Firefly - Kaylee's Last Stand

(Set after Objects in Space)

----

The strawberries sat in the galley on the tabletop. The crew stared at them in utter horror. There were the tops of half eaten pits mixed in the with the fresh red berries.

"What do we know?" Malcolm said cooly. There was a slight tremble in his voice, so barely noticable that only Zoe picked up the tone inflection.

"Poisonous" Simon said simply, completely deflated.

"How bad?" Wash asked. His hand reached down and clasped Zoe's. He knew it was bad.

"On the outer rim worlds, its common with some of the crops. The chemicals used to enhance the speed of growth, sometimes they mix with the new Alliance pesticides..."

"What does that mean? To us. In simple language?" Inara asked.

Simon couldn't speak. His head hung low and he stared at his shoes. His hands wrung together tightly, a common tic of his when he was frustrated.

"It's called the 'Green Death'" Book said after a long pause, "Because the crop chemicals are green colored. Tell them son. Go ahead, tell them"

No one stopped to wonder why Book knew so much about Alliance terraforming and crop techniques. Not anymore that they questioned his knowledge of weapons, spaceship design and aspects of noted philosophers.

"I've seen three cases of it on Osiris. All from ships that had it and came running for help. It's airborne transmitted after the patient has been exposed and the infection reaches its latter stages in the bloodstream."

"How did you cure them?" Jayne said. The grim look on Book and Simon's face gave him the immediate answer.

"There is no cure, " Simon said quietly, "The ships were escorted by Alliance cruisers into space."

"Into space?" Wash asked.

"They were taken there to be incinerated by Alliance gunships" Book finished.

"She's seen it before," River interrupted as the whole crew looked at her.

The young girl walked towards the strawberries, fingering them one by one. "That's why she sealed herself in the airlock. She was trying to eject herself."

The crew sat in silence. Finally Inara burst into tears, she latched onto Malcolm's collar and buried herself into his shoulder.

---------- (30 Minutes Later)

Jayne looked through the window of the airlock. He remembered it was him trapped in there not too long before. Kaylee was in the center of the floor facedown. She had managed to seal herself in and was walking to the exterior hatch controls before she collapsed. The young mechanic was barely breathing, her back moved up and down ever so slightly.

"Doc, now you are sure."

"Yes, Jayne," Simon snapped. "I tested all of our blood and every compartment on the ship. She locked herself in before she became communicable. "

"I say we eject her out now, before we find out those interior airlock seals don't hold so well."

The crew watched Jayne silently in the center of the main cargo bay.

"No, we are not throwing Kaylee into space like a piece of trash" Inara snapped. Her eyes were still red from her tears.

"No one asked you," Jayne snapped, "Whore"

"We are not going to kill Kaylee" Wash yelled out. "Am I the only one to see the lunacy in that idea!"

Zoe stepped away from her husband. "Jayne's right. She'll suffer less this way. I don't like it either."

Jayne pointed his finger right into Simon's chest to punctuate his opinion, "Both Doc Fancy Pants here and Shepard says no way shes coming out of this. We cut out losses here. I say we vote now"

"Ain't gonna be no vote"

Malcolm moved down the stairs. His voice a mixture of pain and fury.

"She's part of this crew. We find a way to save her. And that's that. "

"Captain," Jayne started, "I like her as much as the rest, but ain't worth getting us all killed over."

Mal looked at Jayne in a cold rage. As if he had predicted the cold calculations of the mercenary already.

"I said no one is getting ejected out into space. And if someone was, it'd be you before her, Jayne. Discussions over."

-------

Inara punched another com sat address into her computer. The answers were all the same.

A fuzzy picture appeared on the screen. It was an older man, clearly in his 50s and losing what was left of an unruly mop of hair.

"Inara? What a pleasure to hear from you. I haven't seen you in ages. " The old man smiled gratefully. He had tried to book Inara for several occasions but had been refused each time.

After hearing Inara's story, the answer was still the same.

"I'm sorry Inara. I'm Chancellor of this world, but I've got no purview over the medical facilities here. Thats a completely separate bureaucracy."

"You're lying Chancellor," Inara had no time for formalities, "Your planet has one of the best medical facilities on the core worlds."

"It's the 'Green Death'" the Chancellor said wearily. "It's an excutable offense to bring a red listed medical case onto an Alliance world. You know that Inara. My hands are tied."

Inara sat back and looked at the computer database screen in the corner of her eye. She had contacted them all, everyone on her active list within five hours of flight distance. The Chancellor had been her last resort.

