All the usual disclaimers. No harm, no foul, no money changing hands.

Early in the day cycle the voice came over the intercom. “This is your captain speaking. New course ahead. Everybody up to the bridge, please.”

The bridge was soon crowded with everyone except River and Inara. Inara wasn’t crew and she had, in any case, heard the news already. And River, of course, was River.

***

The wave from Warrick had come late the night before.

“Captain Reynolds, happy to see your shining face. Any permanent damage?”

“To what? My ship or my skin?” Mal responded.

“Either.”

“Neither one. We’re proud just to keep flying. What can I do for you, sir?” Mal’s country manners tacked that ‘sir’ on almost against his will. But Warrick had never been anything except straight with them and he paid well and promptly. He also raised cattle Mal would have been proud to call his own.

“I’ve got a job that I think you’ll enjoy, Malcolm. When are you going to be back in town?”

“Wasn’t looking to come in anytime soon. Not the most popular cruise ship captain around, you know,” Mal’s lips quirked in his habitual twisted smile.

“How soon could you come in? I’ve got a crop that needs to go out to Halcion sooner rather than later. I’d like to get it out there before the end of their summer. Any hope of your carrying it for me? I don’t like to trust it to just anyone, because it’s little bit delicate.”

“We’re ‘bout 48 hours out, right this minute. I’ll set a course inbound, we should be there midmorning two days from now, your time. Mind if I ask what you’re shipping? And whether I might ought to have something else on board to legitimize it?” Mal knew Warrick’s wealth was in agriculture, but the Alliance had peculiar ideas about what could and could not be moved between planets.

“All legal and aboveboard. You won’t need anything to declare other than your actual cargo. Also, even you might have trouble concealing this shipment, were you to be stopped. I prefer not to be clearer on this transmission cha