Mal and Simon carry Kaylee into the infirmary and place her on the bed. "You have an extractor?" Simon asks as he starts looking through the equipment.
"Got a laser saw."
"That's not good enough." Simon turns to Inara "My room, red bag." Inara nods and then runs off.
Mal stays by Kaylee as he addresses Simon "When this is over, you and me will have a personal chat."
"Won't that be fun. Dope her." Simon tosses Mal the morphine and Mal quickly injects it into Kaylee's neck, causing Kaylee to pass out.
After the surgery Simon turns to Mal "Can't do any more until she stabilizes."
"Will she?" Mal asks.
Simon removes his gloves as he speaks "I can't say yet."
Inara turns to the two men "I want to know what's going on here."
"Well, then, why don't we find out." Mal heads back to the cargo bay; Simon runs after him "No! No!"
"Stay away from that." Simon says as Mal walks towards the large crate. As he follows Mal Jayne grabs Simon in a choke hold and keeps him back.
"Where's the Fed?" Mal asks Jayne.
"Secured. Shepherd's with him. Seems to think he's not safe alone with me."
Mal unlocks the crate as Simon cries "No." As the crate begins the let out steam Zoe and Wash appear and head down the stairs.
Mal turns to Simon "Well, let's see what a man like you would kill for."
As Mal kicks the lid off Simon screams "No, don't."
Mal looks inside and as the smoke clears it reveals a small naked girl. "Huh."
Simon struggles "I need to check her vitals."
Mal steps towards him "Oh, is that what they call it?"
"She's not supposed to wake up for another week. The shock—"
"The shock of what? Waking up? Finding out she's been sold to some border world baron? I'm sorry, was this one for you?" Mal smirks "Is it true love? Because you do seem a little—"
At the moment the girl sits up and screams, Mal jumps away shocked. The crew watch as the girl climes out of the crate and cowered against it terrified. Simon ran to her "River. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay, I'm here."
River looked at him carefully "Simon. Simon, they talked to me. They want me to talk—they want me to talk—"
Simon strokes her face and tries to calm her "They're gone. They're gone. They're gone. We're safe now. We're safe. We're safe. I'm here." River hugs Simon still completely terrified.
"What the hell is this?" Mal demands.
Simon looks over to Mal "This is my sister."
Mal listens as Simon explains all about what happened to River something popped in Mal's head, something Buffy had told him right after the war. About the darker hidden parts of the Alliance. Mal is brought back to reality when he hears Zoe "How'd you do it?" She asks Simon.
"Money." He tells them "And luck. For two years I couldn't get near her. Then I was contacted by some men and a woman, some underground movement. The woman, she told me that River was in danger...that the government was playing with her brain. If I funded them, they'd sneak her out, get her to Persephone...and from there, I could take her wherever."
Mal couldn't stop himself "The woman. The one who contacted you did you ever see her, do you know who she is?"
Simon looks at Mal confused but shakes his head "No. The day I got River out I know she was there but she doesn't show her face. She does her work through others. She's a ghost."
Zoe looks at Mal oddly not sure as to why he would be so curious, but her attention was brought to Inara as Inara turns to Simon "Will she be all right?"
Simon shakes his head "I don't know if she'll be all right. I don't know what they did to her. Or why. I-I just have to keep her safe."
Book looks up at Simon "That's quite a story, son."
Mal stands up "Yeah, it's a tale of woe. Very stirring. But in the meantime, you heaped a world of trouble on me and mine—"
Simon tries to explain "I never thought—"
Mal steps right in front of Simon "I don't imagine you thought. In consequence, we got a kidnapped Fed on board. We got the Alliance hard on our trail. And Kaylee—"
"How much does the Alliance know?" Zoe asks her husband.
Wash shrugs "Can't say. I killed the message, so maybe just our position."
Mal turns to the group "Or they might have personal profiles on each and every one of us. Till the fed wakes up, we won't know."
"So, what do we do?" Jayne asks.
"The job. I got word from Patience, she's waiting for us. We circle around to Whitefall, make the deal, get out. Keep flying."
