“C’mon baby, show me what you’ve got. I know you have it in ya, c’mon, sweetheart.” Kaylee reached over and tightened a couple connections before attaching the few remaining wires and giving Serenity’s engine a preliminary spin to test it. She smiled, and flipped the necessary switches. Serenity creaked for a moment, and Kaylee rested her hand on the side of the engine, murmuring softly. As if needing a bit of encouragement to make up her mind to work, the ship slowly whirred back to life, and the engineer looked a little proud as she surveyed her work.
“Well, time t’find the Cap’n and let him know all’s good on my part down here, and then we best put the nav panel back together ‘fore he gets all upset over it.”
She picked up some tools, slung them in her belt, and headed off to the cargo bay.
the-goodnight-kiss:
kaywinnitlee:
captmalcolmreynolds:
He whirled around and looked at her, exasperated. “Dammit, Kaylee, I asked her.” He walked back to her and stared at her. “You keep ‘er flyin’, keep ‘er runnin’, and I’ve no doubt you love Serenity. I see it in your eyes every single day. But how well can you keep this boat in the air without the parts to do it with? How long do you think we can keep on flyin’ without food, without money?” He crossed his arms over his chest. “This ain’t no charity event, little Kaylee. Believe me, I’ll be owin’ her big time in the future. You let me worry about her, and you worry about gettin’ us off the ground again, dong-ma?”
Kaylee shook her head, concentrating on examining the parts in front of her. “Can only imagine what Preacher would have t’say ‘bout this… Well, I s’pose we gotta go with whatever our Mrs. Reynolds over there gives t’us.” The jibe was clearly intentional. “You just worry ‘bout her a bit more, and I’ll be workin’ on this. Give me six hours? That oughta be enough, and I’ll have her ready to fly true again.” She reached over and patted the nearby bulkhead lovingly, before collecting a few specific parts and standing up, shooting Saffron another glare.
“Nice to see you, Kaylee.” She called after her, having a grand old time pretending she hadn’t heard a word of the mechanic’s ranting. “Oh, and it’s Mia now.”
Kaylee shook her head and muttered loud enough to be heard clearly. “Feeling’s mutual, I’m sure.”
captmalcolmreynolds:
Shining the Light of Civilization: the-goodnight-kiss: Shining the Light of Civilization:…
the-goodnight-kiss:
Shining the Light of Civilization: the-goodnight-kiss: We play parts.: captmalcolmreynolds started…
captmalcolmreynolds:
the-goodnight-kiss:
We play parts.: captmalcolmreynolds started following you
captmalcolmreynolds:
the-goodnight-kiss:
…
He whirled around and looked at her, exasperated. “Dammit, Kaylee, I asked her.” He walked back to her and stared at her. “You keep ‘er flyin’, keep ‘er runnin’, and I’ve no doubt you love Serenity. I see it in your eyes every single day. But how well can you keep this boat in the air without the parts to do it with? How long do you think we can keep on flyin’ without food, without money?” He crossed his arms over his chest. “This ain’t no charity event, little Kaylee. Believe me, I’ll be owin’ her big time in the future. You let me worry about her, and you worry about gettin’ us off the ground again, dong-ma?”
Kaylee shook her head, concentrating on examining the parts in front of her. “Can only imagine what Preacher would have t’say ‘bout this… Well, I s’pose we gotta go with whatever our Mrs. Reynolds over there gives t’us.” The jibe was clearly intentional. “You just worry ‘bout her a bit more, and I’ll be workin’ on this. Give me six hours? That oughta be enough, and I’ll have her ready to fly true again.” She reached over and patted the nearby bulkhead lovingly, before collecting a few specific parts and standing up, shooting Saffron another glare.
