Welcome To The 'Verse

by Jinxed

Old Friends

The rear hatch slowly lowered when Serenity was fully docked into Beaumonde's main spaceport, Mal slipping his gloves on and striding down the metal as the ramp cleanly made contact with the plate. His trusty sidearm, the Liberty Hammer, was secure in its holster, and his small amount of coin in his coat pocket for buying information and drinks was ready, it was mostly all he needed in the general life. Zoë already had the land-mule revved up with the small black crate they'd lifted now lashed securely to the back, covered in a small tarp to keep it uninteresting to any would-be thieves.

“Ready to go, sir.” Zoë affirmed as she drove down the ramp to stop beside him.

“Good, get the crate to the twins place and wait outside for me,” Mal nodded, looking around and taking note of several differences since the last time they came here. For one, that fed station down the street was looking a mite stronger this time around, he certainly didn't recall the turrets. “I’m gonna put my ear to the ground, see if I can’t learn something new, be with you in thirty, tops.”

“Sir. Should I tell Fanty and Mingo we’re here?”

“Likely they already know, Serenity’s a popular ship now,” Mal shrugged, looking back at the beautiful home they bore. “Our girl might be getting a few visitors, Kaylee or Jayne’ll see to ‘em, dependin’ on their intentions. Just wait outside the bar for the time being, anyone says hello that aint friendly, introduce ‘em to your mare.”

“Yes, sir.”

"Be safe, honey." Wash buzzed in over their radios.

"Always am, dear." Zoë replied back.

Zoë checked her lever-action before slinging it on her back and revved the handle on the land-mule again, making the quad-bike's small engine roar before driving off and leaving a parting crowd of annoyed people in her wake. Mal gave the fed station down the way a parting glance before doing the same with Serenity.

“Kaylee, close her up!” he called back over the general bustle to the entrance where Kaylee was currently standing at the controls in her oily overalls.

"Aye, Cap'n!" she waved. "Stay safe!"

Mal watched her beaming face disappear from view as the hatch slowly lifted back towards the sky, and waited until it closed completely before he began to walk. He got a few looks from people as he passed through the crowds, ignoring the mixed looks of either recognition, awe, surprise, anger, and sometimes all four. No one had the moxy to stop him thankfully enough, but these days this was the norm and he was just glad that most folk had the decency to understand he wanted to be left alone when he was going about his business.

Someone called out his name in cheer. He didn't turn his head to the voice or give them any sort of recognition, that would only add fuel to the fire and more would do the same, that was never good for laying low. It didn't mean he didn't appreciate the praise for the efforts he and the crew had gone through and the scars they bore, and the occasional drink in a bar was never unwelcome either. After a time, he turned a corner into a dusty alley and kept going, before disappearing into a particular narrow alcove that most overlooked unless they knew where it led.

He emerged into a worn semi-enclosed area that was almost entirely deserted, with only the thrum of air-conditioners built into walls and the dirt of the earth to greet him, the street as old as the worn wooden building he was marching towards. When he came to a stop in the middle of the street and turned, a flaking blue-varnished door engraved with fancy Chinese characters and traditional art lay before him and he quickly strode up to it, firmly knocking.

He waited, he knew the answer might take some time. Eventually a muffled voice came from behind the wood. "Tell me about 'Verse!"

"A whore on Osiris has two faces, the innocent lady for the daily life, and the hungry beast for the bedroom." Mal smiled as he recited the line to the door. There was no response at first, but soon enough he heard a shuffling of feet and a few heavy bolts being drawn back.

When the door swung inward he was hit with the scent of incense, facing down at a squat old asian woman in a dark silken robe awash with floral designs. Her greying hair was bunned-up and speared through the way Kaylee often wore her own hair, and she squinted at him with slightly-clouded yet perceptive hazel eyes. She held an oiled double-barrel shotgun in her wizened hands, and it was halfway between pointing at him and the ground as if she couldn't exactly see where he was at the current moment, or if she hadn't decided on shooting him or not.

