False Dawn

Two weeks later Riddick and Jack sat before the Vid screen on the new ship Riddick had 'acquired'. The Argentine was a relatively big ship for just two people. Riddick had found a way to make the ship legal by transporting cargo. Their hold was full now, most of it being nothing more interesting than cloth and medical supplies.

Jack was almost completely healed up. Several of the worst cuts were still evident, but the swelling and bruising had all faded. The soreness left by the bruising hits and that horrible inner aching had been unbearable for days, had now faded completely.

One of the extra bedrooms had been turned into a small gym and they were getting back into a daily routine of working out and sparring with one another. After the incident on Urika, they both understood that Jack's ability to defend herself was extremely important, and were working tirelessly to improve her skills.

Riddick had taken her aside on the first day aboard and shown her his gun case. He normally didn't carry a weapon other than several shivs, but he said that with their new occupation and the sizable bounty on him that they had to prepare for anything. The case was clear but shatterproof, only opening with a 5-digit code. He showed her how to use each of the weapons, several having been bought just for her use. With nowhere on board to practice they made plans to find a secluded area on one of their stops to do some target practice.

But now they sat before the Vid watching the evening news. The month long trip was programmed to autopilot. The deep space collision warnings were set, keeping them from running into any unfortunate surprises. Riddick had even had a scan detector installed that would notify them of any other ships within the immediate area. So far they hadn't run into any problems. It was almost hard to believe that the entire galaxy was looking for them.

Jack, or Audrey J. Nevada, her real name, had been put on the Galaxies 100 Most Wanted list as of this week. There were no crimes linked to her name other than possibly abetting a known criminal. Otherwise she was just wanted for questioning. Yeah, right. The reward for information leading to her arrest was quite pathetic, especially considered to the reward on the man beside her.

They were watching Mr. Ndale of Chem Industries give his statement to the press. Jack had to smile at the look of pure hatred on Riddick's hard face. It was obvious that he knew the man speaking of him on the Vid.

"Why only live?" he asked softly. "Why now?"

"I don't know," she said, watching him closely.

He hit the button on the remote to shut off the picture on the Vid screen and then tossed it aside. "It's always been 'dead or alive'. Why would they change it all of a sudden?" He stood and started to pace, which ended up being more of a prowl. She loved to watch Riddick move. For his size he moved with an incredible grace that screamed of barely controlled power.

"Why now? What's changed?"

She shook her head, letting her eyes follow him back and forth. "Maybe nothing."

"No, it's something. And it's got to be them. They've learned something." He stopped and stood over her. "Let's go. I need to work off some steam and you get to be my punching bag."

Jack grinned and jumped up. She was always eager to practice and learn new techniques from him. His threat of taking his anger out on her wasn't far off the mark though.

Ninety minutes later they were lying in a tangle on the padded floor of the exercise room panting and sweating. They were both bleeding, Riddick from a split lip, Jack from her knuckles and the reopened cut above her eye. Their legs were entangled from when Riddick had knocked her down and she'd gotten lucky, catching him off balance and had brought him down with her.

He chuckled as he sat and pushed her away from him. "We aren't going to need anyone to kill us, we're gonna kill each other."

Jack grinned and rolled to the side, releasing him. "Naw, I don't think it's possible to kill you. But if you keep bouncing things off my head you're gonna scramble what little stuff I got."

She was smiling as she stood slowly, but she stilled when she saw the way he was looking at her. "What?"

"Did I hurt you, Jack?"

Ironically she hated it when he called her Jack. He only used it when he was worried or unsure of what she wanted. She didn't think he even realized he was doing it. It was almost a way to tell what he was thinking or what kind of mood he was in, by whether or not he called her 'kid'. And only once had he called her anything different than 'Jack' or 'kid', and that had been THAT night. She had loved hearing the soft endearments roll off his tongue in that low soothing purr of a voice, but hated that it took so much for him to let his defenses down, even around her.

She smiled up at him. "I'm sore and bleeding and I think a couple of my teeth are loose and you wanna know if I'm hurt? Boy, you are fuckin' stupid."

He chuckled and grabbed her, his massive arm closing around her neck nearly cutting off her breath. "I'll knock a couple more of your teeth out." He shoved her through the door ahead of him and when she managed to catch herself without falling flat on her face she turned back to see that he was still smiling at her. "Now, go do your homework or something, kid, you're buggin' me."

She just shook her head and went to do as she was told. They only had the one bathroom and he headed straight to it. It would be a while before she could use it.

When Riddick had found out that she hadn't finished school he'd bought the programs to give her the equivalent of it. Plus, there were several benefits of having a man such as Riddick buy programs he thought she would need. The history and geography, computer programming and English, geometry, algebra and trig were all things she would expect. Advanced first aid and anatomy, several universal languages, advanced computer technologies, and mechanics were things she wouldn't have necessarily learned in school. And then there were the real shockers: introduction to piloting, weapons handling with a guide on using common items as deadly weapons, lock picking and overriding, tactical combat strategies, and as a joke, she hoped, the Joy of Cooking.

