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Firefly: Deleted Scenes
Ficlet 10: The Only Whore That Did
By Gamera Obscura
"Absolutely. Never again."
-Captain Malcolm Reynolds - Episode 8: "Out of Gas"
Serenity had been in port at the Eavesdown Docks for two weeks now, as Mal looked for work and interviewed potential tenants for Shuttle 1. Mal had screened four people now, and was now flying over the city in the shuttle with a man named Richter at the helm, his wife in the copilot's chair next to him.
"She handles pretty smoothly. This would work out very well." Richter was a surveyor, and was paid by the Alliance to perform geological surveys on the Border Worlds and Rim moons and planets in the Georgia, Red Sun and Blue Sun systems in particular, for possible mining contracts. "She'd have to be fitted with a class-3 sensor array, but the Alliance would pay for that."
Mal picked up the radio as they approached the docks. "Wash, we're coming in," he said.
"Roger, Mal. Starboard hatch, green for docking," Wash's voice came over the comm.
Richter tapped the microphone on his headset. "Docking in 5, 4, 3…" The shuttle came in for a landing on Serenity's starboard docking port with a loud "clack", then the docking assembly retracted the shuttle halfway into the ship's hull, connecting its hatch to the inner door.
"Two hundred a month?" Richter said, pulling off his headset. His wife smiled and pulled her headset off as well.
"That's if you want to sleep on the shuttle. If you want a room in the passenger dorms it would be extra, on a per-flight basis, but you'll get a discounted rate. Either way, you get unlimited use of the kitchen and the bathing facilities in the passenger dorms," Mal replied.
"Sleeping on the shuttle will be fine," Richter responded. "We'll take it, assuming you'll have us," he said.
"Well, I have a few more people to interview, but you're the front runners so far. You do understand what we do on this ship, don't you?"
Richter smiled. "I can guess. What you do is none of my business, Captain. And even though I take a paycheck from the Alliance, they're no friends of mine. I supported the Browncoats during the war."
"Well, then let me shake your hand and thank you," Mal said, taking Richter's hand, firmly.
Mal saw the couple off, and had their Cortex number scrawled on a piece of paper in his pocket. Just one more interview today, and then he'd be able to break for dinner. Tomorrow, he had a meeting with Badger, about taking a load of goods to a man named Bosch on Ezra.
He pulled a small book out of his pocket and scanned it. "Inara Serra," he said aloud.
O-O-O
Two hours later, a cab pulled up to the ramp and deposited a stunning looking young woman with raven hair, olive skin, and a beautiful dress with a bare midriff. She wore a black lace veil over her eyes.
Mal was waiting for her at the base of the ramp and smiled. "Captain Malcolm Reynolds," he said. "I have to say, I ain't never seen a registered Companion before. Pleasure to meet you, Miss. Welcome to Serenity."
The woman smiled. "You can call me Inara, Captain Reynolds."
Mal led her inside, and up the stairs to the upper deck catwalk. "So your intention is to service menfolk on the ship?" he asked.
"Not usually," Inara answered as they walked. "I would almost exclusively take the shuttle to my clients and service them aboard her. I would be bringing along a bed, a couch, and various other furniture and items I would need for my job, and day-to-day needs."
Mal opened the door to Shuttle 1 and led Inara inside. "Well, here she is," he said as he stepped into the main compartment of the shuttle, which was littered with cargo containers and detritus yet to be cleaned out. "Nice, isn't she?"
Inara looked around for a couple of seconds. "Smallish," was her only reply.
"Well, not overly," Mal said, turning to face her. "How much room do you really need for what you do, anyway? Got a surveyor and his wife interested in renting it; they're just waiting to hear back."
Inara lifted the veil, spying the cockpit in the next room and heading for it. "What's her range?"
"Standard short," Mal said. "She'll break atmo from a wide orbit. Get you where you need to go, bring you back home again."
Inara sat down at the pilot's control, settling into the seat and examining the control panels and pilot's stick, silently.