"What about us?" Simon asks.
Mal turns around "Kaylee comes through, you and your sister get off at Whitefall."
"If she doesn't come through?"
"Then you're getting off a mite sooner."
While Jayne smirks, Book shakes his head at Mal not happy "That'd be murder."
"Boy made a decision."
"He didn't shoot her." Inara says.
Jayne speaks up "No, somebody else did...and I'm scratching my head as to why we ain't dealt with him."
Zoe turns to Jayne "Kill a Fed? Can you think of a stupider—"
Jayne cuts her off "He can ID us all."
Simon turns to the group "You wanna throw me out the air lock fine. But River is not part—"
"Can we maybe vote on the murdering people issue?" Wash suggests.
Mal turns to Wash "We don't vote on my ship. It's not the town hall."
"This is insanity." Inara exclaims.
Wash looks over at Mal "I think we're beyond that now, sir!"
Everyone starts talking over each over so Mal silences them "The way it is is the way it is. We gotta deal with what's in front of us."
Inara walks around the table towards Mal "Mal, you know those two wouldn't survive a day in Whitefall anyway. You throw them out, I'm leaving too."
Mal turns to Inara "Might be best you do. You ain't apart of this business." Mal walks out of the room.
After punching Simon again for somethings he said after Mal left the room, Mal had made sure that Jayne was ready to start to get information out of the fed. Once that was done Mal heads up the pilot's bay. "How the hell did they find us?"
"It's not Alliance." Wash tells him.
"You sure?"
"It's a smaller vessel."
"Commercial?" Mal asks hopeful.
"Yes. I read it as an older model Trans-U."
Mal couldn't help but be confused "I didn't think Trans-U still operated."
"They don't."
Mal moves to one of the screens "Get me a visual."
"They're still too far out."
"Get me something."
Wash moves to one of the machines "I'm picking up a lot of radiation. They're operating without core containment. That's...that's suicide."
Mal looks towards the window "Reavers."
"Oh, God, Oh, God, Oh, God."
After informing the crew about the reavers Mal calls Zoe up to the bay. Everyone on the ship waits as the ship slowly flies past the Revear's ship. Wash points at something on the ship "Their's a magnetic grappler. They get ahold of us with that."
Mal cuts him off "Just tell me if they hold their course."
Mal, Zoe and Wash watch as they fly by the reaver's ship. "They're holding course. I guess they weren't hungry." Wash says, Mal takes a relieved breath "Didn't expect to see them here."
Zoe continues to look out the window "They're pushing out further every year too."
"Getting awful crowded in my sky." Mal sighs.
Once Mal had checked on Kaylee he heads back to the pilot's bay where Zoe, and Jayne were with Wash. One of the monitors starts beeping "We're being hailed." Wash tells them.
Mal steps forward "That would be Patience. We're close enough for vid, put her up."
Mal sits down in front of the screen and turns on the vid.
"Malcolm Reynolds?" Patience asks.
"Hello, Patience."
"I have to say, I didn't look to be hearing from you anytime soon."
"Well, we may not have parted on the best of terms. I realize certain words were exchanged, also certain bullets. That's air through the engine. It's past. We're business people. Besides your day of fighting over salvage are behind you. What I hear what are you, mayor now?""
"Just about. I wanna speak to Buffy, put her on, her I actually like."
Mal sighs and clenched his fist "Buffy... she's dead Patience. A few years after the war."
Patience nods "Oh, sorry to hear that. Fine. You telling the truth about that cargo? Your asking price is too reasonable for that much treasure. At least Blondie knew just the right amount to ask for without ending up with a bullet."
"That she did, but it's imprinted hence the discount."
"Government goods, huh?"
"If that doesn't work for you, no harm—"
"Alliance don't scare me. Just collating data, as they say.I like that you're up front about it. We can deal. I left load coordinates for a rendezvous outside of town."
"See you in the world."
Mal hangs up and smiles "I believe that woman's planning to shoot me again."
Jayne nods "If she meant to pay, she'd have haggled you down some."
