Yu-Gi-Oh! (c) Kazuki Takahashi
Firefly (c) Joss Whedon

In this fic, the Yu-Gi-Oh gang lives in the universe of Firefly, trying to get by in the 'verse. This is not a crossover.


New Nippon, Persephone

2135

Atem reclined on a law chair in the middle of the street. The road was dusty, and the air was thick with smog. The richest people rode on horses or rickshaws; the poor walked or rode bikes. This was the symbol of the outer rim. Anyone unfortunate to live in this sector of the 'verse was doomed to technology that had become outdated three hundred years ago.

Really, Atem would have been surprised if he found a single satisfactory pilot in this dump. Half of the pedestrians gaped at his ship. Most of them didn't even speak English. Atem raised an indecipherable newspaper to his eyes with a sigh.

"Excuse me? Captain Atem, sir?" someone asked. Atem peeked over the top of his newspaper. A boy was standing there in dusty, brown clothing. He looked very nervous. "I'm here to apply for a job as a pilot, sir. I'm Yugi Mutou."

"Excellent," Atem said. "Come along. I want to see if you can pilot Skydragon."

Yugi tentatively walked into the giant ship. "C-type vessel, Firefly class. This is an old model," Yugi muttered.

"You're right, she is. She's certainly not very flashy, but she's reliable," Atem said. He led Yugi to the bridge. Yugi sat down in the pilot's chair and felt the controls. "Fly to Augusta and back." Yugi nodded. Atem sat down in the co-pilot chair and crossed his legs, looking Yugi up and down.

"Tell me the ETA," Atem instructed.

"About four and a half hours, captain, to Augusta and back again," Yugi replied. Atem smiled. Yugi was spot on, and he didn't even need to do any calculations.

"What planets are in the Uranian cluster?" Atem asked.

"Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Ophelia, Desdemona, Titania, Oberon, and Juliet," Yugi replied promptly. Another flawless answer.

Yugi lifted Skydragon smoothly off the ground and broke atmosphere without a hitch. Yugi's astronomy was good, his English was excellent, and he had decent flying skills. But there was another thing a captain wanted in a pilot. If Atem hired Yugi, they would be living together in the ship for many years. Atem needed to match sure that he wouldn't be tempted to rip Yugi's eyes out during the trip.

"So, Yugi, tell me about yourself," Atem said. They had more than four hours for conversation alone. Atem had ensured that. "Have you lived in Persephone for your entire life?"

"Yes, captain," Yugi replied. "I was born and raised in New Nippon."

"How did you get into flying?" Atem asked.

Yugi smiled. "In the orphanage where I lived, there was an old Phoenix in our backyard. It used to belong to our caretaker when he was younger and into flying. He used to take us out for rides on it. One night, I snuck out and flew his Phoenix all the way to Miranda. When I got back, I thought that the caretaker was going to kill me, but he said that I had natural talent and paid for me to go to flight school."

"Would you mind giving me your résumé?" Atem asked. Yugi broke orbit and switched Skydragon to auto-pilot. Then he pulled a sheet of old, brownish paper out of his backpack and handed it to Atem. Atem looked it over.

Yugi was only fifteen years old. Atem frowned. Although Yugi had received incredible recommendations from all of his teachers, Yugi had almost no experience. In fact, according to this piece of paper, Yugi had never even flown a Firefly before.

Yugi's C-type flight license was based almost purely on Yugi's amazing ability to adapt quickly to any vessel. Atem watched as Yugi switched back to manual and guided Skydragon effortlessly through space. He looked like a pro. Yugi must have been an extraordinary pilot.

"Should you decide to work for me," Atem said, "you will receive twelve percent of all of the ship's earnings on a case-by-case basis. You'll have your own bunk and free access to the mess hall, but I can't guarantee that we'll always have food." Yugi chuckled. "I will expect you to tell me if there's anything wrong with the navigation systems or the auto-pilot, or anything of that sort."

"Your left turbine's slow," Yugi said immediately. "It makes the ship kind of drag on that side."

Atem raised his eyebrows. "Thank you," he said. "I'll fix that as soon as I get a mechanic."

They fell into silence. "You're not exactly the talkative type, are you?" Atem asked.

