Blue Sun Room FICTION - GENERAL

THE DEVIL'S CRADLE: 16. "Motives and Machinations"

Friday, July 20, 2012

None of the men commented on the fact that his hand had begun to shake slightly. Not none of them were cowards but some things you couldn't go up against and hope to make any impression except a smear on the ground.

CATEGORY: FICTION    TIMES READ: 4557    RATING: 10.0 (G)    SERIES: FIREFLY

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TITLE: "MOTIVES AND MACHINATIONS"

SERIES: THE DEVIL'S CRADLE

CHAPTER: 16. Sequel to "TRAIL OF TEARS"

FANDOM: "FIREFLY"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

PAIRING: Zoe/Wash Kaylee/Simon Mal/Inara

RATING: PC-13

SUMMARY: "Zoe sends the crew looking for Shen

Willets while River tries to impress on the Captain the

need for them to get moving if they want to locate the

children. Only River doesn't know where to go and the

Captain is determined not to let her out of his sight."

"MOTIVES AND MACHINATIONS"

A "Firefly" Story

Written by Alison M. DOBELL

* * * * *

Zoe couldn't stop cursing herself for not noticing when Shen had disappeared from sight. She had been distracted and while Book and Jayne had been given the task of watching Shen, things had become far too lax. First he was allowed out of the spare quarters he had been confined to, second neither Book nor Jayne seemed to think it necessary to keep an eye on him any more. She wanted to rip Jayne a new one but that would mean doing the same to Shepherd Book and really it was down to her as the second in command to make sure they understood about not letting down their guard. Yelling at them now would just pile up resentment and that was the last thing they needed. She met Jayne, Book and Wash coming the other way. Zoe frowned at her husband but he wasn't about to go back to the bridge without knowing what was going on. After all, it wasn't as if Serenity was going anywhere.

"Have any of you seen Shen?"

Jayne frowned, trying to recall the last time then his expression cleared. "Oh yeah, he helped me clean up the mess."

"What mess?"

"Rufus. Kept findin' bits of him."

Her eyes narrowed. "I told you to clean that up."

"Yeah, *wo zhidao* an' that's what I was doin' but he just came up an&#

Comments
Saturday, 21 July 2012 03:28
Mal is going to be very cross and have many words for River I think when he wakes back up.
BYTEMITE
Monday, 23 July 2012 20:28
Hmm. I'll be interested to find out if River is overestimating herself here. She usually doesn't, but, I was having a conversation with someone recently about how interesting that would be.
Monday, 23 July 2012 21:48
You are right Nutluck, the Captain is not going to be happy at all with his little Albatross. As for River overestimating herself, Bytemite, she is reacting emotionally to what is happening to the children and it is clouding her judgement. Thank you for the shiny feedback, Ali D :~)
"You can't take the sky from me!"
Wednesday, 08 August 2012 01:42
Back from vacation, Ali, and finally I get to catch up on your story. :-)
Unexpected events with Shen going missing and all the men dead. River's determined to go forward with her plan, and I'm not sure of the wisdom of it. Mal is not going to be happy at how he was used -- he was forwarding her plan, but when he has second thoughts, she uses the tranquilizer. The only benefit there, is that Mal definitely needs the rest, and he wasn't going to take it if left to his own devices.
Wednesday, 08 August 2012 10:41
Hope you had a great vacation, Ebfiddler. River's intuitive stream of consciousness does not run in tandem with anyone else's so while she wants to help she doesn't always think to make sure it is in line with whatever Mal is planning. And sometimes, she just gets impatient. Thanks for the feedback, Ali D :~)
"You can't tae the sky from me!"

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