Ven eyed the ship appreciatively. It was nice. Very nice. Something even Gyn would be proud to fly in. The thought of her long lost sister brought a sharp pain to her heart and she shut it off, but not before wondering where her sister was. If she was safe. It had been six years since she’d last seen Gyn, and that was a long time to be looking for someone.

Brand laid a hand on her shoulder and she covered it with her own, knowing he sensed her pain. Years of depending on each other had practically linked their minds. She hated that he’d had to grow up so fast. He was only fourteen, he should be having fun, not worrying where he was going to get his next meal, who he might have to kill next.

She patted his hand and motioned for him to board the ship and followed him in. He sat in the pilot’s seat and shot her a questioning look. She’d been teaching him how to pilot for a while now, and he was good, a real natural like everyone else in the family. She nodded and Brand shot her an appreciative grin, starting up the ship with speed and a deft touch. It hummed to life and the gentle purr of the engines was comforting. Ven dropped into the co-pilot’s seat and threw a tired arm over her eyes.

The ship lifted off and turned gently in the direction of the landing pad nearest the hotel. Rain was waiting for her ride and they needed her help if they were going to find Gyn. Before they landed Ven saw Riddick exiting the hotel, his face expressionless and impassive, as usual. He obviously knew Rain was there, but why he’d come was beyond her. Oh, well, she thought indifferently and pointed out the clearing to Brand where he could set down. The landed with a gentle thud and he flicked off the controls easily before opening the hatch.

“You’re a natural, kiddo,” she praised, ruffling his dark hair. The thick strands settled back into place and he shook his long bangs back from his eyes.

“Thanks, sis.”

They walked up to Rain’s room quietly and she opened the door before they could knock, Ven’s hand still poised to do just that. Rain lifted a dark questioning brow.

“I got it. Nice one, too. Packed?” Ven asked.

Rain nodded and stepped back into her room, leaving the door wide for them. She slung a black canvas back pack over her shoulders and followed them outside.

The minute they stepped outside there was a grunt and shove and Rain found herself thrown backwards violently. She crashed through the glass door and rolled away just as the sharp shards crashed down around her. She cried out in pain as more than one knife-like splice of glass pierced her skin through her shirt, and a shot rang out through the air. And then another.

When she finally was able to get up she saw Brand rolling on the ground beneath a large man holding a gun. Brand was grasping the man’s wrists in both his hands and forcing the gun away. Ven lay on the ground, either dead or unconscious, blood pooling around her still form on the pavement.

With a howl of rage and pain Rain dived on the man, pulling her blade in a swift move. She jammed it down into the man’s shoulder, looking for the spot that would kill him. She screamed in frustration when it hit the collarbone and stopped. Rain twisted it futilely in an effort to get it to slide deeper, but all it did was tear the man’s skin.

He let go of Brand and she pulled the blade out going for another stab, but he turned beneath her, using his superior strength to pull away. She cried out as her back arched, pressing the glass deeper into her mutilated flesh. Ven was moving slightly, reaching ever so slowly for her revolver, which was strapped to her right hip. Brand pulled his own blade and sliced at the man, raking the sharp edge along the man’s throat. Hot blood spurted out across his face and he reached down for his sister, pulling her upwards with all he had left.

Ven staggered weakly to her feet, her hand hanging near the revolver, but still and dead looking. Rain glanced at them and they stumbled to the ship not far away. Making a split second decision, Rain limped after them, leaving the man on the ground, grasping his bleeding throat with both hands.

A few minutes later they were all piled on board Ven’s new ship. Brand hauled himself into the pilot’s seat while Rain and Ven collapsed on the floor, breathing raggedly. He shot them both a worried a glance before forcing his mind back onto the problem on hand. He didn’t know where they were going so he just punched up the star map and looked for the nearest habitable planet. With the coordinates in mind, he stabbed the numbers in and lifted off, leaving the atmosphere with a burst of speed.

He stumbled over to his sister, who’s breathing was impossibly shallow, the blood was flowing from her like a river and he cried out as if the pain were his own. Rain stared at him from cold green eyes that glittered like emerald chips, laying on her stomach, the glass shards sticking prominently out of her back.

“Pull this glass out of my back,” she whispered, almost inaudibly. Brand shot her a look that said plainly, why? “Pull them out and I’ll patch her up. Trust me, kid, I know what I’m doin’.”

Brand complied after a moment’s hesitation. He grasped the shards in his hand one at a time and yanked them out, Rain hissing her displeasure as they pulled out of her skin.

“You’re gonna have to cut the back of my shirt away and check the wounds. Make sure there’s nothin’ in ‘em.” Her voice was slightly slurred from the pain, there having been seven different shards ripped into her flesh.

