Warning: Love scene in this one. The wording isn't extremely graphic but for those who don't care for that as soon as they start kissing please skip down to the next scene break " ((SCENE BREAK)) ". (I am writing it in now because FF doesn't seem to like strings of cute little symbols anymore.)

THE MOTHER LODE BY ABRAXIS

Chapter 39 – Pieces of Homecoming

Perhaps Jenna had been forewarned by Riddick's demand to keep the merc on the bridge. Her expression hardly changed as she turned to Ben and sent him off to begin analyzing the yacht's com and computer system and plan the refitting it would need. However, it was ice as she took a long minute to stare at Rafferty before turning back to Riddick.

"Then why is he still alive?"

Rafferty knew he had paled at Riddick's accusation. Now he felt his face go positively ghostly at the steely razor edge in Jenna's voice. Riddick's chuckle as he answered Jenna didn't do one thing to release the cold that was clutching at his chest.

"Because Syrus says that his people are important to the colony and thinks that he can be convinced of the error of his ways. He did good on the station."

"I see." Jenna turned back to Rafferty. "Well?"

Rafferty's attention flashed back and forth between Riddick and Jenna. God have mercy. The one small difference in the hard eyes and closed faces of the two was the hint of a sneer on Riddick's lips, an almost warmth of emotion compared to the other. Still, this and the fact that the man had given him something of a good word didn't give the merc much relief as he stared into the woman's unrelenting focus on him.

For the first time Rafferty really believed what Syrus had told him about the true nature of the young woman that he had so easily and stupidly seen as a naïve pawn. For reasons that he didn't want to analyze, she was suddenly more frightening than the hulking convict. He became convinced that, if he answered her with anything but the absolute truth, he was a dead man.

"I wanted the life that the colony offers. I was willing to do anything I had to to get it. Mr. Sen convinced me that Riddick had you under his control and intended to highjack the ships; that the only way to make certain the colony happened was to … to kill him."

"And now?"

Nothing changed in the woman's face. Rafferty had no clue as to what answer she expected from him; what answer would keep him from taking a short walk out of a pressure port or bleeding out on the deck under his feet as quickly as the few steps it would take her to reach him.

"Now, Syrus is telling me that Sen is a manipulating bastard who will try and use the colony as his own personal kingdom, that you are the only one that can keep him from doing that and I had better throw in on your side if I don't like the idea of a future as a lab rat. He also says that your … … that your 'association' with Riddick is … … that you take his advice only if it's something that you want to do anyway."

"Got that right."

The low rumble from Riddick sent a small smile skittering across Jenna's lips. To Rafferty, it was like the heavens had open and Athena, the goddess of wisdom, had come down and slapped him up the side of the head with a sledgehammer. All of the blind, prejudiced labels, that were all he could see of Riddick since Sen had revealed his identity, began to look frayed and clichéd and Rafferty caught the briefest glimpse of what Jenna, and incidentally Syrus, must see in the man.

Rafferty could also see the reality and the depth of the relationship between the man and woman sitting before him as well as just how oddly suited they seemed for each other. He also began to believe just how deeply the woman had participated in the raid on the compound when he had been taken. Between wondering how he could have been so stupid before and why he was still breathing now, he almost missed Jenna's next question to him.

"What is your present attitude about all that and what do you intend to do about it?"

Any softness that Riddick's comment had engendered was gone and Rafferty once more faced an implacable female sphinx. A bit of his red-headed mother's temper flared side by side with the dread and hopelessness of his situation.

"If I hadn't already pretty well burned my bridges on this one, I'd like to take Syrus' advice and throw in with you. But, since that isn't possible, I'd give anything to never have met up with this psycho circus."

To Rafferty's surprise, Jenna laughed; a deep, throaty, extremely pleasant laugh. More surprising, it even lit her eyes briefly.

"Yes, I'm certain that you would. However, Syrus is quite right about the value your people will bring to the colony and I can accept what he says about Max as well."

Her expression became thoughtful and Rafferty wasn't sure that she was seeing him anymore as her attention seemed to turn inward.

