Persephone, several weeks later

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Captain?" Zoe Wasburne spoke with an almost monotone inflection as she and Malcolm Reynolds exited Serenity and started walking on the pavement around the abandoned part of the Eavesdown Docks that their ship had landed on. "Going to a world so close to the Core? After we sent that transmission on Miranda, and that hwun dan Alliance agent sent a follow up wave a little while later, the whole crew are among the most wanted in the 'Verse. So, I'm asking you again, sir. Are you sure it was a good idea to bring us into Alliance space right now?"

Jayne Cobb's upper lip was turned up into a snarl as he exited Serenity right behind the captain and his first mate. "Of course it's not a good idea! Why did you bring us so close to the feds, Mal? Gorramit! Do you want us all to get locked away? We are public enemies number one!" The bearded man scratched his cheek for a second. "Well, I guess we can't all be number one on the wanted list, because there is more than one of us...But still, there has to be work somewhere else! Something else for us to do! I would sooner fight Reavers again then..."

Jayne stopped talking after Zoe glared at him for mentioning Reavers, and the mercenary tried to

apologize to the dark-skinned woman as she walked away from him."Hey, come on, Zoe! I was just waxing metaphorical! I didn't mean nothing by it! Wash was a...was a...well, he was great gorram pilot, is what he was! I was just agreeing with you that us taking a job here is a yu bun duh idea and..."

Mal suddenly turned towards the mercenary and glared at him, even as Zoe stopped walking so that she could listen to her Captain speak his mind. "Hey! Taking a job this close to the Central planets maybe a yu bun duh idea, but it is my idea! And seeing how you both..." Malcolm turned to his first mate to address her as well. "Are part of my crew, this is the yu bun duh plan we are all going to go with! Besides..."

The captain sighed. "This is the only job I could get us after that Gos se that went down at Mr. Universe's place. Everyone else, every other contact that has ever given us work, is either dead, in hiding, or just plain refusing to work with us after everything that has happened. Even Lord Harrow is

too spooked to give us work now, and he's a member of Parliament! Badger is the only living person that will still hire us! Now, you know I don't trust Badger one wit, and he looked a lot more nervous in the wave he sent us than I'm comfortable with. But look, our cupboards, and our stomachs, are all empty, Serenity is badly in need of repair since half the parts the Alliance gave us were gos se, and we are almost completely out of gas! The only reason we didn't crash land on this planet was because River was able to use some creative navigation on the way here in order to save us fuel! Be that as it may, even though River is a better pilot than I am, and I've only seen one person fly Serenity better than her..."

"Wash." Zoe interrupted her captain. "Hoban Washburne. It's okay to say his name, captain." The first mate turned to Jayne. "And my husband was a great gorram pilot. Thanks for saying so."

Zoe scowled. "But the captain's right. If this is the only job we got, we gotta make good. I just hope Badger's offer is on the level..."

"Offers on the level, captain..." The owner of a familiar voice called out to Malcolm and his two companions, who promptly turned around to look at their ships resident kwong-juh duh turned pilot, River Tam, who was practically dragging her brother, Simon, behind her with one hand. River continued speaking, heedless of her brother's blushing, or the looks the other members of the crew were giving Serenity's resident doctor, whose shirt had the top three buttons unfastened. ""But the offers not from the sad little king!" River pointed to her head with a smirk. "She knows these things!"

Malcolm raised one eyebrow. "I'm not quite sure what you are babbling about nyen ching-duh, but I thought I asked you to stay on the ship. You're the pilot, now. You need to stay at the cockpit in case things go bad here and we need you to give us a quick exit!"

River giggled, then raised her right leg towards Serenity. "She don't have enough juice for take off, much less a quick get away! Used all she had left to land on this sad little hill without making us all go splat! Besides, Simon and I both need to go with you!" The smile fell away from River's face as she let her bare foot touch the ground again to help support her meager weight. "It is important."

