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The White Sun system
"Come on Mal, that was one good ship we could raided it and then, well- Then we would already have been able to resupply instead of, not resupplying," Jayne growled in the hope that the Captain would change his mind.
Captain Reynolds of Serenity gripped the overhead bar as he stood beside Wash and huffed in annoyance, "Jayne, I told you before! It was nowhere near big enough. It's just not nearly worth it." Mal turned his attention back towards the task at hand. "Go take us past that asteroid belt there." Mal pointed to the streaming cluster of rocks that littered the windscreen.
"I really don't think it's a good idea to miss out on supplies, Mal-" Wash halted mid-sentence when he realised that his Captain was giving him a deathly stare. "You got it, Captain," Wash added as he tilted the helm to one side. "You might want to brace yourselves. This might turn in for a bumpy ride."
Mal took that as a warning and stretched out over Wash and to grab the ship's radio. "This is Captain Reynolds speaking. Brace yourselves and hold onto something tight."
Serenity started to dodge the obstacles in her path, and tipped from side to side at various awkward angles through the asteroid belt.
"Steady, Wash, steady." Mal swung about, his grip tightening on the bar. He fought to keep the grin off his face. Each time Serenity tumbled violently he felt the thrill, anticipation, adrenaline and a sense of danger. It felt just like trying to shake off someone from the Authority. That's what he loved about going through asteroid belts. They allowed the sense of thrill to course through his veins as Serenity tumbled about, swinging violently.
"Woo. Woah! Wee," Wash squawked. "Wow!" The usual calls and exclamations that Wash would use followed and he let out a deep sigh once they were out. "Let's do that again!"
"Let's not do that again honey, no matter how much you think Mal tries to bully you into it," Zoe said sternly as she came up the stairs to the main control room. "That's the last thing we want to be doing right now."
Jayne inched his way closer to the front of Serenity, where he searched for some kind of ship that they could ransack. A grin crept across his face when, in the distance orbiting a nearby planet was, another ship. "Okay, that is one we have to board," he frowned at Mal's exasperated glare, "don't look at me like that, it's got treasure on it, I know it. I can smell it. It's in the air."
"I can also smell dinner, we'll leave the ship alone for a moment, Jayne, how does that sound?" Zoe pushed the three guys down towards the canteen where a bowl of unappealing grey slop had been dished out amongst the crew. "What is-"
"This is dinner." Kaylee smiled, she then screwed her eyes shut as she took a mouthful. "It's all I could find."
Jayne lifted the bowl off the table. "Hey… Another reason that we should raid the ship. There may be food supplies. Food supplies that we need. And I ain't going to keep eating this sludge Mal. Some real food is nice too, you know." In much disgust to his crew mates, Jayne tipped the bowl's content onto the floor. The grey porridge like substance splashed out over the floor, some specs dotted the crew's shoes and trousers.
"Gross," Kaylee moaned before going back to at least try and finish her own dinner.
"I agree," Simon agreed.
"Now, now, children. Let the man eat in peace, even if he has already finished…" Zoe added in an attempt to keep the peace amongst the ship.
The past few days had been hard and difficult for them, the food was in short supply, they were weary and had become paranoid over a possible Reaver attacks, and not to mention the Alliance were hot on their tails. Today had been no exception. The last thing that they needed was for a brawl or dispute amongst the crew.
"We need to make a decision as to what our next plan of action should be. Things certainly aren't getting any easier." Shepherd carried his bowl across to the sink and looked across at the others. "Maybe we should investigate the ship, if it's got food, then why not?"
"I'm not sure, what if there's a reason it's been abandoned? What if it's food supply is infected?" Simon countered with worry and caution in his voice. Something which the rest of the crew seemed to be lacking in. "We need to be reasonable. On top of everything else, we have little medical supply. I mean, the last thing we need is a disease on the ship."
"I agree with Simon." Kaylee smiled across the table at the young doctor.
"No points for answering why…" Jayne mumbled to himself. "So what do you say, Mal? Are you going or not?"
"I've got a plan. You got on that ship, and you go find what you seek-" Mal looked at Jayne, part of him wanted to move on and leave the ship behind, but where was the fun in that? He was a smuggler after all. "Whenever you're ready."
Jayne stood up almost immediately. "Well I'm ready now. What are you waiting for?"
Mal nodded and followed Jayne out onto the docking station. "Don't you want a suit? As much as I hate to say it, the Doc could be right."
