Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns 'Firefly'. His stories are the real ones. There's just too few of them.

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CHECK MATE: Final pieces in place.

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NATHANIEL FRYE – January 2519

People like me don't say no to people like him.

Anyway, it was only a little thing. No big deal. About eighteen months ago he came to me with this proposition. Said if I played nice, he could guarantee I'd stay in business. Di'n't need to tell me that if I didn't, I'd be shut down. All he wanted was for me to copy and paste her waves to me - and mine to her - to the source box address he gave me. Where's the harm in that? It's not like we talk about anything important anway. We're just ordinary people telling each other ordinary stuff. Father and daughter stuff. Why did he want to read it? I don't know. I didn't ask. Besides, it's not like I could've refused.

Lookin' back, I suppose it was a bit strange – someone like him wanting to know about the everyday lives of people like us. I guess I thought maybe the government was finally taking an interest in the little folk. That's not so impossible, is it? I don't know, perhaps I should have tried harder to get out of it. Perhaps I should have tweaked the waves some before passin' them on. I just didn't see it as a big deal.

Don't get me wrong. I love my daughter and I'd do anything for her. But I got other children to think of too. Children still livin' with me here, who are happy to be at home with their father, not yearnin' to be flyin' off half way round the galaxy. I gotta look out for them too.

She was always restless, just like her momma. Couldn't keep her at home neither. How long ago is it now? Five years? Six? Ran off with a soldier to one of them planets on the Rim, leavin' me here tryin' to run the business and raise six kids. Gave them my all I did, and what's been my reward? A strugglin' repair shop and a daughter who took off with a stranger first chance she got. There's gratitude for you.

Still, at least she's got a job. And it's one