Archive of Our Own

Riddick was five years old the first time he had a sensory spike. His eyesight and hearing had spiked together which was uncommon for someone so young. His mother had held him, rocking him slowly while running her fingers through his hair. When it finally stopped, when he could breathe and his mother's heartbeat thumped softly at the back of his mind, like it always had, and he could once again open his eyes, it was to his mother's soft smile.

"You will be strong, my little one," she said kissing him on the forehead. "Very strong."

Riddick hated being called little, even if it was his mother saying it. He gave a little huff but didn't try to break out of the hold of her arms. He listened to her stories of Guardians and Guides with silent awe and wonder. Guardians with senses that could see, hear, smell danger before it was close; guides that could sense the emotions in others. Guides that could help their guardians find peace and comfort.

He was going to be a guardian and someday he would find his guide.

Riddick was nine when he learned that the rest of the universe thought Furyans were a feral, wild people. He didn't understand it, they lived in small towns with great buildings, advanced tech, and spacecrafts just like everyone else he'd read about in school.

His father didn't think that way and he was from a planet named Acro. His father told him it was because other planets didn't have guardians so they didn't understand.

"Then why do you?" he had asked.

"Because I am a guide. I was always meant to find your mother and she me."

Riddick had nodded. His guide was out there somewhere, waiting for him.

Nine was also when his aunt returned to Furya. She'd been gone nearly two years. She was much like his mother but always seemed sad to Riddick. Her guide had died on a far away planet--destroying the bio-engineered raptors a weapons company had created that had turned on them and the mining settlements that had come after them. Aunt Silla had survived because Uncle Bren had reminded her that she was a guardian and was carrying their unborn child.

Riddick didn't know what that meant but something inside him knew his aunt would never seek another guide. He overheard his parents say that Aunt Silla only lived because of the child she carried. His cousin was born six months later and Aunt Silla seemed better after the first time she held her little girl.

Riddick's other senses chose that time to come online. Now all five were heightened and at a younger age than anyone in the last ten decades.

"You are little Kyra's protector," his mother told him as he watched his cousin sleep.

Light years away another young boy about the same age as Riddick woke from a dream of large beasts with silver eyes. The dream had been dark and a little scary but not nightmare scary. The beasts had worried him at first until they had started to herd him towards safety.

Vaako wasn't sure what the dream might mean, if anything at all. He wasn't psychic, not exactly. It was just that sometimes he knew things before others. He knew who to trust and who not to and sometimes he even knew who was lying to him. His grandmother told him not to tell anyone this; that they would use it against him. She taught him about his skills and what he could expect.

His trainers thought he just had good intuition and it would serve him better when he was older and could join the planet's military service. He didn't want to be in the military. He wanted to explore.

His grandmother told him there was more in his future. That a great hunter would search for him. His grandmother was a seer. It was even said that the Elementals would sometimes seek her out. Vaako had never seen an Elemental at his home so his grandmother must have left their house when they visited.

Elementals were a mysterious people who came from a planet believed to be at the center of the universe though no outsider had ever been there. The Elementals just travelled on transport ships, never staying in any one place for long durations.

Vaako was fifteen when his grandmother passed away. It was also the first time he'd seen an Elemental. Two to be exact--a Fire and an Earth. The two women spoke softly to each other as they stood beside his grandmother's grave.

The Fire Elemental did nod at him as they walked past on their way back to the spaceport, but they never spoke or acknowledged anyone else the entire time they were on Irenica.

With the death of his only family, and not old enough--by one year--to stand on his own as an adult, Vaako put in an application to the Educational and Defense Complex. It was accepted and he excelled at classes in stellar cartography, navigation, strategy, and problem solving. Piloting became almost second nature to him. He had a little trouble with hand-to-hand combat, but stayed at the EDC for another three years. By the time he left the EDC he'd mastered close quarters combat and pulse weapons.

Just before his twentieth birthday he left Irenica aboard the exploration vessel, Gamble. He was a navigational and flight specialist.

During his first sleep shift, Vaako once again dreamed of the beasts with silver eyes and scaled skin that made a purr-like sound when scratched around the ears.

He was twenty-three when he put a knife into the chest of the lead pirate that had boarded the Gamble. The pirates had come out of nowhere and with no warning began firing on the ship. The captain of the Gamble sent out a distress call and then surrendered.

The Gamble was boarded and the pirates started pulling people into the halls before then separating them into what could be sold and what couldn't. The captain was the first one killed. Vaako killed two of the pirates in retaliation as he tried to make his way to the pirate ship. He knew that he could get the Gamble free and cause damage to the other ship if he released the docking clamps.

He'd taken a plasma gun from one of the pirates and used it to blow the first clamp. He was getting ready to take out the second when he was tackled to the ground. The shot went slightly astray causing a small explosion which rolled the Gamble several degrees off flat. It was just enough to knock everyone about.

Vaako was grabbed and without really thinking about it he pulled the knife from his arm sheath and plunged it into the pirate's chest. It would be another half hour before he was told he had killed Kryll--one of the most wanted men in universe.

Without acknowledging the blood on his hands Vaako picked up the plasma gun and fired it at the remaining clamps. The hissing and pull of space was a clear sign he'd been successful even as he began to run for the bulkhead door that was already closing.

Commander Flach, now captain, had the ship underway within moments and Vaako was left sitting on the floor with his back resting against the bulkhead.

When they finally hit a planet Vaako disembarked and didn't look back. He'd kept the pulse gun and replaced the knife that he had left in Kryll's chest, whose body had been sucked out into space. The gun was comfortable and he found that openly wearing it was a huge deterrent from being bothered by strangers.

Vaako had no plans when he stepped off the Gamble. No direction, he'd picked a ship and bought passage. Several stops later he switched ships and this became his pattern for almost a year. Sometimes he hired on, other times he booked passage. He avoided mercenary ships because he found them only slightly less despicable than slavers.

In one port, he had a moment where his morality kicked back in, or so he argued. He blamed the fact that he could sense the pain and fear of the captives on the ship he'd passed. It was like an itch across his skin and in the back of his mind that he wanted gone. He sneaked aboard the slave ship and set the primary engines to backwash. It caused a small explosion that had the port's security running to the ship.

He watched his handy work from one of the catwalks two ships over. Twenty-five people were escorted off the ship and to medical while ten others were marched to the nearby holding cells. The itch was gone and now he just felt relief. He didn't know if it was theirs or his but in the end it didn't matter.

Vaako locked that part of himself away again and hopped on the first transport off the planet. He started the whole process of moving from ship to ship again. The next time he looked into the mirror he could no longer completely recognize himself. He was pale, his hair was longer, eyes were red-ringed, and he was in need of a shave. He looked a little like death warmed over.

He knew he was running from something. He also knew he was running to something, he just didn't know what.

Riddick quickly glanced behind him and sure enough the mercs were still following him. He'd been on the run for one reason or another since his parents' death. At first he was running from himself and then from a murder charge or three. There had been no murder, just self-defense and a judge on the take.

The first slam he'd been thrown into couldn't hold him and neither could the next two. He'd discovered that the slams were just not made for people like him. People from Furya. He jumped over the gap between buildings and then made a hard left turn before jumping from the roof into the crowded street below. He hoped to use the crowd to hide his movements.

Furya had a heavier gravity compared to the norm of other inhabited planets. It meant he was faster and stronger than almost everyone he'd ever met off-world. Yet even on Furya he was still faster and stronger, but he'd grown harder in how he dealt with people since he'd left home. Since he'd started running. He just didn't seem to care about them.

When he did, it was usually for a family or children on their own. Things that reminded him of his mother or his aunt. That weakness was actually how he'd gotten the first murder charge--rescuing a family from slavers. He'd left none of the slavers alive. He still didn't consider their deaths murder.

Riddick had learned to repress his Furyan gifts. Mostly. It wasn't like he could turn them off all the way and without a partner he couldn't use them fully. He didn't want a partner, a guide. They dragged you down. He loved his father, he knew that, but he also knew his father's death had killed his mother.

He wouldn't be like his mother. He wouldn't be that weak.

Making the first right between the busy market stalls he grabbed a hooded cape, tossing coins at the stall owner while still moving. He was covered just as Toombs, the merc that had caught him last time, rounded another corner. He passed right by Toombs without the other man noticing. He didn't need his Furyan gifts to know the man had been smoking something besides those cigars he liked. Toombs was easy for him to track, unlike the other merc that until about a year ago had always been dogging him. Johns was always more fun than Toombs, even if Johns did reek of morphine, but Johns had been out of sight for a while.

Johns blamed him for the addiction and the injury that caused it. The addiction was all Johns, but Riddick would take the hit for causing the injury. It was true, he was trying to kill Johns and had missed the sweet spot just this side of the spinal cord by less than two centimeters. He had wanted Johns dead. He still did. Johns trapped him by killing some orphan girl that reminded him of his cousin. Weakness. To Riddick that just re-enforced the fact that a guide would be a weakness. But Riddick had another reason for hating Johns, the man was from Furya and knew Riddick was innocent, but Johns had crossed that fine line and now ran with mercenaries for the money.

Dealing with Toombs was easier. The man didn't have a regular crew and no real loyalty to them. If they got in his way they were dead and Riddick, or whomever the target was, just got another tick in the kills box on their rap sheet.

Riddick knew the ship he came in on was in lock down and not going anywhere until the lock was lifted and he couldn't get it lifted unless Toombs did it so he was going to have to find another way off of Tarin.

He cut through an alley and headed back toward the spaceport with an idea.

"Sloppy, Toombs. Real sloppy," Riddick said to no one but himself as he went through the takeoff procedures. Toombs had left his ship with one guard who was off to the side smoking. Riddick just walked up the ramp and jacked the ship.

Riddick was a couple of light years out before he got all of the homing beacons shutdown and a course to nowhere laid in. He had almost gotten back to the pilot chair when his whole body started to shake and his skin started to glow slightly. The last time this happened, right after his parents' death and while he was spending time in his first slam, he woke up with silver eyes and, if he had been on Furya, the status of Alpha.

This time he knew it was different. This time it was like a thousand voices calling out. He howled out in pain, clapping his hands over his ears and shutting his eyes tightly. When he was finally able to stumble to his feet he knew where he needed to go. A place he had never intended to return.

Home.

He set a course and flipped off the controls for the cryo sleep unit. He wouldn't be needing it as his new destination wasn't that far out if he pushed the ship to its max. He hadn't been looking forward to cryo sleep or the dreams he had while plugged into the machine anyway. Though, he'd rather have the dreams than be on the course he had just set.

Riddick woke to the sound of alarms blaring and a voice warning him away from the planet.

"Unidentified craft, this is the Furyan Planetary Defense, reverse course or be shot down."

Riddick growled. He was home. He leaned forward and flipped the comm button on. "This is Richard Riddick," he said gruffly. "Son of Shirah. Alpha of the Tisipho Providence."

There was a moment of silence on the other side of the comm and then the speaker said, "We welcome your return, Alpha. You are asked to land at the Dirae Space Port on pad number three."

"Acknowledged," Riddick said, slumping back in the pilot chair and angling the craft for approach to space port.

As soon as the ship broke through the atmosphere Riddick got the first clear look at the surface of Furya. It explained what he had felt less than a week ago. He would have felt shock if the rage wasn't as strong. The city of Nyx still had fires burning as did at least two others he could see.

Riddick wasn't sure who would attack Furya, or even why for that matter, but he was going to find them. That need was probably running through a good quarter of the population.

He brought the ship down on pad three and cut the engines. When he lowered the hatch there was a single woman standing just at the edge of the landing pad.

"Aunt Silla," he said softly knowing the woman would be able to hear him. Though, he did wonder where his cousin was and for a moment he worried that she was dead. He pushed that thought away. He was no one's protector; not anymore.

"You are lying to yourself," his aunt said just as softly. "You, young Richard, are still hiding."

Riddick glared, but said nothing. He had always wondered if his mother had been so much stronger than her sister why Aunt Silla had lived and his mother had not.

"Your mother," his aunt started and he raised his hand to stop whatever she was going to say. She might be the Providence Chief, but he was technically the Alpha now. At least until he could once again get off Furya.

"What happened here?" he asked, and it came out a little more gruffly than he had meant. "Who would attack? We have no valuable resources that cannot be found in abundances elsewhere." More importantly, Furya's orbit made it difficult to chart and normally kept most travelers away.

"They took children, Richard," his aunt said, calmly. "And you will be getting them back."

Riddick looked, as far as his vision would let him without an anchor and that was when he noticed that the damage was spread out but nowhere close to places the children would be sent if there was a problem. Someone from within Furya had helped with the raid.

"There is a traitor?"

His aunt nodded. "Working with slavers and mercenaries," she confirmed.

Like any other race, Furyans had law abiders and law breakers and some that rode that fine line between the two. They had people who would do anything for money and others who took the spiritual path and lived in monasteries. They had free will and lived the lives they chose. There was a pattern though. Those that hired out to be trackers and bodyguards were loyal to the families that took them on. Those that hired out to mercs and such, were loyal only to themselves and to their guides if they had one.

Riddick knew that he was riding that fine line. He'd never actually gone looking for trouble but always seemed to find it. His chest ached a little and he rubbed at the spot he knew looked like a handprint on his skin. His silver eyes able to clearly see it but no one else could. At least he hadn't thought so.

"Your mother passed on the Wrath to you." His aunt nodded, a small, sad smile on her lips as she approached. "That is appropriate. You are more than just an Alpha and you will need it, but you will not be able to control it until you have found your guide."

His aunt lifted her hand and gently rested it on his chest. It was probably the first time Riddick had realized how much taller he was than his mother or aunt. "I do not seek a guide," he quietly reminded his aunt.

She gave him that smile again--the one his mother had given him when she knew something he did not. "It does not mean he's not out there looking for you."

He? Riddick was going to ignore that he knew she was correct on the gender. That ever since he was a child he knew his guide would be male, but it didn't matter. He wasn't looking.

"Where is Kyra?" he finally asked. Afraid that he already knew the answer.

"She was always so much like you and Shirah," his aunt said, not really answering the question. She wasn't looking at Riddick but somewhere off into the horizon as she spoke. "She was angry when you left. Kept waiting for you to return."

Riddick could see that what strength his aunt had had moments ago was merely an act. She was holding together because others expected it of her.

"Kyra was overpowered at the shelter. She locked nearly two dozen children into one of the chambers and set the security fields before being overpowered." The last was said with a soft hitch in his aunt's speech that turned into silent tears.

Riddick was at a loss to what to do but wrap his arms around the woman. "Bring them back, Richard," his aunt said whisper soft into his chest. "Bring her back to me."

Vaako woke with a headache. One he knew no pain meds could shed. It was the second time he'd had one of these attacks. The first time he'd woken with his chest feeling like it was burning from within. Now it was if a great sadness had been placed on his shoulders that was only balanced by an anger he knew wasn't his. He moved to sit up and gripped the side of the bunk, letting his feet dangle and his head droop while he waited for the spinning to stop. The headache would fade in a few minutes, but the feelings would remain.

What he needed was a vacation out on the edges. The fringe colonies where no one would pay him any mind. The problem was getting there--cryo sleep and him had never gotten along and being packed in a glass coffin where all he could see were other passengers never helped.

His thoughts were interrupted by warning klaxons. Oh how he was tired of those as well. He'd signed onto this transport ship and it had just been one problem after another from the moment he set foot on the Hunter-Gratzner. At least this problem had nothing to do with the cryo boxes yet. This part of the journey was just a short hop and everyone was awake in compartments two or three--right behind the crew quarters. When the ship landed on Pilcean all the compartments would have either been offloaded or moved around to allow for continuous cryo stations and cargo. He'd planned to disembark when they landed and book passage on one of Pilcean's luxury sea liners that sailed through the watery planet's many oceans before heading to the fringes.

By the time he made it out of the crew quarters and into the command compartment he knew they were under attack. The ship rocked and then the breach klaxon sounded. "Fuck," he muttered, he was having a shitty day and it was quickly going further down hill.

"Where's the Captain?" he asked, coming up behind Owens. The other man was trying to control the ship's flight path even as it took another hit.

"He was in with the passengers," Owens told him. "Haven't seen Fry either. Can you find us a way out of here? I've already sent the distress call but I don't think anyone will get here in time and I'd rather not be around that long."

Vaako took the navigation seat. He brought up the ship's readings. "We're still on course but we're not going anywhere," he said with a growl. "Whoever that is out there has strategically taken out the flight controls and secondary engines for the back compartments. We're moving only with sublights now."

"Damn," Owens said, letting up a little on the control. It wasn't going to do them any good to fight it and both men knew it. "We're sitting ducks."

Vaako couldn't disagree and they were between systems, the distress call would hit one of the repeaters but help would be hours away.

"Then flush those compartments," Fry said, finally entering Control. "Captain's dead and they're after the cargo and the passengers. That's what pirates always want."

"We can't, Carolyn," Owens protested.

"It's us or them," Fry said, going to the control panels that controlled the other compartments. "I'm not getting taken with them and I'm sure the hell not dying for them. Not what I signed up for."

Vaako thought her words sounded insincere and that something was off with this whole thing.

Fry started pushing buttons and Owens stood and moved to stop her. The shot from the powder loaded gun was loud in the small Control area. Vaako had felt almost nothing from Fry on the entire trip but now he felt something that was almost like glee as Owens slumped to the ground.

Vaako slowly moved towards the fallen pilot. He was still breathing, but Vaako wasn't sure how long Owens would last without help. "Why?" he asked the blonde woman who was standing there with a smile on her face. That's when he realized something he probably should have before. There were no noises from the passenger compartments. "You're in on it? Why?"

Fry shrugged. "Money is always good. We were just supposed to drop the cargo. The company would have written it off to pirates. Given us a few weeks of paid leave and then we'd have been on another run. Owens though just had to ruin it for me."

She kept the gun trained on Vaako and moved to the pilot's station and tapped a few buttons. "Jack Rabbit the Hunter-Gratzner is ours. Passengers are out cold and I have control of flight."

"Copy," came a voice over the speaker. "We'll latch on and take the whole thing. Boarding in three."

While Fry had been working at the control board, Vaako had eased his knife free not wanting to risk a blast from his pulse weapon in the confined space. Destroying the ship's controls would not help with getting them free.

"Did you kill Captain Hart?"

Fry glanced his way and the expression on her face was worse than the smile after she had shot Owens. Now it was dark, twisted, and Vaako wanted to know how he'd missed seeing that darkness within her.

"He's not dead yet," she said. "Johns will need to sacrifice someone to get all the passengers to stay in line. Hart will do. So will Owens, the goody two-shoes that he is, assuming he doesn't bleed out before then."

Vaako palmed the blade and in one quick motion threw it at Fry. It hit her in the shoulder and she dropped the weapon, but Vaako didn't get far as a low energy blast hit him. His vision fogged and all he could make out was a tall man with bushy brown hair.

"Carolyn," the man rasped, finger trailing down the woman's face before yanking the blade out of her shoulder and tossing it to the ground. "You need to practice your skills."

"I've stayed shielded this whole time, Johns," she said, using the first aid kit to patch the wound. "No one said there would be another on crew for this ship."

Vaako didn't quite understand what they were talking about but he got the feeling they were talking about him.

"Doesn't matter," Johns said. "Boss will break this one and then we can sell his empathic ass to the highest bidder. Guides, if you weren't so rare."

Johns grabbed Fry's arm and pulled her in front of him. His hand snaking down to grab her by the ass and pull her closer. "We have some catching up to do," Johns said, before firing the stun weapon at Vaako again.

Riddick wasn't sure how he got stuck with the Holy man tagging along. He'd admit the old man wasn't letting himself be a burden but Riddick was a loner and this Imam wasn't letting him alone.

