Blue Sun Room FICTION - GENERAL
THE TRIAL (06) Part (01)
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Mal is sanguine about the kind of reception Serenity will get on Persephone.
CATEGORY: FICTION TIMES READ: 5095 RATING: 9.0 (PG) SERIES: FIREFLY
THE TRIAL (06)
Part (01)
Follows . Precedes . The series so far: Mal is sanguine about the kind of reception Serenity will get on Persephone. Mouse over Chinese words in text for translations Rating: All my stories are PG to PG-13 to occasional R. You will not find detailed descriptions of blood, gore, and sex, but you will find situations appropriate for mature readers, innuendo, implication, and (gasp) swear words. This story is entirely PG. Thanks to my sister for beta reading. | * * * As Serenity neared Persephone, Zoe sought out Mal, and found him, as she knew she would, on the bridge, staring into the Black. With forty people aboard, it was the only place on the ship where he could distance himself from the crowd. She knew he was too agitated to take refuge in his bunk, and she knew his strained relationship with Inara made him not welcome in her shuttle at present. She brought the topic on the table directly. “You’re worried about the kind of reception we’re gonna get on Persephone,” she stated. “Well, actually, I’m sanguine,” Mal countered. Zoe was not fooled. “‘Hopeful,’ sir? Or ‘bloody’?” Mal shifted in the pilot’s seat and sighed. One drawback to the close working relationship he had with Zoe was that he couldn’t get away wi
Comments
Saturday, 06 August 2011 15:28
Hello, folks. Finally got this posted. Sorry for the long delay for those of you who have been waiting since part 4 of Break Out. Still have very limited internet access for now, but I got the revisions done on this part and decided to take advantage of my limited access to post this. Hope you enjoy!
Saturday, 06 August 2011 16:32
Very cool, hopefully things get better for you. Look forward to the next chapter.
Saturday, 06 August 2011 16:49
Slow careen towards inevitable. Nice build up.
The actions of the Feds and Blue Sun are pretty damning here. It's possible that they just took the word of the authority on Ni Qui who were stolen from, and they might even have testimony that Mal and crew expressed interest in slave trafficking before this theft. But the thing is, that wouldn't get them the trajectory of the crew or tell them where to set the arrest and ambush.
If Serenity was the only ship that landed or they could narrow down to them from a selection of ships, they could track their trajectory from their energy signature... But only if they could find it. Or they were tracking them from the beginning, but they'd have to either be paranoid in general or at least have a reason to be suspicious. So the most likely thing is, they got the cortex account information from whatever port authority was on Ni Qui, and intercepted their wave... To an Abolishionist group. There you have it, folks.
The actions of the Feds and Blue Sun are pretty damning here. It's possible that they just took the word of the authority on Ni Qui who were stolen from, and they might even have testimony that Mal and crew expressed interest in slave trafficking before this theft. But the thing is, that wouldn't get them the trajectory of the crew or tell them where to set the arrest and ambush.
If Serenity was the only ship that landed or they could narrow down to them from a selection of ships, they could track their trajectory from their energy signature... But only if they could find it. Or they were tracking them from the beginning, but they'd have to either be paranoid in general or at least have a reason to be suspicious. So the most likely thing is, they got the cortex account information from whatever port authority was on Ni Qui, and intercepted their wave... To an Abolishionist group. There you have it, folks.
Saturday, 06 August 2011 19:35
Poor Mal, trying so hard to help them as have been on the wrong end of the trafficking business only for the bully boys of the Alliance to use his good intentions against him and take the poor innocents ex-slaves into custody. They really are the dregs of humanity. I really hope Ip and his friend can help. I also got a bit frustrated with River being even less understandable than usual. Really could have done with a moment of coherence from her. Ali D :~)
"You can't take the sky from me!"
"You can't take the sky from me!"
ZOESMOM
Saturday, 06 August 2011 20:03
BYTEMITE, a little paranoid, are we? In "A Lion's Mouth" (from this series) we learned that merchant transport vessels have to file a cargo manifest with the authorities; presumably this would include origin and destination, as well as contents (and possibly a flight plan as well). All Blue Sun had to do was get its hands on the manifest after the Ni Qiu police tracked the blood trail to Serenity's birth at the port.
