with continued apologies to Robert Heinlein for the bastardization of one of his titles…

Plot / Setting got you confused ??? Read these:

previous story segments: pt 01,pt 02,pt 03,pt 04,pt 05,pt 06,pt 07,pt 08,pt 09,pt 10, pt 11,pt 12,pt 13,pt 14,pt 15

- - - - -

Monty’s eyes looked as if they would pop out of his skull as his jaw literally dropped. Two opposite feelings waged war in his head and he wasn’t sure which one would win. On one hand, the cute young woman had called him an uncle, which meant Mal might have off and got himself married, and on the other, there was a very large man with a shotgun pointed at his head.

“No need to worry about either of those things,” River said in her singsong voice, glaring at Jayne. “Mal is like a daddy to us, but he is neither married nor a father. As for Jayne, well, he gets a little trigger happy.”

River saw Monty’s entire body relax as she made her revelation, though she could feel his apprehension as he realized that he hadn’t spoken any of it aloud.

“But, how did, who the, what just happened?” His head was spinning and he wished he had a shot or two of the bourbon he left on his ship. Changing to the subject he had come here for, he stuttered “So, uh, is Mal around? And do ya have any whiskey you can spare for the ruttin’ scare you gave me?”

It was Jayne’s turn to smile. ‘Finally,’ he thought, ‘someone to drink with.’ He had to admit, it got a little depressing drinking by himself, though sometimes Mal was up for a few rounds, but besides that no one on the ship could hold near as much as Jayne, which made them no fun to drink with.

“C’mon in, Monty. Yer prolly gonna need a drink or two before we get to talking about the Cap’n.” Jayne stepped aside, his shotgun slung back over his shoulder, making room for the larger man to come up into the ship. River skipped ahead to where Kaylee was waiting, smiling at the young mechanic before bounding up the stairs toward the galley. Kaylee and Jayne exchanged puzzled looks, each wondering how the girl who had shrieked in terror a few minutes before could be in such a good mood all of the sudden. Kaylee turned to Monty as he and Jayne approached her.

“And who is this lovely young creature?” Monty asked, smiling his jovial smile and bowing his head slightly. “Not another mind reader, I hope.”

Kaylee blushed at the compliment, extending her own hand. “I’m Kaylee, Serenity’s mechanic. Mal has told us a little bit about you.” She smiled, filling the surrounding area with warmth.

“Whatever he told ya abou’ me, rest assured that none of it’s true,” he said with a wink. “That scoundrel ’s gotten me into more tight spots than I can count, though he was pretty good about gettin’ me out of ‘em as well.” Monty turned back to Jayne, “You were sayin’ somethin’ about a drink?”

Jayne nodded and began to climb the stairs, Monty and Kaylee trailing behind him. When they reached the galley, River had already placed two glasses on the table and Jayne’s bottle, taken out from his personal cabinet behind the counter. There were also two steaming cups of tea sitting on the countertop.

“Gorramit crazy girl, I done told ya to stay outta my things,” Jayne growled at River, taking a seat at the table. “Ya never know what kinds of things you might find in there.” She stuck her tongue out at him then sipped her tea in silence.

Kaylee winced at the disclosure, not at all interested to know the kinds of things Jayne might keep in his personal effects. She walked over to River, who was sitting on the counter, picking up a cup of the tea and blowing on it before taking a sip. Jayne poured very generous amounts of the clear brown liquid into the glasses, then handed one to Monty, who sniffed the contents approvingly. They raised their glasses slightly, both men turning them up and draining them in one gulp.

As Jayne began to refill the glasses, Monty asked, “So, what’s the deal with Mal?”

As they lifted their glasses again, River began to explain exactly what had happened to them, with Jayne and Kaylee filling in any details they could.

- - -

Zoe, Inara, Simon, and Dr. Fawkes all stood around Mal’s bed, each looking down on him with concern and hope on their faces. Zoe hadn’t moved since Mal grabbed her hand, afraid that breaking the contact would have some detrimental effect on his condition.

