Here's how it is: The Earth got used up, so we moved out and terraformed a whole new galaxy of Earths. Some rich and flush with the new technologies, some not so much. The Central Planets, thems formed the Alliance, waged war to bring everyone under their rule; a few idiots tried to fight it. I was too young at the time, but now I'm doin' everything I can to stop them. I'm Finn Hudson, captain of the New Direction. She's a transport ship; Firefly class. Got a good crew: fighters, pilot, mechanic. We even got a couple of extras - a companion and a doctor. Pretty good at their jobs, like we are at ours. You understand how it is - can't make any decent money without a ship. If you got a job that needs doing, we can do it, don't much care what it is.

Finn Hudson, captain

A few years back, Finn's mom got remarried, and this guy she married fixed up ships. Finn never quite got the hang of how to make one run smooth mechanically, but he really knew how to work the human aspect of a ship.

But then his mom and step-father got in a bad crash, and neither made it out. Suddenly, it was just Finn and his step-brother, Kurt. They didn't know what to do, so they did the only thing that made sense to either of them. They got a ship. She had to be old and broken for them to afford her, but it was okay because Kurt could fix even the most desperate of engines.

Once she was up and running, Finn started scouting out people to fly with him. First, of course, he went to his friend, Puck. The two had been running together and causing trouble on their planet since they learned to walk. And Puck was perfect for what Finn had in mind.

See, owning a ship is good and all, but they couldn't make any real money honestly - they weren't qualified and didn't have any of the right connections. But they did know of a couple dishonest folk who might need an innocent looking ship to transport their goods. They were looking into transport. Of the slightly, possibly illegal nature. And Puck was their muscle, protecting them with his idiotic bravery in case anything got too messy.

As good as Finn was at running the inside of the ship, he and Kurt were brothers. And brothers were always likely to get on each other's cases. It took four months of petty disagreements and loud arguments before Puck finally had enough. They were stationed on a southern planet, not the richest, but a nice enough place. Puck simply stalked off of New D and walked through the village. He came back three hours later with Sam.

Sam was exactly what they needed. He wasn't bright, as he'd been working on the family farm instead of going to school ever since he could walk, but he could settle any argument, calm any room, and he was a damn good tactician.

After another couple of months, Finn realized that they needed to expand their crew a bit more, even if they couldn't exactly afford it. They were getting more and more jobs, and some of them were pretty dangerous. There had been more than a few close scrapes, and Finn wasn't nearly adept enough as a pilot to get them out unscathed.

So they started asking around.

This time it was Kurt who found the answer to their problems - both the pilot one and another problem that they hadn't even anticipated. He found Mercedes Jones, a big, outspoken woman, who happened to be one of the best pilots in the system. She was able to make the New D fly in ways they didn't think she was capable of.

But the best pilot didn't come for cheap.

And that was where Kurt's other solution came into play.

One afternoon, a tall, tan woman followed him onto the ship. She was wearing a shirt that covered only as much as it needed to, and her long skirt had a slit that went miles up her thigh.

"Damn, Kurt, I didn't think the ladies were your thing," Puck commented, his eyes trailing over the woman's body greedily.

"They're not, and that's not what this is about," Kurt replied shortly. "Santana needs a way to get around the system in order to see all of her clients. We need more money. She's going to rent out one of our shuttles."

And just like that, the New D's crew grew by two. With Santana's rent money, they were able to afford Mercedes' services as a pilot. It took some adjustment, but soon the men were able to accommodate to living with women again, and soon they couldn't imagine living any other way.

After almost two years together, the first big tragedy hit. They were stopped at a pretty rich, lush planet to pick up some medicine. Sandy Ryerson wasn't the most trustworthy man, everyone knew that, but a job was a job. Santana had finished her work with her client and retired back to the ship only to find that Sam, Finn, and Puck were still missing. Mercedes and Kurt weren't their usual gossipy selves, either; rather they impatiently waited in the bay with nervous looks on their faces.

"What happened?"

"They're not back. Rendezvous was fifteen minutes ago," Kurt replied tersely.

"Sure they didn't just get held up?"

"They would have let us know somehow. Something's not right."

