Josephine awoke for the fifth time after laying down only three hours before. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness and was surprised, as she was the other four times, to find herself, once again, on a spaceship. During her three month stay at the Training House she had gotten used to sleeping on land again and Jo found the soft gentle sway of the transport vessel she was trying to sleep on somewhat unsettling.
She rolled onto her side, her eyes focusing in the darkness on the small bundle of blankets on the bunk across from her. Josephine had awoken early that morning, hoping to have a few hours to say goodbye to the other women, and was shocked to find Mira waiting outside their door, her few possessions shoved into a bag Jo had never seen before. As ususal, she could read nothing from the younger woman's expression and simply nodded before entering the room and saying her goodbyes to the other women. She mentioned nothing of the pregnancy and no one seemed terribly surprised that she would be leaving, but Jo noticed that their eyes did widen a bit when she mentioned that Mira would be accompanying her.
She shared a somewhat tearful goodbye with Inara as they waited for the ship to arrive in the same clearing Serenity had landed twelve weeks earlier. The Companion had managed to get the ship, which was captained by a jovial old man, to make an unplanned stop at the Training House. Josephine had assumed that a large amount of money had exchanged hands, that is until Inara had greeted the gentleman like an old friend. She and Mira were soon ushered aboard with their belongings and a tall muscled man in his early twenties, that had come with them from the training house, followed them closely. Jo watched the man warily and turned back towards Inara in protest.
She only smiled and shook her head, however, as she held up a hand and told Josephine in no uncertain terms that arguing against the impromptu bodyguard was useless. Jo didn't disagree that it was a respectable idea, though she was reluctant to tangle anyone else in the mess that was her life. And besides, she still had Zoe's pistol and was more than willing to use it if the need arose.
The transport ship was much smaller and less impressive than Serenity, so much so that she had almost immediately forgotten it's classification and informal name. The crew consisted of only three, one of which being the captain, and from what Jo could tell there was a pilot and another man who worked as a mechanic, among other things. There were only six other passengers, apart from she, Mira, and the young bodyguard; an elderly couple, a young married couple and their seven year old daughter, and an attractive young man around the age of seventeen who introduced himself as Wen, and explained that he was on his way to meet his mother, though he didn't say where.
Josephine did her best to steer clear of the others, making polite conversation when required, but saying nothing of herself or Mira, an omission that she knew made them even more curious, but she was simply too weary to form an adequate lie and too wary to actually tell the truth.
After a few hours of politely ignoring the way the other passengers stared at Mira's disfigured face and vacant expression, Josephine made their apologizes and hurried off to their shared room, only to be followed by the young bodyguard, which Josephine knew would only cause more questions and staring the following day.
The busy activities of that morning and day had succeeded in keeping Jo's mind off the fact that she was pregnant with what could be the child of a murdering, raping, tamade hundan. But now, in the darkness of the cabin, she found she had plenty of time to think and worry about her situation. She had absolutely no idea how Mal was going to react to her news. They'd never talked about children but they'd never taken any precautions either. Honestly, she'd always thought she was sterile, what with the multitude of injuries she'd sustained in that region of her body.
What about later, when they decide to have children? Can't raise a family on a spaceship...
Mal's words from so many months ago suddenly swarmed into her mind, and Josephine felt her stomach tie itself into knots as she buried her face against the pillow to keep her startled gasp from disturbing Mira. They had talked about it, only not in relation to themselves, she realized, and he'd made his thoughts very clear. So what if it was Mal's? She wouldn't give it up then, of that she was certain. Even if it meant leaving Serenity for good. But if it were Rawley's?
Josephine closed her eyes tightly, as though to keep his image from invading her mind. No, I won't think about that, she thought. It can't be, even Inara said it was unlikely... but try as she might, she couldn't help but wonder.
