Hello everyone and welcome to Chapter 3. Thanks to all of you who have reviewed. I'm glad that you're enjoying my story so far and that you will keep reading and telling me what you think. Thanks in advance.

Kayla

Chapter 3: No Way!

There was no movement in the room expect for the rise and fall of her chest or every so often a twitch of her hand or foot and her breathing slowly evened out and deepened. He hadn't expected the fight that she had put up and he hadn't expected the blatant denial of his existence.

But then, there was a lot about Jack that he didn't know anymore. She had obviously found ways to protect her self. Her numerous aliases seemed to be one of those ways and to hold on to 'Jack' she grabbed onto what she saw as the truths and held on for dear life.

She had hardened, toughened, learned to get along in the world and fight for herself but she was also skittish, shy of people and highly selective of her friends. She had lost her adolescence, her wide-eyed wonder and curiosity; instead she was guarded and untrusting. He didn't like it. She looked like Jack; smelt like her, walked and talked like her but in her fear she seemed to have lost part of herself, the important part, the 'Jack' part.

He crossed his arms across his chest and took a breath of the overly sterilised air. Like a hospital. She was as close to insanity as she was to clarity and one thing could push her either way and he had no idea what she was holding on to, keeping her mind clear. Somewhere along the line she had let fear take over.

Was it something that had been hiding under the surface the whole time that they had roomed the planets together? Was it something brought on by the crash and held at bay by the strength that she seemed to have gathered from him? Had what she thought was his death finally brought it back to the surface after they had buried it?

Too many questions and Riddick didn't like it. He liked for things to be clear-cut. That was just the way he was.

Things had been a lot easier for him before Jack. If he had just gone with his instincts and left right after he had made sure that she was safe then maybe he wouldn't have become so human again. That spark of humanity that Carolyn had struck in him might have stayed a spark, if Jack hadn't been so stubborn in holding on to him.

Life had been a lot simpler before Jack. He conceded; hell of a lot simpler.

Jack was woken from a sound sleep by a shrill beeping noise from a headset sitting on her table and when she opened her eyes the small red light above her door was flashing, illuminating the room and the man sitting in the chair at her table. She had to look twice before she realised that she hadn't been dreaming and that Riddick really hadn't left her.

She rolled out of her bed and got groggily to her feet. He held out the headset to her and she put it on quickly and pressed the activation button.

"Kit here." She answered it.

"Don't tell me you were actually asleep Kit?" Captain Manor said but there was an edge to his voice.

"Sorry sir. I was." She answered pulling her boots onto her feet and strapping them in place. "What's the big emergency?"

The first part of the message she was unable to hear because of some unknown static then, "...we have new cargo to pick up, four scientists." She closed her eyes and licked her lips trying to wake up properly. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept that soundly.

"Is that the emergency?"

"Didn't you hear me? We're coming up on a small asteroid field. That's the emergency. Get your ass into the damned cockpit before Danny does something stupid. We didn't detect it on time to move around it or stop the ship." Tex sounded annoyed. "I need to get you guys sleeping shifts."

"I'll be there as soon as." She said and then addressed Danny. "Try and slack off as much speed as you can slowly without doing any damage until I get there. I won't be too long."

"I hear you hot shot." Danny answered and she muted her end of the headset so she could speak to Riddick but still hear what was going on.

"I have a job to do." She said.

"So I gathered." He threw her a polo-necked top and she gave him a questioning look. He touched his finger to his neck just below his jaw line and she touched hers feeling the cut that he had unintentionally given her during their tussle earlier.

"There's a Merc on this ship and he's looking to track you down." She said taking her t-shirt off and throwing it onto the end of her bed before putting on the top that Riddick and thrown her. She took her wrist guards out of a small bag and put them on to cover the angry red marks around her wrist and put her vest jacket on over the top, making sure there was a fresh candy bar in the right pocket before zipping it up and taking the picture off the bottom of her shelf.

"What's with the tattoo?"

"You had better leave my room before he comes back to snoop. Here's a spare headset if you want it and I don't think you ever saw this." She handed him the headset and the photograph and ignoring his question. "Keep them. I'm on channel eight if you need anything and keep out of the Merc's way. I'd hate to have to find out that he'd wasted you. I can't loose you again yet, there's too much I need to know first."

"Cute picture."

"Thought you'd like it." She smiled sarcastically then left the room at a jog.

