“Yep,” Kaylee surmised, leaning away from the panel. She and River, standing outside at the rear of Serenity, exchanged knowing looks. “We’ll definitely need to take down the backfeed duct; I can’t bang it back into shape while it’s still connected.” She pushed her head back into the cavity that the removal of that particular panel exposed. “Give me... the three-inch drive.” River located the requested tool from one of the nearby tool bags and placed it in Kaylee’s outstretched hand. As soon as she felt the drive press against her palm, she pulled it in front of her, her eyes never leaving the deformed backfeed duct.

“We’ll need more light in here, too, and the rest of the panels gotta go so we can drop the duct.” She pulled her head out and, planting her hands on her hips, faced River. She thought for a moment, her eyes darting back and forth across the ground, then she took a breath and made eye contact with the girl.

“Vibe laser for the sealant, two speed handles, magnetic apex,” She listed. “Panels come off, we use the three-inch on the duct mounts, and down she goes.” She paused for another moment, surmising the situation. “We’ll probably need a third person; the duct’s pretty heavy, and we’ll be working five feet off the ground. I prob’ly shouldn’t’ve sent Simon away so quick...”

They spent the next thirty minutes unpaneling the rear section of Serenity and removing the mounting bolts from the duct ends. Finding a firm grip on her end of the duct, Kaylee observed, “Should be able to get ‘er down by ourselves, just let me move...” She trailed off as the heavy duct began to move, and at first, Kaylee thought that it might be slipping, but then she realized that the duct was moving out, not down.

Kaylee and River let go of the duct as Gabriel lifted it to head-level, turned, squatted, and set the duct on the ground, off to the side and out of the way. He straightened as Kaylee and River hopped down.

“Thanks,” Kaylee told him, smiling and trying not to act surprised. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”