Sorry I haven't updated for so long. I've really got to start my animation so I won't be updating very regularly but I will try to do at least one a week.
This chapter was a hard one to get out. Phew! The whole last scene though kinda flowed out. I hope it's okay. It's only the first part though. I wanted to do the Final Flight of the Bawdy Mistress in one chap but it stopped flowing and I wanted to get this part out to see what people think. Anything that you can think of to make it better (coz it really needs to be made better!) would be great!
Thank you for continuing to read and review. Hopefully I can get to the more exciting bits soon, like the whole Riddick vs. Imam scene. OOOOOhhhh, can't wait to write that one!
Well, Happy Reading!
Gem
Xxx
Chapter 3: The Final Flight of the Bawdy Mistress (part 1).
"Jack! Get back in your fucking seat!" Riddick's words echoed down through the corridor after her as she continued to sprint in the direction of the service ladder that would lead her to the bowels of the skiff. "Jack!"
"Just you concentrate on flying!" she bellowed back, slamming into the far wall, unable to stop from her body's momentum and the lurching motions that the skiff was making. "We can't land if I don't sort out the legs and we'll be easy pickings!" she growled out, irritated that Riddick couldn't see that. "Dunno 'bout you, but I wasn't planning on dieing today!"
Jack actually heard Riddick's loud, angry growl of reply despite the distance that was between them as she steadied herself and swung her legs over the railings that encompassed the service ladder to prevent anyone from unintentionally falling down to the lower deck and injuring themselves. She gave a smirk at Riddick's expense and then began her precarious decent into the belly of 'The Mistress', winding one arm about a rung, holding onto it by the crook of her elbow to steady herself as she tested her footing hoping that the ladder would take her weight. It was built to hold considerably more weight than was created by her slender frame but Jack still felt the need to make certain. You couldn't ever be too careful. She'd learned that the hard way.
She moved down, step by step, slowly at first and then gaining speed as she became more confident. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. She counted the steps she took keeping in time with the thudding of her heart against her ribcage. She'd never felt so nervous since the day that Riddick had strolled in her cell.
They were in deep shit and she didn't even know who was set on killing their asses. It had been three years since they had broken out of Butcher's Bay and a good eight years since they had been free to move about in the darkness of the Multiverse's shadows without the threat of pursuit from some pansy-assed merc jerk who thought that he could do just about anything for a lousy buck.
For a lousy few million bucks, she reminded herself! That was why they had come for her when she had lived on Helion Prime with Imam and his family. That was why Riddick had left her in the first place, albeit he had left her with a kiss and a promise. They had still come though. The scent of money brought the wickedness out in humankind, like the smell of a fresh kill drew out the bloodlust of a starving animal. Money made men do terrible things.
This time was different, however. Not one of the mercs that had abducted her or the ones that had sought out Riddick for most of his adult life, had ever tried to kill them before. They were too valuable. Worth their weight in gold so to speak. The fact that their current attackers wanted them dead was a refreshing change for Jack, though not an entirely welcome one.
Suddenly the ship shuddered about her, metal groaning in protest at the manoeuvres that it was being put through by Riddick's piloting skills, pitching and bucking through space like a wild bronco to avoid assault. Jack was thrown backwards, her perspiration-slick hands losing their grip on her handhold and sending her sprawling onto her back, thudding to the deck below. Her spine throbbed from the jarring and she paused for a moment, fighting the sickly, winded feeling that was threatening to overwhelm her senses and send her into the fogginess of a pain induced stupor. She wanted nothing more to remain there, lying on her back on the lower deck and let her hurts melt away into the icy metal that she lay upon.
"You got them legs sorted yet?" Riddick's grim voice called to her, echoing to her ears through the corridors of the skiff and making her snap back to reality again. She groaned and pushed herself to her feet, gritting her teeth against the agony that flared up and down her back like a bolt of dull lightening. She had to get those legs down!
"Almost there!" she yelled back, forcing herself into another run down the darkened corridor until she found the room that housed the landing mechanisms.
"I want you back up in this seat in three, Jack!" Riddick's voice growled out again and she rolled her eyes in exasperation, slapping her palm against the access panel. The door hissed open revealing a room bathed in an angry flashing light that Jack's goggles did little to dispel.
