They'd dropped Shepherd Book off at the Bathgate Abbey on their way to Ariel – a Core planet. It was time for Inara's yearly check-up. Companion Guild Law required it of her. Clint, personally, thought that was a bit lax. Registered brothels back in his time had required monthly check-ups, he was fairly sure. Hell, SHIELD had required that agents on active duty have monthly check-ups, with extras after any job that involved seduction (or lipstick missions as they were sometimes called). Once a year? They must have found cures for some of the STDs.
Wash wanted to go on a nice date with Zoe while they were grounded. He wasn't sure what they'd do, but he wanted a nice date with his wife and was trying to convince her to go.
Kaylee and Inara were playing what Clint guessed to be some variant of poker in the lounge space just off the kitchen while Jayne was cleaning a six-shooter at the dining table. River was in the kitchen, cooking and fending off Simon's attempts to help.
"Doc, you have yet to cook anything while you've been on this ship that didn't smell like crotch and taste like ass," Jayne reminded the Core boy from where he was at the table. "River, on the other hand, has been learning how to cook from Clint, who really knows his way around a kitchen."
Clint bowed in deference to the praise from his own seat at the dining table.
"Someone tell my wife the wonderful things she'd be missing?" Wash implored.
"You... could go swimming in a bio-luminescent lake," Simon offered.
Wash smiled at the idea and nodded hopefully to Zoe.
"I don't care if it's got sunsets twenty-four hours a day," she answered with a smile. "I ain't settin' foot on that planet."
"No one is settin' foot on that fancy rock," Mal ordered firmly as he entered the dining area. "I don't want anyone leaving the ship," he said as he perused River's cooking to see what was ready to eat yet.
"It's all done now," she said softly, and offered Mal a plate before she started plating up more food – for herself, Clint, and Simon.
Mal nodded in gratitude and headed for the table with his plate and chopsticks. "Come to think of it," he continued to the rest of them gathered there. "I don't want anyone lookin' out the windows or talkin' loud. We're here to drop of Inara, and that's it."
"That will make the shopping I have to do a bit difficult," Clint pointed out wryly.
"Should have done your shopping at Bathgate Abbey," Mal replied easily.
"Some things they don't got," Clint countered, without any heat.
River set Clint's plate down in front of him then took the vacant seat at his side. She paused a moment to glare at Jayne's shirt before she turned to her meal.
"What?" he asked suspiciously.
"I don't like your shirt," she answered. "Blue Sun... The small things that take you, that get in where you don't even notice or don't think on..."
"What's she ramblin' about?" Jayne asked Clint.
"Do you know what Blue Sun is Jayne?" Clint asked.
"They make stuff," Jayne answered with a shrug.
"JARVIS?" Clint requested.
"The Blue Sun Company owns the Alliance," the AI expounded, "and they bought them with money made from people buying what they – and only they – produce. From shirts to tinned food to Gen-Seed to medical supplies to engine parts. Blue Sun is a monopoly in a great many areas."
"And they unmade me," River supplied with a harsh whisper.
"Right," Jayne said slowly, then frowned. "Damn," he decided. "It's a real comfy shirt. Seems a shame to burn it."
River's face broke into a smile as a giggle escaped her. "The offer is mollifying," she said. "Need not burn the shirt."
"Could dye it a different colour perhaps?" Wash suggested.
"JARVIS, did you perhaps find anything out about what the Academy did to River?" Simon asked, barely hopeful.
"Indeed I did," JARVIS answered. "The files have been at Miss Tam and Mr Barton's disposal for some weeks now."
"Wh-why wasn't I told about this?" Simon demanded. "Why wasn't I, as the doctor, given access to this information?"
"Never asked," River stated with an easy shrug.
"And you coming after River with needles has been very entertaining for the crew in general," Clint added with a smirk.
Simon frowned at them very purposefully.
Clint sighed. "Look, Doc, the reports detail what was done, the recordable effects the procedures had, as well as a list of people who came to see her and the procedures that they intended to conduct but didn't get to before you broke her out," he said. "River is a genius, remember that detail? And I've got medic training enough that I can do anything that she needs an extra set of hands for."
"Which isn't much," River supplied.
"Which isn't much," Clint agreed.
"As the qualified doctor on this ship, I'd really like to know what was done to my sister," Simon insisted.
"I can download the files onto your portable cortex screen," JARVIS offered. "Or I could summarise?"
