The Darkness Calls

The Darkness Calls
Title: Going! Going! Going!
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the craziness that spews out of my head. Own nothing! ^_^ All characters belong to their respective owners. That means I own nothing and have zero money. . . Don’t sue me, it would cramp my creativity. Own nothing!
Author notes & Warnings: M/M fanfic. No Beta. Be afraid. My mood affects my writing.

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

Xander rolled his eyes as he let Dora fuss over him. The woman was very nice and mothered like the best of um. She was acting like a mother letting her child go to his first sleep over. “Ok dear, I packed you a couple of meals. You need to eat well, your skin and bones! I want you to send me a wave when you get to Helion Prime! You stay safe and don’t drink the water on foreign planets. You’ll get sick. And be careful, don’t talk to strangers!”

Xander just nodded at everything she said with a smile, it was no use trying to interrupt her. He let Dora wipe his face, tidy his clothes, and check his bags. Xander had been woken up early this morning for his flight. He was going to take his first space shuttle ride, sort of. He had to take a shuttle to get to the check point just outside of the planets atmosphere. Dora was all teary eyed already, and that was funny considering she was going to take the two-hour shuttle ride with him.

Boarding the shuttle was like boarding a jet plane, find your seat, put your belt on, and no smoking. It was a shaky ride. Like riding a bull that had its own stewardess. Though Xander was slightly disappointed that there was no in-flight movie. Forty minutes into the ride through space Xander was bored. When they had first broke out of the planets atmosphere Xander had stared out the small port window with awe. Stars, blackness, moons, and a planet or two could be seen.

A small purple planet with three moons could be seen. Dora said the planet was only inhabited by insects, fish and plants. The weather was violent on the planet PleaÌCul, only creatures resistant to extreme cold and fiery heat could live there. It was also mostly a water planet. Dora had told Xander the only time any human type was ever on the planet was to harvest the Guba fish and Thothnoth insects for eating. Xander turned kind of green when she told him that what he had thought was bacon on his plate before they left was really filet thothnoth insect flanks.

After getting some info on each planet that could be seen Xander decided to look though the data pad. Info on what he was now was always of the good. Looking at all the categories of knowledge, Xander typed in royal family. ~ The Milithre royal family is the oldest and most well know blood line. The Lith`Halo milithre are the most powerful and gifted of the race. As many know that milithre race can be telepathic, empathic, can heal with an energy called the Light of Emfri, are the most fertile of any race known, and can exert up to thirteen different types of poison. They also have a rare power of clairvoyance and can almost see into the future. But no milithre has ever confirmed that those two gifts exist.
Rumor says that the old King Sanotus of planet Emfrine of the Emfa nebula is a powerful telepath and that his very emotions can increase or decrease the strength of his mental power. Crowned Prince Sanotio was seen once using his telepathic ability to hold the mind of an enemy prisoner till his men capture said enemy. There is also video footage of prince Jarith, Prince Sanotio’s oldest child, using his poison and telepathic ability to confuse enemies on battle. Though the only time a healing had been seen in the last thirty years was by young Prince Alae’Xand’r when he healed his mother of a deadly poison that should have killed her in minutes without an antidote. This healing was so remarkable because young Alae`Xand`r was still growing in the womb and was only five mouths developed.
King Sanotus and Queen Illia had three children. Two males and one female. Oldest son is crowned Prince Sanotio named after his father, he is said to be a powerful warrior and a natural leader. He has two heirs and at one time two mates, his only living mate is a milithre male named Luka. Lord Luka is the birth mother of young Prince Jarith. Prince Sanotio’s other mate was killed in a space battle but did bare a child, Young Prince Alea`Xand`r.
Princess Illiann is the maternal twin to Prince Sanotio, she is the Lady of the Emfa and the head healer and teacher of healers. She has one mate, a human by the name Gregory Owenland. He is the owner of the largest transport fleet in space. They have three offspring on the way, Princess Illiann is said to give birth within the month.
Youngest son of the King is Prince Santaris, he is the commander of the King’s space fleet and right hand to Prince Sanotio in battle. He has two mates and no offspring. Who or what race his mates are is unknown. Prince Santaris is a very private man.~

As the words flashed over the screen so did pictures. It was getting harder and harder for Xander to think of Buffy, Giles, Oz, Willow, and the rest as anything else but a dream.

