Here it is at last - my very, very first attempt at Firefly fanfic. Sincere and profuse thanks to PhyreLight for agreeing to see that it's fit for public consumption. ;)

(Note: Hover your pointer over the Chinese phrases to view the translation.)

Four out of five doctors agree that feedback is a vital supplement to the heart and soul! *hint hint* ;)

DISCLAIMER: God is #1, Joss is #2. (No, not that kind of #2. I mean, he's the....I mean....aw, gorrammit.)

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Prologue

There was a chance that casual bystanders might have taken more than a passing interest in the Firefly-class light transport touching down in the spaceport of Janus City on Roma, but the chance was so remote that it might have been out near Whitefall. And with no trace of a doubt, that was just as well to the nine low-lying personnel manning the small spacecraft.

Serenity was in rough shape. While that might hardly be news to the crew of many a fifty-year-old Firefly, 'rough shape' for Serenity meant some kind of fortune in the extreme to get it off the ground again. Not a day earlier the ship had been caught with an abnormal list to port, which revealed that one of the attitude thrusters on the starboard side was out of commission. There was no call to speak the crew's dread of a rough ride and dwindling fuel reserves. Some lip-biting would be confessed following the final approach to Roma, in the uncertainty that flight control and fuel would last long enough for re-entry and landing.

Staring unblinkingly toward the small airlock windows, Malcolm Reynolds gratefully allowed his lungs to deflate when the burn-through gave way to the clear skies of planetside. Looks like Lady Luck can't make up her mind about us, he thought dryly to himself as he returned his attention to the interior of the cargo bay. Other thoughts of dry humour crossed his mind, but passed from it almost stillborn: he was all too aware that the responsibility was his in more ways than one. Kaylee Frye ha