AN: Sorry if this one's a bit dull, I promise next one will be filled with much more intrigue!

CHAPTER 2

Kaylee sat moodily in the cargo bay, waiting for Jayne and the captain to return. She'd been playing a nice game of Go with Simon before Zoe came back, River trailing dejectedly behind her and then proceeding to throw one hell of a fit in the kitchen. Simon was now attempting to sooth his sister from the other side of her bedroom door, where she'd shut herself in. And Kaylee, so close once more to an actual, complete date with the doctor, had grabbed some wine and wandered down to the hold.

She almost wished she could join Jayne and Mal at the bar, maybe get flirted with a bit by some local boys, lift her spirits. But before she could make a decision on that account, the bay doors opened and in staggered the two men, looking haggard.

At first she thought they'd been injured, but she soon noticed the limp form they were dragging in. She leapt from her seated position on one of the empty crates that littered the hold and dashed over.

"What happened?" She asked with a little panic in her voice. "Who's that, Cap'n?" She gingerly touched the unconscious man's hand.

"Yeah Mal, just who is that?" Jayne asked mockingly.

"Name's Daley," Mal said shortly. "And I ain't got to explain myself to you, Jayne," he continued in a low voice, while Kaylee fussed.

The two men set their burden down gently in the middle of cargo bay.

"Kaylee, run n' get the doctor down here," Mal said, while Jayne closed the bay doors, still looking skeptical. Kaylee had gone pale as soon as she had seen the bloody wound in Daley's stomach. She'd been staring wide-eyed at the prone form, but she dashed off as soon as Mal brought her back to attention.

"What're you gonna do if he just bleeds out there?" Jayne asked, now leaning against a crate with his arms folded. "We sure as hell ain't gonna be hauling some corpse through the verse."

"He ain't gonna die," Mal snapped. He was keeping an eye on Daley's breathing, but couldn't really do much more than that. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding at the sound of Simon's approach. The doctor dashed down the scaffolding with Kaylee, Zoe and Sheppard Book right behind him.

"Oh, my," Simon murmured as he knelt down beside the body. "He's badly injured." Mal rolled his eyes.

The doctor began taking out sinister looking instruments from his medical bag, instructing Zoe to open the man's shirt. She did so, peeling off the fabric with some difficulty as the blood had already dried it to his skin.

Mal looked away during the gory bits. Not that he hadn't seen plenty of blood and guts in the war, and plenty afterwards too, but that didn't make it much easier to stomach really. Kaylee wasn't looking either; her eyes were determinately staring at the portside wall of the hanger. The nervous fiddling of her fingers through her hair betrayed her anxiety.

"What happened to him?" Simon said in quiet wonderment. "The wound is already cauterized…"

Mal snorted humorlessly. "Yeah, I'd bet it is. Never seen nothing like it."

"What?" Demanded Simon impatiently.

"It was some kinda…electric knife. Stabbed him, then sent a jolt right through. Lucky he ain't fried on the inside."

Simon balked. "That's…horrific," he muttered. "I'm guessing you weren't dealing with the usual tavern miscreants." He looked up from his work to give Mal a wary look. The captain met his gaze unflinchingly.

"No," he said at last, and grabbed his walkie-talkie. "Wash, take us up now if you would. Faster would be better."

"It was Alliance," Simon said, a hint of accusation in his voice. "You took my sister out onto a planet with Alliance?" He stood up confrontationally.

"Mind your work now Doctor," Mal said shortly. "We weren't snuffed out, it was this fella they had their eyes on."

Simon knelt back down begrudgingly, taking some more readings from Daley.

"I'll need him in the infirmary," the doctor said at last. "The extent of the internal damage from an electric shock could be…worrisome. I'll need you to-"

Mal had already crossed the distance towards the body and lifted the legs gingerly. Sheppard Book took the man's upper half and the two carefully carried him to the medical bay.

The bulk of the crew was in the galley when the surgery was wrapped up. Simon wandered up wearily when his work was completed, leaving Zoe to keep an eye on the patient. He heard the sound of laughter and light-hearted conversation which made him tense; he'd never been good at dealing with the quick reemergence into normalcy after surgery.

"Hey there Doc," Mal called as Simon entered timorously.

"How's he doing?" Kaylee asked, her face falling into a concerned expression at the appearance of the doctor. Everyone but Zoe and River (still in her room, Simon thought guiltily) perked up to hear news on the stranger's condition.

Simon sighed. "Well he's not well…but he's also surprisingly not…unwell," he felt slightly brain dead and knew he wasn't making much sense. "I mean, upon first glance and hearing your description of what happened, I thought it would be much worse than it actually was. But it seems as though the weapon's voltage wasn't high enough to cause very severe damage to the internal organs. I don't think it was meant to be fatal." At this final statement his voice dropped with disgust.

A brief silence filled the room. Kaylee had her hands over her mouth, Wash and Sheppard Book had grim expressions. Only Jayne seemed unfazed by the announcement.

"Well that is interesting," Mal said at last, breaking the quiet. "I am getting all kinds of antsy to hear this fella's story. He awake?" The captain stood expectedly.

"Not yet," said Simon, "Not for a while. He did still sustain a fairly severe puncture wound to the stomach, not something you generally bounce back from in a few hours."

"Ok well, tell me when he's up," Mal plopped back down and proceeded to continue eating his beans. Simon scrubbed his face wearily and headed up to River's room, hoping she had calmed down enough to eat something.

It was quiet when he pressed his ear to the door; a good sign. He knocked and murmured, "River?"

Immediately it cracked open and a wide brown eye was staring at him with urgency.

"There's someone on the ship," River stated plainly.

"That…that's right," Simon said, trying to figure out how she'd known. "Did Kaylee tell you?"

"He shouldn't be here," She said quietly, and began shrinking back from the door. "I don't want him here, Simon."

He opened the door slowly and followed her as she crept back onto her bed, drawing her knees up to her chest and staring at him pleadingly.

"Why? What's wrong, mei-mei?" He put his arms around her but she did not relax her shoulders. She stared at the wall opposite her bed, and in a low voice repeated her now all too familiar mantra.

"Two by two. Hands of blue."