As if those were the words to summon the other men, the three that had been out came staggering up the deck, Puck in the middle and supported by the two others. In any other situation it would have been funny to see how incredibly lopsided it was - on one side was Finn's gigantic form, while Sam's more average height supported the slightly-taller Puck on the other.

"What happened?" Mercedes said, a note of panic rising in her voice.

"Some Alliance thugs were waiting for us. Apparently that rat Ryerson sold us out to avoid arrest. Puck got hit before we could get out of there."

They rushed him to the med room, but no one knew how to do much more than fix us bumps and scrapes - and a gunshot wound to the side was much worse than a simple scrape.

But fate seemed to favor the New D crew in odd ways, because it was that moment that a man approached the open gates.

Earlier in the day, he'd stopped by and asked if they could give him a ride. He would pay handsomely - anything to get off the planet and away from his overbearing father. Kurt, having the authority since Finn was out, had accepted and told the man to return later.

The man wanted to leave his father and his father's ideas for his life behind. He wanted to be his own person, rather than the doctor that his father fancied him to be. Thankfully, he had gone through full medical training before finally standing up to the man and leaving.

When Kurt saw him, he almost began praying to a God that he didn't believe in, because it truly seemed like a miracle.

"Please, can you help him?"

And just like that, Mike became a member of the New D crew. Being a medic on board a transport ship, where he got to witness action and adventure as well, was much more fulfilling than simply working at the Alliance's best hospital, like his father had planned for him.

New Direction and her crew might not be pretty. They might not look the most intimidating. But they were strong, they were smart, and they were a family.

Kurt Hummel, mechanic

Kurt grew up in ships. He was learning how to fly them, how to take them apart, and how to put them together at the same time that he was learning his ABCs.

When most people looked at the man, the expected him to be nothing much. They saw his lithe form, heard his voice, and learned his sexual orientation and assumed he was weak. But he was smart and fast and could sabotage any ship that came his way if he so desired.

When his father died in the crash, Kurt didn't know what to do. The ship's engine had been faulty, and Kurt blamed himself. He ignored that it wasn't a ship he'd ever seen before, and that it took place on a planet he'd never even been to because it was during a "special trip" for just his dad and step-mom. He knew more about engines than almost anyone else, and he could have prevented the crash.

So when Finn took charge, Kurt was relieved. He didn't have to think for himself. He could just do what felt best to him - and that was fixing up the old hunk of junk that Finn was so proud of.

Kurt didn't even notice at first what Finn was doing - assembling a crew and beginning an illegal transport business. Of course he'd heard of others who had done it and even met a few in his time. Once a young woman from one of those ships had stopped by his dad's shop to buy a replacement part. He'd been in awe of the men and women who flew that old Firefly, but his dad had fiercely warned him to stay away from that sort of business because of the Alliance.

By the time Kurt figured out what was happening, it was too late to stop it and all he could do was make it better. So he found a nice, smart, level-headed pilot - and it was only an added bonus that she was a woman and he could relate to her in a way he couldn't relate to the rowdy men he'd been living with for so long.

He brought on Santana, too, who might not have always been the nicest or friendliest, but Kurt could sense that there was more to the companion that she projected to the rest of the world.

By the time Mike had joined their ranks, Kurt had stopped even thinking about any other possibilities for his life. This was where he was meant to be - in the sky.

Noah "Puck" Puckerman, fighter

Puck and Finn grew up together and bonded over not having dads. Both were alone and had to make their own male role models, and Puck ended up making a few wrong choices.

By the time Finn had approached him to ask him to join his crew, it had been nearly two years since the friends had last talked. Finn's mother had died, which changed the taller man. Puck had changed too, but differently. He'd fallen in with a rough crowd, and it wasn't uncommon to see him roughing up the wealthy visitors to get some spare cash or contraband to sell. He was already primed for illegal work when Finn proposed the idea.

Things were awkward at first, since Puck had never met Finn's step-brother and his first instinct was to rough up the kid because of how he looked and acted. But as soon as Puck got over that, he and Finn were back to being as close as brothers.

Of course, Finn and Kurt really acted like brothers, which meant that after living so close together for so long, they started to get on each other's nerves. Any time Finn had anything even slightly out of line, Kurt would shout at him or burn his food on purpose. And Finn started making Kurt do every last thing that needed doing on the ship. When he couldn't take the tension and hostility and longer - and when it began to affect their work - Puck decided to take some action. He stormed off and somehow managed to find the one man with a solid head for transport work on the farm planet they were parked on at the moment.

