Forgotten Past: Chapter Twenty Eight-Into the Fray

Riddick felt Carolyn’s presence the minute she stepped off the lift. She
approached on silent feet, but he could smell her. She was in his blood.

He has the door to his cabin open before she could knock and she
smiled grimly before brushing past him to sit on one of the over stuffed
chairs her rooms seemed to be famous for. Being a notorious pirate
seemed to pay well.

Carolyn’s wings were wrapped tight around her shoulders and her
shades were out of sight, leaving her black-blue gaze exposed to his
silver one.

Neither spoke as Riddick lowered himself into the other chair, still
warm from him sitting in it before.

Riddick silently wondered about what might have transpired between
Carolyn and her feline like sister. Had they hugged? Cried? Reminisced
about better times? When Carolyn remained silent for many more
minutes he told himself he may never know.

Deep in her own thoughts, Carolyn mulled over her and Eden’s
reunion. Sleke, she corrected herself mentally. Eden had insisted on
being called Sleke, said she was no longer the same person either of
them remembered from before her disappearance.

She’d been living her life in the world of the Company, and now
knowing why this had been done to her, she wanted retribution. And
she didn’t want anyone else to be stolen from what was important to
them. To be stolen from their life.

Forcing darker thoughts aside, Carolyn finally spoke up, breaking the
dark silence of Riddick’s cabin.

She laughed slightly, tipping her head against the soft chair back,
relaxing the tense and knotted muscles of her neck. They’d been
screaming at her to loosen up for the past week. Now maybe she’d
listen.

Riddick lifted a dark brow curiously at Carolyn’s sudden show of mirth
and she caught the questioning signal, deciding to explain.

“It’s funny, you know,” she commented cryptically.

Riddick settled himself in his chair, watching Carolyn through half
lidded eyes. “Is it.”

She nodded slowly. “Yeah. You know, after the crash, I never got all my
memory back. Not until I saw you, that is. Back there, on that planet, I
lost a good portion of my sanity. Maybe all of it. Some of the things I’ve
done...” she trailed off, her gaze locked somewhere beyond his
comprehension and he wondered what images haunted her.

“Maybe it was the blood,” she continued. “It was in my mouth, on my
skin, in MY blood. There was this thirst for... for... more blood,” she
finally concluded. “I wanted blood. I killed. Those first times out, after I
got The Charmer; brutal. So brutal.” Carolyn was silent again, her
thoughts touching on those screaming Company workers. She’d hated
them and hadn’t known why. Now perhaps she understood her own
bloodlust.

She’d needed to kill those perfect images of a normal life. Those
memories of whatever semblance of humanity she’d lost and been
unable to recover, and that they still had, despite their employer. It
wasn’t as if they were her enemy. They weren’t Rangers or Company
officials in any sense of the word. Just pilots and cargo loaders. Just
people. Just what she would never be again. Could never be again.

She made a small noise in the back of her throat, a sort of
understanding sound that vibrated along her teeth and tongue. “It fits
now.” She cocked her head sideways a bit, lifted from the chair’s back
slightly. “I think you might understand. You understand many things,
don’t you, Riddick?”

Riddick shifted, absorbing her voice. “Mhmm. Enlighten me, Carolyn.
What is it that I ‘might understand?’”

Carolyn let her head drop back again, staring sightlessly at the ceiling,
listening to the steady thud of her heart mixed with Riddick’s. “The
thirst,” she elaborated slowly. “To kill what you can’t be anymore.”

“Perhaps,” he agreed. “But killing was always so merciful. Even I
haven’t been known to draw it out. Necessity breeds a strange being.
The crushing of a spirit instead of the murder of it. Isn’t that more
painful? To be damned to life rather than to death?”

“Is that what you meant?”

“Meant when?” he queried.

She shifted her black gaze to his face, searching it slowly. “When you
told Johns to ghost you. That was it, wasn’t it.” It wasn’t a question and
Riddick averted his gaze to over her left shoulder.

“Maybe it was.” He laughed without humor. “Maybe it was. I didn’t
think I’d get off that planet, not alive. Not free. Death would have been
peace and getting Johns to shoot me would’ve been a sort of suicide. I
was dead already.”

“Not dead now,” she commented.

