Serenity, Part I
TEASER
(SERENITY VALLEY – NIGHT)
(We are in the middle of a battle. Soldiers are yelling and running, gunfire everywhere. We focus on a soldier in the silhouette of an explosion, running and dodging fire. He hits the dirt for cover. We move in and see that it's Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds. His face is dirty and he's breathing hard. Mal's up again and running to rejoin his company in a makeshift foxhole.)
Radio Operator: Sergeant, Command says air support is holding till they can assess our status.
Mal: Our status is that we need some gorram air support. Now get back on line and tell 'em to get in here.
Zoe: That skiff is shredding us, sir.
Radio Operator: They won't move without a lieutenant's authorization code, sir.
(Angry, Mal walks over and rips off the badge from a dead Lieutenant's uniform and gives it to the Radio Operator.)
Mal: Here, here's your code. You're Lieutenant Baker. Congratulations on your promotion. Now get me some air support! (to Zoe) Pull back, just enough to wedge 'em in here. Get your squad to high ground, start picking 'em off.
Zoe: High ground is death with that skiff in the air.
Mal: That's our problem. Thanks for volunteering. (to Bendis) Bendis, give us some cover fire. We're going duck hunting. (The foxhole is rocked by a huge explosion. Mal's group of soldiers are looking pretty young and scared. Time for a morale boost.) Just focus! (beat) The Alliance said they were gonna waltz through Serenity Valley and we choked 'em with those words. We've done the impossible and that makes us mighty. Just a little while longer, our angels are gonna be soaring overhead raining fire on those arrogant cod, so you hold! (yelling) You hold! Go!
(His soldiers take up their positions to lay down cover fire while Mal and Zoe prepare to take down the skiff.)
Zoe: Really think we can bring her down, sir?
Mal: Do you even need to ask? (He pulls a necklace out from under his shirt and kisses the cross.) Ready?
Zoe: Always. (Mal takes off. Zoe prepares to follow, sees that no one's covering Mal.) Bendis? Bendis! (She sees Bendis huddled across from her, scared stiff. She gets angry.) Rut it.
(Zoe grunts and stands up, laying cover fire for Mal as he moves down the hill. After a moment, she follows Mal down the hill, taking cover with him behind some boulders. Mal fires into the bushes, causing the soldier guarding a bigass gun to move out of his cover and return fire. Mal shoots him dead. Mal activates the bigass gun's targeting system while Zoe covers him. Mal locks a target on the skiff that's been killing them in the battle and fires. He makes a direct hit and stands back from the bigass gun.)
Mal: Yeah! (He gives a manly grunt then realizes that the skiff is outta control... and headed right for him. He starts running.) Zoe!
(Mal and Zoe run as the skiff hits the ground and plows past them, exploding. Mal and Zoe hit the ground flat on their backs. Mal starts laughing. Zoe looks long-suffering.)
Zoe: (entering foxhole, to Bendis) Nice cover fire.
Mal: Did you see that? Green, what's our status on... (He trails off as he realizes Green is pretty wounded.) Zoe. (She looks up. Mal points. Zoe moves to check Green. Mal moves to sit near Bendis.) Hey, listen to me. Bendis, look at me! Listen, we're holding this valley no matter what.
Bendis: We're gonna die.
Mal: We're not gonna die. We can't die, Bendis. You know why? (beat) Because we are so very pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die. Huh? Look at that chiseled jaw. Huh? C'mon. (There's a roaring sound overhead. Zoe is listening on the radio.) If you won't listen to me, listen to that. Those are our angels coming to blow the Alliance to the hot place. (to Zoe) Zoe, tell the 82nd --
Zoe: (stunned) They're not coming. (beat) Command says it's too hot. They're pulling out. We're to lay down arms.
(Mal's stunned, in denial. He looks at Bendis.)
Mal: But what's... (slowly he stands stands and peeks over the top of the foxhole. His face is lit from their air support rising and retreating. Bendis stands next to him. Mal's in shock, watching his last hope pull out of the fight.
Beside him, Bendis is hit by enemy fire and falls. Mal doesn't notice. Close up on the disbelief on Mal’s bloody face.)
(BLOWN-OUT SHIP – NIGHT)
(We are in some kind of burnt out wreck - all we see is twisted black metal, a few stars visible through breaches in the hull. From top of frame, Mal floats upside-down into a close up. He is in a space suit.)
Title Card:
SIX YEARS LATER
Mal: The vault's sealed. (beat) Okay. I'm gonna boil it. Jayne, give me the sticky.
(We then see Zoe and Jayne Cobb also suited up. They are in zero gravity, floating by a big iron door. Jayne hands Mal an object that looks like a glue gun. Mal squeezes the trigger and clear gel comes out with a line running through it. He paints a line around the outside of the door. The gel begins to eat through the door.)
Mal: Okay. We get the goods, we're off this wreck and back on the ship. No worries.
(SERENITY – BRIDGE)
(Hoban “Wash” Washburne sits in the pilot's seat. He's concentrating intensely.)
Wash: Everything looks good from here...(beat) Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. (He's playing with little plastic dinosaurs. He holds a Stegosaurus and a T-Rex. The dinosaurs look out over his dash/console, toward the window.)(as Stegosaurus) We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land." (as T-Rex) I think we should call it "your grave!" (Stegosaurus) Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! (T-Rex) Ha ha HA! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die! (Stegosaurus) Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven! (He makes them fight. As he does, a light near him flashes red. He stops fighting, looks, then looks at a sort of radar screen. The radar screen has got three other dinosaurs on it. He sweeps them off as a blip appears in the upper right quadrant, closing fast.) Oh, motherless son of a b—
(BLOWN-OUT SHIP)
(A piece of metal goes flying past Jayne.)
Zoe: Full pressure. The goods must be intact.
(Three crates, roughly the size of hay bales, sit in the dark.)
Mal: Okay. Looking good.
(A voice sounds simultaneously in all three headsets: Wash.)
