DISCLAIMER: Don´t own them, never have , never will…So don´t sue me……but in December we can all own them on DVD !!! YOU RULE JOSS!!!!!
NOTES: Sorry for taking so long again! But a member of my family ids in the hospital so …I couldn´t really get in the mood to write!
Will try to keep up though!
THANX for the kind feedback! I am really glad that you enjoy this as much as I do …please let me know ! It is ALWAYS very appreciated!
RIPTIDE
It ad been a good day. They had found new cargo, new business. They had the best meal in a very long time in a very nice establishment.
There had been raised eyebrows at River´s new attire at first, but even Simon had tried to be casual about it. Only the remark that she should maybe also get a gun had gotten him angry.
Life had been good.
They had been stumbling towards Serenity, laughing and talking.
Then things had changed so abruptly …….Kaylee could still not believe it.
" Message for you, captain!"
Mal looked at Wash , frowning.
" It´s the shuttle…."
Mal groaned.
" There is no way we will prolong our stay, pleasant as this place might be! I don´t care……she had her appointment with the important man, now she can tell him that there is no way she can make him happy for another day! Tell her that!"
Wash exchanged an uncomfortable glance with his wife.
" I´d rather you tell her that……Sir!"
" And I will!"
Mal moved towards the communication device, bringing the screen to life.
" Inara, I realize that this place is indeed a very nice spot, but we don´t plan to settle down here. I made appointments with some very wealthy businessman which in turn will make me and the crew …..at least moderately wealthy for a short while so please …."
" Mr.Reynolds!"
Mal blinked irritated at the sound of the voice, his eyes for the first time really looking at the screen. This was not Inara´s voice, this was the voice he had hoped to never hear again. Well….maybe just once more, shortly before he killed the man it belonged too.
He could feel the crew behind him becoming very still.
Niska …..it was not Inara´s expertly groomed beauty filling the screen, but Niska´s gloating face.
The thought raced through Malcolm Reynolds mind, making his whole body go cold and numb.
Niska ……he had Inara, he was I Inara´s shuttle. Mal ´s stomach clenched tight, sobering him up at once. Even if most of the crew had never seen the man or heard Niska talk they all new immediately what was going on. The trap had sprung shut……..the one trap nobody had seen coming!
Mal swallowed hard as every face turned slowly towards the screen.
" What do you want?" he asked icily, staring into Niska´s eyes, willing his voice to be steady and calm …unimpressed.
Niska chuckled.
" Captain Reynolds, there is no reason to be so very unfriendly. Were I in your position I´d think it wise to mind my manners!"
" I don´t think manners are in order when I´m talking to the men who tortured me to death! So let me repeat myself …what is it that you want?"
River´s eyes narrowed. Inside her mind she could feel the other thing lifting his headas though awaking from slumber. She could feel it drifting to the surface of her consciousness like a cool current, a ripple in the water.
It had finally found something interesting to see…..
" Oh, Mr. Reynolds. I think the subject of this conversation will not be what I want. It will be about what is currently in my …shall we say possession? Something that you never allowed yourself to have and now it is beyond your grasp." Niska chuckled again, reaching out his hand. Inara stumbled into the picture. She was gagged, her hands bound in front of her body…..there was a nasty bruise colouring the left side of her face.
Kaylee let out a shocked squeal.
Mal pressed his lips together, feeling his hands tighten into fists.
The endless possibilities in which Niska and his minions could hurt Inara paraded in front of his inner eye. It made him want to scream.
This was his fault…..he should have foreseen this …he should have.
" She´s got nothing to do with this Niska! This is between you and me! You want me ….fine…..I´ll exchange myself for her. Just tell me where…."
Zoe gave the captain a warning hiss, but Mal ignored it.
Niska still smiled, shaking his head, obviously enjoying himself.
Inara stared at the screen, despite of her battered state her eyes were blazing with defiance.
" Oh no Mr. Reynolds ..I think you do not understand! You want to tell me she has nothing to do with this? I think she has everything to do with this …." He sniggered, caressing Inara´s black hair.
The companion tried to yank away from him, but one of Niska´s men held her in place.
" I have thought about this for quite a wile Mr. Reynolds…….see if I kill you, even if I torture you to death ..again, I don´t think I´ll made made a decent example of you. But with her …."
