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"Fuck!" Johns struggled to get away from the person above him who was treating the stab wound on his back. The antiseptic stung like hell. "Hold still." Riddick answered, pushing the merc back down on his stomach. His voice was harsh and impatient but was contradicted by the way he was gently nursing the stab wound. Johns grunted and rested his forehead on his arm, resigned. Riddick had saved his life, after trying to take it. After the serial killer had sliced the shiv along his back, he had grabbed Johns away from the oncoming creature rushing towards him. Good thing too, because his last shot had been a morphine bullet. It would have been a poetic ending, one he was glad he had managed to avoid. "Why did you save me?" Riddick snorted as he began to stitch up the wound. "I've wanted you dead for so long ... once I realized I was going to get my wish, it was a bitter taste. You're a challenge, Johns. The only merc that has managed to catch me not only once but twice. I respect that." Johns could understand that. "What if I decide to take you in?" The blonde-haired man let out a yelp when Riddick tightened the stitches. "Then I'll finish the job I started down on that planet. " Riddick answered simply. Johns sighed. He wouldn't bring the fucker in because he had saved his life. Whatever morals he did have, an eye for an eye was one of them. He owed Riddick, they both knew it. "We're approaching a space station." Fry called back to them. She touched the comm unit on the bulkhead above her."Space Station Morpheus, this is Captain Carolyn Fry of the space ship Hunter- Gratzner. We are in an emergency escape skiff. We require help. Do you copy?" A male voice answered. "Copy that, Captain Fry. You are given clearance to dock in landing bay 17. Do you copy?" The tension in the atmosphere that had been there for a few hours evaporated. Jack pumped her fists in the air with a 'whoop' of joy. The Muslims laughed and gave thanks to their God. Paris and Shazza exchanged looks of happiness. Riddick put a thick bandage over the newly stitched wound. He slammed his hand on Johns' back in a mocking gesture of a pat on the back. Johns muffled his shriek of pain by pressing his mouth against his forearm. He sat up and looked at Riddick, who was grinning at him. "All done." Johns snorted, gingerly rubbing his shoulder. "Bastard." He said, sarcastically.

As soon as they had docked, they'd been met with the security personnel and the Commander of the station, General Hunter Allen. The man was about six feet tall, with brown hair and gray eyes. He looked to be in his late forties and walked with a certain stiff quality reserved only for those who had spent a long time in the Company. The station wasn't really that large but for people traveling through remote places, it was the perfect rest-stop. After spending such a long time on the horrible planet, the survivors were starving. They walked down the anesthetized hallways into the lunchhall. It was about the size of a small auditorium. The walls were silver and long rows of benches were available for dinning. Apparently, it was around 0100, according to the General, and most of the population was asleep or in their quarters for the night. There were only a handful of people in the cafeteria at the moment. They went through the line and took their meals, which consisted of a sandwich, fruit, chips and a drink. Oddly, enough, all of the survivors sat together a the table, hesitant to leave their circle of safety. They supposed they were still in shock. Jack looked around. "Who comes to this station?" Fry grimaced. "People who don't want a lot of questions being asked." Johns scanned the few people sitting around in the cafeteria. His eyes settled on a young girl sitting on one of the tables reading from a laptop. She looked familiar. The girl turned to look at him and he stood up, grinning. "Well, I'll be damned!" He said, moving away from the bench as the girl launched into his arms, laughing. The others looked at each other in confusion. The blonde-haired girl broke away from the hug. "What the hell are you doing here?" "Long story." Johns answered. He stared at the ground. He didn't want Tessa to know just yet. She already thought he was an asshole, no need to further that opinion with his escapades on the planet, including plotting an assassination attempt on a young girl. The girl noticed the confused stares of the other people at the table. "Um, hi." Johns turned back to them. "This is my sister, Tessa." Jack titled her head to the side. This girl seemed a hell of a lot nicer then Johns, how could they be related? "Younger sister?" "Twin, actually." Tessa said. Riddick thought this could be interesting. The girl looked nice; shoulder-length blonde hair, blue eye, white tank-top, tight black pants, and pale hiking boots. He held out his hand. "Richard B. Riddick." Her catlike eyes widened as she recognized the name. "You're the one Will's been after." She turned to her brother. "Long story, my ass! What happened?" She sat down on the bench in between Johns and Imam. Johns sighed. "We crash-landed on a planet that was inhabited by nasty creatures that go bump in the night, literally. We hopped onto an emergency skiff and hightailed it out of there." Tessa nodded. She knew there was more to that story