"Alright, let see what we got here…" she muttered shouldering her way into the small room that was filled with wall to wall machinery, half of which Jack had no inclination of it's purpose other than the fact that it looked complicated. She knew where the landing legs were luckily, after having helped Riddick to oil them up several weeks past when they had been in the Aeries Cluster, and ducked beneath a piston, squeezing herself past claw-like pieces of the machinery that thrust themselves forwards intent on tearing the soft skin of her passing body to ribbons.
"There you are, you little shitters!" she hissed, holding in her breath and her stomach to slither past more hostile technology and stopping before the large, slightly rusting metal legs that were supposed to fold out from the belly of the ship and ensure them a safe landing.
Jack blew at the wisps of hair that always seemed to escape the captivity of her ponytail and end up in her face, and rolled her sleeves up to her elbows, scanning the massive parts that resembled two pairs of legs that were bent at the knees.
"Okay." she breathed, fighting against the erratic motions of the skiff and reaching out for the control panel. "Here we go."
-00000-
Riddick swung the ship around again, growling as the laser fire scorched the hull. They were getting better at aiming and predicting his manoeuvres. If he had hesitated for even a split second in his flying then he and Jack would both be stardust! He needed to do something and do it fast if he was going to get Jack's ass to safety.
Come on, Ricky! Get you pansy-assed dick in gear! he growled in his own thoughts, clenching his hands tighter around the control-stick and searching more diligently for an escape route to planetside.
Some of the smaller sleek, silver skiffs had begun to peel away from their formation and head in Riddick's direction, no doubt intent on blowing him to oblivion. These fuckers, whoever they were, did not seem like they cared who he was, they just wanted to keep him away from Helion Prime.
"Interesting…" Riddick mused aloud, his protected eyes sweeping over the massive space armada again as they hung before him, toting their guns…taking aim.
Then he saw it. Their ticket for escape. The little entourage that had taken it upon themselves to go after him had left a small opening. It was tight…very tight and it meant that he would be flying uncomfortably close to some of the bigger bad-asses. But…it was there and the only way.
"Jack!" he yelled hearing his own voice ricocheting through the metal shell that was their ship. He heard her curse in response and irritation.
"What now!" she roared back and he gave a grim smirk, juking and jinking the control-stick suddenly, sending them hurtling towards the sliver of hope.
"Hold on to something!"
-00000-
He stood on the bridge of his command ship, his stormy grey eyes sweeping over the panoramic view of space before him, gauntlet clad hands clasped at the small of his back. The tiny dilapidated little ship that danced at the edge of the fleet that he commanded was beginning to try his patience.
"What is the problem, Commander?" he hissed, refusing to turn his gaze away from the view port and to the pale, grim man that he spoke to.
The man paused for an extended heartbeat, steeling himself for what he was about to relay to his superior. To his regent.
That was a bad sign. Vaako was prone to pausing when something had gone wrong. It was a weakness that made the younger man so much easier to read and that was liable to get him killed at some point. On the other hand, it also made him the most trustworthy of all his commanders. Vaako was truthful to the point of stupidity whereas some of his more questionable subjects were decidedly dubious to say the least, plotting and conspiring.
"What is it, Vaako!" he raised his voice, levelling a furious stare upon the younger man finally, though to Vaako's credit, he did not flinch or wince, simply raised his chin, meeting his regent's ardent gaze full on.
That was another quality that made Vaako indispensable. He never shirked his duty. Never shied away from toil and hard work, nor from the consequences when their plans didn't run smoothly.
"The vessel in question seems to be evading our fire, my Lord Marshal." Vaako replied finally, dipping his head in a gesture of submission to the Lord Marshal's authority.
He stayed silent for a long moment that drew Vaako's eyes upwards to his monarch's face, waiting for his response.
"I see." the Lord Marshal said finally, turning his gaze back to the view port.
Vaako hesitated briefly again, turning his gaze also to the colossal window that laid the depths of space bare to his glance.
"The vessel seems to be…heading towards the planet, my Lord Marshal."
"What of the pursuit?" he demanded suddenly startling Vaako's stare from blackness to his Lord's face beside him.
"I have sent out one fighter squadron after it…however…" he paused again, taking a deep breath in and bracing himself. "It seems that the vessel has broken the atmosphere…"
-00000-
There we go. What to you reckon? As always tips, hints, criticism and all is very, very welcome! The next chapter is part 2 of the Final Flight. Hehe. Can you tell where I pilfered the name from? Lol!