Well here is Chapter 27...hell i am on a roll all of a sudden, perhaps it's the time that having a chest infection and not being allowed out of bed gives me...i dunno. Well so the real ass kicking didn't get to happen here but everything has finally been set in motion, i feel like i've been leading up to this point for months.
Lets put it this way, a big sigh of releif for me today.
Please review as always, makes my day.
Kayla
Chapter 27: 'Beau'
"Jack!" Sam stood up quickly as Riddick entered the room, setting the lights to low and peeling off his goggles. "Riddick. Where's Jack?"
"Not here." He answered her, taking in her slightly disgruntled appearance and the cut that ran along her jaw.
"He's going to come for her and you can't be around when he does because if you are, then he'll take you instead." She shook her head her words coming out rushed and unthought out. "You're going to get her killed."
"What the hell are you talking about? And how the hell did you get in?" Riddick asked, anger under the surface that was all so cool.
"Jack gave me a key last year, when my relationship with my husband started to break down. There are a lot more people with keys to this place then you probably have any idea about. Jack has always had something of a mothering quality about her or hadn't you noticed? She always does her best to give people a way out of the messes they get themselves in." Sam sat back down on the couch and Candace walked in with two mugs of coffee in her hands.
"Hey Riddick, didn't hear you come back in." The teenager said with a false cheerfulness that Riddick didn't appreciate. There was still anger behind her eyes, it seemed that he had betrayed her as much as Jack had as far as she was concerned. What was it with teenagers and blaming him for shit?
"I don't tend to make a lot of noise." He said as Candace turned her back on him and handed Sam a mug of coffee.
"I'll be right back with the first aid kit for the scratch." The girl set the other mug on the coffee table. She then turned and left the room again.
"Where's Jack?" Sam asked again the minute that Candace had left the room.
"With the Marks." He answered her.
"Kelly was always good with advice." Sam nodded. "Any luck finding the kid's dad?"
"None yet." He shook his head.
"They haven't been around much. He killed someone who tried to kill Jack and then they just disappeared for a few days without even telling anyone where they were. That's certainly the best way to handle everything isn't it? Disappear without a trace." Candace said sarcastically.
"I'm sure it wasn't intentional, Jack isn't like that kid." Sam frowned.
"Then Jack must have left her brain on The Aurora."
"Do you have any idea when Jack will be back?" Sam asked, giving Candace a frown that asked for silence and grudgingly, Riddick notice, she gave it. The teen it seemed didn't want to get Sam pissed off though she didn't seem to mind bothering him.
"None."
"You have to understand just how serious this is Riddick. He knows what she looks like, what her main aliases are and everything there is to know about her past with you. He's coming for you but he is going to go through her." Sam shook her head; as far as Riddick could make out she didn't know what to do next. "The damn Merc looked like he wouldn't mind killing me and I'm sure he would have just for her address, if it hadn't been for Danny's arrival I wouldn't be alive right now."
"Do you know which Merc it was?" Riddick's attention immediately changed focus as Jack spoke from the doorway into the room. She looked slightly troubled but otherwise unaffected or hurt. "You're the one that talks to mercs all the time and all I need is a name."
"The same Merc that was on our ship. The only one that you've spoken to." Sam answered.
"James Bradley?" Jack asked and moved closer to him, the anger in her face readable as she stood next to him so that her shoulder was up against his side. His eyes swept over her face only to see a desperate need for comfort behind the cold look in her eyes. What had she spoken with Kelly about?
"If that was his name then yeah." Sam nodded.
"Great! He said he'd be seeing me again. I thought everything would just blow cold and then he'd get bored and leave everything alone." Jack bit her lip as she sighed deeply. "Can I take you anywhere or help you at all Sam, you look kinda a mess."
"I'll be fine, I just thought you had better know. I'm meeting up with Danny and getting a shuttle with him back to the Station. I've been in contact with Captain Manor and he's agreed to me living abroad the Aurora until things for me settle down."
"So you're leaving?" Candace asked.
"Safer that way. I don't want my throat cut or at least I don't want anyone to try again." Sam shook her head. "I'll see you around kid." She said to Candace.
"Hope not, that'd mean that my dad's unfindable."
"Ya, well, you know what I meant. See ya Jack, bye Riddick." Sam stood up and Jack followed her out of the room.
"How much trouble are we in this time?" Candace looked up at him, all humor and sarcasm gone from her voice. The teenager looked genuinely concerned.
"I'm not sure." Was Riddick's reply.
