Chapter 3
The Job
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Zoe sat down at the thick wooden table where a basket of brilliant red apples gleamed seductively in the way that only fresh apples could. From the moment human civilization took to the skies and terraformed other planets, advancements in dietary needs took place. Large stretches of land were no longer required to grow hordes of food, as a small laboratory sufficed. Scientists were able to formulate edible blocks that contained all the essential vitamins and minerals human beings needed for development. Fresh fruit and vegetables became obsolete as time progressed. A few families had kept detailed records as to how fruit and vegetables were grown, and eventually they were able to make a handsome living off their produce. Fresh fruit and vegetables had become a luxury for the wealthy.
Zoe reached across and plucked up an apple. Apparently Jayne had offended the captain, as this was usually his way of making it up to the crew. A small smile crept across her face, as she admired the beauty of something so rare as a fresh apple. She placed the apple carefully back amongst the bunch.
"Another moment where I wish I had my knife…" she murmured.
She got to her feet quickly, and proceeded out towards the stern of Serenity.
Suddenly a muffled noise rent the air. There was a jumbled plethora of footsteps outside the hull of Serenity. A gaggle of laughter, and the sound of somebody slamming against Serenity's cold steel body. Evidently given the impact of soft flesh upon a metal surface, the hitter had stopped abruptly and no doubt they were nursing a wounded fist or foot. Zoe began jogging, her hand sliding along the hand rail as she went. She hit the final flight of stairs and flew down them so quickly it was a miracle she didn't trip up and tumble down the stairwell.
The laughing crowd outside had died down, and there was an odd silence broken only by the stomping of heavy boots. Zoe's foot steps reverberated off every surface, as she hurried across the cargo bay. Her destination was the control panel which she would use to let the crew inside. She balled her right fist up and prepared to strike at one of the large buttons. She threw all of her force into it, and two red lights blazed into life, casting a haze of vivid red everywhere. Zoe looked up into the lights, and watched them spin in a mesmerizing manner. The back of Serenity was lowering to the ground, and Zoe hit one more button that made the heavy doors slide apart.
Three figures were gradually revealed.
The captain stood assisted by Inara and Kaylee who were evidently struggling beneath his arms. They began ascending the ramp towards Zoe. He had rested one arm upon each woman's shoulder, a large grin smothered across his face. He had blood dribbling from his nose and a shiny, fresh black eye.
"Ever heard of a peaceful get together?" he chuckled, as he shifted his eyes from Inara to Kaylee.
"A what now?" questioned the husky voice of Jayne.
"Yeah, me neither." smirked the captain.
Both women rolled their eyes, with Inara pursing her lips indignantly.
A roar of laughter wafted about, and Zoe noticed there were two high pitched voices joining in with the regales of laughter.
Jayne was stumbling rather heavy footed up the ramp. He was supported by two women also. Both of whom were unfamiliar, no doubt they were bar wenches looking for a warm place to sleep. One wore her hair in a large blonde bundle of curls atop her head. She had a gritty complexion and had obviously fallen upon hard times. The other woman had long sleek raven hair, and dark eyes that stuck out due to her pale skin. Zoe noticed that if either women were to sneeze suddenly their top halves were very likely to escape their skin tight bodices. Both of Jayne's hands were tucked away out of sight, and he had a large malicious grin on his face.
"You okay Sir?" asked Zoe mockingly.
Mal grinned widely. "Look at this face, I'm as right as this boat in atmo." he winked.
"About as right as you can be with somebody's fist implanted in your face." said Inara scathingly. "That odd stumble is from the fist he took in the temple, not the local choice of drink."
Inara smiled pleasantly as the Captain dropped a glare of mock hurt in her direction. She extracted herself from Mal's arm and made her way to Zoe. She placed a hand on Zoe's shoulder reassuringly and Zoe smiled in reply.
