He Didn't Come

The appearance of the pirate boss put a halt to the whole argument. Riddick couldn’t wait for Jack to heal up enough to get out of the system. He knew that, as many ‘rat’s as he’d killed, he wasn’t safe there.

Libbie walked over to him and hugged the strange man. He returned the embrace with gentleness surprising for a man supposedly so cruel and ruthless. There were rumors that the ‘rats gained much of their organization only after Brand seized control over Nebulus Four. Anybody with the capabilities to exert dominion over such a vicious crew of people had to be just as vicious himself, if not more so.

The boss murmured something to his wife, who answered, “I haven’t told them.”

“Told us what?” Jack asked, obviously on the offensive. Riddick gestured, palms down, for her to chill out. She shot him an annoyed glance, but settled back into the bed. He knew that her shoulder had to have been hurting badly at that point.

The little boy crawled up on the bed and sat next to her, but turned to face Riddick and looked at him curiously. Riddick looked back just as curiously. He looked a lot like Jack, he noticed. Not only did the boy have her eyes, but there was something about the set of his chin and the slightly rounded shape of his face that made the kid look like he could have been Jack’s son and not her nephew.

“Hi,” Jack whispered. “What’s your name?”

The little boy turned back around. “Anthony,” he answered. “Momma says you’re my aunt.”

Jack nodded. “Yes, I’m your mom’s sister.”

“She talked about you. She said that maybe I’d meet you one day. Did you bring me anything?”

“What?” Jack laughed lightly. “No, honey. I didn’t know I’d be seeing you here. I wasn’t expecting to see your momma, either.” She beckoned to Riddick. “Come here.”

The boy looked in fascination at the killer. He touched the scars on Riddick’s arm. “What happened? How did you hurt yourself? Did you fall down?”

Riddick laughed aloud. “No. I got in a fight.”

Anthony frowned. “I don’t like fights. They’re stupid. Daddy doesn’t let me fight.”

Riddick snorted in astonishment. Some pirate’s kid he is. “So what do you like, then?”

Anthony smiled. “Guns!”

Never mind.

Jack was enchanted by this boy, it was obvious. Riddick could just here it now- ‘can I keep him, Riddick? Pleeeease?’

“What do you know about guns?” Riddick asked.

Anthony hopped up on his knees and started rattling off every gun statistic Riddick knew, and a few he didn’t. His weapon of choice was a shiv, so he wasn’t a complete expert on plasma guns, but this kid was four! Either he was a freak of nature, or Riddick really needed to brush up on modern weaponry.

Jack’s sister interrupted when she walked over to them and picked up her son. She smiled apologetically and said, “Anthony, don’t bore your aunt.”

As she settled him more comfortably in her arms, he turned and asked, “If she’s my aunt, then what’s he?”

Riddick realized that the kid was pointing at him, and answered, “I’m just a friend of your aunt’s.”

Libbie shot him a dirty look, and Riddick smiled charmingly. Like it or not, I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart.

He quickly became more guarded when Brand walked up to the bed as well. Jack looked at him with measured distrust, but Riddick could tell that the fact that her sister was married to him made a difference. Hell, he was her brother-in-law. Brand stuck out a big hand, and Jack shook it with uncertainty on her face.

“I’m Brand,” he said in a casual, calm voice. “I guess you’re Jackie, huh?”

“I guess,” she answered with her customary sarcasm. “And the name’s just Jack.” Riddick rolled his eyes. Be nice, he mouthed at her. She just looked at him with irritation. Riddick knew that he was in a very precarious situation. He killed a shit-load of ‘rats the day before, and generally speaking, that doesn’t make the best first impression. He wanted to get back into space and away from everyone in the room—except Jack, of course. He could never leave her.

“I’m sorry you got shot,” Brand went on, ignoring her former rudeness, thank God.

Jack shrugged. “It was my own fault.”

Riddick watched in amazement as Brand not only brought her around and away from her former hostility, but he had her smiling and laughing in less than ten minutes.

Finally he stepped in. If he was stuck there, and he would be until Jack healed up, he wanted some answers.

“Explain something to me,” he said. Everyone looked up, surprised that he’d spoken. It was as though they’d forgotten he was even there. He wasn’t expecting the surge of jealousy he felt when he saw Jack’s instant connection with these people. She was his. No one else’s. “So, you’re a family guy, right?”

“That’s right,” Brand answered easily. His whole manner was infuriating to Riddick. He hated it when people around him weren’t as upset as he was. He was used to being the calm and collected one, and he certainly didn’t like being usurped by a ‘rat.

He didn’t quite know how to get the answers he was looking for without sounding like an idiot. “So… what happened to the whole pirate thing?”

Brand looked at him for a minute, seemingly without emotion. Finally he frowned and said, “Hold on a minute. Libbie, come here for a sec. Jack, want to hold the baby?”

“I’m not a baby!” Anthony huffed indignantly.

“Of course you’re not,” Jack said, smiling. “Tell you what. Go see Riddick, all right?”

Whoa, hold on. Riddick was completely unprepared to hold a kid. Brand looked uncomfortable with it, but Jack waved her hand like it was no big thing. “My shoulder just hurts, that’s all. I thought I’d lie down again, if that’s all right.”

When nobody moved, Jack huffed impatiently, “He’ll be fine. Riddick took care of me, and he’s perfectly capable of holding a little kid for a few minutes. Besides, he knows if anything happens to Anthony, I’ll kick his ass myself.”

