Author Note: This was originally written as a gift for sarahetc in Washathon on LJ a few years back. I hadn't realised this was one of the fics I hadn't uploaded to , so here it is :)

Set pre-series, after Wash has gotten rid of the moustache but before Inara has joined the crew.

Of Smuggling Jobs And Nifty Flying

Mal whistled as he grabbed the rails at each side of the short staircase with both hands and swung himself up into the bridge, the soles of his boots just missing the steps, then froze, all happy thoughts of an upcoming deal fleeing his mind at the sight in front of him.

One of the advantages, so he'd heard, of the Firefly class was the size and angle of the front windscreen that allowed the pilot, and anyone else on the bridge, a 'spectacular view of the Black'. A fair few pilots preferred to rely solely on computer navigation, stating that technology was more accurate and reacted faster than the human mind. Still, most liked to be able to see where they were going as well and some, like the pilot Mal had hired not three months ago, even argued that a good view was crucial for tricky manoeuvres.

Currently, though, the 'spectacular view' consisted less of the Black and more of large objects zooming towards them, and across in front of them, and at an angle to them, and hell-

"There are huge rocks flying at my ship!" Mal yelled, finding his voice. "Why are there huge rocks flying at my ship?"

"That would be because we're flying through an asteroid belt," said Hoban 'Wash' Washburne and Mal dragged his eyes away from the view to stare at him.

Wash sounded the calmest Mal had ever heard him, which was almost as scary as the huge rocks. His hands were wrapped firmly around the steering controls and constantly moving, even as he spoke, making Serenity dance between the asteroids that seemed to be coming right at her from all sides.

"And why," said Mal, his hands still clutching the stair rails, "are we flying through a gorram asteroid belt?"

"Testing the capacity of a Firefly, seeing if the new grav centrium works – which I guess it must do, since no one seems to have noticed that we've not been on an even keel for a good hour now – and taking a short cut." He slid the controls towards him and to the right, twisting Serenity away from a giant rock that passed them by far too close for Mal's comfort. "Also, it's fun."

"Fun?"

Mal knew his feet were planted solidly on the floor, but the view through the windscreen showed the ship to be upside down one minute, plummeting the next, and rolling all over the place, which gave him a downright queasy feeling. Not to mention the fact that all it would take would be one rock, just one of the many almost tearing the panels off Serenity's nose or belly, and they'd all be dead.

"What's fun?" he heard Zoe ask, probably coming to see what he was shouting about. He felt her pushing a little at his back to make him move out of the way, but his hands refused to let go of the stair rails, so she was forced to stand on the top step behind him and crane her head until she could look over his shoulder. "What am I seeing?" she said in that steady voice of hers, although she still didn't sound as calm as their insane pilot.

"This is an asteroid belt," said Wash. "Isn't it shiny? Now, could everyone please be quiet whilst the pilot is concentrating."

"You're fired." Mal swallowed. "Zoë, he's fired."

"What, right now, sir?" she said dryly.

Mal managed to pull his eyes away from the windscreen for a second time, to glare at his First Mate. "The second we make planetfall, I want this buhn dahn off my boat."

~888~

By the time Wash had navigated his way out of the asteroid belt, recalibrated the engine thrust and arrived at a point when the immediate route ahead was straightforward enough to set Serenity on a slow-cruising autopilot, dinner was over. The Captain and Kaylee had left the dining area, Jayne was just getting up from the table and Zoë was clearing away a few things at the counter, which meant it had probably been her turn to cook.

He was starting to get used to eating on his own, since the Captain liked to keep to the equivalent of a working 'day' onboard, complete with meal times, regardless of the fact that there was no such thing in space, and the times Wash could leave the autopilot in charge hadn't often coincided with when everyone else was eating. He was used to being alone, because pilots so often were when doing piloty-type things, but for the same reason he'd always looked forward to company at mealtimes, so he couldn't help feeling disappointed when faced with an emptying room.

Actually, he was starting to consider taking up a hobby to pass the boring times on the bridge. Puppets or knitting maybe.

The table held a single, solitary bowl of what appeared to be lukewarm protein mush that someone had ever so thoughtfully left for him (and managed to protect from Jayne, who would steal any unguarded edibles left lying around). Wash pulled out a chair, sat down and moved the bowl towards himself.

"So, were there any entertaining stories, humorous interludes or thought-provoking philosophical statements during dinner that I missed?" he asked the room at large.

