Their airlock door opened. There were six of them, a smallish crew, couldn't be hauling much 'cargo' with a crew of only six, smugglers then. Or maybe a low budget passenger liner. Of course the way the man at the front was lookin' at us with his hands up led me to think smugglers, he looked pissed that we had boarded him. And in my experience people only look that angry when they got somethin' to hide.

In front of the man stood a thin wisp of a girl, her hands were at her sides and she was looking at us slightly bored like. There was a big man, slightly behind him and to the right, and a dark woman to his left. They looked as though they were ready to draw at a moment's notice, definitlely the muscle of the operation. Behind the muscle and the strange girl stood a bright and sunny girl and a slightly nervous looking fellow. I could tell by the way they were standing that they were a couple.

'This your crew?'

'In a manner of speaking.' He looked as though he wanted to draw that pistol on his hip, his right hand kept drifting down, but then he'd snap it up higher again to match his left.

The commander glared at him.

'You're the captain?' The man nodded

'This your crew then?' The man nodded again. The commander looked exasperated again.

'Course this ain't my ship, so really they ain't my crew.'

'Who's ship is it then?'

'It would be mine.' A beautiful lady came walking from the catwalk above, down toward the rest of the miscreants in the cargo bay. She looked perfect, very beautiful. She smiled at the commander as she moved forward.

'I'm sorry I wasn't here to greet you personally commander.' She smiled again. 'My name is Inara Serra, and this is my ship. Captain Reynolds just runs it for me. I hope we've done nothing illegal, I'm new to this so I apologize for any oversights.'

The commander nodded, we all nodded. She was too beautiful not to agree with.

'I'll still need to do a proper search and question your crew ma'am.' She smiled as if we weren't inconveniencing her in the least and replied 'Of course'

We each strode forward and grabbed a crew member. We would take them to the holding cells where they would wait for the search to be over and any questioning.

'Commander.' Inara interjected, 'I'm afraid we've left one crew member behind.' The commander bristled and a few of those not manhandling the crew drew their guns a bit higher. She smiled 'he was napping and we just couldn't bear to wake the little fellow. If you don't mind I'd like to go and get him before he is awakened by your men.' The commander looked at her askance. Boarding an unknown vessel was always stressful. You never knew what you were going to find. Could be they were a hardcore criminal organization with all sorts of traps laid out for us. They didn't look honest so the commander was pretty guarded. He nodded at her, 'I'll come myself, Jenkins, Xue please escort us.' I promptly followed them into the crew quarters.

Inara opened a hatch and Jenkins went down to make sure there were no traps, I didn't envy him, who knew what sort of nasty surprises these criminals could have cooked up for us? But then I heard him laugh a bit. And then he was up the ladder again, but holding a baby in one arm. I could see the commander relax, these people couldn't be that dangerous then, if they kept a baby on board then they probably weren't criminals. Probably just new to the black, that's why they were missing the proper registrations.

'Thank you Jenkins.' Inara said as he handed her the infant. The baby was awake and not very happy to be meeting three strangers but he snuggled up against her. We all sort of assumed it was her baby, pretty dark, but who knows who the father was. No one on board that's for sure. Course she did look like a companion, and companions didn't normally run ships, but maybe the baby was why she wasn't at one of the guild houses anymore. Maybe she'd quit or somethin'.

She followed us to the holding cells, and just as the commander was about to lock her in she looked up at him and said 'Commander, I wonder if you wouldn't mind if I gave the baby back to his mother. He's getting a little hungry.' I could tell the commander was a little confused but he agreed. 'Who's his mother?'

'Zoe.' The commander told Jenkins to take the baby to Zoe, and then locked Inara in her cell. Seemed all kinds of wrong to lock a lady like that in a cell, but procedure had to be followed.

The ship had about a hundred holding cells, so they were split into seven separate cells, one person per cell. Procedure again. Made them antsy so when you questioned them they'd be more likely to talk to you. More likely to roll on each other.

