Firefly/Serenity Fan Fiction ❯ History of the Future ❯ Chapters 1-14 ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Firefly: History of the Future





Story: Firefly: History of the Future

Storylink: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3622074/1/

Category: Firefly

Genre: Sci-Fi

Author: Shall-Iin

Authorlink: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/477239/

Last updated: 07/05/2011

Words: 42335

Rating: T

Status: In Progress

Content: Chapter 1 to 14 of 14 chapters

Source: FanFiction.net



Summary: Jayne's been hiding a secret for a long time. Longer then any one would suspect. What happens when the truth about himself and his past affects the crew, and in turn the rest of the Verse?





*Chapter 1*: Chapter 1


Here's a new story, as always, I own nothing about this except how I put this series together. This is the first chap of what I originally wanted as a short story, but my mind took over as always and I kept writting. Doesn't mean I'm not working on the others, but some are on hold for now.

mei-mei-----little sister

dong ma----understand?

wu dong---- i understand

tamade-----dammit

go se----- shit

bao bei---sweetheart/sweetie

hwoon dahn-----son of a bitch/ bastard

Gorram----god damn

feng le-----crazy

feng dian----crazy (adj)

wang bao dahn----- dirty bastard

shumma---- what?

wuo de ma---mother of jesus

ni zi---little girl

teng-----flying dragon

xiao teng--- small/young/tiny dragon

biao xiong-----male cousin

wu ji-----dancing girl

bai chi---- idiot

bu jing chuan----- whaling ship, whale catcher

xie xie-----yes(more like yeah, yeah)

yin hui---- coarse, obscene

ba ba---- daddy

Renzi de Shang Di, qing dai wa zhou----Merciful God, please take me away

4654654654654654654

Jayne grunted as he shifted the cargo crate in to the wall of the bay. They were expecting a new cargo, and Mal had ordered him to make space in the Firefly's creamped hold. The captain hadn't bothered telling what the new job was but he was used to that. The captain was full of go se about crew being family, but even after Miranda, that family seemed to exclude Jayne unless there was heavy lifting or killing to be done.

He didn't let it bother him though it took all of his limitted self-control to keep from bashing the smug bastards face at times. Rest of the time, he ignored the insults and mistrust, smirking inwardly. He wasn't as stupid as he made out, but he'd learned well from his Ma and Pa that if you showed people what they expected, they'd leave you be to live how you wanted to. And for him, he mostly enjoyed his current life. He got to see a lot of the 'Verse, more then even his Pa had during the Rebellion. He got to fight when he felt like and kill some of those that needed killing.

Plus it was a lot of fun watching Mal constantly getting into ridiculous situations. And the women folk were much more interesting out on the RIm then back home. Only girls there were sisters, nieces, Aunts, and other female relatives. Ain't none of those out on the Rim far as he knew. Those few as left home world, went Core ward since that's were all the big money was ripe for the plucking.

He finished moving the last crate, then dusted his hands on his pants. Mal, Zoe and the Doc were picking up supplies for the next leg of the trip. Kaylee was busy running some tests on the newly repaired systems. Mal thought that the alliance might of slipped a tracer or two on board. Kaylee was scanning for any little tricks left behind. Inara was in her shuttle, keeping CrazyGirl busy. They were putting up her fancy drapes and such. Inara had finally decided to stop whoring and had gotten some kind of license that allowed her to remain a Companion without having to perform that function of the job.

She and the captain were still dancing around, but captain still wasn't healed up from the surgeries done on the alliance vessel. Hell, neither were Zoe and the Doc, which was why all three had gone for a relatively easy pick up and why he'd been left behind. He and CrazyGirl were the only ones who were all healed up aside from Inara, who had only a few scratches. Kaylee was still a little on the weak side, tiring easily.

As for the CrazyGirl, she was starting to settle down. Though there were the a few times she'd near lost it while they were ferried to Persephone by the alliance ship. She wasn't totally normal, but it was easier to understand what she was saying now. She still had that lost look in her eyes, but then again, even Zoe was a bit emotional right not. Mostly anger, but he could hear her crying in the bunk she'd shared with Wash.

He missed the little guy. And the Sheppard. Book was the first person since he'd left home that had treated him with respect as a person, not just a tool to be used. His self-reflective moment was halted as he heard the roar of the mule zooming to the ship. He leaned against the stairwell, watching the yellow hover crawl it's way up the ramp to bump down lightly as the engine shut down.

"So what's the job?" he asked again, not really expecting a reply as the captain leapt from the passenger seat.

Mal regarded his hired gun for a moment then shrugged. "Got some crates to transport and a handful of livestock. A few horses and the like."

Jayne grunted. They hold would be a mess and more then likely the captain would find some reason to make him clean it up. But the coin should make it worthwhile. Horses were a major source of profit on the Rim. They were easy to keep, could be used for transportation as well as labor, and if absolutely neccesary, for food and such.

"Where we heading?" he asked, again not expecting an answer.

"Going to some moon opposite side of the 'Verse. Some place called Greymalkin. Even got some money upfront, so when we get loaded here, want you to head out and stock up on ammo and such. Zoe's gonna grab Kaylee and bring her to the shops see what else Serenity might need. Doc's already got his supplies. I'm gonna have Inara go get some more foodstuff and fill the stock ..." Mal trailed off as he noticed that Jayne had frozen in the process of lifting one of the creates from the back of the mule. He was again surprised by the casual display of strength. The case had to weigh close to 100lbs. and had taken both he and Zoe to lift and Simon to position to get it on the mule. Even healthy, he could barely have lifted it that height alone. But Jayne was holding it in the air chest high with no sign of strain in his arms at all.

"Got a problem, Jayne?" he asked, banishing the awe and respect to the corner of his mind. Wouldn't do for the merc to know how much he admired the man's strength.

Jayne swung from the mule, lowering the crate surprisingly gently. "Aw hell Mal, I can't go."

Mal blinked. He'd never heard that tone in the merc's tone before. "What do you mean you can't go? This is a job Jayne, not a pleasure trip. And you work for me or did I miss a memo? I tell you where we're going, I expect you to ask about your cut and do your job. Ain't in the mood to hear you whine about another planet you gone and done wrong, dong ma? You can't go, then you get the hell off my boat and don't try coming back. Had too much attention lately to deal with your go se."

Jayne snarled, his temper straining for release. "Ain't like that Mal. Ain't never hurt no one from Greymalkin. Just can't go back."

Mal was frustrated and for him that lead to anger. "Why the hell not?"

A voice replied for the merc. "The progenitors and their kith await the return of the missing piece. Flock needs the return of the lost to complete formation. But the fledgling is worried it's been too long and the nest mates won't recognize their brethen."

Jayne flinched as the voice finished, glad that Mal was still looking around for their eavedropper. "Stupid CrazyGirl. Couldn't make sense if you gave her twobits." he muttered loud enough for her and Mal to hear. Zoe had left in search of Kaylee and Simon had fled to avoid conflict. He winced as he was hit with a stale roll, not in pain, but in anticipation of further damage.

The roll was followed by 105lbs of annoyed leapt down from her hiding place in one of the little areas that made FireFlys a favorite of smugglers. The girl landed inches from Jayne, between him and the captain. She was glaring up at him in obvious annoyance.

"Girl has sense. Has too many sense. Not girl's fault if the oaf is too unfocused to know what sense girl is using." She stated with a huff, her hands on her hips.

Jayne bit back an appology. He hated how often she'd been reminding him of his Ma and older sisters. The little gestures and tones of voice that they seemed to possess from birth. He couldn't belieave they still worked on him. Shaking aside the instinctive need for approval, he snorted. "Who are you calling an oaf, little girl? And stay the hell out of my head."

"Girl is not going in rock's head. Rock is throwing out his thoughts trapping the girl in their web. Can't help hearing what is thrown out. Not from rock, not from sunshine, or brother boob or even Captain Daddy. Two by Two, hands of blue poked and cut her brain so she hears everything that is opened. Can't stop though she tries. Made her crazy with secrets, but she is getting better."

Mall looked between the two, a small frown on his face. If he didn't know better, he'd say Jayne was understanding his albatross a bit too easily since they continued the back and forth arguement. Something about their bickering reminded him of something, but he couldn't quite place the memory.

"Stop." he ordered, interrupting River's talk of natural inflictions vs superstring quadra somethings. "Enough of that. Jayne, since you seem to have an understanding about what the little 'tross was saying about flocks and fledglings, I want you to tell me what it is and why it's making you not want to go to Greymalking. Lil' 'Tross, you go up to the bridge and prep for take off. "

"But Mal..."Jayne started to say, only to be cut off my Mal's glare.

"Gorram it Jayne, I thought we were done with this. I tell you to do something, you do it or you take a long walk out a short airlock."

Jayne grumbled and glared but it had no effect on the Captain. "Damn it Mal. I take a lot of shit, but this ain't got nothing to do with you or anyone onboard. You want to throw me out the airlock, then gorram it, you go right ahead you damn hundan. I'll go get Vera and walk out my self. Don't give a damn anymore. But there ain't no way I'm going anywhere near that damn rock."

Mal blinked, anger warring with astonishment and fear in equal measures. He'd never seen Jayne so... resolute and determined about something. The man was completely serious. He would rather take a walk in the Black then go to this out of the way moon. It was fear that was making the man refuse, but Mal couldn't tell what it was that drove this reaction.

"We'll talk later. Right now, want you to make sure you go get our ammo and gear."

Jayne grunted and left, heading to his bunk to arm up before taking a trip to town.

Mal nearly jumped when a hand grazed his shoulder. He spun to look down into River's face.

"Can not let the rock depart from Peace. Must cajole and pester for the truth." the girl stated.

"Don't know what you're talking about, little 'tross. Just trying to have Jayne tell me what he was arguing with you about. Ain't gonna throw him off for that."

River studied him for a moment. "Good. Rock thinks it's good to be lonely and hard but forgets that is only compressed loose framents that can be worn down over time. Would hate for the river's work to be wasted. Have nearly worn the river's way to the rock's core. Soon will crumble enough for river to enter the core."

Mal listened but hoped he wasn't hearing what he thought he was hearing. "Now girl, maybe I heard wrong, but you can't be wanting to be sweet on Jayne. Man's too old and too ornery for the likes of a lil' 'tross like you."

River just gave a cryptic smile and spun, rushing off into the dark bowels of the ship.

Mal tried to call her back to explain, but she ignored him. "Gorram it." he grumbled while heading to his bunk. "Can't one of my crew actually obey an order without arguing or ignoring me. I'm only the captain and owner this bu jing chuan."





*Chapter 2*: Chapter 2


Here's a new story, as always, I own nothing about this except how I put this series together. This is the first chap of what I originally wanted as a short story, but my mind took over as always and I kept writting. Doesn't mean I'm not working on the others, but some are on hold for now.

mei-mei-----little sister

dong ma----understand?

wu dong---- i understand

tamade-----dammit

go se----- shit

bao bei---sweetheart/sweetie

hwoon dahn-----son of a bitch/ bastard

Gorram----god damn

feng le-----crazy

feng dian----crazy (adj)

wang bao dahn----- dirty bastard

shumma---- what?

wuo de ma---mother of jesus

ni zi---little girl

teng-----flying dragon

xiao teng--- small/young/tiny dragon

biao xiong-----male cousin

wu ji-----dancing girl

bai chi---- idiot

bu jing chuan----- whaling ship, whale catcher

xie xie-----yes(more like yeah, yeah)

yin hui---- coarse, obscene

ba ba---- daddy

Renzi de Shang Di, qing dai wa zhou----Merciful God, please take me away

4654654654654654654

Mal squinted as he studied the people at the table. Everyone but Jayne and River was sitting and chatting after haver eaten supper. He decided to see if they could figure out what River had been saying earlier. Jayne was stowing the weaponry and ammo he'd bought, while River was setting the ship's course for their next stop.

"Listen up, got something we need to discuss." he stated, standing and looming over the table to get their attention. "First, got a job going 'cross 'Verse to a moon called Greymalkin. Transporting horses, feed, and other livestock. No chickens, but lots of flash frozen eggs. Been paid a third up front, as you know from earlier, and we get the rest on delivery. And they are paying for fuel and supplies." He paused, watching the pleased expressions grow before he raised a hand and they fell.

"Other thing is that Jayne's refusing to go and refusing to say why. Said it ain't like Cantin and that he ain't never hurt anyone there, but he insists he ain't going. Tried getting him to say why, might have even threatened him and he basically told me he'd rather die then go. Even offered to walk out the airlock into the Black on his own."

Simon was the first to speak. "Jayne? As in the self-absorbed, semi-intelligent, barely human Jayne Cobb? Offered to kill himself instead of going to a moon we've never been and he never hurt anyone? Is he sick? Is it communicable?" he only stopped when Kaylee laid a hand on his arm.

"Oh hush, Simon. Jayne ain't that bad, and he's changed since Miranda. We all have. But Jayne and River done changed the most. Why, just the other day, he gave me and River some coin to get treats instead of visiting one of the brothels. Said he'd seen an old friend he needed to talk to."

Mal jumped on her words, anger bursting inside. "And you didn't think to tell me Kaylee? Didn't think he weren't acting right? Like he was hiding something?" he paused to take a breath. "Jayne not seeing a whore and giving away good coin so he can talk to an old friend? You forget what Jayne's old friends are and what they do? Might a dropped some danger when the Operative wipped out River and Simon's warrants, but not likely word has spread to the time of scum Jayne travelled with."

He would have continued, but was stopped by Zoe grabbing his shoulder. He looked at her in surprise. "What is it?" he asked.

Zoe ignored his question, which in Zoe language told him to shut up and let her do the talking. "Kaylee, this was 3 days ago, right? When Mal got in that bar fight?"

Kaylee nodded, her smile missing from her face.

Zoe turned to Simon. "Didn't you patch Jayne up for some knife and other wounds that night?"

Simon blinked and nodded. "Why yes. Since Mal had been through earlier, I thought it was part of the same fight."

Zoe nodded. "So Jayne goes to see an old friend, who had been hanging around near Serenity watching Kaylee and River, comes back stabbed several times and maybe other injuries. But he doesn't say anything about what happened? That don't seem like Jayne."

Inara continued for Zoe, easily seeing the point she was trying to drive home into the thick headed men folk of their little family. "Unless he was more worried about the crew knowing who he used to work with then he is about bragging rights. He is ashamed to have worked with this person and doesn't want us to think worse of him then some of us already do. He's trying to do right by us, and has been since even before Miranda. He wants us to accept him, even if he refuses to admit so to himself."

Simon spoke next, oddly defending the merc. "As much as I hate to admit it, they are right. Jayne has been different, and it did start before the whole Miranda thing. Not a great deal different, but it is noticable. He's mostly stopped insulting River, though he refuses to call her by name. And the few times he does insult her, it's mostly to annoy you. And I've heard them talking sometimes, when everyone else is asleep. It was . . . disturbing and not just because they were playing some kind of alphabet game listing various ways to kill people. I don't know what scare me more. That they were talking, what they were talking about, or that they found it incredibly funny to talk about."

"Oh, I got one." Kaylee eagerly added. "They was talking about different was to kill people with a spoon. River said she knew 97 ways but Jayne said he could only think of about 60, so River started listing the ones she knew Jayne was missing. He looked so serious, trying to force himself to remember them all."

Mal slapped his hand down. "That's nice and all. But I don't rightly care. As long as a he does his job, obeys my orders and don't try to trade in my crew for a reward, I'm happy. What I asked was if any of you could figure out why Jayne's refusing to go to Greymalkin and why River was talkin' about flocks, progenitors, fledglings and rocks."

Inara blinked as something clicked. "Mal you gorram bai chi. Why didn't you mention that she was talking about progenitors earlier? Now the rest of what you were asking about makes sense."

"Gorram it woman. Stop beating me down and start explaining."

"Family, Mal. River was talking about family. Progenitors are your parents. You, we, are our parents progeny. The flock is a family group, usually a term for sheep or some kinds of birds. A fledgling is a baby bird, though it also means someone new to something. And a Cobb, is a male swann. A rather large water bird."

Mal looked at her with a blank expression. Frustrated the companion turned to the first mate.

Zoe sighed, again impressed by Mal's continued stupidity. "River was saying that Jayne doesn't want to go on the job because his family lives on Greymalkin."

Mal blinked as realization set in. "Well hell! Still don't explain why he don't wanna go. Way he goes on about his ma, think he'd be happy to visit."

Zoe gave a dark look. "You and I both know sir, that sometimes no matter how much you love your family, it's too painful or awkward to be around them."

Mal lowered his head as a barrage of memories hit him. "Guess you're right, but that don't matter none. We got a job to do, and I need my crew with me."

Inara leaned forward. "Then it becomes a question of getting Jayne to say why he doesn't want to go home. And the only one he's ever talked about his family to was Sheppard Book."

"He will talk to the girl, if others don't interfere." the voice was coming from the couch, and they all turned to see River's head pop up from hiding. "Girl can make the rock bleed truth, but others would be rebuked. Must meet in quiet, when minds wander past and ponder futures."

It was Kaylee who interpreted the words. "Oh, you can get him to explain, but only if the rest of us aint around. And would be best if we was sleeping and dreaming, so our thoughts didn't distract you."

River nodded and seemed to ooze over the back of the couch until her hands contacted the thick rug. Her legs rose into the air and with ease, she was in a perfect handstand, She hand walked a few steps, then spun on a palm to be facing them again from her upside down position.

"The rock's view has shifted and now he sees the girl, not the coin. He is only one to talk to the girl and see her as a whole. Even though she is still a little cracked. She is still broken in the minds of the crew family. They do not see what their eyes tell them. That she is not the little girl that dumped Simon's oatmeal on his head, or rewind the Father's cortex to display ads for the gifts she wished for day of naissance. She had changed. She has been altered and transformed into a weapon, a tool for the Blue Hands to use for fear. But the fraternal saved her, and his love for the girl and the crew family's acceptance of her, gave her control of the weapon. So now she can use it in hope for the crew family and protect them and fraternal boob from harm. The Jayne rock is the only one who sees the child as was, the girl she was forced to be and the weapon she has become. He feels sorrow that she was badly betrayed but does not pity or fear the girl. Wants to help her become strong and stand on her own."

She stopped and studied the others who were looking at her sadly. "She knows that they are sorry for what was done to her, but she does not wish for pity. She would like nothing more then for her new family to understand that the girl would rather go through all the pain again to arrive with Peace then to live a life of structure and rigidity. A river must flow free, or it's boundaries will blow, and the girl could not live as pampered princess. She would die first."

Simon gasped. "River, what are you saying? Surely you wouldn't have hurt yourself?"

She flipped to her feet and gave SImon a sad smile. "Would not have need to cause intentional harm. Inner being would have withered and died with no help from her hand. Her spirit needs to soar free, and in the past future lives she could have endured, she was always caged."

Inara was the first to recognize what she was implying. Not even her training could keep the tears from her eyes and voice. "River are you saying that even before the Academy, you had most of your abilities? You knew what would happen and still chose to go to the Academy."

River's cheeks were wet with her tears as she used all her will to stay in control. "The girl knew that the Academy was more then a school, that there was a secret and that the secret was a special level of training. She saw images of herself fighting and shouting, but she never knew about the cutting and the pain until she was there and then it was too late. The girl was broken, and can never be completely whole, though she is much better now thankd to Simon and freeing the secret of Miranda."

Simon stood and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm so sorry, mei-mei. I never realized how empty life must have looked for you. I was so focused on my studies I didn't notice how unhappy you were. I thought you were just bored because everything was so easy for you. The only times you were really happy were when you started dancing and when you were plotting some prank or play of some kind."

"If she was not aware, then Simon could not be aware. SHE made the decision as best chance to use her mind to fullest, not Simon. And it was the Blue Hands who hurt the girl. Simon saved her then, Captain Daddy has been protecting them since, and she is getting better thanks to the new family. At first she couldn't separate the thoughts and images in her head. She could not tell who's thoughts were who's. If it was her thought, or some one elses. But then she found a small form of peace. A way to slow the tide and start rebuilding herself. But she needed to initiate contact. So she attacked the Jayne, knowing he would strike back and that the exchange of blood would allow her to bind her mind to his. He would not know of the connection, but it would help the girl to slowly recover most of her self. His mind was calm, at ease. Simple, uncomplicated. NOT stupid, as fraternal boob thinks, but at peace with himself and knowing his own abilities and limitations. Girl knew that peace would be needed to protect others from the Jackal and the monsters. Just as she knew that Jayne needed to see what was done to the girl in order to begin to free himself from his past self."

"What are you talking about, past self?" Mal asked. Surprisinly, he and the others were following along fairly well.

She shook her head. "The girl is not permitted to say, it is not for her to reveal."

A loud grunt startled everyone, and they turned to see Jayne watching them with a frown. "Go ahead and tell 'em all of it, cause I ain't gonna. They wouldn't believe me." He walked over and took his seat at the foot of the table.

Everyone turned back to RIver, who moved to sit next to Jayne.

"Must begin at origins." She stated. "Or all is jumbled." She shifted closer to Jayne, who was trying to look at ease. "Origins of tale are rooted on Earth That Was. Throughout history, there has been a percentage of people that are different. At the dawn of humanity the percentage was high, but even as their differences aided humanity in evolving, the percentage got smaller. Not because fewer were born, but because the normal human population exploded.

By the time the population peaked in the late 20th century, there was less then 1 out of every 600000 people. But something happens and the percentage started growing for the first time. The dormant, recessive gene started to activate and became dominant in more people. By the beginning of the 21st century it approached 1 in 500000. A significant increase when processed with the sheer numbers involved. Out of a total of 6 billion people, there were about 10000 with the genetic coding that separated them from the rest of humanity.

This subgrouping showed a vast diversity in abilities. Every thing from enhanced strength and speed to mind reading and alteration of the physical form. The predecesors of this growing division had always been feared and persecuted. Those who dared stand up for themselves were vilified to such a degree that they gave rise to legends. Lycanthropes, Nosferatu, Sasquatch. These were names used to vilify those who's appearance and physical biological needs differed from the majority. Other names were demons, angels, gods, devils. All based on those who'se genetic traits allowed them abilities beyond those of the majority. They were driven into hiding, and those that could pass as human attempted to do so. But over generations, their genetics won out."

