Warning now, I really hate this chapter. It didn't go at all well and I have suffered the worst case of writers block ever imaginable! It really, really sucks and I'm not joking! But I needed to move on with the story so I forced this out. I may go back and go into more detail after I've got a few other chapters out and gotten back into the swing of writing this fic but I'm not promising anything. It's really shit and I kinda want to put this chapter behind me.
So sorry again. I apologise for the crappiness and I promise that the next few chapters are lots better. At least I hope they are…
Okay, well, thanks for all your reviews, I really appreciate them. Any ideas for how to make this chapter less…sucky and I'd be very grateful!
Happy Reading!
Gem
xxx
Chapter 4: The Final Flight of the Bawdy Mistress (part2).
"Hold onto something!" he yelled at her and Jack had little time to comply before the ship lurched and she was thrown forwards, outstretched hand sent scraping mercilessly into the jagged machinery of the landing legs. A pain filled curse tore from her lips as her knuckles were ripped and slashed by the sharp, protruding bits of metal that constituted the control panel.
"Shit!" she hissed, her uninjured hand lashing out and grabbing onto the nearest thing that could be used as a handhold. "A little warning next time!" she roared back to Riddick as she shook her lacerated hand, sprinkling droplets of blood around her onto the dull, scuffed metal flooring.
Riddick either didn't hear her or was too busy to reply to her and all Jack could do was grit her teeth, baring the stinging, throbbing pain in her right hand, and cling to the bolted down machinery for dear life.
-00000-
Riddick grimaced, jinking the controls of the ship and making the heap of rusting metal twirl and twist around the oncoming fighters with an astonishing grace. Ideally he would have liked to have had Jack back in her seat and strapped down, where he could see her and where she couldn't get herself hurt, but he had little time to allow thoughts like that to fly through his mind. He needed to focus otherwise they would both be very dead, very soon.
Sleek, silver fighters streaked past the ship with little room to spare, the vacuum of space between them boiling with laser fire, blow after blow raining down like a thunderstorm and scorching the hull, though not enough to penetrate.
Riddick dipped the skiff's nose towards the planet, flipping it into a tight barrel roll away from one of the larger, slower battle cruisers, and suddenly all pursuit ceased. The many swarms of one-men fighters pulled back, circling around towards the remainder of the fleet and seemingly giving up their incessant chase.
Worry settled in Riddick's belly like a coiled snake, slowly winding it's way up through his stomach to rest in his chest making it clench. There was only one reason why they would pull away when they'd had him outnumbered and outgunned.
The concern in his body suddenly turned to dread, desperation and tiny sliver of fear as he pushed the ship to the fastest that she would go in an attempt to reach the atmosphere before the warship decided to open fire with one of it's massive laser mortars.
Shit! If they were hit by a blast from one of those fuckers then they'd be fried.
"Come on you fucking heap of shit!" Riddick roared at the controls, fingers hammering at them in an attempt to coax the 'Bawdy Mistress' into a speedier descent. "Come on!"
Atmosphere burned brilliant and bright around the skiff's nose, stabbing into Riddick's eyes despite the fact that he wore protective goggles.
"Yes, yes! Come on you fucking bitch!" he gritted out through set teeth, hope beginning to win back over the anxiety.
For several long moments everything stilled. It seemed an eternity as the ship grappled, trying desperately to breach the atmosphere like a diver desperate to break the surface of the sea for air. The entire skiff shuddered as she plunged through and Riddick release a jubilant whoop only to have it strangled in his throat as the beam from the battle cruiser's cannon hit home.
-00000-
Dazzling liquid fire burst into Jack's goggle-shielded eyes causing an immense pain to flare through her skull as if it was being split in two. So great was the agony shooting through her eye sockets, that she was unable to think coherently, simply clinging to the wires and machinery for all she was worth.
She'd heard Riddick's primal yells moments before as he desperately attempted to save them from certain death. Then there had been nothing but the blinding light and pain.
Oh, shit. She thought absently, gritting her teeth together and simply wishing for the agony to end. We're going to die…
-00000-
"A direct hit, my Lord!" Vaako enthused from where he stood beside one of the many hunched men and women who poured over the control panels of the massive flagship. His grey eyes scanned over the information on first one screen then another to his left. "There is no way that such a vessel could survive it's decent to the surface." his gaze flickered back over his shoulder to his leader and he sobered slightly, seeing the older man's staunch features.
"Do not be so easily fooled, Vaako." he growled out, twisting the metal gauntlets about his wrists. "I want a search party down to recover the bodies. I want to know who they were and what they did."
Vaako snapped a sharp salute, before dipping his head in a respectful bow.
"As you wish my Lord Marshal. It shall be done."
-00000-
Jack lay on the burning sand, her excruciating back grateful for the warmth upon her raw muscles and spine, and her skin screaming out in protest as it was scalded. She didn't even remember the impact, only the torture that was inflicted upon her eye. She turned them, amazingly still goggle-clad about her, searching for any signs of Riddick. She wouldn't be able to live if he hadn't survived. She wasn't even sure how she had survived!
Her desperate gaze found him on his feet dusting himself down and scanning the area for a direct threat. She smiled with immense relief at that. Same old Riddick. He just never seemed to switch off, to lower his guard, even though the bastards who had shot them down thought that they had been destroyed in the crash.
"You gonna get up, or just lie there and crisp?" he asked not even bothering to turn and look at her as he spoke, his shaded eyes intent on discerning the direction of the nearest town.
"Riddick! We've just had a fucking crash! Almost died!" she gasped incredulously but Riddick simply shrugged, his back still to her, as she struggled to sit upright.
"Yeah, yeah…" Jack muttered, finally, when she realized that she was unlikely to get any reply or sympathy from him, wincing and cursing as she succeeded in pushing up into a sitting position. Her back throbbed harder than before and a blazing headache threatened to explode behind her left eye.
Riddick turned then, at the sounds of her straining, and moved to kneel beside her in the burning, soft red sand.
"You okay?" he queried and Jack nodded, waving his overdue concern away with her damaged hand. Riddick's own hand shot out in a lightening fast motion, fingers snatching up Jack's wrist and twisting so that he could inspect her torn knuckles.
"It's just a little cut, Riddick." Jack began, attempting to tug her wrist free, but Riddick merely raised his eyebrow and she fell silent knowing that her words weren't about to fool him. He did have eyes after all and her knuckles were slashed almost beyond recognition.
After an excruciating pause Riddick stood, pulling Jack to her feet with him, an arm curling around her waist to steady her when she wobbled slightly.
"Come on. The sooner we get into New Mecca, the sooner we can get you sorted out. I don't want those cuts to get infected. They'll sting like shit."
Jack rolled her eyes but followed after him, taking one final sombre glance at the smoking, twisted metal skeleton that had been their ship, their home. It had been where they had eaten and slept, where they had argued and laughed, where they had fought and loved. It had been their life for the past three years and now it was all over, gone in a tumult of flames and smoke. 'The Bawdy Mistress' had taken her very last flight.
-00000-
Argh! Well, at least crappy chapter is over and the story can move onwards! Tallyho!