EXT. SERENITY – CONTINUOUS

Jayne waves his gun to hold back the crowd.

JAYNE

What do you want?

REBEL

You’ve got food!

JAYNE

Not hardly!

BOOK

I think they’re referring to our cargo.

JAYNE

Hell, no! That’s our money!

The crowd forms in the rocky field in front of the ramp. AINES steps forward. Gaunt, late thirties or forties, she has her hair tied back with a red bandana and walks with a limp, using a bayonet affixed to a stick as a walking staff.

AINES

Ain’t eaten anything in near three days, sir.

WASH

Sorry, ma’am—

JAYNE

Don’t see how that’s our problem.

AINES

I don’t believe you understand. They’ve been hunting us, like dogs. We stood up and demanded fair treatment, and they beat us down.

(indicates her leg)

Chu and his boys beat us with sticks, ‘til we had to run for the hills.

JAYNE

(to the crew)

Still don’t see how that’s our problem.

River appears behind Jayne, Book, Wash, and Simon, hiding in her brother’s shadow.

AINES (cont’d)

Can’t go back. Cariss’ll have us shot, he gets his hands on us. But we stay out here much longer, we’ll starve.

BOOK

Could you tell us how this came to be, Miss—

AINES

Aines.

(beat)

Ain’t much to say. Crop moon, crops failed. Patricians got the gold to feed us all, but they won’t spend it. Month’s worth of grain in your ship, they want save it all for plantin’. Warehouses stay full, while our bellies’re empty. So we fought. Better to die on your feet than live groveling.

River begins softly humming “The Hero of Canton,” so quiet it’s not recognizable yet.

BOOK

Worthy sentiments, ma’am.

WASH

Who shot at us, then?

AINES

That’d have been Jasper. Great mechanic, good leader, but not the sharpest tool on the rack. Likely thought if he brought you down, we could collect the grain easy after.

SIMON

(quietly, to the crew)

Can’t we do something for them?

JAYNE

That’s money we need, or we’re next week’s starvin’ rabble.

BOOK

P