"I would not have left your students," Riddick grunted, slouching back in the pilot chair and hoping the comment would get the Imam to go sit in the back.

It didn't work here any better than it had on Furya. The Imam gave him that knowing smile of his. In the past three days Riddick realized that smile was probably the one the Imam gave to his students when they'd said something young or naïve--the naivety of youth.

"No matter what you think of yourself, Riddick, you are an honorable man."

Riddick laughed. "Holy man, need I remind you that I am a murderer."

He heard the Imam's soft, exasperated sigh. "I know you have killed, but your Aunt would never have risked the life of her daughter by asking a murderer to rescue her. Even if he was family. Nor would you have told me you would have brought my students back to Furya.

"You are lost, Riddick. This," the Imam waved his hand towards the window and the blackness of space. "This is your journey to find yourself and your guide."

Riddick growled in frustration only to have the Imam chuckle before walking back to his seat. He leaned forward and stabbed a couple of the buttons on the flight console with his finger before twisting around in the chair to prop his feet up on the edge of the console and laid his head back. He needed rest.

The Imam's breathing had relaxed. Riddick knew the other man was either reading or mediating as prayer normally came with quiet words, and the Imam's heart was still beating too fast for sleeping. Either way, Riddick knew the man would not come forward again for several hours. He closed his eyes and relaxed as best he could when someone else was so near.

When he opened his eyes it was to see Mount Manto in the distance and a young woman standing off to his right. He instantly wanted to wake but knew he had no real chance of doing so. It was the view from the deck of his family home.

"Hello, mother," he said softly, knowing that whatever this was, it was not exactly a dream.

"Little One," Shirah said, turning and giving Riddick a smile. "I see you are back on your path."

Riddick crossed his arms over his chest, his muscles tensing slightly. He had no doubts that the posture would not work on his mother now any more than it had when she was alive. "I am not on a path," he said. "As soon as I've returned the children I'm gone again."

His mother tilted her head, the hair she had pulled back in braids swept over her shoulder as she shook her head and smiled at him again. "I never said your life was on Furya, Richard. Though you will return here often as you will be more than just an Alpha."

"Riddles?"

His mother laughed softly. "No my child. You are just not ready yet, but you will be." She turned to look back over at the mountain range. Its peaks were always capped in white from the snow that never fully melted. "Soon. Very soon."

Riddick approached his mother but didn't reach out for her. Part of him was always afraid it would feel real and he couldn't bear the feeling of her just to wake up and she would be gone again. The other part of him was always afraid she would disappear if he touched her. "Mother?" he asked instead. "Why does father never appear with you?"

Shirah's lips curled into a small smile. "He's here," she said. "He is always with us both, but you blame him for my death when it is the other way around. He would not leave me to die alone. We both believed that you were ready to start down your own path." His mother shook her head to clear the thoughts. "He is down there," she pointed towards the large gardens below the deck. A beautiful area full of plants and flowers. There was a small mediation area with a fountain and two reading nooks under trees.

Riddick glanced over the railing and spotted his father sitting on a bench next to a large gray animal that Riddick had never seen before. He was going to ask what the creature was but his mother started speaking again.

"There is an evil out there. He seeks our kind, our guides. He uses them. He would destroy the universe if he had the power. Beware of the white Air Elemental. I have no name as she never gave it, but she does not have your best interest at heart; no matter her words." His mother turned around, one hand still gripping the railing that ran around the deck. "The Wrath of Furya is now yours, my son. Use it well and listen to him. He needs you as much as you need him."

"Him? Mother?"

Riddick bolted awake. He hated these not-dreams. He hated the reminder of what was missing. Most of all he hated how his chest ached and not all of it was from the power his mother had passed to him.

Vaako woke to another headache. This time he knew it was the after effects of the stun weapon. He listened closely and when he heard nothing but silence he slowly opened his eyes. The room he was in only had emergency lighting but what he could see was metal walls, metal floor and at least ten other people lying on the floor.

Cargo hold.

He shifted until he could finally sit upright. His ribs and shoulder felt bruised but he wasn't having trouble breathing. From the way his muscles pulled some of the damage was not from the second stunning. If he was a betting man he would guess Fry had gotten in a kick or two.

One of the other bodies stirred and Vaako recognized her as one of the passengers from the Hunter-Gratzner. Shazza Montgomery. She was traveling with a man, both were miners and would have been continuing on with the Hunter-Gratzner as it went on to the outer rim. He didn't see the man as he glanced at what he could see of the other people still out on the floor.

"Fuck," she said softly, grabbing her head as she sat up too quickly. "What hit us?"

"Pirates."

Vaako scooted back until he could use the wall to help him stand. Once up he could see all of the hold and there were no panels on the inside to control the doors. There were no signs of Captain Hart or Owens either. As a matter of fact, outside of Shazza he didn't recognize anyone else in the hold. He went over to Shazza and squatted down in front of her. "How do you feel?"

"Woozy," she admitted, looking around. "This isn't the ship we were on, is it?"

"No," Vaako answered, taking her chin gently in his hand and tipping her head back slightly. "Whatever Fry pumped into the passenger pods should be out of your system soon," he said letting her chin go and helping Shazza to her feet. "Do you recognize any of these people?"

Shazza slowly moved around the room. "Not a one. Where are the other passengers?"

"I'm not sure," he said and then Vaako could feel Shazza's worry, but over that a need to get out of this room.

Before he could say anything she turned to look at him. "Are you a feeler?" she asked.

Vaako gave her a look and she clarified.

"Umm, I think the center planets call them empats or something," she said, after checking the pulse of one of the other people still asleep on the floor.

"Empath," Vaako corrected, that's what his grandmother had called him--and more but he had never told anyone. Vaako shrugged, then asked, "Have you heard the term guide used to describe a feeler?"

"In stories when I was a child," she admitted. "They're special, stronger. They wander the universe in search of their partner. A guardian."

"Guardian?" Vaako asked. He'd heard stories growing up. He wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a child who hadn't heard the fantastical tales of humans with heightened senses who protected their clans and families. But for most they had just been stories of old.

Shazza gave him a look as if knowing what he was thinking.

"You are not projecting," she said. "Actually, you're kind of calming to be around." She slid down the wall to sit and Vaako moved to join her. They were unarmed, sealed in a room with no access panels and were the only two currently awake. "You are more than an empath, aren't you?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know anymore."

"If we had not come to Furya's aid so quickly, it is possible we would have been on one of these transports for our pilgrimage."

"Holy Man, what ifs will get you nowhere," Riddick said, glancing around the floating space port one more time. He hated the artificial feel, the artificial gravity and the closed in feeling. If he got recognized here there was nowhere to run but a docking port.

He was hoping whatever luck the Imam had would hold. They had needed the floating metal city for fuel, food, and information and it had given them all three. In the last year more than a dozen cargo and passenger ships had been hit. Most of the ships had been left floating as derelicts but just two weeks ago a ship named the Hunter-Gratzner had disappeared with all hands onboard. The distress beacon had been the only thing found and that was because the pirates couldn't unring that bell.

"Finish paying our bills," Riddick told the Imam. "I'm going for one last look around.

The Imam was about to protest. It was the one thing about traveling with someone who knew what he was--they always wanted to help because he didn't have a partner. Riddick glared at the man until the Imam raised his hands in surrender and walked back toward the clerk's office.

Riddick slid into the shadows that were offered by the disrepair of sections of the space station. He let his senses roam as far as he could, knowing that any further and he'd risk losing himself and that could get him caught. Something familiar inched its way into his senses. Morphine, sweat, gunpowder. It smelled like Johns but female. He tracked the smell to a blonde woman arguing with two men outside of docking port nine.

"Just get the supplies," the woman was saying. "We took more mouths to feed."

"We should have tossed the normals," one of the men said. "They won't fetch as good a price."

The woman grabbed the man's upper arm and pulled him closer and hissed, "He wants servants too so unless you want that role just do as you're told." She let go of the man's arm. "Now go fetch the damn supplies so we can get off this station."

"We don't take orders from you."

"I'm captain here," the woman said.

"You're just Johns' little bitch, Fry. We'll see if the boss man lets him keep you."

The woman glared at the backs of the two men as they headed to where Riddick figured their order was waiting for pickup. He almost left until the woman started muttering to herself.

"He'll need people like me if wants those baby guardians to actually function. Thugs are a dime a dozen."

Riddick let a soft growl escape between his lips. He knew the sound hadn't carried but the blonde woman flinched and looked around. He slit his eyes closed and looked at the woman again. This time letting his silver eyes truly see her. She was a guide and she was polluted. Just like Johns. Guess he'd found the traitor, now he just needed to actually get his hands around Johns' throat so he could feel the life leave Johns' body as he snapped the other Furyan's neck.

Johns didn't deserve his gifts and Riddick would make sure the man lost them.

He spun on his heel and headed back to his own ship. Now they had a clue. Now they had someone to follow.

Vaako let go of the knife and the man he'd plunged the blade into sunk to the floor. He knew what was coming even before the stun stick poked him in the side. He growled and tried to reach for the stick just to be tagged by a second one.

"Don't kill him," a man standing on the edge of the well called down. "Just get him into one of the pits. The General will want this one alive."

Vaako was prodded to the edge of a pit. He could just make out movement that told him the pit already had at least one other captive. He had a few sparse seconds to prep his body for the slight sting as the stunner was used to push him into the holding pit. The twelve foot drop had him landing on slightly bent legs as his feet impacted with the ground.

"Welcome to pit number three," a girl he thought might be in her late teens said. "Nice job on killing the guard, but they grow on trees or whatever amounts to trees in this hellhole."

Vaako glanced at the girl and corrected his previous estimate of her age as someone still younger than him but definitely out of her teens. "What is this place?" he asked.

"They separate the prisoners based upon skills," the girl said. "The real prisoners, the wanted criminals, brought to this slam are left on the level they tossed you in from. We're safe from the beasts down here and the guards will actually feed us."

Vaako took a chance and glanced around the pit. The hole from the top had been misleading, the pit was actually wider and could accommodate more people on the rough cut benches. There was an area that looked like it might be used for prisoners to relieve themselves, and another that held a bucket of relatively clean water. He glanced back up toward the lip of the pit. Obviously they didn't want the people in the pits to get sick. Just wanted them to feel desperate.

He and Shazza had only seen one other person from the Hunter-Gratzner and the boy, Ano, had told them that the blonde woman--the description he gave told Vaako it had been Fry--had killed the Captain and Owens and the rest of the passengers had then just done what she ordered. They were all offloaded to another ship with comments about building a new empire. Ano had been separated from his family. Shazza and Ano had been pushed into another pit moments before Vaako had challenged and killed one of the guards. For now he just had to hope the two were okay.

A howl broke the near silence above the pit. It was followed by someone yelling dinner time and then the sounds of something heavy running. There was a scream and the moment it stopped Vaako knew it was because the person was dead.

A large head poked over the rim of the pit and Vaako looked up into the shining eyes of one of the beasts from his dreams. "Hello, hound," he said softly, and for some reason he was not afraid of the beast.

The hound tilted its head and gave a little whine before plopping down on the ground to lie close to the edge of the pit. Its snout and one paw just over the edge of the pit.

"Friend of yours?" the girl asked. "I've never seen one do that before."

Vaako didn't take his eyes off the hound. "Maybe," he said. "Vaako, by the way."

"Evelyn, but people call me Eve. If you're in one of the pits you're either a guardian or a guide--but they usually keep the guardians elsewhere--and they plan to sell you to the highest bidder."

Vaako finally looked away from the hound and turned around to lean his back against the wall of the pit, just under the hound. "How many?" he asked.

"Guardians? Don't know. I've only seen two and I can feel another one," she said, rubbing slightly at her chest. "They keep them away from us and mostly separated from each other. I think the guards are afraid of what would happen if the guardians were kept together or put with a guide; even if the guide's not theirs." She shrugged. "But I didn't get a clear view before I ended up down here."

The hound growled at the sound of a whistle but didn't move.

"That's the signal for the hounds to return to their cages. After that we generally get visits from the convicts throwing shit into the pits. Guess they’ll have to get their kicks somewhere else today."

The hound never moved even when the guard came out with a shock stick. Instead, moments later, their captors were down another guard. He'd learned Eve had been there about a week. She was from a small planet named Perins where one of her grandfathers had been a guide whose guardian had followed him and stayed on Perins.

"Do you know where we are?" he finally asked. "Planet-wise."

"Crematoria."

"Well, hell."

"Basically."

They had been following the exhaust trail of Fry's ship for more than a week and Riddick had gotten close enough to leach information from the ship's nav computer. He wished he knew enough about computer systems to breach the ship's network but right now he would take what he could get, even if he didn't like what it was showing him.

He'd double checked the flight path twice before calling the Imam up to the front. They were going to have to tax the engines a lot to get in and out before Fry's ship. A ship that until ten minutes ago had two possible destinations. Now though he knew exactly where they were headed. Crematoria. A triple max slam that he had so far successfully avoided. So much for that, because now he was basically going to deliver himself to the slam.

"I'm going to do what?" the Imam questioned.

Riddick's chuckle was deep and filled with something akin to dark humor. "I know you heard me old man," Riddick said. "You will have to convince these people you are the lucky son of a bitch merc who caught Richard Riddick."

The Imam leaned forward in the co-pilot's chair, elbows on knees and head forward looking at the floor of the ship. He was silent for several seconds before quietly asking, "Tell me how to do this?"

Two days later the Imam, with some modifications to his clothes and a gruff sounding voice convinced the heavily accented--probably from the small planet of Grozny--voiced warden that he had bagged the big one. Their craft swung into Crematoria's upper atmosphere with Riddick in the pilot seat where he would stay until the ship was on the ground as the Imam was not a pilot.

They'd come in high and would have to swing back around but it gave them a partial view of the underground slam. Crematoria was hot as Hell and the only triple level maximum security slam on record where no one had successfully escaped--all due to the planet's extreme temperatures. Temperatures that could melt a ship or freeze it within seconds depending on the planet's rotation around its sun. There were only two windows during the planet's rotation when it was safe to land. From their craft's current position Riddick could make out two runways, both leading into docking bays within the closest mountain range.

"That looks new," the Imam commented when a second, larger runway came into view for the other man.

"It is," Riddick said. "Money says you'll be directed to the old one and told that one is not yet operational or was never completed." Riddick doubted anyone but a guardian would be able to see the track marks that the planet's fiery temperatures had not been able to fully cover. To him, the marks seemed permanently etched into ground.

Two hours later, as soon as Crematoria's rotation put the smaller runway in the safe zone, they were landing. Riddick's arms and legs were shackled and the Imam was pointing a gun at Riddick's back.

Riddick itched to take the gun, even when he knew the Imam would not use it on him. Being bound felt unnatural.

They boarded an open-air rail car and then started down the 29.4 kilometer dark tunnel. "Just remember old man, take what they offer and get back to the ship. The next exit window is in ten hours. Miss it. Claim ship malfunction. I'll get to you before the next. But if I'm not, take the exit. I've programmed the ship for launch and it will take you back to Furya."

"Riddick?"

"You heard me," Riddick ground out as the rail car came to a quick halt.

Vaako had only tried to escape from the pit once and he was sure that if the hound hadn't been hanging around the guards would have done more damage. Instead they'd taken out their frustrations on a pit that Vaako knew held only children. Since then he'd toed the line enough not to endanger the children again. Though now, he was alone in the pit, unless you counted the hound that still normally lounged at its lip. He'd gone as far as naming the hound Hunter when it had jumped into the pit with him and curled up next to him once Eve had been taken away. By the end of the sleep cycle the hound had been back up on the edge of the pit looking down at him. It meant the hounds weren't interested in the people in the pit as food and the guards didn't know it.

He and Eve had been hauled out of the pit along with guides from other pits. He'd seen Shazza and Ano for a few seconds before they were pushed into a crowd and forced into another pit. Vaako and Eve and two other guides were lined up at gun point. A girl just out of her teens, and Vaako guessed not much younger than Eve, was brought forward at gun point.

The female guardian's hair had been cut very short and her eyes held a slight silver gleam in the otherwise hazel colored eyes. She struggled with the guards who dragged her across the dirt floor to where they all stood. The guardian froze and Vaako felt Eve's emotion for the first time since he'd been dumped into the pit with her.

The guardian growled and struggled more when she was dragged past him and Eve. The other two captives were pushed back into the pits and the girl was brought to stand before him and Eve.

"Be a good little guardian, Jack, and tell us which of these two is your guide; or at least which one you can use until your new master can find you something better."

Jack growled and broke free of her guards. She scratched at one of the men's faces before grabbing the other guard and snapping his neck. The inmates started cheering and yelling. Vaako ignored them as he and Eve were both poked with the stun sticks. He only grunted at the pain but Eve let out a pained scream. Jack stopped and Vaako guessed the guards had gotten the match for which they were looking.

The two young women were hauled out of sight and the last Vaako had overheard from one of the guards was something about the two being sent to the General. And that the General would be quite pleased with his two female prizes.

That was four days ago and now something else was causing the prisoners to hoot and holler like mad. He used the sleeping slab and the corner of the pit to lift himself just above the ledge of the pit. Hunter lifted his head and licked at Vaako's cheek before twisting around to look up at a man dressed in black cargo pants and a gray t-shirt hanging from a cable.

"You know," Vaako began, looking up at the man on the cable but talking to the hound. "You and your buddies could just eat the guards." The hound snuffled and then sneezed. "You are not allergic to the guards," he said quietly and listened to the hound huff.

He'd stopped wondering why he carried on conversations with the hound twelve hours after meeting Hunter. "That though," he shook his head as he watched the man on the chain flip himself up and over and twist around until he rolled down the cable breaking the chain on the cuffs. "Just proves that guardians are crazy. Who's ever heard of one of them breaking into a slam?"

The guardian landed in a crouch and looked directly at Vaako and grinned.

Vaako smirked. "Inmates incoming," he said, lifting his head slightly. At least the next few minutes should be entertaining rather than him staring at the stone ceiling and walls of the underground prison.

Riddick heard the man whispering to the strange hound-like animal as if the man was actually hanging from the cable beside him. Even the comment about guardians and the vibes, and how he hated that word, told him the other man was a guide. He kept his eyes on the man even while some convict was going on about the difference between convicts and inmates. The long drawn out speech gave him a chance to let his senses roam--searching for Kyra.

"...brings shame to the game. So, which are you gonna be?"

The convict finally ended and Riddick glanced at the man who was waiting for an answer. "Me? I'm just passing through," he said, grabbing the chain that shot out through the air towards him and used the momentum to yank the person on the other end into another inmate. It started a fight between the inmates.

He tilted his head slightly, checking on the Imam and was relieved to hear the man was already on his way back to the ship. Then he was blocking a charge from several of the other prisoners.

"There's another on the ridge," came a whispered comment and Riddick tossed the pick ax he'd taken from one of the inmates toward the ridge. The action was followed by another comment from the guide, "Just don't let the guards in on what you really are or they'll come at you in force."

Riddick looked over at the guide who was watching him so intently and raised an eyebrow. He wasn't sure if it was a challenge or in question.

"If you cause the guards to go after the children in the other pits," the guide warned and Riddick was sure the man's eyes glowed. "The convicts in this place will be the least of your worries."

A howl broke the tension between the two men. "Pull your hearing back," the guide ordered and Riddick instantly followed the order much to his own annoyance. Though he couldn't stay annoyed too long as a loud horn was followed by a guard yelling, feeding time. If he hadn't listened to the guide he was sure he would have ended up grabbing his head to cover his ears.

Now he was putting down the inmate who made a last run at him only for the inmate to be taken out by one of the hound-like animals that shot out of gated areas around the entire prison. Riddick stood still as the animals darted across the hard-packed dirt, their claws sending up dust as they moved with ease over the ground and walls. Two of the large beasts circled Riddick twice, sniffing at Riddick's body as they did so. One stopped to rub its muzzle against Riddick's thigh.