"She will summarise," River answered firmly. "Multiple surgeries to strip her of amygdala," she informed Simon.
"What's... an amygdala?" Jayne asked.
"It's a filter," Simon answered. "When you're scared, for example, but you don't want to be scared, you push it to the back of your mind. The amygdala is what allows you to do that."
"Must feel everything, not other option," River stated. "As the child once more. Cry when sad, scream when frightened, laugh when happy. Must learn over again to moderate outbursts and cope with stresses."
"Can't do a thing about it with drugs or surgery," Clint added. "Unless they've developed a drug now that will help re-grow missing parts of brain tissue?" he asked rhetorically.
"N-no," Simon admitted. "I'd... still like to see the files please," he added. "Maybe even... get some neural scans while we're on Ariel? They do have great medical facilities, we'd be able to find out what's changed since..."
"Valid," River admitted with a sigh.
"Have we all forgotten so quickly what I said about no one leaving the ship while we're on Ariel?" Mal asked. "Because, you know, I coulda sworn I said it not ten minutes ago."
"There's also the issue of you two bein' fugitives," Jayne added pointedly. "How in the hell you gonna get into the hospital without gettin' pinched?"
Clint coughed. "Ahem," he said. "Hello, nurse? My ship just set down in the docks not long ago, and my little sister hasn't been feeling well lately. Would I be able to schedule some time with your excellent facilities? Oh no, we won't need one of your doctors. We travel with our own personal doctor. Our ship's infirmary just doesn't have the diagnostic equipment required to figure out what's been bothering Jeanie. . How much will free run of your diagnostic ward cost us for an hour? Oh is that all? And a time? Three o'clock? That's perfect, thank you so much," he acted out.
"I'll make an appointment," JARVIS' digitised voice said, and it could have been their imaginations, but it sounded like the AI was amused. "Do you want it to be for three o'clock Sir?"
Clint chuckled. "Doesn't have to be," he answered.
"You plannin' on actually payin' for this?" Mal asked. "Only I'm not seein' where the funds are comin' from."
Simon smirked. "If we get you into the hospital, you can get more than enough funds to pay for this," he answered. "One little bottle of the most common immune booster will get fifty platinum on the street. I can make you a list of the drugs to grab, and JARVIS can get you a floor plan and get you into the right rooms, I'm sure."
"Certainly," JARVIS agreed.
"Not to be negative, but don't the hospital need those drugs?" Kaylee asked.
"This is a major government medical facility in the Core," Zoe said flatly. "They'd be restocked within a few hours."
"She's right. They won't even miss it," Simon assured her.
"Stealing from the rich and selling to the poor is great," Wash said, "but uh, how will the rest of us get in to get the drugs that will be paying for this?"
"New hires on the morgue crew?" Simon suggested.
Clint nodded. "Always a good in," he agreed. "It'll also mean you'll have some very convenient equipment for moving stuff around without the stolen drugs being noticed. What do they use in Ariel? I'm used to body-bags and gurneys."
"Coffins in a Core facility, rather than body bags, but gurneys is still correct," Simon answered.
"Even more room to stow stolen goods then," Jayne said with a smile.
"There will be some outlay for this," Simon cautioned. "For uniforms, fake idents, and we'll need to get one of the ships that the hospital uses for transport, since they only let in official vehicles..."
The plotting began.
"We're going trash trawling?" Kaylee nearly whined. "First time on a fancy Core planet, since Persephone don't count, you're gonna send me to a junk-yard?"
"Sunshine," Clint said with a smirk, "take your shopping trolley. Rich folks will toss out perfectly good stuff if what it's attached to isn't 'good enough' any more. Stuff folks on the Rim would fix up and use another fifty times, these people will just dump out."
It was the same difference between people in America, with their disposable income and their newer-is-better attitude and other countries with a stronger recycling culture. Recycling as in: the torn shirt can be used to patch the trousers, the emptied toilette roll can be used as bio-degradeable planters for seeds to grow into seedlings in, and buy a new battery or band for the watch rather than just buying a whole new watch damn it!
"Don't need to teach the technical jargon," Clint said, cutting off Simon just as he got it into his head to drill the soon-to-be 'new hires' in what they should say about the 'corpses' they'd supposedly be bringing in. "They'll be delivery people, they say they've got a couple of bodies, the receiving Hu Shi will just order them down to the morgue. Won't even check the bodies most likely."
