The Return Home – Part 3

Mal was no stranger to bullets flying past his ears, or to the seeming slowing down of time as a battle was in progress, however big or small the fight. His first shot hit an Alliance policeman in the shoulder sending him spinning backwards and his weapon flying out of his hand. A bullet hit the brick wall next to his head, sending red brick dust across his right cheek as the sound of Jayne’s yell “I got one” reached his ears and he could see another Alliance policeman crumple in the street. The there was a sting as a bullet hit the flesh inside of his left thigh and Mal got a sudden nervous feeling that the bullet was little bit too close to some parts of his body he’d like to keep. That flash of thought was gone in a millisecond, the pain from his wound not yet registering in the heat of combat, and he was only firing his second shot of the battle as the two remaining policemen scattered for cover. Behind them many civilians were diving back into doorways or cringing in fear behind whatever they could find for cover. All except a small girl who stood in the middle of the street crying in fear.

“Jayne! Cease fire!” Mal yelled and suddenly all was quiet expect for the sobs of the girl.

“Sir! This way!” came Zoe’s command behind him and Mal turned and grabbed Jayne by the shoulder at the same time as the Alliance men found their courage and started firing again, more bullets hitting walls and the wooden door frame around them. In an instant they were in the dress shop, following Zoe toward the back past rows of dresses on racks and a terrified lady shopkeeper who was lying on the floor. Kaylee and Inara were at a back entrance waiting for them

“Mal! You’re bleeding!” Inara said and Mal looked at his leg and saw blood staining his crotch area. “Oh my God…your…”

“No it ain’t! Just a flesh wound. Go!” he ordered and they started out the back door, Jayne covering their withdrawal. They were in a narrow alleyway leading to another street.

“Kaylee, get Wash to get the boat ready for take off!” Mal commanded as he handed Kaylee his communicator he’d just taken from his coat pocket.

“Wash! Wash! We got trouble!” she yelled into the device. “Get ready for take off!”

“Roger that,” came the worried reply. “You coming to us or are we coming for you?”

Before Kaylee could answer there was a flurry of shots as Mal and Zoe fired on two more Alliance policemen just as they exited the ally. They fell to the ground with yells of pain as Jayne also opened fired and missed one who stuck his head out of the dress shop back door.

“Run!” yelled Zoe and they broke past the wounded Alliance men into a fast scramble up the street, Mal ignoring the pain in his leg, which was now burning and bleeding profusely.

“Which way?” Inara yelled in fear.

“This way! Follow me!” Kaylee said in a strangled cry, trying to control her fears but not doing a very good job, bullets and bodies not much to her liking. She led them around a corner and with relief she could see the spaceport ahead of them.

“Kaylee! What’s going on?!” Wash yelled from the communicator.

“We’re almost at the shuttle! Meet us in the air!”

“Already on the way,” he said back.

The spaceport controller came out of his small building as they ran in with guns drawn. Jayne walked straight up to him, put his pistol in his face.

“You landlock us?” he demanded to know with a fierce growl.

“No, whwhwhy would I…dododo …that!” the port controller nervously stammered, this bearded monster of a man with a pistol in his face making him quake with fear.

“No reason,” said Jayne as he pulled his pistol away and smiled, but more of a leer than a smile. “Have a nice day!”

They piled into the shuttle and Inara had them in the air as they saw three more policemen enter the spaceport. Bullets were pinging off the side of the shuttle as they lifted off. In seconds they were flying away toward the rendezvous with Serenity.

“Gorramn it all to hell!” Mal growled as he sat on Inara’s bed. “Shot again!”

“Let me look, sir,” Zoe said and she could see it bleeding a lot. “Get me a towel or something, Kaylee.”

Kaylee looked around and found one and handed it to Zoe. “Hold it here,” Zoe ordered her captain and he pressed the towel against his wound.

“Capt’n…ah…it’s kinda close to…” Kaylee said nervously, looking at his wound, worried for him.

“Ain’t nothing broken can’t be fixed by your man,” Mal said in pain as he lay back on the bed. Ain’t this great, he thought. Only way I get to lie on Inara’s bed is when I get shot. She’s gonna be pissed I got blood on her sheets, too, I bet.

“There’s Serenity!” shouted Jayne from the cockpit.

True to his word Wash had the ship on the way and Inara expertly moved the shuttle to the starboard docking station.

“Tell Simon’s he’s got a patient,” Inara radioed Wash just before they landed. “It’s Mal.”

Simon and Book were waiting with the stretcher at the shuttle when they came out. Kaylee was first and she jumped into Simon’s arms.

“What happened?” he asked with worry as he checked her for any injuries.

“Oh, it was awful!” she said as she still shook with fear. “There was shooting and Alliance police and…and…”

“Hey, I’m the one hurt,” Mal said as he limped out with Jayne’s help. “Zoe, get Wash to get us off world. Kaylee get to the engine room.”

