"So then I says, alright – you can keep it! Every gorram piece of it!"
The whole crew began laughing harder than they could last remember. It was definitely Wash. There's no way in hell that anyone could explain how, but River was acting exactly how former pilot of Serenity did. From every joke, action, gesture and even clothing – it was him, and it was relieving. River Tam unbelievably sat at the left side of the dining room table dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and dark orange coveralls, with short red hair and a thick mustache surrounded by the entire crew of Serenity. The crew came to a finalizing laugh with slower tone of breathing followed by a sigh.
"What else you got littleman?" Jayne said in a hurry, ready for another drunken laugh.
River shot her finger out and pointed to Jayne."Well there's this one where...Arrgh!" River yelled out in pain. A long a sharp pike ripped through he hull of Serenity's dining room roof, and right through River's nimble torso. Papers, food and clutter all flew into the air and threw itself out into the blackness. None of the crew were reacting to the hull breach which was throwing everything that wasn't human around the dining room like a tornado stuck in a box. The vacuum stopped, and everything fell to the ground. Books, glasses, kitchenware and furniture all fell to the ground concurrently with a loud thump. River sat in her chair lifeless with a hint of blood coming out of her mouth. She was still and the crew was silent.
Mal sat at the head of the table. Troubled by what was going on, his jaw had dropped and his mouth was wide open in amazement. He started to laugh. Kaylee and Simon both joined in, with a long howl from Janye who said,
"Ha! Good one. What else you got?"
Zoe gasped and shot up from the bed in the guest quarters in a bail of sweat and tears. The echoes of Wash's dead silence on the bridge haunted her. Zoe's last few sleeps, if you could call them that, were rough. After the incident with River back in her bunk, she had seriously thought that Wash had come back from the dead and began revealing himself through the small eighteen year old girl. Zoe lay back down on her pillow, squinting her eyes in pain. Her neck was becoming kinked after so many nightmares - it was starting to sink into her mind that she might need something to get through with this, as strong as she was.
It was a good time of the year, where Captain Reynolds and the crew of the transport ship Serenity would make their mail run (keyword, "run") at the central postage wing of the nearby space station. Packages would vary from home knitted caps, to dead comrades... and sometimes even regular mail. But whatever lay for them there, would make their situation like a monthly Christmas. The job was simple. Badger had it all planned to a tee. Get in, get out.
Captain Malcolm Reynolds took a deep breath, staring straight into Jayne's eyes. The dining room of the ship was still decorated by Kaylee's custom wallpaper and flashy lamps that made their way into the kitchen area. But Mal's look into Jayne's guilt was as still as a windless sea.
"Jayne... I just need to know for sure. It's not the fact that you might have, it's just the principle." Mal muttered.
"Listen Mal, nobody on this boat makes enough for theft to be worth it... except for Inara... and lets be honest, it wouldn't be her money I'd wan—"
"Yeah yeah yeah... well, if you come across any spare coin you just make sure you do what's right." Mal interrupted.
"We still hitting the post station?" Jayne said with a hint of glee.
"Yeah, River says that the station's not far. Just another five or six hours at most. We'll see what our government's censored postage system has for us this time. You know the plan right? Get in, get out."
Mal said as he walked away, pointing at Jayne tucking in his shirt finalizing with, "and no whores."
Janye stood there with his face mashed up, mouthing the words, "no whores," bobbing his head left and right. He then walked away towards his bunk, with his hand unzipping his pants.
Close to six hours later, Serenity had docked and the crew made their way into the cargo hold for boarding. The loud slam of the ship locking in the bay doors with the post station was normal, but it made most of the crew jump. The door opened, and Mal led the way into the station followed by Jayne, Kaylee and Zoe.
Four dirty and rag clothed beggars stood close to the doors of the station, technically not on Serenity... but the Captain saw it that way, giving them a friendly smile while thinking of how much dirt was in their soul. The beggars, sitting cross legged held their hands high and open. Mal walked casually past them, when one of them placed his arm on Mal's shoulder and began to talk quietly.
"How much for the small one?" the man said, while eyeing Kaylee.
"Small one comes with the big one." Mal responded as Jayne's height ducked through the fibre tube behind him.
