Chapter 1 While the Operative shook the hand of Captain Mal Reynolds he smiled. It was the dawning of a new day for this universe, and they both new it. Soon, there wouldn’t be anything left for the Operative to do, but first he had to take care of some business with some old friends. Some old, less than friendly, friends. He walked back to talk to the soldiers, thinking quickly of a way to explain to them what had just happened. The whole universe needed to understand exactly what this government had done, and he didn’t mind explaining it to them. When Captain Reynolds had told him the whole story, regarding Miranda and the Reavers, they both understood that Reynolds couldn’t be the one to explain it. It had to be someone who commanded authority. The Operative didn’t command authority, but he knew people who did. “What’s all this I’m hearing about the Alliance is done?” A Lieutenant asked. “No, the Alliance isn’t done. Not yet.” The Operative paused wearily, he had a long day ahead of him. “I need to go to Osiris. How quickly can I be there?” “Tomorrow, sir.” “I need to be there in eight hours, so let’s get moving.”

The sun was setting on Osiris and Senator Phillip MacArthur III stood in the port. It was undignified for a Senator to stand in a public port, but this was an important event and he wanted to take advantage of it. If that meant standing with ordinary people for fifteen minutes he would pay that price. When the ship landed, the door hissed open and the Operative stood in front of him he smiled. “Good evening, sir.” The Operative said in his self-assured, weighty accent. “Good evening. What’s our mischief this evening.” “We need to tell the universe about Miranda.” MacArthur’s eyes widened. “What?” “Honesty will win you the people.” “And that’s your plan of attack.” “It is.” “Shiny,” the Senator mulled over the idea of another possibility, but he could think of nothing, “when should we move?” “As soon as possible. If we stir up the chaos now then we manage to catch more charismatic figures in our movement.” “Very well,” he looked at the Operative. “What will you be doing?” The Operative smiled, “I will keep the rest under control.” While MacArthur walked away he though for a moment about how much he hated talking to that arrogant Operative, but his advice always worked and he never lied, so he continued to do business.

Chapter 2 “You ready to go?” Mal put his hand on Zoe’s shoulder. “Yeah, Captain.” “I’ll give you a minute.” “Thanks.” Zoe stood alone over Wash’s grave. She never cried before in her life, she never felt like it fit. But it did now. She didn’t want to leave him here, but Mal insisted that they couldn’t take his body with them. The crew had enough problems, they didn’t need a dead body sitting around the ship. Mal knew that it was heard for Zoe, everyone knew, but what could they do. Wash was dead, and death is hard on everybody, especially when the dead person was loved as much as Wash was. River had taken Wash’s position as pilot, and she was damn good considering she’d never flown. No one noticed, but River had spent the day painting the inside door of the bridge. It read “I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.” She looked at it over her shoulder before they took off and smiled, it was a new day coming, you didn’t have to be psychic to see that.

Inara usually slept well in her shuttle, but tonight she couldn’t. She couldn’t force her eyes to shut. She lit some incense to try and relax, but it didn’t help. “You okay.” “You’re supposed to knock when you want to come into my shuttle.” “C’mon, Inara, you know better than to tell me what I’m supposed to do. You know damn well that once you tell me I ain’t gonna listen.” “Mal,” Inara smiled, “I’m just glad you’re okay.” “Really, that’s shiny.” “I didn’t want to have to bury you.” “I assume Jayne woulda been happy to do that for you, but I guess one was enough this time.” “Yes, I’m going to miss Wash.” “We’re all gonna miss him, does do much good to moan about it now, do it?” Mal took a step closer to Inara. “Where d’you wanna go?” “Nowhere, Mal. I want to stay on Serenity.” “No, but ya gotta see some clients eventually. I was wondering where you wanted to go.” “A central planet would be nice, but they are going to have some problems over the next few weeks.” “Fine with me. Just see how things pan out first.” Mal smiled. “Oh, and Captain…” “Yeah,” “I’ll see you at dinner.”