Long Road Home – Chapter One

Author owns none of the rights to Firefly, Serenity, nor any related items. Receives no money for his work, just the fun of flying :)

----------------------

“Well, whadya think?” Mal asked his assembled crew, smiling like a cat that had ate a canary.

It had been six months since the events at the Zhang Mansion. Life had changed a great deal for the crew of the Firefly known as Serenity.

Mal had divided the crew, for one thing, and hired two new hands. He led one crew, consisting of himself, Kaylee, and Inara, who had become a fine pilot, and a new hand named Greggs. Zoe led the other crew, with Jayne, River, and a new engineer named Hollins, whom Kaylee had spent the last four months training.

Doing so had allowed them to keep Serenity moving back and forth between Astra and Argo as constantly as maintenance needs would allow, while still giving each crew some downtime. That meant less money, of course, but no one complained.

Now, Mal had decided to take the chance of buying a new ship. The profits from the regular runs were good, and his contract allowed him first refusal on any available run, if his ship was ready. When he’d approached George Harwell about his plans, the older man had been readily agreeable to extending that same deal to two ships.

Some of the other transports grumbled at that, but Harwell refused to be budged. Malcolm Reynolds and his crew had practically saved Guilford’s and Company, moving cargo for them when no one else would, risking their lives to do it. And George Harwell was a man who paid his debts.

“What do we think o’ what?” Jayne asked. He was sitting in a large chair in the house Mal maintained near the plant. River was snuggled in his lap, as usual. Kaylee sat on the sofa across from them, though without Simon. The young doctor no longer made transport runs, having accepted a position at Guilford’s, in the infirmary. Not only did he provide medical treatment for the employees, but people for miles around visited him for everything fr