A Thousand Shades Of Black

Chapter Two - Basilica

Riddick watched Alia step off the shuttle ramp beside him with a certain amount of concern. It had taken an effort of will on her part not to kill any of his soldiers during the three day trip back to the Basilica. He wondered how long she could keep from knifing these people.

On the other hand, the ship’s crew had developed a healthy respect for her. It had only taken a few busted heads for her to get them to understand that she was no powerless Necromonger woman.

He had found the leisurely trip rather enjoyable, watching her intimidate all the big hulking brutes that Vaako had sent along to “protect” him. By the end of the trip, they kept out of her way and bowed almost as deeply to her as they did to him. They knew that only her obedience to him kept her from killing them all and they worked hard not to piss her off.

He stalked towards the throne room with her only a step behind him, her eyes restlessly scanning the assembled Necromongers who eyed her back with equal wariness.

Aereon was drifting near Vaako whose gaze was riveted on Alia. Riddick felt an animal snarl building in his throat and he swallowed it fast. Vaako’s interest was not unexpected; Alia was attractive and strong, just a Necromonger’s type. Still, his expression had more wariness that lust in it and Alia ignored the Necromongers as though they didn’t exist.

Lady Vaako, back and behind her husband, was watching Alia with an entirely different expression and Riddick was almost looking forward to that fight. If Alia killed Lady Vaako though, did that mean she would end up with Vaako? That was definitely a question worth getting an answer to.

In sharp contrast to the Necromonger women in their long skirts and formal attire, Alia was in combat boots, black tank top and cargo pants. She looked sleek and deadly and out of place, like an attack dog amongst poodles. She bristled with weaponry if you knew where to look and her eyes were flat and hard.

If Lady Vaako were smart, she wouldn’t mess with Alia. He was rather hoping that she wasn’t that smart.

“Lord Marshall?” Vaako was still eyeing Alia and there was some doubt in his eyes.

“Vaako.” Riddick gave the younger man a feral grin and settled himself onto the throne. Alia took up position behind him as though she had never stood anywhere else. Arms loosely held behind her back, feet apart in typical bodyguard posture. She was making certain no one in the room doubted where her allegiance lay. Riddick smirked at the uncomfortable glances she was receiving from the others. “Meet the Void Walker.”

It was incredibly enjoyable, watching their mouths gape and their eyes bug out. Vaako looked like he wanted to charge her. but Alia’s head swiveled towards him like a snake sensing prey and that flat-eyed stare made him pause. A murmuring started up as a flicker of fear ran through the crowd.

“Sir, this woman…” Vaako began hroterotest.

“Is a Furyan.” Riddick finished for him. “You know, my people; the ones the previous Lord Marshal was scared shitless of.” That silenced the murmurings but Vaako wasn’t done.

“She hates our kind and has killed many of our warriors.” Vaako had courage and Riddick respected that. Time to make a point.

“Sturm?” He turned his head back to look at her.

“Riddick.” She met his eyes and he could see a flicker of humor in their depths that he found reassuring. Why was it that when she said his name it sounded all sexy and shit? Damn it. First rule of leadership, do not get a hard-on in front of the troops.

“Can you keep from knifing my people here?” It was a stupid question; she had already proven that she could but it was more for the benefit of their audience than anything else.

“I will kill only those who attack me or those that you tell me to kill.” The dead tone sent chills through the room and Riddick nodded at her in satisfaction.

“There Vaako, you see?” He grinned at the Commander and his tone made it quite clear that he would accept no further protests. Vaako bowed to him, nodded uneasily at Alia and stepped back into position.

“You are a Void Walker?” Aereon asked Alia suddenly, drifting into existence beside her. Alia turned and stared at the Elemental with an expressionless mien.

“Go ahead, Sturm.” Riddick nodded at her and she went totally still. He watched as she slipped backwards into the shadows and then she was simply gone. The murmuring started again and even Aereon look startled.

Riddick pulled off his goggles and saw Alia’s glow beside a nearby column but without his shine job he wouldn’t have known she was there. Her scent was all that lingered. He brought them down again hurriedly; the light was a little too bright in here.

