Unfinished - regarding Shadow

I wouldn't call this headcanon - I'm not committed to it, especially when there are so many possibilities. One take on what happened to Mal's world.

He preferred to skip the solemnities each year. The video footage, by now unmistakeable throughout most of the 'verse; the ponderous evac ships gliding above a city or a flat and green prairie, each so titanic as to make the hundreds of tinier vessels look like no more than a gnat swarm; the last shuttle pilot, uniform stained with several days' worth of sweat, hunched in exhausted, fatal resignation over his controls. Interviews with survivors; "where are they now" updates, showing how some of that day's dirty, trembling refugees had found new worlds, prosperity, a way to say they'd fashioned a peace with the past.

No beautifully pronounced philosophical musings from one of the cortex intelligentsia; no examination of each all-too-human, surely understandable mistake of shortsightedness or apathy that formed the next step in the waltz, until the dancers sent a world to its doom. It neither pleased nor saddened him that some could not live with what they'd done.

She waited each year for some indication of what he needed. Still remembered the first day, the first year she'd known him. He'd worked doggedly from early that morning until far into the night. Inara had nearly paused on her way by, but the shake of Zoe's head as their eyes met had warned her away.

The second year, he'd gone away all day on some errand he hadn't explained before or after.

The third year, they'd been apart, and she'd wandered the halls of the Temple for hours.

The fourth year - and some years after - she'd tried keeping him in their bed all day. He tried along with her, until he couldn't. He'd pressed a kiss to the corner of one sleepy eye, stealing away to a Black-facing window.

She spent the fifth year trying to learn of his whereabouts on a world most men didn't leave.[i]

I can see why you wanted Shadow's destruction to be after the war. The dramatic appeal of this storyline is excellent.

Canon is only canon so long as Joss and crew don't retcon, and ultimately up to the people who love the story. This could be considered canon by everyone who likes this variation.

Apparently a lot of people on Shadow did manage to evacuate to one of Shadow's moons. Maybe the Alliance targeted that one when the Independents supporters and the people still (justifiably) bitter about the destruction of shadow wouldn't be quiet?

Or maybe Inara and Zoe knew Mal before the start of the war, and Inara got back in touch during the war/after it was over?

My overarching philosophy seems to be that Stupid accomplishes a lot of Evil's work for it. Here's a sketch of the background. In this story, I imagine Shadow survived the war, but sustained some damage. The Alliance modified some of the big machines that regulate and maintain the atmosphere (I'm thinking the final details of tweaking terraforming go on for decades and decades), and had civil engineers and teams of support personnel on Shadow to maintain it.

Shadow wasn't a plum posting for these Alliance workers. They were hundreds of miles from any city, and the towns that were within a days' travel were mere hamlets, general stores, etc. Plus, they weren't exactly greeted with overwhelming enthusiasm. And the extremes of weather increased their isolation. They weren't given leave to bring their families with them, since it was classified as a hazardous zone, although the workers thought that was BS. They came to think most of what the higher-ups mandated for them was BS, regulations and schedules for checking machinery, replacing parts, and measuring different sciency-type stuff. So, over a period of a few years, they got more and more out of compliance, their work standards shoddier and shoddier. Let's throw in one or two examples of gross negligence - someone being passed out drunk on the job, etc., and eventually, when people on the team realized that things were going pear shaped, it was far too late to do anything. There was a cascade of bad, bad things, in motion and unstoppable, and it was a matter of weeks before the planet was uninhabitable.

At that point they raised the alarm, and the Core population was horrified. They had proceeded, in the few years after the War, in the hope that relations between Core and Frontier worlds were not great but getting better. The general feeling was sympathy for the defeated worlds, and hope that they would prosper as part of the alliance and someday not be so bitter about losing the War. So an enormous, 'verse wide rescue mission was launched.

I thought of this a few years ago, when the BP pipeline was devastating the Gulf and it was feared that it might not be stopped in time to salvage any of the environment at all. Also shades of US military personnel's gross misbehavior at prisons in Iraq, and of course, Hurricane Katrina.

And then I'm guessing there were the usual jerks fillibustering against spending the money for the rescue and saying "they fought a war against us, right? fair payment for the lives of all OUR soldiers they took."

Ugh. I wish I didn't know politics so well.

(Side note: the BP oil clean up was shoddy beyond all comprehension and we'll be feeling the ramifications of that for half a century)

Did Mal not go back because he thought it was hazardous and he figured most of the people and the lifestyle he knew were gone? Or had he moved on and didn't really expect to get that back?

Your question about Shadow's chronology is interesting--because I was wondering the same thing. Wrote one where it was after, for much the same rationale.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but what we know for sure is that:

-- it was rendered uninhabitable...by the alliance
-- it was Mal's homeworld...and i seem to remember something about ranching and certain kinds of agriculture
-- some escaped to one of it's moons (before? "after"?)

