The Return Home - Part 23

Admiral Shin had just received two reports in his office in the main fleet headquarters on Londinium, one which made him smile and the other which made him frown. Both reports were from Admiral Byrd with the fleet at Haven, sent via the Ministry of the Interiors superior comms system, a system Shin had already ordered duplicated for his own headquarters. The first he received was the confirmation that Serenity had surrendered without a fight. Shin hadn’t liked that Byrd agreed to pay Reynolds an exorbitant sum for his ship, nor that the Tam siblings had stayed with the Fryes, but the reported taking of the ship without damage or loss of life made it seem a reasonable price to pay for the secrets Serenity had. Within the report was the news that Shepherd Book had died and had been buried at Haven, along with an interesting side note about the death of Captain Billingsworth on the Dortmunder and the alleged attack by a young female crew member on Shepherd Book. The Shepherd had overpowered her and she had swallowed a poison in order to avoid capture and questioning. Byrd reported that a special comm device had been found in her quarters and speculation was rising that she had been working for Cutter. Perhaps she was one his special cases from Athenian Island.

The second report was disturbing. It was the initial summary of the events that occurred on a Firefly class ship that led to the deaths of many soldiers, a lawyer, and ultimately High Chancellor Cutter. In addition, the Dortmunder’s chief engineer had been part of Cutter’s team and was now reported missing. The wounded soldiers that had been returned by Reynolds crew reported that they had been attacked by a massive Reaver who seemed to know who Cutter was and were also attacked by Reynolds’ crew and that at least two soldiers were dead from gunfire from Reynolds’ people. There was also some indication that one of the Dortmunder’s prison guards attacked his comrades with a non-lethal stun gun. In spite of these events, the surv