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Malcolm Reynolds:

“Find a ship. Find a crew. Keep flyin’. I found a ship, name of Serenity. I found a crew. Some I didn’t go looking for, but they’re here and so long as they work to keep us flyin’, they’ll stay.

“Name’s Malcolm Reynolds. I’m captain of Serenity. Some call me ‘Mal.’ Others call me ‘Captain.’ I answer to both, so long as it’s understood who’s in command. Which would be me.

“I was born on Shadow. Family owned a ranch there. Mother raised me, along with a few dozen hired hands. She saw to it that I had a goodly amount of schooling, though that’s nothing I brag on. Our hired hands saw to it I had a good amount of schooling, too, though not of the same sort. My mother taught me to play the gentleman’s part at a fancy dress ball. The ranch foreman taught me how to shoot my way out of that fancy dress ball, if I had to.

“Was brought up a man of faith, lost that in Serenity Valley. Found something else there, though. More on that to come.

“The central planets’ government—the Alliance—was always trying to meddle in our affairs. Their meddling got worse and worse and finally some of us lost our stomach for it. When the Unification War broke out, I volunteered for the side that believed a man should be able to live his life pretty much as he wants, so long as he doesn’t take to harming others, with no one havin’ the right to tell him what to think or how to think it. Our side was called many things, ‘Independents,’ ‘Browncoats.’ Our side lost.

“I was Sergeant Malcolm Reynolds then, of the 57th Overlanders. We were stationed on Hera, in Serenity Valley, during what turned out to be one of the bloodiest battles of the war. We held out against overwhelming numbers for seven weeks—two of those after our sorry-assed commanders had surrendered. Took sixty-eight percent casualties. Me and Zoe—her as is part of my crew—were the only two as came out of the 57th breathin’. I won’t say alive.

“It was there I found that all a man should put his faith in is his ship, that which keeps him flyin’. Thus, the name, Serenity.

“As for knowin’ some things about me. I’m a man of my word. If I take a job, I do the job. When I do a job, I get paid. If that don’t happen, there’s like to be trouble.

“I keep to the border planets, mostly. Stay away from the Alliance. I’ve been bound by law five times and the experience was not pleasuresome. Charges never stuck, though.

“I’m still flyin’.”

—Conversation with Malcolm Reynolds

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“First known to me as Corporal Alleyne. She was and is my right hand. She is as true a friend as a man can ever have. I’ve trusted her with my life more times than there are stars in the black.

“As to her raisin’ and upbringing, I guess she’ll tell you about that if she thinks it needful. What she generally says is that she was born in the black, raised to life aboard a ship. Like me, she volunteered to fight the Alliance and, like me, she was in Serenity Valley. Like me, she came out breathin’.

“Our views on life being much the same, she agreed to throw in her lot with me and come on board Serenity as First Mate. I must say that Zoe didn’t seem to think much of the ship when first she set eyes on her. Nor did she think much of the man I hired as our pilot, a fellow called Wash.

“I’ve got to admit that he did take some getting used to, what with his palm tree shirts and fairly constant wisecracking, but, as I told her, he is good at his job. And I’m the captain.

“Well, Zoe and Wash flung Chinese cusswords at one another on a regular basis and I thought that probably bullets was like to follow until I took to noticin’ that all their rows seemed to end up in the bunk of one or t’other.

“Before I know it, Zoe—who can creep up on a man and slit his throat so fast and so silent that he’s in the Bad Place before he knows what hit him—starts getting all melty and tearsome whenever Wash’s name comes up. And he turns into a moon-brained calf at the sight of her. I don’t recommend shipboard romances, as they tend to complicate things, but glad to tell they set about marrying each other, a sure-fire way to cure romance if I ever saw one.

“Now that they’re hitched, we’re mostly back to normal, what with the Chinese-flingin’ and the bunk-sharing. There’s a store of love between them, but since it doesn’t get in the way of the flyin’, I’m fine with it.

“Zoe is still my right hand.

“She and me stand back-to-back, always.”

