The Return Home – Part 5

Mal was used to surprises, with them piling on top of each other in rapid succession in the last month and half more than at any other time in his life. But to see Badger’s smiling face grinning at him through a Cortex screen, well, that took the cake as far as surprises went. Serenity, AKA Calypso, was still parked at the spaceport of New Shanghai on Taos Moon, Kaylee’s home world. All the crew was aboard, including Simon and Kaylee since Mal wasn’t sure Simon would be safe outside the boat with the Alliance wanted notice still on the Cortex for him and his sister. Kaylee had wanted to spend another night at her father’s place but had seen the wisdom of Mal’s order and relented.

Mal had just left Inara’s shuttle to check out the boat before finally going back to her warm arms when the wave came through while he was on the bridge. He had spent the last few hours earning some more well-deserved relaxation with Inara, meaning a nice long massage with her gentle hands finding all his tender and not so tender spots and then a final sexual consummation of their growing relationship. It was all both of them had imagined it would be and Mal ignored the still slight pain he felt in his wound as he let Inara be in charge of the love making, acknowledging her expertise in this area. His mind was still dizzy from the heat the two had generated as he felt Inara abandon all her reserve and let loose a lot of pent up sexual desire. Mal was tired in a happy way now and his surprise at seeing a wave from Badger quickly ended his happiness as all his senses were alive to danger.

“Hello, Malcolm, old mate,” Badger said with a big grin. “Let’s do some business, shall we?”

And Mal just stared at him for a long moment and smiled and then said, “Let’s, old chum.”

Danger was present, for sure. In all the years Mal had known Badger never once was he so pleasant, even when he wanted something. Mal could see beads of sweat on Badger’s forehead and almost a hint of fear in his eyes and instantly knew that someone was pulling Badger’s strings. Seifert had said Mal was blacklisted and that someone had posted his photo on the Cortex and Mal had a sneaking suspicion it was Badger who had put up that photo. Now he was calling to do some business, when Mal hadn’t spoken to him in four years and Mal and his ship were considered unworthy of even a smuggler’s cargo. He decided it was best to play Badger’s game since he had no idea who was listening.

“Excellent, Mal,” Badger said. “Heard you was still about and might have a job that I can send your way.”

“That’s funny since I hadn’t heard from you in four years and you never returned any of my waves.”

“You was blacklisted, old boy. You don’t go losing customers goods without there being repercussions. I do business with you others might think twice of doing business with me. By the by, what you been up to all this time?”

“This and that. Still folks out there in the black need things moved from here to there. And some of them don’t care who does the work. For the record, that cargo not showing up at its destination was not entirely my fault.”

“Tell it to the guy you was supposed to deliver it to. Of course, that might be hard seeing as I heard he was dead.”

Badger could see Forbes getting a bit twitchy thinking Badger was giving too much away but he had to play it cool with Reynolds and warn him at the same time. The worst Forbes could do to him was kill him and Badger already had the hangman’s noose round his neck so he really didn’t care what this punk Alliance lackey in a blood flecked suit thought about how he handled business.

“Word travels fast,” Mal said. “Man pulls a pistol on me, he best be ready to use it real quick and not talk me to death first.”

“Lesson many could learn. So, to business?”

“What kind of job?” Mal asked, not really sure he’d take it but curious still the same as to what was really going on.

“Kind that pays well. Might involve an element or two of danger.”

“You know that never bothered me much.”

“Right’o. Knew you was the man for this job. Can’t discuss too much over the Cortex. Lots of ears here about. New rebellion simmering and all that give Alliance types twitchy nerves, been spying on and prying into more than a few folks business here on Persephone since we’re rather close to the Rim,” Badger said and that was for Forbes as much as Reynolds. “Need a face to face here on Persephone.”

“Might be a few days or so till I can make it,” Mal replied. “Ship needs a few repairs and we ain’t exactly in your neighborhood.”

“No rush, mate. Job still be waiting for you. Let’s make it three days hence, shall we?” Badger replied and Mal definitely knew that something was up now cause Badger hated waiting for anything.

“Wave you when we get close,” Mal replied and then noticed a slight flick of Badger’s eyes to the left and now Mal knew for sure someone was listening in and he’d bet his ship it was some Alliance stooge.

“Ta for now, old mate.”

“Three days. We’ll be there.”

