Story: Why Not Me Chapter: 6 Summary: Four man crew goes on the shipyard mission. Five come back, one of them hanging onto life by a thin thread. Warnings: female/female pairing. Authors Note: Pairing is River/Kaylee, hint of Inara/Mal. My first Firefly fiction. I'm having trouble personifying River and Kaylee both. With River, it's this graceful confusion I'm having trouble capturing, and with Kaylee, it's the language, the accent, the jargon. Help Help Help, feedback deeply needed. Hasn't been Beta'd. Don't know someone who could. Anyone volunteering? Disclaimer. Joss is Boss. Don't own characters, But I'd sure love to own all the women of the ship.

"Why Mal, I almos thought ya wouldn take me job."

"I ain't in the habit of refusin coin I could use, Badger. Let's getton ta business."

"Didn't think ya'd take it, after the way the last two I gave ya ended n' all."

Mal stepped forward. "You'd be talkin bout the first, where'n ya refused ma goods, and the second'n which ya took my crew hostage on my own boat?" He stepped closer before speaking sarcastically. "Yea, well, ain't never been one a' hold a grudge."

Mal was close enough to Badger to attack him if he pleased, and men stepped out from corners and rooms with weapons aimed.

"Calm down mate, step back. No need for all the hostilities. Don't plan on this job goin south that way. Other two, flukes."

Mal stepped forward once more, the men held fingers on triggers. River grabbed the rifle from the one closest to her, and knocked him on his head with it.

The others were ready to shoot, Badger held up his hand as a signal to halt. "No need. Go back where ya were.

He looked to River. "You again, eh?"

"Aye, my sad little king. You're hill's gotten a bit smaller though, adn't it?"

Badger turned from River and tried to ignore the fact that she knew more than she should after having just walked in the room minutes ago. He looked to Mal. "Fine Mal. Job's like this. Rumor is, owner of the at the shipyard a'while outta town just got in a few new recks, good parts in 'em though. One ship, alliance vessel, not sure what 'appened, but it's said ta contain some goods got confiscated from a ship I gave a job to. Never got my goods. I wan em."

Mal nodded. "We can do it. What is it exactly we're to take?"

Badger grinned and began speaking of the specific goods he needed.

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About an hour later, everyone was onboard Serenity again. River had taken her up from dock and they were very near to the shipyard. It was night now, and they had the protection and cover of dark. Mal looked out the cockpit window and saw a massive shipyard lay before them. He pointed to a ridge on the edge of the yard that lay closest to their target.

"Take her down behind that there ridge, Albatross. We can sneak on in, nobody'll ever know we were here." River landed Serenity behind the ridge, and everyone gathered in the cargo bay.

"Alright now. All the needed equipment's already on the mule, which, by the way, Zoe's piloting. Mule can only take four. So Albatross, you stay here unless we need ya, sense there's somethin about, come runnin."

River nodded. Jayne hopped in the Mule and pulled Kaylee up. Zoe was already in the pilots seat, and Mal climbed in beside her. Zoe put the mule in drive and pulled out of the bay. River walked forward and closed both hatches.

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Zoe sped through the shipyard, entirely missing large obstacles in the way of the mule. Mal stared down at a map of the shipyard, upon which Badger had written instructions and locations. He pointed east. "To your right Zoe."

The Mule banked hard and headed down a cleared lane towards a large wreck before them. An small Alliance transport. It was no bigger than three times Serenity's size. Zoe parked the mule deep in a shadow before dropping off the power. She picked up her rifle and hopped off the mule. "Ready sir?"

Mal looked around to Kaylee and Jayne and then nodded. They were both armed and ready. "Let's move people."

Mal moved towards the hatch that gave access to the cargo bay and for them, the rest of the ship. He pulled on the latch and discovered it was locked. "Hatch's locked. Jayne, gimme the sticky." Jayne tossed him the gun-like sticky applicator. Mal caught it and started applying it around the latch. Once done, he stuck on the heat applicator and walked backwards. Within seconds, the metal evaporated away. Mal stuck his hand through, opening the large hatch. "Alrighty then."

