Captain Wu craned her neck as the ship's cargo ramp rolled open and the smell hit her. The entire planet of Verbena smelled like fruit, a sweet sticky scent hanging on the air. Not nauseatingly so, like the di lian air fresheners Mona insisted on spraying all over her bunk, but still very heavy. She smiled. This was a nice planet. "All right, Dex, get whatever repairs done that you can, then fuel her up and grab any supplies we're lackin'. Mona, see if you can wrangle us some passengers. I'm gonna track down the cargo sergeant and try to find our shipment."

Rachel took a few steps forward, then felt Saul's shadow fall behind her. "Sir?" She looked up expectantly. "We still got some coin from the Beylix run, I was hopin' to grab some produce. Like to be cheaper here, green planet like this."

Rachel nodded. "Sure. See to it."

As the rest of the crew split off, Mariah stepped forward into the cargo bay. As she did, Mona flashed her a grin and trotted back to meet her. Mariah smiled gingerly. "So what am I supposed to do?"

Mona shrugged. "You know, you're a passenger, technically, you ain't supposed to do anything." The teenager grabbed Mariah's hand and pulled the hesitant young woman toward the cargo doors and the yawning forest. "Come on, you can help me trick some more suckers like you into flyin' with us."

It had taken the Chens some time to get their baggage and papers in order, and a great deal more to track down the Firefly, as its docking permit had not been filled out correctly. Sir Anderson took this as another sign that this was exactly the kind of ship he was looking for.

Rachel waved off the last of the teamsters and picked up the pen the sergeant offered her, sweeping her signature across the gel impression plate. The cargo sergeant nodded and checked the signature, then slid away the clipboard. "Shipment's just vac-packed fruit headed for the Core. All you gotta do is get it as far as Paquin, then transfer it to the captain of the Morningstar. He'll pay you t'other half."

Rachel nodded. "Right.