Chapter: 16
The air was dry and cool as Mal tried to keep his breath steady and calm as he was running on the dirt and rocky ground as he jumped and dodged and covered from the incoming tracer rounds. Dirt spitting up from the impact of the rounds as he hugged a rock with his rifle in hand. He didn't need to look to see Zoe behind him. The air thundered with explosions as those momentary explosions light up the valley as bodies of soldiers littered the bottom of the valley. The bodies of the dead or the dying. Two months the Alliance said that they would crush the Independent faction opposition on Hera. And that that glorious victory for the Alliance would take place at Serenity Valley. For two months the Independents fought for their ground. And two months later they were making the Alliance fight for every ground they gained or lost. High overhead in the clear night sky a Skiff roared with its afterburners as it began a dive run on the soldiers below. Their twin gattling cannons armed and ready to release a furious volley that would destroy anything caught in their way. Mal raised his rifle and aimed it with his sniper scope and in a flash took out the Alliance marine that was guarding a mobile gattling gun. That piece of Alliance hardware their only chance on taking out the solo Skiff that continued to dive bomb their positions. "Skiff's making our life hard, Zoe." Mal shouted as they ran for the gun. "Life hard, sir," Zoe said as they reached the emplacement. What would we do with a easy life, sir?" "Grow old and retire," Mal said as he reached the gun and raised the twin barrels skyward towards the inbound Skiff. "Time to die, bastard!" Mal said as he primed the guns and let the targeting scanners paint the inbound Skiff. Mal knowing that as soon as the gun's sensors painted the Skiff that the pilot would see it and heads towards him. "C'mon you bastard. C'mon!" Mal squeezed the triggers of the gun and let loose a furious volley of tracer file up in the sky towards the Skiff. Hoping, praying that one of the volleys would hit the Skiff and make its life miserable. He saw as a piece of the fuselage disintegrated and fell away. "Yeah!" Mal roared as he moved away from the gun and watched as the Skiff continued to dive towards the ground. But it was heading towards him and Zoe. Mal grabbed Zoe and they began to run from the area that would soon be an inferno from the crashed Skiff. As they dived and hit the ground, the Skiff hit the gun emplacement and the night sky light up from the bright explosion. Zoe and Mal reached the bunker and settled down. Able to breath a sigh of relief knowing that the Skiff that was taking shots at them was out of the equation. Now it's time for the calvary, Mal thought as Zoe manned the radio. There came a loud roaring high up in the sky. The roaring coming from vertical engines breaking a larger ship's descent through the atmosphere. The sound of the roaring bringing relief to Mal and everyone else who fought these two months and held Serenity for the Independents. "Those are our angels coming to blow the Alliance to the hot place." Mal smiled as he could imagine the ships taking out the Alliance resistance in one single move. "Zoe, tell the 82nd--" Zoe turned her head away from the radio, with the headset half on her head. The look from Zoe to Mal told him that something was wrong. But what? The reinforcements are here. "They're not coming. Command says it's too hot. They're pulling out. We're to lay down arms." Mal stood up in disbelief. "But, what's?" As soon as the question left his mouth the answer came storming down on him. Oh no, Mal thought as he reached a view in the bunker and looked up in the sky. Descending from the night sky were five Alliance troop carriers and the sky around them were swarming with flyers and gunships. Tracer weapons fire falling from the night sky. Raining down on the last pockets of the Independents. "Get me command!" Mal ordered Zoe as he moved away from the view to the radio station. "I can't raise them. Last transmission said that General Eisen was withdrawing." "Withdrawing? The bastard's running!" Mal said as he clinched his fist and drew his fist down on the table with the radio. "Ruttin' bastards leaving us!" The sound of the breaking became more intense as Mal returned to the view to see their bay doors opening and hundreds of Alliance troopers disembarking to mop up the resistance. Mal looked around the bunker and found a white piece of cloth. This action shocked Zoe and forced her to stand up and stand in front of Mal. "What are you doing, Sergeant?" "The only thing that will save these young boys and girls, Corporal." "We surrender, we'll never get in this fight again," Zoe announced. Once they surrender, the Alliance would take their arms away and they would go on with their lives. "I know," Mal nodded his head. "I know," he said as he reached the front of the bunker and stepped out. The sky slowly turning from black to light as the sun began to rise on the horizon. The flyer and gunship squads still swarming the skies. Mal raised the white piece of cloth and waved it in the air as he reached around his neck and yanked the cross necklace off his neck. Holding the cross in his tight fist until he loosened it and looked at it in the open palm of his hand. "Raise your arms and surrender your weapons!" an Alliance marine shouted as his high powered rifle was aimed at Mal's chest. Mall dropped the cross from his hand and it landed on the dirt ground. How could you let this happen? Mal asked God. Wishing that at that moment he was standing in God's face, chewing him out for all that he was worth. "Come on out, Zoe." Mal said as he