31) Need Something That I Can Confess

"Well, this is as godforsaken a rock as I've ever seen," Mal commented around the tube of his oxygen supplement. He'd taken to clenching it between his lips and teeth like an old tobacco pipe, not that there was anything wrong with his method. It worked for him, and he wasn't wasting oxygen since he wasn't pulling on it any more than the rest of them.

"It's when the suns go into eclipse that you get problems," Rick gave some protrusions from the ground past the wreck a dark look.

"How likely is it to get dark while we're here?" Zoë asked from her chair by the ramp. Simon had insisted that she remain sitting until the ship's artificial gravity was the prevailing force. He worried, and Mal guessed rightly, that the heavier tug of M6-117's gravity would have a detrimental effect on her pregnancy.

"Shouldn't," Carolyn shook her head as she pulled a hat over it. They all wore sunblock and hats, scarves and longer sleeves. River had gone to the junk market and found (with Rick's help) several sets of what looked like priests' robes to Mal's vaguely recollecting eyes. The grey and tan (they might have been white or cream once upon a time) robes were lightweight, but they'd cover his crew from collarbone to calves and protect them from the worst of the three suns.

Rick had just shrugged and handed the robe he'd been given off to Zoë, "You'll need it, even on the ramp, sitting." He'd told her. "I don't burn, didn't last time, won't this time."

"Rick, would you at least wear a hat?" Simon's exasperation was evident in his voice and expression.

"Nope."

Mal sighed, "Rick yǐ suǒyǒu shèngjié de míngyì put on a hat at least. Simon won't stop squawkin' until you do, and my ears'll start bleedin' in another minute."

"I don't squawk," Simon objected. "I remind you of what's needful in a tone you'll hear."

"Yeah," Mal nodded. "You squawk." Simon rolled his eyes and Mal grinned. Some things never changed.

Rick grumbled but slapped the straw hat on his head, "Now can we get this done?"

River practically glided silently down the stairs from the passenger lounge, Jack following her, a sulky gangly shadow, with deliberately loud clumps of her boots on the steps. "Two suns set, the blue sun rises," She handed Kaylee's flowered sunshade to Zoë.

"Yeah, the heat don't get any better but at least the light doesn't feel like it'll burn you alive," Carolyn agreed. "We can use the sand cat as well as the mule once we get it going."

Mal looked at the piece of heavy equipment, sand blown in drifts around it, "Kaylee, you want to see about that?"

"Before anyone goes into any dark spaces," Rick held up his hand. "We mentioned before…but just in case you don't recall. There's these things…we called 'em sky sharks. They like the dark, the shadows. The light burns them."

Carolyn nodded and wrapped an arm around Jack's shoulders, "They're fast and they can smell blood. And if any of them got caught above ground when the suns came back, they'll be hiding in the shadows and dark."

"Don't go near them," Jack pointed at the formations that looked like broken anthills to Mal. "They live underground and those lead right into their kitchen."

"Ya'll didn't consider mentionin' this when we talked about salvage?" Mal was feeling a little irritated and a glance at Zoë showed a similarity of mood.

"Wouldn't have been much we could do. We know their weaknesses and we know where they'll hide, how to avoid them," Rick shrugged. "But to deal with these things I need to move. Fast. So no robe. Not until I know it's safe for all of you."

"Rick," Mal watched as Carolyn threw the huge man a flashlight.

"This'll help," Rick looked at Jack. "You and Carolyn stay here, help with the sandcat. We got away from these things once. Let's not press your luck mèi mei."

Jack nodded, for once not arguing in favor of going with him. River on the other hand, wore a grey robe over her tank-top and cargo pants. Her gun belt and weapons harness held it close to her upper body. Mal could see the sword and axe over her shoulders. She strode forward with an almost feral grin. "Shall we keep score?"

Mal would give Rick credit, he didn't bother to argue. He just checked his weapons again, "Don't think keepin' score'll really be needful. But go ahead if you want." Unlike the U-day fight or a lot of the other times the two of them had interacted, there was nothing flirtatious in Rick's tone. All business, grim humor setting his lips in a smile that should have been a frown for all the positive emotion it held.

