32049:
Unification Year 031:
Day 320:
Hour 1406.
Three years earlier.
Two figures sat in the middle of a sound stage with a full cortex crew buzzing all around them. The large uncomfortable older man tugged at the collar of his dress shirt and tie, overheating in the suite and bright lights that he was subjected to. The overly made-up, just past young woman, quickly ran down the order of questions she would ask, but they were lost on the poor man. The director waved at the woman and started the countdown. Three fingers, two, one, he pointed.
"Thanks for coming back." She said, cheerfully inviting a billion viewers into their false living room. "I'm here with Harvest's new councilman and legend Jayne Cobb. Welcome."
"Thank 'ya Katie." The good looking, slightly graying man replied.
"Well Mr. Cobb – I understand that you have recently published an auto-biography of your early days."
"Yes Katie, that is true." He replied politely.
"Are we to understand that you actually wrote this book?" She questioned. "It isn't at all congruous with your public persona."
"Well Katie, I never was good with the words-n-all so, as you suspect, I did have a fair bit of help." He admitted. "But the stories is true."
"A ghost writer then."
Jayne took a beat to figure that it didn't mean a dead writer and then he pressed on. It must have shown on his face as it drew a chuckle or two from the crew. "A friend of the family." He nodded.
"So – may I ask why you are printing these stories now, after so many years of, how shall I put it, laying low."
"Well Katie, I'm glad you asked…" Jayne proceeded to tell his interviewer the plight of so many of the boarder and rim planets, moon, and stations. He added that, by writing this book, he hoped to better their situation and highlight his new initiatives in the parliament. But Katie did not seem to catch his drift.
"Well then – Let's get this out of the way right up front. Some say you are the author of the long successful children's series, 'On the Rim.' Is there any truth to that?"
Jayne looked at the woman, confused as to how the question was pertinent. He'd been working an honest job for near two decades now – well – before he made his way into politics it was honest. Now he was doing his best to make up for the two decades before that. That is what he had come here to talk about, not any of his previous means of financial augmentation. It just so happened that one of those honest jobs he held was that of an author, and yes, he had authored those stories for Mal's children, but that one was personal and one thing he had sworn to secrecy.
"No Katie." Jayne lied. "I just ain't that good at writin."
She laughed at his plain honesty, not realizing that this was the least honest thing he'd said so far.
"So why do you think so many people believe this rumor."
"Well Katie, there are only so many stories out on the Rim for people to latch on to." He said, steering the conversation back to his initiatives. "There ain't no wonder that they sound so – similar."
"Okay, but, aside from the Ghost writer friend of the family, this is your story?"
"All true."
"So you admit all those vices and transgressions, those stories are truth."
"Well for the most part, with minor dramatic enhancement."
The woman smiled at the camera, that kind of smile that a light weight new reporter smiles when they think they have latched onto a line of questioning that will be particularly revealing or salacious in nature. This was one of those times.
"You were in trouble with the Law quite a bit then weren't you?" She feigned a swoon.
"Fair bit."
"And this Companion you traveled with, Inara Serra."
"Nara." He confirmed.
"You say in the book that she was special to you?"
"Well – here is one of those places that we was talking about, dramatic enhancement. My 'Ghost Writer' thought it'd make a stronger statement – but – Yeah, she was special to me."
"And you to her?"
"I guess."
"She is the founder of the Harvest Companions Academy isn't she?" The newswoman asked innocently.
Uh – yeah."
"And would you say a woman of that stature would normally associate with rogues and outlaws such as you used to be?"
"Uh – no." He answered tentatively. "Nara didn't have nothing to do with that stuff there."
"And yet she gave you a job at the guild when she opened it up." Katie continued. "Doesn't that sound a bit odd to you?"
"No." Jayne replied flatly, mostly because it didn't.
"Would it be fair to say you were friends then?"
"Yeah."
"Special friends?"
"Yeah – I guess."
Jayne seemed a bit perturbed at the direction the interview was turning and attempted at several points to move it back to his agenda and political intensions. It worked for a moment or two, but soon digressed back into the naughty nature of his younger days and his numerous vices. Many of which, he was sad to say, were still vices in his life today.
