Inferno – Chapter Eighteen I own no rights to Firefly, and there is no money being made here. ---------------------- “Sheriff, Bev Jackson’s calling for you,” Evelyn’s voice came through the intercom. “Tell’er I’m busy,” Mal growled, looking through his desk for. . .ah, a pen. “She’s pretty insistent, sir,” Evelyn called again a minute later. “Fine,” Mal grumped, “put her on.” Bev Jackson’s face was on the screen a second later. “Well, Sheriff,” the reporter smirked. “How’d you enjoy the headlines?” “Enjoyed it, to be honest,” Mal smiled. “Especially as you’ve got egg on your face, now.” The smirk faltered slightly, but only for a second. “I don’t think so, Sheriff Reynolds,” was her reply. “Suit yourself,” Mal shrugged. “Somethin’ I can do for you?” “I wondered if you had anything to add, after seeing my story,” she smiled. It was an ugly smile, Mal decided. “Well, we did manage to arrest the men responsible for the triple homicide,” Mal said calmly. “And, as I told you earlier, there was no connection.” Now Jackson’s face did falter. “You did? Who were they? What was the motive? Have you. . .” Jackson scrambled for pen and pad, but Mal just held his hand up. “I’ll have to get back to you on all that, Miss Jackson,” he smiled thinly. “I really am a bit busy right at the moment. But you have a good day, now. Hear?” “But I need to know who. . .” Mal shut the screen off with a flourish. It felt good to be able to strike a blow at the arrogant woman. He knew he’d have trouble with her, probably a lot of trouble. But he wasn’t gonna play her game. At least not by her rules. Malcolm Reynolds might have a great deal to learn about being a lawman, but he’d been dealing with the likes of Bev Jackson for years. ---------------- Inara woke Holly for his turn at the watch, and headed for her shuttle. Things were going pretty good, she decided. The ship was in good shape, the work was done, and they were on schedule. She smiled as she tried to remember when things had gone this smoothly under Mal. Never, the word drifted through her mind, and she chuckled softly. True, she hadn’t faced anything serious, as yet, but still, it was quite a confidence boost that things were running smoothly for her. She had made her first delivery on time, and the second should be on time as well. Her last thoughts, and she turned in for the night, were that maybe she’d hold off on that finishing school. Just for a little while. -------------------- “Kaylee?” Jayne asked, finding the little engineer working on the scrubbers. She turned to him, worry on her face. “It’s fried, Jayne,” she said softly. “The whole unit is shot. All the banging and whatnot, I guess. Two wires touched and phhttt! Gone.” “Can you fix it?” Jayne asked, his voice calm. “I don’t know,” Kaylee admitted. “I got parts that normally go out on these things, but really, the scrubbers are redundant. Ya know? We got three, and all we’d normally need is two. Could even get by on one, in a pinch, so long as we all stayed in one area, and sealed off the rest.” “But, we got so many people on board, we need’em all.” Her voice was strained, and her eyes fearful. Jayne nodded. “I’m open to suggestions.” “Jayne, if I can’t fix this one,” she whispered, “we’ll have to go back down onto Aberdeen and get the parts I need.” “Not an option, Kaylee,” Jayne told her flatly. “We can’t make it. And we ain’t got the fuel left. We’re gonna cut it close, as it is.” “We can’t get this scrubber workin’, we ain’t gonna need the fuel,” Kaylee shot back. “We’ll all be choking on our own breath long ‘fore we reach the fueling station.” “See what you can do,” Jayne hedged. “I. . .I need to talk to River. Maybe we can. . .” “I’ll work on it,” Kaylee told him. “I’m sorry, Jayne. I shoulda. . .” “None o’ that,” he squelched her apology firmly. “And I mean it. We all laid this on in about two hours. And we like as not didn’t have what you needed on Serenity either. So just put that away, and do what you can do. I’ll see how long we got, and try and figure something out.” “Okay, Jayne,” Kaylee smiled bravely. Jayne returned her smile, and turned toward the bridge. His own smile faltered as he went. There was no way they could get back down to Aberdeen. And even if they did manage, they’d never get back out, and have fuel enough to reach the station. But what if they could reach somewhere else? ---------------- “River, we got a problem,” Jayne said as he walked up onto the bridge. “I know,” River nodded, writing furiously on a pad. “I’m working on it.” “No, I mean. . .” “I know,” River didn’t look up. “Scrubber’s gone. Can’t be fixed.” “I don’t know why I bother. . .” Jayne sighed, plopping down into