"'Tross is this a good idea," Mal wasn't sure he liked his little girl going off to blithely hunt monsters.

"It is… necessary," She shrugged and followed Rick down the ramp. "Won't be long. Get the sandcat running; it is in the sun, safe to be there."

Well, that was a good point, "Let's do that little thing." Zoë and her mare's leg would have a good view of them too. That wasn't a bad thing.

It had been a good half hour of unearthly screeching, punctuated by gun shots now and then, and more screeching. But finally, Rick and River emerged from the containers. Mal got a nod from Rick and a grin from River, which was as good as the girl saying, 'mission accomplished'. The sandcat roared to life a few minutes later and Kaylee and Jack cheered, Carolyn chuckling at their antics.

Rick walked towards the ship and caught the bundle of cloth Zoë threw at him. Pulling on the robe he commented to Mal, "There's a lot more in the way of crates and stuff than I'd thought. Of course, we weren't exactly paying a lot of attention last time. To us, all it was good for was barriers."

"Bring the mule then, we'll just start bringing everything out. Open up the crates and if it's something that'll sell and not ruined after all this time, we'll bring it up into the bay," Mal ordered.

Kaylee had turned and was looking at the ship with excited eyes, "Cap'n, can I scrounge for parts?"

"You better go with her," Rick advised in a low rumbling voice. "That ship barely survived the crash as you can see."

"Yeah," Mal nodded. "Hold up Little Kaylee, I'll come with, you'll need the handcart too I'll bet."

"I got some sacks already," Kaylee patted the bags that dangled off her belt like a burlap skirt.

Mal nodded and grabbed the handcart anyway. Never knew what you'd come across.

"Huh," Mal looked at the broken cryo cases. Every single one was busted open. Including one that had 'Lockout Protocol - No Early Release' emblazoned across the plexiglass front. Kaylee had happily gone with Carolyn to help with the crates once it had been determined that most of the 'bridge' had been destroyed in the crash.

River slipped up to him, so quiet he nearly jumped, and one hand touched the strange cable-like chains that hung from either side of the case. "Horse bit," She told him solemnly. "Shackled and chained, tried to break him but they could not."

"Dà xiàng bào zhà shì de lā dù zi," Mal frowned. "Thought this was a civilian transport?"

She nodded, "Was not wrong."

"Zài dì yù de dì qī gè guā yuē jī zhōng shì shén me were they thinkin'," He didn't like this. What kind of idiot captain would let a merc transport a prisoner with civilians, even if they were in cryo? What kind of chǔn bèn bounty hunter would try it?

"The creed is greed," River informed him with the air of someone imparting obvious information.

"Uh huh," Well that much was obvious, no arguin' it. "Feels like Rick, Carolyn an' Jack know a bit more'n they're sayin'."

"Told you of the crash," River reminded him. "Not of surviving the planet. Difficult to discuss. Perhaps easier now that the wound has been lanced."

He could understand that, from what they'd said and what he'd seen, the crash had been bad enough. Especially for Carolyn and what she'd had to live with nearly doing. But then to find out the planet was infested with 'sky sharks' who couldn't stand the light, and there was a full eclipse comin' on? Rick's eyes must've been the only thing that kept them alive. He could understand how they kinda glossed over the specifics of that experience. But why in the hell would they not mention a mercenary and a convict and the dangers that particular situation would bring? He'd known from the jump that they had secrets, all of 'em, their body language practically shouted it. But he'd hoped he had earned a little trust, from Carolyn at least if not the other two. Hurtful that he hadn't, and he wasn't examining that too closely either.

"Mal," River's voice, using his name pointedly to emphasize the importance of what she was about to say. "Accusations will avail you naught. The girl would never let anyone on the boat who meant Serenity harm. Never." Graceful white hands gestured at the ship, desert and planet they stood upon, "This is Carolyn's Serenity Valley. Of all people, he should know the difficulties in discussing such things. Not intended as a hurtful secret or an indicator of lack of trust." She turned back to the cortex, doing something that was probably arcane and mysterious that only a genius type like her would understand.

Mal sighed and nodded. He had learned over the years that asking for answers rather than demanding them went over better. But now and then a reminder was in order. And it hadn't escaped his notice that Carolyn was still prone to nightmares about the whole situation. Nightmares that got worse the more stress she was under.

