Ship - Shadowheart - Engineering Room

[Hollywood Heidi]

Engineering Room

[Lady Lee-o]

---

---

The Shadowheart course was set towards Newhall, which left Madison to rejoin her crew in the dining area.

Halfway into the trip, the engine overheated and set a fire.

The crew puts it out but the damage is done and they are stranded, floating in space. Without the engine, the ship's systems started to fail...

---

---

[Hollywood Heidi]

---

---

Travel time of Serenity to Shadowheart passes.

Serenity has reached the disabled Shadowheart ship to assist with repairs and an injury.

---

---

[Hollywood Heidi]

***Inara and Kaylee enter from Ship - Serenity - Kaylee's Bunk***


Inara shifted the box once again, putting the weight of it primarily on her other side; something she'd had to do more frequently as they approached their destination. The further they traveled, the heavier the box of tools began to feel. "The weight of our burdens increase the further we carry them," she said, paraphrasing an old proverb. "It turns out there is also a literal truth to that," she said with an amused grin.

Each carrying heavy bundles of tools and spare parts, Inara hoisted the toolbox she'd carried with both hands up onto a ledge, scooting it back to rest beside the spare parts and tools that lay there belonging to Madison and her crew. Letting out a short breath, she wiped her brow with the back of her hand, then looked to Kaylee. "Where do we start, boss?"

[Ariel]

Kaylee's arms finally found relief once her and Inara had arrived in the Shadowheart's engine room and were able to set the tools and supplies down. Letting out an exasperated huff, Kaylee brushed her hands together before wiping them on her jumpsuit. Her eyes scanned all of the parts and bits in the room with a bit of an empathetic frown. She wasn't sure what had happened to this ship quite yet, but she was always sad to see one suffer.

"Where do we start, boss?"

"Well," Kaylee started, as she began to rummage through the supplies, "It'd probably be a good start to run the scanner, see if she can pick up any sort of problem code for this poor beaut'," Fishing the scanner out, she walked around the room to find where she could plug it in, "Ah, there's the spot!" Kaylee exclaimed, plugging the scanner into one of the engine parts. With a few beeping noises, the scanner was up and running the entire engine for any sign of an issue, "And now we wait." Kaylee stood holding the scanner in her hand as she turned to Inara, "This ships engine is top notch...I wonder what could have happened to make her go down like this." Kaylee pursed her lips together into a straight line as the gears in her own mind started to turn.

[Hollywood Heidi]

"Well," "It'd probably be a good start to run the scanner, see if she can pick up any sort of problem code for this poor beaut',"

'If only it worked on people,' Inara thought dryly, imagining the screen of the scanner beeping wildly as it gave off a litany of 'problem codes' in Mal's head. Inara shrugged off the thought. One of the bonuses of helping Kaylee with the Shadowheart was to try to get things off her mind. Inara put her full concentration on Kaylee, watching her wander the room for a plug.


"Ah, there's the spot!" "And now we wait."

Hopefully not for too long. It was hard to keep one's mind distracted while waiting for something to happen. Thankfully, Kaylee kept a conversation going.


"This ships engine is top notch...I wonder what could have happened to make her go down like this."

"Your guess would be far better than mine," Inara easily admitted with a fond grin for the genius mechanic before glancing around the engine room. "To the eye of someone who is not an expert," she gestured to herself, "it looks far more up-to-date than Serenity, but despite that, you still keep her running smoothly." Despite her lack of expertise, she did her best coming to conclusions. "With so many moving parts, I can imagine that it's a common occurrence for little things to go wrong that a simple adjustment can fix, but are there that many situations where the failure or shifting of a part could render a ship immobile along with complete life systems failure?" she inquired curiously of the expert.

[Ariel]

"it looks far more up-to-date than Serenity, but despite that, you still keep her running smoothly."

"She may be an oldie, but she's sure the nicest," Kaylee returned the comment with a pleasing remark. Sure, Serenity wasn't the most up to date ship out there, but she was proud of that ship and the things they had been through together thus far.