the-goodnight-kiss:
Shining the Light of Civilization: the-goodnight-kiss: We play parts.: captmalcolmreynolds started…
captmalcolmreynolds:
the-goodnight-kiss:
We play parts.: captmalcolmreynolds started following you
captmalcolmreynolds:
the-goodnight-kiss:
captmalcolmreynolds:
the-goodnight-kiss:
captmalcolmreynolds:
“Uh-huh,” he smirked. “Well, ya did a fine job of that,” he said. And then some, he…
“Kaylee, Kaylee, Kaylee, KAYLEE!” He shouted as he trotted over to her. “Settle down. I know, and believe me, had I any other choice, it never would be happenin’.” He grabbed her shoulders gently, and turned her to face him fully. “Kaylee, shut up and listen to me,” this time he was speaking softly. “We’re nearly outta food. We’re nearly outta money. And, according to you, we need a shitton of ship parts.” He turned her by the shoulders and showered her the cart full of the parts they needed, and then some. He leaned over slightly and whispered into her ear, “She saved our ass, Kaylee. I don’t like it any better’n you do … but it had to be done.”
He turned away from her to walk back to ‘Mia’. “And it’s my ship,” he muttered.
Mia just smiled sweetly and wiggled her fingers next to her face as a wave.
Kaylee gave Saffron a look of death, and muttered right back. “Who keeps her in the air?”
She tried not to look giddy at the sight of the parts. She hated this, and tried to tell herself that she’d rather have no parts, than parts from Saffron. Picking up a part, she turned it over carefully, appraising it silently, before turning back toward Mal. “How do ya know that these here parts are even gonna work and she ain’t sabotaged the whole gorram lot? I don’t trust her farther than I can throw her, and that ain’t far, Cap’n. I swear, that woman would love nothin’ more than t’get our lil’ ship knocked out of the sky at her hand.”
She checked the wire connections on the piece she was holding, looking for something wrong. “And Cap’n, I don’ care if’n was a charity donation from the purple bellies themselves, I ain’t havin’ her anywhere near my engine room. This is a gorram stupid idea, and you best be keepin’ an eye on her at all times.”
No acknowledgement of the woman directly, beyond the original glare, was necessary in Kaylee’s eyes. As far as she was concerned, woman showed up twice, tried to get them killed or used Serenity, and Kaylee still hadn’t forgiven her for the jibes made toward the ship. Suddenly she shows up, bearin’ gifts? If she hadn’t named her price yet, the engineer had a sinking feeling they would regret it later.
the-goodnight-kiss:
We play parts.: captmalcolmreynolds started following you
captmalcolmreynolds:
the-goodnight-kiss:
captmalcolmreynolds:
the-goodnight-kiss:
captmalcolmreynolds:
“Uh-huh,” he smirked. “Well, ya did a fine job of that,” he said. And then some, he added in thought. “Where was ya headed, anyway?” He grunted a bit as he placed the last of the heavy parts in the basket.
“Like I said, I was just finished a job. On my way to one of the swankier planets to bask in the glory of my success.” She picked up a food crate and put it to the side of the bay.
He snatched an apple from the fruit crate, pulled out his pocketknife, and cut into it slowly. He popped the slice into his mouth, closed his eyes, and savored it; a bit of juice sliding down his chin. He wiped it away with the back of his hand. “So,” he looked at her, “what was this job you pulled off?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, salvage. Child’s play.”
He shrugged. “Yeah. Most jobs lately have been salvage. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been many.”
“There’s been enough on my end. But then again, I’m not looking out for anyone else.” She shrugged.
Kaylee headed into the cargo bay, wiping some grease from her face. “Heard the mule, Cap’n, and hadn’t heard from ya, so was startin’ t’worry ‘bout ya… everything shiny? Didja find anyo…” Kaylee broke off as she saw the woman with Mal, and the intent behind the string of Chinese she uttered was unmistakable.
“No, no, no, no, no… Cap’n, I don’t know WHAT you’re smokin’, but… she… what is SHE doin’ on MY BOAT?!” Kaylee gripped the tools in her hand a little tighter. “She tried t’kill us, more’n once, too, fact’s fact, Cap’n!”