Wash: (on com) Captain, we got incoming! Alliance cruiser, bearing right down on us!
Mal: (in Chinese) Oh shit! (in English) Have they spotted us?
Wash: (on com) I can't tell if --
Mal: Have they hailed us?
Jayne: If they're here for the salvage, we're humped.
Zoe: If they find us at all, we're humped. Thievin' ain't exactly --
Jayne: I don't like this.
Mal: (in Chinese) Shut up. (in English) Wash, shut it down, Wash. Everything but the air.
(SERENITY – BRIDGE)
Wash: Shutting down. (He is flipping switches, we hear engines running down, lights go off - he hits the com.) Kaylee! KAYLEE!
(ENGINE ROOM)
(Kaylee Frye comes running into frame toward the engine room. She gets inside and hits the com.)
Wash: (on com) Go to black out! We're being buzzed!
Kaylee: (in Chinese) Affirmative. (in English) Going dark -- (She and keeps moving, hitting switches. She climbs up on the engine to flip the last switch. Everything goes black.) Okay. Now I can't get down.
(SPACE)
(An Alliance Cruiser. Sleek and huge. The I.A.V. DORTMUNDER.)
Captain: (os) So what am I looking at?
(DORTMUNDER BRIDGE)
Ensign: It's a carrier, blew out a few months back. Lost all hands, but it was only run by a skeleton crew anyway.
Captain: Damn shame. No point in checking for survivors...?
(BLOWN-OUT SHIP)
Mal: Wash, they slowing down?
(SERENITY BRIDGE)
Wash: That's a neg. Don't think they're interested in us. We should be eating wake in a minute or two.
(BLOWN-OUT SHIP)
(Mal waits as through a piece of ripped out wall behind him, the ship, impossibly huge and dangerously close, passes by. We see the reflection of the passing ship plays across his faceplate. He is silent. So are the others. The cruiser passes by, leaving the ship behind, all clear.)
(DORTMUNDER BRIDGE)
(A man seated at a screen suddenly looks concerned.)
Man: Sir, there is a reading on that thing. Some residual heat...
Captain: Do a sweep.
(SERENITY – BRIDGE)
(An alarm sounds, lights blink.)
Wash: (in Chinese) Shit on my head! (in English) Captain! We're humped!
(BLOWN-OUT SHIP)
Mal: Prep the ship now. (to the others) We move these in, double-time.
(They float to the crates, start dragging them.)
(SERENITY – BRIDGE)
(Wash is hitting buttons.)
Wash: Kaylee, fire it up.
(DORTMUNDER BRIDGE)
(The captain is watching the screen.)
Man: It's a transport ship. Firefly class.
Ensign: They still make those?
Captain: Illegal salvage.
(BLOWN-OUT SHIP)
(Continue conversation over Mal, Zoe, and Jayne retrieving the cargo.)
Captain: Lowlife vultures picking the flesh off the dead.
Ensign: Should we deploy gunships and bring her in?
Captain: Do it.
(BLOWN-OUT SHIP)
(Mal, Zoe and Jayne all float their crates past the twisted wreckage.)
Mal: Cry, Baby, Cry.
Wash: (on com) Make your mother sigh. Engaging the crybaby.
(SPACE)
(Behind some little moon, we see a tiny jet-propelled satellite thingy, beeping out its distress signal. It's small and rough, and has written on a piece of tape: "Crybaby #6".)
(DORTMUNDER BRIDGE)
Man: Captain, I am picking up a distress signal thirteen clicks ahead from a... it sounds like a personnel carrier...
(BLOWN-OUT SHIP/AIRLOCK OF SERENITY)
(Mal, Zoe and Jayne all float their crates past the twisted wreckage and into the airlock.)
(SPACE)
(The crybaby beeps.)
(DORTMUNDER BRIDGE)
Man: Definitely a big ship, sir, and she is without power.
(AIRLOCK OF SERENITY)
(Mal hits the button and the airlock door shuts. Hits another and gravity hits, the three of them landing on their feet, crates dropping, as air rushes in. Mal hits the com.)
Mal: Wash! We're on. Go!
(BLOWN-OUT SHIP)
(Serenity begins to disengage from the wreck, rear end flaring.)
(SERENITY – BRIDGE)
(Wash is seated, all business now.)
Wash: Hang on, travelers...
(AIRLOCK)
(Everyone grabs something, as Jayne pulls off his helmet.)
Jayne: Let's moon 'em.
(SPACE)
(Serenity turns away from us, the back lights up -- the entire bulbous back end glowing beneath a metal grid.
The ship fires away from us.)
(DORTMUNDER BRIDGE)
Man: They're rabbiting, sir. Should we continue deployment?
Captain: (considering) Our gunships'd never get back to us in time. All right, let's go help these people. (to the ensign) But put out a bulletin on the Cortex, and flag Interpol: a Firefly with possibly stolen goods onboard. Maybe somebody'll step on those roaches.
(SERENITY - CARGO HOLD)
Wash: (on com) We look shiny, Captain. They are not repeat not coming about.
Zoe: Close one.
Jayne: Any one you walk away from, right? Long as we got the goods, I call this a win.
Mal: Right. (He looks away.) We win.
(CARGO HOLD – LATER)
(A crate is jimmied open. It is Jayne with the crowbar, Mal who pulls the top off, looking in. Zoe, Wash and Kaylee are also about.)
Mal: Well that sure enough don't hurt to see.
(Inside the crate are bars that look a lot like gold.)
Kaylee: (excited) They're awfully pretty...
Wash: I'd say worth a little risk.
Jayne: Yeah, that was some pretty risky sittin' you did there.
Wash: That's right, of course, 'cause they wouldn't arrest me if we got boarded, I'm just the pilot. I can always say I was flying the ship by accident. You know, that pretty --
Mal: (harshly, in Chinese) Shut up.
(He has a bar in his hand, is looking at it up close.)
Zoe: Problem, sir?
(Clearly, yep, there is. But Mal tries to cover.)