Jack shot a glare at Riddick, who shrugged in surrender. “Fine. Yeah, I’ll hold the kid.”

“Libbie, trust me, okay?” Jack implored. Finally her sister nodded and held Anthony out to Riddick.

“We’ll be back in five minutes.” This was said with a glare at her husband, who waited for her to leave the hospital room in front of him before he rolled his eyes and sighed.

When they were gone, Riddick sat down with the little boy in one of the chairs and asked Jack, “So when do you think you’ll feel up to taking the ship back and heading out?”

Jack shook her head. “I don’t know, Riddick. I don’t know if I want to leave just yet, anyway.”

“What?” Riddick was surprised. It had never occurred to him that she may want to stay with the pirates. “What are you talking about?”

Jack propped herself up on one elbow and looked at him. “This is my sister. This is my family. I should stay with her, don’t you think?”

“No, I don’t think so. I think you need to come with me as soon as you’re all healed up. That’s what I think. I think that neither of us has any business being here in the first place.”

“How can you say that?” Jack asked with incredulity blatant on her face. “Riddick, I need to stay with my sister.”

“But I need you to stay with me.” As soon as he said it, he stopped speaking in shock. He didn’t want her to know how badly he needed her with him. There was a reason he went through so much shit to get her back in the first place. Blustering, he said the only thing he could think of: “Jack, I’m not going to lose you to some scumbag pirates!”

“Riddick, would you shut up? You’re holding Anthony, remember?”

“No, I’m not going to shut up!” Riddick plopped Anthony on the ground in front of him and began gesturing furiously as he paced, but found he was out of words. Fortunately (and he never thought he’d think it fortunate that a pirate came into the room), Libbie and Brand reentered the hospital room and stared. He noted the half-drawn handgun in Brand’s hand, and stopped pacing.

Libbie looked at both of them and suddenly said with evident frustration, “Brand, sit down. Jack, control your… control him.”

Riddick stifled a snort at the fact that she didn’t know what to call him, and looked at Jack. Yeah, Jack. Control your murderer.

Brand picked up his son and sat in the chair Riddick had recently vacated, and gestured for Libbie to do the same. “Okay,” he said. You wanted some answers. I know that this isn’t exactly what you’d expect of space ‘rats. But we’re not exactly pirates, you see.”

He paused, and Riddick bit off the comment that sprang to mind, reminding himself to wait and listen. Brand continued, “Okay. It’s going to sound crazy, but we’re basically at war.”

Jack asked, sounding puzzled, “At war?” Riddick looked at her, then back at Brand. This was unexpected.

“Yes. We’re going to overthrow the Alliance.”

Riddick snorted. “Right. This is just perfect.” All he wanted to do was get on with his life. He just knew he was going to get wrapped up in this, he just knew it.

Jack’s voice dripped with disbelief. “You’re staging a rebellion against the Alliance? Are you completely out of your minds?”

Libbie broke in, “The pirate thing is just a cover now. It’s impossible to change the natures of these men, but now we all have a purpose, at least. The runs are to secure supplies. How else are going to fund this?”

Riddick just looked at her impassively. This was insanity.

Libbie went on, “When I met Brand, he had just started contacting Riddick to take care of some specific people. I didn’t know what was going on at first, but by the time he and I were talking about getting married, I was in on everything.”

“In on what?” Riddick asked. Then her words fully sunk in. “Wait… you said that Brand was the one contacting me about the hits?”

Brand shrugged and gave a casual, somewhat sheepish grin. “Yeah. He was the best in the business, you know? And I needed someone good.”

“Wait, wait, wait a second.” Riddick wiped a hand across his face as he contemplated this new revelation. “You’re my contact? And you say you’re going to change the entire governmental structure of the Consortium itself?”

“That’s right,” Brand answered simply. “They’re hypocritical and I, for one, am sick of being pushed around.”

Jack broke in, “Who’s pushing you around? You’re the pirate king, for god’s sake!”

Ignoring her, Riddick went on, “So why did you have hits for me in the first place? Or was that just some piracy thing?”

Brand said, seeming glad to escape Jack’s disbelief, “A little of both, actually. At first there were just people that we needed taken care of. Then, once my dad died, I decided enough was enough. The Alliance was kicking around a bill to patrol the back lanes, and that would have been hell on us. So, you know, I had you take care of some people. The bill wasn’t passed, at any rate.”

Riddick frowned for a moment, and then his face lit up. He had caught the ‘rat in a lie, and was going to prove it. “You’ve been in touch with me for a lot longer than you’re making this out to be. If I’ve been your pawn-” Riddick grimaced as he said it. The last thing he wanted to admit was being used. “If I’ve been your pawn, then why did you have so many job options for me, then?”

Brand shrugged, and Riddick’s temper curdled even further. He found this man annoying to the point of infuriating. “You’ve been working for me for a long time. Well, I guess that’s not quite right. I’ve been your contact. My dad was in charge of Neb Four since before I was born, and he put me in charge of handling your kind of stuff. He had his fingers in a bunch of different mobs all across the Consortium. He owed a lot of people favors, and he had me find someone to take care of those favors.”

Riddick closed his eyes. He wasn’t sure why it bothered him so much. He had known all along that he had been working for someone else. But… a pirate?