Terra Firma

Chapter Five – The Call to Return


Riddick wondered if the ghosts of Furya had eaten Vaako. He had heard plenty of rumors about his home world being haunted and cursed, but he was not a superstitious man. He did have to admit that he was concerned that he had lost his First Commander, but he would never admit that aloud.

It would take a week to reach the system…and it had been almost a month since last contact with Vaako. Something was going on, and Riddick hoped it wasn’t something bad…

* * *


During the first three years of Riddick’s reign as the seventh Lord Marshal there had been many attempts upon his life. The first had been instigated by the late Dame Vaako in retaliation to the ruination of her plans. Vaako had had not part any attempt on Riddick’s life and when his wife’s attempt failed utterly, it only added to Vaako’s determination to dispatch his wife.

The later attempts had come from the discontent of the True Believers, purely out of response to having a non-Necromonger Lord Marshal. However, the mass crossing through the Threshold had diminished the discontent of those under Riddick’s rule. The last attempt had been only four months before Riddick had sent Vaako to scout out Furya.

Riddick took the attempts upon his life as moments when he could expel his pent up frustrations and energy. Being a man with a taste for killing and evading, the assassination attempts had sated him. Riddick was never one to look for a fight, but would admit to himself he enjoyed the thrill of the hunt and the satisfaction of a kill.

As Lord Marshal, he felt his life was stagnating.

The fleet had entered the Furyan system at last, and within a few moments his destroyer was to enter orbit over the fifth planet…the world that had brought about the birth of Richard B. Riddick. Through the large windows of his private chamber, Riddick gazed down at his home world.

Furya…his shined eyes could see the coast of a continent through a break in the clouds. It was winter in the northern hemisphere, and the present orbit of the destroyer was in place over the last point where Vaako’s ship had supposedly landed. Hails were commencing even as Riddick waited in the dark of his bedchamber, his arms crossed over his chest, leaning against a bulkhead to stare out of the window.

Riddick was unsettled. He had never felt so unsettled since having to fight for his life after the crash of the Hunter-Gratzner…

Unsettled was the only word he could imagine to explain how he felt. He was restless, his senses keen for a threat, and his heart felt as if it were skipping beats…or was made of something like the Elemental…air. This feeling troubled him greatly. On the dark planet it had passed quickly, the feeling that he was on the verge of a great realization. Of course, it had been on that dark planet that he had learned that people DID give a damn about him…Carolyn…the Holy Man…Jack…

They were all gone now…and the only thing Riddick had left was his rage and his home world.

What would happen when he set foot on Furyan soil? Would he feel a sense of homecoming or would he finally feel a sense of peace? Would something resonate in his soul…if he had a soul?

Questions were useless. He was a man of action, and it was time to face up to his past…as distant as it was…

* * *


He sat in the same seat upon the destroyer’s bridge he had grown familiar with since abandoning the Basilica ship. It was no throne, and he liked it that way. It was merely a chair before the holo-screens on a platform above the Navigators and other crew, an elevated place for the captain of the ship…him.

Landing protocol was about to commence and reports were coming back from scans of the proposed landing zone, about meteorological conditions, and other miscellaneous things that Riddick paid little mind to…it seemed only Aereon needed to hear this information, gliding to stand behind Riddick, silent and stony faced.

Riddick’s shined eyes were content to look at the sunset over snow laden clouds, and when the word came that a transmission was being sent to the ship from Vaako’s frigate, it was Aereon’s cool and unwelcome hand that roused Riddick from the transfixion on the silver clouds…

“Shall I play the message, my Lord?”

Riddick grunted and nodded sharply, turning his eyes to the officer, making the man stiffen with instinctual caution.

From some unseen source, a voice could be heard. The communiqué was so garbled with atmospheric distortion that Riddick could not tell if it were Vaako’s voice. But the words came across simply…

“The fleet is not to land on the fifth planet of the Furyan system…attempts to land on the planet will be seen as an open act of war…envoy will arrive from the planet’s surface momentarily…repeat…the fleet is not to land lest they be attacked with the fullest and harshest force…envoy to depart…”

The message repeated itself several times before Aereon motioned for the transmission be silenced. Riddick knew Aereon did not have to state the obvious. This transmission meant that there were survivors on the planet’s surface. It was unclear whether Vaako were alive, but the transmission signature came from Necro technology, therefore it was certain that Vaako’s frigate landed. It was also possible that there were a great number of people on the planet’s surface with a good bit of firepower…but then again, the declaration of war on the former Necromonger fleet orbiting the planet and holding positions throughout the system was possibly a bluff. But it was also now clear that the survivors on the planet had means to leave the planet if an envoy was to come…

Riddick had not managed to live so long in the big bad universe on animal instinct alone.

Another communiqué came when a familiar ship entered orbit from the planet’s surface, followed by three others, small cruisers with enough firepower to threaten even his larger ship. Vaako hailed the destroyer and finally Riddick heard a voice that seemed to reassure him to a degree.

