Original Airdate: 9.27.02
On a salvage mission aboard a drifting colony ship, the Serentiy crew find signs that the crew were killed by the cannabalistic Reavers. They find one survivor, but things take a turn for the worse when an Alliance ship looking for an unspecified Firefly-class ship with brother-and-sister stowaways shows up and takes them in. They hide Simon and River and deflect the Alliance commander's questions but the survivor has been rendered insane by his exposure to the Reavers and goes on a bloody rampage. Mel saves the Alliance commander and he eventually lets them go.