A/N: Here it is! We're starting Dark Fury and I apologize that the first chapter is a little short, but this won't be a long story so I'm kind of trying to draw it out a bit. Thank you everyone who reviewed Under the Summer Rain and put it on their favorite story lists! It seriously makes my day to still get email alerts. : ) I haven't updated the Tumblr account in a while, but I'll get on that sometime this week. The link is in my bio. Now, onto the story and the usual disclaimer: I don't own Riddick or Dark Fury. If I did, I'd be so, so happy. And rich. But I'm not, so there.

Chapter 1

I smothered a yawn with my hand as I shuffled back to the front of the skiff. Imam decided to take a small nap about an hour ago and when I vacated my seat to use the bathroom, a bored Jack decided to occupy said seat beside Riddick and seemed to be intent on talking the poor man's ear off. I shook my head slightly, smiling. The girl's hero worship was cute, even if Riddick didn't think so.

"Move," I said, not unkindly. Jack looked up at me and stood, laughing.

"You look like death warmed over, Eris," she teased, slipping around me to sit in the seat behind mine.

"Yes, thank you for stating the obvious," I drawled, sarcasm lacing my words. "I'm fucking exhausted."

Jack started laughing again and I flipped her my middle finger as I sunk into my seat. A tired Eris did not play well with others.

We had been flying for a couple of hours now and the atmosphere onboard was one of relief. We were relaxed, basking in the joy of being alive. We didn't discuss the nightmarish planet that had, thankfully, quickly faded behind us. That topic was still too raw. Instead, we talked about the next step - what we were going to do when we finally landed.

Imam planned on taking a small sabbatical and had invited us all to join him in some down time, which really translated to 'recovery' time. Jack immediately warmed to the idea, begging Riddick and I to join them. I only committed to a week at the most, hedging around her question as to why I wouldn't stay longer. I still had business to attend to, something that I had only shared with Riddick back when Johns had tied us together. My brother was out there somewhere and I planned on finding out where and why the hell he had just up and left. I'd probably tell the other two about my plans later, but I just didn't feel like telling the whole story right now. I was way too worn out - emotionally, mentally, and physically to deal with it.

Jack had turned her sights on the convict, an expectant look on her face as she waited for his answer. He shook his head in exasperation.

"One night," he had said, not looking too thrilled when the young girl jumped up and gave him a hug. Imam and I had shared a smirk, the dark skinned holy man coughing to cover his chuckles while I had laughed outright.

After the initial departure we had searched the small skiff for anything to get cleaned up with. Luckily, or not so luckily actually, the settlers must have been in the middle of loading when all the shit went down years ago, because we found cloths, water, and some vacuum sealed food. There weren't any clothes, so we made due with getting ours as clean as possible. The bottom half of my black tank was a state, so I just cut the whole bottom half off, leaving my midriff bare. A small pile of rags sat in a corner, covered in all the mud we had wiped off our faces, arms, and clothes. A few rags had blood on them from Riddick re-wrapping his bandages and me cleaning out the few scrapes I had gotten from our last run to the skiff. I shook out my sad excuse for a braid and Jack had helped me wash most of the mud out of my hair. I was glad I didn't have a mirror, because I was sure I probably looked like Medusa.

Settling into my seat, I turned sideways and slung my legs over the arm rest, my boot clad feet inches away from Riddick's right arm. So tired…I tuned out Jack's incessant chattering to a now awake Imam behind me and focused on the large man beside me. His goggles were in place, removed only when he got cleaned up, and he was thoroughly engrossed in the maps drawn up on the screen in front of him.

We hadn't spoken much to each other, but then again having any type of private conversation was going to be almost impossible unless the other two were asleep. What would you even talk about anyway? I thought, frowning slightly. I can see it now. 'Hey Riddick, now that we aren't running and fighting for our lives, you wanna get all cuddly and shit?' I inwardly scoffed at myself. The thought of the Big Bad cuddling was so ludicrous I was hard pressed to hold back a snort.

Sighing, I drew my long hair over one shoulder and mindlessly combed my fingers through the dark tresses, trying to get most of the snags out. Giving up, I wove it into a sloppy braid and tied off the end. Feeling a familiar heavy gaze on me, I looked up to meet Riddick's covered eyes.

"What?" I mouthed, raising an eyebrow.

