It had never occurred to River, growing up, that meals were supposed to be a time of togetherness. Meals with her parents were usually affairs of State, where she was dressed so elaborately that it was often impossible to eat. On the rare occasion that they were able to sit down as a family she found herself more fascinated by the way the air between her parents turned to ice than she was with the food.

Breakfast and lunch on Serenity seemed to come and go with everyone fending for themselves, but dinner was something that never failed to amaze and enthrall her. No matter what they were doing, everyone came together for this one meal and it was River’s favorite time of day. Though no blood linked them, the crew of Serenity acted like a family and the warmth filled River’s mind and soothed ragged edges. Tonight was made especially good by the fact that Kaylee had scrounged together enough ingredients to make fresh bao for everyone.

“And then,” Zoe said “Our dear Captain told the man: ‘She said her name was Nancy.’ You should have seen his face.”

The table erupted into laughter and Mal blushed a little. He watched as Kaylee placed her napkin next to the bowl that held the bao. The napkin shifted and a small squawk issued from within. Mal gave her a stern look and she smiled innocently.

“What?” she asked.

“Get that wēnshén bird off my table,” he said.

Kaylee pouted.

“But he’s cold!”

“I don’t care--” Mal started, but Zoe wrapped her napkin around Kaylee’s and pushed it closer to the bowl, effectively ending the argument.

Jayne watched all this with a smirk. While his attention was diverted, River reached over and stole the bao from his plate. He tried to grab it without looking, but missed and knocked the roll to the floor. The merc and the girl regarded each other for a split second, sizing each other up, before both scrambled for the bao. River grabbed it first, but dropped it when Jayne grabbed her wrist and squeezed hard. His eyes locked with River’s and he growled slightly. The roll lay on the floor between them, but neither moved for it. He gave her wrist another squeeze and her mouth dropped open in pain, forming a little “o”. He smiled triumphantly, but faltered when his eyes landed on her lips, and then, his thoughts slammed into her.

“Lips….those gorram lips. So--”

She closed her mouth and cocked her head to the side, appraising him. He dropped her wrist like it was on fire and his thoughts terminated suddenly. He glared at her and reached for the bao. River was disappointed, she found herself wanting to know what he thought of her lips more than she wanted the roll. She reached out her hand and grabbed his wrist, rubbing her thumb along the inside where his pulse thrummed. He startled, smashing the bao in his fingers and looked up at her. At first, there was murder in his eyes, but then, she licked her lips and those fires were banked and replaced with something else entirely. River gasped when her mind was flooded, not with words, but images.

They were exactly as they were now, staring at each other under the table, but the scene was slightly different. After a moment, she realized it was that they were alone at the table. Jayne pulled his arm towards himself, and River, still holding his wrist, was pulled forward as well. When half the distance between them was closed, he reached his other arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap. He buried his face in her neck and growled again, but it was different from before and she felt it in her toes. His mouth latched onto her, just below her ear, and he first kissed her softly, then dragged his stubble across the sensitive skin there. Finally, he bit her and River sighed both in Jayne’s thoughts and outside them.

Just then, Kaylee peeked under the table to see what was going on. He stood up so fast that River didn’t have time to let go and was dragged to her feet. There was an uncomfortable moment when the entire table stared at them; then Jayne sat down, dropping the crumpled bao on the table. River smoothed her skirt and sat down as well. She took a few bites of food and then looked over at Jayne. A muscle in his jaw jumped and she knew he saw her looking but was going to ignore her. She replayed his thoughts over in her mind and smiled to herself. She wanted to see more.

Under the table, River grabbed his leg. He jumped so violently that his knee bumped the underside of the table, causing all the dishes to rattle. Mal reached out to steady his cup and raised an eyebrow at Jayne. Jayne cleared his throat.

“I had a….muscle….thing,” he stuttered.

River gave his leg a squeeze and he tried to shake her off, but she held on tight. He turned to look at her, but she didn’t look at him. Instead, she used her free hand to pull her hair over her shoulder and arched her neck slightly, baring the part of her neck that he had imagined kissing. She was instantly rewarded with more of Jayne’s fantasies.

