Read: Head Trauma, Focus on the Fine Qualities of Dinosaurs, Translation, All Kinds of Brilliant

All of them were frantic. Zoe was piloting the mule while Jayne watched their rear for pursuit and Mal held River to him, upright in his lap like a small child, her blood running out onto the beige cloth of his shirt. His own face was spattered with it, from the spray of impact. Jayne was bloody to the wrists from bludgeoning her captors with the butt of Vera, and then with his fists. Zoe and Mal’s commands hadn’t pulled him from the last twitching figure – only River’s keening had accomplished that. With icy dispatch he had delivered one final blow, shattering the man’s entire orbital structure and plunging shards of bone into his brain. Then he had turned, scooped River from Mal’s arms, and dashed for the mule. “Wash, baby, get ready for…” Zoe cut herself off, wincing. “Kaylee. Open ‘er up. Warn Simon we got an incoming gunshot wound. Head trauma. Get Serenity prepped for takeoff. Rendezvous in five.” “Gotcha.” Kaylee’s voice on the comm was strained, and she sounded out of breath. Mal scowled. If she and that hundan doctor had been rutting while they were on the job, he’d… No. Not with River gone. Stupid gou cao de thugs seeing their ship, all shiny from the recent overhaul, and thinking they were flush. Kidnapping River, just when things were getting’ all normal-like. Holding her for ransom – one-hundred platinum, when the Alliance reward was still at least ten times that. No matter what that gorram Operative said, they hadn’t just wanted River for her secrets. Simon and Kaylee had been the ones to find Jayne, unconscious, between two bodies halfway between town and the ship. One bore the marks of strangling – his work – and the other had been kicked in the temple so hard the bone had shattered – River’s. When the ransom demand had come in, Jayne was awake and swearing at Zoe in the infirmary, Simon was hyperventilating in the kitchen area, Kaylee was manically fine-tuning the engine, and Mal was sitting in the co-pilot’s seat, staring dead ahead into the early-morning light, ignoring Inara’s offers of tea and comfort. The soft ping of an incoming wave startled him, but he quickly flipped the switch to allow transmission. As the image resolved, Inara clamped a hand hard over Mal’s shoulder, squeezed once, and ran for the rest of the crew. The ben tian sheng de yi dui rou on the screen was a stringy, dirty, brown-toothed man in a dusty black shirt and a shoulder-holster. What had sent Inara running, though, was River, unconscious. The man was holding her in front of him, her hair pulled back so that her neck arched forward and her head tipped against his shoulder, and he had a knife to her throat. “I reckon,” Mal stopped and cleared his throat. “I reckon you got sommat there what belongs to me.” He heard the tapping and swishing that accompanied most of his crew squeezing into the doorway behind him, followed close behind by Zoe’s firm tread and Jayne’s staggered clomping. They knew enough to stay out of the camera’s pickup range, but he could hear them whispering furiously at the sight on the screen. “Reckon I do.” The man’s voice was grating and surprisingly high-pitched. Mal guessed that he’d been in more than a few fights on its account. “Reckon you might be willing to part with some o’ your riches to get it back.” “We’re kinda lacking in the funds department. What did you have in mind?” Mal could hear a shuffle as Simon started at that, at any reluctance to get his sister back as fast as possible, but he subsided. He could imagine Zoe’s hand on his arm, the sober shake of her head reminding him that they truly were low on cash. “Hundred. Platinum.” The man grinned, brown teeth gleaming. “We don’t have that kinda money on us.” Mal could hear Jayne swear, softly, and still. “Best get it, then, or I’ll keep ‘er. She’s a purty li’l thing, ain’t she?” He sniffed at her hair, leered, and then drew his knife along the smooth pale surface of her throat, just enough to catch and tear, not enough to do any real damage. “Imagine she’d be purtier in red.” Everyone in the cabin sucked in breath, remembering River, a knife, and a scrawl across Jayne’s chest. “River, lao tian bu,” Simon whispered, watching the red stream wend its way down her throat and curve