looked over his shoulder. He returned his gaze up at the sky and at the landing zone where the troop carriers sat settled. "It's over." It's over, "Surrender your weapons, sir!" the young marine who approached him said. "I reckon she don't leave my side, corporal." "I have orders, sir." "Precious here hasn't ever left my side. I reckon you'll pull her from my dead body if you have to." The marine stood silent, his hands trembling. "Your first drop, son?" "Yes, yes sir." "First ones are always the worst." "No need to surrender your sidearm, sir. Just relinquish your rounds." "That there I'll do. Thank you." Mal said as he slowly grabbed his gun and opened the chamber and watched as the rounds fell to the ground next to his discarded cross. "Come back to us, Captain." A voice said from behind him. "What?" Mal said as he looked around. Trying to find the source of the voice but he couldn't find it. It wasn't one of the marines or anyone that survived in his regiment. "Come back to us, Captain. We need you back. Now." Suddenly the ground beneath him shook and his eyes opened wide as his body bolted up to see that he was in the infirmary and everyone on Serenity was gathering around him. "What the hell was that?" Mal asked as he noticed Simon rubbing his hand. "Sorry about that," Simon said as Mal realized that the right side of his jaw was numb.
Chapter 17
"Welcome back, Captain," Book said who was standing by his side when his eyes functioned again and he could see. He looked around the infirmary to see Book, Simon and the rest of the crew gathered around him. "Where are we?" Mal said as he leaned up from his infirmary bed. As soon as he stepped on the deck, he could feel the vibrations from the nacelles. "We're moving? Where's Rising Star?" "Destroyed," Wash said solemnly. "Damn," Mal cursed as all of a sudden he was desperately looking in his pockets. "Leave something?" Jayne asked as he leaned against the bulkhead with his shoulders crossed. Suddenly the despair on Mal's face vanished to be replaced with relief. Pulling out of his coat pocket was a data disk. "Wash, plot a course to Phera 3." "Phera 3?" Wash asked. "That's in the opposite direction. "Just do it!" Mal barked as he left the infirmary and headed forwards to the bridge. "Aye, captain," Wash smartly saluted as everyone left the infirmary and followed. "Who exactly was the guy I caught carrying you? Jayne asked as he was the first on the bridge. Mal looked to see that Wash, Zoe, and Jayne were the only ones that followed them to the bridge. Mal looked at the disk and sat at the communication terminal and placed the disk into the drive. "What's so important about that little disk, there?" Jayne asked as everyone gathered closer to the terminal. All except for Wash who stepped to his station and entered the new course. "Evidence I'm told." "Evidence of what?" Jayne asked as abruptly on the comm screen was an image of a gun-sights camera trained on a cargo transport. "What's this exactly?" "Just wait," Mal raised his hand as he accelerated the image to the time where the gun sights recoil and twin trails of particle vapor trail two fresh torpedoes launched. The torpedoes hit the transport's aft quarter and in a few moments the transport was nothing more than spinning debris. "Oh, my god," Zoe cried as Wash arrived in time for the last volley to destroy the transport. "That's an Alliance destroyer," Jayne announced. "Son of a bitches," Wash cursed. "Anyone recall that time we ran into that derelict craft, raided by Reavers?" "Why the hell is everyone bringing that time back?" Jayne muttered. "Remember that Alliance commander that questioned everyone?" "Oh yeah," Wash responded. "He was a charmer." "He was the one that gave me this. He was the one that dragged me on the Serenity." "Okay, say that he was the commander." Wash began as he paused. "Anyone catch his name?" Either Zoe and Jayne shook their heads no. "Devons," Mal answered. "Why would this Devons character give this to you." Wash asked. "Hey, a better question, what the hell was he doing on the Rising Star?" "He was ordered to take out that transport and disobeyed orders. He was discharged and he managed to get his hands on the flight recording. He has contacts with some under ground movement and would hand deliver this evidence." "Like that evidence would ever see the light of day," Jayne remarked. "Alliance censures all their vid transmissions. No way in hell this would reach the air." "So, your going to deliver the evidence yourself?" Zoe asked. "Damn straight," Mal responded as he ejected the disk from the drive and gave it to Wash. "How good are you with editing?" "Can't say it's in my job description." "Just make a copy of this disk onto a spare. Just enough for a teaser. Stop the copy a few minutes before the Alliance opens fire." "You got it," Wash nodded as he sat at the terminal and opened a drawer and pulled out a disk. "Hate to spoil this for ya' folks, but we're out of disks." "Will someone just please get me a disk," Mal pleaded. "Jayne, sacrifice a disk from your collection." "Hey, ah, how'd you know about my collection." "Oh please, Jayne," Mal rolled his eyes up in his head. "Alright," Jayne nodded and exited the bridge. "And keep this footage between the three of us. No need involving Kaylee, Simon, or Book with it." Mal said as the three could hear a tone in his voice when he named Book's name. "Not yet at least." Zoe and Wash both glance at one another and then direct their attentions to Mal. "Collection?" "Don't ask," Mal said as he left the bridge. "I'm afraid to guess," Wash remarked as he leaned back. "You and me both," Zoe said as she stepped to the helm and sat down.
