Kaylee and River are sat on the bed. They've managed to find a pack of playing cards. They've managed to find a pack of playing cards. They're playing Go Fish. River is carefully studying her cards, her eyes narrow.
"Do you have any sevens?" she asks after a pause.
Kaylee looks down at her cards. A smile grows on her face.
"Nope, go fi-"
The comm cracking onto life, cutting her sentence off. Kaylee dashes over to the comm, nervously tidying up her hair as she goes. She hit's the comm.
"Shuttle, you are obstructing the road to an Alliance Base. What is your reason for this?" asks a harsh voiced Alliance officer.
Kaylee takes a deep breath.
"I'm afraid I don't rightly know, sir," she replies in her upper class accent "I was forced to land. I think this sandstorm may have knocked something loose."
The comm is silent. Kaylee bites her nails nervously awaiting a reply.
"We'll take a look for you, get you back in the air, or at least move you to a safe distance from the road. Is there anywhere you're headed?" the officer asks.
"There is, my friend and I are meeting a client. I haven't been able to contact him since we landed." Kaylee replies fiddling with her hair.
"Your client? May I ask your line of work?" the officer asks.
Kaylee gives a false silvery laugh that doesn't suit her n the slightest.
"Nothing illegal, sir, I'm a Registered Companion. I'm travailing with a trainee to show her the ropes, you might say." Kaylee replies.
She's beginning to look uncomfortable at the amount of questions she's being asked. The man chuckles. Its not a pleasant chuckle, rather, it's a slightly creepy, lecherous chuckle.
"We'll be there in five minutes. Sit tight ladies." he replies bluntly.
The comm goes quiet.
Kaylee twists the pilot seat round and smiles at River, then her face falls into a look of worry and concern. River is sat on the bed in a tight ball, the veil ripped off and a look of terror on her face. Kaylee rushes to her, worried by her expression.
"River, honey, whats the matter?" Kaylee asks holding Rivers hand tightly.
River stares forward, breathing heavily.
"Not safe, not safe. Can't see through the sand," she looks up at Kaylee "We've got to run."
"What," Kaylee asks shocked "No, no. You heard the Cap'n, we've gotta keep them here as long as possible."
River shakes her head wildly, her hair slipping out of is elaborate knot and falling over her shoulders.
"The plan in compromised." she mutters, staring wide eyed at Kaylee.
She dives under the bed and pulls the wrench out. Kaylee takes a step back from the bed and watches in stunned silence as River digs the part out of her handbag. River rushes to refit the part Kaylee removed. She just closes the maintenance panel when the shuttle door flies open. River turns sharply and Kaylee presses herself into a corner.
Stood in the doorway are three Alliance soldiers. They train their guns on River and Kaylee. River looks at them, her lips moving in silent calculation. The soldiers are wearing very light armour, little more than fabric. River spots a weak spot and, with expert precision she throws the wrench at the soldier just inside the door. It hits him hard across the forehead and her falls to the ground, out cold. The other two turn to see River dashing forward to attack. In a fluid movement, she front flips perfectly in the tight space and picks up the wrench as she flies over it. One of the soldiers breaks away and heads for Kaylee, who is still frozen in the corner. She screams and moves away from him swiftly, but trips, banging her head hard on the floor as she lands. River takes the third soldier down and rushes out of the shuttle into the sandstorm. Kaylee tries to pick herself up, looking dazed. She looks terrified them down. Kaylee makes it to the bed, pulling her self up onto it, then passes out.
Mal, Jayne and Zoe run out of the hanger at full pelt. The sandstorm is beginning to ease off and things are a little clearer to see. Jayne points to the truck that brought the soldiers to the hanger. He moves forward and spots the driver, a young Alliance cadet, leaning on the steering wheel, looking bored. Jayne runs forwards and drags him out of the cab, throwing him to the ground, hard. He pulls his gun out of its holster and aims for the cadets head, fully intending to put a bullet straight through his brain. The cadet is young, late teens at least and he is looking down the barrel of the gun, terrified. Mal grabs Jayne's wrist and points the gun away from the young cadets head. Jayne looks up at Mal, furiously staring at him. Mal just shakes his head and doesn't let go of Jayne's wrist. Jayne narrows his eyes and pulls his arm free. He re-holsters his gun and looks back down at the terrified cadet.
"Don't kill me, dear Buddha protect me!" the boy splutters beginning to cry slightly.
Jayne kicks him in the face, hard and with a stunned yelp of pain the cadet falls backwards, knocked out by the blow. Mal gives Jayne a pained look, his eyes tightly screwed up. Jayne, ignoring Mal, jumps into the drivers seat and Mal and Zoe pile into the passenger side. Jayne goes to start the engine but there are no keys. Instead there is a thumb scanner.
"Son of a bitch." he mutters.
Zoe pulls the panel below the steering wheel off and crosses two wires, sparking the vans engine into life. The engine roars and Jayne aims for the exit gates. Mal and Zoe brace themselves as they crash through the gates. They may have been locked up tight but the van just breaks through them like a knife through butter. It bursts onto the road. Zoe gives Jayne a cold, hard stare.
"You didn't have to kick that boy in the face back there." she says snappily.
"I didn't kill him, did I? Ain't that ruttin' enough?" he replies swinging the truck round a corner.
Mal sits in between the two of them, awkwardly watching their exchange.
"He was scared stiff, man. That boy couldn't have done nothin' to stop us." Zoe replies getting angry.
"You kiddin' me? He's Alliance and your standin' up for him?" Jayne yells back.
"No one else was gonna." Zoe mutters.
"Would you have done that in battle? Back when you and Mal were fightin' for freedom? Would you have saves a kids life, just cause he's a young'un if he was Alliance back then?" Jayne asks venomously.
Zoe freezes her eyes are barely slits under her goggles.
"Just drive, Jayne." she replies acidly.
Jayne laughs in triumph and swerves back onto the road. He looks shiftily back at Zoe who smirks at his poor driving skills.