The cool floor of the shuttle was pressed against Captain Zairre's cheek as she lay there, staring at the wall. It had been days since the mutiny and the air was wearing thin and the emergency protein packets and water were almost completely gone. She didn't know how much longer they would last.
"Where did I go wrong" she muttered, thinking of the four men she had trusted. The same four men who had turned on her. They had taken everything she owned and killed the closest thing she had to a love interest. The damned turncoats even had her cat aboard the ship.
"Cap'n" Leyna said questioningly from her seat at the controls.
Turning her head she looked at her first officer. "I'm not your captain anymore, Leyna. I don't have a ship or a crew." She snorted with anger. "How could I have not seen that coming? I should have known they would try something. I guess I'm just too damn naive." Aurora turned her head away and resumed staring at the wall.
The first officer smiled. "Fang xin, you're still my captain." This made Captain Zairre turn to look at her friend and she returned the smile. "You should get some sleep. I'll wake you when its your turn, or if someone hails us. Do you think it will be aliens" A glimmer of hope could be seen in Leyna's eyes.
Aurora's smile widened. "Thanks Leyna." She pushed herself off the floor and headed to one of the little bunks. "I'd be lost without you."
-
"I'm just saying if you and Wash wanna have a go at each other..do it in your own bunk." Mal said to Zoe as they stood in the kitchen. "I've got enough volume on this ship as it is when River gets into one of her yellin' spells."
"I understand that captain." Zoe nodded, but then after a breath added. "you know, we were fighting over lack of money."
"I don't care if you were fighting over da-xiang bao-zha-xing da la-du-zi." Mal snapped back. "I don't want to listen at you two yellin."
"Alls I'm sayin' sir is that we haven't had a good job in a long time..." Zoe defended.
"I understand tha..."
"I need the Captain on the bridge." Wash's voice came over the ship's comn. Mal gave Zoe a glance that told her to follow him.
"What do you need Wash" Mal yelled and he took long strides toward the bridge. Wash simply pointed to the shuttle that was laying on its side in front of Serenity.
"Lao tian ye." Mal said, as he viewed the shuttle. "Anyone on board"
"Not completely sure Captain, I haven't hailed them yet...but they are beaming a distress signal... it says they were mutinied and left for dead.
"Let me try hailing 'em." Mal said and stepped in front of the camera. "Unknown shuttle, this is Captain Malcolm Reynolds of Serenity. Do you read, over"
A young girl's face came on over the screen, she was wearing her dark rimmed glasses, and what appeared to be ear muffs. "Boy are we glad to see you." she said and grinned ear to ear.
"We" Mal said raising an eyebrow
"My captain and I." Leyna said, then seemed to think a minute. "Or would that me Me and my captain"
"Why aint he the one talking, being the captain an' all" Mal asked.
"We've been takin' turns sleeping." Leyna explain. "The airs been getting a bit thin in here if you know what I mean. The turncoats that left us here cut the power thrusters, I diverted all power to life support, but I knew I would only get a weeks worth out of her."
"How long you been sittin' there" Mal asked.
"Six days and 2 hours." Leyna answered gravely but then smiled brightly again. "Like I said, we sure are glad to see you."
"Alright." Mal said after a small sigh. "Me and my first officer will suit up and be right over. You get your Captain woke up. I'll bring two suits with me, so and you and your Cap'n can follow us back here. Sound good to you"
"I'll wake her up now. Leyna out." the girls picture flickered off the screen and Mal flipped off the switch on his side.
"Did she just say her captain was a she" Wash asked with a look of confusion on his face.
"I think she did." Mal folded his arms. "Zoe, feel like taking a stroll outside and meetin the new neighbors"
"I only wish I would've thought to make a jello mold, sir." Zoe said and headed out toward the cargo bay.
Mal gave a half grin and followed after her, leaving a confused Wash. "What's a jello mold"
-
"Cap'n" Leyna was shaking Aurora frantically. "Cap'n wake up"
"Mmph" she grunted in reply as she rolled over. "Whaassit? Whasmatta" Her bleary emerald eyes opened to see an excited Leyna staring back at her. "Did we run into aliens"
Jumping up and doing a little dance in her combat boots, Leyna said"No! We're getting picked up by Serenity."
