Chapter 19

"Alright Zoe, what ya got?" Mal asked as a joined her, River and Jayne around the cortex terminal.

"Lien Wu, twenty eight years old, five foot ten, 150 lbs, black hair, and grey eyes. Comes from a prominent family who's research and development teams have been contracted by Blue Sun and the Alliance for generations, specifically in the fields of biochemistry and genetics-"

"Friend of the family," River interrupted, "but not very friendly."

"River, do you recognize her?" Mal asked.

"Changed, but not so much," River answered, "She used to play with my brother."

"Can you tell us anything else about her, sweetie?" Zoe asked.

River shook her head and said, "Don't know much. I didn't like her."

"Says here she graduated at the top of her class with a degree in technical engineering," Zoe supplied.

"That's a mite off from the family's usual line of work ain't it?" Mal remarked.

"Doesn't matter," River said, "a wealthy core woman of good breeding's job is to become married. Or a companion."

"Huh. Zoe, check and see if she's married," Mal asked, "might be his family we need to be worried about."

"Sir, her last name hasn't changed."

"Right, uh… I knew that. But uh, check anyway in case they do things different like."

"She is not married," Zoe confirmed.

"Think that's why she snatched the Doc?" Jayne offered between bites of a fruity oaty bar.

"Shenme?"

"You know, why she captured him," Jayne said as if it were obvious. He spoke again waving his oaty bar as a visual aid, "So she could snatch her up a husband."

"Jayne, that has got to be one of the stupidest things you've ever said," Mal said.

"What? Crazy said her job's to get married and the Doc's pretty good at gettin' hisself kidnapped!" Jayne argued. "Ain't like a woman's never up and married someone off a' this boat before," he muttered indignantly before taking another bite.

Mal decided not to acknowledge Jayne's existence and asked Zoe, "We're sure he hasn't been arrested?"

"If he has, they're taking great lengths to keep it quiet," Zoe confirmed.

"Then I guess we'll just have to trust that he knows what he's doin'."

What am I doing here? Simon thought to himself as he stifled a yawn and fought his exhaustion. All he wanted to do was sleep off the drugs side effects, but this was not the ideal location.

Where is this location? Simon wondered. His addled mind and blurry eyes could not supply him with those details. I knew I came here for a reason…

Lien returned to his side with a glass of water and asked him if he was ok. Her tone of voice led Simon to believe she must have asked him that same question several times already. Simon nodded his affirmative and thanked her for the class of water while thinking, What is Lien doing here? Am I back on Osiris?

Simon opted for a more direct approach. He took a sip of his drink and asked her, "What's going on Lien?"

"Just two gentlemen from the parliament," Lien informed, "They wanted to come inside but I told them I had a guest so they gave me this documentation related to a meeting or something my family is invited to send a couple of representatives too and then they left. They were strange people, and they wore blue gloves for some reason."

"River!" Simon shouted, "Is River okay?" Simon stood quickly and frantically look around the room, despite the fact that he could barely see three feet in front of him.

Lien grabbed his arm and said irritably, "How should I know Simon? I'm not the one hiding her."

Simon turned and grabbed her roughly by her arm and asked, "What did you tell them? How much do they know?"

"Simon, you're delirious and you need help. Let me help you move beyond this paranoid psychosis-"

"What have you told them?" Simon repeated threateningly.

"Simon, let go of me," Lien warned.

"You don't want to tell me? Fine!" Simon shouted as he released her and reached for the trigger that would administer another psychic boosting injection.

Lien interpreted Simon's actions as being more offensive, as though he was drawing a weapon. She caught his wrist with a high kick and shoved him into the wall before he could recover.

Before Simon could process what just happened or even grasp his injured wrist, Lien's forearm was at his throat, nearly crushing his larynx as she pinned him against the wall. Struggling to breathe, Simon barely managed to activate his signal ring before he lost his fight with unconsciousness.

"Inara, Simon's signal!" Kaylee exclaimed, excited and worried. While she was relieved to know Simon was still alive, she was concerned he felt the need to use the emergency signal.

"Good job, mei mei, work on finding his location while I contact Mal," Inara said and left to use the cortex terminal.

Weren't me did the 'good job' Kaylee thought as she narrowed the list of possible locations. "Got it," she said to herself and left to join Inara and the wave.

"Whatcha got lil' Kaylee?" Mal greeted her through the wave.

"Simon's location, it's near here so you should come here first," Kaylee answered.

"Why don't ya just tell us where, and we'll get 'im," Mal suggested a hint of irritation, "I promise we'll bring 'im right back."

"You're gonna need me to get in there anyways and you don't have time to argue," Kaylee said firmly, "I'll let you know where he is when you get here. 'Sides, it could change and I'm the one who'd notice."

"Fine!" Mal exclaimed irritably, "Me an' Zoe will meet you outside in twenty minutes. We're gonna have words concernin' this later!" Mal broke the connection while muttering something about shipboard romances.

Thirty Minutes later Mal, Zoe and Kaylee climbed out of the Hovermule just outside of a rear hotel service access way. Kaylee handed Mal a device and said, "Let me know if that dot starts movin' ok?" before crouching down to examine the door's electronic locks.

"Huh. Seems an awful fancy place for a kidnappin'," Mal remarked as he scanned the area for unwanted attention.

"An' just what's that supposed to mean 'Captain'?" Kaylee asked, again enunciated the word with severely undisguised irritation.

"Oh nothin' really, just don't understand them core types is all. Seem's to me there'd be better cheaper places to keep a captive, if that was their intention," Mal commented.

"Well, his signal is coming from here so he's gotta be in here," Kaylee said. She popped open the access panel and said thoughtfully, "Well, we can open it the fast way or the safer way."