“Very impressive.” Aereon said and Riddick watched her eyes go thoughtful. She was calculating again, he knew.

Alia was suddenly beside Aereon, a knife at her throat and her eyes still blank and deadly. She whispered something to the Elemental who paled a little, and then sheathed the blade and drifted back to Riddick’s side.

“What was that?” Riddick asked her in an undertone.

“I was just reminding her that there are ways to kill an Elemental and that if she’s not on your team, she won’t be playing very long.” Riddick was warmed by the sentiment but merely nodded. Can’t let the troops see you go mushy; that was rule number two.

“Lord Marshall?” Vaako again; the fellow was more curious than a cat.

“Yes?” He wanted to sound patient but he was quite sure he only sounded aggravated and how many times had he asked the guy to call him “Riddick” anyway?

“About the Underverse…” He had a pained look as though he hated to ask.

“Never been there myself but Sturm knows all about it.” He nodded at her. “It’s why I went to fetch her.” It was a small lie, not even really a lie. Crossing the Threshold into the Underverse was easy. It was getting back out again that was the trick. He didn't need Alia to help them cross over, just to be certain he himself didn't end up there forever.

“You know how to cross the Threshold?” Vaako looked awe-struck and yet also dismayed, as though an unbeliever had just been granted a visitation from God.

“I’m a Void Walker; I know the way through to many universes.” She shrugged as though it were no big deal. “The Underverse is just one of many other planes of existence; it is the place the soul goes when it is severed from the body.” That made Riddick sit up and listen -- would Carolyn be there, or Kyra, or Imam? She looked at the Necromongers and sighed. “It’s not difficult.”

None of them looked as though they believed her and she subsided back to cold-eyed silence.

Alia sat in the huge steel chair and wanted to grumble about the monochromatic decorating schemes. The Necropolis was big, gray and ugly. The Necromongers themselves were like children playing dress up. They all talked about death but she doubted that any of them really understood what they were chattering about.

The dinner party was intensely dull for her; it was all political maneuvering and petty conflicts. Riddick had seated her at the opposite end of the table from him and she had Vaako on one side and his bitch of a wife on the other. Vaako watched her like a bird watches a snake but his wife had been trying to get a rise out of Alia all evening. So far, Alia had managed to keep hlf tlf to monosyllables and hadn’t tried to stab the witch with her dinner fork. It had been a close thing a few times though.

“So, you have actually seen the Underverse?” Lady Vaako leaned forward and propped her head upon her hands, elbows on the table. It was meant to be a confident pose, showing how pleased she was to converse with her, but Alia could see the glittering hatred in the other woman’s eyes.

“Yes.” It was one syllable with no inflection. Alia was taking a petty pleasure in her resistance to Lady Vaako’s overtures.

“What was it like?” The breathless childlike quality was entirely false; there was no sweetness in this woman.

“Crowded.” Two syllables this time but still no inflection. The other Necromongers were stirring uneasily at her words. She flicked her eyes to Riddick and he returned her an expression of unconcern. She was free to play this however she liked.

“Surely this holy place had some profound affect on you?” Lady Vaako insisted, looking sweetly horrified at Alia’s words. Rage spiked in Alia’s heart as she remembered her mother’s form receding into the Underverse.

“Yeah, it pissed me off how many people your kind had sent there before they were ready to go.” She leaned towards Lady Vaako with coiling menace in her heart and her blade in her hand. One word from Riddick would seal the other woman’s fate. Lady Vaako pulled back from her, suddenly frightened by the naked aggression on Alia’s face.

“Sturm, if you kill her you will get her husband as your own.” Riddick murmured, but his voice was carrying in the waiting silence. Alia shot him a startled look. The room fell silent and all the Necromongers looked back and forth between Alia and Lady Vaako as though they were watching a sports match. Her rage died as quickly as it had risen.

There was something amusing in the way Lady Vaako was looking at her and she decided to play. She turned her head and eyed Lord Vaako up and down for a long moment, pretending to think about it. He was not bad looking for a Necro, she thought idly, but he had a weak uncertain look in his eye. He was too fragile for her; she would break him during foreplay, long before she even got to the good bits. Finally deciding she had made them all squirm long enough, she shook her head and settled back down.

