The holographic projector spun on a silent axis rotating the image of Larendaron. His transparent form was just as imposing especially when it appeared on the bridge of your ship unexpectedly.

"Karla Dawn escaped convict wanted for treason and multiple counts of murder. Convict is armed, apprehend with caution. Five hundred thousand credits for the safe return of the convict to Goddara Prime." The holographic image blipped and then began again.

Imam sat back in his chair rubbing his lips with his index finger watching the man he knew as Larendaron requesting the capture and return of Karla Dawn.

"Half a million credits" he whispered.

"What's that?" Riddick asked standing in the doorway.

"This message is being broadcast on all channels mister Riddick. It appears that our guest is wanted back on Goddara Prime".

"Five hundred thousand credits for the safe return of the convict…"

"Five hundred thousand creds" Riddick said aloud "How the hell is she worth that. Damn, we should turn her in ourselves" Imam eyed Riddick cautiously trying to judge if he was attempting to be humorous.

Riddick shrugged. "With that bounty on her head Holy man she's more trouble than she's worth".

"Remind you of anyone?" Imam asked raising an eyebrow; still not sure whether Riddick was being serious.

"Do you have any idea how long it took me, how many people I had to ghost before I was worth even half that." Riddick shook his head "Something just aint right with this whole fucking scene" he paused for a moment watching the holographic figure.

"For someone who spent the majority of her life on that fucking rock you tell me; how does someone rake up a bounty like that?"

Imam shrugged "Perhaps he just wants her back".

"But why?" Riddick questioned "you saw when he did to her. That's a lot of money to pay for a toy."

Riddick punched some new coordinates into the navigational computer. The ship drifted to the right.

"Where are we going?" Imam asked.

"We're taking her back" Riddick replied with an element of ice in his voice.

"You cannot send her back to that Mister Riddick. You yourself saw the conditions, saw what they do there. You cannot offer her salvation one minute then deliver back into the very hands that she spent her life trying to escape the next." Imam pleaded.

"I didn't offer her anything Holy man. I am not her saviour!"

Imam stood from his chair knocking it backwards tumbling to the floor. He closed the distance between himself and Riddick.

"You really are a barbarian." he whispered in Riddicks face before storming out of the room.

Riddick remained still for a moment, replaying what had just happened. In all the years he had known Imam, not once, not one time had he seen the expression he had just witnessed. He couldn't put a name to what he saw in Imams eyes but if he had to try a myriad ran through his mind: Hate, despair, sorrow something else too something Riddick didn't like the smell of. It wasn't fear, fear he enjoyed picking out in the air, enjoyed following it to its natural conclusion. But this left a bitter taste in his mouth. It was pity. The holy man felt pity; for whom? For him or that pathetic bitch locked in her quarters mewing over a cut on her arm.

Imam wandered the corridors of the ship. He was caught in the ultimate scruple; should he inform Karla of Riddicks intention to return her to Goddara Prime and in so doing ensure his own slow and painful death at the hands of a monster or should he keep what he has learned to himself?

He knocked lightly on Karlas door, his breathing shallow and quick. He could feel the palms of his hands grow sweaty and slick. Silently he prayed for her not to have heard him knocking, that she wouldn't come to the door, then he could sleep knowing that he had indeed tried to tell her but that there was never the opportunity. Would he rest easier?

His reverie was cut short when the door opened and a very tired, pale Karla peered out.

"What is it Imam?" she asked, her voice was croaky.

He didn't answer; just stood looking at her. She was beautiful, her eyes could be hard and appear merciless sometimes but now, now he saw gentleness in them. He could feel her kind heart beating and sense her fragility.

"Imam?" she spoke softly lifting his chin to see his eyes. "What is it?" Gently she brushed away a tear that Imam hadn't even noticed was falling from his cheek.

Imam reached to a set of coloured beads around his neck. Removing them he took Karlas hand and pushed the beads into her hand closing her fingers around them.

"Imam please, tell me what's wrong?" Karla felt his distress.

"I…I wanted you to have these, child". He spoke in little more than a whisper; avoiding her gaze knowing that if he saw her eyes once more he would fall into their beauty and loose himself. It couldn't happen, he wouldn't let it happen; the decision had been made and in so doing her fate had been sealed.

He didn't look at her again before walking away, head bowed.