They were still in the mess and they were still alone, but this time they were standing in front of the table. Jayne pushed her hair away from her face.

“Jǐn xiù ,” he said.

Then, he reached down and pulled her dress over her head. In Jayne’s mind, she wore nothing underneath. His hands brushed up her sides, lingering on her breasts and traveling upwards. His fingers slid up to cradle her head, lacing in her hair. She tilted her head back for a kiss, but he stepped forward, backing her into the table. He stepped in between her legs and she could feel the fabric of his trousers against the inside of her thighs. Jayne’s hand guided her back until she was lying on the table. He took a step back, smiling at her, and knelt down. He put his hands under her knees, lifted one to rest on his shoulder and lowered his mouth to her--

River stood up suddenly, staring at Jayne.

“Oh,” she said softly, then sharper “Oh!"

She threw her napkin on the table and stormed out of the room, cheeks flaming. Jayne barely looked up as she left, completely unaware as to what had flustered her.

“What did you do?” Mal demanded.

“I didn’t do a gorram thing!”

River could still hear them fighting as she ran through the ship towards the spare shuttle.

She needed to look something up on the cortex.

****

The shuttle floor, where River sat, was cool on her too hot skin. She stared at the cortex screen for a moment before shaking her head and reaching up, choosing another link. This page had a capture that immediately began playing, the moaning of the woman on the screen filling the small space. River scrambled, fingers flying over the cortex screen as she tried to find less audible information. She settled on a page that seemed to take a more educational approach to the subject and sat back down. The article in question was peppered with highly erotic photos, but with the wealth of information given, she was willing to look upon them as visual aids. After only a few moments of viewing, her unmistakable conclusion was that there was way more to this than she realized and that, for once, Jayne knew far more about a subject than she. The prospect was both frightening and exhilarating.

She was intrigued enough that she thought the capture was worth one more look. Her fingers were halfway to the cortex screen when the door to the shuttle slid open and Jayne stepped into the entry. River froze and turned to look at him.

“Cap’n said I should come find you,” he said “Some nonsense about apologizing.”

River didn’t say anything, but her mind was trying to calculate a situation in which she could turn off the cortex without his noticing. He couldn’t see it from where he was, but if he took one step into the shuttle…. Maybe she could get him to leave.

“Go away,” she said, putting as much anger in her voice as possible.

Jayne looked surprised and then he saw fingerprints on her still raised wrist. He nodded towards them.

“Didn’t hurt ya none, did I?” he asked.

River shook her head and then started to stand, thinking that if she left, he was bound to as well. When she was on her feet, he stepped towards her and took her wrist in his hands. He held it gently, unlike before, and as his rough fingers examined her for any injuries, her mind stopped screaming at her about the cortex and started enjoying the sensations.

“Good,” Jayne said as he turned her wrist over and examined the other side. “Cos, my Ma would whup me good for hurtin’ a girl. ’Specially a little thing like you.”

“Your Ma’s not here,” River said distantly.

Jayne smiled and ran his thumb over her knuckles, lingering without reason.

“Ma always knew,” he answered “We never knew how, but my brothers, my sis and me got up to a lot of trouble and didn’t get away with half of it. Woman’s a mean mark with a mixing spoon.”

Jayne looked up at her and River nearly fell down. All this time and she’d never noticed that his eyes were so very blue. The heat of his gaze scorched her and she wanted to reach out to him, tell him she knew his thoughts and wanted to know more. She wanted to feel his lips on hers for real, not just in images his mind created. She wanted those blue eyes to look at her as she kissed him back.

“Now,” he said, finally letting her hand drop. “Yer brother and the Cap’n had a big row over me bein’ the one to come find you. I bet the Doc is pouting somewhere. Let’s you and me go find him and make fun of him.”

River smiled and Jayne smiled back for a moment before his eyes slid over her shoulder. From the emotions that flitted across his face, she knew he’d seen the cortex. She blushed a bright crimson.

