****************
Part: 10

Carolyn's nude body lay slack on the workbench, her hand trailing absently
over her flat, sweat soaked abdomen.  One leg outstretched and one knee in
the air, she slid her gaze to Johns' partially dressed form leaning on a wall
across the shed.  A lascivious smile crossed her face as she recognized the
bruises that speckled his lower neck, chest, stomach and even lower.  She
knew that this would probably not be repeated, but she could live a thousand
lifetimes knowing she had marked him as hers, if only for a brief time.  She
lifted on her elbows and shot him a smarmy look.

"A little tired there, Ace?"  She couldn't repress the husky chuckle as she
stood and reached to gather her clothes.

"Just getting my second wind, Frye." He smiled in return. He loved the way
she looked all sated and satisfied.  His loving had done that. He pushed off
the metal wall and moved back to her. "I don't think I've seen anything that
looked quite so good." His eyes traveled her from head to toe.

An uncharacteristic blush  painted her cheeks and coursed down her neck.  She
stilled her dressing, allowing him to look his fill as her own eyes moved to
his still unfastened fatigues.  The past few moments were like a blur to her,
and yet she remembered the feel of every second.  Taking a deep, cleansing
breath, she licked her lips and turned her eyes to his.  "Johns ... did this
really happen?"

"Yeah, it happened, to the tune of about three times." He leaned down and
kissed her swollen lips with more heat than he thought he had left.

Her arms snaked around his neck, pulling herself deeper into the kiss.  She
had never felt like this in the aftermath of sex before.  She pulled her lips
quickly from his as she realized with sudden horror that she wanted to be his
... wanted him to be insanely jealous over her ... wanted him to feel as if
she belonged to him exclusively.  Goddam, what the hell had happened to her?
  With wide eyes, she nervously began to tug at her clothes, awkward hands
not working properly.

Johns couldn't help but feel the chill that settled suddenly around her. He
tried not to let his quick temper take control so he fought it. "What's
wrong, Carolyn?"

She shook her head quickly.  "Nothing.  Nothing's wrong."  She pulled the
T-shirt over her head and turned to face him ... the  marks on his body
staring her in the face.  God, why did the sight of those make her body hot
and tingly?  Looking up from under thick lashes, she knew he was aware of
what she was studying so intently.  "You look like you've been inked or
something," she whispered.  Her hand went automatically to the sensitive area
just above her own shoulder that his teeth had lavished so much attention on.

"I'm not complaining. There's worse thing that could be there beside Carolyn
Fry's property," he joked, trying to pull her into his confidence. "Come on,
I know it's something."

Sitting on the workbench, she wound the fatigues through her fingers, her
eyes lowered.  "It's just a sex mark ... right?"  She swallowed hard,
remembering the orgasmic feeling that overtook her as his teeth suckled on
her skin.

"Hell, little more than that ... or I always thought so." He sank down onto
the edge of the workbench beside her. "Tell me what's running around in the
head of yours."

"Shit, Johns.  It's just fucking hard to admit how out of control I was.  How
much I wan...."  Her voice trailed.  Mistake, Fry.  Huge mistake.  She
squared her shoulders and looked him in the eye.  "I liked belonging to you
for a little while, Johns.  That ... among a few other things, is what's
going on in this head of mine."  She moved to continue getting dressed as her
embarrassment grew.

"The others," he requested, not wanting to push but wanting things squared
between them ... wanting to know Frye, not just screw her.

Her eyes stared incredulously into his.  Had he not heard what she had said.
 Did not affect him at all?

"The others?  The other thoughts?"  She  jammed her slim legs into the
fatigues, pulling the waistband over her hips.  "The marks.  They turn me on.
 That's another thought."

"Yeah? There's more. What is it Carolyn?" He leaned into her kissing the back
of her neck, running his fingers along her jaw.

Her eyes closed as the sensations created by his mouth and fingers on her
skin sent fire traveling through her body and ending in a heated wetness at
the apex of her thighs.  When she spoke, her voice sounded raspy, even to her
ears.  "What about you, Johns.  What's going on in your mind?"  She had to
breathe.  She had to will herself to breathe.

"Thinking I like looking down and seeing where your mouth has been. Thinking
that there are a hell of a lot of possibilities once we get off this rock.
Can't seem to imagine letting go of what just happened between us. Don't
think you want that either." He kissed a trail down her spine, loving the
feel of the warm slick skin.

She shivered in excitement, her limbs suddenly feeling paralyzed.  "Johns,"
she whispered.  "This is so fucked up.  One minute you're wanting to eat my
spleen with a spoon, the next we can't keep our clothes on."  She turned, her
body thrust against his chest, her hands sliding over his muscular back.
 "And I'm not fooling myself."  She kissed his chest again, her tongue
swirling over his prominent, male nipple.  "As soon as we get off this rock,
someone else will take my place."  Her mouth now latched onto his nipple,
suckling as he did hers ... wondering if the feeling was anywhere near as
pleasant for him.  The soft sounds of slurping were almost as exciting to her
as the action itself.

Johns moaned deep in his throat, the feel of her lips on him going straight
to his cock. "If you think for a second there's anyone taking your place you
are fooling yourself, Carolyn."

Her tongue trailed erotically down the cords of his abs, reveling in the feel
of rough hair on her tongue as it licked.  "Come on, Johns," she said in
 muffeld tones as she continued. "I don't proclaim to be your Ms. Right ...
but I make a hell of a Ms. Right Now.....no?"  SHe wanted
jealously......needed it now.

She was making him insane, talking like this was it ... a one shot deal. Like
once she was done with him she could fool herself into thinking he didn't
want her. She could then walk away and blame him for not wanting more between
them. He reached up and wound his hand in her short hair and pulled her off
his nipple. With a quickness that surprised even him he had her off the work
bench, hips pinned against the wooden edge poised to shove himself back
inside her, the tip of his raging cock pushing apart her slick fleshy lips.
"Ms. Right? You want that Carolyn? You wanna hear me say it? You wanna know
that going from here without you would be hell?"

The feel of his hand pulling at her hair made her weak with desire.  Her
hands moved to her generous mounds, kneading her own tits into a frenzy
excitement.  The heat inside her became almost unbearable as she felt his
warm breath at the back of her neck.  "What I want is to know that you'd
fucking rip apart anyone else that tried to touch me."  Her eyes slid closed
as her fingers pinched and rubbed at her sensitive nipples.  "Would you do
that, Johns?"  she continued breathlessly, her vaginal muscles already
contracting.  "Tell me."

He knew his grip on her hips were less then gentle but he couldn't bring
himself to ease up. He pounded into her from behind, his head falling back
gasping for each breath he pulled in around the consuming heat of their love
making. "You think..... you have ... to ask? Hell yes!  You're MINE and
.....what's mine stays ... that way. Riddick would....seem like a....lap
dog...compared to what...I'd do to...." He bit into his lips feeling the hard
sting as he fought to hold out just a little longer.

She didn't know what words were coming from her mouth as he tore into her,
but whatever they were, they kept him going, his rhythm strong and driving as
they both came closer and closer to a mind shattering orgasm.  "Fucking right
.... yours .... and ..... no one .... else's....."  She moaned loudly as she
felt the climax begin.  "Oh shit, Johns......HARD.....NOW!  PLEASE!"

Johns was a man that didn't have to be told twice.  Giving in, he increased
his stroked driving deep into her, nudging the barrier of her womb. "MINE" he
growled as he spent himself inside her walls.

With a cry of ecstasy, her body contracted tightly around his pulsing dick
over and over, until the spasms slowly started to fade.  The hot, sticky
liquid that shot from him remained warm and exciting as it dribbled inside
her and coated the sides of her core.  Finally, with a heavy, contented sigh,
she let her body fall into his, her back flush against his sex-sweaty skin.
 "Johns ...."  she said in a barely audible tone.

"Yeah?" he panted, trying to slow his breath with a conscious will. His body
still hummed with the slow seep of liquid fire that had so recently evacuated
his body.

Her firm ass moved against his body, her voice becoming sensual and teasing.
 "You don't expect me to go all docile and shit after this ... do you?"  Her
head fell backwards to come into contact with him.  "Now that I'm yours and
all."

"Just hope I don't have to chain ya, Miss bad ass." He laughed as his hand
stroked her smooth stomach, still quivering below his hand.

She sighed, relaxing in the aftermath of the greatest lovemaking of her life.
 Her eyes went half mast as she remembered all the things she had done with
her life to get to this point ... all the things that she knew she would have
to tell Johns eventually.  But she had made a pact with herself.  If he
didn't ask, she wouldn't say.  She closed her eyes again and smiled.  She
knew they would never stop arguing ... that their life together would be
volatile and explosive.  But he would never give her up any more than she
would give him up.  And Christ help the woman who tried to touch him.  Again,
she wriggled against him possessively.  He was HERS.

*     *     *     *     *      *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Hicks looked over the well pump and purifying system.  In less than an hour,
he had fresh water flowing. Cutting his eyes up to G. G. from where his head
hung under the spigot, he smiled as water splashed across his face and down
his neck.

Gina grinned like a little girl and clapped her hands playfully.  Reaching
over, she allowed the wetness to drain over her hands as she covered her own
face with the cool water, letting it slither down her throat to soak her
military tank top.  The outline of the lacey, push up bra could be seen
through the plastered material. "Outstanding, soldier," she laughed.
 "Freaking OUTSTANDING!"

"Shit!  No kidding!"  He laughed along with her, his eyes traveling down to
take stock of her wet exterior.  "I was starting to think we would have to
resort to a more drastic means of hydration."

Her tongue flicked out, licking up the tiny droplets of water that stayed on
her chin.  It was better than the finest wine.  "What sort of drastic means
would that be?"  She poured more water into her hands and rubbed it on her
heated arms.  Lifting her shirt slightly, she rubbed some of the coolness
onto her stomach.  "I can think of ways to DE-hydrate....but hydrate?"  She
chuckled.  "Maybe YOU should be the general."  She tried not to notice how
the water dripped sensually from the mussed spikes in his hair.

His eyes glinted with amusement, nearing her. "Come on, G.G. You know the
corps field manual back and forth. Drastic situations call for drastic
measures. It ain't pretty." He sighed, not wanting to divulge the gory
details to the wholly unappealing source of moisture. "The only real moisture
the human body produces in quantity." He turned away, only to step even
closer to her, breathing in the fresh scent of the mineral laden water on her
heated skin.

Taking a deep breath, she nodded.  "Not exactly cool and refreshing, though.
 Is it?"  She grinned.  "I much prefer this."  Reaching for another handful
of water, she playfully splashed it into his face and pushed away, feeling
like a little girl running from retribution.

"I bet you do!  Let's see just how much!"  He rushed after her, making a
counter move as she tried to dodge his hands. Catching her around the arms he
hauled her over to the spigot and pushed her under it. "Now that must be
really refreshing!" he laughed.

She tried to extract herself from his hands and found his arms around her
waist, lifting inches from the ground as she laughingly struggled.  "Uncle!
 Fucking UNCLE!"

