DR: Hello everyone and welcome back! And thank you for all the reveiws you guys left after the first chapter! Made all the agonising about posting it worthwhile!

Now, some news, both good and bad.

Good: I now have a job! (Just finished my first week) So no more under the Jobcentre's heel!

Bad: The hours are VERY long, early, and the job is in central London. So it means that during the weekdays I have almost zero free time. Thus my rate of writing is gonig to suffer. Don't expect rapid updates.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of these shows (Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Zoids) or games (Earthsiege). No money being made what-so-ever.

Chapter 2: Reflections on Serenity

Mal sighed as he looked around the dinning table onboard his ship. It had been almost a week since he had had that conversation with Achilles. The next day Thunderchild had slipped her moorings and began her trials anew. As had been expected, she had matched or exceeded her previous scores in all categories. Now Mal had a decision to make.

He allowed his eyes to wander down the table, looking over each member of his crew. Jayne was much the same as ever, srill a solidly built, gun happy lummox who was at his best when fighting. He had picked up a few new toys since they had come through, and Mal had seen him tinkering with Vera a lot.

Simon and Kaylee were side by side as ever now, their two sons on their laps. Those two were almost inseparable now. Kaylee hadn't changed so much; she was still a bundle of sunshine and happiness. Though now she had even more reason to be cheerful, with two strapping young boys to mother over. Simon still at times was very closed off though. It was hard to know what he was thinking sometimes, and he never seemed to stop thinking. Still, he truly doted on Kaylee and his sons, and Mal understood that he would do anything for them.

River was just beyond them, and out of them all she had changed the most. She and Kaylee had often played together with the babies, and Mal was hard pressed to recall the broken, scared little girl who had been brought onto his boat in a cryo-crate. She still left most of them totally confused and baffled, but only through her incredible understanding of… well, everything. It had taken her only a couple of weeks to figure out the Colonials technology, and a few days after that she was pointing out corrections and making improvements. The girl was brilliant, he gave her that.

Then there was Zoe and Wash. It had shocked everyone when Zoe went into labour five days ago, but she had come out smiling so broadly that Mal thought she was going to split her head apart. Their new son Kyle had yet to change much from the wrinkled, red form he had emerged as. He spent nearly the whole time sleeping, only waking when he wanted feeding.

Lastly there was Inara, sat at his right hand. The two of them had been getting along a lot better since they came here, and Mal had learned the terrible secret that had pushed her to take passage on his boat. Still, they had come through that, and they could talk without snapping at each other quite as much. For the past year they had maintained a truce of sorts; he would not bring up her past role as a Companion, and she didn't mention his illegal jobs back home. It helped that she wasn't seeking clients this side, and here he was getting lots of legal, above-board work. It had been a little dull, but frankly he had had enough excitement for a time.

He let his eyes lift up, to look down the rear passage of Serenity. The work for the day had paused, and right now the only ones on his ship were him and his crew. He had not had a chance to fully look around, but so far his ship was still the ship it was before he let River take her apart and put her back together again. There was not much left do fortunately. The entire front half of the ship was complete, and they were already starting to move back in from the hotel rooms they had been staying in for the past four months. It was really only the rear section that needed finishing.

Mal had been pleasantly surprised to see that on the surface, Serenity hadn't changed. Her exterior was the same mottled skin as of before, and her lines were the same as those he fell in love with, eight years ago. When he had walked back into the cargo bay, he had felt like he was coming home after a long trip. The clutter that had built up over the years was gone, but Mal knew that soon it would return.

Now though, he had to decide what to do. Although he knew what he wanted to do, Mal was a good captain in that he listened to his crew… mostly. And he wanted to know what they thought of returning.

"So Sir, what was it you wanted to talk to us about?" That was Zoe, her firm tone cutting through the low chatter and right to the heart of the matter.

Mal rested his cup on the table. "Our new friends are thinking about visiting home." Instantly the chatter was gone, everyone of the crew paying attention. "They want to look around, find out if they can establish trade relationships and the like I expect. Achilles asked me if we'd consider being their guide for a while if they go through."

