Late
"Why's it always gotta rain on this planet?"Jayne was eating an apple. He had it stuck on the end of his switchknife. His crunching was muffled by the downpour of rain hitting Serenity.
"Terraforming went wrong." Mal said. Mal stood in the cargo bay with Zoe watching the rainfall. Kaylee and River were playing cards on the floor by the stairs to the bridge. They chattered quietly.
"Yeah well, us sittin' here waitin' for 'em don't exactly provide for the best entertainment. And I'm starting to get me a gloominess." Jayne said to no one in particular.
"Well. We still got fifteen minutes before Saheed said he'd meet us here." Mal said, casting a glance at Jayne. Jayne was engrossed in his apple. Making a decision in his head, Mal unfolded his arms and started towards the bridge. "Zoe, let me know when our man shows up." He said.
"Will do sir." Zoe responded.
"How we lookin'?" Mal said as he went up the steps to the bridge.
Wash sat up straight. "Ahm…" He muttered. He hit a few buttons on the console in front of him. "Looks like we're good cap'n. Patrol is moving on. I think. Sensors are a little finicky in this rain." Mal glanced at readings on the screen Wash was looking at.
"Don't think they'd land on a moon like this, but can't be too careful." Mal said.
Wash hit a couple switches then said, "Glad Saheed was willing to change the meet location."
Mal looked out Serenity's forward manual viewing port. The front window. "He's a reasonable character. And from his wave, he needs what we got. That's usually like to make a man accommodating." Both took a moment to stare out the window.
"Oh, our contact on tenpike responded. Says he found a better deal. We're out of the job." Wash spoke quickly.
"在鸟屎蚁" Mal said under his breath.
"Guess we should talk to Angelica about that engineering rig." Wash suggested.
Mal shook his head as he spoke, "She won't pay near enough for the time we'd spend on-"
beeping on the console in front of Wash interrupted the Captain. Both looked at the scanner readout. "Electromagnetic spike..." Wash said absently.
"Can you pinpoint it?" Mal questioned.
"No." Wash said. "It's not close enough, but this is the third time that's popped up."
Mal's brow furrowed, "What kinda tech could produce that?" He said.
Wash typed into his keypad. "Dunno, but it'd have to be pretty big to get through the rain like that."
Mal stood up straight. "Prep for takeoff. I want us off the ground as soon as we're done with Saheed."
Wash nodded, and started flipping switches.
The radio in the bridge crackled before sending Zoe's voice into the room, "Saheed is here sir."
Zoe watched Mal walk down the first few steps before turning her attention to Saheed. He had brought two men with him to carry the goods. Sporting an impressive black beard, he smiled wide as he approached Zoe. "At last, we meet again." He offered a hand to Zoe, "It has been too long since we have seen you all."
Zoe took his hand. "Likewise Saheed." She replied, returning his smile. Saheed's eyes caught Mal on the last couple steps. "Malcolm." Saheed said, "Malcolm Reynolds."
Mal shook Saheed's hand, greeting him. "Good to see you Saheed."
Jayne picked up a large canister and a small box, and set them in front of Saheed.
Gesturing to the canister, Mal spoke "Alliance grade anti mold. Add that to your food storage, it'll last for years."Saheed looked over the goods. "It ain't cheap." Mal said.
Saheed returned to his smile, "I guess that is why we buy it from you." he said as he took a bag out of his coat and handed it to Mal. "I am afraid we could not reach 600 platinum, but that is most of it, and..." Saheed turned to one of his companions, who held out a small bucket of mechanical objects. "Useful salvage. To make up for the missing coin."
Mal passed the coin purse to Zoe, then took the engine parts. "I'm sure Kaylee can use these. Send us a wave when you have another job." Mal said.
"We will." Saheed replied. Saheed and his men gathered up the canister and the box, exchanged farewells with the crew, and went back out into the rain.
Turning to Zoe, Mal said "Tell wash to get us in the air."
(Trying a new format. Already got some ideas, just need to write them out.)