“I have it in full mind that you cheated,” Mal snapped as he watched Jayne take the pot of bullets to his side of the low table they had set up. Jayne grinned crookedly and shrugged, squinting at the sunlight that was coming through the open cargo hatch.

“Some of us have skill, and some of us don’t. Ain’t nothing special about it,” the mercenary answered.

Mal rolled his eyes and began to shuffle again. “That’s one of the bigger loads of gou pi you’ve given.”

Jayne began to count his bullets again, eyeing Mal’s somewhat larger pile with greed. “Figure Zoë and Wash are having a good time?” The couple had gone into the city core to sell the crew’s recent take and then go to something Wash had been near giddy over. An exhibit of some sort of bones from Earth-That-Was some rich fella had smuggled in.

“Zoë seemed less impressed by Wash’s plans,” Mal commented. He heard the rustle of movement of Persephone’s Albionette port outside and wondered when Kaylee would finally get the parts so they could get gone. They weren’t likely to find any renters here for either passage or for the shuttles.

“Ever gonna tell me what a woman like that sees in that guy?”

“Nope. It would get all-confusin’ for you and I’ve seen your face after I confuse you. It ain’t pretty,” the captain said as he dealt the five cards out.

“My Mama says I’m more of a cunning-looker,” Jayne protested.

“In other words, she didn’t want to hurt you by callin’ you ugly?”

Jayne didn’t answer, his dark head bent as he looked over his cards with a sly grin. Mal kept his eyes on him, not trusting him even when it came to card playing. One thing him and the others were mindful of.

“I’ll bet five,” Jayne said as he put five bullets in the pile. Mal turned his eyes back to his cards uneasily, glancing at the bullets. They were five from one of Jayne’s favourite guns, meaning that the man had a good hand. Or was bluffing a hell lot more than normal. Jayne watched Mal’s face pull into a frown and snorted. “Come on now, I ain’t got all da