River stepped down, her foot hitting Shadow soil for what felt like the first time in too long. She came towards Simon, who was leading the others.

"Meimei? What on earth..."

"Mal's in trouble." She responded, her pace quickened as she met him for a hug.

"Oh River." He hugged her tight.

"Missed you too." She whimpered, finally breaking under all of the pressure she had been subjected to.

"What happened to the..."

Later, need to save the damsels." She pressed, letting go as the group clustered around her "Now. Before it gets much much worse."

"That ship is sealed up tight, it's gonna take me some time ta break in." Kaylee pointed out with fret.

"Our ship can drop us off on the top, go in through the roof access." River explained.

"Our ship?" Inara questioned.

"Made friends." River clarified.

"I sense someone needing a doctor." Tasya finally broke her silence, as she had followed River out. The group turned to her, confused. "Hi." She gripped the small med pack the ship had been equipped with. "I uh, will get through introductions later seeing as there's peril involved at the moment, but I can help with the injury portion of all this."

Jayne sized her up. Not bad, not his usual buxom figure, however he'd sex that. "Then you best go off with our crippled doc, we got some action of the ass kickin' variety to tend to."

"I agree with Jayne, I would like to have Mal in as few pieces as possible." Inara declared, bolt thrower in hand.

"You can come with me." Simon and gestured for the unknown medical professional to follow. "Shan-shan, let's go."

Shan-shan, who had been sniffing River, turned to follow.

"Kaylee, why don't you take Meilin and go with Simon?" Inara suggested. "You don't need to be apart of this and I'd rather have you be safe and watch Meilin for me."

"I like that idea." Kaylee lifted Meilin up so that the mother could kiss and soothe her before leaving. "Stay safe ok? Shang hai wo de lao ren."

"Oh don't worry, we will."

"Kaylee?" Simon coaxed her to follow. With her following the group headed off to Serenity for medical care and safety.

"Come on." River turned around and led them into the ship. "Need to get up in the air." She called out as the others entered and her hand went out and hit the button to close the doors.

Jayne and Inara looked around the small space, eyes falling on two small children sitting on the floor with Boston, completely oblivious to the peril.

The little ones glanced up, the boy timidly opening his mouth. "Hi."

Jayne curled his lip, shifting as if he was allergic to small children.

"Hi..." Inara was confused. "Who. Are. You?"

The girl popped up. "We're... we're... peepole." She seemed puzzled at her own answer.

Inara furrowed her brows.

The ship lurched up, it's engines whining with torque as River reemerged from the cockpit area. "Time for that later. Going to be on the roof soon." She slung the nandao Grand Master had given her across the back.

"You better have some special training up in that pretty little head'a yours." Jayne checked all of the guns he had. "Cause I got what I got, Nara's got that bolt thrower, a pistol and some knives and that's it up against those chou wang ba dan."

"Have more than enough." she glanced over at the children, and at Boston, who looked ready to jump up on her shoulder. "Stay."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mal screamed in pain.

"They're just toes, Mr. Reynolds." Niska cooed.

There was a heavy thud, and the ship shook.

"Vhat was that?!" He stopped torturing the captain and looked to his men.

Mal gasped, catching his breath.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaylee took to the engine room with the baby and tiger. Shan-shan lay right next to the hammock as Kaylee shushed and coddled Meilin, who was still fussy. The two doctors kept to the infirmary, one patching the other.

"Let me set up a tray." Simon announced as he walked into the infirmary.

"Why don't you just take a seat and leave it to me." The woman explained. "I ah, can kinda find my way around pretty well."

"All right." Simon could not help but feel awkward, as he was not used to someone else being dominate in his infirmary. He was puzzled though, that she new exactly where the gloves and scissors were, and the scanner equipment was. "So um, your name?"

"Ah Tasya, Tasya ..." She almost replied with Hamilton's surname, yet she stopped herself, and used the one she had preferred before him. "Foley, Tasya Foley."

