They strapped on their boots, pulled up the pants, slipped on their gloves and slid on their helmets with an air sealing hiss.
Mal reached up to his helmet and switched on the flashlights installed on the outside. The light flashed on and beamed in Zoe's face. She winced and covered her eyes with her hands.
"Sir, could you please point that somewhere else?"
Mal shrugged nonchalantly. "I thought the light brought out the little spark in your eyes."
The intercom whined overhead and Wash's voice was heard.
"Now Cap'n, remember, she's my wife," he reminded jokingly.
"Yeah, yeah, all you can keep talkin'," Jayne said, clearly annoyed. "I'm just interested as to what this is out there."
"Hopefully something that could offer some sort of compensation to our lack of pay today," Mal said slightly optimistically.
Mal, Zoe, and Jayne were now fully dressed in their respective space suits and were standing in the middle of the cargo bay, preparing to exit the ship.
Mal walked over to the wall-mounted intercom and pressed the button. "Wash, we're leaving."
"Sounds good. You take care of my wife now, ya hear?"
Zoe rolled her eyes.
Mal turned to face his crew, motioning to the giant sliding door that sealed the airlock. "Let's go."
With that, Mal walked forward to the large slider doors and pushed a button mounted on the wall. Not a moment later, the warning alarms began to wail and the doors hissed in acknowledgement, sliding open to reveal the closed ramp that separated them from space. Motioning for his crew of three to follow, Mal stepped inside first, followed by Zoe and Jayne, each of them having slight difficulty finding a comfortable way of walking in the bulky space suits. Once all three of them were on the other side of the doors, Mal pushed another button, causing the alarm to go off again and the sliding doors close once again.
Once the doors were completely shut, the lights went out, thrusting the entire airlock into darkness, the only sources of light coming from the flashlights on their helmets before the red warning lights turned on automatically.
Mal then pressed a button on his helmet and spoke.
"Alright, Wash," he started, his voice slightly garbled by static. "We're ready to go."
"Copy," Wash's voice replied. "You're free to open up. Good luck."
Mal nodded in reply and walked over to the other wall where a lever was waiting for him. He gripped it and turned back to Zoe and Jayne.
"Ready?"
They nodded.
He nodded back in reply.
He pulled the lever.
A loud hissing was heard as all the air was sucked out into space. About five seconds later, the hissing stopped, confirming that no more air remained in the airlock, prompting the ramp to drop slowly, the 'verse welcoming them with its cold, dark arms.
Once the door was fully opened, the small team stood in place for a few moments longer, just gaping at the sight in front of them.
It was large, a few hundred feet in front of them, and damaged. Severely damaged.
But one thing was unmistakable.
It was a ship. It was simple in design and not as large as Serenity. It was mainly white with a black tipped nose and a black stripe on each of its wings on both sides of the fuselage. On its rear were many large funnels that Mal could only guess was what gave it its thrust. On many parts of the ship were large patches of holes with wires floating outside of it, flopping around smoothly as if it were underwater. Large bits of the ship's debris were floating around it as if it had its own orbit.
"My God," Mal breathed.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to go in there, Sir?" Zoe questioned, her voice garbled by the static as well. "It looks like a deathtrap."
"It's no different than any other ship we've looted, now is it?" Mal pointed out.
"I'll tell ya what I think," Jayne said, coming up alongside Mal. "It's Reavers."
Mal nodded. "Oh it's most definitely Reavers," he confirmed. "But by the looks of it, there aren't any here," he guessed, surveying the wreckage up and down, but finding no sign of any strange ships.
Determining it was now safe, Mal motioned with his arm for them to follow.
"Come on, let's go."
With that, they jumped off of the ramp and allowed weightlessness to do its part.
They floated straight forward, on a direct course for the damaged ship, doing their best to maneuver around the floating bits of debris. Jayne, having less success than Mal and Zoe, kept muttering and swearing as he continuously bumped into more pieces, throwing him slightly off course.
"Jayne, get it together, would ya?" Mal snapped as he kept floating forward.
Once he determined he was getting close enough, Mal outstretched his arm, anticipating the impact with the ship. A moment later, he collided with the side of it with a soft thud, only dazed for a few seconds before getting his bearings back.
Soon, he saw Zoe make contact with the ship as well to his right. They nodded to each other as the sound of Jayne's incoherent screaming suddenly blasted out of their intercoms. To the left, they saw Jayne spiraling through space like a ragdoll after hitting a piece of debris that launched him into an uncontrollable spiral and land back-first alongside the ship.
