Red Run 1: Runnin’

(Warning: Serenity Movie Spoilers)

Serenity, Firefly, and any mention of the ‘Verse associated with them is entirely the property of the storytelling genius Joss Whedon, and also the property of the evil Fox Corporation. This fanfic is not for reproduction nor for sale. It is freely distributed as an effort of appriciation.

Time: Few weeks after the deaths of Shepard and Wash.

Mal reflected for a moment on the situation of Serenity and her crew.

They weren’t rich, but they weren’t poor neither. Money that they’d stolen during the Trading Station Robbery was still available, even though they’d been hit by Reavers during that raid and nearly lost Jayne after he was shot thru the leg with a Reaver harpoon. Later, after an ill-fated but successful effort to expose an Alliance plot hatched on the forgotten out-world of Miranda, Serenity had crashed and been forced to sit idle for a few weeks at the base of one Mr. Universe, Cortex guru and all around techno-junkie….now deceased at the hands of an operative for the Alliance Parliament. An operative who’d seen the error of his ways.

Plenty of parts had been available after an epic battle between a fleet of Reavers and a matching squad of Alliance ships in the Black above this world. Enough parts to sorta repair Serenity well enough for flight, and with a number of parts left over as gravy for resale.

Salvaging valuable parts from destroyed Reaver and Alliance vessels, and from Mr. Universe’s lair, had proven to be lucrative…albeit emotionally distasteful. Looting the dead presented few problems to Mal. Stealing from a person Mal knew, and who he owed a tremendous debt of gratitude to, did. Taking from Mr. Universe skirted dangerously close to this self-perceived line in Mal’s mind. Amazingly, it was Jayne who’d solved the moral dilemma one day while Mal had stood at the loading ramp, looking upon the surrounding landscape of the somewhat bleak world.

“Reckon we can’t leave all this stuff just lyin’ around, eh Mal?” Jayne’s