Disclaimer: All of this belongs to Joss and the other people.

Rebuilding Haven: Inventory

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Serenity landed on the dusty surface of Haven. The loading ramp came down and Kaylee, Simon and Jayne went past an official looking group of men as they went to inform the foreman that the machinery was ready to be picked up.

Mal and Inara walked out slower than their companions. When suddenly they stopped looked at the official party to greet them, especially the one in the middle. “Captain Reynolds, you have been avoiding me. Miss Serra, how nice it is to see you again. I am sincerely sorry about the last time we met in person. But you were in my way.”

Inara replied “I cannot say it is such a good thing to see you, what are you doing here anyway?” She said looking the Ex-operative in the eye. “My business was making better worlds. And it has been shown to me that you can’t force people to live peacefully. They must choose to live that way themselves. History has shown that back on Earth-That-Was, the only time that a form of communism actually worked was in the early Christian church.” “They lived in communes sharing everything.” Simon added as he arrived back at the group of people gathered. He walked over to his sister, who reassured him that everything was alright. “And here 2500 years later and we have made another community like that, just look at those people over there.” The operative points to a diverse group of people working together to help erect a building of some kind. “But I thought you said, there wasn’t a place for naughty men like us in a perfect society.” Mal said. “That was what I truly believed, but then again is it truly a perfect society if people aren’t accepted for who they are.” The operative said. “Well I’m thinkin’ that I won’t kill you now, seeing that you have changed your killing ways and all” so I’ll introduce you to the rest of the crew instead.

* * *

“This is our Mechanic Kaylee, she enjoys eating strawberries and…” “Simon” Jayne cut him off. “He’s the one over there with the ironed shirt…” “I think I know who Simon is, Remember I was tracking him for 8 months.” “I know who you are Jayne Cobb, I had to mop up one of your immaculate plans for a bank robbery. I was assigned that as in the field experience and I swore that I would catch you, but you disappeared” “Well seeing that I like Jayne on my crew, lets move on to my first mate Zoë Washborne. She may not like you. The whole you caused the death of her husband thing probably makes her a little angry at you, plus she fought for the independents” “Don’t be that harsh Captain, If Wash didn’t shave that silly moustache I would have killed him myself.” “So this is the albatross.” “At length did cross an Albatross, Thorough the fog it came ; As if it had been a Christian soul, We hailed it in God's name.” Reciting from the ancient poem “You are worth a lot of money, River. Simon you are worth more than Jayne is. But he has killed more. Ironic isn’t it?” “What’s Ironic is that someone who spends their life building a better life, knowing full well there is no position for them there” River said. “No little one, that’s not ironic… That’s belief.” Surprisingly that wasn’t the operative talking, it was Mal.

Even though this stunned everyone there, except the operative no-one questioned Mal on his new found knowledge of belief. So Mal concluded the introduction with a tour of Serenity.

* * * The group gathered outside of Serenity and as the official party entered the tunnel system that sprawled out underneath the surface, a single ship entered the atmosphere.

Zoë noticed it first, a small reflecting dot way up in the atmosphere. T hen Mal saw it. He continued looking at it. Soon the dot transformed into a ship. Not much bigger than Serenity and the crew had seen it before. They had been chased by it and it has found them again. Mal and Zoë ran back inside to get their weapons.

All but River became afraid as they realized what was happening. River just walked into the cargo bay and looked up, and smiled.

* * *

The crew approached the Kormoran with caution expecting the hull to open at any time with a hoard of pirates to come rushing out. But nothing happened, Mal tried knocking on the door, but no response came. River walked slowly up to the Ship, gave a short sharp whistle. A Parrot flew out of the cargo bay of Serenity and landed on River’s shoulder. The Parrot gave a squawk and the door opened, to reveal an open cavernous cargo bay.

Mal half expected to hear Wash say something like “I wonder if there is an echo in there”. But then he remembered, and he wasn’t going to say it, so he just chuckled to himself.”

Zoë looked at him, raised her right eyebrow then just walked into the ship with her gun searching for any kind of trap that might be waiting for them.

The parrot knew exactly what to do and pressed a secret button before one of the crew blew the whole ship to smithereens.

