Symbols of Freedom

Season Two: Episode One

Disclaimer: This is a simple story set roughly six months after the events of the movie Serenity. We all know who created and owns the 'verse; this is just a bit of tip of the cap from me, a fan, to whomever wants to read more about the crew and their big, bad, beautiful ship. Hope you enjoy.

Introduction

There was only one thing Malcolm Reynolds hated more than Alliance law and that was Alliance lawyers. His current foul mood could be partly attributed to the considerable pain his busted hands were giving him, but was mostly due to his surroundings; the offices of Juniper, Ozaki and van Hansa, arbiters of law.

The offices were epic. The walls were polished limestone, subtly shadowed with the ghosts of ancient sea critters. Each tile was like a museum exhibit but probably cost more. The ceiling was a floating expanse of a reflectionless chromatic glass that somehow managed to absorb sound and make the building feel like a place of worship while simultaneously giving the air a crystalline essence. Explosive bouquets of flowers that would have cost Mal three good-months of honestly earned savings were strategically located to draw the eye to collections of art and books. There were no dead or browning flowers present. There wasn't much of anything brown here.

The office was busy in a measured and controlled manner. Sharp suited men laid comforting hands on client's shoulders and uttered quiet, reassuring words before they were led away by personal assistants, all devastating beautiful women cut from a similar, high-end, fashion mould. Secretaries sat at desks whispering into sleek headsets while older men, senior partners, still glowing from a recent workout, led new clients into boardrooms.

As soon as he and Simon had taken their seats in the waiting-foyer an assistant had brought them freshly brewed green tea. Mal's hands had been too bandaged to manipulate the intricate little pot so Simon had poured the tea for him. Mal had sipped the ridiculously hot drink as quickly as he could. It was high quality leaf. Mal could feel the searing heat of the fluid in his throat and at the same time, could feel the counterintuitive cooling effect of the herbs in his blood as it washed through him from within; forcing toxins and stress out of his skin like cold steam.

Mal sat back in a seat so comfortable he believed the animal that had provided the leather for its cushion could have been genetically engineered just to fit his ass.

Despite the effects of the tea Mal felt sick with worry and sick from barely contained contempt for all this Allianceishness going on right before his eyes. It was so clean, so sterile, and so efficient; so damned controlled and unnatural. Even the womens' beauty was clinical and premeditated, which to Mal's eye, rendered them utterly undesirable. Not that any of them, in his consideration, would have touched his brown-coated butt; not even as a bit of rough when drunk and feeling all experimental. Mal stood out against the cream and pesto interior like a turd.

He could see the way they all looked at him, the barely disguised look of contempt. Or was it pity? Either way, he wouldn't have gotten into the building let alone into the office if he wasn't accompanied by Simon. Mal stopped his internal rant and reassessed his situation. Simon wasn't accompanying him; Mal was doing the companioning here.

'Doctor Tam? Mister Ozaki will see you now.'

Simon raised his eyebrows at Mal and stood. Mal followed Simon and the secretary's mighty-fine, pin-striped, sashaying behind. They walked along a curving, floor-to-ceiling windowed corridor up to an ornate wooden door. The view across Arial's second city Uphaydron stretched for miles. The air was immaculate and from this height the thought that had gone into planning the cityscape was clearly visible. Straight line met right angle ad infinitum with a lush splashes of greenery thrown in for good effect. If any of the windows had opened out Mal would have been unable to resist the urge to take a piss.

They were shown into an office that looked like it had been designed by a particularly garish jeweler with absolutely no sense of reserve.

'Oh my.'

Even Simon was taken aback with the contrast between this room and the rest of the law firm. Mister Ozaki liked his gold and he liked his gold where everyone else could see it: in their face.

Mister Ozaki was a medium sized man with dark, receding hair slicked back on his skull. He greeted Simon with a warm smile and reached an encrusted hand across his desk to shake his hand.

'Doctor Tam. It's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, in the flesh.'

'Yes. Likewise.'

Simon was still taken aback by the room that regardless of the cost of its furnishings would have looked cheap in a crack-brothel. Mal looked about him and couldn't help a smile creeping over his face. He was warming to Mister Ozaki.

