Mal walked into the room. The tails of his brown coat sailed in just a split second after the rest of him. As always when the Captain was meeting a stranger, Zoe entered at his side. Not quite so common, though, was the fact that she was bound and gagged. Mal used his iron grip on her upper arm to throw her off balance and shove her to the floor. If looks could kill, the glance she shot him would have won the Battle of Serenity Valley single-handedly. She tried desperately not to show the pain she felt as her shoulder struck the metal grating that served for a floor in the boat they were on. If her hands had been bound in front of her instead of behind her, she'd at least have been able to catch herself from landing quite so hard. The fact that her ankles only had a few inches of chain between them didn't help so much either.
"You men have the looks of trout, what with your jaws hangin' open like that."
Mal grinned. He always did like it when he could take a man off guard. He gave the woman on the floor a nudge with one boot, and turned his tight smile back to the short little man who was surrounded by several much larger men. One of the larger men made as if to speak, but words were quickly pre-empted by the simple raising of the small man's hand. This hand, it appeared, held quite a bit of power, and Mal almost wondered whether it had been the cause of the noted absence of the other hand. It seemed to like being the only one, singularity bringing it more attention than if it still had its partner. The small man's small mouth spoke with a small voice – small, but cold and firm.
"To be true, Captain Reynolds, I thought you would not bring her." The hand moved a finger to wipe a bit of moisture from a corner of the small mouth.
"Well. She's been brought. Now why don't you take your tiny self and your pet apes and get the hell out of my corner of the 'verse?"
The small man's eyes traveled over Mal's face, searching for something that they did not find. Next, they traveled to Zoe's body, lying still on the floor as she refused to give any of them the pleasure of watching her struggle. Again the hand sent a finger to the lips.
"I must ask, Captain. Why the change of such a heart as yours? Did you not speak that your crew was your kin, and that you were incapable of giving up a single one of them? You seemed particularly upset by the fact I requested the presence of this one."
Mal clenched his jaw for a moment. Damn gos se midget – thinking he's all mighty and such, just because he'd trained a few apes to work for him.
"Yeah, well. I figured if it was going to have to be down to a choice, I figured loss o' one's better than loss of all. And since you were a might particular on your choice, who was I to argue? Of course, I've got a question I gotta ask too. Why her?"
The small man showed his first hint of emotion when his small mouth split open in a small smile. The hand moved ever so slightly, and two of the apes sprang nearly to attention before taking Zoe by her bound hands and feet, carrying her now-struggling body through a door at the far end of the room. Mal was pretty sure he wasn't actually relieved to see her go, but having her tied at his feet and angry with him had been making him a mite uneasy. He watched her go, his face showing none of the thoughts that raced through his head. He didn't like to admit he needed people. But if there was one he'd feel lost without, it was her. He wondered how much trouble she was causing them back there. Mal's train of thought was rather abruptly interrupted when he realized the small man was speaking again.
"… first sergeant in the Alliance Army. I've gone civilian since, of course, but that woman really left a mark on my memory and, well…" The small man raised his absence of a hand and Mal raised an eyebrow. "There are things in this life that are easy enough to forgive. To forget. This is not one of them."