Jayne Rising ~~~~~~~~~~~~

They say that the smell of honest labour is supposed to be refreshing. Assuming that they were right, then judging by the smell this labour was anything but. Samuel Wentworth was a composed and cultured individual, and therefore managed not to betray any expression about the odor.

Oh, but how it cost him.

Wentworth had most of his life by the credo of 'If you want something done properly, do it yourself.' The past year had seen that credo become a mania. Traumatic experiences tended to do things like that to a person. It was why he, an Ariel native and the CEO of a burgeoning high-tech contracting company was out here on a god-forsaken Rim rock like Higgins' moon in the first place. Ceramic composites already had important everyday uses, but Wentworth's company was on the verge of developping a new one that could render modern armours obselete. Of course, certain special ingredients were required, which Higgin's vaunted mud might well supply.

Again, leading him to the stench.

"We've recently had to expand our operations here by almost double, to meet growing demand, so I'm sorry about the disorganization." his guide explained. "But you can see that we handle practically everything in-house here, from the cultivation to the bricking."

Wentworth nodded thoughtfully, everything was mostly as he had been led to believe, if more chaotic. That chaos could easily be explained by a dramatic increase in the scope of the business.

"A lot of these workers seem to be watching their fellows mostly instead of working themselves." he pointed out.

Was that a shadow of a grimace flitting briefly over his guide's face? Wentworth couldn't be sure, but it was probably a sore point.

"Yes, to meet such an increase we had to import another thousand workers, indentured of course. It's the most cost efficient, but there is a bit of a learning curve involved."

The guide's tone gave it away, there was definitely something about that he disagreed with. Probably the concept of indentured labour, Wentworth reasoned. The man was certainly young, and probably rather idealistic to go along with it. Wentworth didn't much care for idealism, as it got in the way of business if you weren't careful, but it was a much better attitude than the 'Take the slaves for granted' many of these young fops developped. Wentworth himself disliked the practice, as he believed that every man should have the opportunity to make or break himself in the world, but he wasn't about to jeopordise what he'd made of himself in some pointless crusade.

"I see." he said simply. "Well, my exact needs are small at the moment, but a little particular. I'll need samples of the mud and clay from every stage of production, so that we can determine exactly what is needed, if anything."

He said the last half-apologetically, but his guide seemed to understand.

"That's quite alright. I wouldn't expect anything more from you until you've determined exactly what you require. To be honest, I'm somewhat surprised that you came yourself and didn't place an order by wave or delegate it."

"I like sizing up potential partners personnally." Wentworth smiled at the youth's candor.

"It's why I'm glad that you could take the time yourself to show me around. I believe that I've seen enough at this point though."

His guide smiled in return and signalled the driver. As they returned to the mansion, Wentworth noticed the dwellings they were approaching. Little more than mud huts, built with the material on hand. It did indeed seem that Higgins was keeping his personnel costs to a minimum, also in keeping with what he'd been led to expect.

"We're passing through Canton, the worker's town, at the moment." his guide explained. "We drove past the outskirts earlier, but the most direct route back is through here."

"It's no concern." Wentworth said, his eyes examining the village. It was rather sad, no modern civilization to note, and even the statue in the middle of the square was made of clay.

His eyes snapped back to the statue.

"Stop the car!" he demanded harshly. As soon as it slowed, he fairly leapt out and strode across the square to gaze at the statue better.

"It's the local folk hero." his guide panted, running to catch up with him. "He's the only man to have publically defied the magistrate twice and gotten away with it."

"Jayne Cobb." Wentworth read the name from the placard at the base to himself. "So that's your name. Fancy finding you here."

"Have you had dealings with him before? He is a criminal, but that only increases his stature with the mudders."

Wentworth's smile was now genuine, but more than a little scary.

"Oh, I'm well aware that he's a criminal. But this man helped save my life." he turned to the guide. "Tell me, can you have describe the men who accompanied him? Was one of them a young doctor?"

"I'm not sure, I wasn't there personally. I was, ah, occupied with a Companion during most of the event." the young man blushed furiously at this point.

"Then, Fess Higgins, find me someone who was there. I have to know this." Wentworth suddenly realized how intense he was coming across and tried to tone his emotions down. It was very, very hard. "In return, I'll tell you how I know this man."

