Hello all and welcome to chapter 4. It didn't take as long as i thought to get all done up and ready to go out there. Thank you all for your reviews. I like reading them and am thinking about putting this story up to an R rating becuase of the language. Tell me what you think abou that too.

Happy reading.

Kayla

Chapter 4: Revelations.

"Seven years ago there was a crash on a planet with three suns. It was a passenger ship that crashed and only a few people survived the actual nosedive. I was one of them, maybe fortunately, maybe not, I haven't decided yet. My name is Jackie but ever since then people have called me Jack." Jack started talking. It was easy to do if she kept her back to them and her voice even. "I hid the fact that I was a girl from them. Basically, I was a late bloomer, not that I've bloomed into much, but I thought I was safer with everyone thinking that I was a boy instead of a girl.

"Anyway, every twenty-two years there is an eclipse on that particular planet and the whole planet is plunged into complete darkness for gods knows how long. I mean, you couldn't even see your hand even if it was just inches away from your eyes. We were lucky enough to crash there a day or so before eclipse. The thing that was strange, is before that eclipse takes place, there is no nighttime or darkness, the only darkness is under the ground or man made.

"But when the lights went out the creatures came out to play. Except they were hunting us, the only real weapon we had against them was light and there wasn't enough of that and people died. Only three of us made it off that planet alive, Imam, Riddick and myself."

"Riddick?" Sam interrupted, the name was practically spat out of her mouth but then Jack was already sure that she was clear on what Sam's feelings on Riddick were.

"Yeah Sam. Richard B. Riddick. Convicted murderer and escaped prisoner, only he didn't kill any of us, he didn't even touch us." She paused for a moment and pulled her thoughts together again. This being honest thing wasn't as easy as she would like it to be, not when people already had their own opinions on everything before she had even gotten started. "Alright, that's a lie of sorts. He and Johns got into a few fights and in the end Riddick did kinda lead him to his death but the point was that by getting him killed, he saved me. Johns was going to kill me or try and get Riddick to or something like that. Riddick and I spoke about it once and it wasn't exactly a nice conversation.

"In fact Riddick saved my life a couple of times while we were stuck on that planet. He was the only one that could see in the dark." She paused again and turned around to look at her crewmates, almost pleadingly but not quite. She wanted them to understand but she didn't want them to feel sorry for her or pity her and she didn't want them to hate Riddick either. "I didn't have anywhere to go afterward but Imam and I spread the rumours of Riddick's death down on that planet. We said that Johns had killed him. The stupid investigators didn't believe our version of the events but were happy enough when Imam said that he'd take me on as his charge but that didn't last long, maybe eight months, probably a bit less..."

()

"Riddick? Where's Imam?" Nearly sixteen-year-old Jack walked into the main living area of the darkened flat that she was living in with the holy man and the convicted killer a frown on her face. She had gone into Imam's room only to find the space empty and a note on which was scribbled words she didn't understand in Arabic.

"He left." Riddick said coldly, looking at her out of his silvery eyes and making a shiver run up and down her spine. "He couldn't deal anymore. Not everyone can deal all the time kid."

"What about me? You? Us? Didn't he care?" She looked at him, blank faced and feeling slightly frightened, she had had people die on her before, but no one had ever walked out intentionally. "He told them that he was going to be my guardian. He told me, he wouldn't leave me."

"Never said he didn't care. Just said he couldn't deal." Riddick shrugged. "He probably figured that if he left you I wouldn't."

"What the hell does that mean? Are you leaving too?" Her brow creased with worry and she bit her lip. The one thing she wanted more then anything was not to be alone again.

"We are leaving tonight." He answered.

()

"We moved around a lot. Riddick more or less kept both of us alive and safe. He taught me how to fight and use weapons and most of the time got me so exhausted that by the time night came and the darkness with it I was too tired to dream and because he could see in the dark I wasn't afraid."

()

"I don't like blades." Jack looked at the hand made shiv that he had handed her.

"They don't make the same noise as guns and blasters. They're easier to conceal, less conspicuous." He had said simply and she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before opening them again to find him watching her intently, waiting to see what she would do. "You have to learn to protect yourself. You can't expect me to follow you around and save your ass all the time kid."