—Conversation with Malcolm Reynolds

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“Wash often tells those that care (and those that don’t) how he was raised on a planet that was so polluted he never saw the stars. Only black he saw came belching out of a smokestack. He says he turned space pilot for one reason and that was to breathe clean air. Given that space is a vacuum... Well, Wash thinks it’s funny.

“He came to me with the reputation for being one of the best damn pilots in the ‘Verse and I will
say for him that he has more than lived up to that high claim. Which is the main reason I overlook such things as his taste in wearin’ apparel, that tends to run to the garish and bright-colored, and his toys—namely dinosaurs—that have frequent rows on top of the control panel.

“Wash can fly anything that’s space worthy and more than a few things that ain’t. He can land this ship on a pocket handkerchief, should you care to set one down here on the bar. He can make Serenity give him more than she’ll give anyone else, ‘cept maybe me.

“Wash is a man I can count on to stay with the ship when Jayne and Zoe and me are out on a job. I know staying behind ain’t easy for him. I know he worries about his wife considerable.

“I also know that Wash’ll be where I need him to be when I need him to be there. And that’s not nothin’.”

—Conversation with Malcolm Reynolds

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“Don’t know much about Jayne Cobb, ‘cept that his mother is still livin’ and must think right highly of her son, ‘cause she knits him these cunning little hats and sends them to him via the post. He must think right highly of his mother, ‘cause he wears them.

“Jayne’s not got over much fryin’ in his brain pan, if you take my meaning. He does know one thing inside out and upside down and that’s guns.

“Fact is, when Zoe and I first met Jayne, we were both of us staring down the wrong end of his gun after he and some fellows he was runnin’ with got the drop on us. Now I could see right off that Jayne was the type of man what would always sell himself to the highest bidder. Just had to keep him listening long enough to promise of ten percent of the take and his own bunk. Jayne concluded a shift of allegiance was in order, along with a shift in his gun barrel from me to his late partners.

“He’s been flyin’ with me ever since.

“Jayne can handle any sort of firearm ever made. There’s none better at shootin’, ‘cept maybe me. He’s right handy with his fists, too. And he plays the guitar. Not sure why.

“Downside to Jayne—he has a crude mouth, a quick temper, and he’s not altogether what you might call trustworthy. He’s had a couple of chances to sell me out, but so far, the money hasn’t been good enough. One day the money will be good enough.

“When it comes, that day will be an interesting day for us both.”

—Conversation with Malcolm Reynolds

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“I had a ‘genius’ mechanic before Kaylee, fellow named Bester. Seemed promising enough at first, but kept dickin’ around and offering up excuses instead of keeping us in the air. One day, I had reached the end of my considerable patience and went to the engine room to have words. I was not pleased to find him enjoying the naked company of a young local when he supposed to be on the clock and, being plain-spoken, I said as much.

“Bester offered up yet another excuse and then it was as this young girl, who looks like someone’s baby sister, up and tells me that she knows what’s ailin’ Serenity. Not only that, but, soon as she sorts her clothes out, she fixes the engine then and there.

“I fired Bester on the spot and hired Kaylee.

“She has a way with machines goes beyond book-learnin’. They ‘talk’ to her, so she’s says. I know for certain that Serenity talks to her way more than my boat talks to anyone else—includin’ me.

“If our Kaylee has a fault, it’s that she hasn’t really learned that I’m a bad man and that the ‘Verse is a bad place filled with bad people who aim to do me and mine harm. Kaylee is under the mistaken impression that I have a soft heart or, rather, that I have any kind of heart at all.

“Still, I have to say that her cheerfulness is welcome around the ship, though it does scrap a might on the nerves sometimes. That and she’s gone all squishy and lovesome over the young doc, Simon Tam, former passenger and now crew.

“I’m hopeful she’ll outgrow it.”

—Conversation with Malcolm Reynolds

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“I can see you expressing some astonishment that we had a registered Companion on board Serenity. She wasn’t a member of the crew, as such. Inara rented one of the ship’s shuttles, not that you’d’ve recognized it for a proper shuttle, what with the fancy rugs and the velvet pillows, gold-gilt trappings and silk sheets. The business arrangement worked out fine for both of us. Her rent money helped keep Serenity flyin’, while being aboard meant she could travel from planet to planet, where she met and entertained high-class, high-payin’ clientele.