“I have tried to be the diplomat, Lord Marshal, but I have been and will always be a warrior. The reason as to my lack of communication had to do with the delicate situation I and my men found ourselves in…for once in my life, I was on the losing side…”

At this Riddick chuckled causing the bridge crew to flinch. They respected Riddick, but still feared him above any other.

“This ‘envoy,’ I suspect you gave them a ride?”

“Yes, my Lord.”

…and that is why Vaako was addressing him so formally.

“And the cruisers, proof that they’re not bluffing, I assume?”

“Yes, my Lord. What the Furyan’s lack in physical numbers, they have in ships and firepower.”

…but still far too little compared to the ships in my inherited fleet…

“I suppose I am going to have to dress for this meeting?” Riddick growled to no one in particular, rubbing the bridge of his nose thoughtfully. “Be seeing you soon…”

* * *


He had never gotten used to the Necro armor, preferring his cargo pants and black ‘wife beater.’ It was hard to move correctly in Necro armor, even worse in more formal clothes. But since the Empire was his, Riddick changed the dress code…boots with hidden shivs, cargo pants, tank shirt with Necro styled jacket over top. The destroyer was cold…every ship in the fleet was cold, and Riddick ignored the strange patterning on the jackets and the spine decoration in lieu of comfort and warmth.

So he dressed, fitting a belt with two daggers into his pants, a hidden shiv in the sleeve of his jacket and one strapped to his left thigh. Even as Vaako’s frigate was docking and the three Furyan ships taking position in the wake of the destroyer’s stern, Riddick was taking his place in the formal receiving chamber, the lights lowered by half and guards posted at the entrance. Aereon, who had been completely ignored since Vaako’s communiqué, finally caught Riddick’s ear.

“…you remember anything about the hierarchy of the Furya? The kingdoms that once existed, the laws? Do you remember anything about your heritage?”

Riddick sat upon a low throne, scaled back at his request to appear not so formal…so morbid. His silver eyes flashed as he gazed at the Elemental floating at his side. She had asked him those sorts of questions through the years.

“No.”

Aereon frowned. “Then let me inform you, Riddick, that it is likely that the Furyans who come now are still clinging to the vestiges of what was once a great kingdom. Scans confirm that Vaako landed in the domain of the Kurgan Kingdom…the largest, most influential monarchy on the planet. The Kurgans ruled with an iron fist, keeping peace upon the planet through the use of the strongest warriors and the wisest strategists. If you were born anywhere on Furya, it is most likely that you were born in that kingdom…”

Riddick began to tune out. Aereon continued talking until the doors of the chamber opened and Vaako entered, his helmet under his arm and his face grim. Behind him was a group of six figures and upon their crossing of the threshold into the room, Riddick felt a stab of pain slice between his eyes…and then a scent filled his nose…a strangely familiar scent. Blood, earth, power, smoke…and something feminine and disconcerting to the beast that lived behind his shined eyes…

Vaako came within five feet of Riddick and went to one knee. Riddick felt a smirk play upon the corner of his lips…Vaako was far too formal. After a moment, Vaako rose to his feet and addressed Riddick who sat with his arms resting upon the arms of the throne, his eyes moving past Vaako to the forms that stood in an arc behind the First Commander.

“My Lord, I have returned unharmed. I present to you the envoy of the Kurgan Crown, and the representative of the people of Furya…”

Riddick’s shined eyes glittered in the half-light, moving from one form to the other, noting the heavy cloaks, familiar to what he wore on UV 6 all those years ago. He could not see their faces, but could tell that there were two women in the group, and four men. Each was armed, but none made a move to touch their weapons. Blades…all of them, even one man had a large scimitar strapped across his back atop the fur cloak.

“…are armed! This was not to be allowed!” Aereon’s airy voice rang out, causing Riddick to stiffen.

The figures did not move, but one woman who stood at Vaako’s right, raised a hand, a finger pointing at Aereon accusingly.

“We will not negotiate with you, Elemental. The moment you take our arms is the moment you seal your fate. Now, stand down and shut up…better yet, disappear on a wind…”

The voice was that of an older woman, the voice ragged and rough with each word sounding like a curse. It caused Aereon’s form to flicker in an unseen wind and the woman fell silent, gliding away from Riddick’s side and into the dark.

Riddick had felt the power of the voice, jarringly familiar though the hand that slowly lowered was marked with age…spots and swollen joints, but there was power there and Riddick knew deep inside, the bestial side, that the woman could wield a weapon better than most of his Empire.

“They demanded that they be allowed to carry arms, my Lord. I hope this does not displease…” Vaako began, his eyes flickering hesitantly to where Aereon had stood.

“It makes sense to me, Vaako. I tend to carry a bit of insurance myself.”

Riddick’s voice echoed through the chamber, causing all to stiffen and pay heed.

“I shall then present to you, Lord Marshal, Uriel, the voice of the Crown.”

TBC