"Who in the verse is
Serenity" Captain Zairre sat up on her cot.
-
The Captain and Zoe were almost fully suited. Book had been helping them get that way.
"Lemme get this straight." Jayne said coming down from the top deck. "We're taking on more passengers without a damn dime to their name all in the sake of being charitable"
"Without our help those people will die." Book said, as he fastened Zoe's helmet on.
"It's the right thing to do." Mal said as he lifted his helmet up. "Cant go leaving womenfolk in distress."
"Womenfolk" Jayne's eyes seemed to lighten up. "They're womenfolk"
The Captain and Zoe went out into the air lock and depressurized themselves to get ready for a walk in the nothingness of space.
-
Leyna didn't answer. Instead she danced over to the hatchway, pressing the button for the outer most door to open. Aurora joined her, waiting curiously to see her rescuers. After looking through the little window, Leyna pressed a button to close the door before hitting the one that would pressurize the little room.
At last she hit the button and the door before them slide open, revealing two figures. They were both fully suited and one of them carried two spares. For a minute no one said anything.
"Uh, hello" Captain Zairre said in an attempt to break the silence. Neither of the two in suits had moved to take their helmets off and she couldn't see their faces because of the harsh glare from the lights in the shuttle.
Without a word, the one holding the extra suits stepped forward, handing one spacesuit to Aurora and the other to Leyna. They all remained silent as the two girls suited up and even the trip from the shuttle to the larger transport ship.
The large doors opened, revealing the cargo bay of a Firefly class ship. All four suited figures stepped inside. Aurora and Leyna watched as the two that had gotten them from the shuttle removed their helmets.
One was a tall woman with dark skin, hair and eyes. She didn't even look at the two girls as she quickly stripped off her suit. The other was a man with brown hair and blue eyes. He began to take off his suit, motioning for Aurora and Leyna to do the same.
"Zoe" the man said as he finished taking his suit off. "Go call the others on deck and get the galley ready."
"Yes, sir" the woman, Zoe, said before turning and carrying out her orders. For a moment her voice rang out over the ship, telling everyone to meet in the cargo bay. Then she turned and disappeared up a staircase.
The man turned to the two girls. "Welcome aboard Serenity."
"Thank you very much Captain" Aurora trailed off, not knowing his name.
"Captain Malcolm Reynolds." He held out his hand and Aurora took it.
She smiled. "Aurora Zairre, at your service. And very much in your debt."
"Oh don't tell him that" said a voice from one of the doorways. Mal, Aurora, and Leyna all turned to see a girl with a round, smiling face and light brown hair. "It'll go to his head."
She was closely followed by a well groomed young man with dark hair and another girl with very long brown hair. The second girl held a few characteristics that resembled the young man's.
From another door came two men, one with a strong build, dark hair and a goatee. The other was an older man, obviously a shepherd, with his gray hair pulled back.
They all gathered around, looking at the two girls. "This is my crew" Mal said. "Kaylee, the mechanic" he pointed to the girl that had spoken earlier and Aurora notice she had engine grease smeared on her face. It pained her slightly when it reminded her of Sparky. "This is Doctor Simon Tam." Mal pointed to the young man and then the girl with long hair. "And his sister River. Over there is Jayne, the muscle and Shepherd Book."
They all gave friendly smiles or hello's with the exception of Jayne who was staring at Leyna.
The two girls were about to return the warm welcome when they heard the clumping of feet on the metal stairs.
"Did I miss anything" a man asked as he hurried down. They all looked up to see who was making the noise, Aurora's breath caught when she saw him. "Was there a shoot" he stopped mid-sentence and stared. "Aurora"
Slowly, almost cautiously, she walked forward, staring at the man before her. "Hoban" she asked, her voice barely a whisper. Aurora looked over the blonde haired, blue eyed man in front of her. "Is it really you"
He nodded. "You're dead. Your ship crashed and you're standing in front of me"
Aurora gave a half-hearted laugh. "I'm dead? What about you? You were taken by Alliance troops I couldn't find you after..." she trailed off, still amazed to see him standing there.
