Same old "not my characters, no copyright infringements intended"

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As the roar of her twin engines dwindled from a monstrous growl to pure silence, Serenity and her crew pulled out of Haven’s upper atmosphere and entered the black. To a passing ship, she resembled any one of the Firefly class vehicles roaming the trading channels. For the first time since Mal bought her, she was in perfect working order thanks to the ironic generosity of the Alliance. He had milked the Alliance funding by packing enough supplies and spare parts to allow Serenity’s crew some time to heal from their recent ordeal. Kaylee upgraded the engines to give them an extra boost if the need should arise, and Jayne bought a few friends for Vera.

With Serenity slowly gliding in space heading in no particular direction, Mal sat in Wash’s old seat alternating his gaze between River in the copilot’s chair and the dinosaurs surrounding him. His happiness at having survived the past few months was tempered by the dinosaurs staring back at him. River paid him no mind, as she was completely engrossed in piloting the ship.

Mal leaned back in the chair and mumbled to himself, “Where to next? Can’t go back to Haven or Persephone. Alliance pro’ly all over those rocks. Mebbe Beaumont? Fandy and Mingo might help us out - if they let us in the door. The merc bars may be a good source of information. Whattabout the crew? Losin’ Wash won’t be easy on Zoe or the rest of ‘em, but River may turn into a decent pilot…if’n she can stay normal and…” a loud noise interruptted Mal as the ship suddenly jolted. Six yellow lights immediately started blinking.

“What was that? And what are all these gorram lights?” shouted Mal as he turned to River. River smiled, tilted her head and said softly, “buffer panel.”

“Figures…gorram alliance materials!” replied Mal with a hint of a smile and more than a hint of disgust.

”Where to?” asked River in a monotone voice without taking her gaze off the vast nothingness in front of her. She already knew the answer.

”Best we lay low for a while…no tellin’ how hard the Alliance will come after us…figure we’ll make our way to Beaumont and take the shuttles down to find out the word…and I’m guessin’ we’ll need a new buffer panel…”

River immediately replied without shifting her gaze “course set, we’ll be there before the others wake.” She gave Mal a blank stare at the thought of returning to the place where she first uttered “Miranda.”

“Best we be gettin’ some sleep…long day ahead of us,” proclaimed Mal as he turned around and exitted to his room.

River stared out into space for a few moments pondering the fate in front of her, for the first time unable to see more than her immediate future. Staring into space and thinking, she fell into a light sleep in the co-pilot’s chair. --- The crew awakened to find the ship in high orbit outside of Beaumont. Inara, Kaylee, and Jayne were the first to meet Mal in the dining room.

“We need to find out what kind of shape we’re in,” Mal said without taking his eyes off the protein sludge in front of him. “Jayne, you come with me and we’ll see what news we can pick up. Kaylee, we’re gonna need another buffer panel, so you’re coming with us too.”

By this point, Zoe and Simon had arrived. Zoe was propped up silently on the doorway and Simon was retrieving something from his locker.

At the mention of Kaylee joining the captain and Jayne, Simon interjected “I’ll go with Kaylee…in case the buffer panel is a two person job.” Mal looked up from his “breakfast” and snickered at Jayne.

After a moment of silence, Zoe piped in “no need for me on this trip sir?”

Mal replied “We’ll be hitting the merc bars for information. Mercs don’t take kindly to too many folks pokin’ about, and I need Jayne to get us in. You stay with River and Inara. See if you can’t find any information about hideouts. Maybe the Alliance looked over a few of our older spots. Depending on what me and Jayne find out, we may need to disappear quick. Use Inara’s contacts if need be. I’m sure she’s got some place left with ‘friends’. Jayne, Kaylee, get somethin’ to eat, we’re off in a bit… You too lover boy.”