“Did I mention she was a whore?

“Inara helped me in other ways, too, though not what you’re thinkin’. She made it a rule to never service the crew. There are some planets that wouldn’t let Serenity land without her credentials smoothing our way. For that reason, I called her the Ambassador. Call her other names less polite when I want to rile her. And I do take considerable pleasure in riling her.

“I have to say, though, that Inara is a puzzle to me. Why would a beautiful Companion, who was, as I’ve heard rumored, on her way to becoming a High Priestess in the Guild House on Sihnon, choose to fly the black with lowlife such as ourselves? Why would a woman of her beauty and brains and talents, who could be sitting in the lap of some rich client dining on strawberries and cream, choose instead to eat canned protein at our table? Not to mention her life being endangered on more than one occasion when one of our jobs got a bit out of hand.

“Why would she? Fact is, she wouldn’t. Wouldn’t choose to be with us, that is. The Ambassador left us for good and all, so she says. Gone to train more little high-class whores. The crew misses her. A few more than others. Kaylee almost forgets how to be cheerful. Almost.”

“As for me, I’m relieved. One less mouth to feed."

—Conversation with Malcolm Reynolds

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“It was Kaylee, as you might figure, that landed us with a preacher on board Serenity. Now, I’ve nothin’ against God, so long as He doesn’t mix himself up in my affairs. And so long as Shepherd Book kept his sermonizing to those as wants to hear it, I had no problem with him shipping out with us.

“The Shepherd came on board at the Eavesdown Docks on Persephone. Said he’d been doing his shepherding at the Southdown Abbey and he’d been out of the world for a spell and would like to walk it a while. Kaylee took to him right off and brought him on board as a passenger. He paid his way with too little cash and a load of fresh garden stuffs, which, I must admit, tasted fine after months of eatin’ protein boiled, protein baked, and protein barbequed.

“It come as somewhat of a shock to Shepherd Book when he discovered how me and mine earn our living. And he was fair knocked flat on his backside when I introduced him to the Ambassador. I don’t expect he figured to find a whore among his travelin’ companions.

“I must say, though, that the Shepherd evened up the surprise score when he proved to be far and away more skilled and knowledgeable about fighting and guns and tactics and lawmen than one ordinarily looks for in a man of God.

“Besides being of considerable worth in a fight, Shepherd Book was a better than ordinary cook and the rest of the crew came to like him. He and Jayne spotted each other lifting weights. The Shepherd and Inara held forth about the ways of the ‘Verse. She being a Buddhist by trade, their conversations were probably interesting to those who could stay awake. So long as he kept his Bible-thumping to himself, I had no problem.

“If he didn’t see fit to talk about where he’s walked in this life, I could honor that.

“You’re askin’ where the Shepherd is now. He left Serenity. Not sure why. Perhaps he saw that he’d done all he could in the way of salvation for us and he might ought to turn his attention to those in want of saving. We set him down at a mining colony on a backwater moon.

“Hope he finds what he’s lookin’ for there.”

—Conversation with Malcolm Reynolds

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“I don’t mind saying that I took against the young doctor from the very start. Maybe it was the way he dressed—all wealthified—or the way he talked—all educated. Or maybe it was the fact that he chose Serenity as his ticket off Persephone. Though the ship looks fine to me, others tend to see her as sort of beat-up and disreputable. Not exactly the type of luxury cruiser I would guess the young doctor is accustomed to flying.

“I was suspicious of him from the start and I took considerable less to Simon Tan when I discovered that he landed me and mine in a world of trouble by smuggling his certifiable loony-bin sister on board my ship.

“Here’s the doc’s story, as he told it to us. If it’s a little vague, I don’t press him for the fine details. When you’re wadin’ hip deep through cow mi tian gohn, you’re not much interested in the color of the cow.