"Just the girl." The main said, now on his feet walking beside Mal, nervously; seemingly eager to get his hands on her..
Mal shot a look towards Jayne when he moved towards the scene. Suddenly, Jayne grabbed the dirty old fart by the collar and spoke sternly.
"You don't look at her, you don't think of her; Get the (bloody hell) out of here, you gorram pervert."
The man was terrified. Almost as though little Kaylee had more backup than she did engine knowledge. "You got it boss... just browsing the market is all." He said, while walking along.
"You know, it might be better if you stay on the ship. Don't want little Kaylee getting distracted with all the 'pretties' as she likes to say." Mal muttered with his eyes fixed on Zoe.
"Wouldn't be a bad idea, sir. Don't think Simon knows just how to handle a pistol just yet. We'll hang back – if you think Jayne's enough for the job."
"Hey! I've said it a hundred times. I've ('got man parts')" Jayne said loudly.
"Alright then, Cap. We'll see you in twenty."
Just like when the crew picked up their 'fallen' comrade, the music was playing; vendors were selling items such as food stuffs, pottery, small engine parts, and hundreds of incomparable ship decorations. Jayne took notice of all the 'wants' of the tens of kiosks, which Mal took looks at the 'needs.' They slowly moved through the large crowd towards the main parcel pickup, where a large line of people looped left and right for what seemed like a kilometer. Mal raised his cheek, and moved through the line with a smile on his face, while the rest of the line opposed and dug into their head for the nastiest comments and grunts.
Mal pulled a quick one, and took the best weapon anyone had on the station – an Alliance badge, consisting of a holo-ID, and badge number in the millions.
"If there's anyone here that wants their post without a riddling of holes, then I'd suggest you let me through." Mal said with a stiff face. The cheek lowered, and his coat swept to the side, revealing his dark golden pistol.
The crowd went quiet, and the badge (as well as the pistol) went away. Jayne rose and began to smile as he saw the almighty power of the badge. Mal saw Jayne bearing teeth of joy, and nudged him, bringing his smile to a halt and a serious "I'm-the-Alliance-so-back-off-or-I'll-end-you" look.
"I'd suggest you let us into your receiving wing, there..." Mal said as he stood still reading the old fat man behind the counter like a book.
"I'd suggest you show me that badge... one more time." The man said, with disbelief.
"Sir we don't have time for this," Jayne said to Mal with the Alliance look.
"Noted. Listen, here. We've got three cruisers en route for the station. It's either you let us through right now, with the last of your paying customers, or we take over the station and interrogate each and every last person in this line." Mal said without breaking eye contact.
"... the badge." The man said.
Mal turned to Jayne, smiled in an angry way, and slammed his badge down on the front counter. It was in a small leather wallet-like booklet, which he slid across the table ever so gently. The postman put his hand on it, and noticed that the leather slid well on the wooden counter... a little too well. He lifted the badge, and noticed that there were about fifteen or twenty bills marked with Chinese art all over. The postman simply slid off the bills over into his other hand, "checked" the badge and began to talk.
"Whatever I can help you with officers, you... you just let me know. I'll be here anytime."
"Glad we could find a middle ground of understanding. Officer Cobbler?"
Jayne was smiling again, and couldn't get enough of this heist. Jayne was always a man of immoral shootups. He already suggested prior to the job that they should just go in, guns blazing. "Hit up the cage, get the goods and haul our gorram asses outta there," to be exact.
Mal took another double take at Jayne's face, frowned and bowed his head quickly once more, like a common, Jayne. Seriously.
They moved to the right side of the cage where a keypad-locked door stood in their way. The buttons went green, and a crackly voice in Chinese said "Authorized. Have a nice day!"
Mal and Jayne moved into a hall slowly merging into the warehouse area as the background noise of the stations dimmed down to a silence. Down a few corridors, through a dark and loud operating room with robot arms and old men working slowly to get the packages to the front counters. They continued through another corridor, where there was a safe room. A massive metal circle stuck on the wall like a mechanical wart thirty feet wide. It had a small kiosk on the right side which included a fingerprint, retinal and voice activated scanner, which were all lit up and nicely labelled by the almighty Alliance.
