{"id":1234,"date":"2025-02-18T18:05:51","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T23:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=1234"},"modified":"2025-02-27T06:20:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T11:20:22","slug":"song-of-many-verses-chapter-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/song-of-many-verses-chapter-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Song of Many \u2019Verses, Chapter 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\">\np {\n  border-bottom: 0;\n  border-top: 0;\n  display: block;\n  padding-bottom: 0;\n  padding-top: 0;\n}\np.indented {\n  margin-bottom: 0;\n  margin-top: 0;\n  text-indent: 1em;\n}\np.indented-offset {\n  margin-bottom: 1em;\n  margin-top: 1em;\n  text-indent: 1em;\n}\np.block {\n  margin-bottom: 1em;\n  margin-top: 1em;\n  margin-left: 2em;\n  margin-right: 2em;\n}\np.center-block {\n  margin-bottom: 1em;\n  margin-top: 1em;\n  margin-left: 2em;\n  margin-right: 2em;\n  text-align: center;\n}\np.letter-block {\n  margin-bottom: 0;\n  margin-top: 1em;\n  margin-left: 2em;\n  margin-right: 2em;\n}\np.indent-block {\n  margin-bottom: 1em;\n  margin-top: 0;\n  margin-left: 2em;\n  margin-right: 2em;\n  text-indent: 1em;\n}\np.poetry {\n  margin-bottom: 1em;\n  margin-top: 1em;\n  margin-left: 3em;\n  margin-right: 2em;\n  text-indent: -2em;\n}\np.right {\n  margin-bottom: 1em;\n  margin-top: 1em;\n  text-align: right;\n}\np.excerpt {\n  margin-top: 1em;\n  margin-bottom: 0;\n  margin-left: 3em;\n  margin-right: 3em;\n}\np.excerpt-right {\n  margin-top: 0;\n  margin-bottom: 1em;\n  margin-left: 3em;\n  margin-right: 3em;\n  text-align: right;\n}\nhr {\n  align-content: center;\n  width: 50%;\n  background: linear-gradient(to right, #4474BE 0%, #243a68 100%);\n  height: 3px;\n  margin-bottom: 1em;\n  margin-top: 1em;\n}\ntt {\n  font: 0.857em menlo, monaco, consolas, monospace;\n  margin: auto;\n}\nh2 {\ntext-align: center;\n}\nh2.chapterhead {\nmargin-bottom: 2em;\ntext-align: center;\n}\nh3 {\n  text-align: center;\n}\nh3.afterword {\n  margin-bottom: 1em;\n  text-decoration: underline;\n}\nh3.headline {\n  margin-bottom: 0;\n}\nh4 {\n  text-align: center;\n}\nh4.headline {\n  margin-top: 0;\n  margin-bottom: 1em;\n}\n.nowrap {\n  text-indent: 0;\n  display: inline-block;\n}\nli {\n  list-style-type: number;\n  padding-left: 1em;\n  margin-left: 0;\n  margin-bottom: 10px;\n}\na {\n  text-decoration: none;\n}\n<\/style>\n<p><b>Title:<\/b> Song of Many \u2019Verses<br \/>\n<b>Author:<\/b> Ardath Rekha<br \/>\n<b>Chapter:<\/b> 3\/?<br \/>\n<b>Fandom:<\/b> <i>Pitch Black<\/i> (2000); <i>The Chronicles of Riddick<\/i> (2004); <i>The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury<\/i> (2004)<br \/>\n<b>Rating:<\/b> M<br \/>\n<b>Warnings:<\/b> Adult themes, controversial subject matter, harsh language, violence<br \/>\n<b>Category:<\/b> Het (Plot)<br \/>\n<b>Pairing:<\/b> Riddick\/Jack<br \/>\n<b>Summary:<\/b> On board the <i>Kublai Khan,<\/i> Tomlin, MacNamera, and Toombs have a lot of questions for each other, mostly about their various connections to a girl named Jack.<br \/>\n<b>Disclaimer:<\/b> The characters and events of <i>Pitch Black,<\/i> <i>The Chronicles of Riddick,<\/i> and <i>The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury<\/i> are not mine, but belong to Universal Studios.  I just <i>wish<\/i> I were in charge of their fates.  No money is being made off of this.  I\u2019m writing strictly for love of the story.<br \/>\n<b>Feedback:<\/b> Absolutely, the more the better!  Shred me, whip me, beat me, make me feel grammatical! I post \u201crough,\u201d so I can always use the help. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<input type='hidden' bg_collapse_expand='6a654cf84580a2084281879' value='6a654cf84580a2084281879'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6a654cf84580a2084281879' value='Long post is long. Click to read the story.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6a654cf84580a2084281879' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6a654cf84580a2084281879' class='bg-showmore-plg-button bg-green-button  '   style=\" color:#D9ECFB;\">Long post is long. Click to read the story.<\/button><div id='bg-showmore-hidden-6a654cf84580a2084281879' >  <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"chapterhead\">3.<br \/>\n<u>The Off-Label Path<\/u><\/h2>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cYou\u2019re sure they\u2019re in the Mirach System?\u201d It was probably the sixth or seventh time John MacNamera had asked that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Tomlin didn\u2019t rise to the bait. \u201cThat\u2019s the latest intel, which is less than a week old. We wondered why they were no longer following the attack schedule Phantom, one of our top Operatives, worked out. If Riddick has, indeed, taken over as their commander, that could be why.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">The combat pilot was moving from station to station on the <i>Kublai Khan<\/i>\u2019s bridge\u2014there was an odd distinction between how military and civilian spaceships named things; on the <i>Santa Clara<\/i>, this room would have been called the flight deck, but aboard the merc vessel, which had most of the trappings of a military ship, that term was reserved for the massive hangar that they had docked the Dassault in\u2014adjusting controls as he went. Toombs, cuffed and sprawled in a nearby seat, grumbled quietly to himself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">The merc ship was, from the little MacNamera had seen of it so far, a ghost ship. There was no crew to speak of, even though the bridge contained half a dozen stations that ought to have been manned. What was someone like <i>Toombs<\/i> doing with it?