"Jayne, conceal your weapon."
"Capt'n--"
"Now."
Captain Malcolm Reynolds and most of his crew were wandering around in a local street market on a planet that they happened to have had a job on mal decided that since the job had gone well, and work was a bit slow, the crew might as well unwind a bit in the fresh air. He was hoping to make it an inconspicuous trip but Jayne was making it mighty hard.
"Capt'n, I've seen 'bout a dozen other people who's guns have been hanging out for all to see, not to mention some other things…."
"But how many of those other people are a part of my crew?" asked Mal. "Let me do the math for you- none. Now conceal it."
Grumbling, Jayne did as the captain ordered. "The gorram fugitives ain't even with us…."
Mal sighed and decided to ignore it. True as it was that Simon and River weren't with them, Mal knew bringing attention to his group wasn't the smartest idea.
Malcolm Reynolds felt like a father more and more each day. It all started when he bought Serenity; she was his baby. And then, when he started getting crew members gathered, he began to think of the ship as his wife, the crew as kids. Kinda creepy, he knew, but that's why he kept the thoughts to himself.
He looked behind him and smiled. Maybe the ship wasn't his wife, and the crew his kids, but he knew deep down, him and his crew were tighter than family. Mal was always breaking up tussles, most caused by or including Jayne. Things were said, and punishments given. But in the end, they protected each other, no matter the circumstances.
Involved in his thoughts, Mal almost missed the turn to the area where shoppers and vendors could park their ships. He was brought back to reality by Zoë yelling "Captain!", which caught his attention and made his collision with a pole hit with less force.
Mal took a few wobbly steps back and rubbed his forehead. Muttering all sorts of curse words in Chinese, he turned towards his crew, who were standing a few feet away, ready to head back to Serenity. Mal could tell Wash was trying his hardest not to laugh out loud. Holding his head high, Mal started his way to the ship yard.
Zoë caught up with him. "Are you okay, sir?" she asked, easily falling in stride with him.
"I'm fine." said Mal, not wanting to talk about it.
"You hit that pole awful hard, sir."
"Yes, I realize that. But I'm fine." Zoë gave the captain her 'don't-pull-that-crap-with-me' stare. "What?" he asked.
"Dude, Mal, are you okay?" asked Wash, catching up. "Maybe you should have Simon--"
"I'm fine." said Mal. "But if it'll stop people from worrying about it, I'll have the doctor look at it."
The group was almost at Serenity. A nearby ship was getting ready to take off. Mal and the others stopped, and waited for the ship to get air-born.
The ship was a few feet off the ground when something fell out of the ship.
"Hey!" Mal yelled. "You dropped something!"
But the ship kept getting higher and higher. Mal walked over to the object. It looked like a large duffle bag.
"What's that?" asked Jayne.
Mal bent down, but could find no form of identification of who the bag belonged to. Mal found the zipper and began to pull it.
"Mal, what are you doing?!" asked Wash.
"Seeing if I can find any sort of identification."
"If there's any money, I say we keep it," said Jayne.
Mal ignored him and pulled the zipper again. The bag wasn't open all the way. But it didn't need to be.
"Oh my god," he said.
"Is that….?" asked Wash.
"Yup," said Mal, zipping the bag back up. "It's a body."
"Well, what are we gonna do with a body?" asked Jayne.
"Take it back to Simon," said Mal, picking up one end of the bag. "Zoë, help me with this."
"Why is it whenever we find mysterious packages, it's always a body and never anything of value?" grumbled Jayne as he and Wash followed the captain and Zoë to Serenity.
Kaylee greeted the group as they made their way aboard the ship. "Hey Capt'n!" she said in her ever cheerful, innocent way.
"Where's Simon?" asked Mal, sidestepping her.
"He's in the infirmary," said Kaylee. "Why--"
But the captain and Zoë were already up the stairs. Kaylee turned to Wash and Jayne.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Mal found a body," said Wash.
"What?!" said Kaylee. "Was it a…. dead body?"
"Dunno." said Wash, heading up the stairs. Jayne and Kaylee followed.
"Simon!" said Mal as he and Zoë burst into the infirmary. "Need your assistance."
Simon turned and found a very odd sight indeed. The captain and Zoë walked over to the table in the middle of the room and laid a large duffle bag on it.
"What--"
But before Simon could get his question out, Mal unzipped the bag. Simon looked over the captain's shoulder and found himself looking at a young girl, who appeared to be asleep.
"Well…" Simon said. "This is an…. interesting purchase….."
"Didn't buy her, doc. Found her. Just like this."
"So, I'm confused. What is it you want me to do?"
"First, you can tell me if she's dead or not." said Mal.
Simon nodded and took a step towards the body in the bag. He found the girl's wrist, and checked for a pulse. He put a hand in front of her nose. "She's alive," he said. "Breathing's shallow….. most likely knocked unconscious."
"So, now what?" asked Mal.
Simon turned. "I… don't know. I could give her some drugs to assist in waking her…."
"Then do that." said Mal.
"Can you get her out of the bag first?" asked Simon, going to the counter and preparing the shot.
Zoë and Mal did as the doctor asked. Carefully, they got the girl out of the bag. Looking inside, they found clothes and other assorted things.
"We should probably take these and look for some ID," said Mal. "Is that okay, doc?"
"Hang on," said Simon, as he moved to the girl. He began unbuttoning her shirt.
"Doctor, what in the hell do you think you're doing?" asked the captain.
"I need to see if she has any broken bones or other damage," said Simon. Zoë moved to the table to help him. mal took this as a sign to move out into the hallway.
After a few moments, Zoë and Simon appeared beside Mal. Zoë had the girl's clothes in her hand.
"I gave her the drugs, but there's no telling when she'll come to," said Simon.
"Very well, doctor," said Mal. "Let's see if we can find anything useful in this bag."
"She was wearing this," said Simon, holding up a thin gold chain. On the chain was a small gold circle, with the letter 'A' written in very neat calligraphy. It was a good necklace, probably worth a lot.
"What's the 'A' stand for?" asked Mal.
"I don't know," said Simon. "Maybe her name?"
"Hm," said Captain Reynolds. He, Zoë and Simon made their way to the kitchen to sort through her things in the bag. Simon slipped the necklace into his pocket, but didn't notice when it fell right back out, onto the floor right in front of the infirmary. "What can you tell me about her at this point?" asked Mal.
"Caucasian female, most likely no more than twenty, no younger than fourteen. There were no broken bones, lacerations or other visible damage. There was, however, a tattoo on her right arm."
"What of?"
"A purple butterfly."
Mal looked at the young doctor. A purple butterfly? What the hell?
Meanwhile, back in the infirmary, the young girl with the strange tattoo was beginning to stir.
