Prologue - Planet: Whitefall Time: October 10, 2518 The flashes of light are growing closer and closer. This has got be the hardest thing I’ve tried to ignore in my entire life. Ah, there’s nothing like impending doom to make one reflect. While I look out the window, the glow of the bombs as they come nearer and nearer is almost beautiful. Will Snake hurry it up with the damn fuel? Ai ya, hwai leh! That shit is getting awfully close. Well here I am, on a busted ass ship with a bunch of relative strangers, the boat is sinking into the mud, and the Alliance has gone and decided to blow the entire planet to kingdom come with a dandy little nuclear holocaust. It’s at times like this you wonder how your ass got where it is. Since this boat ain’t going anywhere I guess I could indulge myself with a little flashback.

Chapter One: Life in the black Dublin, that’s what my parents named the ship. It’s where my ancestors from Earth are from. We could be some of the last people in the gorram universe trying to hold on to some national pride from a long forgotten planet. My father even tried to put on a faux accent from time to time to impress clients. We never got those jobs. The Breene family consisted of William (myself), James the pilot and patriarch, and my maternal mechanic Betty. The Dublin was a transport ship. She moved food, rare goods, water, people, and last but certainly not least, weapons and munitions for the warring factions in the Unification War. This was always a point of heated debate at the dinner table. Now my father fervently believed in the independence movement, being as how both he and my mother were from Athens. My dad wanted to commit the ship to the Independent Army, so they could serve the cause and all that hoopla. When it came down to brass tax, the alliance paid better, but whenever a Browncoat job came up Pops insisted on taking the offer. Being often on the losing side, we found ourselves in some hairy situations often. Which is probably why my I’ve been carrying pistols since I was a preteen. Flying and gunning are what my dad taught me as a child. My mom pushed the learn at home books on me. I was getting the best education one could get in the mail one minute, providing suppressive fire with my dad as we made a drop over a battle zone. Each job was harder than the previous, one day my Mom realized it had to stop before it came to a crescendo. She put her foot down. We stopped taking either sides offers, and consequently didn’t eat much for a few months. One day wee got a hail from the Independent Army. Three times our normal rates for a drop over a battlefield called Serenity Valley. Quite the misnomer. Mom tried to put up a fuss, but her heart wasn’t in it. Excuse me, her stomach wasn’t in it. We were really ruttin’ hungry. We picked up the supplies, and I have never seen anyone load our cargo bay so fast. We burned the black on a race to the drop zone. I saw my father speaking with a Colonel, before we embarked. I did not like the look on my Father’s face as he found out what he had gotten us into. I asked him, “What’s up?” He punched the wall next to the loading ramp as he walked into the ship and simply yelled. “Nee ta ma duh tyen-shia suo-yo duh run doh gai si!” That was a great sign. My dad walked directly to the cockpit and started the ship up with little ceremony. I sat my pee-gu down in the co-pilots seat and helped out with the preflight systems. He looked over to me, his eyes were looked dead. “This one’s going to be a little tough.” My father was known for overconfidence. He’d pulled us through all sorts of hair raising situations, landed us without any gas, escaped from hostile fire, and laughed while doing it. Hearing this from the king of cool, the man with no fear, I was scared shitless. I soon found my Dad was by no means exaggerating. Before we even hit atmo there was an alliance interceptor on our tail. We came in hard and fast. My sensor screen went nuts. The air battle going on in orbit of was immense. I can only imagine what it would have sounded like if there was any oxygen to carry it. A missile from an independent ship ripped over our heads. The left side of the interceptor blew off and the ship spun out of control. My father quietly muttered to himself. “What in the guay have I gotten us into…” Right as he finished the words a massive Alliance cruiser jumped in. When something that large moves, it seems like it should be slow, but it came directly into our path as we raced towards the atmosphere. I spoke for the first time since we had embarked. “I’m reading a whole ruttin’ mess of missiles coming out of that bad