Jade studied Wash for a minute, trying to decipher which would be the best approach. She hated "getting" in someone's mind without their pemission, but this was a special situation. Wash's life was at stake, to say nothing of theirs. She has to uncover what mysteries lay within, for no telling what they were going to walk into.

Smiling gently at Wash, she said, "Wash, I need to study you for a moment. It won't hurt, but the truth of the matter is that there is something locked in your mind that we need to discover. Our very lives depend on it". Despite the fact that they could hand Wash over at any time and be on their merry way, Wash was part of the crew and what happened to him happened to them.

And that was exactly what they were trying to avoid.

----------

Jade closed her eyes and started reading Wash's mind. Instantly, she was barraded by images that flashed in and out. It was a confusing, jumbled mess of long-forgotten memories along with new ones that attacked her senses. She backed off a bit, allowing only a thin stream of memories to get through. Slowly, one memory became more pronounced. She knew this was one of Wash's memories that had been blocked. Jade breathed deep and sumbitted to the memory, allowing it to sweep over her.

Laughter and music. A ballroom was filled with dancing people. An orchestra played softly while couples danced. In the center, she could see Wash dancing with a young, dark-skinned woman. She was laughing at his clumsy attempts to dance. Finally, they gave up and started over to one of the tables. Suddenly, the double doors to the ballroom burst open, and Alliance troops came in, firing into the crowd with their guns. Screams. Guests scattering. Bullets richocheting off the walls and embedding into people. The young woman that Wash was with fell, shot to death. The gunshots stopped, and some of the troops gathered up some people, Wash included, and took them out of the room.

The scene fades, and another presented itself.

"You're going to fly for us." An Operative stands in front of Wash. They were both in a small questioning room. Wash looked up at the operative.

"And why would I fly for the people that killed Zoe?" He spat out at the man. The Operative smiled coldy and produced a syringe.

"You're going to forget that incident like it never happened." He said, then stepped forward, needle in hand.

----------------

Wash is flying a ship, talking to a co-pilot. Suddenly, the wave sound goes off. The co-pilot reaches over and flicks the switch. A hologram appears of a woman, and Wash frowns.

"What is this?" He asks. The co-pilot shrugs.

"I don't know, but--" He stops his sentence short as the woman starts speaking.

"These are just a few of the images I recorded." A image pops up on the screen, and Wash and the co-pilot cringe at the sight of a rotting corpse. Another comes up of a skeleton, and the woman continued speaking. "We didn't mean for this to happen. It was the air. We circulated medicine through the air in Miranda to subdue the people; to make them not want to fight. It worked. They stopped everything. Working, eating, sleeping. It all meant nothing. And they all died."

A crashing sound came from the hologram, and the woman gasped, looking to the side. She spoke more quickly. "I won't live to report this in person, but hopefully this recording will reach someone. A portion of the population had an opposite affect. They grew more violent, more agressive. They killed off the rest of those who hadn't died. They are mad. All of them mad." She held up a small grey stone in her right hand. "This is what we used. In raw form, it is dangerous, but in a processed form, it allows control." Another crashing, and she screamed, throwing the rock at something off-screen. The hologram cut off.

Wash and the co-pilot are stunned. Wash leans back in his chair. "The Alliance...did this?"

Behind them, the sound of a throat being cleared came. Wash and the other man turned to see the Operative standing there. He was holding a gun, pointed at the co-pilot. "I am sorry. You've seen too much." He pulled thr trigger, and the man jerks back, blood spraying from his head. Wash stands quickly, but the Operative points the gun on him.

"Don't worry. I won't kill you. The Alliance needs your piloting skills." The Operative smiles. He produced another needle in his hand. "However, to make sure you don't tell people about this little misunderstanding with Miranda, I'll help you forget it."

The scene fades again, but another one comes just as quickly.

It's a small prison cell. About twenty men are gathered around an oil lamp. Wash is at the center, showing them how to do shadow puppets on the wall. They all try their hand at it, and when Wash is about to show them another, the Operative comes to the door.

"You need to fly for us again, Washburne."

--------------------

Jade snapped out of Wash's memories with a gasp. At the same time, Wash reeled backwards, holding his head.

"What are you doing?!" Wash yelled at her, and Jade stepped forward holding her hand up.

"Wash, it's okay, listen to me, it's going to be okay." She tried to calm him down.

Wash shook his head. "Lies. You just put those things into my head, didn't you? It's all lies to get me to leave!"

Kane got in front of Jade. "Snap out of it, Wash. She was just trying to see your forgotten memories."