"With so many moving parts, I can imagine that it's a common occurrence for little things to go wrong that a simple adjustment can fix, but are there that many situations where the failure or shifting of a part could render a ship immobile along with complete life systems failure?"

"That's what's got my brains all stumped," Kaylee sighed, placing an inquisitive hand on her hip as her confused gaze darted between Inara and the processing scanner, "Somethin' must have gone real wonky for her to bite the dust," Kaylee stared at the scanner as the little device in her hand continued to work hard in collecting some sort of failure code of sorts, "C'mon girl, speak to me...," Kaylee uttered under her breath at the scanner. Finally, the scanner beeped and a code flashed on the screen, "Shiny! Alright, let's see what the diagnosis is for this beaut," Kaylee exclaimed as she read the code on the scanner. The revelation that the code gave Kaylee made her suddenly drop her upbeat demeanor as her face fell serious.

"Well, we've discovered the culprit to the problem and it ain't pretty," Kaylee looked up at Inara before hightailing her feet in the direction of the oxygen tank. Kaylee scanned it up and down, until her fingers ran across a series of tubes that appeared to have been cut, "Looks to me like the ship's oxygen was tampered with, causin' everything to go kaput. With no backup oxygen system at that," Shaking her head in disapproval, Kaylee's gears in her brain were turning as she continued to assess the situation, "Explains the loss of electricity, water and well, everythin' goin' South. Inara...," Kaylee addressed her friend as panic rose within her voice, "...These tubes didn't cut themselves. I don't wanna be jumpin' any guns, but I think this might have been done on purpose. But why?" Kaylee was at a loss for words. Either the Shadowheart crew did this themselves and had an agenda, or they had a traitor on their hands.

[Hollywood Heidi]

Inara listened with growing concern. Even from the viewpoint of someone who was not an expert, it was sounding more and more as if this was not a natural occurrence, and Kaylee confirmed her fears.

She distractedly shook her head as she'd already been trying to come up with a reason as to why someone would purposefully sabotage Madison's ship. One possibility brought worry to her face. "What are the chances that Madison's ship breaks down here?" Right above a planet housing an ex-Blue Sun doctor. Complete coincidence or was there a chance this was somehow connected to Wendy? If they'd somehow been tipped off that Wendy was aboard their ship, it would have been a good way to lure them to assist an old friend and the convenience of the location could have put the idea into Wendy's head to visit the ex-Blue Sun doctor, if she hadn't already thought to do so on her own.

Inara looked to Kaylee, wanting to raise a possible red flag but not wishing to cause panic. "It is possible the away team might be walking into a trap? Should we contact them, just to be safe?" she asked calmly.

[Ariel]

"What are the chances that Madison's ship breaks down here?"

Kaylee shook her head, gesturing her hands by her sides in a confused state before throwing them back down at her hips. She took a couple of steps away from Inara and just stared at the tampered oxygen system, furrowing her brow as she tried to make sense of everything. Madison's team didn't seem like imposters from the Alliance...but maybe...,"Do ya reckon someone in Madison's crew ain't who they seem to be?" If that was the case, Kaylee suddenly felt as if their own crew was at risk.


"It is possible the away team might be walking into a trap? Should we contact them, just to be safe?"

Kaylee turned back around to face Inara, her eyes widened in fear for their friends on the mission, "My heart's sinkin' just thinkin' about it. We should warn them...what should we do with the rest of Madison's crew in the meantime? We don't even know who's the good and who's the bad anymore," Kaylee asked Inara, hating that they had to make these assumptions. But they had their own family's safety to worry about above strangers they barely knew.

[Hollywood Heidi]

Despite the worry that gnawed at her, Inara remained calm and collected in hopes that it would help to calm and collect Kaylee. "We shouldn't act on assumptions," she started. "It's always better to have the upper hand. Until we know more, we shouldn't give away the fact that we are suspecting anything at all."

Inara moved to the engine room door, glancing through the opening for any signs of Madison's crew before quietly shutting the door to allow them more privacy. "I know we can trust Madison. We have a history. I'll try to speak with her privately to see if she has reservations regarding any of her crew."