<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cHow long will it take us to get there?\u201d he asked instead, another flutter of worry moving through him. It was now almost three weeks since Audrey had disappeared. Anything could be happening to her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cNot long.\u201d Tomlin moved to another panel and began punching in codes. \u201cThere\u2019s a trick to Star Jumping that only a very few know. If, instead of plotting a course using the Star Jump database, or using one of the course presets, you supply the Isomorph Drive with your starting and ending coordinates and let <i>it<\/i> map the <span class=\"nowrap\">way\u2026\u201d<\/span> He pressed a button on the console and looked up, a hint of a pleased smile on his face. <span class=\"nowrap\">\u201c\u2026you<\/span> can shave weeks, or even <i>months<\/i>, off the journey. But you\u2019ll see some very strange things outside of your windows instead of just the blank nothing of normal star jumps.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cAn\u2019 you know this how?\u201d Toombs growled, his expression challenging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cI\u2019ve done it.\u201d Tomlin moved to another panel. \u201cThe protocol is experimental. Off-label. I was asked to test it, and my journey was successful. I traveled from Furya to Tangiers Prime, and back, in three days each way. Most of the transit time was sublight, clearing the gravity wells and dodging surveillance beacons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cNo fuckin\u2019 way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Tomlin just smiled and moved to the final panel on his itinerary. \u201cYou\u2019ll get to see for yourself shortly. Tell me how you came to be in command of this vessel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cAin\u2019t your business.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cOh, I think it is,\u201d Tomlin said. \u201cHow did <i>you<\/i> manage to inherit Antonia Chillingsworth\u2019s property?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Toombs grimaced. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cNo, I really do.\u201d Tomlin finished setting the controls on the last panel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><i>\u201cSystem alert,\u201d<\/i> a canned female voice said over the speakers. <i>\u201cStar Jump commencing in T-minus five minutes. All crew report to your designated stations.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cYou\u2019d never believe me,\u201d Toombs grumbled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cI\u2019ve had a great deal of practice, in the last five and a half years,\u201d Tomlin said as he walked over to Toombs, \u201cbelieving six impossible things before breakfast. Try me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">The two men locked eyes; Toombs looked away first.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cFine,\u201d he grumbled. \u201cIf you tell me how you survived the New Marrakesh Spaceport Explosion. <i>You<\/i> were its primary target. How\u2019d <i>you<\/i> live when hundreds didn\u2019t, without even a scratch on you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">That, MacNamera thought, was a very good question. He\u2019d seen the news feeds of that explosion, which had damaged everything in its path for miles, and had instantly vaporized everyone close to it. Two terrorists, Javor Makarov and Duke Pritchard, had been declared responsible for it; Makarov was dead and Pritchard was still at large. But now this Toombs guy was saying it had been an assassination attempt?<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cVery well,\u201d Tomlin said, sitting down in one of the chairs. He met MacNamera\u2019s eyes and gestured for him to sit down as well. \u201cAfter you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Toombs\u2019 sotto voce grumblings had something to do with Tomlin\u2019s parentage. \u201cFine. Husbands trump blood relatives in the next of kin chart, don\u2019t they?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Shock widened Tomlin\u2019s eyes, and then he sputtered with laughter. \u201cYou? You\u2019re <i>Mister Chillingsworth?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Toombs rolled his eyes. \u201cYeah yeah, get it all out. <i>Yes.<\/i> That\u2019s me. <i>Mister Chillingsworth,<\/i> for fuck\u2019s sake. I was the fuckin\u2019 <i>captain<\/i> of the <i>Kublai Khan<\/i> ten years ago, before that shitbird Junner showed up. Had it all worked out, too. Every move, nice and smooth. I was gonna be set up for life, I thought.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Tomlin looked more entertained than ever. \u201cYou hadn\u2019t done your homework where she was concerned, had you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cThought I had,\u201d Toombs grumbled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cNot sure I get what the big deal is,\u201d MacNamera said, looking between the two men. \u201cYou married the owner of this ship, and inherited it when she died? What\u2019s so unbelievable about that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cAntonia Chillingsworth,\u201d Tomlin said, appearing to still be fighting laughter, \u201cwas a notorious black widow who went through at least a dozen wealthy husbands. Most of her fortune came from the men <i>she<\/i> inherited from upon their untimely deaths. Her involvement in any of those deaths could never be proved. Fifteen years ago, she bought this ship, using up almost her entire amassed fortune in the process, and turned it <span class=\"nowrap\">into\u2026<\/span> well, why don\u2019t <i>you<\/i> tell Colonel MacNamera what she turned it into, Toombs?