Vaako gets placed against the lukewarm wall and the monkey-girl-thing sticks its face in his. Some part of his mind has gone pre-Necromonger, back to Star Fleet, and is cataloguing each and every thing about this creature, trying to place it as some species or genus, but his thoughts keep sliding away from that to figure out what the fuck is going on, here.

The monkey-girl smiles. "The Master will like you," she coos again and draws her fingers through his hair. As if her words are a sign, he hears the sound of footsteps. He tries to struggle, to fight, to do goddamn do anything, but his body is still locked in place and there is nothing he can do.

A man rounds the corner and smiles at the monkey-girl. His skin is tanned, his hair dark and curled tight. Loose robes hide his body, but reveal the sword strapped to his waist. The monkey-girl bounces over to him and chitters happily, rubbing her face against his side. The man grins, a bright thing, surprising for a damn kidnapper, and rubs behind her rounded ear. "You did get the pretty one, didn't you, Chula?"

The monkey-girl—Chula—nods happily and smiles back at him. But then the man actually catches sight of Vaako and he clicks his tongue. "I was right," he says softly, eyes tracing each part of Vaako. Although Vaako can't move, he wants to punch the guy out or even squirm or something because this is not appreciated at all.

He walks over, kneels down, and skims his fingers over the painted symbols along Vaako's side. The fingers tickle in the hollow of his ribs and he wants to move away from them. "I'm sorry, pretty," this man murmurs to him and how Vaako wants to hit him for calling him that. It's almost as bad as "little one". "If the Lady didn't rule, well," he dips his fingers along the curve of Vaako's stomach and Vaako feels bile climb his throat. "I'd keep you for myself."

Locked as he is, Vaako can't even say anything to that, although he already has some nasty comments built up. Chula the monkey-girl shrieks out a laugh. "The pretty one would not want to, Master." She bounds over to him and draws one bone-thin finger along his cheek. "There's a fire in his eyes, Master."

Suddenly, the man stands and brushes down his dark robes. "The Lady likes training them. Putting out the fire," he says slowly, eyes on Vaako. There may be something like regret hiding in the shadows of his eyes…or Vaako may just be imagining it.

"The fire burns," monkey-girl Chula whimpers and bounds over to hide against the man's robes.

Slender fingers draw comfortingly through the curly hair. "For them, yes," he replies. Then a grin is on his face, although it looks all wrong and painted on. "But Lady has been asking for a male servant for a while, now. She'll like him."

"She likes the pretty ones," Chula whispers up at him.

"Mmm," the man agrees half-heartedly. He's eyeing Vaako likes he wants to take a bite and Vaako does not like it one bit. Then his eyes crinkle with the widening of his grin and all the desire gets snuffed out of his eyes. "Well, since I don't have to train you and you look clean enough as is, we better get you to the Lady right now."

Chula leaves her master's side to sling him over her shoulder as if he is a sack of potatoes.


Riddick and Commander Shay land on Lemat near a burned-out shell of a Necromonger shuttle. Commander Shay eyes it while Riddick and his hellhound shadows stalk through the ruins. It's not as if the shuttle actually crashed, the destroyed, smoking parts tell him; it's that someone went through it and completely, intentionally, wrecked the damn thing. He sees the familiar sheen of Necromonger armor and he knows it like he knows his weapons. It's Vaako's armor and he's going to kill someone.

Commander Shay clears her throat and hands him a PADD. The screen shows him a file of one General Morenga Jax. Riddick only glances at it for a second to gather what he needs. When he hands the tiny computer back to her and strides off into the desert, she easily follows.

"What is your plan, my lord?" she asks. Her words are carried by the whisper of a wind and sand swirls around them.

Riddick only says, "You'll see." The hellhounds trot at his side, slink through the sand, lift their muzzles to the wind. They continue to move.


Vaako gets tossed to the ground once more, but now the ground is soft and it feels like carpet against his cheek. The man pats Chula once on the shoulder and says, "Stay here. I need to get the Lady to see him." And he trots off, footsteps loud against a series of stairs in the large house they're in.

Vaako slides his gaze along the wall, seeing no windows whatsoever. There were guards—many, many guards that would notice he wasn't someone that had been just let in— that stopped them, checks and rechecks to verify their identities. There may be issues on trying to leave this place. However, as long as he can find an exit that is devoid of many guards…

The room is quiet and Chula patters over to him. It's time.

He jumps up, ignoring his shaky legs and spinning room, and immediately dodges the hit Chula aims at him. She screeches at him and it gives him the split second he needs to be able to hit her hard enough that she drops, out like a light.

He turns to run…and stops when a sharp something lances though his shoulder. Fingers jam into his side, nerves being hit in the exactly right place for his body to seize up once more, and the sharpness slides away in a rush of pain as he drops.

Chula's master stands over him, something like regret on his face. And there's a lady there, dressed in silken robes, black hair pinned up in an elegant knot. Pale green scales climb her cheekbones, shimmering in the light, and Vaako finds himself thinking of dragons. Her eyes flicker green-blue-yellow as she stares stonily down at him.

She holds up one bloody claw and draws her tongue along the red. "What have we here, Master Domack?"