Joss is Boss
Inara led Taarig into her shuttle, smiling slightly at the soft "ooh" the newcomer made as she took in the plush decorations. Noting the need for haste, the companion went straight to the wall at the head of the large, pristinely made bed, reached up, and tugged at one end of a soft drape covering part of the ceiling. Looking up, Taariq saw that a rectangular area of the ceiling had been cut away, and rebuilt slightly higher, leaving a space like the negative of a box. It was roughly as long as she was tall, and about as wide as a coffin. Conveniently, there were two niches at each end of the space.
"There are crates in the other shuttle which match these spaces exactly," Inara told her. "The other is above the door, but I use that for overhead storage. Will you be able to…." She stopped abruptly as the other slipped her shoes off, climbed onto the bed and took hold of two of the niches. She pulled herself up as far as the small space would allow, swung her legs forward so far they came level with her head, then swung them back with enough momentum to take her whole body level into the space in the ceiling. Before they could swing back down again, she planted them firmly against the end of the space, toes just curling into the niches. She smiled down at Inara's upturned face.
"Thank you, dude!" she said. "This should be cool."
Aghast at this display of acrobatics, and at being called a "dude", Inara replaced the drape, moved a lamp so if switched on it wouldn't betray the hiding girl, hid her shoes with some of her own, and hurried to find the others.
Kaige swung down into Jayne's bunk, following the merc down the ladder. Turning to take in the room, she looked in horror at the mess. It was worse than Ebony's room for crying out loud! Well, maybe not quite, but close.
"Don't be touchin' none-a my stuff, girl." Jayne grumbled, causing her to look in horror at him instead.
"As IF!" she cried, disgusted at the thought. Her manner changed as Jayne reached behind a rack laden with guns, which hung proudly above his bed, and touched a switch. The rack swung forwards and outwards, dislodging the very orange woolly bobble hat from its hanging place on the top corner, and revealing a four-foot cube in the wall.
"Cool." She said, and clambered onto the bed to get to it.
"And don't be reading no letters no letters from my Ma, neither." Jayne added as Kaige found that the bottom of the cupboard was littered with envelopes and magazines.
"Is that porn?" she demanded, turning to look at him.
"You wanna hide or not, girly?" Came the sullen reply.
"Fine," she sighed, and clambered into the hole, curling up as small as she could. "I will be able to breath, right?" she asked, suddenly worried.
"I guess," Jayne shrugged, and closed the door with a very final click.
As Jayne reached the cargo bay, Kaylee called out for him to help her move the bags. He did so, throwing them easily into the compartment and tossing their coats in on top before reaffixing the panel back into place. Behind him, the mule had just reached the floor, and Shepherd Book was drawing the tarpaulin back. Hopping up into the mule, Taban extended a hand to help Simon up, and then slid under the back seats. Simon curled up on the floor space between her and the front seats, looking up at Kaylee as she drew the tarpaulin back across, remaining admirably cheerful as she tried to reassure him.
"Don't worry none, Simon, it'll all be over afore you know it!"
He managed to smile back, determined not to show the pretty mechanic any nerves he might be feeling. However, as she fastened the tarpaulin, and the mule lurched into the air as she pressed the button on the remote to lift it, he clenched his jaw and closed his eyes. Heights were something he had never been fond of. He opened one eye a crack as Taban tapped him on the arm.
"All will be good!" she told him, adamantly.
"Really?" he managed. "What makes you so sure?"
"Happy thinking is better than not happy thinking." She replied. "Yay! For happy thinking!" she raised her fists in the facsimile of a little dance. Simon laughed a little, unable to resist such lethal short range cheeriness.
"You and Kaylee would get along well." He observed.
"She's pretty," the other replied, sounding slightly sly. Simon opened his eye wider, looking at her suspiciously, but she stared back innocently.
"Yes." He said, closing his eye. "She is."
From her vantage point at the top of the stairs nearest the bridge, Ebony watched the mule rise up into the cavernous shadows above the cargo bay and stop, rocking slightly. Glancing down into the cargo bay itself, she saw Jayne join Kaylee and Book in conversation, their words audible to her, but evidently not to Zoë, who stood behind her, working at loosing a panel from the wall.
After a moment, the panel swung forward out of the wall, revealing a crawl space big enough for the average man to fit into. Ebony stared at it, and then leaned in closer to peer into it.
"Does this come out anywhere else?" she asked, her head still inside the hole.
"The bridge," Zoë replied. "I'm gonna bolt it again behind you, but there's air enough, and we'll let you out once their gone."
Ebony glanced about the open area one last time, then crawled into the hole, lying flat on her belly. It was longer than she'd expected, and she found herself to be really quite comfortable as Zoë began replacing the wall behind her.
Wash left the bridge hurriedly, needing to find the Captain's false papers before the Alliance arrived. As he hastened past the hatches to the crew bunks, he found Nova, pacing back and forth, staring at the doors, and biting her nails. As Wash stopped in surprise, she spun to face him, her braid swinging behind her like a flail.
"Which is the Captain's bunk?" she demanded, a barely suppressed shake in her voice highlighting the worried frown on her face. Dumbly, Wash pointed, behind and to his left, wondering why on all Londonium the girl wanted the Captain's bunk. She visibly relaxed, even smiled, and dashed towards it, stopping right in front of Wash to make a wild gesture and grin at him.
"Star man. Star. Thanks!" Then she rushed past him, kicked open the hatch, and disappeared. After a moment, Wash shrugged, and continued to the bunk he shared with Zoë to retrieve the papers from her strongbox.
The crew gathered in the cargo bay, and nervously waited for the alliance to board Serenity.
thanks to all dudes who reviewed, i hope everyone's enjoying this as much as you guys.