary: Passengers Arrive on Serenity.

Author's Note: Ok, this is where things start to split away from Firefly. Up to now correlations of characters have been pretty easy, with a bit of Gender Bending (Isabela and Saoirse as Wash and Mal, for example) but now things are getting a little complex. At first I wanted to use Anders-as-Inara, but in the end I thought this fit better for where I want the story to go. I'm tweaking some things in the Firefly universe and some things in the DA universe to fit, but isn't that what Crossovers are about? I'm not entirely sure because I've never written one before! In any case, hope y'all enjoy. Translations by Ouyangdan once again. And she did a bit of beta for this chapter as well. 

Saoirse bit the side of her cheek and nodded politely as the passengers were introduced. Shepherds and poncy doctors and some boy-man with a stutter and a whole lot of baggage in her cargo hold less than a foot away from her special compartment - it wasn't anything particularly new, but she was always jumpy about letting strange faces onto Serenity, sometimes she thought the ship knew who was to be trusted and who wasn't.

Finn, the doctor, was hiding something, there was no doubt about it, and it wasn't just because his accent marked him as from one of the centre planets, or that his buttons were shiny or that he oozed oilinness and nice hair and an eyebrow of doom when she dared to suggest he be parted from his worldly goods for more than a few hours. No one with that much money should be booking passage on a ship like Serenity, they had cruisers for his type, that had swimming pools and… fancy food on sticks.

But unless he was one of Godwin's men (and he doubted it, Godwin left a certain odour around anyone who dealt with him and Finn smelt clean - like lavender and starch) he was no threat to her.

The Shepherd, Vael, was another matter.

While they checked their things and she leant over the railing watching the furtive looks the stuttering Rolan was giving Finn as he pulled books and shirts out of a crate she caught a whiff of a familiar incense and a rustle of cloth. Her jaw worked as she turned to see Fenris.

"I see we have guests," he said softly and she had to repress a shiver at the voice. Intellectually, she knew he had companion training. Intellectually, she knew he used that voice on every one of his "clients".

Trouble with thinking things through intellectually was, her body didn't much like paying attention.

"Passengers," she said shortly.

"Evidently," he crooked his neck, smiling slightly over her shoulder, the faint lights of the hold glinting off the white lines that snaked across his skin and under his high collared robe. "I am afraid the Captain hasn't introduced us as yet, serah," he said.

Saoirse spun around to see Vael, the Shepherd, standing there with a speculative look on his face that she didn't like at all.

"Shepherd Vael, this is our… ambassador. Fenris."

The shepherd was far too cheerful for his own good, a smile revealing perfect white teeth.

"I can safely say this is the first time we've had a preacher on board," Fenris said, smiling slightly and holding out a hand to shake.

"This'll be the first time I've met a foreign dignitary," Vael said, clearing his throat and Saoirse guffawed. "I've missed something funny….?"

Fenris lifted an eyebrow. "That's a matter of opinion," he said. "Ambassador is Saoirse's way of saying…"

"He's a whore," Saoirse interjected.

"I prefer the term companion myself," Fenris murmured, but there was a flash of teeth and a glare directed towards her as Vael dropped the hand he had offered like a piece of burnt meat.

"How's business?" Saoirse asked, grinning at him.

"None of yours," Fenris replied, and there was no hiding the snap of irritation in that response. She should have been happier to have scored a point there, but it was… strangely unsatisfying.

"He is our ambassador in a way," Saoirse continued, enjoying the shocked horror on Vael's face. "Plenty of planets don't let you dock without a good companion on board, and Fenris is one of the best… oh… I'm sorry, am I making you uncomfortable?"

"Excuse me," Fenris said, pushing past Vael and back towards his shuttle.

"Aren't you going to meet the others?" Saoirse called after him.

He didn't bother to turn his head when he made his reply. "Why don't you make sure they want to meet me first?"

"I ah…" Vael shifted from foot to foot. "Most companions are women aren't they?"

"Common misconception," Saoirse said, leaning casually against the railing and watching Fenris' retreating back. Even when he was irritated he moved with unconscious grace. Conscious grace, she corrected. Every single thing about him had been trained. It was always so hard to remember that. "There are just as many male ones, according to Fenris, they just tend to be more discreet about it."

"I had no idea…"

"I'd say you've lead a pretty sheltered life, Shepherd."

Something undefinable moved behind Vael's brown eyes and her interest perked a bit. "I'd say you're right, Captain," he said.

"Fenris is special in more ways than one," she said after a slight pause. "Most companions choose their…" she grimaced… "vocation. He was sent to them to be trained."

"Sent to learn how to be a…"

"Whore. Yes. Apparently his owner wanted him skilled enough to…. service for him when he came of age. Don't look like that, Shepherd, you know slavery exists on the border planets, you're not that sheltered."

"Yet he practices as a companion?"

"Steady job. Good income," she shrugged. "Whatever I may think about their morality, the Companions hate slavery as much as the rest of us. More. They helped him escape, gave him the skills to survive away from his master… you can't really blame him for wanting to live a little, can you?"

"I…ah…"

She clapped him on the back. "Come now, Shepherd. You're here to spread the word to us heathens, aren't you? Best you know as much as possible about us before you try to convert us."

"You're not a woman of faith, Captain?"

"Hell no," she grinned at him. "After a while out here you realise the only thing you need to believe in is yourself. Ain't no imaginary friends in my sky gonna help me out if things go wrong. I've tried prayin' often enough - obviously I just ain't loud enough."

Vael arranged a prim expression on his face that made her lips quirk. "The sentiment behind the prayer should be pure."

"Ain't nothin' dirty 'bout my sentiments, Preacher Man."

She left him there, gape mouthed and silent - which was definitely how she preferred her religious personages, and made her way back to her cabin.

A day in the air made things better. They were doing not sitting and that was how she preferred it - dead in the water, stuck on a planet, that wasn't what she needed or wanted.

The ship always felt better in space. On the ground she was awkward - gawky, like Bethany had been as a teenager, all knees and joints. In the black, she was a queen among ships, nimble, graceful, responding to Bell's commands like a dancer.

Saoirse could fly her. Of course she could - it'd just been her and Aveline when they'd bought her from the shipyards on Borros, five years ago, and scrounging a crew had been hard work, but worth it. Where Saoirse could get them from place to place, Bell could make Serenity sing - the vibrations of the deck plates under her feet as she walked like the finest music, the best dream.

She lay in her cot, listening to that hum - the hum that meant they were flying, free, and swallowed. She was betting a lot on Mae and Whitefall, and she wasn't entirely sure it was going to pay off.

Her comm beeped and she reached out a hand to flip it on. "What is it Bell?"

"Captain you're gonna want to come up here."

"Problem?"

"You could say that."

Bell had been trying to get through to Whitefall since they'd left Persephone - either Mae was giving her lip, or…

…something else had gone wrong.

She climbed up to the bridge, where Bell was leaning forward, chin on her hands as she stared at a monitor.

"Signal," the former pirate said shortly. "Somebody got on the cortex and hailed the nearest Alliance cruiser."

Oh, now isn't that just shiny.

"Tell me you scrambled it?"

"Dang ran,"* Bell rolled her eyes. "But there's no way of knowing how much got through, the alliance has a pin on us for sure…" Saoirse swore. At length. "We've got a mole on board," Bell said, dark eyes fixing on her, that ridiculous gold stud in her chin glinting in the monitors' light.

Saoirse sucked at her teeth, thinking of a doctor with too much money and something to hide. "I think you may be right."

*"Of course I did."