Rachel grabbed the radio from its nest on the front of the mule. "Saul? What is it?" Saul squeezed off a round at the closest thug, who dropped to the pavement grasping his thigh in pain. The rest of the posse scrambled for cover in the surrounding alleys, taking pot shots as Saul ducked down behind the overturned kiosk and tossed the radio to Mona. "Miss Wu, this is Mona. Saul's…" She trailed off as the cook peeked above their cover and sent a few shots ricocheting against the wall of the nearest alleyway, forcing the black-clad man who had been trying to line up a clean shot to duck back into the alley. Mona shrugged. "He's occupied." Rachel cast a worried glance back at Dex as the mule skidded to a stop at Artemis' open cargo ramp. He shrugged helplessly as he helped Mariah off the trike. "What the hell's going on?" "We're downtown, corner of…" Mona bent her head away from the kiosk to get a look at the flickering street marker, then yelped in surprise as a bullet cut through the composite less than an inch from her left ear. "Corner of Bian Xi Fa and the the Triway! These five xuan huen dahn just came outta nowhere, started shooting at us!" Rachel drove the mule aboard and hopped off as it slid to a stop, cursing under her breath and drawing her eyes across the cargo bay, hoping to be suddenly inspired by…well, anything. "Hang in there, mei-mei. We're on our way." Dex squinted. "On our way? How?" "Still workin' on the details." Mariah glanced nervously out at the near-darkness, punctuated by the lights of the city outskirts. "What's wrong? You guys know how to handle a gun…" Rachel sent her an annoyed leer. Dex winced and shrugged apologetically. "Ain't soldier types, but well enough. Ain't the problem, though; how we gonna get there in time? Near twelve miles, even the mule'd take too long." Rachel's eyes flitted around the bay, then lit themselves up. "Dex, you know how wide the Triway is?" Dex stared at her in confusion, then blinked, then grinned. "Pedestrian mall, 'bout thirty yards, at least." Rachel nodded. "Room enough for a fishhook." Mariah squinted. "A what?" "We fly Artemis in low, drop a harness out the lower doors. Everybody on the ground grabs the line, we haul 'em back up. 'S a classic train robbin' trick." Dex shifted back to Rachel. "'S tricky flyin', though." The captain nodded as she punched the button to lift the ramp. "You do it. You're better'n I am. I'll give 'em some cover fire while they get to the harness." Dex turned back to Mariah, entirely overwhelmed by all of this. ""You're gonna have to work the winch." Rachel was about to object, but he shot her a glare. "She's th'only one else here. She can do it." Rachel glowered. The girl could negotiate, but she wasn't certain how she'd handle herself in action. Of course, as usual, she didn't have much of a choice in the matter. "Get up to the bridge. Tell Daphne she might have to cut it short and meet us in the air." "On it." Dex clattered up the stairs as Rachel turned to Mariah, still frozen with confusion. "Help me with the winch." Dex strapped himself into the pilot's seat and dialed the sequence to hail the Longbow. "Ohhhhh, god…" Daphne rocked her hips forward to meet the theater owner's. He was gasping heavily, and she could feel his hot breath on her neck. "Oh, Avery, right there. Oh, god…" Daphne shocked back into reality as she heard the beeping from behind the golden curtains. She sighed as the owner of the second largest opera house on Paquin looked up at her like a lovesick puppy. "Do you have to answer that?" Daphne pouted. "I'm afraid so." In one fluid motion, the Companion slipped out from under the hairy gentleman and slipped through the curtains, tapping the receiver. "I'm on business." Dex's voice warbled through the speaker. "We got some violence down in town. Looks like we're gonna have to make a quick exit." Daphne sighed. "Now?" "Well…that's the reason I called." "I thought you just wanted to interrupt so you could finish the job yourself…" Daphne grinned. She could literally hear the mechanic blush. "Look, I…if…" Daphne rolled her eyes. "Fang song hu. I'm on my way. I'll dock once we break atmo." The theater owner was sitting up on her bed, exposed from the pot belly up, a curious expression on his face. Wrapping herself in a velvet bedsheet, Daphne guided him by the hand to the door of the shuttle. "I'm sorry, I had a really great time…" she continued to talk as she tossed his bundle of clothes to him, "but I've got to go. I really hope we can get together the next time I'm in the system." The theater owner was about to say something when Daphne clicked the door closed. Then, as an afterthought, she slid the door open. "No refunds." The door slipped closed again, and the owner of the second largest opera house on Paquin was left standing naked on the landing pad of his chateau, desperately trying to find the correct pieces of clothing to keep him from dying of embarrassment when his butler responded to the sound of the departing shuttle. Daphne sighed as she maneuvered the Longbow out of the foothills where Paquin's well-to-do made their homes. He hadn't been all that good anyway. Dex grunted and shifted his weight into the stick as Artemis tried to pitch left. "Gorrammit, Dex, keep her steady!" "This is as steady as she gets, Rach! Go!" What remained of the civilian crowd dispersed when Artemis turned her engines toward the ground, and two of the thugs were blown out of their positions. Saul almost smiled as he saw the bay doors open and the leather