Chapter 9
The Tams had been living aboard Serenity for a little less than a month when Mal lined up the crew's first big job in over two months. The contact they had made on Stone Ridge had a huge shipment of fuel that needed to be taken to Boros. Not only were they making a big profit on the deal but they also got to keep two months worth of fuel as a bonus. Everyone was excited about the job, it was going to pay very well, it was safe, and it was legal. That was three major things that most of their jobs lacked. The night before the drop the crew was gathered around the table drinking plum wine and discussing how they would work the drop off.
"We get to Boros tomorrow, make the drop, get the cash. What's so hard bout that?" Jayne asked.
"Well I may have embellished our reputable nature a bit to the contact on Stone Ridge." Mal admitted.
"By embellished you told them what?" Inara asked.
"I kind of told them that the owner of the ship was a major stock holder in the Blue Sun Corp."
"And why would you have told them that?" Simon asked.
"He just didn't want to be dealin with Independents, specially poor ones. I just thought if I told him all bout our rich boss he'd be more willing to hand us some work."
"So why should this pose a problem for the drop we're doing tomorrow?" River asked.
"Cause the guy on Boros heard about our rich ship owner and wants him to be there at the drop." Mal explained.
"So who exactly is goin to be pretendin to be a rich stock holder? Me?" Jayne asked.
"No I need you and River to be my gun hands just in case somethin goes wrong. I ain't think anything will but Boros isn't the most civilized planet and well with our history I'm not going to count on the fact that we won't need a gun."
"So who's gonna play the rich guy? You?" Jayne asked again.
"Nope I already talked to the guy in a wave he knows I ain't the owner."
"So that leaves Simon." Kaylee said unsurely. She loved her crew and her ship, but Mal's plans more often than not went pear shaped and she didn't want her blind husband in the middle of trouble.
"Ya think you can pull it off Doc?" Mal asked.
"Well what about my eyes? Won't the blindness make it seem less believable?" Simon asked.
"I'm thinkin River just stands next to ya the whole time and projects so's you can see. If ya keep yer sunglasses on then we don't gotta explain anything."
"I guess that would work. But I really don't know anything about owning stock in large corporations."
"I think you can fake yer way through it enough for these folks." Mal told him.
"Alright I'll do it, but you know a little more warning next time would be nice." Simon told him.
"Got it next time you'll have at least two days before you got fake yer way through bein a stock holding, spaceship owning, rich boy." Mal said sarcastically.
"That's all I ask." Simon replied with a grin.
Early the next morning Serenity landed on a wide brown plain of dried grass. After the fuel was unloaded Simon, Mal, Jayne, and River stood outside waiting for the buyer to show up, while everyone else was ordered to stay inside. Zoe waited in the bridge to take off at a moments notice if they needed to do so. Mal wasn't entirely comfortable with Zoe piloting, but she was better at it than Jayne and he needed River outside.
The group of four stood outside in the sunlight talking quietly while they waited. After five minutes they could make out the shape of a group of men on horse back and a large Mule approaching. They were still about half a mile away when River suddenly whirled around while simultaneously pulling out her gun. She fired quickly into the trees to Mal's right and suddenly a man clutching a sniper rifle fell out the tree, a bullet hole between his eyes. Mal and Jayne quickly pulled out their own weapons and began to scan the tree line for signs of more snipers. River turned to shoot again, but before she could fire she was hit in the shoulder and thrown backward by the force of a bullet.
The next thirty seconds were a mass of confusion as the four crew members were fired upon. The three men had all hit the ground beside River and were huddled behind a small rock for cover.
"River!" Jayne yelled frantically during a quiet moment between rounds of gunfire.
"I'll be alright; bullet went straight through, no broken bones." She assured him. Jayne sighed with relief until he saw how pale she was and the amount of blood covering her back. She smiled reassuringly at him once and then slumped to the ground unconscious.
"Doc River's out. She's bleedin bad." Jayne yelled to Simon as more bullets began to rain down on them from the group of men on horse back who were now within striking range.
"The bullet may have hit an artery." Simon told him. He felt on the ground until he found his sister's crumpled form. It only took him a second to locate the exit wound on the back of her shoulder and to begin applying pressure.
It had only been a minute or so since the first bullet had been fired, but already Simon could hear Kaylee firing up the engines and the squeal of the cargo bay ramp being lowered so that they could run inside.
"I'm gonna get River and make a run for it. Jayne you help Simon get back to the ship." Mal instructed.
Mal knew that Jayne would want to take River himself but they had to be fast and Jayne was better at leading Simon places quickly. Jayne seemed to realize the sense in that because he didn't argue. Mal moved over to River and cradled her small frame in his arms.
"I'll take her and run soon's we get halfway you two make a break for it." Mal yelled over the noise of the gunfire.
