Chapter 1

Mal was able to ignore the commotion and keep his head on the job up until he heard Genny scream. He’d been facing off with a buyer, Kent Walker, on vid and was no closer to a profitable solution than he’d been twenty minutes prior. Sky had stood just out of view, making faces at him, while Jayne snickered against the back of his hand. Simon and River had been rapidly surfing the cortext for intel related to the plague the buyer was going on about, when suddenly River went rigid and pitched forward. Although concerned, River tipping over was not unusual enough to be distracting. It was when Simon opened the cockpit door to carry River to the Infirmary that they heard Genny scream, and time stood still. A quick look dismissed Jayne to help deal with things outside, and Genny’s screaming elevated to panicked shrieks. “Daddy! Daddy help!” she cried and was soon joined by her brother, calling for Simon, Kaylee, or any grown-up within earshot. Mal heard Genny and Jamie … why weren’t his boys hollering too? Walker couldn’t be boarding them. He wasn’t that brazen. He was all money and no muscle. Mal was having a hard time keeping his head in the job, but he knew his crew could handle the situation. As soon as Simon made it downstairs, the screaming died down. He heard the door to his quarters slide open and Inara’s footsteps as she dashed toward the scene. When he heard her involuntary, panicked yelp, his chest tightened. Inhaling sharply, he stepped back from the vid screen and motioned Sky to take over. “Don’t hand me off to a second,” Walker warned. “Ain’t my second,” Mal said matter-of-factly, forcing calm into his voice. “Sky’s third.” “Thanks for that,” Sky said sardonically. “Finish this deal.”

*~*

As soon as he’d closed the bridge door behind him, Mal ran. He ran, heart-pounding, mind spinning, and when he got to the top of the catwalk overlooking the cargo bay, he nearly fell over the railing. His boys, his precious little ones, lay on the ground, one on top of the other. Inara and Kaylee helped Simon brace Michael and lift him off his brother to lay him flat. Little Zoë dashed in with stretcher and splints. Genny and Jamie stayed out of the way, Jamie holding two-year-old Emily and bouncing her consolingly, but the baby had caught on to the panic in the air and she wailed. Mal flew down the stairs, nearly tumbling as he took steps two and three at a time. Michael wasn’t breathing! Simon started chest compressions, recruiting Zoë and Inara as nurses. Kaylee ran between the Infirmary and the cargo bay, getting supplies. Mal fought the urge to demand a report from Simon, and focused on where he could be of use. “Cole,” Mal said, falling to his knees next to his eldest boy. “Cole, son, what happened here?” Cole looked up at him, eyes wide and filled with hurt, hair matted with blood where he’d hit his head. His arm was broken so bad that Mal could see the jagged edge of bone pressing against bruised skin. “He fell, Baba. Michael fff…” With every word, Cole panted for breath. “Fell?” “He was up there,” Genny explained tearfully, coming over and kneeling beside them. She pointed to the highest catwalk. “He dropped the toy paratrooper, and then he dropped too. Head first, like he was tossed.” “I tried to catch him,” Cole said weakly. Mal laughed in spite of himself and touched Cole’s cheek. “Aren’t you the white knight. Looks like he flattened you good.” “Michael!” Cole called, lifting his head up as the team working on Michael lifted his gurney and dashed toward the Infirmary. “Lay back, little hero,” Mal said, cradling Cole’s head in his palm. “You’ve helped plenty.” Cole’s face scrunched with self-disappointment as he looked helplessly from the floor, wincing as Mal parted his hair to check out the wound on his head. It was a minor bump – nothing this boy hadn’t experienced ten times over in his life. Broken bones were nothing new either, but normally, by this time, Simon would’ve splinted him up and given him something for the pain. Cole both sweated and shivered. “Genny, get him a blanket,” Mal said, and the girl ran off purposefully, glad to be of help. “It’s never enough, is it Baba?” “Oh, little hero, it’s more than enough most times. ‘S why every day ain’t like this one.” The general alarm sounded and Mal looked up, cursing their misfortune. Walker must’ve disagreed with Sky’s negotiation tactics. Having been in a few negotiations with the woman himself, Mal wasn’t too surprised. “Go save us, Baba,” Cole croaked weakly, as Genny returned and covered him loosely with a blanket. “Save the ship. Genny will stay with me.”