*******************

Arnie Smith was a very nervous man. The young master was a decent enough sort, certainly not the ruthless monster his father was, but the subject of Jayne Cobb was not one to endear anyone to the Higgins family. Being asked to sing the entire ballad to him and some rich offworlder was tantamount to being asked to volunteer for a month in the sweatbox. Not to mention that the offworlder was giving off some scary vibes.

"Go on." the offworlder encouraged. "There's five credits in it for you."

That was enough to convince Arnie. He normally just sang for a free dinner, but five credits was worth any two months in the sweatbox. He picked up his guitar and started strumming.

Jayne, the man they call Jayne

He robbed from the rich And he gave to the poor Stood up to the man And gave him what for Our love for him now Ain't hard to explain The hero of Canton The man they call Jayne

Our Jayne saw the mudders' backs breakin' He saw the mudders' lament And he saw the magistrate takin' Every dollar and leavin' five cents So he said "you can't do that to my people" He said "you can't crush them under your heel" So Jayne strapped on his hat And in 5 seconds flat Stole everythin' Boss Higgins had to steal

He robbed from the rich And he gave to the poor Stood up to the man And gave him what for Our love for him now Ain't hard to explain The hero of Canton The man they call Jayne

Now here is what separates heroes From common folk like you and I The man they call Jayne He turned 'round his plane And let that money hit sky He dropped it onto our houses He dropped it into our yards The man they called Jayne He stole away our pain And headed out for the stars

He robbed from the rich And he gave to the poor Stood up to the man And gave him what for Our love for him now Ain't hard to explain The hero of Canton The man they call Jayne.

He finished to scattered and subdued applause throughout the tavern. Normally everyone would have been cheering, but young Higgins was enough to dampen most of that. The offworlder looked even more concentrated than before.

"And?"

It took Arnie a minute to realize that the offworlder expected more.

"Beggin' yer pardon?" he asked.

"And what happened when he came back?"

"Well, we were havin' a rally to celebrate his comin' back to us when his ol' mate Stitch came after him. Stich had been locked up in a box for four years by Boss Higgins for his part in the stealin', but Higgins let him out tryin' to..." he trailed off, realizing that there were some things that he might not be able to get away with saying, even with the apparent leave of young Higgins.

"Go on." the offworlder commanded. "No one will punish you for telling me."

Arnie glanced at the young Higgins, who nodded gravely.

"Well, Stitch, he wanted Jayne dead for bailin' him out with the cash, and the Boss knew that. So Stitch grabs one of Jayne's crew and roughs him up until he hears the meetin', then heads up and threatens to kill the guy. Jayne, he tries to bluff his way out, sayin' the young fancypants ain't one of his. Stitch though, he don't have none of that, and tries to put a bullet through Jayne while the foreman's prods just watched, so young Mike, with his head full of heroic, jumps in and takes the shot. Now Jayne don't take to that sort of thing and you could see how torn up he was by someone sacrificing themselves for him, and he killed Stitch with his bare hands in front of the whole town. Then told us all how he don't think himself any better than any other man, and then he knocked his own statue over. Not many men can be called hero, then tell everyone that they're not. That's the mark of a great man, it is."

The offworlder seemed to be drinking it all in. He reached into a pocket and produced a set of pictures and showed them to Arnie.

"Recognize any of these, besides Jayne." the offworlder asked.

One of the pictures was indeed of Jayne, taken from an odd angle. The next was of a young girl that Arnie had never seen. The third one though...

"Yeah," Arnie pointed towards the picture of the young man in a white coat. "He's the one of Jayne's crew that Stitch roughed up some."

The offworlder replaced the pictures and flipped a five credit coin towards Arnie.

"I'll give you a bonus too." The man said. "Another part of the legend of Jayne, you might say."

Everyone in the bar was suddenly all ears. The offworlder turned to address them all.

"You might not have heard, but almost a year ago Jayne and his crew robbed the biggest Alliance hospital on Ariel." Muttering started up at that, only to die down as the offworlder continued. "They snuck in right under the Federal Marshals and the hospital's security, dressed as a doctor and paramedics. While they were about their work, Jayne and the doctor noticed that one of the hospitals real doctors had made a big mistake. You see, even in the Core, people screw up, and this doctor was about to accidentally kill his patient. Now Jayne and the doctor stopped what they were doing at once and stepped in to give proper care to this man, and didn't continue with their own work until they were sure that the man would not only live, but that the mistake would not be repeated. And despite the risk they ran saving that man's life, they were still able to pull the heist off and make off with a stash of medicines, which they then made sure people on the Border and Rim planets got."

