Chapter 12: CAGED
"Commander," a voice came over Krone's headset. "The outer perimeter is secure. I have a six-man team with me and another six men out on patrol with Sergeant Grumman. Nothing is going to get in here."
"Good," Krone replied, pointing at the monitor in front of the man sitting at a nearby computer console. "Bauman, what about the main computer, have you secured it yet?"
"The main computer is back online. I re-established connection to all areas, except one."
"Which one?"
"Here," Bauman replied, gesturing towards the monitor in front of him. "There's a power drain just outside the C&C deck."
"How secure are we?"
"I locked down the bulkheads leading into the C&C deck prior to the power drain." A voice answered from a half-sized figure standing at an oversized monitor in the far corner. A little girl standing in a Necromonger Priest's robe stood with her back to Krone, watching the power outages move around the C&C deck as if the darkness was testing their defenses.
Krone carefully flipped through the camera feeds on the C&C deck, scrutinizing each image as it popped onto the screen in front of Bauman. After a few times around, he asked, "Bauman, have you determined why we lost computer control or why we're still experiencing random power outages throughout the ship?"
Bauman brought up another screen and answered, "No., Commander. And the outages aren't random." He paused long enough to point at several flashing dots on the screen. "The power loss occurred along a fixed path leading directly towards our position."
Krone traced the path of power outages with the tip of his finger until he came to the last indication and asked, "How many areas are still experiencing power outages?"
Bauman pressed a button on his console and a single point lit up beneath Krone's fingertip. Bauman stared up at him and explained, "Just one, the corridor just outside the starboard C&C bulkhead is currently operating at an 87.3 percent power loss."
"Whatever it is, it's here," Krone whispered to no one in particular.
Riddick stood with his back to the wall with half his body de-materialized in the darkness beyond and the other half cloaked in the murky shadows following him through the ship. He watched as the six-man patrol approached his position, but did not move or conceal himself.
The squad leader stopped just inches away from Riddick and said, "Master Sergeant Freeman, to control. The area is secure." Then he turned back in the direction he and his men had just come from and added, "We've finished our sweep of the surrounding areas and found nothing to report, requesting permission to reenter the C&C deck."
"Affirmative," Ensign Bauman answered, readying to press the button that opened the starboard side bulkhead. But before he could press it, commander Krone shouted, "Wait!" He reached down, opened a communications channel on the console beside him and asked, "Did you locate the cause of the power drain in that sector?"
"No Commander, we didn't come across anything that explained the power loss." Freeman answered. "There is nothing out there."
Krone slammed his fist on the console and snarled, "Dammit." He stared at Bauman, adding, "Go ahead, let them in. But be quick about it."
Bauman pressed a button, and the starboard side bulkhead began slowly rising out of the way. Krone tensely watched the monitor as the six men quickly ducked under the partially open bulkhead, making their way towards C&C.
"I told you," Krone said, reaching over in front of Bauman to reverse the bulkhead's direction. He snapped, "make it quick."
Riddick never made a move to get inside before the bulkhead closed; he just stood in the shadows watching the last man duck beneath the lowering bulkhead. Before the bulkhead closed all the way, the last man in the squad dropped to his knees and stared out from beneath the closing door with a terrified expression.
"Corporal Jenson," Freeman called to the man, trying to see what was on the other side of the closing bulkhead.
The man rose to his feet, backing away from the closing door and answered, "Yes, Master Sergeant."
"What's the problem?" Freeman asked, walking back to his position.
Jenson stared at the closed bulkhead and answered in a foreboding tone, "I thought I saw something in the shadows; just outside the bulkhead."
"What did you see?" Freeman demanded.
"Eyes," he answered, wide eyed, "I saw a pair of blue eyes."
Sergeant Freeman stared over Jenson's shoulder at the closed bulkhead and asked, "You mean you thought you saw someone standing in the shadows outside?"
Jenson turned to him with a look of terror, shaking his head ominously and replied, "No Sarge; I only saw a pair of blue eyes staring out from the shadows; no head, nobody, just eyes."
Krone watched Freeman questioning Jenson on the monitor and called out over the comms, "Freeman, report. What's going on out there?"
"It's Jenson Sir," Freeman answered. "He thinks he saw a pair of eyes in the shadows. Do you want me to take a team and investigate?"
"NO!" Krone bellowed and Freeman grimaced as if the sound emanating from his head set pained him. "Keep that damn bulkhead shut and kill anything that tries to get through."
"Yes, Commander."
