"You know what the first rule of flying is? ... Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse…but you take a boat in the air that you don't love…she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down…tells you she's hurting before she keels. Makes her a home." –Captain Malcolm Reynolds

Sight

Everyone was holdin' weapons. Inara had her weapon wrapped in some soft red cloth. Jayne, of course, was a walkin' weapons shop. Even Simon, walking behind her, had a gun in his hand. Kaylee wasn't sure which scared her more: the sight of a gun in Simon's hands or the weight of one in her own. Still, she didn't have time to think on it much as they moved off the ship, Captain ordering them inside. She looked around. All of them was nervous, most was just a lot better at hidin' it. The Captain kept giving orders, posting Jayne as rearguard. Zoe kept watch, seeming wary and ready to do some damage. Kaylee watched as the blast doors opened and Mal jogged towards the elevator.

Once the engine of the elevator started whirring, Mal moved back towards them, walking backwards a step or two as though he expected attackers from there too. "Zoe, what've we got," he asked over his shoulder, turning as he spoke. Gun held at the ready, Zoe moved towards the Captain, eyes still on their surroundings. She seemed so...tense.

"Sir, this is a good hold point. They have to come through here," she said as the Captain suggested they stay together. "They'll bottleneck; we can thin them out. We get pushed back, there's the blast doors." She gestured with her gun, seeming calmer than usual.

"I can rig 'em so they won't re-open once they close," Kaylee spoke up, looking from Mal to Zoe as she volunteered her help. Mal looked at her, playing the protective role as he always had with his young female mechanic. As he gave his orders that Kaylee shut the doors and everyone hide until he got back, Zoe spoke up, making the Captain turn.

"We need to draw them 'til it's done. This is the place. We'll buy you the time." The two Browncoats met gazes, a quiet moment as they measured one another. Mal nodded. They would stay put. There would be shootin' once the Reavers come. Kaylee checked her grip on the gun once more, still nervous. Why did there have to be so much shootin'?

Hearing

"Let's move these crates back there for cover. Make sure they ain't filled with nothin' goes boom." Jayne's voice interrupted as she stood in the corner, watching everything and keeping out of the way. Simon had enough to worry about. They all did. She watched her brother move forward, forgetting her for the moment. Though she loved him, she was grateful his mind hand managed to develop another track. Not develop. Wrong word. The human mind naturally developed various tracks, allowing for multi-tasking and comprehension of multiple things consecutively. He hadn't developed another track. He had found one that was already there.

"Wait. Wash. Where's Wash?" Kaylee's voice, no longer as fresh and bubbly as it normally was. She sounded truly alarmed as she looked around, her voice rising slightly like a small bird caught in a trap crying to be freed. River looked towards Zoe, who wasn't looking at anyone. Still, her grief was louder than River knew Zoe wanted it to be. The warrior woman was alternately trying to ignore it and using it to fuel her anger. Her heart continued to beat, each beat whispering his name as her mind tried hard to block out the sound of his voice. River closed her eyes as Zoe's mind started whispering.

'Just 'til I finish this job, baby. Then, I promise, I'll go back to hearing your voice in my ear, telling me about all those places you've been, asking me to find out from the Captain if we can get time off, whispering to me in the private darkness of our bunk. Just, please, baby, wait 'til I finish this. Your warrior woman has to fight one more time.'

A simple, heartfelt cry of grief came from Kaylee's mind as Zoe spoke, simply stating the truth. Inara's thoughts, her inner voice, was beautiful, as always, even in grief. Mal, who had known what happened, was hit by the reminder at Zoe's words, a mental image passing through his mind of Zoe pleading with her dead husband to get up. Simon was stunned. He'd never taken to death too well. Not when it was someone he knew. Jayne was in the grip of disbelief as well. Shockingly, he had sense enough to think of Zoe and hope she'd be all right before his secret voice returned to killing the Reavers.

River listened a moment longer to the grieving crew around her. Then the roars came. She kept quiet, muscles tensing as the others looked up from moving the heavy crates. They were afraid. All of them. They didn't know what she heard. The Reavers' minds weren't human anymore. No cognisant thoughts; they were hardly coherant, even to one of River's intelligence. She heard bits and pieces and, thankfully, nothing more for the moment.

When the grenades went off, Zoe stayed where she was, her grief reigned in. She stayed put while the others ducked, a warrior woman held strong and firm by the spirit of her recently departed husband. River wondered whether Zoe realized it or not. Whether she knew Wash wouldn't leave her at least until the fight was over. He would have to make sure she was safe and, if things went wrong, would be there to embrace her as they reunited again. Kaylee was nervous. Simon had adjusted quickly to the unfamiliar weight of the gun in his hand as he prayed he'd be able to hit something. River looked upwards as the Captain left. The others didn't know about him either. The cold, calculating one was hiding in the vents, though not in this room. He was there, a deadly snake ready to strike.

A/N: dramatic music Ah, the joys of cliff-hangers...