The Return Home – Part 14

Serenity was in a prison courtyard on Miranda, with Reavers about to attack it from the sky and the ground. Kaylee had just declared the ship spaceworthy after making repairs but now they might not even have a chance to make it to the black where their FTL drive, which it now seemed the Alliance knew all about, could send them across the galaxy in a blink of an eye and away from all this danger. Mal knew they had waited a moment too long on this cursed planet and should have ordered them at least away from the prison before now. But Maston Forbes had been stalking them and they saw an opportunity to take him out and now he was a prisoner in the infirmary. And strangest of all was that the leader of the Reavers was calling them on their radio.

Mal picked up the mic. “This is Captain Reynolds. What are your terms?”

Wash, Kaylee, and Inara were also on the bridge and just stared at him, wondering what mad scheme he had up his sleeve this time.

“Captain Reynolds, your ship and any who wish to may leave Miranda if you give me the two I want,” growled the Colonel through the radio.

“Sure thing,” said Mal into the mic and at the same time shook his head “no” in the direction of Kaylee, who had turned a might paler when he had said that, cause she was one of the two the Colonel wanted, to repair his own Firefly. “Let’s make a deal.”

“You are in no position to deal, Captain. I have eight ships and hundreds of attackers from my clan and others who have joined us.”

“Well, we already knocked over quite a few of them ships and your clan. Seems we can trade blows and each of us gets bloody or we can come to an understanding.”

There was a long silence. Then a question none expected. “Does the Professor have the cure?”

“What?” was all Wash could say, and the others were too surprised to say anything, not ready to believe the Reavers knew about the cure, especially Kaylee who had seen the eagerness on many Reaver faces to be what they were, to consume her, to fight and destroy. But she also remembered how the Colonel had told her to rest, had warned the others not to touch her, had even killed one of her captors who was a little too eager to have her for a snack. Maybe they, or at least he, wanted the cure, to be human again.

Wash looked at the radar scoops and noticed that the Reaver ships were holding their positions. He pointed this out to Mal who just nodded and then returned to the radio.

“He says he does,” said Mal into the mic, which was not exactly the truth, nor a lie.

There was almost a sigh of relief from the comms. “We will cease attacking if the Professor can prove he has the cure.”

Mal paused before answering and then the idea came to him. “He has one of your clan, a woman, here. She has been cured.”

“What’s her name?”

“Angela.”

Another pause and Mal could almost sense that the Colonel was asking his clan if they knew her.

“The name is familiar, Captain, but she died many weeks ago.”

“She didn’t die, she was captured,” Mal answered back.

“Show her outside the east wall,” the Colonel said. “You, and her and the Professor. No one else.”

“Give me twenty minutes.”

“Twenty minutes. Or we attack.” The conversation was at an end.

“He doesn’t have a cure, does he? I mean, it’s just a treatment,” Kaylee said.

“No, he doesn’t have a cure,” said Mal. “But twenty minutes is twenty minutes and we might just get more when they see Drummond’s daughter. Kaylee, Wash, get ready to take off in a jiffy. Inara come with me, please.”

Please! Wash almost fainted hearing this word from Malcolm Reynolds in the same sentence as a command. Of course, it was Inara he was talking to. He’d never say please to Wash!

“Where are we going?” Inara asked him as she they went down the fore stairway to the cargo bay, after seeing Kaylee off to the engine room.

“To see Drummond,” Mal answered. “Think I might need some of your diplomatic niceties to get him to agree to my plan.”

“What plan?”

“To give that Colonel the cure.”

“But it only lasts 24 hours.”

“By the time it wears off we’ll be long gone from here.”

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

“What’s happening?” Simon asked Wash as he reached the bridge, having just missed Mal and Inara heading down and Kaylee as she went to the engine room.

“Mal’s negotiating with the Reavers,” Wash said and there wasn’t a trace of humor or the hint of a joke in the statement and Simon didn’t know what to say for a moment.

“Ah…really? That’s…a new one.”

“Yeah, lots of new ones on this adventure,” Wash replied and then explained the plan to Simon as he kept an eye on the scopes and on those eight ships. He was trying to figure a way to fly out of this mess. Straight up was suicide, but a flight through the city, around the buildings, straight for the horizon and those hills in the distance he had seen when they had landed the day before and Serenity just might be able to make it to the black and engage the Kovalev Drive.

“How’s our prisoner?” Wash asked after he finished describing Mal’s plan.

“Tied down and knocked out. I gave him an injection. It’s the same one I used on Jayne and if can put Jayne out like a light than I’m sure Forbes will sleep for many hours.”

Wash almost smiled remembering that time Simon knocked out Jayne when he had tried to take over the ship. “You and River sure have come a long way in a year, haven’t you? I mean, budding genius and Core doctor to…well…to this.”

“Not how I envisioned my life turning out,” Simon said with a hint of regret. “Or hers.”

“Has everything turned out so bad?”

Simon didn’t even have to think to answer. “No. If I had never come on Serenity I never would have met Kaylee and I can’t picture my life without her, not now. And I’ve, we’ve, made some good friends here. I guess I could almost include Jayne in that statement.”

“Yeah, he does kinda grow on you. Life would be a little more boring without him. You know Simon, when you first came on board, I thought, here’s a smart guy, what the hell is he doing here? But I’m grateful you did stay. I never thanked you properly for saving Zoe that time.”

“You’ve thanked me more than once Wash, by being supportive of us, by flying us out of danger, by making us laugh. We all have our role to play.”

”Guess so. Wonder how this plan of Mal’s going to work out? He’s good at making plans. Just the execution that leaves a little to be desired sometimes. Well, most times.”

“If this Colonel goes for it, maybe we’ll be out of here in a short while.”

“Then we just have to get past the whole Reaver fleet.”

