Captain Wu craned her neck as the ship's cargo ramp rolled open and the smell hit her. The entire planet of Verbena smelled like fruit, a sweet sticky scent hanging on the air. Not nauseatingly so, like the di lian air fresheners Mona insisted on spraying all over her bunk, but still very heavy. She smiled. This was a nice planet. "All right, Dex, get whatever repairs done that you can, then fuel her up and grab any supplies we're lackin'. Mona, see if you can wrangle us some passengers. I'm gonna track down the cargo sergeant and try to find our shipment." Rachel took a few steps forward, then felt Saul's shadow fall behind her. "Sir?" She looked up expectantly. "We still got some coin from the Beylix run, I was hopin' to grab some produce. Like to be cheaper here, green planet like this." Rachel nodded. "Sure. See to it." As the rest of the crew split off, Mariah stepped forward into the cargo bay. As she did, Mona flashed her a grin and trotted back to meet her. Mariah smiled gingerly. "So what am I supposed to do?" Mona shrugged. "You know, you're a passenger, technically, you ain't supposed to do anything." The teenager grabbed Mariah's hand and pulled the hesitant young woman toward the cargo doors and the yawning forest. "Come on, you can help me trick some more suckers like you into flyin' with us." It had taken the Chens some time to get their baggage and papers in order, and a great deal more to track down the Firefly, as its docking permit had not been filled out correctly. Sir Anderson took this as another sign that this was exactly the kind of ship he was looking for. Rachel waved off the last of the teamsters and picked up the pen the sergeant offered her, sweeping her signature across the gel impression plate. The cargo sergeant nodded and checked the signature, then slid away the clipboard. "Shipment's just vac-packed fruit headed for the Core. All you gotta do is get it as far as Paquin, then transfer it to the captain of the Morningstar. He'll pay you t'other half." Rachel nodded. "Right." As the local suppliers walked off the boat, Saul walked on, a burlap sack over one arm and a wooden crate under the other. "What'd you get?" Saul shrugged and dropped the box. "Less than I'd like. Got some apples and such, but this rock's mostly about fruit. Soil ain't right for vegetables, or somethin'. Got plenty ammo, though." "All right, get it stowed." "Cap'n." Rachel turned back toward the ramp, and saw Mona and Mariah walking back up. "You score us any fares?" Mona winced. "Not really. Don't seem like there's no one on this rock with the cash and the motivation." Rachel nodded and moved to the comm on the door controls. "Dex, is Daph back yet?" "I don't think so. I mean, I didn't hear the shuttle come in." Saul frowned. "She's near an hour late." Rachel sighed in frustration. "Yeah, big surprise. All right, Mona, get us prepped, we fly as soon as Daphne's back with my shuttle." "Yes, Miss Wu." Saul turned to pick up the box of ammunition, and suddenly found himself confronted with a pair of immaculately clean black dress shoes. He followed them up to a pair of immaculately pleated black trousers, then to an immaculately starched dress coat, then to an immaculately trimmed beard. Sir Anderson smiled and extended his hand. "Captain, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Sir Anderson Chen, and I understand your ship is booking passage to the Rim?" Saul blinked, snorted, and picked up the crate, extending to his full height a good head taller than the elderly gentleman. "Captain, someone to see you." Sir Anderson swiveled to face the direction in which the large black man had been speaking. The woman who held out her hand was young, beautiful, and absolutely in no way capable of being a starship captain. "You…are the captain of this vessel?" "Rachel Wu, at your service." When he didn't shake her hand, she frowned and withdrew it. "Is there a problem?" "No, I merely imagined…how old are you, exactly?" Rachel blinked. "Twenty three. How old are you, sir?" "No, I'm sorry, I meant no disrespect, I…" Sir Anderson cleared his throat. "I am Sir Anderson Chen. My nephew and I need to book passage off this planet." Rachel gritted her teeth. This fu gu ge had a lot of nerve. "I'm not sure we're the right boat for you, your lordliness." Sir Anderson frowned as she turned away. This was going to be trickier than he thought. He turned his eyes, pleading, to his nephew. Leopold grinned. "Excuse me, Captain." She turned back, only now seeing the younger, no less well-groomed man as he stepped out of his uncle's shadow. She looked him over; he was handsome, in that annoying, clean Core-world way, but there was a spark in his eyes as if he, unlike his older relative, actually knew what he was doing here. "I noticed you don't have a ship's medic registered on your crew manifest." Rachel's annoyance deepened. He was just as bad as his uncle, then. "Well, one more reason not to travel with the likes of us." "No, no, you don't understand…" The young man raised one of the pieces of luggage he was carrying, a steel briefcase embellished with a blue caduceus. "If you allow us to fly with you, I'd gladly