Author's Note: I know this story is starting off a bit slow paced, but I am setting things up before diving right into the main story. Speaking of which, this fic is mostly base on the film but it's not going to follow that story completely. I'll be changing a few things so that it'll make better sense, adding other elements (such as some things from the novel) and the OC's involvement/choices will make a difference (so yes, butterfly effect).

Something I've been asked about is the pairing. The romance will also be slow pace. That's because I find stories more believable and enjoyable when the relationship between the characters grow over time. Which is why she's not automatically fixated on Riddick. That was always something that annoyed me about OCs in Riddick fics. But there is also the possibility that the OC may not connect with Riddick as I've planned and instead might become interested in someone else. Or no one at all.

Fun Fact: Did you know there's many names for the machine that characters use to go into cryosleep or cryostasis? It mostly depends on the original material, but in the Riddick films, video games and novels it's inconsistent. Even in the Riddick fanfiction it's all over the place. Some use cryotube, others prefer cryopod, cryogenic chamber, cryolocker, cryobox, and so on. You don't want to know how many times I kept switching the word because I wasn't sure which to use.

Chapter 2
The Crash

A monstrous lurch shook me from my dreamless slumber. Something is clearly wrong. There shouldn't be this much heat and I can hear a faint wailing sound coming from all around me. I use my power to burn out the drugs and melt the frost covering my body. I can now clearly hear the alarms screeching, punctuated by the whine of ripping metal and the fiery hiss of white-hot fragments blowing through the madness.

As soon as I opened my blurry eyes, I see flashing red lights bouncing off the glass of the cryopod. I winced, briefly shutting my eyes from the harsh red lights. I tilt my head down, letting my eyes adjust as I smacked my hand on the emergency release lever. I tear away at the straps holding me in place and lunged out, grabbing a metal beam that was across from me.

Something must have struck the ship's hull or exploded. I'm not sure which, but sections of the ship were tearing off. I can feel the heat and random friction of debris hitting each other. The ship is also unstable, shuddering violently. A few of the cryopods in the very back were torn from their placement and sucked out to space by the large rip in the metal wall. That's not good, we're losing oxygen too. Other pods seem to have been riddle with jagged holes from the ship's bolts coming loose.

There was another wild sway and I nearly hit my head against the beam. The pilot must be dumping the cargo containers to try and slow down the ship. It's going too fast for them to regain control. That doesn't bode well for me if they decide the passengers cabin is next. I need to get to the cockpit if that's the case. I have no interest of finding out what happens to me if I get sucked out into space.

It was difficult to maintain my balance, but I jumped towards the wall, clinging to the handrail. Sparks showered the ceiling and another pod blew open. It nicked my leg as I dropped to the floor to avoid it. I winced at the pain, but I did not cry out. I continue to hold onto the rail, nearly making it to the door, but another explosion shook the ship. My grip weakened and I fell backwards with a short scream, but I grabbed the handrail again.

One of the cargo containers must have collided with another, causing an explosion outside. The ship is taking too much damage, not only from the blast, but everything else is falling apart. We need to find a habitable planet soon, because the ship isn't going to last much longer in this condition. I manage to get to the door, but it's sealed shut. That's a bad sign. A locked door means I could rewire the panel to get it open, but sealed shut only means one thing. Whoever is piloting is going to jettison the passenger cabin to save their own ass.

They could do it at any moment. I smack the door a few times, causing small dents to appear. The heat in my hands increased and I breath in deeply, trying to stay calm. There's enough problems happening right now and I don't need to add onto it by losing control. I breathe in and out, gripping the metal door frame tightly. I can break the door down, but that would weaken the integrity of the ship's hull even more. Instead, I can try prying it open. It'll be less damaging that way and I can disable the airlocks manually. But I might not have enough time to do that.

The only option left is to block the door, which can also prevent the pilot from releasing the passenger cabin. The ship's safety system won't allow them to disengage the clamps until the obstruction is removed. It won't budge, no matter how many times they try to bypass it either. But I know they won't attempt that, because it will result in their death if they even tried. So, what can I utilize? There's only cryopods, which are occupied with people. And those metal beams provide support to the ship's hull structure. I can't touch either of those things.

A huge jolt shook the ship, which began to veer crazily back and forth. I wedge myself against another beam, trying to stay on my feet as the gravity force changed. I push away from it once I'm steady enough, digging my fingers into the sealed door and slowly prying it open. Oxygen floods in, blowing my hair wildly behind me and I'm almost knocked onto my back from the force.