She rolled up her sleeves as she ran through the corridors and up the steel ladder in the tubing that ran along side the lift. She hated the lift, it took too much time and with every second that ticked by she lost manoeuvring room. They said this route was clear! She yelled in her head. She wouldn't have put them on this course if she hadn't checked it out first with the main nav centre for this cargo route.

She was already running manoeuvring tactics through her head when she reached The Aurora's cockpit and her annoyance was only fuelled when she got there to see Danny sitting in the main piloting chair. Her lip curled slightly as she unmuted her headset.

"Get out of my chair Danny before I mess up your face." She growled and Danny jumped. Over the headset she could here the chuckles of their crewmates as they listened to her threat. Danny always tried to over step the mark.

"Well someone needed to pilot this baby why you were catching up on your beauty sleep. It seems not to have made much of a difference to your appearance though." He snarled back but he moved back to the co-pilot's seat feeling the laughter of his peers perhaps a little too keenly.

"Shut the fuck up!" She glared at him jumping into her chair and buckling up. "Captain, I'm strapped in and waiting for orders." She wasn't really waiting for a command of any sort. She was already flying to her work, bringing systems to life that Danny seemed too stupid to even think about. Punk! She thought.

Jack rapidly pulled up two small screens to her left. On one she pulled up a close up view of the asteroid field and on the other she pulled up the energy level and speed monitor. Her eyes searched for any gap she could swing The Aurora's heavy ass into without getting her hit as she waited for a response or acknowledgement from Captain Manor.

"It's about time Kit. Can you bring her about before we hit?"

"Our tail end might get a bump and a scratch or two." She started flicking switches rapidly and barking short orders at Danny who was doing his best to keep up with everything she was demanding of him.

"How bad?"

"Dunno yet. Still looking for a gap." She kicked a panel under the main control and lights over her head flared on and she pulled her sunglasses out of her pocket and put them on, yelling for Danny to do the same as she released the light filter for a clearer view.

"Just get us out of this O'Donnell and in one full and functioning piece if you don't mind." Tex snapped.

"I'm working on it." Jack gritted her teeth as she reached above her head and flicked a blue switch. "You have to get an emergency break for this baby Captain."

"That would tare The Aurora apart." John's voice said.

"I know that. It's called a joke John." She hissed as she focused on the scene unfolding in front of her. Her hands gripped the controls tightly as she fought to bring the beast of a ship around. "Loose more speed Danny!" She snapped checking her monitor as she heard the creaking protest of the ship as she made it turn ever so slightly.

"Take it easy." Sam's voice said. "Don't get yourself worked up Kit."

"You had better give me a raise or at least a bloody bonus if I pull this off Tex and make it huge of I don't get us hit."

"In your dreams Kit." Tex snorted. "I'm already paying you more then I want to."

"Oh, no! This isn't in my dreams." She shook her head, "This is nicer then my dreams." The space she needed between the rocks coming into view as she spoke. "There Danny, see." She pointed at the screen.

"What are you going to do?" He asked checking out his own monitors and eyeing up the gap she was pointing to. "We're not going to fit though there."

"Kill as much speed as you can when I give the signal and be ready to kick the power up to full when I say got it? You're not going to have much time."

"I'd like to stay alive Kit." Sam said.

"Then buckle up and enjoy the ride." Kit nodded her head at Danny and swung the ship as hard as she could to the right, letting it slide around through the space till they were facing the way they had come and the back end had fit into the gap like she had hoped but even after it had entered the gap, the whole craft was still drifting sideways.

"We're going to hit that rock Kit!" Danny yelled.

"Not we're not." She said straightening out her controls, her teeth biting into the flesh of her bottom lip as she concentrated. "Give me power Danny."

Jack sat back in her chair and took a deep breath, her heart was pounding at a terrific rate and she waited for whatever was to come next. For reports of damage or injury. She had pulled a stunt that her drill sergeant at flight school had taught her but it was a stunt that was meant to only be used on smaller ships then The Aurora.

Danny looked over at her. He was slightly pale and she was sure that she was the same. She could have obliterated the whole tail end of the ship and lost their cargo but there was still no word. His blue eyes watched her and he shook his head slightly.

"No damage Kit. Not even a scratch on the outer hull. Sill waiting for reports of internal damage." John's voice said breaking the silence

Jack hung her head and her shoulder started to shake with silent laughter. "I need a drink." She said closing her eyes but feeling satisfied.