offer my services for the extent of the journey." This gave Rachel pause. Since most of their work was legal, it was only rarely that they managed to get themselves in a firefight, but there had still been situations when it would have been better to have a doctor on board. That, and there was something in this one's eyes. Unlike the old man, this doctor was an adventurer. While Sir Anderson was obviously running from something, it seemed more as if his nephew was running to something. Rachel nodded. "All right. We leave as soon as our last passenger's back. Mona?" The short girl appeared from behind one of the cargo crates; she'd obviously wanted to catch a look at the new arrivals. "Yes, Miss Wu?" "Could you help these two get their bags to the passenger dorms? They can have the right side rooms." Mona nodded and gestured for Mariah, who had been standing off to the side. "This is Mariah Boleyn, she's staying in the quarters across from yours. And that's Ramona Dezi." She smiled, wide. "Call me Mona." Rachel turned as she heard the clink of Dex's feet against the stairs. She smiled. Finally, she had some backup. "This is Carl Dexter, ship's mechanic and co-owner." He nodded, and shook the passengers' hands briskly. He wasn't so good with new people. He turned toward Rachel's ear. "Coolant line's all patched up, and Daphne just docked in the Longbow." Rachel nodded. "Excuse me, gentlemen. Mona and Mariah will show you to the passenger rooms." She started for the stairs that led up to the shuttle airlocks, Dex following after. Mona grinned. "Come right this way." As the group stepped through the door into the lounge, Mona glanced up at Leopold. "So, you're a doctor?" He shrugged. "Yeah. I was a call surgeon back home." Her gaze turned to the older, dour man. "And what about you?" When he responded only with an annoyed look, Leopold shot his uncle a tetchy glance and answered for him. "Uncle Anderson's a barrister." Mona's nose wrinkled in distaste. "Can I call you Andy?" Sir Anderson glared down at her. "Absolutely not." Leopold shook his head. "You can call me Leo." Mariah gestured to the rooms, Mona grinned, and Sir Anderson finally looked down at her in earnest. "How old are you, child?" "Sixteen." "And you work here? Stewarding?" Sir Anderson's eyebrows knitted together. "I'm almost positive there's a law against that." Mona shook her head as she dropped the bags she had been carrying rather indelicately. "Oh, no, I don't steward. " Sir Anderson gave an approving nod. "I'm the pilot." Before he had a chance to reply, Mona and Mariah were off through the lounge, leaving the older man shaking his head in despair and glancing up at his nephew. "Good lord, what have I done…" As they walked toward the cargo bay, Mona nudged Mariah's shoulder. "That doctor's pretty cute." Mariah smiled sweetly. "Don't tell me the bai fa bai zhong queen of flying has a schoolgirl crush." Mona grinned devilishly, doing her best to look hurt. "Maybe." Mona paused, then looked up. "Do you really think I'm bai fa bai zhong?" Doctor Chen watched them walk away, his eyes riveted to the dark hair cascading in ringlets down Mariah's tapered back. Then his uncle grabbed his shoulder and he turned, forlornly, to the luggage. Rachel was fuming when Daphne opened the door of her shuttle. Daphne just grinned. "What'd I miss?" Rachel's glare tightened. "You're an hour late." Daphne shrugged, trying to pass Rachel on the catwalk, brushing her hip against the captain's. "Sorry, I got…swept up." The Companion's hand settled on Rachel's arm, fingers brushing delicately across the burgundy fabric of her shirt. "Maybe you need to learn to relax, fei fei jian zhang…" Rachel blushed almost imperceptibly, jerked her arm out of Daphne's grip, and stormed off down the catwalk toward the bridge. "We've got some new passengers on board, why don't you go try that huo fu dong ren on them?" As Dex fell into step beside her, Rachel let out an exasperated sigh. "I swear, Dex, that jien huo's libido's gonna get us all humped one of these days." When she turned to Dex, his eyebrows were peaked. She cleared her throat. "So to speak. I don't know why I let her stay on board." Dex sighed and fell back a pace so Rachel could take the stairs up the bridge ahead of him. "Come on, jei-jei, you let her rent the Longbow 'cause, you gan xing jiao open door policy or not, she's managed to keep her license with the Guild, which makes docking easier more or less everywhere." "Startin' to think it ain't worth it, and who are you to talk, you can't even say a complete sentence to her." Dex shrugged, blushing for at least the third time that day. "She makes me a mite uneasy. Feel like she's gonna jump me." Rachel clucked her tongue as she pulled herself up to the bridge. "A reasonable concern. Mona, you ready to fly?" Mona finished strapping herself into the pilot's chair and flashed her best suicidal grin. "Ready as ever, Cap'n." "Dex, you sure you got that engine room squared away?" Dex smiled and shrugged. "Yeah." His smile faded a little. "I mean, reasonably sure." Rachel groaned as the engines whirred up and sank back into the co-pilot's chair. Just one of those days…