There's noise somewhere behind me, but I ignored it as I struggle to not let my hands slip. The door is heavy, thick, and I can barely get it open enough. I'm struggling, but I've managed to plant my elbow in the middle of the gap. I got that arm keeping one section of the door open, while the other I'm having difficult in doing the same. I catch sight of one of the pods and notice that the passengers inside is starting to wake up.

The ship is shuddering violently. I can feel the entire front section of the ship burning up. I can't tell if it's because the pilot is fighting the gravitational pull or is forcing the ship to go through a planet's atmosphere. The rockets pump out more power and I hear even more metal tearing away. The heat shielding is barely holding it together, but it's surviving long enough to get the ship pass the atmosphere. If it didn't everyone would have been incinerated by now.

We're going to crash, especially with how fast the ship is going. Next thing I know I'm falling away from the door, practically flying and smacking into a metal beam. There's a loud screeching sound, and the smell of burnt metal. My back hurts, and I quickly shield my head as small metal fragments rained over me. I find myself sliding away, and I latch on, wrapping my legs around the beam.

At that moment, the entire left side of the ship rips off in chucks and a row of cryopods fall out. I gasp, nearly choking on my saliva and I hold on tighter. I can feel myself lifting off of the floor and being pulled in the direction of the large hole. But my death grip prevents me from being torn away. Waves of dirt rush by and with a loud piercing shrill it all comes to a jarring halt. I smack my head against the bar and shakily let go of it. I collapse onto the floor, trying to recover my breath and give my heart enough time to calm down.

I sat up and staggered onto my feet, still shaky from the adrenaline. The numbness is wearing off, and I quickly run my hands down my body to see what injuries I've gained. I may be stronger and durable than before, but I'm apparently still only human. I grimaced as I find minor cuts, scrapes and bruises, especially around my arms and legs. The worst of it is the throbbing gash at the end of my eyebrow, which thankfully hasn't bled into my eye. I'll have to clean it later. I'm not sure where I can find a medical kit in all this mess or if the medical room is even intact.

I moved away, pushing cables, shredded panels and broken wires to clear a path. I spotted Johns' body laying on the other side of the cabin, near another set of sealed doors. He's still alive, just unconscious with a bump at the back of his head. He's fortunate to have grabbed onto something in the nick of time, or else he would've been pulled out of the ship too.

Those still safes in their cryopods are becoming more aware, but it'll be awhile till they get their bearings. Sometimes, depending on the person they may be able to shake off the chills and grogginess from cryosleep faster. However, their bodies will always be slower to catch up to their minds because you can't rush the stiffness out of it with sheer will. Well, you could though I don't recommend it without a warm up first. It'll be very painful, possibly causing some rips and tears to appear in your muscles and tendons.

I glanced back at Johns, wondering how he managed to wake up so quickly. Despite the unfortunate timing of being out of his pod, he must have set it to trigger the defrost process as soon as any alarms started up. But that doesn't make sense because all the pods already do that, especially the crews' pods. However, theirs are altered to speed up the defrost process to get them back to normal much faster. Unless, Johns had planned to get out earlier than the other passengers anyway. Why?

What reason would he need to be out earlier than planned? It would still be a long while till we reach our destination. So, it would be pointless for him to get out to stretch his legs, only to go back to sleep again. I suppose he does have a criminal to keep secure and to do that he has got to be a step ahead. That seems a bit overboard and unnecessary to do if that's the case. I don't know, something is just off. It could be the timing or him, maybe both.

What worries me the most is that he woke up at some point after I got out. It's possible that during that time he may have notice that I was already out of my pod. Did he see my super strength? I can't exactly explain that away. It's one thing to say that I rigged my pod for an early release; it's another when I'm prying open a sealed 100 tons door with my bare hands.

I can't go asking him about it either. He may not have seen anything and bringing it up not only makes me sound crazy, but it'll attract suspicion. But if he did see, I would be confirming what he saw was real. Because for all I know, he might have dismissed it as a delusion or something. Or maybe he was still in the process of dispelling the effects of cryosleep to pay any close attention to me. Either way, I'll have to keep an eye on him and be extra careful too.

