Rating: PG to PG-13

Characters: ensemble with some OCs

Pairing: canon, with hints of M/I and K/S

Summary: Roughly six months after http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.aspx?bid=20157>The Guns of Yamenmiao, Inara says her final farewells before Serenity returns to Roma on a new job. This time, Mal's treasure quest must run the gamut of a not-quite-right scientist, a nameless, ruthless privateer, and a deeper penetration of the Alliance than Mal has ever attempted before.

Spoilers/Timeline: post-series, pre-BDM

Notes: OK, let's try this again....with any luck I a) have enough of a head start to commence the repost, b) have a plausible enough story to make up the repost, and c) will be motivated enough with weekly updates to keep up the pace. So here goes!

Disclaimer: I'm just playing in Uncle Joss's backyard.

“I mean for us to live. The Alliance won’t have that, so we go where they don’t follow.” - Mal Reynolds, “Serenity”

前进

"Beaumonde Port Control, this is Allied Enforcement. Lieutenant Commander Petard speaking."

If the port controller's indolence was not promptly evident from his shaggy grey hair or his slovenly appearance, its emergence was suitably prolonged. The port controller took a pointed and full fifteen seconds to lay aside his newspaper, lift his feet from the port control desk in a very leisurely maneuver, and hoist one grubby hand over to the comm panel at the far reach of his arm. The sheer tonnage of impatient ship captains trying to find a mooring in Beaumonde's main spaceport had taken its toll on him, and his use for the Alliance was long since diminished, especially by Petard's self-important way of identifying himself every time he released a land lock.

"This is Port Control, loud and proud," he responded in a slow, lethargic drawl. "Whaddya want?"

"Redemption is free to depart." Petard's tone on the comm channel was edged. "Okay to lift the lan