Gyn Wolf's Story: Chapter ten-The Arrival

Gyn and Riddick didn’t talk much as the last day of travel to Dres
passed. Gyn seemed inclined to stay silent, and Riddick, finally having
gotten her to talk the day before, was satisfied with that. At least he
knew she wasn’t mad at him.

She was just all business, but he’d expected that.

“There it is,” she said, pointing out the yellowish red planet of Dres. A
dust storm could be seen swirling across a large section in the southern
half of the planet.

Riddick went to the main control planet and punched in the coordinates
for the landing site outside of the camp they’d be docking at. “You can
take it in?” he questioned her.

Gyn nodded. They shot through the atmosphere, the heat causing red
flames to surround the ship. Gyn watched the dials in front of her, hit
the main thrusters after a fast drop and gently docked the small ship.

A satisfied smile crossed her lips at the easy landing. She glanced up at
Riddick. “Three point landing.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack looked up from her work and saw a small ship enter the
atmosphere. It took an amazing dive towards the ground and then
swooped up gracefully. She watched it in interest as it rocketed across
the sky and then headed in the direction of the docking bay. She
wondered who it could be.

About fifteen minutes passed before any news got back to her.
“Strangers,” she heard someone mumble to another minor.

“Big guy...” someone else continued.

“Did you see the pretty blonde? Jimmy tried to make a pass at her and
ended up on his ass.”

“Big guy do it?”

“Nope. The pretty blonde. Dropped him and flashed a pair of fangs.
Trysian, no doubt.”

At this, Jack’s ears pricked up. Trysian? Like Gyn? It suddenly made
sense. A Trysian and a big guy. It had to be Gyn and Riddick.

Jack tipped back her head and stared up at the sky, a huge grin
stretching from ear to ear on her thin face. She thanked whatever gods
had blessed her with their arrival, dropped her pick to the ground, and
took off at a run towards the docking bay.

When she got there she saw a small prowler and figured it was the one
she’s seen streaking across the sky earlier. She ran up to the man that
was charging up the power cells. “Did you see the man and woman that
got off this ship?” she asked excitedly, trying as hard as she could to
sound calm.

The man lifted his brows at her. “Why do you wanna know?” he
questioned suspiciously.

“’Cause they might be my friends!” she said.

The man studied her dubiously for a few moments and then pointed
towards the supply store. “They went in there,” he finally said.

“Thank you!” Jack called as she ran off in the direction of the store.

The store’s interior was cool and dark, and Jack pushed her tinted
goggles back on her head and scampered into the store. She heard a
low, deep and familiar voice coming from the back where they kept
food.

She jumped up to see over the shelves and was just able to make out a
dark shaved head.

Not wanting to look like she’d come looking for him, Jack walked
around the store a bit, trying to look casual, but slowly making her way
towards the rear.

“What are you gonna do if she sees you?” a woman’s voice asked.

Jack crept closer.

“I don’t know.” Riddick’s voice. It sent a jolt of happiness through
Jack. “It’s not as if she can come with us when we leave.”

Jack froze. Were they talking about her?

“I don’t suppose she could. There’s no room on the prowler in any case.
If we had my old ship it would be fine, but those bastards that ripped
me up took it. Probably sold it for scrap, too.” Jack realized that it must
be Gyn talking to Riddick.

Jack crept even closer to the voices.

“She isn’t safe around me until you get my name changed, Gyn. When
Riddick is dead, maybe I can take her. But I don’t know how to take
care of a kid. She doesn’t have a real place in my life, no matter how
much she might want it.” Jack felt her joy deflating rapidly.

Scrounging up as much courage as she could and stepped around the
corner. Riddick’s broad back was to her as she rounded the corner and
Gyn spotted her over his shoulder.

“Jack,” she murmured as her eyes settled on the young girl.

Jack stepped forward, forcing a smile onto lips that felt suddenly stiff
and dry. “Uh, hey, Gyn. How are you?”

Gyn pushed around Riddick and hugged Jack. “I’m good. And it’s good
to see a familiar face after the past six weeks I’ve been through.”

Riddick was watching them now, his eyes hidden behind his dark
goggles. His face was expressionless, and when Gyn pulled away from
Jack he didn’t say anything.

