As Simon worked to stabilize Jayne, Mal hurried down the hall to the elevator. He needed Jester's help in figuring out who it was, exactly, that wanted to kill his Merc. He knew WHAT the murderous kidnapping hun dan was, or used to be; just not WHO.

Jester's gotta have that info, he thought to himself as he waited for the slow-as-molasses-in-January car to arrive.

The chime finally signaled the appearance of the lift and Mal had to jump back as Jester charged out of the elevator car.

"Malcolm! You and your crew are in danger. You need to leave immediately."

"More'n likely your cargo is, right? Lemme guess: Alliance on its way?" Mal retorted.

"Why, yes. But that is neither here not there, for now. Do not worry on that; my employees have a diversion planned, if it is warranted, in order for you and your ship to get away. But, more importantly, what is most distressing...that call I received on the casino floor during our conversation..."

Irritated that Jester was taking so long, and still worried about his injured and missing crew members, Mal huffed, "Today would be good."

"Mal, a Blue Sun wet works pro is here. I assume he was originally after your fugitive siblings."

"I got no time to worry about that right now. Besides, he's a bit late seeing as how River's already gone and--"

"He is ex-Alliance, and was Jayne's CO and trainer."

"Ta ma de! That's who tried to kill Jayne and who's got River. What a lucky day it turned out for him--do your job and exact a little vengeance as a bonus."

"What do you mean? Is Jayne hurt?" Jester asked, worried. At Mal's nod he radioed and hastily ordered a stretcher and med-team to the floor. Then he and Mal went to check on Simon's progress.

The busy doctor filled them in: "I've almost stopped the bleeding. Somehow NONE of Jayne's vital organs were significantly injured, other than the one punctured lung, some muscle damage, and a few severed veins resulting in a lot of lost blood--he'll need a transfusion. These wounds...it was either very sloppy of the attacker--"

"Or very deliberate and precise," Zoe finished. "Didn't think anyone would find him before he bled to death, or drowned in his own blood."

Nodding, Simon continued, "If we get him to a medical facility, or the infirmary, I can suture these wounds more securely and reinflate his lung. All of these gashes are deep and I'd much rather re-do these stitches with the aid of a magnifyer--especially the muscle tissues."

Mal agreed. "Alright people," he called, "Load up--we're leaving. Zoe, wake up that husband of yours. Have him get on the radio to Inara and tell her we gotta go. She can either cut her business short, or stay here till we get back; let her know it might be a while, if that's the case."

"Yes, sir," she replied and hurried off.

"Mal..."

The room's remaining inhabitants turned to the now-awake Merc as he struggled to communicate.

"Get a...list. All ships...left recently. Within...last hour or so."

Mal looked over to the owner and Jester nodded. In hushed tones he spoke on his comm unit. After a moment, he faced Mal and told him it was being downloaded to Serenity's computer.

Luckily, there were only five that dissembarked in that time. Hopefully, Jayne could figure out which one was escaping with River so that they could go after her. And that was provided they made it past the Alliance Cruiser headed straight for this facility, since they still had the problem of the seriously contraband cargo. As Jayne would have said, "A lot of 'if's' coming offa this plan."

"Jester, you gotta get that load offa my ship, double time," Mal snapped.

"I cannot my friend; there's not enough time. That cruiser will be here...in less than 40 minutes and you need to be long gone before that. They won't ask for any ships' registries except for the ones still docked. I'd rather our diversion be a last-ditch effort since it would mean letting several dozen Alliance soldiers crawl, unchecked, around my station."

The medical/security detail arrived and loaded the grumbling and groaning injured man on the stretcher. As they left, with Simon in tow, Jester apologized again to his friend.

"Malcolm, I truly am sorry. I...I thought you would understand and be eager to help. I misjudged and it will not happen again. But I did make sure that Serenity was stocked with provisions and filled with fuel. I figured that you might be tired of protein-loaf, so there is fresh bread and fruit. The reserve fuel cells have also been topped, as was your ammunition stores...just in case. There are also a few presents."

Jester took a ragged breath and continued, "I'll try to wave some of my other contacts to see if they can take the cargo from you. Maybe Monty? Because there is no telling where he would have taken the girl and no way I could expect you to--"

"We'll deal with the specifics on that later, Jester. How 'bout you wave our hacker friend and see if he has heard anything, has any idea where this guy mighta run off to. He's got his fingers into everything come across Cortex, and he'd be the first to know. We know that the girl and her brother are wanted alive; I'm just a might bit worried he's headed right for that cruiser. We ain't got a snowball's chance in hell to pull her outta there," the Captain sighed.

"Right. We'll back-door their system when they ask for the registries, see if any of those five ships docked there. But I doubt it; he's contract hire. By the way, Johansen is his name and his alias is 'The Dragon'. I know you, and I know Jayne--no way I'd bet against the two of you when you got a mind to doing something. Good luck getting River back."

Mal nodded and said, "Much obliged. It appears we'll be nedding it. Kaylee? You got everyone's stuff packed up?"

"Yes, Cap'n," she replied softly, pulling the bags behind her.

With a mock salute to Jester, Mal hefted one of the bags up on his shoulder and grabbed another from her struggling hands.

"Let's go rescue our girl," he said and they trotted off toward the ship.