the co-pilot’s seat “Me either,” River sing songed at him, and he chuckled. She looked up, smiling. “We have sufficient fuel to reach the station,” she informed him, “but not to return to the planet and fight our way back out. Period. We land, we stay.” “But. . .” she walked over to him, sitting in his lap, “the scrubber that’s down, works in the cargo bay. So, we empty the cargo bay, and open it to space. We keep the enviro controls low, which will keep the air lighter. And, since the shuttles have their own environmental controls, we move some people into them.” She looked down at him, smiling. “This should get us to the station. Once we’re there, we can most likely find what we need to repair the problem.” “You are a . . .” “Genius?” she finished for him, her smirk adorable, in his opinion. “Blessing,” he amended. “A sheer blessing, xin gan.” He kissed her. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” “Me either,” she sighed. “But you don’t really take that much looking after.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him again. “River can I come up. . .Oh!” The two broke apart to see Chelsa standing in the doorway. The girl had showered, and Kaylee had found her some clothes to wear. “Come on up, Chelsa,” River smiled, pulling away from Jayne and getting to her feet. “We were just. . .talking,” she finished, a faint pink glow around her face. Jayne snickered. “Yeah, I could see that,” Chelsa laughed, and Jayne was glad to hear it. The girl had been traumatized by the events on the planet. If she could laugh a little, then maybe she’d be okay. Eventually. “I’ll get started on that,” Jayne told River, standing. “Run it by Kaylee first, make sure we can get everything isolated.” “Okay,” River smiled. “Chelsa will be staying in our bunk, by the way,” she added. “What?” Jayne stammered. “Aw, baby, that means. . .” “Jayne,” River warned. “It’s only for a few days. No arguing.” “Fine,” he grumped, then looked at Chelsa, grinning. “She snores, by the way.” “I do not!” River’s outraged stammer followed him as he fled the bridge, laughing. ---------------- “That might work, Jayne,” Kaylee nodded, after listening to River’s idea. “Worries me to have everyone so crowded. Tempers’ll likely get short.” “Well, we’ll have to deal with that best we can, Kaylee,” Jayne shrugged. “This is the only way, if you can’t fix the scrubbers.” “Well, I can’t,” Kaylee sighed. “I just ain’t got the stuff to do it, Jayne. It ain’t something that happens, you know?” “Except to us,” he nodded, and Kaylee giggled in spite of herself. “Ain’t it the truth. I’ll go start gettin’ people ready to move.” “Where do you want your folks, Kay?” Jayne asked, and Kaylee looked at him. “What do you mean?” “Well, we can put them in a passenger dorm, but I thought we might let them, and the Willis couple have a shuttle. Maybe a bit more privacy than they’d have elsewhere. I mean, they’re both hurtin’.” “That’s sweet of you, Jayne,” Kaylee hugged him. “I think that’d be great. I’ll go and tell’em.” “I’ll get some help and start clearing what we’ll need outta the cargo bay.” -------------- “Why are we moving?” Samantha asked, her face showing annoyance. “Because we need to shut off the cargo bay,” Kaylee told her patiently. “We took some damage getting out of atmo, and we’ve lost some of our scrubbers. Since this is the area they work in, we’re gonna open it up to vacuum, and leave it like that till we reach the fueling station.” “So we’re all going to be crammed into the other parts of the ship?” her sister demanded. “For a few days,” Kaylee nodded. “Ain’t got no choice. I can’t fix what’s busted, we ain’t got the part.” “But. . .” “Sam, that’s enough,” Caleb Frye told her bluntly. “They’re doing everything they can. And it’s more than I’ve seen you do, so hush.” The errant sister scowled, but didn’t oppose Poppa Frye. “Daddy, you and Momma, and the Willis’ will be stayin’ in the port side shuttle. Got it’s own scrubbers and oxygen systems. If there’s room, might let Terry’s widow and baby in there, keep the little’un out of the worse air.” “We’ll make do, girl,” Caleb squeezed her arm. “I’m right proud of you, Kay,” he told her. “You’ve done an incredible job. Don’t see how anyone could do better.” Kaylee’s face heated at that, and her blush was almost incandescent. She hugged her father tightly. “Thank you, Daddy,” she whispered softly. “You’re welcome, Kay.” --------------------- “So, we’re shuttin’ off the cargo bay, movin’ everyone into the ship, and into the shuttles. Be tight, and the air will like as not get a little heavy, but we’ll make the fueling station.” Jayne looked down at Zoe. He’d come to let her know what was