Karla examined the beads in her hand before retreating back inside her room to rest.

Riddick relaxed in the pilots' chair. The course he had plotted took them around the asteroid field and so it promised to be a smooth journey. He stretched and felt the bones in his neck crunch and bitch as they popped back into place. The lids of his eyes grew heavy and sleep came like a silent wind sweeping through the room carrying with it all who stood in its path.

Imam knelt in his room praying; praying for salvation, praying for strength to get him through this newest chapter of his life. He was tired suddenly, not sleepy tired more a mental exhaustion banging through his body with sluggish repetition. A persistent dull ache in his head had become more apparent over the last few days and sleeping had become increasingly difficult. It was as though every person on the ship had been infected by a disease that did not permit the body to relax. He considered it to be the events of the last few days coupled with their experience, albeit brief, on Goddara Prime. And, he considered, Karla Dawn was a large part of the ships unease.

Karla toyed with the beads around her neck unable to settle, unable to relax. Her arm throbbed and something didn't sit right. Imam, a man with whom she had shared only one conversation had seemed troubled, devastated even. He was hiding something of that she was sure, but what was it and why couldn't he tell her?

Rising from her bunk she padded barefoot through the ship. Peering through a window she saw the sleeping figure of Riddick in the pilots' chair. She opened the door holding the lock down to stop the click as it past the frame.

Walking to the navigational control panel she allowed her fingers to move silently over the keyboard. The display on the monitor made her fall into the chair by the panel.

It couldn't be right. She checked, double checked but still the data on screen was the same. They were going back.

"Fuck" she mouthed silently.

"You God damned sonofabitch" she yelled rising from her chair sending it crashing backwards. Walking over to where Riddick lay she threw a punch catching him on the left side of his face sending him reeling out of the chair and onto the floor. He was awake before he hit the floor and landed in a crouch ready to spring back up and attack.

Karla was furious. She pushed his chair out of her way with her foot and closed the gap between them. Riddick stood and countered a second punch catching her with the back of his hand in response, sending her falling backwards into a control panel.

"You're taking me back!" she breathed hard wiping a small stream of blood from the corner of her mouth before lunging at him once more. She faked to the left and landed a punch to his chest, as he bent over she raised her knee to make contact with his chin. She heard and felt the audible crunch as she found her mark. His hands snaked out grabbing her leg throwing her over onto her back before pinning her to the floor his knees on her shoulders his hands on either side of her face. She bucked her hips with little effect.

"How could you?" she said fighting against his hold "how could you do this you mother fucker".

Riddick lifted her head and banged it on the floor "Hey, you kiss your momma with that mouth girl?"

She stopped fighting for a moment to look him square in the eyes "My mothers dead you Fucking Parasite!" She mustered all her energy and spat a ball of bloodied phlegm into his face.

Riddick roared with laughter and snaked out his tongue to lick a bit of spittle that landed on his lips.

It was then that he saw the string of beads around her neck. Gathering them up in his hands he yanked them forward. Surprisingly the string held firm and Karla let out a cry of pain as her neck was pulled forward. Riddick wrapped the beads around his huge hands, the necklace pulled tighter and tighter around her neck cutting off her air supply.

"Did Imam tell you?" he yelled leaning into her face. He could smell Imam all over here.

She felt his warm breath cover her and tried to recoil but his hold on the necklace was strong and unwavering. "Did you fuck him for information!"

Karla could feel her life slipping away. She found peace in it knowing that Larendaron would not get the information he so desperately wanted out of her. If she were to die, if she were dead then his quest to find Furia would fall. She allowed her head to fall back before whispering:

"I'll see you in hell Furian"

Her voice was so quiet no human would have picked it out. But Riddick wasn't human. His heightened senses picked out every word. It was like he'd been stung. His grip on her was released and her head landed on the floor with a loud thump.

"How did you know?" he asked.

Karla fought for her breath; each time she inhaled it felt like a thousand pins were being stuck into her lungs.

"How did you KNOW!" he bellowed.

Karla laughed a sick tormented laugh bearing her teeth which were tainted with her blood.

"Do you think it was an accident you were in that slam Riddick?" she said between laughs.

Riddick glanced at her sideways.

"You were there because that is what he wanted" she continued. "You were his new play thing"

"Why?"

