Chapter 6

The ships vibrations quickly grew into a violent shake as the Firefly broke into upper atmo. After a day and a half's travel, they were now descending right above the coordinates Jayne had supplied. He and Whisker were first joined on the bridge by Iris, who always liked watching the fire through the glass. She and Whisker both held a common delight in seeing the blue and orange flames dissolve into the lush blue and green marble of a world. This time though, the two felt trepidation as they saw Jayne's destination become clear.

"Ohhh. Del is not going to like this," Whisker said.

"Why's that?" Jayne asked.

Iris and Whisker exchanged a knowing look, but neither felt safe explaining within earshot of Del.

"It's complicated-"

They were put on guard by the entrance of the captain herself. She planted one foot, then th'other, firmly inside the bridge door and remained there. It was as if another step would propel her off the bridge and down to the land below.

"Is that ...?" Del intoned.

"Yep," said Iris.

There was a tense silence which Jayne didn't understand. Iris watched her captain carefully, for any sign of irritability. Del did well to hide it on her face.

"Iris. You go with him. If he tries anything -" she looked Jayne directly in the eye, to emphasize her point " - shoot him."

"Will do boss."

She lingered, calmly, in the atrium. Even at midday, the fresh flowers gave fragrance enough to ease her mind, body, and heart. It was a brief reprieve from the strict atmosphere of the training house. These were the only seconds she was allowed to lose track of time.

"Inara? Are you ready?"

She turned with the demeanor of a coy princess, unphased by the surprise.

"I'll be right there, Shenshen." The young woman left the tranquil seductress for one last moment of solitude.

Inara gazed over the sprawling, delicate hillsides and exhaled a sigh. Then she started into the healing prayer she had taken to reciting these days. Anyone close by would not have heard her whispers, though the slight tremors of her lips would have seduced their attention never the less. As she approached the end of her meditation, she heard it. A familiar sounding engine breaking atmo. She looked up to see the one thing that could make her heart stop on a day like today. A Firefly.

A small hope ignited within her for the briefest of moments. Then, as her rationality took hold once more, the hope extinguished. She knew who would not be on that ship. But she also knew it was no coincidence, that particular Firefly flying into her vicinity. Would it be a long time friend or just a painful reminder? Either way, she would now have to go find out.

She met Shenshen inside the training house before making her excuses to step aside for a moment. Then she rushed down to the gardens, in the hopes of intercepting whoever may be on that ship.

The walk from the ship wasn't going to be long, but Jayne's uneasiness made the brief walk a pain for him. He tried to fill the silence.

"What's with your captain? Does she have something against companions?"

"It's complicated," Iris said.

Jayne paused with offense. "I'm not as stupid as I look. I might be able to follow."

Iris fought the urge to say "You're exactly as stupid as you look". But she knew that was a little too cruel for this exact moment. She decided to share a little, observing that he wasn't really listening. He was too preoccupied with himself.

"OK. Well, when she was younger, Badger tried settin' her up with the companion guild. He wanted to add a registered companion to his ledger, and Del, well she had no other places to go, so ... Also, if you ask me, he kinda wanted to get both Del and him in a more legal line of business. You know, increase his standing on Persephone. Anyway, that's where I met her the first time. Two people stuck in the same place at the same time. She was kicked from the house after about a year. I was out a year or so later. Something else happened with the two of them after that. I'm not sure what. But the next time I saw her she had a much bigger chip on her shoulder. That's all I really know."

"Huh."

"Huh?" Iris imitated. She hoped her teasing would either calm the fidgety ox or maybe rile him into relieving some of his secrets. He didn't take the bait either way. Instead, his eyes were arrested by the arrival of another at the outskirts of their scene.

As both travelers stopped and looked to the top of next hill, there, at the edge of the training house gardens, they could see a lone, lithe figure. The elegant beauty, Inara. Jayne hadn't seen her in years and was not fully aware of the reception he was about to receive.

Iris had her own reaction.

"Yummmm."

Jayne led the way up the hill - unfortunately. Iris quickly learned to keep her distance as he climbed. While she was sure-footed, Jayne was tripping and falling his way up hill, like a schoolboy. He just couldn't seem to find balance on his approach. He even apologized for a couple of slips.

Finally, the two were standing within a few yards of her.

"Jayne," said Inara sharply.

"Hello, Inara," he returned, nervously. "I bet I'm the last person you thought you'd see again, huh?"