"Yeah. Real entertainin'." There was a clunk as Jayne put his dishes on top of the counter before the mercenary turned around and marched back over the table. He stood on the opposite side to Wash, his hands planted on the solid wood, and leaned forward, crowding Wash's space. "Heard the one about the pilot that tried to crash us? Ruttin' hilarious."

"I know, I know," said Wash, hazarding a smile. "You'd think if I were trying to crash that I'd have done a better job of it, right?"

In the time it took him to blink Jayne had whipped a knife out of his belt, reached over and stabbed it into the tabletop in the small space between Wash and his dinner.

"Jayne!"

Both men looked at Zoë, whose hand strayed to the gun strapped to her shapely thigh before drifting away again as Jayne let go of the knife's handle. The movement of Jayne's hand drew Wash's attention away from the First Mate's attributes and back to the knife. He poked at its handle, but it didn't move.

"I was just havin' a bit of…fun," said Jayne.

"Pilot didn't kill us, so I don't see a need to be killing him."

"Fine. Shiny." Jayne yanked his knife out of the table, growled a little and stalked out. Wash thought he resembled a caged animal at that moment more than ever, and, without Zoë, Wash would have been a juicy, dinnertime steak…but it was a bad idea to think of steak when trying to eat protein mix, so Wash put the image out of his mind.

"It was a stupid thing to do," said Zoë. She had her back to him now, giving him an excellent view of her rear, as she carried on cleaning and clearing away the things on the counter.

"What, talking to Jayne? I can handle manly bonding."

"You think it's funny," she said. When Wash sounded that calm it was because he wasn't wasting effort on speech inflection, fully concreting on what he was doing and getting it done, whereas Zoë's calm voice had a dangerous edge, as if she was exactly the opposite, that keeping control of how she sounded helped control how she acted, so she could stop herself from doing. "We all know there's a risk here, since it ain't the most legal of lifestyles, but aiming this ship at asteroids? That was taking a risk for no reason, and a risk that none of us agreed to. You crash, you kill us all."

"But I didn't crash," Wash protested.

Zoë didn't reply. He spooned protein mix into his mouth whilst she put things away in overheard cabinets, fastening the doors so that if they hit turbulence when entering an atmosphere nothing would fall out and crack anyone on the head. Not that being hit on the head once or twice wouldn't do Jayne some good, or the Captain either.

"Didn't you at least admire the nifty flying?" he asked wistfully as Zoë started to leave.

She still didn't say anything and Wash was left staring at the wavy green lines around the door that Kaylee had told him were going to be flowering vines when she was finished painting them. He wondered if the cheerful mechanic would mind teaching him how not to annoy Zoë Alleyne as her next project.

~888~

"Right, listen up." Mal's voice rebounded off the walls of the cargo bay. "This is a good old-fashioned smuggling job, nothin' we can't handle."

Jayne snorted and clipped a grenade to his belt. This was the fifth job he'd had with this crew. Four times Mal had predicted that a job would go smooth and four times something had gone wrong, and he figured the fifth time was probably not going to be the charm.

Next to him Zoë checked the safety on her gun, holstered it, and pulled herself up into the driver's seat of the mule.

"We have a rich man who wants to send some family valuables to his heir, only the inheritance law here won't let folks send that kind of thing off-planet, or some such," Mal continued. "Me an' Zoe'll talk to this man Basinstoke, collect the goods and get the first half of the payment off him. Jayne, I need you to say here. Keep an eye out, 'cause the people in charge of the docks here aren't always the friendliest of folks. Don't stand for any funny business, but don't go shooting at anyone just 'cause you feel like it. We don't need a repeat of last time."

"That weren't my fault." Jayne crouched down and pulled up his left trouser leg to tighten the holster of the small pistol fastened to his calf. "They were shootin' at me first."

"An' it's safe to say they won't be shootin' at anyone again, first or otherwise, but the law 'round those parts might do that shootin' for them, they clap eyes on us again. So. Lose the grenade."

"Awww."

"Jayne," said Mal warningly.

He made a face, curling his lip, as he stood up, but he took the grenade off his belt all the same. Three long strides took him to the metal locker where the weights were kept, which no one really used besides him, and he placed the grenade inside there for now, wrapped inside a towel and tucked securely in a corner so there was no danger of it being engaged. And if anyone tried to board Serenity uninvited, well, there it was.

"We get the second half of the payment from Basinstoke's son when we make the delivery." Mal placed one hand on the back of the mule's driver's seat and jumped up so he could stand on the wide tow bar, which connected to the cargo trailer on the back of the mule. "Kaylee, you make sure we're good to leave soon as we get back."

