Title: Lost and Found

Author: LadyElaine

Disclaimer: The characters and situations of Pitch Black belong to USA Films and David Twohy.

Summary: Jack, Riddick, and Imam find the sole survivor of the previous eclipse.

Rating: R

Lost and Found

I. Survivors

It was Jack who found it--or rather, found its coffin.

They'd been adrift in the shipping lane for only a day, a day which Riddick and Imam had spent in unbroken slumber. The sudden peace following the hellish night had a different effect on Jack, though, who simply went stir crazy.

Fingers drumming on the armrests, feet twitching on the console or tapping on the deck, her whole body was still humming in anticipation of talons and teeth and terror. She shifted and twisted this way and that, vainly trying to capture just a few minutes of the sleep the other two had fallen into so easily.

She turned to find herself abruptly pinned by a pair of cold glints, and all her nervous energy spilled out in a shriek.

"Why don't you try and see what you can scare up in this scrap heap, kid," Riddick suggested in a low rumble.

Ignoring the mocking smile, Jack swallowed against the pounding in her chest. "W-what do you mean?"

"I mean nobody's gonna pay attention to our beacon without a good reason. Most salvagers'd just as soon space you as look at you."

Imam's shadowed form stirred and sat up then. "The Orion Confederacy is not such a savage place, Mr. Riddick. Ships are required to give aid to those in need."

"You haven't traveled these outback lanes, holy man," Riddick retorted. "You don't have cargo to thank those kindly souls with, you wind up back in the tin can you started in." He snorted. "Already dead, if you're lucky."

Jack wondered how Riddick knew so much about those "kindly souls," but decided not to ask. Instead, she got up and began rummaging through the small lockers just inside the hatch. Under the two men's curious gazes, she found a wad of cash and a flare gun. Tossing the roll of credits from hand to hand, she wondered, "What would a traveling team of geologists need cash for?"

"Life insurance," was the sardonic reply. "Like I said, you don't pay your rescuers..."

Jack let Riddick's voice drone on. She'd been tapping her foot for a moment, and only now did she feel the way the tapping rang hollowly beneath her shoe. Hollowly...

"Child? What is it?" Imam asked.

"Do these lifeboats ever have false decks?" Jack asked.

At Riddick's affirmative, Jack knelt down and began peeling the metal floorboards away. She'd seen something, a reflection, maybe? No--a light. A small red light, blinking slowly but steadily. The light was attached to a diagnostic console, which was attached to...

Jack had seen some emergency cryo tubes on the Hunter Gratzner that had been less than half the size of most commercial types. This one barely had enough room for the body curled up inside. The panel was fogged over with who knew how many years of sleeping gas, obscuring the occupant. A heavy hand on Jack's shoulder stopped her impulse to pop open the panel.

"Have a care, child." Imam pulled her away. "The gas must first be cleared." They let Riddick take care of that: neither one doubted the man's technical skills, especially when it came to any kind of confinement.

As the high oxygen wake-up mix replaced the gas, Jack drew in a startled breath. "Um... Aren't aliens supposed to stay out of human space?"

"That is no alien," Imam said coldly. "Neither is it human--exactly." His expression was unreadable as he gazed at what lay inside the coffin.

Riddick's harsh laugh startled both of them. "Party in a can! Someone was having fun twenty-two years ago."

He moved to open the panel, when Imam's arm blocked him. "Put her back to sleep. Please."

Jack's gaze shot from Riddick, to Imam, to the figure inside the coffin, now stirring. Too late now, she thought, too dangerous to put anyone right back under. Imam's arm dropped, his shoulders sagging wearily.

Riddick smirked. "Don't tell me a little sex makes you nervous?"

"What are you talking about?" Jack demanded.

"It's a pet, kid," Riddick said with a self-satisfied grin.

"Oh, I get it." Jack grinned at Riddick and added, "So, like we're gonna use her for extra insur--" She looked back down at the coffin and gasped as amber eyes caught and held her own.

The pet was fully awake now. Short auburn hair, speckled with odd highlights, topped a body lightly covered with tawny, spotted fur. The creature waited obediently to be released, its only sign of anxiety being the hand pressed against the lid. Jack saw claws tipping the fingers, then noticed the tattoo inside the wrist.

"Lihari Den," Imam spat, apparently finished with his prayer. "Where she was made. Well, Mr. Riddick, are you going to simply admire her, or will you let her out?" One stern eyebrow rose. "You of all people should know how uncomfortable she is right now."

Riddick stared at Imam for a long moment, and Jack took an uncertain step back as the tension inside the skiff rose. But then the big man shrugged, and as Imam clasped his hands over his prayer beads again, Jack felt herself relaxing. The panel popped open under Riddick's hands, and he hauled the creature out of her coffin, setting her on the bench. Imam seated himself gingerly next to her and draped his outer robe over her nakedness. Other than a small loincloth--and that fur, Jack thought with a mixture of curiosity and disgust--her only clothing was a metallic collar that seemed to have been welded about her neck.

A voice rusty from disuse whispered, "Thank you."

Jack returned to the copilot seat next to Riddick. "So. Insurance, right?"

"We'll see, kid."

Moments later, Imam was immersed in quiet conversation with the pet. She seemed reticent to speak, so Imam began telling her the gruesome tale of their own survival.

Jack tuned out their conversation. "Any answers to the beacon yet?" she asked Riddick.

"Yeah, actually. A rescue and salvage ship on its way out of... looks like Janus."

"So they'll pick us up?" Jack couldn't help the eagerness in her voice. Sure, Johns had been an asshole, but she'd bet the whole wad of cash she'd stuffed in her pocket that they weren't all like that. "How much of our valuables you think they'll want? We're going to need a better ship if we want to go anywhere after Janus. What kind of planet is Janus, anyway?"

"A weird one, with the same side is always facing its sun. I've got a little pad on Janus, and money damn near everywhere. We can hole up at my place while you and Imam figure out where you want me to drop you."

Riddick's coldly casual tone shattered Jack's mental images of gallivanting about the galaxy with him. A few nasty thoughts sprang up instead. "So where you gonna drop her?" she spat.

Riddick glared at her, his eyes flashing, and she involuntarily shrank away.

"She's a sex slave. You see anyone else here that could be her owner? Imam would rather curl up and die, I think." He chuckled, but neither Imam nor the pet gave any reaction to his cruel remarks. "What, kid--don't tell me you want her?"

Jack's temper snapped. "Hell, yeah, I want her. I want to use her as hard fucking merchandise." She grabbed the wad of credits from her pocket. "I'd rather have this cash than that--" She threw an angry glance behind her, but was stopped cold when she saw the slave staring at her expressionlessly.

"Shut the hell up, kid," Riddick said softly.

Jack's jaw dropped at his tone. She gritted her teeth and turned to gaze out the window into empty space. Son of a bitch, she thought. Nice, Jack, real nice.

Jack slumped back in her seat, closed her eyes, and waited for a rescue.