"Simon, Tam." He watched her take the scissors and gently cut away the fabric of his shirt to reveal the burn,

Her heart rattled in her chest as it had been since meeting him, and she stole another look at Simon. For he, was the girl's father. This man was the one who was to take her in, to raise her and love her and be what she could not. "It's a pleasure to meet you." Focusing on the wound, she pushed out those thoughts, the worries.

He saw the nervousness, yet trained his eyes back on his own injury "You as well."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jane was not afraid of using his guns.

He was a tank, unstoppable and armed to the hilt as he quickly took over the engine room. With bullet laden bodies gracing the metal floors, he stepped out and turned the corridor to keep fighting them off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He suddenly hissed through his teeth at the slightest rustle of the fabric.

"Sorry, sorry." The feminine brow furrowed "Looks like some of the fabric has been fused to your skin."

"Minor surgery then." There was heavy sigh on the patient's part, as she took the scanner that was hooked to the monitor on the wall and ran the sensors right across the area above the wound. "How did you come to know River?"

"Just recently, it was more or less by chance." She kept her answers guarded as the scanner processed

"Are you... a reader?" He asked, cautiously, then snorted softly. "Guess that's not the brightest question considering you know your way around my infirmary."

"Well, to answer that question, I am." She said softly, honestly.

"So you were at the temple on Sihnon?"

"No, no we met somewhere else." She could hear the questions bubble up in his mind. "I think that's something for you and River to discuss though." The scanner beeped, and she carefully read the results. "It's bad but it's pretty small and if you have the right medication you'll probably just be living with a rather insignificant scar. I need to do a hydroline removal but..."

"Excuse me," Simon, confused, cut her off "however that procedure's been out of date for... three years at least." Looking up at this new doctor, it was easy to see he was doubting her competence. Reading her reserved, but still present embarrassment, he tilted the head. "When exactly was the last time you practiced medicine?"

"Over three years." She confessed, rolling her lower lip into her mouth.

"Oh."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

River took towards the cockpit.

She moved like a torrent, swift and graceful, fluid and powerful.

Shrugging the nandao off, yet not unsheathing it, she dodged gunfire and attacked with the knowledge Li Ten had bestowed upon her. The young Tam read their minds and countered every strike before it came, a step to dance around one before their foot even landed. Yet she refused to kill, the blade was never sheathed as she used it as a blunt weapon. Striking Niska's men across the head, the knees, the back, all while dodging, evading, blocking strikes.

Once one was down she whirled about and struck another down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He leaned back in the chair. "If you set up a tray I can walk you through the current procedure."

"Sounds like a decent plan." Setting the scanner down she went about setting up a tray, reading the list in his mind.

Simon settled in and further pondered over what he had just heard, as well as taking into account that this doctor that had not practiced. "It's quite easy, you'll need to get the laser scalpel and the dermal patch kit..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ain't... your day." Mal coughed, a weak smirk tugging his lips. "Cause that sounds like the calvary."

"Vhat's going on?" Niska asked, as there was a rush from his men upstairs, shouts of securing the bridge and engine room.

"Sir stay down here, The second floor is compromised." His lackey told him. "We're containing it the best be can...."

The bolt whistled through the air and struck Adelae Niska in the chest.

The lackey whipped around.

Inara pulled back the handle of her weapon, walking in from the door do the common area. "Could have done a better job." She released the string, and let the bolt fly.

It met with a thick thud.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Good job." Simon sighed as the bandage was wrapped around his arm. "Since there's going to be a lot of injured would you mind possibly helping out? You could treat those who seem less severe while I do major surgery, there will be some major surgery seeing as we're dealing with Niska."

"That sounds fine." She taped the bandage in place. "Do you have supplies?"

"Plenty, we can go grab some right now and stock up."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mal?! Zoe?!"

Inara rushed forward, finding the controls to the wrench and lowering her lover and Zoe down.

Mal's eyes slowly went from Niska's corpse to the woman that had killed him. "Nara?"

She saw his state, and turned to shout over her shoulder. "I NEED HELP!" *** *** *** TRANSLATIONS/DEFINITIONS meimei: sister shan hai wo de lao ren: hurt the old man for me Chou wang ba dan: lousy bastards *****As always, the writer appreciates all comments whether they be positive, negative, or suggestions.**