Kurt bringing in Mercedes, however, was what challenged the crew's unity the most.

From the moment the woman stepped aboard the ship, Puck knew she was judging them. She didn't approve of what they were doing or how they were doing it, and she certainly didn't think much of Finn's leadership.

"Finn… well, he might not be the brightest, but he's strong and brave, almost to the point of stupidity, and I ain't never seen a better leader in my time," Puck growled fiercely. "He and I have had each other's backs for years and I wouldn't trust anyone else."

He was ready to send the woman off and never think of her again when he saw the glint in her eye. It had all been a test. She wasn't going to risk her reputation by doing illegal work with a crew that wasn't cohesive. He knew she was going to work on New D, even before Kurt brought Santana on so that they could afford Mercedes.

From the moment he met Mike, Puck didn't trust the man. He was too inexperienced and naive. He didn't understand that the real world was nothing like the bubble he had grown up in, nor was it even like the images the Alliance had fed him throughout his privileged childhood. Puck was civil to the doctor because he had saved his life, but he refused to accept him as part of the family that the New D crew had become.

Sam Evans, tactician and fighter

Sam grew up on a farm. He went to school for a few years when he was real young, but only the brightest kids kept going past 12, and he wasn't one of the brightest. He wasn't wired for numbers and letters. He liked pictures and people - real, tangible things.

He worked in the fields like his parents told him to and watched over his little siblings, but always, Sam was thinking about something else. While he was gathering crops, he would sometimes stop and stare at the livestock. He could watch them for hours if he wanted to. He watched how the bull interacted with the sow, and how a bull would react if another bull entered his area. He learned their movements and how they fought each other.

When he would be watching his brother and sister, Sam didn't pay attention to the stories that they acted out with their dolls, rather he saw them moving in different formations in order to get around the barriers in the room.

It had been any old day baling hay with his Pa when the rough outsider with the mohawk walked up to their fence. Sam's Pa didn't notice the man, but Sam did and he watched him out of the corner of his eye. The man didn't leave his position at the fence all morning, and when Sam went over to take the heavy sack of feed for the cows at noon, the man approached.

"If you wanna talk or ask questions, it's my Pa you'll be wantin'," Sam said.

"Actually, I want to talk to you."

"Well then, you better follow. And watch where you step if you wanna keep those fancy boots clean," Sam huffed as he hoisted the sack over his shoulder and tromped over to the pen where the cows were waiting.

Both men stood silent and watched as the cows slowly began to gather in to eat their feed. Sam felt awkward in the silence and eventually began explaining what was happening with the bulls just to have something to do.

"That big one there, he don't like when the other bull comes near him. He don't really like him bein' around at all, but he ain't smart enough to catch on. He always goes for the small guy in the same way, and the small guy's figured that out. He knows the big bull's weaknesses now, and he knows how to earn his spot."

"You know a lot about them," the other man said.

"It's easy. They're just like people. Predictable. They like patterns, and they stick to their ways. As long as you understand how people work, how they attack, you can beat 'em."

"I like how you think. You're strong, too." It almost sounded as if the other man was speaking to himself rather than to Sam, but Sam listened anyway, shifting his gaze away from the cows for the first time. "Interested in a job?"

"A job?"

"Yeah. Me and some others, we fly a transport ship. You seem like you'd do okay there."

"But - my family, I can't just leave them."

"Why not?"

"Why not? Because they're my family! They need me! We can barely afford to keep the farm as is, and if I leave -"

"If this is just about money, then that's not problem. We get paid pretty well, and you can just send your share back to them."

"But -"

"Tell me you've never wanted to get out of here. Convince me, and then I'll leave you alone."

And that's how Sam ended up aboard New Direction.

Mercedes Jones, pilot

Mercedes didn't really know how she ended up as the pilot aboard a rickety transport ship that brought illegal contraband from one end of the system to the other. But she loved every second of it.

Of course, she knew there were plenty of crews trying to make a living like that, and most of them wanted her - the daughter of a decorated military pilot. So why she had to choose the most ragtag bunch when she could have been living like a queen was illogical. But then again, that whole process had been illogical.