*~*

Jayne hadn’t had time to ogle the mess in the cargo bay on his way to the Infirmary. He and Simon had barely had a hold on River through the galley and finally Jayne had shoved Simon off so he could heft her up on his shoulder, freeing the Doc to quiet the kids. River twitched in his arms, half the time awake and paranoid, the other half seizing uncontrollably, and Jayne rushed ahead to the Infirmary and laid her down. He had her half-way strapped to the bed when Kaylee dashed in telling him to dope River and move her to the side bed. None of it made sense. River had gone from perfectly fine to nearly dead in the space of a heart-beat, and now she was twitching numbly and breathing erratically. The smoother wasn’t working right. Jayne held River steady with his own hands to keep her from lurching right off the side, because this second bed wasn’t more than a long counter top to begin with. He swallowed hard as the others raced in with little Michael strapped to the stretcher. The boy’s lips were blue and Jayne turned his face away, focusing on keeping River from swallowing her tongue. Simon gave orders to Inara and Little Zoë and Jayne listened for any instruction involving him, willfully shutting out the rest. He couldn’t be here for this – not for the death of a little one. Feeling a tickle under his arm, Jayne’s eyes shot open. Simon had ducked underneath him, getting his face close to River, checking her out. The Doc’s face was all business, his jaw set, his eyes observant and unwavering. He moved quickly and efficiently, running between River and Michael, speaking smoothly without the slightest hint of panic. He hadn’t given any order to Jayne, so Jayne figured he was fine doing what he was doing. River shuddered and convulsed, but Jayne kept her firmly on the bed until the worst of it passed and she resigned to trembles again. Simon ducked under Jayne’s arm again, tossing a bag onto River’s chest, holding a syringe sideways between his lips. “Uncle Simon, he’s seizing again!” Zoë cried. Simon glanced behind, then up at Jayne. “Can you set up an IV?” “Do I have a choice?” Jayne asked, testing to see if it was okay to release River. Simon already had his back turned and was focused on Michael. Jayne picked up the needle and considered it hesitantly. Then he felt cool, soft fingers on his arm. “I’ll do it, Jayne” Inara said, as calm and bone-chilling as the eye of a storm.

*~*

Mal dashed up the stairs to the bridge, silencing the alarm as he came past the controls. “I told you to finish the deal, not start a war!” he cried accusingly. Sky shot him a withering look from the pilot’s chair. “I did finish the deal and on excellent terms,” she said crossly, then motioned out the window. “We just have to get through them first.” Mal’s already short breath quickened with fear at the strange ship that pursued them. It looked like an Alliance scout that had been ripped apart and tied back together with rail road tracks. They weren’t firing weapons, but they were riding close enough to ignite Serenity’s exhaust trail. “Ta ma de. River,” Mal breathed, then shook the paranoia. “Can’t be. Michael’s never reacted to Reaver’s before.” “Could be he reacted to River,” Sky said crisply, not caring to speculate. “If they’re Reavers, they aren’t your ordinary first generation, garden variety.” “They come in special?” Mal asked. As far as he knew, any kind of Reaver was the kind that killed you pretty permanent. “If they were ordinary, River would’ve said ‘Hey Captain, I sense Reavers.’ That’s what she’s done as long as I’ve known her.” Sky hadn’t known River before Miranda and it had been awhile since Mal paused to consider the changes time had wrought. Knowing she was right, he nodded gravely, practically falling into the Captain’s chair as Sky pitched the ship, taking off in a new direction. “What the sphincter hell –” Mal cried, strapping himself in. Sky chuckled nervously. “I may have exaggerated my piloting skills on my resume.” “I’ll take con,” Mal said irritably, activating the control in the Captain’s con. He knew his ship better than Sky, and he knew how she could fly. Grabbing the comm, he hit the connection to the engine room. “Kaylee, cut the intake, we’re skimming into atmo.” “We’re running to ground?” Sky said incredulously. “It makes more sense to push for the black.” “We may need a hospital. Today. What do you know about …” Mal pointed port, then adjusted trajectory. “What’s that planet?” Sky glared daggers. “Kerry. Good fish, bad liquor, mediocre dancing.” “Check the geography. We need a place to lose ‘em.” “No,” Sky murmured, but Mal was already making a bee line for the planet. He heard Sky whisper, “You don’t draw Reavers to a populated planet.”

