The Animal Side
A POSSIBLE WAY OUT
king a deep and controlled breath, Alex strode confidently to the docking control officer; his navy uniformed body differed slightly with the identification of rank on his left shoulder and the tag over his left breast. He was studying the contents of a clipboard as she neared him, sensing her closeness to him he looked up and smiled, another customer, another UD in the bank, stowing his clipboard he gave his full attention.
“Hey, how can I help you?” he smiled his typical pearly toothed grin, the one he kept only for the ladies.
“My ship’s in dock, the Sirius, just want to know when I can expect the refuelling finished and how much its going to cost me?” she smiled back at him and leant on the counter that doubled as his desk.
She was going to use the Mercs ship to get away, she had gotten herself to the station using stolen identification and money earned by doing the kind of jobs no one else enjoyed doing, usually roughing people up which was what she was good at.
“The Sirius? Let me have a look” he tapped at the keyboard and watched the monitor in front of him light up with several docked ships in rotation to receive a refuel.
“You’re due in the next slot, the Avenger is in before you, should be ready in the next three hours and the cost is 500UD’s” he smiled and looked back up at her as she pulled a wad of notes from her pants pocket and counted them out onto the counter.
“Good, I’ll be wanting to leave as soon as it’s been refuelled” she nodded as he handed her a receipt.
“So soon?” he licked his dry lips as he put the cash into the safe behind him.
“Hey…Mack, look, there’s these three guys who have been following me all over the station, kinda funky looking dudes who don’t sit well with me, I’m worried they may try and gain access to my ship, is there any chance…” she trailed off after she had read his name on his uniform, she pulled one of her weak female routines in order to get Mack to take up the ball.
“No problem, we’ll lock your ship down until you return and I’ll make sure that those guys wont be able to follow you, you have my word” he leaned in closer as she winked at him and backed off throwing him a courteous glance over her shoulder.
“Men” she smiled to herself as she headed for the main concourse, that was the three other Mercs taken care of, but three hours was a long time to wait when you had one dead Merc in the cargo bay, one running about with his throat slit and two civvies that had seen everything.
Ducking into a small cafe she took a seat by the window, close to an exit and ordered a chicken salad sandwich with some soda concoction that was rumoured to rot your insides, she didn’t care, and she would enjoy her meal all the same. At the back of the cafe Jack was polishing off the last of the strawberry milkshake and cookies that she had bought twenty minutes earlier whilst Riddick still nursed the lukewarm cup of coffee. He had seen her walk in, seen her sit down and notice how she clocked every person in the room including him and Jack and had made a mental note of all the exits too exactly what he had done when he had walked into the establishment.
He had practically frogmarched Jack to the main concourse of the station, found a small cafe and had sat her down before giving her that parental conversation which he almost baulked at and proceeded to calm down a fuse when he had heard how hard she had it the last couple of years or so. Jack had been bending his ear when she had walked in, his body shifted slightly in the chair, he was still listening, of course he was but his eyes were on the woman sat beside the window watching everyone in the secluded space.
His mind had been full of thoughts ever since he had witnessed her kill the Merc in the cargo bay, she was so nonchalant over the whole matter which meant that either it had become a way of life for her or that she was just nuts and got her rocks off by killing people, either way he was drawn inexplicably to her for reasons he knew he should just best leave alone. Riddick had never shied away from a gut instinct though and as much as his head was telling him to not get involved with the whole affair, his gut was telling him something altogether different, his gut was telling him that birds of a feather flock together.
“Maybe we can get off the station with her help, I mean we haven’t enough money between us to buy one ticket let alone two and I’m sure as hell that they’ll probably be out there looking for us, her too Id imagine” Jack said as she stirred the straw around the empty glass noting that Riddick's attention span had shifted somewhat from their initial conversation to the woman sat by the door, the woman from earlier.
“Cant afford the attention you know that kid…I need the bathroom, stay put” he muttered as he finally let go of the cup and pushed it away from him before getting up and disappearing to the rear of the cafe.
“Yeah, yeah” Jack smiled as she picked up her pack and slowly moved to where the woman was sitting, sliding into the empty chair opposite her, Alex took a bite of her sandwich and didn’t even bat an eyelid.
“Earlier, I just wanted to say thanks but we had it covered” Jack whispered not wanting to pique anymore public interest.
“I’m sure you did” Alex replied as she chewed slowly before swallowing, opening the can of soda she took a few mouthfuls of the cold liquid and felt the satisfactory fizz in her mouth before it slid down her throat.
“I mean it, five on my own was probably risky but the big guy would’ve sorted them out no trouble, he can handle himself quite well” Jack smiled as she casually reminisced Riddick's past encounters with Mercs and the like.
