CHAPTER 4 Finally alone and nourished, Inara fashioned a brace for her hand, wondering if it was in fact broken. Her room was decorated with soft, warm colored fabrics and a comfortable bed. Similar to her shuttle, it had all the elements of a place of union, though she doubted this place was consecrated. Through the barred and sealed windows, she could see the night sky and again she wondered what world she was on. The room filled with the constant hum of aircraft flying overhead. Jantis certainly loved his planes and kept them close. She watched as the ships danced around low atmo, burning fuel that would have been so precious on Serenity. If she could get on one of these ships, it would be so easy to escape… only with no idea of where she was, she had no idea of where to go or how far she was from safety. Although exhaustion tugged at her body, Inara forced herself to remain awake long enough for a cleansing ritual. Finding no incense, she resigned herself to kneeling on a pillow, said a prayer, and then crawled under the bedcovers. Inara sank into the embrace of the silk sheets, feeling like a pampered prisoner. As she drifted to sleep, an image wandered through her mind. Nia Stolte was here—Elle. Chelsea. Inara had told Jantis that she was dead. But if Elle had cheated death, there was still hope for her. Even with Serenity gone, Inara had hope. She would escape.

*~*

When Mal first stepped into City Hall, he longed for the expensive suit Simon had bought for him. The clean lines and spotless floors had all the starkness Mal had come to expect from a government institution. Determined not to blend in, Mal shook the folds of his browncoat, feeling the freedom. As it was after business hours, the building was empty, save for a security guard who boredly scanned the vid feed between bites of a large meatball sub. Mal and Zoë waited patiently outside the glass doors, and the guard only noticed long enough to chastise them for loitering. “We’re here to see the mayor,” Mal informed the guard, who had spilled tomato sauce on his white collar. “You got clearance?” “We’re old friends. He told us to come.” “Uh-huh. Lemme check.” The guard left them outside, letting them enjoy the fresh torrent of evening rain. The downpour came so quickly, that water flooded up the steps. Mal was looking forward to leaving this planet and having dry boots again. “You have to check your weapons at the desk,” the guard said as he opened the door again, letting them inside. Shivering at the cool, dry air in the building, Mal and Zoë surrendered their firearms at the security station and were directed to an elevator across the hall. “Third floor, second door on the right,” the guard told them. “And don’t wander off. I’ll be watching.” Mal spent the elevator ride wondering exactly how he might ask the mayor for Caddock’s whereabouts. He noticed the paneling on the walls was light tan, supposedly soothing. The second door on the right was heavy oak with a fancy brass knob. Mal must have spent too much time considering it, because Zoë reached around him and knocked on the door. When they entered, he was surprised to find a familiar face in the mayor’s seat—Jie-rui, Caddock’s first mate! “You had a quick rise to power,” Mal commented, surprised. “Captain Reynolds,” Jie-rui hissed venomously. “You owe me a ship.” “We didn’t break your ship,” Zoë said, harshly. “Your little mechanic did.” “And you borrowed her without asking. Didn’t you read the warning label?” “Don’t think we attached one, sir,” Zoë interrupted. “She has a bear sewn to her britches,” Mal pointed out, demonstrating his points by curling his hands into claws. “A bear.” “Yes, there’s a hazard when you send pirates to find a mechanic… but you didn’t come here to settle the score on her, did you?” “No, sir,” Mal said quickly, deciding that mock respect was better than no respect for his host. “We’re looking for a fellow named Jantis. I thought Caddock might be able to point us in his general direction.” “Caddock wouldn’t know where his own nose was if it weren’t attached to his face. Why do you seek Jantis?” “He has one of my crew.” “You seem to lose your crew quite often, Captain.” “I’ve tried cowbells, but it just doesn’t work.” “What are you planning? To walk onto his world, in the midst of his army, and ask for your crewmate back?” “That is the current state of the plan.” Jie-rui laughed, making Mal’s innards twist uncomfortably. “Captain, the moment you set foot on that world, every man will be watching you, not just the lawmen. You will stand out like a cadger at a coronation. Your mate here may get by.” “Why? Is the planet populated by a tribe of fair Amazonians?” Jie-rui snickered again. “Not exactly.” “Can you at least tell us where he is?” Mal asked, hoping he wasn’t wasting time. “Tell you? Oh, I can offer more help than that. Watching your foolhardy rescue will be far more entertaining than taking your ship. And I’ve heard Jantis is looking for another Firefly.” “Not sure I want that kind of help.” “Don’t be a fool. You won’t be able to land on that planet without just cause. And it just so happens that I have cause… if you transport my cargo to his world, then your cut of the job will be knowing the location of the world.” “That hardly sounds fair,” Zoë countered. “If I tell you where he is, you’ll be making the trip anyway. I may as well get some work out of it, otherwise there’s no percentage in it for me.” “You fuel my boat, stock my galley, and give me a location. Then I’ll transport your cargo.” Jie-rui’s lips curled into a sneer, but he seemed too excited at the prospect of Mal’s failure to refuse. Since Mal was not planning to fail, he figured Jie-rui would get the raw end of the deal. “Agreed.” Mal nodded curtly. “Now, what is this cargo?”