Zoe went straight up the stairs and Kaylee followed her as Simon gave her a reassuring look.

Simon bent to look at Mal’s leg which was now bleeding quite a bit.

“Get him to the infirmary. Now,” he ordered and Jayne and Book tried to put Mal on the stretcher.

“It’s just a scratch, Doc,” Mal said, his voice not its usual robust “I’m the captain” tone. “Need to get to the bridge,’ he said weakly and he tried to move toward the stairs and then got woozy and almost fell as Book grabbed him under the arms.

“Mal!” Inara shouted as she came out of the shuttle.

“I got you,” the preacher said as he and Jayne laid Mal on the stretcher and Simon ordered them to take Mal to the infirmary once again.

“What happened?” Simon asked as they made their way downstairs to the cargo bay.

“Ran into some disgruntled customers,” Jayne replied curtly and then filled Simon and Book in on what had occurred as they carried Mal in a quick trot to the infirmary.

**********************************************************************

Wash and River were on the bridge as Zoe ran up. “Get us out of here, off world!”

“Already going,” Wash said. “How’s Mal?”

“Leg wound, not too bad, bleeding a lot. Simon’s taking care of him.”

“Care to fill us in on your adventures?” Wash asked next as he steered Serenity into the upper atmosphere of Greenleaf.

“Bad luck following us everywhere. Ran into those guys who were waiting for a shipload of guns and they weren’t too pleased about us being four years late.”

River just stared at her, not quite believing what she had said. “The statistical probability that you would run into those people after four years, especially on a planet as large as Greenleaf is…is…”

“Unbelievable,” Wash said, finishing River’s thought.

“Bet they wished those odds had worked out cause at least two of them dead and the third didn’t look so good last we saw of him. Leader said that transport we almost run over yesterday fingered us. Saw our name on the side.”

“Might be time we painted over that,” Wash replied.

“Might be,” Zoe said in agreement and then looked to River. “What’s the news?”

“Getting comms traffic,” River said as she monitored the sensors. ‘Reports about what happened. Some code, can’t understand it all. Keep mentioning New Caledonia and…they spotted a Firefly picking up a shuttle full of…wanted felons.”

“Gorramnit!” was all Zoe could say to that.

After a few minutes Serenity broke free of the atmo of Greenleaf and Wash looked to his wife. “Mal, say where to?”

“No, just…away from here.” She replied as she grabbed the intercom mic. “Kaylee, what can you give us?”

“Full burn on normal power. New drive is uncoupled.”

“Give us full burn,” Zoe ordered.

Kaylee pushed the power levers up for full burn and there was sputtering and shaking and then a whining down noise and nothing happened.

“No, no…not now baby!” she said in stunned surprise, her engine failing her at this most inopportune moment.

“Kaylee! Need that full burn!” came Zoe’s command.

“Ain’t happening! Got problems! Working on it,” she said and got to figuring out what was wrong.

“Give me what you can on VTOLS,” Zoe ordered and Wash punched them to the full capacity. Serenity shot away from Greenleaf but nowhere near as fast as they would have with the main engine.

“Eating fuel,” Wash said. “Can only last like this for 30, maybe 35 minutes.”

“Should be enough time,” Zoe said.

“I don’t think so,” said River. “Alliance cruiser in pursuit.” Zoe looked over River’s shoulders at the sensor board and swore under her breath.

“Kaylee, what’s happening?” Zoe shouted through the comms.

“Bridge, need ten minutes!” Kaylee answered and wished the hell Zoe would leave her alone so she could work.

“We don’t have ten minutes,” said River and then a commanding voice broke through the radio.

“Firefly class transport, this is Alliance cruiser Warrior. Bring your vessel to a halt or you will be fired on. Over”

“How far away are they?” Zoe asked River as her mind whirled on what to do now.

“Twenty thousand kilometers, but closing.”

“Ship to ship missiles only have a three thousand kilometer range,” Zoe said and then she punched the button to reply to the cruiser.

“Alliance cruiser Warrior. Go to hell! Out!”

There was no reply and Zoe had expected none. They were dead anyway if they caught them so she saw no reason not to vent a little anger. The seconds ticked by as they waited for Kaylee to set things right in the engine room. Zoe grabbed the intercom button about to call her again and then stopped. Kaylee knew what she was doing and would set things right, Zoe thought, and she hoped like hell she was right.

**************************************************

Kaylee was on her back, under the engine and found the problem right away. When she had uncoupled the Kovalev drive in those bulky spacesuit gloves she had inadvertently knocked the coolant feed line out of whack. The coolant kept the nuclear core from going critical at full power and without it the engine’s automatic safety systems prevented them from producing more than ten percent power, enough to run all ships systems, but not enough to get them anywhere. As she re-aligned the coolant feed line she suddenly had a crazy idea.

