Chapter 6: Final Preparations
The warm jets of water ran down over Mal's body as he stood still in his shower. He should have listened to his instincts about the job in the first place. He should have asked for payment up front, or at least ask for half of payment before agreeing to take the job. Ever since that time Badger went back on his deal Mal would find some way to secure the job with a signed agreement at least. He had grown lax in that aspect since their little trip through time. Now he is wallowing in the consequences and his crew his feeling the repercussions from his short sightedness.
His crew was angry with him. He had failed to do what he had promised to do and was practically forcing them to overtime and not giving them any time off for the one thing they had been looking for. What was he going to do? Just say he was sorry and was kidding about not going? They needed to eat, they needed fuel. Simon needed medical supplies, and granted they could rob some more Alliance hospitals to acquire them, but they needed plans for that and right at that moment nobody had any plans.
He just had to explain things better, and he would think of the right kind of words to use and start with Kaylee, well he would start with the whole crew at dinner and then one on one apologizing.
The first problem was that his whole crew was not at the dinner table. He was missing his pilot, his medic, and his mechanic. His second, his hired gun and his swordsman were at the table but they were seated as far away from where Mal usually sat. They were also talking while they ate, but as soon as Malcom arrived they grew silent and refused to look at him.
"So this is how it's going to be?" Mal asked as he grabbed his food. It was a bowl of soup, some fried rice and molded beef flavored protein. "We stay far away from each other?"
"Do you really have to ask, Captain?" James asked and the way he stressed out Captain caused Mal to flinch. He was one of the last people he wanted to piss off.
"Where are the others?" Mal asked as he sat down.
"Since all you care about is working the others decided to just work," Zoe said. Her words were devoid of any emotion, but Mal could tell she was still pissed at him.
"Look I am sorry about the last minute cancelation, but we need to earn money. We-" He did not see the large wad of cash fly at him until almost the last second and jumped back as it nearly missed falling into his soup. "What the?"
"Last time on Santo when you dropped me on the other side of the rock I won some money," Jayne said with his mouth still full.
"Won?" Zoe asked in a skeptical tone.
"Won, stole it doesn't matter, what matters is I never said a thing about the money and was just holding onto it, but now it's got purpose. You use that money to keep her flying. You use it so that so we can still go to that party." He took a long sip from his cup. "There aint no way I'm gonna miss it."
"That means that much to you, Jayne?" Mal asked. He couldn't believe Jayne would part with money like that.
"It means that much to the crew," Jayne said and pointed at Mal with his chopsticks. "You made Kaylee cry."
"I have some money I have been saving up," James offered. "It is not much but it should pay for food for a few days, and I will work for free."
"So will I, sir," Zoe added.
"I won't," Jayne said. "But I'll steal some more for you."
"Wow," Mal said and rubbed his head. "I mean I understand why Simon and girls wanted to do this, and I'm sure Commodore attended similar celebrations back in his day, but Zoe, Jayne you two really want get dressed up?"
"Hell yeah," Jayne said with a grin. "Might be fun. Gonna be some tasty out there and Little Jayne needs to play, sides Zoe here's costume gonna be slinky and revealing. I saw the gown she is going to be working on."
"And all you will do is look," Zoe said to him with a cold warning tone to her voice.
"I did come up with a fun idea myself," Mal said as he thought about his idea and how he needed to work on it. "Not too mention turning down this little event might put us in a bad relation with Jonas and he has been the best damn client we ever had."
"And Inara has the invites and she won't sell them for any reason," James said with a smug look. He had only been with them for a few months and he already knew Inara that well.
"I have been a giant asshole and I will suck in my pride and admit my faults. Persephone aint far and we all know that. Won't use too much fuel and once we hit dirt we will look for work, might even poke Badger and see if he has anything for us." He took another bite from his food. "Hate to say I was at fault here, but I will admit it when I have to and may have lost my temper an hour ago."
"May have sir?" Zoe asked and raised her eyebrows.
"Fine I did and I need to make it up to my crew, party is still on. After we finish here I want Zoe to tell Doc and Kaylee to try to eat so they can go back to working on their costumes. Commodore you let River know and before you and I work on our togs we do a little sword training."
"Gladly," James said with a pleased tone to his voice.
"Jayne since Inara is gonna be coming back with your premade suit I want you to clean the kitchen, after the others eat."
"Shiny," Jayne said before he started to drink the contents from his soup bowl.
"Thank you, sir," Zoe said as she and James rose up from their seats.
It took some time for Mal to apologize to the others and told them that no matter what they were going to have the best night ever at the party. He spoke to River first as he sat next to her and held on tight while they circumnavigated around some space debris.
"You know I was a Juda de baichi," Mal said after they managed to shift through the large pieces of rubbish. "You also know what I'm about to say because you are already smiling."
"I still want to hear it," River said as she turned to look at him.
"First you might want to put it on auto, or just let her float for a bit." He pressed the button for her. "Secondly I made a mistake, said things I shouldn't and shouldn't have threatened to cancel our plans. I want you to get something to eat and then go work on your costume before you get some rest."