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cAfter you spill,\u201d the mercenary grumbled. \u201cI told you what you wanted to know. Now it\u2019s <i>your<\/i> turn.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cVery well,\u201d Tomlin said. \u201cIt is, in fact, the story about how your daughter,\u201d and he nodded in MacNamera\u2019s direction, \u201csaved my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"indented\">By the time Tomlin reached the doors of the pilots\u2019 lounge, his heart had begun to race and he was having a hard time suppressing shivers. He kept his walk and body language as calm as possible, smiling at the staff and returning their greetings\u2014they all knew him and were happy to see him again\u2014but the growing conviction that he might die that day had begun to hit a fever pitch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">The man following him was one he had seen, on more than one occasion, in the entourage of the Quintessa envoy. Given that the Quintessa Corporation knew exactly where he was going\u2014he hadn\u2019t even <i>tried<\/i> to hide his plans, the more fool he\u2014there was no need to surveil him. Which meant that the man\u2019s intentions were a thousand times darker.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Tislilel had been right. About <i>everything.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><i>\u201cWe just know that they\u2019ll do anything\u2014<b>anything<\/b>\u2014to cover up the existence of Threshold Syndrome and what causes it,\u201d she had told him the very first time he had met her, not long after he had watched her swim through thin air. \u201cSo please let that part go. They have ways of making evidence disappear.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">The files he had planned to retrieve from Tangiers Station A were probably already destroyed. His knowledge that the <i>Scarlet Matador<\/i> had undergone a Level Five Incident, and his resistance to the new narrative that the crisis had been a rare pathogen on board the <span class=\"nowrap\">ship\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><i>That lie doesn\u2019t even make  sense,<\/i> he thought again. <i>All of the passengers and crew were in cryo for the entirety of the journey, unable to infect each other, and none of the quarantine protocols for a pathogen were used when they were being kept in the hospital!<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2014His<\/span> resistance to that lie and his awareness of just how many holes were in it made <i>him<\/i> the most inconvenient piece of evidence of all.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><i>\u201cRegardless of what the secret is,\u201d Tislilel had told him when they met for the second time, \u201cthey\u2019re willing to kill whole shipfuls of innocent people to keep it hidden. I\u2019m really worried that you\u2019re in their crosshairs, too.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">She had been right. The girl\u2014half his age at the oldest she could possibly be\u2014had made several astonishing moves to try to protect him, too. One still awaited him in a locker back in town.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><i>I need to go to ground. Using the new ID she made for me.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cColonel Tomlin?\u201d Emmahin, one of the lounge\u2019s hostesses, said after a moment. \u201cDid you want to check your bag while you eat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">His bag. Containing a change of clothes in case he had to stay on Tangiers Station A longer than just a few <span class=\"nowrap\">hours\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cNot quite yet, thank you,\u201d he told her. \u201cI need to make use of your restroom first, please.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cOf course,\u201d she said with a smile. \u201cWould you like your usual prepared while you do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">He gave her a smile in return. \u201cNot yet either. But thank you, Emmahin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">The plan was embryonic. Simple. He would change out of his uniform and into his civilian clothes, which came complete with a face-concealing <i>tagelmust<\/i>, and try to slip past his tail without the man\u2019s knowledge. He would leave his comm and his cards behind, using the bit of emergency cash he had on him to pay the transit fare back into town, just in case his calls and financial transactions were being monitored. Then he would get the ID Tislilel had created for him, and the funds she\u2019d said were with it. Once he had them, he would dodge the Quintessa Corporation long enough to make a few decisive moves of his <span class=\"nowrap\">own\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><i>This could destroy the Federacy itself,<\/i> he reflected as he changed out of his uniform. He\u2019d said as much in his message to his younger brother. <i>What I\u2019m about to try to do could have repercussions throughout known space. If I\u2019m right about what <b>they\u2019re<\/b> doing, taking them down could <b>end<\/b> faster-than-light interstellar travel.