Reminder: The first three chapters are all about the OC so you can kind of get to know her. I hope her story is interesting enough to tide you over until chapter 4 when Riddick's POV is introduced.

I do not own Pitch Black, Dark Fury, Chronicles of Riddick, or Riddick, nor do I own their characters or the story lines. I own only Rehtaeh and any new characters that I may add, and any plot changes that may happen within.

I really hope you enjoy the story! :D

Chapter 2

*Rehtaeh*

Her brothers' planet no longer needed her, she was being woken up. She was transported in an air ambulance to a space port and made ready for travel. She wore soft pajamas, they had dressed her in them upon taking her out of the Cryotube and placing her on a hospital bed, and then they covered her in a thin fuzzy blanket and rolled her away. She overheard a woman with fiery red hair tell her armed escort that someone had arranged for her to meet her re-habilitation officer in New-Mecca. He and the doctor in charge of her care were to make sure she reached her destination quietly. Because of her age, status and newfound wealth there were many criminals that would take advantage of her for various nefarious reasons. The woman told the guard that she was the ailing daughter of an Alliance Dignitary who was to be treated with the utmost respect and honor that was afforded to one in her position. The guard and the Doctor would only get paid once their charge made it safely to New Mecca.

Mac, short for MacKenzie was her armed guard, who would ensure her protection at all times, he was a big man, with thick red hair and bright green eyes. He was a serious sort, and took deep pride in his work, he was attentive and he was there to ensure her safety, whatever the personal cost. He pushed a large cart loaded with crates and boxes that were apparently her files and belongings, up the loading ramp and into the ship.

She was placed under the care of a personal Doctor who would help her with the detoxification of her body and the side-effects that were sure to be revealed. The Doc was one of the two Doctors that had been overseeing her "care" for the past six years. May Abrams was a gentle woman with dark hair and almond colored skin; she had wide set brown eyes and a wide contagious smile. The first and last Doc she would ever trust. Both the Guard and the Doctor were nice to her, but she was sure that it was only because they were being paid to be nice to her and ensure that she made it to her contact alive and well. At least they put up the front that they cared for her. It had been so long since she had had caring people around her.

They provided her with a small cargo room near the front of the passenger bay of a ship, just below the main cryobay. She was wheeled in after the initial boarding, just before takeoff, so there would be few witnesses to her arrival. The private room had just enough space for her bed and another cot so they could take turns sleeping, she was never left unattended. There were two large crates that had her file number on them, enough rations to keep them alive through the journey and an assortment of medical supplies that the doctor might need while she was going through withdrawals and the toxin purge. The Captain and crew set the trajectory of the ship and went into cryogenic pods for the majority of the flight, the ship creaked and groaned around them as it hurdled through space. The only people not in cryo were Doc May, MacKenzie and herself. Other than the three of them the ship was quiet. Always quiet. The gravity was turned off so everything was strapped down including her.

The transfer to the ship had been so quick that her body still had not 'unthawed' from the old cryogenic process. So for the first week on board she was tortured by tingling limbs and the cramps that clenched her up so tight that she felt as though she were a human pretzel. Her flesh felt as though it was being burned off of her body before it grew back. She gritted her teeth and tried to hold in the pain, but even though her throat was raw due to centuries of disuse, she would keen, and groan in distress. The pain was slow to go away, and it was quickly replaced by the return of various strange illnesses. All of which she had already endured in frozen state, but as her body began to eliminate the toxins she relived the horrible pain of each one. She had a tube through her nose that lead to her stomach so that she wouldn't need to eat, she had an IV line attached to her arm to make sure that she stayed hydrated and they kept her strapped down since she was constantly writhing with seizures and pain.

She would get violently ill one day and the next she was so strong she was tearing the straps that held her to the bed. Then she went deaf, she could hear nothing around her even though she could see the Doc and the guard talking. Then a few hours later her hearing would return and suddenly she was able to hear the noise from the rest of the ship, everything seemed so loud she screamed in pain as it shattered her nervous system with too much information. Finally she forced herself to focus on only one sound, a steady heartbeat above her. She could hear the others around it but that one was the strongest and steadiest. The heartbeat. From there she was able to analyze the other noises that she heard, focus on them and discard them as needed until finally she could tolerate the sounds. It was that heartbeat, that steady rhythm that carried her through the next challenges.

