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Randy1012
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Jed Walker

Being the home of the (presumably multiple) logs of Jed Walker, the wisecracking flyboy known more for his unfortunately skunk-like hair than his actual skills as a pilot.
24/Jun/06, 4:56 am Send Email to Randy1012   Send PM to Randy1012 ICQ
 
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Jed Walker and the Woeful Wave

Time: Approximately twelve hours after setting off for Beylix.

Jed reached up and gently pushed at two of the model starfighters hanging above him, watching as they began to sway back and forth and swing about in a very rough imitation of dogfighting. He stepped farther into the room, his eyes taking in all the remaining paraphernalia of the former occupant left strewn about--lots of denim, lots of boots, and lots of empty whiskey bottles with fake flowers sticking out of them. Earlier, while keeping an eye on the helm during the ship's flight to Beylix, he'd been going over the crew manifest and had been surprised to find out who used to live in here.

Her name was Terry Vicksburg, but she was also known to Jed by her callsign, Black Fox. Like Jed, she'd been a fighter pilot in the Unification War; they'd never flown in the same squadron, though they did share a short tour aboard the same ship for a week or two. Jed had only met her once, but even before then he'd known of her reputation. The Black Fox was known for drinking hard, flying like the Devil was her copilot, and her sheer unadulterated nerve. Jed remembered the first time he'd heard about her, not long after she buzzed an Alliance command post to bomb it with paint cans in order to draw their air support away from an actual Browncoat attack. Easily recognizable with her white Stetson hat and easy smile, Terry was an hero to every pilot in the Independent armed forces.

Aside from her wartime accomplishments, however, Jed didn't know much about Terry. He knew she was originally from Shadow, but that was about it. After the war, she practically disappeared; most people figured she went someplace where she could continue fighting the war, but Jed had hoped that she'd found a nice quiet planet on the Rim and had been living the past six years in peace. Lord knows she deserved some, after what happened to her world, he thought sadly.

He crossed the room and picked up her Stetson, which was lying on the desk beside a jar full of blasted earth labeled with the names of her parents, and looked the hat over with a frown. She was hardly ever without her hat; the fact that she'd left it behind wasn't very promising. He set the hat down and looked at the wall, unable to help smiling a little at all the pictures surrounding the desk, each one a photo of other pilots from the war. Jed was a little surprised to find one of him among all the others; he had his arm around another pilot's shoulders and they were both looking away from the camera, laughing at something. He tried to remember when that had taken place, but the few happy memories of those days were difficult to sift out of the unhappy ones that made up the majority of those five years.

With a sigh, he turned away from the pictures and sat down at the desk, bringing the Cortex terminal online. While browsing about in the Man'o'War's personal files, he'd also found out that Terry had kept in relatively close contact with an ex-crewmember named Fei Wachachynzkyk, a resident of St. Albans. Oddly enough, she was also the ex-wife of Joey Wachachynzkyk, the ship's late mechanic. Jed figured that she would want to know about Terry, and since he didn't find any evidence of any other friends or surviving family, Fei was the only viable option. As he logged into the Cortex, Jed began to wonder how he was going to tell this stranger the bad news, not only about Terry, but Fei's ex-husband, too.

Finally the connection was established, and Jed began to record a wave. "Uh...hey there," he began nervously, his left hand reaching up to scratch at his stripe. "My name's Jed Walker. I know you and I ain't really familiar with one another, but yer lit'rally the only person I could contact. Lemme think how I should be puttin' this...somethin' happened to Man'o'War. I ain't exactly sure what happened or who the culprits were, but I'm pretty sure all of the former crew's dead." He offered the camera a nervous half-smile. "'Cept fer you, that is. Dui bu qi.

"Okay, now yer prob'ly askin' yerself 'Who is this guy?', 'Why should I believe him?', or 'What if he's the gou neong yung de who's responsible fer this?' Possibly all three all those in some variation or another. Y'see, I knew yer friend, Terry Vicksburg. She's how I found out about ya; yer the only one she seemed to keep in touch with. We flew together durin' the War, and I promise you that I never woulda been part of somethin' that would harm her in any way. I had...have...too much respect fer Black Fox. She was a good woman and a damn fine pilot."

