Author's Notes:

I freaking depress myself. That's all.

This started out as part of the "Your Song" series which I haven't updated in seventy billion years, and evolved into this on it's own. I felt kind of weird making up my own characters, but they're not Mary Sues (Marty Stus?) or anything like that, just necessary evils. Title is loosely derived from Ender's Game, because that's what inspired me.

Italics denote the alliance guys talking. (or, later, flashbacks)

'...' denotes thought, which is only necessary for our psychics.

Feed me! kaylee@kikiroxxorz.com

Pairings are: (Simon/Kaylee, Mal/Inara, Jayne/OC and River/OC) but they're not truly important to the plot. Except maybe the River/Adam dynamic. That's kind of important.

~*~

“The procedure is going well, sir?”

“It is in the early stages, but it seems to be successful. The boy’s mind is almost completely clear. We can start phase two by tomorrow.”

“And the girl?”

“The procedure was delayed slightly.”

“Oh?”

“She collapsed. Said something about March sixteenth.”

A pause. “Do you know what March sixteenth is, sir?”

“No, is it significant?”

“I would say so, sir.”

“You must understand. The conditions for observation were questionable, and neither child was registered at birth--”

“March sixteenth was the day Ainslee and Simon Tam were born, sir. Tomorrow is their seventh birthday.”

~*~

When Simon woke up, it was all white inside his head. He had not dreamt. He blinked a few times, rubbed his eyes. There was something he needed to remember, what was it? He pushed his head against the back of the chair, struggling. It came up suddenly, from some dark recess of his mind. A woman with waves of brown hair and glittery golden eyes. With a round face and dirty clothes, smiling. His mother.

“Simon, sweetheart?” she said. “Hand me the—thanks, bao bei.” She dropped a kiss on his head. “I love you, Simonster,” she said, smiling down at him. “Love you so much.”

Then, without warning, another needle