“Everybody ready?” Jayne asked as he reached for the airlock door.

Mal looked to River, who was holding a pistol in each hand. Zoë was on the catwalk with her shotgun. Mal had his own pistol in its holster, and a rifle in his hand.

“There are six of them waiting on the other side,” River told them.

“Let’s do this then,” Mal said.

Jayne opened the door, and Mal threw two flash bombs through to the other ship. Jayne went in first, followed by River, then Mal. Jayne hit two of them with Vera, and they were down. River kicked three of them rather quickly, and Mal hit the last with the butt of his rifle.

“Jacobs!” Mal yelled.

Jayne was looking around cautiously, but River was as calm as ever.

“Jacobs,” Mal yelled again, “Where are you, Jacobs?”

“Wo bu shin wo dah yan jing!” someone said from the other end of the room. It was too dark to see much.

“Wasn’t very nice of you to spring a trap on me, Jacobs.” Mal had his rifle trained on the spot that the voice had come from. “Throw down your weapons, and come out nice and slow.”

A pistol slid on the floor towards Mal’s feet, and then a man stood up with his hands in the air. The man was swearing in Chinese. Three more pistols slid out, and then three more men stood up quietly.

“So,” Mal said, “What was so important that you had to set this whole thing up for me?”

“How in the gorram verse did you know?” Jacobs asked.

“A little albatross told me.”

“You’re not makin’ any sense, Reynolds.”

“I get that a lot lately,” Mal said. “Now tell me what’s so gorram important that you had to go through all this trouble just for me.”

“You know what you did, Mal.”

“Remind me then.”

“You left me there, Reynolds,” he said. “You left me to die.”

“I left you with a medic!” Mal was close to yelling.

“A medic that was completely incompetent,” Jacobs said. “I was as good as dead, and you knew it. But you had to go lose your war.”

“It weren’t my fault we lost that war,” Mal said.

“You sure about that?”

“I done made my peace about the war,” Mal said. “It’s over. Time to move on, Jacobs.”

“NO!” Jacobs yelled. “I will not move on! That war was everything to me! They took my home, my family, everything I knew. They took yours too, Reynolds. Have you already forgotten them?”

“Nope,” Mal said, “They’re the reason we have to keep goin’.”

River suddenly looked up. “His man is on our ship.”

“What?” Mal asked.

Jayne picked up his radio. “Zoe! Somebody’s on board!”

* * *

Kaylee was waiting with Inara in the mess hall. Simon normally would have been with them, but given recent circumstances, he didn’t seem to want to be around Kaylee much.

“I think…” Kaylee started.

“What is it?” Inara asked.

“I think I need some space,” Kaylee told her.

“We’re surrounded by space, mei-mei,” Inara joked.

“I need some time away from men for a while,” Kaylee explained. “I need time for myself.”

“I think Simon feels the same way right now,” Inara told her, “but I’m afraid that it’s not because he’s confused. He’s hurt.”

“I know,” Kaylee said. “But what can I do about it? I can’t even figure out what I want right now.”

There was the sound of a pair of boots hitting the floor in the corridor. It was much louder than normal. Inara stood up sharply.

“What was-“ Kaylee asked.

Inara put a finger to her own lips to quiet her, and then reached for a kitchen knife.

Zoë came through the door to the engine room at the same time that the man in the space suit came through on the other side. They both drew their weapons, but Zoë hesitated to fire, afraid that she might hit Kaylee or Inara, who both ran behind the kitchen counter.

The gunfire lasted for a few moments, and then suddenly stopped. Kaylee started to get up, but Inara pulled her back down.

Then the man in the space suit stepped behind the counter, his gun pointed right at Kaylee. He was too far away for Inara to use the knife. He drew the hammer back.

Then there was the sound of another hammer coming back, and Kaylee looked to see Simon with a pistol to the man’s head. The man turned just in time to see him fire.

“Simon!” Kaylee ran to him and took him in her arms. He was still holding the pistol up, staring at the body on the floor.

Inara took the pistol from him, which seemed to bring him out of his trance.

“Zoe,” he said.

All three looked over to see Zoe lying on the floor with a gun shot in her shoulder.