Mal found River in the co-pilots chair, looking sick. He looked at her worriedly, as she was the only one who could make a landing that wouldn't send to a painful grave, he handeling space ships like a flight traing-less monkey who has ADD. Jayne was only good at guns an' whores, and Zoe was only able to land them if you had no problem with picking up the ships pieces afterwards. Maybe Inara, but a shuttles a bit different from a Firefly, and Simon and Kaylee were...well...best leave those thoughts for...never... Either way, he went and put a hand on Rivers tiny shoulder. She looked up alarmedly but relaxed when she saw that it was him. Funny, she was a reader...shoulda known it was him. "River, darlin', whays wrong with ya? An', why ain't ya in the pilots seat?" She looked evenmore sick when she met his eyes. "Hes hurting. Inside. Can't fix him like he fixed me. And he wants to feel the ship again, feel what its like to be in control of her again. Least I can do, he saved us all." "River, who you talkin' 'bout?" "I-" Just then, Simon barged in. He took a look at the pilots seat, and yelled as if he'd seen a ghost. Crazy is as crazy does. He reached out a hand for River, but she shied away. He tried again, she spun the chair around and got up. Again, and she ran out of the cockpit. Mal forestalled him from going on by throwing his arm out and nearly bowling the doctor over. "No time to be lookin' for your crazy sis. Now, get ta the Dinin' Room, I gotta call an assembly. Now, get goin'!" Simon obediantly yet sullenly went in the opposite direction of his sister. Scowling at the docs back, Mal made the call. Wash continued to play at being a pilot again. *** Everyone was there, 'cept for River. Simon kept a-fidgeting, on account a him not being able to hunt down his crazy moonbrain sibling. Mal held up his hands to forestall the non-existant muttering. "'Kay, its time we get down ta buisness. We ain't but a smidgeon away from Ariel, and we have a few options. Now, we have ta, and with no exceptions, find Cassandras father and either get him out of here or find his body, depending. Now, seems that our Pilot has got a case of the mornin' crazys, and wont be any help in landing. Now, since we must find a Pilot to land us, we have to choose 'tween Zoe an' Inara, as there the most able of us to fly ol' Serenity down. So, whos for Zoe?" No one raised there hands, not even the Amazon her oldself, and she didn't seem a bit affronted. "Um, 'kay...Inara?" This time, they all raised there hands, even Zoe, and a spastic compendium of chatter broke out. "SHUTUP!!!" Mal quieted them in his second most usual manner, as gunfire in a space ship is highly recommended for those who wish to commit space-icide. "'Kay, Inara will fly us in, less, that is, that River shows up, but she don't look to up to it, last time I saw her. Secondly, we gotta chose where ta land. Cassandras Dad lives preety much smack-dab in the middle of Tipoca City, which is where we are gonna land. Now, its possible that the place is crawlin' with Reaver-fied folks, or not. If not, then we dock and just find Cassandras daddy that way. If its the other way...well, we gotta chose wether to land near the outskirts, or to get real close and risk gettin' mobbed by Reavers all soon like." "Or, we could just give up this gorram crazy plan and go somewhere where we ain't gonna run inta Reavers!" Jayne was shouting harshly. "Hes right, Sir, this could get us all killed!" That was Zoe, who was strangely agreeing with Jayne. Cassandra stepped up, Aryan face mighty red. "Mal, you don't have to do this! I don't need to see my father!" "Mal, this is madness!" "This ain't a shiny plan, cap'n!" "SHUTUP SHUTUP SHUTUP!!!!!!" Mal stood there, breathing heavily. "Now, we are gonna do this. We are gonna honor Billy. His last wish was that his fmily would know how he died." "His last wish was for his MOTHER AND SISTER to know! You said it yourownself!" Jayne was good at shouting. Not half so good as Mal was, though. "THATS A GORRAM NUFF, JAYNE!!!!! Ain't no way we are callin' this off!!! Now...who says far?" No one moved. "Alrigh'...who says near?" Again, no one. Then, slowly, Simon raised his hand. He looked at Kaylee. "Closer we are, the faster we can leave." Then, Zoe raised her hand. "Hes right. We gotta do