The bullet whizzed by Mal Reynold’s cheek and missed it by mere millimeters. He swerved to avoid the hit and his momentum of his follow through forced him to face in the opposite direction of the gunfight. As Mal quickly turned back towards the action and raised his trusty pistol to fire at the source of the shot that almost sent him into permanent sleep, he shouted within range of two of his crew mates, “How in the gorram hell do we get in these messes?”

Crouching behind a storage crate for cover and also doing her part in joining the firearm fight was Mal’s wartime partner and loyal soldier, Zoe Alleyne. In between shots, she gave her answer to Mal’s rhetoric question that held that same serious tone but was meant to be sarcastic.

“Pure talent, sir”

His other crew mate who was present and also involved with covering fire was Jayne Cobb, the criminal who almost shanghai-ed them into taking Serenity if it weren’t for pure charm and wit Mal managed to use for luring Jayne into a spot on his own crew. After firing a shot from his shotgun, Jayne turned to Mal and shouted his thoughts. “I told you, Mal, these warriors on Three Rivers can’t be trusted!”

Mal had to suppress a grimace at the fact that he was getting advice on who not to trust from someone who he would never trust farther than he could throw cow dung. The funny thing was that the guns they were being shot at with were the very same guns his crew had smuggled into Three Rivers from Beaumonde and had received payment for just hours before. Mal thought it would be simple to hand the freedom fighters their guns they fussed over to get, take their coin, and fly off and skedaddle into the black.

Oh, but do things go smoothly with his crew? Almost never. And they had a serious life-changing event to be held at week’s end. They had a lot to think about. Now they were in yet another firefight that seemed doomed from the beginning. The Three River’s so-called freedom fighters saw fit to exclude the fact from Mal that they aimed to use the firearms t