"She's spaceworthy, just like the rest of Serenity is," Mal added at Inara's silence.
"No need to sound so defensive, Captain," she said, standing and wandering about the cockpit. "I prefer something with a few miles on it."
After a few moments, she turned to face Mal, and continued. "Were we to enter into this arrangement, Captain Reynolds, there are a few things I would require of you, the foremost being complete autonomy. This shuttle would be my home; no crew member – including yourself – would be allowed entrance without my express invitation."
Mal nodded to her. "You'd get your privacy."
"And just so we're clear, under no circumstances will I be servicing you or anyone who is under your employ," she added.
"I'll post a sign," Mal said with barely concealed whimsy.
Inara turned and headed for the main compartment again. "That won't be necessary." She paused, then said, "The other thing I would insist upon is some measure of assurance that when I make an appointment with a client I'm in a position to keep that appointment, so far as such assurances are possible on a vessel of this… type."
Mal bristled slightly. "That's an awful lot of caveats and addendums there, Miss."
"As I stated, I just want to be clear," Inara said.
Mal started to walk away. "Well, I'll be sure to take all that into consideration as I review the applications," he said.
"Don't be ridiculous," Inara said. "You're going to rent this shuttle to me."
Mal turned, standoffish, his arms crossed, defiantly. "Am I?"
Inara smiled. "Yes, and for one-quarter less than your asking price," she said with confidence.
"Is that a fact?" Mal asked.
"It is."
"And you figure you'll be getting this discount why, exactly?"
"You want me. You want me on your ship."
Mal was becoming increasingly irritated. "Do I?" he asked.
"Yes," Inara responded. "Because I can bring you something that your surveyor or any of the other fish you might have on-line can't: a certain respectability."
"Respec-" Mal began, incredulous at the irony of a whore speaking about respectability, but was cut off.
"Based on what little I've seen of your operation, I suspect that's something you could use." Inara turned to walk away.
Mal did not turn to follow her as she stepped to the opposite wall of the compartment, examining the Cortex terminal installed there. "Fine," he said, then began to wander over toward her. "Let me ask you this: if you're so… 'respectable', why are you even here? I mean, I've heard tale of fancy ladies such as yourself shipping out with big luxury liners and the like, but a registered Companion, on a boat like this? What are you running from?"
"I'm not running from anything."
"If it's Alliance trouble you got, you might want to consider another ship. Some on board here fought for the Independents," Mal said.
"The Alliance has no quarrel with me; I supported Unification," Inara replied.
"Did ya?" Mal asked, clearly annoyed. "Well, I don't suppose you're the only whore that did."
Inara closed her eyes, clearly biting back her tongue, then opened them again with a soft smile on her face. "Oh, one final addendum," she said. "That's the last time you get to call me 'whore'." She then walked past Mal towards the door.
"Absolutely," Mal said stoically. "Never again."
O-O-O
The following morning, a delivery truck arrived with all of Inara's things, and a pair of laborers moved them into Shuttle 1. The movers had a tough time getting her red sofa through the bulkhead, but once that was done, the rest was a breeze. They were gone within an hour, and half a day later, Serenity was underway for Ezra; Inara skipped the evening meal with the crew, opting instead to alternate between decorating and placing an ad for her services when they arrived at their destination, then screening clients as their proposals came rolling in through the Cortex.
A knock came at her door, and Inara turned from her task of hanging bolts of shimmering black fabric over the walls to give the shuttle's cold, utilitarian interior a warm, boudoir feeling. "Qing jin," she said.
Kaylee came into the room, bearing a tray. "I thought I would bring you some dinner," she said.
Inara smiled warmly. "Thank you. How thoughtful of you," she said.
Kaylee placed the tray upon the table. "Do you mind if I sit down and join you while you eat?" she asked.
Inara, who was used to solitude when she wasn't working, was bit taken aback, but didn't want to be rude. "Of course."