She paused and took a drink from the water Jayne poured her. He gave her an approving nod to indicate his acceptance of her historical recitation. It warmed her in ways she only felt around him to have his approval. She continued before anyone could interrupt and she lost the flow.

"It lasted until the closing years of 20th century when a powerful member of the subgroup decided it was time to stop hiding in fear. That because of their abilities, they were better then human. He called his people 'Homo Superieur', and looked down on regular humans the way they looked at animals. He forgot the lesson he should have learned as a child, and allowed hate and fear to control him. He drew followers to his side, those who thrived on causing mayhem and fear.

He was opposed by another powerful being, one who was widely acknowledged as the most powerfuly gifted in the matters of the mind. Once the two were the closests of friends, as close as Simon and Kaylee. But the one could not grow beyond the pain of his past and they were forced asynder by the power of their beliefs. In time, they gathered those like-minded allies as they each could, and were driven to battle each other. The first trying to dominate the world, the other seeking peace for all.

The battles became ever fiercer and soon other groups formed, each concerned with their own issues. But there arose the occassional greater threat, and from time to time, they had to band together to protect all life on Earth That Was. Until one final battle against the ultimate evil damaged the planet to the very core. There was no choice. Humankind and Mutantkind were forced to work together to save what they could before the bvery world died in an explosive end. They managed to build ships to carry survivors to a new system where they could start again. The dark man and the light agreed to separate those of their kind that survived to settle on a pair of moons on one side of the new system while the humans would begin on the opposite side of the sun. Each side hoped that by the time they reconnected, their differences would be forgotten."

Mal interrupted. "I'm guessing Greymalkin is one of those two moons that these Mutants went to?"

River nodded. "Yes, but genetics won again. They could not separate all who carried the gene. It has continued to be passed through those who feared. And like on Earth That Was, the powerful and rich feared loosing their control of the people, and have sought out those that manifest their heritage. On the Rim, the abilities have continued to spread, but in the Core, they have been repressed, and the changed have been taken." She turned away, wiping the tears.

Now Simon spoke. "Mei-mei, are you . . . a changed?" Is that why they took you and did those evil things." He refused to use the word mutant, though he was well aware that it was a proper classification for the subspecies.

She gave her brother a trembling grin. "She is not alone in progeny to be changed."

"Are you saying that Simon is also one of these changed like you?" Inara asked gently.

River grinned. "Simon brother, Kaylee sister, cousin Zoe, Auntie Inara, Captain Daddy and acceptably distance desirable relation all carry active genetic sequence for sub class 'Homo Superieur' "

"Hey now, no need to be callin' no one a super queer." Jayne stated. "Well, maybe yer brother."

River glared at Jayne's smirk, but knew it was an act to ease the rising tension of the crew. "Rock be good to lawful frater or girl will cause rock to roll."

"Fine, I won't bother your sissy brother no more. Now get on with the story and tell 'em the rest. If'n they want to know, ya can explain their own talents to 'em cause after this I plan on getting very drunk."

She turned to the others and shrugged. "Story approaching present, soon to veer to future. The Homo Superieur are still human, and have same need for love, family, friends. 2 of the members of the 'light' side became mated and had children. They had a very special gift. Time and Death could not see them. They were at peak of life, and remained unchanged as months, years, decades flew by. Few of their children shared this cursed gift. They withdrew from the world, took one of the first vessels to depart Earth That Was to a new world. They did so to avoid seeing their remaining friends and allies wear down to Time and surrender to Death's embrace."

"Centuries passed and they had been joined by those homo superieurs of like mindset to their own. They chose to name their new home in honor of the location of their first real home. This world was Greymalkin, and it was on this world nearly 60 years ago where the one known as Jayne Cobb first took breath. He was the 43rd child of his progenitors, who had been known and feared on Earth That Was as Wolverine and Rogue. Of their 43 children, only 6 have inherited the factor that allows the body to ignore the passage of time. They have the ability to heal from any injury, including the damage caused as a result of aging. Jayne is the youngest of these six, and is approaching his 63rd year in chronological time, but is physically only 32 years of age. The eldest sibling is over 200 years old. Wolverine's age is indeterminate, but estimates are that he was born in the late 18th, early 19th centuries. Rogue was born sometime in the 1980's, early 1990's putting them at nearly 800 and 600 years respectively.

They were not the only pairing among either side of the conflicts, but they are by far the most prolific. They themselves became legends among the habitants of the twin moons of Greymalkin and it's rivals from Genoshia X. The two worlds have been isolated from contacted with the rest of the 'verse for most of the last 500 years. They have warred against each other, and in many ways are far beyond the current level of technological levels known to the Core and the Rim worlds. They have come to peace with each other, and are now looking to reconnect with the lost members of their combined heritage. Individuals like Jayne have been sent out over the years to test the worlds to see if they were ready for contact. But news of the alliance has reached their leaders, and the stories of the horrors they have inflicted on the 'verse have galvanized the worlds to action. They will soon reveal themselves to the alliance, and though outnumbered, their technological advantages will easily hold their own against the alliance's military. For the first time, the alliance will have to acknowledge an equal and doing so shall bring a way to end the threat of the Reavers."

"Enough, River. Enough." Mal stated, collapsing back into his seat, his head swirling with odd thoughts. "That's a lot to take in, little girl, and I think we all need a break. I've heard enough. Jayne, I don't care what problems you got with going home, but I'm ordering you to come. We need you on this as much as on the Miranda job. Name your price, and I'll try to match it."

Jayne snorted. "Aw hell Mal. I'm going all right? I can't let the lot of you go to that place without me. Ain't none of you ready for what you're gonna see and now that the wu ji done told me that ya'll are mutants, gotta stick around to find out what your powers are gonna be. Ya'll are gonna need help learning to control them, and since the ni zi and I are the only ones with the experience and I'm the only on who'se not feng le, I guess I gotta stick around to show ya how to stay sane when they kick in. And believe me, now that you know, they are gonna kick in."

He stood and moved to the cabinet. "Now that the talk is done, I'm getting drunk."

Mal nodded. "I think I'll join you. Maybe I'll be able to think better with a few glasses of engine wine burning a hole in my stomach lining."

Jayne gave a grin. "Ain't engine wine. I picked up some bottles of real drink. Scotch, whiskey and rye. Pick your poison."

"Give me the whiskey." Mal stated.

The women at the table and Simon sighed. Simon begged off drinking, saying he wanted to run some tests in the medbay. Kaylee also begged off, saying she'd help Simon, though everyone knew what the two would really be doing. Zoe just stood and returned to her bunk, while Inara decided to get some rest since she knew there would be a lot of grumbling from the two men. River drifted off towards the bridge to stare at the stars and allow the dreams of her new family to flow through her mind.

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well, hope you enjoy this so far.





*Chapter 3*: Chapter 3


I own nothing about this except how I put this series together. This is the first chap of what I originally wanted as a short story, but my mind took over as always and I kept writting. Doesn't mean I'm not working on the others, but some are on hold for now.

mei-mei-----little sister

dong ma----understand?

wu dong---- i understand

tamade-----dammit(fuck me/ mother fucker) depending on context

go se----- shit

bao bei---sweetheart/sweetie

hwoon dahn-----son of a bitch/ bastard

Gorram----god damn

feng le-----crazy

feng dian----crazy (adj)

wang bao dahn----- dirty bastard

shumma---- what?

wuo de ma---mother of jesus

ni zi---little girl

teng-----flying dragon

xiao teng--- small/young/tiny dragon

biao xiong-----male cousin

wu ji-----dancing girl

bai chi---- idiot

bu jing chuan----- whaling ship, whale catcher

xie xie-----yes(more like yeah, yeah)

yin hui---- coarse, obscene

ba ba---- daddy

Renzi de Shang Di, qing dai wa zhou----Merciful God, please take me away

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It was several days later, and the crew were slowly adjusting to their new knowledge. The idea that there were people with gifts and abilities beyond the norm was strange, but after Revers, the Academy and Niska, they were only mildly surprised instead of shocked. Even learning that they themselves could be counted among these Mutants was only a mild concern. To them, the most shocking thing of all had been Jayne's behavior.

Since the history lesson by River, Jayne had withdrawn completely from shipboard life. He talked to no one and said nothing when questioned except to reassert his dislike of being forced to journey to what they now knew to be his homeworld. This made things difficult for the crew since Greymalkin was such a distance that they would need at least 2 fueling stops to reach it. Plus they'd had to stop for supplies.

Jayne had tried to leave, but a little distraction by River, the only one Jayne responded to in any significant way, and a quick jab and spray with a hypo, and that ended his 1st attempted dissertion. He hadn't even said or done anything to the Doc, despite Simon's giving him ample opportunities for vengeance. He didn't even leer or more crude comments to or about the female crew members. Something that while they appreciated the lack thereof, it also instilled doubt into their minds about their continued attractiveness. If Jayne wasn't eyeing them like pieces of meat any more, could they attract other, more stable men? They all knew that it was ridiculous for them to feel that way, but they were women and contradicting emotions were normal for them.

While waiting for the approach to the orbital fuel station, the gals had gathered in the mess. River and Kaylee were playing an ancient board gamefrom Eath that Was. Inara was reviwing her accounts on a portable cortex screen. Zoe had been invited, but declined and remained in her bunk, where she continued to greive for her loss. Mal was on the bridge, absently toying with a stegosaurus and lamenting the many people he'd lost over the years. Simon was in the infirmary, preparing another hypo or two to dose Jayne, should the man try to leave ship again.

He was also runnning comparative tests on blood samples from the crew. He hoped to be able to identify the similaries between them that differed from standard samples. This way, he hoped to discover the exact gene sequence that River claimed they all shared and was responsible for the potential abilities they should possess. River had refused to tell anyone what their abilities were, stating that they had to find out on their own.

River stared intently at the dice in her hand. During their play, part of her mind had been trying to calculate the amound of force needed during each toss to obtain the most favorable roll. It was based on the same predictive algorythims she used playing poker. Although she had been forced to stop playing against the crew when she beat Jayne and the hwoon dahn accused her of cheating. She had tried to explain the math, but he claimed that he knew she was counting card.

With a twist of her wrist, she rolled the die, missing the optimum roel as an unknown variable tilted one of the dies two squares more then needed. This was an indication of uneven nature of the table as a flat surface would have resulted in the optimum position. She frowned as she moved her piece and landed on an undesired square, on that returned her to the very beginning of the board. Kaylee'd squealed, grabbed the die and rolled with much less consideration for the amount of force needed. The result was beneficial to the exuberant mechanic and she happily slid her piece to the winning square.

River blinked as Kaylee celebrated her victory by taking a drink of the prize, the last glass of milk on board. She had lost. For the 4th time in 5 games. It should have been impossible but here she was. A Failure. Certainly, it was only a childish game of Snakes and Ladders, but she had finally found something that was beyond her skill. She had no talent for this simple game, or others of it's ilk. This was the 4th game they had tried, and River had lost at all except Connect 4.

She jumped up and started whirling around the table, a huge smile on her face as she laughed out her joy. Kaylee didn't understand her friend's reason for the display, but she gladly joined in, only slightly less exuberant then River. Inara watched the display fondly, feeling the happiness and simple pleasure infuse her and secretly wishing she could be as free with her emotions as the other two women. It was good to see them so relaxed and carefree. Especially since Wash and Book's death.

As soon as the thought entered her mind, Zoe entered the mess and froze as she watched the two covorting around like children. A ghost of a smile graced her face, as undoubtedly thoughts of Wash and his reaction to the sight went through her mind. Inara blinked and Zoe's face was again set in it's stoic mask, though there was a lightness in her eyes that had been missing since Miranda. It was the same mask that had been her normal set expression prior to Wash, instead of the empty, lifeless mask that had replaced it after the pilot's death.

"What's got you two being so rowdy?" she asked as she carefully made her way to the dispenser and poured herself some coffee.

River beamed at teh dark skinned soldier. "I lost. Repeatedly, at several various incarnations."

Zoe blinked, then chuckled for a few seconds. "Only you would be happy to be loosing."

River nodded her head so fast, Inara was worried she'd give herself whiplash. "Girl has always won or perfected all she tried with little effort. It has been even easier since she was enhanced at the Academy. To find something that she has difficulty with makes her think that she might be a real person. Like Kaylee, Inara, or Zoe and not some machine programmed to perform on cue for those who harmed her. It shows that she can have flaws and still live. She is human and humans have flaws - or rather, she has flaws ergo she is human."

"I though ya said we weren't human, River?" Kaylee asked, exaggerated confusion filling her voice.

River giggled. "You know what she means, Kaylee. Just because of minor genetic drift granting enhanced capabilities, does not mean we are not homo sapian."

Zoe nodded. She had studied enough history of Earth That Was to know about the racial and ideological conflicts. There was some as still lived by them and on larger Rim worlds close to Central planets, racial gang wars were common. Though English and Chinese were the common languages every knew enough to get by in, like the Mutants had done many of Earths individual groupings (be they country, race, or religion) had also set out with intent to colonize worlds with their own system. Over the last 500 years most had collapsed during the various wars that had raged over the centuries. Some religions still claimed that other races were less than human. Hell, a few even believed women were less then human. And in all systems, there were those individuals who thought along those lines. Men like Atherton Wing, Niska, and Ranse Burgess who think of woman and others as property.

She was about to ask how she could go about finding her ability, when a loud clattering came from the infirmary. There was a pause as the women exchanged glances and realized that the so-called men were not in the mess. As one they all stood and started to the bay, knowing they'd likely find their missing troublemakers together. They reached the bay, River and Kaylee looking through the door while Zoe and Inara being more dignified, looked through the portals. What they saw was a shock to all of them.

Simon was sprawled on the floor, obviously unconcious. All fo his surgical tools were scattered on the floor, the cabinets and drawers were open, the meavy metal examination seat was on it's side and there seemed to be some buckling of the walls, grates and floors. Blood leaked slowly from Simon's busted lip and Jayne stood above him rubbing his knuckles. Mal stood behind Jayne, one hand on the taller's shoulder. The frightening thing was that Mal was openly laughing while Jayne had a somewhat sheepish expression. Something drew his attention to the new gawkers and his face slid into's it's customary scowl.

"What?" he barked, shoving Mal's hand aside. "It were knock him out or he coulda torn apart the ship and killed all of us."

Kaylee, being immune to Jayne's temper, moved to her lover's prone form. "How could Simon tear apart Serenity, Jayne? And why is everything all messed up in here? Did Simon catch you snoopin' again?"

Jayne opened his mouth to reply, but River answered for him as she drifted to stand at his side. "Simon evolved. Spread his wings and started to fly, but couldn't control the wind. Would have crashed and destroyed us all, but the rock clipped his wings."

For once, no one needed a translation.

When Kaylee and River entered the room, Inara and Zoe moved to the door. "What power does he have that could do this and endanger the ship." Inara asked, not even sure herself who she was asking.

Jayne sighed and looked up. "Magnetism. He can control and move metal through use of magnetism." Jayne's face twitched and he muttered a comment they barely heard. "I hate magnetechs."

Before anyone could ask, River explained. "Magnetechs: term give to encompess beings whose evolutionary enhancment is the control, manipulation and absorption of magnetic energy and use that energy to control and manipulate all forms of magnetic metals and their alloys."

"So Simon is one of these magnetechs? Does that mean RIver has that ability too since she is his sister?" Zoe asked calmly, as though it were a normal every day situation.

"Nah, doens't always work that way." Jayne stated. "Does tend to run in family lines, but it's rare for sibs to get the same power. Fact is, usually they have opposing powers that cancel each other out. Makes it impossible for them to hurt each other with the powers. Place on Greymalkin keeps records far back as Earth That Was, tracing mutations all the way to the first generations. Magnetechs ain't widespread. There were only 2 of what we consider the 1st generation. One of them was that terrorist guy feng-le was tellin' ya'll about. Real name was Eric Lensher, but he was better know as Magneto or Magnus Von Magnuson. None of his kids had his powers. But others got both their parents powers. Some skip generations. Like any other crap you inherit really."

"So there's no way to really tell what any of us are gonna have?" Kaylee asked.

"Not really. Well, the Docs on Greymalkin can tell what family you come from. I think they've isolated at least the most common genes that lead to certain powers. I know they can pick out healers, ferals, telepath and telekinetics as those are the more common." Jayne stated with a puzzled expresion. "Don't know about the rarer powers."

"Like what?" asked Mal, curious in spite of his skepticism.

"Shapeshifting, teleportation, physical mutations like wings, gills and stuff." He paused for a moment as though debating whether to say what he was thinking. "Now Ma don't like to admit and when you there, don't mention it, but her Ma was one of the Brotherhood, Magneto's group. She was close to Magneto and considered one of his generals. Granny was always something of a merc though, and she would take jobs from the highest bidder for pretty much any thing. She was a thief and assassin and who knows what else. She was a shifter, one of the first and one of the best. She could take on forms larger and smaller then herself and actually be whatever she picked. So she could turn into a bird and be able to fly, or a fish and be able to breath water. One thing she had that no one really knew was that like Pa, she was a healer. No where as strong, but it did let her live a lot longer then was normal at the time.

Her real name was Raven Darkholme and it's generally agreed she was born around 1850 old Earth calender. She had a few kids, actually. My Ma, who she gave up for adoption sometime in mid 1980's-'90's, a normal human name of Grayden Creed someitme in the 40's. Creed's pa was was another mutant, a feral healer like pa by the name of Victor Creed. He and pa were friends for a bit, but then something happened and they spent more then 150 years trying to kill each other until they ended up on separate sides. Creed joined Raven, who had taken the name Mystique, with Magneto, and Pa found Xavier, who was the leader of a group called the Xmen."

Jayne paused and River took up the story. "At one point, not long after giving birth to Grayden, she decided to leave it behind. It was in the late 1940's early 1950's that she decided to get out of the life she'd lived for the last 100 years. She met and fell in love with a human, a baron. They married and she got pregnant. Gave birth to her second son, but there was something noticebly different about him. He was born with his ability and appearance. Her husband was angered she was a mutant and tried to kill them both, but she got them out. She named him Kurt Wagner, and since she had no money or way to suppost herself except the old jobs, she gave him up. Left him in a basket with a note giving his name and left him at a circus. The couple who found him were startled by his appearance but he was accepted into their family and the circus also treated him as one of their own."

"What was wrong with him that would make his father try to kill him?" Kaylee asked.

"His skin was a dark blue, he had only 3 fingers on his hands, 2 toed feet shaped like an animal, and a tail that ended with an arrowhead bard. He could use his tail to swing from or hold things. He looked like a blue version of the traditional Judeo-Christian Devil. He was a teleporter. Ma was always tellin' stories about him and pa. Pa don't look like it, but he enjoyed playing pranks, especially on certain members of the Xmen he felt needed to lighten up. Pa's had a hard life, he was taken and experimented on too, even worse then the ni zi because he could heal from what they done." Jayne paused again as a thought entered his mind. "Guess he would a been a lot like the Sheppard, being all religious like. Ma always said I take after Pa. Suppose it makes sense that my friends are like his too."

There was a loud beeping from the bridge, and River raced to answer. Curses following behind him, Mal left ignoring the others.

Zoe rolled her eyes as the captain left. "Jayne, get the bed upright then put Simon on it. Kaylee, Mal's gonna need you in the engine room. Gauges on the bridge never did work right. Let him know when Serenity is full. I'm gonna clean up here a bit and fix Simon's lip so you can kiss it better later." Not quite knowing in her mind how to rank Inara, she didn't even try to order the companion to do something.

Luckily Inara saved her from her thoughts. "Why don't I check on the cargo and make sure the animals are settled in?" she suggested. "If there's a problem, I'll call for a Jayne."

Jayne grunted. He easily lifted the heavy table and set it right, not bothering to hide that he was stronger then a normal man his size. "I'll help you clean up here then join Inara with the animals. If there's trouble, shouldn't see them alone. Stay on the catwalk, don't go down near 'em until I'm there." he stated, shifting the 300lbs contraption into it's proper place then dressing the mattress and bed cloths before lifting Simon and laying him down gently.

Zoe and Jayne worked silently until there was little left to do. It would take the right tools to fix the bulges of the metal frame of the room, and those were sealed up behind some cargo. Seeing they were done, Jayne started to leave but Zoe called him back.

"Are you coming or not, Jayne?" she asked softly, keeping her voice calm.

He stopped for a moment and considered. "Still don't wanna go, Zoe. Don't belong there any more."

"We need you Jayne." she stated simply, causing him to turn and face her with shock on his face. "You're the only one who understands what the world is like and what these powers we are getting seem to be capable of. River might be able to read it from your mind, but if you aren't here, that don't help. We would be dead now, if you hadn't taken out Simon. If someone else's power pops up and it's a danger, you're the only one who could stop them." Seeing that Jayne's face was contorting in conflicting thoughts, she pressed on. "When Simon's awake, he's gonna need to start to learn to control his power, and ain't no one here but you who can teach him. Who can teach the rest of us when it happens. You gonna let us kill each other before we learn to control what God's given us."

Jayne's face set and he turned away. "Fine. I'll stay. But don't blame me for whatever happens on Greymalkin. It wasn't my idea to go there, and I expect you to remind Mal of that when we land. Now I'm going to go check on the animals and make sure they ain't panicked with the noises and such from the refueling."

"Thanks Jayne. Know Mal's been hard on you, but you are crew now, not just worker."

Jayne blinked, keeping his face away from the woman, not wanting her to know how much that meant to him, coming from her.





*Chapter 4*: Chapter 4


Disclaimer: if you don't know by now that NO ONE who is writting fanfiction owns any of the original works, then you need help. If there is SOME one who does own the originals, then show us proof.

Here's the 4th chap of Xmen meets Firefly. hope you enjoy. at the end I'll have a list of the crew and who the first gen mutant relative(s) were and who's power they've inherited if it is one that's inherited and not one of those popped out of nowhere powers.

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Jayne was not a happy man. By the time they reached Greymalkin, Zoe, Kaylee and Mal had all tripped their abilities. Though it seemed that Mal and Kaylee had been affected by mild levels of their talents for a long time. Kayle's particular gift was the instinctive knowledge of machines and how they worked. One of the replacement parts from the repairs was a little shoddy, and almost in a trance, Kaylee had pieced together a replacemt for it. The new replacement worked even better then the part that originally came with the ship. She'd been on a tear since then, and the ship was operating at more then 200percent normal standards.

