Author’s Note: This is the seventh entry in my thus far endless series about the crew of Serenity three years after we last saw them in “Objects in Space”. The previous six entries are “The Tall”, “Serenity Waits”, “Just a Few Small Gorram Details”, “Fertile Ground”, “All So Sudden” and “To Whitefall”. I’ll give people who have not read them a rundown. Serenity has fled from Persephone to Whitefall, because a convoy of well-armed ships is chasing them. Since they were desperate to get away, they had to leave Inara and Book behind on Persephone. Zoë is four-months pregnant with her first child (Yes, Wash is the father.). River has now recovered to the point where she routinely uses her abilities to help her shipmates escape from dicey situations. I think that is enough to get you by. Here we go . . .

“Time for a Good Ole Riddlin’ Full-a-Holes”

“At this rate Cap’n, we’ll run out of fuel in an hour,” said Kaylee through Serenity ’s intercom. “We have to do somethin’.”

“Wash,” Mal said. “You sent her into the atmosphere a lot faster than most safety protocols allow. She’s still in one piece. That’s good work, but what else can we do to lose them?”

“I’m heading toward sand dunes about twenty miles from here. That’s a good storm ahead of us. It’s pretty cloudy and dark; we might stand a chance of them not seeing us. The sun will come up over there eventually though.”

“Alright,” said the captain. “If it’ll help us save some fuel and some time, that’s a good start. River, do you have any insight?”

“The weather clearly is pretty bad, Captain. It makes it difficult to guess what might be ahead of us. However, I think it’s worth the risk.” Mal turned to her wishing for more explanation. “Not knowing what’s ahead of us may make it easier to hide.”

“Or it could get us killed,” said Jayne ever so appropriately. “Either way, it’ll be fun.” What the guai, they thought, this really was going to be fun.

The pursuing destroyers were in flanking