No point dwelling on it now. Once they were back into the Black would be soon enough.

Safely back aboard Serenity and the ship safely back in the familiar comforting embrace of the Black, Mal regarded his three newest crewmembers over the remains of dinner. River had found protein bars, huge ones like the genuine grade-A foodstuffs they'd salvaged more than a year ago. Those things didn't expire, not for decades and not even then if they were kept somewhere airtight.

An unbroken seal on a dusty crate meant that they'd be eating healthily (if not flavorfully) for a good long time. Canned goods had been some of what Carolyn's ship had been hauling. Those crates had been hurled around like dice in a cup but despite the dents only a couple of the cans had broken open.

There'd been other things, salvage they could sell but the food had been the truly useful prize. He figured to contact the fence that had sold the Lassiter for them about the antiques. Maybe Badger would buy some of the whiskey (if he didn't try to shoot them on sight that is). But the whiskey would keep nicely too, so better to dole it out a bottle at a time.

"It occurred to me that maybe there's some things we might need to talk about," He gave Carolyn a look and she rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably. "Saw some mighty strange things on that rock, and them 'sky sharks' of yours were the least of 'em."

"Told you about the crash," Carolyn said quietly.

"You did," He agreed. "Not much mention was made of a merc and convict being part of your passenger load though."

"Captain Mitchell must've taken 'em aboard after the rest of the passengers and crew were in cryo," Carolyn kept her eyes firm on his face. "First I even heard of it was when Johns, that was the merc's name, was warning everyone to stay away."

Rick nodded, "Said it'd be his preference to keep the man locked up for the rest of his life."

Carolyn nodded, "He said the convict had already escaped once from a max slam facility."

Incredibly, Rick chuckled, "She asked if the man was that dangerous and the shǎguā merc says 'only around humans'." He shook his head as if he couldn't believe the stupidity of the man.

"Idiot merc," Mal repeated. "In my experience mercs are like cockroaches, they don't die easy."

"We'd hiked to the settlement, found it all deserted just as you saw," Carolyn began to explain. "The convict had escaped, so the merc, Johns, went with us, looking for him. We heard shots and ran back. Damn near crashed into him."

Jack spoke for the first time, hatred burning in her voice, "That merc and Shazza, they beat on him, until he was unconscious, and they chained him up again. They thought he'd killed Shazza's husband Zeke. But it wasn't him."

"It was the sky sharks," Rick put a hand on Jack's shoulder to calm her. "They live underground when it isn't night. That whole area was hollow underground, a cave system leading to those spires. Used to be these horn looking things. They crumbled away to what you saw when the eclipse came full on. But Zeke had been digging graves. He went back and found the bodies gone, and then he went looking for them."

"They took him," Carolyn's voice had gone dull. "Johns, the merc, he made a deal with the convict, help with carrying things and he could go free after we got off the rock."

"He never meant to keep the deal," Rick shook his head. "I know that type. Their word doesn't mean much to them when money's on the line."

Carolyn nodded her agreement, "He told me that maybe I hadn't noticed but 'chains don't work on this guy'. Letting him think he could go free was the only way to keep him under control. But Johns never would have kept that agreement. It was just…a scam…to get the convict to work with us…until Johns could get him in shackles again."

"I take it things went bad," Zoë had been quietly listening until then. "How many did you lose?"

"Everyone except an Imam and us three," Carolyn said quietly. "We didn't know about the eclipse, thought we had time to prep the skiff, get more power cells from the ship, gather supplies… and when we found out about the eclipse Johns said to wait on the power cells. Until the last minute. So, the convict wouldn't have a chance to take the skiff. Johns said he wouldn't hesitate to hold a shiv to my throat or a gun to my back to make me fly and god knows what else he'd do to me once he didn't need me anymore."

"Johns told me that the man could fly," Rick rolled his eyes. "Doubt we ever heard a true word from that gǒushǐ duī." Those huge shoulders shrugged, "Anyway we rode the sandcat back but since it was solar it died before we could make the return trip. And… those things came out."

