The Outlaw Star:
the hunt for Riddick
chapter 1
the hunt begins
the red ship the XGP also known as the Outlaw Star cut through the space around it like an arrow fired from a bow. The grappler ship had just finished dueling with two other grappler cruisers that belonged to two competing bounty hunters.
The crew of the Outlaw star had just finished a job on Horus 9, where they had just collected a Bounty of about 800,000 Wulong which was enough money to pay for the damages the ship sustained as well as for weapons,Ammo , engine repairs and food. They were now on there way back to sentential 3 where they were going resupply. Gene starwind sat in the commanders chair he was accompanied bye Aisha clan clan of the Ctarl-Ctarl who sat at the right command chair while the female assassin twilight Sazuka sat at the left command chair. Siting in the front of command chair was Jim Hawking, and last was Melfina who was inside the Bridges cylindrical chamber which she used to help navigate the
Outlaw star. Gene smiled as he look out toward the space frontier and said " Damn im bushed after that last job I feel like getting something to eat and getting some sleep"
"I feel like taking a Cat nap myself" said Aisha as she then wrapped her arms around the back of her head as she yawned.
Sazuka sipped her cup of tea and said "I too feel a little tired "
Gene smiled and crossed his arm and replied "then it settled then , everyone get some rest.
After that last job we all deserve a break"
Gene then turned to look at Gillium the loyal Artificial Intelligence that watch over and assisted the crew of the GXP.
Gene spoke saying "Gillium set the Outlaw star on autopilot can you do it?''
Gillium responded "of course Gene I calculate that we are about 23 hours from sentential 3"
"good then well see you in 23 hours" said Gene as he and the rest of the crew of the Outlaw star
where about to leave the bridge .
But Gillium spoke up "Uh Gene before you go I have an update on a new Bounty that you might be interested to look at"
Gene waved his hat at Gillium saying "I'll look at it later when we get back to Sentential 3"
"but Gene I must insist that you look at this , this may be the biggest paying bounty that we may have ever encountered"
gene walked over the to front of the bridge and said with amusement "biggest paying bounty Huh? , okey Gillium show me the bounty"
Gillium did as ordered and showed a three dimensional image of a man, this man had a bald head and wore what looked to be black welders goggles he also wore what looked to be a black sleeveless shirt and brown pants. He was well built and very muscular .
"the mans name is Richard B. Riddick "
Gene then paused for a second and said "what a minute are you talking Riddick ? thee Riddick?"
Melfina walked over to Gene worried saying " is there something wrong Gene?"
"oh dont worry Melfina it nothing it just ive heard of this man before, all I know is Rumors but from what can tell he's supposed to be the most wanted man alive and the most deadliest . I've heard stories that he's escaped from many prisons like Ursa Luna Maximum Security Prison and Butcher Bay"
"this Riddick character has been described as a psychopathic killer and is extremely dangerous , hes wanted for dozens of murders hes wanted on five different worlds in three solar systems most recently hes wanted for the Murders of two high level mercenary officers , one prison guard and most recently is wanted for the Murder of one Magic tao master, the bounty on him pays about 4.5 million wulong"
a look of surprise came over Genes face he then said "holy cow this is the biggest pay day ever!"
"your not planing on taking the job, are you gene?, not after that last job" said Jim a look of exhaustion was over his face.
"come on Jim we'd be crazy not to take the job, besides it 4.5 million wulong if we turn this down we may never get another chance like this again"
Gene then turned to look at the artificial intelligence and said "Gillium can you tell me where this Riddick guy was last seen?"
"of course Gene the target was last spotted in these two locations : Blue Heaven and Heifong 5.
most likely he is in the asteroid colony of blue heaven"
Gene gave the order and said "Gillium chart a course for Blue Heaven
"Gene we will arrive at blue heaven in about 12 hours I suggest that everyone gets some rest until then"
* * * * * * *
"so Mr. Toombs what brings you to here to my office"
Toombs sat in one of the black office chairs that were round the room , he wore a brown duster and hat to go with it. He crossed his heels and and rested his back against the chair. He looked around the room and noticed the many guards posted all around the office. It was obvious that this Mr. Rembrant paid good money for in home protection. Toombs was sorta envious of the man if toombs had as much money as this man he would have spent most of his time living on a tropical island than wasting it traveling the galaxy capturing escaped criminals and convicts.
