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There was no other way of putting it. Mal Reynolds was in a terrible mood. Whether what he was doing fell under the category of sulking or mourning, he was just not dealing well with the supposed loss of everything and everyone he knew. He went through the motions of talking to a few people, asking them questions about Stacy and their purpose; he even managed to make friends with some of them. But regardless of how friendly he was with them, they couldn't fill the sudden void that had settled on him, making him feel like he was carrying a load of bricks.

So, retreating from the Obs deck, where he'd returned to after visiting a few locations on boarrd, he made his way to the Sensorium, seeking solace in a simulation of his ship Serenity. He wandered through the simulation until he found the room he was looking for: the dining area. Mal slowly walked over to the heavy wooden table, and sat down in one of the chairs, his mind reeling from the shock of finding himself on board the ship and everything he'd learned since arriving.

But, as he sat there totally lost in thought, his instincts, sharpened from wartime experiences and other dangers, warned him that someone else was in the room with him. Without bothering to turn around, he asked, "What do you want?"

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Carol had taken her time walking through the ship. It was beautiful in its own way, and she was in love with it. Whoever this ship belonged to was very lucky.

She sighed a bit and blinked as she heard the voice address her.

"I'm sorry?" Her voice might have had a bit of a bite to it.

Mal's moment of hostility quickly passed when he realized how he'd reacted.

"Sorry, you caught me off guard. Wasn't expectin' to find anyone else here," Mal said, suddenly embarrassed and feeling awkward for his sharp response. He got up from where he was sitting. "I'm Mal Reynolds, and this is my ship Serenity."

Carol smiled and waved off his apology. "No problem. Everyone kinda on edge lately around here, so you're entitled." She looked around the room and moved into the room. Running a hand over the table as she walked. Marveling at all of the littlest things and spinning on one spot, her heels clicking softly as she did.

"Serenity. It's beautiful Mr. Reynolds." She smiled and looked back at him. "I'm Carol Danvers or Ms. Marvel. Either will work."

"Makes sense, seein' as how we're all in the same situation." Mal's expression reflected a bit of grimness that was there one second and gone the next.

A smile returned to his face as he nodded. "She is, at that. Glad you can see it." Mal was pleasantly surprised at how easily he was able to identify with people on board the ship. Despite his first thoughts, he was beginning to think maybe he could feel at home here. "Well, Ms. Marvel, I'm Captain Mal Reynolds. Nice to meet you."

"Well I've been on my share of ships. If we had something like this back home, I might never have gone back to Earth." She shook her head and ran a hand around the wall. She turned her head back to him and smiled. "Well Captain I assure you the pleasure it all mine."

Beka was lost. Again. Back home she had maps, expensive ones, copied from the Lord Provost's offices. So far, her finding such maps of this place, of... Stacy. Was not working.

Which is why she ended up here, not that here was anywhere yet, but eventually she'd have a name for it. She even intended on asking the man sitting there for such a name, however, that was before he snapped at her.

Shape up Beka. He can't be any worse than lieutenant Uhura. So, staring at her shoes, she spoke up, it being a great deal easier if she wasn't looking at him.

"Maps?" One word. Great.

Mal looked up to see another woman standing there, looking down at her shoes like she was afraid of him. He got up from where he sat, and walked over to her. "Sorry for snapping at you. I ain't gonna bite. Just caught me off-guard, that's all," he replied with a smile, hoping to reassure her. "I don't have a map on me, and I'm not even sure there are any around."

She continued to speak to her shoes, as it was far easier this way, looking at him well. That just wasn't going to work. So, by doing such, she missed the smile, even if it would have probably caused her to clam up just that much more.

"Everything has a map. You just haf'ta look hard enough." She spoke in an lower-city cant, what might sound uneducated, even if that was *partially* untrue.

Mal felt vaguely confused. Was he really that frightening? He didn't like to think so, but the girl would not look up at him. Mal thought maybe she was just a very submissive person by nature, so he didn't force the issue.

