Chapter Eighteen: Progress

Mal held her gaze for only an instant. Then, he fled to join Zoe and Jayne. Given their brown colored coats, they decided to blend into their army. At least that would leave only one side to shoot at them. It brought back some difficult memories for the two war veterans, but they were willing to face their demons to restore order in the Verse and their crew.

"Sir, when exactly are those Reavers supposed to show? This battle is getting heated."

He sighed. "Zoe, what did we do when we were losin' a battle? We'd bring in reinforcements, and they were usually Special Forces. I'm telling you. The Reavers will come."

"Gorram, there's River," Jayne commented as he watched her brutally kill three Alliance soldiers. "She's takin' out her own side!"

"Keep it together and do not shoot River. I don't care if she's got you in a chokehold. No one uses a gun on her or I'll use one on you," Mal barked with a terrible flashback to shooting her himself.

It took longer than they would have liked, but the faux Alliance ship appeared adjacent to the battlefield. Zoe spotted it first and tapped Jayne on the shoulder. He nodded and Mal noticed the vessel for himself. Jayne had the capture, so he sneaked closer to record the Reavers exiting the ship. This time, since they had gotten aboard before, a Browncoat lurked near the entrance as a guard. It was perfect for the capture.

Jayne went back to Zoe and Mal swiftly. "I got it! There's a Browncoat right in the door. I got him in view!"

"Great work," Zoe grinned.

"Well, ya know, jus' doin' my part…"

Mal coughed to break up the moment. "Let's get to phase two. Jayne, you have rear guard. Zoe, splice the bug into the intercom. I'll get the tracker in place. We gotta be quick before they take us again."

They moved like a well-organized unit. Mal punched the guard hard enough to knock him out cold. Jayne kept watch while Zoe got to work on the intercom. He glanced back curiously. "You know how to do that?"

"I've been on my share of beetle class ships. It's not that hard. This'll reverse the speakers so we can hear them all over the ship without it being online."

"Smart. I like that."

Mal groaned from his place beneath the grated floor. "Stop makin' eyes at each other! We're on a job here! I've got the tracker in. Zoe?"

"All set, sir."

When they turned to leave, ten Reavers were running towards the ship. They started shooting, but it didn't slow them down. A few were killed, but the rest were only severely upset. The Browncoats on the ship came running when they heard the commotion, and they leaped into the battle to help the intruders. After all, Reavers were worse than anybody else.

The four Browncoats were killed by their own Reavers. Their captain attempted to make them stand down, but River was right. The Reavers were too smart to take orders. They were totally out of control…like the situation.

"Should we make a run for it?" Zoe questioned while kicking one in the head.

"One at a time! Maybe they won't notice if we keep 'em busy!" Mal shouted over the Reavers and their gun fire.

Zoe went first with Jayne and Mal covering her. Jayne followed and Mal started to run after him. When he did, a Reaver leapt in front of his boots. The monster's hands were wrapped around his throat and he struggled to break free. His breath was quickly waning, and he wasn't sure how far away his crew had gotten. They mightn't be around to help him. Once they realized he was taking a long time, he'd be dead.

Then, the Reaver just stopped. Its eyes were wild and panicked. Slowly, the hands slid from Mal as the creature collapsed. A large knife stuck from its back. More than likely, the blade penetrated the heart. Mal stared at the corpse with a confounded expression. As his gaze drifted upwards, he saw River still in position. Given her stance, she was the one that saved him.

"River?" he called hopefully, though he knew there was no way she'd be okay.

She turned on her heel and walked away from him. More specifically, she walked towards the last place Mal saw his crew. Cursing, Mal followed her to see where she was going. Jayne and Zoe were pinned down against a few boulders by Alliance men, no wonder they didn't come for Mal, so both Mal and River started picking off the soldiers. Once they were all handled, River and Mal stood breathless and looking at Zoe and Jayne.

"Moonbrain's okay? You got her back?" Jayne questioned.

River pointed her gun right at his head.

"Guess not," he mumbled as he drew his weapon.

Mal leapt and knocked Jayne to the side. River's bullet missed and Jayne didn't get a chance to fire. "Damn it, Mal! You about snapped my neck!"

"Better than your brains on those rocks. Run for the ship. No shooting River!"

With that, Zoe and Jayne fled for the ship. Mal went right after them with River on his tail. It was a chase, pure and simple. Zoe contacted Simon and Kaylee to tell them to lower the ramp. They got to Serenity just as the ramp lowered. Jayne and Zoe backed inside while shooting at nearby Reavers and soldiers, and once again Mal was stopped by a Reaver.

"Never my day," he groaned as the beast tackled him.

Before Zoe pulled the trigger on it, River drew a sword and sliced its head. The head rolled away and she turned on Zoe and Jayne. She started shooting and walking toward the ship. Mal got to his feet and ran past her. He shut the ramp right before she tried to leap inside. They could hear her trying to get through, so Zoe ran to the bridge to get them in the air.

