The Last Spartan – Chapter Sixteen

Author owns no rights to Firefly, and makes no money for his labor

------------------

Mal sat on the bridge, his anger almost consuming him. Inara sat with him, saying nothing. She could understand Mal’s revulsion, but she could also sympathize with Simon’s plight. It had been three days since Jayne had. . .whatever he had done.

Zoe sat in the galley, contemplating her own actions. Tension was thick aboard Serenity, and very few words had been spoken by anyone over the past seventy-two hours.

For the first time since they’d been together, she had openly defied Mal’s wishes. She didn’t know what would come of that. The uncertainty was damaging to her calm, but she was comforted by the fact that she was certain she’d done the right thing.

Mal was too prone to make life altering decisions for other people. And this time he’d been flat wrong. No one had the right to deny River the chance to live, even if it meant being like Jayne. She smiled faintly at the thought of Jayne and River being alike. It was obvious to anyone with a brain, except Mal, that River was head over heels for Jayne.

Jayne would never accept that, not while River was. . .River. But now? If this worked? Jayne just might come around to River’s way of thinking. And if it didn’t, then River wouldn’t be any deader than she would have been otherwise.

Simon sat with Kaylee in the galley, tears running freely from both of them. Simon hopeful that River survived, Kaylee hoping that Simon could forgive himself. Kaylee felt in her heart that River would be glad, if she awoke like Jayne.

Jayne sat in the infirmary, watching over his charge as Neethos had once watched over him. He could see that River was healing, which was a good sign. She might yet perish, of course, yet the healing gave him hope. And worry.

He liked River, very much. A strong, willful young woman who was determined to overcome the injuries she had suffered at the hands of others. Such courage was a rare thing in the ‘verse these days. If