Firefly II: The Quickening
Shortly after 'out of gas'…
"Captain!" Simon called, "Can I talk to you real quick?"
"Make it quick," Mal replied, slipping a gun into his holster, "we're heading planet-side in ten minutes."
"It's about what happened last night," Simon began, "the thing is, I wasn't exactly clear with you on what happened."
"Oh yeah?" Mal asked
"The thing is, we didn't exactly save you at the last minute. You had a fatal wound and had been without oxygen for ten minutes. Long story short, you should have died."
"Well I guess I just got lucky," Mal lied
"No, you don't understand. There is no way you could have survived. There is no chance you can be here right now…"
"Forget about this, Simon," Mal was now speaking with a different accent, like a combination of Badger and Niska's voices
"What?" Simon asked
"This goes way beyond the Alliance," Mal growled, in the strange voice, "for you and your sister's sake, stay out of it!"
"OK…" Simon croaked
Sometime before Serenity…
Malcolm Reynolds stood in Serenity's cargo bay. It was the middle of the night in the desert area of a backwater planet, and he had the front entrance wide open.
"Mal," Inara walked down the stairs with incredible grace, "we've been here for six hours. What are you waiting for?"
"Go back upstairs and wait in your room," Mal ordered
"But Mal…"
"Inara, you do not want to be around when whatever I'm waiting for shows up."
"Well how dangerous can it be? You don't even have Jayne here…"
"That's because I'm afraid for his life."
Inara had an almost perfect comeback she was planning to use, but the shock of what Mal said made her forget it. She hated to think what Mal thought Jayne couldn't take on.
"I go to room now," Inara was so shocked, she couldn't think straight
About an hour later, the person Mal who was waiting for finally arrived.
"Reynolds," came a loud yell
Mal stood up, and looked towards the voice. There was a man standing on the front ramp; he was dressed like a typical back-waterman; leather jacket, loose black vest, green cargo pants, and a sawn off shotgun holster by his side. Mal walked up to meet him.
"So you've found me," Mal said, "Look, Dray, the gathering is over, you won't benefit by…"
Dray took out his sword, and slashed at Mal; to Dray's surprise, Mal drew his sword, a long Katanna, and blocked the hit.
"Everyone falls for the pacifist trick," grinned Mal
Dray swung around in an attempt to slash Mal, but Mal blocked the hit. Mal attempted a similar move, but was also blocked.
"The more things change, the more they stay the same," Dray grinned, observing Mal's moves
Dray and Mal crossed swords again, letting sparks fly. Dray kicked Mal's leg, forcing him back into his ship. Mal responded by slamming the blunt end of his sword onto Dray's chest; Mal hated fighting in his ship, it was hard to come up with excuses for how the sword marks got on the walls or on what they were smuggling.
"I think it's pretty obvious you ain't Reynolds," Dray swung his sword at Mal, "who are you? Henderson? Storm? Alexei?"
Mal triumphantly slashed at Dray's arm, cutting off his hand and sending his sword flying.
"Think Scotland," Mal advised
"One quarter of us come from there," Dray said, taking a swing, "hardly narrows it down."
"OK, think of my name. It contains my real name, and the planet where the First Immortal War was held."
"OK…" Dray struggled to think of the planet's name, "Sol-Myrln…that leaves…"
Mal attempted to cut open Dray's chest, but Dray held up his sword to block it.
"It's my brain that's slow, not my reflexes," Dray grinned
"Whatever," Mal tried going for a low stab, but Dray leapt up onto a crate
"Be careful! There's gelignite in there!" Mal said
Mal leapt up onto an adjacent crate, and the two of them continued crossing swords.
"OK, take away S-O-L-M-Y-R-L-N, and you're left with M-L-A-D-E-O-C…Lodcame?"
"Keep trying,"
Suddenly, Dray lashed out at Mal, causing blood to fly out of his chest. Mal fell off his crate, and hit the ground. Dray laughed evilly.
"Not so loud!" Mal warned
"I like to relinquish…" Dray thought for a moment, "hold on…loud…MacLeod! You're MacLeod!"
Mal got back up, and leapt up onto the crate, slicing off Dray's hand and letting his sword fall to the ground. Dray was so shocked at Mal's true identity that he barely noticed. Then, with one swift slash, Mal cut off his head, letting the body fall to the ground.
Mal laid on the floor of the cargo bay, catching his breath. Then suddenly, he saw a spark on the ground.
"No!" he exclaimed, "not here! No! No! No!"
The sparks increased, and Connor made his way to the body. He tried pulling it outside, but it was too late; the sparks turned to lightning, and Mal was lifted up into the air.
"Aaarr!" he groaned, as lightning struck him
The stairs shook, and the railings fell to the ground. For ten seconds, Mal was in a state of perpetual electric agony. Then it was over.
"What was that?" someone said
Mal looked up, and saw Inara standing on the upper deck.
"Ah go-se…" Mal groaned
"Who are you?" she asked
Mal thought up an excuse in a second, but decided not to use it. Instead, he leapt up to the railing, grabbed it, and pulled himself up to the companion.
"I am Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod" Mal announced, with pride, "I was born in 1518 in the village of Glenfinnan on the shores of Loch Shiel. I am immortal."
He embraced Inara, and kissed her long and passionately.
"And I'm tired of pretending to be an asexual captain," he said
"Oh…Connor," Inara breathed
"Inara…"
"Connor…"
"Inara!" Mal suddenly yelled
Inara opened her eyes. Mal stood in her shuttle doorway, giving her a weird look.
"Yes, Captain?" Inara asked
"We've landed," Mal said
"Thank you for informing me, Mal," Inara smiled
"Whatever. Stay in your room."
Inara sighed. Her dream of being taken by a Scottish swordsman was too good to be true.
"Oh, and Inara…" Mal turned around
Suddenly, a sword dropped from his coat; it was a Katanna, one Inara recognized from her companion culture classes; it was one of the two left in existence that was made by the master craftsmen Marto of Toledo, Spain. Mal quickly picked it up, and slid it into his coat.
"…like I said, stay in your room," Mal warned
"I will Connor…"
"What?"
"I mean, Mal…Captain Reynolds. Sir."