"Yeah? Giving in so quick? To me?"  He continued to laugh, fighting to get
every inch of her body as close as possible.

Her clothes were drenched now, material sealed to her skin.  His hard body
felt good against hers and she allowed herself to enjoy it ... enjoy this one
moment of normalcy, of male/female contact.  Her hands effortlessly pushed on
his chest as she shook the excess moisture from her hair, which was now
falling from its loose braid.  "Me?  Give in?  Now that would really
disappoint you, now wouldn't it?"  She giggled.  "Let me GO, Dwayne!"  Her
laughter belied her words.

"Not a chance!" he howled, tilting his head upward to catch the droplets of
water that she shook from her hair.  "You want release? Then take it."  His
face turned back to her with a serious light in his eyes and laughter still
in his voice.

Her smile became sultry as she stopped struggling in an attempt to throw him
off guard.  Suddenly she realized that she wanted to banter with this man.
 She wanted to see how far he would push it ... whether or not he really
could shed the general label enough to see her as a woman.  She did her best
to attempt a sexy, breathless voice.  She had never been able to pull off the
siren bit before, yet she continued to try.  "You think you could handle my
release, Dwayne?"  She let the palm of her hand rest on his chest.

He leaned in and whispered. "Don't know, but I'm sure as hell willing to give
it a good ole fashion try." He lapped the droplets along the pulse point at
her smooth neck.

She leaned her head slightly backwards and shivered with the feeling.  It had
been too long since she had felt a man's advances and actually welcomed them.
 An impish smile came across her face as she leaned in, nipped quickly at his
neck with her teeth and tongue, and pushed from his surprised arms, dodging
him playfully again.  "Well, first off, you have to keep me pinned, big guy."
 

"Oh shit!" He threw up his hand, realizing the chase was on. "You really
wanna wear me out with a chase, general? I'd think you'd need your best man
ready, hard, and ready to rock."

She stopped and stared into his eyes.  For the first time in eons, she wished
that she was wearing a feminine dress with hair perfectly coifed and ready to
seduce.  "When the time is right, Dwayne, I'll expect nothing less."

"Name it," he called, making leap at her trying to capture her again.

She jumped, barely escaping his grasp and turned with a smile on her face.
 "Fuck me, you're a QUICK one, aren't ya?"  She laughed breathlessly  She ran
past him and found herself caught in his arms, pulled against the hard wall
of his chest.  Her hands went automatically to his shoulders.

"The lady is granted her request! What was it again? Fuck me?" He lifted her
in his arms pulling one thigh around his waist, holding her in place with the
other.

A slight shriek broke from her throat as she allowed her legs to wrap around
his waist, her heels locking at the small of his back.  She was panting now,
the sexual frenzy driving her mad.  But, with disappointment, she remembered
her obligation to the rest of the group.  They needed the water, and they
needed it soon.  Her eyes lit into his as her legs tightened and her arms
rested around his neck.  His strength surprised her.  "Remember what I told
you last time, Hicks?" she breathed.

He was a soldier as well as a man.  He knew that there was no time for this
now, not while the others depended on them.  But he could also not deny the
heat that focused at the center of her thighs.

She sighed and let her head fall to his shoulder.  "Shit, Dwayne ... you make
me feel like I'm a feather."

"You are a feather, G.G." he said softly.  One hand firmly holding her body
to him, his free hand moved under the waistband of her loose fatigue pants to
seek the heated wetness between her thighs, his fingers seeking entrance
inside her slick canal.

With a great intake of breath, her body tensed at the wonderful feeling of
his hand on her.  A slight surge of guilt hit her, knowing she was not in a
position, physically or time wise, to do the same for him.  "Dwayne," she
panted.  "We ... don't ... have ... time......I can't .... you need ... oh,
SHIT!"  She felt it coming almost instantly ... the orgasmic thrill that she
had only been able to attain through self-ministrations lately. It usually
took her forever to get off.  She found that his hand was doing it in mere
seconds.

Circling her tiny clit with the rough pad of his thumb, he felt her tense and
met her eyes.  "Look at me, G.G.," he demanded.

Her eyes willingly went to his beseechingly, willing herself to focus as her
climax began, her body racking in spasms.  The dark warmth of her eyes were
glassy but coherent.

"That's right, G.G. You can let go like this. Let go with me," he murmured,
watching the ecstasy fill her features, her body clamping down on his fingers
over and over again.

Tears of intensity filled her eyes as the orgasm began to overtake her.  "But
... what about ... you," she breathed before she was rendered speechless as
the wave of climactic pleasure caused her to tighten against him, getting as
close as she possibly could.

"Don't worry about me, G.G. Just enjoy this," he whispered, in near pain at
his own excitement. But he'd never let her know just how much restraint this
was taking.

She gave in to him, to the feeling her body was experiencing until, at last,
the spasms faded and she slacked against him.  Her legs felt like rubber and
her arms felt nonexistent.  "Dwayne," she breathed.  "Shit, did you feel it?"
 And then it suddenly hit her ... this man had brought her to orgasm while
holding her body with one arm the whole time.   "Oh, god!" she murmured as
she unwrapped her legs quickly to stand and give him relief.

He looked away from her, eyes downcast, hands on his hips. "What, G.G.?"

She looked surprised.  "I ... you were holding me ... with only one arm.  I
thought you must be very ... tired?  I might have started to get ..."  She
stumbled a bit, her legs still weak from the intense experience.  "I wanted
to help you."

His hand snaked out, pulling her against him. "I'm fine. Not tired at all.
DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME," he gently whispered.

She stared at him, electricity in the air.  A slow smile crossed her face.
 "All that with just your hand?"

"Yeah.  Got a good grasp of what feels good to a woman. I mean the woman in
the corps aren't exactly shy about what they do and when they do it and they
don't mind onlookers."  He actually blushed a bright red with that
revelation.

She kept her smile, but his speaking of other women he'd been with directly
after his hands were on her was like a pin in a balloon.   But she still felt
the aftermath of his amazing ministrations and tired to focus on that.
 "Well," she breathed.  "I should send thank you cards to all of them."  She
winked.  "It was an amazing experience. You definitely do have a good grasp."

"I aim to please, ma'am," he replied in the thick southern accent he had long
ago shed. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he tilted his head. "Round up
the rest of the group?"

She nodded slowly as she straightened her clothes.  "Yeah.  They need water.
Especially the kid."  Her eyes cut to his bulging groin and then traveled to
his eyes. "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be. I'll live. Besides, makes the next time we're alone just that much
sweeter."

Now it was her time to blush.  "Don't build me up, Dwayne.  I don't want to
disappoint.  I'm not that good."  She turned her back on him, hating to admit
the words that had been drilled into her head from her last lover.

"Are you kidding? How the fuck could you not be? I've seen you, G.G. Felt
that passion inside beating a hell of a rhythm against me." He grasped her
chin between his fingers, delivering the most desperate kiss he could ever
remember, pouring all the pent up longings he held so tightly a reign over
into it.

She found herself unable to breathe until the kiss ended.  Her eyes shone
into his as the heated electricity coursed through her.  His words almost
made her climax again and she had to force herself to stay on her feet.
 "Don't get me wrong, Dwayne.  It's going to happen.  I WANT it to happen.
 I'm just letting you know in advance."  Her gaze left his and she moved to
gather her supplies.  "Just passing on information I've acquired."

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *      *       *     *      *
     *     *     *

Riddick followed Morgan silently for what seemed like forever but was, in
reality, mere moments.  When he was certain they were out of earshot, his
soft sensual voice teased.  "So, baby's a vampire and a voyeur."  He leaned
in to her neck, inhaling the intensity of her desire for him.  "You were
definitely made for me."

She grinned over her shoulder. "Yeah, well ... birds of a feather and all
that crap." She tilted her head, studying him. "That a turn on of yours?
Watching?"

He nodded slightly, his muscles rippling as he moved.  "Yeah.  One of many
things." He looked at her with something akin to a smile.  "When did you
first realized you got off on it?"  He had to keep her talking.  It was
another turn on of his and it only emphasized the throbbing of his cock.

"Ummmm...that one's easy."  She paused, tilting her head.  "First few months
in the corps."  She cut her eyes to him, making sure she hadn't lost his
attention.  "See, we're not an overly modest bunch. You do what ya got to
relieve the tension.  We share common quarters, so it's nothing unusual to
see the guys taking care of themselves. Hell, it's real common. You're there,
you watch."

His face was turned to hers as they walked, hands still bonded together.  He
tightened his grip on her fingers and tugged her toward him.  "So, you began
to get off watching men jerk off?"  His pulsing dick was screaming now,
standing straight and free in his loose fatigues.

"Yeah," she laughed. "That a problem for you?"

He shook his head and allowed his hands to roam lower until they were cupping
her firm, well rounded ass.  "Be kind of a hypocrite if it was a problem for
me.  I get a raging hard on just thinking about watching a woman finger
herself."  He let his mouth move to her ear and whispered, "Enjoy doing that,
baby?  Fingering yourself?"

"It works for getting off quick. Better than taking it from most of the men
I've been around. So yeah, I guess I do." She leaned in as they walked, her
hand running along his thigh.

He chuckled slightly as he felt her hand so near to his groin.  "Making sure
it's still there, baby?"  His cock was now at high noon.

"No. Making sure I keep you ready to go anytime, any where."  She stroked
higher, her fingers touching him everywhere but the rigid line of his
erection.

A sarcastic grunt came from his throat.  "Does it LOOK like there's going to
be problem with that?"  His eyes moved forward, scanning the area in front of
them.  "I'm a fuckin' hat rack here."

"Never know," she laughed. "Even the best hard dicks lose it from time to
time. It happens," she teased.

He glared at her with mock anger.  "Just had the best head of my life and
twenty seconds later I'm hard as a fossil.  That seem to you like my rod's
gonna lose it?"

"Hell, there's only one way to be sure. Put it to the test. And did you just
say THE BEST head of your life?" Her stare was curious and teasing.

He nodded, goggled eyes pinned to her gaze.  "You gotta problem with that?"

"Not a problem. I haven't exactly had a lot of experience with that. I was
shooting for adequate but I'll definitely take best," she told him, hearing a
noise that set her nerves on edge across the compound.

He eyes followed hers, hearing the same noise.  "First time a woman ever took
me all the way down her throat."

She jerked her head back to him. "Careful.  Keep sweet talkin' me and you're
the one that's gonna end on your back."  Her attention went back to the woman
across the compound coughing, her face seeming just a little grayer. She
tensed, remembering the impending danger.  "Shit, that ain't good!"

His brows knitted, eyes turning in the direction of hers.  "What the fuck's
up with that?"

"Come on."  She took his hand and lead him back to the now empty greenhouse.
"Told you I'd tell you all about it when I could. Guess this is as good a
time as any ...if you're still interested."

He nodded as they entered the greenhouse.  Hitching a strong hip on a long
bench, her stared intently into her eyes.  "Talk to me, baby."

Morgan eased down into the sand, her back against the frame of the
greenhouse, her head tilted back. "Shit, seems like forever ago ... don't
really know where to start."