"True enough, but I still don't know if there's any around here. Don't think anyone's mentioned any." Mal moved a few steps closer to the girl, until they were within the typical conversation distance. "Am I really that frightenin'? Didn't mean to scare you; like I said, you just caught me off guard."

It wasn't that he was frightening, she was just... Beka. It happens. Give her a few days... or weeks. And she'll be able to look at his eyebrows, or ears. Or something.

"Well that's just because no one has asked is all." She glanced up, and swallowed. Mithros, this was bad.

"No Sir." Just pretend he's a... someone. Or something. "Of course not sir. I just..." She just has trouble talking is all.

Mal would feel better if he knew that, but of course, he doesn't, so he just continued feeling apprehensive and confused.

"Maybe, though if there really was maps we could use, I kind of think someone would've said somethin' about it when we all first got here. But of course, ain't no harm in asking. Best way of solvin' things, sometimes." Mal kept smiling, hoping to seem less threatening.

Mal then waved a hand, saying, "Don't have to call me sir. 'Mal' works just fine." If the circumstances had been different, Mal would have let her call him sir, but as it was, he felt the situation didn't call for it. They weren't on his ship anymore, so the formalities could be dispensed with for now.

Of course he wanted to be informal. So far, Beka had yet to meet someone from her own 'world' or someone with whom formalities were acceptable, or encouraged.

Taking a deep breath, she looked up at him again, her very, very gray eyes focusing somewhere to the left of his chin. Pretending she was in uniform helped, "Mal. Are you 'new' here as well then?" She could do this. She could.

Unaware of Beka's dissatisfaction at his choice to be informal, Mal replied with a nod, "Yeah, I'm pretty new... Been here a couple days at most. What about you?" He noticed she was looking at something other than his shoes, which he considered a small triumph.

"I assume just as long, people- we." She corrected herself, "seem to show up in groups. Though, I don't exactly know why..."

She extended a hand then, still watching that leftof the chin area, "Guardswoman Beka Cooper."

"My apologies for the intrusion."

Goliath has little desire to use the Sensoriums himself. He has lost one world, and now he has lost another - what good would dwelling in their replications do but remind him of his reasons to mourn their loss?

Still, poking his head in on other crewmates using it has proved a good way to get him a brief view of worlds not his own. And he is nothing if not a curious individual.

"I will not impose on your time." He's just getting a look around.

Mal wasn't annoyed at the interruption, but he was wondering what was so attractive about the Sensoriums that made people come and go so often. "It's fine, I was just doin' some thinkin'."

An amused smile came onto Mal's face. "Here, I'm thinkin' there ain't such a think as imposing on someone's time. Doesn't seem to be a lot goin' on." Standing up, Mal walked over to Goliath. "Don't think we've met. I'm Malcolm Reynolds."

"Goliath."

The gargoyle turns his inquisitive gaze from the ship, the likes of which he has not seen before, to the human. He wonders if he will ever stop being surprised when their reaction to him is not one of fear. "Is my kind known to yous, in the time from which you have come?"

"Nice name. Bit unique, but I like that."

Mal's expression was also inquisitive, finally noticing Goliath's appearance. "No, not exactly, but after seein' some of the stuff I've seen while travelin' through the verse... I mean to say, you get used to seein' different people."

"A human gave it to me, long ago. It serves its purpose."

Humans need labels. It has served him, living among them, to have one for them to call him by.

He nods. "Then your easy acceptance of those not like you bodes well for my clan on this ship." Mal's, and everyone else's, it would seem. Goliath has never been so easily welcomed into a largely human fold.

Obi-Wan had been admiring the Serenity. No one would mistake it for a Royal Naboo Star-ship, but under the grit and welding scars, it had a deep core of...

...of something. Personality. It was the difference between a trained courtesan, and your own lover; the acts were the same but the emotion vastly different, and that was what made both experiences so worthwhile.

"She's a beautiful ship," Obi-Wan replied, mildly, "Forgive for trespassing, I couldn't help myself. What's her name?"

