trans_9 | A Reason to be Hopeful Again

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A Reason to be Hopeful Again

In the short time since Mal's arrival, the ship captain had experienced pretty much the full range of emotions; he'd been at the lowest point possible, only to rebound and hit the highest point once he learned that his ship Serenity was on board with him. It wasn't enough to make him forget to worry about his crew, but it was more than enough to get him out of the funk he'd previously been in.

So, being true to his word, Mal showed up at the vehicle bays with Jo, ready to show off his ship. Except she was the real thing, not an imitation projected by the Sensoriums.

Whether he was able to actually let her fly his ship was another matter. Somehow, he thought that Stacy might not like that idea. Either way, Mal was in a very good mood. Having his ship with him was like having part of his crew around. With a large smile, Mal pointed Serenity out to Jo, unable to keep a note of pride from his voice. "There she is. That's Serenity. She don't look like much, but don't be underestimatin' her. She's a good ship, and she's served me and my crew well."

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"Sounds like a plan, then," Mal said, continuing to laugh. He wasn't entirely serious; Jo had been fairly straight with him since their first conversation, and that was something he respected.

He walked toward the stairs he'd indicated earlier, while continuing talking. "No, I'm not going to quiz you on anythin'. Wouldn't be much point, and anyway, it'd be kind of ironic, considering sometimes I can't even remember my own ship's code number." Mal's tone was light, maybe with a hint of sarcasm; either way, he was poking fun at himself for not remembering.

She followed him toward the stairs, her gaze still moving over the interior of the ship's cargo area, almost as though she was trying to soak up all the details.

"Well I can't say the same about when I show you the gun collection in my office... In the Sensorium." She teased, though really she'd been a complete hard ass on Carter about knowing which gun was which... So maybe she could show Mal some of what Carter had to deal with when he'd first met her.

"Your gun collection, huh?" Mal suddenly looked very interested. "Can't say I know every gun in existence, but I spend a lot of time around different sorts of weapons. So in case you decide quizzin' me is a good idea, I should be able to give a good account for myself."

Finally getting up the stairs and to the next set of rooms, Mal pointed out the infirmary, common area, and the entrance to the passenger's quarters. "Not sure if you want to see any of those, but if you do, I ain't in any hurry."

"Yeah, I like guns," Jo grinned. "The town I work in houses a bunch of scienitists that work for a corporation who is funded by the military, so I get some nice toys to play with. I have a couple of them with, I'll show you sometime." Yes, she's mighty proud of her gun collection.

She peeked in each of the areas that Mal pointed out before looking over her shoulder at him from the entrance of the crew quarters. "Well I don't think I have to. A bed's a bed, right? Unless you have some sort of new bed in the future you think I need to check out. And just so you know, if the bed of the future is like... Awesome, I'm moving in here. Fleshy beds are still on my list of weird things I never needed to find out about."

"Sounds pretty excitin', though I have to ask, what connection is there between scientists and the military?" And yes, Mal couldn't blame her for being proud of her guns. Though it wasn't likely that he'd start collecting them anytime soon, he liked guns as well.

"Figured as much. The beds we've got aren't nothin' special, so we'll skip that. I'm thinkin' the most interestin' bits are the engine room and the bridge, so let's just go there."

"Well you haven't seen what sort of crap those scientists come up with. I mean, some of it is pretty out there. Like... I don't even know, it's crazy enough that we have forms for people to fill out if they ever become undead," Jo explained with a slight wave of her hand.

She looked over at him with a slightly disappointed expression. "So no kick ass beds of the future? I have to say that's seriously diappointing. If anything I'd have thought the future had better beds." She's sort of half kidding, but she is a little disappointed.

"But, yes I want to see the engine room and bridge, so let's go. Lead on."

Mal listened to Jo talking, not really hearing anything out of the ordinary in what she was saying. Until she mentioned people becoming undead, that is. He raised his eyebrows, surprised by her seemingly flippant manner. "What do you mean, if they ever become undead?"

"Well, I don't really know your taste in beds, so maybe you'd like them. Guess I just got used to lyin' in them after awhile. You're more than welcome to try later, if you want," Mal replied, heading for the engine room first, figuring that it was the most important part of the ship, in more ways than one.