Riddick moved and lowered in front of her, sitting back on his heels.  His
eyes were covered by the goggles, but they pierced through the shades all the
same.  How about the beginning.  That's always a good place."

She gave a semi-laugh. "Even that's hard to figure out. But I'll give it a
shot."

"Take your time, baby."  He slid to sit beside her.  "I got time.  I ain't
going anywhere."

"Make it easier, Riddick. Just for a minute or two and then I'll tell you."
 She turned her head, eyes shimmering with desire.

The corners of his mouth turned up as he moved closer to her, his hand moving
to her chin and trailing down her neck to slide forcefully across her ample
tits as his mouth claimed hers in a passionate, possessive kiss.  He pulled
her bottom lip between his teeth and sucked hard, nipping the sensitive skin.
 

"Make it harder, baby, and I'll make it easier."  His hand continued to
slither under the waistband of her fatigues and plunder until his fingers
found her wet heat.

She gasped against his mouth, opening her thighs wider but contradicting her
body with her words. "Don't get too comfortable there or I'll never be able
to tell the shit that went down."

"Sure you will," he whispered huskily as his hand delved further, fingers
expertly seeking her slick opening in the slightly constraining pants.  "Just
talk."

Morgan closed her eyes, trying not to become lost in the feel of Riddick's
touch. She was trying to find place in time when nightmares had become common
place, when they had become her life. Then there she was, LV-426, Hadley's
Hope.  Her mind replayed scene after scene as she started telling Riddick all
that she remembered.
 

Part 11

*********************

Morgan peered down the corridor instantly detecting a change on this level.
 She strained, listening for the faintest of noises and suddenly it was
there, voices. Adrenaline coursed through her veins at the sound of other
humans, the second worst sound she could imagine.  When the colony had first
fallen she had yearned for human contact but she quickly came to realize when
and if that day came it would mean certain death for her and the kid.  The
newcomers would fare no better against the aliens than the colonist had.
 With that thought paramount in her mind, she slipped into the corridor
squeezing herself against hard metal, edgeing slowly closer to the air duct
that would allow them time to wait out the attack that was sure to come.  She
sucked in a deep breath as the kid beside her moved closer and bumped a loose
piece of conduit sending it bumping along the grating below their feet.  The
noise echoed along the wide corridor and the Marine motioned for the kid to
stay completely still.  The voices were closer now.  She pointed her finger
at a stack of  heavy storage crates.  Thankfully, the girl understood the
unspoken message and darted behind the crates.  Turning, she scanned
the corridor for a hiding place for herself, hoping the new visitors would
make a quick exit.  A gap between junction boxes a few feet farther down
would barely accommodate her size, but it would have to do.  She slipped into
the tight space just as the first of several people stepped from the interior
of the med lab heading straight for the crates where the kid was hiding.
 
"Talk to me, Frost," Hicks hissed.  "Straight ahead,"came Frost`s quick
reply.  Suddenly, the motion tracker quieted.  "Movements stopped," Frost
informed Hicks.  He nodded his head.  "We'll still check".  Drake moved up
beside Hicks.  Both men glimpsed the flash of movement in the same instant.
 Hicks brought up his pulse rifle, slamming it into  the barrel of Drake`s
smart gun sending tracer fire ripping into the ceiling.  "Fuck!" Drake
yelled.  "Hold on," Hicks instructed, lowering himself to the metal grating
to peer into a crawl space.  The Marine stood silent watching and hoping the
kid wouldn`t be caught.  But she knew the chances were slim that they would
overlook her.  She held her breath as a man searched the crawl space for the
girl.  She knew it was time for action when the man called to the woman
behind him.  Without a second of hesitation she hurled herself from her
hiding place straight at the man across the corridor from her.  He was big,
but with the added weight of the smartgun he carried she figured she had more
than an average chance of getting her and the kid out of harm's way.
 
Drake never saw the impact coming that sent him slamming into Frost. The
Marine put all her weight behind the shoulder that slammed into the smartgun
operator.  She felt a moment of triumph as he lost his balance taking another
man with him but it was short lived as she turned.  Her legs churned under
her as she ran down the corridor trying to draw attention away from the kid.
 
"What the fuck was that," Drake growled, not really expecting an answer as he
pulled himself to his feet.  Turning, he saw the escaping figure running down
the corridor.  "You two go after him," Hicks shouted as he reached into the
crawl space.  Drake hit the release on the pivot of the smartgun and let it
slide down his body to the grating.  He was was just about to give chase when
things took a definite turn.
 
The sound of her feet pounding the metal below was the only thing the Marine
heard as she neared the section of melted grating.  Her stride didn`t slow as
she neared the gaping hole and she wasn`t prepared for the fragileness of the
section's supports. One moment she was running down the dim corridor and the
next the world collapsed from beneath her and she hung suspended in mid air
for the space of a heartbeat.  Then she plummeted toward the black void below.

 
"OH SHIT!"  Drake turned to Frost.  He didn`t wait for the other man to
follow as he
sprinted toward where the figure had disappeared.  He slowed his pace.
 Reaching the missing grating, he leaned slightly forward peering into the
darkness.  Surprise knifed threw him as he met a pair of wide blue eyes.  The
grating hung down from the level above, its only anchor a small partially
melted support bracket.  The figure clung to the abrasive metal like a life
line.  Drake realized that he had to act quick, the groan of stressed steel
spurring him into action.  He lowered himself onto his stomach and extended
his arm down into the inky blackness.  "Come on ... grab hold!" he ordered.
 The Marine hesitated for a fraction of a second before grabbing hold of his
strong hand.  He slowly pulled her free of the hole, inch by inch.  He turned
onto his back and pulled the dazed figure partially across his own body.  The
feel of warm rounded breasts pressed against his stomach froze him.  She used
the opportunity to the utmost.  Reaching slowly downward, she pulled a thin
bladed knife from the pocket of her fatigues.  Frost caught the glint from
the knifes blade as it arched toward Drake`s neck.  He reached out and hooked
his forearm around the Marines neck, applying intense pressure and pulling
her backward off Drake who jumped to his feet just in time to see the woman`s
eyes slide shut as she slumped to the grating, unconscious.

*     *      *      *      *      *     *     *
A bright kaleidoscope of colors flashed in front of the Morgan's eyes as they
flickered open.   Slowly she lifted her pounding head from her chest and
immediately felt  tight plastic looped around her wrist.   Her arms had been
pulled to the back of the chair and secured there.  Panic surged threw her
and she struggled to free herself until a heavy hand clamped onto her
shoulder.  She winced in pain and twisted her head to the side, her eyes
colliding with Drake`s, her need for flight momentarily forgotten as she took
in the man beside her.  Another place and time the man`s presence wouldn`t
have set off the alarms in the Marine's head, but now it was a matter of
survival.  Even with Drake gripping her shoulder she managed to throw her
entire weight forward bucking against the restraints.  Drake stood stunned at
her outburst. Glacing at the back of the chair, he noticed the bindings had
ripped a fair amount of skin from her wrist.  Beads of bright crimson rolled
down her hands to drip onto the carpet blow the chair and as she flung
herself forward again.  Drake`s fatigues were splattered with her warm blood.
 He quickly decided on a different tactic.  Kneeling on one knee, he balanced
his smart gun on his thigh and used his free arm against the woman's chest
effectively pinning her to the chair.

"Hey...hey...you're just hurting yourself," he tried explaining.

Slowly her eyes came around to meet his.  "Just let me go."

Drake shook his head.  "I can`t...I got orders.  You're gonna have to talk to
the Lieutenant before I can cut you loose.  Just cooperate and things will go
alot easier.  Think you can do that?"

She hesitantly nodded her head.

"I`m gonna move my arm now and you ain`t gonna keep fightin me," he  ordered,
hoping he sounded more in control than he was.  He stood and yelled across
the short distance that separated him from Gorman.

"Sir,she`s conscious now." Drake saw Gorman motion for Detrich to follow him
as he strode towards them.

*       *          *            *             *          *             *
       *

Gorman waited impatiently for Detrich to finish her basic med scan of the
woman.  The medic checked all of the Marine's basic vital signs and slowly
worked her way around to the torn skin of the other woman's wrist.

"Sir, she seems to be in pretty good shape. Just like the kid, she could use
a little more food looks like  ... but, given the situation, she`s fine.
I`d like to get a closer look at those cuts.....they look pretty nasty,"
Detrich explained.  Turning to Drake, she asked, "Those are fresh.....did she
just do that?"

Drake nodded his head and cut his eyes down to the Marine.

"It`ll have to wait, Detrich.  I want to ask her a few questions.  Think
she`s up to that?"Gorman asked.

Detrich's reply was cut off by the Marine.  "Why don`t you ask me?  I CAN
speak."

Gorman stared hard at the woman.  "Ok...you can start by telling me who you
are."

"PFC Morgan,sir," she replied, trying to keep the frustration from her voice.

"I wasn`t informed of a unit being posted on Achron.  So, private, why don`t
you tell me what you're doing here."

"That`s no big suprise, sir,"she hissed, a sarcastic smile on her lips.
"Actually, sir, if you care to check the corps data base, I don`t exist
anymore.  I was killed on MR- 4  eighteen months ago."

Gorman, clearly frustrated, pushed his cap back on his head and rubbed at his
forhead.  "I`m not sure what your getting at, Morgan."

"Shit! Okay ... the best I can figure is that the company needed a few of
us grunts to keep the colonist in check once they started squabbling over
mining claims. I figure the company made a few under the table deals and got
themselves a few Marines and wham ...bam, here I am.....stuck on this rock.
Nothing official, no hassle. The company does what they want after our tour.
I'm vapor to them, dead for sure. They'll see to that. Don't need any of us
talkin, pointing fingers."

Gorman shook his head.  "Private, that`s just not possible.  Do you know what
you're accusing ranking officers of?"

Morgan stared at the man in front of her as if he`d suddenly lost his mind.
"Sure it`s possible.  Just think how easy it would be to reroute a few
Marines and report them KIA".

Gorman seemed to reconsider her statement and found himself lending some
credibility to what she was saying.  Hell, he knew the company was capable of
getting exactly what they wanted no matter the cost.  "So, Morgan.  You're
not the only Marine that was sent here?"

"No, sir.  There were four sent here, me and three others,"she replied.

"Where are the others?"he asked.

She lowered her eyes to Gorman`s feet.  "Don`t know, sir,"

"Not good enough private.  I want what you know about what happened to this
place,"he barked.

Morgan drew her eyes back to meet Gorman`s ... cold rage burning in their
depths. "I don`t know for sure what happened to the others.  It would only be
a guess on my part. The only thing I do know is if I were you, I wouldn`t plan
on making camp in this place for to long or the same thing will probably
happen to you."  She shifted her eyes and glanced up to Drake.  A warning was
clearly there in his eyes.  "Look, sir ..... our first few months in the
colony went smooth a few minor mediations between the colonist but that was
about it. Then one day a small survey team shows up with this THING....it was
attached to one of them.  They took him to med lab and that`s the last me and
my men heard of it UNTIL......colonist started disappearing.  Just a couple
here and there at first, mostly the families who had quarters at the far ends
of the colony.  We were sent to investigate the disappearance but nothing
seemed outta place.  They just weren't there. It wasn`t long till more
colonist disappeared and these happened right under our noses ... med lab
personel.  That`s when we began seeing them ... black as night and huge ...
materializing outta walls and ceilings.  They grabbed up anything that moved.
 I've never seen anything  like that...............

