Chapter Ten
"All right, Jayne. I think we've lost them. Time to pack it in," the Captain said over the com.
"Yeah, but for how long?" Jayne asked, looking out into the black. It wasn't a very pleasant or intelligent way to travel, strapped to the ship in a space suit. But it was the only way to get to the guns, since Mal hadn't let them tear a hole in the hull. He'd kept saying that Serenity was not a warship, and when the war was over, she was gonna go back to her old life of transportin' things to where they were needed most. Thinking about how close they were to just floating off into space like Jubal Early, Jayne hoped Mal was rethinking his logic.
Even so, Jayne had to admit, it was an excellent view. They were coming in close on the next scorpion. Tjetet. Tutankamen. Tangerinet. One of them. Jayne couldn't remember. Where in the hell did they get these names, anyhow? Why couldn't planet names ever be simple? Like Bob. Okay, maybe not like Bob. But somewhere between Tjetet and Bob was a good planet name that Jayne could actually pronounce.
"Jayne, you forget we're tethered together here? Get a move on. We'll be landing soon."
"I'm comin'," Jayne muttered.
When they finally made it back inside the ship, they heard a noise coming from the hold. They jumped out of the spacesuits and ran for it.
"Jayne!" Kaylee yelled out of the engine room.
Jayne slid to a stop, turned and looked at her.
"River says not to lose your temper. They're just kids. She also wanted to me to remind you that throwing a grenade into the hold would not make this the best day ever," she called from the doorway.
Jayne blinked. "Did she say anything else?" Like what in the sphincter of hell was going on?
Kaylee shook her head.
"Good," Jayne muttered, following Mal.
In the hold, they found what appeared to be an old-fashioned stand-off. The Alphas, also known as Libra, Taurus, and Aries, were holding guns on River, Simon, and Inara, respectively. The other students were still strapped in along the sides of the hold. Simon and Inara, as usual, weren't armed. Only River held her little laser pistol on Libra. Three on one didn't seem very fair. Jayne and Mal would fix that.
Jayne trained his weapon on Taurus, whose brown eyes fixed on him like lasers. Jayne could almost see the kid recalculating. Mal drew his gun on Aries, who immediately took his weapon off of Inara. Good call, kid. Threatening Inara was a good way to get Mal to throw you out the airlock.
"I won't let you hurt my friends," River said, her voice calm, but her pistol aimed at Libra's head. "Stop this now, Libra. Before it's too late."
"You took us away from them. All I want it to go back," Libra said. "Just let us go back."
"I gotta say, I kinda like that plan," Jayne stated. He felt the ship lurch into an orbit. That must be where Zoe was, flying the ship, making sure they didn't all go boom.
"It ain't exactly Plan A, Jayne," Mal said.
"Hell, Cap, I think Plan A went out the window a long time ago, don't you?" Jayne asked.
"It ain't Plan B either," Mal muttered.
"I think we left Plan B on Ion," Jayne retorted.
"Then what the hell gorram plan we on, then?" Mal asked.
"Enough!" Libra yelled at them. She turned back to River. "I want to go home. I will take this ship if I must."
"I can see you haven't made it very far with that goal," Mal told her, nodding at River, standing in Libra's path. Yeah, no one was gonna take River's ship. River shot Jayne a smile. He was glad Mal couldn't hear his thoughts. The Captain would have started complaining that it was really his ship, and then they'd never finish this thing.
Libra glared at Mal, her grey eyes filled with hatred. Before anyone could stop it, Libra quickly moved her gun from River to Mal and pulled the trigger. Inara screamed, Mal stumbled, and River attacked, swiftly knocking the guns from Aries's and Taurus's hands. She grabbed Libra and twisted her gun arm around her back. Then she threw her against the catwalk, so the girl was pinned there, helpless.
"I didn't want this," River growled.
"You think I did, River Tam?" Libra asked.
Jayne picked up a spare gun and kicked the excess out of the way. He held one weapon on each of the other Alphas, who were apparently shocked by the turn of events. Or they were waiting to see who won, Libra or River. Either way, it didn't look like they were going to attack him.
"Mal!" Inara cried, running up to the catwalk.
"I'm okay. Just my leg," Mal said.
"I could have killed him," Libra said.
"The Alliance always gives a warning shot," River said sternly.
Libra nodded.