"jiàn tā de guǐ!"
Jayne then righted himself and flipped himself around, nodding to Mal and Zoe to show he was cool.
They simply shook their heads in reply.
"Alright," Mal started, "look for an opening or a door of some sort."
"What about one of these gigantic holes?" Jayne suggested.
"No good," Mal replied. "It's too dangerous with all of those wires floatin' about in there. Our best bet is to find a more conventional way in. Spread out, yell if you find somethin'."
With that, the crew dispersed in separate directions. Mal stayed where he was, patting the side of the ship to find any weak points. Zoe slowly maneuvered over to the right side while Jayne did his best to crawl to the top.
After a few minutes of patting and searching fruitlessly, Zoe's voice over the communicator interrupted Mal's thoughts.
"Sir, I think I found something."
Mal stopped what he was doing and passed hand-over-hand alongside of the ship, making his way over to Zoe's side.
"Whatca got?"
Zoe didn't reply. Instead, she pointed in front of her. Mal followed where she was pointing and he found a small groove in the side of the ship that went up and created a rectangle around them, indicating that this was the entrance to the seemingly empty ship.
Mal nodded.
"Jayne?"
"Workin' on it!"
Craning their necks to the side, they saw the large, burly silhouette of Jayne crawling on all fours on top of the ship, slowly but surely making his way over to the two of them.
"Sometime this solar cycle would be greatly appreciated. You've got the tools."
He muttered something else undecipherable into his microphone.
Finally, he came up alongside the two of them, righting himself so he was now right side up. Reaching for his belt, he pulled out his crowbar that he had at the ready. Gripping it in both hands, he jammed it inside the groove with a loud grunt and carefully as to not push himself backwards and send him sprawling into space.
He wiggled it a few times before taking it out and jamming it inside once again. This time, there was rush of noiseless, white air that came out from the cracks of the door. Taking the crowbar out, he dug his fingers inside the crease and pulled. His vein popping out on his forehead, he successfully pulled the door open.
He let go of the door and let it slowly swing open, his eyes widening in surprise.
"Well that was a hell of a lot easier than I thought."
"That's what I was counting on," Mal elaborated. "By the looks of it, she really took a beating," he said, gesturing to the inside. "Makes it easier than most looting trips."
He turned back to Serenity. "Wash, you keep an eye out for us now. We're goin' in."
Inside Serenity's cockpit, Wash was sitting in his usual spot in the pilot's seat, flipping a few switches and looking out the front window.
"Will do. Good luck. And be careful for God's sakes."
"Wash, I'm insulted," Mal's voice joked over the speaker. "I'm in charge of this operation."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Wash joked back. "Just come back in one piece and we'll see you soon."
He flipped a few more switches and swiveled around in his chair to see Book, Simon and Kaylee behind him.
"Come to see the show?" Wash asked, gesturing behind him.
"Well there ain't much else to do," Kaylee said with a shrug, sitting in the copilot's seat and spinning around. "Might as well come and watch the fun unravel."
"I must admit," Book spoke up, "the Captain's methods for dealing with not being paid are quite . . . unconventional."
"Welp, that's our Cap'n." Wash said happily. "Goin' off on space adventures . . . fighting the bad guys . . . steal from the rich, give to the crew."
"I thought it was give to the poor," Kaylee corrected.
"Lucky for us, we're both," Simon said as he leaned against the control panel, careful as to not knock off Wash's collection of dinosaurs.
"Do you think we'll be able to go with the Cap'n on one of his trips soon?" Kaylee asked almost hopefully only to earn a dismissive wave of the hand from Wash.
"Ah, they're not all that great. One is already more than enough for me."
"If I do recall, the last time you went out with Mal on the field resulted in your capture by Niska," Book reminded him.
The mention of Mal's rescue from Niska made Kaylee's heart rate rise dramatically as she was instantly reminded of River's flawless accuracy while taking out three men in almost a full second. She had to almost physically hold her tongue to prevent her from spilling that piece of info in front of the crew.
Especially Simon.
Back on the trashed ship, Mal, Zoe and Jayne, after having successfully opened the door made their way inside. On the left hand side was an opened door that lead to a partially empty room, and beyond that appeared to be the cockpit. To the right was another door, except sealed shut.
Mal motioned to the left. "Let's take this way first."
The three of them floated to the left and entered the larger room one by one.