"That is old line, Reynolds. Háo bù kèqì de báichī."

Mal scoffed as she gingerly stepped aside and let him pass her inside, he was careful not to knock into her, she was as frail as wet paper. He chuckled unsurprised as she whacked him crossing the threshold, it was about as hurtful as being poked with a stick.

"Being rude, no wave before visit," she grumbled, shuffling away with the shotgun after shutting the door and locking it up. "No time for unexpected guests."

She huffily whacked him again as she went by, placing the shotgun down next to an ancient leather sofa that had been carefully maintained. Mal walked into the cushy living room that could best be described as a museum of time. It possessed all the bells and whistles that came from living a long and well-travelled life carefully stuck up around the place, complete with a rather fancy ornate glass table before the couch, and a pristine flowery tea set sitting atop it that would likely have sold for a small fortune in the right antique circles. He stood to the side of the table while she carefully set herself down and started to pour some tea.

"I figure you got plenty of time on your hands, Ming," Mal smiled charmingly at her, resting his hands on his belt and standing almost to attention. "Didn't expect to be comin', truth be told, but I could use your expertise."

Ming grunted in response. "Speak."

"Well, been a spell since we last set foot on Beaumonde, didn't leave it on the best footing either," Mal mused, watching as she delicately finished making her tea, getting herself comfortable and vaguely looking in his direction. "Need your eyes an' ears, what you an' yours have seen or heard around an' if there's any new feds I should know 'bout that need payin' off or avoidin'. Need your mind too, for a special subject."

"Hm, what to know? There is much to know." Ming nodded, he could see her interest was piqued, wasn't often he asked for knowledge beyond a local lay of the land.

Ming had a great many talents from her life, she was currently a matron for a few of the more prestigious whorehouses on this side of Beaumonde, and they had a habit of collecting information that they passed back to her. It made her a rather excellent information broker, as in her own home she also looked after many young children, many of them orphans, and employed them as lookouts and scouts to keep abreast of the goings on of whatever happened on Beaumonde's streets.

Though beyond that, she had once owned dozens of ranches and her business had been raising livestock such as cows and horses just as his mother had done. While Mal had some experience himself with the basics he'd not had much in regards to looking after them full time, the most he'd really done was feeding and watering as the other farmhands tended to all the other duties, and now he had an equine passenger for the foreseeable future.

"Got me a lovely new horse. She's an... individually minded mare by the way of things, got a strong sense of self yet seems eager to play nicely. She'll be easy to tame, I think, follows directions well so far." Mal chuckled, wondering if Twilight would be annoyed at the way he was describing her.

"Good horse to have. Win many races," Ming smiled, she'd loved raising horses the most out of all of her ranching duties, she'd probably still be hands-on about it if she could hold one's reins without being shook to pieces. "You have concern?"

"She's definitely a free spirit, don't want her gettin' cabin fever. I only got room on my boat for the one horse, an' I aint sure a second's gonna put her to her ease," Mal thought carefully on how best to describe Twilight in non alien-pony terms. "So I got two main issues there, can't always let her out when I'm on the job, an' can't be havin' other horses around."

"Hmm, no good in race if she herd-shy." Ming frowned, taking a sip of her tea. "Give her herbal tea, good for soul, peppermint to calm nerve before race, ginger for trapped air. But horse must always have care, is like your fùgǔ ship."

"Aint been many to call my boat vintage. Anythin' I can do besides dopin' her with fancible teas that'll stop her gettin' restless?"

"No. Horse need to run. You know this," Ming frowned deeper, she grabbed a scone from the tray with tea on it and threw it at him, the baked good hitting Mal's arm with a thud and falling to the floor. "Pick that up. Horse must be free to run, need care."

