They rounded the corner at a dead run and although Mal had loved his ship from the moment he laid eyes on her, he was never more grateful to see the firefly sitting patiently, waiting for its captain.

The whiz of a bullet just over his head snapped his attention back to the unruly situation at hand. Risking a glance over his shoulder he caught sight of both Jayne and Zoe, keeping pace, and the three goons behind them, gaining ground.

Puffing slightly at the exertion, Zoe looked to the captain and said, “This your idea of recon, sir?”

“Nah,” Mal told her, swinging his gun around and firing a few sporadic shots. “Normally there’s more shooting.”

Zoe gave him a look, but didn’t respond and Mal grinned despite himself. At least they had gotten the info they needed. Sterns had spilled enough to give Mal a pretty good guess as to who had taken the boy and his sister. Now, all they had to do was figure out a way to take them back.

“Gorram it, Mal,” Jayne grunted, firing off his own round of warning shots. “Why we goin’ to all this trouble over that fancy pants doc and his moon brained sister?”

Mal sighed as they sprinted the last few feet up the ship’s ramp. There were some things Jayne would never, ever understand. Motioning to Zoe, he looked up to see she had already depressed the ramp’s release and Mal was grateful to see it rising shut; granted a little slowly, but these things couldn’t be helped.

Doubling over with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath, he looked to Jayne and said, “Jayne, I do not want to keep having this argument with you. Simon and River are part of my crew. Period.”

“Mal!”

Any retort died on Jayne’s lips as Inara rushed into the bay, concern etched into her normally serene features. Mal glanced in her direction slightly startled to see such emotion from her. He barely registered the boat taking off.

Zoe jogged up the stairs towards the bridge and her husband, thankful to be off this ruttin’ planet. Of course the reception awaitin