The next day she went completely blind, she panicked telling the Doc and Mac that she was blind. They checked her eyes and recorded that her eyes had taken on a glassy sheen and her pupils were not adjusting to light. Doc calmed her down and reminded her that there would be a change; according to the file the blindness would be temporary. When the cure came it was as horrifying as the blindness, she was inundated with too much light and visual matter. The brightness and clarity of everything would cause her to get sick again, again and again. Her neural receptors were on overload. She kept her eyes closed for long periods of time until finally her eyes began to readjust to the dim lighting in the room. Finally her eyes returned to what she had always called normal; super sensitive to light, yet perfect vision even at night in complete darkness.

Over and over she relived the illness that they had given her during the original studies as well as the horrible cure. The sixteen week mark had just passed when she went into a full body seizure and dropped into a coma, this worried the Doc more than the illnesses had. At least when she had been awake she had been fighting, now her body was close to shutting down.

She was dreaming, tubes filled with various fluids, were wrapped around her body, squeezing her like a python or boa constrictor, they were squeezing the life out of her, she had a small knife in her hand, and she was hacking desperately at them until finally she was free. She began to run but her feet were glued to the ground, she couldn't go any faster, and there were stones around her, grave stones, the names of her brothers, her mother and father. The soldiers that she killed, those were there too. There were so many. No that couldn't be right. She was not a killer; she had only acted in self defense, and had killed because they were trying to kill her.

Shivering, shaking from the cold she woke. Still strapped to the bed, her breath coming in deep harsh gasps, her lungs felt as though they were being crushed. Calming her breath, she started to drift in an out of consciousness.

She was reclined in her cot, still half asleep when she heard Mac ask the Doc, "Have you ever seen any one recover this quickly from so many issues? I mean, her records show that she underwent torture and really she should have died from all of this, but other than being in a coma she seems stronger than she was before."

"Her kidnappers really did a number on her. She is really lucky that she survived at all." May replied, her voice was soft. This made no sense Dr. May had been one of her Doctors for the past six years. She knew who she was, where she came from and why she was being released. What the hell was this bullshit about kidnapping? "If I had not seen her recovery with my own eyes I would have sworn that it was impossible to come back from such severe damage. If she doesn't come out of this coma, then we will lose her completely."

"She is strong May, she will survive." Mac said he was close, near her bed but standing. She could feel his cold presence nearby. "The things that I have seen you accomplish with her, I admire that, you are an amazing Doctor to have helped her through this."

"Thanks Mac, That really means a lot. I really want her to live, she is special to me, and I just can't help it. To look at her you would think that she is just some spoiled rich man's kid, but then you add in all that she has survived through. She would not have made it this far if she wasn't a fighter." May was sitting on her cot, holding her hand, her touch was gentle. Her voice contained a motherly note, a caring quality. "The sheer amount of chemicals they poured into her, it is unreal. It reminds me of the old Virus Control Subjects that they tried waking up a hundred years ago. Half of our textbooks are filled with the horrors that emerged when they tried reanimating the patients. Most of those patients had only half the number of chemicals in their systems, there was a zero percent survival rate."

"So you are saying she should have already died?" Mac asked, his voice sounded surprised.

"After seeing the illnesses and the resulting side effects of the cures, she shouldn't have survived the first week. This girl wants to live, Mac, and I want to see it happen." May said, her voice filled with conviction.

She was aware of the conversation, it made her feel uncomfortable to hear them talking about her, not because it made her feel like an outsider and not because they talked as though she might still die. It was because they spoke with the genuine desire to help her, as though they actually cared that she survived. She squeezed Doc May's hand lightly, and tried to open her eyes, she wanted to tell them to stop talking about her. Her voice wouldn't come out properly though, it was a raspy croak, it was painful. Doctor May shrieked in delight upon seeing her awake, she was so genuinely happy that the mood was contagious. She couldn't help but smile in return.

