Author owns no rights what-so-ever to Firefly, nor the universe in which it lives. He writes solely for his own amusement. It's okay not to sue him.

Serenity touched down on Kenner with little fanfare. Inara had managed to find them a small cargo to deliver, which gave them more than a paper thin reason for being there. Mal and Zoe set out at once to deliver the small order of dry goods to the General store in Kennerville, the not overly imaginative name for the moon's second largest 'city'. There was only one real populous are on the moon, River had told them. The capital, also called Kenner.

"This place is almost a dust bowl," Zoe remarked as she steered the mule easily along toward their delivery.

"Looks to be in a drought," Mal nodded. "Imagine the land ain't too bad, though, when the water's there. Least wise a man oughta be able ta feed hisself. Wouldn't necessarily be a bad life," he added distantly.

"You're kidding, right? Sir?" Zoe looked at him from the corner of her eyes. "I mean, for you. I can't see you bein' happy nowhere but in the black."

"I can't neither," Mal shrugged. "Just sayin'."

"Looks like the place," Mal pointed ahead. Zoe eased the mule along the dusty street, coming to rest in front of 'Shorty's Dry Goods and Sundries'. As they eased from the mule, Mal looked to Zoe.

"Hang here for a minute, let me see this guy. We ain't never been here. Don't want no one stealin' the goodies."

"Sir," Zoe nodded, turning her attention to the street around them. People were coming and going, she noted. The mule, and two strangers drew a bit of attention, but it was passing. Mal and Zoe looked like what they were; freighters delivering a load.

Mal eased into the store, allowing his eyes to adjust to the sudden absence of sunlight. As he looked around, he could hear what sounded like a friendly argument.

"I still say that man ought not be a hanged fer doin' what any man in this town, hell on this moon woulda done in his shoes."

"Jacob, I know what you're sayin'," a bespectacled man replied wearily. He was short, and balding. "But the fact is, he killed old Sheriff Harper on top o' the others, and that's what most folks is holdin' agi'n 'im."

"That old fraud," 'Jacob' snorted. "You know well as I do Shorty that man was on the take. He mostly kept the peace here in town, but around us he let folks like Bitters an'nem run hawg-wild. Killin' and the like. Just like the Cobb farm."

"Ain't arguin' about Bitters," Shorty agreed. "Was a good bit o' business when the boy put paid on that waste o' skin. Help you, sir?" Shorty noticed Mal for the first time.

"Name's Reynolds," Mal nodded. "Got a shipment o' goods for you."

"Hey! Good deal!" Shorty nodded with enthusiasm. "Been hoping fer that. Glad to see ya!" Shorty pumped Mal's hand.

"Don't let me interrupt the argument," Mal smiled, hoping for a chance to find out more.

"Oh, we ain't really arg'yin," Jacob chuckled. "Just debatin' a bit. Fella showed up a few weeks ago and turned hisself in on a wanted poster. Claimed the reward hisself and used it to set his Ma up rest o' her days in the Care Home. Whole town's been goin' on 'bout it fer weeks now."

"Claimed the reward on his own head?" Mal asked, allowing amusement to show in his voice. "That's a new one on me."

"Ain't it though?" Shorty chuckled. "It's a sordid story at best, and the most o' folks 'round here think he oughta be let go. Worst thing he done was killed the old Sheriff, and I guess you heard us sayin' he wasn't exactly the most upstanding citizen here'bouts."

"Well, you'll have that, time ta time," Mal shrugged. "Why'd he kill tha Sheriff ta start with?"

"Well," Jacob scratched his beard, "some men set on the man's women folk. Well, he was just a boy at the time, to be honest. Man grown enough to see it put to right, though," he added with admiration. "Anyhow, the Sheriff tried to shield some o' them what did to his women, and, well, he maybe hadn't oughta," he shrugged. "Died from it."

"I hear it's catchy like that," Mal shrugged himself. "Man needs to tend to his own knittin', let others do the same."

"Damn right," Jacob growled. "That bunch was scum, and no two ways about it. And that Bitters was the worst o' the bunch, ta my way o' thinking."