Kaylee sat down gently – almost reverently – upon the sofa. "This is really comfortable. I ain't never seen anything so nice as the stuff you have in this place; it's all so glamorous, even your clothing."
Inara knelt upon the floor opposite the sofa and began to eat. "Are you the welcome wagon on the ship?" she asked.
Kaylee laughed. "No, not really. I just joined the crew, myself. I signed on less than a month ago and don't really have any friends here. Since you're new to the ship, too, I thought we could be friends. If you wanted to, I mean."
Inara put her fork down and smiled. "I'd like that. I'm Inara. Inara Serra," she said.
"I know," Kaylee said. "Everyone was talking about you over dinner. Most of us are real excited to have you here; even the Captain is happy, because having a Companion on board opens up hundreds of worlds that wouldn't let us dock otherwise. That means a lot more potential work for us."
Kaylee paused. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Kaylee. Kaylee Frye."
"That's an unusual name," Inara said.
"Well, it's actually Kaywinnet Lee Frye, but everybody just calls me Kaylee. I'm the ship's mechanic."
"The ship's mechanic? What are you, 25?" Inara asked.
"I'm 23," Kaylee said.
"That's awfully young. Do you have much experience?"
"I used to rebuild engines and rewire cars – ground and hover – for my daddy's garage. I've only had four weeks as mechanic here. I learned everything I know about engines and ship systems from books," Kaylee said.
"That's very impressive," Inara said between bites. "Not to mention admirable. Learning seems to be a lost art on many worlds."
"I don't read much, besides technical manuals," Kaylee said. "I've been studying accelerator cores since before I was a teenager. I was living on this backwater moon – Pollux – and out of nowhere, this opportunity just sort of fell into my lap. It's shiny."
"You were lucky to get out," Inara said. "Most people want to get off the backwaters, I'd imagine. My guess is that most never even have a chance."
"My only other option would be to sign on with the Alliance military," she said. "But my daddy would have had a fit if I did. He would have been a Browncoat himself if he didn't already have a family."
An uncomfortable silence settled over the room; Inara knew that politics was a prickly topic of conversation for most people, and she didn't relish the thought of making enemies out of all her shipmates. Fortunately, Kaylee broke the silence by changing the subject for her.
"Have you ever been to the Core?" Kaylee asked.
"I was born and raised on Sihnon," Inara replied. "For the last six months, I've been aboard a luxury liner called the Astral Queen. We toured the Core and some of the more developed former Independent worlds."
"The most developed world I've ever been to is Persephone," Kaylee said. "The city was so big! It never seemed to end. I couldn't believe how many people there were."
"Persephone is nowhere near as populated as Sihnon," said Inara. "Persephone has a half a billion people on it, and Sihnon has over eight billion."
"Eight billion!" Kaylee was amazed. "The people must be tripping over each other to get around!"
"Maybe in some of the bigger cities," Inara said with a smile, "but we still have suburbs and even farmland. There are whole stretches of forest that go on for hundreds of miles, untouched by man."
"It sounds like a dream. Maybe one day I'll get to go to the Core myself; Serenity might get a job that'll take us there," Kaylee said.
"She'll have to go, eventually. Every year I have to go to a Core hospital for a medical check-up. It's Guild law," Inara replied. "I suppose I'll have to pay the Captain to take us there, but if you're still on the ship, I guarantee you'll get to go."
Kaylee grinned, her even, white teeth showing as she beamed. "You're like our good luck charm, Inara. I'm glad you're here."
Inara smiled, sadly. "I'm glad someone is," she said.
(Author's Note: Kaylee and Inara have always been close. I hope you enjoyed my envisioning of the beginning of that friendship. The scene with Mal and Inara on the shuttle is verbatim from Episode 8: "Out of Gas".)
(Next Time: You Are Cordially Invited - As Zoe and Wash prepare to get married and go on a honeymoon on Bellerophon, Mal glowers aboard the ship. Book delivers his first sermon in front of the congregation. Jayne joins a new ship.)