INT. SERENITY - BRIDGE

Zoe sits at the pilot’s console, River and Jayne behind her. Their eyes are locked on the screen before River. Smith’s face fills it.

SMITH: Serendipity, you are ordered to depart immediately.

ZOE: Serendipity here. We read you, sir. I’m pretty sure our repairs are complete...

SMITH: Completed or not, it is imperative you lift off within the next sixty seconds and head due north.

ZOE: Not a problem, sir. Serendipity out. (kills the wave

JAYNE: Shiny. They want us off their pretty little dock so’s they can blow us outta the sky.

ZOE: Somethin’ tells me if there’s any way they want us, it’s in one piece. Otherwise they wouldn’t have ordered us away from the ship. (rises from seat, River sits down) River, take off, but slow and deliberate. (ironically) Remember, we’re still under repair. I want to get a better read on these happenings.

River presses some buttons and maneuvers the yoke.

JAYNE: What’s happenin’ is that death machine is vectorin’ in on us right this gorram second.

ZOE: (thoughtfully) Lot o’ firepower to squash one lowly transport.

RIVER: I felt no ill will while we were docked, only... contempt.

ZOE: (deadpan) Shocking. Have you gotten a line on their comms yet?

RIVER: Almost.

River continues maneuvering with one hand, typing away with the other, her eyes darting between the windshield and console.

JAYNE: Looks like Mal’s thumbin’.

Zoe shoots him a look.

INT. COMM. PLEX - POWELL’S OFFICE

Mal stares at Powell for a beat. The alarm is still sounding. Powell appears calm as he glances at one of his computer screens.

POWELL: This is an interesting turn of events.

MAL: I would say so. Change o’ heart?

POWELL: Actually, no. The alarm signals a lockdown drill. Now that the infamous Reavers can no longer be written off as myth, the powers-that-be have taken to running the occasional safety check. Gives all of us lowly peasants a feeling of security, knowing that everything is being done to protect us from the “latest threat.”

M