Captain Malcolm Reynolds was in space. This wasn't anything new, him being in space, seeing as his current residence was in fact a spaceship, but right now, he wasn't in the ship. He was in a spacesuit.

There is a big difference. For one, when you're on a ship, you don't have to worry so much bout' floating away from whatever it is your standing, or rather floating, on. And at the moment, he was standing/floating on an abandoned ship with what would hopefully turn out to be a very shiny cargo. He was just waiting for the door to open.

As he waited he could hear Zoe and Jayne breathing heavily next to him. The three of them were all focused on one thing. The door. Funny how such a thing could mean so much. If it flew out, then it meant that the cargo would be there. If it just floated there when it opened, then the cargo might be there, but probably damaged. Then Badger would heap a whole lot of trouble on Malcolm and his crew.

But this time, they got lucky. The door suddenly flew away from the metal hull. Zoe read Malcolm's mind as she spoke "Full pressure. The goods should be intact."

Jayne moved forward and shoved the rest of the door aside, Malcolm watched over Jayne's shoulder, shining a light into the hole. Sure enough there they were. Three metal crates, each one looking right pretty there. Almost like they had been waiting just for this crew to come and take them out of the black. Things were looking good.

But then Wash's slightly panicked voice came over their headsets, "We have incoming! Alliance cruiser, bearing right down on us!" Typical

Malcolm swore in Chinese, "F**k me blind!" Then, reverting back to English, "Have they spotted us?"

Wash stumbled over his words, "I can't tell if-"

"Have they hailed us?" Malcolm demanded. It was always near impossible to get a straight answer out of that man if you didn't ask the right questions.

"If they're here for the salvage, we're humped." Jayne growled, his mind on the money. Which was one of the only two places his mind could go.

"They find us at all we're humped." Zoe argued "Think they're going to just let-"

Again Malcolm spoke in Chinese, "Shut up." Then he ordered Wash in English, "Shut it down. Now. Everything but the air."

If they didn't give off an energy signature maybe, just maybe, their luck would hold, and they wouldn't be spotted.

"Shutting down." Wash confirmed. Then he dropped the radio. Presumably to talk to Kaylee who was the only other person on the ship with him.

Malcolm started looking for the cruiser, wanting to see the ship before it was him at the very least. There was nothing in the space he could see.

But then there it was. Green light erupted from the side of a twisted metal wall, and Malcolm couldn't help the cold shiver that ran down his spine from the look of it.

This that was immediately replaced by an angry burning in the pit of his stomach. Rage that never went away, despite the six years that had passed. It was always in the back of his mind, but times like these, when the Alliance showed up in places he didn't like, it shot to the front of his mind.

After a minute of staring at the gorram ship Malcolm asked, "Wash, They slowing down?"

"That's a neg. Don't think they're interested in us. We should be eating wake in a minute or two." Wash's voice was calmer now, letting Malcolm relax a small bit.

Zoe and Jayne both glances at Malcolm at this. He continued to stare intently at the Cruiser. Jayne turned his attention back to the goods, while Zoe continued to look back and forth between Malcolm and the Allaince Ship.

She too felt a burning in her stomach, but not one nearly so bad as Malcolm's. The Ship reflected off of the glass that protected him from the space around them. And she could see the memories flashing in his eyes as he looked at the ship. The same ones were flashing in her head.

They waited for what seemed like an eternity. The ship slowly passed them, but just as they let themselves how that they were going to get away from this clean Wash swore in Chinese, "Sh*t on my head!" Then reverting back to angry English, "Captain we're humped!"

Instantly, with a strange calm that came only from past experience Malcolm took charge "Fire it up! Now!" Then he turned to his two teammates "We move these in, double-time!"

He floated to the crates and pulled the three of them out. Handing one to Zoe and Jayne he jumped up and started floating back on home.

As he, Zoe, and Jayne did so. They saw Serenity come to life. She lurched upward a few feet, and lit up like a Christmas tree from earth-that-was. Except for her tail, which Malcolm knew would take a bit longer to light up.

"Cry baby Cry." Malcolm said, eyes on the airlock.

"Make your mother sigh. Engaging the CryBaby." Wash came over their headsets.

And not to far away, behind a degrading moon, what looked like an oil drum with the words 'Cry Baby' lit up. It started broadcasting a signal that would hopefully make the Alliance go away, if not distract them long enough that Serenity could get away.

Malcolm, Zoe and Jayne all floated their crates past the twisted wreckage and into the airlock. Malcolm hit a button to make the door shut, and the gravity turn on. The three people, and each of their crates came down on the floor with a loud smash! Malcolm made a mental note to talk to Kaylee about making the gravity come on a bit slower.

"Wash! We're on! Go!" Malcolm shouted into his helmet.

Then he felt Serenity as she pushed away from the wreckage. Her tail lit finally up and she started to move, "Hang on Travelers." Wash said to everyone as the three pulled helmets off their spacesuits.

"Let's moon 'em." Jayne grinned, as Serenity finally pushed forward with a great flash from her rear.

They waited a second before opening the door to the airlock into the cargo bay of Serenity. Malcolm and Zoe had taken a few steps forward when Wash's voice came from over the intercom

"We look Shiny Captain. They are not, repeat, not coming about."

"Close one." Zoe panted, walking with Malcolm out of the airlock, hair sticking to her face with sweat.

"Any one you walk away from, right?" Zoe and Malcolm turned to look at Jayne, who was pulling one of the crates out of the airlock "Long as we got the goods, I call this a win."

Malcolm turned away and started heading to his room, "Right." He frowned, thinking again about the Alliance and feeling his stomach burn, "We win."