"Yeah... that's what I thought." Mal sighed, no ancient Chinese cure-all to his problem then it would seem. Twilight might be an alien but she was still an equine in nature, still the same sort of creature that would become spooked and agitated from a small space with no place to go, and no herdmates to cosy up to. "So, tea, huh?"

"Herbal. Not permanent fix. Care." Ming emphasised.

Mal found himself nodding. Ming meant love, really. A creature like a horse was intelligent and responded to affection just as well as any human. Engaging with Twilight in any sort of conversation would probably do wonders for her mental health, being away from her own world and people wasn't going to do her any favours.

"Alright then. So, on other topics," Mal took a few pieces of platinum from his pocket and pressed them onto the table. "Any trouble I best know about?"

---

"You keepin' busy in here?" Kaylee asked Twilight as she stepped back through into the engine room where the small pony was examining various parts of the system. "Cap'n's away now so we got plenty'a time to show ya what's what."

"It's really amazing, in Equestria we don't have anything like this ship. We have steam engines in our trains, but that's already pretty expensive for the treasury to have connected all around the country." Twilight spoke as she looked over the hugely complex machine, this metal mechanism was the ship's beating heart.

"So you're in your industrialisation?" Kaylee wondered, going over to Twilight to see what she was paying particular attention to. "We got that whole tussle outta the way hundreds of years ago, took us a while 'fore we set out to the stars though."

"We have factories, small businesses and shops that soon expanded to have warehouses and production facilities, they're just very rare and only usually at a city's outskirts. We don't really need to aggressively expand to survive the way I saw humanity did, we're all relatively peaceful towards other races, and all our wars are in the past before we entered the Princesses reign," Twilight said, pausing her attention on the engine to focus on Kaylee. "But it also has the knock on effect of every creature slowing everything else down technologically or otherwise, we're stagnating as a nation in order to maintain our bonds with other races, to keep them at the same pace even if they can't quite keep themselves up to the standard we set," Twilight continued, Kaylee looked almost reverent at the ideal. "It hurts us economically but we see it as a necessary sacrifice to keep everyone happy, and in the grand scheme of things with the vast resources Equestria controls we can afford to not rapidly advance ourselves in the short term."

"It's like a big family, that's real sweet." Kaylee beamed.

"Well, a very large nation-spanning family that constantly bickers, but I suppose so." Twilight chuckled.

"So, what did you do back on your planet?" Kaylee asked, fidgeting on the spot.

"Well, I'm very... hm, I'm a scholar, I suppose? I guess I could say I'm booksmart, I learn at a better pace than my peers, like Simon in a way. I'm a scientist at heart if I had to narrow it down, but I have the ability to bring others together," Twilight nodded. "I think Princess Celestia saw that potential in me to unite and that's why she sent me to bring me and my friends together in the first place. Then I became a... uh, an intermediary, I guess? I hesitate to call us warriors, but my best friends and I... the six of us are capable of harnessing powerful magic within special artefacts that allow us to purge evil from a creature's heart. A few months ago we stopped an invasion and coup against the Crystal Empire by a being called Queen Chrysalis. The short of it was that we banished them all very far away, and very few lives were lost."

"That sounds an awful lot like fightin'." Kaylee frowned. As Twilight had spoken she'd gotten comfortable in a hammock that hung from the room's ceiling, her eyes still transfixed on the small pony. "I'd never be able to do that sorta thing, directing a group and fightin' armies and such."

"It wasn't anything quite so massive, really. More like the Queen herself, and a few squads of her soldiers," Twilight explained. "She was very sure of herself, and if I hadn't seen through her ploy then she'd have taken over. It was a good thing I did, but what worries me is that I'm generally the one to see through certain issues that others might not look too deeply at. I'm not sure what would happen if another threat showed up, and my friends had to take it on without me, or worse, didn't realise there was a threat. I'm worried for them."

Kaylee pouted. "They must be so worried about you. You're so far from home, an' it'd eat at me, not knowin' where one of my best friends had gone."