*~*

The occasional electrical glitches seemed to have calmed, though Kaylee had yet to trace the source. She was wary of hooking up the doctor’s new machines until she could find the problem, but still felt drawn to the Infirmary. Simon was off treating River, who had been too sick to eat most of the afternoon. Saskia, who had collapsed shortly after her duel with Zoë, lay resting in the Infirmary. Jayne sat on the side bed, tossing cards into a bowl, having grown bored with the task of guarding Saskia—especially since Simon had strapped the woman to the bed. Kaylee’s heart rate quickened at the sight of Saskia, but swallowing her fear, she entered. It’s not her, it’s the memory, Kaylee kept telling herself. “Wanna play cards?” Jayne grunted, sitting up straighter at the prospect of company. Kaylee smiled and shook her head, glad for the familiar comfort of Jayne’s presence. “I don’t mean to stay long.” Jayne slouched against the wall and resumed tossing the cards. Saskia’s eyes fluttered open as Kaylee cautiously took her hand. “Hey you,” Kaylee whispered. “Do you remember me?” “My little saboteur,” Saskia smiled weakly. “Yeah, sorry about that.” “No, you’re not.” Kaylee pressed her lips together, caught by the lie. She wasn’t sorry for damaging the Neptune. Jayne’s bucket tipped, spilling the deck of metal cards onto the floor. He mumbled in annoyance at having to move. A moment later, he took the cards and bowl and headed for the doors. “Where you goin’?” Kaylee asked, irrationally worried about being alone. “Can,” Jayne muttered. He stopped at the door, catching the fear Kaylee’s eyes. “You all right?” Kaylee kicked herself for being so paranoid. “Shiny,” she said, unconvincingly. “I’m comin’ back,” Jayne said, setting his cards on the counter as collateral. Kaylee relaxed just a little and nodded, watching him go, the she turned back to Saskia. The woman looked so weak and worn compared to the fierce fighter face she’d had on less than an hour ago. “What happened to you?” Kaylee asked. “What do you mean?” “All the injuries…” On top of all the skin ailments that came from living on the street, Saskia had serious internal injuries and Simon was still working on a viable treatment option. “They’re … from you. From back when.” Kaylee furrowed her brow in confusion. “But that was weeks ago.” “No medic… no ship, no coin. Can’t work. Told you before. Hell.” “But … your crew?” “Not all crews risk their lives over one member. We stopped taking jobs—I stopped being needed.” Kaylee could feel her heart breaking as she watched Saskia struggle for breath. She hadn’t understood the depth of Saskia’s hell before—the isolation she must have felt. Quietly, Kaylee whispered, “I needed you. Now you need me.” “What is it you want?” “Shen me?” “From me. What do you want?” Kaylee struggled with the question, not understanding why Saskia kept asking it. “I just want you to get better.” Suddenly, the Infirmary went dark.