First there was confusion, then there was a long moment of pure male appreciation, and then confusion made another brief appearance before he finally resolved on horror. He reached over her shoulder and hit the button that took the cortex back to its home screen and looked down at her.

“What in the hell possessed you to look that up?” he asked fiercely. “It ain’t proper, yer just a--”

“I’m not just a girl,” she interrupted.

He silently conceded to her point.

“Well, you shouldn’t be watching it nohow,” he said, gentler this time.

She stared at her feet, unwilling to look him in the eyes and he smiled widely, the devil in him coming out.

“Didja like what you saw?” he asked.

River made a small noise at the back of her throat and wished she would die. Jayne laughed and pushed her bare toes with his booted foot.

“Cos, you know, there’s more interestin’ things I could show you on here.”

He reached over her shoulder towards the cortex again; she slapped his arm then tried to get past him and out the door. He put one hand on each of her shoulders, lifted her off the ground, and placed her exactly where she had been before.

“I want to go make fun of Simon now,” she said, her voice thready with panic. He shook his head.

“Not until you tell me why.”

“Because,” River said “Teasing is a socially accepted method of sibling rivalry.” Jayne shook her shoulders gently.

“Girl, it’s hard to play dumb when everyone knows you’re a ruttin’ genius.”

“I really want to go tease Simon now,” was her answer.

“River,” Jayne said sternly, yet softly.

It was the use of her name that finally made her look him in the eyes.

“I,” she stuttered “Dinner….bao….you….”

Some kind of sense was starting to form for Jayne. Sexual fantasies were a constant litany at the back of his mind. It wasn’t something he ever paid much attention to unless he was alone; it was just a fact of life and it was rare when one stood out from the others. He was aware that the fā kuáng girl was starring in them more often, but he hadn’t delved too deep as to the why of that just yet. What he did know was that during dinner he’d had two fantasies so powerful and vivid that he’d provoked the argument between the Captain and Simon so he’d have time to get his body under control before he had to get up and find River.

“I thought I told you to say out of my mind,” he said as the final piece clicked into place.

Despite the confrontational tone of the question, River noticed something odd. Everyone on Serenity had an energy that was all theirs. She could pick each and every one of them out in a crowd with her eyes closed. Sometimes, if the person was standing close enough and the emotions were intense enough, the energy manifested itself as a color. Jayne was a deep reddish-brown and as they stood there, tendrils crept from him, and instead of pushing her away, which is what usually happened, they reached out and started to embrace her. River watched this, amazed, and then something happened that she’d never seen before. Twining tentatively around the tendrils of Jayne’s energy and going back towards him, were threads the color of spring’s first grass. She wanted to touch them to see if they smelled like fresh rain. After a minute, she realized with a start that the green was her. She watched as the two colors wound together and formed a rope that linked her and Jayne, newly forged feelings and curiosity made visible.

“What’re you looking at?” he asked, confused.

“Us,” River answered and reached out to touch the rope. It was thick, but looked baby-new; delicate. Jayne grabbed her hand just before it could close around the rope and leaned down to look in her eyes.

“You okay?”

River nodded, smiling.

“Yer not gonna go all crazy?” he asked.

She shook her head and he nodded his once, satisfied. After a moment, he cleared his throat.

“Look, I’m sorry you saw what you saw,” he said “I shouldn’t have been thinkin’ it anyway, but if I knew it’d upset you, I wouldn’t have thought it at all.”

River smiled smugly at him.

“What?” he asked.

“You just apologized and admitted you have feelings all in one breath. That’s quite a revelation.”

“Well, don’t get used to it,” he said and then turned a little green. “Feelings?”

“For me,” she said.

He took a giant step back from her.

“Naw,” he said running a hand through his hair. “Man feelings. Y’know….naked type feelings.”

“For me,” she said again, pointing to herself to emphasize the point. He shook his head and she smiled, still pointing at herself. “Genius,” she said.

