Damn I'm on a roll! Holy cow. This may be the last chap for a week or so, maybe not hopefully. I don't know but I wanted to get this up just in case. Thank you to all my lovely lovely reviewers, PLEASE KEEP IT UP!! Ah, on with the show.

Disclaimer: Y'all know it by now, don't own, not for profit and so on.

Clicking was all Monty heard as he sat in the small chair in the darkened office of James Gordon, the Chief of Intel for Central Worlds. Gordon was a middle aged man, average height with salt and peppered hair. He had a hard jaw and sharp features, but his green eyes could convey a mirriad different emotions and could go from kindly gentleman to stone cold killer in the space of a blink. He also had no qualms living up to the latter end of the spectrum when called upon, and Monty knew it, which is why his palms were sweating though there was nothing immediately threatening about Gordon's demeanor at the moment. The clicking was that of the pen Gordon tapped against his leg, a quick rhythm that mocked the pace of Monty's own heartbeat, he noticed absently.

Monty had dug through ancient and incomplete records in order to find the few shreds of information he could about the anomaly known as XH-834. She was a Brainship, Helva was her given name, and she had a long and honored service record with the old Central Worlds up to the day she went MIA. She'd held five brawns in her service, one died, three served and moved on, and the last, one Niall Parollan, his status was unknown, though he was undoubtedly dead by now. Really, the more Monty had found out about her, the more questions were raised, and so he thought it a wise career move to bring the matter to Mr.Gordon.

He sat rapt with the paper in his hand, reading the facts meticulously over and over, though he really didn't need to. He'd absorbed it all the first time, but he read on anyway for no other reason than just to watch out of the corner of his eye while the fat little worm across from him squirmed uncomfortably. The pen clicking against his leg was making the poor tech even more nervous, and Gordon enjoyed that a great deal. He'd gotten this far in Central Worlds because he could make people nervous. It was something he considered a gift.

"Are you positive your information is correct?" he asked in a quiet tone, making the tech jump from the sudden sound of his voice.

"Y-yes sir. It took me about a week to find it at all, but that's all the information I could dig out of the archives about it, sir." Gordon's face dropped, and his eyes took on a sinister air. He spoke again, this time his quiet voice held a seriousness that frightened the poor tech.

"You mean to tell me you knew about this a full week before you brought it to me?" Monty's eyes went wide, and a thin film of sweat broke out on his forehead. After a moment of delight watching the poor man squirm, Gordon spoke again, his tone considerably lighter now, "Good work, Monty. You may go. I'll take matters from here." Monty's jaw fell, perhaps he was expecting something more? "Yes? Was there something else?"

"Well, I- I just thought maybe... uh, well..." Gordon cleared his throat, and Monty sighed, "Nevermind. Thank you sir." Dejected, he sauntered out the door.

Gordon was curious when Monty had brought him the report on this 'anomaly', as he refered to it. And then finding out it was a Brainship that had gone missing more than two centuries ago, that had floored him though he would never admit it or let it show. When the Company had taken over Central Worlds, the Brainships in service had tried to revolt, to fight for the cause, as it were. This ended in the destruction of all but a few that would submit and be reconditioned, but even those would later be destroyed because they went mad. These unpleasantries were not public record, of course. This ship, this Helva, had somehow managed to stay below the radar thoughout all this and had survived somewhere for two centuries.

"What to do, what to do." Gordon rubbed his eyes wearily. For some reason she'd come out of nowhere after two hundred years. There had to be a reason. And there had to be someone aboard her, since she was crudely hacked into Central Worlds' main database. And they, whoever they were, had to be headed somewhere. Based on current projections they could be headed for any of a number of systems. Likewise, there was no way of knowing how far she'd come before she was noticed. Too many questions.

He didn't want to scare her, or ambush her by any means, though she could definitely be a considered a threat by the wrong people. Perhaps just keep an eye on her for a while, find out what she wants, where she's going, where she's been and so on. He picked up the phone and dialed Monty's extention. The fat man nervously answered the phone.

"Y-yes sir?" Monty's voice shook and Gordon smiled.

"Keep and eye on our little anomaly. Try to contact her, if her com systems aren't too out of date. If she gets to a point where we can calculate a course to where she's headed, let me know."

"Oh, yes sir. Absolutely."

"Oh, and Monty?"

"Yes sir?"

"I don't think I should have to tell you that this needs to remain our little secret for now, do I?"

"Oh, no sir, not at all. I wouldn't dream-"

Gordon let the extension go.

"Helva. You're going to make a lot of trouble for me, I just know it."

(--)

"How do you see? With your shinejob, I mean. Do you see in color? Or ultraviolet?"

"I see violet tones, some infrared." Riddick answered around a bite of stew.

"Ahh, I see. Do you miss seeing the world around you?"

"Nah, I like the dark better. My turn." After Helva had gotten all of the new information sorted and stored, and they'd figured the best course to refuel and ration while on their way to the Helion system, they really had little else to do but play twenty questions.

"How many brawns have you had, altogether?" At this Helva sighed.

"Five, altogether. Jennan was the first, Niall was the last, and there were three in between. Theoda, Kira and an arrogant ass named Teron." She spit the last name like it left a foul taste in her mouth and her tone made Riddick chuckle.

"Sounds like someone you're not too fond of, hm?"

"Ugh! We went on a mission to save four shanghaied BB ships and he was the most logical, arrogant ass I'd ever met. I divorced him after our first and only mission when he decided to just give up instead of helping me escape. Yeesh." Riddick let out a hearty laugh at her complete and obvious disgust with this particular individual. "Alright, my turn," Helva thought for a moment, trying to come up with the best possible open ended question.

Just then she felt something pushing at her com system. There was a pressure on the system, like someone trying to knock down a door. Then it quit.

"Riddick, I think someone is trying to contact me."

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