'And this is?' said Ozaki to Simon indicating Mal.

'Ah. This is Captain Reynolds.' There was no sign of recognition on Mister Ozaki's face. Instead he took in Mal's ensemble and pulled the slightest of faces.

Mal reached out his less-broken right hand and shook Ozaki's.

'Love the swans. Really. Incredible. Malcolm Reynolds. I'm the man selling the cargo-ship.'

'Oh yes. Of course, please forgive me.' He and Simon sat down at their respective sides of the desk. Ozaki began to move about bound legal documents.

'I have plenty for you to sign.'

Mal stayed standing.

'Yes, everything is just as you requested Doctor Tam. Here are the new company registration papers, your off-world transportation permits and papers, Alliance tax-registration papers.' He continued like that for a few minutes, reading out a new set of papers and setting them in front of Simon for his signature. Mal moved over to the door and checked the hall and then moved back into the centre of the room. He began to unwind the bindings from his gun hand.

'And finally,' said Ozaki, 'And this is for Mister… sorry, Captain Reynolds consideration and signature.' He held up two final sets of transaction documents; one copy for Simon and one for Mal.

Simon discreetly indicated for Mal to come and sit at the desk. Mal smiled back, but not politely. A micro-expression of concern registered at the corners of Simon's eyes.

'We could conclude this sale and re-registration first and then Mister… sorry, I keep doing that… Captain Reynolds could be on his way. I'm sure he is a busy man.'

Ozaki was speaking to a silent room. There was something going on here he was only now becoming aware of.

'Doctor Tam?'

Simon looked imploringly at Mal.

Mal's smile became shit-eatingly severe. He threw open his coat, drew his gun, cocked it and pointed it straight at Ozaki. The sound of Simon slapping his forehead in despair resounded throughout the room.

'Change of plan,' said Mal.

Image of man hunched in front of his computer screens. He looks unsatisfied with life. Sad music is playing.

His computer screen flashes a fault and goes black. He sighs and reaches for a can of BLUE SUN®

Suddenly the office is lit in blue light. Uplifting music featuring a children's choir plays. The man's computer comes back to life.

His work colleagues rise up and start to dance in unison.

The man is carried on this wave of enthusiasm outside of his work building. The music builds in excitement, rising to a crescendo.

The whole world is bathed in blue light and dancing.

The camera cuts to a close up of the ecstatic expression on his face as he punches his can of BLUE SUN® in the air.

Freeze image.

Show logo.

BLUE SUN®

MAKES LIFE WORTH WORKING FOR

Point Of View film of flying through space with stars rushing past.

Generic rock music heavy on the solo is playing.

[Authoritarian male voiceover]

HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO GET HIGH?

POV rockets upwards and into a stellar nebula.

REALLY REALLY HIGH?

Perspective explodes into a firework of sizzling POVs (that will self-actualise when viewed on HD-3D multi-screen format).

A fleet of pristine cargo ships fly towards the camera in formation trailing a spectacular plume of golden plasma. They break formation and rush off-screen leaving behind only a glittering rainbow of psychedelic exhaust particles.

Superimpose an image of a pilot with a moustache wearing a flared jumpsuit and his mini-skirted exotic female flight attendant carrying a tray stacked with drinks.

GET HIGHER THAN YOU HAVE EVER BEEN BEFORE…

JOIN THE GUILDED MERCHANT SPACE FLEET.

[Second voiceover spoken very quickly]

ONLY ALLIANCE CITIZENS MAY APPLY SUPPORTED BY THE ALLIED FEDERATION OF CIVILIZED PLANETS

Take my love. Take my land.
Take me where I cannot stand.
I don't care, I'm still free.
You can't take the sky from me.

Take me out to the black.
Tell my ma' I ain't comin' back.
Burn the land

And boil the sea.
You can't take the sky from me.

Have no place I can be since I found Serenity.
But you can't take the sky from me.