Or maybe you are right--they are being followed. ;)
Or maybe you are right--they are being followed. ;)
Saturday, 06 August 2011 20:39
Oh Mal, hope Ip can help, because this time, Inara can't.
Interesting developments.
Interesting developments.
Saturday, 06 August 2011 23:06
? I didn't say they were being followed. I said they'd have to find their energy signature in orbit to calculate their trajectory.
So it's more likely they found out who they were going TO from intersected waves.
So it's more likely they found out who they were going TO from intersected waves.
Saturday, 06 August 2011 23:52
Cargo manifests, maybe. But if they'd decided the crew were persons of interests - and I think they'd have to for this kind of reception - then chances are they have the waves to the abolitionists and know full well that the crew wasn't out for slave trading.
Just another example of the layer of lies that the officials keep up to protect the slave trade.
Just another example of the layer of lies that the officials keep up to protect the slave trade.
Monday, 08 August 2011 13:52
Wow, all this speculation as to how the authorities tracked Serenity to Persephone! I'll admit that was something I only gave a little bit of thought to when I wrote this, but I'm sure enjoying the discussion. The authorities on Niu Qiu may well have heard from the cargo agent that Mal was expressing interest in slave trafficking. (All that talk he made while drawing out information about the slaves--it certainly fooled Ip, at least at first, and it could have fooled the cargo agent as well.) I like Zoesmom's speculation that the authorities might have tracked Mal and Zoe's route to Serenity's berth and made deductions from that. Also, Niu Qiu is not a very busy spaceport (I know this because I am the author ;-) and I have a clear picture of this spaceport in my mind!) and there weren't exactly a lot of other spaceships taking off around the right time--Port Authority (the "tower" mentioned in Break Out) would easily know this. I also like Bytemite's speculations that more high-tech means were used to track the ship because that means more sophisticated police detection was involved. Warrants to examine wave logs, examination of filed flight plans, etc.--which means that Blue Sun has its hand in pretty deep with the civil authority here. Also, please consider that Ip (who heard Mal talk about slave trading and believed he was serious about it) was out and about in town, that he is a garrulous individual who can't stop talking to people, even perfect strangers (like the Operative) who he lets into his confidence. Ip knew perfectly well where the ship was bound, because it was in his contract that he was going to be dropped off on Persephone. I don't think Ip would deliberately rat out Mal, but you never know what that guy would say, and to whom. He talks a lot.
Meanwhile, Ali D, I'm sorry you found River rather incoherent here. It won't last. River (in my stories, anyway) tends to get more cryptic when she is more worried. She forgets that no one else can get inside her head and follow her stream of consciousness, which is perfectly clear to her. She also forgets that few people are as well-read as she is, and that not everyone has such a fondness for ancient texts (like 20th century pop culture and 16th century Shakespeare), so that her metaphorical references (again, perfectly clear to her) go sailing over their heads. She'll speak more plainly later on. BTW, the poem she references is by DH Lawrence, and with Blue and Persephone and all that darkness, I couldn't resist ;-)
Platonist...Inara is weakened, but don't count her out. This time Mal has to rely on the members of his crew that he's not accustomed to rely on for help.
Thanks to all commenters and readers, I REALLY like getting the feedback. It's addictive!
Meanwhile, Ali D, I'm sorry you found River rather incoherent here. It won't last. River (in my stories, anyway) tends to get more cryptic when she is more worried. She forgets that no one else can get inside her head and follow her stream of consciousness, which is perfectly clear to her. She also forgets that few people are as well-read as she is, and that not everyone has such a fondness for ancient texts (like 20th century pop culture and 16th century Shakespeare), so that her metaphorical references (again, perfectly clear to her) go sailing over their heads. She'll speak more plainly later on. BTW, the poem she references is by DH Lawrence, and with Blue and Persephone and all that darkness, I couldn't resist ;-)
Platonist...Inara is weakened, but don't count her out. This time Mal has to rely on the members of his crew that he's not accustomed to rely on for help.
Thanks to all commenters and readers, I REALLY like getting the feedback. It's addictive!
Monday, 08 August 2011 19:53
You're one of us now.
One of us...
*Waves back the creepy brain programmers*
*For now*
*Innocent*
One of us...
*Waves back the creepy brain programmers*
*For now*
*Innocent*
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