Bio:

“Oh, let's see . . .We killed Simon and River, stole a bunch of medicine, and now Zoe and the Captain are off springing the others that got snatched by the feds. Oh, here they are now!” - “Ariel”

So cheerful you just want to duct tape her mouth shut and shove her in the hold for a month, Kaylee Frye is the ray of sunshine on Serenity. And she’s nearly as in love with that boat as Mal is. When she first steps on board Serenity, in a set of interesting circumstances that involve engine room sex and their old mechanic, she fixes the ship in ten seconds flat. Mal offers her a job on the spot, and she accepts - as soon as she asks her folks for permission, of course.

Unlike Simon, she isn’t a prodigy, educated at her craft in the finest schools. Engines speak to Kaylee, and Serenity most of all. When she talks about the ship, she doesn’t do it in technobabble - though she’s capable of telling you why a Capissan 38 engine is a piece of fei hua (garbage) - she mostly does it in simple, organic terms. And when Serenity is hurting, Kaylee is hurting. Usually, she can do her job under every kind of pressure imaginable, but when her ship’s crying, she just shuts down.

Her loyalty to the crew and general sensitivity (a rarity in this ‘verse) is her most pronounced quality. Far from a soldier like Mal and Zoe, or a gun hand like Jayne, Kaylee becomes the default mei-mei to the crew, the little sister everyone is protective of. When she gets shot in “Serenity, Pt 1”, the entire crew reacts strongly, making her the top priority, as opposed to the Alliance mole they’ve also discovered. When everyone on the crew minus Inara and River go to rescue Mal, Kaylee goes along, even though her hands are shaking too much to even load a gun. And when the bounty hunter Jubal Early boards the ship, he picks Kaylee as the easiest target, and threatens to rape her.

Somehow, Kaylee retains her happiness and sunny disposition throughout everything she’s experienced on Serenity. And she even finds a new man to pursue - Simon Tam. Unfortunately, Simon’s a bit of an idiot when it comes to girls, especially Kaylee. She constantly tries to get him to loosen up - whether it be swearing, getting drunk and telling stories, or just slouching, instead of his usual prim posture. It’s become Kaylee’s mission to land Simon, and the poor boy doesn’t even know what he’s in for.

It’s what happens when a girl knows people as well as she knows her machines.

Portrayed By: Jewel Staite