Something wasn’t right. Smelled off. He woke up from his light sleep at the end of Her bunk and hopped off to the floor. He rested his head lightly on the pillow next to Her’s but Her breathing didn’t change. Padding softly to the door he nudged it open and stepped out listening closely as he followed the smell.

The ship was eerily quiet, everyone else away in their bunks. He turned a corner and climbed the steps trusting his nose. It had gotten him into trouble that day in the market when he’d gotten separated from his dam, but it had also led him to Her. So he trusted it.

The engine got louder as he got closer, the smell stronger. This was definitely the source. Movement caught his eye. He moved closer to get a better look. Barely visible amongst the jumble of parts making up the engine ran a thin stream of amber liquid puddling beneath the grates. He knew almost instinctively that this was a threat to his new family.

Racing out of the room and down the hall to the crew quarters he started to bark loudly waking everyone.

“What the hell is going on?!” Mal roared, climbing the ladder out of his room shirtless. “ Shut Up!” he yelled at Lil’ Captain.

“Sir?” Zoe emerged fully dressed, her shotgun in one hand. She fixed her gaze on the dog who seemed to almost be dancing back and forth in agitation.

“What’s that damn mutt got in its head waking us all up like this?” Jayne grumped also coming up with a gun in hand. Only moments later the rest of the crew spilled sleepy-eyed into the hall.

“That’s what I’d like to know.” Mal grumbled irritated, his eyes also fixed on the dog.

As though seeing that he had everyone’s attention Lil’ Captain took off towards the engine room but stopped realizing that no one was following him. He yipped indignantly at them.

“I think he wants us to follow him.” Kaylee suggested helpfully.

“Looks like.” Mal replied. Looking at the others gathered around he strode purposely after the dog.

He stopped in the engine room and looked around. Nothing seemed amiss until he inhaled. Coughing he leaned over to try and see where the mutt had gone. “O, zhe zhen shi ge kuai le de jin zhan. Kaylee!” He boomed, “Get in here we’ve got a leak.”

~

“Sir, that ‘mutt’ saved our lives.” Zoe argued. Everyone was sitting around the kitchen table some more awake than others, Lil’ Captain sound asleep in River’s lap.

“And I ain’t denying that fact but that still don’t make him part of the crew.” Mal replied from his position at the head of the table.

“Aww, com’on, Captain.” Kaylee said, resting her greasy chin in her hands. “Don’t be like that.”

It had taken her the better part of the night to get the leak in the engine patched up and after a thorough inspection Kaylee had found two other spots that were near leaking as well. After that it had been a simple matter figuring out the source of the problem and fixing it.

“If it hadn’t been for Lil’ Captain we’d have exploded for sure.” Kaylee insisted.

Zoe chuckled to herself but didn’t say anything. “Care to share, Zoe? ‘Cause from where I’m sittin’ nearly gettin’ blowed up don’t tend to produce the giggles.” Mal said sternly.

“Well, sir, you did say you wanted to upgrade the security on this boat and there are worse watchdogs than Little Captain there by far.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t mean-- ah com’on you can’t be serious. Do I really need to lay out all the gorram problems that’ll crop up if we keep that runt of the litter on? He ain’t gonna stay tiny forever even if he won’t get big enough to be intimidating. This ship is too damn small for a dog of any size. He don’t deserve to stay.” Mal looked almost sadly at the dog. “He deserves to live out his life on some ranch with a huge expanse of land to run free on, not cooped up without any fresh air or rabbits to chase. Hell, I ain’t even got to mentionin’ the problem of where he’s gonna do his business.” He paused, considering for a moment. “By the by, where has he been doin’ his business?”

~