"Thank goodness," Jayne sighed in relief. "If I'd wanted schooling I'd have gone to school."
Inara chuckled discretely at that. "It is certainly some interesting crime you're lining up here," she commented. "I'm almost sorry that I'm going to miss it, since I'll be having my own examination at the same time."
It was a nice, smooth job from both ends. Clint got River and Simon all properly disguised and unrecognisable to identity scanners. JARVIS got them free run of the diagnostic wing of the hospital during the evening shift when less happened, so they wouldn't be underfoot or run into anybody while there – and at a very reasonable fee. Kaylee and Wash had their fun shopping in the junk yard and came up with a shiny and new-looking ambulance of the age by the time they were done, and Jayne got them the uniforms without any trouble. Then Wash flew Mal, Jayne and Zoe in and they wheeled their empty coffins down to the storage rooms where they first of all filled out their shopping lists, then figured that, well, while they were there...
They were out again in next to no time, thanks to JARVIS making sure that all the doors opened for them without any trouble.
Clint was 'big brother' and Simon was 'Doctor Mallard' and they had all the tests that Simon wanted done running while he took scans in another machine. JARVIS uploaded all the data, and wiped its existence from the hospital's files history, covering their tracks very carefully, and then they were out too.
"I'm not sure which of you is the good luck charm," Mal said to Clint once they were all back on Serenity – even Inara – and headed out to the black once more. "But since we took passengers aboard on Persephone, jobs have gone very smooth. Unaccustomed as I am to jobs going smooth, I am very much enjoyin' it."
"Can't be Shepherd Book," Clint offered. "If he were the good luck, job wouldn't have gone smooth without him on board ship."
Mal chuckled happily.
"Hey Captain?" Kaylee called as she skipped down the stairs into the bay. "Can we keep it?" she asked, gesturing to the ship she and Wash had fixed up for infiltrating the hospital. "Only... it's so shiny."
"Good ride too," Mal agreed. "Sure, if you can find somewhere else to stow it. Middle of the cargo bay, it kinda takes up room we could be usin' for things like cargo. Might want to do something about the medical symbol too. We ain't a med service after all."
"Mei Wen Ti, Captain!" Kaylee chirped happily.
~oOo~
Since they were in the Core, and Ariel was not far from Bellerophon, Mal ordered Wash to swing Serenity around to the planet that had been on their 'to visit list' for a while. It was as good a time as any to exchange the cryo-ed Mrs Haymer-Mallard (she was also married to the doc, and his alias was his real name as far as she knew) for the reward that her (first) husband had out for her return to him.
As a bonus, Inara could get some work in immediately after her yearly physical, which she certainly appreciated. The lady got a bit unpleasant to be around when there wasn't any opportunity for her to meet with clients for too long periods of time. Snippy, that was the word for it. She got snippy if she didn't get to meet with any clients for too long.
So anyway, while Mal and Zoe delivered Mrs Haymer-Mallard to Mr Haymer (with a list of details from River about the woman's status within the cryo-box), Clint sat with River in the dining area: he was finally getting around to carving something from some of the horns he'd cut off the cattle they'd shipped a while back. River was working on another horn, just drawing a design on it for now, to be carved out later.
"Hey Clint, River," Wash greeted as he flopped down into another of the chairs around the table. "I had an idea."
"The volcano and palm trees are disproportionate, and the dinosaurs should have names," River stated calmly, eyes once more focused on the horn in her hand and the marks she was making upon it with her pencil.
"Yeah?" Wash asked with a smile, and sat up a little straighter.
River nodded.
Wash looked to Clint to see what he thought of the idea.
Clint shrugged. "I've been personally thinking of them as Lucy and Mr T since you showed 'em to me," he admitted.
"T-rex was Mr T, right?" Wash checked with a smile.
Clint smirked back. "Too predictable," he answered. "Other way round."
Wash laughed. "I'll do that then!" he agreed. "And work on finding more proportional landscape," he added to River. "But that wasn't what I wanted to ask you guys about," he continued.
"What's on your mind?" Clint prompted.
"That... well, we could make more off the medicine if we sold it straight to the MDs, rather than going through middle-men, and we'd know for sure that the goods were getting to people who needed them," Wash explained. "What do you think?"
"MDs would not deal direct," River answered. "Even on the Rim. Go through trusted middle-men, standard procedure."