The people flashing over the screen looked like him. They had his eyes, dark hair, height, and face. But above all a warm feeling passed over him when he gazed at the pictures, especially his . . . um mother. He felt a deep kinship to each mentioned person. Xander remembered getting read to by his mother, her tucking him in and kissing his forehead. His father teaching him how to hold a sword properly. Carrying him around on his shoulders around the castle and telling him war stories. His brother picking on him then defending him from bullies, teaching him how to cheat. Smiling Xander let out a happy sigh.

Xander was studying the picture of the blond blue-eyed man that was married to his aunt Illiann when the shuttle started to shake. The shuttle shuddered and the sound of metal creaking filled the haul. Xander looked out his window to find a grey dome. It looked like a regular airport. Only it was floating in the vast void of space. It looked a little mundane, so normal.

Getting off the shuttle ramp Xander heard the staticy speaker voice calling out boarding calls. It was so normal it was disappointing. *Where was the blinking lights? The teleporters?!!? The hover cars and aliens?!!!?* Just as he was thinking that a tall woman bumped into him. She blinked three sets of eyes at him, then glared.

“Watch where your going cat boy! Vorotof!!!”

Before Xander could say or do anything Dora stood toe to toe with the tall woman and hissed. “Watch what you say Vorchot! Or I’ll poke out that pimple on your forehead! And who in this universe are you calling a VOROTOF!!!” Hiss!

The vorchot covered her third eye as she backed away from the milithre muttering about ‘over reacting’ and ‘mother cats’.

Xander chuckled, a second later more laughter joined his. Two humans coming toward them, both were looking at Dora with fondness. The two men were wearing jump suits and were most likely crew for the ship that just came in. Dora smiled at the two men and gave them both bone crushing hugs. “Captain Scot Fillips! Greg Owens! How are you two?”

The old captain smiled. “I’m doing well. But I wish Master Owenland and Master Lith`Halo would let me transport them in a better ship.” He whispered as he looked from the blond in jump suit then to Xander in common garb. “Royalty should never ride with riffraff.”

Dora and the blond rolled their eyes and shook their heads like this was an old conversation. Then the blond man smiled and looked at Xander. His eyes softened and he gave Xander a pearly white smile. “Hey kido! I haven’t seen you in so long! You’ve grown a lot. Everyone can’t wait for you to come home. We all missed you.”

When the blond man hugged him, Xander hugged back out of instinct. Even if he didn’t know the man he didn’t feel uncomfortable with the hug. “What are you doing here?”

Greg patted Xander’s shoulder. “Here to escort you. The war maybe stopping us from sending a fleet to pick you up but we wouldn’t make you travel all alone. We all know you’re like your mother. You hate cryo.”

Xander shrugged and took him for his word.

********************
One hour later
********************

Xander sighed then shifted in his plastic seat. Then shifted some more. It didn’t matter that he was hundreds of years in the future the chairs were still uncomfortable. The terminal was packed with folk and he was now alone to wait for his flight. Dora had left. After a teary good bye and a wet kiss on the cheek she boarded the shuttle back to the planet.

Shifting again Xander looked up as someone sat down by him. A pretty red haired girl. Xander almost thought it was Willow till he looked into her eyes, her glimmering brown eyes. Besides the brown eyes the girl was taller then Willow, she was also heavily pregnant.

The girl smiled at him then spoke with a Texas accent. “Well‘ello thar!! I’mRebecca! Wot’syourname! Ooooo! You’reamilithre! Istudiedyourraceincollage! You‘aveabeautifultailthar! CanItouchit! Areyougoing toHelion? Howmany languagescanyouspeak? I’mgonna haveababy. Youcantell! Bigbellyandall. Doyou haveanychildren? Howaboutmates? Dorecommendanyboysnames? Ihaven’t thoughtofanyyet.”

“Woah! Breathe! Slow down.”

“SorrysometimesIbabblewhenImeetnewpeople! It’smything! I’mtheQueenofBlabber! Sorry.” She said with an embarrassed lit to her voice.

Xander felt dazed. The girl may not be Willow but she sure could yap! Xander held up one of his hands in surrender. Then used his grand ability to translate babble. “Um . . . Hi. Nice to meet you, Rebecca. I’m Xander. Um . . .yeah I guess I am a milithre since that’s what my dad is. Thanks for the complement. And yes you can touch my tail, just don’t mess up the fur. It can get static-y-ish. *he held up his long furred tail* I think I’m going to Helion, if that is where the next ship is going. A lot. For the languages. Congratulations on the baby. Yeah I can tell. No I don’t have children or mates. I’ve always been partial to Oren or Kadden as boys names. But if your trying for tough guy names I once knew a guy named Spike, though his real name was William. William’s a good name too.” Xander did a mental tally of all the girls questions, he was sure he answered them all.

