"I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid we can't accommodate you." The alliance officer said to the two Blue Sun agents as they stood in front of his desk.

"What do you mean?" One of them said robotically.

"Exactly what I said," The officer replied with a bit of annoyance. "This supposed 'fugitive' that you cited upon your arrival doesn't show up in any of our warrant databases, therefore I'm under no obligation to issue any of my men to you."

"There must be some mistake," The first one replied. "Perhaps if we could speak with your superiors?"

"I am the most senior officer in this facility, on this whole rutting planet as a matter of fact. I'm under to obligation to contact my superiors at the request of a civilian. So unless you have some secret military credentials that I don't know about I'll ask you two gentlemen to take your leave. Immediately." The officer stood up from his desk to emphasize the point.

With that the two blue handed men turned and left the Fed Station. Once outside they contemplated their situation.

"What was that?" The first man said.

"I've been hearing of this lately, seems the alliance military as been less and less inclined to assist our field agents ever since Miranda. We believe it's due to all the bad press they took after the broadcast, they just aren't willing to risk any more public disturbances at the moment." The second man replied.

"How shall we proceed?" asked the first.

"Without armed alliance back up we are only two, we will have to shadow Reynolds and his team, wait for an opportune moment to apprehend Ms. Tam." The second answered.

"Agreed."

With that both men headed off towards the docks where they expected Serenity to land.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

River scanned the crowds as Mal lowered the ramp at the docks. Something had been bothering her ever since they entered atmo. Her visions were disjointed, broken. As if two predators were lurking somewhere, waiting to strike.

"I've got a bad feeling about this bao bai," River said to Mal as he came up along side her.

"Something wrong darlin?" Mal said with concern.

"I've been getting disjointed visions ever since we broke atmo. There's something here, some kind of danger. Its very…familiar…" River said in a far off voice.

"You've had visions before River, we've come outa those ok, we'll just take extra precautions, keep our guard up like before and it'll turn out alright." Mal said.

"But its different this time Mal, and its not just one threat, there's two…something….groups maybe…I can see for sure." River said with strained look.

Mal tried to reassure her. "Well hon, theirs more then a few of thems that want us dead on this rock, though most ain't wiling to risk it. Don't you worry. If you want, I'll just take Zoe and Jayne with me over to see Badger, you can stay here and guard the ship. Soon as we get back we can get back into the black and hit up some other place for supplies?"

River shook her head, "No, if something happens to you out there and I'm not with you I'll never forgive myself."

"Alright, but since you bring it up, I think a little extra caution may be in order. We better leave Zoe here to watch over Serenity case things go pear shaped." Mal gave River a reassuring look, "Better go grab your gear, we'll meet up with the others and go over everything before we head out dong ma?"

River nodded in agreement and headed off towards their bunk to grab her weapons.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Moments later everyone was assembling in the cargo bay. Mal turned to see River descending the stairs.

Mal eyed her up and down, "That's a….a mighty fine blue skirt you got there." Mal murmured distractedly.

"Really? Oh, yeah I kind of like it myself" River replied innocently.

Mal rolled his eyes, "We'll talk about this later."

River gave him another unassuming glance, "Talk about what?"

Mal was incredulous "You know wha…"

"Ahem…" Zoe cut in. "Sir?"

Mal was suddenly knocked back into captain mode at the sound of his first mate. "Right. Ok everybody seems Badger may have some work for us, easy work that he only gets if he can get us to deliver it. It's a fact that has forced him to lower his usual take for a job like this so we aim to get it. However, River's been getting some bad vibes ever since we landed. Seems their may be some trouble about."

The rest of the crew began to murmur to each other with concern.

"Now don't y'all worry. This ain't anything at all different then what we've done before when River's gotten visions like this. We'll just take some extra precautions and we'll be fine. To that end, we ain't re-supplying here. Jayne, River, and me are gonna go see Badger. In, out, and back as fast as we reasonably can. Zoe, I need you to stay behind and see to Serenity. Keep her locked up tight from the moment we leave till the moment we get back. Rest of you aren't to leave the ship for any reason whatsoever. Fact I want you all standing by case something goes pear shaped. Wash and Inara on the bridge, Kaylee in the engine room, and doc…in the med bay." Mal said the last sentence with a bit of foreboding.

Everyone nodded in agreement as they headed off to their various tasks.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

River, Mal, and Jayne descended the Serenity's ramp. The all stood for a moment and scanned their surroundings as the metal clamp of Serenity's locks reengaged behind them. All three of them were on high alert as they dove into the crowd.

Mal had thought walking to Badger's on foot would be the best way for them to go. It would allow them to blend in easier and the slower pace would allow them to take in their surroundings better, and notice if anything seemed amiss. But as they approached Badger's office, alarm bells starting going off in each of their heads.

