"We crash landed here, and made our city underground. We have a huge following," Dax said in mock pride. He laughed a little.
"So you're… the chief?" I asked, poking fun.
"Yeah, something like that," he smiled. "And you and your friends?" he asked. I realized that Simon and River had been sitting quietly, listening to Dax. They still hadn't been introduced, much less acknowledged. I felt a little bad.
"Oh," I said. I gestured towards Simon. "This is my, uh, this is Simon," I said awkwardly, "and this is his sister, River. We had some Alliance troubles."
Dax sat back in his chair and took a deep breath. He studied the Tams for several seconds.
"So these are the very famous Tams," he said finally. "I am pleased to meet you. As for your problems with the Alliance, I assure you that you will be safe with us. The Alliance doesn't even know about the Underground City." Without realizing, Simon became a little less tense and let out a sigh.
A security member walked into the room and leaned in toward Dax. I listened carefully and caught every word he said.
"You're going to want to come up to the surface. We have an unknown ship that landed on the western border. The two men that we captured claim to be friends, but they are looking for Mackenzie and the Tams. They seem very insistent upon leaving the planet with them." Dax looked over at me; his face was hard to read. I thought I saw a glimpse of worry, but I could have been mistaken. He stood rather quickly.
"Mack, Simon, River," he said, "I am afraid I have to be called away for a short time. Please feel free to walk about the city until my return." He then followed his security officer out of the room.
"What was that all about?" Simon asked me. I stood.
"He said that there was a ship that landed on the western border. The people aboard were looking for us," I said. "Let's not wait here." I walked out of Dax's house with Simon and River on my heels.
We walked through the city in silence. I went in the direction that seemed to have the most amounts of people. I led us into a tavern. I picked a table in the far corner and sat. Simon joined me, but River was content joining a few dancing people. Simon was silent for several seconds until he asked,
"Do you think the ship that landed was Alliance?"
"I don't know," I said, shaking my head. "If Dax says the Alliance doesn't know about the Underground City, then they don't know. It is possible that the Alliance followed us here, though."
"You trust Dax a lot don't you?" he asked me, his brown eyes studying my face. I looked down for several seconds, and then replied,
"Yes. You would think that I'm not very trusting, especially since I have been betrayed by someone really…close to me. I have to trust Dax. There are a lot of reasons for all of us to trust him."
I didn't mean to sound so patronizing towards the end, but things were happening so fast. I was in over my head. Soon I knew Dax and I would have some confessing to do. Simon was silent for several seconds. His eyes flicked back to River. She was still dancing, as graceful as ever. She had learned the steps to the dance with ease, and was a natural.
"Has River always been a dancer?" I asked him. He laughed quietly.
"She has always enjoyed it, and was able to learn quickly. She learns anything quickly, really," he said, smiling proudly. "I used to look like such an imbecile compared to her. She could have done anything she wanted."
"Do you know what the Alliance did to her?" I asked, hoping I wasn't prodding too far into Simon's personal life.
He shook his head. "I don't know the details. I just know that she has a hard time controlling emotions. There is much more extent to the damage, obviously. Though, I think a lot of it is emotional." I felt sorry for River. I hadn't known her before, but I could only imagine the kind of person she was.
Simon and I were sitting in silence, when a security guard came up to us. "Dax would like you to come up to the surface," he said seriously. "He says it's urgent." He turned and left. I looked over at Simon. He walked over to River, and gently took her arm. I followed behind them as they exited the tavern.
I wondered what had happened, and why Dax needed us. Obviously it wasn't Alliance; otherwise he wouldn't have called us to the surface. I hoped that it was Mal, but I didn't want to get my hopes up, just in case it wasn't.
The sun wasn't very bright here, but you could tell once you reached the surface. The little sun that did reach through the trees made your eyes water. Dax was waiting for us, his expression slightly amused, slightly worried.
"What's going on?" I asked him.
"Are these yours?" he asked me. He turned to one of his companions and they brought out two men. They had burlap sacks over their heads and their hands were tied. One sack was removed, and I saw Wash's face. I had to try to contain my happiness, but he didn't contain his so well.
"Mack? Oh, thank the stars! They're not cannibals, Mal," he called to the other man, who was indeed my brother. "Oh and look! She has Simon and River with her." I laughed.
"I take responsibility for these two," I said, smiling. Dax laughed.
"I thought you might." He turned to one of the guards in the clearing and said, "You can release the rest of the crew as well." He then turned back to me; the worried expression in his eyes was prevalent. "There was an old acquaintance of ours on Serenity,"
"With whom we are not affiliated," my brother interjected. "He and some of his buddies were the reason Mack had to leave the ship."
The rest of the crew walked out of a tent, their feelings were varied. Jayne looked particularly annoyed. Another was brought out after him. I recognized his face at once. He hadn't changed much since I had last seen him. His wavy black hair had grown out, and become unkempt. He still had a scar under his eye from our last meeting. His clear blue eyes were glinting maliciously as he looked into my eyes.
"Hello, Mackenzie," he said, calmly. "It's been a long time." The anger welled up inside me, and before I could stop myself, I had smacked him. No one had really expected this, except maybe Dax.
"How come she gets to abuse him, for no reason, and I can't even when I'm trying to get info-" Jayne started to protest.
"Jayne," Mal said sharply. I returned my gaze to Eric Shaw. The man that I trusted, confided in, and had complicated feelings for.
"There's so much to say," Eric said. I glared at him.
"Don't waste your breath," I said, stalking off. I should have known he would be the one the Alliance would send to look for me. I walked a little deeper into the woods before I realized that someone was following me. I stopped. Mal joined my side.
"Hey," he said. "Are you alright?" He put a hand on my shoulder. I turned to face him. He was looking at me, trying to figure out what he should do. I wrapped my arms around him, and buried my face in his shoulder.
"I don't know," I said, honestly. "I don't ever want to see Eric Shaw again, but I think that keeping him alive would be wise."
"Who is he?" Mal asked
"He's the reason I was imprisoned. Dax and I thought that he was an independent, but he was working for the Alliance for the whole time. He betrayed us, I was caught, and Dax barely escaped. It's really a long story," I said. "One that I need to tell you, but I really need to tell Simon."
Mal released me and looked at me, slightly puzzled.
"Simon?" He asked. "What does your past have to do with Simon?" I looked down at the ground.
"Simon is involved in my past a whole lot more than I've been willing to admit. Do you think I could get Jayne to do me a favor while I enlighten everyone?"
Mal smiled, "If you ask him nicely."
"I need him to find out everything he can from Eric. Jayne is the only one who will be effective, I'm sure," I said. Mal laughed, and put his arm around my shoulders.
"Well, whether he's efficient or not, I think he would be the only one willing to exchange hearing about your past for torturing and interrogating someone." I smiled.
"Yeah, I suppose that is true."
We started the walk back to the tent and crew of Serenity. There was so much that needed to be figured out. I was a little curious as to what would happen once we had all the pieces of the past together. Once we had gotten all we could out of Shaw, I wanted to get rid of him. But mostly, I just hoped that everything would run smoothly, and there would be no problems. Looking at our luck so far, I realized that the chances that things would turn out right were very slim.