XIV.

Lights out

They had known they'd find corpses on their way but when they came across the first one they stopped dead in their tracks. "Riddick, do you see what I see?" She stared in disbelief at the body and ran some scans. Riddick only nodded and knelt down to have a closer look. The dead man in front of them seemed to glow in an ugly yellowish tone, the longerthey watched it the more the color faded but if it was that strong visible in a dead Draugar, they might be able to see it on a living one.

"So we can tell the difference as well. Not a word to anybody, specifically not Aereon, understood?!"

"I'll never ever complain about my barbie vision again." Their eyes were indeed a great gift, being able to tell them apart was a huge advantage especially since nobody knew about it. They arrived at the mine at the same time as Tyr and Riddick took their reports with the attitude of an admiral meeting his troops to save the day.

And with military efficiency Tyr and Carlos filled Riddick in on what had happened since they had left the ships.

Their losses kept within admissible range, after all they were all formidable fighters - the casualties within the troops that had joined them were much higher but nothing to worry about. Surprisingly Aereon, Murrey and the old man were still alive. Not very much to Riddick's liking. "We have forced them back into the mine but we are at an impasse now - we can't go in any further." Carlos finished his report.

"We don't have time for a siege, there has to be a way in." Riddick itched to fight somebody, that delay didn't go down well with him.

Carlos shook his head. "We have checked and triple checked, there is no other way out of the mine and bombing the entrance won't do us any good - the main shaft goes down too deep and eventually they'll dig themselves out. Do you have one of your planet killers left?"

"Used 'em up at the wormhole. First we'll cut off their power - they won't be able to see anything in the dark. Then I'll go in and place the bomb smack in their middle."

"Riddick …" Hope gasped but didn't finish her sentence, not even she dared question his decisions in public.

"Hope, find out how they keep their lights on, I want them in complete darkness. Tyr, you stand guard at the mine while Carlos and I work on some nice little explosives.

"Riddick …" she tried again, but he wasn't in the mood to listen.

"You still here?"

His tone made her angry … 'Jerk!' … and so she turned and pulled out her tricorder. She'd find their source of power, shut it down and then convince Riddick to not go into that mine all by his bloody self.

Riddick watched her round the corner, her whole body was rigid, her shoulders squared. Even the back of her head showed him she disagreed and was angry with him. Cute. But he gave her a point for not arguing with him in front of the others … he really wouldn't have liked to reprimand her, especially since he had seen well known faces in the crowd surrounding them; Murrey, Aereon and the old man had watched him intently and he'd be damned if that hadn't been Toombs' ugly face he'd seen for a second.

Hope's eyes focused on her tricorder and she was totally oblivious to her surroundings. She had found a faint trace of power - a power line - and followed the way her tricorder showed her. The sun was warm on her face and it was quiet and peaceful so far away from the fight. A little sand devil was born in the heated sand and she watched it until it ceased to exist. Beautiful! She yawned heartily- she was tired again. She took a swig from her water bottle, hoping it would refresh her, but it didn't do her any good at all, on the contrary, that damn heartburn started - again! Maybe she should stop ignoring the problem, this time it seemed as if it wouldn't go away by itself. But not right now. She pressed her fist against her sternum and tried some calming breaths. 'Concentrate on your task, Hope! They are counting on you!' Following that little bleeping sign on her tricorder was a no brainer even in her condition and so her thoughts started to wander. She was thankful she hadn't complained when Riddick gave them their orders - it wouldn't have been a calm and polite response … the constant tiredness and heartburns had been joined by that really, really short fuse. Of late he couldn't do or say anything that didn't upset her and her bad conscience reared its head, tears welled up in her eyes - that poor, poor man was afflicted with such a nasty bitch like her! He didn't deserve that! The last thought stopped her dead in her tracks. What. The. Fuck! Riddick? Poor? Could the replicator have a malfunction and be poisoning them? That could be the only explanation for her odd behavior. But why wasn't Riddick afflicted? That bastard! A bleep from her tricorder got her attention. "Gotcha!" she whispered and smiled; the power plant was only half a mile away! She shook her head in disbelief - walking through the desert, oblivious to everything but her musings - she really had to stop that. It was dangerous and "Stupid! Sooooo stupid! Stop acting like a total nutcase! You aren't nasty, you are STUPID!" she said to herself. And nearly shrieked when she got a reply.

"Stupid, indeed. You shouldn't have come here alone. Did you think we wouldn't guard our power plant?"

A man she had neither heard nor seen coming stood in front of her, in his hand a mean looking weapon, a sickish yellow glow around him. She swallowed hard. She knew the man … well, the man he had been … he once was the foreman of the mining planet and she had liked him. Normally she would have been able to beat him but that muzzle pointing directly at the center of her body - she stood no chance against that, she would have to stall for time; maybe she was lucky and could distract him long enough to come up with a plan.

To her surprise the former foreman started talking. "I know you. You've been at the mining colony with that big bald guy. Where is he?"

"YOU don't know me … the poor miner whose body you took knew me." She hissed, while her eyes were frantically scanning the area for anything that might be of use in getting her out of this situation.

"You are one of those stubborn Furyans." The Draugar stated. "This time you won't stand a chance against us like you did then, your race is only a shadow of what it's once been, we will kill every single Furyan and then blow up your home planet like we should have done eons ago. We'll take over this system and soon there won't be a single free planet left. All those races will feed us, will provide bodies, will slave for us - they will provide resources for years to come. You are living in a very rich part of the universe and it is ours to take now, my people will prosper again."

"Then why don't you just shoot me? There is something else you want to tell me, don't you?" If he talked just a little bit longer she could get out the shiv she had hidden in her belt. Thank the ancients these people loved to boast.

