Jason was just getting ready for bed when he heard a knock on his cabin hatch. "Jay, you down there, we got a wave," asked Rick's voice.

"Just a minute," Jason pulled on an old shirt, and climbed up the ladder. As he came into the kitchen, he turned toward the cockpit, but Rick caught his arm.

"It's Anastasia. She's, well, somethin’ don’t seem quite right." Jason regarded his friend’s funny expression, not quite sure what he could be talking about. They had dealt with the lady mobster before. He was doubtful he would find anything surprising about that woman at this point.

When Jason got to the cockpit, he found Anastasia's face already visible on the Cortex link. She seemed a bit more impatient than Jason had come to expect of her. Otherwise, he noticed little out of the ordinary about her. Seeing him finally appear on screen, she leaned back in her seat. That’s when Jason realized she was no longer wearing one of her usual luxurious fur coats, but something equally familiar.

"Jason, es good to finally reach you. I av very important job that I think you may be able to do." Suddenly the picture shook and the image became fuzzy for a moment before returning. From the way Anastasia swayed back and forth, the disturbance had clearly been on her end. Anastasia looked away as someone off screen addressed her. As she turned, Jason could see that she was not in her office back on Londinium, but appeared to be on a ship of some sort.

"Jason, I do not ave much time. You must go to these coordinates I will provide, meet a man amed Malcolm Reynolds. His ship is Serenity."

"Commander, they've locked onto our signal. You have to cut the transmission now," spoke a voice from off screen.

"Goodbye, Jason, and good luck."

Jason was speechless as the transmission cut out. Anastasia was about the last person in the ‘Verse he had expected to see wearing a Browncoat.

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

It had been two days since the mysterious wave form Anastasia. Every time Jason went over it in his head, he was forced to wonder if he was getting involved in something that he shouldn’t.

“Brought you some tea,” said Sarah as she entered the cockpit.

“Thanks.” Jason took the proffered cup as the girl sat down in the copilot’s chair.

“No contact yet,” the girl asked, breaking the silence.

“Not so far. We’ve been waiting at the rendezvous point for near twelve hours now. Much longer and I’m gonna just have to tell Anastasia that her man never showed. Don’t much like it out here, a little to close to the Miranda belt to sit and have a quite picnic.”

Sarah suppressed a shudder, then changed the subject. “Any idea what the job is? From what I heard this woman almost shot you, and you’re still willing to do business for her.”

“No idea what the job is, but Anastaisia always pays well, and she’s… honorable in her own way. I figure we might as well meet this Reynolds fellow and find out before turning it down outright.” What he also left unsaid was that his small crew had proven they could handle themselves fairly well in a tight situation, and after the Reavers, Jason was a lot less frightened of the normal sort of bad folk.

“Any sign yet, sir,” asked Linda, poking her head into the cockpit.

“Nope, I was just thinking we’re gonna have to tell Anastasia her boys a no show.”

“She did say it was Malcolm Reynolds?” asked Linda.

“That she did.”

“He’ll show,” replied the woman turing back to the common area. Jason wondered at her confidence as he watched Linda’s departing back.

Over an hour past as Sarah and Jason chatted in the cockpit. At some points the conversation seemed a bit forced or punctuated by awkward silence, but Jason didn’t mind. It beat keeping watch alone, and her presence seemed oddly relaxing. He found that when the girl pulled her long hair out of her face, he enjoyed being able to look into the deep green of her eyes.

His tea long since finished, Jason was idly studying the freckles that covered Sarah’s small nose, and was not even really paying attention to what she was saying, when the proximity alarm began to chime. Linda was immediately drawn back to the cockpit by the sound as both Jason and Sarah sat forward to study the display.

“Is that Serenity?” asked Linda.

“Dunno,” replied Jason as he looked through the information being broadcast by the other ships pulse beacon. “Looks like… a Sihnon class freighter.”

"Ai ya. Women wanle,” exclaimed Jason after studying the readout for a moment longer. “That ain’t Serenity. It’s got no core containment.”

