A/N: Sorry for the shorter chapter in the last one and sorry about the cliffhanger. Although they are almost all cliffhangers when you think about it.

I know it’s taking a bit a while for the characters from both fandoms to interact. I don’t want to rush or push it, I could of have the Serenity crew just arrives on Anamaria’s ship, but it looked awful in my head.

I missed Anamaria from the first movie and wished she were in the second one.

As for River’s description I felt Wash exaggerated a bit about her in the movie. Considering Summer Glau’s height that is impossible.

And now on with the show.

Browncoats at World’s End

Chapter 7: Searching

-

Tortuga

“What do you mean she is missing?” Malcolm asked. It was bad enough the doctor was off the Haven, but now he learned River had gone missing to. That left him with two worse case scenarios. The first was his ship was left unguarded and someone could steal it, leaving him and his crew on Tortuga with no possible means of sailing to China and no way to find Jack Sparrow or Serenity. The second and more serious was the fact that River left the safety of the ship and was somewhere on the island. Malcolm tried not to picture what the locals might do to her.

“She isn’t on the ship,” Simon said. “I searched everywhere.”

“Don’t you usually keep an eye on her?” Jayne asked. He wasn’t even looking at the doctor. His focus was on the goat. The animal was struggling to slip out of his arms.

“I do,” Simon said. His eyes were on Malcolm and Jayne at first, but then his gaze traveled over to the rest of the crew before he rested them on Kaylee. “She must have left when I was cleaning the galley.”

“Are you certain? Mal lowered his voice and stared the doctor in the eyes. His grip increased on the rope he was carrying to the point where he could feel the fibers dig into his skin.

“Very certain,” Simon nodded. “And we are wasting time asking if she is or isn’t.”

Mal’s hands shook. “Zhen dao mei,” He stared up at the stars. “You son of a rutting bitch think this is funny. You thought Serenity valley wasn’t bad enough.” He grabbed onto his head. “If it’s not one thing it’s another.”

“Is the captain well?” Whistler asked.

“He is having a very bad week,” Zoe explained. “We all are.”

“What did he say?” Hooky asked. “What language?”

“It’s Mandarin,” Kaylee explained. “We don’t have to worry about finding a translator.”

Mal didn’t even bother to look at his crew as the spoke behind him. He kept his hands on his head, massaging his temples in the hope to thwart the approaching headache he knew was developing. “I hate this place.” He said underbreath for the second time. The first was on the Haven after the wheel struck him in the mouth.

“Captain,” Simon was by his side. “Are you in pain?”

“The same pain you are feeling.” It was half lie. Malcolm was concerned for River’s safety, but he was also worried about the Haven and trying to find Serenity so they could get back to their own time. “We are going to find her.” He spun around. “Zoe, I want you to take everyone back to the Haven. Kaylee, the doc, Jarvis and I are going to look for the girl.”

“Yes sir,” Zoe shifted the bags she was carrying to one arm and took the rope from Malcolm. “This way.”

Mal watched as Gavin, Jayne and the others followed her before he turned to Simon. “We best start asking folk around.”

“What is her name?” Jarvis asked. “And what does she look like?”

“River Tam,” Simon answered. “She is five foot eight inches, a hundred and twenty five pounds. She has dark brown hair-“

“She is about yea tall,” Mal held is hand up to where River stood in height. “Bit on the thin side but can still be pretty strong. She has long dark hair, big ole pretty eyes that stare out at everything. She can be a bit eratic, but is also a genius, the smartest person you will ever meet.”

“She was wearing her dark blue dress, coat and boots,” Simon added.

Mal nodded at him before he approached a man entering the dock. “Yyou would n’t have seen a girl about this tall.” He held up his hand at the same height as before. “Long dark hair, large eyes. She was wearing a blue dress and big ole clunky boots.”

“No sir,” the man shook his head. “I seen a lot of women, but none wearing a dress and boots.”

They continued to ask people, everyone they came across if they had seen a person fit River’s description. Some had seen her and afew even pointed into the direction she was heading. The direction lead to an empty pub.

“Did you you see a girl go into there?” Simon kneeled beside a sobering man who clearly was suffereing the beginning of a hangover. “Long dark hair, wearing a blue slip of a dress and coat.”

“Was she wearing boots?” The man kept rubbing the sides of his head. “I remember a young girl wearing huge boots go into there.” He pointed to the pub.

“Do you know if she is still in there?”

“Nobody is in there,” one of the local whores answered. “Norrington had everyone arrested.”

“What?” Simon asked.

“What?” Mal repeated, only louder.

