Tales of the Verse – Patterns etched in Starlight

Author note – This is the first ( and hopefully not last) Tale based in the Firefly verse. However most of these tales will be based on viewpoints and activities of characters not of the Serenity crew.

Spoiler note – this fic is based after ‘Objects in space.’

‘Well, here I am.’

Jubal Early sighed; he had been spinning in zero G for the last half hour. Truth be told the bounty hunter was feeling a little angsty. He watched with lazy disinterest as the Firefly class vessel began to fade in the distance and became nothing more then a speck, a shimmering of light.

Almost like a star.

Early floated there, a splash of red contrasting against the dark and light. He wasn’t angry that he had been beaten, surprised to be sure but not angry. The crew had come together and that little minx had outsmarted him.

Early was surprised, even puzzled.

But not angry.

For a moment he gazed into the black, the kinetic whirlwind that was his thoughts twisting and turning underneath his dark skin like a living storm.

Casually he mentally reached out and grabbed one.

The big dreaded black.

The unforgiving sea which man flies through and keeps away with steel hulls and artificial light. But you can’t really keep it away, it seeps in and twists you and makes you more honest, more real. Solid, yes solid was the word he was looking for.

The thing about the black is that its not. It’s full of stars and if you listen they whisper to you, if you concentrate they share secrets. The trick is too stop listening when they scream to you or else all is lost.

Just ask the Reavers, they knew the secrets.

Early wondered if he would ever see any of the others again. Mal, the not Shepard, the good doctor and the sweet little engineer.

Kaylee.

All smelling of grease and sweat but for her ‘essence’, for lack of the better word. So raw, so vital and full of glorious life and hope it burned at the touch. Part of him had wanted to bathe in it, to f