"I'm not gonna kill ya, I'm just gonna shot ya. See, killing means you die and that don't cut it for me. Shooting you means there's only a chance of dying and it's kinda small." - Ednali, Captain of the Murosaki

Firefly Murosaki: New Changes part one

"You sure about this, Paulie?"

The thirty something female sighed and shook her head at the childish question. Honestly, she had been flying as long as she had been able to walk. Captain knew that when she got hired and she had proven herself time and time again.

However that never stopped the young twenty something captain from asking every time they enter into atmo.

Reaching behind her, she grabbed the long strands of ebony hair and pulled hard. She smiled when a loud yelp filled the roar of the bridge.

"You keep asking her all the time, Captain. Just relax and let her do the work." a male drawled from the co-pilot seat. Paulie looked over at him gratefully. The constant first mate was always calm and steady compared to the captain's flighty and impatient manner. She wondered why he wasn't the captain often, but the captain proved time and time again why she was the person for the job.

"We'll land in ten minutes. Make sure Ally is strapped." Paulie ordered. She could hear curses and the words 'don't appreciate' and 'who's the captain.'

"All right, since I'm useless here." the captain stated in a dramatic tone before stomping out of the bridge.

There was a brief moment of silence before the male gave a chuckle. Paulie looked over at him in curiosity. He was a good looking man in his twenties with ash blond hair and hazel eyes that changed from gray blue to blue green depending on his mood. If he stood up now, his height would be over the six foot mark and his body was a nice muscular bulk of lean muscle and smooth skin.

Paulie knew that there were many women who would kill for a chance with him, but he was gentleman. Which was odd considering what kind of business they all were in.

"What's the joke?"

"Captain is the funniest creature alive. Owner of a space ship and scared shitless over heights."

This was new for Paulie. She had been only hired on this ship for about three months. Her eyes narrowed at unpleasant memories of finding work that could take her little Ally with her and after being turned down for two days straight, she had taken the offer from the Murosaki without question when the Captain agreed to the extra bit of crew. The fact that the crew celebrated with a huge feast of her hiring was a big clue that whoever piloted the ship before was a certified moron.

She learned a week later that it was the Captain herself that did most of the work.

"Why'd she buy a ship if she's afraid of heights? Captain don't look like the type to fix her problems much."

The man chuckled again and shook his head.

"Because no one expects her to pull it off."

Paulie took a moment to look away from the screens and the view to stare at him.

"Cor, that don't make sense."

"Never said it would."

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Captain Ednali Huang cursed and cursed as each shudder flung her against the walls of her ship. She hated the part of landing and ascending out of a planet's atmosphere. It made her sick and it made her crew laugh at her weakness. Even little Ally, the cute little redhead could handle the landings.

"It's unnatural for a five year old girl to handle this better than a grown adult." she muttered to herself.

"Girl! What in tarnation are you doing laying about like that?"

Ednali wince at the hard older female tone that was currently scolding her. Looking up to glare at the fifty something year old female with deep wrinkles and currently standing straight despite the shudders. For a moment Ednali had to squash a brief pang of jealously before she straigten against the wall.

"Paulie wants Ally to be strapped."

"Well, unlike some people, Ally has a head of sense and currently strapped safely. Get your senseless self sat and don't go throwing up my good food that you ate in front of the child."

With a slap on the top of the head, the older female pushed Ednali towards the living area.

"What about you Delilah? You're old bones shouldn't be standing like that." the younger female sneered before grabbing onto the wall again.

"Get your stupid Captain ass down or else I'll take that job of yours and you can be cook."

Delilah walked towards the bridge while Ednali sulked and went over to Ally. The little girl was currently humming and reading a book. The older female paled at the sight before strapping herself down. Looking over to her right, she saw that Nurse Sally was giving her a look of concern and offered her a pill. Taking it, Ednali swallowed it dry and waited for the queasiness of her stomach to calm.

"How's Nothing Man?" she asked. Sally gave a giggle at that.

"Locked up in his engine room. I swear, Captain, he's going to get himself killed with all that smoke and fire."

"Nothing Man can take care of himself. He maybe a weirdo that only Ally can communicate half the time, but he pulls through." she said confidently while she thought that he better pull through.

"Captain, are you sure about this job? I mean it's getting kinda of dangerous these days. Especially..."

Ednali shook her head. There was no point in talking about work in front of Ally. The poor girl had nightmares of the broadcast that appeared a month ago during one of their shore leaves. However she understood what Sally was referring to.

The Alliance had suffered greatly from the broadcast of the Miranda incident. Millions had been outraged at the annihilation of a single planet and the proof of the Reavers' creation. No one really knew who had broad cast the message, but it had created the seeds of second civil war. The government has been trying to keep everything together and has so far, but committees are being created and issues are being heard about restructuring the government.

Anyone working for the Alliance was looked at in disgust and suspicion. Which was a problem for her and her crew.

Ednali was the captain of an old class Firefly ship called the Murosaki. While she called herself a freelance smuggler and transporter, she had connections and jobs from the Alliance. Before she kept quiet about it and she had been glad about it more then ever. She had seen how bad it was looking for ships that were known to be on Alliance payroll and they had little to few jobs.

There were even a few that had been jumped during their jobs by malcontents.

Closing her eyes, she could only hope that this job would do smooth enough that she and Cor could just go in and get out.

If not, she had a plan.

A hard lurch nearly had her fall out of her seat if not the harness holding her down. Biting her lip, she hoped that her stomach did not have plans in vomiting.

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