Chapter 15
Mal and River finally emerged from her room well past noon the next day. They walked arm in arm into the galley, wearing identical expressions of bliss. Jayne and Zoe were sitting at the table when they walked in and both gave the couple an amused grin.
"Looks like ya'll had a good night." Jayne snickered and raised his eyebrow suggestively in their direction.
"You two are up awful late. Didn't get much sleep last night?" Kaylee asked with a giggle as she walked into the room.
River quickly moved to her friend and proudly showed her the engagement ring on her finger. Mal and Jayne both covered their ears against the excited squeals of the two women.
"Oh it's beautiful! I can't believe yer gettin married." Kaylee said and pulled her friend into a tight embrace. "Now if Simon could only get up the guts and ask me." She added wistfully.
"He will very soon. Waiting for the perfect time and place." River reassured her.
"Oh like on Christmas? Cap'n was smart enough to figure out that's a good time ta propose." Kaylee complained.
"Yes well Simon is a boob." River replied.
Jayne and Mal both snorted with laughter at River's comment.
"So what'd ya do after he popped the question? Was it romantic?" Kaylee asked.
"We had sex for the first time. It was very enjoyable, I had two orgasms." River answered bluntly, just as her brother walked through the door.
Simon paused and looked horrified. Jayne meanwhile was laughing so hard that he nearly fell out of his chair. Kaylee and Zoe were trying to hide their smiles but weren't succeeding.
"I'm guessin that's probably just a mite too much information fer yer brother bao-bei." Mal replied a grin on his face as well.
Simon continued to look like a fish on land, his mouth opening and closing repeatedly, as his traumatized brain tried to deal with what he'd heard.
"Ok, so I'm getting coffee and I just realized that somehow I went completely deaf for the last minute. Didn't hear one word anyone said." Simon muttered and walked to the coffee pot, shuddering visibly as he went.
"River I think ya broke yer brother." Jayne said through his laughter.
"I'm sorry Simon. It wasn't my intention to make you uncomfortable." River apologized.
"Make me uncomfortable with what? I've been completely deaf for the last minute. Remember?" He added pointedly.
"Got it, you heard nothing about my multiple orgasms." She said wickedly and then ran from the room once she saw Simon pick up a large frying pan and start towards her.
Mal left the laughter in the galley behind him and went to his bunk to get a pair of pants that weren't still set from an unexpected shower. After changing he headed towards Inara's shuttle. He stood listening at the door as she finished up a conference call with some people from the Companion's guild.
"You may as well come in instead of lurking in the doorway." She called with a sigh after she had turned the Cortex screen off.
"How'd ya know I was there?" He asked.
"You aren't as stealthy as you think you are. I heard the floor squeak and since no one knocked I knew it had to be you." Inara teased.
"Hey I am so stealthy." He protested.
"Of course you are." She placated. "So can I help you with something?"
Mal cleared his throat and looked down in seeming fascination at his boots.
"Actually I kinda wanted ta talk to ya bout somethin." He began finally.
"I'm all ears." She said with a smile.
"I just thought it would be the right thing to do if I told ya myself that I asked River to marry me last night." He blurted.
"Oh." Was all Inara could reply for a second. "Did she say yes?"
"Yeah, she did. We ain't made any plans as of yet, but I just didn't want ya hearing it from anyone 'sides me."
"Well thank you for your consideration Mal. But don't look so worried, I'm fine. Congratulations." Inara said quickly.
A little too quickly for Mal's taste. She didn't seem fazed at all by the announcement, he knew that if the situation were reversed he would have at least had some reaction to her getting married.
Mal nodded not sure what else to say. The look on her face said she was anything but ok with the situation. He turned to leave the room, anxious to get out of the suddenly tense atmosphere of the shuttle.
"Thanks Nara." He replied without turning around. He couldn't figure her out. She'd seemed ok with him and River being together before, hell she'd given him advice on the whole thing. What had changed?
