Chapter 18

They glided into Persephone under the cover of darkness the following evening, sliding into place carefully behind a spaceship junk yard that was full to overflowing. Mal was arming himself in the loading bay, checking carefully that each of his guns was loaded and easy to draw. Zoe and Wash were talking quietly in the corner, their arms around each other.

Mal cleared his throat and looked at the rest of the crew, arrayed around the grimy crates. "Listen up, folks. We're takin' a mighty risk comin' here, but we ain't got no choice. Serenity gets her fuel, or we never get to Ariel—an' that's not a chance I'm takin'. Now Lady Luck and I ain't really on speaking terms, so Zoe an' I've each got an emergency alert relay set up. We'll be keepin' an ear out for any trouble. If we can't get back in time, though, I want y'all to head out."

There was a cacophony of noise at that, and he rolled his eyes and bellowed, "I'M NOT SAYIN' TO LEAVE US BEHIND! Honestly, you think I'm lookin' to be a gorram martyr? I'm just sayin' y'all should move to a different location, an' we'll meet you there." He snorted. "Ain't like you'd get far without the fuel, anyway."

Wash's jaw tightened, and he and Zoe clung to each other for a moment before separating. Rose leaned back against the Doctor, who was standing against the wall. She'd never seen the blonde pilot look so serious before. She swallowed. He was sending his wife and unborn baby out into a world that had a bounty on her head. I don't know if there's any higher power out there, but please. Let Zoe come back safely.

Mal looked around at the others and nodded briskly, and he and Zoe stepped into the shuttle. With a rumble and a groan, it separated from the Serenity.

After a long silence, Kaylee sat on the stairs, her lower lip trembling. "I don't like this. Somethin's wrong with her."

Simon sat next to her and awkwardly took her hand in his, flushing a little at her wide-eyed look. "She'll be fine, Kaylee. After all, what haven't she and Mal been through together?"

"Taikong suoyou de xingqiu saijin wo de pigu!" Wash kicked a shoulder-high crate and clutched his foot, swearing. He glared at the rest of them before stomping back to the bridge, and Shepherd Book cleared his throat and headed after him.

Simon blinked. "What'd I say?"

Kaylee smiled sadly. "Don't you mind. I didn't mean Zoe, though. Somethin's off with the Serenity." She looked up at the Doctor. "You remember that noise I showed you yesterday? The one that was triggered by the atmospheric thermometer?"

He blinked. "Yes, of course. Why?"

"Well, it was twice as loud comin' into Persephone."

Jayne had been pacing back and forth since Mal and Zoe left, but he froze as Kaylee spoke. The mercenary's eyes went wide. "Liu koushi de biaozi he houzi de ben erzi." He stomped over to the intercom and jabbed the button. "WASH! We're in trouble! Get us out of here!"

The pilot's voice came back, rough and angry. "What the diyù are you on about, Jayne? They only just left!"

"Just trust me on this, all right? We gotta move!"

There was a thud and a low grinding, and the loading bay door slowly began to open. Jayne paled and gestured the rest of the crew backwards. "Qingwa cao de liumang. We've got to get out of here, people."

Wash's voice thundered through the bay. "Jayne! I can't get the Serenity up and moving! What's going on?"

The door slid the rest of the way open to reveal a small man with a grimy bowler hat backed by a full crew of heavily armed gunmen. He grinned. "You might want to tell your pilot to calm down, mate. We're going to have ourselves a little discussion here, and he'll want to join us."

Jayne swallowed heavily. "I ain't about to let you do this, Badger."

"Let me? Far's I can see, you ain't in much of a position to let me do anything. Besides, you already served your purpose." He pulled out a small pistol and gestured at Kaylee. "Now you do what I tell you, or the girly gets shot." He noticed Rose and grinned slightly. "Or maybe it'll be the other one. Tell you what, mates, Mal Reynolds may be a sanctimonious prick, but he sure knows where to find 'em."

Kaylee paled and Simon put an arm around her shoulders, pulling them together in front of River. The Doctor gripped Rose's hand in an iron grasp, his jaw tightening.

Badger chuckled. "Now isn't that cute. Looks like we got ourselves some gentlemen." He glanced back at his crew, and his grin turned feral. "Get the others down here, any way you have to."

Minutes later the gunmen returned, shoving Shepherd Book and Wash in front of them. Badger rubbed his hands together, a slight smirk on his face. "I've been waitin' for this day for a long time. I've always known Malcolm Reynolds was too big for 'is britches, so imagine my surprise when a little notice came up on the Cortex, an' it turned out he'd been sitting on some of the biggest bounties in the system. Now. Where's the girl?" Simon and Kaylee pressed themselves closer together, but River stepped out from behind them. "Ah. There you are, sweetheart. Last time we met, you pulled a rather nasty trick on me. I don't much like bein' made a fool of, little girl."

River snorted. "Modified inflections and cadences to foster familiarity and reduce suspicion." She twisted her lips. "Wasn't hard to make a fool of you. Already are one."

Badger's jaw tightened. "It's a good thing they want you alive." He turned to the others. "Leave the brother and the skinny bloke in the suit, but the rest of 'em are open game." He grinned. "Take 'em out."

River and Rose's eyes met, and Rose's eyes flared gold as River darted forward. Her dark hair flew in the sudden stillness as she pirouetted around the crowd of gunman, her arms lashing out and legs kicking with an eerie, fluid precision. In the space of a minute, River had taken out all of Badger's men, and Rose re-started the flow of time. The men tumbled and fell like dominoes, leaving Badger standing alone.

