Chapter 39; Collision Course
On the Theta Riss military space station, Admiral Benjamin Kirby retired to his office in a state of extreme agitation. His career was on the line. Somehow, the Special Forces training vessel Osiris, which he’d been supposed to take command of a few days earlier, had disappeared. On it, had been the most promising recruits that they’d had since the brief days of Richard B. Riddick’s time of service.
Missing. Gone. Poof! And it was his staff that should have been monitoring them.
Kirby locked his office door and began to pace the small room, his thoughts turned inward, dissecting the mess he was in. His long strides took him around the room quickly and he abandoned pacing, dropping into the chair behind his desk with a grimace.
The Osiris had been supposed to dock at Theta Riss, then continue under his command to the Edge, a planet-based training facility months away. That had never happened.
Obviously, he thought darkly. If it had happened, we’d all be in cryo right now at the beginning of our journey. But no, it hadn’t happened and now my butt’s in a sling.
The ship had never arrived and all messages sent to it went unanswered. The last transmission received had mentioned something about a derelict ship having been spotted, then nothing more. Supposedly, an investigative team was on their way, but knowing how long it took those above him to get their ass’s in gear, Kirby figured they were still days away. Until anything was cleared up regarding the Osiris, the entire crew and recruits were listed as AWOL.
They’re gonna have my balls for this. What the hell happened? Where did that damn ship go off to and why weren’t the idiots here keeping track of it? They knew how important the men on that ship were; so how had the Osiris been able to slink past all the checkpoints our ships have to go through? What the fuck went wrong?
His teeth ground together. Heads were going to roll and he was going to start with the Theta Riss bridge crew.
With a horrible, premonative sinking feeling in his stomach, Kirby reached out and punched in a code on the vidscreen. When his call was answered, he spoke two words to the person on the other end: "Black Death."
The screen went blank as soon as the words were spoken.
~~~~~~~~~~
Garritt was at the top of the steep stairway raising the hatch, when the Persephone lurched to a stop. It didn’t glide slowly; rather, it came to a stop as though it had hit a large object. He stumbled, tried to catch himself and fell back down the stairs he’d just climbed, the hatch slamming above him. He rolled down the stairs, his head striking the floor as he landed, blood filling his mouth from where he’d bitten his tongue.
"Fuck!" he cursed, then spat blood and saliva onto the floor. "Shit!"
His curses turned silent as he moved to hide himself behind several crates.
Come on, Riddick, he thought with a grin, blood dripping down his chin. Come on down here, you bastard and lets fight.
There was the sound of footsteps on the floor above.
~~~~~~~~~~
"What the fuck?" Jack yelled out as she tumbled from the co-pilots seat and onto the floor and landing hard on her hands and knees. Her head missed striking a sharp section of console by only a couple inches. The glow of her blue eyes intensified.
There was a banging sound in the main corridor.
Riddick whipped his head around, gaze towards that corridor. "Check the systems, Jack." He got up from his chair and brushed by her, exchanging a glance with her, his face as impassive as he could make it. He concentrated on keeping her from hearing his thoughts. She didn’t need to know what he suspected.
"Where are you going?" Her hands flew over one console, checking the basic settings of the ship, face set with lines of worry.
"Thought I heard something." Riddick walked slowly towards the back, gaze searching the nooks and crannies of the ship, from the ceiling to the floor. He stopped at the cargo hatch and stared down at it for a long moment, listening. Was that someone cursing? It sure sounded like it, faint, but there.
He maneuvered a crate over the hatch, then did a quick check of the living area, bathroom and bedroom and a final check on Jack in the front. Nothing, and no one but the two of them.
*Interesting.*
He shoved the crate aside, then dropped to one knee and raised the hatch.
Whoever it was had to be in the cargo hold.
Riddick leaned his head down into the darkness slowly, searching for anything out of place. Nothing looked disturbed.
*I wonder....*
Curiously, his fingers hit the switch for the lights. Nothing happened. There was no low flash of lights to reveal an intruder like there should have been. Riddick glanced back towards Jack, then began down the steps.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are..." His voice was a bare whisper. At the bottom of the stairs was a small patch of...blood? Riddick moved off the steps, towards the crates at one end.
*Riddick!*
Jack’s voice was loud in his mind, and he hurried back up the steps, not seeing the figure coming from behind the crates.
