I own nothing.

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It was U-day again, and Mal wanted a good brawl. He didn't want to kill anybody on U-day anymore, hadn't for a few years, but he would still pound on the first drunken... patriot who started spouting the patriotic nonsense about the Alliance "winning" the War. As he saw it, as long as he and Zoë kept wearing their coats on U-day, the War was far from over.

He brought Zoë and Jayne, as usual; he also brought River, because she had as much cause to hate the Alliance as he and Zoë did, and more than Jayne. Besides which, she was a Reader, and as such, she could help them find a really good bar to spend U-day in.

The Bar, as the sign proclaimed the dingy building to be, looked promising to Mal as he walked in. There were an awful lot of Alliance men seated around the room, some of them drinking quite intently. Mal could see at least three of them wearing medals. Yup, certainly looked like an Alliance bar. Aside from the bartender, not a one of them looked up when they walked in. The music was a smooth Jazz rather than something more lively, but that was alright, as Jazz could lead to a brawl just as easily as any other type of music if enough booze was involved.

Mal ordered three beers and a glass of milk, as per River's request, and then sat down to wait for the inevitable toast. He was still waiting an hour later when a group of about a dozen people walked in. Mal didn't know them except by the colour of their coats. Oddly enough, four of them were also wearing medals, or the Independent version of them, anyway. They all sat down together in a table left empty in the centre of the room. Not a one of them said a word.

The music stopped, and the bartender - an older man - walked out from behind the bar. At least, Mal had thought he was walking, until the lower half of the man's body came into view and Mal saw that he had no legs. "Landmine," River whispered to him. "And he was going home."

"Soldiers," the bartender said. "Once again, today of all days, I want