Chapter V
On The Other Side of the Stars
It was a city of eternal night, not close enough to any bright star to keep a constant period of light. Not many lived here; it was impossible to naturally grow anything and, unless one had a shine job, well, it's safe to say that you wouldn't get too far. No one spoke of it, but a single man ran the entire planet and his loyal followers and workers kept it that way, showing no mercy to those who tried to overthrow their leader.
The main city was safely nestled into a ring of mountains, providing protection and lookouts, which were all used. If one stood on the slope of the mountain, looking directly at the city, it seemed to glow. Everything was made of white stone, giving contrast to the dark streets and sky that surrounded it. There were no entrance gates, since those who ran the city always knew who was in it anyway. There was no uniformity to the streets, the roads always moving a little, intersections never quite properly perpendicular. Yet through a jagged path could one make it to the building that stood above all, the one that looked like a temple to those who entered by the mountain path.
This building stood tall and elegant above all the others, symmetric, the terraces and tall windows matching. The rounded porches easily gave some twenty feet between the doors of the porch and the stone railing surrounding it. From afar it seemed a palace, fit for only royalty. In a way, royalty did live within it, but not the royal blood of kings and queens. This was the royalty of hunters; hunters who thought nothing of money and pay, just of the thrill of the chase.
Gentle moonlight lit the large terrace that led from a bedroom, light hints of jasmine uncurling in the breeze that played with the curtains. The best hunter of all - indeed the emperor or king of them all - stood at the railing, watching his city flourish with activity. It was as if the building he ruled and hunted from was like the moon itself, affecting the tides of the ocean. Waves of movement would overcome the city, seeing how no one put themselves in a certain period of time to sleep. Some slept while others worked, the night always providing a dark cradle for those who had hunted with their strongest.
The night let him think without confusion, each thought flowing into the next, as if a small stream connected the stars of ideas that matched his eyes. Breathing in the air, he turned his head to hear one of his hunters confidently approach him. They had no reason to knock or grovel; they hunted together as a pack. Yet he stood at a respectful distance, waiting for a signal to let him speak. The relaxation of shoulders was enough and his voice cut the comforting silence.
"We found the information you requested. The killer's last stop was at a small space station, Nattuck. We gained access to a few security tapes and your suspicions were confirmed. The man who hired her bragged of her quick and thorough job, but he was drunk, so we continued to search. We had to…threaten him for the ship tracking code, but-"
"Had she asked for the honor code?" He spoke at last, his voice rumbling with power.
"No, we would have found other ways to find the tracking code for the ship if that was the case. She seems to be drifting, not quite having a destination in mind." He continued, still confidant in his deliverance of information. He hid nothing from the leader, this ring of hunters were always respectful of promises, honor codes and grudges.
"Laiker, is someone trailing her?" He asked, using the hunter's name.
"Yes, and we have reason to believe that the leaderless ring is following her as well." He said, curious as to why his leader was so interested of his rival's death; usually he would just be pleased to have him gone. He wasn't surprised when he smelled the curiosity, he had gotten used to that.
"I know her quite well; we have something of a history. Was the last hunt finished?" He asked, moving onto more business. He only half-heartedly listened to the successful report of the capture and bounty, turning to ask his fellow hunter a personal question at the end.
As he thought it out in his head, Laiker handed him a file with pictures of the killer through out the years. He had never seen these, only one vivid image of the girl stayed with him. Closing the file to look at it later, he coldly judged the man standing before him. He had no friends within his hunting ring, just very close brothers.
"Talk to me as a brother, Laiker. Do you think it's worth it to look out for this killer?" He asked, leaning back on the railing.
"Seeing how it was rumored it was impossible to find him and do him in, she could be a valuable addition. Are you going to go to see her personally?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I think so. Not sure how she will take me being what I am now." He added with his infamous smirk, making Laiker bark with laughter.
"What? She would be surprised by the world known Richard B. Riddick turned strongest leader in the hunters of mercs?" He asked with sarcasm. Riddick laughed with him, but he didn't know as he left his leader's rooms that in fact, it could be a problem. How exactly would Jack take the fact he was now the chaser, not the chased?
Marius had woken up alone, feeling just as empty as the bed he was laying on. Jack was his idol, his mentor, his everything know that he came to think of it. But was she going to abandon him? He knew for sure that would break him and roughly wiped away a few tears that just threatened to fall. Rolling off the bed, he stood and padded from the room to the cockpit, where the woman in question turned to look at him.
"Strap up, we're landing." She said, ignoring his red eyes. Jack herself was confused as to how she would let him know she wasn't going to pick up and vanish. She promised that she would never run off like Riddick did on her, although bit by bit she came to realize that he hadn't run off, but it still felt that way.
Marius had no idea where she had gotten her piloting skills from, but he didn't know how long she had been on that shit planet they had met on, or where she had been before, either. They weren't that of an expert, but just enough to get going and gone when they were being chased. He saw that they were landing on another space station, Valen III to be exact.
As she pulled into her lot, Marius looked around, seeing it was simply another space station, pilots stopping to refuel, restock and maybe rest up for a few days. When they had first stopped on Nattuck he had kept in tow of his mentor, always observing around him. He had been startled by the sudden appearance of scantily dressed women flocking around docking pilots and had almost glued himself to Jack's side. One or two even approached Jack, slyly smirking at her and she had paid a little attention to them, rewarding their bravery of going near a female pilot with a meaningless kiss or two.