"If they're not trying to eat you," the guide's voice drifted over him. "They like to be scratched behind the ear."

When he looked over at the pit the guide was gone and Riddick heard the sound of someone's feet hitting the ground further underground. The guide must have dropped back down into the pit. The hound that had been on guard duty stood, stretched and walked away from the pit. Riddick gave the hound rubbing against him a quick scratch and was amazed at the rumbling purr that escaped from the beast.

A few of the inmates started to come out of hiding but quickly changed their minds as all the hounds seemed to decide that the chase was back on. Riddick made a quick decision as inmates ran from the hounds and headed toward the pit and the mysterious guide.

"Seriously," the guide said from where he was sitting on one of the sleeping shelves, legs crossed and leaning back against the wall. "You have the entire prison and you jump into my little hell hole?"

Riddick laughed softly and the guide merely lifted an eyebrow in response.

"You're broken, aren’t you?" the guide asked him. "That's why you've broken into a slam instead of out of one."

"Plan to do that too," Riddick commented, getting his first real look at the guide. He definitely liked what he saw, but he still didn't want a guide.

Hunter growled into the pit causing Vaako to look up at the hound. He was surprised to find that there were several other hounds staring into the pit. Vaako shook his head and watched as Hunter stretched his upper body down the side of the pit wall before just dropping down to the sleep slab to sit next to Vaako. When he looked back up there was only one other hound at the lip of the pit but by the sounds above the other hounds hadn't returned to their kennels either.

"Your guard dog?"

"Hound," Vaako corrected. "Hunter's a hellhound. Apparently they are, were native to a small colony on Brexa before it was destroyed."

Vaako wasn't sure why that was important or why he said it, but he had. And while the guardian didn't visibly show any reaction to that news Vaako felt more than just emotions radiating from the guardian. He didn't know what it was and wasn't sure he wanted to know. What he did know or was fairly certain of, after seeing the guardian up close, was that the silver-eyed man was the great hunter his grandmother had seen in her visions. He did not want to be a guide to a guardian, but he did know one thing, his whole being was telling him he could trust the man.

"They eat people?"

Vaako snorted. "Only the bad ones, guardian. Why are you here?"

"Name's Riddick."

"Vaako."

He watched Riddick sit on one of the other sleeping slabs. "Is everyone in the pits a guide? Where do they keep the guardians they bring in?"

"To my knowledge," Vaako answered and then noticed Riddick's head tilt slightly to the right--in the direction of the pit that held Shazza, Ano, and several other children. "By your reaction though, I'm guessing the mercs and guards missed something. The guardians are kept in cages somewhere near the kennels."

Riddick gave him a small nod. "They thought the twins were both guides and no one that's been close to them have told the guards. Though the younger brother is not a guardian--just inherited the hearing of one."

Vaako grimaced slightly. The boy would probably be even more valuable because he wouldn't need a guide and could be used to spy, to listen in on conversations. The only set of twins he knew about were in the first pit. The one he'd only been able to visit twice during the guard rotations.

"This place is more than a slam, Riddick," Vaako said while rubbing at Hunter's ears causing the large animal to purr. "Who are you looking for?"

Riddick turned to look at him.

"You hold tight to your emotions," Vaako answered the glare. "But people still broadcast things and I've had a lot of time alone recently. Besides, no one breaks into a slam unless they are looking for something."

Riddick grunted. "My cousin. She was taken during a raid on Furya. So were many other children. Kyra would be nineteen. Last time I saw her, she had long dark hair, hazel eyes."

"Only one I've seen that sort of fits that description would be Jack," Vaako answered and that one name caused more emotional turmoil in the guardian than anything else. "Her hair was very short though, almost shaved."

Riddick's head tilted slightly again and Vaako knew he must be listening to someone in one of the other pits; and most likely the twin that had heightened hearing. "Dorin tells me," Riddick said, "she cut it off because one of the guards tried to use it against her."

"Who is Jack?"

"Was my father's name," Riddick said softly and then glared at Vaako.

Vaako ignored the glare, figuring that was the default facial expression when the man didn't want to face things. "I'm a guide," Vaako confirmed. "But I can't make you say things. It doesn't work that way," he said, and that was true--at least for now. He would have to wait to see if his grandmother had been correct with the rest of her training. "You said that because you needed or wanted to so stop glaring at me."

Riddick leaned back against the stone wall. "How long you been here?"

"Don't know exactly," Vaako answered. "But I can tell you that Jack..."

"Kyra."

"That Kyra," Vaako corrected, "was here until four days ago. She and Eve were matched and sent to someone known as the General. The other pilot on my ship works with the mercs who work for this General. She signs on and then steals the people for slave labor and all the contents of the ships. Shazza, Ano, and I were bonus finds."

"The Hunter-Gratzner?"

Vaako nodded. Hunter lifted his head just as a guard threw half a dozen wrapped bars into the pit. "Dinner," Vaako commented, tossing one at Riddick. He opened another one and broke it into three pieces feeding it to Hunter. Before taking one and eating it in a handful of bites. He kept another and then handed the other two to Hunter who he ordered to, "Take them to Shazza."

Hunter jumped to the ground and then with a small running start and using the sleep slab began climbing the wall back to the top of the pit. "They feed us once a day, twice if we're lucky. Meal bars. Enough to keep us healthy. The slam's guards never check to see how many are in the pits. They just toss in bars and keep going. The only ones who do check are the ones that work with Fry and some guardian named Johns."

"I'm going to kill Johns," Riddick told him as the guardian turned to lay on the slab and stare at the roof of the cave.

"You can have him," Vaako replied, because the more he'd sat in this pit the more time he'd had to think. "I want Fry."

Riddick realized within ten minutes of meeting Vaako that his plans to get in and out were not going to work. There were just too many people that needed to be dealt with in one fashion or another. If there had been an easy way out with the children, he was sure Vaako would have gotten them out by now. It meant he had until the second window to get all the guides and guardians out of here. His senses were telling him that outside of Vaako and Shazza all the other kidnapped people were actually children. It didn't look like the Imam's students were here. It meant the slave labor force was being offloaded elsewhere and sent directly to their base of operations.

Holding the guardians and guides here meant the mercs only took the useful ones or that they didn't have the means to house the unbonded and untrained. The other problem with keeping the guardians separated was that he had no idea what type of containment they were in. Getting the guides out of the pits would be easy. Getting through the gates and into the tunnels where the guardians were--and Riddick could sense them even from here, being an Alpha had its advantages--was going to require a distraction.

"You should sleep," Vaako told him before stretching out on the bench. "The next several hours are relatively quiet. Each side goes to lick their wounds, so to speak."

Riddick used his senses and scanned his pitmate. He figured Vaako was about his age--maybe a year younger, healthy, muscled. He thought he smelled ship oil in Vaako's clothes and there was a sweet spice smell under the grime of the pits--a smell he knew was distinctly Vaako's. The man's heartbeat was calm and made Riddick want to relax.

"I know that's ingrained into you, guardian, but scanning people is kind of rude."

"People don't notice."

Vaako lifted up on his elbows and glanced his way. "Most true guides always know. Even when we're hiding from others, we know." Vaako lowered himself back onto the slab and closed his eyes.

Riddick watched for a moment longer before bringing his legs up onto his slab and turning to lay on his back. That was definitely not common knowledge or his father would have told him. What did Vaako mean by true guides? Could a guide use that knowledge to hurt a guardian? Did he care if he wasn't returning to Furya? Though, it was a tactical advantage now that he knew. Guides would scan the area looking for the guardian.

Vaako sighed. "You are overthinking whatever it is. If it helps to settle you down, I only knew you were the one doing the scanning because you are the only other person in this pit with me. The hounds feel different than normal people and guardians."

Riddick knew that statement was off, but also knew Vaako wasn't consciously lying to him either. He knew, whether Vaako realized it or not, Vaako had sensed him and what he was while he was hanging from the cable. Riddick had scanned the area briefly before even being lowered into the pit and something had pulled him to look in the direction of Vaako's pit.

"You knew of the hounds before you came here?" he asked, trying to puzzle out the man who laid just ten feet from him.

Vaako turned his head to look his way and opened eyes that weren't exactly hazel any more. "Only in my dreams, Riddick."

Riddick looked at the man laying across from him and at that moment knew two things. This man was his guide and would not be easily caught, because like him something had changed and he was not, or had not been looking for a partner--a guardian. And two, and this one he said quietly, "You are more than just a guide."

Vaako snorted. "And you are more than just a guardian, Riddick. Now sleep," Vaako told him again. "As I firmly believe the rest of the day we will be very, very busy."

He'd found his guide. Riddick rubbed at his forehead trying to process that simple fact. Now maybe the others--his mother, his aunt, even the Imam could leave him be. He'd have to actually deal with having a guide after they got out of this mess because he didn't even want to deal with the possibility that Vaako would not want to be his partner. A partner, he sensed, that would never be a weakness but a great strength.

Riddick had this feeling he would follow Vaako to the end of the universe and wasn't exactly sure how he felt about that. He spent another few minutes observing his guide before following the other man into a light slumber.

Vaako woke to the sounds of metal being sharpened and Hunter's tail thumping on the packed dirt floor. "Your hound is rather strange," Riddick told him before his eyes had even opened. Guardians, he thought, it made it hard to wake without alerting others if they could tell just by the blood rushing through your veins.

"No shit," he replied, rolling to sit up. He wasn't sure if the other man had gotten any rest or was just a morning person. Vaako would admit that even after four weeks, he still missed a hot cup of coffee in the morning.

As soon as he sat up Hunter was on the slab, turning in two quick circles and lying down with his head on Vaako's thigh. "I've been adopted," he said, scratching at Hunter's ear. "They are still deciding on what to think of you."

"They talk to you?"

Vaako shrugged. Talking was a misnomer. It was more about impressions and less about direct emotions. He actually found them easier to deal with than people. He'd been practicing everything his grandmother had taught him while he'd been stuck in this pit and had discovered some very interesting things about his abilities; especially when he didn't fight them and used them as they were meant to be--as an extension of himself. Riddick was right, he wasn't a normal guide.

He had never thought to find a guardian. He'd heard the stories, he'd even enjoyed them when his grandmother had told them to him as a child, but as he'd gotten older he'd been more interested in exploring the galaxy than looking for something that might not even exist. Guardians were rare and now someone was collecting them. It seemed fate had a different path in mind for him, leading him to this pit and Riddick.

Riddick had mentioned Furya. Vaako had heard of the planet during his studies but had never met anyone from there throughout his travels. It was said Furya was an uncultivated, wild planet whose inhabitants didn't like outsiders. He was beginning to think the Furyan race was trying to pull the wool over the universe. If the planet was the home of the guardians it would make sense. It also meant someone had figured it out.

"Is Johns the only one to turn on your people?"

A soft growl escaped between Riddick's clenched teeth and he stopped sharpening the blade in his hands. "Don't know. He's the only one I've gotten a whiff of but none of the traitors are getting out of this alive."

Vaako could understand that sentiment. "Are all guardians born on Furya?" he asked.

"No."

Vaako felt something in that one word answer. "You're hiding something," he guessed.

Riddick's silver eyes were looking at him but not glaring, more of a look of someone coming to a decision. "Ask me that again when we get out of here."

Vaako pulled out the other meal bar and broke it in two, tossing half to Riddick. "Eat that and then we'll go visit the other pits," Vaako said, eating his own portion. "They pop the cork on this prison to cycle the air twice a day. About the same time ships can hit the runways. Not the most secure of things, but it might work for whatever you have in mind."

Riddick pushed off the bench and stretched. "You know about the multiple runways?"

"We didn't come in from above like you and I can't imagine they want the bounty hunters dropping off convicts using the same entrance as the people paying the slam for anonymity to hold their kidnap victims."

He moved back a step and, just like Hunter, used the bench and the side of the wall to easily climb out of the pit. He didn't need to look behind him to know Riddick was following.

They quickly covered the twenty yards to the other pits, moving directly to the one he knew held Shazza and Ano. He dropped over the side to land on one of the benches.

"Shazza," he said, lightly, "I've brought company."

A woman with wild brown hair stood there with a homemade shiv and three children pushed safely behind her. Riddick knew Shazza was a guide, but his senses were telling him that she wasn't nearly half as strong as Vaako. When he looked at her, he didn't see her being a guide to a guardian, but her stance and fierce determination to keep the children safe told him that she would make an excellent trainer.

He stood behind Vaako and let his guide do all the talking, explaining who he was and that it was quite possible they would be getting out of here very soon. Shazza lowered the shiv and the children moved out from behind her but stayed close. Those few minutes let him get a sense of this side of the prison. The children were kept closer to the secondary entrance. He could see why the guards had not put Vaako in this pit or the other one just a few feet away. Too close to the other exit and it kept the children between Vaako and the door where the guards came and went.

Shazza handed Vaako a bundle tied off with a rag that contained five meal bars. Vaako called softly for Hunter and then ordered the hound to take the food to the other pit. He followed the hound with his hearing as it dropped down into the pit and offered the bundle to Dorin's brother. The hound let the children pet him and then climbed back out to the surface but didn't come back to Vaako.

"He'll lay down between the two pits," Vaako told him.

Riddick could hear the other hounds setting up a perimeter around the pits. He was fairly certain it was new behavior since Vaako had mentioned that the hounds normally returned to the kennels. It was like they knew something was about to change and were picking to follow Vaako like Hunter had.

From this pit and with Vaako standing next to him he let his hearing roam further than he ever had before. He could sense the young guardians in another part of the slam. If he had to guess, they were being kept in the kennels. He counted heartbeats. Five. His senses raged and told him they were guardians who were being watched over by at least one guard. There were three guards in the tower and another two sleeping somewhere to the right of the tower--must have been through one of the two other doors Riddick had seen before being lowered into the pit. There were thirty-one prisoners scattered throughout the slam. Further away than he'd let himself ever go before there were another six but as he tried to focus on them he felt someone squeeze his shoulder. He brought his hearing back and opened eyes he hadn't realized he had closed. He looked into Vaako's eyes--eyes that had been almost silver since the other man had woken.

"Not so far," Vaako told him.

All he could do was nod. He didn't think he had lost himself in his senses as he had been aware of Vaako standing next to him the entire time, but now was not the time to take risks. "Can all the children be kept in one pit together?" he asked even as the plan was still forming in his head.

He saw Shazza glance between him and Vaako, doing a small double take at Vaako's eyes before a small smile appeared on her face. "You seem to have found a guardian, Vaako."

"So it seems," came Vaako's soft reply in a tone that gave Riddick no insight into how Vaako felt about the matter.

Shazza's smile brightened and then turned back to answer Riddick's question. "It would be a tight fit and they would need help getting out of the pit and over here."

Riddick took stock of the size of the pit. It had been designed to hold six. Nine would be a tight fit, but doable. "Leave that to me," Riddick told her before turning to Vaako. "We need Dorin in here with her," he explained.

"How many bars do you have left?" Vaako asked.

"Enough," Shazza replied. "As long as we're not together for more than two of the meal tosses and as long as the General's mercs don't come by for an inspection. They'll know something is up."

Riddick nodded and then easily climbed out of the pit and crossed the distance to where the other children were being kept.

"We've got about ten minutes," he heard Vaako say and knew the comment was directed at him. "Before they lower the air exchange and signal the hounds for another hunt."

When he peered over the edge of the third pit it was to see the three boys and two girls already standing on the bench closest to him. Each child was grasping their few possessions--a blanket, a tin cup, and one little girl was clinging tightly to what looked to be a stuffed rabbit.

"We're ready to go, Alpha," Dorin told him.

Riddick ignored the title and began pulling the children from the pit. "Follow Hunter," he said, after pulling out Dorin and his brother. "The other hounds won't bother you."

As a matter of fact the other hounds were now roaming between the two pits keeping back the convicts who had come out of hiding. The one idiot that tried to get close to the little girl with the stuffed toy was soon lunch. The action caused the other prisoners to move further back but not into hiding as the fresh air was just too much of a pull.

He quickly jogged back to Shazza's pit where the children sat on the edge of the hole waiting for him. The hounds that weren't busy eating the inmate had taken positions around the pit. Riddick gently lowered each child into Vaako's arms before reaching down for Vaako's arm. The man gave him a weird look but still grasped Riddick's forearm and took the help to get out of the pit that was being offered.

Before moving back from the edge of the pit Riddick asked Shazza one more question. "Can you pilot?"

Shazza gave a small. "Well enough," she said. "As long as I don't have to outrun anyone."

Riddick nodded. "Excellent."

Vaako followed Riddick back to their pit. There was just no way they could all stay in the one. Plus, he and Riddick needed to talk without the prying ears of Shazza or the children. The closer to Riddick he was the more his skin seemed to itch and his own senses--those that made him a guide--hummed louder and louder.

His reactions to Riddick were not his normal ones to a stranger he was sharing space with. No, it was more like meeting someone he had always known. Someone who had always been there and just out of reach but was now obtainable. Touchable. Real. Vaako wanted to let his mind slide into Riddick's to see what lay behind the silver eyes that looked feral and wild. His grandmother had told him a great hunter would be his and Riddick defined that with his mere presence.

He dropped down into the pit and sat on his bench as Riddick prowled the space.

Guide to a guardian. Fate was a bitch, he thought. The big question was, did he want it? Did he want Riddick? No matter what that part deep inside him--the one that he had tried to bury--wanted, did he Garrett Vaako of Irenica want to be tied to another person for the rest of his life?

He watched the pacing form for a few more seconds before coming to a decision that would, without a doubt, change his life forever.

"You need to tell Dorin to turn his hearing down until he sees Hunter again," Vaako told Riddick. "He will listen to you."

He saw Riddick about to object. "I have eyes Riddick," he said. "And ears. He called you Alpha."

Riddick grunted softly and Vaako could feel Riddick's emotions--amusement, distaste, and something akin to acceptance. He could also feel something wild and feral and knew that was the power that Riddick kept just as buried as he kept his own.

"Have you ever looked for a guide?" Vaako asked.

"No."

"Did you ever want one?"

"When I was a child," Riddick answered and Vaako could feel how hard that was for Riddick to admit.

Vaako leaned backed against the wall and stared at Riddick. "Honestly, I thought you were myths. Stories. I dreamed like any kid of guides and guardians and then life happened and I stopped. I left my planet to wander the universe and those dreams only come back when I have to enter cryosleep and yes," Vaako almost growled, "I dream during cryosleep."

"So do I," came a whispered comment from Riddick.

Figures, Vaako thought, his guardian would be just as fucked up as he was. And there was no mistake there, Vaako was absolutely sure that Riddick was his.

Part of Vaako wanted to slam Riddick into the wall and kiss him. Taste him. Feel him. He wasn't sure if those emotions were his or Riddick's. It was getting harder to tell.

"Your heartbeat just changed."

Vaako lifted an eyebrow in question.

"Your heartbeat has been the same pattern--a steady beat. It just...stuttered and changed to a new pattern. It's...," Riddick let the sentence hang with a shrug.

"Did you want a guide before coming here yesterday?"

"No."

"And now?"

"No."

"You're lying," Vaako's own abilities had flared at that.

"I want you."

Riddick's voice was rough sounding to Vaako's ears and it felt like Riddick was fighting his very nature.

"You are not a guide," Riddick said, backing away slightly. "You are something more."

Vaako sensed the truth in that. Just as he knew he was looking at more than just an Alpha guardian. Riddick was a prime--like Vaako's own grandmother, a chief among the talented.

He slid from the bench and walked towards Riddick who took several steps back. Vaako continued to push forward until Riddick's back hit the wall of the pit. "Do you want me, guardian?" he asked.