"Okay ladies how about we get to know each other, nice and cosy like" came Jayne's deep booming voice. There was a gaggle of laughter, and both women arched their backs seductively, batting their eyelids up into Jayne's mischievous face. Mal lifted his arm from Kaylee's shoulder, and turned to Jayne. He hadn't looked at either of the women but stared directly into Jayne's wondering eyes.
"Time to say goodnight." smiled Mal malevolently.
Both women stopped their flirting with Jayne, and their laughter ceased immediately.
"Ohh Cherry, I think he's interested in what we've got to offer too!" sniggered the curly haired blonde.
"I like to take on a challenge." smirked Cherry, as her eyes roved up and down Mal's body.
Mal looked across into the bright blue eyes of the blonde haired woman.
"Beggin' your pardon miss, maybe you misunderstood me, good night as in off my boat. Right now… go on with you." he said quietly, though the stern note in his voice could be discerned.
"Mal! Come on… I'll give ya Cherry… she likes…"
There was a loud thump that cut Jayne off abruptly.
The Captain had evidently hit the button that started lifting the ramp of Serenity.
"We got our next job to work out." said Mal with a tone of finality.
"Next job?… but… beautiful lady folk!" shouted Jayne in protest.
Both women smiled appreciatively up at Jayne, Cherry even bit her bottom lip and stared intensely into his eyes with a longing gaze. Suddenly without another look at either woman Jayne took them by the arms, and darted off towards the door. The ramp was slowly rising. He gave each woman a quick tap on the back side, and shoved them unceremoniously off the ramp. There was a thump, and a series of shrieks. Jayne turned back towards the Captain who had folded his arms tightly across his chest.
"Well, that didn't take much persuasion." said Mal with a tone of surprise.
"Yeah well, the scent of money beats the scent of cheap…" Jayne trailed off as his eyes flicked across to Kaylee, who was staring at him with her large innocent eyes. "Cheap perfume…" he continued, giving a nonchalant shrug.
"Ughhh…" mumbled Inara, as she placed her hands upon Kaylee's shoulders and began off towards the stairwell. Zoe let out a grunt of laughter, as Mal smirked, and proceeded to follow the girls up the stairwell.
"… 'sides, cash is more fun anyway" nodded Jayne.
The group continued their exchanges of how their night had been spent, right into the dining area. Mal dropped heavily into a chair at the head of the dining table. He was dabbing at his nose, and lip with a rag.
"Maybe I should look at that?" chimed the doctor.
"Nah, I can handle it doc. Been in this state plenty of times before. Besides we've got more important business to attend to. We got us a job that looks mighty dangerous, but the pay off is huge." said the captain imperiously.
"Now that's what I like to hear!" barked Jayne. "Big payin' means no more cheap…" He looked across to Kaylee again. She narrowed her eyes at him, and tilted her head in a disapproving manner. Jayne shrugged again in response.
"What's the plan captain?" asked Zoe.
"Visiting the abode of our deceased friend, Mr Universe." answered Mal.
"Cap'n, isn't that a little…" Kaylee trailed off, looking uncertain about her choice of words.
"Spit it out Kaylee." said Mal, giving her a coaxing look. Kaylee's eyes flicked nervously to Inara before she looked back into the captain's searching gaze.
"Isn't it a little disrespectful going onto somebody else's property…" she said quietly.
"Somebody else's property? He's dead aint he?" interjected Jayne. He looked from Kaylee to Mal.
"Kaylee, our bird needs feeding'." Mal indicated Serenity "… and we need feeding too. It is what it is, I aint saying respect for the dead is bad, or doesn't have it's place. But respecting the dead won't feed us anything beyond the soul. I'm responsible for the living, and if it means I gotta play the bad man, by desecrating the dead then so be it. I would rather keep you all living as best I can."
Every face in the room was fixed on Mal. His hands were closed in a tight ball upon the table, and his eyebrows were pressed together. He looked into every face, and felt a rush of affection for each of them. He would never tell them that, if he could help it - but a sense of duty overcame him.
"So… to answer your question Zoe, our instructions are to go to Mr Universe's place, and retrieve Lenore." he stated.
