Author's note: I realize the story is getting a bit heavy, but bear with it. We're about to start getting some forward momentum.
Mal managed to get an hour of sleep that night in spite of himself. He woke the next day, alone. His first thought was that the night had really been a dream, but he could still smell Inara's perfume. "Well that's rude," he muttered, dragging his carcass out of bed. What was it she said? Mal asked himself, getting dressed. We can't "speak plainly" with "this" hanging over our heads? Fully clothed, Mal shook his head. "Sure," he said aloud. "Let's replace our unspoken sexual tension with a different kind of tension." Mal realized he had no clue how to proceed from here. He began climbing out of his quarters and looked around. He needed to check the autopilot and get a countdown going for an entry sequence to Gold City. He turned to face the kitchen and started walking. Maintaining control of his ship was all well and good, but also coffee.
Mal shuffled into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. He put the kitchen's intercom on a full ship broadcast. "River, the ship is yours," he said into the small speaker. Sometimes being the boss was good. Especially when there was coffee involved.
Surprisingly, River's voice came on the kitchen speaker immediately, not echoing through the ship. That meant that River knew where Mal was and was within arms length of a com unit. "I know."
"It's creepy how she does that, huh?" a voice said.
Mal flinched and spun, uttering his trade marked warrior's cry. "She ain't the only one who's creepy," Mal said to Victor. Victor looked ready for planet fall. He'd changed swords to a longer, two handed number with a curved blade and was wearing a long, black coat. The coat had bright, yellow reflective material running across it. It took Mal a minute to realize this man was wearing an ankle length fireman's jacket. "Nice coat," Mal said, turning to pour himself a mug of joe. He'd been planning on guzzling the whole thing down out of the pot, but it seemed a little undignified to do it in front of people. And Inara always questioned his manners.
Victor looked himself up and down. "It was on sale," he said defensively.
That actually got a small laugh out of Mal as he sat at the table. "Go round up everyone 'cept River. We'll have to start landing soon."
"Yes, sir, Captain, sir!" Victor said in his best "professional" voice. Mal found it irritating, but if it helped him get his job done...
Victor walked over to the com unit Mal had just been using. He put it back on the open channel and said "All personnel currently not piloting the ship, to the dining hall."
Damn. Mal had been hoping Victor would go retrieve everyone manually, so he could drink all the coffee without sharing. "Want a cup?" he said in a bleary and grumpy voice, pointing his mug at the coffee pot he'd placed on the table.
Victor took a chair and sat, with his feet up on the table. "No thanks," he said, taking something out of a pocket. "Coffee always did weird things to my stomach." In his hand was a vial of white powder with a tiny spoon built into the lid. He popped the top and held the spoon under his nose. Closing his other nostril he sniffed up the dose and immediately held his nose to spare himself any excessive sniffing. He returned his vial to his pocket with a speed and grace that suggested years of practice.
Mal just rolled his eyes. He was no one's father and what his crew chose to put into their bodies was their own business. If Victor got unruly, Mal had the Dragon.
"Late night?" Victor asked, way too chipper for this early in the morning. "River said you and Inara were still awake."
That gave Mal a start. "What?"
Victor laced both hands behind his head. "I was up all night, too. My sleep cycle's a little off thanks to the week I spent drifting through space, trying to keep the crushing sense of impending doom at bay with large quantities of alcohol."
Mal made a "get on with it" gesture with one hand. "As one is wont to do..."
"So I was up, exercising, when spooky girl just wanders in and starts talking to me," Victor concluded. "She seems a little... off... ya' know?"
"I know," Mal said.
"Yeah, I thought I'd say something in case you were unaware, seeing as how you're the Captain and all, but if you've got the situation under control, I guess you really don't need my two pieces on the matter."
Mal finished off the rest of his coffee, thanking God everyone else on the ship was having a slow morning as well. "You talk too much."
"Yeah, I get that a lot," Victor said, lacking in sympathy for Mal's obvious pain. "So what's up with Gold City? Is it like... you're super secret hideout or something?"
Mal considered answering like a normal person. Hump that. "Talk to Kaylee. She likes to talk."
Victor cocked his head to the side. "Anyone ever tell you you're not a morning person?"
"Only for the past five decades," Mal said, standing up and stretching. The coffee was working its magic. Which was convenient. Kaylee had just bounced into the room with Simon and Snow in her wake.
"Good morning, Captain!" she said cheerfully, prancing over to the table and picking up the coffee pot. She proceeded to make another coffee pot, forestalling the wrath of the grumpy man with sleep deprivation. Besides, Mal had yet to meet the person who could stay mad at Kaylee for more than a few seconds at a time.
"Is there an emergency?" Simon asked. He was dressed in his "nice" clothes in anticipation of Gold City. "Why do you need us all here?"
Mal made a grunting noise, eying the coffee pot.
