TITLE: "VENGEANCE"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

FANDOM: "FIREFLY"

PAIRING: Zoe/Wash, Kaylee/Simon.

RATING: PG-13.

STATUS: Sequel to "APPEARANCES".

ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.

FEEDBACK: Welcomed.

EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com

WEBSITE: None. All Firefly stories archived at Fireflyfans.net

SUMMARY: "Inara renews a vow. Simon decides to tell Kaylee

what he overheard. As emotions get heated and the crew take

sides Badger calls in a favour."

The usual disclaimers apply. The characters and 'Firefly'

are the property and gift of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

No infringement of copyright is intended.

"VENGEANCE"

"Firefly" story

Written by Alison M. DOBELL

* * * * *

Inara was a woman not overly given to sentiment. Emotions could be tricky things, trip you up when you needed to stay calm, send messages you didn't want received. Learning to control them had become a survival instinct honed to razor sharpness. A skill at which she was most adept. The manufacture of the vision of beauty she was to become a goal changing the landscape of her life forever. Being a Companion was more than a job, more even than a vocation. It was her life, her reason for existence. It validated the squallor of her distant past. The fabricated reality where every wish could be fashioned to come true as opposed to a polar opposite so bleak that in a room full of oxygen it would have been airless. Yet one thing she had not jettisoned was her stubborn pride, underpinned by a will of steel. Few people saw the true metal of which she was made.

In the privacy of her shuttle Inara removed the false bottom of her lacquered box. Concealed beneath the ornate chased silver syringe a thin drawer slid open. Inara stared at the small low tech photograph concealed within. It was faded with age but still carried colour to cheeks the mirror of her own. Eyes that would never laugh with her again stared in mute accusation. H