All disclaimers apply
Ch.6- Payday
Mal walked up the stone steps and through the rising columns and grimaced. Even though this place wasn't officially connected to the Alliance, it still had that rigid, institutional feel. The Bank of New Bisten had started out as a small, family-run settlement bank, but as the years had successfully passed, it had grown into a sizeable little financial front on the moon.
The glass doors slid open automatically as Mal approached the top of the steps. He walked briskly down the black carpet runner swinging a metal brief case past the teller windows, up one flight of stairs, and through a set of glass doors without pausing or knocking. A guard stepped forward as Mal walked directly towards the desk stationed midway in the room, but the sharp-suited gentleman sitting behind it waved him off. Mal swung the briefcase onto the desk.
"Yer guards are asleep, your communications vulnerable, and your firewall is a joke," Mal stated. He looked around at the group of men arranged in a semi-circle behind the man sitting at the desk. "Now, who's got my check?"
&&&&&&&
A petite blonde in a perfectly pressed linen suit was scribbling some numbers in a ledger. "So, people hire you to break into their places to make sure no one can break into their places?"
Mal shrugged. "It's a living."
The secretary handed over a check. "Not a very good one."
&&&&&&&
The young, brown haired man hesitated at the foot of Serenity's ramp. He tried peering into the ship but the mid-morning glare bounced off the darkness inside. A voice near his elbow made him jump.
"Isn't she just the shiniest ship here?" Kaylee asked. Her smile was bright and expectant.
The man smiled back. "She sure is. You must be Kaylee?"
Kaylee beamed back. "Yup, you Mr. Janek? Cap'n said you'd be along this mornin'."
"Well, here I am. And the cargo I need transported is right here." He indicated the three large crates on the motorized hand cart behind him.
"Well, ain't that grand, delivering yer own cargo." Kaylee was impressed. She led him up the cargo ramp and stopped in the middle of the bay. He stopped the cart and swung a large backpack down from his shoulder.
"Whew, that was heavy," he smiled at Kaylee.
"You look like yer up to do some travelin' yerself," she commented.
"Well, if you could please point me in the direction of the passenger dorms I'll drop this off and come back out to help unload this stuff."
Kaylee was stumped. The Captain hadn't said anything about taking on passengers. The last passengers they had taken on, actually, had been Shepard Book and the Tams. She sighed, she missed the Shepard.
David looked at her confused. He had obviously said something to make her sad, yet he couldn't figure out what.
"I'm sorry if I said something wrong?" No sense getting off on the wrong foot with these folks.
"Whose wrong about what?" Mal barked, striding up the ramp. He looked at Kaylee, then glared at David. "What'd you say to my mechanic? Don't think your cargo's gonna get there any faster, what with you making my mechanic unhappy and all."
Kaylee intervened. "Oh Cap'n, Mr. Janek didn't say nothin' wrong at all, just was asking 'bout the dorm rooms and I got to thinkin' on the Shepard is all."
Mal turned back to Janek. "Well no need to worry 'bout that, yer cargo isn't stayin' in any passenger rooms, it'll stay right here in the cargo bay. We're a cargo transport ship, don't got no need for passenger berths."
"Cap'n, maybe I didn't make myself clear; I am your passenger. I intend to accompany the transport and delivery of these crates. I'm sure if you don't have any rooms available I can make myself quite comfortable in the corner of some common area you may have for the crew." He smiled politely.
Mal stopped for a moment, studying the young man's resolve. "I said we don't transport people, son. I'm sorry, but if you find yourself a powerful need to accompany your freight, then mayhaps you need to find another berth elsewhere."
"Excuse me, Captain," A small voice piped in. Mal stepped aside and turned to who had come up behind him. David's breath hissed softly; the most beautiful girl he had ever seen stood in front of him. Long dark brown hair framing big, soft eyes, she was lithe and petite in a sleek fitting sky blue sundress. She also looked vaguely familiar.
"We're ready when you are for liftoff," River told the Captain. She turned to David. "The reward is no longer valid," she stated simply.
It was Mal's turn to hiss. He whipped around to David, whose eyes had gone wide with recognition. "I think you'd better leave now. We got no room for…"
River interrupted. "There is room in the passenger dorms Captain, for anyone willing to pay." This last part was directed at David.
He swallowed. He was being invited to stay on the same ship as River Tam, the River Tam. He was no dummy, he had patched into and seen the same vids Mr. Universe had, he knew exactly who she was. Either she wanted to keep an eye on him to see that he wouldn't cause her trouble, or she was going to wait until takeoff and then kill him. He swallowed again nervously.
River laughed. "Don't be silly. I have no intention of hurting anyone as long as they don't intend to hurt my family. And I think you would not." She stared straight into him. "Besides," she smiled winningly, "don't you want smugglers you can trust?"
Mal was practically apoplectic. Here he had been trying to protect the Tams by only accepting cargo and no passengers, and the 'verse's most wanted shows up and invites someone who looks like trouble aboard his ship. Which it still was, the last time he checked.
Mal attempted to regain control of the situation. "I think…" he started, and got no further. A single gunshot reverberated through the cargo bay. Everyone dove to the deck- Mal drawing and looking around frantically.
Half a dozen men were rapidly approaching the ship, guns drawn. As they neared the ramp the ship suddenly roared to life and lurched off the ground several feet.
"Wash! What the hell is going on?!" Mal yelled.
"I may have told him to take off in 3 minutes if he didn't hear back from you or I," River replied, raising up on her elbows to look at the Captain. David, meanwhile, had managed to scramble backwards on all fours away from the open bay doors. The ship continued to rise.
"Shall I close the bay doors, Sir?" River asked politely, as though they were not in the middle of a firefight.
Mal glared at her. "Yeah, sure, that sounds like a good idea, l'il one. And then maybe someone can explain to me what exactly the hell is going on around here!"
River slid over to the controls and slapped at the button. The bay doors rose up and slammed shut. David stayed crouched on the floor, not sure if he was in more danger here or if he should have stayed in port. River smiled at him, attempting to ease his nervousness.
"He needs our help, Captain," River addressed the seething man. "He needs safe passage, so he can help the people." David's breath hissed for the second time that day- he got the distinct impression that the girl knew more than he would have wanted her to. But then she smiled at him again, and he thought that maybe the situation he found himself in couldn't be all that bad.
"What in the sphincter of hell is going on!!" a giant voice boomed from overhead. David looked up from the girl's brilliant smile to see a hulking, angry giant menacing from a raised catwalk. Maybe the situation was as bad as he thought it was after all.