"My friends are strong, they'll get by without me for now. I know the Princesses can keep things steady too." Twilight said, glancing back over to Serenity's engine. "But come on, enough about that, tell me about the ship. I'm curious as to how the oxygen system works given that there's no ecosystem to produce it, so I'm guessing it's somehow created artificially through your machines."

That seemed to perk Kaylee up. "Oh no, Twilight, it's not fake, not like we're breathin' some sorta stale air. See I can show you how it works, the main part of the system that does all that is below the deckplate here," Kaylee tapped her boot on the floor for emphasis, instantly getting into the topic. "There's an access hatch to get to it, bit fiddly really, but it recycles all the waste we make and turns what it can back into breathable air and extra water. We keep the system topped up with a little compost and water the same as we keep fuel. It uses solar energy from the panels on the outer hull to make electricity, an' that works to separate hydrogen and oxygen from the water going through it and gettin' rid of all the bad stuff like methane, an' it keeps goin' round in an endless cycle."

"That's the real short an' narrow of it." Kaylee smiled as she hopped off the hammock and snatched a tool from her belt, beginning to pry the plate up. "I'll point stuff out."

Twilight was pleased Kaylee had moved away from her being stranded here, it was already something ever present in her mind, she didn't need the peppy mechanic being sad over Twilight's personal problems and getting herself down. Kaylee worked best when being overly joyful, that much was clear, and Twilight would prefer to help keep her happy.

"So what's that do?" Twilight asked, pointing to a strange cylinder that hummed with energy as the plate was fully lifted. She inwardly laughed as Kaylee's eyes lit up with the need to share her passion.

---

Mal eyed the entrance while Zoë rested a hand on her rifle butt, currently it was deserted outside the bar which Zoë had found strange as the area was usually very lively. It was about that time in the day where it started to fill up, though the bouncer wasn't even standing guard in front of the door. The land-mule was parked away around the side and not even a single soul had gotten curious. It made them very wary.

"Sure you want to just barge in, sir?" Zoë asked, glancing between Mal and the doorway inside. "Might be they installed some security since the last time."

"The notion had crossed my mind," Mal agreed, tapping a finger against the sidearm in his belt. "They might play with us, we know that much, an' I figure we're expecting trouble so we do it loud, see if we can't catch 'em off guard instead of the other way around."

"Sir." Zoë nodded, keeping a hand rested on her rifle as he pressed his palm against one of the doors. "When you're ready."

Like a good captain, Mal took the lead. Pushing the door in his hand went to his pistol as he strode inside the dimly lit premises, immediately spotting the bouncer at the far end and bringing his gun up in a flash. The bouncer stood a little perplexed by the action, but was already carefully reaching for his gun to drop it as Mal walked closer.

"Good man, don't want any unneeded bloodshed." Mal gave the man a nod as Zoë came up from behind with her rifle ready. He beckoned her forwards as he took the bouncer's sidearm and placed it inside his coat, it was nice of River to add some deep pockets for just such an occasion. "You go on in there now, I mean to talk to the twins, not kill 'em."

"Right..." The tall man seemed almost confused, as if he was unsure why anyone would come in here with their guns raised. "Are you uh, coming in behind me?"

"That's the idea," Mal nodded. "Move."

With a shrug the man did as he was bid, and as they passed the entrance booth the clerk behind it in her very fashionable qipao kept quiet and looked on. The building was a very simple affair with a connecting hallway from this one into the main room, so there wouldn't be any surprises unless feds were called in and Mal highly doubted that Fanty and Mingo wanted that or were so stupid as to consider it.

The bouncer opened the door that led down into the red glare of the small passage, there'd be no room to try turning around and disarming Mal, but he seemed entirely fine to lead them in. It made them cautious of some kind of ambush up ahead. The bouncer turned the corner with Mal behind him, and Mal spied the artificial rocky interior and the weapon boxes ahead with the second guard that made sure people put their weapons away. If there was going to be any trap sprung it'd be happening right about now.

