Jorvik “Toss her in there.” The man took Kaylee by the arm and shoved her into the cell, she landed in a heap on the floor. She crawled to the back wall, sat up and looked around. Thru her tears she saw that she was the only person in the cell, she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. She was worried about the others, she had seen Jayne go down bleeding from his upper chest and Zoë bleeding from the leg. That was all she saw as the men dragged her into their shuttle. She had no idea where she was, but she was sure that the Captain would come after her, that was the thought that kept her going. Serenity “They gonna be Ok Doc? How soon can Jayne get up? Need him to start tracking that ship.” Mal was beside himself, if he hadn’t seen Jayne fight so damn hard he might be able to blame him for this, as it was he only had himself. It had taken him and Wash an hour to get the mule running again after the ambush. “Jayne will be fine as soon as I finish sewing his shoulder up, though he shouldn’t lift anything heavy and no work outs. Zoë should stay off her leg for at least two days, but they both will be fine.” Jorvik El looked in the cell, it had been a long time sense they had taken anyone. She had been on the ship for two years, taken off Lansdale where she had worked as a waitress, now she was a slave. She hated that word, she hated this ship and she hated the men that kept her here. When she entered the cell she saw the small bundle of clothes in the corner, as she walked towards it, it moved. El set down the bowl of stew and got on her knees. “Hey there, you Ok?” She reached out to brush the hair off the girls face. “Stay away from me.” The bundle moved away from her. “You hurt? You need anything?” “Need to go home!” “Don’t we all.” El tried to laugh. “I brought you some stew, made it myself. You sure you’re not hurt?” She reached out again. “Don’t want anything, just want to go home.” Kaylee was very close to tears. “Captain’s gonna come for me!!!”. “Honey, I hope so…. you still have to eat and trust me you should eat when you can.” “Why should I trust you?” Kaylee looked up to see who she was talking to. “You don’t have much choice. Name is El, I’m the cook, also a slave like you. Sorry about that, if I could set you free I would and I would set myself free too.” She smiled and Kaylee smiled back. “Here eat this, it’s good.” She held the bowl out to the young girl, slowly she took it and sniffed. “Smells good.” She took a small bite. “Taste good too.” Kaylee quickly finished the bowl. “Good girl, now are you hurt at all?” Kaylee shook her head. “Good, you should try and sleep, I have no idea what they have planned for you.” El took the empty bowl and got up. “You leaving?” Kaylee looked up. “Can’t you stay here?” “I’ve got to clean up the kitchen.” She saw the terror in the girl’s face. “You want to come help, might be some more stew?” El helped the girl get up. “What’s your name?” “Kaylee.” “Ok, let me see if you can come with me.” She walked over to the bars. “York, can she come help me in the kitchen?” “Yeah, bring her back in an hour.” “Let’s go Kay.” El took Kaylee’s hand and whispered. “Best change your name now, gives them less control over you.” She led Kaylee thru the bars and down the hall. There were lots of cat-calls as they passed thru the commons. Kaylee kept close to El as they walked past the men, El slapped hand away from Kaylee. “Hands off, boys.” Serenity “Captain, they just left, not more then an hour ago.” Jayne ran up the ramp. Having finally gotten some good news. “They’re headed to Cairo, should take them a week to get there.” Mal was already heading to the bridge, Jayne right behind him. “Wash! Head to Cairo. How long till we catch them?” “Well, I need to know what kind of ship they have?” Wash asked as he looked between the two men. “Jayne?” Jayne took a piece of paper out of his pocket. “A… Macro…. Star… 2.. 2.. 5” He looked up and hoped it made sense to Wash. “Good luck for us, should only take a day or two” Wash smiled up at Mal. “Well, let’s get moving.” Mal let lose with his first smile sense Kaylee had been that morning. Jorvik “Well, ain’t you a pretty little thing, Mavis said we had a new girl. Guess you’ll get some more sleep El.” The man took a step towards Kaylee and El got in his way. “You know the rules, Mavis get first choice, back off.” She glared at the man. “Well, guess I’ll just have to settle for you.” He pushed her up against the counter and shoved his hand up her shirt. El closed her eyes and waited for him to stop fondling her and she prayed that Kay never knew what she now knows. “You done yet? I need to finish in the kitchen.” El said with as much venom as she could muster. The man back handed her across the room. “You need to watch that mouth, Bitch, it’s gonna get you into trouble,” “Like this is just a little bit of heaven.” She said as she stood up. The man came up to her and forced her back against the counter. “You don’t want to know how bad I can make it. You been nothing but trouble sense you got here, not sure you’re worth it.” He took out his knife and held it to her throat. “Until