After the first repairs revealed her ability, Mal had allowed her to grab a bunch of parts and she had cobbled together a room full of useful devices and improvements for their equipment. She'd even repaired the Lassiter, which they never had been able to find a buyer. Once it had been repaired, Mal's talent had kicked in, and right before they departed the last refueling stop, a cortex call came in and they had a sale. It seems that Mal's talent was that was the ability to alter chance. He too seemed to have small healing factor, not as strong as Jayne's, but much stronger then a normal human's. He'd sliced his hand open on a grating during a pit stop in a local bar, and it had healed within a couple of hours when it should have taken days.

Though the gash was painful and annoying, the fall that caused the wound had saved his life, as some unknown bounty hunter had taken a shot that would have punched directly through his heart if he'd been able to take those last two steps onto the platform. Jayne had shot the hunter without looking, laughing at Mal's luck. It seems that what they'd always taken as rotten luck, had been Lady Luck's way of teasing Mal, causing him enough trouble to be annoying, but making sure that in the end, everything worked out better for the Browncoat. Sadly, there were things that were beyond the powers of even the gods, and no amount of luck would have helped the Independants.

As for Zoe, while everyone appreciated that they now had unlimited free fresh water, no one was overjoyed by the stray electrical discharges. Especially not Kaylee with her newly aware connection to mechanical and electrical systems. Through it all, Simon levitated and attracted all manner of loose metal bits to himself, and the whole ship had become a hazard.

Luckily the boy had learned enough control to make a quick trip into town during their last stop. Jayne had sent River along with him as a control. Everytime metal started to shake or move on it's own, she would kick him or punch/elbow him to break his train of thought. The system worked surprisingly well, but when Jayne offered to perform a similar service for Zoe, he'd been forced to remember how painful it was to be both drowned and electricuted as Zoe filled his bunk with water, then threw several lightning bolts into the ship's new pond. Jayne had been fried nearly bald, as the hair was burned off his body. Happily he was able to heal immediately, having something that no other Healer had ever possessed.

Control. He had learned at a young age that he could control how quickly he healed or aged. Within a certain age range, he could even age/ grow younger or older as he chose. His standard appearance was as a mid thirty year old who could pass for mid to late 20's. He could, in about a week, age himself up to his true chronological age or down to about River's age. It had been about that age that he'd first accessed this part of his gift. This extra ability to control his healing had allowed him to survive once he'd left the confines of the Greymalkin's influence. At first he'd hell as quickly as the severity of the injury would dictate for the least amount of pain and blood. But after one of his partners grew suspicious and hired a group of 6 toughs to beat on him, he'd learned quickly to slow his healing.

He had even thanked his former partner because one of the former toughs and new corpses had been carrying a badly mistreated Vera. Jayne had fallen in love with the lady at first sight. It had taken all the money he'd had, and the money he'd taken off the toughs and his former partner to be able to afford what was needed to repair or replace the worn parts until she was better then new.

He stayed in his bunk, not wanting to see the world as they dropped through the atmosphere. He was glad that River was needed to land the ship since she'd taken to following him around, spouting random thoughts and statements, most of which were in regards to things he hadn't thought of since leaving the moon more then 45 years earlier. He had been 18 when he left, and cocky. It had taken a few unfortunate incidences before he'd learned to put on the act of a strong, stupid merc, and for 35 years, it had been so ingrained in him, that he was having trouble reconciling his real abilities into the make up of the greedy merc he'd shown the 'Verse for all that time.

He occassionaly found himself replying to River's odd questions on things like physics, math, and other sciences or history without thinking about it. It scared him in some ways that he couldn't conciously call up his education any more, but that the feng le could cause him to spout an hour's worth of arguement about the various political structures of Earth That Was. Yet he couldn't even conciously name more then a handful of countries that had existed on the World before it's dissertion and destruction.

He was not looking forward to the meeting with his parents. As much as he loved them, it had been more then 40 years since he had been home. That was a long time and a lot of bad tidings had taken place since then. He was no longer the person who had left home eager for the chance to be free and away from the shadows of his long lived family. He'd been full of his own self and it had been beaten into him early and often after leaving that even though he could heal from the physical, the emotional scars were impossible to heal.

He'd done things he knew his parents wouldn't be too happy about, though in truth they had done much the same over the centuries. His father in particular would likely understand, considering the work and lifestyle he had engaged in before finding the Xmen and his mother. And that is what would be hardest to deal with over even his mother's disappointment. He didn't deserve to be understood. Not for the shit he'd down. There might have been some lines he'd never crossed, but they were very few. His worry was already affecting him.

Part of the reason he had rarely left his bunk for the last few days. He had started to loose full control of his abilities and was started to deage. He suspected that he would look as he had when he'd first left, maybe just a few years into his twenties by the time Serenity landed. There was no mirrors in his bunk and he hadn't looked into any reflective surfaces so he wasn't sure. It had meant he'd cut himself shaving a few times but they had healed even before they'd started to bleed.

He hadn't really spoken to anyone any more then he had to. He left only to get food, and to try and help Simon and Zoe learn to control their gifts. He had only had a few minutes worth of time to get Kaylee comfortable with her own, and Mal's were not exactly something anyone could control so there was nothing to be done there. Inara's hadn't peaked yet, but he suspected they would within a few days.

River was the only one trying to be sociable. She banged on his hatch every few hours asking him all kinds of inane questions about crap he didn't care about any more. She was very curious about history and he answered her questions as best he could, knowing that she would just continue to badger him until he replied. He never let her in, and she respected his wishes enough not to just come in without invitation. They both knew that she could easily over ride the security code of the lock, but she was smart enough to know that this wouldn't help with their tentative friendship. He couldn't do much for her powers either not having any of the mental gifts or being willing to help with her obvious physical mutations.

No matter what they had programmed into her head, only her own genetics could explain her physical abilities. Training could only take a body so far, especially when a slip of a girl was perofrming feats of strength that Jayne knew were beyond even the most powerful of normals. The strength she'd displayed in the Maidenhead bar fight and against the Reavers could not have been created by artificial means. A human body could only be enhanced a certain percentage by those means, and usually required a means of steadily injected hormones and steroids. And while Simon had been regularly drugging the girl up until the whole Miranda thing, none of those drugs were any kind of strength enhancers, merely mood stabilizers and other emotional controls.

He felt a faint vibration in the hull and grunted, turning another page on his novel. They had become common place since Simon's power manifested. This particular effect was a slight loss of control on Simon's part, something that all of the crew had come to learn meant he and Kaylee were privately occupied. Just then the lights flickered and there was a hum from the engine and squawk from the electrics and Jayne shook his head. Must have been a good one for Kaylee to let loose enough for the engine to rev.

He snorted as a thought occured. Kaylee was likely the only woman in the 'Verse who literally got her engine revving when she was turned on.

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River frowned as she was again assaulted by the sensations floating through the ship from the coital connection of the brother and her friend. She was really annoyed that she was still subject to being aware of all the emotional states of the crew, though now with enough concentration or distraction she could mostly block them out. Only the strongest could get through then, but unfortunately the strongest were usually the most private and the ones she wanted to be able to block more then any others.

She toyed with the idea of going to the cargo bay and performing a combination dance/gymnastic/martial arts kata but decided that she needed somethign to draw her mind not her body. And while physical exertion could usually blank her mind more then other activities, she was more in the mood for mental stimulation then physical. So she had loaded a series of novels and mathematical essays from Earth that Was onto a portable cortex screen, wandered down to what passed for a den, and sprawled on the more comfortable of the two sofas to enjoy reading. She knew the she had chosen several of Jayne's prefered novels. She was hoping that by reading them she could get a better understanding of the surprisingly more complex mercenary.

Though even from the first clear thoughts she'd experienced once being released, she had known that there was more to Jayne then met the Eye. She had never been able to fully read him, and though it had become a little easier once she'd shared blood with him during the knife/punch incident, there had always been a part of him that was blocked from her. Even now, she was only able to read what he permitted her to see. He'd been more open since Miranda, but since the revalation of the shared genetic heritage of the crew, he'd been nearly verbose in what he shared with her. She doubted he even knew how open he was being. She was quite sure that he never meant her or any one to see into some of the humorous moments of childhood or the less savory occssions of his adult hood since leaving home.

She had no trouble accepting what he'd done. Though she would never tell anyone, except perhaps Janye himself, during her time at the academy, she had been forced to perform some truly vile acts. Not the worse of which had been the slaughter and mutilation of several of her former classmates, including children as young as 4-5 years old. Despite the feats of horror in Jayne's past, he had never allowed himself ot be in a position to be forced to hard a child or a woman who had not harmed him first.

And unlike her brother thought, she was not so innocent of other matters either. Some of the early training had been on Seduction and Murder. She'd been put through sexual training designed to allow her to remain in control to complete any mission, weather it was gathering infromation or assassination during or post coital relations. She was no where near as accomplished in either as Jayne or Inara, but she had been forced/controlled to enact the situations often enough to technically be more experienced in such matters then most of the crew. Kaylee might have been going along the road, not towards the women Jayne had seemed to prefer, but she had discovered boys early and if not for joining the crew of Serenity, might have become more experienced then her in a short time.

By the time Simon had rescued her, she'd alreayd been on nearly 2 dozen of those missions and over 60 missions in total. Despite her near flawless mind, it was hard tro tell due to the continued experimention she'd been enduring at the time. She was unsure if some of what she remembered was real of extrapolation of simulations. Either way, she was tainted by the darkness as surely as Jayne believed himself to be. She would have to find some way to let him know without sharing the entire details, if it was possible. Though if needed she would let him know the full details. With a little help from the Readers and Projectors from Greymalkin, she might even be able to share some of those memories with him. She just hoped that he wouldn't be too repulsed by what he saw.

Oh yes, there was also the matter of meeting potential legally and spiritually binding relations to deal with. As well as possible acquired siblings and other familiar ties. Perhaps Jayne's mother would be able to assist her in easing her way into her unsuspecting paramour's affections. She had afterall managed to entrap her own mate who from what she gathered was of much similar nature to River's chosen specimen.

Sh tore her thoughts from the state of her lacking physical/emotional relationship to focus again on the reading material before her, easily reading the text of the massive novel in it's original tongue. She never would have pictured Janye as enjoying something like War and Peace, but then againt, it was a Russian novel detailing the lives of various and sundry characters throught a rather harsh period of history. He likely saw a great deal of himself in many of the characters.

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sorry it's taking so long to update, I had actually started this chap back in june/july 2007, but other things got in the way and I haven't been up to typing it up. hopefully over the next week or so I'll have some updates for other stories as well and that it doens't take as long to update any of these again.





*Chapter 5*: Chapter 5


Chapter 5 of History of the future. Where they finally reach Greymalkin and start learning more about Jayne and their own powers.

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It took all of her concentration to keep from starring as Jayne grumpily shifted in his seat. It was obvious that he would much rather be hiding away in his bunk , but his own pride and vanity was holding him in place. He was too proud a man to let another perform such a delicate and personal operation, but too vain to be willing to appear before his mother in his current state. It had been somewhat of a shock for the crew when Jayne stomped into the room just hours before landfall and asked for Simon's assistance.

It seems that his nervousness about going home had caused him to loose control of his own powers. The result was a Jayne in his late teems, with hair hanging to the middle of his spine, and one of the scraggliest patchiest beards ever displayed. Some tufts were inches long while in other places he was as smooth as a child. He looked to have lost a couple of inches in height and a great deal of mass. All the various scars he'd gathered since he left home had healed and his face, aside from his eyes, looked especially odd even after Simon had tamed the mess of facial hair.

There was a softness- or rather a lack of hardening- that drew the attention of the female crew. Even Inara had taken several discrete glances. Instead of a rock, or Simon's Ape, Jany was like a peacock or a gazelle. He was much leaner, but still more toned then any other man River had ever seen. He was build more like an endurance athlete instead of the impact athlete he was normally. She had no doubt that in spite of the lost mass, Jayne had lost little of his strength.

His eyes were the only reminder of the truth of Jayne. While his face and body seemed to have softened, his eyes retained their edge. They wandered through the room, meeting an occasional set and daring people to comment on the changes. Then they moved on, scanning the room in an endless alternating series of patterns that took her several moments to recognize and plot.

Deciding that she was bored watching him having a haircut, she stood and moved closer. She leaned in and studied his face, finding the glimpse of the youth he had been as fascinating as she normally found his older, more rugged features. "She is appreciative of the Rock's efforts to be more physically aged appropriate, but it is much too soon to begin mating rituals. So would the Jayne kindly halt the thought patterns of the River's state upon original introduction until he proves his worth and she is biologically receptive to becoming bearer of Jayne's progeny." She grinned sweetly at the stunned man, who was now physically near to her own age. Internally she was sporting an evil grin. 'I hope that they never learn that I talk like this on purpose most of the time. It makes it easier to say some things like this since aside from Jayne, Inara, and Zoe, they think it's all crazy talk.'

She giggled openly at the amazed shock on the faces of the crew. Even Zoe let out a smile as she translated the Riverspeak, a term the solder had created for the particularly colorful and unusual way River occasionally spoke. Said River had found it highly amusing and seeing that Zoe actually found the babbling equally amusing, spoke in the new 'tongue' purposefully. Especially since the loss of Wash.

"River! What are you saying?" Simon demanded, only his experience in highly emotional surgery preventing him from dropping the scissors he was using on Jayne's hair. "Did this wang bao dahn take advantage of you?" Small bits of metal started quivering and shaking in place as the doctor struggled to control his fear and anger.

Mal leaned forward both hands slamming onto the table. "Gorram it Jayne! You been warned about harming that girl!"

Jayne's eyes were wide and he raised his hand in defense. "I ain't ever touched the feng le girl, Mal! Well, there was the time she cut me and I smacked her. And in the Maiden head when I grabber her to stop her from killing anyone."

"Never, and I mean NEVER, let me hear you even THINK of the word 'maidenhead' and my sister in the same thought." Simon growled, actually sounding some what dangerous.

"Hey, she's the one that grabbed my John Thomas..." he trailed off into a gurgle as Simon lost control. The blade of the scissors drove deep into Jayne's neck, causing a spray of blood to arc from the wound onto the table. The wound would be fatal on any one, but almost before the first splatter of blood drops hit the table, it sealed not even leaving a mark. The only evidence of it's origins and occurrence the splatter of blood and the scissors still embedded in Jayne's neck. The wound had healed around the protruding metal. The blades position made it impossible for the merc to speak and hard for him to breath, but Jayne barely flinched as it went in.

There were mixed reactions to the suddenness of the attack. Mal was on his feet and hand was ¾ of the way to his holster only to stop as he recalled he hadn't strapped it on today. Inara and Kaylee squealed in horror and scooted away from the table. Zoe moved immediately to avoid getting splattered by what she was sure would be Jayne's last reprisal for the attack. Simon was frozen in a mask of anger towards Jayne and anxiety over his own actions.

River didn't even flinch. She'd endured much more horrifying events. Though she didn't visibly react, she was both upset and pleased by the event. Upset because Simon had after all just attempted to kill Jayne by stabbing him in the neck with a pair of scissors. She was pleased though because it had been a loss of control on Simon's part, not a planned action. She had no fear for Jayne, knowing that at worst, it was an annoyance for the healer. She had 'seen' him heal from much more lethal wounds.

Jayne stood and slowly turned to face a pale, shaken Simon. He subconsciously angled himself so that the others could see them both in profile. He grasped the handles of the scissors that were jutting from his throat. He drew them out quickly, letting the renewed wound heal as quickly as the original. Another spray of his blood streaked from the hole, spraying the left side of Simon's face with the thick red substance and covering a pattern on his otherwise immaculate sweater-vest. The young doctor flinched as the warm fluid painted his face, not from the spray or coating, but from knowing that he had caused the wound. That he had broken his most tightly held belief and caused harm to another person. The knowledge that his loss of control would have killed any one who did not possess Jayne's gifts was almost enough to break him.

"Jay...Jayne." he started after growing ill at ease as the normally reactive man stared at him impassively. "I swear I didn't . . .I mean, I just. . . I lost control. Everything River said, and you . . .well 'you'. It was just. . . I just..." he trailed off, unable to bear matching Jayne's cold gaze.

"Don't worry Doc. Ya's just looking out for yer feng le mei-mei. 'Sides, just a bit of pain. Here, wash these off. Still have to finish the job ya started. Ain't no way I'm meeting my ma for the first time going on 40years with a piece of go se haircut. She like as knock me clear to Gen10 and back iffen I showed up looking all scraggy and with a sore fist from beating on ya. Ya might not realize how strong my healing works, but my Ma knows perfectly well a cut in the neck like that ain't more then a hassle. Ain't worth the beating she and Pa would lay on me to make you hurt as much as it hurt to be stabbed."

Before he could ask himself, the doctor asked the surprisingly clear spoken mercenary the 1st thought that crossed his mind. "Does it hurt? DO you feel pain? I mean, you heal so fast."

Jayne looked straight into the doctor's eyes. "Ever been hurt, doc? Aside from that gut shot on Miranda?" Remember that pain and how long it lasted? Imagine all that pain in a few seconds or minutes. That's how it works doc. No avoiding the pain. Just 'cause I heal fast, don't mean it don't hurt like a bitch."

A faint beep sounded through the room, halting the conversation. The tone filled the room, not pleasantly, but far less harsh then the emergency signals they encountered. They started in place as River jumped to her feet, one hand reaching into a pocket. Before her hand had fully disappeared into the cloth, Jayne had leapt over the table, grabbed her arms and swung behind her, her arms trapped against her chest and Jayne holding her in a grip in which she knew she could not use force to free herself. Her mind was already calculating the many other ways she could free herself that didn't require the raw power most would attempt, but she held still. She felt no threat from the youthful looking Jayne, and being honest with herself, she had no objection to him holding her tightly against his body. She had long wished to feel his arms around her, though not perhaps with an audience.

"Jayne, what the hell ya doing?" Mall demanded, really wishing he'd worn his gun. 'Thought I was supposed to be lucky.' he thought to himself bitterly. It never occurred to him until Zoe brought it up later, that the luck was that he had not worn his gun. If he had, they might be down one doc and have a pissed off merc who would gladly have turned him into a walking bruise.

Jayne grunted in reply to the new looks and exclamations resulting from his actions. "Kaylee, reach into the feng le's pocket. Doc, get ready with that fancy sleep words. Zoe, iffen that don't work, blast us both as strong a blot you can manage. Mal, Inara, back away slowly. Don't startle her."

Jayne's voice was so unlike his normal tone, that everyone had already started moving before they realized that it was 'Jayne' who was ordering them around. I t was too late for any of them to do anything but follow his orders. He almost snorted as Kaylee carefully came over her face showing how nervous she was. It cleared slightly when River gave her a reassuring smile. He could tell she wasn't sure whether she was being so cautious so as not to startle River or to avoid Jayne's own expression of intimidation.

Mal recovered enough to step in front of Inara glaring menacingly at his hired hand. "Jayne, you tell me what you're doing or so help me, I will find a way to end you."

Jayne sighed as he scented the air, and subconsciously sorted and cataloged the various scents. The most overwhelming was the surprisingly strong scent of 'clean' and 'fresh' from the young woman he held. Even more surprising, was that she was betraying no fear or anxiety from his actions. She was however producing a faint but rising level of pheromones relating to arousal. He nearly released her but his paranoia kicked in. "Just making sure that Moony here ain't got nothing dangerous stashed away. That beeping is coming from her pocket. Wanna know what it is." He nodded to Kaylee who reached in and pulled out a square box, not overly dissimilar to the remote detonators of several popular explosives.

"Hey, that's a detonator for those Krysou-Hung Mark III's that we have stashed in the ammo dump hidey-hole." Mal stated, flashes of the results of those small, powerful devices parading in his mind.

Zoe frowned. She too had seen the resemblance. "Looks to have been modified, Sir."

Mal was now staring at River with a hint of suspicion. "So Lil Tross, why you playing with explosives on my boat?"

River tilted her head. She had Seen this and knew that it was not time to play. Mall and the others were too jumpy for her to tease them. "I needed a device that was capable of sending and receiving bursts of data. This device, modified by adding it's intended receiver is connected to the bridge. The alarm tone is to notify me when I need to get to the bridge for a course change or modification that the autopilot can not handle on it's own. It also allows me to preprogram some functions such as replying to hails, and some minor piloting that can't normally be done by the limited AI of the Firefly class computers. There are different tones for different alerts. This one, "she nodded towards the device in Kaylee's hands. "is for the final course plotting for orbit and landing."

Jayne blinked, then hardened his expression, ignoring the way River was now rubbing herself against him. "Kaylee, can you check?"

The girl smiled, eager to help prove her friend had only good intentions. "Sure I'll run up to the bridge and check the screens."

River remained as still as her self control could manage. She could tell that the slight motions she was making were being noted and mostly ignored. Mal and Zoe had fleeting thoughts that she was trying to come up with a means of escape, Simon thought she was trying to restore blood flow and Inara... Well Inara thought she was rubbing seductively against Jayne in order to discomfit him and there by making him release her through non violent means. Truth was, being this close to Jayne was slowly driving her body wild and if she had to suffer through unfulfilled arousal, it was only fair that Jayne - as the cause of said frustration- suffer in equal measure.

It didn't take long for Kaylee to return and announce that the box did exactly what River said it would. She then blushingly explained that halfway to the bridge , her new ability had kicked in and she'd been able to 'communicate' with the box to confirm its functions and capabilities. She had forgotten again that she had that ability. It was still so new for her to actually be able to 'talk' directly with her beloved machines.

Jayne released River's arms and then quickly took some steps back. He wanted some space between them for several reasons. First was in case she was more angry then she was letting on, and wanted payback, but mainly because he wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to restrain himself from taking what she seemed to be offering. Not to mention, that more of her rubbing against him and the whole crew would think he was worse then they already thought. He didn't want to waste the progress he'd made in getting them to accept him as he really was and not the mindless ape he portrayed. The emerging of their latent powers as a result of three strain and stress of Miranda had made that easier, but it was a fragile situation.

"Sorry about that Moony, but given yer history of craziness and knife slashery and gun stealing, had to be sure." he grunted out, still ready to defend himself if needed.

