The infirmary was uncomfortably quiet. The cape buffalo sat on the bench just outside, the sound of his heavy breathing blending with the background hum of the ship's machinery. The doctor's instruments occasionally clicked, beeped, or buzzed as he examined the tigress slowly and carefully. On the other examination table, the fox captain held a bandage against his bleeding leg.

All eyes were on the doctor as he continued his examination.

Finally, he stepped back. His voice was quiet. "It looks good, Sherani. You're okay."

Nick breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Doc. Look, like I tried-"

"You, on the other hand, are clearly not okay," Jack snapped. He grabbed a trauma kit and hopped over to start treating Nick's leg. "What part of 'doctor's orders' don't you understand?"

"I... uh..."

"Or perhaps you thought 'restricted activity' should include bar fights."

"No, not at all. Listen-"

"Captain Wilde, do you have any idea what kind of risk-what could have happened to Sherani if you-"

"Not his fault." Sherani's voice was almost a roar as she stood, towering over the bunny and the fox. Then she continued, speaking gently. "Not this time. We sat by ourselves in the back. They ambushed us."

The doctor continued his work. Then he again broke the silence. "Captain Wilde, this was a relatively minor injury, but it will never heal if you keep tearing it open."

M'bogo said, "I'm sorry, Captain. I didn't know."

"Not your fault," Nick replied. "I hadn't told you. And that beautiful hustle of yours probably wouldn't have worked as well as it did if you hadn't waved me around like that."

"Yeah," Sherani laughed, "and you screaming like a terrified cub helped too."

Nick smirked. "Hey, I had to sell it. And for the record, I screamed like a terrified kit."

"There's urine on my shirt," M'bogo said.

"What?" Nick quickly looked down at his pants. "No, there isn't."

"Hold still!" Jack shouted.

The captain glared at the cape buffalo. "I did not wet myself."

M'bogo grinned. "But you weren't sure."

Nick snorted. "Anyway, we've got our next job, so-Ow! AI-YIP! What the-"

"Are you insane?" The bunny waved a roll of gauze at the fox. "Your next job? Do I need to put you all on bedrest to keep you from killing yourselves?"

"Look, Doc, it's not like that. We're still taking it easy. It'll take us several days to reach Ezra to meet with the client. Then we'll have a couple more weeks before we actually do the job. That'll be a month of laying low, just like you said."

"I said at least a month."

"Mammals have to eat. And that means taking work. And there are a lot of nice safe jobs that I can't take with you and your sister on board, so-" Nick stopped himself. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. It's not your fault. Look, we'll be as careful as we can, but we need work if we're gonna keep flying. That's just the way it is."

With a fresh bandage on his leg, Nick made his way to the bridge. He took a roundabout route through the cargo bay, up the stairs, and past the port shuttle bay. Gazelle stood by the shuttle bay entrance. Her voice was soft and gentle as she asked, "Captain, did I hear correctly? Are we going to Ezra? Will we be staying long enough for me to screen some respectable clients?"

"News travels fast." Nick grinned. "Yes, we're headed to Ezra. Or technically, a client's skyplex in orbit around Ezra. After we leave the skyplex, you should have time for... ambassing? ambassadoring? What's the word?"

"Why do you keep calling me an ambassador? You could say 'companion', like a civilized mammal."

"Yeah, but is 'companioning' a word?"

"You are hopeless."

"You know you love me." The gazelle rolled her eyes, and the fox continued, "Anyway, while we're at the skyplex, I'd really prefer for everyone to stay on board. The client has a very... unpleasant reputation. If he's got work for us, that's great, but he... I just don't think... I'm not sure you'd be safe."

Gazelle smiled at him. "Nicholas Wilde, do I detect concern for my well-being?"

Nick looked away, "Don't worry. I won't let it happen again. I'll let you know our timetable once we're away from the skyplex, so you can 'screen some respectable clients'."

"Thank you, Captain." Gazelle smiled to herself as the captain continued on his way towards the bridge.

The airlock opened, revealing four large polar bears dressed in expensive black suits. The one on the left stepped forward, gestured towards the corridor to the left, and started walking down the corridor. The others made similar gestures but stayed where they were.

Nick looked at Sherani and M'bogo, then shrugged. He followed the lead polar bear, walking quickly to keep up. Sherani followed her captain, then M'bogo shrugged and followed her. The remaining three polar bears brought up the rear.

The lead polar bear stopped in front of a doorway and pressed his paw on a scanner. The door opened. He entered, followed by the others. Silently, he pointed at a spot on the floor a few feet in front of a massive mahogany desk. Nick stood on the spot indicated, and the polar bear stepped to the side. Sherani and M'bogo stood behind their captain, and the remaining three polar bears stood behind them.