"I do not believe that your assistance, personally, is completely necessary for that partnership to occur but success is assured with it. While any plans Max might have for the colony won't interfere excessively with my plans for my future, it would still be in my best interests to have a stable, productive home port. Nor do I wish to see some of his more bazaar theories tested out on any group of people.

"However, it would interfere with my plans to be required to personally watch-dog Max. Since with the proper training, which it seems Syrus has already begun, I am sure that you could be a trusted ally for the purpose of safeguarding the future of your people as a free society, your continued existence is beneficial to my self-interest. Bridges can be rebuilt for such substantial incentives even if such rebuilding will be difficult."

Now, Jenna's focus returned to Rafferty with such force it was almost a physical assault.

"On our first meeting, I gave you the opportunity to save your men and you have returned that with an attempt to murder one of mine. I will not easily forgive that. You have made a good start with your actions on the station and briefly with Mr. Sen but it will be a long time before you earn anything more than an uneasy truce.

"If you are willing to make the effort to do that, I will need a Security and Weapons Officer until Jeeter is fully recovered and a second for that position after that. Be aware that this will make you ship's crew and any further disloyalty, to either myself or my First Officer, will be legally considered mutiny with no question of my right to kill you in any way I see fit. I will give you two days to decide if you will accept the crew position or not."

Then with a twitch of her head toward a hatch at one side of the bridge she stood up, "Now, since Syrus is occupied, if you will follow me to the bunk room, I'll see what I can do about your injury with the first-aid kit there."

The quick change of topic threw Rafferty. Jenna was almost through the indicated door before he realized that the discussion was over and that she was actually offering to treat the gage-shot wounds in his leg; wounds that he had forgotten about in the adrenalin rush during the battle and hurried trip to safety and again in his anxiety after Riddick's denouncement but that came back into painful awareness as he struggled to rise and then limped after her.

As she calmly and rather gently went about slitting his trouser leg then cleaning, locally anesthetizing, extracting shot pellets, medicating and bandaging his leg, Rafferty couldn't get his mind wrapped around exactly what was going on. After a preventative hypo against infection and one for pain, she left him stretched out on a bunk with instructions to 'get some sleep'. But his thoughts were in too much of a whirl to do that immediately.

Hell, she'd cut to the bone of it with that comment about saving his men and what she'd gotten in return. But that wasn't the half of it. Riddick wasn't just a member of her crew. He was her lover. Now, she was going to give Rafferty, a man who had fully intended to murder him, a chance to prove he'd changed loyalties? Let him choose to become a member of her crew to do that? All this when she didn't think that he was necessary to get his people into the colony and when she didn't have any real stake in how the colony was run anyway?

And what was that threat about being crew making it 'legal' to kill him? The situation they were all in, any legalities were a totally moot point. Still, it seemed important to her; just as financing the court battles for the Institute and the status of the colony as properly registered had been for Sen, a man who had engineered this whole criminal-by-any-interpretation operation.

Then there was the fact that Jenna sounded a lot like Riddick had when he had handed him back over to Syrus, supposedly for the good of a colony that the convict had no intentions of living in. And that similarity between the two was the most puzzling thing for the merc in the whole twisted mess.

The woman? Yeah he could understand someone of her class, her education, thinking like that; thinking about more than herself. But Riddick? Murdering scum spawned by the dregs of society, scum like Rafferty had grown up around as his parents had worked themselves to the bone to pay his way out, scum that had murdered his parents and his two younger sisters before he could get them out too; scum that had always been nothing but unredeemable animals, nothing but meat for money to Rafferty.

Yet Riddick had been right there on an even level with Syrus, too, about what Sen could do to the colony. Also, according to Syrus, Riddick had taken care of him, as best he could, in Sulleman's dungeons; putting himself between Syrus and some of the worst of an enraged guard's blows, sharing his own body heat to keep him alive. Then, during the raid on the station, he had taken the dangerous point position, protecting the rest of them, when Rafferty had never known a squad leader who didn't put himself in the safer middle of the squad.