"Tracks…" Jayne murmured, almost to himself. "Look at they ground near the entrance, someone's gone to a lot of trouble to make it look like no body has been in or outta there in awhile."

"The guards…" Mal said in agreement. "There ain't no body guarding the door. Badger usually likes to keep at least a few men posted if only for show."

"Badger…" River concurred. "He's scared Mal, of what I can't tell but he's scared of something."

"Some thing sure as hell isn't right here." Mal said. "Maybe this ain't worth the risk after all."

With that Mal and the others turned to leave only to come face to face with a group of heavily armed men….in Browncoats. At the head of the group were two women, one of them very familiar to them.

"Hey there hon!" Said the women originally introduced to them and Saffron. She gave Mal a sarcastically sweet smile. "Been wondering where you been hiding Hubby." She said.

At that comment River's blood began boiling. She instinctively reached for her blade, every inch of her aching to tear the faux usurper limb from limb at the mere implication of being married to her love.

Mal could sense the anger radiating from her like a stove. He placed his had on her shoulder to try to calm her down a bit. Without looking at her he sent her a thought. "Calm down bao bai, lets what to see how this plays out first."

Relenting, River tried to calm herself as she sent back, "Fine, but if anybody gets to kill her it's me!" Mal nodded imperceptibly in agreement.

Mal was really more interested in the…well the Browncoats. So much like his own, they looked like they'd just walked out of Serenity valley themselves only a few days ago. He wasn't sure but he almost felt like he could even recognize some of them. Shaking him out of his nostalgia, the young asian women stepped forward to address Mal and his crew.

"Sergeant Reynolds I presume?" She said in an authoritative, yet mechanical voice.

"Been a long time since anybody called me Sergeant darlin," Mal said in his usual casual tone, though at this point he was forcing it more then he was generally accustomed to. He felt a kind of connection to her though, despite the situation. Something was familiar about her, something…..reminded him of River.

Mal's thoughts turned to River, hoping she wasn't flying into another jealously induced rage. But that wasn't what was coming from her now. She was…confused. He could tell she was sensing some kind of familiarity with the women too. River sent a disjointed serious of thoughts to Mal, she was getting flashbacks of the academy. This woman had been with her there.

Mal's thoughts were now more worried. "Is she a reader, is she hearing us right now?"

"No…she's not a reader…in fact I can barely get anything off her at all. It's almost like…like she's not even there." River responded.

The mysterious woman continued. "That may be the case Sergeant, but nevertheless you are ordered to report back to command for debrief and reassignment." She said resolutely.

"That so huh?" Mal responded back. "Well, you might be too young to remember, but in case you hadn't noticed the war's long done. I stopped taking orders from command when they stopped returning my calls." Mal shot back with mock sarcasm.

"Sergeant, you are one of our most decorated veterans. I'm told you can most likely expect a promotion on your return, but if you insist on resisting I am authorized to use force to bring you back to command for your debrief." The woman replied with a deadly seriousness to her tone.

"River?" Mal mentally asked for an assessment of the situation.

"Not sure, without her I could probably take all of them by myself. But I'm not sure what she's capable of. And since we seem to have some kind of past history, I worried that she knows exactly what I'm capable of." River said.

"Jayne," Mal murmured under his breath to his mercenary.

"If'n I could get behind some cover I've probably got enough to take them down." Jayne replied clutching Vera in his hands.

Across the way, Saffron and her companion contemplated the situation.

"We have the numerical and tactical advantage, they won't risk an attack." The woman stated assuredly to the men.

"Have you studied Mal at all little girl?" Saffron derided. "His whole life has been one big exercise in dumb luck. Of course he's going to attack."

Just as the woman was about to rebuke Saffron a cloud of dust was kicked up by a nearby hovercraft as it passed behind the two groups. Ceasing the situation River quickly snatched a smoke grenade off of Jayne's belt and hurled it at the opposing group. As the grenade exploded and filled the street with a dark cloud of gas River, Mal, and Jayne took cover behind a cement barrier in the street.

River grabbed Jayne roughly by the shirt collar, "SINCE WHEN DO YOU CARRY SMOKE GRENADES!?!?!?!" She shouted angrily over the commotion.

"I don't know!! I though they was regular ones!!" Jayne got out in a sheepish reply.

Saffron cursed Mal's dumb luck yet again. "What did I tell you?!" she yelled to her counterpart as they covered behind some parked vehicles across the street.

"This wasn't a completely unforeseen scenario." She stated with an eerie calm in the mist of the chaos. She then turned to the six men with them. "Alpha team, attack pattern delta two. Beta team, you're the sweeper I'll be joining you."

