To Kill From A Distance

Part 3

Kaywinnet Lee Frye was a little unhappy with the Captain at the moment. It had been six and a half hours since He, Zoe and Jayne had returned to Serenity and six hours since their departure for Pluto2. Mal was a little upset that their time on Persephone had resulted in only two transactions, and only one turned out to be the paying kind.

Kaylee had told Malcolm of the events that had transpired and Book had verified all that had happened. It wasn’t her fault if no one wanted to dally up the cost of a fare. Kaylee couldn’t twist peoples arms and force them to venture to a place they didn’t want to go, nor at a price they didn’t want to pay. What was wrong with the Captain? What she didn’t know was that Mal was feeling a little stressed. He felt a little uneasy knowing that his ship had been targeted for another attack, maybe the fellow had been a bounty hunter. The plot had been foiled but still it was better to stay alert, then again, who was this female tag along? Mal didn’t like the idea.

As usual, Zoe and Wash had pretty much kept out of the conversation and Jayne had been a bit on the Captain’s side, but since the passenger was a girl he stilled his tongue at the chance of making a new friend. Especially someone like Gentle. Jayne did get lonely out in the black and what better way to spend a short trip than in the company of a girl? A new, pretty girl that didn’t hate him yet.

It was late supper when Mal called his only passenger up to the galley in order to find out a little more about her. Maybe fish for a reason why she might want to accompany them when they weren’t even going to the place she’d expressed a desire to go.

“ Well Mr. Reynolds it isn’t that far a distance from Pluto2 to Ceres and I figured every step closer is a step in the right direction.” Gentle explained herself rather well.

“ Isn’t that the same thing the fellow at the dock was saying?” Mal interjected.

“ Yeah, well I guess it was, only I wasn’t rubbing elbows with the authorities on that Alliance infected rock!” Gentle defended herself.

“Which brings me to another point.” Mal Reynolds said, “Excuse me Miss Breeze, but you were in the war, Battle of Serenity? Sorry if I’m a bit of a skeptic here but you are much too young to have ever been in any battle that I was a participant in. Zoe and I seen lots of folk in the war and we never met someone as young as you.” Mal finished.

Jayne sat back. The Captain had a very valid point. Maybe he liked the girl, but honesty was something that Jayne never believed much from womenfolk. Unless they said they wished that he would honestly die. That much he did believe.

“ Well Captain Reynolds, were you acquainted with every soldier that was on our side in that battle?” Gentle paused, “ Did you see every face that looked with terror upon those Allied gunships that spit fire and death with each pass that they made?”

Mal had to admit he did not.

“ I’m 26 years old Captain Reynolds and I was 20 at the time. It’s hard for me to sit here and be accused of something that I’m not, a freeloader, and after the horrors I’ve witnessed. The same things you and Zoe saw during……..” Gentle sprang from the galley table and scamper to the passenger compartment she’d been assigned to.

Mal felt the weight of ten eyes staring at him. None of them sympathetic. Kaylee got up and followed the girl to her room. Jayne squirmed, got himself something to drink and left for his bunk. Zoe and Wash exited quietly toward the bridge and Book slipped into the kitchen to pour himself another cup of coffee. Mal glanced up at he Preacher.

Shepherd brought the cups to his lips.

“ Don’t look at me, I’m on her side.” He said then took as sip.

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After some apologies Mal Reynolds, Captain of the browncoat ship Serenity again found himself in the galley along with everyone else, and again Gentle seated in the chair across from him.

“ Ok Miss Breeze…..“

“Gentle!” She mentioned.

“Gentle. Ok so you were in the war. That part I apologies for….for not fully believing. It is very true that you could have been there but you never explained your status, rank or what you did. Excuse me for prying a little but we’ve had others on this boat that have sprung surprises on us.” Mal explained.

“ Yeah like that one that turned into two, that time before when we were here.” Jayne had opened his mouth and the rest of the crew of Serenity wanted to put one of the Gentle’s dirty war boots in it. The big mercenary fell quiet right away.

“ Ok Capt I was with the 113.” The girl stated.

Mal knew right away he was in trouble.

“ The 113? That was the demolition brigade. Specializing in explosives and bombs!” Mal’s eyes widened.

“ Yeah, that’s right!” She said.

“ Captain James Nelson was our attachment to that brigade.” Mal voiced.

“ Yes, Captain James T. Nelson, brother to Robert E. Nelson my superior. Neither of whom survived the war. I was a sergeant in rank and my expertise was the destruction of the purplebellys mechanize support units.”

“ You were a sergeant and blew up tanks?” Jayne was impressed. “ Mal you’d have likely played second fiddle to this girl in the war.” He laughed.

The Captain cut him a pair of eyes that the crew of Serenity had witnessed many times before. Jayne fell silent again.

“ Geez, a whole new selection of fun loving, story-time war adventures. Ain’t we the luckiest people that ever sailed the universe!” Wash added with a laugh. Zoe hit him in the arm.

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Two hours later Mal joined Wash and Shepherd Book up on the bridge.

“ So….how’s it comin?” The captain asked.

“ Pretty good so far Mal.” Wash told him. “ We have found evidence that there was a Gentle Breeze who fought in the Battle of Serenity, she was around 20 years of age and she was in the 113 demolition brigade. That much we do know. But so far no photos and no description of the individual is to be found. Seems a lot of paperwork was destroyed during the final weeks of the war. When it became apparent that the Independence were loosing there was a lot of stuff lost or disposed of.”

“Yeah it’s apparent that our side wanted to keep a lot of identities secret. Have the post war Alliance dig to find out who their enemies were.” Mal had forgotten who was on the bridge with him.

“ Or hide war criminals.” Book looked at the captain one eyebrow raised.

Mal took a little offence.

“Yeah, could be. The Independence had death squads just as the Alliance. The Fire Panthers were some of the worse. They were a pretty bad group, the thing is they’ve been hunted down and imprisoned and made to suffer for there what they’ve done, while the death squads of the Alliance received promotions and walk around free in the verse.

It was a touchy subject Book decide to pursue no farther. Wash looked again at Mal.

“ Oh, and Gentle Breeze is just a cover name, invented to hide the special military units identities. Hadn’t found her real name yet but we’ll keep looking. The cortex is the mother load of information.” Wash smiled then got back to his search.

Mal relaxed a bit but was still going to kept his guard up.

End Part 3