Love, Loyalty and Serenity

Events take place sometime after the end of the series and before the movie so I could have Inara, Book and Wash onboard (I don’t deal well with change).

Chapter 1

“Cap’n, it’s past leaving time,” Zoe reminded Mal Reynolds. It was the third time she’d anxiously approached him where he stood, up to his ankles in hot sand just outside Serenity’s open cargo hold, peering into the empty desert beyond. He glanced over at his second-in-command; her eyes radiated fear and suspicion. She didn’t like this world at all, not after the near-catastrophe their most recent job had precipitated. Mal Reynolds remained in place but his worried expression mirrored her concern and unease.

“Just a few minutes more. She’ll be here.”

“Sir, the shuttle can catch up to us off-world.”

“Zoe, just a few minutes more. She said she’d meet us here.”

“Cap’n, you want I should fire up the engines?” Kaylee made an appearance now in a nagging repeat of Zoe’s performance. Kaylee’s fingers twitched, running in a line from her bruised, scratched shoulders, across her ripped overalls and down to a bruise on her left shin. Her face contorted for only a brief second, but long enough to relay to Mal and Zoe that their flight mechanic was in no small amount of pain. They were all hurting after their ordeal, some more than others. The Captain turned and strode up the cargo bay ramp as if to say enough was enough; it was time to cut their losses.

“Alright, Kaylee, darlin’, crank her up. Zoe, get Wash to start a search for the shuttle. We gotta find Inara.”

“Yes sir,” Zoe agreed.

Mal tried to figure out where this stinking job had gone south as he flew away from the desolate world where they’d spent the last three days trying and failing to carry out what should have been a milk run heist. He’d got word that a shipment of food and medical supplies had crash-landed on the unpopulated, desert side of a rim world. His contacts reported they had picked up all they could carry; they’d told Mal where to