Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own any of these wonderful characters, or even the setting and world of Firefly. They all belong to Fox/Universal and Joss Whedon.
James Norrington and related belongs to Disney, Gore and Ted and Terry.
Setting: Takes place right after Down the Aisle
Pairings: Kaylee/Simon, Mal/Inara
-
Chapter 2: Jam Session
-
“Now you are watching closely?” Malcolm glanced over at River, just briefly before he leaned over the edge of the pool table. The smooth plastic stick in his hands felt cool to the touch as he slid the tip between two of his fingers. His eyes were on the 13th ball, resting not far from a pocket. It needed just the right nudge from the cue ball to be knocked over.
“Eyes are on the colored lights,” River answered. “All thousands of them coming together to create the spheres.”
“Don’t have to get too technical,” Zoë told her. She already had her turn and in breaking the triangle of assembled balls and had managed to sink the 4 ball before she tried for the nine and missed. Zoë had blamed it on a glitch in the pool table’s manufacturing even if it did blink for a second while the balls were rolling it did not change the fact she had missed.
“Where is your team mate?” Mal did not remove his gaze from his target. He hadn’t seen James in a while. Surely it couldn’t take him that long to purchase their drinks.
“It did look like there were several crowds around the bars.” Zoë said.
“Maybe it was a bad decision to let him go by himself.” There was no need to wait any longer. It was time to let the ball fly. Mal slid the stick forward. The familiar clack of the stick struck the ball, not from actually coming into contact with it, but from the program of the sensor, picking up the end of the stick. The ivory sphere struck against the striped ball. It was just the nudge it needed. The 13th ball teetered for a second before it fell in.
“He would feel bad,” River said. She held her pool stick with the fat end on the floor. “He would feel like you are still babying him.”
“I am not babying him,” Mal shifted himself around the table, trying to get closer to the cue ball. “I just want my drink.”
“He is coming.”
“He is?” Mal struck again and hissed a string of curses through his clenched teeth when the ball missed striking the 9th ball within a hair. He stood up and turned around in time to face the 18th century man.
“This is yours, Captain.” James stared at the glass in his left hand; no doubt questioning why Mal had wanted it considering it came with both a cherry and a pink paper umbrella. He carried both bottles of beer under his right arm and River’s soda in his right hand.
“My Mai Tai,” Mal grinned when took the cocktail from James. “You have a good sense of timing. It is your turn.” He carefully avoided the decorations as he took a sip from his glass.
“My turn,” James handed River her glass, containing fizzy purple liquid and several clear cubes of ice.
“You do know how to play?” Mal removed the miniature parasol from his glass and handed it to River.
“I have played similar games of billiards in my time,” James handed Zoë her beef first before he set his down on one of the many coasters. “Although there seems to be a new variation.”
“Pretty simple,” Mal took another sip before he set his glass down. “You use the stick to strike the cue ball, aim the cue ball at the other balls into the pockets.”
“Except for the 8 ball,” River added.
“Yeah, you don’t want to hit that until you cleared all your team’s balls.”
“Don’t strike the striped ones,” Zoë handed James his cue stick. “We are going after the solid colors.”
“I see,” James stared at the table. “I shall try for the blue one.” He aimed the pointy edge of his stick at the cue ball; green eyes were filled with concentration. He pulled back on the stick and shot forward. The cue ball skidded across the table; struck the ball James was aiming for and sent it in a pocket.
“Good shot,” Zoë smiled.
“Thank you,” James angled himself around and stared at the green one. He struck again, but while he managed to get the ball into the pocket he had also sank the cue ball.
“You also don’t want to do that,” Zoë told him. “It’s called scratching.”
“Sorry,” James grabbed his beer and twisted off the cap.
“Don’t have to worry about trying to get it back.” Mal pressed the button on the side of the table marked “Scratch” A new Cue ball materialized in the center of the table. “Your turn, darling.”
“Simple math, that is all it is,” River said as she shot the cue. The white ball struck the side of the table at an angle, bounced back and sank the 15th ball before it struck another side, came back and sank the 10th.”
“Good math,” Mal blinked before he took another sip from his drink.
“I should explain why I was held up,” James explained while River positioned herself to strike another ball. “I may have found another job for us.”
“Found someone who needs some cargo to be moved?” He had no idea how the former commodore was able to do it. He was just glad they were able to add more to their wallets.
“In a way, you are correct.”
They were all silent while the 9th ball slid into the pocket.
“Sir?” Zoë held up her hand. The ring she wore was flashing, red and green.
“Explain the details while we eat,” Mal said. Inwardly he had thought, ‘Good Commodore.’