River never even looked at him, the sudden lack of his presence almost painful. She took the device back from Kaylee. "I comprehend your actions and should have made others aware of my tinkering. Now, I shall be on the bridge preparing for landfall at the coordinates provided to us by the client. We should hit dirt in 23.63 minutes."

Mal relaxed slightly. "Well people, it's almost show time. Kaylee, head over to the engine and make sure our girl is ready. Simon, finish cropping Jayne's hair, then double check supplies for the infirmary. Inara, can you check the other supplies? Think we might need to refill on water and air. The horses and cattle used up our supply faster then I calculated."

"Jayne, when the doc's done his trimming you head down and check the hold. Don't want the animals spooked during landing. Zoe, prep the cargo to offload. I'm heading to the bridge to watch the approach and landing. Wanna see what kind of world can produce Jayne Cobb."

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Jayne's body froze as the soft thud of landing reverberated through the ship. If standard Greymalkin procedure still held, the crew would be ship-locked for 10-15min while the Port crews scanned the ship. Searching for both contraband (Mal's little hidey-holes would easily be spotted) and biological hazards (anything from a cold to a mutant who had lost control or was attempting to hide). They'd have already locked on and confirmed his bio signature and found that the crew were all carriers of the gene.

The crew gathered in the bay as usual, though Inara hung back up on the catwalk. She had no contacts here, as Greymalkin and Genosha 10 were practically unknown to the Alliance. There was no Companion's Guild on these worlds, thought there was legalized and controlled prostitution. It was unlike anything Jayne new that the crew had ever experienced as on these worlds, it was considered just another career option. It wasn't glorified and fanciful as the Companion's Guild Inara was used to, nor was it as vilified or belittled as Mal acted towards the Rim world workers. Some of Jayne's siblings had chosen that line of work. One of the biggest and most popular brothels was owned and run by his oldest sister and her offshoots. Been running nearly 200years now, and almost a dozen generations of her descendants.

Finally the all clear was given and the ramps started to descend, a rush of warm air soon drifted over the crew and Jayne inhaled deeply. It was the first time since his last visit more then 40 years ago that he breathed this world's air. That visit had been to see his newest sibling, Mattias James Howlett, affectionately known as Mattie. Sadly, Mattie had been born with an immune deficiency and was susceptible to damn near every illness that passed by. If not for his own weak healing ability, the boy would have died in his first year. Add to that was a malformed lung and kidney, and it was a miracle the boy wasn't bedridden his entire life.

Jayne shook off the thought and strode towards the still lowering ramp. He might not have wanted to come, but now that he was hear -thanks to coercion and blackmail- he couldn't wait to hit ground. He just hoped to be able to avoid his family learning he'd returned. Far as he knew, none of the family who'd recognize the name Jayne Cobb worked for the Port's, so he hoped to get off-world again without facing his mother's smothering presence or his father's scowling disapproval. The old man hadn't been pleased with his desire to leave in the manner he had. His pop didn't want him to be a gun for hire. He didn't object to the thieving or smuggling and really, didn't even care that he was killing, but he had hated that Jayne would let himself be a hired hand and not captain his own crew. If you're gonna be a scoundrel, better to be the scoundrel in charge then a dim witted lackey, he'd told Jayne while the then young man had packed what few possessions he thought would survive or be useful in his new life.

Jayne stepped on the world and looked around, something tingling his senses. It took a few minutes to click, but when it did, his frown deepened. His expression was noted by Mal and Zoe, who shared a look. Mal approached Jayne, his own face setting into the 'business as usual' expression he wore on jobs. One hand unlatched the holster of his pistol, and flicked the safety while the other shaded his eyes from the bright sun.

"Something wrong Jane?" the captain asked, his eyes casually scanning the busy port for danger. He spotted a crew with a transport coming towards their dock, and guessed they were the clients picking up their cargo.

"This is wrong Mal." the merc stated, also scanning the area." This is Forge's Landing, the biggest port on Greymalkin, but there ain't enough ships either landed or waiting. And over there, " he pointed to an empty field in the distance. "There was more docks that way. At least a solid dozen."

Mal was about to ask if Jayne was sure about that based on which dock they'd been assigned, but a faint 'bamphf' and a gentle waft of sulphur hit their senses, followed by a 'pop' and the sound of feet hitting the ground made him stop. Instincts from a hundred battlefields kicked in and both men spun, drawing weapons but holding fire. Mal would never be sure what upset him more: the appearance of someone out of thin air, or the fact that said person was light blue, red eyed, 3 fingered and ...was that a tail? Yes that was a tail waiving in the air behind the odd blue person grinning at them.

"Oh, sorry. Forgot this was the first time here for your crew. Captain Reynolds?"

"Yes, that's me." Mal was shaken. He might have lost his faith, but he'd been raised in a strong Judeo-Christian family and the figure before him was very familiar. The shock drove him to continue speaking and couldn't stop himself. "Since when did the Devil turn blue?"

Mal's Luck struck again and instead of being angry, the blue devil simply gave a small laugh. "You aren't the first to make that comparison, Captain Reynolds. Has been happening to my family for generations going back to Earth that Was. My whole branch of the family looks like this. And with some of the longer lived in our family, new ones pop up every now and then." The man turned to Jayne and grinned. "Welcome home, Uncle Jan. Gram and Gramps are looking forward to some . . . quality time" The crew shared glances and mouther 'Uncle Jan' to each other while Jayne growled.

Jayne looked sharply at the older looking but chronologically younger man. "Sam? That you boy? Damn, it has been awhile. You look as old as this hwoon dan." he stated with a thumb point to Mal. "Has it really been that long? Last time I saw you, you were just sprouting your first chin hairs. How you been?"

"Life's been good. Got married and have 3 kids of my own now. Whole family is looking forward to seeing you...or rather seeing what's left of you after Gram and Gramps are done their talk, Uncle Janie."

Jayne growled. He'd always hated variations on his birth name. "Damn boy, I done told you not to call me that. I don't go around calling you anything embarrassing, do I Samson?"

The man's face fell into an expression that caused instant recognition on the Serenity crew. It was pure Jayne. Even with the blue skin, red eyes and fangs, they looked more like brothers then uncle and nephew. Or rather, given their apparent ages, Jayne could easily pass as the other's son. It was just starting to sink in just hold old Jayne really was and that they weren't just making things up or seeing things recently.

Jayne saw everyone watching them and chuckled. "Hey this is my sister's grandson Samson D. Wagner. As you can see, he's a teleporter and physical mutation."

Simon was the first to grasp the connection. "Wait, he's calling you uncle, but you said he's your sister's GRANDson?"

Jayne grinned as River slapped her brother in the back of his head. She then answered for Jayne. "Don't be a boob Simon, Jayne's family line is long lived. He already explained that to us. They do not age in the manner that normal non mutants do."

Samson spoke up. "It's not just us. Most of our kind have a lifespan that's typically double that of normal humans. Average, not counting those with healing, is between 150-160 years. And we seem to stop aging in our early 30's until about 120 or so, then age normally for the next 30 odd years. My wife is 69, and I'm 53. Chronological age doesn't matter once you pass 30."

The crew was floored. That was news to them. They'd known Jayne would age slower but if all mutants did, than that would mean that they could all expect to live a lot longer then they ever expected. That is barring any stupid risks taken and failed. The answer came as a smirk and nod from Jayne and River's giggles.

Samson blinked. "Did I say something funny?" there was motion behind them, and he waived the crew to unload the cargo, he passed Mal the forms to sign for the completion of the job.

Jayne shrugged and clapped a hand against his nephew's shoulder. "Nah, just never bothered to inform 'em about that part of their gifts, is all. Wanted to surprise them." A thought popped into his head. "SO everyone knows I'm back? Damn, wanted to try and avoid having to deal with the old man. Weren't too happy with me when I left. Mum, well she'll like as not knock me for a loop and then try to smother me to death." He turned to the crew with a grin. "I'm her favorite." he stated smugly."

"Jayne, you know better. Why you think it just happened to be your ship that was contacted and hired? An entire branch of CV's saw that whole Miranda mess and knew ya'll needed a chance to deal with your Awakenings." Sam frowned. "We know you lost crew- lost family. Ain't a promise or guarantee, but might be something we can do to help with that."

Zoe nearly exploded as anger swarmed through her. She didn't notice as River cried out and collapsed into a ball crying, even as thunder crackled overhead and dark clouds began billowing in the otherwise clear sky. "Help? You think you might help with that? My husband DIED on that gorram moon! He's dead and buried! How the hell you think you can help with that?" She spat at the being she was rapidly thinking of as a real devil. "Only help I need is to kill every single fucking Reaver and them as made the bastards." She glared at the man, her eyes turning completely white, her body lifting slightly off the floor as electricity and burnt ozone filled the air. "Can you help with that? Or maybe you can bring him back from the dead? If not, then you take you help and stick it and your head up your pigu!" Tears ran down her face, but were quickly evaporated from the heat of the electrical current her body was conducting.

Samson blinked and backed a few steps. "Unfortunately, Mrs. Washburn, we can do neither. It's too late to bring your husband back to life in the manner you are thinking. But that doesn't mean that we can not save him, and Shepard Book as well."

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leaving off with a cliff hanging. Was actually planning on having the whole as one chapter but decided to set the rest up as a second chapter. Expect it up by Valentine at the latest, though if enough people pester me, maybe I'll get it out earlier. Like Feb 2 or 3rd instead.





*Chapter 6*: Chapter 6


History of future ch7

here's a long awaited chapter for my story. sorry to all my readers for the long delay on this and oter sotries, but RL interefered and I lost my muse for a while. Hopefully I can start updating more regular basis though some changes at work with some of the regulations mean i might not be able to do any writting there except on lunch. We're no longer going to be allowed non issued equip or paper work at out stations.

Even worse, I had this written up, but just had to type it. I thought I had it done, so I started on the next chapter, but when checking the chaprters online, and while writting chap 7 i felt something was missing. so i went back into my written files and found the start of chap 6 and realised I had never gotten around to typing it and uploading. So there's good news. 2 chapters being added.

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Mal was not first to be confused, nor was he the first to feel the urge to speak. But he was the captain, and the non violent members of the crew looked at him for leadership in these situations. So he was the first to speak, while also the first to lay a restraining hand on Zoe's shoulder to prevent her from harming the blue devil. He was firmly aware that there were several large individuals curently off loading his ship and that they had no idea of how this world would react to Zoe tearing apart an official Port representative.

"How can you say you might be able to save them, yet ya can't bring 'em back from the dead?" he asked, before a totally unrelated issue popped into his head. "And where's our pay? You got crew unloading but I ain't seen no coin yet."

Samson sighed. "I think it would be best to discuss the larger issue with those that might have a solution. As for your pay, that form I gave you is a receipt for funds from teh branch of the WWBI. Our largest and oldest banking institute on Greymalkin. They are holding the funds, in the form of your choise, pending receipt of the transported goods, and your signature. You can go to any branch, han an agent the form, and you will receive your funds." He help up a hand to forestall Mal's obvious objection. "I understand you would rather have the physical coin here Captain, but no one in the world really uses physical currency. You might also note that the payment value is independant of the method. While I'm not sure if you could even move it, you could if you so desired choose to be paid in gold bars, platinum coins, feathers or any other resource you select. It's the same value regardless. 30000 units of the valuable of your choice."

Mal blinked. He had not noticed, but had just assumed that it was a straight coin deal. Looks like his luck had hit again. Before he could really start to think of ways to take advantage of the situation, he spotted River out of the corner of his eye. She frowned and shook her head. It was obvious that she was telling him not to push or take excessive advantage. Sighing he gave short nod and turned to the devil. "Could probably rob ya blind if what ya say is true, but since my impression was we were paid in platinum coins, we'll stick to that. 30000 platinum coins."

He paused for moment before continuing. "Coins the most accepted method on the Rim anyway, and easiest for us to turn around."

Samson nodded in agreement. He didn't really know anything about the Rim as Mal was calling it, not being in a position to deal with the outer systems. By the time they'd finished discussing the payment, they'd reached the port building where visitors were required to register before they would be allowed into general city access. They could also register for passes to use private landing fields nad berths. The governing body was very strict about granting access to offworlders.

Jayne was the first to reach the doors, pushing in to open them wide and taking a step inside. He froze at the sight tat greeted him. His jaw did a slow motion drop as his ears were assaulted by the shockwave produced by the simultaneous cry of "Welcome Home" from a hundred throats. He was nearly blinded by the flash of pictures being taken and the brightly colored banners hanging off most surfaces of the room.

Jayne didn't have time to blink at seeing what must be 3 full generations of his family before there was a blur of movement and he found himself propelled back, knocking the crew aside, but missing knocking them off their feet. He hit the ground and slid for a few feet.

He had barely made it back to his feet when he was engulfed by a pair of thin, powerful arms. So enthused was his attacker, there was no notice paid to the snapping of Jayne's ribs. Though he could see the 'crack' of breaking bone was loud enough for the crew to hear from more then a dozen feet away.

"Hi ma, good to see ya too." he wheezed, short sharp stabs of pain and the gurgling in his voice indicating that a rib had punctured a lung. 'Damn', he thought, 'I hate it when this happens. Hurts like a bitch.'

Luckily his mother also recognized the signs and loosened her hug. "I'm sorry Jan. Here, let me help." She lowered Jayne to his back on the tarmac and set about quickly and painlessly as she could to reposition his robs so they would heal straight. "It's so good to have you home." she hugged him again, being careful not to use as much strength. She then pulled away and slapped him solidly enough to rattle his teeth. "Janus Arrestes Yevgeni Nathanial Enrico Howlett, how dare you not visit your mother for for more then 30 years! And sending money from your jobs, like we need a reminder of what you do! You know how much your father hates you being nothings but a hired gun. If ya gona' be a merc or whatever, you should at least have your own ship and crew. We taught you better then that.

Jayne winced as he heard the crew whispering his full name to each other with little giggles as they caught on to how he'd chosen the name Jayne. The wince became a frown as he heard Simon muttering to Mal. "As if an ape like Jayne could ever be smart enough to do anything more complicated then tying his boots or pulling a trigger."

The woman who had once been known as Rogue turned a firece glare upon the doctor and crew. "What did you just say about my son, boy?" There was strong layer of threat in the voice and the tension thickened.

Simon was unable to keep from snorting in derision. He didn't have time for his next thoughts-concerning his belief that Jayne was as intellgent as a mentally deficient gerbil- when he found himself hoiseted into the air by a pair of small, but amazingly powerful fists. He blinked as he found himself held in the air, his chest and abdomen supported by the length of his assailant's forearms. HIs feet dangled in the ais as his facewas inches from that of his attacker. Idly, he noted that the woman held a fair resemblance to his sister.

"Did I say something funny, boy?" she growled in his face, her eyes wild and untamed, sobbering SImon instantly. For the first time, he really believed that this woman was Jayne's mother and had seen more death and destruction then he could even imagine.

"I mean no offense to you madame, but Jayne Cobb is a repugnant, uneducated brute who barely has the brain power to form a sentence. And is unable to lead anyone to anything except the nearest brothel and bar."

The woman's face turned, a strand of white hair flying gently to brush across Simon's face. She addressed her son who was looking at a stray tree in the distance. "What kind of game are you playing Janus? What else are you hiding from these people?" Jayne shrugged, not moving his gaze from the amazingly interesting tree.

Disappointed and disgusted with her offspring, Marie turned to face the grew, ignoring hte person she held suspended above her head. "My son, idiot that he might like playing, has a double doctorate in chemical engineering and biology. Graduated at the top of his class of 2000 students. He also has a bachelor's degree in mechanigal engineering." her eyes flashed to Simon before the doctor could speak. "And before you say something stupid about our level of education, we are in many ways decades ahead of the technology you know and consider cutting edge. The old Imperials used to send their brightest to be taught by our elementary levels. Compared to our doctors, you're a medicine man or herb witch" She lowered Simon to his feet, and pushed him away.

"Enough of this for now. My boy is home and I'm fixing to have a party. Captain Reynolds, your ship looks a little battered by the journey. Why don't you and your crew stay a mite? We booked you a small house near the field with enough rooms for y'all. Your mechanic can direct a crew for any repairs or upgrades that you might consider, and there's a hospitacl nearby that this foolish youth of a doctor can drool over while the rest of you can explore to your content. There are very few places that are offlimit to your crew. And once you've had some time to relax, we can see what we can do about the offer Samson made."

Mal looked at the crew. They were all tired and cranky. It had been a long few months since the horrific events of Miranda and the battle of Mr. Universe's moon. They could all use some rest. Even he had to admit that Serenity was looking a little ragged. The Alliance might have patched her together, but it was a rush job and she could use a more extensive overhaul. Still he was unsure. For the work the old gal needed, they'd likely be grounded at least a full month.

It was a decision he could not make on his own. Not now. Not after everything they'd lost. In turn he met the eyes of each of his crew-his family. They had as much say in this as he did. The only 2 to appear reluctant were Jayne (of which he perfectly undersood, having avoided the remainder of his own kin for years) and surprisingly Inara. The former companion had a look of fear in her eyes and was doing as best she could to keep her face turned away from Jayne's mother or any of the rest of the immediate Cobb/Howlett family that were watching them from the terminal. Despite the pleading look she through him, he knew they were outvoted.

"Well ma'am, that's right nice of you all. The old gal could use a thorough looking after and Lil Kaylee's been bugging me to beach her fer an overhaul. And we could all use a lengthy rest. Still ain't all healed from our last big job and getting used to these new gifts of ours."

"Ah, yes. That was a rather horrendous bit of crap. I hope everyone is recovering. If you wish, your doctor can use the resources at the hospital as needed to help you in any way." She looked them over, her senses tingling as she passed over the form of what was obviously a Companion. "As for your new gifts, I'm sure we can work out a way to help you train them and gain some control. There's millions of us here, and I'm sure that we can find approriate trainers for each of your gifts."

Zoe spoke up. "And someone had better explain to me what they meant by saving my Wash, but not brining him back from the dead." everyone in hearing range clearly 'heard' the unspoken threat behind her words.

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They were seated comfortable in the living room/ parlor of the guest house they'd been loaned. Most of Jayne's family had gone back to their own homes, after greeting the long missing member and thanking them for bringing him home. Jayne's mother, his direct siblings and a double set of twins had come back with them. As soon as they'd entered, Inara had disappeared up the stairs near the door, heading to claim a room declaring she was tired and needed to rest. River had given a start as some of the Companion's thoughts escaped her control and she threw a glance around the room to see if anyone else had noticed the shear terror in the older woman's psyche.

One of the non siblings to have returned had been the one Jayne's mother indicated in regards to the matter concerning the return of their lost crew. The man introduced himself as Gordon James. It was he who was left to explain. "Now I don't know how much you are aware of in terms of the various mutant abilities, so I'll start as through you hadn't learned much. There are many different types of abilities. Healing, strength, speed, teleportaion, and so on. One of these is something called kinetic cloning, or duplicating. Some of us are able when struck with sufficient force to create a duplicate of ourselves. The man you see next to me is not my twin, he is me in every way that matters."

The identical man standing next to Gordon continued. "The duplication or cloning process makes exact genetic duplicates that will fool every single method of scanning and detection. Closer in match then normal identical twins. And the process is not limited to a single clone. You can literally create an army." He struck the other man twice and two more clones seemd to slide out of his body. "The only drawback is that clones don't last forever. It varies on the individual, but usually is only a few hours." The man stopped talking and with a squelch, he disappeared.

The original Gordon continued. "Now what we are proposing is a two fold process. We have a few people who have inherited multiple gifts. One such person has the ability to both shift their form to become another person," he nodded to the femal twins, who after a few seconds were suddenly not identical as on of them seemed to melt and swell until she was a completely different person. Still obviously related to the other woman, but was much older and somewhat less shapely. "This is Gwen Stevenson and her daughter Tammy." Tammy, the daughter smiled, then she too seemed to melt and swell until there was now a duplicate of Gwen. The original Gwen then hit her duplicate and a third Gwen was pushed out of the double's body.

"What we propose is this: we can have someone like Gwen perform a shift of the deceasd Mr. Washburn and Sheppard Book. We can then have another of our people shift those duplicates, who would disappear after a few hours anyway, to take the place of your friends a few moments before they pass, Literally fractions of a seconds before. We can then transport them here, and the ones you have lost would be back."

"So you're saying you have the ability to travel back in time and bring people forward? And if you can do what you say, why haven't you already done so? And why bring them here, why not just put them back on the ship after the attack and that way we would not have had to suffer for the last few months trying to come to terms with not ever having them around again?" Mal asked, proving that he wasn't the complete idiot he often played.

"Yes, it's one of the rarest gifts. In the last 500 years, there's been less then 10 people to have that gift. Now one of the quirks is that to avoid potential disaster in the existing time line, you can't just shift someone out and move them back in within a short period of time. As painful as the last few months have been, we can't have brought them back until such a time frame as after you have arrived here and accepted the offer to assist you in this manner."

Everyone was staring at Gordon, Gwen and Tammy and their clones. "So you'll be able to save the real Wash? And Save Book before he passes? It won't be a clone of some kind?" Simon asked. He'd been thinking of the possibility of a cloning process of some kind. The tech did exist in the Alliance after all, though it was horribly expensive and there was no way to speed the aging process yet so that a clone of a adult would bring about a new born that would age like any other person. As proven with the torture heaped upon his sister, there was the knowledge of enough brain manipulation to transfer memories and personality to the new body, but only after the brain had physically matured enough to handle the process, and this usually was after about 10 years of age, just before the start of puberty.

"Yes. They won't be clones as I'm sure you doctor have been thinking. That method is known to us and we do have the missing ability to speed to aging process and have fully grown and aware clones, but these clones while retaining the memories of event up to the time that the genetic source material was donated, are not the same in the manner of the method we are suggesting. Instead of replcaing the crew you've lost, we can save them. Bring the real people you knew and loved back to you." Seeing the continued shock on their faces, he stopped for a moment. "Look, there's no need to rush. We'll give you some time to think this over. If you want we can bring in the timeporter to have an interview with you, or do what ever tests you'd like to attempt to make sure that we are telling you the truth about what we can do for you." With that said he and the others stood, "We'll give you a few days and contact you about your decision."