“I’m not a religious man, Wash, but if Book were here I’m sure he’d say ‘God will find a way.’ I think we all need a little more faith.”

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

Shepherd Book had faith, believed that all would turn out well, but God had not answered Book’s prayers and he now sat in a prison cell on the Dortmunder. Cutter said it would be only until the mission ended but Book had a feeling it might be longer than that. Of course, he had the Prime Minister on his side but she was far away and he had no means to contact her.

“Dinner time, Shepherd,” said the young soldier who had earlier helped Jonathan make contact with Book. He stood outside the force field door with a plastic tray with food on it and a cup of water. He placed the tray in a slot next to the door and then it was pushed through. Book stood from his bed and took it. Mashed potatoes, boiled carrots, and something that looked like chicken, and a slice of buttered bread.

“Lovely,’ said Book without enthusiasm. “I couldn’t get a glass of wine, could I? I think white goes well with chicken. This is chicken, isn’t it?”

“No idea, Shepherd,” said the soldier and then as Book sat on his bed and began to pick at his food, the man hesitated to leave and Book sensed he wanted to talk.

“Something troubling you, my son?”

“Yeah. Me and the other guys, here on the prison level, just wondering what you did to get put in here. Everyone’s talking about it, the whole ship, maybe even the fleet by now.”

“I crossed Adam Cutter. That was enough.”

“Guess so. Just…some of us don’t feel it’s right, you being in here, being a man of God and all. We all think we’re heading into combat and some of us could use the word before that happens.”

“Adam Cutter’s word has more power than mine or God’s right now.”

The soldier pondered this and then said something that gave Book a small glimmer of hope.

“Something about that just isn’t right,” the soldier said and then he walked away.

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

On the bridge of the Dortmunder Cutter also had faith, faith in his fleet and what power it had, faith in Maston Forbes and his mission on Miranda, faith in the knowledge that soon the Reavers and River and Simon Tam and whoever made that broadcast would soon be dead. And then Serenity and its FTL drive would be his and the power of that engine would send the Alliance to mastery of this galaxy and maybe even others.

“How long to Haven?” Cutter asked his navigator.

“23 hours and thirty six-minutes, sir. We have received a message that ten gunships from the Persephone, Athens, and Greenleaf systems have already arrived near Haven.”

“Very good. I’m retiring for the night. Inform me of any further developments.”

“Aye, sir.”

Cutter walked off the bridge and headed to his quarters, the murmurs among the bridge crew grew louder and more than one conversation was about Shepherd Book and what had happened to him. And it didn’t sit well with too many of them, including some of the higher ranking officers. Cutter didn’t know it yet, but small seeds of discontent were spreading through his ship and his fleet.

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

Back on Miranda, Jayne and Zoe and even River now put their faith in weapons and killing others before they killed you. They had quickly grabbed their guns and headed outside, following Mal’s orders to be on the walls when the attack came, hoping they’d have time to get back to the boat if the situation got out of hand. They went to the east wall, where someone shouted most of the Reavers were coming from. They met Brenda and many others already armed and ready.

“How many?” Jayne asked and then looked in wonder at this aged woman, holding a rifle like a professional, wondering how they had stood it for so many years.

“Enough,” she said and then Jayne heard the howls and screams and looked over the wall and saw them coming through the streets. He had both his sniper rifle and Vera and a load of grenades and River had Forbes’ sniper rifle. Zoe had her Winchester as usual and also a machine pistol.

“Time to thin these ranks, little River,” Jayne shouted as he sighted in on a target.

“Already ahead of you,” she said and as she sighted in on the first Reaver suddenly they stop running and all went into cover in the nearby buildings.

“What the hell…?” Zoe said as she looked in surprise over the wall and found no targets anywhere.

“They’re in the buildings,” Jayne said and then had a terrible thought. “Gonna get higher than us and fire down.”

“No,” said Brenda. “Listen. They’ve stopped the attack.”

They did listen and they heard nothing. There was a sudden silence, no howls or screams or running feet. Zoe looked skyward and could see the dots of the ships high above, still there, but not getting closer.

“There’s a Reaver,” said one of Drummond’s group and he pointed toward the street in front of them.

It was the massive Reaver they had seen from the shuttle, the one Kaylee called the Colonel, wearing the remains of his Alliance uniform and his sword, with the macabre necklace of ears around his neck. Both River and Jayne sighted in on him as he stood in the street, seemingly waiting for something. Just as they were about to fire they heard Mal shouting from the courtyard.

“Hold your fire!”

“What the hell for?” Jayne yelled back as he looked down and saw Mal and Inara at the foot of the cargo bay ramp.

“Cause I’m making a deal!”

“With the Reavers?” Jayne asked incredulously.

But Mal didn’t answer as he and Inara entered the prison building.

“A deal? With Reavers?” Zoe asked also, with a heavy dose of skepticism. “Guess he’s got a plan.”

“He does,” said River. “And it just might work.”

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

“No, that’s out of the question,” Drummond said at once as Mal outlined his planned. They were in the control room of the prison, with all vid screens showing the ships up high and the streets empty except for the Colonel, standing and waiting. “There’s no telling what they’ll do to her. She doesn’t know she was a Reaver, doesn’t remember any of it. I don’t want to expose her to them, not yet. I don’t want her to remember what she has…done.”

Mal understood what he meant by this last part but this was a might too serious for that to stand in the way of his plan. “Look, I know where you stand, but we ain’t got many choices here. You got four missiles and they got eight ships bearing down on us. I try to take off one of them is gonna get us with an EMP or missile or something and my ship been through so much of late I’m afraid it’s gonna fall apart next time it gets hit. There’s also hundred or more of them in the streets. You got what, less than twenty people now? I’ve got three good fighters plus myself but were all banged up and been in more fights last two months than I can remember since the war. We need time, another option.”

“Captain, I’m not unaware of our situation but I won’t make deals that involve my daughter.”

