A/N: Our crew’s Plan keeps unfolding. I hope you like it.

They were all on edge as the cargo bay doors were forced open.

“Everyone have their comms on?” Zoe asked as she visually checked with each of the remaining crew. They all nodded. “Good.”

They all waited as an eerie silence filled the cargo bay. Zoe thought it was the quietest she had ever heard in on Serenity, save for the night cycle. Then she saw the first of the soldiers come through. She knew she had to hide as long as she could. She needed to be the eyes of the crew. She adjusted the comm in her ear.

“Jayne, they’re coming through,” she said quietly.

“I see ‘em. Waitin’ for a few more to come out ‘fore shooting,” He answered. He looked down at Zoe. “You stay put long as you can. Don’t let them see you. We need you there as long as possible.”

She nodded and tightened her grip on her rifle.

The next few seconds were as if they were in slow motion. The Alliance soldiers creeped in a little at a time. The narrow airlock door didn’t allow them to rush in as a large group. It effectively served to bottle neck their entry. Once Jayne saw enough soldiers, he open fired. At least four soldiers were killed and another three gravely injured. The soldiers in the rear fell back through the airlock, dragging many of their fallen comrades with them.

“Rutting hún dàns (bastards),” she heard Jayne mutter.

After a couple of minutes, the soldiers cautiously started to come back through the airlock.

“They’re coming back, Jayne,” Zoe warned. She turned and looked up at Simon. “If they get past Jayne, it’s your turn.”

“I’m ready,” Simon said, sounding less than sure.

Zoe smiled a bit. Simon reminded her of some of the new recruits during the war. All brave on the surface but shaking like a leaf underneath. That was a good thing though. Over confident recruits were usually prone to getting dead.

The soldiers inched forward. They were well aware of Jayne’s general position so they were taking their time, trying to get a bead on him. Zoe could see the uncertainty on the faces of the soldiers in the rear of the airlock. They weren’t stupid, so they had to know that Jayne wasn’t the only person that was going to fire on them. It was then she saw a soldier in the back point directly at her position.

“They’ve seen me,” she said quietly into the comm.

“You stay down, Zoe,” Jayne advised. “We need you as our eyes. Don’t go doing nothing stupid.”

“I won’t fire until I have to.”

That is when all Hell broke loose; the Alliance knew that if they kept being cautious, the crew would pick them off one by one. So they surged in, pouring through the door as fast as possible, hoping that with all the confusion, they could gain some strategic positions inside the cargo bay itself. With all the crates, there were a lot of places to take cover behind.

Jayne took out a couple more before two soldiers pinned him down. He had to hole up behind a couple of strategically placed crates.

“I’m pinned down!” he exclaimed.

Simon opened fired, scattering the soldiers further. Bodies were starting to pile up. Soldiers that had yet to come through the airlock had to pull the bodies away so they could get in. Zoe saw her chance. As the path got cleared, she had a straight shot at thinning out anyone who planned on joining their little melee.

“Kaylee,” she said. “I’m going to start thinning them out on their way in. You need to keep them back as far as possible. We don’t want them to get under the catwalks. Jayne especially will be most vulnerable from there.”

“’Kay, Zoe,” she said firmly.

“We gotta get some them guys away from me. I can’t help y’all when I’m hiding behind a crate like a bitty bug!” Jayne barked over the comm.

Zoe opened fire and picked off one of the guys pinning down Jayne and then started pumping rounds into the airlock opening. Kaylee shot towards the other man who was covering Jayne. After a few rounds the soldier fell.

“I got him!” Kaylee exclaimed, strangely sounding like someone who just won a prize at the rifle range at the county fair.

Zoe looked up at her sharply and saw that she was half standing up.

“Kaylee, get down!” Zoe ordered.

Kaylee eyes widened as a bullet connected above her head and quickly dropped down into her nook for cover. The firefight continued.

Simon was the first one to get injured. A bullet passed through his shoulder where his body armor did not cover. He groaned and dropped his rifle. Before Zoe could even ask him how he was, Simon was on the comm.

“I’m alright,” he ground out through clenched teeth. “It went clean through. Can’t hold a gun though.”

“Juh jen sh guh kwai luh duh jean jan (this is a happy development),” Jayne muttered.

Simon looked around for a second and drew a very large handgun from one of the holsters he wore. He resumed shooting with his non-dominant hand. Zoe smiled. Mal would have been proud of him.

Then, the strangest thing happened. The ship was bumped hard by something. Bumped hard enough for some of the crates below to move. Zoe looked through the airlock door. The soldiers froze for a second then the started to fall back.

“Disengage!” she heard one of them yell. “Disengage!”

The soldiers near the airlock disappeared back into their ship. Jayne and Simon kept firing at anyone still entrenched in the cargo bay.

“What the gorram Hell’s going on?” Jayne yelled from his position.

“Don’t know. It didn’t feel like an explosion or the like, but something’s definitely ain’t right,” Zoe answered as she peered through the cargo bay doors. “I can’t see anything. Kaylee, get into the shuttle and check the sensors. Maybe we can get a clue.”

Kaylee disappeared into the shuttle. Zoe watched as her view got even stranger. There seemed to be some confusion happening within the Alliance ship. What soldiers she could see were starting to scatter. Kaylee emerged from the shuttle with a horrified look on her face. Zoe knew whatever she had to say wouldn’t be good.

“Zoe! We got Reavers!”

Gorram it. Could anything else go wrong today? Zoe thought.

Thanks for reading. Please comment.