*         *         *        *          *         *           *
 

............It was mine and Warwick`s turn at walking the perimeter.  All
the colonist were held up here.  We reached the far end of this wing and
something set off one of the survey charges and we were practically right on
top of it.  That`s the last thing I can remember, except coming to in one of
the air shafts."  She took a deep breath, relieved to finally be finished
telling her story.

Gorman seemed to be satisfied with her explanation, although a little
unnerved by it.  He motioned towards her arms.  "Get her outta those, Drake."

Drake gave her a quick smile as he leaned down to cut the bindings at her
wrist.  Pin pricks of pain flowed over nerve endings up and down her arms as
circulation returned.  Detrick quickly moved back to her side as she stood
from the chair.  The medic grabbed for her arm to examine the cuts.

Morgan fiercely pulled away from the other woman.  "Leave `em I`ve had worse."

Detrich didn`t argue with Morgan. She backed away and turned, leaving the
small group.

*           *             *             *           *             *
 

Morgan shook herself out of the dark wanderings through Hadley's Hope,
cutting her eyes to Riddick.

"That's when shit just kinda went down hill. Hudson...." She gave a slight
laugh. "Fuckin Hudson.  He was such a pain in the ass.  But one bad ass
Marine. Always bitching.  Anyway...." she sighed, his fingers relaxing her.
"Hudson hit the colony's CPU and found the colonists.  All their locators
were still sounding off. They were in the processing station. Tried to tell
'em it was a bad fuckin idea. But hell, they weren't about to listen to me.
So, we pack it up and rallied at the processing station.  I was folded into the unit
as one of three smart gun operators. Three levels down we started getting
into this real weird shit, catacombs or some damn thing."  She looked back
over to Riddick, trying to explain.  "You know, like bees, or ants, something
like that."  She shook her head, hating the next part.  "Found the colonist
all right.  Just kind of stuck to the wall, absorbed into this shit. It got
real crazy real fast. I was bringing up the flanking position and didn't see
what went down up ahead, just hearing the screams was enough. Lost everyone
except Vasquez, Hicks, Hudson, that was all that was left of the deployment team,
those of us sent into the station. Out of 10 fighting Marines we were reduced to three.
We made a final stand in the Medlab.  Lost Hudson and Gorman there. The rest of
us made it out the ventilation shaft to the roof. Bishop had managed to remote the dropship in
and ........"

Part 12

*********************
 

Gina wiped the perspiration from her forehead as she finished filling
the last of the makeshift containers with water and hauling it to the
others.  She smiled slightly as she watched Vasquez dip her bandana in a
small portion of the water and retie it around her head. The kid was
resting quietly now after drinking her fill slowly.  As her eyes scanned
the rag-tag group they came to rest on the one object that kept her
grounded.  As if sensing her gaze, Hicks turned from his position beside
the collected water and nodded.  Slowly she moved toward him resting her
foot on the large rock that he sat on.

Hicks cut his eyes over to her as he screwed the lid tight on the last
container. "Something on your mind, General?" He winked, a wicked little
smile playing along his lips.

"What could I possibly have on my mind, soldier."  She smiled almost
shyly, feeling a rare moment of subservience.  She lowered herself to
sit on the rock subconsciously making sure her head was below his.  "We
really rallied here.  I think that everyone is feeling a little more
relieved now."  Her eyes flicked to his cock for a split second and he
grinned, seeing where her gaze lingered.

"Rallied. Yeah, for now. But stick around. It's bound to get
interesting." He glanced over his shoulder and then back to her. "You're
incredible. You know that?" He leaned in and planted a warm lingering
kiss on her neck.

She felt the fine hair on the back of her neck tickle her skin as his
lips created an electricity that made words difficult.  She kept her
eyes lowered slightly.  "Me?  Incredible?  Hardly.  I just do what has
to be done.  Just like you, Hicks."  Her tongue moved slowly over her
lips as she kept her body near him.  She kept her shoulder at his knee
level and found herself loving the feeling of being psychologically
"under" someone ... it was different and slightly nerve-wracking.

His lips vibrated against the salt slick skin of her neck. "Shut up,
General. Let me feel this. Deal?"

Confusion filled her.  A slick wetness rushed her thighs all because
this soldier dared to tell her to shut up.  What the hell was the matter
with her?  And more importantly ... would it last?  She did something
she never did ... she crossed her legs to feel the rub and egg on the
sensation.  "I'm not God, Hicks.  You're allowed to feel whatever you
want."  Her eyes closed and she found herself leaning her back between
his legs to use clandestine movements to sneak the feel of his
noticeable bulge on the spine of her back.

Reaching around, he took her chin between his fingers and turned her
head. "I mean it. Stop. You're everything you think you're not." He
kissed a trail along her jaw, eyes slipping closed as he sampled her
smooth dusky skin.

Without even realizing it she moved her back sensuously against him
feeling the reaction he was beginning to have.  She willed her eyes to
stay closed, not wanting to be confronted with the reality of where they
were and the people that were depending upon her ... even if they didn't
realize it.  "I am not everything I think I am?"  She sighed as she felt
the moist warmth continue.  "I'm not sure what that means."

"That means you're incredible, amazing. All woman," he growled, moving
to her mouth and thrusting his tongue home.

She found herself sucking on his tongue before pulling back slightly.
"Me?  All woman?  Are you high?  Going soft on me, soldier?"

That was it. He wasn't listening to another word. He brought his hand up
to her mouth and gently held it there. His tongue took its own path,
running down her chin, to her jaw, lower still to her neck and the pulse
point, around to the back of her neck trailing a slick line down her
vertebra. "You wanna talk? Tell me how good this feels. Tell me how hot
you are. But don't ask me if I'm high when I talk about how fuckin’ good
you are. And I'm not talking about being a general, being in charge. I'm
talking about being a woman, feeling like a woman, giving into loving
like a woman." He went back to lapping at her neck.

She didn't even realize the sensual purr that came from her throat as
she leaned her head back.  "I know what I am, Dwayne."  She purred again
and she leaned forward a bit.  "Shit, that feels good.  A little lower?"

He complied, wanting to worship her body properly, the curves and dips
of her. "Like that? That the way you wanna feel it?"

"Mmmm ... yes."  She loved the warm wetness of his tongue and was dying
to let him know it ... but past memories came back to haunt her.  "I
like it," was all she could get out.  Her eyes slid closed again.  "I
want to touch you, Dwayne."  She bit her lip and waited for the
inevitable ridicule.  Is that the best you can do, Gina?  You call that
sexy?  She could hear the words in her head as if she were remembering
yesterday instead of years ago.  Try as she may, she could not exercise
the demons and it was painful ... but she had to tell him how her
fingers itched to fondle his manhood in the only way she could.

"Touch me?" he ground out, nearly pushed over the edge with mere words.
"God, Yes. I want to feel you touch me, G.G.  Make what I feel real for
a change," he ground out, biting roughly at her collar bone.

She slid to her knees in front of him, her eyes looking up into his.
"Make what you feel real?"  She leaned in and seared a feather light
kiss on his chest through the T-shirt he wore.  Her hands were planted
on the firm muscles of his thighs.  "How do I do that?"

He smiled down at her oblivious to anything else but her and the
movements her hands made along his thighs. "Just keep your hands on me.
They feel a helluva a lot better than mine."

She shook her head, her eyes staring into his as her index finger ever
so lightly ran over the large bulge in his fatigues.  "That satisfies
what I want, Dwayne."  Her voice became a whisper, almost pleading.
"How do I satisfy a man?"  Her finger now began to caress the treasure.
"How do I satisfy you?"

He panted in acute pain as his cock twitched and pulsed inside the
gripping tightness of the fatigues. "Damn, G.G. Just instincts
.....You'll know." He worked the buttons down the front of his military
issue, his hands trembling and fumbling with the release.

She shook her head slightly and felt the overwhelming memories again.
Instincts, sweetie.  Just follow your instincts.  If you're a real woman
you'll be able to know.  Tears stung her eyes as she remembered the
fiasco her instincts had created and the ridicule she had received.  As
she  watched his hand, however, her desires got the better of her
curiosity and she gently pushed his hand away, sliding her own into the
unknown territory of his fatigues.  Her fingers sought the hardness she
imagined would be there and she bit her bottom lip as they encircled the
thick girth of him.  She squeezed  her thighs together to ease the
throb.  "Not good at these instincts.  I'm a soldier, Dwayne."

He leaned forward, his cock captured in her hand, hand moving to the
back of her head and pulling her mouth against his.  Kissing until he
was breathless and light headed. "You're a woman, you know what I need.
You know what I want."

Her eyes stayed on his. "I know what you need, Dwayne. I can handle
that. I know how to handle that." As if affirming her words, her hand
slid the long length of him and ended at the base of his engorged cock
and then moved back to the head ... repeating the movement over and
over. She could jerk a man off. She had learned to do that properly, at
least. But she also knew that hand jobs meant little to men ...
especially men who are as experienced as Hicks. Slipping her other hand
under his trousers as well, she positioned her index and middle finger
in a V formation on each of the prominent veins on either side of his
hard dick and applied pressure there as she continued pumping. All the
while, the wetness at the apex of her thighs drenched her erotic, silken
panties overwhelmingly as she clamped her legs together.

Hicks threw his head back, moaning with each stroke, fighting the urge
to thrust upwards against he hand. "Yeah, that's it G.G.!"

She continued her ministrations until she felt the pulse and throb that
signaled to her that he was close to climax. She lifted her body
slightly to stretch her neck to his ear, her tongue flicking out as she
spoke while she enjoyed the sensations of his veins pounding on his hard
member. "Not bad ... right, Dwayne?"

"SHIT! GINA!" A loud keening moan issued from his throat as the spew of
his cock spilled over her hand.

She opted to remain quiet. She knew how to use her hand. She had been
carefully taught. But she had never been taught how to talk erotica at a
time like this. She worked frantically, creating a friction until she
was satisfied that he was well sated. With a glassy eyed gaze, she
slowly moved her hand from his fatigues and gently wiped some of the
sticky liquid on the soft skin of her flat stomach. As she pulled away
even more, she cleaned her index and middle fingers with her tongue, a
shy smile on her lips, eyes down cast.

He wasn't done by a long shot. He pulled her to him making her straddle
his lap as he tried to regain a normal breathing pattern. He needed a
few minutes. That was all ... just a few minutes. "Don't you want to see
exactly where this is going to end up?"

Her legs wound naturally around his waist as she put her hands on his
shoulders. Not now, she thought. She wanted just a little time for him
to enjoy what she had done before realizing that she was a horrible lay.
She wasn't certain exactly when her fatigues were discarded and her sexy
underwear was pushed down. She only knew she couldn't resist wriggling
her center against his center as she spoke. "You know I do," she
breathed against his neck hotly. "But why not just take some time and
... " she nipped the sensitive skin of his neck. "Don't make me say it,
Dwayne." She hid her embarrassment from him, burying her face in his
neck. "Please, just enjoy what I did ... what I know I'm good at."

