Title: The Man For The Job

Author: AlsoKnownAs

Rating: PG13 for violence.

Pairings (if any): Not really. Implied Kaylee/Simon just like on the show.

Summary: Keeping a promise to Kaylee brings trouble to Mal and the crew after a job on the planet of Argonas goes wrong. Multi-chapter fic set during the series.

Disclaimer: The God who is Joss Whedon owns the masterful brilliance that is Firefly. I simply bow before him and borrow these characters to make a fic in tribute.

Feedback: Always. Reviews are like sex, I don't get much but I’ll take what I get even if it’s bad.

Distribution: If it goes anywhere I want to know about it first.

Author’s Notes: This story takes place during Firefly.

xxxxx

Mal’s eyes narrowed and he raised his head just enough to look out from under a furrowed brow.

“By my reckonin’, we ought be done here.” he began. “But since the payment ain’t even near on half of what we agreed upon, I think you got yourself some coin t’be gettin’.” Mal lifted his head and unclipped the holster that sat on his hip. “Best be doin’ that ‘fore my patience wears itself thin.”

Mal barely had time to jerk his head to the right as the first of three bullets whizzed by him. The second and third buried themselves in the wood of a pillar as the captain dove for the ground, rolling hard. He scrambled for the cover of a table that Zoe and Jayne had turned on it’s side in an effort to find a place to hide.

“Tryin’ your hand at makin’ friends again I see.” Jayne stated as he stood behind Vera’s bark.

Two men fell from the banister they had been using to rain bullets down upon them. Jayne retreated to the relative safety of the upturned table.

“Ain’t my fault!” Mal shouted over the echoing gun blasts.

“Just like the last time.” Jayne muttered.

“It ain’t!” Mal repeated, turning to Zoe in hope of getting some reassurance.

She simply gave him a sideways glance before delivering her own volley of shots into the enclosing melee.

“Never is, Sir.” she said simply.

“They weren’t payin’ us in full.” Mal explained, joining his first mate in returning fire. “I couldn’t just let ‘em leave without payin’ what they owed. It was…” he searched for a point.

“A dignity thing?” Zoe suggested as she despatched another armed man.

“A dignity thing! Exactly!” Mal turned to Jayne in the midst of the fire fight which the trio appeared to be winning. “Y’see? It’s all about dignity.”

Jayne kept his eyes forward concentrating on picking off the remaining assailants.

“Right now it ain’t about nothin’ but not gettin’ dead.” the merc replied as he bunkered down behind the table to reload. “And that’d be because o’ you.”

xxxxx

A while later, Kaylee lowered Serenity’s ramp as the mule approached the boat. She watched with a smile as Mal, Zoe and Jayne made their way back. She always liked it when they all came back from a job without being hurt. The money was also a good thing. She patted Serenity’s wall. Money kept her baby flying. She shook herself from her thoughts as Jayne guided the mule inside the cargo bay. He brought it to a stop and Mal was the first to jump out. Kaylee greeted him with a cheerful grin.

“Welcome back!” she chirped.

“Good t’be back.” Mal sighed. “’Nara still away with the shuttle?”

“Yep.” Kaylee nodded. “Got herself booked to the new President hisself.”

“Well, I wanna be leavin’ sooner rather than later. Attracted some attention back on the job. She might just have to meet us in the air.”

“How’d it go?” his mechanic asked enthusiastically.

Jayne scoffed before Mal had a chance to answer.

“Captain got shot. Again.”

Mal spun around.

“I did not get shot.” he refuted indignantly. “I got shot at.” he corrected, emphasising the last word. “There’s a big difference.”

“Three millimetres ain’t that big a difference.”

“Let’s just be grateful we made it outta there in one piece.” he said, walking over to the comm. He pushed a button, ignoring Jayne’s incessant snickering. “Wash, take us to the black.”

Kaylee raced over to him, her face full of shock and disappointment.

“But Cap’n, you said we was gonna get some taffy ‘fore we left!”

Mal tried to ignore her crestfallen look with little success.

“The job took longer‘n I expected. I wasn’t planning on bein’ planetside much more’n half a day.” he told her, bringing the ramp up as the engines hummed to life.

“But you promised Cap’n!” Kaylee reminded him.

