Mal opened the door for Harken and he stormed onto Serenity surrounded by Alliance soldiers. Mal fell into line with Zoe, Jayne, Wash, Kaylee, Inara and Book.

"This your vessel?" The commander asked Mal.

"Bought and paid for. I'm Captain Malcolm Reynolds," he answered. '

"This everyone, Captain?" asked Harken. Mal's eyes never left the Commander's.

"By way of crew, it is. Though you're gonna find in our infirmary a fella we rescued from that derelict." Mal looked at his nails. "Saved him, guess you could say," he ended nonchalantly. Harken nodded to his men. "Straight back, next to the common area," Mal called after them helpfully.

Harken gestured to the goods. "And these items- I take it you "rescued" them too?" Mal said nothing. "Looks to me like an illegal salvage operation."

"Does it? That's discouraging," Mal retorted.

Harken looked affronted. "Alliance goods too. You could lose your ship, Captain. But that's a slap on the wrist compared to the penalty for kidnapping. Little girl, 'bout ten years old. When I search this vessel, I won't find her, will I?"

"No children on this boat," was Mal's simple answer. The Commander came close to his face and eyed him. His soldiers had returned and one approached Harken and whispered in his ear. Harken continued to eyeball Mal.

Finally turning, "We'll continue this conversation in a more official capacity." His men started grabbing the crew and dragging them off the ship. "Every inch of this junker gets tossed," Harken continued.

Kaylee halted and stared at him, aghast. "JUNKER?!" she asked, incredulous.

"Settle down, Kaylee," Mal warned as two men were herding him onto the Alliance cruiser.

"But Cap'n! Did you hear what that purple belly called Serenity?!" she exclaimed.

"Shut. UP!" Mal simply warned. Her protective feelings over his baby aside, he knew that she wasn't exactly helping the situation in that moment.

A Med team wheeled the survivor off the boat. Dozens of soldiers poured into Serenity and were tossing the entire ship. The whole lineup was locked up and interviewed.

"So, you're a Companion. You were based for several years on Shiron. It's only been in the last year that you've been shipping out with the crew of The Serenity," Harken began.

"It's just "Serenity", and that is correct. In a few weeks it will be a year. Why is this important?" Inara asked defensively.

"Just trying to put the pieces together," Harken reacted. " It's a curiosity, a woman of your stature falling in with these... types."

"Not in the least," Inara said huffily. "It's a mutually beneficial business arrangement. I rent the shuttle from Malcolm Reynolds, I expand my client base, and he has a Companion on board which opens certain doors that might be otherwise closed."

"And do you love him?" Harken asked. '

"I don't see how that's relevant," Zoe answered, arms crossed, barely even looking at the Commander.

"Well, he is your husband," Harken led.

"Yes," Zoe said simply.

Harken decided to use a different tactic. "You two met through Captain Reynolds?"

"Yes," said Zoe succinctly. "Captain was looking for a pilot. I found a husband. Seemed to work out."

Harken examined a piece of paper. "Says here you fought with Captain Reynolds in the war..." he started.

"Fought with a lot of people in the war," Zoe finished.

"And your husband..."

"Fight with him sometimes too," Zoe said, not giving an inch.

Harken paused, looked at her carefully. "Any particular reason you don't want to discuss your marriage?" he asked her.

"Just don't see why it's any of your business, is all. We're very private people," Zoe answered in a hostile manner.

"The legs!" Wash exclaimed. " Definitely have to say it was her legs! You can put that down." Wash looked very relaxed as he discussed the intricacies of his relationship with his wife.

"... six Gurstlers crammed right under every cooling drive so that you strain your primary artery function and end up have to recycle secondary exhaust through a bypass system just so's you don't end up pumping it into the main atmo feed and asphyxiating your crew, now that's JUNK," Kaylee said, clearly still indignant.

Jayne had his arms folded up and wouldn't say a word. He shifted in his seat once, then assumed his very defensive stance.

"Pirates with their own Chaplain. There's an oddity," Harken said as he regarded Book.

"Not the only oddity this end of space, Commander. Way of things not always so plain as on the central planets. Rules can be a mite fuzzier," Book said, his voice seeming to be ever-soothing.

"Not for me. Our rules are written down. In books," Harken said.

Book smirked a little. "I take my rules from a book, too. But just the one."

Harken smiled back at him. "You met up with Captain Reynolds and his crew on Persephone..." he began and then trailed off.

"That's true," answered Book simply.

"That girl we're looking for was last seen in Persephone," Harken said.

"That a fact?" Asked Book.

"They also reported that she left port aboard a Firefly class transport. Just about the time you shipped out with Serenity..." Harken kept on.

"Well, Persephone is a big place," the Shepherd reasoned.

Harken was getting visibly frustrated. "Yes, but that Firefly isn't and if there is anyone hiding on it, we will find them."

Harken's men were tearing apart the entire ship. They left no compartment unopened, nothing unturned.

Evie couldn't stop her snerk as she watched one of them absurdly flip over the place settings at the dining table.

"What's so funny?!" Simon asked next to her. They were wearing spacesuits and clinging to the side of the ship, staying out of view of the soldiers who were ransacking the ship. He didn't look very comfortable being outside in space.

Her smile dropped and she looked pensively at him. "Who're you hiding from, Simon?" she asked.

Simon sighed and looked back through the windshield. "Not everyone is hiding from a person," he said wistfully.