Every one of them mulled it over. Kaylee was the first to speak. "It'd be nice to see my folks… they deserve to know us…" She hugged her son George. Or was it Nathan? Mal was having a hard time telling the two apart.

In contrast to the happy glint in her eyes, River's eyes were hard. She didn't say anything, but Mal could work out what she was thinking. Whenever the subject of the Alliance came up, she lost all cheer. Clearly since getting her mind back into one piece she had recalled everything that had happened to her.

Mal felt sorry for those who had done those things to her. Because when she got to them… well, Mal reckoned it might be nicer to leave them to the Reavers.

Inara looked closely at him. "What you thinking Mal?" Trust her to put him on the spot.

He took a moment to mull over his answer. "Truthfully, I don't know Inara. Much as I'd like to put the whole goram mess out of my mind, I keep on seeing what we saw on Miranda." It was the first time any of them had mentioned that world between themselves. Looking at their unsettled faces, Mal figured that he was not the only one who still had nightmares about it.

"I look back now, and I can't help but compare what we had there to what is here. We saw how things were out on the boarder, and how the politicians lived off those beneath them. I can't help thinking that there has to be a better way. Maybe it's being around these people, but for whatever reason I feel that we should do something, because we can."

He looked over at his crew, his family, and saw in their eyes how they were all agreeing with him. After a few seconds, Simon rose his glass from the table in a toast.

"We aim to misbehave."

X-X-X-X-X-X

Two days later the work on Serenity was complete, and the planned expedition was almost ready to depart. In addition to Serenity and Thunderchild, two of the Colonial's Guardian destroyers, the Rosetta and the Phoenix, would be sent through the wormhole. The basic plan that had been agreed on was for the two Guardians to head out and survey the system, staying well away from the planets and known trade routes. At the same time, Mal would lead Thunderchild to worlds were they reckoned they could get the maximum exposure to the people.

The goal was the mission was diplomatic in nature, but Mal was sure it would rapidly turn into a military issue. The Colonials were going in peacefully, but ready to defend themselves if pushed. And Mal just knew that the Alliance would push them too far.

As he watched Kaylee tinker with the engine, Mal thought back to the large meeting last night between the Council to discuss the expedition. He had been invited to provide more information concerning the Alliance and their worlds. The Helic president had pushed for a less overt military presence, but the issue was mute simply because there were no ships other than the Colonials warships. Commander Cain had started out with his battlestar, but they had bargained him down to just the Thunderchild with escorts.

One thing that had surprised Mal was the insistence of the 'locals' for a zoidian presence on the trip. Of course, it had taken them ages to decide who they could send. During the heated discussion between the Helic and Guylos members, Mal had seen Masters roll his eyes before cutting in and suggesting that instead of sending a unit from either empire, they should send only two or three individuals, maybe a small zoid team or members of one who were willing to let them go for a time.

With that idea tabled, it had taken them all of twenty seconds to jump on the idea of sending some from the Blitz Team, which had announced that they were stepping down for a year from major battles. A quick call and they had two members, Vega Obscura and Miranda Schubaltz, along for the trip. Both would bring their zoids, though hopefully they would not be needed. Masters also informed the council of his intention to send an Organoid or two along too. Achilles was happy with that.

Pulling his mind back to the matter at hand, Mal leaned over to see Kaylee more clearly. "Everything okay Kaylee?"

"Shiny, a-okay." Kaylee's chirpy voice answered, her head still buried in the midst of the central engine unit. "Just re-checking a couple of things…"

"Well, if you find anything, let me know." Mal told her before turning and walking back towards the cockpit.

Hearing giggles and young laughter, he paused at the new hatchway in the rear corridor. With all the engine improvements, River and the Engineers had freed up some space in the Firefly's stern. A bit of creative rearrangement, and a new cabin had been opened up on the port side, separated from the kitchen by the main structural ring that linked the stern with the central hull.

