Phoenix Feathers, Part I

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Joss is boss. While I wish on Kaylee's homemade protein cake that this was my 'verse, it isn't so. But at least the cake is good.

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When Phoenix regained consciousness in the operating chair of the infirmary, his first thought was: I’ve been caught and taken back there. His second: Where? He then looked around and saw that the room was less advanced, less spacious, and less tidy than the other med labs he had known- When? Although Phoenix was wary of another of their -whose?- tricks, he tentatively concluded that he was on a ship. He couldn’t be certain, for the hull lacked the telltale vibrations produced by an engine straining against gravity. Since Phoenix wasn’t floating around in zero-G, he knew that he was on-planet, though he couldn’t say which or how he had gotten there in the first place.

Phoenix decided that he’d had enough –of what? He needed to get his bearings, to be armed and ready with violent intentions if they came back for him. Phoenix tried to get up, but his body had different ideas. He felt a throbbing pain in his side and looked down to see a bloodied bandage over his chest. Only then did he remember being shot in the forest. Behind Phoenix, someone noticed that he was awake.

“Hey, there! Feeling all right?” a voice inquired politely.

Phoenix looked around at the speaker, a young man not yet into his twenties, who seemed a little too cheerful given the manner of their meeting.

“You look to be fine, which we’ve got cause to celebrate, seein’ as how you were in such a bad way when we took you on board. Bloodier than the Battle of Serenity Valley, you were. Though I wouldn’t know for certain.” The young man hopped of the counter that had been doubling as a perch and offered Phoenix his hand. “I’m Cody. Mechanic. And this here’s the good ship Stallion. Don’t know ‘zactly why- she don’t run as smooth as a stallion, that’s for sure! Not goin’ anywhere at the moment. But who are you?”