"Lenore? … What's a Lenore?" asked Simon, raising his eyebrows.
"Mr Universe's widowed love-bot." answered Zoe.
An uneasy feeling crept over the crew, as they all looked to Zoe in unison. Inara's eyes were full of concern, and Kaylee was biting her bottom lip nervously. Zoe had just mentioned the word, they had all tried so hard to avoid. The very title that Zoe officially fell under. Jayne sat back in his chair, and the squeak of his chair that usually went unnoticed echoed like a thundering roar. However Zoe's face was impassive, and she remained defiantly confident in light of the sudden drop in mood.
"Exactly…" answered Mal slowly, his eyes settled upon Zoe. He dropped his gaze to the table and recomposed himself instantly.
"Mr Universe had many uses for Lenore." The captain's eyebrows flicked upwards, indicating the irony of the situation. "The droid was left at his quarters after the information pertaining to the infamous Miranda incident was wiped from her memory bank." For a slither of a second, he looked to Zoe again, before proceeding. "All of Mr Universe's equipment was plundered and destroyed by the Alliance. Their top experts removed all the information he had gathered during his lifetime." Mal smirked. "Or so they thought."
Jayne flashed a toothy grin, and nodded, his eyes fixed unflinchingly upon Mal.
"We all know Mr Universe was two steps ahead of the Alliance on an off day, and at least ten steps ahead when he felt like trying. Lenore is an example of that. Some folk think there's a chance they can unlock what she holds. There's no way the Alliance will have removed everything. Now I don't know what she's got left, that aint part of the job. We just have to get the droid, into the right hands, and we're flying pretty on a full tank, and full bellies."
Mal started dabbing again at the coagulated blood upon his face.
"This sounds too easy…" said Zoe uncertainly. "Nothing in life comes by that easy."
"What about Cherry, and what's her face? That's a perfect description of easy." nodded Jayne with a grunt of laughter.
Mal shot a contemptuous look at Jayne. More so for the interruption, than the content of his lewd statement.
"All we have to go on is the name of the boat we're delivering to, co-ordinates of the rendezvous point, and when we're meant to show up." Mal said.
"I've been assured by the supplier of this job, that we're not dealing with anything that's worth more in trouble, than credits. I've used this supplier in the past, and never had an issue." Mal sat back in his chair, and pulled a thin card from his pocket. He placed it upon the table, and a fine lined grid blazed to life outlining the form of a ship, and detailing the location of their meeting point.
"The delivery goes to the Galatos ship, a Nova Magnus class ship, classification number . The Rendezvous point uses the Galactic Coordinates system in relation to Earth That Was at RA = 26:10.1 and RA = 14:05:8. We have approximately 76 hours, 35 minutes, and 10 seconds… 9 seconds… 8 seconds… until the pick up will take place."
Everybody looked in surprise to the entranceway from the back hall, where the voice had drifted in from. River had concealed herself behind the entranceway to listen in on the conversation.
Inara looked to Simon, who was gazing at the captain with a look of uncertainty. Inara looked to Mal also, with a pleading look upon her face. She often defused Mal's bad reactions, if he felt impeded upon during a briefing. She was pleasantly surprised to find Mal smiling across to River.
"That's our albatross! I like how easy you make briefing. Set course little albatross."
"To where?" grunted Jayne daftly; confusion plastered all over his face.
"To visit Lenore of course." replied River, before anybody else could answer.
She skipped through the dining area, not looking at any of them and headed off towards the bridge.
"That is of course, unless any of you have reservations. I won't force you to step off the boat." Mal looked to each crew member, searching for any sign of doubt.
"Easy money's easy money right? nodded Jayne. He sat back in his chair, slipping his fingers casually into the waistband of his pants. He exuded that familiar aura of greed, he often got when briefings over money took place. Mal had never known Jayne to back down from a job, unless it related to Jaynes Town.
"Right." answered Mal. "Lets go say hi to Lenore. Lock and load people, lets get ready to kiss the sky."