boy.” “Hold on to your ass.” He threw the accelerator forward. We hauled balls towards the Alliance cruiser. “We’re headed straight for those missiles… You know that right?” “Figure that out all by yourself?” “Is this a time for humor?” I wondered aloud. “Not really.” He banked us downward hard and suddenly as we came within feet of the cruiser. The missiles programmed not to damage the ship that fired it self destructed as they came dangerously close to the ship. “Write that one down.” “Nice dad, we can exchange a high fives when we get planet-side.” We ripped around the cruiser, thank god there are no G effects in space. We sliced through the atmosphere like a hot knife through butter. I can assume that the cruiser had a second battery of missiles on the other side. Just as we were around eighty thousand feet I noticed three blips on my sensor screen. “Shit, we’ve got three more comin’.” “Damn it, I gotta think up another trick. They’re freaking killing me with this crap.” “That’ll be literal if you don’t do something, Pop.” With a jolt I felt two of our fuel cells eject out of the ship. Two of the missiles honed and detonated. The third hit the aft section of the ship. Careening out of control doesn’t begin to describe it. We regained control at about eight hundred feet. I swear to god, I could already hear the screams of the men fighting on the ground. My dad ordered me out of the cockpit. I ran to the engine room to see how my mom was. I ripped open the door, the impact had been nearby. I opened the door and looked into the room, finding blood marks, and a gaping whole straight out into the open. The wind whirling throughout the room hit me and nearly knocked me over. I slammed the door shut, and fell to my knees. I felt my eyes tear up, but I stopped myself. I told myself that she might be okay, maybe she got hurt and locked herself down in the cargo bay. I knew I was lying to myself already. I grabbed onto the doorframe and pulled my ass up. I ran back to the cockpit only to be denied by the steel plated door. I pressed close to the window. “Dad!!” “Will, I need you to get to the cargo bay. Strap yourself to whatever you can... " “Let me help god damn it!!” “I can fly it myself. GO!!” I froze for a moment just looking at my dad. He turned his focus back to trying to land the big burning disco inferno. I wanted to argue, but I desperately wanted to get out of it alive, so I ran to the cargo bay through several compartments. One of which happened to be mostly engulfed in flames. I covered my face and ran blind till I got to the door. I cranked the lever for the door and surveyed all the cargo that we were putting our asses on the line for. “I better get a fucking medal for this.” I grabbed some cords meant to hold down eight ton cargo containers and wrapped it around my bony ass. I grabbed hold of the wall and felt my dad’s last bit of control over the ship slip away and the ship began to spiral. We weren’t too high so the fall was quick, and harsh. The Dublin slammed to the ground. My head slammed downwards and then jerked back up. My head met the hull in a rather disastrous fashion, and everything went black. I don’t know how much time had gone by when I could hear a voice coming closer. I felt heat nearby, and all around. “This is supposed to be the ruttin’ supply ship. Let’s see if some of our supplies made it on this bird.” “Survivors, sir?” “Sure, we’ll look for them too.” The black turned into a dim blur. I tried to get up, but was still securely strapped in. When I pulled forward, a strap rubbed against a newly acquired broken rib. I let out a tortured groan. “Live one, Mal. Doesn’t look too bad.” “Good, he can help carry the cargo…..I’m kidding let’s get ‘em out of here. Check the rest of the ship, I‘ll get him.” I woke up and was greeted by gunfire. “Wuh duh ma huh ta duh fung-kwong duh wai-shung doh! Where the fuck am I?” I groaned to myself. A young officer came jogged up to me. His jacket read ‘Reynolds’. “Mornin’ sunshine. I’d have taken you someplace safe, but anyplace safe around here would’ve involved us leaving you for a rather nasty breed of buzzards. Don’t worry, buzzards are scared of the gunfire." “Where are my parents?” “Dead. I told my boys to give ‘em a proper burial before we came back.” “Those Tyen-sah duh UH-muo! I’ll kill ‘em!” Reynolds’ hand quickly forced me back to my seat as I tried to rise. I was propped up against a boulder, so it hurt. I felt blocked up emotion trying to wretch its way out. I shoved it down and took a deep breath. “Relax, I’ll hold my own.” “You’re volunteering to fight with us? You lost your crew…” I