Disclaimer: I do not own Firefly or Serenity. They are owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, Inc. I receive no compensation for writing this, except for what reviews Iget, so please write some.

Author's Notes: I envision this story taking place after Serenity. It is a Rayne fic, because Rayne should be canon. I was inspired by AC-DC's Thunderstruck and let the song play while writing the story.

Smiling Joe's Last Stand

The hover train slowly lifted from the pads and left heading for the Jericho spaceport. The hired guns remained behind to ensure no one arrived looking for River Tam. Their instructions from the two particularly dressed men were to make sure that if anyone did, they didn't leave alive. The mercenaries didn't have any idea who River Tam was or why anyone would come to this desolate cattle ramp to look for her, but the pay was too good to question. It seemed to each of them like the easiest 20,000 square they would ever make. All they had to do was wait one hour, and it would be finished.

They didn't get an hour. Five minutes after the train left, they noticed a small rumbling sound. Listening very closely, their leader, Smiling Joe Black, figured the noise was coming from out of the south. Smiling Joe scanned that direction through his field glasses, until he saw the source of the noise.

What he saw made him stop smiling. About a kilometer away, there was a large herd of cattle heading toward them at a full gallop.

Smiling Joe, now noticeably not smiling, dropped his glasses and yelled to his men, "Stampede! Take cover!"

His words had no effect on the other nine men. They were all looking around and realizing that the only cover to be had was the very small cattle ramp that they were all standing on.

"Take cover!" he repeated becoming more agitated. The noise was becoming louder.

"Where?" one of his men shouted back.

"Anywhere!" yelled Joe. His eyes were flashing with anger. The noise was now a large rumble.

"There ain't no cover!" the same man yelled again. "We gotta run!"

Seething, Joe turned to the man, "Nobody's runnin', Chance. We run, we get nothin'."

Chance glared back at him. "We stay, we get dead!" he said hotly. The sound of the hooves now resembled thunder.

"Nobody's runnin'!" Joe barked to the rest of the men, "Now git behind the ramp!"

No one moved. The thunder of hooves was getting even louder.

"Now!"

"Gou huang tang!" shouted Chance as he turned to run. Joe immediately drew his pistol, and shot him in the back. Chance hit the ground, dead. Joe looked around at the rest of his men.

"Someone else want to chance it?" he asked menacingly. The thunder of hooves was now unbearable. The cattle could be clearly seen in the cloud of dust approaching them.

Joe took on last look at the oncoming fury, and jumped behind the ramp. The rest of his men followed, but it was clearly apparent that there wasn't enough room for all of them. It was certain that only a few of them would survive, so everyone fought for a better position.

When the stampede column struck, it initially curved around the ramp, trampling four men on the fringes of the group. Soon, however, the cattle ran over the top of the ramp, and trampled two more of the men. The remaining three, Smiling Joe and two others, pressed themselves against the ramp, waiting for the stampede to pass. When it did, they remained there, listening.

They heard a hovercraft set down behind them and footsteps approach. Joe signaled to the other two that they would jump out to take the intruder. They waited at it seemed that the footsteps were coming around to their left. Smiling Joe and the man to his left raised their pistols, but the third man didn't. Joe gave the signal, and two of the three jumped out of their cover. They froze at what they saw.

Shots rang out from the top of the cattle ramp. Joe and the man who had followed, both fell dead. The remaining man did not move. He saw a newborn calf quickly trot around the corner and follow in the direction of the herd. Then there was a click above him and he looked up.

Above him he saw a muscular man wearing a profane t-shirt, black jacket, cargo pants, heavy boots and sunglasses. The muscular man had a grizzled brown goatee and close-cropped hair, and he was wielding a Callahan full-bore autolock rifle.

The muscular man asked, "Which way'd they go?"

The surviving gangmember pointed towards Jericho.

"Was there a girl?"

The gangmember quickly shook his head.

The muscular man gritted his teeth and pointed his rifle menacingly at the gangmember.

"But there was a box," the gangmember blurted. "Maybe could hold a girl."

"Gotta be doped," murmured the muscular man. Then he looked back at the gangmember.

"Which car?" he asked sharply.

"First, next to the engine," the gangmember replied shakily.

"How long ago?"

"Ten, maybe fifteen minutes."

"Which is it?" barked the muscular man.

"Ten!" the gangmember shrieked.

A broad smile stretched across the muscular man's face that made the gangmember break into a cold sweat. The muscular man then asked, "How come ya didn' ride outta here?"

The gangmember replied, "No horses, we came on the train."

"How was you to leave?"

"Another train is comin' to pick us up and give us our pay."

"How much was they gonna pay ya?"

"20,000 square."

"Apiece?"

The gangmember nodded nervously.

The muscular man shook his head and asked, "You new to this, boy?"

The gangmember nodded again.

A throaty laugh came from the muscular man, and then said to the gangmember, "I'll give ya some advice. Don't let the money make ya stupid."

Blinking, the gangmember saw the muscular man turn to leave. He quickly asked, "What do I do now?"

"Well," the muscular man replied turning back, "if ya think to wait for that train,…"

A wry grin spread across the muscular man's face as he continued, "…jus' afore they kill ya, tell 'em Jayne Cobb is comin' to get his girl."

The muscular man quickly turned and ran out of sight. The gangmember heard the hovercraft power up. He then saw it shoot into view on his left, and race down the maglev tracks.