Hicks didn't say a word, didn't think he had to. Lifting her, he was
quick to impale her on his renewed erection. "Think we're both gonna be
damn good at this.”

A deep intake of breath escaped her as she arched her back, taking his
length completely inside her quivering body and holding it there with
clenched vaginal muscles. She wanted to sing and cry simultaneously as
she began to rock on his lap erotically. She was on her way to sexual
oblivion. The hellish ridicule would come later.

He laid his hands loosely on her hips letting her create the rhythm
between them. "Gina, perfect!" was all he could manage.

Her head was thrown back, his words barely audible as she lifted her
body with her legs and slammed back down on his thrusting cock over and
over, her fingers digging into his shoulders harshly as the stirrings
began. "Fuck, Dwayne ..." she panted without realizing it. "I'm going to
come already!" Perspiration and the aroma of sex covered her body as she
pounded onto him.

He tried to wait her out, wanting her pleasure first. His cock was on
fire, screaming for release. "Cum for me, Gina! Do it."

As if obeying his orders, her body convulsed in a mind-shattering
torrent of climactic intensity. Her eyes closed tightly as she bit his
neck hard to suppress a scream of pleasure. She knew she was not the
best in the world and distributing sexual pleasure, but this sure a hell
proved that she could receive it. The spasms continued for what seemed
like a lifetime. When she spoke, it was breathless but concise. "Come
on, Dwayne ... spurt it inside me. Please!"

His muscled locked in place, he came and came hard, gasping and moaning
as his vision swam in front of his eyes. Finally, giving up, he clamped
his eyes closed.

He muscles milked every of liquid from his body into hers, her spasms
starting to slowly subside. He head fell onto his shoulder as her legs
went slightly slack around his waist."Oh, fuck ..." she whispered into
his ear."There's no way you could have stayed that hard that long."She
giggled slightly, surprised at herself for doing such a feminine thing.

"The rod don't lie, G.G." he replied haultingly as he struggled for
breath, reaching up to run a hand through her hair. "Shit, never
expected that."

She leaned back to look into his eyes, confusion in her eyes. Didn't
expect what? Her lack of ability? She had gotten him off, but was it
good enough? Was he going to begin the ridicule already? Shit, fuck,
damn! She hated this part. But, she steeled herself. Nevertheless, her
eyes became glassy with the tears that were beginning to form. "Never
expected what?"

He pulled her down to him, forehead to forehead. "Never expected to cum
so hard I felt like I was going to pass out. Can't remember that
happening before."

She sighed, a long contented sigh. "Will you do me a favor, Dwayne?" She
lifted her head and looked at him teasingly. "Would you say something to
me in that southern twang you try so hard to cover up." With a twinkle
in her eye she kissed the corner of his mouth. "Pretty damn sexy, you
know what I mean?" She purposely pronounced her distinctive Brooklyn
accent as she allowed her vaginal muscles to give one long, very hard
squeeze.

Hicks rested his head beneath her chin and moaned, low and long. If he
hadn't been motivated to find a way off the desolate planet before he
certainly was now, G.G was that motivation.

*               *          *           *          *

Music floated through the corridors of Carolyn's sleep fogged mind. The
smarmy music and smoke hazed area seemed disgustingly known to her as
she noticed the handsome, well built man in front of her ... his face
barely seen through the impressionistic atmosphere. She felt the
strength and power in his arms as they wrapped around her, pinning her
arms to her sides and pulling her roughly against him. "Dance for me,"
he breathed in an erotically familiar voice.

"Ticket first ... then dance," came the sultry reply.

"What?"

Carolyn's eyes popped open at the sound of Johns' confused look. "What,
what?" she stammered slightly.

He continued fastening his trousers and tucking his shirt in, a small
smile on his face. "You were mumbling. I couldn't quite hear you."

A long exhale fled from her lungs. "I must have been dreaming. Forget
about it." Another deep sigh and she took her cue from him, gathering
her clothes and listlessly dressing.

Johns turned a concerned eye back to her. He was worried about
dehydration, hoping she wasn't falling into the lethargy so elemental of
the condition. But no, Carolyn's eyes were bright and alert now. "What
was the dream? Must be a good one to pull you away like that."

She sighed as she cinched the utility belt to her hips and straightened
it.
"Just one I have every now and then. Nothing really. Music ... a club
..." Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. What did you hear? What did I
say?" She moved to stand in front of him almost challengingly. Demons
long since forgotten were swirling around her menacingly ... and she
never backed down from a fight.

"Nothing. I told you, you were mumbling. I couldn't understand you."
Hands on his hips, he stared at her. "A little tense there, Carolyn. You
afraid you said something you shouldn't of? Something you can't or won't
tell me?"

A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she rested her hand on the
belt at her hips, her head cocked up to meet his gaze. "You should know
by now, Johns. I'm afraid of fuck-all." She lifted up on her tiptoes and
kissed his lips firmly, but quickly, contenting herself with the fact
that she had successfully avoided the subject as her hands moved to his
chest. "Such a hard body," she breathed letting her arms slip around his
tapered waist. "What do we do now?"

Johns knew he'd gotten all he was going to from her. "We find a way
outta here. Maybe save a few others in the process. Then we talk about
us."

With a sigh, Carolyn rested her head on the wall of flesh in front of
her. "Johns ... do you in any way trust me?"

He ran a hand through his damp hair. "Of course I do. You're the only
one I do trust on this rock."

She lifted her face to his, eyes shimmering slightly. "Then trust me
when I say ... you don't want to know." She shivered slightly as she
realized there were things she longed to tell him....but never could.

He took her arms pinning her against him. "NOW, you trust me?"

She looked incredulous. "Johns, your body was inside mine. If that's not
trust, I don't know what is."

"So you trust me with your life, your body, but not your secrets? Try a
little harder will ya," he growled, trying to keep the anger from his
eyes. Or was it hurt? Johns hurt, that was a novel idea once he thought
about it.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "Don't you have secrets? Things
that you wish you had never done or could take back?" Her fingers balled
into fists at her side as she tried to keep from breaking apart. "Things
that you aren't proud of?"

"Yeah, one fuckin big one right now," he hissed, shaking his head and
then giving a hard thought to how his words had sounded. "Don't even
think of taking that the wrong way."

She kept her resolve strong and her voice even and low. "Okay,
then.....tell me what you meant by it." She squared her shoulders and
looked into his eyes. "I don't consider what happened here something I
would want to take back. You?"

"Not for a goddamn second!" he blustered, feeling trapped by his own
persistence. "I'll give ya this. We trade. I give up something and you
do the same. Deal?" He ran his tongue across dry lips.

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she tried to keep from nibbling her bottom
lip. Forgetting to breathe, she slowly nodded. "Agreed."

"Ok ... shit!" he huffed, nearly hyperventilating thinking of the
information about himself he was about to entrust to her. He paced three
short steps and then back, finally looking up and meeting her eyes. "I
got this problem.....really  a fuckin' pain in the ass deal.....my own
fault, I admit that......."

Her brows knitted as she leaned in slightly. "What is it?"

He pulled in a deep breath and forged ahead. "I got this problem with
Morph....I can't kick it, Carolyn ... I can't ... SHIT! I've tried...."
He squeezed his eye shut slamming his fist into the workbench. The
tremors were beginning. At least he could count himself lucky. It had
been the longest time yet he'd gone with out shooting the shit into his
tear ducts.

She looked surprised, yet strangely interested.  “You’re wanting it now
... aren't you, Johns? Jonsing the shit right now, after we've ..." She
wasn't sure what she was feeling a the moment. She only knew she had to
understand what he was feeling. "What is it? What's makes you want it?
The exertion? Tension? Excitement?"  She had been through her own
addiction but was fascinated by his.

"All of it!  Everything makes me want it.  I'm sorry ... I'm really
sorry, Carolyn. You don't deserve this. But you should know. You had to
know.......No secrets....Not now...Not between us...."

He heaved a strained sigh of relief. He'd said it, actually said it, and
it was like a lead weight being lifted from his shoulders. He'd been
honest, honest about the addiction for the first time.

Her tongue ran nervously over her lips. Her hands slid up his chest and
under the stretchy neckline of his T-shirt, fingers caressing his collar
bone. "Is it the Morph you want now? Is it me? Or is it both?"  Standing
on her toes, her tongue swirled on the pulse at the base of his throat.

He moaned, not in pleasure but pain. "Oh god Carolyn, don't ask me that.
Please, I can't......" he said, voice breaking as he practically begged
her not to continue with the questioning. He couldn't distinguish the
needs at the moment, both hard and driving, his mind a whirl of
confusion. "Tell me. You said you'd tell me."

"You can't say it, can you, Johns?" Her hand cupped his cheek and she
smiled slightly. "You can't tell me ... it hurts too much." Her palm
caressed his stubbled face. "I'm won't hold it against you. Just say
it."  Her fingernail gently traced his jaw line. "You won't really know
how I'm going to react until you tell me the worst. Trust me."

"The answer is, I don't know. It's bad....I want both so bad......." He
leaned his forehead against hers. "I want the answer to be you...Just
you ... but, it wouldn't be the truth......."

Her arms moved around his neck. "You said it ... it's over ... and I'm
still here, Johns. And I'm not letting you fucking out of this just
because of some addiction." She lifted her head and flicked her tongue
onto the tip of his nose. "Becasue I'm addicted to you."

He buried his face in her neck as silent sobs racked his frame. No
tears, never again. Johns battered and abused tears ducts refused to
produce enough moisture for actual tears. But the emotions were there
all the same, raw and bleeding.

Her hands caressed his shoulders soothingly. "I know what you're going
through. I was hooked on Pleasure once. It's a cult drug. Ever heard of
it?" She chuckled. "I doubt it. It was fairly localized to a specific
area." She shivered at the memory. "My boss got me hooked and I was like
a freak by the end."

"References … just a comment here and there?  Your boss?  What was the
job, Carolyn?" He sighed against her neck, spent.

She pulled away from him reluctantly and turned her back. She could not
look at him when she told him.

"I worked at a pleasure club." Her arms went around her middle. "It was
a very long time ago ... I was barely old enough to understand what was
what." A heavy sigh escaped her. "I started out dancing. That was all I
went there to do ... dance." A sarcastic chuckle filled the air. "I was
pretty fucking good, too ... if you get my drift."

"Yeah. I get it." A residual shudder ran though him.

"Before long, I was able to make any man who walked in the club want me.
It was pretty profitable." She shrugged. "So, my boss decided he wanted
to use that. When I refused, he was really cool about it." Her fingers
started feeling numb. "The bottom line is, he starting spiking my drinks
with Pleasure. It heightens sexual desires. After a while I couldn't
control myself. And he was the one who profited from it." She squeezed
her eyes shut, trying to rid herself of the painful early memories.

"You know then. REALLY KNOW."  He squeezed her tight against him.

