Thanks for the shiny comments ;) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The crew, was assembled in the living room.

“Lilac Syndrome?” Inara was confused, as she looked at Simon, the apparent speaker of their mini convention who stood in front of them all, warm window light illuminating the left side of his face. “But isn’t that…”

The front door blew open, heads swiveling to see Jayne tromp in with a winter’s worth of beard and a hungry gleam in his mercenary eye.

“Don’t mind me none.” He supplied, making a lumbering beeline to the old refrigerator. “Ran outta supplies, need ta snag some and have a decent meal.”

“Actually, it’s best you hear this too.” Mal announced, whilst the others listening to Simon were seated, he was standing in back as a contrapposto statue. Face stoic like a starless night, arms crossed firmly against his chest. “Come over here and listen.”

“Lemme get somethin’ ta eat first.” Opening the door to the fridge, Jayne’s gaze sparkled at leftovers. “Oo.”

“No Jayne. Now.”

“Gorramit just give me a sec! Damn near starvin’ over here!” He grabbed a tupperware of what looked to be stir fry. Slamming the door, he grabbed a fork from the drain board, then moved over and plopped himself down on a chair. Shoveling a mouthful in, his words came out muffed. “K, so wuf’s up?”

“Lilac Syndrome.” Simon exhaled.

“Huh?” Jayne scoffed, a piece of rice escaping his maw. “Daf’s id?”

“Lilac Syndrome, a pathogenic virus originated on the moon Lilac as an after affect of terra forming. Airborne, the virus settles in the lungs, but quickly manifests the rest of the body. Beginning symptoms are high fever, sores, wheezing, inflammation of the joints. Symptoms become increasingly worse in a matter of days; build up of fluid in the lungs, reduced circulation to the extremities, swelling of the brain, ocular degeneration.” River spat the information out like an electronic encyclopedia. “Death often occurs from lungs drowning in fluid, or gangrene poisoning due to poor circulation, or brain…”

“River, I think we get it.” Inara cringed out with as much poise as she could muster. “There are many horrible ways to die from it.”

River nodded her head, and continued as Boston kneeded her lab. “Common illness, was spread by space travel and the increase of immigration. With a 60% mortality rate without the use of medication, has been a factor in the high death rate on rim planets. However it is mandatory on core planets to be vaccinated during infancy, leading to the near extinction of Lilac Syndrome in the core.”

“And it’s here.” Mal straightened his stance and allowed his voice to catch the attention of his kin. “Simon’s gotta load of people showin’ symptoms and this is easily passed from one person ta the next. Seen this kill whole platoons in the war, this is not something to take lightly. Month’s time, Pryor could be gone and all there’d be left is a cemetery.”

“Hell I had it.” Jayne dismissed with a gulp to pass his food. “Got it when I was a kid, all us kids did. Only person I ever seen git weak from it was my nephew Mattie. Messed up his lungs some, but it ain’t too bad.”

“Jayne, you’re from Bernadette, Suffolk City no less.” Simon turned up a palm as he responded, shifting his weight as he made his case. “In a middle class area of that sort there’s no doubt in my mind that even though Bernadette doesn’t have the money for vaccines, your doctors were able to treat all of you with the proper medication. Which leads to another thing, The Captain and Jayne cannot contract it because they’ve already been infected and treated. River, Inara and I were vaccinated when we were little. However Meilin, Kaylee and Zoe have not been vaccinated nor infected and treated.”

Zoe’s eyes narrowed, her hips shifting in her seat.

Meilin blinked.

“What does that mean?” Kaylee asked in her hushed voice, worried more about the other two than herself.

“We need to keep you all from catchin’ this.” Mal exclaimed. “Simon’s gonna be giving the three of you immune boosters every morning, Kaylee, you and Meilin are gonna stay upstairs and Zoe is gonna be monitored in her room since she was with Simon today plus on top of that she was in the bar, and that was crawlin’ with prositutes.”

“Sir.” Zoe began to protest the confinement.

