Okay! Reupload of the original chapter one, though after a FABULOUS review from RionaEire I went back and tied up some loose ends. And I added Chinese! So, here's how that'll work, aty the end of every phrase, there will be an asterisk, to know what this Chinese translates into, scroll to the bottom of the page and it'll be there. I was going to put the meaning in next to the phrase, but I had always though that adding things like that(A/N, translations, explanations, etc.) was kind of tacky. Enjoy the revised edition!

Chapter 1

The boom shook the entire bridge, throwing it's occupants from their chairs, causing the pilot to throw the steering wheel hard to the left, making the insect shaped ship veer down and starboard.

"I'm a leaf, I'm a leaf, I am a leaf!" The man wrenched the wheel from it's position, putting it right, bringing the ship out of it's haphazard dive. Trying desperately to keep his footing, the man standing next to him looked to his left.

"You ok, Little Albatross?" He asked the young psychic who was sitting in the co-pilot seat.

She just stared at him for a second before answering in a daze, "I threw up."

"Lovely…" The browncoat muttered, "Wash, we flying straight?"

"Uh… for now. But she's rocking. Somethin' ain't right. You might want to check with Kaylee to see if the engine's shiny." The expert pilot was struggling to keep Serenity straight and aloft. Rapid footsteps could be heard approaching the control area.

"River!" The pure-bred doctor ran to his sister, "Are you alright?" He immediately began checking her over, making sure she didn't have even the tiniest of scratches, if she did, Mal just knew he'd be gettin' an earful from her brother.

"No I'm alright, really. Don't worry, it's just a cut on my pinky." The captain was inspecting the centimeter long scratch on his little finger, while laying his trademark underlying tone of sarcasm on the statement. He watched as Simon walked his sister out of the room then turned his attention to the small patch of bile laying on the floor. He groaned and decided he'd have Simon or someone clean it later. Meanwhile, he would be figuring out just what had caused the boom. No one's attackin' us. They would have fired at us again by now. Must've been the engine. Mal considered as he headed down and past the crew's quarters. Emerging from his bunk, the man called Jayne appeared.

"What the hell was that!?" He asked as he stepped in behind Mal, following him.

"Sir? What happened?" the Amazonian woman, Zoë, was in the kitchen, and fell into step behind Jayne.

"Kaylee!" The captain called out into the small room.

"Everything's shiny, Captain." A round, grease covered face framed by chestnut hair popped out from underneath the engine.

"Then why the hell did my ship just take a small detour in the form of a nose dive?"

"The main C-40 gasket in the compressor blew, but not to worry. We had another one on board and I've already got it all in it's place and Serenity's flyin' smooth… for now." She added the last bit as quietly and quickly as she could.

"'For now'?" Mal asked, worried.

"Well, the replacement compressor ain't gonna last long." She hesitantly said.

"Then make it. I need you to make my boat space worthy."

"And she is, Cap'n. but without the new part she'll only be for a while."

"How long?"

"Three days at most." The captain sighed. Why did it seem like these things always happened to him? He thought in silence for a moment.

"Ok. I'll look at our options for a rock that'll have the part. Kaylee, you work on making my ship stay up for as long as you can. Zoë, there's a small mess in the bridge I need you to deal with. Jayne… go… clean Vera. Or something." With that, Mal left the three crew members to go work on their engines, clean their guns, and wipe up some vomit while he went to pay a visit to his favorite, high class whore.

He stepped into the exotically decorated shuttle and began to speak, but before he could, she cut him off.

"How many times must I tell you, Mal? Do not just storm into my shuttle." The elegant woman sat, making tea.

"At least a couple hundred more times. So, I see you've got everything back in it's place." He looked around at the familiar curtains and bed around him.

"Yes. It's actually kind of nice to be back." He smirked at her.

"As long as you keep payin'. Listen, I need you to help me find a planet or moon near here that will have a new compressor for the engine."

"And by 'help' you mean 'do it for me'." She was reading again. Like he was one of her 'clients', "I take it that that was the reason for our little excursion a moment ago?"

"It is." They were silent while she poured herself a cup of the fresh tea.

"Why do you need me to find a planet? I know nothing of the ones this far out."

"Because I'm lazy and have important captain duties to attend to." He stated as matter-of-factly. She met him with a blank stare.

"Fine. But," Ugh, always a 'but' with her! "After the ship is repaired you have to take me somewhere I can get a customer." An ultimatum of sorts. He weighed the options.

"Ok. Deal. Get to work." He turned to leave.

"Maximum." She said quickly. Mal turned to her.

"Pardon?"

"The moon Maximum. It should have the part, the settlement is large enough. It should be cheap too." The captain stared.

"You knew about Maximum before I even came in here."

"Well, I do check the planets we're going to be near for potential clients." She had won… again. Mal grumbled and went to get the coordinates for the moon.

Two days later, Wash gently set Serenity down onto the dry, hot moon.

"There's actually a settlement here?" Simon asked as he stepped out onto the lowering ramp.

"Yeah. A pretty big one, actually. Upwards of 3,000 folks." Kaylee explained, taking his hand.

"3,000 people is a big settlement?" He asked incredulously, looking out at the bit of shrubs and cacti that was about.

"It is this far out in the black." Mal cut in as he hopped up into the Mule and turned his attention to Wash, who was standing near, "Wash, we're leaving River with you."

