Hard Times - Part Three Disclaimer thingy: Firefly/Serenity are owned by other folks and not by me, though I appreciate being able to write some stuff purely for fun inspired by the Firefly 'Verse. ********************************************* Third instalment, encouraged yet again by friendly feedback on my last effort. Enjoy; and all constructive comments appreciated! **********************************************

Two hours of travel passed uneventfully for the crew. Mal and Zoë kept a close watch on Serenity’s radar, but it showed nothing more sinister than the crippled cargo vessel they were heading for. River sat quietly in the co-pilot’s chair, chin propped in one hand, her eyes gazing out unblinkingly at the stars. At last a shape became barely visible ahead of them: the Lewington, drifting slowly in space. River regarded it steadily for a moment, then gracefully uncurled herself, stood up and headed for the doorway that led to the rest of the ship. Mal looked across at her. “You goin’ somewhere?” “Got better things to do.” River looked back over her shoulder at him, then turned away. “Everything’s what it looks like. No surprise parties.” “You sure ‘bout that?” Mal demanded. “Cheep cheep cheep,” was River’s only reply, as she stepped through the doorway and disappeared from view. Mal’s brows drew together in brief irritation, before he turned back to the viewscreen. Reaching out he hit the com button and spoke. “Kaylee, you want to head on up to the bridge... We’re close enough to get neighbourly.” Once Kaylee had joined Mal and Zoë, Mal transmitted a call. “Lewington, this is Firefly Serenity, do you read us?” “Loud and clear, Captain Reynolds.” Stanway’s voice came from the speaker. “You are a welcome sight, I can tell you.” “Got my chief engineer standing by here, Stanway,” Mal said. “You want to give her a run-down on your situation?” He moved to let Kaylee get nearer the com. As she passed close him she said in a low voice from the corner of her mouth, “Chief engineer? I’m your only engineer.” “Don’t do no harm to dress ourselves up a little,” Mal replied. Kaylee gave him a wry smile, as she leaned in to the com. “Uh… Hi, there, Mr Stanway. What happened with your ship?” “I haven’t a clear idea, ma’am. My engineer got taken out when the accident happened, been unconscious ever since. I don’t… have much of a head for engines, myself. Left all that up to him. Which, I now see, was a pretty stupid move on my part, wasn’t it?” “Oh, well, a captain of a ship can’t do everything.” Kaylee turned her gaze on Mal as she spoke, grinning. “You’d be surprised how many people fly around the ‘verse without the slightest idea of how to keep their own ships goin’.” Mal deliberately turned away to fiddle unnecessarily with the control panel and Kaylee grinned wider. “You got a notion of where the trouble started?” “All I know is my engineer Carlson radioed he had a problem with the main drive, then there was a bang and all the lights went out, so to speak. We lost power on all the nav systems and long-range transmitters at the same time. Got ourselves straight down to the engine room and there was one helluva lot of damage, but all from the explosion, no fire. Took Carlson to med bay and started trying to see what we could put right… And then started sending out our message for help, soon as we realized the fix we were in.” “Okay.” Kaylee frowned at the cargo vessel through the cockpit screen. “You ain’t been able to get any drive systems back on line at all?” “Not for want of trying, ma’am; but for all the trying we’ve done, might as well have spent the time twiddling our thumbs. We are in big trouble unless you can come up with something.” “Well, I just need to double-check on something. Hold on a moment.” She switched off the com and looked at Mal. “I need to go take a look. This long-distance engine repair ain’t gonna get us nowhere.” “Right.” Mal straightened up from where he’d been leaning on the console. “Go get what you need to take along. I’ll be right down at the airlock with you in a moment.” Kaylee nodded and left the bridge. Mal switched on the com again. “Mr Stanway? My engineer and I are gonna take a trip over to you, see what we can fix up. You got docking controls?” “We have, thank god. We’ll get ready to let you board. Thank you, captain.” Mal clicked the com off and looked at Zoë. “Take us in close enough to dock, and stand by. We’ll head over there and do what we can. Likely Kaylee’ll have them up and running ‘fore too long, they can be on their way and we can go on ours.” Zoë nodded. “Anything starts lookin’ wrong while we’re over there, I’ll make like we need to come back to Serenity for more tools or somethin’. Be ready for us comin’ back in a hurry and to undock soon as we’re shipside.” “You think there’s going to be trouble?” Mal shook his head. “Don’t feel like it. But I don’t aim to set foot over there without an exit strategy. You got Serenity.” He left the bridge. Simon was waiting by the airlock with his medical bag when Mal got there. Mal cast an eye over the docking controls, then looked at Simon. “Said me and Kaylee’d head over there first, doc. You’re being a little precipitate.” “If they’ve got a man over there with serious trauma, every second counts.” Simon met his gaze squarely. “He could