Mal took off running as fast as he could with River in his arms. Jayne grabbed Simon's shoulder and pulled him to his feet and into a dead run as soon as Mal was halfway to the ship. He felt a huge rush of relief when he saw Mal and River disappear into the darkness of Serenity. Jayne's relief was cut short when a blast of pain seared through his thigh and he fell to the ground pulling Simon down with him. The bullet had gone straight through the back of his thigh and had come out a few inches above his knee.
"Keep goin. Fifteen feet straight ahead and you'll be there." Jayne panted through the pain and pushed Simon in the direction of the ship.
"I'm not leaving you Jayne. Get up now!" Simon yelled and pulled Jayne to his feet. Simon put Jayne's arm around his shoulder and began pulling him in the direction that he hoped Serenity lay in. They had only gone about five feet when Simon heard the thunder of horse hooves coming up behind them. He briefly heard Jayne swear and then something hit him on the back of the head. Simon hit the ground and had the breath knocked from him when Jayne fell heavily on top of him. He wasn't sure what was happening, but the sound of gunfire had been replaced by the sound of artillery fire hitting metal. Simon thought that the men who had been shooting at them were now firing at Serenity. His assumption seemed to be correct because the next sound he heard was Serenity taking off. The sound of Serenity's engine had just begun to fade when someone hit him in the head again and he blacked out.
Simon's head throbbed painfully in two separate spots as Simon came back to consciousness. He tried to reach his hand up to feel his bleeding head, but was unable to because his hands had been tied behind his back. There had been many times since losing his sight that Simon had cursed his blindness, but never as much as he did then. He found that his legs had also been tied together at the ankles and the only sound he could hear was the steady drip of water and someone breathing beside him. It was terrifying not being able to see where he was or who had captured him. He struggled desperately against his bonds trying in vain to free himself.
"Hey Simon don't bother struggling they tied us up real good." Jayne said from beside him.
"What in the rutting hell happened Jayne? Where are we? Do you have any idea who attacked us? Did Serenity get away?" Simon asked.
"Slow down Doc. I'm feelin pretty woozy from gettin shot just hold up a sec and I'll tell ya what I know. I think Serenity got away, can't be sure but looked like they had a good start on anyone who coulda gone after em. As for where we are and who has us ya ain't gonna like it." Jayne told him.
"Why who has us?" Simon asked.
"Niska, we're on his space station. After you was out they tied us up and put us on the Mule they had with em. Took us to a close range shuttle and brought us up to the station. I passed out right bout the time we got here; when I woke up we were here."
Simon felt his insides go cold at the mention of Niska. His mind began to catalog the wounds that he had treated Mal and Wash for after they had been in Niska's hands; beatings, electrocution, knife wounds, the horrible burn in Mal's chest that Simon to this day had no idea what had caused it, and reattaching Mal's ear after Niska had cut it off. Simon didn't think of himself as a coward, but the thought of being tortured made him shake with fear.
"So where are we, specifically? Do you see anyway that we could get out?" Simon asked hopefully.
"Yer guess is as good as mine. Its pitch black in here, I can't see anymore than you can." Jayne said sounding discouraged.
It took Simon a few minutes of struggling, but he was finally able to get to his knees. He moved awkwardly around the perimeter of the room with his back to the wall, feeling the surface as he went. They were in a small cell; Simon estimated that it was five feet by four feet. The walls were made of a rough and probably rusting metal, the only thing Simon could feel that stood out was the door at one end. Once he had gone around the room he slumped back down next to Jayne feeling discouraged.
"You think River's ok Doc? She was bleeding bad." Jayne asked after several minutes of silence.
"I don't know Jayne. But they got her onto the ship quickly and my father is one of the best trauma surgeons on Osiris. I'm sure he'll be able to patch her up. River's strong; you know it would take more than one bullet to stop her." Simon told him trying to reassure Jayne, Simon wouldn't admit it but he was desperately worried about River himself.
It was cold and dank in the small cell and after a few hours Jayne and Simon were sitting shoulder to shoulder trying to create some sort of warmth from their combined body heat. Jayne became less and less coherent as he lost blood from the bullet hole in his leg, Simon did his best to keep the merc awake and talking but the cold and his bleeding head was making him sleepy as well.
Simon jolted himself awake again for what felt like the millionth time since he'd woken up in the cell. He couldn't even guess how long they had been in the room, but he estimated it was over eight hours. Simon leaned his head over to Jayne's chest to take his vitals as best he could while tied up. Jayne was breathing evenly and his heart rate seemed steady, but it was difficult for Simon to be sure. The merc had fallen asleep a few hours before and Simon had been unable to wake him since. Simon sat back and leaned his head against the wall falling asleep a few minutes later himself.
He was awoken sometime later by the loud squealing sound of their cell door being opened. Jayne jolted awake a second later when a bucket of ice cold water was thrown over the two men.
"So which one of you would like to tell me where Malcolm Reynolds is hiding?" Niska asked as Jayne and Simon were dragged from the cell by their ankles.