Chapter One: The Captain

Two weeks earlier…

The local sun appeared over the crescent edge of the algae-planet Crephelios like a sudden, blinding, continent-spanning inferno. Dawn rushed through the sucking vacuum of space and bathed the cockpit of the Firefly-class interplanetary cargo-ship Serenity with a pale, weak but welcome warmth.

River engaged the auto-pilot and let go of the flight-control stick. She raised her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs and closed her eyes. Serenity rolled gently downwards, to the right, following a targeting beacon.

The light irradiating the skin of her eyelids felt like the perfume of a desert flower and she smiled with pleasure. It had been a long flight without a captain and she was glad to finally be at their destination. It was her first time piloting Serenity without supervision. Now, all she wanted to do was drop off their cargo, get paid and… and… and what? Go home? Where was that? Where was home? Downstairs in the oily belly of the boat was where.

River was an itinerant with no home or ties or roots. She was just a particle, a photon, neither wave nor mass, lacking purpose or meaning. Nothing more than the result of a random chemical reaction, just being, existing and like the dawn-light, travelling through the 'verse wherever the solar winds took her.

River found herself longing for a refuge. Somewhere she was meant to be when she had nothing else to do. A home where there was weather in the sky and sand between her toes and a bed in a room in a house that was hers. A door that squeaked because she had forgotten to oil the hinges and wilting vegetables in the cooler because she had been gone too long and not gotten around to eating them before leaving. She wanted walls to paint and curtains to draw. River wanted someplace to rest up. Just for a time.

A navigation alert light illuminated and with her foot she toggled Serenity's reciprocal alert. From the shadow of the creeping dawn below a small dark spot detached itself from Crephelios'gravity-well and started to cut an elliptical arc towards them. River flashed the identifier again and waited for a response. It came through their receiver a few seconds later and River converted the signal to a data stream using an onboard processor. Numbers appeared on the monitor before her. She didn't need to compare the sequence with the record Badger had supplied, it was authentic. River had momentarily glimpsed the page as Badger had handed it to Mal but that was long enough for her to memorise it.

She uncurled herself from the seat and pulled on a pair of chunky-soled black military boots that she had kicked off what seemed like days ago. She strapped up the sides of the boots then tugged down the ends of her knee-length black leggings, pulled Kaylee's furry orange cardigan over her shoulders, tied her hair up and out of her eyes and buckled her double-holstered gun belt around her waist.

'Goin' somewhere?' Jayne grunted as he stretched in the co-pilot seat where he had been sleeping. He followed the direction of River's extended finger out the window.

'That them?' Jayne checked his watch, 'and on time too.'

'No. They are late. We got here early.'

'Well you know what they say?'

'Yes. It is the early bird that catches the worm.'

'Yeah... so. Okay. Let's go catch ourselves some worms.'

Kaylee collapsed back on her bed with a mind-blowing orgasm popping pink spots before her eyes. Simon fell panting beside her.

'Leg. Leg. Leg.'

He shifted his weight off her leg and rolled onto his back.

'Happy six-month anniversary,' he said between deep breaths.

Kaylee's smile was so bright it could have solved poverty. The two lovers lay side by side for a few more minutes saying nothing. Nothing needed to be said. Their love-making had communicated everything the other needed to know.

Simon stirred.

'I need a shower.'

'Good luck with that,' Kaylee said under her breath.

Simon stepped into the narrow cubicle set deep into the metal wall and turned the shower-dial. A dribble of tepid water escaped from the shower-head and landed on his chin.

'Is this broken?'

Kaylee plucked her panties off the floor and slid her legs into them.

'Nope, we're just out of water.'

'We're what! Isn't that serious?'

'Only if you need to drink to stay alive,' Kaylee laughed, 'there's enough in the pipes to do us a day or so. But we're so low on fuel I don't think the lack of water is going to be a problem.'

A naked Simon stepped out of the cubicle and dried his face on a towel. He couldn't help a little edge of irritation creeping into his voice.

'That's news to me.'

Kaylee shrugged as she clasped her bra.

'So now you know. Can you change anything? No. So what is the point in going about spreading bad news?'

