I wanted to keep putting off this chapter, but had to get to it eventually.


"The chip is in his pocket," Saffron said. "All you have to do is get him to the location and hit the distress signal, which will transmit for ten minutes. The Reavers will pick up the signal and do the rest."

"Thank you," Atherton said, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her to him. "You are performing brilliantly, Love."

"My performances are enhanced at the prospect of you being Captain," she said, putting her hands on his neck. "To have what is rightly yours, what you have worked for. I've always found inheritance of titles based on lineage to be odd. Power is not your birthright. Power is for the qualified and deserving. And you are certainly that."

"Just a few days, lovely cook," Atherton said in her ear. "And you will call me 'Captain'."


"Mal," Atherton said, putting his arm around the boy. "Would you like to come with me into Serenity Valley?"

"Serenity Valley?" Mal asked. "What's in Serenity Valley?"

"Well, it's something of a secret. For you and your father. It is absolutely to die for."

"Really?" Mal said. "When do we go?"

"Well, as soon as possible!" Atherton said. "Surprises do have an expiration date."

"Today?" Mal asked. "Inara and I were going to a pool."

"I'm sorry, Mal, but yes, it has to be today. Say in an hour?"

Mal hesitated for a moment. He supposed he'd been in a pool before. "Okay."


"Are you sure you can't come?" Inara asked, standing on the landing facing Mal as he came down the stairs.

"I'm sure," he said. "Atherton and my father have somewhere to be with me."

"Well, alright," she said. "Duty calls, I suppose."

"As it does for me," Nandi said, coming up behind her daughter. "Mal, we must depart. So very sorry you cannot join us. Next time?"

"For sure." Mal grinned at Inara and bowed playfully. She curtsied. Nandi smiled, then took the girl by her shoulders and turned her around to head back to the shuttle.

"Mal," said Atherton from the holding area. "Are you ready to go?"

He nodded. "Coming down."


"Where is my father?" Mal asked as he and Atherton walked into the valley, Shuttle Two waiting behind them.

"I will go and get him," Atherton said. "You just pick one of these rocks and sit on it. Get some solar warmth before we go back into the cold blackness."

"I don't want to just sit here," Mal said. "I'll go with you."

"No!" Atherton said sharply, causing Mal to jump back against one of the larger rocks. "You just stay right here. Alright?"

Mal reluctantly hoisted him up onto the rock. "Okay. Ath," he said, "does the surprise have anything to do with your sword? You usually don't carry it."

Atherton's hand went to the hilt. "You will see, Mal. Stay on the rock."

Mal pushed himself closer to the center of the rock's top. "Yes sir."

"That's a good boy," Atherton said, tussling Mal's hair. "See you soon."

Upon reaching the shuttle and guiding it just outside of the Valley – Serenity the ship a mere two miles away – Atherton activated the distress signal that would transmit from the chip in Mal's pocket. Upon noticing a nearby, oddly shaped ship on the radar, Atherton sped off for Serenity.


Down in the valley, Mal lay on his back on the rock, legs dangling off, staring up at the sky. It was oddly blue, not a cloud anywhere. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen a sky like that. The flickering fireflies would be especially bright that night.

The clear sky was not, however, doing anything to stop the bugs. The buzzing in his left ear was not going away no matter how much Mal swatted. Eventually, he just sat up and shook his head, waving his arms around. The insect apparently took the hint and the buzzing stopped.

Then a new kind of sound found Mal's ears. It was coming from the…Mal turned his head – and nearly instantly paled. A ship was coming over the rise, and Mal knew from horrifyingly recently what kind of ship it was.

He didn't do anything for several seconds. He couldn't. He just stared in disbelief. Then, as the ship began to land and he could see the movement inside as its occupants readied themselves to de-board, instinct took in. Mal spun on his heel and ran.


Book sat, his feet up, in the co-pilot's chair, chatting with Wash about the passengers they were taking on. It had been a good morning of recruitment; they had six ships that would be flying under Serenity's protection, as well as three passengers traveling on Serenity herself. He was describing one family, a middle aged widower with three teenaged children, when Wash frowned and looked at his radar screen. "Sir, there's a large unidentified ship coming up that's landing a few miles away."

Book cocked his head. "Odd."

"Captain!" Wash and Book both jumped as Atherton appeared in the doorway, out of breath. "Reavers! In the valley!" He panted. "Mal's down there!"

Book jumped up. "Mal?"


Mal had about a fifty yard head start on the Reavers, but they were grown men, and his frequent glances backward were slowing him down. They were closing in on him. Forty five yards now, perhaps. Now forty. The edge of the valley, with its small caves and crevices that he could easily hide in, was easily a mile away. Mal doubted his ability to stay ahead of them that long.

Suddenly, there was a new kind of noise – a familiar one, a transport his ear recognized. Looking upward, Mal saw Shuttle Two coming across the valley, dipping downward toward him. He saw a vague shape inside, then heard an amplified voice – Wash's. "Your father is here! Hold on!"

Mal glanced behind him. The Reavers had easily halved the distance that had been originally between them and the boy. And while they seemed to be running as strong as ever, Mal was getting tired. It was only adrenaline carrying him now.


Wash guided the shuttle to be just ahead of Mal, lowering it to just five feet above the ground. "I'm burning lots of fuel here!" he shouted.

"I'm out!" Book jumped around Atherton and leaped out of the shuttle, landing hard just as Mal reached him. Book hoisted the boy up and took off, sprinting along just behind Shuttle Two and mere yards ahead of the Reavers.

