How I joined the crew of Serenity

I amazed even myself with the splendid disguise I wore the day I got finally got caught. Even if my closest friend- not that I had one- looked straight at me, they would not have recognized me. I discarded the disguise the first time I found privacy. I turned a corner, took a step, and had my hands pinned and tied behind my back long before my step reached completion. The street was covered with men wearing blue gloves. I knocked two of them out, and then simply stopped fighting. Why did anything matter, anyway? I’d lost everything else. I supposed my freedom should be next. I wished the pieces of luh-suh surrounding me an especially painful death indeed.

I got my wish. Without warning, the men all reached for their mouths at the same time. I had heard about this on Hera, during the war. When the injuries of a person couldn’t be repaired, and the pain felt unbearable, sometimes their higher-ups would press a button in a different location, and a device on their molar would explode. A mercy killing, I heard this practice called. I fought free and ducked down just in time. After the explosion quieted, I suddenly found myself the only live one in the building.

I went to the nearest service station, and sure enough, no bounty existed for me. My "friend", an informant from Parliment, informed me that the non-existent place that had been hunting truly didn’t exist anymore. That despicable establishment, shut down ineradicably wouldn’t harm anyone else. What would I do now?

I wandered around, trying to decide, when a ship caught my eye. I strolled over out of pure curiosity on how an old Firefly like that somehow managed to hold together. I lip read what the man in the front- the captain, I assumed- stated. “Listen guys, just some dropping off of the cargo, and we’re on our way. Get in, get out. Absolutely routine. Just like always.” Something about the way he stated that almost made me laugh.

I noticed a thin, pale girl walking toward me. She s