7. Split

One Year and Seven Months Earlier

It was dark when Jack and Gin parted. Gin had given up on finding whoever she'd been waiting for and Jack had heard that her hero was being put on ship back to slam. A ship that was leaving from the nearest spaceport in two hours, and Jack meant to be on it. The ticket had been expensive, but Jack was a shifty little pick-pocket and not a half bad cat burglar, so she'd had just enough money put up for her fair. At least she did after she'd sold what little personal belongings she still had from home. She hadn't told Gin why she was taking the Hunter-Gratzner, though. Hadn't told her that her hero was Richard B. Riddick.

"You're sure you'll be aight, kid?" Gin asked again as she walked Jack to the spaceport.

Jack raised a dark brow. "For the twentieth time, Reese, yeah. I'll be fine. I've been planet hopping for two years now."

"I know. Doin' it since you were... what? Twelve? I get it. Doesn't mean I'm not going to worry about you. You remind me of someone I once knew, and he could take care of himself aight, too. Didn't mean I didn't worry."

"Are you going to be okay?" Jack questioned.

"What sort of question is that?"

"A fair one, I think. I've never been caught, except by you. You've spent most of the last seven years in a slam."

"Aight. Fair 'nough. I'm gonna be fine."

"Goin' to start looking again?" Jack knew the answer, but she asked anyway. She held up her hand to still Gin's reply for a moment and darted into the crowd, staying in Gin's sights as she carefully slammed into a well dressed man heading in the opposite direction, making sure she looked like she wasn't paying attention.

She sprawled on the ground losing her small pack and knocking her hat off. An extra pair of socks, the sleeve of a jacket, and a worn, leather bound book with no writing on its cover fell out of the pack, and Jack scurried to pick them up as the man bent to help.

"I'm s-s-sorry, m-m-mister," Jack stuttered jerkily.

"My fault, son. Let me help you with that." The guy picked up the pack and then the book. He pushed the book and the jacket sleeve back inside the pack and handed it over to Jack kindly. Jack pulled her hat back on and picked up her socks in her left hand and stepped closer to the man than necessary to take her pack from him with her right.

He didn't notice as she dropped the socks again and carefully reached into the pocket of his loose jacket to snatch his wallet. Jack stifled the guilt she felt at stealing from someone that was obviously a decent enough guy, but put it under her list of many other necessary evils. She'd drop the wallet at the lost and found before she boarded the Hunter-Gratzner, knowing a guy in clothes like that wouldn't miss whatever creds she took.

Jack took the pack and kept her other hand at her side, out of sight. "Th-thanks, m-mister," Jack stuttered again. No one ever blamed a skinny kid with a stutter when things went wrong, or when wallets went missing. The man smiled and headed past her and Jack bent to collect her socks again, stuffing them in her bag.

Gin walked up to her and they watched the man's retreating back for a moment before Gin said anything. "Smooth, kid. What'd ya get?"

Jack opened the wallet and glanced inside. "Holy shit!" she exclaimed.

"What?"

"There's four-thousand creds in here!"

"Christ, Jack. You often hit lucky with big-wheels like that?"

"Hell, no. Most I've ever gotten is five hundred. Damn. I'm set for a while!" Jack pulled the creds out of the wallet and stuffed them in her pants pocket. "C'mon. I gotta turn this wallet over to the lost and found."

"Aw, a thief with a conscience," Gin mocked, following Jack to a long counter.

Jack laughed. "Damn straight."

Stepping up the counter, Jack smiled nervously for the lady that stood on the other side. "I f-found this w-w-wallet on the g-ground, m-miss."

The lady smiled gently at what she thought was an unfortunate young boy. "That's very honest of you, honey. I'll keep it here until someone claims it. Thank you."

"N-no p-p-p-problem."

Gin stood back a ways, and laughed when Jack came to her side. "That's p-p-p-pathetic, Jack."

