Zoe sat down at the table, put the coffee mug down in front of her and closed her eyes. She was tired. Very tired. She'd known this kind of tiredness before, particularly during the war, when she’d just kept going, doing what she needed to do, but was aware, all along, that at some point her body was just going to lie down and go to sleep, no matter what her brain said. And it was no good getting pumped up on ammies, as the drop would be even worse. Right now her body was starting to call in its marker, and if she didn’t get some rest soon, she’d be in real trouble.

“Hon?” Hank stood in the doorway. “You okay?”

She opened her eyes and looked at him. “Shiny.” She managed a smile. “What’s up?”

“Wave from Jayne.” He nodded back over his shoulder. “He’s on screen now. I think he has news. Only it’s a public vid booth so he’s being a bit circumspect.”

She stood up. “Get everyone together.”

“Frey?”

Zoe thought for a moment. “No. Not yet. Let’s wait ‘til we find out what Jayne has to say first. But the others.”

“On it.” He hurried away.

She followed at a slower pace, climbing the bridge stairs to see Jayne’s face on the vid.

“Well?” she asked with no preliminaries.

“When’re you due in?”

“About six hours. Did you find anything?”

The mercenary nodded. “Surely did.” He explained, watching Zoe’s face grow ever more impassive as he did so.

In the galley the rest of the crew – minus Freya – were congregating.

“Any idea what Jayne has to say?” Simon asked Hank.

“Nope. Wouldn’t tell me.” He sat down heavily in one of the chairs.

“Do ya think … maybe they’ve found …” Kaylee couldn’t finish the sentence.

“I doubt it,” Sam said quietly, his hands clenched in front of him. “If Mal went into the sea …”

“’Sides, there ain’t likely to be much left to find, not after all this time,” Hank added, trying to be gentle.

Kaylee swallowed. “I guess.” She was glad she’d left Bethany down in the nursery with the other children: talking about dead bodies wasn'