Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
"In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." -Oscar Wilde
Chronicle of Darkness
By Lynx Klaw
Chapter 14: The Gang's All Here...
MONDAY
The morning left much to be desired, Rachel decided. She tiredly dragged herself out of bed and into the shower. She ignored the squeaks and clicks of the ventilation as she dressed, the cool air blowing on her skin making her shiver and dress faster. Rachel made sure to tuck the knife Riddick gave her into her waistband. He'd told her not to go anywhere without it. Just in case, he had said... Still, fitting a knife in the school-issue skirt wasn't exactly easy. Maybe Jack had the right of it with pants and a belt to hold a shiv snug to her back. She sighed and decided that she would buy herself some more clothes.
Rachel hadn't packed anything with her save what was in her backpack; school supplies, mostly. That did not include clothes. She'd been wearing Jack's hand-me-downs for workout sessions and a few for casual wear around the ship. Now, however, she had the time and opportunity to get something that fit her well, providing her with more than four days of clothing that, until now, required her to do her laundry twice a week.
Things were marginally better after a glass of orange-pineapple juice. After that, she noted down on the com by the door that she was heading back to the dealer to pick up the Nano-Med Plus cartridges for the ship's medical bay, to the ship, and then back for some clothes.
The cartridges were waiting for her when she reached the dealer, so she simply paid and loaded them into her emptied backpack. The man had tried to entice her with more electronics (some of which really were drool-worthy), but she didn't have any more money to spend. She thanked him and headed for the docking bay, noting various stores where she could buy clothes along the way. She dropped things off at the ship and returned to the Vendors' Section in short order.
The clothes weren't spectacular in selection, but they didn't stand out. As with Jack's clothes, she would likely fly under the radar in these. That was fine, though; something told her that drawing attention to herself in this sort of place would bring her more trouble than help. She bought four dark blue pants, three khaki pants, and six assorted blouses in grey, white, and deep, forest green. That would be enough, she figured. If she needed, she could get more later.
When she got back, Jack was eating a quiet breakfast. Riddick was looking over his com-pad, ordering the appropriate power cells for the ship. There was a tense silence from the brunette that Riddick didn't seem to notice. She glanced at the two for a moment, and then decided to let it be. Before she could move off, however, Riddick addressed them both.
"The power cells should be here by this evening and I ordered some maintenance parts for the ship. We'll probably have some work to do later today, so keep your evening clear."
"Fine," Jack said, standing up and moving back into her room. The door slid harshly, giving as much of a 'slam' as was possible for such a portal-door.
Riddick finally glanced up from his com, watching the girl retreat. He glanced over to Rachel for an explanation.
She shrugged, "Girl moods."
'There is no way I am explaining this to him...' she thought as she moved toward her room.
"...Jack doesn't get 'girl moods.'"
She stopped, turning back to him with an incredulous expression upon her face. That wasn't even directed at her and she was extremely offended! Her grey-blue eyes bored into Riddick until he finally lost patience.
"What?"
The fact that he didn't understand further infuriated her.
"Jack is a beautiful, young woman, Riddick. The sooner you realize that, the smoother things will go."
So saying, Rachel moved into her room to hang up her clothes. Riddick remained at the table, com-pad momentarily forgotten as he stared at the doors to their rooms. He blinked once.
'What the fuck did I say?' Riddick asked himself.
Well, if it was a 'girl mood,' then she'd get over it. That's how it worked--moods passed. He picked up the com-pad and completed his order. After a moment, he tossed away the com-pad and shook his head. He could take them both out, ditch them, or worse... and yet, somehow, he was feeling strangely outnumbered and outgunned.
Alexis moved through the halls of Lucian's Academy, which were vacant during lunchtime as the students were refueling in the cafeteria. A quarantined had been placed on certain areas of the school until repairs could be made--and classes were being held in other portions of the school that hadn't been used in years, but classes were finally continuing. A commotion from the main office ahead of her made her lengthen her strides to reach the doors quicker.
"Someone is making a mockery of us. We should check the students' com-pads for malware," said Mr. Deckard, instructor of Com Technologies and Calculus.
"We cannot do a school-wide search. It would take months to go through all the coms when we do not even know what we are looking for," said the headmistress of the school, Ms. Satou.
"The handwriting matches both of their previous submissions. However, the submitted documents were not from the school, anyway--so it is doubtful it came from any of the students here. It's very elaborately done," said Mrs. Riker.
Alexis watched them from the doorway for a moment before speaking up, "Maybe it's genuine."
Everyone looked up as she moved into the room. Both her presence and her statement causing a momentary lull in the heated discussion.
This seemed to be what Ms. Satou was waiting for, "Ah, Mrs. Zimmerman. Thank you for your presence and your contribution to this discussion. We must keep an open mind, and not close off ourselves to any possibilities. Anything can be possible."
Alexis' eyes fell on the small manila folder in front of Ms. Satou's calmly clasped hands. When she glanced up to Ms. Satou, the other woman inclined her head and a ghost of a smile lit across her features. Zimmy took a seat, waiting for the woman to continue.
Finally, all were here and all were quiet. Ms. Satou reached into the folder and retrieved a set of papers. She stood up and began walking around the table that seated the various school members.
"I have asked you all to attend this meeting because of the strange events surrounding a mundane assignment submission. As you are all aware, Audrey Knight and Rachel Rileigh are missing--and are suspected to be off-planet.
"You all have your theories of how their homework might have been submitted, but I am inclined to believe Mrs. Zimmerman's theory. It would take a great mind to find a way to submit their homework to our hidden server on the network. Without proper understanding of coms, such as Mr. Deckard's expertise, and the passwords... or knowledge of how to bypass our security... this is not possible."
Finally, she began passing out the papers in her hand. The silence reigned as she spoke, even though several disagreed. The headmistress of Lucian's Academy was a formidable mind and power--both of the school and on the Helion Council. When she spoke, people listened. Were it not for this, the room would have descended into pandemonium several minutes into the meeting.
"Does anyone know who might be capable of such a thing?"
The various teachers who had the two girls in their classes began muttering amongst themselves once again. Alexis was quiet as a paper landed in front of her--and a thin, light grey binder underneath it. None of the others had such a folder. She ignored the paper in favor of lifting it to peek at the binder.
The Alliance Marine Corps logo stared back at her. She felt her entire body tense and she dropped the paper back onto the folder. Goddamnit.