---
The creature had become more and more volatile since it had woken from it's unnatural three week sleep and put in it's new cage in Dr. Johnston's main lab. It had started off just pacing endlessly and eating little, then one day the pacing just stopped and it got aggressive. It's massive wings beat against the bars, the clawed hands clicked and snapped when anyone came near and it rarely stopped screeching.
"That thing is giving me a headache Kirsten." Kirsten's sister an expert on reptilian behaviour looked at her sister and shook her head.
"You and me both little sister." Kirsten moved away from the microscope she had been using and peeled off her clear latex gloves, throwing them in the disposal unit before rubbing her eyes. It had been another long day and things only seemed to get worse rather then better and the constant noise from Beau wasn't helping matters at all. "Oh shut up Beau!" She yelled at the creature.
"Who came up with the name 'Beau' anyway. That has to be the ugliest reptile that I have ever seen." Laura shook her head.
"Hence the irony in the name miss Leal." Dr. Johnston walked into the darkened room and placed the light shields around the creature with a touch of a button. The light shields drown out some of the sounds that Beau was making and made it so that the scientists could turn the overhead lights on.
"Indeed." The younger sister looked unimpressed.
"Do either of you have anything to report?" Dr. Johnston looked at them.
"It's eating again." Kirsten answered as she watched Laura skirt their employer and peel off her own latex gloves, disposing of them and tying her long dark hair up into a bun at the nape of her neck.
"And who do I have to thank for that?"
"Laura. I told you she was the best in her field." Kirsten frowned. "I don't deal with reptilian behaviour."
"I'm still unconvinced that it is really a reptile." Laura said dryly. "And it's behaviour does make me think that it is going insane."
"That's besides the point." Kirsten snapped. "I don't deal in reptilian behaviour. I don't deal with animals. I deal with chemicals. Atoms, molecules, chemical composition. Not blood, flesh and bones."
"You sound angry Kirsten." Dr. Johnston looked at her a frown on his face now. It seemed that his research assistant had had quite enough of being placid and unconfrontational. He had, of course, been warned by her previous employers of the extra fire in her temper before he had employed her himself but she was a brilliant scientist and he needed that.
"Angry doesn't cut it this time." Kirsten yelled at him. "I'm in a lab with a creature that won't shut up, I haven't slept for thirty-eight hours and twelve minutes and I should never have dragged my sister into this. That thing is going to end up killing someone here or getting loose and we haven't worked out if they are A-sexual or not yet."
"You're over stepping your mark miss Leal!" Dr. Johnston stood up and faced his outspoken research assistant down. That's when the younger Leal moved to stand shoulder to shoulder, the younger, if it was possible, looked more threatening then the elder.
"Don't even think about threatening her Dr. Johnston. She's voicing her very valid opinion." Laura said. "She's being worked out of her skin here and she knows more about that creature then you or I probably do."
"No. She understood the assignment when she agreed to be on my payroll, she also understood the job that she would be doing and the possible dangers that went along with it. I will not have either of you dictate to me. You either continue to do your jobs or I will ruin you." Dr. Johnston replied to the young woman's caution. "Do you both understand me very clearly?"
"Oh we understand you but I will return your threat with a threat of my own. A copy of all the data ever collected on T2, about T2 or about the creatures like Beau has been forwarded to a very secure location with instructions that if anything should ever happen to my sister or I it would be released, not only to your rival scientists but also to the proper authorities that you bypassed getting here." Kirsten said, her normally light voice, low and deadly serious. "Do we have an understanding Dr.?"
"Indeed I think we do Miss Leal. An agreement in most cases to disagree but not push each other." The doctor looked slightly infuriated at the cheek of his own employees.
"How about the three of you and I come to an agreement?" Kirsten turned around, instinctively positioning her little sister behind her. The man that stood in front of her was clean-shaven and pleasant on the eyes, his hair was dark, skin tanned and eyes a dark iron grey. His attire was well turned out and looked almost like a precinct peace keeper's uniform because of it's navy color and gold trim but lacked any peace keeper's markings. That and most peace keepers that she had encountered didn't hold a gun in each hand as he spoke to the public.
"And who exactly are you?" Dr. Johnston asked his annoyance penetrating his voice.
"I'm no one that you want to play games with doc. I want information and you're going to give me every ounce that I want." The man said and his eyes drifted toward the two women.
"And all I wanted to do was go home to bed." Laura said as Kirsten took her hand and gave it a squeeze. Laura returned the gesture and fell silent when she saw that the stranger observing them.
"Been a long time since you've slept?" He addressed them, clearly having heard Laura's comment.
"Close to thirty-nine hours and this is not helping my temper." Kirsten answered, her tone near feral.