Even with full burn an Alliance cruiser prepared would be able to follow them. It was faster than a Firefly for one thing. Also, before their Earth adventure Kaylee had been researching about new engines on the Cortex and had read an article about ion tracers being installed on some warships, a device that could follow a radon accelerator engine’s signature ion trail after a full burn. Serenity needed more than a full burn. With the engine at this low a setting, off line and the Kovalev Drive connector right there, she knew she could connect it safely without any rads escaping. In a minute it was done and she had the engine ready for another FTL test. The Capt’n would be sore as hell for her trying this without his permission. Course they’d all be dead or in an Alliance prison if it didn’t work out.

“Bridge! Kovalev Drive online!” she shouted into the intercom.

“What?” came Zoe’s surprised reply. “Kaylee…that thing is dangerous!”

“No it ain’t, I got it hooked up for FTL. Just tell Wash to punch in nav coordinates for…for…Taos!”

“We ain’t gonna blow up?”

“No. Just tell me when he’s ready!”

On the bridge Zoe looked to Wash and River. “Taos? That’s Kaylee’s home, right?”

“Yes,” said River. “Good a place as any other.”

“Can we do it in time?” Zoe quickly asked her husband.

“Nav sats will automatically compute the trajectory,” Wash replied confidently. “Just need to coordinate with the laptop. River, take control while I set this.’

River took the co-pilot’s control column as Wash started setting the nav computer and coordinating it all with the laptop.

“We better not end up in the middle of a star,” Zoe commented with worry, wondering if she should call the infirmary and ask Mal what to do.

Wash just shrugged. “Won’t know till we try it.”

“Five thousand kilometers,” River said, calling out the range of the cruiser, and Zoe knew they were out of time and had no choice but to follow Kaylee’s plan. She just hoped Mal wouldn’t rake her over the coals if they screwed it all up and still managed to survive.

*************************************************** Mal wasn’t in much of a position to do anything about anything, lying on his back in the infirmary as Simon cut away his pants and got to work patching him up, with Inara’s help.

“Hey, Doc,” Mal said in a woozy voice. “Don’t take away anything I might need.”

“Not to worry, Mal,” Simon answered in a reassuring bedside manner. “But another few centimeters higher and…well…”

Book and Jayne were standing close by. “The Lord was watching over you, Captain,” the Shepherd said solemnly.

“Ain’t like he got much use for it anyways,” said Jayne with a laugh, something about this situation just too funny to let go of. “When was the last time, Mal?”

“Heart of Gold,” Mal mumbled and he was clearly out of it from loss of blood.

“Hell, Heart of Gold? You didn’t…” Jayne started but then remembered. “Ah, what’s her name…Nandi, was it?”

Inara turned and glared at Jayne as she fought to control her memories of Mal and Nandi and the death of her friend. “Jayne Cobb, you have no sense and no heart at all! I’m thinking on calling the Guild and putting you on the Companion blacklist,” she said with venom.

“So? Ain’t like I can afford your rates,” Jayne said without a care in the verse. “Course, never meant I never thought on…”

Inara gave Jayne a glare and interrupted him. “Out!” she said in anger and Jayne just shrugged but Simon stopped him as he was about to leave.

“No, sit down, roll up you sleeve,” Simon ordered.

“What?” the big merc stammered, a bit scared that the Doc might want to play guinea pig with him.

“Mal needs blood. You’re a match,” Simon answered rapidly. “Book, the stool.”

Book placed the stool next to the examining table and Jayne sat down. “Hey, isn’t this Wash’s job? Last time you said he was a…what the…a…universal donor, that’s it.”

Simon spoke as he prepared the transfusion. “Last time Wash was here and you weren’t. And now he’s busy and you aren’t. There.”

Jayne winced as the needle was stuck into his left forearm vein and then Simon connected him to Mal with a little help from Book. Soon the blood was flowing from Jayne to Mal. Then came a startling message from Zoe over the intercom.

“Alliance cruiser in pursuit. Prepare for FTL run!” came the shout and before anyone had time to react the whole ship shuddered from an explosion.

************************************************** “They’re firing!” River yelled and she could see on the rear view visual scanners the cruiser firing a missile.

“They in range?” Zoe asked with worry.

“No, still outside…but close…here it comes,” River said, more calmly now, knowing they wouldn’t be hit.

The missile detonated a few hundred meters short of Serenity but the explosion was big and bounced the little Firefly around and scared them all.

“Close one,” Zoe said

“They’re launching fighters,” River told her and then Kaylee called from the engine room.

“We need to go!”

“Wash?” Zoe asked and he nodded as he sat down again and took control.

“Nav computations ready!”

“Missiles on the way!” shouted River just as Zoe told Kaylee to hit it.

“Evasive action!” Zoe commanded but Wash shook his head.

“No can do baby, it will screw up the nav trajectory! Here we go!”