His finger moved along Inara´s jawline, which made her struggle again.
" She is such an incredible beauty……such a price! Who could pass up such a bounty?"
" If you touch her ….."
Kaylee looked from the screen to her captain. His voice had gone low and quiet, it sounded almost like the growl of an animal.
" Oh …no, Mr. Reynolds …you misunderstand me! Keeping her for myself would be a temptation , but that is not the plan. She is so much more valuable is her beauty is to stay …intact. We cannot damage the goods too much now, can we? The swelling on her face will surely subside!"
Mal could feel Zoë's stare on the back of his neck, seering with intensity.
" Do you even know, why a companion of her beauty and …talent would travel around on a ship like yours? Do you know why she left house Madrassa, when such a bright future was awaiting her, Mr. Reynolds?"
Mal could see Inara´s eyes widening in horror, her breathing becoming erratic, as though she could not get enough air through the gag in her mouth.
" Did she ever tell you?"
Mal stared at the drama unfolding in front of him……there was nothing he could do …not now. They needed to know more about his plan, if they were to do …anything.
" No…"
" You never wondered?"
" No…"
" Well …that is indeed very sad for you Mr. Reynolds! Since this knowledge will allow me to torture you forever …to make sure that you´ll never forget that you don´t mess with Niska!"
Inara shook her head frantically.
" You see, Mr. Reynolds. Her beauty was well renowned, she could have gone so far …..there was even a suitor who wanted to secure her services for himself. He wanted to make her his private companion. A very wealthy and important man, a war hero…….a very insistent man, he is. See Mr. Reynolds the only way to escape his advances that soon turned into more persistent offers, one might even say threats, she had to leave the core. But her departure did not cool this man´s heart……..he still wants her for himself alone, captain Reynolds and he is willing to pay a very handsome price for the fulfilment of this wish. He made me an offer I can not refuse!"
" You can´t sell her like cattle, Niska!" Mal spat out, trying very hard to control the urge to plunge his fist into the screen.
" She´s a registered companion, guild law protects her …."
" Oh ..but the guild will never know! He powerful enough to make sure of that …. Farewell Mr. Reynolds!"
The screen went black.
The silence that followed was complete. The only sound that could be heard was the crew´s breathing. Kaylee sighed, pressing one of her hands to her mouth.
Mal´s anger and frustration was an almost touchable thing in the confined space. River could feel his fury radiating off of him in waves.
The impact made her sway slightly.
It was different from Jayne´s anger that so easily stirred underneath his self- control. Jayne´s feelings, his anger was hot .....scolding waves of feeling that she had become accustomed too. The captain´s feelings were just as raw….just as real to her now, but it was cold. His fury swirled around her in an icy wind that made her gasp under her breath.
How could the other´s not feel it?
Is this the face that launched a thousand ships….
At that moment River knew that for Mal it was……it was the only face ……it would always be.
" Gorrammit!" Mal´s scream exploded into the utter silence and paralysis like a bomb.
He turned around to look at Wash.
" He has the shuttle, where is it?"
" They deactivated the signal…."
" Where did the communication come from, can you pinpoint the signal?"
" They scrambled it, but …."
" Can you?"
" I can try!"
" Good ..that´s where we´ll start."
" Sir…." Zoe said softly.
" What if he lied? What if he is keeping her for himself …..or …"
Zoë breathed deep, knowing that she would give voice to some of his worst fears and that noone was gonna like it…….but it had to be said.
" What if he killed her already, right after this transmission."
Kaylee gasped in shock, but Zoë went on.
" What if that is his intention, his ultimate revenge….to send us on a wild goose-chase only to wait for us at the end of the trail to tell us that is was all for nothing! That she was dead all along! "
Mal looked at his first officer, his face reserved. The thought had come to his mind too, but as long as there was a chance that …..
He remembered all the times had had reproached her for who she was, for what she did. All those times he had called her a whore …..and she had taken it . Only the merest hint of anger and hurt in her voice as she talked back to him.
Now he wished that he could take it all back ……each and every word!
They had hurt her because she had not just surrendered, she had put up a fight because that was who she was….fierce and proud. She would cower for no one, so they had tried to teach her a lesson.
He couldn´t even ponder the possibility of Inara´s death.