Mal: (after a moment) Couldn't say. (tosses the bar back) But we'd best be gettin' rid of these before we run into another Alliance patrol.
Jayne: What the hell they doin' out this far, anyhow?
Kaylee: Shining the light of civilization.
Jayne: Doesn't do us any good...
Kaylee: Well, we're uncivilized.
(As they talk, Mal approaches Wash, talking over them.)
Mal: How long 'til we reach Persephone?
Wash: Three or four hours.
Mal: Can we shave that?
Wash: (shakes his head) We're down to the wire on fuel cells. We run hot, we might not even make it.
Mal: 'kay. Play it as close as you can. This catch is burning a hole in my hull.
Zoe: Think that cruiser could've I.D.'d us?
Mal: Let's hope not. Contact Badger, tell him the job's done. Don't go to mentioning the cruiser, though. Keep it simple.
Zoe: Sir, we're sure there's nothing wrong with the carg --
Mal: It's fine. I just wanna get paid. (They head up the ladder.) All right, let's get these crates stowed. I don't want any tourists stumbling over them.
Kaylee: We're taking on passengers at Persephone?
Mal: Yeah, that's the notion. We could use a little respectability on the way to Boros. Not to mention the money.
Jayne: Pain in the ass...
Kaylee: No, it's shiny! I like to meet new people. They've all got stories...
Jayne: Captain, can you stop her from bein' cheerful, please?
Mal: I don't believe there is a power in the 'verse that can stop Kaylee from being cheerful. (He smiles at her, never stopping working.) Sometimes you just wanna duct tape her mouth and dump her in the hold for a month.
(She grins and kisses his cheek.)
Kaylee: I love my captain.
(UPPER CORRIDOR/BRIDGE)
(Wash and Zoe crest the ladder and head to their positions, talking.)
Zoe: I know something ain't right.
Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.
Zoe: It's just that the Captain's so tense...
Wash: The man needs a break. In fact, we could all use a couple days' leave.
Zoe: We still gotta drop the goods.
Wash: And when we do, we fly off to Boros rich and prosperous. Well, less poor. But with enough to find some sweet little getaway.
(They enter the bridge. He moves closer, wrapping her in his arms.)
Zoe: Oh, wouldn't mind a real bath...
Wash: Yeah, and a meal that included some sort of food.
Zoe: Ooh.
Wash: Just a couple of days lying around, you with the bathing. Me with the watching you bathe.
(They're closer now.)
Zoe: (definitely interested) If the captain says it's all right...
(Wrong. Wash shuts his eyes a moment, rests his head on hers, quietly pissed. He breaks apart.)
Wash: What if we just told Mal we needed a few days, 'stead of asking him?
Zoe: He's the captain, Wash.
Wash: Right. I'm just the husband.
Zoe: Look, I'll ask him.
Wash: (sitting) Don't forget to call him 'sir'. He likes that.
Mal: Who likes what?
(Instinctively, Zoe's demeanor changes as Mal enters, her bearing more erect, military.)
Zoe: It's nothing, Sir.
Mal: Has the Ambassador checked in yet?
Wash: Naw, I think she had a pretty full docket.
Mal: (to Zoe) Well, after you talk to Badger, let her know we may be leaving Persephone in a hurry.
Zoe: Inara knows our timetable. I'm sure she'll be checking in soon.
Wash: Well, I can tell her to cut it short, meet us at the docks.
Mal: No, no. Don't want to get in her way if we don't have to. (leaving) Somebody on this boat has to make an honest living.
(INARA'S SHUTTLE/CHAMBER)
(The walls are covered in artful tapestries. The sound of heavy panting. We pan down to see that Inara Serra is being made love to by an eager young man. She is beneath him, his face buried in her neck.)
Inara: Oh... Oh.... oh my god... oh...
(He tightens, relaxes, becomes still. She runs her hand through is hair and he pulls from her neck, looks at her with sweaty insecurity. She smiles.)
(TIME LAPSE)
(They are seated on cushions, close to each other, sipping tea from small cups. She is wearing a robe.)
Inara: Sihnon isn't that different from this planet. More crowded, obviously, and I guess more complicated. The great city itself is... pictures can't capture it. It's like an ocean of light.
Young Man: Is that where you studied? To be a Companion?
Inara: I was born there.
Young Man: I can't imagine ever leaving.
Inara: Well, I wanted to see the universe.
(He looks down at his cup a moment.)
Young Man: Do you really have to leave? I mean... I, my father is very influential, we could... I could arrange for you to be...
(She smiles sweetly and looks down. He doesn't continue.)
(TIME LAPSE)
(The young man is dressed and on his way out.)
Young Man: Experience has been more than -- it was very good. Thank you.
Inara: The time went too quickly.
Young Man: Your clock's probably rigged to speed up and cheat us out of our fun.
(The smile vanishes from her face. He looks guilty, then ducks out of the chamber. She takes a moment, then she moves across the room and pulls aside a tapestry that conceals the cockpit. Gets in the pilot's seat and hits a switch and continues hitting them as she talks.)
Inara: Serenity, this is Shuttle One, what's your ETA?
Wash: (on com) Inara, hey. We're touching down at the Eavesdown docks in about ten minutes.
Inara: I'll join you there, thanks.
Wash: (on com) Looking forward to it. We missed you out here.
Inara: (softly) Yeah. Me too.
(She punches a few buttons, rides the joystick, and the cockpit begins to shake slightly.)
(CITY – DAY)
(We see the outside of Inara’s shuttle, which rises slowly into the air. The shuttle is exiting from one of the many huge skyscrapers, joining the heavy air traffic. It flies off.)
(EAVESDOWN DOCKS – DAY)
(We see Serenity as she touches down at the Eavesdown docks. It's a bustling bazaar, ships lined up next to each other, each one advertising passage or selling goods. This district is much poorer than the gleaming city where we just saw Inara. The airlock opens, the ramp coming down and our gang piling out.)