His intense gaze flashed to hers. “Aren’t I?”

Carolyn shook her head. “No. Just badly wounded.” She chuckled
shortly, then inhaled sharply, pulling the generated air deep into her
lungs. “Badly wounded. No bandages for what ails us, is there?”

Despite her light tone and sarcastic phrasing, Riddick heard the
underlying question, the ever present pain for something lost but not
forgotten. “No,” he agreed. “Not for us, Carolyn. Not for you. Not for
me.”

“Is it ever for you?” Carolyn didn’t know what inspired this question,
but the constrained pain she felt from Riddick mirrored her own. It
called to her, pulled her. She was compelled to question.

Riddick’s gaze sharpened on her face. “I think you know the answer to
that, Carolyn.”

“Educate me.”

He sighed, his eyes drifting shut. He pooled his defenses together,
rebuilding his crumbling walls and breathed deeply as she had. “You
were the only thing for me, Carolyn. Even if you’re alive you still felt
you gave your life that day. And you did. You are no longer who you
were.”

Carolyn squeezed her eyes shut and felt a tear leak through, sliding a
condemning path down her cheek to drop unchecked off her chin,
spattering silently on the neck of her shirt.

“The living dead,” she breathed and he felt his heart clench painfully.
“Maybe even vampires in our own right.” Another slow tear, following
the path of its predecessor.

“You’re still human,” he reminded her.

She fluttered her wings slightly before questioning, “Am I?”

“Yes. Even you. Even me.”

“I thought you didn’t know how to rejoin the human race?” Carolyn
said, forcing back the urge to cry outright. Or maybe to laugh. She
wasn’t sure of which. She was unsure of so many things now.

He shrugged. “Maybe not knowing is the definition of human.”

“So cynical.”

Another shrug of his broad shoulders. “Yeah. Or a realist. That may be
the term. You understand.”

“Yes. I understand. I didn’t always though, you know.”

Riddick nodded. “I know. I think you were better off not
understanding.”

“You were alone. At least you know that if you ever want to talk
someone can listen. And understand.”

“You don’t think Jack understands?” he questioned, knowing her
answer.

“No. She doesn’t understand. She’s still a child in many ways, despite
her maturity, her past, her problems. She’s yet to be alone.” Carolyn
paused. “And, I don’t think you ever really talked to her,” she tagged
on.

Riddick didn’t answer so Carolyn added another speculation. “Jack
may have felt alone, but she had you. There was that, for her at least.”

“Not now. Not anymore,” he reflected.

Carolyn didn’t comment, her silence saying she understood that as well.
“You think the two of you will ever come to an understanding?”

Riddick shrugged again and Carolyn realized that was one of his
favorite answers. An answer to a question wrapped in a question.
Questions, so many, yet no answers.

“Maybe. If anything, there will be a reckoning. Of that I’m certain.”

“Try to keep it non-physical. Despite Jack’s explosive temper and
unwise actions, she’s still a part of my crew. And, knowing she’s been
trained by you, she’s an important part. It’s hard to find people with
the skills she has.”

“Non-physical,” he repeated, almost to himself. “I’ll try and keep that
in mind. The fact that my jaw has a crack in it does tend to put me a bit
on the defensive side.”

“Non-physical,” Carolyn reiterated. “I don’t want her laid up forever
and I don’t have any mend chambers.”

“Why don’t we settle on no permanent damage and leave it at that,
Carolyn?”

“Guess I’ll have to take what I can get, won’t I?”

Riddick was about to answer when an alarm began to sound, the small
flashing red light in the far corner of the room spinning wildly. There
was a crash and The Charmer shuddered.

“What’s going on?” Riddick demanded and Carolyn leapt gracefully to
her feet, claws extended.

“We’re under attack. Meet me on the command deck,” Carolyn barked,
her role as captain of the ship immediately taking over. Thoughts of
safety for her ship, and first and foremost, her crew, crowded her mind
and she raced from Riddick’s cabin.

She’d gone to him for comfort and now she’d have to leave before she
got it. How come things never worked out for her the way she wanted
them to? Carolyn let that thought skim about her brain with the rest of
her worries as she raced to the lift and punched in the code for the
command deck.

“What the hell is going on?” she demanded the minute she cleared the
door.