For now, I just need to focus on one thing at a time like who else survived. I ignored Johns' body and ambled towards the closest cryopod. Inside is a tall woman with curly black hair, wearing a red jacket with a black tanktop underneath and dark red pants. She blinked her gray eyes slowly, focusing on me and staring in confusion. I check her vital signs on the monitor, all green, and activated the released button. The pod's door opened without any issue.

"First, you need to work out the kinks from being in cryosleep," I said, examining her over again, "Please lift one arm, okay that's good, now the other. Good. Are you in any pain?"

"No. Wha-what happened?" she asked groggily.

"I'm not completely sure. But from what I can tell so far, we seem to have crashed landed on a habitable planet," I said, helping her to unfasten the straps securing her.

She nearly fell, but I held her up and she leaned most of her weight on me.

"I got you. Try stretching your legs a bit and when you're ready I'll let you go."

She lifted her leg up, bending it a few times and doing the same to the other. She kept doing that until she was able to stand up completely on her own. I tentatively let go of her, keeping my arm near her. She shuffled her weight on her feet and looked around the wrecked ship.

"Fuck," she said, catching sight of the gaping hole on the side of the ship.

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly," I said, moving away to shut off her pod.

"Are we the only ones?" she shakily asked, rubbing her stiffed neck.

"Oh, no!" I exclaimed, turning around to reassure her, "There are other survivors too. We're just the first ones awake. Some of them may need a bit of help in getting out, especially with the lack of power and all this debris in the way."

I moved onto the next pod, kicking some chunks of metal to the side. A man with brown hair, wearing a tan shirt and black boots was inside it. His pod is a bit dinged up, but is still fully functional. The woman follows and looks relieved when she recognizes him. She knocks on the glass to get his attention and he raises his hand onto the glass. She checks over his vital signs before helping him out of his pod.

"You got him?" I asked.

"Yes, thank you," she said, holding the man close.

I nod and go onto the next pod, which contain another man. This one is motionless, which isn't a good sign. By now the passengers should be completely conscious and trying to get out of their pods. If they can, since some of the pods are out of power and others may be blocked or too damaged to be opened.

The monitor is dead, and I tried to get it back on, but it won't respond. I frowned, looking over the pod and check the back of it. The wires are ripped out which can explain the lack of power for it and a large piece of metal has punctured the bottom. I don't see any blood, and he doesn't appear to have any visible injuries. It's quite possible he is still alive, but I won't know for sure until I can get the pod open.

I quickly look around, making sure that no one is watching and pick up a piece of metal. I jammed it into the pod's door and push my weight on to it. The door screeches as I force it opened. I checked over my shoulder, hoping that I haven't attracted any attention. The woman and man are over at Johns' body, talking and inspecting him over as they helped him up.

I discard the metal shard and pull the door away. I place my fingers on the side of the man's neck to see if he has a pulse. It's difficult to tell because his body hasn't thawed enough from cryosleep to know. There's nothing else I can do at the moment, but someone will probably have to come back later to see if he's alive or not. I continued on, noticing that some spots are missing cryopods. A few of them are too damaged with holes and blood covering the glass to bother with.

The next one I come across contains a young man. He's trying to push the pod's door open, but it's jammed halfway. I kick at it and it opens fully. He sighed in relief, speaking in Arabic in what I believe is in gratitude. He must be one of the acolytes on their pilgrimage. He goes to another pod that holds an older man wearing robes, which I assume is either his father or guardian. I helped him to get the man out of it and soon enough they are both helping a younger boy out. They move onto the next pod once they're done. Inside is another older boy and they help him out of his pod.

"This one will not open," the older man said, looking over to the pod next to it.

The power is off on it and it was crushed on top, preventing the door from being opened. The woman and man came back, taking a look for themselves.

"We'll need a torch," the woman stated, sliding her fingers against the door's seam. "We won't be able to get it open from the front."

"I'll go look for one. There's probably one in the cargo," the man said, leaving.

"Did you find anyone else?" I asked, curious to see what they talked about with Johns.

"Yes, he went to the front to see if the crew survived. We might be able to figure out what went wrong and where we are."

That is unusual. I glanced at the pod with the warning labels than back at where Johns was at. I would've thought his first priority would be to check up on the criminal. To see if he's alive or dead, and if it's the former than to make sure that he's still secure. Better yet, he should have been standing guard while someone else's goes to the front to see what happened.

