Author's Note: Sorry for the long hiatus in updating. I let myself get distracted by work and other stuff. At any rate, I'll try to do better, and perhaps I just might succeed. grin
Chapter Twenty-three
"Don't pick at it," Kyra chided from where she lounged on the bunk in Jack's cabin, waiting for Jack to finish changing. Jack, who had been selecting an outfit, was currently wearing only a sports bra and tights. She looked down and then glanced back up sheepishly. She had been nervously fiddling with the small incision below her sternum where the ship's medic had inserted the tracking device.
"It itches," she said with a shrug. She smoothed her fingers over the tape, holding the edges of the wound together. "You really think this transponder thing Twitch built will help you find me? I read about UL prison. It's huge; practically the entire moon is prison. And they have frequency jammers to prevent this sort of thing."
While Jack pulled on a pair of worn cargo pants, Kyra's face broke into any evil grin and she waggled her eyebrows. "They can't jam all the frequencies. Gotta leave some open for guard radios and such. I asked Twitch about that myself while Doc was wiring you up. It scans for frequencies with traffic and then piggybacks on existing transmissions. But the signal is encrypted so it registers as minor static on the radios. All we have to do when we come to get ya, is monitor the traffic for the signal, then follow it to you."
"So why hasn't anyone else done something like this to escape?" The shirt she was pulling over her head muffled Jack's voice slightly.
Kyra shrugged as Jack's head popped through the shirt's neck. "I dunno. Maybe they don't have friends who care about them. Or maybe because Twitch is a fucking genius when it comes to these kinds of gadgets. Or, hell, maybe someone else's done it and the prison officials just kept it quiet. Prisons are big business, Jack. They don't tend to advertise their screw-ups."
Friends who care about them enough to change their entire lives, Jack thought. She looked down as emotion swelled in her. Dammit, I'm gettin' all misty again. Scrubbing at her eyes, she took a deep breath and then looked seriously at Kyra. "Thank you, for all you're doing for me. You have no idea how much I appreciate it."
"Jack, you don't have to thank me," Kyra said firmly, as she looked away from Jack. "If it hadn't been for us, you wouldn't be in this situation. You'd still be a normal kid on Helion Prime going to school with your friend who... what was his name?"
"Rob... Rob Harris," Jack was surprised that Kyra had brought up the subject. As close as the two women had become, it was an area that they had seemed to avoid by mutual consent. "And he was more than a friend."
"I know. And it's my fault he's dead," she confessed quietly and then paused. Jack realized her expression must have conveyed her confusion at Kyra's proclamation. When she continued, her words came in a rush tumbling over one another as she tried to explain. "I'm the security chief; I should have known that Sanchez was a hype. But I didn't. I wasn't thorough enough or attentive enough or... I don't know... The details don't matter, it's still my fault."
Jack sat on the bunk beside Kyra and pulled the woman into a hug. "You're wrong, you can't know what would have happened with anyone else you took along. And even if you and Toombs hadn't taken the job, that bitch Aereon woulda just sent someone else after me. Then more people I love might've ended up hurt or dead as well. Like Imam, Lajjun and Ziza."
"You gotta believe that if I had known he used, I'd never have let him onboard. Much less let him on that mission. I'm so sorry, Jack. I'm so, so sorry." Jack felt a wetness on her shoulder and Kyra's arms tightened around her as she began to weep. The remorse pouring from the woman was an almost physical force.
"When I realized Rob was dead, I wanted to blame you... to hate you and Toombs. I almost succeeded, too. But then I got to know you and you're like a sister or something... Oh, Kyra, it wasn't your fault. Sanchez did what he did on his own and he's already paid for his crime," Jack said, as she gently rocked the other woman. "Kyra, I forgave you a long time ago... please forgive yourself."
Jack sat holding her friend for a long time as she wept. It was the first time she'd seen the strong merc woman break down and for Jack, it was a testament to the strength of the friendship that had grown between them, as though the final barrier had fallen. Jack's only regret was that they'd been able to break down the walls sooner. Oh well, we'll have plenty of time once they take care of the ship and Aereon's people. And then get me out of prison of course.
When her tears finally spent themselves, Kyra pushed back from her and grasped Jack by the shoulders. "Regardless of what you say or whether you blame me, you lost one person you loved because of me. I promise, I won't let that happen again. We gotta go after Riddick to give Mare and Jericho time to take care of the ship without tipping our hand to Aereon. But I promise I'll look out for him for you, if it's at all within my power."