River paused behind Badger, speaking so closely that her breath ruffled the hair on the back of his neck. Rose blinked. The girl's voice had changed—she was speaking with a rough Cockney accent. "Sad little king just lost 'is crown." With one harsh blow to the back of his neck, River dropped Badger and was left standing on a pile of unconscious bodies.

The loading bay echoed with silence, interrupted only by River's soft panting. The Doctor gathered Rose in his arms as she slumped backwards. "Rose? What's wrong?"

"Just takes a bit out of me." She smiled up at him and brushed her hand against his cheek. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

Jayne stumbled back as River turned to him, clenching her fists. "I'd forgotten, girl! Ain't like I meant to!"

Book spoke, his gaze even. "What's going on, Jayne?"

Kaylee broke out of Simon's hold and stepped forward. "It was 'cause of you? Serenity's been sick 'cause of you? You ben tiansheng de yi dui rou!" His head whipped around as she slapped him viciously.

Simon cleared his throat. "Not that I have anything against slapping Jayne, but what's going on?"

She glared at Jayne, almost quivering with rage. "How long ago was it, Jayne? When did Badger give it to you?"

Simon's eyebrows drew together. "Give what?"

Wash's fists clenched tight, his voice low. "A pirate pulse." He ran a hand roughly through his hair. "How the hell did that piece of goushi get his grimy little hands on one of those?"

Jayne backed up against a crate, his hands up as he pleaded. "I don't know! He was goin' to shoot me if I didn't put it on. What else was I s'posed to do?"

Kaylee's jaw tightened. "You coud've told me about it, so's I could get it off!"

"Yeah, that would've worked." Jayne raised his hands again as River stepped closer. "Listen, if I'd told you about it, we'd've been blown into the black the instant you touched it. I've seen what those things can do, Kaylee. I didn't want that to happen to the Serenity."

"So instead you sold us out to Badger, leavin' us defenseless whenever he decided he wanted to take control."

"We ain't defenseless! Y'all seen what that creepy moon-brained girl just did! Am I the only one who remembers that?"

Kaylee flushed angrily and stepped closer to River. "She ain't the one who betrayed us."

Rose cleared her throat, years of Torchwood training coming to the fore. "We don't have time for this." She pushed herself upright, fighting the all-too-familiar exhaustion. "Jayne can deal with the Captain when he gets back, but we've got to clear out the Serenity—they aren't goin' to be unconscious forever."

The Doctor nodded. "The sooner we get this lot out of here, the better." He turned to look at Wash and Book. "Now, I noticed as we were flying in that we're parked by a scrap heap."

Wash nodded, crossing his arms. "Corvallin Junk. It's where Kaylee usually goes shopping for parts."

The Doctor swung around to face Kaylee. "Do they have any shuttles in there?"

She nodded, still glaring at Jayne. "Sure, plenty of 'em. Won't do us much good, though. They've got some of the tightest security in the Docks—old Corvallin's a bit nutty."

The Doctor grinned and slipped a hand into his pocket, pulling out a very familiar silver instrument. "Good thing you've got me, then."

By the time Zoe and Mal's shuttle landed with a thump, Badger and his crew had been introduced to a particularly cramped escape pod that Kaylee found just inside Corvallin's fence—one that just happened to have a faulty interior latch.

Mal stormed out of the shuttle, dragging a set of fuel cells behind him. "WASH! What's goin' on? The alerts went off, but y'all are still here!"

Jayne was sitting on a crate, watched carefully by both Wash and Shepherd Book. He raised his head from his hands as the Captain spoke. "I didn't mean to this time, Mal, I really didn't."

Mal stiffened. "What are you talkin' about?"

Jayne swallowed and continued, his normally strident voice pleading. "I had no choice, Mal. They were gonna kill me if I didn't."

Mal stepped closer, his eyes narrowing. "I won't ask you again, Jayne. What are you talkin' about?"

Kaylee walked in, rubbing a greasy hand through her hair. "Badger got 'im to stick a pirate pulse in here. I've been tryin' to get it out, but the whole thing's set to blow if I so much as tug on it."

The Doctor had been waiting in the corner, Rose curled up against his chest. He cleared his throat and spoke thoughtfully, "You know, I might be able to modify the pulse. It's a basic electro-magnetic reverse-control amplifier, isn't it?"

Kaylee sat next to him with a thump, resting her head against her fist. "Ain't nothin' basic about a pirate pulse, Doctor. I've still got no clue where Badger got his goushi hands on it, but it's a top of the line piece of equipment—stuff I can only dream of. You get a pirate pulse attached to your ship, it's almost impossible to get out."

"Maybe we don't have to get it out." She stared at him, confused, and he grinned. "I might be able to reverse the range of the pulse and change the directive. Give me enough time, and I can turn the Serenity into a moving dead zone. Nothing will be able to register her—no cameras, no radars."

Mal nodded thoughtfully before blinking and looking down at his hands, still holding the fuel cells. "Sounds like a mighty fine idea, Doctor. You get to work on that, an' Kaylee an' I'll start installing these fuel cells."

Jayne spoke up, staring at his clasped hands. "An' what about me?"

The Captain paused, his jaw tightening. "I'll deal with you later."

(Taikong suoyou de xingqiu saijin wo de pigu- all the planets of space flushed into my butt)

(Liu koushi de biaozi he houzi de ben erzi- stupid son of a drooling whore and a monkey)

(diyù- hell)

(Qingwa cao de liumang- frog-humping son of a bitch)

(ben tiansheng de yi dui rou- stupid inbred stack of meat)

(goushi- dog crap)