River could see Jayne was about to bolt so she did the first thing that she could think of, the only thing she had been thinking of since he had come into the shuttle and started examining her wrist. She closed the distance between them, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him. His lips did not move against hers and when she opened her eyes, his were wide with shock. She stepped back and started to mumble an apology, but he turned around, closed the shuttle door, and in two steps, had her gathered in his arms. He kissed her fiercely and wasn’t sure why he was kissing her at all except that River Tam looked like a girl that needed to be kissed. He walked her backwards until they hit a wall and bit her bottom lip, dragging his teeth across it. She was making noises he thought he could listen to for the rest of his life. When his hand reached up and cupped her breast, teasing a nipple, she would have fallen down had the wall not been behind her. His tongue found its way into her mouth and in an instant was twining with hers in an imitation of the rope of energy. And the rope, when she could focus on it, was pulsing like it was alive, the green tendrils joyously dancing back towards Jayne and the reddish-brown ones surrounding them protectively.

Unexpectedly, Jayne pulled away from her and rested his forehead on hers, breathing hard.

“This is wrong,” he said, voice raw.

“Didn’t feel wrong,” she answered.

She could feel him smile against her skin and he kissed her there, gently.

“Sure sign it is, ài ren,” he replied. He looked down at her. “Never was one to do things the right way, though.”

River smiled triumphantly, sure a battle had been won even if she wasn’t sure what it was yet. He lowered his head to kiss her again when the cortex gave a shrill beep behind them.

She looked around him and was looking at her brother’s face. It was a fresh warrant. Time enough had passed since the Operative had called off the Alliance on Mr. Universe’s moon that she felt a dull shock seeing it, but it wasn’t unexpected either. What was most troubling were the words “Dead or Alive” that had been added to the bottom of the document. Jayne looked over his shoulder and snorted when he saw the image.

“Yer brother always looks like he’s got a stick up his pì gu,” he said “Let’s print a capture for when we go tease him.”

There was another beep and River’s face came up on the screen. The picture on her warrant had been updated. It was a still image taken from the video feed in the Maidenhead.

“You were amazing that day. Terrifyin’, too,” Jayne said. “And beautiful…. You know, ‘cept for the part you near twisted my gāo off.”

Jayne absently rubbed his crotch in sympathy for the remembered pain as his eyes took in the image of River on the warrant. Had he bothered to do the math, he would have found that River started starring in his fantasies soon after that day. He opened his mouth to say something to her when there was another beep, and his smile faltered when he saw Mal’s face on the screen. This was new. His smile disappeared entirely when his own face followed a fresh beep, and his mouth was set in a grim line when Zoe’s and Kaylee’s faces followed two more. All had large bounties and all had the tableau “Dead or Alive” in bold letters across the bottom. Someone was serious this time.

Jayne grabbed her hand, no gentleness now, and the rope between them shuddered as if in pain. He opened the door and dragged her into Serenity.

“We need to go get the Cap’n,” was all he said.

****

They found Mal back in the mess having a cup of coffee by himself. The table had been cleared of dinner’s dishes and everyone else had gone about their own business. Jayne dragged her into the room and thrust her in front of the Captain as he started telling him about the warrants.

“Can’t say as I’m surprised,” Mal said.

“Yeah,” Jayne said, “Well, I ain’t got to the best part yet.”

Mal motioned for him to continue.

“After the ones of Doc and the moonbrain came up, there was one fer you.”

River winced when he called her moonbrain. Not ten minutes before, he had called her sweetheart and now, he was back to his old self again.

As soon as they were within sight of Mal, he had dropped her arm and had pretended like she didn’t exist, excepting an occasional finger pointed in accusation. Mal hadn’t acted worried at all to hear about her and Simon’s new warrants, but the news that there was one for him got him to pay attention a little. Still, he played it close to his chest.

“Again,” he said, “Not a big surprise. Not exactly thrilled about it, but it ain’t the first time the Alliance has had my name down in their black book. It’ll go away.”

Jayne grunted.

“Do you think Zoe’s will go away?” he asked.

