Zerri was gazing blankly into space, but said space included Ryan’s head, and he was getting twitchy.

“Um, Cap’n?” Peach said, struggling not to giggle at his expression.

“Yeah?”

“You alright, Captain?” asked Staci.

“You were in the war, weren’t you?” Zerri asked. “I know Peach wasn’t, and Kiri was in jail, but were any of you in the war?”

“I got shot down my first mission. The Alliance took me POW,” explained Ryan.

“I fought for awhile. Wasn’t at Serenity Valley, tho’,” Keith volunteered.

“I was at Serenity Valley,” Staci said. “Forced into fighting for the Alliance. They were threatening to kill my family, ‘cuz they knew I’d be such an asset. I would have rather been a Browncoat, even though they lost.”

“I was only seventeen,” said Luke.

“I was only sixteen when I started fighting,” growled Zerri.

“I was only babied by oppressive parents,” protested Luke.

Zerri sighed and turned to wander off when Ryan called her back.

“I’m picking up a ship,” he yelled, a note of desperation in his voice. “It looks like they’re flying without core containment….Zerri, it looks like Reavers. And they’re headed right for us.”

An icicle stabbed through her spine and she stared wildly out of the windshield.

“Zerri?” Peach asked fearfully.

“What are we gonna do, Cap’n?” Staci demanded.

“I’d like to know that myself,” Zerri muttered.

*~*

Inara was waiting patiently outside the kitchen, watching Jayne carefully. River was picking carefully through the fruit basket on the counter, and Simon was wolfing down a bowl of noodles. Jayne, on the other hand, was doing his best to make his last three bites of steak flavored protein last longer than Simon’s noodles.

Cloaked in shadows, Inara gazed silently as Simon finally stood up, dumped his bowl in the sink with an unceremonious clatter, and kiss his sister on the cheek. Simon brushed right past Inara without noticing, and as soon as he was out of sight, River practically somersaulted over the counter and into Jayne’s arms. They