As she retrieved the hand radio she'd placed into the toolbox, Inara's mind began working on what to say that would signal to Mal that something might be awry without tipping off the one person in the away group that was from Madison's crew. "Mal--" The squeal the radio gave off had her quickly pushing the device further from her ears as she messed with the dials at the top. But the radio continued to give off static with the occasional squeal no matter what she tried to do.

"Is that interference?" she asked, slight concern in her voice as she held the radio out to the person who understood its workings far better than she did. In her limited experience, she was guessing that somewhere on the planet, there was a device in place that blocked radio signals. "Most likely centered around the cabin?" They'd been able to communicate with them shortly before they'd landed, so it wasn't planet encompassing. But she did not know if it was something that had always there... or something that had just been activated in their anticipation that Wendy would likely show up there. Either way, Inara was getting the unsettling feeling that they were cut off from any communications.

[Ariel]

"Is that interference?"  "Most likely centered around the cabin?"

"Perhaps," Kaylee offered, trying to find something consolidating in this moment of terror. But she felt uneasy about the whole operation. Especially with what they had just discovered aboard the Shadowheart. Kaylee peered downwards for a moment as her brain started to turn, thinking of every possible outcome. And yet, she feared the absolute worst. Looking back up at Inara, Kaylee's eyes were full of terror as she spoke, "I got a real bad feeling about this whole shindig, and I reckon it ain't gonna be pretty," Kaylee expressed, feeling as if her hands were tied. How on earth did they not see the signs? The red flags? For all they knew, their friends were about to walk into a trap - and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

[Hollywood Heidi]

Inara could see the panic rising in Kaylee and was sorry that she'd let her own concern show. Inara tucked it away, easing a comforting smile onto her face as she placed a reassuring hand on Kaylee's arm.

"Everything will be alright, Mei-mei. After all, when has a mission ever gone their way," she said, injecting a bit of humor into her voice as she looked heavenward, unknowingly echoing the same sentiment that had gone through Mal's head planet-side. "They always make it out, despite whatever complications are thrown their way. And this time, they have a reader. They'll be warned of any complications far sooner than they have on past missions, thanks to Wendy."

Inara clung to her own sentiments, though she still had her worries buried deep. Inara raised her hand from Kaylee's arm to affectionately place it against Kaylee's cheek before releasing her to her task. "You just concentrate on getting this ship up and running. I'll talk to Madison and check in with River." But Inara wanted to be sure Kaylee was okay with her leaving before doing so. "Will you be alright on your own for a while?"

[Ariel]

"Will you be alright on your own for a while?"

"I'll be good as dandy, besides," Kaylee sighed in slight desperation of the situation, managing to shed Inara a half grin, "I could use some quality time with me and this poor, broken down thing. Clear my mind and stuff. Go talk to Madison, I'm sure she'll want to hear about this pronto." She nodded, assuring Inara that she would be alright. The situation was now beyond their control, especially with the few on the mission on an entirely different planet while everything was going down. But she knew Inara was right, they had to keep positive and know that everything was going to be okay. At least, she hoped.

[Hollywood Heidi]

Confident that Kaylee would be fine on her own, Inara started for the door.

"I'll be back to hand you the pointy thingamabobs and round-ended whatsits as soon as I can," she said with a graceful gesture toward the toolbox, feigning ignorance at the names of the various tools to hopefully ease more of Kaylee's tension and put another smile on her face.

Though nowhere near as handy as Kaylee, they both knew Inara wasn't inept when it came to the basics.



***Inara exits to talk to Madison somewhere within the Shadowheart, then exits to Serenity - Inara's Shuttle***

[Ariel]

"I'll be back to hand you the pointy thingamabobs and round-ended whatsits as soon as I can,"

With a half grin, Kaylee nodded in Inara's direction in confirmation that she received the message. She watched Inara make a swift exit before letting out an exhale as she gazed upon the tampered oxygen tank. Still at a loss of what or who could have done such a thing and why, Kaylee shook her head as she threw a glance over at the tools, "Well, we best be gettin' to work." Kaylee commented towards the tools as she walked over and picked them up to bring them beside where she would be working until Inara returned.

****