Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about this, I've just been really busy over the last few months.

Disclaimer: the Joss and Mutant Enemy take rights.

***

"Yee-haw!" Jayne exclaimed as he and Stitch rode away on a borrowed hovercraft with five crates of army supplies that they'd also borrowed from the Alliance. They weren't going to use them, of course, but the Independents were paying a pretty penny for things like that. Anything to hurt the Alliance and better chances for themselves.

Stitch and Jayne could really care less about the war, except that there was a larger market for mercenaries who were just out for a profit. As long as the battles stayed far away from them, there was really no hurry for a victory on either side.

"Didja see the looks on thar faces?" Stitch laughed gleefully.

"All struck dumb like." Jayne replied, looking back at the group of buildings that appeared to be rapidly shrinking.

"You an' me gonna come outta this very rich men indeed."

"When they's all cleanin' up this mess, we'll be on Boros, sippin' them drinks with the lil umbrellas." Jayne agreed. Stitch laughed heartily in reply.

But the laughter died on his lips and the hovercraft came to a jolting stop as he spotted what was waiting up ahead. Apparently, the Alliance weren't so easily duped. They had reinforcements for this kind of thing.

"Oh, wang ba dan."

---

"Tian Yesu qi sheng ti tou. Would you look at that?" Wash asked his copilot, Boris Velkan.

"Most beautiful thing you ever did see." Velkan replied, gazing, like Wash, out the cockpit window at, not only the thousands of stars, but the dozens of spacecraft hovering in space all around them.

Their own ship, The Flamingo , was one of the sleeker, more agile variety. Over the past few hours, they'd watched ships of all shapes and sizes swell the ranks of the formation. It truly was a sight to see. This rag-tag band of ships made up the front line at the moment, which was less exciting than terrifying to Wash. Then agai