"Will you visit here soon, Inara?" the Chancellor said hopefully. It had been seven years since his wife died and the loneliness was hard on him. Then he added hastily, "You'll find I can be a good friend to you."

Inara's finger touched the edge of the keypad as the connection cut off. The screen blipped out and went blank as a single tear rolled down the Companion's eye.

Then as if speaking only to herself and yet to no one at the same time, her voice spoke gently, thinly disguising her grief.

"I like the friends I have here."

----------

Malcolm sat on the bridge, looking at the stars as they shone through the cockpit window. The footsteps behind him were heavy and quick. Sometimes he could tell who was where in the Serenity by listening closely and recognizing the telltale footfalls.

"Something you want to say Zoe?" The Captain didn't even turn around. There was a sense of dread coming from her. But he knew she was right. She was always right.

"It's the right decision Captain."

"I don't like it Zoe"

"We saw alot of people die, Mal. In the war, in the valley. Our friends. Tracey. All the others. Sometimes we had to let a few die to protect the many. Thats the way its always been"

"You are starting to sound like Jayne" Mal commented.

"Not likely," Zoe retorted, "I can form complete sentences."

"I promised her father... that I'd look after like she was my own. She isnt just like my own. She is my own."

The Captain looked blankly at space. Knowing there were no answers to the problem at hand. Only the inevitable.

"Sometimes Captain, we hurt the people we love, because we love them."

"Its not that simple"

"Yes, yes it is. Opening the airlock will kill anything in that room. Not just her, but everything that could kill the rest of us."

"Bite your tongue, Zoe," Mal admonished gently, "I'm still your Captain"

"I know. And I'm waiting for you to act like one."

Zoe walked out of the bridge, knowing she would have the same exact fight with her husband in their bunk in two minutes.

------

Jayne lifted the weights again and again, almost in a blind rage. The metal bar clinked hard against the barrest.

"It's not that complicated," Jayne grunted out. "If it was me, there'd be no vote, they'd eject me in the dark black void without batting an eyelash"

Book said nothing. He had made his decision earlier. There was no way an Alliance world would take Kaylee knowing her true condition. His false identity had served him well thus far. But he had alot of offer the Alliance in return. They had been looking for him for a long while now. They would take the trade, him for admitting Kaylee into one of their outer rim medical facilities. There wasn't much hope left, but there was some small slivers left that an Alliance facility could give that Tam and the rudimentary infirmary could not.

"I'm gonna go eject her out myself in ten minutes if the Captain can't find the nuts to do it himself. I always said in Canton, no need to go getting all sentimental about the folks you work with."

Book who had been spotting Jayne on the weight bench suddenly pushed the bar down towards Jaynes neck. The mercenary grunted, needing all his strength to keep the weight from bearing down on him. Jaynes legs kicked up from the exertion.

"What you doing preacher" Jayne gasped out, "This ain't funny."

"We're not killing the girl. Theres a better way"

Then Book lifted up the weight bar and rested it on the stand. Jayne popped up, angry and not at the same time. His T shirt was riddled in sweat, most from the workout, some from the realization how easily the Shepard could have killed him at that very moment.

As the Shepard spoke, saying things he thought he would never admit or confess, neither of them saw Simon walk quietly and quickly towards the airlock.

-------

River sat alone in the infirmary. She had fingered the strawberries until Wash had thrown them down the incinerators in the galley. The calculations in her mind were racing at breakneck speed.

Her head hurt. It had always hurt. But she threw open cabinets and and grabbed random bottles and threw them onto the table tops. She found several of the antibiotics she was looking for.

Mixing the chemicals quickly in the auto distiller, she looked over her shoulder and produced the one strawberry she had palmed and placed in her dress pocket. She dropped the berry in the mixture and watched the solution disolve the berry within seconds.

It would only take a little longer. At first she had resolved herself to do nothing. She was jealous, she could admit that to herself privately. He was her brother. He had given up so much, but she didn't like the longing in his eyes. The way he looked at her and longed to be elsewhere. And it was the way that Simon was around Kaylee that broke her heart. River knew her brother thought of elsewhere, she just didn't imagine that he'd find it on the ship.

Yes, she was jealous. She didn't understand why. But she knew she had little time. Her brother was so predictable sometimes, even in a misguided way that pets sometimes behave. River knew what Simon was going to do. And she worked faster, the results wouldn't be for Kaylee, it would be for the only person who really cared about her.

River Tam's hands flew with speed and purpose. She hoped she wouldn't be too late.

