Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, plots or places from Riddick, other than my own of course.

Chapter 2

He was furious. He was left alone on this horrible, frozen planet. His crew had died because of Riddick, and that son of a bitch, Voldan, had taken off after Riddick to get the bounty which should have been his! And what was worse he didn't have a ship to pursue either of them since that wretch stole his. He couldn't think either, not because of the cold, but because of the number of curses running through his head.

All he could think of, apart from the curses, was walking out of the cave, and perhaps finding someone who he could hitch a ride off. It was highly unlikely of course, but there was always the possibility. He couldn't stop shivering. It was so cold. He wished he had a coat. He knew he couldn't survive on this planet for very long, even with the pace he had set himself. He was going to die on this wretched ball of ice. He looked behind him. The cave was quite far away now; while he was lost in his thoughts he had travelled farther than he knew. He stopped and looked around. There was nothing around other than snow. 'Bloody snow!' he thought.

Then something caught his eye, a glimmer. At first he thought it was just the snow, but then he realised that the glimmering was too bright and fixed in one position giving the impression that it was a metallic or glass object. It could be a ship. A ship! Toombs started racing towards the glimmer, the prospect of hope too strong to ignore.

He was running for what felt like two hours and he was still no closer to the reflected light. He still didn't give up hope and kept running until he was exhausted. He nearly keeled over with the tiredness when he realised that the glimmering was coming towards him. Either that or he was imagining it. No, he was certainly not imagining it. It was a ship and it was flying low as if it was looking for someone. It seemed a strange coincidence, he was here looking for someone as well. They must be here to look for Riddick, who else could they be searching this desolate planet for.

It could prove to be the worst decision he had ever made but he had to try. He started jumping up and down waving frantically. In fact he was doing anything which would attract attention, including running around in circles and shouting abuse up at the occupants of the ship.

The ship stopped in midflight, hovering. Toombs felt hope running through his body, he was going to be saved and then he might just have a chance of getting the bounty he had earned. But the elation turned to dread, however, when he saw one of the occupants of the ship step to the doorway with a gun and point it at him. Seeing this, the only thought that was going through his mind then was, 'oh shit!'

"Hold your fire!" the leader of the ship shouted at the gunner who was aiming an assault rifle at Toombs. "He is one of us!"

"Sir?" the merc asked, confused.

"It's not our man."

"So who is it?"

"Someone I know. Now put your Goddamn gun down!"

The merc hurriedly put his gun down, knowing not to cross his leader, who was a ruthless mercenary. The ship was set down, blowing snow all about it from its downward thrusters. The occupants all filed out of the ship via its side door. Toombs watched them closely, expecting a trap. His suspicion was lifted however when he saw the last man who came out of the ship. A smile stretched across his face, an expression which was copied by the leader of the mercs.

"Razor! I haven't seen you in years!" Toombs said, throwing his arms around his old friend.

"Toombs, It's been too long, what are you doing here? And so underdressed?"

"I was tracking a bounty, but he got away, along with my ship." Toombs snarled, "What are you doing here?"

"I was tracking a bounty as well. What a coincidence. Let me guess, Riddick?"

"Yeah. I was this close to getting him too if my crew weren't so scared." Razor laughed.

"Maybe we can work together?" Toombs smiled.

"I don't think so, but you can give me a lift. I need a new crew."

"Why not work with me? It'll be a Hell of a lot cheaper."

"Yeah but I know what you're like. You don't like sharing bounties."

"Ha! I'm not that bad. Please not in front of the crew, their frightened enough as it is." He said the last quietly. Toombs just smirked.

"Are we going? I'm freezing my tits off here." Toombs said shivering massively as if to emphasise the point. Everyone climbed back on the ship. The navigator's seat had been claimed by Toombs so he could talk to his old friend. The ship took off and flew out of the atmosphere. He was glad to be off that lump of ice. He was even happier because now he could go and collect his bounty.

He had been beaten. He hated being beaten. He didn't even want to go on that mission, with those damned amateurs, but he had been roped in to it. Well actually he had been guilt-tripped.

"If you don't go, and they get killed by him, he could go and slaughter so many innocent people in his rage. Now, you don't want all their deaths on your conscience, do you?"

His pride had been hurt, and it was a death sentence if anybody hurt his pride. He wasn't bothered about the money, he had plenty of that. He earned a lot from when he was commanding an infantry brigade back on Brilbane, and from his contractor career. But he did want paying - in blood. More specifically, in Riddick's blood. Nobody beat him so easily and lived to boast about it. Voldan was a soldier, and he had a soldier's pride. Pride was a soldier's most prized possession.

