On Serenity, Zoe was pacing in the dining area while Book was working on the welcome home meal. River was in the corner, petting the golden retriever that always seemed to follow her everywhere. That was one of the reasons why Steve had been attracted to the Firefly class ship. His dog, Mike, liked the Tams, and whenever Steve was away, Mike would seek out River. Simon had been saying that animals help to calm people down, and Jayne, to everyones surprise, suggested getting a dog. It was one of the reasons that the crew liked the idea of hiring Steve, they all thought that him bringing the dog onboard would be good for River. Kaylee entered the doorway looking worried. “Zoe,” she asked in an anxiety filled voice. “Do you think they’re all right. I mean, I was the one that convinced the captain that Simon would be usefull. And if anything happened to Simon or Steve…” her voice trailed off, everyone knew why Kaylee felt that way. She and Steve had become good friends during his short time on the ship, and Simon was more than a friend to her. “We, Simon and I, owe Steve a lot and…” that was another reason why they had let Steve join the crew. Back on Persephone, they had all split up. Mal and Zoe went to check on a posable job while Wash was going to catch up with an old buddy, Jayne had elected to stay on the ship with Book and River. Simon and Kaylee had been taking a walk and a small gang tried to mug them. Simon had fought back, but there were too many of them and he was on the ground after the first fiveten minuets. Kaylee had thought Simon would be killed, but destiny, or more precisely Steve Roberts, had intervened. He knocked out two of them, leaving Simon free to brake another’s nose and tackle a final hood. The gang member was on the ground, breathing, barely, in quick, gasping breaths, the Doc laying on top of him out of breath from the earlier beating he had been given at the hands of the punks. After seeing how easily their comrades had been defeated, the remaining hoods fled. The stranger helped Simon up, introduced himself, complimented Simon on lasting as long as he did, and left. The next day they all saw him with a golden retriever that kept pulling towards River. Steve asked the Captain about signing on and asked if it was O.K. to bring his dog. Mal was going to say no to both ideas until Jayne reminded him that the dog would be good for River, and Kaylee mentioned him saving Simon and Herself. Mal’s fear that the kid was no good with a gun was shortly put to rest. While Jayne, Kaylee and Mal had been talking about it, the six hoods from the night before started walking towards them. When they were about fifteen feet away, the hoods pulled out their handguns, and started shooting, planning on killing Simon and Kaylee after they delt with the stranger who had humiliated them the night before. The punks were fast, but not as fast as the man they aimed to kill. Because they were at an angle to him, it took a half a second to see them. They had “the drop on him”. They may have drawn first, but Steve shot first. When they had there guns halfway up, Roberts had his hybrid pistol out it’s holster, hammer cocked. By the time their guns were pointing at him, he had already leveled his own gun and shot two of the assailants. The remaining four fired, at about the same time Roberts did. It was over in less than five seconds. The six hoods were dead and Steve was dying. He had gotten three of them before he was hit. Two never even pulled the trigger and one had survived the bullet wound just long enough to get a round off, then died. The remaining three each got off one shot, one of them even managed two. So there he was, standing there with five holes ripped in him. He was lucky. Lucky that none went through his heart, and lucky that there was a doctor six feet away. It was then that the decision was made, he had saved Simon and Kaylee twice, he could join the crew. Before Zoe could answer, Mal entered the room and the look on his face made it clear that he was not in a good mood. “Zoe, get the other shuttle ready, were going to look for ‘em. They should be back by now.” Turning to Book, he inquired. “You comin’ with us Shepard?” His answer was quick “Yes, I think that would be a good idea.” Malcom looked at Kaylee and ordered “You think you can stay here and look after River, Kaylee? Good.” And without another word he left for the remaining shuttle, followed by Book and Zoe.

______________________--------------------_______

This was origanilaly slightly different, with Steve defeating the thugs singlehandedly and simon only lasting five minutes. The gun fight scene might be confusing, but the point I was trying to make was that steve is good in a fight. I sortof was inspired by the line from FirstBlood :He's the best with guns, with knives, with his bare fists. he was also sortof a hybrid of every action hero ever, mainly Dirk Pitt, MacGyver, and Indiana Jones. I know I haven't done much with the rest of the crew, but the first several chapters were actually written before I posted any of this, so it will take some time.

Hope everyone enjoyed it, please leave coments, the usual stuff. Also, be honest, if you think it sucks, then tell me. How else am I going to get to be a better writer? I would really apreciate the feedback