Two days before their planned departure date from Ezra, Nick woke late, threw on his clothes, and climbed up the ladder from his quarters. Ascending into the corridor between the bridge and the dining area, he heard a loud metallic thud from the aft section of the ship. He sprinted down the corridor, through the dining area, and down the corridor to the engine room.

"Carrots! Are you-"

In the engine room, the fox stared at the graying ram, who was looking up from an open panel. The ram smiled. "Good morning, Captain."

"What... What's all this?" Nick said.

"I believe that I am rewiring the grav thrust."

"Why?"

Shepherd Woolrich paused, and then shifted his gaze, looking past the captain.

"Why are you rewiring the grav thrust on my ship?"

"Because someone won't replace the worn-out compression coil."

At the sound of Judy's voice, Nick spun around to face her. She lay in her brightly colored hammock, her arms across her chest. "And Jack told me not to hop all over the place yet, even though I'm out of the wheelchair. Besides, it still hurts when I do."

"But the shepherd, why is-"

"I'm just doing what she tells me to do, Captain."

"And you're doing a great job, Shepherd. Way better than anyone else could," Judy said. "He's doing a great job, Nick. It's gonna be okay, and we'll be ready to fly again before dinner. And we'll squeeze a little more life out of that compression coil."

Several days later, Serenity was in a standard orbit around Regina. The crew was gathered around the table in the dining area.

"Does everyone understand the plan?" Nick asked.

"Do we really have to do this tomorrow?" Clawhauser asked.

"That's when the shipment's going to be on the train, Big Guy. So yeah, it's gotta be tomorrow. Why?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I just, you know, I checked the weather for tomorrow. It looks like it's gonna be pretty rough."

"How rough? Can you still do this?"

"Yeah, I can still do this. It's just gonna be rough." The pudgy cheetah shrugged weakly. "And it's a good thing M'bogo's uninjured, or Doc might get mad at you again."

The train's baggage car was packed with a motley assortment of luggage, shipping containers, and machinery strapped to wooden shipping pallets. The tigress was barely able to squeeze through what little space remained. Toward the rear of the car, she and the red fox carefully examined one crate after another.

"Sir, did you notice the Purple Bellies on board?"

Nick smiled. "Kinda hard to miss 'em, doncha think?"

"Sir, do you think it's wise to steal valuable Alliance cargo from a train carrying a platoon of Alliance soldiers?"

"I haven't been thinking about that at all. I've been thinking about how much fun it's gonna be to steal that valuable Alliance cargo from a train full of Alliance soldiers. And we're getting paid to do it. Win-win, right?"

"I'm beginning to think Ben is right, Sir. You're insane."

"Crazy like a fox."

Sherani rolled her eyes. "Sir, did the client say anything else about the crate? What it looked like? Anything?"

"You've seen everything he gave me. Just the information on the shipping label. And the fact that it is a crate, which narrows it down somewhat. Ready to try the next baggage car?"

"Ready, Sir."

They carefully opened the door and made their way into the second baggage car, which was nearly empty. Nick looked at the shipping label of the crate in front of him and said, "Got it."

While Nick confirmed one more time that the shipping label on the crate matched the information he had received from the polar bear, Sherani stood on another crate. She reached up and unfastened the latches securing a loading hatch in the roof. She released the final latch and pushed. The hatch didn't move.

She double-checked the latches and pushed again. It still didn't move. She tried one more time, and the hatch suddenly flew open.

The roar from the open hatch was almost deafening.

Sherani looked at her captain and shrugged. He shouted into his portable radio. Sherani couldn't hear his words, but she knew he was telling Judy to lower the winch, lowering the tether line, lowering M'bogo onto the roof of the baggage car.

A few minutes later, M'bogo landed on the roof, then dropped through the hatch into the baggage car. He pulled several feet of extra line into the car, and left it coiled on the floor.

Nick pointed at the crate he had identified. M'bogo nodded, then handed a cargo net to Sherani. Without speaking, the two worked together to secure the crate inside the cargo net. M'bogo attached a clip from his tether line to the cargo net, then climbed on top of the crate.

He held out the remaining two clips to Nick and Sherani and mouthed the word, "Ready?"

Nick climbed onto the crate, then turned to offer a paw to Sherani. She had just reached for his paw when the line went taught and jerked M'bogo and the crate into the air. Nick somersaulted forward and landed near the door they had entered. M'bogo slammed into the roof near the open hatch, then the crate slammed into him. Both he and the crate continued their trajectory and landed hard near the rear door the baggage car.

Nick blinked his eyes. The ringing in his ears faded, only to be replaced by a deafening roar. A face came into focus, a face like a tiger's face, only... upside down.

Sherani looked down at her captain, her eyes filled with concern. He blinked again, rolled over, and stood up, still a bit unsteady. He gripped the paw she offered, then looked up and mouthed the word, "Bogo?"

As if on cue, they heard an explosive grunt from the other end of the baggage car, even over the wind's roar. The enormous cape buffalo tumbled past the crate, then grunted again. He rose shakily, supporting himself on all fours. Slowly, he turned his head towards Nick and Sherani. His gaze was cold and primal.

With another grunt that rose above the roar of the wind, the cape buffalo charged. Running on all fours, he lowered his horns and lunged at the other mammals. Nick and Sherani stared in confusion, unmoving.

The cape buffalo hit the end of the line that tethered him to the crate, which abruptly interrupted his charge and threw him face down onto the floor.

As the cape buffalo rose again to all fours, Nick shouted into his portable radio. The cape buffalo charged. This time, Nick and Sherani rolled out of the way, but the line jerked the furious cape buffalo into the air. He disappeared through the open hatch, followed by the crate.

Nick and Sherani looked at the open hatch, then at each other, and then at the broken fragments of his portable radio.

"Go! Go! Go!" the captain's voice squawked through the radio. Judy hit a button and the winch began smoothly retracting the line.

"And whatever you do-" The captain's voice was overpowered by a loud grunt, and then the radio went silent.

Judy grabbed the radio. "Captain, I did not copy. Can you repeat that?"

The winch hummed as it continued to retract the line into the ship's belly hatch. The ship bounced unpredictably as Clawhauser fought the turbulence.

Judy spoke again. "Captain, I did not copy. Please repeat."

After a few moments, she heard Clawhauser's voice on the intercom. "Judy, let me know when everyone's back on board. I need to get above this storm."

She looked through the ship's belly hatch. At the end of the retracting line was the crate in its cargo net, and the cape buffalo, who was flailing wildly, supported only by the clip connected to his harness.

Judy spoke over the intercom. "Ben, I don't see the captain or Sherani. It's just M'bogo. And he looks hurt. Jack, we need you in the cargo bay. Doc, please come to the cargo bay."

She looked down again and watched the crate and flailing cape buffalo draw closer.

Author's Note:

Thanks again to Steefwaterbutter for beta-reading this story, and thanks to those who have left comments/kudos.