A prequel to my “Kings Of Serenity” series (which I’m putting on a break for a while). This is set during the Unification War and begins on, Mal’s home world, Shadow.

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“So you really joined up?” Mal asked.

“Yep,” Julian answered. They were standing on the porch of the ranch house on the Reynolds’ property.

“Guess that would explain the trench coat,” Mal commented on the brown trench coat that Julian wore. “I don’t believe that you seriously joined up to fight.”

“Why, haven’t you heard all my rants on the evils of the Union of Allied Planets?” Julian asked.

“I heard them, but I’ve always thought you were all talk,” Mal stated.

“Good to know,” Julian paused. “You should join.”

Mal scoffed. “Me? I don’t know how to fight.”

“That’s what Basic’s for,” Julian stated. “Look, you’re a natural leader, you’re smart and-”

“I couldn’t care less about the whole thing,” Mal interrupted. “Whether we’re independent or a part of a great big Union, as long as I got my ranch I’m happy.”

“They took Persephone three days ago,” Julian stated.

“And?”

“That’s less than a week from here.”

“Still doesn’t matter,” Mal said calmly. “If we need it, God will protect us.”

Julian scoffed. “I think you’ll need more than an invisible, cloud man to help you,” he stated.

“Don’t mock my beliefs,” Mal said. “We’ve been friends since we were 5 and I don’t want to remember you as an arsehole and a smartarse.”

“But I am an arsehole and a smartarse.”

Mal laughed. “So when are you shipping out?” he asked.

“Day after tomorrow I got be at the shipyard in the city,” Julian asked. “I’ll be in Basic on Yuan in about a week.”

Mal nodded. “Well then, I guess this is goodbye.”

“For now,” Julian added.

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Two weeks later…

Mal rode the twenty miles to the city in the early morning to catch the shuttle to Shadow’s moon, Newt. He had been sad to see his old friend leave the planet, but it was his choice to go and fight for the Independents. Mal sighed; he never believed that his friend would join the army. Now he doubted he would see him again.

The shuttle landed on the moon as the Alliance battle group slowed near the planet. Several people in the spaceport looked up and cheered at the sign of civilisation. These turned to gasps when the first warheads landed.

“What are they doing?” someone yelled out.

“They’re bombing a farm world!” another yelled.

All Mal was thinking was that his ranch was right in the middle of where the Alliance was bombing. “Mother of God!” he exclaimed.

Many people now ran to try and get off the moon and onto ships away from the planet before the battleships turned on them. Mal already had an escape plan in mind as he ran through the crowd. He got to a docking bay labelled “94” as the entire building shook.

Mal ran up to the ship in the bay and yelled out, “Frank! Are you here?”

A old man poked his head down the loading ramp. “Mal!? What are you doing here?”

“I came to pick up some supplies,” Mal answered.

“What’s going on? Why is everyone yelling?” Frank asked.

“They bombed the planet, Frank,” Mal started to ramble. “I saw the clouds, they were nukes. They NUKED a FARM WORLD!”

“Who?”

“The Alliance,” Mal said the words as if they were pure evil. “Jules was right.”

“What about Jules?” Frank asked.

“Frank, we gotta get outta here, right now!” Mal yelled.

“Okay, if it’s that serious,” Frank said as he turned and walked into the ship. He sat down in the pilot’s chair and got ready for take-off. Mal sat down uneasily in the co-pilot’s chair.

“Where to?” Frank asked as he started up the nav-computer.

Mal thought for a moment. “Yuan,” he answered. “Head for Yuan”

“You’re the boss,” Frank said as he made the cargo ship take-off.

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Julian stood in company lines with the rest of the troops in his Basic group.

“Company, attention!” the lieutenant yelled. He walked in front of the assembled troops as he addressed them. “People, we have a new recruit joining us today. Normally anyone wanting to join now would have to wait for the next group to start but the Captain has insisted that I take him. So, I want you all to welcome Malcolm Reynolds.”

Julian looked around confused. Mal walked up to the lieutenant and saluted. The lieutenant returned the salute before saying, “Get in line, Recruit.”

“Yes, sir,” Mal acknowledged as he walked to a spot at the end of the front line.

Julian watched him all the way. “What the fuck?”

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