Notes: I'm trying to add a lot more Castiel into the story than his reflected character of River. The firefly show was flawless in how it balanced its characters out, but I think everyone wants more Castiel. =)

Disclaimer: Supernatural and Firefly ain't mine.

CHAPTER 7

Balthazar was looking at his comp pad while Castiel slept in the bed behind them in the passenger's quarters. His little brother kept on falling into deep sleeps, and it was slightly worrying. But Cassy looked peaceful enough. It gave time for Balthazar to think about the developments of the last few hours.

He had gotten both of his brothers back. Granted they were both very different then the brothers he remembered, but bits and pieces were still there. Gabriel's snarky attitude was still there. And the compassion that once shown through his eyes when playing with his little brothers, that were still there too. He had glimpsed it when he had looked at Castiel sleeping in the dining area. And he had also seen it when Gabriel looked at Sam.

His little brother was another flood of emotions. Balthazar didn't like thinking about how Castiel had changed. Cassy was always so…intense and focused. Gabe and he used to love how Cassy was clueless in social graces, and how innocent he was in so many other aspects. They might have teased Castiel on how stiff he was, but Balthazar would give anything to have that back.

The dreamy look that swam in his brother's eyes whenever he was awake seemed so unnatural and so…not Castiel. It hurt to see. Balthazar didn't want to think about what it took to get Castiel to this state. Gabriel knew more than he did. Maybe finding his older brother is more of a blessing if he could help glue their baby brother back together.

But there were bigger problems at hand. What was he going to do to protect them from the fed, from the Garrison, from Dean? Perhaps I should find out more about the captain, thought Balthazar. He looked up Impala on the encyclopedia. He had heard the name before somewhere and it was bothering him. It read:

In the war to unite the planets, The
Battle Of Impala Canyon was among the most
devastating and decisive. Located on
Hera, the canyon was considered a key
position by both sides, and was
bitterly fought over.
The Independent Faction, with sixteen
brigades and twenty air-tank squads,
held the valley against Garrison
forces for almost two months, until
superior numbers and a brilliant deep-
flank strategy by General Azaz –

"What does it say in there about bloodbath?" Sam's voice came suddenly from behind. Balthazar startled a bit and turned around with a guilty expression. Nearly half a million people lay dead on that field by the end of the battle, about a third of them 'winners'. Can you imagine the smell? Can you imagine piling up the bodies of soldiers -of friends - to build a wall 'cause there is no cover? Blood just kept pouring out of them, you'd slip in it
half the time, and you find out bloodbath is not just a figure of speech."

"Dean was there with you, right?"

"He and my dad were in command of thirty-odd grunts - five days in,
there were so many officers dead he commanded two thousand. Kept us
together, kept us fighting, kept us sane. By the time the fighting was
over he had maybe four hundred still intact. By the end of it all he had about a hundred and
fifty left, and of our original platoon, just me. Faith, innocence, trust... Those are things he left back there. What he has now is the ship, the ship and us on it. He won't kill unless he's you give him a reason."

"Why would he name his ship after such a place?"

"He won't let himself forget." Sam finished and walked out, closing the door quietly as to not wake the man sleeping in the bed.

The proximity alarm was blaring through the control room when Dean walked in.

"I thought you said we were safe."

"I said we might be safe. And it's not the cruiser. It's some funky Trans-U model. Haven't seen one of those tanks floating around for years."

"I thought those didn't operate anymore."

"They don't."

"Get me a visual now." Dean's voice had gone hard.

"I don't have much but, I'm picking up a lot of radiation...they're burning without core
containment. Well, that's dumb. Why…..oh shit." Gabriel closed his eyes and rubbed his face with his hand. He and Dean knew what that meant. Only Dean was able to voice it though.

"Croats."

Balthazar stood keeping watch over his little brother. Sam and Bobby were in the dining area talking in low voices. Chuck was in the engine room tinkering to calm his nerves. Meg was having a staring contest with Uriel while she twirled a knife. But the temporary calm was lost when Dean's voice came over the comm.

"This is your captain. We are about to pass a ship. Looks like croats. Judging by the size of the ship, probably a raiding party."

Anna is in her shuttle and as she hears the calls, she sits on her bed her hand held up to her heart. Back on the bridge Gabriel sits quietly next to Dean as the announcement continues. His face was disturbingly serious. Dean continued his announcement.

"Could be they already have dinner plans. Could be they are still full from their last party. So everyone chill. Sam, bridge."

Sam and Bobby both stand up and start walking to the bridge. Balthazar emerges from around the corner looking confused with a still very sleepy looking Castiel behind him.

"I don't understand. What's going on? It is the Garrison?"

Sam and Bobby looked surprised. "You ain't heard of croats?" Bobby asked.

"Just stories really, fairytales. Men gone savage at the edge of space. Stuff parents use to get their kids to clean out the closet."

"They aren't stories," Sam stated firmly. Balthazar's stomach dropped. Behind him, his brother spoke up.

"So, can I ask the plan?" asks Castiel with a small smile on his face.

Bobby huffs, "No plan. If they get on this ship it's best to just swallow your gun. If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh and sew our skins into their clothing and if
we're very very lucky, they'll do it in that order."

Balthazar pales and pulls his brother closer to his side. Castiel tilts his head like he's listening to something and then smiles softly.

"Those racing dogs are so miserable chasing the white rabbit around. They only think in ovals." With that comment, Castiel moved back towards the passenger's quarters. Balthazar follows him after a moment's pause.

