Inferno – Chapter Fifteen You know I don’t own’em, I’m just playing. ----------------- Inara watched in silence as work crews loaded Serenity for her next trip. With the Companion away to Aberdeen, the work load on Serenity was effectively doubled. The ship would lift again this evening, after only one day at home. She wished that she and Mal could have spent more time together, but things were what they were. And, Inara admitted, she was enjoying her ‘hitch’ as Captain of Serenity. She’d never imagined she’d like it overmuch, but had found it enjoyable, other than Mal’s absence. John, Pete, and Willie had all returned willingly, proud that Inara had asked for them specifically. She smiled at the memory of the three marching into the bay and saluting, ‘reporting for duty’. They were a comical trio, and, she was sure, good men. Holly had taken to them as well. The young engineer was somewhat like Inara and Kaylee. He loved the black, loved his post on Serenity. But he lacked the fire of someone like Mal, Jayne, or Zoe. He was content to keep the ship in working order, and avoid trouble when possible. Since the end of the difficulty with Withe and Company, and the not quite unfortunate demise of the late, (probably) Sheriff Grippen, they hadn’t had any sort of troubles. Inara allowed herself the fleeting hope that those kinds of difficulties were firmly behind them. It had been one reason, she knew, that Mal had finally accepted the posting of Sheriff. “We’re secured, ma’am,” John called up from the bay. Inara nodded. “That’s fine, John,” she called back. “Please see to the provisions, and I’ll have Holly prepare for getting under way.” “Yes, ma’am,” John nodded, and turned back to his fellows. Inara walked to the galley, and hit the com. “Holly, are we squared away?” “Almost, Miss Inara,” Holly’s voice came back a minute later. “Need another few minutes, at most. Once we’re in the black, I’ll need to reset the coolant mix once more, to make sure it’s right for this new valve. Ain’t but the work of a few minutes, though.” “Well and good,” Inara smiled. “We’re ready when you are.” Inara walked on toward the bridge, to get ready for take-off. She hoped that Mal would make it back before they left. ------------------ “Ya know,” Mal drawled to Toby Bontrager, “my ship sets sail, so to speak, in a little bit. I’d like to have all this behind us in time to see her off.” Bontrager grinned at him. “Just to see the ship off, Boss?” he asked innocently. Mal scowled. “That’s enough o’ that,” he growled, but still in good humor. “Well, take on off,” Toby relented. “Ain’t but the work of a few more minutes. And, if you want, we’ll wait and take Chin and Doogle tomorrow. Might be safer, anyway,” he mused. “They’re like to be hung over in the morning. Be easier to corral.” “No,” Mal shook his head. “Word gets out that we got a warrant for’em, they may hi-tail it. I don’t want them gettin’ away. We take’em now. Tonight.” Bontrager nodded. “Makes sense,” he replied. “Guess that’s why you’re the Sheriff.” ------------- Seven deputies surrounded the home of Hector Chin. They moved quietly, taking up positions to cover the house and prevent the two men from escaping. Five more, plus Mal and Bontrager, approached the front door. Almost the entire force, Mal grimaced. But it had to be this way, he reminded himself. They couldn’t take the chance that the two would escape. Mal needed this arrest to put down the rumors that he wasn’t being effective. There was more at stake here than just his own reputation. Several men had vouched for him, and their own reputations were on the line. “Ready, boss,” Toby hissed, and Mal nodded. The brother’s Greggs stepped to the door with the maul, and Toby nodded. The brothers went through their routine again, and the maul slammed into the door. Several things happened all at once. The door crashed open, unable to stand the impact. Shots rang out from inside, as the occupants of the house opened fire. And a rather large dog launched itself at the door. Mal’s gun was already in his hand. Without the need for conscious thought, he leveled the pistol, and shot the dog just as it reached Leander Greggs. The heavy bullet slammed into the dog, preventing it from harming the deputy, but the bulk of the dog still slammed into Greggs, knocking him sprawling. Bontrager grunted, and hit the ground, a bullet having struck him near his shoulder. Ryan Greggs, hurrying to check on his downed brother, caught another bullet in his arm, and