She felt dirty now ... soiled now that someone knew about her previous
life. But she painted on her smile and nodded, turning to hug him just
as tightly. What she had said was nothing. The important thing was
making certain he knew she was there for him.

"Yeah, Johns. I know." She kissed his neck, breathing in the scent of
him. He knew now … and that meant her days were numbered. But damned if
she wasn't going to enjoy what time they had left.

*          *            *              *             *
*           *

Riddick gave a long exhale after listening to Morgan talk. Her words
painted a not-so-pretty picture that captured the essence of what she
had been through. "Tell me the rest of it, baby." His hands moved from
more intimate portions of her body to caress her shoulders.

"What's up with the Ripley chick? Why's she got your undivided
attention?"

She turned to Riddick, eyes glazed with the past, with remembering the
horrific aberrations of LV-426, remembering death.

"She....Ripley...Damn...This is hard....I actually respect her...."  She
shook her head, wiping her hands nervously on her fatigues. "She ran
into those things years before we did. She beat them and ended up in
cryo sleep for 55 years.....And the hell of it is when they asked her to
come back to the planet she did. But when we left the planet we didn't
get away clear. There was one of ....one of those things on the Sulaco
with us. One of us was infected, impregnated, while we were on cryo
sleep."

He went instantly into offense mode. "And you believe it was her?"

She shrugged. "Gut feeling? Yeah. But honestly, it could as easily be
me, could be Newt, could be any of us on the Sulaco. Only way to be sure
is to slice and dice and have a look around inside. Hell, I'd even
prefer that to what I've seen those things to a human."

His fingers became steel vices as his voice went deep and ominous. "Okay
then, we ghost her. Simple as that." A strange protective feeling washed
over him as images of Morgan and the kid ran through his mind. He'd see
hell before he let anything happen to them.

"Any other time I'd be with ya on that, Riddick. But if, and I do mean
IF, it's not her ... we'll need her. I can't take the chance I'm wrong
on this one. There's too much at stake. We wait and see how this hand
unfolds." Her determined gaze bore into the black obsidian goggles.

He was so sure that she was exactly like him. Now he had his doubts. If
there was any chance that the woman had one of the things inside her,
cooking was the only option they had. He was quiet for a few long
moments before slowly nodding his head. "You're call, Morgan. But I'll
be damned if I'll stand by and let bad become fuckin' worse."

"I gotta ask you something." She lowered her head, then looked over to
him. "But take 'em off first. I want to see your eyes."

Slowly ... maddeningly slowly ... his hand moved to the side of his face
and removed the goggles, his luminous, shining eyes staring into hers.
He tried to keep his face unreadable. "Ask away."

"If it's me ... take care of it. Don't let anyone else tough me. You do
it. For me, Riddick?" Her voice remained flat, emotionless as she stared
into the incandesce depths of his eyes.

The only sign of his emotion was the muscle spasm in his cheek. "Yeah.
Okay. I'll take care of it. Only it's not going to happen because it
fuckin' ain't you. Got it?"  His voice was labored with the exertion of
keeping it even.

"Yeah. Got it." She leaned into him licking at his full bottom lip.
"Some how, it sounds right coming from you." She sighed.

His body tensed. Her sultry actions made him crave her .... body, soul,
blood and spirit ... but he had to let her know where he stood on this
before they got carried away into the sensual vortex again. His abnormal
eyes stared into her beautiful ones. "You know we should do her and do
her now. Friendship is one thing ... saving our asses so we can
eventually explore what's between us is another." He became intense now.
"And let's not forget the kid." He shrugged and bit teasingly at her
neck trying to show nonchalance he did not feel. "Just my two cent's
worth, baby."

"If it was a matter of friendship she would've been dead the minute the
scans picked up our hitch hiker. I got not a single problem with having
her blood on my hands or anywhere else it might end up. The problem is
that she's seen these things in action. Maybe more so than me, Hicks, or
Vas. She's gone head to head with one of those bastards in close
quarters. Real fuckin' close quarters. It wiped out her whole crew on
the Nostromo ... a small cargo ship. She knows how to beat them. She
knows how to survive. Like I said, if it's not her then WE'LL need her."

His hand went to the neckline of her T-shirt, grasping a handful of
material and yanking her forcefully ... sexily toward him until her body
was flush against the hard plane of his ... lips scant inches from hers.
"I don't want you fuckin' needing anyone except me."

Her hands dug into his biceps as she kept the contact between them as
hard and unforgiving as possible. "I don't know what it's like to need.
Not like that. How about you? Richard Riddick knows the need for another
person?"

His moved back slowly to look downward at her face, his expression a
mask of stone. "Was starting to think it wouldn't be such a horrible
thing to experience. I have so few first experiences these days. But
something tells me I should just keep to my old stone cold self."

She dropped her face, sliding her gaze across the sandy ground. The
words she should say, needed to say, lodged in her throat. I'm sorry was
something she wasn't even remotely use to saying. So, she avoided it.

"I wanna know, Riddick. I do. It's just something I've never encountered
before. I've always been on my own and never had anyone give a shit
about me."

He trailed the back of his hand along her throat as a chuckle escaped
him. "No worries, baby.  Needing shows weakness ... caring is for
pussies." He smiled as his finger traced her lips forcefully. "I care.
That make me a pussy?"

Tilting her head she met his eyes with a hard glint. "Yeah?" A hard bolt
of desire knifed through her. He cared? An unknown abyss opened up
around her. She wanted nothing more than to explore it, believe in what
he was offering. "No. You're no.... " She shook her head. "Maybe, I can
care too. Maybe, that's why I would have given Johns anything he wanted
to hand you over."

Running a hand over his velveteen head, Riddick sighed. "Tell you what,
baby. I know how you feel, you know how I feel. We just leave it at
that. We feel what we feel and let the emotions flow and discuss it when
and if we ever get ready." He slowly slid his pinky finger into his
mouth, moistening it and holding out toward her. "Deal?"

"Deal," she growled, pushing his hand away and slamming her lips against
his, pushing her tongue deep as she pulled herself onto his lap.

His hands nestled under the firm globes of her ass and kneaded as his
mouth devoured hers mercilessly. Pulling his lips from her for a
fraction of a second, his voice became even deeper than it normally
sounded.  “Shit ... you didn't fuckin' pinky swear." His fingers trailed
up her slightly arched spine. "Guess I gotta keep my eye on you." His
smile was almost charming. ALMOST.

A short laugh flowed from her. "Being inside isn't enough to cement a
deal? I mean, if a pinky swear is really what you want instead  ..."

He was boiling with excitement ... on fire inside. With a strategic
shift, the brunt of his fatigue covered, quickly engorging dick met with
her wet, heated center. "What I want is for you to try to squeeze so
hard you practically break it off." His hands maneuvered in between the
two of them as he began to unfasten and push away clothes fervently.
"Think you can handle that?"
 

Morgan began to tug and pull as clothes, matching his fervor. Wanting
the hard muscle contact to come. "Don't think that's going to be a
problem. It's been a helluva long time."

His rough fingers grasped at her heavy tits and kneaded with intensity,
his mouth latching onto her neck and sucking hard. "Baby, you have no
idea what long is."

"I get the idea your about to change that," she sighed, her head falling
back with the pleasure of his fingers.

"Goddam right!" His tongue bathed her throat like a primal jungle cat
and slowly trailed to the hollow of her cleavage. "Take it out, baby,"
he whispered with reined passion.

Reaching between them Morgan slipped thick length from the confines of
the fatigues. Her fingers played along the pulsing heat.  "Like that?"

Riddick moaned slightly ... very slightly. Standing suddenly, he fell to
the ground with her on top of him and rolled. Opening her legs wider
with his knees, he positioned his hips between her thighs.  "You fuckin'
know I like it."  With his hand, he slowly guided his long, hard cock to
her hot, glistening slit and proceeded with the invasion, pushing only
as far as the purplish head.  "You like THAT, baby?" he countered.

She arched her back, feeling full and stretched with just a portion of
him. Her hand slid down his sweat slicked back to knead the hard muscles
of his ass. "Oh yeah! More!" she hissed, biting roughly at his neck.

Suddenly the need to fill her ... to feel her body melded over his ...
overtook his usual biting sarcasm. He could not form words at that
moment ... his flesh took control. Slowly he let himself push for
complete entrance stopping every so often only to allow her body to
acclimate to his size. When the tightness of his balls met the downy
thatch of her core, he stilled with a sigh, momentarily enjoying the
feeling of her incredible tightness squeezing him harshly.

Morgan couldn't process the incredible influx of stimuli. She was on
overload as her hips began to roll against him, urging him to move. Her
hand glided between them and caressed the point at which they were
joined. "RIDDICK!"

The sound of her voice mixed with the touch of her hand spurred him into
action. With animalistic intensity his body began to lift, slam, roll
and pump inside hers as the friction between the two fleshes caused the
electric heat that signaled the beginning of climactic ecstasy. Not now,
he mentally screamed. This is too good to end now. The veins in his neck
protruded with the tension it took to slow down enough to prolong the
sexual fervor.

"Baby," he growled. Nipping his tongue as it danced inside her mouth, he
drew just the slightest drops of his blood to mix with the fluid they
already shared.

She took every thrust with a low moan deep in her throat, feeling it
hard in the sensitive hollow of her belly. She was so close, so close to
letting go. It had been too long between lovers to hold out hope of
making this last, of prolonging the pleasure. There was one thing she
knew that could send her over the edge, his voice as he was inside her.
"Tell me how it feels, Riddick. Being inside."

He deep and controlled timber of his voice was thickly accentuated by
the swirling vortex of physical sensations playing havoc with his body.
Behind his goggles he was certain he saw explosions of light against
pitch darkness.

"Pressure," he breathed as he sucked and bit at the lobe of her ear as
he forced out his words. "It feels like my dick is in a warm, wet vice
that's squeezing so hard it almost hurts......ALMOST." His mouth moved
lower and, with slight sucking sounds, attached to the pert, aroused
nipple at his lips. "It's like you're locked on my cock and never going
to let go."

She reached down and pulled the goggles from his eyes, waiting for him
to lift his head and praying he wouldn't. The sprial of estasy began
between her thighs ripping through her belly. "RIDDICK! Look at me!
Please!"

With deliberate and reluctant slowness, his face moved from the pleasure
of her taut, well explored nipple. His eyes suddenly lifted, the
unearthly glow of them intensified by the extreme passion he felt. As
the unusual orbs met the bright shine of hers, he felt the first of his
seed begin to spill inside her. Damn. A woman actually looking at his
eyes as he began to come. Who the fuck knew it would be so goddam
exciting?

She bit deep into her lip to keep the screams at bay as she was over
come with orgasmic ripples of pleasure, internally gripping and
releasing. "Your eyes are so goddamn incredible," she gasped.

