"Have Gun, Will Travel" Pt.2

"You're entry vector is wrong!" River screamed at the top of her lungs as she ran into the cockpit while Mal was trying to break atmo on St.Albans.

"Whaddya mean, wrong?!"

"You're going in too steep, you need to be gentle with her, the wind sheers will hurt her... the wind sheers will break her shell like an egg on a frying pan."

"Well in case that nonesensical crap was sposed to mean somethin', there's nothin' wrong with my-" A beeping noise was very loud and the wind began to shake Serenity so hard it felt like she was going to fly apart. A tremor ran through the ship as a very violent wind sheer pushed it off course. A squawk came from the comm system followed by a staticy voice. "Firefly Class Transport, this is St.Albans Air Traffic Control. Be advised, heavy windshears are in your approach vector."

Mal grimaced, fighting with the yoke to keep Serenity level. "NOW they tell me!" he yelled. River stumbled and got into the Co-Pilot's chair, clutching for dear life. Kaylee's voice came over the comm next. "Captain, what's going on up there... I feel like I'm gonna be shake 'n bake in a minute here..." Mal ignored the comm system and found his landing pad, he fired Serenity's retro thrusters and vectored the VTOL engines to set down... he set down too hard, there was an audible crash as things fell all around the ship and several warning lights went off all over the cockpit. Jayne, his arm still in a sling, poked his head into the cockpit. "Gorramit MAL! YOU WOKE ME UP!"

Mal looked up at Jayne and then got up. "Well Jayne, there's work to be done... and seein' as how you can't do it, I figure you might as well be as bored and miserable as the rest of us."

"At least Wash never set us down hard enough to make the engines fall off!"

"Yeah, well Wash ain't here." Mal looked past Jayne into the hall to see Zoe standing there... a hurt expression on her normally stoic features. Mal felt something in the pit of his stomach, as if it had dropped out from under him. He shrugged it off, then hit the comm button. "Okay everyone, we're on St.Albans. They're on their winter here, so everyone stay on Serenity as much as possible. Me an' Zoe are goin' dirtside for a bit to talk to an old friend's father and maybe a pilot so I don't break this boat next time we land." He replaced the comm and walked to Zoe.

"Zoe, are you here?"

"Let's do the job, sir. I could use some home-cooked food and if you set Serenity down any harder next time, I think the ship will just fall apart." Her expression was as stoic as ever.

"Good, let's go." Mal said. He grabbed his warmest coat and headed to the gangway, Zoe following right behind. Mal looked at her again. "Zoe, I've known you long enough to know when something is going on. Care to enlighten me?" Zoe just looked at him. "About what, sir?"

"Something is diferent about you, you've become more alone..."

"I just lost my husband not four weeks ago, sir."

"There's somethin' else, Zoe, I can tell."

"I don't want to talk about it, sir."

Mal shook his head, and pressed the button for the airlock. He braced himself for the cold. "Zoe, talk to me." The walked out of Serenity into the freezing temperature of St.Albans and hurried to the relative comfort of the starport's interior. "Sir," Zoe said, "I really don't think now is the best time."

"Now is the best time. You're the only backup I've got here, if things go south I need to know what's going on with you so I know whether I can depend on you or not."

"You've always been able to depend on me."

"You've never acted this way before."

The two of them made their way to the front of the starport and to a stop where a covered mule was waiting for them. George Tracey waited for them outside of the mule, as he saw them he walked over and gave both Mal and Zoe a hug. "I can't thank you enough for bringing my son home... Anything else I can do for you, other than what my wife and I have already done, anything at all... we would love to help. We can't thank you enough for keeping him alive during the war and we can't thank you enough for bringing him home." Mal nodded at the man, then pulled out a wad of money from his pocket. "This is what would have been your son's cut had he worked on our last job. I think it's enough to buy a plot of land on a warmer planet and get some bulk passage there with all your prescious." Mal handed him a wad that was estimated at two hundred and fifty thousand Alliance Credits. George Tracey's eyes began to water, tears began to come down his face, freezing on his cheekbones. "I can't tell you how much this means to us, how much it would have meant to him." Mal nodded. "Don't mention it, it's the least we could do. He was a good man, it's a shame about what happened."

