Serenity Now, Part 3

[waqaychay.livejournal.com]

title: Alarm
rating: pg, for now
warnings: none, for now
summary: Billy gets initiated into life aboard Fellowship.
disclaimer: not mine, yadda, yadda, yadda
a/n: thank you to dylan_dufresne for a wonderful beta job! you're the best, babe! for rawiyaparand, of course, because she loves this fic so. :D other parts here.


Good to his word, Dom had all of Billy's crates aboard the ship and in his cabin before they were scheduled for lift-off. He brought them in himself, lingering after the last one was carted in on the hoverpad. He used his red handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead and neck and leaned against the rusted metal doorway, watching as Billy shucked his duster and rolled up his shirtsleeves before opening each one and peering at the contents. "So... what's in these things, anyway?" Dom asked. "They weigh a ton. If it wasn't for the pad, I'd never have gotten them on board."

Billy glanced at him, then went back to rummaging through crates. "You're a nosy one, aren't you?"

"It's not every day we get a new crew member. Call me curious." Dom leaned over to get a better look at what Billy was looking through, then straightened when the other man glared at him. "You sure have a lot of books."

Standing, Billy closed up all the open crates. "I'm a doctor, Dom. I need books. Don't you have something you need to be doing?"

"Nah." Dom slouched against the wall again, crossing one boot over the other. "Pre-flight is all Elijah and Cate. The cargo is secure, that's all I'm concerned with."

"Mm-hmm." Giving up on unpacking for the moment, Billy sat gingerly on his bed. "And what cargo would that be? Those cows in the main bay?"

Dom looked nervous suddenly, fidgeting with his belt buckle. "Well, sorta. Look." He squeezed through the narrow space between the crates in the room and sat next to Billy on the bed. "Zap doesn't want me to tell you this, but you have to know. You'll find out pretty soon, anyway, and it's really for your own safety."

Not liking how that sounded, Billy asked slowly, "What are you talking about?"

"You know we're a transport ship, yeah? Well, what we transport isn't always... legal... here in Troller space. The cows make a great cover. We implant the contraband in their stomachs, so the Trollers never find it." He gestured toward the crates filled with medical books. "We're on the way to Makepeace, on Jupiter 6, headed straight through heavily patrolled territory. We're taking them medical supplies, stuff they can't get through normal channels."

Billy quirked an eyebrow. "Like what, exactly?"

Dom shrugged. "I dunno. I'm not a doctor. Just stuff. They got hit pretty hard in the last Troller raid, but then, they're on the outskirts of Collective territory. The raiders have been getting bolder, going further into enemy space, and stopping any ships passing through. If they stop us and all they find are cows, then.... Well, they have no use for cows, so we're generally free to go."

"Generally?"

Dom looked away. "Yeah, generally."

Billy put his head in his hands. "Shite," he muttered. "My first post as a doctor, and it's with smugglers."

"Hey, look, it's not so bad." Dom put his hand back on Billy's shoulder and was inordinately pleased when it wasn't rejected. "We fly where we want and don't have to follow any orders, Troller or Collective. We're independent, not on anyone's side but our own. We're not a part the war. That has to count for something, right?" He patted Billy reassuringly.

Billy opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he might have said was drowned out in the sudden blaring of alarm bells. Dom jumped up and made for the door. "What's wrong?" Billy shouted over the noise.

Dom didn't need to answer. The next moment, Zap's frantic voice came over the ship's PA. "Dom! Get your ass to the bridge! We've got Trollers coming in fast. We've gotta go!"

Once out of the maze of crates, Dom paused and shouted over his shoulder, "Get to Sickbay and strap in, Billy! This could get bumpy!" Then he was gone down the corridor.

It did, indeed, get bumpy. The next moment, Billy was tossed against his bunk as the ship abruptly shifted left, then right, then shimmied and shook hard, accompanied by the rumbling and groaning of the engines roaring to life as the ship began to lift off the ground. Billy scrambled upright and headed out the door and across the hall to the medical bay. There, he strapped himself in behind his desk and prayed his services wouldn't be needed on his first day.

Since there were no portholes in the medical bay, Billy couldn't see the ground receding as they left the atmosphere, or the stars streaking by as they entered hyperspace, but he could feel it. Gasping for breath and more terrified than he would ever admit to being, he was in turns plastered to his chair and weightless, as their quick departure didn't allow for things like artificial gravity or inertia control.

Once they were a safe distance from the planet and the Troller patrol, though, the ride smoothed out and the proper level of gravity was initiated. "Captain," Cate's elegant voice came over the PA. "The Trollers are not pursuing. Gravity, inertia, and everything else is now operational, but perhaps a little bit of warning next time? Fran's new engine coil is doing a wonderful job right now, but that will not continue if I have to do many more cold starts."

There was no answer from the captain over the PA, but the communications screen on Billy's desk suddenly lit up with his smiling face, wild white hair flying everywhere. "So, Doc," he laughed. "Settling in all right?"

Billy gaped, then composed himself. "Just dandy. A question, though, if I may. Is it too late to back out of my contract?"

Zap just laughed more heartily. "'Fraid so, Doc. Welcome to Fellowship."