The invasion was abrupt, no warning. Serenity had been packed up with the guns, taken off and had been traveling for a little more than a day when the attack came. It had all been so normal, nothing out of the ordinary about this run. Then suddenly another ship had latched on. The enemy ship had been hiding from Serenity's sensors within the gravitational oddity surrounding a planet. They'd appeared just when they broke orbit and were already on top of the firefly class ship. Wash did his best to lose them, but being that close even the seasoned pilot couldn't keep away from their grasp.
"I'd make an announcement Mal, looks like they're coming on." A string of obscenities erupted from Mal. The pirates forced the airlock and stormed the ship. "Or you know, we could just let everyone find out for themselves."
"Shut up Wash" he reached over and pushed a button on the panel. "We've been boarded. I want you all to find someplace safe; we'll take care of this." He removed his finger, "I think. Where the hell is Jayne when you need him and those guns?!"
Like the last time Serenity was infiltrated Jayne was asleep on his bunk. He didn't hear the announcement. He didn't know anything was wrong.
"Alright, do this and get off. Farland, Kinney, Donel, Harkins and Stevens all of you head up to the command area, secure the crew there. There should be 7 in all on this boat, including a companion and a preacher. So, Brown check out those shuttles and Lee check the rest of the crew cabins. I want all 7 accounted for, no surprises. Levin hit the infirmary, grab what's there. Spitz and Rosenthall look around for anything else of value. The rest of you, we empty the cargo bays." The leader, William Swanson, looked at the 20 idiots before him that made up his crew. They were a bunch of shoot first and sort it out later hot heads and he hated them all. It made this type of work harder than it had to be and had cost them more than one job. "Go. Now!" he snapped.
Morgan Kinney, Mathew Harkins, Craig Farland, Josh Stevens, and Sarah Donel made no effort to be quiet as they made their way to the command area of this ship. They'd done Firefly class before, they knew where it was. They also knew the crew would be waiting for them. It wouldn't matter though. Morgan stopped in her tracks on the landing in front of their destination. "Someone's here" she whirled and was face to face with Zoe. The women grappled. Zoe tried to kick Kinney's legs out from under her but the lithe pirate twisted away. Morgan grabbed the veteran around the waist, trying to pull her to the floor, Zoe pushed forward, slamming Kinney into the wall.
Farland grabbed Zoe by the hair and the next thing he knew was someone was sitting on his chest. "Stay away from my wife" came a growl in his ear. Wash was roughly pulled from Farland by Stevens. Both men were small and the effort overbalanced the pirate. Both tumbled into the wall.
Zoe pulled out the first gun and shot at Farland. Her shot went wide and missed. Mal came storming onto the scene in response to the gunfire. He was the cavalry. Mal was attacked by Harkins and Donel who had been waiting for whatever reinforcements might show up. Together they easily removed the gun Mal had drawn. The three Serenity crew members were outnumbered and unprepared. Still the fight raged on for what seemed like hours.
Harkins charged the captain and the brick wall of a man drove him back towards the door. Harkins had his beefy shoulder driven just under Mal's collarbone. It was obviously uncomfortable but left Harkins' a little vulnerable. Mal reached forward and pulled Mathew's own gun from his side holster. As he felt the crush of the door jam against his back Mal fired and hit the pirate in the shoulder.
"Yeah" cheered Mal as he stepped away from the door and Harkins staggered first backwards, then forwards, dangerously unsteady on his feet. The next thing Mal felt was a heavy weight as he watched Harkins run into him and the sensation of falling backwards. Then he felt a crack of pain in the back of his skull and the darkness overtook him.
Zoe and Wash saw Mal crushed under the big man. In another situation the sight could have been hilarious. Ignoring their comrade the invaders took the distraction as a way to overtake the remaining two serenity crew members. Farland and Kinney both threw themselves and Zoe, pressing her to the deck. A rope was produced and Zoe could feel herself being tied up. Wash valiantly tried to get to his wife but an elbow to the neck from Josh drove him to his knees. Time was wasting; they quickly tied up Wash as well. Donel pulled out her radio, "We got 3 Captain- 2 guys and a girl. I think one of them's the captain here."
"Good job, get back down here, help with the loading."
"Uh, Harkins got shot, should I take him back to the ship?"
"Again, that idiot. Yes, take him back Donel. But the rest of you, let's get this stuff loaded so we can get off this junker."
"Yes sir" Donel helped the semi conscious man to his feet. She got under one arm, Farland under the other. Stevens moved to the unconscious man underneath.
"I'll be right there; we gotta tie this gut up too."
"Of course. See you down there." Then they lumbered off.
Simon Tam heard Mal over the ship wide comm., "We've been boarded." He wondered what the captain would have them do next. But he never did get to hear the rest of the announcement. Standing in the doorway was a very large, very angry man. In addition to being very large and very angry the intruder had a very large barreled gun pointed at Simon. River stared, tears streaming down her young face. She knew what was happening, how these events would play out. The intruder pulled out a radio and was momentarily distracted as he made his report.
"Got 2 in the infirmary- kid and a young guy" he told whoever was on the other end of the transmission.
"Tie them up and grab the stuff Levin you moron, we got stuff to do."
"Will do"
"You remember what I told you to do if this sort of thing happened?" Simon quietly asked his sister while the intruder spoke to his commander. River nodded imperceptibly. Her brother had had told her to run, to disappear, run and hide with Inara in her shuttle. River was good at disappearing.
"You the Doc round here?" Simon didn't know what response would leave him less dead. But he also needed to create a diversion so at least River could get away.
"Uhm, maybe?" he answered, smiling.
"You're lucky I don't care one lick if you are or not. Don't know why I asked in fact." The angry man squeezed the trigger and an echoing explosion filled the room. A bottle on the shelf behind the doctor exploded as Simon sunk slowly to his knees. There was warmth, the edges of his vision were fuzzy, and of course a blanketing pain caused by the bullet ripping through his shoulder. River ran as fast as she could, tears hitting the deck as she ran without looking back.
Simon watched his sister go and smiled a little. The smile melted when the intruder turned towards the door, most likely to follow River. Simon did the only thing he could; he staggered to his feet and threw himself bodily at the intruder's back. Forgetting about River completely, the large man growled and threw the wounded doctor back to the floor. Simon slid a short distance and crashed into the legs of the diagnostic table.
"What the hell! I've had enough of you man!" Simon struggled to push himself up into a sit using his one good arm. Maybe he could get away some how. Up on his elbow Dr. Tam was looking at the gun once again trained on his chest. Nothing else was said. The room just echoed with another gunshot.
River Tam ran as fast as she could down the hall. As she hit the cargo bay she ducked fast behind a stack of crates. The room was full of people. They were roughly opening the boxes and carrying the guns through the airlock. River hid in the shadows and inched her way towards the stairs. There was another gunshot. River bit her lip to keep from yelping. It was all too much. Her feeling sensitive brain was overloading she was petrified. Things were bad, she was afraid, the crew was afraid, bad things were happening. The room was spinning. Part of River retreated far into her mind.
"Damn, somebody's shooting" laughed one of the men.
"You know it was Levin, man's getting older, thinks he's got somthin' a prove" added another. Distracted for a few minutes with their discussion River took the opportunity to slip a couple of the smaller guns from the crate and put one in each pocket. Noticing they were still making fun of Levin, she grabbed a larger rifle and dipped her head through the strap.
"Fear and Pain and Laughter-then all topsy turvy- Laughter, pain and fear." She mumbled to herself as she crawled "I'm on safari"