George looked down at the snow. "Yeah it is." George looked up, and then at Mal. "Mal, your boy is in the cantina in the port. He'll be at the last stool at the bar, drinkin' the local brew." Mal looked at him. "Again, George, I can't thank you enough for what you're doing for me." George eyed him for a moment. "Don't mention it, I mean that." George got in his mule, and left.

Zoe and Mal stood in the cold for a moment, sharing the thought of Tracey's last days aboard Serenity... first as a dead body, then as a fellow veteran, and finally as a stupid kid that made a stupid decision. They made their way into the small cantina, folk music playing being played by a pair of men with a guitar and banjo. The man at the end of the bar on the stool looked worse for wear, his hand shook as he took a sip of what must have been the local brew. Mal walked up to the stool next to him, and took a seat. Zoe watched the door for trouble. The bartender looked at him. "What'll ya have?" he said gruffly. "Same as him..." Mal said, gesturing to the older man. The barkeep shrugged and walked away.

The older man looked at him, sizing him up. "You don't look Alliance to me."

"Why, you got trouble with the Alliance?"

"You find me a person who don't, and I'll find you a liar."

"Fair enough."

The barkeep brought Mal's drink, and he slapped down some coin for the drink. Mal took a sip, it was thick and creamy.... tasting a bit like coffee with a kick... Mal kept his eye on the older man. "Name's Malcolm Reynolds... I captain a ship, name of Serenity."

The older man looked at him. "Ben Goodman, Pilot."

"There's a coincidence... I'm lookin' for a pilot."

"Definitely a coincidence... I'm lookin' for a way off this snowball."

"Where to?"

"Silverhold colonies."

"Mind if I ask."

"Yeah, I mind."

"Okay then... I might be headed out in that direction, you lookin' for a steady job or just a one way trip."

"Maybe a little of both."

"Look, Ben, you best talk plain with me..."

"Why?"

"I ain't lookin' for no trouble, but I ain't lookin' to waste my time neither."

"I'm lookin' for a one way trip, Reynolds."

Four men walked into the bar and looked around, Mal looked at them, then back at Ben who drained his glass in a few harty gulps. He turned away from the men that had just walked in. Mal looked back at them, they eyed Zoe and then Mal... the bar was relatively empty. Mal whispered to Ben. "Who are they?"

"They're local thugs that report to a crime boss that works for a bigger crime boss that operates out of Sihnon. An' I owe them money."

One of the thugs walked over to Mal. "You're in my seat." he said matter of factly.

"I ain't seen a name on it, so you might just wanna scurry away..."

The thug looked at Mal, then back at his fellows. He glared at Mal. "I wan't askin', I was tellin'."

Mal glared back at the man and stood up. "So was I."

The man looked away at his fellows, then his stance changed. Mal knew he was going to throw a punch, and when the punch came Mal leaned backward and away from it, grabbing the man's arm and pulling it and the man's momentum until he went over the bar and onto the ground behind. Zoe pistol whipped one of the thugs and trained her weapon on the last one. Mal looked at the last thing standing. "You tell your boss that we don't want no trouble, we just take exception to rude behavior... Won't happen again." The man nodded, turned around and strode out casually. Mal looked at Zoe. "I think we've overstayed our welcome." Mal looked back at Ben. "You comin'?"

Ben seemed to consider it for a moment, then nodded. "Silverhold Colonies." The three got up and quickly moved back to Serenity, they walked up the gangway and Zoe guided Ben to the cockpit. Jayne walked out of the kitchen as Mal was entering it. "Who the hell was that." he asked Mal. "Don't matter, get ready we're gettin' outta here...." Jayne looked at him. "I thought we was stayin' here a bit." Mal glared at him. "Jayne, just do it."

Mal ran up to the bridge, feeling the tremble of Serenity taking off. "Who set this thing down last?" Ben said. Mal looked at him. "I did." Ben nodded to himself. "You almost took the landing gear off you set her down so hard." Ben locked the VTOL engines into position and fired them to provide maximum thrust. Serenity fired off like a rocket and broke atmo. As they exited atmo, something came over the comm. "This is Commander Tucker P. Wang, of the Alliance Patrol Ship Jutland. You are ordered to match our velocity and prepare for cargo inspection." Mal looked at Ben... "Great, this is just the type of start to my day I was lookin' for..."

Stay tuned for "Have Gun, Will Travel" Pt. 2.5