Sitting on one end of the crew's dining table was Sarah. In his usual seat on the far opposite end was Mal. Sitting to Sarah's right was John, her left Derek. On Mal's end, to his right was Simon followed by Kaylee. To his left was Zoe followed by Jayne. Standing behind him, her hands lightly touching Mal's shoulders was Inara.
In the distance the sounds of River laughing while she ran could be heard over the heavier thump of Cameron's boots.
"Well, those two seem to have gotten off on the right foot," Mal said solemnly. "Mayhaps we can as well."
"I would like to," Sarah answered, offering a faint smile in return to the Captain. "We, we would like to," she corrected herself.
"Problem is," Mal explained, "don't much know how we can help you. Fer sure can't take on no more crew."
John laughed at Mal's words. "You're security stinks. We could have taken this ship without any problem and we didn't even bring our heavy weaponry."
"Gorram Mal, you gonna take that? Dem's fightin' words," Jayne exclaimed, rising up out of his chair.
"Jayne! Sit!" Mal ordered in his captainy voice.
Mal grinned at John. "Why don't you enlighten me young fella."
"No perimeter security. We had access to the hull of your ship. Even if you had a hull-based system, we could have breached the hull before you could have reacted. Now, not only do we have a point of entry, you can't space your ship."
Embarrassed, Mal frowned. Keeping his gaze focused on John in an effort to intimidate the young man, Mal spoke. "Go on. Anything else?"
"Your firepower is too limited. We could have taken your entire crew with simple side arms."
Serenity's crew laughed uncomfortably at John's words.
"Did you get a good look at Vera," Jayne chuckled.
"Nice weapon," Cameron said, entering the room. "My .50 cal. Barrett has confirmed kills at two kilometers. Your weapon, while excellent, has an effective kill range of only 1.8 kilometers."
"You rely on six shooters," Derek offered. "Our Glocks are all semi-automatic. Our assault weapons fire single shot, three-round burst, and full auto."
Both parties flinched as River ran through the dinning area, smiling from ear-to-ear and tugged on Cameron's hair, causing the latter to chase after her down the corridor.
"We got River," Kaylee said proudly. "She's an Alliance trained psychic assassin."
"Kaylee," Simon admonished, elbowing her gently and shaking his head. "Strangers," he whispered.
John grinned. "We have Cameron."
Her face growing red with irritation, Sarah gazed down the corridor the two killers had disappeared into. "Does River always act like this?"
"Does Cameron always act like this," Mal shot back.
"Actually," Sarah said, turning to look at Mal. "Never."
"How do we know you aren't Alliance?"
Silence spread across the room.
"We don't even know what that means," John finally answered. Looking Mal directly in the eye, John growled back in response. "How do we know you aren't Skynet Greys?"
xxxxxxxxxx
"Girls must return to the family place," River suddenly announced. "Family's are not getting along. Tempers will flare."
"Sarah must be getting frustrated," Cameron explained. "She's like a hurricane when she loses her temper."
"Captain Daddy is confused, untrusting. Jayne who is not a girl is angry. Never good. Zoe is sad. Wishes Wash were here. Makes her angry."
Running back towards Serenity's common area, River hurried, checking only once to see if Cameron followed close behind.
As the pair entered the dining area again, it was obvious a standoff of sorts had been reached. River pulled a chair over for Cameron to sit in. Sitting in her own chair, she pulled her knees up to her chest and puffed once, blowing her tangled locks from her eyes.
"The girl's twin is staying," River announced firmly. "Twins will cry if separated."
"Mei mei, we haven't decided…"
"Simon is a boob! Twins have decided!"
"Now, look here, Lil' Albatross, my ship, my decision," Mal informed the petulant River.
"River is made of flesh and bone. Cameron is made of Coltan steel. Cybernetic organism the girl's twin is. Living tissue over a hyperalloy combat chassis. Can kill more ways than the girl can. Harder to kill as well."
"River, how many times do I have to explain to you," Mal said firmly, ignoring the others present. "I'm the Captain. You're the pilot. You take orders from me."
"Would have another pilot," River said softly, looking down at the table as she made her eyes bigger. Cameron watched, noting River's facial expression as she worked to manipulate Mal into what she wanted. "Metal Girl dances beautifully. Not as pretty as the girl, but graceful still."
"Shiny!" Kaylee exclaimed. "Y'all could do a recital for us!"
"Kaylee…" Mal interrupted.
"Lots of other things Metal Girl can do. They must run like we run. They just don't know who they run from now. Different enemy. Different time. But run they must."
"So far, I ain't seen nothin' special about this here Cameron," Jayne protested. "Everything she done coulda been beat outta Badger. Then she jes bluffed good."
"Cameron, I hate to ask you do to this," Sarah said softly.
"John," Cameron pleaded, slipping her arms round John's right arm. "I just healed. Please don't make me."
Taking Cameron's arms from his own, John took her right hand in his left. "I don't think we really have a choice. Nobody can really understand until they see."
"Don't," River said softly. "I believe."
"It is okay, River." Cameron told her new friend. Standing up, Cameron slipped her purple coat off, revealing her arms. Glancing down at John, Cameron took her lock blade from her pocket, opened the razor sharp blade, and extended her left arm. Without hesitation she inserted the tip of the blade into her wrist and slashed neatly along the inside of her forearm. Two more quick horizontal incisions were made. Cameron then folded back the flesh covering of her left forearm, revealing the inside.
Kaylee turned her head towards Simon and vomited in his lap. Zoe covered her mouth with her hand and left the area, running for the head.
"Did you have to do that here?" Jayne protested. "This is where we eat."
Cameron flexed her left hand, causing the moving parts of her arm to move, allowing them to be viewed by the remaining crew.
"Fascinating," Simon whispered. "Do you feel pain?"
"I feel sensation," Cameron answered softly. "I can control this to a large extent."
"Is that real blood?"
"Synthetic, universal donor Type O+."
"Will that heal," Simon asked, standing to walk around to Cameron.
"Yes. I can regenerate my entire body covering. It takes time, but I can do it along as a host of other self-repairs."
Angry with John for making her reveal her inner workings, Cameron offered her wound to Simon to examine. "Come with me," Simon said in fascination. "I can suture this up in my clinic. You'll hardly have a scar."
"She doesn't scar," John protested, standing to separate the pair to Cameron's delight. "I'm the only one who sutures Cameron's wounds."
Simon glared at John. "I'm the ship's surgeon. This is my responsibility." The corners of Cameron's mouth turned up slightly, enjoying watching John display his jealous streak.
"Simon, you boob. You need to clean Kaylee's vomit off," River giggled, breaking the tension of the moment.
"Well, come this way," Simon said firmly. "If you insist on not following ship protocol, the least I can do is provide you with what you need to do a proper job."
Cameron and John left, following Simon as he muttered curses in Chinese.
"Skynet is dead in this timeline," River announced. "Alliance is who we fight. Two by two, hands of blue," she whispered, her face growing pale. "They will take Cameron surely when they come for the girl again."
Mal sighed as he watched Sarah and Derek look at each other in confusion. "I reckon River's got a point. Havin' just seen what I seen, they come agin' for River, they'll want Cameron too."
"Who is this Alliance?" Sarah asked, confusion clearly visible in her eyes.
"Who is Skynet?"