Firefly Origins

Author's note: Beginning a new Firefly series with new characters & new adventures. Still, the old cast and crew will be aboard. Just may take a bit of time before some of them arrive.

Synopsis: This story begins pretty much with Mal's purchase of Serenity, and what comes next. I hope to complement the Whedon universe...a bit of sci/fi that I absolutely love.

********** Episode 1: Follow the Fire *********

Noonday on Persephone....

Malcolm Reynolds walked up the plank and up into the belly of Serenity. In his hand there was a note.

In the cargo hold (arms folded across her chest) stood his second in command, Zoe Alleyne.

"So, did you get us a job," she asked?

The captain raised his hand and in it he held a small, white piece of paper. He twirled it between his fingers.

"Badger," she asked, looking at him.

"Short guy with a derby hat with an inferiority complex...? Yeah, Badger," he answered.

Zoe grinned.

"Good, maybe we'll be able to get us a decent cook aboard this ship," she said.

Malcolm Reynolds knew that she was annoyed. They had only acquired Serenity a few months prior. The captain had seen the vessel in a "reclamation yard", a place where old, worn-out vessels go to die, and he had immediately fallen in love with the craft, whereas zoe, not so much. She had thought that there were better ways for them to invest their modest accumulations. Still, he had convinced her that this would be perfect for them. They could get out, see the verse, and not be under the rule of anyone (Reynolds had issues with being under the thumb of others). Reluctantly Zoe had given in and this would be the start of many illicit and exciting adventures.

Anyway, Mal now stood in front of his loyal partner in crime. In his hand, seemingly, he held the promise of a paycheck, IF they were successful, the "IF" emphasized in capital letters.

"So, who do we have to rob or kill," Zoe voiced with a smile.

The "killing" part had been said in jest. Malcolm Reynolds and she never killed anyone. Well they had in war. However, they weren't murderers, they were thieves. Still, they would defend themselves if they had to, but the thievery part wasn't going so well. There were only four of them aboard this vessel. It was she and Mal and a guy named Bester, their engine-room mechanic, and a guy named Murphy, their pilot. Not people she would have been incline to hire but hey, she wasn't main proprietor of Serenity. Anyway, the captain answered her question.

"I don't know yet," he said.

"You don't know what the job is?" Zoe was a little confused.

"Yeah, I'm not sure if Badger totally trusts us. He may be a sad little king of a sad little hill, but he still has to protect himself. The note is written in code."

"Code...? Well, what does it say?"

Mal handed her the piece of paper. Zoe opened it. She read.

"Follow the fire...," her brow furrowed. "Follow the fire, what does that mean?"

She looked over to the captain. He only gave her a shoulder shrug.

"I don't know. It's kinda cryptic. Maybe it's a test, you know, to see how smart we are."

"Well, I'm smart enough to know that we should ditch this job. My two coppers say that we flush this piece of pigu ca (ass wipe) down the septic and take our expertise elsewhere."

"Expertise...? Zoe, we've only been thieving for a couple of months...I dare to say that we are experts at it."

She gave him a stern look and a frown. The Warrior Woman was always more serious about these matters than the captain. And her warrior intuition and sense of danger was something he should, and did not, take lightly. He knew when he was traveling on thin ice with his war buddy. Mal said something he knew would pacify her.

"Ok then, how about we head up to the bridge and get on the cortex. We can search for information or anything that may give us a clue as to what this means."

Zoe's frown softened. She was okay with that.

The two made their way up to the bridge and were startled to find that the pilot was nowhere around. Zoe turned to Mal.

"Didn't you tell Murphy to remain on the bridge, just in case we needed to leave quickly?"

Sergeant/Captain Malcolm Reynolds wasn't use to people not following his orders, and Zoe, well she was mostly the only one he let question anything, in any fashion. Still, Serenity had to have a pilot, and they were stuck with Murphy until they could find someone else.

"I'll hog tie and beat him with a cattle prod when he gets back." Mal knew how to defuse certain situations with his second. They were good together and they knew it. They were the Yin and Yang of each other, why spoil things?

"Can we do some searching now?" Mal was eager to make a connection to the note, any connection.

The two search the cortex but really came up with nothing. At that time Murphy came in eating a sandwich.

"What you two doin...?"

They turned to look at him.

"Oh we're up on the bridge where I think that I gave orders for the pilot to be," Mal said sternly. There was no jest in his tone this time.

Murphy stopped mid-bite.

"I was hungry."

"You could have gotten Bester to bring you something," Zoe said.

Murphy looked at her.

"I didn't want that grease-ball bringing me food. His hands are always dirty and he smells like lubrication fluid. And snice he can only keep this thing flying for one trip at a time I thought that you said that you were going to find for somebody new," Murph said while looking at the captain.

Mal scanned him, but said nothing. It wasn't worth an answer. He returned his attention to the search.

"What you lookin for...?"

Mal handed him the note. He was confident that if he and Zoe couldn't figure it out, when there was no possibility Murph could. The pilot looked at the paper.

"I know what this is," he said.

Both the captain and Zoe turned again to look at him.

"By all means then show us," Mal said.

Murphy walked over to the console. He typed in an inquiry. What popped up were news articles, three to be exact. They all described robberies which had been committed out and around the rim worlds, robberies which all had a distinct MO. The places were all set afire after the crime had been committed.

Murphy straightened up. Mal and Zoe turned and looked him in the eye. The first pilot of Serenity brought the sandwich back up to his lips. He took a bite and began to cew.

END PART 1