Mal turned off the Cortex screen and sat for a long time in the pilot’s chair, thinking on this next move. Alliance had gotten to Badger, that was for sure, and they knew he knew Serenity and Mal and had forced him to send this wave. It was a trap for sure. Someone on Greenleaf had survived and spilled his guts, Alliance knew all about Serenity and who he was. But they didn’t know where he was and didn’t know he had an FTL drive. Those were the two advantages Mal had and he wasn’t about to throw them away walking into an Alliance trap at Badger’s lair. Time for bed and to think and then to make a plan for the next move with the crew. He finished his walkabout the boat and then made his way to Inara’s shuttle and she was asleep. He took off his clothes and crawled in next her and cursed himself for the hundredth time for not doing something a might sooner about his feelings for this woman.

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

“There. Judas at your command,” said Badger in disgust to Maston Forbes after he finished the wave with Mal. Badger had no love for Mal or his ship but he hated the Alliance with as much passion as the next criminal.

“Three days,” Forbes said, ignoring Badger’s reference to being a traitor. “Think he will come?”

“He didn’t say no but it all depends on how desperate he is. If he thinks doing a job for me will get him off the blacklist, maybe so.”

“Meantime we need to maintain the illusion you are still in business,” Forbes said next. “A medic will take care of your hand and a clean up crew will arrive for the dead. Five of my men will replace yours as undercover security. You will keep things as normal as possible. Do not deviate from any appointments or business, legal or otherwise. One attempt to warn Reynolds and you will join your men in a shallow grave.”

“Ain’t you the pleasant type,” Badger said with a little more bravado, knowing he still had at least three more days of life. “Tell me one thing, sonny. Why’s your master so interested in Serenity and Reynolds? Is it the Tams?”

Forbes stood and pocketed Badger’s pistol and stared at him with his icy cold blue eyes. “The less you know, the better chance you will not join your men. Dong ma?”

Badger nodded and then held up his hand. “The medic?”

Forbes got on his earwig communicator and started barking orders as Badger sat back, took another swig from his bottle of hooch on his desk, and even managed a slight grin despite his pain. He was still master of his lair, however temporary.

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

Morning came to Serenity and the crew stirred and began their daily rituals. This day was going to be busy as they made plans for Simon and Kaylee’s wedding which would take place on the ship the next day. Kaylee fretted that her relatives and old friends would be mad cause they couldn’t attend but her father told her that he would take care of all that after she left again. Kaylee didn’t want to leave but with the Alliance out there looking for them for what happened on Greenleaf and also looking for Simon and River she couldn’t bring anymore danger to her father than she and Serenity already had. After breakfast was over Mal told them about Badger’s wave and everyone was immediately suspicious.

“Sir, we can’t trust him,” Zoe said first and many agreed.

“It’s been four years, at least to his mind,” said Wash. “I mean, we haven’t been about for him to give us a job, but it does seem odd. Why the sudden interest in us? He never waved us just out of the blue and hired us before.”

“Don’t think he was doing the hiring,” Mal said.

“Alliance?” Book queried and Mal nodded.

“Think someone was listening in and that someone ordered him to call us. He called me ‘old mate’ and acted like we were best friends.”

“Don’t sound like the Badger we know,” said Jayne. “I smell a trap.”

“But why?” Simon asked and then everyone was staring at him and River. “Oh.”

Kaylee cast worry looks about the table. “We ain’t going there. Are we?”

“Don’t know yet,” Mal said. “That Greenleaf trouble seems to have stirred up a hornets nest. They know this ship and my name. Badger knew about it so sure bet the ones after Simon and River know about it, too. Badger’s likely in a corner with few or no choices with some Alliance lackey pulling his strings. Like to know who this enemy is.”

“Mal, the Alliance is our enemy,” Simon said firmly. “And I for one vote we don’t go any where near Persephone or Badger.”

“You gonna run away from them all your life, Doc?” Mal asked seriously and suddenly the air was tense as many felt a confrontation brewing, Mal’s question more of a challenge than an inquiry.

“If I have to,” Simon said, not backing down.

“And take Kaylee and River with you? Where to? How long before they find you? Never to see your home world or parents again? Never having a permanent home?”

“It’s better than being dead!” Simon stated with an edge of rising anger.

“Simon, please…” Kaylee began to plead with him but he wouldn’t stop.

“You want to go after Cutter?” he asked Mal. “You want to find Miranda and find out what Cutter did? Do you want some kind of revenge for losing the war? Is that it?”

Jayne and many others thought Simon was going to get a fistful of Mal’s knuckles for that and he might have a month or so earlier. But things had changed and a woman’s tenderness had softened Mal a might and he didn’t even get angry at Simon.

“I want a normal life,” Mal said wearily and he cast a look at Inara who was sitting silently by his side. “And if the only way I can have that is to fight, then I aim to fight.”

Simon felt something then that he had never felt from Malcolm Reynolds before. He suspected it but the captain’s gruff exterior never allowed the crew to see too much of the inner man. Now he did allow that, in front of all of them, and for a brief moment Simon knew that Mal was just like him, wanted to be happy and protect those he loved, even if he had to jump into a raging fire to do so.

