Serenity safely broke atmosphere, engines settling to a steady roar. Wash, feeling a touch of pride over how smooth the exit had been, flipped a few switches, pushed a few buttons, and then leaned into the intercom.
"Kaylee?"
Her reply came straight away, tinny and amplified.
"Everythin's shiny, Wash, we're good to go automatic!"
He began the sequence, but left the 'com on.
"What happened before take-off, mei-mei? What shenanigans got Mal's pants in a knot this time?"
Kaylee hesitated, and the pause was filled with static.
"The cargo is people."
Wash went through a few variations of puzzlement, certain that there were many more that he was going to experience soon, before his brain managed to assemble a response.
"Huh?"
Kaylee's tinny voice floated out of the speakers again.
"Cap'n has everyone in the kitchen, waitin' for an explanation. Shepherd Book said he'd ask 'em all to wait for us."
Wash finished the sequence, and the ship shuddered gently as all the manual controls surrendered to the ancient computer-based technology. He stood up, leaning down to the mic one last time.
"Come on, then, pretty Kaylee, we don't wanna miss all the fun."
The kitchen-slash-dining area was packed. Even though the size of the room physically wouldn't allow it, there was quite a space between the nine crewmembers and the five newcomers. The bags and the guitar had been left in the hold, along with the coats, revealing the newcomers attire to be quite shabby, if comfortable looking. Everybody seemed to be avoiding the eye contact of those opposite them, except River, who stared at the five girls with interest. Having already calculated their combined age, combined height, and every other combined and individual statistic about them she could think of, she was now quite happy to speculate about their past, and about what made them so different. She could tell. Their individual and combined strength was obvious to anyone with more than half a brain. The way they stood, their casual arrogance. They were steeped in history, and River couldn't wait to find out more. But, she speculated, it would take everyone else a long time to grasp this. None of them understood her, even Simon, so they didn't really have much hope understanding these girls. She wondered if they like to dance. She could teach them; in exchange for the history lessons they could give her! A mutually beneficial arrangement with the added bonus of female bonding. They could be friends! These girls were different enough, special enough, for them to have a rough basis of understanding. Her focus didn't shift as the captain began to ask them questions, most of which she could answer herself. Their names. Names were easy. Names matched the people they belonged to. Nova, Taban, Taariq, Ebony, Kaige. Each one sounded how they looked, but of course, neither the captain, nor any other member of the crew understood this. Now they asked the crew names, and River wasn't about to pass on an opportunity of communicating with potential friends, so she leapt gracefully into the conversation of Mal opened his mouth to speak.
"Names are the basis for our personality. When our parents choose them, they set a course for us we can't change. Names tell the 'verse who we are, where we're from. They are the foundations of all other communication." She paused for breath, and smiled, a little shyly. "Mine is River." There was another pause. The new girls exchanged glances, then Nova, the apparent spokeswoman, extended her hand for River to shake.
"It's nice to meet you, River," she said, smiling warmly.
"Your hands are cold." River turned the pale hand over in both of her own, examining it closely. "You have poor circulation to your extremities."
"Yeah, well," Nova shrugged. "Cold hands, warm heart, right?"
River thought about this, as Nova let go of her hand, moving back to where she had been. It was, of course, an absurd thing to say. Internal and external body temperatures did not dictate each other. Nevertheless, she found her self very taken with the concept, and began to amuse her self by trying to apply this to the rest of the crew.
There was another awkward silence. Nova kept glancing at the other girls, trying to make them do the communicating for a change. When they wouldn't, she tried again.
"So," she said brightly. "We've met Captain Mal, Zoë the first mate, Jayne who won't stop staring at my chest. Or their chests." This last sentence, which contrived to sound threatening, was accompanied with a gesture at the other four new girls, who responded by glaring at Jayne, who in turn looked neither abashed nor repentant. "And we've met River." She looked in turn at Wash and Kaylee, Simon and Book, and the uncharacteristically surprised looking Inara. "So who the hell is everyone else?"