'Because then we as mature, sentient and responsible adults could take control of our lives instead of being treated like children. And as for me not being able to change anything, how can you be sure if you don't tell me?'

Kaylee narrowed her eyes at Simon.

'Captain's orders.'

'Of course. Had to be. Keep 'em in the dark or smack their heads in; Mal's two techniques for controlling dissention amongst the ranks. Kaylee I can't believe you didn't say anything to me.'

Simon stepped over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. He knew how personally Kaylee took Serenity's woes. He was sure embarrassment had made it easier to say nothing.

'How bad is it?' he asked.

Kaylee looked down and shrugged weakly, 'Got enough fuel to make atmo but not enough left to break the pull of a'thing bigger'n a ping-pong ball.'

'Gods, so we can land but not take off again?'

'Not without a refuel.'

'What about life support?'

'Few days, a week if we don't switch on any lights.'

Simon sat down on the bed with a heavy creak. One hand came up to his chin and he stared into the distance. Kaylee completed dressing by tying the arms of her boiler suit around her waist.

'It'll be a'right. It's always a'right. The Cap'n 'll be back in no time. He'll have it sorted. You'll see.'

'Shiny,' said Simon, but this time he wasn't so sure.

Things had changed since the funerals. Mal had changed. Zoe had been the first to leave. Simon hadn't been surprised by her decision, just Mal's reaction. How had he not seen it coming? He had known Zoe longer than anyone else yet he didn't seem to have noticed that under all the military training and reserve she was broken clean in two. Fractured too completely to carry on in Serenity where all the memories of her short marriage were born. At night, while lying in Kaylee's bed, in the bunk adjoining Zoe's and Wash's, he had been able to hear the uncontrolled, wracked, raw sobs of Zoe's destroyed heart emptying its pain into a pillow too thin to fully muffles the sounds. Mal had been too busy enjoying his new, open relationship with Inara to notice. But Simon had noticed.

When Zoe had disembarked on the border-world of Huygoria, alone, Simon had been watching from the gantry in Serenity's cargo hold. She had walked away from her old life without a single goodbye or backwards glance. Her posture may have been erect and her strides purposeful but inside Simon suspected that she was nothing more than a crying little girl running away.

Mal had not taken it well, like it was a personal insult to him instead of a woman trying to hold her life together in the only way she knew how. Zoe had got a job wearing a badge in a settlement near a series of rivers and lakes that got some high profile Alliance fishing-tourists. He had spoken to her once on the cortex. She had seemed calmer, more centred. She had a house, "a small wooden shack really, with but a quarter of a roof, but a veranda and a view of the town, my town". She had laughed at that, the first time Simon had heard her laugh since Wash had been murdered. Zoe had a beautiful, rich laugh and Simon missed hearing it. She wasn't coming back. Serenity was no longer her home. Simon wished her well.

And then there was Inara. It wasn't until Zoe had left that Simon had fully realised how incomplete a human Mal was. Without Zoe's restrained sanity Mal was nothing more than a dangerous maniac. The two had complemented the other. Between them they had made a single functioning unit. But Zoe had always been the more normal of the two, the one able to hold on to a separate relationship. Simon believed that the reason that she had been able to do that was because she had let go off the war. She had made space in her psyche for life. Mal had never done that. He had never let go of being on the losing side. The war was still going on in his head. He had never made space for life; never made space for Inara. Simon was sure he had tried, in his own way. But Zoe leaving had left him open and vulnerable; exposed.

Inara was too smart a woman not to see exactly what she had been left with. The last word Simon had heard her say, scream to be exact, with black, mascara-stained tears streaming down her face as she and River had boarded her shuttle for her final flight from Serenity was damning in its brevity and precision.

'BIGOT.'

And she was gone and Mal hit the bottle. So it was fair to say that Simon didn't share Kaylee's confidence in the "Cap'n" finding a solution to their current worries anytime soon.

It was at that moment, that precise moment in time, that Simon Tam reached a conclusion. Someone had to save their home. Someone other than Malcolm Reynolds.

'Simon?' River's voice came over the intercom.

'I'm here River.'

