He looked around the ship he was aboard, paying particular attention to his crewmates. There were four in the cockpit; a pilot, a navigator and two gunners, who, if he was right would be going out onto the exterior that fired nets.
He never normally associated with mercenaries, but this time was different. He had practically been begged to help a bunch of mercs on this particular job. He hadn't been told the details, he had just been told that the bounty was extremely dangerous and had a knack for escape.
He had a feeling that the mercs he was with were not keen on him, he could tell by the way they were looking at him, the way their voices were hushed. They didn't realise he could hear every word they were saying, advanced hearing does have it benefits.
"I don't trust him, what's he doin' 'ere?" one of them asked.
"He's gonna help us get the bounty." said the other.
"We gonna pay him?" asked one of the gunners
"Well, that all depends if he plays along, if he doesn't then we'll just ghost him." A chuckle followed this statement.
"Toombs, I think we should ghost him now, he looks too shifty to me." remarked an anxious merc. The person he was talking to, Toombs, was obviously the leader of this ragtag bunch of amateurs.
"How does he look shifty, he's hardly moved a muscle," replied Toombs, glancing over to the figure at the back of the ship.
"That's exactly my point, he's hardly moved since he got on this here ship."
"Stop worrying yourself; he won't do anything, he's outnumbered." At this the man in the corner looked up. His face was shaded by his hood, but there was no mistaking the warning look in his eyes. Toombs just smiled and looked away; he was never one to be intimidated the only one who could successfully do that was the convict they were chasing now. He always made his blood go cold. But he had to admit, this ex-soldier they were taking with them must have a background to him, quite a fearsome one too as he was warned to take him with them just in case their quarry got too aggressive.
He also remarked how heavily armed he was, but also at the same time how lightly armed he was. He carried a lot of throwing knives with him plus two fighting knives and a long sword on his back. But he carried no guns. 'Heh, you're gonna need guns for who we're chasing pal' he thought then looked away.
"I think he's dangerous." Whispered the navigator, making the cloaked figure smile.
"Of course he is, he wouldn't have been recommended to us if he wasn't, isn't that right?" another smile, "you don't say much do ya?"
"I don't need to," the figure said. His voice sent shivers down the mercs' backs, it was low, but gravelly, or was that just the voice he put on? Toombs couldn't decide, "My blades do the talking for me."
The two gunners visibly shook; there was something about this man that made him seem worse than Toombs, who was a reputed mercenary.
They arrived at the planet; it was cold, bitterly cold, with snow covering the ground for miles. 'So this is where our quarry is?' he thought. A smile crept across his face, the sight of these mercs freezing was hilarious. They were all shivering, their teeth chattering; even the renowned Toombs was subdued by the cold.
They were sitting outside for a bit. Well some were sitting others were pacing, either so they could stretch their legs or try to get themselves warm. Toombs looked over to the still cloaked man, he had heard that this man was like a mercenary, but some like to call his particular profession a contractor, travelling to other planets helping in battles with lesser technologically advanced countries or smaller armies against more advanced larger armies, helping planning the defence and offence of the defending country. Toombs guessed he was a high ranking soldier.
There was something that did puzzle him though. While they were all shivering and freezing, he was sat there with no signs of being cold at all, and he was glowing. Why the Hell was he glowing? He wasn't before. Toombs hated being puzzled, and he hated being cold, the sooner they got off this rock the better.
"Right, everybody back on the ship, I'm freezin' my arse off here. Let's find him and go and get our money." They all smiled then individually looked at the hooded man, as if to say, 'there's only enough for four, bub'.
The gunners were helped to get strapped in to their positions on the stub wings, then the other two climbed on. Toombs settled behind the main controls while the navigator, the anxious one, climbed in behind him. The stranger climbed in last, sitting in his previous position at the back of the ship. Toombs smiled.
"What's it like sitting at the back of the bus?" the stranger just grunted in reply, biting back a venomous remark about the fact that they were all amateur predators chasing a large and experienced prey.
The craft took off again, this time at a slower pace because of the gunners outside. They were flying low, looking for any figure which looked like a man.
They were searching for hours. There was nothing in sight apart from snow. 'Snow, snow and more fuckin' snow' he thought, 'why, on every thing that is Holy, did whoever it is up their make this shit.' He was searching around; there was a few advantages of having superior senses than other humans and other sentient beings. He was using his superior sight to scan the landscape, but there was nothing in sight.
There was a chuckle at the back making Toombs swing round, nearly head-butting his navigator in the process.
"What's so funny?" he demanded, there was no answer, just silence.