Mal's eyebrows were raised as he watched the exchange. "I take it you two know each other."
"Know her" Wash said, laughing. "She was my fiance before the war."
"It's a small 'verse after all" Simon muttered, Kaylee gave him a little nudge.
Leyna stepped forward and began to circle Wash, looking him up and down. "He's the one you wanted to find" She began to poke at Wash, watching his reaction closely. He jumped and gave a little yowl. "Well, he's not an apparition."
Shaking her head slightly, Aurora gave a laugh. "I can't believe you're here. After all these years"
She and Wash hugged like old friends, each half squeezing the other to death.
"What's going on here" Wash nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the demanding voice.
They all turned to see Zoe watching the little scene from stairs. Kaylee smiled and gestured towards Aurora. "We're just meeting Wash's fiance."
Zoe's eyebrows raised as she looked to Wash for an explanation.
"Ex" he quickly amended. "Ex-fiance."
Confused, Aurora turned to look at him. "Ex? Hoban, we never officially broke it off."
"No. We just went and died on each other" he replied sarcastically.
Zoe descended the rest of the stairs and walked straight to Aurora. She planted herself in front of the stout woman and stared her down. "I don't believe we've met" she said, her dark eyes boring into Aurora's. "I'm Zoe. Hoban's wife."
It felt like a knife had plunged itself into Aurora's heart when she heard those words. Her emerald eyes flicked to Wash who at the moment was studying the floor intensely. Looking back Zoe she nodded slowly.
"I understand." Aurora's voice was quiet but it didn't falter.
"So you're married and engaged" Leyna asked Wash while rubbing her temple. "I think that's illegal on most planets." Jayne snickered, Kaylee looked at Zoe warily.
"He's married period." Zoe corrected Leyna. She was staring down Aurora and had gotten even more in between Wash and her.
Mal clapped his hands together. "Right" he said loudly, sensing the tension. "Kaylee why don't you make something for our guests while we all discuss what exactly we're going to do."
"Right, captain." Kaylee said and nodded her head. "Like I'm going to miss this..."
"Now, Kaylee." Mal corrected her, obviously not amused. He looked between Zoe and Aurora and thought it best to separate them. "There's no way we can tow your shuttle we'll have to leave it here."
"Fine Captain." Aurora said though her eyes never left Zoe's.
"Wash, get us going." The Captain ordered his pilot. Wash seemed to mouth something but his eyes didnt leave the two girls either. "Now, Wash." Mal emphasized. Wash moved reluctantly towards the bridge.
"Zoë, you go help Kaylee. Book, Simon, go ready two of the passenger dorms for our guest. And Jayne, help her get our of that..." Mal's eyes looked over at Leyna, who looked as though she was a puppy chasing her own tail.
Leyna was trying to unzip her space suit and was failing miserably. Jayne jumped at the chance.
"Uh, Lemme get that for you, ma'am." Jayne said and stopped Leyna from turning in another circle.
"Oh thank you" Leyna said relieved. "A few more rotations and I think I might have thrown up."
Zoë, had done as the captain had said but she had made it obvious she wasn't pleased to be leaving.
"Now let me get this straight." Mal said once everyone had left but Jayne Aurora and Leyna. "You were engaged to be married to Wash"
"Hoban and I were inseparable. We went into flight school together." Aurora nodded. "When the war started the independents were looking for pilots. Wash and I signed up. My plane went down on Strife, an Alliance controlled planet. After the war I tried to find Hoban...Wash, you call him...but was told he had been captured and killed." The shock of seeing Hoban was starting to catch up with her, and the fact he was now a married man seemed to stab through her heart. A part of her ached, she had'nt even been able to get close to another man in 7 years, let alone be married, yet part of her soared at the fact he was still alive.