Chapter 12: Relief

The relief in the command center was palpable. Shirah and Lalia stood, looked at each other and burst out laughing from sheer joy. Jack stood as well, and just looked around the room in apparent awe; he had never seen anything like the command center before and he was just itching to explore it.

Kyra slowly stood. Her dizziness was beginning to pass, as was her headache. She walked down toward Riddick. After all that had happened, she was filled with so many emotions to see Riddick again. She still had a hard time believing he was here. Stopping right over Riddick's shoulder, she watched as he pulled up navigation maps and coordinates, searching for the Threshold.

"We're finally heading back?" Kyra asked quietly.

"Yeah. I have some business to attend to back in the real world." Riddick said, finally finding the coordinates he was looking for.

He entered them into the Nav computer and leaned back. He checked the time it would take to arrive at the Threshold. "We have time to get some sleep." He looked back at the three in the back of the room. "Everyone get some sleep. I don't know how it was getting here for you, but when I did it, it wasn't fun."

Lalia grabbed Jack, who was staring wide-eyed at Riddick, by the hand and pulled him back to the room they had chosen. Shirah nodded and followed them from the room.

"Fuck you Riddick." Kyra snapped, "Who the hell said you could order me around?"

Riddick turned to her with a smirk on his face, leaning back against the pilot's chair and crossing his arms. "You have a problem with my orders Kyra?"

Raising her eyebrows, Kyra stepped closer to Riddick until they stood tow to tow. "Tell me what the hell is really going here, Riddick. It looks to me like you have picked up yourself another dumb ass kid who will follow you around blindly. I'm surprised. I never really pegged you as someone who likes company. What the hell are they doing on this ship and where are we going after we get out of this place?"

A smile tugged at the corners of Riddick's mouth. She was the one person who could always stand up to him. Impressive. Slowly Riddick stood, causing Kyra to take a small step back, and nodded. "Fine, make yourself at home." He said, gesturing towards the copilot's chair.

Kyra turned and sat down, cringing slightly and lightly rubbing her bruised ribs. Riddick waited until she sat and then turned to sit in the pilot's chair again. He told her how he had first seen Shirah when he was traveling to Helion Prime, how she told him about Furya, how she told him he was Furyan. He talked about coming to the Underverse and met Jack which led him to meet Shirah in person. He told how Shirah had bought Lalia and Jack a ride on the ship by helping her. He finished by saying. "I'm heading to Furya, and Shirah wants a ride for her and the other two. Thought I'd bring them along, might be useful somewhere down the line."

Kyra laughed a short laugh, "Okay…Now what the hell is wrong with Lalia? She hasn't said one word yet and seems to be scared to death of you. Though, you probably take that as a compliment, don't you?"

Riddick chuckled low in his throat. Turning to glance at the computer screen he said, "We still have some time to sleep." He stood and turned to walk out of the command center.

"Good night Riddick." Kyra said softly.

Riddick paused, "Good night Kyra." Shaking his head slightly with a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth, he left heading for the barracks.

After several hours of sleep, Riddick rose and headed back to the command center to check on their status. They still had some time before they arrived at the Threshold, so he leaned back and propped his legs up on the flight consol. Crossing his arms he relaxed, letting his mind wander. Instantly, his thoughts turned to Kyra.

Memories flashed before his eyes causing him to smile. He couldn't believe how she had grown. She was still young, but she had the air of someone much older; a toughness and strength that he recognized because it was much like his. He felt off-kilter when Kyra was around, though he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. He had felt this way ever since he had first seen Kyra in Crematoria, ever since she had boldly looked back at him with her dark eyes. There had always been something about her that had inspired him to protect her when he wouldn't have protected anyone else, but now that inspiration had deepened into something else. Something that made him willing to risk his own life for her.

A soft beeping coming from the Nav computer alerting him that they were approaching their destination interrupted his thoughts. Looking up at the view screen he saw the Threshold twisting and writhing. "Here we go again."