interrupted. “Family.” “You lost your family bringing us these supplies, we’re already indebted to you. I swear that I’ll keep you safe until our evac gets here.” I wasn’t letting anyone else get themselves killed for me. “Just give me a gun.” “Well son, I was hoping you might insist on that.” I grinned and saluted the man I already had a good feeling about. He grabbed my hand midway through the motion. “What the quay are you doin’ that for? You want a sniper to nail my ass? Okay look, since you've been so kind as to join up with us when you were under no obligation to do that, I'm gonna give you this here machine gun…” He grabbed one of two weapons hung over his shoulders. It was a deep gray and looked a might too fancy to be independent issue. “I stole it off some special forces piece of alliance go-se I sent to the here-after. It's mighty fancy and does some impressive things, the only one of which you'll be using is the part that goes boom. Now I want you to take a position by Wilkins over there. And if anything not wearing a big brown coat comes towards you, send him a few lead greeting cards. Dong ma?” He pointed to the soldier I was to fight with. He looked to be just about eighteen or so. Same age as me. I figured since I might die alongside these men, I might as well get acquainted. I offered a handshake. “Name’s William Breene. Glad to make your acquaintance.” “Malcolm Reynolds, call me Mal, and from now on you’re Willy. Agreed?” He took my hand, and I shook his. God, I had no idea what I had just gotten myself into. I volunteered to fight, he repaid me with a fancy gun and a nick-name. Both of which I still carry with me to this day. I doubt the nick-name was a sign of endearment. Simply a catchy, simple way to remember my name. A less personal way to identify a man he may be sending to his death. Brian Wilkins, what a pain in the ass. This dick-weed wined like a little girl with a skinned knee all gorram day. He was forced to join by his father, who was an invalid, for the family’s honor. Funny, if they wanted the family’s honor to stay intact they shouldn’t have sent this son of a bitch. Here I was, a recently orphaned young man, if you could consider me that, I’m injured, I have no military training or experience, and here is this kid complaining that their rations aren‘t a fucking delicacy. Born with a freaking silver spoon up his ass. Seeing as how Reynolds partnered me with him, it was my job to keep his unworthy ass alive. One day I gave in and asked him something while we were on watch one night. I interrupted him mid-bitch. “What’s your fucking deal man?” “What?” He had no idea. “Do you ever shut your pee-gu up? Seriously, we’re supposed to be watching for an Alliance attack, but I can’t pay attention over your god damned griping. Aren’t soldiers supposed to be a bit, ya know… gruff?” “Well, I guess so. I don’t whine all the time…” I shot him a look. He got the point that he was one whiny rant away from a serious beating. “I guess, I’m not a normal soldier in the sense of the word. Just like you.” His voice went up with the last sentence. He thought relating to me was going to earn him some points. This only deepened my dislike for the man. “I think you and me are just as alike as horses are to canaries, pal.” “It’s just that, I um.. I never went through basic. This is the first time I’ve spent any time longer than a week away from my families’ plantation.” “Ha, I knew it. You’re a rich brat. Bet your parents tried to send your slaves instead.” He got all pissy and offended. “They are not slaves! They are indentured workers!” “I’m sorry, would you prefer serfs? Peasants? My apologies my lord!” I mocked him in a high Londinium accent. He snarled and looked back to the field, pretending to be doing his job. I couldn’t help but chuckle aloud. What a curious comic foil he was. That night all my joking, posing and preening as a tough guy washed away while Brian took his turn to sleep. I looked out at the black and tried to map out in my minds eye the course we took in to crash. I could see where our ship regained temporary control, and the holes we left in the stationary clouds before we began our death spin. Lastly I saw the hillside our ship slammed into face first. Before I stopped myself to dam it up, I collapsed to the ground overtaken by a grief I couldn’t even comprehend. I didn’t let a sound out, but I was weeping so uncontrollably my sobs came out as long high pitched exhales. I recoiled into the fetal position and sobbed until my tear ducts ran dry. I don’t think I slept for the first week in that valley. I was too afraid my dreams would take me back home.