Okay, you asked for it! Here's Chapter 3 for your delectation. Again, a thousand thanks for all your shiny comments. It's for your enjoyment, and y'all make doing it worthwhile!

3 TRINITY STATION

Ossie had apparently been doing okay for himself, in spite of his location. He had a little office set up right in the heart of the station, and a couple of hefty-looking types to do his ‘paperwork’, as he put it, though as to what kind of paperwork needed brawn like that, Mal couldn’t rightly say. The little hustler hadn’t changed much since Mal’d last seen him. A mite greyer around the face, maybe, and the little pencil ‘tache had gone the way of the whales, but otherwise it was the same old Ossie Chen who'd welcomed them in, offered them seats, and handed out shots of liquor. Mal and Jayne had necked theirs straight, like the hard-ass hundan they were, but Simon still nursed his half-full glass, most like worried about what the fiery liquid might do to his educated brainpan. But that was shiny; they were here to talk business, and the good doctor’d proved in the past that he was, if nothing else, the smart sort. Saw between the lines, as it were. Probably ran in the family. “It’s a cargo vessel.” Ossie punched a couple of keys on his large handheld and a schematic of a long, bulky transport appeared, rotating slowly on the flat screen. “Bound for Needell, out of Beaumonde, and it’s a ghost run – not listed on the official Alliance schedules. Should be an easy intercept.” Mal’s fingers flexed around his belt. A simple job, Ossie’d said in his wave. Nothing too illegal. A smash-and-grab on Alliance shipping wasn’t what he’d had in mind. There was a time when he’d have jumped at the opportunity to relieve the Alliance of its property, but the situation was less plain now. They’d been off the radar a while – no tellin’ what kinda welcome they’d get from any Feds they might encounter. Their assassin had made no promises regarding their future safety, and for all Mal knew, Serenity now appeared on Alliance scanners flagged with a little ‘destroy-on-sight’ symbol. “What ‘bout crew?” he asked, as placidly as he could manage. “That’s the sweet part,” Ossie said, looking pleased with himself. “No crew. Automated through and through.” “No crew?” Jayne sounded kind of disappointed. “Where’sa fun in that?” “Automated is good,” Mal said. “Computers don’t carry guns. What’s the payload?” “Well, it’s a bulk transport, y’know? Lotsa different cargoes, so couldn’t say overall. But there is one thing in particular I’m after.” The image zoomed in on the rear quarter of the bulky transport, and a hold was highlighted in blue. “Here. Eight crates, marked for delivery to an Alliance processing plant on Needell. That’s what I need you to get for me.” “That’s all?” “That’s all.” “What’s in these crates?” That was Simon, who had been sitting quietly by. “I mean, I’m guessing from the fact that they’re on an automatic that it’s something hazardous. Am I right?” Ossie lent Mal a tombstone grin. “Your boy’s keen, Mal. He’s right – it’s a hot payload.” By hot, he meant radioactive, or at the very least highly explosive. “Don’t go getting’ all skittish though – from what I heard, it’s nothin’ unstable. And I got all the cardkeys and access codes you’ll ever need. Don’t even havta knock – just walk right in there, grab a few containers and cart ‘em out.” “Sounds easy,” Mal said. “Yeah,” Jayne snorted. “Way too easy. I’m smellin’ a lot a’ niushi here, Mal.” “Just because it sounds easy doesn’t mean it isn’t,” Ossie said. He sounded a mite offended. “Mal, c’mon now. You ‘n’ me go back a long way. I wouldn’t pitch y’all off on some suicidal quest. Trust me – it’s a milk run.” “So, no hidden catches?” “In an’ out, Mal. No-one’ll even know you were there.” Mal looked at his companions. Jayne’s mouth was twisted into a scowl, meaning he still didn’t like the sound of it; Simon merely looked bewildered, which meant very little, since it was his default expression whenever they went planetside. He guessed it was his call. “Alright, we’re interested. What’s the payoff?” “Minussin’ the cost of your parts and fuel – two hundred.” Mal wasn’t sure whether he’d heard right. “Uh – platinum?” “Percent?” Jayne suggested hopefully. Math was never his strong point. “No. Credits. Eighty up front; the rest on delivery.” “Tyen-sah!” he heard Jayne exclaim. “No-one cuts’emselves outta that much coin. We’re in!” “Why so generous?” Simon asked, his brow furrowed. “I mean, call me cynical, but,” he cast an uncertain look around Ossie’s dingy office, “you don’t look like you have that kind of capital on tap…” “You need money. I need that cargo. Call it my retirement fund.” Ossie smiled toothily. “S’worth a bundle more to the right buyers, see. An’ I got the right buyers waitin’. So what d’you say, Reynolds? You understand, we’re kinda on the clock here.” “Alright. Give us time to get shipshape, and we’ll go get your crates. ‘Spect to see that money before we leave this office, though.” “No problem. Got it right here.” Ossie pulled open a drawer and retrieved a wrapped package, which he slid across the desk. Mal picked it up before Jayne could even think about it, and made to open it, but Ossie waved a dismissive hand. “Trust me, it’s all there. I expect to see those crates inside the week. No later.” “You will.” Mal took a nonchalant peek in the package anyways, and was pleased to see the familiar sheen of credit tiles. “You got my word, Ossie.” “That’s all I need,” Ossie said, as they shook on the deal. “You’re a good man, Reynolds. I know I can rely on you.”