A door to the right of the desk opened. Another large polar bear entered, followed by an even larger polar bear. They stood side-by-side behind the desk. Finally, an enormous polar bear entered, ducking to avoid hitting his head on the doorway. He stood in front of the other two and leaned forward. As his paws rested on the surface of the desk, he stared at the guests, his face hard and expressionless. His eyes moved slowly from the fox to the tigress to the cape buffalo and back to the fox. Finally, he stood upright, his head nearly touching the ceiling.

Nick stared up at the enormous polar bear and cleared his throat. "Mr. Big, sir, I am-"

At that moment, the fox noticed a tiny chair on the desk, where the polar bear's paws had rested. The back of the chair faced him. Then the tiny chair slowly rotated, revealing an arctic shrew.

The guests stared at the tiny mammal, who spoke slowly. "Captain Wilde, I am Mr. Big. Welcome to my home."

After a moment, the fox captain spoke. "Yes, Mr. Big, sir, so sorry for the misunderstanding, sir. I... I am Captain Wilde. This is First Officer Fangmeyer, and Security Officer Bogo. I understand that you might have a job for us."

"Yes, Captain Wilde, I might have a job for you. I need someone to pick up a certain package for me, a package that will be on a certain train. The train will be on Regina, traveling from Hancock to Paradiso. Someone will need to retrieve the package before the train reaches Paradiso. Does this sound like a job you can do for me?"

"A train job? Can we handle a train job? Yes, yes we can."

"Do you wish to know the nature of this package, Captain Wilde?"

"Is there any reason I need to know the nature of this package?"

The arctic shrew smiled. "You have a certain reputation, Captain Wilde. Mammals say that you get the job done. But you know what a reputation is? It is just mammals talking. I do not care about mammals talking. I need to know that I can trust you, Captain Wilde."

"Yes, sir. You can trust me, Mr. Big, sir."

"I think you have heard of my reputation, what mammals say about me. But that is just mammals talking. You need to know who I am."

Two of the polar bears that had been standing behind the crewmembers then stepped forward. They bent down and rolled up the carpet that lay on the floor between Nick and the massive mahogany desk, revealing an airlock door set into the floor. Through the large portal in the middle of the airlock door, Nick could see the body of a red fox. The lifeless fox wore a light green tropical shirt and a loosely knotted tie with red stripes.

"Captain Wilde, you may be asking yourself, what did this fox do to deserve this? I'll tell you. He disrespected me. I trusted him. I welcomed him into my home. We broke bread together. I offered him a job. He accepted the job. But he did not get the job done. I ask you, Captain Wilde, was that any way for him to repay my generosity?"

"No... No, sir, Mr. Big, sir," Nick stammered. "I'm sure that he was very... disrespectable... unrespectful... disrespectful. And if I may say so, sir-"

"You may not. Kevin here will provide you with the details of the shipment, the details of the package and the train it will be on. I look forward to seeing you again, after you have retrieved the package for me. Goodbye, Captain Wilde."

"Goodbye, Kevin. Goodbye... ah... Kevin's associates." The fox captain offered the quartet of polar bears a practiced smile as the airlock closed.

Then the airlock slammed shut, and the cape buffalo snorted. "Disrespectable?"

"No, no," the tigress said, her face serious. "Unrespectful."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Did you see the fox in the airlock? Did you see the airlock in the floor? Who does that? How crazy do you have to be to install an airlock in your floor? In your office floor!?"

Sherani said, "Sir, I noticed that you still took the job."

Nick nodded. "Yeah, well, he may be crazy, but he pays well. Really well. And we need the job. Anyway, let's get out of here."

He hit the button for the intercom. "Hey, Big Guy, we're back. Shake a tail. And find us a nice quiet spot down on Ezra. We've got about a week before we need to head to Regina."

Author's Note:

Thanks again to Steefwaterbutter for beta-reading this story.

Mathew5641, you will see more Zootopia characters (like the ones introduced in this chapter), but I won't be including Firefly characters directly. Some characters (like Shepherd Woolrich and several minor characters) are basically animal versions of Firefly characters though. And I'm sorry there wasn't as much of a bar fight as you wanted, but Nick and Sherani (Fangmeyer) were in no condition for such a fight after the events of the original "Zootopia That Was". Plus, one of the differences between Mal and Nick is that Nick really isn't the type to bait Alliance sympathizers the way Mal did in the original "The Train Job" episode.