Author's Notes:

This started out as part of the "Your Song" series which I haven't updated in seventy billion years, and evolved into this on it's own. I felt kind of weird making up my own characters, but they're not Mary Sues (Marty Stus?) or anything like that, just necessary evils. Title is loosely derived from Ender's Game, because that's what inspired me.

Italics denote the alliance guys talking. (or, later, flashbacks)

'...' denotes thought, which is only necessary for our psychics.

Feed me! kaylee@kikiroxxorz.com

Pairings are: (Simon/Kaylee, Mal/Inara, Jayne/OC and River/OC) but they're not truly important to the plot. Except maybe the River/Adam dynamic. That's kind of important.

~*~

“How did you get in here?” the agent demanded. “Aw, hell.” Jayne cocked the gun. “Gettin’ in here’s the easy part. Simon’s havin’ a hell of a time tryna get into the buildin’, though.” “This is an authorized area of the Academy!” the agent said indignantly. “There’s security at every entrance!” “Them security buggers’re pretty easy ta convince with a li’l help from my gal Vera here.” He looked down at the weapon lovingly. “So hows ‘bout you avoid an unple…a nasty li’l scene with ‘er and let the kid come with me.” He gestured down at Simon, who was staring up at Vera with almost unsettling interest. “I’m afraid I can’t do that,” the agent said. “Why don’t you put that gun down before I have to call in reinforcement.” He emphasized the last word, hand on his communication unit. Jayne snorted. “I got me some of them reinforcement things, too,” he said as the agent fell to the ground. Jayne picked Simon up and rushed, fast as he could, out the gate.

~*~

The feds caught them immediately outside the gate. “Jayne Cobb?” one said, gripping and cuffing Jayne’s wrists. Jayne grunted. “You’re under arrest.” A shot rang out, and the smaller fed turned around to find a very surprised Simon holding a gun that was almost comically huge in comparison to his tiny body. “You can put me in jail,” he said sadly. “But let everyone else go.” There were tears in his eyes. “The rain…the sound was too much.” He dropped the gun, and then fell to his knees, crying. “So much noise,” he sobbed. “So…much.” River came up behind him and picked him up. “li’l-Simon, it’s over,” she said softly, using the nickname she’d given him as a baby. “It’s all over.” She rocked him gently. “Nobody will ever hurt you or anyone else ever again.” He wept silently for several minutes, clinging to the tips of River’s hair, an ancient reflex from infancy, until finally, she wept too.

~*~

“Listen,” Adam said, pressing his gun a little harder against the fed’s temple. “This isn’t a school you’re running. This isn’t a science institution or any other fancy term you tack to it. It’s a prison. Hell, it’s a glorified concentration camp. You don’t do research, you don’t conduct studies. You inflict torture. You cause pain and irreparable damage to children for your own sick purposes. And when we’re done here, the whole gorram ‘verse is gonna know what kind of things go on in these benevolent government buildings, and it won’t ever happen again.” He cocked the weapon. “Don’t think I won’t,” he said, pushing the fed back just as Kyle burst in, carrying Ainslee. “I need a doctor,” he said urgently. “There’s a dying girl here.” Simon stepped forward. “Who are you?” he asked, directing Kyle to lay Ainslee down on the admitting desk. Kyle took a deep breath. “Our brother-in-law,” River piped, setting Simon down. He immediately climbed up onto the dedsk and laid down next to Ainslee. “Our what?!” ~*~

Back on Serenity, Kaylee was restless. She had already done a complete cleanout of all of Serenity’s dirty parts and had her running the smoothest she’d ever been. She was obsessively rearranging the dinosaurs when the door blew open and Simon rushed in, carrying Ainslee in his arms like a baby. “I need to get her into the infirmary,” he said by way of greeting. “What happened?” Kaylee asked, rushing over to Simon. “We’ll explain later,” said Adam. “There isn’t much time,” Simon murmured, laying Ainslee down on the examination table. “There might not be anything I can do for her except wait it out.” He immediately began taking her pulse and checking her pupils. “I need everybody out!” he commanded. “Kaylee, you can stay,” he said softly, stroking her hand. Kaylee looked at Ainslee, wide-eyed and horrified. “Simon? Is she gonna be okay?” It wasn’t her husband who answered. “Okay is subjective,” said a little voice quietly. Then, quickly, like River, “You won’t give up hope anyway.”