“Now don’t you go givin’ me them puppy dog eyes. Line of work we’re in, I can’t always be keepin’ promises, li’l’ Kaylee. ‘Sides they’re sweets. I’ll get y’a whole crate next stop we make.” he promised her.

It didn’t work.

“They don’t got this kind o’ taffy any where else!” she persisted.

Mal turned to Zoe and Jayne.

“Help here?” Zoe and Jayne raise their hands and looked away. Mal knew he had no choice. “Alright.” he relented to a chorus of excitement from Kaylee. “But we ain’t stoppin’ to gawk at all the other frippery. Straight to the taffy shop and back. Dong ma?”

“Thankyou Cap’n!” She kissed his cheek and hurried up the stairs. “I gotta go tell River!”

“We ain’t takin’ her along!” Mal called out at the mention of the youngest Tam sibling. “Can’t be babysittin’ when were on a schedule. It’s just you and me. Taffy shop and right on back to the boat.”

“Ok, Cap’n!” came the distant reply.

“I mean it.” he reminded her. Then he spoke into the comm. “Change of plans, Wash. We’re stayin’ a while longer.”

Wash’s crackling reply brought the comm to life.

“Can you get me some taffy too?”

xxxxx

Mal walked onto the bridge at Zoe’s request while Kaylee readied the mule that Jayne had just finished unloading.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as he joined Zoe and Wash.

“Wash pulled a bulletin off the Cortex.” Zoe began. “It’s recent and it’s about Argonas.” she revealed, referring to the planet they were currently on.

“What does the bulletin say?” Mal asked concernedly.

“Civil unrest. Political protesting. Nothing violent as yet.” Wash reported. “But it’s in Taffin Falls.”

“Right where the taffy is.”

“I’d suggest being extra careful, Sir.” Zoe put in.

Mal patted his sidearm.

“Always am, Zoe.” he grinned.

xxxxx

Mal turned slightly as he walked from the bridge to see Zoe following him.

“Sir.” she called to him.

Mal didn’t stop but he slowed enough for her to catch up.

“I know what you’re thinkin’.” Mal told her. “And there ain’t no need t’be thinkin’ it. We’re only goin’ to a sweets shop and we’ll be back quicker’n a tick o’ the clock.”

“I’m not gonna have any luck telling you that you should reconsider, am I?”

“Not ‘less you can find some other way for Kaylee to get that confection she’s cravin’. I go off-world without it and I ain’t gonna hear the end of it for the better part of a month.” He stopped and faced his first mate. “Only way to stop us goin’ for that taffy is t’get it delivered here to the boat.” That gave him pause for thought. “I wonder if they do that…” Mal pondered.

Zoe pressed on while Mal considered the option of home delivery.

“Political unrest isn’t something to be taken lightly, Sir. Wouldn’t think you would be takin’ a risk like this.”

“Wash said the bulletin said they was protestin’ all peaceful-like?”

“Well, yes…” she conceded.

“Then the way I see it, we’re gonna have t’dodge a few placards is all.” he replied, continuing to the cargo bay. “That’s somethin’ I’m willin’ to do if it gets me some peace.”

“Sir…”

“Zoe, I ain’t lookin’ t’discuss this with you. I respect your opinion, but it’s just a trip to a candy store.”

“Sir.” Zoe repeated, her tone more insistent than it had been. “Fievel Barula is a dictator. The people of Taffin Falls, of the whole of Argonas actually, don’t want him to lead them. They want him out.”

“Then let them get him out. All I wanna do is get some taffy for Kaylee and get off this dustball.” Mal reminded her.

“It could get violent out there, Sir.”

“And it probably will.” he conceded. “Bit o’ luck we’ll be nothin’ more than a wake trail by that time.”

As Mal headed for the cargo bay, Zoe wondered if he really knew what he was doing.

xxxxx

The sky of Argonas was hued with a pale red haze as the dusty earth blew across the landscape, pushed by a warm afternoon breeze. The Barula Estate stood alone in the flats on the outskirts of Taffin Falls. It was a four story structure put together brick by marbled brick over eighty years earlier. Polished black cobble stones snaked a path through the flourishing gardens that were nourished by a nearby underground well. A large blue door marked the main entrance to the house where Argonas’s newly elected President resided. Inside, the décor was as elegant as the surrounding grounds. The interior of the home had a sense of regality to it, from the spiral staircase through to the fifty-six bedrooms, lavishly adorned with the finest fabrics and precious gems the Core could produce.

