Mal Speech.

[badinlatin]

Mal can stand again. He had called over the comm for everyone to get to the kitchen, sounding as calm and collected as possible. His right hand shakes still, but for an entirely different reason. Adrenaline.

Inara and Mal make it to the kitchen first, and Inara sits while Mal waits at the head of the table for everyone else to arrive. For as shaken as everyone is, Mal takes the moment to look straight at Kaylee and smile. He can only hope she understands.

The cylinder was sitting on the table since Mal had walked in the room, and he picks it up now. "This report is maybe twelve years old. Parliament buried it, and it stayed buried 'til River dug it up. This is what they feared she knew. And they were right to fear, 'cause there's a universe of folk that are gonna know it too. They're gonna see it. Somebody...has to speak for these people."

What do you think of that?

The crew is waiting for Mal to keep going, looking at him either like he's crazy or that he's finally sane; Mal can't decide which.

"You all got on this boat for different reasons, but you all come to the same place. So now I'm askin' more of you than I have before. Maybe all - as sure as I know anything I know this: They Will Try Again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground, swept clean. A year from now, ten, they will swing back to the belief that they can make people..." Mal pauses, eyeing River with a sudden clarity. "better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running.

"I aim to misbehave."

A long beat, where everyone just seems to be analyzing what Mal has just said.

Say something.