"Aye-aye Captain!" Kaylee, who was stood by the controls and fixed comm. unit near the bay door, gave Mal a little salute and a large smile that made the man's eyes twinkle.

Zoë started the mule's engine and machinery whirred as Kaylee opened the door.

"And in case I didn't make it clear enough earlier," said Mal, glancing at their ex-pilot, "get the hell off my boat."

Wash was sat on top of an empty crate to one side of the cargo hold, with a large, sausage-shaped bag on the floor that his feet kept kicking as he swung his legs from side to side. Jayne had never known the little man to be able to keep still.

They wouldn't have to put up with the pilot's odd ways anymore though. Mal had told Wash – well, yelled at him really – that he never wanted to see the pilot's face again and Jayne heartily agreed. Kaylee, on the other hand, looked disappointed, but Jayne reckoned their perky little engineer would get over it soon enough, and their First Mate didn't even spare Wash a look as she drove off, so it looked like she didn't give a damn about the rutting idiot either.

~888~

Basinstoke was a tall man with long, dark hair tied back in a ponytail, a clean-shaven face, and a polite smile. He came out to meet them on the veranda of his large mansion, followed by a servant carrying a tray with three glasses of a green-coloured drink with ice cubes.

Mal shook his hand whilst Zoë looked long enough at both the master and his servant to decide that neither of them were carrying weapons openly nor looked the kind to be concealing any. Out of the corner of her eye she could see three men, in the same uniforms as the drinks-bearing servant, loading a sealed crate onto the back of the mule. Those three didn't look to be armed either, so Zoë relaxed a little on the inside.

"I trust that this business venture will remain unproblematic," said Basinstoke.

"We wouldn't want to inconvenience you." Mal's polite smile looked more like a smirk.

Zoë let him do the talking and concentrated on keeping an eye on everyone in the immediate and surrounding areas, particularly the servant, who hadn't left and was standing behind and to one side of Basinstoke.

"I'm sure." Basinstoke took two drinks off the tray, handed one to Mal, and sipped at the other. "Do you expect any difficulties to arise?"

"Should be fine," said Mal, shifting his weight onto his back foot, which told Zoë that he was itching to leave. "You have the payment we discussed on hand, I take it?"

Zoë stiffened abruptly as the mobile comm. unit clipped to her belt, so that it rested in the small of her back out of the way, vibrated. She glanced at Mal as she reached back to get it, checking that Mal was handling the deal and she could divert her attention to the call, and, when Mal nodded, she moved back down the veranda steps, into the cobbled courtyard, so that she was out of Basinstoke's hearing whilst keeping the man in her range of sight.

She lifted the unit to her ear and slid across the large button at the side to receive the communication.

"Please don't disconnect," said a voice that she instantly recognised as Wash.

Zoë wondered how the hell she could be listening to their ex-pilot on a comm. unit whose frequency was a closed correspondence loop linked to Serenity, and, in her pause of surprise, allowed Wash to keep talking. Not that he'd ever needed any kind of encouragement to do that.

"I'm watching one of the news screens in the market area, and there's a bulletin about something stolen from a bank that the Feds here are going all out to get back, and I said to myself, 'Wash, wouldn't it be a terrible coincidence, and yet remarkably like Mal's luck, if that stolen item of seemingly great importance to the Alliance was the so-called 'family valuables' that Mal is about to attempt to smuggle out of here?'"

"You were fired," said Zoë. She could have said 'that's ridiculous' or 'how are you on this line?' but the fact that an ex-pilot shouldn't be on the line seemed more important than the fact that he was on it, or even that he was talking nonsense.

"Also," Wash continued, not giving her time to say anything else, "they're closing down the docks to make sure they don't lose whatever it is. Nothing's going to get off-planet and they're searching every ship."

Mal caught Zoë's eyes and frowned. 'Not urgent,' she mouthed, hoping that she wasn't lying and, since she hadn't received any communications from Kaylee or Jayne, fairly sure that she wasn't. The lines on his face smoothed out and he went back to watching Basinstoke's face intently.

"Zoë? Call me paranoid if you like, but you might want to take a look at that cargo before you agree to take it."

Zoë breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth. "And how, exactly, am I supposed to know if it's this stolen item of yours when I don't even know what that item is?" She spoke quietly and tried to move her mouth as little as possible, just in case any of the servants, or Basinstoke himself, overheard or could lip-read.