Once her vitals returned to a normal rhythm she was unstrapped from the bed, and by week nineteen they took the final tubes out. She was finally able to eat on her own and to drink water, finally lubricating her dry throat and mouth. The rations were a novelty for her; she had not tasted any food for so long that it was like starting all over as a child. Salt was too salty, sugar too sweet, tart foods pruned her face. It was a strange sensation to have food on her tongue and in her mouth. She bit her tongue several times trying to teach herself how to chew.

She was able to brush her teeth and have a shower. Her first shower in centuries was an experience. Doc May had to help her get to the washroom, her legs were burning from non-use, and she was so weak. Then when she climbed into the stall and set the water, it went everywhere except where it was supposed to. The lack of gravity was making everything difficult; she had to catch the droplets to wash herself, which was fine for washing but rinsing off was impossible. Until Doc remembered the switch by the door that turned the gravity on in the bathroom, then everything changed.

Her legs were so weak that she dropped to the floor feeling like she weighed a thousand pounds, the water slammed into her skin so hard that she cried out in pain. She was super sensitized to everything. She sat for a long moment on the floor of the shower, getting used to the feel of the water hitting her, running into her eyes and dripping off of her nose. Finally, she was able to stand back up and used the soaps and lotions that the Doc had provided for her and washed away the stench of illness that seemed to cling to her skin. When she stepped out the Doc May laughed at the face she was making and wrapped a thick towel around her and helped her dry off.

"It's good to feel clean again, Yes?" Doc May asked her as she helped her towel dry her hair. "We need to find you a brush for your hair. I will be right back"

When she looked in the mirror she was sure that she would have changed, somehow, with all of the experimentation. She adjusted the light up slowly to what she figured was normal and blinked in the brightness, trying to force her eyes to adjust, so she could see if there had been any changes. But no, her hair was still silver blonde, it still hung in long waves to her lower back. Her eyes were still a deep, deep purple, only when she lowered the dim red light they seemed to be a little shinier, but really it could just be the lighting and not her eyes. Her face was still the same, her body a little thinner due to being ill for so long, but she was still muscular, her breasts had not shrunk or grown, she was not any taller. Still it was strange to see herself again. She couldn't help but stare. She looked a lot like her mother. Her mother had been a beautiful woman. When Doc May came back she helped her brush and braid her hair, so that it wouldn't get tangled.

The following week she was finally able to get up and walk around on her own. MacKenzie helped her for the first few steps until she got the hang of it again; she quickly recovered her balance and equilibrium, and finally she regained her grace. She helped May and MacKenzie clean up the room and dispose of the used medical supplies in the incinerator. They argued with her, but she refused to listen, she whispered that she wanted to help and just continued to help them clean up ignoring their protests. There was really nothing left of the medical supplies, she had used everything having been sick for so long. It took a day or so to get rid of the cloying medical smell that had been ingrained into the room.

Doc gave her a chronos so that she could keep track of the time and to try to create a proper sleep schedule. She also handed her a sealed envelope and told her that she was to keep it on her and keep it safe at all times. The Doctor May and MacKenzie had each been assigned a Cryo pod for the trip for once they deemed it safe to engage it. Whoever had booked the ship had been smart enough to realize that Rehtaeh would not need nor want one. It was that week that her guard and the Doctor finally decided that it was safe for them to go into cryo and she was free to roam the ship and discover the new world that she was in.

She waited for Doc and Mac to go into cryo before she opened the package. It was a kind of tablet computer. Being awake in cryo, she had watched doctors and scientists using this same type of tech for several months, so it didn't take her long to maneuver through the processing and functions. The first thing that opened was a personal message for her. It was the fiery red head that she had seen when she had been released.

"Rehtaeh, I am General Tiller. If you are reading this, it means that you have survived the detoxification process, congratulations. The next weeks and months are going to be the most difficult of your life. Legally you are free and clear to live your life. In this dossier there is included all of the documentation for your release. As part of your release you clear the Alliance and Company Forces of any wrong doing and you will not attempt any form of retribution for any actions taken against you during your time of entombment. As long as you follow this protocol you have been granted immunity from criminal charges for the remainder of your life, due to time already served. If you are arrested your DNA sample will clear you immediately of any sentencing."