Behind the enamelled, silver trimmed door of one of those bedrooms, an intimate liaison was being played out. Amidst rumpled velvet, satin and silk, two bodies concluded a union of the flesh that spent them both; beads of sweat evidence of the carnal pleasures that had taken place.

“President Barula, that was wonderful.” Inara told her client as he pulled a robe around his robust figure.

“Inara, please, call me Fievel.” the President requested, his back to her.

Inara took up part of the sheets, bundling them around her breasts. She intently watched as Barula lit a pipe and stomped across the palatial bedroom to a comm unit against the wall.

“Very well. Fievel.” Inara complied. “Your home is magnificent.”

Inara was schooled in telling her clients what they wanted to hear; to inflate their egos. But when she spoke of the Barula Estate, she truly meant it.

“Thankyou.” he replied absently, seemingly more interested in the comm than the beauty laying in his bed. “Parrish? Parrish, answer me damn it!”

“Yessir, President Barula, sir.” came the reply.

Barula glanced at Inara before continuing.

“Have those troublemakers in the town gotten anymore out of hand?”

“No sir, Mr. President. Still protesting quietly.”

“Very well.” the President said. “Still, I don’t like them disrupting what should be a victorious day for me. Have some of your men disperse them.”

After a confirmation from Parrish, Barula walked back over to Inara. He removed his robe and sat next to her on the bed.

“Troubles?” she asked.

“Nothing a creature of such beauty like yourself need be concerned with.” he told her.

xxxxx

Back on Serenity, Mal and Kaylee were almost ready for what Mal considered to be a simple trip.

“We won’t be more’n an hour maximum.” he assured Zoe.

“Maybe you should take one of the radios.” she suggested.

She handed him one of the devices and he took it from her with a roll of his eyes.

“Just in case, of course.”

“Just in case.” Zoe echoed.

Mal started the mule up and prepared to drive down the ramp of Serenity when he caught sight of River climbing into the back. He swivelled around to look at her and she gave him a smile.

“I like candy.” she informed him.

“Be that as it may, you can’t come with us.” Mal told the girl. He then looked to Kaylee. “Thought I done told you she wasn’t comin’ along?”

“I told her that, Cap’n.” Kaylee said.

“Better hop on off, darlin’.” Mal ushered River from the mule but she resisted. “I wanna get to the taffy shop ‘n’ be back as soon as we can, ‘verse willin’,”

“I won’t look at the frippery. I’ll stay right by your side and I won’t make a fuss.”

“I’ll take that as a genuine kindness. Still not lettin’ y’come along.”

River gave Mal a pout and got off the mule as her brother walked up beside her.

“You’re not taking her, I presume.” Simon assumed.

“There a problem with that?” Mal inquired, standing closer to the doctor.

“I told River I didn’t see any harm in her going to the sweet shop with you and Kaylee. She wants a bag of gumdrops.”

Mal hoisted himself back on board the mule.

“And we’ll be sure to bring some back for her.”

“She’s upset, Captain.” Simon stated, holding his sulking sister.

“Thought you above all others woulda been against this little side trip, doctor. Most times when I need the girl along on a job, you howl about it for days before ‘n’ after.”

“Why would I be against a trip to the candy store?”

“Here.” Wash offered, handing Simon the print out of the Cortex bulletin.

He scanned it quickly then turned to River.

“You’re not going.” Looking directly at Kaylee, he changed his tune toward Mal. “I don’t think it’s such a good idea after all, Captain.”

“No one does.” Mal huffed.

Mal was about to pull away from the boat, when Shepherd Book came into the cargo bay, grabbing his attention.

“Captain.” he called. “A word if I may before you go?”

“I ain’t lookin’ to hear your protests, Shepherd.” Mal warned.

“I was just wondering if you could pick me up some orange pastilles. I’m quite fond of them.”

Mal smiled slightly.

“Anyone else got an order they want filled?”

When no one else wanted anything, Mal hit the accelerator and the assembled group watched as he and Kaylee headed toward Taffin Falls.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

CONTINUED IN THE NEXT CHAPTER...