"No." Her pause gave Jayne a brief hope. "I never thought I'd see you again." Truly, he knew that was coming. "How'd you find me?"

"That's what I do, darlin'." Jayne knew that was an immediate mistake. Inara was not someone he would thaw with endearments or reminders of Mal. He tried to cover his mistake. "I'm a tracker. I find people. ... And things."

"What're you doing here?" Inara asked, trying to stay on point to end this visit quickly.

"I found her, Inara. Serenity. I found her again."

"I saw. What're you doing here?"

Sheepishly, Jayne answered. "I'm trying to put things right, 'nara. ... As much as can be."

For the first time, Jayne and Inara held a stare. To her dismay, Inara sees the truth in his eyes. He does want to put things right. It would be easier for her if he didn't. She decided to change the subject.

"Who's that?"

"Hi-i-i."

Iris waved from the background, not trying to disguise any part of herself from Inara's discerning stare. Inara summed her up quickly: another one like Saffron. Except sweeter, more likable. More of an open book. And she's definitely been through a training house.

Realizing that the conversation was going to be longer than she wanted, Inara chose to change the setting to a more concealed location.

"Follow me. We can talk in the grove."

Del and Whisker plodded down the long staircase to find Fram lying on the couch across from the infirmary. He often ended up here, watching the cortex on his handheld. Clearly, he had fallen asleep here last night, instead of his quarters. Sitting in one of the chairs close by, was the mangled love-bot.

"Fram."

The tech's earwigs were still loudly replaying whatever he was watching when he dozed off, muffling Whisker's voice. He was in deep slumber, enjoying a dream.

"Fram!" Whisker tried again, seeing the same result, or lack thereof.

Finally, Del gave a kick. "Ephram!"

The thud of Del's boot against the couch jolted Fram to life. Yawning, and rubbing the sleep from his left eye, he joined his two friends in the present.

"Did you get that last bot debugged?" Del asked.

"Umm, yeah. But there's something else. Here. Take a look." Fram closed his cortex connection and opened another screen filled, edge to edge, with nonsensical text, numbers, and symbols. He held it out for Del to inspect. Without touching it, Del looked it over.

"Nice," she said, oblivious to what she was seeing. "I like the colors."

"It's encrypted data," Fram informed her. "A massive amount of encrypted data. I've been searching the cortex for hours and all I've really learned is, this encryption is most likely Alliance. Military."

All three paused in acknowledgment.

"So, they were smuggling information in a love-bot?" Whisker asked. "...Yeah. I guess that sounds about stupid for the Alliance."

"Can you break the encryption?"

"I don't know. The only one I know of who has ever done it was Mr. Universe and the whole 'verse knows what happened to him. He's got some "how to's" hidden in deep corners of the cortex, but I haven't found anything really helpful yet."

Hearing this, Del is unsettled at their worsening predicament.

"Keep looking. I want to know what it is we're carrying." With her order standing, Del withdrew back to the upper decks.

Fram returned to his research on the cortex, opening a new recorded feed from Mr. Universe.

"Welcome to 'How to Go Everywhere' Part 4: So You Wanna Get Into an Alliance signal?' First, this feed is for informational purposes only. I do not encourage ... "

Walking under the apple trees in quiet conversation was not making things easier. Talking to Jayne was even more exhausting than Inara remembered. If this wasn't the time to say goodbye then it needed to get here quick.

"Listen, Jayne. I have no desire to return to ... something that is gone. ... Something that has come to an end."

"I just want-" Jayne began. But Inara was set to end this.

"I know what happened wasn't your fault. Mal made his choice. It's who he was. If you want forgiveness, you've come to the wrong person."

The abrupt coldness from Inara offended Jayne deeply.

"Right. Well ... then ... " But Jayne had no comeback. He could see this was over before it began. The long shot did not pay off. "See you round 'nara," he clipped back at her. His mood now soured, he skulked away, like a mutt dog that had been disciplined for eating a whole pie.

His young escort held in place a minute to take a chance of her own.

"I can see you've lost someone or something important to you," Iris said. Inara was caught in a rare moment of vulnerability with the temptress. "But if you ever want to ... practice again, let me know." With a last look, Iris gave a smile and a soft eye, reflecting the attraction in her body and the warmth in her heart. Then she strolled away, to catch up with Jayne.

Jayne, who was already shaking off the encounter, was hoping his next stop wouldn't be as difficult.

Inara watched them until they were out of sight, then, finally, she calmed herself.

"It's alright now. He's gone. I'll never see him again."