"Yes..." Simon Tam was still blushing, but he was at least able to finish buttoning up his shirt . "River was quite insistent on that point. Said we had to drop everything..." Simon glared slightly at his little sister, who simply smiled mischievously in response as her brother kept talking. "And I do mean everything, and come with you all right away. She either couldn't, or wouldn't, say why, but I've learned to trust her instincts on things like this."

Mal threw his hands up in the air. "Fine! I told you both to stay on the the ship, but since you are already here, and you wouldn't be much safer, or more useful, back there anyway, I guess you can both come along. Just don't come crying to me if you both get killed! Although, I suppose you couldn't actually cry then..."

Malcolm turned his attention to Simon. " By the way, do I even want to know why your clothes are wrinkled and your shirt was halfway unbuttoned just now? Because I distinctly heard you say that you were going to be busy in the infirmary for a couple hours and didn't want to be disturbed while you were working..."

Simon Tam's face resumed blushing. "Um, yes. Well, I was in the infirmary. And I guess you could say I was quite busy for awhile. In a manner of speaking..."

Simon's words were soon interrupted, however, by Kaylee, as the latter party ran out of the ship, off Serenity's ramps, and raced towards Simon and River while shouting. "That weren't nice, River! Couldn't ya have waited another five minutes to..."

Only just now realizing that her captain, Zoe, and Jayne were still standing less than a dozen yards away from Serenity, the mechanic, whose clothes were just a tiny bit wrinkled, amended her words a little bit. "To let Simon help me finish up what repairs I could make in the engine room!"

Kaylee chuckled and added. "Yeah, captain! We were so close to fixing this one bit that...'

Zoe smirked. "That's very interesting, Kaylee, because Simon was just telling us he was in the infirmary when River dragged him off the ship! So, unless one of you was lying, that means Simon was in two places at once! How incredible!"

Relishing the look of deep discomfort on Simon's face, Jayne grinned and said. "It must have been a gorram miracle, that!"

Kaylee huffed. "Fine! Simon and I were ruttin around in the infirmary, okay? Women have needs, you know..."

Mal held up his right hand, even as Simon looked at the ground and blushed uncontrollably. "I'm just going to stop you right there. Anyway, what you and the doc get up to when we don't have a job to do ain't none of my business. What I will not tolerate is being lied to by my own crew. Understood?" Simon and Kaylee nodded before the captain resumed speaking. "Shiny. Now.."

But once again, Serenity's captain was unable to finish his sentence as the seventh, and final, unofficial member of his crew departed the Firefly, distracting the captain with just how well the black and red dress she was wearing fit her. All eyes were on Inara when she exited Serenity, and the dark haired woman smiled at the attention she was getting before she spoke. "Well, this is a bit of of a surprise.. I thought only three of you were going to deal with Badger, but clearly everyone else decided to come along too. I only came because I thought that I might be able to help you, Jayne, and Zoe with whatever caper you might have planned, Mal. You know, since the Companions Guild no longer counts me among its members now that I am a wanted fugitive...I honestly could use the money. However, clearly, you already have enough people to help you, so I'll just be getting back to the ship."

Mal shook his head. "No. I mean, you might as well come along now. Everybody else on the crew is already here and...You know. Safety in numbers and all that. And I'm sure we'll be findin' some use for you on this job, whatever it is. You'll get a fair share of the spoils, too, just like everybody else who helps out."

Inara nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Mal."

"Ain't no need to thank me. You're part of my crew." Mal turned back towards the rest of his crew as he talked loud enough for all of them, including a smirking River Tam, to hear him. "What are you all standing around for? We're supposed to meet Badger somewhere around this area in less than a minute. We're already going to be late, so let's get a move on!"

"Actually..." A voice called out from behind one of the long-ago condemned buildings that littered this part of the docks. "You're all right on time! The man you call Badger won't be joining you I'm afraid. He was just a middle man. A rather reluctant middle-man at that. Forgive our deception, but..."

