Author's Notes: First off, Happy New Year!
I'd like to thank everybody who kept visiting this story and followed it and favored it. If some have noticed, inspiration struck on some other stories that I started, you might want to give them a look if you get bored. I'm glad that at least this two-week update-less caught the story with the first act finished. That doesn't mean I'm going to leave it, I'll continue updating it until I finish it. Thanks again, and keep enjoying!
You might want to take a look at the previous chapter, I've added Riddick's POV before River's spoilerific one, and Riddick's is just some thoughts that he has the night after Confrontation, so they're safe to read (and hopefully enjoyable).
The morning River woke up early, feeling strangely refreshed and relaxed. She didn't exactly remember her dream, but she had the best sleep since the Academy had upped their stakes. She remembered feelings, flying, being, and she felt like a chapter in her life had successfully ended, like the Universe itself was thanking her for going through with everything and pulling through it as she needed to. Somehow, she knew the dream was important, but that it also didn't matter if she remembered it or not, that the feeling was what counted and that if she did everything right, she would be rewarded beyond her imagination.
Where did that thought came from?
Ignoring it as another aspect of her own mental state and having pushed her mind too far, she went on to... push herself even harder, or at least back on the reigns.
She noted the crew was still sleeping, all more soundly than she expected or hoped. Of course, the fact that she woke up both early and well rested was a small miracle in itself, if she believed in superstition. She silently made her way towards the money car they had hijacked and started to fulfill her promise in sorting anything suspicious from anything that could be easily used on Persephone. She still had a package to receive, and knew that, even considering the risks, it needed to be picked up. This would imply leaving Riddick to his own devices for some time, but then again, he could bring trouble with or without her.
Malcolm woke up some time after, around 8 o'clock Persephone time - hours had been split per planet by 24 to avoid confusion and in tradition to Earth-that-was terminology. Coincidentally - as far as all were concerned except River and Inara - they all woke up around the same time, having a mild hangover from the... well, nobody knew exactly why, but some began to suspect that from the tea. All but the most suspicious on board thought that it may have been a natural component of the tea, and Riddick chuckled quietly at their mumblings, having put the pieces together. Even Kaylee was not as cheery as usual, and Riddick took note of her change. He also took note that Charlie wasn't moving about and that River had given her her meal sometimes earlier. Riddick wanted to question Charlie, but he had enough on his head and on his plate courtesy of the other dangerous looney on board, and already the crew suspected something was amiss with the big man on board. So he indulged them and walked slowly to the kitchen, allowing the rest to gather before him.
Malcolm was grouchy this morning. He didn't know what had been in the tea, but he suspected it was Inara's way of not letting him blow a gasket. He had wanted to question Riddick on the growl rumbling throughout his ship, but had been placated first by River, then Inara, then sleep. Now, he wasn't really in the mood to ask questions, but he had to do his duty to his crew as their captain, as nasty as he felt right now. He decided it'd have to wait after food. For security reasons, it had been decided that Wash would stay next to his pilot seat the whole night and even in the morning, being always ready for take-off in case Riddick's butched job lead the authorities to them. Mal was torn between getting the hell out of Dodge or trying to sell some of their weapons to Badger. Between listening to his little albatross and his gut that screamed that everything she brought them was trouble that'd get them killed or worse. Then again, his gut had been a bullet magnet for most of his life...
Slowly but surely, the kitchen was being filled up with groggy men and women, moaning about coffee or some equivalent of such. Ironically, Inara made some tea that revitalized their moods and made them feel better. Eventually, River and Riddick arrived, not together but not far apart. River had waited to hear his footsteps before she arrived herself, though she tried to make it look like they didn't arrive together. Riddick wouldn't have minded much what they thought about it either way.
Malcolm tried to impose his authoritative tone. "All right people, settle down. Now, I think there'n might be some things to discuss. I don't particularly like folk growling on my ship in ways that'd wake up the dead and scarin' my crew half to death." Riddick immediately picked up the unsaid "but me especially" and almost snickered, but kept his face stoically. "I don't really like my guests gallivantin' 'round my ship without telling me where they're going."
Riddick looked hard at him, kept his ire in check and answered him in his most serious tone. "So I gotta ask the Captain permission to go to the loo? Hold his hand while I'm doing it too, maybe?"
Despite the tension, people began to snigger and Malcolm flushed red with embarrassment. He remembered he always advocated for freedom, yet here he was imposing himself on someone else's space like he'd smack someone else for doing it. Still, he still had his concerns.
"That may as well be, but I'm responsible for my crew's well-being, and if you're threatening it, or even giving signs of it, you might as well leave now or thing's get mighty complicated for all of us once we're in space, and there'll be... less savory methods to leave the ship." Mal subtly threatened. Riddick would have none of that though.
"If it comes down to that, Captain," Riddick spat the authoritarian title, "we might have a problem. Last night me and your girl had a little talk," he continued, cocking his head to River, "and she gave me some disturbing news that force me to stay with your ship until I'll resolve my problems."
They all turned to River, while she was looking at the ceiling as it was the most fascinating thing in the room. They suspected she was playing crazy, they had seen her ignoring (their) problems like this since Charlie got on board, but they couldn't really call her out on it or risk her losing her grip on her sanity by forcing their stares or questions on her, so they looked and even thought of her only a few seconds, before going back to each of their business.
Malcolm Reynolds sighed. "I'm not going to be able to get rid of you even if you bring us a heap of trouble, am I?"