"Safe-er, not safe?" Zoe asked.

"Well, I dunno how safe it'll be, I've never done this to a core building before…"

"What's the fast way?" Mal asked her.

"I try out one of my inventions," Kaylee said with a smile. She reached into her tool kit and pulled out what appeared to be a wallet with an Ident card sticking partways out. "It's basically an electronic 'bump' key," she explained, "It keeps the processor bogged down with multiple queries so it can't effect security protocols while it also dials in every access code possibility until one of them opens it up! Well, at least in theory…"

"Huh?" Mal and Zoe asked in unison.

"Ummm… okay, ya know how if you tell Jayne a bunch of stuff an' he's distracted he'll just agree to it?" Kaylee asked. Mal and Zoe nodded their affirmative and Kaylee continued, "Well, that's what this is supposed to do to the door."

"Alright Kaylee, let's try out your little toy," Mal said.

Eighteen seconds later, the door silently opened and the three slipped in unnoticed.

"I still don't understand why I'm the one's gotta do the babysitting," Jayne complained sourly in Serenity's Galley.

"Who said you're the one babysitting," River countered.

"I'm the one's in ruttin' command aren't I?"

"Are you?"

"Don't go playin' your brain tricks on me. You just stay crazy over there an' eat your cereal," Jayne ordered as he searched for Kaylee's hidden whiskey stash.

"Sleeping now, but not well. No one's around to chase away the nightmares. Hands of blue have come and gone so now the room is empty," River rambled for a time before staring straight at Jayne and stating, "I know where it is."

Jayne eyed her suspiciously and asked, "Where is it?"

"What's in it for me?"

"I'll split it with ya," Jayne offered, as if he were proud of the creative solution.

"Insufficient incentive. If spirits were what I desired I would have more to gain by not telling you."

"Well what the hell do ya want?"

"This the room, mei mei?" Mal asked as they reached a door with a 'do not disturb' sign hanging on its handle.

"Signal's comin' from inside," Kaylee confirmed. She reached down to give the handle an experimental turn and was surprised to find the door unlocked.

Mal pulled Kaylee protectively behind him and motioned for Zoe to take point.

Zoe shoved the door open and swept the room with her weapon as Mal covered her from the entrance. She announced it was clear and Mal joined her as they swept the rest of the area, room by room.

After finding the last room to be empty, Zoe and Mal holstered their weapons and returned to the common room to find Kaylee sniffling over a pile of clothing and a letter. Mal crouched down beside her and wrapped a comforting arm across her shoulders and asked, "What is that, mei mei?"

"He's not here," she said dismally as she dropped the letter. Mal watched the letter fall and inspected items around it: men's formal attire, a signal ring, a gentleman's dress cane, and several small devices Mal assumed to be Kaylee's inventions. Mal picked up the fallen latter and began to read it.

To the crew of the unidentified Firefly class transport ship on which Simon Tam was a passenger,

I desire to know what has brought you into the Core and what has become of River Tam. I will have you know that I am not operating under the Alliance's initiative and that my motivations are my own. You may contact me via the secure communications device I have provided and we will meet in person to discuss our business in a civilized manner. If you find that unacceptable, I can extract my answers from Simon Tam in my leisure.

The choice is yours; however, I would suggest you contact me soon if you wish to intervene before I take matters into my own hands.

Mal crumpled the message in frustration and ordered, "Kaylee, gather up all his stuff. Zoe, contact Inara and tell her to return to the ship. We're going to have a crew meeting."

Kaylee had been shot. Shot by a man chasing Simon but Simon refused to help her. He left her bleeding and ran. Kaylee did not disserve to die but Simon thought he had no choice.

Some crazy hill folk had River tied to a post and were determined to set the little witch on fire. Simon left Kaylee to die so he could save River, but there was nothing he could do.

Suddenly Serenity came roaring in from above and Jayne hoped out to save the day. The villagers rejoiced and raised a statue in his honor. River was safe and she was so happy. Simon ran forward to greet Kaylee who glared at him with hate filled eyes.

"I've seen you out in the Rim and you're helpless!" Kaylee shouted, before slapping him in the face and wrapping her arms around the hero of canton.

Mal said, "Didn't think you were man enough for Kaylee anyway."

Simon raised Zoe's arm cannon and fired with surgical precision. The bullet tore into the unarmed portly officer's neck flesh and separated his head from the rest of his body.

Simon woke up screaming in an unfamiliar room, confused and naked. "Just a dream," he told himself. He rose unsteadily and winced as the action placed stress on his injured wrist. "There seems to be an alarming correlation between 'psychic enhancing' drug use and personal nudity, not unlike sake," Simon muttered sarcastically as he examined his quarters.

His own clothing and possessions were nowhere to be found, but someone had been kind enough to lay a simple but elegant blue tunic, along with a pair of shoes and undergarments, aside for him. He dressed gingerly and tried to remember why he felt like he had lost another fight. Apparently his host, whoever it was, had a tailor on staff as Simon's new clothes fit better than anything he owned and, curiously, had no pockets. He decided to check the door in favor of pondering on how the tailor acquired his measurements.

They door was locked, but was opened from the outside a few moments after Simon tried it. A security guard informed him that Ms. Wu would see him in a few minutes.

"Where am I?" Simon asked the guard sheepishly.

The guard answered, "You are on the Wu Family's luxury yacht, Golden Lotus," and closed the door.

(I want to thank everyone who's been commenting, those really help as I write this. If it weren't for comments bringing stuff to my attentiong, things like my River writing would be incredibly lame, so I really appreciate the compliments, criticisms and suggestions please leave more! )