“We can’t win,” Simon said quietly and all the anger was draining away from him.

“Don’t have to win, Simon,” Mal said. “Just need to know why things are the way they are and then do something about it, much as we can. Only way any of us ever have peace of mind again.”

Simon glanced at Kaylee and could see she was confused, uncertain, and worried. “What do you think we should do?” he gently asked.

“Ain’t sure,” she replied and then looked around the table at her friends and shipmates. “I want us be out of the Alliance shadow as much as anyone else. More so now I’m gonna be your wife. But not if it costs too much.”

No one questioned what Kaylee meant by “too much”. They had been lucky so far, coming through the Earth adventure with a few scars, both physical and mental, but with no one missing from the dinner table.

“River?” Simon questioned his sister and she was staring at Book and then slowly moved her eyes to her brother.

“We need to go to Miranda. The answers are there.” And then she returned her gaze to Book and then everyone slowly noticed that Book was feeling more than a bit unsettled.

“I think I may be able to help, Captain,” said Book finally said and then he glanced at River and he could see her silently pleading with him to tell them. He took a deep breath and then spoke.

“I know where Miranda is.”

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

High Chancellor Cutter was in his office, examining the latest report from Greenleaf concerning Serenity, when Maston Forbes sent a wave over the most secure channel.

“What news, Forbes?” Cutter said curtly.

“The Greenleaf reports are true, sir. Serenity is still around and Malcolm Reynolds is still its captain. I also have some other names of the crew. Zoe, his second in command, Wash, the pilot, and Cobb, who is a mercenary by the sounds of it. That is all my informant knew. It is unknown if the Tams are still with the ship or not. A trap has been set for Serenity, sir.”

“Good. Do your utmost to capture that ship or at least one or more of its crew. If the Tams are not on board then we will find out where they are one way or another. Keep me posted.”

“Yes, sir.”

Cutter ended the wave and went over the report from Greenleaf again. Colonel von Schrader’s troops had investigated the matter of the gun shipment from Serenity and this Ronald Seifert who was now dead. Seifert’s wounded henchman told them that the guns were to be sold planet wide for the profits involved and were in no way connected to the new rebellion. Cutter was not surprised since four years ago there wasn’t even the hint of a new rebellion.

The matter of the missing four years disturbed Cutter greatly. How can a ship and its crew disappear for four years? No arrests, not even on U-Day, Reynolds favorite day for a fight. No reports of Serenity shipping cargo anywhere, no yearly inspections, no license or registration fees, nothing that any legitimate cargo carrier would do. However, they were smugglers, so that was not too much out of character.

But what was surprising was that not even a single wave had been sent or received at Serenity’s wave address until the last few days, when there were several waves sent out and one received. No mail or packages in the Alliance postal system addressed to or from the ship, nothing at all that suggested the ship even existed for four years. And then it appears out of the black in front of one cruiser, escapes, and then appears on Greenleaf and escapes once again in front of another cruiser. Something wasn’t quite normal about that old Firefly and Cutter planned to find out what it was.

Von Schrader’s men did discover one more interesting item and this had only deepened the mystery. They found that one of Serenity’s crew had sold some jewelry in a shop just prior to the incident at the café. The shop keeper had given them 25,000 credits for some very valuable jewelry. On the back of an emerald bracelet in tiny almost invisible engraving was a jeweler’s mark with the place it was made.

“Melbourne, Australia.” Earth.

Cutter had initially thought Serenity’s crew had somehow got their hands on an artifact from Earth. It wasn’t totally unusually, since there were many items around from the Travelers. But most of those were in museums or kept as family heirlooms. An authentic Earth piece of jewelry would be worth a fortune. Yet, they had sold it for a fraction of what it was worth. The shop owner had said the man who sold him the items had many more and seem desperate to sell. But then Cutter looked down at the rest of the report and read the date that was also engraved into the bracelet.

“May, 2514”

That was impossible. It must have been a mistake made in the report. Attached was a file showing the bracelet and Cutter knew Colonel von Schrader had included it because he thought his superior would not believe him. Cutter opened it and the image of the bracelet’s back appeared and there it was and there was no reasonable explanation. But Adam Cutter did not get to where he was by ignoring facts staring him in the face, however improbable. He went to his secure communications screen and immediately put out a notice that any unusual sale of jewelry was to be reported immediately and those selling it questioned.