As Kaylee pushed the power lever for full burn she ran from the engine room to the dining area and strapped in as did Zoe, Wash, and River on the bridge. In the infirmary, Simon and Book flung themselves across Mal and held onto the sides of the examining table as Jayne and Inara got under it and held onto the table’s support column. Jayne grinned at her as the ship started shaking and everything not tied down started rattling as the ship accelerated.

“Ain’t this fun!” he shouted and Inara just ignored him and closed her eyes and held on for dear life.

Two missiles were heading for Serenity as the ship shot away. It built toward light speed and then the Kovalev Drive was flooded with radon ions and in a blink of an eye with bang and a flash Serenity was gone just as the missiles exploded exactly where it had been.

With another bang and a loud groan and creak of metal the ship popped into space about two hundred thousand kilometers from Taos.

“We here?” Zoe asked after a stunned moment of silence. Wash checked their position as the laptop slowed the engine to fifty percent.

“Taos in the distance,” said Wash after a moment and they looked out the cockpit windows and could see a small moon, slightly bigger than Earth’s moon but with atmo, green lands and blue water.

Zoe grabbed the intercom. “How’s everyone?”

“Fine down here,” came Book’s reply from the infirmary. “Captain is doing well, also.”

“Engine’s good, no rads this time,” came Kaylee’s voice from the engine room after she ran back and quickly checked the rad monitor. “Are we…at Taos? Over.”

“Come on up and take a look,” Zoe said and Kaylee was there in no time looking out the windows.

“Home,” she said quietly as she fought back the urge to cry. Soon she would see her father again. It had been a long time.

********************************************** High Chancellor Adam Cutter stood in his office in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, looking across the capital city of Londinium from his windows as the sun was setting in a brilliant blaze reflected off the shining buildings of glass and steel. His office windows were triple bullet proof and on the roof was a battery of anti-air missiles in case someone tried to take out the Ministry of Internal Affairs building. Not that that had been a reasonable possibility since the war had ended eleven years ago, but he was a survivor and one did not survive and live to his later years unless one was cautious.

He had had a protégée once, a man who he had thought might some day replace him, and Cutter had drilled the mantra that the cautious survive into this young man’s head day after day. But that was over a decade ago, and the man had disappeared soon after the war and despite his power and the resources at his disposal, Cutter had never found out what had happened to him. He assumed he had been killed in one of the war’s final battles.

Cutter was not a loved man and he knew it but that was the price one paid for power. It was an aphrodisiac, one associate had once commented to him, and to the man’s surprise Cutter had curtly replied that being in control held no joy for him. Cutter was a patriot and that was a might more dangerous than a man who wanted power for powers sake. He wasn’t corrupt, he took no bribes, he wanted no women or men for that matter to grace his bed chambers with sexual favors, he desired nothing for himself other than to serve his leaders and the Alliance.

In his youth he had taken a bride but his wife had died many decades ago in childbirth and the child had only survived a few days more. Some who knew this detail surmised that Cutter’s cold demeanor had stemmed from this tragedy but he would have disagreed. The marriage had been arraigned by his family as a business move of his father’s and Cutter had no real love for the woman. Attachments were a weakness he had told his protégée, a means for your enemies to get at you indirectly. If you had none, then you had one less weakness.

Londinium stretched out in all its glittering splendor before his eyes, the original city of the Travelers, once nothing but a mud strewn land of parked spaceships and makeshift shelters. How much they had done in five centuries. But history told him it was nothing so amazing, the Europeans on Earth who reached the Americas had accomplished similar feats, in less than five hundred years turning the United States into the world’s richest and most powerful nation. What worried the citizens of the Alliance, out there in their apartments and on their landed estates, was could they hold onto this power, this paradise they had made from nothing. A renewed rebellion was all anyone talked about and it was his job to make sure it never happened.

He turned to his desk and all the reports from his forces across the galaxy. A train stopped and robbed here, a truck convoy attacked here, an Alliance governor almost killed there. He started preparing new orders, turning to his secure computer system and communications consol when he received a wave signal on his most secure channel. This was only used for matters of urgency so he hit the open button immediately. On screen came Colonel von Schrader, one of his local commanders in the Greenleaf quadrant.

“Colonel Schrader, what news?”

“Sir, we have report of an incidence on Greenleaf that may involve the ship you were interested in.”

“Serenity,” Cutter said slowly. “Report.”

“There was a gunfight at a café in New Caledonia. Three armed men confronted the captain of Serenity and some of his crew, claimed he owned them money from a missing cargo shipment. They fought and only one of the men survived and Serenity’s crew escaped. Our local forces were called in and in a running street battle, we lost one man dead and three wounded. Strangely sir, the man who survived said it was a cargo that was supposed to be delivered four years ago and that they had been looking for Serenity for all that time. He is an associate of a known local criminal Ronald Seifert, now deceased.”

“What was this cargo?”

“Claims its was just food but we…persuaded him… to tell the truth. Serenity was running an arms shipment to Greenleaf.”

“That’s the death penalty for that captain. Where is Serenity now?” Cutter asked sharply.