“Reavers,” uttered Linda in a hollow voice.

"Kwong-juh duh," I knew this was a bad idea waiting around here.”

“How long to get that engine back to full power,” asked Linda with more than a hint of fear.

“We’re almost fully powered down and it’s been awful flaky since we swapped it in,” replied Jason. “They’d be on use before we were ready to move. Quick, power down everything that we have, lights, environmental, everything.” Jason was already furiously shutting down every one of the ship’s systems that he could from the cockpit console.

Just as Sarah was getting up to leave the cockpit, Linda grabbed the smaller woman by the arm, taking her aside. “You still got that little pea shooter?”

Sarah raised the tiny gun in her right hand. She had already pulled the small derringer from her pocket at the mention of the word Reavers.

Linda took a long breath, then looked Sarah in the eyes. “They take us, well I reckon you know pretty well by now what’ll happen.” Sarah nodded, as the other woman continued. “And it ain’t exactly a mystery what you intend to do with that neither.” Linda paused again, casting her eyes down. “Matthew is my son, and I… I can’t bear…” the older woman was at a loss for words. “I don’t think I could do it myself.”

“It’s ok, Linda,” Sarah’s voice was full of understanding. “I got two shots and I reckon I know what you’re asking.” Without another word, Linda strode from the cockpit to find her son.

By the time they had shut down all of the systems on the small ship, everyone had gathered in the now darkened cockpit. No one spoke as the massive freighter looming outside the windows. As they watched, each hid their silent fear in a differnt way. Jason’s nails unconsciously dug into the arm rests of the pilot’s chair. Linda clutched her son to her side as she steadied herself against the side bulkhead. A bead of cold sweat formed on Rick’s brow as he watched, still clutching the playing cards forgotten in his hand. Sarah held the small gun flat between her breasts, as she looked on with wide eyes.

The freighter slowed, and a massive spotlight flickered on, bathing them in light as it studied the now drifting ship. From the light that bounced back against the freighter, they could see bones and body parts strung across the red splotched hull as morbid decorations.

“There must be over a thousand Reavers on that ship,” said Linda. Jason swallowed as he watched the larger ship pass. Finally, the light switched off, and the vessel passed on into the black, leaving everyone to look at each other. It was not until the massive freighter drifted off into a distant speck that anyone dared to speak.

“Well, that was ruttin’ intense,” said Rick, his face red, from holding his breath.

“Yeah,” said Jason. “I think you can put that away now Sarah.” The girl looked back at him in confusion.

“Oh, Pipsqueak,” Sarah looked down at her gun, having forgotten she was holding it.

“Pipsqueak?” asked Rick, “Don’t tell me you named your gun?”

“Seemed the thing to do, somehow,” replied the girl seriously as she placed the weapon back in one of her pockets.

“Picked yerself a strange one there Jay,” said Rick with a chuckle.

“She ain’t mine,” replied Jason, thankful for the lightened atmosphere afforded by the banter.

“What?” asked Sarah in a hurt voice. “Folk name ships and houses and all kinds a stuff. What’s wrong with naming a gun?”

“Nothing,” replied Linda. Though even she cracked a smile before turning to Jason. “Maybe you were right sir. Might not be best to hang around here any longer.”

That was when the comm crackled to life. “Unidentified ship, this is Serenity.”

TO BE CONTINUED

Authors Notes: This really should have been all rolled in with the last chapter, which, in retrospect, I think I posted a bit too hastily. That’s the trouble with Internet fan fiction, you can’t take back once you post.

I’ve been a little shy to try writing the Big Damn Hero’s for fear of not getting them right. It’s a daunting challenge but I suppose it had to happen sooner or later, seeing as Simon and River are the only ones who can really help Jason. As a result, I want to take some time to make sure the next chapters are done right. Hope you stick with my story and me even if you don’t see anything for a few days. Sarah Cobb fans, your questions will soon be answered. (And maybe she’ll even get a makeover from Kaylee and Inara if I’m feeling daring)