Quite possibly, the longest chapter to date, which is just as well, because it will be the last that I release this year. What with the holidays looming, I find myself with surprisingly less free time to myself with a computer handy, so enjoy this. It'll be January when the next one hits.

Ah, those three little words, so hard to say in proper context and timing. And if it's hard to say them right, just imagine having to write for them. Bah. Anyway, a touching moment near the beginning, a lot of horrifying moments later, and a cool new scar for one of the crew. I hope you like.

All your Firefly are belong to Joss

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See What's Inside

Colonel Patrick Barclay watched down on the harsh surface of Kerry, a sad little dustball with no redeeming features that he could see. He hated having to do these kinds of runs, being sent so far away from his home, and more importantly, from civilization itself. While the promotion had been his ambition for years, the manner in which it was granted was almost a damned insult.

He paced the length of the spacious command deck, waiting for his personnel to inform him that nothing was wrong, that it was just another false alarm. He'd gotten dozens of them since his assignment to the Magellan, from every planet and moon in this sector. He missed his family, and his wife hadn't wanted to pull their children from school to join him on his tour, so he was very much alone.

With all of these factors working in conjuction, he was in a lethally bad mood. He turned to the sensors officer, "How long until we enter scanning range?"

"Entering range, now," the young cadet replied. "Mark, we've got some civilian traffic. One Firefly class midbulk freighter, an old Trans-U. Wait a moment. I'm not getting a definitive read off of the third contact."

"Explain," Barclay demanded, stooping down and staring at the display. He only had a minimal amount of skill at interpreting the information, having focused himself into other areas from early in life. Cadet Church so