“Ah, sir, it escaped. We had it, sir, in our sights, missiles were fired and then it…..disappeared.”

“Disappeared?” he said in a tone he reserved for those who failed him or he believed were lying to him. “How can a Firefly disappear in front of a cruiser? Firefly’s have those old radon ion engines. Follow the ion trail.”

“Sir, this may seem unbelievable, but…there was no ion trail. The ship, it was just…gone.”

Cutter looked at the screen and knew Schrader wasn’t lying. Long ago Cutter had mastered the skill at knowing who lied and who was telling the truth, a useful skill for a policeman to have.

“Make a full investigation on Greenleaf, Colonel. Did the survivor of the gunfight get the name of any of Serenity’s crew?”

“Just the captain. Malcolm Reynolds.”

“Thank you, colonel. Report as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir.” And then the connection was ended. Cutter sat and for a long time did nothing, thinking on this one mistake that was still out there. His one slip in all his years of being a policeman. River Tam.

He was in a room with a psychic and no one told him. Dr. Mathis perhaps hadn’t known River Tam’s full potential at the time but after her brother had facilitated her escape from the Athenian Island facility Cutter learned the full truth of the matter. He had sent two of his top Operatives after River Tam and a third to confront Dr. Mathis and learn everything about her. They had come close to catching her but had failed. Dr. Mathis was dead, killed by the third Operative when he learned the truth of the mater. It had been Cutter’s order to do so, knowing that there could be no trial or imprisonment for this man who knew too much.

What River Tam knew of his secrets Cutter could only guess, but if she had read his mind then she could know everything and she had to be found. They sent out subliminal messages over the Cortex to trigger River Tam’s ingrained programming. But they only got close to River Tam twice, first on Serenity after it left Persephone. Laurence Dobson had reported that he had the Tams on a Firefly called Serenity but then he had disappeared. The second time had been on Ariel. They had her in custody but she had escaped. Four years of searching and no sign of River Tam or of Serenity, the ship she was supposedly on. Was she still there? Cutter reached for his computer and hit a button and the image of his male assistant, a lieutenant, came on screen.

“Yes, sir?”

“Lieutenant, run a check of all reports, going back six years, of everything we have on a Firefly class ship called Serenity and on its captain, Malcolm Reynolds.”

“Right away, sir.”

“And also tell Maston Forbes to come here at once.”

“Yes, sir,” and the conversation was at an end. No more Operatives, Cutter thought. I need them all on the Rim worlds looking for these rebels anyway. Forbes would handle this matter. Once River Tam was his superior in the fighting ring, but Forbes had studied, had grown, had completed his training at the Athenian Island facility. He was not a psychic like River Tam and above all he learned to follow orders. Now he was Cutter’s new protégée. And he would have a new mission. Find and kill River Tam.

************************************************ Upon waking up on the infirmary examining table, Mal saw a very pensive Zoe leaning against the counter talking to Simon.

“It nicked a main vein on the inside of the thigh,” he could hear the doctor tell his first mate. “Lost a lot of blood but he’ll be fine after a few days. But he needs to rest.”

Zoe sighed. “Like that’s going to happening.”

“Zoe, report,” Mal managed to get out, his mouth so dry it felt like sand.

They came to his side. “How you feeling, sir?”

“Like hell,” he said. “Little scratch like that knocked me on my ass. Guess I’m getting old.”

“No, Mal,” Simon said. “It would have happened to anyone. I’ll give something to help you rest.”

“Wait. Zoe, what’s happening?”

“We had a cruiser on our tail but we managed to escape from them, sir,” she said, wondering how much she should really tell him now.

“Good work. Where we headed?”

Simon and Zoe looked at each other before she spoke. “Ah, no where sir, we’ve already arrived. Taos Moon.”

“Taos? Kaylee’s home. But…that was more than a week aways from Greenleaf. You…she…Kaylee!!”

A meek voice answered from the doorway to the passenger lounge. “Hi, Capt’n. Sorry I disobeyed you.”

“It was my call, sir.”

“Zoe, that drive, that thing caused enough trouble already.”

“Nothing to be done about it now. Cruiser was firing missiles and launching fighters. Think we’d all be dead if Kaylee hadn’t fixed it.”

Mal was silent for a moment. “No harm done I guess. What’s our status now?”

“Orbiting Taos. No Alliance about but don’t mean they ain’t on the ground. Orders, sir?”

Mal looked at Kaylee. “Suppose picking Taos was your idea.”

“Ah, yeah, Capt’n. It just sorta…come to me.”

“Right,” he said. “Okay, let’s land the boat and pay a call on the Frye homestead.”

************************************************* Kaylee’s father met them at the small spaceport of New Shanghai. She waved him just before they touched down and he was stunned not expecting her so soon. He rushed from his factory and just made it to the spaceport as Serenity landed. She was first down the ramp as it came down, running into his arms and they both hugged and shed tears of joy, Jonathan Frye not quite believing that God had brought his daughter home to him after so long. The other crew stood back and let them talk and cry and finally Jonathan got a hold of his emotions and looked at them.