Josephine pulled her head away from the pillow suddenly and turned to stare at the wall next to her bunk. The strangest sound, almost like metal scraping metal, was emanating quietly through the wall. So quietly, that she was fairly certain that had she been asleep, she wouldn't have heard it all. She rose slowly, careful to make no noise and awake Mira, and moved to the door to investigate. As soon as she reached it however, the eerie sound had stopped and her hand hesitated on the doorknob, unsure of what to do next. She turned back around, years of unease prompting her to retrieve the gun from underneath her bunk. She checked to make sure it was loaded and that the safety was on before tucking it at the small of her back.
She opened the door just enough to poke her head out into the hallway and was met with a surprise. The young bodyguard Inara had insisted she take with her was sitting directly opposite the door, his head thrown back and eyes closed, snoring softly. She rolled her eyes and fought with whether or not to wake him for a short moment, before shutting the door softly behind her and moving down the corridor.
Josephine had no idea where she was going or what she was doing, until she strained her ears and heard footsteps and muttering a good deal ahead of her. The voice led her down the stairs and into the first room she had seen upon boarding the ship. She knew it was considered the cargo bay, but after seeing Serenity's cavernous room, this one looked more like a closet.
Her eyes finally fell on the source of the muttering and Jo was surprised to find a very tired and annoyed captain moving towards the main entrance controls. She had a moment to wonder if they'd actually landed before a strong arm seized her around the waist at the same time as a hand clamped sorely over her mouth, muffling her outcry. She was pulled backwards and then down, hidden behind some crates, before Wen's face came into view.
The young man put a finger to his lips, silently imploring her to remain quiet, and her eyes widened at the display but nodded her head in acquiescence.
At her nod, Wen released his grip on her waist and mouth and turned back towards the captain, crouching as low as he could behind the crates.
Josephine mimicked his position and turned her head towards him, lowering her voice to something below a whisper. "What's going on?"
"We're being boarded," Wen responded quietly, not taking his eyes off of the captain as the mechanical doors began to whir and slide apart.
Jo's heart skipped a beat, wondering if Nash had found her again, and whipped her head back towards the open doors to see that they had not landed. A strange sort of plastic looking corridor had extended from the ship only to connect to another a few feet away. She watched in amazement as four strong looking men and an even stronger looking woman walked across the plastic as though it were the most solid substance in existence. The ship's captain immediately started speaking quickly as they set foot inside.
"Now I must say this is getting ridiculous... I understand that these inspections are random and necessary, but we just had one two days ago!" The captain paused to compose himself a little before continuing. "And it is the middle of the night... everyone is asleep... I was..."
A shot rang out suddenly, and the captain, with a look of pure shock on his face, fell backwards. Josephine cried out in surprise, but moved her hand to her mouth to muffle it, and ducked her head back behind the boxes, hoping they hadn't heard her. Wen did the same and turned to look at her, a pained expression on his face. They heard one of the men giving orders, but couldn't make out exactly what he was saying. After hearing a few of them walk away, Josephine turned towards Wen again.
"Who are they? What do they want?"
"Slavers." He paused a moment, before turning away from her. "They want me..."
Her eyes widened in surprise and before she could think of anything else, she felt a fleeting moment of joy at the prospect that they weren't here for her... that she hadn't been the cause of the old captain's death.
Josephine stared at him a moment, waiting to see if he was going to explain, before more footsteps brought her attention back to the far side of the room. One by one the other passengers were being led, at gunpoint, down the stairs and into the room. Jo cringed at the sight of the little girl clinging to her father in fright. The pilot and mechanic followed, their eyes opening wide at the sight of their captain on the floor and the young bodyguard came behind them, looking dreadfully ashamed to have been caught asleep.
Josephine gasped as Mira's familiar face came into view, her arm clenched tight enough to bruise by the hands of the large muscular woman she had seen come aboard with the men. Jo heard herself whisper the young woman's name softly and, out of instinct, she reached around and pulled the gun from it's place at her back, clicking the safety off as she began to get to her feet.
A hand at her shoulder stopped her and pushed her roughly to the ground. Wen removed his hand as his eyes traveled from the gun to her face.