Inara decided it was time to put her skills to work before Mal lost what little patience he had left for Drummond. “Professor, she isn’t going to be given to the Reavers. And Mal and the others will be there to protect her. Both Jayne and River are very good at shooting and I’m sure they will kill this Colonel the first thing that goes wrong. He just wants to see her and you. They want a cure as much as you do.”

“I don’t have a cure,” Drummond said, very dejected but softening his stance.

“We don’t need it, not yet,’ said Mal, also calmer, knowing bringing Inara along was the right move. “We just have to make him think you have it. Chances are when he becomes normal again he won’t remember he was a Reaver either. We just need time.”

They waited as Drummond pondered. “And what happens when the cure wears off him in 24 hours? Or what if he turns back to being normal and doesn’t remember and none of his clan or the others will listen to him or stop their attack.”

“I don’t have all the answers,” said Mal, getting more impatient again as his twenty minutes was ticking away. “I just need time, time to make another plan, time to get your people on my boat, time to get away, time to make it to the black.”

“And then what?” Drummond asked. “There’s a whole fleet of Reaver ships up there.”

Mal smiled. “Then I show you why my old Firefly is worth its weight in gold.”

Drummond looked puzzled but knew something was odd about this ship or they never would have made it here in the first place. “Ok, Captain, we’ll follow your plan. But if anything goes wrong you kill that bastard the first chance you get.”

“Sounds like you have something personal against him,” Mal stated.

“I do. He was Cutter’s right hand man on Miranda. His name is Colonel Albert Hopkins. Supported the plan the whole way. Unfortunately, he was accidentally exposed to the G-23 gas while it was being distributed around the planet. We had him in quarantine to see the effects. Within 24 hours he turned into a Reaver, the first as far as I know. He broke out and killed seven guards, a nurse, and two doctors. Cutter called it an anomaly. Now we know different.”

“You want him, he’s yours. Time’s wasting,” said Mal. “Let’s collect your… patient…and go visit the Reavers.”

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

The magnetic gate was opened and Mal, Drummond and his very confused daughter walked outside. The gate was in the north wall and they walked to the right, past the garage with the truck and then around the corner to the east wall. There was a fifty meter open space between the prison and the nearby buildings and standing at the end of the street was the Colonel. Mal glanced up and saw many guns pointed at the massive Reaver. He took some comfort knowing Jayne, River and Zoe, all crack shots, were up there covering his back cause somewhere in these nearby buildings over a hundred Reavers remained hidden from sight. Why or how this Colonel controlled them he didn’t care as long as they weren’t attacking.

Drummond held his daughter’s right hand and over his shoulder was a medical bag. Inside were the few vials of serum he had so far managed to produce, enough for his daughter for a few weeks, but not enough to cure every Reaver on Miranda or in space. If the Colonel agreed to take the shot, he would change in a few hours. It was an ugly process, the body going through traumatic physical changes, voiding itself of all waste and fluid in the bowels and bladder, accompanied by muscle spasms, cold sweats, shakes, and finally a deep coma like sleep that could last 24 hours. When the recipient awoke, he or she was a as close to being normal again as possible for one who had been a Reaver, although he or she wouldn’t remember much of that if his daughter served as an example for all. But the scars on the outside would remain as a reminder of all they had been through.

Angela didn’t understand any of what was happening. The man who was taking care of her, the man she thought of as a doctor, even though she heard the others call him the Professor, had come to her room and said they needed to go someplace, that someone wanted to see her. Another man was with him, tall and handsome, but he was armed and looked weary, had a bandage on his head, and Angela instantly became afraid. As they walked through the corridors of the prison she realized she wasn’t in a hospital. There were no other patients, or doctors or nurses and she wondered what was happening and where she really was. She was still wearing the bluish-green prisoner’s coveralls and running shoes on her feet.

As they went outside the sunlight was almost blinding to her, having been inside for many weeks now. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust and Mal and Drummond waited, Mal growing more anxious now that he realized his time was almost up. Angela saw Serenity and again wondered what was happening.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked as they exited the prison main gate and started walking toward to east side of the compound.

“I told you, a…man…wants to see you, to make sure you’re OK,” Drummond said, and Mal could sense his feelings of guilt for what he was doing, but it wasn’t something that could be easily explained to her. She had to see them.

And then Angela froze in horror as she did see a Reaver, the Colonel, standing fifty meters away.

“What….who is that?”

“That’s Colonel Hopkins…he has been…sick…like you were,” Drummond started to explain. “And he wants to see how I took care of you, to see if I can do the same for him…and many others.”

“But you said I was in an accident. My scars, they’re from an accident.”

“No, Angela, you were very sick…like he is,” Drummond said, unable to lie to her any longer. “The scars…were self-inflicted.”

“What? No…I couldn’t have done this, not to myself.”

The Colonel began approaching and Angela could see his face, and scars and she let out a moan. “No, no, I wasn’t like him. I don’t remember. It’s all a lie!”

Drummond hugged her. “Angela, it’s not a lie. I lied about the accident to protect you, from the bad things that happened.”

Mal pulled out his pistol as Hopkins started toward them. “Not too close,” Mal yelled.

“Captain Reynolds, I presume. What’s wrong with the woman?” Colonel Hopkins asked as he came half way toward them and stopped.

“She doesn’t know she was a Reaver,” Mal said and there it was out in the open and Drummond glared at Mal but Angela was even more confused.

“What’s a…Reaver?”

“I’m a Reaver,” said Hopkins and Angela just stared at him, horror in her eyes and then let out a scream that echoed through the silent streets and unnerved all who heard it, some of the hidden Reavers included.

“No, no, no, it’s impossible!” she screamed as Drummond hugged her tighter and she sank to the ground, sobbing into his shoulder.