Max Lewis looked up from his place at a weapons control console to
answer her. “We’re under attack from a Company battle cruiser.”

“The same one Jack spotted?”

“No, that wasn’t a battle cruiser. This is someone else and they mean
business, boss.”

Another blast rocked the ship and Carolyn dipped low, bracing her
weight with a fist on the ground, wings lifted to keep from dragging on
the floor.

“Is the aluthium holding up?” she questioned, making her way to the
captain’s chair.

“Yeah,” Max answered, pulling up status charts as Jason Poppino and
Neil Roberts made sure all the weapons were online. “We haven’t
sustained any damage, except for whatever might be falling off shelves
inside the ship.”

“Give me the stats of that cruiser. What are they equipped with?”

Max’s fingers flew over the console and brought up a chart that showed
the make and model of the battle cruiser they were facing. “Stats show
it’s a newer model, but there is no aluthium plating. The weapons are
state of the art and the computer estimates about a hundred crewmen
on board.”

Carolyn nodded her satisfaction. “Leah, send the stats and the situation
information to Nylorac and Ahsatan. They may not have been spotted
on the other side of the site and need to be notified that this cruiser isn’t
a threat and that I’ll have it taken care of.”

“Got it,” Leah Lang replied and immediately set up the link between
The Charmer and the other two battle cruisers.

Turning to Neil, Carolyn gave her next command. “Hit that cruiser
with a electric stun blast. I want them disabled, but not dead. We’re
boarding that cruiser.”

Riddick stormed through the door at that minute and Carolyn filled
him in on the situation.

“Get on the com with Gabriel over there and alert my entrance crew to
prepare for boarding. Have Tor Lexis check on Jack and see if she’s up
to a little combat.” Carolyn waited for Riddick to move but he stood his
ground.

“Yes?” she questioned.

“You think Jack is ready for this sort of thing?”

“Don’t you?” He was silent. “Riddick, it’s your call. I’m not going to
send her in there if you don’t think she’ll handle herself accordingly.”

Riddick thought for a moment, unsure if he should regulate Jack’s life
anymore than he had in the past. He nodded. “She’s ready, and even if
she wasn’t, she’s an adult. Like you said.”

He turned to relay the orders to Gabriel when Carolyn reached out and
grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

“Riddick,” she said quietly. “I care about this ship, and I care about my
crew. My crew always come first. Jack is a part of this crew now, and
even if she wasn’t I wouldn’t send her into a situation I didn’t think she
could handle. As captain, I always board with my crew. I’ll be by Jack’s
side every minute she’s on board that battle cruiser.”

Riddick’s lip curled. “I’m not worried about her. I just don’t want her
screwing anything up. If she ruins the resistance’s chance for victory,
I’ll kill her myself.”

Carolyn let her hand drop from Riddick’s wrist and took a step back
from the menace written clearly on his face. “Right,” she confirmed
weakly. “When you’re done with Gabriel meet at the docking bay. Well
take the Charmer of Eden. Bring any gear you want with you, but know
that weapons will be dispensed at the docking bay.”

She turned on her heal and left the deck. Riddick stared after her for a
moment, wondering if he should tell her he was worried about Jack, but
he couldn’t allow himself to feel responsible for her anymore.

He checked his all to human emotions and leaned over Gabriel West’s
shoulder, repeating Carolyn’s orders. The man went to work without a
word and Riddick turned to the door.

The lift was just returning when he got to it and he stepped on board,
punching in the code for the docking bay.

Moe Jackson was talking to a group of men and women while Carolyn
leaned against Charmer of Eden, Winter Keefe by her side. Tor Lexis
was standing nearby and Jack was standing with the rest of the
entrance team, getting her orders from Moe.

Riddick approached Carolyn and the other woman head on, noting
Carolyn’s heavily armed appearance. Her wings were drawn in tight to
her back, folded close for protection and her dark glasses had been
replaced with a pair of dark goggles.

The entrance team was made of twelve men and women, each with their
eyes shined except for Winter and two other men. Everyone with shined
eyes wore a set of goggles and Riddick knew this was to prevent sudden
exposure to light if the goggles were to be grabbed. They stayed much
better than glasses.