Mal: (to Kaylee) This shouldn't take long. Put us down for departure in about three hours. (to Wash) Grab any supplies we're low on. Fuel her up.
(Kaylee moves to a computerized placard in front of their 'parking space', starts entering data.)
Kaylee: I'd sure love to find a brand new compression coil for the steamer.
Mal: And I'd like to be king of all Londinum and wear a shiny hat. Just get us some passengers. Them as can pay, all right?
Kaylee: Compression coil busts, we're drifting...
Mal: Best not bust, then.
(Wash comes down the ramp driving the mule. Zoe, Jayne and Mal start off. Wash stops the mule and calls out.)
Wash: Zoe. (in Chinese) Watch your back.
Zoe: We will.
(EAVESDOWN DOCKS)
(We're in the middle of the bazaar. We see a sign that advertises: Good DOGS! We see a griddle, with some suspicious looking cuts of meat sizzling on it. A man works the griddle. We see, passing through the frame, Shepherd Book. He drags a few boxes and suitcases on a sort of wheeled papoose, carries another suitcase in his hand. As he moves on, looking about him, he is approached by a man, who's in his face a bit.)
Man: You going on a trip, grandpa? Need safe passage? We're cheap. We're cheap. We're clean. (pointing) The BRUTUS, the best ship in the 'verse. What's your des, grandpa? We're hitting the outer rings.
Book: I never married.
Man: What?
Book: I'm not a grandpa.
(ALLEY)
(Mal, Jayne, and Zoe walk down a dim alley.)
(BADGER'S OFFICE)
(Mal, Jayne and Zoe come down the alley, halted by a thug. The office is dim and dingy. The ceiling has grates over it -- we can hear the traffic above, and every now and then the bright white of a vehicle spills through the grate. On one side are stairs leading up to ground level and a door beside, at the other end an oversized, beat up desk and a way into the back through a curtain. Badger's busy inspecting a young woman.)
Badger: Let me see your teeth. (She gives him a big smile. He pulls her lip up.) Yes. (She is shoved behind the curtain. As she is, yet another thug leads Mal, Zoe and Jayne down the stairs. Badger doesn't look at them, heading for his desk and sitting down.) You're late.
Mal: You're lying.
Badger: What did you just say to me?
Mal: You're well aware we landed two hours 'fore we planned to, with all the goods you sent us after intact, ready to roll. So your decision to get tetchy, say we're late, means you're looking to put us on the defensive right up front. Which means something's gone wrong. It didn't go wrong on our end, so why don't we start again with you tellin' us what's up?
(A beat. A mean little smile from Badger.)
Badger: You're later than I'd like.
Mal: Well I am sorry to hear that.
(Badger briefly holds up what appears to be digital paper: a clear, pliable piece of plastic with words and images running across it, constantly changing.)
Badger: If you'd gotten here sooner, you might've beaten the bulletin that came up sayin' a rogue vessel, classification 'Firefly', was spotted pulling illegal salvage on a derelict transport.
Mal: Didn't ID us. Doesn't lead to you.
Badger: No, it doesn't. But a government stamp on every molecule of the cargo just maybe might. (Zoe looks at Mal -- that's what he didn't say when he examined the bars.) Oh, you noticed that. You were gonna hand over imprinted goods and just let me twist, is that the case?
Mal: We didn't pick the cargo.
Badger: And I didn't flash my ass at the gorram law. There's no deal.
Zoe: That ain't fair.
Badger: Crime and politics, little girl: the situation is always... fluid.
Jayne: Only fluid I see here is the puddle of piss refusing to pay us our wage.
(Badger stands up angrily and all his thugs draw their weapons. Mal glares at Jayne until he puts his gun back in his holster, then Mal steps forward, smiling.)
Mal: It doesn't have to go this way. You know you can still unload those goods. So I can't help thinking there's something else at work here.
Badger: What were you in the war, that big war you failed to win? You were a Sergeant, yeah? Sergeant Malcolm Reynolds, Balls and Bayonets Brigade. Big tough veteran. Now you got yourself a ship and you're a captain. Only I think you're still a Sergeant, see. Still a soldier, man of honor in a den of thieves. (in his face) Well this is my gorram den, and I don't like the way you look down on me. I'm above you. Better than. I'm a businessman, see? Roots in the community. You're just a scavenger.
Mal: Well, maybe I'm not a fancy gentleman like you with your... very fine hat... but I do business. We're here for business.
Badger: Try one of the border planets -- they're a lot more desperate there. Of course, they might kill you, but you stay here and I just know the Alliance'll track you down. I have that feeling.
(Beat. Mal's pissed. Jayne's itching for a fight. But Mal turns to go.)
Mal: Wheel never stops turning, Badger.
Badger: That only matter to the people on the rim.
(EAVESDOWN DOCKS – LATER)
(Book moves on to Serenity, Kaylee sits outside it in a lawn chair, holding a rainbow-striped parasol. He looks at the ship, never stopping, 'til Kaylee speaks to him.)
Kaylee: You're gonna come with us.
Book: Excuse me?
Kaylee: You like ships. You don't seem to be looking at the destinations. What you care about is the ships, and mine's the nicest.
(He does stop, gives the ship a look-over.)
Book: She don't look like much.
Kaylee: Well, she'll fool ya'. You ever sail in a Firefly?
Book: Long before you were crawling. Not an aught three, though. Didn't have the extenders, tended to shake.
(Kaylee gets up from her lawn chair, walks over to Book, twirling her parasol.)
Kaylee: So, uh, how come you don't care where you're going?
Book: 'Cause how you get there is the worthier part.
Kaylee: Are you a missionary?
Book: I guess... I'm a Shepherd, from the Southdown Abbey. Book, I'm called Book. Been out of the world for a spell. Like to walk it a while, maybe bring the word to them as need it told.
Kaylee: Well, I'm Kaylee. This is Serenity, and she's the smoothest ride from here to Boros for anyone who can pay. (beat, worried) Can you pay, or... ?