*~*

Inara knew Jayne hated needles, and she knew every moment in these next few were life and death. Jayne took up the vent on Michael, pumping life into his lungs every few seconds, and Inara fought against the trembling River and the shaking of the ship to get a smooth stick in the girl’s arm. Simon was focused almost exclusively on Michael, using River as a gauge for which of Michael’s symptoms were fall-related and which were … whatever had caused him to fall. Needle tracks and hardened veins up River’s arm made it difficult to find a decent place to stick, and the panic blurring Inara’s vision wasn’t helping the matter. Glimpsing movement in the hall, she saw Genny and Jamie arrive, carrying Cole between them on a stretcher. They set the stretcher on a long coffee table, then Jamie ran back to the cargo bay, presumably to retrieve Emily. “Cole,” Inara called out to her son, using the strength of motherhood to keep herself calm for his sake, and for River’s. “Sweetie, you’re going to be okay. I’m right here.” Cole’s head turned to the sound of her voice, but he didn’t answer. “Talk to me Cole,” Simon called out. He was at the counter in chemist mode now, mixing a series of meds. “How are you feeling?” “I’ve been better,” Cole said tentatively, and Inara smiled sympathetically. She finally got the needle in River’s arm and started arranging the drip line. “Cole, on a scale of one to ten,” Simon said. “Eight?” Cole answered, his voice trembling. “Maybe thirty-two. You know how it is when Baba flies the ship.” Inara knew that catch-phrase. “Are you sick, sweetie?” “I’ll keep.” He was being brave, but she didn’t want him choking on bile. Inara finished setting up the IV, then went to the counter next to Simon, gathering splints, ice packs, and water to tend to Cole. “Inara, I need you in here, please,” Simon said firmly, not looking up from his work “Jayne, take the splints for Cole. Don’t dope him unless you have to. Inara, take over the vent and keep an eye on Michael’s stats. Zoë, hook up the second monitor to River.” Inara traded off with Jayne, then nodded to Zoë that she had a view of the monitor. “Heart rate spiking!” Her eyes filled with tears as her son’s heart rate reached critical, and she fought with all that was in her to keep the breath from the vent steady and even. Simon finished mixing and turned, syringe in one hand, cortical device in the other. “Stop the vent,” he said, placing the cortical stimulator on Michael’s forehead. It charged, then pulsed, sending Michael into a convulsion. Quickly Simon shoved the needle in Michael’s neck and injected the medicine. Inara moved to replace the vent, but Simon stayed her with his hand. Michael’s stats calmed significantly, and he gasped lightly before starting to breathe on his own. He was still unconscious, but at least he was alive. “Check for breaks or injuries from the fall,” Simon said coldly, then turned to his second patient. “Zoë – ” “Don’t rush me,” Zoë snapped, clearly frustrated with the wires from the monitor. “Just from my ear to her heart, I’d say she’s over 200 bpm, and she’s breathing … well, not deep enough to get air.” Giving up on the monitor for the moment, Zoë hooked up an oxygen line and ran a tube under River’s nose. Simon must’ve approved, because he said nothing, and returned to the counter to prepare another dose of medicine.

*~*

Simon gritted his teeth, hoping the bucking of the ship wouldn’t ruin the mixing of the meds. Everyone thought he’d focused on Michael because Michael was most critical. In truth, between Michael and River, he’d assessed Michael most likely to survive. Even with the fall, his brain hadn’t been cut into, prodded, and manipulated by Alliance scum. Whatever had a hold on these two couldn’t be related to the scars of the Academy, but Simon knew those scars were no favor to River. “I have the monitor up,” Zoë reported, struggling to stay upright as the ship turned again. The alarms blared frantically as soon as River’s vitals registered, and Simon knew his window to save her was rapidly closing. Working patiently, Simon finished mixing the meds… for all the good it would do him. It seemed every few years, River would suddenly adapt to whatever magical cocktail had kept her lucid up to that point. He had a few ideas in the queue for this time around, but Simon recognized Square One when he saw it. This was not Square One. Just before she’d fainted, she’d looked at him so desperately, and then her eyes went hollow like her soul was sucked out. Silencing his doubts, he forced the simple solution first. He injected River with the drug and just as it worked with Michael, River’s vitals stabilized. His heart shuddered, wondering who he might find when his sister awoke. She’d come so far in the past few years. She’d even gotten engaged to a ship captain and lived off of Serenity for three months before breaking the whole thing off. She was so close to flying on her own, and now – “Simon?” Her voice was sweeter than honey. Simon ran to his sister’s side, slipping his hand into hers, caressing her face. The hollowness was gone, and she looked terrified. “They’re coming,” she whimpered. “They’re coming and they’re already here. Already inside, controlling me. I can’t … No!” She screamed and Simon held her face between his hands, searching for her eyes, willing peace to flow from him to her. Her pupils shrank to pinpoints and her eyes rolled back and she just kept screaming. “River,” he called desperately. “What can I do?” “Out! Get out!” River flailed, smacking Simon’s face, snapping his neck back. He felt the trickle of blood on his cheek, but ignored it, found a sedative, and knocked her out again. He had no idea when it would be safe to wake her.

