The crew of Serenity met up with members of the underground movement on Three Hills less than a week later. The Operative couldn't be there himself, as it would be throwing away an ace in the movement's hand if he revealed his support of anti-Alliance activities. The Parliament knew that he would not respond to their orders anymore, but he had managed to drop off of their radar so completely that they had no idea what his current activities were.
Instead, Mal led his crew into your basic Rim world drinking and eating establishment, The Dish and Spoon, where the Operative had instructed the Captain and crew to meet another leader of the movement. In a corner booth, four men and one woman sat facing one another, drinks on the table. The man on the end looked up when the crew entered and met Simon's eyes.
"Mr. Garcia?" the doctor sputtered.
He smiled at the young man and stretched forth his hand. "Dr. Tam. Glad to see you remember me. And this must be River." He watched the girl with long dark hair step up to her brother's side. "Nice to meet you, Miss. Glad to see you're doing well. I'm just sorry we had to meet under these circumstances."
River shook the hand of the man-who-called-himself-Garcia. His real name was hidden—like Shepherd Book's had been, like the Operative's was, but not nearly so deep. She could have found it if she wanted. However, it was safer for all concerned if they only had an alias.
On the inside of his wrist and up Garcia's forearm was a tattoo of the Virgin Mary on a white pedestal with a red equal-armed cross. Frighteningly, the face of Mary looked very much like River's own, and she frowned up at him. "The Knights of Templar."
The man smiled. "Yes. None of us could come up with a very good name for our organization, but once we heard about your daughter being born... well, there certainly were some who likened it to a virgin birth."
A snort came from behind and River turned to glare at Jayne. He held a hand to his mouth and snickered. "You ain't exactly what I pictured when the Shepherd back home told me about the second comin'."
The rest of the crew glared at him.
River rolled her eyes and said, "I really will kill you with my brain."
Garcia chuckled, and then turned from her and introduced the other five members of his team, all of whom were also under pseudonyms. Yuri was armed and built like Jayne with a full, red beard that covered the lower half of his face. Langston, Vi, and Fujita would be helping with the technology end of it. Langston was an expert hacker who once worked with Mr. Universe. Vi and Fujita both used to be Alliance electrical technicians involved with security systems.
"Trust me when I tell you that this team will get us in and out of the Academy in one piece."
"So, where are we headed, anyway?" Mal asked. "Cuz, from what I see here, this ain't the place."
"Londinium," Garcia said. "We brought money for supplies, and duffle bags full of disguises."
Mal nodded. "Let's go then."
They spent four days of travel planning and perfecting their stratagem. Apparently the psychic program hadn't been as completely dismantled as the Operative had been led to believe. True, the Parliament had decreased its training locations, limiting it to a single world, and they weren't taking anyone from well-connected families anymore, no matter how well they scored on aptitude tests, but doctors and scientists were still trying to find a way to harness the power of the mind toward their own ends.
When they reached Londinium just after noon, the Alliance's new seat of "higher learning," the shuttles detached and flew to their positions. Team one was in Inara's shuttle with the Companion as pilot. She flew them to the city's sanitation center for them to sneak into a garbage bin, and then made her way to a local super-store to direct the intake of supplies that they'd ordered upon entering the atmosphere. Team two went straight to the Academy compound and set down on the roof. The actual facility was underground, so they had to find an air shaft that would put them almost exactly at the cryogenic vault.
Onboard, Langston worked on his personal Cortex connection and hacked his way into the Academy's security systems, while Garcia took a detour into the mainframe to collect names and progress of other subjects at the Academy. Down on the ground, Kaylee distracted the dock workers with sweet-talked as they refueled the boat. She was the diversion, making like everything was normal.
Langston and Garcia monitored the security feeds until 14:00. Langston uploaded a basically harmless virus that allowed Garcia to start downloading names and stats of other Academy subject, then tapped into the camera feeds and added a slight loop.
"Okay, now. Team one, go! You have three minutes before they realize I looped the camera feed." Langston's voice directed over the com's in the two separate teams' ears. River, Jayne, Mal, and Vi infiltrated the Academy inside the bin of an automated garbage drone, tweaking Kaylee's Lassiter removal plan. Once the bin had connected to the shoot on the outside of the building on the far end of the north wing, and Langston gave the word, Vi overrode the lid on the other side to open and the four of them crawled into an empty hallway.
Jayne and Mal had cracked out their paramedics uniforms and made a few alterations. They could pass for Academy staff well enough with River in a teal smock and leggings held by each arm between them. Vi was dressed in white nurses' attire as she lead the way through the corridors.