"Malcolm! Are you going to stop threatening our man and come talk?" came a shout from outside Mal's view. Fanty and Mingo must have already been sitting at a table below.

"Mingo." Mal greeted the voice loudly from his position, not holstering his pistol as it aimed at the man beside the lockup instead. "If I turn the corner is there gonna be a whole ensemble of folk pointing guns at me?"

"Just us down here, precious. Promise. You can stop the theatrics."

When he'd spoken with dear old Ming earlier, he'd asked about the twins and what they were up to, she'd mentioned they were being very shifty lately and that he should watch his back, or something to that effect in her broken English. And yet, they hadn't immediately opened up on them with anything...

"I'm gonna be mighty disappointed if bullets come at me." Mal warned, gently pushing the bouncer forwards and carefully taking a couple of steps inside the open area, his boots tapping as he passed onto the transition of metal flooring. Zoë slowly began to lower her rifle as both guards clearly weren't about to make any moves and Mal walked further in. Mal looked down from the upper level and did indeed see that besides the two guards only the twins were here, seated at the same table they'd spoken at the last time they'd come here. No hidden people behind the bar, no new defences either. The place was empty.

Both Mal and Zoë tentatively holstered their weapons as Fanty gestured a look that said 'told you so', while resting back in his seat. Mal was even surprised to see a bag that was awfully similar to the one they'd stolen from him. The twins hadn't ever been ones to really scalp him on pricing for the jobs he took, so maybe they were trying to make peace.

Light music of an oriental sort was playing as they made their way down the grated stairs and over to where the twins were casually reclining, and it took Mal a second but he did eventually sit down, getting as comfortable as his instincts would allow.

"Gonna sit, darling?" Mingo asked, looking at Zoë.

"I'll stand." Zoë returned, her face solid.

"Suit yourself." Fanty said, smirking at Mal. "Drink?"

"I'm good, wanna clear some things first," Mal said, giving the man a look that bordered on serious, while resting a hand on the bag that was presented. "Is this my bank job money you so kindly looked after while a little girl played merry with your bar?"

"The same, minus the twenty-five percent we'd originally agreed on back then." Fanty smiled.

"And minus fifteen for the trouble your girl caused. Damages, loss of patrons, emotional turmoil... you understand, Mal," Mingo purred, his face a very punchable mask. "But that doesn't mean we can't still work together."

Mal found himself with a subtle smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Trust the twins to take their full forty they bumped the price up to the last. He supposed that was fair, and if this did make them even then so be it.

"Well I won't fault you that," Mal nodded. "If you knew we were comin' then it's likely you know why we're here again, so then I'll ask if you're willing to cut a deal?"

"We are." Mingo smiled at him.

"Paper-money is a rare commodity very few can deal with," Fanty said matter-of-factly, shooting a sly grin to his brother. "But we just so happen to have the means to complete it and get it to the central planets."

"Badger's one of the few who could also do that given some time, but the way we hear it over our channels, he's afraid of the Alliance bearing down." Mingo scoffed, his brother laughing with him.

"Yeah he does that," Mal agreed with mute annoyance. "He startin' to make it a habit an' at this juncture I can afford to not take work from him."

That lit a spark in the twins' eyes.

"Could be that I come to you two more often lookin' for work." Mal offered, resting back in his seat while he saw Zoë was eyeing them. "Generally I go where there's more pay, but I could take a slight hit in that area if it means a guaranteed income."

"Oh precious, you're talking our language," Fanty drawled in his odd accent, leaning forwards. "We could talk jobs once we've worked out this arrangement with the money."

"What were you thinking?" Mingo asked, clearly fishing for a bar to raise or lower.

"Well..." Mal started, taking on a more sturdy posture. "You already know I aint got the means to do anythin' with it, it's just dangerous paper burnin' a hole in my boat for the next time the feds catch me, an' I know I'd never see the light of day again if that happens.