As they took their leave, Zoe stood and left, heading upstairs to find a place to hide away and contemplate the new events and knowledge. The others knew that it was goign to be a rough few days for the normally stoic woman and they would do their best to respect her privacy.

Trying to lighten the mood, Mal turned to Marie, "So Miss Marie, why don't you tell us some stories of Janus here from his childhoow. Starting with his name. Janus Arrestes Yevgeni Nathanial Eugene, wasn't it? Don't see why he made it Jayne. Could as well have gone by Gene, or Nat, or Jan."

Jayne growled as the captain nad crew used his mother's inside knowledge ot learn how to best push his buttons. He knew coming home would be a mistake.

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AN:

For the record Jayne is an anagram for his full name of Janus Arrestes Yevgeni Nathanial Enrico Howlett. Mal is just being an ass by using Eugene. My take is that after living so long and having as many children and grandchildren as they do, Logan and Marie took to naming thier children with names of several cultures in order to increase the name base. After all what else would an immortal person do with no real pressing issues except study the cultures of the world they new and lost.

Hope you enjoyed this and continue to the next chap which should be posted within minutes of this one. Just have to make a quick spellcheck.





*Chapter 7*: Chapter 7


History of future ch7

here's a long awaited chapter for my story. sorry to all my readers for the long delay on this and oter sotries, but RL interefered and I lost my muse for a while. Hopefully I can start updating more regular basis though some changes at work with some of the regulatins mean i might not be able to do any writting there except on lunch. Were no longer going to be allowed non issued equip or paper work at out stations.

Oh well, that's life. On with the story.

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It had been a week since all the crew had gathered all in one room. Jayne and River had been squired away by his family, Kaylee was overseeing a complete repair and overhaul of Serenity which included a few surprises Mal had finally been convinced to add. No longer would his beloved ship be easy prey for their enemies. Mal himself spent a lot of time bothering his crew as he found them. He also stumbled into a few odd jobs, though they were admitedly mostly make work to keep himself busy.

Inara had spent the week avoiding the city of New Westminster and talking to Zoe who also remained cloistered in her room on the 2nd floor of the 3 story building. It had been set aside for their use for the duration of their stay. Neither left the house, and hid up in their rooms when any locals came to speak to the crew. Zoe's only outside contat was an elderly woman who came by each day and was assisting her in gaining better control of her gifts. Inara spoke to no one aside from the crew and even then didn't start any conversations of her own.

Mostly the visitors were members of the repair crew or medical personnel from the local hospital were Simon had happily inserted himself into the daily routine. He was making use of their equipment and advanced knowledge to analize the samples he'd taken from each of the crew against the records held in Greymalkin's vast database. There were unbroken chains of records for genetics going back to the origin of the so called mutant race with teh being who had called himself Apocalypse and his birth in Egypt 5000years before the Exodus from Earth that Was.

He hoped to be able to use the genetic markers to identify not just the genes that procided the structure for mutation but he was hoping to be able to dissect the 'X' gene as it was called and be able to track the specific markers that controled the various forms of the mutations. With a little luck, they could be able to isolate and perhaps synthesize those markers in both mutant and non mutant patients. It could one day be possible provide every living person with the ability to heal at an accelerated rate or increase their ability to survive and thrive in harsher environments, opening up a whole new possibile series of worlds and moons for inhabitation and exploration. He knew that it was work that could take years, but with the medical gear they would have installed in the ship's lab and the enhancements to the comm system, he'd be able to do most of the research and testing on ship. What he couldn't do himself, he'd be able to have done here on Greymalkin with only a few hours delay in communication.

Another part of his mind was analysing the data on River's condition to see if there was anything that could be done for her here. He still didn't understand how she was as functionally sane as she had been resently, even with understanding that part of it had to do with her particular mutation being telepathic in nature and allowing her to gain stability from the minds of those around her. He was hoping that some combination of the two strains of research would result in a complete cure for his sister and if not, at least a way to assist in keeping her sane.

They had landed on the Thursday of the local week, and it was now the Tuesday of the following week. Time was literally different here, with Greymalkin having a roration of roughly 20 hours and an orbit equaling 320 Earth days. Genosha X, better known as M10, had a longer day with a slower orbit. So to balance things, they had adopted a time schedule to be as even as they could. They had 8 day weeks, 5 weeks a month for a 40day month. There was 9 months a year with every 4th year having 2 eaxtra 36 day months. Each Day was roughly 22hrs. It was far from a perfect system, but it worked as well as the possible for the people of their corner of the Verse. It put them at odds with what was kept as the norm of 24hrs as traditionally held from Earth that Was.

"How's the work goin' Kaylee?" Jayne asked after snapping another bite of jerky. He'd finally managed to free himself from his mother's clutches and dragged River from her corrupting influence. 'Damn woman and those stills. Thought I burned 'em all when I left. Ain't no one gonna respect a merc who let his ma dress him up in those horrible outfits.'

Kaylee's already bright smile went up several degrees. "It's going good. We had to strip her down to her bones, but we have the new engine installed and should finish with the wiring in a few days. Another week or so and her inner shell will be installed. Once that's in we can work on the plumbing -both water and air. At the same time, we install the power relays and non essential equipment like staris, beds and junk. In about 2 weeks, we should be ready to attach the VTL jets and the extra's for the medbay and the rest that ya' asked for Mal."

Mal nodded, still weary about arming his beloved home. He'd thought he'd been done with war, but as much as he hated to defile his ship, the safety of his crew- his family- had to come first. And according to the last wave they'd intercepted before passing out of range and through a series of Asteroid Belts that separated this part of the verse from their normal stomping grounds, Reavers were expanding their attacks to larger worlds and heading in towards the Core planets. It was no longer possible for the Alliance to hide that the Reavers existed. Though they were attempting ot pass blame onto a small group of so called 'Rogue' scientists who were not so surprisingly all long dead.

The Miranda wave had spread too far too fast for their denials to hold any credibility, and there were growing grumblings of dissatisfaction. One or two moons had already sent in their own Declarations of Independance, and the Alliance was too busy trying to find a way to fend off Reaver attacks while trying to avoid responsibility for their work in creating the Reavers in the first place. The verse was a much more dangerous place and it was no longer as simple as just watching their backs for betrayals and double crosses on jobs. Now they had to worry about their ship being attacked. And just because all the official warrants had been recinded, didn't mean that those behind the Pax and the Academy didn't want revenge for the backlash caused by the broadcast.

It was a damn sure thing that the Blue Hands that still terrified River wouldn't have let up on their search to recapture her while killing anyone that had come into contact with her. No matter what the Operative had done about it. They could not allow their star experiment to evade their grasp. Not after the millions they had spent in first luring her to their 'Academy' and then in their training and experimentations. And the backers behind the scientists would no doubt want her back so that they sould control her and set her to work for them. With the skills they'd installed into her and the natural talents both pre and post mutational activation, she would make a perfect tool for assassination. Which is why they had chosen to select River for the program in the first place.

It was well known that Serenity and her crew had been the ones behind the broadcast and that was just painting a huge target on their backs. After the hunt by the Operative and the loss of all but a handful of their contacts, it would take time to be able to build up a reliable source of jobs. Luckily they had enough of a padding thanks to this trip to cover them for quite some time.

"So Simon, how does the hospital here compare to back on Osiris?" Mal asked, desperate for something to distract him from the dangerous line his thoughts were taking.

Simon swallowed the contents of his class and put down the delicate stemware. "It's beyond anything I have ever encountered. There is equipment here that I have never even heard of, and some of the commonly used tools and diagnosis gear was only in the planning stages back in the Core. And I mean this in the best way, but it's good to be able to talk to people who hold the same interests I do. No offense, Captain, but the way you all look at me when I start to go over some of the medical issues for the crew does get a little . . . annoying. While I've learned that my book learning doesn't cover everything and that just because you might not have gone through all the schooling I have, doesn't mean you aren't in your own ways as intelligent as I am, it does feel good to talk to someone who's on the same or similar background."

"Well, I can see how that might be, Doc. I feel that way myself, talkin' to Jayne. Least wise I did before I learned about all this mutant stuff we've done found. Learnin' my idiot, selfish merc is smarter then the weights he loads, and that he's older then my pa'. Now I don't know what to think about him." Mal stated with a grin and smirk towards the aforementioned mercenary.

Jayne just snorted and tossed a roll at the captain who had it bounce on his head and land perfectly on his plate where it started to soak up the juice and gravy from his hamburg steak. "Thanks Jayne, I forgot to grab a bun when Zoe passed me the plate earlier."

Jayne grunted again. "Damn your lucky hide, Mal. Looks like that training we've been doing is helping out. Your luck isn't only helping you stay alive now. Hate to be the casino owner that let's you roll at a table."

During their free time, of which there was plently, they had taken to training with the extended members of Jayne's family. His mother had placed some calls and now various family members from both moons were stopping by. They had similar abilities to each of the crew. Thanks to Kaylee's and the repair crews ability to 'speak' to the various machinery and see how to put together the equipment with the best possible results, the work on Serenity was going twice as fast. Jayne's mother was helping River with controlling and processing the various thoughts and memories in her own mind. Zoe was working on controlling the ampage of the electrical blasts she could produce as well as forming water and other weather related phenomona that was the gift she'd inherited from her distance ancestor Ororo Munroe-McCoy.

Inara studiously ignored the conversations going around, something that everyone noted but that none of them was willing to discuss. Ever since they had found out their destination for this particular job, she had seemed withdrawn and quiet. She only spoke up when someone asked her a question and had taken to staying shut up in her shuttle and then in her room once they'd arrived. SShe had refused to allow Simon to run any tests on her though she was unaware that Kaylee had provided him with some strands of her hair and helped him access the secure network run by the companions in order to get her full medical information.

"What have you been up to Jayne? What you doing with my Albatross?"

Jayne had a mouthful of steak, so he couldn't answer, but River seated next to him answer. "Jayne has been taking part in traditional male bonding over masculine based tasks of furrowing land and hunting with his pater figure, while Albatross has been spending time in thoughspeek and training with his mater. She is making strides in controlling the voices in her mind and stripping them of the useful information while voiding the remaining wasteful thought patterns. Though she has near limitless capacity to store information, it is all jumbled and scattered and Ma Cobb -as she has been asked to refer to Jayne's mater- has been most helpful in organizing and processing the infrmation." by the time she finished Jayne had finished his mouthful of meat and was able to translate for those who had been unable to follow along. It had become something of an unofficial and ignored part of his job description. No one wanted to think about why Jayne out of all of them could understand River so easy, especially after River had made it well clear to them all that she was goign to be pursuing Jayne for a more audult and absolutely non platonic or familial relationship.

"I'm helping Pa dig up a field he wants to plant some new crops in for next harvest and we've been out huntin' and fishin'. Sparred a bit too. Little Bit here is spending time with Ma, working on her psychic jazz, learning to control and block or filter the thoughts she's picking up." Jayne stated before taking another bite of the massive Tbone on his plate. As he had spent more time home, he'd begun to relax a bit and his appearance had settled into that of man in his early 20's who had lived a rough life instead of the wet behind the ears teenager he'd aged down to when they had landed.

"So need any help with the digging? I was raised on a farm, and still remember a thing or two about prepping land for planting." Mal asked. The pair settled into a conversation about farming techniques while the rest of the crew chatted amongst themselves.

Simon was showing off to Kaylee and Zoe his control over his own gift by using it to manipulate both his and Kaylee's knife and forks to cut their matching ribeye steaks and feed them each a bite. Zoe was using her ability to refill the water glasses with mini rainclouds over the water jugs on the table. River simply sat back and studied her family, though she cast occasional sad looks towards Inara who would look up and through a sorow filled glance towards Mal every now and then. River knew the secret that she was hidding but would not reveal it as it was not her place. And besides, River was aware that it would be revealed on it's own fairly soon. Right about . . . now in fact. Her head turned to the door that was just out of site from a wall protrusion and waited for the unraveling of the secret of Inara Serra.

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wow a cliff hanger...

just kidding. I should stop it here, but I'm on a roll so let's get back to the story.

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A knock on the door drew the attention of the crew, and before anyone could do anything, It opened and in walked Jayne's mother and father. The dining room was around a corner formed by a closet neer the main door. This allowed for a few seconds before the pair became visible to those in the dining room and vice versa. It was just enough time for Inara to start to her feet in panic as the pair called out who was coming in. She would have fled but the stair well was across the small hall from the open entrance of the dining room, and even the door to the kitchen would put her in a position to be seen by the new arrivals.

Resigning herself to her fate, the former companion dropped down in her seat, her eyes fixed on the entrance as the last two people she had wished to see again entered the room. Three sets of eyes locked and a startled exclaimation escaped the gasp of the younger looking woman standing next to the roughly dressed male.

"Sarah! Oh Sarah we thought we'd never see you again!" stated the woman, tears running down her face as she stared at the finely dressed woman.

The crew was stunned and shocked. No one understood until Inara gave a pathetic smile and replied. "Hello mother, father. I wish I could say I had looked forward to seeing you again, but we all know that would be a lie."

There was silence as Inara's statement caught teh attention of everyone in the room. Shocked gasps escaped the mouths of Kaylee, Zoe and Simon. Though they were equally as shocked, Mal was too masculine to allow his shock to escape in a gasp, while Jayne was too confused by the situation and River already was aware of the facts.

"Wait a minute!" Jayne stated as he finally recovered for a moment. "Mother, Father? Sarah? You mean that Inara is my sister? The one you and pa always said ran away and never spoke of, but wouldn't explain why? But why didn't I recognize her? I was only about 15-16 when she done took off. Fact is, part of why I left was to see if I could find her since I saw how much it was hurting ya ma to have her gone."

HIs parents gave each other a look that carried the weight of a long conversation. Logan took his wife's hand and lead her to a seat, then stood behind her, his hands protectively caressing her shoulders. "Well son, reason you ain't recognize her is yer sister's a shapeshifter. Takes after yer grandma Raven. And she left because she and yer ma had a fight about how she was using her ability. Was too much like Raven."

"What do ya' mean? Stories I heard had grandma as a merc, and assasin and whore. Don't see nothing too bad about any of that. Hell, I'm a merc, you and ma were assasins and have a whole branch of family boys and girls who run the biggest whorehouse on planet. Don't see why you'd object to another of yer kids wanna take after others in the family."

"Ain't gotta problem with any of the jobs, boy. But Sarah here used her position as whore to kill her clients. That your ma and I couldn't agree with."

"We didn't have a problem with her killing as her job, or working as a whore, but it ain't right to fuck someone and kill 'em before ya' finish." Marie took a breath. "And she broke a few rules that we tried to teach all our kids. If you gotta kill, that's all well and good, even if you gonne be an assassin as long as you do it because you feel that's what is best for you and you're happy, then fine. But no kids, no families, no Family members and no women who ain't tried to kill you first. Sarah was contracted and completed a hit on one our distance relatives and their daughter. We couldn't accept that."

Everyone turned to Inara, who was staring down at her plate. With a sigh she looked up and there was a ripple on her form as she shifted slightly to what was her natural look. There was little enough difference, and she was still recognizable as Inara, but her hair was several shades lighter, her face was a little rounder with lower cheekbones and a less pointed nose. Her eyes became a bit less slanted and turned to a light grey nearly identical to Jayne's. Her lips thickened slightly as her bust grew a cup in size. Though it was hard to tell from her seated position, she grew several inches taller and broader in the shoulders. Still perfectly proportioned but on a larger scale. The last change was the oddest as her skin became a light blue similar to that of Samson, who they'd met upon arrival.

"Things aren't as cut and dried out as they sound. There was a reason that I killed those people. You wouldn't let me explain then, but will you let me tell you now?" Inara stated, still not looking at anyone in particular.

"Don't see what you could say girl that will make this sound better, but let's here what ya' got. Lot of water under the bridge wince that happened." Logan stated, his hands squeezing Marie's shoulders in a comforting manner. He could feel how tense his wife was and after a few centuries of marriage, he knew all of the subtle cues of her body language.

Inara finally looked at parents, tears slowly tracing down her cheeks from teh corner of her eyes. "Her name was Belinda Carter. Her daughter was Stephenie. And both were part of an organsation that was looking to cause choas and suffering. They wanted to reopen the hostilities between Genosha and Greymalkin, by kililng key figures on both sides and blaming each other. Both had already killed a dozen minor officials by seducing them and killing them while in the act of making love. Stephenie was only 13, yet her mother had been selling her body since she was 9. Stephenie killed her first mark when she was 10, while they were in the middle of a sexual encounter. That was her father.

So yes, I did kill a woman and a 'child'. And yes I did so while we we recovering from the affects of good sex. But it was the only way to get close to both of them in order to complete the contract. And considering that their next target was the President, then I felt no shame in my actions. But you did not give me the chance to explain. And I could not bear the way you looked at me when you learned of what I did. So I had to leave." She paused again and glanced at Jayne before sighing and looking away again. "I hated leaving and I missed everyone. So badly in fact that about 15 years ago, when I happend to be working on a Rim moon, and ran into someone who reminded me of my younger brother, I had to talk to him." She shifted again, this time into a red haired form that had haunted Jayne for over a decade. The one woman he had truly loved since leaving home. A woman he had thought dead.

"Vera?" he whispered collapsing into his chair, numb with shock.

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AN

Okay, so this time it is the end of the Chapter. If there is any doubt, Yes, Inara is the same Vera that Jayne named his favorite weapon after and yes Jayne does name his weapons after woman he's slept with, so yes that event took place between the two of them. But Jayne didn't know and as she will explain, Inara never allowed herself to accept the truth of it until she learns that Jayne Cobb is from Greymalkin.





*Chapter 8*: Chapter 8


History of the Future Chapter 8

here's the 8th chap of HoF. Explaining what was going on in the minds of our newly discovered siblings. Lot's of talk again, so if that's not your thing, don't bother reading. I like dialog, and given that I'm trying to show that Jayne isn't the moron or uneducated buffoon that he's often characterized as, but does have an education, I want him to use words that the crew would not be used to hearing him use, and the same can be said of Inara, she's reverting to her true self, not the caricature she's portrayed as 'Inara' instead of a daughter of Marie and Logan Howlett.

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Jayne stared dumbfounded at the blue skinned woman. "You were Vera? An yer my sister? An we done been . . . . We were together for near on 2 years when Vera died! But she ain't dead, 'cause your here and you ain't dead. And we been on Serenity near y years now! How come you ain't said nothing? How come I ain't tell who you are? Shoulda been able to tell by yer smell and heart beat."

Inara had remained silent, staring at the top of the table while Jayne spoke. "I faked my death. You were getting too close. And honestly, I grew bored. Not with you, but with the life we were living. I wanted to get out of the bounty hunting game, but Vera Swann was too well known. So I decided that since I was going to be 're-born', Vera had to die. The worst part was leaving Adam, but I knew he – You- wouldn't fit in with the life I was going to have as orphan Inara Serra." She paused, the tears leaving tracks on her cheeks as they fell.

"I chose you then, because you reminded me so much of my brothers and father. It never occurred to me that the passing resemblance was anything more then my subconscious seeking familiarity of home. And when we met again on Serenity, well neither of us looked as we did years ago. And I passed off your naming your Callahan as Vera as another coincidence. It was a rather popular name on the Rim for some time after she died. Also, as a Companion, I use all manner of perfumes and oils that mask my natural scent. As for my heartbeat, as a shifter, I can control that and as Inara, I altered most of my biorhythms to what one would expect for someone of her background."

"That can explain a few things, but what I want to know is how you wasn't able to recognize the hwoon dan?" Mal stated, more then a little disturbed by what he'd learned so far.

"Because when he and I previously knew each other, he was calling himself Adam Casey. He appeared to be somewhere in his mid 40's, was clean shavenand bald. He also had several tattoos at the time which I've never seen on Jayne Cobb. Nor did the connection of Cobb to my former name of Swann register since I wasn't looking for it. And while we were at the time still . . raw individuals, Adam Casey was a completely different person then Jayne Cobb." She paused to let the idea sink in. "You're a lot like him, Mal. I guess that's part of what first drew me to you. You reminded me of a good time in my life, one of the few truly happy times I've had since I left home."

While Mal sputtered at being compared to Jayne in any context, Zoe leaned forward. "So when did you realize that Jayne Cobb was Adam Casey and that he was your brother?"

"Adam Casey and Jayne Cobb are nothing alike. Adam was an intelligent, educated gentleman who fell on hard times and became a bounty hunter once his military service ended. He was about 10 or 15 years older then Vera, who was in her mid 30's. He could get down and dirty but also appreciated the finer things in life." She paused and shifter back to the familiar form of Inara. "Jayne Cobb is a crude, filthy minded unrepentedly uneducated fool whose only talents are killing and whoring. Physically, Adam was bulkier, bald and clean shaven. Jayne has the grooming habits of a stray dog, and while an impressive physical specimen of the male form, isn't as defined or muscular as Adam. To all appearances, and with the years that have paste, it's not surprising I didn't recognize him right away. Any potential resemblance, I brushed off as a coincidence or possibly that Jayne was some relation of Adam's."

"And neither Adam nor Jayne gave any clue that they were your brother? You didn't remember what he looked like?" Mal continued, not sure about what was upsetting him more. That Jayne had slept with Inara before he even came close to achieving that level of intimacy with her, that the pair were siblings who had been lovers for about a 2year period, or that Inara was comparing him to Jayne and considering him to be the less educated and civilized version of Jayne.

"To be fair, Captain Reynolds, Sarah left before Janus was born. About 15 years or so actually. So they never met until this relationship between Vera and Adam." Marie's voice was cold and held no hint of an accent, a sign that all her children knew to recognize as a reflection of her immense inner turmoil. The more monotone and flat her voice became, the more the various voices in her mind were reacting and struggling to break free from her control. Over the centuries, she had mastered the control over those imprints of the individuals she'd absorbed, but like any other person, periods of high stress or emotional strain could make that control slip.

Kaylee's eyes glimmered as she spoke up, interrupting the brewing storm. "Golly, 'Nara and Jayne were in love, but now learned they's long lost sibs. It's like one of them old Earth that was vids. Hey! One of my brothers done married one of our cousins, so that's kinda the same thing, aint it!" She frowned. "No wait. That was Jill, and she was our cousin's stepdaughter, so when she married Jackson, she was our 2nd cousin by marriage. But her dad was Mum's uncle, so that means . . . "

Before she could list the entire fascinating world of the Lee-Travers family circle (most people's family was a tree, but on a lot of the Rim worlds, they were so entangled that it fit better to describe families as circles) Inara continued. "It's true. I was 27 at the time I left and had been working at a brothel on New Australia that was also a front for a group that called itself HFC2."