“Soon as we get the meds and a handful of vaccines you’ll be cleared to go. But in the meantime you’re staying put.” He put firmly. “Now is there an understanding between us?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The crew buckled down for Lilac Syndrome.

Immune boosters were given to the uninfected, Kaylee and Meilin were put upstairs, and Zoe sorely took to her room like a tigress kept at a circus. River and Jayne were for the most part in charge of tending to the ranch, and the remaining three, began hunting for medication and the location to purchase it.

“Yes, I’m… lookin’ for a place to buy some…” Mal squinted at the paper Simon had written on with all of the information. Regardless he had read it a dozen times, he still couldn’t pronounce the damn word right. With sleeves rolled up, elbows propped on the wave mainframe box, his lips enunciated slowly. “Zygramithol. Um, we’ve got a little epidemic over here and it seems our doctor has run out.”

The nurse at St. Jove’s looked hardly sympathetic. Poised neatly in her crisp blue uniform, hair swept up and out of her pinched little face. “I’m sorry sir, but we are in no way able to sell our stocked medication, nor are we able to treat someone admitted with Lilac Syndrome.”

“I know, I know, four other hospitals all said the same thing; drastic, ominous medication shortages due to some kinda strike. But you gotta have something. We’re talking about an entire town of people…”

“The shortage has put many lives in danger, I’m sorry about your situation.” With that, the screen blacked out with a rude ‘click’.

Mal’s head fell into his palms, shaking it, fingers raking his hair till it mussed. A growl of frustration formed in the pocket of his throat. “Shang-di ai-ya yao-wu que-fa.” His eyes were sore from staring at the screen for so long, so Mal turned away, allowing this retinas comfort in the darkness of the house. Their hunt for medication had gone well beyond the sun setting and the stars and moons coming out for their nocturnal show. The only break Mal had given himself was fixing dinner, soup, and taking it to their quarantined crew members, as well as fixing a bottle for Meilin because Inara had been too preoccupied with a wave to do it herself. Stretching in the chair his joints popped, and the chair groaned in argument. Weary and worried vision skimming the house, that felt so horribly void of life, he discovered the dogs and York the cat sleeping by the fire, and the silver and shades of tropical light of the moons showed how empty the living space was as it shone in, the dust dancing on it’s luminescence. Simon and Inara were in Serenity, sending out waves, and with Kaylee, Meilin and Zoe in quarantine, River in her loft and Jayne back at his outpost, there was no one.

The porch door opened.

Turning, he saw Inara and Simon walking in, shaking their coats and stomping their boots so the bits of snow fell off before entering. Once inside, they immediately stared at him for some kind of yes. It was obvious, the desperation in their miens displayed the failure of each one of their calls. Their lists were fruitless.

Mal shook his head.

Their shoulder’s sank, and Simon rubbed his sinuses as he slowly scuffed his feet over.

“I need to go check on Meilin.” Inara went up the stairs, retreating from the disappointment of their failure.

“They all said there’s some drug shortage.” Malcolm Reynolds stood, allowing his body further relief from the seated position. Striding over to the fireplace, he shooed sleepy animals away to use a poker to stir the embers back to life.

Simon unbuttoned his waistcoat and headed over to the stove to fix some tea. A stiff whiskey sounded better than tea, but he wasn’t ready to allow the effects of alcohol to curb his ability to problem solve, so tea it was. “Did you know it’s all ironically our doing?”

Mal tossed a log on the fire and turned, his face classically puzzled as the warmth of the newly revitalized fire licked his backside.

The doctor’s lips pulled into a deprecating smirk. “Yes, thanks to us the union of interplanetary pharmaceutical developers has gone on strike, crippling the medical industry.”

“The inter-whooza ma whatsie?”

Simon filled the kettle with water then set it on the stove. “The people that are in the manufacturing of vaccines, antibiotics and the like. The Miranda video reached all the way to the core, and while we were fully aware of the rioting and freedom based mayhem out on the rim, on the core many unions, appalled and opposing the theories and tactics applied in Miranda, have gone on strike until there is a change in parliament.” Turning the stove on, he went to the cupboard to retrieve cups as the kettle set to heating. “The medical industry being one of the hardest hit with the sudden shortage of supplies.”

