Mona blinked. "Wow." As the ship came to rest, nestled between the hills outside the glowing city of Xiao Chou, Mona released the controls and leaned back, taking in the panoramic sight as the sinking sun met the ocean that stretched out in front of the ship. Dex skipped up the stairs ahead of Rachel and, when he looked up through the cockpit glass, let out a low whistle. Mona nodded in agreement, eyes still fixed on the seemingly infinite variations of pink, orange, and purple splashing across the sky. "I mean…I'd heard the sunsets on Paquin were beautiful, but…" Dex collapsed into the copilot's chair. "Wow." "Exactly." In spite of herself, Rachel shook her head in amazement. "'Verse never does stop surprisin' a body, does it?" Reluctantly, she tore her vision away from the reflected lights splayed across the water below them. "Mona, put us down for four hours in port. You wanna walk the grounds a little, feel free, but I want Saul with you. Vacation spot or not, Paquin's got more'n its share of disreputable folk." Mona frowned. "Yes, Miss Wu." A soft buzzing wafted from the console to his left, and Dex tapped the controls. "Speaking of disreputable folk, the captain of the Morningstar just sent us a wave. Says he's waiting for the shipment at the wet-docks on the north spit. Pier six." Rachel nodded, gesturing for Dex to come with her, and taking one last, longing gaze at the setting sun before turning back down the stairs. As they followed the stairs into the cargo bay, Dex nudged Rachel's shoulder. "Rachel, I was thinkin'…I know you don't consider her crew, but could be Mariah might help us out on this one." Rachel cast a skeptical glance back at her mechanic. "I mean, from what I heard, Captain Farr, man owns the Morningstar, he's an an ru pan shi bargainer, likely try to haggle us down." Rachel landed on the cargo bay catwalk and turned on her heel to face the redheaded man above her. "And?" "Well…Mariah's good with people as you are, and you know I ain't no help at negotiatin'." "That's it? Couldn't be that you don't want to let a nice romantic sunset go to waste?" Dex's cheeks turned crimson, and his pace down the stairs slowed. Rachel shook her head and continued down to the cargo bay floor. "I swear, way you two bat eyelashes at each other, think you were a couple school kids…" Rachel glanced up at her mechanic, now teetering on the edge of the stairs and bashfully avoiding eye contact, and sighed. "You're gonna get her, best do it before I get the mule loaded." Dex looked up at her, smiled a little, and jogged back in the direction of the guest bunks. Mariah looked up from her databook at the tap on the door frame, and a smile unwittingly washed over her face when Dex waved at her. "Hey." "Hey. Uh, listen, we, uh…we're headed across town to get rid of this cargo, I thought…you know, if you wanted to…maybe come along, help us talk up a better price…" "Oh, yeah, I…all right." Mariah put down the databook and Dex flashed a smile of relief. "All right." Saul looked up from his book at the tap on the ladder, and groaned as Mona's upside-down face smiled back at him. "That hatch was locked." Mona grinned. "Not well." Saul growled and moved his eyes back down to the old-bound classical novel. "Cap'n says I wanna go planet-side, I gotta take you with me, on account of all the slimy folk around." Saul didn't bother to look up. If he ignored her, eventually she might go away. "New passengers are gettin' a mite twitchy too, think fresh air might do 'em some good." Saul tried very hard to concentrate on the book. "Come on, it's the gypsy planet! Ain't you even a little curious?" Saul was having trouble remembering which paragraph he was in the middle of. "All right, but if I go out there and get kidnapped or some huckster gets Andy and Leo to go down some dark alley somewhere, it's gonna be on your head, you know." Saul finally gave up and slammed the book down. Slowly, he rose to his feet, and Mona grinned in victory. She was about to congratulate him on making the right choice when he rushed forward and pressed his palm against her mouth. "I'll go. Long as you don't say another word 'til we're off the boat. Think you can do that?" Mona nodded, hair flipping back toward her neck as she lifted herself out of her position hanging down the ladder into the cook's quarters. As Saul strapped on a shoulder holster and followed her up into the corridor, he shook his head. Kid was going to be the death of him. "Hundred-twenty. Ain't no debatin'." Rachel scoffed, in the carefully prepared manner that generally made price negotiations much shorter. "More trusting soul might think you got a different price sheet than we did, since we got a fair assurance of one-fifty." Captain Farr shrugged, eyeing the fruit crates casually. "Firefly ain't got refrigeration storage. Can't break the seal 'fore this shipment gets to Ariel. Means for all I know could be rottin' already. Consider it insurance I don't lose more'n I have to. Got a crew of my own to look after, you know." Rachel rolled her eyes and looked pleadingly at Dex; this had been going on for the better part of ten minutes, and they still hadn't gotten anywhere. Dex gestured to Mariah, standing, arms