There were too many ships and not enough armed Deutschlanders to prevent them. Zoe and Mal, positioned behind the mule for cover, shot to kill. River had been right, they were not Reavers, but they were trying to take people.

“Slavers!” Zoe shouted over the noise. They both turned as screams sounded behind them, some of the children were being herded up the ramp of one of the shuttle. Zoe stood up and broke cover, still firing, so did Mal. Two of the children among the group were Ishmael and Lukas. Before they could reach them, they saw River seemingly fly through the air to land a kick on one of the slavers, before twisting another man’s neck, breaking it quickly and efficiently. Mal fired at the next man aiming his gun at her, but a fraction too late, so a bullet caught her in the shoulder, flinging her to the ground. Mal turned as he saw one of the shuttles take off again, full of people.

Mal ran to River, but she was already sitting up and holding her shoulder. Her eyes widened as he crouched down to help her.

“I’m alright. You need to find the main ship. Bane’s in trouble. Go!” she added at the end. Mal looked around. Zoe fired at another slaver, right between the eyes, before running up the ramp to take out the pilot and any others.

“Zoe!” he shouted, “Don’t shoot the pilot!” Mal then shouted to Hans, who was already running towards them.

“My son iz safe?” Mal pointed to where the children had been herded.

“Yes. We need to find where they’ve taken the others.” Hans nodded and called out to his mother who was tending to his injured father. Without hesitating, she threw him his gun.

~

Bane watched the huge behemoth come down to land and approached from the blind side, fully aware of how much notice they would take of a tiny lone person on a mule. It would not be hard to get on board, but it would be hard to get to the engine room undetected. Bane did not intend to allow this gé zhi wō ship to take off ever again, even if she could not escape afterwards. All other t