A/N: Here is the next installment. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: All things belong to Joss.

She never thought she would be the one that would start the process. She always thought it would be Mal. Serenity was her home, but it was his ship. He was supposed to handle this part. She felt like a child going behind a parent’s back and it didn’t feel right.

Zoe reached out to the console with a slightly trembling hand. She took a deep breath and keyed the Plan’s execution code into Serenity’s guidance system. She was surprised when the cortex flickered on. A gush of computer code raced up the screen so fast that all she managed to glimpse before the Cortex flickered off was a message that simply stated ‘encryption sent.’ The Captain must have had River do this part, since she knew Mal didn’t have the technical abilities to pull off something like that. Obviously, it was a message that Mal felt was necessary to send. This person must be important to the completion of the Plan. She wondered who that person could be and what part they would play. This message also told her something else. She never realized how deeply and thoroughly he had thought everything out. She marveled at the complexity of it all. A slight smile creeped across her face.

“Full of surprises, Sir,” she whispered out loud. She wished that Mal would have let her in on the full aspects of the Plan, but she knew he was right about not everyone knowing the full details. It just wasn’t safe. She reached to the right of the console and picked up a small device. It was sitting next to the row of dinosaurs that no one could remove after Wash’s death. She lightly brushed her hand across one. “Might be seeing you soon, baby.”

She looked down at the device and the red indicator on it showed that the system was active. There was a switch on it and the switch was very important to Mal.

This switch will complete the first phase of the Plan. Mal had told them all when reviewing the Plan for the hundredth time one night. Once everyone, or them as can, are off the ship, this switch MUST be flipped. No exceptions, dong ma (understand)? They all had nodded, knowing that he was adamant about this particular instruction.

She was thrown back to reality when she felt Serenity lurch as the Alliance ship docked. She stood up to reveal the arsenal of weapons she had strapped on. She picked up the assault rifle that was leaning up against the lockers.

“It’s time, Sir,” she whispered as if Mal was standing right there with her. He had always been with her when they were on the battlefield. She would be deluding herself to think that this was any different from what they did during the war. She needed him then and she needed him now, even if it was only in her head. She headed down to the cargo bay.

When she arrived, Jayne and Simon were already there. They both were heavily armed as well. Her mind wandered a bit. Jayne looked normal, but seeing Simon armed like that was unsettling.

“Ready Zoe?” Jayne asked as he took his place on the catwalk immediately to the right of the cargo bay doors. It was his job to pick off as many incoming soldiers as possible before they could get a bead on where any of the others were.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she answered, checking the rounds in the rifle.

“Remember to protect the cryo chamber in the back,” Simon reminded as he took his spot outside of Shuttle 1. “It cannot be damaged or the Captain will have no chance.”

Kaylee ran out of Shuttle 2. She was armed as well. If it wasn’t for the gravity of their situation, Zoe may have laughed. Kaylee, with guns strapped everywhere, was almost comical.

“Both shuttles are prepped should we need them,” Kaylee announced as she wedged herself into a little nook by the entrance of Shuttle 2.

Zoe paused as she started to go to her appointed spot directly across from Jayne, but looked down to where Mal was supposed to be. The lowest catwalk directly across from the cargo bay doors had been fortified with thick metal sheeting so he would have some cover. It was the most dangerous place to be, but someone had to be there. Someone had to be able to see directly into the cargo bay doors. They had to know what they were up against so if they needed to further initiate or adjust the Plan, they could. Whoever took up that position was working against impossible odds. The metal sheeting would help, but it wouldn’t hold long if there was heavy sustained gunfire. No matter how she much tried to change his mind, Mal had insisted that he be the one to fill it.

Someone has to be there. There ain’t no way round it. Mal had told her.

It’s suicide, Sir. Zoe had countered.

Maybehaps, but it needs done. Can’t expect to have a chance if someone ain’t there to see what’s going on.

Sir, please…

We can’t go into this blind and you know it.

He was right, but it didn’t mean she had to like it. And it also didn’t mitigate the fact that she knew exactly what he was doing. He was going stay on that catwalk until his last breath. While on Miranda, they held everything back while he got the wave out and he was going to do the same thing for them. He was going to hold that position until they could get off the ship. She knew that Mal never planned on leaving his ship. He would die making sure they all got a chance and the full details of that Plan would go with him.

She took a deep breath in and made her decision. Someone had to be there.

“I’m going across from the bay doors,” she announced as she raced down the stairs.

While the others may have been oblivious as to what it meant to be across from the bay doors, Jayne wasn’t. He was no stranger to gunfights.

If something happens to me, Jayne, make sure the others get off the boat. Don’t need no thrilling heroics, just get them off. Mal had asked one day as he pulled Jayne aside.

Why you asking me, Mal? Shouldn’t you be talking to Zoe?

If’n I’m gone, she might not be thinking at her best. It’s not been long since she lost Wash. I need you to step up and keep things moving if she can’t. Can I count on you? The look in Mal’s eyes was dead serious. It reminded him of Mal’s demeanor during Miranda. Jayne swallowed thickly.

You can. You have my word.

“Zoe! We should stick with the Plan!” Jayne yelled at her. “Mal would want you to stick with the Plan!”

“Mal’s not here. The Plan’s changed!” she responded as she reached her intended position just as the airlock door then the interior bay doors were forced open.

Crouching down behind the metal barrier, she got out her rifle and took aim. With Wash gone and Mal the way he was, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to leave the ship either.

Later, on Mr. Universe’s moon…

Two men stood at the graves of Shepherd Book, Wash and Mr. Universe.

“Which one?” the first one asked.

“We already have this subject’s specimen. The other has been deemed problematic to the program. Possibly unstable,” the second one said. He pointed a finger at the last grave. “We want that one. He has considerable talent and could prove quite useful.”

The hand that pointed out their intended target wore a blue glove.

That’s for reading. Please comment.