Serenity encounters a drifting spacecraft which turns out to be an obsolete short-range transport scow converted into a one-way settler vessel for passage to the "Outer Planets".
Mal knows what did this and orders everyone to regroup in the engine room, but Jayne is ambushed by a mysterious attacker and fires his gun wildly.
He allows Shepherd Book and Simon to give the dead a proper funeral, while Kaylee discreetly removes a Reaver booby trap that attached itself to Serenity when they docked earlier.
Armed troops board the ship and find Mal and everyone but River and Simon waiting for them, the salvaged cargo plainly in sight to avoid accusations of theft.
Harken dismisses Mal's idea as nonsense designed to avoid blame and orders that Serenity be impounded so that it can be sold at auction.