"Let's move out." He took a look down at his map before stepping onto the ship. "Zoe, it's big enough, bring the mule in. Be easier to get the hell outta here when we need to. Power'll still work. Should be able to put on some lights."

Zoe was quick, and with the lights of the mule, Mal found a console on the wall that he found controlled the lighting, and turned a few on, enough to grab the goods from the bay. "Zoe, Jayne, stay here, grab what we gotta. Me'n Kaylee'll head up to the engine stockhold, grab what we can use, then head to the infirmary, take what we can, n' then we're outta here.

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At the head of the shipyard, an slim, muscular man sat down before taking a sip of some very pricey wine. "He looked around at all his gigantic vid screen, which showed him every inch of his yard, cut into 100 yard segments. He stood up, startled, when he thought he saw a gleam of lights and movement on one of the screens. he typed in a command on the keyboard in front of him, selecting that area to cover the whole screen. He rewinded the footage and then played it again. He watched as what looked like a mule and a group of at least 2 people went a few feet forward towards the hatch of a ship and then dissapeared inside it. "GORRAMIT!"

He left his home quickly and hopped in his own mule and towards his newest ship. He picked up the rifle behind him and stuffed a pistol in his hip holster. He saw that he had one more gas grenade from his last encounter with a band of scavenging theives.

After about five minutes on top speed, he cut out his lights and cut down his speed, making him near invisible. He hopped out of the mule 20 yards from the hatch and crept forward. When he reached the hatch, he ripped the pin out of his grenade and held for a few seconds before tossing it at the two people he saw inside the cargo bay. Gunfire flew towards him before he heard two soft thuds hit the metal of the deck. He walked inside the ship slowly and smiled when he saw the two theives, a woman and a man, were out cold. He reached inside their mule when he saw some rope, and used it to quickly tie them up to a support post. He knew he'd seen atleast 1 more woman with them, so he picked up the womans map of the ship and headed towards their most likely target, the engine room.

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Inside Serenity, quietly sitting on the deck of the cargo bay, eyes closed, legs crossed, River sat watching mission under hand in her mind, she had the eyes and ears of the team streaming into her own. When Jayne and Zoe's point of view went black, she searched the alliance ship with her mind and found the man, tying up Zoe and Jayne to a post. She hopped up and without speaking, went running towards Kaylee's position. That man was headed right towards her.

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The owner of the shipyard, Silus Tole, slowly walked up deck by deck towards the engine room. He'd get there soom enough, and didn't want to make so much noise that someone would hear him. When he knew he was on the right deck, he removed his boots and left them where he'd find them. A former Alliance special forces soldier, he certainly wasn't short on stealth combat training. He knew without a doubt that he could get rid of the woman attempting to steal parts of his ships engine. He moved silently, and finally came up on the engine room. He peaked inside, and found that not only was the woman he'd seen inside, but also a man, and by the way he was giving orders, Silus assumed he was the leader of the whole team. Silus pointed his rifle at the man, aimed square at the back of his head, and fired. He was amazed to see the man nearly dodge the bullet, it caught him in the right of his abdomen. He fell to the deck. Alive, but seriously injured. He saw the woman jump, and run to the man, kneeling at his side.

"Cap'n! Cap'n, you okay?"

Silus stepped forward. He saw the man attempting to lift his gun from it's holster, but he was having some trouble breathing and moving. Silus smiled and moved towards the girl. He pointed his rifle at her. She pulled out her pistol and fired. She was slow, and he had thrown her to the floor. Her gun slid away. "I apologize, M'lady, too slow I'm afraid. Happens, when people try to steal from me." He pointed his rifle between her eyes and took the shot.

Suddenly, A young girl rushed through the engine room door, moving way too fast. She jumped in front of the bullet, caught it at about where the heart should be, and still managed thrust her fist into the middle of Silus' chest, he felt his heart being crushed and smiled as he fell to the cold, hard deck. "You're an amazing girl. No one's even gotten close to killing me before. You've suceeded..."

