Disclaimer – Everything either does belong to Joss or it should. I’m just borrowing his shiny ‘verse for a while.

The 21st Lancers belong to the British Army so I’m borrowing them too. I hope they don’t mind.

Thanks to my regular readers for making it worthwhile to continue the story and special thanks to my Proof-Reader Landry.

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Serenity/Granite Gorge – Drifting – 2520AD

‘You’ve got to be yanking our chains,’ Steve said simply. ‘I could buy a Task Force of a few Destroyers and Frigates but we just didn’t have the manufacturing capability to produce Super-Heavies by the end of the war.’

Doyle nodded. ‘Yes but they were both originally laid down in early zero-nine when we still did, barely. Most of the hull, engines and the primaries were completed then but then because priorities changed to purely defensive operations they stopped construction and the two were hauled off waiting to be broken up again for scrap. They were still around when they decided to form Task Force Omega which needed the firepower so we finished them,’ she smiled. ‘Half their armament was salvaged from old Alliance ships. Part of the armour of Scylla was actually metal taken from a passenger liner. We used everything we could get our hands on to get them battle-ready.’

‘Task force Omega? Good name, very… final,’ Steve commented.

Inara was somewhat mystified by the sundry awed expressions. ‘I’m sorry but why are you all making such an issue of this? There are Alliance Cruisers all over the place.’

‘Completely different animal,’ Wash answered. ‘Those brightly lit Ally Cruisers are there to look big, impressive and intimidating so from the keel up that’s what they’re designed to do. During the war they built ships to smash other ships, they were big, heavy, not even that impressive to look at really… and they’d pound anything afloat today to junk,’ he paused. ‘Let me put it this way. Ships we’ve run into like the IAV Agamemnon or the Dortmunder carry weapons. Fifteen years ago they ma