"I've heard otherwise," a new voice, cold and aloof, said from the door. Mal's hand dropped to his gun ever so gently, and then he turned.

"Reckon ya hear all sorta things," Jacob shrugged. "I happened ta be here at the time. Was you, stranger?"

"I was," the much younger man nodded. "Hiram Bitters was my uncle," he added. If he expected to see any sort of regret, he was disappointed.

"Well, I reckon I got kin I wouldn't spit on, neither," Jacob replied evenly. Mal took a step back, taking himself out of the two men's wordplay.

"He was a great man," the newcomer said stiffly. "And deserved better than what happened to him."

"No, he deserved about what he got," Jacob smiled, his tone conversational. "Well, seein' as how him bein' staked over an ant hill, covered in honey wasn't really an option at the time."

"You seem to know a great deal about it."

"Reckon ever'one around here knows a good deal 'bout it," Shorty cut in before Jacob could reply to that one. "Was a big dustup when it happened. Let's see. . .if Hiram was your uncle, guess that makes you Mary Ruth's boy? Moved over to Kenner as I recall, after it happened? That'd make you. . .Hiram Wilson, I expect. Knowed yer pa. Was a fair fellow as I recall. How's he gettin' on? And yer Ma?"

"That's correct," Wilson nodded. "I am. My parents are deceased I'm afraid. My mother was never quite the same after her brother was murdered."

"Reckon that's true o' Mrs. Cobb as well," Jacob almost growled. "Seein' her man and son killed in cold blood, and then havin' herself and her daughter set upon by carrion."

"How dare you compare that whore to my mother," Wilson snarled quietly.

"You watch yer mouth, sonny," Jacob almost lunged at the younger man. Shorty caught his arm, held him back.

"Reckon you need to wander along, young Mister Wilson," the store keeper said, his voice frosty. "I won't have a man under this roof callin' Mrs. Cobb anything o' that sort. Same door let ya in will let ya out."

"I. . . ." Wilson started, but Mal had heard enough.

"Reckon you best git," he said softly, fury washing through him. "Man done told you, take a hike. Get to it." Wilson let his gaze settle over Mal.

"I don't believe I know you, sir," he finally said.

"That's right," Mal nodded. "You don't."

Wilson regard Mal for a long moment, then nodded. He eased his way back to the door, then turned abruptly and was gone. Shorty finally released Jacob, and breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to his friend.

"What in hell you think you're doin'?" he challenged. "That man's at least ten years younger. And in better shape."

"I can still tend his needin's," Jacob growled. "Little fop." Shorty turned to Mal.

"I'm sorry you had to be here for that, Reynolds. Thanks for steppin' in, though. Mighta been a bad scene develop, you hadn't been here."

"Ain't never been one to hear a good woman called a whore." His own conscience twitched at that, thinking on how many times he'd used the word at Inara. Can't change it now.

"And she was a fine woman," Shorty nodded. "Woman ain't been herself since all 'at happened. She'll never recover, I'm thinkin'. And that little bastard's 'great man' of an uncle is the primary reason fer it. Well," he shook himself. "You didn't come here fer all that. Let's get you unloaded so's we can settle up."

"Sounds good."

"Well, that was different," Mal said as he and Zoe eased back into the mule. Zoe started up, and they eased through town, looking around.

"Seems like the townfolk, for the most part anyways, don't care for the idea o' Jayne hangin' anymore than we do," Zoe commented. Mal looked at her.

"'We'," he asked, eyes lifting in amusement. "I was under the impression that you came along for my benefit more than any interest in helpin' Jayne." Zoe shifted uncomfortably under his look.

"Man pulled me out from under reavers," she said simply. "And he ain't, from the sound of it, did anything here I wouldn't have. Ain't like Canton."

"No, not so much," Mal agreed. "I'm of a mind we should. . ." Mal broke off as Jacob waved him down. Zoe pulled in to the side.

"Reckon you'd be Mal Reynolds," Jacob said without pause. "Jayne-boy worked fer you for a time, as I recall."