When Mal first saw Obi-Wan Kenobi, even though he didn't know his name, he got the impression that he really knew his ships. Watching the way he looked at Serenity, Mal could somehow tell he really liked what he was seeing.

"Yes, she is," Mal agreed. "Don't worry about it, don't see no signs saying people aren't welcome. Her name's Serenity." He felt odd being so relaxed about letting people on board his ship, but at the same time, it felt even odder to want to be protective of a simulation.

"It's not often you see something like this out— well," He sighed and chuckled at himself. Out here? And where was here? Pull yourself together, Kenobi.

"Serenity," he repeated, rolling the word around in his mind, "And you're her...captain, was it?"

"Figured things like this would be seen all the time, seein' how we're in space and all," Mal replied, mostly thinking aloud, while looking around almost fondly. Simulation or not, this ship still was his home, and he felt just as attached to it as he did to the real thing.

"Yeah, that's me," Mal said with a nod. "Bought her awhile back and started using her as a transport vessel to help make a living."

"Well, not here, but at home," He hesitated, mentally adding when there was a home, "You see all kinds of ships on Coruscant, but rarely something with this much care put into it. She has personality."

The man had some little amount of taste, then. Better a transport than some kind of bounty-hunting rig, as Obi-Wan had half-feared. He smiled at Mal, "Where are my manners? I am Obi-Wan Kenobi, at your service."

"Ah, I see," was all Mal said at first, thinking briefly about his own home, that was now non-existent. "Suppose she does, at that. She was... She is home to my crew and me. Each of us put somethin' of ourselves into her, but even if we hadn't, she'd still have personality. Serenity is special that way." He couldn't help sounding a bit proud as he talked about his ship, while making a mental note to ask the other man about his home planet.

It probably was a good thing that Obi-Wan didn't know some of the shenanigans the crew of the Serenity got up to. He probably wouldn't like knowing that sometimes their jobs involved petty theft. "Guess I forgot mine as well. I'm Captain Mal Reynolds, also at your service."

"So, mind if I ask you a few questions about the planet you mentioned? Coruscant, wasn't it?" Mal wasn't much of an expert on other worlds and planets outside of his own, which was why he was asking.

"Not at all," Obi-Wan replied amicably, "It's the capital of the Galactic Republic, a planet with nothing but city for as far as it's livable. The Senate and the Jedi Council both meet there, and it's where the Jedi Temple is based."

The man seemed nostalgic, proud of the livelihood he'd built for himself. If his crew were anything like what Obi-Wan sensed from him...well, they were as much family as Anakin and himself— and now Luke, and Arha as well. Ben's smile warmed a little, at the thought.

"That's my own occupation, a Jedi Knight," He added, almost an afterthought. If this man didn't know Coruscant, then he could hardly know Jedi. So many worlds, and so few his own, "We're peacekeepers, of a sort."

Galactic Republic? Jedi Council? The phrases were foreign to Mal, even though he knew they had to mean something to the other man. Even when he explained what a Jedi Knight was, Mal was still left with some unanswered questions. "Peacekeepers, huh? Sounds interestin'. Coruscant sounds interesting as well."

He figured since Obi-Wan had told him about his world, he may as well do the same. "Where I'm from, the universe is divided into the core planets and the outer planets. Things on the central planets are more settled down, I guess, with more cities and things like that. The outer planets, though, are less settled. The numbers are there, but the law sure ain't. You're more likely to find people without a whole lot of money on those planets, includin' thieves stealin' to make their way. And of course, the Alliance don't much seem to care."

"It's the same in mine," surprised, Obi-Wan's eyebrows rose in recognition. Perhaps things weren't so different between them, after all, "Though we call it the 'Rim,' and you do a lot of crime and warfare out there. It's… Interesting work, out there."