After all, isn't it an officer's code or oath of honor to serve and protect; that duty comes first before anything else? Seems to me that all Johns is concern with is himself. He didn't even spare any of us a glance before heading off. Something about him continues to bother me. And it has nothing to do with him being an asshole and a creep either.

From what I can tell, the criminal is very much alive. I've noticed that he emits a lot of body heat than the others do and that would've helped him recover from cryosleep much faster. Despite the no early release and lock-down protocol on his pod, he's quite coherently active. He's tilting his head to listen better and calmly waiting for something. I wouldn't be surprise if he finds a way out of his restraints and out of the pod while we're all occupied. He's supposedly a very dangerous man and yet he's being escorted by one officer.

"Hmm, that's good. It'll probably help to find some supplies too, like water, food and medicine," I mentioned, disconnecting the rest of the cables from the pod. "We have no idea how long we're gonna be stuck here. We're also lucky that no one we've found has got any serious injuries."

"That is a good plan," the older man quipped, "once we have search for others, we shall look for supplies."

"I'm Natasha," I said, introducing myself, "but call me Tasha, though."

"Sharon, but Shazza works just the same," the woman said, pulling back to give me a smile, "wish it was under better circumstances, though."

"Agreed," I said, smiling back.

"I am Abu al-Walid, but I am often referred to as Imam," he said, "Others confused it for a name, but it is actually a title. These three acolytes are Suleiman, Hassan and Ali. I am to lead them on their first Hajj."

You nodded to the three boys behind him, and they greeted you back in their language.

"Help me to bring the pod down. The glass is too strong to break and that could injury the passenger inside if we were to try. The only way we might be able to get him out is through the back," Shazza said, knocking against the metal frame of the pod.

"I'll disable the latch clamps holding it in place then," I said pressing down on each latch and rotated it onto the unlocked position, "Okay, we're good to go."

All of you turned the pod around and tilt it forward, trying to gently lower it down. The man inside seem to be less disoriented and more annoyed, slapping against the glass and yelling, but his words were muffled. It's probably a good thing we were unable to hear him since there are children watching and listening.

"What's left of the cargo section is a mess. It took a bit of digging around to find a cutting torch," the man from earlier returned, dropping a toolbox next to Shazza.

"This is Zeke," Shazza said, plopping open the box and pulling out a torch. She put on goggles to protect her eyes and some bulky gloves.

Zeke nodded his head in greeting and leaned over to look over the tools. He shuffled through it, picking up a pry bar. Shazza began to torch around the pod's door seam. The progress was slow, but once she was done, she moved back to give Zeke some space. He slipped the bar into the newly cut opening and pushed his weight on it to pop the door out.

Imam, Shazza and I grabbed onto it and slid it off. The man inside sighed in relief, sitting up and glaring at us all. "It's about bloody time! Any longer in there and I would have suffocated to death."

"That's very unlikely," I murmured, rolling my eyes. "Ungrateful idiot."

Shazza and Zeke heard, snorting in amusement. Unfortunately so did the man too.

"And how would you know?" he grumbled, stretching the word 'you' out.

I examined the pod closest to me, estimating its measurements and its total volume. "Hmm, let's say the total volume of a pod is 54.096 cubic inches, or 886 liters and so is its internal volume. And the average volume of a human body is 66 liters. That leaves 820 liters of air, one-fifth of which - 164 liters is oxygen. If a trapped person consumes 0.5 liters of oxygen per minute, it would take almost 5 and a half hours before all the oxygen in the pod was consumed," I explained, crossing my arms. "Of course, that amount of time varies because it depends on the size of the pod, how calm a person is and if they are small in stature."

Everyone looked a bit dumbfounded, eyeing me with curiosity.

"Everyone knows that you have a limited amount of oxygen when trapped. But not everyone is in the right state of mind or willing to use math to try, and calculate how much time they have left."

"But most people only know the basics of math," Zeke said, raising his eyebrow. "And they can't do mental calculations that fast."

"I went to a really good school."

They continue to stare.

"For engineering," I sighed, knowing it won't matter at this point in keeping it a secret.

"That would explain it," Shazza said, shrugging nonchalantly. She packed the tools into the box, keeping on the goggles and gloves. "Don't worry. You're not the only one who's education sometimes shows."

The youngest boy, Ali came over to Imam and tugged on his robe. He bent down, listening to whatever he was telling him and patted his head.

"He has found someone else who is trapped as well," he said, following Ali.