"Well, this planet makes its big money from engineering," said Wash. "The biggest Alliance setup here, besides the official holdings and courts, is the Federal Building of Design and Engineering. Actually," he said, warming to his topic, "Corrison Mathers – the first person ever to pilot a Caymen with only one propulsion in operation – is part of their engineering team, and he-"

"Wash."

"Right. Well, anyway, the items of most value, monetary and otherwise, would be design plans, proofs, models, things like that. The Feds wouldn't want anyone else getting hold of their most recent gear and anyone who did could make a fortune, or build it themselves and use it to their own advantage."

'Instead of the Alliance using it to their advantage,' thought Zoë tiredly.

The three servants had finished loading the mule and had gone back inside the main building, which left Basinstoke and the servant on the veranda. She moved towards the crate and pretended to check how secure the straps were that tied it to the cargo trailer whilst trying to figure out how it opened.

"I would appreciate it if you left that sealed," Basinstoke said, and she looked over her shoulder to see him walking across the cobbles towards her, with Mal following close behind. "It contains priceless family heirlooms that have been packed specifically to my instructions."

"The First Mate was just checkin' it wasn't going to fall off the trailer," said Mal. "Wouldn't want that to happen, would we?"

Zoë looked past them both to the servant on the veranda, but he was no longer there. She scanned the windows methodically, watching for movement, then reached the roof, where she could see five men in the same uniform as Basinstoke's other servants, partially covered by body armour, holding what looked like Ninjatis – high quality, long range weapons. She hadn't seen them earlier, but then she hadn't looked at the roof since her initial assessment of the building.

She cursed herself silently.

If they made a fuss about leaving, with or without the cargo, then the odds didn't look good. Her mind raced through alternative options, then decided that leaving now, and with the cargo, without any fuss at all, was the safest thing to do.

"Sir," she said, getting into the mule's driver's seat, "time to go."

The comm. unit, still in her hand, crackled with static as Mal pulled himself up onto the tow bar behind her, due to the close proximity of his own unit. Zoë raised it back to her ear only to hear Wash still talking about something or other.

"Shut up," she told him, "and get back to Serenity. Now."

"Yes Ma'am," Wash said, and she could picture him grinning and giving her a mock salute.

The corners of Zoë's mouth twitched in amusement as she clipped the unit back onto her belt.

~888~

"I have a grenade!" Jayne shouted.

Kaylee slid out from underneath Serenity's main engine unit, dashed over the fixed comm. unit on the wall, initiated a 'full ship' connection and said, with more than a little worry, "What's happening? Jayne?"

"Glare at me all you want. I ain't lettin' you on this ship!"

It sounded like Jayne was talking to someone on the outside. Someone who could see him.

The only place that someone could look into Serenity from the outside when she was docked was the small portal window in the cargo bay door, unless someone had the equipment to climb on top of the hull and look down through the overhead windows or the windscreen on the bridge. Kaylee decided to start with the likeliest place – the bay.

Jayne still hadn't figured out how to use Serenity's communication system, so he often ended up talking to the whole ship, including the small speaker on the outside of the ship to the right of the bay door, instead of connecting to a specific room's comm. unit, but this was the first time she'd heard him using it to yell. She'd heard the Captain using it to yell, but he hadn't been shouting about grenades at the time. Jayne was, and it made her nervous.

She found the large man easily enough. He was holding a grenade in one hand and, with the other, using the fixed comm. unit that was built into the control unit next to the bay door in the cargo hold. From where she was stood in the doorway Kaylee could just see a pale face through the portal window.

"Is someone trying to break into Serenity?"

"Tryin'," said Jayne grimly, "but ain't gonna."

"Is there a lot of them?" she asked, moving closer. "They won't stop Zoë and the Captain getting back home, will they?"

At that moment Zoë's familiar voice sounded through the comm. with a little static.

"We're back."

Jayne glanced at Kaylee and, knowing that he didn't know how to use a fixed comm. unit to reply to a mobile unit (or vice versa), she initiated the connection for him.

"We've got an unwanted visitor," he said.

"I know. Let us in."

Kaylee took over the control unit and Serenity opened her doors. The mule came in as soon as the gap was wide enough and Zoë ordered her to shut the doors again now, but Kaylee was too busy gawking at Wash, who had followed the mule in and was now standing just inside the entry with his bag slung over one shoulder.

"Thank you," he said, smiling. "I was beginning to think that I'd be stood out there 'till my hair turned grey. Or until Jayne finally launched a grenade at me."

"Close up," Zoë repeated sternly and Kaylee hastily started initiating the sequence to close the bay doors and lock Serenity up tight.

