Disclaimer: I do not own the crew of Serenity or any of the worlds they travel to. I merely enjoy playing with them. Those characters and planets not from the series or the movie belong to me though. Don't Touch, no, no.

Author's Note: This is my first 'published' piece of fanfiction. That in mind. This is only for fun. If you have a problem with me having fun then you, well, suck. For those who are here to enjoy themselves, enjoy on. (Oh, yeah. I know nothing about ships so if you ever see me mention a ship part, I'm just making it up, so, don't attack me.)

NAMES CHANGED MAY 12, 2007

Chapter One:

The Arrivals Gate

She turned around slowly, eying the dust that flew around the town. It had been near a month since any ship had landed in Rixie. Holly had worked in the little shop selling hardware for six years, since she was 10. Her daddy owned it and when her momma died he put her to work. He insisted that's what good girls were suppose to do. Her father was never one for the comprehension of a childhood.

She walked outside to wipe the windows off like she did every time a ship came in. Windows never stayed clean anyways. It was just her excuse to get a good look at the newcomers. Wasn't but ten minutes before a younger gal came bursting out down the loading ramp.

"Cap'n she needs fixin'. If parts blowin' off left and right ain't sign enough that Serenity needs fixin' I don't know what is!" The younger girl seemed downright perturbed.

"Holly!" Her daddy was calling. She dropped her stare and started to run back into the store but instead ran face first into her pa. "What you doin'?" he sneered a little at the collision before wrapping a rough arm around her and pointing off into the new ship's direction. "What they here for?"

"I dunno. Seems they need fixin'," Holly replied and moved uneasily out of her father's grip and towards the ship.

When she finally got close enough to see inside she snuck past the Captain and "Little Kaylee" for so she heard him call her. They were too busy arguing to notice the intrusion.

Holly made it just inside when she heard a gun cock above her. She stopped her movement and starred straight ahead letting the gun-wielder come down to her. It wasn't much longer before a very large scruffy man was standing infront of her.

"Mal!" He called out never taking an eye off of her. The arguing stopped outside and the Captain came running, leaving Kaylee to examine the outside.

"What in the gorram hell is this? We land for two seconds and already have another passenger? This has to stop." He looked at Holly. She wasn't much of anything. Kind of scrawny, dirtied-up. After deciding the small girl was no threat Malcolm Reynolds stepped between the large man and her. "Jayne, put Vera away."

Holly cocked her head a little. "Jayne? I dunno on what moon that's fittin'." Jayne grumbled a little and held onto Vera a little tighter. Mal only cleared his throat. Jayne left in a huff mumbling curses.

"Now, Dunno what kind of raisin' you've had but it ain't rightly nice to just enter someone's home without approval." Captain Mal turned around on the girl. Holly nodded a little. The captain noticed the girl's forehead scrunch up a little bit. Seemed to be she was looking at something behind him. He had a very good, worried idea of what, or rather, who it was.

"Now, Mal. When did you learn that to be so?"

Holly was quite confused. There was a cute captain, a burly man, a sweet looking girl who seemed to know what she was talking about when it came to ships, and now a beauty. The captain seemed distracted by her, so Holly took her chance and stepped off the ship and ran back to the store.

"Well?" Her father was waiting, smoking what was left of a cigar butt.

"They need help." Holly said before heading out back.

"Where'd she go?" Mal turned around expecting to see the young girl but instead was met with Zoë.

"You seein' things again, Cap'n?" Zoë smirked. Mal was not amused. He only grabbed his partner in crime by the arm and pulled her down the loading ramp with him. Kaylee saw him and started to run after them.

"You best be lookin' for parts Cap'n. I'm not gonna be gettin' back on this here baby before she's got a new rotary cuff." Mal kept walking pulling Zoë with him. Jayne soon followed after, having put Vera away in a nice, safe spot.

They made their way to the closet store in the town. There was a taller man standing on the porch of it, smoking a pathetic excuse for a cigar. He seemed unimpressed by the crew.

"Any place around here we can purchase some replacement parts for our ship?" Mal said, hoping to Shepard's God that there would be something there to make Kaylee happy.

"Be mighty grateful if you'd point out someplace," Zoë added.

After a moments consideration the tall man spoke. "Walk no furthur. We've got a barn full of parts out back. I'll take you there." They started to follow the man through the store but he stopped them at the door. "That is, I have to be askin' for some kind of payment in these rough times." Mal nodded his understanding and they kept walking.

Wasn't long before they had walked through the entire store and out the back door. There was a large barn, sure enough, right behind the small store. There'd be something in there if there was anything. When they got to the barn doors Holly was there waiting. Almost looking as if she were taking the lookout. She got real nervous-like when she saw her father and the crew approach.

"My daughter," the tall man pointed out, "Hope she didn't cause you too much trouble. She's just a curious one. Almost too curious." If Holly knew what was best for her she would have run off and not stood in the way. The last words her father spoke were more of a threat than anything. But she stood up strong as her scrawny frame would let her. Zoë caught the smell of something foul about to go down and looked at the Captain. He seemed confused. She turned her head to Jayne for some reason. Of course, he was standing there looking off into nothingness.

"Holly, you best be gettin' back inside. Got business here."

"Daddy, don't think business wants to–," the man grabbed his girl by the arm and moved her aside. He pushed his frustration down best he could and slid open the rusted old barn doors. His face turned a bright shade of enraged when he saw a couple before him. They seemed to be doing a lot more than kissing. A lot enough to bring Jayne's attention out of nothingness and straight into focus.

The man let out a rumble of great anger and stalked forward, leaving the crew of Serenity quite dumbfounded.

Holly's eyes stayed to the ground. "That's my sister, Isolde. Daddy don't like her much."