(Mecca Tam)
His pulse was slow and dropping quickly, but hell, at least he had a pulse.
I could hear Mal's urgent, yelling voice. Hoban tried to calm him down, telling him that there was no use in yelling at me. There really wasn't. I hadn't been the one to cause him to go into cardiac arrest, nor the one one who had slowly withered his body to the point of exhaustion. The truth was that the man was just done. His body was telling him not to fight back.
Those are the hardest types of cases to save.
Using the defibulators I clenched my teeth and muttered, "Clear." A shock ripped through his body, causing his back muscles to clench and his chest to lurch into the air.
All of our eyes moved to the monitor.
There was still a flat line.
"Clear," I murmured. I could feel the air around me freshen as everyone in the room (which was everyone housed on the ship) took a step back as I pressed the paddles to the man's pale skin.
Once again our eyes moved to the monitor.
A flat, green line ran across the screen.
That's when I knew that I couldn't save him. "Time of death," I beagn, taking in a deep, shaky breath, "9:49 p.m. Tuesday, June 20th."
I could hear Mal's fist connect with the wall as he strode out of the room. Mav and Hoban went after him. Kai put a hand on my shoulder and then she pulled me into a half-hug.
"Ai fatto tutto che potevi fare, bella," she whispered in my ear, her soothing voice slipping easily into Italian. You did everything you could, beautiful.
I impatiently wiped away a tear that was forming on the edge of my eye. I didn't have time for useless emotions right now. There was work to be done.
"We have to get him out of here," I told her.
"I know," she responded.
*
(Marvin [Maverick] Sinclair)
I watched Mal pacing up and down the hallway that led each of us to his or her respective bed rooms. He looked damned angry and I knew that there wasn't going to be much reasoning with him. I was wondering what was going to be happening with the brown coats, now that they had lost one of their most influential captains.
"What the hell are we gonna do now? With Doyle kicked we're in serious shit," Mal slammed his fist into the metal of the ship once more.
"We'll have to go to HQ, let them know Doyle won't be serving anymore." It was Hoban who rationalized and had spoken.
Mal spun round and looked at him. A thin layer of sweat formed on his brow. He wiped forehead and leaned against the railing. "They won't be happy, Hoban. We could be pointing a loaded gun at ourselves."
"Yeah, but they still have a right to know about what happened to their Captain, Mal," I interjected. "The Coats'll have to appoint another leader."
Mal was considering this, "Yeah, do we know if they're planning to meet soon?"
"No," said Hoban truthfully, "but I could always get Kai to send out a message to some of the Coats close by. They'll let us know all the details. Until then, I guess we can sit tight and wait it out. Maybe we can even pull a few jobs."
I jammed my hands in my pockets and watched as Mal and Hoban stared at each other. I wondered for a moment if anything was going to be said about Hoban's suggestion. I knew that Mal could get a little sore about people 'running his ship'. But, it had been a long night and I could feel everything hit me suddenly.
Our bodies and minds were worn out.
"We'll talk in the morning," Mal said finally.
The air around the three of us suddenly lifted. Without saying good night we all climbed down the ladders into our bunks, glad to be rid of one another.
*
(Mecca Tam)
Once the body was properly stored and awaiting burial, Kai and I were ready to hit the sac. We had been working nonstop for about an hour and a half and I was ready to collapse.
"Is that everything?" asked Kai. I could see hr shoulders hunched and her skin plaed in exhaustion.
"Yeah, I think that's everything," I told her as we made our way out of the cargo bay.
It was then that she nodded to a pile of clothes. "What about those?" she asked me.
I sighed heaviloy, "Don't worry, I'll take care of those."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, just get some rest, I see that you could use some."
I could see her body relax. "Thanks bella," she told me and began walking up the stairs toawrd the bunks.
I walked to the carefully folded clothes beside the Captain's temporary coffin. I hesitated a moment before grabbing them. There was something oddly intimate about one's clothes. A dead body did not get to me as much. A body was organic material, bound to break down sometime. But, a person's clothes... they were a different story. His life was lived between the folds of fabric.
I choked back my reasoning and clutched them between my fingers.
I decided to speak to Mal about the Captain. Maybe I'd even be able be able to get in a few words about Serenity ander current situation.
*
(Malcom Reynolds Jr.)
My body was aching and I wished that I could just fall asleeps and imagine that everything that had happened was some kid of a terrible dream. I sucked in a deep breath and forced my eyes to close. I almost didn't hear the hatch to my bunk open.
I opened one eye and saw Mecca entering my room.
"Not now Mec," I groaned.
"I'm supposed to be here to talk to you about our best girl," she told me, tapping lightly on the slightly rusted metal.
"Way to be subtle," I retorted.
She let out a low whistle. "God, you're disagreeable when you don't have your beauty sleep. Too bad I'm not leaving, I guess you'll just have to deal with me."
"Now I know I won't get any sleep," I told her, sitting up and wincing slightly.
"Still sore, eh?" she said.
It was impossible for me to hide my ailments from her. Mecca always knew what was wrong with me. From headaches to upset stomachs, Mecca had this pshychic ability when it came to things about the human body.
"Just slightly," I answered.
She sat on the edge of my bed. I could feel the sudden shift in weight and it felt oddly comforting. She brought her knees up to her chest and rested her head on her arms. " I'm sorry I couldn't save him Mal," she said.
I was wondering when she'd get to that.
"No, you did everything you could. I was out of line there, I should be the one apologizing," I told her honestly.
I tucked a stray red-gold curl behind her ear. She smiled at me. I could see that dark circles had formed under her eyes. I suddenly felt worried for her. She needed rest, and badly too.
"You should get out of here," I told her gently.
To my surprise she flopped on the bed beside me. "You don't mind, do you? I mean I hate working with the dead and then having to sleep alone afterwards. It... it scares me I guess. I don't know does that make it bad?"
"Naw," I reassured, lying back down so I was facing her.
Mecca's eyes were already closed.
"You know, people are worried about money," she said groggily.
"People are always worried about money," I said bitterly.
"Yeah, but I mean, they're not worried in that bad way. They're worried because they love the ship. They just want to make sure that everything's gonna be okay for Serenity," she told me, half out of consciousness.
I lay there for a moment, watching Mecca's eyes flutter. "You know Mec, you should probably get outta here. People might start getting ideas..."
But, she had already fallen asleep. I watched the top of the ceiling and listened to Mecca's soft breathing.
There was always tomorrow to figure everything out. But now, I'd finally get a chance to sleep.