"No," snapped Mal. "Don't close up."

Kaylee paused and looked around. Zoë was frowning, Jayne was fastening his grenade onto his belt and grinning, and the Captain was looking furious as he marched over to Wash. "What the hell do you think you're doing? I ordered you off this ship!"

"Ah," said Wash. "Well."

Zoë leaned over Kaylee and finished the sequence to close the bay doors.

"Did I order those doors shut?" Mal shouted. "No. I ordered them open. Is anyone followin' my gorram orders anymore?"

"I am," said Jayne.

Mal stared pointedly at the grenade on Jayne's belt.

"They're closing down the docks and searching all the ships," said Zoë as she turned to face the Captain. "The Feds are looking for stolen goods. Might be what Basinstoke's given us is stolen, might be that this is just a smuggling job. But this is a Core planet. They find us with anything we ought not to have then we're humped."

"We haven't been hailed about a search," said Kaylee. She started fiddling with the frayed cuff on the left wrist of her overalls. It always made her uncomfortable when folks were being angry with each other.

"Could be they're not giving us a warning."

Mal looked from Zoë back to Wash. "Could be that you've been lied to."

"Did think of that, sir, and figured that since we're moving cargo illegally, whether the goods themselves are illegal gains or not, that we're better off hightailin' it out of here."

"Which still doesn't explain why those doors," Mal said, pointing, "are shut with that man," he continued, his finger now pointing at Wash, "on the wrong side of 'em."

"Basinstoke didn't want me opening that crate, sir, and he had armed servants on the roof watching us. I don't think we're carrying something legal, stolen or not."

The Captain appeared to think about that for moment and then started throwing around orders. "Zoë, get on the cortex from the bridge and check the feeds for the docks. File a request to leave and see if they really have locked down." Zoë nodded and walked off, moving fast. "Jayne, help me unload that crate and let's see if we can't stash it somewhere it won't be seen by searchin' eyes. Kaylee, engine-wise are we good to go?"

"Shiny, Captain." She smiled, pleased that she could give a cheerful answer.

"Good girl."

Mal and Jayne started releasing the ties that held the crate to the mule's cargo trailer.

Kaylee moved over to where Wash was standing, shifting his weight as if he wanted to move forward and help with the unloading but wasn't sure his help would be welcomed. He turned to look at her when she placed a hand on his arm. She liked that wasn't that much taller than her, so she could see it clearly when he smiled at her.

"I'm glad you're back," she told him, and she was. Wash was someone else who was always wearing a jumpsuit and knew what a tri-couple 34 was and, if that wasn't enough to make her like him, he was funny and kind as well.

"Don't count your fuel cells before you've checked their charge," he said, but he put his bag down on the floor like maybe he was planning to stay.

"We've been denied permission to leave," Zoë said over the comm. system. "Weren't told why."

Kaylee looked at the Captain, who was just finishing pushing the crate into a hiding space with help from Jayne. "Guess what you heard might have some truth to it after all," he said, "but the Feds can search all they like and not find this cargo now."

"Um," said Wash.

Mal turned to glare at the pilot. "I am gettin' mighty tired of you."

"I still have a grenade," Jayne offered helpfully, "if you're really tired of him."

"I did notice," said Mal.

"The big money on this planet comes from engineering," Wash said, before the Captain could start shouting again. "They have high-definition scanning equipment here. They won't need to search, just run a scan."

"Seems you know an awful lot about how things are in these parts," said Mal.

Wash shrugged. "An old friend was in engineering here before he joined the flight school I went to. Plus I've done a few cargo runs of an engineering equipment nature. Actually, I've done a lot of cargo runs, more than any other kind of run, but the engineering equipment sticks in my mind because there was this one Professor who always liked to keep an eye on his gear when it was in transit and he used to-"

"Shut up," said Zoë, still speaking over the comm. system. "Sir, I can see the Pioneer 5 docked next to us. Three Feds just came out carrying a box and a dead body."

The Captain swore and Kaylee fought not to look as scared as she felt.

"Sir, there's a bulletin on the cortex says there's just been a laser blockade set up. We need a decent pilot if we want to get through that and there just ain't the time to find a new one now. Wash'll have to fly us out of here."

"I can fly," Mal pointed out.

"Yes sir, I happen to have first hand knowledge of that fact," said Zoë dryly. "Wash, get up here."

~888~

"Have you ever flown through a laser blockade before?" Mal asked as he strapped himself in the co-pilot's seat. He was determined to keep an eye on what Wash was doing, with the option of taking the controls away from him, even if Zoë had a low opinion of his flying skills.