Kaylee’s whistling could be heard over the com before her voice. “Cap’n!” She sounded as if she could decide whether she was immensely pleased with herself, or if she thought it was just another day. “I cobbled t’gether some parts from Serenity’s engine and got the Mule up and runnin’! Should let ya look a little further, leastaways, and keep ya safe from yer cow problem!” She wanted to feel like something was working out, and gorramit, she missed Inara. Hell, Simon, too, if she wanted to be honest with herself. Sooner they could meet up with them again, the happier she would be.
captmalcolmreynolds:
Shining the Light of Civilization: captmalcolmreynolds: Shining the Light of Civilization:…
captmalcolmreynolds:
Shining the Light of Civilization: captmalcolmreynolds: He pulled the list from his pocket, looked at it…
captmalcolmreynolds:
He pulled the list from his pocket, looked at it … and muttered quietly. He didn’t understand half of what Kaylee’d written down. Oh…
“Yeah,” he screamed into the audio mic on his helmet, “but how about we wait until they stop trying to run over my pigu!” He ran up the ramp, and waited for the cows to run by. Again, he screamed into the headset, “Besides, Kaylee, I don’t speak MOO!”
Kaylee headed down to the bay and looked the Captain over suspiciously, catching a glimpse of the stampede through the door. “If they ain’t sentient cows, there’s gotta be some sorta civilization ‘round here, that does speak somethin’ other than moo, right?”
captmalcolmreynolds:
Shining the Light of Civilization: captmalcolmreynolds: He pulled the list from his pocket, looked at it…
captmalcolmreynolds:
He pulled the list from his pocket, looked at it … and muttered quietly. He didn’t understand half of what Kaylee’d written down. Oh well, he’d wing it. He looked up and glanced around when she asked about civilization … and stared. “Uh. Yeah. Yes. Well. A form…
“Cows,” he said. “Lots and lots of cows!” His eyes widened as they got closer. “Oh shit!” He started running back to Serenity, as he saw that the cows here actually stampeding.
Kaylee blinked from her position under the console. She slide out, bumping her head against a panel and letting out a string of curses, before turning the mic button back on. “So, go, talk with the cows! We gotta do somethin’, Cap’n, and I don’t care if they’s cows or not, but we gotta get parts or we ain’t goin’ nowhere.”
captmalcolmreynolds:
He pulled the list from his pocket, looked at it … and muttered quietly. He didn’t understand half of what Kaylee’d written down. Oh well, he’d wing it. He looked up and glanced around when she asked about civilization … and stared. “Uh. Yeah. Yes. Well. A form of it, anyway.”
“An’ what kinda civilization is it, Cap’n?” She wasn’t entirely paying attention, and instead concentrated on sorting out the mess of shorted wires at Serenity’s helm. This was gonna be a long, and unplanned, layover, she had a feeling.
captmalcolmreynolds:
kaywinnitlee:
captmalcolmreynolds:
Shining the Light of Civilization: captmalcolmreynolds: Shining the Light of Civilization: As the cargo…
captmalcolmreynolds:
Shining the Light of Civilization: As the cargo door opened slowly with a hiss,
kaywinnitlee:
captmalcolmreynolds:
Mal sure as hell wished the rest of his crew was here.
Standing there in his space suit, waiting to see what awaited him on the unknown planet…
“Kaylee, I ain’t in the habit a’takin’ off my helmet on new planets just to see whether or not I’m gonna die.” He tapped his helmet at the static. “Do any of the scanners work at all? Is there any way you can check to see if the air is breathable? None of the instruments in the suit seem to be workin’ properly.”
“Sorry ‘bout that, Cap’n!” Kaylee grinned, chipper as usual. “Was rewiring some stuff in your cockpit to get scanners workin’. Looks like we found ourselves a breathable world, but don’ come back ‘til you got some stuff, cuz I gotta undo all I did up here… it ain’t purty at all, but I’ll get it all put to rights jus’ as soon as you can say Persephone. Pinky promise. What’s it look like out there, anyway?”
“Kaylee …” he sighed and muttered, “d’ya mind explainin’ ta me what ‘stuff’ means? do you know how many different definitions there is for the word ‘stuff’?” He removed his helmet and took a deep, slow breath. He spoke louder for the com in the helmet to hear. “It’s ugly. It’s gray and ugly.”
“Oh, not to fret, I slipped a list in yer pocket ‘fore ya left. So’s I can fix the engines up.” A slight clatter and brief string of swear words is heard as she clambers about to grab whatever it was she dropped. “Well, least we ain’t lookin’ for a world for ‘Nara, then. Any signs of civilization?”