*~* “Sir, I thought we weren’t doing any more livestock,” Zoë muttered, grumpily as she loaded the yelping cargo onto the shuttle. “Cows,” Mal corrected. “I said never again with cows. These ain’t cows.” “I had noticed, sir. You think we’ll get them all back to Serenity in one trip?” “That’s the plan.” Mal picked up another cage of the yapping beagles, grimacing as they covered his hands with slobber. The stacking of the cages was less than ideal, but they didn’t have far to go. He and Zoë tied the cages to the wall as the frenetic animals threatened to topple the stacks and make a grand mess. “Let’s just hope Jantis still wants one of these by the time we get there.” Zoë sneezed as she walked through an over-density of airborne dog fur. “Why would he want one to begin with?” “Come on, Zoë, look at ‘em!” Mal scratched the nose of one of the dogs and it licked his hand through the bars of the cage. “They’re so cute.” “Must be one of those evolved defensive traits, sir.” She hoisted the last of the crates into the shuttle and tied it in. “They’re cute so you don’t kill them when they get into the garbage … or eat your shoes, chew on your gun, defecate on the rug, vomit on the sofa—” “You were bit as a child weren’t you.” “—howl through the night—” “Not all beagles howl through the night.” “Right, sir. I’m sure we picked the fifty that don’t howl at all.” As Mal closed the door, the shuttle filled with the smell of wet dogs. They lifted off, tipsy from the full load, and heard the cages shift slightly. All the dogs yelped at high alert in response to the movement and a few urinated in fear. Mal cringed and glanced sideways at Zoë. “You think we’ll have time to air out the shuttle before we go?”

*~*

Jayne had to admit that Saskia was really hot, and that grappling with her earlier had turned him on. He admired a woman who could disarm him, and admired her more so knowing she wasn’t even fighting at a hundred percent when she’d done it. By Simon’s account, the woman had no right to still be breathing with the injuries she’d suffered. The doctor would try, but Jayne could already see the cloud of death hanging over that woman. He wondered if he might have opportunity to leave her satisfied before she kicked. He was grateful Kaylee had given him cause to leave the Infirmary because he had needed to pee for the last half hour and he was getting hungry. Perhaps he’d find those tapas Zoë had made for dinner last night. “Zheng qi de gou shi dui!” Jayne shouted when the whole water closet went dark. Zipping up his fly and grabbing his gun, he stormed out of the toilet, expecting to find that brat, River playing with the light switch again. Instead found only darkness and silence. Immediately cautious, he crouched tensely and listened. Every chink, tap, and clunk of the ship was familiar and present … anything unfamiliar was either absent or quieter than the rain. “Who’s there?” he called, edging cautiously toward a window, which let in a pool of grayness. He thought he heard a response, but it was swallowed by the darkness. It may have been his own echo, for all the eeriness he felt. Jayne stumbled quickly through the corridor, keeping one hand against the wall, determined to get to the Infirmary again, sure he would find a flashlight there. “Kaylee,” he ventured, as he approached the darkened medical bay. “Still here,” Kaylee stammered through the darkness, her voice accompanied by the sound of rifling through drawers. Suddenly, Jayne was blinded by a flashlight, causing him to flail wildly at the air. “Sorry,” Kaylee giggled, switching the light to lantern-mode and setting it on the countertop. “Can I get up now?” Saskia asked. Jayne could see her body rigid, ready to crawl out of her skin rather than stay restrained to the bed. Kaylee found another flashlight. “I need to check the engine.” “You want I should go with you?” Jayne asked, concerned that this wasn’t a typical malfunction. Kaylee wasn’t listening to him – she was already jogging toward the engine room, the light she carried growing dimmer. Jayne looked at Saskia, who had not stopped struggling against the restraints. In fact, she had worked both arms free and was in the process of unbuckling the straps across her chest and legs. Alarmed, Jayne drew his gun. “Don’t move.” Saskia rolled her eyes and kept moving. “I mean it!” Jayne insisted. “You don’t mean for us to sit here and wait for the lights to come back, do you?” Saskia countered, a deep growl in her voice. Jayne recognized the urge to move and do something and decided that whatever he ended up doing, it would be far more exciting than waiting here. Saskia stumbled slightly as she reached for her boots, but Jayne caught her arm. She shook him off like a bull would to an idiot who participates in rodeo events. He couldn’t suppress the leer rising to his lips as he imagined the taste of her. When she caught him staring, she nearly smacked the look right off his face. “Where to?” Jayne carried the lantern into the hallway, casting long creepy shadows about the common area. “To the kitchen.” “What’s in the kitchen?” “Tapas.”