"You will be required to attend rehabilitation sessions upon your arrival in New Mecca to ascertain your personal abilities and to reestablish you in the community; it is also part of the cover story that has been provided for you. Please review the file and memorize your new history. You will maintain your military status in case that is a field that you are interested in pursuing. All of the other achievements, degrees and diplomas that you earned during your education are also current and in good standing. As agreed upon prior to your conviction and sentence, your moneys have been deposited in the company account of Ennaline Holdings Ltd. There is a UD card with the company name on it. Your name is the only name on the account. You have been provided with an estate as per your request paid for from your recompense. It is located in the Highland River area of New Mecca, as you requested it has a fully operational security system. It has already been programmed with your DNA data. The coordinates are included in the dossier."

There was a second message directly following the first. It was the same woman, but she seemed more relaxed, open, almost friendly. She was not in military uniform; she wore a deep green blouse which accentuated the fiery red of her hair.

"Rehtaeh, this is a personal message, I want to offer you my personal assistance in any matter that you may have going forward. I am Farah Tiller. I apologize on behalf of the Alliance for any suffering you may have endured. I will be sending you messages to this device on a regular basis. Please turn off the tracking device that is located in both the setting and in the options development section. It will keep you location safe from those who may want to harm you or may be looking for you." She waited for a beat, the smooth area between her brows creased for a moment while she was thinking.

"I am not supposed to tell you this but it is your right to know why your sentence was extended by for hundred years. Your case has been highly contested due to your biological significance to the medical community. It seems your genetic code is perfect for all sorts of medical studies. The Rangers Medical Research Center has successfully stalled your awakening four times in the past and is trying to have your awakening deterred infinitely." Rehtaeh growled at this, those bastards had already taken everything from her, and yet they wanted more.

The woman went on, "Because of this my senior managers have instructed me to have you awakened as quickly and as silently as possible. The corrections department wants you off of their books, you are a legal mine field, considering you have been in the system for five times longer than your sentence states. The sooner we can get you reestablished in your new life the quicker these hounds will leave you alone. If there is an emergency of any kind I will use the code word Voodoo. The protocol instructions will be included in a code type of format. Rehtaeh, you can trust May Abrams, she is the only person who knows your true story as well as the cover story. She will do everything she can to get you here. If by chance something happens to her or MacKenzie, find someone you trust to get you here. The Auto-UD cards are transferable, so be very careful who you trust, and don't lose them. I look forward to meeting you soon. Delete this message for your protection as well as mine."

She turned off the tracking on the computer in any place that she could find a feed for location tracing and deleted the message. Once she was done that she looked through the rest of the computer. For such a tiny device it was a very quick and versatile machine. It held all of her medical files, including any pictures taken all in electronic form, as well as her new cover story, there were electronic copies of all of her diplomas, degrees, certifications, permits and licenses. Along with the computer the envelope enclosed a new ID card, and papers for travel and a UD card that had her business name engraved on it. There were two more cards with the Alliance Logo stamped on it as well as the words, 'Universal Denomination Auto Transfer Card". The instructions told her that she was to give the cards as payment to her escorts, upon her safe arrival in New Mecca. They were fully transferable, no names, no tracers. The Alliance was releasing her, but they wanted her silence, if she talked to anyone, disclosed who she really was she was a detriment. They didn't care how she got to New Mecca or who got her there, they just wanted her where they could see her and keep an eye on her. She was okay with this, all she wanted was to survive, and restart this mess of her life, and she could do that just about anywhere.

The cover story was a nice touch. It was the story that Doc had told to Mac. The story had been leaked to the press, and all of her records, from birth to medical to her prison records had been changed to reflect it. It completely played off the truth, it was her story with just the most minor changes; the willful child of Dignitaries of the Alliance, recently hospitalized for chemical poisoning, after a kidnapping gone wrong. Both of her parents had been killed during the transfer of ransom, and she had been found in a Cryo warehouse jacked up on a multitude of chemicals. Her seven brothers had been killed in a military ship crash the year before. She was travelling to New Mecca to start over and to hopefully heal from the trauma of her past. They even gave her a current formal military training history. All of this while still being able to use her real name.

There was just enough truth to ensure that it was believable, and that way the alliance would be ensured that she stayed out of trouble. She and May were the only people in the world, no, the universe who knew the complete truth. She and the Alliance Members who had thought it best to cut her loose.