She had a way of being able to sneak up on a body if she wanted to, but he heard her footsteps behind him on the bridge a few hours later. The rest of the crew was busy cleaning up after supper and he sat staring out into the black.
"Seventy-two hours 'till Perth," he said without turning around. River hadn't been awake to share the meal with the crew, and he hadn't heard her talking with anybody on her way through the galley, but he was certain of her knowledge of the job.
"We have to save a woman from sexual slave trade."
He winced when he heard her put it so matter-of-factly. "Won't be an easy thing. Told folks they best be makin' up their minds soon, 'cause I'm heading that way."
"They'll help you." The lilt of her voice made him glance over his shoulder at her to be sure he'd actually heard the smile in her voice. It was there. "The only reluctant one is Jayne. He'll be relatively pliable when he hears about the payment promised."
"About that," Mal turned around full in his seat now. "You'd be getting an equal share. I know it'll be difficult – hell, it'll be dangerous – but I just can't see as how we can work this one without your help, little one. Now, you got a choice like all the rest of 'em - "
"I like role play. Pretend to be normal; not to be River."
"Absolutely not!"
"Simon…" Kaylee tried to sooth, standing between the siblings in the lounge.
"No. This one is not negotiable. River, how could you possibly think this is a good idea?" He evened his tone and took a step closer to his mei mei.
"It's the right thing to do, Simon," she said softly through the veil of her hair.
"Not for you."
"They brand them. Pull and tear the women to shreds. There'll be nothing left. No mind, no soul, just broken bodies and pain! The darkness and the burning, suffocating the will out of them with their tools and their - "
"Enough!" He held his hands up, pleading for her to stop. "Mei mei, you shouldn't know these things."
"They shouldn't, Simon. Those women shouldn't have to know them." The tone in her voice was one he had difficulty arguing with. His shoulders slumped in defeat as she stepped past Kaylee and placed a hand on her big brother's shoulder. "Don't worry, dàgē. No power in the 'verse can stop me."
Because of the Alliance presence on Greenleaf and its surrounding moons, of which Dyton was one, anonymity would need to be a key part of their plan. The irony wasn't lost on Mal that the other key part of their plan was going to be a young, unstable, high profile fugitive. Idling Serenity just outside atmo of Perth, Mal took the second shuttle to the moon to meet with Rick Allan alone. The last thing he needed was someone recognizing the Tams and deciding to try their hand at the bounty. Twelve hours later, the shuttle docked with Serenity, baring the Captain and a bushel of supplies, along with thirty percent of their payment.
"Five days time, we dock on Greenleaf. I told y'all proper work meant proper pay. So here it is." He doled out three hundred platinum each. Jayne's eyes began to bulge.
"Payment up front for a job like this?" He whistled, impressed.
"That's down payment. Thirty percent." Kaylee let out a little gasp but the rest of the crew was silent, Jayne trying to do the math in his head. "That's a thousand a piece once the job's done. The house the girl is being held at is in the dungeon alley area of Dyton colony. Allan's got reason to conjure they'll be moving her by weeks end, so we best get a move on soon as possible. We'll dock at Greenleaf, like I said and shuttle over to Dyton, posing as traders."
Just then, the cortex screen in the cockpit began beeping loudly, announcing the urgent wave. They all turned to look in the direction of the bridge as Mal headed up the steps to answer the wave, Zoe trailing behind him.
"A thousand platinum? The money alone alludes to the danger," Simon began speaking excitedly.
"Simon."
"River, I know we agreed but, I think - "
"Simon," she interrupted him. "You have to go now."
"Doc! Change of plans," Mal yelled on his way back down the steps.
"What happened?"
"Rock slide slammed into the side of Allan's compound. Couple kids with broken bones, lotta debris, but they still gotta pull some folks out and Allan's leg's been crushed. They need medical help and muscle, but they gotta stay off the radar."
"They can't attract Alliance notice lookin' for medical attention, so we're all the help they got." Zoe's brow was furrowed. She knew as well as they all did that there wasn't enough time to make it back to Perth and still retrieve the girl at Dyton.
"Jayne, you take Inara and the doc back down to the compound in 'Nara's shuttle. Be what help you can. Rest of us gotta go on to Greenleaf."
"I'm not leaving my sister. We can help now and rescue the girl later."