Seeing the blank looks, she explained. "HFC2 is a group of people descended from the members of a mutant crime syndicate from Earth. The full name is Hell Fire Club, and over the years of their existence there was a number of various members. While the 2 best known mutant groups were the Xmen under command of Charles Xavier and the Brotherhood controlled by Magneto, there were many others. They often join together to represent a nation or alliance based on political, religious, or other motivators."

"The HFC2 trace their ancestors back to the members of the original Hell Fire Club. They are into drugs, gambling, extortion and the darker side of prostitution. M10 and Greymalkin are a lot like North America during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Aside from some obvious differences in technology." Marie continued when Inara paused for a breath. "Similar to how the Rim worlds are a lot like the Old West in what was called America during the period of the late 17th to early 19th centuries. The Core worlds are more along the lines of a mish mash of different periods. They've mixed together elements of what could be considered the best parts of Imperial Chine and the European Renaissance with some Classic Greek/Roman thrown in but with 25th century technology. Throw in the trappings of Victorian age Europe and it's a difficult place for good people to do good things."

Mal slapped his hand on the table, his anger growing. "Look, it's not that I don't appreciate the lesson on history and modern civilization, but y'all are avoiding the issue, " he snarled. He pointed at Inara and Jayne. "The point here is that you, Inara-Vera-Sarah whatever done spent 2 years sleeping with this wang bao dahn known as Jayne-Janet-Ereka-Adam who gives a shit and yous are brother and sister. And y'all recall it so fondly that the hwoon dan named his best weapon for you, and you get all finicky and prissy and try to replace him with me? How am I supposed to handle that? Damn it Inara, I was finally coming around to letting myself love you and now there's this? What the Gorram hell am I supposed to do?"

Inara looked stunned by the tirade before her face darkened into anger. "You? YOU! This has nothing to do with you Malcolm Reynolds. This has to do with me and Jayne and our family! We have to come to terms with what happened and try to accept that our pasts are gone. We have to try to deal with our new knowledge without letting ourselves loose who we are now or throwing aside the present and making the mistake of trying to recapture the past. What you need to do, Malcolm Reynolds is decide if you're going to man up and be there to support me and show me that you care enough about me to help me get through this or whether you're going to run and hide like you always do when things get too real for your liking. Damn it I can't believe I let myself fall in love with you. I even sent in my resignation because I couldn't pretend anymore and knew I had to give myself fully to you. Before this thrice cursed trip I was planning on letting you know all about my past and give you everything that I am. Now I have to try and sort out this whole gorram mess and decide whether I can open myself to you again." She stood up and stalked away from the table, leaving behind a confused and frustrated Mal Reynolds as well as her crew family and her parents.

"Told you the lost would be found and the kin would return to the hearth. Now the hole is filled and now it must be carefully packed and tilled to allow for the growth of new forest to replace the old, dry rot." River stated from her seat next to Jayne. She'd been quiet for some time, reveling in the chance to be so close to the object of her desire without anyone trying take her away. Her mind was much clearer now, but she continued to use Riverspeak since it was what the crew expected and given all else that had been happening recently, she didn't want to cause any undue concern.

Besides if she suddenly started behaving in a normal manner, Simon would simply try sticking her with new drug cocktails. With everything else going on, he had not realized that he hadn't forced any of the unwanted and mostly useless drugs. All they had really done was make it harder for her to stay in focus and keep the various voices from over riding her own mind. She was enjoying the chance to be completely in her own thoughts, though she understood that with what had been done to her, she would never be able to fully shut out the thoughts of others. The actual part of her brain that allowed her to control her telepathy and other gifts had been damaged beyond even Greymalkin's medical knowledge to repair. A large part of her stability had been thanks to her connecting to Jayne and using his mind as a buffer, a Rock to steady the flow of random thoughts into her mind.

She was aware that Jayne was doing everything in his own power to prevent himself from returning her feelings. And this whole mess with Inara would just make things even more complicated for her scheme to ensnare him. While she was sure that a short term physical relationship would be extremely enjoyable, she had long term goals to consider so she had to be careful how she acted over the next little while until he and Inara had come to terms with their past. She herself had no problems considering that historically, such relationships had been more common than was commonly accepted. Especially among those with similar situations to their own.

Now if only Captain Daddy can grow up and set aside his self-hatred in order to be able to provide Inara with the comfort and support she will need in the coming weeks.

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Several hours later found Jayne working in the gym of the local school. It had a room similar to the ancient Danger Room from the original Xavier Mansion on Earth. It allowed for full 3d computer generated holograms over the robotic shells that were created for training the gifted in their various ability. There were usually strong restrictions to avoid any potential lethal damage, but for those whose gifts were healing in nature, such as Jayne and his father, there was a series of special codes that included DNA sampling in order to remove those restrictions. And right now, Jayne was feeling the need to test himself against opponents that could theoretically cause serious damage to him. His guilt would not allow for anything else.

He'd already been at it for about 3 hours, ever since he'd left the house near midnight. He couldn't remain there any more it had been stifling and the tension too sever for him to tolerate without some violence. Whatever else he might be, no one had ever accused him of not having inherited his father's primal urge to relieve emotion through physical action. He'd destroyed as many of the robotic attackers in the last three hours as the entire school had in he last three months and he wasn't even winded. The problem was that even when cloaked in the persona of beings such as Sabertooth, Juggernaut and so on, even with their restrictions removed they were not up to par with the real thing and Jayne was too strong and too well trained with more then 50 years of personal experience in fighting under his belt while the programs that run the robots were too predictable to be of a real threat to him.

He was currently pounding on a recreated Omega Red, dodging the swings of his adamantium tentacles and getting in close to drive his fists into his body. He withheld his forearm bone blades, wanting to make this one last. He was finally growing tired of the battle and was about to call out for the computer to bring in a few more challenging opponents, when the hologram flickered and vanished leaving the base humanoid unit behind. Growling he turned to face the entrance and paused, his nostrils flaring and his eyes darkening as his father walked in.

The two alpha males faced each other across the 30 or so feet of open space before the elder called out for the computer to load up a favorite program of his. It was a recreation of the Canadian wilderness.

"Well, let's see how you've held up without me to make sure you didn't go soft, boy." Logan stated with his drawl. That was nearly the last sound he made as he vanished into the forest.

Jayne grinned. Finally a real challenge and something to take his mind off his troubles. First the situation with Inara, and then he'd finally realized why the Tam girl had been acting so weird around him. Having a teen aged girl with a crush on him was the last thing he needed right now. And especially not this particular girl.

A little father/son violent bonding time was just what his conscience ordered.

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AN

next chap I'll do the fight scene for Jayne/Logan and perhaps a Marie/River scene where Marie gives river her blessing to go after Jayne.

Enjoy, and remember: reviews can lead to more of the story at a faster rate. Just look, 3 chaps of this one in about a month, as well as chaps for some of my other works.





*Chapter 9*: Chapter 9


History of Future Ch9

here is another chap for my fic. As always sorry for the long posting delays. RL and other situations (lots of fics to read myself!) keep getting in the way.

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Jayne winced as he held control over his healing. The 'training' session with his father had lasted several hours before he'd managed to put the old man down with a wound that even his healing factor would need time to heal. He had felt his father's claws rip throug his flesh with abandon during their session and had returned the favor in turn. His father knew that he could be freer in the severity of hiss attacks as Jayne's wound healed as quickly as they were created when he allowed it to go at the natural pace.

Jayne had to be a little more careful with his attacks. For example, if Jayne were to say, slice his fathers heart in half, Logan would heal, but might be ina healing coma for days, while if Logan cut off Jayne's arm, Jayne could have it heal itself back together if he held the dismembered limb to the wound. Or if separated too long, could force grow another arm in its place. It had happened to him three times already.

Jayne was forcing his wounds to heal more slowly mainly leaving the multiple broken ribs as fractures and some of the larger deep tissue bruising and cuts. He did so as a means to atone for his actions. He might not have known that Vera was his sister, but that didn't absolve them of the guilt their actions brought on them. So he allowed himself to feel the pain of his injuries as a form of penance.

He turned off the water and wiped a hand through his hair. Once his nerves had settled, he'd let his Ma cut his hair, thought she'd left it much longer then he normally wore. It now flaed around his head just reaching his shoulders and giving him a similar appearance of a lion's mane. This appearance was further reinforced as Jayne's hair was layered in 2 separate tones of coler and the healing surge that had hit him when he first learned of the impending homecoming had healed the surgical lense implants that had given him blue eyes. They had returned to their golden hue and cat's eye shape and pupils. His canines had also regrown from the rather painful and expensice dental filing he'd endured to assist in hiding his less mundane features.

He was glad that he did have such dark hair though. It he was blond, he would look too much like Creed and his brood. Creed has been deadfor at least 400 years, but his descendants had carried on his evil legacy. The current head of hte family, Carl Creed, had been ruling over the family for nearly 100 years.

The Creed's had a compound on Genosha and hired themselves out as mercenaries and hired killers. They held no allegiance to any other splinter group but followed one rule of loyalty: "The Crede is Greed".

Jayne shook his head, sending water flying. He wrapped a towel around his waist and cursed as he realized that he hadn't brought a change of clothing. What he had worn was now little more then a tattered bloodsoaked rag, and if he walked into the house in them, his mother would tan his hide. Wether it was 6 decades or 6 months of age made no difference to her.

He stood for a moment glaring down at the rags when a sound tickled his ears and he turned, his forearm blades flaring as he tensed. He didn't notice that his turn had loosened the knot and allowed his towel to drift off his hips to pool at his feet.

He froze in place as he caught a look at who had invaded the change room. "Dammit girl, what do you think ye're doing, barging to a change room like that? Coulda been full of men showerin'."

River ignored Jayne's words as she allowed her eyes to travel over his form, memorizing it for those lonely nights in the Black. Contrary to Simon's opinion of her as a little girl, she was more then aware of the intricacies of sexuality, both her own and those of the crew around her. Her eyes widdened as she scanned lower and finally got a good look at Jayne's man parts, as the merc had refered to them once in an attempt to intimidate her. Unconciously her tongue caressed her lips as her mind began to calculate how much more impressive these parts would be when engaged in procreative or recreational activities.

She finally managed to pull her eyes away and ignore the flares of desire and fear surging in her at the sight of shat she considered to be her fate. She could definitely see how a woman would feel intimidated when faced with the proof of Jayne's masculinity. She was unsure tha anyone could stretch enough to full accomodate the impressive organ.

Seeing his glare and continued lack of modesty, she smiled brightly and held out a duffel bag. "The girl..." she paused and focussed her thoughts. "I have brought replacements for the garments destroyed in the father son bonding ritual. Mother Marie knew you had not thought of future damage and had no options for protection of modesty. She sent me to bring package and to advise you that the next meal hour approaches and she insists on your presence."

"Don't feel much like being 'round people, nizi. Specially not family right now." Jayne stated. He had noticed River's examination of his displayed assets, but felt no embarrassment. He did feel a twinge of guilt for enjoying her perusal of his body and her obvious approval and interest. He could smell her arousal as well as a whole host of other emotions. As a way of helping her, he didn't react other then to take the bag and begin dressing, paying as little attention as possible to the way she was reacting.

"Mother Marie was most insistant. She is resolute that the family must assemble in order to begin healing. The meal is for primary lines of familial relations." Seeing his blank expression, she tried to speak more clearly. "Parents and siblings only. Serenity family is to dine at home of more distant relation, they who have so bravely offered to assist in recovery of lost sheep. Zoe wishes to learn more of htier process as she is feeling guilty that she feels only happiness at being reunited with Wash. She considers this to be a bit inhumane as she considers that her happiness at Wash's return means that she is happy at the death of the being taking his place in the grave. She had not considered the affect this plan would have on the person who is making the sacrifice. Once this entered her mind, she began to consider what her beloved would think of her for demanding the death of another to return him to life."

Jayne grunted as he finished dressing, ignoring the surge of male pride as River's scent and face expressed her disappointmnet that he was now fully clothed. "So she's not understanding that he doubles ain't real people? Well she'll know soon enough. They's gonna be sure to teach her right." He gathered his things, tossing the rags of his old clothes into the hopper that displayed a sign indicating the contents would be incinerated.

They left the gym in silence, River's mind already contemplating the many wonderful possibilities of enjoyment she might experience now that she had a visual match to replace the previously hypothised form of Jayne Cobb. She now had a true visual to fuel her solitary sessions and dreams. Jayne in the meantime was trying to come to grips with his emotions over the recent revalations. Emotions that instead of being exorcised by his marathon work out and the injuries sustained, were now more deeply rooted and intense then ever.

For the first time in his life, Jayne Cobb, born Janus Howlett could admit to himself if not to others that he was emotionally exhausted and wanted nothing more then to get to his room, bury himself in the blankets and cry unitl there were no tears left.

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short chap, but I hope enjoyable.





*Chapter 10*: Chapter 10


History of the future ch10

heres an update. I just want to again let everyone know how much it means that you are enjoying this and all my works so much. As always, I own nothing but the idea of putting these together in the way that I have.

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Simon shook his head as he watched his sister continue to tease Jayne. Admittedly the man was more than he had let on, as proven by his ability to match his sister in the battle of wits that was being demonstrated to them all. From what little he could follow they seemed to be debating the merits of various historical figures. History had never been Simon's own area of interest, but as with physics and most subjects, River had always been fascinated by the people and events that were deemed important.

Prior to the return to Jayne's homeworld, Simon would have bet that Jayne didn't even know anything more historical then weaponry or the whores he'd made use of. But this Janus. . . Janus was a new monster. One that worried Simon in ways Jayne never could. A man with an intellect that was at least equal to his own (he'd tried reading Jayne's master thesis, but had been lost in the process) but with the mannerisms and behaviour he'd grown to . . . well, grown to hate.

"I just don't understand." He stated, turning away from the disturbing but heart lifting scene of his sister acting as normal as she'd been pre-Academy. "Why is she so focussed on that ape?"

Kaylee sighed and set down the cortex filled with engine schematics outlining in detail the new heart being planted in her baby's body. "Simon, it's real sweat that the way you look after River, but you gotta relax. She's not a little girl. It's only natural she's gonna wanna spend time with a boy, expecially if she's knowing that you – the only real parental figure she knows- doesn't approve. And Jayne ain't never been as bad as ya been thinkin'. He's likely the only person she'll ever know that can match her physically and keep her mind busy and interested. She's of age to make her own decision. And if she's ready to explore a bit, there ain't no harm. He's spent his life pushing others away, specially since the Vera-Narra thing. If River ever manages to break his shell and then something happaned to her, I think he'd break. And God help anyone who hurt her or tried to stop him from getting even."

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The Creed estate on Genosha was the single largest remaining plot of non-industrialized land on the surface of the three continents. It covered a mass of land equal to that of North America from Earth that Was. This was roughly 1/3 of the largest continent. Genosha's surface was mostly ocean, with 3 continents. The largest, the home of the higher ups of Magneto's Brotherhood, was called New America, the 2nd was known as New Eurasia, and the third was called New Afrikkana. New America was half again the size of North and South America combined, while New Eurasia was roughly the size of the Asian landmass, and New Afrikkana was nearly the equal to the Africa of Earth that was. Aside from these continents there were a few dozen islands of a size to Greenland and similar sized landmasses from the original home of mankind.

Most of the surface had been converted to cities or industrial spaces. Genosha was well endowed with natural minerals, and a variety of oceanic wildlife. Earth species had adapted well to the conditions of the world and thrived. The population survived on the bounty from the seas and vast hydroponic gardens to grow the trickier species of earth vegetation and animal life. There were several areas declared as open hunt zones for those of the population who'se particular mutations made hunting either a neccessity of survival or a means of release to remain 'civilized' among the masses of people.

The Creed lands supported the largest variety of wildlife and climates. Yet it was also the only private reserve on the planet. No one not of the Creed bloodline was allowed on the planet, and trespassing was punishable by Death. The Creed's were not the largest clans on Genosha, due mostly to their inherit antisocial nature. They were one of the few families who's abilities were almost always bred through. They were also one of the wealthiest families, owning large portions in various businesses on the world. They were also well known as the premier assasins in operation.

Currently the head of the family was holding a meeting with 4 of the most dangerous individuals in the clan. Carl stared out at the members of his familes, none of who he felt any sense of kinship towards. Each was an accomplished killer and had made at least one attempt to take his position as head of the family. Each had been punished for the attempt. Well, not the attempt really, but for their own incompetance and failure. He might have felt pride if one had managed to succeed. Each lowered their heads, demonstrating their weakness before him. All save the last, the only female among them.

Catrina was the most anamalistic of the family gathered today. She was covered in a light tan fur, her face more catlike then human. Her legs were built along a feline's as well and waiving in the air behind her was her tail, with the puff of fur. Even with these features, she was without a doubt one of the most attractive females he had seen, and if it wasn't for the fact that she'd gut him for the attempt, he would have taken her for his mate years ago.

"There has been word from our agents on Greymalkin. The son of Logan, Janus, has returned. He brought a ship that our friends in the Alliance have been seeking. And on that ship is the fruits of their experiments into creating a fellow mutant. However it seems that our friends underestimated the spread of the mutant gene. The girl who escaped was a mutant. Some kind of psychic. She has been enhanced with the DNA taken from members of our pride and that of our enemies to be the peak of mutant perfection. We are going to make an attempt to regain our lost interest. You four are going to Greymalkin. You will seek out the targets Janus, the crew of the vessel Serenity, and the girl River Tam. Take out any who oppose you, but I want Janus and the girl brought to me. Our psych bretheren should be able to break the girl to her training. And Janus, well Janus and I have an old score to settle." He waited for them to state their agreement, and then he pointed to Catrina. "You will lead the mission. These three are under your command. I want this to go smoothly, with no witnesses or proof of our involvement. Our agents on Greymalkin will provide you all the supplies and assistance you might need."

"I will do as you command, Master." Catrina said with a purr. She would relish the chance to match her abilities against their ancestral enemies. The four turned to go, tree of them throwing hostile looks at their appointed leaders.

"Oh, before you go, one last thing." They turned to the clan leader. "If you succeed, you will be named my second in command. If you fail, you will be placed in the breeding penns."

Catrina's eyes narrowed. She had sterilized herself in such a way that even her healing ability could not repair. Being sent to the penns would be a means to make her a whore for the males of the pride. Something that for her was a fate worse then death. She loathed the touch of males and would gladly castrate them all but she knew that she would not have the chance. She could not afford to fail. She would not fail. She would succeed or ensure she died in the attempt. She was predator and would not allow herself to become a frail.

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so I hope you enjoyed it and looking forward to more. Currently going through a . . . takeover of sorts at work and we aren't accomplishing much, meaning that there is more time to write. Hopefully I'll have the time and inspiration to update more often for this and all my stories.





*Chapter 11*: Chapter 11


History of Future Ch 11

Hope you enjoy, getting closer to the point of return.

In case anyone is wondering, I am working on my other stories and have most of next chap Meteor Showers and Wormholes, and some of my other stories as well.

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Simon shrugged demurely as he pushed aside the praise being presented to him after his in genius use of his new found gift during the surgery. He'd had to manipulate multiple tools at once, including a nib sized needle to suture the internal organs and musculature. The room and contrition of the patient was such that no one could be in the operation room as the particular patients biology required an atmosphere of gases lethal to even a mutant healing factor equal to the Hewlett's or Creeds.

The time on Greymalkin had been good for Serenity's family. Each had learned to control their newly discovered gifts. Even Jayne and Inara had managed to set aside the events of their past. Mal was still a little squirked but Marie had a long talk with him (and 2 bottles of gut rot whiskey) after the family only dinner where Jayne and Inara had come to terms.

Thanks to Marie's help, River was almost a different person. Simon was quick to point out that the physical damage was not repaired, but he stopped trying to drug her senseless after the 6th time Jayne tossed him out the window. He'd tried to retaliate, now feeling much more secure of his place in the verse, but River would step in and stop him. She claimed that she was protecting Simon from Jayne, but the protective big brother in Simon was shouting that the way the 2 of them behaved around each other was disturbing.

He well remembered his sister's statements made at the start of the journey. Her intentions and attraction to the older man was clear in every action she'd taken since landing. Simon knew it was time to admit his sister was no longer the child she had been and to try and get to know the woman she was becoming.

But damn, did she have to choose Jayne of all people for a first (and he hoped not her only) relationship? He might not wanted her to got through the pain of a failed relationship, but he'd much rather help her get over a failed relationship with Jayne then have him as a permanent part of her life.

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Time as it inevitably does, moved on. The upgrades to Serenity were nearly done, and the crew had settled into their old relationships. Although Jayne was acting more like Janus and the others were still a little put off by the difference. Everyone did have an unspoken agreement to never in any way consider the former relationship between the mercenary and the Companion.

The plan to save Wash and Book was if not endorsed, as least tolerable by the crew. Zoe had insisted that they practice the extraction and replacement of the duplicates. Zoe still had concerns with the process and effective death sentences, but she had spent a great deal of time working with the 'real' people and their copies, seeing them split and then vanish as their time ran out.

"So to be clear, we will open the gate, to a few seconds before the Moment. To reduce their shock, we will sedate Mr. Washburn and Sheppard Book before the exchange. They will be brought to the present and then we can wake them, while explaining the events. Hopefully they will be able to accept the changes in your personal situations and experiences."

The crew agreed that this made sense. With the final details in place, they were ready to enact their rescue plan. All that remained was some final modifications to Serenity and then they could return to their side of the 'Verse for the reunion.

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The black ship landed in the bottom of a rocky canyon, it's specialized equipment shielding it from electronic sensors and the shape and color limited it's visibility to the naked eye. More then three quarters was comprised of engines. They were powerful enough to allow the ship to lower into a gravity well at a steady pace, vastly reducing the entrance trail of burning atmosphere to almost nothing. This all worked together to make it nearly invisible when entering atmo during a night landing.