across her collarbone before dipping off screen. She hadn’t even twitched. “I’ll call back tomorrow. Best get that money.” The man grinned again, and the screen blanked. Mal swore, grabbed the closest thing to hand, and threw it against the hull as hard as he could. The plastic stegosaurus bounced off of the metal and skittered to a stop at Zoe’s feet. He turned to watch her bend slowly and pick it up, dusting it off. “Sorry,” he said, suddenly ashamed, as she settled it on the opposite console. “No harm done, Sir. What’s the plan?” Her tone was flat, but she had one hand on her waist, and the other rested on the mare’s leg strapped to her thigh. Mal surveyed the rest of his crew. Inara looked calm, but he could see that the grip she had on Kaylee’s hand was leaving them both white-knuckled. Kaylee was crying silently, but her jaw was set and she stared right back at him. Jayne looked speculative, and Mal surmised he was trying to figure out a way to track River’s kidnappers. Finally he dared to meet Simon’s gaze, expecting condemnation or tears. What he saw instead, however, surprised him. Eyes still trained on the blank screen, Simon looked colder and more distant than he had when he first got on Serenity, but when he looked up at Mal, the captain actually backed up a step. This was the man who had broken his sister out of a top-secret high-security Alliance facility, who had spent two years asking questions in blackout zones, who had threatened to let Kaylee die if Mal didn’t run from the feds. “We get her out.” ))) Jayne, with Zoe standing guard, had gone over the ground where River had been taken at least twice. His scowl was evidence enough that he wasn’t finding anything. Simon was bobbing around town with affected cheerfulness, asking if anyone had seen his sister, Kaylee was in the ship, trying to trace the wave, and Inara and Mal were in a bar with a handful of local deputies, joking and laughing until they made their way far enough into the group’s good graces to ask about any bandits in the area. Mal and Inara had just gotten the deputies to talking when Zoe walked in, drawing attention that quickly went elsewhere when people noticed her hard expression. “Sir, I think we’ve got something.” Zoe’s voice was tight and urgent, and the men at the table looked up at her with surprise. “Oh, that wave come in, then?” Mal laughed and rose, pressing down on Inara’s shoulder as he did, signaling her to stay. “’Bout time we got some work.” He turned to Inara. “I’ll go check it out; you good?” “I’ll be fine, Mal. Good luck with your arrangements.” She nodded gracefully and turned back to the assembled deputies, smiling and inviting conversation. Mal’s departure was quicly forgotten. Once they got outside, Zoe headed immediately towards where she had left Jayne. “Found a trail, we think. Looks promising. Thought you’d want to check it out.” “Yeah,” Mal stopped, though, and turned. Zoe went a few paces further before she noticed his halt, and turned back. Mal crossed the street to Simon, just emerging from a small clothier’s. “Any word?” Mal was impressed by Simon’s acting ability. He came out of the shop like nothing was wrong except a slightly wayward sister, but the moment he saw Mal his face shaded into lines of worry. “Nothing. What about you?” “Jayne found something. I want you to go back to the ship and check on Kaylee, then come back and get Inara. Bring a comm; she might not be ready to go.” Mal was doubly surprised when Simon simply nodded at him and headed towards where Serenity was parked, taking a more direct line than that which passed the site of the assault. “I do believe I’m starting to like that boy,” Mal flashed Zoe a smile, and she smirked in return. “You like anyone who does what you tell them, Sir.” “No wonder Saffron and I didn’t work out.” The two shared a moment’s grin, then shook themselves of their mirth and headed back towards Jayne. ))) Mal and Zoe had been following Jayne through dry forest for over an hour, and had only gotten a few miles out of town. Mal’s patience was wearing thin when Jayne shouted in triumph. “Bi zui!” Mal hissed, but Jayne only grinned. “Knew there was somethin’ funny about all this. They backtracked. Some kinda cache here, though…” He trailed off as he looked at the tarp-covered bundle. He backed