Jed paused and took a breath, which he let out in a sigh. "Ma'am, I know you were good friends with Terry, and yer ex-husband was workin' aboard this boat, too, so this has gotta be pretty ruttin' painful fer ya. An' I wish I coulda told ya this in a more appropriate manner." He looked away for a moment, thinking, before he faced the camera again. "Listen, I'm gonna be here fer at least a couple more days. We found the ship adrift in the middle of nowhere, and we're headed fer Beylix now. If ya need anythin' from me, if ya want me to send anything of Terry's or yer husband's, just lemme know. Whatever I can do to help. You have my sympathies."

With that, he reached forward and ended the recording, then sent out the wave. After logging off, he sat back in the chair and let out another sigh, covering his face with his hands and shaking his head. As a former squadron CO in the Unification War, he was used to sending letters out to people notifying them of their loved ones' deaths. It never gits easy, not even after all these years...

He spun the chair around and stood up, looking around Terry's room again. He suddenly felt the urge to yawn, which he fought down, and he realized that even after that blissful nap he'd taken after Man'o'War'd thawed out, he was still tired. Sleep hadn't come easy on that cramped little shuttle, and now his body was making him pay for it.

Jed didn't even think of sleeping in here. As far as he was concerned, this room still belonged to Black Fox. With one last, somber look around, he retreated to the ladder and climbed down, headed back up to the bridge.

Last edited by Randy1012, 24/Jun/06, 5:20 am
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Jed Walker and the Hungover Húndàn

The morning after the party...

Sometime the next morning, Nathan began to climb slowly out of his cabin in search of aspirin or a sedative. As he poked his head up above the deck, he was greeted by a familiar voice.

"I was wonderin' when ya'd finally crawl outta there," said Jed, who was standing nearby, leaning against the bulkhead with his arms folded across his chest.

Nathan winced. "I suppose you're not really yelling, are you..."

"No, but maybe I should be," Jed responded, his tone a great deal calmer than it probably should have been.

Nathan leaned against the wall to climb the rest of the way out and pulled the hatch closed. "Well, do you want to do this now, or wait til I can track down Wil for something to ease the clanging?" he asked.

Jed smiled, but only a little bit. "You could track her down, I guess, if ya felt like walkin' back to the MacElroys'," he said. "She's stayin' behind."

Nathan rubbed his forehead. "That makes sense, I suppose... Hope she'll be happier here."

With a shrug, Jed replied. "She seems to be, I guess." He stepped away from the bulkhead and stood at his full height, staring at Nathan. "Ya know, Nate, you and alcohol don't go together very well..."

The other man nodded slowly. "No, we don't," he said, making his way over to a couch and sitting himself down. "I don't drink often, and get drunk even more rarely. Last night was a damn stupid mistake."

That earned a smirk from Jed as he followed Nathan, though instead of sitting, he remained on his feet. "Yeah, 'stupid' is one way to describe it, fer sure..."

Nathan leaned back and closed his eyes halfway. "Before you say anything more, Walker, yes I remember everything I said last night," he replied. "I shouldn't'a made it personal and I shouldn't'a lost my temper, but most of what I said reflects my feelins' on the subject."

"And everything I said reflected my opinion of how much of a jackass you were bein'," Jed answered with a nod. "How's the jaw, anyway?"

"Don't hurt any worse than the rest of my head," Nathan said, rubbing his chin.

"Well, that's good," Jed said. "As much of a chun as you were bein' last night, I'd'a felt bad if I'd broken it." He pulled out one of the chairs at the table and sat down with a quiet sigh. "So...ya remember everythin' ya said last night?" he asked.

Nathan nodded. "The highlights, at the very least... I definitely remember resigning as captain."

"Heh, yeah, 'bout that...ya sure ya meant that part?"

