Prologue:
Serenity flew low over the desert of Bellerophon, with two Alliance gunships hot on her tail. On the bridge, Wash controlled the ship with a steady hand, as a missile exploded close to the ship. "Hóuzi de pìgu lièfèng!" he exclaimed as the shockwave hit the ship broadside. Mal ran onto the bridge. "Wash, get us the gorram hell out of here!" Wash replied with a grim look on his face. "Working on it."
"Wash, if the Fed's get us with that cargo on board, we're in a bigger pile of gǒupì than you'll ever see!"
Wash was about to reply when Kaylee's worried voice broke onto the radio. "Cap'n, I don't think Serenity can take much more of this!" Mal looked at Wash. "What about a 'Crazy Ivan'?"
"If the engine is in as bad a state as Kaylee says, then we wouldn't even be able to pull off a regular Ivan, whatever that is." Suddenly, just as Mal left the bridge, the windows on the bridge shattered as a missile exploded close to Serenity. The ship pitched at a steep angle towards the ground. Glass flew everywhere, and Mal was thrown into the bulkhead. As consciousness left him, he saw the red rock of the desert coming towards him as Serenity fell out of the sky.