What Makes Us Mighty by M.K. England

Author:M.K. England
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags:  
Publisher: Titan

By the time the sun had fully risen, the grisly deed had been done.

Mal led Zoë, Simon, and Jayne back through the gate, spattered with blood and other unspeakable things, the silence vast and weighty between them. Their souls had never been heavier, Mal thought, except perhaps that day in Serenity Valley. Knowing that their killings had meant an end to pain and suffering did not diminish the scarring it left on Mal’s psyche, the nightmares that would likely follow, or the hot, heavy feeling behind his eyes.

And it did nothing for the heavy burden of guilt Mal carried at having brought the godforsaken weapons to the planet in the first place.

“We going to head back and clean up first, sir?” Zoë asked, her voice quiet as if they still walked among the dead.

“No,” Mal said flatly. “I want him to see exactly what he’s wrought. People like him, they sit on their pretty thrones and pull the trigger from a distance, acting out their violence through other people. He never has to see the spray of blood and brains or smell the piss of the terrified soldiers beside him. I’d be willing to bet he’s never seen a battlefield in his life.”

Mal took a deep breath in through his nose to calm himself before he got too fired up, then continued.

“So, we’re bringing the battlefield to him. Let him see. Let him dare send us away for the state of us. I’d love to see him try.”

“Could it be the duke didn’t really know how horrific they were?” Simon asked, naively hopeful. “As you said, he doesn’t strike me as someone experienced in the craft of war. Maybe he just deployed them without really knowing what exactly they did.”

Zoë shook her head. “No.”

“No,” Mal agreed. “That’s irresponsible at best, and damn unlikely to boot. The duke is not a stupid man, and you don’t jump through the hoops to buy something that heavily restricted unless you know exactly what you’re getting. He knew what he was doing, and he did it to his own citizens.”

“And to deploy it that close to town, too…” Zoë trailed off, shaking her head again. “Those weapons have a huge splash radius. Excess casualties were almost guaranteed.”

“Right,” Mal said. “There won’t be no worming his way out of this one with fancy words and jingling coin, no matter how much work he promises us. I won’t be party to another massacre like this.”

“What? Mal, come on, be reasonable—” Jayne started, but Mal whirled on him and shut him up with a finger pointed in his face.

“One more word, Jayne, and so help me I will shoot you right here, right now. You love the duke and his soldier folk so much, you ask him for a job and get your carcass off my boat.”

“You know, that’s a damn good idea, Mal,” Jayne said. “Might just do that. Who would want to stay on a falling apart junk heap of a ship with a crazy

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