Three days into their vacation on Meadow, the crew was thoroughly land-crazy. They'd tramped all over Meadow, saw all the sights, went swimming at the swimming hole, hiked, and enjoyed themselves at the local bar. They'd even gone to a mall a few hundred miles away, and done some shopping. Each night they'd build a fire, dance, drink, talk, and generally enjoy the summer weather. Jenny had stuck close by Jayne each day, showing him the sights of Meadow.
Kaylee and Tom had seen plenty of Meadow already, and used the 3 days while the crew rested to get a head-start on repairs to Serenity.
On the fourth day, Jamie woke up early again. He was feeling antsy, and wanted something to do.
He ventured off-ship and found Tom up early in his shop, drinking the first cup of coffee of the day. Tom quickly stepped away from his work bench, closing a drawer.
"Mornin', Jamie. What has ya up this early on yer vacation?"
"Feelin' antsy. I'm thinking it's a good time to start working on the little bits of gadgetry we got stowed all through Serenity."
"Yea, Mal mentioned you'd done a hell of a heist. What sort of tech is it?"
"I think it's a lot of prototype or experimental stuff. I recognized one or two of the items; there was a pretty shiny looking navigational computer the size of a wristwatch, and some pretty heavy-duty long-range com systems. Some of the stuff just completely eludes me though. Could be I know what it is, just that the form factor isn't something I'm familiar with yet."
"That's possible. Ya got schematics?"
Jamie just held up a data spike; Tom took it and put it into his computer terminal near the inner door to the shop.
"I see what ya mean, lad. Some of this stuff is downright confusing. Might be we can figure them out faster if we're tryin' 'em out."
"I thought of that. I'm real hesitant to take 'em out of their bags until we're in a Faraday cage."
"Well, there ya go." Tom opened one end of the shop, exposing a coppery-sheened door. Pulling it open, Jamie saw a small table and some diagnostic tools.
"I take it this isn't the first time you've done this?"
"Well, some equipment can be real sensitive to 'Waves and signals. Much easier to work with in here."
"Let me go get the gear. I'll be 10 or so."
"Sure thing."
After Jamie left, Tom went over to the drawer he'd closed and pulled out the object he'd been working on. He put it into a safer, locked drawer along with the other materials he'd had out.
Kaylee came back with Jamie, arms full of wire-mesh plastic-coated bags.
"Jamie caught me just as I was coming out of the engine room. We gonna see what these pieces of shiny can do?"
"As near as we can tell, anyways."
Mal came into the house, looking for his mechanic and his tech; Jamie was usually on the bridge by now. Beth greeted him as he came into the kitchen, handing him a cup of coffee. Jenny Frye was working on breakfast for when the rest of the crew woke up and stumbled in.
"Mornin', Beth. Was expecting to see Kaylee and Tom workin' on Serenity when I came up. Whereabouts are they?"
"They're in his shop, fiddling with somesuch." For the wife of a mechanic, Beth Frye was technologically illiterate as could be.
"I'll go see what's holdin' 'em up." Mal winked.
Mal stepped into the shop, and saw Tom standing near one end of the shop, by an open door. "Hey Tom, where's my mechanic?"
A second Tom walked in the main shop doors.
"Shuh ma?"
A third walked out from the door Mal had just stepped out of. Mal looked around, confusedly.
"Pretty neat, huh cap'n?" Kaylee squealed as she bounded around the corner.
"I think it's another version of the hard-light projector Badger wanted to get his hands on. Could come in pretty handy for bushwhackin' folk, or drawin' fire."
"I'd say it would at that. Reckon we oughta keep that thing handy."
"Along with the Mark V Aerotech Crystal Processor Navigation Computer." Jamie said, holding an item the size of a wristwatch in his hand. "That job is having all sorts of wonderful side benefits. We'd be here years figuring them all out, but I think I've got a grasp on most of them. A few handy gadgets for Simon, some new toys for Kaylee, and a fancy high-end scope for Jayne to try out on Vera. Some of the extras to sell. We'll need to find a good fence. Maybe Badger can dig one up for us."
Tom stood by, nodding with a slight smile on his face.