Catrina let out a low growl as she was jostled by one of the idiots that were assigned to her team. The foolish male turned and leered at her, mistaking her disgust as interest. He was so occupied in ogling the cleavage displayed by her combat gear that he never noticed her claws lash out.

He did notice the spray of blood that splattered across said cleavage which had so captivated him just seconds before. Confused for a moment, the pain struck as it finally came to his attention that his throat had just been torn out. He clutched the ruins of flesh as she dropped to his knees, gurgling and choking on his own blood.

Catrina glared at him for a moment then turned to face the others. They just smirked as she brought her hand up and licked the blood off her clawed hand. She frowned as the gurgling stopped and became a labored breathing that soon smoothed into normal, near silent breathing.

"Damn I though that we'd have a snack before starting the mission." one of the other males stated. The now healed fool snarled at the male but stopped when he was shoved into his seat.

"Foolish males." Catrina snarled. "Save your energy for the mission. Once Janus is nothing but a rotting pile of bones after I strip them of their flesh, you can kill each other and I'll have your remains for desert. And the next one of you who breaks mission protocol will die by my hand. There is too much at stake for your male posturing. Am I understood?"

Once they had grumbled their assent to her dominance, she lead them out of the ship.

The Hunt was on.

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" 'Nara, can we talk?" Malcolm Reynolds stated as he barged into her shuttle.

Inara jumped slightly at the intrusion into what she had come to consider her sanctuary. The last few weeks had been emotionally draining and she had sought out the newly upgraded shuttle as a refuge against the still tense environment of her family home. She had hoped to find comfort in the familiar soothing routine of redecorating the shuttle. That peace was shattered with the arrival of the man who had so flumoxed him these last few years.

"Mal! You startled me. I didn't hear you come in." she stated as she faced the intruder.

Mal's brow creased as he replied. "Huh, would have thought that those ears of yours coulda heard a frog fart across a field."

Inara's brow twitched. "Unlike my parents or siblings, I do not have 'super' hearing. While slightly better then average, I am still within the normal human ranges for my senses. I heal, which allows me to avoid the issue of loss of sensation that usually happens when people age."

"If ya didn't get the sense stuff, what else did ya get, 'side from livin' so long?"

Inara watched the scruffy man for a moment as she gathered her thoughts through her surprise. The surprise being that his question seemed genuine and full of honest curiosity of her and her abilities, not the suspicious and defensive tones she was so familiar with hearing form him. He seemed to want to know just to know, instead of hiding behind his 'I'm captain and you do what I say or you get out and walk' attitude. He seemed more relaxed then she had ever seen him, and his body language indicated only a mild tension instead of coiled to lash out at a world he didn't care for.

Inara decided it was a good sign and that she should try to return the gesture. "I am a touch-empath, an ability somewhat related to my mother's original gift, though far less intrusive or dangerous. I can read and occasionally direct someone's emotions when I have physical contact with them. I have found it quite useful as a Companion." She gestured towards the bench, where they sat with a bit of distance separating them. She patiently waited while Mal considered her words, expecting him to again revert to his previous behavior regarding any mention of her profession.

"Guess that would come in handy for a Companion. Make it easier to be what a client expectin'."

Again Inara was surprised by the lack of vitriol in his tone. "Yes, that is one use, another has been to read the intentions of clients who contracted for my services as a negotiator or mediator. I can not read thoughts, but I can tell when someone is lying or hiding something. This has even saved my life on nearly as many occasions as my healing."

Mal was still avoiding her face and instead was looking around the room. "I 'spect it's gonna be mite useful when Book and Wash are back. Whole crew gonna need help adjusting to them being 'live and kickin'. Suspect they mite lean on ya for some calm. Lot of time and grieving gone down and just cause we got 'em back, don't mean last few months ain't happened. Gonna take time and patience to be comfortable again."

"Why me, Mal?" she asked quietly, her emotions swirling as part of her mind contemplated the changes in the man seated next to her. Hope flared within her for the first time in a long while. Perhaps staying had been the correct decision after all. "Wouldn't Simon be more appropriate. He is a doctor after all."

"Boy is a genius, ain't no arguing that. Best medic I ever seen, but he's complete go se when it comes to dealin' with people and emotions. Figure that with all the training ya got at them fancy schools you'd make a better ships counselor when ya ain't got any duties as ship's Ambassador."

Inara blinked again. Once more there was absolutely no sign of his previous disdain towards her profession. "What are you really saying Mal? What is going on?"

Mal sighed and turned to her, reaching out and taking her hand, so that she would be able to sense the truth of his next statements. "Inara, I'm asking if you'd consider retiring or quiting or taking a break of some kind from being and active companion. We're gonna be flush for a while and I think it's time we stop dancing around each other. This whole thing, mutants, new worlds hidden away from most of humankind, everything, just puts into perspective how petty it is to hold onto the bad things that have happened. Bad things done been happening since man crawled out of the slime, and always gonna be things going on, but when you find something good, something special, you need to grab it and hold on while you can. And I think that what we feel, what we've tried to ignore for so long, could be very special. And I want us to try and see if it could be what we have both been wanting to have."

Inara was speechless as the truth of Mal's statements was taken in by her powers. She was overwhelmed by the feelings being presented to her and she could feel her own long hidden emotions taking hold. She stared at Mal as he started leaning forward, and found herself leaning forward to match him. Their eyes closed seconds before their lips met and they both paused less then a centimeter apart. They held there, anticipation of a long desired moment building within.

The reality did not match their fantasies.

It was far better.

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so here is chap 11, not that long I know but I hope you enjoy it.





*Chapter 12*: Chapter 12


History of the Future.

here is the next chapter in my work of combining Xmen and Firefly. As always, all characters thoughts and ideas belong to those that created them. I own only the idea of mixing them together.

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53. Fifty damn three times. More then 40 holes in his best shirt, a half dozen in his slacks. 53 new bullets slammed into him. More then 2 dozen knife wounds. 3rd degree burns from lasers and incendiary charges. Bit and claw marks from the she-demon. 'Damn, this was a great going away party. Too bad the food was ruined.'

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Several hours earlier:

"I ain't much for pretty speeches, but I do gotta say I'm mighty grateful to ya, Reynolds. Ye brought 2 of my kids home for the first time in a long while. I'm not a man who forgets my debts. You ever need help, me and mine will be there." The two gruff men looked out towards the city.

"Just doing my job. Paid damn well too. Not jess in coin either. Real thankful to you lot for all your help, though I hate that we had to get that help. Never wanted to be no damn target. After loosing the war, thought my fighting days were long over. Now, lost 2 crew and a bunch of friends no finagling with time and clones can bring back. Your friends do what they saying they can and we're even. Don't hold to being beholden to or from no one."

"You got a fine crew, Reynolds. Reminds me of the old days on Earth when Marie and I ran around in spandex and leather trying to save people from their own ignorance. One way of defining a hero, is that they are people who are strong enough to know what needs to be done and does it even when they don't want to be the one doing it. Even if all it means is picking up weapon to protect what's his. And that's what you're doing now."

Mal nodded knowing the other man had made his point. He didn't consider himself a hero for it, but he was damn tired of not being able to defend his crew. They stood in silence for a while, each recalling times of their pasts where they'd been unable to defend what was theirs as full as they might have wished.

Their brooding was brought to an end as the sound of approaching giggles indicated the return of Kaylee and the others from their shopping trip. Kaylee had talked River, Inarra and Marie into taking a visit to pick up some items that Mal really didn't want to think about. Well, maybe Inarra's purchases held a bit of interest but he really didn't need to be thinking of Lil' Kaylee or River that way.

Not able to resist, he spoke up. "Hello ladies. Glad yer back. Bit surprised though, ya only been gone 6 hrs. Didn't think we'd see ya 'til the morning, way ya'll were chattering when ya left."

"Ah Captn, think it's mighty sweet of ya to track how long we was gone. M'Sure'Narra will find a way to repay your kindness." Kaylee fired back joyfully, well used to the older man's teasing.

"Hope ya ain't spent all yer money."

"Nah, not even close, Captn. Just a few pretties and finery we women folk like to have. Even if we hardly ever any where near places fancy enough for out finery. Most places ya bring us look at you odd if'n you ain't caked in 3 months of grease and dirt."

"Hey now, we're smugglers and thieves. Don't get much call for the likes of us at on of the fancy tadoos. 'Xcepting Inarra." The lack of the normal inflection that characterized his reference to Inarra's occupation was blatantly obvious to all who knew him, and caused a small blush and coy smile to cross Inarra's face. Mal grinned as goofilly as a man of his reputation could allow for a moment before reverting to his normal expression. "Well I suppose your fancy Core bred doc and the Lil Tross could fit in, but ain't none of the rest of us acceptable to them fancy shindigs. Though you did look might pretty all gussied up for Harlow's ball. Too bad that Wing Nut ruined the party being such a hung dang."

"Atherton is many things, Malcolm, but he's not a nut. Anyway, we have to put these things away and start getting supper ready. Where are Janus and Zoe?" Inarra asked as she ushered in the others.

"Jayne brought Zoe over to that gym with the special hologram room. Thought she might need to let out some of her pain before we have Wash and Book back. Simon's doing another surgery at the hospital. Now that ships ready, I'm just sitting here, waiting on supper."

"Well, since you're available Captain, why don't you go to the kitchen and start peeling and potatoes. There's some greens that's need to be washed and cut up while you're in there." Marie stated as she passed between him and Logan on the porch. "The others are making the heavier stuff at their places, but I'm going to be making appetizers, and side dishes. Fresh potato and macaroni salads, mashed potatoes and a few other things. Since you aren't busy, you're gonna be helping me."

"And to make sure you don't poison the rest of us, I'll help as well." Inarra stated, a shudder going through the forms of Serenity's crew at the thought of leaving Mal alone in any capacity for food preparation.

"Can't cook?" Logan asked with a smirk.

Mal was saved from replying as Marie swatted her husband. "As if you're any better. Even 500years later and you still can't seem to understand that not everything needs to be grilled, fried, or cooked over an open flame." She looked at the other women. "He set the kitchen on fire more time then I could count. There was this one occasion that was especially bad."

"Hey some of that stuff is tricky." Logan protested in self defense.

"Logan sweetie, you were making pudding. You don't even need to heat the milk and you burned half the kitchen down."

Every one had a good laugh as the grizzled man grumbled, taking the teasing in stride. He'd relaxed a little over the centuries and was less prone to react, especially when the source of the teasing was his beloved wife.

It was a moment of levity and humor they would appreciate all the more in the coming days.

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AFTERMATH:

"Who are these people?" Mal asked, surveying the wreckage and ensuring that his crew was relatively uninjured.

Logan flipped over one of the bodies, using the dead man's clothes to wipe his claws. "Looks like mercs to me. Though the leaders seemed familiar."

Marie nodded as she kicked the corpse of the last attacker to challenge her. "These 4 and that woman seemed to be in charge. Creeds, all five. Notice how much harder it was to put them down? Healing factor near as strong as ours. Savage and cannibalistic, there isn't anything they won't do for money. The rest look like a collection of locals from one of the gangs that are used as hired muscle. Usually for offworlders."

"Should we be worried about legal repercussions?" Simon asked as he fussed over River, who was wiping a large knife clean. He was resolutely not looking in the direction of the two men he'd killed during the battle.

"Nah, this is clearly self defense. Though the constables might ask ya to move on in case Creed's try something else." Logan replied. "The security should have activated when the windows and the door blew, so the recording should have most of the fight. We were lucky none of us were badly hurt."

"Lucky hell! They shot up my favorite shirt! Took me month's to get it to sit just right and not damn thing has more'n 40 holes and a dozen tears. Not to mention the blood stains that ain't never gonna come out. Now it's not even fit to be used as a rag." Jayne stated angrily.

"Well nobody but Janus' shirt was hurt." Logan amended. "Let's contact the cops. Once they're done, we can clean up. Got a big day tomorrow."

The police were swift and efficient. Lean Inspector Johan Brecht was a mutant, like the rest of the population. His particular gift was a form of touch empathy. He could 'see' the past of any object or person he touched as clear as watching something on the Cortex. Luckily for him he had to activate the ability and could only see the last few hours. He could fast forward and rewind and even pause the replay. This ability was perfect for his profession as it allow him to watch crimes as they had been done. All he needed was to be on scene and have contact with something that was there at the time.

"Well everything looks clear here, Mr. Howlett." Brecht stated as he entered some info into his Cortex pad. "As per SOP, we'll have to ask you to vacate the location for a few days. The lab boys will need access and we can't have the scene contaminated. As for you Captain Reynolds, the docking lists show you scheduled to leave tomorrow. Before you do, I'll need statements and preferably a psychic scan from 3 of out staff psychs. As long as that is done, you can leave on schedule. This is also SOP for a crew in any criminal investigation."

"We'll need to talk about it some. Ain't sure I like the idea of having strangers poke in my head. Or my crews."

"We have strict guidelines for these investigations, Captain. The scans would be done during your statements and are used only as confirmation. Anything not relating to the direct crimes involved can not be used or pursued without physical evidence to confirm information obtained through a scan nor is anything that occurred outside of our jurisdictional boundaries able to be used or considered."

Mal blinked and turned to Zoe, who was wiping down the shotgun she'd used during the battle. "Huh?"

"Means even if the reader sees you committed a crime, can't do nothing unless they got other proof and only here."

"Let's be honest Captain. Crew like yours, obviously been living around the edges of what is considered crime. But all we care about is what you've done here. And all I've gathered shows you to be hard working folk only trying to do your jobs. This here, well the why is a bit of a mystery, but the who, what, where and when is quite clear. Let my crew take a quick peek into what happened tonight, and as far as I'm concerned your part is done. Sad as it is to say, I doubt we'll find much more then this. The Creed's are very good at covering their tracks so unless one of the dead has a recorder filled with statements direct from a top tier member of the clan, this will be swept under a rug like any other job they pull."

"Well can't speak for the others, but guess I'm willing' to lend a hand by answering your questions."

The rest of the crew and Howlett's agreed. Each was taken in to the ground floor parlor and questioned. Everything went along smoothly until Janye was left. River's gifts had been helpful for the other telepaths and she was rightfully proud of herself for not turning into a gibbering wreck after the gentle probing by the 3 experienced mental investigators.

"Janus Howlett a.k.a Jayne Cobb, looks like your turn." Brecht said as he read from the transcript of the interviews. "If you'll follow Constable Bennett."

Jayne frowned but didn't move. "Can save ya some time, Brecht. This is Caterina Creed. Those 4 are clan mates, don't recall all their names, but the big one is Tyson Creed. I ran with them a bit way back before I left. Never told Ma or Pa, because Howlett's and Creed's been enemies since Earth. Catarina and I had the same taste in women. One in particular, Ariana, who picked me over her. I wanted out. Couldn't stomach some of the jobs they take. But Creed's don't just let you walk away. They sent Catarina to teach me a lesson. What she did to that girl.... Reavers don't do that to their victims. I tracked her and the group down. Thought I killed 'em. Got on the next transport bound for out system I could find. Ain't been back since." Jayne paused. "Wasn't exactly discriminating about it . No few bystanders taken out when I blew the bar they was using as meets for jobs."

Brecht frowned. "How long ago was this?" Due to the nature of their extended life spans, the statute of limitations laws on Greymalkin and Genosha were vastly differnet then the time frames their ancestors had used on Earth. With some residents having nearly limitless life expectancy, they had to extend the limits. Small crimes with no assaults such as theft, robbery and things of that nature had a 25 year limit. More serious crimes like rape, murder and arson had a 50 year limit. The truly heinous crimes such as serial murder or mass crimes that could be classified as terrorism had a 75 years. There was a clause added that those were the minimums and required that the perpetrator of the crime be able to prove that they did not commit another for the length of the statute. This included telepathic scans to provide evidence of the nature of the original crime.

Brecht had been an officer for nearly 20 years now and could not recall any large scale unsolved crimes involving a bar explosion that resulted in large scale deaths. The last such event he could remember was a fire at a chemical processing plant during his 2nd year on the job, but this man only looked to be about 30 if that. Of course with Healers that wasn't always a true measure of their age. Janus could be anywhere from 20 to 200 or more.

"Little over 40 years or so." Jayne stated. "A little dive on Genosha called Snakepit. Might of been 20 people or so."

With a policy along the lines of the punishment fitting the crime, a murderer would face a life sentence. In this case, a life sentence is determined as the difference in the expected life of the victim and his age at the time of death. Since the average life expectancy of 120-150, this would mean that a sentence of a murderer convicted of killing a 40 year old would be 80-110 years. Multiple murders were always consecutive and never congruent so killing 2 40 years olds would be 160-220 years.

Brecht frowned as he considered the situation he'd found. 20 dead, killed in an explosion could be considered an act of terrorism. A sentence as individual deaths for 20 people could be over 1000 years. Add in the additional 75 yeas as an act of terrorism and the additional 20 years for each death in a terrorist act, and a crime like this could even top 2000years. Of course, the prisoner would have the choice of real time or could select for the dream time sentence which was followed by execution.

"That could cause some trouble, Mr. Howlett. The Statute wouldn't have expired yet and even with the extenuating circumstances you are technically guilty of those peoples deaths. Might not be murder, only manslaughter, but you would be guilty." Brecht paused. He didn't need to be a telepath to feel the rising tension in the room. Although thanks to his empathic abilities, he could almost see the actions of the last few hours being brushed aside due to the potentially explosive situation. "But this once, considering that you were attacked here and the emotional distress at the time of the event, I will not proceed against you. Besides aside from your confession, we have no proof, ans as you are not in custody but are a witness and victim of this crime, that would not be able to be used as evidence. What I am going to do, is insist that you are on that ship tomorrow and that you don't set foot on Greymalkin or M10 for at least 15 years. I am going to research this event and see about the families of the victims, and provide a list of what i find to your parents. You will find some way to repay those people for their lives. Unless any of them were known criminals or had open warrants, in which case I'll make sure you get the bounties."

Jayne finally relented and gave his statement. It was a better offer then most could claim for his crime. He never consciously noted that the entire time, River had been standing next to him holding his hand in a silent show of support.

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THE ATTACK:

Jayne grunted as the bullet tore into and out of his body. The sound of glass shattering was the only warning but it was enough for him to jump start his healing and move to cover River who had sat next to him as usual. This almost proved to be a mistake as the high powered round went through his arm. If he'd remained seated, it would have torn through his throat and neck. If River had been the target, it would have blown her head of and would not have been slowed in the slightest by his attempt to shield her.

Several dozen more rounds followed, causing everyone to scatter. He saw his parents and sisters get hit, but no one from Serenity other then him and Inarra were struck. The people closest to the windows scrambled for cover while Marie and Logan flipped the heavy table to use as a shield for cover. The table worked surprisingly well as no rounds managed to punch through the two inch thick slab.

"What the hell?" Mal yelled while peeking around one edge. His luck kicked and and a bullet whizzed through the air an inch over his head, "River, why didn't you pick up this attack?"

"I don't know! I can't feel anything!" River cried. She winced every time a round struck the table or chipped away at the wall and other furnishings in the room. Her inability to see and the pounding of thuds of the bullets was causing her to feel real fear for the first time since the Academy. If not for Marie's training, she would be a complete wreck.

The odd nature of the sound of the bullet impacts and River's inability to access her gifts caused Jayne to swear.

"Ceramics!" he called out over the sound of gunfire. "Ceramic bullets and Psy shielders. Damn! They knew we had a magnatech and a Reader. That means they know about all our abilities. Pop, you got any weapons handy?"

Logan stood, ignoring the pain as several rounds struck him. He ducked, not even his eyes able to see into the darkness. "Nothing handy. Got a locker in the den, but we're too pinned down to make it. The shells seem to be coated in a poison that slows healing and is going to be fatal to those with no healing factor."

Simon spoke up. "What is the locker made of?"

Logan grinned as he caught on. "It's a heavy metal locker like you would see in a school. One floor down and maybe 30 feet behind us."

Simon narrowed his eyes and he extended the natural field that surrounded him. He savored the 'pining' of the various bits of metal in the home until he was able to hone in on the large chunk of metal. He concentrated and pulled, having never attempted to use his gift from such a distance or for such a weight. He could feel the locker shuddering as he tried to 'grab' it with the power. It started slowly, scrapping along the wood floor, before shooting up through the ceiling into the room above, then he pulled again and it came slamming through the walls between that room and the dining room where they were eating. It dropped heavily onto the ground and thought tired from his exertion, he managed to rip off the door, displaying a series of fire arms both hi-tech and traditional.

Marie being the closest, reached in and pulled our several guns handing them out. Mal refused the rifle and took a heavy pistol, while Zoe grabbed an Earth based shotgun that had a 8 round chamber. Inarra, Kaylee and Simon were handed identical rifles, models based on the classic M1 Grand from Earth. River grabbed a pair of identical Glocks that fit her hands well. Jayne was passed a Dragonov sniper rifle.

However, just as everyone started to set to return fire, the door was blown and a group of screaming, dark clad attackers streamed in. The rifles became useless, though River and Marie made good use of the pistols and Zoe's Saiga-12 modified did a good job of slowing the incoming rush. Their fire slowed the attackers, but they were too well protected in modern armor for the rounds to penetrate and Jayne and his father leapt over the table to start the up close battle. The attackers also abandoned gunfire and soon there was a battle royale of hand to hand combat with the odd burst or blast as both sides used their various gifts.

At this point, Jayne was too busy to see what the others were doing. This was further complicated when he realized that some of the attackers had healing abilities as he stabbed one in the throat with his forearm spike only to see the wound heal. The split second of distraction was enough and his attacker returned the favor, tearing out Jayne's throat. They stumbled away from each other and while he waited for his throat to heal, Jayne was attacked from behind. He arched as a blade cut into his back, narrowly missing his spine.

Acting on instinct, he spun away from the blade, stabbing back with his forearm blade. He felt the point going into the attacker's stomach, and continued spinning. The tip of the blade scrapped against the man's spine, and as he turned, Jayne effectively sliced the man in two. Only the spine held him in one piece as all the soft connecting tissues were sliced apart. The top half fell backwards, and the force and weight of the man snapped the spine. For a few seconds the legs and waist remained upright, but they collapsed without the control from the brain, they were not balanced to remain upright.

