In the Black

Soul stepped carefully through the hatch and into cramped control room. The ship that had been provided for him at Ankara was practically a junker, a rusting Tremor-class personal transport. It should have been trashed long ago, but in it’s defense it still flew. Not well, but it flew. The gravity plating failed at random intervals, the environmental controls seemed to be set on “Frigid”, and handling the boat for planet fall was the equivalent of piloting a feather through a wind tunnel. Gorram boat never went where he wanted it to.

He settled into the pilot’s chair as best as he could, and pulled up a secure Cortex channel and sent out a Wave. After a few minutes, the screen flashed and the complacent face of Damon Talos stared back at him. Soul hadn’t really wanted to speak with the bigger man ever again, but after reading the small file on Serenity, he had a few questions.

“I think you’ve cut me a little short on information here,” he said.

Talos grinned. “You’ve got as much as you need to fulfill your mission.”

“I’ve got bios on three people: Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Doctor Simon Tam, and River Tam,” Soul said, consulting the computer readout in front of him. He looked back at the screen, annoyed. “Please don’t tell me that the three of them are flying a Firefly on their own.”

“Now my boy,” Talos said, and Soul cringed. He hated when Talos said that, and apparently the big man knew it. “I’m thinking that it will be a lot more genuine if you really are meeting the rest of the crew for the first time. After all, you’re not an actor.”

Sighing, Soul leaned forward in the chair.

“I do have another question,” he said.

“Fire away.”

“Why are you sending me out to hunt down this ship without giving me its location? I would figure that your men on Shadow must have placed a tracking beacon on Serenity.”

Talos’ face contorted into a scowl. “They did place a beacon on Serenity. Several of them, in fact.”

“Then what’s the problem? Why are you making me search for them?”

“