First, Kurt had managed to not only send her a message, but actually show up at her door. Then he charmed her and made her fall in love with him (if only he was straight!). Then he took her to New Direction, and even though it looked pretty run down from the outside, the second she stepped inside, it felt like home. And how everyone on the ship treated each other - that was amazing. It was four men - three were the traditional 'man's man' and yet they loved and respected Kurt. They were all there for each other like a family.

And, of course, there was something really comforting about sliding into the seat in front of New D's controls. It felt like returning home. The technology was a little outdated, but it was just… right.

Of course, despite all that, Mercedes had to keep up her front. She didn't want to let these guys think they could cheat her or walk all over her just because she was a woman. But she was so, so glad when Kurt solved the money issue and brought on Santana.

...Until she met Santana, of course. They cohabitated well enough, but despite being the only two women on the ship, they did not form a bond or any sort of camaraderie. Santana was a little too much for Mercedes' tastes in every which way - she was loud, she was crude, and she didn't censor herself at all. And yet somehow, it was endearing - once Mercedes got used to it.

One person that Mercedes didn't have to work to get used to at all, other than Kurt of course, was Sam. From the moment she had stepped aboard, the simple farmboy had caught her eye. And underneath his wholesome and goofy exterior was a brilliant tactical mind, even if it revealed itself in an unconventional way. Not to mention, he was easy on the eyes, too. When the boys were late that one day, Mercedes didn't say anything about her worries for Sam because she knew that Kurt had to be feeling even worse - he'd already lost his mother, then his father and step-mother. The last thing he needed was to lose his step-brother, the last remaining member of his family. So she comforted him, when in reality she was fretting about dear Sam getting hurt.

Santana Lopez, companion

No one who knew Santana Lopez growing up would have been surprised to know she became a companion.

But of course, none of them really knew what a companion did. Nor did they really know Santana.

Sure, the sex was wonderful. But even better than the sex was everything that she learned. She held the dirty little secrets of some of the system's most influential men and women.

No, more than the sex, Santana loved the power.

Honestly, she thought that power and sex would be the only things she ever really cared about. Until damn Kurt Hummel came into her life and offered to rent her his shuttle. Because Kurt made her care about other people too. Kurt made her care about New Direction and her crew. And when Kurt did that, he opened up a place in Santana's heart that she had locked and forgotten about many years ago.

That was the day Santana chose her first female client.

Mike Chang, doctor

From the moment he was born - no, before then - From the moment Dr. and Dr. Allan Chang decided they wanted to have a child, it was decided. Their son or daughter would be a doctor. Perhaps a neurologist like its mother, or a trauma surgeon like its father, or something else. But the child would carry on the family legacy.

So Mike was treated to classical music in the womb, his parents never babied him or talked to him like he was any less than a MD. He was enrolled in the most prestigious primary school and excelled in all his classes. He was never any less than the best, just like his parents wanted. It took a long time before Mike realized that it wasn't at all what he wanted.

But he was too afraid to break away from the comfortable world he had grown up in, the only world he knew.

It wasn't until he had graduated med school and began working at a hospital that he let himself think. And it wasn't until he lost his first patient that Mike ran.

It was pure luck that he found New Direction.

At first he had just wanted to get away - from his parents, from his planet, from his job. But when Mike stepped on that ship and was immediately whisked off to the medical ward to save the life of one of the crew, he realized that perhaps he really was supposed to be a doctor. He just was never supposed to be so suffocated by his parents.

To say that the New Direction was a beautiful ship would make most men scoff. She wasn't pretty, at least, not if you didn't know how to look at her. She was an old Firefly class ship and was falling apart in more than a few places, inside and out. But those that knew her… well, to them she was home. She was more of a home than they had ever had before.

a/n: so this is just the intro to a piece that I'm planning to continue. Obviously, it's an AU of the TV show, Firefly. The text at the beginning is (largely) a direct quote from the series. There also ended up being a lot more parallels between the glee and firefly characters than I intended - I didn't want Finn to be Mal. In this universe, Mal and the crew of the Serenity also exist (maybe you caught that the woman buying the spare part from Kurt and Burt was Kaylee?). As usual, I don't own glee or firefly. Let me know if you think this is promising, or even things you might want to see. Reviews make me super happy!