A middle aged man stepped out into the open, and an equally aged woman stepped out onto the docks behind him. Both individuals had dark hair marred by many patches of gray, had bags around there eyes, as if they had not been sleeping for many nights, and striking facial features that every member of Serenity's crew found familiar, although only two among their number knew why that was. "We're afraid it was necessary, captain. It's taken us so long to find a way to find who we were looking for, and we had to use every means at our disposal to make sure we didn't loose them again."

The older man looked right at Simon and River, but the the former party only cursed under his breath, "Jien tah-duh guay!" while his eyes turned cold, his hands clenched into fists, and his mouth set into a hard, straight line. For her part, River's face was a completely expressionless mask, and her gaze seemed to be focused not on the older couple in front of her, but through them, into the middle distance. Finally, noticing that nobody was talking, and that the older couple's presence was making two of his crew members uneasy, Malcolm cleared his throat. "I don't know what you're talking about, Mr., so you and the Mrs. better speak plain. Who are you? Why did you go to so much trouble to get us here? And what do you want with my crew?"

The older couple exchanged glances before the gray haired man stuck out his hand towards Mal and forced a smile. "Of course. Where are my manners? I am Dr. Gabriel Tam." Seeing that the captain wasn't going to shake his hand, Gabriel withdrew it and made a gesture towards the woman that had come with him to the Eavesdown Docks. "And you were correct in assuming that this lovely woman is my wife, Regan Tam. We are here to offer your crew an...opportunity of sorts. An opportunity to make the 'Verse a better place, while making yourselves a whole lot of money! But the biggest reason we are here is to bring our children home! To be with their family, where they belong!"

Kaylee audibly gasped, while the rest of Serenity's crew, minus the Tams, looked at each other in concern as Simon glared at his father. "Serenity is our home now. And other than River, this crew is the closest thing I have to a family. You're the one who made it very clear to me, the last time we talked, that you would no longer consider me your son if I kept looking for River. And yet, here you are again, trying to bring us both home. And I don't trust you any further than I can throw you, Why are you here, Gabriel? Did that gambling habit of yours finally get you into trouble, and now you want to turn us all over to the Alliance for the reward money? I heard we're all worth millions of credits now! So I'm just wondering what exciting new ways you've come up with to ruin mine and River's lives this time?!"

Regan Tam let a single tear fall from her eyes as she covered her mouth with one hand. "Simon!" Gabriel Tam, for his part, had a melancholy, guilty look in his eyes, but his lips turned down into a scowl, and the man looked ready to shout, before the man's daughter finally stopped staring out into nothingness and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. "They should all go with them. It will be alright."

River turned to Simon and slowly unclenched one of his fists with her hands as she whispered to her brother. "They did not know before, Simon. Didn't understand and didn't want to believe. But they have seen and believe now. The dark man showed them what the bad people did to her. "

River spoke louder to address her parents and the crew. "And now they want to help. Even though she is beyond helping and broken now. The river has been damned up by man-made rocks."

Tears filled Gabriel Tam's eyes. "Why are you speaking about yourself in third person, River? What has the Alliance done to you?!'" The older man shook his head and wiped the moisture away from his face. "It doesn't matter. I have some of the best medical equipment and personnel money can buy available to me now, and we will do everything we can to make you better! Please come home with us!"

Simon turned to River. "Are you sure we can trust them, Mei-mei?" River just nodded, and Simon sighed deeply before looking at his parents and nodding.

Gabriel and Regan sighed in relief as their two offspring slowly walked towards them, although their efforts to hug their children were rejected. Regan then turned towards the rest of Serenity's crew, and noted with some interest that, while all of the members of Serenity's crew looked worried that their children had decided to come with them, one young girl with brown hair and hazel eyes seemed especially distraught at Simon and River's choice. In an attempt to alleviate the crew members' concerns, Regan Tam forced a smile and spoke. "However, although my husband and I mainly came here to bring our children home, we also have a business proposition for the entire crew, as my husband said. A job, as it were, which will require you to spend a bit more time around our family. Full disclosure, this job might expose your crew to some danger, but you will all be will compensated, and..." The older woman snarled. "Give us all an opportunity to get our revenge on every hwun-dan in the the Alliance government that tortured our daughter, tried to hunt down our children, and has caused everyone here no end of trouble!"

