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On their next stop Mal left Zoe in charge on Serenity while he took Jayne to talk to their potential client.
When they returned they had an entourage behind them. Five men with carts. The carts were full of luggage. Zoe approached her Captain.
"We gonna be full the next few days sir? How many?"
"Just one, sorta."
"One person has all this?"
"Nope."
It was then that Zoe noticed a large man approaching the ship with a pillow in his hands. On the pillow was a pure white cat.
Kaylee came in at that moment, "Oooooh, an kitty, Captain?"
"Yes Kaylee."
The large man approached Mal, "She will be taken care of completely."
It was not a question but Mal answered anyway, "She may be the best taken care of passenger we've ever had."
The large man nodded and handed Mal the pillow. Kaylee raced up and took the pillow while cooing to the cat.
The staff finished loading all the cat's belongings and left. The large man was the last to leave. Jayne shut the door. Zoe quickly turned to Mal, "Please tell me this is a joke sir."
"'Fraid not. Kaylee, get our guest situated in the spare room."
"Shiny Captain."
Kaylee went off and Mal faced his stunned second in command, "This guy is willing to pay a fortune for us to bring him his cat."
"But sir...it's a cat. Why couldn't he use a liner or something?"
"Didn't trust them. Something about this cat's pedigree or something, I was to focused on the amount he mentioned. This could make our year Zoe."
"But..."
"I know, it's a cat. But an expensive cat."
Mal ignored Zoe's still confused expression and went towards the extra room. He came upon Kaylee and River holding and petting an appreciative Kitty.
Kaylee was all smiles, "What's his name, Captain?"
"Her name is Cassiopeia, and she's very expensive. Got standards we can't even dream of, so be careful. Very careful."
"Hi Cass."
River put in, "She knows how special she is."
"Where she goin'?"
"Persephone. I gotta get up to the galley and tell Jia Li about the cat's diet."
As he went up the stairs he mumbled, "Gorram cat eats better than anyone I've ever heard of."
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The trip to Persephone was a very uneventful one. Kaylee and River spent most of their time with "Cassie" as Kaylee had dubbed her. Mal now impatiently waited for her owner to take his expensive passenger off his hands. He needn't have worried, a very anxious portly man waited for his kitty at the docking area. After a tearful reunion and an exchange of a very large fee for a very special pet, Mal took Serenity off Persephone as fast as he could. He didn't say much over the next few days except what could be said in one or two syllables.
One day he came striding purposefully into th galley where everyone had gathered to drive away boredom and said what everyone had been waiting for. "We got a job people."
"Where to sir?"asked Zoe.
"Frontier."
That got Jayne's attention, "That's where I'm from."
"Good that you remember that Jayne. Anyway, sounds like a good job, so we are on our way."
"What kinda job?"
"Don't rightly know."
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Frontier was like any other backwater moon. Sparsely populated with little in the way of civilization. Once again, Mal had the entire crew in the cargo bay to discuss the plan of action.
"Zoe and me will go deal with this job. The rest of you stay here except for Jayne." He faced the mercenary, "I have a special job for you Jayne."
When Mal didn't go on right away, Jayne was forced to ask, "What?"
"Visit your family."
Kaylee smiled and Zoe and Jia tried not to laugh. River looked unfazed. The rest were stunned.
"What?"
"You've been crotchety lately. Your gonna spend time with people other than this crew."
"Why? That ain't in my gorram job discrip..."
"Don't care, Jayne. We ain't leavin' this rock until I see you and your mom together."
He would have argued more but Mal and Zoe turned to leave. He followed them out of the ship, still arguing. Kaylee put an end to any argument by shutting the bay doors behind him. Jayne sulked off in one direction while Mal and Zoe went in another.