No question about it, his ship had been infiltrated. Its footsteps could barely be heard against the metal floors, and its low, buzzing hums reverberated off the walls. Mal fought it, and he’d be damned if he said he didn’t go down without a fight.

But now, as Mal sat on the bridge, he heard it before he saw it. That low hum, it seemed to bounce off the forward window and back to his ears. He hoped, he prayed it would leave him be. He wasn’t sure if he had it in him to fight anymore. He refused to look at it. Maybe if he ignored it, the sudden tightening in his chest, that it would go away.

Then he felt it. Barely a graze against the outside of his boot, than another soft whisper of a touch against the inside of his leg. He felt a light pressure on the top of his boot, and he finally willed himself to look down. The sleek grey cat stared up at him, with eyes as black as the nothingness outside. A gentle nudge from the cat’s head made him frown.

“Thought I told you to stay off the bridge,” Mal said to the cat, who meowed in response and pawed at the strings hanging from his thigh. He sighed and bent down, pulling the cat into his arms and back up against his chest. He scratched the cat’s head, and Mal nearly smiled when it rubbed the top of its head against his chin. It looked at him square in the eyes and meowed again.

“Yeah, well, your moms are still gonna get it for lettin’ ya trudge around unsupervised.”

Mal strode off the bridge and into the dining area, where the rest of the crew were settling down for dinner. All eyes were suddenly on him.

“Uh, sir,” Zoë said with a smirk, “forgive my saying, but you look like you’re about to concoct a diabolical scheme, holding that furball.”

Mal pointedly glared at River and Kaylee. “This furball’s gonna be concocted into a stew if’n it keeps finding its way to the bridge.”

River was up in an instant and pulled the cat from Mal’s arms.

“Felis silvestris catus, no harm to bridge or ship or captain,” Rive