She then turned to Saffron, " Stay here and keep Reynolds and his team pinned when Alpha moves." Saffron reluctantly agreed.

"No matter what, Reynolds has to live!" she commanded everyone. "The other two are expendable, but it would probably be easier to get him to cooperate if his team is left alive." With that the teams moved out.

Three of the men started to move to the left from behind the cover. Mal tried to pick some of them off but fire started raining down as soon as he poked his head out. Mal risked another peek and saw the same three men moving again. It looked like they were trying to come around. Yet again he tried to fire but was suppressed by fire from his opponents original cover. He wasn't sure but it sounded like less fire this time though.

A thought struck Mal, their splitting up! Trying to draw their attention away from the real attackers coming up on their right. This was a text book play that he and Zoe used to run all the time. He sent these thoughts to River. She psychically scanned the area and confirmed his suspicions. With that a plan formed in Mal's head.

"Jayne," Mal shouted to his mercenary. Jayne came over and Mal grabbed one of his smoke grenades. He pointed towards the group coming up on their left. Jayne got into position. Then he pointed River toward where he thought the other team was coming but she was already in position. She turned to look at him and gave him a slight grin as she pointed towards her head, indicating she had already read his plan in his mind. With that she drew her blade and crouched down. Just as the alpha team started to move Mal lobbed another smoke grenade at Saffron. As the dark cloud descended it was all she could do to breath let alone return fire. Left without covering fire Jayne let loose on the alpha team. Killing one and badly wounding another before they reached cover.

Completely unaware of their comrades misfortunes, the other team came up on Mal's position. The lead man was just about to round the blockade when a blade came from somewhere below and sliced him from his midsection to his chin. He immediately fell as a lifeless heap on the ground. The other two men, still shocked by the speed of the attack were too slow to react. Both attempted to raise their guns to fire but by the time they had pulled their triggers River had already gotten on the inside of one of them and with her back to him redirected his arm towards his team mate, causing him to shoot him dead. With that she spun around and embedded her blade into the shooters neck, killing him instantly.

As all this happened around her, the mysterious woman remained perfectly still. As River turned away from the last man she looked upon her. She still had her back to River, still as a statue. River wasn't sure if maybe she was in shock. But the tone of her speech quickly put that theory to rest.

"Its been a long time River," she said coolly.

"Has it?" River said with genuine curiosity.

"Have you forgotten?" the woman replied mechanically.

"Forgotten what?" River asked more exasperatedly then usual.

"Amnesia then? A side effect of your procedures, or self induced I wonder?" she said almost to no one in particular.

"Enough of this!" River shouted as she drew her blade.

"A sword River? You really have forgotten haven't you?" she replied almost sarcastically.

With that River leaped toward the woman to strike at her head with a powerful downward stroke. She moved out of the way just as River thought she would but then River came rising up with a sweeping motion toward where she anticipated her opponent's midsection would be. Astonishingly she moved out of the way just in time. Now facing her River took a moment to size up her enemy. The manner in which she stood suggested she considered River no threat at all. This was not the normal reaction River was used to seeing on people with a bloody sword in her hand. But this woman's disposition was different. There was no arrogance in her stance, she wasn't trying to goat River into attacking again, she genuinely didn't see River as a threat. If only she could read her, get some insight into what was going on in her mind! River wasn't used to dealing with opponents she couldn't read.

"You can't win, big sister. Just let me take Sergeant Reynolds and you and your companion can return to your ship." She stated calmly.

"What did you just call me?" River asked, taken aback slightly.

River detected the slightest of grins at the corners of her opponent's mouth. "Perhaps too familiar a tone for you sis?"

"No offense, but I hardly see the family resemblance." River shot back sarcastically.

"Not by blood, of course, but what we've been though together, no one else could ever understand, no one. Or at least that's what I thought" The slight grin on her face disappeared again behind a cool exterior.

"You're not making any sense!!" River said. Almost amused that she actually got to say that to someone else for once.

The woman offered no reply. And with that River lunged at her again. She dove into a roll intending to cut her down at the knees but astonishingly she was just one second too slow yet again as her opponent flipped into the air and landed facing River's back just behind her. Thinking quickly River spun and lept up from her crouched position in an attempt to embed her blade into her opponent's neck. But as she swung the woman caught the blade, with her bare hands.

River, though shocked, tried to tear the blade way from the woman's vice grip. As she struggled the woman looked at her calmly. "As much as I have enjoyed our little trip down memory lane, you don't factor in here. I need the Sergeant. If you wish to join us that's fine, I have no desire to kill you. But I must insist you refrain from further outbursts."

With that the woman grabbed River and flung her into Jayne who was still firing on her other team near by. Jayne fell flat on his face as River collided with him. The force of the impact rendered him unconscious. Mal tried to turn to see this new threat that had neutralized both his merc and psychic girlfriend, but was struck from behind. The force of the blow caused him to black out.