"Oh gosh," Wash said, struggling with all the dust being kicked up to maintain control of the small shuttle, a craft not used to maneuvering at this speed. "Okay, if we can just…keep…this another few seconds, they should be able to re-board. Yes, we'll do this, we'll do this! We'll-"

Atherton lowered the crowbar after the pilot slumped forward, tossing it back into the corner, seeing out the window the world spin as the shuttle flew off sideways.

And not noticing the cable that had come loose and was dangling out the open shuttle door.


Book had just been preparing to toss Mal up to the shuttle when it veered off course. He didn't know what had happened, but it was just a few hundred yards to the edge of the valley, and he'd managed to put a little distance between them and the pack of Reavers.

"Dad!" Mal cried.

"It's okay, son!" Book said, covering the last few yards like he'd just begun running. Climbing up a few feet and pushing Mal up onto a ledge, a crevice big enough for the boy just feet away.

Book was pulling himself up onto the ledge when the Reavers caught up. Several of them grabbed Book by the leg and dragged him back down.

"Dad!" Mal shouted. The dust was too thick. He couldn't see anything.

Book kicked one of the Reavers out, reaching for his gun and firing, dropping several of the Reavers that were carrying him. Another one met his foot and thudded heavily to the dusty ground.


Atherton flew low, wanting to verify that the Reavers had both of their intended victims. This would do no good if one of them survived. The dust made it nearly impossible to see.

Suddenly the shuttle lurched, and Atherton looked behind him in surprise. The cable, attached to the side of the shuttle, was taut. Suspicous, Atherton left the controls and looked out, shocked to see Book, just three feet from the top, clawing himself upward, his hands pale from gripping the cable.

"Atherton!" he called, spotting the apprentice. "Help pull me up."

Atherton just stared. How in the world did…and if he was coming back, he must have saved…Atherton dropped to his knees and leaned out of the shuttle, bracing himself against the jolting of a pilotless shuttle that was gaining altitude rapidly. He never thought his voice had sounded more ominous when he said, staring into Book's eyes, "O Captain, my Captain."

Standing, and looking at the confusion in Book's eyes, Atherton drew his sword and brought it down, elegantly, on the cable.

It snapped.


As the dust cleared, Mal jumped down from the ledge. He could see the Reavers, scattered about, all dead of gunshot wounds or with faces covered in blood. His father was such a machine sometimes!

Mal kept walking, unsure of where to go or what to do. The shuttle would return for him, surely…or was it damaged? Should he walk home?

As the dust continued to settle, Mal saw that the Reaver ship was gone. At least one must have survived. Looking to the side, Mal another still form, lying a distance from the Reavers, near where the ship would be had all of them been killed. Mal recognized the clothing. "No," he said under his breath, rushing toward the body. He recognized the face. "No," he said, dropping to the ground next to his father. "Dad. Dad, come on, wake up." He shook him, then tried grabbing his hand and pulling on it. "Come on, we gotta go home."

Every time Mal shook or pulled on his father, there was no response. No voluntary motion. Mal felt his eyes fill with tears. "No. No, no no no." He laid down, his head on Book's chest, pulling one of the motionless arms over him in an embrace. "Dad." Tears escaped.

Mal didn't know how long he'd been lying there when Shuttle Two appeared, landing gently a few feet from them. Atherton exited, walking over to Mal and kneeling next to him. "Mal, Mal." Mal opened his eyes and looked up at the apprentice, who was shaking his head. "What have you done?"

"I…" Mal jumped up. "There were Reavers, and he tried to save me. He and Wash came…it was an accident." He looked back at Book, then up to Atherton, his eyes full of fresh tears. "I didn't mean for it to happen."

"Oh," Atherton said, pulling the boy into a hug. "Of course you didn't. No one ever means for these things to happen. But…the captain is dead. He looked sadly down at the boy. "And if it weren't for you, he'd still be alive."

Mal's tears escaped, and he clung to Atherton. "I…"

"Oh," Atherton said suddenly. "Your mother! What would she think?"

"I…I can't…" Mal shook his head. "What am I going to do?"

Atherton bent, putting his face at eye level with the boy's. "Run."

"Run?"

"Run away, Mal. And never return to Serenity." Mal stared. "Go!"

The boy turned on his heel heading in the opposite direction of Serenity, not looking back this time.

Atherton stood over Book's body, watching the boy go. His hand went to his pocket, activating the distress signal once more.


This time, Mal saw the Reavers ship just as it broke into the atmosphere, and he flew into a run again, heading over the rocky terrain in search of another place to hide. The ship was close behind him, but they couldn't get him with their ship's technology. He was too small. They would have to land.

The ship flew overhead, just feet above him, coming to a sharp landing just ahead of Mal, but directly in his path, forcing him to change course. His ankle twisted underneath him, pain shooting up his leg, but Mal didn't fully notice. He keep running over the loose footing, not quite sure why he wanted to live with the guilt he was feeling. But his legs kept pumping. He kept holding the Reavers off.

As Mal tired, he placed his bad foot down on a rock that needed only his weight to dislodge. Falling, Mal found himself rolling down a sharp incline. His hip hit a rock awkwardly, and he heard and felt some object in his pocket shatter. Eventually, bruised and battered and looking more like he'd fought a war all on his own, Mal's body lost its momentum and he lay on his side on the hard, hot ground. The sun was blinding him, giving him a headache, preventing him from any real attempts to stay conscious.

I felt it appropriate to have this take place in Serenity Valley, make it the low point in Mal's life as it is in canon. Next chapter will introduce a few new characters.