But his more rational side was screaming at him, telling him he couldn't harm the convict. And there was something nagging at him, something that in his rage he had forgotten, something concerning Riddick.

He took off his cloak, unclasping the snaps from his breastplate, letting his long brown hair fall to his shoulders. He pressed a button on his dashboard then pressed an icon on his touch-screen pad which was activated by the previous button. A door slid open, showing a hidden wardrobe filled with clothes. There were hidden compartments all over his ship; even his exterior weapons were cloaked. He pressed another button and slid open another door revealing another hidden compartment housing armour; cuirasses of different thicknesses, Pauldrons of different shapes and styles and different pairs of vambraces, each with a different assortment of hidden weapons; his favourite being the ones he was wearing which held throwing knives and retractable knives on the bottom.

He took off his armour and stored it in the compartment, pressing another button to close it. He went back to the controls and opened his map, then typed in his coordinates. The map zoomed into the galaxy. He looked around, looking for planets close by. That little ship couldn't travel for that long, it needed to refuel at some point. Plus, if Riddick was anything like he had been told, he would be going straight to the source of the bounty. Then he saw a planet which was in their direction on the live map, a map which shows ships and planets moving in real time. He pressed that planet and the name came up; Helion Prime.

"Ah, so that's where you're headed?" he said to himself. "Well, Riddick, this should be fun." He smiled, then pressed another button which dropped shutters down the windows, blocking out all light. Then he plotted a route to Helion Prime and set the ship on autopilot. Once satisfied, he stood up and walked across the steel tiles on the floor, walked up some steps of the same material then pressed a button which slid open a door leading to his bedroom. It was a spacious room with three rectangular windows which were shuttered. In the centre of the room, at the back was his double bed with a feather mattress and silk covers. He took off his clothing and neatly placed them in to a compartment, which, when a button on it was pressed, the door closed and a quiet noise emanated from it. The compartment was in fact washing machine and a dryer. He walked towards his bed, his muscles shining in the light, his scars a lighter colour than his tanned skin. He lay on his bed, his arms folded behind his head. He was looking at the ceiling, thinking about the events of the day, of how Riddick had beaten five people easily. 'Oh dammit! Why the Hell did I think about that?' He was calm, but now he'd riled himself again, only this time he was angrier, much angrier. 'Just wait 'til I find you again Riddick, you son of a whore.' He thought to himself and every thing in his room started shaking violently, including his bed. 'Calm down, Voldan.' He calmed himself. The shaking stopped as he calmed down, then he slowly drifted asleep.

He woke up with a start, grasping the knife that he keeps under his pillow, and brandishing it in front of him ready to slash anyone and anything around him. He looked around, sweat pouring down his face and chest. There was nothing around, no ghouls, no monsters and no assassins. Sometimes he hated sleep; sometimes all he could see were their faces. The faces of the people he had let down. Now they were dead, or captured. His family; a wife, two daughters and a son, he still scorned himself for their deaths.

They were living happily, on the income he was bringing in from the army and from his contractor career. He had left to help in the war with the Velsumidian tribe against the Delsivians, when the Necromongers 'visited' his planet. He raced back to his planet, but he was too late.

There were signs of a struggle and he knew that this fight had lasted more than a couple of days, but the planet was ravaged, nothing was left, no buildings left standing, not even the palace which was built like a fortress. It was there that most of the Necro bodies resided. Voldan knew that that would be the place where the fight lasted the longest; against the Elite Palace Guards, but even they had been overwhelmed. And then there were the commanders to consider. They were the strongest in the army but even they couldn't stand against the might of the Necromongers, though there were a few missing, them being the Marshall's lieutenant, Brigadier Davrun, who was also Voldan's best friend, he was a Pyrokinetic, and one of the strongest in the military. And also Telesor, a cryokinetic. She was a friend of Voldans, and there were many rumours around that she had a soft spot for Voldan.

When he walked around to his home, or what would have been his home, he saw his father lying dead, covered in the rubble of his house, his mother was there as well as his eldest child, his daughter; Voldianne. His wife and youngest daughter and his son were gone. He had heard voices, hope rushed through him, thinking there were survivors. But when he saw them, he didn't care if he was caught. There were a company of Necros walking around. A captain and about thirty soldiers. He didn't wait; he drew his knives and charged at them headlong, taking out their captain in one swipe and cutting his way into the centre of the ranks.

