Mal “You kill me. What then?”
Dobson “I dunno. I imagine I’ll get a hobby or something…”

Mal, Zoë, and Jayne pick their way through the bones of an abandoned ship, driftin’ silent in the graveyard of Sturges. The air is still, heavy with the memory of men who died hard and didn’t stay whole. Even Jayne goes quiet at the sight of so much death hangin’ in the cold.

Back on Serenity, the Blue‑Gloved Men latch onto the hull like ticks on a hound. Inside, River feels them comin’ — feels what they aim to do — and she jabs herself with anaesthetic, wantin’ to dull the storm in her mind. Inara stays with her while Simon goes to see what’s wrong.

Out on the wreck, Mal finds not a scrap of the money Badger promised. What he does find is Lawrence Dobson — armed, armoured, and mad as a cornered rattler.

On Serenity, Kaylee’s workin’ when one of the Blue‑Gloved Men comes at her. He’s wearin’ some kind of blue suit under his clothes, somethin’ that ain’t natural. Before he can lay hands on her, Simon brains him with one of Jayne’s weights and yells for Kaylee to seal the doors.

Back on the wreck, Dobson’s got a gun pressed to Mal’s skull.

Jayne asks how in the nine hells Dobson’s still breathin’. Mal don’t blink. He tells Zoë to kill every last one of ’em the second Dobson pulls the trigger. The standoff breaks into a fight, and Dobson starts to crack, rage spillin’ out of him. Mal shoots him clean — then shoots him again, just to make sure the past stays buried.

On Serenity, the Blue‑Gloved Men hammer at the doors, but Kaylee keeps ahead of ’em, fingers flyin’. Wash has a plan brewin’, and when Simon calls for help, Book tells him not to call him Shepherd. Wash scrapes Serenity free of the Men’s grip and swoops in to pick up Mal and the others. They break away into the Black, leavin’ the Men behind once more.

Later, Inara stands at the ramp, eyes bright with tears she don’t want to shed. She says her goodbyes to the crew, but when she faces Mal, the words die in her throat. Same happens to him. They part without sayin’ what matters.

After she’s gone, Mal mutters the things he would have said if he’d had the courage. Book listens, then tells Mal he’s leavin’ the ship. Mal says the punch didn’t matter. Book says that’s exactly why he has to go — before it stops matterin’ to him too.

Serenity lifts off, engines hummin’, and Mal tells Wash to set a course forward, same as always.

Elsewhere in the Black, the Blue‑Gloved Men speak to a man over their comms. They say they’ve tried every method they know. They’ve got a new assignment for him. They send him a picture.

River Tam.