XI.

Before meeting Hope he never had traveled willingly in company of anybody; he had been a loner and hadn't wanted anybody around him. He was surprised how hard it was for him now; a few months with her and he hated it to be alone on the ship without her.

He missed her presence more than he'd ever have imagined. Walking through the ship he always expected to find her in the engine room, 'playing' with her gadgets. Or in the kitchen, burying her nose in a cup of tea she used to call 'Captain Picard's favorite'. He grinned … she definitely did too much reading.

He missed her smile, their discussions, he missed their working together and yes … he missed her in his bed, her naked skin against his, her scent, her hands on him, missed to see the hunger for him in her eyes, the sound of her voice crying out his name when she came.

That small woman had sneaked into his heart and soul and had changed him more than he ever thought could be possible.

And another thing he never would have thought of happened: he was bored out of his mind. He even would have been grateful for a problem in the engine room to pass time. Like he had taught her how to fight and to survive she had taught him the basics about warp cores and he was more than able to do some minor repairs himself.

He had to find that bastard soon if he didn't want to go nuts. That fuck wouldn't only pay for his betrayal; he would have to pay for the hurt he saw in Hope's eyes, for the necessity to leave her behind to keep her safe and he would have to pay for his own inconvenience. He would suffer and beg for his death till he was done with him.

Riddick had downloaded everything he would need from Hope's PADD; it had been tedious and afforded hours of reading until the letters started to dance in front of his eyes but he finally discovered the place where Ronson had to be.

Ronson came from a small, not overly developed planet with strict rules concerning family and behavior, tolerance was a word they weren't even able to write there; very patriarchic and puritan. Women didn't have much of a say, there was rumor that they were still keeping slaves and the only punishment for violations of their severe law was either death sentence or heavy labor. If you wanted to leave the planet a permission of the council was indispensable; no need to tell that just the citizens most true to doctrines did get such permission and it's been quite a challenge for Michael and Garret to get Ronson off that planet. However, Ronson had some distant relatives on Planthos; they had been able to escape a lot of yeas ago when the by-laws for departure hadn't been that restrictive.

He drew everything out of the engines and with max warp he reached the planet in three weeks. Three of the possibly longest weeks in his entire life and with each day his hate towards Ronson grew more.

He reached Planthos late afternoon. The fake ID guaranteed Riddick some room and having the cold season he would blend in the crowd with his hood.

Ronson's relatives were just noted in the margin in an old document from his home planet and being the not Furyan branch of the family tree they hadn't bothered to look for further data. Knowing the name of Ronson's ship and since Hope also had given him the 'computer hacking 101' he was able to hack into the computer of the spaceport and find out about Ronson's whereabouts. From there on it was merely a walk in the park to find Ronson and his relatives.

He took cover on the roof of a neighbor house and patiently observed his target for hours until he knew exactly who was staying in the house and where Ronson's room was situated but unfortunately he didn't have a clear view of that room. He could spot the shadow of a man … but not Ronson … too small to be Ronson. He entered through a window under the roof … taking in its arrangements didn't even take a second; it was sparsely furnished, a bit clinical; it looked like a typical guestroom, two doors, one on his left side and one opposite the window … and surprised the half naked man that was obviously sharing the room with Ronson.

Riddick grabbed the man at his throat and slammed him against the wall, his feet dangling a couple of inches above the floor. Riddick's grip was tight enough to squeeze all the breath out of the man.

"Where is Ronson?" Riddick hissed, his voice low and savage.

The man managed to choke out "I … don't … know."

More guts than Riddick would have thought. He growled and pushed a bit harder. "Wrong answer. Try again." He stiffened when he heard a silent noise to his left, the door over there slowly opening, revealing a bathroom and a still wet Ronson with a very panicked look on his face.

"Riddick please, don't hurt him. It's not his fault. I told him it would be all right. He didn't know. I'm sorry!" he pleaded, hands outstretched and radiating waves of angst and horror.

After a final squeeze that made the man … Sam … rattle Riddick let go of him, let him fall to the floor where he remained lying, a gasping bundle of pure misery and turned to Ronson.

