"Where's your other one?" Zoe asked darkly as Mal and Jayne came pounding down the stairs.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She sputtered out, on her knees and gazing up at the soldier.

"Zoe! Why the hell are you executing my pilot?!" Mal barked.

"She's a member of the 82nd." She growled, her eyes piercing into the pilot's.

Mal stopped in his tracks.

Jayne put his hands on his hips, watching the two browncoats carefully.

"Kaylee, go put May somewhere and get your scanners." Simon told her cautiously.

"But-"

"Just trust me." He told her, nudging her towards the engine room.

"Now where's the rest of your ink, you Zàng gǒu shāqì?" Zoe rumbled.

Emerson said nothing.

Mal looked at his pilot and felt it difficult to contain his own rage so he could approach the issue level headed. "How do you know?" He stepped towards his officer.

"You ever seen this on someone that wasn't in the 82nd?" Zoe pulled the wrist towards him so he could get a good look.

The ink brought back memories Mal never wanted to relive.

"What's the 82nd?" Simon asked as Inara rushed down the stairs.

"They always hid the horse." Mal reminded Zoe. "Chest, neck, ear." He circled Emerson and pulled her hair back to inspect her. "Close to the head, close to the heart, right?" He asked coldly.

Zoe reached down, still keeping a grip on the wrist to keep the pilot down, and pulled the collar of the woman's shirt back, revealing a small black horse just below her collarbone, hidden amongst swirls and other designs. "Famine." She reported to the Captain. "She's Famine."

It finally clicked in their doctor's mind. "She was-"

The pilot visibly changed. Her entire body sunk, and her eyes became distant. "I just flew the Xuan Wu. I never-"

Zoe pistol-whipped Emerson, sending a spatter of blood onto the wall. Her captive crumpled into a pile on the floor.

"Zoe!" Inara gasped.

The soldier ignored the plea and the looks of horror their civilian crewmembers were giving them. "I say we force her out the airlock, Sir. Not even worth the lead."

"Do it." The voice rose up from the mass on the floor. It was filled with anguish, yet resignation. "And you'll do me a favor."

Mal and Zoe gazed down at her.

The first mate looked to the Captain, asking for permission.

Mal studied the body. While the others had heard pain, he had picked up the guilt.

"Absalom, New Vermont, Shadow." Zoe recited to him, her voice crackling at the last planet. "She took part in each one, Sir. And you've gotta think about it?"

He kept staring at the pilot, how she had curled herself into a ball and refused to show her face. No defiance, the one plea, the one excuse was just that-one. "It's up to you." Mal announced, turning and meeting Zoe's fiery eyes. She had been the Dust Devil- the one who ate, drank and breathed the war. He had to put that aside, he had to keep it at bay. He had just been to that edge with the memories of Sarah, and couldn't go back to it again. "War ended long ago for me."

She hesitated, but reached down and grabbed the pilot by the hair and pulled her up. "Come on."

The pilot stumbled into the cargo bay with her, hearing the angry protests of the crew die out. Being pushed towards the door, she swallowed the blood pooling out of her cheek. "Most of us are dead." She muttered.

"Good."


"I-I had just heard of them as stories." Simon told Mal. "I just read the speculation-"

"Me too." Jayne nodded. "Hearin' them."

"What on earth is Famine?" Inara asked as Kaylee returned with her scanners and Warren hid in the corridor with May.

"Ain't stories you tell in fronta frilly company." The merc told the Companion.

"One of the four ships that won the war." Mal explained gravely.


"By the first year after the treaties? Was half." She coughed.

Zoe stood by the console and opened the door.

"Suicide." Emerson said simply. "Ate the gun, chased the dragon, jumpers, sinkers… most on the Xuan Wu just wouldn't take their meds." She fought back tears that stung at her eyes. "Let the chemicals eat them-"

"Sob stories will not sway me." Zoe shoved her into the air lock.


"They don't talk about them much, on the Core. It's just-" Simon told the others.

"So surprised such an advanced civilization would sweep so much death under the rug." The Captain said dryly.

"But they were real." Simon pressed. "Large ships that were deployed when the Alliance considered a planet a lost cause."

The Captain's head whipped to the Doctor as the words cut. He had to tell himself the boy was only parroting what he had read somewhere. "They were worlds they couldn't occupy. Worlds they got driven out of with their tails between their legs." He did his best to steady himself. "So they came up with these carrier ships."

"The Xī Fāng Bái Hǔ, the Nán Fāng Zhū Què, the Xuan Wu, and the Qinglong." Jayne grunted, shifting his stance. He had heard about them himself, long ago. Fuzzy bar tales one would tell in order to get a rise out of their fellow drinkers.

"'Cept they weren't no godly creatures." The Captain said under his breath.