In the center of the room was a floor mounted table with four mounted chairs on each side. Above the table, a chess board hovered lifelessly, rotating at will. Scattered all about the room and floating at random intervals were the black and white chess pieces. Along the walls of both sides of the room were multiple crates, both sealed and open.
Three simultaneous grins spread across their features.
"Jackpot," Mal said, clearly satisfied.
Not needing to be ordered to do so, Jayne came up from behind Mal with his crowbar clutched in both hands and made his way to the nearest sealed crate while Zoe and Mal waded their way to an open one.
All that was in there was the packing hay with a few crease marks that indicated that whatever was once in there had since been taken. They moved to the next one.
Nothing.
"Got this crate open," Jayne informed. "Just a buncha power tools and junk. Nothin' Kaylee doesn't already have I'd guess."
"Seems like the Reavers took all the good stuff, Sir," Zoe said sadly.
"But why would they only open half the crates and not all of them?" Mal asked curiously, looking at the remaining crates in the room.
"'Cuz they're stupid creatures. Nothin, more to it," Jayne suggested. "Lemme open a few more, see if there's anything else worth takin'."
Jayne did just that. He went around the room and opened all the others. They found nothing except for more power tools and a single crate filled with dried up fruit, unsuitable for eating.
Jayne beat the wooden box with his crowbar in frustration, growling and grunting for good measure.
"Are you telling me we did all this ruttin' work fer nothin'?!"
"Maybe not for nothin'," Mal corrected, pointing down the hall and at the sealed door they passed by.
Zoe looked skeptically at the door. "I don't know, Sir," she said. "If the Reavers left that door closed, maybe, just maybe it was for a reason."
"This is twice now in seven months that Badger hasn't given us what he's promised. I'm not leaving empty handed, Zoe," he said sternly.
Knowing full well to not question any further, Zoe went along with it.
They made their way back to the entrance and went through the door, coming up in front of the sealed one. The door had a metal wheel on the front of it that locked it into place. Mal gripped the wheel and gave it a hard turn, but it wouldn't budge. After a few more moments, he gave up, letting out a tired breath and turning to Jayne, holding his hand out.
Understanding what he wants, Jayne reached for his belt and pulled out his trusty crowbar and handed it to Mal. Mal took it and jammed it inside the wheel and in between the metal bars. Jamming the end of it to the side, he pulled on the crowbar with all his might, using the opposing force to his advantage as he pulled against it. The wheel finally gave into his weight and it turned a few inches in the opposite direction.
After a few more tweaks in the opposite direction, the door finally opened.
The first thing that came from the now slightly ajar door was an ominous green glow that cut through the thick darkness.
After exchanging glances between his crew, Mal opened the door all the way.
The room inside was about the same size as the room they were just in a few moments ago, but this one had more items strewn across the walls and floor.
Floating in the air were various blunt and odd objects. They were rectangular in shape but each varied in size. On the floor were four very large capsules, each of them big enough to hold a fully grown man. They were each lying on their backs with the glass front cracked and damaged. They were all dark on the inside.
Then they found another.
It was standing right up and was the source of the green glow. The glass front completely intact, the green light shined brightly from the inside.
Jayne was the first to walk in. He stepped forward and observed the smaller floating rectangle. The side facing him was blank and black. He lifted his hand and tapped it, sending it into a slow spiral. On its back side, it was silver with a logo that represented an apple with a small bite taken out of it.
"What the ruttin' hell?"
Looking down, there was a bigger rectangular object at his shins, also with an apple with a bite on its side was on it. He squinted in confusion and disinterest and kicked it away.
Mal and Zoe then entered the room, walking past Jayne and looking over the tipped over capsules, eliciting a small, surprised gasp from Zoe. Mal just looked down on it, his face devoid of emotion.
Unlike the one capsule standing on the wall, this capsule was dark inside, but they were still able to look inside clearly. But they almost wished they weren't able to.
Inside was a shriveled face of a poorly preserved corpse.
Zoe was forced to draw back and avert her eyes. She always prided herself on having a strong will, but even a woman like her had her limits.
But Mal remained unfazed. He continued to look at the other capsules with his interest peaked. All of them had the same thing in them.
He was surprised he didn't notice it at first.
All of them were occupied with rotting corpses.
Taking in a quick breath inside his helmet, he then brought his attention to the one capsule standing against the wall. Across the center of it was a control panel with a keypad and a blinking green light.
Then he took another, closer look.
Inside the capsule, inside the green glow, was a silhouette of a person.
Mal drew in another quick breath.
"This one's alive."