Karla rolled her eyes trying to regulate her breathing. Riddick moved his knees off her shoulders and shook her "WHY!".

She fought for control as her body heaved. "Because I am the key" she replied.

"Key, what key?"

"I know where Furia is" she whispered lifting her face up to his.

"LIAR!" he backhanded her. Again she laughed.

"No" she shook her head "I was supposed to take you to Furia and in so doing lead Laren their too. He was going to use the weapon to destroy your planet. With your kind extinguished there would be nothing to stop him challenging the rest of the colonies, raping them of their resources."
"Why would my kind want to stop him. We're fucking barbarians, we hunt, we kill, we annihilate, we destroy. We are indiscriminate in our actions"

Karla shook her head again. "No Riddick. Furians are keepers of the peace. They use whatever force is necessary to keep the balance." She relaxed, exhaustion had taken over. Her body shivered at the thought of being taken back to that planet.

"I don't wish to go back there" she reached into Riddicks back pocket and pulled his shiv holding it to her own throat. "I'd rather die."

Riddick fell back on his heels stunned. A million thoughts raced through his head and for once he was unsure. With uncertainty came insecurity, weakness and if there was one thing Riddick could not be it was weak.

He didn't like this new feeling; his gut, his instinct was all he could rely on and when that instinct was compromised he was blind

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" he asked.

She paused for a moment "Have I ever lied to you?"

Fuck, a question with a question what kind of game is she playing.

His eyes searched hers looking for any sign, any glimmer of deceit. He found none but that didn't mean he was just going to buy into whatever it was she was selling.

"The tracking device in your leg..." Riddick spoke slowly trying to piece everything together. "When you said they'd kill you and kill me…"

Karla nodded. "The tracking device was planted so they could map our location."

"But you ripped it out of your leg" Riddick carried on.

She nodded.

"And that's why he's put a half million credit bounty on your head"

"He's done what?" she asked raising her voice slightly.

"You have a price on your head. I couldn't figure why someone like you would be worth so much alive…now I know."

Karlas hold on his shiv did not waver all the while they were talking she kept it pressed to her throat.

"I die, the information dies with me."

Riddick enveloped her hand in his and gently, but forcefully, pulled the shiv away from her skin.

There was a tense pause. Karla couldn't bare it, her head swam; were they going back, staying put, was she taking him to Furia, was he gonna kill her? His expression was unreadable.

"Please" she said looking directly at him "Don't make me go back there".

Riddick inhaled deeply. Could what she was saying be true? Could she be the link to get him home? He looked down at his captive; she looked tiny in comparison to his superior frame. No kidding he got off on being dominant.

"One question?" he spoke, his voice had taken on a gentler tone. He waited for her to agree, she nodded once.

"Was it all a set up?"

She paused, thinking her answer through. "No," she answered. She saw his jaw tense and a nerve jump in his cheek. He wasn't convinced.

"Laren wanted me to get close to you; I was supposed to wait until you told me you were Furian. You were supposed to rescue me and I was supposed to…" Oh man, she could feel her face turn red as she thought about her instructions "I was supposed to" she searched for the right word. He could feel and smell her anxiety "I was supposed to be pleasing to you. You were to find me pleasing that is" she rolled her eyes and took a deep breath "We were supposed to." She used her eyes to signal and stared at his crotch.

"Oh" Riddick grinned "You were supposed to fuck me; is that it?"

Slowly she nodded and shrugged.

"So that display in the great hall was for real, not a set up?"

She nodded. "I was never really good as doing as I was told. Don't respect the chain of command". She arched her back and groaned under his weight; her body was beginning to go numb under him. Even though he had rested back on his heels his weight sat on her hips. He shifted and helped her sit. The sudden movement made her head swim; she touched her hand to her forehead and shook her head to clear the butterflies.

"Where's the information?"

"All this from one question; one question you said." She protested.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't have many options Riddick. I can't tell you where the information is right now; just that I have it here with me."

She swallowed a gulp "My life is in your hands; which ever way you look at it."

Now that he liked the sound of.

Riddick stood, his boots thudding on the cold hard floor. She watched him punch in some coordinates and held her breath.

"Do you know Mara?" he asked

She shook her head "No"

"Well that's were we're headed for repairs. We'll decide what to do from there but for now you step one foot outta line and I'll ghost you key or not. Understand?"