Marius had been almost horrified when it sunk in that there was a large brothel business on the space stations, but when he brought it up with Jack, she made it make sense, like always. He had edged around the topic of her kissing another woman, but Jack just laughed and ruffled his hair. She said that it didn't bother her, but it wasn't her preference and that when one gets very lonely, measures are taken to fix that. She had left him with that and he thought of it again, trying to steer Jack away from walking straight through what he saw as a herd of obnoxious underfed and un-groomed swans.
He stayed at her side as she waited in line to register and request what was needed for the ship. In these space stations no one asked for identification for the ships, so they had no problem, Jack gruffly ordering what she needed. Marius stood off to the side of the desk, his eyes drifting over the people just milling around. He was caught by a group of particularly vicious looking men, who were also scanning the crowds. He almost choked when a scarred face locked in on his position, specifically Jack's behind him. She noticed it too and locking her hand on the back of his neck, walked him away, into the center of the space station.
They didn't speak until they had gotten far away enough, walking in a very large circle that was like a giant mall. Jack only had to follow her nose to the food courts, her hand not straying from his neck.
"Jack, those men, are they…" he trailed off and she nodded, curtly asking him what he wanted to eat. As soon as what the needed was given, she was leaving.
Sliding into two chairs, they ate in silence, his mentor's eyes flitting over the passing crowds. As they chewed their food, Jack classified in her head where she was exactly and what planets she was near. Just as she was finishing off her burger, which Marius insisted was so rare it still had a heartbeat, a figure in the crowd almost made her choke. Yet it was gone as soon as it had appeared and left her thoughts racing. She would have thought he would seclude himself after the crash, not walk around in broad light of the world. Valen III wasn't in the center of things, like the Helion system, but he would still be recognized.
She left some money on the table and Marius had to chug the rest of his soda just to catch up with her. Jack fearlessly stalked through the people, her presence not one to miss or mess with. Talking to her was useless right now, seeing how she was almost chasing someone. Finally it seemed that she had temporarily given up the chase and she looked down to see her charge worriedly returning her cool gaze.
"Hey, Marius, want anything while we're here? We won't be hitting another station like this for a while." Her mood suddenly changed and he was secretly glad for it. His eyes traveled over the names of the stores painted onto the clean glass, their products displayed in the window.
"Yeah, could I get some more books?" He asked, surprising her. With a half grin, she nodded and consulting the glowing plastic map of the station, found the singular bookstore. He kept near her, rarely straying to look at something in a window, but he was happy to see that she stopped only a few feet away, waiting for him.
He almost skipped into the bookstore and, checking her credit chips, she told Marius he was allowed to have ten books and with glazed eyes he ran off into the maze of book shelves. She wandered around, not really looking for anything, but landing in the animal section. She picked up a large book, which was a digital picture dictionary of the rare and strange aliens of the universe's known planets.
She sat down in a chair in that area, setting down the device on the table. Jack's mind easily whirred and found how to work it, either entering the animal or the planet. A grim line served as her lips as she entered the fatal planet that almost was the death of her. Jack's eyes drifted over the other spines of the books as the small computer buzzed and purred on the table, searching its database for her request. Soon it came up and a hologram was projected into the air, the image causing Jack to shudder in memory.
The hammerhead's jaws were open in a ferocious and what looked like a starving cry, its wings open and claws reaching forward. In the background it quietly gave the sound of the strange alien, the echoing locating calls haunting her. As she read the entry for the beast, she didn't hear Marius approach her from behind.
He saw his mentor deeply absorbed by whatever was on the table and as he got nearer he saw it was a dictionary for alien forms of beasts and animals. The one that was displayed in the hologram frightened him; it looked the stuff of a child's terrible nightmare. He shifted his feet and immediately Jack heard and spun around, her glare wild and afraid. Marius was shocked and stumbled back, the books falling from his arms. He saw her shut down device on the table and bending down to gather his books.
"Jack, Jack, it's ok." He said, picking himself up as she turned and put the small picture dictionary back to its place on the shelf. "What was that thing?" He asked, receiving a cold glare from her.
"Nothing, let's go." She sharply commanded, stalking out of the small area hidden by surrounding shelves. Nodding he followed her, relieved to set down the books on the counter. Jack bade him to wait outside while she paid and he did so, but the image of the horrifying beast still played before him. Jack followed him out, two bags of books in hand and she looked fondly down at him and smiled. He felt better and even more comforted when Jack let him hold her wrist with his hand, slowly walking back to their ship.
A figure moved in the bookstore, entering the now clean and quiet scene that had been one of chaos and confusion just minutes before. He easily found the dictionary, pulling it out and setting it down on the table. Sliding into the seat he entered for the most recent entry and growled deeply when he heard the soft cries of the beasts that had saved Jack from so long ago. He didn't need to see the hologram and shut it down, returning it to its shelf. Stalking out of the bookstore, Riddick turned and followed the unique scent of the woman who he had been thinking of almost every day since the murder of his rival.
Thanks to these reviewers and especially to dear IT:
TotallyRiddickObsessed – So good to have you reviewing again! See! He came in!
ren3017 – I had a great time, thanks. I hope you still like the direction of the fic, soon another chapter will come up.
njrd – Discovering good stories is such a great feeling, thanks for reviewing. Marius and Jack is fun to work with and yes, R/J will happen, rest assured.
Iridescent Twilight – More double reviews yet no pirate speak. Meth and Marius, something with the 'M' names. And yay for hugs.
NightmareWeaver – Sleep always sounds good, yeah I realized after I uploaded the chapter it was PotC-like, lots of fun. Yes! More NW updates! No drastic things happening to computers, that's the worse.
TeaCat – Glad you liked it.
Haley – Woo, you can bet your anonymous self that there's gonna be R/J. Hope you liked this chapter.