Disclaimer : …Right …I don´t own nothing …..same old, same old …

NOTES: Thanks to all you guys who still read on!!! Your opinion means a lot to me!!!!!! Thanks also to ND ROSE…I will trya to update faster ….but I still got sooo much work for my Exams …sniff!!! There might be more spelling mistakes ..if so I´m sorry I just wanted this up. And again I´m not a native speaker, so please don´t be too annoyed and bear with me, please!!! The quotes are from the Song " Wish"  from the movie " Run Lola Run "(  I did my best to translate) by Thomas D. and Franka Potente….the second part will be in the next chapter which will be up ( I PROMISE) in a week!!!!

Now ..on to the rescue……

HUNTER

River went on bended knee, fastening a black leather sheath inside her boot. The sheath contained a slim clean blade. She stood, moving her foot up and down to make sure that the knife didn´t impede her movements.

" Now once you girls are done the computer stuff I want you to go back to Serenity. Is that understood?"

" But captain….." Kaylee interrupted. Mal silenced her with a grim look.

" There will be no discussion about that, you hear me lil` Kaylee? Even if you manage to lock most of Niska´s men in their quarters, the rest of them will put up a good fight . I don´t want you in the thick of it."

" I want to help!"

" And you do …by rigging that computer-system for us! There´s gonna be a fair amount of shooting and we never really taught you how to shoot a gun straight. This is no target practice, Kaylee…..this is shooting to kill, cause if you don´t , you´re the one bein´shot! It helps me more to know that you´re in a safe place!"

Kaylee blushed, remembering the last time she had held a gun. A sudden jerk made them all stumble.

" Damn it Wash, hold her steady!" Jayne yelled via the intercom. They were flying very low above the ground, almost grazing the hardened desert ground, in order to stay off Niska´s radar.

River arched her eyebrows at Mal.

" I can shoot." She stated simply.

" Oh, I know that, but I need you to stay with Kaylee and make sure she gets back to Serenity without some thug jumping her."

" You might need me …..there." River said seriously. Malcolm Reynolds looked down at her. Simon´s sister had pulled her dark hair back from her face, braided it till hung almost down to her waist. She looked a little older this way, he realised. Not much …but she didn´t look the little girl anymore. She still looked young and delicate, but it wouldn´t fool him anymore. River Tam had an iron will and that thing inside her was a force to be reckoned with.

" If we do …I´ll let you know."

I wish I was a hunter in search of different food

I wish I was the animal that fits into that mood

I wish I was a person with unlimited breath

I wish I was a heartbeat that never came to rest

"Do you want me to come?" All heads turned towards Simon who was standing in the doorway in an awkward stance, looking at them.

" I think we might need you here doctor. There´s a fair chance that one of us could get hurt so I need you to be ready and prepared for anything …."

Simon nodded, his face betraying nothing. Still, River knew her brother and she could feel his relief washing over her like cool, soothing water. Her brother was not a coward, River knew that too, but he was a doctor. He had sworn an oath to protect and save life …not destroy it. Ohh ….there were circumstances that would make her brother oversee those principles. Somehow River hoped that those circumstances would never come to pass. As long as she could remember Simon had tried to protect her, to take care of her. Now she was going to protect him from this …..

Come to me

Come to me

Come back to me

" Almost there….." Jayne told them as he came swaggering down the corridor. He had Vera strapped across his back, two guns in a shoulder holster and two more in a holster at his waist. An additional gun was tugged into the waistband of his pants.

" I´ll go check on  the Shepard!" Mal said nodding towards Kaylee, giving her a small smile.

" You ready?" Jayne growled at River who walked over to him, leaving Kaylee and Simon standing at the other end of the dining area.

" Just about …."

I wish I was a stranger who understands the sky

I wish I was a star ship in silence flying by

I wish I was a princess with armies at her hand

I wish I was a ruler who´d make them understand

Jayne cocked his head to the side, watching her coming towards him until she stood close enough for them too touch. She had looked calm and ready just seconds ago, but with every step she came closer to him, her conviction seemed to falter. Jayne took a quick look at Simon and Kaylee before his eyes wandered back to her and he understood. She was putting up a brave face as not to rattle Kaylee and her brother……but there was something worrying her.

"You alright?" he asked , his voice low and raspy.

"Got a bad feelin´  ´bout this, sparrow?"