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">But if he was right, the monstrous crime that allowed it to occur at all was unendurable. He couldn\u2019t stand by and allow it to continue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Neither Tislilel nor Dihya seemed to have figured it out, even though it was their actions, and the <i>cost<\/i> of those actions, that had made the pieces fall into place for him. He had watched as Tislilel, only half conscious, had tracked the path of the two shuttles, her eyes unerringly following the route they were taking even though they were in an entirely separate <i>uni\u00ad<span class=\"nowrap\">verse\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">He had seen the waves of fatigue that had struck her as she brought each of the shuttles back from \u201cElsewhere\u201d to Othman Plaza. Carried her in his arms as she had slept, and even as she struggled to regain consciousness. Kept his arm around her as she unsteadily walked, for brief periods, before she succumbed to exhaustion again. How much worse, he wondered, would it be to hold an entire starship in one\u2019s mind, for hours or days at a stretch, and control which universe every single atom of it resonated with the whole time?<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Could that kind of exertion kill? <i>Did<\/i> it, sometimes?<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">And <span class=\"nowrap\">who\u2026<\/span> or <i><span class=\"nowrap\">what\u2026<\/span><\/i> died when it did?<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">He finished changing, slipping the key that Tislilel had given him into an inner pocket of his djellaba and his bit of cash into another pocket. Everything else\u2014his comm, his ID, all but one of his funding cards\u2014went into his bag along with his uniform.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Emerging from the restroom, he took in the other diners in the lounge. Late into the overnoon hours as it was, the place was rather full. He recognized one of the crews, just receiving their food, and exchanged brief pleasantries with them for a moment. Then he took his bag over to the coat check table.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cEmmahin,\u201d he said as he checked in the bag, \u201cI must be sleepier than I thought. I left something important back at my house and must go fetch it. Thank the heavens I arrived so far ahead of schedule, or I\u2019d have to rebook my flight. Can you keep my bag here while I go get it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cOf course, Colonel Tomlin.\u201d She took the bag and set it on one of the shelves behind the counter. \u201cI hope you\u2019ll still have time to dine when you get back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cHopefully,\u201d he told her. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t take long. In the meantime, <span class=\"nowrap\">though\u2026\u201d<\/span> He offered her the funding card he\u2019d held onto. \u201cCaptain Amayas\u2019s meal is on me. His whole table, in fact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Although Emmahin rang up, and he signed for, the food that the table had already ordered, he had her keep the card in case they wished to order additional courses or desserts. He\u2019d sign for those as well, he told her, as soon as he returned. There was no real risk involved there; none of the people at the table had ever ordered such things when he\u2019d dined with them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">But just in case things went bad, just in case he didn\u2019t manage to shake his <span class=\"nowrap\">tail\u2026<\/span> just in case he was <i>murdered<\/i> that <span class=\"nowrap\">day\u2026<\/span> he wanted her knowing, with absolute clarity, that <i>he had intended to return.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Even if his true intention was to disappear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Tomlin didn\u2019t obscure his face until he was almost through the door to the concourse, waving goodbye to several acquaintances in the lounge before exiting, his face now covered, and strolling in a leisurely fashion away from his departure gate. A reflective surface showed him his shadow, seated on a bench, pretending to read while glancing regularly at the lounge\u2019s en\u00ad<span class=\"nowrap\">trance\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026<i>not<\/i><\/span> following him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">No one shadowed him as he left the spaceport. He was one of only three passengers to board the train back into town. He had shaken his tail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">The locker that Tislilel had rented was next door to one of the train\u2019s stops. He unlocked it and drew out the thick folder inside before seeking out another restroom, a place where surveillance cameras would be forbidden.