Five weeks now since Duncan had told Veronica where Logan was.

Four weeks that she had been on the Alliance cruiser Cristóbal Colón, searching for Serenity. Unfortunately, it had been a cold trail.

On the Outer Rim worlds, shipping records were unorganized, at best. Serenity might have been on the moon Bellerephon two weeks beforehand. Then again, it might have been twelve months. Veronica was not pleased whatsoever with the records.

She was starting to feel tempted to bring her father into the matter. He might have been essentially banished to the Outer Rim, but he was still a Major General in the Alliance Federal Police, and he could probably do some ass-kicking and name-taking if need be.

But Keith Mars was an option of last resort. Veronica didn't think that the Parliament would look very happily on a Parliamentary Operative bringing in the Federal Police.

Eyewitnesses, of course, were even more unreliable. There were reports of 03 K64 Firefly-class transports popping up everywhere from Londinium to Lilac. There were also eyewitness reports of Logan Echolls popping up on Persephone, Higgins' Moon, Whitefall, Greenleaf, and Beaumonde.

But nobody could remember exactly when they saw Logan, and as far as the Firefly-class appearances went, according to the Cortex, there were four hundred seventy-two of that class of transport legally registered with the Alliance.

God knew how many more were flying around unregistered.

The thing was, every time she turned around, she swore she was going to find Logan right behind her. She was certain she could feel him close by. But she was starting to think that perhaps her mind was playing tricks on her.

Veronica broke from her reverie. "So, Captain McManus, why exactly can't we track Serenity's pulse beacon?" she asked the ship's captain, irritably. "Every registered ship is supposed to have one onboard."

"You can't track Serenity's pulse beacon because her captain tore it out in order to avoid certain death," a smooth, cultured voice sounded from behind her.

Veronica turned, wondering who exactly that was. A tall black man strode across the bridge toward her. "And just who the hell are you?"

"I have no name," he replied. "I am, like yourself, an Operative."

"Well," Veronica replied sarcastically. "Isn't this special. Two Parliamentary Operatives in one place. But exactly how the hell do you know this about Serenity?"

He smiled. "I know Malcolm Reynolds, Operative Mars. I tracked him and his crew of misfits deep into Reaver space, and then back out again. I nearly killed him myself."

He paused, his smile fading. "Captain Reynolds got the better of me, Operative Mars. If I could not defeat him, what chance do you stand?"

Veronica narrowed her eyes at this nameless stranger. "What the hell exactly does that mean?"

The Operative shook his head. "It means, Ms. Mars, that Malcolm Reynolds was an infantry sergeant in a bloody war of attrition when you were learning to tie your shoes. He is, to put it bluntly, a sneaky son of a bitch. Your entire experience with the military is through your father. You have no chance against Malcolm Reynolds."

Veronica crossed her arms. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Operative. If you're so sure of everything, how do you know I couldn't order my two associates to disable you – permanently?"

The Operative gave her a look of amused disbelief. "That would be a foolish order, Ms. Mars. Mr. Navarro and Mr. Fennel both have old injuries that would allow me to very easily disable both of them before they could even lay a hand on me."

Veronica sighed in resignation. "Alright. Then what do you suggest we do?"

The Operative turned to Captain Reginald McManus. "Captain McManus, kindly set in a course for Sector 697, the moon Phoenix."

Veronica's jaw dropped in horror. "Sector 697?! What the hell? That's two weeks out of our way!"

The Operative raised an eyebrow. "It is also the location of the most powerful communications and tracking devices in the system," he replied. "It was built by a man of absolute genius. Victor Goldman."

"Who the hell –" Veronica began to ask, but Weevil cut her off.

"Victor Goldman," he said softly, almost reverently, his eyes wide. "I remember him. He was Mr. Universe!"

"Precisely, Mr. Navarro," the Operative intoned. "From Phoenix, we shall broadcast a wave to Serenity, and specifically to your Mr. Logan Echolls. It will reach him, without question."

