PLOT BUNNIES ARE after me.....

The following day, Jack dressed in her favorite clothes, her black jeans, her button down pink sweater, and mechanic's boots. Riddick laughed as they dressed that morning telling her that she looked like that licorice candy Good and Plenty's that he got when he was a kid at Halloween.

He felt in good spirits and had since Layne had been born due mainly to the fact that he watched the little guy sleep between them and was so content that he had suggested that after they arrived on Talos Prime that he would move in with them permanently. Sasha didn't have a problem with it, allowed Jack to inject him with vaccinations against disease and pronounced him fit as a four day old could be.

Jack was sitting in the mess, having breakfast, when she accessed her laptop. Riddick had already was up on the bridge, making the calculations for landing on Talos Prime when a message came in on her coded channel.

Anne was sitting opposite her and stared as her eyes went wide and Jack furiously began hitting the keys.

"Jack? What's wrong?" Anne asked as she watched her face go pale. "Jack?"

Jack didn't answer her only ran out of the room towards the bridge.

Anne swung around to Jack's email and saw the encoded message decoded in its rough form:

My dear children,

I hope all is well with you. I can only hope that your days are filled with brightness and your hearts are filled with joy. My thoughts are with you in your lowest times. I look forward to seeing both very soon. Once this job is done I shall join you and see the suns set. But for now, please take great care and keep yourselves safe from harm. Take good care of my baby grandson, his life is precious. Nothing is more important.

I hear the wild animals near your home are keeping you worrisome. It would do you good to see that you attack them rather than be attacked. But that is men's work and nothing I can help with.

I am doing my best to stay calm and await your message letting me know you are very well. Until we see one another again, I love you. Do write soon.

Your mother.

MERC SHIP AWARE

TALOS DANGER

HELP YOU SOON MY COVER UNDONE

KEEP BABY SAFE

NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT

IT WOULD BE ATTACKED

"KALIFA!" she shouted and ran towards the gym where he and his father were praying.

"We can't land." Jack said panting heavily. "It's a trap."

"Jack, what the hell are you talking about?" Riddick asked getting up. She was bent over and holding her side. She kept pointing towards the mess and motioning him to follow.

"Come quick." She told him as he jogged along side of her.

Kalifa and Salim stood looking at Jack's laptop and stared back up when Riddick spotted them. Their faces were grave and no one looked happy.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked and went to the screen.

"Got a message from Janis. I haven't checked my mail in days. Now read this and then look lower after I decrypted it." she said pacing. "We're fucked."

He took off his goggles, read the letters carefully and stood back up walking over to the bulkhead.

"Son of a BITCH. GOD DAMN YOU TOOMBS." His voice roared taking a chair and hurling it across the room. "MOTHER FUCKEN SON OF A BITCH. I'M GONNA KILL THAT FUCK!"

He stormed out of the room and down the hall leaving the mess in a fit of unbridled rage. No one dared follow, not even Jack. He needed to calm down first and she knew that better than anyone.

"Anyone got a plan?" she asked sitting back down.

"She'll be expecting an answer Jack." Salim said looking to her for a moment but hearing Jack's voice in the distance.

Everyone except Jack dropped whatever they were doing and looked at the hall.

Riddick had gone to see Layne in the med lab, rage running hot. Salim feared for the child but Jack knew better. The animal would calm down when they were together.

She just knew it.

Salimheard Jack and Riddick's door slam and then the hall was deathly silent. His face was full of worry and he didn't know what to do. But Jack put a calming hand on his arm and slowly walked down the hall.

"Think about what I should say, I'll be back later. And abort the orbiting codes and get out back out into deep space." She told Kalifa who was already on his way to the bridge.

When Jack opened the door, Riddick was on the bed, with Layne on his chest. It was pitch black and she didn't need the light to know they were there. She could smell them. She smelled anger, fear, and the calming scent of the baby.

"Hey." She said softly, quietly approaching.

"Fucking Toombs." Was all she heard growl in the darkness. "Picked the wrong man to fuck with this time. You think that the mother fucker woulda learned by now."

"Cockroach." She quipped. "Ghost him. Him and his whole fucking crew. Then it's over."

"I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch if he even tries laying a hand on my kid." He snarled in the darkness.

The silence was broken when Layne let out a contented coo. "Can't get enough of that sound. Hmm. Like a baby cub growling. Just the right amount of animal to make me take a step back." He growled low in his chest. The rumbling made Layne rub his face against his chest and Riddick sighed, easing his ire like a waterfall of cool water. "I love this kid Jack. Never thought I would like kids but he's mine and I ain't letting no two bit rent a dick get in my way."

She watched him open his eyes, seeing the silvery shine in the darkness. "Man, I never thought that one little heartbeat could make me feel like this. I do anything for this kid, fucken kill every man I see, if it meant saving him. Doesn't matter who. I'd even die for him to make sure he's free."

Like your mother. Like your father Jack thought her face saddened by the loss of his parents.

"Yeah, like them Jack. You're all the fucking matters. Without you two, it's all shit." he said taking her hand and kissing her palm.

He knew what she was thinking, just as she knew him well enough to soothe him.

"Okay." She said stroking his arm. "What are we gonna do?"

"We're gonna get ready. Make him an offer he can't refuse." He told her in all seriousness.

"Godfather kind of offer?" she asked looking at him trying not to smile. That movie trilogy had become his favorite lately.

"Riddick style." He said in a low menacing growl.

"Good, count me in." she said leaning over and kissing his forehead. "Let the bastard try and see where that gets him."