Jayne was in his quarters, reaching underneath his bed and pulled out a storage box. Opening the box reveals a box full of data disks and labels. He began sifting through the disks trying to find one of the pornos that he was not interested in. The only problem there was he didn't want to get rid of any of them. "They're all good, Mal. Damn," he cursed as he closed his eyes and reached in the box to pull a disk at random. When he opened his eyes he dropped the disk on the deck. "Oh no. Not that one." Seven minutes later Jayne returned to the bridge with a disk. He had pulled the label off and handed it to Wash. "Just ah, you know, erase the original data. It's nothing big." "What kind of collection you got there, Jayne?" Wash asked as he accepted the disk and thought of something disgusting and wiped the disk off before he put it in the drive. "It's nothing, just ah, some opera. Yeah, opera." "Never took you as the kind of guy that kept a opera collection, Jayne," Zoe smirked. "Yeah, no offense, I always thought of you into something a little more, edgier." "No, don't know what your talking about. I'm a new man now." "Yeah, so we've heard. But you know, once to turn over new leaf, your supposed to get rid of everything that's impure." "Yeah," Jayne said trying to keep his shock at bay. "I know. I'm gettin' to it." "Getting rid of your opera collection?" Zoe asked. Jayne was stumped. He was caught and he turned around to run. "I'll be in my bunk," Jayne said as he left in a hurry. "Heard that one before," Wash smiled as the data on the disk was deleted. He placed the disk containing the evidence in the auxiliary drive and began to work on his editing.
The air was dry and cool as Mal tried to keep his breath steady and calm as he was running on the dirt and rocky ground as he jumped and dodged and covered from the incoming tracer rounds. Dirt spitting up from the impact of the rounds as he hugged a rock with his rifle in hand. He didn't need to look to see Zoe behind him. The air thundered with explosions as those momentary explosions light up the valley as bodies of soldiers littered the bottom of the valley. The bodies of the dead or the dying. Two months the Alliance said that they would crush the Independent faction opposition on Hera. And that that glorious victory for the Alliance would take place at Serenity Valley. For two months the Independents fought for their ground. And two months later they were making the Alliance fight for every ground they gained or lost. High overhead in the clear night sky a Skiff roared with its afterburners as it began a dive run on the soldiers below. Their twin gattling cannons armed and ready to release a furious volley that would destroy anything caught in their way. Mal raised his rifle and aimed it with his sniper scope and in a flash took out the Alliance marine that was guarding a mobile gattling gun. That piece of Alliance hardware their only chance on taking out the solo Skiff that continued to dive bomb their positions. "Skiff's making our life hard, Zoe." Mal shouted as they ran for the gun. "Life hard, sir," Zoe said as they reached the emplacement. What would we do with a easy life, sir?" "Grow old and retire," Mal said as he reached the gun and raised the twin barrels skyward towards the inbound Skiff. "Time to die, bastard!" Mal said as he primed the guns and let the targeting scanners paint the inbound Skiff. Mal knowing that as soon as the gun's sensors painted the Skiff that the pilot would see it and heads towards him. "C'mon you bastard. C'mon!" Mal squeezed the triggers of the gun and let loose a furious volley of tracer file up in the sky towards the Skiff. Hoping, praying that one of the volleys would hit the Skiff and make its life miserable. He saw as a piece of the fuselage disintegrated and fell away. "Yeah!" Mal roared as he moved away from the gun and watched as the Skiff continued to dive towards the ground. But it was heading towards him and Zoe. Mal grabbed Zoe and they began to run from the area that would soon be an inferno from the crashed Skiff. As they dived and hit the ground, the Skiff hit the gun emplacement and the night sky light up from the bright explosion. Zoe and Mal reached the bunker and settled down. Able to breath a sigh of relief knowing that the Skiff that was taking shots at them was out of the