*~*

The first thing Jayne heard when he entered the hall was the soft sobs of his baby girl. Jamie held her and with a combination of candy and consoling words had reduced her wails to whimpers, but as soon as she saw her daddy, she cried out and reached for him. Jamie stepped toward Jayne, but Jayne shook his head. “Not yet.” He surveyed the lounge situation as it was – three healthy kids, one gimp. First things first was to keep the whole ones whole. “Kids, get yourselves strapped in. We have some rough flying ahead. Genny, you too,” he said when she stayed by Cole. Jayne looked at the boy on the stretcher lying atop the coffee table, wondering how he might secure it all in place. Deciding to work and think, he knelt by the table and ripped open the packaging on the splints. “How are you, little man?” Cole swallowed and shrugged. “A little sick. A little bored. Is it my turn with Doctor Simon yet?” Jayne harrumphed. “What do you think?” “My head hurts.” Jayne stopped with the splints, turning his attention to the boy’s head. He felt the lump, and used a wet rag to clean the blood away. It didn’t look like a concussion, but no wonder the Doc didn’t want to blanket drug him. Jayne knew these kinds of injuries though, and he could make his own decisions on what needed doing. Finishing the bandage on the head, he turned to the broken arm. “Things aren’t getting better right away,” Jayne warned Cole. “I’m ready,” Cole said bravely, biting his lip to keep from crying out as Jayne surveyed the damage, figuring just the right way to pull. “It’s okay to scream.” Their eyes met and they nodded to each other, like Cole was grown and they were old friends. Cole had all of his dad’s strength and his mom’s good looks, which Jayne knew would serve him well if he survived his childhood. This wasn’t the first broken bone Jayne had set for him. “If it gets too much, tell me and I’ll give you something,” Jayne said. He paused again, giving Cole a chance to cave and beg for drugs, mentally preparing himself for the boy’s scream when his pride failed. The ship shook with hard burn and Jayne waited for the acceleration to steady before he set the bone. The snap echoed, Cole screamed, and the entire hall went black. Noise clamored from inside the Infirmary, gravity shifted sideways, and Emily shrieked in the darkness. “Uncle Jayne?” Cole asked timidly and uncertainly, his voice barely audible above the noise. “I think I blacked out.” Jayne blinked and waited out the darkness. “Ain’t just you.”

*~*

Sky swore constantly under her breath as she brought up topography maps of Kerry. The Captain was flying sluggishly, and the ship tailed them like it was attached with a string. “The marking on that ship is like nothing I’ve seen,” Mal said, craning his neck as they swung wide. Was he intentionally not running so he could get a better look? “It’s very pretty,” Sky said irritably. “Evasive beta.” Mal initiated the maneuver, but kept poking at the vid, changing the angles. “It’s some kind of bastardized Alliance symbol.” “I’ll take a capture and review it later. Can we run from these guys now?!” “I am running. It’s like he’s reading my mind.” Mal swerved as they hit the atmosphere and the ship stayed just above them, creating a heat shock wave. Serenity bucked and rolled as their pursuers fired some form of weapon, and then the entire console went black. “Gorram! What was that?!” Sky cried, feeling the tug on her restraints as the grav boot kicked and they felt the full-g force of their maneuvers. Mal stayed completely calm. Sky recognized the spark in his eye, indicating he’d found an escape plan. Whatever the hell it was, she hoped he’d start it soon. “Still have attitude control,” he said, pressing the nose through atmo, and starting down. They dove deeper into atmo, angling sharp enough to toss the lunch, but Sky noticed the other ship held off. Maybe that tear down the middle of the enemy’s hull couldn’t handle the transition from space to air. Mal tapped the screen. “No instruments.” “Fun,” Sky said dryly, reaching for the comm, hoping it hadn’t fried too. “Kaylee, we lost the computer!” “Learn to love it,” Kaylee answered, yelping as something zapped on her end. “She’s fried.” “Is there still power to the Infirmary?” Mal asked urgently. The speaker squawked with static and sparks from the opposite end. “Ain’t heard complaints,” Kaylee finally answered. “Not that that’s good.” “Sky –” “Can’t fix it by looking, Mal. My eyes are best kept up here,” she said, focusing out the window and on their current predicament. Landing a ship with no external down view and no instrument guide was not a one man job.

*~*

please comment before reading Chapter 2