Chapter 10: Smuggling Run to Pomona

Dinner was finished. The dishes were cleared away, but not yet washed. Zoe and Wash went off for some private time together. Mal went to the bridge, after warning Standish not to let the dishes wait too long. Jayne departed for his own cabin, probably to clean his guns. Inara laid out the mah jongg tiles, and she, Simon, Book, and Standish settled down to a game. River and Kaylee stayed to watch.

After they'd played a round or two, Standish ventured to ask, "May I inquire, sir, why you took to playing Friar Tuck to Captain Reynolds' Robin Hood? Forgive me if I pry."

"You'll find in the Black, Ezra, that most people don't like to discuss why they're out here," Inara advised him.

"I left the monastery for a sabbatical. I'd been cloistered for two years, and needed to be out amongst ordinary people again." The shepherd sidestepped Standish's question.

"He came aboard because he liked Serenity; he stayed 'cause we needed him," Kaylee explained. She remembered when Book had joined their 'family.' He'd chosen Serenity because it was the prettiest ship of all the ships at the spaceport, not even inquiring as to their destination.

"If there was ever a flock of lost lambs and black sheep that needed a shepherd's guidance, it's the crew of this ship," Inara agreed.

In the corner, River quietly began reciting, "Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool?"

"If you don't mind, I would prefer to change the subject. I would rather not discuss how I came to be a crew member of Serenity, and I'm fairly sure, Ezra, that you wouldn't, either," Simon pointed out.

"I withdraw the question," Standish replied obediently.

For the next few rounds, discussion was limited to which was the Prevailing Wind, the last two planets they'd visited, whether or not a knitted triplet was permissible (mah jongg having too many local variations to count), and the highly publicized divorce of vid star Anita Wu.

Book turned to Standish. "You've known Captain Reynolds a long time. What was he like when you knew him during the war?"

"A competent soldier, but he had no use for the military chain of command, no respect for authority," the former 'brown shirt' lieutenant replied. "If he wasn't so damned good at what he did, and if we hadn't been so short-handed, he probably would've spent half the war in the brig."

Simon looked around, making sure that neither Mal nor Zoe were in danger of returning. "Zoe told me once that at the Battle of Serenity Valley, the officers died early on, and Mal wound up in command of 4,000 troops."

"No wonder we lost," Standish muttered.

"Ezra! That ain't nice," Kaylee protested.

"Serenity Valley was merely the final battle. It couldn't have made any difference. There was no way the Independents could ever have won," River declared. "An Alliance victory was a foregone conclusion."

"You were playing with dolls when the war ended," Inara pointed out.

"I've read the reports," replied River.

Book raised a white eyebrow at her phrasing. Not 'I've read reports of the war' or 'I studied it in social studies class,' but 'I've read the reports.' "I have trouble seeing you as a 'brown shirt', Standish. You've always struck me more as siding with the winners, rather than being politically motivated."

"I have my quixotic moments, and nothing is more quixotic than being drawn to the romance of a lost cause," Standish philosophized.

"Lost cause? We might've won," protested Kaylee.

"We?" Simon asked. "You're too young to have been an Independent."

"I was too young to fight, but I had kinfolk who did. Most of the Rimworlds supported the Independence movement," Kaylee reminded him. "You being from a core world, I s'pose you were for unification, whether we wanted to be unified or not?"

Simon's relationship with Kaylee was rocky enough; he didn't need the politics of a war seven years ago to disturb the rapport they were developing. "I was concentrating on my medical classes at the time."

"Our parents were very pro-unification," River said. "Profound, promote, proceed, program, Prometheus."

Simon sighed. River had slipped into one of her moods again. At least she distracted Kaylee from inquiring how much he'd agreed with his parents' political views at the time. He sighed again. When had keeping the respect of a semi-literate mechanic become so important to him?

"I thought the war was a tragic waste, but I believed then … and still believe … that unification was in the best interests of everyone." Inara turned to Book. "What about you, Shepherd?"