"My eyes are funtional," he ground out. "You're body ... now THAT'S
fuckin' incredible." And then he couldn't form another word. Suddenly
the hot, thick liquid was shooting from his body into hers, his dick
twitching and pulsing in a way he hadn't experienced since he was a
youth experimenting with sex for the first time. Shit.....that was it.
With her, it was like the very first time. A loud moan ripped from his
as her muscled spasmed over and over again keeping his rod pulsing for
an amazing length of time. Sweat drenched his body as he worked to keep
up with her, until finally, sated, he collapsed on top of her, his face
buried in her neck as he gulped in large amounts of air. "Baby....you
have no idea how fuckin' good you are." He emphasized his words with a
hard, wet kiss that devoured her mouth's entire cavern.
 

Part 13

**************

Ripley felt the fire flare in her chest as another bought of coughing began, air refusing to enter her lungs, lips turning a gray blue hue. She stumbled along falling sinking to her knees every few feet to clutch at her sternum. She was almost certain now she was the one infected and knew she had to find Hicks, he'd take care of it. He'd promised her back on LV-426 that he would. But she had to rest first, had to catch her breath. Falling against a set of double doors she looked up ... they were chained farther up and her blurred vision could barely make out the words CORING ROOM. Hands, too weak, pulled at the door but the doors were secure.

Gotta get outta the sun.... so hot...can't breath.......

Then she saw it ... a rent in the tin of the building. Slithering though the opening she lay in the sand, unmoving and silent.

*********

Vasquez left the small shelter as Newt slept in Imam's arms, nightmares making her twitch and cry out as the holy man soothed her back into sleep. The other children sat around on the floor playing a game with a series of smoothed bones and stones. Suddenly it occurred to her that Ripley wasn't among them, hadn't been seen in sometime.

"Shit!" Vas hissed, turning.

"What is wrong?" Imam asked, eyes filled with concern.

"Ripley. Where the hell did she go? You see her leave?" Vas questioned, looking from the holy man to the kids, Imam shaking his head negatively.

"I saw her slip out a few minutes ago," Jack piped up, jumping to her feet and racing out of the shelter.

"Jack! Damn it! Jack!" Rushing after her, Vas saw her sprint around the building.

"She went this way!" Jack called, pointing across the encampment.  "She was coughin a hell 've lot too."

"HICKS! MORGAN! WE GOT PROBLEMS!" Vas shouted as she followed the kid.

******************

Hicks was in the process of mapping the warm skin of G.G.'s neck when he heard Vasquez shouts. Lifting his head, he strained his ears to hear her.  There was nothing more. But he knew if Vas was yelling for both him and Morgan there was something going down.

"Come on, gotta go," he growled, lifting her off his lap and waiting for her.

With amazing speed she was at his side, two short strides for every one of his long ones.  "This can't be good!" she mumbled in pants as they ran.

"No. Sure as hell can't be," he mumbled, not slowing up in his pace until he spotted Vasquez.

Standing behind Hicks, Gina glanced around the area, mentally taking role.  "Ripley?" she questioned, turning her eyes on the woman almost frantically.  "Where is she, Vasquez?"

Vas pinned her with a hard look and then turned her attention back to Hicks. "Can't locate, Ripley. The kid says she's seen her."

Gina allowed herself a brief moment to be  totally pissed at the woman's reaction.  Grinding her teeth, her hands balled tightly into fists as she tried to push it aside and concentrate on the problem at hand.

***************

Morgan's head popped up from Riddick's shoulder the moment she heard the shouts from Vas. Something was definitely wrong.  The last time she had heard that tension in Vasquez's voice was in the bowels of the processing station, in the catacombs.

"Trouble, baby."  His voice was even and frighteningly controlled.  "It's showtime."

"Sounds like, let's move." She gave a quick nip along his lip and was pushing to her feet, redressing.

Pulling his T-shirt over his head, he gave a humorless chuckle.  "The distractions on this rock are really starting to piss me off."  Taking her by the hand, he started at a run.

Morgan came to a skidding stop beside Riddick and the small assemblage, hearing Vas say that Ripley was missing.  With a sinking feeling she cut her eyes to Riddick.

"You coming?" Jack shouted, coming back into the fray from around the building. Hicks had them divided up just as Imam appeared in their midst. Morgan and Riddick were just turning to follow Jack when the holy man showed.

"What the hell is going on," Carolyn screamed as she ran beside Johns to reach the group.

Morgan turned to the two and uttered a name, knowing they couldn't possible understand just how dire the name was now. "Ripley."

Riddick's voice became deathly menacing as he stepped dangerously close to Imam.  "What the fuck are you doing away from the kid?"  He reached out a hand, grasping for the man.

Imam took a quick step back. "She is in the care of my sons. They watch over her as she sleeps. Mr. Riddick, their lives before they allow her to be harmed in any way. SHE IS SAFE."

Hands grasping the material of the flowing clothing, Riddick pulled the man's face a mere inch from his.  "If she's hurt, you're dead.  Got it?"

"Yes." The holy man simply replied, unaffected by Riddick's protective display. He followed after the small group as they wound around buildings following Jack.  Hicks motioned he, Gina, and Vas would approach the point at which the young boy was running from the east. The rest would take the westerly angle.

"She's in there!" Jack pointed to the largest of the buildings, the Coring Room.

Deciding the best angle was to keep as much peace as possible, Gina fell in behind the two  soldiers, trusting that Hicks would keep protocol in mind whenever practical and keep both Vas and herself in check if things got intense.  Keeping her eye on his back, she stayed to the rear right of him with Vas directly in front of her.  It was uncomfortable and something she not used to ... but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Without waiting for the others, Jack rushed ahead hitting her knees near the tear in the tin. "SEE!"

Morgan shoved passed Riddick to get at the teen.  Dropping down beside Jack she shoved her out of the way. "Get back, Kid!" One glance inside the open space and she saw Ripley curled into a fetal position, presenting her back. She looked to Riddick as he reached the doors and nodded, Hicks and the others appearing opposite her. "It's her. Looks bad, too."

Hicks looked over to Johns and tapped the holstered shot gun at the man's thigh with the barrel of his pulse rifle. "Time to saddle up."

Johns pulled the gun up in front of him, ready.

Carolyn was instantly ready, as was Gina.  Riddick's eyes stayed on the huddled form as he remained mere steps from Morgan.   "Someone here tell me what the fuck to expect before I snap and start pounding just for the hell of it."

"Riddick, just get us in there," Morgan hissed, her eyes glued to Ripley.

Johns clapped the bigger man on the bicep and motioned to the chain barring the way.

Using all the strength in his upper body, Riddick breathed deeply and shoved on the chain.  Once, twice ... and the third time it fell away with a hard snap.

Johns eyes narrowed as he watched Riddick, wondering how he'd ever held him in restraints with that kind of strength. He realized that he could have been free at any point along the way and had obviously made a choice not to. He made a mental note to draw the other man out enough to get some answers. Putting that aside, he fell in beside Hicks, inching through the doors, eyes zeroing in on every shifting shadow.

Morgan followed Riddick inside moving towards Ripley, hesitantly. Then she heard a moan. She was still alive. They had a chance to end it here and now.

Goggled eyes stayed on Ripley as Riddick inclined his head and lowered his voice slightly.  "What now?"  The sound carried, but was aimed directly at Morgan ... the only one he halfway trusted.

A brief glance at him and she had a simple reply. "You were right." Turning her attention to Hicks, a cloud of screeching winged shadows descended from the metal girders above. Ducking, she didn't have time to give them due attention.  Johns seemed to take the lead on that front.   "Hicks!" she hissed, gaining his attention. "I'll turn her. You take the shot. Should be right about here." She pointed mid sternum on herself.  Kneeling, she reached for Ripley just as she started to convulse.

With peripheral vision in the eerily lit eyes, Riddick remained near Morgan as he motioned toward the batlike shapes and snapped at Johns.  "Keep them off!  You don't want to fuck with them!"

"DO IT," he urged Hicks roughly as he continued to monitor the screeching creatures.  "FIRE  her ... NOW!"

Hicks took a shutting breath and squeezed the trigger just as there was an impact with the barrel of the rifle, sending the shot wild ripping into the tin.  The chance to end the nightmare was lost.

"You can't kill her. We must try and help her, preserve her life," Imam shouted, motioning to Ripley just as a fountain of blood erupted below the woman's shirt. The material was ripped away and a wild alien screech filled the air.

"CHRIST!" Morgan crawled backwards bumping into Riddicks leg."TOO FUCKIN LATE!" she hissed.

Hicks began to fire reflexively riddling Ripley's already lifeless body with hot metal. The creature was far too quick and those that had seen it before knew it. The alien was out of sight in a blur, already growing, expanding into the nightmare creature it would become.

"You see it?" Vas shouted. "You see that goddamn thing? It's a queen!" She leaned forward hands on her knees, gasping from air. "We're in deep shit now, man!"

Riddick crossed the few steps to Imam, already reaching for the man.  "What the fuck were you thinking?" he breathed ominously.

Wide eyed, Gina rushed subconsciously beside Hicks.  "What the hell is it?  One of those flying type things?"

Hicks shook his head, dropping the pulse rifle to his side.

Riddick turned to glare at Gina.  "What it is, general, is your worst fuckin' nightmare multiplied by a thousand."  He growled back at Imam.  "Now we have two fuckers to deal with."

Johns turned as the last of the flying creatures disappeared into the coring shaft. One look at the body on the ground and his eyes went wide. "What the hell did that?" He stared at the gaping jagged hole where the woman's chest should have been, wrapping his arm around Carolyn's waist as he drew near her.

Morgan stood and placed a hand on Riddicks flexing biceps. "It's our fault. Not his. Should have done like you said when we had the chance."

"Your sure it was a queen?" Hicks asked, cutting his eyes to Vas. The marine simply nodded.

"A queen?" Carolyn breathed, not able to take her eyes off of the grotesque sight of the woman on the ground.  She found herself leaning slightly into Johns.

"Yeah." Vas popped up. "Just what your thinking. That one is the one that makes more of 'em."

Gina spoke up, trying to quell her  fear.  "Okay, we can stand here and blame each other til doomsday......but it won't solve anything."  She rubbed the goose flesh from her arms.  "What we need to do now is figure out a way to survive."

Morgan looked at Gina and shrugged. "No offense intended here General, but that's what a whole colony said the last time I saw one of these. Didn't seem to help them. We gotta do better." Morgan cut her eyes back to Riddick.

"We should get rid of the body," Shazza interjected appearing just inside the coring room doors.

Gina looked around the area, zeroing in on Hicks.  Moving to him, she nodded.  "Okay ... what to we do?"

Carolyn kept close to Johns, her eyes darting around.  "I have a very bad feeling about all this."

Hicks looked around at the rag tag group and he knew it was time to step up and start mapping things out. "Shazza is right. We take the body and bury it by the caves. No need to draw any more attention with the blood. Then we gather supplies ... that means take our asses back to the crash and the drop ship. Then we choose where to make our stand if we can't find a way off this rock."

Gina nodded.  "Okay.  I'll oversee the burial with Johns and Imam... you and Vasquez make sure that everyone gets back to the crash site safely."

Hicks shook his head. "Vas goes with you."

Riddick leaned into Morgan, speaking lowly.  "Keep close to me."