Uncertainty racked her as he just stood there watching her. “Hi,
Riddick,” she murmured awkwardly

“Jack,” he acknowledged.

Jack threw an uncertain look at Gyn and Gyn shot Riddick an angry
look.

Riddick, catching Gyn’s look, stepped forward and held out his hand to
Jack. She took it slowly and watched as his massive hand enveloped her
much smaller one. She felt the rasp of his calluses against her own and
felt a jolt go through her at the contact.

She’d admitted to herself that she had a huge crush on him, but she
knew nothing could ever come of it. He was way older than her.

Riddick saw the want in Jack’s brown eyes as she shook his hand. She
was still to young to hide her emotions from showing in her eyes.

Wanting Jack to realize there was no way she could ever be a part of his
life, he stepped to Gyn’s side and wrapped his arm around her waist
purposefully, trying not to let his conscious nag him when he saw pain
fly into Jack’s eyes. Riddick slid his hand into Gyn’s hip pocket and
Gyn flashed him an impatient look before holding her hand out to Jack.

“You know a place we can bed down in, Jack?” Gyn asked the girl,
wanting her to feel wanted. She knew what Riddick was doing, but she
didn’t like it. She didn’t like it all. The girl worshipped him.

Jack pulled her goggles over her expressive eyes, effectively hiding them
from view, before taking Gyn’s outstretched hand. “Do I call you
Reese?” she asked Gyn, leading them outside.

“Yeah,” Gyn answered. “As far as anyone else knows, Gyn Wolf died in
a transport crash after she escaped Slam.”

Nodding at that, Jack began to lead them to the stand of shacks and
make shift cabins that dotted the camp. These ones were a lot more
stable than the ones where Riddick had been holed up.

“You can have this one. No one has lived here for ages and I don’t
reckon they’ll be comin’ back anytime soon.” She looked quizzically at
them. “Ah... are... um...” she trailed off, self-consciously running a hand
over her shaved head.

“What’s on your mind, kiddo?” Gyn asked, hunching down so she was
face level with Jack.

Jack shook her head. “Nevermind, I’m just glad you guys came back, is
all.” She looked at Riddick. “And I’m glad you found Gyn, Riddick.”

Riddick had been trying keep himself distant from Jack, and seemed to
be succeeding. He flashed her a tightlipped smile. “Me, too, kid.”

Glad he’d actually said something to her, Jack began to hum to herself
as she left, trying hard not to skip through the dust.

Gyn turned on Riddick. “You could have done more than shake her
hand, Riddick,” she bit out.

“At least your talking to me again.”

“Neither of us seems to be talkative lately. I’m not usually, in any case.”
She paused. “And neither are you. We fit together well.”

He nodded. “I know the kid has a thing for me, but I can’t let her, Gyn.
You know that.”

Gyn sighed and nodded. “Yeah. She can’t come when we leave.”

He headed into the adjoining room and found a double wide cot. “Yes,”
he murmured.

Gyn followed close behind. “Oh, God. I actually get to sleep on my own
half for once.”

He glanced at her sharply. “What’s wrong with me?”

She lifted her brows. “Nothin’. But the threat of suddenly rolling off
you or you rolling over was an unpleasant one, hun.”

“I can see that,” he answered quietly.

Gyn flopped down on the cot and rolled toward the wall. Riddick
stretched beside her slowly. The let out a long sigh together.

“Oh, yeah,” Gyn breathed.

He made a sound Gyn took for an agreement.

“What did the shop keeper say?” Riddick asked Gyn, not looking at
her.

He heard her shift slightly before she answered. “He was Trysian,” she
stated.

“So was the guy back at the dust hole we came from.”

Gyn rolled over and looked at him, propping her head in her hand. “He
was?”

“I forgot you didn’t see him,” Riddick said.

She shrugged. “Oh, well. Prob’ly didn’t know him anyhow. In any case,
the keeper said Ven had mentioned going home. Only thing is, she might
not be there at all, and what home? Trys or Crip?” She shook her head.
“I only wish I knew how she thinks now.”

“We’ll try Crip first. Leave tomorrow. Both of us are beat and we need
a bigger ship. Think there are any Rangers ‘round here?” Riddick
asked.

She nodded again. “For security, sure.”

“Then tonight, me and you go hunting.”

******************

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