Be gentle as this is my first ever fanfic.. I'm not much of a writer but feedback is greatly welcome. My "Death by Spork" drawing is what set this one off.

A Breed Apart - Chapter 1

Wash wrinkled his nose as he started bringing the ship in for a landing. He had rolled the details, or lack there of, around in his head for a long while.

“Captain. Can you tell me why we’re here again?”

Mal shrugged. “I told you. We’re here to pick up a small group of passengers. That’s the job.”

Wash shook his head, “Didn’t you ask for any details? Like who these “passengers” are?”

“We’re gettin paid a mighty fine price for this job. I like things to go smooth like. Details complicate things.”

“If you say so Captain.”

Serenity touched down without incident and everyone begins preparing for the future passengers while Mal, Wash, Jayne, and Kaylee head into town to meet the man who’s hired them for the job.

“So who’re we pickin up sir?” Kaylee chimed in her usual cheerful tone. She looked back toward the ship wishing somewhere in the back of her mind that Simon had come with them.

“Dunno who they are.. Didn’t ask,” Mal replied. Stoic and calm as always.

“I dun like dis one bit.. Las’ time we took passengers we got stuck with the doc and his psycho sister,” Jayne protested. He kicked at the dirt and fussed with his gun doing his best to act like an overgrown child who knew he wasn’t going to get his way like it or not. Not that anyone really noticed... Except Wash.

He mused at Jayne and fell back, behind the others, to tease him. “Maybe we’ll all get lucky and someone’ll shoot you.”

Jayne sneered at Wash but didn’t reply. He just kept kicking at the dirt as they walked..

They stopped in front of an old fashioned looking tavern.

“This the place Mal?”

“Yeah Jayne. Now let’s go meet this Riley and get our pay.”

The group headed inside. Immediately they were greeted by a man in very western attire. He tipped his hat and smiled. “Ah. Captain Malcolm Reynolds I assume. Right nice o’ ya ta be on time. Lotta ta men I’ve hired b’fore we’re always so late.”

“Well we like to keep a schedule when we can. Now how ‘bout we get paid and you can tell us where to pick up your passengers.” Mal kept his gaud up. He didn’t much like these backwater planets and would have much rather not have had to land on this particular one. He didn’t trust this man but he hoped things would go smoothly.. For once..

“Oh sure, sure. ‘Ere ya go.” Riley tossed Mal a small leather sack with a smile and sat down at a nearby table. He sifted through some paperwork while Mal checked to make sure they weren’t getting gypped.

“I s’pose you wanna know what’ye’v gotchyerself inta.”

He tossed a sealed envelope onto the table and leaned back.

“You’ll find dey’re leader at ta pub downstairs. ‘Er name’s Khei. She’s a might ornery one. Most ill tempered of the lot of em. That dey’re paper’ll tell ya all ta details ya need.”

Mal nodded and grabbed the envelope. He looked back to his crew and gestured to Riley. “Right. Well we’ll be on our way then.”

The group then made their way downstairs as instructed and carefully looked around the pub. It was your typical backwater pub with it’s usual drunkards most of whom were passed out at the bar and tables. They were half way across the room when, off to the right, a fight broke out.

“You gorram ISHTICO BRIDMAC VATO!! How DARE you insult me!”

The man screams as he’s violently stabbed to death by the most unlikely of weapons Wielded by something Serenity’s crew had never seen before.

The man dropped to the ground in a heap at the feet of his assailant. The victor was dressed in what Mal recognized as the brown coat of Independent soldiers. As she stood there huffing watching the fallen man her tail flicked wildly behind her. She stood at an even five and a half feet tall. Her fur was greyblue in color marked with darker bluegrey and black markings. Once she turned around they could see the face of a canine like animal. In each hand she was armed with a blood covered spork. Mal, Wash, and Kaylee were speechless having never set eyes on a humanoid animal before.. Let alone one who could kill someone with plastic sporks. Everyone stood still in silence before said silence was suddenly broken.

“WOOOOHOO! I LIKE her style!”

“Jayne! Shut up!” Mal was beginning to grow annoyed. He turned to Kaylee and pointed to the strange animal. “Kaylee. Do me a favor.. Never let one of those aboard my ship.” Kaylee nodded. ‘Yessir.”

Wash winced and shook his head. “Man. I bet they won’t even allow sporks in these places after this.”

The anthro dusted herself off and cleaned off the sporks before noticing the group. She smiles as she puts the sporks into her pockets. She addressed the group before they can say a word. ‘You must be the Captain Reynolds that Riley hired to give us a lift. Name’s Khei. I’m the leader of our little group.”

Mal stood there with a rather blank look on his face or a moment before returning to reality.. Or what he assumed was reality.. After all he just had some sort of two legged animal address him. “Er.. Yes. That would be us. I uh..” Jayne cut him off and asked pretty much the same question Mal was about to ask.. Unfortunately he was less than subtle about it. “What ARE you?” “JAYNE!” Khei chuckles lightly and gives Mal a pat on the shoulder. ‘Don’t worry I’ve been asked that question a million times. We call ourselves Kittora. We come from a planet you humans only recently realized even existed. Frankly it’s no wonder nobody ever came to our planet till now because it’s so far out.. The reavers used to stalk about the space between this planet and ours.. Now that the reavers have moved to another stretch of space you humans have been visiting our planet a lot lately. The Aliance doesn’t know of us yet however. That’s why Riley hired you. You seem to have a reputation for keeping details to yourself.”

Mal’s signature smug look returned as he nodded. “Well we do the job and get paid. We like to keep it simple like.” Khei nodded back and looked around at the others. "So Where’s this ship of yours. I’ll wave my team.”