Mal looked at him hard.

“Or Kaylee’s?” Jayne continued.

Mal’s jaw clenched and unclenched while he worked this all out. Finally, he started walking towards the spare shuttle.

“Show me,” he said. Jayne walked out of the room without looking at her and followed the Captain.

River sat down at the table and put her head in her hands. Losing Wash on Mr. Universe’s moon had been a blow that was particularly hard to bear. Every day she lived with the knowledge that, had it not been for her, he’d still be alive and well with Zoe. The thought that anyone else aboard Serenity, all of whom she now considered her family, might come to harm because of her, was unbearable and unacceptable. There had to be a solution to this problem. If she just thought about it hard enough, the solution will reveal itself. Solving even the most challenging equations had never been a problem for her. Granted, physics was a lot less personal than this, but everything could be reduced to equations if done properly.

Long minutes of calculating kept bringing her to the same solution, but it was one she was unwilling to accept as the only viable answer. She was about to start over when the Captain’s voice called out on the overhead.

“Everyone to the mess, we need to have a meeting.”

****

Mal had printed captures of each of the warrants and had placed them on the table. Each person had found their respective warrant and was presently starting at it in dumb silence. Apparently, Jayne and River had left too soon; a warrant for Inara had followed Kaylee’s and there had even been one for Wash, though Mal hadn’t printed that particular warrant and had told the news to Zoe in hushed, respectful tones. He let the news sink in for a while before he started talking.

“Ain’t the first time we’ve been on the wrong side of the law,” he said.

“Speak for yourself,” Inara said bitterly, and then bit her lip when she realized she had said it out loud.

Mal gave her a look that said he didn’t believe she was all that innocent and then turned his attention back to the table.

“The Alliance has always been a particularly nasty thorn in our side, what with our business specialties and all. My thinking is that this will all blow over, but since it involves all of you, I want to know what you think.”

Kaylee was the first to speak, tentatively raising her hand before she found her voice.

“This part right here, ‘Dead or Alive,’ what’s that mean?”

“Just that,” Mal answered.

“Means you’re worth just as much as a corpse as you are breathing,” Jayne interjected. “Also means they’d rather not deal with a trial. They’re hoping some bounty hunter will get trigger happy and save them the cost of an execution.”

All the color drained out of Kaylee’s face as she sat back in her chair.

“Oh,” was all she said.

Simon reached out to grasp her hand, but she didn’t seem to feel it and after a moment he withdrew his hand.

“The amount’s gone up,” Simon said absently.

“Way to look on the bright side, Doc,” Jayne said.

Mal glared at Jayne and looked at Zoe.

“Do you have any ideas as to what we should do about this?”

She shook her head but, after a moment, started to speak.

“How long till we’re on Paquin?” she asked.

Mal looked to River, who did a quick calculation.

“A day and a half,” she replied, “We could expedite our arrival with some manipulations of the engine and arrive in just under a day.”

Mal shook his head.

“Don’t think we’re in any hurry to be planet bound, li’l albatross,” he said and then looked back to Zoe, who nodded.

“When we get to Paquin,” she said, “I say we send a two person team dirtside with comms and River can take Serenity out of the city to a more remote location until we call her back. Then we can spend a little time figuring out how hot these warrants are. I say we go to the post drop before we meet up with our contact and see if we have anything waiting for us there. That would be as good a place as any to see how wanted we really are and if there’s too much of an interest in us, we skip planet and explain to Badger later.”

“Badger won’t be happy ‘bout that,” Jayne grumbled.

“We’ll be alive,” Zoe shot back.

Mal snorted.

“You say ‘we’ like you’re gonna to be one of the ones going.”

Zoe pressed her lips tight together.

“I will be,” was all she said, but Mal shook his head.

“You ain’t goin’,” he told her, “You lost, I mean we--” He paused and cleared his throat. “I ain’t puttin’ you at risk just yet. I’ll take Jayne with me.”