folded and head bowed, at the mule. Rachel shrugged and nodded. She didn't really have much left to lose. Dex smiled, and Mariah stepped forward coolly. Farr leaned his head back and nudged his first mate as if to say 'Oh, good, another dance hall girl.' The first mate grinned, gap-toothed, and blew Mariah a kiss. Mariah blushed and her eyes wavered. Rachel turned to Dex pleadingly. He shrugged. Mariah smoothed her skirt out straight and turned her gaze to the crates. Then she smiled. "The fruit's vacuum-packed." She said it more to herself than to anyone else, but Rachel immediately understood where the debutante was going. How could she not have caught it herself? Farr's eyes narrowed. He shrugged. "So?" "So, no air, no bugs, no reason for it to be rotting." Farr's grin faded. "That may be, girl, but…" "I'm Miss Boleyn, not 'girl'." Dex smiled. She seemed to have caught her stride. He knew she could do it. "The only reason there'd be any damage is if someone broke the seal on one of the crates, isn't that right?" Captain Farr didn't respond. The first mate shot him a sidelong glance. Dex nudged Rachel. She shrugged in grudging respect. "Come to think of it, five crates with a standing price of a hundred and fifty credits comes out to thirty a box. Payment of a hundred and twenty is exactly enough for four." Rachel stepped forward. Mariah'd weakened them, but now it was time for the kill. "What's your game, Farr? You were gonna deliver four and filch t'other for yourself?" Mariah turned to Dex and flicked her eyes for him to join in. He folded his arms and stepped forward. "Probably gonna tell the buyer we only gave him four. Broke into one ourselves." Rachel grinned back at the shrinking transport captain. "Folk back on Verbena take their fruit pretty seriously, Cap'n. I'm sure they'll be more than honored to hear how much you like it." Captain Farr cast a nervous glance back at his first mate. The skinny man shrugged. The captain cleared his throat. "How 'bout we go to a hundred 'n forty?" Rachel almost laughed. This guy certainly had ju ren gao wan. "How 'bout you give us what due us and be on your way?" Farr's shoulders collapsed. He was out of options. Cursing under his breath, he passed her a dirty bundle of Alliance notes. As she counted them, he gestured for his men to load the crates onto the Morningstar. As he and his first mate backed toward their ship's cargo doors, Rachel smiled. "Pleasure doin' business with you." Farr scowled as the cargo doors closed, and she could hear him mutter "Can biao zi." As soon as the ship's panel doors slid closed, Mariah sighed and collapsed against the side of the mule. Dex shook his head in amazement. "How'd you do that?" Mariah shrugged, still shaking from the excitement. "Grew up rich. Got pretty used to handling people who think they're better than they are." Rachel shrugged and climbed back into the mule's driver's seat. "'Verse never does stop surprisin' a body, does it?" She glanced back; Dex and Mariah had been staring into each other's eyes just a little longer than was necessary. She whistled. "Let's get back to Artemis, think up a few good ways to spend this loot." The others climbed onto the back of the three-wheeled workhorse, still fawning in each other's general direction. Rachel smiled in spite of herself and stepped on the gas pedal. Leo was having trouble keeping up with Mona, who was currently dragging him by the hand through the brightly colored streets of Xiao Chou. Saul and Sir Anderson followed far enough behind so as not to be in danger of being hit when the doctor swung back in their direction. Both were watching the streets warily, since con artists were hardly the worst danger that the unprepared faced in Paquin's bohemian cities. Sir Anderson tapped the larger man on the arm. When Saul looked down, the noble was glancing nervously behind them. "Mister Horton, I don't mean to alarm you, but I believe we're being followed." Saul glanced back at the street, and at the small party of black-clad men who weaved through the crowd. "The guys in black? They been followin' us for almost three blocks." Saul looked down at Sir Anderson who, despite the fact that Saul had not known him very long, seemed to the cook to be scared out of his mind. "Friends of yours?" Sir Anderson glanced up at the cook, back toward the advancing men, and forward to where Leopold was being dragged further ahead of them. "Not by any possible definition." He took a few long steps forward and grabbed his nephew's arm, grinding him and Mona to a halt. "They followed us. Could be trouble." Mona wrinkled her eyebrows. "What? Trouble from who? Who followed you?" Saul was wondering the same things himself, but didn't have time to ask. Their shadows must have spotted them, because they had begun to shove through the crowd. Saul drew his weapon amid the shouts from the street performers and their audiences as the black-clad thugs pushed into the open, leveling sub-machine guns at the group. Saul's eyes widened. "Down!" As the first volley of shots ended, Saul hunched himself up behind the overturned knick-knack cart and slipped the radio palmset from his belt. "Captain, this is Saul! We've got a serious problem!"