“Simon Tam was one of the lucky ones. He was born to money and brought up with his sister, River, on the wealthy core planet of Osiris. Highly intelligent, Simon waltzed through medical school and, at a young age, was on the road to being one of the most respected and admired (and well-paid) surgeons at one of the most prestigious hospitals in Capital City.

“Simon was smart, but his little sister, River, was a hundred times smarter. There wasn’t anything she couldn’t do, from dancing to theoretical physics. Lookin’ for an education program to challenge her, she went off to some high-powered Academy run by the Alliance. All was fine at first, and then Simon started receivin’ letters that made no sense. On closer inspection, however, he discovered they were written in code. River told him that people were hurting her and she had to escape.

“Simon had money and he had influence and he spent both liberally to help free River. She was cryogenically frozen and shipped to Persephone—a place you go when you don’t want to face a lot of questions, such as ‘what do you have in that large box, sir?’

“Turns out, sadly, that the Alliance wants his sister back. They want her back so bad that they’re not only offering good money for her, they’ve papered the ‘Verse with wanted posters on these two. Now I don’t mind makin’ trouble for myself, ‘cause I generally get paid for it. I do mind others makin’ trouble for me.

“I’ve been tempted more than once to let Simon and his sister take a stroll in space without benefit of suits, but, I’ll say one thing for him, the young doc is good at his job. And since our means of earning a living leads to a certain amount of scrapes and bruises, not to mention gunshots to the belly and the occasional knifing, I have decided to keep him on board. It’s fair to say that some of us might not be here to breathe the air if it weren’t for the young doctor.

“So far, he’s earned a place on my crew. Not sayin’ that’ll last. But so far...”

—Conversation with Malcolm Reynolds

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“Whimsical in the brainpan. That’s the polite way of describing her. The not-so-polite way is to say the teenage girl’s flat-out crazy. She hears things that no one says, sees things different than they truly are. One time she shot three people clean through the head with a single bullet each and her with eyes closed.

“She’s a reader, I’ve come to believe. She reads minds. The doc, her brother, Simon, did a scan of her brain and discovered that the Alliance went in and cut on her—for what reason, best to ask them.

“She’s quick-thinking, if sometimes odd-thinking. She does have her quirks, such as taking it into her head to slash Jayne with a knife because she didn’t like the color of his shirt.

“Truth is, we never know what River’s going to do next, and while that does perk up our lives, it is a mite unsettling. We never know but that we could wake up some morning to find she’s murdered us all in our bunks.

“Still, none of us is perfect and River does have a kind of way about her, when she’s not stabbing folk, and so long as the doctor keeps her drugged up and does his job, she and he can remain part of Serenity.

“You see, it’s occurred to me that there are times when a girl with the ability to read minds might come in handy in our line of work...”

—Conversation with Malcolm Reynolds

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Name: Malcolm Reynolds
Gender: Male
DOB: 2468/09/20*
Social Control #: 099.836.5.4112
Place of Birth: Shadow
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Captain of the Firefly class transport vessel Serenity
Law Encounters: Bound by law times, smuggling, tariff dodging, transporting illegal cargo: no convictions
Duty Status: Volunteer Non-trialed Independent**
Rank/Grade: Sergeant 57th Overlanders Bells and Bayonets Brigade**
18 Campaigns
Battle of Serenity Survivor 5.11.2511
Scope and Content: Son of a rancher, participated in the Battle of Serenity Valley as an Independent. 5,000 troops under the command of Sgt. Reynolds and Cpl. Zoe Alleyne held the valley for seven weeks, two of them after their high command had surrendered. Troop casualty rate was 68%. Reynolds and Alleyne were the only two survivors from their unit. After the war, Reynolds left the core for the border worlds and secured funds to purchase a Firefly-class transport, which he named Serenity.***

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Name: Zoe Washburne
Gender: Female
DOB: 2484/02/15
Social Control #: 129.426.3.1523
Place of Birth: Vesselside
Marital Status: Married
Maiden Name: Alleyne
Husband Name: Hoban Washburne
Occupation: Second-In-Command on the Firefly class transport vessel Serenity
Law Encounters: Unbound*
Duty Status: Volunteer Non-trialed Independent
Rank/Grade: Sergeant 57th Overlanders Bells and Bayonets Brigade
14 Campaigns
Battle of Serenity Survivor 5.11.2511