up a few paces, turned, and shot through the rope tying the tarp to a nearby tree. Nothing happened, but Mal’s glare intensified. “Just checkin’. Thought it might be trapped.” He threw back the tarp, looked at what he’d uncovered, and looked again. “Huh.” Mal moved up to peer around him, and swore. “Juh jen sh guh kwai luh duh jean jan. Zoe. You go back to Serenity, check on the kids, and pick up the mule. Jayne and I’ll follow the tracks back until they diverge. Come get this, then meet up with us, dong ma?” “Dang ran, Sir.” Zoe set off, loping across the beaten ground, and Mal and Jayne started their slow progress back towards the town. Every now and then, Jayne would turn around to catch a glimpse of the shiny bottles of whiskey, neat in their crate, and the case of protein bars in their bronze wrappers. ))) By the time Zoe caught up to them, Jayne’s head was pounding and he was clammy, and Mal had settled him against a tree. She trundled up, the crate and case strapped to the back of the mule, and helped Mal load Jayne into the front passenger seat. She’d brought water with her, and there was a pouch with survival sticks in the back hatch. Jayne guzzled most of the water, but balked at more than a mouthful from one of the foil-wrapped tubes with their contents of fatty sludge laced with sugar and salt. His headache fading, he resumed scouting for the tracks he had followed. The light was fading, as was Mal’s calm. “Kaylee and Simon okay?” He asked Zoe, who was driving slowly, changing direction every time Jayne grunted and pointed. “Yeah. Inara’s back, too. Didn’t get anything. Kaylee traced the wave to a router; lost it there.” She made another direction change, squeezing the mule between obstacles. Luckily the trees were sparse, and the mule hovered over the rough ground. “Damn.” And that was all they said for the next ten minutes. “Found it.” Just as day slipped into twilight, Jayne pointed out a small house in an only slightly larger clearing. It looked clean enough, if worn, and there was a basic transmitter relay on the roof. A small ATV was parked in a shed abutting the house, and there was a dirt road leading away from the other side of the clearing, back towards town. ))) Jayne crept closer to the house, and crept up the stairs. Mal couldn’t figure out how such a big man could make so little noise. He’d swear that even little Kaylee could make those steps creak. Zoe rustled next to him, shifting her weight and readying the rifle she’d borrowed from Jayne. Her mare’s leg wasn’t accurate enough to provide good cover fire. Mal’s own gun was trained on the window opposite the one that Jayne was scouting through, but his eyes were fixed on Jayne himself. Jayne turned and beckoned, and Mal could read the rage in the tense lines of his back from twenty meters. He and Zoe approached carefully, keeping as low to the ground as they could. The light from the windows cast long, rectangular shadows on the dark lawn, and they stepped lightly to avoid casting shadows. When they joined Jayne under the window, avoiding the possibly-creaky stairs by the expedient of mounting the porch from the side, he canted his head towards the window. Mal looked in, and blanched. Zoe, peering over his shoulder, let out a low hissing stream of Mandarin and English that lasted a good thirty seconds. River was still unconscious but heavily bound, slumped on her knees against the wall, arms tied behind her and connected to the bindings at her ankles. Her shawl and combat boots were gone, and her oversized dress was torn, showing stripes of pale abdomen and the dark shorts she wore under the skirt. Her arms were budding with bruises, and the rope at her wrists and ankles was tinged red with blood, but the most terrifying sight for Mal was the blood on the left side of her face, a crusted sheet that had dripped down to turn the gag in her mouth, torn from her dress, black. “Lao tian ye, her eye, Mal, they took her eye!” Jayne’s whisper was harsh and hoarse against the night-sounds of the woods and the dull murmur of conversation inside the building, and Mal felt it right down in his stomach. “That’s all they get.” He unholstered his second pistol, and Zoe exchanged her rifle for her mare’s leg, dropping the rifle silently to the grass next to the porch. Jayne grasped Vera