The story continues as Serenity reaches the moon of Trinity. It's a slow-burner to begin with, but patience has its rewards - by Chapter 5 or so, things should really start to hit the fan... Thanks to everyone for taking the time to read Chapter 1, and for your positive comments. They keep me motivated when I'm typing away at two in the morning!

2

Trinity was about as far from civilisation as it was possible to get, short of leaving the system entirely, and it was no surprise to Mal that Ossie had ended up there. Most like he was on the hide from someone or other, he surmised. He usually was. Trinity offered privacy on a geographical scale: the population of the small moon could comfortably be estimated in double figures.

“Take us in nice and careful, River. Don’t need to tell you that we’re not in the best shape for this.”

“I understand.” The girl nodded firmly. “The engine’s sick now. We don’t have a wide enough power band to offset the effects of atmospheric resistance. So you want me to instigate a shallower angle of attack on entry, to minimise stress on the drive couplings without compromising hull integrity.”

“Uh… yeah. All of that. Shiny.”

The moon loomed large in the windshield now, a reddish-brown ball crowned by a halo of bright atmosphere.

“Shiny,” River echoed. “Glass world. Shake it up so it snows on all the little houses.”

“Well,” Mal said flatly, “we can do that later, maybe.”

Trinity was not long ‘formed, and it showed. The only significant population centre was the single port, Trinity Station, where ships came to deposit new settlers. Almost by accident, it had become an important waypoint to those who chose to frequent this far-flung region: a place to land, refuel and restock, and to do business.

Dotted around the sprawling port, like children keeping close to their mother’s skirts, a few farms struggled to scratch a living in the red desert, but it was a losing battle – in spite of the best efforts of the terraformers, the moon’s soil remained barre