die of shock very quickly if he doesn’t get the correct treatment.” “Best you wait here till I got the lie of the land.” Mal shook his head. “No need to go risking more folk than we have to.” Simon paused, holding his medical bag. “So… you’re happy to risk taking Kaylee, but not me?” He shook his head. “If she goes, then so do I.” Mal held his gaze for a second longer, then shrugged. “Okay.” He turned back to the airlock. “Just don’t get in the way.” The two ships were soon alongside each other. As Serenity’s airlock door opened Mal stood on the alert, every muscle tensed to react to whatever situation waited for them. He didn’t like the fact that he now had two people to be responsible for: two were harder to protect than one. But what Simon had said had made sense, although he wasn’t about to admit it. And some part of him liked, albeit grudgingly, the protectiveness towards Kaylee that Simon’s attitude showed. The opening airlock door revealed another beyond it, already open: the corresponding entrance to the Lewington. A short man with a crewcut and an anxious expression raised a hand in greeting. “Captain Reynolds? I’m John Stanway, senior operative in charge of this ship. Welcome aboard.” The three crew members from Serenity advanced. Mal took the hand that Stanway held out to him and shook it, as the man continued, “I’m beholden to you, Captain. I can’t thank you enough for coming to our aid.” “Only thing we could do. Best that folks out here help each other.” Mal gestured to his side. “This here’s my chief engineer, Kaylee. And our doctor, Simon.” Stanway shook hands with them both. “Oh, a doctor – my God, you people are lifesavers. We’ve only got an emergency aid medic on board, and Carlson’s in really bad shape.” “Can someone take me to him straight away?” asked Simon. Mal shot him a glance to try to convey that Simon should wait for him to take the lead, but the young doctor was already focused on his prospective patient. Stanway nodded. “Of course. Reeves – take the doctor up to med bay and see he has everything he needs. And you, ma’am – “ He glanced at Kaylee a little uncertainly and she gave him a bright smile, knowing full well what most men’s reaction was to a young female engineer. “Let’s go take a look at your troubles, Mr Stanway.” She hefted her bag of tools onto her shoulder. Mal opted to stay with Kaylee, judging that Simon could probably take care of himself. When they reached the engine room a smell of charred metal filled the air. Kaylee lowered herself down beside the wreckage of the main drive and whistled softly. “Wow…” She pulled a face as she leaned in to start exploring the damage. Behind her Stanway asked, “It’s bad, isn’t it?” “ ‘Bout as bad as you can get without havin’ a big hole clear out the side of this compartment,” Kaylee replied indistinctly, as she wedged herself into the engine’s depths. “Ai ya…” She made a disapproving sound. “You been runnin’ this engine pretty hot for a while.” “We’re transporting a big load this trip out.” Stanway sounded apologetic. “I didn’t make allowances, we were running behind… I might have leaned on Carlson a bit to get us moving along a little quicker.” “Well, there you go.” Kaylee extricated herself from the machinery and gave him an admonishing look. “Can’t go expectin’ more from a ship than she can give you.” Her eyes switched to Mal briefly, then back to Stanway. “Gotta treat her right or she’ll let you down, right when you most need her. Then you’re in trouble.” “Damn it.” Stanway sounded contrite. “Never thought this would happen. And now Carlson’s hurt, and that’s my fault.” “Mmm, well, not entirely.” Kaylee leaned back into the engine. “He shoulda known this was a possibility. Maybe he thought he could squeeze a bit more outta the drive, didn’t think what might happen.” She sat back and looked up at him, her expression suddenly contrite. “Hey, though, I don’t mean he did something dumb. I mean, he’s bad hurt an’ all, and he’s one of your crew… I’m sorry I sounded like…” She tailed off. Stanway shook his head. “I understand. It’s all right.” He shrugged helplessly at the engine. “Do you think there’s anything you can do?” Mal saw the frown cross Kaylee’s face and understood immediately that this wasn’t going to be a simple in and out. He cursed silently, keeping his face still as Kaylee answered Stanway. “Well… I can take a look at the main drive linkage, see if there’s any way to uncouple it and at least get you some auxiliary power up and running.” She saw the dismay on the man’s face and added, “At least, to start with.” “If you can do whatever you can, it’s more than we can manage.” Stanway let out a heavy breath. “Would you be able to get enough power up to restore our long-range transmitters, so I can at least let our destination know we’re going to be late arriving?” “Sure. I mean, I’m pretty sure I can. I’ll get to work on that right away.” Kaylee was eager to give the man some good news. “I’ll let you know soon as I’ve got that fixed up.” “Thank you.” Stanway stepped away from the damaged engine and looked at Mal. “I’m going to check on how your colleague is getting on in med bay with Carlson,” he said. “Do you want to join me?” “I’ll be along in a while,” said Mal. “Like to see what Kaylee here can make of your engine trouble