CHAPTER TWO

"De di di yi di yu xia da dai yu lu shang de di di jin ming."

"The best laid plans of mice and men, sir," Zoë told him with stoic compassion.

The majority of the crew, with the exceptions of Kaylee and Inara, was milling around the cargo bay. They had docked and the hatch was open, Mal had been ready to start his great expedition into Shinon looking for work. Instead he found himself re-organizing his small crew. A crew so small that it really shouldn’t have taken any thought at all to organize.

"Why?" Mal continued. "Why do I even bother thinkin’ over these things, making plans and such."

"So what, big deal," Jayne grunted. "Preacher goes with ‘Nara. Ain’t like we needed him."

"But we did need him," Mal said. "Now who’s gonna look after River?"

"Perhaps River could come with us," Book suggested, trying to fix the scheduling mess his compassion had made. "Between Simon, Inara and I . . ."

"Y’all could what?" Mal scoffed. "Quiet her when a bloody lan ri sign makes her go all nuts? Drawing the attention of hundreds of people mighty close to the Core? Shinon’s not exactly the rim. Alliance MP’s do patrol these streets."

"River," Simon said, turning to his sister who was watching the argument with a slightly bemused expression on her face. "If we left you here alone would you . . ."

"No," Mal snapped. "We are not leaving the girl here alone."

"She’s seventeen," Simon said defensively. "On Osiris she was allowed to stay home alone from the age of ten."

"On Osiris," Mal retorted, his anger mounting at whoever dare defy him. "She didn’t have a bounty large enough to tempt a Shepard," he turned quickly to Book, "No offence, on her pretty little head. Nor did she have those brains in that aforementioned head scrabbled like Sunday’s brunch."

Simon didn’t have a sharp reply. He pressed his mouth shut and glanced away.

"The girl ain’t stayin’ alone," Mal reiterated.

"Then I’ll stay with River," Simon said. "If Inara—"

"And I don’t like the idea of a tagged fugitive