Emerson stood there, not even trying to rush the door. "It's not a sob story."

Zoe's eyes flickered up to meet the woman's.


Tired of gabbing about the bleak past, Mal stared at the ground and quickly exited to return to his helm.

Kaylee bit her lower lip, not knowing the full story yet afraid to ask about something that brought so much pain.


"They killed themselves because they wanted peace. They wanted release." She explained in a steady tone. There was no grief, no sense of loss. Though as she continued, there was a bubbling anger. "I never did, because I never thought we deserved that. None of us deserve freedom from what we did."

The soldier looked her over, considering what she was saying.

"Are you going to give me peace?" She asked, and her voice finally broke.


"They were planet killers." Simon muttered under his breath, nervous to even keep talking about it. "Destroyed three to black rock."

"The Four Horsemen." Zoe added as she dragged Emerson back through the common room and startled the others. "Even their own people called them that, nicknamed each one. Jayne, I need somethin' to tie this one up. Kaylee, scanners. Doc, you're gonna draw some blood."


Kaylee walked along the wall of the cargo bay, counting her paces until she found the right grate. Crouching down, she took out her drill and unscrewed the grate. Lifting it up and setting it down, she shimmed into the small crawlspace and settled against a wall panel. Tucking her knees up against her chest, she sighed and leaned against the cool metal.

"Hey River." She greeted, looking at the wall. "I won't fill you in on what happened since you already know." She picked at the bunny patch on her coveralls. "But, y'know… Will's okay."

Silence.

"He was just tired is all. Inara had his medication and he got it in time."

Silence.

"Y'know." She fidgeted. "We're all really busy with Emerson right now, and he could use a friend."

"I broke my Xiǎodì." A meek voice finally rang out from the other side of the wall.

"No you didn't, Sweetie." The mechanic reached out and petted the metal.

"Consumed by happiness, didn't see the signs the parts weren't working."

"You just gotta more careful is all. Don't get so carried away."

"I broke him."

"He's just restin' up is all." The mechanic reassured. "Simon says he's gotta take it easy for a few weeks. Give him time to heal. That doesn't mean you can't play, you two just can't race around." She waited for a response, and when none came she exhaled heavily. "River, he could really use a Mèimei to cuddle on. That's not Warren's forte."

There was a beat, then the sound of a body shifting and moving.

Kaylee looked up, and River stood above her, peering down. "You look silly down there." The reader announced.

"Go see your Xiǎodì."


"Her name is Emerson Amelia Childs." Kaylee said as the adults clustered around the table.

Mal at the front of the table, leaned back. "There was a Childs that was a four star Alliance general. Greatest brass-laden bastard if there ever was one."

"Daughter." The mechanic announced, flipping through a stack of papers she had printed out. "Eye scans gave me that. She had a military chip under the snake like you thought, that gave me her records." She took a small stack and passed it over to the Captain. "Standard flight school, flew carrier with the 82nd from Shinon to the rim planets. Two tours in the same system. Then when the 82nd got a new mission her records kinda stopped."

"Suspected." Zoe sighed. "It'd be stupid if they kept records of it."

"Doc?" Mal gazed up from the papers and to the doctor that was standing behind his mechanic.

"Her blood is saturated with a toxin called KRE-21." Simon reported, his hands leaving Kaylee's shoulders.

"Keres." Mal told the others. "Famine dumped it in gas form on the three planets. Killed off all the plants."

"And in high concentrations it can wreak havoc on the brain and lead to cell death. It tends to start in the parietal lobe and move backwards until it deteriorates the brain stem. " He explained, shaking it's head. "It's a nasty way to go. Since the frontal lobe is for the most part left intact you're left aware of your slow, agonizing death. Usually suffoca-"

"So it's bad." Zoe cut him off. "Why the hell is she still alive?"

"Medication. The KRE-21 stays in the blood system once it's been absorbed. However, there's a battery of medication one can take to stave off the cell death." He replied.

"Found a buncha pills when I searched her bunk." Jayne told them.

"Sooo… Are we gonna kill her?" Kaylee asked uneasily.

"And if we don't, what are we going to do with her?" Inara questioned.

Mal bowed his head.


TRANSLATIONS

Zàng gǒu shāqì: dirty murderous dog

The Xī Fāng Bái Hǔ, the Nán Fāng Zhū Què, the Xuan Wu, and the Qinglong: The White Tiger of the West, The Vermillion Bird of the South, The Black Tortoise of the North, and the Azure Dragon of the East. Called the four celestial animals, the four benevolent animals or the four symbols they are a common piece in Chinese mythology. Often representing the seasons and elements, they are also Chinese constellations.

Mèimei: Sister

Xiǎodì: Little brother

Keres: Greek female death spirits associated with hunger, pestilence, and a violent death