Wash was doodling around with his dinosaurs in the cockpit again.

"Master T-Rex, what are we going to do??? Our planet is being bombed by giant cats! You pathetic little Spiny! We're going to blow their heads off of course! But Master, we don’t have any more grenades!"

"Ask Jayne, he’s got plenty of 'em," Wash spun around in his chair, startled by Ana's sudden presence.

"God, you scared me!"

"Sorry," her smiled was apologetic and teasing at the same time.

"What can I do for you?"

"Well, if you're not too busy being bombed by giant cats, I gotta ask you a question," Wash turned pink from ear to ear.

"I think they've laid off the bombings for now," he said bashfully. Ana smiled again and sat at the other piloting station, riding shotgun as the ship cruised smoothly through space to Paquin.

"Kaylee let somethin' slip 'bout the Cap'n taking me along with y'all on this latest job. So I'm here to probe you for information," She raised an eyebrow. Wash shook his head.

"I was afraid she'd tell. Yeah, Mal wants you to go. He said as a gun hand, but to tell you the truth I think he’s been researching you,"

"What the hell is that s'posed to mean?" Ana’s face grew serious.

"Well… it said in a profile that you were a spastic psychic. Like River, but not anywhere near as strong. I think it sort of took to his head," He pointed a finger at the side of his head. "But in any case, if you've been doing like us and getting a way from the Alliance, then you've about got to be a good shot. And we could always use help on this boat," Ana was looking at the controls in front of her with a creased brow and set jaw.

"Thanks for not bein' a pain in the ass and makin' me guess around, Wash," she said, getting up and stalking off to the engine room. Wash watched her go, as did Zoë, who had been heading towards her husband as Ana exited. They eyed her curiously.

"What's got into her?" asked Zoë, going into the cockpit and looking at Wash with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not really sure," he replied. "But we’re coming up on Paquin, should take about two hours. Probably should tell Mal,"

***

There was a clicking at the intercom system. Kaylee put down her wrench.

"This is your Captain speaking, we're approaching Paquin, you have half an hour to get yourselves ready. Ana and Simon, please report to the cockpit immediately," Kaylee looked at Ana.

"Ai ya..." Ana picked up her new handheld machine gun and stuck it in its holster next to the pistol. She was glad that Jayne wasn’t averse to sharing weapons, and it felt reassuring to have an automatic by her side again. Simon joined her on the way up to the cockpit.

"Alright, now, Simon," said Mal as they entered and Zoë left to join Jayne in readying the weapons. Wash was pulling delicately into the atmosphere of Paquin.

"I need you to make sure River doesn't get out of this boat all of this job, k? This a'int a great planet for you two to be seen on, and the people here will do anythin' for money. Keep with Kaylee and Wash on the ship. Hopefully, this will be a short trip," Simon nodded. Mal turned to Ana with a bit of a glimmer in his eye.

"And, without further ado, I'm gonna introduce you to life as an outlaw- Serenity style. We're goin' down there to meet with a man named Jackson Elliot Kesara- bit of a big shot, but he's scared as hell of the Alliance 'cause he deals in the black market. So it's going to be a pretty tense job. I want you to go with us, as a gun hand, and to keep an eye on the surroundings, y' know what I mean? Hopefully you won’t have to put that thing to use," He nodded at the handheld, "But y' can never tell. Dong ma?" Ana nodded somberly.

***

The town on Paquin was a decent one, not terribly dirty but not terribly rich either. Ana walked beside Zoë, in front of Jayne, and behind the Captain. He led them to a large house on the outskirts of the town. A guard was standing outside.

"Why are you here?" he said simply, fingering his gun.

"'Cause your wonderful master told us to get here. Wouldn't want to piss him off, now would ya?" Mal’s fingers were in his belt loops, but he was ready to snatch his gun at a moment's notice. The guard gave a huff.

"Welcome, guests," he said rather reluctantly. The double doors swung open and the four of them went inside, and were led by another gruff looking guard to a room in the back that seemed to be a leisure room, full of books and computers and couches. A man, who was morbidly obese and graying at the beard, sat on one of the couches, looking rather intently at an old piece of brass jewelry- a thick, oversized ring.

"Well," he said speculatively as he set the ring down on a table nearby. "Captain Malcolm Reynolds and company, I assume?"

"You assume correctly," Mal said with calculated uncaring.

"Welcome to my house," Kesara said, holding his open palms in the air. "I hear you get the job done, and done well,"

"What's the job?" Mal asked shortly.