Book: Well, I've got a little cash, and, uh...
(He picks up a small wooden box from his luggage. Shows her the contents. She goes a little bit wide-eyed, eyeing the contents lustfully.)
Kaylee: Ooh, grampa...
Book: I never married.
(TIME LAPSE)
(We are now following Mal, Zoe and Jayne back to the ship.)
Jayne: I don't understand why we didn't leave that sumbitch in a pool of his own blood.
Mal: We'd be dead. Can't get paid if you're dead.
Jayne: Can't get paid if you crawl away like a bitty little bug, neither. We gotta share this job. Ten percent of nothing is -- let me do the math here – nothing into nothing, carry the --
Zoe: So we'll find a buyer on Boros. There's gotta be a --
Mal: Boros is too big. It's crawling with Alliance, they could just be waiting for us.
Zoe: You really think Badger'll sell us out to the Feds?
Mal: If he hasn't already.
(Pan left to reveal a couple of Alliance soldiers standing in the street, watching our group as they walk past.)
Zoe: Alliance catches us with government goods, we'll lose the ship.
Mal: That's never gonna happen.
Zoe: Sir, we could just dump the cargo.
Jayne: No ruttin' way. We ain't had a job in weeks. I didn't sign on with this crew to take in the sights. We need coin.
Mal: Jayne, your mouth is talking. You might wanna look to that.
Jayne: Oh, I'm ready to stop talkin' --
Mal: You're right, though. The last two jobs we had were weak tea. We got nothing saved, takin' on passengers won't help near enough. (beat) We don't get paid for this cargo, we don't have enough money to fuel the ship, let alone keep her in repair. She'll be dead in the water.
Zoe: So we do like Badger said? The border planets?
Mal: I'm thinkin' Whitefall, maybe talk to Patience...
Zoe: Sir, we don't want to deal with Patience again.
Mal: Why?
Zoe: She shot you.
Mal: Well, yeah, she did a bit... still --
Zoe: So we find somebody else. Horowitz.
Mal: He can't afford it.
Zoe: Holden boys.
Mal: They wouldn't touch it. Do you want me to go through the list? Capshaw's are brain-blown. Gruvick's dead --
Zoe: He's dead?
Mal: Town got hit by Reavers. Burned it right down.
Jayne: I ain't goin' nowhere near Reaver territory. Them people ain't human.
Mal: Whitefall is the safest and the closest. Been a long time since Patience shot me and that was due to a perfectly legitimate conflict of interest. I got no grudge. She owns half that damn moon now. She can afford what we got and she just might need it.
Zoe: I still don't think the old lady's the way.
(Mal sees Wash on the mule, about to pull a big blue box up the ramp into Serenity's cargo hold.)
Mal: I'm not sayin' it won't be tricky, but we got no kind of choice.
(He’s still looking Serenity, he sees Kaylee welcoming another passenger, introducing himself.)
Kaylee: Welcome aboard, Mr...
Dobson: Dobson.
Kaylee: Dobson!
Dobson: Thank you.
(Mal, Zoe, and Jayne approach the ship.)
Mal: We just gotta keep our heads down, do the job, pray there ain't no more surprises.
(Close up of the box being loaded by Wash on the Mule. The box clears frame to reveal Simon Tam, a young, clearly affluent man. He wears a dark suit and round glasses. He seems to be looking directly at Mal, then glances over to the box.)
Simon: (to Wash) Please be careful with that.
Kaylee: Mal, this is Simon. Simon, this is our captain.
(Both men size each other up.)
Simon: Captain Reynolds.
Mal: Welcome aboard. (to Kaylee) This all we got?
(CARGO BAY)
(We see Zoe talking to Mal, the rest of the passengers milling around and loading up their luggage.)
Zoe: Now we have a boatful of citizens right on top of our... stolen cargo. (beat) That's a fun mix.
Mal: Ain't no way in the 'verse they could find that compartment, even-- (stops talking as Dobson walks past) Even if they were lookin' for it.
Zoe: Why not?
(Mal is thrown by the question.)
Mal: 'Cause... ?
Zoe: Oh yeah, this is gonna go great.
Mal: If anyone gets nosy, just, you know... shoot 'em.
Zoe: Shoot 'em?
Mal: Politely.
(EAVESDOWN DOCKS)
(Inara's shuttle is nearing Serenity.)
Wash: (os) Inara. You're just in time.
Inara: (os) Let me guess…
(INARA'S SHUTTLE)
Inara: We're in a hurry.
(SERENITY – BRIDGE)
(Wash is prepping her for take off, sees a signal, flips a switch.)
Wash: Looks like. Port hatch green for docking.
(INARA'S SHUTTLE)
Inara: Locked in five. Four.
(EXT. SERENITY)
(Inara's flying shuttle locks onto a side of the still-parked ship.)
(INARA'S SHUTTLE)
(She feels the lurch of lock. She doesn't leave the pilot's seat.)
(SERENITY – BRIDGE)
(Wash turns, calls back.)
Wash: The Ambassador has returned!
(He is talking to Zoe, who moves to the Cargo Bay/Airlock.)
(CARGO BAY/AIRLOCK)
(Zoe calls down to Mal, who is stowing cargo with Jayne.)
Zoe: We got a full house, Captain.
(He turns to the airlock.)
Mal: Kaylee, I'm locking it up!
(AIRLOCK)
(Kaylee looks around once.)
Kaylee: (softly) All aboard...
(Kaylee hits the automatic door lock, grabs her lawn chair, and slips in as the door closes on the hold.)
(CARGO HOLD)
(Shot of Simon looking around the cargo hold.)
(PASSENGER'S SECTION/DINING ROOM – LATER)
(Crew and passengers are gathered in the dining area. Mal's giving 'em the welcome speech.)
Mal: Meals are taken up here in the dining area, the kitchen is pretty much self explanatory, you're welcome to eat what there is any time, what there is is pretty standard fare, I guess, protein in all the colors of the rainbow. We do have sit-down meals, the next one being at about 1800.