The pirate captain appeared in the middle of the space and in his familiar voice said “Polly if you’re watching this, we’re all dead and that means the ship is yours… I’d never thought I would see the day, yarrr. But alas the ship is yours to do with what you will, don’t be selling her mind you, even though I’m dead I can still haunt you… yarrrr. Well this is the end my old friend. Yarrr.” Then the most suprising thing happened the pirate captain cried”

“Do pirates have a special bond with their birds, or is that one just well sentimental?” asked Simon who was a little confused. “I say we kill the bird then strip the ship piece from piece, I bet Kaylee there could scrounge a …. Well something.” “Jayne… we’re not killing this bird, It’s been on my boat. And I don’t kill anyone that’s been on my boat. Even if they are a parrot.” “What about that fed that tried to take River?” “Fine, I don’t kill anyone on my boat that hasn’t paid their fare” “Mal, it’s a bird how’s it supposed to pay for travel?” Zoë said “It owns this ship doesn’t it?” Inara said. “So that means we can travel in this ship for free.” Jayne thought out loud. “Close Jayne, According to some cultures if a person steals from someone and can’t pay him back, the thief becomes a slave to the person.” “So we own this bird, well that’s no use.” Jayne said not realizing where Mal was going with the convocation.” “We own the bird until it can pay back its fare.” River said. “Which the birdie can’t pay… So being the nice honest people we are, and we don’t want a slave so we will reposes what he owns as payment for his debt” Mal concluded “It’s a She” River added “But is this ship worth what the bird owes us?” Jayne said thinking that a fight might break out because of the blatant ripping-off on the crew’s part. “Jayne’s bin thinking, he’ll sleep well tonight.” Kaylee chirped in before she started giggling, River soon joined in. All but Jayne were smiling. “The prices went up just before we took the job, Jayne.” Mal said sarcastically still smiling. “Oh, well that’s ok then” Jayne said not realizing the sarcasm. “And they go back to normal prices. Now” Mal said almost in tears at Jayne’s misconception. Jayne went straight to the weapons cabinet and took everything he could hold. Kaylee and Simon went off to the Engine room and the Infirmary to see what supplies they could grab. Zoë went off to stop Jayne getting all the guns. Inara headed to the kitchen to see what she could get (She had now taken up the role of Chef, as she had given up her Companion role)

Mal just stood there looking pretty pleased with himself. He had just won an intellectual battle against a parrot, and then convinced a man-ape that it was alright. River just walked up behind him and asked “Can we keep her?” “What?” “Can we keep her, she’ll be good. I promise, I’ll look after her.” “Don’t you forget that you got all of us to look after, or have you forgotten that stunt with the Reavers” “But Mal…” Mal knowing where this was going, (as he had been down this road many times before, he can withstand Kaylee even Inara. But not River, she knew what he was thinking and would have a rebuttal ready for him.) He just lowered his head and said “Fine, but if he messes up he’ll be going for a journey in the black.” “It’s a she” River whispered as she left holding up her new pet as if it were a prize.

* * *

Serenity flew through space on their way to pick up their next cargo. The crew were happy on their new acquisitions from the Koroman which was melted down and was made into parts of the settlement.

Mal charged into Inara’s shuttle, un-announced as always to find Kaylee. And there she was, her hair all brushed and she didn’t have grease on her face. The two women were talking about sex. ”Kaylee what are you doing in here, you’re space monkeys have attacked the engine room again.” “Be strong” Inara whispered in Kaylee’s ear. Kaylee stood up and walked to the captain who stood over a foot taller than her but she had determination in her eyes “Cap’n I’ll do it tomorrow, I need my man to take off all these clothes” “I didn’t need to know that, Next time try to clean up the engine room before you go calling ‘doctor doctor’” Mal shouted after her. “Do I have to book a time to get my hair done, so we can talk about sex?” Mal asked turning to go and do his final rounds of the ship. “Come back later and we’ll see if my schedule has any room” Inara said as he was leaving.

Mal walked through Serenity Thinking of all the adventures she had been on with him. He thought of when he had first laid eyes on her, when she first left atmosphere, when they outran Reavers, when they had piloted through a fierce battle between the Reavers and the Alliance. He stopped as he reached the engine room, he put his hand on the engine, Even though the room was a mess it was still the heart of the ship, its very essence. He was just about to turn around when he heard a soft voice repeat some very significant words. “Love, If you take a boat in the air and you don’t love, she’ll shake you off sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air, when she ‘oughta fall down, tells you when she’s hurting ‘fore she keens… Makes her home” Mal turned round slowly rerunning those words in his head. He turned round to see the door locked.

‘I’m gonna kill that girl when I find her’ Mal thought as he lay back in Kaylee’s Hammock. He fell asleep listening to the slow beating heart of Serenity. His home…

Fine

Hope you liked it… Any feedback would be great.