"So I can see. I want to see the creature that was pulled off T2, I want answers about it, about Jack and about her friend Richard B. Riddick and then you can go home and then to bed, what do you say?" He said, his tone was certainly more pleasant then hers.
"Not a problem on most of those points." Kirsten nodded to her sister to move over to the control panel. "But we don't know shit about any Richard B. Riddick, except for what we read in the news archives before going to T2."
"Interesting how someone can be right under your nose and no one even realises it. He must be under some fool impression that no one's looking for him anymore." The man chuckled but the laughter never reached his cold grey eyes.
"Before you look at the creature we've got to make some things very clear. This is one of the most dangerous creatures known to man, do not get within five feet of it or you may end up dead. For you to see it, I have to dim the lights to basically nothing because light kills it. Are we clear on all that?" Kirsten said, not appreciating his mocking tone.
"How many other people know this thing exists?" The man asked, again serious in his line of questioning.
"This particular creature or the species?" Dr. Johnston asked.
"This particular creature."
"Only our contact on The Aurora." Dr. Johnston replied again.
"And how do you assume that Jack would react?" The man adjusted his hat, his eyes watching the scientists closely.
"With hostility. We'd probably get a visit and she'd probably attempt to kill the creature." Kirsten answered with a frown.
"We might just be able to help each other Doctor." The man shook his head as the lights went down low.
---
"I don't want to split but if you think it's best…" Jack was sitting crossed legged on their bed, watching Riddick pace the floor in front of her.
"I don't know what's best to do Jack but I know what works." He admitted to her.
"I'm not going to let you get caught because of me." She shook her head furiously suddenly off on a train of thought all her own. "I'm not going to let you get sent back to slam or get ghosted because of me. Take Candace and leave in The Gemini. I'll stay and get this thing cleaned up."
"Jack…" His tone of voice told her to try and be reasonable.
"Riddick please, you know how I would feel if anything were ever to happen to you because of me and I have unfinished business here, Bradley is only part of that. I really need to deal with this shit before jumping systems." She said.
"What exactly am I meant to do Jack? Leave you? Let you get caught, maybe killed?"
"If it comes to that then yes. Don't argue with me over this Riddick. You've kept me safe for a long time. It's my turn now, no matter what the consequences are. I can get this man off our ass, so let me do it." She snapped. "I've thought about this hell of a lot since I was a teenager and because of recent developments that just makes keeping you safe and out of slam all the more important! Anyway, it's not just you and me that we have to worry about. Candace is only sixteen, what happens to her if both of us end up dead or in prison?" She stood up and gave him a look that she could only hope he'd understand. Him going to slam was more then her life was worth, at least she thought it was and they really did have other things to worry about, life wasn't that simple anymore.
"More important then your own life?" He gave her an angry glare speaking as if he was reading her mind. "If this is your idea of payback for what ever you think you have to pay me back for then you and I are going to have to have a very serious conversation because you owe me nothing! And don't you think the kid would be a whole lot happier with you then stuck with me."
"This isn't owing, it's about how much I care!" She said hoarsely as she closed the gap between them. Riddick's hands snaked out, pulling her close to him, one hand gripped her shoulder tightly and the other caressed her cheek. "And I don't know if I can just up and leave right now. Not after everything that's happened."
"I'm not going to let you die Jack, not for me, not for anyone. I swore once that you would make it out alive and that promise includes now. What do I have to do to convince you to shut the fuck up and do as you're told?" He said aggressively as he forced her to look him in the eye.
"Riddick!"
"What the hell are you thinking about here Jack? Do you have a fucking death wish or something?" He looked honestly distressed and for that she was sorry for a moment but her mind was spinning with a thousand possibilities that she had been living with during her whole time with him.
"Of course I don't, I'm just making a choice. If I stay then you can get away, which gives you and Candace a shot I never wanted to take away in the first place." She knew she must look as desperate as he looked distressed by her actions. "Please stop taking this the wrong way Riddick. I can always catch up with you both later."
"How am I meant to take it Jack? You're talking in suicidal terms." He snapped back.
"And you're talking about running again. Running isn't always the answer!" She growled at him.
"I'm not going to let him hurt you Jack, even if it means going back to slam to make sure of it then I damn well will." He said stubbornly and Jack knew that this could turn into a horrible battle of wills and she almost already knew who was going to win that and she would end up exhausted. "You don't know what you're asking me to let you do Jack, you really don't."