The others were now in the kitchen, just sitting down to eat, as the three tech-heads and Mal came in out of the shop. By some coincidence, Jenny was sitting next to Jayne again, even closer than the first morning. The stragglers sat down and ate heartily of the good local farm food. Mal looked around at his crew, seeing them all content and happy, but with the first signs of boredom. Well, that was easily solved.
"I see y'all are starting to get a bit land-crazy. I figure we can make this a working vacation. While Tom and Kaylee are workin' on the repairs, we can all make ourselves busy enough just by cleanin and organizin the ship. Not much chance of doin' it while we're in the Black. We can install some of the new gadgets Tom, Jamie and Kaylee've been sussing out for us.
"It's also a good chance for everyone to take up some gun practice. We've got the coin and the suppliers nearby to get the ammo; we should work on making sure we're all proficient with all the guns on the boat.
"Tom, Beth, Jenny, that goes for you too. We've got some bad guys behind us, but too near for real comfort; I'd feel a mite safer if y'all were armed and ready to take care of 'em if they come your way."
"I'm glad of your concern, Mal. My Beth and Jenny have already got some training with guns, mostly shotgun and pistol. After hearing about the near-misses Kaylee's had over the years, I wanted my ladies to be well-prepared if trouble comes callin'."
"Well, they didn't have Jayne teaching them. I believe Jayne could teach a blind man to shoot." Simon said.
Jayne grinned at the praise, and Mal didn't miss the look of admiration Jenny gave him. From the way the grin widened, Jayne didn't miss it either.
The next few weeks went much quicker. With work to do, Serenity's family didn't have to work so hard to fill up their time.
Mal and Jamie disappeared for a few hours each morning after breakfast; the only one to find out what they were doing was Inara (apart from River, who knew right away). She had finally gone searching for them one morning, and found them on the bridge, with Jamie teaching Mal some of the intricacies of his trade. She smiled slightly at seeing the confusion on Mal's face, but he seemed to be getting it quickly enough.
Serenity got cleaned out and repaired cleaner than when Mal had first set foot on her. All of the contraband they had hidden in the smuggler hideyholes was taken out and catalogued, then stored away again. Several spare parts that could come in handy were purchased and put into the empty smuggler holds; never know when you might need a new catalyzer again.
All of the bunks on the ship were soundproofed considerably; with practically everyone on board bunking together, they were able to get almost everyone moved into crew quarters; bigger bunks were installed.
A whole variety of repair jobs were completed, from the most prosaic to the most complicated. The jamming system that had been installed the previous month was replaced with a far more compact and covert one that had been procured from the Alliance facility. Simon's infirmary got several shiny new diagnostic tools from the stash of newtech, as well as a bone knitter and a more sophisticated extractor for bullet wounds. The infirmary was completely restocked, and a chiller unit was installed to hold extra blood for transfusions. The ship's armory, as well as all of the personal weapons on the boat, were given a thorough cleaning and maintenance job by Jayne.
Each day, Jayne would get most of the crew out for an hour or two, just getting them all comfortable using various types of guns. Jenny, of course, got a fair bit of attention, and some "help" holding the guns. Thankfully, to Mal's mind, Tom was nowhere to be found during these sessions.
Jayne and Jamie, along with River, worked together to teach the crew basic hand-to-hand self defense. One day, they all went to an excellent armorer in Kowlonshi and got fitted for high quality body armor; Mal had decided that being shot was tiring for all of them.
On one fine clear day about 2 weeks after they arrived, everyone, crew and Frye family, packed up a picnic lunch and went out to a secluded place in the countryside. There they held a long-range rifle competition, 3 shots on each ranged target, with the wagers being favors, chores, coin, and whatever else anyone could afford to lose in good fun.
Jayne scored a near-perfect score on all three range targets, and Inara acquitted herself well; she had a steady hand and nearly perfect vision.
Mal, Zoe and Tom did well on the short-range, but their groupings wavered on the medium and long range targets. For a relative newcomer to the sport, Jenny proved an excellent shot, beating Mal and Zoe, along with most of the crew.
River's shots were automatic and well-aligned, but tended to suffer from aimlessness; she tended to shoot much better when there were minds to target. Kaylee and Beth did only average, and Wash decided after his second white-card shot that guns were best left to the others.
