A bit of background on this. This is an AU that takes place around the time of the series. Book is on board Serenity, as is Simon. However, Simon has yet to find his sister (as explained in "Prologue"). The Fed who came on board at first was looking for Simon.

The main story takes place several months after Simon first comes on board. The story is told from a few different points of view, which I will mark at the beginning of the post.

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Space. Dark. Infinite. Millions, billions of points of light, so tiny against the unforgiving black. Some lights grand and bold, circled with jewels, rich with themselves. Some tiny, neglected, less than barren. All alive. Between the worlds floated specks. Tiny grains of life, clinging to the very edge of the ravenous deep. Sheet metal, plastic, steel – mere inches keeping the sparks of life inside from being dragged kicking and screaming into the black. Cocoons winking across the billions of billions of miles, all in perfect harmony.

Until, of course, your cocoon broke.

Like most things, it started small. The big ones always do.

Kaylee

Kaylee lay in her hammock in the engine room, her body entwined with Simon’s. It had been a pleasant evening, to say the least. She grinned at the memory as she ran her fingers along his arm. She touched him gently, half hoping he would wake and see her so close, but enjoying watching him sleep. This is what it’s like, she thought. This is what I knew it could be. She was working her way up to his shoulder when she heard a tiny, familiar ping. It was followed closely by a second, louder noise and a whiff of acrid smoke. Moving almost before she realized what had happened, Kaylee lurched out of the hammock, getting tangled for one frantic second and dumping Simon unceremoniously to the floor as she fought her way over to the call button on the wall. Slamming the cockpit button with her hand, she reached for her coveralls.

“Wash!” She screamed it, knowing full well the speaker could pick up a whisper. “Stop her now! Turn it off!” Almost before she had finished speaking, she felt a lurch that threw her toward the wall. Simon, in the act of detaching himself from the hammock, slammed into her with a grunt. She shoved him aside with a hasty apology and told him to get some pants on as she zipped her coverall and dove under Serenity’s beating heart.

It was already slowing, but not fast enough. The smoke was getting worse, blacker, and Kaylee had to stop herself from reaching in to try to slow the engine. She ripped open a panel, burning her hand as she shone a light into the now-dark conduit. Wash’s voice sounded over the comm, telling her Serenity was good as floating. She could barely hear him over the captain’s bellows, wondering why the hell he had been catapulted from his bed in the middle of the night and why all the lights were off. Kaylee tuned him out as she grabbed some pliers and reached into the conduit. She was vaguely aware of clattering footsteps in the hallway and Jayne’s cursing. Delicately, she pulled out a small shard of ceramic and steel, and then another. Then another, and another, until she had a small pile on the deck beside her. Only then was she aware of the captain’s familiar form filling the doorway, and of Simon unsuccessfully trying to wrap himself up in the tangled hammock. She inwardly snorted. She was pretty sure that the captain had seen it all before and didn’t much care. Especially not when he was glaring at her like that.

“One minute, in the mess,” he said. “I’ll want an answer then.” He turned to leave, barely sparing a glance for the struggling doctor. “And tell your boyfriend to put some pants on ‘fore he shows up.”

***

A minute later, Kaylee stood in the dining room, a small pile of ceramic and steel fragments on the table in front of her. She looked around the table. “It’s part of the Hagen panel,” she said quietly. “I think I got out all the busted parts, so Serenity’s not in any real danger.” She managed a smile. “At least, no danger less’n she’s movin’.” She looked around the table but was met only with blank stares. “The Hagen Panel,” she said again. Simon nodded encouragingly; Jayne looked confused – only the captain and Wash showed any sign of knowing the least bit what she was talking about.

Wash, as always, tried to lighten the mood. “The Hagen panel,” he said. “Those playful little things. Who knew they could cause such trouble? I mean, just look at what it’s doing to the table!” He pointed to the powdery mess. The captain wasn’t amused.

Mal folded his arms. “Thought you said that would hold out until St. Albans.”

Kaylee folded her arms right back. She wasn’t about to back down on this one. “We passed through St. Albans eight months ago, Cap’n. I’ve made do since then and held her together with string and hope and pretty words. She’s been good. Real strong. But not even I can fix this. She’s powdered, Cap. We need a new one. No way around it. And no way Serenity will run without it.”

Silence reigned on the table. Kaylee felt awful giving news like this – ever since the bad job on Leto, they’d been running like mad. Little food, less sleep. And now this. “She tried, Captain,” Kaylee managed. She wanted to cry. “She tried real hard. We just… asked too much this time.” Wildly, she wondered what would have happened had it blown all the way. If she hadn’t caught it when she did – they were so close to the edge out here. Thousands of things could go wrong. One bad mistake, and, well… one was all you had time for. Looking around the table, Kaylee could see that they were all thinking about the same thing.

Wash was busily creating a tiny building from the bits of twisted clay and metal. “Is there more than this? I mean, it seems like an awful small pile of stuff to be causing so much trouble.” He pushed a small piece of fluff in front of his structure. Kaylee guessed it was a tree. Jayne spoke for the first time.

“Small don’t mean nothing,” he said. “Tiny things can kill you just as easy. You know, like germs?” He looked around. “What?”

Kaylee shook her head. Sometimes the mercenary said things that almost made sense. Made her wonder sometimes if there was more going on in his head than any of them believed. “There’s more to it,” she said, nudging the bucket on the floor with a bare foot. “That’s just part of it as an example.”

Mal unfolded his arms and leaned close to look at Wash’s new home. “So what you’re telling me is I’ve got to get myself a new one of these. Trouble is, we’re in the middle of nowhere and days from any planet with supplies. And even if there was one right next door, I can’t fly my ship to get there.” He gave a humorless smile as he looked around. “Any ideas?”