-------

Simon quickly latched on the portable protective bubble behind him onto the smaller airlock door. He had picked up the HAZMAT gear on Persephone some time ago, never thinking he'd actually need it. The seals locked down as the plastic sheeting around him wheezed out as the compressed air released.

Book and Jayne ran over but were too slow to stop him. The Shepard lunged forward, trying to stop the doctor until Jayne held him back, afraid that the plastic seal would break.

Simon entered the airlock himself, sealing the smaller airlock door behind him. He walked over to Kaylee and lifted her up in his arms. It was cumbersome to grip her with the thick gloves on his space suit. But at least it was airtight.

There was some dried blood on her forehead where she had fallen to the ground. Her eyes flickered briefly as her breathing seemed pained and slow. Simon went into his med kit and grabbed a hypodermic and injected it into her arm.

The com system rang out as there was yelling coming through the speakers.

"Doc, are you nuts? Out of your gorram mind?"

Then Malcolm appeared, grabbing the transmitter from Jayne's hands.

"How is she, Simon?"

Simon looked down at her and leaned back against the wall of the airlock. He cradled her in his arms.

"She's dying, Captain. Just like the rest of us. Shes just... doing it faster."

The rest of the crew crowded around the side windows of the airlock. Inara could not bear to look further, she retreated to the stairs and sat down, her face in her hands.

Kaylee finally looked up. She smiled at first them remembered where she was and what was wrong.

"Simon, Simon, no, no no no"

Simon pulled her closer to him.

"Simon, I don't want you to die. Not like this." Kaylee's voice was weak.

Simon looked at the window, seeing Malcolm's eyes with a resigned glimmer somewhere between acceptance and fear. "Promise you'll take care of my sister, Captain. Promise you'll keep her safe for me."

Then Simon used his gloved hand to reach the latches on his helmet. He undid the metal locking clasps as Kaylee futilely tried to stop him with her hands. The helmet came off as a thin gasp of air come out of the suit. Kaylee's hand touched Simon's face gently as the helmet was tossed across the airlock floor.

"Simon, no," Kaylee begged softly, " You shouldn't have. This isn't what was supposed to happen."

"You talk too much" Simon said as he pulled her close and kissed her forehead gently.

"This isn't the life you wanted. Not the life you were meant to have." Her voice was even weaker now. It must have taken all her strength to figure out what was wrong with the strawberries and to drag herself all the way to the airlock.

Simon brushed her hair back. Trying to think of a simpler time in his life, realizing that he could not remember one. He closed his eys and knew the end for the both of them was near. His mouth rested near her ear and he whispered.

"There is no life worth having without you."

------

(3 Days Later)

Shepard looked at the body on the infimary bed. Kaylee looked stiff, her face still very pale and her brown hair sprawled wildly everywhere. Book reached for his Bible, thinking of something he should pray for.

Then her eyes opened, a small smile spread across her face.

"How?" she whispered.

"River," the Shepard said with a bit of pride and awe, "girls a genius in her own way. 'Green Death' kills because the toxins shift faster than the immune system can adapt. She synthesized a drug that shifted with the poison until your immune system could kill the infection.

One in a billion chance. The calculations to do that are astronomical. There are super computers in the Alliance that couldn't even have done a tenth of the calculations given three weeks time"

"Simon" Kaylee said, suddenly alert, her memory kicked in and now the concern showed on her face.

"Rest easy, girl. He's still with us. Tough kid. A tad on the reckless side, but tough."

The Shepard gestured over to the infirmary bunk just to her right. There was Simon, still asleep, but breathing quietly.

"I'll let you rest and tell the others you are awake. We've been taking turns, staying in here with the both of you" Book said as he adjusted Kaylee's blanket a bit and walked out. As the Shepard exited, he noticed River was crouched at the infirmaries corner window, peering inside.

Kaylee looked over to her right, and seeing Simons right arm down by his side, she leaned over slightly and reached out. She clasped her hand over his and gripped firmly. His hands weren't soft anymore, they were rough and coarse now. He was still asleep.

She could hear the footsteps coming across the walkway. Jaynes loud voice echoed outside as she actually heard laughter in the air. It was the Captains. He never laughed, much less smiled, she thought.

Then she noticed the doctor's hand tensed slightly and was now holding her hand as well. Simon's eyes flickered as a brief flash of recognition showed for a second. He mumbled something that she could barely hear and certainly could not understand.

"This is a good life," Kaylee said outloud, not sure if anyone could hear her, "Good enough."

THE END

(Thanks for the read)