She closed her eyes wishing the tears away and nodded.

"Mind if I get a drink?" she asked.

Without turning to look at her he shook his head "Grab me one. Try Aldarhan ale, cold"

Slowly she stood and walked to the galley. As she passed Imams room she could hear the Holy man praying for her. She knocked on his door and waited for him to open it.

"Karla, child, what are you doing up this late? Are you ill?"

Karla put a hand on his shoulder and offered him a small smile "I'm fine Imam. I just wanted to let you know that we're not going back; and to thank you for the necklace." She kissed his cheek "That one was for your prayers and this one" she kissed his other cheek "is for you".

The experience was a humbling one for the old man. She had touched a part of him he thought had died all those years ago on T2.

With that she bid him goodnight and carried on to the galley.

Riddick didn't hear her re enter the command room. He jumped when she set the glass of Aldarhan ale down next to him.

"Is this really Aldarhan ale?" she asked.

Riddick took a long drink from the glass, belched and set the glass down before nodding. "Something from your homeland" he answered.

She tilted her head to the side and inhaled the spicy aroma from the liquid before taking a tentative sip. Swallowing, her eyes instinctively closed and a smile played across her lips as she tried to imagine being back on home soil. The deep rich spice fields sending their aromatic bounty across her village in waves. She took a long drink wanting to fill her entire being with Aldarha.

Riddick prised the glass from her hands "Careful" he warned "its strong stuff".

She licked her lips dragging the last tiny bit of taste from her tender skin and Riddick heard a low moan of pleasure deep in the base of her throat.

The animal in him wanted to feel how her skin tingled as she groaned. Wanted to taste what she tasted for the first time from her lips, her mouth.

She slowly opened her eyes focussing on his.

"Thank you" she whispered wiping a stray tear from her cheek. "I know that if I were to die I would die happy knowing that I had tasted my home world. All these years I've clung to a jaded memory and burning nightmares and nothing real. That was the first thing; the first factual thing that I can say was real."

She looked happy Riddick thought and unusually he felt a moment of calmness within his strong frame. But then he considered that they shared the same history partly.

Whilst he had been found in a dumpster behind a liquor store with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, she had a normal few years. While he was discovering his innermost demons and learning how to distance himself from his emotions she was being ripped from her home world and thrust into a world of chaos. While he was honing his craft as a killer, she was yielding to a higher power. But, he was seeking his home world, as was she.

The madness and mayhem that had brought them together either by fault or design would now hold them and keep them until he had what he desperately craved: to rest on Furian soil. To see the skies with his own eyes not some handed down gossip from a Leuthian miner who had been blinded for an eon and wasn't able to tell the difference between brilliant crimson or fading grey.

A string of bitter tragedies beginning with his birth had brought him thus far; carried by hate and the insatiable appetite he had for revenge he had put his mind and body through the ultimate test of endurance. Now, now he could see the light though it was still a silvery pin prick at the end of a very long, fraught tunnel.

"What are you thinking?" she asked looking up at him while sipping at her drink.

"My home" he replied "You have a dream to haunt you even when you're awake. I have nothing." He spoke slowly looking at the floor hiding his sudden pang of sadness, or at least trying to. His voice plagued by emptiness.

"Riddick; I really don't know which one of us is worst afflicted. I have memories on which my nightmares continually feed from; but greed is its own master and I am left feeling cheated from a life I should know only too well. I am deserted when I awake knowing what I am missing. You, I could say, that you are blessed. You have prophecies and legends passed down through time, here say and history lent to you from passers by. Had you seen it with your own eyes, you would have something other than someone else's best guess or second hand whisper." She paused and put a hand on his shoulder. "But it is your home nonetheless. And you feel like an outsider regardless of where you are. Rest easy Furian and know that you shall see the morning skies of Furia." She took another deep breath and sought out his eyes with her own, gently lifting his chin so their faces were level. "I will take you home". She offered him a smile.

Even though they shared a similar loneliness they were kept apart by their individual thoughts at that moment. They remained silent, considering what the other had said, digesting the events that had unfolded in such a short space of time.

Karlas head spun and her stomach felt unusually full. The thought of food made her feel ill.

"I have to lie down. Please excuse me". Karla turned slowly concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other.

"I told ya to slow down with the ale." He muttered.