"Yup. I have a pretty fair grip on the cargo business, Jed, but I am no leader," Nathan said. "And with the amount of shooting that's been going on around us lately, perhaps it's best I let someone who knows how to handle it take the reins."

Jed leaned back in his seat. "Well, I ain't had a chance to talk with the others 'bout it yet, but I guess if yer serious 'bout this, I'd be willin' to take over..."

"Good," Nathan replied. "In retrospect, I think I only took the job 'cause of you calling out 'not me' at the time..."

Jed gave Nathan a lopsided grin. "Well, I wasn't really lookin' to be responsible fer a whole ship and its crew," he answered honestly.

Nathan shrugged. "Well, if it kills you, your problems are over, right?"

"I guess so." Jed sighed and scratched nervously at his stripe. "So, what about you? If ya don't wanna stick around here, I understand, but we can't afford to buy out yer share of Fenghuang, and I doubt ya'd be willin' to give it up fer free."

Nathan looked up at Jed. "Well that depends... Now that you know how I feel about things, can you handle having me around?" he asked.

Jed shrugged. "I ain't overly fond of people who spit on what the Browncoats tried to do," he admitted. "Sometimes I think that bothers me more'n seein' the Alliance doin' whatever they gorram please out here. But I ain't the type that judges a man rashly, neither. Ya seemed like an alright fella before last night. If ya got somethin' to offer this ship, I don't see why you couldn't stay on."

"I know ranching, I know hunting, and I know handling cargo," Nathan said. "If there's a use for any of those, I'll stick around. As for the rest... I don't hate the Independents any more than I hate the Alliance. It was a damn stupid war over a damn stupid reason, and everyone should've stayed home and minded their own damn stupid business." Nathan's anger only made his headache worse, and he gritted his teeth.

"I ain't gonna get into it again," said Jed, his head shaking. "Not right now, anyway. Now that we're short a medic, I'd rather we avoided topics that could lead to fisticuffs again."

Nathan nodded. "Guess I'd better start reading up on first aid again... Hmm, did Wil want her share of the ship when she left?"

Jed shook his head. "She didn't seem to care too much about it. Honestly, I think she just wanted to get outta here with as little fuss as possible..."

"Then I guess our shares just got more valuable," Nathan said. "Woo-hoo..." He rubbed his head some more. "So, you gonna want my cabin?"

Jed frowned. "Why? Does bein' captain automatically mean I gotta use it?"

"Thought you might want it, bein' a double and all," Nathan explained, shrugging. "I seriously doubt I'll be getting much company in there."

That made Jed laugh. "Well, I s'pose we could switch, though you'll probably want me to move all those models outta mine..."

"Daaamn, you've been starting your lady collection already?" Nathan asked.

Jed smiled patiently at the other man. "I meant the airplane models hangin' from the ceiling. Terry left 'em behind...y'know, the one who had that room before me..."

"Oh, right... Gorram blackjack..."

The pilot/captain grinned. "Speakin' of which, I managed to finagle us some of that. Don't let me catch you drinkin' it all," he warned jokingly.

Nathan made a face. "You won't be catching me drinking any."

Jed's grin widened as he stood back up. "Shiny! More fer me, then."

"Yes, take it, and never let it darken my towels again." Nathan grimaced. "I'll stick with the pie from here on out," he added.

"Yeah, pie seems to be 'bout the wildest thing you can handle," Jed replied with a good-natured smirk on his face. "Anything else on yer mind, Nate? MacElroy'll be here with our supplies soon..."

"Couple'a aspirin or a large mallet."

Jed shrugged. "Check the infirmary," he said. "I didn't let Wil didn't take everything with her."

"I'll do that," Nathan replied, getting up slowly.

"As soon as yer feelin' better, come on down to the cargo hold so we can go over everything," Jed told him.

Nathan nodded. "Yeah... If we're still hauling cattle then it'll take some creative confinement."

Jed smiled. "Hey, that wasn't my idea, remember." He tossed Nathan a wave and then turned, making his way toward the hold. A moment later, Nathan headed off in search of the infirmary and something to shoot the dog that bit him...