“Giselle and I saw everything from the window outside,” another wench said. “We decided to follow him to here and see what was in his head. One of the local blokes tried to smash a bottle on his head. Would have gotten away with it if that girl hadn’t gotten involved.”

Giselle nodded. “She took on three men by herself before another pulled a pistol on her.”

“River?” Kaylee asked in a worried tone.

Mal nodded. “Sounds like her.”

“What happened?” Simon’s voice trembled. “What happened to her?”

“Norrington pulled his own pistol on him and his men aimed their weapons on everyone. The girl dropped to her knees and started cryin and Norrington ordered everyone to be taken to his ship.”

“He took River,” Simon gasped.

“Somuvabitch,” Mal said. Things were getting worse and worse. “Where is this Norrington and his ship?”

The whores looked at each other and shrugged. “We don’t know,” Giselle said.

“Commodore Norrington?” A passerbye paused. “Heard he left Tortuga not long ago on the Intrepid.”

“Where is he going?” Mal asked.

“From what I understand he is heading back to Port Royal.”

“Where the hell is that?” Mal asked.

“Maybe it’s on the map, Tia Dalma gave us,” Kaylee suggested.

“I know where it is,” Jarvis said.

A brief smile formed on Mal’s face. “Of course you do.” His new crew. His beautiful new crew members. “We’re going back to the Haven and head straight for Port Royal and hopfully run into this Norrington on the way, and then we’ll sail for China.”

-

James Norrington paused from writing the last document on the last man Murtogg and Mullroy have brought from the Intrepid’s brig. Writing several official arrest forms and pardons were causing his wrist to cramp. The last man, like the three before him were pirates. While most did not have any brands, James was able to detect what they were by knowing the names of past ships they had served on and seen if there were previous forms written about them.

The other people were given hand written pardons and permission to move about on the Intrepid as long as they stayed out of the way of the crew. The brig was divded into four tight fitting sections. One was for actual male pirates, another for female, the third were for the unknown men and the fourth for the unknown women. Most of those who were given pardons were the pub owner and employees, a few of the local merchants and a few men and women who were honest sailors who wanted a place to relax and have a drink. Why on Tortuga, James had no idea.

“Send in the next one,” he commanded to Mullroy while he rubbed his wrist. If it became too sore he would have had another glass of sherry.

“It’s the last one, sir,” Mullroy said. “Murtogg has already brought her up from the brig.”

“Her?” James asked. He had thought he asked all the women to be brought in first. Most of the women were not pirates and he hated the idea of keeping them in prison for such a duration.

Mullroy nodded, his eyes shifted to the door. “We couldn’t get her out sooner, she just kept her self curled into a ball and wouldn’t stop crying.” He opened the door and peered out. “She has stop crying now.”

James closed his eyes and breathed deeply. If she was in such an emotional state she should have been brought out first so she wouldn’t have to endure being in the brig. “Bring her in.”

“I have to warn you. She is a bit odd, has half the prisoners spooked.”

“Bring her in,” James repeated.

Mullroy nodded and stepped outside. A second later he returned with the girl in question.

It was the same girl who despite her slight frame, was able to defeat three men, one of which tried to smash a bottle on James’s head. She had a round, pale face and large eyes that were taking everything in as she stared around the cabin. Her sable colored hair fell in soft waves down her back and shoudlers. She was dressed in a slight blue gown that was more fitting for use as a dressing gown, an overcoat that wasn’t fully buttoned and a pair of heavy boots.

“Remove her shackles,” James commanded.

The girl looked at him and blinked. “The ranks of naval officers start from midshipmen to sub lieutenant to lieutenant to lieutenant commander, then commander and then captain. Then they become flag officers from commodore to rear admiral, to vice admiral to admiral and then fleet admiral. The rank of commodore was needed for captains to command squadrons but they couldn’t have new admirals. It was a name and not an actual rank, more of a commission. It was long used on Earth that Was but did not attach to the ranks in our new sysetm, except on Bellerophron when-“ Her hands flew to her mouth.

“See what we mean?” Murtogg poked his head into the cabin. “At first she is all quiet and the she spouts strange babble.”

“That wasn’t strange babble,” James stared at the two men. These two were not fit to walk behind Gillette and Groves. He still couldn’t believe they had earned their wigs. “You should know what she said.”

“There was that bit at the end there,” Murtogg tried to point out.

“How did she know all that information?” Mullroy asked once he removed the girl’s bindings.

“There is a great possibility that her father or brother, or even uncle or a cousin might be in the royal navy.” James dismissed the men with a wave of a hand. “I will speak with her alone.”

“Let us know if she spooks you,” Mullroy said as he closed the door.