"Yeah. I know. But no one ever blames the skinny kid with the bad stutter. Especially an honest one that drops the wallet off at the lost and found instead of just trashing it."

"You're right. C'mon, then. Gate 409-C, right?"

Jack nodded and looked up at the signs hanging form the ceiling. Wing C was forward a ways and to their left. "That way," she said pointing.

"Aight. I'll walk you the rest of the way, then I'm gone."

Jack walked beside Gin as far as security would allow before having to show her ticket to the gate guard.

"Guess this is the end of the line, kid. Maybe we'll meet up again someday." Gin smiled wryly and Jack knew she didn't believe they'd ever see each other again.

"Yeah. Maybe," she said anyway. She stiffened slightly when Gin gave her a sudden hug, squeezing her tight. Jack finally brought her arms up and hugged the woman back, realizing she'd been craving some sort of physical contact like that for a long time. They stood like that until the guard coughed slightly, remind them of his presence. They stepped apart and Gin ran a hand through her short hair, causing Jack to grin when the blonde strands stood up on end along the finger-plowed path.

"Be decent, kid," Gin said, grabbing the bill of Jack's hat and tugging down over her eyes.

"Be lucky," Jack replied.

"Hope so. Good luck, Jack."

"You too. If you ever find them, whoever they are, look for me, all right? I'd like to meet whoever it is that can get someone like to you care so much."

Gin didn't say anything for a minute, and then she nodded. "Yeah. Aight. I'll look for you. Be waiting for me, okay?"

"Sure thing, Reese."

Gin smiled and saluted Jack mockingly then turned on her heal and melted into the crowd. Jack followed her with her eyes as long as she could, but lost her after a few short seconds. Gin had always been good at disappearing, it seemed.

"You comin', kid? Or do you just want to stand at the gate until your ship leaves?"

Jack snapped back to attention. "Uh, yeah. Sorry."

Jack handed the guy her pack and he ran it through the scanner. Finding no weapons in it, he handed her pack and ticket back to her after she passed through the body scanner.

Patting her pockets to make sure that the creds were still there, Jack headed for the boarding gate. She showed a woman in a blue uniform with short, light blonde hair her ticket.

"Everything looks good," the woman said. "Go ahead and board. We'll give you your locker assignment when it's time."

"Thanks," Jack replied and stepped past the woman into the ship. The interior of the Hunter-Gratzner was dimly lit, and Jack walked carefully to a row of chairs bolted to the hull. A couple other passengers were already sitting in the seats, and it was obvious most of them had checked their bags.

Jack picked a seat and put her pack underneath it, strapping it securely to the floor with the cargo-cords she found there.

Seat picked and bag stowed, Jack decided to check out the cryo-lockers. She'd been in cryo-sleep once before. When she ran away from her foster home she'd had to take a long trip from her home planet. Seven months in a cryo-locker, she'd been disoriented and lost on a strange world. Jack had never been off planet before that, and waking up in what seemed like the same day only seven months later had thrown her off her axis, making her feel like she'd been time traveling without knowing it. She'd hated it and decided she'd never do it again if she could help it. She wanted to see what she was cruising through.

The cryo-lockers were arranged just like the seats in the take-off cabin, pressed back against the walls. There was a section designated for the crew, but the rest were open, awaiting their passengers. All but one.

One of the cryo-lockers already held a passenger. He was surrounded in pale blue light, and what looked like a motion sensor beam had turned the top of his shaved head a dim red.

"Riddick," Jack breathed.

Printed in large block letters across the top door of the cryo-locker it said "Lockout Protocol: No Early Release."

"Really don't want you gettin' out, do they?" she whispered, stepping closer. She felt a thrill go through her at being so close to the infamous killer. She jumped back when Riddick suddenly shifted in his locker, leaning forward the tiny bit allowed by his restraints. He seemed to grin around the bit locked painfully in his mouth and Jack found herself smirking back.

She stepped forward and placed her hand flat on the glass. "I'm going to get you out."