Jamie settled in behind the gun, and gave a lackluster performance, almost perfunctorily pulling the trigger. After the second grouping, Jayne turned to him and said "Ya can shoot better than this. Why ya holding back? I'll give ya a mulligan on this first run. Shoot like yer life depended on it."
Jamie pulled the rifle in tight, drew the bead on each card, and almost as fast as automatic fire, pulled 9 shots in succession.
Jayne looked through the binoculars again, and put them down; put them to his eyes again and adjusted focus.
"Ya sure you didn't pull on the last shots in each card? I only see three holes."
Jamie shrugged slightly; he knew exactly where all 9 shots went.
Jayne's face dawned with slow comprehension. "Holy hell. Ya single-holed all of them?"
Jamie's face shut down a bit; Inara cocked her head and looked at him curiously. "Guess I did, Jayne. What'd I win?"
Jenny spoke up; "What does that mean, Jayne?"
Mal stepped closer. "It means that the rifle didn't move enough for the shots to remove more of the card than the first shot on each series. I ain't never seen someone shoot like that, not even River."
"Guess it's just beginner's luck." Jamie deadpanned. He looked through the stack of winnings; ooh, two weeks of chores. No septic vac for me this month! There was a nice stack of a hundred or so platinum, and several favor chits. And there was one-he blushed, thinking that it probably wouldn't do to show that particular favor around, especially in mixed company.
Tom gave him a strange look.
Tom cornered him on Serenity that evening. "Son, don't give me no go se about beginner's luck. You knew your way around that rifle like an old lover. S'obvious the crew knows. Tell me what's goin' on with you."
Jamie told him the story. (Another repetition!) Tom managed to be stony-faced through all of it, although as comprehension dawned on him, he realized that this man had abandoned all of his comforts and priviliges for what he believed in. He clapped him on the shoulder, and went back outside where they were having another fire. Jamie followed, somewhat relieved; he wasn't particularly proud of anything in his past, but somehow it kept coming to light. He was glad it hadn't hurt the older man's estimation of him.
Inara pulled Jamie down beside her near the fire, and wrapped an arm around him as he pulled her closer. "Mmm, I'll give you a few weeks to stop doing that." she murmured as he rubbed the small of her back, slipping down to just above her hips occasionally.
"I'm getting used to this dirtside thing. It's a nice change of pace."
"So'm I. Although I wouldn't give up Serenity for anything, I'd like to take more time on planets."
"Maybe Captain can arrange for some stops between our jobs."
Zoe and Wash walked from behind the shop, looking bemused. They sat near to Mal and River.
"Mal, we may need to consider hiring on a cook."
"Shuh ma? Why would we need a...oh, no."
River grinned; she'd felt what was happening behind the shop.
"Well, we were just looking for a quiet spot, when we came on a strange sight." Wash deadpanned.
"I'm gonna kill him."
"I wouldn't go off half-cocked, Mal. She wasn't the one pushed up against the wall."
"She...she was the one kissing him?"
"Weren't like he was tryin' to get away, or nothin'. But he sure as hell wasn't forcin' it on her."
"Hell. Well, might as well start talkin' to Tom about the idea."
"Good luck sir. And by that I mean, try to make sure Jayne doesn't get shot right away."
"Hey Tom."
"Howdy, Mal. Caught 'em kissin'?"
"...Shuh ma?"
"Come on, Mal. I ain't a fool. Caught 'em once or twice my ownself."
"But Jayne ain't been shot yet..."
"Heh. If he were the one pushin' the kissin', I might have. I know my daughter though; she's the one turnin' these wheels."
"Well, I was considerin' that we sorta need a cook..."
"I figured you might. To be honest, havin' both my girls away's gonna be hard, but I ain't seen Jenny so happy as she's been these past few weeks. Jayne's a mite changed from last time you visited as well. S'long as he keeps her happy, and don't get her knocked up afore they're really serious, I can live with it."
"I'll take care of her like my own. I'll talk to her in a bit, if I can pry her away from him."
Kaylee's squeal could be heard across most of Kowlonshi when the news broke that Jenny would be joining them as a cook, but none were grinning quite so big as Jayne.
They set up one of the passenger dorms as a bunk for her; she actually got Inara's room, as they'd finally broken down the silly pretense that Inara actually slept there anymore.