The commander decided they should start with the big guy first. He had looked up Reynolds', and Zoe in the computer as he'd gotten their names. Better to start out with information than have to ask for any. That way they think you know more than you do. Those two were old buddies from the army days, all they way back to Serenity Valley and maybe even further. So while she would be loyal, the big guy was probably just a merc, no loyalty and easy to roll. After him we were going to question the nervous guy, and then the shiny girl. Then the odd thin girl, and then we would get to the army buddies. We weren't going to try the lady until we got her files, so far the guild had locked us out and it would take a bit of negotiation to get her files. So I was right, she was a companion, and the guild always protected them until we had enough evidence for conviction before they'd ever give us information.

'So looks like you're the hired muscle for this little enterprise.' The commander began.

'Looks like.' The man grunted

'Treat you well?'

'Well enough.'

'Perhaps not too well?'

'Why? You gotta better offer?'

'I might, depends on what you know'

The big man snorted, folded his arms in front of him and leaned back in the chair. Didn't say a word though.

'What kind of work does the crew do?'

He didn't' speak.

The commander looked at me. "Xue, take a retina scan' The man didn't move an inch, I approached him, he was all kinds of menacing with all those knives on him, and proabaly a few concealed guns as well. Made me nervous. He didn't move while I took the scan though. Just sat there.

'Jayne Cobb.' I began to read off. 'Never bound by law. But held in quite a few suspicious crimes.'

'Sounds like you ain't exactly an honest man Jayne Cobb.'

He just stared belligerently at the commander.

'You'd be a pretty good fall man for an operation like this.'

He kept right on staring. The commander was a bit taken aback, Jayne was definitely a merc, and normally mercs rolled real quick. Unless he was sleeping with one of the women on board, which is exactly where the commander went next.

'Course maybe she tells you different. Maybe she tells you she'll be true. Especially as you've got a child together. But I don't need to tell you her loyalty rests with Malcolm Reynolds and not with you. You know that, you just keep deluding yourself that they keep you around because she loves you.'

The commander keeps at, trying tack after tack, but the man just sits there glaring at us for the whole hour, making us feel like he could kill us all if he had a mind to, but not saying anything. Finally the commander gives up.

Then we question Zoe, the commander would use her baby against her, but it looks like she don't even care for the poor thing. He's crying and crying, and she just slaps him to her breast without lookin' at him, then stares right back at the commander and answers questions. The only answer that throws the commander for a loop is when he asks her if the baby's daddy knows how much she cares for the thing. She smiles, then says no. Creepy.

Malcolm Reynolds is by far the most interesting of the interviews. He belligerently answers every question with way too much information. It's not until the interview is almost over that I realize he's doing it on purpose. He's not giving too much information because he's mad, he's giving us tangential information to throw us, but doing it in such a way that makes us think we've seized something. His interview goes on for a good long while. The commander threatens him with every crew member but the companion, starting first with the girl that he assumes is Malcolm's daughter. He seems to give in, but never really does. He must have had plenty of experience after the war in the POW camps to be that good, better than any of us.

The commander is getting frustrated by the time we get to the nervous guy. He gives us his name easy like so we don't even bother with a retinal scan, he's ready to roll.

'Simon Frye.'

'I assume you want to do the right thing to protect you girlfriend.'

'Oh yes absolutely, anything for her.'

'What's your job on board?'

He blushes, 'I'm just the medic. Hardly do much on the ship, mostly patch up Kaylee whenever the engine bites her.' The commander looks at him skeptically, if they are criminals shouldn't there be bulletholes? But his blush looks so genuine, his smile so self-deprecating. The commander is taken off guard. The man seems genuine. I know different of course. This boy isn't a medic, no way. He's from the core. His accent is rough, especially to a newbie out on the rim like the commander, but it's still from Osiris. There's no way he's telling the whole truth. What's a core boy doing out here? Course, that mechanic is pretty pretty, and once she comes in for questioning I get why he's out here.

Name?

'Kaylee Frye.' They're married! Probably ran off to the rim, I want to ask how they met, I can see why he'd elope with her. She's just so damn shiny. The commander doesn't have the heart to press her on anything, she's just so cheerful, so innocent. He's pretty much convinced the crew of this firefly isn't up to anything nefarious.

So we escort them back to the ship. And everything seems shiny, we're ready to leave and then Reavers. The commander rushes back to the ship, but there's a glitch and three of us are left on the firefly as the command ship moves to intercept.