Last edited by Randy1012, 28/Aug/06, 9:44 pm
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Jed Walker and the Long-awaited Response

Jed closed the hatch above him and dropped down the rest of the ladder, his boots clanging softly on the metal floor. He turned and surveyed his new room with a satisfied, though somewhat tired, smile on his face. It had been a long day; first figuring out how to hold the cargo they were getting from MacElroy, then helping load said cargo up, then bidding the MacElroy and Fairchild clans goodbye and heading offworld again.

After putting Fenghuang on course for St. Albans, Jed and Nathan had set about switching cabins. Fortunately, Nathan hadn't had a lot of things to move, but Jed had insisted on moving all of Terry Vicksburg's belongings to his new room, partially because he liked having the reminders of her around, but mostly because he knew all those model fighters would probably drive Nathan nuts.

But now everything was moved and mostly put up the way they had been in his old room. There were still a couple of models left to put up on the ceiling, however, and Jed decided to take care of that while he had a free moment. He took off his jacket and tossed it onto his bed, then grabbed a chair and the models, and got to work.

He was just finishing up the last one when he heard the Cortex terminal at his desk begin to beep. The noise surprised him, and he almost lost his balance on the chair he'd been standing on. Fortunately he didn't, and he hopped down off of the chair, giving it an annoyed glare before he picked it up and made his way over to the terminal, sitting down and turning the screen on. His eyebrows knotted together when he saw that he had a message waiting, and he quickly opened it, wondering who it could be.

The picture was slightly grainy, as if recorded with old equipment. Even so, the woman was pretty. Not the kind of gorgeous that makes hearts race and men fall over, but her face had a kind and earthy sort of way about it that relaxed a person. She had dark red hair, wide-set blue eyes, dusky skin, and a sleeping baby held on her shoulder. "Mister Walker, I want to thank you for your message. I'd halfway suspected something was up when everyone stopped writing me, but I suppose it's better to know for sure. I know it's been a while since I left, but Man'o'War was my home for a lot of years and those people were my family." She looked down at the child for a moment. "I know you’ve done some looking up of things if you knew where to find me, so you know that Joey and I parted ways a while back. Even so, I wouldn’t have wished any harm to have come to him.

"You knew Terry during the war, huh? If you ever find yourself out to St. Albans, Mister Walker, please look me up, I work at an orphanage here. Terry never talked about those days, and after a while we all learned not to ask. I would like very much to hear about the Black Fox from someone who knew her..." She hesitated. "I also got a message from a 'Baron la Croix' earlier, saying a lot of the same things as you. Do you know him? Well, at first I was going to tell you that I don’t need anything, but if my...if Joey had any pictures lying around I'd be willing to reimburse you for sending them. I'm not sure if it'd be right to ask for any of Terry's things, even though her family's all gone. She never talked directly about dying, though it was easy to tell it was on her mind a fair bit." The woman shook her head. "I don't think she ever wrote a will.

"I'd like to thank you again, Mister Walker, you seem like a good person and I wish you and yours well. Take good care of that ship, Captain Milo loved her like nothing else. I guess I got pretty fond of her too." The woman smiled, and ended the message.

Jed watched as the video closed and the screen reverted back to the Cortex log-in page, a thoughtful look on his face. After a few moments, he finally decided to send Fei a response. As soon as the video began recording, he started to speak.

"Hey, Miss Fei, this is Jed Walker again," he began. "I just got yer message, and I wanted to let ya know that Fenghuang is headed to St. Albans as we speak. We just left Athens earlier today, so we still got about three days and some change left before we arrive. But I'd certainly like to meet ya, if yer willin'. I'd love to hear what the Black Fox was like outside the war." He smiled then, somewhat sadly, as he thought about his former comrade.