"So, here's what I propose in the interest of fairness." Mal leaned forward to meet Fanty's position, who seemed almost excited at his movement. "You two get a very lucrative seventy percent, for all the legwork you'll be doing. The way I recall it, ten credits roughly transfers to around eighty platinum, and from what I saw in our little black box, we had a good thousand in credits."

"That doesn't account for handling fees, darling." Mingo began.

"Slow down, I'm aware," Mal cut back in, raising a finger. "I'll keep it simple to avoid any undue headaches. Say whatever buyer you find says they'll give you ten plat for every ten credits, then you'd probably look for a better deal."

The twins shared a laugh.

"If it comes to thirty plat for every ten credits then that's a starting point, the net take is three-thousand, take a heavy processing fee and you're probably left with just over half that. Say that's the deal they give you, then of that I'm happy to give you sixty percent." Mal shrugged, the twins nodding to the price. "Of course they probably know you wouldn't go for that, and you know they'll never go for a one-to-one trade, gotta make a profit for themselves, so I figure the most it'd go to is forty-five to fifty plat. It gets to that, then you can take sixty-five after the processing fee."

"And seventy is our end if we get more than fifty for ten." Fanty nodded to Mingo.

"Sounds like a very sweet deal, Mal," Mingo smiled. "Why are you feeling so kind?"

"Because, Mingo," Mal gave a smile of his own. "The next five high-paying jobs you put on offer beyond your standard work are mine, that's why."

"Two," Fanty shot back immediately. "Can't be giving you all the good ones, Mal."

"Make it four." Zoë chimed in from where she stood, her eyes steely.

Mal smiled as Fanty shifted under her gaze, speaking up again after a tense few seconds of silence. "Three would also be fine."

"We could do three," Mingo slid back in cooly as his brother relaxed. "Our best paying that come in, plus this money deal. Seems good to me. Fanty?"

"Mingo." Fanty nodded.

"It's settled then?" Mal wondered, already rising to his feet.

"We'll write up the current deal with the money, wave you the specifics, and arrange a drop once everything's been processed." Mingo confirmed, not moving from his seat but raising a hand. Mal took it and firmly shook. When the twins shook on something and a deal was printed up, they didn't renege. It had been a mistake not to get the bank job they'd taken from the twins written up in the first place. "But as it so happens we do have something that might interest you to start the first of those three jobs, pays well."

"I'm listening." Mal gave a curt nod, crossing his arms.

Author's Note:

Fùgǔ - Vintage, Old-fashioned.
Háo bù kèqì de báichī - Unceremonious idiot.

Comments

[A.P.O.N.I.]

Nice to see a new chapter.

[PaintedPony]

Well, I was glad to see this one pop up in my feed. Glad you're not dead and hopefully the other stuff you're doing is resting your brain so you can have another chapter out sooner than later.

[manacar]

Thx for the update glad this still on going unlike some others right now

[jimerjam]

good keep going

[Vaguely Demented]

Anyone else wondering if Jayne is going to try to sell Twilight?

[Jinxed]

10350679
Think he might have learned his lesson with Simon & River.

[Vaguely Demented]

10351178
Fair. He is a touch stubborn though. I wouldn’t be surprised if he needed a reminder.

[Crimson Sol]

Woot! New Chapter! All is right in the world again. Yes, the brain sucking abominations are still swirling around, but this makes everything better... Slightly.

[PonyofEntropy]

Interesting story. Added to my read list.

[Starcat5]

Quick pulse check... and the author is logged in right now. Good to know.

[Jinxed]

11130367
And currently said author is working on other stories while rewriting this one.
Soon™

[protator]

I hope this fic isn't dead, very enjoyable read so far.

[Jinxed]

11295964
It's very slowly being brought up to standard with a slight rewrite in places, but it's taken a bit of a backseat to other things.
It'll get there.