~~~~~~~~~~
At first, the Persephone seemed to be leaving them behind, but then, the bigger ship began to overtake her. Soon, it was obvious that the Persephone was not moving at all. Marc’s lips parted. Yes. Oh yes.
Carolyn began to dance around the room, a low crooning sound leaving her lips. "Look at them, look at them, " she sing-songed, grabbing Marc as she passed him and drawing him with her in a waltz. "So close, so close..." Her face held a fanatical gleam.
He danced with her, eyes bright with anticipation as they drew nearer and nearer to the Persephone. Jack was near.
They waltzed about the room for several long moments, to the tune of Carolyn’s humming and mumblings, before she left him back at his station. "Ram them, Marc. Let’s get their attention." She smiled widely.
"Why not hail them?" His gaze cleared somewhat as she faced him, and dimly, he registered that silver markings had started to appear along her arms and neck. When had those markings begun to appear? He didn’t know.
"Do you think they would answer? When it’s clear we’re pursuing them? No. We ram them. I want Riddick to be surprised when he sees me, Marc. I need the element of surprise. It’s bad enough I have to separate the little bitch from him before I can have him; why should I give him any advantage?" Her arm flung out towards the view screen. her smile faded. "Ram them!"
With a nod, he complied, setting a collision course.
~~~~~~~~~~
*They’re coming right at us!*
"Riddick!"
Jack’s thoughts and voice intermingled in his mind, and Riddick let the cargo hatch slam, hastily scooting the crate back over it. Returning to the front, his mouth opened a little as he saw a ship coming directly at them in the view screen.
"Fuck!" he yelled out in a harsh bark.
"They’re coming right at us. I can’t even hail them, Riddick. I can’t...I can’t get us moving again! I don’t know what’s wrong!"
Her expression was panicked, and Riddick dived under the console. "Son of a bitch!" he swore. It was a mess. Wires were pulled free and some had been cut.
An alarm screeched.
"Proximity alert. Shit, Riddick, I can’t straighten us out or anything!"
His hands worked feverishly to restore power to the engines, re-routing power through different circuits. The engines made a grinding noise. He could hear Jack’s frantic breaths and pulled back just as circuits exploded under the panel, showering the floor with sparks. The acrid scent of burning circuits stung the air and he looked up.
The other ship just kept coming.
*Fuck....*
The proximity alarm screeched and Riddick saw Jack climb onto her chair and open a panel in the ceiling. Her position was precarious at best as she worked on the panel, trying to restore some sort of power to the engines. He stood, thinking to steady her....
"Jack, get down!" Did she even hear him?
"I’ve almost got it, Riddick; I think this’ll work!"
Metal grated harshly against metal as the hulls met with a sickening crunch.
Riddick found himself against one wall on the floor, with no memory of falling. In slow motion, he saw Jack fall from her place, her hands reaching for something to grab and finding nothing. He tried to move, tried to get up, but for some reason, his body wasn’t obeying his mind. His vision blurred as Jack hit the floor, her head striking the sharp section of the same console she’d almost hit earlier, the flesh of her cheek tearing.
*Jack! Honey, hold on...Jack....*
She didn’t answer, and blood ran down her face.
Riddick lost consciousness.
Chapter 40; False Friends
The first thing Jack noticed when she woke was that her head felt like someone was tapping it with a hammer. Moaning a little, she swallowed, forcing her dry throat to work. Jack struggled to concentrate on her physical sensations, remembering things Riddick had told her. ‘Decide how gravely injured you are before acting. Be stealthy about it and never careless. Carelessness could mean the difference between living and dying.’ Her body ached all over, but her head hurt the worst. Her wrists and ankles felt shackled and she was lying on something firm, yet soft.
Jack’s eyes flew open and searched the dimly lit room. It was a medical bay; two empty beds to her left and three empty beds to her right. One of the beds closest to her held a suture kit and a few items she couldn’t identify. On the wall across from the foot of the bed was a storage unit with clear drawers. Jack couldn’t see what was in the drawers. The room smelled, not of antiseptic like it should, but of death and decay, a dank stench that sent nausea rolling through her stomach.
Gulping, in deep breaths, Jack tugged at bonds holding her legs splayed out, finding them tight enough to keep her there, but not tight enough to cut off circulation.