"I ain't rightly sure what Joey left behind," he continued a moment later. "But I'll talk to the guy that's livin' in his old room and see what we can find for ya." He was quiet for a few seconds, trying to think of something else to say. Finally he shrugged, and smiled at the screen. "Well, I guess that's it. Hopefully I'll see ya in a few days, Miss Fei. Take care." He leaned forward and ended the recording, then sent the wave off before leaning back in his chair again, putting his hands behind his head as he looked up at the ceiling. Though Jed had never been to St. Albans, many a time had he heard how cold and generally unpleasant it could get. But maybe it wouldn't be so bad there after all...

Last edited by Randy1012, 28/Aug/06, 11:03 pm
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Jed Walker and the Unexpected Revelation

Fenghuang, en route to St. Albans, glided gently through the black. It was late, at least as far as the crew was concerned, and most everyone was either asleep or very near to it. Jed, however, was sitting up in the c0ckpit, not feeling particularly sleepy. He was leaning back in the pilot seat, tapping his hand on the armrest as he hummed quietly to himself.

Seated in the co-pilot's seat, Ma'i listened to his humming as she watched the stars. "Anyone ever tell you you can't carry a tune in a bucket?" she asked.

Jed grinned. "Many a time..."

Ma'i laughed. "Yet still you keep trying," she said. "You'd think after a while you'd realize you're not gonna get better with practice." She grinned over at him.

He shrugged, looking over at her. "Yeah, well, my momma always said I was a stubborn one," he replied.

"Yeah...me too," Ma'i said, smiling. She shrugged. "Good thing we have nothing to fight about."

"Yeah, I ain't in no hurry to have you screamin' yer lungs out at me about nothin'..."

"Nothin', huh? I can think of one good reason to scream," Ma'i said, winking at him.

Jed grinned at that and turned his gaze forward again, looking out at the stars. They sat there in silence for a few minutes before he suddenly hopped up out of his chair. "I'm gonna go get myself some blackjack," he explained. "Want some?"

She shrugged at him. "Sure. And can ya see if there's any Wacky Snacks left?" she asked.

"No problem, darlin'. I'll be back in a flash," Jed answered. He exited, his humming ringing through the corridor and back into the c0ckpit until finally he was far enough away that it could no longer be heard.

Once she was sure he was gone, Ma'i turned to the console, searching the cortex for the bounty listings and bringing hers up. She believed Baron...but some horrible fascination made her want to see it for herself. She was so engrossed in what she was reading that several minutes passed without her realizing it.

"Who's Brianna Gardetto?"

Ma'i jumped and whirled around in the chair to find Jed standing behind her, two mugs in his hand and an opened box of Wacky Snacks tucked in his arm. He looked down at Ma'i with a curious expression on his face. "Well?" he asked. The woman on the screen was obviously Ma'i, but he wanted to hear it from her.

She gaped up at him for a moment, trying to think of a good lie and failing miserably. "Umm...me," she said lamely. "The old me..."

Jed raised an eyebrow and looks at the Cortex screen again, reading the fairly lengthy criminal record. "Looks like the old you got around," he observed.

Ma'i shrugged uneasily and looked down, not wanting to see the expression on Jed's face. "If it makes any difference, I didn't pull the trigger..."

"'Course ya didn't," Jed replied. "Lotsa folks the Alliance's got on that gorram list prob'ly ain't guilty of half the stuff they're s'posed to've done."

Ma'i shrugged again and shut the screen off. "The other stuff I did. And whether I killed anyone or not, they don't care. I didn't even know about this whole thing. Baron told me..."

"Really?" Jed sat back down and handed her one of the mugs before setting the Wacky Snacks on the console. He sat back in his chair with a sigh. "How the hell'd he find out?"

Ma'i sipped at the mug, surprised by his reaction. "He has contacts I guess...he called me Miss Gardetto when he came to get me for dinner one night. Scared me to death..."

Jed smirks, shaking his head. "I knew there was more to that wang ba dan than he was lettin' on," he muttered before taking a long drink of his blackjack. "So...what really happened?" he asked a moment later, his voice quiet.