"Jayne-boy?" Mal couldn't help the look of genuine amusement that fell across his face.

"Nick name," Jacob smiled slightly. "One you might'nt oughta use, 'cept at a distance, I might tell ya. I'm Jacob Merrin. Jayne's my cousin. My ma and his is sisters."

"You were with him when he lit Bitters' place afire," Mal replied, more a statement than a question. Jacob smiled ever so slightly.

"See Jayne-boy's told you a bit," he nodded. "Only I wasn't just with him. I lit the fire."

"Might be you an' me should talk, Jacob," Mal suggested, pointing to the back seat of the mule. "Someplace private, where we can discuss 'Jayne-boy's' present di-lemma."

"Was thinkin' that myself," Jacob grinned, then hopped into the mule.

"Back to the ship, Zo'."

"And so, that's how she lies," Jacob finished, leaning back slightly. He and the crew of Serenity were gathered around the table in the galley for the story.

"I. . ." Simon started, then broke off, looking away. He'd learned a good deal about Jayne in the last few days. Things that were forcing him to re-evaluate the mercenary.

"Reckon that explains his obsession with coin," Kaylee said simply. "Lookin' after his ma all these years."

"Yes," Inara nodded simply. "I'd say it does." Like Simon, Inara found herself examining her own opinion of one Jayne Cobb.

"History lessons all well and good," Mal declared from the head of the table. "But we're here to see about the near future. Jacob, tell us about the sheriff."

"He ain't wantin' to see Jayne hang no more'n I am," Jacob shrugged. "Ain't none o' his men wantin' it, fer that matter. In fact, only person in the whole town that does is our young Mister Wilson, whose a-quant'ance you just made at Shorty's."

"Charmin' fella, I thought," Mal nodded, his voice fairly dripping with sarcasm. "I'd a mind to shoot him right there, tell the truth."

"Better it was one o' ya, than one o' us, I guess," Jacob admitted. "He's got some connections over'n the cap'tal. Might be able ta make it hard fer us 'round abouts."

"And he's the Bitters' man's nephew?" Inara asked.

"Yep," Jacob nodded. "Claims his ma was near on destroyed by what happened to Bitters. Him bein' such an upstandin' man o' society and all."

"Not as bad as what befell Jayne's ma, I'm thinkin'," Zoe growled.

"Not even a tithe," Jacob agreed quietly. The big man had nursed his own feelings of guilt over the years. This brought them to the fore.

"How well you know the sheriff, Jacob?" Mal asked, and idea forming in the back of his mind.

"Toby?" Jacob looked at the captain. "Knowed him fair all my life. Good sort, too. Why come?"

"Thinkin' we could have a talk with him," Mal shrugged. "If'n he don't want Jayne to hang neither, then maybehaps he might be inclined to sorta look away was there a bit o' jailbreakin' to happen. And since we'd take 'Jayne-boy' and skedaddle, there wouldn't be much to be done nor said, oncet it was over."

"Now that ain't a bad idea," Jacob mused, a half grin playing on his face. "Ole Tobe, he ain't liked this from the beginnin'. He's a fair honest man, mind you, so I can't say fer rightly certain he'd be a mind to go along."

"He ain't got to help," Mal laughed. "Just rather him and his didn't get in tha way."

"We need to see about Jayne's stuff," Zoe put in. "Specially his guns. He won't wanna leave'em."

"I got all that," Jacob surprised them. "Wanted me ta sell'em, but I ain't. I wasn't wantin' to let him hang, neither. Figured, I could get him out, he'd be wantin' and needin' all his gear and what not."

"Well, I say me, you, Zoe, and River pay us a visit to Sheriff Toby," Mal said, standing. "Albatross, mind you stay shut, while we're there. Just wanna know what you. . .think about the whole thing."

"Of course," River smiled, also rising. Mal turned to Simon and Kaylee, then to Inara.

"Button up the ship, and stay onboard. With all of us out, I'd rather you be safe. We'll be back, soon's we can."