Hello. Iverik here. Just a reminder: This story uses characters created by someone other than me.

Facing the Black

'Now would be a good time,' Zoe suggested. Mal considered.

'Not yet.' He decided. Zoe acknowledged his decision.

It was morning. The snow had come, and had immediately melted. The barren plain was now a mushy bog. One more thing to distract the Alliance. Mal called up his mental map. Given the time of day and the location of the gas giant and the suns in the sky... he could find his way anywhere on the planet, map or no map. He sincerely hoped that the other three didn't realize this.

Suddenly, it dawned on him that there was a steady noise. Paul was talking in his sleep. Wait. No, he was awake, and having a conversation apparently. With who? Aria and Killer were asleep.

'Goseh', Mal thought, 'he's praying.' "Good morning, troopers!" He announced aloud, "we've got a real fine day here..."

"Tsao Gao..." Killer inspected the terrain they'd be hiking over.

"Better get used to it," Mal remarked drolly, "I've heard this is the normal for this rock."

The long string of curses, in English and Chinese, is best left unsaid.

Breakfast was strictly rationed and tasteless. The five soldiers struck camp professionally, so that in minutes there was no sign a camp had ever existed.

As they marched, mud began its relentless attempts to get everywhere. Mal worried about it. It had a tendency to get on the slickers. Attempts to brush it off didn't work very well, and could only be done when Killer's suspicious glare was turned elsewhere. It was hopeless. Hopefully, it wouldn't upset the plan any.

Still a long way to go through a war zone.

Meanwhile

Jayne Cobb looked around furtively. Alliance troops hurried hither and yon, on missions of their own. Some gave the mercenary a dark look. He was tempted to explain that he'd never fought in no war before, but he suspected that they wouldn't believe him. And then there was the plan. More accurately, the back-up plan. Right now, though, all he cared about was whether Wash had left the ruttin' signal.

He hadn't. Again. Jayne hated waiting. But Guay... lotsa shootin', and a big payday? Best job ever, even with the boredom in between.

Back in the Slop

Mal watched the sky anxiously. They were losing time. Several things could go wrong if he didn't hurry. Some Alliance bureaucrat could figure out that his squad could have survived the crash, and would send an unwelcome search and rescue team after him. That would end the job right there. Second, one of the marines at his back could figure out that it was taking too long to reach Alliance lines. Any one of them would be dangerous. Third, the plan required careful timing. A miss could kill Wash. Ta ma de...

Speeding up, though, was as dangerous. People tend to question why they're hurrying in no particular direction. Might just inspire someone suspicious to try to create a mental map... which would inevitably cause trouble. And then they might miss the rendezvous for an entirely different, quite unpleasant reason.

Quite a day.

Suddenly, Zoe froze. Her warning hand stopped Mal in his tracks. Even the marines caught on that something was wrong. "What is it?" Killer asked.

"Autodemarchs," Zoe answered grimly, "Tsao Gao!"