"If you will look at your papers I have passed out, you will see test scores. Please note the cumulative score, 183, and the corresponding label of 'profoundly gifted.' This person has the qualities one might need to find our secure network and submit files to it without raising alarms.
"This file was not made public because the student wished to remain with her... peers. We all understand how 'fitting in' factors into many children's decisions. With this in mind, I do believe the submissions are genuine."
'Rachel's a genius...' Zimmy thought in wonder.
Alexis looked over the broad range of tests... they all said the same thing, more or less. She stared for a moment, taking in what it meant--and how a number of things were possible that hadn't made any sense over the past few days... like messages from 'Chelsey.'
"Even if this is true, we all know that Audrey Knight is an accomplice to Riddick," said Mr. Deckard.
"This may be true, but we do not know what--if any--extenuating circumstances there could be. Moreover, as an educational foundation, we have an obligation to provide an education to those who pursue it. This school also has a program wherein students in juvenile detention centers or even incarcerated adults might attaint their G.E.D. Regardless of their legal status, our obligation supersedes our opinions on the matter.
"It is my decision that we should grade these and any other submissions that happen to find their way to this establishment."
Mrs. Riker spoke up, "Shouldn't we be doing more? These girls might be in danger. We would be sitting here, grading assignments, while they could be at the mercy of that criminal."
"I find that unlikely," said Alexis.
The others eyes turned to her for explanation and she decided to explain. It really did seem clear to her, but maybe that was just looking beyond the obvious--a skill her military training provided.
"If the girls were in danger, capable as Rachel seems, she would have sent a message of distress... not calculus homework. Riddick tutored Audrey during my Phys. Ed. classes. During that time, I saw no displays of murderous or psychotic behavior. I can't see that changing just because Audrey and, most likely, Rachel are alone with him. For all we know, he might have ditched them on some way station, by now."
'But I doubt it. There's something between Jack and Riddick... he wouldn't--she wouldn't let him--leave her behind...'
Ms. Satou gathered her things and returned to the head of the table, "If there are no further questions pertaining to the assignment submission, we may adjourn this meeting. Please bring any other concerns to my office on an individual basis and we will seek a proper solution. Now, I believe we all have classes to hold in a few minutes... Mrs. Zimmerman, a moment more of your time, please."
The room slowly emptied and, as it did, Alexis pulled back the paper to stare at the Silver Clearance binder. She half-dreaded what orders lay within its pages.
"Alexis. It has been fifteen years since you came to us. I was a little surprised to find that on my desk, this morning. From the look upon your face, I assume this is a surprise for you, as well."
"Yeah," Zimmy said, sitting down because just staring at the binder was making her a little dizzy, "Yeah, you could say that. ... I was happy here. Lance died here and I half expected to stay here 'til I joined him."
"You fear the Alliance will pull you away from the peace you have found here."
Alexis nodded. She wasn't sure if she could do it. Just pick up and go back to the wars and the death...
"This morning, I had a rather long talk with some gentlemen in full military dress," she commented, making Alexis' head jerk up, "Perhaps you should read what is inside before you make your decision."
Decision? She had a choice? ... Choices given at the Silver Clearance level were often having to pick the lesser of two evils. She really dreaded the pages, now. Nevertheless, she cracked open the binder.
Scanning the contents, and then re-reading it more carefully, she threaded her free hand through her hair.
"I don't understand," she muttered.
"When the Alliance discovered that Richard Riddick had been here, and that they had an agent at 'ground zero,' as they are currently calling the Academy, they noticed your recent activities. It seems you have been busy..."
'Goddamnit,' Alexis mentally cursed again, "I'm just trying to get Rachel home, that's all. I'm not going to endanger her or Jack just to help them get to Riddick."
"You need to look at those papers again, Alexis. The Alliance and the Council would like to discuss the possible utilization of Mr. Riddick's... unique skills."
Alexis frowned. Riddick work for the Alliance? Fat chance.
"And what's my part in all of this?"
"Just keep doing what you are doing, Alexis. The mercenary, Ms. Logan... you offered her a deal--to speak with Rachel, correct?"
Shit, the Alliance had traced the sources she had tapped to find the merc, as well. It seemed as though they knew just about everything they did--except for the messages from 'Chelsey.' She intended to keep that ace up her sleeve. She hoped the Alliance didn't want her to set up a trap... getting on Riddick's bad side was not on her list of things to do before she died. It would also put Rachel and Eve at risk.
"Yes..."
"Then you merely need to append a message for Mr. Riddick onto this original message. Then Ms. Logan can deliver both messages at once... Rachel is with Mr. Riddick, is she not?"
Zimmy hesitated, and then nodded. They'd figure it out, eventually, anyway.
"So either help them with this or step back and let them take full control of the situation..." She only had to think for a moment, "I'd rather be involved. At least I can help direct things in Rachel and Logan's favor."
Ms. Satou's tiny smirk was chilling, "Believe me, Alexis, I made my opinion known to your superiors; if they endanger Rachel, the Council will not support them in their endeavors. ...And we are very healthy contributors to their funds."
The coach blinked. If she could make this work for her... things might pan out better than she expected.
The power cells and heavy maintenance equipment arrived around the sixteenth hour. Jack, Rachel, and Riddick replaced the old power cells in ten minutes, but Riddick had planned to make some additions to the ship. The maintenance equipment was for fixing some standard weaponry on the stern and bow of the Spirit. More technical sensory equipment and secondary weapons were set port and starboard. Attaching these pieces of equipment only took about two hours, but Riddick said that it was the fine-tuning--the calibration of the sensors and guns--that would take up the most time. He would also have to map the cockpit--either setting them as alternates in the navigational array or adding tactical hardware and software.
"Possibly," he said, "have to gut the cockpit, replace it with a hybrid navigation and tactical setup, and reconfigure ship settings."
"Minos and Rhad might be able to help with the settings and calibrations. They're pretty good with that sort of thing," offered Rachel.
Riddick considered it for a moment.
"...We'll see. I don't know how much work will need to be done until everything is attached and online."
"What do we need them for, anyway?" asked Rachel.
"Pirates like to go after larger, family-run trade-ships like ours," Riddick explained, "Traveling the trade routes can be dangerous if you're carrying something useful like Nano-Med supplies and Vectran."
Rachel frowned slightly, "Are you anticipating trouble?"