"My Queen wants you alive for now; she wants to find out why your race is so persistent. And now raise your hands and turn around. We haven't finished interrogating the Furyan we caught in the village, but now you will tell us everything we want to know."

Good to know he wasn't supposed to kill her. "Your Queen? So you've got a matriarchate?" She needed just a second longer. "Why raise my hand? You've got me at gunpoint, you came out on top so why should I get sore muscles when I'm not in the position to cause you any harm?" She could see he was losing patience - she had honed her annoying skills well on Riddick and that Draugar stood no chance against her.

"Just raise your damn hands and turn around! Now! I'm not allowed to kill you but she won't mind if I hurt you!"

She hadn't seen the Draugar, but now that all her senses were on high alert she did see the man sneaking up behind her captor. A still human man! A second later the head of the Draugar exploded, spraying a fine mist of blood across the place.

"Hey, beautiful, I thought you could need a hand here." The man grinned broadly.

She returned his smile more than just thankful - it could be her lying down there instead of the Draugar. To her surprise he didn't give her time to answer.

"You've got a weapon in your hand and don't shoot? Do you always try to talk them to death?" The smile accompanying his words told her he was just teasing her. "Hi, I'm Nick. A strange Elemental visited me, told me about some Furyans and a battle. Told me I'd be Furyan myself, whatever that means. Well, I was between two fights anyways and getting a bit bored so I thought I'd have a look and maybe some exercise."

Hope couldn't help but laugh. She didn't mind being not able to get a word in, she liked that and while he was chatting away she had a closer look at him … dark hair, dark eyes, muscled but slim like a triathlete, he looked as if fights were nothing new for him but he didn't have the grave aura on him Riddick had … Nick was all big smile.

He laid his arm around her shoulder. "Are you in shock? Is that why you don't talk? No need to be afraid anymore, I'm here now and I'll protect you."

And he was trying to charm her pants off her … Riddick would be thrilled. Not. She put her index finger on his lips to finally shut him up. "I'm really glad you came along, thank you. I'm Hope and that's a tricorder in my hand, not a weapon. I was looking for the power plant over there - we have to shut it down." She didn't wait for his response and took out her tools. They could talk while she was working. "Why are you here and not fighting with the others?"

"Well, I'm afraid I'm the Furyan he talked about. The one they weren't able to interrogate." He clarified and sounded a bit ashamed when he continued. "They captured me while I was on my way … you just can't tell that people apart from normal people and I never would have thought that pretty brunette dangerous ..." He stopped for a second - he was really embarrassed about his mistake. "They were holding me in a cell, interrogated me about Furyans. Like I'd know something about them. They didn't believe me and so they tortured me und finally drugged me but it didn't work out like they had anticipated and they were discussing how to proceed when a guy called Carlos came with a little army and killed them, but they left me for dead. Can't blame them, though, that damn aliens had messed me up pretty good and the drugs had slowed my heart rate, even I would have left me for dead." His warm smile returned. "I would have loved to be freed by you, beautiful, I could have shown you my gratitude ... but you showing me your gratitude is also fine by me." He knew he was talking too much but she seemed to like it and he found himself utterly smitten by her.

She liked his attitude but she had to be careful not to encourage him. "What did you mean with 'between two fights'? What are you? A professional thug?"

"Hell, no! You are getting the wrong impression here. I'm fighting in an arena, martial arts at its finest. I'm the unbeaten champion … makes you famous AND gets you a shitload of money. Best job in the whole universe." He didn't mention the women clinging to him like white on rice because of his job, he wanted her to get the very best impression of him.

"Well, I think that's also a way to earn your living." She only listened with half an ear; she had to concentrate on her task.

"Hey, before you are mocking me tell me how you are spending your days, beautiful."

"Nick, I told you my name is Hope and I'd prefer that to beautiful." She loved getting compliments, for too long she hadn't even gotten a 'well done', but in consideration of Riddick's inevitable reaction to a nickname like that she corrected him. "I'm an engineer and I build ships and stuff." With a satisfying click the lights in the power plant went from green to red and wouldn't go back to green anytime soon. If at all. "Done! Let's go back."

Riddick wasn't amused when he saw her coming back with a man in tow. A man watching her butt and smiling like a fool. His welcome was accordingly gruff.

"What the hell took you so long?" he scoffed at her. "And who is HE?" Seeing her with that man gave him a déjà vu, reminded him of Murrey on that trading post. You let her out of your eyesight for just a second and she'd pick up a fucking stray!

She smiled up to him and shrugged her shoulders, playing it down. "He was at the power plant and helped me shut it down." Not a lie entirely, maybe he was distracted enough to let it slide.

"Now did he?"

She tried her most innocent expression. Tried. And failed like she had done every single time. "Yes?"

"Well, now that you finally decided to join us again you can help bundle up the explosives." If he'd have needed any proof something was amiss it was her following orders without a single complaint.

Nick watched her retreating back "Boy, that woman's wonderful, I'll have to ask her on a date as soon as this shit here is over."

Riddick gave him a scolding, narrow eyed glare. "She's mine, so back off or we got a problem here!" He knew he let him get off cheap but there wasn't any time now for a proper reaction. He made a mental note to grill him later.

There wasn't much left to do for Hope but to pack some of the explosives in a smaller bundle for her to carry. "Good to go, Riddick".

He had already decided to let her come along and so he just nodded and flicked the heavy bundle over his shoulder. He knew she'd just follow him when he was out of sight and she was the safest with him anyways. That jerk she had brought with her had nothing to do with his decision. "You know the drill, if you don't follow orders I'll send you back."