“You’ll put me at risk?” Jayne roared. “That’s a fine thing. ‘The mission’s to dangerous for everybody else, let’s put Jayne up front.’ No. I ain’t your man.”

“I figure you to be the most intimidatin’ of this bunch,” Mal said, voice deadly. “If anyone is looking to collect on our bounties, they might be more apt to think twice if they see you. And you are my man, unless you want to have another conversation about the airlock.”

Kaylee giggled when Mal called Jayne his man, but stopped and gave Jayne a curious look when Mal mentioned the airlock. Jayne lowered his head and glowered.

“I won’t be so scary if’n I’m dead,” he mumbled under his breath, but Mal pretended not to hear him.

“Sir,” Zoe said, “Jayne obviously doesn’t want to go, which will put you at risk if anything should happen. I’m going.”

“You’re not!” Mal barked.

Jayne leaned over the table towards her.

“You sayin’ something about me?” he asked. “Sayin’ I might run and leave the Cap’n behind if things get bad?”

“Wouldn’t be the first—” she started to say and Jayne leapt up, but Mal put a hand on his shoulder and forced him back down in his seat.

“I’m the gorram Captain!” he yelled. “We’ll do what I say!”

The table stared at him in silence. When he’d reigned in his emotions a bit, he cleared his throat and continued.

“Zoe had the right idea,” he said. “When we get to Paquin, Jayne and I will go dirtside and suss out if we’re in immediate danger. As soon as we’re unloaded, River you take the ship out of the city and hide her away someplace. Kaylee you keep Serenity ready for atmo.”

Kaylee nodded, face still white.

“Doc, I want you in your infirmary in case you’re needed when we get back on board. Zoe, you’re not coming with us, but I want you to be at the ready in case we have unwanted company to take care of. River you listen with a keen ear for me or Jayne to call. We might be needin’ you right quick. If we don’t contact you within an hour, you’re to take Serenity out of atmo and Zoe will be in charge after that. She’ll figure out what to do from there.”

The whole table was silent, watching him, and Mal had an unwanted bit of déjà vu, remembering talking to the crew after they had learned the grim truth of Miranda. He shook his head, willing the image away, not wanting to taint the current situation with the outcome of the former.

“Does anyone have any objections?” he asked.

Zoe stood up, the legs of the chair scraping against the floor of the mess and left the room without another word. She was angry, but Mal hoped she would see reason later. Jayne raised his hand, but River pulled it down again. He shook her off and a hurt looked crossed her face.

“Apparently I don’t,” Jayne grumbled.

“Good,” Mal said, “River said we’ve got a day and a half before we breach atmo. I say we relax a little; might be the last chance we have for a while.”

****

As everyone filed out of the room, Inara approached Mal.

“You didn’t mention me,” she said. When he gave her a questioning look, she continued. “Everyone else has a duty, but you failed to mention me. I’m a part of this crew, too.”

Mal sighed.

“Look,” he explained, “I want you onboard and in your shuttle staying out of the way. Things might get messy.”

“I’ve done messy before,” she said, “Or are you forgetting—”

“I’m not forgetting,” he interrupted. “I just don’t want to put you in harm’s way again.”

He put a hand on her arm and she stepped towards him, drawn in. He gave her a look full of regret and cleared his throat.

“If things aren’t too hot on Paquin,” he said, “I want you to take the shuttle and stay there.”

“What?” she asked stunned.

“I don’t know how big of a deal this is going to be,” he said, “Dock on Paquin and stay onboard as much as possible ‘cause you tend to stand out in a crowd. Wave Sihnon; don’t tell them where you are, and see how good those old government connections of yours are. See if you can get your warrant dropped on account of being a pawn in my plan or some such. If you can’t, wave us and we’ll pick you up on the way back from Tawaret. If things are still hot after that, we’re going to need a more drastic plan.”

“Pawn,” she laughed bitterly, “Pawn? How dare you.”

“I’m only thinking of—”

“Me?” she interrupted, “Spare me. Please. You don’t want me onboard, fine. The Training House welcomed me back once, I’m sure they’ll do it again.”