harness drop down. Almost. Then, instead, he leveled his pistol at the enemy who'd been blown into the street. Mona winced as the bang resounded through the pavement. Saul grimaced. "Let's go." As the four piled into the straps of the harness the last two assailants crawled from their hiding places and opened fire. Mona shrieked as the line began to tow up toward the belly of the ship, lead whizzing around her head. Saul fired a few shots, echoed by Rachel above them, and made one man dive for cover, but the other let out another burst of gunfire. Saul let out a roar of pain as the bullet tore through his calf muscle. The bundle of people swung onto the cargo bay deck, and Mona immediately rolled over to check on the cook. "Saul! Cap'n, Saul's shot!" Doctor Chen skirted the crowd as Mariah resealed the bay doors, and leaned in to get a closer look at the wound. "The tissue damage doesn't look that bad. But we need to get him to the infirmary." Rachel nodded. "All right, I'll help you lift him. Mona, get up the the bridge and tell Dex to go to the engine room. We gotta get runnin'." "Wei wei, Cap'n." Mona sprinted up the stairs as Rachel and Leopold guided a limping Saul through to the medical bay. Mariah opened the door and, with a grunt, the captain and doctor dropped Saul onto the exam chair. "Do you have an extractor?" Rachel shook her head. Sir Anderson stepped back toward the door. "I'll get your medkit." The intercom buzzed. "Cap'n, Daphne's on board, and we're ready to break atmo, but…I think you might want to get up here." Rachel let out a frustrated grunt and whipped toward the door. "On my way!" Leopold took the sterilized briefcase from his uncle and opened it on the instrument cart. He turned to Mariah. "Do you think you could assist?" She smiled sheepishly. He nodded and grinned, a little more than he needed to just for finding a new nurse. As Rachel cleared the last steps onto the bridge, Mona tapped the screen and a wave image of an Asian man with straight, tightly tied hair appeared. "Firefly transport, you are carrying two gentlemen with whom we have some business to complete. If you land and allow us to speak with them, we promise no one else need be harmed." Before Rachel had a chance to answer, the wave ended. "Why don't I believe him?" She turned over Mona's shoulder. "Where'd that wave come from?" "Unregistered ship behind us." "Rear vid. Now." Mona flipped a series of switches and the image from the rear camera faded into view on a side screen. Rachel's gaze narrowed. "Ai ya." The ship was black, tapered, not unlike an Alliance gunship, but with sharper angles. "Can you outrun that thing, mei-mei?" Mona cast a nervous glance back at the monitor. "Boat like that's built for speed. Never be able to lose it. Might be able to outmaneuver 'em, though, get 'em turned around, keep 'em from gettin' a missile lock." "How?" "We're about to break atmo. I can run for the moonlets, duck and weave." Rachel nodded and dove for the copilot's chair, strapping herself down as she flicked the shipwide comm. "Attention, everyone, we're about to have some heroics. Hold tight to something." She released the comm button, thought for a moment, then pressed it again. "And pray we don't all blow up." Leo had to grab the arm of the exam chair to keep from falling over as the ship banked. "I thought the artificial gravity was supposed to keep you from being knocked around." Mariah shrugged as she righted the briefcase full of surgical tools. "Nothing's perfect." As he dropped the bullet into a pan, Leopold stole a glance at Mariah. "I wouldn't say that." Mariah smiled awkwardly, then averted her eyes. Leopold cleared his throat and made a mental note not to push too hard. "All right, the bullet's out, now I just have to put a weave on it." Artemis pitched again, sending the doctor and half his medical equipment flying to the floor. Mona pulled up on the controls, slinging the ship around one of Paquin's tiny moons. Rachel was horrified; the girl had the maniacal grin on her face, the one she only got from flying that had a good chance of blowing up her ship. A frenetic beep from the console drew Rachel's attention. "They've got a lock on us!" "Not a problem, Cap'n." Mona tugged the pod control and the engines swiveled around in unison. Artemis jerked backward, a rocky moonlet nearly grazing the top of the hull. Mona turned to her captain and grinned wider. In a split second, the attacking ship passed by overhead, Mona reversed the engines, and Artemis descended back toward the planet at a much greater speed than Rachel would have liked. Mona hit the radio. "Dex, I need full burn on my mark!" "Ying ran!" Dex braced himself against the engine lever. Artemis dipped close to the atmosphere, heat glinting off the nose paneling. As the ship gained speed, Mona dragged the controls upward so the boat was skimming the atmosphere. Rachel glanced at the rear vid feed; the other ship was still trying to come about through the moons. As soon as those moons disappeared behind Paquin's curvature, Mona pulled up on the controls, Artemis groaning as she lifted from the planet's ozone and up into bare space. "Full burn, now!" Dex forced the main lever and Mona slammed down on he controls, letting out an exuberant shriek. Rachel glanced at the camera feed. Paquin was slipping into the distance, and there was no sign of the other ship on scanners. As Mona evened out Artemis' flight path and relaxed, Rachel bent her head back and sighed. She'd been right. It had been one of those days.