"There's also a lot of middle-men out there in the 'verse," Clint added. "Cutting out one middle-man will set the backs up of every other one, and we'll have a lot of people feeling much less kindly towards us."
"Course of action is Jwohn Gao Bu Yi," River finished.
"Aw," Wash whined. "I thought it was a good idea."
"While theoretically sound, practically it is inadvisable," JARVIS added sympathetically. "At least, at this time."
"On the other hand, if we build up a reputation for having quality goods, then eventually the buyers may come to us directly," Clint offered to Wash. "We land, they rock up and see what we're carrying, if there's anything they want to buy."
Wash winced. "Makes us sound like a travelling general store," he complained a bit, then sighed and flopped his weight forward onto his elbows. "I asked Zoe to float the idea with the captain. He's going to shoot it down too, isn't he?"
"High probability," River agreed.
At the same time, Clint said, "Probably," and nodded his head. "Sorry man," he offered.
Wash sighed again. "No, it's alright. I just like the idea of knowing that the goods are going where they'll be used best. And a bigger make on the goods. Maybe I'm still a little too idealistic to be a proper criminal," he said with a shrug.
~oOo~
Kaylee had picked an apple for herself from the bowlful that Clint had provided with a little of his cut from the first sale of stolen pharmaceuticals, and River picked it out of her hand with a grin.
"Hey!" Kaylee objected. "That's my apple!"
"Mine now!" River teased. Then she had to start running as Kaylee determined that she wanted her apple back.
Clint chuckled with Wash as he watched the girls run out of the dining area, laughing, and then back into the dining area, still laughing.
Kaylee managed to corner River and retrieve her apple, and with a triumphant grin held it aloft and proclaimed: "No power in the 'verse can stop me!"
Clint shook his head fondly at the girls and grabbed two more apples and a knife. He handed one of the apples to River, then sat down beside her with his own apple in one hand and the knife in the other.
Zoe took his vacated seat, a smile on her face, picked up an apple for herself and sliced into it with the knife from her belt.
"Zoe, how come you always cut your apples?" Kaylee asked as she flopped down on a chair and took a bite of her own, hard-won, piece of fruit.
"You do?" Wash asked his wife, surprised. He'd apparently never noticed that particular quirk before.
Kaylee nodded. "Her and -"
"-And any one who's ever done any kind of service," Clint cut in.
"Never just munch on 'em," Kaylee finished.
"Know what a Grizwald is?" Zoe asked Kaylee, even as she continued to slice up her apple.
"It's a grenade," Jayne supplied as he stepped through the door into the kitchen, and speared an apple on the end of his knife.
"About the size of a battery," Zoe continued. "Responds to pressure."
"Easy enough to hid something that small it a whole fruit. First bite might not kill you," Clint added. "But that bit of fruit will be your last meal, unless you're lucky enough that your fruit-bomb was defective."
"They don't make much noise," Zoe said as she nodded to Clint in solemn agreement. "Just little pops... and then there were three guys that ended at the ribcage. Alliance guys in the next trench, not ten yards away, we were all out of ammo so... we got to talkin'. Mentioned we was out of rations. It rained apples not ten minutes later," she explained.
"But these apples are healthsome and good," Wash said with some forced cheer.
"Yeah," Jayne said with a smirk. "Grenades costs extra."
"No," Clint countered. "Grenades makes the apples free. Inserting a grenade leaves a mark though, however good a guy might be at hiding it. I checked every bit of fruit before I paid for 'em."
"Paranoid eater," River said softly with a smile. "Still cuts up his bombs even when he knows they aren't ticking."
Clint reached over and mussed up River's hair fondly. "A little oxidation before consumption also makes 'em taste better," Clint countered with a smirk.
"We are about twenty-thousand miles from our last drop people," Mal announced as he walked into the kitchen – and grabbed an apple for himself as well. "Then, I'm thinkin' we should take a break, start thinkin' about spending some of our bank roll in a serious sorta fashion."
Clint chuckled. "Now, how many digits is our account at, JARVIS?" he called.
"Twelve, Sir," the AI answered. "And that is not including the money present in cash-form aboard the ship."
"Yeah, definitely need to look at spending some of that money," Mal said. "Before it makes a target out of us."
"We coulda made more," Wash suggested softly, still kind of stuck on his idea of selling direct, even if it had been explained to him why it wouldn't happen.