Cutter next turned to the waves that Serenity had sent and received in the last few days. All had been too short to trace, except for the one sent and received by recorded message. With billions of people sending out waves every day it was an impossible task for the Alliance to trace them all, especially with the distances that were involved with deep space transmissions. However, waves that were stored could be traced and the points of origin were recorded. This particular wave had been to a moon in the Silverholt quadrant called Taos. It was a shot in the dark but Cutter had few other leads. He sent orders to his men on Taos to check New Shanghai’s spaceport for a Firefly and the jewelry shops for any unusually sales. The finally thing he did before he retired for the night was to order a copy of that wave sent to his office. The technician told him it would take several hours to find it in the mass of communications recorded every day. Cutter told him to have it ready the first thing in the morning. Whatever was said in that wave would soon be known to the High Chancellor of the Alliance.

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

“Here, near Haven in the Burnham quadrant,” Book said as pointed out the blank spot of space on the nav computer screen where Miranda was supposed to be before all traces of it were removed from the nav systems. The crew crowded together on the bridge, all still wondering what tale the Shepherd had to tell.

Mal was very skeptically and looked at Book in suspicion. Very little they knew about this man and Mal wondered what he was up to now. “And did the Lord just give you this information or is there some story telling you’d like to do?”

“Some time ago I was there, in my youth,” he said and River knew it was a lie in an instant. She said nothing but knew Book must have his reasons and the only one she could think of was that he was in part responsible for what happened on Miranda and didn’t want them to know that.

“And you just happen to remember the coordinates?” Zoe asked next and Book nodded.

“I had a…relationship… with a woman there,” Book said with a slight trace of regret and River knew this was no lie, could feel his pain as he mentioned this woman.

Jayne grinned. “Guess that was before your preaching days.”

“Most certainly,” Book replied quickly and then looked to Mal. “That’s why I know where it is. I’ll never forget her or that planet.”

“Why didn’t you mention this earlier?” Inara asked as gently as she could.

“I didn’t want you to go there,” Book said and as he said these words his eyes traveled across all their faces. “I’m afraid what Mr. Universe is saying may be true.”

Another lie, thought River as she stared at Book and he quickly avoided her eyes, knowing she knows. It is true and he knows it, was there when it happened.

Mal looked to Simon and River. “What did you learn about Miranda and the Reavers?”

“Nothing about Miranda at all on the Cortex except in the reports since the rumors began about it being a Reaver home world. They started about ten months ago,” Simon replied. “A broadcast was sent out across the Cortex, video, showing a city with bodies decomposing everywhere. A voice in the background was saying this was Miranda, that the Alliance had done this by trying to pacify the population with chemicals.”

“Was it a man or woman? The voice, I mean,” Zoe asked and Simon just went to the Cortex screen and hit buttons until an image appeared.

“See for yourselves,” he said and stepped back.

The video was shaky and had many cuts from scene to scene as a deep male voice spoke. The voice sounded aged, of an older man, with the rasp of a heavy smoker. It showed decomposing bodies on the street, in buildings, in beds, at tables, in trams and vehicles, all just lying as if asleep.

“What you see are the remains of a once proud planet, Miranda, its people dead at the hands of the Alliance. I cannot tell you who I am or how I got these images because the Alliance will surely retaliate against me if they knew. They came and the leaders had no choice but to agree. No one asked the people. It was an experiment, they said it was safe, would eliminate crime and aggression. Chemicals were put into the air and the people breathed them deeply. Ninety-nine percent just lay down and died. One percent became crazed with madness. The outside world calls them Reavers. This is their home world. To bring you this report I have braved their madness.”

And then the whole crew flinched in surprise as the image of Reavers appeared, about five of them, taken from a distance, as they seemed to be scavenging a disabled spaceship at a spaceport.

“You can see them here in this image. They come to get what they need and then go back into space. Why they prefer to be in space is not certain. I just hope my transmitter has enough power to reach the Cortex. If anyone can get this please record it and broadcast it. Let the galaxy know what the Alliance has done to thirty million of its own people. I fear I may not survive much longer. May God have mercy on our souls.”

The transmission ended and no one spoke for a while. Simon switched off the screen and turned to them.

“I found it late yesterday,” he said. “It took some searching. Apparently the Alliance is trying to eliminate all copies of it. But the Cortex is big and has many ways to hide information and there are more people than Mr. Universe out there with an interest in the truth.”

“I’ll be,” said Mal in awe. “The Reavers do have a home world.”

“It’s incredible,” said Wash next. “But…this is why people are rebelling?”

“Seems to be so,’ Simon said. “Incidences against Alliance authority increased dramatically since the broadcast. Apparently there are people coming forward saying they know of Miranda, had lived there, had family there, and were silenced by the Alliance. There is a great deal of Alliance counter propaganda, trying to refute the story, saying it was a prank or the opening shot in a renewed rebellion, a fake story, disinformation trying to undermine the Alliance. One thing the Cortex does say. The story did originate from the Burnham quadrant in what is supposed to be empty space.”