Even in light of the recent breakthrough in their friendship, Jack was stunned. "I thought you didn't approve of how I feel about Riddick."
Kyra shook her head. "Doesn't matter. I trust you and your intuitions. You love him and say he's a good man--"
"He is! He saved me from those creatures when the Hunter-Gratzer crashed and then again from Chillingsworth. But that's not all of it. Kyra, he has a good soul. He's not an evil man."
"That's good to know, but this is for you, Jack. I can't truly make up for my mistakes, but I can do this for you."
"I don't know what to say... Just knowing that you are looking out for him means so much. I... Thank you," Jack said and hugged her again. When she released Kyra, Jack smirked at her, wanting to lighten the mood for what time she had left until Toombs summoned them. "Of course, now you're gonna have to figure out a way to keep Toombs and Riddick from killing each other. God help you. You sure you don't wanna recant?"
Kyra finally smiled. "No, I promised you and I don't mean to go back on it. Don't worry. I'll handle Toombs."
"Like I said, God help you," Jack said and rolled her eyes.
The chime of Kyra's comm interrupted them. She flipped it open and hit a button. "Kyra here. What is it?"
Toombs voice came from the small device, tinny but ominous. "We're almost done offloading. You two about ready?"
Kyra looked up questioningly. Jack's blood ran cold. This is it, Jack thought as a wave of panic rose up freezing her in place staring at the tiny electronic device in Kyra's hand.
"Jack?" Kyra said with concern lacing her voice.
Jack took a deep breath and forced her eyes away from the comm unit. "I'm ready. As ready as I'm gonna be."
Icy wind howled through the network of chasms creating a keening whine that sounded almost human. Behind a large boulder, Riddick crouched, waiting for the appearance of one of the creatures, which made their home in the caves that dotted the canyon walls. The animals reminded Riddick of large fur covered pigs and they were one of the better things he'd found to eat on UV-6.
The sound of grunting from the entrance of the chasm heralded the arrival of a pair of the fur-pigs. Unaware of the threat awaiting them, they trotted complacently toward Riddick's hiding place. He tensed and double-checked his grip on the short spear he wielded.
As the pigs drew abreast of him, Riddick lunged upward and launched the spear at the larger of the pari. It impacted just behind the pig's front leg, causing it to stumble and emit a pained squeal. He rushed from his hiding place, startling the second pig. With a frightened squeal, it broke into a run toward the opening to its den. He let it go and turned his attention to the injured animal, which was struggling to rise. He threw his weight against the shaft of the spear, driving the point into the pig's heart. The pig gave a final squeal and then collapsed to the ground. A thin trickle of dark purple blood ran from the wound in its flank, staining the blue white snow dark.
Riddick retrieved his spear and stored it in its sling across his back. He then pulled a length of leather rope from his pack and lashed one end to the pig's legs. From the other end, he quickly fashioned a rudimentary harness, into which he slipped his arms. He leaned into the harness and began towing his kill across the frozen wasteland toward the cave where he lived.
His footfalls made hollows thuds as he ran, his long stride carrying him swiftly across the plain. While he ran, he constantly scanned back and forth for signs of danger. The vigilance was merited given the size and rather aggressive tendencies of certain denizens of the planet that weren't yet convinced that Riddick was the top of the food chain.
Just as he got within a few meters of the mouth of his cave, a sharp, piercing pain knifed through his head without warning. He gasped in surprise and staggered, but managed to remain on his feet. Riddick pressed the heel of his hand against his temple, and staggered the rest of the way into his cave. He slipped out of the harness and gave the pig carcass a hard kick, sending it sliding toward the corner of his cave where he stored his meat.
Fighting waves of nausea, he made his way to the mound of furs he used as a bed and slumped there. He took stock of his body and tried to find a reason for the sudden illness. He could find no cause.
"Riddick..."
He thought he heard her whisper. Still battling the pain and nausea, he looked around, to find the speaker, but he was alone.
"Jack?" he asked the empty cave, feeling more than a little foolish. A rushing sound filled his ears and he was hit with an intense sensation of vertigo. His vision swam and the phantom of a woman danced in the sparkle of light coming through the cave entry for a few seconds before the dissipating. He couldn't make out her features, but she was young, slender but fit with dark hair.
Then, as abruptly as it had started, the pain stopped. His vision cleared and his stomach settled. Within a few seconds, he felt completely normal, as though nothing amiss had occurred.
"What the fuck is going on?" he growled. His only answer was the sound of the wind whistling quietly around the entry to the cave.