Riddick didn't respond and Vaako lifted his hand and placed it over the faint glowing handprint he could see on Riddick's chest. "Do you want me, guardian?" he repeated.

"Yes."

Vaako didn't respond, just moved in closer to Riddick until their bodies were touching and he could press his lips to Riddick's. The kiss was light and just this side of teasing. When Riddick opened his mouth to taste the kiss Vaako moved in faster, claiming the open mouth with something more powerful.

Sometime between starting the kiss and stopping it to breathe Riddick had switched their positions. He had taken control of the kiss and now Vaako was the one with his back against the wall. Riddick wasn't just tasting him though, he was cataloging him one lick to the next. From one sniff to the touch of roaming hands over Vaako's body.

Riddick took a step back from him and Vaako instantly missed the other man. Though what happened next would be forever in his memory as Riddick knelt on the ground and gazed up at him.

"I am yours, my guide," Riddick said quietly.

Vaako cupped Riddick's face in his hand and lifted the other man's head so their eyes could meet. "You are mine, guardian," he acknowledged. "And I am yours. Together we are stronger than either of us are apart."

He guided Riddick back to his feet and brought their mouths together. "We will take back what is ours," Vaako said after breaking the kiss. "Our enemies will pay for their misdeeds."

Riddick's eyes were glowing a shining silver and the hand print too was a soft, bright white through Riddick's shirt. Vaako pulled the shirt over Riddick's head and tossed it at one of the other benches. He traced the handprint with his finger, leaning in to place a single kiss at its center before placing his own hand over it. The glow became brighter and for a moment Vaako's own chest began to burn and then the light faded.

"Your eyes," Riddick said softly, reaching up to stroke a thumb over Vaako's cheek.

"I know," Vaako said, taking a step backwards towards the waist high sleeping bench and bringing Riddick with him until Vaako was sitting on the bench and Riddick was standing between his legs. "We are one, my guardian."

Vaako wrapped his arms around Riddick's shoulders and one leg around Riddick's waist before bringing their foreheads together. "Let me in," he whispered and then kissed Riddick with all that he was.

Riddick gasped and would have stumbled to the ground had Vaako's leg not been wrapped around his. Instead he leaned forward into Vaako and deepened the kiss, tasting Vaako. He needed more, wanted more. He moved from Vaako's lips, to the side of his face, to his neck. Vaako's shirt got in his way and he started to try to tear it off only to have Vaako stop him.

Vaako pushed him away and quickly pulled the shirt over his head, tossing it toward the other bench and Riddick's shirt. As soon as the shirt was flying through the air Riddick was back to kissing, licking, and tasting his way down his guide's chest. Just over his guide's heart was the soft outline of a handprint much like the one on his own chest. And much like that one, Riddick doubted that anyone else save maybe another guardian would be able to see it. He traced the handprint before leaving a single kiss over his guide's heart.

He would know his guide through all his senses. Be able to find him through them. He moved back up to kiss and suck at the junction of Vaako's neck and shoulder before letting his teeth graze over the spot. The moan from his guide had him repeating the action again just to pull that sound from Vaako. He progressed lower across the muscled chest and stomach his guide hid under his clothes--tasting, feeling, taking in as much as he could. The constant feel of his guide's hand as Vaako brushed it over Riddick's skin from head to shoulder and back again brought Riddick comfort he didn't know he needed. And still Riddick moved lower until he was once again kneeling in front of his guide. He made quick work of the fastenings on Vaako's boots and pants. Riddick leaned back on his heels and took in the sight of his guide. The man was beautiful--lean and muscled--and his. When Riddick looked into Vaako's eyes, his guide's eyes were half closed and the expression was one of pleasure.

Riddick ran his hands over Vaako's thighs, massaging the muscles for several moments then moved on, gliding his hands down to the knee and over strong calves and back up again before leaning in to take his guide's cock into his mouth.

Vaako's breath hitched and then he began a soft moan of pleasure as Riddick began alternating between licking and sucking. He could feel his guide in the back of his mind--a connection that was slowly growing and he had a brief thought to wonder how his aunt could live without it as he never wanted to let it go.

Riddick pulled back until just the tip of Vaako's cock was in his mouth, twirling his tongue around the sensitive head before taking it fully back into his mouth. He could feel Vaako's pleasure even as his guide's hands grasped his head. Vaako was close and with that thought he felt, then tasted, his guide's release.

He pulled back, swiping his tongue over the softening cock twice before moving to stand. Vaako reached out for him but he moved away from the hand only to come to a stop when he looked into the silver eyes of his guide.

"If you touch me, guide, I will come."

"Take them off, guardian," Vaako told him, a hand waving towards his remaining clothes. "I want to see what is mine. I want to touch what is mine." When he did not move Vaako added, "Are you not mine, guardian?"

Somehow Riddick got out of his boots and pants but stayed just out of reach of Vaako's hand unless his guide moved from the sleeping bench.

"Are you mine?" Vaako asked again.

Riddick was, he knew that. If he didn't move he would be rejecting his guide. He wanted to be on top, inside, all over Vaako but at this very moment if Vaako touched him there would be none of that.

Vaako gave him a smile that told him his guide knew all this and more and simply lifted his hand and arm, palm-side up, towards Riddick. Riddick took the hand and kissed the inside of the palm and took the several steps toward Vaako.

His guide traced the lightly glowing handprint on his chest before placing a single kiss over his heart. Vaako softly ran his hand down Riddick's chest so he could slowly wrap his fingers around his cock. Riddick bucked and moaned but held tightly to his control until Vaako leaned into him and whispered, "When we are alone and not in hell, you can do all that you wanted to me and more, my guardian. Now come."

Riddick obeyed without a second thought.

Vaako doubted that he would ever tire of laying stretched out on top of the warm, muscular body below him. Right now though, they needed to get up, get dressed and get the hell off this damn planet.

Using him as an anchor Riddick had been able to map almost the entire prison. The Imam's ship was the furthest away and Riddick had just been able to make out the Imam's heartbeat with Vaako's help. There was another, larger ship, in the bay off the second runway. It was just over a kilometer away in the opposite direction and through the heavy metal door Vaako had tried to escape through once before.

Their plan was to get Shazza and Dorin to the Imam's ship and the rest of the children to the other ship. Dorin's hearing would be an asset in getting Shazza to the ship. Getting them up and through the guard tower was going to be one of the major obstacles. The other was going to be the guards and the inmates.

Shazza needed to get to the Imam before the next exit window so she could reset the autopilot and fly the ship to the rendezvous location. "We need a diversion," he said, fastening the last latch on his boots. "Better yet, we need something that gets that railcart you mentioned down to the tower so Shazza and Dorin can get out of here faster."

They were both dressed from the waist down when Riddick turned to him and brushed a finger across the mark he had left on Vaako's shoulder less than an hour ago. Vaako lifted his hand and cupped Riddick's chin. "Guardian of mine," Vaako said softly, bringing Riddick in for a quick kiss.

He felt Riddick's twitch and saw him step back and tilt his head. "Some merc has decided to risk the freezing temps to make a delivery."

Vaako laughed. "Guess we got our railcart on its way down. Let's hope the diversion is just as easy." He looked up at the lip of the pit. "Where are the hounds?"

"With the kids." Riddick told him, stroking at the mark again which caused him to smile. Riddick gave him a serious look as he handed over his shirt and then said, "I get the feeling they're coming with us."

Vaako began laughing and kissed Riddick again. He had already figured that Hunter, at least, would not be left behind. The other six hounds, well, he'd take them if they didn't want to stay here.

Both men climbed from the pit and made the run to the other. Through Dorin, Shazza knew the plan. They were going to bump up a few things now that someone was bringing down the railcart.

Vaako gathered all the children together. There had been a small argument when Mayer, Dorin's brother had wanted to go with Shazza and his brother. "You are the oldest," Vaako told him, "you will be responsible for their safety until we can get the door open. Can you do it?"

The boy nodded.

"Very good," Vaako said. "You will stay in the pit and be ready as soon as Riddick and I return."

Mayer nodded again.

"They're almost to the outer door of the tower," Riddick announced. "We need to move."

Vaako and Riddick climbed out of the pit and helped Shazza and Dorin to the surface. As soon as they were out of the pit the hounds began separating themselves without orders from anyone. Four of the hounds laid down around the pit that contained the children while Hunter and the other two hounds followed Vaako and Riddick.

They made the climb to the upper ledges of the main slam and left Shazza and Dorin in a small alcove several yards from the heavy metal door that would lead up to the tower. The hounds took up position around them.

Even though he knew Shazza was a tough woman and was armed with a very sharp shiv he didn't want her to come into direct conflict with the guards unless absolutely necessary. "If a guard comes through," he told her again, "let the hounds do what they do and go for the door."

"I understand," Shazza said, nodding. "And good luck."

Vaako knelt down in front of Hunter and grabbed the hound by the face and looked into the shining eyes. "Guard," he said. The only sign that Hunter understood was a swipe of the tongue across Vaako's cheek.

Riddick grasped his shoulder and angled his head toward the next ledge up. "The wrench has started," Riddick said and then sniffed the air. "Toombs."

"Who?" he asked, coming to his feet and started the easy climb up to the next ledge that would give them the best advantage to leap for the cable.

"Just a merc I know," Riddick answered as they both watched the prisoner being lowered into the slam. "He's got a three man crew with him. This should be fun."

Vaako gave his guardian a dark look before making a running jump to the cable.

Riddick growled, watching his guide easily jump and catch the cable. He only had to wait a few seconds for the cable to settle somewhat before he could make the jump that put him several feet below Vaako on the cable. When he heard the sound of a gun priming he quickened his pace so he was level with Vaako.

He was glad that his quick ascent did not startle or off-balance Vaako. "Stop," he ordered, drawing a raised eyebrow from Vaako in response. "Someone's primed a gun. Looks like the price negations are not going smoothly."

Riddick listened for a moment longer and then signaled that he was going to start climbing again. He stopped when he was less than a foot from the circular hole cut in the tower's floor. He felt Vaako climbing up after him and waited.

At this distance, they didn't need guardian hearing to listen to the conversation going on between the mercs and jailers. "The slam boss is hiding something," Vaako whispered, head tilted slightly.

"Don't get lost," Riddick said gruffly, not fully understanding how a guide's abilities worked but remembering how his father always knew when he'd done something he shouldn't.

Vaako gave him another dark look. "I'm...we're going to need the slam boss alive, at least talking. He's the one in the right corner behind me." Riddick watched his guide's eyes go an almost liquid silver in color and part of him wanted to lean in and claim the man right there on the cable. Instead he moved his hand so that his fingers could brush over Vaako's hand. The connection between the two men flared to life again and for a moment he felt what Vaako was doing.

"Toombs must be the one just over your left shoulder," Vaako continued. "The mercs are all thinking about money, don't think they realize the boss' second has primed his gun yet."

Vaako shifted on the cable so he could bring his lips to Riddick's ear. "And don't think I haven't noticed that both you and Shazza keep looking at my eyes. We'll be talking about that when we're off this damnable planet."

Riddick's breath hitched while his guide whispered into his ear and then pulled away. "We have to do this before someone we need gets their fool self killed," Riddick said. "The mercs have quietly started pulling weapons. I hear a plasma gun coming online."

His guide gave him a wide grin and Riddick didn't know whether to smile back or be afraid. He guessed he would just have to wait and see. Then he heard another noise from above them.

"Brace yourself," he said, just in time to grasp tighter to the cable with one hand and wrap his other arm around Vaako before the cable was dropping another ten feet.

Then there was gun fire followed by silence. They rapidly climbed the ten feet and with a quick glance around the edge of the circular hole in the floor of the tower Riddick pulled himself inside and felt Vaako follow. The tower office was slowly filling with smoke as several shots had apparently gone wild taking out electronics and a fire suppression system. Two of the mercs were injured and one of the slam's guards was dead while the second was hiding beneath a heavy metal desk. The other merc had a gun on the slam boss while Toombs cleaned out the safe.

Before the wounded mercs could signal anyone Riddick felt the air sizzle as a low burst from a pulse gun washed through the air toward the mercs. A second strong blaster was aimed at the metal desk, shocking the hidden person into unconsciousness. Toombs spun around, gun raised and already firing. Too bad for Toombs that Riddick had just pulled the merc up and round and the merc took the four rounds in the chest.

"Sloppy, Toombs."

"Riddick!"

"I'd drop the gun," Riddick suggested, "or my partner will shoot you."

Vaako snorted and fired the pulse gun, clipping Toombs in the shoulder and dropping the man to the floor. "We don't have time for you to play," Vaako reminded him.

"Fine," Riddick said, smiling. "I got an idea."

Riddick's plan had been to lock Toombs and the slam boss in the hellhound kennel cages. Specifically the cages that had once been used by the actual hounds and not the ones where the young guardians had been kept.

"They don't deserve the space," Riddick had said while sliding the bolt locks into place.

Vaako couldn't fault Riddick's logic on that.

Getting the slam boss to tell them everything he knew had only taken Vaako a few seconds and the very serious threat to feed him to the hellhounds. The threat was helped along when Hunter bounced happily through the door and walked right up to the slam boss and growled.

Shazza, Dorin, and a second hound entered moments later. "Dorin said it was clear and the other hound seemed to want to stay by the door," Shazza told him.

"Get him to tell you everything," Riddick told him. "I'll hear while I'm getting them out to the railcart."

Vaako nodded. Now they were on a timetable. They needed to get the children and get to the other ship before any of the other guards became suspicious and raised the alarm. Shazza's arrival without them having to backtrack or separate meant they had one less thing to worry about and one less guard to get in their way.

"Start talking," Vaako said, wrapping his hand around the slam boss' wrist knowing he would be able to tell if the man was lying or hiding something. "Who's paying you to keep the children?"

The man tried to resist but Vaako just squeezed the man's wrist tighter and leaned in closer and asked again, "Who's paying you?"

Vaako felt the man panic followed quickly by fear. Whatever the man had just seen in Vaako's eyes had the man telling him everything.

"General Xavier Zhylaw," the slam boss stuttered out. "He's building an army to take over the universe or something. He...he wants those with guardian traits even if they need a weakling to harness those gifts."

Vaako snapped the man's wrist without meaning too. He felt Riddick's amusement at the accident but ignored it for the moment. "Continue," he ordered, not letting go of the broken wrist.

"One of the captains says it's easier to train the children. Make them loyal and subservient to their new general."

"Who's this captain?"

"Johns and his little blonde bitch."

One of Toombs' crew chose that moment to wake and try to kill Vaako. The man didn't stand a chance as Vaako barely looked behind him as he fired the pulse gun at the man. The man would not be waking up again.

"Have any of the children died here?"

The slam boss didn't say anything and Vaako squeezed the broken wrist. "Answer."

"Yes, yes!"

He knew Riddick had re-entered the room before his guardian had even spoken. "How many?"

"Fo...four. Three in the p...its and one in the cages."

"Where are the bodies?" Riddick growled.

Vaako could already feel it, they were not going to like the answer. "Still in the cage. We put all the bodies in the cage. Keeps the others from trying to cause trouble."

Before they could continue the squawk of the radio had another guard calling. Vaako moved his gun to the slam boss' head. "Tell them the negotiation ran long but the slam has a new inmate."

Riddick slammed his fist into the control that lowered the new prisoner to the main level as the slam boss repeated exactly what they wanted him to. From there Riddick tossed Toombs over his shoulder while Vaako made the slam boss walk them to the kennel.

Once the bolt was in place Vaako leaned down at eye level to the slam boss. "Where is this Zhylaw?" he asked

"Don't know. They never said."

Riddick growled again. "He's telling the truth," Vaako said, glancing over at his very angry partner who was already unlocking the other cages.

"I know," Riddick replied. "He's too afraid of you to lie."

Vaako shrugged off the comment. Right now he was a little afraid of himself. He was almost positive that he could have pushed the man into doing or saying anything he wanted. Vaako would deal with that too when he got off this planet. Instead he turned to the other cage. "Toombs is waking up," Vaako mentioned. "Want anything from him?"

"Nah. Locked in the cage is enough. But we'll need something to transport the bodies."

"We'll carry them, Alpha," one of the young guardians volunteered.

Riddick gave the kid who spoke a small nod and was aware of the other children moving around him and Vaako. One of the bodies in the cage didn't look as though she had reached her fifth birthday. He wanted to destroy something. Riddick could feel the rage and the moment Vaako touched him he knew the other man did too but just as suddenly his rage calmed and he knew that was due to Vaako.

There were not enough children in the cages. Hundreds had been taken and there were only a handful here. Unlike the guides there had been no adult with them. Even an unbonded guardian with half use of his or her skills would have been too dangerous to keep.

The children in the cages, all guardians and all from Furya by their clothing, ranged in ages like the guides--anywhere from six to fourteen. "Before puberty really sets in," Vaako said, squeezing his shoulder lightly. "Before most of them go fully active."

"But not you?" Riddick questioned his guide already knowing the answer.

"I have no doubt that we came online, so to speak, at the same time. I can feel this power moving between us."

Riddick could feel it as well but was interrupted as the youngest of the kidnapped guardians, a girl that was probably six with curly brown hair pulled gently on Vaako's pants leg and lifted her arms. He watched as his guide carefully picked up the child and began rubbing gentle circles on her back. He would have growled at another guardian for touching what was his but he was silenced with a single look--a mixture of an I dare you and a knowing smile--from his guide and the fact that it was a child who right now needed Vaako more than he did.

"She said you would come," the little girl whispered into Vaako's neck, but to Riddick's ears it was as clear as day.

"Who?" Riddick said, putting his own hand on her back, feeling the little girl relax even more.

"Jack," West, one of the other children answered, having taken the thread-bare blanket from his cage and was gently wrapping one of the bodies within it. "She said the Alpha Prime would come. His eyes would shine like molten silver."

"She did not mention an Alpha Guide," another said quietly.

"It is not common knowledge." Riddick let his hand drop away from the young girl and Vaako before turning on his heel and heading toward the bodies--children who should never had been here. He had only partially finished what he set out to do and it was time to get to the next part.

"We understand, Alpha," West answered for the others. "We will carry those who have passed so that you may clear the way."

Riddick touched each of the children, letting his senses catalogue them as he had the guides. If a fight began he needed to know who was who and where they were in relation to the fight. "Stay behind us," he said, walking to the door knowing that the others would follow.

The path back to where they had left Shazza was taken quickly and quietly. The heavy metal door was bolted shut but Riddick didn't need his senses to know the hounds had taken down the guard that had tried to enter with speed and skill. He could see the drag marks and that led back through the door. He raised his hand and the others halted.

The children all knelt, keeping their burdens in their arms and off the ground.

"You must stay with them, little one." He heard Vaako speaking softly to the little girl, in a voice that seemed to be calming the others as well.

"We will keep her safe, Alpha," West said and Riddick spared a second to see the other children had shifted slightly to keep the little girl between them.

Vaako straightened and headed toward him only pausing for a moment to remind the children that the hounds would not harm them. "What do you hear, Riddick?"

"Inmates roaming and hounds growling."

They'd taken knives and pulse weapons from the mercs and slam guards, leaving the bullet-loading weapons behind. Vaako noticed that while Riddick took the pulse gun from him his guardian didn't seem fond of it. It hadn't surprised him as Riddick seemed more of a hands-on type of person.

He primed the pulse weapon and set it to kill with a wide dispersal. He didn't need anyone getting back up. Though with this model of gun the wide dispersal would weaken on the outer edges of its range--it was one of the reasons Vaako favored the SW Pulse which Fry had taken from him on the Hunter-Gratzner.

Riddick popped the lock and they were both greeted instantly by the smaller female hound sitting there wagging her tail softly over the dusty ground. He stopped Riddick from entering and let the hound exit first. "Guard," Vaako ordered and felt the hound acknowledge the order. With Hunter on one side and the second hound on the other side, they closed the door far enough that it would appear to be still locked to the inmates.

