- 7 -

Mal raced down the stairs, with Inara close behind, and hit the controls to open Serenity’s cargo door. A few seconds later Zoe pulled the Mule into the cargo bay, passing Mal at the controls.

“Did Jayne have a kid with him?” Mal asked looking up at Inara who was still standing on the stairs, “Why does Jayne have a kid?”

Inara could only mutter, “Run-tse duh fwotzoo.”

Mal turned and headed towards the Mule, “What the hell is this?” he demanded.

As soon as Zoe’s feet hit the deck she answered, “I can explain, Sir.”

“You can explain? You were to scout it out, not get into a shoot out and steal a gorram kid,” Mal said angrily seeing the fresh bullet holes in the rear of the Mule.

“They were ruttin’ beaten’ this one with a stick!” Jayne responded, “Couldn’t just leave ‘em.”

“…and we didn’t do any shooting, Sir,” Zoe added.

Mal pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to retain some level of calm. “Yes, Jayne you could have.”

“Mal…” Inara called from the stairs.

“Sir, they were hurting him pretty bad, look at the marks on him,” Zoe protested.

“…you would’ve done the same ruttin’ thing,” Jayne continued.

The rest of Serenity’s crew entered the cargo hold after hearing the commotion.

Mal’s hand dropped from his face, “Ta ma de…what you’ll don’t get, is this makes it less likely we’ll be able to get the rest of them kids out. You know, the ones that are probably taking the same type of beatings.”

“So you just wanted us to ignore what was going on?” Zoe asked trying to hold her growing anger.

“That would have been the smart thing to do,” Mal fired back.

“Mal, they made decision in the heat of the moment, I don’t think…” Inara started.

Mal whipped his head around and cut her off, “I don’t remember asking you!”

Kaylee and Simon had moved over to Jayne’s side to inspect the small boy still clinging to the mercenary. Kaylee reached out and lightly rubbed the boys back, “It’s okay, no one is going to hurt you.”

“I’m sorry; I was beginning to think you could at lea