It was Christmas Eve, late. Even late for Mal to be up and about on Serenity. The memories of Christmas on Shadow kept coming back. He went to his bunk and picked up his pistol and cleaning materials. The routine of cleaning his pistol usually calmed down Mal's brain and eventually allowed him to get some sleep, but not tonight.

Mal had just turned 18 that October. The Alliance had made selling cattle and shipping the processed beef off world almost impossible due at first to excessive tariffs. Commerce between Shadow and other planets and moons came to a standstill after the blockade of the shipping lanes from Shadow to the Core planets

The few transport ships that ran the blockade were full of guns, ammunition, medical supplies and other necessities. They were bound for stockpiles on various Border and Rim worlds and were then sold by unscrupulous dealers at very inflated prices to whoever had the coin to afford them.

The Shadow militia had been actively recruiting men and women for a year. Mal had joined that summer, without telling his Ma. She didn’t want her son training to be a soldier. She wanted him to run the ranch with her and eventually take over. Find a nice girl, get married and start his own family.

But Meg Reynolds knew the seriousness of the situation. She also believed as deeply in the cause as her son, so she only made a token protest when Mal informed her that he had started going to the militia “meetings” since June.

The situation between the Assembly of Shadow and the Assemblies of the other so called “Independent” planets and moons and the Parliament of the Allied planets deteriorated even further during the fall. War was the topic of everyone’s conversation at every gathering place, the dinner table, the stores in town, and even in front of the church after services on Sunday. Weapons appeared everywhere and were worn with pride and determination.

Preparations for Christmas that year were subdued to say the least. .The ranch just couldn’t support as many cattle as it on