I'm so sorry for the long wait - i've been so busy with applying to University. I hope I'll be able to keep updating more frequently.

Thanks for all of the support, please review - i'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas ;)

Edited

"What the hell are reavers?" Kate questioned, her instinctive detective side arising from her previously frightened one.

The tall dark-skinned warrior woman stared her down, her eyes had widened in disbelief.

"You don't know what reavers are?" she asked, glancing at her still Captain for support.

Beckett shook her head, her auburn curls bouncing side to side.

"Sir?" Zoe asked, looking towards Mal to back her.

Mal stared at the newly acquired passenger and reasoned that she couldn't be lying - she'd have no reason to.

He nodded in permission at his First Mate, before sprinting out of the infirmary to shout orders at his crew and pray to God that they weren't boarded.

Zoe inhaled slowly, "Reavers. They used to be men not long ago, but they were driven mad by the empty space."

Kate's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to imagine space, she'd watched movies of course but nothing could actually prepare anyone for being in space for real.

"What will happen to us if they, um, board?" Beckett could barely find the right words to communicate what she meant.

"If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh and sew our skin into their clothing. And if we're very, very lucky. They'll do it in that order," the first mate finished, her dark eyes revealing coldness that Kate hadn't seen earlier.

Beckett's face paled at the description that 'Zoe' had painted for her, she couldn't imagine such a horrific image - and she had seen plenty of brutal murder scenes in her entire career.

She found herself swallowing in fear, and coming face to face with the young girl.

Her eyes were wide and seemed to know more than she let on, "Don't worry, Mal won't let that happen. He'll take care of you, now and always,"

Kate blinked slowly; the girl had a look in her eyes that screamed of experience; alike to Esposito, it seemed as though she had been in a war of some kind.

She followed River into a corridor; it all looked the same to her, cold, metal and grey.

'Rick would love it here,' she thought, remembering how much of a geek Castle was when it came to sci-fi.

The ship hummed with life, the floor beneath her boots vibrated; it made her feel overly uneasy, just thinking about being in space where she could float off into endless infinity.

And yet, part of her felt a rush of adrenaline at realising it was like she was in a TV show; like her beloved Nebula 9 it was as though she was being given a chance to find herself. Maybe this was meant to happen; maybe she wasn't meant to be a part of Rick's life anymore.

However, unlike Nebula 9; this was real, or at least it was a very vivid dream.

Reavers. They sounded like something out of an awful fairy-tale; one told to children in order to make them sleep.

She felt River glance behind at her, perhaps she knew what Kate was thinking about; yet she offered no comfort.

They made their way through the endless maze of corridors; it felt like déjà vu every time they turned a corner; Kate knew she wouldn't be able to escape, even if she had a means of doing so.

River stepped up a sturdy set of stairs; it led into what a sci-fi geek would call a 'bridge'. It was there Kate saw Reynolds again.

His steely eyes glared out into the vast space; the lines on his face hardened as they regarded the ship heading towards them.

Even Kate could tell it was in a bad state; smoke swirled out of the vents, it looked like skeletons were attached to the helm of it; it made Kate feel sick to the stomach.

Despite her fear, she found herself straighten up; she was not going to die so easily, not after her near-death experience.

Mal turned to glance at her, noting the way her shoulders pulled back and her face hardened into a strong resolved one. He could almost imagine her catching criminals and ridding the earth-that-was of evil. His hands dug into the seat Wash was in, hoping that any god in the 'verse would listen to his prayers. His crew was a good one; they were mighty fine compared to ones he'd had before. And he'd rather die than see Kaylee or River hurt by those monsters.

The four in the cockpit silenced; only heavy breathing could be heard. Yet, all could imagine the unheard quickening of heartbeats, the rush of adrenaline slowly filling their veins. The ship careering towards them seemed to speed up, feeding on their fears.

Kate found it entirely inappropriate to be inwardly sniggering at the toy dinosaurs covering the pilots' control board. She couldn't help but wonder what sort of motley crew this Captain Reynolds had; a young woman who seemed not all there, a giant man with the brains of a pig, an Amazonian warrior with a cold stare, a soft doctor who could cause no harm and a pilot who made jokes far too often.

When her eyes caught Reynolds' her breathing paused, he was like a fictional warrior; his body was coiled like a spring, ready to jump into action at a moment's notice. She noticed the way he cautiously sized her up, his eyes lingering on her gun at her hip. Although, he seemed to accept her presence, despite his glaring.

'He must trust the young girl,' she supposed, her eyes darting at the front.

With every breath the ship seemed to approach, the tension made the room stifling and unable to move in. She felt sick; she wanted to go home, just so she could hear a stupid comment from Castle. But of course, Castle had moved on. It made her heart swell with sorrow.

"Thank the gods," the pilot spat out, his hands moving up to grab his hair frantically.

"Ain't no gods watchin' over us out here Wash," Reynolds replied cynically.

The ship veered out of course, missing theirs by an inch.

Kate could see Zoe kiss the pilot from the corner of her eye; it surprised her, they seemed like opposite ends of the spectrum, yet she could tell they were happy. It made her stomach fill with acid, and her heart burst with want and need.

Mal stared after the ship. He didn't believe it was luck, or favour from a god; he believed that there was always something bad to follow something good that happened – it usually did. After all, Malcolm Reynolds never had an inch of fortune without a metre of suffering and pain in addition to it.

As he stared over at the new addition to his crew, he couldn't help but wonder how much pain and suffering she would cause. Her eyes seemed to be filled with the same loneliness and loss his were when the War of Independence was lost; it brought nothing but trouble.

But maybe, his little albatross had brought him a sign of good fortune; he could use another hand that could actually shoot – he was sick of having to bring along the unpredictable Jayne.

'Yes,' he surmised 'maybe she could help,'

See you soon - review please =D