first.” “All right. If there’s any equipment or help you need, just let me know. And when you’re ready to come up to med bay, just ask one of my people to show you the way.” Stanway nodded and headed off out of the engine room, leaving the two of them alone. Mal crouched down at Kaylee’s side and spoke in a lower voice. “Okay, little Kaylee. You ain’t sugarin’ it up for Mr Stanway now. What’s the truth of this here situation?” “Speakin’ kindly – “ Kaylee prodded at a blackened piece of machinery “ – they pretty much might as well get out and push.” She saw his look, and shook her head. “This is really bad, cap’n. Explosion blew a hole clear through the main drive, ain’t no way to fix that. Likely shorted out the auxiliary power as well, unless they got real lucky. This guy Carlson was standing near that when it happened, it’s a wonder there was enough of him left to take to med bay.” Her eyes took on a look of dismay. “Poor guy…” “Well, Simon’s in there taking a look at him now, so maybe his luck’s improvin’.” Mal spoke briefly. “Point is, you gonna be able to get these folks to moving again?” Kaylee frowned, looking back at the engine. “Don’t know. I need to get in there and have a poke around. If I can get the auxiliary power back online that’d be a start.” “Well, do what you can. Need to get Mr Stanway back to limping along, so’s we can bid them farewell and get about our own business.” Mal stood up. “I’ll go check on the doc. Be back here in a while, see how you’re gettin’ along.” “Right,” replied Kaylee under her breath, as Mal headed away. “I’ll just… fix stuff.” She pulled a face at the mangled engine before her. Up in the med bay, Simon was hard at work on the injured man, looking up only once to shake his head briefly at Mal through the window. Mal watched him for a few minutes, then elected to sit and wait until the doctor was through. He waited for a long time, and was beginning to think about checking on Kaylee’s progress when a rising hum from somewhere in the ship made him look up. Stanway came out of the med bay with a relieved look on his face. “Sounds like your engineer’s managed to get our auxiliary systems up,” he said. “That’s damn good news.” “Well, Kaylee’s the one to get you fixed up, if anyone can.” Mal nodded towards the med bay. “What’s the doctor have to say about your man in there?” Stanway sobered. “It’s bad. Your colleague’s got him stable now, but he says he’s going to need treatment in a proper hospital unit.” He let out a heavy breath. “They’ve got one at the facility we were making our way to, but whether or not we’ll reach it now…” “You’ll get there.” Mal sounded more confident than he actually was. “Likely Kaylee’ll be able to come up with something pretty soon that’ll get you to moving.” Stanway nodded, but still looked worried. “I hope so, captain. I hope so. But in the meantime, as we’ve got some auxiliary power I’m going to try to get our transmitters online, get a message to our destination. They must be wondering where we are.” He headed away, leaving Mal to continue his wait outside the med bay. Simon appeared in the doorway not long after, looking out as if to see where Stanway had gone. He walked over to Mal, giving a quick backwards glance into the med bay. Mal nodded towards the figure lying inside. “How’s the guy doing?” “Not good. I’ve managed to stabilize him, but he’s got very serious injuries.” “He gonna make it?” “I don’t know.” Simon met Mal’s gaze. “He’s got spinal trauma.” At Mal’s questioning look, Simon added, “I can’t be sure with the equipment they’ve got here whether the damage is permanent or treatable. I’ve immobilized him, but the next priority is to get him to a proper hospital as soon as possible where they can assess and treat the injuries. He’s in bad shape, but the sooner he gets proper treatment the better his chances are.” “Well, Stanway seems pretty confident there’s a good hospital on this facility they’re bound for, wherever that might be.” “And how quickly are they likely to get moving again?” Mal paused, and Simon looked down the corridor. “Is the engine damage serious?” “Didn’t look exactly minor,” Mal admitted. “Kaylee’s workin’ on it now.” Simon nodded slowly. “Right.” He looked back at the med bay. “Well, I’ve done all I can here for now. Maybe we should go and see how she’s getting on.” Kaylee was sitting crosslegged beside the main drive when they reached the engine room, wiping her hands on a rag and looking anything but happy. She smiled briefly at Simon as he stopped beside her. “Hey there. How’s your patient?” “He’s stable at the moment. Badly injured, though.” Kaylee looked pained. “Ain’t surprised. Poor guy, musta caught one heck of a blast.” “Speakin’ of which,” Mal cut in, leaning over Kaylee with one hand on the engine housing, “How long before you get this ship moving?” Kaylee bit her lip. “There ain’t no good way of sayin’ this.” She sounded defeated. “Their main drive’s totally wiped out. Nothin’ I can do. Nothin’ anyone can do, till they’re sittin’ in a salvage dock with access to some new parts.” “Well, that ain’t gonna happen anytime soon.” Mal kept his voice level. “Now you got the bad news outta the way, how about you hit me with somethin’ a little more positive. Like what you aim to do to get them mobile.” “Cap’n, there ain’t