21.) A Good Bluff & A Short Ride
"This is ..rgo..ane..pple 6! Co … ground!" The voice was full of bored nerves coming thru the static and the Oldest Son was careful to make sure he sounded the same, sure the plane would hear them better.
"This is ground. Maintain a clear distance. Provide the codes."
"Uhh. Stand by." Lena looked Riddick.
"Did we miss something?"
"You played it cool, by the book." Cowan said quietly from the doorway, drawing attention.
"Uncle James!" Sammi's young boy flew into the convicts arms and received a warm hug but Cowan's eyes were on the girl at Riddick's side.
"Too cool?" He shrugged, dressed in the dark warriors clothes that had been taken from him and his dark gaze remained on Tori.
"It is high alert, right?" The Oldest Son got the hint like the others in the room and keyed the mic, voice sharp.
"Identify yourself immediately or we will defend ourselves!"
"It's... damn foo.. Sta ..by." A few tense seconds of silence.
"Purp..le Mou...ins, ground."
"Copy, triple 6. Land at the designated spot and have your paperwork ready."
"Roger. Usele... Fuc … drills. Nobody'd .. a slam." The static filled radio went quiet and the group of Furyan's exchanged a successful look as the gates began to slide open. The Girl moved toward the door, her words making Riddick wince as Kyra's face slapped at him. This was the kind of adventure she would have loved.
"We ain't nobody."
The large, loud plane was crammed full of boxes and crates and the seven soldiers on the flight that had never encountered anything rough but weather, were doomed before the back door was fully open to admit the three camouflage dressed impostors. The determined crew used their knives so they wouldn't damage the plane or goods, and none of the men got off a shot, bodies falling to the dusty floor. Less than a minute after landing, the plane and all its cargo belonged to the Furyan's.
"Need a copilot?" Riddick shrugged and the quiet blond sat down, adjusting the seat with an ease that told him she'd at least been in this end of a plane before.
"We''re all here and accounted for." Riddick said nothing and Sammi looked at her son as he stood by her seat. His greeting to Cowan was the first real emotion other than hate he'd shown in months, and she was surprised when he made eye contact with the Youngest Defender boy, his natural born enemy, and the braided teenager held up two candy bars and a deck of Hobjong cards in response. Sammi was surprised to see her child's eager nod and when he looked to her, she only hesitated for a second before nodding too. The boys moved off to a quieter corner of the crowded plane and Sammi looked away from them to find the Defender Mother had also been watching, a thoughtful look on her usually expressionless face. Sammi raised a brow and Lena shrugged.
"Peace must begin somewhere." The blond nodded as the Defender left them alone, hoping they'd just watched the start of it for their races. She looked at Riddick, who was dealing with technology he wasn't familiar with but before she could speak, his granite voice distracted her.
"Why don't they have names? The kids?" She frowned.
"It's our way. When they become adults, they chose their title. It's a right of passage." Riddick's mind was quick.
"What's the age?"
"It's not set. The parents usually pick."
"And, for one who has no family?" Sammi's mind went immediately to Doug telling them of Tori's family being killed by Donre, of rescuing her, raising her.
"Doug and his wife would have chosen." He said nothing to that and she let it go, sure he was suspicious of everyone, not just the girl.
"We're headed to the Badlands, right?" He flipped a switch and then put it back in place when nothing happened.
"Eventually." He muttered, frowning, and she leaned over to push a small button in front of him. The planes engines whirled to life, the rear ramp closing automatically.
"You said you were caught at an airfield. You were leaving this hole?" She nodded again, smiling at bit.
"My husband was teaching us both to pilot. Said someone would have to fly us out when the time came." Her voice lowered. "He didn't put much faith in the prophesy either."
"Good instincts." Riddick stood up. "Switch places." Sammi didn't hesitate and two minutes later, she looked over at him, wondering what he was thinking as he watched her smooth movements with unreadable blue eyes.
"We're ready if you are." He lowered his goggles.
"Ask the Girl." The blond smiled uneasily.
"Aren't you taking this female in charge thing a bit too seriously?" He said nothing and she shrugged.
"I'm with her, same as the Witch and probably the Defenders but the rest of our kind? No way she'll keep leadership once you split."
"I'm still workin on that part." Fingers on the intercom switch, Sammi looked at him curiously.
"Why?" He shrugged.
"Why not?" She grinned, shook her head.
"Zen shit. Bull shit."She flipped the switch.
"Are we ready back there?" The Girl's voice was quick.
"Yes. He need anything?" Sammi watched the Furyan lean his seat back and put his hands under his head as if to sleep.
"No. Settle in for take off." Two minutes later, they were airborne and Alien Alley was fading from sight, short only one prisoner.
Daylight was nearing when Tori joined them in the cockpit, not a bit surprised to see Sammi at the controls. Until now, the blond was the only one of the main group who hadn't yet proved themselves to their crew-mates. All the others had shown it during battles.
"Where are we?" Sammi flipped a switch, plunging the plane into darkness.
"Close to the big bunker." "They'll see us and thinks it's the cargo ship returning." Sammi shrugged, hands light, familiar with the controls.
"We're very high, riding the tail of the dust storm. They might not even notice…"
"Unidentified..approaching..craft! We….sh… ou.. down!" The static was awful and the girl grinned
"Nice thought. Faster if you can." The blond pushed buttons, pulled on the stick, and there were shouts of surprise from the back when the big plane tilted upward, increasing speed.