Jayne looked obviously at Simon. “Give someone the money. Suit ‘em up good. Give ‘em a good push to civilization. Hope for the best.” He grinned. “Could work.”

Simon smiled back, all sarcasm. “Thanks for that vote of confidence.”

“Any time.”

Mal leaned between them, putting his hands on the table. “Any good ideas?”

“My idea was good.” Jayne sat back and folded his arms. “And at least I had an idea.”

Zoë spoke for the first time. “We’re pretty far out, but I don’t think we’re all alone out here. Someone’s got to be within range. We can call for help.”

Mal was already shaking his head. “But we don’t know who’s out here. And although the good Shepherd here seems to have an excellent Alliance medical plan, we can’t be sure that he or us would get the same kind reception twice. I want to lie low as possible. Planets can give us at least some protection, but unless there’s any other way, I’m not too shiny about walking up to the nearest purple belly and exposing my weak spots.”

“Quan,” Book said suddenly. Every head swiveled to look as he walked into the room with a capture in his hand. Kaylee hadn’t even noticed him leave. For the hundredth time, she wondered what call a Shepherd would have to slip around like that. It just wasn’t… normal. Sort of made a body edgy. She shivered slightly. Much edgier than this, and I’ll fall square into the black, she thought. As though he could read her, Simon put a hand over hers, the warm pressure pushing back the cold wave of fear Kaylee had been fighting since she had heard Serenity cry out.

“Quan?” Inara echoed. “Asylum? Out here?”

Jayne sat forward, the two front legs of his chair thumping to the deck. “Asylum? Like, crazy people?”

Book smiled, his warm voice soothing. “Asylum. Like, safety. Sanctuary.” He spread his hands. “A place to find… Serenity, maybe.” He handed the capture to Mal. “Looks like a shuttle would just about be able to reach it.”

The captain took the flimsy as though it would bite him. “This here also says it’s Alliance. Weren’t we just discussing how that would not be a good idea? And who says they’re going to have a yard anyways?”

“Nobody says,” Book replied with a shrug. “Quan is a listening post, at best. More an outpost than anything else. It used to be a refueling station on some of the pilgrim routes – no reason to think it still wouldn’t be. One small speck at the edge of the black. It would stand to reason that they would have to be able to supply themselves, at least from time to time. And though the Alliance might be looking for a Firefly class named Serenity, they’re not going to be looking for a single shuttle in distress.”

“Transponder would tell them right where it came from,” Mal shot back. At the Shepherd’s skeptical look, he managed a grin. “Least it would if we were all respectable-like.”

“Exactly. Make it say whatever you want. Get the part you need, get out. I’m not saying it would be the easiest job in the world, but you’d have a good chance of sneaking right out from under their noses.”

“Shepherd’s right, Captain.” Kaylee broke in. “Hagen panels ain’t just for Fireflies. They’re on almost every transport ship out there. It’s part of the way their engines are set up.” She saw the confusion and tried to explain. “Different engines, different capabilities, different containments. What we got here might not work for an Alliance blastboat, but transports and passenger vessels don’t need that kind of backup. There’s probably 20 types of transports out there as use Hagan Panels. Needin’ one ain’t going to peg us as criminals.”

She could see Mal thinking, the wheels churning in his head as his options paraded in front of him. They were few and far between. “I don’t like Serenity sitting out exposed in the black. We’re too far out for casual floating.”

“There’s hunks of rocks all over out here,” Wash said. “We’re at the edge of Niger’s Belt. I’m sure we could find one Serenity could fit.”

Simon stared at Wash. “You do realize, those are… spinning rocks. Moving.”

Wash blinked. “And?”

“And…” Simon repeated, his voice trailing off, “spinning.”

Wash shrugged nonchalantly. “There’s spinning and there’s spinning,” he said. “Those out there? Hardly moving, if you ask me. Practically still pebbles on a pond.” At Simon’s skeptical look, Wash leaned back, putting up his hands in surrender. “On my honor! Pebbles! Still ones!”

Zoë leaned on the back of Wash’s chair, smiling at Simon little. “Even if it were spinning like a kid’s toy, wouldn’t be nothing to my man.” She looked down at Wash, who beamed in return. “But this is all just speculation. Didn’t Kaylee say we had no engine? Nothing to move?” She looked at the captain. “We just all gonna run to one side of the ship and hope the inertia works in our favor? What about thrusters?”

“Thrusters can get us started, but there’s an awful lot of space out here in case we miss. And any kind of landing, thrusters alone can’t handle,” Wash said, adding a small path made from pepper to his ceramic model. “They’re for turning, and little pushes. Not flying all of Serenity.” Wash grinned at Mal. “Sleek and beautiful though she is, Mal, we can’t so much as start her again without some kind of power.”

Mal shrugged and looked at Kaylee, who was looking at the cupboards. “Any ideas, little Kaylee? Is he right?”

Before Zoë could leap to her husband’s defense, Kaylee shrugged. “’Course he’s right. But any engine use will leak heat, sparks, containment and who knows what else into the engine room…”

“…Leading to all sorts of pretty lights and booms,” Mal finished, “which is something I’m hoping to avoid. What are you looking at, anyways?”

A tiny inkling of an idea had been forming in Kaylee’s brain. Now, she pulled the roof off Wash’s new home and took it over to the kitchen. Opening one cupboard, she started pulling out plates, bowls, cups, anything she could find. She finally lit on a tacky, painted and dusty butter dish someone had picked up who knows where. Hefting it in her hand, she looked close at the chipped corners. She looked at the captain, feeling a bit of a smile start on her face. “I can’t make promises,” she said. “But I think I can give Wash five minutes.”