One corner of his lip curled upwards into his trademark smirk and I gently shook my head, smiling. His arm almost playfully nudged my feet before he turned his attention back to the maps. There'd been zero physical contact since I had originally doctored his wounds and I was starting to wonder if maybe he had lost interest. Then again, maybe it was because of your Medusa hair, I mused. I wasn't sure what would happen between us, if anything, now. The reasons for us being thrown together were gone, though I knew the need still lingered. Secretly, I hoped that something might happen during his one night stay when we reached New Mecca, before he left. Probably for good.

"Go to sleep, Eris," Riddick rumbled, startling me out of my reverie.

"Mmhmm," I grumbled, crossing my arms and leaning my head against the back of the seat.

I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, I really did, but it seemed that I was too tired to sleep. My body certainly wanted to drift off to dreamland, but my mind had other ideas. Jack and Imam were talking in the back with low voices, no doubt keeping it down after Riddick 'ordered' me to take a nap. This isn't very comfortable, I thought, jiggling one foot and shifting in my seat. One ass cheek was numb, causing my leg and foot to get the annoying pins and needles feeling. I probably could've asked one of the others to switch seats so I could lay down in the back, but I childishly refused to be parted from the large man beside me. That time would come soon enough and in the back of my mind I knew I most likely wouldn't be seeing him again afterwards.

"Can't sleep, Big Bad," I finally sighed, opening my eyes. "Too wound up still, I guess."

He gave a noncommittal grunt and I rolled my eyes, gently toeing his arm with my boot. If it had been Simon I would've kicked him harder, but this was Riddick and I was hesitant about acting too familiar with him.

"So," Jack popped up in between us, drawing out the 'o'. "A lot of questions, whoever we run into. Could even be a merc ship."

"Where in the world did this train of thought come from?" I asked her.

"I dunno," she replied, leaning against my seat. "I just thought about it while I was talking to Imam. I mean, we know what we're going to do when we get to New Mecca, but what happens if we come across another ship before then?"

"I told her the likelihood of that was slim," Imam piped in.

"Yeah, 'cause that's the last fucking thing I want to deal with," I said dryly. "I really just want to step foot on a sane planet, get a nice hot bath, change my clothes, and sleep in a comfy bed. Is that too much to ask for?"

"But it could happen," Jack argued. "Right, Riddick?"

I looked at Riddick, his face giving nothing away. Seriously, does he only have, like, three facial expressions?

"It could, but I doubt it," he eventually agreed, shrugging a shoulder.

"See?" Jack gave me an 'I told you so' look.

"You guys do realize that you just jinxed us?" I pointed out, only half joking.

"I didn't take you for the superstitious type, Eris," Imam remarked.

"Oh, I'm not," I assured him. "It's just Murphy's Law, plus we all seem to have pretty shitty luck."

The other two laughed, Riddick even cracking a small smile for all of five seconds.

The humor quickly evaporated when the skiff shuddered and swerved, sending Jack to the floor. Without even looking, Riddick grabbed my legs to keep me from falling out of my seat, letting go when I righted myself. Alarms started blaring and flashing red emergency lights kicked on. In my peripheral vision I saw Imam help Jack off the floor, but my attention was focused on a swearing Riddick as he rapidly flipped switches, the ship's gauges going haywire.

"Hull breach contained. Engines operating at 170% capacity," the computer announced.

"What the fuck?!" I ground out, swinging my legs back over the armrest so I could sit up.

"Something's got us," Riddick said shortly, continuing his work at the controls. Buttons were being pushed and switches flipped so quickly I could barely keep up…and I was sitting right next to him. The gauges were revving nearly off the charts. I glanced over my shoulder - Imam and Jack were standing close, alarmed.

"Engine and hull failure imminent under current parameters," the computer droned.

I worried my lower lip with my teeth, the alarms still blaring, lights still flashing. Imam was handling his prayer beads so hard I could hear them clacking together and felt more than heard Jack's short, terrified gasps behind me. There was nothing we could do except sit and watch Riddick try to maneuver us away from whatever or whoever had us.

"Critical systems failure in five seconds,"the computer announced, somewhat unnecessarily. "Four seconds. Three seconds."

Riddick began powering down the skiff, his face full of intense concentration.

"Two seconds. One second."

The ship went dark and I stifled a gasp, Jack latching onto my arm.

Shitty luck, indeed.