Riddick stepped back into the shadows, found himself on the other side of wall again wearing a mischievous smile that spread across his face. No locked door would ever keep him out again. He walked past the bulkhead to where Freeman was standing and stood cloaked in a shadow realm, listening to every word they said. Concealed in absolute darkness, Riddick waited for just the right moment to reveal his presence to the advisories on the other side of the wall. He watched the energy coursing through his fingertips and said to himself. "A person could get used to this." Reaching out, he placed his right hand on the barrier between worlds and made his presence known. The lights in the corridor leading into C&C slowly dimmed and Jenson pointed at the wall, where a black handprint took shape.
"What the hell is that?" Jenson asked, backing away, raising his gun in fear.
Everyone aimed at the handprint forming on the wall. After a few chaotic moments, seven men stood in a semicircle around the handprint, watching as a tenacious black liquid like hot tar slowly oozed out and trickled down the wall. When the steaming fizzing goop reached the floor, it transformed into a brackish mist that rose into a column.
Krone watched over the monitor, saw the terrified reactions of the men, and shouted, "What's going on out there?"
The lights went dark; the monitor went black and so too did C&C. Krone stood in darkness, cut off from whatever was happening outside thinking the worst.
"You're not afraid of the dark, are you boys?" A voice taunted from somewhere just beyond the wall.
The corridor flickered to life as seven frightened Necros hastily switched on the flashlights fixed to the front of their weapons. But seven tiny lights did little to frighten away the specter that came to collect an old debt.
The column of mist slowly coalesced into a terrifying figure that stared at the heavily armed men without concern or remorse. "This doesn't have to get any uglier. I'm just here to settle some unfinished business with Commander Krone," he warned, as the blue energy emanating from beneath his blackened form filled the corridor.
Sergeant Freeman lowered his weapon to his waist and asked, "What business could you possibly have with him?" All the lights in the corridor surged as an ultraviolet light erupted from somewhere deep within Riddick's cracked and burned body. The energy coursed up through his body, exploded out of the top of his head like lightning bolts crossing a cloudy night sky and snaked away across the misty ceiling.
Freeman and the others watched the dazzling display above them in awe. When Riddick was satisfied they had all returned their attentions to him, he explained, "I believe you were all misinformed of my untimely demise."
"Who are you?"
Riddick focused his thought, realizing the energy scorching his skin made him unrecognizable. He drew in his hatred, his need for vengeance and when he was normal, once more, said, "I just came to set the record straight." His words carried an unmistakable sense of foreboding. "I suggest you leave before things get out of hand."
Master Sergeant Freeman dropped his weapon, letting it dangle from its carry strap as he walked straight up to Riddick and took a knee in front of him. He bowed his head and said, "Forgive us Lord Marshall, we were told you were dead."
Riddick watched as Freeman's men lowered their weapons, took a knee, and placed their chins on their chests in allegiance. "I hold none here responsible for the deceptions of one. But I will allow no one to stand in my way."
To everyone's surprise, Corporal Jenson cut in unexpectedly. "He has no authority here; he was never one of us."
Riddick covertly reached down, grasped the hilt of his dagger and waited for Jenson's next move. Freeman saw him arm himself, but did not warn Jenson; he, too, waited to see what the winds of fate would bring.
"You will not hurt him." Jenson said, lifting his weapon to fire at Riddick. But Riddick had already pushed Sergeant Freeman out of the line of fire and sent his dagger hurtling through the air. At the same moment Jenson drew down on his target, Riddick's dagger penetrated the flesh of his shoulder, pinning Jenson helplessly against the wall like a shirt hung out to dry. Jenson cried out in pain, lost control of his rifle, and watched it tumble to the floor at Riddick's feet. Riddick picked the weapon off the floor, handed it to Freeman as his skin prickled with the sound of energy surging through his veins.
"If there are any other takers, this would be the good time to let me know."
Everyone let their weapons hang from their straps like Freeman and stood by, watching as he closed in on Jenson like a lion preparing to feed on its defenseless quarry. "Why don't you people ever learn?" Riddick asked, leaning in close enough to smell the fear dripping from Jenson's brow.
Jenson reached out with a trembling hand, tried in vain to grab Riddick's neck. But Riddick wrenched his feeble hand away, jammed it against the wall behind his beat red face and studied him as if he were a bug pinned to a display board. Riddick could see through his skin as if it were a translucent covering barely containing the energy coursing through his own nervous system. He pressed a blackened fingernail against his chest and felt the hum of energy racing past. It made him feel strong like he had when he was in the underverse, and he soon realized the energy powering Jenson was the same energy flowing through the underverse.
In one profound instant, Riddick knew we were all connected by an unseen web of pure energy that flowed through everything. He pushed his hand inside Jenson as everyone watched in utter disbelief and tore the energy from his body and held it up for close inspection. Riddick marveled at the disembodied soul in his grasp as the remaining six men surrounding Riddick fell upon their knees in fear. Jenson's mouth moved as if he was pleading for mercy, but Riddick glared at his comrades kneeling before him and said, "In the future, when I say jump, you say what?" Jenson mouthed the words, how high.
