Once again thanks to Archer for his light speed beta and to LJC for her advice on writing dialect.

This takes place in the early days of Serenity, before Wash and Zoe are married when the crew only numbers four.

NOT POACHING

Malcolm Reynolds, late sergeant of the Independent Army, currently master of Firefly-class deep space transport Serenity and captain of a crew of four, looked up from the ship’s ledger. He had been trying for some hours to make the numbers say something more optimistic than they currently did. He stretched his arms over his head and gave a tremendous backward arch until he could hear his back crack, then rubbed his eyes and got up to get a cup of what out of courtesy they were currently calling coffee. Looking at his watch he realized he had been at the accounts for hours. The rest of the crew must have long since hit their racks. The ship was quiet except for the ever-present hum of the engine vibrating thru the deck plates.

As he climbed the ladder from his bunk, headed for the galley he realized with some surprise that despite their dismal financial condition, he felt more content with life than he had in, well, he flat out couldn’t remember the last time he felt this much at peace. The crew was shaping up, especially since they had hired on Kaylee Frye in place of that bun tien-shung de ee-duai-ro, Bester. How had he come to be so mistaken about that fella? Well, they were better shut of him. Kaylee, now, she was a real find. Unbidden, a smile came to his lips just thinking about her. Amazing natural talent with engines, pleasant to have around, working on a small crush on him, which didn’t speak too. well of her judgment in men. But then neither did her interest in Bester which is what got her on board in the first place.

Well she wasn’t the first young recruit to develop a crush on her commander and he had plenty of experience deflecting that kind of interest until it ran its natural course. It would be a sin for a man like himself