Three high-tech looking jet black security cameras overlooked the entire floor where the entrance led to, and there were two armed autoturrets hanging from the ceiling moving back and forth ever so slowly with a retched squeak to each.
"This doesn't look like part of the plan..." Jayne said to Mal.
"I know, I know... I didn't think they would have the voice thing here... ermm... Just sound Alliancy and it should work." Mal responded.
Mal completed the retinal and finger print scans without a hitch. The programs had been reset for this particular heist by a man that Badger had on the inside.
But the vocal scan he had no idea of. The status light appearing on the voice scanning device screen was red. Mal proceeded to look up at the camera, shrugged his shoulders and pointed up at the camera and made a gesture with his hand to pick up the attached radio.
"What is it?" A crackled voice said through the dirty speaker, followed by a depressing exhale.
"Having some issues with the voice scan. Think there's something wrong." Mal said with a smile.
"Maintenance did their biweekly inspection earlier Tuesday. Can't see anything wrong with it on our end. Enter your badge ID into the keypad and it should work."
Mal entered in the nineteen digit code, followed by the OK button and the light lit up bright as can be. Mal stood outside the vault, while he gave Jayne the gesture to move in. Jayne smiled as he jogged in like a child on Christmas morning.
"Thanks again." Mal said to the camera while moving into the warehouse. A crackly voice said, "Anytime." in Chinese.
Mal walked into the dark warehouse briskly with Jayne. Mal lifted his sleeve to see the port number and dock station ID written on his wrist, and followed the signs to find the small nook where a large olive coloured crate with a yellow star on the front lay. Jayne and Mal picked it up, and made their way back through the hallways towards the main consumer market area.
Both Jayne and Mal were more concentrated on the heaviness of the crate that they moved ever so subtly into the consumer markets. Mal nodded and waved with one shaky hand towards the cage, and continued on through the vendors towards the docking bays.
Each of them on a single handle, the crate was heavy. Heavy enough for both of them to use two hands each. They moved through the crowds towards the ship without noticing the regiment of Alliance guards, centred by a tall man with thinning grey hair in a dark suit... They were blocking the path to the ship standing in the middle of the interlocking tube.
"Mr. Reynolds, I presume." The tall man said, startling Jayne and Mal as their focus was on the weight.
"Wahh!" Mal said, dropping the crate on his foot while looking over at Jayne with his mouth open silently.
"Our concern isn't about the illegal thieving of Alliance property; as a matter of fact, we'd like to you take the crate." He continued.
"Goodbye, Mr. Reynolds. " He said, while waving off the Alliance patrol with their immediate tolerance.
"What the... hell?" Mal said to Jayne.
"Couldn't tell you Mal." Jayne said with nothing but amazement.
The tall man, and the squad moved towards Mal and Jayne, and the goods too. Jayne, ready for the brawl had dropped his side of the crate and readied his weapon for disposal of such dirt. The men walked right by them, without saying a single word or making any eye contact. The tall man behind the regiment walked a little slower, following them.
The suited man pulled his hands out behind his back, and put his hand out to shake Mal's. It was covered by a blue glove.
"We'll be seeing you soon, Captain." He said, with a smile on his face.
Mal noticed the gloves, and looked back up into his smiling face. He thought to himself, that something wasn't right. Had they been on the ship? Is the rest of the crew ok? He didn't hesitate.
"Jayne?" Mal said with a rising tone.
"Mal?" Jayne replied.
"Get this crate on Serenity. We're getting out of here."
The tall man took his hand away, unshaken by the uneasy captain, and put it behind his back interlocking it with the other.
"Very well, Captain. We'll be in touch." The man said, while walking away with the same smile on his face.
Mal holstered his weapon, and followed Jayne who was already began walking towards the ship, dragging the crate on the ground with a nice solid screech following each pull. He picked up one side, and Jayne picked up the other.
"Lets hope the crew's not hanging upside down with their guts hanging about, eh captain?" Jayne said with small grunts in between.
"Lets." Mal said.
They entered the ship through the docking bay, and closed the door up tight. Shortly after the docking bay door had made its final close, Mal headed over to the intercom, and called everyone to the cargo bay.
