“Mal! Good to see you an’ all, but you do know I’m on my honeymoon, right?” said Tony Pye cheerily. This was one wave that Mal did not want to be sending.

“Wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t important, Tony.” Tony’s smile faded just a little – Mal had his attention. Anna came and sat beside him, appearing on the wave screen to Mal. She was an uncommonly graceful woman and although she bore no resemblance to Inara, she reminded him of her through her mannerisms.

“An I.A.V. caught up with us two days ago. We were boarded and they took Bane. They know she’s Deena Court.” Tony’s face had turned white, he put down the mug of tea he had been drinking. He bowed his head a little so that Mal could not see his expression.

“That’s it then. They’re gonna lock her up and throw away the key,” he said miserably. Although they had worried about the possibility for years, she had always managed to evade Alliance attention before. Mal saw Anna put her arm around her husband and she looked back at Mal.

“Is there anything that can be done?” Mal had been about to say no, but that same plan that was mulling in his head was starting to have corners.

“Has your sister ever mentioned the name Dedham to you?” Tony’s head lifted up suddenly.

“Dedham? Tianna, gu zao de ! He’s the one! The last mark she told me about – the one who shot our mother. What’s he got to do with this?”

“He’s the C.O. of the I.A.V. that boarded us. Look ... I’m working on something here, Tony. I need you to tell me everything you know about him, an’ that last job Bane did.” Tony composed himself. He was more than glad of his wife’s presence, but aware that what he was about to say was known to very few people. He sighed.

“She and my mother were on Osiris to blow up the arms depot. It was a huge place an’ it’s destruction would’ve made a serious dent in the Alliance’s ability to manufacture an’ distribute hand-held weapons to their soldiers. It wasn’t the first one they’d done, so they knew the level of security they were up aga