Riddick turned to Jenson's lifeless body and said, "Hold on, this may sting a bit." To everyone's shock, Riddick slammed Jenson's soul back into his body with all his might, and a ball of blue light erupted from inside his armor, splintering it into a barrage of shredded pieces that flew off in every direction. He watched Jenson sink down the wall, leaving the dagger embedded in the wall like an unused coat hook.
Jenson's eyes flared wide, his mouth gaped open as he gulped in air like a fish hoisted from the sea and dropped on the deck of a fishing ship. Riddick smiled down and said, "You're welcome."
"Threshold, you passed through the threshold."
He turned to the Master Sergeant and his men and said, "Get off the floor. You look ridiculous."
"But you said you would never undergo transcendence." Freeman said.
"I didn't do it for me."
Sergeant Freeman went over to Jenson, pulled the collar of his shirt to the side, inspected the spot where Riddick's dagger had pierced his shoulder, and shook his head in disbelief. He gestured for his men to come closer and said, "There's no injury and look... his color... has returned."
He turned Jenson's head to the side to show everyone his neck before adding, "Even the marks of conversion are gone. How is this possible? You reversed the conversion process."
Riddick shrugged and replied, "I saw something I could fix, so I fixed it."
Freeman stood up and said, "I watched my world burn as I flew away, too afraid to stand and fight an enemy I knew I could never defeat."
"We all did." Jenson added.
One of his men said, "We purchased our futures by sacrificing the lives of our families and the only sin greater than cowardice is that of allowing others to die that you may live."
Riddick stared at Freeman and the other men and said, "I have some experience with that kind of guilt." He turned to the door, thinking of his shame and knew the time came to cast it away. He held out his hand to the Master sergeant and said, "Join me, I follow a different path now."
"And what path is that?" Master Sergeant Freeman asked.
"I don't know yet. Maybe y can help me figure that out," He replied.
Freeman gesture between his men and himself, and asked, "Can any change the things they've done?" He gestured to Riddick and added, "The things we've all done?"
"No." Riddick replied, "But I have to believe we can learn to forgive ourselves." He touched his own chest and added, "Because true forgiveness comes from here."
Freeman turned to his men, waited for each of them to nod their acceptance to join, offered his hand in agreement. "There is something we'd like you to do for us."
"What?"
Freeman turned his head, exposing the circular scar on the side of his neck and said, "If you could take away Jenson's pain, take ours, as well."
"Fair enough," Riddick said, releasing his hand. He held his hand out to Jenson, who has still sitting with his back against the wall and jerked him to his feet. "But that is going to have to wait." He gestured at the heavy steel bulkhead leading into Command and Control and added, "As for now, I still have unfinished business with an old friend. But l give you my word, before we leave this place I will do as you ask."
Freeman walked to the control panel beside the bulkhead leading out of the area, keyed in an emergency override code unlocking the panel and warned, "Before you confront him you should know after he left you for dead, he returned to the Armada and Vaako gave him command of the Sheong-Ja as a reward. As I hear it, the idea came from his chief science officer." Freeman explained, preening Jenson's disheveled uniform like a mother hen.
Riddick turned to him with a foreboding expression and replied, "Kearyn already told me."
Freeman looked puzzled by the fact he knew Kearyn and said, "Yes, and did he also tell you he had something very large delivered to the Lord Marshal's private chambers. Chambers, I might add that are rarely ever visited; even by Krone." As the door slowly opened, Freeman motioned for two of his men to help Jenson and watched as they walked away with him in tow. He turned back to Riddick and replied, "In the meantime, the men and I will head down to the infirmary to have Jenson checked out."
Riddick nodded at Freeman as he ducked beneath the closing bulkhead and said, "Good idea. Pick up the other detail patrolling outside on your way down. I don't want anyone else injured in the crossfire."
Freeman nodded over his shoulder and added, "Thank you. I think we all know this could have gone a much different way."
Riddick nodded and replied, "Just don't make me regret this."
"Please," a voice came from behind Freeman, and Jenson stepped forward. "My brother is in there; he is all I have left. I'm begging you, please help him?"
Riddick stared at Jenson, finally understanding why he'd attacked him, and asked, "You weren't trying to defend Krone, were you?"
"No," he shook his head and answered. "I was one of the lucky ones. When the Necromongers destroyed my home world, they took both my brother and me. He is the only family I have left."
"What about Krone?" Riddick asked.
Jenson was on his knees trying to finish his conversation before the bulkhead closed and blurted, "Krone is a monster. He was a monster before his conversion. He is beyond saving. But my brother was a good man once and he can be again. He just needs someone to show him the way back."
"We'll see." Riddick said, as the bulkhead closed with an ominous thud.
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