When Moe was done giving orders he began handing out weapons.
Pulse blasters and revolvers. Ammo for the revolvers was dispensed
with the guns for reloading.

Carolyn had a six inch aluthium blade strapped to her right thigh and
another, long blade to her boot. An ammo belt was slung low around
her hips, holding two revolver clips and a number of shotgun shells.
The black gauge itself was strapped to her left thigh. A shoulder holster
held two black revolvers.

“You always wear that much gear when boarding?” he asked as he
came within talking distance.

The two women looked at each other and then back to him. “Yes,”
Carolyn answered. “But only if the crew is awake. Otherwise one gun,
two blades. This is different. We’re encountering a Company battle
cruiser with at least a hundred crew members. This could get ugly. It
will most certainly be bloody.”

“You cut the lights on entering?” he asked, leaning back against the
Charmer of Eden’s hull as well. He glanced at Tor. He’d never met the
man and noted that he was roughly Riddick’s own size, perhaps a few
inches taller. Heavily muscled, heavily armed. Riddick couldn’t tell if
the man was watching him but guessed he was. He turned back to
Carolyn.

“No. Not when they’re awake. We don’t have the time. We’ll just
disable all their systems with a stun blast.”

The com speaker came on and everyone went silent as Gabriel’s voice
came over.

“Prepare for stun blast. The battle cruiser hasn’t attempted
communication and doesn’t seem to realize we aren’t taking any
damage. Board the enemy cruiser from the port side, stay low. If the
stun didn’t disable all their systems, the stealth on board the Charmer
of Eden should keep you off their radar so you can approach
unchallenged.” The com clicked off and Carolyn braced herself for the
blast.

A slight shudder shook The Charmer and she began barking orders.

“Everyone load up and get on board. We’re out in ten and if you aren’t
ready you stay behind and I’ll deal with you later.”

Everyone knew that Carolyn meant business and hurriedly strapped on
the weapons provided by Moe.

Riddick noticed that everyone carried a blade of some sort and most
had some sort of gun of their own instead of one handed out by Moe.
Riddick doubted the weapons Carolyn was carrying were part of the
ship’s surplus. They looked custom.

He headed for Moe and the shorter man handed him a shoulder holster,
an ammo belt, and two revolvers similar to Carolyn’s. He strapped the
gear on and turned to see Jack.

Jack was strapping a shoulder holster into place and checking her shiv
where it was strapped to her thigh. She looked up at Riddick and he felt
her intense gaze light on his face. Her eye was still bruised and slightly
swollen around her goggles. There was no emotion betrayed on her
small features and she turned away when the rest of the entrance team
began boarding the small battle transport.

Carolyn was preparing to take off when a figure jumped out in front of
the ship, arms waving overhead. Carolyn peered through the view
screen and recognized her sister immediately.

She slid the pilot’s chair back and unstrapped herself. “I’ll be right
back,” she stated as she hit the hatch button to open the cargo gate.

She stepped out to be confronted by Sleke. “What are you doing here?”
she demanded, frowning at the interruption. They needed this attack to
get information on the war.

Sleke was checking the straps on her knife and shoulder holster. Her
hair was shorn almost to her scalp and standing in inch long spikes all
over her head. “I’m coming with you. I heard the com and ran down
her as fast as I could. You’re not leaving me again, Carolyn.”

Carolyn ran a hand through her hair and growled in frustration. She
finally nodded. “All right. Do you know how to use that stuff?” she
asked, indicating the weapons.

Sleke nodded. “Yeah. I learned when I was with those bastards. I was to
be their newest weapon prototype. I know many things about combat.
You forget how long ago it was that I disappeared, Carolyn.”

Carolyn ignored that last barb and waved a hand towards the ship.
“There’s one seat left with the rest of the team. You’re welcome to it.”
She turned back to the ship, stepping on the ramp. “I didn’t forget,
Eden. I never forgot.” That said she strode back to the front of the ship
and strapped herself into the pilot’s seat.

Riddick sat in the co-pilot’s seat and turned to flash her a questioning
glance. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” she growled in response.

Sleke glanced up as she entered the ship in time to see the name that
was sprawled across its side. Charmer of Eden. A sharp pang stabbed
her heart as she realized what Carolyn had meant about never
forgetting. She stepped on board and the hatch closed behind her. She
sat in the only empty seat left next to a tall dark haired man wearing
goggles like most the other people on the ship.