Brand pulled his blade and cut the black shirt away from her skin. He shoved his hair away from his face, feeling woozy and pained. He pulled the edges of each cut apart so he could see inside. Most of them were clean, but a few had broken chips inside of them and he stuck his fingers into them to pull it out, eliciting sharp cries from Rain. When her back was free of glass he got the first aid kit and swabbed her back with antiseptic then slapped bandages on each cut.

He found another shirt in her bag and tossed it to her. She sat up slowly and turned her back to him while she pulled the new shirt on over her head. When she felt she could stand up again she turned to Brand. He was clasping the area just below his left shoulder and she saw the blood pouring from the gunshot wound she hadn’t noticed before. Brand gazed back at her through glazed gold eyes.

His face was drawn and pale and he turned to stare at his rapidly fading sister. “Fix her,” he choked out, then collapsed on the floor.

Rain let out a cry of frustration and checked his wound quickly. She probed the inside with a finger feeling for bone fragments and any other sort of shrapnel. It was clean, having passed all the way through and she swabbed it then rapped it. She’d move him somewhere better but she doubted she could carry him anywhere. He was a big kid.

She turned to Ven and ripped open the younger woman’s shirt with her blade. The bullet had entered her chest and the bleeding had slowed slightly. Rain rolled her over to check her back. Damn, she thought, no exit wound. Now what?

She didn’t have much med. training and she didn’t know if she could or should open Ven up to poke around. Rain dug through the med. kit and found something long, metallic and unfamiliar. Figuring it would do, she stuck in Ven’s wound and probed around. She found the bullet wedged into a rib. Looked like it might have bounced around in there, but she couldn’t do anything about that except hope it hadn’t hit any major organs. When they landed she’d find a doctor to patch them all up appropriately but until then she was on her own.

She found a clamp and a scalpel in the kit and sliced a line across the bullet hole. Then she stuck the clamp in the edges so she could pull them apart. Ven moaned and opened her eyes to stare dully at Rain. Rain murmured an apology and hit Ven in the jaw, hard, knocking her unconscious again. It would be easier if Ven couldn’t feel what Rain was going to do.

She had to widen the cut even more and let out a choked sound when she could clearly see the bone and the bullet embedded in it. Rain knew what she’d have to do to get it out.

She reached in, grasped the rib fully in both hands and yanked upwards. The bone broke in half cleanly where the bullet had been. The bullet dropped onto Ven’s lungs and Rain grabbed a large metallic thing that looked like giant tweezers, grasped the bullet and pulled it out. Then she pressed the bones close together again, closed the flaps of the wound, and began stitching it shut. It didn’t look like anything had been bleeding in there, she thought darkly.

I’m a killer not made for staring at other peoples innards, she told herself sadistically. When Ven was properly bandaged up she adjusted Brand into a more comfortable looking position and stretched out on the ground. They’d all lost a lot of blood, but it was only a few hours to the planet they were heading for.

Not much longer, she told herself as unconsciousness beat at her, and she let it win, falling into a deep sleep.

~~~

Gynce Wolf raised her brows at the man next to her. He was her target and she was going to take him in, but he didn’t have to know that just yet. For the price on his head she’d almost consider sleeping with him to bring him in, but she doubted that would be necessary.

He grinned at her and reached out to touch the smooth skin of her cheek, stroking it tenderly. His eyes leered at her and she forced herself to smile into them innocently. Being a merc had its perks, but this wasn’t one of them.

Four hours and a serious drinking contest later, Gyn played drunk and stumbled out of the bar with her arm around the man’s waist and his thrown heavily about her shoulders. He sought her mouth for a sloppy kiss and she permitted it, making herself cooperate and almost wishing it was easier for her to get drunk so she wouldn’t remember this later.

She led him to her bike and whispered some sort of sexual innuendo which he grinned at drunkenly. He thought they were going to her place to roll in the sack, but he had another thing coming.

The sleep agent would kick in soon and he would be pliable as a rag doll and just as easy to tow in to her newest boss.

A few more hours passed and the man woke up to a place that didn’t have a bed. Dim green light filtered into his room and he blinked slowly. He dimly remembered a beautiful blonde dressed in black, drinking him under the table and promises of sex. He didn’t think he’d gotten any of the later.

Suddenly her face appeared in the doorway. “Ah, you’re awake then,” she murmured in that low voice that had first captured his attention.

“Where am I?” he asked her.

“You’re on board my ship,” she told him.

He shook his head. “Your ship. I don’t understand, where are we going?”

She sat on the edge of his cot and looked at him through slightly glowing silver eyes. “You’re going to prison and I’m getting paid to bring you there. I’m sorry, babe, but you ain’t goin’ anywhere fun.”

“Prison?” Everything felt foggy. More than a hangover. “Did you drug me?” he slurred. She nodded slowly and his head spun. “What’s your name?”

She shook her head. “I can’t tell you that.”

“You know who I am?” She nodded again.

“Kris Jacobs,” she said, stating his name and proving she knew exactly who he was.

He groaned. “Oh, God.” He’d try and deal with this in the morning.