Chapter 22

"Time to get ready, Simon, we're going back to the Ball," Lien said as she entered her private quarters on her luxury yacht, Golden Lotus. "I've had a tailor prepare some suits for you. You're old clothes don't fit you quite right anymore."

You have no idea how true that is, Simon thought as he slowly got out of bed. Despite the fact that is was mid-afternoon, Simon had yet to crawl out of bed for the day. Earlier that morning, he convinced Lien to allow him the extra rest to aid in his recovery. "Thank you Lien. Do they… um, do they have pockets?" Simon asked tentatively.

Lien giggled and assured him, "Yes, they have pockets. I remember how nervous you used to get, shoving your hands in your pockets to keep them from fidgeting about."

"Thanks," Simon said with a blush, thankful she would jump to that particular conclusion. Simon still had no idea where the meeting would be held, but he was reasonably confident that he could steal or at least destroy the Alliance tech if he could smuggle in a few flash bombs to serve as a distraction. Though, Simon was not one of the regular 'petty thieves.' He was more than a little worried he was forgetting something. Something besides escaping, he was well aware of that little deficiency in his plan of action.

***

"Cap'n I'm getting a visual feed!" Kaylee said excitedly.

"What ya got lil' Kaylee? Can you tell if he's dirt-side or not?" Mal asked.

"He's on the ground and…and he's with that ji nu core witch," Kaylee said irritably. "She's all dressed up so I s'pose we can assume he is too. Wonder how she got 'im past them guards and D.N.A. scans?"

"The rules never apply to the wealthy," Mal answered bitterly. "Though, I suppose that's a good thing this time. Let me know soon as you see a good landmark might show us where they are. I'll fill in our-"

"Stop looking at him like that you ta shi suoyou diyu de biaozi de ma!" Kaylee shouted at the monitor.

"Um… Kaylee… you know she can't hear you, right?"

"That si san ba better hope she a