I do not own nor hold any claim to any characters or affiliated articles of Firefly. Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy do that. I am merely a humble fan who is scared of lawyers and can only dream of, one day, being even half as brilliant as Lord Whedon.

Bridge, Serenity

“Persephone, Eavesdown Docks, 1400hrs”

“Sir, got a wave here you might want to look at,” Zoë called from the console. Mal, setting down the data card he was examining, moved to stand by her shoulder.

“Any notion to the sender?” he queried.

“Runnin’ a check now, sir,” she replied. After a moment, the console screen blinked. “Sender put a block on it.”

“Probably Badger, got us a job,” Mal thought out loud. He looked down at Zoë. “Somethin’?” he asked her.

She swivelled her chair to face him, “Badger doesn’t usually put a block on his waves, sir. Could be a set up.”

Mal frowned. “The Alliance puttin’ on the heat, needin’ us to do a job quiet-like?” he suggested.

Zoë’s suspicion and discomfort were apparent on her face. “Could be Alliance, lookin’ for the doctor. Could even be Niska – I heard he was mighty sore after you punched him, sir.”

“Why Zoë, might that be a joke?” Mal asked in mock surprise, brows raised.

“Jayne!” River’s delighted yell jolted Zoë and the captain. She smiled at them innocently. Zoë and Mal exchanged a confused glance.

“River, honey, Jayne’s in the cargo bay with shepherd Book,” Zoë soothed, starting up.

“Jayne,” River repeated, a little more insistently this time. “She’s waiting for you. He sees her. She’s singing to him. He doesn’t like it. He talks of Simon as he lies. Simon… Simon? Watching from above. Flying. You know her, but not yet. Not yet. You forgot how to know her. But you’ll remember. We all will.”

Zoë paused, half-standing, and stared at River. River looked calmly and levelly, almost kindly, back at her.

“She’s waiting,” she said in a singsong voice.

Zoë’s gaze ticked over to meet Mal’s.

“Uh… sir?” she asked.

Something clicked into place inside Mal’s skull. “Set a course for Persephone,”