"Are you crazy?" Wen managed to sound angry even when taking pains to be quiet. "What are you going to do with that?"
Josephine scowled at him even though she knew he was right. She put the gun back in it's place and looked down, chewing on her lip, in thought.
What can I do, what can I do? She racked her brain for any sort of answer. She knew her one gun wasn't going to hold up against five people, but she refused to just sit there and do nothing.
She turned back to Wen, eyes shining with determination. "If I could just get to the bridge and get on the cortex I could send the ships coordinates to some friends... I know they would come."
Wen looked at her dubiously. "What... and get them caught too?"
"Oh they could handle it believe me... what?"
Josephine watched as Wen's gaze traveled up above her head.
"Well, well... mice in the parlor. We've been looking for you Wendell."
Josephine turned around to stare at the woman who'd spoken from behind her.
"I see you've been making friends," the woman said, laughter in her voice. She motioned with her gun that they should get up and join the others on the opposite side of the room. When neither of them moved quickly, the large woman grabbed Josephine by the back of her shirt and pulled her to her feet, pushing her roughly in the direction she wished her to go. Wen got up then, his eyes becoming angry, and walked on his own towards the others.
Josephine moved stiffly to where Mira was standing, an odd mixture of panic and calmness on her face, and took the young woman's hand in her own. She felt Mira instantly relax next to her and turned her head to find Wen had stopped in the middle of the room, a look of absolute revulsion on his face. Jo turned and followed his gaze to the heavy sliding doors to see that another, older man with a large beard and cultured manner had boarded the ship.
The older man stopped a few feet away from Wen and sighed dramatically. "Wendell, Wendell... what am I going to do with you?"
Wen paused as if trying to figure out if he was supposed to actually answer the question before speaking softly. "You could just let me go..."
The bearded man shook his. "You know I can't do that. What kind of father would I be if I let my only son abandon the family business?"
Josephine looked on in surprise as the two exchanged words in the center of the room, Mira's hand still held loosely in her own.
"I won't do it anymore," Wen began, shaking his head. "I can't sell people."
Wen's father took a step forward, his face becoming hard. "You can, and you will." He motioned quickly for two of his men and they eagerly stepped forward and seized the seventeen-year-old by the arms. Wen seemed to deflate all at once and let himself be led onto the other ship without protest.
His father watched him go for only a moment before turning back to the others and barking, "Line them up!"
Josephine and the others were pushed and prodded until they formed a straight line and the older man stepped up to the elderly couple at the beginning of the line. He stared at them for only a moment before looking at his man behind them.
"Too old," he said quickly before moving on down the line.
Josephine heard two shots, one after the other, and the elderly couple fell face forward into the steel floor. She forced herself to stay silent and grasped Mira's hand tighter.
Wen's father passed the pilot and the mechanic, stopping only slightly to smile at the little girl now whimpering in her father's arms, before stopping at Josephine's bodyguard.
Some bodyguard, Josephine thought bitterly as the older man appraised him. Satisfied, he moved to Mira, and stopped abruptly.
He regarded her closely for a long moment, but she looked past him, unable or unwilling to look him in the eyes. He reached a hand up and grasped her chin lightly, forcing her to turn her head so he could better see the scar tissue that ran from eyebrow to cheek on the right side of her face. All at once Josephine could feel the panic rising up in Mira as though it were flowing through their entwined hands. She felt dizzy and overwhelmed by it and brought her other hand up to roughly push his off of Mira's face.
"Don't touch her."
The old man looked shocked at what she had done, but Jo only had a moment to feel pleasure at it before she felt herself being forced to her knees. She felt the barrel of a gun pressed to the side of her head and heard the large woman's voice gasp from behind her.
"Sir, look at this," the large woman said loudly.
"What is it?"
"This ones been branded, already belongs to someone."
Josephine cursed herself silently for wearing such a loose fitting shirt. The woman must have seen the small brand on her back when she shoved her to the floor.
The older man stepped behind her to see for himself before coming back around and smiling at her. "You're a runaway?"