“Huh.” Mal rubbed his neck, feeling out of touch. Then again he never watched the news, it was always Alliance bias crap, thus he was a word of mouth kind of fellow. Also, with the news of strikes and rioting he felt some guilt. Regardless of the fact he was all for insurrection, because of the uprising they had caused Pryor was riding a thin line. “Where’d you hear about that?”

“In an act of desperation I called a friend of mine from the hospital I used to work at, he filled me in.”

“You tell him where you are?”

“I’m not that dense." Simon paused and allowed himself to brush off something he considered an insult. "I told him I had started over somewhere, and he didn’t need to know anything more.” Setting three mugs out, then pausing and adding a two more as Kaylee and Zoe would also like to possibly have some tea, he reached for a tin canister on the counter that had some loose leaf tea. “And besides, it didn’t work and he couldn’t get us any medication.” As he turned around, Inara came down the stairs.

“And how are they?” Mal addressed her.

“Fussy. Meilin needs a bottle and I do believe Kaylee needs Simon.” She quickly moved to the pantry to fetch the formula powder.

“I was going to bring her some tea.”

“I think she’ll like that, I told her you’d be up soon enough.”

Mal retrieved the bottle and the pot to heat said bottle in. “So all your high power ‘special friends’ said no?”

Inara looked at him sideways. “Nobody is in a position to dispense any supplies of any kind. I talked to a friend of mine who works for the Interplanetary Medicare and Aid Program, all of their clinics are shutting down, all medical supplies are being rerouted to federal bases for the military as well as a few private practices that provide health care for leaders in the parliament.”

“Well, takin’ from those that need ta keep the powerful healthy. Sounds like our political beacon of truth, justice and equality.” Mal snarked as he took the ingredients from her and fixed the bottle. “There’s gotta be someone pushin’ out supplies, the Alliance I assumed has the brains for back up.”

“There’s about three manufacturing ships orbiting the core system.” Simon supplied, much to the amazement of Inara and Mal. “They’re unaffected because they don’t park for months at a time, workers can’t just walk out so they’re still able to produce some supplies, vaccines, medication. It’s not nearly enough, but I’d assumed the Alliance is purchasing every bit that’s churned out and guarding the ships. I couldn't even wave them.”

Inara listened with a good deal of thought, her face sobered, and her lips formed a gaunt line as she pulled through the recesses of her mind for the name.

“Well, sounds like we might be pullin’ a heist.”

“Captain, I’d agree with you in a heartbeat except for the fact that the Alliance would not only spot us a mile away, but they would incinerate us first and ask questions later.”

“Oh ye of little faith.”

“Before diving headfirst into pulling a heist right in front of a patrol squad I think we should keep looking.”

“For what? Do you have a cork in your ear because we just got done talking about how there’s no other options.”

“Perhaps there’s a rim colony or something that hasn’t had their supplies seized yet, they’re last on the list. We could rob them before the feds do.”

“Actually, I think I might know someone.”

The hushed voice of the ex-companion made the two men lift their heads towards her. The kettle screamed, breaking the moment of silence and sending a steady stream of steam into the cold air as Mal set the pot with the bottle on the stove. Simon pulled the kettle off as Mal’s mouth twitched first. “And it just occurred to you now?”

“When Simon mentioned the manufacturing ships, yes it did. He didn’t have them when he was client of mine, but he often talked about the plans for them.” She found the tea ball and sprinkled some of the loose tea leaves in for her own cup. Resting it in her mug, she took the other tea balls and did the same for the other mugs as Simon poured water in each one. “But at any rate I can’t wave him right now, it’s the middle of the night where his ship is located and if we want to get any medication I have to address him properly.”

*** *** *** *** *** TRANSLATIONS/DEFINITIONS Shang-di ai-ya yao-wu que-fa: God damn medication shortage.

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**As always, the writer appreciates all comments whether they be positive, negative, or suggestions.**