oOo

Riddick stalked the skiff. They'd been there. They'd come to the skiff and not taken off. Why?

The skiff's hatch was down. There was a smudge of something red on the railing. He touched it, sniffed it cautiously.

Drake's blood. But it smells like Jack too. Does that make sense?

Think this through. Drake drugs everyone so he can take the kid. Takes her to the prisoners. Tries to use her to get them to rat on their pack. No fun to torture the unconscious, so he gives her a counteractive. She kills him, lets them out, takes them here. Everyone's happy.

Then everyone turns around. He touched the blood stains again, thoughtfully. Because they tried to make her go with them, and she balked. Grabbed the rails and wouldn't let go. They gave in.

He snorted. Some hardened criminals they turned out to be. He would have just tossed her over his shoulder.

Like you did that Hunter-Grazner pilot?

He shook his head. Don't think about that now.

They'll be back. I could just stay here . . .

Except for Lucien. He's hunting too. Shoulda killed him.

Could sabotage the skiff.

Except I might need it.

A problem he could solve. He vaulted into the skiff, yanked out the navicon computer memory. It was built to swap out easily, and the ship wouldn't launch without it. They could steal the Ceridwen's, but that would take time. And she'd be raising holy hell.

oOo

Tir's voice was serious, steady, posture carefully not threatening. "You can't, Jack."

"Why?"

"Because Drake got in with a cutting torch. There's no lock."

"Fuck," she swore, hurrying over to the door, passing close –

Close enough that he had the gun out of her hand. "Sorry."

"How the hell did you do that? Give that back!"

He shook his head, checked the safety, tucked it into his waistband. "I'll teach you, I promise. I'll teach you everything. But please let me have it, Jack. I – you saved me. Let me return the favor. Let me save you."

Damn you. Don't do this. Don't do this to me.

Bor materialized abruptly there, armed to the teeth. "Lucien's not there, but I got some of his weapons." He smiled at Jack, grimly. "Come on. We'll find your guy, work something out."

It was easier to give in to that, even though she was furious that Tir had stolen her gun. Looking for Riddick made sense. He'd make everything better.

They started worming down through the ship. Tir had her hand again. As pissed as she was, it still felt good. And as much as he was pissing her off, she really liked the way he looked at her.

They were almost back to the cargo hold when Lucien's voice rang out. "Halt!"

Tir spun around Riddick-fast, swung her effortlessly in front of him, elbow under her chin, pressing her back against him. She picked ineffectively at his arm. He leaned forward, whispered into her ear.

"Easy, Jack. Not gonna let anything to happen to you." Her eyes tracked Bor, Drake's side arm drawn and aimed levelly at Lucien.

You don't want anything to happen to me? Then why aren't I behind you?

"So," Bor said, almost conversationally. "Here we are. You can shoot one of us. But the other one kills you.

"What about the girl?"

"She's coming with us." He made a slight gesture, and he and Tir were both backing away. She let Tir pull her along. What else could she do?

Relief suddenly flooded every cell in her body. Somehow she knew, deep down, Riddick's here. She tried to keep her body and face impassive, tried hard not to do anything that would trigger a reaction. Just wait for her chance.

But everything happened too fast. Lucien's finger squeezed. Tir yanked her back and around and was on top of her, shielding her. She heard the bullet penetrate the ceiling; must have gone wild. Then there was a stomp and a snap and she managed to turn her head around just in time to see Lucien's lifeless body hit the ground. Riddick, rising like Nemesis behind him.

Tir made a move that somehow ended with them both standing, his arm locked again around her throat again. God damn, he's not just fast, he's as strong as Riddick. He picked me up like I weighed nothing. And now she was caught between him and Riddick, and something was very, very wrong.

oOo

Riddick had his gun. Bor and Tir had guns and Jack. It bothered him just how fast that Tir kid was. Bothered him a lot that he had his elbow around Jack's throat. Decided to take it all careful like.

"So," Bor said. "Here we are."

"Yeah."

"Thanks for giving us the controls to the shock collars."

"No problem. Hate those things." There was a silence. Jack had closed her eyes, seemed to be lost in thought. I showed her how to break that hold. Why isn't she? Finally, Riddick pushed on. "You got something of mine there." Jack's eyes opened. She focused on him for just an instant, her face shadowed, her eyes glassy. Crying? She had time to cry? How long have they had her?

Abruptly, he realized she was cut. Someone had drawn a knife down the side of her face, hit her hard enough to split her lip, and blood had soaked through her shirt. Which was not the shirt she had worn to bed.

Bor interrupted his increasingly dark thoughts. "Something of yours?" His voice was soft.

Jack's eyes tracked up to the ceiling. She was clearly worried about something other than being trapped between three escaped prisoners pointing guns at each other. Riddick risked following her gaze for an instant. She was staring at the bullet hole from Lucien's dying shot.

"Yeah. You do."

Tir shook his head. "She saved our lives. She's a good person. We're not leaving her with you." The kid was making no effort to hide the disgust in his voice. Riddick focused on him.

"Let. Her. Go."