Then they were entering the slam where the inmates had started to get bolder, approaching closer and closer to the pit where they had left the children. By the blood and remains of at least one inmate, the hounds had obviously kept the rest back to some degree, but the inmates were hungry and they knew the people in the pits were getting special treatment. The inmates had obviously heard the gunfire from the tower and taken that as a sign that no one would be coming for the children.

He and Riddick were noticed almost instantly once they were back on the slam's main floor and the inmates decided they were easier targets than the hellhounds. Vaako didn't even hesitate, he fired the pulse weapon and the dispersal touched three of the men running towards them. Two dropped to the ground instantly. The third, having only been clipped, continued on a stumbling path toward him. The inmate didn't make it as a knife was embedded into the man's throat.

Vaako gave Riddick a look that clearly said I could have handled that and felt his guardian's amusement through the bond that was slowly growing and strengthening. He wondered about the bond, he didn't know what it was going to become. The only person he could have asked was his grandmother and she was long gone. He was beginning to wonder if the stories she had told about guardians and pathfinders--what she sometimes called guides--were the same as the tales told to other children. At the end of that thought, came another, the two Elementals who had visited his grandmother, if he could find them, would they know?

Just as quickly as the thought came it was gone as the fight was on between them and the inmates. He saw Riddick armed with two knives, moving faster and quicker than a normal human. The inmates that didn't turn back wouldn't stand a chance. Vaako spared a second more to watch his guardian move before going to the pit and pulling the children out.

The hounds that had been engaged with the inmates quickly dropped their prizes and started herding the children to the metal door. "Mayer," Vaako ordered, "get them moving."

Mayer nodded and started the group of children toward the alcove and the door. Vaako raised his weapon and fired at the inmate that tried to follow the children. He fired again at the rock wall above the heads of others, the rain of gravel a warning to stay back or suffer the same fate.

"Time," he called to Riddick.

"Go," came the instant response as he saw Riddick easily snap the neck of the last inmate around him, but Vaako didn't leave until Riddick was moving toward him and no one was following.

None of the remaining inmates made a run at them or for the door. He guessed the pawns were dead and the remaining inmates weren't dumb enough to risk it. Vaako slammed the door shut behind them and Riddick slid the three bolts into place.

Riddick signaled for silence. "The mercs and guards in the hanger bay are getting a little restless."

Vaako cursed under his breath. "Are they coming this way?"

"Not yet."

"We're going to need one of the mercs alive," he reminded his guardian.

Riddick shrugged. "I'll try, but I make no promises."

Vaako knew they didn't have much time, even he could feel the temperature change in the prison. The heat was slowly abating.

Riddick continued to lead the way but before they could make the last turn into the hallway that led to the docking bay, Hunter and one of the other hounds took off at full speed.

Vaako was about to call them back when he heard Riddick chuckle. "That hound needs a name," Riddick said, giving Vaako a malicious-like grin.

"Then give him one."

"I might just do that," Riddick said, head tilted to the side, Vaako's hand on his bicep. "These mercs are only used to seeing the hounds when one escapes."

"If we send in another?"

"We should be able to catch them all off guard."

Vaako heard the clicking of nails and turned to see the smaller, paler skinned female walking up to him. He knelt down in front of the hound who sat back on her haunches and leaned her head forward. "Artemis," he said quietly, placing his own forehead on the hound's. "Go," he ordered with a scratch behind one ear and a pat on her side.

"You going to name them all?" Riddick asked, giving him a cheeky grin.

Vaako frowned and gave the other man a small shake of his head. "No. The others aren't for me to name. What's happening in there now?"

"They're distracted," Riddick said with a grin, looking around Vaako towards all the children and the three remaining hounds. "Do not move from that wall until one of us calls for you."

"We understand, Alphas."

Riddick concentrated his hearing on what was happening in the docking bay as he and Vaako began moving towards the wide open cut in the rock that doubled as the door to the bay. Five human heartbeats were clustered together as the hounds barked, growled and ran around them. There was a sixth heartbeat and the slightly muffled sound of it meant it was probably inside the ship.

"Five out, one in," he said.

"Part of the ship?"

Riddick shook his head. It was unknown at the moment. He wouldn't be able to tell until they were inside the bay and he knew what direction the ship was pointing. The chambering of rounds into a gun had him refocusing on that sixth heartbeat. "He's loaded a gun and is moving. My guess, toward the ship's ramp." And with that he slipped around the corner of the stone wall and into the docking bay knowing Vaako would follow.

The bay was large. Large enough to park two full-size passenger liners with enough room to turn one around and onto the runway. Whoever this General Zhylaw was, he had invested money into this operation. Too bad, because if he could, Riddick planned to destroy the bay. He planned to destroy Zhylaw and anyone associated with him.

The only ship in the bay was a small cruise-cargo ship. Bigger than your typical merc ship and about five times the size of the small ship he and the Imam had come here in. What it did have was a cargo bay large enough to take in his small ship and a light weapons system that could be used to destroy this docking bay and runway. It was also sitting angled half on and half off the runway and someone had already rotated the nose of the ship back toward the big exit door.

The bad thing, it was across the bay on the other side of the tunnel door. The few crates and equipment around the tunnel entrance hid them from sight for now but that wouldn't last during the half kilometer sprint to the ship.

"Can you get the hounds to run around the ship?" Riddick asked. "Get them all to turn their backs on us?"

"I don't know," Vaako told him.

Riddick wrapped his hand around Vaako's wrist and lightly ran his thumb back and forth. His silver eyes looked into those of his guide and mate. "Try," he said.

He watched Vaako closely; his senses trained on his guide. Vaako looked over at the hounds. For a moment nothing happened, then the hounds stopped their barking and growling and sat back on their haunches, lifting their heads they began to howl. Vaako breathed out and nodded before closing his eyes. Riddick felt a fine tremor ripple through Vaako. The hounds stopped howling and circled around the group of mercs. Hunter charged around the people and Artemis went in the opposite direction. The hound Riddick was going to name Garm gave two more barks and loped off around the ship. Artemis and Hunter paused in their circling and shot off after Garm. Then the sounds of crates falling and being torn into had the mercs moving after the hounds, including the one coming out of the ship armed with a shotgun.

Riddick tugged on Vaako's wrist and then took off at a dead run toward the ship. Vaako easily kept up with him, something no one had been able to do since he left Furya.

One of the mercs noticed their approach with only a hundred meters left. The merc wasn't able to signal the others because Riddick was faster. The merc grabbed at the blade buried in his chest and pulled. It was the wrong thing to do and the merc was dropping to the ground dead.

"We need one alive," Vaako reminded him as they split off. Vaako headed into the ship while he went to have a little fun.

He came up behind the merc aiming the gun at his hound and snapped the man's neck. It had been too easy and he knew he needed to get rid of the rage he was carrying or the children would pick up on it.

As soon as the hounds saw him they stopped their playing and attacked, taking down one of the mercs. That left him three. Riddick grinned. The first merc that ran at him he flipped up and over his shoulder and the second one was on him before the first had hit the floor. Punch. Block. Kick. Twist. Until he elbowed the man in the face, breaking bones in the check and nose.

The first man was back up and coming at him with a knife. Riddick stepped slightly to the side and grabbed the man's wrist, twisting and snapping upward. The man let out a scream and dropped the knife, but still tried to punch Riddick with his other fist. In a quick move Riddick dropped the one wrist and grabbed the other, twisting the man around in time to block the blade the second man had picked up and aimed towards Riddick's back.

Riddick let the body fall to the floor and didn't even give the other man a chance to recover from his actions before striking. The man grabbed at his throat, trying to breathe before also slumping to the floor.

When he looked up for the last merc he found him backed against a couple of crates and surrounded by the hellhounds.

"Guess Vaako gets a survivor," he murmured.

He glanced over his shoulder toward the entrance of the docking bay and called to West. It was time to get off of Crematoria.

As soon as the ship's ramp was up and the door was secure Vaako had the ship in position to take off before the temperature line had approached. Less than five minutes later they were up and Riddick had taken control of the ship and the weapons system. Riddick fired blasts into the docking bay and across the runway and the cavern walls surrounding it. Collapsing everything in on top. No one was going to be using that part of the slam again not without the time and cost of rebuilding.

Once in orbit Vaako contacted Shazza and the Imam and had them dock the ship in the cargo bay before setting a course for Furya. Taking this group back would be a delay in finding the rest but neither Riddick nor Vaako wanted the children with them and the survivors deserved to go home. It also meant that Fry would have time to report the raid, but it was a gamble they were going to have to take.

The little guardian girl had refused to leave Vaako's side once the other ship had been secured. Shazza had checked on the rest of the children before joining them on the bridge and had managed to coax a name from her, but not get her to leave Vaako's side.

Vaako knew Riddick was right. Shazza was meant to be a protector and teacher for the children. Now Nell sat on the floor next to his legs as he laid under the navigation console taking the computer apart. She alternated between petting the top of Garm's head and touching his leg.

Vaako sensed Riddick enter the room and slanted his head around to see his guardian, Shazza, and Thera--the female hound that had taken to following Shazza around--enter the flightcenter. Riddick squatted down in front of Nell and gently brushed the hair out of the little girl's face. "I need my guide," he said softly to Nell. "And you need to rest, little one. And a bath."

The little girl wrinkled her nose and frowned. "It's okay, sweetie," Vaako said. "I will see you for lunch tomorrow." She stood up and then leaned forward and quickly kissed Riddick on the forehead before running to Shazza.

"Get them all to turn down their hearing," Vaako warned Shazza.

Shazza gave them a nod and then bent down and picked up Nell. The little girl wrapped her arms tightly around Shazza and buried her head in Shazza's neck as she was carried from the room. Thera followed behind them, nails clicking on the plating of the ship's floor.

"You know what you're doing under there?" Riddick asked, running his hand up Vaako's thigh.

"No," Vaako answered with a snort. "I thought I'd dismantle the nav system for fun." He reached down and grabbed Riddick's hand. "I know what you want to do with him," he said. "I am not opposed, but we need answers first."

Where was Zhylaw? Where were the other children? More than a hundred were taken off of Furya, not to mention guides from varying planets and the people from the hijacked ships. Riddick stood and offered his hand which Vaako took and let Riddick pull him to his feet.

Between him and Riddick tossing the merc into an airlock and starting the air venting process they got the merc to talk. Vaako was sure that Riddick snapping the man's wrist for touching him had been unnecessary, but it had worked.

The man knew lots of little things but not the whole picture. They now knew there were several ships working for Zhylaw, each with their own routes and holding locations. Though to keep suspicions down the ships rotated their routes every few months. Before being assigned to Crematoria the merc had been on the Kublai Khan, a ship being used to transport the labor force to a planet Zhylaw had renamed Asylum. The merc didn't know the coordinates or the planet's original name.

Vaako glared at the merc. The man had liked doing his job, terrifying the children he dumped into the pits or the people he sent to be slaves. The man had been looking forward to their next assignment--a hit and run on Hellion III's city Manto, and its Temple of Seers.

Now he and Riddick stood outside the airlock door with the Imam and Shazza and the battle of wills had started between Riddick and the Imam. Riddick wanted to flush the merc out the airlock and the Imam wanted to turn the man over to the authorities.

"Vengeance is not the way, son," the Imam said looking directly at Riddick.

Riddick laughed. "I am Furyan," he said. "Vengeance is what these people deserve."

The Imam shook his head and let out an exasperated sigh before turning to look at Vaako. "You are the guide," the Imam looked at him, and then glanced at Shazza.

Vaako looked at the merc. Truly looked into the merc and saw that if given a chance the man would try and get the cargo to his general. No, general wasn't how the merc saw Zhylaw it was more like a lord, or a god.

"I can't even apologize for what's about to happen," he answered honestly. "I'm with Riddick on this one. This man knew what he was doing and would do it again and again for his new lord and master."

Shazza cleared her throat. "I don't want him on the same ship with me or the children. The young ones are now fully online. They do not need the strain he is creating."

"The Sentia," Vaako used a term that had often been used to describe his grandmother as more than a teacher and caregiver to also describe Shazza. "She has spoken her wishes," he said, hitting the button that flushed the merc out of the emergency airlock and into space.

He could sense the Imam's disappointment as the man turned away and walked toward the galley of the ship. Vaako knew the Imam tried to teach his students tolerance but if the Imam had seen what he had while inside the merc's head Vaako was positive the Imam would have pushed the button too.

Shazza stayed where she was, looking through the window of the emergency airlock. "Your abilities have increased?" he asked.

She nodded.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

"I'm not, Alpha," she said and pushed away from the wall and headed back to the rooms where the children slept.

Vaako leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. He sensed Riddick move into his personal space a second before he felt Riddick's lips on his. He grabbed a hold of the other man and pulled him closer.

"The captain's quarters are ours," Riddick said, breaking the kiss.

Vaako opened his eyes. "Then lead the way."

Riddick wanted his guide to himself. Wanted to touch him. Be wrapped around him. Be inside him and make him scream in pleasure. The bond was humming between them but he wanted it to sing. If this feeling was even half of what his mother and aunt felt with his father and uncle...he owed his aunt an apology. Because right now he could not imagine not having the bond, even half formed, between him and Vaako.

He pulled Vaako into the captain's quarters and didn't even give the man a chance to talk before pushing him into the wall and taking Vaako's mouth in a kiss. He only stopped when they both were gasping and panting.

"Clothes off," he said, his skin was itching from being so close to what was his and burning with the need to be clean and once again touch his guide.

Vaako must have sensed something because he quickly pulled off his weapons and tossed them on the desk chair before pulling the light-weight shirt over his head. When he tried to help Vaako with his pants Vaako batted his hands away. "We have no other clothes," Vaako said. "And I am not meeting your aunt naked as the day I was born."

Riddick growled. No one was seeing his guide naked but him. Some part of that thought must have gotten through the bond because Vaako grinned even as he was shimmying out of his pants. Riddick quickly stripped out of his own clothes.

He didn't give Vaako a chance to say anything as he latched onto Vaako's mouth again. This time his hands travelled down Vaako's bare stomach, across hips, and around to his back. Then lower until he could grasp the smooth skin of Vaako's ass with both hands and pulled his mate closer. His guide let out a gasp that turned into a moan as he lined up their bodies and rubbed their growing erections together.

When he broke the kiss he started licking and sucking his way down his guide's neck, tasting the sweat and dirt from the slam. It wasn't what he wanted. He'd already tasted that. Riddick backed away and picked up their pile of clothing. Opening the door of their quarters, he tossed the dirty clothes into the hall.

"Riddick," Vaako barked.

Riddick ignored his guide as he began pulling the other man into the small refresher unit that had the luxury of a water shower. He climbed into the small unit with Vaako and turned the water on. There would be no sex in this shower, not unless he wanted to risk killing them both, but his guide would be clean and then he was going to stretch the other man out on the bed and climb on top of him.

He put his hand under the soap dispenser and brought the foam first to his own noise for a sniff. It was mild, no flowery or chemical smell. It would do nicely. He started with his guide's hair, running his fingers through the long lengths that stopped just past Vaako's ears. Riddick wondered what Vaako would look like with long hair. He rinsed the soap out and repeated the actions that had his guide giving off contented little sighs.

"Don't get used to this," Vaako said, voice soft and relaxed. "I'm cutting it short once there's time."

Riddick washed the soap out again and leaned in to lick at Vaako's ear. "What if I asked you not to?" he asked, re-soaping his hands and moving them down his guide's chest. "Would you leave it?" he questioned, hands now gently wrapping around Vaako's erection once before moving back up his guide's chest.

Vaako moaned. "I'll think about it," Vaako answered almost breathlessly and Riddick smiled into the other man's neck. He soaped his fingers again and trailed them down the crevice of Vaako's ass, teasingly. His guide arched against him and he repeated the action several times until he sensed that he had to stop or Vaako would come.

Riddick quickly finished cleaning them both and didn't even waste time drying them before he pushed Vaako onto the bed and was tasting his guide all over again. Licking, sucking his way down his guide's chest to the hard erection that had his mate's cock red and angry looking. He circled his tongue around the head then took the length into his mouth. He sucked and licked until Vaako was arching into his mouth and coming with a loud moan of absolute pleasure that rocked Riddick's senses.

He wasted no time preparing his guide before he was sliding his hard length into Vaako. He paused for a moment, adjusting to the feel of Vaako's internal muscles pulsing and clenching around him.

"Move, damnit," Vaako ordered, even while arching upward with a tight grasp on Riddick's hips.

Who was he to ignore his guide?

Vaako woke with Riddick wrapped around him. A week ago he would have never tolerated that from a lover, now he knew he would miss it. The bond between them was almost singing and if he focused he could feel Riddick's thoughts as if they were his own.

It would take time for them to adjust but once they did it would be an invaluable resource to them both.

"I can feel you thinking," Riddick said softly, voice still rough with sleep.

Vaako chuckled. "That will be something you will just have to get used to."

This time Riddick chuckled. "I figured," he said. "And your hounds are outside the door."

"So is yours," Vaako countered. He still didn't understand how he was connected to the hounds, but he was beginning to believe that at one time they had been associated with guides and guardians. Mostly guides, something told him, a form of protection.

Riddick rolled to his feet and off the bed. Vaako rolled over and watched his lover pad naked to the door. It gave him a moment to once again appreciate the wild animal grace that was his guardian. Riddick palmed the door open and stepped back to let the three hounds in before kneeling down to pick up something. The something turned out to be a covered food tray and their folded, clean clothes.

Hunter raced into the room and directly to him, sitting down on the floor and looking directly up at Vaako. Vaako reached down and scratched the top of Hunter's head. "Good boy," Vaako said, then turned to scratch at Artemis' head who had walked into the room at a less rumbustious pace.

Garm followed Riddick over to the bed. Vaako rolled to a sitting position with the sheet over his waist allowing Riddick to sit down on the bed close to him and and put the tray down between them. When the lid was lifted there were two plates filled with eggs, potatoes, and ham. There were half a dozen slices of buttered toast and a small container of jam; as well as two cups of coffee.

Vaako picked up one of the cups of coffee and just breathed in the aroma. He let out a deep sigh before taking a small sip. "I have missed coffee."

Riddick chuckled and unwrapped the last item on the plate which turned out to be several ham bones. The hounds inched closer to the bed and Riddick before letting out soft little whines.

"Stay off the bed," Riddick said, handing the bones to the hounds. The two male hounds took their prizes and moved to a position between the bed and the door before settling in with their snacks. Artemis turned in a circle and stayed closer to the bed.

Throughout all this Vaako kept his abilities trained on Riddick. "What is bothering you, my guardian?" he asked.

"I think as soon as you can pull the information from the nav system and anything from the captain's machine that we take the shuttle and go after Zhylaw. Alone."

Vaako lifted an eyebrow waiting for Riddick to tell him the rest while he began eating. Riddick didn’t speak again until they were halfway through the breakfast.

"It needs to just be us."

Vaako put his fork down. "You believe there are more guardians siding with Zhylaw."

"I know there is."

Vaako wanted Riddick to tell him how he knew because when Vaako woke this morning he knew, deep inside, they weren't going to Furya. But, they weren't going directly after Zhylaw either. "Tell me what I am missing, guardian."

He would not call what Riddick did fidgeting but it came close.

"What do you know about Elementals?" Riddick asked.

Vaako shrugged. "Not much. They like to calculate outcomes. They represent the four elements. They are not true seers but because of their close connection to the elements themselves they seem to be," he paused. "And they seek out those that are seers. A Fire and Earth Elemental came to pay their respects after my grandmother passed. The Fire Elemental nodded at me but neither actually spoke."