"I flew through a laser obstacle course in a simulator," said Wash. He flicked the three overhead switches that powered up the helm.

"Oh shiny," Mal said sarcastically. He twisted his head around to look over his shoulder at Zoë, who was sitting in the fold-down seat behind him. "You hear that? He's flown in a simulator."

"Before yesterday I'd only ever flown through an asteroid belt in a simulator as well."

"You really want to remind me about that?" Mal gritted his teeth and watched as Wash's commands to the flight controls were echoed on the co-pilot's navigation screen. There was a light jolt as Serenity disengaged from her docking station and launched into the air.

"Hailing Captain Osmuri of the Marathon," said an annoyed voice from the cortex vid phone. Mal quickly switched off the viewer so that the speaker wouldn't have a face to put with the false identity of 'Captain Osmuri'. "Your request to leave was denied. Please descend and power down."

"Ignore it," Mal ordered as Wash reached for the controls to the collection of screens on the pilot's side of the bridge.

"I am," he said calmly. "I was just turning off the computer navigation."

"Have I mentioned lately that you're insane?"

"The frequency of the lasers used in blockades is designed specifically not to show up on computer navigation systems. To stop people getting through. Because that is rather the point, you know, that it's meant to be as difficult as possible."

"We're fastened in tight," Mal heard Jayne say over the comm. system, and then Kaylee saying, "You'll let me teach you how to use the comm. right, won't you? Soon?"

"Marathon, you have been ordered to descend and power down!"

Wash took hold of the steering controls with both hands and smiled.

Mal felt the ship vibrating and gravity pushed him back against his seat as the jet propulsion engines accelerated into half power and Serenity flew upwards at a steep incline.

"If the point is to make it as difficult as possible," Zoë said slowly, "and the lasers don't show up on the computer navigation, do they show up to the naked eye?"

"Not exactly," said Wash in his scary-calm voice and Mal closed his eyes. "You need the right angle…"

There was warm sunlight on Mal's face. He opened his eyes again and had to squint in the bright light streaming through the front windscreen. Faint lines crisscrossing the sky were just visible where more dust and other particles had gathered than anywhere else, as if drawn there by something the human eye just couldn't see.

His neck jerked forward and he grabbed the straps holding him in his seat with both hands as Serenity began to move through the blockade.

This, Mal decided, was worse than the asteroid belt. As scary as it was to watch huge rocks flying towards his ship it was even harder when the danger wasn't visible and he couldn't tell how close they passed by the laser beams that could easily slice Serenity in half. Besides the fact that this time their pilot wasn't only crazy but practically blind.

And since they were still in atmo the gravity was normal, which meant the forces exerted on his body matched the view through the windscreen.

Mal's heart flew up into his throat as Wash executed another barrel roll, his elbow crashed into the arm of his seat when Wash swerved, and all the time they were moving up and up, shoving his stomach against his backbone.

Serenity weaved from left to right, then up at a sharp angle, twisted to the right, rolled again, flew on her side for a handful of seconds, swooped upwards…

Mal considered praying, but then refused to on principal. God had abandoned him and everyone else in Serenity Valley, so Mal had returned the favour. He wasn't about to go back begging just because of a bumpy ride.

Not even when he wasn't sure which way was 'up' anymore.

"Beginning to leave atmo," said Wash as the ship began to level out. "Preparing to engage main engine."

Mal swallowed a sigh of relief.

Serenity lurched to one side and three red lights started blinking on the control panel in front of him, matching the three red lights on Wash's side of the bridge.

"Nobody panic," Wash said, still sounding terribly calm, "but the right jet propulsion engine appears to be damaged."

Mal turned his head to watch the pilot, who swung the controls the same way as the ship had lurched – to the right – until most of Mal's weight was pressing against the right side of his chair and the rest was against the back.

"Sideways and upways." One of Wash's hands left the steering controls to turn a thruster-speed dial and flick several switches in quick succession. "Engaging main engine. Main engine engaged. Initiating shipboard gravity. Shipboard gravity engaged."

The floor suddenly felt like the floor once more and the Black filled the front windscreen.

Wash turned on the comm. system and linked it to the entire ship. "Kaylee? Am I safe to go full burn on the main engine when there's damage to one of the jet engines?"

"I don't know without knowin' what the damage is," the engineer replied.

"We need to get out of here before they dismantle that blockade and come after us," said Zoë. "Now they'll know we have something to hide."