no positive side to this.” Kaylee looked up at him, her eyes earnest. “These folks got an engine room full of scrap metal. Best I could do to get their auxiliary power up and runnin’. They’ll have most of their systems back on line, but this ship ain’t gonna travel till they get a new main drive. Or a tow.” Mal’s face registered the frustration he felt at hearing her judgement. Goddamnit. Just for once, why don’t things go smooth? He straightened up, frowning. “You sure about this, Kaylee?” “Sure as I got eyes.” Kaylee gestured at the mangled engine. “This here’s dead iron.” The three of them were silent for a moment, looking at the drive. Then Mal spoke. “Well, we’d best go break the news to Stanway.” He started to move out of the engine room. Simon helped Kaylee up, the two of them following Mal as quickly as they could. “So what will they do?” Simon’s question pursued Mal as he strode along the passageway. “If they can’t fly, how’re they going to get out of here?” “Stanway said he was going to contact the destination they were heading for, let ‘em know what’d happened.” Mal reached a metal stairway and began to ascend. “Likely they’ll send out a recovery ship, bring them what parts they need to get movin’ again. Kaylee can give them a shopping list if they need it.” “But won’t that take time?” Simon sped up, trying to get level with Mal. “How long will it take them to fit a new drive?” “They could get somethin’ jury-rigged in a day or so, I reckon,” answered Kaylee from behind them. “Wouldn’t be a refit, but they wouldn’t do that out here anyways. Just somethin’ that’ll get the ship limpin’ along to a proper dock. It’ll be slow, but it’ll get ‘em to wherever they’re goin’.” “How slow?” Simon demanded. “Depends on how far they got to go,” Kaylee said. “If they need a long-range transmitter to call this place they’re headin’ to, gotta be at least a day’s journey away. So it’ll take them maybe three, four days to get there once the repair work’s been done.” “No.” Simon shook his head. “That’s not fast enough. That man in the med bay, he needs hospital treatment before then. He needs proper treatment urgently, otherwise he’ll deteriorate. He could even die!” “That’s unhappy news but it ain’t nothin’ can be fixed,” replied Mal shortly. “If Kaylee coulda got these folks movin’, she’d have done it. Your patient got a break just havin’ you come on board and tend to him. Now he’s just gonna have to hang on the best he can.” “No.” Simon stopped dead in the passageway they were walking along, catching Mal by the arm. Mal looked down at Simon’s hand, then up into the young doctor’s eyes. Simon let go, but took a deep breath and continued. “He doesn’t have to ‘hang on’. We can transfer him to Serenity and take him to this hospital facility, wherever it is. We could get him there quickly and he would get the care he needs.” “That ain’t gonna happen.” Mal held Simon’s gaze, shaking his head. “We’re runnin’ close to the edge on fuel cells as it is, and making this detour ain’t improved matters. We’ve done all we can here. Now it’s time to give Stanway the run-down, and say our goodbyes.” Simon opened his mouth to speak again but Mal cut him off. “Serenity ain’t an ambulance. This place these people are deliverin’ to, they’ll have a ship they can send out, fetch their man back with. They’ll tend to him.” “But that’ll take at least double the time we could do the journey in!” Simon pressed on with his argument, ignoring both the growing thunderous expression on Mal’s face, and the warning tug on his hand from Kaylee. “Every minute counts for that man lying up there! It could make the difference between him being able to recover and live a normal life, or ending up on a life support machine for the rest of his days! How would you feel, having to spend the rest of your life crippled, not able to breathe without a machine, reliant on other people to care for you?” Mal raised a hand, his eyes shutting, brows drawing down. Simon stopped in his tirade and Mal lowered his hand; opened his eyes again and stared levelly at him. “Doc.” His voice was low. “You ain’t hearin’ what I said. I’ll say it again but I’ll take it kindly if this time you pay attention, because I don’t plan to repeat myself a third time. We ain’t got the fuel.” At Simon’s look of frustration, Mal reinforced the point. “We go traveling any more off-course from where we’re headin’, we ain’t gonna make it to Beaumonde. And in case you hadn’t noticed, we ain’t so flush we can buy more fuel cells wherever we end up. We got work waitin’ for us at Beaumonde, work we need to do ‘f we want to go on eating regular.” He shook his head. “Might occur to you that I don’t like havin’ to do this any more than you. But that’s the way it’s gonna go.” With that he turned and continued onwards towards the ship’s bridge. Behind him Simon let out a defeated breath. Kaylee rubbed him on the back and he gave her a rueful look; then the pair followed after Mal. Stanway was sitting at a console when the Serenity’s crew came in. He looked up at them, his face hopeful. “Any progress?” Mal glanced back at Kaylee, who looked contrite as she spoke up. “Mr Stanway, I’m real sorry. Got your auxiliary power up and runnin’, but there’s no way your main drive’ll work again. You’re gonna need to get a repair