"There are five types of Elementals," Riddick told him. "Or were. It is said that those that represented the Aether chose to find love and life among the people of the universe. Their descendants became those we know as guides."

"The other Elementals?" Vaako asked.

"Don't know," Riddick said. "My guess is like any other group of people they don't all see eye-to-eye."

Vaako ran his hand through his hair. He had never heard this story before and he thought his grandmother had told him everything, but maybe this was a guardian story. "Finish your story."

"Hundreds and hundreds of years ago four Elementals came to Furya--when my people really were as feral as people today believe we are." Vaako sensed that Riddick was telling him more than a story. This was something closer to a history passed down from family member to family member, but in this case, alpha to alpha. "They told us that those among us with the gifts, the guardians, were special but missing our other half. That we would have to go out into the Universe and find them, with them we would be even stronger."

Garm growled around the bone in his mouth before dropping it and standing to stretch. The hound padded the couple of meters to Riddick before sitting down and letting out a single bark.

"I get this feeling that's not all of it," Vaako said, watching Riddick stare at the hound and feeling, actually feeling deep within himself the emotions and turmoil shifting through his guardian. Riddick leaned forward and briefly scratched Garm's head before the hound broke away and walked back to his bone.

Vaako moved the tray out of the way and shifted around so that he was straddling Riddick's legs. The position, with them both still being unclothed, was very intimate even if sex was not on either man's mind. Vaako cupped Riddick's face and brought their mouths together for a quick kiss before separating and dropping his arms to rest on Riddick's shoulders.

He didn't speak, just waited from Riddick to continue.

"Many guardians left our planet looking for their guides. Some returned successful, others not, and still others never returned. A Fire Elemental warned that we should only take what was freely offered. What we would freely give up ourselves, but there was an Air Elemental who disagreed. She said it was our destiny to take what was ours and rule the known universe. Our Chiefs voted against that--Furya had no slaves and there would be none--and life carried on for another hundred years.

"Furyans decided that it was time to join the other races who lived on multiple planets. We brought guides home or stayed with their families but we did not have other colonies. Then we found Brexa."

"The hellhounds' planet?"

"They must be the Fenrir from the story," Riddick answered, lifting his hand to run his fingers through Vaako's hair.

Vaako knew he wouldn't be clipping it short again as his guardian seemed to be very tactile and it seemed to calm Riddick somewhat as Riddick continued the story.

"Brexa was already inhabited when the Furyan ship came. The Brexans lived on the planet's single continent named Aethian." At that moment Vaako had an idea about where the story was headed. This was a story about life lessons and morality. It was a warning.

"At first, the two people had lived peacefully. The Brexans accepting the Furyans for who and what they were. Some of the guardians found their guides and offered themselves--to show that they were willing to stay on Brexa instead of returning home to Furya. Then an alpha guardian named Covu was rejected by the Brexan he had chosen and in a fit of rage he killed the man and took the man's younger sister by force. Binding her to him. Her cry of pain brought the Fenrir into the village seeking justice.

"A war began lead by Covu and his second Oltovm. They took or slaughtered all that stood in their way. The Furyans that sided with the Brexans were considered the enemy."

Vaako massaged Riddick's shoulders and waited. He would give his guardian as much time as he needed but Vaako knew this story needed to be told before they could confront Zhylaw.

Riddick let his guide's massaging hands calm the turmoil he felt building. He could feel Vaako's mind settling into his and was certain that in the future the two of them would be able to communicate without having to speak. In a fight, and he had no doubt that they would be in fights against others, it would come in handy.

"The guardians that sided with the Brexans were led by a woman named Kyshira. She had found her guide, her mate, on the planet; and even as a Chief and alpha of her people she had knelt in front of her guide and offered to stay."

Riddick paused. "My mother and Kyra were both named after her," he said.

Bragi, Kyshira's guide, and Riddick had no plans to mention that the "B" of his middle name stood for that, though the smile on Vaako's face said his guide had already come to that conclusion. Bragi had been a chief among his own people. The strongest guide that any guardian had ever sensed.

"Covu and Oltovm destroyed the city and though the Fenrir were hard to kill many fell in defense of the young Brexans," Riddick said. "Kyshira had then ordered a retreat--an evacuation of the planet as she would see no one else taken against their will or killed to cause the pain of their loss to ripple through the remaining Brexans.

"So this would never happen again, Bragi ordered that no Furyan would be allowed to go with the unattached Brexan during their exodus. That his people would spread themselves across the Universe, because from that moment forward a guardian would only be able to find their guide from amongst the Aether. That should a Brexan seek a guardian, both partners would now have to wander--to search for what they sought most."

Riddick cleared his throat. "In retaliation Oltovm murdered two of Kyshira's children who had not been evaced with the rest. The anger she felt grew within her until she destroyed Oltovm's followers with the Rage of Furya." He rubbed his chest and the hand print that was clearly glowing softly on his skin. "It's called the Wrath now. My mother passed it to me," he said.

"You are one of her descendants?" Vaako asked.

He nodded his head once and didn't look up into Vaako's eyes. His actions since his mother's death were not those of someone related to their greatest guardian. He felt Vaako's hand move and thought his guide was pulling away but Vaako simply lifted his chin with a finger and leaned in and kissed him.

"You are not like Johns, my guardian," Vaako told him. "You have not turned your back on your people. You have not betrayed them. You are more than even Kyshira could have dreamed of. The wilds of youth do not always set the tone for the person they will become."

Riddick said nothing, just brought Vaako closer and kissed him. Absorbing all that was his guide.

"Covu bombed the planet from above, but he misjudged the load on the weapons and it triggered a volcano that took out Covu's ship. Some say a Fire and Earth Elemental may have helped to trigger the planet's revenge." Riddick shrugged with the last comment.

There had been no sightings of the Fenrir since then but as three of them lay on the floor around their bed it was obvious that not all of them had been destroyed.

"You think the planet Zhylaw calls Asylum is Brexa?" Vaako asked him.

"Yes." From what better place to rule the universe?

Vaako gave him a look and now he really could feel Vaako thinking, and processing information. "You think Zhylaw is a descendant of one of Covu's followers and that the Elementals are helping him."

His guide was brilliant. Vaako gave him a soft smile before pushing him back onto the bed. "We will find the missing," Vaako told him, leaning over him and staring him in the eye. "And stop whatever it is Zhylaw has planned."

"Then you agree?" Riddick asked, his hands resting on Vaako's hips. "We do this alone."

"Yes," Vaako agreed. "But you need to reassure the Imam and the children. Then we need to make a stop on Irenica."

Vaako had lunch with Nell and the other children as he had promised before returning to the computer systems. He was able to pull nav records for the last eight months. He copied the planets and coordinates that seemed in the middle of shipping lanes for every stop the ship had taken. He hoped the coordinates would correspond with cargo and passenger ships that had gone missing.

This ship had been routed to Crematoria three times from planets throughout the Universe but it had not been the ship to do the raid on Furya. It had, however, made a single flight to a planet in the Camenae Quadrant--an area of space that was normally considered untravelled.

There were records of offloads and transfers. The records didn't have names but now they had numbers, genders, rough ages, and type--guide, guardian, labor-- and location of pickup. There were more people than they had thought and Vaako didn't think these were all the records, just the ones for this ship.

There were also notes about two future rendezvous planned for this ship and the raid on Helion III. The plan he and Riddick had laid out would have the Furyan Guard making the rendezvous using this ship as a smokescreen just long enough to get aboard the other ships. The primary missions were to rescue anyone on the ship and break Zhylaw's import business. Secondary was hopefully retrieving more routes and records before destroying the Kublai Khan and Dark Athena.

Vaako didn't turn around as the door to the control room opened. Hunter merely shifted slightly and Artemis never moved. "You believe you should go with us, Sentia?"

"Yes," Shazza answered. "No. I need...I." She ran a hand through her long hair and gave a small frustrated tug. "I know my place is with the children. I feel that. They are so very important, but you should not go alone."

Vaako turned the chair around. "We will not be alone," he said, indicating the hounds. "When we have the right planet we will signal before we go in, but if we are right then we do not want to risk bringing Zhylaw exactly what he wants. Not only more guides and guardians but giving him a teacher who can shield the children as they learn. You are just as unique as Riddick and I."

Vaako was aware that his and Riddick's joining in such close proximity to the children was changing them--increasing the abilities of the people around them. From what he'd learned from Riddick, the joining of two Primes had become very rare since the incident on Brexa; maybe three in the last four hundred years. There was no doubt what he and Riddick were, not with the change in his eyes to match Riddick's. Even Dorin had been affected; the young man's hearing had increased and his vision was stronger--not guardian level but better than the average Furyan considering he was not Furyan by birth.

"I don't...I don't know what I'm doing, Vaako," Shazza finally admitted, sitting down in the captain's chair. "You have given me a great title and I don't know what I am doing. I can even feel the hounds now."

"You are doing fine, Shazza," he reassured the woman. "You are a natural and it will be instinctive. The Furyans will welcome you all. They will welcome you and help the children find their families and if there are none left to find," Vaako continued, "then they will have homes on Furya."

He paused, his thoughts turning to another place that Shazza and the young guides could call home if Furya became too heavy on their empathic training. Vaako would let Shazza decide once the destruction of Zhylaw's plans and the rescue mission were over.

"I will not have a guardian, will I?" she asked a little sadly. "And I have lost my only family," she clutched at her chest. "I do not believe my cousin made it once offloaded from the Hunter-Gratzner. He would have fought. He was not like me, not gifted and oh so pig-headed about being pushed around. They would have used him as an example of what happens if you stand up against them." She took a deep breath."I woke this morning with the feeling he was gone."

Vaako was no seer, but like the others on the ship his own abilities had gotten stronger since he and Riddick had finished their bond. Even now he could feel Riddick's enjoyment as his guardian watched the children play with the hounds. Plus, he could have sworn he felt a mental slap against the back of his head for even thinking to blame himself for what was happening to Shazza or the children.

"I think you are meant for very important things, Sentia. There is someone for you, he might not be a full guardian, but I would not give up on finding a mate. There is someone on Furya for you to tame."

Shazza laughed and her whole being seemed to relax.

The Imam had not been happy, but Riddick didn't care about the man's happiness, just about his safety. He understood that the Imam wanted to be useful in the rescue of his students but Riddick didn't think the fight on Brexa was going to be clean. It was going to be messy and bloody and he liked the Imam and wanted to protect him; and the best protection was to leave the man behind.

The young guardians had wanted to go as well but they had no training and neither he nor Vaako were willing to risk their lives.

That had been two days ago. On a coded channel Riddick sent a databurst to his aunt on Furya announcing the incoming ship, his change of status, and the rescue plans.

A confirmation message came in ten minutes after Riddick and Vaako took off in Riddick's smaller ship. His aunt had congratulated him on finding his guide and realizing his full potential. Then she had made him feel five years old as she dressed him down for going after Zhylaw alone instead of with an army. She had sighed at the end of the message and ended with, "You are Shirah's son, there is no doubt of that nephew. I wish you luck. Our ships will be at the relay point within five days to receive the coordinates."

Vaako hadn't been much better than his aunt as he had smiled during the entire message and then leaned in from the co-pilot's chair and kissed him before saying, "I think I'm going to like your aunt."

Irenica. Riddick had heard of the planet. Anyone who wanted to study stellar cartography or weapons and combat strategy, or be the best pilot or navigator came here to attend the Educational and Defense Complex. That was, if you could get accepted. Being a native of the planet did not give you an instant in, if anything it made it harder. His guide had been accepted and excelled, but instead of going into the military as expected Vaako had decided to wander the universe.

Riddick had no doubts that if Zhylaw raised his army Irenica would be on the top of his hit list along with Helion Prime---the religious mecca--and Furya. The first attack on Furya had been successful because of Johns and the other Furyan guardians who followed Zhylaw.

They were landing on the southern continent of Irenica on one of a group of landing pads just south of the city of Helenus. Vaako had grown up in the area and it was where the home his grandmother had willed him was located. It was also a place where Riddick's shuttle could get an upgrade.

"You sure about these people?" he asked Vaako as the shuttle's ramp opened and the hellhounds raced down before turning back toward them with a bark.

Vaako gave him a glare that was only intensified by the emotion coming through the bond that was telling him he was being an idiot. He shrugged. Right now he didn't trust anyone but his guide and the three animals waiting for them at the foot of the ramp.

"The Aeolus Family has been building ships for centuries. They live on their reputation. Besides, I rescued the man's son on the Gamble."

Riddick shrugged again. Vaako gave him one more look that had him smiling as both of them slid on pairs of dark-lensed glasses that would hide their eyes from the public. The hounds they weren't trying to hide. Seeing exotic animals in a space port was nothing new but the hounds were something else and there was no way to hide that.

He hung back with the hounds as Vaako approached a man with graying hair who grabbed him in a hug. He growled even as he felt Vaako's own shock at being grabbed. Riddick started walking forward, the hounds pacing around him, as he opened up his hearing. He slowed down and stayed back though when the man continued to thank Vaako for keeping his son safe all those years ago.

Riddick listened to Vaako explain the modifications they wanted to the ship. The man nodded, made a couple of suggestions, and then told Vaako it would be ready in two days.

Vaako swung his bag over his shoulder and walked back to Riddick. It had been more than eight years since he last set foot on Irenica. It hadn't changed much, at least Helenus had not. Most people still got around on foot and the markets were still open from dawn to dusk. He led the way through the market, stopping twice to purchase food and once to tell the hounds not to growl at everyone who got too close. He'd felt Riddick's amusement at that as a tickle across his skin.

For the most part, he and Riddick made the entire trip from the space port to his home in silence. The large house was surrounded by trees and various types of flowers and Vaako was surprised that the garden still looked healthy and not overgrown or dying. Riddick snapped his arm out and stopped him from getting any closer before taking a step forward that put him just in front of Vaako.

"There's someone inside," Riddick's deep timber warned causing the hounds to go on alert.

Vaako paused. He was annoyed that Riddick had stepped in front of him. He was even more annoyed when the front door of his grandmother's house opened.

"Guess we don't have to find them," Vaako said as the Fire Elemental stood in the open door.

"Come young Primes," she gestured them forward. "You will need rest before your next fight and I have aired out the home for the comfort of the guardian."

The Fire Elemental walked back into the home and Vaako turned to Riddick. "Well?" he asked.

"Your planet, your home, your Elemental."

Vaako took off his glasses and turned his silver eyes on his mate. "Riddick."

"My senses itch," Riddick stated. "And I don't know why. I don't think I want them near you, us, for long."

Vaako didn't like the sound of that and placed his hand against the skin of Riddick's arm. "Then let's hear what she has to say so she can leave," he said.

Vaako entered his grandmother's house, his home, and walked into the small dining room where the Fire Elemental sat at the table with a kettle of tea and three cups. "My name is Vesta," she said, sliding the wooden box that sat to her right to in front of one of the chairs. "Your grandmother left that in my care until today."

"Where is the other? The Earth Elemental."

"We were so old even when your grandmother was a child, young one," she answered, gazing out the window. "Cina is now part of your garden."

Vaako glanced outside. "I see." It explained why the garden was still vibrant.

The hounds sniffed around Vesta until Garm had inched close enough to put his nose in the woman's lap. "It is good to see that the Fenrir have returned," she said, stroking the top of Garm's head.

"You know what has been happening?" Vaako asked, his voice very much like he was accusing the Elemental and there would be no apology for that.

Vesta poured tea into the three cups and pushed two of them in front of Riddick while taking a sip from the third. Riddick glanced down at both cups before pushing once across to Vaako. Obviously Riddick had sensed nothing wrong with the tea. Vaako picked up the cup and gave the liquid a sniff. It smelled like the tea his grandmother used to make--probably the only tea in the universe that he liked.

"She left you the recipe," Vesta said. "The Sentia will have no issues with recreating it as most of the ingredients can be found in the garden."

"You knew then?" he asked his question again.

"I am not a seer and do not let any of my people convince you they are," Vesta answered. "So no, I did not see this future. Nor am I much into the calculations as my brothers and sisters. Perhaps that is why Christa," his grandmother, "was so fond of myself and Cina. I do not know."

She looked out the window again. "Christa was a seer, but you know that," she said. "She saw a lot. Some that was, some that is, and some that would perhaps be. When it came to you, she saw so much. When it came to your guardian, I believe she saw correctly. Open the box."

Vaako recognized the design on the top of the box. If you looked at his grandmother's garden from the roof porch you would see the same pattern. Two never ending knots that were looped around each other. There was no lock on the box, just a simple latch which he released. He lifted the lid to find a small bag attached to the lid of the box with netting. He pulled the bag free and glanced inside to see several datachips. He placed the bag on the table and removed the cloth that covered the bottom portion of the box. Inside, nestled in padding were two sets of ulak blades, both beautifully crafted but completely different in the etching and weight.

"She had them made for you both." Vesta stood from the table. "My time is close," she said, walking to the door. "She had faith in you, young primes; as do we. Do not let the Air fool you, as lies are her game choice."

Vaako was going to ask her a question, but it was too late. As she stepped outside the air around them heated up and with a flash of warmth and light the evening sky briefly lit with what looked like a bird before ash rained down across the garden and Vesta was gone.

He stood there watching the evening flowers bloom until Riddick pulled him back inside the house.

Riddick watched Vaako in silence as he moved around the kitchen. He could tell his guide was deep in thought. The last twenty minutes with the Elemental had been strange even for him. Riddick reached into the box and gently pulled one of the blades free and ran his finger along the hand etched design before pulling out the other three.

"These are excellently crafted," he said, picking up the two he instinctively knew were his. They fit perfectly to his grip and were weighted just right as he moved them through the air. The blade an extension of him.

Vaako didn't respond right away. Instead he placed a plate of bread, meat, and cheese on the table before walking to the glass doors off the dining room and let the hounds out. The house had a large open yard that backed up to a forest. "Stay out of the garden," was all Vaako said as the hounds raced out the door.

Riddick put down the blades, reached out and grabbed Vaako by the wrist as the man walked by causing Vaako to stop. "You are blocking me," he said. "Stop."

Vaako looked down at Riddick's hand before looking back up at Riddick's face. "Not intentionally," Vaako said and Riddick could feel him relaxing as the connection between them once again began flowing freely.

"I know," Riddick replied, stroking his thumb over Vaako's hand. "Who made the blades?"

Vaako traced his finger over the design on the other set of ulaks. "My great uncle, would be my guess," Vaako answered, sitting down in the chair next to Riddick. "He died before I was born."

"Then your grandmother was a very thorough seer."

"You have no idea," Vaako told him, breaking the small loaf of bread in half.

Riddick took his half of the bread, using one of his blades he sliced the bread partially through then added half the meat and cheese. The fresh food tasted wonderful.

"I don't believe that is what she had in mind when she had those made."

Riddick grinned and took another bite of the food while watching Vaako eat his own sandwich. "Maybe," he said, after swallowing. "There a data reader somewhere?"

Vaako stood and moved to the sideboard. A moment later he returned with a handheld data reader and slid one of the datachips into the slot. The first chip contained recipes and home remedies with notations about some being guardian safe while others were for a guide's use only.

The second chip held history and stories. A quick title search showed them it had Vaako's family history and stories about Furya and Brexa. The last held personal memories for Vaako--pictures and recordings of his family and of him until months before his grandmother's death.

Riddick put the second chip in again and skimmed one of the stories on Brexa. It was close to the story he knew though it gave history on some of the people who made it out when Bragi ordered the evacuation.

"Looks like a map," he said, pushing the reader back toward Vaako.

"We'll take a copy with us tomorrow afternoon when we go check on the ship. Tonight we need to rest."

As if sensing it was time to lock up for the night the three hounds chose that moment to bound back through the door. They circled the table until Garm moved away from the other two hounds to lay down by the still open door.