“Got things to say to you, Malcolm Reynolds,” he said in an even tone to Mal, who stood on the ramp with a cane for support.

“Guess so, sir,” Mal said and all the crew looked at Mal in surprise, most except Zoe never hearing him call anyone “sir” before.

“Daddy, don’t be unpleasant. Ain’t the Capt’n’s fault about what happened.”

“Suppose you all got a lot of story telling to do. My home is yours. Kaylee, guess introductions are in order.”

“Ah, yeah. Well, you know the Capt’, and Zoe and Wash and Jayne already.”

“Howdy again, folks. Jayne, up for another drinking contest?”

“You betcha, and this time I’m gonna win.”

“Been practicing have you?”

“Okay, you guys, be all macho later,” said Kaylee in exasperation. “This here’s Inara Serra. She’s a..a…”

“Companion, Mr. Frye,” Inara said as she shook his hand. She smiled and could feel his slight reserve melting under her gaze.

“Please, call me Jonathan,” he said with some charm.

“Jonathan,” she replied.

“And, this here’s Shepherd Book from the Southdown Abbey on Persephone,” Kaylee said next as she introduced Book.

“A Shepherd? Last thing I expected to see on Malcolm Reynolds boat.”

“Me, too,” Mal said in an aside to Jayne.

“Well, I’m sort of traveling to see where my feet take me,” Book replied.

“Few towns here sure could use a Shepherd.”

“Is that so? Perhaps we should talk more on this.”

“And this here’s Simon Tam and his sister River,” Kaylee said a little shyly as she introduced the siblings.

“Simon Tam,” Jonathan said slowly and as Simon went to shake his hand Jonathan took Simon in a big bear hug shocking him and almost everyone except Kaylee.

“Thank you for saving my little girl!” Jonathan said as he released his bear hug and shook Simon’s hand profusely.

“I told him about time I got shot,” Kaylee said to a confused Simon.

“Oh, well, sir, that was my fau…I mean, just doing my job,” Simon managed to get out almost telling him it was his fault she got shot in the first place, then thinking that might not be such a good idea. Not yet anyway.

“Come on. Let’s go home, little Kaylee,” he said and he put a big arm around her shoulders and led the procession out of the spaceport, with Wash being the last after he locked up Serenity.

************************************************* High Chancellor Cutter went over all the reports his subordinate had managed to dig up on Malcolm Reynolds and Serenity and it made quite a tale. He was from Shadow, parents deceased, no siblings, a rancher by upbringing and he probably would have stayed there and had a quiet life except for the war. He volunteered in the Independent forces and served with some distinction. His war record was spotty, the Alliance never having uncovered all the Independent files from the war. Most were lost or deliberately destroyed.

This was interesting, a small report on a court martial for Malcolm Reynolds during the Battle for Serenity Valley on Hera in the last months of the war. A major had accused Reynolds of shooting two of his own men during an attack. The troops under Reynolds command had broken and he killed two of them to force the rest back into their positions. The major said that this move saved the situation and turned the Alliance attack back. But the killing of his own men was an offense and Reynolds needed to be held accountable for it. There was no follow up, nothing to indicate what had happened to Reynolds. Cutter punched in the name of the Independent major in his computer and found that he had died in Serenity Valley. So no complainant, maybe no witnesses since most of Reynolds men had died there, and then Reynolds himself was a prisoner. So, no court martial.

That incident told Cutter something about the man. To kill his own troops showed he had the steel to do what had to be done when the time called for it. That meant he was dangerous. His time in the prison camp showed that he served as a leader, holding his people together as they waited for the war to end. The colonel in charge of Reynolds camp on Hera said that there were no escape attempts, no protesting, no major incidents of any kind in his camp and he said this was mostly due to Reynolds leadership of the prisoners. The same could not be said for other Independent force prison camps on Hera or on other worlds.

And then nothing, for more than four years after the war. A small incident on Persephone, Reynolds and his ship, a Firefly called Serenity, inspected and accused of being smugglers but the case was dropped when the supposed illegal cargo mysteriously disappeared from the police holding facility. There were a few more incidents. A bar fight on Skyplex Postal Shopping Center 24, where Reynolds and a woman named Zoe Washburne had been arrested. The date of the incidence was Unification Day. There was one more bar fight the next year on Unification Day again. Seems Reynolds enjoyed breaking up U-Day parties with his fists.

