They'd reached Londinium early that morning. Mal, Jayne, and Book had been up for hours arranging the tank-crates and preparing them to be unloaded. Inara came down the stairs into the Cargo Bay just as they began to descent into atmo.
"You're up early darlin'!" Mal smiled when he saw her approaching. He loved to see her at any hour of any day—even on stressful days like this one was turning out to be. "You ready for some explorin'?"
Inara nodded and giggled when he lifted her from the third-to-last step and spun her once before setting her down. "I suppose I am." She gave him a quick kiss before looking over at the beautiful fish. "Shall I feed them before their big debut?"
Mal chuckled, "Nah let Jayne do it." He said pulling her towards one of the crates and lifting her up to sit on it. "I need to talk to ya anyhow." He placed his hands on either side of her and attempted to give her an intimidating stare.
Inara giggled, "Okay Captain Reynolds, let's hear it." She waved her hand as she put on a mask of propriety.
Mal couldn't help but smile at how relaxed she seemed. But he had to be serious—for just a moment. "I want you to stay with me at all times when we're on this rock." He said quietly. "And if you absolutely MUST shop…Zoe I'm sure will be happy to assist you. But I can't send you with Kaylee or River. I need to know that you'll be taken care of if anything happens with your injuries."
"Mal, I won't be doing anything that could possibly upset my injuries." Inara promised him, taking his hand in her own. "Besides, I plan on spending as much time as possible at the aquar—" She was cut off by Zoe's frantic voice coming from the catwalk above them.
"Captain, we have a problem!"
Mal turned to Inara and gripped her knees gently. "Stay here Bao Bei." He ordered gently before running towards the stairs.
Inara turned to look at Jayne and Book in concern. The two men, still wary of the young woman's delicate mental state, plastered on comforting smiles before getting back to work.
/
As soon as he stepped onto the bridge, Mal knew exactly why he was called up there. The city below them was in flames.
"Reavers." Wash stated the obvious. "Port Control said it was a small ship at least, but they knocked out nearly a quarter of the city before they all got taken out by gas bombs."
"Gas bombs?" Mal growled turning to make sure Inara hadn't followed him. "Why the gorram hell didn't they kill them?"
"I didn't ask." The pilot shrugged, "All I know is that the Aquarium is done for and that we can only land to refuel, but then we have to get gone."
Mal sighed and closed his eyes. "Keep this door closed." He called as he headed back down the stairs. "I don't want her seeing that."
/
"Why are they here?" Inara demanded gripping his arms tightly and looking around her shuttle. "I thought that the closer we got to the core, the safer we were."
"That was a theory of mine, yes." Mal sighed as he tried to get her to lie back on the bed. "Now please relax darlin' I can't have you bustin' a stitch."
"We need to move!" Inara whimpered as his hand pushed down on one of her more tender wounds. "Why are we just sitting here?"
"We're getting fuel." Mal soothed, pushing her hair back. "There are guards everywhere, we're fine."
"Bu lang bu you, guards!" Inara spat. "Since when are they worth trusting?"
Mal had to admit she had a point on that one. Any man who worked for the alliance was in fact worthless. "Well, Wash is just finishing up and then we'll be up in the air in no time. Your mama will be happy to see you earlier than planned."
Inara began to calm at that. "We…we can still go?" She whispered, fearing that if her voice got to loud, the Reavers would return.
"Of course! You need to be with kinfolk right now." Mal kissed her forehead. "'Sides, I got a contact not too far from your home-city saying he'd be happy to take in all of them homeless fish. Apparently Sihnon has aquariums too."
"The best ones in the 'Verse." Inara tried to look haughty, but her trembling lip gave her away. "Mal, what if they went there too?"
"Where, Sihnon?" She nodded. "Your mama would've contacted us had that been the case. Nothin's gunna happen." He finally got her to relax against her pillows as he felt the engines start back up.
Inara took a deep breath and smiled softly as Serenity took to the sky again. She didn't know how long it would be until she felt safe on the ground, but it was easier knowing that Serenity would always be flying for her.
/
"Do you have any…unicorns?" River asked, arching her eye brows at her opponents on the other side of the table.
Inara and Kaylee exchanged glances before shaking their heads at the younger girl. "Go fish." Kaylee pointed at the pile between them. The women had snagged one of Jayne's Tall Card decks from his bunk and had been playing everything BESIDES Tall Cards for the last hour.
After about two days of travel, they were coming up close on Sihnon.
"Do either of ya have any…turtles?" Kaylee asked.
