The Return – Part 5

“Let me do the talking,” Mal whispered into his helmet mic to Simon and Jayne. They were standing on a platform made for space craft to land on a moon base they had discovered. The platform was under the surface of the moon in a large, lighted cavern that had both air and more gravity than the surface. There were a few doors and what looked like some sort of glass window with some electronic equipment behind it. On the sides were large vents. In front of them were about a dozen people, dressed in blue uniforms with Alliance symbols on them. And all were armed.

What a fix, Mal thought, looking the people over, deciding in his mind who to shoot first if it came to that. One in the middle was a large man with a black mustache. He seemed older than the others and could be a leader. He’d die first. Now if I could only fire my pistol with these bulky space gloves on.

Wow, nice chicks here on the moon, thought Jayne, as he spied at least two beauties in the group, a tall blond on one end with a machine pistol of some type Jayne had never seen before and a brunette near the middle who had what looked like an old M-16. Women with guns, you gotta love it. Now if only they were pointed in another direction.

Now I’m going to die, thought Simon as he gulped, just when I finally got to know Kaylee a little better. That was the fairness of life, give a little, take a lot. They were Alliance, or the Earth version of the Alliance, which most likely wasn’t the same as their Alliance. At least they wouldn’t know about him and River. Now that’s silly, ha ha, of course they wouldn’t know. How could they? I’m rambling now. I should have taken a gun. Too late for that now. Or maybe they won’t shoot me because I don’t have gun?

In the brief moments it took Mal, Jayne, and Simon to have these thoughts, they were thinking too much on what they were going through and not thinking what the people in front of them were going through. Perhaps it was the lights, the sudden gravity, the shock of the whole sit