"Looks like your man has disappeared." The man at the back said in a mocking tone, finally breaking the silence, before tipping his head back and going to sleep, the hood of his long black cloak covering his eyes. Toombs examined him again. Said cloak was fastened to a black breastplate-back-plate thing, which he thought was called a cuirass. He had seen one of those before, there were expensive, lightweight and tough. He had been told it was a composite cuirass, made of steel and Kevlar.
He was also wearing a long sleeved black top, vambraces of the same material as the cuirass with scallops on the side and black reinforced boots. He also had strange pads on the palms of his gloves and he noted again the shit load of knives and the sword on his back. After looking over him again he growled low in his throat and turned away.
He was resting his eyes for what seemed as a long time. He was aware of the lead mercenary looking at him, examining the way he looked and his weapons, probably sizing him up to see if he would be easy to remove. Just as he was drifting off the ship sped up. He looked across wondering what the commotion was about. Out of the windscreen he could see a ragged figure running along the snow.
"You said we wouldn't find him." Toombs said mockingly throwing a quick glance at the alert figure at the back. He got a grunt in reply.
"Take the shot!" Toombs shouted, in answer a net was fired from the starboard gun, just missing the running man. Toombs shouted again, then another net flew out from the port side, immediately followed by another from the starboard side. One missed but the other hit the fugitives shoulder causing the running man to stumble.
After he pulled out the net he stood in the cave mouth, brandishing two knives which were reversed in his hands. Toombs quickly pulled the ship to a stop, causing everybody inside to lurch forward.
"Riddick." Toombs said, with a crooked smile.
The cloaked man at the back was shocked at the name. He hadn't been told of who exactly they were chasing, only that he was highly dangerous and required someone skilful enough to capture him. The only reason why he had accepted was because of the fact that he was told that the man he was chasing was a murderer and innocents could be harmed. Now he realised that it was all a ploy to bring him in; an ex soldier with his reputation would be a good match for the renegade.
He knew he was a murderer, and he was probably a danger to innocents, but not on this planet, this cold barren wasteland called UV6. As much as he didn't like mercenaries, and that he thought he was going to be used and dumped after the capture of the renegade, he knew he had to help these amateurs; otherwise they would all be killed.
He saw the gesture from Riddick, telling them to follow him in to the cave.
"I don't know Toombs, looks kinda tight." said the starboard gunner
"Not from where I'm sitting," replied Toombs, "so throw on a fresh pair of panties, and let's get this right."
The ship started moving into the cave. There was less than a meter each side; it was so narrow in some places that he worried for the gunners. Then he heard something, they all did; it was the sound of someone screaming. Toombs turned the light to where the sound emanated from to see that the portside gunner had gone, along with his gun.
"Tags, you got eyes on Riddick?" Toombs asked, and after he got no response, "Tags!"
He turned the light to the other side to see the other gunner had disappeared; only this one had left his gun there. Toombs spun the ship round quickly, some may say skittishly.
"Jesus," said the navigator, "He just ghosted two guys and I never even saw him."
They were both looking worried, Toombs and the navigator. The man in the back was looking smug, but not so smug as he knew what was happening, he was glad that these mercs were getting taught a lesson in facing an expert, even the veteran Toombs was acting a little skittish.
He heard Toombs give the other man an order to collect a net-gun from the gun-rack and keep a look out for Riddick at the door. No sooner had he done that had an arm come down and threw him out. This was what the ex soldier had been trained for. He jumped up and just before Riddick got into the ship, he blocked the way and came face to face with their quarry. The goggled bearded man took hold of his cloak and tried to pull him out, but he was prepared for that and pulled the opposite way.
Riddick gave a growl and pulled harder. This time he was unbalanced as the other man moved with him. Then with a sudden speed, he was pulled into the ship. Riddick was caught unawares and for a moment was under the armoured mans control, but very soon after, he turned the tables and sprang up, taking hold of the other man and throwing him out of the ship. Unlike the others he didn't scream. He knew it would take more of a fall than that to kill him and he landed on his feet in the snow, but in a crouching position. He looked up after brushing himself off; the navigator was stood there staring in disbelief at the cloaked man. He was just about to say something when there was another scream above him. He looked up and immediately regretted it as Toombs fell on him.
The hijacked ship was then turned and flown expertly out of the cave. The cloaked man started running after it as if he could catch it just by running, Toombs looked up and saw the speed at which he was moving. 'He's not natural', he thought, then sat up. He was watching the running man and saw him press something on his arm, followed swiftly by a large ship landing at the cave mouth, its door open at the side. He could see from his position that there was no one flying; it must have been on autopilot. He recalled seeing a ship orbiting the planet. He reckoned it must homed in on his signal and been told to orbit until called. Then the ship took off with the cloaked man in the driver's position, and was in pursuit of Riddick.
'He's gonna get my bounty.' He thought bitterly, 'the whole 1.5 million of it.' He vaguely remembered hearing his name; Voldan.