equation. Now it's time for the calvary, Mal thought as Zoe manned the radio. There came a loud roaring high up in the sky. The roaring coming from vertical engines breaking a larger ship's descent through the atmosphere. The sound of the roaring bringing relief to Mal and everyone else who fought these two months and held Serenity for the Independents. "Those are our angels coming to blow the Alliance to the hot place." Mal smiled as he could imagine the ships taking out the Alliance resistance in one single move. "Zoe, tell the 82nd--" Zoe turned her head away from the radio, with the headset half on her head. The look from Zoe to Mal told him that something was wrong. But what? The reinforcements are here. "They're not coming. Command says it's too hot. They're pulling out. We're to lay down arms." Mal stood up in disbelief. "But, what's?" As soon as the question left his mouth the answer came storming down on him. Oh no, Mal thought as he reached a view in the bunker and looked up in the sky. Descending from the night sky were five Alliance troop carriers and the sky around them were swarming with flyers and gunships. Tracer weapons fire falling from the night sky. Raining down on the last pockets of the Independents. "Get me command!" Mal ordered Zoe as he moved away from the view to the radio station. "I can't raise them. Last transmission said that General Eisen was withdrawing." "Withdrawing? The bastard's running!" Mal said as he clinched his fist and drew his fist down on the table with the radio. "Ruttin' bastards leaving us!" The sound of the breaking became more intense as Mal returned to the view to see their bay doors opening and hundreds of Alliance troopers disembarking to mop up the resistance. Mal looked around the bunker and found a white piece of cloth. This action shocked Zoe and forced her to stand up and stand in front of Mal. "What are you doing, Sergeant?" "The only thing that will save these young boys and girls, Corporal." "We surrender, we'll never get in this fight again," Zoe announced. Once they surrender, the Alliance would take their arms away and they would go on with their lives. "I know," Mal nodded his head. "I know," he said as he reached the front of the bunker and stepped out. The sky slowly turning from black to light as the sun began to rise on the horizon. The flyer and gunship squads still swarming the skies. Mal raised the white piece of cloth and waved it in the air as he reached around his neck and yanked the cross necklace off his neck. Holding the cross in his tight fist until he loosened it and looked at it in the open palm of his hand. "Raise your arms and surrender your weapons!" an Alliance marine shouted as his high powered rifle was aimed at Mal's chest. Mall dropped the cross from his hand and it landed on the dirt ground. How could you let this happen? Mal asked God. Wishing that at that moment he was standing in God's face, chewing him out for all that he was worth. "Come on out, Zoe." Mal said as he looked over his shoulder. He returned his gaze up at the sky and at the landing zone where the troop carriers sat settled. "It's over." It's over, "Surrender your weapons, sir!" the young marine who approached him said. "I reckon she don't leave my side, corporal." "I have orders, sir." "Precious here hasn't ever left my side. I reckon you'll pull her from my dead body if you have to." The marine stood silent, his hands trembling. "Your first drop, son?" "Yes, yes sir." "First ones are always the worst." "No need to surrender your sidearm, sir. Just relinquish your rounds." "That there I'll do. Thank you." Mal said as he slowly grabbed his gun and opened the chamber and watched as the rounds fell to the ground next to his discarded cross. "Come back to us, Captain." A voice said from behind him. "What?" Mal said as he looked around. Trying to find the source of the voice but he couldn't find it. It wasn't one of the marines or anyone that survived in his regiment. "Come back to us, Captain. We need you back. Now." Suddenly the ground beneath him shook and his eyes opened wide as his body bolted up to see that he was in the infirmary and everyone on Serenity was gathering around him. "What the hell was that?" Mal asked as he noticed Simon rubbing his hand. "Sorry about that," Simon said as Mal realized that the right side of his jaw was numb.
