oOo

Jack kinda liked having a secret life, liked sneaking down to the cargo bay to sneak the prisoners food. Really liked the longing looks Tir gave her, the softness of his voice . . .

It was trivially easy to sneak down there. She'd memorized the captain's access codes, had spent many a happy hour exploring and pouring over the schematics, memorizing all of the secret passages and secret places to stash cargo. And anyway, Lucien spent almost all his time in his room; Drake spent most of his either drunk or sleeping. Some soldier. The others avoided the cargo bay. She was fairly sure Riddick never went down there. Only Abu went down regularly to preach to the prisoners, which they tolerated in fairly good humor.

Riddick was Riddick, only more broody about it now. He was spending a great deal of time with her, even started musing about moving her back into his room. She played the wide-eyed Abu card; he hated them bunking together. If she was sleeping in his room, there was simply no way she could hide what she was doing at night from him. Was a little surprised she'd managed it this long.

Tonight she had a special treat for them. She almost bounded into their space when something made her stop. She retreated to the shadows of cargo containers to hide.

The room was not soundproof. Penetrating the walls was the boozy sound of the younger soldier, the one who kept staring at her with eyes that made her want to kick his knee out. His voice itself leered. "None of them will help you. They are all terrified of you. Well, all but the bald guy, and he's too focused on fucking his little girl to care about you."

"Must be hard, knowing someone else is getting some and you're not. She looks like your type." Tir's voice was bitter, full of guilt and loathing.

Drake laughed, a barking sound. "Yeah. You know me so well. Maybe he'll let me borrow her. Or maybe I'll kill him, say you did it, spend some quality time with her. Be fun. Let you watch again. Didya like it last time?"

An inarticulate growl was the only response. Drake spat. "Won't be as good as your little sister Sarah though. No way she's that good of a fighter. Don'tya got a couple more, boy?"

There was a sound of something smashing, someone stumbling back. Jack's knife was in her right hand, even though she had no memory of drawing it. Her left hand was clenched so tight she was at the verge of drawing blood with her own nails. She forced herself to relax, knowing if she bled, Riddick would smell it. Might even appear; he'd done it before when she was bleeding. She had a feeling it was not a good time for Riddick to show up.

Whatever they were talking about seemed to be over, because Drake was leaving, laughing, not even bothering to shut the door behind him. She watched him go from the shadows.

Will he come back?

Fuck it. I'm not letting him scare me off. She eased her way toward the door. They were talking.

"I fucking hate being helpless."

"Me too, son."

"Do you think he'll go after her?"

She froze.

"I don't know. Whatever that Riddick's real game is, I wouldn't want to tangle with him, and he's marked her out as his territory."

"Do you think he knows she comes down here?"

There was no answer. After an eternity of silence, Jack pushed her way in, with forced cheer. "Hey, brought you some cookies."

Bor took them solemnly. His fingers grazed hers through the bars. "Child, you are in danger. That soldier, Drake, does not have your best interests at heart."

"I can handle Drake," she said, with false bravado.

"Are you sure?" Bor, his voice quiet, shook his grizzled head. "You were listening, weren't you?"

She gave him a sharp look. "How did you know that?"

"You came down the corridor while Drake was here. You waited until he was gone. We have good ears. Bet you do too. You heard what he said." He hesitated. Then his voice dropped. "They raped and killed my niece, a girl barely older than you, right in front of us. He'd do it to you if he could."

"I can fight. Riddick is teaching me how to fight."

"Riddick's teaching you to fight against guns?" Bor shook his head, tiredly. "Look, you should go. You should stay close to your Riddick. Drake's obsessive; he'll come back if he thinks of anything else he thinks he should have said. And if you don't let us out, we can't protect you."

oOo

Riddick woke abruptly. Drake was drunkenly stumbling down the hallway. He listened to the soldier's stuttering, growling progress.

The man stopped outside Jack's room. Riddick could almost hear him weaving, thinking, wanting. Fuck. Riddick pulled himself out of bed silently, put on his goggles, stepped noisily into the hall. Fixed Drake with a look. The two of them stared at each other.

"Whoops, wrong room," Drake said, finally. Continued on to his own.

After the lock clicked behind Drake, Riddick moved to Jack's door. It was locked. He rapped softly. "Jack? Kid?"

She wasn't in there. He hesitated. He'd suddenly regretting teaching her to walk silently.

"Hey." Jack was coming down the hall, fully dressed, a slightly guilty look on her face. "What's up?"

He gave her a dour smile; laid his hand on the lock panel of her door. It recognized him and opened obediently. He gestured her in with mock gallantry, stepped in behind her. The door slid back and locked with a snick. The room was completely black.

"Lights 20 percent," he said softly. The lights came up. She was still standing, slightly tense, though she had managed to remove the guilt from her face. He cupped that face in a hand, gently.

"Drake came to see you," he said, finally.

She tensed. Normally, when he tried to talk to her about Drake, she just made a joke.

"Something happen between you two?"

She shook her head. "No. I avoid him. Like you said."

"So why you takin' him seriously now?"

She shrugged. "Just . . . heard some stuff. It might not be true."

"Heard stuff?"

She looked down. "Yeah."