"I know exactly what I'm doing!" She looked hurt and abruptly turned away from him and walked a few feet away her own arms wrapped around herself. "Do you know how long I used to lay awake at night, worried that when I woke up in the morning you wouldn't be there anymore, before I did finally drift off? Do you have any idea what it would do to me knowing that you weren't there, not by choice but because I'd let you go to slam to save my skin?"
"Jack I wouldn't have left you then but I never had to worry about this shit then. Jack I'm not leaving you, especially not now. If I go you're coming with me, if you won't go them I won't be going anywhere."
She shook her head, her day so far had brought her life into a little more perspective. Ever since the crash of The Hunter Gratzner people had been putting their lives on the line for her and a good number of those people had died for her because they hadn't realized that she wasn't worth saving, it was a fact that she hated with a passion.
She pulled her hair out of her ponytail as she sat down in a chair with her back still to him. Carolyn had been the first to lay it on the line for her, although, she had died saving Riddick. Riddick had kept her safe for five years, taking those two damn bullets for her on Demedia. Her friend from the Academy, Jamie Linwood hadn't even woken her up properly before putting her in and jettisoning the emergency pod from his ship before he could get off himself and died in the subsequent crash.
Bret Robson had been foolish enough to fall in love with her and not take her initial 'no I do not what to go out with you' for a final answer. She had been foolish enough to weaken and move in with him, only for him to come home one night to find her being threatened at gunpoint. That had been the first time that Jack had ever seen him get violent and he took a bullet in the chest just to save her. Kelly Marks, his sister, had lost the use of her legs and was on the wanted list for slam because she was covering up for Jack.
What was it about her that seemed to instantly make people willing to lay down their lives for her? Whatever it was, she hated it venomously.
"Jack?" Riddick's hands were suddenly gently rubbing the tension out of her shoulders and neck, his calloused fingers dancing across her skin. Gods, it felt too good. She couldn't let him get her side tracked.
"I'm not worth dieing for Riddick! Too many people have died or bled or lost because of me." She said. "Please Riddick, promise me you won't die for me, not again."
"Let me worry about who dies and who doesn't." Riddick turned her around so that she was facing him.
"I don't want anyone else-" He silenced her with a shake of the head. Jack closed her eyes and then opened them again and nodded her head. It would be hard as anything to let him do the worrying but she would let him anyway. That was what he wanted. She really had to get a little more disobedient, she scolded herself.
"You feeling better now?" He asked and she shrugged but a faint smile passed across her lips, more at her own thoughts then anything.
"I will be, I'm just worried."
"Don't." He said drawing her forward and placing a soft kiss on her lips. "It's going to be fine, we've gotten through worse."
"Maybe, but there weren't other people involved then that I cared about besides you." She still had that sad frown on her lips.
"Jonathan will easily be able to keep his family safe. We'll lock up this place, take everything of importance and leave with Candace until the storm had blown over." He said as if it was the easiest thing in the world. "You and the kid could use a holiday anyway." He shrugged.
"I'll tell Johnny." She nodded, knowing that it was going to be harder then she had ever imagined to leave the people who had become her family because she knew that where Riddick was concerned, holidays became extended and weeks away turned into years.
---
"Mr. Emerson I'm assuming." Mr. Bradley shook his head as the Doctor's contact from the Aurora showed up in the doorway of the darkened room, looking past the four people gathered in the room, his eyes coming to rest on the creature who let out an eerie screech and stretched it's leathery wings.
"Is that what I was stupid enough to let you take off that planet?" The young man asked.
"That would be correct. Meet Beau." Kirsten nodded; if this plan of the bounty hunter's wasn't put into effect soon then she was going to have a very serious and very violent conversation with him until he agreed to let her and her sister go home. She was loosing her rag.
"Why don't you take a seat lad." Dr. Johnston motioned for the young man to take a seat near him. "You and I need to have a little chat for which you will be richly compensated later."
"We do? About what?" He sat down next to Kirsten who sighed and rested her head on the open palm of her hand, a yawn being suppressed by the tightening of her jaw.
"I'm looking for the mass murderer Richard B. Riddick. I've already established his connection with one Jacqueline Stewart, you may or may not know her as Kit O'Donnell and I'm also aware that Riddick has spent the last number of weeks aboard the Aurora with Miss Stewart." Mr. Bradley said, walking around to face the young man in front of him.
"So what does that have to do with me? It was the Captain's choice to allow him to say about without calling the Mercs tracking his ass as a favor to his pilot. I don't see how I could help at all, that was a while ago." He had paled all of a sudden, his tone becoming highly defensive as he looked at the neat looking bounty hunter with his dangerous smile.
"I need to get my hands on Riddick and the only weakness that I've been able to find he has is Jack so I need to get my hands on her first to get my hands on him." Mr. Bradley explained.