These two have fought against undead pirates and have seen Davy Jones and his crew and yet they were spooked by a girl who was more frightend of them. “Allow me to apologise for them.” He stood up and walked around his desk, keeping his hands behind his back. “I know this might be a bit trying for you, miss- He paused in mid step. “I do not know your name.”

“River Tam.” The girl said, she was staring intently at him.

Her first name was River? He cannot remember the last time he had met someone who was named after something found in nature, except for those named after certain kinds of flowers. “That is a pretty name you have, Miss Tam.”

She smiled. “Nobody calls me Miss Tam.”

James had to pause again. She was related to a naval officer and nobody gave her the proper formal addressing? “What do they call you?”

“River, the girl, the crazy girl, little one, darling, little girl, mei mei.” She stopped.

He had wondered where and why someone would refer to her as “little girl.” He was taller than her, but then again he was over six feet in height and she was not that much shorter, taller than most women. She could stare Murtogg in the eyes. It might have refered to her age. She did look like a young teenager with her large eyes.

“Miss Tam, if I am not being to forward could you give me a precise age?”

“Negative seven hundred and fourty one.” She blinked. “If time was right I would be eighteen and five months.”

“Eighteen,” James nodded. “You are not a child and shouldn’t be refered to as such terms as those arround you have used.” He motioned her to the small sofa near one of the walls. “You may sit during the rest of the process. I promise it wont be long and you will be in bed and asleep before you know it.”

“I do not like to sleep,” River said as she sat down. “I see things when I sleep. Things that are not mine. Things that were given to me when I didn’t ask. I didn’t want these pictures, these memories. I never see those that are my own anymore.”

Nightmares. Her dreams had been plauged by nightmares. “I’m sorry if you have been having such troubling dreams, perhaps after a warm cup of tea you will sleep better. Many have slept well on the Intrepid. She is fast, but peaceful.”

“She is a nice ship, but she isn’t the Dauntless.” River’s eyes widened before she clasped her hands over her mouth for the second time that night.

How did she know about the Dauntless? “Have you evern been to Port Royal before?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry.” Her bottom lip trembled.

“Don’t be frightened. I’m sorry if I had caused you such a fright.”

River shook her head as she fought back the tears. “It’s not you. It’s me.”

“Please try to remain calm.” He had to contine his interrogation although he doubted she was a pirate and wondered how anyone could be frightend of a traumatized young woman.

“You have questions,” River nodded and pulled back the sleeves of her coat. “You want to see if I have any marks.” Her wrists were bare.

“I thought as much. Can you tell me where you are from?”

“The colonies,” that would explain her accent. “Boston.”

“What were you doing in Tortuga, Miss Tam?”

“We are trying to find Serenity. We were delivering something for a client and then we crashed. We woke up on a beach and Serenity was gone.”

“Somebody stole your ship?”

She nodded. “There was another ship, but no one loved it, no one owned it and kept it healthy. We fixed her and we are looking for ours. We gave a new ship a name after a place where friends died, Haven. We are using her to find Serenity.”

-

The galley seemed like a good place as any to speak with some of the new crew on why they were sailing to China. After eating Hooky’s stew, most of the crew went their various ways on the ship. Kaylee and Simon went to find a private place to do an inventory of Simon’s medical supplies. Mal knew they were doing something else, but appreciedated the cover. Hooky went back into the galley to clean up. Gusty and Jayne went to the gun deck to clean the cannons, Zoe, Whistler and Horace were on the upperdeck, taking care of the sails before they prepare for the night. Jarvis had already gone to bed. It was just Mal, Inara, Gavin and Terrance who gathered in the dining hall.

“You are probably wondering why I wanted to speak with y’all,” Mal adusted his new hat and started to lean back, not too far. He didn’t have a backrest to keep him from falling. “It’s about where we are headin.”

“To China,” Gavin nodded. His fingers brushed agaisnt the untamed beard that covered the bottom of his chin. “Where you have been there before.”

Mal nodded. “I have told you where we are going, but I didn’t tell you why.” He tapped his fingers against the table. “The Haven isn’t my real ship, just something we are all using until we find our ship, Serenity”

“What would this ship look like?” Terrance asked.

“Hard to explain. You might have to see her for yourselves.” He felt Inara’s hand n his arm. “I guess once ya see her you will understand.” Inara’s grip tightened and he turned to look at her. “What?” He whispered.

“Later,” she hissed back at him and mouthed ‘Just watch what you say.’

Mal nodded before he turned to the men. “We were told in order to find my ship I need to find a man in the Far East. I guess you can say we are starting in China since it would be easier to ask questions.”

