Author's Note: Four months? Really? I'm a horrible writer, you guys should string me up like a witch and burn me at a stake. Only to have some awesome folks come and save me, because I'm their witch. If only...

Well, to be honest, I have a legit excuse: my computer got fried. Yep, somehow, in the middle of mid-terms, my computer just burned up. And considering that money is tight, I couldn't buy a new one and I've had to use Library computers up until just two weeks ago, my fanfic had fallen to the wayside. But have no fear, because I have returned to add a new chapter prior to finals.

We left off with our very esteemed Major Jonathan Hayes watching two shuttles depart from Serenity, with Serenity of course still flying, during his attempt to capture our seven very special passengers of a Firefly Class vessel. Let's just go ahead and jump back into the fun...

Chapter 4 - Ferras

On Ferras, Hayes and all of his men were already in position ready to try and intercept the Browncoat filled vessel. Unfortunately for our young Major Hayes, he only had one ship for air-support. And shortly after entering Atmo, two shuttles separated from the ship.

"Ohh, gos se." muttered Hayes.

"Ohh, gos se!" shouted Zoe. She was struggling with the controls on Shuttle 1, causing both Kaylee and Simon to fidget a bit nervously. It had been a while since Wash took her out in the shuttle to teach her the finer points of being a leaf on the wind.

"Does she...." started Simon.

"Doctor, I can still shoot you from here" hissed Zoe.

"....know what a great job she's doing?" gulped Simon.

"Better."

Meanwhile, River was of course the Ace Pilot that she was, using her genius mind to adapt quite well to flying the Firefly they called home. In fact, since she had something to focus so completely on, she was having less trouble with her mind wandering. Simon went far enough to call it therapeutic. The plan was for Simon, Zoe, and Kaylee to go and try for fuel and a few special supplies while Mal, River, and Jayne attempted to lure the Alliance away.

It appeared to be working, as the lone air-support ship that they had at their disposal came rocketing after them.

"Would you look at that, somebody must think we're awful pretty, they're following us something fierce" said the Captain.

"Ah, well you know Mal, I sure like to keep up appearances" quipped Jayne, earning both a chuckle from the Browncoat and a giggle from the Pilot.

"It's the chiseled jaw" sounded from the Albatross, leaving Mal to wonder just how much she had read from that ole mind of his about his past.

Down on the ground, Hayes was getting his report.

"We have heat signatures on all three ships. Both shuttles seem to have three a piece, while there is one remaining person on Serenity itself piloting the ship, and it appears that Serenity will shoot right past the docks. Probably to land elsewhere, but we don't have the support to chase it" reported an Alliance Tech.

"They must have assumed we'd check heat signatures. Our information shows only Reynolds featuring piloting experience, but obviously Serra knows how to fly a shuttle. That leaves us one mystery guest piloting the third ship, and with that comes the assumption that we don't really know who is capable of what. Use the majority of our resources to track the shuttles, I'm willing to bet that one is a diversion and one is here to acquire the fuel cells they need" ordered Hayes.

"We have our air-support following Shuttle 2, it made sense at the time based on projections. How would you like to proceed? Shall we continue pursuit or alter course for Shuttle 1?" asked the Tech.

The Major seemed to think this over before making a gut decision.

"Go after Shuttle 1. If we were following the wrong shuttle, I would imagine they'd have went with Plan B by now, whatever that may be."

Back on Shuttle 2, Jayne noticed the Alliance ship veering off course.

"Umm, Mal? That hwun dan purple-belly ship is bailing..."

The Captain rushed to River to observe the nav-screen and the radar.

"Damn, they're going after Zoe" breathed Reynolds.

"What does that mean for us?" questioned the Merc.

The Albatross and Mal exchanged glances, then smirks.

"It's time to misbehave."

Back on Shuttle 1, Kaylee was struggling to understand how making a scene would get them off their back.

"The rewards go Simon and River, the Captain, and then the rest of us. River and the Captain show off their faces, they'll have no choice but to chase them, there's no way to know if Simon is with us or the lone body back on Serenity, they have to chase them." answered Zoe.

Back on Shuttle 2.

"And what if they chase a little too hard and things get tetchy? Then what? Gotta a big masterful plan, Moonbrain?" questioned Jayne.

"Well, hopefully that doesn't happen" answered Mal.

The Hero of Canton knew what that meant. "And if it does?"

"It won't" replied the Captain.

"But if it does?" growled the Merc.

River sighed, "Ordered other birdy to go back to the nest alone."

"WHAT!" exploded Jayne.

"You trying to help?!" exclaimed Reynolds.

"No, but face goes red like a tomato!" quipped the Albatross.