"No, but it pays to be cautious. Call it insurance. The defense system put a little dent in my account, but the three hauls we're pulling will make it up twelve times over."
After they finished their modifications and maintenance, the 'Connals' retired to their apartment. Jack tossed and turned in her bed. Again, she was having trouble sleeping. It didn't matter what she was seeing; she knew Daedalus was still the same quagmire of despair. Five and a half years couldn't have changed that. Eventually, she found herself fed up with trying to sleep in her soft bed, cool sheets, and relative quiet (the air vents easily ignored). Daedalus was meant to have a squalid stench, broken only by the noisy bustle of rarely washed people at all hours, where the only rest one could find was in some stiff cot or on the hard, metal floor. She decided to get out--no real destination in mind, but she couldn't stand to stay in her room another hour.
Moving to the com next to the door, she put down a short 'Checking out the old haunt.' With that, she wandered the halls... meandering her way to the spire. Jack hadn't really meant to wind up there... but once there, she saw no reason to stop. The once street rat hopped on a lift and rode down to Deck 4.
As the doors opened to that infamous ring, she rubbed the side of her thigh. She vividly remembered the flash of light glinting off the blade when she'd attempted a pull on a man that noticed her. It had bled and bled, but wasn't life threatening. She was making pulls again two days later.
The pungent smell of soup was heavy in the air, mixed with the bitter odor of garbage lying about in piles. People milled about in a gigantic herd, making moving through them difficult if you didn't know how to move. But Jack was used to the crush of movement; knew it worked in waves and could slip through it easily.
Jack wasn't heading to the vendors, just wandering the area. She picked a direction and moved in it... Someone brushed up against her. She paused, rolled her eyes, and turned around. She saw the little blonde head and caught up with the boy. He couldn't be more than eight years. She caught his arm swung him around--out of the crowd, and nearer the wall. The boy was startled and his eyes were wide. Wisely, he didn't make a commotion. Attention was something you didn't want down here.
Crouching down, she looked him in the eye and spoke quietly, "The Hell are you doing? You're gonna get yourself killed!"
"I didn't do nothin'," he responded as the standard denial.
"Worse--you did nothing, and you did it wrong."
She pried his hand open and retrieved her UD chip. Reaching into another pocket, she pulled out a second UD chip.
"Look at this. Hey! I said look," she practically growled.
When his eyes jerked back to her, she continued. She stuffed the chip into his pocket.
"You got a chip there. You see that little rectangle it's making in your pocket? Don't go after that shit. That means it's too tight to fit your fingers in..." She put her fingers back into his pocket, retrieving her chip. "Felt that, right? Well, I felt it when you made your pull. ...Okay. Look, you stay here--watch me."
Jack scanned the crowd for a moment and singled out a man wearing a thick duster, "Guy in the long coat, 'kay?"
The girl stood up and sifted through the flows and ebbs in the waves of people. She slipped by the man in the duster, not even brushing against him. A flick of her arm and her fingers had delved shallowly into his pocket, fingers snagging the little rectangle and flicking it into her palm. She made a broad circle back to the boy, who had obediently stuck around.
She sat down beside him, opening her palm, "See? Loose pockets. 's a gamble on whether there's anything in there... but you'll double profits and half your risk."
She handed him the chip she'd filched and moved away. When she was out of sight, she shook her head. Rubbed her thigh again. It was best if he learned early, would keep him from getting into any nasty situations.
'Good Samaritan Jack,' she mentally griped at herself, 'You're fucking with the rat race... Don't. Get. Involved!'
To keep herself out of trouble, she decided to leave Deck 4. There were tons of pickpockets and she couldn't set up a Thief 101 Workshop. She wound up on Deck 2. There were four Sections to every deck and each section had six Corridors, labeled by letter. She'd come down the walkway leading to her old habitat. Maybe she'd give her former territory a pass... see if it was still standing. She found that she had been correct in her assumptions prior to reaching Daedalus. More lights had gone out--or maybe they were broken--and the entire area was a little darker, a little more dangerous.
The street rat girl padded through Section 1 of Deck 2, moving quietly as she took in the depressing scenery. This was the Daedalus she knew. Nothing had changed. She wasn't reassuring herself, just confirming her suspicions. Jack didn't make eye contact with anyone, but took in every person she passed. No one she recognized... but then, she hadn't much looked at any faces when she was younger, either. She knew she looked different; she'd filled out. Jack huffed. At one point, she'd feared "growing out," as she had called it, because it would blow her cover.
A slight commotion caught her interest. She glanced apathetically to a hallway leading off the main path. She saw a girl, around ten or eleven, slowly corralled by three men into an alley.
...his hand snagged her ankle, pulling her balance off and sending her face-first into the ground. She could taste blood...
She blinked and shook her head, ridding herself of the phantom image. Jack swallowed to rid herself of a imaginary taste of blood. She watched for a few seconds, trying to remain objectively apathetic.
'Don't get involved...'
She continued to stare.
'Jack... don't you dare.'
Girl had to be around the same age as she had been when...
'No! Stay out of it! You'll just-'
Her legs took her over to the alley almost of their own volition. They all had their backs to her--except the girl, who pressed her back against the wall. Another memory overlaid an image of her younger self over the girl. She pushed it away and slammed an elbow into the base of one man's skull. He slumped and dropped to the floor like a rock. The second man, alerted by the sound of a falling body, turned around and she grabbed his arm. With one hand gripping his wrist and another putting pressure on his shoulder, she swung him around and rammed him headfirst into the wall.
The third man lunged at her. She sidestepped and planted her knee against his solar plexus. He stumbled back against the wall, next to the girl, and gasped for air. Jack was upon him in a second, shiv drawn and held under the man's chin. Her green eyes were blazing and she tried not to get too carried away. Another body would just wind up in alerting people to her presence.
"You feel that?" she said appreciatively, "It's nice and smooth... razor sharp. Titanium-vectran alloy. I made her myself. She hasn't tasted blood yet. I could make you her first... What do you think?"
She pressed the tip a little bit further into the soft skin just above the neck and below the chin. A small droplet of blood welled at the point.
"It'd just take a nice jab into your femoral artery, a flick across the carotid... or maybe I'll just sink her into your inferior vena cava--there's a bleeder."
She paused, appearing contemplative for a moment, and then trailed the shiv from his neck to his chest, then his abdomen, until the point of the shiv reached his crotch, "But then, who would clean up the mess? So how about this: If I ever see you around here again, I'll give myself a crash course in vasectomy. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah I got it," the man said quickly, eyes keenly fixed on the blade.