Kaylee: I think Shepherd Book has offered to help me prepare something.
Mal: (to Book) You're a Shepherd?
Book: Thought the outfit gave it away. Is it a problem?
Kaylee: Of course not! (to Mal) It's no problem, 'cause it's not.
Mal: No. (to the group) As I said, you're welcome to visit the dining area any time. Apart from that, I have to ask you to stay in the passenger dorm while we're in the air. The bridge, the engine room, cargo bay -- they're all off limits without an escort.
Simon: Some of my personal effects are in the cargo bay.
Mal: I figure you all got luggage you're gonna need to get into. Soon as we're done here we'll be happy to fetch 'em with you. Now I have to tell you all one other thing and I apologize in advance for the inconvenience. Unfortunately, we've been ordered by the Alliance to drop some medical supplies off on Whitefall. It's the fourth moon on Athens, a little out of our way, but we should have you on Boros no more than a day off schedule.
Simon: What medical supplies?
Mal: I honestly didn't ask.
Zoe: Probably plasma, insulin, whatever they ain't got enough of on the border moons.
Mal: Alliance says jump...
Simon: All right.
Mal: Zoe, you wanna take 'em to the cargo bay?
Zoe: Yes, Sir.
Mal: Anything else you need, just... ask. We, uh, we're here to serve.
(Crew and passengers exit the dining error through one door, while Mal and Wash turn around and walk toward the other door leading to the bridge.)
Mal: Did you send word to Patience?
Wash: Ain't heard back yet. Didn't she shoot you one time?
Mal: (baffled) Everybody's makin' a fuss.
(CARGO BAY)
(People are getting the luggage they need. Simon is placing things into an elegant little valise -- all while eyeing his special blue box. Dobson walks up behind Simon and stumbles into him.)
Dobson: Oops! I'm sorry.
(Zoe walks down the steps and nods at Book, who walks past her with a bag and a small box. Book climbs up the stairs to where Mal and Kaylee are standing on the catwalk. Book hands his bag and box to Kaylee, who beams at him. The second shuttle hatch opens, showing Inara's shuttle. She steps out of it, in a simple but elegant dress. She descends stairs as the group notices her.)
Mal: Ah, the Ambassador graces us with her presence. (Book looks up.)
Inara: Hello, Mal. I see we have some new faces.
Kaylee: Hey you.
Inara: Hey you.
Mal: Ambassador, this is Shepherd Book.
Inara: I'd have to say this is the first time we've had a preacher on board.
Book: Well, I wasn't expecting to see a state official, either. (takes her hand, bows slightly) Ambassador. (Mal laughs. Inara glowers at him.) I'm missing something funny.
Kaylee: (glaring at Mal) Not so funny.
Inara: "Ambassador" is Mal's way of --
Mal: She's a whore, Shepherd.
(Book's clearly a little thrown.)
Kaylee: (annoyed) The term is "Companion".
Mal: Yeah, I always get those mixed up. (to Inara) How's business?
Inara: None of yours.
Mal: (to Book) She is pretty much our ambassador. There's plenty of planets won't even let you dock without a decent Companion on board. This... this isn't a problem for you, is it, Shepherd?
Book: Well, I... I certainly...
Inara: (turns to go) It's all right. I mostly keep to myself. (passing Mal) When I'm not whoring.
Mal: Don't you wanna meet the rest of the bunch?
Inara: Why don't you make sure they want to meet me first?
(Inara and Kaylee head out together.)
Kaylee: So how many fell madly in love with you and wanted to take you away from all this?
Inara: Just the one. I think I'm slipping.
(DINING ROOM)
(Kaylee has made her way up with the box, lays it on the counter. Quietly excited, she opens it, looks in. A beat, then she pulls out a strawberry. She smells it, slowly puts it in her mouth, eyes closing, savoring.)
(TIME LAPSE)
(Book and Kaylee have made dinner. People are gathering, sitting, helping themselves to things -- everybody's moving and talking over each other and everyone's there save Wash and Inara.)
Zoe: Oh, this is incredible.
Book: It's not much -- I had a garden at the Abbey, thought I should bring what I could.
Simon: It's very kind of you to share with all of us.
Zoe: I'm gonna make a plate for Wash...
Book: (to Simon) Well, it won't last, and they're never the same when they're frozen. The important thing is the spices. A man can live on packaged food from here 'til Judgment Day if he's got enough rosemary.
Dobson: (over this, to Jayne) Can you pass me the tomatoes?
(Jayne does, after taking several slices. People settle.)
Book: Captain, you mind if I say grace?
Mal: Only if you say it out loud.
(A beat -- Mal has broken the mood. He starts eating, others follow. Book lowers his head a moment, as do Kaylee, Dobson, and Jayne, then they eat as well.)
Simon: So, does it happen a lot? Government commandeering your ship, telling you where to go?
Mal: That's what governments are for -- get in a man's way.
Dobson: Well, it's good, if the supplies are needed.
Jayne: We're just happy to be doing good works.
Dobson: I hear a lot of the border moons are in bad shape. Plagues, and famine...
Zoe: Well, some of that's exaggerated, and some of it ain't. All those moons -- just like the central planets, they're as close to Earth-That-Was as we could make 'em: gravity, atmosphere, and such, but...
Mal: Once they're terraformed, they'll dump settlers on there with nothing but blankets, hatchets, maybe a herd. Some of them make it, some of them...
Simon: Then I guess it's good we're helping.
Kaylee: (to Simon) You're a Doctor, right?
Simon: Oh. Uh, yes. Yes, I was a trauma surgeon on Osiris, in Capital City.
Mal: Long way from here.
Kaylee: (to Simon) You seem so young. To be a doctor.
Simon: (changing the subject) Yeah. You're pretty young to be a ship's mechanic.
Kaylee: No how. Machines just got workings, and they talk to me.
Book: That's a rare gift.
Kaylee: Oh, not like being a doctor. Helping fix people, that's important.
