(One of my few FF "action" stories, and one of the longest. Written in May 2003, with some inspiration from another part of the Jossverse. It will be posted in 5 or 6 parts.)

Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction. No infringement is intended on the rights of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, or 20th Century Fox TV.

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"Fateful Hours" Part 1 by HawkMoth

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The plan was simple. Get in, make contact, do a little business, get out. Four, maybe five hours of kissing the dirt, tops.

Of course, it went all to hell while they were still just sniffing the air.

******

Niobe was supposed to a peaceable little world. Good place for a meet, and maybe pick up a few more new customers. Minimal Alliance influence. Fairly well settled, with varied enough opportunities for resupplying the ship. There was even a small Guild House in the port town, to which Inara took herself scarcely ten minutes after they'd set down in the late morning, declaring that even a half-day holiday off the ship and in truly civilized company would be a blessed relief.

She wasn't looking at anyone in particular when she said it, but everyone else knew she was talking strictly to the captain, and not at all about any of them--not even Jayne.

Mal watched her go, with a familiar discomfort stirring inside him. They both knew damn well what he'd been up to for weeks, keeping Serenity so far off the radar that they might as well have turned invisible. It had been a while since either of them had come right out and talked about it straight. Lately it had been all averted eyes, few words and a lot of tension.

The only thing Mal could take bitter comfort in was the fact that she had stopped making threats about leaving. Didn't mean she wasn't still thinking about it, though, and after a visit to her own kind, she just might come to a decision.

He didn't want to think about it. They'd come here to close a deal, and he didn't need no distracting thoughts.