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">The folder contained a remarkable set of IDs. Whoever his young Tislilel really was, she was a skilled professional in the Game. They identified him as Yedder Mazigh, one year younger than his actual age, supposedly a former member of his old squadron who had been forced out of combat by a spinal injury. He had a license to fly virtually any aircraft or spacecraft he pleased, documents for traveling between worlds, and a handful of bearer cards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><i>\u201cThere\u2019s money in the locker, too,\u201d Tislilel had told him as she\u2019d given him the key. \u201cI figured you\u2019d need some funds to cover getting everybody out of town <span class=\"nowrap\">safely\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">At that point, all the survivors of the <i>Scarlet Matador<\/i> were on their way into the mountains and the high plains beyond them. The tribes had taken on responsibility for their care. He would, however, probably need the funds to cover his <i>own<\/i> tracks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">He pocketed his new documents, deciding that the first things he needed to purchase would be a wallet to store them in and a new comm to use, and left the restroom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">It was almost noon. The sun above him was intense, making him glad of the airy robes and protective <i>tagelmust<\/i> he\u2019d changed into.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><i>I need sleep,<\/i> he thought. Aside from catching a brief nap in between meetings, it had been roughly forty hours since he\u2019d slept, thirty-five hours since he had staked out Dihya\u2019s and Tislilel\u2019s doorstep for his second meeting with the girls, twenty-eight hours since their third, nearly-catastrophic meeting at Othman <span class=\"nowrap\">Plaza\u2026<\/span> almost fifteen hours since he had kissed both girls goodbye in a shop by the night market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">He had made sure, just an hour or two earlier when he had feared his death was imminent, that Takama and his father would step up to fulfill his promises to both girls. He hoped he\u2019d be able to keep those promises himself, but that would depend <span class=\"nowrap\">on\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">A clap of what he thought, for a moment, was thunder buffeted at him. The windows near him rattled and the leaves in nearby trees rustled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">It hadn\u2019t come from above, he thought in confusion, registering at the same time that the sky was cloudless. It had come from the northwest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">There was no traffic on the boulevard. Tomlin walked out into the center of the wide road and turned toward the source of the boom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">A thick cloud of black smoke was rising into the sky from one of the spaceport\u2019s concourses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Not just <i>any<\/i> concourse, he realized. It felt like a punch to the gut.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cMy <i>God,<\/i>\u201d he gasped softly. \u201cEmmahin\u2026 Captain Amayas\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Light flared, brilliant as the sun, and he flung up his arms to shield his eyes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">An enormous red fireball was expanding where the black cloud had been. Its shockwave, he realized, was rapidly approaching, blowing leaves off of the trees and smashing windows further down the boulevard as it <span class=\"nowrap\">came\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">He flung himself to the pavement a fraction of a second before the deafening blast hit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">When Colonel Tomlin rose to his feet a moment later, New Marrakesh was in a billion shattered pieces around him. The shockwave had broken every window for miles, ripped foliage off trees, and set every alarm system shrieking. From behind many of the smashed windows, where apartments were situated above storefronts, he heard screams of fear and pain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">To the northwest, the gory fireball was rising into the air, a column of fire raging beneath it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">The shuttle he\u2019d been planning to board. The concourse he had walked through. The pilot\u2019s lounge he\u2019d used as cover to shake his <span class=\"nowrap\">tail\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cSeven hundred forty-two people died in that blast,\u201d Tomlin said, his voice heavy and his expression regretful. \u201cAnother fifty-three died in the days that followed from critical injuries. More than four thousand survivors were injured. And my city was financially crippled, with billions of UDs in damage. Trillions, when the destruction of the <i>Scarlet Matador,<\/i> the <i>Lucy Ricardo,<\/i> and six other shuttles, is calculated in. All to kill <i>me.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cI don\u2019t get that,\u201d MacNamera said, frowning. \u201cWhat could you possibly know that\u2019d be worth that much collateral damage?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cIt wasn\u2019t supposed to be that big,\u201d Toombs grumbled. \u201cNot according to that son of a bitch Pritchard. He delivered the bomb to Makarov. It was supposed to be just big enough to make sure nobody in the pilot\u2019s lounge, or the gate area for the shuttle, survived, in case you were in either location. Fucker sent me a <i>message<\/i> afterward, \u2019bout bein\u2019 afraid of gettin\u2019 identified as a terrorist, but he said he found footage of you checkin\u2019 your bag and leavin\u2019 the lounge and decided maybe he could pin the whole damn thing on you if he found you alive, like it was really <i>your<\/i> bag that exploded. Said he had a line on you because you had some <i>accomplices.