"Kaylee?" Mal asked.

"It's likely damage to one of the jets will just mean more damage to the jet if we go full burn. Main engine should be alright, but if we have one completely unusable jet engine we won't be able to make planetfall."

"Actually," said Wash, a little less calmly and a little more cheerfully, "you can land with one jet propulsion engine, it's just a very interesting kind of landing with-"

"Shut up," said Zoë.

"Right now we want to get off-planet," Mal pointed out. "Wash, full burn."

And, thankfully, that order was followed.

~888~

Wash was sat on the short set of stairs leading up the bridge when Zoë exited her bunk after putting her gun away. A gun was useless when wearing a spacesuit and a fatal danger if it accidentally fired.

He looked up when he heard her and said, "Are you going with the others to check the damage?"

Zoë nodded. "It only takes one person really, but it's always safest to have a partner when doing an EVA, and if we're sending two we might as well send three and see if we can do some mending while we're out there."

"If it's bad," said Wash carefully, "I mean, I hope it isn't, but if it is. I could make planetfall with only one jet propulsion engine functional."

He'd undone the top half of his jumpsuit so that the sleeves hung down at his sides like broken wings and his hair was a scruffy mess that she was sorely tempted to finger comb.

"Yes, I know. You're a nifty flyer." Zoë's lips twitched upwards into a small smile of their own accord. "But if we can't fix it ourselves we can see if there's any fuel stations with the means to do it, or barter with a space station for the parts, use of a mechanic, whatever we need. We don't have to leave the Black."

Wash looked away, gazing at a point somewhere down the corridor behind her. "Serenity's damaged," he said softly.

"But you didn't crash."

"I forget. That it's not a simulator and there's real people flying with me." The words came faster and faster, almost falling over one another as he pushed them out. "I love the Black and flying and being out here, but then I found out that enjoying that wasn't enough, 'cause if what or who I was flying wasn't enjoyment-inducing then everything lost its shine, and there were so many boring runs that I had to remind myself that the fun parts were fun. I never crashed in a simulator or damaged a ship, not since my very first year of flight school, and never an actual ship. Oh, ships were damaged, but not because of something I did, and I forget that I could. Do damage and kill people and-"

"Wash," said Zoe. "Shut up."

She gave in and ran her fingers through his hair. Once. It was slightly damp, which meant he probably had been sweating with nerves at least a little bit when flying through the blockade, and it was coarser than she'd thought it would be.

Wash's eyes leapt back to her face.

"You didn't crash and we're still flyin'. And even if you did crash some day, so long as the people you're carrying are alright then what difference does it make? You take the risks you have to take."

"So," he said with a grin. "You admired the nifty flying then?"

Zoë rolled her eyes, turned and walked away, although she couldn't resist smiling again, but only when he wouldn't be able to see her expression.

~888~

Jayne ignored the endless blackness surrounding them that was filled with only a few spots of light. Space was just space. The condensation that appeared on the viewing screen of his helmet every time he breathed out was annoying though, and he had an itch on his left shoulder that he wouldn't be able to get at until this little adventure in the Black was over and he could take the suit off.

"We're missing three panels off the topside," said Zoë.

"There's some exposed wirin' as well," Mal added.

"We have five panels left in storage, down in the bay," said Kaylee, "but I don't know what size or curvature they are, so you'll have to measure the gap and compare it to what we got when you get back inside. What colour's the wiring, Captain?"

"Red."

"Outside or inside?"

"I can't see the inside."

"Well that's good," said Kaylee cheerfully. "Means nothin' might be broken as such, just frozen over and the like."

Jayne thought it would probably be easier if Kaylee came out and took a look at things herself, since she was most likely to know what was what, but no one would dream of letting the perky mechanic out here. It wasn't all that dangerous, but still. Kaylee was Kaylee and they had to keep that smile safe, and if he worried sometimes that he was going soft, well, at least he didn't go all gooey when faced with that smile like Mal did.

"Gouges, tip of the retractor dowel sliced off, three blades on the rotate spiral broken," Zoë listed. "Can you double check, sir, and see if I missed anythin'?"

"Anythin' we can fix," said Jayne, "or we just hangin' around out here for no reason?" He liked the comm. units built into the spacesuits a lot better than the other comm. units linked to the ship because they transmitted and received communications automatically, which was a hell of a lot better than wasting time trying to figure out what buttons to push.

"Not much we can fix, no, but we can close some of it up." Zoë carefully detached the sealant gun that was hooked to Mal's belt and started squeezing a protective covering onto the exposed wires and anything that looked like it might fall off. "Jayne, come and give me a hand holdin' the rim still."