'Simon,' she carried on as if she was in the same room and had heard her brother speak to her directly, 'they're here. They will be docking in ten minutes.'

'Thanks River. We're on our way up.'

'Hi Kaylee.'

'Hey River.'

There was the sound of River's hand covering the microphone and Jayne's rumbling voice in the background. There was a discussion and River could be heard hissing "No." and "Shut up" followed by Jayne's laughter.

'Kaylee, Jayne wishes you a good morning.'

'I'm sure he does at that,' sighed Kaylee as she began to climb her ladder.

'And that you both had a good nights rest.' More of Jayne's laughing was cut off as River terminated the com.

Simon stood, walked over and took a hold of the material at each of Kaylee's hips. He gently pulled her back down one step. He leaned through the rungs and kissed her.

'I want you to trust me Kaylee. I'm going to sort everything out.'

Kaylee just nodded; unconvinced.

Simon stood in the centre of Serenity's cargo hold with a miniature, two-chambered silver pistol in his pocket. Jayne was high up on the gantry that faced the cargo doors, lying down with his bobble hat on and Vera at his side. River was standing with her back to the wall on the steps to the side of the port. Both her guns were drawn and she had a mean looking curved blade on her hip.

'Where did you get that from?' Simon had asked her as she walked past him to take her position, 'you look like a pirate.'

'Ar, Ar, Cap'n' she had winked at him without breaking her stride. Internally, Simon had shaken his head. The more normal she became the stranger she got.

Kaylee stood at the control panel that operated Serenity's cargo doors. She looked nervous. Simon couldn't blame her, he was nervous himself. This was a Badger job and although it had not been specifically stated that the work was illegal, Badger's name carried a lot of illicit baggage with it. Mal had assured Simon that everything would be fine, "smooth as a gandered goose" had been his exact words. But Simon still felt about as nervous as said goose prior to the gandering. A lot was riding on this transaction. It had to go well or they were going to be dead in space within the week; or stranded on a planet whose principal export was lyophilised algae. Simon genuinely could not decide which fate was worse.

'They're here,' said Kaylee just as the sudden clang of the other ship making metal contact with their docking collars echoed throughout Serenity. They all moved slightly under the gentle impact.

'Seal's good,' reported Kaylee, 'starting pressurising… now! Shouldn't take but a minute.' Simon nodded and tried to get control of his right knee which had developed a ferocious tremble. He realised he wasn't just nervous, he was terrified. He touched the shape of the gun in his pocket for reassurance then looked back over his shoulder to check Jayne was still in position. The big man was casually picking his nose.

Simon was surprised that considering the severity of their fuel status Mal wasn't here doing this himself. He wondered what had been so important that Mal had had to take off prior to this transaction, by himself, to look for prospective tenants for Inara's still furnished but now unused shuttle. He wondered if perhaps it was a test, or whether their captain had just lost the plot.

'All good. Opening cargo bay doors.'

The internal doors began to slide aside and the external ramp-door began to descend.

'Okay Kaylee, good job, now back off somewhere safe.'

Kaylee scampered to the far side of one of the parked quad-carts and hunkered down a bit so that if anyone looked at her, she might not appear like she was trying to hide, but if things went wrong, then she was already half-way to the ground. Simon placed his foot on their cargo, a sealed plasticrete box about the size of a man's torso and found that it made his knee stopped shaking.

A jet of heavy, white gas under pressure escaped the pneumatics and made a lot of noise as it spread across the floor of Serenity's cargo bay. Simon found himself looking into the eyes of the other ships captain. He was shorter than Simon and dressed in a worn, brown leather flight-jacket and oil-stained pants cut off above the ankles. At one time he may have been considered handsome but years at the helm of boats that lacked adequate shielding against cosmic radiation had given him a haggard, wind-cured complexion. His eyes were sharp, his jaw unshaven and he was holding a snub-nosed automatic at gut level. Four more members of his crew streamed out of the entryway to the other ship with a variety of weapons drawn. They spread out. Kaylee hit the dirt.

