Breakfast was a pretty quiet affair. Inara left early for a job she contracted last minute while still on Mobul. Jayne knew that meals were probably the longest time he would be spending with Savi so he tried to make the most of it and got caught staring at her too long by the rest of the crew. Savi was as quiet as Suna usually was, mostly out of embarrassment. No one else thought much of the little episode in the kitchen by now. Mal did not join his crew and drank his coffee while looking at maps and what other ships showed on the screen. Nothing looked too suspicious to him and that calmed him down a bit. He decided to join the crew and passengers for a few minutes. He walked into a quiet room and looked around wondering if he had just interrupted something. Suna looked straight at him, comfortable in the silence. Savi did not look at Mal at all and moved her food about her plate. Mal was ok with that,he preferred that to her seeking his attention. Kaylee kicked Jayne in the shin figuring he better stop staring at Savi. Mal noticed and just took a deeper breath.
"Looks like you all are done. Simon, find something for Suna to help you with. Kaylee, same with Savi ." He wanted to add to make sure the latter actually did some work, but decided to let off a bit and give her a chance, a clean slate.
Savi and Suna looked at one another, neither very happy at the prospect of being separated, but neither daring to cross Mal right about now. Savi liked Kaylee, but it was always harder for her to get her way with women.
Everyone helped clear the table after Mal left while Jayne got to cleaning, Simon walked away with his little helper, wondering what he could have her work on. By the time the two got to his working area he was still thinking about it when Suna said " I can clean the walls and the floor unless you want me todo something else?" Simon smiled and got confirmation that this girl could actually be helpful to him. He showed her some supplies and happily got back to his research. River was not feeling well today and he needed to check in with her as well.
Kaylee and Savi got to the engine room and Kaylee showed the girl a pair of coveralls, which Savi declined to wear. " you'll get those clothes mighty dirty in here then." She warned Savi.
" can't you just give me a clean job then?" Replied Savi.
" don't have much of that down here. I supposed you could organize my books and manuals for a while" Kaylee thought out loud.
Mal, Wash and Zoe were discussing the best routes when an Alliance warning came on their screen.
" Shit!" Mal exclaimed. " what is this about? "
"Looks like the Alliance is asking to inspect our cargo, and I mean right now!" Said Wash sounding a little alarmed
"We got papers for the girls, we are good, right Captain?" Asked Zoe.
Mal had not told his crew about the danger Suna was in, getting caught off her planet, nor had he mentioned that some Allinace officers may have been bought by enemies of Savi's father. Even without that knowledge, both Zoe and Wash had not been too happy with this particular job involving a couple of kids on board.
" yeah well, the little one, she can't be caught here or we could lose her" Mal said, sincerely worried about her. He did not go into the other details.
The entire crew and passengers were summoned within minutes.
" We got the Alliance coming in to inspect our cargo; that mainly means you, Savi. " Mal said looking at Savi.
" no one is to mention Suna...she is not supposed to be here and we are not going to blow this and..and lose her" he said glancing over at the red headed teen.
While Savi understood what was going on, and how she was partly responsible for putting her friend in this kind of danger, she did not like how protective Mal seemed to be of Suna. That feeling was stronger than any more reasonable thought she was having.
" what about me , Captain, aren't you worried about me?"
" you got papers, Savi. You just worry about not blowing this, so I recommend you talk as little as you can, understood?"
Savi did understand, but she was only getting more jealous and mumbled loud enough for Mal to hear " you better be nice to me if you want me to keep my mouth shut". Suna heard this too and her entire body sank. How could her friend say something like this? She felt like crying but managed to hold it all in. Everyone else either shook their head or swallowed hard instead of saying what they were thinking.
Mal thought of how little time they all had to prepared for the inspection and hoped his instincts were right that this was but an idle threat. " you! "He scowled at Savi "you better keep your mouth shut. And this isn't over yet! ". He knew this was challenging Savi but he could not give in to her. He felt pretty confident she would not really betray her friend, but that he even had to deal with this, made him angrier than he had been in a very long time.
Suna understood the last few minutes pretty well and just hoped no one would try and talk to her anytime soon. Mal walked past her and gave her the quickest little squeeze on her shoulder, aware that anything more could make her break down.
" Kaylee, you go with the girls to clear Suna's stuff from the bunk. Bring everything including Suna to the hidden container, behind the engine room. Make sure she's got what she needs for the next...two days, in case we get into it deeper than I am hoping".
