Mal continued in long strides down the steps that led to the cargo bay. He heard grunts and the slap of flesh that sounded amazingly like a fist fight. He put all of his weight on his hands and kicked down the long stairs. He almost kicked Inara in the face.

"Mal! What are you doing?", she asked as Mal drew his pistol.

"Do you not hear what is going on down there?" he gestured with the gun.

Inara had ducked twice to keep the barrel of the gun outof her face. Now, she gently grasped Mal's hand and wrist and slowly put his gun back in the holster.

"I do hear it, and it is, in fact, instruction."

Mal, getting a little angry that he already had to sort out a fight, and that Inara was being a little condescending, removed his hand from where Inara's were hovering. From under the catwalk, Simon, the ship's medic was slowly walking backward in a defensive pose. Not a bad one, either. Jayne was sitting on a crate, watching what was unfolding in front of him with his usually bemused look, which is to say, he looked confused and angry. Mal almost asked who Simon was sparring with, but realized a second before Book walked out on the offensive that there were few people Simon would take fighting instruction from on the ship.

There were two, actually, and Mal was talking to one of them. While Jayne, Zoe, and Mal himself were the best at what could only be called a streetbrawler type of fighting, Book and Inara had been trained to fight hand to hand.

Book swung so quickly at Simon that Mal hardly saw it. To his utter shock, Simon caught Books arm at the wrist, so that Book's hand was right in front of Simon's face. This, of course (And Mal saw it coming, Inara too, from her hiss of inhalation) set Simon up for a quick slap to the face. While Simon's eyes were closed, Book lowered himself quickly and kicked Simon's feet out from under him.

Jayne, for his part, was visually impressed. He actually clapped when Simon went down, but that may have more to do with the