"Then get lost," she growled as she shoved him away, making him trip over the unconscious bodies of his friends.
She stood in front of the girl as he grabbed his friend's hands and dragged them farther into the alley. Once they had disappeared into the darkness and Jack could no longer hear them, she turned to look over the young girl.
"This helping thing is harder than it looks," she muttered, realizing how difficult it must have been for Riddick to help them on M-344/G. She knew he'd never intended to come back. She wondered what Fry could have possibly done to change his mind...
With a sigh, the brunette took in the girl's appearance. Fuck--the kid was pretty, which meant she probably attracted all sorts of attention to herself. Couldn't even cut her hair short and wear baggy clothes; the girl was too... girly looking. The girl's fine, black air came down just below her shoulders, framing her face. Her skin looked smooth and was almost bronze in color. Her eyes were dark, almost black, and stared widely back at Jack. Shit, nothing could hide the girl's eyes.
"Got parents?" Jack finally asked.
The girl looked hesitant, but answered quietly, "My mom. We live around here, but I got lost when I started running from those guys."
Jack shrugged, "Well, Section 1's big--that's easy to do. Where d'you live?"
"In Corridor E..."
The brunette blinked. That would take her right by where she had been heading, anyhow. She'd wanted to check her old posse's territory and it was in Corridor E.
"Huh... know where that is. I'll drop you off on the way. So, you got a name?" Jack asked as she moved out from the alley, motioning for the girl to follow.
"Pandora. Pan for short," the waiflike girl said.
Jack jerked to a pause in her gait so severely that she almost tripped. Her head was already whipping back to the girl. This time, she looked her over more closely. She continued walking, trying to ignore the whirling thoughts in her head. She'd just drop Pandora off and head back to Deck 7...
"...R-really? That's an interesting name. I'm Aislin. Aislin Connal..."
Pan looked at Jack oddly, but seemed to dismiss whatever was on her mind.
"Where'd you learn to fight? And did you really make that knife?"
"...My uncle used to be in the military; he became a trader when he got out. I'm a junior partner in his business now and he's giving me lessons here and there. Speaking of which, after I drop you off, I should head back. Getting kinda late. ...And yeah, I made her myself."
Jack held out the shiv so Panny could see. It was the larger of the two sister blades with the pommel spikes.
"Careful--don't touch the blade. It really is razor sharp."
The girl looked over the shiv and nodded. Jack decided not to put it away just in case they ran into more trouble on the way. She glanced to her right as they passed Corridor C. It was still empty. They could probably use the back-alley and go around D instead of through it. She'd used the shortcut before, when she lived here...
"C'mon, this way's quicker..."
Pan looked up at her suspiciously, "How d'you know your around here so well?"
"Looked at the map by the elevators. Listed all the Corridors on this level."
Pan didn't believe the girl--she knew the shortcuts, but the back-alleys weren't listed on the map. Still, Aislin had helped her out of a sticky situation and was making sure they didn't have any problems on the way back home... so she left the girl to her privacy and secrets.
They exited the back-alley and found themselves at the very back of Corridor E. It outwardly appeared to be exactly like Corridors A through F. In fact, the layout was the same from A to X. But about twenty yards into E, someone had erected a sheet-metal barricade... some kind of makeshift door. They'd done the same to the back. It'd been there for a while, even before Jack's posse. Since it was empty, they'd taken it and made it theirs. Panny led her straight there. The door looked a bit more rusted, but it had been five and a half years.
'Damnit,' Jack thought as she stood in front of the door. She wanted to stop by Corridor E, not go to it! She'd leave when the door opened and Panny would be safe.
The younger girl knocked in three series of three knocks--likely for a safe code. Jack still remembered her safe code. Her eyes jerked back to the door when it quickly swung open. Someone grabbed her arm and yanked her inside! She hit the wall beside the door and a shotgun shoved itself in her face.
"Drop the knife," ordered a blonde man a few years older than herself.
In a flurry of motion, Jack reversed the direction of the firearm. She hit the bend of his arm with the pommel of her shiv and used her free hand to grip the pump. She forced the shotgun up and shoved it against the man's chest with the barrel under the man's chin; he couldn't pull the trigger without blowing his own brains out. Her shiv now held a position to the side of his chest, poised at one of his upper intercostals, ready to pierce a lung.
"Panny... go check on your mother. As for you," she muttered, enunciating with a light poke with her shiv, "I don't know who the fuck you think you are, but the last three people that aimed a gun at me didn't live too much longer. So I suggest--strongly--that you never do that again, as I've been told I have a problem with... restraint."
Jack's hand pumped the shotgun until all the shells popped to the floor, and then pulled the gun from the blonde man and tossed it aside. Her hand shot out to the man's throat and held him against the wall.
Pandora finally found her voice, "Stop it! Stop it, that's Micah. He's our guard... he's supposed to watch the door! He's a friend..."
'Micah...? No way!' She thought.
Micah had been a stringy sixteen-year-old with a mouth to rival Jack's. This guy looked like he worked out regularly and had at least a foot on that boy. She frowned. Had five and a half years really changed them all that much? She jerked her shiv away and stalked several paces away from him. She growled to herself.
"Shit..."
She could have killed Micah. And if she wanted to be honest, he could have killed her. What the fuck was he thinking? She sighed and shook her head at the absurdity of events. Definitely time to go. She headed for the still-open, makeshift door.
"Aislin, wait," Pandora called after her, "No one's called me 'Panny' for years. And you know your way around here too well to just be some visiting trader..."
Pandora knew that Aislin knew more about the group than she let on, but how? Besides her mother, Jessie and herself, there hadn't been any girls in the group until a couple years ago. That was when Tyler had brought Robbie and Veronica. They'd run straight from an orphanage on Nemeaus 4 and wound up stuck here. And Veronica was six--it wasn't likely that the little girl knew Aislin. Pan had stopped calling herself 'Panny' before Tyler, Veronica, and Robbie ever came by, anyway.
Jack could see the figurative gears in Panny's head turning. She curtailed the thought-process before it got too far. She had to turn away lest her more emotional side--dredged up by memories of the past--influence her to do something wreckless.
"It doesn't matter, Pan. I'm not gonna be here long enough for it make a difference."
