Deserter: Chapter One-Rain

    Riddick stalked panther like around the cryo-chamber. There was a woman inside, sleeping silently. The minute he’d boarded the passenger ship for a five day flight to one of the moons hovering around Saturn he’d been drawn to the prisoner.

  The merc that had caught her didn’t much care what happened to his prisoner and didn’t check on her often enough to know Riddick was interested. The cryo-chamber wasn’t a part of the ship. Instead it was a separate unit, run on a small generator.

  Easy enough to disconnect, Riddick found himself thinking, continuing to circle the tank. The woman inside was dressed differently than most. The fabric looked usual, but the cut and design was from somewhere else.

  Her black leather pants were cut to hang low on her hips and well below her navel. The waistband went all the way around her hips but the actual sides were cut into large V’s that revealed the skin halfway down her thighs. Her top looked to be some usual cotton blend tank top, with thin shoulder straps, and was cut short, revealing more skin. Heavy duty black boots with buckles around the leg and foot, encased her feet. The toe had wire mesh around it, akin to that of armor.

  He couldn’t smell her through the tank, which unnerved him slightly, because he wanted to get a handle on her.

  He couldn’t see her back, but he could make out tattoos on both her hips. Something that looked like initials on the right and another shape he couldn’t quite make out through the slightly foggy bullet-proof glass.

  Her hair was long and black and fell well below her waist in tight curls. Dark complexion and a number of silver bracelets were around her wrists, along with her handcuffs. She looked to be about five foot seven, slim build, well toned. He could see the definition of muscles even through the cryo-chambers glass walls. Infinitely intriguing, he mused.

  He circled to her left and had the sudden feeling of being watched. His eyes jumped to her face and he saw that the corner of her mouth had lifted slightly, taunting him. It was a sardonic twist to her lips and he knew something was wrong.

  With lightening quick speed he whipped around the tube and checked the generator. Still going, he noticed. But when he looked back at the woman her eyes were open and she was looking directly at him. Instead of looking startled, she smiled slowly and stretched in her confined space, lifting her hands over her head flexed her muscles, throwing them into sharp relief.

  Riddick watched her curiously, once again circling the tube, watching her, his silver eyes locked on her as she moved within her prison.

  The monitor next to the tube hadn’t changed. The readings showed that she was still sleeping. Her heart rate slow and her brain waves ticking ever so slightly, showing little activity. He could see she was very much awake, as she drew one slim finger over the glass, drawing circles in the thin vapor clouding the wall.

  The woman smiled at him again and then pointed over his shoulder to the door, then she lifted her finger to her lips. Then suddenly all life seemed to leave her and she fell back against the slightly padded and reclined back wall of the cryo-tube, apparently asleep.

  Riddick’s ears caught the slight sound of boots on metal and he realized she’d been warning him that someone was coming, as well as asking him to keep quiet. He jumped up and grabbed some of the piping above his head and swung himself into the air above the floor.

  The bounty hunter entered the small room to check on his prisoner. He studied her vital signs, and finding them normal, left. He never noticed Riddick, poised above him.

  Noiselessly, Riddick dropped to the floor and gazed at the beautiful woman. Her eyes had been emerald green, a startling contrast to her dark complexion and hair. Her eyes shot open and she gazed at him again before laying back against her wall and going to sleep.

~~~

  Rain felt the man outside her cryo-chamber. He was curious about her, she could feel it. He stalked about her like a wild animal, drawing close and then fading back slowly, measuring her up.

  She allowed a small smile to wryly twist her lips, knowing he’d notice even that small a movement. He did. She slowly opened her eyes and gazed at him. He gazed back silently, and she flicked her eyes over his, seeing the glowing silver orbs glistening back at her.

  Interesting, she thought, he’s been shined. He continued to stalk around her as she stretched languorously in her tiny cell. She watched him.

  When she felt her captor coming towards them she pointed over his shoulder and smiled, then placed her finger to her lips, trusting he’d keep quiet about seeing her awake. Then she fell back against the padded wall behind her and feigned sleep once more. When she felt the merc had gone she opened her eyes and smiled at the large man before letting herself sleep once more.

  ~~~

  Riddick sat at the table with the other crew members and passengers, silently eating his meal. It was a nasty, gray gruel, but apparently provided every sort of nourishment the body needed. That’s all he cared about.

  Everyone on board had quickly learned he wasn’t interested in conversation and they left him alone. They gave him a wide berth when they passed him, and none bothered to sit to close to him when they all ate together.

  Done, he left the mess deck and headed for the woman. He wanted to see if she was awake again, although he couldn’t explain why.

  When he entered the room she opened her eyes and smiled at him. He lifted a questioning eyebrow, feeling that somehow she was asking him a question. He couldn’t explain it, but he knew she was.

  ‘Where are we?’ she seemed to ask him, stretching once more in her glass cage.

  He didn’t know how to answer her, he didn’t even know how he knew she was asking him a question.

  “Some moon around Saturn,” he answered out loud. She seemed to understand him, because she nodded slowly, a frown spreading across her face.

  “What is this?” he asked her.

  ‘You don’t have to speak, you know,’ was the only reply he got.

  Deciding to try her, he projected a thought. ‘You can hear this?’

  She nodded again.

  Riddick didn’t like this. He didn’t like to talk and he liked less the fact that he even though he was quiet, she could hear him.

  ‘He’s coming,’ she told him silently and went limp in her tube.

  Hating himself for not hearing the merc, he jumped back up into his hiding place in the ceiling. The man seemed to come in this same time everyday and Riddick decided not to come at this time anymore.

  The woman didn’t react to him when he lowered himself to the floor once more. Not so much as a twitch. He tried to ask her who she was but she ignored him.

  Feeling angry, and more than a little frustrated, Riddick left.

  ~~~

  THUD!

  Riddick awoke with a start as something slammed into the side of the ship, threatening to throw him from his cot. He stood up and headed for the main deck.

  The crew was frantically trying to realign the axis of the ship as something continued to bombard them.

  “Shit! I can’t get the numbers straight, Walker,” one of the crew members cried from his position at one of the control consuls.

  A man, that was apparently Walker, stumbled across the rapidly shifting deck to his shipmate. “Well, get the damn numbers straight, or we’re gonna crash on one of these moons out here and God knows how long it will take to get airborne again.”

  Riddick felt instant dejavu overcome him at the prospect of being thrown on another dusty, deserted planet. Something akin to panic rose in his throat and he swallowed, forcing it back down.

  Another missile slammed into the ship’s hull and Riddick lurched against the door, barely catching himself.

  “Oh, God, Walker, we’re going down fast!” someone else cried.

  Riddick could see that they were rushing full speed towards one of the moons of Saturn, but on the wrong side of the damn  planet. Where he wanted to be was no where near where they were crashing.

  “Tell me we’re landing somewhere populated,” the merc, who’d just appeared behind Riddick, stated irritably.

  Riddick felt the same need echoed in his mind, along with this thought, ‘And not by endomorphs.’

  “Yeah. Fairly large settlement. Are we getting this thing under control, people?” Walker asked.

  They slowed the decent with skill and landed with a shake on the lush moon.

  After sliding through the dirt and trees for about twenty miles and losing a good portion off the back end of the ship, they came to a complete stop.

  When Riddick realized the back of the ship was gone he knew the woman was gone, too. Whether she was dead or not was a different story.

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