Serenity's Flight

Chapter Two

After a few minutes after watching the video, Mal turned on his heel and went back to the engine room. He looked around the room, to make sure nothing was out of place. He tried to look at the engine itself, but he didn’t know about that sort of thing. He was about to call Kaylee to the engine room, but she was standing beside him.

“ Whatcha doing, Captain?” He tuned his head towards her and grinned.

“ Kaylee, I need you to look this engine over, and make sure nothing is wrong with it. We had a very close call, and I need to make sure we’re going to be okay.” Kaylee smiled weakly at him, but didn’t say anything. She moved around Mal, and started to check the parts on the engine. He told her to get back to him, then he left the engine room. He got back up to the bridge, and got Zoe.

“ Zoe, get Jayne up here, we’re going to put the suits on. I want to go around this ship, and make sure that bastard didn’t do anything to my ship, okay?” Zoe nodded, and called Jayne to the docking area. Malcolm sighed, and went back to his room.

Mal was changing clothes, so he wouldn’t get to warm. It just irked him that Early had been able to get that close to them, without them even knowing it. He was going to have to talk to Wash about beefing up the security. When he emerged from his room, he looked down and saw that Jayne and Zoe were waiting for him. It appeared that Zoe had filled him in, because he actually looked nervous. He walked up to them, and headed toward the closet were they kept the suits. He gave Zoe hers, and she began to dress. Jayne had already gotten his, and was putting it on. Once they were dressed, he got on the intercom.

“ Attention Crew, I need all personnel to remain where they are. We are attempting to go outside and inspect the ship. We will close the doors so no one will be harmed, but just in case someone is about outside, I want everyone to stay where they are.” After saying this, Mal walked over to the controls, and opened the outer door. At first, there was a loud gushing noise, but it subsided once the door was fully open. He looked over at the other two, and motioned for them to follow him.

Once they got to the top of the ship, he stopped and turned on his transistor in the suit. He really hated being out here, because of the nothingness. He was sure that his crew would pick him up if he ever went floating, but it was still an unpleasant thought. He remembered they were waiting on him, and so he spoke.

“ Okay, listen up. I have reason to believe that there may be a device on this ship. It’s the only thing I can think of for Early to be able to find us. I want you guys to split up, and start looking the ship over. If you find anything suspicious, call the other two over, okay? Do not try to take it off by yourself. We don’t know what it is, and we’ll need to examine it. Is that clear?”

Both, Jayne and Zoe nodded, and turned around to start looking. Zoe took the back of the ship, and Jayne took the sides of the ship. That left the front for Mal. He sighed, and started off. He really hoped that they wouldn’t find anything, but he had a feeling he would. He searched for what seemed like hours, but he didn’t find anything at all. He was about to call the other two back, when Jayne got on the mike.

“ Uh, guys you might want to come and look at this. Now, it might be part of the ship, but you said anything suspicious.” Mal headed off to where Jayne was, and when he got there, Zoe was already there. He went over to see what they were looking at. He looked down, and saw a pretty good size, gadget place right over the engine room. He sighed, and motioned for Jayne to come closer. Jayne walked over to him, and Mal turned his mike on.

“ I need you to go and Kaylee dressed and out here. She’ll need to take a look at this, and please don’t say anything to the others. I don’t need a ship full of people who are panicked, alright?” Jayne nodded, and walked back towards the entrance. He looked over at Zoe, and shook his head.

“ Now, you don’t think this is a bomb, do you?” Zoe whipped her head around to look at him.

“ No, Sir I do not. He wouldn’t put a bomb on this ship, because he needs River alive. There is no way that he’d risk us getting shot at. No, my guess is it’s some kind of tracking device.” Mal sighed, and was starting to get impatient when Jayne appeared again with Kaylee. She walked over to him and smiled.

“ What’s seems to be the problem, Captain?” He smiled at her.

“ Kaylee, I need you to take look at this little device here. I need you to tell me what it is, and how to get it off this ship.” Kaylee nodded, and kneeled down next to it. Mal stayed outside with her, while Jayne and Zoe went back inside. After what seemed like forever, Mal couldn’t take it anymore.

“ Kaylee, have you figured out what the hell it is?” Kaylee looked up and grinned at him just as she was picking the device up.

“ Here you go, Captain. It is a tracking device, but it was held on by a weird material. The way I took it off, though, I don’t think he’ll know we’ve taken it off, until he tries to find us.” Mal smiled at Kaylee. This kid was genius. He took the tracking device from her and smiled.

“ Well what do you say we make sure we’re long gone once he gets here?” After saying this, he held the device in both hands, and after a few minutes, he pitched it out into the blackness. He turned back to Kaylee and laughed.

“That’s going to be really funny when he tries to find us. Come on, lets go back in.” Kaylee giggled and followed Mal back inside. Once he got to the docking bay, he took the suit off, and ran up to the bridge. When he got there, Wash was there with Zoe. He cleared his throat, and walked into the room.

“ Wash let’s go, I want to be far away from here once he realizes we’re not attached to that stupid device anymore.” Wash straightened and turned towards the console.

“ I’ll be happy to oblige, sir.” After making this statement, they started moving away from the spot.