Jack finally seemed to reach some sort of conclusion. "Please let me go, Tir." Her voice had a hollow quality.

"Huh?" Tir's voice was thick, his attention not on her at all.

She took a deep breath, seemed to come back in the world. "Let. Me. Go!"

With that, she finally used a move Riddick had spent hours teaching her, and Tir went flying. She was sprinting across the room, Tir bolting after her. Riddick took a convulsive step towards her, keeping an eye on Bor.

Bor stepped between Riddick and the door. "He won't hurt her," he offered, quietly.

"Figured."

"We need to talk."

Riddick just stared at him. Bor continued after a moment. "We're not the bad guys. There's something we can do for you." Bor put his weapon away, held up his hands.

After a moment, Riddick shrugged, put his weapon away as well. Leaned back against the wall in an exaggeratedly relaxed fashion. "Whatcha wanna do for me, old man?"

Bor smiled, warm and friendly. "I'll be blunt. You plan on leaving the girl with your holy man. Commendable. But your holy man doesn't want the girl. We do."

Riddick drummed his fingers against the wall, thoughtfully. Getting no response, Bor pushed on. "Come with us. Both of you. We think you might be one of us anyway. Just like her."

"There ain't nobody like me."

"That's what you think? I just saw a forty kilo girl knock down a guy three times her size, and let me tell you, if she hadn't been shaking off the effects of what ever he dosed her with, it would have been no contest. I just saw you go through a heavily armed man like he was butter. Those are Furyan things to do. That's why you two are drawn to each other. That's why those two kids can't take their eyes off of each other. That's why you both belong with us. You're Furyan."

Riddick shrugged. Bor continued. "Don't get me wrong. There's something up between you two I'm putting a stop to. If you can live with that, we'd love to have you on the team."

"Not much of a team player."

Bor smiled. "Figured. But about the kid. . ."

Riddick said nothing.

"Your plan to leave her with the holy man is a mistake. Let us take her. If you're done with her."

"If I'm what?" With only the greatest exercise of control, Riddick managed not to shove the man through a wall.

"My nephew's sweet on her."

"Jesus. She's fourteen."

"And he's sixteen. When he's eighteen, she'll be sixteen. What, were you saving her for yourself? Is that why you're sending her to live with a man who doesn't want her?"

"Fuck you."

Bor continued, with deceptive mildness, pressing the attack. "Is that's what's going on? A little girl who worships you, who'll do anything you tell her to do? A little girl you sleep with? She thinks you're some legendary dark warrior; some god incarnate. She'll do anything you tell her, follow you anywhere."

Enough. Riddick got right in his face, spoke softly. "And how the hell do you know all this?"

"Because she's one of us. We're pack animals, and you're the type of man who ends up on top. And because every day, people come to talk to me. I am a sympathetic ear."

Gossip. Riddick grunted. This man don't know shit. "I hear things too. I heard that Tir's sister got raped and murdered right in front of him."

"My niece. I was there too."

"And you want to take a little girl with you. To join a wolfpack whole militaries are after."

"We're leaving this galaxy. There's a war coming. We don't want to be anywhere near by."

"So you're just a bunch of pussies?"

Bor smiled, grimly. "It's not our time now. Come with us. Join our pack. When she's old enough – if she still wants you – I won't stand in the way. We're Furyan. Men compete, women choose. It's our way."

Women chose. . . Riddick rocked back as something slid into place. "The kid told you no. You tried to get her to come with you, and she said no. You're not the type of guy to drag a little girl away kicking and screaming."

That hit. Bor's friendly voice chilled. "She was concerned about what Drake had done to you. She would not come until we made sure you were unharmed."

"Then why'd your boy have her in a headlock?"

"Because he doesn't like you. Because he thinks you have inappropriate control over her."

Riddick smiled, showing teeth. "Smart boy. But you said women choose. She didn't choose you. So why are you pushing this?"

Bor smiled too, regaining control. "We like her. And . . . we skew male."

That took Riddick a moment to puzzle through. "You want to breed with her?"

"Our people are on the verge of extinction."

"Jesus."

"Come with us. Your plan of leaving the girl with the holy man would make sense if you weren't Furyan. But when Furyans loose their packs, they turn into monsters. Not fit for human company. Come with us. Both of you."

It was suddenly more tempting than he'd thought possible. But Tir ran in the room, and the temptation faded. Men compete. Fuck that. He almost missed with the boy was saying. "Uncle, please come. The holy man's hurt. He needs blood."

Bor gave Riddick a hard look. "This isn't over."

"Like hell it isn't." But they both took off up the ship at a run.

Hey, NotAfraidToLive, thanks! High praise. I'm trying to get better at pacing. Seemed a nicely paced place to stop. And it's not over, though it is close – one more chapter after this one.

Femme, I loved Farscape with an unreasonable passion. Muppets in space. One of those things the more I think about, the more I like. As for the drugs – a little self indulgence; those are two of the three drugs in the standard execution cocktail. I do a little death penalty work. You've put your finger on something – once the dying starts, it's hard to have a happy ending.

Thanks, Jw3wll! For some reason, I don't want her helpless. Like I sort of identify with her or something . . .