*~*

Wash paced his bunk, casting hesitant looks at the boots lying on his bed. Just looking at them, he remembered lying on the floor in Prio’s torture room, tied up, maddening rhythmic pounding on his feet. The whole time, he could see his boots, sitting just a few inches from his face. Worse, he knew that nothing he could have said would have stopped the torture. Why was Wash cursed to have encountered two of the most sadistically evil bastards of the ‘verse? Heading up the social ladder towards Jantis, he could only imagine things getting worse. Circling the room again, he angrily cursed the boots for their failure to protect him from Prio’s torture. He cursed Prio for existing. He cursed his slippers for falling apart. The mad dash through Serenity that afternoon had sounded the death knell of the blue and brown, fuzzy dinosaur slippers. Sad as it was, he knew he couldn’t walk through the rest of his life with slippers anyway. Rashly, he threw himself onto the bed and pulled on the first boot and laced it up. It was time for him to take control of the memory and banish Prio’s hold on him. At the very least, it was time to have proper arch support and a portable bug swatter. As he reached for the left boot, he saw a piece of paper shoved inside. Pulling it out, his anger melted at the sight of Zoë’s lovely handwriting. “I’ll hold you close to me,” it said. His heart calming, Wash folded the note carefully and tucked it into the boot again, then climbed out of his bunk. The heaviness of the boots was unfamiliar after wearing slippers for so long. The sound of his footfalls echoed through the corridor. Suddenly, his footsteps were accompanied by the rapid clunks of someone running up behind him. “Wash!” Kaylee shouted, dashing towards him, wrench in hand.

*~*

Book took advantage of Wash’s absence to access the cortex and send a message to Haven. His old stomping grounds was the one place he knew was out of reach of his past. Somehow, at Haven, he was free to be himself – whichever self he needed to be at the moment. The children may not stay there long, but at least they would be safe there for now. He couldn’t believe that they had just left for New Melbourne that morning. It would be weeks before they reached Haven, if they did at all. He looked into the rain, the children’s ghostly faces dancing about his memory. Or was there something really moving out there? With a chuckle, he rubbed his old eyes, wiping away the tricks of memory and age. The dancing shadows were still there! Alarmed, he jumped to his feet. “Shepherd Book?” Kaylee’s questioning voice startled him even more. He turned to see Kaylee and Wash running into the cockpit, both very real and very concerned. Confused, he looked out the front window again and saw only rain. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Wash commented. “Or a shadow,” Book answered, closing his link to the cortex before the other could see. He noticed Wash go immediately rigid by his reference to River’s premonition. “What’s going on?” “The whole aft deck is without power,” Kaylee answered, doing a quick diagnostic of the bridge controls. “Do you think we have an intruder onboard?” “A saboteur?” Wash asked. “No one was here when we arrived and no one has landed here since.” “We can lock out foredeck areas to keep him contained.” “Kaylee, why did you cut power to the Infirmary?” Simon asked, coming hesitantly onto the bridge. “I’m workin’ on it!” Kaylee answered, grabbing a few tools and dashing out of the cockpit. Book considered the nature of the problem, checking through the rain again. “Maybe we can relay a message to the intruder.” “Like what? ‘Please stop sabotaging our ship. We promise we’ll escort you off without shooting you.’” “You’re assuming his intentions are hostile,” Book intoned, even though he could not convince himself otherwise. “He may just be a vagrant looking for a hot meal.” “He’s chewing through our electrical systems, not our food stocks.” “Still, a peace offering is better than no offering.” “Are you sure there is an intruder?” Simon asked. “This ship has been known to break down and fall apart of its own accord.” “Right,” Wash agreed sardonically. “So we should just sit here and wait for the Captain. Feel free to dock, but there’s no power to the shuttle airlock!” “Perhaps we should all be seeing to the safety of the ship.” “Yes… yes…” Simon murmured. “Are you seeing this?” The others stopped dead and followed Simon’s gaze, which was fixed out the front window. The curtain of rain lifted revealing an armada of vagrants, rising out of the shadows and approaching the ship.

*~*

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