The last thought in Rafferty's mind, as he finally drifted into sleep, was that his universe had suddenly been turned inside out and he wasn't sure that he was up to dealing with that, even for as golden a prize as the colony.

((SCENE BREAK)) ((SCENE BREAK))

As Jenna returned to the bridge, she took time to savor the image of Riddick as he concentrated on the vid screen of his security console; her strong, beautiful lover, returned to her safe and sound. As a terrible, aching joy squeezed her heart, she knew that no matter how short their time together might be, she would thank the fates for every second of it until the day she breathed her last. Though, she did have a few cross words for those same fates for leaving them trapped on the bridge, far from the comfortable bedroom of her quarters, until all the various crises could be dealt with. With a resigned sigh, she turned toward the command slot.

She had barely taken two steps when a strong arm wrapped around her waist, another caught her behind the knees and she was effortlessly lifted against Riddick's broad, hard chest. Storm sea captured sunlight sea as each sought the other's soul through their eyes. A whispered growl, "Lights, ten percent", and silver shine met silver shine and drank each other in.

Jenna moaned in protest when Riddick broke the eye contact and focused on watching where he was going as he carried her the rest of the way to the command slot. He answered her with a leer and a chuckle as he seated himself in the slot and cuddled her into his lap.

"Ain't no use having this expensive monster if you don't use it right, sweet thing."

With a flip of his fingers across the console, Riddick locked off the bridge hatches. His mouth closed over hers; hard, demanding yet pliable, giving; all at the same time. How in the hell did he do that? The question vanished as Jenna mewed and melted into the heat of their combined need.

Hands ghosted over her. Fingers manipulated zips, buttons; boots and socks, long vest, weapons belt, trousers, and finally panties; all seemed to dissolve off of her body in a haze of arousing touches. Then her halter shirt was unfastened and slipped off of her shoulders and down her arms. But not removed. No. Left at her wrists to pin her hands at the sides of her hips as he rolled them over, to lay her on her back on the now reclined chair, and loomed over her.

Then lips, teeth, tongue and hot breath joined his hands; stroking, nipping, laving, pinching, sucking, massaging, revealing, invading, capturing, liberating. Giving her every pleasure she could imagine but one, the pleasure of touching him in return. Not only did he keep her hands from touching him but any other part of her body from touching his, skin on skin, as he remained fully clothed. And that one denied pleasure became insatiable need that drove her wild.

And he kept it that way, her magnificent bastard. With evil laughter in his eyes and on his lips, he foiled every attempt, every mad struggle, she made to free her hands from the binding material. Driving that fire higher and higher. Taking his pleasure not only from her body but also from the power he held over it. And, perverse as it was to her nature, she also reveled in his power, his control of her; her ability to finally trust someone with that kind of control.

Only when she was well beyond any coherent thought, did he finally free her hands, remove his shirt and lift her to ride skin on skin, chest to chest as he knelt on the deck and finally took her; sheathing himself completely with one deep thrust.

She screamed with a shattering climax, dropped her feet to the deck and rode him madly; her spasming channel quickly tearing his own release from him with a guttural snarl.

((SCENE BREAK)) ((SCENE BREAK))

Maximus Sen was not a happy man. However, he was not a totally unhappy one, either. True, his immediate plans were in total chaos but that was not actually due to any error on his part. Mob psychology was his forte, not individual psychology, and the man, Riddick, was too much of an individual to be plotted with the first and certainly turning out to be an enigma as far as the second was concerned. It occurred to Max that he really should have paid more attention to Jenna's opinions about the man those several years ago when she had first gone off the deep end about him. Not because of any thought that he might actually have need to interact with him but because of what it would have told him about Jenna herself.

Max had decided that Riddick was not the true problem. He was now convinced that, had it not been him, it would have been someone very much like him that Jenna would have chosen to seek out. The problem was Jenna, herself, and Max's overconfidence in his knowledge of and control over her. After all, individual psychology was her area of expertise and he really shouldn't have attempted to play her at her own game.