Jayne: Little Kaylee here just wishes you was a gynecologist.
(Jayne cackles. Kaylee, visibly humiliated, looks down.)
Mal: (hard) Jayne. You'll keep a civil tongue in that mouth or I will sew it shut, is there an understanding between us?
Jayne: You don't pay me to talk pretty. Just because Kaylee gets lubed-up over some big city dandy --
Mal: Walk away from this table. Right now.
(A beat. Jayne doesn't believe it, but Mal's expression is stony. Jayne goes, grabbing a bunch of food as he does. Everyone is silent a moment.)
Simon: What do you pay him for?
Mal: What?
Simon: I was just wondering what his job is. On the ship.
(Mal stares a moment.)
Mal: Public relations.
(INARA'S CHAMBER)
(Inara is kneeling, robe pooled at her waist. She is giving herself a sponge bath. And so the camera holds on her bathing for a good, long while. There is a knock at the door.)
Inara: (in Chinese) Come in.
(Book enters. She is facing mostly away from him, but she sees it's him. She continues to bathe herself.)
Book: If I'm intruding...
Inara: Not at all. I expected you.
(She pulls her robe up, in no great hurry, as she turns to him.)
Book: Couldn't really say the same.
Inara: So. Would you like to lecture me the wickedness of my ways?
Book: I brought you some supper, but if you'd prefer a lecture, I've a few very catchy ones prepped. Sin and hellfire... one has lepers.
Inara: I think I'll pass. (taking the tray of food) I thank you for this.
Book: The Captain said you might like it. I was surprised at his concern.
Inara: For a lowly whore?
Book: It was unjust of him to say that.
Inara: Believe me, I've called him worse. Anyway, I suspect he has more interest in making you uncomfortable than me.
Book: He's not wildly interested in ingratiating himself with anyone, yet he seems very protective of his crew. (beat) It's odd.
Inara: Why are you so fascinated by him?
Book: Because he's something of a mystery. (beat) Why are you?
(Beat. Inara smiles softly.)
Inara: Because so few men are.
(MAL'S ROOM)
(Mal is in the act of doing up his trousers as we find him. There's a kind of metal drawer that hinges open to knee level. It's the toilet, and Mal kicks it shut, causing a flushing sound not unlike an airplane toilet. Above it is another metal drawer. He pulls it open and it's a small sink. He runs a little water on his hands, splashes his face, when the com sounds.)
Wash: (on com) Mal, you might wanna get up here...
(Mal's up the ladder in a flash.)
(FOREDECK HALL)
(Mal climbs up. He moves through the hall towards the bridge.)
(BRIDGE)
(Wash is studying a screen.)
Mal: What is it?
Wash: Signal. Somebody went on the Cortex, hailed the nearest Alliance Cruiser.
Mal: Tell me you scrambled it.
Wash: All to hell, but I don't know how much got through. Alliance got a pin in us for sure.
Mal: (Chinese) Fuck everyone in the universe to death.
Wash: We got a mole on board.
(Mal's face hardens as he works it out.)
(CARGO BAY)
(Simon is checking on his box. He turns and Mal is standing before him.)
Mal: Forget your toothpaste?
(Mal slugs him, sends him sprawling.)
Simon: Are you out of your mind?
Mal: Yeah, just about. What'd you tell them?
Simon: (standing) Tell who?
(Mal draws his gun, puts it in Simon's face.)
Mal: I have exactly no time for games. What do they know?
Simon: You're a lunatic.
Mal: And you're a gorram fed.
Book: Hate to say it, Captain, but you've got the wrong man.
(Both men turn to him. A beat, and both Mal and Simon realize Book is looking behind them. Slowly, they turn the other way, and understand Book's meaning. Dobson holds a gun on Mal.)
Mal: (defeated) Son of a bitch.
Dobson: Drop that firearm, Captain Reynolds.
(A beat, and Mal does.)
Mal: This is not my best day ever.
(Dobson moves the gun to point it at Simon.)
Dobson: Simon Tam, you are bound by law to stand down.
(Mal takes a moment to realize the man is after Simon.)
Mal: What -- the doctor? Oh. (indignant at Simon) Hey! (hopeful, to Dobson) Is there-is there a reward?
(Dobson is ignoring Mal, focusing on Simon. This bumbling businessman is now a very intense, tightly wound cop.)
Dobson: (to Simon) Get on the ground. Get on the ground!
Simon: Lawman, you are making a mistake.
Mal: I think you best get on the ground, son. The man seems a mite twitchy.
Book: I think everybody could stand to calm down a bit.
(He is moving slowly towards Dobson.)
Dobson: This isn't your business, Shepherd.
Book: The boy's not going anywhere, lawman. As I understand it, it's pretty cold outside.
(Mal moves casually for his gun.)
Mal: Not to worry. Put Lord Fauntleroy here in a passenger cell -- won't make a peep 'til you hand him over to --
Dobson: (pointing the gun at Mal again) Get the hell away from that weapon! You think I'm a complete backbirth? You're carrying a fugitive across interplanetary borders, and you think I actually believe you're bringing medical supplies to Whitefall? As far as I care, everyone on this ship is culpable.
Mal: Well now. That has an effect on the landscape.
Book: Please, we're very close to true stupidity here --
Dobson: I got a cruiser en route for intercept, so talk all you want. You got about twenty minutes.
Mal: Might have less than that.
Dobson: Yeah, threaten me..
Book: (still moving) For God's sake --
Dobson: You think I wouldn't shoot a Shepherd? Back off!
(Mal grabs Simon -- and everybody's shouting.)
Mal: Just take the kid!
Simon: Get your hands off me --
Dobson: Stand the hell down --
Book: Everybody just stop it! Stop it!
Kaylee: (entering) Why's everybody -- (Dobson spins and fires. Kaylee stumbles backwards, slamming into the wall as Jayne walks behind her.) What...
