That evening everyone congregated in the back drawing room to eat, Mal having made it clear that he wasn't intending to be kept out of things that much. Simon had been insistent that the captain wasn’t going to be walking anywhere as yet, so with Jayne’s help Mr Boden had whipped up a table from nowhere, added chairs, and everyone was crowded around, eating as much of the good food as they could get into their mouths.

Kaylee was talking about Serenity. “In some ways it ain't as bad as I first thought,” she was explaining. “Lot of systems died in that EMP pulse, but most of ‘em I got fixed already, and those that I've bypassed I should be able to replace.”

“Good work, mei-mei ,” Mal praised, and his mechanic blushed happily.

“But the problem’s gonna be what I can’t see,” she went on.

“Can’t see? You?” Inara smiled at the young woman.

“Kinda like Mal and that Quicksilver. It did something none of us could see, and it weren’t until … well, you know …” She suddenly realised it might not actually be tactful to mention recent events, but everyone was nodding, although Freya was gripping her fork harder than was strictly necessary.

“You mean there might be damage that won’t show up until it gets worse?” Hank suggested.

“’Xactly.” She grinned at him, glad to get away from a sore subject. “I mean, Bethie’s helping, a’course, since she hears Serenity like I do, but we can’t be sure we’ve got it all.”

“So how do we fix it?” Zoe asked.

“Can’t. Not ‘less you wanna put into one of the major shipyards, get a top line computer diagnostic run on all systems.”

“Expensive?”

“Very.”

“Then we can’t afford it,” Mal said, wiping a hunk of bread around his plate and popping it into his mouth, chewing contentedly.

“But Cap …”

“Just have to rely on you to fix as and when,” he mumbled somewhat indistinctly. Simon had been very firm in denying him the steak, at least for that day, but he’d had fresh vegetables, gravy … all in all, not too bad. He swallowed. “Might be able to swing