One by one, everyone arrived. Zoe, Kaylee, Inara, River and Simon all appeared from different entrances without any normal scratches. They were fine, from the looks of things.
"Hey captain, how'd it go?" Kaylee said with her mouth open, and smiling.
"We're here. We're going." Mal said, with a small hint of awkwardness.
"River, get us up in the air. Zoe, check the bunks for anything that looks out of place. Kaylee, check the engine room for anything of the same. Simon, check the infirmary. We're doing a sweep." Mal said in his command voice.
"Jayne. Get this stored." He continued.
"I'm going with River to check the bridge. Everyone be on your toes for the next hour at least. Something isn't right. Report back to the cargo area in ten minutes. "
The crew nodded and agreed in anxiety, and split off from the cargo bay, mostly heading out of different entrances. Mal gave River the go ahead for the stairs next to the control panel, as she skipped up the stairs taking them three at a time. Mal struggled to keep up with her.
"Everything's fine. But don't think I am. I'm the bird." River said, looking over her shoulder while jogging the catwalk above the stairwell.
Mal just rolled his eyes as normal, and followed her up towards the bridge.
Within the next ten minutes, all of the crew members had rendezvoused back at the cold grated floor of the cargo bay. All reports were negative, and there was nothing abnormal about the ship. Nothing that they found was out of place, or unbelonging.
Malcolm gave everyone the ease, and the crew headed their separate ways, passing time on the route back to Persephone, where Badger awaited their shipment.
The hours grew long, as much of the crew was asleep. Zoe awoke unexpectedly in her bunk, her beautiful skin grazing the soft sheets of her bed, while she rolled over to her night stand to notice a blue envelope.
She blinked, and flicked the light on, and opened the wax sealed letter...
Mal sat up in bed to a loud jolt of sound on the radio which each crew member had in their quarters.
"Huh...? What the... (what in the bloody god of us all) is it?" Mal said, rolling over; his hair in a flattened state on one side.
"TURN IT OFF... TIRED... SLEEP!" Inara moaned rolling over towards Mal on the opposite side of the bed.
Mal flung his bare feet and naked ass out of the bed, and walked over like any naked man would at four in the morning: very slow, and drunken.
"Who's.. there? Whaddya want?" Mal said into the radio after holding down the large transmit button.
He let go of the button, and a woman's voice seeped through the speaker in a very crackly fashion.
"It's Zoe, sir – I need you and all the crew mates in the dining room in the next few minutes... got some news... something big."
"Ok... do I have to be there? Or can you just tell us- me…over this box... thing?" Mal said with a loud yawn, and stutter.
"No. You're going to want to see this. You and everyone else. I've called them too. Get your ass up here, and tell Inara not to take too long."
Mal's eyes opened wide. They hadn't told anyone about their relationship yet – Inara had be sneaking into Mal's quarters night to night after most of the crew had gone to sleep. How in the hell could she know this?
"Oh…. kay. Wait. Zoe?" Mal said in a questionable nature.
"It's fine, sir... Just get up here ASAP. Out."
Mal turned around to face Inara... she was topless, covering her chest with the tattered blanket that Mal had on his bed. She woke up pretty, so she had nothing to slow her down from getting up there. She took a short stare at Mal and bolted out of her bed. She tossed on a night gown, gave Mal a peck on the lips and climbed the ladder out of his quarters.
Mal opened his eyes wide. "I guess the crew would have found out eventually..." He thought to himself.
The crew were beginning to appear one by one from their bunks into the classy dining room, where the long table lay.
"If it's not Reavers, I'm going back to sleep." Jayne said with a morning yawn appearing from the bridge corridor.
"It's something that I'd like to present to everyone... I'll wait till everyone's here, so just take a breather." Zoe responded.
Inara and Mal both appeared from different entrances, Mal bearing a yawn, he sent a wink and smile to Inara while she smiled into a yawn of her own. Kaylee then appeared beside the doctor, followed by River. Everyone was here, and after doing a head count Zoe starred at everyone in the room who seemed a little puzzled.
"Everyone. Wash is alive." She said with a smile.
