"Gorram it where are they?! " yelled Kaylee as she sent yet another wave to their wayward shuttle, when it failed to go through she let out a string of curses that a sailor would have been proud of.

"Kaylee... I think you may be spending too much time with Jayne. He seems to be rubbing off on you. What's wrong?" asked Book as he walked onto the bridge.

"They are over an hour late and they aren't answering my waves... Something isn't right. If they were gonna be late the Captain would have let us know." Book looked a little concerned himself.

"Let me see the cortex for a minute." he sat down and after a few seconds had managed to log into an official alliance channel. "No mention of them being captured, or even of the crime being reported. Maybe we should just calm down and see what happens."

"Calm down? They are out there and they might be in trouble... now I know why Wash said he felt sorry for me when Jayne and I got together... This must be how he feels each time Zoe is out there... What if..." She looked about ready to completely break down.

"Now, now it's going to be alright. After all they are all together, and they can take care of themselves. They probably ran into a situation, but they'll deal with it." He put a hand on her shoulder. "You haven't slept in two days... The ship is working again, and you aren't going to be any good to him if you can't stay awake. Get some rest, I'll stay here and keep trying to make contact and find out what happened ok?" Kaylee hesitated for a minute as she wiped some tears away from her face.

"Okay... but if you hear anything at all..."

"You'll be the first to know I promise. Get some rest." Kaylee left the bridge groggily, once she was gone the confidence left Book's face. This didn't look good at all, if it was the alliance there would be procedures and possible loop holes to help them. It looked more likely to him that the Captain and the others had been taken in an unofficial manner. He started typing on the cortex as he went through various secret cont