“I’m sure he would have” Alex muttered as she bit into the sandwich once more and savoured the flavours in her mouth that the reconstituted chicken and salad tasted like, fresh chicken was a commodity unheard of in places like this.
“So, you had a beef with the main Merc, I know how that feels, Mercs tend to want me dead too, guilty by association y’know?” Jack let a small part of her defences drop then and Alex sensed that she probably was telling the truth, the eyes spoke volumes when the mouth didn’t.
“It’s a hard life” Alex nodded as she pulled a UD out and placed it on the small plate where a passing waitress had dumped the bill.
“Look, I know this is forward but me and the big guy we need to get off the station badly, I don’t want him knocking some heads in order to leave, you know, is there any chance you could help us out?” Jack was pleading with her eyes as she looked for some kind of kindred spirit in the woman before her.
“I don’t take hitchhikers” she responded as she downed the remainder of her drink and placed the empty can down upon the now empty plate.
“Please, I wouldn’t ask otherwise, we’ll get off at your next drop, anything to get off this shitty station and Im willing to do whatever work you have in exchange for room and board” Jack dropped her gaze then, pulling some of the same stunts that Alex had used not so long ago.
Alex let out a small sigh, the kid looked genuine enough but Alex had been burned once before and had learned the hard way but still it wasn't as if she couldn't handle herself, the kid wasn't the issue here, it was her babysitter that concerned her the most, the guy looked like an amoured tank. Still, the company would be nice on some small level and she was reminded of nobody had given her a chance back in the day so her doing this one good deed may put everything right with the man upstairs when the time came.
“Docking Bay 5, a ship called the Sirius…two hours, be there on time or I’ll leave without you, I wont wait” against her better judgment she replied before her head frantically told her off for doing something stupid.
“Absolutely, thank you, thank you so much” Jack’s smile returned to her face then as she watched the woman get up from the table.
When Riddick left the bathroom, he hadn’t spent long in there and for good reason as when he looked to the table where he had left Jack he had found that she had wandered over to the strangers table, she never did what she was told. He stood back in the shadow of the door frame and watched the interaction between the two, the woman seemed nonplussed about the conversation she seemed to be having with Jack whereas the younger woman, his charge, seemed fucking delighted with herself.
“Fuck” he muttered as he watched the woman stand then look across to where he was standing before looking back at Jack, a look of understanding pass between them before the woman left, Jack was grinning and he got instantly nervous with that.
“Hey, how can I help you?” he smiled his typical pearly toothed grin, the one he kept only for the ladies.
“My ship’s in dock, the Sirius, just want to know when I can expect the refuelling finished and how much its going to cost me?” she smiled back at him and leant on the counter that doubled as his desk.
She was going to use the Mercs ship to get away, she had gotten herself to the station using stolen identification and money earned by doing the kind of jobs no one else enjoyed doing, usually roughing people up which was what she was good at.
“The Sirius? Let me have a look” he tapped at the keyboard and watched the monitor in front of him light up with several docked ships in rotation to receive a refuel.
“You’re due in the next slot, the Avenger is in before you, should be ready in the next three hours and the cost is 500UD’s” he smiled and looked back up at her as she pulled a wad of notes from her pants pocket and counted them out onto the counter.
“Good, I’ll be wanting to leave as soon as it’s been refuelled” she nodded as he handed her a receipt.
“So soon?” he licked his dry lips as he put the cash into the safe behind him.
“Hey…Mack, look, there’s these three guys who have been following me all over the station, kinda funky looking dudes who don’t sit well with me, I’m worried they may try and gain access to my ship, is there any chance…” she trailed off after she had read his name on his uniform, she pulled one of her weak female routines in order to get Mack to take up the ball.
“No problem, we’ll lock your ship down until you return and I’ll make sure that those guys wont be able to follow you, you have my word” he leaned in closer as she winked at him and backed off throwing him a courteous glance over her shoulder.
“Men” she smiled to herself as she headed for the main concourse, that was the three other Mercs taken care of, but three hours was a long time to wait when you had one dead Merc in the cargo bay, one running about with his throat slit and two civvies that had seen everything.
Ducking into a small cafe she took a seat by the window, close to an exit and ordered a chicken salad sandwich with some soda concoction that was rumoured to rot your insides, she didn’t care, and she would enjoy her meal all the same. At the back of the cafe Jack was polishing off the last of the strawberry milkshake and cookies that she had bought twenty minutes earlier whilst Riddick still nursed the lukewarm cup of coffee. He had seen her walk in, seen her sit down and notice how she clocked every person in the room including him and Jack and had made a mental note of all the exits too exactly what he had done when he had walked into the establishment.