Josephine remained silent, eyes on the floor, and was rewarded with a sharp smack on the back of her head with the pistol which left her shaken for a moment. Instead of repeating the question, the old man simply moved on.
"You think your owner would pay to have you back?"
"No," she answered quietly, not wanting to get smacked on the head again.
"Oh no? Why's that?"
Josephine tilted her head up until she was looking at the smirking man in front of her. "Because I killed him."
He managed to look surprised for only a moment and then continued to smile down at her before turning to his men. "Get them on board. Put them in the cages and give them some food. Clemmons," he turned towards the man farthest from him, "fly this piece of goushi, stay close and follow us till we land. We can probably sell this ship for scraps... Mashang!" He turned on his heels, trusting that his men would do as he said.
Josephine was pulled back to her feet by the large woman and pushed in the general direction of the open doors and makeshift walkway. She stumbled and had trouble regaining her balance for a moment, making her think she'd been hit harder than she thought. She watched the others step around her quietly, but didn't see Mira with them. Turning around, she found Mira standing in exactly the same place she had been, ignoring the large woman who was trying, none so gently, to force her into the other ship.
She watched as though in a daze as the woman moved one of her large meaty hands from Mira's arm up to her face, giving it a sharp smack to get her attention. Mira's head whipped around painfully towards Jo, her mouth forming a small o and her eyes widening in surprise.
Jo's feet seemed to move forward of their own accord, and her arm came up in front of her, the gun clasped firmly in her hand, though she didn't remember pulling it out.
"I said don't touch her," Josephine spoke lowly, her voice sounding foreign as it reached her ears. The woman looked up in surprise at Jo's words and her eyes widened at the sight of the gun. She raised her own gun but Jo managed to knock the other woman's arm to the side as she pressed the barrel into the other woman's chest and froze.
She hadn't thought this far ahead. In fact she hadn't thought about it at all, only reacted. Just as her brain was finally catching up and scolding her for being so stupid, she was grabbed around the waist and lifted off the ground by one of the men, the gun wrenched from her hand by another man, before being dropped unceremoniously to the ground.
Josephine landed on her side, managing to smack her arm into the ground and take most of the blow before her head connected with the hard floor. She lay there, temporarily stunned, and saw the large woman's heavy boots coming towards her angrily, before her knees came into view as she squatted down in front of her. The woman balled her hand into Josephine's hair, pulling her head up brutally until Jo could see her face contorted in rage.
"That was a mistake," she spat, pressing her pistol into Josephine's temple, her finger straining over the trigger.
"Don't kill her."
Josephine could here the older man's cultured voice from somewhere behind her and the woman looked up suddenly, but didn't remove the gun.
"But..."
"Gwen, I said don't," the old man spoke sharply. His voice was closer now, and Jo guessed that he was standing just behind her. Gwen's eyes flickered defiantly from Josephine to the man before finally removing the gun and dropping Jo's head to the ground.
She couldn't lesson the impact this time and rolled onto her back as nausea overtook her and bright stars exploded in front of her eyes.
The old man's bearded face swam into view above her. "You've got spirit. Many a man would pay well to break it." He crouched down next to her as Gwen had done before. "But still... can't have your spirit causing trouble on my ship."
Josephine only saw a tiny flicker of metal, as he brought the butt of his gun down severely against her skull, before the world around her went black.
Kaylee weaved in and out of the throng of people on Dyton, hurriedly following Mal's retreating back. The young mechanic shook her head wearily as she sidestepped another person in her haste to catch up with him. The crowd thinned out as she reached the docks and she could clearly see the Captain about ten feet in front of her. He seemed to have slowed his pace a bit and Kaylee sprinted to catch up with him, sparing a few glances at the tall ships lined up to her right.
She reached him finally and grasped his arm in an effort to get him to stop. He halted and stared down at her hand as though he'd forgotten she was with him.
Kaylee bended a little at the waist, breathing heavily as she tried to calm herself.