tighter, and undid the snap closure on the sheath to a wicked knife at his belt. “Two in the front, sounds like one in the bathroom. Windows are real glass; front door?” Mal grunted his agreement, and Jayne sidled along the face of the house to the other side of the door. He counted five, rose, and opened it. Whoever was in the front room swung around and started shooting as soon as the door cracked open, but the door swung into the room and Jayne hadn’t followed. He heard the scuffling sound of someone quickly throwing their clothes back on from the bathroom, and the shuffle of untrained feet trying to walk silently towards the door. When one of the men threw the door the rest of the way to the wall, he met him with a grin and a bullet. Mal fired over his shoulder and dropped the second man, pressed against the wall. When the third man charged, yelling, from the bathroom, Zoe shot him down before he could aim. Jayne drew his knife and bent over River, who was beginning to stir. She collapsed as he sliced through the ropes, freed from her constrained position, but Zoe stopped him before he could unwind them from her skin. “They’ve cut in pretty deep, best leave that for the doc.” He grunted assent and cut her gag instead, trying to keep his eyes away from the ruin of her face. The gag, too, had done damage, cutting into the corners of her mouth, and her lips were dark with blood. He looked at Mal, who nodded, and lifted her into his arms. “I’d rather you didn’t.” The voice was familiar, and Mal and Zoe locked horrified gazes before turning to the speaker. The man from the wave was standing in the doorway, flanked by two brutish thugs, and all three had shotguns trained on the rescue party. “She was just starting to be fun.” Zoe growled, a deep rumble that set Jayne back a pace, and the man’s attention turned to her. Mal shot him in the throat, and he pitched back onto one of the thugs behind him. The other aimed at Jayne, who spun to keep River safe. Zoe shot the man as he fired, and the bullet went wide, tearing against Jayne’s arm but not penetrating. He stumbled and decided to set River back down until he could be sure he wouldn’t drop her. He turned and joined the others on the porch, standing over the man still wiping brains and blood from his eyes. Without a word he slung Vera up on her strap, grabbed her by the stock, and swung her down into the man’s face. It wasn’t until he heard River cry out that Mal’s words made sense, and he learned that the bullet that had grazed him had clipped her skull where it hung over his arm. ))) Simon met them in the cargo bay, pulling River from Mal’s arms almost before Zoe could brake the mule. Inara stood behind him, eyes wide in horror. As Jayne followed Simon to the infirmary, Kaylee appeared at the top of the stairs at the back of the bay. “She’s prepped, cap’n,” she shouted down, and then she saw the blood. “Suo you di yu de biao zi de ma!” She rushed past Mal, just climbing the stairs, to watch Simon lay River out in the infirmary. “Zoe!” Mal barked, turning back to the cargo bay. “Sir?” She looked up from unstrapping the crate of whiskey from the back of the mule. “Lock ‘er up. We’re off this hell-rock.” ))) “Sir?” Zoe had never been timid about approaching the captain, but the tension on the bridge was intimidating. “What?” His voice was rough, and his eyes never left the starfield. “They didn’t take her eye.” He snapped around in his chair and simply stared at her. “They cut her eyelid, Simon’s not sure how they cut so deep without damaging anything, but she’ll be fine. Nothing was broken, nothing was,” she shuddered, “done.” “They took her, Zoe. They took her and they hurt her and when I saw what they’d done…” He shook his head, and the tears made tracks on his cheeks that shone in the starlight. “I ain’t been that scared since Shadow.” “I know, sir.” Zoe picked up the stegosaurus from the pilot’s console, stroked a finger down the plates along its spine, and set it down in front of the captain, facing out into the black. “I know.” Zoe folded herself into the pilot’s chair, her husband’s chair, River’s chair for the past few months, and watched the sky unfold.

))))) if you liked this, check out the sequels: Head Trauma, Focus on the Fine Qualities of Dinosaurs, Translation, All Kinds of Brilliant