“Is it even true?” asked Inara. “I mean, could it be a…fake?”

“To fake something like this would require a great deal of time and effort,” Simon said. “It’s not impossible, but extremely difficult.”

“Hell, we know the Reavers is real enough,” growled Jayne. “They gotta come from somewhere.”

“The Cortex archives show the first reports of what looked like a Reaver attack was during the war,” said River. “A small moon mining colony was destroyed. Everyone was dead or missing. The Alliance blamed the Independents, the Independents blamed the Alliance. The official Alliance position is that the Reavers don’t exist and that the attacks are the work of brigands.”

“And no one has time or the will to take care of this problem,” said Mal. “Alliance ignores it like it some sickness that will go away if you don’t think about it.”

“That man, the one who recorded this message,” said Zoe. “Is he from Miranda or did he land there later?”

“No one knows,” Simon replied. “There is much speculation but nothing concrete. Most likely he is already dead or turned into a…Reaver.”

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

The broadcast had put a dour mood on the crew as they went about preparing for what should be a happy occasion, Kaylee and Simon’s wedding. Mal made no decision as to what the next move was but told Wash to check out the best routes to Persephone and Miranda and the Tams to examine the Miranda broadcast for clues as to where the broadcast had originated from. Book went to his room and reviewed the wedding vows of his order and prepared something for Kaylee and Simon to say. The rest had little jobs they had to do for the occasion and went about town taking care of things.

Kaylee returned to her father’s home and with his lady Mary’s help she altered her mother’s wedding dress for herself. Kaylee almost cried when she took the dress out of its box. It smelled of mothballs and dust but after a nice spin in the dry cleaner of nearby shop it was ready to be worn. She was sure Simon would love it and by late morning it was finished and she snuck back aboard Serenity and made sure Simon wasn’t about as she took the dress to her room.

Zoe and Inara found a flower shop and picked some lovely white roses and had them make a bouquet for Kaylee and a small boutonnière for Simon to wear. The shop owner was overly friendly and wanted to know who was getting married. A cross look clouded Zoe’s face and she was about to tell her to mind her own business but Inara stepped in and turned on her charm, ignoring the woman’s question and asking her about her flowers and how she took care of them. After five minutes of this the shop owner seemed to have forgotten what she had asked and Inara and Zoe left with their arms full of flowers.

“Sneaking around is getting tiring,” Zoe said in disgust as they walked back to the spaceport. “Time to leave this rock. Should have the wedding this afternoon, not tomorrow.”

“Kaylee won’t like leaving her father,” Inara replied.

“She knew this wasn’t gonna be permanent,” Zoe said. “I just got a bad feeling. We’ve been here for four days now and people getting a might too curious about us.”

And then up ahead they spotted Jayne and Mal enter a jewelry shop.

“We must be low on funds,” Inara said, getting a warm feeling inside as she saw Mal. He still had a slight limp and carried the cane Kaylee had made for him.

Zoe thought this was bad also. Selling stolen goods in a small town bound to cause trouble sooner or later. She said nothing to the captain yet because she knew they needed the cash. “Yes, the repairs, the transponder and its code, the food and fuel, it all costs a lot of….”

Inara was waiting for her to finish when she notice Zoe staring with steel in her eyes. She followed the gaze and saw three armed Alliance policemen entering the shop where Mal and Jayne had just gone.

************************************************************************ “You been here before?” Mal asked Jayne just before they entered the shop.

“Yeah, but the guy said come back if I had more.”

They went inside and the shop was empty except for a man behind a counter.

“Howdy, gents. How can I help you?” the shopkeeper asked all friendly like.

“Remember me? Got more things like to sell,” Jayne said with a grin but the shopkeeper wasn’t grinning like he had been yesterday.

“Sorry, we have just received a report from Alliance police to be on the watch for stolen property, particularly jewelry.”

Before Jayne could even answer the door opened behind them and three Alliance policemen walked in.

“Howdy,” Mal said after he got over his momentary surprise.

“Morning, gentlemen,” said the first policeman and then turned to the shopkeeper and handed him a printed wanted notice. The other two policemen stood by the door, not blocking it, but a bit too close for Mal’s liking. He sidled over to a display case and Jayne followed him.

“These look nice. Think she’d like this?” Mal said real loud, pointing to some necklaces.

“Huh?” Jayne said in surprise, his mind on the feds, and then he saw Mal glaring at him. “Oh yeah, she’d ah…love that, you bet.”