She craned her throbbing, aching head around, and saw her wrists locked in a pair of cuffs which were chained to the medical exam table she was lying on. She was in her underwear and slightly chilled, goose bumps prickling her skin. Jack licked her lips. Where was Riddick? The last thing she remembered was falling....
*Riddick?*
Forcing herself to remain calm, she tried to feel his presence in her mind. She should be able to feel him there if he was still alive because of their link.
*Riddick answer me. Are you okay?*
For several long moments, she felt nothing, then a burst of violent emotion channeled through their connection, in a wave so fierce that she almost blacked out. She could feel his fear for her, and the rage that might be keeping him from feeling her in his mind. He was looking for her, and he was very, very pissed off.
~~~~~~~~~~
Garritt sat up with a curse, obscenities in four languages leaving him. He’d been pushing at the hatch above, when something had rammed into the ship. Once more, he’d fallen down the steep stairs. He hadn’t lost consciousness, but rather had lain still on the floor waiting to see what Riddick and Jack were going to do.
Someone had boarded the ship. Footsteps had crunched on the floor above, moving throughout the ship, two sets of steps. One was lighter than the other. After awhile, silence had descended and then more footsteps stumbled across on the floor above.
He spat more blood and saliva onto the floor.
Fucking Ancients. No bitch was worth all this trouble, but the power she held within her was.
Carefully, he stood. His left leg ached as though something was wrong, but he ignored the pain and returned to the top of the steps, pushing at the hatch. To his surprise, it lifted easily.
~~~~~~~~~~
Riddick slitted his eyes as he woke, but sensing no one nearby, opened them further. What the fuck had happened? He remembered the panel, torn apart underneath where they wouldn’t have looked until it was too late. Someone had sabotaged them, but how did that explain them slamming to a halt like they had? The Persephone should have glided, their momentum carrying them for at least a little ways. Jack had fallen then....
Jack.
*Oh fuck, baby, where are you?*
He was alone in the cock pit, a spot of blood on the floor where she’d been.
*Have we been boarded?*
That ship, the big one that had rammed them deliberately, had they taken Jack aboard their vessel? Was it a trap of some sort? Had some insane merc not heard that Richard B. Riddick was declared dead and no bounty was available?
Riddick shook his head and licked his lips. He felt sluggish, his hands didn’t look like his own....
Find Jack. Whatever you do, you have to find Jack.
A voice whispered in his mind, and he stood, staggering from the cock pit and into the main corridor. The crate was still over the cargo bay hatch and he leaned against it for a moment. It slid, clearing the hatch completely. Riddick’s gaze turned to his left. The ramp was open. Not only had they been boarded, but someone had piloted them onto a dock.
He blinked confusedly.
*How the...*
Warily, he stepped down the ramp, gaze searching the yawning blackness. There were piles of something on the floor....A stench reached him, and he dry heaved, recognizing the smell of old blood and rotting corpses. His vision cleared and turned sharp.
Bodies. The piles were bodies.
Despite his inclination to hurry though the piles towards the door on the far side of the docking bay, Riddick breathed through his mouth and walked slowly across the floor, taking note of what he could. The savaged bodies were wearing military uniforms.
*Whoever did this has Jack.*
Fear for her, and panic, began to rise within him as he reached the door. On a plate beside the controls was a panel with the word, ‘Osiris’ and a symbol, a triangle with ‘SF’ in the center . Riddick placed his hand on the button to release the doors.
*Special Forces training ship. What or who did they come up against that could wipe out an entire ship in such a brutal manner?*
He slammed his hand down on the button. The door whooshed open. The hallway was deserted, lights low and flickering. The corridor had a neglected look to it, Riddick’s boots sticking to the floor as he walked.
*Jack. Find Jack.*
He took a few steps to the left, then turned, staring down the corridor behind him. There was someone standing there, several feet away. A voice, smooth as honey, greeted him.
"Hello Riddick. Long time."
The voice was familiar, and somehow, he wasn’t surprised to see her, not after the tape Susan Fry had played for him and Jack. "Carolyn."
"You don’t seem surprised to see me."
Riddick cocked his head just a little. Her voice was wrong. It was off, like a recording that was distorted. The pitch was too low, the inflections...like she wasn’t used to speaking at all. "I am, a little."
She remained where she was, not stepping forward or backwards. "Looking for someone?" Her tone was innocent.