In the intricate one I'm working on now, however, Shadow functions a lot more like Alderaan, in that it goes before or during things getting serious...I'm not very into Star Wars, so I don't know how close the parallels are but, basically, a massive 'sit down and shut up'.

The fic isn't focused on Mal, but I'm using Shadow this way to up the emotional ante for him. (And to bring up several reasons Inara could vote for Unification.) He volunteers and leaves in the rising grumble, and then home gets pulled out from under him--personally and politically. Now all he has is staked on the outcome of this war.

He'll take torture, he'll take insults, but the things Mal really hates seem to be 1.) being made an example of and 2.) having to watch helplessly as bad things happen...Serenity Valley is both, but especially powerful because it echoes things that have already hurt him.

Just a thought.

Shadow functions a lot more like Alderaan, in that it goes before or during things getting serious...I'm not very into Star Wars, so I don't know how close the parallels are but, basically, a massive 'sit down and shut up'.

This is basically what I understand was going on. The Independents then kind of used it as a Remember the Alamo rallying cry, until they got crushed again.

I'd add a third thing to the list Anothersky: 3) Thinks he's to blame. He might start off angry at the brass for calling back the air support and giving up Serenity Valley, and angry at God for forsaking him, but it'll always eventually turn into "what could I have done different?"

I've actually written a lot of stories assuming this was towards the end of the war myself, simply because I thought that would make all of Mal's loses more traumatic. So I'm just fine with stories that want to tell it that way.

gilliebeans wrote:My overarching philosophy seems to be that Stupid accomplishes a lot of Evil's work for it.

Ain't that the truth? And add Apathy, for not bothering to object. I like your scenario, Gilliebeans. I want Shadow's destruction to occur at the end of the war, too, and the destruction of Shadow is thoroughly integrated into my storyline. I dealt with Shadow's destruction pretty extensively in one of my fics (called, oddly enough, "Shadow" ). There's more to the story than what I wrote there, of course, but it's too spoilerish for upcoming stories in my series to talk about. The destruction of Shadow, the specific means by which it came about, and the culpability of various persons and entities, is thoroughly integrated into my longer plot arc.

gilliebeans wrote:I wouldn't call this headcanon - I'm not committed to it, especially when there are so many possibilities.

might be your head, but it's the Reynold's skin you're wearing, no mistake.

very fine piece.

the arguments below (oh, above actually) are also very cogent; factoring in the real world is tricky - but you do right; aint no way Joss would've avoided that either. Doubt he'd want to (Given the stridency of H.O.G., the pointed nature of the BDM and being such a BSG fan and all).

All in all, this was a pleasure to read, period.

Also; given Zoe's words in the deleted Pilot scene, that both sides got abandoned on Hera (in Serenity Valley at least), i think it safe to assume that the grand gesture, the symbol and the statement were the weapons fought with by the Powers-that-be. The reality of life on the ground was less considered.
No real surprise but it backs up the probable use that could be made of Shadow. also that the Browncoats may have worn brown - but they were just as grey as anyone else when it came to ethics; putting me in mind of Garcia's words in the BDM novelization. And making me wonder about Dust-devils; would the Independents report/inform on them? Given life on the rim, how far removed from the 'working stiffs' were the Indie Chiefs anyway??

random thinkage. sorry.

Thanks everybody for your replies. Damn, this is fun!

I think the rescue itself had widespread support, because it played in to the Core/Alliance's self concept as benevolent and humane, and because there was widespread awareness of the wretched situation of many of the beaten worlds after the War. Kinda paternalistic, and it wasn't a view shared by everyone - Byte, you're right, there were some that took the opinion that the money was wasted, but for the vast majority it was really a reason to feel good about themselves and their mighty government. Also an undercurrent of, "how fortunate it is for them that the Alliance exists, no single world would have the resources to manage this." Of course, Alliance military/civil employees were the ones responsible for the destruction of the entire planet, and there was ample and damning evidence of slipshod attention to the work they were assigned to do, over the course of a number of years. The workers there weren't the best and brightest, and over the years the higher ups made fewer and fewer in-person visits to the actual worksite, reasoning instead that it was a prudent cost-saving measure to monitor many elements of the project remotely.

My main reason for having Shadow survive the War was to have a story where Mal goes back after the War. This is based on my own observations as a very young child in the years after Vietnam. I remember being no more than 7 or 8 years old and looking at a man standing in a church pew next to his mother and knowing there was something wrong with him. There were a good number of veterans in my home town, some seemingly more well adjusted than others.

As I've imagined it, Mal returns home to his community, his mother, and his sweetheart, but he can't go forward in any way, and seeing other people who are trying to do so is intolerable to him. He's consumed with grief, guilt, and anger, and he alienates everyone around him. This goes on until one morning his mother calls him home and when he shows up, hungover and surly and filthy, he finds Zoe sitting at the kitchen table. His mother has called her to come and get him. She sends him away.

