a/n: beta'd by the best, Chazzer! I don't own it, wish I did, but ya know, if wishes were horses then I'd be eating steak.
The Job
"You okay with piloting us outta here if necessary, Inara?" Mal asked. "Hopefully you won't have to, but ya know how the crime can go south occasionally."
"It's not like I have anywhere else to be," Inara bit out. "One of these days we need to visit a place where I can work, if you want my rent paid."
"We will," Mal replied. "But with this Jayne thing, we gotta be careful. Don't need more of my crew getting themselves dead."
"Is Simon still upset?" Inara inquired. "About the two of them?"
"Seems so. I don't blame the man," he finished. "I wouldn't want my mei mei shackin' up with Jayne, but then again, River does make him act a mite peculiar."
"Jayne loves her," Inara whispered. "Must be nice."
"You got hundans lovin' ya every time you work," Mal snarked. "Don't think one man would do it for you."
His words stung, but she brushed off the feeling.
"Do I get a cut of the money if I have to get the ship out of atmo?" Inara asked, but Mal was already gone.
-----
Jayne was apprehensive about this job. River was able rotate her shoulder well, but that didn't mean he wanted her holding a gun. Mal had insisted, ordered even, but Jayne had agreed for once with Simon that she shouldn't go. Of course, Mal won out. Well, he thought he had. Really Jayne and Simon stopped arguing because River told them she would go.
That made Simon even angrier. Jayne could tell that something with the siblings wasn't right. River would still wake with nightmares of Simon. She had told Jayne that they were sometimes her own, sometimes Simon's. Jayne had thought that since he had let Simon hit him, things would be better, but they weren't and Jayne didn't know how to fix it.
River had suggested that Jayne stop antagonizing Simon. Jayne pretended he didn't know what antagonize meant. Then after a few nights of her nightmares, Jayne decided to let up on Simon.
-----
The captain and River wound through the box cars quietly, checking for guards at every turn. Both had guns out and were reading the numbers looking for the correct one.
"153, 154, ah, here it is, 155," Mal whispered. "Looks like two guards, nothin' we can't handle. You go left, I got right." He gestured to River.
Swiftly they had knocked the guards out, Mal with the butt of his gun, River with a kick to the head. As Mal pulled the key card off the first guards belt, River dragged the men to the side of the box car.
"River?" Mal asked. "You got your hand on the comm.?"
She nodded and he opened the door with the key card. As the door opened, Mal turned to River and shook his head. The car was empty, except for one woman.
She was dressed exceptionally well, in a long dress in the finest blue silk, reminding Mal of something Inara would wear. Blonde hair hung around her shoulders and her face had lots of makeup, but tastefully done. The woman had a gun pointed at Mal's chest.
"Trap," Mal stated. "Ma'am, you don't look like ten cases of shen ji zhong zhi seed."
"No, I am not," the woman stated plainly. "I am however, irritated, and I broke a nail getting in here."
"Well," Mal said, "pardon me for not caring, but is there something I can do for you?"
"Where is Jayne?" she asked.
"Don't know a Jayne," Mal lied. "Got a few women folk on my boat, but not a one of them is named Jayne."
"I don't have time for this," the woman said, clearly perturbed. "You can go back to your ship and tell Jayne that I need him to meet me back at Hera in two days time."
"We can do that," Mal answered. "But what's a lady like you want Jayne for? I mean, if I knew a Jayne," the captain added.
"I said you could go back," the woman corrected. "The girl is coming with me, as collateral."
Mal flinched, but River didn't move. She wasn't scared of this woman, but the captain was afraid he wouldn't get River back. That would make Simon and Jayne upset.
"Not a great idea, ma'am," he replied. "She's a mite unpredictable. She's liable to hurt ya. Especially if'n you're the one gonna take her. I've seen her beat up men twice your size and leave 'em for dead. Or have you forgotten the punch you got when ya shot her?"
As Mal was speaking two men walked up behind he and River, guns cocked behind their heads. The woman walked out of the box car, putting a hand out to shield her eyes.
"When I get Jayne," she explained. "I'll kill him, and then I can check it off my to-do list and move on to more interesting things. So, if you would please go back to your ship and give him the message, these large men with big guns will take his girlfriend to my ship and we will meet him in two days, on the south side of Hera, in the far desert."
Mal looked to River who had adopted the attitude of the woman they were speaking with. She stood looking bored and irritated. He wished he knew how to flip the switch in her brain that made her go a bit loony with the killin'.
Then Mal heard two gun shots. He winced hoping it wasn't him being shot. When he realized he wasn't dead, he relaxed.
"Took ya long enough," Mal grunted as he turned to see Jayne and Zoë on the mule. Jayne was standing, holding a gun he called Melanie. "Thought you might be too late, this lady here is intent on killin' you and thought takin' River would be her best bet."
"Ain't nobody takin' River or killin' me," Jayne hollered, while looking the woman up and down. "You gotta name?"
"Ella Rook," she stated calmly.
"Why you wanna kill me?" Jayne asked.
"Captain," Zoë interrupted. "She's got a fancy ship in dock, just around the corner, I suggest we take her, or kill her, but either way, we should be making the getaway about now."
"Shoot her," Mal told Jayne, as he climbed into the mule. "Let's get off this rock."
Jayne fired the shot into her stomach and reached for River, pulling her up into the mule.
As Ella Rook fell to the ground Zoë steered the mule cautiously out of the yard of box cars.
"So," Jayne yelled from the back of the mule. "That was your great plan? Gorram woman coulda' taken River!"
"The comm let ya know it was a trap," Mal answered loudly. "Ya'll took your time getting' to us, but it worked."
Jayne grunted something Mal couldn't hear and pulled River closer to him.
"Ya hurt little witch?" Jayne asked River. "We need to get your brother to look at ya?"
"Fine," she said as she snuggled into him. "Wasn't scared of her, but she was scared of me."
shen ji: miracle
zhong zhi: grow
I know they don't actually mean it together, it probably means booger put together, but since I don't actually speak Chinese, there it is.