Because the crew was a family, most of them had the decency to inquire into more information. Zoe pulled out an envelope. The very envelope that was by her bedside nightstand, now with a broken wax seal and a letter inside which Zoe removed and began reading aloud:
"Dear MRS. ZOE WASHBURNE. The circumstances of your current loss have been revoked and your spouse, MR. HOBAN WASHBURNE is ready for release by the federal court of Earth. He will be released from the institution for reasons that are strictly classified by which you, nor any family, friends or acquaintances shall inquire publicly or privately in any case, circumstance or instance which is not monitored in the presence of a level 29 security room accompanied by trained doctors.
If you are unable to make transit to Earth, your spouse will continue to stay withheld in our institution, with full legal observation and analysis for research purpose followed by immediate execution on August 13th, 01:00 hours. If you wish to claim your spouse and check him out of security station 12, please meet with us, unarmed with Simon and River Tam on Penelope with the included coordinates by 09:00 August 12th. Thank you for your time, and please enjoy the complimentary T-Shirt that we have provided for your convenience.
Sincerely, the Blue Sun."
"Hey! I've got that shirt!" Jayne said looking at Zoe holding the shirt up to her chest. This meeting just became fun for good old Jayne... He was... being included.
"Zoe, where'd this letter come from?" Mal said with a brow in the position of inquiry.
"It was on the bedside table in my quarters... no idea how it got there, but if this is true we have to—"
"Woa wait a second...We're not seriously considering this..." Simon said with a sarcastic look on his face.
Simon took a few steps towards Zoe and put his hand out to see the letter.
"Let me see this thing..." He said unfolding the letter fully, most of the crew crowding around him.
The letter was a celebrity. Everyone wanted to see the thing from different angles, sides and views. But it was legit. There's no way in the verse that a letter like this, especially a holotagged Blue Sun letter, would be manufactured as a fake. All the outgoing letters from earth are scanned, and engraved with a transfer number.
"What's the TN on this guy?" Mal said with a questionable and unbelieving tone.
"Transfer number... here it is. Looks like there's a small holotag beside it... this is legit. Couldn't be fake without a lot of people in jail or in the ground..." Simon said.
"How..?" Kaylee said, shaking her head in denial.
"Listen, Captain. I'm prepared to take this as a loss if I know for sure, but this is just too much to push this deal over the edge. We'll figure out where this thing came from, and if Wash is still alive... then it would be... a miracle. But the main objective here is to bring the fight to the people who want Simon and River." Zoe said, abruptly.
"Blue Sun. Blue moon. They know it's you." River said in the corner.
"I'm gone and I'm not coming back." She continued.
River sat in the corner with a thick blue blanket covering her soft shoulders. She would rather be dancing. Her dark brown eyes glinted in the artificial lights lining the perimeter of the ship's dining room floor. Her ears, still as can be. Her nose, slowly taking in air and releasing it allowing her to adapt to serenity. She lay there still, curled up in the corner, and she spoke softly.
"I'm gone."
The crew looked at her. She continued to speak a little louder.
"I'm gone."
Mal became cautious, expecting anything and everything. He put his hand to his gun hip.
A little louder. "I'm gone."
Zoe moved towards her, followed by Simon.
"I'm gone." She began to cry.
Simon crouched down to her level, examining her eyes. They were white.
She began speaking louder and louder, hanging on to the single phrase.
"I'm gone!"
Simon attempted to hold her down, though she was cold as stone.
"I'm GONE! You fucker sun! No!" She screamed.
"Get her out of here!" Mal yelled as he took his pistol out of his holster, ready for all hell to break loose.
And all of the sudden, she was silent. And there was nothing there. Her face was blank, her grasping for nothingness disappeared, and her eyes were closed. She was merely not there. She wasn't herself.
Mal looked over at Zoe, who returned the look instantly with nothing but absolute concern for this whole situation. Mal observed her dedication, and twisted his head sideways and politely shrugged his shoulders while keeping a concerned look on his face. He spoke.
"Get on the com. Tell Badger we're making a stop."
She nodded back, with a small hinted smile.
It was this day that the crew of Serenity set a course for Earth-that-was. Their transit wasn't practical. Repair stations were never to be seen, nor any populated planet to be registered. They were on edge of the black. Where anything and anyone could happen.
But they were headed to the founding home of the almighty Alliance. The crew, was headed for Earth.