 A pleasant day out at a space station turns sour when Mal and Zoe receive the dead body of one of their old army buddy s in the post office. Their old friend is named Tracey who fought with them during the Battle of Du-Khang during the Alliance-Independence Civil War six years earlier. Along with Tracey s body is an audio message, asking them to take him to his home planet to be buried by his parents. However, Mal begins to suspect something might be wrong when Alliance agents, led by the relentless Lt. Womack, start chasing Serenity, demanding return of their property: the body. It soon turns out that Tracey is actually alive and reveals the real reason why he faked his death, and why he s going to die soon.