The ship was quiet, drained of energy, even as the power on the upper deck was restored. The sun had set three hours ago, but there was still no word from Jayne and Zoë. Sky had emerged from her bunk just long enough to retrieve Emily and give Jamie a rest. Inara had locked herself onto the bridge, trying to find help in the vicinity, because she’d dared not ask in town. Mal paced the ship bow to bay, righting fallen furniture, replacing panels, moving cables to the side of the halls, making the ship as safe as possible in its current condition.

Coming up the stairs, he was surprised to see Sky unlocking the weapons cabinet, and he immediately worried that she’d suffered River’s fate. Mal rested his hand on his gun and moved closer.

“Between you and Jayne, there aren’t enough weapons in your bunk?”

Sky didn’t even flinch. Mal credited himself with pretty keen senses, but Sky was virtually impossible to sneak up on.

“Guns a-plenty,” Sky answered lightly. “I’m here for chocolate.”

She flashed a wily smile, keeping focus on her mission and Mal relaxed, chastising his paranoia. Sky kept a stash of chocolate in the weapons locker because the temperature and humidity were controlled, and the children couldn’t get at it. The adults were another story, and Mal was pretty sure Inara and Zoë had made a serious dent in the stash the day before.

“I need to talk to you,” Mal said.

Sky’s hands froze and she looked at him, immediately concerned. “Jayne? Zoë?”

Mal shook his head. “No word. They went into the fire zone five hours ago there’s too much noise in the infrared to track them.”

“What then?” She resumed her search of the weapons locker. Her face was swollen and purple and she sounded funny because she wasn’t breathing through her nose.

“This ship that shot us down – did Walker see it?”

“I’m not sure. He might’ve,” she shrugged, finding a handful of candy wrappers and tossing them over her shoulder. Mal picked up the trash.

“We just set the agreement and he left. He didn’t seem over-eag