Chapter 10

Illium, Docks

Mal looked at Zoë who had her hand resting on the grip of her carbine. "We should be lifting off." His first mate said.

"We told them to be here at a certain time. Besides our new doc wants to get some things for her sister before we thaw her out." Mal said leaning against the ramp support.

"We're exposed." Zoë countered.

"Is this about the signal?"

After Serenity entered the relay Tika picked up a signal coming from the cargo they had salvaged. It took Miranda and Tylee some time to disable it, but Cerberus now knew their cargo was no longer in their possession.

"They were sending that girl somewhere and Lawson hasn't shared what was in those files." Zoë countered.

Mal nodded. "You're right she hasn't." he would have said more but he saw the familiar profile of the Drell monk. "Right on time Sienna." He greeted his passenger who caused the least amount of trouble.

"First Mate Sinclair indicated haste would be appreciated." Sienna said in that tone that seemed she wasn't troubled at all about the abrupt return of Serenity.

"Enjoy your walkabout on Illium?" Mal inquired.

"It was….illuminating." Sienna said with a soft grin and Mal was left to wonder what the female monk had seen and done.

"Now all we need is for the Ambassador to finish her business and we can be on our merry."

Zoë smiled as the Drell boarded the ship and turned to look at the captain. "You still haven't said what Niska wanted."

"And I won't. The less said about what that Turian wanted the better off I'll feel." Mal said.

"What are we going to do about Lawson's sister?" Zoë asked.

"We find an out of the way world and open her casket, take the girl and leave the tube for Cerberus to find…after we rig it to explode of course."

Zoë smirked, "Of course." She agreed, "Sir, we could leave the Asari here and return at a later time."

Mal looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Is there something I'm missing?"

Zoë shook her head, "Just a feeling, sir. Cerberus has to be aware of where we are by now. That signal was long enough to give away a position and Tylee is running a diagnostic to make sure it didn't add anything to our own systems."

"You ain't sayin' anything I haven't already thought of Zoë." Mal said. "And everything Ms. Lawson's told us about Cerberus is a hundred times worse than what we thought when we thought it was under Edwards."

Zoë and Mal were leery of the black ops division of the Alliance military and to find out it wasn't under the control of the Admirals or even the government made them think back on missions that were under so much secrecy.

"Give Illyana another ten minutes, then we'll leave her a message and rocket out of here." Mal said as he strode up the ramp.

"Where are you going sir?" Zoë asked.

"Going to reach out and call some one."

XX

"I'm surprised to hear back from you so soon." Commander Hunt said, looking back from the screen.

Mal gave a shrug, "I find myself a mite interested why the Council's newest SPECTRE calls me out of the blue."

Hunt laughed. "I need a favor."

"Color me curious." Mal said.

"I'm running down some leads, but I need a huge favor. I have a lead I'm checking out on Virmire, I wanted to know if you could meet me on Noveria."

Mal started to shake his head, "I'm not an investigator Hunt."

"And I'm not asking you to be. Just keep your ear to the ground and when I get there we meet up and have a drink. One marine to another."

"I suppose we can go to Noveria. I need to see if there's any cargo heading that way, might be a couple of days."

Hunt relaxed. "Take your time, I have a few errands to run before my crew and I go to Virmire."

"So, how is it being the galaxy's celebrity delivery boy?" Mal asked.

"I'd rather be back scrubbing the entire N7 boot camp with a toothbrush." Hunt answered. "The good thing is I don't have to worry if I shoot someone as a SPECTRE, except Udina thinks he still has a say on what I do."

Mal smiled, "You could always shoot him and claim it was a misfire."

Both men laughed.

XX

Underground, Hidden Chamber

"There are reports that Serenity lifted off, no flight plan was filed." A deep feminine voice said.

"The Companion rejoined them. Her last burst transmission indicated they took on some cargo for Omega." Another voice said.

"Send a message, see if we can influence events further." The first voice said.

XX

Mal rubbed his leg and bit back the string of curses, instead he called out for his mechanic. "TYLEE!"

The cheerful mechanic's head popped out from under a deck plate, "What's up captain?"

Mal pointed at the sled that was in pieces and had smacked into his leg when he walked into the engine room.