It was there that he showed them what true power was, unleashing a massive serge of electricity, killing at least ten of them, then used his telekinesis killing another five. He knew he was stupid in doing that, there were still ten left and he had used the majority of his energy using his powers. But that didn't stop him. He killed every Necro there before falling to his knees, partly with the grief of failing his family, and partly due to exhaustion.

Now he saw his children's faces in his dreams, screaming his name, shouting for help. But he couldn't help them. He had heard of what the Necromongers do, kill or convert. He thought that he could take his children back, but God knows where they were, and his wife will have been converted by now and he had heard that there was no going back once converted. So he thought of a plan; kill every Necro you see. It sounded good at the time, it still did, but he wouldn't kill his wife or his kids.

Then he remembered, that was what he had been told. He had been told to look for a man named Riddick.

"He can help you in your fight against the Necromongers." The voice was fresh in his head, "make him an ally, and he will be one of the best allies you will find. But make him an enemy; well let's just say you won't live to see the sun set."

"Why would he help me?" He said aloud, "he is a convict, a criminal, he wouldn't help me, besides what makes him so special?" There was a loud voice which sounded like it came from every corner in his chamber making him jump out of bed, with his knife at the ready again, crouched in a defensive position, knife reversed in front of him.

"Because he is the strongest of his kind, and is your only hope if you decide to go after Zhylaw, the Necromonger Lord Marshall." It was a woman's voice. Voldan looked around, then shook his head, believing he was going mad. Then he heard it again.

"Do not take this lightly, Voldan, he is the only one who can help you, you must make him an ally, if you are ever to find your wife again." He froze at this, he had told no one of this, nobody who wasn't from Brilbane knew of his loss. "Riddick can help you find them, he has a score to settle with the Lord Marshall too, though he does not yet realise it. He too is a Furyan, and your leader."

There was another Furyan out there? He never thought that was possible, he had heard of what had happened to that planet. He was a half Furyan, but he had been born on Brilbane and had lived there ever since. And he would be damned if he was going to follow orders from someone half his age. However, if what - whoever it was - said was true, then now he was hunting Riddick for another reason. Not that he would let the fact that he had been beaten by him go, that would be an affliction which would stay with him for a while.

He got dressed, pulling on a pair of black combats, a long sleeved red top and his boots over some socks and walked to the control panel, pressing the button that would raise the shutters. He looked out and saw that he was near a planet. He guessed it was Helion Prime. It was getting dark down there. He looked to his left and saw a meteor. He had heard that the comet always preceded the Necromongers. It looked like he would get to see these bastards who everyone was scared of. Well not him. He was happy to let the ship stay on autopilot while he collected his weapons and armour. He pressed three buttons on the dash simultaneously, opening three doors on the left side of the wall, three hidden compartments. He clasped his cloak over his shoulders to his breastplate which he had taken from the middle compartment, strapped his scabbard to his back which held his double-edged sword, fastened a belt round his waist and slid two fighting knives into their sheaths. Six shuriken followed the knives, three each side. He connected a thin quiver to the back of his belt, filled with fifteen carbon-fibre arrows with razor sharp, barbed titanium heads and black feather fletchings. A folded carbon-fibre recurve bow slid in next to his quiver. Six long throwing knives were slid into his breastplate, three each side in a vertical line, six more were slid into his vambraces which were fitted to his arms after he connected his pads to his gloves.

These were the pads that Toombs had seen in his ship. They were used to focus his power, so that his electrical blasts could be focused in one place, though these dramatically decreased his power. Without them his power would do much more damage, but it would hit many people, maybe kill some innocents, which he didn't want to do. The last weapon he picked up was his sword staff. The staff had a black aluminium shaft, so that it was lightweight, but strong. On the haft there was a circular weight made of black steel about eight inches in diameter, which weighed about 20 kilos and was bluntly pointed at the end, and had two spikes on the same side as each edge of the blade and were at an angle towards the blade. The blade was over twenty-three inches long, white bladed and razor sharp.

He was ready for battle. He pulled the hood of his cloak over his head, but his blue eyes still shone out of them showing his power level. They shone brightly when he was angry, just like all the commanders eyes did. But he was more than angry; he was deathly calm, his iris' shone bright electric blue. Blood would be spilt tonight, and not his. Revenge was heavy in his mind, and Riddick would help him, he hoped.