Chapter Fifteen


It was four weeks before Imam and Jack were aloud to leave orbit. Kali and Imam parted pleasantly. He encouraged Jack to shake the secretary's hand and smile and say thank you. She took her hand reluctantly, but all that came out was, "Can't say it was any more fun for me."

Ms. Rhiannon waved at their passenger cruiser as it glided out of port. Her plastered smile cracked and fell away as soon as it was gone. It was good to be rid of them, they'd caused more trouble than any one in the history of her office.

The creatures had been captured and euthanized, every last one. It gave her no comfort. She shivered when she thought of them. Ten higher ranking officers had been lost, and over thirty underlings. She'd ordered two extra sweeps once they'd landed back on the surface, and would probably order one more before the week was out. She wouldn't be convinced the place was clean until she was confident the lingering smell of bleach was permanent.

With a tempered sigh she collapsed into the spinning chair behind her desk. She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against her cold hand for a moment. There was a mountain of paper work to do, and she wasn't looking forward to it.

"Secretary Rhiannon?" came a voice over her intercom.

She clicked the mic on, "Yes," she replied, unable to mask the weariness in her voice.

"The President would like to speak with you. Video conference."

She nodded to herself, and swiveled to face her computer screen, "Patch her through." She sat up straight, and attempted to fix her frazzled hair. The image of a distinguished cafe au lait colored woman flickered to life in front of her. "Madam President," she addressed, stately.

"Rhiannon," she nodded, solemn, "Welcome back. I assume containment was one hundred percent."

"Not containment, extermination. We deemed the aliens too volatile to study. I'm afraid their origins will have to remain a mystery for now."

"All of the visiting dignitaries escaped unscathed, that's all I could ask for. I understand even our elemental envoy was able to free herself?"

Kali lowered her eyes. If she hadn't been so preoccupied with Riddick she would have realized that there were still important people in the hanger. Thankfully, the air elemental had been able to extricate herself and her body guards on her own. All with out being hacked to bits by the taut killer. Commendable.

The president noticed Kali's shamed expression, "Don't look so down trodden. It's hardly a blemish on an almost spotless record. But tell me, what of your convict?"

"I'm sorry Madam President. It's my fault he escaped. If I had informed you immediately, as soon as I had positively identified him, he would have been apprehended swiftly. It was a major laps in judgment on my part. I did not uphold my obligation, as a member of your elected cabinet, to bring him to justice."

"It's out of your hands now," she said sympathetically.

"No," a flame sprung up behind Ms. Rhiannon's eyes, "No it's not."

"Rhiannon, he is no longer under our jurisdiction. He hasn't been sighted any where in the Aquila system since the incident. You are not responsible for his capture."

"It's my duty. It's my fault he is not in maximum lock down where he belongs. I intend to remedy that," she folded her hands in front of her, displaying a steady confidence in her own abilities.

The president considered this for a moment, then, "I will allow you to organize a team to deal with the situation, on one condition. Don't turn this into some sort of vendetta, Kali. I'm ordering this as your chief officer of staff, and I'm asking as a friend. I should really hand this over to the Department of Inter-Stellar Justice."

Kali smiled, "Would you really want Bob Triman handling a case like Riddick?"

The president laughed lightly, "No, I suppose not. Truth is no one should be handling this case, including you."

"Let the next system deal with him, yadda yadda," she tossed her head minimally, "I know the campaign speech by heart. The policy is don't get involved."

Madam President squinted at her through the screen, "Are you sure you want to pursue this, Rhiannon? It's not... personal, is it?"

"No. No," she said, slow and introspective, "Nothing like that." But in a way it was. She had to do it for her. She made the mistake, now she had to fix it. The hunt was always more about the hunter than the hunted.

"Then promise me it won't become personal. I'm telling you, this could put our tails on the line if it gets out of hand."

Kali smiled a falsely assuring smile, "Don't worry, it won't. You have my word. I'm sorry, Madam, but I do have some lab workers that are badly in need of my assistance at the moment. I hate to leave you, but I must."

"I understand. Keep your nose clean. Good bye."

Kali turned the screen off and swiveled around to face the wall. There was no way she was going to track down, and more importantly obtain, Riddick with a sophisticated government team. You need a sleaze to catch a sleaze. She had and idea. A very illegal idea.

And on top of her idea, she even knew where to start: New Mecca. Home of acceptance, energy, and political revolution. And maybe, home to one fresh convict.


Author's Note: All right, so there are some COR tie-ins for you. The system Kali's planet's in, the elemental... yadda yadda. Next chapter on the way. A big thank you goes out to all of my faithful readers!