Riddick got up and closed the door but Garm didn't move.

"He's not going to move until we do," Vaako told him.

Riddick walked up behind Vaako and leaned down to whisper in the other man's ear, "Then let's move."

Part of Vaako found it very comfortable to know Riddick was a cuddler; or at least liked to hold Vaako while they slept. He felt safe, not in the from danger sense, just safe. It was comfortable to his mind, body and soul to have his guardian there beside him. To feel Riddick within his mind. They were slowly adapting to a combination of verbal and thought communication. They'd even practiced sparring in the backyard and it hadn't taken them long to start moving in sync with one another. Their fighting techniques were both similar and varied depending on the block or attack used, but soon those two styles were melding together as if they were one.

The three nights on Irenica and the first week of their journey had probably been the best sleep he had gotten since he was a child. He was sure it was the best sleep Riddick had gotten since before his parents had passed and had started running. Running had meant Riddick had to sleep lightly and be ready to attack. With both the hounds and Vaako near, Vaako had felt Riddick truly relax into the much needed rest.

The map his grandmother had left him was of old shipping lanes. Very old shipping lanes. The merc ship's route had it coming out of faster than light travel just before the second planet in the Brexa's solar system--the ship would then have to travel past three more planets and a dozen moons just to get into orbit around Brexa. The old shipping route, if navigated correctly, would bring them out just behind Brexa's second moon.

"It was probably a smuggler's route," Vaako had commented while sitting in the pilot's seat of their ship inputting coordinates. "I can see how Brexa stayed hidden for so long and then returned to obscurity. Its solar system is not quite in the charted realms because of all the empty space between it and the next closest system in almost every direction one would want to travel. Even today I can't see a lot of people risking the chance of being thrown off course. There would be no help."

Riddick had agreed and then started stowing supplies and the small units necessary for the hellhounds. Their little craft was now armed, armored, and had a faster engine and a long-range sensor package without disrupting any of the ship's maneuverability.

It would have been cramped in the ship with the two of them and three hounds for the five weeks it was going to take to reach Brexa but they had decided to put the hounds in cyrosleep for the entire journey. They would go under only for the middle portion of the trip to conserve power and food.

While Riddick had prepped the hounds Vaako had sent a coded message to Shazza and Riddick's aunt with the new route information. It would be best to have ships arriving from all sides. He'd asked for the same six hour window Riddick had--they needed to be on the ground before rescue ships started appearing around the planet.

Now he was sitting in the co-pilot's chair as their craft stayed hidden just behind Brexa's primary moon. After coming out of cryosleep twelve days ago they had dropped a relay buoy and sent a message to the Furyan vessels that were now probably only days behind them.

They'd dropped another buoy just outside the system to strengthen their signal. They would have to back out towards the second moon to send another message without alerting the people on Brexa.

The sensor package that had been installed was excellent. They had spent two days surveying the planet and the ships in orbit around it. It looked like Zhylaw's base was at the center of the old Brexan settlement. There were nearly three hundred heat signatures in the compound. There were also another hundred or so in the woods surrounding the settlement, but the body heat levels were lower to the ground and several degrees higher than human norm.

"Hellhounds," Vaako said. "The readings match the ones I took on our three."

"Then we need to come in below radar and close to them. See if they're just as friendly as ours," Riddick said. "Let's send the data and then get down there."

Riddick woke the hounds as Vaako brought the ship into Brexa's atmosphere on the dark side of the planet. As if sensing something, the hounds quickly shook off the drags of cyrosleep and then sat close to the exit.

"They know something's about to happen," Riddick told Vaako as he slid into the co-pilot's seat and watched the ease in which Vaako glided the ship through the narrow valley and just skimmed over the ground. The flight path would hopefully keep any of Zhylaw's people from seeing them on radar.

The ships in orbit didn't seem to have active or passive monitoring and they hadn't spotted satellites in orbit. Both men had agreed that mistake was going to work in their favor. The oversight seemed huge and either spoke of Zhylaw's overconfidence or a lack of common sense. Riddick was hoping for both.

Vaako put the ship down with barely a bump and taxied it as close to the tree line as he could. The other side of the ship they would cover with the lightweight camouflage netting they had brought. The netting could easily be ripped off in a hurry.

Riddick popped the lock but didn't open the door until Vaako was armed and standing next to him. "You want to talk to the hounds?"

Vaako knelt down and touched all three hounds but didn't speak. Riddick felt something move through the bond and knew some of it was what Vaako felt when he communicated with the hounds.

"Open the door," Vaako said, standing back up. "Let's hope the ones outside are just as friendly; and just as dangerous."

Riddick pressed the control to lower the ramp and open the door. The hounds ran down the ramp and stopped several meters in front of a dozen other hounds. Artemis moved forward, lifted her head and howled out an almost cheerful cadence. Hunter and Garm added their voices and the other hounds stopped their approach but not the hissing and growling noises they were making.

"They're wild," Riddick commented.

"Yes," Vaako agreed. "I would imagine there will be some in the settlement that are trained, so to speak. That are being used to keep the workforce in place. Just like on Crematoria."

Vaako stepped off the ramp and towards Hunter and Artemis. Riddick wanted to stop him but didn't. He let his guide take the lead on this. They needed the hounds as both a distraction and an attack force. If all they got was the distraction he would be happy though.

He watched Vaako scratch at Hunter's neck and ears and heard the hound begin its strange little purr of bliss. Several of the wild hounds inched forward. Riddick moved closer and several of the hounds paused until Garm stood up and circled around Riddick twice before nuzzling his muzzle into Riddick's thigh and Riddick reached down to scratch at his ears. After that the wild hounds seemed to circle and sniff around but any posturing or growling had stopped.

"They gonna help?" he asked.

Vaako shrugged. "Don't know, but I don't think this group will attack us."

"Good," he said. "Then let's go. We've got twenty clicks to cover."

They'd landed far enough away to prevent any guardians in the settlement from hearing the ship. They had picked a distance just outside of Riddick's range of hearing and then added five more kilometers to be safe. They were playing it safe. They didn't want the other side knowing they were there until it was too late.

They set off at a light jog which about halfway there they would change to a quick walk as they didn't want to waste energy they would need later.

Riddick let his senses stretch out. He could hear wildlife moving about in the forest. Just at the outer range of hearing he could make out what sounded like metal clanging and something cracking on the wind. They kept their pace until they were twelve kilometers out. When Riddick glanced behind them half the wild hounds were still following them.

He and Vaako took a quick break for water and then started moving with more care. If he could hear into the settlement then there was a good chance that others could hear out to them.

Now it was time to see if all the stories about primes were true.

Vaako felt an itch trying to scratch at his empathy. He knew what it was; he'd felt it before from the slave ship and from the pits when he'd first gotten to Crematoria. Pain. Both physical and emotional. This was stronger than ever before but it didn't make his head want to explode. He really had learned a lot sitting in the pits. He also knew the bond with Riddick had added an extra layer of protection and control.

The closer they got the more the itch became more like little scratches against his psyche. He knew the scratches were individuals. He and Riddick came over what had appeared to be a small hill only to see that Zhylaw had been carving into the earth and they now stood on a ridge that overlooked a section of the settlement. They quickly laid down on the ground and inched just to the edge of the ridge.

It was a sheer drop of about eight meters but the edge on their left tapered around through the forest and down to the settlement at an incline. The ridge put them closest to the slave work force. He could see people of all ages and genders moving square cut stones and pipes either by hand or loaded onto simple wagons, which they pulled themselves.

"They're not letting them use tech," he whispered. "And only a few have tools."

Riddick nodded and Vaako could tell his guardian was scanning the area for other guardians. "There," Riddick indicated, pointing to an area off to the right. Vaako pulled out a small set of binoculars and followed Riddick's line of a sight to a tall woman with black hair aiming a gun at a group of adolescents. "And there and there." The second two were just to the left of them. One man and one woman, both armed.

He focused in on them and pulled back just as quickly not liking the feel of them--they were dark holes of despair and hatred. More importantly though, they couldn't sense Riddick or himself.

Another man rode in on a motorized cart and Riddick growled. Vaako zoomed in on the man. It wasn't Johns so that meant another known traitor. "Who is he?" he asked softly watching the man through the binoculars.

"A dead man." Riddick's voice was steel.

Vaako dropped the binoculars. "I need more," he said. "He's more shielded than the other three. Does he have a guide? Training? Who is he?"

Riddick turned his head and Vaako thought the silver in Riddick's eyes was almost molten fire.

"Marcus. He was one of the commanders for the Furyan Planetary Defense. Last I had heard he was stationed at the Dirae Space Port," Riddick answered, turning back to look at the man just as Marcus kicked one of the workers out of the way. "He had no guide. He wasn't on Furya when I got there. I was told he was leading one of the ships that went out searching."

Vaako concentrated on the man and Vaako knew he got too close when the man stopped talking and started scanning the area. The man's focus was redirected when several of the wild hounds came out of the forest ten meters away. The hounds in the settlement instantly reacted causing Marcus to lift some device that caused the hounds to howl in pain.

"He's taken a guide," he said through clenched teeth. "They're not a match or bound to one another." Vaako zoomed in with the binoculars on one of the hounds and around its neck was a thin silver collar--a shock collar. "We need to get that device from him."

"Don't do that again," Riddick whispered. "Don't touch them again."

Vaako had no plans to read Marcus empathically again. Once was enough. He gave Riddick a nod and watched his guardian relax slightly.

Riddick took a breath and then pointed to a boy chained to the side of a building. His shirt was ripped and there was dried blood on his back. Vaako had seen the pictures of the Imam's missing students. "That's Ali, and Hassan is near the water distrib station and not looking much better. I've not seen Suleiman."

Riddick sniffed the air and then glanced to another area to the west of the settlement. "They've put the dead in the pit over there."

They rolled to their feet, their three hounds sticking close but the others following them in a wide circle.

"Turn your sense of smell down," Vaako whispered the order to Riddick. The smell of death was not something Riddick needed to deal with at the moment and Vaako was just hoping he wouldn't have a problem with it.

They stayed hidden in the trees. The hellhounds coming and going out of the forest hid their movements as they skirted around what had to be the holding pens for slaves and the hellhounds.

From this angle they could see that a massive stone structure had been built. There were carvings of people's heads--Vaako's guess was that at least one of them was Covu. Several staircases led up towards a center opening in a successively receding step-like pattern. There was also a large balcony that would overlook the settlement once it was completed.

"The guides are inside," Vaako said. "I can sense Eve. She's not happy."

"Kyra's in there too."

Their plan had been to free the captive guides and guardians first. The freed guardians and guides would be able to free the slaves while Riddick and Vaako went after Zhylaw. The plan took a little detour when one of the guardians working for Zhylaw started to use a whip on the children who were digging a trench. Something in Riddick had snapped and he grabbed the whip in the middle of the next strike, pulling the whip from guardian's hand and turned it on the other man.

The guardian let out a painful scream and Riddick knew he didn't have much time before someone came running. He let the whip fly one more time but he didn't need to worry about the man screaming again as Vaako had been able to approach the man from behind and cut his throat. The wild hounds came in handy as they raced forward and began ripping the man apart. It would hide what had really happened.

He and Vaako both put their finger to their lips in the universal sign of quiet or don't tell. They received several nods before moving away from the body and to a place where they could hide. They had just vacated the scene when another guardian came around the corner, this one was dragging a guide.

Riddick could feel Vaako's need to help the guide that was being kept as a captive--the collar and chain and the fact the guide was still fighting against being dragged around like an unwanted pet gave that way. He was thankful that Hunter was leaning against Vaako's legs, blocking his guide from leaving. Riddick held Vaako's hand in his for a moment and shook his head. Then tightened the hold. They had only tried this once before and it had only been marginally successful, but he concentrated his thoughts into clear, distinct words.

"We'll free her later," he sent.

Vaako gave him a single sharp nod while still staring at the guardian. Riddick was sure that if Vaako had the power the guardian would be burning from the inside out. The guardian fired a powdered loaded gun at the hounds. The shot missed but the hounds took their prizes and ran back into the woods. So far so good with the hounds working as a distraction. Though Riddick also knew the guardians outside were no more than hired thugs with limited use of their senses; it was those inside that would be better trained.

Riddick tugged on Vaako's hand then let go and slid around the side of the building. Vaako followed and they set off to what was probably a builder's entrance in the side of the pyramid-like structure.

The entrance was a sloped ramp with low-level electric lights leading up several levels before coming to a T-junction. Again Riddick let his senses roam. His hearing picked up talking somewhere above them, the heartbeats of people further down the passageway, and cries to the left and below them. Sniffing the air he could smell meat cooking and blood and fear.

He signaled to go right and soon they were moving down several flights of stairs. He felt his bond with Vaako slam closed and stopped a few stairs above the ground level. Vaako reached up and gripped his shoulder. "Sorry," was the only word that Riddick was able to clearly understand but the feelings and, what felt to him at least as scrambled emotions that raced back through the bond had him clenching his fist.

Someone in the second room on the left was going to die.

Vaako let go of Riddick's shoulder and reached for the pulse gun on his belt. They needed answers and right now Vaako was willing to push his abilities to the limits. He just needed the guide on the other side of the door to be breathing. He was going to put what he had read on that third datachip from his grandmother to practical use.

Riddick gave him a look and then shrugged before pointing to another two doors further down the corridor. They would just have to deal with each room as they went and hope no alarms were sounded until at least the first group was freed. He put his palm on the door and pushed it open.

Inside there were four cells along each side wall and each cell held between seven and ten individuals. The guides were on one side, the guardians on the other. All of them were children with none of them over the age of ten or eleven. The guardians outnumbered the guides in this particular room.

Vaako didn't even wait for the guide to turn around before he lifted the gun and shot the woman. The woman dropped to ground, the shock stick she had been using rolling to the floor.

The noise--the cries, sniffles, talking all ceased. One of the guardian children moved to the bars and stared up at Riddick. "Alpha," he whispered.

Riddick squatted down in front of the bars and Garm followed him. The children backed away until Riddick started petting the hound and Garm started to purr. The children were more cautious but came forward again. Riddick's eyes were shining brightly.

Vaako stood behind Riddick for a moment, his left hand resting on Riddick's right shoulder for a second before giving it a small squeeze. Riddick looked up at him but he said nothing, dropping his hand and turning on his heel.

He heard Riddick question the children about the other rooms. All they knew was that their tormentor was a guide and they had been separated by ages. Artemis and Hunter stayed close to him as he moved through the room.

Vaako knelt down and rolled the woman over before roughly patting her face to get her to wake. Her eyes blinked open. "Screaming will do you no good," Vaako said. "Lying will only piss me off more."

"Rebellion will not be tolerated," the woman told him and then cringed back when both hounds moved in and growled.

Vaako laughed. "This is no rebellion," he said, putting his hand on the center of her chest. "You're not chained nor are you a prisoner. You're here because you like the fear you can produce in others. I'm going to show you what real fear is." Vaako looked over his shoulder at Riddick. "Can you get them out of here?"

"Can you give me a moment to clear the other room?"

Vaako looked back down at the woman. "Yes."

Riddick looked around the room and stood. "I'll be right back," he said, addressing the entire room.

He left the first room and moved to the next room diagonally down the hall. He opened the door and came face-to-face with another guardian. Riddick didn't wait, he grabbed the man's head and twisted. The bones popped and snapped and he let the dead body fall to the floor.

Riddick was ready when the second man tried to blind him with a gas welding torch. He had smelled the burning gas, felt the change in air temperature and had lowered the use of his sight, focusing with his other senses. He struck out with his fist and connected with the second guardian's throat. The man went down, coughing and gasping for breath.

Like in first room of cells the noise from the children ceased when the guards were taken out of the picture and one of the children got a look at Riddick's eyes. "The Alpha," a girl in her teens said. "The Silver-Eyed Furyan. Jack said you would come."

"Where is she?" Riddick asked, lowering his hand for Garm to lick so the children would not be afraid of the hound.

"She had a match," the girl said. "She wasn't kept with us once we got here."

"She used to talk to us," a young boy volunteered. "But they took them upstairs to please the General."

Riddick nodded. He took the keys from the still breathing guardian and unlocked the cell door before handing the key to one of the young guides. "I need you to release the locks on the cells but stay in this room," he said. "I will be bringing the younger kids in here."

The young guide nodded.

Riddick could hear Vaako talking softly to the children. He focused his hearing in the other direction and could hear the screaming of someone being zapped with a shock stick. He needed to get into that room but first he needed to help his guide.

When he opened the door to the cell room he found a dozen of the wild hounds sitting or pacing the passageway. "I can't talk to you," he said softly, "but you keep them safe."

He dragged the guard from the room, figuring Vaako could get information from him as well. When he re-entered the first room it was to see all the children lined up and waiting. He put the guard next to the one Vaako was waiting to question. "Brought you another," he said, before turning to the children. "Do not be frightened of the hounds in the hall."

Then he began ushering the children through the hall and into the room with the teens. "Stay put," he told them all. "Until I return. Garm stay."

The hound laid down by the door. Several of the other hounds did the same.

Riddick walked back to the other room and closed the door. "We don't have much time," he reminded Vaako.

"This won't take long," Vaako said, putting his hands on either side of the guide's head.

The guide fidgeted but Vaako just grasped tighter. Riddick watched as Vaako's eyes began to darken and the guide started screaming. He put his hand on Vaako's shoulder, a mirror of their positions from less than five minutes ago and Vaako's grip on the guide changed; the woman stopped screaming.

"She has not felt enough," Vaako said. "She deserves to suffer like they did."

"Answers first."

Vaako took a deep breath and changed his focus. "You will tell me everything," he ordered.

The guardian Riddick had dragged into the room tried to protest but his throat was still swollen. Vaako decided to switch tactics. He reached over and grabbed the guardian's head. The guardian struggled but within seconds the man was screaming and Vaako was glad he had all the information he was going to get from the man because he did not want to experience that sensation again.

"He's in it for the money and the free ass," he said with disgust. "This one would have been his next bed partner."

He didn't give the guide a chance to speak before taking her head again and invading her thoughts. He felt her anger at the accusation and it helped him break through her barriers. She had slept with Zhylaw and believed she was one of his favorites as he let her torture the children. Sometimes even putting on a show for his court.

The deeper he went the more disgusted he got. Zhylaw hadn't brought this on, she'd been like this before and Zhylaw had given her an outlet. She wasn't even in it for the money, just for the fear she could cause. Through her, he could see Zhylaw's pleasure as she broke guardians and guides of their fight. If anything, the male guardian had it backwards, he would have been her next conquest.

"Vaako," he heard Riddick call softly. "My guide, come back to me."

"I am fine, Riddick," he said, standing. "There are more hounds outside?"

"Yes."

Vaako smiled. "Good, let's clear the last room and get these children outside. It's time for the distraction to begin. We need to get upstairs"

He left the room with Riddick following him and waved his hand toward the hounds. The screams coming from the room ended abruptly; Zhylaw's guide and guardian hadn't stood a chance against the hellhounds. "If I am right," Vaako said as he stood beside the last door, "Zhylaw will know that something has happened to that particular guide."

Riddick shrugged and kicked in the door. There was a thud as the door impacted with a body. Riddick raised two fingers and then waved them slightly, indicating there was another guard in the room and this one was calling for help.

They swept into the room and the second guard went down just as fast the first. This room made Vaako feel sick. The room felt like death and despair and in one deep breath he knew some of the taken had died in this room. Unlike the other rooms this one had chains at varying heights on the blood-splattered walls. There were thirty-three people chained to the walls and all were in their early twenties.

These were the ones that were too old to simply re-teach. It was going to take breaking them to get them to work for Zhylaw. He watched Riddick prowl around the room and touch a stain in one corner.