"Well you know how scientists are. They might do something that makes them appear dead, or they might even accidently blow something up and somehow get caught in some sort of time rift and so we think they're dead, but they're not. Sooooo. It doesn't happen that often, but it's happened enough so we have a form now." She did realize how crazy it sounded, but it was part of living in Eureka. Crazy stuff happened all the time.

"Well I'm not picky," Jo shrugged, trailing behind Mal as he lead the way to the engine room. "I mean I was to be an Army Ranger so I'm use to sleeping in pretty crappy situations, but fleshy, squishy beds? Not really something one gets use to... Ever."

Mal was beginning to feel lost, not really sure where Jo was going. He didn't let on about it, though, pretending to act like he understood exactly what she was saying. "Yeah, sounds like somethin' scientists would do. Ain't had much experience with time rifts or nothing like that, but strange things have happened before, so we kind of have some idea how to handle situations as they come up." Of course, most of the crazy stuff that went on on board Serenity was mostly dissatisfied clients or problems caused by some of the crew, but either way, the crew definitely knew how to roll with the punches.

"Yeah, guess not. Not somethin' I want to think on more than I have to, you know?" He smiled slightly as they finally came to the engine room. "So, this is the engine room, as you can see. It's what keeps Serenity runnin'. And when she don't run no more, that's what my mechanic Kaylee is for." He pointed to one corner of the room, where a hammock was strung up. "That'd be where she sleeps sometimes. She's good at what she does; I wouldn't want no one else looking after my ship."

"You don't know strange until you live in Eureka," Jo muttered under her breath. Though as much as she bitched about the crazy scientists, she missed them and she missed Eureka. Probably more than she even wanted to admit. Hell, she even missed Fargo, and that was saying something.

A smile touched Jo's lips again as she stepped into the engine room. Once again it was pretty standard looking, though upon a better inspection, she saw parts she didn't recognize. "Oh wow, this is pretty awesome," she said, looking over at Mal as her smile grew.

She shifted her attention to the hammock Mal pointed out and then looked back to him. "Well..." she trailed off, not really sure what to say. She could have gone the whole, 'Well that's good. Too bad she's not here,' route, but that was just flat out rude.

Best tactic? Change the direction of the conversation.

"So you think Stacy'd going to let you fly her?"

Mal watched as Jo looked around the rather small room, as though watching for a certain reaction, even though there wasn't anything in particular he was looking for.

Then, his attention was drawn by her hesitant start, followed by her question. Mal scratched his head a few times, thinking about his answer for awhile. Finally, he said, "Well, that's what I'd like, but I don't think she's likely to go for it. Not sure it's even possible, either. I mean, is there a place on Stacy for ships to take off and land?" Mal shrugged his shoulders, not really sure what else to say. "I'd guess there's time enough to be workin' the details out. It's good enough just having Serenity here."

"I guess you can always ask Stacy, right?" Jo offered, though really what was the point in bringing someone's ship if that person wasn't allowed to use it? It kinda seemed pointless to her. But a lot of what Stacy did seemed pointless to her, so she wasn't exactly surprised.

"You know you can always use the Sensorioums to keep your Captain skills up," Jo suggested and she crouched down to get a better look at some of the engine's parts.

"Suppose so. I mean to get around to that at some point, 'cause after all, short of using her as a place to live, not much else to be doin' with Serenity except flying her," Mal replied, shrugging again.

He got the feeling that if Stacy didn't want him flying his ship, she'd find some way of letting him know. But still, asking never hurt anything. "Might even be helpful with whatever it is we're meant to be doin'."

"You've seen Stacy's crew quarters, right?" Jo asked her eyes rising in question. "If I were you, I'd so use Serenity as a place to live. I mean, you'd have more space and you wouldn't be sleeping on a bed that pulses..." She suddenly grinned. "Well of course if you're into that sort of thing, the crew quarters are awesome."

Rising back up, she nodded her head. "That's true. I mean there's got to be a reason Stacy brought Serenity with you, right?"

