p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jayne leaned against the ladder of Book's quarters. He glanced around but quickly drew his attention back to the older man. Jayne hadn't spent much time in here, despite considering the other man a friend. Usually the Shepherd sought Jayne out in the public areas of the ship, or they would exercise together in Jayne's gym. Today, however, Book had invited Jayne here to talk about his upcoming stay at a monastery on the central planet, Ariel. They were swinging through to drop Inara off for her yearly recertification exams and Book was taking the opportunity for some time in the sun with his fellow religious nerds./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""It would do you good, I believe. Focusing on meditation and self understanding for a spell." Shepherd Book's voice came from behind a stack of books. Some of them looked like they were falling apart but had been lovingly rebound and reinforced by multiple Shepherds through the years. "Not to mention the benefits of real gravity, real sunshine," he paused for a beat. Book lifted his head over the stacks to raise his white eyebrows at Jayne, "and real span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"food/span."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jayne grinned and shook his head. "Nah, not my kind of party." He replied. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"What he left unsaid was that he did not want to spend time on self understanding or meditation. In fact, he was trying to avoid thinking about himself and his own personal status as much as was physically possible. Jayne's brow furrowed. His status was not dead yet. Death followed him. Watched him. Its cold breath was on his neck even now. span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Dried mud flakes from the feathers and bones. There's no weight to them. /span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jayne excused himself smoothly and left Book to packing. He made his way to the common area and dropped into his regular chair at the table with a sigh. It would be a quiet couple of days circling a central planet. No petty crime, just the great big crimes. He'd probably only be boots on the ground for as long as it took to send some money to his mother and then be right back on Serenity. He planned to take a double dose of the sleeping pills and maybe then he'd finally feel rested./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Entering orbit over Ariel, we'll see how long the lines are/span. Wash's voice crackled through the speaker in the ceiling of the dining room. Jayne could sense, more than hear, the energy of the ship around him shift with this announcement. In the very air around him Jayne felt as anticipation slipped into urgency. The familiar throbbing had returned to his temples and the itch behind his eyes was needling at him. Just when Jayne was about to pull himself out of his chair and return to his bunk to find the pills that told him pretty lies about feeling better, Book entered the room. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Up for a game of cards while we wait?" The twinkle in Book's eyes reminded Jayne of his mother and some deep hidden part of Jayne's heart /"Sure thing, old man."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"*****/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Simon counted the bottles. And then he counted the pills in the bottles. And then he counted the bottles again. Someone was stealing from the medicine cabinets. Simon leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. His first duty was to his sister, and for that he needed a functional medical office. His second duty as the ship's doctor also meant that every person within her metal walls was his patient. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Someone on the ship was self-medicating./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Simon began to make a mental to-do list. The missing drugs wouldn't be hard to replace once they got to Ariel. Price was a consideration, however. He remembered Kaylee telling him that anything needed, even for keeping them alive, needed to go through Mal. Drawing the captain's attention seemed unnecessary at this juncture with patient privacy at stake. Simon shook his head. A ship full of pirates… shame they couldn't just steal what they needed from a big enough hospital. They'd have more than enough drugs on hand and wouldn't go long before their own restock. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Simon ran his fingers through his hair. The silky strands felt cold against his warm fingers the more he thought. Those hospitals on Ariel would be amazing. Similar to ones he trained in. The ones he should be working in now. If he were there, instead of in this little room, he'd have so many more tools at his disposal to take care of his patients. His patient. Those hospitals have all sorts of resources and equipment that he could use to help River. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hmm," Simon said to the room. He brushed the tip of his thumb against his chin and turned back to the cupboards. The tickle of an idea began in Simon's mind. One by one he opened each cupboard door and started moving along the shelf, pulling down bottles and jars./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"*****/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"River placed one foot carefully in front of the other. She moved through the passageways of the giant mental insect within which they buzzed lazily through the galaxy. Fireflies. Her eyes widen as the patterns in the metal grating hummed with the vibrations from thousands of footsteps pressed into it from years upon years of crews running along. Running to and from friends, families, lovers, duties, and crimes. So many of them running, running out of time. Running. Their lives are full of danger. Fear. Running. Running./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"They'll catch you./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""They'll tell you to sleep." River whispers to the metal around her. The ship creaks back, shifting under pressures. River nods. Serenity knows./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Voices bounce along the metal walls back to her. Now. Here. This crew. br /River moves silently through the ship and finds the crew gathered. Talking. Laughing. Not running. Danger. They were in danger. Why was no one running?