Veronica rolled her eyes. "So it reaches him," she said. "And then?"

"Operative Mars, you are simply not thinking outside the box," the Operative replied, the first hint of irritation beginning to sound in his voice. "Embedded within the wave is an auto-reply protocol, coded to activate upon acknowledgment by Logan Echolls. When we receive the auto-

reply, we will have Serenity's location AND her computer codes, and we will be able to track her wherever she goes."

Behind her, Wallace whistled. "Damn," he said. "This guy's good."

"Captain, the cruiser is breaking orbit," Logan called over the intercom.

Mal joined Logan and River in the cockpit a moment later, just in time to watch the huge beetle-shaped cruiser break its orbit around Pelorum. A moment later, its rear engines glowed with great intensity, and then the enormous spaceship rocketed out of orbit.

"Did we ever get an ident on her?" Mal asked.

"Yes," Logan replied, flicking a switch. "According to the Cortex, that was the Alliance cruiser Cristóbal Colón. Nineteen days out of Londinium, on a search mission."

Mal furrowed his brow. "Who for?"

Logan shook his head. "That's apparently classified."

Mal didn't say anything, just turned a worried look toward River – but she shook her head. "They weren't coming for me," she said quietly. "I would've felt it if they were."

Then she cocked an eyebrow. "Cristóbal Colón," she said. "Christopher Columbus. 'Discoverer' of the 'New World'. Destroyer of the Native American populations. Why would the Alliance choose to name a ship after him?"

Mal shrugged. "The Alliance does some powerful strange things from time to time, young lady. I chose to stop tryin' to understand their foolhardiness a good long while ago."

Then he turned his attention back to Logan. "Now, Mr. Echolls. As for you, Kaylee has requested your kind assistance in the engine room."

Logan looked back at Mal in confusion. "My assistance? I don't have a clue when it comes to engines."

"That would be exactly what I said to her as well," Mal shot back. "However, she did inform me that she had somethin' a little tight that needed loosenin', and that you were the best fella for the job."

Logan took a moment to digest that statement – and then his eyes went wide and his face turned bright red as it sank in. River looked from Mal to Logan, her eyes wide as well – and then burst out laughing.

Mal, on the other hand, looked none too pleased. "River, might I have a moment with Logan, please?"

River just nodded and dashed from the cockpit as quickly as she could. Mal pressed a button, and the door slid shut. He then sat down in the seat just vacated by River Tam.

Mal just stared at Logan for a moment. Logan stared right back. Finally, Mal spoke.

"Alright, Logan, you listen to me, and you listen to me good. I ain't gonna lie and say that I'm a real big fan of the idea of Kaylee wantin' you to go back there and, uh…" He paused for a moment, narrowing his eyes. "Lubricate her spacedrive. So let me be crystal clear about something."

He crossed his arms. "You hurt Kaylee in any way, and I'll make you wish you'd stayed back with the Mudders on Higgins' Moon. Shiny?"

Logan just stared back at Mal for a moment. Finally, he cleared his throat and said, "I'm sorry. You lost me back at 'lubricate her spacedrive'. Where the HELL did you come up with that metaphor?"

If looks could kill, Logan would've been a dead man. After withering for a moment under Mal's glare, he grimaced, gave Mal a thumbs up, and said, "Understood, sir."

Logan stood up, opened the door, and headed off down the corridor. A moment later, River popped back into the cockpit.

"Got a new task for you, little Albatross," Mal said. "I want you to keep a weather eye on Logan and Kaylee."

River raised an eyebrow. "So… I can stop Logan just in case he starts threatening Kaylee."

"No," Mal grumbled, "so that in case I get cranky and decide to go give them a piece of my mind – or, in Logan's case, a piece of my fist – you can stop me."

River nodded. "I… see."

Mal turned to her. "Go now, River, before I go decide that Mr. Echolls'd be better off breathin' in a vacuum."

Logan was practically running by the time he reached the engine room. He poked his head in. "Captain Reynolds said you wanted to - huh?"