~- ~ - ~ - ~ ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ ~ Kaylee's mouth gaped as River fell to the floor. "R..River? Where'd you...where'd you come from?"

River shook her head. "It hurts, Kaylee. I didn't know how much it would hurt. River's eyes went dazed for a moment as pleasure-inducing chemicals raced through her synapses, trying to compensate for the pain. She knew she would live, if she could get to Simon, if Simon could get to her. She sat up. If she could stand up, she could...she could do something to help the situation.

Mal started to speak into his radio. "Jayne, Zoe, come in please..."

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Zoe shook her head as she woke up. She realized what had happed and smacked Jayne beside the head.

He muttered in his gas-induced sleep. "Naw, ma, don't wonna wake up, ain't gotta go ta school. I hate school, all 'em smart folks make funna me. I kin hurt 'em though. Get's me in trouble. Don't wanna go!"

Zoe cocked an eye brow and smacked him one more time, harder. This time, he woke up.

"Gorramit, Zoe, weren't no need for all that hittin."

"I believe their was. You got your knife?"

He knodded and bent his foot up towards his arm. He grabbed it from his boot and handed it around the post to Zoe. She quickly sliced through her ropes and cut his next. They both stood up. "It's a nice knife, Jayne."

He smiled and nodded. "Damn right it is."

Zoe's face went stern as she heard Kaylee through the radio. She sounded as if she was crying. "Kaylee. What happened up there?"

Kaylee kept talking. "That man, he shot the captain in the stomach, and River...I don't know how she got here so fast... He was 'bout to shoot me, River...She jumped in front of my bullet. She hurt Zoe, real bad. We need help.

Zoe started running up flight after flight of stairs, Jayne ran behind her. Kaylee was guiding them. They got there quick.

Zoe stepped over the dead man in the door and looked down at the deck and saw the Captain bleeding through his clothes. Her heart shook for a second. She flushed it out, she had to take command.

"Jayne, pick up the captain, gently please." She bent down herself to pick up River, who was bleeding everywhere.

"We're gonna hafta leave all that cargo, the mule should carry us all if it's empty." When she saw the look on Jayne's face, she continued. "We can come back for it. That man there owned the yard. It's empty now."

In 6 minutes, they muled was parked in Serenity's cargo bay, and Jayne, Zoe, and Kaylee were running towards the Infirmary, River and Mal in arms.

They were lucky, Simon was there, and his face went dead pale when he saw his sister. She wasn't moving. He ran to his cabinet and pulled out to paddles connected to large machine. He grabbed a spray filled with something he knew would put River to sleep. He tore the clothes off of her torso and put the paddles on her chest. "Zoe, when I say, you hit that button." he pointed. She nodded, but looked to the Cap'n.

Simon glared at her. "He'll be ok. just have to remove the bullet and seal the wound. I took a look, bullet didn't puncture any organs. Now do what I say."

She nodded.

He motioned Jayne back with his arms then took a deep breath. "Now!"

Zoe hit the button and River's body arched up from the shock. Inara walked in the door, wondering what was going on. She saw Mal and tears rained down her face immediately. She ran over, trying to wake him up. Jayne put a hand on her shoulder and she shrugged him off.

"Doc said he'll be ok, 'Nara. He's gonna live." She looked to Simon and he nodded before shouting again.

"Turn it up a few notches, Zoe." She nodded and did so. "Now!" River's body arched up again, higher this time. Simon smiled. Her heart was beating. He tossed on a apron and ushered everyone out of the room.

"I've got to perform surgery, I'll have to open up her chest, she'll be infected if we don't seal off the room. Zoe, you stay, i need your help." Zoe nodded, and Inara hadn't moved. "Inara, you have to leave."

She looked back at Simon. "I won't. I will NOT leave him. Do you hear me? I won't." tears were flowing still.

Simon nodded. "Fine." Simon doped River and started the surgery.

The doors closed and Jayne and Kaylee stood outside, peering inside, trying to find out what was going on.

Halfway into the surgery, Inara had taken a chair and had fallen asleep crying, her head laying on Mal's chest. She hadn't moved for two hours. But then again, neither had Kaylee.