The shopkeeper was looking at the paper the Alliance policeman gave him as the fed spoke. “Here are the names of those we are looking for. Malcolm Reynolds, a captain of a Firefly, a woman called Zoe, and two men, Wash and Cobb. They are known jewel thieves and have been reported selling stolen goods on Greenleaf.”

The shopkeeper got a sudden case of the nerves. “Ah what would they, ah, look like. I mean, no one gives names here, buying or selling.”

“This Cobb fellow is supposed to be a big man with a beard and moustache. One of the other shopkeepers said he thinks he saw someone like Cobb in town last few days, looking to sell jewelry.”

As the head fed said this one by the door was looking a bit too intently at Jayne and Jayne got the sudden urge to smash some heads and make a dash for the boat.

“Mal,” he whispered. “This ain’t looking good.”

“Relax. They’ll be gone soon enough,’ Mal whispered back.

“Besides,” the fed cop continued as he spoke to the shop keeper. “Anyone selling something, you report it right away.”

And then with a flick of his eyes the shopkeeper looked toward Jayne and Mal. The fed was about to ask what was up and then he slowly looked toward Mal and Jayne.

“Just looking for a birthday present for the missus,” Mal said as he noticed the feds looking at them and then started heading for the door. “Think I’ll look around some other shops.”

“Just a minute,” said the top fed. “ID’s gentlemen.” And he unhooked an ID scanner from his belt.

Jayne just stared at the cop and grinned. “Name’s Cobb and I hate coppers!”

With that Jayne smashed him right across the mouth and the cop went flying into a display case smashing it to pieces as the jewelry on display went flying everywhere.

Mal was taken by surprise by Jayne’s actions but just for a moment and swung his cane at one of the two cops by the door, knocking his gun out of hand with one swing and dropping him to the floor with the next. The third struggled to get his gun out and then the door was opened and Zoe decked him across the back of the head with her sawed off Winchester. She gave the captain and Jayne one of her stern looks.

“Having fun boys?”

“They made us,” Mal said. “Time to go!”

After grabbing Inara, they beat a hasty retreat to Serenity with lots of looks over their shoulders and worried glances about but no one followed them.

Mal ran to the intercom as he got on board ship and told Wash to fire her up.

“We leaving already?” he asked and Mal told him to stop yapping and do his job.

Kaylee and River were in the kitchen preparing lunch when they felt the rumble coming from the VTOL’s and ran to the bridge.

“Wash! What are you doing?” Kaylee asked with worry and surprise as River just jumped into the co-pilot’s seat, already knowing what was happening. She started turning on the sensors and stuck an earwig in to listen to police communications

“Mal just ordered me to take off! Must be trouble!” he said in haste as he flipped switches and then started the take off sequence.

“But…my wedding! My father!” she exclaimed and then just as River turned to explain it to her she ran off the bridge toward the stairs down to the cargo bay and met Mal and Zoe coming up the top stairs.

“Need you in the engine room, Kaylee,” Mal said as he passed her.

“Capt’n, what’s going on?”

“Alliance trouble,” Zoe said as she passed and then Kaylee just felt the world fall out from under her feet.

“Daddy!’ she said as started heading down the stairs.

“Kaylee!” Mal shouted but she ignored him and kept going, only one thought on her mind, find her father. She ran past Inara who had just entered her shuttle with the arm load of flowers and then down the stairs and past Jayne who was kneeling by the secret stash area putting away the swag they couldn’t sell.

“Jayne! Stop her!” Mal shouted at big merc as he limped on his bad leg, a distraught Kaylee faster than her wounded Capt’n. Kaylee just ran right for the doors of the ship and hit the open button as Simon came from the passenger area wondering why the engines had started.

“What’s going on?” Simon shouted in exasperation and rising anger as he saw Mal and Jayne chasing his bride to be.

“Kaylee! Stop!” Mal shouted as he ignored Simon and then the doors were opening and the ramp coming down and outside were several Alliance policemen, weapons pointed at Serenity. Mal and Jayne just pulled their guns and started firing as the Alliance fired back. Simon immediately saw Kaylee freeze at this danger and he grabbed her from behind and knocked her to the floor. As bullets sailed into the cargo bay, pinging off metal and bouncing everywhere, the ship rose and in an instant was out of the line of fire. Jayne ran to the controls and shut the doors.

“Gorramnit all to hell! What’s with you girl!” Jayne shouted toward Kaylee as he holstered his pistol.

Mal turned to Kaylee, anger seething through every pore of his body, and was going to give her a piece of his mind but he stopped as he saw her curled up in a fetal position with Simon holding her head, gently rocking her in his arms. All Mal could hear through her sobs was one word, “Daddy!”, over and over again.

