River’s Run – Part 3

Inara Serra packed the last of her belongings in her suitcases in the cabin on the luxury cruiser as it prepared to lock on and disembark passengers at a space station high above Sihnon. The cruiser was too big for atmo entry, much like the Alliance heavy cruisers, and needed to load and unload passengers, crew, and cargo at this station. From there the passengers received free shuttle rides to anywhere on the planet, all courtesy of the cruise line company.

Inara sat in front of her cabin’s Cortex screen and prepared to do what she had dreaded doing for the last few days, putting it off until the last minute. Secrets destroy lives, that much she knew from hard personal experience. She had to tell Mal what was going on, not only for her peace of mind but because he had a right to know. He wasn’t her husband and maybe never would be, but this thing hanging over her head was too much to bear if it could appear one day and destroy whatever life and happiness she and Mal had managed to find on Shadow.

Inara quickly typed in the Cortex address for Serenity. An Alliance officer answered and after some initial confusion he told her that they were on Taos and Kaylee and Simon were at her father’s home. She said her thanks and immediately sent a second wave. She waited and waited but no one answered and she was about to give up when a disheveled looking Kaylee in a green and purple nightdress answered. The bleary eyed young woman’s grumpy look turned into a bright sunny smile as she realized who was waving.

“Inara! Oh, gosh it’s good to see you!” Kaylee said enthusiastically and then there was a hint of fear in her eyes and Inara knew something wasn’t right.

"Hi Kaylee. Sorry. Looks like I got you in the morning.”

“It’s alright. Time to get up anyways.”

“How are things?”

“Oh, ship’s OK, just we’re here at my daddy’s home for now trying to settle in. We’re gonna use Taos as a base to work on the engine and get it ready for factory production and all that.”

“Oh, that’s good to