Vaako looked both relieved and disappointed in some way, which Alia was glad Lady Vaakold nld not see on his face. The wife in question was still staring at her with the look of a woman who has gone to pet a cat and found a tiger instead.

Riddick had a look in his eye of cold fury and she wanted to laugh. Was he actually jealous of the Necro? She wanted to reassure him that no weakling Necromonger could compare to one of her own kind but decided she’d rather do that somewhere she would not be overheard. It might not be politic. She settled for raking Vaako with a dismissive look and then meeting Riddick’s eyes boldly with her amusement plain to see.

Riddick watched her eye Vaako with a calculating expression, as though she was seriously considering it. Vaako looked alarmed by her examination and not just because he could lose his wife in the next minute or so. When Alia finally shook her head and reseated herself, Vaako let out a breath in relief but also looked interested.

A flash of pure animal fury rushed through Riddick’s veins. Vaako had a wife and he had better keep his eyes and hands away from Alia or Riddick would start carving body parts off of him. He was startled by his own possessive feelings; what was she to him anyway?

Alia met his eyes and he could see her laughter bubbling up. He relaxed suddenly, realizing that she had been yanking the Necromonger’s chain. Her contemptuous look at Vaako dispelled the last of his worries. She shot Riddick another look of amusement and his mind turned back to the important issues, feeling perhaps more relief than he ought to. It wasn’t an emotion he wanted to examine very closely.

“We will reach the Threshold in about a week.” Riddick commented and noted the alarm with which the others regarded him. “What’s wrong? I thought you were all so eager?” The sting of his contempt lashed them all.

“We are, but the Great Mission is incomplete.” Vaako again, Riddick sighed; this kid had quite a mouth on him.

“Your Great Mission is to kill off all other intelligent life in the universe, right?” Alia broke in and Riddick leaned back, letting her take this one.

“Yes, Lady Void Walker.” Vaako gave her the formal title out of genuine respect and a healthy dollop of fear. Good, be afraid of her and don’t start thinking of her as a beautiful woman, Riddick thought fiercely.

“You do know that even on planets where you have already been, life is returning?” A low murmur of denial ran around the room. She sighed and ran her fingers through her short-cropped hair.

“We cleansed those worlds!” Toal, a large black man with fess ess intelligence than Vaako, protested. He was another one of Riddick’s new commanders and Riddick didn’t trust him at all. Of course, Riddick didn’t trust most people.

Alia chuckled. It was a low contemptuous sound that made them all uneasy; Riddick wanted to applaud her performance.

“You left microorganisms. You left chemical soup and ligng. ng. In a million years, small creatures will crawl from the muck and start to use tools. It will all begin again.” She said it with a world-weary patience, as though she were speaking to particularly stupid children. “In some places it already has.”

“Life is a mistake that must be cleansed!” Toal insisted angrily.

“The universe doesn’t make mistakes.” Alia retorted, her quiet even tone undermining Toal’s hysterics. The room fell silent. “Not one of you has ever questioned the basic tenants of your faith, have you?” She sounded chiding, contemptuous.

“What makes you think that you are right and we are wrong?” Vaako challenged her.

“Because I have seen a thousand universes and there is life in them all. How can that be a mistake?” Her voice was whisper soft and yet no ear missed the words.

“People want to live; it’s instinct.” Riddick added. “It’s gut level, the need to survive; you can’t call life a mistake when we fight so hard to keep it.” He gave Vaako a long stare and watched as the other man shook his head.

“It’s only because people are afraid of death, of the journey to come. They don’t understand the nature of death.” Vaako insisted.

“Then kill yourself.” Alia bit out, with flattened tones. “All of you.” There was a gasp of surprise that went round the room.

“But we’re not done yet!” Toal rose again, pounding his fist against the table and Alia glared at him.

“And all those people you killed, were they done yet?” She hissed and Toal sat down hard. “Who gave you the right to determine their time and place of death?” She raked the room with a look of utter disgust. “Are you gods?” She shoved back in a burst of controlled violence that sent the heavy metal chair crashing to the ground and stalked form the room in a high rage.