“Fine,” Mal conceded angrily.

“Fine,” Inara countered.

He threw his hands up in the air and stormed off, leaving her with tears in her eyes.

****

Out in the hallway, River stopped Jayne, as he opened the door to his bunk, with a gentle hand on his shoulder. He rounded on her and she backed into the opposite wall, there suddenly being too much of him for such a small place.

“You,” he spat.

“I—” she started.

“If it weren’t for you, none of this would have happened.”

Simon stepped forward and put himself between River and Jayne.

“Now, just wait a minute,” he cut in.

“No,” Jayne said, “I won’t. Weren’t for her, or you, Wash’d still be alive. Book’d still be alive. We never woulda run afoul of that Operative. A whole mess of things wouldn’t have happened if she weren’t here.”

The cord between them shuddered and snapped. Jayne gave her one last deadly glare before descending into his bunk. Simon turned around and looked at River.

“He’s a buffoon,” Simon said.

“And you’re a boob,” River replied as Kaylee walked by and Simon didn’t even look at her. Simon looked hurt and River changed course.

“He’s right,” she said.

“About what?” Simon asked, “About everything being alright if you weren’t here? He’s an ass.”

“But he’s right,” she said. “It’s time.”

“Time for what? He didn’t say a thing about it being time.”

“To go back,” River said and left her brother standing alone in the hallway.

****

It was raining on Tawaret. Still. Hiram had decided long ago that he could go the whole rest of his life without seeing another raindrop and die a happy man. When this was all said and done and he had the bounty money, he thought he might go and find a moon that was so dry that they had to haul up every drop of water they used from deep within the ground. Someplace where there was no damp air and the sun shone every minute of the day and you could see the stars at night. Someplace far away from this damn rock; he was done with it.

Despite the rain, things were busy outside. People rushed about in swamp boats, wearing brightly colored slickers, preparing for the Spring Festival that was only two weeks away. Tarps had been stretched over frames and beneath their canopy, the sounds of sawing and hammering could be heard. Hiram peered out the window, monitoring the progress as best he could without going outside and getting dirty. Things seemed to be coming along nicely. They should be ready for the festival on time. He chuckled. It would be his last festival. The thought was a comfort.

When he was satisfied that things were progressing as best they could, he pulled the shade and turned on some music to block out the sound of the infernal rain. He sat down in his chair and imagined himself on a dusty plain, wiping sweat from his brow and shielding his eyes from the punishing sun above. He had almost drifted off to sleep when there was a knock on his door. Cursing under his breath, Hiram walked across the room and opened the door. Wind blew the rain in, soaking the front of his best jacket. He hauled the man in front of him inside by his collar and slammed the door shut.

The man, Logan Chen was his second in charge. Logan shook his coat out on the floor and hung it over the back of a chair.

“My rug,” Hiram bellowed, “My chair!”

He swiped the coat from the back of the chair and threw it at Logan, who caught it and draped it over one arm. Logan pulled his glasses off, wiped the moisture from them and put them back on, then looked down at the sodden rug, the fine weave turning dark where the water was soaking in.

“Sorry,” he said lamely and pushed his glasses up his nose.

Hiram grunted. Logan stood a full head taller than him. Most men did, actually, and it was easy to discount him for his size, but underneath his finely tailored suits was a soldier’s body that he had never let go. He prided himself on that, that he could break a man’s neck as easily at 40 as he could have at 19. Though his brown hair might have thinned on top and grayed at the temple and his blue eyes and thin lips were now surrounded by a fine web of lines and wrinkles, he had the strength and stamina of the boy he used to be. He sneered at Logan, imagining wiping the insouciant grin of the younger man’s face with the back of his hand. He might have been his second in charge, but he couldn’t stand the little shit.

“What the hell do you want?”

Logan pulled a small machine from his pocket, turned it on, and used his finger to scroll down the screen.

“Ambassador Lin, his wife, and two daughters will be arriving early this year due to scheduling conflicts,” Logan said “His wave stated that he would like his accommodations prepared and a full staff waiting for when he arrives.”