River struggled to pick herself up off the ground, still dazed from being hurled into her crew mate. As she struggled to regain her composure she saw the strange women casually glancing down at the cuts in her hand caused by grabbing River's blade. The way she examined her hands was strange. Almost like someone checking tools after they had been damaged. She seemed to be experiencing no pain whatsoever. After finishing her evaluation of her hands the woman looked over to the remainder of her Alpha team. One man hobbled over supported by the other. As they came to meet behind the cement barrier the sound of sirens could be heard in the distance.

"Sounds like the neighbors have called in some noise complaints about our little party." The uninjured man chuckled.

"It would seem so," the woman replied.

She glanced at the injured man, "Can you walk under your own power?"

"I think I can manage," He grimaced out.

"Good, because we can afford to have you slowing us down. We are not prepared for an armed conflict with law enforcement officials." She stated mater of factly.

"Perhaps we could render some assistance in that regard." Stated one of the two Blue Sun agents as they emerged from a shadowy alley near by.

The two browncoats drew their weapons instinctively on the two strangers as they approached, "Who the hell are you two?" they both asked.

"Lower your weapons gentlemen, these two are not to be trifled with." The woman stated calmly to her men. Both obeyed hesitantly.

"Nice to see you still remember your place Aleera, perhaps we shouldn't have been so quick to eliminate your program." Stated the first agent.

Aleera face betrayed no recognition to his allusion to their shared past. "I know what you have come for." She continued.

"Very observant as always," stated the second agent.

"We have been observing your conflict with Reynolds and his team. We know its him you've come for." Said the first agent.

"Just as I know you've come here for River." Said Aleera.

"Is that a problem?" Both agents asked in unison.

"I'm not sure," Aleera said, "What are you proposing?"

"We're prepared to offer your injured man this stimulant." Stated the first agent, revealing a syringe from his pocket. "It will allow him to disregard the pain of his injuries at least long enough to get away from the police."

"And in return?" Aleera questioned.

"Render Ms. Tam unconscious so that we can get her out of here. Even dazed as she is in her current state she'll most likely prove too much for we two to handle on our own here in the street." The second agent said.

Aleera paused for a moment, then a slight grin could been seen from the corner of her lip. "A bit of poetic justice I suppose."

"What?" Both agents said again in unison.

"Nothing, your proposal is acceptable." She said. "Give my man the stimulant, I'll bring Ms Tam over for you."

With that Aleera walked back over to River who was still trying to gather herself from where she fell. She crouched down and grabbed River by the chin as she sat on the ground next to Jayne. As River stared into Aleera's vacant eyes more flash backs started flooding her mind. None of it made sense, none of it had any context. But through the mist generated by those disjointed memories River could her Aleera's monotone voice speaking to her.

"I was never good enough for them, even after you left me behind. Even now I obey their commands while you openly rebel. But still its you they want. So be it sister, perhaps after their though with you this time you'll be more of a challenge to me next time we meet. It'll be just like old times…" With that Aleera struck River at he base of the skull and caused her to collapse to the ground.

"You left me alone at their mercy, its only fitting I return the favor." She whispered over River as she collected her off the ground and delivered her into the arms of the second Blue Sun agent.

By this point Aleera's injured man had received his stimulant and was looking ready to run a marathon. As the sound of sires drew closer the two groups split up.

Aleera picked up Mal and hoisted him over her shoulder with little effort. She looked over at her men, "You two cover me, we're headed back now, double time."

"What about Saffron?" The uninjured man asked.

Aleera, looked over to where Saffron had been covering during the gun battle. She had disappeared. "She's not the priority in this mission, Reynolds is. For her sake lets hope she's already headed back to the ship. If she hasn't she can call in a transport from command later. Now move out!" She said forcefully.

With that Aleera and her team slipped away just as Alliance troops began to flood the street.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ok, so there you have it! I know, I know. This chapter has taken, what? Like three years to write? My apologies to anyone still following this story. I'm sure this probably wasn't anywhere near worth the wait. But I just felt compelled to write something. Even though I've allowed the story to fall dormant I've still gotten sporadic feedback from many of you and that has forced me to reexamine my efforts.

I'll admit, I hit some really bad writers block awhile back and had all but given up. But with the encouragement I received from those of you still willing to offer feedback even years after I had written anything I pulled though.

I have some ideas for future chapters, and I'll try not to let it go so long before I post another chapter. But I can't make any promises. Life has become quite hectic lately and it may be some time before I can revisit this. But don't count me out just yet. Keep that feedback coming and I'll try to keep the chapters flowing, albit slowly.

Hope all is well, and as always thanks for reading!!