He smile then spoke saying "I think I can help you with your problem Mr. Rembrant , you see I offer special services which are designed to fix problems like this , but my asking price is 500 thousand up front so that it can cover expenses like fuel food and other thing and then you can pay the rest of the money when I deliver prisoner"
Mr. Rembrant sitting behind his black mahogany desk smiled as he was amused bye the other mans offer he spoke "are you sure that you can capture Riddick for me , you see the last man I hired to capture him was a Ctarl-Ctarl and Riddick kill him with his bare hands and snapped his neck in two I heard"
"Rule Number 1 Mr. Rembrant never send an alien to do a mans Job, believe me sir this is not the first time ive ran into Riddick if anyone can do the job it'll be me"
Rembrant smiled and said "very well you convinced me your hired" the man shook Toombs hand, the Merc then said as he gave a small smirk " thank you sir you wont regret it"
"I hope not" said the man
Toombs then then stood up and left the office.
Rembrant then picked up the phone and placed it on his ear and said "are you there, good. I want you to keep an eye on this Toombs , follow him .at least if he fails we will know where this Riddick is and then we can strike"
* * * * *
Location:blue heaven
it had been at least half a day since Riddick arrived on the asteroid colony of blue heaven.
He had arrived there bye secretly hitch-hiking on a space freighter.
He knew no one here not one person , he was alone on this floating rock.
The only allies riddick had was the voice inside his head.
Riddick hid in the alley near what he could tell was a pawn shop , he had been on the run for about three days running away from the bounty hunters and the mercs who were trying to collect the bounty on his head.
All Riddick wanted was to be left alone, that all he wanted.
He hated having to look over his shoulder, being hunted like an animal.
Before this whole ordeal started riddick was originally hidding on the jungle planet of Heifong 5.
it took them a couple years but Riddick knew that the bounty hunters would find him soon.
After he was discovered he was forced to run, arriving on blue heaven.
Riddick had thought that he had ditched the bounty hunters on Heifong 5 but he was wrong as he had ran into one of them at the space port , a male Ctarl-Ctarl. The encounter with the Ctar-Ctarl bounty hunter ended violently with Riddick ultimately breaking the mans neck with his bare hands.
Riddick wasnt scared of anyone and it didnt matter if they were stronger than him , Riddick had faced even worser enemies than the Ctarl-Ctarl.
Riddick concluded that the Ctarl-Ctarl thought of themselves way to highly ,thinking that they were immortal when in reality no one is immortal. The Ctarl maybe quite resilient to damage but they are not impossible to kill.
Riddick had killed many people over the years , many of whom had tried to take away his life and his freedom. And every time he killed one of those bounty hunters or Mercenaries their deaths were added to his list of supposed serial killings.
Of all the things Riddick hated the most he hated Mercs , he hated them with a passion.
Mercs had no sense of honor , no code and no creed to live bye , in Riddicks opinion mercs were the worst.
He had spent Half of his adult life running from Mercs and bounty hunter. He had also spent the majority of his life escaping from prisons as well. In its sum total Riddick had escaped from over one hundred maximum security facilities.
Escape was easy for Riddick , it was something that Riddick was good at besides killing people.
All Riddick wanted was his freedom and to be left alone , but it seem as if fate had brought him back to all the brightness and to every thing he hated.
There was a reason why Riddick had distanced himself from the rest of humanity , a reason why people needed to stay away. And that was because Riddick knew that he himself was too dangerous to be around normal people , and every time someone got close they seemed to end up dying because of him, and that was something Riddick was tired of .
He didnt need anyone or any thing, all he needed was himself.
Riddick was the master of his art , the art of killing. He could remember the face of every person that he had killed. riddick could us anything as weapon shiv , dagger,gun it didnt matter they were all lethal in his hands . He was also an expert in the field of hand to hand combat, Riddick was a formidable warrior and an expert killer. the weapon that riddick prefered was a blade Silent, quick, and deadly, in Riddick's hands the knife was the weapon that was the swift ender of lives.