"That wasn't a bad idea Wash," Mal said. "But eliminating the middle-man is never as simple as it sounds."
Wash looked over at Clint and River, who shook their heads. Then he turned betrayed eyes on Zoe – who shifted a tiny bit in her seat.
"Yeah," Wash allowed. "Clint and River explained the issues to me. I just still kinda like the idea."
Mal chuckled. "Well alright then," he allowed, and clapped Wash on the shoulder. "This quadrant at least, we play nice. Got enough enemies as it is."
"This might not be the best time, but I regret to inform that Niska has discovered who has been skimming his funds," JARVIS announced. "He is not pleased."
"Well, we have taken rather a lot," Clint answered the AI.
"Don't worry about it too much for now JARVIS," Mal advised, though he was visibly a little uneasy himself. "He''s got to catch us before we should start worrying. I don't plan on him catching us."
"As you like Sir."
"If he catches us..." River said softly, her brown eyes fixed on Clint's face.
"If," he said firmly, "then it's an excuse to rid the 'verse of a very unpleasant man," Clint answered her.
"The drop should still be a milk run," Mal decided, "but Zoe an' I'll take those communication devices Clint and River made."
"Actually, Captain, would it be alright if I went with you on this one?" Wash asked, his disappointed gaze still fixed on his wife's increasingly guilty expression.
Mal looked between his pilot and his first mate. "It should be a milk run," he said, "so alright. Zoe, ship's yours."
Zoe nodded in acceptance, and then she and Wash both vacated the kitchen for the bridge and a little private conversation.
"Do I even want to know what just happened?" Mal asked the room at large.
"Wash asked Zoe to float his idea to you," Clint started.
Mal nodded. "Yeah, and she did that," he agreed.
"Wife lied to Husband about it due to negative answer from Captain," River finished. "Husband feeling insecure about marriage."
"What?" Jayne asked, confused.
"Say you had a wife who deferred to some other guy rather than you, who wasn't her dad," Clint said to the man. "How would you feel?"
"Pissed," Jayne answered succinctly. "That's Wash right now?" he asked, double-checking that he had his fact straight.
"About right," Kaylee agreed with a sigh.
When Clint had finished his apple, both Wash and Zoe had left the bridge through the kitchen again. Separately. Went in different directions even. Clint sighed and got up from his chair, and headed up to the bridge. They needed to land after all – Inara had a client who would be coming aboard.
Once they were on the ground – and Inara had escorted her female, high-ranking client up to her shuttle – Clint headed into his bunk. For a very different reason than Jayne had though. After all, he hadn't watched the Councillor come aboard, and so had no mental images to... become tense over.
He was going to get some sleep. JARVIS had told him that Niska was aware of Mal's location, just between the two of them – and Mal and Wash on the comms – while Clint was on the bridge. He wanted to be well rested in case the pair got caught and the shit hit the fan.
It was not to be, however. River descended into his bunk before he'd even finished taking his shirt off. A fair-sized circle of string was hanging from one of her hands – in a very specific way.
"Cats cradle?" Clint asked when he spotted it. "Seriously? Of all the children's games I played as a kid, and watched other kids play, you want to play cat's cradle? Now?"
River nodded. "She has already gone through all the motions she saw in his memories that she can on her own, and Kaylee is currently too distracted by thoughts of Inara's client to do more than tie knots."
"You could make up new patterns," Clint suggested. "There are lots of more complicated patterns that can be made than I ever saw after all," he pointed out, but waved tiredly for her to sit at one end of his bed, while he sat at the other.
River smiled. She had won – he had conceded, therefore she had won. The two killers traded the string game back and forth between them, a different pattern appearing with every pull and tug that they tugged and pulled.
"Sir," JARVIS called after about an hour of the game.
"Now I'm learning about scary," River announced suddenly, but softly, her eyes a hundred miles away as her lips moved and the words came out.
"May I say, Miss Tam, you said that at exactly the same time as our good pilot," JARVIS stated. "It seems that the drop has not gone smoothly."
"Niska?" Clint asked.
"Yes, Sir," JARVIS answered.
"Jayne was hired onto the crew because of his tracking ability," River offered as she let the string from their game go slack over her fingers.
"Right," Clint agreed. "JARVIS, if you could tell Zoe and Jayne? River and I will get the ATVs ready to go."
"She gets to come?" River asked hopefully, just a little excited at the prospect.