Thoughts of Inara were driven from his head when he walked onto the bridge and found River sitting in the copilot chair. She'd come up to check their course setting and had stayed when she sensed him coming. She was leaning back in the chair both of her legs stretched up on the console her dress slid up leaving him a delicious view of her bare calves and thighs.
"We on course?" Mal asked after taking time to stare in appreciation first.
"Straight as an arrow ai-ren. Metaphorically speaking that is. Travel in space isn't technically straight, but we are on the most direct course. We should be to Persephone in eight days or so. Do you expect any problems with Badger?" She asked and then raised an eyebrow at the way he was staring at her legs.
"Huh? Oh Badger. Hope not seems like a straight forward job, but then again this is Badger we're talkin bout." Mal responded shaking his head to try and focus.
"You seem to have forgotten how to blink Captain. Maybe you should talk to my brother about the problem." River teased.
"Your brother is the very last person in the world I need ta be seein right now."
Mal leaned over River and kissed her deeply and then picked her up and carried her towards her bunk.
"Zoe keep an eye on things, we'll be in our bunk." Mal called out.
The second they were alone they attacked each other hungrily as if they'd been separated for years, instead of a mere hour.
Just as things were beginning to really heat up between the couple Serenity jolted wildly and nearly threw them from the bed. They both held still for a second listening to the protesting squeals of metal echoing from different parts of the ship.
"What in the gorram Verse was that?" Mal muttered as he stood up and began pulling his pants back on. He tensed up in fear when he heard a loud scream that he recognized as Kaylee's.
He continued to curse under his breath as he picked the rest of his clothes up from the floor. When he looked up he found River curled into a ball her hands tightly clamped down on her ears.
"What is it bao-bei? Give me a heads up here." Mal said gently as he stroked her back, hoping to calm her down before the episode became really bad.
River took a deep breath and pulled her hands down. It amazed Mal that he could almost see the internal struggle she was having with her own mind. He could tell she was trying so hard to regain control from the madness that wanted to claim her. Her eyes cleared suddenly and then she was River again, in control and put together.
"We're being boarded. Blue Hands are here. Simon's hurt badly." She informed him as she quickly pulled on her own clothes. After she was dressed she leaned under her bed and pulled out the gun case she'd taken to keeping there. Handing one pistol to Mal and keeping one for herself she put her finger to her lips and motioned for him to follow her as she slowly slid open the door.
They crept down the hall slowly on the look out for any sign of danger, but they saw nothing out of the ordinary until they reached the catwalk overlooking the cargo bay. Kaylee's screams had grown steadily louder as they grew closer and closer to the bay. River stiffened in horror as she looked over the catwalk. Simon lay sprawled on the floor below her, Kaylee at his side. It was easy to deduce that he had fallen over the railing when the ship was hit; making the sight so much worse was the fact that Simon had landed on the metal bar they had been using to play horse shoes the day before. The bar had pierced through his left thigh and had impaled him to the floor.
"Oh no Simon." River whimpered beside Mal. They hurried down the stairs and to Kaylee's side. Mal pulled the sobbing girl into his arms while River attempted to help her brother.
"It's all my fault. He was standing on the railing fixin a wire I couldn't reach and then we got hit and he, he…" Kaylee broke up into louder sobs and fell against Mal clinging to him desperately.
"Shhh… mei-mei. Rivers helpin him right now. But I need you to calm down and seal the ramp fore the hun-dans who are tryin to board us get locked on." Mal instructed.
Kaylee looked at him with confusion for a second and then nodded, giving Simon one last concerned look she turned to the control panel by the airlock.
Zoe and Jayne ran into the cargo bay from the bridge.
"What we got Zo?" Mal asked.
"Alliance vessel sir, fired on us took out the port side thrusters. They locked onto us bout thirty seconds ago." She explained quickly.
"Jayne go get armed. Grab enough guns for me, Zoe, and River." Mal shouted. Jayne was halfway to his bunk before Mal could even finish giving the order.