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

“She’s sleeping,” Simon said to Mal as he came on the bridge. Serenity was in deep space, flying at normal speed, everyone eating lunch as Mal took watch on the bridge. “I had to give her a shot.”

“She’ll get over it,” Mal said quietly, not mad at Kaylee anymore, knowing he could never be mad at her for long. He understood why she did it but it was stupid and dangerous and he would have to have a word with her when she was feeling better. “Guess wedding’s on hold.”

“Maybe for now,’ the doctor replied. “I won’t bring it up until she’s ready to talk about it. What happened?”

Mal explained it all and then added. “The worse thing is our cash flow is almost nothing, what with all we spent on Taos. Ship’s fueled and we got enough food and water for now but the word’s out that we're selling stolen goods. Means we have to go black market and my name is still dirt in the not so legal verse.”

Simon contemplated this and then said what he thought he’d never say. “We might need to check out that job Badger was offering.”

“My thinking exactly. We’re on course for Persephone,” Mal said and Simon just sighed.

“Guess its time to face our demons,” he said, not wanting to but knowing there would be no peace if he didn’t.

“Lots of them demons out there,” Mal said flatly, staring out into space, Simon’s words reminding him of two demons who came to visit him many nights.

“Is it because of Inara?” Simon asked. “I mean, the decision…to fight.”

“Mostly,” Mal said after a moment. “You, too? I mean…for Kaylee?”

“Yes. And for River, of course.”

They were quiet for a while, both men’s minds on the women they loved. Mal hadn’t said it to Inara yet but he knew it was coming soon.

“I should wave Kaylee’s father,” Simon said suddenly and then was about to turn on a Cortex screen when Mal explained that he had already done so.

“He wasn’t happy but glad were safe. Whole town is talking about what we did in that shop and the shootout at the spaceport. Told him Kaylee was too upset to speak to him and he understood.”

“He could be in danger if they trace him to us,” Simon said with worry.

“Mentioned that and he just shrugged and said no one was gonna push him out of his town or business. Stubborn fool.”

“Your kind of man,” Simon said and Mal just gave him a sharp look and said nothing, thinking it better not to ruin this brief understanding he and Simon had. Then Wash came to the bridge and Simon and Mal went off to have some lunch.

Many hours later Simon sat on his bed holding Kaylee as she looked at him with such sadness in her face he’d never thought she’d be happy again. Simon had explained how Mal had waved her father but left out the part where he might be in danger, not wanting to upset her any further. She just nodded, not even saying she wanted to wave him and Simon was worried now.

“Kaylee, we’ll get past this.”

“I’m sorry,” she said after a few moments. “I shouldn’t done that. Just too…upset.”

“It’s okay. No one was hurt.”

“Capt’n’s mad?”

“He’s calmed down. It’ll be fine.”

She sniffed. “What we gonna do?”

“About….the wedding?”

She nodded and a tear came out of an eye. “Want my daddy there.”

“We can wait.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. If having your father present is important we can wait.”

“What about your folks?”

Simon felt a sting as she said those words, his parents a subject he’d rather not talk about. “It’s still too dangerous.”

Kaylee nodded but knew he was hurt by his lack of contact with his family. Least he had River here. She had no one. But then she looked at him and knew she did have someone, a man who cared about her and wanted to make her his wife. And she knew that on this ship were seven other people who cared about her a great deal. Her stunt in the cargo bay had put them all in jeopardy and she had to make things right. She started to get up.

“You should rest more,” Simon said.

“Nope, ship and crew needs me. Got a job to do,” she said and started getting dressed as Simon sat by.

“Might be time you moved in here permanently,” he said and that brought a slight grin to her face.

“Think so?”

“Know so.”

“Help me move?”

“Most certainly.”

They left the room and were just crossing the passenger lounge when Mal came in from the cargo bay. Kaylee suddenly felt like a girl who had done something bad and wilted under his gaze as he silently looked at her.

“Sorry, Capt’n,” she meekly got out.

“I ain’t mad,” Mal said after a brief moment. “I know you were upset. Just…you know how this boat runs, Kaylee. I give an order it ain’t cause I’m bored or in a bad mood. It’s for the benefit and safety of this crew and ship.”

“Don’t know what came over me, Capt’n. Just…it was only few days…He ain’t seen me in so long…sorry.”

“Lots of crew on this boat ain’t seen their family in a long time either, Kaylee.”

“Guess I’m being selfish,” she said in a sad voice and Mal knew he had upset her.

“No, not selfish, Kaylee,” he said gently. “Family is important and you wanted to get married with him there and I understand all that. But we gotta run, we run.”

“Yes, Capt’n.”