"Shouldn't be much longer," said Mal. "Then we'll stop at a fuel station, or Firly Space Station, and get this sorted proper."

"Then go get the rest of our money?" asked Jayne as he gradually moved closer.

"Then go get paid the rest of our money."

"Shiny."

"Might want to think about renting out one of those shuttles as well, sir," said Zoë, still busy with the sealant. Jayne reached out and held one of the split engine blades so it wouldn't float away if Zoë accidentally nudged it when trying to seal the thing in place.

Mal drifted closer to watch her cover the shorn off end of the retractor dowel. "We don't need the money if we keep gettin' jobs like we are, but a little respectability wouldn't hurt, I guess."

"Will we be stoppin' somewhere with payin' passengers and lots of lovely supplies, Captain?" Kaylee sounded excited at the prospect and Jayne found that he couldn't blame her.

"Had enough of Core planets for now," said Mal, "but we'll see. Somewhere where they're rich enough to have law courts and companion houses at least."

"I had a ship full of companions as passengers once, before the war broke out," said Wash. "Now that was one of my more interesting runs."

Jayne had heard the pilot's voice in the background when Kaylee was linked to the comm. system, because he was in the engine room with her helping write down what was broken with the engine and looking for parts they might have to fix it, but this was the first time he'd spoken to the rest of them. He was useful enough, for a little man, but Jayne still didn't like him all that much for trying to kill them all. Although he wouldn't complain if the man wanted to talk about companions.

"The ladies were the nice, polite sort, but they never sounded insincere, and every single one of them was a knockout. The men too. Not that I was looking at the men. Or the women. Much. You can tell me to shut up now."

Zoë obliged.

"All this talk of expandin' Serenity's crew," said Mal. "Don't think I've forgotten it is, in fact, already bigger than it should be. Wash, didn't I fire you?"

"Several times, I think," said Wash cheerfully.

"So why the hell are you still on my ship?"

~888~

"He didn't sound angry when he said it though. You think I'm safe?"

Kaylee smiled as she rethreaded the dual volume capria through the central engine coil and tightened the bolt. "He likes you."

"Really?" said Wash sceptically as he held out a mark 58 screw.

He was sat on the rusty floor of the engine room surrounded by boxes of small spare parts and several larger pieces of machinery left over from Kaylee's various remodellings of Serenity's inner workings. Hopefully there'd be enough parts to go about repairing the damage to the jet engine, or at least to contribute to it so they wouldn't have to spend too much on the rest of the parts.

"Well, he thinks you're a really good pilot."

"And insane." Even though Wash thought Mal was insane he didn't like that Mal thought that he was insane, which was kind of insane itself.

Kaylee wiped her forehead with the back of her left hand and took the screw. "I was thinking of what to do next when the dining area is painted. Think that's all the ship decorated that the Captain will let me do."

"I was planning to ask you if you'd take me on as your next project." Wash grinned. "Was gonna ask you to make me less annoying."

"You're not!" Kaylee protested, which made him feel almost as good as Zoë's warm hand in his hair had earlier.

"Sealant applied," said Zoë over the comm. system.

"Think we're done," said Mal and Jayne grumbled, "About time."

Wash rummaged through Kaylee's screw box looking for a 72, which was one of the parts they were going to need to fix the damage outside. Kaylee was meant to be helping him look for parts as well, but she kept getting distracted by what the others were saying on the comm. and the alterations she spotted that could be made to improve the main engine.

"You know, Zoe watches you too," she said suddenly.

"So does Mal," Wash joked. "He keeps coming up to the bridge at all hours, to check I'm not pulling a crazy stunt that'll cause me to crash and kill us all."

"Like flying though a laser blockade?" Kaylee said with a smile

Wash pulled one of the larger pieces of machinery onto his lap and started taking it apart. "Or an asteroid belt."

Kaylee shuddered. "Now that sounds scary. I'm glad we didn't have to do that."

"What would you say," he asked cautiously, keeping his eyes on his hands as they unscrewed a valve, "if I said you already had?"

"Coming aboard," said Mal.

"Airlock open," Zoë told them. There was a pause and static on the comm. system before she continued with, "Airlock closed. Regulating. All clear."

Wash added the valve to a box of other valves, of all different sizes and shapes, and began to dismantle the carriage.

"I've been thinkin' about an inter-engine fermentation system," said Kaylee. "For my next project. I thought some alcohol might come in useful."