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TRAUMA MEDICINE: Chapter 22

Time to go.

Yet more thanks to wedjateye whose beta-ing is nothing short of brilliant.

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The warm yellow glow from Serenity's tail swells and intensifies, shifting through gold and silver to shafts of blinding white light and then she's gone, hard-burning through the Black which slams shut behind her, obscuring her path.

The late Mrs Burgess' pilot stares dumbstruck out of the viewports, unable to believe any sane pilot would risk such a manoeuvre in a vessel of that type.

“Bring her round!” Saffron snaps at him. “Bring her round, you piece of crap! More thrust! They're getting away.”

Luckily for Saffron, this ship once belonged to Rance Burgess, a man with a passion for all things high tech. He drew up her specifications himself and spent a lot of money on having her specially crafted, making her one of the most advanced, responsive vessels in the 'verse. His widow told Saffron so not two days back.

The pilot's hesitation in complying with his new employer's order, earns him a touch of cold metal just below his left ear.

“I can fly this thing myself if I have to,” Saffron informs him in a honey sweet tone.

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“You know this is ruttin' crazy, don't ya?” Jayne grumbles. “Even if we do outrun 'em through the Black, soon as we land the Feds're gonna snatch us for sure.”

“Mmmm.” Kaylee's only half-listenin'. Gotta get this circuit back up. She tucks a handful of loosened screws into the pocket of her overalls an' holdin' the screwdriver between her teeth so she has both hands free to adjust the wirin', gestures to Jayne to pass the solderin' iron.

Summat mighty distractin' about the way she's bitin' on that tool. The mercenary gives hisself a shake an' hands the iron over.

“Don't know why we're botherin',” Jayne continues. “Ain't like she's crew. Hell, she ain't even sleepin ' with crew. Can't see the percentage in us puttin' our lives on the line for-”

Kaylee turns on him with a frown, hold