Yugi flinched. "I-I'm sorry, captain, but I wasn't sure what was appropriate to say to a captain," Yugi explained. "I've… never been a part of an actual crew before."

"That's quite alright. Neither have I," Atem said lightly. "Were you to become part of the crew, you would be free to say anything as long as it is not disrespectful and it does not question my authority as captain."

"Right," Yugi replied. "So… why did you decide to become a captain?"

"An appropriate question," Atem responded. "I lived on Osiris, an outer rim planet, as you well know. I… had a few things to escape, and space was the best place to do that. As to why I decided to become a captain specifically, I always saw myself as more of a leader than a follower."

Yugi stared out at the stars with adoration in his eyes. "I didn't expect to become a pilot, but I love to fly," he said "And I love the fact that everyone in the 'verse depends on each other."

"When you're out in the black, isolated in space, your crew becomes your family," Atem stated. "And we are all obligated to depend on each other as well."

Yugi smiled and steered Skydragon gently. "Would you like to work for me, Yugi?" Atem asked.

Yugi quickly switched to auto-pilot and spun around. "Are you really going to hire me, captain?" he asked excitedly. "I'd love to be a part of Skydragon's crew!"

"Wonderful. Then you're hired," Atem said. He extended his hand, and Yugi shook it happily.


"Alright, everyone," Atem said, entering the cargo bay. "You have five minutes to tell me everything that's wrong. Go."

"Skydragon's auto-pilot is malfunctioning," Yugi said.

"The compression catalyzer's on the fritz, captain," Tea answered.

"Serenity died!" Joey said. With tears in his eyes, he held out an enormous rifle. "She meant so much to me…"

"Your five minutes are up," Atem said suddenly. He closed his eyes and sighed. He looked exhausted. "Those are all the complaints I can handle at the moment. I'll see what I can do."

He turned and walked straight out of the cargo bay. Yugi watched him leave concernedly. "Yugi, it's your turn," Tea said. Yugi remembered the Duel Monsters cards in his hand.

"Oh, right," Yugi replied absently. He put his hand on his deck. "I forfeit. I have to go." He gathered his cards and took off toward the captain's quarters. He pressed the page button. "Captain?"

Atem opened up his door. "How can I help you, Yugi?" he asked.

"Can I come in, captain?" Yugi asked. Atem held open the door for him, and Yugi walked inside. "Atem, I know that it's hard to get by sometimes, but you shouldn't worry so much about it."

"Yugi, as a captain, it is my duty to take care of my crew," Atem replied. "Auto-pilot and compression catalyzers are vital parts of the ship, and I believe that Joey will have an emotional breakdown without Serenity. We just need to find some work, and quickly."

"You know that there's always work in transporting water from Ariel to the outer rim planets," Yugi offered. "I heard that Osiris is willing to pay a lot of money for a couple of kiloliters." Atem was silent. "Why do you always get like that when I bring up Osiris?" Yugi asked. "It's like you're trying to avoid it or something."

"Osiris is a wonderful plan," Atem said quickly. Yugi frowned. "I'll schedule a meeting with the Atlantean Water Export Company. We'll see what we can work out."

"Okay," Yugi said uncertainly. "But we can always take it to another outer rim planet if you're—"

"Osiris is fine," Atem said sharply. "It is a desert planet, and the people living there need the water very much. Besides, we could use the cash."

Yugi nodded and excused himself from Atem's room. He wandered into the mess hall, where Tea was preparing dinner and Tristan was preening over his arm muscles. "Am I going to get a compression catalyzer anytime soon?" Tea asked.

"Atem's applying for a job in water transport," Yugi said. "Have you guys noticed that he gets sort of weird whenever we bring up Osiris?"

"You'd have to be blind and deaf not to notice," Tristan replied. "I wonder what happened."

"What do you mean?" Yugi asked.

"Come on, Yugi, something had to have happened to the captain back on Osiris," Tea said. She laughed. "Maybe he was married or something."

"I think that he was pro-Unification, and the browncoats tried to kill him," Tristan joked. "What about you, Yugi? What do you think?"

Yugi thought about it. "The captain told me once that he was escaping from something," he said pensively. "But he never told me what he was escaping from. I think that something bad happened to him when he was a kid, and he doesn't ever want to go back to that."