She sighed. "My friends and I used to raid Alliance supplies," she answered. "It was a joke to us. One night, one of them shot an Alliance officer--I guess they went back through the security feeds and charged everyone who was there. I don't know. I ran that same night..."

"And ya found yerself out here on the Rim, lookin' fer a place to hide, right?" asked Jed.

Ma'i nodded. "It's why I was on the settler ship." She sipped her drink and reached into the box for a snack.

"Heck of a story," Jed said softly. "Didn't know we had our very own gen-u-ine fugitive onboard..."

Ma'i sighed and shrugged. "I'll go. You can drop me on St. Albans. I'm endangering you all, and I'm barely worth my weight as a mechanic yet. I'm a pretty poor bargain..."

Jed looked over at her. "You've been doin' alright so far. Why would I wanna get rid of ya?" he wondered.

She sipped from her mug again. "That's a lot of money, Jed. Someone will see me one day. Recognize me. Then I've brought danger down on the entire crew.

"If ya hadn't noticed, darlin', most of us here're pretty gorram capable of handlin' danger," Jed pointed out. "As far as I'm concerned, there ain't no worthwhile reason to make ya leave if ya don't wanna." He took a sip of his drink before continuing. "'Sides, St. Albans is colder'n any sane person's got any right to be comfortable with. I'd feel guilty if I left ya there."

Ma'i laughed. "It sure isn't a vacation paradise..."

Jed nodded. "Basically, what I'm sayin' is: stick around. Ya got friends here, at least, and that counts fer somethin'. I'm pretty sure most of us'd be willin' to stand by ya if things went south."

"I like it here," Ma'i replied, nodding as well. "This is my home now.. I'd hope it never becomes necessary to fight for me..."

The pilot grinned at her. "No offense, bao bei, but me neither," he said.

She laughed again. "Do me a favor?"

"Sure."

Ma'i sighed, frowning. "Don't say anything to the others...they may not all be as accepting as you. There may be a day when I tell them, or there may be a day when they find out, but for now, please keep my secret," she pleaded.

"'Please keep the secret that two other people know now,'" Jed reiterated. He nodded. "Right, got it."

That made Ma'i laugh. "Two people I know will keep it. Two people I trust. It is a lot of money, after all." She shrugged.

"It is, at that," Jed agreed. "With that kinda money, I'd be able to get my family off of Ezra, no problem. But that'd mean betrayin' a friend, which ain't gonna happen."

Ma'i smiled and finished her drink, setting the mug down. "Thank you," she said. "Now, if I'm gonna be worth my keep and the risk, maybe I ought to learn more about this ship." She brought up some technical manuals on the screen. "Soon enough, I'll have to stop reading and start looking..."

Jed watched her, nodding in agreement. "They say that firsthand experience is the best way to learn..."

She shrugged and laughed a little. "It is...but I'd like to read at least enough to know what not to touch before I go pokin' around." She grinned over at him. "I'd hate to crash us."

"Yeah, I don't think that'd go over too well with the others," Jed said, smirking. "And now that I'm in charge, they'd prob'ly blame me for it, 'stead'a you."

"Welcome to bein' in charge," Ma'i replied, laughing.

"Ah, it ain't that bad," Jed admitted. He finished his blackjack and set the empty mug aside before leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head. "It's got some nice perks. Authority over everyone else, free rein over the ship, a bigger bed..."

Ma'i grinned. "Oh yeah? Need someone to fill that extra space?"

Jed looked over at her, an eyebrow rising. "You serious?" he asked.

She smiled and blew him a kiss. "Sure...but let's leave it for sometime when someone else is flyin' this boat," she said, grinning playfully.

"There is an auto-pilot, ya know," Jed responded, grinning right back at her.

Ma'i nodded and winked at him. "Quite a good point ya have there," she replied, standing up and stretching. "So how about showin' me this bigger bed of yours?"

Jed watched as she stretched, and then turned on the auto-pilot. He glanced around the c0ckpit to make sure things were in order before he stood up as well, his blue eyes sparkling playfully. "Right this way, darlin'..."