Her turn to leave, but once again something stopped her short. This time, however, it was someone yelling. Yelling in agony. She jumped, turning to look farther down the Corridor. There was a curtain on a string. It was where the beds were, if the layout of the little hidey-hole hadn't changed. It was a male voice--Micah was right there... so it had to be either Mike or Sebastian. The thought of something happening to them--something that could make the cry out like that--put her in a worried panic. Pan and Micah were both running for the curtain divider.
Before either reached it, Jack blew past them and whipped the curtain aside. There was a man, older than she was--older than Micah by a few years, actually. Several people surrounded him, but she ignored them. His blonde hair matched Micah's, but was a wet brown... soaked with sweat. Sebastian. He shuddered and cringed, practically convulsing on the cot.
She knelt next to it, putting a hand on his shoulder. She gave him a little shake. He didn't respond. She frantically turned around to look at Pan.
"What's wrong with him? What happened?" she asked forcefully.
"Rush," Micah replied darkly, "He got shot up with Rush a few weeks ago. It's the newest drug the Zolus are dealing... He got held up by some Zolus and fought some off before they ganged up on 'im and almost OD'ed 'im on it. He's going through withdrawal."
A look of fear crossed her face. The Zolus... No, they weren't here right now. She could help Sebastian. They probably thought he was already dead, anyway. She shot to her feet, startling several of the small group around her.
"Hang in there, I'll be back."
Jack ran out of the Corridor, bolting through Section 1 until she reached the walkway to the spire. She slowed down only slow enough not to bring attention to any of the likely crooked guards that watched either end of the walkway. She impatiently rode the lift up to Deck 5, where she made her way to the Spirit. She punched in her access code, ran up the gangway, and darted into the Medical Bay. She slid open the door to one of the cabinets. Jack didn't exactly know what she was looking for... but things were labeled for a reason, right?
"Where the fuck is it?" she yelled in frustration.
"Are you looking for something?" asked Minos and, in a rare moment, she was glad for the programs.
"My friend was forcefully shot up with some drug called 'Rush'... it almost killed him, but now he's going through withdrawal."
"Searching," said Minos, "'Rush' is an illegal performance enhancement drug that briefly enhances synapse fire rate. It is a derivative of an amphetamine formula. Side effects include tachycardia, fever, migraines, and an irritation to the nervous system that causes severe pain. Regular use of this drug can lead to the deterioration of the nervous system, muscle atrophy, seizures, insomnia, paranoia, and mood swings.
"Prolonged usage will result in paralyzation of voluntary, and then involuntary muscles. The inability to chew or swallow, followed by failure of muscles in the digestive system, necessitates external nourishment utilities. When the lungs and heart can no longer function, mechanical apparatuses must replace them as well. The weakening of the immune system is the cause of many deaths. The brain is unaffected, and cognitive functions remain intact. Life expectancy of a chronic user is three to five years."
"Fucking... So what do I do?"
Rhadamanthus was the one to reply, "Successful treatments for overdoses of non-chronic abusers have been one dose of Nano-Med Plus; this will repair minor damage to the nervous system and muscles, and will reduce fever. A muscle relaxant will lessen damage caused by seizures. Mild analgesics administered simultaneously will reduce the pain caused by an overloaded nervous system."
"Where's the muscle relaxant and analgesic..." she muttered, returning to opening the cabinet. A motorized sound drew her attention.
The wall-mounted com's camera device moved and began sweeping the room, and Rhad answered, "Analgesic and muscle relaxants are located on the fourth cabinet, second shelf."
"Yes!" she whispered triumphantly as she packed the ampoules and cartridges along with the hypo-gun into a medical kit bag, "I have to get this to him..."
"Logging inventory change. Note: do not administer muscle relaxants more than once every forty-eight hours, analgesic more than every six hours, or Nano-Meds more than every three minutes," warned Minos.
Jack nodded absently, but committed the treatments to memory. She turned and left the ship. Rhadamanthus, following security procedure, closed the ramp after her and locked down the ship.
Rachel woke up to a chime on her com. She stared blearily at the com, and then sat up quickly. Snagging the com off her nightstand, the redhead pulled her glasses on. What she saw had her dressing quickly and running over to Riddick's room.
She harshly rapped several times on the door rather than waiting patiently. Riddick answered the door in a tank and pants, feet in his boots--still unfastened, and goggles in hand. Wow, he wasn't kidding when he said they would always have to be ready to go...
"Look," she said, practically shoving the com in his face.
#Access to Ship: 25:07.#
#Change in Medical Supplies Inventory.#
#Departure from Ship: 25:16.#
"Where's Jack?" Riddick demanded.
They both looked to her room door. It was open. The bed was empty. Riddick rushed over to the com on the door and read the message.
"Fuck, Jack!" he snarled, slamming his fist against the wall. He retreated to his room to fasten his boots and shove two more shivs on his person.
Rachel came over to read the note as she tugged on her shoes, "Old haunt?"
"Deck 2. She and a little pack of strays used to live there."
Rachel blinked incredulously, "But the lower decks are-"
"I know."
Rachel ran back to her room, lifted her pillow, and snagged the knife Riddick had given her. When she put on a belt, it fit snugly against her back without any discomfort. Her shirt hid the weapon. She supposed Jack had the right of it, then. She also grabbed her currently empty backpack and stuffed her com-pad and a headset into it. The redhead came out from her room to see Riddick already heading out the door. Rachel hastened to follow.
Since they were staying in Section 3, on the block between Corridors Q and R, they were very close to the walkway. Riddick and Rachel quickly made their way to the spire and down an elevator to Deck 2. They scanned the initial crowd, but found no sign of Jack. She could be anywhere on the deck... neither of them knew where Jack's gang had nestled themselves. Never the less, they spent the next four minutes looking moving slowly and practically counting heads. People on the street ignored them for the most part. Someone came charging down the street, paying them no mind as they rushed by. Riddick watched the dark haired girl zip down the hall, medical kit in hand.
He slid his goggles up since there wasn't enough light on this deck to hurt his eyes. Riddick supposed Jack was right when she said that Daedalus would be plunged into darkness someday. He followed Jack, cursing the fact that she knew the area better and was gaining distance. He saw her duck into an alley and he stopped at the mouth. As Riddick stared into the barely lit Corridor C, Rachel came up behind him, panting. She wasn't cut out for this sort of thing...