Karla reached out to steady herself with a chair "It's not that Riddick" she was overcome by unnatural hotness and pulled at her shirt. "My God have the environmentals been changed it's fucking hot in here" .

Riddick peered over the environmental control panel. The temperature reading was well with the normal range.

"I feel…strange" she stumbled out of the door and found her room just in time to get to the bathroom before her whole body retched purging the food and liquid she had consumed that day.

"Oh fuck" she groaned resting her head against her knees.

Again, the unnatural full feeling overcame her and she fell forward heaving into the toilet. "Shit what's happening to me?".

She flushed the toilet and took several deep breaths. The lights were too bright, the floor felt too hard and cold against her raging skin. Her body ached.

Once again she heaved emptying partially digested pieces of apple into the toilet. The force of the retches made her eyes water. It felt like her ribs were bruising with every heave and her breath was lost somewhere in between her lungs and her throat. She coughed several times from the thick acid flavour lodged in the back of her throat.

"Fuck this" she groaned.

"Here", a voice came from behind her. Moving her head slightly to see she rubbed the salty water from her bloodshot eyes and attempted to focus. A glass was the first thing she saw, held steady inches away from her face. A hand, huge hand, strong steady arm bald head, goggles.

"Go away" she pushed her hand out towards him. He was witnessing one of her most embarrassing moments. She was weak and she hated showing her weaker side.

"Drink" his words were soft but firm.

"I don't want anything. Please go away" she whispered.

"Drink" he repeated pushing the glass into her hand.

She refused to hold it.

"I can take care of myself Riddi…" she didn't get to finish. More bile forced its way up her throat and out into the toilet.

"Okay, here's the deal." Riddick crouched down by her legs "Either you drink this or I hold you down and get Imam to pour this down your gullet."

Karla wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before looking up.

"Shit" she admitted defeat and took the glass.

"I don't get it. After everything that's happened over the last few days you'd think someone up there would cut me some fuckin' slack." She sipped from the glass and lay her head on her arm which was draped lazily over the toilet seat.

"Maybe I should get myself a prayer mat." She thought for a moment before shaking her head "nah, bad idea, whichever deity decided to shit on me is gonna get a real wake up call. I'm not playing anymore."

Riddick heard himself chuckle, not with sarcasm, not with contempt but a genuine amused chuckle.

"Oh, I'm glad you find this amusing 'Dick". She groaned.

"You whine like a baby". He commented. "It's just your stomach bitchin'. Remember you have not had real food in a long time. And call me Dick again an' I'll slit your throat."

"Who died and made you king badass anyhow?" she asked awaiting the repercussion for her sarcasm. It never came he was already gone.

She was half relieved that he left but the other half of her didn't want to be alone. She hadn't been alone in twenty years. The slam was overcrowded at best; even the rats got pissed off. It felt strange to finally have the silence that she had imagined for so long.

"Lights off" she whispered, and was plunged into darkness.

The gentle humming of the ships engines lulled her to sleep, head still resting on her arm knelt up to the toilet.

Mara was a desert, a huge, round, spinning desert. Moisture farms were the driving force behind the economy of the planet. Water was harvested from under ground and sold on. The inhabitants were nocturnes, preferring the cool night as opposed to the burning daytime sun.

Riddick brought the ship into land at the docking port. The ship grumbled and shuddered to a standstill. Karla awoke with a start.

Silence, absolute silence; the engines had powered down.

"Illuminate" she whispered.

The lights came on and she remembered where she was. Her legs had gone to sleep hours ago and were numb from it. She stretched them out in front of her and waited for the millions of pins and needles to assault her body. Her stomach growled, her head throbbed, at some point during her sleep the glass of water had fallen from her grasp and shattered spilling water and shards of glass over the floor.

She felt her heart pounding in her chest, could see the flimsy material of her shirt rise and fall in staccato fashion. What the hell was going on?

Imam left his quarters and joined Riddick on the command deck. Through the observation window he could see nothing except darkness broken only by a few orange lights. Shadows moved in the distance as the inhabitants went about their business.

"Mara", he murmured.

"Beautiful isn't it!" Riddick exclaimed. Imam eyed Riddick cautiously thinking he saw the barbarian actually smile.

"Have you been here before?" Imam asked clearing his throat.

Riddick nodded "Once, once before" he answered.