'Don't make no sense.' Jayne said. Mal didn't know how, but Jayne had managed to take along with him, as well as Vera, two pistols, a box of cigars, a lighter, and his trademark 'cunning' woolly bobble hat. Wearing said hat and chewing a said cigar, Jayne said 'He just vanished. I mean, what the gorram Hell was that?' Mal nodded. He'd seen it plain as sky, a beam of light had just absorbed Serenity. Played merry Hell with the ship, too. Simon nodded. He'd been listening for quite a while, but something wasn't adding up.
'A beam of light?' He asked. Mal nodded. 'See a ship? Apart from Serenity, I mean.' Mal thought. That was the weird part, there was no ship. Just light.
'No, no ship.' He told him.
'Huh.' Simon said.
'What?' Mal asked.
'Well, if there wasn't a ship, it couldn't have come out of nowhere.' He replied. Mal sighed. He didn't have time for mind games.
'I don't think that's the issue at hand here.' He said, tired as, well, a very tired person. 'We're stuck on this rock.' Everyone stared at him, never having thought of that. Inara nodded.
'He's right. We couldn't get far in one of these. Also, I looked at the radar. There isn't any civilization on this planet. No one here.' Everyone went quiet. Simon looked up, his train of thought pulling into the last stop.
'Could it reach orbit?' He asked. Inara paused.
'Yeah, I think so, why?' She asked.
'Well, that light had to come from somewhere. If we couldn't see the ship, it must've been something in orbit to do that. Any further and it wouldn't have been able to get through the atmosphere. Also, since the ship just disappeared, I don't think it was destroyed. Possibly-' He looked around, wondering if the others would think he was crazy. 'Possibly teleported.' Jayne snorted.
'Teleported?' He said, chuckling. 'Boy, you been smelling engine fumes too long.' He said, getting an angry look from Kaylee. 'That's impossible. Like, something out of Sci Fi.' Zoe looked at him curiously.
'Jayne, we live on a spaceship.' She stopped. 'Lived, lived on a spaceship. River's a reader. We can get from planet to planet in a matter of hours. Why should this be any less impossible?' Jayne looked annoyingly at Mal.
'Gorram you and your fancy logic.' He muttered. Mal looked over at Simon.
'You saying there's some teleportation device in orbit?' Mal asked.
'It's very possible.' He answered. Kaylee raised her hand, resulting in a cry of pain. Everyone looked over at her, worried. Simon put his arm around her, whispering into her ear, calming her down.
'Er, Captain?' She said.
'Yes, Kaylee?'
'I know it would be brilliant to get somewhere else, maybe fix Serenity,' She said, 'But do we…you know…really want to follow Jack somewhere we ain't seen?' Mal gazed at her, amazed. He hadn't thought of that.
'From what you told me, the only reason you got away was because Jack flew out the windows when they broke from the speed.' Simon added. Mal nodded.
'I know, but Jack doesn't seem the type to wait around.' Mal told him. 'Anyway, if there really is something in orbit, we should get to it before we go out of range.' There was unanimous agreement from everyone, apart from Kaylee.
'Kaylee?' Mal asked.
'Just don't want to cross him again, is all.' She said quietly. Simon hugged her close.
'Don't worry, bao bei, next time he comes, we'll be ready for him. I'll be ready for him.' Kaylee smiled.
'Well then, what are we waiting for?' She asked brightly. Mal nodded.
'You heard the lady, let's get going! Don't wanna be sitting around on this rock forever, do we?'
As the shuttles left the atmosphere, Kaylee huddled up close next to Simon.
'Thanks for fixing me up.' She said. He smiled.
'Didn't have everything I needed. You need a bit more work-' She put a finger on his lips, shushing him.
'You did your best, honey. You did your best.' Kaylee told him, resting her head on his shoulder and immediately fell asleep. As the couple tried to get some well deserved rest, Mal watched them wrap their arms around each other. It was Inara's shout that shook him out of his happy moment.
'Mal! Look out!' He turned to look and saw a giant black ship floating in front of him. He spun around it quickly, radioing the others.
'Hey Zoe, you see what I see?' He asked his first mate.
