Firefly is the property of Joss Whedon, blah blah blah. You know the drill.

Thanks to Guildsister and Apollo for beta reading. Feedback will of course be appreciated.

I realize that the ending of We Have the Technology implies a sequel. It will come eventually, but I haven't fully figured it out yet and have a couple of other stories which are a bit more ready.

Just in case I didn't make myself clear in the summary, this story takes place back when it was just Mal, Zoe, Wash, and Kaylee.

The following is adapted from the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. Fans of his will probably be able to easily guess the source material. If you're not familiar with him, give this fic a try anyway.

Previous works:

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Mal knew, in a way, they had been lucky. When Serenity was ambushed by a pirate ship that had a rail gun mounted, it had looked as if they were seriously humped. But when the pirates fired a round, something went wrong with their engine and they were floating dead. Kaylee guessed that the rail gun must have been a defective model and hadn't been properly maintained to start with. Whatever it was, Mal took advantage of it to make good their escape.

But they faced another problem when Wash noticed, even taking into account how hard they had been burning, the fuel levels were dropping faster than they should. The obvious conclusion was the shot had punctured one of Serenity's fuel tanks. All in all, it wasn't the sort of luck Mal cared to have. But since the 'Verse didn't seem to feel all that generous about giving him luck, he took what he could get.

Turning to Wash, Mal asked, "Would it be a stupid question if I asked if we could make it to Beaumonde as planned in our current condition?"

The look Wash gave clearly stated that indeed it was. "Even if the leak was to magically seal itsel