He moved down Corridor C, picking up speed as all he found was trash. Rachel groaned jogged after him. Jack had turned the corner up ahead and, once they reached that, Riddick repeated the slow-down-and-survey actions... Were it not for his caution, Rachel probably would have lost herself. She doubted he was doing it for her benefit. Down this unmarked passage, Riddick saw Jack turn up the next Corridor. A few people occupied the back-alley and they warily stared as Riddick stalked (and Rachel skittered) by them.
Jack slid through the open door and darted around several people nervously milling about the little makeshift home her gang had occupied. When three of them got in her way, she lost it.
"Move!"
They jumped and scuttled out of the way. She moved over to Sebastian's cot and knelt by it again. The man was a little more stable... no longer wracked with pain and convulsing. She reached out and smoothed some of the hair back. She took a rag resting beside the bed and wiped the sweat from his brow. Jack bit her lip; he seemed unconscious. She talked softly to him, anyhow.
"Hold on there, old man. Got some stuff... it'll fix ya up."
She jerked back when he began talking.
"That you, squirt? When'd you get back?"
Jack shook her head, even though he couldn't see it, "Don't talk. Just rest. I'm giving you some general meds an' somethin' to keep your seizures down."
"How d'you know that'll... work? Bastards... shot me up with Rush."
"Got some medical instructions--I'm sure it's safe. Don't worry," she muttered, "Now be quiet, stop straining yourself, old man."
Micah watched quietly as the girl loaded up a hypo-gun and shot his brother with two ampoules and one Nano-Med Plus cartridge. That had to be close to seventy-five or a hundred UDs, right there... Where'd she get it? Pan had said Aislin was riding with her Uncle, who was a trader. It was total bullshit to him--no visitor knew Daedalus well enough to run off to another deck and be back here in less than half an hour. And Seb seemed to recognize her--so there was a good chance that he knew the young woman as well. Who the Hell did he know that kicked ass and had UDs? No one.
What had Sebastian called her? 'Squirt?' Maybe his brother was delusional. He used to call Jack that, but he split about five years ago. Hell, for all he knew, the kid was killed and never made it back from pulls that night... maybe got caught. He frowned as he thought about it more. On the other hand, Jack used to call Seb 'old man,' too. It was too much of a coincidence that Aislin used the nickname, too.
She was talking to Kiara, now. It didn't seem logical... but he had to test the theory.
"-and the muscle relaxant only every forty-eight hours. But the Nano-Med cartridges you can give him every three minutes. I-"
"Hey, Jack," Micah called.
"Hold on a sec," she replied, and continued explaining the procedure to Kiara, "I got him a box of cartr-"
Aislin froze mid-sentence, her entire body tensing. She glanced over her shoulder at him, green eyes narrowed. Jack had green eyes. Jack was... well, he'd never really saw the kid's equipment (and if that wasn't a strange thing to think about, nothing was...); he'd just assumed Jack had to be a boy. He looked about as surprised as she looked angry. It was still hard to believe...
Jack was a girl.
"I should probably go," she told Kiara, "Make sure you keep him on this stuff 'til the Rush passes out of his system."
Micah move in front of her, "Hey, you can't just-"
"You can get yourself out of my way, or I'll get you out of my way, Micah."
"You're Jack. You were pretending to be a boy... Then you just up and left! Where the fuck have you been the past five years? And what's with this Aislin bullshit?"
"Micah..." Jack warned.
Pan whistled shortly to get their attention. Pandora had been their good-eye for several years; she would watch for people and Micah would make sure no one got in the door. He turned to the girl, who raised two fingers. Two people headed their way. Jack glared at his back as he moved to the doorway, picked up the shotgun, and loaded four shells littering the ground into it.
There was only one pair of footsteps audible, but he trusted Pan. He saw two pinpoints of something in the dark. Maybe metal reflecting off the one remaining light in the corridor outside their doors. As his eyes adjusted, he saw the pinpoints were around a large figure's head. The footsteps came from a shorter person behind them.
The large man stopped about ten feet from the door and stared. Micah waited, but the man just stood there, as though waiting for something. The man seemed to get what he wanted because he headed for the door. When the man was about a foot from the door, Micah jerked the door open and aimed the shotgun at the huge guy.
Suddenly, the shotgun was pressed against his chest and he was shoved into a wall. Two, bright, silvery eyes pinned him to the wall as much as the arm did.
'Fuck, not again!' he thought.
"Rick! Don't," a voice shot across the small area.
Obviously, this man hadn't planned on pumping the shells out, but splattering his brain on the ceiling. At least he knew where Jack got it from...
"Jack," said Kiara, coming up behind the young woman.
"It's fine... everyone's fine. Kiara... this is Richard and Rachel... Rachel, Rick... this's Kiara," she nodded to the people who'd frozen on the spot at the commotion, "Mike, Jessie, Pan. My idiot friend you were seconds from ghosting is Micah. ...And this is Sebastian."
She glanced as the boy about her age holding a young boy and girl against him in the back of the cot-filled section of the 'home,' "Don't know them. Must be new to the gang."
"Anyway, I was just about to leave," her eyes cut to Micah, daring him to contradict her, "You didn't have to come down."
The bald man pumped the shells out of the gun and wrested it from Micah. The young man threw up his arms in exasperation and went to pick up the stray shells... again. Meanwhile, the Richard then proceeded to tear into Jack.
Riddick tossed the gun away, sending it skidding into a wall, "The fuck we didn't! You come down to this shit-hole, run to the ship, grab medical supplies, and come flyin' back like a bat out of Hell... What'd you think I'd do?"
"I doesn't matter, Rick. We should just go now..."
"Jack, you scared us. You shouldn't just go for a midnight stroll, especially not here!"
"Look, let's just leave while we can. The longer I'm here, the more danger everyone is in! They have my DNA, Rach. If someone does a scan, they'll tear the entire Section apart!"
Micah stared at her, "What the fuck for?"
"Jack. You're overreacting," Riddick said.
"Overreacting? Don't you remember when I told you about that guy that wanted to bring me back to his gang to be one of their sex-slaves?"
"Why didn't you tell one of us?" Micah asked, but Jack ignored him again.
"You told me you killed the motherfucker," Riddick said evenly. He didn't like where this was going...
Micah's eyes darted from Riddick to Jack, "You killed someone?"
Jack crossed her arms, "You're damn right, I did."
Riddick shrugged. "Then why's it so important all of the sudden?"
"He was a Zolus."