“We were freeing them.” Vaako called after her retreating back, but she ignored him, vanishing into the shadows.

“Vaako, who told you that they wanted to be freed?” Riddick stared at the other man who looked at him in shock.

“But the Necromonger way…”

“You want to go to the Underverse, that’s fine, go; but maybe you should just ask people next time.” Riddick pushed his chair back on two legs and watched the room full of outraged and horrified faces for a long moment. He suspected that some of them wanted to kill him and yet some were listening, sickened by the death and violence. None were ready to talk back to him though. He was the Lord Marshall and that was a holy position.

Riddick wished Imam were still alive -- the cleric was better at this sort of shit; Riddick was no philosopher, he was a killer. Alia did pretty well arguing with them but her temper frayed too quickly. She had no patience with their hardheaded fanaticism.

He got up and left them to their thoughts with an inner sigh. Stupid fuckers, the lot of them, but it wasn’t entirely their fault. They had been brainwashed and run through machines until they didn’t know up from down anymore.

He would get them to their Threshold, see if he could get Kyra back and then send them into their Underverse for good. Everybody would be y any and he could get some dammed rest. He stalked the empty corridors, glad for the quiet.

Of course, it didn’t last.

“They are confused by the two of you.” Aereon’s voice drifted by his left ear and he wondered again if she was trying to piss him off or she was just naturally annoying.

“Yeah, well they give me a headache too.” He growled. He was following Alia’s scent; it was spiced by her anger and frustration and so it was very easy to trace her steps.

“They may try to kill you.” She warned him. Her footsteps now echoed beside him; she was solid, her dress fluttering behind her.

“That’s news? Those frs hrs have been trying to kill me since birth.” Riddick gave her a sideways glance. What was the calculating Elemental up to anyways?

“You and Sturm are all alone here on a ship with thousands of Necromongers. Perhaps it would be wise to give lip service to their faith.”

“I don’t have a problem with their faith, just with them forcing it on other people.” Riddick shot back. “Fuck if I care what they want to believe in. Goeatheath -- doesn’t make any difference to me. I just want them to stop shooting up all the good bars.” He pulled away from the drifting Elemental, wanting to find Alia.

“It’s amazing how selective your memory is.” Aereon said, unconsciously echoing Shirah’s words to him from long ago.

“Really?” He growled and turned on his heel to face her.

“You wept for the girl, Riddick. You still hope to save her. It was never about the bars.” Aereon spoke with aet cet conviction and Riddick sighed. They way she said ‘bars’ had a double meaning, as though she was reminding him of all the time he had spent in prison, working to get out.

“I am not a pawn to be moved around in your game, woman.” He snarled, but it was a tired sound.

“I never said you were.” Her tone was subdued now, as though he had hit a nerve. She faded away again into thin air and he resisted the urge to swear aloud. He fucking hated it when she did that. The Elemental always had to hthe the last word.

Alia heard him coming. His voice, muttering and cursing, drifted to her long before she could pick up the near-silent sound of his footsteps. He came around the corner to find her seated on a ledge by one of the few view ports. Cold black space stretched out and he climbed up to face her, sitting with his back against the opposite wall of the alcove.

“So, you never told me how your sister is doing.” He asked the question casually, but she knew that somehow he had figured it out.

“She’s dead. They caught up with us on Sagittarius; I wasn’t fast enough.” She replied, the bleakness in her voice making him wince.

“Bounty Hunters?”

“Yeah.” He didn’t ask any more and she was grateful. Her sister’s death had left a hole in her heart that she didn’t think would ever heal. She had simply lost too many people.

“I was hoping to see Kyra again when we get to the Threshold.” He rubbed a hand over his head; it made a soft scraping sound as flesh passed over stubble. He hadn’t said anything before, but she had seen the cryo chamber where he had preserved Kyra’s body. She knew what he was thinking.

“It’s easier to cross over than to come back.” She warned. She didn’t want him to get his hopes up only to have them dashed later.

“She’d been made into a Necro before she died.”

“That will make it easier for her but she still has to choose.” Alia looked at him with compassion stirring in her heart. She knew how he felt, really she did, but she had also been there before.

