The two days remaining to Kerry were quiet; Jamie couldn't tell if the others were intentionally avoiding him, or simply having reasons to be elsewhere when he was around. Only Inara was by him, comforting him at night and keeping him company during the day. Even the daytime bridge watches, when he would sit and tell jokes with Wash, were uncharacteristically silent.
Badger patted him on the shoulder as he left for his hiding place on Kerry, saying goodbye to the ship and her crew with a wave and a doff of his hat; Serenity was airborne a few minutes later and in the Black once again.
Jamie was looking at the technical plans on a monitor at the navigation station once again, when he heard a distinctive beeping sound on the copilot console. "Gorramit, that's a radar lock!"
Wash looked up from the nav screen he'd been studying, "Shuh ma?"
Jamie fell into the copilot's seat and checked the display; sure enough, X-band targeting radar had locked up on Serenity from a fuzzy source aft, in their wake. Jamie activated the powerful jamming system he'd installed on Serenity in preparation for the New Kasmir job, and was rewarded with the sound of the lock breaking.
"Somebody's got a bone to pick with us. If they get too close, they'll be able to establish lockup anyways and blow us out of the sky. Wash, see if you can find something we can use for cover out here."
Wash responded immediately, checking the Nav systems. "All we've got is the Dylan asteroid cluster, maybe 5 minutes out on full burn." He picked up the mike, saying "Cap'n, we need you up here now." At about the same moment, Wash and Jamie, along with most of the rest of Serenity's crew, heard a crash in the galley, and Mal appeared at the bridge a few moments later, River propped up on his arm. She was muttering and rambling wildly, and Jamie thought he heard "they come out of the black, they come when you call".
"Gorramit, what the ta ma de is goin' on?"
"We've picked up a trailer. Tried to get missile lock, but the jammers are keeping 'em at bay. Won't work for long. We're 5 minutes from the Dylan asteroid cluster at full burn; might be able to beat them." Wash replied breathlessly.
"We won't. Howard class corvette, only 2 minds aboard. Two by Two, Hands of Blue..." River mumbled, trying to regain control.
"Go to full burn now, get us to those asteroids. If we need the cover, I'd like it to be there."
Serenity firewalled, and burst forward on a blast of plasma. Behind them, the shadowy ship that had taken up a trailing position burst forth on a plume of energy as well, spooling up to catch them.
"Jamie, what tricks you got up your sleeve?"
"Kaylee and I put together some chaff and flare pods on the engine section; should keep most of the missiles off us. Other than that, not a damned thing we can do about it. No weapons aboard."
"Kaylee, get us ready for a Crazy Ivan." Wash blurted into the com system. Kaylee's voice came back fuzzily over the speakers. "On it!"
The beeping sound started again; apparently the ship had closed enough to burn through their jammer. A chittering sound soon accompanied. "Go se! Missile launch!" Jamie whispered, and stabbed his finger towards a newly installed button.
A spread of metallic chaff and powerful flares ejected just above Serenity's topside engine cluster; a few seconds later, with Serenity some miles ahead of it, the missiles ran in and exploded.
Wash didn't bother with fancy aerobatics now; the best course that would get them to the asteroids would be a straight one. Less than 2 minutes to go, as the clock hands seemed to creep to a stop on board Serenity.
Jayne and Zoe were loaded up in the cargo bay already, armed with longarms and submachine guns. If the Hands got latched onto Serenity, they'd find a fight waiting for them.
Less than 30 seconds from the asteroids, the missiles fired again, catching a second salvo of chaff and flares. Wash maneuvered deftly between two converging asteroids, coming out the other side just as they crashed together. The small corvette nimbly curved over the asteroids, dodging the rubble. They struggled to maintain missile lock, but Wash was able to curve in and around several of the larger chunks of metallic rock, confusing the missiles. Jamie was racking his brains coming up with a plan; suddenly, something hit him. "Wash, the heat pulse from a full burn is pretty hot, isn't it?"
"Pretty darn. I-of course!"
Mal looked between the two as Wash dodged between another set of asteroids, but the corvette gamely stuck on behind them. "Well?" he groused.
"We open a channel to the ship. Inform them that we're stopping, that we'll hand over what they want."
"Are you out of your gorram mind?"
River suddenly snapped out of her concentration and looked up at Mal, her eyes shining brightly now. "I see his plan. I predict a 93.458% chance of success."
Well, gorramit. They'd got River in on it now.
"Unidentified ship, this is Firefly Auburne, Captain Ivan speaking. Please cease firing and we will dock!"
"Firefly Auburne, please report vessel registration." a cold voice came over the speakers.
"Vessel registration 19358-C129, Firefly Auburne, light transport."
"Very well, come about for docking."
Serenity came about, nose facing towards a large asteroid, her tail towards the open Black. The much smaller patrol ship had maneuvered to dock with the cargo bay doors, when the larger Firefly had turned on her axis abruptly and the rear engine section glowed brightly. The two agents on the bridge of the Corvette suddenly realized that the ship's controls wouldn't respond; they watched numbly as the plasma stream from the Firefly's main reactor crashed into the bows of their ship.
The plume of golden light was about the prettiest thing he'd ever seen, Mal decided, watching the rear-ward facing camera. It hit the small corvette like a physical force, heating the hull and forward-looking windows to white hot. The small ship suddenly turned about, and lit off her own full burn, right into the heart of the asteroid cluster.
From a few thousand miles away, they watched as bright lights flared in the heart of the metallic chunks.
Mal patted Jamie and Wash on the shoulders, muttering something about telling a Monty about this wreck, then put an arm around River's shoulders and walked back towards their bunk.
Jamie felt at that moment that the spell was broken; he didn't think he'd have trust issues with the crew ever again.
Wash congratulated him on using the comm wave between the ships to take over the smaller ship's autopilot, and Jamie complimented Wash's beautiful flying to get them out of there. Something troubled Jamie in the back of his head though; this was the third pair of agents they'd needed to dispose of. They were after them with a powerful will now; where could Serenity hope to hide if they couldn't even hide in the Black?