"We lost Ali to a swarm of the sky sharks in the shadows of the coring room, little ones," Jack said softly. "He was the youngest of the pilgrims. Shazza and Rick got caught outside the cargo container when they came, she tried to get up and run and they…"

Carolyn shook her head, "They ate her alive." She took a breath, "We lost Hassan to a couple of them in the cargo containers. Paris on the walk back."

"Holy man and the convict were pulling the cells. They had me up front so I could lead them," Rick took up the tale. "But we all had to rest sometimes." He took a breath, "The convict, he had a soft spot for kids, kept Jack from falling out of the light at least once. Johns got the idea to kill her, since she was bleedin', and drag her body on a cable behind us, to keep the sky sharks off our scent." The big man had the air of a man imparting bad news with the reluctance born of necessity.

Mal took in Jack's look of shocked horror (obviously the two adults had shielded her from that bit of unpleasantness) and Carolyn wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "Rick would never have let that happen, neither would the Imam or I." She consoled her before she looked at Mal, "Turns out, neither would the convict. He and Johns began fighting. And we ran." She looked down as if ashamed. "We ran and left them."

Rick shook his head, "The merc, Johns, was a hype, addicted to morphine, the convict…he was headed for the executioner or life in a slam. You did the right thing, telling everyone to run. At least he got to die free."

"Sometimes that's all you've got," Mal nodded his understanding.

Jack took a deep shaking breath, "We lost Suleiman going through a valley."

"And it started to rain," Rick added grimly. "Wouldn't have thought that rock had atmosphere or moisture enough for clouds and rain. But rain it did. Then the torches started going out."

"Rick found a cave," Carolyn explained. "He got the three of us in it and put a rock in front of the entrance. Then he went with the one little hand light on his back and took the cells to the skiff."

"And I was damn tempted to just go," Rick admitted. "Carolyn ain't stupid, she knew it'd be a problem too, too tā mā de enticing to me. They collected glow worms in a bottle, and she used that to get through the dark, came after me, convinced me to go back with her and help the Imam and Jack."

"They came and got us," Jack nodded. "Me and Imam and Carolyn were on the skiff, Rick had sent us ahead. Carolyn went back and got him. They both got hurt real bad."

"Nobody knew I could pilot the skiff. I didn't feel the need to share that with the merc, squirrely as he was," Rick chuckled. "Carolyn and I got ourselves back to it, Jack and the Imam did first aid while I got us off that rock."

"The convict," Mal regarded the three of them. "You don't ever call the man by name."

"Johns never told us who he was," Carolyn shook her head. "Just called him every name but a proper one."

"Called him 'boy' like he was some sorta indenture or slave," Jack's mouth twisted with distaste. "Or a dog, smackin' his thigh an' sayin' 'c'mon boy'."

"Maybe we can find out from the cortex drives we took from the Hunter Gratzner," Kaylee suggested. She'd been quiet through the story, holding Simon's hand tightly.

"Maybe," Carolyn frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know if Mitchell would've recorded it since he kinda snuck the two of them on after Owens and I were already in cryo. If he'd done everything above board, Owens or I would've known who they were, made sure the cryo drugs were taking well. No bad reactions."

River shook her head, "No mention of the merc or the 'extra passenger'." She spread her hands, "Perhaps the damage was too great. Evidence of heat erosion to the circuit boards."

Mal nodded, "Well whoever the man was, let's raise a glass in thanks for keeping our Jack here alive." He lifted his glass and half smiled as the rest of them followed, "To good deeds, no matter who has done 'em."

Author's Note: So they managed to talk their way around that potential problem, with a minimum of lying too.

Chinese Translations:

yǐ suǒyǒu shèngjié de míngyì (in the name of all that's holy/ In the name of all holiness)

mèi mei (little sister)

Dà xiàng bào zhà shì de lā dù zi (To have the explosive-type diarrhea of an elephant)

Zài dì yù de dì qī gè guā yuē jī zhōng shì shén me (What in the seventh sphincter of hell)

chǔn bèn (stupid)

shǎguā (idiot / fool)

gǒushǐ duī (a person who behaves badly (lit. "a pile of dog shit"))

tā mā de (fucking)