Wash moves back to his seat "Just a little effort to hide it would've been—"
Zoe walks over to Mal "Sir, we don't have to deal with her."
"Yes, we do."
Jayne offers a suggestion "Here's a concept I been working on. Why don't we shoot her first?"
Wash smiles "It is her turn."
Mal shakes his head "Doesn't get us what we need."
"There's moons that we ain't seen." Zoe tells him "We could try our luck—"
Mal spins around to face Zoe "Our luck? You notice anything particular about our luck these past few days? Any kind of pattern? You depend on luck, you end up on the drift. No fuel, no prospects...begging for Alliance make-work. Getting towed out to the scrap belt. That ain't us. Not ever. Patience has got the money to pay and she will, one way or another. There's obstacles in our path and we'll deal with them one by one. We'll get through this. We will."
WHITEFALL
Once the ship lands and Mal and Zoe along with Jayne leave, the pilot in the shuttle turns to the prisoner "It seems like the ravagers just landed us on Whitefall." The pilot moves closer to the prisoner and unlocks to chains currently attached to the wall. Once he's done he ties the prisoner's hands together with the chains "Now, sweetheart don't go doing anything stupid. The only reason I'm not leaving you here is cause I know exactly what you are capable of, so I'm gonna keep my eye on you."
The pilot pulls the prisoner to they're feet and begins to pull them to the exit. "Now we're going into this ship and we are going to collect the Tam siblings, and you are going to behave."
After escaping his cell Dobson had grabbed River and was now in the cargo hold, he walks over to the control panel and lowers the ramp. Simon suddenly appears and jumps down from the overhead balcony and lands on Dobson. The two fall to the ground and the gun slides against the floor. Dobson crawls trying to get to the gun but Simon holds him down, the two struggle and Dobson elbows Simon in the face. Simon falls, landing in front of the other gun. He quickly grabs the firearm and points it a Dobson. As he does Wash's voice comes in over the intercom "Reavers! Reavers incoming...and heading straight for us. We are in the air in one minute."
Dobson turns to Simon "You gonna do that? You're gonna kill a lawman in cold blood? I know what you did for your sister. I understand. It doesn't make you a killer. I don't want to hurt anybody. I have a job to do. To uphold the law, that's what we're talking about here."
Dobson looks around at everyone in the room and notices the man from the shuttle slowly making his way inside the cargo hold. Dobson continues to try and stall Simon "There's nowhere you can take her the law won't find. Nobody is going to hurt her. Unless you hurt me." Dobson starts to move.
Simon screams "No, I said! I said, don't move."
"It's your call."
At that moment Simon hears horses and turns away, giving Dobson a chance to reach for his gun, he fires at Simon who dives out of the way. Dobson grabs River and points the gun at her head "I'm not playing anymore." He tells to Simon "Anybody makes so much—"
Dobson is cut off when Mal walks on to the ship and fires his gun, shooting Dobson in the head.
Mal moves towards the body but freezes when a bullet grazes his shoulder. Everyone turns shocked to see a tall man carrying someone over their shoulder pointing a gun at Mal. The man claps "I wouldn't do that if I were you. But really, bravo." The man walks down the stairs, as the person he's carrying struggles "Back up, all of you."
Jayne, Mal and Zoe back up as does Simon. The man walks over to the body and laughs "Serves you right, Dobson. Honestly I always thought he was gorram dick."
The man walks over to River and grabs her before turning to Mal "Now here's how it's gonna go, I'm gonna take little River here get on my shuttle and leave. And you're, going to let me."
Mal glares at him "And why in the gorram hell would I do that?"
The man smirks "Because Mr. Reynolds I have something to offer you, something I know you'll want."
Mal smiles and shrugs "I don't want anything. Try again."
The man chuckles then pushes River to the ground before tossing the prisoner off his shoulder and onto the ground. He forces the prisoner onto their knees then looks back at Mal "Oh, I know your gonna want this."
The man rips the bag off the prisoners head to reveal a women with blonde hair, she slowly looks up and Mal almost passes out from shock "Buffy?"
