Jayne fired up the shuttle and took off, right into the heart of the storm. “Gorram it,” he muttered, looking ahead through the snow splattering the window, seeing flashes of lightning in the dark heart. “Don’t like the look of this.”

He banked the small vehicle and tried to go around, attempting to get some altitude, to at least climb over the worst part and get back out into space. Suddenly the craft was buffeted by a wind that seemed to come from nowhere, and he was fighting the artificial gravity as well.

“Jayne?” Freya called, hanging onto the strapping on the wall.

“Just … trying to …” His biceps bulged as he tried to physically manhandle the shuttle, then there was a bright flash and the controls went slack. “ Nee ta ma duh tyen-shia suo-yo duh num doh gai si ,” he ground out as he grabbed the com.

“That so doesn’t sound good,” Freya said, feeling the little ship begin to freefall, nausea making itself known.

“Serenity. We’re going down. Our position is …” He scanned the console but there was nothing. No life at all. And none of the curses available to him seemed to fit the situation. “Ain't got a clue. Serenity, you there?”

Hank pulled down the com. “Jayne? Say again. I didn’t quite get …” He thumbed the switch. “Jayne?” Still nothing. “Jayne!” Only static answered him.

“Hank?” Ma’s voice as he came up behind him. “What is it?”

“I don’t know,” Hank admitted, trying everything to get back in contact with shuttle two. “I think I heard Jayne say they were going down, but that was it.”

“Going …” Mal gripped the back of the pilot’s chair, feeling his fingers sinking in. “Get them back on the com.”

“I'm trying, Mal!” Hank said harshly. “Nothing works.”

“A storm,” River said, having silently joined them. “They’ve been knocked down like flies.”

Mal shot her a hard look, then stared back out into space. “Hank …”

“Fast as we can, Mal.”

---

“Frey, you okay?” Jayne asked, hurrying through into the back of the shuttle, one hand clasped to his head