Title: Breadcrumbs
Author: alliterator
Summary: "They are like bloodhounds, sniffing out the trail, seeing where it
leads them."
Spoilers: Up to "War Stories"
Disclaimer: Firefly belongs to Joss Whedon, Tim Minear, Mutant Enemy, and Fox.
They arrive in Paradiso three days after Serenity leaves. The trail is cold and they are left with nothing but a patch of earth where Serenity sat and a man who says he works for Adelei Niska. No sign of their target. The man says that the captain of Serenity is stupid and says that no one crosses Niska without paying the price. When interrogated, he says that he saw no sign of River. They kill him without remorse.
They take off and start their search again. They are like bloodhounds, sniffing out the trail, seeing where it leads them.
They come to an Alliance station where the head officer says he held a Firefly-class ship four days ago. Yes, it was Serenity. Was there a strange young girl onboard? No, we didn't see her and we checked thoroughly. They leave without saying a word. No leads.
Reports come in on a mudder planet about Jayne Cobb, part of the crew of Serenity. He might tell them something, but by the time they get there, Jayne and Serenity are already gone. And so is their lead.
Reports come in that Atherton, a wealthy banker on Persephone, was wounded by Malcolm Reynolds, the captain of Serenity, and they go after it with a fury. They miss the ship by only a day. But they decide that the trail is still there and they follow them.
On Jiangyin, they find cows. They find bits and pieces of her clothing and they know she was here. They walk on to town, leaving the cows dead and bloody.
In the town, they interrogate a local sheriff who tells them that people who live up on the hill like to kidnap people and they go investigate. The hill-people don't like them, are afraid of their gaunt faces, their blue hands, and they have to use force to get what they want. Was she here? Yes, she and her brother were here. When did they leave? Not half a day ago. When they leave Jiangyin, there is no longer a village in the hills. There is only dust and broken bodies covered in blood.
Their big break on Ariel doesn't pan out. Incompetent guards cannot even hold three people. After trying to track them, they wonder why they were even on Ariel. The Alliance captain whom they killed said it was because of a heist the crew of Serenity was doing, but that had nothing to do with River. They trace where she and her brother went and find something that disturbs them. He knows. Not enough, but he's beginning to see.
The crew stole medicine, so they trace the black market deals. They find one on Ezra that matches and they go down, but someone is faster. Scanning the skies, they find who.
On Niska's Skyplex, they find traces of her. Men who have been shot so precisely that it must have been her. They find a torture device in one of the rooms and confiscate it. They leave, eager and anxious. They are following the trail of breadcrumbs and sooner or later they will meet their target.
When they do, they'll smile.