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“I don’t know what to say.” Inara still wasn’t sure what had shocked her the most – the fact that Zoe had made up her mind to leave Serenity, or the reason for her going. She knew that losing Wash had affected Zoe far more deeply than she’d ever let on to Mal or the others. Inara was Companion-trained, able to read the subtleties of the body like an illustrated book, and she recognised hurting when she saw it. So that much, she knew already. But this, she hadn’t seen at all. “Are you sure? I mean, have you been to see Simon?” “Week or so ago. Everythin’ came back blue. Maybe eight weeks gone, he said; maybe a little more. Maternity isn’t his specialty.” “Oh… Shenme, Zoe. I wish there were something I could do.” “No, it’s okay. Really it is. The more I think about it, the more I’m good with it.” Zoe toyed with her empty cup and saucer, turning them absent-mindedly in her hands. The scent of green tea still hung lightly in the cool air. Inara couldn’t remember ever holding tea in the cargo bay before. “You know, ‘Nara,” Zoe went on, “it’s funny. Me ‘n’ Wash, we talked about this more times than anythin’, ‘part from work. He always told me this,” she cast a hand around at Serenity’s tarnished metal innards, “wasn’t the right place to bring a child into.” She smiled hollowly. “Never thought I’d end up agreein’ with him.” “Where will you go?” “Not sure yet. Back home, maybe. Haven’t seen it in a long time. Don’t rightly know if I can call it home anymore.” “Do you have anything put by?” Zoe nodded. “We saved. You know – for the future.” Both women fell silent, gazing down at the cargo deck below their dangling feet. The cold metal grating of the walkway was growing increasingly hard to Inara’s rump, clad as it was only in layers of fine silk, but she was not about to forsake Zoe over a little discomfort. “I think you should give this some more thought,” she said eventually. “It’s not been long since Wash. Maybe with a clearer head –” “Head’s clear,” Zoe said. “It’s my heart that isn’t. I can handle it, ‘Nara – but not here. Not with things the way they are.” She fixed Inara with her calm, liquid brown eyes. “I need this now. Want it, even. All these years I’ve followed the Captain, I’ve put him first, Wash second. It wasn’t fair that I did that, but it was right. But now it’s time to do what’s right by my husband. I owe him that much.” “Does Mal know? About any of this?” “No. Just Simon, and now you.” “You have to tell him.” “I know. And I will. When I’m ready.” “And what about Mal? Do you think he’ll be ready?” “Don’t know if that’ll ever happen. You know Mal. He ain’t good at lettin’ go of anythin’ – ‘specially not people.” She sighed heavily, and shook her head. “Poor Mal. But he’s just gonna have to learn. Like I have.” Yes, Inara thought bitterly, poor Mal. Everybody’s leaving. First Book and Wash, then I. And now Zoe. Could be Kaylee and Simon next, or Jayne, and before he knows it there’ll be no-one left. Just him, and Serenity, alone in the black. Just like he’s always wanted.