The Captain doesn't look happy about this, and at first I think it's because he hates having Alliance on the ship, but turns out I'm wrong. It ruins the charade. The whole crew has been lying for almost 12 hour straight, and incredibly well I might add. Inara isn't in charge. The Captain is. He's their sun, the rest of them are planets in his pull. They follow orders quickly, efficiently. This isn't a crew who forgot about baby in a hatch, this a crew that made it look like they had.

And they weren't even scared of the Reavers. The Captain looks at us, trying to decide what to do with us. And I have sinking feeling in my stomach it's not going to be good. I've never seen a man look at us with such blatant hostility before. Actually, they whole crew is hostile. They want us gone.

'Jayne, put them in the airlock.' I panic, they're gonna space us! The merc moves us toward the airlock. The crew doesn't even argue with him, they're busy. 'River, you want to do some fancy flying for us?' She closes her eyes 'They won't lay down' 'I know albatross, but you think we could somethin' fancy and avoid another close encounter?'

So they'd fought Reavers before. She nods 'Don't want my Jayne getting 'et' She says. Jayne snorts gruffly at her comment but I can see a twinkle in his eye-so that's his woman! The Captain laughs 'Course I don't want to get 'et either little albatross, so why don't you get you're skinny self on up to the bridge?' She mockingly salutes him and heads off.

Kaylee rushes after her, probably to the engine. Jayne keeps maneuvering us toward the same airlock we came in on. Once we're inside he tosses something in after us. At first I think it's a grenade, but no it's a comlink. The captain knocks on the window and puts his to his mouth.

"Now I don't like you, and I got all manner of reasons why, but these are Reavers so reason don't come into it.'

I can see Jayne and Zoe raiding the ship of guns and generally moving about, Simon and Inara too. The crew has jobs and they were doing them. Getting ready. I shivered, I've never heard of any one surviving a Reaver attack, so I don't' know what they were getting ready for. If we couldn't outfly them we'd all be dead. And I didn't have much faith in the go se firefly we were on.

The Captain continued calming in the com link 'So, if you're willing to take orders from me, I'll let you out of there. I'll give you guns. You can stand with us. But if you ain't I'm just gonna leave you there for them to feast on.' I get it instantly, if we don't join, we're a distraction.

'Mal' Inara calls from across the bay. He looks at her and they have a hushed conversation. He turns to us again and asks. 'So what's it gonna be?'

I instantly respond 'I'll fight with you.' Then I hand the comlink to other two. They both sneer. They think the Alliance will protect us and be back for them. I imagine that's how it will turn out, but if it doesn't I'd like to have a gun to use instead of just being bait. The Captain nods and lets me out, but leaves the other two in the airlock.

He looks me in the eye, asks my name. 'Private Xue Sir.' I say as I salute him. He has a twinkle in his eye. 'You see that Zoe?' He asks. 'Did sir.' He grins. Turns to me again 'Choose your arsenal' and gestures toward all the guns laid out.

As I grab my gun the crew starts to strip their clothes off, and at first I can't see why, but Jayne comes running with armor. 'River, Kaylee and Inara already suited up Capn'. The captain yells for Simon and they all strap on armor. I'm impressed. No idea where they hid everything, more than enough guns for an arrest, and the body armor they have is illegal if we'd found it they would have been bound by law for sure. They're obviously well trained, even the medic seems halfway comfortable with putting on armor. Once he's got his on Jayne runs off again and the Captain and Zoe start moving crates around. Simon has disappeared into the infirmary again, I see he keeps making trips from there and deeper into the ship.

Jayne comes back again as the ship lurches about, 'Damn girl's gonna git us all killed' he grouses, but you can tell he doesn't mean it. This time he's passing out masks and oxygen tanks. Even one for me, just in case. In case of what I don't know. Then he's off again. The Captain is telling me where he wants me to stand. Dead center on the first level catwalk. Zoe will take the left on the top level, Jayne the right, and Mal will be above me. Inara comes back 'All the hatches are sealed and primed.' She says coolly. 'Good.' The Captain drawls as he gives a her quick kiss. 'I want you on the bridge with Simon and Kaylee.' She looks a little miffed, but he strokes her cheek and she heads off.

Jayne comes back again, this time he's got what look like rigged up mag boots, even a pair for me. He looks at me sternly 'You have to switch them on for them to grip. My girl don't like to fight with heavy feet, so she said you could have them.'