“Now, need you in the engine room. Up for it?”

“Course, Capt’n,” she said feeling much better now that she talked to him.

“Check the Kovalev Drive,” Mal said to a surprised Simon and Kaylee. “We’re making an FTL run to Persephone.”

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

The next day Cutter was in his office bright and early looking over the reports from across the galaxy and he immediately found the report of Serenity and its escape from Taos on top as a number one priority. More injured policemen and once again the ship escaped. No cruisers were about to follow it this time and once it left the planet there was no trace of it. The only solaced he received was from the confession of the port controller who said he was paid to give the ship a fake name in his reports. Serenity was now the Calypso and had a transponder to match the name and Cutter at once sent orders galaxy wide to be on the look out for a Firefly under both names.

Next he opened the wave someone on Serenity had sent to Taos that his communications technicians had found and sent to him. The image of a pretty young brown haired woman with green eyes and a bandage on her forehead came on screen and what Cutter heard next sent his heart racing.

“Ah, daddy…it’s me….Kaylee…I’m okay….ain’t dead or nothing…it’s a long story. I’m still with the ship…you know the one…we’ve had an adventure that you could write a book about. This gonna sound crazy but we’ve been to… Earth….and back…crazy right? It took four years…seemed like only a few minutes but….anyways, lots to talk about when I see you, hopefully soon. We’re about a week away from Taos. Maybe closer if…well, can’t say why just yet. Might need your help fixing the boat. You okay? Sorry I missed your birthday….last four birthdays I guess. I…love you…and I’m sorry if I caused you any heartache, weren’t none of my fault and that’s the God’s honest truth, daddy. But I’m still in the verse and, you wave back soon as you can…hope this ain’t too big a shock for you…but it’s really me. Love you. Bye.”

Earth!?! She said they had been to…Earth! But…and then in a blinding flash of knowledge the pieces all fell into place. The fast escapes from two cruisers, the sudden appearance on Taos which was many days away from Greenleaf by regular Firefly speeds, the bracelet with the impossible date. They had been to Earth and Cutter thought he knew how. An FTL.

He quickly contacted the force commander on Taos and the man almost shook with fear as his top superior appeared on his Cortex screen.

“Sir! What can…I mean…”

“Captain, spare me any pleasantries. Your force let a wanted ship and its crew escape. Try to make up for your bungling by taking one man into custody if you can.”

“Yes, sir! And the name, sir?”

“Jonathan Frye.” If anyone knew what was going on Serenity, Kaylee Frye’s father would and Cutter had many ways to make him talk if he chose not to cooperate.

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

Serenity arrived in the Persephone system after an FTL run that was the smoothest yet, with all the controls and modifications Kaylee and her father had put into Serenity working perfectly. Instead of seconds it had taken almost two hours, since Mal had Kaylee and Wash set it just below light speed, but that was still much faster than the three days it would have normally taken at full speed. Mal’s decision to make the run was the need for the element of surprise. Badger was expecting them in three days. By showing up early, Mal hoped to find out what was what and maybe even get the upper hand on whoever was behind Badger’s sudden generosity. They stayed in a far, deep space orbit and Mal told Wash to turn off the transponder, not sure if their new identity had been compromised or not. They would do a slow approach in the morning and check things out before making any plans. The crew needed a rest and Mal wanted them all fresh for what was to come.

Kaylee and Simon told the disappointed crew they were postponing the wedding for the time being and all understood. Then Inara and River helped Kaylee and Simon move her stuff into Simon’s room with Kaylee taking her wedding dress to Inara’s shuttle so Simon wouldn’t see it yet. Inara and Kaylee had time to have a chat about Mal and Simon and her father and Kaylee felt much better after talking to her friend about all that had happened.

Night came to Serenity’s crew and as all slept only Shepherd Book remained awake in his room. He sat up for a long time thinking on what he had to do and he knew it was time. He would leave Serenity when they landed on Persephone. All the years of trying to run away from his past were coming to an end. This sudden news of Miranda and of the broadcast and of River knowing Adam Cutter’s secrets were the cause, but deep down he knew it was something he should have done years ago. It was his promise to her that made him try to find a gentler path but now he knew that was not the way.

He wrote three letters and put them in three different envelopes and wrote the names of the three people they were for and left them on a small shelf by his bed. He packed his one suit case with his meager possessions and set it by the door. He next picked up his Bible and looked at it for a long time, not opening it, just staring at its cover, feeling its weight in his hands. And then for the first time in almost eight years, Book did not pray to his God before going to bed. Prayers were useless now that he had set his mind on a task that God would neither approve nor understand.

He was going to kill Adam Cutter. And nothing in the verse would stop him.