[A/N]: My original character is the only one that belongs to me, and I only claim her when she behaves. Insert clever don't-sue-me disclaimer here. Rated PG or so for mention of, but not description of, rape/abuse. Feedback makes my day. _________________________________________________ “Nearly married her accidentally, or on purpose?” the Shepherd asked, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly. “On purpose, Preacher. That what they teach you in the Abbey, how to poke fun at them as confide in you?” Mal retorted. “I was merely clarifying, Captain. After all, you don’t have an exemplary record in that area, and I was concerned for the safety of the ship.” The preacher smiled. “Sure you were. Anyway, I met her shortly after I shipped out to fight with the Independents. She, uh, broke me out of an internment camp. We were together for ‘bout two years—I asked her to marry me but she wouldn’t have me.” “There were differences between you?” “No, no, nothing like that. She said she wouldn’t marry me during the war. Said there was too much chance one or t’other of us wouldn’t come home. Said that war changes folk—she was right about that. She told me if I still wanted her when the war was over she’d marry me then.” “But you didn’t marry her when the war ended.” “’Bout ten months before I got shipped out to Hera, she got sent on a job. See, she’s a person knows how to get things. Had…has… a knack for getting things to folk as need them and putting people in jobs where they’ll flourish. Hell, preacher, that girl could spend twenty minutes with a person and practically tell you their life story. There was a unit stationed on Echo and that unit was havin’ all manner o’ problems. Stuff gone missin’, information gettin’ to the wrong people, and the like. She was supposed to take a shipment of medical supplies there and spend some time with the unit. Figure out what had gone wrong, find the mole if there was one. While she was there, the Alliance attacked and razed the base. Word was, everyone was killed.” Mal sat on the edge of the bunk in the infirmary, carefully studying the toes of his boots. He swallowed hard. “Preacher, for all this time, I believed she was dead.” ------------------------------------------------- They hid in the hills for nearly five weeks before Command sent a short-range transport to extract them. Mal accompanied Stephanie back to her platoon for medical attention before being returned to his own unit. The doctor at the base had to rebreak his ankle to set it properly by the time they arrived, and there was talk of surgery on his ribs that never came to fruition. Mal savored his time in the hospital, knowing that soon he would be half a galaxy away. Knowing that life tended to be short and cheap for Browncoats. Dreading leaving Stephanie behind. Two years of letters and waves followed. Two years of hurried visits on leave, of meeting when they could, of physically trying to make up for months spent apart with days spent together in bed. He’d asked her to marry him, but how could he promise to love her forever when he didn’t even know who he’d be when the war ended? If the war ended. She’d seen what the soul-crushing hell of war could do to a man over time. And she didn’t know how to tell him her own secrets, either. About how she’d spent half her life a slave, and how she’d never really had a life of her own. About the rape. About the disease the guard had forced upon her during her first stay in the camps. About how the disease had been curable but the damage it did to her body hadn’t been. About how if he married her, he’d die a childless man. Let them wait a while. Wait while the war unfolded, while she gathered her courage. Wait. There was a mole in the unit on Echo. That was for damn sure. He was well hidden-- she hadn’t been positive until the base was attacked and she was taken. But the Purplebellies knew who she was. They knew her history. They knew that she had been in and out of camps and prisons since she was nine years old, and that she had escaped no less than six times. They knew that she had on more than one occasion simply decided she was tired of being in a camp and walked out. And taken people with her. After a lifetime of learning the value of invisibility, the woman was practically a ghost when she wanted to be. She was a valuable prisoner—she had intimate knowledge of Independent staffing and supply lines. The Alliance was afraid of losing her. They spread the word that everyone was killed, even published a list of casualties so that her people would not come looking for her. They moved her to a prison on a remote moon and chained her in a solitary cell. They included her as a subject in a biomedical research program that weakened her body with untried drugs that she didn’t need. They had learned from their mistakes in the past—this time they made it almost impossible for her to escape. She heard from a fellow prisoner in the research facility about Serenity Valley. Heard that the 57th Overlanders had been sent there. Heard about the horrors that followed, and how they stood to the last. Like the Greeks at Thermopylae, they had died to man rather than lay down arms. During all the interrogation and abuse she’d endured up to that point, she had refused to break down. But when she heard about Serenity Valley, Stephanie Riemann folded quietly into the corner of her cell and cried for the man she had outlived and the life she had lost. ------------------------------------------------- It was around midmorning when the bulletin came over the cortex. Wash was on the bridge, leaning back in his chair while he played with his dinosaurs. The stegosaurus was in the middle of recruiting the bronchiosaurus in an elaborate plan for vengance upon the traitorous T-rex when Kaylee’s voice came from under the console. “Ok, hit it again.” Wash reached forward and flipped a couple of switches. A small explosion of sparks triggered a squeal from Kaylee. “Tsao gao! No! The one on the right!” “Sorry… you ok?” Wash asked as Kaylee slid out from under the console. “Shiny. Just a little singed. I think that ought to do it though. Let me know if she hangs up again and I’ll reroute the primary circuit through the navcom bundle… rather not do that if we don’t have to though. This way if it shorts it only takes the internal com out with it, not our nav signal.” “Uhh, sure. The whatsis and the thingummy. Don’t fry the mechanic. Got it. Hey, looks like we got a bulletin…da shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo tze!” Wash hit the switches behind his head and shouted into the com. “Mal, you better get up here!” “What’s the problem?” Mal appeared in the doorway, a little rumpled and looking like he hadn’t slept in a couple of days. Which was a pretty accurate estimation. “Seems our new guest is quite the popular lady.” He handed Mal the bulletin. “Folks get upset when she leaves the party early though. Seems if we hadn’t neglected to read the posted alerts for this planet—again—we would have known about all the, um, civil unrest and terrorist activity in this region. Think it’s a safe bet that she’s one of the two escapees they’re looking for.” “Seems like that’d be the case.” Mal seemed lost in thought as he scanned through the rest of the bulletin. As the moments passed, Wash grew more restless, spinning back and forth in his chair. “Hate to interrupt your reverie, there, Mal, but if we’re gonna get outta here we’d better do it quick.” “What?” “Third paragraph, last line. They’re landlocking the quadrant until further notice. And your little friend aside, we’ve got a couple extra people on this ship they’re bound to take notice of if we get searched.” “Alright, Wash, let’s go then. Take us outta the world.” “I knew we shoulda blown this rock the second we brought ‘er on board…” Jayne started as he stepped onto the bridge. “But Cap’n! We can’t leave Inara….” Kaylee cut in. “You think they won’t notice one ship coming off a landlocked planet…” Wash added. “Bi zui! I’m fully aware that this is not the best situation we’ve found ourselves in. But we’ve got no kinda choice about it. Wash, get us in the air. Try to keep us outta sight—if we leave now we might be able to blend in with other traffic that’s been authorized to take off. We screw around and there won’t be nobody movin’ off this rock and we’ll have no chance. Jayne, get the cargo stowed. Kaylee, it ain’t gonna help Inara if she comes back here to an Alliance raid. That prison got blown up ain’t far from here, and we’re gonna have Feds down our necks in no time at all if we stay put.” Mal turned to go. Kaylee followed close behind. “But Inara…Cap’n…how’s she gonna…” “We’ll figure somethin’ out, Lil’ Kaylee. First things first. But we ain’t gonna leave Inara behind, don’t you worry. ‘Sides, that’s my shuttle she’s in.”