Victor picked up Snow and gave him a protein dog biscuit out of another of his coat's many pockets. "My grumpy old soldier is a little rusty, but I think the good Captain wants to wait for everyone so he only has to explain everything once."
Mal made another grunting noise.
"He says I'm correct in my assessment and also that my deep insight is of value to not only to myself, but those around me," Victor translated.
Mal leaned against the far wall, as far from human contact as he could get in the tiny kitchen and grunted again.
"He wants me to be quiet," Victor whispered in a voice louder than he'd been speaking before.
It wasn't long before everyone else filed into the kitchen with the exception of River. Mal noticed with a small amount of bitterness than Inara was looking perfect as usual, as though nothing of significance had happened the night before. He considered barging into her shuttle later (she liked that), but knew today was going to be busy. Being a responsible Captain was wearing.
"All right," Mal began. "When we get planet side myself, Inara, and the doctor go say hello to the fine ladies at the Heart of Gold."
Jayne immediately opened his mouth to protest.
"So that tonight, when we're all done making our services available to the Heart, you'll be free to make use of their services," Mal finished.
Jayne smiled. "Good thinking."
Victor raised his hand. "Question: You know how the Alliance has way points out on the Rim for returning deployees to take shore leave?"
"What about it?" Mal asked.
"I need to get to the nearest one to get my bank accounts turned into good old fashioned precious metals," Victor said as his furry companion found the perfect way to sit on his lap for sleeping.
"You're welcome to come too. There's one such way port about a four hour ride by horseback from where we'll be." Mal said. "Just stay out of trouble."
A hurt look of pure innocence appeared on Victor's face. "Of course, Captain. I would never dream of causing trouble."
"Petaline kept saying she could use our help last time we spoke," Inara said. Mal found himself wishing the others weren't around. He'd rather be talking to her about last night. This "pretend like nothing was different" routine was far outside his comfort zone.
She's probably used to it, Mal thought.
"Someone else is trying to cause her problems?" Zoe asked.
"Nothing like that," Inara said. "She wants to hire us."
"Who wouldn't?" Victor said, not really following what everyone else was talking about. "I mean... right?"
"What about our brilliant plan to unseat a government and plunge the galaxy into chaos?" Simon asked.
Mal shared a look with Zoe as he started to wonder if Simon was going to be this negative from now on. "It needs more brilliance," he said, "and less chaos." He paused for a second. "I wanna' capture an Alliance cruiser."
Stunned silence met that declaration. Before anyone could make sense of it, Mal continued.
"To do that, we need money. That means doing more jobs first. We'll also need to raise an army."
"How are we gonna' do that?" Zoe asked.
Mal shrugged. He had ideas and plans floating around in his head, but there was no point in explaining everything only to change it at the last minute. Real life never went according to plan. "First things first. Let's go see what Miss Petaline has in store for us."
Gold City
Mal, Inara, the Tams, and Victor all filed out of Inara's shuttle, which Inara had parked in an unused horse pasture. Last time they were here, Mal had just landed the whole ship closer, but he'd wanted to give Serenity a nice space cushion in case he needed to run. It wouldn't do to have someone getting bright ideas about turning him in to the Alliance and making a connection between The Heart of Gold and Serenity.
The Heart of Gold was much bigger than before. There was an entire second wing built on. In front of the Heart stretched a long, straight road with buildings on either side of it. The buildings all appeared to be made out of wood, but shared the Hearts distinct solar sheeting. The Heart of Gold was now the figurative "heart" of its ambitiously named "city", which was currently a small town.
Feet on the ground, the crew was met with the smiling faces of many well dressed and highly decorated prostitute type persons. They actually cheered and clapped seeing Mal and the others.
Mal walked up to Petaline, who was front and center. "What did we do to deserve all this?" Mal asked, trying to smile and wave at his onlookers without looking like an idiot.
"Don't be silly," Petaline said, kissing his cheeks one at a time. "You folks saved the town. A warm welcome's the least we can do. No one messes with us anymore. Burgess is gone, so there's no work for his gangsters. They had to get back to honest mining or leave." She took Mal by the arm, rattling off about all the good things that had been happening since Mal had last been here. Her coworkers fanned out and took each of the crew members by the arms as well. Everyone except Mal had two whores on either side. River actually had one woman and one of what Kaylee affectionately called "boy whores" on either arm. Inara was the only one left to walk alone, which was a point of honor for a Companion. Guild law stated none touched a Companion except without her permission.
"So where's Jayne? I miss him," a tall, blonde woman holding Victor's arm asked.
Victor noticed the ladies holding his arms were the tallest of the bunch. They'd probably picked him so they could hold his arms without interrupting his stride. Maybe it was so they wouldn't risk looming over Simon. If they were good at their job, probably both.
"He's currently guarding the ship against any and all miscreant that would think to do it harm," Victor said, "but I'm sure he's planning on rushing here just as soon as he can. I hope you ladies don't have a full docket tonight."