Malcolm Reynolds took a quick look around, then turned towards the Tams. "Here's how it is. If Simon and River trust you, than I will at least hear you out about your job offer. Especially if it involves causing the Alliance a spot of trouble. But we're as sitting ducks out here. Might there be a safer, more private place we could be doing business?"

Gabriel nodded. "Yes. Of course. Forgive us. This criminal lifestyle is so new to my wife and I. You understand. We do, in fact, have a meeting place set up just inside this building!" The elder Tams led the crew of Serenity into the abandoned building they had just stepped out of. As the whole group was walking down a dark hallway, then down a flight of stairs to the basement of the building, Gabriel Tam resumed talking. "Dangerous times we are living in. When good, honest folks like my family can't trust their own government anymore and are forced to become criminal, well...that's a hard 'Verse to live in. And it's even harder to find people you can trust when one is defying the Alliance. However, I was still able to find one ally. The man who helped me and my wife find all of you, and arranged for Badger to set this whole meeting up. He's a rather unpleasant character, I'm afraid, and I wouldn't trust him at all,under ordinary circumstances, but..." Gabriel shrugged. "Needs must. Besides, the man did say he owed me a favor after I saved his life during a business trip to Ezra about fifteen years ago. Not that he gave me a choice, you understand. But then again, the man was desperate. Not many doctors outside of the core worlds know how to treat brain parasites, you know. Anyway, afterwards, he said that, since I had saved his life, If I ever had need of anything, I just had to ask, and he would would help me get it. And for all of the man's many flaws, he takes pride on keeping his word in order to maintain a solid reputation."

Many of the crew members exchanged looks then, but Gabriel didn't notice this as he continued speaking while using a small key to unlock the door to one of the rooms in the basement. "So, when I told him my wife's plan, and that we needed to find the crew of Serenity, he immediately agreed to help us. Seemed almost eager to help us find you, as a matter of fact, and he wanted to meet you all and help us explain the plan to you as well. He's been very helpful, Mr. Adelai..."

"Niska!" Jayne, Malcolm, and Zoe exclaimed simultaneously after the door was opened.

The wrinkled face of the elderly, white-haired, balding, and bespectacled man in question smiled. " You should all see your faces right about now! Welcome, Captain Reynolds and friends! It has been a very long time indeed since we have all seen each other, yes? Now..."

The elderly man pulled out a black object that none of Serenity's crew were familiar with, although it had a lens similar to those used in laser weapons. The whole crew tensed up, and several hands reached for guns in their holsters, waiting for an attack from the man that was speaking. "I want you all to take this moment in. Because this is the most important moment in all of your lives. So please, give the 'Verse a gorram smile!"

Then, before the member's of Mal's crew could do anything, a dot began to glow on the device in Niska's hands, and the crew were quickly blinded by the quick flash that followed the device's activation. And for a moment, the world of the entire crew of Serenity went black..

AN: Hello, readers! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, but please let me know if you think I am getting Joss Whedon's characters and 'Verse "right." I know I can never truly do justice to one of the most underappreciated (at the time of it's original airing) show of all time, but I can sure as heck try, so please let me know how I am doing in a review and/PM. Also, I would like to thank all of my readers of this story for giving this story your time and attention, especially Cowgirlcadet1701, Hawki, and bjq, who reviewed the prologue of this story. Thank you all for your support and input! Oh, and sorry for the cliffhanger of sorts, but I'm sure some of you have already figured out what is really going on at the end of this chapter...

A special thanks goes out to my beloved beta reader, without whom this story would be uglier than Atherton Wing's personality. Thank you so much for your help!

Until next time, I am...

...supercode