Simon held his ground. He couldn't loose control of this situation because even with River in their arsenal Serenity's reduced crew looked badly outgunned. He didn't want anyone getting hurt. His heart was thumping in his chest like a racehorse's when crossing a finish line a nose in front. He held up his hands and spoke with as much calmness as he could muster.

'You here to do business or get yourselves killed?'

The captain released the safety on his gun with an oiled click.

'River?'

The gun flew out of the captain's hand and a blur somersaulted through the air above the other crews' heads and held a sword to their captain's neck before the retort of the single gunshot had fully reverberated around the cargo bay.

'Business I reckon,' said the captain.

'Excellent choice,' said Simon, 'Please put your guns down.'

There were some looks of dissent but a carefully executed nod from their captain made them comply.

'I think that will do River. Thank you.'

River sheathed the blade with a quick flick of her wrist and walked through the other crew and back to her position on the steps. She redrew her guns. Five heads followed her like prairie dogs watching an eagle.

'Do you have the money?'

'That the merchandise?'

'It is. Shall we trade?'

'Why that would be mighty fine and then perhaps you'd like to dance a line with me or one of the prettier boys on my crew?' Their captain had recovered his swagger quickly.

'Trade will suffice for now thank you.' clipped Simon taking his foot off the box.

The captain tossed him a security-locked corrugated wallet and indicated for one of his crew to get the box. Simon didn't need to check the money. The deal was all agreed prior to Mal taking it on. The price the seller was paying was set and in the wallet. All Simon had to do was take possession and keep hold of it. There were enough credits in there to get them back on their feet. A rising sense of relief was soured with a sudden twisting tension. There was still time for this to go wrong.

'Are we done then?' asked Simon.

'Unless you got something else to trade…' said the other captain.

Simon smiled, 'No, just the box will do for…'

Kaylee piped up behind him, 'What sort of trades you looking to do?'

Here it was, the moment it all went wrong. When Mal was whuppin' his shot-up ass later on he would think back to this moment and nod.

'What you looking for. We do a lot of salvaging.'

'You got parts?' asked Kaylee coming out from behind the quad-cart.

'Got some.' The captain looked over to one of his crew who wore a selection of tools around his belt.

'What you interested in?' asked their mechanic.

Jayne sauntered down from his nest keen to get in on the action.

'We don't got much,' said Kaylee, 'but we do got a whole shuttle full of a companion's finest finery. That worth anything to you?'

The mechanic looked to one of the other members of the crew, a spiky haired woman with round hips and hoops through many parts of her face.

'She die 'n any a 'em?'

'Nope. Just left 'em all behind. Won't be coming back neither.'

'We'll take a look 'n maybe a husband 'll swap sum'is junk fer 's wife's back.'

Kaylee led the couple up the stairs towards what had been Inara's shuttle.

This was beyond Simon. Seconds before the tension in the room would have induced a cardiac infarction in an elite athlete standing a hundred meters away, now they were chatting like old friends. It was moments like these that Simon felt most strongly the distance that his pure Alliance upbringing brought to his social interactions. He would never understand the shorthand, the mindset, the flexibility of being able to fight for your life one second and make friends with the same people the next. He had never experienced the honest reality of having to be prepared to do whatever it took to survive that growing up off-core instilled in its citizens, nor the camaraderie that was shared when you encountered people who lived the same life. Simon would always be an outsider; though perhaps not both the Tams.

One of the crew, a tall black man with powerful arms and a shaven head approached River.

'I don't have anything to trade,' she said looking awkward.

The man looked her up and down, 'I wouldn't be so sure about that darlin'.'

What River did next shocked Simon to the core.

She smiled.

Coyly.

'So, want to take a walk on our ship?'

'Maybe I do,' said River who descended the stairs and with a pirouette drew close to the man, 'just not with a piq du shi-ou like you.'

Jayne and a ginger haired crewman who had both been listening intently to this exchange laughed.

'Cock-block.' said Jayne and they high-fived.

River walked away across the cargo hold holstering her guns as she went. The man shook his head and smiled; he had enough class to know when he had been outclassed.

'Maybe next time then darlin'?' he called out.

