Disclaimer: anything recognizable is property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. The story and its original characters, however, are mine. Also, I had to take some creative liberties, but only on stuff not explained in the series. I also used my own translator for the Mandarin, so it may be off (although it's still comical). Feedback (good or bad) is of course welcome. On to the story:

“This is quite easily fixed. But we gotta do it from the outside.” Bill was examining the wreckage in the engine room a few hours after the incident. “Now who did this?” “Well, it wasn’t Syd, it wasn’t you, and I’m pretty sure I’d remember if I did it.” I had gained this knowledge by probing some minds. “I’ll also make odds that it wasn’t Libby. I saw her recharging before I went upstairs for dinner. She never moved.” Sydney piped in. “This makes no sense. Why would any of us want to sabotage the ship?” “I suppose in theory, we all have motives. Even me.” I started floating through the hallway. “But I don’t see Serra capable of this. Which leaves Tobias.” Sydney was moving with me to the bridge. “I don’t think Tobias would know a cycler from his big rear.” “First rule of detective work, Xiao-Peng: everyone’s a suspect.” We floated through the dining room on the way to the bridge. “Well, at least until you logically eliminate them or probe their minds.” Sydney arrived at the bridge. “Perhaps you should follow your own advice then.” “We’re about twenty minutes away from Nova Planetia.” I was looking at a bridge console. “The thing is, Tobias and I are fighting the same fight against the Alliance. Why would he want to hurt a powerful weapon on his side?” “Could be Serra.” Sydney turned her attention to flying the ship. “I sure as hell hope we can stop this boat when we hit Planetia. We’re still at the speed we pulsed at when we left Ares.” “They have an e-mag net. Even at this speed, you can still steer into it with what’s left of the reaction mass in the engines on the wings.” I pressed a few buttons on the console I was looking at. “I suppose we’ll know once I mind probe them. I just hope Libby isn’t pissed at me for locking her in her room.” “OW!” Bill was attempting to fly his way from the engine room to the bridge. But he miscalculated, and crashed headfirst into the wall right next to the bridge door. Sydney looked like she couldn’t care less. “Won’t the sudden deceleration kill us without the grav on?” “The net is internal. Their artificial gravity will kick in before they stop us.” I turned to the rear. “You better not have dented my wall.” Bill had made his way on to the bridge. “I’m fine, thanks for asking.” I ignored him again. “I’d suggest wearing your seatbelts though. You’ll feel this one.” Sydney was now sitting in her chair. She pulled her chair as close to the pilot’s console as possible and strapped herself in tight enough to cut off circulation. The P.A. was in her hands. “Attention all crew, this is your pilot speaking. We will be arriving shortly. Please tightly fasten your seatbelts and put your trays in the upright and locked position. Thank you for choosing Liberty as your traveling service.” “Cute,” I said, trying my best to float down to navigation. “I’m going to wave the station and advise them of our situation. I got a couple friends working ops who can help us.” Bill had just sat down in the chair opposite Sydney. “What do we do with the guys in their quarters?” “All Firefly passenger dorms have two safety seats for just an emergency.” I took a seat in the small navigation area. “Although why the original crew quarters don’t have them is beyond me.” “Ten minutes, Eddie.” Sydney tossed the reminder to me as we could see the small speck of a space station through the bridge window. And in the next ten minutes, that speck became larger until it was in front of us. Nova Planetia is essentially a giant promenade built into a rogue asteroid. It was finished shortly after the war, and is one of the popular places for non-Alliance people to visit. Due to its eccentric orbit, the Alliance considers it out of their way, and has never sent any ships. This also makes Planetia a prime hangout for the seedier side of citizens from the central planets and the border worlds. Either way, its three distinguishing features are the oval-shaped rock, the large rectangular building about the same size sticking out of the long side rock, and a long circular corridor going the length of the long side. The long corridor was the e-mag net which provided an efficient deceleration for any ship, disabled or not. It was also our target, and we had to hit it. Makes me glad I hired a good pilot. We made it into the corridor with a little “creative steering”. I personally could feel when the station’s artificial gravity kicked in, and a few rows of generators slowed Liberty down pretty quickly (especially when you consider how fast she was going to begin with). The corridor leads to the main hangar, but seeing as how we were in no condition to move ourselves, another of the station’s innovations kicked in; the net which had us moved along the corridor until it came to the hangar’s entrance. It then turned into the hangar’s big airlock with the ship still held. A large door closed behind us, and an equally large door in front of us opened. This was the actual landing bay. The net paused for a moment to set itself to carry us to the nearest parking spot. When it got there, the lower half split apart to fit through holes in the floor so it could lower us. When it did, the net disengaged and returned to the airlock. “That was interesting,” Sydney said after a brief silence. “I take it this isn’t the first time you’ve done this.” “Well, the moving net thing is new.” I un-strapped myself and went up the small set of stairs. “Bill, get what you need done. Syd and I will take care of the others.” With gravity, we were actually able to walk down through the cargo bay back to the dorms. Not that we couldn’t have floated (in fact, that would’ve been more fun). Unfortunately, this wasn’t our artificial grav, it was the station’s. Ours was still out. Nonetheless, Sydney and I arrived at the door to Serra’s dorm. I unlocked it and shoved it open. On the other side was a very pissed woman. I did the mind scan as quickly as possible. Serra lunged in an almost punch-like maneuver my way. “Zhe da yue shi shen, pei de ren?” “Someone sabotaged the ship.” I grabbed her arm before she could hit me. “And apparently, you didn’t do it.” The three of us walked to the next door. This was Libby’s quarters. She made a similar motion as Serra did when I opened her door. I also had to explain to her the situation, and that I saw her recharging before I went upstairs for my dinner, ruling her out. This brought up something interesting. “Eddie, if us four didn’t do it, and Bill didn’t do it…” Sydney was now shocked at her own words. “Ai ya.” I myself felt something which I think was more disappointment than anger. “Okay, Libby, you hold him. Serra, you take the door. Syd, you stay back.” The plan was put into motion. Libby charged into Tobias’s room, grabbing him by the shoulders and lifting the big guy off his feet. I started the mind reading process, only to find something truly amazing. A few seconds later, I was stumbling out of his quarters in an almost drunken state. I sat down hard in the middle of the corridor. Sydney came to my side, shaking me. “Eddie! What happened?” I breathed deeply trying to come to sense of a now paradoxical situation. “He… didn’t do it.”