Riddick huffed. "For one of the few times in my life, it's really not my fault. Someone wants me on this ship." He sighed through his breath that last line. Mal and Inara looked at him trying to determine if he was playing them, and realized his frustration was real. Malcolm, Inara, Zoe, Jayne and Book had noticed something else too, something behind his eyes, something feral wanting to come out that wasn't there the day before, at least not as pronounced. If at dinner, he was a bitter joker and mocker, now he had a tension in him, like he was about to break a vein, like... River had been the night before. His movements were stiff and calculated, not fluid, but ready to punch, ready to strike, and his eyes had the haunted look of someone in the middle of a war, ready to strike an enemy, but filled with the frustration that he was surrounded by comrades. Comrades, not friends. The five of them had seen this before, and all except Inara had seen them in action. One moment looking like this, the next just snapping, shredding their own lines with machine guns, or, more mercifully, at least for those that would not be in the aggressor's line of fury, with knives attacking again and again and again until they were put down. And for some reason, they knew they didn't have a chance in hell at stopping him if he went berserk. Perhaps only River.
Mal, Zoe and Jayne had a moment of dark and paranoid epiphany together: what if River would let him? What if she'd lured them in a false sense of belief in her just to take the ship and ride off with her brother and this Riddick for some unknowable, possibly feng le, reason? Mal and Zoe dismissed the thought, if Riddick would go on a spree, the Doc would probably be the first to go, he seemed the type Riddick would go after first: stiff shirt and stiff personality. Jayne thought about this too, but still had a scowl. Who can know for sure with moonbrains? Book and Inara trusted too much in the girl River to even think that far, and the rest were none the wisers or that bothered. Simon was more worried about his sister than of what Riddick would do to him, and Kaylee was actually glad of the extra scary muscle on board, one more chance against the Alliance. If River would have read them, she would have pitied her kind heart and short views, but would have been glad at least she wasn't worried. Wash was scared about almost anything, and didn't reserve too much time to concern about Riddick, he had faith in Zoe, Malcolm and even Jayne to resolve the issue if it came to that.
Reluctantly, almost grudgingly, after breakfast was over along with the small talk, the crew split up. The warriors on board knew they would be easier targets if the weren't together, but they couldn't worry about this all the time they would have Riddick around them, and anyway they trusted the now mostly sane River to give them a heads up if it came to something bad. River had just ate her breakfast with a serene look on her face, bewildering the five and warming the faces of the rest except for Riddick. Another reason for them to think Riddick was in a league of his own, who was obviously thinking of something different than them, possibly even unrelated.
River finished up fast and insisted on going to the delivery post on Persephone to get her order, and Mal took Jayne to try to reason with Badger on unloading some of their guns. Zoe would stay on the ship with the hubby, having been decided it was risky keeping the white-shirted Simon in the companion of River outside the ship, which would make them more visible as the pair on the wanted posters. Obviously, after the butched up job, Riddick was also consigned to the ship, although nobody voiced it like that, but to the crew's relief, he agreed, not even reluctantly. Simon, Kaylee and Wash would remain on their station, Simon torn up between waiting in the medbay for a shot either Mal or Jayne - he couldn't even contemplate his sister getting shot because of these morons - or with Kaylee in the engine room, in case they had to make a run for it. Both had their merits, but while Simon was not surgically attached to his medical room, Kaylee was to her engine room, so there was no choice in the matter of where they'd meet, if they decided to. Book decided to take a solo walk, though he was warned to return quickly in case things escalated and they had to make a run for it.
Mal thought he saw an amused smile on his face and behind his eyes, like he had something planned, but since River didn't yell or scream or run to his jugular with a knife, he figured it was as good as it got, and he trusted Zoe to at least keep him in check in his stead. He even made a show of telling her in front of the others that she'd be acting captain in his stead, something that would have been obvious to the others and had never even needed to be said out loud, but nobody broke the solemnity of the handing over of Serenity. Riddick and River however concealed their smirks at the Captain's ostentability.
River went back into the cargo hold before they left, from which she produced a pouch with the money she had sorted out that was different from that of what Persephone usually produced, and handed it to Malcolm, who was amazed of how much she had managed to sort, and even of how much he had now only in his hands. Of course, this was just a small part of the bounty they had recovered from the armored truck, and only now they were beginning to realize how much coin they had on them. Mal was reminded of the clouds with silver linings and decided not to add more clouds to his thoughts, but to see the silver shining out of the one that was there in the first place. They'd get through whatever would be coming their way, now they had funds and guns, they wouldn't outright attack the Alliance, but if someone would come to take what was his, then they'd fight them tooth and nail, and now they had the means to do it. He absent-mindedly added another silver lining in that he didn't had to bother to buy guns if worst came to worst, hell now he had enough to sell them. Not the kind of business he was in or he liked, but having had those thoughts, now he was even more acceptable of the situation he was in. River smiled at Malcolm piecing everything together, though of course she knew it was only everything he knew, not everything she knew. There would be even more pieces of the puzzle thrown at them in the near future, and that, only she knew not only how to piece together, but also align them in a way to benefit all of them.
Malcolm, Jayne and River arrived at the delivery post and waited for River to take out her package. To their surprise, instead of joining them to Badger's, she told them she'd return to the ship immediately, even though they didn't mind. They'd hope Badger thinking River was kin would sway him on the deal, but she just answered "He'll take as much as he needs, with or without me." She also reminded them that although the last time she had made an impression on him, Badger didn't nudge out of his denial to deal with them. They reluctantly agreed and let her return to the ship.
Author's Note: Next time: Hunt.