Jack crumpled off the tree. Kyra caught her. "Hey, sis." She got a shoulder under her, pulled her through a forest towards a small hut.

"Aren't you dead? What's going on?"

Kyra snorted. "Yeah. I died. Hurt like a mother. Cliff notes version. You're in the Underverse. You're not dead; sometimes, during the 'conversion' process, people pop through. We made sure you would. They'll drag you back soon. And I'm going to hitch a ride." She opened the door, pulled Jack in, laid her gently onto a cot.

Jack managed to sit up, sure she was hallucinating in pain. "What?"

Kyra growled softly, clearly frustrated. "Look. Trust me. I figured it out. How to get back. How to stop the Necros. Thank Nemesis he saved my body. You're going to bring me back, put me in it. Then we're gonna blow up that fucking rock they took from the Underverse. Remake the world. Then you, me, and Riddick are going to restart the Furyan race. It'll be fun." Her smile was bitter. She settled Jack at a small chair, poured her a glass of something very sweet and very alcoholic.

"Riddick's dead, Kyra."

Kyra startled. "No. Prophecy Boy can't be dead. He's not dead." She shook her head grimly. "No. He's not here. He'd be here if he was dead. Fuck. We're not done yet. Maybe he made a break for it. Fuck."

Jack stared at her. The idea that Riddick might not be dead, might have abandoned her, had simply never occurred. But sex changes people . . . fuck. "Kyra, I don't know. Everything hurts. I just need time to think this through."

Kyra glared at her. "There's no time! You're gonna be dragged back to your body any second! I'm coming back, and we're gonna kill every last fucking one of them."

"Because they are killers?"

"That's one reason."

Jack laughed. "So are you. So was Riddick."

"We don't kill children."

"Riddick does. His armies have killed thousands of children. For all I know he killed my daughter."

Kyra's eyes softened. She didn't respond directly. "They killed our people, Jack. Old people. Children. They ripped babies out of their mothers' wombs and left both to die. They tore Riddick out of his mother's womb and tried to strangle him with his own umbilical cord. That's why he is what he is. He's a monster, but he's our monster. We have to stop them from killing the universe. We have to. But you have to help me."

"I have to? Or do I have a choice?"

For a moment, Jack thought Kyra was going to hit her. But the woman took a deep breath. "Look. It's not your fault. But it's worse than you know. You have a choice. I know – I know I've made a lot of choices for you. I've been surfing your dreams since you got here, I know Riddick's been making a lot of choices for you too. I'll make it up to you, I promise. But please – let me come back. Let me – let me be a hero."

"You've been surfing my dreams?"

Kyra looked guiltily defiant. "Yeah. Been trying to talk to you. You're really thick some times"

"How?"

"Look. The line between these two worlds is really thin in the Necropolis. You thought about me. We're connected. I found a way in."

Jack stared at her, things slotting into place. "You tried to get me to let Tier send me through the conversion process."

Kyra had the grace to look guilty. "Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because I could have rode back with you. Helped you convince Riddick to do the right thing. Bring it all down. Now that he's been dethroned, it's gonna be harder."

Fuck.

Jack rubbed her eyes. How could I be rubbing my eyes? Aren't I hanging in some hold some where? She stared hard at Kyra, trying to figure it out.

Kyra knelt in front of her. "Little sister, there's a lot of things I never told you. I wanted to keep you safe. But I need you. We need you."

Jack met Kyra's eyes. She felt herself falling into Kyra's eyes. Or maybe Kyra was falling into her eyes. "It's happening," Kyra whispered. "They are bringing you back. You have to choose."

If you choose wrong . . . something impossibly deep whispered

What the hell, she thought.

She made a choice.

Dame Vaako was supervising Jack's removal from the steel and glass apparatus. "Jack. Seems we left you in here through three cycles. I am so sorry. Simply can't imagine how such a thing could have happened. We'll get you rehydrated, don't you worry."

Jack fell at her feet, exhausted, hardly able to breath, thirsty beyond belief. The Dame made sympathetic noises. Then kicked her. Hard.

Riddick woke abruptly from a dream of dissolving into light. It had been warm. Now he was in a small ship, a cold ship, wrapped in a cocoon of blankets with another person. Not Jack. Not right. And the CO2 levels were uncomfortably high. Riddick untangled himself, explored the frigid air. They were on a small ship that smelled like it had been used to haul garbage.

"Vaako."

"My liege," Vaako's voice usually reverent voice was tinged with hysteria. "Praise be."

"Cut the crap, Vaako. It's Riddick . . . Why is it so damn cold?"

"I cut energy output to minimum to keep us hidden. In case anyone came back to check the wreckage."