crew and a new drive out to you.” “Damnit.” Stanway leaned on his elbow, hand to his face. After a moment he visibly pulled himself together and straightened up, managing to give Kaylee a weak smile. “My apologies, ma’am, for seeming ungracious. I’m sure you did the best you could. I’m very thankful for all the hard work you’ve done.” Kaylee smiled back at him sadly, shrugging. “Just sorry I couldn’t do better.” Stanway nodded, acknowledging her sympathy for him; then let out a sigh. “Well… Looks like I better make another call to my destination, tell them we need a repair crew sending out. That won’t win me any favours.” He sighed again. “Still, at least we’ll get there within a few days. They’re waiting on this shipment of supplies, so that’ll give them the motivation to help us. Just means my profit on this run just disappeared.” He shook his head. “We’re mighty sorry for your troubles.” Mal spoke as one ship’s captain to another, and Stanway gave him an acknowledging look. “Thank you, Captain Reynolds. I can’t thank you enough for the trouble you’ve taken to come to our assistance. Don’t know what we’d have done if you hadn’t happened by.” “Just sorry we couldn’t get you up and running again.” Mal glanced back at Kaylee and Simon. “Well… Looks like we probably done all we can that’s gonna be of use. If you’re sure your people can come get you, we’ll be headin’ back to our ship. Runnin’ pretty tight on fuel, so if it’s okay with you we better make a move.” “You’re short of fuel?” Stanway sat up. “You know, captain, if you didn’t mind making another detour, I could perhaps make some recompense for your assistance.” Mal said nothing, uncertain, and Stanway continued: “The destination we’re making for usually carries plenty of spare fuel cells, for its own operation and for emergencies. I’m sure I could make a case with the people there for letting you fuel up, in exchange for all the help you’ve given us. You’d have to go a little further out of your way, but it’d be worth your while. And I’d be pleased to be able to pay you back for all you’ve done.” Mal was about to answer when Simon anticipated him. “Mr Stanway, we’d be able to help you further by doing that as well. We could take your engineer straight to this facility on board our ship and he’d get hospital treatment all the quicker.” Stanway nodded, then looked at Mal. “That’d be a damn good thing. Thank you, captain.” Mal said nothing for a moment – then a forced smile quickly came to his face. “No problem, Mr Stanway. If you can guarantee me some fuel cells when we get there, we can take your man and have him in their hospital soonest.” “I’ll make sure they agree.” Stanway turned back to the console. “Don’t worry, there won’t be any problems. The governor on HSF7, Pakenham, is a good man. If I know him he’ll make sure you get your fuel and want to entertain you in comfort before you go as well. I’ll speak to him now and let you know as soon as the arrangements have been confirmed.” “HSF7?” Mal’s query came in a tone that caught Kaylee’s attention: she looked at him and saw something in his face that made her uneasy. Mal spoke again. “That where you’re headed?” “Yes. Regular run, every three months. These federal supply contracts don’t exactly pay big money, but at least they’re reliable work.” Stanway, intent on making his transmission, didn’t see the look on Mal’s face. “Keeping a big vessel and crew like this in the black takes all the ingenuity I’ve got, so jobs like this are a godsend.” “Yeah.” Mal stepped backwards. “Well. Me and my crew’ll get ready to undock, soon as we’ve got your man transferred across to our med bay.” “Thank you.” Stanway glanced around, and held out his hand to shake with a warm smile. “I’ll get the co-ordinates for HSF7 transmitted across to your pilot. And thanks again, Captain Reynolds. It’s not everyone would do what you did.” “Think nothin’ of it.” Mal smiled again as he shook the man’s hand, but as soon as they turned away Kaylee saw the smile drop. As the three of them gained the passageway and walked away from the bridge, Mal spoke in a low voice. “Doc, get your patient ready to be moved on board. We’ll head off soon as you got him settled in our med bay. Kaylee, you finished here?” “Yeah.” She looked at his face. “What’s wrong?” “Ain’t got time to talk about it now. You’re done here, you get back over to Serenity, tell Zoë what we’re doin’. I’ll be back with the doc, soon as we can.” She nodded, frowning. “One thing. Don’t say where we’re goin’. Just tell the others we’re gonna drop this guy off at their destination and get those fuel cells.” “Okay.” She looked bewildered. “Why not tell ‘em where we’re goin’?” “Just do it, Kaylee.” His eyes were stormy. Kaylee said nothing more. As they descended a level she peeled off to fetch her tools from the engine room, while Mal and Simon headed to the ship’s infirmary. Simon worked quickly and efficiently to prep the unconscious Carlson for transport, picking up loud and clear on Mal’s mood. He let the silence stretch for longer than was comfortable; then finally gave in and asked a question. “Would it be inconvenient to ask what the problem is?” “Where we’re going is the problem.” Mal spoke quietly, but Simon could hear the tension in his voice. “Stanway’s destination.” “This… HSF7?” Simon