“She has the scars,” Mal said to Hopkins. “She was one of you. Now do you believe he has the cure?”

“Why doesn’t she remember?”

“A side effect of the serum,” Drummond said. “She knows her name, that this is Miranda, some things from her childhood, not much else.”

“And this memory loss is permanent?”

“I don’t know,” said Drummond. “She has only been with us a month.”

“I remember you, Professor, I remember you, and Cutter and everything that happened. Why can’t she?’ said Hopkins.

“I said I don’t know,” Drummond almost yelled at him from the ground where he hugged his sobbing daughter and Mal could see the anger building in him. “I know you too, Colonel Hopkins. I know you were the first Reaver. I know you supported Cutter’s plan from the beginning until your exposure to the gas. I know you have attacked us these many years, killing my supporters.”

“Looking for you,” said Hopkins and Mal could almost feel the weariness from a Reaver. “We…can’t control ourselves…our rage consumes us…we must attack…must kill…must consume flesh…some have embraced it, revel in it. I don’t. I want the cure.”

“Then you must come with us,” Mal said. “And call off the ships above.”

“What if I can’t remember also? What if they don’t listen to me? I don’t control those ships.”

“Who does?” Mal asked, not surprised at this since if there had been any type of real organization among the Reavers Drummond who have been found and taken or killed years ago.

“A rival, from the space fleet, the one who shot down my ship. He…wants to attack the human planets…in force. I disagreed, said we would never survive. We are so few compared to the Alliance fleet and military. He was a politician, not military. He has no sense. But not many of us do.”

“Captain,” Drummond began, glaring at Mal. “Enough is enough. I won’t cure him if he can’t help us stop the attacks.”

Hopkins approached closer and Mal drew a bead on him and up above Jayne and River just waited for the order to kill the Colonel. “Stop!” Mal yelled. “Or we will shoot you down.”

“Professor,” Hopkins began as he stopped. “I know my mistakes and have had 16 years to think on them. I know Cutter was wrong now and you were right. I…can’t stop the madness…help me…please.”

“Why should I?”

“It’s the human thing to do,” Hopkins said and he undid his sword belt and let it fall to the ground, took off the necklace of ears and dropped them next to the sword. He then looked at Mal and raised his arms and clasped his hands behind his head. “I surrender, Captain.”

The shock on Mal and Drummond’s faces and those above who heard the Reaver’s words caused a sudden stillness. A Reaver, surrendering! Impossible! It has to be a trick, thought both Jayne and Zoe, but River knew it was genuine. It took all her mental powers to fight through the Reaver part of the Colonel and find what little humanity was left but find it she did and could feel that he just wanted his old life back. She yelled down to Mal.

“He’s not lying, Captain!”

Mal didn’t know what to do but figured River knew what was in this Reaver’s mind, if anyone did. If he tried to take this Reaver into the prison most likely all the Reavers would attack and they couldn’t stand up to them for long. Colonel Hopkins was looking to save himself, not the rest, and Mal figured a lot of them didn’t want to be saved. Then something happened that changed everything. A voice came from the Colonel, not his voice, but one through a voice comm link.

“Colonel, what is happening?” It was a high pitched squeak almost, and Mal instinctively knew it was the one who controlled the ships.

Hopkins lowered an arm and reached into a pocket on his tattered uniform and pulled out a small communicator, now able to use it since he was within range of the ships above the prison as they were closer than the main fleet above.

“We are negotiating,” said the Colonel into the comm link.

“That is not the plan! Enough with your delays. I only agreed to join you to wipe out this last remnant of humanity. Attack at once! Kill all who resist!”

“The Professor has the cure! I’ve seen proof! If we attack it will be destroyed!”

“I don’t care for him or his ‘cure’ or for you anymore. You have wasted too much time and resources on a search for something none of us want! You have tricked me for the last time. This truce between us is at an end!”

“Fool!” Hopkins shouted into the communicator and then threw it at the ground, where it was smashed.

“Sir!” Zoe shouted from the wall. “Wash just said those ships are heading straight for us!”

“Hold position!” Mal shouted back, knowing he’d need the cover fire to get inside the prison.

Mal and Drummond looked at each other and Drummond knew what he wanted. “It’s time, Professor. Last call for all those leaving Miranda.”

“Here, for now,” Drummond said. “I’m not sure about Miranda just yet,’ and then Drummond looked up at the walls.

“Brenda?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Give the order. Evacuate to the Firefly, all personnel. Make sure all my records are taken.”

“Yes, sir!” she shouted and Drummond could almost sense her joy as she ran off to carry out his orders.

Mal then waved Hopkins forward with his pistol. “Colonel, we’re leaving before your ‘friends’ get here. You coming or gonna stand around all day?”

River sensed the struggle in the Colonel, sensed his desire to have the cure fighting with his desire to kill these humans and eat them. For a brief moment the Reaver in him won out and River almost pulled the trigger. But then his human side won over and he put his hands back behind his head and started forward.

“I’m coming.”

He only took two steps forward when he was shot in the right side from behind and he staggered and dropped to one knee. Then a whole fusillade erupted from the nearby buildings and then the streets were full of running, howling Reavers.

Drummond was hit next, in the stomach, as he started to drag his daughter back to the prison and he went down without a sound, dragging her with him. Mal was firing like mad as were all those on the walls above, and Reavers fell from the deadly accuracy of the snipers’ fire. River moved the sniper rifle from target to target, firing and then not waiting to see if she hit, and she concentrated on the building windows and balconies and soon the fusillade was over as all the building shooters were dead or wounded from her fire. Jayne and Zoe picked off running Reavers and the others added the weight of their weapons. That fifty meter gap had been a dead zone between the walls and potential prisoner escape and now it served as a dead zone again, provided time for the defenders to kill Reavers who had no cover whatsoever. In the madness of battle, Mal heard the distinct whoosh and scream of the last four missiles heading skyward toward the approaching Reaver ships.

