Harken walked into the room carrying quite the weighty folder. He sat down in front of Mal and started flipping through it. He wouldn't look up.

"I figure, by now, you been over to that derelict ship," Mal said to break the silence.

"Yes. Terrible thing," was all Harken said, not looking up. "You want my advice, you won't tow it back. Just fire the whole gorram thing from space. Be done with it," Mal said, getting annoyed that the Commander seemed to be blowing him off.

"That ship is evidence. I'm not in the habit of destroying evidence," answered Harken.

''Course not. Be against the rules. I'm gonna make a leap and figure this is your first tour out here on the border." Harken finally looked up.

"You've got a loyal crew there, Sergeant."

"Aint 'Sergeant'. Not no more. War's over," Mal retorted immediately.

"For some the war will never be over. Seems odd you'd name your ship after a battle you were on the wrong side of," the Commander said snidely.

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

"That why you attacked that transport ship?" asked Harken.

"What?!" exclaimed Mal, taken by surprise.

The Commander continued to accuse Mal of, not only sacking the ship, but of torturing the survivor. "I'd ask him myself, but I imagine he'll have some trouble speaking with his tongue split down the middle," Harken said.

"Wuh de tyen, ah..." Mal said, realization dawning over him. "Commander, I am not what you need to be concerning yourself with right now..." Mal thought about the Doctor and the little girl on that ship with that- thing and said another oath.

Mal tried to explain that Reavers had done that to those families and that they had made the survivor watch. He maintained that now, the only way someone could survive that sort of trauma was to become it. The boy would start making himself look like a Reaver by self harming. Then he would behave like one. That would include people getting hurt or killed.

The Commander wasn't buying it. "Let's have two M.P.s up here to escort Sergeant Reynolds to the brig," he ordered.

"Lock me up. I'll thank you for it," he bluffed. "But me and my crew're gonna be the only ones on this ship that's safe if you don't move to act."

"And let's not put him in with his compatriots. In fact, let's see to it that they are all separated," Harken said, ignoring him.

Simon closed the hatch after he and Evie came through. He helped Evie get her helmet off.

"That was fun!" she exclaimed.

"Shhh! Captain said once the coast was clear we should lay low in the shuttle," Simon cautioned. Evie looked at him indignantly. She was beginning to grow tired of everyone telling her what to do.

"Don't 'shh' me!" she whispered back. Simon rolled his eyes.

"Don't be a brat or else you'll get us both pinched," he whispered viciously.

"Fei fei de pi yan,"she muttered under her breath.

"I don't think the Captain will enjoy hearing that you're using language like that," Simon warned heading toward the shuttle.

"You wouldn't!" she called after him, then ran to catch up.

The soldiers were hustling him out as he watched one of them rush in and whisper in Harken's ear.

"It won't matter. You won't find him," Mal said as they were jostling him out the door. Harken slowly brought his eyes up to meet Mal's. "But I know where he'll go."

Simon steered Evie into the kitchen. Evie wouldn't stop arguing with him about not telling Mal anything. Annoyed he replied, "We don't know how long it's going to be. Once we're settled in the shuttle, I don't think we should move around much, I'll just grab a snack," he responded, trying to be reasonable.

Evie started to scream but couldn't get any sound out of her throat as the- whatever it was- came behind Simon.

Mal convinced Harken to allow him to lead the search for the boy. The passed by a dead officer as they went onto the ship. "Why would they come back here," Harken asked.

"Looking for familiar ground. He's on the hunt," Mal explained. Harken gestured for him to go first. "UH!" he said and gestured to his handcuffs. Harken unfastened the cuffs holding his wrists behind him and then refastened them in front of him. Mal stared at him, disbelievingly. "Thanks," he said sarcastically, "Now I'll really have the advantage."

Harken ignored him. "Open it," he ordered. One man pressed a button and the airlock opened and they stepped back onto Serenity.