"I'll take my chances," Jayne insisted. In a swift movement, he holstered his favourite pistol in its holder. "I'm ready."
"I'll leave you with it then." Mal turned and strode out of the docking station. When he turned back towards Jayne, the pair exchanged a hopeful glance. Then, Mal closed the door leaving Jayne to prepare himself to board the waiting ship that was defenceless.
Jayne waited for the connection to be made with the other ship. It seemed to take an age for the two ships to make a connection. The more time that Jayne waited, the more agitated he became, and he started to shift his shift between his legs. When the air lock sealed, a loud hiss filled the air. The connection had been made and silence filled the air, it begged Jayne to raid the ship.
"What can you see, Jayne?" he heard Mal's voice echo from the black communicator box.
Jayne saw loose pipes that littered the corridor he walked along. It made his progress even slower. He walked slowly along the devastated corridor. A few electrical sparks made him jump a little, sometimes, the sparks caught his side. Jayne tried to block out the pain as he carried on down the path. The thought of food and supply overpowered his other senses but, soon enough, he found the main loading bay soon enough. The electronics were still all in good working. Jayne even sat down in the comfy looking pilot chair and fiddled with the switches. Not even the starter sequence would initiate. The click of a gun startled Jayne and he froze.
"What are you doing here?" a ill sounding voice asked.
Jayne raised his eyebrows; this was going to be a piece of cake. Jayne's hand slipped around the trigger of his own pistol. He stopped when he saw his opponent. A dirty, dishevelled and weak man leant against the wall with an even weaker gun than Jayne's weakest in his hand. The man's hands shook an unbelievable amount and sweat from dripping from his head. He looked a right state.
"You shouldn't have come here," the man rasped. "You're infected now."
"Infected? What do you mean?" Jayne asked menacingly as he held his shirt up over his nose.
"That's useless. It wouldn't make a difference now. You've breathed in the air. It's in you now." The man coughed violently before the content of his stomach was emptied out into an old can. "Sorry," he added when he saw Jayne's screwed up face.
"That's wrong…" Jayne sidled away from the man who followed him like an obedient little puppy. "Mal, we may have a slight problem, it looks like the doc was right. So where do we go from here?"
Mal was ready to give Jayne a run for his credits. "Oh, well. We were just thinking of leaving you behind, now that you're infected. There's no hope for you now."
"Captain, that is not funny in the slightest," Jayne growled down the communicator. "So kid, what do you have here that is of worth?"
"There is very little that is of worth on this ship. Not that I'd let you have it, unless you have medical supplies for my companion. Then, maybe I'd be willing to give you something."
"Now you're talking my language. Show me what you got."
Images of treasure and luxuries danced through Jayne's mind. It had been so long since good food had touched his lips, and this was the moment that he had waited for. He was so close to the supplies, it was like he could smell it.
"Show me the medicine," the man protested, the gun rose so that the nozzle was aimed at Jayne. "Then I promise you- I promise you exactly what you want." The man began to shiver violently. "I have to check things now." He began to shuffle away, Jayne could barely move.
"We might have a little problem," Jayne whispered into the communicator. "Tell the doc, that as much as I hate to say this, he was right. I might need a little assistance. And we might need a quarantine on Serenity, because I am getting back on this ship, whether you like it or not."
"Alright Jayne. Just wait a bit. We'll try and sort something out."
Jayne carried down another corridor in pursuit of the sick man, into another confined room where a huge metal cylinder sat.
"This is yours, if you give me the medicine, I swear."
"What is it? Treasure? Credits?" Jayne asked, deep down, he hoped that it was something good. From the size of it, it could have been a huge missile launcher, but he didn't think this would fall so easily into the hands of the ill weakling.
"Something far more valuable. I can't tell you what, not until I get that medicine."
"Well, I'm going to open to now, if you don't mind." Jayne gripped the lock, about to yank it off, when the boy held the gun to his temple.
"I can't let you do that."
There was a crack and a grunt as a completely suited Mal smacked a gun across the man's head. Simon froze behind Mal, part of him forgot just how ruthless the crew of Serenity could be when they would raid. All he could do was look on disapprovingly at Mal.
"And I'm not going let you shoot down one of my men."
Within an instant, he felt his strength leave his body, Jayne's legs buckled and he hit the floor.
"Um, Doc? You might want to sort him out now…" Mal nudged Jayne with his foot and got no response. "Jayne?"
Thoughts from AspiringWriterGirl = First chapter out of the way, what do you think?