Phoenix Feathers, Part III, Chapter 2 (Cinematic)
Monday, January 4, 2010
The next chapter in the Phoenix Feathers series. It takes place during and shortly after the events of the BDM, as Phoenix, an Academy escapee, along with Monty and the crew of the Stallion struggle to elude the increasingly factional Alliance forces that are pursuing them- and as Phoenix begins to experience visions of a mysterious girl from his past. In this chapter, we see what the crew of the Stallion has been up to, and some awesomeness happens. If you like (or hate, I guess...) what you read, please do comment! It makes my fingers fly over the keyboard.
CATEGORY: FICTION TIMES READ: 2264 RATING: 10.0 (G) SERIES: FIREFLY
Phoenix Feathers Part III, Chapter 2
Disclaimer: Joss is Boss, and all I do is toil day in and day out (with his ideas and few original thoughts) to quiet my inner Browncoat. Aren’t those supposed to go on the outside? Hmm.
***
Open on a stack of crates bundled together with cargo netting. There is lots of background noise- the sounds of soldiers moving about and shouting orders. A head pops above the crates for a second to take a peek at the goings-on. It belongs to Koyi Kiranti, late 20s, of Sinic descent, the sometimes sadistic and always ornery ship’s medic of the Stallion .
Koyi ducked back behind cover with a grimace, thinking hard.
KOYI: (to herself) Doesn’t look good. We’re pinned down.
Koyi felt more than saw Cody move to take a look for himself, and pushed him back down, perhaps with a little more force than was absolutely necessary. The kid was a fair mechanic to be sure, and very handy to have around whenever the Stallion was falling out of the sky- which was becoming more of a regular occurrence these days, thanks to the ever-tightening grip the Alliance had over interplanetary trade- the Stallion ’s life-blood- but he was a real pain in the pigu the other 23 hours of the day. Koyi couldn’t really avoid being hostile towards others- it was just who she was- but she did manage to play nice with the rest of the crew when it was required. It was not required at this juncture. In fact, if she didn’t put the boy in his place right now, he’d blow their whole mission. And this was as close to life-and-death as you could get in a situation like this. Koyi turned back to Cody with a snarl.
KOYI: Hey! Doesn’t the term ‘pinned down’ mean anything to you?
CODY: (wincing from her hold on his arm) Right now? Kinda yeah.
KOYI: Just stay down. We’ve got at least 20 feds in spitting distance with no way around. Any bright ideas?
CODY: I know this one...Um. Spit?
KOYI: Putain!
CODY: I- wait. Was that French?
Shut up, just shut up, she though
I wanted to get a glimpse of the crew through Koyi's eyes for two reasons- One, because I can't really just give you everybody's backstory, quirks, and statline right off the bat (and I don't trust these "Cinematic" dialogues to convey everything that I see in these people- but that's okay...you can have your own idea of them!), and secondly because her character just fascinates me.
A sadistic doctor? Too funny, especially when she has to deal with the "kids" on the ship, meaning Nebula, Cody, and Phoenix. At first I thought this was the limit of her character, but then I realized that there's so much more there. Why is she so...mean? Why does she take such an interest in Phoenix? Then I did some thinking and I realized that there's something in her past that is just huge and dark and bigger than I could ever have anticipated. So keep your eye on her- because there's much more to her than meets the eye. That's all I'm going to say about her.
A lot of people (myself included) are probably wondering exactly what the deal is with Pheonix/Subject 04/Subject 82/whatever the heck his real name is, and I don't think my terrible writing does him credit (I can't write "crazy" to my own satisfaction). Again, without giving away too much- this is the driving force behind the whole series, after all- I can say that Phoenix really can't remember his life before the night that he met the crew of the Stallion, and that he is not River Tam. He is both more and less sane- he perceives the world differently than the rest of us, sure, and he is a genius when it comes to giving the bad guys a really bad day, so different, sure, but not crazy. At the same time, though, he doesn't have a brother (or any real memories- just weird dreams that may or may not be real) to anchor him in the present. He, like Jubal Early, is just floating.
We'll see if he bumps into anything of consequence.
Next: PF Part III, Chapter 3- Assault on Terraforming Station 334 Equatorial!
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