"Our inside guide should be able to guide you from there," Langston assured. "Just try to look like you belong there until she shows up."
&&&
At a circulation vent near the main crux of the Academy compound, Yuri drummed his fingers against the grating as he waited for his signal. "We good, Langston? Langston!"
"Hold on, they just got inside. If I loop it too close together, security's going to catch on."
The bearded fighter rolled his eyes and continued drumming.
"Now," Langston ordered.
Yuri popped open the grate and slid in an automatic lift. He ushered in Simon, Zoë, and Fujita, climbed on himself, and pushed a button on the portable controller to lower them into the facility. Once inside, they belly crawled to an vent and dropped down into the corridor.
"The cryo-chambers for tissue samples are in the east wing," Langston told them. "There's twenty-two minutes left for this little party before Serenity is scheduled to leave port, and those shuttles don't have the thrust to break atmo."
Fujita and Simon, dressed as doctors, chatted amiably as they walked to the cryogenic vault. Zoë and Yuri were in technicians' digs and carrying coolers. Just another quick transfer of tissue from one science lab to another. And they had to have doctors with authorization codes leading the way.
Simon spotted the vault and led them over. The muscle fanned out and kept watch on the intersecting hallways. Fujita stepped over to the control panel and pulled out a key card with wires attached to the top and slid it into the slot at the top. The wires were connected to a small handheld device that the small man tapped a few codes onto. Numbers and letters started whirring on the top until the correct combination lit up. The corresponding arrangement flashed on the panel in the wall, and the vault doors slide open with the sound of air entering a vacuum.
&&&
"Eighteen minutes," Langston reported.
"We're still waitin'," Mal said. "Where's this guide of yours? They don't show soon, we'll find out own way."
Muffled steps came from one of the halls to the right, and they turned to see a middle aged woman whose white smock made a stark contrast with her dark face. She didn't seem surprised to see them, which was a good sign.
"I didn't have time to clean up," she murmured.
"The place looks immaculate," Vi answered.
Mal and Jayne were quite confused by the pleasantries, until River noted, "Code. Immaculate conception." River rolled her eyes. "She'll lead us to RT2."
The woman smiled sadly at the girl. "We nurses call her Angel. Now, come with me.
She's this way. I just put her down for her nap."
The nurse led them down one of the halls into a room that most certainly did not belong in this whitewashed, antiseptic environment. It was full of bright color: windowless, tangerine painted walls with balloons and circus animals, green carpet to simulate grass, and a ceiling painted to resemble the sky complete with three dimensional clouds. Toys were in bins and baskets on the floor. A dresser sat against the left hand wall, and a changing table was right beside it. There was a baby bed against the right wall, and the mobile above it hung with a zebra, leopard, tiger, and panda played a tinkling lullaby.
"Grab her and let's hurry up," Jayne growled.
River rushed to the baby bed and looked inside. The baby lay on her stomach, her face turned toward River. Her wide open eyes were the brown of melted chocolate, framed by long lashes and dark bangs hanging in her face. She had a small, straight nose and a wide mouth. At eight months old now, she already looked so much like her own person, but there was no denying that River was her mother.
"Hello," River whispered as she reached in and slid her hands under the baby's arms to lift her up. "Hello, Angel. Nee can chi lai hun yo jing shen, daughter."
Mal smiled a bit as he came over and clasped River's elbow. "She's a real doll, and you can admire her later, but right now we gotta go."
&&&
Yuri and Zoë guarded the door while Simon and Fujita roved around the cryo room looking for River's samples. It was the security hacker that found the right section of kiosks.
"Sawyer, Smith, Song, Sylvan, Tam!"
Simon rushed over. He released his sister's segment from the main kiosk, and began reading the labels on the vials and tubes. There were blood samples, DNA samples, plasma, brain tissue that they'd stripped from her amygdale, and finally he found the stolen eggs from her ovaries. He plucked up everything and put them in the cooler Zoë carried.
"Alright, let's go."
"Tee wuh duh pee-goo!" Langston's voice pealed over the com wave. The sound of frantic typing followed. "Get out of there! I had to send security your way."
The five exited the room and Fujita sealed the door behind them. The sound of several footsteps headed toward them echoed in the empty halls. Zoë grabbed Simon's arm and pressed him against one wall, mirroring Fujita, as the fighters took position.
A trio of orderlies rounded the corner chatting. Something about lunch. Zoë and Yuri relaxed and nodded to the Doc and the programmer. The four of them made their way swiftly back to the air vent. Running footsteps could be heard as they piled onto the lift and Zoë secured the grating back in place. Yuri took out the controller in his pocket and hit the up button and they returned to the shuttle.