"Oh, I do!" River exclaimed plucking one of the cards out of her hand and practically throwing it at her friend.
"Goody! Thank ya River!" Kaylee smiled as she put the pair down on the table and examining her cards again. "What about an Apple?"
"Go fish." The other two said in unison.
Inara giggled as the mechanic let out a whine. "Do you have any peaches?" She asked. When the girls shook their heads, she sighed and reached into the middle. Just as she picked a card out of the stack, the ship suddenly lurched, sending the three women flying across the room.
"What was that?" Kaylee shouted as the lights flickered above them.
"No…no…not now!" River cried crawling under the table.
Inara groaned and held her hand to her side as she tried to sit up. She gasped when she felt a sharp pain around her midsection. She had hit the half-wall separating the dining area and the kitchen with great force and she was positive she cracked another rib or two.
She began no black out as she heard Mal and Simon come charging into the room. "'Nara! No ma'am! You open your eyes right now!" The captain was trying to be strict with her as he knelt down and pulled her halfway into his lap.
"Hurts." She murmured, wincing when he inadvertently pressed his hand against one of the reopened wounds on her back.
"Did somebody hit us?" Kaylee asked as Simon helped her to the couch and examined a small scrape on her forehead from where she hit the corner of the table.
"Afraid so." Mal sighed, patting Inara's cheeks in an attempt to keep her conscious. "Doc, we need to be gettin' her to the infirmary."
/
"GORRAMMIT WASH! If you don't make this ship go any faster I will end you NOW!" Jayne yelled as he watched the ship gaining on them in the radar.
"Excuse me, but you're lucky this thing is still moving after that hit!" The pilot snapped pushing Serenity into full burn. "Tell Kaylee to get to the engine room and see if anything blew up!"
The mercenary growled before storming out of the bridge and going in search of the mechanic.
Zoe watched him storm off before looking down at the radar. "It seems like they're slowing down." She observed. "You don't think they're losing fuel do you?"
"That doesn't seem likely. Reavers might be flesh-eating space monsters, but they're surprisingly resourceful." Wash tried to make light of the situation as he wiped the sweat from his brow.
/
"We can't land with those things behind us." Inara whimpered as Simon stitched up her back. She was lying on her stomach on the main bed in the infirmary with Mal in front of her.
"'Nara, Serenity's losin' steam, and she's losin' it fast." Mal explained holding her hands tightly in his own. "You're mama's coordinates have been set, and it looks like we just might make it. Now if this ship is as small as it looks on the radar, we'll just send Jayne out first with one of his fancy new bazooka guns, and we should be set."
Inara shook her head as tears welled up in her eyes. "I can't go out there with those things." She cried.
Mal sighed and kissed her forehead. "You're gunna be with me the whole time and you know how cautious I can be." He had meant it as a joke, but it only made her cry harder.
"Captain, we're coming into atmo." Wash's voice announced over the intercom as the ship began to rock a bit.
"She's still bleeding." Simon sighed, throwing up his hands as he tried to determine which wound to re-stitch next.
"We'll worry about it later." Mal muttered helping Inara off of the table and offering her one of his clean shirts that he had grabbed from his bunk while Simon was working on her. "'Sides, it's been like two weeks, why would she still be needin' stitches?"
The doctor rolled his eyes as he tried to apply as much ointment as possible to Inara's back before she threw the shirt on. "I would have been able to remove them a few days ago if she hadn't kept tearing them herself." He growled, following the couple out of the infirmary and towards the bridge.
"Engine seems fine Cap'n!" Kaylee announced, coming out of the engine room. "Just a couple o' wires and parts knocked outta sorts, but nothin' that couldn't be fixed. I do think one of the tillers might be a tad loose, but I'd havta take a look from the outside."
"You can do that just as soon as we land and kill the monsters little Kaylee." Mal promised her as he led Inara up the stairs and into the cockpit. "Wash, how's it lookin'?"
"We're coming up on land pretty fast Cap. It looks like our friends are getting there just as quick." Wash reported.
Mal stared at the radar. "Are they plummetin'?" He demanded, eyes narrowing.
"It would appear so sir." Zoe replied.
"'Nara, try to wave your mama and tell her to hide in case them things land before we do!" Mal sat Inara in the co-pilot's seat and pulled up the Cortex. Inara nodded and pressed a few buttons.
A few moments passed before Eve's face appeared on the screen. "Inara angel…" She began her greeting, but Inara cut her off.