/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It's time to go to sleep. Danger is everywhere. River's eyes fall on Jayne. His eyes are rimmed with red. He carries darkness inside. If one were to calculate statistical likelihood of downfall, River has found the greatest chance of betrayal. Removal of the problem appears to be the best avenue for success. The knife is in River's hand./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"*****/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""She slashed me across my gorrammed chest with a gorrammed knife!" Jayne grunted through clenched teeth. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yes, and Simon patched you up real good." Kaylee said with exaggerated patience. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jayne waved her words away as he paced around the cargo hold. He had gone there to lift heavy things, but doing so pulled at the bandage which was itching his chest. The underlying cut stung slightly. It really wasn't all that deep of an injury, but it's the principle of the thing. A member of his crew pulled a weapon on him and left a mark. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""The girl is dangerous." Jayne said and turned back toward Kaylee. "Mark my words, no good will come of Moonbrain being on this ship."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Kaylee shook her head. She'd come here to tell Jayne that the captain wanted them all back in the dining room for some sort of meetin' but found him here all flustered. She felt the familiarity of this place. The hours watching him exercising and pestering him with her company. She walked over to the stacked crates of the gym area and sat in her usual spot. She felt a shift in the cargo bay when she did so. Jayne stopped mid-pacing. From where she perched Kaylee could see his profile, and could see that he was avoiding her gaze. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Jayne," Kaylee said his name slowly. "We haven't talked much since… um." Her voice trailed off as she tried to gather up her thoughts which seemed to slip from her grasp as she tried to put words to them. "Well, in a bit." /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jayne shifted and turned away from her. His profile was replaced with his back. She could see his muscles tensing beneath his shirt. He resumed his irritated pacing and she pressed on./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Kaylee shook her head, "I miss..." Jayne tensed at her words. "You being ok."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The pain in his chest grew from an old ache to a fresh stab. Jayne turned from her and walked out of the cargo hold./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"*****/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""So that's the plan. What do you think?" Simon was slightly out of breath and could feel sweat prickling his neck./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Mal looked to Zoe and they appeared to have a silent conversation in the narrowing of eyes and movements of eyebrows. Mal then looked to Jayne. The muscle was chewing on his thumb in an uncharacteristically anxious manner. Jayne looked from Mal to Simon and stared (glared?) for a moment before looking back to Mal and slowly nodding. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I like it," Mal said cheerfully. "Now let's work out some details."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The crew begins working on those details. They plan to hit the hospital in a week. Kaylee and Wash will head off to the junkyard and pick up some of the necessary supplies. Jayne will stop planet-side for his planned stop at a wiring station and then scope out the hospital to see if he can follow an employee or two who look susceptible to being persuaded into helping them acquire uniforms./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It's a simple enough procedure. The hard part will come later when Jayne will have to memorize medical mumbo jumbo, but the buzzing in his ears and the itch behind his eyes was getting too strong for thinking about that right now. Jayne stopped in the hallway outside of the common room after the crew meeting adjourned. He leaned against the metal wall and waited for the worst of it to pass. When he began to move again the hairs on the back of his neck prickled. Turning his head quickly he saw Simon standing at the opening of the hall hatch./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You seem unwell," Simon said softly./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jayne sneered at the little man and stalked to the door to his quarters. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Finally in the safety of the close room, Jayne went to the locker and pulled down the bottle. The pill goes down easy and he waits for the relief, but none comes. Peering into the bottle, Jayne counts the remaining pills and slides two more out. One he tucks into his pocket and the other he tosses into his mouth and dips his head to the sink faucet to wash it down with another gulp of cold water. Cupping some water in his palms, Jayne scrubbed his hands over his face roughly, and then surprised himself by catching his own gaze in the small mirror. "Keep it to yourself." He muttered to his reflection. He collected his gear and made his way to the cargo bay./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Serenity was parked in the ship-dock on Ariel. They were paying dearly for the single day they reserved this spot. The rest of the time they would be in orbit and move back and forth using shuttles. Jayne tugged on his jacket to cover his small weaponry and strode down the ramp onto the hard ground. Mal had given him a specific wiring station to go to. It was selected for its proximity to the hospital they intended to target at the end of the week. The walk through the city was uneventful. Jayne noted the skinny kids sneaking out of alleyways and picking pockets of the busy well-dressed types rushing past. He saw unhoused folks ranging from teens to elderly sleeping in the shadows, ignored by the wealthy walking mere steps away./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The wiring station had a long line and Jayne joined the queue. The clientele appeared to be mostly families of sick patients begging for funds from off-world to pay for the care being received inside the towering hospital behind them. While waiting for his turn to use the station Jayne took to staring at the tower. His gaze slides from the blinking lights at the shuttle landing pads near the top all the way down to the large gleaming front doors on ground level. His eyes suddenly focus on someone standing between those ostentatious doors and him. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Jayne Cobb?" She spoke carefully./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Vera Mo'eni." He breathed. /p