"Which is where you come in lad. If Miss Stewart was aware that there is one of these creatures on the planet and she knew of it's location she would do her beat to kill it would she not?" Dr. Johnston turned to the young man once more.
"More then likely but you still haven't told me what that has to do with me."
"You're going to make her aware and give her the location of Beau here. You are going to be my lour." Mr. Bradley said a sly smile making his hard yet handsome features look all the more sinister.
"Jack's a friend, I'm not going to walk her into a trap where she's going to get hurt." The frown on the young man's face deepened and he looked offended by the very obvious thought that he would betray his friends.
"Is she enough of a friend to die for Mr. Emerson?" The bounty hunter asked as he whipped a blaster out of his side holster and pressed it's mouth to his head.
"Why don't I call her and tell her that there's a gun to my head?" He snapped back as beads of sweat jumped out on his forehead. So it seemed that he had some guts in him after all and that made James Bradley smirk.
"How about you just stick to the original idea. I'm not out to hurt Miss Stewart, I just need her as bate. After Riddick is nicely packed off to a maximum security Slam then she'll be released unharmed to her family and crew if that makes you feel any better about it."
"Riddick saved her life, she's very attached to him, I doubt quite seriously that she'd ever let him come after her." He protested again. "She won't tell you where he is."
"But even you can't deny the fact that they were practically joined at the hip on board the ship. How he shadowed her every move." The Doctor seemed almost desperate for him to agree with him.
"But I would also say that, that had a great deal to do with Jack tolerating his presence. If she didn't want him somewhere he tended not to be there. He respected her wishes."
"I'm willing to take the chance that they weren't as attached to each other as we're all assuming. You're life or the vid call boy." It was clear that the bounty hunter had come to the end of his patients.
---
Jack had just had a long conversation with Johnny and Riddick was taking a carload of their valuables to The Gemini, having promised to pick up an upgraded food synthesiser unit and enough food cards to last a few months of travel o his way there.
Candace had taken the news of their imminent departure rather well all considered and had dragged the unwitting Damien out shopping, her promise to pack the rest of her things when she got back the last that she had heard from the teen as she ran out of the door.
She was sitting on the couch with a feeling that everything was happening too quickly to be comfortable as she stared around at what had been her home for nearly two and a half years. She had so much that she hadn't done that she had planed to do and it gave her a sinking feeling in her stomach but she knew that this time Riddick was right; it was time to move on, take a few month sojourn and wait for the dust to settle.
They left at 2am that coming morning.
Johnny had taken the news calmly, Damien had been tight lipped, Joe had been disgruntled but had insisted on coming round with some flight aids before she left and although Kelly had been understanding she made it clear that she was both unhappy and upset but the sudden decision even though she understood the reasoning behind it.
Bret would have been rolling in his grave over this latest blow. He at least would have understood her need to have Riddick in charge of this whole venture. He would also have understood why she was so reluctant to leave her home.
The vid phone buzzed and she moved to the wall and pressed the button that would answer it. "Hi." She answered with a chirp when she saw John's slightly pale face on the screen.
"Hi Jack. How's things?" He answered, his mouth stretching in a forced smile, which wasn't like him.
"Not too bad. Am just packing up Candace to go on holiday and try and find her father. The kid's really excited." Jack answered. "Did Sam make it up to the station alright with Danny? She was pretty shaken when I saw her last."
"I'm not sure, I'm planet side at the moment."
"Bad flight? You look pretty pale."
"Pilot was pretty green but that's not why I called."
"We all were green at some point bet they will be fine with a bit of practice. What's your news then?" She gave him a smile and a shrug.
"Got some information I think you want to know, it's not the most thrilling info and I'm sorry."
"What is it?"
"They brought one of those creatures back with them from that planet Jack. It's already killed three of the researchers and Dr. Johnston is refusing to kill the thing. He's pretty insane."
"Do you know where it is?" Jack was suddenly serious, a chill running up her spine.
"I'll send you a map." John's face disappeared as a data steamed map appeared in it's place.
"He won't kill the thing?" Jack asked again.
"Nope, his researchers have been after him to do it for days but he won't." John reiterated.
"If he won't do away with it then I will. Thanks for the information John." Jack turned off the connection and ran through to her room, quickly changing into black as she loaded the weapons that she thought she would need in a shoulder bag.
She scribbled Riddick a quick note and ran out of the door:
I have some business to take care of.
Will be at the launch at 1:30. If I'm not
there go anyway. I'll be right behind you
in Chancer.
Jack