"As a servant of the Prince of Peace, I just wanted the killing to stop," the shepherd replied. If he'd preferred one side over the other, he did not mention it.

"I'm curious, Ezra. If the officers died in the first few days of the battle, how is it Mal was in command rather than you?" Inara asked.

"By the time of Serenity Valley, I was already a POW." Standish rearranged his tiles.

"Did you fight in a lot of battles?" asked Kaylee.

"Very few. I was a logistics officer. I was more concerned with procuring and distributing food, ammunition, and uniforms to the troops than actually firing any weapons myself."

Standish lay on the bunk and took another slug from the stolen whisky bottle. He didn't normally indulge in behavior as vulgar as drinking from the bottle, but this was a special occasion.

It was JD's birthday.

JD's 21st birthday.

Back home in Four Corners, Mr. Wilmington and his other former associates would be toasting John Dunne's natal anniversary. There would be drinks in the saloon, possibly Widow Travis would bake a cake - Standish nearly choked on his whisky. When had he come to regard that flea-bitten town on a dusty two-bit moon as home?

He shook his head and took another, larger gulp of whisky. It must just be that after working on Serenity, anywhere would look good by comparison. He couldn't possibly be homesick for that miserable town, or for the six men he'd once thought of as his friends.

"Shuttle clear," Inara's voice came over the communicator.

"Zaijian.[1]See you in the world," Wash replied.

"Enjoy decontamination," Mal wished her.

Wash frowned as Mal reminded him of decontam. "That's what I hate about coming to Pomona."

Zoe reached over and tousled her husband's hair. "The captain, Standish, and I got it worse than you do."

"You're a braver man than I am, Gunga Din," Wash misquoted.

Three uniformed guards stood behind the two bureaucrats. Both bureaucrats were in formal suits, with jeweled ID pendants hanging from gold necklaces. The gray haired man wore the jade encrusted badge of the Pomona Department of Agriculture. The woman, a redhead Mal would have considered attractive under other circumstances, wore the garnet trimmed badge of the Pomona Department of Commerce.

"All your papers seem in order, Captain Reynolds," she acknowledged.

The agricultural bureaucrat stepped forward, gesturing to the guards to follow him. "No plant substances? No seeds?"

"Got a minor hydroponics unit for our own food supply," Mal told him, "and some of my people keep flowers in their quarters. But those won't be going ashore."

"Nevertheless, we must protect our world. Are these all your passengers and crew?" the agro'crat gestured at the line of eight people standing in the cargo hold.

Mal nodded. "All but one. She took the shuttle to your northern continent, and she'll go through decontam there."

Actually, two women were missing: Inara on the shuttle, and River hidden in Kaylee's quarters.

The guards raised their sprayguns. They squirted the crew and passengers of Serenity with a fine mist.

"Yuck," Jayne muttered.

"Welcome to Pomona, the garden of the universe," the agro'crat said, with no trace of irony. "If you wish to go past the spaceport quarantine district, you must submit to further decontamination procedures. Otherwise, it is safe for you to disembark now. Enjoy your stay."

The 'welcoming party' left.

"I just love Pomona," Wash muttered.

"Okay, Wash, Jayne, get started unloading the cargo. Kaylee, go check on River, then go get us some fuel and supplies. Book, you got time for some shore leave, if you want to play missionary to the gardeners. Zoe, Standish, c'mon. We got an invitation from the doctor to join him in sickbay for some prune juice."

Zoe frowned.

Standish snarled, "You owe me for this, Captain."

Mal nodded. "Month off your debt, as agreed."

"Should be two months," Standish muttered as he headed for sickbay.

Kaylee asked, "Now that it's all over now, you mind explaining? Why are you three smuggling seeds in your bellies? I heard of drugs being transported this way, but orchid seeds?"

"Smallest plant seeds in the 'verse," Mal told. "The government of Pomona is very fussy what plants are imported, afraid of disease coming in."

Wash added, "It also lets them control the economy."

Mal continued, "Rich planters wanting to crossbreed perfume variations will pay a fortune for unlicensed orchid seeds."

[1] Goodbye