"Oops. Sorry about that." The perky girl said as she moved to pull it under a workbench and tossed the parts into an empty bin. "I was seeing if I could make a new one and dropped a part. I was just getting it." She explained gesturing to the open deck.

Mal sighed as he rubbed his sore leg. "What did I come in here for…oh, I want you to work with Miranda on opening her sister's container after we touch down on Vienna-17, it's a warm climate world."

"Sure thing captain." Tylee said with a smile a very chipper tone in her voice.

Shaking his head, he wandered back thru the ship, stopping to watch Zoë box with the bag she hung from the catwalk.

He spotted Sienna meditating and climbed the stairs, he stopped in the galley, stopping at seeing Illyana making tea.

He watched quietly as the Asari seemed totally focused on the task of making her tea. Mal had to admit that the Asari when she wasn't arguing with him was interesting.

"May I help you captain?" Illyana asked without even turning around as she poured the hot water into her cup.

"You've been quiet since you returned." Mal said. "You didn't say anything about us going to Omega."

Illyana signed as she smelled the tea and inwardly sighed. "I understand you go where the work takes you. I have decided to forgo fighting over things I cannot control."

Mal watched her take her cup and head towards the passage that led to the shuttle. "I ask that you let me know where we are headed afterwards so I may search for clients and arrange meetings."

"We're stopping on a world called Vienna-17. We won't be there long, just some business for the Doc. After that we're heading to Omega where we're going to pick up some cargo and maybe passengers bound for Noveria."

"Noveria?" Illyana asked surprised.

"Yeah, I have a…favor for a friend. We might be there for a week." Mal said. "So you might be able to…service some clients…unless you want us to drop you somewhere else before then."

"No…no, Noveria is fine." Illyana said her mind already thinking of contacts. "Good evening captain." She left the galley and Mal who was left wondering about the way she was acting.

XX

Vienna-17

The small world was a days travel away from a relay and the air was filled with floating seeds that reminded everyone of dandelions. Mal watched as the pod was unloaded as Ms. Lawson hovered around it as his mechanic moved the sled away and set up a scanner.

"Patience Ms. Lawson." Mal warned. He tapped the communicator on his omni-tool. "Tika?"

"The sensor we dropped still shows we're in the clear capn'." The Quarian pilots voice reported.

"Keep an eye on it, and no video games. The last thing we need is for Cerberus to get the drop on us." He strode towards the pod as Tylee hooked up a portable computer.

"So far all the readings are in the green. We should be able to open it using its normal cycle." The mechanic said tapping commands into the holographic display.

"We should take it slow." Miranda said, her eyes on the capsule. "I don't want anything to hurt her."

Mal looked back towards the ship where Zoë, the Drell and Asari passengers were waiting and watching. "And we will." Mal said. "Tylee, do your magic."

The younger girl smiled. "Taint magic capn', just good ol' fashioned ingenuity." She grinned. "But I do admit I am a bit of a miracle worker."

Mal laughed and let her and Lawson work. The pair would check the display as lights on the capsule alternated and changed colors.

Mal spent the next forty minutes patrolling the area and chasing off the little monkey like critters, checking in with Tika who reported no change from the sensors they left.

"Almost done." Tylee called out checking the holographic displays.

Another moment there was a whir and a click and the capsule slowly opened, steam slipped from it.

Miranda was there with a medical scanner, Mal peered in as the smoke cleared and he blinked at seeing a young girl that looked like Miranda. "Huh." He said.

"Why is she naked?" Tylee asked.

XX

Elsewhere

"Sir, the signal just activated."

"Send the closest ship to investigate. We've spent too much on Subject X to afford another incident like with Subject Zero."

"Orders sent."

"Subject X cost far more than Zero, and if Lawson finds out we've misplaced her sister…there will be bigger issues."

XX

AN: Thanks for the patience to my readers. My diabetes has resulted in numb hands and feet. Still trying to get the balance of insulin right. My muse is also being moody, insolent and outright difficult…almost like a teenage girl. (laugh) yeah my girlfriend smacked me for that comment. I had to remove a bunch of my favorite stories after I reached 5000, nearly sobbed doing that. Keep sane I'm trying to get some writing done. ESM