Mal took three long strides forward bringing him up even with Simon. "You got a boulder pinnin' you down and River's five days away with a hu dan holdin' a gun at her head. You really gonna tell me you'd rather we stay and make sure you're all shiny 'fore we go runnin' after her?" he growled.
With that statement, Simon was defeated. He gave Kaylee a quick kiss goodbye and boarded Inara's shuttle along with Jayne, half the medical supplies from the ship, and, of course, Vera.
"I'll see you soon, mei mei. Be careful."
"I will, Simon."
After the crew split up, the four setting a course for Greenleaf and the other three sent on their mercy mission, Mal tracked River down on the catwalk above the cargo bay.
"I thought I'd talk over some particulars with ya, darlin'." River was quiet as she stared across the expanse of the bay. "With Jayne and your brother gone, we gotta change up the plans a mite. We was gonna be takin' you in as traders, but Kaylee and Zo'd be poor excuses for that kind a' smuggler, so looks like it'll be just you an' me. You yóutài with that?" She nodded silently. She hadn't been this quiet since the days just after Miranda. It sent a shiver down his spine. "Now we gotta do one more thing 'fore we dock on Greenleaf." She turned towards him and cocked her head.
"I can't look like me."
"That's right. Now what are we gonna do with ya?"
Mal hadn't shaved for two days. He had another day to work on his beard and enjoy his old familiar haircut before they reached Greenleaf and he and River headed on to Dyton. It was a few hours into the night cycle and he was down in the 'bay sifting through the clothing that Allan had outfitted him with for the men and River's disguises. Jayne woulda' taken a step up in the wardrobe department, and, even though Simon had become more relaxed of late, he'd sure enough have looked out of place too. Mal fished out a dusty grey sweater with black patches on the sleeves, a small couple of tears across the chest. He'd pull out last week's dirty slacks and trade his boots for a pair of combats. It wasn't a far stretch – he'd just look like a delinquent from the other side of the 'verse.
He turned to head back to his bunk and nearly walked straight through River. "Yēsū jīdū, River! Don't go creepin'!"
"I'm sorry," she whispered with that apologetic whine in her voice. "I couldn't sleep."
He reached his hand out and touched the shorn ends of her hair. They wisped and curled unevenly, framing her jaw. She looked more whimsical and possibly more haunted this way. It had an otherworldly effect on her. "You look…" He didn't know what to say.
"I don't look like River."
He shook his head. "Rummage through there, little one. Find somethin' that suits ya, but remember this ain't a beauty pagent. I'm headin' back to my bunk." Mal strode off toward the crew cabins, cursing under his breath as he went.
Restless now, himself, Mal decided to go ahead and buzz his hair tonight. Through the brown fuzz that covered his scalp he could see the faint coma-shaped scar on his right temple. "Shiny," he muttered as his hand ghosted over the old injury. Just then the scrape of metal against metal had him instinctively reaching for his pistol. It wouldn't have been the first time someone disreputable stowed aboard. But when he saw small, bare feet descending the ladder slowly, he holstered his weapon.
"Don't look like Mal," she squeaked when she laid eyes on the Captain's new persona.
"River, you can't be… what are you doin' in here?"
"Can't sleep," she whispered.
Mal thought about it. He'd often passed her in the cockpit in the middle of the night when sleep'd proven treacherous for him in the last handful of days. She'd continued with the quiet routine since 'Nara's shuttle had departed three days ago, only speaking when absolutely necessary to the rest of the crew. "Is it Simon?" he asked, already knowing her answer.
"Fears are unfounded. It's the course we're set on. No ending but the one that happens." She was rambling now, walking in circles around the base of the ladder, making Mal dizzy.
"Whoa, slow down, albatross. What fears?"
She stopped pacing circles and slid down the back wall of the cabin. "He's gone," she said, and he could hear the tears in her voice. Not sobbing tears, but to the brimful and threatening to spill over all the same. "Won't see him again. Said goodbye and meant it."
"Hold on a minute, now," Mal said as he crouched next to River, who had begun shaking slightly but noticeably. "This the longest you an' Simon been apart since the Alliance had hold of ya. That's a scary thing, I conjure. Fear's a real thing, and ok to have now and again. Be stupid not to. Simon's off doin' doctor-y things. You'll see him again in just a few days." But in the back of his mind, Mal couldn't push his own fear far enough away. River was a reader. There wasn't much his albatross didn't see coming.
Mei mei – little sister
Dàgē – big brother
Yēsū jīdū – Jesus Christ
