Wash sat up rigidly and began toggling com buttons.

"Zoe! Mal!...Jayne?...ANYONE!!!"

Aboard the wreck of the Zigos, the radio chirped with Wash's paniced voice loudly. Where it was doing no one any good.

Wash rose and bolted for the cargo bay. He didn't hear Kaylee and Book hammering on the glass of the infirmary window as Simon tried deperately to calm his sister, who had burst into tears. Something about "The Companion's pain." and Mal. Though her speech was erratic, she seemed to be weeping more for Zoe than for anyone else.

Book took this as a sign to hurry and find a way out of the room. But, he was having no luck. There didn't seem to be anything heavy enough to break the windows.

In the cargo bay, Wash made a beeline for the door, and stopped short at two discoveries he made there. The first was Zoe's carbine. The weapon she carried into nearly every fray. The fact that he knew she took it with her before she left, and it was now sitting here, amid a pile of guns, mostly Jayne's, and Mal's pistol among them, was not lost on him. The second thing he saw that brought him up short was Inara, crawling in the dirt. Both discoveries were heart wrenching for him. As quickly as he had picked up the gun, he dropped it and ran for the wounded companion.

Inara didn't say anything as Wash reached her. He bent down and gently lifted her. She groaned in pain, and screamed as Wash adjusted his carry so he could walk.

"I know, Inara...Just hang on. I'll get you to Simon as quick as I can."

In the distance, Wash saw the crew of the Contessa approaching. He cursed lowly in Chinese, carried Inara over to the door control panel, and akwardly punched the button to close the ship.

* * *

After telling Zoe the instructions for programming his shuttle for autpilot, Raven sat the three of them against the wall and held his pistol on them. He had already proved his speed and strength, and none of them, not even Jayne had any ideas about try