They took off and fled for anywhere that wasn't a warzone. Simon found Mal in the kitchen and wanted to get the report. "Captain, what happened?"

"We got a capture. The bug is planted. So's the tracker. We'll have to be sure the equipment works, but I don't see why it wouldn't."

"And my sister?"

Mal ignored the pang of grief in his heart. "The same. Went after Jayne and Zoe."

"Not Mal, though," Jayne commented from his place across the table. He cleaned one of his guns with a blank face. "Don't know why. She jus' won't kill him. I saw her save him and walk off. She could of stuck him with that sword easy, but she pulled a gun on us instead."

"She won't kill you?" Simon asked.

"That seems to be the notion."

Jealousy raged in Simon's eyes. "She's tried to kill me. Her own brother."

"Probably brainwashed her to kill you above the rest of us. They want you dead and they want to be sure she'd kill her family. I conjure that training is too strong for her to ignore."

That made the doctor feel better, so he left to spend time with his wife. Mal went to the bridge to speak to Zoe. "How's our equipment workin'?"

"Beautifully, sir. I can hear everything they're saying. I've started recording it. The tracker works too. They haven't left the planet yet. What should we do while we wait?"

"I have a favor I could call in. I've been waitin' to use it for when we're in over our heads. I think that applies to this situation. We'll hide out there until we're ready to meet with Simon's contact. After that, we're off to get the other half of the info."

She paused and had to ask. "You good?"

"Yeah. It wasn't as bad as I thought. Bein' back out there. I guess the shepherd was right. Believing in something again makes all the difference. It reminded me of when we were young and ready to bring down anybody in our way."

"I wasn't just talking about the war, sir."

His eyes fell and he held a stoic face. "She's in there. We'll get her back."

They went their separate ways and Mal called in his favor. There was a certain companion that he met while dating Inara. He helped her with a possessive client, and she promised that he could call in a favor any time. She lived with one of her clients full-time on a secluded moon, and the man was loaded. He had state of the art security systems. It'd be last place River would know about, or so he hoped, and they'd have protection if she did find them.

The woman was glad to help, so they stayed with her for three days. Her client had a hiding spot for the ship that not even the Alliance could spot, which meant that River was unable to zero in on their location. She knew that they were close, but that was all. In the three days of hiding, they had plenty of audio and visual evidence. They also tracked the ship right back to the base on Newhall. It was time to get moving.

They thanked their hosts and took off for the meeting with Simon's contact. River was waiting in orbit around the planet. It didn't take long until they knew that she was tailing them. The entire crew gathered on the bridge to see what they should do about it. They knew that she wouldn't attack in the black, but as soon as they landed she'd be on them.

"What if we just made it real quick? Landed right on her farm and told her to just do the exchange?" Kaylee suggested.

Zoe solemnly shook her head. "We'd be putting ourselves in a vulnerable spot and endangering everybody on that farm. If she sees them as any kind of threat, they're dead. Maybe even if they aren't a threat. We can't know."

"How about we let myself and someone else take the mule? Serenity could leave the planet for a few minutes to draw her away," Simon offered to the group.

It was Mal's turn to disagree. "She's too smart, doc. You know that. She'll go after the mule instead of the ship and you'd be dead."

"Too bad we can't send decoys or somethin' so she doesn't know who to go after…" Jayne sighed, causing Zoe and Mal to look at each other.

"We can send the shuttles in opposite directions and Serenity in another. There's three worlds real close to each other. If we split, she'd have to pick only one to go after."

Jayne's eyes narrowed in thought. "But, what if she picks the one goin' to the drop?"

"I have it," Simon announced. "She wants to kill me more than the rest of you. Or, so it would seem. She should automatically go for me first. I'll be in the shuttle away from the meet. That should stall her."

"Then we'll do that. Zoe, stay with Kaylee and the ship. Jayne, take Simon and protect him. I'll go to the meet. Once I have the goods, we'll converge on Serenity and get outta here."

Nobody argued. They went to their assorted positions and flew off. Mal checked to find that River was following the other shuttle. He landed on the contact's farm and briskly ran to her door. She opened it and held out the disc. "Everything is there."

"Good. We'll get it out there."

She was suddenly still. All at once, she collapsed to the porch floor. Some sort of darts were in her back. Mal moved to the wall and looked around. Nobody seemed to be there. Could it be River? No. It wasn't. It was a group of Alliance men. He knew because they surrounded him.

"Hand over the information, Reynolds," the highest ranking officer demanded. "Unless you want to be paralyzed beyond repair like you snitch."

"I don't much like your tone."

"Pardon me if I'm impolite. We don't like people making a mess of our government. Hand it over now. That disc won't save River Tam."

His eyes burned. "Don't say her name."

"What exactly are you going to do about it? There are sixteen of us and one of you."

"I've had worse odds."

The officer scoffed. "You are going to be a vegetable if you try anything at all. And, for what? To attempt to get back the girl you've already lost? What kind of life is that?"

"She ain't lost. Not yet. And this ain't a life without her in it."

He pulled his gun and prepared for the worst.