"Come on...pl 6! Answer..." The call faded and Sammi looked at Riddick, sure he wasn't sleeping despite the relaxed appearance.
"They'll come after us." He shrugged.
"Don't know where, right? Snake wasn't with your group long." Tori's face iced over.
"He was already at Area 51 when we arrived. He'd never been to the caves and they're immense." She looked at the clouds outside the windshield.
"I want to make a stop." He said nothing and she let out a tired sigh, hip hurting.
"I get it. My choice. I just want to know if you'll be with us after?" He raised his goggles, standing up.
"I'm with you." His eyes flashed. "But, find someone else to be your second hand. I'm just the flyboy now, remember?" He stepped around her and she dropped into the warm seat with hurt in her eyes.
"You can't hold him." The girl's face tightened at the lowly spoken warning.
"He's still here, isn't he?" She stated coldly and sammi nodded handing her a map.
"Yes. Tell me where to go and I'll tell you why." The girl's first thought was clear and the two women looked at each other for a long moment before Tori pointed to an orange shaded area that meant high radiation zone. Sammi adjusted the controls and put the map away before turning back.
"He's the heir, the one that had to bring us together, but he has things ahead of him that even you can't predict. He knows it's coming and to give in to you is to give into destiny and face who he is, all that was stolen from him. He's been running his whole life and you can't hold him because the past already does and it's grip is relentless. My last knife says he won't even step off the ship when we get to Furya." Tori stared out the dusty window, frowning.
"Maybe I won't either.' Sammi snorted.
"And, give up the chance to maybe be the Queen of Furya during it's rebuilding? Just to follow a man who deep down, neither needs or want you? I doubt you're that stupid." The Girl was saved a sharp reply by a sudden quiet and rough jolt that rattled them in their seats. The right engine sputtered out and they stared at each other in horror.
"We did miss something. Fuel."
"Get Riddick back up here. I don't know how to crashland!" Tori moved quickly toward the cargo area, shaking her head as the other engine began to sputter.
"When I said stop, this is not what I had in mind."
The landscape below them was heartbreaking, horrible. City after broken city, recognizable only by blackened piles of debris fields, and hills of unidentifiable rubble, and as the plane glided on one weak engine, only a couple hundred feet off the ground now, there were no signs of life, normal or otherwise.
The terrain looked rocky under the dark brown layers of shifting sand that coated everything, and their passing vibrations made the unfriendly ground move restlessly, revealing graying bone and bits of wood.
"Get that landing gear up. We tip anything, it's all over." Riddick said from behind them, voice getting lower as the other engine cut out. Sammi was sweating as she fought to keep them level, and his tone settled her down as much as the words.
"Ease the nose up half an inch. It'll slide when it hits. Let it, but hold it straight as you can." She nodded, tensing as the sandy earth rose up to meet them, and then they were down, hitting, the bone jarring thuds drawing shouts from their passengers as huge clouds of sand flew up over them. They held on as the big bird started to skid, turning.
"Jerk up. Hard." She was already doing it, following her instincts, and it countered the slide, let them slow without flipping. Then they were stopping, metal groaning in protest, and the females remembered to breathe.
"Shut it down but leave it open. No prints in the dust." Sammi wiped at her forehead.
"They'll have a tracker beacon in here somewhere. Should we burn it?"
"It'll take 'em longer if we don't give them a clear trail of smoke to follow." They moved to the rear, going to Tori and Lena as they talked quietly in the far corner of the chaotic cargo hold, and both women turned. "Where are we?"
"Two hours hard march west of the Mountains." The girl's eyes flashed a tiny glimpse of success that was quickly hidden.
"We can leave the compasses and digital maps. That shit won't work out here. Too much radiation interference."
"How does she know so much?" Cowan demanded, looking around, and Vanica frowned at him.
"The prophesy?"He snorted, shaking dirty dreads.
"Yeah, right." He locked eyes with Tori a she pulled up her hood.
"Where'd you lie before the war?" The girl slid on a heavy pack, adjusted the straps before answering.
"The next town we'll see. Took us three weeks to get to the out of the destruction zone and half our group didn't make it." His face was dark as he considered what her words meant, but the other Furyan's didn't have the need to question. Their goal hadn't changed, they'd always known they were coming to a bad area, and really, now that they only had half a dozen burdens, they could make a trip like this. Because the girl had been able to hold Riddick long enough to gather them, make them a crew. Because of Tori, their kind now stood a chance at a new life and they had had no problems with her choices. Hadn't she proven she was willing to die for them?
"So, why are we here?" Cowan asked and the girl moved down the ramp and in to the sandy wind.
"I had to leave people behind, people we knew wouldn't make it. I gave my word I come back if I could." The convict's voice was thoughtless.
"You know they're dead, right? Nothing could survive out here that long." Everyone frowned at him and the girl shrugged as the Defender Mother fell in step just behind and to the right.
"You'd be surprised." Her tone was ominous.
"Hope we aren't." He muttered, drawing scowls at his continued protests.
"Awful lot of asses to cover if something goes wrong." Marco moved quickly passed him, shimmering.
"Just look out for your own ass. We really don't expect anything else." The Wizard was gone before the surprised male could respond and those who'd heard nodded in satisfaction. You were either in or out. There was no gray area.