“We have to explain,” she repeated. “They are dancing, Simon. Faster, faster.” She tried to pirouette on one foot but he stopped her.
“Zoë will convince them.”
“Simon, get her to the shuttle.”
“I can make the crates listen,” River said. “Tell them to stay calm. They have terrible tendencies. They must fight them.”
Zoë swore under her breath and rolled her eyes. She took River under her arm. Simon did the same. They crossed the deck, then took the stairs two at a time, supporting River between them. Zoë was limping hard. Each movement cost her. Not only was she in pain but she was putting weight on bones and tendons that needed a chance to knit.
What are we doing? Simon thought. We’re abandoning the crew.
He thought about offering to stay behind. If he turned himself in, surely the Alliance wouldn’t bother with examining the cargo too closely. But then Wash, Zoë, Jayne, and Kaylee would be taken into custody for harboring a fugitive. And if the Alliance found Simon Tam aboard Serenity, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume River had left in one of the two missing shuttles. A shuttle couldn’t hope to outrun an Alliance patrol cruiser hot on its trail.
“No, Simon, no,” River said.
Zoë said into her comm unit, “Inara, we found her and we’re coming in hot. Repeat, we’re coming in hot.”
“I copy, Zoë,” Inara said.
As they reached the high gangway, Simon stole a quick glance at his pocket watch to see how much time was left, but in his brain’s frazzled state found he couldn’t do the math. “Can we still make it?” he asked Zoë.
“Shut up and move!” she bellowed at him.
She bodily lifted River into her arms and raced for the shuttle. Gone was her limp. She was operating on pure adrenaline. Simon puffed to keep up with her, seeing stars when he didn’t round a corner as sharply as she and he slammed into the bulkhead.
Someone grabbed onto his shirt and dragged him along. It was Jayne.
“Tourists,” Jayne groused.
The large man easily kept pace with Zoë. Footfalls clanged as Zoë shouted, “Go, go, go!” and ran ahead. She disappeared inside the shuttle and came back out, circling around Jayne, who was on his way in.
Before Simon knew was what happening, Jayne flung him into the shuttle and the door slammed shut. The engine roared and the shuttle detached. The beautiful silk brocade curtain that was usually drawn closed to conceal the navigation section from Inara’s place of business was open and River was hunched in the seat beside Inara’s, who was guiding the shuttle out of its resting place on Serenity’s flank. River was muttering to herself. Simon staggered toward her, expecting her to be whispering about the hands of blue.
“Don’t blow, don’t blow,” she was chanting.
“River, băo bèi,” Inara said, “please keep quiet.”
“Where are we going?” Simon whispered.
“We’re staying out of range by remaining in the same spatial plane as Serenity,” Inara said. “We’re on the side opposite their approach so we’re out of their line of sight, shielding ourselves with the ship. We can’t maintain the position for long, but hopefully it’ll be long enough.” Seeing that he wasn’t following, she said, “Essentially, we’re hiding behind Serenity. Wash is pinging me the latitude and longitude of the cruiser. Each time it moves, I’ll correct my course to match it.”
He nodded. “River’s very worried about the crates.”
“I’m sure she’s not alone in that,” Inara said. She added gently, “Perhaps River would be more comfortable in my private quarters.”
Simon took the hint. Clasping River’s hands, he eased her out of the chair and guided her to Inara’s couch. He put his arms around her and rocked her.
“Kaboom,” she whispered.
20
No sooner were Simon and River inside the shuttle than Zoë sealed and locked the hatch. Inara wasn’t kidding about being ready to launch. Once the red light beside the hatch winked on, indicating a closed airlock, the shuttle uncoupled from Serenity’s power and sensory connections.
“Good riddance,” Jayne grumbled.
Zoë, Jayne and Kaylee watched through the door’s porthole as the shuttle undocked and the released umbilicals retracted. When the shuttle had drifted clear of the docking bay, its thrusters roared and flared. The blinding pulse of light grew rapidly smaller and fainter, until it winked out and vanished into the Black.
Jayne expelled air from his cheeks. “Do you think they’ll be all right?”
“Sure do.” Kaylee sounded forlorn.
Zoë knew Inara had shut down all the shuttle systems, including life support. They’d be breathing canned air for a little while, but it wasn’t for long, so it should be okay. They’d be coasting through null grav at high speed, putting distance between themselves and the cruiser. With no electromagnetic signature, nothing to draw the attention of the Alliance sensors, the shuttle would look like a small asteroid or a hunk of drifting space junk.
Zoë doubted Simon and River had even had time to buckle in before Inara lit ’em up. Now all they could do was hunker down and wait, hoping the initial blast had gone unnoticed.
“Where was River hiding?” Kaylee asked.
“She wasn’t really hiding,” Zoë said. “She was down in the cargo bay, in plain sight, talking to one of Badger’s crates. She was really worried about them.”
“I am too,” Jayne said. “Worried we ain’t never gonna get paid for all the trouble we’re goin’ through.”
Engineer and first mate shared a look.
“Maybe I better check the cargo? No point in taking any chances,” Kaylee ventured.
“Yeah, maybe you better,” Zoë said with a sigh of resignation. “Everyone needs to stay calm. Alliance will be here soon.”
Jayne grumbled something about feds and sticky fingers and that he was going to go back to his quarters to hide all his weapons. Zoë let him go. Kaylee headed for the cargo bay and Zoë hurried to the flight deck.
Her husband was hunched forward in the pilot’s chair, his fingers flitting over the controls, eyes darting from viewing port array to console readouts and back. He was way in the zone.
“How far off is Stormfront?” she asked Wash as she stepped up behind him.
“Three hundred klicks out, and decelerating,” he said over his shoulder. “Maybe an hour until they slide up alongside us. If Inara plays her cards right, if she can stay dark for a bit longer, she’ll be okay. You know, the Alliance’s line-of-sight blind spot gets bigger and bigger the nearer they come.”
Yeah, she knew that. Everybody who wasn’t a complete idiot knew that. Wash was being hyper and jangly, and he had good reason. The inbound Alliance cruiser had to have its missiles and cannons locked onto Serenity. The bastards didn’t need much of an excuse to cut loose.
“We played it really close,” Zoë said. “But they’re gone.”
“And it’s not over,” Wash said. “I could’ve made a break for it when we first saw the cruiser, maybe lost them with some jīng căi astrobatics, but now it’s too late. We’ve got to stay here to run interference for Inara and the Tams. We better pray that Badger’s paperwork is rock solid.”
“And the feds don’t mess with the crates.”
“With all those warning decals all over them?”
“They might think we slapped those decals on just to dissuade them from looking too close,” Zoë said.