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Chapter 1

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Chapter 1 Chinese Translations:

qingwa cao de liumang (ching-wah TSAO duh liou mahng) – frog-humping sonofabitch

wo de tian, a (wuh de tyen, ah) – dear god in heaven

mashang (ma shong) – now

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Mal stared out into the infinite Black, glad to be on the move. It had only been a week since the events in Paradiso, and his shoulder still hurt from where that qingwa cao de liumang Crow had thrown the knife and hit him. Chuckling to himself, he figured that he had gotten the better end of that stick, with his adversary being in millions of pieces after a trip through Serenity’s left thruster engine.

They were headed to Boros, finally making it to the destination they had planned to get to after leaving Persephone. Mal hoped the extra time it had taken them on Whitefall and in Paradiso hadn’t caused the elder Sanchez brother to go with someone else. Wash had cooking duty, so Mal was alone on the bridge. He sat in the pilot’s seat, flipping on the Cortex to wave his friend.

After a few moments’ wait, a dirty and darkly tanned face appeared on his screen.

“Ah, Malcom Reynolds, I was starting to wonder if you had finally gotten pinched, or if that lah-suh heap you fly around in had finally kicked. You still interested in a job?”

“Enrique, good to see you too. We’ve had no shortage of troubles since you and I last talked, but we are headed to you right now, assuming there is some work waiting for us.”

“Well, the original job I offered you is long gone, but I’ve always got work, and always seem to have a lack of good trustworthy folk to do said work. How’d you feel about some salvage instead of the smuggling you were planning on?”

“As long as there is some coin in it for me and mine, I’m game.”

“Now that’s the Mal I know. I am sending you coordinates for a moon base in the next system over from Boros. An independent supply chain ship, much like yours, crashed into the dark side of that moon. The crew and passengers died on impact, tra