“Hull integrity ain’t the greatest,” Kaylee reported, “but she should be space worthy again as soon as the windows are replaced.”

“We only busted two,” Jayne reminded.

“No,” Kaylee asserted. “We replace all of them. I gotta put my foot down on that one. I will not let this ship fly without.”

“Okay, fine. What else?”

Kaylee sighed. “No full burn, whatsoever. I imagine we got parts of the system scattered over five hundred miles. Hydraulic systems on the side pods are leakin’ like a sieve, but I think I can rig ‘em for a temp-fix. There’s no guarantee those engines won’t just fall off the ship, anyway, soon as we fire ‘em up. I don’t trust the mount bolts too much after that spin. Also, I shouldn’t hafta mention this, but... we ain’t got landing gear no more.”

Jayne nodded, glancing back toward Serenity. He was still a bit numb from the shock of River actually saving the ship from a messy disintegration all across the rocky badlands. How she’d managed to manipulate the reverse thrusters in that manner to slow the descent was a mystery, as was how they hit the ground at that speed and didn’t split the ship open like an egg shell.

For her part, River merely sat on the cargo ramp as the others gawked at the damage. She seemed to be in another world, zoning out for the most part. She would occasionally glance at the sky and frown. Regardless, she hadn’t said a word since the crash landing.

“Are we flight-worthy enough to go look for Zoe and Gabriel?” Simon inquired, trudging up to the pair.

Kaylee eyed her lover warily. “As long as we don’t fall apart tryin’ to take off... yeah.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jayne decided. “If y’all can excuse me...” He started for the ship.

“Pressing business?” Simon inquired, half-sarcastically.

Jayne glanced over his shoulder. “Yeah. I gotta change my shorts.”

*************************************************************************

“Think they’re waiting up for us?” Zoe mentioned as she descended the ridge. The pair had waited for uncounted hours, with the hot