this, we best do itquick, cause you know that the Alliance won't like us bein' here." Slowly, by ones and twos, they raised their hands. Mal smiled. "Good, we're finished here." Slowly, they all left. Except for Zoe and Jayne. They worked their way behind Mal while his back was turned. *** It was so cold. God, it was cold enough to make people drop dead and die in droves where they stood. So cold, it would be a mercy killing, really. Simon shivered, goosebumps all up and down his spine. He rubbed his hands together. Book looked over him, tsking at him with his mouth slightly agape. "See what happens?" "What trial?" Simon must have asked that question a hundred times, but it was all he could think of. "The trial for your soul, son. For your humanity. It ain't me whats made you crazy, nor Wash. Was you what did this, and the Pax. You gotta fight it, or it will consume you. You know, the LORD said, in the Good Book, that-" "Ah, shut up, Shepard. There was a God, he wouldn't have made it this cold." "Its not cold, son. Look, your sweating." Little beads of sweat were working there way down his hands and arm. The engine was spinning very fast, making a heat of at least a hundred degrees. "No I'm not." God, why was it so cold? He closed his eyes, but was forced to open them when Kaylee came looking for him. "Whew! Ya shouldn't be in here, hun. Its like a gorram Sauna in here!" *** Mal never saw the attack coming. Before he could yell, Jayne and Zoe had him up against the wall of the Kitchen wall, his face makin' all nice with the harsh metal. "What in the good gorram Hell!?!?!" was all he could say. "Sorry, sir, but you seem ta be in no condition ta lead. You and I both know that this is suicide." Zoes voice was right in his ear. "We faced down Reavers before!" "Yeah, but that was foe a cause worth dyin' for. This is...not. Please, Mal...reunitin' a girl with her Pa when she don't even want it?" "I owe her that! She deserves it, for all that her brother did for us. Saved my life, and Rivers, and botha yours, if ya care ta remember!" "Sir, is this for Cassandra, or for Billy?" Mal finally managed to break their grip and turn around, only to find himself cozying up to Jaynes armpit hair when he was put into a headlock. "Gahhh!...BOTH OF 'EM!!!" Mal was starting to turn blue in the face, so Jayne loosened his grip, allowing Mal to slip out. Zoe turned to face him. "Look, sir, I'm sorry about all this, but we gotta make sure you ain't gonna get us all killed!" Mal looked her in the eye. "I know, Zoe, I know. And I am thinkin' clearly, which is why I'm gonna accept ya'lls apology and not shoot ya. I do know what I'm doing." "I hope you do, Sir." Inaras voice crackled over the intercom. "Mal, I think you should see this." *** Ariel lay in ruins. Huge swathes of it were burnt out, but many smaller fires were still raging. The ship shuddered as they raced down through atmo. It wasn't that it appeared to have any damage due to war...but Reavers don't wage war. They wage zenocide. No voice came up to greet them on the wave screen. That meant that most folks were runnin' for there lives, or tryin' to play at bein' Reavers, either of which was never good. Inara strained against the steering console, trying to make sure the ship didn't burn up in the fires of entry. Sweat beaded her preety forehead. Mal came in, followed by his former assailents. "Wo de mah ta ma duh." Jayne, naturally. "'Nara, take her in." Mal put his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. She seemed to relax a bit. Problem was, though, the ground was still coming up to fast. Pretty soon, they were only a mile from where they were needed to land at. Then, they passed it. Inara strained to take the ship out of a psyudo nose dive. When she did, they were barely twenty feet of the ground. Gorramit, you'd think she would be better at it, flyin' her shuttle an' all. She saved them by a very Wash-esque landing. She plowed into the ground, and stopped in a large,open ended hanger. She looked ready to faint. Hell, its good for a person to lose their composure once ina while. Damn funny too. Mal patted her on the shoulder. "Good job, 'Nara. I think that this may be a landing where we may be able to take off again." "Wode tian," said Inara. Then, she let her head fall back and sighed hugely.