The Journey

Title: The Journey.
Author: Alaira
Summary: As Riddick runs, seeking a safe place to hide, he meets someone interesting. This person returns to his life by his request, revealing so much about life.
Rating: NC-17
Pairing(s): M/F
Feedback: desired. I might not live to please, but I do listen to constructive opinions.
Characters: Riddick, Lord and Lady Vaako. Original characters Kylie and Kendra, as well as various mercs and necros
Betas: Thanks to Kitty for being my spellcheck, grammar check, and Beta, glad to have you along for the ride girl…
Author’s notes: The story started from a dream I had a while back, after watching Pitch Black a few dozen times. From chapter 4 on are all what ifs that came to me after doing the same with Chronicles.
*Disclaimer: I don’t own Riddick, Furya, the Necromongers, or anything from the movies, I just really really like playing there. I do this for fun

Kylie stood staring at herself in the mirror. “One more day.” She muttered. Her small apartment was dim in the early morning light, but she knew where everything was. In a place where there were only two separate rooms, one of which was the bathroom, it was hard to misplace anything. She had just gotten into the bottom part of her flight suit when there came a loud ruckus from outside. As she walked to the door to look, she wondered again why she took an apartment on the street level. Almost every day it was something, from the theft of a hover car to the pick pocketing of a tourist foolish enough to wander into the poor section of town. Late at night was just as bad, since only four buildings down were numerous bars, brothels and street scam artists.

Holding the top of her flight suit at her waist, she stood in the open doorway, peering down the street. Clamors of ‘There he goes’ and ‘Watch out’ reached her ears. Around the corner raced a man who dwarfed her easily, but she stopped him anyway. “In here.”

He looked at her strangely from behind a pair of black goggles before ducking into the apartment, closing the bathroom door as he took refuge in there. The loud footsteps of the people chasing him closed in, and shortly a small group of police appeared. They looked confused, and looked to Kylie.

“A man came this way. Which way did he go?”

She pointed down the street to a loud bar with flaming jets over the door. “The Inferno, I saw him duck in there.”

They nodded and took off once more as she slipped back inside, closing and locking the door behind her.

“They’re gone.” She called, slipping her suit the rest of the way on. “You can come out.”

He stepped out of the bathroom, the small apartment appearing even smaller with him there. “Thanks, but why?” His voice set a shiver down her back as she settled into an armchair to put her boots on.

She looked up at him briefly. “I have no love for those people here.” Her answer was short and abrupt. “Got a name? I’m Kylie.”

“Riddick.” He peered out the small window, looking down the street to where the officers had gone. “You’re a pilot?”

“Yeah, make runs to the base on Kredur. Supply runs, stuff like that. Today’s my last go though.” She paused, looking at him for a long moment. “Look, it seems like you’re in a lot of trouble here. I’m taking off for the planet Rasen 5. I finally got everything I need. I have room for a couple more people, so if you want to come.”

It didn’t take him long to accept.

Just after lifting off from the base he started. She really didn’t like him, but she had to put up with him. Mitch was her copilot, and good at his job, or she would have kicked him off her shuttle after the first day. That was seven months ago, after her previous one had retired.

“Hey Ky, didja hear?” She despised when he called her that.

“Don’t call me that.” She repeated once again. She had lost track of the number of times she had told him that. “Hear what?”

“There’s a multiple murderer on the planet. I heard some cops talking over lunch about him being in the city.” He bragged, leaning back in his seat and propping his feet up onto the console. “They almost had him, but he slipped into some shit hole bar and got away. He’s worth like ninety thousand creds.”

She sighed and pressed a button, making a minor adjustment in the course. “That’s a lot. He had to have done something horrid.” Honestly, she didn’t care, but this line of talk would keep him from hitting on her and trying to get her to change her mind about leaving. “Hear anything else.”

As he kept talking she let her own thoughts wander, responding occasionally with an “uh huh”. She knew that it was odd for her to have invited the man she had helped that morning to come with them. She did know that she would need some strong people, and there was no denying he was physically capable. When he had stopped running, it had taken him no time at all to get his breath back. She was no weakling, but she also knew the more strong people they had on that ship, the better the odds of getting the buildings set up before cold weather hit.

“Hmm?” She looked at Mitch. “What was that?”

“Wanted to know if you’d go and see the new band playing at the Twister tonight. They’re supposed to be really good, they’ve played on like five planets.”

“Mitch, you know the answer to that. I have too much to do, and I am leaving tomorrow anyway.” She sighed. She had hoped to avoid this, but it looked like luck wasn’t with her today.

“Come on Kylie, you know you’ll be back here in the city within six months.” He was looking at her intently. “Why not skip all that and go out with me, I’d take good care of you.”

She avoided returning the look. “Mitch, I am not interested, never was, never will be. If you can’t get it into your head that I don’t mix work and pleasure, not to mention even if I did, you are not my type, then that’s your problem. If you bring it up again I will report you, I really don’t care at this point, I am not going to be here, but you’ll go through the whole investigation. Now shut up and work, we’re approaching orbit.”

The remainder of the trip went uneventfully, and he didn’t bring the topic up again.