-
“Bad Commodore,” Mal set his glass down on their table with enough force to not only cause the ice to rattle around but for the table to shake and cause the ice in the other glasses to rattle around as well.
“He isn’t a pet,” Zoë said.
“Sorry,” Mal fished the cherry from the remains of his drink. “I was just thinking he was so good earlier, able to find work at such a start in his new career.” He plopped the cherry into his mouth.
“May I ask what is wrong with taking on passengers?” James had seemed to shrink back into his booth.
“Nothing,” Kaylee, Simon, and Zoë answered.
“Pain in the ass,” Jayne grabbed another dinner roll from the complimentary basket.
“There were some bad experiences in the past,” River explained.
“But it was only two,” Kaylee brought up. “When we brought all those people to Verbena and they didn’t cause any trouble.”
“Still a pain in the ass,” Jayne tore the roll into several pieces before he picked up his knife. “You have to feed em, and help em unpack and hear them whine about their lives.”
“It is called being a host,” Simon said.
“Don’t pay me to be a fancy host.”
“Money from the passengers pays for you to be a host,” Mal stared at his mercenary.
“I hate sharing our table with those who aint crew, no offense Jimbo.”
“He is crew,” River said before Mal could get a chance to correct him.
“I’m not really too keen in taking on passengers,” Mal explained. “That is why we don’t do it often, and it is not just the fact they are passengers, but also because they are musicians.”
“Sir?” Zoë raised her eyebrows at him.
“That makes them even more exciting,” Kaylee used her straw to stir around the ice in her glass. “Think of all the stories they have to tell, and they can play their instruments-“
“That is the part I may have a problem with,” Mal held out his hand. “Trying to get to sleep and they decided to have an all night jam session.”
“Sir it is your ship,” Zoë explained. “And you make the rules.”
“I know. I just do not like this situation.”
“I did not tell them they can,” James took another sip from his beer. “I told them I would speak with you. They are in a bit of a spot. They need to get some sort of competition on Beaumonde.”
“It would be something,” Mal removed the stem from his mouth. “They always have to be at some events.” He sighed. The money would be good, even if these musicians didn’t have much, it would still be something, and since it is his ship and he would set up the rules. “They only need to get to Beaumonde?”
“That is what they told me.”
“After we eat you go and find them and tell them it is only to Beaumonde. After we drop them off they are on their own.”
“Mal,” Jayne stared at him while he chewed.
“We can find some more work on Beaumonde,” Mal smiled at their waiter who came up to them with several trays.
“We are going to be traveling with musicians,” Kaylee’s smile grew even wider. “I wonder if they will play a love song when we tell them Simon and I are newlyweds.”
Mal stared at Jayne, wondering why Mr. Public Relations wasn’t saying anything. Jayne was too busy, staring at the huge steak dinner that was set before him.
-
River wanted to meet with the members of the band. She wanted to follow James when he spoke with them, but knew she had to wait until they came aboard Serenity with their luggage. She wanted to see what they looked like, but she had to wait. Mal had instructed her along with Simon and Kaylee to help prepare five rooms in the passenger bay while Mal and the others helped carried the musicians’ things inside. She was not the only one who wanted to see them.
“I heard it was three guys and two girls,” Kaylee’s voice was heard out in the hall. “I still don’t what kind of music they play.”
“James said they play a variety of music,” Simon answered. He was thinking if he had fluffed the pillow too much, or was it even enough. River had to roll her eyes and the thought.
“They played a Jazz song,” River said. She had finished tucking in the sheets and had to add a blanket. “At Lady Washington. He and Inara watched them play.” She had read it off James while they ate.
“Those were the musicians James and Inara had met?” Kaylee asked. “The very same?”
“That was what I read.”
“Try not to use your gift around them,” Simon had cautioned. “We don’t know how they would react to it.”
“What if the captain asks me?” River asked. The final folds had been put in place and another room was ready. She knew Mal would ask her to read them, make certain no one would betray them, no one would snap.
“Then read them just don’t tell them.”
“I have no intention,” she left the room and went into another. She wished he stopped treating her like a child. He had better not do that in front of James.
“I know you have no intention. I’m just making sure.”
“You don’t have to make sure,” River was on the verge of snapping.
“He is being a brother.”
‘Remove the r and that is what Simon is,’ River thought it, she did not say it, and was glad none of the others had her gift. “I have finished one room.”
“So have we,” Kaylee stepped inside the same room as River. “We can work on this one together.”
“He worries too much about the pillows,” River grabbed one end of the fitted sheet. “He wants there to be an order, and order to pillows.”
