The Animal Side

“If I tell you to stay put kid, you stay put, it doesn’t mean go wander off and speak to strangers especially ones who kill” he said as they walked towards the docking bay, his voice low and angry, they couldn't afford any more mistakes.

“Yeah well, if I hadn’t you’d probably be causing more attention for us by knocking heads together just to get off this shitty little station” she muttered as her eyes darted over the rows of docking berths looking for the Sirius.

“Next time I’m tying you up and putting a gag in your mouth if it’s the only way you’re ever going to do as you’re told” he growled at her in that way she knew the conversation wasn’t going to end the way she was hoping.

“Promise?” Jack smiled at her own joke as they neared the berth to the Sirius, sure enough the stranger was there checking over the ship and turned when she heard them approach.

“The name’s Alex Delaney, this isn’t my ship it’s the Mercs but seeing as he has no need for it I thought Id make better use of it, I’m heading for Helion 4 so if you want to come along then fine…there’s only one rule, don’t fuck with me and I wont fuck with you…so, you coming?” she stopped part way on the ramp and looked down at them.

“Deal” Riddick said before Jack could get them into anymore trouble and proceeded up the ramp and into the ship.

Alex hadn’t much time to get the feel of the ship but she had already inputted the co-ordinates for her destination and had locked the auto-pilot to engage as soon as they were clear of the station which hadn’t taken as long as she had expected. She had also locked the navigational and main computer to a secure encryption of her own design, there was no way the two strangers were going to pull a shifty on her when she was asleep.

Riddick for his part had taken the time to walk the entire length of the ship and had counted two large bedrooms opposite each other, a galley kitchen, two cargo bays that seemed packed with rations, equipment and other things Mercs loved including a large crate of bottles of beer. There was also a door which was locked and no matter how hard he tried to get in the door wouldn’t shift, it was key encoded which meant he had to know the right combination code to open it. There was also a well stocked gym, at least he wouldn’t get that bored whilst on their journey, his mind cast back to the Mercs, and there were five of them so how come there were only two bedrooms?

Alex stood in the middle of the corridor between bedrooms and noted that one was slightly roomier than the other, she knew that Jack would have to have one of the bedrooms, the young woman had told her that her relationship with the big guy was strictly friendship and nothing else which confirmed to her that she would have to have a room for herself.

“You can have that room” Alex said as she watched Jack approach with her pack, smile, thank her and then disappear into the bedroom closing the door after her.

“Then I guess you and me have this one” Riddick approached and stood against the door frame of the other bedroom as Alex moved inside, had a good look round then sat down on the edge of the bed testing the springs in the mattress and finding them adequately firm.

“Guess so” she replied as she slowly took her coat off and draped it over a nearby chair.

The bed was king size which meant plenty of room for both of them and plenty of space between them once lying on it, there was an unspoken boundary as Riddick slowly walked over to the bed and sat down on the opposite side. This wasnt a new twist of events for either of them but neither of them were prepared to sleep uncomfortably in either the pilots chair or worse still, the bath tub so both were equally shocked when neither of them offered to take up the bath tub or the pilots chair.

“There’s a weapons locker in this room, didn’t think the kid needed to be in this one in case she got herself into trouble playing with the sharp objects” Alex said as she rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.

“Jack can handle herself” Riddick replied.

“So I’ve noticed” she said as she brought her feet up and placed her hands behind her head on the pillow.

Riddick shifted on the bed and swung his legs over so that he lay outstretched on it, the woman on his left made no attempt to move or show any discomfort that he had joined her on the bed, he relaxed a little as from the other side of the corridor and from behind a closed door he could hear music emanating, Jack had obviously found some music data chips, at least it broke the silence. He wondered how this was going to work then decided he was thinking too much seeing as she didnt have too much trouble accepting the fact that they would be sharing a bed unless they took shifts which would negate the fact that they would spend any time together in the bedroom.

He rolled over onto his left side to find her eyes closed and her breathing regulated and calm, his goggled eyes ran down the entire length of her body as she slowly rolled over herself and showed her back to him. He noted the Celtic tattoo that graced the small of her back, matching the one that circled her navel, which now sat comfy just above the top of her combat trousers, her hair although in a ponytail was jet black highlighted with perfect cherry red low lights that looked soft in the ambient light of the room.

Her arms were muscled but not overly so she still had the curves in all the right places and never could be mistaken for a man, his mind cast back to Jack and how she had started to fill out in her teenage years. Alex knew he was staring at her back even through the goggles he wore, she had learned that he wore them because his eyes were too sensitive to the light, daylight, in fact any kind of light but in low light and darkness he felt the most comfortable.

“Lights, ten percent” she said aloud as the light sensitivity decreased to a soft glow, enough to make out lines and shapes.

“My favourite” he whispered as he slid the goggles off of his head and into a pocket.