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The speed they were going made the wind whip Kaylee’s hair about her face, and she hunkered down a little more behind the passenger side windshield. She didn’t like this one bit. Beside her, River’s hair was doing the same, but she was laughing silently, her eyes sparkling with delight behind the armoured lenses of her goggles, quite oblivious to the stinging dust peppering both their faces. She gunned the dirty yellow flying vehicle down the narrow corridor formed by the big storage holds, and it seemed a game to her: like some crazy old-time arcade machine. “Do we have to go so fast?” she shouted, over the whine of the jets. “Yes.” River caused Kaylee’s heart to ricochet about her chest by taking her gaze off the way ahead at sixty miles per hour and fixing her with a cool, calm look. The chunky goggles made her eyes look bulbous. “The faster we are now, the slower we can be later. Everybody knows that.” “Please look where you’re going,” she quavered. Her knuckles were bone-white where she gripped the edges of her seat. River just smiled again and gave the mule another kick. Huge doors whipped past with numbers painted on their fronts, almost too fast to read – 37, 36, 35, 34, 33… Kaylee wasn’t too crazy about being teamed with River, and that was before her high-speed heroics. Oh, she recognised the profit of such a pairing – the girl was smart enough both to drive the mule and help her with the engineering work. It made all kinds of sense. But Simon’s words about her prospective jealousy kept running through Kaylee’s head as she sat there, not an arm’s reach away, and it was all she could do to blank them out. She well knew that River’s range of hearing extended far beyond her ears. River, though, seemed not to have noticed, or was at the very least unperturbed if she had. It didn’t make Kaylee fret any less. “How is everythin’, sweetie?” she ventured, conscious that she was only talking out loud to get her own head off the topic. “Are you enjoyin’ all the pilotin’?” “Yes. I’m a fast learner. It’s very interesting.” She remembered the first time she had felt scared of River. At Niska’s skyplex, when the girl had taken up her gun – the one that Kaylee had wielded so clumsily, and been unable to use when the time came – and calmly and expertly shot three men dead in the time it took to breathe out. No talkin’, no fussin’. No sweat. Like some gorram machine. It’d taken her a good long while to feel at ease in River’s company after that. Now she was scared again. More so even than before. She didn’t much like the prospect of becoming the object of River’s resentment. Normal folk just got ornery when they got the green eyes. But normal was hardly a word that could be applied to River Tam, and she’d already shown just how far she would go to protect her big brother… Then River jerked the throttle lever all the way back – the mule’s engine snarled with protest as it was suddenly made to reverse thrust; Kaylee felt her head become heavy under the hard braking effect, and her piyan tried to slide off the seat. Before she knew it, they had slewed to a halt and were hovering, motionless, in a cloud of swirling dust. “Tian xiaode!” she exclaimed, startled back into the here-and-now, sitting bolt upright in her seat. “What happened – did we miss it?” “No. This is the one.” River removed her goggles and nodded toward a hold on the left. The mule had stopped neatly in line with it. “Number seven.” “Oh – right.” Kaylee dropped her own goggles in the footwell, and brushed the dust from her face. “Shiny parkin’.” River cocked her head slightly, as though struck by a sudden revelation. “Seven,” she echoed softly. “Um…” Kaylee wasn’t sure where this was going, or if she wanted to find out. She didn’t like when she got that distant look in her eyes. “River – mei mei – are you all right?” “Seven.” River was talking to herself as she stared fixedly at the door, as though explaining something complicated to a child. “Another prime number. Two, three, five, seven, eleven. They’re all important. We have to write them down, to keep them in mind.” Then she seemed to snap back into herself, just as quickly as she had left. When she looked across at Kaylee, there was clarity in her gaze once more, and also a strange sort of half-smile on her lips. “I don’t know,” she said. “It’s a difficult question. Sometimes I still hear things. Talkers. I hear words, I see voices, and I don’t know if they come from inside or outside. Or which I should listen to. Or if I should even listen at all. It’s very puzzling.” “Um… okay. Shall we go now?” asked Kaylee, who no longer knew how to play this game at all. “Only time’s gettin’ on…” “Time isn’t real. Only an illusion,” River said, and then she was gone – vaulting easily over the side of the floating mule, landing lightly on her boots. Before Kaylee knew it, she had sprinted around to the passenger side, to help her down. “He loves you, you know,” she said suddenly, as she guided Kaylee’s feet onto the concealed rungs. “Who – Simon?” “Yes. He’s always thinking about you. Naughty thoughts.” She giggled, a little girl’s noise. “Shouldn’t be looking.” “River, I –” “You shouldn’t worry. It’s good now. You make Simon happy. And that makes me happy.” “Really?” “Yes.” She smiled sincerely. “He deserves to be happy. We all do, even when we can’t.” “Well, I… That’s nice to hear, River. Thank you.” River nodded. “We should get on with our work. Captain Reynolds is waiting. Go open the hold – I’ll tie everything up here.” Feeling more comforted than she had in a while, Kaylee walked away toward the giant doors, although she found herself wondering why the weight of anxiety was not yet lifting from her shoulders. River watched her go, still smiling. As soon as she was sure she was out of earshot, however, her expression flickered and became purposeful. “And if you ever hurt him,” she told her, quietly, meaningfully, “I’ll hurt you right back.”

====================== mei mei = little sister shenme = I’m sorry tyen sah = Goddamn hundan = bastards niushi = cow dung tian xiaode = in the name of all that’s sacred piyan = butt

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