"From who?"

She stayed quiet. He stared at her. After a moment, she could not stand the silence any more.

"I – I overheard them talking. Drake was talking about killing Tir's sister in front of them. And – and doing other things." She looked down.

Riddick sighed. Sat down on her bed, patted a spot next to him. "You on first name basis with these guys now?"

She sat. "Yeah." At his expressionless look, her words were rushed. "Riddick, they're hungry. The soldiers aren't feeding them hardly anything. And I think maybe they aren't really bad guys. They said people will die if we don't let them go. They said the soldiers did bad things --" She stopped talking abruptly.

"Kid, your fascination with criminals is not a good thing."

"Whatever. It's not right. It's not right."

He sighed. Pulled her close. "Leave it be, kid."

She relaxed against him. "Why?"

"Because it's not our problem."

"You always say that."

"And I'm always right." After a moment, he took pity on her. "Tell the captain. She's a do-gooder. She won't let anyone starve on her ship. And kid –if Drake so much as looks at you, or you got any reason to think he's gettin' interested, I wanna know about it."

She bit her lip and nodded, slowly.

oOo

The next week was quiet. Jack's lessons were going well. Drake avoided her. Riddick had nearly stopped hovering. She mostly stayed away from the cargo bay at night, though she tagged along with Abu every day when he visited the prisoners, bringing food, making soft eyes at Tir from behind his back.

Dale had volunteered to try to fix the skiff, parked in a different cargo bay. The prisoners had nearly destroyed it in an escape attempt. Riddick was doing one of his crazy brooding workouts, Themis was busy, and she was bored. She decided to check it out. She made her way to the small docking bay.

"Need a hand?" Jack offered, brightly.

"Sure thing. I gotta do some work underneath. You can hand me stuff. I'll tell you what I'm doing. We'll call it a lesson. Make my wife happy."

They worked together easily for a while, Dale taking the time to explain what he was doing. Finally, Dale, still under the ship, asked, cautiously, "So . . . what's up with you and Riddick? He's been really . . . attentive. Sorta weird to see you alone. Does he -- are you . . ." His voice trailed off into awkwardness. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. He's just going through a protective phase."

"Why?"

"He caught Drake looking at my door funny."

There was a grunt, then the sound of wiring being manipulated. "That'd make me uncomfortable too. Why are you with him, anyway?"

"Now that my folks are dead, he's like the closest thing to family I've got. He's like home."

"I get that. My wife told me you said that. But . . . not the safest home ever."

She laughed. "Better than the alternative."

"What's the alternative?"

She kept her voice light. "Being eaten by monsters."

"You know that only happens in fairy tales."

"I've seen it happen."

Dale laughed, taking it as a joke or a brush off. Guess Themis hadn't told him that part. "You're a good kid, you know that?"

Jack laughed. "Sometimes."

There was a long silence. Finally, Dale offered, cautiously, muffled, "Look, you should know – sometimes on runs like this there are . . . problems."

"What kind of problems?"

"Just . . . things happen. Those guys in the cargo bay could get loose. We could get hit by pirates. There could be engine failure. If anything happens, just stay out of the crossfire, keep your head down. It's best to keep a little money and your valuables on you. If you need to get into an escape pod, or this shuttle, if I ever get it fixed, try to do it with the right person." His voice went rough again. "Wouldn't want anything to happen to you. You're a good kid. Savin' those kids like that . . . "

Jack was quiet for a long time. Finally, softly, "Thanks. I'll remember that. Look, I should go. Riddick's been getting testy if I'm not where he can find me."

She could almost hear Dale smile, even under the shuttle. "Smart man. Lots of bad things can happen out here in the black."

oOo

Hours later, Jack woke up, blearily aware someone was knocking at her door. Riddick? She pulled herself out of bed, padded over to the door. Opened it.

Drake pushed in, closed the door behind him. "There you are. I've been looking for you, little lady."

She stared up at him, blearily, not sure if she was really awake. "Huh?"

"Not nice of you, leaving your brother like that, Sarah."

Jack woke up abruptly. Sarah. The girl he killed. Shit. She also became abruptly aware of just how drunk this man was.

"I'm not Sarah, Drake. You're in the wrong room."

"I don't think so." He smiled down at her. She tried to step past him, get out the door –

He had a gun out. He was waving it unsteadily. Shit. "No, Sarah. Stay still." She froze.

"I'm not Sarah. I'm Jack."

He gave her a crafty look. "You're a smart girl. Tryin' to trick me. Pretending to be dead. Won't work." He took a step towards her. She side stepped backwards. He took another step. They repeated the move. Her back was against the door when he grabbed her shoulders, tried to kiss her. She'd guessed right, the gun wasn't pointed at her any more. She kneed him hard in the groin. He doubled over and she kneed him again, this time in the Adam's apple. Hit the door release, wormed through before it was completely open, slapped the emergency lock to close it, bolted down the hall. Only his muffled curses were chasing her. She didn't turn to look.

oOoOoOo

Thanks, Femme! Hegemony is such a powerful word. Glad it got the point through. You've once again put your thumb on one of the story lines; if Jack has a choice, which way would she go? Nice to know it's coming through so quickly.