"Mother, we're almost there, but you need to get into the cellar now!" She said urgently. "There's a Reaver ship right behind us and they look like they might be beating us there!"
Eve looked taken aback by her daughter's frantic tone. "Inara, darling, I—"
"Listen to your daughter ma'am, this is not a drill." Mal butted in before turning off the Cortex and buckling the safety belt around Inara. "Hold on tight Qing Ren." He ordered before heading to a spare seat in the back of the room.
"Everybody strap in!" Wash shouted into the intercom.
Inara closed her eyes as tight as she could as she felt Serenity fall quickly toward Sihnon. Her stomach bottomed out as Wash steered to avoid the Reaver ship that soared past them.
"Yeup…they're crashing…" Wash confirmed seeing the smoke surround the enemy vessel.
Mal swallowed and turned to look at the back of Inara's head. He didn't need to see her face to know how terrified she was. If it would result in him flying into the windshield upon landing, he would have been out of his seat and holding her in an instant.
Through the windshield, he could see a large brownstone castle-like mansion in the middle of a bright green field. "Let's not hit Mrs. Serra's lovely little cottage now." Mal hollered up at Wash who nodded and steered Serenity towards a bare patch of grass about five hundred yards from the manor.
They could see the Reaver ship in flames not too far from there.
"Brace yourselves." Wash warned right before they skidded to the ground with a thud. The lights flickered for a moment before the only sound in the cockpit was their heavy breathing and the beep of the 'Check Engine' signal.
"Okay, time to move!" Mal's voice snapped them into action. The captain unbuckled himself before hurrying over to Inara. "You ready to see mama Bao Bei?" He asked, kissing her forehead and helping her stand. Inara trembled as he led her out of the bridge and towards the Cargo Bay.
"Am I good to go Cap?" Jayne asked from below them, his hand hovering over the airlock release. Mal nodded and placed himself in front of Inara before she could head down the stairs.
"Shout if you think backup is needed." He ordered. Jayne scoffed before opening the Cargo doors and rushing outside.
By then everyone was on the catwalk in the bay, and they all waited anxiously for the mercenary's return. After about five minutes, his voice came from outside.
"Their ship is nothin' but ashes Cap'n. We're good to move!"
Mal smiled shakily and turned to Inara. "See, I told ya I'd protect ya." He said with a wink before taking her hand and leading her down the stairs.
When they made it outside, they saw that Jayne was not wrong. The ship that had pursuing them was nothing but a pile of mangled metal and rubble.
"That's what happens when you don't got proper containment on your ship." Kaylee whispered as she clutched onto Simon's hand when they walked by. "It'll blow right up when it hits the ground too hard."
"Thanks for the lesson Little Kaylee." Mal teased as they made their way towards Serra Manor. "I hope we didn't scare your Ma too much." He said to Inara who still looked white as a ghost, much to his concern.
"Sh-she'll be fine…" She murmured shaking her head.
They were about halfway to the house when a roar came from behind them. Mal didn't have to turn around to know what it was. Cursing, he pulled out a gun and placed himself between Inara and the beasts that had survived the crash.
There were five of them—all of them with burnt flesh and bones sticking out—and they were moving as quickly as he had ever seen them. "Jayne…shoot 'em!" He ordered.
"I left the bazookas on the ship!"
"What?!"
"They're heavy; I didn't think they was necessary!"
Mal growled and shot at one of the Reavers but it kept moving, unaffected. "Everybody run!" He shouted picking up Inara and sprinting towards the gate surrounding the house property.
He could hear the creatures getting closer and closer as the gate seemed to only get further away.
Just as it seemed that they were about to be overtaken, a loud blast came from overhead followed by an explosion.
Mal dropped to the ground and covered Inara's head with his hands to protect her from any flying debris. His ears rang as another explosion sounded a little closer this time. Slightly disoriented, he lifted his head and turned to see the rest of his crew had followed his lead and hit the dirt—all except for River, who was sitting crossed legged, staring at the now-dead Reavers.
Shocked, Mal sat up as well and looked down at an unconscious Inara. "Hey…hey…" He whispered, rubbing her cheeks. His ministrations were interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Excuse me!" He looked up to see Eve Serra sitting behind a very large cannon, wearing a stunning plum gown complete with diamond jewelry and a tiara. "Are you people planning on napping out there all day, or would you like to come in for some tea?"
Well there you have it. More to come very soon! (I hope)
Bao Bei—Sweetheart
Bu lang bu you—Good for nothing