“Mal! Mal, can you hear me?” Inara’s voice cut through the fog surrounding his brain, bringing him closer to consciousness. “Mal, if you can hear me, please say something.”

“Wha, what happened about me…?”

“Run-tse duh fwo-tzoo, you’re awake.” She squeezed his hand, smiling down at him with relief in her eyes. “I was, I mean, we were worried that you, you wouldn’t...”

“I’m gonna be, I’m doin’...Doc, what happened to me? And who’s your friend?”

“Mal, this is Dr. Stephen Fawkes, and he is the man responsible for bringing you out of the unconscious limbo you were in. We really aren’t sure as to the medical nature of it, though we are convinced that the psychic attack on the ship and crew brought it on. Zoe told me about your capture after the Battle of Serenity, and the neural scans we have done confirm the fears that she had. We think the Alliance was, um, playing with your brain, in a similar manner to what they did to River.”

“Wha, Alliance? Who did what to my brain?”

“Simon, I think we need to let him recover a little before you bombard him with all sorts of new information. I am sure that waking after being out for a couple of weeks is a little confounding to your Captain.” Dr. Fawkes spoke with a gentle but firm voice, “We’re just glad to have you back with us, and by the way, it’s nice to finally meet you.”

Mal gave the strange new doctor a half smile for keeping Simon at bay, then looked down to his hands. Inara was holding his left hand, squeezing it gently and smiling down at him. That smile alone could bring him out of any fog, though he still hadn’t worked out how to tell her that. One day, maybe, but certainly not anytime soon, at the rate he was going. ‘If only she would give up her entire professional career for me…’ he thought, but it didn’t feel right to ask that of her, especially when he wasn’t sure that his feelings were reciprocated.

He looked down at his other hand, his fingers still wrapped around Zoe’s wrist. He considered himself lucky to have such a loyal first mate, and more importantly, such a good friend.

“Welcome back sir,” she said, flashing him a rare smile. “We’ve all been having a pretty rough time of it.” She paused, reflecting on her own nightmarish visions that were still extremely vivid in her mind. “Your ship and all of her crew are more or less intact and surviving, and the news that you are alive and awake will undoubtedly draw them all here to visit.”

He released her wrist, his arms and head falling back to the bed, tired from the little bit of physical exertion he had just performed. “Doc, you were saying something ‘bout the Alliance playing with my brain. You wanna explain that? None of your medical jargon either, use Captain-dummy talk.”

Simon smiled slightly, opening his mouth to begin the explanation. Dr. Fawkes interrupted, saying “Mal, the Alliance is always trying to make people, well, better. I am sure you are more than aware of this due to both your experience in the Browncoat army and your more recent exploits involving the planet of Miranda.”

Everyone in the room turned to look at the doctor, who blushed slightly before continuing. “Everyone here watched it, saw the horrible things the Alliance did to those people. After the broadwave, their presence here was reduced significantly. I guess you could say that y’all are, well, heroes, to a lot of planets like ours that have been able to breathe easier in the past few months.”

Silence descended on the room at this admission, the four members of Serenity’s crew taken aback at the fact that they had actually made a difference. They had all been involved with their pursuit to keep flying, to survive, to make enough coin to stay fed and keep the ship fueled, that they hadn’t really noticed the difference in the ‘verse. Dr. Fawkes’ soft voice brought them out of their respective reflections.

“Anyhow, back to the Captain’s brain. It seems to me, from intense examination of the scans we made, that they opened your skull and cut into your brain, and from what I can tell, they were messing with your reaction-response time. I think they were trying to make you some sort of superior soldier, but it would appear that you were rescued before they could do anything to turn you to their side.”

Mal looked down his body at Zoe again, a wordless thanks passing from his eyes to Zoe’s as he squeezed her hand once more. His thoughts also strayed to Monty, wondering what he was doing and if he would ever see him again.

“It also looks like they implanted some means of subconscious control, should that method of turning you have ever failed. The nature of the attack on your ship and its effect on you serves to verify these findings. The bad news is, I don’t know what can be done to prevent another attack of a similar nature from having the same effect on you, though your brilliant young doctor here now knows exactly what to do to bring you out of it.”