River shook her head." No …..that´s not it." She put her hands on his chest, one finger tracing the scar underneath the fabric of his shirt. There was no premonition, no bad feeling …..in fact the other thing was anticipating the things to come.

" I just want you to be careful, ok? Don´t you dare getting shot or something like that!"

Jayne looked down at her, chuckling.

"Gorramit……Darlin´. Once in a lifetime Mal doesn´t care how many  ruddin´ people I shoot  or hurt as long as they answer to Niska….lemme enjoy that while it lasts! You take care of yourself and Kaylee and don´t worry about me."

River breathed deep, stepping in to him. She leaned her forehead against his chest.

" It´s fine, gorrammit!" he growled, his arms closing around her slender frame.

" Now gimme a  kiss  Miss Tam …before we go out to give Niska the scare of his ruddin´ lifetime!"

We defy the bounds of possibility

When we met it was like an explosion

And I swear I can still feel the tremors

I know that you are  rushing back to me, but you´re only near and here

Once you´re in my arms

I hit the ground if you don´t fly with me

His arms around her waist lifted her clean of her feet, a muffled sound escaped his throat when he felt River´s lips parting underneath his. River slung her arms around his neck returning his kiss with passion. The thought of her brother and Kaylee watching them crossed her mind for a fleeting second before it was swept away by the feeling of his warm, muscled body pressed to hers.

Jayne lowered her to the ground until her feet connected with the floor again, but River didn´t break the kiss. She let one of her hands move down his arm while the other snaked its way between their bodies to retrieve the gun he had tugged into his waistband. Then she stepped back, gasping for breath, meeting Jayne´s gaze.

" I´ll take that…." She whispered to him playfully, holding up the gun.

Jayne gave her an almost feral grin, resisting the urge to give her behind a little slap. Those gorram´ leather trousers would be his undoing one of those days…..

" Now go and shoot some bad guys." River told him with a secretive smile, her voice lowering until it was nothing more than a husky breath.

" We´ll finish this when you´re back!"

" Can´t wait Miss Tam!"

Oh, please run, run

Don´t give up

I´ve missed you so much

Demons are gnawing at my soul every time we´re apart

I´ll do what you ask, don´t be scared

I won´t leave you behind

The world is ours, we can be anything

But it´s all up to you

Simon blinked at the scene, flustered he shook his head.

" It´s not so much the thought that the alliance put one of their half thought through experiments in my sisters brain….." he said slowly, turning to Kaylee.

" …..that first drove her insane and has now teamed up with her in some kind of unholy coalition, for a cool, dry place somewhere in the depths over River´s mind."

Kaylee looked at the doctor with a frown. She was not quite sure what Simon was rambling about.

" No …...it's not really that. I think I´ am making every effort to deal with that. But once she´s …..some kind of sane, that weapon crazed cutthroat with no manners or morals to speak of turns my little sister into a wanton gunslinger!"

Kaylee rolled her eyes, but couldn´t resist to give Simon a smile.

" Aw…C´mon Simon, you shouldn´t give Jayne too much credit." She told him with an affection nudge of her elbow.

" Sure , the alliance is to blame for some of the mess, but River managed to turn herself into Jayne´s girlfriend all by herself."

He gave her an ironic look.

" Is that supposed to comfort me?"

" She should be comin´up right around the next bend!"

Wash said , looking back over his shoulder at Malcolm Reynolds. Next to him, his wife was checking the ammunition of her guns.

" Will you look at that?"

Niska´s ship was about twice Serenity´s size, gleaming in the fading light of the canyon like a sleek, silver stingray.

" They onto us?" Jayne asked as he entered the cockpit, following his crewmates ´gazes out the window.

Wash shook his head with a malignant grin.

" As far as I can tell their scanners haven´t detected us yet, we managed to stay off their radar flying so very  low……"

" So the gorram´ rocky ride paid off, ha?"

" I´ll have you know that this ride was smooth all the way due to my superior abilities as a pilot!" Wash returned in a slightly miffed tone of voice.

" So what now…..we land right in front of them? They may have not seen us coming so far, but they´ll pick up our signal any second now, Sir!" Zoe said with a questioning   look at her captain. Mal cocked one eyebrow, pondering the shape of Niska´s  vessel with a wicked smirk.

" No……they might anticipate us doing that."

" Kaylee….." he yelled over the intercom.

" Yes, Captain." Came the prompt reply.

" You see that thing?"

