TVSquad

A game among the crew that, according to Simon, doesn’t seem to have any civilized rules is interrupted by a warning siren that brings Wash to the bridge. It’s a derelict ship. We jump past the credits to find the crew speculating as to what the ship could be doing this far into space all by itself and what might have happened to it’s passengers.

The away team…I mean Mal and Zoe go aboard the ship to see if there’s anything of value on board. Back on Serenity Jayne gets Simon, saying he’s needed on the derelict ship as Mal has found survivors in need of medical attention. Simon doesn’t care much for the spacesuit and, much to his embarrassment, that he’s been the victim of a practical joke by Jayne.

River, despite promise Inara promising to watch over her while Simon lends a hand, sneaks aboard and shows Mal where the passengers really are. At the same time Mal makes this discovery Jayne is attacked by what he describes as a huge monster but which turns out to be a scrawny guy. Simon tends to him and Mal explains to the crew what killed the passengers: Reavers.

Mal and the gang set out to strip the abandoned ship of anything of value while Shepard Book says some words over the departed. Just as they get everything hidden away an Alliance transport hails them and pulls them in. Mal orders Simon to get River as the government agents come aboard and search the ship. After not finding the one survivor, who has mysteriously disappeared, the Alliance officer brings them all onto the transport where the crew undergoes a series of interviews. It’s after a bit of this that we see where Simon and River have been hidden: outside the ship.

During Mal’s interrogation he figures out what fate has befallen the survivor they brought aboard and who the Alliance surgeons are currently tending to: He’s adopting the Reaver’s tactics. Mal leads an Alliance team aboard Serenity, where he figures the now-feral survivor has retreated to. After this the Alliance lets Mal and the rest of Serenity’s crew go, but does confiscate the cargo they stripped off the derelict, which we see the Alliance transport blowing out of space.