carefully drew a restraining strap across his patient to steady him for being moved. “What is it?” “Initials stand for High Security Facility.” Mal met Simon’s gaze as the young doctor looked up. “A prison complex. Privately run, under contract to the Alliance. Accommodating assorted non-desirables out of harm’s way, on a nice low budget that doesn’t make good law-abidin’ tax-payers too unhappy.” Simon stopped what he was doing, taken aback. “Not the kind of place I was plannin’ to visit this trip out. Nor any other.” “Oh… I…” Simon paused, grimacing. “This… could be tricky, couldn’t it?” “That’s a way of puttin’ it.” Mal’s tone was dangerous. “But seein’ as how we’re committed now, we’d better make the best of it. So parcel up your patient quick, doc, and let’s get moving.” Simon resumed his work, going as swiftly as he could. The journey back to Serenity went smoothly enough and Simon accompanied Carlson down to the med bay and settled the injured man in. He had barely finished when Mal’s voice came over the ship’s intercom. “Everyone get yourselves to the dining room. We got a slight change of plan.” The com snapped off. Simon found himself the last to arrive, everyone else seated around the table with Mal standing to one side. The captain barely looked at Simon as he sat down. “Okay. Here’s the deal. We’re making a side-trip to drop this injured crewman off, and we’ll be getting fuel cells from Stanway’s customers when we get there. That’s the arrangement he’s confirmed, and I got no reason to doubt him. Should get more ‘n enough fuel to take us to Beaumonde, and plenty to spare.” “So what’s the ruttin’ problem?” demanded Jayne. As Mal looked at him, he growled, “Cause there is a problem, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t have hauled us all in here together again.” “Nothin’ we can’t handle, we keep a hold of the situation.” Mal was looking down at the table rather than at anyone around it. “Place we’re taking this crewman to, is a High Security Facility.” Beside him Zoë looked up sharply; Jayne’s eyes narrowed. “Not an Alliance facility,” Mal clarified, not letting anyone interrupt. “Private company-run. No Alliance troops nor officials.” “Tah mah duh hwon dahn…” Jayne was shaking his head mutinously. “It’s a goddamn prison! We’re headin’ straight for a prison!” He glared up at Mal. “Are you crazy?” “Nope.” Mal kept his tone level. “Startin’ to get a little aggravated, though. Specially seein’ as how the way I was plannin’ to spend the last few hours was catchin’ up on some sleep. But it don’t seem like what I had planned stands a chance in hell of happenin’ right now, so here’s the way it goes.” He looked around the table. “We go in, drop their casualty off at this facility, get our fuel cells, say a nice polite thank you, and leave. No complications, no problems, no long goodbyes. Then we head to Beaumonde and fix up our next job and things go nice and shiny and we get paid and if you butt in on me now, Jayne, you will find out just how unhappy I can get when I ain’t had a full night’s sleep!” He held Jayne’s gaze with his own, forestalling the mercenary’s next complaint; then glanced around the table at the others. “You may have picked up on the fact that I ain’t exactly contented about this arrangement. So appreciate that I fully understand any misgivings all of you may be entertaining right now, and don’t consider it needful for you to share them out loud.” He took a deep breath. “We do this, then get on our way. That’s the end of it.” “I was right,” muttered Jayne. “I said we shouldn’t go gettin’ involved. Answerin’ distress calls, messin’ around with folks in trouble… Trouble’s got a way of spreadin’ itself around!” “Wuh de tyen, ah…” Mal spoke slowly, but everyone heard the patience evaporating like water from white-hot steel. “Jayne. Go do somethin’ useful.” Jayne started to open his mouth but Mal spoke swiftly. “Now.” There was a moment’s pause, then Jayne scraped his chair back from the table, scowling, and left the room. Mal watched him go. Inara spoke up quietly. “Is there any specific reason to think that going to this - facility could be risky?” Mal turned his gaze on her and she added, “Other than the fact that it comes under the auspices of the federal authority?” “No.” Mal looked around the table. “Our business shouldn’t be of any interest to the people runnin’ the place. We got no outstanding warrants against us.” He glanced briefly at River and Simon. “If the Operative kept his word. Which it seems likely he did.” He looked back at Inara. “Far as these people are concerned, we’re just another freelance outfit making a living. So that’s how we play it. Keep it real simple.” He nodded at all of them. “We don’t do nothing out the ordinary, they’ll give us what we need and we’ll be on our way.” His gaze wandered to River. She looked back at him, her eyes calm. “Everyone okay with that?” There was a murmured chorus of agreement. “Okay then.” His tone ended the discussion. Simon and Kaylee rose together and left the room. Inara stood but waited for a moment, her eyes on Mal. Beside her River was frowning at the table. Mal spoke to her. “River. You got a funny feelin’ you want to share ‘bout this?” “Not so funny.” River looked up at him under lowered brows. “You think I’m going