The man in the pod stayed behind, while the rest of us followed behind Imam and Ali. The person inside is another young boy, about the same age as Ali, no more than ten or twelve years old. Any concerns we had about him being dead were erased when he started waving at us as we approached. We made sure the pod was disconnected before we flipped it over and use the torch on the jammed cryopod. When that was done Zeke used the bar to pry it opened.

The boy crawled out, smiling at us with bright eyes. "Something went real wrong, huh?"

"Got that right," Zeke said, offering a hand to help him stand up. "Introductions will have to wait. We haven't finished searching for others."

"We should start looking for supplies too, like medicine and water," I mention, wondering if anyone else is beginning to feel a little thirsty.

"We'll get this done faster if we split up," Shazza suggested, pulling off the goggles and gloves. She threw them back into the toolbox and Zeke passed her the pry bar to put away too. "This will stay here in case we find someone. There's no need for any of us to go running around trying to find where the other is with the box."

"We will search this way," Imam said, nudging Ali in the direction behind him to join up with the other two boys. While searching, they seem to also stop at each pod to say a prayer for those who were gone. Zeke and Shazza went to explore the other side of the ship, while I stayed behind. I needed to see if my stuff was still intact. Hopefully, my water bottle hasn't been punctured because I could go for some water right now.

I backtracked, passing the pod that contain the ungrateful man who must have wondered off somewhere. I stopped at the third pod I checked to see if the man inside is alive. I press my fingers to his neck again. Sadly, there still is no pulse and I also used his wrist to double check. Nothing. I don't feel any heat from his body either and he had plenty of time to defrost too. He's definitely dead. At some point we'll have to collect all the corpses on the ship and buried them. It's not only the right thing to do, but it's sanitary. We can't leave their bodies out in the open, attracting whatever predators are on this planet or begin a disease outbreak.

I continued on, reaching my pod and pulling out the little compartment. Shuffling through my small bag, I'm relieved to find that my things are still in perfect condition. I pop the seal and take a sip from my water bottle. I wasn't paying attention earlier, but I could sense a heat signature behind me. It's small, most likely one of the kids.

"Do you want a sip too?" I asked, looking over my shoulder.

"Sure," the energetic boy said, eyeing the freshly opened bottle.

I passed it to him, and he took a few sips. Interesting enough, I don't sense the criminal's body heat in his pod anymore. Either he's taking this chance to put some distance between him and Johns, or he's getting revenge. I don't know the type of person he is, some would feel that getting revenge is more important than freedom. But I think that's stupid. I would rather run, find a ship and hightail it to the other side of the universe until things cool down.

I also don't know what the criminal will do to get what he wants. He may leave us alone, because we're not the biggest threat to him, Johns is. But, he might not. He could be one of those sickos that get their kicks in killing people, even those that aren't in his way. I'm not to worry about him, because if he tries anything I will make him regret it.

I'm still going to be careful, though. I don't want to reveal anything important about myself. But I know I won't always have a choice in the matter if something does happen. I certainly don't want to find out what I'll do if I'm caught off guard. Or what might happen to the people that could get caught in the crossfire.

Jack finished taking some sips of water and then fixed his hat to fit his head better. "Thanks!"

I smile, slipping on my wristband and activated it. The readings on it indicate that the radiation around me is still in the safe levels. That's good. I wouldn't want to make the situation worst by giving everyone radiation sickness too.

He passed me that bottle and kicking a metal shard to the side. "What do you think happened?"

"Either something exploded within the ship or we got hit with something," I said, shrugging while attaching the bag to my belt. "The more important question is what are we gonna do now. To get that answer we need more information on our situation. All we know is that we're stuck on an unknown planet, which thankfully has breathable air."

Before he could ask how I know I pointed to the giant hole in the ship behind him.

He turned, "Oh."

He walked over to it, taking a look at the sandy and arid planet we crashed landed on. "Guess we're lucky too that it's not extremely hot or cold."

I blanched at his words, "Don't jinx it. It could still happen. If not, there are other ways that this planet can still kill us."

I pushed away from my pod.

"I'm heading up to the cockpit. We might be able to get some answers there. But there's a strong possibility that the nose of the ship didn't survive the crash landing," I said, frowning. "It'll be hard to get information if all the equipment is destroyed, unless the crew is alive."

"I'm coming with," he said, walking besides me.

"I'm Tasha," I said.

"Jack," he said smiling, "Jack B. Badd."

"Cute."