"I don't." She whispered adjusting her grip till she was holding the weapon like he held his.

"Are you afraid Jack?"

"No." She answered but it was a lie, part of her was very afraid.

A lone man jumped through the door and into the darkened room. Unfortunately for her, she was right in front of the door and Riddick was somewhere to one side or another and wasn't making a sound, not that she expected him to, he could move without sound if he wanted to. He looked at her and then the blade in her hand and leered at her like she was some piece of meat. It was a look that later in life she would get used to.

"I'd put the weapon down if I were you kid." The man said. "I'm not out to get you but I have a feeling that you know where I can find Richard Riddick."

"What if I can't tell you anything?" Jack gripped the blade tighter then before, she was feeling defiant and afraid and she had no idea at that moment where Riddick had disappeared to or if he was going to do anything beside split. After all, he had said that she had to learn to save her own ass and not expect him to do it all the time.

"I can't leave you alive to warn him can I?" He pulled a small blaster out and held it in her face. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. Her mind flying around what to say and not coming to a focused conclusion.

"I don't know where Riddick is." She answered half truthfully and opened her eyes to see two bright eyes and Riddick's outline behind the man.

Riddick stabbed him in the back and he dropped the weapon, recognition dawning on him as Riddick pulled his head back by his hair and whispered something in his ear. Both of the men's eyes were on her as he said whatever he had to say. It unnerved her and sent ice running through her veins freezing her to the spot, her muscles unresponsive.

Jack forced herself to watch as he drew his blade across the stranger's neck. Bright, red blood bubbled through the gaping tare in his throat as Riddick let him fall to the floor, as good as dead. She gulped and started to tremble slightly as she watched the blood pool around his head and his body make weird twitching movements. As cool as ice Riddick bent over and wiped his shiv clean on the dead stranger's clothing, giving her a sort of smile as he did so, seemingly unaffected by the whole thing.

She dropped the weapon she was holding and ran outside of their darkened home to be violently sick outside on the balcony. When Riddick joined her, she was sitting with her back against the building wall and her knees pulled up to her chest. She was shaking and her arms were wrapped tightly around her limbs in a vain attempt to stop the trembling, her eyes closed against the sunlight but still she could see the prone figure that lay dead in the room behind her.

"When they're threatening to kill you, they can't be thoughts of as human. It's called servile Jack." He said, his dark, welding goggles pulled down over his light sensitive eyes. "It's either them or you."

"I've never seen someone killed before." He raised an eyebrow as she stumbled over her words. "I mean, not by another person, I mean, not like that." She swallowed hard as he handed her a bottle of water. She took a mouthful that she spat out over the balcony, thankful to get rid of some of the vomit taste in her mouth. She could only imagine what he was thinking of her at that moment, some chicken kid, couldn't even cope with a little bit of blood and death.

"Why didn't you say anything to him?"

"I didn't know where you had gone and if I had told him anything, he would have wasted me anyway or if he hadn't, you would have." She shrugged.

()

"What about Demedia?" John was frowning.

"I didn't lie about that. I was there and I did leave with a shipment of diamonds. Only I was the stupid kid that got Riddick killed in that stupid war." She chose to leave out the fact that she had recently found out that he was alive and the fact that he was hidden somewhere aboard The Aurora. That information would have caused a manhunt and she wasn't about to get Riddick caught with a Merc on board wanting to take him back to Slam City.

()

One minute he was there, the next he was gone. She had been right behind him, she was sure of it, more then sure of it, she had been positive. A bullet whizzed over her head splitting the rock inches above her head and dust hit her in the face. Jack hit the deck as quickly as she could and crawled behind a piece of fragmented rock wall. Only seconds ago she could have reached to her right and touched him and then he was gone, just gone, disappeared, like he hadn't been there in the first place.

She squeezed her eyes shut tight and took a couple of deep breaths before peering out and seeing just how many people had guns trained on her position. Another bullet bounced off the rock and another one left a light, burning graze across her cheek before she was able to pull herself back behind the rock and to her relative point of safety.

Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God. Ran through her head as she tried to think her way out of the situation. What would Riddick do? She asked herself and let out a low sarcastic laugh when the answer sprung from her lips. "Wouldn't get left behind in the first place."

There were a number of bullets fired in rapid succession and she was joined by the one person she hadn't expected to see in the first place, Riddick. "What the heck did you think you were doing?" He growled.

"Riddick," Was all she had time to say before she had been pulled to her feet and they were running through the sandy dirt, bullets flying around them, Riddick's hand gripping her upper arm so tightly she could feel the blood flow to her fingers being cut off but still they ran and then she fell, her body twisting because of his hold and her face hitting the ground.

He barely broke stride as he picked her up by her belt and dragged her to her feet but it seemed that the minute she had caught her balance and was running again, he was on the ground, one sharp crack from a gun echoing in her ears.

"Come on Riddick!" She yelled as she grabbed his arm and tried in vain to pull the much heavier man to his feet.

"Get your damned ass off this fucking planet!" He yelled jerking his arm out of her grasp as another bullet hit the ground nearby sending dust flying into the air and her face. "There's no fucking way I'm going to let you die saving my fucking ass." He said the last line through clenched teeth as the second bullet hit.

()

She squeezed her eyes shut, a single tear escaping the bars of her eyelashes and slid down her pale cheek as she heard again in her mind those two shots echo around her. "So now, you all know who I really am." Jack shrugged. "The Captain thought it best that you knew, because we're going back to the planet I was almost killed on as a kid. He's taking us to hell."

"We're what?" Sam looked at the Tex Manor who was sitting a frown on his face. "That could be a security nightmare sir."

"Well, it's safe to say that I'm not going. I'm quitting." Jack shook her head. "I would advise the rest of you to decide how much you value your lives and then decide for yourselves what you're going to do. I've made my choice; you all have to make yours."

"Danny can't land this baby on that planet." John said shaking his head. "Danny'll rip this thing a part. Kit, I mean, Jackie or Jack, I mean her," He resorted to pointing at Jack. "We need her to."

"Just call me Kit. I'm not Jack to you." She snapped. "And he's going to have to land this rig because the minute I get my things together, I'm taking The Chancer and leaving this ship. Anyone who wants to join me can. I have six seats free."

"Jack." Tex turned and looked at her. "There is nothing to be afraid of down there. Those things can't hurt you and you'd be keeping this passengers that you're worried about hell of a lot safer then if you left and let an inexperienced pilot land a ship as big as The Aurora."

"You will not guilt trip me into staying on this ship. You cannot do that!" Jack's voice was strained. "You cannot make me do this, you can't!"

"No, you're right I can't." Tex looked at her. "You have your own space cruiser, you can leave any time you want to."

"You can't make me stay." She shook her head stubbornly, her jaw clenched. The pressure she was feeling giving her a headache.

"I know I can't. But I'm asking you to stay and land The Aurora on that planet for me."

"You have no idea! None at all. You wouldn't be asking me if you did. I can't do it, I can't!" And with that she turned and left the room and the people in it to stair at the space she had vacated.

Jack was angry, her blood was pounding in her ears, she was angry, her heart was pounding so fast, like a speeding train unable to stop. There was no way in hell that she would go back to that planet and there was no way she would put the rest of the people on The Aurora in that kind of danger. On top of all of that, she was afraid, she had to stop her walk along the corridor at one point and lean against the wall for support. Her knees felt weak and she was trembling, but she forced herself to take a breath and then a step or two before stopping again.

It wasn't like she had anything to stay on the ship for now anyway; her crewmates wouldn't treat her the same way they used to, not now, not after finding out how close she had been to Riddick. There were some things that were universally unacceptable for most people, hiding out and learning from a convicted and escaped murder was one of those many things. Only, it might have been okay, if only she hadn't shown such strong remorse over his death.

Riddick.

If things hadn't changed that much in the past two years then he would be no more eager then she was to go back to that hellish planet where they were nearly killed, where so many others were killed and eaten. Next job, find him and invite him to take her ship and leave with her and hightail it back to safer ground where there were no monsters to kill them in the darkness.

"Riddick!" She hissed over the headsets. "For once answer me Riddick!"