"Well, it's kind of a classified shipment, but I'm sure that's alright with you,"

"Fine and dandy,"

"The 4:17 will be pulling into the station here in five and a half hours. There’s a high security car at the end which is bringing in some goods that will be of value to me, and I want you to steal them. There are cameras, but of course they’re obvious, and it doesn't matter if they know that the items were stolen if they don't see who stole them. They'll never find out, because by the time they come around here looking for the goods, they'll be in another system. I can assure you this much," he looked sidelong at Mal.

"I need this to be quick and clean and simple, dong ma?" Mal inclined his head.

"It'll be just that, if the price is right,"

"I can offer almost 50,000," he said, but Ana saw his eyes dart over to a blank space on the wall. Suddenly, she seemed to stop thinking, stop breathing, just for a second. Then she stared unblinking at him.

"Actually I think 43,175 rounds down. It'll be more like 40K," she said, fingering her handheld. Mal looked sideways at her. Jayne's forehead went spastic.

"What the hell are you talkin' about?" he asked. Ana still looked at Kesara.

"He's only got 43,175. It's much closer to 40K than 50K,"

"How do you know?" Zoë asked her. Ana pointed to the blank place on the wall that Kesara had been eyeing.

"It's all there, he said so," she looked at him, and her gaze went straight through him. "At least, his eyes said so. You should teach them to behave better, sir, they're fond of betrayin' you," Kesara looked agitated.

"You had better to shut your lying comrade up, Reynolds, or she'll have you all stuffed full of bullets," he said. Ana knew his threat was empty, but she lowered her arm and shook her head in an annoyed manner. Mal was looking agitated as well.

"How do I know she's lyin'?" he said with a frown. Kesara's eyes glinted.

"Who do you trust more?"

"Her," Mal said simply. Ana looked at him, a little confounded- he hadn't really known either of them for long. She held her head a little higher.

"Fine, have it your own way," The fat man pulled a small gun out from his coat and pointed it, quivering, at Mal. He cocked it threateningly.

"Now who do you trust more?"

"Her," Mal said again, not moving from his spot. Guards came in and stood in a circle around them, their guns raised.

"I don't much like being told I'm a liar, Mr. Reynolds," he said. "That could earn you at least a bullet hole before you leave," Ana stepped closer to Mal.

"That bullet will have to go through me first," she said, pulling her gun out of the holster but pointing it at the ground.

"It might just," he replied tartly. Zoë now stood close to Mal on the other side.

"And me," she said, and Jayne looked distraught.

"You too I suppose?" Kesara said to him.

"Naw, I'll be the one putting a bullet through you before your bullet can get to any of them," he retorted, and was welcomed to it by the sound of the guards cocking their own guns.

"Hey, now, folks, I appreciate the defense and all, but if he's lettin' us leave then we best git goin'," Mal said.

"Whatever gave you the idea, you'd better banish it. I have plans for you," He had this evil look on his face, and Ana knew that this time, he wasn't bluffing.

"Awfully touchy, aren't you? If you could just ignore my crew people here and tell me what the job is, we'd get it done, you'd have your cargo, we'd have our cash, and we'd all be happy and prob'ly a lot less pained," Mal said, his forehead creased.

"People like this crew of yours are the kind of people that put morality first. In this mission, morality isn't a factor. How could I trust you not to snoop into things you have no business knowing?"

"Personally," Ana interjected before Mal could open his mouth, "I think that snooping into stuff we a'int s'posed to know a'int real moral. So not only are you a liar, yer a stupid hwooh-dahn that a'int realized when he's gone and contradicted hisself-" But before she was really done with the last sentence, a shot fired and her eyes went wide and empty as she gasped, and fell to the floor clutching her side. Mal felt something in him jerk like a wild thing as his eyes went from Ana's fallen form to the now smoking gun in Kesara's hand.

"YOU BASTARD SON OF A-" he stared to scream and leap at the man, but the guards acted fast and had them all in a moment, their guns were ripped from their fingers and they yelled in protest, but another shot fired at the ceiling by Kesara shut them up.

"Take them downstairs, and make sure they're bound up tight. I don't want the little cockroaches getting away," The fat man's face was all seriousness and anger. Mal hardly noticed the painfully tight grip on his arms as the guards drug him and the others towards a staircase that led down- he watched in helpless rage as Ana's bleeding body was hauled and drug on the floor behind them. Kesara raised an arm.

"Oh, and make sure that one is tied up separately. She gets the special treatment," His eyes filled with spite and wicked joy at the scream Mal let out.