'I do, Sir. There's a couple of what appear to be shuttle docks.' There was a short pause. 'Sir, I've tried to wave them. We got no response.'
'Alright, don't board until we get there, we do this together. There could be something on board that don't want us to know it's there. If that's true, it might not appreciate a little hello.'
'Will do, Sir.' Zoe replied. Inara looked bewilderingly at him.
'You're going to board that thing?' She asked incredulously.
'Why not?' Inara thought for a good reason. Several came. She chose the best.
'It could be Alliance.' Mal paused, then shook his head.
'Nah, if it had been Alliance, they would've used something this powerful during the war, trust me.' Inara sighed.
'I won't say I told you so.' She muttered.
As they docked with the satellite, Mal wondered if there would be any oxygen on board. Oh well, he thought, too late for that thought.
The shuttle doors slid open as Mal and Zoe took point. No offence to River's amazing abilities, but he always felt more comfortable when working with Zoe. He took a good look around. White and clean, with smooth curves where the floor and ceiling met the walls. There were big panels in the walls that emanated light for a reason Mal couldn't fathom. He decided it was safe, and waved for Jayne and River to follow. River looked around, trying to sense something, anything. Nothing. Jayne, on the other hand, was staring around, mesmerised.
'Shouldn't ought to be so clean for a satellite.' He said, clutching Vera.
'Yeah, I know. It's eerie.' Mal replied. At the other end of the room was a big, silver panel, with an insignia: A large, muscular man holding up a planet, with three flags above it. Jayne watched it with fearful eyes.
'Weren't that the thingy the doc told us about?' Jayne gulped. 'On Jack's jacket?' Mal nodded. His throat had gone very dry. There was a ringing sound, and the panel folded in two. Everyone raised their respective weapons at it, afraid of the psychopath who had beaten up one of their crew and tried to butcher the other. Fortunately, he wasn't in there. They walked in, looking around. The room they were in was easily as big as Serenity's hold, but spherical. From the door, there was a raised walkway to a platform in the middle of the room. From this, four similar pathways spread off. This wasn't the oddest thing about the room, however. That position was requested by two things:
Firstly, the room was freezing. Utterly, utterly cold. Mal shivered, stepping back into the previous room for warmth, before walking back into the large spherical oddity.
Secondly, the presence of a naked woman, sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, needles sticking into her.
Mal waved over to Zoe, requesting that she get the good doctor. He came, along with Inara, Jayne and Kaylee.
'I only asked for Simon!' He said. Zoe shrugged.
'Guess they were interested, Sir.' She replied. Kaylee and Simon were wearing Inara's warmest jumpers. Mal chuckled.
'Simon, I didn't know pink suited you so well!' He said. Simon smiled.
'Neither did I.' He laughed. Kaylee shivered.
'Inara, why's it so cold here?' She asked.
'No clue, mei mei.' She said. Kaylee looked over at her.
'Why aren't you cold?' She asked.
'Companion training.' She said. Jayne stared.
'For cold? Why?' He asked.
'Just in case I get to do someone on a frigid satellite in orbit.' She replied, mockingly. Jayne shivered.
'I miss my bunk.' Simon felt the woman's pulse.
'She's dead, but-' Simon was interrupted.
'The dead awaken.' River told him. Simon stared.
'What?' Before he could react, the room hummed. Mal spun around, trying to see where it was coming from. The hum grew steadily.
'What did you do!' He shouted at Simon.
'I just felt her pulse!' He replied. Jayne cocked Vera.
'Gettin' on my ruttin' nerves.' He said, clutching his favourite gun. The room grew warmer, and yellow streaks started appearing on the ceiling, flashing from the top to the bottom. Suddenly, the humming stopped and the middle platform glowed bright yellow.
'This don't bode well.' Mal said. The room became increasingly warmer, so warm that the ice became water in an instant and splashed onto the heads of the crew. Simon stared at the naked woman, not in a perverted manner, but at the tubes flowing into her body. They were flowing with red and clear liquids. There was the sound of electricity build-up, and Simon was thrown on his back with a cry. Kaylee screamed.