He wanted to run, to flee, but took a step towards her, then another. With each step he saw her clearer. With each step that brought her closer, his fear grew. This wasn’t Carolyn Fry. The body was hers, but there Carolyn faded. The eyes weren’t hers and the lips were too red. Her skin was almost white it was so pale and there were silver markings on her skin. The face though....The face was the worst. Carolyn Fry’s beautiful, kind features were distorted in a mask of rage, hate and...evil. She was still beautiful, but in a different manner entirely. She had the beauty of evil now. "Where’s Jack?"
Carolyn smiled, teeth very white against those red lips. "Marc has her. She‘s going to die, Riddick. With her injuries, she‘s dying already. That bump on her head...it‘s caused her brain to swell. She‘s dying."
"Where is she?"
"Dying. Dead. Gone. She deserves to die."
"Why is that?" His eyes narrowed.
"She’s in my way."
"Give her back." His voice was tight and controlled.
She began to move away, walking swiftly backwards. The thing which was Carolyn moved impossibly fast, disappearing into the shadows of the corridor.
"Carolyn!" He yelled out, losing sight of her.
Her laughter ringed about him, mocking and cruel. "Can you find her, Riddick, before she dies?"
Rage boiled up within him. Jack would not die on this ship, not if he had anything to do with it. Riddick slammed his fist into the wall, not even feeling the pain in his knuckles, and took off running after Carolyn.
~~~~~~~~~
Jack quickly grew tired of tugging at her bonds. They wouldn’t budge and she was only going to rub her wrists and ankles raw if she kept it up. Her efforts to get through Riddick’s rage had been for nothing. He was still too blinded by it to hear her. She sighed. Who had her and why was she all tied down?
*In my underwear even....*
The door to the medical bay slid open, a man crossing to her. With a start, Jack realized he looked like Riddick. There was something about his eyes though....
She took in his military uniform, and the way he stood beside her, her breath catching in her throat as a suspicion hit her. It couldn’t be. There was no possible way that even plastic surgery could have altered him to look almost exactly like Riddick....
"Jack."
The man smiled warmly, and Jack shook her head in disbelief. For just a second, she’d seen beneath the changed face to the old one. Horrified sobs left her before she found her voice. "Marc?"
"One and the same." He placed his hand on her bare stomach. "I’m pleased you can recognize me, since I don’t even recognize myself."
Her flesh contracted at the contact, trembling. If she hadn’t known he wasn’t Riddick because of Riddick’s presence in her mind, she might have thought he [i]was[/i] Riddick. "What...what happened to you?"
"Something wonderful. I’m changed, Jack, and it’s so much better than it was. Carolyn changed me and she promised I could have you. She brought you to me."
His hot hand was moving over her stomach in a hungry manner and it was all Jack could do not to scream. She’d once felt safe with Marc, but now that was all changed. "Marc, untie me. You have to untie me." Panic tinged her voice.
"Can’t." His free hand touched her forehead. "Carolyn said to keep you tied so you won’t hurt yourself. I used the new med supplies to heal your cheek where it was cut. The panel went clear through your cheek. I could see bone." His fingers slid up her stomach to the center part of her bra. "You probably have a headache. You were unconscious for awhile, hit your head. I took care of that too...." Now he touched the curve of her breasts. "You weren’t as hurt as I thought you’d be. That bump on your head should have caused problems, but here you are, healing fast. It’s a mystery...."
Jack twisted. "Marc, untie me!"
"No." He shook his head. "I don’t think so. I don’t trust Carolyn to keep her promise, so I have to make sure you’re mine without her. I should check on Riddick. He was also unconscious, although not, I don’t think, as injured as you were."
Out of desperation, Jack blurted out, "Alexa was attacked and raped a few weeks ago and your parents were killed." If he already knew, then what did she have to lose by telling him?
Marc paused, eyes narrowing. "Random violence."
"The man was changed, Marc. Like...like us."
"Random." He insisted.
"It was the man who tried to take me away. Paul Darrin he called himself." There was a flicker of something in his eyes. "Do you remember him?"
"Of course I remember him. I was there Jack. I saw him. I saw you and Riddick and I stood there and let Riddick take you away from me. That won’t happen again. No one is going to take you away from me again." Sitting beside her, he leaned down, breathing in deeply. "You smell as sweet as I remember, Jack."
Tears trickled down her cheek and she fought to keep control of herself.