This new cabin had been transformed into a softly furnished nursery for the children. It had mainly been Kaylee's doing, as she told him that if her kids were staying in her bunk, then she would never hear them calling for her. Mal had let her have her way, never able to resist her anyway. As such the deck had been coated with a springy carpet, and the lower walls cushioned. The whole room was brightly coloured and sound proofed.

The source of the giggles was River, who was sat lotus style playing with her nephews. Already the two of them were getting quite adventurous. Mal smiled as he watched the three of them for a moment, then he pushed on.

Stepping down into the kitchen/dining area, he found Jayne tinkering with Vera once more on the table, while Inara was brewing some tea. She looked up as he entered, and the two of smiled at each other. The secret smile that they shared, and that they allowed no-one else to know about.

"Ready to return to the Core?" He asked.

"Yes, amazing as that is. I'm actually looking forward to finding out how things have gone at the training house."

"Thinking of introducing our new friends to the delights of your freshly trained Companions?"

Behind Mal Jayne grinned lecherously without looking up from his work. Inara however simply smiled sweetly, as she could see the teasing smirk on Mal's face.

"Only if they ask."

"Good answer." Mal looked at her for a moment longer, before continuing his walk to the cockpit.

Climbing the last set of steps, he could see Wash in his element, sat in the chair surrounded by controls. The panels had been replaced, to allow new buttons and switches to be added. The top rim of the console that surrounded Wash had a multitude of toy dinosaurs on it, mostly stuck down with blue-tac. Mal noted with some amusement that Wash now had a couple of Zoid model kits to go with his classic toys. Zoe was leaning against the cabinets behind her husband, arms crossed and dressed as practically as ever. Behind her, Mal could see the new inner panelling that hid away the wiring and other gubbins, as well as added an extra layer of metal between them and space.

"All set Wash?"

"All set Mal. We're just waiting for the green light from the tower." Wash replied.

Mal stepped up to 'his' spot, between the two consoles, at the top of the steps that led down into the very nose of the ship. This was the only area in Serenity where the available space had actually decreased, as River had moved most of the ships electronics there. There was also the added systems that improved things throughout the ship. Taking note of the events that had led to Wash's death, all those electronics were shielded against EMP.

There was also one other system installed down there, the support components hidden amongst the other electrical doo-hickeys. Mal hoped they would never have to use that upgrade. Or the one just like it built into the tail just about the main drive.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Mal looked over his shoulder to see Miranda peering in from the hatchway. "Uh, Captain… is it okay if… I…"

"Sure." Mal answered her. Miranda looked relived as she stepped fully into the cockpit. After a few moments the radio clicked.

"Serenity, this is the tower. You are cleared to launch. Good luck, and Eve bless."

"Roger that Tower, and thanks." Wash replied before hitting the switches to bring the engines online. The whine of the engines spinning up was a low level background note, before Wash gripped the flight stick and with barely a shiver, Serenity left the ground. Mal felt the slight tug as wash brought the nose up and they began to head back into the black.

Twenty minutes later, Wash eased Serenity up alongside the massive Thunderchild's prow. On either side of the larger warship, the smaller Guardians sat, waiting. A few seconds after Wash brought them to a relative halt, Colonel Achilles voice emerged from the speakers.

"Attention all ships. We're now going to attempt to open the door. Hold your positions, but be ready to scarper if things look like their getting out of hand." On the bridge of the mighty ship, he looked at one of his bridge officers. "Engage."

From the nose of the ship waves of energy were projected from a module that had been attached to the underside of the ships prow. The beams reached across space, searching and feeling for the minuet cracks in the fabric of the universe. After several long seconds, the beams found one, and energy began to be pushed into it at a steady rate.

It started as a pinprick, but then the fabric of space seemed to rip open, and with a muted flash of blue-white light, a rippling funnel form, spiralling down into infinity. After a couple of seconds the funnel smoothed out and looked stable.

On the bridge of Thunderchild several breaths were released, and the crew turned to look closely at the readings they were gathering. Colonel Achilles smiled as he watched the funnel.

"The door is open."

DR: And there we have it. Next time, the Alliance gets their first look at a Colonial warship... (evil laughter) As ever, reviews are warmly welcomed!