'Simon!' Kaylee wasn't the only one. The woman in the chair had woken up, and was staring around, disoriented. Within seconds, however, she had thumped the armrest, grabbed the shotgun that flew out of the ground and slammed its butt into Simon's head as he was getting up, causing him to fall back down again. The crew drew the guns at her. The woman blinked, apparently realising what she had just done. She smiled timidly.
'Well, I wasn't expecting company.'
Ten minutes later, she was sitting back on the shuttle, under the watchful eyes of the crew, and the watchful barrel of Vera. Kaylee was lying with Simon on the bed, holding him against her good shoulder, soothing him, and sending hateful glances at the woman sitting on the chest at the end of the bed. There wasn't any blood, but some bruising, so Kaylee had wrapped a bandage around his head, and had proceeded to decorate it with flowers and hearts. The crew had just begun questioning the previously dead woman.
'Who are you?' Mal asked.
'My name's Belle.' She said.
'What's your rank?' Zoe asked.
'Zoe, what are-' He began, before Belle interrupted.
'Brigadier General Bellina Elizabeth Forrester.' She started listing off medals. 'Victoria Cross for the Spectre atrocity, St. George's Cross for the Battle of Olympus, ten years in the SAS, the rest working for ATLAS.' She smiled. 'Call me Belle.' The crew stared at her, open mouthed and wide eyed. Jayne lowered Vera in respect. Zoe gaped.
'Jesus, you're-' Mal began.
'Hard core military? All the way.' Belle said. 'What're you?'
'Captain.' Mal stopped. 'How did you know?'
'Call it military instinct.' She smiled again.
'That symbol, on the door. What was it?' Zoe asked her. Belle turned to Zoe, confused.
'You don't know?' Zoe shook her head. 'That's the symbol for ATLAS.'
'What's ATLAS?' Kaylee asked, holding Simon close. Belle turned to her, and Kaylee recoiled. Belle noticed Simon, lying across her.
'Look, I'm really sorry about him, okay? I was very surprised.' Kaylee made a very un-Kaylee snort of disbelief, and held Simon close, muttering under her breath.
'It's okay, Bao bei.' He said, squeezing her hand. 'It was an accident. I'm not holding a grudge.' Kaylee smiled, holding Simon closer to her.
'ATLAS, well, ATLAS is-' Belle stopped, staring in horror at Kaylee's shoulder, and at the blood-stained bandage.
'Jesus Christ, woman, what happened to your shoulder!' Belle nearly shouted.
'Guy attacked me and Simon.' Kaylee said shyly. 'Simon here patched me up.'
'Cool.' Belle said, then stopped again. 'Bao bei? What is that?'
'It's Chinese for darling.' Simon said, looking up at Kaylee with compassion in his eyes.
'Chinese, but-' Belle stopped for a third time, looking over at Simon. 'You're married?' The couple blushed.
'No, no…not married.' Simon said.
'Not yet, anyway.' Kaylee added. Mal looked on in horror. Dear God, he thought, this woman really was trouble. He really didn't need yet another shipboard marriage. He looked over at Zoe. Not yet, anyway, he mentally added. He could see it in Zoe's eyes, memories of her marriage with Wash, becoming Mrs. Zoe Washburne. She'd stuck with the name, even after his death. Mal made a mental note that if he ever got back Serenity, he was going to hide all of Zoe's wedding dress catalogues.
'You're both very lucky.' Belle said, before turning back to the group at large. The two lovers smiled, holding each other close. 'Chinese? He speaks Chinese?' She said, indicating Simon. Mal was stunned. What was with this woman, he asked himself.
'Yeah,' Kaylee said, 'We all do. Why,' She asked, 'Don't you?'
'No.' Belle said, surprised. 'Does everyone?'
'Well, yeah.' Jayne said, including himself in the conversation. 'Everyone's taught English and Chinese.'
'Wow.' Belle looked out the shuttle window at the planet below them. She squinted. 'Where are we?' She asked.
'We're orbiting Ninth.' River told her.
'What!' Belle shouted, running over to the window and pressing herself against it, as if trying to find evidence to the contrary. Mal was stunned, again. He hated being stunned.
'Didn't you, well, know?' Mal asked.
'No.' She said, looking down at the planet beneath her. 'Last time I was awake, it was orbiting Earth.'