"I ain't sayin I been a saint any of my life. I been up to a fair bit of devilry. But when a man settles down enough to take stock of his past, he sees some things he wants to be about fixin. That's where I'm comin from and that's what I'd like to do, given the chance." Shameless political plug aside, Jayne was being genuinely truthful.
"That is very interesting, but that is about all the time we have for today."
"But I ain't said nothing yet." Jayne objected as the camera zoomed in on the newswoman's face.
"Well Mr Jayne Cobb – you turned out to be a whole lot more man than what I was expecting. " She announced to the camera. "Jayne Cobb, Writer, Councilman, Legend."
Inara shut off the cortex as she shook her head smiling.
"You're just screaming into the wind, Jayne." She mumbled to herself. "They just aren't hearing what you have to say."
A second later the vidscreen chipped. Inara had expected this, just not so soon.
"Pick-up" She ordered and then her tone changed to a more pleasant, casual tenor. "Mei mei, it's so good to see you."
"Did you just hear that?" Kaylee fumed at the vid screen incredulously. "Did you?"
"Yes I did." The Companion seemed satisfied and not at all bothered.
"But Nara – Half the Verse is gonna think you where his great lover." Kaylee nearly screeched. "That ain't right."
"He didn't say that Kaylee."
"Just as well did. Well I got half a mind to get on my junk and come down to keel-haul him."
Inara laughed. "Well you know you are certainly welcome to visit any time you want." She added. "If you can pull yourself away from busy social life in Landsdown."
Inara had always worried about Kaylee's ability to adjust to the life she had to lead now. Being rich and famous was not in her blood, though Simon seemed to be handling it just fine.
"Aw Nara, you know it ain't all what they make it out to be on the cortex."
"I know Mei mei, but is it everything that 'you' thought it would be?"
"I gotta be honest with you, this ain't half bad. Simon just made Chief of staff at the hospital, he's opened a new trauma center there you know. Son Lee just became the youngest Minister's top aide in the Alliance, Shannon is out there with you, and the people here love sucking-up to me. Life is pretty good."
"I heard your engines took the top three spots in the Caprison Invitational." Inara added. Kaylee was always leaving her own achievements off her lists. Inara could never quite figure that out.
"That ain't nothin." She said. "I got good pilots."
"Zoe says different. She ran into you there, she mentioned" Inara was leading.
"Yeah! We had a nice chat." Kaylee could see the question in Inara's eyes that she wasn't asking. 'Did you see Nathan? Was he all right? Was he happy? '
"It was a long day of racin and talkin. Nathan gave me a lift home. He's all growed up, looking well." 'A lot like Mal.' Kaylee thought, but she'd never say it.
They were silent for a second.
"Mei mei. You should come. Terra and Sharron – well they miss you and Son Lee. I miss you. It would be good to see you and Simon again."
"You know his schedule is so busy now, and Son Lee – I barely get to see her. I may need to adopt another hai zi just to have someone around." She mused. "It ain't like the old days Nara."
"I know."
Silence filled the screen again for a beat.
"And where does Jayne get off sayin you two had a special relationship.
"He's not wrong Kaylee." Inara defended Jayne, much to Kaylee's surprise. "He was more of a Father to my children that Mal ever was. He practically wrote that whole Rim series for them, just so they could know Mal." Inara still had a slight bitterness when she spoke of Mal, almost as much as Kaylee's reverence of the man.
"Aw Nara, that ain't so."
"Well at lease he was there for them." She retorted. "And that was special in its own way."
"That ain't no fault of his." Kaylee defended Mal, her eyes dropped from the screen. "Not his."
They sat again in silence. Neither one liked the awkwardness they had now, but it was all they had and they held on to it dearly.
"Jayne isn't doing anyone wrong, Kaylee. You know you'll have to forgive him." Inara insisted, but what she meant was, 'Forgive yourself Mei mei. Forgive yourself.' Kaylee could read it in her eyes.
"I know Nara, but I can't."
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