When he finds out about the imminent destruction of Shadow he's many worlds away, no ship, no money, but he contacts his mother. She is adamant, Reynolds to Reynolds, that he not come home, that it would be the death of him, that the hardest thing she ever did was to send him away, but that she knew his only chance at a life would be off of Shadow, that the way he was going he'd have got himself killed one way or another. That she only found the will to go through with it by telling herself she was saving his life, and that he'd not make that in vain. She tells him that she has a good chance to get to an evac ship, but that she wants to make sure her neighbors in the territory get there as well, and that she'll contact him after.

Sounds well intentioned. But he's probably going to die away from home too. (Well, now he certainly is, but you know what I mean)

Yes he's going to die. But she's his mother, and that's not how mothers think about their sons.

Ooohh...loving the Shadow stories cropping up. GB - your writing is such a pleasure to read!

In your scenario, Mal's mother's actions ring true. Mothers always want the best for their kids. For their lives to be better than theirs. She's seeing her son completely shattered. She knows that Shadow will never be home for him because the Shadow he left is already gone. I can certainly understand her taking the the tough love route and getting him out of the place where he cannot heal.

Now if you can just incorporate Mal kissing Inara into this story it would be perfect.

GB -- I can just see Mal's mother and his sweetheart having bonded while he was away. She's thinking that her son, the way he is now, is just not treating his girl right -- and she's come to love Mal's sweetheart in his absence. She thinking it's best for both of them to send him away. Tragic story, but with a chance for redemption.

Hehee Charlie! I've got to poke around and see what else has been gathering dust...

Byte, in response to your earlier question about politics, the real divisiveness arises around the topic of reparations. The gross negligence of the team of Alliance workers, along with the inadequate supervision higher in the department, killed an entire planet. There are activists, among the refugees themselves and elsewhere in the 'verse, who argue that the Alliance owes the Shadow survivors reparations for destroying their home. Others object, seeing that as a slippery slope - there is an entire continuum of responses, of course. In the end, I see reparations as something the Alliance would offer, but in the course of the legislation going through Parliament, the process of qualifying for and claiming reparations was made so cumbersome that many people never see a cent, or don't bother to file. But, then the Alliance can say that they did repay the victims of the tragedy.

Do you have any idea how hard it is not to join in this discussion?! Shadow survivors, reparations, government responsibility, etc. -- all in my as-yet-un-posted fic. Mal is about to---mmffff!!!!! (*stuffing sock in own mouth*)

Charlie wrote:Now if you can just incorporate Mal kissing Inara into this story it would be perfect.

You are a woman after my own heart!

"Then Shadow blew up in millions of tiny pieces and Mal kissed Inara."

Sounds like a good dream sequence for someone to write.

Aliasse, you just knocked Mal out, or have him near unconscious... *prompt poke poke prompt*

gilliebeans wrote:One take on what happened to Mal's world.

so i've been pondering on this (with it being so damned intriguing) - and a few scattered thoughts.

the Evac, all those easy Alliance targets; if this is post-war, would the dustdevils (or some such) be able to resist? how divisive would THAT be.

'fugee camps; yep, that always goes well. (lotta possible plot bunnies in that pan of hot water too; ah mal and formative experiences, i miss jetflair.)

Would everyone get where they were meant too??? given the potential distances and expenses i can see forced separations as much as voluntary ones.

the Core, supporting the action, yes i'll buy the populace agreeing - but when the rim--worlders actually show up as immigrants? i smell friction, i smell Pax Hydrate and - i'm lying down now.

From what I've read in supplemental material, the people fleeing Shadow when terraforming failed ended up on one of it's terraformed moons, Summerfaire.

Some are scattered, most are dead.

Which supplemental material was that in, Byte? The RPG manual? Or some other? (curious)

That's the QMx stuff, particularly the Atlas I got last month. But I think it's also in the white papers for the Map of the Verse.

from The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster:

In so good a quarrel. Oh, this gloomy world!
In what shadow, or deep pit of darkness,
Doth womanish and fearful mankind live!
Let worthy minds ne'er stagger in distrust
To suffer death or shame for what is just :
Mine is another voyage.

.......... Mal-icious at all?

meanwhile and elsewhere:
see also - same play, different character (but not thinking so much of Mal here)

My sister, Oh my sister! There 's the cause of it.
Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust,
Like diamonds, we are cut with our own dust.

that last line once gave me a whole fic i will now confess it!
love that line............

*Badger voice* did someone just mention diamonds?

anyway, quotes -just thought i'd throw 'em in the pot.

Mal would have to be REALLY drunk to get away with using "womanish" that way around Zoe. Any of the girls really, but especially Zoe.

I see River, Zoe, and Inara in the second poem.