Now, of course, he would have to secure another 'protégé' with that expertise to balance his lack but that should not be a problem as soon as other refuges from Institute facilities joined the colony. In fact, that would be even better. If he were to make sure that his choice was of the higher IQ and higher fragility of a proper inmate of the Institute, there would be a much lower possibility of finding the unexpected vein of independence that had finally surfaced in Jenna.

Yes, he could see that this was actually working out for the best. While that independence had been of great use to him while making the preparations for the exodus, it would never have served him once the colony was established. That Jenna would now voluntarily clear the way for a better candidate and remove herself from the daily functioning of the colony, thus not becoming a constant check on him, was much to his advantage.

Also, he had to admit that the population aboard the ship was just too small for a proper wielding of his own strong suit. He had foolishly allowed his emotions, his personal attachment to the child, to influence him and had been quite premature and nearsighted in his manipulation of Rafferty against Jenna. He would now revert to his original plan, allowing Jenna to see to everything involved in the establishment of the colony and applying himself to the machinations necessary to use the benefactor's original will to get it declared the one and only legal Institute facility with himself as its Director.

Once that was done, he would have no need of her and her ships and the ungrateful child could go to the devil for all he cared. Of course, until then, he was going to have to work very hard at making peace with her.

He was also going to have to find out what had prevented Rafferty from disposing of Riddick and caused the merc's obvious defection into Jenna's camp. His relationship with Rafferty would also need to be repaired or the man eliminated if necessary to insure he would not become another interference in Max's plans for the colony. However, Max couldn't imagine the latter becoming a serious possibility, the merc was really such a simple creature.

Satisfied that he would have everything and everyone well under control in a very short time, Maximus Sen retired to his bed to enjoy a peaceful sleep, sweetened by the dreams of the perfect world he was building for himself.

((SCENE BREAK)) ((SCENE BREAK))

Ben was ass deep in the consoles of the new yacht, adding parts and rewiring her to schematics written only in his head. He should have been ecstatic, euphoric, a puppy up to his molars in his masters favorite slippers. He wasn't. He was sad and angry and confused. Nothing was working out as he had been promised it would or had thought it would. And every day it got worse.

Jenna was lost to him forever. Just because he couldn't tolerate hyper and really didn't even have the reflexes to be a Keller pilot either, she had to go looking for a back-up pilot and she had found Riddick. And Ben had liked him; had felt the same strength in him, had the same trust in him that only Jenna had ever given him before. Riddick had changed Jenna and taken her away from him and yet Ben still liked him. Ben hated that. He had liked some of the men his mother had brought home, too. But it never made any difference; he couldn't see himself in his mother's eyes again until they had disappeared like the others that he didn't like and had done things to.

Part of him had wanted Mr. Sen's plan for getting rid of Riddick to work but deep inside he had known that it wouldn't, that the redheaded merc was no match for anyone who could capture Jenna. So it was really no shock to Ben to see the big man again. After all, Mr. Sen's other plan had been a bust, too.

When Ben had found the tarantula during one of the initial system checks and reported it to Mr. Sen, the man had promised him that finding and disabling it after they had made their first hyper jump, when it would be recognized as a real threat, would make Ben a hero in Jenna's eyes. But that had been ruined when that bint, Sasha, had put that stupid 'toy' tracker in the hold. All his finding of the tarantula had been was another problem among the many and he'd had to cover why he hadn't found it before as well. Then, Mr. Sen had made him tamper with the security tapes and records so that he couldn't even get the glory of revealing the bitch's treachery to Jenna.

That plan had also brought his next two problems onboard, Jack and Mira. He had seen the looks from Jenna, the same as his mother had given him whenever she thought she had found him some playmates to take his mind off of the fact that she was ignoring him again for some man. He had known that Jack was a problem from the first. Sure, she had been ok to talk to about hacker stuff but anything else and she was off with that little shrimp thief that came with Riddick. All she had ever been to Ben was someone else coming between him and Jenna, someone who could take his place on the bridge of the Hole while he was left behind on the stupid colony to do 'more important' work, make things that would sell.

