It happened on an edge-world moon named Govanne in a port town called "Commonwealth" though even the half-blind could see after one quick look that Commonwealth consisted of a whole lot of common and a distinct lack of wealth.

Not that a one of them complained much. After all, it didn't happen often that Mal's crew had two whole nights to themselves on solid dirt and some decent cash-in-hand, and even this shitty rough little docking town was a better place to spend both than an unbroken long-run in The Black.

So it was that on the grimiest side of a town plenty grimy to begin with, Jayne finally found a tavern offering a local version of whiskey that didn't taste entirely like a chamberpot figured prominently in its distilling process. Jayne then proceeded to sit down at the bar and drink rather a lot of it.

The whole tavern was crowded full of people but--wouldn't it just figure--most of 'em were men and those that weren't men were attached to one; the discovery certainly put a dent in Jayne's plans for the evening. Still, he noticed how most of both were giving wide berth to a little table in the far corner, and when he looked closer that way to see why, his eyes settled on the one person of female persuasion in the entire establishment who was not attached to a man.

Unless Jayne counted the guy she was arm-wrestling at the moment.

She was long and lean, on the hard side of skinny, a woman of the sort Jayne was usually more concerned about breaking outright than getting good and rolling-sweaty with. But her face was nothing she needed to apologize for, she had all her teeth (she smiled wide as she slammed her opponent's hand down hard on the table) and her little strappy dress, though raggedy and some washed-out memory of a color that maybe hadn't started out so grey as it ended up, displayed a whole lot of skin patterned with intriguing tattoos. And her hair… Her hair was downright startling, the color of fresh blood flooding all the way down to her ass. Jayne decided she might be