Disclaimers : Everything belongs to Joss, except for one character of my creation.

**Mousing over the Chinese should reveal the English translations on most browsers. If not, translations follow the story.

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Serenity’s engines folded in and whined to a stop as the ship touched down on the Three Hills Dock. What there was of a dock. Three Hills was far out on the rim and lacked the modern conveniences of the central planets. The cargo that had been “diverted” here would be badly needed. Most of it consisted of basic supplies necessary to a less-civilized planet; medicine, farming implements, seeds and crop supplements. Mal didn’t know where the cargo had been destined to go before Lonnie Pearl hired him to bring it here, nor did he want to know. Knowing the folks on Three Hills could use it and he would get paid as well was enough for him. Best to get the job behind them, get the cash in hand, and get back in the sky. They had a passenger to deliver to a place still a fair piece away.

That passenger, Mal thought, might best be delivered soon. He had awakened in the lounge where he had obviously been tucked in on the sofa. As his memory of the night returned, he recalled talking with Alex and being convinced to drink a cup of tea. The next thing he was aware of was waking to the crew gathering for breakfast. He made up an excuse as to why he was there, but he was aware even as he was speaking that no one was buying it. Zoë was giving him her patented “whatever you say, sir” look—a sure sign they all knew he was full of gou shi . Mal decided then to just shut up and get on with the day ahead.

Alex was conspicuously absent from the breakfast table. She probably figured he would be angry with her.

And Mal knew he should have been. By all rights, he should have been furious. She had pulled two stunts in the past twenty-four hours that should have gott