She had thrown herself into her studies. As a runaway she hadn't gotten the chance to go to school since about age seven or eight. This opportunity was one in a million, and she wasn't going to waste it. She'd been surprised to find that Riddick had bought several advanced programs for himself. The one she liked the most had a holographic man showing him how to pilot. It was very cool to watch and she couldn't wait to use it herself.

Months passed without much going on. Jack felt like they were just holding their breath, waiting for something bad to happen, but nothing ever did. They made their stays on any planet they stopped on as short as possible, and Riddick dealt with anyone they came into contact with, always leaving her out of sight or on board the ship.

They found a place to practice shooting. It was the very first time Jack had ever used a gun. She thought that she would be more scared of it than she was, but Riddick had gone over and over the proper use of each of the guns until she was sure she was going to go crazy. So when she actually got to shoot the damn thing she only felt eager.

Riddick, always the shiv lover, practiced with her, but it became obvious immediately that Jack was the better shot, a natural. They practiced for hours, and in the end it was just Riddick moving out farther and farther with targets for her. When she was shooting tiny targets consistently at a hundred yards out with every one of the guns he had brought he came back toward her shaking his head.

"Babe, I think we found your calling. That was impressive."

Jack beamed with pride. She took a moment to file the sound of his pet name for her into her memory before flipping the gun over in her hand and handing it to him butt first. "Thank you."

He started to gather up the extra ammo and guns and stuffing them back into the bag they had brought. "I hate being shown up, especially by a woman. How pathetic."

She knew he was only half teasing, but when he called her a woman she nearly gasped at hearing it. He didn't seem to even realize what he had said. She moved slowly to the rifle still lying in the ledge they had been using. After carefully checking to make sure it wasn't loaded she handed it to him and then just waited for him.

He stood and lifted the bag effortlessly onto his shoulder, though she knew it was so heavy that she probably couldn't even move it. "You're a born sniper, Jack. Glad I haven't pissed ya off lately."

She laughed at him and then fell in beside him as he headed back towards the rented cruiser they had come in. "Thank you, Riddick."

He shrugged a bit, not looking at her. "You don't have to thank me, kid. It was you doing the shooting."

Jack smiled, already missing her name from him. "But you let me try."

They reached the vehicle and Riddick tossed the bag into the back seat and climbed into the passenger seat. He had been letting her drive since he'd learned she didn't know how. His hulking and stern presence freaked her out a little, but he didn't often correct her, leaving her to concentrate on what she was doing. She climbed into the driver's seat and got the vehicle moving after a shuttering start.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Several months after they had gone on the run Riddick came into Jack's room to invite her to spar with him and found her staring at her computer. He had knocked and hadn't gotten an answer so had gone in to see what was wrong.

As he came up behind her he could smell the saltiness of her tears, and then he looked at what she was doing on her computer. A large color picture of Imam was on her screen. It bothered Riddick to see the man after so long. How long had it been? More than a year, he figured after a moment.

"Jack?"

She turned slightly towards the sound of his voice. "He's dead, Riddick."

"When?"

She shook her head. "The article only says that he took his own life, and says something about the burial service. It seems he had a lot of family."

Riddick didn't know what to say. He felt somewhat responsible for Imam's death, but hoped that Jack didn't think it was his fault.

"Can we go?" she whispered.

"You know we can't. Even if they figured we wouldn't be that stupid, they'll still be watching."

Jack just nodded and closed the window, making the picture disappear. "They killed him, didn't they?"

"I don't know."

She stood and faced him, only sadness showing on her face, and not the condemnation he had been dreading. "You think so though, don't you?"

He met her eyes for a long moment, wondering if it was best to tell the truth. "Yeah, Jack, probably. I don't see Imam killing himself."

"Why would they kill an old holy man? He didn't do anything." He could see that she was getting pissed, though her eyes continued to leak steadily.

His head tilted in a helpless gesture. "He knew too much. They couldn't let him warn us or tell anyone about what they'd done. I'm sorry, Jack."

Her head bowed forward and she lifted a hand to wipe at her eyes. "What are we going to do?"

"There's nothing we can do, kid."

Jack lifted her head and stared at him, her eyes narrowing at him and for the first time since he'd met the kid he realized he didn't know her all that well. She was a sponge with anything he could show her or give her to learn. She was a fast and confident learner, hardly hesitating at all to jump into something she didn't know. She had mastered more things in the past couple months than he had in his whole life, and she just pushed on, looking for more. And she was a woman!

He could never forget that disturbing fact. He lay awake for hours each night fighting with himself, wanting to go to her, but hating himself for wanting to. She was so young, basically untouched, and she deserved so much better than a life with him. A life spent on the run, always looking over her shoulder, waiting for someone to just get lucky.

After a minute of them just staring at each other he turned and left the room, not knowing what else to say to her.