happening. “Sounds like you got it covered,” she nodded. “Had to be River’s idea, though,” she grinned. “No way you came up with this.” “Hey!” Jayne’s face showed mock indignation. “I have my moments, ya know!” “Name one,” Zoe shot back with a smirk. “Married River,” Jayne smirked, and Zoe’s smirk died out. “Shoulda said name two,” she groused, and Jayne laughed. “If ya had, I’da been stumped,” he told her. “I’ll see you later, Captain.” “Thanks for keeping me updated, Jayne.” “Hey, you’re the boss,” Jayne smiled. Zoe lay back and closed her eyes, smiling. She and Jayne had been more like the old days. It was a good feeling. She hoped it lasted. ----------------- Jayne stood looking through the galley door’s window at the cargo bay. He glanced at Liam. “Everyone accounted for?” The younger man nodded. “Kaylee? We got everyone?” For something like this, he’d made a triple count. “Yep.” “Goldie?” “All accounted for, kid.” Jayne nodded, and reached for the control box. The alarms started flashing, and Kaylee quickly shut them off. Slowly the bay door opened, and the cargo hold was vented into space. The ship’s interior groaned a bit, and the window iced over ever so slightly, then all was quiet. “Well, that’s it,” Jayne said softly. “Goldie, I’ll let you tell Zoe that we’re good to go. After that, get some rest. River and I will take first watch. Kaylee and Simon will have the second. You and Liam the third. Anyone got questions?” “We gonna make it?” Goldie asked. “Questions I can actually answer?” Jayne glared. There were none. “We should make it fine,” Jayne relented. “River says we’ve got enough fuel, and she’s recalculating every six hours or so.” “Well, that’s good enough for me,” Kaylee stated firmly, and Goldie and Liam nodded their agreement. “Okay then, everyone get some rest. I’ll be on the bridge if anyone needs me.” Jayne slowly made his way to the bridge, stopping to answer a handful of questions along the way, reassuring people that, yes, things would be fine, just a bit crowded. He finally made his way to the bridge, where he found Chelsa sacked out in the co-pilot’s seat, covered with a blanket. River turned to look at him. “She’s exhausted,” River told him quietly. “She’d been through a lot, last few days,” Jayne nodded. River got up, pulling Jayne into the pilot’s chair, then cuddling up in his lap. “I snore, do I?” she asked sweetly. “Well, it’s a real delicate snore,” Jayne teased, and River hit him in the stomach. “It’s not nice to tease,” she chided with a smile, laying her head on his shoulder. “I know, but it was so tempting,” he chuckled softly, so as not to wake the girl. “Me and Zoe had a little talk, earlier, after everything went to hell.” River raised her head at that news. “And?” she asked. “Well, she apologized for how she’s been treatin’ me,” Jayne admitted. “Told me she was proud to have me on her crew, and that she hoped I’d stay on it.” “Will you?” River prodded. “I don’t know,” he told her honestly. “I ain’t really had time to think on it, and I’m so tired I don’t know how much thinking I’m good for, at the moment,” he smiled. “And, I wanted to talk to you about it, too.” “Good,” said River, laying back down on his shoulder. “That’s the way it should be.” “You said the girl was coming with us,” he changed the subject slightly. “Does that mean we’re adoptin’ her?” River raised her head again, looking into his eyes. “Would that bother you?” she asked, stroking his jaw softly. “No,” Jayne shook his head. “Not if it’s what you want. But,” he added, “we need to think about what’s best for her. I mean, a ship ain’t no place to raise a kid.” “She’s almost grown already,” River rolled her eyes. “It’s not like she needs constant care and attention, Sean.” “I know that, but she needs schoolin’,” he pointed out. “I don’t want her to be like me. Be grown and on her own ‘fore she finds someone to teach her what’s what.” “I can teach her,” River told him. “I’m a genius, remember?” “Well, I hadn’t thought of that,” he admitted. “And I suppose you’ll want to teach her to fly?” “Of course,” River said airily. “Every girl should know how to fly.” “Well, if that’s what you want, then that’s what we’ll do.” She looked at Jayne. “That’s not the same thing as you’re okay with it,” River said quietly. “Are you?” “River, Angel,” Jayne kissed her. “Whatever you want, whatever you think is best, I’m okay with. You know that. I trust you to do what’s best.” River lay her head down once more, sighing in tired contentment. The two of them sat that way for a good while, just enjoying each other’s company, as Companion limped along, on it’s way home.

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