There were only dreams. A lot of them did not make any sense, even at the moment Yong dreamt them. But he did not have time for reflection, one blurry vision of colours and sounds (were those his half-lucid periods?) followed by a dream, real events, places he had been, and others he never had, though in the dream he firmly believed he was. Most of his dreams circled around his old crew on the Zedong, Ann Doben, Tomas, Lin and Cidney. He could hear their voices as clear as day, arguing over a job they had pulled a few months back. Or had they? It did not make any difference in the dream whether the memories were real or imagined. They were real enough for Yong to believe them.

They were sitting around the table in Zedong’s common room, which was in its usual mess. Only the table was cleared to make room for a map they were all stooping over.

“Don’t make no kinda sense to me”, Ann said. “Why’d this acquaintance your uncle hire us to do that kind of job he could pull himself easily at no extra cost of hiring us?”

“Well, let’s just say ‘e was doin’ us a fava, Ann”, Cid responded.

“Unlikely.”

“Bloody ‘ell, ya wan’ dis job or no’? A’right, a’right, there’s a warrant on Beaumon’ for Rourke and some of ‘is boys. We’ll be fine. Trust me.”

“Yeah, that’s the tricky part”, Yong heard himself say. It felt like looking over his own shoulder.

“How much is the reward?” Lin interjected matter-of-factly.

“The wha- eh, mates, we’re not turning on Rourke, right”, Cid said, but he sounded doubtful.

“How much?” Lin repeated.

“25 grand. But let’s not go down that.”

“My, we might actually want to reconsider our loyalties here”, Yong said.

“You’d need to ‘ave Rourke first to turn ‘im in, don’t ya. So let’s forget about that and talk about the real business. Doing that casino in New Dunsmuir’ll be a piece o’ cake, b’lieve me.”

Tomas, as usual sitting back mulling things over and not saying a word, lifted his hand.

“This ain’t school, Tomas”, Ann said with a smile.

Tomas put down his hand and turned to Cidney. “So, could you maybe explain why this casino is so easy to rob”, he asked. “Why wouldn’t they call the Feds?” “’Cos it’s an illegal gambling den. Their whole business would go to ‘ell if they called the authorities.”

The proximity alert went off in the cockpit. “Must be Beaumond now”, Ann said. “Alright then, say your prayers. Guess we’re gonna break some o' God’s commandments. Number Seven in particular. Always liked that number.”

“We don’ave to kill noone. Might actually go smooth.”

“Cid”, Yong said.

“Wha’?”

“Captain was talking about stealing.”

“Ah, okay. Let’s do that then.”

Yong’s memories made a sudden jump ahead to the actual heist. He and Lin were standing in the middle of the backroom of the illegal casino in the most disreputable part of New Dunsmuir, keeping the owner and his bullies in check. One of them was down clutching his knee, which Yong had shot upon barging into the room. Cid, typically overplaying it, had his shotgun pointed right at the owner’s sweaty face, holding the muzzle only a couple of inch away while Ann pushed him over to the safe. Shivering the man typed in his pin and opened the iron door. Displaying a certain routine, Ann shoved all the stored proceeds of the casino, both platinum and credits, even some jewellery and other valuables, into two leather bags. She tossed one over to Yong, who caught it with his left while keeping his rifle still pointed at the casino bullies. Lin and Cid bound and gagged them and their boss and then left the room. Weapons reholstered or hidden under their coats they reentered the actual gambling room, where the whole backroom scene had gone unnoticed. As unobtrusively as possible they made for the entrance. Cid had been right. This had been a piece of cake. The place did not even have a security feed or any other cameras installed that they were aware of. Unbelievable such a place could exist under the gaze of the authorities. Surely someone was holding a protective hand over this establishment. Too bad somebody had taken advantage of that fact. As they were making their way back to the docking place of the Zedong, Yong couln’t get rid off the feeling that they were being followed. So somebody had watched them after all. He knew there must have been some kind of racket involved in that casino. Somebody opened fire from a dark alley. Yong felt a piercing sting in his upper leg.

