A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers for reviewing and to my silent readers for reading:D sorry for the late update, but I was very busy with college work and free time has seemed to run off...somewhere... but, as there was promise of cake if I get a new chapter up, I basically got to work. unfortunately, it's not one of my best chapters but it's all I could come up with. blame it on the stress, I know I do:(

Nevertheless, I still hope you'll Enjoy it!

"Come on, babe, time to get up and get goin'!"

"It'd be easier if you weren't scalping me! Get off!"

"What? Like now?"

"You have a sick mind, Riddick! Honest to God!"

"No one ever said differently!"

There was a loud chuckle probably accompanied by a huge ass grin. Couldn't tell. Video was off, audio only. Not that I really minded or anything. I always thought that my Captain was kinda funny, but Riddick was so out there. And together they were downright earth-shatteringly hilarious. I mean it. There was this vibe when they got together.

"They rock!"

"No, it's just the ship riding in this monster wake. Takes quite a toll on the engines, mind you. Wait. What are you doing?"

Sometimes Garreth's British accent can sound so offended. Captain said that. I took her word for it – never figured out what a British accent really is, but I must be something the Chief has.

"Watching over my Captain. In case you haven't noticed, she's down there with a ship full of alien hostiles."

"You're eavesdropping!"

"Am not!"

"You so are!"

"Hey! Riddick is the only other person in this 'verse who knows more about the Captain of the Kumary than we do."

"You were there, Lya. You know what happened. You saw how Carolyn Fry, second class pilot on the Hunter-Gratzner came to be the Wraith of Deep Space. What more do you need to know? For all intents and purposes, you already know more than that man down there does."

Was that sarcasm in his voice?

"A whole lot more, Garreth, a whole lot more…" I counter back.

But his comment caught me off-guard. It's that feeling again. And I can no longer look the Chief in the eye. I was there. I saw those people die. But when she fell prey to the Hammerhead, I made a decision. Without thinking if it was the right thing to do. And that is the fundamental difference between the Universe and Deep Space: they decide who dies, we decide who lives.

I was under orders. No matter the consequences, Scarback was to return to DS, with or without the liberation of the Hunting Grounds. The Elder had made it abundantly clear: even if it meant killing the last vestige of her humanity. For years I had wondered what that was. Every time the Wraith Squads were sent to enforce Order, on every Hunt we took part in, I watched my Captain dealing swiftly with life and death with a Wraith's detached efficiency. And I thought to myself: what is it that stays her hand in some cases and makes her violently deadly in others? Yautja torture – or what they would call training at the hands of the rec-jobs – has taught her to bear it all with a Hunter's resilience and patience. To wait for the right moment to go for the kill. But it was her humanity that kept the insanity within acceptable parameters. The pain and shock of the recovery surgeries can break even the best of the Preds. Because of they're powerful nature, they are not subject to pain on regular basis. Yautja resilience is tested only in the Hunts. Wraiths get injured even in the most routine missions. DS dwellers don't shoot to wound, they go for the final blow. There's no middle ground. But the Captain made it through it all. In her, Carolyn is still strong. Silent, but strong. How can one kill that off? How can one destroy it?

These are the questions that ravage my mind as I watch the human female and the Furyan Alpha together. And the lightness with which they handle each other serves only to fuel the hot debate further. Do I choose to ignore the obvious answer? I would seem this is the only way to deal with it at this point. The Vast Legion is approaching the wards of Deep Space. From there on it can go no further. The borders are fiercely secured. The Trinian is patrolling the area. Under its command a great number of ships are ready to open fire the moment the Necro ships come in line. The bomb-pads we all wear on our left hands have enough power to blow a hole in the verse. Chief explained to me that with some good targeting, we could set a chain reaction that would activate the Ascension Protocol on the Necro mothership. Wipe them out with their own weapons. But that's only the contingency plan. And it's up to the Captain to make sure things don't go that far. The whole point is to free both the Hunting Grounds and the Hunted.

They're on the right track, though. Riddick's…err…proficiency… and Captain's cleverness make for one hell of a combination. Speaking of hell…

"What in the name of the holy moo-cow is going on?"

"Besides you swearing like a 5 year old? They're slowing down…time to scram out of here before we become a pain in the ass…literally!"

