“Mal, I’m only saying that you might be overreacting a bit,” Inara said refusing to back down.

“No, I’m not. And there’s no point arguing this, it’s over. We stop at Medea and he gets off. Period. End of story. End of problem.”

Mal, Inara and Jayne had been up in the bridge for the better part of an hour going over the ‘problem’. Mal was being hardheaded and refusing to even hear any of Inara’s points. Jayne, enjoying the show, was silent on the subject. He honestly didn’t care one way or another what they did with Wash. Jayne was just waiting for the word from Mal on what should be done. After all, Mal paid the bills around here.

Inara continued to give Mal the look she seemingly reserved just for him.

“What difference does it make where he’s from? He’s been on the ship now for nearly a year. He’s saved us all how many times?”

”It the principle of the matter Inara. He should have told me. Should have been honest from the start.”

Zoë entered the bridge with Kaylee quietly slipping in behind her. Mal looked over to her for an update on the current situation.

“Dr. Kellerman is expecting us within the hour. I’ve resealed the crate; they shouldn’t know we opened it.”

Mal nodded his approval and then asked where Wash was.

“In his bunk,” Kaylee interrupted, “said he needed to be alone. He doesn’t look good.”

“Doesn’t matter, he’s not staying,” Mal began again, “Jayne…”

Jayne perked up at the mention of his name, but Inara quickly intervened.

“You’re just going to throw him off the ship? Just dump him at Medea?”

”Pretty much.”

Suddenly it dawned on her. Not even Mal was this rash; Mal wasn’t stupid, he knew exactly what he was doing and why. This wasn’t so much about honesty as it was about other things.

“So, for this one think, just this one thing, you’re going to kick him off the ship?” she asked steeling a glance at Zoë.

He knew what she was alluding to, but this was not the place for that argument. He wasn’t getting into that. Hell, he wasn’t even