you learn to cook, Giles, she’s worth it.” A large man came up and pulled Giles off Els throat. “El, do you have to piss him off every night? And what’s she doing out of her cell?” He walked over to Kaylee and ran his fingers thru her hair. “She was going to help me clean up and then I was gonna take her for a quick shower.” El hoped Mavis would let the girl get cleaned up. “Yeah, clean her up and bring her to my quarters.” Mavis started to leave. “Mavis, you sure you don’t want to save her… you know… you’ll get more money for her if she’s a virgin.” El took a chance that greed would out weight lust, she took a step closer and placed her hand on his chest. “Good thinking El.” He looked Kaylee over one last time and then he looked over at El. “Be there in an hour.” He turned and looked at the rest of his men. “New girl’s off limits.” He left the room to the groans of his men. El smiled at Kaylee. “Well, I hope you’re right about your Captain. We won’t be at Cairo for at least a week.” She turned and started to clean the dishes. Kaylee walked over and put a hand on El. “Thank you, El. I’m sorry if you got in to trouble ‘cause of me.” She picked up a towel and started to dry. El looked at her and remembered what it was like when she was first brought on board. “It’s fine Kay, it’s just like any other night, don’t worry.” She finished with the dishes, she hadn’t cried for at least a year and she didn’t want to start now. El took Kay back to her cell, she picked up a clean blanket for her and promised to check in before she headed for bed. Mavis never wanted her to spend the night, none of them did. She was glad she had time for a quick shower, she liked to keep him happy, it’s the only thing that kept her alive. After a shower she knocked on his door, she entered when he answered and walked over to the bed and waited. He pulled back the cover, she dropped her towel and she got in. “Good call on the new girl.” He ran his hands thru her wet hair, glad that she had showered. Slowly he forced her head down…………………… El grabbed her towel and left, she headed for another shower. No one ever bothered her after she had been with Mavis. She stopped in afterwards to see Kay, she found her awake. “You need to sleep, Kay, you’re safe for now.” She gave a girl a hug and tucked her in. “How long you been here?” Kaylee looked at this women who was her savior. “Been on the ship almost two years.” She answered in a tired voice, she had been up sense before dawn and was exhausted. “Where were you before?” She didn’t realize how tired El was, she kept her talking, not wanting to be alone. “All over, never really had any one place.” She laid down next to Kaylee. “What about home?” “I don’t have a home, left my parents house years ago.” “How come?” Kaylee didn’t mean to pry and bring up old hurts, she just didn’t understand how anyone could not have a home. “Oh…. Well…” It was hard for her to talk about it, she hadn’t spoken of it in years. “I was in love with a man my father didn’t think was good enough for me, man who worked for him off and on. When the war started my father thought he should have joined the alliance, when he didn’t my father called him a traitor and tried to have him arrested. We made plans to run away, but somehow my father found out and sent some men to meet him.” El felt the tears run down her face, but made no effort to stop them. It had been a long time sense she had thought about him. Kaylee couldn’t believe it, how could a father do such a thing. “What happened?” “They brought me back his gun, to show that he was dead. So that I would get all thoughts of leaving out of my head. It didn’t work, I left the day I turned eighteen. Father was furious, he cut me off from all the family, threatened to take their money away if they helped me. Figured I never make it on my own.” She laughed oddly. “Almost didn’t, luckily my grandmother doesn’t like my father and she set up an account for me to draw on, nothing he could do about it. I wasn’t allowed on my home world, so I traveled a lot. The account let my grandmother know that I was alright. I’m the only one that can access it. She must be worried by now, it’s been two years. Never went so long before, even if I didn’t need the money I would access it to let her know I was alright.” El didn’t want to talk about it anymore, she started to get up. “Can’t you sleep here tonight?” Kaylee pleaded. El remembered what her first few nights had been like, she smiled at the girl and laid back down. ‘Was I ever this innocent?’ She wondered to herself. Serenity “Captain, we should catch up in a few hours.” Wash said as he came in to the kitchen. “That was fast.” Mal stated when he swallowed. “Yeah, must be lots wrong with their ship.” Wash got himself some breakfast. “So how we gonna get on board?” Jayne asked as he sharpened Binky. “Don’t know, Wash, can we ram them?” Mal turned to face the Pilot. “Not sure, Captain, be real iffy.” Wash answered. “What if we make them come to us?” Jayne said. “Huh?” Captain asked. “Well, I was thinking, what if we make them come to us. They’re pirates, let’s get close and send out an SOS. Then when they break in, we take them.” Jayne continued to sharpen his knife, he was use to his ideas being ignored. “That’s a great idea, Jayne.” He tried not to sound as surprised as he was. “Wash, can we get in front of them, then…. you know… break down?” Captain was thinking the rest of the plan out. Jayne was stunned, Mal never liked his ideas, he shrugged and finished with his knife. Mal had already put the finishing touches on the plan. Jorvik El woke early, she always did, she woke Kaylee. “Kay, I got to go start breakfast.” She stood and stretched. “Can I come and help?” Kaylee stood, she didn’t want to be left alone again. El smiled at her. “Sure, be good for you to know a skill.” She turned to leave. “I have a skill, I’m a mechanic.” Kaylee was defensive. “Oh God, don’t tell anyone that, they’ll keep you here forever if they find that out. Then you’ll never get off the ship.” She looked around, glad that no one had heard her. Kay’s only hope was to get off this ship and onto a better one. El didn’t think there could be any worst ones. They were headed to the kitchen when the alarm sounded, they hurried on and ran into Mavis. “What’s up?” El asked. “Got an SOS, ship with out life support, you better move her to your room, we’ll need her cell.” Mavis ran off yelling orders. “Damn.” El said quietly. “Come on let’s move your stuff.” They went back to the cell and grabbed Kay’s blanket, that’s all she had. They dropped it off in Els’ tiny room. “We better get back to the kitchen and warm up some mush.” She watched the men as they ran around and gathered weapons. “They’re gonna stop and help these people?” Kaylee sounded a little surprised. “Hell no, they’re going to strip it of everything and everyone.” El again wondered if she had ever been that innocent. “We have to stop them.” Kaylee looked at her new friend. “Kay, there is nothing we can do.” Another two men ran by. “Giles said that their catalyzer is blown and that they can pay.” He ran off laughing. Kaylee looked shocked, she grabbed El’s hand and dragged her back to the cell. “It Serenity, it’s my ship… Told you the Captain would come for me.” Kaylee was practically dancing. “How can you know that?” “The catalyzer, that’s what blew on our ship, it’s a signal. We have to stop them.” “Are you sure?” El was thinking. “How many fighters do you have?” She counted the men on the Jorvik. “Well….” Taking time to add. “Three, no four real fighters and a couple who can hold a gun.” “Damn, there are at least six fighters here, plus some others.” El looked around. “Nothing here we can use, let’s go back to the kitchen.” She led Kaylee back to the kitchen and started looking around. She picked up a knife and hefted it for weight. Kaylee got real close and whispered. “If you can get me to the engine room I can mess things up a bit.” She waited until she saw El nod. El grabbed a pot of mush and rummaged around the cupboards until she found what she wanted. She added it all to the pot and mixed it in good. She grabbed some mugs and gestured for Kay to bring more. She stopped and handed a mug to each of the men she could find, slowly working their way to the engine room. She figured in about an hour they would all be doubled over in pain. Serenity “Simon, you and River stay here with Inara, you two have guns?” He looked at Inara and Simon. “Good, lock the door behind us and if anyone tries to get in, take off.” He gave Inara one last look as he headed out the door. “Wash, you locked up the engine room yet?” Mal yelled up to the bridge. “Yes Sir, gonna take Kaylee quite a while to get in there.” “Ok, barricade yourself in the bridge and play dead.” The Captain ran down to the cargo hold. “Jayne, you ready?” He yelled up to where Jayne had barricaded himself in. “Yeah, Ready up here.” He finished loading up Vera. “Zoë?” “Ready Sir.” “Book, you sure about this?” “Yes Sir, they might recognize you from yesterday. ” Into the communicator. “Ready Wash, Dock real nice.” Mal looked to see if all was ready to receive their guest and ducked behind some crates. Serenity rocked with the docking, like she knew she didn’t like this ship. The cargo door open and Mavis came thru with four of his men, the rest were in the shadows. “Seems like you’re having some trouble. Need any medical help, we got us a pretty good medic, kinda cute too. El, come on in.” El came into the room and looked around, this was a safe looking Captain. “Don’t need a medic, just want my crew member back.” Zoë stood and cocked her gun. “Just send her on over and everything will be Ok.” Mavis just laughed. “She was yours, mine now and I like her, besides, I got you out numbered five to two.” “We want Kaylee back, that’s all.” He stepped closer to Mavis. “I find out you touched her and I’ll see that you go to the special hell.” Mavis laughed. “Haven’t touched her yet, El here thought it best to sell her as a virgin.” He looked at El, not sure if she was crew or not. “Kaylee alright?” He asked her. “She’s fine.” She watched the two Serenity crew members, the Captain looked worried, they both did. Kaylee was stuck back in her cell, Giles had caught them on their way to the engine room and locked her up. He had wanted to lock El up too, but Mavis wanted to use her to set the others crew at ease. “Now lay down your weapon and no one will get hurt.” Mavis took a step towards the other Captain. “I don’t think so.” Seeing the signal, Jayne took out Mavis with one shot. That’s all it took, both sides were now shooting in earnest. El realized that neither side cared if they shot her, she stumbled back against the wall, slid to the floor and tried to make herself very small. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Giles come back into the room, forcing Kay in front of him, now only the Jorvik crew was firing. El picked up the gun that Mavis had carried and stood up, as slowly as she could she inched towards the door until she was behind Giles. She could see the puzzled look on the other Captains’ face, not sure what to make of this mad women. El smiled at him and with all her might she brought that gun down on Giles head. Giles crumpled to the floor, taking Kay with him, now both sides were shooting. El grabbed Kay and started to lead her over to a spot on the floor behind a crate, she didn’t make it. Giles wasn’t dead, but he was very pissed. He crawled over to her and started to beat her, yelling about her being a traitor. As she slipped in to unconsciousness she thought ‘How ironic, him calling a slave a traitor’. *** “Zoë, you got all those guy in a cell?” Mal asked. “Yes Sir, had Jayne go thru them to make sure they were secure. He found all sorts of interesting stuff. They should be secured now.” “Kaylee, anything we can use?” “Not much, their engine in pretty bad shape.” “Jayne, you find anything worthwhile?” He asked, as Jayne walked into the room. “Not a thing, they got anything good, they got it hid real well, couldn’t even get anything out of the men.” He was putting his knife away as he said this. “They all seem to be sick.” Kaylee laughed. “That was Els’ doing.” “Wash, can we at least use their fuel?” “We could, but Kaylee here would kill you if put that crap into Serenity.” He laughed. *** Slowly she opened her eyes, as she looked around she found it hard to focus, then she found a face she recognized. “Is this Hell?” She asked him as she tried to sit up. “What?” He answered. “Well, you’re dead… can’t believe you got into heaven….. and my head hurts, didn’t think anything would hurt in heaven.” She could focus better now. “Kay, what are you doing in Hell?” “You’re not dead, El.” Kaylee took her hand. “But… he is.” El looked at the man that had been the love of her young life. “No he’s not.” Kaylee answered. “He’s not?” She laid back down and hoped her head would soon stop pounding. “Ok everyone, that’s enough for now, she needs to rest.” Simon forced the two of them out. “Kaylee, what did she tell you, why did she think I was dead?” “Not sure, did you know her when you were younger?” “Yeah.” “You two were going to run away?” “Yeah.” “Her dad told her you were dead and gave her your gun to prove it.” “Damn.” “Why’d he hate you?” “I wouldn’t join the Alliance, he thought I was a traitor. Well that and I’m a lot older then she is. Worked for her father years ago, she was just sixteen when I started. Only daughter of a very rich man. Was one of her body guards, he rotated about six of us. She was a very mature sixteen years old. Didn’t take long before I knew I was in trouble, by the time she was seventeen I wouldn’t of left her for anything. We were just waiting for her to turn eighteen and then we would of run off all legal like. Then the war started, all our plans were shot to hell.” *** He was there when she woke up again, Simon had wanted to keep him out, but the look on his face scared him. “You look real good for a dead guy.” He just smiled at her. “You sure you not dead?” She looked up at him. “I’ve been morning you for almost ten years, don’t seem fair.” “I’m sure. How you feeling?” He helped her sit up. “Like a mad man pounded on my head.” His touch went straight thru her, how could it after so long she thought. “Sounds about right.” He laughed. “So… what have you been doing for the last ten years?” She looked up at him, wanting to know, but not wanting. She hoped the last ten years has been as hard on him as they had on her. She had tried to find love again, tried hard and often, but nothing every seemed right. “Nothing much, just getting by.” “No wife and kids?” He shook his head. “I’m surprised, you always wanted kids.” “Wanted our kids.” He smiled slowly at her, her heart was beating so hard she was surprised she could hear him. “You’re up, good, feel like some dinner? Simon said you should eat something.” Kaylee beamed at them and gestured for them to follow her. He took her arm and helped her to the kitchen, he sat her down at the table and found his own chair. Kaylee smiled at everyone. “This here is El, she saved…..” “Kaylee, it’s not El. My name is Ellen, Vera Ellen.” Everyone stopped talking and looked at Jayne. “Isn’t that the name of your really big gun?” Wash asked, looking between them. “Yeah, named it after her.” He smiled at her and she thought her heart would break.