&&&
Inside the nursery, Vi and Jayne grabbed a few necessities from the dresser and changing table: diapers, wipes, some clothes, and a stuffed bear that was in the crib with Angel. They stuffed them into a small bag Jayne had in his belt and the four of them hightailed it out of there.
"Uh-oh," came over the com. "Problem."
Mal could hear arguing in the background. Garcia hissed something about sector twelve before Langston came back on.
"Get RT2 out of there now. We have three guards coming your way. Someone in observation recognized River. I scrambled it to make it look like she's in the east wing, but you don't have long 'til they figure out she's not."
The nurse stopped them on the way out the door. "Wait! Someone might want to hit me. Make it look like I was forced to lead you to the baby."
"Sorry about this, ma'am." Mal grabbed a heavy flashlight from his belt, and brought it down hard against the side of her head. The woman's eyes rolled back, and she collapsed to the green carpet.
They ran from the room, River holding Angel who had begun to whimper in confusion. She shushed the baby as well as she could as they rushed through the corridors toward the cafeteria kitchen to hitch a ride back out with the garbage. It was a good thing it was the middle of the day and all of the gen. ed. student were still behind the solid doors of their classrooms, or they might have more problems to deal with as they made their way down the main corridor of the east wing.
Just as the five had reached the maintenance door that lead to the kitchen, a young man dressed in comfortable workout pants and a button-down shirt over grey tank walked out of the door of the cafeteria and spotted them. His green eyes widened in recognition.
"River?"
Both shifted their attention as the sounds of shouts and running feet came from farther down the hall. More were coming up a security stairwell from behind them. Mal and Jayne reached for the weapons they had hidden in pockets and boots, but River stopped them with a quick hand.
The man took a quick breath and refocused on River. "You surprised me as I came out. I didn't have time to react."
River clutched Angel to her, spun and hit him with a powerful roundhouse kick to the head. He dropped and lay unconscious.
She scanned around her and pointed to a small hallway with another garbage shoot. "There!"
"But that's not the one we came in on," Vi pointed out. "It's not programmed to not take us to incineration. We'll die."
"No time. Rewire it once we're inside," River directed. "Ma shong!"
River dove in first, shivering at the thought of blue gloved hands on her arms, pulling her baby away from her. Angel was really starting to cry now, and her wails were sure to bring the security men down on them.
Vi followed while the men watched their backs, and then one after the other slid down into the garbage. Mal almost didn't make it in time. The weight sensors had read the first three arrivals and signaled the drone to come and take the bin away. Jayne caught the weakly powered doors and managed to hold them open long enough for Mal to slither in.
Vi was already on the com telling Langston and Garcia about the change of plans. They really needed to find some way of getting the drone to not take them to reclamation.
The bin shuddered as the drone locked onto it and carried them away. Angel was weeping in confusion and fear while River tried to calm her down. It wasn't the baby's fault she didn't know that they were trying to save her.
"Try bouncin' her," Jayne suggested.
River raised an eyebrow at him, joined by Mal's incredulous glance.
He shrugged. "My Ma used to bounce my brother to get him to quiet down. Figured it couldn't hurt."
She gently began bouncing the baby, only it didn't help.
"Sway a little as you do it," Jayne said.
River swayed and bounced. Angel stuffed her fingers into her mouth. After a few minutes, her tears lessened, and though she was still crying, she had at least quieted down a bit.
"Okay, folks, it refuses to be rewired from the outside," Langston reported. "But, good news, we can shut the drone down."
"We're in the air," Mal pointed out.
"Yes, that is a problem," the hacker agreed. "We're…uh…just gonna have to come pick you up."
"My pilot is in the air with me."
"Garcia, think you can fly this thing?" the com picked up Langston's question. There was mumbling in the background.
"Right, so that's what we'll do. See you all in a few."
"If you wreck my boat, I'll shoot you," Mal warned.
Three minutes later, the drone's speed stuttered in the air. The adults in the bin grabbed a hold of the sides for support. A loud rushing noise preceded a lot of jostling and banging. The occupants were thrown against the walls and face down into the garbage bags that cushioned them while the screech of metal against metal whined around them. Angel was screaming again, and this time all of the adults felt with her. The drone and bin stuttered to a halt, and the sensation of flying in a much larger machine took over.
"Everybody's home," Langston reported. "We're getting the hell out of here."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Garcia—a leader of the underground movement mentioned in the Serenity novelization
Nee can chi lai hun yo jing shen—You look wonderful
Tee wuh duh pee-goo—kick my ass
Ma shong—hurry