'She fights! I thought she was the pilot.' Jayne grins and chuckles a bit 'Yeah she fights, hopefully she won't have to though.'

Suddenly we feel a ship hit us. They start cutting through the outer door, the Captain orders us into position. They've made it nearly impossible to get to the catwalk from the crates, I get in position. The captain opens the inner door, and the two privates rush in, they have no guns and start yelling for help. Zoe, Mal and Jayne's faces look like stone. They don't flinch at the names being flung at them. And then the Reaver's breach. I've never seen anything so awful, they go for the privates, but the crossfire is nasty and the first wave get all torn up, so the privates are still alive, a little hurt but still alive.

The second wave comes in, another twenty or so, and they go down too. By the time we get to the fourth wave ammos starting to get thinner, Jayne isn't using a mini gun anymore he's switched to assault rifles just like the rest of us and the privates don't make it through. We wait for another wave, and as it comes we slowly fall back.

Eventually we start getting hit here and there, nothing too bad, mostly just grazes where the armor doesn't cover. After what seems like hours we're hailed by my ship. The Captain looks nervous, there's all kinds of illegal in plain view now. Armor, guns, some explosives. If he gets boarded they'll be bound. He knows he can't run, he can't use the same ruses either now, I've seen them. They aren't what they seem to be.

'I say we space him.' Jayne offers. It's a good thought, a better death than being eaten by a Reaver, would save their hides. The Captain shakes his head, we'll get him back to his ship.

The commander enters. They haven't had time to strip out of armor, but they've hidden the guns. If they get taken back to the cruiser they'll find the armor and be bound. The commander is shocked. There are Reaver bodies everywhere. 'I came for my men, but does your crew need any medical attention?' The Captain shakes his head, 'We're fine.' The commander looks for the missing crew mates, kept safely on the bridge during the carnage. The captain answers his unasked question. 'Didn't think they needed to see this, if you need to speak with Ms Serra, you can head on up to the bridge.'

The commander shakes his head, he's in awe. Bodies everywhere, and hardly a scratch on Reynolds and his crew. 'How..' he begins to ask. 'This ain't our first tangle with Reavers. Learned a bit from the first time around.'

'That armor you're wearing is illegal.' Instantly the Captain is defensive now, he's tired. Been questioned for 12 hours, been fighting Reavers for a few as well. They're lies could be exposed, and if they are then what are they hiding that makes them lie?

'Reckon it is.'

'I could cite you for it.'

'Reckon you could.'

'Private Xue, report back to your bunk.' I'm reluctant to follow.

'Whatever their hiding should be kept hidden' I say impulsively. The Captain laughs, Zoe smiles and Jayne chuckles

'We ain't hiding nothing. Why do you Alliance always assume a man is hiding something just because he don't lay down for you?' The commander looks at him askance.

'I heard tell of a crew on a Firefly fighting Reavers and living before.'

'Have you now?'

'If you're them, you have nothing to fear from me.' The commander extends his hand, the Captain shakes it.

And we head back to our ship, the Firefly heads off the commander turns to me and says. 'How does it feel to have been in a firefight with heroes son?' My mouth must have dropped. 'You haven't heard of the heroes of Serenity Valley? Of Canton? Of Miranda?' I was shocked. 'Miranda?'

'Yup, they're files are flagged, expunged yes, but still flagged.'

'By whom?'

He smiled enigmatically. 'So do you think Malcolm Reynolds and his crew could win a war?'

I was feeling seriously confused now. 'Not on their own.' He nodded, and gave me a meaningful look.

I'd heard of Miranda, some people had family on Miranda, maybe even my Commander? 'Sir? Are you thinking of joi-' He didn't let me finish my sentence, clapped his hand over mouth. Then nodded.

'I didn't know it was them when we picked them up, good liars though aren't they?' He mused 'Didn't think a man who hides behind a woman like that would be worth following, but he's changed my mind.' I nodded 'I'd follow him anywhere.' The commander nodded too, 'Been offered the job, turned it down. Doesn't want to lead.' I sighed, 'Then I guess things will keep going the way they are.' He sighed too. 'I suppose so. Shame isn't it? Man like that leading, who knows what the independents could do a second time around.'

I nodded, and we watched the Firefly's wake disappear into the distance.