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Name: Hoban Washburne*
Gender: Male
DOB: None given (Fan spec puts him at 2486 or 2484)
Social Control #: 129.426.3.1523
Place of Birth: None given (Fan spec is Beaumonde, a very industrial and urban border world with an ironic name)
Marital Status: Married
Wife Name: Zoe Washburne
Occupation: Pilot of the Firefly class transport vessel Serenity
Former Occupations: Fry-cook, pilot on various vessels
Duty Status: Pilot**
Scope and Content: Certified 2nd in Class in Flight School.
Law Encounters: Unbound

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Name: Inara Serra
Gender: Female
DOB: 2489/10/14*
Social Control #: 692.567.9.3270
Place of Birth: Sihnon
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Companion (Guild Registered) Identification Pin 5304747
Formerly Associated: House Madrassa
Scope and Content: Erstwhile resident on Firefly class transport ship Serenity and sometimes teacher at a Guild training house in the Blue sun system
Multilingual/Social Accelerated**
Duty Status: Civilian
Law Encounters: Unbound

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Name: Jayne Cobb
Gender: Male
DOB: None given (Fan speculation in 2472)
Social Control #: None given*
Place of Birth: None given (Fan Spec: some scripts of the Message suggest his father is a foundry, metal, or construction worker, and he also lived near a spaceport as a boy. Beylix may be a possibility)
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Mercenary, currently in employ of Malcolm Reynolds of Firefly class transport ship Serenity.
Duty Status: Civilian
Law Encounters: Wanted on Higgin's Moon for theft.
Scope and Content: Reportedly an expert marksman with an extensive gun and knife collection. The name "Jayne Cobb" is tagged as the subject of a number of folk stories for the citizens of Canton on Higgin's Moon. Brother, Mattie Cobb, suffers from an illness of the respiratory tract.

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Name: Kaywinnit Lee Frye
Gender: Female
DOB: 2497/07/02
Social Control #: 694.411.3.9373
Place of Birth: Kowlonshi*
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Mechanic aboard Firefly class transport ship Serenity
Duty Status: Civilian
Law Encounters: Unbound

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Name: Derrial Book
Gender: Male
DOB: None given (Fan spec in 2460)*
Social Control #: None given**
Place of Birth: None given (Fan spec: looks to be a border world that had both Independent and Alliance activity. Possibly Persephone or Beaumonde)
Places of Residence: Haven, aboard Firefly class transport ship Serenity, Southdown Abbey
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Preacher
Duty Status: Classified***
Scope and Content: Classified
Law Encounters: Unbound**

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Name: Simon Tam
Gender: Male
DOB: 2490/11*
Social Control #: None given*
Place of Birth: Capital City, Osirius
Marital Status: Single
Duty Status: Civilian
Parents: Gabriel and Regan Tam
Law Encounters: Bound by law once, trespass in blackout zone.
Federal Status: Fugitive. Wanted dead or alive on all worlds for treason, sabotage, subterfuge, and theft.
Scope and Content: Attended the Medical Academy on Osirius in 2507. Top 3% in MedAcad class. Medical internship: 8 months. Known associate of Anti-Alliance Groups, and involved in theft of important Alliance military assets. Monetary accounts currently frozen.

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Name: River Tam
Gender: Female
DOB: Born 2500 (No month or day given)
Social Control #: None given
Place of Birth: Capital City, Osirius
Marital Status: Single
Duty Status: Civilian
Parents: Gabriel and Regan Tam
Occupation: Student
Attended: The Academy on Osirius 2515-2517
Law Encounters: Unbound.
Federal Status: Fugitive. Wanted dead or alive on all worlds to recover stolen classified information.*
Scope and Content: Gifted prodigy with high intellect. Excels in music, math, theoretical physics, multiple languages, and dance. Considered armed and dangerous.*

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