He had practically frogmarched Jack to the main concourse of the station, found a small cafe and had sat her down before giving her that parental conversation which he almost baulked at and proceeded to calm down a fuse when he had heard how hard she had it the last couple of years or so. Jack had been bending his ear when she had walked in, his body shifted slightly in the chair, he was still listening, of course he was but his eyes were on the woman sat beside the window watching everyone in the secluded space.
His mind had been full of thoughts ever since he had witnessed her kill the Merc in the cargo bay, she was so nonchalant over the whole matter which meant that either it had become a way of life for her or that she was just nuts and got her rocks off by killing people, either way he was drawn inexplicably to her for reasons he knew he should just best leave alone. Riddick had never shied away from a gut instinct though and as much as his head was telling him to not get involved with the whole affair, his gut was telling him something altogether different, his gut was telling him that birds of a feather flock together.
“Maybe we can get off the station with her help, I mean we haven’t enough money between us to buy one ticket let alone two and I’m sure as hell that they’ll probably be out there looking for us, her too Id imagine” Jack said as she stirred the straw around the empty glass noting that Riddick's attention span had shifted somewhat from their initial conversation to the woman sat by the door, the woman from earlier.
“Cant afford the attention you know that kid…I need the bathroom, stay put” he muttered as he finally let go of the cup and pushed it away from him before getting up and disappearing to the rear of the cafe.
“Yeah, yeah” Jack smiled as she picked up her pack and slowly moved to where the woman was sitting, sliding into the empty chair opposite her, Alex took a bite of her sandwich and didn’t even bat an eyelid.
“Earlier, I just wanted to say thanks but we had it covered” Jack whispered not wanting to pique anymore public interest.
“I’m sure you did” Alex replied as she chewed slowly before swallowing, opening the can of soda she took a few mouthfuls of the cold liquid and felt the satisfactory fizz in her mouth before it slid down her throat.
“I mean it, five on my own was probably risky but the big guy would’ve sorted them out no trouble, he can handle himself quite well” Jack smiled as she casually reminisced Riddick's past encounters with Mercs and the like.
“I’m sure he would have” Alex muttered as she bit into the sandwich once more and savoured the flavours in her mouth that the reconstituted chicken and salad tasted like, fresh chicken was a commodity unheard of in places like this.
“So, you had a beef with the main Merc, I know how that feels, Mercs tend to want me dead too, guilty by association y’know?” Jack let a small part of her defences drop then and Alex sensed that she probably was telling the truth, the eyes spoke volumes when the mouth didn’t.
“It’s a hard life” Alex nodded as she pulled a UD out and placed it on the small plate where a passing waitress had dumped the bill.
“Look, I know this is forward but me and the big guy we need to get off the station badly, I don’t want him knocking some heads in order to leave, you know, is there any chance you could help us out?” Jack was pleading with her eyes as she looked for some kind of kindred spirit in the woman before her.
“I don’t take hitchhikers” she responded as she downed the remainder of her drink and placed the empty can down upon the now empty plate.
“Please, I wouldn’t ask otherwise, we’ll get off at your next drop, anything to get off this shitty station and Im willing to do whatever work you have in exchange for room and board” Jack dropped her gaze then, pulling some of the same stunts that Alex had used not so long ago.
Alex let out a small sigh, the kid looked genuine enough but Alex had been burned once before and had learned the hard way but still it wasn't as if she couldn't handle herself, the kid wasn't the issue here, it was her babysitter that concerned her the most, the guy looked like an amoured tank. Still, the company would be nice on some small level and she was reminded of nobody had given her a chance back in the day so her doing this one good deed may put everything right with the man upstairs when the time came.
“Docking Bay 5, a ship called the Sirius…two hours, be there on time or I’ll leave without you, I wont wait” against her better judgment she replied before her head frantically told her off for doing something stupid.
“Absolutely, thank you, thank you so much” Jack’s smile returned to her face then as she watched the woman get up from the table.
When Riddick left the bathroom, he hadn’t spent long in there and for good reason as when he looked to the table where he had left Jack he had found that she had wandered over to the strangers table, she never did what she was told. He stood back in the shadow of the door frame and watched the interaction between the two, the woman seemed nonplussed about the conversation she seemed to be having with Jack whereas the younger woman, his charge, seemed fucking delighted with herself.
“Fuck” he muttered as he watched the woman stand then look across to where he was standing before looking back at Jack, a look of understanding pass between them before the woman left, Jack was grinning and he got instantly nervous with that.