Silence fell throughout Serenity, the ship seemingly sleeping along with its inhabitants. In the engine room Kaylee gently rocked from side to side, her hand hanging outside of her hammock, gently grazing the wall as she swung. Her breathing fell into rhythm with that of Serenity’s engine; the soft pulse of the ship’s heart the only reason why Kaylee would ever stray from her bunk and sleep elsewhere, its gentle beat more powerful than any soother Simon could prescribe.

Beyond the engine room nothing else stirred, the pilot’s seat sat empty as Wash slumbered peacefully next to his wife, whilst Jayne stretched comfortably across his bunk with Vera wrapped lovingly in his arms. Mal sat asleep with his head in his hand, the dim light of his lamp providing a gentle warm which had sent him off to sleep not but a few minutes ago. Papers lay strewn across bunk; he’d spent the better part of his evening not engaging in the usual friendly banter in the living area but attempting to rustle up a job from the scraps that were available. Badger had tried to railroad him into accepting another shipment of plastic novelties but a man’s pride could only take so much, he had gotten enough stick from Inara after the last time. There was an offer of transporting some stolen settler supplies to some of the border planets but Reaver activity had Mal worried, he wasn’t ashamed to admit it. He had fallen asleep contemplating whether he ought to tell the crew he’d considered selling his left kidney on the black market in an attempt to raise enough funds to keep Serenity flying.

He hadn’t told anyone else of his concerns, although Inara had made a couple of inquiries as to which planet they’d be passing next and his excuses had begun to wear thin. She’d seemed less insistent in recent days however, as if she had sensed the change in his disposition and had not want to antagonise him further. She too was sleeping soundly aboard her shuttle, her client screen still activated with hopeful faces of men frozen on it. Over