“He’s hurt!” Mal heard Angela scream as she realized Drummond had been shot. A bullet whizzed by Mal’s head and then he too saw that Drummond was shot and bleeding from the stomach. He dropped to one knee beside Drummond and Angela and started picking off Reavers with his pistol. In front of them Hopkins staggered to his feet, picked up his sword and swung and killed one of his clan who managed to make it so close. Any doubts about him Mal had had been shattered by the bullet that hit him and now they were completely gone as the Colonel began to kill his own people.

A shattering explosion reached their ears next and above them they saw a Reaver ship falling in burning pieces toward the buildings a block away. Then Mal heard the distinct noise of Serenity’s VTOL engines and he saw his ship rise above the prison walls. The cargo ramp was down and he saw River and Jayne and Zoe and all the wall defenders jump on board and then the boat was coming down into the fifty meter dead zone and one running Reaver was burnt to a crisp by the flame of the left VTOL.

“Come on!” yelled Jayne from the ramp as he and River stood there with the others firing at Reavers. Zoe ran out and grabbed Angela by the hand and led the crying girl to the ship and then Mal tried to pick up Drummond but he staggered under his weight, his head reeling from the blow he had received and in a second Hopkins was next to him and he picked up Drummond like he was a toy, the strength in his huge arms undiminished by his wound. Behind him Mal saw the rest of Drummond’s people, about ten of them, running from the north side of the prison, led by Brenda, all carrying weapons and bags and knapsacks and suitcase, as if they had been ready for the evacuation, and as the many rifles covered them, they boarded the ship. Mal was the last on board, shooting a Reaver at the foot of the ramp as he gave the order to close it.

Unseen and forgotten by all was the bag Drummond had been carrying, which had fallen from his shoulder as he fell to the ground, and was now left in the dust of the street, the only vials of Reaver cure available still inside.

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

“Get on your knees!” Jayne yelled to Colonel Hopkins in the cargo bay, the fear obvious in Jayne’s voice as he and River and many others had their guns pointed at the Colonel as he followed Jayne’s order, laying his huge sword on the floor, which Zoe immediately picked up and put to the side

“I’m wounded,” Hopkins growled in pain as he knelt on the hard floor.

“I don’t give a good gorramn about it!” Jayne shouted. “You move and you’ll be dead!”

“Watch him! Zoe, take command here,” Mal ordered and he headed upstairs as Zoe confirmed his order and they all felt the ship begin to rise.

“Oh, God!” cried Brenda in anguish as saw Drummond was shot, a cry echoed by many others as she knelt by the Professor’s side. “Not now, not after so much time!”

Angela just sat on the floor beside him. “Somebody help him!”

“Simon!” Zoe shouted and he was already coming with a stretcher and his medkit over his shoulder, having seen Drummond’s wound as he was carried on board.

“Stomach wound, internal bleeding,” Simon said with a professional eye as he cut open his shirt and placed a quick applying bandage on the wound. As Drummond was placed on the stretcher, he noticed the huge Reaver kneeling under Jayne’s and River’s guns. Simon shuddered as he looked at the Reaver and felt some anger believing this was the one who had ordered Kaylee taken, believing there could be no other Reaver so large wearing an Alliance uniform. Then he saw he was bleeding on his right side. Simon felt an urge to let him bleed to death and then his doctor’s oath took over from his anger. This thing had been human once. He dug into his medkit and pulled out another quick applying bandage and tossed it toward Jayne.

“Put this on his wound.”

“Like hell,” Jayne replied. “He can bleed to death all I care.”

“Jayne, do it,” Zoe ordered as Drummond was picked up by two of his people and Simon headed with him to the infirmary, followed by Angela and Brenda.

Jayne just glared at Zoe and then looked at one of Drummond’s people, a woman, who didn’t have a gun and was carrying a backpack.

“You!” Jayne said with anger. “Fix this…just fix him.”

She shuddered and shook her head no and turned away.

“I’ll do it myself,” Hopkins said and he picked up the bandage, took off his uniform coat, grimacing in pain, and then reached around and slapped the square bandage on his wound.

In the infirmary, Forbes was still unconscious on the table so Simon quickly cut his bonds and they moved him to the counter. They picked up Drummond and placed him on the table.

“Who’s he?” Brenda asked, looking at Forbes.

“The sniper,’ Simon said and they all knew what he meant except Angela but she wasn’t looking at Forbes, her eyes only for this man lying on the table and she was beginning to sense he was more than just a doctor or professor.

“Is he dead?” Angela asked and Simon knew she meant Drummond, not Forbes.

“No,” said Simon as he hooked up the sensors to Drummond and started to don rubber gloves. “Brenda, help me. You two, with the guns. Watch the sniper.” And then Simon began the struggle to save Drummond’s life.

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

Mal raced onto the bridge and Wash was just moving the ship out over the city, the VTOL’s on full power. Inara was in the co-pilot seat and both were strapped in.

“Mal!” she said with relief, happy that once more her man was alive and this time had no new wounds. “What happened?”

“Hopkins surrendered and then all hell broke lose. Good work, Wash. What’s the situation?”

“Three ships shot down, five still coming,’ Wash reported. “I have a plan to get us out of here. Kaylee gave the OK for space flight.”

“Then do it, whatever it takes to get us into the black,” Mal said and then he grabbed the intercom mic and hit the button for the engine room.

“Kaylee, we set for a FTL trip to Haven?”

“All shiny, Capt’n. What’s going on?” came the reply.

“Time for story telling later. Get strapped in.”

“Here’s where it gets fun," Wash said and then Mal could see on the scopes they were being pursued by no less than five Reaver ships. Wash began dodging in an out of apartment buildings and skyscrapers and Mal had trouble keeping his balance and he could see Wash was heading for the hills in the distance, about five kilometers away.