“Lin stays in which lodgings?”

“He stays on Poulter Hill, in the suites,” Logan answered. “They’re being renovated at the moment. They won’t be ready in time for his arrival.”

Hiram rubbed his chin, deep in thought.

“Put him up in the Field House,” he replied “It’s slightly smaller, but make sure he has the same amount of staff and inform his man that they have credit at any of the dining establishments for the duration of their stay.”

Logan nodded and checked that item off his list.

“Also, the new hall is almost done,” Logan said. “Vance asked me if you’d like to come and inspect it. They were setting the tables up when I was there earlier. The windows look out over the hills; the view will be spectacular.”

“Hopefully this one won’t get washed away,” Hiram muttered. “And no, I don’t want to go. I’ll go when the rain stops.”

“I thought you might say that,” Logan responded and he pulled a small disc from his pocket. “I took some captures.”

Hiram took the disc from him and walked across the room, inserting it into his cortex. He reviewed the images and smiled.

“It’s nice;” he said “A coat of paint and it will be very nice, indeed. Don’t make it too nice, though. The Hall is only for those who can’t afford to eat in the restaurants. We don’t want the upper class getting jealous because the Hall is better than where they’re eating. Can you imagine Ambassador Lin and his family sitting on benches and eating at long-tables with all the riffraff?”

He chortled loudly and looked at Logan, expecting to see amusement on the man’s face. He didn’t.

“The ‘riffraff’ as you call them,” Logan sniffed, “Happen to be my family and friends. Your family and friends, too, I might add.”

“I don’t have family,” Hiram countered. “I made myself what I am today by myself. Don’t ever forget that.”

Logan nodded his head sharply and took the disc back. It and the machine disappeared back into his pocket and he put his coat back on, snapping it a bit as he straightened it and spraying Hiram with a fine mist of water. He walked across the room, opened the door and turned just before he went outside.

“A man with no friends has no allies,” he said.

“I pay people to be my allies,” Hiram growled.

“Money doesn’t buy everything,” Logan said as he closed the door behind him.

“Money doesn’t buy everything,” Hiram mocked in a falsetto voice as he went to another room to retrieve towels to mop up his carpet. He placed them on the wet rug and stomped on them.

“Damn rain,” he muttered. “Damn planet.”

His cortex beeped and he looked up to see what it was. On the screen was the face of the man that had been with Malcolm Reynolds, the one he had recognized from a previous warrant—Doctor Simon Tam. The bounty had gone up.

Smiling, he crossed the room, carpet forgotten, to read the details. Before he had gotten too far, the doctor’s sister appeared on the screen; her bounty had increased as well. Hiram entertained lovely fantasies in which he failed to tell Badger about the increase in the bounty and got away with it. Maybe he wouldn’t have to run from Badger after all. He could pay him what he was expecting, pocket the profit, and then he could leave this godforsaken place behind.

He had gotten to the part where Badger was thanking him profusely and he was graciously accepting when the cortex screen beeped again and he was staring at Malcolm Reynolds. Hiram laughed so hard he nearly fell out of his chair. More warrants followed. He recognized Zoe from the War and the big moron from the last time Malcolm was here. There were three more that he didn’t recognize, but the warrants listed them as Malcolm’s crew. The warrants were huge, but that wasn’t the best part. The best part was the words 'Dead or Alive' printed at the bottom.

Hiram rushed to the window, threw it open and hollered down to the street.

“Find Logan and send his ass back here!”

Then he sat back in his chair and smiled. He would have Logan contact Ambassador Chen and send the authorities straight away. He would have them waiting here before Malcolm even arrived. Bringing in this many fugitives at once was sure to put him back in the good graces of the Alliance; they might even give him a governmental post. He could write his own ticket. To hell with Badger; he didn’t need that petty crook anymore.

The window was still open and the rain pelted his back, but he didn’t notice. Neither did he notice the break in the clouds and the small bit of sun that shone through.