<\/i> I didn\u2019t get the message until months later. He\u2019d set it to be delivered to me if a warrant got served on his Merc Network account. By the time I got it, I was on Shakti Four and <i>everybody<\/i> knew what he\u2019d done. Bastard tried to make me his accomplice after the fact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cDid you have any idea of his <i>other<\/i> activities?\u201d Tomlin asked.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cI knew he was a perv with some sick kinks he had to pay extra for, but no, I had no idea what he and Makarov were doin\u2019 to women an\u2019 girls. One day I\u2019m gonna catch up with that motherfucker and perp-walk him straight into the most hellified triple-max I can <span class=\"nowrap\">find\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cYou won\u2019t,\u201d Tomlin told him. \u201cHe\u2019s been dead for five and a half years. The \u2018accomplices\u2019 he was going after were Tislilel and Dihya\u2026 Audrey and Kyra. They killed him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cThey <i>what?\u201d<\/i> MacNamera gasped. His daughter had killed someone?<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u2026His daughter had been the target of a <i>serial killer?<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cTislilel and <span class=\"nowrap\">Dihya\u2026\u201d<\/span> Toombs muttered. \u201cGod<i>damn,<\/i> we was lookin\u2019 right <i>at<\/i> \u2019em at your memorial. Your younger brother claimed they were his cousins. I had my suspicions until that vid of the two of them with Riddick on Shakti Four came <span class=\"nowrap\">out\u2026<\/span> Big Evil really wasn\u2019t in on <i>any<\/i> of it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cHe was never there,\u201d Tomlin chuckled. \u201cTislilel\u2014sorry, <i>Audrey<\/i>\u2014fabricated the video. I learned about that well after the fact, long after she had left Tangiers Prime. Given what I knew about her, especially her skills at breaking security systems and creating false identities, I had no idea she was only thirteen when she did all of it. Not until I was able to get back into contact with my family, and I had to let them believe I was dead for nearly a year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cShe didn\u2019t <i>break<\/i> any systems,\u201d MacNamera groaned, comprehension striking. \u201cShe knew all the back-doors I\u2019d been required to build into them for law enforcement and counter-terrorism. She\u2019d read all the specs. That was probably a bad thing to let an <i>eidetic<\/i> do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cOr a very good thing,\u201d Tomlin mused, \u201cgiven how many lives she saved with that knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cWhich brings us back to my question,\u201d MacNamera said after a moment\u2019s thought. \u201cWhat is it that <i>you<\/i> know that was worth killing so many people to suppress?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cBack then, it was only a suspicion I had,\u201d Tomlin replied. \u201cIt\u2019s been proven out since then. I know how the Quintessa Corporation\u2019s Isomorph Drives work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cBullshit,\u201d Toombs scoffed. \u201cThat secret\u2019s guarded more securely than the <i>Mona Lisa.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Just two months earlier, MacNamera reflected, news of another intrepid group\u2019s attempt to break into the Louvre on Old Earth and \u201cliberate\u201d its greatest treasure had hit the beacons, detailing the gruesome deaths all but one member of the team had experienced. The lone survivor would eventually walk again, but not before years of regenerative surgeries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cAnd yet I know it,\u201d Tomlin insisted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cNot possible,\u201d Toombs argued back. \u201cI know a guy, got his hands on one of those boxes. Took him six <i>years<\/i> to force it open, and he tripped some kind of destruct mechanism in the process. All that was left inside was some stuff that looked like black sand or somethin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cAnd he believed all of the electronics inside had been destroyed, yes?\u201d Tomlin smirked, but his eyes were, oddly, sad. \u201cThere were none inside. The \u2018box\u2019 doesn\u2019t house proprietary electronics. It\u2019s a prison cell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cSorry,\u201d MacNamera heard himself say. \u201cIt\u2019s a <i>what?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cIt\u2019s a <i>cage.<\/i> Each Isomorph Drive contains a living creature, a member of a species we call the <i>Apeiros.<\/i> The Quintessa Corporation captured and enslaved the species more than four centuries ago. These creatures are pan-dimensional and are capable of traveling between universes with a thought.\u201d Tomlin met MacNamera\u2019s eyes. \u201cYour daughter is the source of most of our evidence about this. She made contact with the <i>Apeiros.<\/i> It\u2019s because of what she learned about them that we know the real cause of Level Five Incidents now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">MacNamera felt like the bottom had dropped out of his world. <span class=\"nowrap\">\u201cAnd\u2026<\/span> what is that cause?