At the mention of himself, Simon blushed faintly, looking down at his feet. “You are going to be ok, Captain, you just need to take it easy for a few days while you recover. I am sure that all of the crew will be more than happy to visit you here, and if you didn’t know, the good doctor Fawkes here has decided to consider his work on you pro bono.”

It was Dr. Fawkes’ turn to blush a little, smiling down at Mal. “Well, I’ve patched up plenty of young Browncoats for nothin’ since before you volunteered, so it’s really not a big deal. I am, however, going to take my leave now and get some rest, but I will be back to check on you later.”

As he left the room, Mal looked questioningly back up at Zoe. “You said my ship is more or less intact? I really hope it’s a lot of the more and not so much of the less.”

- - -

Monty sat, eyes transfixed on River, his third glass of whiskey untouched on the table beside him. The things this lithe little girl had just told him were seemingly impossible, though the other two members of the crew had verified the story, what they could remember of it. ‘Ruttin’ tah mah duh hwoon dahn purplebellies!’ he thought, shaking his head to clear it a little. He lifted his glass, taking a slow sip, then turned back to face River.

“Well, I figger your story’s on the level, it’s too strange not to be. What can I do to help him?”

“Well, he’s awake now. You could go see him.”

Neither Jayne nor Kaylee seemed to even notice when this girl talked about things she couldn’t know and shouldn’t know, and he was finally able to place the feeling that had been dwelling at the back of his mind. ‘She was like that strange kid Thomas!’ Glad to finally determine this connection, he finished off his drink in two gulps, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“So, when can we leave?”

River hopped down from her perch on the counter, walking over to Monty. She grabbed his hand and pulled him from his chair, half-skipping as she led him down the hall to the other shuttle, Jayne and Kaylee following a few steps behind them.

- - -

“Gates, I know you are eager to find them, but for some reason Monty doesn’t completely trust us. He sent Ara to keep an eye on us, though she is being pretty discreet about it.”

Grace watched the pilot from her seat at the little diner, her hands wrapped around a slowly cooling cup of coffee. She had noticed her about ten minutes ago, which had prompted the pit stop. She was working out a way to diplomatically escape her watchful eye while not appearing to be doing so when he interrupted her thoughts.

“Why does it matter? We aren’t doing anything wrong, just looking for some people we know. Besides, how can you be sure that she is following us? She may just be looking for work, or something to spend her paycheck on.”

‘Maybe being on the move constantly has finally made me paranoid,’ she thought, smiling at her swai companion. ‘Then again, just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean that someone isn’t out to get you.’ She had survived for years by being as careful as she could, though Gates’ point had eased her mind considerably.

“Ok, we’ll head on to Serenity then. I can’t imagine Monty getting upset at us for looking for someone.”

Gates left a few coins beside their empty coffee mugs as they stood to leave, walking back toward the openness of the docks and hopefully his wayward children.

- - -

The small mosquito shaped ship burned hard through the Black, its lone occupant fuming as he scanned the empty space around him for the traces of that ship. For almost two weeks he had been following the trail, stopping only for minimal amounts of time for food and other supplies. The residue left by the strange vessel was exceedingly faint, but his personally crafted equipment was more than able to find it. They had changed course a number of times, no doubt in an effort to liberate themselves of his pursuit.

They were right to run from him. The stories he had uncovered about the fate he had avoided by fouling up the bounty on River Tam only served to fuel his anger. Eventually they would stop flying, men like that had to have a home somewhere, or at least a base of operations. He knew that when he found that place, he wouldn’t be the only one who would be seeking retribution. The one who had spared him wanted her revenge too, and if nothing else, the crew of Serenity would make good body shields.

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pt 17

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Translations ( from http://fireflychinese.home.att.net/episode.html ):

run-tse duh fwo-tzoo – merciful buddha

tah mah duh hwoon dahn – mother humping sonofabitch

swai – handsome/cute