Riddick quickly turned to look at the alley way that was behind him as he had thought that he had heard a noise, but it was nothing.
the reason riddick had arrived on blue heaven was to find the man who put the bounty on his head if he could find him and kill him maybe the bounty hunters would stop chasing him for at least a little while.
all he had was a name to go bye and that name was Rembrant. he need to find this man and fast.
Riddick put on the brown leather cloak with hood which he found on the space freighter.
he then ran out towards the street and headed for the nightclub called club called"Underground".
As he entered the club he could hear the techno music, the dance floor was dimly lite with the only illumination coming from the shimmering dance lights from above.
The floor was crowded with men and women dancing and grooving to the beat of the music.
Riddick removed the welding goggles from his eyes and aloud his sight to take in the view, In the darkness his vision was enhanced and nothing could hid from his sight.
As he looked around the room there was a table crowded with men , on the right side was man wearing a white suit with a red neck tie he seemed to be the one in charge around here.
The three other men must have been his thugs as they were wearing black leather apparel.
Riddick realized that if anyone knew about the man he was looking for it would be the man in the white suit. Riddick marched forward toward the table the thugs were siting at , the men jumped as as he slamed his fist into the table in front of them.
One of the thugs dressed in black leather stood up and said " who the hell are you!"and proceeded to place his hands on Riddick, the Convict didnt like this so he launched the his foot into the mans groin and punched the guy on the side of his head , the other two thugs stood up and tried to double team Riddick but Riddick was to fast and punched the first man across the face which sent his body tumbling to the ground, the second man tried to grab Riddick but the convict kicked him in the face and sent him falling backward colliding with the wall behind him hard.
The man in the white suit then tried to reach for this gun but Riddick brought his blade up to his throat.
The white suit dropped his gun to the floor and smiled saying "your pretty good, why dont you come and work for me"
"not interested" replied Riddick
"well what the hell do you want?!" said the man in the white suit
Riddick responded with "Im looking for a man named Rembrant"
the white suit answered with " that not a name I would say out loud , mess with him and he'll put you in
the ground"
"I want to know where he is, where he lives and who works for him"
the white suit smirked and "your not getting nothing from me"
Riddick removed the nife from the guys throat and brought the blade down hard into the man hand which nailed it to the table, the man in the white suit screamed in pain.
Riddick then screamed out loud and said "where is he!!!"
the white suit gave in and said "okey , okey i'll talk I dont know where this guy is but I know a guy who works for him his name is Richard Darvis he works out on the planet heifong 1, he should know where to find him"
"you better not be lying!!!" said Riddick with fury in his voice
"im not I swear!im telling the truth!"said the man in the white suit nervously
Riddick then ripped the blade from the mans hand as he needed the weapon.
He suddenly noticed the music had stopped and the lights in the room went from dim to bright.
Riddick placed the welders goggles back over his eyes and turned around .
He noticed that the dance floor was empty, he also noticed that a few new people had entered the club and were staring right at him.
The first person he noticed was a man with bright red hair he stood around 5'10 and wore an orange coat and black pants and combat boots.
He was accompanied bye three women and a boy. The first women was a Ctarl Ctarl she long brown ears and bright white hair she wore a green ctarl ctarl uniform.
The second woman was an assassin she had black long hair and wore a white kimono.
She also seemed to be caring what looked like a wooden sword.
The third woman was a girl with black hair and wore a blue dress out of all of them she seemed to be the least dangerous.
Then there was the boy that was part of the group who seemed to be the around the age of 12-13 years old he had shaggy blond hair and wore a dark blue outfit.
The man with red hair smiled as he approached the dance floor which was typical attitude of any bounty hunter Riddick had ever encountered, they all thought that they could bring Riddick in or take him down but each one learned the hard way why its never good to mess with a caged animal.
The man with red hair introduced himself and said "Riddick! Your the Riddick right? Well my name is gene starwind and I'm here to make a name for myself as im taking you in dead or alive"
Riddick noticed the red head reach for this weapon he had concealed in his coat, Riddick did the same and reached for his gun as well.
Both men drew there guns as the same time and opened fired on each other.
Riddick sprinted and rolled forward and turned a table over on its side for cover.
The room itself turned into a gun battle as the other outlaws and thugs that were in the room opened fired on anything that moved.
Gene popped up and emptied half a clip at Riddicks general direction but hit nothing but air and the wooden table. Riddick then Returned fire with his pulse blaster and shot the gun out of the mans hand.
