(Malcolm Reynolds' POV)
"Where is it?" the Alliance crewman asked. He turned to face me, and I saw the empty docking bay that Inara's ship usually occupied. I tried not to sigh with relief. Instead I answered,
"I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about. But since your men have searched the ship and found neither the Tams nor my sister, you can leave." The Alliance crewman almost smiled. He turned back to his companions. They exited the ship. He turned back to me, gloating. I had to try hard to not punch him in the face.
"I'm afraid I will be accompanying you, Malcolm Reynolds. You are no doubt going to search for your friends. I am coming with you. As I said before, I have unfinished business. Any objections?" he asked, challenging someone to speak up. Before anyone could move, Jayne spoke up.
"Yeah, I object," he said, gruffly. Jayne took his pistol and knocked out the Alliance crewman before he could even turn around. "Prick," he muttered. I looked at Jayne for several seconds, and then smiled.
"Good work." I headed toward my quarters. "When he wakes up, ask him questions. I want to know everything. Wash, head back to where we came from. I have some crew members to find." I left the crew standing there. I stood in the hall outside my door, and sighed. I slammed my fist against the metal.
"Mal?" a voice inquired. I turned. It was Inara. I was glad of her company. "Are you okay?" she put a hand on my shoulder. I was silent for several seconds. Inara's brown eyes were searching my face intently, as if some emotion would give me away.
"I keep losing her," I said finally. "Right when I think that Mackenzie is back and safe, something happens. I haven't seen her for years, and when things start going right again…" I sighed.
"I know she'll be okay," Inara said. "She's really smart." Her worried expression softened. I guess she was happy that I was expressing some form of human emotion. She leaned forward, kissed my cheek, and walked silently away, leaving me with a slightly burning cheek and a still confused mind.
I knew Mack would be fine, but I still worried. What about the Tams? She had to watch out for them too. Three Alliance Wanteds together wouldn't last long, especially ones that the Alliance wanted the most. I wondered how they were getting along. If Mack was anything like me, her patience must be wearing thin by now.
It hit me again that this girl I called my sister was a complete stranger. I knew, remembered, and loved the eight-year-old with the big brown eyes, crooked smile, missing teeth, and carefree attitude. This new Mack, the twenty-year-old with deep brown eyes, a dangerous smile, and a slight temper, seemed like a different person. Had I brought on her change? Perhaps if I hadn't volunteered for the war things would have turned out differently. Not that I hated the woman my sister had become, I just didn't know her. And I felt like the more I tried to, the more I would get pushed away.
I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't hear Zoe approaching.
"Captain?" she said. "Jayne needs to talk to you. He's in the infirmary. I'm sure it's to negotiate terms of torture," she smiled a little.
"Wouldn't doubt it," I agreed. "How close are we to landing?" I asked, feeling guilty that I was so impatient. Zoe shrugged.
"Last time I talked to Wash he said we were about seven minutes from reaching atmo." She left me, and walked to the cockpit. I sighed, and walked toward the infirmary. Jayne and the Alliance crewman were inside.
As I entered, Jayne looked up. His face was red with anger, and he was breathing heavily. The Alliance crewman was strapped to Simon's operating chair, his mouth duct-taped. He was sweating, and had a cut on his eyebrow, but was otherwise unharmed.
"What have you got?" I asked Jayne. He seemed slightly frustrated as he replied.
"His name's Eric Shaw. He's a lieutenant. That's all the bugger would say. If I could just-" Jayne began to plead. I shook my head and cut him off.
"We'll have no torture, Jayne. I want him in one piece." Jayne looked at me, as if to ask why in the hell we would want to keep an Alliance member in one piece. If he had asked me the question aloud, I honestly didn't know how I would have answered. For some reason, I felt that Eric Shaw would be important to us later. That is the only thing that was keeping him alive.
"We should be entering atmo soon," I informed Jayne. "You might want to make sure that he's tied down good and tight," I said gesturing to Eric Shaw. I walked through the halls, up to the cockpit. Wash was concentrated actually silent for once. Zoe was standing behind him, one arm on the back of his chair.
"Where will you want to land?" she asked me. I looked out the window.
"Fly around and look for Inara's ship. Land next to it if possible." The planet was densely forested, and my request seemed near impossible, and definitely pointless. There was no way that Mack, Simon, and River would have stayed with or near the ship; though I would have liked to think that they had as much love for Serenity as I did. But then again, I'm pretty sure that's impossible.
Wash circled around for a while, until we spotted it. It had been landed in the middle of a forested area. Wash saw this, and made a landing very close to where the other ship was.
"Okay," I said. "This should be a fairly easy job. Wash, you come with me, Zoe you're in charge while I'm gone." Wash stood quickly, and followed me to the cargo bay.
"So we're just going to walk around and look for Mack, Simon, and River?" he asked. I nodded. I hadn't thought up a brilliant plan or anything, so that would have to do. I lowered the ramp, and the gray sky and bleak sunlight shone into the ship. We walked down the ramp and onto the forest floor.
"What if we walk straight into cannibal territory?" Wash asked. Suddenly, people emerged from the bushes, with their weapons pointed straight at us. Wash and I put out hands up.
"You know, Wash, I think we might've. But there is no way they're as bad as Reavers. At least they'll kill us first." I said. How reassuring.