False Dawn

The ship carefully came to rest on the assigned spot, and Jack gave a slow sigh of relief. I'm back, I'm back, her thoughts chanted. Trow made a point of moving out of his seat beside her as soon as the ship was down, making her stare after him with a frown.

In the past month, since she had refused him in the shower, he'd been distant with her. He no longer riddled her with his constant barrage of witty questions or sat with her in the cockpit as she worked. She had almost missed it. Yeah, she wasn't a conversationalist, but any human contact was better than none. Without Trow's deliberate comments and prying distractions she was growing more sullen by the day.

And now they were where it had all started. Tiborne 1. It was dark and raining, of course, they'd missed the few hours of daylight by a dozen hours or so. She helped organize the offloading of the crates from the cargo bay, checking each as they left. The rest of the crew was gone, having scattered at the first chance. When the last shipper left only her and Trow remained.

Jack walked out of the open cargo hold onto the shiny wet tarmac of the dock's landing strip. They were only a couple places down from where she had landed the Argentine on that fateful day.

She saw Trow watching her from the dry shelter of the cargo door.

When she reached the spot where they had fallen and she had forced Riddick to go on without her she stopped and walked a short circle. Of course there was no trace of what happened. Everything was washed clean, all evidence gone, like the two of them.

Jack was crying. She had so few moments of weakness, but standing here, where she had last been with Riddick, more than a year and a half before, just made the pain more real. Her heart felt slow and heavy as it ached for him, for them. She tilted her face to the constant rain and let its coolness mingle with and erase the hot tears on her face.

Suddenly Trow was standing before her, his light brown hair already soaked from the rain. "Wanna talk about it?"

She heard the humor in his voice, the certainty that he had walked out here for nothing more than to get soaked in the constant downpour.

"This is where I was shot," she said without looking at him, her face still tilted up to the night sky.

"Right here?"

She nodded, "The first shot happened somewhere back there," she gestured off to the side. "The second one hit me when we were just coming into this alley here from the street on the other side." He didn't say anything and she continued. "I don't know how many times he was hit. I'd guess four or five. He went down here, dropped me. We both managed to get up, but they were on us. I was shot through the chest. I knew I wouldn't make it without a hospital real damn soon. I told him to go. To save himself. I had to shoot him to make him leave."

"Did he make it?"

She nodded, looking back to the empty spot where the Argentine had been parked. The bright writing M-34-A reflected light, making it easy to read. "Yeah, they hit me, brought me down, but I watched him fly away."

A loader cruised by and they stepped to the side to let it pass. Jack took a deep breath. "I don't think I can forgive him for leaving me, even though I forced him to."

"Jack, Tiborne 1 was in the news about two years ago because they almost caught Richard B. Riddick here."

She smiled, just grinned at him. "Yeah, they almost caught him."

He stared at her for a long time. "You know you're dead, right?"

She nodded, her bit of a smile still in place, "Yeah, I heard that. Guess they was wrong."

He snorted, "Jack, I remember that. They're always hunting Richard B. Riddick, so when they get close it's always in the news. His accomplice, his companion was killed right here. He killed her and then left her."

"No!" Jack gasped, "No! That's a lie. They shot me. Riddick tried to save me, carried me forever though these stupid wet streets." She thought quickly back to the little bits of news she had watched after she had recovered enough to be taken to that little apartment of a cell. It had bothered her to see pictures of Riddick and she had abruptly changed her habits of watching the news throughout the day. She'd seen the reports of her death, had been angry, but couldn't remember ever hearing that Riddick had been the one charged with killing her.

Trow shook his head, "Richard B. Riddick is the one person you know? He's the reason you won't . . ."

Jack looked up at him warily, realizing that if he wanted to be an asshole he could cause some serious trouble. Not that Riddick was HERE, but she didn't know just what kind of trouble she would be in, either. "Do you believe everything you see on the news, Trow?"

"You're defending him?"

She could see he was getting pissed, obviously shocked by the truth. "Trow, Riddick has saved my life more times than I could count. He's not the evil man everyone has been made to believe." She shook her head and chewed her lip.

Trow laughed at her. "You're seriously fucked up. He's a convicted murderer!"

"So?" She stepped closer to him. "I killed thirteen men that day. Five of them right here where we're standing. The woman you've been trying to fuck is a murderer, Trow. Does that make me evil?"

He just stared at her.

She shook her head. "People were told what they needed to hear. Do you know why he was convicted? Do you know who he killed?"

He nodded, looking rather smug, "Yeah, he was a contract killer. Killed dozens."

"He was seventeen. Did you know that? He was sent to prison for nine hundred years for being a stupid kid. He was manipulated. That's not evil."

They were silent for a long time. Finally Trow ran his fingers through his dripping hair. "You know, I've been wanting you to talk for months, and now that you have I wish you hadn't."

Jack smiled sadly, "I'm sorry."

He shook his head, "Don't be. Sounds like this guy was a really good friend to you. The only friend you have."

She shook her head, "No, I have two."

He smiled, "Yeah, ya do. Let's go back and get dry."

Jack shook off the hand on her arm. "No, I think I'm gonna go for a walk."

Trow stopped and frowned at her, "Now? Jack, Tiborne 1's not a real nice place."

She grinned, "Yeah, I know. But somebody taught me that you're either the hunter or the hunted, and I don't think I want to be hunted today."

He nodded thoughtfully, "Okay, just be careful. And don't bring any shit back with you."

She smiled as she headed out into the dark. "Naw, it couldn't go that bad twice."