“Hey, Wash!” yelled Simon from the infirmary. “Fly a little straighter. I’m trying to save a life down here!”

Mal took this call. “And were trying to save everyone else’s, Doc. Just keep him stable till we get away from these Reavers!”

Inara looked at Mal with wide eyes. “Who’s hurt?”

“Drummond,” Mal said quietly. “Shot in the stomach.”

“Oh, no,” she said with a gasp. “Is he bad?”

“Don’t know,” Mal replied. “But it won’t matter if we can’t get away from these ships.”

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

Mal didn’t know it but his savior was in those hills, in the guise of a Reaver ship controlled by the Lieutenant and the rest of Forbes’s gunship crew. For five minutes he had tried to raise Forbes and then figured he might be in a situation where he couldn’t talk. Then on their radar scopes they saw the eight Reavers ships entering atmo and then hang up there for a long fifteen minutes. The Lieutenant had the ship powered down to bare minimums, hoping they wouldn’t be spotted in their little valley. Then the ships descended suddenly and four blips that he thought were missiles streaked into the sky.

“It’s a battle, sir,” one his men said and the Lieutenant knew all wasn’t well. Then after a few more minutes a ship streaked by right over their heads, and they saw it was the Firefly they were after. Before he could even give the order to take off and pursue more ships flew by, some big, some smaller than his, but all unmistakably Reaver and after Serenity. That was his target and his orders and Forbes’ were to take it intact. All the ships had seemed not notice his and the Lieutenant made a momentous decision that changed the fates of all.

“Fire her up,” he commanded and his helm operator looked at him in surprise and then began throwing switches. As they rose in the air he turned to the Lieutenant.

“Sir, what about the commander?”

“Our orders are to capture that Firefly, with or without the commander. Weapons? What’s available?”

“We’ve got the EMP and three missiles, sir” said another crew man. “Don’t know if anything works.”

“Time we found out. Get behind those Reaver ships and let’s take them out.

“Sir?”

“We’re going to save that Firefly.”

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

“Still with us,” said Wash, as he twisted and turned Serenity over the hills and through valleys, hoping to lose the pursuing Reaver ships or make them crash into something.

“Oh, oh,” said Inara with worry. “I think there are six ships now.”

“Where the hell did that other one come from?” Mal asked in frustration as he looked over her shoulder at the sensor board.

“It…just appeared…wait…something new…I think its…a missile in the air!” she shouted. And then the new blip merged with one of the original five ships and both were gone.

“It’s shooting at the Reavers!” Wash exclaimed and then another missile was fired and another ship went down. The Reaver ships in front didn’t notice two of their number falling from the sky and then a third was hit and going down. Now the odds were more to Mal’s liking but two large Reaver ships were still after them and suddenly a blue bolt of EMP streaked past Serenity, barely missing her as Wash dodged to the right in a hard turn.

“Now or never, Wash! Head for the black!” Mal ordered and then grabbed the intercom mic and pressed the ship wide speaker button. “All hands, all hands, prepare for jump!”

Mal knew he shouldn’t have said that with so many strangers on board but he had to warn them, and they would know soon enough anyway. Wash’s fingers flew over the laptop keypad as he punched in coordinates for Haven.

Kaylee had already raced from the engine room to the dining area lounge and strapped into a seat just as Mal was doing the same on the bridge and Jayne and Zoe and River were trying to explain and get everyone to hold onto something in the cargo bay. Simon gave the word in the infirmary and then with a whoosh they were heading up and then through the clouds and high atmo and then they were in the black and Mal gave the order.

“Punch it!”

Wash could see the Reaver fleet ahead of them and made one last adjustment, aiming for the largest gap in the fleet and then he hit the FTL drive. With a pop, groan, and creak Serenity went to near light speed and was gone in a flash.

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

“Sir! It’s…gone!”

“That’s impossible!” said the Lieutenant in awe but he had seen it also. One second they were firing an EMP at the last surviving Reaver ship, its crew concentrating too much on Serenity to realize they were all alone now, and then they were in space and Serenity just went zooming and was gone in a few seconds.

The EMP had missed and now was without power, needing time to power up again, and suddenly the Lieutenant and his crew were all alone, in the midst of the Reaver fleet and the ship he was pursuing turned and others began to join it.

“Missiles incoming!” someone shouted and then through the bridge windows they could see the Reaver missiles and gunfire and there were too many. The Lieutenant said a prayer to God and closed his eyes and the last thing he heard were the screams of his men as the missiles hit his ship and in a few moments it was destroyed with all hands, the smoking wreckage falling back into the atmosphere of Miranda to burn up and disappeared forever.

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

Drummond was bad and he was bleeding too much and Simon was afraid there wasn’t much he could do for him at the moment. He gave him a blood clotting agent and hooked up an IV bag and plasma but the ship’s twists and turns prevented him for operating and getting to the bullet and the damage that he was sure was done. Then he suddenly felt the artificial gravity kicking in as they entered the black of space and Mal’s warning came from the intercom.

“Hold on to something!” Simon yelled to the others in the infirmary and no one questioned him and in fact most already had a grip on something due to Serenity’s twists and turns to avoid the Reaver ships.

Simon could feel the ship accelerating, almost used to the signs the ship gave that Kaylee felt as if they were part of her own body. There was a loud groan and some sounds of metal straining and then the ship slowed to a stop.

“What was that?” asked Brenda in fear.

“Time for explanations later. Help me save him,” Simon said and then there were two pistol shots, deafening in the infirmary and the two Miranda guards covering Forbes dropped dead to the floor as the icy blond man arose from the bench and turned a pistol on Simon and Brenda.

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

In the cargo bay, River was just helping someone who had fallen get to their feet when a look of anguish crossed her face.