" Pretty ..isn´t it?" There was a definite note of excitement in her voice. Mal knew it wasn´t so much the sight of the state of the art spaceship. It was the excitement of someone who knew that in just a few minutes, she´d be the one to take down it´s computer system all by herself……"

" What you think about stability, the hull? How much can she take?"

" Weight or impact?"

" Weight?"

There was a giggle on the other end of the line, then whispering as though she was discussing things with someone else.

" I don´t need  you to estimate the exact …."

" She can hold us! Actually she could sustain twice that much …rule of thumb…." Kaylee interrupted him. " That´s what you wanna know, right? "

" Smart girl!"  Malcolm Reynolds turned back to his pilot.

" Wash ….I want you to set us down right on top of Niska´s shiny new toy…..That´ll give him a nice, good scare. And they won´t be able to fire the ship´s weapons at Serenity!"

" Oh ……I think I´ll enjoy this rescue mission!" Wash returned, wiggling his eyebrows.

" Let´s put some scratches on the nice paint-job, shall we?"

I wish I was a writer to see what´s yet unseen

I wish I was a prayer expressing what I mean

I wish I was a forest of trees that would hide

I wish I was a clearing of secrets left inside

There was a deafening, booming impact, followed by the screeching sound of metal scraping over metal. Inara felt the floor of her cell shake and shudder. She leaned against the wall, one hand pressed to her chest. It took her a moment to understand that the tremors that had run through the ship just seconds ago did not come from an earthquake. The noise had come from above. Inara looked up to the ceiling, trying to draw a steadying breath.

" Mal……" she whispered.

Come to me

Return to me

In another part of the ship, Niska looked up from the book he had been reading only moments ago. Now it lay on the ground, his dinner scattered over the table from the impact of something atop his vessel.

" You never give up, Mr. Reynolds …..do you?" Niska hissed.

Then he pushed a button next to his comfortable armchair, activating the intercom.

" What the hell is going on Stavros?"

" I can´t say yet, Sir ..it seems as though our security system has been breached."

" What are you talking about?"

" There is a ship …it seems to have landed on the back of our vessel……"

" Yes ……I figured as much."

" And now there is …..there are intruders on the first deck."

" How is that possible? You can not enter the ship without the access code……"

Niska hesitated, closing his eyes and breathing deep to control his fury. It didn´t take a genius to figure out that Malcolm Reynolds had somehow acquired the access code.

" Stavros ….I want every man on this ship armed and ready now! I will not have a band of amateur smugglers and thieves overrun this ship……you hear me?"

" Yes , Sir ……I will ….." There was a disturbance noise, just before the lights in Niska´s cabin went out.

" Sir ….."

" What is going on?" Niska asked impatiently.

" Sir …I think …..we ….we might have….."

" What?"

" We just lost the main computer….."

" What do you mean, you lost it?"

" There seems to be a glitch in the system,  I …..I really can´t say. It doesn´t work …I mean, it works but …..it seems as though they somehow managed to infiltrate into our system…."

" If you want something done, you have to do it yourself! I seem to be surrounded by incompetent idiots! Get your guns and meet me outside our guest´s room."

" Now ..that was fun!" Kaylee said with a very satisfied look, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall.

" They´re all tugged in nice, snug like a lot of armed to the teeth bugs in a rug. Can´t get out if they wanted too."

River raised one eyebrow at the banging noises that came from a closed hatch- door down the corridor.

" Oh ..I think they want to."

" Aw ….now that´s just too bad!"

" Kaylee …you hear me?" The old walky-talky gave Kaylee a little scare as it jumped to live under much crackling noise.

"We´re here captain ….."

" Anything on where they keep Inara in the computer?"

" The ship has three holding cells in a corridor two decks below you, close to the engine room. There should be a narrow emergency stairway to the right behind the second bulkhead from your current position."

" Good Work, now get back to Serenity …now!"

" You sure about this preacher?" Mal asked, firing two shots at one of Niska´s men who had managed to escape their quarters just before Kaylee had seized control of the ship´s computer.

The sharp noise of a gun being cocked made him turn around.

" As I told your first officer just before we went out to rescue you from Niska, the bible does not condone killing your enemies…….but the fact that it´s somewhat fuzzy on the subject of kneecaps hasn´t changed since then!"

" Glad to hear!"

Mal looked back over his shoulder again, to where Jayne, Zoë and Wash were all huddled in an alcove.

"Now ….once we´re done with this clown shooting at us…."He fired three shots at the man, shooting at him from behind a corner. " secure the stairway…..I´ll get Inara and then let´s just get out of here as fast as possible, before Niska and his crew got time to regroup, understood?"

