AN: First chapter, second installment. Firefly is owned by Joss (my master) Whedon.

Prologue http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.aspx?bid=16884>HERE.

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CHAPTER ONE

Six Years Passed

Mal had thought he had hit an all-time low when he took that job to steal a box of rare candied apples from an orphanage. Now he realized he had thought wrong. Currently hanging upside down in the inky blackness of space, Mal faced the destroyed derelict transport that was carrying the goods he was now trying to pilfer. The problem? There was nobody there to stop him. Everybody on board this wreck was undoubtedly dead.

So I’ve moved from stealing candy from children to stealing protein from the dead, Mal thought bitterly, eying the sealed entry to where the cases should be, I’m a real good guy.

It had been almost six years since the Independents had lost to the Alliance. Those six years had felt like a lifetime. It had started out rough. Naturally, the Browncoats had been despised and stereotyped against for a good long while. After a bit, though, the resentment towards them had started to die down, so Mal found it easier to move about freely. It took him several years, but with a little clever bargaining the Sergeant had become Captain of a small, reputable (though in horrible shape) Firefly-classed spaceship he named Serenity.

Mal glanced behind him at the two people floating in space with him. Zoë had followed him far; there was no doubt about that. Six years later, she was still his right-hand-woman. She was also still as fearsome as ever, and he respected her for that. She had been his strength, and he was never regretful that she had decided to come along on his quest for freedom.

The other was a man who had been on his crew for the least amount of time. Jayne Cobb was a rough, tough hired hand who had proved himself in a pinch more than a few times. Of course, that didn’t mean Mal trusted him. Hell, he didn’t trust the man much at all. He always kept an eye out, making sure