Zoe was quiet in her movements. She knew this, and so did all the purplebellies she’d snuck up on during the war. At least, they knew it in the few seconds of life they had left before she walked away. It didn’t matter that she’d worn the same uniform herself once – that was before she really knew what the Alliance were, before someone in a long brown coat persuaded her to change sides. That same someone who’d ordered her to go find Simon’s father. And exactly the same someone she was now swearing at under her breath.

So far she’d had no luck finding Gabriel, but she had found Commander Ubermann and his squad, and they seemed intent on letting parts of her not designed to see fresh air get an outing. They hadn’t tried the RePax gun on her, at least, but that was probably because they were in close quarters, barely ten yards between their position and hers behind a convenient security desk.

She’d taken one out with a shot to the leg that had him rolling on the floor moaning, but there were still a lot more of them, and she need to get by them, fast. Glancing behind her, Zoe could hear some of the New Browncoats on her tail, stumbling and cursing over the broken light panels she’d disabled as she moved. And the odd sharp object she’d put in the shadows.

Still, one thing was for sure – she didn’t want to get caught in another crossfire. She even began to wish Jayne was there, with one of his grenades. But at least she had something in reserve.

“Don’t know if it’ll work,” Kaylee had said. “Might just be a lot of smoke.”

“That won’t hurt,” she’d assured the young mechanic, pocketing the ball. “Well, time to find out,” she said now, pulling it free and pressing the switch on top. It hummed, she waited the count of three as instructed, and tossed it over the desk and into the middle of the Feds. There was a moment’s stunned silence, then voices raised in confusion, and finally …

The bright light was visible even behind her closed eyelids, and the high-pitched whine made