Wreckage. Right. "Where's the fleet?"

"It must have jumped to hyperspace right after the Salmatis was destroyed. You were knocked out by the initial shock wave. I dragged you into this ship, hid us in the debris field."

Smart. "Coup?"

"Coup."

"Who?"

Vaako didn't answer. Riddick sat down at the control panel, brought life support up to normal levels. Looked back at Vaako, who had still not moved from the cocoon of mylar blankets.

"I gotta piss." Riddick found the head, relieved himself, took a long drink of water before returning to the pilot's seat. Vaako had finally sat up. He was rocking slightly, clearly on the edge of hysteria. Not good.

"Why'd you make it through better than me?"

"I'm wearing body armor."

Riddick snorted. "You really did think something was gonna happen, didn'tya?"

"I feared."

"What's the range of this ship, Vaako?"

He was shaking his head. "It's no use. We can limp to some nearby planets, but we'd never catch up with the fleet."

Go back? Do I want to go back? Riddick started busying himself with the controls. Fuck. Somehow, he'd been knocked out for days. "You didn't turn on the beacon?"

"And let people know we're here? They'd destroy us."

"Maybe." He flipped on the emergency beacon. Not a whole lot of choice about that; this was a short range vessel. Vaako was right, there were a few systems they could make in weeks or months, but there was simply no way they would catch up with the fleet on their own. But if any good Samaritans picked them up . . .

He set course for the nearest shipping lane, started to inventory the supplies. They weren't so bad off, it turned out. For whatever reason, the ship was well supplied and a recycler could handle most of their physical needs. Vaako did good, picking it. They should be okay.

Better than the last time he was adrift in one of these little ships, with a child and a holy man . . .

Brought him back to Jack. He'd been trying not to think of her as a child; made his growing attraction to her feel weird. But she had been . . . young. Still, she'd stepped up. Jack had helped sew up his leg, found the water, food and blankets and done everything she could for them as he fought fevers and the holy man slipped into his own delirium of grief and hopelessness. She'd pulled through. She'd pulled them through, those first few days, done pretty good after that. Wasn't until the second ship that picked up that she'd melted down, crying for the dead; indulging in self blame for bleeding the blood that drew the monsters to them.

He'd been tempted to ignore her. He liked her, for some reason, but hadn't really been planning on hanging around after he expurgated his guilt and got them someplace safe. Figured he didn't need any more brownie points with Abu's "compassionate" god by holding the kid's hand while she cried. Plus, she'd been careful to wait to cry until she was alone in the little room they'd given her. He could respect that.

But it hurt to hear her quiet sobs through the walls. And he really didn't want anyone else to comfort her.

Damn. I told myself that was because I didn't want anyone else on that fucking ship to know she was a girl, the only girl on the ship, and I knew they'd figure that out if she was sobbing in their arms. That I didn't want her getting raped on my watch. But I just didn't want other people touching her, even then.

For some fucked up reason, I needed someone to take care of, after what happened on that damn planet. Jack was safe to care for. She adored me. She trusted me. I could control her completely. I could take care of her without any real risk.

What I really deserve the fucking medal for was leaving her someplace safe, instead of taking her into the dark, with me as a child. If only it actually had been safe, asshole. If I'd taken her with me, none of this would have happened. Not like she got a normal adolescence anyway.

Damn. I can't figure out how I fucked up. She should have been safe.

Unless someone ratted me out . . .

Possible. Abu told people . . . Aereon. Ziza. Lajjun.

He told them later. And he knew where I was. When he betrayed me, he was straightforward about it. He wouldn't have sent mercs after his own foster daughter. Especially since he had to know I'd kill him when I found out.

Fuck. Doesn't make sense. If Jack or Abu had said something official, she would have ended up in protective custody. To protect her from me.

If those mercs had gotten caught kidnapping and raping a New Meccan girl, they all would have gone to prison the rest of their lives. One of the reasons it made sense to take her here. They were rich fuckers who took good care of their children.

Until we destroyed them.

We. Why is it we?

Something isn't right . . .

Fuck. Something really isn't fucking right.

Vaako finally untangled himself from the blankets, stumbled in the co-pilot's seat. Where Jack should be sitting.

With an unexpected pang of empathy, Riddick realized why Vaako was so miserable. He had thought his wife would not make an attempt on Riddick while he was there. He had been wrong. Poor guy. Always torn between loyalties.

After too many hours, the proximity detector beeped. Someone heard the beacon. Hopefully someone with a good ship. Because he was going back. Had to make sure Jack got away. Then he had to find her. He'd told her he wasn't planning on leaving her behind. Wasn't gonna let it be someone else's plan either.