Disclaimer: anything recognizable is property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. The story and its original characters, however, are mine. Also, I had to take some creative liberties, but only on stuff not explained in the series. I also used my own translator for the Mandarin, so it may be off (although it's still comical). Feedback (good or bad) is of course welcome. On to the story:

On my right leg, I couldn’t feel my knee or anything below. By the time the lift hit the hangar, Libby was carrying half of my weight. When the doors opened, Tobias (now carrying the two guns) took point with Serra not leaving his side. Conversely, Libby and I were moving as a unit, with Sydney not leaving my side. I knew we had about a minute before the stormtroops got down to the hangar, so we moved as fast as possible. Liberty was relatively close to the lift, but I was moving at half speed tops.

When the stormtroops arrived on the hangar level, Tobias was in the cargo bay, both guns ready for a fight. Serra had grabbed the sonic rifle I left in the cargo bay, and was positioning herself to cover me. I had Sydney run as fast as possible to the ship with orders to be ready to fire up ASAP. Which left Libby and I unarmed and moving ever so slowly toward Liberty . The stormtroops knew their tactics too. They came in formation, using ships, and the occasional dead human that they must’ve struck down earlier as cover. This was going to be one fight to remember.

It also seems we had help (even if the help didn’t realize whom they were helping). When I said Nova Planetia was home to the seedier side of the border worlds, I meant generally people who opposed unification. I meant Independents. I would not be surprised if there were Browncoats among us, firing back at the Alliance special ops soldiers who had taken innocent lives just as quickly. Our main problem is that another Alliance shipload of troops had landed, most likely using a civilian ship unbeknownst to station ops. Everyone was overwh