but she wasn't going to push. The whole group looked like warmed-over shit. They made short introductions when the man named Imam asked her a question. "Just what is it you do, Ms. Johns?" "Tess. Well, I do exactly what Will does. "She was testing to see how much they really knew about her brother. It was a dangerous business. No one in this quadrant liked cops, even less people liked mercs. But from the looks on their faces, they knew already. "Who are you hunting?" Riddick asked. "A man named Desolation Williams. Convicted of six counts of murder." Tess answered, his voice filled with ease. She was curious why Riddick was still hanging around with a merc and a bunch of lost souls. If he'd had any sense he would have been halfway across the station, seeking another escape route. Riddick didn't act the normal escapees she tracked down. "Why do you always go after the sick fucks, Tess?" She turned to glare at her brother. "And you just go after jaywalkers and litterers?" Johns frowned. "I'm gonna fucking kill Hank one of these days." "Mind your own goddamn business, Will." "Hank?" The woman named Fry asked. Holding her glare at her brother for a few more seconds, Tessa turned away to calm herself and replied. "Yeah, he's a CO at SlamCity. He tells me when high-profile prisoners escape." "Old boyfriend?" Shazza asked, a mischievous smile on her face. Tessa nodded. She liked Shazza. Fry, she wasn't sure about. Something about the pilot didn't sit right with her. Paris, trustworthy but a snob. The Muslims were good and honest people. A rarity in these parts or ,for that matter, anywhere else. Riddick, well, she didn't know what the hell to think about Riddick. One minute he put Will in the hospital with a stab wound, the next he's sitting down having lunch with him. "Why only high-profile?" Fry tilted her head to the side in curiosity. "I get bored easily." Tessa replied, drily. "Seriously? I like a challenge." "You like danger." Riddick said, his deep voice sending shivers down Tessa's back. Hs words rang true. She nodded. "You feed off it. Life was boring when I was a kid, so I'm making up for lost time." "You're fucking stupid, is what you are." Johns replied. That hit a sore spot. She and Will had been bickering ever since she had decided to follow him into the mercenary line of work. He would say he was worried, not in so many words, and she would tell him to go fuck himself, in exactly those words. "And being a hype and a merc is so smart." Johns glared at her, pointing his finger, angrily. "Hey, I gave that up!" "Voluntarily?" Tessa asked. He fell silent, lowering his finger. "That's what I thought." She stood up. "Sorry about ruining your dinner. How long you gonna be here?" Fry sighed. "Looks like it might be months before they send another ship out to get us." Jack frowned. "You mean it could be a year before we get back to Earth?" The pilot looked down at her food. "Minimum." Tessa counted the people at the table. Nine, not including herself and Williams. The ship she was heading out on had enough room for eleven, at least. "You could come on my ship." The suggestion sparked hope in the survivors. "Are you sure?" Imam asked, his two kids chattering to each other quickly in a foreign language. "Considering what happened, you could just tell the captain what you guys went through. It is a Company-operated vessel, so, technically, they do owe you for the Hunter-Gratzner incident." Tessa replied. There were shouts of happiness and the survivors conversed. Tessa went to walk away. She had to inform the captain that there would be some more passengers. Will grabbed her arm but she shrugged it off. "I'm too tired to fight with you, Will." She walked away, trying to ignore the hurt expression on her brother's face. She had to check up on Desolation as well.

Johns winced as he watched Tessa walk away. The words were not unfamiliar but they still stung. Growing up, he and his sister had been inseparable. Teenage years were a little tough but they were never apart for more than a few hours and whatever bickering ended within that time frame. Ever since Tess had followed in his steps to become a merc, there had been a wedge thrust between them. Tess had been a merc for two years and in that time Will had seen his twin maybe once or twice. He missed her, pain in the ass that she was. He wanted to protect her from this life. It wasn't that she was a girl, not in the least. He had friends who were female mercs, even fucked a few. It was the fact that Tessa was his sister. Pure and simple. And she knew it. Exhaustion was finally caving in on him. He stood up. "Leaving?" Johns smiled wearily at Imam, the only person who had thought of him as a good man. "Yeah. Tired." Riddick watched him go, impassively. They had come to a sort of truce on that planet. He didn't like Johns but he wasn't going to kill him. The same was true for what Johns believed. That was enough for them right now. Jack and Fry glared at him as he left. They were going to be trouble. Imam went to leave, saying he needed to pray for the souls that had died on that nightmare of a planet. As they were going to leave, Riddick said calmly. "Interesting how did she know our ship was called the Hunter-Gratzner." The others exchanged bewildered and paranoid looks. Oh, yes, Riddick thought. This girl was going to be very entertaining.