Again there was no answer to her pleas, only static and silence.

Jack let out a low, almost animal, growl and made herself move again, just one step at a time till she was almost jogging along the corridors that led to her room. By the time she reached her own front door sweat was glistening on her brow but her breathing wasn't as ragged as she had expected it to become.

The merc had been there again, the room had been tossed and even though everything was put back in relatively the right places, she could still see the places where he had been a little too hasty. It was a sloppy job and in his line of work that was never a good thing so he had either been scared off or didn't care much. That was the one thing that kept her from thinking it was Riddick, anyway, he still had her picture.

She pulled her black duffle bag off the shelf and opened it before flipping her mattress and slowly and carefully she started removing her small armoury of five weapons total, minus her handgun, from under the bed and packing everything away except a small hand held blade and her handgun, which Riddick seemed to have returned. She picked one of her tank tops out of the her clothes before packing the rest away minus her belt that had the clip on it for her gun holster and then her personal affects were thrown on top.

There were two light knocks on her door and the shuffling of a pair of feet.

"Come!" She snapped.

"Kit?" Sam walked in and watched the younger girl zip up the large bag that was now full.

"What?" Jack asked.

"Would you like me to call you Jack or Kit?" Sam asked closing the door and taking a seat without being invited to but then, that was a Samish sort of thing to do.

"Whatever you feel most comfortable calling me is fine by me." She shrugged.

"I need to know everything that you can tell me about this planet Jack."

"I'm not saying anything more then by setting this beast down on that planet, you're endangering the lives of every single person on this ship and quite frankly, I think that's stupid." Jack strapped the blade to her right thigh and clipped the gun to the belt around her middle. She pulled off her shirt and replacing it with the tank top as she sat down on the bed. "Those beasts are a good fifteen plus feet long, they use echo location to find their prey so even standing still doesn't really work unless someone is running by you. They have razor sharp teeth and extendable claws and wings, they're like birds, they can fly. And there are millions of them, under the surface and anywhere it's dark or shadowy."

She turned her back to her friend and pushed back the strap of her top so that the hammer-headed beast that was tattooed on her shoulder was clearly visible. She pointed to the tattoo on her shoulder. "Just so you can recognise them when you come face to face, so you're in no doubt of what it is that is about to eat you."

"But Captain Manor said they don't come out into the light, that the light hurts them, even kills them."

"They don't but you have to be careful that you don't go into the darkness or the shadow. Two people who serviced the crash were killed by those things before the lights were even turned out."

"I'm sorry Jack." Sam whispered as she watched Jack struggle to gain her composure again. "Believe it or not, I'm sorry that you lost Riddick too. What was he like?"

"Cold. Ice in a human body." Jack stood up and grabbed her bag. "Don't pity me Sam. When you get home, if you get home, you know where I live. Look me up if you still feel like you can deal with who I am. I'm sorry if you can't, but I am who I am if I like it or not."

"One more thing Jack."

"What?" She turned around and looked at the security officer, noticing the frown that crossed her face and the way that her eyebrows were pulled in. Something else was on Sam's mind and Jack wasn't sure she wanted to know what exactly it was.

"The picture that you showed me the other day. The one with you and the man. Was that...I mean, that wasn't..." She closed her eyes and took a breath. "That wasn't Riddick was it?"

"Yeah, it was. He wasn't a father or a brother, wasn't a boyfriend, the closest he could be described as was a teacher, or a protector." Jack looked at her friend. "He never let me down while he was alive. He let me go through some things that maybe a normal guardian wouldn't but I had to learn and he never let anyone touch me or let me get hurt or killed."

"But he was still a murder."

"Yes. And the planet didn't stop him from killing more people but he had changed. He didn't just kill, he only killed when it meant protecting me or himself." She shrugged. "I'm sorry if I've disappointed you Sam."

"You never disappointed me Jack. And I'll look you up when we get home and give you an update on that planet." A ghost of a smile appeared on Jack's lips but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. "One other thing?"

"What?"

"What happened to your neck?" Sam asked, razing her eyebrows slightly.

"I had a run in with an old friend." Jack answered before opening the door. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you and it wouldn't make your job any easier.