“Tor Lexis,” the man offered generously.

Sleke smiled wanly. “Sleke,” she answered.

He nodded. “I know who you are. You’re Creed’s sister. That frog guy
didn’t have to much luck with that aluthium stuff, but you and her...”
he trailed off, smiling warmly. “That stuff must like you two, ‘cause
what it did to you guys is hot.”

Sleke laughed despite herself. “Thank you, I think.”

He grinned. “Welcome.”

“What’s wrong with everybody’s eyes?” she questioned as the Charmer
of Eden flew through the opening doors of the docking bay.

“Nothing,” Tor answered. “Shined eyes,” he explained to her confused
look, tapping the lens of his dark goggles with a forefinger.

“You mean like Riddick’s?” Sleke questioned.

Tor nodded. “Yeah. Most of Creed’s crew got their eyes shined after
they started working for her. Some of the Ranger and merc types
already had them done. It’s pretty common among them. The others
did it because of the jobs they do on board The Charmer.

“Everyone working on the command deck, like pilots and radar
technicians don’t have shined eyes ‘cause it screws up their eyes for
reading that stuff. Med. techs don’t do it because they need to see
different colors of all sorts of things. It works like that. Us entrance
team people shine ours ‘cause we usually cut the lights when we board
another ship.”

“In any case, the shining makes all your eyes look cool,” Sleke replied.

Tor laughed. “Yeah. It does. My eyes were shined when I met Creed. I
think that might be what caught her attention.”

“Have you boarded a ship with the crew awake before?” Sleke
questioned.

“Oh, yeah. I hope you’re ready for it, though. This could get ugly.”

Sleke grinned wickedly. “We can only hope.”

~~~

“Sir, the enemy battle cruiser doesn’t seem to be sustaining any damage
from our blasts.”

Lieutenant Jacob Nolan stared out the view screen. The battle cruiser
they were firing upon was to far away in the vastness of space to be seen
with the naked eye, but it had suddenly appeared on the radar, as if
dropping in out of no where. It had been moving and that’s when
they’d spotted it.

Jake had known it was an enemy cruiser the minute he’d seen it on the
radar, but if it wasn’t sustaining damage that meant it was probably
plated in the aluthium the Company so desperately wanted.

He gritted his teeth together. “Fire again. Maybe they’re all in cryo
sleep.”

“I don’t think so Lt. Nolan,” the radar technician replied.

Another blast rocked the battle cruiser and Jake clenched his fingers
around the padded armrest of his chair.

Suddenly, “Sir! They’re firing on us!”

An explosion of light enveloped the ship and then it was dark. Not even
the neon glow of the control consoles glowed. “What’s going on?” he
demanded.

“We seem to have been hit by some sort of electrical jamming devise,
Lieutenant. We’re completely offline.”

“Offline?” Jake roared, standing to his feet. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, sir, that we have no power. Unless we can get things running
again, and soon, we’re going to run out of oxygen.”

Jake cursed loud and fluently. “Send a crew down to the power core
immediately,” he ordered and someone jumped to do his bidding.
“Dammit,” he breathed under his breath. “Now what?”

One of the crewmen approached him slowly. “Sir,” he began quietly.

“Yes?” Jake snapped.

“Sir, I believe I know who the captain of that ship is.”

“Continue,” Jake commanded, curiosity piqued.

“I believe it’s The Charmer. Creed Xander’s ship.”

Jake’s brows drew together in a frown and he clenched his jaw. Perfect,
he thought. If that’s Xander’s ship she’ll be trying to board. “Is that
all?”

The man shook his head. “No, sir. Just before the power was jammed
we received a transmission from General Munroe. Creed Xander’s true
identity is a pilot named Carolyn Fry, and the Company wants her
alive.”

Jake felt a jolt shake him to the core. “Carolyn Fry?” he repeated.

“Yes, sir,” the man confirmed.

“Dismissed,” Jake told the man, waving him away. The man saluted
and took his place at one of the consoles. “Oh, god,” Jake groaned,
leaning his elbows on his knees and resting his head in the cup of his
hands. “Not Carolyn... Carolyn, you’re alive...”

***


Back to Menu