River shook her head. "Who told you that? Who told you that you are all on the right side? Was it your parents? Did they raise you to be loyal to the Alliance? Where did it come from, Libra?"
Libra's mouth opened and closed again. The kid didn't have an answer.
"You don't know, do you? Don't you want to know where it all came from? These convictions, your strength, Aquarius's senses, Scorpio's talent. Where do they all come from, Libra? Who gave them to you?"
"I do! I want to know!" Pisces called from below. Maybe the kid wasn't so bad, after all.
"Because they did this to you," River yelled. "The Alliance gave you these abilities. And they kidnapped you to do it. They took you away from your families, stole your memories, stole your lives, rewrote your brains for their own purposes."
"No!" Libra screamed. She struggled against the railing, but River held her there.
"Then what's your real name? Where do you come from? When is your birthday?" River asked.
The hold went silent.
"Ask Cancer if I'm lying. The Alliance took you and turned you into weapons. We're trying to set you free. So you can be whoever you want to be. Live simple. Fly away from all the people who would use you."
"River Tam is telling the truth!" Cancer called. "Libra, you were wrong. We can't go back to the Alliance."
Taurus looked at Libra. "We have to trust them, Libra. We have to help them. They're in trouble because of us," he said calmly.
Jayne could see it when the fight went out of Libra. River could see it too, apparently. "I'm going to let you up," she said. "You are going to behave. And you are going to apologize to the Captain while I find us a good place to hide." River let her go. For a minute, Jayne thought Libra might attack again. But the girl just stood there. Silent. The grey eyes had lost their fire.
Jayne nodded at the other two. "No more trouble, dong ma?"
Aries nodded. Taurus didn't bother. He went over to Libra and put his hands on her shoulders. She shook him away and stalked back towards her bunk.
Taurus looked back at Jayne. "She just needs some time. She will not contact him again," he said. Jayne felt sorry for the kid. He didn't have to be a mind-reading genius to figure out that he liked the girl, was worried for her. Jayne wondered if that was possible. Apparently it was, because there wasn't really another way to explain it. Taurus was just a little too loyal to Libra. Jayne made a mental note to ask Simon about it later. When he wasn't sewing Mal's leg back together.
A few minutes later, Jayne felt the ship slow and start its descent. They were landing on Isis.
"What is this place?" Jayne asked from the doorway to the bridge as River carefully maneuvered the ship into a hangar.
"Abandoned industrial park," River explained.
"How do you know it's abandoned?" Jayne asked.
River completed the landing cycle and turned to look at him. "Really?" she asked.
"Oh," Jayne muttered. Of course, it was River. "You seem to be feeling a little better?" he asked.
"Fight or Flight is now focused on fight," she said. "Doesn't leave much time for crazy." She got up. "Let's go. Make sure all the students are armed. They've got to be able to defend themselves." Jayne didn't like the sound of that, but he had more important things to worry about, if River really was feeling better.
He stopped her at the doorway.
"Not now, Jayne," she muttered, trying to sidestep around him. He put his hands on her shoulders, reminding himself of Taurus with Libra. He hoped she wouldn't push him away.
"Yes, now," Jayne said. "I have a very important question for you, and I'm through waitin' for an appropriate time. We ain't ever gonna get an appropriate time."
River starred up at him. She knew what was coming. Jayne had been trying to ask her for weeks.
"River – "
"We getting' off this shop or what?" Zoe asked, appearing behind him.
Jayne cursed in Chinese.
"Sorry," Zoe said. "Thought we had something important going on here, with the army coming after us."
"There's a warehouse half a block away. That'll be the fall back point. The kids should wait for us there," River said. "Get Simon, Inara, and Kaylee to make a run for it with them. Tell Kaylee to keep down and be careful."
"I'll," Zoe started slowly, looking from River to Jayne and back, like she'd just now realized they'd been in the middle of something, "do that. And I'll tell the Captain about the warehouse." The she was gone.
Good. Now back to the question.
River ran from the bridge before Jayne knew what was happening. Couldn't she just stand still for one minute? That's all it would take .He followed her down to his bunk, where she started snatching all his weapons from the wall again.
"Marry me," Jayne blurted before he could think and before River could run again. River stopped and looked at him. Jayne took a step forward. "River, will you marry me?" he asked.