"Oh our primary business has slowed down a lot," Petaline said, over her shoulder. "Truth be told, I own half the town and the Heart only accounts for about thirty percent of our revenue."
Inara laughed. "Listen to you, you sound like a business woman."
"I am, these days," Petaline said with a laugh of her own. They'd reached the door to the main building, the one that Mal had been familiar with. There was no sign of the battle they'd fought before. "It's why I'm glad you guys finally made it back out here. We could really use your help."
"How so?" Mal asked as Petaline sat them both down on a couch. Her associates took her cue and left everyone else to sit as well. "Someone else is causing your trouble?"
"Well, like I was saying," Petaline continued, "we've expanded our operations. The Heart owns pretty much every horse in town, the barber shop, the clothing store, and we got more work than people who can handle it. Not to mention there's more gold mines being opened out in the mountains every day. That means more and more people keep moving here and-"
"Whoa, slow down," Mal said. Petaline was sitting uncomfortable close to him, with both of her hands on his leg. Not surprising, considering her career. "You want to put us to work? Most of us ain't quite that pretty. Well, maybe the doctor, but-"
"Hey!" Simon protested from his seat on a smaller couch. One of the Heart's girls had a long leg draped over his which he was trying hard to pretend wasn't there.
"No, silly!" Petaline said, slapping Mal playfully on the arm. "You got a ship, and we need stuff delivered; construction materials and the like."
"Honest smuggling seems like a better use of our talents," Mal said.
"It's hard to get the sheer volume of supplies we need without knowing the right people," Petaline explained. "For those like us..."
Mal was starting to understand. Official supply chains wouldn't put "Whore City" on a shipping manifest. It made Mal wonder how much further along Gold City would be if Petaline had access to better services. "Maybe we could help each other. See... we're in a peck of trouble with the Alliance these days-"
Victor, who'd been sitting in an easy chair with the tall blond woman Helen on his lap, stood. He didn't bother with waiting for her to get up. He simply picked her up and put her back down in the chair himself. She seemed the sort to appreciate such shows of strength in her men. Picking up his sword from beside the chair, he placed the scabbard back into the loop hanging from his belt and tightened the screw that held it in place. "Miss Petaline," he said. I have some unrelated business to attend to in Waypoint. Would it be at all possible to borrow a car, hovercraft, or motorbike of some kind?" Victor made sure to use his most pleasant "talking to pretty ladies" demeanor.
"We got a hovercraft, but it might be cheaper just to take a horse. The stable fees at Waypoint are cheaper than parking fees," Petaline said.
"Alas, but I'm not worthy of such fine animals," Victor said. He had no idea the condition of her horses, but he was a poor rider. He'd always preferred machines, anyway. "But something with a motor...?"
"We got a hovercraft," Petaline said. "Cathy can show you the way, she knows the key codes." A younger girl at the bar waved at Victor.
"Well it is with much sadness I bid you fine ladies ado," Victor said, walking over to Cathy.
"Don't go alone," Mal said.
That gave Victor a start. "You think I need a babysitter?"
"No. If you die or do anything to draw attention to us, I want someone there to run back and tell us so we don't have to come looking for your body," Mal said.
"That's..." Victor began, looking for something smart assed to say, "pretty genius, actually." He strode over to the overstuffed armchair where River was sitting with her feet up on the chair. Bowing and kicking out a leg he extended his hand. "Missus Tam, would you do me the great honor of following me around and being my non-babysitter for the day?"
River had been staring off into the distance but jumped at the sound of her name. She'd been distracted by the sheer number of people's thoughts pressing in on her mind. At being suddenly and directly addressed, she hugged her knees tight to her chest and tried to melt into the chair. She wished Victor would stop paying so much direct attention to her. It felt disorienting to see herself from outside while feeling herself from inside.
Seeing a pretty girl recoil so completely from him deflated even Victor's ego. Disheartened he said, "Damn. Don't sugar coat it babe, tell me what you really think."
"Good luck with that," Mal said before going back to his conversation with Petaline.
"Victor!" Simon shouted, finally freeing himself from his escort. "What makes you think River even wants to come with you. She obviously can't stand you-"
Victor began pointing at the present company. Mal: "He's busy." Inara: "She draws too much attention." Simon: "You're boring." Looking around: "Everyone else would demand I pay them."
"What if she has an episode?"
"I want to go," River said finally. "It'll be nice to get out for once. Besides, someone has to go and keep him under control." River still wouldn't look directly at Victor.
"There's no outdoor vid cams in Waypoint. They're banned, so if she freaks out, no one's the wiser," Victor supplied.
Simon looked back and forth between River and Victor. Finally, he took River's hands and pulled her to her feet. Stepping off a short distance he whispered to River "If he touches you at all, just break his arm okay?"
River shot her brother an incredulous look. "You are such a boob."
"Told you so," Victor said.
"I was talking about both of you."