Now to Serenity itself. Near Persephone, approximately five years ago, a cruiser spotted a Firefly class transport doing an illegal salvage on a derelict ship. The ship was not identified as Serenity but a few days later agent Dobson reported that Simon and River Tam were on board a Firefly called Serenity that had just taken off from Persephone. The closeness of the two events and the knowledge that Reynolds was a smuggler led Cutter to assume it was Serenity that pulled off the salvage job. Then a problem with a train robbery. Reynolds and Zoe Washburne were questioned by a sheriff about some stolen property but it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity and they were released. Then another salvage job on a derelict and this time an Alliance cruiser was involved. Cutter remembered this one. The cruiser had Serenity but searched it and never found any sign of the Tams. Before Cutter received word of this the cruiser commander let the crew and the ship go, citing ‘special circumstance’ meaning Reynolds saved his life from a…Reaver.

There it was. That word Cutter despised and which haunted his dreams. “Reaver,” he muttered. Miranda. It should have worked. It was going to work. Then all the worlds’ would be pacified. No more crime. No rape or murder or little children sold into sex slavery or a thousand other crimes that he was responsible for enforcing.

But the scientists were incorrect, drastically so. They had said it would remove the aggressor response in the people. It had been successfully tested on criminals who had been released and had never committed a crime again in their lives. But the big mistake was that most criminals already have a heightened sense of aggressiveness and duplicity built into their mindset. Most non-criminals did not. So when the chemicals started to fill the atmosphere of Miranda, the people just gave up, laid down and let themselves waste away. There was nothing Cutter’s teams of experts could do and they barely escaped with their lives.

The small potion of the population that the chemicals had the opposite effect on savagely attacked them. The war was still raging and Cutter could not gather the resources to put down these people once and for all. Careful studies of a few “Reavers” in captivity showed they had no sexual interest in their own kind and therefore would produce no children. It was hoped that they would die out after a few years, consuming each other, but again the studies showed they would not attack each other, having some connection that the examiners did not understand. Instead, they took to space, abandoning Miranda. They sent raiding parties to moons and planets, killing, raping and kidnapping. Those they kidnapped they turned into Reavers, as this report about Serenity fully indicated.

Miranda became the subject of the most aggressive propaganda and disinformation campaign in human history. Cutter couldn’t destroy the planet but he could make sure no one ever heard of it again. All mention of it was wiped from the Cortex and all printed literature with its name was removed from circulation. But Cutter couldn’t control every person in the galaxy, so anyone ever connected to the planet, having lived there or having family there was told that a deadly plague had wiped out the population and no one could visit there for fear of it spreading to other worlds. Those that aggressively continued to search for answers were weeded out and confined to short prison terms, undergoing memory “re-adjustment”. Soon, they had no inkling that a place named Miranda ever existed.

But then there was a problem. Someone inside the government hadn’t been properly re-education. A minister with family ties to Miranda sent out a mission to find out if his family was still alive, still believing a plague had ravaged the planet. That ship had found the Reavers in space, had avoided their chase but had been damaged, crash landed, and fought off the Reavers for many days, finally succumbing to their numbers, but not before recording and sending to the minister a report on their findings.

Cutter had confronted the minister and he was forced to resign his position and under go “re-adjustment” of his memory. The report was destroyed and Cutter had all mention of the mission also removed from the record. And then just ten months ago the unthinkable happened.

Someone landed on Miranda, found that report, and manage to copy it and get off world without being killed by the Reavers. Who or how was part of an intense investigation the moment the rumors began to circulate. And a shudder was felt through the Alliance as people began to question their government, a government that could do this to millions of their own people. Full damage control was started but then the rebellious incidents began, a few at first but more in the last few months. And now Serenity was back and Cutter had two problems to deal with. He even thought for a moment he might be able to let River Tam go since her secret about Miranda was out. But she knew other things, especially that he was responsible for Miranda and for that she couldn’t be allowed to live

************************************************ After a big dinner in the Frye home, everyone retired to the living room and sat back with drinks and told the story of their adventure to Earth. Jonathan sat in his big armchair near a crackling fireplace with a big mug of beer in one hand and a cigar in the other, Kaylee sitting close by his side. He could scarcely believe what they were telling him and River’s long explanations of the science of it didn’t help any. The only thing they could do was show him so they trooped off to Serenity and Jonathan spent an hour with Kaylee in the engine room as she explained it all to him and he just marveled at the Kovalev Drive. They came back to Serenity's dining room where everyone was sitting and chatting.

“Guess I own you an apology, Mal,” Jonathan said first. “Was all set to either punch you or kick your butt from here to Londinium for taking my Kaylee away for so long. Weren’t your fault.”

“No, sir, but I do apologize for it anyway,” Mal said and there were a few smirks at Mal acting like a subordinate in front of Kaylee’s father. The explanation for it was simple enough. Mal had few memories of his own father, being only six when he died in an accident on the ranch. Jonathan was like him though and Mal felt some kind of kinship with this big man as much as he felt Kaylee was a sister he never had.

“So, what’s your plan?” Jonathan asked and all were quiet, not sure what the next step was.

“Don’t know yet,” Mal finally said. “We got Alliance after us and sure could use your help. We need one of them transponders and might want to rig up the Kovalev Drive to run bit more smoothly.”