Interesting like a kick in the face, but he wasn't going to say that aloud. The Hutts were not to be challenged, even obliquely, at a distance, and the habit stayed with him so he kept the tone of it light. If Captain Reynolds wanted to be depressed, he hardly needed Ben's help, "The pay is terrible, but it's at least never boring, and I always feel I'm doing good in the world."

"Well, now, that's interesting. I didn't realize the 'verses were so similar," said the ship's captain, unknowingly echoing Obi-Wan's sentiments. "That pretty much sums up what I do for a livin', though whether it's doin' some good in the world is up for interpretation." After all, some of what he and his crew did bordered on stealing things from people and giving it to others.

"The point is, though, sometimes the payoffs are good, and the work's enjoyable, even if you might get beaten up along the way." Mal couldn't help smirking at that last bit. It was a fact that he'd experienced some near misses in the course of his job.

"Quite," He nodded, thoughtfully, with a vague sort of smile, "You seem to have found a line of work that suits you well, Captain."

Something dark pinged on the edge of Obi-Wan's force-senses, like a humming foreboding, like a mosquito that couldn't be located. Where was Arha? He frowned; time to go.

"I've intruded on your privacy quite enough for one day," the Jedi bowed respectfully, and made as if to leave, "It was very good to meet you."

"Oh, sorry," said a three-foot tall, pointed-eared person holding a helmet under one arm standing in the doorway. "Just looking around."

Holly's eyes flicked over the whole dining area. She felt the whole place seemed a bit rustic, but there was definitely some interesting technology here. She thought she'd gone past an engine room a few minutes earlier, too. Whatever this was, it was interesting.

"What is this place?"

"Feel free," replied Mal with a wave of his hand as he stood up to greet the latest person to be visiting his ship.

"This is my ship, Serenity, and I'm Captain Malcolm Reynolds, or Mal, if that suits you better."

"Serenity, huh?" Holly had never known the names of any of the LEP's shuttles, since she usually used a different one for each trip.

"Captain Holly Short, Lower Elements Police," she said with a nod. "What kind of ship is she?"

"Yeah, she's a real good ship, long as you treat her right," Mal replied, being half serious and half joking.

"Police, huh? Must make for an excitin' job." Mal wasn't too keen on the idea of police, but unless the captain revealed she had ties to the Feds, which he doubted, he'd give her the benefit of the doubt. "Serenity's an 03-K64 Firefly, a transport vessel used for carryin' various bits of cargo."

"Every ship is a good ship if you treat it right," Holly said with a smile. "Even the old buckets I have to fly." Like Mal, she was half joking, half serious. Either way, she loved to pilot.

"It's a bit more exciting then I'd like it to be." She meant it, too. Her life would be so much easier if certain people hadn't brought all that 'excitement' into it. "Cargo vessel, huh? For air, or...?" She normally would have assumed it was only for air, but having just recently seen a space ship in the vessel dock, she wanted to be sure.

"Well, some can be pretty hard to handle, no matter how you treat them," Mal pointed out, still smiling.

"Why's that? You don't like bein' involved with enforcing laws?" Not that he blamed her at all; he was just trying to make sense of what she was saying. "Oh, yeah, she's an airship, though we take her through space too, if a job calls for it." Though, after thinking about it for awhile, he figured Serenity was more of a hybrid more than anything, combining aspects of both.

"True," Holly said, thinking of the brain-juice she occasionally saw on shuttle headrests.

"Oh, I like enforcing laws," she said - in fact, it was her life's calling. "I tend to get dragged into... complicated things, though."

She let out a low whistle. A ship that worked in both the atmosphere and space? She was starting to like it.

"Heh, sounds familiar. Gettin' dragged into complicated situations is something of a way of life for me." Mal laughed, and added, "Ain't complaining, though. Things like that make life more exciting."

Pirogoeth had merely wandered in, thinking of perhaps doing some training, when she saw Mal. She had thought of leaving, when he called out to her and that caused her to pause and look at him more carefully.

He didn't turn. He was only sitting there, so the fact he didn't...

"Ist thou all right? I came in by accident, but thee seems...distressed."

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