“Don’t you like putting things in order?” Kaylee had grabbed the other ends of the sheet and helped her cover the bed.
“Not pillows. They are for my head.”
“So true, but I think he wants our bed to look nice.” Kaylee tucked in the corners.
“Hard to look when your eyes are closed.”
“During they daytime.”
“We work during the day,” River helped spread the top sheet. “Maybe relax with a book, but then eyes are on the pages.”
“I wonder what the musicians are like,” Kaylee decided to change the subject.
“We will meet them soon enough.”
“Doc, River, Kaylee,” Mal’s voice carried through the intercom. “As soon as you are about done in there I want you to come and meet us in the dining area.”
“See?” River blinked.
-
River could hear her captain talking, still giving instructions. That meant he was using his mouth and voice chords and it wasn’t his mind voice.
“Now I am not ordering any of you to help clean up, being that you are guests on my ship,” Mal continued to speak. “The only rules I have is to stay out of our way, do not enter the engine room or the helm, and when I announce it is bed time I do not want any of you to start a jam session. You can gather in the common room and discuss tour dates or lyrics, but as long as you do it quiet like.”
River paused at the entrance and stepped aside to make room for Kaylee and her brother. She could only see one member of the band, a tall man with wavy and untamed red hair and a piercing in his eyebrow.
“Don’t worry,” a female voice said. “We can adjust our sleeping schedules to be the same as yours and we don’t mind helping with the dishes. Alfie and Amistance are pretty good cooks themselves.”
“Shiny,” Mal said. “Won’t take us too long to get to Beaumonde. It is about nine days away at most, we will take off when our ambassador returns.”
“Ambassador?” another strange voice asked. This time it was male and it did not belong to the man with red hair.
“I’ll let her explain.”
“Cap’n?” Kaylee announced their presence to them.
“This is the rest of my crew,” Mal said while those in front of River stepped aside and or turned around to face them. “Simon is our doctor, let him know if you get a headache or strummed so hard your fingers bled, Kaylee is the mechanic. You might not see much of her, except around meals, and River is the pilot. You also won’t see much of her.” His blue eyes met with River’s as a single instruction entered her mind. ‘Read.’
“This is Alfie,” Mal pointed to a man who kept his hair tied back and had a goatee. “He plays the saxophone.”
River nodded and read him. She saw mostly images of Alfie playing the saxophone, memories of taking lessons as a child and dreams of winning the music contest. The last images were of Alfie being surrounded by beautiful women who want to want to peel off his clothes.
“Amistance,” Mal nodded toward the young woman with Asian features and an unnatural light blond streak in her hair. “She plays the keys.”
Once again there were more images of performing and learning how to play. There was also the prominent memory of an older man turning into a loveable clown after he had one too many drinks. Late her was told to cut back, but sadly he was no longer a clown and it saddened him. He turned to writing down memories of his jokes, pages of anecdotes and listening to recordings of himself, including a few words of how proud he was of his daughter.
“Ray, the drummer.” Ray had dark skin like Zoë and his hair was cut so short he was almost bald. River could sense there was a great depression in the man, and saw images of him flying the band’s ship, washing the ship and watching the fires on the ship being put out.
“Dustin the base guitarist,” Dustin was the red head. While Amistance was thinking of her father Dustin thought of his mother. There was an image of a frightened young boy who stared at the windows while a thunderstorm waged war outside. Fear ebbed away when a woman set down a tray of rich brownies and a glass of milk.
“And Cynthia the lead guitarist,” Mal introduced the last member of the group. She had her dark hair cut short and wore silver liner around her eyes. River could sense no danger from her as she did the others. She could see a house being built and a little girl about three or four running up to her older sister. There were more memories, but Cynthia had put up a dark curtain, blocking them. There was little chance she knew River could read her and it was most likely these memories were painful and tried to keep them deep and away from the good memories.
River turned to her captain and nodded, giving him the all clear.
“That is all settled,” Mal said “I’ll try to send a wave to the ambassador and see if we can get an estimate of her return.”
That was a bad idea and the Captain knew it. River did not need to read him to know that he was amused by the idea of possibly annoying Inara by his contact.
“James will show you to your rooms,” Mal motioned to James who nodded.
“If you follow me,” James turned around and approached the stairs, leading Cynthia and others down to the passenger bay.
River waited until they had left before she turned to Kaylee. “Marbles? I’ll let you win this time.”
“Let me win?” Kaylee placed her hands on her hips. “Don’t go thinking that my winning streak is by your will alone.”
-