hit the ground, howling. Mal looked into the house, and saw a very large man, he assumed to be the body guard, aiming in his general direction. Throwing up his pistol, Mal snapped a shot off, grazing the shooter along the head. He fell to the floor, dazed, but not out. The rear door splintered about then, three more of Mal’s men making an entrance. Hector Chin, seeing he was surrounded, threw his gun down, and raised his hands. “Hector Chin, you are under arrest for the murder of Tito Spinelli. Come quietly, of face the consequences,” Mal ordered. “I ain’t killed no. . .” One of Mal’s deputies hit Chin in the back of the head with a gun butt, felling him. “That ain’t quietly,” Mal told the man on the floor. As his men quickly secured the two suspects, Mal ran back to check on his wounded. “Okay, Toby?” Mal asked. “Armor took it,” Bontrager gasped. “Like as not have a good bruise, though.” Mal nodded, turning to the Greggs’ boys. “Ryan, you hit bad?” “If I’m hit, it’s bad,” Ryan growled, and Mal had to grin. “Feel the same way myself. Let’s have a look.” Leander wasn’t so charitable. “Idiot,” he snarled, wrapping part of his torn shirt around the wound. “Oughta know better’n to run in front of a door like that, somebody inside, shootin’.” “I was coming to check on you, you big ape!” Ryan growled back. “Next time, I’ll leave your sorry ass, and look to my own hide.” “Boys,” Mal chided. “We’re in public. Save those family arguments for more private settin’s.” “Yes, sir,” the two chorused, and Mal chuckled in spite of himself. “Let’s get you seen to.” ------------------ Gerald Frye was at home in the woods. Having taken more after his Uncle Wolf than his father, Gerald spent a good bit of his time in the wild, hunting, trapping, and living outdoors. When his turn came to stand guard on the ship, he had slipped into the woods, and found a hide. Sitting there, perfectly still, he could watch the ship, the surrounding area, and not be seen by anyone. He leaned back, and closed his eyes, trusting more to his hearing than his eyesight. It was near dark, less than an hour before twilight. In the smoky environment that now surrounded his home world, that made it practically dark out. He was saddened by the disaster that had befallen his world. Aberdeen had been a beautiful planet before the attack, and the ensuing disaster. After all the careful management and planning to keep the shale oil industry from ruining the environment, the planet was doomed anyway. By reavers, of all things. He’d never. . . Gerald’s eyes flared open. Someone had just stepped on a branch, and broken it underfoot. He listened carefully, unmoving. Someone was out there. ------------------ Terry Willis was a fair woodsman. Had been most of his life. He’d hunted, camped, and trapped the mountains behind his home since he’d been a boy of nine. He walked slowly through the trees around the ship that would carry them away from the deathtrap that Aberdeen had become. His wife and newborn baby were on that ship. So when they’d needed men to help guard it, he’d not thought twice about it. He’d heard that the others were on their way in, and once they arrived, the ship was leaving. He’d be glad to get gone, he realized, much as he hated to leave his home. Maybe once they. . . Terry Willis should have been paying more attention to his surroundings, than to what he’d do once off planet. A strong arm snaked around his head, and another pulled a knife across his throat, killing the young man in a matter of seconds. Lowering the lifeless body to the ground, the killer wiped the blade on his victim’s clothes, and returned the knife to its sheath. “Let’s go,” he whispered into his ear mike, and several other figures drifted out of the dark shadows of the forest behind him. “Remember, we want most of them alive,” he reminded his men, and they all nodded. With that, the men started forward. Toward Companion. ------------------ Aboard Companion, River was restless. Something was out of place, but she couldn’t put her finger on it, exactly. With so many new minds around her, it took almost all of her will to block out the thoughts around her. She had become accustomed to Jayne being with her. Dependent upon him to dampen the thoughts of those around her. With him gone, she was without the anchor that kept her from being swept away in the tide of thoughts and emotions that bombarded against her. But she had felt a jolt, just now. Someone, somewhere close by, had just be surprised, then gone