Then he lost it, "Shit, Jack, of all the people to run into..."
Micah and the others paled. Killing a Zolus usually brought the whole lot of them down on the person and anyone helping them. The blonde shook his head and looked at Jack.
"You killed a Zolus?"
Finally, Jack addressed him, "Yes, Micah, I killed a Zolus. What the fuck did you want me to do, go join them as one of their subservient fuck-pets?"
"No!"
"Then get off my back! I didn't wanna come back here and I don't plan on stayin' very long." Her attention turned to Riddick, "So can we please leave, now?"
Pan blinked, staring at Jack as much as everyone else. She remembered how sad she'd been when the boy that brought her mother and herself to this little shelter disappeared... It seemed that the boy was actually a girl; must have been disguising herself. She understood that--her mother said she would have done that for her if she thought it would have worked...
"We're supposed to help each other... that's how we always worked," Pandora said.
Some of Jack's anger deflated; she couldn't aim it at Panny. She spoke gently, but firmly, "You couldn't have done anything. I didn't want you guys getting hurt. I left to keep you and everyone else safe, Panny. I was trying to help you..."
'Damnit, now I'm feeling guilty,' the brunette thought darkly.
A chime sounded. All eyes turned to Rachel.
The redhead jumped, slung off her backpack, and pulled out a com. Something was happening with the Aquilan case... She tapped through a few screens and her eyes hardened.
While totally engrossed in the pad, Rachel blankly made a request, "I don't suppose anyone would have a com unit I could patch into...?"
Jessie and Mike glanced between each other.
"Rachel, this isn't the time, we need to go..."
"Actually, I think we should stick around 'til I get a handle on just how deep things go here," said Riddick, "I ran into a couple o' Zolus on Deck 7, yesterday. If I'm gonna be having run-ins with 'em, I wanna know how they're runnin' Daedalus."
"Rick!"
"This is not up for discussion," he said decisively.
Jack made a sound, closer to a growl than an utterance, and stalked back to the cots. She took up a seat by Sebastian, who was now resting. She couldn't believe this! She was only planning on passing by and now Rachel and Riddick wanted to stick around for fuck-knew how long! Her hard, green eyes stared at a dirty spot on the wall across the 'bedroom.'
Kiara came over and sat next to Jack, watching the girl's angry expression bore into the wall. Regardless of the beautiful young woman Jack had become, she saw that her tomboyish nature had not diminished. The girl looked good; well fed, physically fit (well trained even, if she considered her violent entrance).
"Jack... you're looking well."
"Yeah, well... looks can be deceiving," Jack muttered.
She briefly glanced to Kiara. The woman still looked fine... she would be what, thirty-five? Thirty-six? She didn't look starved or weak. The gang looked like it was doing well. Growing and not having to stretch its resources so far that people were missing meals. She looked back at the ground, picking up a piece of miscellaneous metal--might have fallen from the ceiling or the walls. It was about thirteen inches. She twiddled and between her fingers idly.
"You seem to have escaped Daedalus. That's a start," Kiara intoned.
Jack gave a quiet, if harsh laugh. She pulled a file from her left boot--the right held her secondary shiv. The brunette sighed and focused on the piece of metal in her hands and started dragging the file across it.
"Some escape," Jack muttered, "Look where I am. The easier path would have been just goin' with the Zolus. I prolly woulda died in a few years, though... I dunno. But then I wouldn't've met Rick. Wouldn't have met Imam or Fry... or made it to Helion."
The file shaved off more and more of the metal; she shaped it with strong, sure strokes. She was using an advanced tool, one that could easily shave lengths of most metals... it was probably expensive, but she'd never asked Riddick how much it was. It made good shivs--the sister blades were proof of that.
Kiara watched Jack fool with the metal, but said nothing, "What happened, Jack? I want to know why you left and where you went... How did you get to Helion?"
The girl worked the piece of metal into a roughly cylindrical shape for about a third of its length, with little grooves she'd carved into it. Jack gripped that third and worked on the remaining two thirds.
"Killed the Zolus. Knew they'd find my DNA 'n' stuff... so I figured that if I left, they wouldn't find me if they did a scan. Everyone had an emergency stash, right? I used mine. Got a ticket to a ship an' decided I could make it off Daedalus.
"I made it off, alright. Straight to a world of monsters..."
Straightened the length of the piece. Shaved a curve to it. Tapered the ends to a fine edge.
"Our ship crashed... lost most of the people then and there. That world mostly finished what the crash started. Wound up one of three people to leave that planet. The other fifty or so..."
Kiara winced, realizing what a panic Jack must have been in by that point.
"Who'd you run into on that planet?"
Made sure the blade was straight. Sharpened the edge. Checked its balance. No go, best shave a little off the handle. ...Better.
Jack shook her head, "No, I mean real monsters. They were all claws and teeth on wings... And they were hungry. There were a few other survivors 'sides Imam, Rick, 'n' me. Lot of 'em got eaten."
Kiara tried to find words to express herself, but wound up whispering a quiet prayer--even after the fact.
"My God-"
The girl glared at her, "God had nothing to do with it. He wasn't there! That place was Hell, and that Fucker didn't give a shit what happened to us! We had to save ourselves!"
Jack's attention returned to the worked piece of metal. She stabbed an errant piece of cloth lying nearby, began carving it into strips with the new shiv. After a few moments of the pointless destruction, her anger abated for the most part. She'd prayed with Imam. Prayed and prayed... But it didn't do any good. Riddick was the one that came to save them--the one person everyone feared would kill them in the first place.
"So we get off that rock and some psycho rich-bitch nabs us. Owned this huge, fuckin' ship and sent a whole crew to kill us. Rick saved us again... and we were gonna leave. But she came outta nowhere and shot Rick in the arm... an' I saw one of the guys' guns sittin' there. She was about to shoot him again. So I shot her head off..."
Thunk. She stabbed the piece of cloth again, staring at it as though it offended her.
"Fucking bitch..."
"Oh, Deirdre..."
Jack recoiled, knife pulling from the cloth and she rocked away from Kiara as though the woman struck her. Back against the wall, near Sebastian's cot, her suddenly widened eyes narrowed and the green hue seemed to darken and gleam hatefully.
"Don't! She'd dead! I'm not digging her up, damnit. You can't make me--not you, not Imam, and not Rick! She was too weak! I made it off Daedalus. I survived the crash an' that planet 'n' everything. Me, not her!"
