"Tribbles! They're all made up of rage. I can't shut them up!"

Sometimes River's voice really did carry, Mal thought as he passed the kitchen on the way up the cockpit. Popping his head up from out of his quarters, Jayne ascended the ladder and threw a dozen Tribbles out onto the deck. "Gorammit." He mumbled quietly.

Stepping over the pile of Tribbles Jayne had just created, Mal sighed restlessly and called up towards the bridge. "Wash, how long 'till we reach Persephone?"

Checking his navigational charts, he called back over his shoulder. "Sorry Cap'n, still two days out."

"Any way to speed that up a little?"

"Sure, if you wanted to run through a couple of dozen Alliance patrols."

"Watching as a couple more Tribbles dropped from the ceiling in front of him, Mal raised an eyebrow. "That don't seem like such a bad idea right now."

Turning back, he made his way back down the stairs, away from the bridge. Hearing a loud thud coming down from Jayne's quarters, Mal made his way over to them and peered down into it. "Jayne! The hell you doin' down there?"

"Gao yang jong duh goo yang." Jayne shouted as from down in his quarters. Mal leant over the hatch just in time to see Jayne scramble up the last few rungs of the ladder. Just below him, a sea of Tribbles washed their way over the floor of Jayne's quarters, covering it. Climbing off the ladder and onto the deck, Jayne shut the hatch to his quarters firmly. "They're comin' through the gorram walls Mal. I barely got outta there with Vera 'fore they swarmed the place." He took a large weapon off of his back and held it in his hands, caressing it lightly. "S'okay Vera baby, I gotcha."

Mal looked between Jayne and his weapon for a moment. "Would you two like a moment?"

"You can't possibly name them all Kaylee." Simon said as he sat down on the upper walkway of cargo hold, beside Kaylee.

"Sure I can." She retorted, swinging her legs idly over the edge of the walkway. "There's Topher and Adelle. Erm… Clem, all the way over there…"

Simon sighed a little. "Kaylee there's hundreds of them." She ignored him and continued to name them all. Looking down to the floor of the cargo hold, Simon rubbed his eyes. The floor itself seemed to be moving as if it had a mind of its own. Hundreds of Tribbles rolled over one another, creating a sort of wave effect. "I still can't believe how fast they produced."

"… Kendra's the really furry one. Anyanka and Halfrek…"

"They must have extraordinary reproductive systems. I think their sole purpose is just to mate." Simon mused to himself.

Kaylee continued to point out different Tribbles and Simon followed her gaze, not really listening to her. "There's Bennett. Synder and I think the one with the black spots is Sierra…"

"Kaylee!" Came Mal's voice from their left. "Get up to the engine room."

"Yes sir, Cap'n." She replied, pulling herself up to her feet, a warm smile crossing her lips.

"What should I do?" Simon asked, following Kaylee's suit and standing up.

"Don't you have an infirmary to be lookin' after or somethin'?" Mal replied.

"Yeah, not so much. I can't really get in there right now."

Mal nodded knowingly and shrugged his shoulders. "Go help Kaylee then."

Kaylee grinned and linked her arm through Simon's, hugging herself close to him. "Come on Doctor." She said. "You can be my personal escort." Giggling she began to skip down towards the engine room, dragging Simon close behind her.

The intercom suddenly came to life and Wash's crackly voice came through. "Mal? You might wanna get up here, we've got a bit of a problem."