'Maybe,' said River from the doorway above the med-room, 'and my name is River.' She flashed him a smile and was gone.

The man turned back to his crew mates with an enormous grin plastered across his face, 'Her name's River.' He placed one hand over his heart and walked back on board his ship with a laughing Jayne slapping him on the back.

'So what have you got to trade then?' said the ginger haired man to Jayne.

'I got guns, ammo, grenades, knives, porn…'

Their voices began to decrease in volume as they walked further away.

'That's one nice hat you…'

Simon heard Jayne cut him off mid-sentence.

'It ain't fer sale. Final.'

The captain and Simon were left in the cargo bay alone.

'That went well,' said Simon.

The captain nodded. He walked into Serenity a few paces and looked about him.

'Something about this ship… Just can't put my finger on it… Got the terrible feeling I been here before.'

'There's lots of Fireflys in the system.'

'No there ain't. No there really ain't. Takes a Hell of an intuitive mechanic to keep one of these birds in the air and they're about as rare as a good woman.'

Simon considered the double-barrelled truth of that statement.

'My name's Simon Tam,' he said extending his hand.

'Bon Saint-Chance. Pleasure 's all mine.'

'So sir, I'm not sure how one usually goes about these things but, to speak plainly, I may have a business proposal for you and your crew.'

Saint-Chance rasped the stubble on his chin for a second before speaking.

'One usually starts by pouring one a brew.'

River's voice came over the com, 'The Captain is back.'

Simon was lying on Kaylee's bed working on his slab. He finished off what he was doing, saved the document and replaced the stylus in its slot. He closed its cover with a slap just as the sound of Kaylee's boots running from the engine room to the living area came down to him. He picked up the wallet from the top of one of Kaylee's cabinets where he had put it half a day earlier and climbed the steps out of the bunk. He walked into the living area to find that he was the last to greet Mal.

River was sitting on the steps to the cockpit with a pair of bulbous pilot's goggles on her head. She was smiling at the activity. Mal was in the centre of it. Kaylee had him in a big hug and Jayne was relating some story from the other ship. Mal was laughing. His laughter faded as Simon entered the room. He had that effect it seemed.

'Doctor, all go well?'

'Yes. I think so. All in one piece.'

'Get paid?'

Simon showed the wallet to him and Mal indicated that he throw it over. Simon did so. Mal caught it and sat down at the table.

'Right here is the end to all our woes,' he said, 'we'll get our boat refuelled, get ourselves refuelled, take a leisurely spin to Kindralla, soak up some of their summer sun and open our doors to some paying passengers.'

'So there weren't any takers on the zinc mine?' ventured Simon. If Mal heard him he didn't acknowledge the question. He entered the security code Badger had given him and the top of the wallet eased itself up. He flipped its lid and emptied its contents out onto the table-top. A single, solitary credit fell from within its padded interior. It clattered like a lonely domino and came to a rest Alliance logo up. There was silence in the room.

'I'm gonna find myself a new boat,' said Jayne and walked out.

Mal looked at the credit like it had just called him a mother-lover.

'Is this a joke?' he whispered, 'A prank at the captain's expense?'

No one answered. No one dared. Simon pulled up a chair and sat down feeling like the weight of the world had suddenly been transferred to his shoulders.

'I asked whether this was joke.'

'No Mal it's not a joke. We got ripped off.' Simon could not help the exasperation that crept into his voice. He knew this had all been too good to be true from the start. Transporting a single case for Badger with no risk involved. No need to even land anywhere. Just rendezvous with their connection in deep space and take the money. Nothing in life was ever that easy.

'Got something to say Doctor. Such as explaining where my money is.'

'Don't Mal. I'm serious, don't even go there. I did exactly what you instructed me to. Handed over the cargo took the wallet no trouble. Exactly what you asked.'

'Then where the Hell's my coin!' bellowed Mal.

Kaylee took a step back from the two men.

Simon shook his head.

'This is pathetic,' he said, 'I'm done with this nonsense. This messed up, broken-down, whole screwed-up abusive family thing you think you've got going on here.'

