Mal Reynolds was no particular stranger to acting quickly in a crisis, and even though the shuttle, (and Inara and himself,) were only some seconds away from getting smashed into the surface of the moon, he didn't panic for more than an instant. *Even got a kind of a plan forming,* he thought to himself, quickly accessing the scanner and pulling up a heat reading on the other ship clamped to them, the one that Jesse Sanchez had gotten ahold of to pull this trap.

Inara glared at him, but Mal didn't think that this violated his vow to 'keep his hands off the controls' - that only applied to the piloting gear. He'd already worked the communicator, after all, and didn't see much of a difference between that and the scanner. Plus, it was a gorram crisis! However, the next part would have to be up to her. "Alright, Inara, I want you to spin us around," he said, fastening the harness straps in his own seat, and then moving on to secure Inara without even thinking about it. "Or flip us, really, so that we're further away from the surface and Jesse's closer."

"But... but he won't let us, he'll compensate..." Inara started.

"He can't compensate for that," Mal assured her, "Not if you go clockwise. He lost one maneuvering jet - probably when he was clamping us. That was a hell of a maneuver, because he was coming away from Ares to start, but wanted us both to be heading back towards it when all was done." Inara nodded some agreement to what he'd said. "And the other jet that he'd need, it won't fire, or won't fire right, because our hull is right up against it." Mal hoped that there was some sort of safety on those jets, otherwise Jesse might fire them anyway and cut the grapples, sending himself flying free and pushing them even harder into Ares. "But you've got to do it now!"

"Right," Inara said, engaging her own maneuvering jets. "That way, he'll stop pushing down, because he's only going to hurt himself." The flip finished, and Mal felt himself hanging upside down, because they were under Ares gravity now, n