I neither own nor hold any claim to any characters or associated articles of Firefly. Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy do that. I am just a humble fan who is very scared of lawyers and can only dream of, one day, being as brilliant as Lord God Whedon.

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p.s. Feedback is shiny in the n th degree and received with open arms and a big mug of hot chocolate.

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To recap, our Big Damn Heroes received an anonymous wave instructing them to set down on Persephone. Turns out, it was sent by a woman named Jaine who knows Mal and Zoë from…somewhere and claims to have a job for them. He arrival resulted in Simon’s near-death (sort of), a fight that finished before it started and the revelation that she’s an ex-bounty hunter, which got her locked in the passenger dorm. Now Jayne’s managed to piss off a whole squad of Feds and River’s screaming her crazy lil’ head off again …

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River’s shriek shocked them all into action. Mal dove for the door controls, Wash sprinted out of the cargo bay for the bridge and Simon took the stairs two at a time to reach his hysterical sister while Kaylee ducked behind the limited shelter of the mule. Jayne drew his gun as Zoë entered at a dead run from the back stairwell, shotgun in hand.

Through the fast-closing doors, Jayne saw the first row of Feds simultaneously drop to one knee and aim their rifles at the ship. He crouched down, noticing the others follow suit as the first bullets began spanging off Serenity’s hull. Raising his head, he carefully squeezed off one choice shot, catching the nearest Fed in the shoulder. He grinned. It faded as he caught Mal’s eye.

Mal reached over and thumbed the com.

“Wash? Head for the Black ma shang , dong ma ?”

“Already on it, cap’n.”

The vibrations beneath their feet increased and the pinging of bullets faded as Wash took them far away, very fast.

Holstering his gun, Jayne looked round to find the entire crew glaring at him.

“Did you have to do that?” Zoë growled.

“What?” he asked with a puzzled expre