Mira had been different. She was awfully pretty and so interested in anything he had to say. It had been really nice. He had begun to think that for once maybe he could be 'normal' like Jenna was always promising him; have a girlfriend; maybe even a wife, someone who couldn't leave him. And with the threat of Sulleman hanging over her, Ben could certainly make sure that Mira would be too afraid to do that.

But, now, that dream was falling apart, too. Ben had overheard what Jenna had told Mira; that Riddick had killed Sulleman and that the tall, dark New Meccan he had brought back with him was a Prince who wanted to marry her. With the threat of Sulleman gone, what chance did Ben have against a handsome, rich man from Mira's own people? Rich had always worked quicker than handsome for his mother, even though most of them had been lying about it.

Ben viciously threw a valuable circuit board against the bulkhead. The rain of expensive confetti didn't do much to brighten his mood. He doubted that anything less than turning the hyper engines of the Hole into a small nova would accomplish that right now. However, 'suicidal' had never been one of the diagnoses on his chart. He would just have to come up with some less drastic way to revenge himself. At least he wasn't letting it throw him into one of his black rages. That must mean that he was making progress of some sort toward 'normal'.

With that comforting thought Ben went back to work on the consoles of the yacht.

((SCENE BREAK)) ((SCENE BREAK))

Syrus made the final adjustments on the healing chamber. The surgery had been extremely delicate yet had required the utmost speed to minimize the horrific aftereffects as much as possible. The events of the past few days had hardly left him in an optimal condition for such an exhausting task. He was basically on his last legs both physically and mentally as he left Nagia to watch over Jeeter and crossed the surgery to perform the physician's duty that he hated above all others, the confrontation with the 'family'.

Though Riddick's 'little sister' had no legal connection to his patient, the drawn and tear stained face that she turned toward him left no doubt that he was indeed facing that most detested situation. Nor were her reactions anything but further proof for the pudding.

"Please, … … ?" Her own voice seemed to strangle her and Syrus took the initiative.

"He will live."

Of course, she couldn't settle for that. They never could.

"His arm, his hand … ?"

More, they always wanted more. Why couldn't Jenna be here to handle this like she should be?

"He has them still. How useful they will be is not something I will speculate upon at this time."

Jack grabbed at her belt buckle and then suddenly attacked him. The swiftness and ferocity of it more than compensated for her much smaller stature and weight. Syrus found himself backed against his desk with a very dangerous looking straight blade only inches from his eyes.

"Do you see this! Jeeter makes these! He's making them for all of us and a beautiful jeweled collar one for Jenna. This is his craft, his dream, his heart. If you can't save his hand, how will he live without his heart??!"

Well, this was certainly different. It was also something Syrus could deal with much better than those damnable tears.

"I've done all that I can do now. There may be more that I can do later. However, maiming me will not do anything to help with that. I suggest that you could put your time to better use considering ways to give him new 'heart' should my efforts not be sufficiently successful. I'm sure an intelligent, beautiful young woman, like yourself, will be able to think of something."

As Jack pulled back from him with a thoughtful look on her face, Syrus thanked the powers-that-be for Riddick's obviously superior taste in 'sisters'. His relief grew as an expression of determination and a small smile reshaped her face.

"Thank you, Doctor. I'll be all right now. It's all going to be all right now!"

Syrus let out a short sigh as he watched Jack walk away to join Nagia in the vigil over Jeeter. Taking a decanter of guaranteed-to-kill-brain-cells whiskey from his desk, he forced his body to remain upright and moving long enough to reach his 'garden'. After setting the panorama to full night with lots of stars and a quarter moon and taking several fiery swigs of the liquor, he began to drift into sleep.

A wicked smile twisted his lips as he wondered if he would dream of creamy skin and red hair or massive tawny biceps and a clean-shaven skull. Either would be quite enjoyable and you couldn't get bruises for dreaming, now could you?