" Can we get to it already?" Jayne growled over Zoë's shoulder.

" You got what the captain said?" The woman asked simply.

" Sure ..I ain´t deaf yet!"

" Shiny ….let´s do this then!"

It was the faintest sound. River was following Kaylee, covering her back while they retreated back to Serenity. The burly man seemed to just fall from the ceiling, caught her completely by surprise.  Kaylee gave a startled yelp, swirling around to her friend.

" Drop the gun girl …..now drop it!" One arm was thrown tight around her abdomen, holding her to his chest with painful intensity, the other held the gun. The barrel dug into the soft skin of River´s neck while her eyes rolled upwards to find out where he had come from. Right above their heads was the exit of the ship´s ventilation system……big enough for a man to squeeze through.

" Stay right where you are now dollface!" he yelled at the pretty mechanic.

 Kaylee followed River´s gaze breathlessly.

" We missed something…" She whispered in horror.

"Drop the gun!" The man repeated impatiently, pushing the barrel into River´s neck even more forcefully. River gasped, letting her gun slide from her hand to the floor. Kaylee stepped back, her back to the wall. Her eyes widened in fear.

River couldn´t see the man´s face but she could tell that he was smiling.

" `Atta girl …..and how pretty you both are…….don´t know what the hell you are doing here, but Niska hates it when things don´t go according to his plan." The hand that didn´t hold the gun to her neck started to travel upwards to River´s throat in a languorous caress.

" Don´t much like what he´ll do to both of ya´…..pretty girls like you."

She bit her lip, closing her eyes in an effort to calm her racing thoughts. She felt a soothing tranquillity come over her. The Ship, her surroundings disappeared around her, melting away until all was grey. She opened her eyes, still dimly aware of her enemies travelling hand grazing her jaw-line. She was standing in front of the mirror, her replica looking back at her with the same detached but somewhat curious look that had became inherent to her.

" This man is touching you ….should he do that?" Her mirror image asked.

" No…." River ground out angrily.

" But you let the other one touch you like this …..the warrior."

" That is different!"

It nodded, blinking at her like a confused bird.

" Yes …I thought it might be."

River stretched out her arm, her fingertips moving over the surface of the mirror. It felt cool, liquid and there were little torrents where her finger´s had disquieted the surface.

" You want to go out and play now?" River asked, still holding out her hand.

A sharp intake of breath from her captor brought River back from inside her mind. He was smelling her hair …..

" Kaylee ……" River whispered, eyes fixing on her friend. " I need you to not be scared now …whatever happens. The other girl looked back at her, holding her gaze for a moment and nodded.

River nodded back, closing her yes again. " Enough …" She whispered seconds before she let go, threw open the doors to let the other thing roll through her like a cold, icy wave. She could feel it taking over, feel them connect  and to her it was like sliding her hand into a perfectly fitted, smooth glove.

River lifted her leg, bringing her heel down on the man´s foot, the unexpected pain made him jerk and loosen his hold on her just a little. It was enough. In one fluent motion she elbowed him in the chest, slipping from his grasp.

" You little ….." She ducked from his punch, falling to one knee to extract the hidden knife. Before he could move to grab her, River had already shoved the blade in between two ribs, right through his heart. He stared at her in utter amazement, then crumbled to the ground with a rasp.

" Are you okay?" It was still River´s voice, Kaylee understood that, but there was a steely undercurrent that was not her ……..it was the other thing. Kaylee could see it looking at her through River´s eyes.

" Yes… ..I´m okay!"

River picked up the gun, stepping over the dead body as though it wasn´t even there.

" Take it …." She told Kaylee, holding it out to her. The mechanic took the gun hesitantly, swallowing hard. Mal had been right. She was a good mechanic ….the best and no one could take that from her. She had brought down Niska´s ship ….but she was no good in a fight. Right there she decided she didn´t really mind …she didn´t really want to be.

 " Can you get back to serenity on your own?" Kaylee looked along the corridor. It wasn´t far now ….. River followed her gaze, tilting her head to the side like a bird.

" There is no one hiding there ……it is safe for you." Kaylee nodded, watching the person that was River and yet  was not quite her.

" What are you gonna do?" she asked gingerly. The other girl smiled at her, the smile of a cunning predator that had smelled blood. She looked up at the ventilation exit.

" I need to take care of something."