Sam entered the bridge behind Dean quietly. Gabriel looked in his direction and nodded, and Sam just gave a short nod in return before looking away. Bobby had come in to stand next to Dean and watch the ship in the window drift by. Five of the longest, tensest, and torturous minutes past when Gabriel finally reported, "It's holding course. We're in the clear captain."

Everyone let out a relieved breath.

"Guess they weren't hungry," joked Bobby.

"That was too close. My sky is getting a bit too crowded lately," Dean huffed out.

"Here's the deal fed. I am in a really nasty sandwich between savage monsters and savage flesh eating monsters. I don't like the idea of dealing with either of them, cause honestly I don't know which I like less. But I have one of theirs right here now. Question is, which set of monsters do I hand you over to?" Dean was leaning into the tied up Uriel's face, close enough that there was no way for Uriel to look away.

"Do you know how much trouble you are in?" Uriel asked.

"Well gee whiz friend, I've never been in trouble with the law before," Meg sneered from behind.

"Not like this you haven't. You think that the package that man is carrying is just a…"

"A naked guy? Yeah, we know, kinda cute too. In a crazy, traumatized way." Dean smirked.

"That boy is a precious commodity. They will come for him. They will find him. And they will destroy anything that stands in their way. Here, let me put this forward. He is worth a lot of money. A lot. If you kill me, you get nothing. I heard you talking about saving your ship. He's your chance." And Uriel leans back smiling.

"Not interested. I'll be back when I decide what to do with you. Meg, watch this dick." And Dean walks off.

Meg waits until Dean is down the hallway before closing the door on her and Uriel. She turns to him with a satisfied look.

"So the littlest angel is worth some cash? Let's talk money honey."

Uriel returns the smile.

He spots his brother leaning against the rail on the catwalk looking off into nothing. Dean takes a moment to remind himself that Sam is still here, and the blood and gore he had seen earlier was behind them. He would protect Sam for sure this time. He wouldn't fail, and he wouldn't force Castiel to do it for him. Sam didn't need a fugitive guardian angel looking after him, Sam had Dean. You can only trust family in this world.

"Hey Sammy, how you feeling?"

"Shiny. Confused. Nervous….More confused than anything though. I gotta say, this is one of the most messed up nights of our messed up existences. I'm still processing that guy, um, Castiel. I mean he fixed me. Gabriel too. How did they do that?"

"Dunno Sammy, ain't about to look a gift horse in the mouth at this point."

"But you are considering kicking them off the ship Dean. They saved my life. Castiel didn't have to. Gabriel only healed me when Castiel couldn't finish, but he did help. You need to remember that. This whole thing is nobody's fault Dean." Sam had his puppy eyes working in full effect.

"I know exactly whose fault it is, Sammy."

Suddenly Castiel's voice sounded from behind. He was walking towards them, but his eyes never moved from Dean's."You are a good man, Dean Winchester. You look after people. But you have to have faith in people too. Have faith in yourself." The sudden appearance startled the two brothers. But Dean was more stunned by his words. He sounded so sure in this. He sounded almost sane, but Dean wasn't going to let himself get lost in that sincere gaze.

"Where did you come from? Your brother know you're out and about?"

"I put Balthazar to sleep. He looked tired."

Dean and Sam weren't sure what he meant by that, but they just chose to play along.

"Maybe you should go watch over him for a while. I'm sure he will be worried if he wakes up and you are gone," Sam reasoned. Castiel finally broke his unblinking gaze on Dean to look to Sam.

"You are right Sam. He would believe that Dean had handed me over to the Garrison and would probably stab him several times before I could get to him. That would be most distressing." Castiel said this with a very serious look on his face before smiling broadly to Dean and Sam before walking (skipping!?) to the passenger's quarters. Sam left too, probably to make sure he found his way back. As they left, Dean just shook his head. As weird as this guy was, Dean couldn't help but feel a messed up kind of affection for him. He was a lot less of a dick than his two brothers anyway.

Gabriel's usual saunter looked a little hesitant to anyone who knew him for the last five years. Dean never claimed to know him, but he knew enough to know that Gabriel's equilibrium had been fucked to hell at this point and he was trying to find balance again. Like usually his approaches were announced with a greeting of "Dean-o" "Deanarino" "Dean-Bean" or "Captain Tight Pants". This time he didn't say anything until he reached his captains side.

"So can I be privy to your plan for my brother's, Cap?"

"You need to see something here Gabe. Everyone on this ship has a life of some nature. And those lives can be snatched away in a second because of that fed. Do you know how to save everyone? Cause I got to tell you man, I don't even know where to begin." He looked hard at Gabriel and used Castiel's technique of never breaking eye contact to get the point across. It seemed to work, and Gabriel finally caved.

"I don't know how," Gabriel bit out.

"Well as I see it, when it comes time, someone is going to have to stand up and take charge and clean up this mess. That should be you, but I don't think you have the guts. You leave your brothers alone and then don't even try to warn them of danger. You are one dick-less son of a bitch. And you are out of time." Gabriel looked up sharply at this.

"What do you mean?"

"Sam's dead." And Dean walks away. Gabriel runs towards Sam's bunk. Then to the clinic. Finally he comes to the passenger's quarters. All the time he's thinking, "What happened? How? Why?" And then he sees Sam with Bobby listening to a wildly gesturing Castiel as he tells some story or another. His little brother turns to him and waves. Sam and Bobby look up, and awkwardly follow his example and wave. Relief poured out of Gabriel.

"Well played Dean. Well played."