"What? But, Mal… I don't… know her."

"And I don't want to leave her here." Simon interjected.

"Well, you gotta, Doc. You can come back before the rest of us, if you like. I just want you there in case we ain't exactly welcome. Just deal with her for now, Wash. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where do you think you're going?" He put his hand out to stop Inara from stepping up.

"I'm coming."

"Why?"

"Why is it any of your business?"

"Lemme see, oh, yeah, cause it's my ship and my Mule." Mal said in his commanding, harsh voice. Inara looked annoyed.

"I need more supplies for my shuttle."

"What ya need supplies for? All the food an' such you need is on the ship."

"I mean for while I'm off with a client. Now, I'm coming with you." She finally finished climbing in, and sat down in the back.

"Mule don't run with five, let alone six." Mal spat back.

"It'll be fine, Mal. You're not running from Reavers or the Alliance. We're just going into town." Mal dropped it, wanting to just get the part and get off this gorram rock. Mal was driving, with Zoë next to him in the passenger's seat, and Kaylee sitting on a crate between them. In the back was Inara, Jayne and Simon. Mal cranked the Mule into gear and took off toward the town of Park, leaving Wash and River in the dust behind them.

Wash noticed the strange girl staring at him, "… Hi."

"我们正处在大麻烦.*" She replied and wandered off back into the ship. Wash looked back to the speeding Mule.

"You can say that again."

Around ten minutes later the Mule stopped in front of a parts shop/junkyard, getting looks of awe from the locals due to their shiny ride.

"Whoa." the doctor added as he saw the sea of faces.

"Just ignore 'em. The backwater, country bumpkins." Jayne muttered as he leapt off and followed everyone else into the dark, tiny 'shop'. Inside, they found a young girl sitting at an old, rotted desk, doing what looked like math on a scrap of yellow paper. In fact, math was everywhere. Extensive equations and algorithms covered the walls so fully that you couldn't tell what color they really were.

"Oh yes, country bumpkins." Simon said sarcastically. Jayne glared. They all looked expectantly at the girl, waiting for her to greet them. A few minutes passed and she just kept writing. Mal cleared his throat. It worked.

"Could you look for a problem that looks like this, please?" She pointed at the paper she was working on. "The solution should say 'x = 7r3.14n'." She got up and began rummaging through the papers on the walls, and on the desk. The crew just sort of glanced around at each other, unsure of what to do.

"Didn't find it? Damn, well, gotta go to the archives." She went back to the desk and opened up the top, largest drawer. Inside, filled nearly to the point where it couldn't be open, were thousands more papers, all scribbled on. There was no system, they had just been shoved in there.

"Uh, listen. We, uh, need a part…and were kinda in a little hurry." Mal tried, hoping she would get the hint. Luckily, she did.

"Right. Sorry. I just get in this mental thingy when I'm working. What can I get you folks?" She asked looking at them for the first time.

"We need a… uh… Kaylee, what do we need?" The Captain couldn't remember.

"A compressor that'll fit a Firefly class, and it has to have a C-40 gasket, or it's no good." The girl chuckled and began typing the specifications into a computer for the part. She continued laughing.

"…Somethin' funny?" Mal asked, a bit offended.

"What? Oh no. I just, thought that Firefly's had stopped flying years ago. Although, without this part, yours isn't, huh?"

"That would be why were here. Givin' you pay." She searched for another moment or two before speaking.

"Well, hate to say it, but I don't got your part." She looked at them, waiting for their reaction. Mal rounded on Inara.

"'They'll have the part'." He mocked her.

"I said they should have the part. Not that they did." She looked him right back into the eye, challenging him.

"But…" The girl began again, "I will have it in about three days, if you folks got no problem stickin' 'round till then." This threw Mal off his rage ride and broke the eye contact with Inara.

"Why will you have it in three days, but not now?"

"Because my supply ship will pass through then. I know for a fact they'll have one for ya. You're lucky, they only come once every month or two. You came at just the right time." They were all silent while Mal contemplated. He didn't want to be stuck here for three whole days, but, the thought of blowing up didn't sit too well with him either. He made up his mind.

"You know any where we could stay? Our ship's a ways out and our ride don't have much fuel."

"Well, there's always the local inn, but the owners a greedy bastard. His prices are crazy."

Mal sighed, "This trip's startin' to cost me a whole lot of cashy money."

"Well, you could stay with me. It's just me and my aunt in this big ol' house, with at least two spare rooms. I'll even let ya stay for free, long as you pay for your meals."

"Well, now that's an offer that's just too great. We'll stay."

"Wait, wait, wait. I can't stay from River that long." Simon butted in.

"Your sister's been doing better lately. She'll be fine."

"Sir, with all respect, I agree with the doctor. I don't want her stayin' there alone with my husband." Zoë spoke.

"Well, what? You wanna walk back? You sure as hell can't take the Mule." Everyone was silent, trying to come up with a solution.

"You could rent a horse from the stable. Prices ain't too bad, neither." The young girl seemed to be becoming more an more helpful to them. Mal looked her over. She was average height, light brown hair, light freckles across her nose, and green eyes.

"What's your name?" Mal asked.

"Luka."

"Luka what?" She laughed.

"No. Just Luka."

Translations:

我们正处在大麻烦 --- "We're in big trouble."

Also! All the Chinese I put in here will be in simplified version, not traditional.

Review, please!