Title: Things Fall Apart – Chapter 3

Rating: G

Disclaimers: Characters all belong to someone else, etc.

Author's comment: This is a bridging chapter, giving the bare bones of the story to come. Not a lot happens, there is some character exploration and interaction. I had to rewrite it at least three times as different ideas presented themselves later in the plot, so I hope I haven't contradicted myself anywhere.

Spoiler alert for anyone who may not have seen the unaired episodes in the US.

For those who may not know where I got it from….

'Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.'

(excerpt from The Second Coming, W.B. Yeats)

Predictably the offices that housed the local law enforcement looked like they were under siege. It took Mal and Zoe the better part of an hour to make their way through the throng of people spilling out into the street. When they eventually got through the door they could at least watch the newscasts while they waited, although there was little new to report. Communications were sketchy, which was about normal for a Reaver attack. The first thing they did was knock out the communications array.

It did seem that several passenger liners and transport vessels had managed to make it off the station. They were being escorted by a couple of Alliance warships as far as Helan, which was the nearest planet with a military base of any size. The reporter added that there was no news on the status of the Alliance’s new colony ship, the Serendipity, which had been berthed at Nexus 7 in preparation for her maiden voyage. She didn’t appear to be among those heading for Helan, although the reporter was carefully avoiding drawing any conclusions from this fact. The whereabout