"She gets to come," Clint confirmed, and rolled his eyes in amusement, then tapped her on the nose as he got off the bed.
Jayne and Zoe got to the hangar just as Clint and River were carrying Simon off to the side of the cargo bay where he'd be out of the way and out of sight.
"Why's the doc out of it?" Jayne asked.
"Wished to object to her being part of the search party," River answered with all the offended disdain of a socialite princess – nose in the air and all – as she stalked back to Serenity's ATV.
"Tried a smoother to get her to stay put," Clint added as he swung up onto his quad-bike. "You two get to ride pillion. And JARVIS? Let Kaylee know where we've gone?"
"Of course Sir."
Jayne climbed up behind Clint, Zoe behind River, and they were off.
It took them a while to reach the drop site, and when they did, it was to find three dead bodies and a tipped-over crate of medical supplies.
"None of 'em is ours," Jayne said as soon as the quads were both stopped.
"Small mercies," Zoe answered tersely.
"Precision work," Clint noted as he turned the bodies over and saw the perfect little entry-wounds in the middle of each forehead. "Snipers with laser-sights would be my guess."
"Fifty-four-R," River confirmed as she stepped lightly across the sand to pack up the discarded medical supplies. They were still good after all. Most of them. And considering that Niska had Mal and Wash... they'd probably be needed.
Jayne stopped a moment to stare at River when she pronounced the make of gun that had killed the three guys he was currently looting. "Right," he said eventually. "Genius that got made a Wei Shian Dohn Woo by the Alliance."
"A bit surprised that Niska's men didn't take the goods at the same time," Zoe commented as she helped River lift the crate onto the back of Clint's quad-bike.
Jayne wandered around the site, looking for any sign of which way they'd gone. "Found the tracks," Jayne called after a moment.
Clint, Zoe and River all followed him up.
"They're off world already, an' there's only one type of transport I know makes marks like this," Jayne said with a gesture to a pair of black burn-marks along the sand.
"Fast burn rocket-shuttle," River and Zoe answered in agreement at the same time.
"Ship like that..." River started, but didn't finish.
"We already knew it was Niska took 'em," Clint said with a shrug. "We came in hopes of catching his men before they got off-world. We're too late. That's all. Plan B."
"Plan B?" Zoe echoed, unhappy and worried.
"Rescue them from the crazy man's skyplex," Clint answered her. "Kill the crazy man on the way out."
"She does not like the Hawkeye's plan," River informed Clint gravely, eyes narrowed at him.
"But the probability of success?" he pressed.
River pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. "High," she answered.
"Did you two come up with a 'Plan B' before Zoe an' me showed up in the cargo bay an' neglect to tell us?" Jayne asked.
River shook her head. "Reader," she stated. "Was not involved in the planning. Will not be involved in the execution."
"What does this plan of yours involve, Clint?" Zoe demanded.
"You, me, and the shuttle go to the skyplex," Clint answered. "You offer me in trade for them. After all, I'm the one who was actually doing the scamming from Niska's accounts. You just want your captain and your husband back."
"I don't see Niska taking one man in exchange of two," Jayne pointed out.
Clint shrugged. "I can handle a bit of torture," he said. "Give me an opportunity, I'll be able to get right back up and take Niska out with a tongue-puller."
Jayne grimaced as he tried to figure out how the hell that would even work.
"I'll load the meds up onto the shuttle. Wash and Mal will need them when we get them out," Clint said, and picked up the crate off his quad-bike and started walking towards the shuttle. "I'd go on my own," he said, "but I'm not sure Mal and Wash would be able to walk back to the shuttle from where they're being held without help."
Zoe swallowed. She didn't want to think about that possibility. "What about JARVIS?" she asked suddenly, a thought occurring to her. "He's in the skyplex's system, isn't he?"
"I am," JARVIS answered into their comm units. "But in consideration for the various unpleasant tools that Niska has for use in his torture room, the best I can do is moderate how many volts they will be charged with when Niska's man Crow has finished attaching the shockers, or make a particularly unpleasant machine malfunction, though I admit to not knowing how to do that safely..." the AI offered apologetically.
Jaws clenched all around. Zoe worried for her husband. River remembered the treatments she suffered at the Academy. Jayne tried to imagine that pain based on what he'd felt the few times he had accidentally electrocuted himself. Clint just kept walking towards the shuttle, box of meds on his shoulder, and prepared his mind for what he was about to walk into.