Chapter 20

“Kaylee, what’s going on?” The Captain asked his mechanic as he walked into the engine room “Wash said he’s losing control.”

“The port thrusters are stuck, I need to work on them. We need to land and I need some parts” Kaylee looked up from under the engine.

“How long? We’ll be at Tyco by morning, have to drop Inara off and they have a good shipyard there.” Mal bent down to look at what she was working on.

“Well, three or five days at least. I’ll need Jayne and Wash.” She said as she scooted further back under the engine.

“Jayne, what do you want Jayne for?”

“Need him to help hold the thrusters, best saw horse around.”

“Can you keep us going until then?”

“Yeah, if there’s not too much turning.”

“I’ll let Wash know.” With that the Captain left for the bridge.

***

“Find everything you need Kaylee?” Captain asked, as Kaylee and Jayne came back on board.

“Yeah, found lots of shiny stuff.” Kaylee just about glowed with the stuff she found in the junkyard.

“Captain, we got a distress call from the mining camp on the other side of the planet. Seems they had a cave in and need medical help.” Wash’s voice came over the intercom “Their foreman wants to talk to you, ASAP.”

“Does he know we got our self a Doc?” Mal asked as he came running on to the bridge.

“No, right now it’s just able bodied people he’s looking for.” Wash moved so that Mal could talk to the miner.

“What can we do for you Sir?” Mal asked the view port.

“We need any help you can give us. We have a hundred wounded and no medic.” The harried looking man replied “Also, we need lots of water and food. We can pay you for your time and we have a line of credit at the company store.”

The two bartered for awhile and agreed on a price that made them both happy and Mal told Wash to get the shuttle ready while he talked to the crew. He gathered everyone else in the kitchen he told them what was going on.

“Simon, you and River will come with Zoë and Me to the camp.” Mal stated.

“I’ll need someone to aid me and t