There was a note stuck on the spacedrive. You've been a very bad boy, it said. Now go to your room.

"What the hell?" Logan muttered. He was suddenly filled with a mixture of both excitement and trepidation. What exactly did Kaylee have up her sleeve? She wasn't going to turn out to be some crazed dominatrix type, was she?

When Logan reached his quarters, he realized the light was on. Well, somebody was definitely in there. He hadn't left the lights on.

Very slowly, he opened the door, and stuck his head inside. The sight that greeted him nearly made his eyes pop out of his head.

Kaylee sat on his bed, her legs crossed, dressed in a very skimpy sheer pink nightie – and absolutely nothing else. "Hello, Logan," she said sweetly.

"Uhhhh…" Logan suddenly found himself without the power of speech.

Kaylee stood, allowing Logan to see, well, pretty much everything as he came the rest of the way into the room and closed the door behind him. He had to physically keep his jaw shut.

"Been a long, long time since I struck a boy speechless," Kaylee remarked with a grin. "You must like what you see!"

Logan did, in fact, like what he saw. It was by far the most of Kaylee he had seen since he admitted to liking her two weeks beforehand. Then he realized, she was also without the usual grease smudges that adorned her arms and face in most situations.

"You… uh…" His voice came out as more of a croak. Logan swallowed and cleared his throat. "You clean up, uh, really, REALLY nice," he managed to say. "I mean, wow. Oh my goo-"

His voice was cut off as Kaylee stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his. When she drew back, Logan tried to say something else, but Kaylee pressed a finger against his lips. "No more talking, Logan," she giggled. "You're starting to sound like a blithering idiot."

Logan was going to object, but then realized she was right, and simply shrugged. "Now, why don't we see what you have to offer?" Kaylee said, very slowly unbuttoning the top button of Logan's shirt.

River had followed Logan from a fairly inconspicuous distance, and had parked herself just down the hall from his quarters, in front of the door to her own quarters, through which she could dive to unseen safety if need be.

Once the door shut, she could no longer hear what Logan and Kaylee were saying, but Kaylee's giggle was unmistakable. There was muffled speaking from Logan, and then Kaylee giggled again.

There was no sound from Logan for a moment, but then there was a groan. That groan turned into a combination of groans, moans, and other assorted sounds that were clearly coming from both Logan and Kaylee.

River's eyes grew wide. Those weren't exactly the sounds that had come from Kaylee and Simon that time she had seen them in the engine room. In fact, there was a WHOLE lot more noise coming from Logan's room.

Then, there was a high-pitched shriek from Logan's room – Kaylee's voice. River jumped up in alarm, but then furrowed her brow in confusion as the shriek faded away slowly, rather than dropping off.

River slowly crept to Logan's door. That's when Kaylee started screaming.

"CAPTAIN!"

Mal jumped in his seat and hit the intercom button. "River?! Is somethin' goin' on?!"

"Captain, Kaylee's screaming for some reason."

Mal's eyes widened in alarm. "Is she sayin' anything?"

"Uh…" River was silent for a moment, as she was clearly trying to make out Kaylee's voice. "She's just saying 'Oh God,' over and over."

"Oh, good Lord," Mal grumbled in disgust. "Okay, River, just forget about followin' them, alright? They'll be fine. In fact, I'd'a been a lot better off if I hadn't told you to go followin' them."

The knock on the door of the shuttle startled Inara. She hadn't been expecting any visitors – or at any rate, any visitors who would afford her the courtesy of knocking.

Standing, she crossed to the door and opened it. There stood River, a look of confusion on her face.

"River?" Inara asked. "What's wrong?"

River looked up at her. "Inara… can you explain sex to me?"

Inara raised an eyebrow. "Um…"

She thought for a moment. River had been sent to the Osiris Academy at a young age, and had probably never gotten the birds and the bees from her parents. "River, you might want to come in and have a seat. This could take a while."