"Well, yeah, I've been by there a few times," Mal replied casually. "You're probably right, livin' on Serenity seems like a better arrangement."

Then, Mal raised an eyebrow. "You seem to hate the crew quarters... If you happened to want an alternative to movin' beds, you're more than welcome to stay here."

Jo eyed him for a moment, trying to figure out if he was implying anything other than a friendly alternative to her current quarters. After a few moments, she decided that he wasn't, and she was pretty sure he was smart enough not to try anything like that. If not, he'd always learn the hard way she supposed.

"Seriously?" she asked, still eyeing him. "For free? No strings attached?"

Mal was aware of Jo's eyes on him, and he looked straight back at her, certain that she was sizing him up, analyzing his words. There was nothing behind his offer but a genuine interest in giving her somewhere else to live that might be better. And while under normal circumstances, he would have asked for payment, the circumstances were not normal. So he would not take payment, in any form.

"Yeah, for free. Don't see a reason to be chargin' you, when... Uh.. When we've already lost so much."

"Well that's good, 'cause I don't have any money anyway," Jo pointed out with a grin. "But that's really nice of you."

She glanced once more around the engine room before looking back at him. "I guess I'd need to see your... I mean the crew quarters before I decide. I mean, you know lack of awesome futuristic beds might weigh heavily on my decision."

Mal couldn't help laughing. He'd forgotten about that little detail. "Wouldn't have taken it from you if you had it, you know," he said with a smirk. "No, it's the least I could do. Not 'cause I'm nice, because I'm not."

"Suppose you will, at that. We can head back down that way, if you want."

"Oh you're not?" Jo laughed, "Well you sure had me fooled. I guess I should keep an eye on you then?" She was teasing, but really - for all she knew he wasn't so nice. She'd never been really good when it came to reading people and how they really were.

"Maybe after you show me the bridge?" she suggested, her eyes widening a little and almost looked like a little kid waiting for a present.

"Maybe you should. Kind of comes with the job description; a captain has to be firm and nice at the same time, so that the crew knows who's in charge but nice enough so they don't get scared away." Mal rolled his eyes and shrugged. "And anyway, everyone's got some secrets they want to hide."

"Right, the bridge. After the engine room, probably the next most important," he replied with a smile, noticing her expression. "Right this way."

"Well watching people is part of my job." She eyed him again, though this time more in a playful exsaggerated nature. "Are you going to be a problem that's going to end up giving me a headache?"

But he was right about the secrets, everyone did seem to have one or two that just needed to be tucked away.

She began to follow him again as he lead the way toward the bridge. "So how long have you been a Captain?"

"That depends on your definition of the word 'problem'. Now, I try not causin' problems for anyone, cause that usually ends up comin' back to haunt me." Mal shrugged yet again, smirking in an amused manner. "You never know, though."

"Well, I bought Serenity after the war, and I've been flyin' her ever since. About five years." Mal walked up to the bridge, and stood to one side, next to the main control panel, waiting for Jo to follow him.

"I shouldn't be surprised," Jo muttered, rolling her eyes for added effect. "I always seem to make friends with the ones who attract problems." And she did. Look at Carter. he was like the magnet for trouble.

"You were in a war?" She couldn't help but ask, she'd fought in battle too. Stepping onto the bridge, Jo's hands rested on her hips. "Very nice." She nodded her heads and stepped toward the controls. "How long does it take to fly one of these things?"

Mal crossed his arms, keeping his expression rather neutral. "Seems to be a common theme. All the people on my crew are like that, to varyin' extremes. I guess I've gotten used to it after awhile." Though, this wasn't entirely true. Having Simon and River Tam on board, along with their status as wanted individuals, was something Mal hadn't quite gotten used to. But they were part of his crew, so throwing them off wasn't an option, like he'd said before.

"The Unification War. I fought on the side of the Independents, the Browncoats. The other side, the Alliance, won." Mal's expression turned grim, thinking back to those events. "Probably as long as it takes to learn anythin'. Go to flight school, get some practice, get the authority to fly... Find somethin' to fly, and... That's mostly it in a nutshell."

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