"What about the Captain? She's still on the mothership…"

That's not right, right? Leaving your Captain behind, right? Ooookay, we're going too fast….

"Garreth, doesn't this thing have like breaks or something?"

"Recalculate trajectory and pull out of the wake!"

Damn the autopilot on this ship! Slows down your reflexes!

"Captain, come in! The ship's gone to a halt! We gotta pull away or we'll be right on your sun! Captain, do you read?"

Panic is never good. It's a noisy, violent killer! But the Captain is so calm, her voice so even…

"Loud and clear! And don't you think that's a problem? Get out of there!"

I take over the controls and abruptly turn away from the legion's backside. But the force of the giant wake is still powerful and I can't fully control the Kumary's navigational system with the cloak still activated. There's a shit load of pressure on the engines right about now. That's Garreth's problem, not mine, and he knows it. Maybe I should remind him, though…

"Chief, I need more juice!"

His voice is muffled over the coms by what I can only think is steam. Steam…soo not good!

"This is just about everything I can give you with the cloak on!"

I try no to giggle at the obvious innuendo. Giggling in potentially – ok, so maybe we're a little past that – dangerous circumstances is not very wise. Wait…here's an idea:

"What if I deactivate the cloaking device for a short while? The Necro sensors should pick us up as debris…OH!"

Whoosh! Big chunk of honkin' rock just passed by us. That was close! This gives a whole new meaning to the scum of the verse reputation the Eta build in DS.

"Do it!"

Here goes nothing…please don't be looking, please don't be looking… The engines roar to life and the death grip of the wake is lessened….please, don't give up on me, please don't give up on me… The Kumary veers right and away from the Vast Legion and its Captain. Invisible once more, I hit the coms to the engine room:

"You know, Chief, for a guy with half a dick, you can sure pump some life into those babies!"

"Yes, well, Ethel and Gerta don't have very high standards!"

He actually named the twin engines of the number one Wraith Vessel in Deep Space Ethel and Gerta?!

"Ohh, the sluts!"

Smack!

"Oww, that hurt!" I yelp at the sneaking Garreth and his surprise attack, while rubbing my throbbing scalp.

"Good! So now what?"

I eye the halting Necro ship through the view screen. The ship my Captain is currently stranded on.

"Now we wait. The Captain's gonna show up some time."

"Hmmm…"

Chief's gone into deep thinking. He is not a man easily deceived. The importance of our Captain to her Yautja clan is not unknown to him. However, he always seemed to be more responsive to that elusive humanity of hers than to the condescending Wraith personality. But that's probably because they're more human than I am. They had a life in the Verse some time ago, whereas I was born on one of the settlements of DS.

"Do you think she will stop running away?"

"From what?" I think Garreth's up to something.

"From whatever Riddick is for her."

There's a mind boggling notion right there.

"What do you mean? He is her charge. She saved his life, he is her responsibility."

Garreth smiles patronizingly at me.

"Spoken like a true Yautja Hunter."

"But I am not that."

"Perhaps. But you were bread into thinking like that. Humans…well…verse dwellers don't think that way. Saving one's life is not always an act of duty. It is in human nature to protect people we like. And sometimes we like people despite their many faults…despite however wrong it may seem."

His words struck a cord deep within me. In my mind I replayed the events of that long ago night on Taurus. I even recalled my own conflicting emotions as I watched those people being eaten alive by swarms of aliens. And the irrepressible need to avenge and protect the blonde woman, lying torn on the muddy ground.

Garreth watched me with knowing eyes.

"You believed that Carolyn returned for Riddick because she was his Captain and no one gets left behind. Or maybe because she was showing her gratitude for his services to them. You still believe it. And so does the Elder and all the Yautja that have heard about Scarback's story. In a way, she believes it also. But the human in her…well, let's just say that the war inside of her is no less important than the war we are about to wage against the Necromongers."

"So… what is there left for us to do?"

"We wait…"

There was a long period of silence in which we were both lost in thought, I, unraveling the mystery that was Captain's humanity and him, probably doing the exact same thing. But there was commotion in the Legion. The Chief and I tensed up and just as a small vessel was exiting the ship's bay we heard the coms kick in:

"Kumary, this is your Captain speaking. Stand by for your orders…"