Diana says, “A Drive Coupler for a Firefly. It’s an ’03, right? Hmmm. I’m sure I have the design specs for one of those…” She spends a few minutes pushing buttons on the rather large box she’s carrying, rummages around inside, and suddenly lifts out a brand new Drive Coupler, then holds it out for inspection. “Can we consider this partial payment for my passage?”

Kaylee takes the immaculate part, cradling it like a baby – She looks it over, tears in her eyes, “Bao bay… (Sweetheart…)” Then she looks up at Diana and says, “You ARE a magician. I think the Captain may just decide you’ve paid for the whole trip!”

As they step inside, the mule thunders out with Zoë, Badger and Jayne on board, scattering people on the Dock, on its way to Badger’s warehouse.

Kaylee shows Diana and her Coupler to Mal, who immediately accepts both. “Well, now we have food and the part we need to get this boat working, all we need is fuel. Kaylee, get that Coupler installed as fast as you can.”

“As for fuel, let’s try the direct approach. Simon, can you put on somethin’ that will blend in a little better, and go talk that fuel truck into filling us up? I don’t think the Feds or anybody else will pick you out of the crowd as fast as they would the rest of us… Inara, we may need you to distract that driver. I don’t want him studyin’ on the ship or thinkin’ too hard.”

Mal has no idea how to pay, but that’s a problem for later.

The crew on the mule has no trouble getting to the food warehouse, but as they open the door, a single Alliance soldier approaches. “What are you people doing here? I have orders not to allow anyone in that building unless they have written permission from the Base Commandant.”

Badger begins; “But this is my warehouse, I have every right -”

The soldier is having none of it. “My orders are clear. Absolutely no one enters without papers.”

Zoë nods slightly to Jayne, then says to the soldier; “Well, of course. That’s as it should be. Just let us get parked inside, and we’ll straighten this out.”

They drive in, and Zoë steps out, carrying an envelope. “Come over here, and I’ll show you our authorization.” The soldier moves in expectantly, and is immediately hit over the head by Jayne’s wrench. Zoë says, “Better tie him up and gag him. He’s likely to create quite a fuss when he wakes up.”

Badger opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out.

Jayne has an alternate plan: “Why not just ruttin’ shoot him?”

“And get blood all over Badger’s nice clean floor? No, that wouldn’t be good. Besides, we still don’t know if we’re gonna get off Persephone, and it would be bad enough being charged with theft. I don’t think we want to be up on murder charges as well.”

But Zoë has other concerns at the moment. “Now Badger, let’s take a look at all that ‘fresh food’ you were talking about – I hope you weren’t crossin’ us.”

Badger has watched Jayne in action, and is only too anxious to prove he has the real thing. “No problem with that – it’s genuine top grade material – right over here…” He leads them to a huge pile of boxes, many of them with Blue Sun labels. “All in Stasis containers and crated for shipment!”

Zoë is impressed in spite of herself. She checks a few seals, and all the containers look pristine. “It looks like for once you weren’t putting us on. Genuine fresh goods! I’d better be careful, or I might say something good about you.”

After those preliminaries all is quiet, and the loading goes remarkably well.

Back at the ship, Inara puts on a particularly riveting outfit, and is prepared to use some of her more alluring moves, but those seem to be rather a waste… She is the one and only focus on the very young driver’s mind from the instant she steps outside. He has never seen anyone quite like her, and his eyes are so fastened on her every move that it takes several tries before he can even get the hoses hooked up.

The mule returns just as the boy finishes, and as it roars inside, a small squad of Alliance troopers appear, terrifying the young fueler.

Badger then steps out of the hold; “Thank you, gentlemen, for coming so promptly.”

He’s obviously not surprised in the least to see them, and quite apparently it’s been a setup from the start. “These are the criminals you’ve been looking for. And as you can see they’ve been caught red-handed, stealing fuel from this young man as well as the government food I was holding in my warehouse!”

He walks over to the lieutenant and says, “I think the Commandant will want to have them and their ship locked down until judgment is passed and payment is made. Of course, I wasn’t thinking of a reward, just doing my civic duty, but if you pass on to the Commandant my part in all this, I would be grateful.”

Mal mutters, “Jing cai. (Brilliant.) - Government food? I knew I shouldn’t have trusted him.”

But Zoë points out; “We had little choice, had to take the chance. And at least we won’t starve in the lockup.”

The troopers move in, and Mal considers briefly the concept of a life behind bars -

But suddenly Diana steps out of the shadows and presents her ID card. As the Lieutenant looks down at the ident with widening eyes, she quietly tells him something.

Suddenly the Lieutenant tells the fueler to forget about the payment. Pointing at Badger, he barks at his sergeant, “Take this man prisoner. We’ll run him over to Headquarters and see what charges he has outstanding.”

Badger protests loudly, but it does no good. The squad marches away, dragging the still squawking quisling away, leaving Serenity and her crew free to go.

As Mal and Simon watch Badger’s departure in amazement, Kaylee hollers over the intercom; “All shiny, Captain. The Coupler works perfect!”

In an instant, Serenity, which just hours before was apparently out of business and facing God Knows how many charges, is fully refueled, restocked with food, its Drive repaired, and not a single writ holding her back!

A determined Jayne appears at the door, “Okay Mal, I got all the food stored away. Who do we have to fight next? - Whaddya mean, nobody? Tzuh muh luh? (What’s going on?) I was jist…”

In less than half an hour, Serenity is climbing into the Black and all systems are working perfectly, or at least as close as they ever do. With no immediate problems to solve for a change, it’s time for a talk with Diana.

Mal has seen an ident work like that before, and wants some answers; “Why did the Lieutenant change his mind all of a sudden like that? What did you tell him?”

Diana shrugs; “Not too much. I just told him that Badger was a well-known double dealer out to embarrass the Alliance, and that I was willing to vouch for you all.”

“But why did he accept your word? What hold does that card have?”

Diana smiles enigmatically. “He must have liked my picture.”

Mal’s not too happy with that, but Diana is quite apparently not going to give any other answer, so he tries another question; “And what would you possibly want in the scrap belt? I conjure you can make most anything you really want from your magic box, all shiny and new.”

Her answer, “Not everything valuable is shiny and new.” just brings up more questions. But all the answers are so vague that he doubts if she really knows.

Mal also has no answers as to where they will go after they finish whatever they’re going to do in the belt. Serenity has no prospects at all past that point.

But for the moment, he’ll stop worrying. It doesn’t matter. There are no Alliance ships on their screens, and they ARE flying.

Mal is content...