" He didn´t …" River whispered.
They both turned towards her.
" What?"
" He didn´t lie …." River repeated slowly, as calmly as she could.
Mal stared at her. The girl that had changed so much since the moment she had jumped from the container her brother had smuggled her aboard Serenity. A naked, confused shivering slip of a girl ….and yet she had turned out to be quiet an asset.
He didn´t need to ask her how she knew ….she just knew, just as she had known so many other things. But there was something else in her eyes now…….
" You sure?" he asked her, suddenly eerily calm and serious.
" He will not kill her…." River answered quietly.
" The short satisfaction of knowing how much her death would hurt you does not outweigh the financial gain he is expecting. He is a businessman after all……and he knows that this, serving as his revenge will suffice."
River could feel Jayne´s hands curling around her shoulders in almost painful intensity. It was ment to be a protective gesture, one he wasn´t really aware of. His presence behind her as solid as a mountain, assuring but at the same time bewildering. She knew that it still creeped him out when she did this ……not just him, but Kaylee and Wash too.
Simon leaned against the wall gnawing on his lower lip. The preacher´s gaze rested upon her as well curious and weary.
Mal returned her look for a second, then nodded.
" Good. Wash, find out where the transmission was sent from …we need there position to follow them! Zoe …tell out clients the deal is off …….."
Some time in all the commotion Kaylee had simply disappeared into the engine room. River followed her with a concerned look on her face.
She knew what was on her friend´s mind ……she knew that it was not just the worries about Inara that scared her. It was the memories ……the bounty hunter and what he had threatened to do to her.
The thought that somebody could do all these things to the soft spoken companion was more than Kaylee could bear.
River found the young mechanic huddled into a corner, trying to stifle her sobs with a greasy handkerchief.
„ Oh Kaylee…." River whispered, stretching out her hand towards her friend.
Kaylee looked up, sniffling into the handkerchief.
" Don´t cry Kaylee, please. We´ll get her back ….we´ll…"
" You don´t…." Kaylee said tonelessly, her knees pulled up to her chest.
" What?" River returned her look in honest confusion.
" You don´t cry ….not since…"
" No, I don´t…." River concluded, as if the thought had just occurred to her.
Since she had taken over control for good, things had been so very different, that sometimes she forgot that there had ever been a time when things had not been thus.
" …not anymore. I …..I think I´ve cried enough for a thousand lifetimes."
Kaylee nodded, burying her face in her hands again.
" I´ve never seen him like that …the captain. Oh god, poor Inara…..what are we gonna do? Who knows what that evil man is gonna do to her."
River sat down next to her.
" You know the captain, Kaylee. He never gives up! We´ll think of something. We´ll get her back, we´ll safe her!"
" But that horrible man …what if they hurt her? What if ….."
" He´s dead…." River breathed.
The moment she said it, she knew it was true ….Niska would die.
She might not even have to be the one to pull the trigger. From the look in his eyes River was willing to bet her life that the captain would take care of that …of everyone who had laid hands on Inara. There was too much love there, maybe hidden under pride and fear, but there was love.
Malcolm Reynolds would never forgive anyone who hurt someone who was in his heart …..
Kaylee stopped crying, looking at her friend.
" What?"
" They are dead, we´ll find them …we´ll find Inara and get her back and …."
" You can´t promise that!"
River closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them again, turning towards Kaylee they were filled with icy determination. She purposefully let the other thing peek out, let it´s predator- like stare fill her eyes.
Kaylee shrunk back, gasping.
The calm, cunning expression in River´s face sent a shiver up her spine. It was still River, Kaylee could still see her …but underneath was something else, something cold, something alien …..Something not human.
" We´ll find her, Kaylee …….we will stop him!"
Kaylee nodded, swallowing hard. She took River´s hand and gave it a hard squeeze. This was still her friend, still River …… Whatever it was that dwelled in her mind, it was River´s and River´s alone. It was hers and she was in control.
It was a weapon and she would use it to help. Maybe it had been alien to her once, but now it was a part of her ….all she had to do was call it forth and it would come to her hand like a deadly beast of prey.
For the first time Kaylee really understood.
" River …." They both looked up to find Jayne standing in the doorway.
" Mal wants to talk to us……"