Last edited by Randy1012, 29/Aug/06, 9:13 pm
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Jed Walker and the Mysterious Scholar

Fenghuang was still about a day away from St. Albans, but fortunately the trip had been relatively quiet so far. Well, as long as you ignored the cows, anyway. Jed quietly made his way up to the crew deck, having decided that he and Baron needed to have a chat. He strolled up to the hatch leading down to Baron's quarters and banged on it with his fist.

"Come in," came Baron's voice through the comm panel next to the hatch.

Jed pushed the hatch back and climbed down into the cabin, dropping to the floor. He stepped around the ladder and faced Baron, leaning back against the ladder. "We gotta talk," he said simply.

Baron spun around in his chair, cleaning the barrel of his revolver. "Oh?"

"Yeah," Jed replied, folding his arms across his chest. "Who are you? I mean, who are ya really?"

Baron smirked. "Do you mean technically?" he asked. "Or is this some kind of metaphysical question?"

Jed smiled slightly at that. "I'm just wonderin' how ya found out about Ma'i's past exploits. Ya must have some pretty good contacts to track down that information."

Baron finished with the barrel and put it back on his desk. "Ah...I wondered when she was going to mention that to you," he said. "I'm a little surprised she didn't just tell you the whole story, since she knows exactly who I am and why I was able to get the information on her." He picked up another piece of his gun and began cleaning it, too.

Jed shrugged. "I don't think she felt it was her place to say. 'Sides, I'd rather hear it straight from the source."

"And you thought that if you came in I'd just tell you?" asked Baron as he switched pieces again.

"If I'm gonna be runnin' this ship, I wanna know who I'm really workin' with," Jed replied. "Aliases and secret identities're fun an' all, but there's more to ya than yer lettin' on, Baron, and honestly, I ain't sure I can trust ya right now."

Baron nodded. "Fair enough. Though I would hope that my efforts in helping to defend this crew, even to the point of saving Ma'i's life, would have given me some points towards that goal."

"Of course, but that all coulda just been a charade, a means to an end. Fer all I know, you could be Alliance. It'd certainly explain how a scholar from the Core got to be such a crack shot," Jed pointed out.

"That it would," Baron replied, nodding as he began piecing the revolver back together. "But then the question becomes: 'If I am Alliance, why would I serve under a former Browncoat? Or even serve with one?'" He finished reconstructing his gun and slipped the already fully loaded cylinder into it before flipping the breech closed.

Jed eyed the gun as Baron put it back together, not missing that it was loaded. "Like I said, it could just be a means to an end," he repeated.

Baron nodded again, setting the revolver down on the desk. "True." He looked back up at him. "Have you ever heard of Senator Loren Chen?"

Jed shook his head after thinking about it. "It don't ring a bell..."

"He was an Alliance senator for many years. Not one of the most well-known senators, but he had his hand in several military deployment and weapons development bills. You could say he helped support the Alliance military during the war. Getting them what they need to crush the Browncoats."

"I'm likin' him already," Jed deadpanned.

Baron smirked. "I thought you might. Anyway, about halfway through the war, the good senator was killed when his personal transport ship had some kind of reactor malfunction and blew itself to pieces. The explosion killed him along with all of his aides."
  
"What a shame," Jed replied. "This story got a point, or--" he was interrupted as Baron dug through his desk and pulled out a file, which he tossed at Jed. Fortunately, he managed to catch it without looking too awkward. "What's this?"

"Read it," Baron said, motioning to the file.

Jed looked at Baron for a second before he finally opened the file and started reading. It appeared to be an assassination order for one "Loren Chen," and included detailed information about the target, where he lived, where he worked, who he traveled with, his schedule for the three months prior to his death, and other information.

Scanning down to the end of the document, Jed immediately recognized the name of the man who'd put out the hit. He had been a major proponent of the Independent cause, even though it endangered his rather cushy and influential position in the Core.

"Shen sheng de gao wan," Jed breathed. He looked up at Baron. "Where'd ya get this?"