She hugged her knees to her chest and stared at the wall again, shiv gripped tightly in her right hand, knuckles white. Kiara stared at her strangely... painfully. The woman understood that Jack had been through a lot, but it hurt to know that she felt it was necessary to 'kill off' a part of herself just to survive.
Kiara had seen things like this before--it was how she had recognized Jack was a girl in the first place. She'd been an official government social worker, helping troubled children integrate back into society. The woman understood the pitfalls that children could stumble across, knew how to pull them out. Her superior, however, had used his position of power to manipulate some of the children to commit crimes for his own profit. When the Alliance discovered it, they shut down the whole building, putting it under new management and re-staffing all the way down to the filing assistants.
She'd started looking for a job immediately, but Nemaeus 4 lacked a large job market for social work focusing on minors despite the abundance of troubled children across the planet. Before she knew it, she'd had to file bankruptcy. It cleared her of the creditors she owed, but it put a black mark on her financial records and made it that much harder to find a place to live.
It had spiraled from there... and she decided it would be best to pack up and find work elsewhere. She caught ride up to Daedalus; had intended to just stop briefly, and then move on to Nemeaus 7 or maybe a new system altogether. Nobody told her Daedalus was a trap. She occasionally worked the streets when things became tight. It seemed deplorable at first, but it was the only way to provide for Pan. She had become jaded to it by now, and sometimes that hurt.
Her mind was still sharp, though. She knew the signs, knew what to do... but she couldn't afford to help anyone, anymore. God knew she would love to be able to go back to her old job... Jack had escaped Daedalus and a number of other dangers, but she had many emotional traumas. The girl needed to work through it, and Kiara wanted to help--but it didn't seem like they had the time it would take.
The silence dragged on, and finally, Jack broke it.
"Sorry... just... just don't bring that up, please," she said softly.
"It's okay, Jack. I understand. You know, you're amazingly resilient for going through what you have. Other people might not have made out as well as you have."
Jack shook her head, "I'm not strong. Every time I've been in trouble, Rick's pulled me out one way or another. Wonder why he came back for me at all, sometimes. He coulda left us there, in that cave when the monsters were everywhere. Fuck, he was in the skiff--he coulda just left. Logically, it was too dangerous to come back. We would've just huddled there 'til those fuckin' creatures pulled away the rock... I could hear 'em outside, scrapin' at it. So why risk it?"
Jack shuddered, the melodic voices from her dream and memories singing through her mind. She squinted her eyes shut and grabbed for the tooth on the silver necklace hidden under her shirt. She made it out; she survived. It was okay... It was okay...
The brunette took deep breath. As she calmed down, the creature calls disappeared and she opened her eyes--not to the cave, but to Daedalus. Oddly, that relaxed her. Daedalus, for all its iniquity and dangerousness, was a vast improvement over that planet...
Kiara said nothing as the girl worked her way through her fear of the awful place. She knew that was at least one of the girl's traumas. There wasn't much to do about it, though. The survivor's guilt she plainly saw--but it appeared that someone, this 'Imam,' had already addressed it. Eventually, she supposed, Jack might accept it; but it was up to Jack to do so...
"Richard seems like a good person. Sometimes people don't have the chance to do the logical thing--they're not given many choices. They chose the best path they can find. But Richard would have been wrong if he hadn't at least tried to save you."
Jack sighed, "Imam keeps telling me Rick made the right decision, but sometimes it doesn't feel right."
"What's logical isn't always right." Jack's grip tightened on the silver necklace. "What've you got there, Jack?"
"We'd made it to the ship... and he wasn't behind us. Fry went to find him... but the monsters got her. Rick showed up after that. One of the creatures had bit his leg. Left this behind.
"Since it fought Rick, I'm pretty sure he killed it. He put it on a chord after Imam and I got it out. Said it reminded him of what a real monster was. He gave it to me before he left me with Imam. I wanted to go with him. He should have taken me with him!"
Jack's eyes had turned to where Riddick was talking with Micah and Tyler, "...He was never a monster to me."
'Mm, not a monster, but he is a beast...'
Even though her animal side seemed very pleased with this fact, the thought made her blush a bit.
Shrewd, dark eyes watched Jack. Kiara wondered what was between Richard and Jack--but that was probably a long story in and of itself. Maybe she should talk to Richard, see what he could tell her...
--END CHAPTER--
And so the story of Daedalus begins. I've got stuff tying in from previous chapters and this section is a lead-in to the development of future events. You've seen everyone in Jack's gang, whether you know it or not. So I'll break it down for ya (even I need this reference from time to time).
The Old Gang:
Sebastian (leader) - 18
Micah (security) - 16
Jessie (hacker) - 15
Mike (hacker) - 15
Jack (pickpocket) - 11
The Extended Gang:
Sebastian (leader) - 19
Micah (security) - 16
Jessie (hacker) - 15
Mike (hacker) - 15
Jack (pickpocket) - 11/12
Kiara (medical) - 30/31
Pandora (none) - 5
The New Gang:
Sebastian (leader) - 24
Micah (security) - 22
Jessie (hacker) - 21
Mike (hacker) - 21
Kiara (medical) - 36
Pandora (good-eye) - 11
Veronica (pickpocket) - 8
Tyler (chef) - 17
Robbie (none) - 6
I'm not going to provide the full history on everyone... That would take time and there's no good place for me to put it. It would break the flow of the story. However, if you want more information, I'll be glad to e-mail you about them.
More on the Zolus and Jack's gang as we go along. This isn't likely to be a super-happy area. That seems like common sense, but don't expect too many happy/humorous moments to pop up. Many serious events are occurring and Jack's not happy to be in the middle of it.
I feel like stressing that when I say 'gang' pertaining to Jack's old group, that they're obviously not a gang in the same sense as the Zolus, the Blueskins, or the Sureños. They're just a group that banded together for the power of numbers out of the necessity of survival. They don't have any influence and, if the Zolus cared enough, could probably crush them with minimal effort.
The Zolus were mentioned in Butcher Bay (Jack and Coyne in Single Max, Twotongue and Cusa in Double-Max). I wanted to do something with them, because nothing more was said on them. Well, now they have a much larger part than just a side-note in some passing dialogue!
Reviews and constructive criticism are always welcome. The cat will use flames to keep itself warm... or the K-monster, my editor, will use them to toast marshmallows, who knows?
-Lynx Klaw