Jonathan pondered a moment, drank some beer. “Transponder’s no problem. Kaylee and I can make one from some parts I got in the factory. What you need though is a registered coded signal. Each one is coded for an individual ship. But you’re in luck cause some of them on the black market for sale. Ships that are being scraped, others that were stolen from ships. We might be able to dig one up. Cost you, though.”

“Not a problem,” said Jayne with a grin. “We got the means to pay.”

“Still robbing folks? Last time we talked you said you was all through with that, Mal” he said with a disapproving look to Kaylee and then to Mal.

“Trying to, sir,” Mal said and that was the truth.

“No, we ain’t robbed no one, daddy. It was just there…in some empty banks,” Kaylee managed to get out in a small voice.

“Well, guess those dead folks on Earth won’t miss it much. As for that drive, don’t know how much strain Serenity can take. She weren’t made for light speed or faster. Lucky she held together so far.”

That sobered them all up a bit as he continued. “See if we can dial that drive back a few notches, get you where you want to go without busting your ship up.”

“Be much obliged for any help,” Mal said.

Everyone was tired and started off to bed, Wash and Zoe saying their good nights, Jayne promising to have that drinking contest tomorrow with Jonathan, then the Shepherd and Inara went off and Simon said goodnight and took River to give her her nightly shot. Jonathan saw how Kaylee was looking at the young Doctor as he led his sister away. Mal stayed with Kaylee and her father a bit more and they talked on about the ship and things it needed and what they would cost. He also asked about the rebellion and Jonathan knew little except for the rumors about Reavers and Miranda, same as most folks had heard. After a while Mal got up and said he needed to check the ship. Kaylee protested saying he was hurt and Mal told her to stay with her father cause she hadn’t seen him in so long. After he left Jonathan brought something up that was on his mind.

“You sweet on the doctor, little Kaylee?”

“What?” she said with a blush. “Ah, I…yes. We’re sorta…dating.”

“Dating? On a Firefly? You mean you’re sleeping with him, right?”

“Daddy! That ain’t no way to talk!”

Jonathan looked at his daughter seriously. “Tell me what’s going on. I ain’t gonna be mad. You’re all I got in this verse and I just found you again. Tell me.”

“We’re in love,” she said in a quiet voice.

“He ask you to marry him?”

“What? No, daddy. It’s too soon,” she managed to get out over her unease at having this conversation with her father.

“Look, you’re a grown woman, ain’t my business what you do. Just want you to be happy.”

“I am, more now than since….Momma,” she said and a sad look passed over his face.

“Been almost seven years,” he said quietly, then sipped some beer. “Just seems like…yesterday.”

“Ain’t you seeing anyone?” she asked and now it was his turn to be surprised.

“Ah, yeah. Mary,” he said with a weak grin.

“Mary? From the factory? Oh, daddy, she’s real nice.”

“Yeah. Been there a lot for me and you know…things…just…well…”

“I know. Same with Simon and me.”

“Hi,” Simon said as he stood in the doorway to the aft hallway. “Guess you know now, sir.”

“Come here, son,” Jonathan said and Simon walked over a little bit nervous and sat down.

“You love her?”

“Yes, sir,” he said after a quick glance at Kaylee.

“That’s all that matters, son. Kaylee get us some glasses and a bottle of something strong cause me and the Doc, we‘re gonna have a few drinks, man to man.”

“Oh, boy,” was all she could say as Simon looked at her with something close to desperation and then just resigned himself to the fact that he had no choice but to get drunk with his girlfriend’s father.

************************************************** Cutter continued to examine the files on Serenity long into the evening, after all his people except his bodyguards had gone home. There was an incident with a wounded Shepherd from Serenity named Book near Jingyang. He had a government ID card and was taken care of and then let go. Unfortunately the report failed to mention what his government position was or his ID number. That could only mean one of two things. Either the cruiser commander was incompetent or…Book was not his real name and he was undercover and a possible Operative of the Parliament. Cutter knew every Operative and knew all their missions and this was not one of his people. Another mystery to ponder.

He was just reviewing the file on the Ariel incident when Maston Forbes arrived. He was taller and stronger than when Cutter had first met him seven years ago, a young man now in the prime of his life.

“Good evening, sir.”

“Good evening Forbes. Ready for a mission?”

“Yes, sir. Always, sir.”

“Good. Someone must be eliminated. It’s a delicate matter and must be taken care of swiftly and silently without attracting attention to yourself. Understood?”

“Yes, sir. And the target?”

“An old…friend of yours…from the academy…here’s the file,” Cutter said as he handed a computer chip to Forbes. “And here’s her photo.”

He handed Forbes a photo taken of River while still at the academy. Cutter watched his reaction and almost detected a slight hint of a smile in Forbes' icy calm demeanor.

“River Tam,” Forbes said. “It will be my pleasure to kill her for you, sir.”