"Wode ma, give a girl a heart attack," she began between breaths. "What's got your knickers in a twist?"
Mal frowned at her question and continued walking, Kaylee at his side. "Badger... we've been here for almost a week and he's got us twiddling our thumbs, waitin'."
Kaylee snorted and stopped walking, forcing Mal to do the same as he frowned down at her curiously.
"You were grumpy before we got here...," she paused, her countenance becoming very serious. "Is it the lack of regular sex? Cause I know... it's hell."
Mal gave an exasperated sigh and raised his eyes to the sky in irritation, but when he lowered his eyes again, Kaylee could see the pain in them.
"What is it, really?" She spoke quietly, pretty sure that she already knew the answer.
Mal looked around him, as though looking for a way out of this conversation, before sighing again and settling his gaze on the young woman before him. "I told her I loved her Kaylee... and she stayed there."
"Mal," Kaylee placed her hand on his arm and could see him fight not to shrug it off. "You might not believe this, but she loves you, I know." Kaylee stared at him for a moment before smiling brightly and pulling her hand back to punch him lightly on the arm. "You're just a big old softy ain't you?"
His lips turned up in a tiny smile and he pushed her away lightly. "Don't go tellin' anyone, you'll ruin my reputation."
They continued walking in silence until Serenity loomed above them in the distance. Mal squinted his eyes at a tall figure standing on the ships ramp.
"Is that Zoe?"
Kaylee nodded and the two quickened their pace. Zoe called out to them when they were a few feet away.
"It's Inara, she says it's urgent."
Mal nodded and kept moving past her and up to the bridge, Zoe and Kaylee right behind him. He shooed River out of the pilot's seat and quickly turned his attention to the woman on the screen.
"Inara, what's wrong?"
The Companion wasn't expecting any pleasantries and kept to the business at hand. "It's Josephine... she left to meet up with you and hasn't contacted me like she said she would."
"Maybe she just ain't arrived yet?" Kaylee suggested.
Inara shook her head. "No... the trip shouldn't have taken that long and its been four days. I haven't heard from the man I sent with her either... he was supposed to check in."
Mal remained silent for a moment, the happiness he felt at Josephine's returning to Serenity turning quickly into fear.
"Why didn't you just wave me and have us come and get her?"
"I'm sorry Mal," Inara began, and he could tell that she meant it. "But she didn't want me to."
Mal fell silent again and jumped a bit when Zoe spoke from behind him. "What ship... you got coordinates, a tracking signal?"
Inara nodded. "It's a small transporter called The Finder. I'm sending you the signal to its pulse beacon now." She turned her attention back to the Captain. "Mal, I need to tell you, she's... she's..."
Mal watched in confusion as Inara seemed to fight with herself over what to say. After a long moment she finally spoke.
"She's got Mira with her."
He stared at her, still confused. He was fairly certain that wasn't what she meant to say.
"I got it," Zoe called out from Mal's right and he nodded at Inara and moved to end the transmission, but stopped when the Companion said his name.
"Mal... keep me informed?"
"I will." He ended the wave and joined Zoe, who was looking at a small flickering dot on another screen.
"It's here," Zoe said, tapping a finger against the screen, "near Athens, shouldn't be that far out if this is where they were headed. And it looks like it's following something, but I can't get a read on it... what do you want to do?"
Mal ran a hand absently through his hair in thought before answering her. "Go after it, but stay back... under its radar. Will follow it til it lands, see if we can't figure out what's going on... River?"
The young pilot nodded and sat back down in the pilots chair, flipping switches and making adjustments as the others moved into the corridor.
Zoe stopped Mal with a hand on his shoulder and he turned back to look at her.
"You think it's this Nash fellow?"
Mal shook his head and continued into the corridor. "I don't know... but whoever it is... for their sakes, they better hope she's still in one piece."
A Note From Me:
There may not be another update for a little while, as I'm having surgery tomorrow (the second one in less than a month... long story). Anyway, sorry for the delay and I hope you enjoy! Review please!