Yong was suddenly awake, or rather half-awake, but the pain was real. Something was sticking in his throat that made him gag. He tried to move, but his arms and legs felt strangely limp. He looked for the source of the pain radiating from his leg into the rest of his body. His vision was slightly blurry. Someone, possibly a nurse was bending over his leg, doing something out of his sight. Yong thought she might be examining or caring for his leg wound. Yeah he had been shot in the leg. During the heist. No, he thought, ordering his memories. The heist was long past. Had it actually happened or had it just been an imagined memory, a trick dreams sometimes played on people. He had been wounded while storming the factory. He had blown it up. That was the last thing he remembered. He tried to speak, but the tube only allowed him to utter a muffled sound. It was enough to get the nurse’s attention. She looked down on him, pulling open his eyes a bit further and moving a light in front of his pupils. Then she called to somebody standing nearby but whom Yong could not yet see. A minute later a second face appeared, a man about Yong’s own age, most likely a doctor, repeating the nurse’s procedure and applying a few other tests before finally stating the obvious fact to the nurse. “Our patient is awake.” Then he turned to Yong, overemphasising each single word.

“Colonel Yong, can you hear me?” Yong nodded. “Good. Mr Yong, you are in hospital. You got injured.” Oh, this man was a genius, Yong thought. He nodded in confirmation to the doc’s statement. The doctor continued. “Okay. Very good. The next thing is going to be a bit unpleasant, Mr Yong. I am going to remove the tube from your throat. No need to be worried.” Yong nodded a third time in acknowledgement. Then the doctor pulled the rubber tube.

--------------------

The next couple of days Yong spent putting all the pieces together of the events that he had missed. In addition to being hit in the leg, he had taken a heavy hit to his head and upper torse from some parts of the exploding factory flying around. If he hadn’t worn his helmet, he might have been dead, or so the doctor said. It had taken some time to get him evacuated from the area and shipped to the next military hospital on Sihnon. After a long and complicated operation he had spent over two weeks in an artificial coma. The drugs had let him sleep and dream, while his wounds had started to heal. Especially the bullet hit on his leg was healing good. A couple of days after waking up from the coma, Yong was allowed to eat again, and he started to get the feeling in his legs back, of his entire body actually. At that time a he got first visited by a military official, who introduced himself as a Lieutenant General Jana Osuda, the officer who had written his recall to the Alliance military. Funny, Yong though, he had always imagined at the time he got the message that the officer was a man. But it really made no difference. Yong seriously doubted whether this woman was here because he felt in some way responsible for this. It was much more likely it was just a coincidence.

“Colonel Yong, it is good to see you finally back among the living.”

“I don’t feel like I have yet arrived there yet”, he answered.

She laughed. “Well, I’m sure you will soon be in a condition to lead troops again. Some weeks of rehab maybe, then you’re as good as new.”

“Surprised to see so much consideration on your behalf for my well-being.”

“Oh, don’t misunderstand this, Colonel. My, our concern is strictly military. You’re an important asset. Would be a shame to lose you.”

“Sure feels good to be appreciated, ma’am.”

She laughed again. It actually sounded geniune. “Baker was right about your sarcasm. But let’s cut through all the pleasantries, shall we. I’m here to convey the General Staff’s best wishes of reconvalescence, and to acknowledge the crucial part your troops, and you personally, played in the Battle of Tietam.”

“We won I take it!?”

“Wouldn’t be standing here were it otherwise. Was a short but very costly engagement. You lost a lot of troops yourself, you can imagine it overall. The high command is absolutely positive that your efforts were essential to our success. You achieved to split their right flank from their main body as previously projected so we could launch an all-out assault on it. We dealt with the rest of the Browncoats separately. Anyway, I’m here to inform you that you and some of your officers and soldiers have been put forward for consideration to be awarded the Sihnon Silver Star.”

“Oh”, Yong was genuinely surprised. “That’s, that’s very flattering.”

“The decision on that might still take some time. There is more pressing business to attend to.”

“Of course, ma’am. I assume you have new marching orders for me.”

“You assume correctly”, Osuda handed him a small digital pad. “All the information is in there. But as military operations on the border planets are going on at this very moment, there might be changes. All the best, Colonel. I’ll be on my way.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

-------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: For the events of the war I am loosely orienting myself on the unofficial timeline on the Firflywiki. The ‘Verse is of course Joss Whedon’s. But Book’s alter ego Brian Yong is essentially my creation.

-------------------------------------------------

Comments are always appreciated.