Mal looked back at his merc, whom was cursing various things and people.

"Huh."

Down in the streets of Ferras, there were Alliance officers on ever corner. They were keeping eyes peeled, because both shuttles had landed and there was little question that the passengers would come looking for new fuel cells or other supplies. Officer James Hewitt was at the corner of Casey and Walker, and was on the look out for anything suspicious when something suspicious walked up right behind him.

"'ey there little fella, I'm a looking for a good ole time. Can you conjure up the name of the best honkey-town planet-side?" asked a man wearing a red shit and a brown coat whom appeared to be in a right state of drunkeness.

"Umm, town's on lock down, so, you best go back to your ship, sir" answered Hewitt.

"Hey, ain't that there a radio? Regular ole talkey-talk?" grabbing the radio off his belt.

Before Hewitt could say a word, he was kicked in the back of the head.

"Ah River, that little fella was just doing his job" said Captain Mal Reynolds. Mal took the radio and began his broadwave.

"Look here, Alliance Brass fancy pants, we're kinda low on fuel, and we were hoping to solve that minor issue on this rock. Ain't that right, Little One?"

"Shi Captain, we're mighty tight on the go-juice. Gotta get our rocket flying again" quipped River on the radio.

Way over near the landing site of Shuttle 1, Major Hayes' head jerked over so fast that he cricked his neck and had to reach back on his neck. He grabbed the nearest radio.

"Captain Reynolds? This is Major Jonathan Hayes."

"Hayes, is it? Well, ain't that shiny? A Major. We had an Operative last time, ain't that a demotion?" questioned Mal.

"You will not make it off this moon, you should turn yourself in while you still can" reasoned Hayes, before hitting the mute button and turning to the Tech he had been working with. "Can you track this?"

The Tech stuttered for a few seconds before nodding, "I can scan the radio frequencies, target the radios in use, but you have to keep him on the line."

Hayes nodded.

"Won't make it off the moon? That sounds a mite like you're threatening us, or at least doubting us. Ain't you heard? We're big damn heroes over here on Casey street" replied the Captain.

Hayes made the order in a split second, he knew his orders.

"Everyone diverge on that area, now!" called Hayes, jumping into the nearest hovercraft. "Big Damn War Heroes, right? Serenity Valley?"

"Does my profile just have Serenity Valley stamped on the first page? The first word out of all your gorram mouths is about Serenity Valley."

Hayes had to smile, because the fact of the matter was that Serenity Valley was mentioned in the first paragraph of Reynolds' profile.

"Well, that Miranda stunt you pulled is quickly becoming your calling card" answered Hayes.

"Well now, you say that like you don't firmly believe what we had to say was true."

"My superiors have a thing or two to say about your claims, you know."

"Yeah? I've got a thing or two to say about your superiors. I gotta a girl here that's had her brain all kinds of meddled with, and they're the ones that put the orders through to do it. Real aiya heroes, them Parliament folk. Take a poor girl from a school and cut her up something fierce."

Hayes didn't know how to respond. Was he refering to River Tam? Hayes received notice that they were getting close to where the radio signal was coming from.

"Is that so? How can anyone take your word for truth when you're wanted for stealing secrets?"

"Stealing secrets? You mean the secrets they put in her head? That don't sound like stealing to me."

That right there about stopped Hayes in his tracks. Truth be told, he'd heard rumors of a program where the Alliance recruited select students from the top schools to train. He'd heard tell of the physic capacity in these programs. Could recruited mean taken? Had River Tam been one of those select students? No. Kontos would have told him if that were the case, that's crucial information.

"How about this, how about we bring you in, and you explain your case to my superiors" challenged Hayes.

He got nothing but silence in return. But the Tech had informed him that they had tracked the radio, and were about to reach it. But he couldn't help but have a slight twinge of worry that the Captain wasn't completely untruthful.

When they came around a corner to where the tracker indicated the radio was, they found it tied to another radio with the talk buttons down, and they knew that they had been had. Wherever Captain Reynolds was, he was using another radio to talk to the Major. In fact, he was pretty sure that he was heading exactly where nearly the entire Alliance team had just left.

"Hey there Zoe, looks like your plan wasn't half bad after all, did you get the new Fuel Cells?" asked the Captain as he, River, and Jayne made their way to meet Zoe, Simon, and Kaylee.

"Yeah, we should be full and ready to go once Kaylee plugs them in." answered Zoe.

"And the Air-Support?" questioned Mal.

"When they landed, Kaylee managed to sneak aboard and muck up their works, I don't think they'll be a problem. But we've got Alliance Ground Support coming in hot, we need to get back to the Shuttle and off this rock as quickly as possible, sir" responded Zoe.