“Simon!” she yelled and then she raced toward the infirmary. Before Jayne or Zoe could ask what was happening two shots echoed through the ship and they raced after River.

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

Serenity came to a halt just above the atmo of Haven, near its north pole, and Mal just patted Wash on the shoulder.

“Nice flying. Find us a place to land, far from civilization.”

“Roger that,” said Wash and then there was a gasp from Inara.

“Mal! Ships, maybe…ten, in high orbit over Haven,” said Inara as she scanned the scopes.

“Get us down now!” Mal ordered and Wash began the descent toward Haven.

Mal was beside Inara in a second and Wash also scrutinized his sensors. The blips were weak and appeared far away, just over the horizon and then they were gone as they descended. “Looked like gunships, large and small, Alliance for sure.”

“Did they spot us?” Mal asked.

“Don’t know, we came in awful fast,” Wash answered.

“Let’s just hope they were looking the other way,” Mal said and then they heard the muffled gunshots coming from somewhere in the ship and Mal was running for below decks before anyone said a word.

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

Somewhere in the not so distant past someone at the Academy on Athenian Island thought that someday their agents may be subject to narcotics to make them talk or incapacitate them. Those who reached the last stages of training, of which River was not one since she had escaped, where given inoculations to strengthen their resistance to certain drugs, one of which was the drug Simon had given Forbes. An unconscious state that should have lasted hours only lasted minutes. As the ship twisted and turned and then broke into the black of space and hit light speed, Forbes awoke, realized his hands were no longer tied, and grabbed a pistol from one of the men guarding him, ripping it from his hands before he could react. Firing two shots Forbes killed the two men and then turned the pistol towards Simon and Brenda, who were looking in terror at this killer.

“Not a move,” Forbes said, his mind racing with a plan, but still foggy from the drugs. He needed a hostage and Simon Tam was perfect, knowing that Reynolds and River would do anything to save him, including letting Forbes fly off in the shuttle. “Doctor, you’re coming with me. Get over here.”

Simon hesitated, looked at Drummond. “He’s going to die if I don’t operate soon.”

“So will you if you don’t move!”

“I’m not afraid to die,” Simon said calmly.

As he said this Forbes reached the infirmary doors and just as he was deciding whether Simon was bluffing he realized he was stalling for time and Forbes knew trouble was coming and was just going to close the doors when River’s foot sailed through and kicked the pistol out of his hands. Her fist next connected with his jaw and he recovered and blocked the next swing as the fight moved into the passenger lounge. Jayne drew a bead on Forbes with his pistol and River saw this and shook her head.

“No, Jayne. He’s mine,” River said and Jayne almost had to grin at her courage.

“River, that ain’t a good idea,’ said Zoe as she was about to shoot Forbes, too.

“I need to do this,” River said and then Zoe relented and lowered her gun as several Miranda people came into the lounge.

“Time for you to die, Tam,” Forbes said, and it was an arrogance born of desperation because he could now see the many guns around him and knew he had no chance to survive. But if his mission succeeded, if he killed Tam, then it was worth the sacrifice. His head was still groggy from the drugs the doctor had given him, but it also confused River, who had trouble sensing his next move and was an advantage for Forbes. Two kicks connected with her body and face and blood started coming from her nose before she landed a spinning kick to his head and almost all who were watching could hear his nose break with a crunch and the blood flowed from it.

Forbes shook his head, controlling the blinding pain, thinking what to do. A knife, I need a knife and then Forbes saw one on Jayne’s belt and in a second surprised everyone by switching his attack from River to Jayne, landing a kick to his guts that doubled Jayne over and then Forbes had the knife off his belt and heading toward River’s throat as she came in to help Jayne. Then a loud gunshot ended all the drama, startling everyone, and Forbes was spun around and fell as blood poured from his right upper arm and the knife slid along the floor right to River’s feet. She picked it up, put a foot on Forbes chest and held the knife to his throat.

Mal stood in front of them with his pistol pointing at Forbes and he looked in disgust at River and Jayne and Zoe and then all the others.

“Don’t kill him,” Mal said to River. “Not yet.”

He walked to where Forbes was lying and he glanced in the infirmary and saw Simon checking two bloody bodies for signs of life and he got a picture of what had happened.

“Never seen anything so gorramn stupid in all my life,” he said through clenched teeth and his three crewmates knew what he was talking about and felt ashamed. “We still got a lot of questions for him. Now pick that son-of-bitch up and tie him proper this time.” And then he walked into the infirmary as Jayne and Zoe started to follow his orders, with River keeping the knife pressed to Forbes' jugular vein in case he tried something. Forbes was desperate but knew Tam would kill him in an instant so had no choice but to do nothing, for the moment

Simon was kneeling over the two men on the floor, both with pistol shots to the chest and Simon just shook his head. “They’re gone.”

Mal just looked at the two dead on the floor, felt nothing, not knowing them, and they were just two more dead of the many thousands he had seen in his lifetime, but they were known by someone, and without him even saying a word some of the few remaining Drummond people came in and started to carry them away, tears in their eyes. Both Brenda and Angela were crying, their sobs loud in the sudden silence, violence a way of life for them, even if Angela couldn’t remember, but the deaths of two men so close by was a shocking thing to witness.

“What happened?” Mal asked, an edge to his voice and Simon explained as fast as he could

“He must have some kind of resistance to the drugs,” Simon said, feeling guilty as hell for what had occurred.

Mal looked at Drummond. “Time for regrets later, Doc. You got work to do.” Then Mal left them.

“You three, on the bridge when you’re done,” Mal said with a growl to his crewmates as they trussed up Forbes with some rope someone brought from the cargo bay and tied him to the sofa in the passenger lounge.

“He’s pissed,’ said Jayne in a low whisper as Mal walked away.

“Should have shot you myself,” said Zoe, glaring at Forbes.

“It’s all my fault,” River said and no one disagreed.