Chapter 17
"Welcome back, Captain," Book said who was standing by his side when his eyes functioned again and he could see. He looked around the infirmary to see Book, Simon and the rest of the crew gathered around him. "Where are we?" Mal said as he leaned up from his infirmary bed. As soon as he stepped on the deck, he could feel the vibrations from the nacelles. "We're moving? Where's Rising Star?" "Destroyed," Wash said solemnly. "Damn," Mal cursed as all of a sudden he was desperately looking in his pockets. "Leave something?" Jayne asked as he leaned against the bulkhead with his shoulders crossed. Suddenly the despair on Mal's face vanished to be replaced with relief. Pulling out of his coat pocket was a data disk. "Wash, plot a course to Phera 3." "Phera 3?" Wash asked. "That's in the opposite direction. "Just do it!" Mal barked as he left the infirmary and headed forwards to the bridge. "Aye, captain," Wash smartly saluted as everyone left the infirmary and followed. "Who exactly was the guy I caught carrying you? Jayne asked as he was the first on the bridge. Mal looked to see that Wash, Zoe, and Jayne were the only ones that followed them to the bridge. Mal looked at the disk and sat at the communication terminal and placed the disk into the drive. "What's so important about that little disk, there?" Jayne asked as everyone gathered closer to the terminal. All except for Wash who stepped to his station and entered the new course. "Evidence I'm told." "Evidence of what?" Jayne asked as abruptly on the comm screen was an image of a gun-sights camera trained on a cargo transport. "What's this exactly?" "Just wait," Mal raised his hand as he accelerated the image to the time where the gun sights recoil and twin trails of particle vapor trail two fresh torpedoes launched. The torpedoes hit the transport's aft quarter and in a few moments the transport was nothing more than spinning debris. "Oh, my god," Zoe cried as Wash arrived in time for the last volley to destroy the transport. "That's an Alliance destroyer," Jayne announced. "Son of a bitches," Wash cursed. "Anyone recall that time we ran into that derelict craft, raided by Reavers?" "Why the hell is everyone bringing that time back?" Jayne muttered. "Remember that Alliance commander that questioned everyone?" "Oh yeah," Wash responded. "He was a charmer." "He was the one that gave me this. He was the one that dragged me on the Serenity." "Okay, say that he was the commander." Wash began as he paused. "Anyone catch his name?" Either Zoe and Jayne shook their heads no. "Devons," Mal answered. "Why would this Devons character give this to you." Wash asked. "Hey, a better question, what the hell was he doing on the Rising Star?" "He was ordered to take out that transport and disobeyed orders. He was discharged and he managed to get his hands on the flight recording. He has contacts with some under ground movement and would hand deliver this evidence." "Like that evidence would ever see the light of day," Jayne remarked. "Alliance censures all their vid transmissions. No way in hell this would reach the air." "So, your going to deliver the evidence yourself?" Zoe asked. "Damn straight," Mal responded as he ejected the disk from the drive and gave it to Wash. "How good are you with editing?" "Can't say it's in my job description." "Just make a copy of this disk onto a spare. Just enough for a teaser. Stop the copy a few minutes before the Alliance opens fire." "You got it," Wash nodded as he sat at the terminal and opened a drawer and pulled out a disk. "Hate to spoil this for ya' folks, but we're out of disks." "Will someone just please get me a disk," Mal pleaded. "Jayne, sacrifice a disk from your collection." "Hey, ah, how'd you know about my collection." "Oh please, Jayne," Mal rolled his eyes up in his head. "Alright," Jayne nodded and exited the bridge. "And keep this footage between the three of us. No need involving Kaylee, Simon, or Book with it." Mal said as the three could hear a tone in his voice when he named Book's name. "Not yet at least." Zoe and Wash both glance at one another and then direct their attentions to Mal. "Collection?" "Don't ask," Mal said as he left the bridge. "I'm afraid to guess," Wash remarked as he leaned back. "You and me both," Zoe said as she stepped to the helm and sat down.
Jayne was in his quarters, reaching underneath his bed and pulled out a storage box. Opening the box reveals a box full of data disks and labels. He began sifting through the disks trying to find one of the pornos that he was not interested in. The only problem there was he didn't want to get rid of any of them. "They're all good, Mal. Damn," he cursed as he closed his eyes and reached in the box to pull a disk at random. When he opened his eyes he dropped the disk on the deck. "Oh no. Not that one." Seven minutes later Jayne returned to the bridge with a disk. He had pulled the label off and handed it to Wash. "Just ah, you know, erase the original data. It's nothing big." "What kind of collection you got there, Jayne?" Wash asked as he accepted the disk and thought of something disgusting and wiped the disk off before he put it in the drive. "It's nothing, just ah, some opera. Yeah, opera." "Never took you as the kind of guy that kept a opera collection, Jayne," Zoe smirked. "Yeah, no offense, I always thought of you into something a little more, edgier." "No, don't know what your talking about. I'm a new man now." "Yeah, so we've heard. But you know, once to turn over new leaf, your supposed to get rid of everything that's impure." "Yeah," Jayne said trying to keep his shock at bay. "I know. I'm gettin' to it." "Getting rid of your opera collection?" Zoe asked. Jayne was stumped. He was caught and he turned around to run. "I'll be in my bunk," Jayne said as he left in a hurry. "Heard that one before," Wash smiled as the data on the disk was deleted. He placed the disk containing the evidence in the auxiliary drive and began to work on his editing.