"The Shuttle, I'm sure am going to miss having two, proven to be mighty handy" said Reynolds.

"Well, it's a ways away, so we best get on the move, sir" replied Zoe.

The group of six began their journey to Serenity's last shuttle when they heard the sirens. Before they knew it, they were running. And before they knew it, shots were being fired when they were just within thirty yards of the shuttle.

"Please, oh please, tell me you brought them this time" asked Mal.

Jayne literally shook with excitement as he removed grenades from his satchel. "Zoe, Kaylee, you first."

Tossing two for cover, Zoe and Kaylee ran for the ship, making it just before the gunfire. Hayes saw, and figured out the plan before Mal would get a second shot to send people to the ship. Hayes quickly ordered his team to open fire as soon as the second grenade hit, and before River or Simon could make it inside the ship, gunfire quickly ensued.

River managed to avoid it all, but Simon took a bullet to the upper chest and to the thigh. River quickly pulled Simon to cover, while Mal watched and was unable to do a thing. Sharing a look with Jayne, the Captain promptly did what he does best: create a diversion.

Jayne laid down cover fire and Mal got close enough to create havoc, taking on three soldiers while Jayne threw a grenade into the other group of soldiers accompanying Hayes in order to give River a chance to drag Simon into the Shuttle and finally for Jayne to reach safety as well.

Mal exchanged his last right handed punch and quickly dove into an alley. Hayes gave chase, chasing Mal into a building and up some stairs.

"You know, you're going to get them all killed sooner or later. Just like Hoban Washburne, and probably Simon Tam just now!" shouted Hayes up the flight of stairs.

Mal listened, continued to run, but listened. Suddenly all he could think about was how he had gotten Sheppard Book killed too.

"The longer you run, the more pain you will inflict on your crew. Who will be next? River Tam? Or maybe your war buddy Zoe Washburne? How about that little mechanic you're so close to? Kaylee Frye? You're bringing your entire crew to destruction, including yourself, by running!" yelled Hayes, trying to find that button that will make the Captain make a mistake. Anything, because this was going terribly bad as is.

But Reynolds kept running. He made it to the roof, where he stood at the ledge, hoping they got the shuttle off the ground and were coming to get him.

Click.

Mal turned to see Hayes standing right behind him, and Mal was right in the cross-heirs.

"They'll never be safe. They'll always be hunted until you give yourself up. How much more blood will you allow to be spilt?" said Hayes.

But in that moment, that's when Mal heard the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard. The soft rumbling of his shuttle. So in a split second, Mal fired on the Major, missed, but made Hayes hit the ground to avoid the shot. The Shuttle pulled to the ledge, he climbed in, and off they went as a battalion of Alliance Soldiers joined Hayes on the roof and opened fire on the Shuttle before Hayes ordered them to stop.

"I need them alive. A wreck of fire and metal won't do me any good" said Hayes as he watched the Shuttle fly away. 'There will be another time...' he thought to himself.

Meanwhile on the Shuttle on it's way to finding Serenity, Simon was on the ground bleeding with River and Kaylee trying to stop the bleeding. Kaylee looked up at him with her eyes full of tears.

"Capt'n, we can't stop the bleeding! We...we can't stop...we can't" she sobbed.

And while Mal watched his doctor on the floor in pain, all he could think about was that this was the second time Simon was shot because of his decision.

And that he possibly could join Wash on the list of casualties.

Along with Book.

'And like Hayes said, you're going to get them all killed sooner or later.' thought Mal. He'd always believed that there was a bullet out there for everybody, and that the trick really was to die of old age before it found you.

But he never imagined he'd be the reason it found so many people he cared about.

Author's Note: A note on the fuel cells, I know that over the course of the series, we've heard about "Fueling Stations", so in my mind, there are cells or tanks so to speak that fuel would go into, but in this case, it would be like buying new tanks as I imagine that the technology would work kind of like a fuel cell in Arnold's Terminator in the third Terminator film. I know, it's probably a stretch, but it makes the situation work, lol.

So this one ends on more of a downer note. Which is intended. Because this will cause the story to take the turn that I have been so excited to go into and will open up the bulk of the story. Like some of Book's past for instance? The key to that door in my story relies on these events. So, give me some feedback. It wasn't as good as the original copy that was on my pre-fried computer, I had to write from memory. And I'm sad I didn't work more of the other characters in, but it was nice to get some of the Mal-Hayes stuff down, because it will be important later.

This guilt trip really fuels Mal's future actions, and as Hayes learns the truth, it will fuel his actions as well.