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cThey happen when an <i>Apeiros<\/i> isn\u2019t provided enough energy to maintain control over a Star Jump, and ends up overwhelmed, and dies. Its last act, in an attempt to save the lives on board its ship, is to bring the ship halfway back into U1 but leave it halfway in the other universe, in the hopes that one or more of its passengers will develop a conscious awareness of the multiverse and bring the ship the rest of the way home. At some point long ago, it must have even <i>worked<\/i>, because the Quintessa Corporation is <i>very<\/i> thorough about making sure that Level Five Incidents never have any survivors. It worked, again, with Audrey and Kyra.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><i>\u201cStar Jump commencing in ten seconds,\u201d the canned voice announced over the speakers. <span class=\"nowrap\">\u201cNine\u2026<\/span> <span class=\"nowrap\">eight\u2026<\/span> <span class=\"nowrap\">seven\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cAn\u2019 one of those things is about to move us through space?\u201d Toombs demanded, looking panicked. \u201cAn\u2019 you\u2019re just lettin\u2019 it pick the route it takes?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><i><span class=\"nowrap\">\u201cFour\u2026<\/span> <span class=\"nowrap\">three\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cYes, Mr. Toombs,\u201d Tomlin said, his expression calm. \u201cI\u2019m letting the <i>real<\/i> pilot of the <i>Kublai Khan<\/i> take the helm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><i>\u201cIsomorph Drive engaging.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">MacNamera had been awake for Star Jumps before, although the trippy feeling that came with them wasn\u2019t something he relished. Most people preferred to sleep through them. This <span class=\"nowrap\">time\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Reality inverted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">He felt, for a moment, as if every dimension unfolded and flattened, refolding itself seconds later. Outside the <i>Kublai Khan\u2019s<\/i> viewscreens, the stars multiplied, swirled, blazed with millions of named and nameless colors, and then\u2014even as reality folded itself back up\u2014settled back into a normal pattern. A new pattern. They were in a different part of the sky.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><i>\u201cIsomorph Drive disengaging,\u201d<\/i> the canned voice reported. <i>\u201cNew location: outer orbits of the Mirach System. Necromonger Armada detected. ETA six hours. All systems are nominal.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cHow in the <span class=\"nowrap\">blazes\u2026?\u201d<\/span> Toombs gasped.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cAs I was explaining earlier,\u201d Tomlin told them, moving to one of the consoles to lay in a new course, \u201cwhen you let the <i>Apeiros<\/i> choose the route between two points, instead of making them use one of the routes in the data\u00ad<span class=\"nowrap\">base\u2026<\/span> the journey is almost instantaneous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Six hours, MacNamera thought. Six hours until he had a chance to get answers about his daughter\u2019s fate. Six hours in which he could also, he hoped, find out what else Tomlin knew about her last missing time years ago. But <span class=\"nowrap\">first\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cIt\u2019s your turn to talk, Mr. Toombs,\u201d he said, rising from his seat. \u201cWhat\u2019s so special about this ship and why were you hunting my daughter?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Toombs grumbled under his breath for a moment. \u201cHer association with Riddick ain\u2019t enough?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cHe\u2019s \u2018associated\u2019 with hundreds of people. Why her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cTell him,\u201d Tomlin said when Toombs failed to respond, \u201cor I will.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cFine,\u201d Toombs grumbled. \u201cSix years ago, the <i>Kublai Khan<\/i> picked up an emergency skiff with three passengers on board. Riddick, an Imam from Helion Prime, and a kid. Your kid. <span class=\"nowrap\">My\u2026<\/span> late <span class=\"nowrap\">wife\u2026<\/span> had me on ice at the time, fortunately in a <i>regular<\/i> cryo chamber and not one of the house specials. Cheaper than a divorce, I guess. I missed most of the party. When I got thawed out, Riddick an\u2019 his friends were on the run and my ball-an\u2019-chain had flipped her shit over it. We was supposed to find \u2019em and recapture Riddick. Word was she didn\u2019t give a rat\u2019s ass what happened to the other two in the process. Or any of us. I almost got eaten by a Brax.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">MacNamera had gone completely cold. Someone had tried to unleash a Brax on his daughter?<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cThings got hairy. Riddick killed the wife\u2019s new boy-toy, Junner. Stabbed him through his eye. She was waiting for him, though, on board her <i>little<\/i> yacht that I guess she knew he\u2019d try to hijack. She shot him in the arm. Was getting\u2019 ready to shoot him in the head, when your little girl picked up Junner\u2019s rifle and blew <i>hers<\/i> off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">The atmosphere had turned glacial. His knees suddenly felt weak.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">Tomlin\u2019s hands were on his shoulders. \u201cYou\u2019re okay, Colonel MacNamera.\u201d The pilot steered him back to his chair.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cYou\u2019re saying my daughter killed Antonia Chillingsworth,\u201d he managed after a moment. <span class=\"nowrap\">\u201cAnd\u2026<\/span> you were hunting her for that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cNah.