"That is a very important question," River said slowly, avoiding his eyes. She looked like she was about to panic. Jayne had seen her panic enough times to know the signs. But she seemed to remember that they didn't have time for crazy. After a deep breath, she said, "If we live through this, I have a very important answer." She moved past him and started back up out of the room. "It won't take the Alliance long to find us. We have to go, Jayne."
Jayne knew she was right, but he stayed in the bunk for a few moments after she'd gone, anyway. Punched a wall. Threw a chair. The usual. Then he decided to go take out his frustration on someone who actually deserved it. Namely, the Alliance.
River was right, it didn't take the Alliance long to find them. Good for the Serenity, there was a lot of cover in the industrial park, which forced the Alliance to land and try to take them on the ground.
"Here's the plan," Mal said, coming up to Jayne as he, Zoe, and River started down a street that was beginning to crawl with Alliance.
"Another plan, Mal?" asked Jayne. This wasn't going to end well. "Plan M, maybe?"
"Get up to those windows and start pickin' them off," Mal said, pointing.
"Mal, I think you'd better do that," Jayne said, firing at a line of Alliance coming at them from the other side of the street. Zoe and River advanced on them. The Alliance didn't stand a chance.
"Why can't you ever just say 'yes, sir'?" Mal yelled over the noise.
"'Cause I ain't a gorram soldier!" Jayne yelled back. He was a mercenary. He took cover on the other side of the narrow street. "Listen, Mal, I can run a might faster than you right now, so you go up to the windows and lay down cover fire." Jayne threw him Vera. Mal looked at the gun, then at Jayne. "I'll keep 'em busy down here."
Mal nodded, then hobbled toward the tall warehouse with the great sniper windows while the rest laid down cover fire.
"Kids make it to the warehouse?" Jayne asked River. The Alliance had found some friends. The reinforcements were pushing the crew back.
"Yes," River said. "And a few of them took out some of these idiots along the way," she added. "And that's why I gave them guns."
"Right. Still think that was a dangerous idea," Jayne muttered, pulling River behind some cover. He pulled out a grenade and threw it.
River smiled at him, shaking her head. "You and your grenades."
"It's part of my brilliant strategy," Jayne said.
"You have a strategy, Jayne?" Zoe asked from across the way.
"Yeah," Jayne muttered, firing a few more rounds at the Alliance. "Don't die."
Zoe shook her head.
"A simply strategy, but a difficult one to stick to," River muttered, regarding the line of Alliance.
"They're like gorram rabbits," Jayne muttered, firing. Where had they all come from?
"Geronimo," River muttered.
"What?" Jayne asked.
"Sam," she said.
Because that explained a lot.
Jayne didn't have time for decoding the River-speak. They were being pushed back again. They found themselves in a large, open square. Not good. There wasn't as much cover here, and if a ship decided to sweep them, they were humped.
"Find cover!" Zoe yelled.
"Great idea!" Jayne yelled back.
The three of them kept a continuous line of fire. Every few seconds, a random Alliance soldier or two would fall, and Jayne knew Mal was up in the warehouse doing his job. But there were too many of them. The Alliance really wanted their kids back, and they had sent an army to get the job done.
Jayne tackled River to the ground as he heard a ship approaching them from above. This was it. They were so humped.
Then Jayne heard screaming. The screaming of the Alliance. He looked up to see the Franken-Fly barreling down towards the Alliance, firing both the guns and sending the Alliance scattering and falling back from whence they came.
"Too narrow, Sam," River whispered from her spot on the ground where Jayne had pinned her.
"What?" Jayne asked.
The sides of the Franken-Fly scraped against the buildings on either side of the street. The noise was deafening. Jayne couldn't see the gunmen. He hoped they'd gotten inside the ship, or they'd be thrown off the back and probably break their necks. Thick, black smoke started pouring out the ship, from the sides, from the engine room, and from somewhere in the front, and it went down in deadly slow motion. Jayne threw himself on top of River again as an explosion rocked the street.
"Bye, bye, Franken-Fly," River whispered beneath him.
Jayne looked back up at the mess of twisted and burning metal. Somewhere in all that was his little brother. He helped River up, readjusted his weapons, and ran back towards the ship to kick some serious Alliance ass. Nobody messed with his little brother. Nobody.
New strategy. Kill all Alliance.