Truce
The blow seemed to clear the air. Both Jack and Riddick seemed willing to call a truce. Breakfast arrived, music was turned down and the lights up a bit. Neither of them brought up anything that wasn't the Now. Jack had questions about the armada, Mongers and the 'sacrificial war', as she called it. Riddick answered in his usual way.
Zemma thought that 'sacrificial war' was rather apt phrasing, but didn't add anything to the conversation. She felt these two needed time to establish a new connection. Riddick would throw her a querying look now and then, but Zemma would just smile.
Let Jack feel she can have some of you back, she pleaded in her mind.
"So how many Furyans are there now?" Jack asked when Riddick told her about Jaron's revelation shortly before finding the alien armada. Zemma was glad Jaron had told Riddick and it wasn't another thing she'd neglected to mention.
Riddick looked the question to Zemma. She sighed; she didn't know the exact number.
"Jaron only now knows how many he kept hidden. Each of the commanders was very closed mouthed, even with each other."
"No honor among thieves, huh?" Jack kept her eyes purposefully glued to Zemma's.
Riddick raised an eyebrow just a fraction, studying her face. Zemma simply ignored the weak attempt to bait her and hoped he would as well.
"Cell system, actually. Each commander, captains then, only knew two others, and the three below them. No one person had too much information. My father had just one contact: J'Pheth. He knew Jaron R'Ghnell and Don W'Rdah. Both of them knew one other who didn't know J'Pheth personally and obviously none of them used their Furyan names at the time."
Zemma actually suspected Don W'Rdah had always known much more than his cell members. Someone had to keep changing names and dates to keep the soldiers hidden, even from each other. She often wondered how he managed the feat but he was so stoically silent, when he wasn't spitting out criticism, that she would never ask.
If an uneducated girl could rummage around the databases undetected for 20 years, certainly a trained ops man could manage somehow.
"Wait, your father?"
"He was a high ranking… official. That's how I got here."
Jack laughed. "You killed her father?" She punched him in the shoulder. "You dog!" Then she frowned. "Wait a minute, I don't get it. How do they know how many Furyans and who they are?"
"Jaron has three trusted men under him, who each know only him and their own three subordinates. Jaron and Don pass word sideways and down. Everyone does the same and information comes back up to Don who then manipulates the information so that the right men and women receive their transfer orders to come here. Almost everyone here is being transferred out to other ships. The 'Mongers aren't happy about it but this new war will keep them distracted."
"So you're moving all the other 'shine jobs' here to this ship?"
"This ship and two others." Zemma knew Jaron wanted at least three.
"Send the rest down to die." Jack was putting it together now.
"We'll scuttle the other ten or eleven ships." Zemma said.
When Jack looked at her askance, it was Riddick who clarified. "We're going to crash them into the battlefield."
"And fly home to Fury?" Jack looked amazed at the scope.
"To see what's left, yes." No one talked about what would happen if Fury were uninhabitable. 'Monger destruction had never been revisited, people converted and planets died. That wasn't the Now though; obviously they would deal with it when they got there. But it had been thirty-two years. There had to be something to build on.
"Damn! The greatest mass murder in history! I can see the headlines now, 'Riddick slaughters millions'."
Hundreds of thousands really… Zemma declined to correct her.
"Plan on calling the press, Jack?" Riddick's voice was dry.
"Hell, you should be calling the guys who write the history books. You're gonna be the most feared and legendary man in the universe."
Zemma didn't like the look on Riddick's face on hearing Jack's joyful words. 'I think being legendary isn't good for my lifestyle,' he had told her once.
"So then you just gonna build a log cabin and settle down with the little missus here?"
Zemma kept her face carefully serene. Her mental armor had snapped up at the very thought.
I can never go down.
Everyone's going home but me.
Blank. Stay blank.
Zemma counted her heartbeats until they slowed, while she seemed engrossed in her eggs. She could tell Riddick was looking at her from the corner of her eye, so she looked up and smiled at him.
Not fooling him.
"What about the Hell Hounds?"
Ah, thank you Jack, blessed Jack!
"Armored cats," Riddick told her.
"Cats? Like kitty cats?" Jack sounded dubious.
"Only if you like your kitties drinking blood from a saucer instead of milk." Riddick was trying to be humorous but Zemma could hear an edge in his voice.
Damn it, Riddick. Quit being so fucking hyper aware of every little thing.
"And you just happen to own one for a pet?"
"Zemma does."
"'Pet' is understating the relationship, I think." Zemma was proud her voice had no waver in it. "She's been my only friend for a long time."
That caused Jack's eyebrows to shoot up. Damn. Should have dropped the 'only'. Well, maybe a little ammunition will give her more interesting shots to fire at least.
"How long?"
"Almost eighteen years." Nor was getting old. Another decade left with her friend maybe? She hoped so. "The 'Mongers couldn't tame the first ones they took from Fury. They were kept on the Ag ship. When I was just about fifteen they brought two kits over for the Lords' zoo. I named them Nik and Nor. Nik died… a year ago."
"Ag ship?"
"Agriculture. Where do you think we get eggs in the middle of backwater space?" Zemma smiled and dropped a wink at Jack.
"Like an Ark then? How many ships does this fleet have?"
"One Command, thirteen Battle plus Ag, Lab, Tech and Indust. They all have names. This one is 'Basilica', but I never thought of it as anything but 'The Ship'."
Gilded Cage. Mad House. Prison. Slam.
But never 'home'. Home was supposed to be Fury.
"When we scuttle the battle cruisers, we'll keep all the support vessels."
Zemma was tired of talking. Everything led back to a topic that was just not Now and would only unhinge her if she dwelled on it. Time to go to her old suite, now Nor's, and feed her friend.
"Speaking of Nor, she needs breakfast too. I'll be back later."
Riddick's eyes seemed to say 'come here', but Zemma pretended not to see.
Running away again.
Oh, shut up.
"Zem…" Low rumble, bordering on command.
"I'll be back after practice." Zemma didn't turn back, but just waved as she headed for the door.