'Don't you speak bad of my crew, my ship,' hissed Mal.

'Give me a break you drunk. Where the Hell were you? You made this gorram deal and then did a runner before it was completed. We have no idea were you were but you come back here with nothing to explain yourself except the smell of Sake on your clothes. And where do you get off being so high and mighty about your precious ship? Your precious crew? Your boat is one joule from being on the scrap heap and your crew corpses. You really gave a hung-du you would have been here to see everything was done right.'

Mal stood up and tried to draw his gun but it wasn't in its holster. He tried his other hip but it wasn't there either. He spun around. No one had seen River move from her seat on the steps but somehow Mal's gun was sitting in her lap. She shook her head.

'Instead of trying to murder one of your "precious" crew why don't you get Badger on the cortex and see just what the Hell has gone wrong here?'

Mal nodded, slowly, but the red-eyed glare he gave Simon was bordering on the psychotic. He marched out of the living area and down to the com-room under the cockpit. He hit buttons like they were the heads of squirting frogs in some amusement park distraction.

Simon, Kaylee and River followed him at a distance and stood in the doorway of the small room. It took a few minutes for Mal to get a solid signal through to Persephone. Eventually Badger's whiskery little scrotal face appeared on the monitor.

'Malcolm Reynolds, I've been expecting you. Did you like my little whore-box?'

'Your what?'

'Just a little business I like to conduct with people who are too eager to believe what they want to; a deal that only someone who was desperate or stupid enough to be a whore would take on.'

'You ripped us off!' snarled Mal.

'Ripped you off? No, I made complete and utter foo joo out of you. I made you a deal that was too good to be true. You must have known it was a con but you still took it on. Poor Mal, how the mighty have fallen.'

'Why Badger, why the Hell you so keen to die at my hands?'

'Don't threaten me Reynolds.'

'I'm not threatening you, I'm telling you, you kun-gesu piss-bird, I'm going to gut you, spill your innards over your boots and take a dump in that favoured hat of yours.'

'You can't speak to me like that.'

'Funny 'cause I just did you ki-ho jink-ha.'

'Mal you're a dead man. I swear on my mother's grave. You are xindun. Walking xindun. You're dead and you don't even know it. You and everyone else on that ship.'

Badger cut the transmission just as Mal drove his fist hard into the screen. The glass cracked but did not shatter. Blood from Mal's knuckle dripped onto the floor. Mal just stood, staring down at where Badger's face had been seconds before.

'I'm going to kill him.

Mal's voice was cracking.

'I swear. I'm going to kill Badger.'

A violent shudder ran up his body. He suddenly attacked the console with a terrible ferocity, smashing the metal edges and glass panes with his bare flesh, screaming. Not words, just sounds. Horrible sounds, like those that had echoed around the tunnels of Mister Universe's station. Sounds made by Reavers.

As quickly as it had come the rage passed.

Simon cautiously fully eased himself into the room beside Mal.

'Mal, Let me take a look at you.'

Blood was running freely from Mal's hands onto the floor. It was all over the equipment. Mal tried to shake him off but the movement lacked strength. There was no intent. There was nothing left but a malnourishment in some old clothes. Tears were streaming down Mal's face. His head began to rock and sobs escaped his chest. His body buckled and he crumpled on the floor.

'I can't go on,' he said into the air between hitched breaths. 'I just can't go on anymore. I just can't… I just can't. I just can't bear it.' Simon wondered whether Mal was even aware they were there.

'River, help me get the captain into his bunk. I don't want Jayne to see him like this. Kaylee get Serenity moving again. Give me whatever you've got left. We're taking her down. We need some solid ground beneath our feet for a time.'

'But then we'll be stranded.'

'I told you I would take care of things Kaylee and I meant it. Let River get us to the nearest thing that resembles civilisation and I'll take care of the rest.' Kaylee hesitated; she stared at Mal and her eyes began to well up in response to his pain.

'Kaylee, love, we've got him. Now get moving and don't worry, it'll be fine. I'm in charge now.'

The end of 'Symbols of Freedom: Chapter One'

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