Tessa walked into the room which contained Desolation Williams' holding cell. The walls were a faded and dirty white, the cell bars glistened a sharp metallic gray. There were two cells in the room. Each took almost half of the room, leaving little space for a free person to walk. Therefore that person had to be very alert of the danger of being pulled against a cell by an angry prisoner. The other cell was empty. His broad back was turned away from her, his head bowed solemnly. But she wasn't fooled. The bastard wasn't seeking forgiveness for his sins or sorry for the people he killed. He was sorry he had gotten caught, again. He was seated on a bench, his only place to sleep, a metallic cot. She stared at his back for a few minutes. He knew she was there. He had rarely spoken two words to her. But she had a question she needed answered. "Why didn't you kill me when you had the chance?" He tilted his head to the side but didn't turn to face her. A few more minutes passed before a deep voice answered. "You remind me of someone I used to know." Tess sighed. There was more to the story than what she had read in the police report Hank had sent her. "You mean Ballards." It wasn't a question. He didn't answer. "What happened on Mars, Williams? Why won't you tell anyone?" "You read what happened." He answered. Tess walked over and grabbed two of the bars, leaning her weight against them. "You didn't kill those cops." "No." Williams shrugged. "No one will believe what I know." "Maybe I will." Tessa answered. "If you were that open-minded, baby girl, you wouldn't have arrested me in the first place." "Oh, I believe you killed those field miners." She said. "Don't you want to know about them?" Tess shook her head, an impish smile playing on her lips. "You hung them up and took their heads as trophies. That's pretty self- explanatory." Desolation still hadn't faced her. "That's why I can't tell you about the planet." Before Tess could react, Williams flew at her. He slammed up against the cell bars, grabbing her hands, holding her there. His face was mere inches from hers, his breath was warm against her face. Wild brown eyes met ice-blue ones. His voice was a whisper. "You couldn't handle it." Tess managed to free her hands and push back from the cell, her breathing labored from surprise not fear. She stood up straight, refusing to let Williams win this round. He smiled at her. "You gonna take me back to that planet, aren't you?" She nodded. "The Company wants to know what happened, Williams. And you're the only one that can tell it's story." "And since I'm unwilling to come forth with the information --" "I'm going to the planet to find the truth out for myself. And you're going to be my tour guide." Tessa finished. Williams' smile faltered, his brown eyes hazy as a memory hit him. "You need me." Tess nodded. "More or less." His eyes now focused on her, analyzing. "You don't scare easily, do you?" "No." He frowned. "Good. You're gonna need balls of steel for this." She stared at him, rethinking her plan. The Company needed answers. It was part of the deal about bringing Williams in. Get him and get the information or no cash. Every nerve inside of her screamed that this was a bad idea but she did like a challenge. Didn't she?

Riddick watched as the others prepared for cyro-sleep. Tension filled the air as they all remembered their last trip into the 'deep sleep.' He could almost hear their minds working. 'Would they wake up tumbling to the ground at neck-breaking speed?' 'Would they wake up on a distant, hot planet, devoid of human life and any escape?' 'Would they wake up at all?' Paris stepped into his cryo-tube. "Dear God, I hate small spaces." Jack smirked at him and walked over to Riddick, who was leaning against a nearby wall. "You think we'll wake up from this one?" "Yes." She nodded and walked away, realizing that he wasn't in a very talkative nor patient mood. He watched as Tessa Johns walked up onto their deck. She had already sealed Williams in for the long nap before any of the others had gotten aboard. Riddick had been disappointed, wanting to talk to the man who had shared a cell with him for five years in SlamCity. Not that he would tell either Johns about that. She totally by-passed her brother, obviously still angry with him. She stood still while the medic did a last minute check on her vitals before cryo-sleep, as per Company regulations. Fry walked up to her, looking apprehensive. Not that Riddick could blame her. Fry had clashed with Johns, no telling how she would fare with his twin sister. "How did you know we were survivors of the Hunter-Gratzner?" Tess seemed uninterested in the question, almost as if she had things to do and the question was inconsequential. "Later." Fry went to give a reply, probably for more information, but Tessa walked away, her physical completed. Tess stood outside her cryo-pod taking a deep breath. Riddick stood next to her, he put his arm against the panel, leaning his weight against it. "You don't like cryo-sleep?" Ice-blue eyes turned to stare at him. "I don't like being helpless." "Understandable." The young woman sighed. "What happened on that planet, Riddick?" "With Williams or with us?" He suppressed a grin at the surprise that registered on her face. //Didn't know I knew Williams, did you? Didn't know I'd been to Mars long before Desolation had ever step foot?// "Both." She answered. Riddick leaned in close, his face brushing up against the side of hers. He inhaled the scent of her hair, a coconut-like smell that thrilled the predator in him. He admired the fact that she didn't shy way or act nervous. "Curiosity kills the cat." "Cat's got nine lives. I'm willing to risk one." He chuckled and moved out of her personal space. He walked away from her, never answering her inquires. She'd know soon enough. He would rather not give her something to have nightmares about for eight months or so. Riddick stopped in front of his cryo-tube, watching as Jack got into the one next to him. "You're awfully friendly with a girl you just met." Jack said, settling into the tube. Riddick leaned into Jack's tube. "I met her a long time ago." Before Jack could inquire further the bell went off announcing that stasis would be in twenty seconds. The people got into their cryo- tubes quickly and the doors shut, sealing them in. Nothing to do now but sleep and wait. Little did they know that something was waiting for them.