“Does this man have a name?” Terrance asked before he took a swig from his mug.

“I heard he is called Jack Sparrow.” As soon as he had mentioned the name Terrance lowered his mug and coughed. Gavin sat up straighter on his bench. “You’ve heard of him?”

“Many a honest sailor and pirate have heard of the Jack Sparrow,” Gavin said. “He is a notorius man. Known for many things. He slipped through the fingers of the Dutch East India Trader company and made them a laughing stock.”

“A lover of many ladies, broke many a heart,” Terrance added.

“He was mutinied upon once and sent to die on an island,” Gavin added. “Of course he escaped from the island.”

“I heard he was sent there and escaped twice.”

“Interesting,” Malcolm said. “You have any idea of what he looks like?”

“A tall man,” Terrance said before his eyes met with Malcolm’s. “Not as tall as you sir. I heard he was covered with dark hair, all over his body, except for his eyes.”

Gavin shook his head. “I spoke with those who met him. He does have dark hair, kept in braids and beads and he wears a dark hat. Has gold teeth.”

“In his entire mouth?” Mal asked.

Both men shrugged.

“Well, that is pretty much a plan, except this Norrington fellow has to go and put a kink in our plan and we are making this nice little detour to Port Royal.” He noticed the way both men had reacted to Norrington’s name. “Let me guess. You also know about this guy.”

“His story is also a bit of an intrest,” Gavin said. “Was the pride of the royal navy, all set to marry the govenor of Port Royal’s daughter and she broke his heart. He lost his ship in a hurricane, going after Jack Sparrow.”

“Ended up a drunken pirate in Tortuga.” Terrance tilted his head to the side. “Now it seems he is a commodore again. Life is funny.”

“Yeah it is a bit hilarious.” He glanced over to Inara who motioned for the two of them to find somewhere else to talk.

-

“You mind telling me what this is about?” Malcolm asked once he and the Companion had left the dining hall. “Your fancy fingers left a few bruises in my arm.”

“I had to make sure you don’t say or do something stupid,” Inara glared at him. “It seems like I’m too late.”

“What?” He could not imagine what shie talming about, unless it was when he mentioned the name of his ship. “Do you have a problem with me talking about Serenity?”

“You act like you are going to show them.”

“Well I might.”

She exhaled. “Are you not worried about our influence in the past.”

“That tea llama woman said we can’t change the past. Don’t have to worry about anything.” He chuckled until he saw her expression and decided to change the subject. “Seems like the guy we are after is a popular fellow.”

“They know him based on stories. I’m sure there are many who know of you based on stories.”

“I don’t think I have registered on a lot of legendary radars.”

“There were some people in the training house who thought you were a pirate.”

Malcom tipped his hat back and placed his hands on his hips. “Shiver me timbers.” He lets his arms grow slack. “Seriously I aint no pirate, unless I’m getting paid to be one.”

“That is the point I’m trying to make,” Inara crossed her arms.

“But the point is this Sparrow guy is popular, might make him easy to find.”

She shook her head. “I’m going to bed.”

-

James filled his glass one quarter of a way with sherry. He had the pardon for Miss Tam all written out and would have given it to her if not for one thing. The young woman had fallen asleep on his sofa. They were still talking when he slowly lost her. The poor woman had to have been weary, she hadn’t even removed her boots.

“Sir?” Murtogg tapped on the door. “Are you finished with the girl?”

“Miss Tam is an adult,” James said before he took a sip from his glass. The sweet liquid warmed his throat. “And she is innocent. She was traveling with her brother and her brother’s crewmates in search of their true ship. They came to Tortuga for supplies and she had suffered a bit of cabin fever.”

“She was in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Murtogg asked.

“That is correct.” Of course on his behalf she was there at the right time. She did prevent a bottle from being struck on his head.

“Where-“ Murtogg stopped when he saw where Miss Tam was. “Should we move her.”

“No,” James held out a hand. “She has difficulty sleeping. She might not be able to go back to sleep if we move her.”

“Blue,” River mumbled in her sleep, It was enough for both James and Murtogg to pause and stare at her. “Solar blue, bad.” Her eyelids were fluttering. “Hands of blue. Don’t take me away.”

James nearly lost his hold of the glass. She mentioned blue hands. How did she know what he dreamed about, unless she was dreaming of the same.

“Sir?” Murtogg raised his eyebrows and gestured towards Miss Tam with his head.

“Go,” James ordered and drained the glass. He closed his eyes as he set it down on the desk and didn’t open them until he heard the door close. He turned towards the sofa. River was no longer shifting and appeared to be resting soundly. “May your dreams be peaceful, Miss Tam.”

-