""Should have seen it coming," he muttered. "Girl never was one for half measures.""
:D

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Your take in Badger is excellent and beautiful, and, like both of the previous stories in this series, turns the kaledisocope of Firefly again to show us something new.

You don't have to fight on the ground to put skin in the game.
Wash put skin in the fame as a pilot
Badger, as a investor and quartermaster

People of that 'verse dismiss both of them
Wash, we fans see as important because he's a *good guy* from the perspective on the show, unlike Badger
You show us why dismissing Badger into a onedimensional box is also a bad idea!

Thank you :)

Man oh man, I was pulled away from this story by a whirlwind of unfortunate Real Life circumstances but I've come back to finish it (and continue reading the series) and I'm remembering how much I enjoy tumbling into your 'Verse! I just had to drop a review to applaud your telling of the Battle of Serenity Valley. It came off as a truly realistic account, and I think you captured Mal's bitter, cynical lens of hindsight perfectly. I also find it very plausible (and relevant to our own times) that the Independents were pawns in a game for profit. And that would be the realization that truly breaks Mal's heart, a far more profound loss than simply losing the war - because they never had any hope of winning. So cool to get that deepening of canon... that's what I really like about your writing. Anyways, that's all I wanted to say, off I go to read more!

Enjoyed reading. Really liking this series. :)

First off: I loved this story.

I could go on for a long while about this, that, and the other thing I liked, so I've tried to trim it down.

While I would (probably) never say any Firefly character is "flat" or "two-dimensional," the nature of storytelling means some of them will not be well developed. Badger probably was the most oft-occurring character to fall in this category, but I never thought much of it. It was easy to just take Mal's point of view for granted, as the story never gave a reason to question it. Here you put apples and oranges side by side and, at the end of the day, showed that there really were more similarities than differences.

I was amazed at how well you manged to make your Badger mesh with the character seen on the show. There he's prickly and irritating and conceited in a small, mean way. Here he's a shrewd businessman with a heart big enough to rival if not - dare I say it - surpass Mal's. He's got an eye on the long run, the kind of fellow who would be good at chess, which was intriguing to watch unfold concerning Darcy and her predicament. I suppose that sort of trait would technically be a given for a person holding his position in the underground, but it added to the very different character impression than that garnered from the show. Your quite intricate working of Badger's story (and that of his family) leading up to "Serenity" only added to that. The story about the apples was touching, and I liked how you wove it into later chapters as a plot device. I need to go back and re-watch that episode - I don't remember the exchange between Mal and Badger clearly. I was also delighted to see that someone else goes into the social and economic detail in their stories that I like to do (although I must admit mine doesn't always make it onto the page. I'm bad that way).

My one small complaint has nothing really to do with the story itself. In "Overdue Accounts," Simon is going over notes about different drugs he's tried on River, and their volumes are listed in the units "cc." "cc" stands for "cubic centimeters," which is equivalent to one milliliter, and one drug is said to have been at 100 cc, or one-tenth of a liter. That struck me as rather high. You also alleged that he's administering (at least the latest drug) by syringe. A volume that great would probably be given through an IV, if it would be given at all - a deciliter of drug seems like a dangerous amount. Even amoxicillin (standard antibiotic for ear infections, strep, etc.) is typically given to adults in 500 mg capsules, which are about (by my estimate) one milliliter. Admittedly, I haven't done any research on common administration volumes for psychiatric drugs like Simon's giving River. My apologies if you already knew a lot of this, it just tickled the science part of my brain.

Thank you for a wonderful story! God bless!
Foeseeker

Oh I so wish you would carry onthis series I absolutely love it.

That was incredibly good. Thank you.

this is without a doubt the bet firefly fic I've ever read in my life.
this is absolutely and utterly amazing.

I...
I love this so much. I don't know how I was getting along before without this.
I want to kiss you all over your face. This story is amazing!

Was reading another fanfic and got redirected onto this one of yours through the writer's recommendation. I havn't read many fics even half as good as this, and just wanted to say thank you for writing something so absorbing, detailed, realistic and genuinely entertaining :D
I have to go back to the real world now, but tomorrow I'm starting on all the rest of what you've written; if it's as brilliant as this then I am on happy reader :)

Love this Story!

Overall review for all three in this series-
I like your portrayal of the characters. It's interesting to see some of the less known characters become more than their short screen time allowed. In general they're great stories, and a very good read. With that said, I have two suggestions.

Watch how long your paragraphs get. While your lengths would be fine for a written book, it's harder to read solid paragraphs on a computer screen. Your paragraphs occasionally get long and hard to follow. You seem to have improved on this already from the first story to this one, so whatever you're doing keep doing it.

My second suggestion would be to be careful of how much introspection you have the characters doing. The story drags a little when jumping from one characters introspective thoughts to another without much talking or humor or something in between to actively engage the reader.

Otherwise, great job, and I look forward to reading more of your stories.

Well, the last two chapters (10 and 11) were simply amazing. I've learned that the back story fanfic authors create for Book is generally of a much higher caliber than the canon story introduced in A Shepherd's Tale, and I hope we never get a canon back story for Badger, for the same reason. I'm repeatedly amazed how human you make Badger seem. You've given him so much more depth than is ever implied in his few appearances in the show.

A chapter of contemplation and redemption, this looks like it might be the last chapter, or maybe the last chapter is coming, you said you were near the end. I've enjoyed this story about our favorite weasel named Badger and the layers that make up his charactor and life. I laughed at "the Wing Affair" good name for it, I do that sometimes too, refer to events in a fashion like that. I see a closing, but also an opening for your next story, good way to end this one. Next time could Badger aquire a Mongolian bodyguard named Temujin or Jamuqa or some other Genghis Khan related name? :))

Riona

"If this keeps up, I'm going to have to give up disliking him."

Poor Mal - he's lost the pleasure of disliking Badger but gained (perhaps) the chance for a better friend than most.

Meanwhile, thanks for the little Rayne scene in the hold, which always makes me happy.

And kudos to Badger for finding a way to 'let the punishment fit the crime' and protect his brother from going back to jail for the murder of the man who materially helped to ruin Darcy.

This story continues to be brilliant! I love the detail, the little things like Inara and her coffee, as well as your development of the characters and story.

Keep it up!