burn the earth and boil the sea

[cyrano]

So I finally saw all the episodes of Firefly, which I hoped might give me insight. But it didn't.
The episode is Objects in Space, with bounty hunter Jubal Early. Opening sequence, River goes around listening to people's heads. And Shepherd Book says/thinks "I don't give half a hump if you're innocent or not."

Who is he referring to? What is he talking about? The others were all pretty clear. Is he self-referencing?

Comments

[jakejr.livejournal.com]

My own assumption about Book was that (based on that and the reaction to his ID card and his skill with a gun) he was a former high-ranking official of some sort (General? Admiral?) and had committed terrible acts during the war (possibly even during the battle of Serenity) and gone off to be a Shepherd to try to start a new life/as penance. Then we'd get the added bonus of him having been on the opposite side from the Browncoat side of the crew when it finally came out but being a decent man now. But that's just my theory.