As they finished tying him Forbes looked at all three, blood still running from his nose and from his arm “What about my arm and nose? If I bleed to death I can't give you any answers.”

"Here's my answer," Jayne said and he had had enough from this bastard and did what he had been longing to do to someone for days now and just punched him in the face as hard as he could and this time Forbes wasn’t going to wake up for a while.

Simon had seen the fight but had no time to worry about River as he looked for signs of life from the two men and had realized they were dead. He saw this latest act of violence out of the corner of his eye as he returned to Drummond’s side. He knew River had acted foolishly fighting Forbes alone and would give her a good scolding later.

He took off the bandage from Drummond's wound and got to work, hoping he had time to save Drummond’s life. Simon prepared a hypo and as he was about to inject Drummond the Professor’s eyes fluttered and he awoke. He was pale and in obvious shock but he knew what had happened.

“Doctor?”

“I’m here,” said Simon. “I need to put you under.”

“Wait,” came the weak, raspy reply. “Angela?”

“Here I am,” she said, tears still in her eyes and Drummond raised his right hand and she took it, held it tight.

“I have to…tell…you…something,” Drummond gasped.

“Professor, you’re dying,” Simon said. “I need to work.”

“No, not yet. Angela…you’re my…my…daughter,” and as he gasped these words Simon injected him and with a sigh Drummond was unconscious again.

Angela just stared in shock at this man who claimed to be her father, then looked to Brenda.

“Yes, it’s true.,” she said. “And now we must try to save him.”

“Why didn’t he tell me?”

“We’ll let him tell you everything,” Brenda said. “When he awakes.”

But as Simon opened up the wound and saw all the damage, he feared Drummond may never awake again.

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

They landed in a barren area of treeless, featureless tundra, with a sprinkling of snow and temperatures below freezing. Kaylee had stayed in the engine room, the waiting driving her mad, not knowing what was happening, but knowing she had to stay at her post until they landed and in case they needed to take off again. Hearing three gunshots made it more maddening, especially after she called the bridge and no one knew what was happening, and her imagination went wild with what could be going on. Finally she couldn't stand it anymore and was going to head down the stairs but meet Mal on the way up and he told her what happened and that Simon was fine but busy and then they walked to the bridge. Mal had just finished filling in Inara and Wash, when Zoe, River and Jayne came on the bridge.

Mal just glared at them. “What the hell was that? Fight night on Serenity? That bastard kills two men and you just let him and River have a sparring session?”

“I asked them not to shoot him,’ River said as she held a cloth to her bloody nose. “We need to find out what he knows.”

“You didn’t need to shoot him,” Mal said, a bit calmer, and suddenly feeling a little hypocritical since he did shoot him. “But you all could have jumped in and lent a hand.”

“It was a mistake, sir,” Zoe said, looking him straight in the eye.

“Darn right it was,” Mal said and then there was a long silence.

“What happened on Miranda, Capt’n?” Kaylee asked, hating the silence and the obvious tension hanging in the air.

Mal was glad she asked and he filled everyone in on what had happened, about the strange ship, about Drummond being shot, about the ten ships they briefly saw on radar, and then asked for opinions about what to do next, which surprised them a bit since he didn’t do that very often.

“Ten Alliance ships? Out of the frying pan into the….freezer,” said Jayne in disgust as he looked out the cockpit windows at the snowy expanse of terrain.

Inara looked at Mal. “Mal, let’s leave here. We can do another jump, be gone in a few minutes.” There was fear in her voice and Mal could see some of the others were thinking the same thing.

“Remember what we talked about?” Mal asked and didn’t wait for a reply. “Running and hiding never gets us out from under the Alliance. There’s no peace that way. They got Kaylee’s father and they want her and this ship bad. They’ll never leave us be. We all got the death sentence on us for sure. If Drummond dies, don’t know if his work and the vid be enough. No, we stay, we let Simon operate with a stable platform, and then we find out why those ships are here.”

No one had any argument’s for his views except that running was the only way to ensure they lived another day. But Mal was looking for more than that and they understood.

Kaylee was most shocked at the news that the Colonel was now on board, as a prisoner. “He surrendered?”

“Yeah,” said Mal. “Kinda surprised everyone, including his own…people. I’m thinking that Reaver leader, the one he talked about, knew the Colonel was on board and wanted him alive. That’s why they only used the EMP on us, not any missiles or guns.”

“What was with the sixth ship?” Zoe asked.

“Don’t know, babe,” said Wash. “It just appeared and started shooting them down. Likely only reason were still here.”

“Been thinking on that,” Mal said. “Forbes had to have a way to get to Miranda. Maybe he came on a Reaver ship. And maybe his crew had orders to capture us also.”

“The FTL drive,” Kaylee said quietly, thinking on where her father could be and what was happening to him, all because of that drive and her.

“They want it bad,” said Zoe.

“Time we had a chat with Forbes again,” Mal said.

Jayne had a sheepish looked on his face. “He’s out like a light. Old fashion way, no drugs, just five knuckles.”

“Who’s watching him?” Mal asked.

“Some of Drummond’s people,” said Zoe. “They promised not to kill him before we question him. They are mighty sore.”

“With good reason,” Mal said. “How’s our other prisoner?”

“Tied up and chained up to the stairs and with guns on him in the cargo bay,” Zoe answered. “He’s wounded but it was just minor.”

“What about Drummond?” Inara asked with worry.

“All we can do is wait,’ said Mal and no one said a word for a moment, all thinking on the Professor and all he sacrificed to cure the Reavers.

“Now we have to think on the next move. We got ten Alliance ships near Coppermine. Why Haven?” Mal asked.

“Maybe this is where Forbes came from,” said Zoe. “It’s closest place to Miranda.”

“I think it’s time we woke Forbes up again,” said River quietly. “And see what’s in his mind.”