"You are SORRY? You damn bastard got Hope hurt … there is no excuse for that!" He had his shiv at Ronson's throat but he didn't kill him though, somehow through the red haze of his fury he managed to not kill him on the spot. He wanted nothing more than to bury his shiv deep in Ronson, wanted to spill his blood, wanted to make him cry out in unbelievable pain but not yet … he needed to know about possible accomplices.

"Tell me who else is involved and maybe I'll kill you quickly. Lie to me and you'll endure more pain than you ever thought could be possible."

Riddick ignored the whimper behind him. "Shoot!" he bellowed … and was somewhat surprised about the confusion he saw in Ronson's eyes.

"Involved in what? Who? Why did she get hurt? She told me she wouldn't mind. She was so confident you wouldn't mind either."

"What are you fucking talking about? You are not trying to make me believe Hope wouldn't mind getting hunted by mercs, are you? Are you fucking stoned?"

Ronson cried out in pain when Riddick's shiv cut into his flesh. "Riddick, please, what mercs? We talked about me being gay. She promised not to tell anybody until I talked to you about bringing Sam to Furya, but there had been no occasion before you left and then I got news that Sam had problems with the authorities. It's a major crime on the planet we lived and he was already under suspicion. I had to get him off that planet before they could arrest him; there was no time to wait for you to come back. It would have been a death warrant for him if they'd have arrested him. And I was told you would be gone for quite a while. Time was running out for Sam. Please, we won't come back and bother you anymore. I beg you, at least leave Sam … it's me you want to kill."

Riddick couldn't believe it … Hope knew?! Why didn't she tell him?

She had tried after you accused him of having a crush on her, remember?

He took off some of the pressure on the knife he had on Ronson's gorge. "Who told you we wouldn't be back for a while?"

"I always forget his name. Thin, curly hair, about 17 years old. He has no special skills so he was assigned to do the farming. I just met him once outside the meetings after you've left. I don't know why he had that information but he seemed to be very confident. He is the one that lives in the ship he came with. He always talks about that uncle of his, Simmons. I remember that name coz it sounds a bit like Sam's last name." he added somewhat sheepish.

Simmons.

Silence fell over the room. No more questions to ask; the pieces fell into place and he could see the whole picture, everything made sense now.

Putting the shiv back in his belt Riddick tried to remember the boy Ronson was talking about. There had been a lot of meetings and a lot of people he wasn't interested in. But it wouldn't be Riddick if he would forget a single face, also he couldn't put a name on it. He remembered the kid ... eager to please Hope and just poorly able to hide his dislike for him. And he would have to find out who did the researches of the boy's background; he couldn't tolerate such carelessness and let the responsible person get away with it.

"What else do you know about the boy's uncle … Simmons?"

"Not much. The boy has a very annoying voice and after a while you stop listening. It always was Uncle Simmons here and Uncle Simmons there; like the man could walk on water. He had raised him for about a year after his parents had died and before he came to another relative; and he told me that he isn't related by blood with him … Thinking of it I wonder where he always had that news from his uncle … he never used the com room like we all did. I would have seen it when I erased everything concerning Sam."

'Only one hasn't used the com station or the computer at all.'

"You didn't erase it good enough by half to fool Hope and she found out that you were hiding something. You should have been honest from the beginning."

"Riddick, again, I'm sorry; I'm so used to hiding my relationship with Sam I didn't even think about it; it has become second nature to me. What about Hope, she is fine, isn't she? Please, tell me what we can do to help."

Riddick gave him a curt nod. "She is." 'Most likely very pissed but otherwise fine.' He turned and left a very distraught Ronson behind; he had to hail Hope ASAP, she had to know about that little bastard.

He was almost out of the window when he turned back again. "I think Hope already told you; you are welcome, both of you; I don't mind who you fuck as long as you keep your hands off Hope. Pack up; we are leaving within the next hour. You have to testify against that boy, but lie to me again and you are dead without any further warning, be certain of that."

...

PADD … Personal Access Display Device … hand-held computer interface