Chapter 32: Disaster

It had been nearly five months since Kyra was taken and Riddick had left to find her. He had gone from planet to planet searching and digging for any information on ships that had passed through their airspace. Some were helpful after a little encouragement, and some weren't. The body count was rising.

Finally he got a lead from a fat, pockmarked man sitting in a grungy office by an old, rusty flight hanger on a little out of the way agricultural planet called Anitra 2. An under cutter that matched Riddick's description had crossed a shipping lane just outside the airspace of Anitra 2 nearly two weeks before. There was very little space traffic in the area, sometimes months passed between landings or use of the shipping lanes, so any activity was noticed and remembered. With a little persuasion Riddick finally got its general heading, left the bloodied man, and headed back to his ship.

As he entered the dilapidated hanger and neared the ship, he saw a slight movement in the shadows underneath it. Instantly he stopped and quickly backed up behind some large shipping crates. Slowly, carefully, he glanced out around the large metallic boxes and watched as the shadow finished whatever it was it was doing and left quickly, glancing around to make sure he hadn't been noticed; Riddick ducked back and pressed himself tightly against the crates as the man exited.

The small hanger was empty so Riddick came out from behind the crates, jogged to his ship, and looked underneath where the man had been working. A small alloy box had been attached to the wiring and it was giving off a soft, but slowly building, ticking sound.

Without hesitation Riddick turned and ran; his body working like a smooth machine as it ate up the ground in huge strides. He had almost made it through the hanger door when a pressure wave hit him hard in the back, lifting him off his feet and sending him flying forward just as the sound of an explosion reached his ears. He hit the ground, rolling and tumbling as intense heat washed over him. Finally he came to a stop and held himself as flat against the ground as he could, gritting his teeth against the heat and waiting for it to subside. Moments seemed to last forever and then, at last, the flame front receded leaving nothing but a rain of debris.

Riddick slowly rolled onto his back, grimacing as his burned skin hit the hot dirt. He lay still for several seconds, trying to clear his head and then stood, shrugged his shoulders testing out the skin on his back. It didn't seem too bad and he knew that it would heal quickly anyway. What concerned him was the scene he was now surveying: The hanger, the little grungy office he had just left, and his ship, were destroyed. Nothing remained in the dusty field but a pile of rubble.

His felt as though a weight had landed on his chest. The man who he had just finished interrogating in that now destroyed office had told him that his was the only ship currently on the planet. He watched as smoked curled up from the wreckage, and flames finished devouring his way off planet; destroying his one way to Kyra.

Jefferies slowly woke up, pulling himself back into reality. He was just happy that this little under cutter didn't put its passengers in full Cryo Stasis; now that was a bitch to wake up from. Now he just felt like he had been in a really deep sleep for five months…which, basically, he had been.

The other three mercs were just beginning to wake up as well, staring groggily around at each other; J and the Rat were slowly stretching out their long unused joints as the Hand stared around dimly.

"Sweet dreams?" Jefferies asked, pulling himself up and heading to the back of the ship to check on their guest of honor. All he could see through the Cryo chamber's door was her face and she appeared to be fast asleep. Good. She wasn't supposed to wake up until they had touched down and got their money anyway.

He turned back to the others as J pulled himself into the captain's chair. "Planet Sahade; the Konis system. What a beauty." J said sarcastically looking up through the cockpit windows. In truth the planet looked rather like Mars from the Solar System, though much smaller. It was nothing but an overheated reddish-orange rock.

"Let's take her down." Jefferies said working the kinks out of his neck, and they began their descent.

They landed at the coordinates that they had been given by Declan's people, right in the center of a large, open dust field surrounded by sharp cliff faces. Heat waves floated up from the hot dirt and rocks, making everything shimmer and dance. Jefferies and the others stood just outside their little ship wiping the sweat that had already accumulated off their brows as they looked around. "So, where the hell are they?" Rat asked, squinting in the glare of sun.

"Not here." Hand said, never one to resist stating the obvious.

"No shit, you idiot." Rat replied and nonchalantly turned away. He and Hand went way back.

"Must be running late." Jefferies said. "Let's go inside. Hot as hell out here." With that he turned and walked back up the ramp inside the little ship, the others following close behind.

Hours passed…there was no sign of the men who were supposed to meet them for the drop off. The mercs were beginning to get impatient. "Do you think they changed their minds?" Hand asked in his low, bass voice.

"No one would change their mind after already giving us their ship. Nah, their just running late." J replied sensibly, but Rat and Jefferies didn't seem so sure.

"Maybe…Maybe they got 'waylaid'." Rat said, "I mean, you did see who this girl's friends were right? If she's alive, who's to say he isn't? I mean, he might be on his way. Now." He glanced around as though expecting to see a ghost. J laughed mockingly at Rat's show of weakness but Jefferies looked thoughtful.

"Tomorrow. If they aren't here by tomorrow, we'll take her and leave. Find us a slam who wants her. She's got a good enough record…We can break even at least." He said decidedly, "And we won't have to worry about him." Rat nodded but J shrugged, "Whatever."

The rest of their evening was spent pleasantly, telling exaggerated stories about their various snatches and the horror stories that came with their trade. Rat couldn't help but notice how many of the really horrible stories included him; the great legendary Riddick, the most wanted man in the universe. He shuddered as he glanced around nervously.

They were all so wrapped up in their stories that they forgot to reset the timer on Kyra's Cryo chamber. Hours passed and they finally all fell asleep as the digits on her chamber got smaller and smaller.

It was early, very early in the morning; it would be several hours before the sun rose over the cliff walls. A soft click, click, click was heard followed by a soft hiss of escaping air. Slowly, the door of the Cryo chamber swung open revealing Kyra hanging limply from her restraints.

She began to stir. Her dark blue eyes opened and darted quickly around the nearly black room. Instinctively, her long unused muscles tensed and she stood, supporting her own weight; relieving the pressure from her wrists and ankles. Just in the nick of time because her restraints suddenly released sending her stumbling forward awkwardly, narrowly avoiding falling on her face. As she regained her balance she looked around once more in the dark, heart pounding, and saw the outlines of four sleeping men. She couldn't believe her luck. They were still asleep! The chemicals used in lower level Cryo to put people to sleep must still be in their system so they hadn't heard her awaken.

Adrenaline rushed through her. Quickly, quietly, she ran down the still open ramp and into the cool air of the valley. She quickly got her bearings, turned and ran into the thick shadows of the cliffs. Once she got there she stopped, she couldn't see an inch in front of her face and her heart was pounding crazily in her chest.

She was finding it rather hard to breath and for the first time since waking up she took the time to evaluate herself and the environment around her: The air was thick and heavy making it difficult to breathe, but there also seemed to be something wrong with her lungs; they didn't seem to want to expand properly. It felt as though she was wearing something tight and restraining around her middle, cutting off the lower part of her lungs. Quickly she patted herself down.

And froze.

She continued to run her hands over her lower abdomen, "Oh God." She whispered. There, where her stomach used to be flat, was a smooth roundness. Her once baggy pants were pulled tight a crossed it.

She pressed her back against the cliff and slowly slid down until she was sitting, her hands still resting against her belly. "Oh, God…I'm pregnant."