\u201d Toombs shook his head. \u201cFirst of all, don\u2019t tell her I said this, but no jury in the \u2019verse would ever convict her. If someone tried to prosecute and brought out the video of her pulling the trigger, her defense team\u2019d make them bring out the rest of the videos. Which include my dearly departed demoness stringin\u2019 your kid up and almost feedin\u2019 her to a pair of <span class=\"nowrap\">Shrill\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cWhat the <i>fuck?\u201d<\/i> MacNamera started up out of the chair, hands fisting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cHey. I wasn\u2019t awake yet when that happened. But look, I ain\u2019t got anything against your daughter. Thanks to her shot, I own this ship an\u2019 its contents, anyway, so even if my old lady had treated her like a princess and not like xeno-chow, I\u2019d still be in her debt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cThen <span class=\"nowrap\">why\u2026<\/span> the <span class=\"nowrap\"><i>fuck<\/i>\u2026<\/span> were you hunting her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cWasn\u2019t hunting <i>her.<\/i> I was tryin\u2019 to get intel on Riddick. When she and Kyra escaped from a hospital on Helion Prime half a year later, I thought she was <i>with<\/i> Riddick. I couldn\u2019t find <i>his<\/i> trail but I figured I could find hers, an\u2019 I figured she\u2019d lead me to him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cMaybe that was true back then,\u201d Tomlin said, his voice calm. \u201cWhy did you go after her on Deckard\u2019s World?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">More sotto voce grumbling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u201cSpeak\u2026\u201d<\/span> Tomlin chambered a round into his pistol. <span class=\"nowrap\">\u201c\u2026up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cFine. I was plannin\u2019 on bringin\u2019 her here. To the Mirach System.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cYou were going to use her as bait to try to catch Riddick?\u201d Tomlin scoffed. \u201cThe new Lord Marshal of the Necromongers?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cMaybe that\u2019s what I told her, but no. Word was he was <i>lookin\u2019<\/i> for her, had standin\u2019 orders that all of his soldiers had to bring him anyone they encountered who looked even a little bit like her. I was gonna offer her to him. In trade.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cFor?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cHe\u2019s got a prisoner of his own, an\u2019 he may not know it, but she\u2019s worth a whole lot of scratch to her people. Irena Kirshbaum, of <span class=\"nowrap\">the\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cQuintessa Corporation,\u201d Tomlin finished for him. \u201cYour old boss who ordered my death. And what, exactly, were you planning on doing with her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cShe owes me a payday. Last year she hired me to bring Riddick to Helion Prime. An\u2019 I may not have personally delivered him to her, but I damn well got him there. So I figure, I get her out of the Armada an\u2019 back to her people, she\u2019ll be suitably grateful and finally pay up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cSo you were planning on selling my daughter to <span class=\"nowrap\">Riddick\u2026\u201d<\/span> That thought alone made MacNamera\u2019s blood froth in his veins. <span class=\"nowrap\">\u201c\u2026not<\/span> using her to catch him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cAre you kidding? He\u2019s the Lord Marshal of the Necromongers. His bounty may be more than a mill, but there ain\u2019t no cashing it in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cMore than a mill?\u201d MacNamera frowned. \u201cWhy would anyone pay that much for a convict, even a multiple-murderer?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">\u201cThat\u2019s not what it\u2019s for,\u201d Tomlin said, sitting down and disarming his gun. \u201cNobody pays that much for a convict. But <span class=\"nowrap\">that\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\">The pilot speared both MacNamera and Toombs with his gaze as he spoke.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u201c\u2026is<\/span> what the Federacy is willing to pay for an escaped <i>slave.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"center-block\">Posted on the 25<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of the theatrical release of <i>Pitch Black<\/i>, February 18, 2025.<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: Song of Many \u2019Verses Author: Ardath Rekha Chapter: 3\/? Fandom: Pitch Black (2000); The Chronicles of Riddick (2004); The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004) Rating: M Warnings: Adult t","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"\u201cSong of Many \u2019Verses\u201d 3: \u201cThe Off-Label Path\u201d","bgseo_description":"On board the Kublai Khan, Tomlin, MacNamera, and Toombs have a lot of questions for each other, mostly about their various connections to a girl named Jack.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fan-fiction","category-song-of-many-verses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1234"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1239,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234\/revisions\/1239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}