James Lovegrove - Firefly: The Magnificent Nine by

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Firefly: The Magnificent Nine
Hardback edition ISBN: 9781785658297
E-book edition ISBN: 9781785658303

Published by Titan Books
A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd
144 Southwark Street, London SE1 0UP

First edition: March 2019
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Firefly TM & 2019 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

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The events in this novel take place between the Firefly TV series and the movie Serenity.

That is most precious which lasts least long.

Old Earth-That-Was saying

A small ship sailed through the vastness of the verse.

Propelled by the twin drive pods of her trace compression block engine, the Series 03 Firefly-class midbulk transport vessel glided at quarter burn against a backdrop of steady-shining stars and the endless Black. She moved, it seemed, with barely any effort. Her forward structure of bridge and foredeck, which resembled the head and neck of a swan in flight, cleaved cleanly through hard vacuum. Her bulbous aft end gave off a gentle pulsing glow.

She was the very picture of serenity.

From the outside, at least.

***

Inside, it was a different story.

That girl, growled Jayne Cobb, is seriously damagin my calm! She shouldnt have it. Make her give it back.

The girl in question was River Tam and the it in question was a knitted hat with pompom and earflaps. The hat was made from yarn in a trio of unappetizing colors: cheap-diner-mustard yellow, leprous apricot and moldy pumpkin, with the pompom on top mixing all three.

It was not much of a hat, but it was Jaynes and he treasured it. He was irked to his very soul to see it set upon someone elses head. Particularly the head of a young woman whom he considered as mad as a gorramn loon.

Make her give it back, Mal, Jayne demanded, or so help me, Ill go over there and rip it off her head. Maybe rip off her head, too, while Im about it.

Jaynes blustering growl was loud enough to carry all the way across the cargo bay. It was loud enough to carry throughout the entire ship. But up on the catwalk at the far end of the cargo bay, River appeared not to hear.

River was dancing. Lost in music only she could hear, she pirouetted and gavotted. Her every movement was a symphony of grace and precision, her legs strong, her arms flowing. Her elegance made the hat seem all the more incongruous. Where she was lithe and supple, it was lumpy and ugly. Yet somehow the hat worked. It was part of the ensemble, offsetting by contrast the uncanny beauty of Rivers dance. She owned it.

The hats true owner, if he appreciated this weird symbiotic meshing of headgear and choreography, would never have admitted it.

Mal, Jayne said, pleading. One last time. She dont stop that prancin tomfoolery and give me back my hat

Mal Reynolds heaved a sigh. He had once been a warrior. He found the role of peacemaker difficult. More often than not, though, he was required to be just that aboard Serenity. The eight-strong band of outcasts and misfits he called a crew were nothing if not argumentative. As their leader, his job seemed to involve less dishing out orders and more putting out fires. Without really trying to or meaning to, Mal had become the head of a family, and it was a family that took the fun out of dysfunctional.

Its just a hat, he said to Jayne, and a sorry-lookin one at that. Aint as though anything she can do to itll make its condition worse.

Jayne huffed. Girl snuck into my bunk. Stole my ruttin property! Theres rules about such things, or if there aint, there should be. Now, you gonna act like a captain, or am I gonna have to lay down the law my own way?

Mal heaved a deeper sigh. He liked Jayne. Even admired him for his craftiness and the way he spoke his mind and took crap from nobody. But the fella sure could be a bn tin sheng de y du ru at times.

***

Just as Mal was about to go over and confront River, Zo Alleyne Washburne walked into the cargo bay, drawn by all the commotion.

Jayne spun towards her eagerly. Zo. Youre a female.

You say that like its a bad thing, she replied.

No, it aint a bad thing. Its a good thing. You go speak to the girl. Jayne gestured at the still-cavorting River. Talk some sense into her. Woman to woman, as it were.

Zo cocked an eyebrow at him. Why, Jayne? You scared of her or something? Great big hulking ex-merc like you? Bitty little creature like that?

I aint scared a no one, said Jayne, puffing up his chest, but the fact was, there was something about River Tam he didnt cotton to. It wasnt just that the girl wasnt right in the brainpan. There was more to it. She had hidden depths. Dark depths. Dangerous depths. The kind of depths it didnt do a man good to go meddling in, not unless he wished himself harm.

Didnt even have to meddle, either. River could go off at you unprovoked, as Jayne knew only too well. Like that time shed stabbed him with a carving knife for no good reason.

They had a ticking time bomb on board Serenity, and its name was River Tam.

***

Quite a rumpus we have going on here, said Shepherd Book, entering the cargo bay. With him were Kaylee Frye and Rivers brother, Simon. Moments earlier these three had been in the dining area playing Tall Card, and Simon had been losing badly. For a holy man, Derrial Book was a remarkably good bluffer, while Kaylees winsome, heart-shaped face masked a deviousness which she wouldnt have dreamed of using to her advantage except when it came to something harmless like a card game. It didnt help Simonbut helped Kaylee a lotthat he was besotted with her. He had been losing hands to her pretty much on purpose, just so shed like him that bit more.