(She puts her hands to her belly. Blood runs over it. A lot of things happen. Kaylee slumps to the ground as Simon rushes to her, Mal dives for his weapon, Jayne draws his, Dobson swings to fire at Mal -- and Book is in Dobson's face, a brutal jab in the throat as he grabs his gun-hand whip-quick, twists and pulls the gun out, cracking Dobson across the face with it in the same motion and Dobson is down. In seconds.)
Inara: Kaylee!
(She is on the upper level, having come out of her shuttle at the sound of the shot. She races to Kaylee, as does Mal, seeing that Dobson is no longer a threat. Simon lays Kaylee back as Mal scrambles to her other side.)
Simon: How do you feel?
Kaylee: A little odd...
(Jayne comes toward Dobson with a purpose, gun in hand, and Book turns to face him.)
Jayne: Outta the way.
Book: You're not killing this man.
Jayne: Not right away...
Book: He's no threat.
(Kaylee is whimpering.)
Kaylee: Why did he...?
(Simon opens Kaylee's jumpsuit, examines the wound. It's not pretty.)
Mal: (to Kaylee) Oh, well, that ain't hardly a mosquito bite.
Kaylee: Big mosquito...
(Inara rushes over, joining them. Inara pulls off her robe (she is dressed beneath) and bunches it under Kaylee's head.)
Jayne: Move.
Book: Not gonna happen.
Jayne: (raising his gun) I ain't joking with you, Preacher.
Zoe: Jayne! (She's got her gun out, pointed at Jayne.) Just tie him up. Do it.
(A moment, and Jayne holsters his piece, moves to get some duct tape.)
Simon: Can you move your feet? Kaylee. Stay with me. Can you move your feet?
Kaylee: Are you asking me to dance...?
(Her eyes start to roll back.)
Simon: She's going into shock.
Inara: Kaylee, (in Chinese) little sister, you have to focus.
(Book is standing over Dobson. Zoe approaches him.)
Zoe: The gun, Shepherd. Please.
(Book hands her Dobson's gun. Simon pushes Kaylee's stomach and she screams.)
Simon: (to Mal) The infirmary working?
Mal: Yeah, we got it stocked.
(They move to pick her up.)
Wash: (on com) Captain, we've been hailed by a Cruiser. Ordered to stay on course and dock for prisoner transfer.
(Mal and Simon look at each other. Simon rises, steps away from Kaylee. He is tense, but surprisingly calm.)
Simon: Change course. Run.
Mal: Hell with you. You brought this down on us, I'm dumping you with the law.
Inara: Mal...
Simon: She's dying.
Mal: You're not gonna let her.
Simon: Yes, I am.
Mal: No, you can't.
Zoe: No way the Feds'll let us walk.
Mal: Then we dump him in the shuttle and leave him for them.
Kaylee: (delirious) Everybody's so mad...
Inara: It's okay, baby.
Simon: Do you know what a stomach wound does to a person?
Mal: I surely do.
Simon: Then you know how crucial the next few minutes are.
Zoe: (to Simon) You let her die, you'll never make it to the Feds.
Simon: She'll still be dead.
Mal: You rich kids, you think your lives are the only thing that matters. What'd you do? Kill your folks for the family fortune?
Simon: I don't kill people!
Mal: Then do your job!
Simon: Turn the ship around!
Inara: Enough! Mal, do it.
Mal: Don't ever tell me what to do on my -- (Kaylee screams again. Mal and Simon stare at each other.) Zoe. Change course.
Simon: Help me get her up.
(Mal and Inara hoist with Simon.)
Zoe: (hits the com) Wash, change course and go for hard burn. We're runnin'.
(SPACE)
(As the ship turns and the back lights up all shiny bright -- and she shoots off.)
(SERENITY – INFIRMARY)
(The three of them burst in, lay Kaylee on the table. It's small and not wildly sterile here, but it is clearly functional.)
Simon: You have an extractor?
Mal: Got a laser law.
Simon: That's not good enough. (to Inara) Uh, my room, red bag.
(Inara goes. Simon raids the cupboards, finds a hypo-gun and vials.)
Mal: This is over, you and me are gonna have a personal chat.
Simon: Won't that be fun. (tosses Mal the hypo) Dope her.
(We see, over time, VARIOUS ANGLES of Simon operating. Simon is confident and good at his job. Mal and Inara assist -- mostly Mal, who has the most field experience. Among the images are: Simon using the extractor to find and pull out the bullet shards, Inara looking at Mal while he helps Simon, Inara holding a breathing mask over Kaylee's face, looking at instruments indicating her vitals, Jayne crouched outside the infirmary, peering in through a window, worried, almost hugging himself.)
(INFIRMARY – LATER)
(Simon washes off his hands. He turns to Mal, pulling off his apron.)
Simon: I can't do anything more until she stabilizes.
Mal: Will she?
Simon: I can't say yet.
Inara: I want know what's going on here.
Mal: Well then why don't we find out?
(He moves quickly from the room.)
Simon: What are you... no! No!
(Simon quickly runs after him.)
(CARGO BAY)
Simon: Stay away from that! Aah!
(He moves toward Mal -- but is grabbed and easily held by Jayne.)
Mal: (calmly, to Jayne) Where's the Fed?
Jayne: Secure. Shepherd's with him. Seems to think he's not safe alone with me.
Simon: Don't!
(Mal turns some dials on Simon's blue box and pulls a release lever. There is much flashing of lights and four latches twist automatically at the corners. The top comes slightly up with a hydraulic whoosh, dry ice pouring out the sides. Wash and Zoe enter; Inara's there, too.)
Mal: Well, let's see what a man like you would kill for.
Simon: No, don't!
(Mal kicks off the top of the box. It flies off, clattering to the floor as the smoke clears from over what's inside.
Mal steps forward, looks. Curled inside is a naked, unconscious teenage girl. The box is clearly a cryo-chamber of some sort, perfectly conformed to her body, a sleep metallic womb. Mal looks at the girl. At Simon. At the girl.)
Mal: Huh.