to act crazy when we get there. Go wild and start killing prison guards.” As Mal opened his mouth she continued, “I come in handy when you need some second sight on tap, or figuring course corrections. But I’m not an asset at social occasions. Freaky River.” “That ain’t so.” Mal looked uncomfortable. “You got your… ways, and they sometimes catch folks unawares, is all.” At her frankly scornful look he persevered. “Look, we’re all gonna have to walk soft when we get to this place. Right now I ain’t too comfortable about Jayne mindin’ his manners once we’re there. Don’t you start developing a fit of teen angst, ‘cos this ain’t the time nor the place.” He held her gaze. “You’re part of Serenity’s crew. What I expect from you is the same I expect from everyone, neither more nor less.” After a long silence, River nodded. “Okay.” She got up from the table and left the room, leaving Mal with Inara and Zoë. Mal took a deep breath, his shoulders rising; then let it out with a sigh. His gaze shifted to Inara, who let him have a small smile. “You handled that right.” “Just told her the truth, is all. She ain’t more of a problem than anyone else on this ship.” He paused as if considering what he’d said might not strike his two current listeners as particularly gracious: then appeared to give up caring. Inara decided to take her leave. “Well… You’ll let us know when we’re getting close to this place?” “Yeah. Should be around eighteen hours, or thereabouts.” Inara nodded, then quietly left the dining room. Mal watched her go, then turned to Zoë. “You’re keepin’ mighty quiet about all this.” She looked up at him. “Like you said, we can just keep this simple. Do it and get on our way.” Her face belied the calm compliance of her words. Mal put his hand on a chair and pulled it out, then sat down at the table, facing her. When he spoke his voice was quieter and calmer than it had been. “I don’t want to do this any more than you. Last kind of place I thought I’d ever head towards willingly.” “A prison hulk.” Zoë’s voice held a world of bitter memory. “Never thought I’d have to set foot on one again.” “Don’t have to this time, you want to stay on board Serenity while we’re there. I can do all that needs doin’.” “No.” Zoë shook her head. “I’ll do my job. Just don’t like it.” “What’s to like?” Mal folded his arms and leaned on the table. “Goddamn floating monstrosities…” He shut his eyes briefly. “Spending three months on one as POW’s was more ‘n long enough.” He opened his eyes again and turned his head to Zoë. “But we ain’t gonna spend any longer docked there than we have to.” She nodded; but her face was still sombre. Mal waited for her to meet his gaze, to acknowledge their shared memories… But she kept her eyes distant. He felt a pang then. Eight goddamn years alongside each other and now we can’t even talk. And I ain’t got nothing to say she wants to hear. A memory of the nightmare he’d been woken from surfaced in his mind and he frowned involuntarily, trying to push it away. Beside him Zoë stirred; pushed her chair back. “I’ll go set course.” She stood up. “Right.” He rose from the table himself. “Think I’ll go try catch a few hours’ sleep. You okay with Serenity?” “Surely.” She was already heading for the bridge. He watched her go, then made his way out of the dining room. He walked along the aft passageway, then down the stairs to the infirmary. Simon was there, as he’d expected; the young doctor was tending to his patient. Simon looked up briefly as Mal entered, then continued to key in data to a medical monitor. “Everything all right?” “That all depends.” Mal’s tone made Simon look up at him again: what the young doctor saw in Mal’s face made him stop work. He moved away from the monitor and stood still. “Is there… a problem?” “Could be. One I aim to fix now.” Mal’s gaze didn’t waver. “You and me got something to get clear between us.” “And what is that?” Simon tried to sound assertive, but his throat tightened at Mal’s scrutiny. “When you work on a patient, as a doctor, you take control. Right?” Simon swallowed. “Yes - ” “You know what to do. You tell folks around you what to do, to keep your patient alive. You take charge, you make the decisions.” “Yes. I do.” Simon began to guess where he thought this was heading. “You take the responsibility for that person’s life. To get them through it.” “Yes.” “Yeah.” Mal nodded. “Now I don’t mess with that part of your job. Why d’you think you can mess with mine?” Simon tried to give an answer. “I didn’t think I had.” “Over there, on that ship.” Mal kept his eyes steady on him. “You headed over first off with me and Kaylee, after I told you to wait. I figured I’d let that one slide. Then when you started in arguin’ with me over takin’ this guy on Serenity, I began to get the notion you weren’t entirely clear about who was makin’ the decisions.” His eyes were cold now. “But when I told you how things were, seemed like you understood. Then we got talkin’ to Stanway. And that’s when you stepped over the line.” “You mean when I spoke to Stanway, about taking his crewman on Serenity?” Simon felt defensive. “You said the problem was we didn’t have enough fuel – and Stanway was saying he could guarantee us fuel! So there was nothing to stop us taking this man to a medical facility. There was no