I wandered around the ship aimlessly for the next few minutes, since I didn't really have anything to do yet. I was on my way to the cockpit when I bumped into Simon Tam.

"Sorry," I apologized quickly.

"It's alright," he said, calmly. "I want to apologize if River startled you. She just-"

"I know about River," I said, trying to spare him a difficult explanation. "It's okay. It takes a little more than a seventeen year old girl to scare me." I laughed a little. Simon was still tense, but smiled.

"I'll see you around, Tam," I said, squeezing past. I went and sat in the co-pilot's chair. I was silent, looking out at the stars for several seconds.

"You know how to fly?" I looked over at the pilot's chair. Wash was addressing me. My eyes flicked to the control panel.

"I've never flown a Firefly before, but I can fly smaller ships pretty easily." I said, looking back up at him.

"Do you want to try? Mal will probably kill me, but he's not here right now," Wash smiled. I laughed. "Go ahead; let's see what you can do." I put my hands on the steering column, and slightly turned while increasing the speed. The ship lurched forward more quickly than I had anticipated. I let go of the controls and we were jerked back.

"WASH!" Mal yelled. He was coming up the stairs to the cockpit. He had a red mark on the side of his face where he must have hit a wall during the lurch. He saw me in the co-pilot's chair. "Was Mack just flying the ship?" he asked.

Wash nodded. Mal rolled his eyes. "Well that was a dandy idea wasn't it?"

"Don't kill me," Wash said under his breath, only slightly joking. Mal raised an eyebrow.

"Wash," he said. "If I wanted to kill you I'd just tell Mack to fly from now on. Mack, c'mon, I've got a job for you." I stood, and waved good-bye to Wash.

"We'll do it again sometime," Wash joked as I left the cockpit. I smiled to myself. I joined Mal at the bottom of the stairs.

"Where in the hell did you learn how to fly, mei mei? 'Cause it sure wasn't from me," he joked. I laughed. I was glad to see the tension between us melting.

"So, what's my job?" I asked him, eager to help out. Mal sighed.

"Come this way," he said leading me along. "I'm not really sure you'll like this job. Wait here." I stood by the infirmary, and Mal walked to one of the rooms and knocked on the door. I looked in the window of the infirmary. Both Simon and River were in there. River was asleep, and Simon was reading. He looked up and saw me. I looked away as quickly as possible.

Mal came back scratching his head. "Where does that damn Shepherd disappear to?" Simon poked his head out of the infirmary door.

"What's going on?" he asked. Mal shook his head.

"Shepherd was gonna help Mack with her new job, but I don't know where he is."

"Well," Simon said. "If she needs a job I'm sure I can-"

"Hold up, fancy pants. Don't get excited." We all turned at the sound of the voice. It was Jayne. "Mal, Shepherd is in the cockpit, Wash found something interesting you should see. As for Mack, Shepherd asked me to help her." Mal looked from Jayne to me and then back again and sighed.

"Watch yourself Jayne," Mal said, and walked off. Simon gave me a look that I interpreted to mean "good luck" and retreated into the infirmary.

"Watch myself? What the hell kinda comment is that? What, does he think I'm three?" Jayne muttered to himself. I couldn't help but laugh silently. Jayne heard me and grunted, "Yeah, I bet you're just like your brother." I ignored him.

"So where exactly are we going?" I asked.

"We're going to clean my weapons. They're important. They're what keep the people around here looking pretty." Jayne stopped in a room that was full of guns. "Here we are. You know how to clean a gun I reckon?"

"Of course," I said, admiring his collection. My eyes fell on one of the best guns he had. I reached for it. "You have one of these?" I asked him. He looked up from the gun he started cleaning.

"Oh yeah," he said looking at it fondly. "I call her Vera." I laughed.

"Do you name all your guns?" I asked.

"Ha ha ha. No," he said slightly annoyed. "Just the special ones. And when you get a weapon that pretty, then you can laugh. You don't even got a gun, do you?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Are you kidding? I had to use something to get on the Alliance's wanted list," I said. I pulled out my gun from its holster and set it on the table. Jayne looked at it in admiration.

"A re-mastered Colt?" he whispered.

"I know, it's not as good as Vera," I laughed. Jayne picked up my gun and practically cradled it.

"They only remade three of these for Alliance ministers. How did you get this?" He asked. I shrugged.

"Killed an Alliance minister," I said. Jayne's jaw dropped.

"So that's why they want to catch you so damn bad," he said.

"That and other reasons," I said. I finished cleaning Vera and put her down on the table. Zoe walked in the room. Her face looked grim.

"I got some bad news," she said. "We've run into a squadron of Alliance ships. They will probably board us. That means you need to hide now."

Great. Just the way I wanted to spend my first day on Serenity. Hiding.