silent. Frowning, River could think of only one possibility for that. One of the men outside the ship had been killed, or rendered unconscious. No matter which answer was correct, it meant that the ship was in danger. River picked up her rifle, checking her pistol, and the two knives that had been a gift from Jayne. Satisfied, she opened the upper airlock, and climbed out onto the hull. It was nearly dark, and her dark dress blended well with the hull in the fading light. Out here, separated from the throng inside, she was calmer. River allowed her mind to open up, feeling for whatever it was that had jolted her consciousness earlier. Abruptly her eyes flared open. She couldn’t find Terry Willis. But she could sense strangers approaching the ship. Moving deftly across the hull, River followed her senses, heading to the ‘neck’ of Companion, just above the cargo door. Lying flat against the hull, she scanned the ground around the ship. Moving slowly, cautiously, were vague figures. Creeping up on the ship! The cargo bay door was closed, as a precaution against the heavy smoke that had started drifting their way earlier in the day. Kaylee hadn’t wanted the filters exposed to any more of the smoke than was absolutely necessary, and River had agreed. She was glad they had closed them, now. River nestled her rifle against her shoulder, sighting carefully on the lead figure. Her silencer would hide her for a few shots, she hoped. After that. . .Well, after that, she’d just have to see. Just as she was about to pull the trigger, she felt a familiar presence in her mind. ------------------- Jayne sat bolt upright in his seat. ‘Sean’, he heard River’s voice in his mind. ‘The ship is about to be attacked. There are at least ten men just outside the cargo door. I am on the hull, overlooking them.’ ‘Hold what you have, Angel’, he pushed back to her. ‘We’re almost there.’ ‘Hurry.’ Jayne looked at Goldie. “Trouble at the ship,” he murmured quietly. Goldie looked at him. “What? How do you know that?” “River told me,” Jayne admitted reluctantly. “Just now.” “How can she. . .” Goldie broke off, his eyes widening. “Are you kidding me?” “No,” Jayne replied. “And I’d really appreciate it, you didn’t say nothin’, Goldie. Ain’t no one knows but us. And now you.” “Yesu, kid,” Goldie whistled softly. “That’s some kinda. . .no, no I won’t say anything. But, dayum, that’s something!” “It is,” Jayne nodded. “But right now, there’s at least ten men hovering outside the cargo door. River’s on the hull, looking down at them. We gotta think o’ something, and fast.” Goldie pondered that for a minute, then smiled. “I gotta idea, kid.” --------------- River smiled to herself as Jayne told her what was about to happen. She reset her rifle, waiting. Suddenly the shuttle burst over the treetops, flaring around, landing lights on the ground in front of the ship. As the men on the ground looked up, into the lights, Jayne and Liam Greggs were in the open hatch. They opened fire as the shuttle went into hover. River opened fire a second later. -------------- Gerald Frye smiled as the lights from the returning shuttle illuminated the men trying to gain access to the ship. He’d known they were about, but hadn’t been able to see them. Now, he could. Raising his own rifle, he prepared to add his two copper’s worth to the fight. ------------- It seemed as though the firefight was over in seconds. And it was only a minute or so. Three men who had survived the onslaught turned for the woods, running for cover. Right into Gerald Frye’s waiting rifle. River looked on, stunned. She had forgotten about Kaylee’s brother! The three men were down before she finished the thought. ‘You okay, baby girl?’ she ‘heard’ Jayne’s frantic thought. ‘I am fine, Zhang fu,’ she smiled as she pushed the thought back. Jayne’s protectiveness always left her feeling warm inside. And she loved him all the more for it. She scurried across the hull, and back into the airlock so the shuttle could mate up with the ship. As she dropped to the floor, Kaylee was standing there. “River, I heard shootin’!” the little engineer exclaimed. “Yes,” River nodded calmly. “There were some men about to attack the ship. They’ve been dealt with. But. . .I fear that Terry Willis is gone. I cannot feel him.” “Oh, no!” Kaylee’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, River, he’s got a new baby!” “I know,” River nodded sadly. “We’ll check on him as soon as Jayne is onboard. He and Liam can handle it.” ----------------