problem any more – “ “Oh, there was a problem.” Mal cut in. “Problem was, you thinkin’ it was your place to speak up and make that decision for Serenity and for her crew. Now that is a goddamn problem, doctor. And it’s a problem I don’t plan on having to deal with again.” “So – you were going to say something different?” Simon gestured at the unconscious man on the med bay bed. “You were going to tell Stanway we couldn’t help, just go on our way and leave this man to suffer? Or is all that’s bothering you the fact that I said it first?” His tone was incredulous. “You wanted to take the credit for the generous impulse?” Mal’s eyes flashed and he took a sudden step forwards. “I’m being patient with you, doc, which is takin’ more effort than you’d care to believe. How about you stop talking and start listening, so’s I can get this over with and get the sleep I am really, really beginning to crave.” Simon became still. “I ain’t got my hackles up about you getting the Good Samaritan award. And yeah: after Stanway made us his offer I would have said the same thing you did, and offered to take this man to a hospital. The fact that it’s located on a prison facility don’t add to my enjoyment, but it wouldn’t have stopped me. No: the reason you and I are havin’ this conversation is that you took it on yourself to tell Stanway we would do just that. That’s the goddamn problem.” “So it’s not my place to speak up?” asked Simon. “But it’s okay for you to make that decision for us?” “It’s what I do. I’m the captain of this ship, and this crew.” Mal’s answer was swift and unarguable. “I make the decisions, and I take the responsibility. Just like you do when you’re doctorin’ a patient.” Simon opened his mouth, then stopped, silenced. Mal continued, “Now, you may not like some of the decisions I make. Won’t be alone in that. Hell, you want a debate about my shortcomings you’ll find yourself in good company with Jayne on pretty much any day of the week. But one thing you need to understand here and now, for good and all: I call the shots on this ship. I speak on behalf of this crew. Nobody else. That don’t sit right with you, you better start plannin’ right now where you want droppin’ off, because I don’t aim to have to explain this to you again.” There was a long silence, broken only by the faint hum of the monitor and the breathing of the injured man on the bed. At last Simon spoke. “All right. I think - I understand.” “Don’t think. Be sure.” Mal’s gaze didn’t waver. Simon swallowed. “Okay. I’m sure.” “Good.” Mal glanced at the man on the bed, then turned to go. Simon spoke up. “If I’d said no… If I’d decided to leave the ship…” He stopped, then made himself continue. “I would have asked Kaylee to come. With me and my sister.” As soon as the words were out he knew they should have stayed unsaid. Mal turned back and his face was unreadable. After a moment, he spoke. “That’s for you to ask, and her to decide. I don’t make any one of this crew stay here. Anybody chooses to leave, that’s their right.” He looked suddenly weary. “Just… I’d appreciate some warning, if you’re planning to lose me my engineer.” “No. I’m not. I didn’t mean to…” Simon ran out of words. “I shouldn’t have said that.” “That’s what you’re thinkin’, I’d rather you said it out loud where I can hear it.” Mal looked away. “Look. I ain’t looking to give you a hard time, Simon. Just… don’t need no more complications right now. You figure you can live with the way I run things, that’s all I need to know. Okay?” He looked back at the young doctor. “Okay.” Simon nodded. “I can live with it.” “Right.” Mal moved to the med bay door. “I’m going to be gettin’ some sleep, but Zoë’s up on the bridge, your man here takes a turn for the worse and you need some help. See you later.” With that he was gone. Simon looked at the empty doorway and let out a heavy breath. “Damn.” He looked at his patient on the bed. “Another act of diplomatic genius, Dr Tam.” There was no reply but the gentle sound of the monitor. Mal reached his cabin and climbed down the ladder to his bunk. He checked the clock and set an alarm call to wake him in four hours time; then, after a moment’s hesitation, changed it to eight. Hell with it. They can manage without me for a while. His eyes burned with weariness as he sat on the bed to take off his boots. Slowly and mechanically he stripped off his clothes, then crawled under the covers and killed the light, lying back with an arm over his eyes. Even now, lying in the dark, sleep was crowded out by the thoughts going through his brain. Prison facility. Goddamnit. Gonna have to play this one careful, make sure no-one says anything might raise any official hackles. Sit on Jayne, if he starts mouthin’ off. Get us in and out quick. His thoughts shifted to the look on Zoë’s face as she sat at the table. She don’t want to go there. But she’ll do it, because it’s gotta be done. He heard Zoë’s voice, in his head. – I’ll do my job. Just don’t like it. Mal let out a heavy breath. Hoo-tsuh. Enough. Sleep, goddamnit. Just deal with what happens, when we get there. He pressed his arm against his eyes, forcing his mind to stop. At last he felt the tiredness rise from his body and start to pull him under. His last thought was, And this time no goddamn nightmares, run-tse duh fwo-tzoo.