It was all Knull's fault, or that's what the rest of the crew maintains. The foolish boy nearly caught his death rescuing a puppy left in a bag to drown in a river in the dead of winter. No one thought this would cause any undue grief. In fact, they all hoped that maybe this would teach the soft-hearted fool that the weak will only pull you down. Not only did that not happen, but a dark day dawned the next morning.

Knull was still laid up in bed, with a wet cough that rattled in his chest. He was in no shape to serve the Captain his morning cup of Earl Grey. Han, due to his atrocious luck in Rock, Paper, Scissors, had been selected to take on the task.

After a short period of panic when the kettle was not easily found (it had been hiding above the stove), Han fell into a rhythm. Water went into the kettle and onto the stove without a hitch. As he waited for it to boil, Han opened the cupboard to get the rest of the supplies. Out came Snow's preferred mug (how any self-respecting Captain could prefer pink was beyond Han). A dash of sugar, a splash of cold milk; this was easy! That yellow bellied fool was obviously over-selling the difficulty of the task. As the water started to whistle, Han (pleased with himself) grabbed the brown canister. He placed a few scoops of the finely ground tea into a steeper. In went the water and the bit of metal.

Ah, yes. Soon the liquid would be ready. Perhaps, with Knull's use removed, Han would find himself rid of the pest.

Humming with pleasure, he checked the cup. It was a little darker that he remembered it looking, but that should bear no ill. It certainly smelled strongly enough to be done. Han removed the steeper and went on his way to present his finely brewed Earl Grey to Captain Snow.

On his way out, he knocked the canister off the shelf. It fell to the ground and rolled over. Han was too caught up in his own plans for Snow's favor to turn and pick it up. If he had, our tale might have been much different; for the roll had exposed white block lettering that read, "QUILLOTIA COFFEE – strongest grinds in Archipelago.

No hurricane ever did as much damage as this cup. To this day no one dares whisper of that dreaded beverage. Blood was shed; lives were ruined; and half the crew had to be replaced, due to "unexpected termination of the mortal sort.

It was a very, very dark time.