“She’ll want to come back.” He insisted, his tone gone steely.

“It’s beautiful there, peaceful. Most people don’t want to leave.” She murmured, looking back out over the stars, remembering her time in that place.

“You didn’t stay.” He pointed out with some force, pushing her with his usual dogged persistence. He was so like her at times, full of all the same virtues and faults she knew that she had as well.

“Furyans are stubborn.” She grinned at him and he nodded back. She had also only been void walking, she hadn't been dead, it was different.

“Kyra is stubborn.” He muttered with a rueful look. Alia wondered what this Kyra had done to elicit such an expression.

“Then maybe she’ll come back.” She offered as much comfos shs she was able to. She was never one to sugarcoat the truth. Silence stretched out between them for a long time as they stared out at the stars. He broke the quiet abruptly.

“You wouldn’t sleep with me on that wreck, you didn’t even give me a look on the shuttle and yet you stared at Vaako like he was prime rib.” There was a growl under the words and Alia felt her body reacting to it.

“That was a joke. I wouldn’t touch Vaako.” She leaned forwards a bit and grinned at him. “Too fragile.” She could feel the pull of his need in her own groin but fought it.

“What’s your excuse with me?” He asked seriously. She tried to put it into words and floundered badly. Her mouth opened but nothing came out. She tried again, searching for the source of her reluctance.

“You’re an Alpha; I can feel it.” She started trying to put into words a gut instinct, an animalistic sense. “It could never be just casual between us.” She looked at him feeling strangely uncertain. She had never dealt with one of her own kind before, especially not an Alpha. In an odd way, it frightened her; his intensity matched her own and she wasn’t sure how to handle it.

“You’re scared.” He breathed out in surprise, his nostrils flaring as her scent changed.

“Mother said things to me when I was little.” She struggled to find the words again, trying to remember sense impressions, moods, legends passed down. “She talked about my father -- he was an Alpha too. She talked about Furyan ways.” She paused and found herself a little heated. Whether it was embarrassment or arousal, she couldn’t say. His eyes on her, all liquid silver, disturbed her intensely but she would not back down either.

“And it scared you?” He was leaning forward, watching her with a feral gaze that made her heart speed up.

“Yes.” She admitted finally. He flowed forwards, moving with leonine grace, until he was crouched right in front of her, his silver eyes glowin tin the dim light.

“Why?” Such a small question so why was her breath catching in her throat? His voice was a low growl that made her heart race.

“Because there is no going back afterwards.” He cocked his head, still staring at her and she sighed. She reached inside herself and felt the glow of her life force. She pulled it up until her hand was shining with the very essence of her soul. He drew back slightly to study the light that played across her fingers.

“What are you doing?” His voice was curious but unafraid.

“This is the first part of soul sharing. An Alpha mates and exchanges energies with his mate, making each part of the other.” She let the glow die back into her and watched his eyes as he thought about what she said.

“Joining them for life?” He asked and she nodded. He sat back away from her. “I can see why you’re scared.” She nodded at his admission. She wanted him, badly, but she wasn’t willing to give up her freedom for him, nor obviously, was he willing to give up his for her. “Do they have to? Can’t they just fuck?” He asked with a grumbling tone. He was still eyeing her and she wanted nothing more than to roll over and show throat to him. Her stubborn pride kept her still.

“They could but if they lost control even for a moment, then they could join accideny.” y.” She kept to the use of third person pronouns, letting them both have the distance implied by the words. “They would have to be willing to risk it.”

“Sounds like a dangerous game.” He leaned back against the opposite wall again and they both fell silent. They stayed that way for a long time, just sitting, each watching the stars and thinking.

Alia was restless and frustrated as she prowled through the Necropolis. The discussion with Riddick had left her unsettled. She wondered if she was making the right choice, but she had only fragments of knowledge to go by. She just didn’t know enough.

“Void Walker.” It was a feminine voice that hailed her and Alia sighed. This was the third woman to pick a fight with her and it was getting boring. Necromonger women couldn’t even fight very well. She understood Riddick’s desire not to get trapped by one of these women but watching his back, in this instance, was more aggravating than anything else.