"It's almost done."
"The three of you made a delicious dinner by the way." He stood up. "And your hair really was pretty tonight. Made your prince in blue armor smile a bit."
"He liked it but prefers the real me," River said as she rose from her seat. "Hold all my calls."
Simon was next and he was easy with just a few words and finally Kaylee.
"Next time a job goes south I'm going to do something to cool off before returnin to Serenity," Mal promised. "I'll play some pool, distract some people so Jayne can steal or something and maybe knock back a few. I'll also make certain Zoe or the commodore will knock some sense into me, hell Jayne has permission to sock me a good one if I ever make you cry again."
"Still not happy," Kaylee said as she tightened a few bolts.
"Mei mei, I'm sorry." He inhaled deeply and held up his hands. "I was an idiot and should have kept my mouth shut, but I felt like I let you down with this job, that I let everyone down." He sighed. "Remember that time when the compression coil blew up, hurt Zoe, and I made you all evacuate in the shuttles. I felt with that last job the way you did at that time."
"Captain?" Kaylee glanced over her shoulder.
"I can't have you poutin now. You pout then the whole ship pouts, but when you smile then the whole ship glows and sparkles the way your costume dress is going to be at that party."
"Just glitter," Kaylee said as her familiar smile returned. "I'm not going to have anything glowing."
"Except for your pretty little face. Now when she is secure you go and get yourself cleaned up, get something to eat and then finish that costume of yours."
"Thank you, Captain." She placed her wrench back into her toolbox.
With everyone in a better mood Mal went to his bunk, dug out his sword and met with James in the cargo bay.
"Are you ready, captain?" James asked as he held his fancy blade of his. His stance was a bit threatening and his posture was perfect. He had the tip of the blade pointed at Mal.
"As I'll ever be," Mal said and took a deep breath. He had no idea if the commodore was going to take it easy with him or not.
"Now come at me."
Mal thrust forward with his blade and remembered what he had learned from his last lesson. He was able to deflect better than he had and kept James from disarming him but after a few minutes he was defeated. They paused for a bit and then tried again.
"Your defense is improving," James said with a nod. "but you still need to work on attacking and your back strokes."
"I was hoping to wait until I achieve the gold standard in defense before I tried attacking," Mal said as he picked up his blade.
"You need to learn both."
"Startin to sound like Inara, next thing you gonna be wearing fancy dresses and whoring yourself out to high paid clients."
"She is a companion, not a wench," James said. "Now attack me."
Mal thrust forward to try and tap James with the side of his blade and of course the more experienced of the two nearly knocked his out on the first try. Mal deflected the attack and tried to stab forward while he danced around. It was a rhythm. He almost had a groove going where he would attack and then block.
They kept up the dance for several more minutes until they were both panting. Mal had even gotten close to disarming James once, but the former commodore had deflected at the last second.
"I will make an expert swordsman out of you, yet," James while they both sat down on the bottom steps to the catwalk to cool down.
"Everybody wants me to be something," Mal said once he had caught his breath "I'm a boss, a sergeant, a captain, a big brother and a daddy."
"Who sees you as a daddy?" James asked after wiping the sweat from his brow.
"My pilot. She sees Inara as a mother and Jayne is that one goofy uncle that everyone has and is embarrassed to have." That earned a chuckle from the formal naval officer.
"Who wouldn't be embarrassed to be related to that excuse of a human?" James continued to grin. "What does she see me as?"
"You?" Mal asked. Did James know or not know that River is madly in love with him? Does even he know that he is feelings for her? "A very good friend."
"A friend?" James asked and Mal was certain he heard a bit of disappointment in his voice. "She only sees me as a friend?"
"A heroic friend," Mal added and took care to choose his words "A very close, very best heroic friend, who may or may not wear armor from time to time." It was not his job to play match maker and he didn't want to spoil things. They have to tell each other how they feel. He wasn't going to do it for them.
"I will be her hero if she needs me to be," James said as he stood up. "But there will be times when I need her to rescue me. I'm going to wash up and try on my costume."
"Sounds good," Mal said as he stood up. He still needed to work on his.
Zoe did not have to worry about the gown. River and Kaylee both offered to work together to sew the material together to create the Grecian style dress. Zoe would just work on the other details of her costume and that involved painting the snakes and while the snakes dried she painted the thin vinyl skullcap with the acrylic like make-up paint. She had selected gold, brown and green with just a bit of black. She also had a similar collection of makeup for her face, but she will wait until the night of the ball to do it up.
She only looked up from her work area at the dining table when someone walked past or to grab something from the cabinets. Nobody lingered to watch from over her shoulder and that was what she had preferred. Jayne had paused for a few minutes to try to guess what she was going to be and always guessed wrong and Zoe told him she was not going to say anything, not until show time.
Glitter, sequins, and shimmery beads were all being used for Kaylee's costume. She had already sewn on the wings and just needed the last bit of details. She was even going to make a wand to go with it and had selected shimmery make up to wear for that evening. She wasn't going to wear a wig and was going to actually color and sparkle up her hair for the night. She hoped she wasn't going to overdo it.