The audience was listening raptly by this point.

"The man who's life they saved has never forgotten them, and he has searched since then for a way to find the criminals who put aside everything to do what was right. And today he has come one step closer to finding them. I thank you all for your time."

And with that he turned on his heel and strode from the bar. Young Higgins gave the assembled mudders one odd look of his own, then followed after.

Arnie was busy thinking on what he had just been told, trying to find a way to put it to song. The legend of Jayne Cobb had grown once more, and by this evening the whole town would be repeating it.

*******************

Outside, Wentworth turned to Higgins.

"Thank you for that. As I said, I've been trying to find them ever since then."

Higgins looked at the prods that were filing out behind him.

"Mr. Wentworth and I will return alone to the mansion. Return to whatever you were doing."

As they drove along, Fess smiled ruefully to Wentworth.

"It's actually me who should be thanking you." When Wentworth's looked askance at him he continued. "The mudders don't have much but the legend of that man, and you've given them something priceless there."

"That's alright by me. I had guessed as much, and between us I think that I played up Jayne's part by more than a bit. The actual work was all done by the doctor with him.

Unfortunately, they're all very much wanted by the authorities, and I haven't been able to get much official co-operation in finding them."

Fess shrugged.

"I can tell you that they fly a Firefly-class transport. Serenity, I think that it was. I'll send you a wave with the details, they're still kept in the dock's computers - My father's trying to keep an eye out for them in case they come back."

"Thank you for that." Wentworth said gravely. "I can tell you something. For today's little episode, I can guarantee that we'll be placing at least some large orders through you." It was Fess' turn to look askance at him. "We're always in need some clay for our ceramics, whether or not yours turns out to have some of the special properties that we're looking for."

"That is good to hear."

*******************

"FESS HIGGINS!"

The roar echoed off of every surface in the mansion. There were only a few things that could drive Magistrate Higgins into a complete rage, but Jayne Cobb was one of them. A moment later, the Magistrate burst through the door into Fess' study.

"Fess! What the devil is this about you letting a prospective buyer listen to the mudders talk about Cobb? What were you thinking? I should rip you apart piece by piece! To think that you allowed this embarrasment to spread!"

Fess calmly slid a couple of sheets of paper across the table.

"The ends justify the means, father." he said with a slight smile. "The buyer thought that it gave the place just enough character to justify opening a permanent account with us."

He tapped the sheet to give it added emphasis. The elder Higgins grabbed it and scowled. It was a measure of how enraged the Magistrate was that it took almost a minute for the numbers to come together.

"This could be-" he said slowly.

"What's on already that paper makes it one of our twenty-five largest accounts. If they continue in that vein, they'll easily make the top ten."

"Hmph."

The Magistrate didn't seem to be able to say much else, so after another glance at the papers he threw them back on Fess' desk and marched from the room.

"Nothing buys bygones quicker than money." Fess said quietly to himself.

In reality, he was rather glad of today's events. With his father bringing in even more economic slaves and tightening down across the board on the mudders, it was important to give them something to hold onto, something that even he couldn't take away.

And Jayne Cobb certainly seemed to be the man of the hour. Even now, he could imagine the old mudders initiating the new ones with the tales of what Jayne had done not just for them, but for people all over the 'Verse.

The fact that it was like poison to his father only made it all the better as far as he was concerned. Jayne Cobb, he reflected, was a man without equal.

*******************

"So you went and knocked Kaylee up? Hah, I guess you'll get your chance to be a gynecologist after all!"

"My god! Can you ever manage, just once, not to say the rudest possible thing imaginable?"

"Nah, 'sides, what I hear is that little lady is so pissed at you that you ain't never gonna get another chance for an encore."

"That's it. Get out of my infirmary at once. Why the hell did you even come in here to begin with?"

"Oh, just to see how you're holdin' up. And to give you this..."

What followed was a fart measurable on the Richter scale.

"Out! Oh god, even I can't stay in here now! You're ruining my sterile environment, you overmuscled ape!"