Morgan nodded, steeling herself, soldiering up. She knew how to do this, deal with this. But now there was a new factor that was just dawning on her. She did care, cared about Richard Riddick.  "Try to get rid of me. You stay close too."

He nodded, his hand secretly squeezing hers for a moment as his eyes scanned the group.  He noted the way Johns seemed protective, yet ready and felt a reluctant respect for the man.

Johns turned and saw Riddick's stare. "So lets do this," he said, finding he actually was glad he'd cut him loose now.

A serious look appeared in the glowing eyes.  "Let's do it."  He turned and gave Morgan a knowing look.

Two distinct groups quickly formed ... those that would bury Ripley and those bound for the crash and dropship. Hicks was issuing instructions explaining what they would need, what to grab, what to avoid bothering with. Over his shoulder Morgan could see Johns, pale as he began wrapping the woman in a tarp.  A reflex jerk from her corpse and Johns pushed away from the body. Vas drew her back by clapping her on the shoulder, handing over her service issue weapon. "The best I can do."

"Thanks. More than I got now. Don't think bare hands are gonna cut it here." She checked the semi-automatic and made sure a round was chambered.

Riddick settled his hand on Morgan's shoulder and pulled.  "Let's go."  His low voice was menacing as he motioned toward the group gathering to head to the crash site.

"Yeah." She looked up at him, nodding, then glancing at Vas over her shoulder. "Watch your back. Watch their backs." Morgan said, knowing she didn't have to but feeling more at ease for it.

Vas radiated one of her rare smiles. "Will do, sister. In the corp we trust." She slapped a grimy hand over the corp insignia on her bicep and Morgan mimicked it, both turning to their separate duties.

Riddick pushed toward the lead of the small caravan, Morgan beside him as they rushed, eyes continuously glancing around.  "You've been through a hell of a lot together."

"What?" she asked, confused for a moment, her mind elsewhere. Her mind filled with renewed alien images but this time it was one of their own. "Vasquez?"

Without taking his eyes from the horizon, he nodded.  "Vasquez ... Hicks ... your team."

A short snap of laughter came from her drawing undue attention from the others. She waited a moment for them to loose interest. "Vas and I are now. Hicks and I trust each other only as far as we have to. Units and me are two things that don't mix real well. Hell, before LV-426 I spent most of my time in the brig. The lone wolf act got my ass busted more often than not."

"Nice ass for one that's been busted so often," he mumbled, eyes still scanning.  He nodded back toward Vasquez.  "She's a tough one."  He turned to look at her meaningfully.  "Almost as tough as you."

She elbowed him for the teasing comment, then sobered when he mentioned the other woman. "She is," Morgan agreed, thinking of the combined moments that had forced her to respect Vas. "Ya know, she had it real bad for this guy in her unit. Name was Drake. Hicks had to hold her back to keep her from charging into a wall of fire for him. And the hell of it was, he was already dead but she didn't wanna leave him." She sighed, remembering Drake's long final scream.

Riddick gave Morgan an understanding look.  "What's best for the group is sometimes hell for the individual."

"Yeah." she shrugged, moving closer to him. "Damn, should have told the kid where I was going before we left. She'll be outta her head before we're back."

His eyes became almost translucent under the goggles.  "We need to stay close to her."  Looking at Morgan, he raised an eyebrow.  "She's not going to take the news about Ripley well, is she?"

Morgan cut her eyes to him. "Don't know, hard to say. She keeps everything inside, all tied up. She probably knew who was infected. Kids got a sixth sense when it comes to those things."

His face remained hard but his voice softened slightly. "You've bonded with her, haven't you?"

She blushed hot with his question, eyes bright with the truth, but feeling she had to save some of her shredded hard ass reputation. "You know, only you could ask me a fuckin question like that, Riddick. Anyone else would have my boot down their throat. Bonded." She shook her head, a slight growl rolling from her throat. "Yeah. What can I say. She grows on ya."

Riddick snickered slightly.  "Rag-a-muffin  kids and hard core convicts ... huh?"

"Something like that." She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Why?"

"Not much difference between the two, huh......with a few obvious exceptions."  Riddick grinned slightly at the joke, trying to lighten the intense mood, if only for a moment.

"Very obvious." An erotic smile turned up her lips. "But you didn't answer the question."

Ridick's powerful shoulders shrugged.  "Seems to me that she's not one you're gonna give up very easily."

"Fair enough." She looked out across the arid sand and rock and then back to him. "Why'd ya ask me about her? Does it matter to you? She matter to you?"

"She's an okay kid," he replied, his turn to salve his hardened image.  "Not too annoying to have around."  The truth was, he'd do all he could to make sure the kid was safe.

"Ok. Good thing to know. At least I don't have to worry about you snapping her little neck," she replied, with as much sarcasm as she could dredge up.

Riddick chuckled.  "You'd snap mine first.....think I don't fuckin' know that?"

God! What had she expect from him. For him to tell her Newt was the daughter he always wished he'd had? Not a fuckin chance in hell she realized, had actually known all along. But she was as close to a mother as the kid had now and like it or not it was her roll and she would step up to it and like it.

"Whatever," she finally replied to him, grinding her teeth in anger.

"Pull it in, baby," he breathed.  "She's important to you ... that makes her important to me."  He would wait until they were alone to assure her of what he would like his role to be in the life of her and her foster child.

"Look, forget it. It's not important." She shrugged, masking the anger as indifference. "You don't have to pacify me, Riddick. I was just curious. No harm in that, right?"

He reined in his own anger.  He was beginning to think they were past this.  "I don't do pacifying.  What I say, I mean."  His voice came out in a low growl.

"Yeah. My mistake." She plastered a smile across her face, and turned to him. "It was just a question, Riddick. I should have expected the answer. My fault not yours."

His hand grasped her arm roughly and turned her torso to face him.  "I'd take a  hit for the kid ... is that what you want to hear."  It was the closest he could come to expressing his emotions.

She pushed in closer to him, not caring who saw. With a deep breath she inhaled his scent, feeling the residual tingle in all the right places. "Yeah. Maybe. Something like that. Something real."

He brushed his cheek against the top of her head.  "If I wasn't sure you and me were together ... I'd fight ya for her.  Since we are ... I say it's fifty-fifty on the kid."  He let his hand move to the back of her neck and caressed for a moment.

"Yeah?" She tried to keep the surprise from her voice, not wanting him to see that it mattered so much to her.

His  voice became intensely serious.  "Try me."

Hicks moved alongside them, a hard look directed their way. "I can see your timing hasn't improved, Morgan. Think you can curtail that till a better time and place?"

Even with goggle hidden eyes, Riddick's glare was obvious as he turned his head to Hicks.

"Sure, Hicks. What? When we're dead?" Morgan hissed, frustrated.

Hicks shrugged. "Point. Just don't fall behind."

Riddick's gaze moved to Morgan ... slight surprise on his face.  "So that's it, huh?  Out in the open?"

She groaned at the suggestion, real frustration hard to deal with now. "God, how I wish. But we don't have time." She molded against him. "You don't know just how bad I want to be lost in that."

Another smile touched his lips as he leaned down and very quickly kissed  her with hard passion.  "Let's go."

*************

As the first group left, Gina moved toward Johns and squatted beside him helping to position the tarp.  "We need to speed it up.  The sooner we get outta here, the better."  Her thick Brooklyn accent returned accentuating her anxiety.

He turned a nervous smile to her, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, be a helluva lot easier if the damn corpse stopped jumpin around."

Gina nodded her understanding.  "Can never get used to that part myself."  She gave a slight smile.  "Let's get it over with and get the hell out."

A look of grudging admiration passed in Johns eyes. "Okay, how bout you take that corner and I get this one and we just tuck her in REAL tight."

She nodded and worked the edges of the tarp intricately.  "That should about do it.  Now let's move her."  She stood and grabbed the covered feet of the corpse.

*********

Vas had followed Carolyn and Imam to the tool shed to retrieve the ancient tools that would be need to bury Ripley. Inside the dim shed she held Frye's weapon at ready, scanning the dark corners, even cutting her eyes to the rafters. It didn't take the aliens long to reach maturity and who knew how much faster a queen would evolve. "Come on, lets move our asses ... don't wanna be caught here in close quarters with that thing," Vas hissed in the quiet.

Carolyn leaned toward Vaquez and whispered almost inaudibly.  "What are the chances there are more of them around here?"  She tried not to become overwhelmed by what she had seen ... but she was exceedingly anxious.

"It's just her until she grows. Then she lays eggs and looks for hosts. When she finds hosts bet your ass there'll be more," Vas replied, cutting right to the chase, giving no fairytale assurances.

Carolyn shivered slightly.  "Then we get her before she finds a host and fry her eggs."

"Easier said than done, captain. That bitch is a fuckin fightin machine. Tear you to pieces before you know she's even there.  Wanna hear something really fucked?" Vas turned a ghost of a smile on her, eyes everywhere at once.

Carolyn licked her lips nervously, her eyes mimicking Vas'.  "Yeah," she breathed.  "What?"

"It's got molecular acid for blood. You know that scar on Hicks' neck and face? He was to damn close when he blasted one with a pulse rifle. His chest looks a lot worse," Vas divulged, her voice low with warning and caution.

"Shit," Carolyn breathed flexing her fingers into fists.  She let out a slight sarcastic chuckle.  "I'm sticking to you, Marine."

"Yeah. Well. Don't go puttin to much faith in me yet. I barely got my ass outta the last scrape with those things. Be a fuckin miracle to beat the odds twice." She shrugged, sparing Carolyn a brief apologetic glance.

Carolyn snorted a laugh.  "My money's on you, pal.  You are my new fucking best friend!"

Vas shrugged, nodding her head towards the door. "Nothing like being in demand. We should get back."
 
**********

The tarped body was as ready as it was ever going to be once Johns and Gina had finished with it. He stood glancing around nervously. He didn't know a lot about the creature that was among them now but one thing was clear, he wasn't into screwing with anything that could do that to a human body. Lifting the shot gun, he cradled the barrel against his shoulder and a thought occurred to him.

"Hey, Gina. Those flying things...." His voice trailed off as he moved to the coring shaft, motioning to her.

"Yeah?"  Gina moved to follow Johns.

"I don't know....Just....Something about those things....about this place......" He reached into the roomy pocket of his fatigues and withdrew a small flare. Sputtering to life, he dropped it down the shaft. "Where do you suppose all those people went?"

Gina let out a low sigh.  "I'm not sure I even want to know."  She moved up behind Johns and peered into the shaft.  "Sometimes the unknown is preferable."

He glanced over his shoulder at her. "In our case, the unknown is deadly." Drawing his eyes back to the shaft he thought about what could possibly drive away a whole colony and where they could have possibly gone. He didn't like the conclusions he was coming to.

Gina took a deep breath, not knowing how her  next statement would be accepted given the hard feelings between her and the man.  "You're good, Johns.  I'm sure as hell glad you're around."  She continued her inspection of the shaft, not letting her eyes land on his ... keeping the situation from becoming uncomfortable.

"Yeah. Your not to bad yourself, general." He hoped she could understand the honesty of his words, know he was glad she was around.