"You can never have too much sparkle," Kaylee said and selected an old broken chopstick she planned on using to make her wand. She wondered if her husband was having as much fun as she was with his costume.
"Yīkuài fèiwù," Simon shouted as the black rubber he was using to attach to his cloth gloves would not stick. He was going to have to stitch them into place instead, except it was going to be a bit harder to force the needle through the thick material, but on the plus side it was almost complete.
Sewing wasn't too hard, not at all for him. It wasn't exactly the same as putting in sutures but it did take the same amount of patience and care. He selected a large needle and carefully threaded it before he pierced the rubber and cloth and pulled through.
The evening was going to be great. Kaylee had told him how at the last ball she attended she had spoken with a lot of nice men who were into machines. Simon didn't feel a slight bit of jealousy and knew she was only speaking with them about her trade and he planned on speaking with people in the medical field. He also wanted to dance with her and knew his sister would also want to dance.
River's costume was already complete. She studied her reflection in the mirror and played with her hair, trying to recreate the right kinds of hairstyles of that era. She also read about the way the women wore their makeup then looked up pictures. She liked playing with her hair now, made her feel grown up, or at least a teenager. Eighteen was still a teenager. She wanted to be a grown up for herself and for James. She had tried on a hairstyle that women back in the 18th century wore, the types of women James had once courted.
"You looked lovely," James had told her after he had finished his sparring lesson with their captain. "But I am past that era. I am a man of the 26th century now and I prefer the real River."
She had felt warm all over when he said that, not just warm but burning from the passion she felt deep within. Her insides were on fire and she had to ask Mal to take over so she could retreat to her room for a few minutes. She wanted to tell James how she felt. She wanted to wait for the right time and the ball would be the right time.
Until then she would practice her dance steps. She listened to the music from the decade of her costume and danced in them while wearing her socks rolled up. She couldn't wait to dance with James.
James's costume was also complete. He had had the leather jacket and the wig with the sideburns that would complete the look along with the jeans. All James had to do was to practice his dance moves. He moved his hips in the similar manner as the man he planned on dressing up as, moves that would have earned him scowls and gasps back when he was still Commodore Norrington of His Majesty's Royal Navy. It was a bit nice to be in a more relaxed time. There were still things that made him blush and half of what falls out of Cobb's mouth had disgusts him, but he was more comfortable.
"Hey there, sweet mama," James said as he tried to imitate the voice and accent and even tried to curl up his lip in the same manner. He looked up at the mirror and repeated himself and broke out into laughter. If only those who he had once knew could see him now.
But I am past that era. Were his words to River and told her how he preferred her modern hairstyle.
He blinked as he thought about what he had said and how River had looked when she greeted them after that disaster of a job. She looked radiant with her hair in curls, but she was far more beautiful with her hair free flowing. He loved watching her in the pilot's seat while flying Serenity, he loved watching her dance, loved talking with her and being with her and…
James stared in the mirror and blinked as the realization hit him hard.
"I'm in love with her. I'm in love with River Tam." He placed his hands over his chest. He was in love again and as he reflected back to when he first met her and all the time he spent with her he realized he had started to fall in love with her when they were trying to help the lost colony of Eros and he only realized now how much he fancied her.
"You're a dumbass," Jayne said as he watched the stupid villain go back for the goo suit and ended up exploding. He didn't need to work on his costume. Inara had it waiting for him. He was just going to watch movies on the screen in his bunk based on the hero he was dressing ass. The goal was to be as someone you are not and he wasn't a hero, well not a costumed super hero, especially super smart one and the hero he liked was a big ole nerd.
Mal grumbled to himself as he strung the beads up on the dreads of his wig and fake beard before he glued them in place. How did that guy do it and why? As long as he had it completed Mal didn't care. He just wanted it done. Once the beads and charms were done he would work on the holster. A little paint here, a little trimming about there and it would be perfect. He had finished the hat and owned the other parts of the costume. The faux hair with the add-ons and the holster and sheath would be last before he went to sleep. He would work on the coat when Inara returned with it.
He wondered what the others were going to be. Kaylee was going to be some kind of princess fairy that he was sure of, he figured out Zoe was a certain Greek monster goddess from her snakes, River and James were going to be something from the same decade and Simon involved something with a lot of black, probably a ninja. Not a single one of them knew what he was going to be, except for Inara and he didn't know what she was going to be either, or Jayne.
"Sir?" Zoe's voice was heard from overhead.
"What?" Mal looked up and then bolted up when he saw that he had fallen asleep at the dining room table. "How long have I been out?"
"Not certain," Zoe said and shook her head. "I do know that the person you are dressing as wore two belts."
"Nice for you to figure out," Mal said as he quickly recovered his components. "And I got the other belt already in my bunk. I gotta get this stuff down there now before anyone sees. What time is it?"
"Time to wake up the others," Zoe said. "Jayne's turn to fix breakfast."
"You wake him," Mal said as he hurried towards his bunk. Can't let everyone else know, not until the big night.