Suddenly the ship jolted again, harder and louder than before.
"Cap'n they're gonna get in. I sealed it best I could, but they were already locked on to us." Kaylee whimpered.
Mal glanced up to see Inara standing outside her shuttle looking over the scene below her with an expression of horror and shock on her face.
"What's going on?" She asked as she ran down the stairs towards them.
"Alliance vessel boarding us. River says it's the Blue Hands. Simon's hurt bad." Mal explained.
"Inara I want ya to take Kaylee, Simon, and River in yer shuttle. Get outta here, we can keep em occupied so's you all can get away." Mal instructed.
"No." River said sternly from her position on the floor next to Simon.
"River don't argue with me. We can't let em get you or Simon. You gotta get outta here." Mal replied and pulled River to her feet.
"Can't take Simon. The bar hit the artery in his leg. The bar is stopping the flow of blood. If we move him he'll bleed to death in minutes. Needs medical help as soon as we take the bar out." River explained.
Mal looked grimly down at the unconscious doctor, but didn't hesitate to make his decision.
"Leave him then. Get yerself and Kaylee onta Inara's shuttle and get the hell outta here." Mal ordered.
"Won't leave you ai-ren." River argued. Her eyes grew wide suddenly and her face paled. "It's too late anyway they're here." She whispered.
As soon as the words left her mouth the ship was wrenched horribly and the cargo bay doors began to open. Kaylee ran back to the panel and tried to override their systems, but the doors continued to open no matter what she did. Less than a minute later twenty armed Alliance soldiers ran into the room, guns drawn.
"By order of the Union of Allied Planets you are ordered to stand down." One soldier shouted to them.
"Ain't like to happen." Mal said holding tightly to the pistol River had given him.
"Then I'm like to shoot her in the head." Said the soldier Mal decided to call Soldier number one as he grabbed Kaylee by the hair and pulled her against his chest, pushing his gun against her temple.
"Stand down now!" Soldier number one shouted again and shook Kaylee roughly making her cry out.
Jayne ran into the cargo bay then covered in weapons. Another man, soldier number two, saw the large heavily armed man and panicked. He began shooting towards Jayne without waiting for an order. Mal turned in time to see Jayne take a bullet to the side and go down hard.
"Stop firing!" Soldier number one shouted.
Soldier number two immediately lowered his weapon.
"Now Captain I will give you ten seconds for you and your crew to drop your weapons and surrender or I will blow this girl's head clean off her shoulders. Dong-ma?" Soldier number one said calmly and coldly.
Mal slid his eyes sideways to River, hoping she would give him a clue as to how they should proceed. River nodded then placed her pistol on the ground and kicked it to the soldiers.
"Zoe Jayne, stand down." Mal instructed as he put his own pistol down.
"Gather them up. Restrain them, but don't kill them. They'll want them all alive." Soldier number one instructed.
The crew had their hands tied behind them and were placed in a line on their knees near the cargo bay's doors. Inara was on the far end from him, with Zoe next to her. Jayne kneeled between Zoe and Mal breathing and bleeding heavily. To Mal's left were Kaylee and then River.
Three of the soldiers stood over Simon and debated about whether or not to move the unconscious doctor.
"If you move him he'll die. That is Simon Tam, you're superiors want him alive." River warned them. They quickly moved away from Simon, all plans to pull him off the bar gone in a second at the mention of their superiors.
Out of the corner of his eye Mal saw River begin to shudder violently. He turned to her and saw that her face had turned chalk white and she was staring in horror behind the line of soldiers. Mal followed her gaze and saw two Blue Hand men walk onto his ship.
They stepped in front of the group of prisoners and surveyed them slowly.
"We've contained Subject 28 and her brother." One of them spoke into his comm. unit.
"Reclaimed Subject 28 and managed to capture a number of wanted criminals. This has been a most successful day for us. We must to remember to thank Ms. Serra properly for all her help." One blue hand man commented to the other.