They had simple, easy, legitimate work for a change, nothing sneaky, no smuggling, no thieving, just bring some agro supplies and a dozen passengers to a terraformed moon called Allysin. Jayne was bored, Simon and River were happy to not have to hide in their cabins, and the crew overall was happy to be turning some legal coin to keep themselves registered without any notice.

The whole thing had simple, by-the-numbers transport work written all over it. Not a ton of coin being turned here, but it was always a good practice to be plying your legitimate trade when you brought your boat through a fueling station. Feds might or might not be there, and if they are, you can smile and complain about the price of fuel like any other legitimate businessman. Not that the Feds bought it for a minute, but if there was enough of a gloss put across the operation, they typically wouldn’t be bothered to look too close.

Serenity was running well, the crew was paid from the previous home invasion job, and all was right in the ‘verse. So why was it that Malcolm Reynolds couldn’t sit still?

Everyone saw it, even River, who came up behind the captain in that silent way of hers and almost made him jump out of his skin when she placed a hand on his shoulder. “River!………what?!” he snarled at her.

“The real trouble won’t come for a while, you know. You can relax today.” Like so many conversations with River, it ended right there, and she turned and walked away.

This did little to improve Mal’s mood, and there was absolutely no logic behind any of this, he knew it, but he couldn’t help himself. Things just had their own way of going south on Serenity.

Almost on cue, things began their southward spiral. The comm crackled to life, and Wash’s voice came over. “Mal, you need to get up here right now.”

Here it comes, he thought, Whatever it is going to be, then here it comes. He went at a trot to the bridge, picking up speed as he went along. “Wash, what is it?”

Wash, normally one for sarcasm and teasing, looked dead serious to