“Yes?” She dropped her voice low and gave the approaching woman the snake eyes. The stranger hesitated but moved forward again, brandishing a knife. All the women thought Alia was sleeping with Riddick which made them all rather bitchy towards her. She found that the fact she really wished she was bedding him did nothing to smooth her frayed temper. She was frustrated on more than one level.

“I want the Lord Marshall; give him to me or die.” At the other woman’s words, Alia dropped into a defensive posture and pulled her own blade. Even if she wasn’t up to a mating with him, she wasn’t about to let some Necromonger bitch with limp wrists and no soul touch him either.

“You want him? You have to come through me.” She exuded menace but her heart wasn’t in it. This was just too easy; the woman didn’t even hold her knife correctly. It was more of a bother than a fight.

The woman lunged clumsily and Alia stepped out of the way of her charge, grabbed her arm as she passed by and disarmed her with a flick of the wrist.

The woman tripped over her heavy skirts and fell to the floor.

“This is pathetic.” Alia snapped at the woman who lay stunned on the floor. “Get the fuck up!” The Necromonger woman dragged herself to her feet unsteadily.

“Are you going to kill me now?” She asked Alia weakly with large frightened eyes. She was really pretty, Alia noticed, with sleek golden hair, blue eyes and porcelain skin. She was too pale but all the Necros were. A raging fury washed through Alia at the sheer fucking waste of all these people who worshipped death and had no real clue how to even live. Staring at the frightened woman who couldn’t have been more than twenty or so, Alia made a decision.

“No, I am going to make you do this right.” snapsnapped back at the woman. “What’s your name?”

“Lady Freet.” The Necromonger answered with a shocked expression on her pretty face.

“Right. Freet, first lesson: you cannot hold a blade like it’s a fork.” Alia stepped up to the slender blonde and handed her the knife back. “Like this.” She positioned the blade in the other woman’s hand, groaned and then readjusted the woman’s grip when the knife slipped from her nerveless fingers. This was going to take some time.

Riddick watched from the shadows, a grin on his face, as the now freely perspiring Freet followed Alia in a basic practice drill. Freet looked utterly baffled but willing, as Alia demonstrated a cut and parry move.

Vaako stepped into the hallway, almost in sight of the lesson, and Riddick grabbed him by the sleeve and dragged him out of view.

“Wha-Lord Marshall?” Vaako sputtered, but Riddick merely nodded in the direction of Freet and Alia. “Are they fighting?” Vaako asked softly in confusion.

“Freet attacked her but Sturm decided that there was no point in fighting an opponent who couldn’t even hold a blade correctly.” It was an object lesson for Vaako as well as for Freet, Riddick thought with pleasure.

“I don’t understand.” Vaako admitted softly.

“What do you prove killing an unarmed man?” Riddick retorted.

“She has a knife.” Vaako pointed out.

“That girl might as well have been unarmed from the way she went at Sturm.” He gave a little snort of irritation.

“Freet must have wanted to die. Lady Void Walker has already killed the only women who had any real chance to defeat her.” Vaako murmured and Riddick wanted to beat the younger man’s head into a wall.

“None of them had a real chance, Vaako, she was merely being polite.” Riddick turned on the Commander and gave him the full predator stare. “I could take you or Toal or any of the other Necromongers on this ship down without half trying.” Vaako nodded, obviously remembering all the times he had seen Riddick slaughter his enemies. “She is nearly as good a fighter as I am.” Riddick finished and Vaako looked over to where Alia was patiently correcting Freet’s stance.

“Freet is no challenge for her.” Vaako was starting to grasp the point, Riddick hoped. “She hopes to train her so that she can kill her later?” Riddick blew out his breath. Nope, Vaako was still not clueing in.

“No, Vaako, she is training her because she cannot stand to see someone be so damn pathetic.” Riddick stared at Vaako willing him to just get it.

“She wants Freet to live.” Vaako finally put the pieces together, his eyes wide.

“Bingo.” Riddick turned and left Vaako to his thoughts and the ladies to their lesson. This was going to be one long fucking trip. He almost wished he could travel in cryo.