Jayne finished his turn, but staggered back as his first opponent fired into him at point blank range with a burst from a automatic. He ignored the burn of the rounds and the poison entering him and used his forearm blade to block the swing of a knife that could be considered a short sword. He cried out in pain as the knife managed to cut through the bone extension before sliding off to the side. Again ignoring the pain, Jayne grabbed the man's wrist and with a deft turn and twist, slammed his own blade home into his chest. The man gurgled then fell and Jayne was free to look for his next opponent.

He watched as his family and the crew worked seamlessly together, River and his mother fighting back to back, Inarra and Mal protecting Kaylee and Simon. Simon was using his gift to send shrapnel from the locker and the utensils at their enemies, while Kaylee was using the rifle like a club. Zoe was also watching their backs, sending both blast from the shotgun and mini lighting bolts at the attackers. His father was facing off against 3 larger opponents wearing much different outfits that Jayne recognized as the standard op uniform for the Creed clan. Before he could react to that, he was knocked down as a explosion hit the wall behind him.

He looked up and swore as a new attacker entered the room. The fact that this figure was female and also dressed in the Creed colors meant it could only be one person. The fact she was masked meant nothing. 'Catarina' he thought to himself while patting out the flames.

Ignoring everyone else, he leapt to his feet and prepared himself as she pulled twin wicked looking serpentine blades from the sheaths on her thighs. He pulled the knife from the cheat of the dead man at his feet and prepared for what could likely be the most difficult fight of his life. Only one of them was leaving this house alive. And Jayne realized, as he heard River's grunts as she too had taken up a pair of blades and was spinning around the largest of the attackers as she had during the Reaver battle, he had something to look forward to. It was time to put his past behind him and look to the future. And River was going to be a big part of that future.

Roaring in rage, he charged the woman who roared back and rushed for him. 'Goodbye Ariana. Either I avenge you or I die. It's time to end this.'

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AN :

I hope you all enjoy this chap. I think it's good. a mix of everything and some action thrown in.





*Chapter 13*: Chapter 13


History of Future 13

I know, 3 chap for 3 diff fics in one day, what's going on ? thanks for everyone who's enjoying my stories, I appreciate all the support.

at the time of this being typed, 15181 hits and 33 reviews.

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Although he would never admit it, he was worried. After dealing with the authorities following the attack, they had been quietly and politely, if also firmly, encouraged to vacate the world ASAP. With the repairs and upgrades complete, he'd been eager to hit the black anyway. He found he missed the tension of living on the edge and didn't want to grow soft with all the comforts available on this world.

A soft step behind him caused him to tense then relax as a familiar perfume drew his attention. Almost afraid of her reaction, he waited an extra minute before speaking. "Morning, 'Nara. Why you up so early?"

Inara serenely stood next to him, gazing out across the city. The 3rd floor balcony overlooked the edge of the city and the surrounding suburbs and the nearby spaceport. "Are you worried Mal? I know you don't like this plan to resurrect Wash and Book. But I've seen and heard of similar plans using the duplicates. Nothing that required this precise timing. Have you thought of the impact this will have on all of us? We've mourned and missed them for a long time. Things have changed. . . we've changed."

Taking a breath, Mal turned to look at her. As always his chest tightened as his pulse rose. "Have we?" he asked softly. "You don't seem to have changed much to me Inara. Still the same damn woman driving me crazy."

Her heart beating wildly, Inara kept her gaze fixed in the distance. "And you're still the cocky, self righteous carefree rogue who woke something in me I'd buried for years." Finally she turned and met his eyes. They stood silently for a moment, watching each other.

"Does my past bother you?" she asked, broaching the subject for the 1st time since the revelation.

Mal took a moment to consider before replying, not wanting to appear to lack sincerity in his reply. "Not if it don't bother you. What happened then . . . well ain't neither of you be faulted for looking for a piece of home. And neither of you knew who the other were. Can't rightly hold it against ya seeing as I hadn't even shed my diapers. Vera and Casey are gone. Here, now, you're Inara Sera, and that is more ten I deserve. I'm nothing but an emotionally crippled, physically beat up old warhorse who almost threw a way the best damn thing I'd ever seen cause I was too ornery and too scared to let anyone in and risk loosing someone else I loved. I lost too much in that damn way Inara, and it hurt too much for me to accept what I knew from the minute we spoke."

Her voice trembling, tears escaping, she managed to ask. "What did you know?"

Mal's hand crept up and wiped a tear from her cheek. "l'd found my home." He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, allowing his control to relax and show her what he felt, even as he struggled to think the word.

Inara melted into the kiss, savoring the first genuine unforced or fabricated emotions she'd felt in decades. Her arms embraced him as his circled her waist and she felt the connection of their mismatched pieces finally fitting together. In his arms, she too was finally home.

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Jayne grunted as he lowered the barbell and let the weight rest on the supports. They were nearing the sire of what he considered one of his worst moments. He should have been on the bridge and take the hit himself. He could have played dead and disappeared, starting a new life far from Serenity and far from the knowledge he now possessed. He jerked up to sit on the bench, wrenching his mind from the depressing thoughts. He stood and looked around. The bay was cleaner then anytime since it was first built, as were all the common rooms.

He was bored with working out and his usual distractions didn't seem appealing. For the 1st time in a very long while, he wanted to give his mind a workout. He made his way to his room, dug through his tattered duffel bag and pulled out an old cigar box. He then made his way to the mess, his senses identifying the location of his target.

"Hey core boy, you know how to play?" he asked, opening the lid and showing the Doctor what it contained.

Simon's slim, plucked eyebrow rose a fraction. "Yes, but I'm surprised a man ape gone wrong such as yourself even knows what that is, let alone be able to play."

Jayne grinned and threw himself into a chair, pulling out the game board and the sealed container filled with the game pieces. "Let's play Doc."

"We would be better if there were more players." Simon mused. Seconds later River glided into the room, followed by Inara. "Tams was Howletts or Civil war." River asked as they stood near the table.

"What do you mean by that River?" Simon asked.

Rolling her eyes, she slid into the seat opposite Jayne. "Brother vs Brother or in this case Brothers vs Sisters. Inter family squabbling. Simon and Inara against River and Jayne."

Simon and Inara shared a look and a shrug, taking their seats as Jayne set the board and the pieces. They spent a few hours playing, changing teams every few games. The rest of the crew and their guests wandered by stopping to watch and chat before moving on with their own tasks. Kaylee made a light lunch for the crew from their new stores. Fresh salad, real meat chicken sandwiches and no protein cubes/paste of any kind. Eventually the game came to a stop as each had duties they had to perform,

River heading for the bridge, Simon the med bay and Jayne decided he should get some rest. He had the late watch tonight and wanted to be rested. He left the game out in case others wanted to play.

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"Shut up sir."

Mal blinked. "I ain't said nothing Zoe, just sittin' here minding my own self, eating these sandwiches Kaylee made us."

Zoe turned, a slight smile one her face. "Don't need to say a word to hear you screaming, sir. Known ya too long. You and Nara finally on the same page and I am happy for ya, but don't wanna hear nothing about it. Kind of like hearing your parents talk about their sexin' or maybe listen to some dolt brag on bedding a sibling."

Mal snorted. "And you don't think that's how I felt with you and Wash always hanging on each other? The two of ya would eye-fuck so often, sometimes I felt like I needed a smoke. I wanted to ban Kaylee and River from being around you two, the way ya carried on."

Zoe raised one eyebrow, "Kinda odd considering how we came to hire little Kaylee? Rim girls ain't much call for modesty or innocence. Got to grow up fast or world would wipe you out." There was silence for a moment as Zoe finished her salad and started on the sandwich.

"Are we doing the right thing?" she asked quietly.

Mal was surprised by the question and took a moment to think. "Lot of water under the bridge since Miranda. Lot of changes to get used to, and will take a while to accept changes with all of us. We learned some new things about ourselves and about the verse. But we ain't whole Zoe. And we never will be unless we get the rest of our family back."

Zoe blinked away the tears that threatened to fall. "Aye sir." she settled in and they finished their meal in the comfortable silence.

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AN

hope you enjoyed, should have another not too long from now.





*Chapter 14*: Chapter 14


Thank you all for your patience, stuff has been blocking me from writing lately. Was released from job after coming back from a weeks vacation back in April, and went into a bit of a funk about that. Still not working yet but not able to start looking

Had orig stated chap back during downtime at work, but haven't been feeling up to doing more, trying not ot think about anything really, just reading and watching tv, went out to family cottage for a while with no pc access,

Hopefully will be able to start writing again soon on more of my stories as well.

So another chap in my FF/XM cross over, hope you enjoy.

JAYNE-Janus Arrestes Yevgeni Nathanial Enrico Howlett

Inara refers to Jayne as Janus, since he isn't fond of the name, the others sometimes tease him by calling him versions of his name. (Mall is fond of calling him Ginny or Ritchy)

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The tech blinked then frowned. He leaned forward and started rerunning the program. When the results came in confirming the first scan, he saved them to the proper location and began a continuous scan. Seeing the fluctuation readings in real time, he tapped the key that lit his pod's notice board. A minute later, he felt more then heard the presence of the darkly menacing figure standing behind him.

"what is it Lieutenant?"

"The new scanning equipment has picked up a fluctuating field of the radiation particles you advised us to track. There seems to be a frowning field of the radiation at a point central to the bombardment of the surface."

The Operative's face remained still as he seemed to consider the Lieutenant's statement. "Lt. Try to narrow down the scan to get a precise center of the field. Once you have, activate the 2nd scanning program."

Turning, the Operative strode away, leaving the bridge. He entered the seldom used comm room located off the bridge and proceeded to prepare a message, including the sensor readings. After finishing and sending the report, he leaned back, steeplling his hands as his face settled into a thoughtful expression.

'Why are they out this far? What interest dose this dust ball hold for those beasts?' he mused. 'Is it a lone agent or exile, or is this presence an indication of potential action against the Alliance?'

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Derrial Book gasped as he stumbled to his knees. He was disoriented and woozy but was quickly able to bring the world into focus. He gasped quietly as he realized that he was no longer on the surface of Haven and was now kneeling in the cargo hold of a ship. A ship and bay which bore a striking resemblance to one he had considered home not long ago.

"How..." he started then had to stop as his training kicked in and he felt the presence of multiple people nearby. He spun in place while half rising to one leg, decades of hone reflexes swarming through his muscle memory. Recognizing most of the people, he relaxed slightly from his defensive posture before speaking. "Either I am dead and my sins have not been forgiven or Heaven is easier to get into then a fist fight on Unification Day."

Mal chuckled and stepped forward, surprising the Shepard further by grasping him in a manly embrace. "You got no idea how much we've missed you Shepard. Got a lot of 'xplaining to do, but it needs to wait some. Got to make sure the Alliance ain't picked up up on their sensors." Mal released the Shepard with a gentle push towards the waiting crew who each expressed gratitude for his presence with various displays of emotion.

Eventually he was left standing in the bay, which was far cleaner then he'd ever seen. Left behind with him were Inara and 2 strangers. The companion glided over and took his arm with refined ease and poise. "A lot has changed and there are things you'll need to learn, but first we have one more person to rescue."

"And who is that?" The confused man asked.

"Wash."

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Wash blinked as the world vanished. One second he is struggling to control the falling ship, and the next he's somehow in the med bay with a pair of strangers holding him up.

Looking around he saw that the bay was cleaner then he remembered and there was more equipment then ever before. Some even looked like those he vaguely recalled from his visits to the infirmary during his flight school training. He studied the 2 figures in the room, both looking exhausted and grim. Deciding that this was not good, he knew what he had to do.

"Well since this isn't a deserted island and I don't see dozens of scantily clad Wifey's. I'm guessing I'm still alive and hallucinating or Hell is even worse then I feared."

The two exchanged a quick look and short snort at his attempted humor. "Actually Mr. Washburn, it's not quite either of those. Sparing the details for now, let's just say we stopped you from becoming a harpoon shishkebob. And if you aren't dizzy or naeseous, there are some people waiting for you in the dining room."

Hobun Washburn was confused, concerned and conflicted. He was also constipated but that had more to do with Jayne's cooking and Kaylee's engine wine then the miraculous transportation from bridge to bay. Putting aside the first three, but unable to stop suffering the last, he made his way to the dining room.

He strode in his mouth open to question Mal on what was happening but he froze in place. His jaw worked up and down a few times before he was able to take control of himself. "Shepard? Aren't you dead or did I dream tying your cold corpse to the nose of te ship in a place o honor for our suicidal run through an Alliance blockade and Reaver fishing trip?"

"Wash my son, I have as little information about all his as you do. One second I'm running towards the artillery and watching people being blown up around me, and the next it's like time freezing. There's 2 people I don't know taking me through a tunnel of light and a duplicate of myself steps into my former position."

"That's kind of what happened to me, only we had just survived crashing on Mr. Universe's moon. Oh and did I mention: You were dead and you skeletal remains strapped to the ship like a hood ornament?"

"There's a lot to explain, Wash. Lot of things changed and time passed since Mr Universe's moon." Mal stated from his seat at the head of the table. "Short story is: After Miranda, Alliance sent an Operative to find and kill us and every one we worked with. They hit Haven, killing Book, we came up with our plan, tracked and lured the Reavers to where the Operative and his fleet were waiting. We lead the Reaver charge. Wash did his usual magic and getting this old bird to do things it's designers wouldn't believe possible. We crashed and survived but as we got all congratulatory, a harpoon crashed through the bridge killing you Wash. Rest of us got off ship and made our way to the central broadcast station. Crew held off the Reavers while I got beat up by the Operative before getting the drop on him and sending the waive. After the Operative saw what he was protecting, he ordered the Alliance to stand down. He had the Alliance meds heal us up while the engineers nad techs repaired Serenity.

Bout 5 months later we get a job to an out of the way moon that happens to be Jayne's home world. Met his folks, learned some new things about all of us. They had a plan to help us. While we hung with Jayne's folks, they told us about the history of their moon, and how they could do things that most consider impossible. Including time travel, mutant cloning and others. They upgraded the ship and we came back. There were limits to what they could do, they could travel in time but we still had to go to the places where we wanted to be. So first we went to Haven and rescued Book, leaving a clone to take his place. After that we came back to Mr. Universe's moon and here we are, currently still landed on the moon with the remaining Reaver Fleet trolling through the Nebulae and with a few more decisions to make. We can't bring everyone back, but we might be able to bring back Mr. Universe. Now you're pretty much up to date."

Wash blinked. That was a very difficult story to believe, but he was looking at living proof. He turned to the strangers and froze again. One of the woman seemed to shimmer and before his eyes, an identical women seemed to step out of her body. Each then grinned, struck identical poses and expressions. Some thing odd seemed to occur and one of them seemed to swell and bulge in odd places while the other seemed to shrink and collapse. Within seconds, he was looking at identical copies of Jayne and River, of whom the originals were glaring from their seats. Which he noted absently were closer together then before.

"I don't know what to say." he stated, turning his head back and for the between the set pairs. "Ah, you said something about all of you having stranger powers? You don't all turn into Jayne, do you? Cause that would be wrong and freaky on so many levels. Not mention the damage to the waste processing plant. If you can all change, why not change into oh, I don't know, my beautiful Wifey. A ship full of Zoe's would be heaven for all of us."

"Not all of us have the same powers. In fact none of us have the same abilities." Mal stated, taking a swig from his coffee. "Doc can explain the genetics in detail, but we all have different skills. While taking the trip from Haven to here, Book was tested and he has the marker to have powers, but still hasn't triggered yet. Doc will test you, but we're all pretty sure you got it too."

Wash took that in, but started as he realized something. "Hey where is my beautiful Zoe-bear?"

Several looks were exchanged by the crew. It was Inara who spoke, her voice soft and gentle. "She's had a rough time, Wash. You were dead for 6 months our time. She didn't feel up to meeting you with all of us here. She's waiting for you. Go to her. We'll talk more and explain the rest later. She needs you."

Wash stood, instinctively knowing were to find his wife. He traveled quickly through the bowels of the ship, his senses absently noting some of the differences in the ship. He reached the door and paused. Taking a breath, he pulled open the door to the bridge and entered, stopping a few steps from his customary seat. "Hello wife." he stated, noting that his dinosaurs were in place.

The pilot seat turned and Wash was transfixed by what he saw. Zoe had changed but was as beautiful as ever. She seemed a bit thinner in the face, which also was showing more expression then he'd ever seen on her. Tears glimmered in her eyes and she stood, her hands clutching sporadically at her thighs. "Husband." she stated, her voice cracking. He barely noticed as a light breeze started blowing in the closed confines of the ship, nor did he notice the cloud forming over there heads as they slowly drifted towards each other.

Finally the damn broke and Zoe threw herself at him, her strong arms pulling him to her, lifting his smaller frame off the ground. Their lips met and clashed and Wash was over whelmed by the passionate desperation in her kiss. While it had only been hours for him, more then 6 months had passed for the warrior beauty. She pulled away with the need for air. "It's been bad, baby. I was lost without you. If you even put me through that again, I'll dig you up and kill you again. Repeatedly." Before latching her lips back onto his. With a thought she used her gift to draw the air towards them, pulling the door closed and locking it. She had 6 months to make up for and she wasn't planning on leaving this bridge until at lease a week or two's worth of time had been caught up.

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Jayne grunted as the kick slipped past his block and landed on his ribs. He felt the crack and stepped back to avoid the follow up series. His arm spike struck out, catching the blade of his opponents sword. His other arm lashed out, landing a solid blow to the figures own ribs, sending the smaller form skidding along the slick floor of the bay. Catcalls and boos for the pair rang joyfully through the bay around them as they paused before surging towards each other again.

A grin crossed his face as the girl leapt over his head in a whirlwind of steel forcing him to avoid by dropping into a forward roll. More pain as the tip of the blade managed to score a line down his back. By the time he was on his feet again and facing his opponent, the wound had already healed. The girl was facing him in a front on stance, sword held above the head, angled slightly due to the bend elbow. Right leg extended to the side, left bent and body leaning forward slightly. Her other had palm up towards him. As she noticed his gaze study her, the fingers curled in a 'come on' gesture.

Just as he began to move forward, a piercing whistle caught both their attention. Wearily watching each other, they slid into relaxed poses before nodding at each other to indicate the session was over. Jayne's customary scowl reset on his face. He'd been enjoying the spar more then he had thought he would when River had suggested it. His opponent was good, very good with the sword, and he was glad to find someone he didn't have to hold back to much with during a match.

"What the hell, Mall? We were tied at 2 falls." he growled out to the captain.

"Sorry to interrupt Jayne, but I need to borrow your partner for a few minutes. Got a waive that I need her to look into. Seems might have another job."

"Hell Mal, we still got most of the coin from the last job. More 'en enough to last a few months. Why ya want another job now anyway?"

"Mostly to stay in practice. Might be flush now, and Serenity is in top shape so won't need spent much on repairs which means we only spending on food, fuel and landing fees. But we still need to work to stay in the game, make new contacts. Least now we can be a bit more choosy. That's actually why I need yer partner there. We worked for this guy before but didn't go as planned. Want her to check it out, make sure it's legit. The warrants might be gone and we ain't fugies any more but that damn Academy and those Blue Gloved goons ain't likely to have given up. And sad to say, there's a change that we might run into people working for the Creed's and their allies from Genosha."

"Don't worry Jayne, we'll have time to finish this later." the young woman stated as she sheathed her sword. She wiped some of the sweat off with a towel handed to her by the Doctor, who was scheduled for a training session with the ship's muscle.

Jayne grunted and turned to the bench himself. "Fine. But don't forget, we's tied and next fall means loser does the laundry for a week and the waste cleaning for 2 weeks."

Inarrra laughed as she redid the ponytail in her hair to a more business appropriate style. "Don't worry little brother, you'll notice the work goes quickly when you're stewing in the shame of loosing to and old lady." Inara used her gift and added 10 years to her apparent age, going from about River's age to Zoe's within seconds. She nodded thanks to the younger girl who had brought her a kimino to wear for the waive meeting, handing the girl the katana blade she'd been wielding for her and Jayne's sparring session. "River, why don't you help Janus with your brother? They were going to be working on using his metal control in a fight as a means of self defense. You've probably thought up some tricks you could help my little brother teach your brother."

River grinned as she ceremoniously placed the katana on the rack in the secret compartment in the wall under the stairs to the catwalk. "I have thought of a few things that could help Simon. But you'd better hurry, Captain Daddy is getting impatient."

Laughing throatily, Inara leaned in close to River's ears, shooting her brother a look. The gruffly outfitted man rolled his eyes and shrugged, showing that he was lowering his senses so that Inara could whisper to the younger girl. "Men like Mal, that impatience can come out in some 'interesting' ways. Janus is a lot like Mal in this regard. How goes you plan?"

River glanced over to he man in question. "Slowly but much more solidly then prior. He's still resisting, I think some of it is because he's trying to slide me into a 'sister' role as he sees Zoe, Kaylee and yourself. He doesn't want to risk the complications that were exposed when the truth of your relations came to light."

Inara rolled her eyes at the mention of her former incestuous relationship with her brother. Of course that had happened some 15 years before when both had been living vastly different lives and neither had known that they were related. Inara had left home when Jayne was only a teenager and they had not seen each other for about 30 years before the started their relationship as Vera and Adam. Add in their abilities to change themselves and it wasn't that surprising that they'd have a 2 year long relationship without either knowing they were siblings. The atmosphere on the ship had been strained once they were back in the black and everything started settling in their minds from the events on Greymalkin. Not a few months later and with Book and Wash back, there was an unstated rule that Vera and Adam were 2 different people who were dead and gone. In fact, only River even brought up their shared history, sometimes approaching Inara for tips on how to attract Jayne's attention.

The fledgling relationship between the potentially 2 most lethal members of the crew was a source of amusement for the companion. She noticed how most of the crew didn't even seem to notice the slight tension between the pair. Everyone seemed to go out of their way to rationalize the growing closeness between the merc and the reader. Simon's denial seemed especially advanced as River had on several times spoken to her in his presence of her intention to seduce the healer. As she reached the bridge she took a moment to compose herself, setting aside 'Sarah-matchmaker and busy body' and becoming 'Inara Serra-Companion' for the coming conversation with a reluctant Warwick Harwick and charming him to extend his association with Serenity Shipping.

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AN

as always thanks for reading. Expect more as non of my stories are trully finished