"I bet you do." Sam said and she sounded a little shaken. "I might even join you in a glass of something stiff."

"And that is why I hired you." Tex said. "I'm sending you the course to our new destination. After you've plotted the course I want to see you all in the conference room and we can talk about the particulars of our destination over a stiff drink."

"Yes sir." Kit said as the coordinates flashed up onto one of her side monitors and she loaded them into the autopilot. "You can go if you want to Danny." She told the co-pilot who was sitting still, just staring at her. He nodded and unbuckled himself and stood up.

"Nice." Was all he said before he left.

"Thanks." She whispered as she put the light filter up again and started putting the ship's autopilot systems back online as she waited for the name of the planet to appear on her monitor but none came. Just numbers and coordinates and she wondered why.

She made sure that she was alone in the cockpit and that the doors were sealed again before singling out the signal to the headset that she had given Riddick. She sat there listening to the static for a minute wondering if she should wait and try and talk to him later.

"Riddick?" She whispered.

Only static.

"Riddick?" She tried again.

Still nothing. She shook her head and gave up. What had she expected anyway? She smiled softly as she opened her headset to the transmissions of the rest of her crewmates. She could hear Sam talking to John about any possible damage to the cargo, the Captain was silent and Danny was talking to one of the three Cs.

You had better have something strong up their Tex or I'm going to have to go looking for a better watering hole. She thought as she unbuckled herself from her chair and stood up making sure that everything was as it should before she left for the walk up to the conference room.

Jack was the first to reach the room where the Captain was already standing; it seemed waiting for everyone else to arrive.

"Thought you might be the first to get here." He said as she took a seat.

"It's your ship. You know everything." Jack answered. "What you got to drink?"

"Whatever is in the cabinet." He pointed to a small cupboard behind her. She got up again and poured herself a drink before sitting down again and sipping the amber colored whiskey, enjoying the slight burning sensation as it ran down her throat and hit her stomach, warming her slightly. "That's from earth. Scotland."

"It tastes good."

"There's something you need to know about where we are going before the rest get here."

"Oh?" She turned her full attention to him. "You sound grave."

"You won't like it that's why." He sat down across from her. "I think it's time that the crew found out who you really are Jack."

"Why?" She said eyeing him wearily. Jack didn't like where this conversation was heading already. "Have I done something? I mean I just got your ass out of a mess."

"I'm not saying you didn't Jack, listen to me." It came out more then an order then a request.

"Yes sir." Jack said instinctively.

"We're heading to a planet to pick up a few scientists. But it's not just any planet we're going to." Jack paled as she looked at him wide eyed knowing what he was going to say before he said it. "It's the planet that you crashed on seven years ago. They've been digging around the crash site for a while now and have finished their experiments for now and..."

"I'm not going." She said shaking her head and standing up abruptly. "We cannot take this ship to that place. You wanna know how many people died down there. It was dark and the creatures could see us but we couldn't see them. We could only hear them." She took a deep breath through clenched teeth and looked at him wide-eyed and afraid. "They picked us off one by one," She was nearly yelling. "You don't have to live with the nightmares; I can hear them, see them..."

"Calm down Jack. This is routine. We'll pick them up and be outa there in four hours."

"Nothing about that place is routine sir." She snapped. "And don't you dare tell me to calm down. You have no right to. You weren't there!"

"I am your captain Jack. I have every right to. Sit down for a minute and shut up." He stood up and planted his hands on the table and stared her down. "I agree with you that that place is dangerous but you said that an eclipse happens only once every 22 years. You also said that those creatures didn't come out into the light."

"They don't but you have to careful not to go into the dark where they are." She sat down and looked at him. "Or don't you believe me just like those stupid crash investigators? Do you think I made it all up because I thought Riddick was some kind of god and to cover up the fact he killed those people I made up the monsters that haunt me and hunt me in my sleep?"

"I didn't say that I didn't believe you. Jack." He said as the others walked into the room.

"Jack?" John asked sitting down.

"Short for Jackie." Jack answered him as Sam sat down on her right and touched her arm, her brow furrowed in concern as she saw the look of pained fear on her friends face.

"You alright Kit?" She asked.

"No." Jack said shortly. She took a deep breath and stood up, downing the whiskey in her glass and trying to stop her hands from shaking.

"Would you like to tell them or should I?" Captain Manor asked.