Magnificent Nine

In James Lovegrove's second Firefly novel, a distress call from an old flame pulls the mercenary Jayne Cobb back to a dusty border town, where he finds more waiting for him than a rescue job: a child whose parentage looks uncomfortably like his own. Mal and the crew of Serenity ride along to help settle the debt, only to discover the town's troubles run deeper than one desperate woman's plea.