Baron shrugged. "I have hundreds of orders like that," he hinted, sitting back and waiting for it to click.

Jed nodded slowly as the realization dawned on him. "Yer an assassin."

"Yes," Baron answered, nodding. "At one time."

"But not anymore?"

He shook his head. "Five years ago I quit and found myself on Osiris, which is where I adopted the name 'Baron la Croix' and received a formal education. Something I couldn't get growing up in a circus on Paquin."

Jed raised an eyebrow. "You grew up in a circus?"

"Yep," Baron said, nodding. "That's where I learned to be a 'crack shot.'" He smirked. "My father was a trickshot performer."

"That'd explain it, all right." Jed looked down at the file again. "So...hundreds of these, huh?"

Baron nodded. "Not all of them as high-level as that one, obviously," he said. "But quite a few. Criminals, senators, military personel, doctors, the list goes on."

"If yer waitin' fer me to ask ya to go into more detail, don't worry about it," Jed replied. "Ain't none of my business, and I'd just be dredgin' up memories yer probably tryin' to forget."

"If you did ask, I'd just send you to Ma'i. She has my personal file."

Jed's eyebrows rose. "Really? Yer puttin' a lotta faith in her not to reveal that information; though I s'pose it's only fair that she know yer secret if you knew hers..."

"That is precisely why I gave it to her," Baron said with a nod. "I hadn't planned to, but her attitude towards me after learning I knew about her past was getting disruptive."

Jed gave Baron a slight grin. "Didn't take it too well, did she?" he asked.

Baron laughed a bit and shook his head. "I assumed she would be afraid of me, but I didn't think she would let it spill over into her job as much as she did. I didn't want her getting herself in trouble, or someone depending on her, because she wasn't looking at things objectively."

"It does explain why she was treatin' ya the way she was a couple weeks back, at least..."

Baron nodded and reached into his desk drawer again. "So you're the new captain, huh? Officially?" he asked as he dug through the drawer.

"So it seems," Jed responded, watching him dig through his desk.

He nodded again and turned back to Jed, pulling a folder out of the drawer. "Then you'll want these." He tossed the folder to Jed. "That is all the information I found about this ship and her former crew."

Jed frowned as he looks at the folder, opening it and going through its contents. "Thanks," he murmured, finding himself looking for any information on Terry Vicksburg first. "How'd ya manage to dig all this up?"

Baron closed the drawer. "I ran into an old associate back on Beylix and had them look into it for me. Along with each of you. Including Mr. Shirley," he said.

Jed raised an eyebrow at that last one, but refrained from commenting on it. "Yeah? I hope yer associate didn't pull up info on some poor sap whose name is actually Jed, 'stead of my information..."

Baron shook his head. "Nope, found you with facial recognition," he said, smirking. "I would make a 'with a face like yours' joke, but the conversation has been going rather smoothly thus far, why mess that up?" He grinned.

Jed chuckled. "Well, I'm sorry if my life story disappointed ya. Ain't much to tell that I ain't already told..."

Baron nodded. "I wasn't looking for secrets," he explained. "I just wanted to know who I was flying with."

"Looks like we got somethin' in common, then," Jed replied. He walked over and handed Baron the assassination file he'd given him. "I just got one more question..."

Baron took the file and set it down on his desk. "Yeah?"

"What's yer real name?"

Baron holstered his revolver and stood, extending his hand to Jed. "Siegfried Barton," he said.

Jed smiled, grasping Baron's hand and shaking it firmly. "Nice to finally meet ya."

Baron nodded as he returned the handshake. "Likewise."

Jed nodded and turned, heading back toward the ladder. As he reached it, he looked at Baron again. "Siegfried, huh?" he wondered, shaking his head. "I can see why ya changed it." He gave the other man a grin and tucked the folder under his arm before climbing up and out of the room.

Baron laughed a bit and turned back to his desk after Jed had gone. "That's not why I changed it." He frowned and started reorganizing his files.
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