Vaako found the key for the chains on one of the guards and started unlocking the chains. He touched one of the guides and felt his pain and all he wanted to do was take it away. His hand began to glow lightly and the guide sighed in relief. The wounds were only partially healed, but it was enough for the man to walk out of the room.

He repeated the action with the female guardian who had been chained next to the guide. "The children, Alpha," she breathed out though clinched teeth.

"Waiting for you to lead them out."

Vaako didn't need Riddick or the other guardians to tell them that the guards knew something was happening. The guardians were huddled around Riddick listening. Vaako did the same for the guides. It took less than thirty seconds to explain the plan.

"It's time," he said.

He and Vaako split from the freed captives at the builder's passageway. The captives were given orders to free as many of the slaves on their way into the forest and to stay in the forest as the Furyan Planetary Defense was on its way. The teens would help move the children along as the adults did the freeing and distracting. The larger the distraction the better.

All but two of the wild hounds followed the captives, mostly herding the children along. Riddick waited a few minutes, listening to the sounds of chaos just outside of the pyramid. He could hear yelling, gunshots, hounds howling, and the sounds of people running.

"It's on," he said. "Let's go find this general."

Finding the general wasn't as easy as just climbing up the several flights of stairs to the top level. They met resistance one floor up in the form of hired mercs. Side by side, they fought their way through, both taking nicks and scratches.

The next attack came from more hired help--a private army with more training than the mercs and armed with horns and bright lights to try to disrupt Riddick's senses.

"They know a guardian is here," Vaako said, not bothering to whisper.

Riddick grunted. "They know I'm an Alpha and I'm betting they know we're both primes." He figured Kyra's story had made it to the top and that Vesta's warning meant that Zhylaw had an Elemental with him that believed she had calculated the future.

He pulled out the ulaks, closed his eyes and thanks to training with Vaako on board their ship he was able to filter out the horns. He cut a path through the army. When he was through to the other side and Vaako was beside him he heard Vaako's pulse gun charging to the next setting and felt the air energize right before Vaako fired. It took three shots but there was no one left breathing but he and Vaako.

Vaako grasped his wrist and squeezed, sending a clear message to him confirming what he was already feeling: everyone he could sense on the next level was a guardian or guide.

There was no resistance as they climbed the last set of stairs or when they entered a large ornate throne room. At the center of the room towards the back was a man in his late forties, dressed in light armor, and sitting on a throne made of precious metals and gems. Around his feet sat four female guides with decorative collars and light-weight chains connected to a single loop on the front of the throne. Chained to the walls were several more guides, these wearing shock collars. Standing near each guide was a guardian. The message clear, if the guardians didn't do as they were told their guides would be punished for their lack of obedience. Kyra was standing there. Her eyes met Riddick's briefly before quickly looking back to the floor, though a smile played at the edges of her lips.

There was another group of guardians and guides that stood free. They were Zhylaw's loyal followers and Johns was among them. Riddick curled his fingers into a fist and then relaxed them. Johns would get what was coming to him.

"He is the one," a female voice said. The woman seemed like a ghost--half there and half a breeze on the wind. The Air Elemental.

"This thing and his pet are the great opponents you spoke of, Aereon?" Zhylaw asked, his armor creaking as he moved on the throne.

"Yes, my General," Aereon answered. "His defeat will bring you great power and his pet will bow at your feet."

"What do you want savage?" Zhylaw asked. "You cannot think to best me and my followers."

"To start," Riddick said, pointing to Johns. "I want a piece of him."

"You're nothing, Riddick," Johns said. "Just another runner. You don't deserve what they have given us. You'll be dead and I'll take Tisipho Providence for myself. Then they'll bow to their new Lord."

Johns was flying high on morphine and the bullshit Zhylaw was feeding him. It made the man dangerous even while dampening his senses.

Zhylaw smiled. "Maybe you'll get your chance. Steven, Kiernan," Zhylaw ordered.

The two men moved forward and Riddick pulled the second ulak from his belt. He saw Vaako wave his hand and the hounds began circling the room.

The fight was on.

Vaako took several steps away from Riddick as his partner was charged by two of Zhylaw's guardians. He didn't have much warning before several men were headed in his direction too.

He caught a glance of the Elemental with a large smile on her face. He was surprised when he could feel emotions coming from her as if he was touching her. One emotion to be precise. Glee.

"You will fail, guide," came her haunting voice. "You are meant to be nothing but a tool to be used. You have no life of your own. Give in and kneel before your new master and feel the universe's truth."

Vaako wanted to shoot the woman, but that would have to come after he finished with his opponents. He settled the ulaks into his hands and breathed in, only letting it out once he was in motion.

His guide abilities were growing. He was a prime; he had no master. He gave free rein to his training, merging with skills he had only read about. Moving his body this way and that. Blocking attack after attack while landing his own. His abilities guiding him, letting him know just before an attack, allowing him to block before it had even begun.

Within minutes he and Riddick were standing beside each other and their opponents would not be getting up from where they lay. The sound of clapping had him looking up at the throne.

"Again," Zhylaw ordered and sent four more of his people against Vaako and Riddick.

Zhylaw was trying to tire them but neither he nor Riddick were winded when they once again stood together. Vaako knew however that this was all a warm up and what was coming next would be more difficult. He saw Zhylaw push a button on his throne and then the guides chained to the wall screamed and scratched at their necks trying to stop the collars.

"Attack," Zhylaw ordered, pushing the button again.

Vaako knew the guardians would attack to stop the pain being forced on their guides. He also knew he couldn't kill them because there was nothing he wouldn't do to stop Riddick's suffering.

Riddick gave him a look and Vaako knew Riddick was thinking the same thing.

The young guardians moved forward. Vaako slid the ulaks back into his belt, this fight would have to be hand-to-hand. Once they were engaged he knew exactly which one was Kyra.

"Are you with me, Kyra?" he heard Riddick ask.

Vaako saw and felt Eve scream and Kyra replied, "Name's Jack."

"Kyra," Riddick insisted, through clenched teeth.

"You're late," she said, charging.

Vaako intercepted the girl and put his hand on her chest, just where a faint handprint was clear to his eyes. She screamed and so did Eve, and then both woman were unconscious and Zhylaw could not harm them.

The other guides along the wall started to scream again. Vaako looked to Artemis and Hunter. "Pin," he ordered.

The hounds raced to the guardians that had been ordered to attack and knocked them to the ground. He heard the bellow of outrage followed by the cries of pain and knew Zhylaw must have pulled on the chains and collars of the guides at his feet.

"Don't you know your place, Vaako," Fry taunted, aiming a pulse gun at him and firing. "Your beasts will pay."

He dodged the blast but still felt the effects sizzle up his leg. Then she was turning the gun toward Hunter and Vaako was moving to intercept her.

Riddick only had a chance to glance toward Vaako and his fight with Johns' guide before Johns himself was swinging a large blade at his mid-section, which was followed by another swing at his head. Riddick danced to the side and ducked, bringing the ulaks up and slicing into Johns' side.

Johns retaliated and Riddick now sported a couple of cuts on his thigh. For someone who was using morphine, reeked of it, he and Johns were almost evenly matched in the fight. The morphine dulling Johns’ pain receptors meant the man probably wasn't feeling the hits.

It also meant the fight would go on until one of them messed up. He dodged and blocked, swung and slashed. He ignored the cut to his ribs as he rolled back to his feet. He was already tired of this fight. It wasn't getting him any closer to Zhylaw.

Vaako didn't even dodge out of the way as Fry charged at him. He braced himself and used her momentum to toss her up and over his shoulder. She landed with a thud but was up and coming at him again. Vaako got a close look at her eyes. They were glassy and the emotions he was getting from her were erratic and unfocused. The only thing she seemed to want to do was take him down to please Johns. No, not Johns, Zhylaw.

He grabbed her hand as she tried to bring a dagger down into his chest and in the process broke her wrist. He leaned in and didn't bother whispering, it wouldn't do him any good in a room full guardians, "He doesn't want you," he said. He felt her fury. Good.

Vaako glanced at the other fight to see Riddick tossing Johns back several feet before both were charging at each other. "Stop playing, Riddick," he commented, while tossing Fry back.

Riddick chuckled at Vaako's comment, but flipped the ulak in his right hand around and shoved it into Johns' chest. Johns stumbled back and Riddick heard Fry scream even as she charged at Vaako again.

He turned back to Johns in time to catch the man as he made a last ditch effort to impale him. Riddick grabbed the ulak from Johns' chest, pulling it out and spinning around so that he could impale it into Johns' back. This time he didn't miss the sweet spot and felt the very sharp blade cut through muscles and tendons, scratching across bone. He wiggled the blade free and Johns dropped to ground with a heavy thud.

"He'll kill you and take it all," were Johns' dying words.

The wild hounds converged on the body but Riddick didn't even pay it any attention as he was already moving towards the throne.

Fry let out an animal howl as Johns fell to the ground, but instead of running to Johns she charged at Vaako again. "I'm going to slice you open," she screamed, waving her unbroken hand and the knife in it around wildly.

She made several attempts to stab him and he could have kept this up but Riddick was already moving toward Zhylaw and he didn't want his guardian facing off with the mad man alone.

He grabbed her outstretched arm and spun her around, bringing her back to his chest and the arm with the knife up and into her chest. "It's better this way," he said, not bothering to explain his statement.

He had wanted her to suffer, but she was unimportant in the grand scheme of things. With Riddick engaged with Zhylaw that left the Elemental who had moved to sit on the throne and was caressing the buttons on the arm rest.

Riddick didn't know where Zhylaw received his combat training but he knew this fight wasn't going to be as easy as the one against Johns. Zhylaw came at him with speed and strength he had never seen or felt before.

He stumbled and Zhylaw's kick to his mid-section had him almost flying across the room. He staggered slightly but quickly righted himself while wiping away the blood that ran from the cut above his left eye. He scored a hit to Zhylaw's side, the sharp blade of the ulak managed to cut through the armor but Riddick knew it was going to take more.

Riddick barely dodged Zhylaw's next attack.

"I was born to be a great conqueror," Zhylaw said as he maneuvered around Riddick. "To rule the universe. Bow to me, surrender to me and I might let you keep your guide."

Riddick kicked with his left leg, trying to sweep Zhylaw's right foot out from underneath him. It didn't work.

"He'll look very good in a collar and chain once I've broken him."

Riddick ignored Zhylaw's taunting and bullshit. He knew Zhylaw would never let him live as he would always be a risk. The fight moved too close to the throne and one of the decoratively dressed guides grabbed his leg and tried to pull him off balance. He kicked and connected with the guide's cheek and nose. She let go with a whimper of pain as her blood splashed across the smooth stone floor.

The Elemental laughed and tapped a button on the throne. For a second he was deafened by the sound of a horn but it worked in his favor as it affected Zhylaw in much the same way. Both men moved away from the throne and Riddick slashed at Zhylaw's armor once more. He was going to get to the man even if he had to do it piece by piece.

"That one is too feral to tame, my Lord General," the Elemental called over the noise of Zhylaw's army coming into the room. "Put him down like the animal he is and take what is yours."

Vaako ignored the woman's taunt and didn't even bother with blades. He pulled out his pulse gun and shot at the arm of the chair. He winced as the guides chained to the wall let out a short cry but the chair started to smoke and the collars around the guides' necks clicked opened. The Elemental fled the chair but started to float his way.

The hounds pinning the guardians stepped back far enough so that the guardians could stand. All but one went to their guide, the other fled out a side door and away from the throne room. That left the Elemental, the rest of Zhylaw's guardian army--which was coming from side passageways into the throne room, and, Zhylaw's little harem of guides who actually appeared to be upset that Riddick might win. He opened his own abilities to get a better sense of the four women. It took him only a moment before he concluded that those four woman wanted to be chained to Zhylaw. That two of them had been chained for more than five years. They all believed that a guide's place was at their master's feet and for all of them, Zhylaw was their master.

Vaako turned his sights on the Elemental as the guardians whose guides had been chained to the wall started fighting Zhylaw's army. He spotted Eve and Kyra as they entered the fray.

He backed away from the Elemental as he didn't think it would be a good idea for her to touch him. Something about this Aereon felt wrong. "I have been around a long time," she said, hauntingly. "If only Covu had listened to me about Oltovm, but he did not listen to prophecy and the calculations turned on him."

Vaako avoided an attack to the side by one of Zhylaw's army, shoving the assailant towards the Elemental. He watched as her body and white dress melded with the air for a moment and the man fell through her as if she was sheer linen curtains against an open window. She ignored the man and continued to talk.

"Zhylaw is a so much stronger than Covu. He has taken to the lessons. A better choice than any before and when he has you, he will rule the universe. He won't need his other pets to control his gifts, his powers, once you realize that he is your true master." She paused. "But they do make for a pretty picture. Perhaps, yes, his concubines."

The Air Elemental was insane, but she had just given him a clue. In one clean movement he lowered the setting on the pulse gun and fired it at Zhylaw's pets. If they were his focus for using his senses, he wanted to see what Zhylaw could do without them.

Zhylaw screamed out in pain and anger as Vaako took out his anchors and Riddick watched his opponent's fighting style change. It turned until it was fueled more by fury than skill. The movements and attacks became less about thought and more about aggression and hits. With the change in fighting style it became easier to dodge Zhylaw's attacks, but the man seemed even more determined with each miss.

Riddick danced back from Zhylaw's next set of strikes and for a moment ended up almost back-to-back with Kyra. "You with me now, Kyra?" he asked again.

"Oh yeah," she said, breaking away to take down her own opponent quickly and efficiently before moving to the next with the help of her guide.

If that was the Eve Vaako had mentioned then Vaako had been correct about the other woman. She and Kyra would make a very promising and formidable team. An Alpha pair that could take some of the weight off of his aunt's shoulders and help oversee Tisipho Providence.

Zhylaw grabbed a spear from one of his soldiers and before Riddick could stop him Zhylaw threw the spear in Vaako's direction. He yelled out for Vaako at the same time Zhylaw said, "Suffer."

Riddick grabbed the outstretched hand Zhylaw had used to throw the spear and spun the man around hard enough to dislocate Zhylaw's shoulder. He didn't stop there and yanked again.

Vaako felt Riddick's worry moments before he heard Riddick yell his name and then Hunter was knocking him to the ground. The spear that would have hit him in the shoulder or chest impaled Aereon through her very solid stomach and pinned her to the wall behind her.

"Guessing you didn't calculate that," Vaako said, looking at the dying Elemental while pushing Hunter off of him. "Good boy."

"He will betray you," she gasped out. "Furyans are feral, unloyal creatures. Your grandmother should never have hidden you. You were meant to be with Zhylaw."

If she tried to say anything else Vaako didn't hear her as he was already moving toward Riddick. It was time to end this fight.

Zhylaw broke Riddick's hold and rushed to find another weapon, but reversed his path when he noticed Vaako heading straight for him. Zhylaw should have been paying closer attention to his surroundings because he ran right into Riddick's blades.

"She promised me greatness," were Zhylaw's last words as he fell back, his eyes wide in surprise before slumping to the ground dead.

Zhylaw's death didn't stop the fighting and then Vaako felt rage growing in Riddick. He turned to see Kyra stumbling to the floor, her hands covered in blood and Eve running to her.

Instinctively he reached out for Riddick and the moment he touched his guardian he knew the handprints on their chests were glowing. Riddick was the powerhouse but Vaako was the control. Together the power enveloped them both, building before being aimed at their enemies. The power released in a bright flash of heat and light that had them stumbling back and everyone else in the room dropping to the floor.

When Vaako opened eyes he hadn't realized he had closed it was to see everyone on the floor. The only ones who didn't seem to be effected were the hellhounds.

Vaako let go of Riddick and jogged to Eve's side. "Let me see," he said, covering Eve's hands with his own.

He didn't even look up as the Furyan Planetary Defense rushed into the throne room.

With a grin, Riddick slid into the co-pilot seat of their ship. "Alone at last," he said, watching Vaako easily maneuver their ship through the atmosphere of Helion Prime. It had been six months since the battle on Brexa but now all the survivors had been returned to their homes.

Even though the Imam had lost one of his students on Brexa, he and his remaining students had remained on Furya until they were healed. And then Ali and Hassan had insisted on finishing the reconstruction that had originally brought them to Furya. It seemed to help the Iman's students find peace. Now all three had been returned to Helion Prime.

Once the ship was past Helion III Vaako turned to face Riddick. "Where to now?"

"I'm thinking to the back of the ship," Riddick answered with a smirk, lifting his hand to run his fingers through the hair Vaako had not cut. "I think we have on too many clothes."

Vaako snorted. "Destination into the nav system and then we can go have a little fun."

The hounds had been given time to run on Helion so Riddick knew they would be fine for a week without needing to go planet-side. He stood up, kissing Vaako's neck as he leaned over and entered the coordinates for Irenica, knowing that Vaako would want to check on Shazza again.

The Sentia had stayed on Furya for two months helping to return the taken to their homes, but some of the young guides were developing skills that would best be trained elsewhere. Especially for those who no longer had families, many of whom were still recovering both mentally and physically. Vaako had offered his home on Irenica--both Vesta and the notes from Vaako's grandmother had mentioned the home would be a safe haven and it was large enough. Dorin, Mayer, and Ano went with Shazza; as did a Furyan with partial guardian abilities who was in the process of courting Shazza.

Shazza also had more than a dozen hellhounds to protect her and the young guides. Thera had taken to Shazza like Hunter had taken to Vaako--meaning that the hound was always there. The large backyard that backed up to a forest had made it a perfect haven for many of the wild hounds that didn't like living indoors.

In the last few months Shazza had settled even further into her role, especially after reading through the datachip Vaako's grandmother had left. There had even been a young guardian who came to find his guide; Shazza had been able to work with both and they had since decided to call Irenica home.

"We could have returned to Furya," Vaako said, standing and leaning into him.

Riddick wrapped his arms around Vaako's waist. "Nah," he said. "Don't want to hear Kyra accuse me checking up on her again."

Vaako chuckled. "Aunt Silla and Eve both find it all very humorous."

"As do you," he replied.

"Of course."

Vaako had been able to heal Kyra's wounds and then the two women had stayed with the Furyan Planetary Defense to help with sorting the prisoners from Zhylaw's army. Most of the guardians whose guides had been chained to the wall in the throne room stayed. Though it had been fairly easy to determine who had been on what side in the throne room because the blast, the Wrath of Furya, had marked them. It had marked everyone in the compound that had followed Zhylaw.

Zhylaw's harem was in a care center, the counselors were trying to deprogram them or at least make their lives as comfortable as possible. The two that had been with Zhylaw the longest had already tried to commit suicide several times.

Kyra and Eve had returned to Furya and Tisipho Providence where Kyra was taking her training to become the future Providence Chief seriously. Eve was always there offering her silent support. The newly bonded partners were living in the family home and the hellhounds that had boarded the transport ship behind Eve were also staying in or around the home. They had attached themselves to Eve like the hounds around Shazza and Vaako.

Riddick knew Vaako had stopped trying to figure out the hounds. "Shoo," he said to the hounds as they tried to follow when he and Vaako passed the small galley and headed toward the captain's quarters.

Vaako snorted again. They both knew the three hounds would lay down in front of the door which he and Vaako had taken to closing to keep them out of the bedroom.

As soon as the door was closed behind them Riddick grabbed Vaako by the wrist and brought his mate closer to him. "We have on too many clothes," he repeated.

"Then let's do something about that," Vaako answered, running his fingers under Riddick's shirt.

Riddick pushed Vaako onto the bed and climbed on after him. "My guide," he breathed in Vaako's scent before kissing him.

"My guardian," Vaako answered and Riddick felt Vaako relax into the kiss.

Riddick wasn't running from his destiny anymore, especially as it was right in front him, and he wasn't letting go of Vaako. Not for anything.

~end~