The guards carried her limp form to her cell and dumped Jack unceremoniously on the bunk. She lay still, willing down nausea that had plagued her since the prison doctor had administered his first injection. She had vomited twice during the delousing treatment, which had earned her several blasts from a high-pressure hose. Her skin felt scalded and her head was pounding; she assumed the injections had brought on the headache along with the nausea.
One of the guards, whose nametag proclaimed him 'Jenson', taunted her from behind the closed cell door. "Nasty, little Boyfriend Slayer all locked up. You won't be killin' any more boyfriends from in there, now will ya, bitch? Women like you are all alike, coax a guy in an' then 'fore he knows it ya screw 'im over. Well, ya won't be doin' that no more, neither." He was a tall, blond man in his early twenties who would have been attractive were it not for the sneer that twisted his features. His accent had a lilt to it known as Cockney for some reason lost to the vagaries of history.
Jack ignored him. She had gotten quite good at it over the past couple of hours during which he had kept up a running commentary on her many flaws and evils. She didn't even feel the twinge of loss that she normally felt when anyone even obliquely mentioned Rob. Jenson had tormented her for so long that his derision had lost its edge. Additionally, her own physical misery was too complete at that moment for it to register.
As the guard continued his tirade, Jack heard footsteps approach and a husky feminine voice ordered, "Fuck off, Jenson. The girl is ignoring you. Can't you tell when a woman isn't listening to you? Here's a clue... it's anytime you're talking."
Jack flopped weakly over on her bunk so she could see the newcomer. The voice belonged to a petite woman probably in her thirties dressed in prison dungarees that matched Jack's own new set of clothing. She had an average, pretty face with a narrow sharp nose and wide full mouth, but the feature, which instantly captured Jack's attention, was the woman's short, blunt-cut hair. It was a myriad of unnatural hues: red, gold, orange, there even seemed to be strands of blue. When the woman moved, the unique color gave the illusion that her head was on fire.
The guard paled visibly and took a step away from the woman. "Fuck off, yerself. What're you doin' outta yer cell? You know it's lockdown when we bring in a new prisoner."
"I was curious to see the new meat. You wanna make something of, Jenson?" she asked smoothly with a hint of menace in her voice.
"You don' intimidate me, witch!"
"Oh really, is that why you're cowering and running like a whipped little dog?"
"I ain't runnin'. I gotta get to me next shift," he said as he took another step away. He turned and tossed a parting shot at Jack. "I'll be watchin' you, bitch. Just you slip up and I'll show you what sorta punishment we got round here for murderous sluts like you."
"Git, puppy!" the woman snapped and stamped her foot in the direction of the cowed guard.
He promptly hurried down the corridor and Jack heard the door to the cellblock open and then shut with a clang. A moment later, there was a click from the lock on Jack's cell door. The woman slid the door open and stepped through.
Jack had managed to struggle into a sitting position, but she was in no condition to fight anyone at that point. She studied the flame haired woman warily, hoping that she would be friendly at least until Jack was strong enough to defend herself.
The woman crossed her arms and studied Jack for a moment. Then she smiled slowly and extended her hand. "I'm Fia."
Jack accepted the extended hand and squeezed gently in greeting. "Jack," she responded.
"It's a pleasure, Jack," Fia drawled. She released Jack's hand and gestured to the bunk beside her. Jack nodded and the woman seated herself carefully on the edge of the mattress. She looked closely at Jack once more, and then her eyes crinkled and her lips twitched as though she was laughing at some inner joke to which Jack was not privy. "So, sugar, what are you in for?"
"Didn't you hear Jenson ?" Jack replied, unable to keep the bitterness completely out of her voice. "I'm in for murdering my boyfriend, Rob, along with a couple of mercs."
Fia snickered. "Triple murder... not bad. But I wasn't asking what they wrote on the sentencing papers. So why are you really here?"
"Quadruple murder, actually. And why would I be in here for anything other than what is written on the papers?"
"This cellblock is for politicals, not common criminals. Even quadruple murderesses would normally be put in the general prison," Fia said matter-of-factly.
Jack narrowed her eyes at the woman, reluctant to admit much to someone she had only known for a few minutes, especially when that someone was a convict. "Why was Jenson so afraid of you?"
"If I tell you, will you tell me your story?" Fia asked with a quirk of her eyebrow.
"Why do you want to know?"
Fia shrugged. "Sometimes knowledge is power and power is important in here. And trust me, sugar, you could use a friend in here. This part of the prison might not be as rough as the G-P, but it is a prison."