Gene then pulled out a another gun and aimed for the mans head, Riddick charged forward with quick speed , Gene could only get off two shots before the man was on top of him. The shot missed Riddicks head bye only a few centimeters. Riddick then launched his knee into the mans stomach which knock the air out of Gene Starwind body, Gene then fell to the floor and for a few second the outlaw couldn't breath.
Twilight Sazuka and Aisha clan clan ran to Genes side , then they both bolted forward at
Riddick as they tried to attack him at the same time.
Sazuka swung her wooden sword at Riddick which he blocked easily with his shiv, and Aisha tried to punch Riddick in the face but the man was too quick and caught her arm just in time and threw her to the side.
Sazuka again tried to strike Riddick with her bokken but Riddick dodged the strike and countered with his shiv cutting her across the shoulder.
Sazuka screamed in pain as she fell to the ground, the female Ctarl Ctarl yelled out"Suzu no!!"
Aisha angry ran at the Furyian with inhuman speed , but Riddick didn't even flinch.
She swung her fist at him but Riddick quickly caught her punch, he then took her aside and twirled her around the room. He let her go and sent her flying into bar. She fell head first on top of the bar and then fell over behind the saloon.
Aisha stood up and rubbed her head she then screamed out loud to Riddick "you Jerk wait till I get my hands on you!!"
Riddick pointed his gun at her at first and then raised his gun and trained his his aim at the crane that was just above her that was holding a rather large piano. He fired a couple shot which hit the gas main of the crane. Both the piano and the crane fell on top of the catgirl immobilizing her completely .
Riddick was certain that the Ctarl Ctarl had been dealt with for the time being.
But Riddick had almost forgotten about the other Outlaw Gene starwind.
Before he could turn around though he felt the muzzle of a gun being shoved on the back of his head, and heard the hammer of the gun being cocked back.
Gene then spoke "well now I see why everyone wants a piece of ya , but looks like your luck has run out. Get your hands up!"
Riddick lifted his hands up into the air , he then said "your not afraid of the dark are you?"
he then dropped his weapon which fell to the ground and discharged an explosive round into the air,
which exploded destroying all the lights above them.
The room went completely dark, Riddick then spun around avoiding the shots Gene fired.
Riddick then smacked the weapon of the outlaws hand and kicked his leg across his face , which sent Gene sprawling to the floor.
Ridddick then picked up one of the tables that was on the floor and threw it against the window shattering it, he then jumped out through the opening he mad and started sprinting down the street and headed for the first alleyway he saw and kept on running and did not look back.
For the first time the crew of the outlaw star had met there match, for the first time Gene had found an opponent that was actually a formidable foe.
Gene the stood up and said "Damn I definitely under estimated that guy and we all ultimately payed for it " the room was lightly lit bye the small bonfires that was caused bye the explosion .the room had been devastated by the fight.
The floor was littered with parts of the ceiling and glass from the lights that had also been destroyed bye the explosion.
Sazuka tried to stand but winced in pain from the cut that was on her shoulder, Gene ran over to her side and used his body for physical support.
He then said "are you okey?"
"I'll be fine its just a flesh wound" said the assassin , she then looked around the room and said
"what happened to the one with the silver bright eyes?"
Gene then said "you mean that Riddick guy , he escaped out the window"
Sazuka then said" he was just one man and yet he took use all down as if we were nothing"
Gene answered back with "that what we get for underestimating him"
he then turned towards the sound of metal and wood being pulled and saw Aisha lifting the debris off her back and threw it to the side.
She then walked over towards them as she cradled her ribs , then said bitterly as she shook her head " dammit how could I have lost to a simple human, this was a dishonorable defeat"
Melfina and Jim ran over to Genes .melfina then said "Gene are you alright?"
"I'm okey Mel just a little bruised up thats all" Gene as he tried to act tough.
"darn Gene that was painful to watch you just got your ass handed to ya bye a bounty, you just let a 4.5million wulong payday slip through your fingers" said Jim in an annoying fashion.
"shut up already!, I know that!. I didnt expect him to be that tough, I just underestimated him thats all.
The next time we'll meet I'll be ready" said Gene as he balled his hand into a fist.
End of chapter 1.