Rebecca nodded. “Oren sounds nice. I like it!” She said with a squeal.

“Do you know when the ship is going to let us board?” Xander asked as he shifted in the crumby seats. There were at least thirty or so people waiting to get on the Hunter-Gratzner.

Rebecca shrugged good naturedly. “Oh their not going to let us on the ship till they lock up ‘The Riddick’ good and tight! He’s a super killer. Infamous!”

“Really? Tell me about him? He sounds interesting.”

“Ok. Well I heard that he took out thirty guards with just one shiv! And he escaped--”

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

With his bags slung over his shoulder Xander walked through the narrowed corridor. Everyone was assigned a tub and Xander needed to get to his. Some people were already setting up theirs. As he entered a darker section Xander stopped and looked at the cryo pod that was already set up.

‘The Riddick’ was inside it.

From the amazing stories Rebecca told him, Xander expected something a little different. The Riddick wasn’t a monster. He was all man. From the sweat forming on his bald head to the bulge of veins on his thick neck. He was bound like a wild animal, with a bit in his mouth and chains on feet and wrists. Xander looked the man over and felt the almost un-resistible urge to free the strong hunter. It was a shame to see all that wild power restricted and caged. Caressing the glass front of the tub Xander tried to look the large man in the eye. He could see the silver orbs move every once in a while. He wasn’t sure how coherent the man was, but he was sure he saw the eyes follow his hands movements.

Finding his cryo tub near the front of the ship, near the crew’s area, Xander started stuffing his things inside. Stepping inside Xander wondered how he was supposed to stay in the tub for weeks on end, it was really no bigger then a phone booth. Smaller. Looking at all the straps, Xander wondered how he was supposed to sit in it.

“Hi” Startled Xander turned around quickly not even realizing that his tails spike was out and under the speaker’s throat. Rebecca’s eyes were wide. “Am I bugging you at a bad time?”

Grabbing his tail Xander pulled it around his waist. “Sorry. It has a mind of it’s own.”

“Oh. Well I was just going to wish you a good sleep Xander.” She said as she started setting up the her tub across the hall. “I hope you have a good sleep. I sleep like the dead in these things.” She said with a laugh as she started looping straps around her big belly.

“You have a good sleep too, Rebecca. Um . . . Aren’t you worried that you could go into labor?” Xander asked as he copied what the redhead was doing.

“Nah.” She said as she snapped a buckle. “I may look as big as a house but I really have two and a half more mouths to wait. I’d still have half a mouth to go when we reach Helion. Two months in cryo won’t hurt the baby none.” Placing something over her arm she pressed a button and let blue liquid circulate into her blood.

“G-night Xander.” With that said the girl seamed to close down.

Looking at the same contraption in his own tub Xander wondered if he could just go without. Standing outside his cryo tub Xander sighed and was about to resign himself to the square sleeping quarters when a blond crew woman bumped into him. Xander was about to apologize to the pretty smelling docking pilot till she opened her mouth.

“What are you doing?!!!? Everyone is supposed to be in cryo sleep already! Even you milithre! So why aren’t you in cryo? Well, answer me CAT?!” Xander blinked then opened his mouth to speak but the blond didn’t let him talk, she just pushed him into his cryo pod and closed it. Strangely she reminded him of Buffy.

**********************
Riddick’s POV
**********************

(Riddick’s words)

~They say most of your brain shuts down in cryo-sleep. All but the primitive side, the animal side. No wonder I’m still awake. Transporting me with civilians. Sounded like 40, 40 plus. Heard an Arab voice, some hoodoo holy man, probably on his way to New Mecca. But what rout? What rout? Smelled a woman. Sweat, boots, tool belt, leather. Prospector type. Free settlers. And they only take the back roads. And here’s my real problem. Mr. Johns, the blue eyed devil. Plainin on taking me back to slam, only this time he picked a ghost lane. Long time between stops. A long time for something to go wrong.~

Riddick shifted lightly. The flashing red light was bugging him, not that he could do much about it right now. Soon. But not right now.

~ On a brighter note. Something caught my attention. It was dark and shifty. Smelled like spices, hot mouth watering, need to eat now spices. *growl* Smelled sexy. ~

It also smelled interested in Riddick. It had power. Strength tied around the sense of youth, wisdom, and arousal. It was a cat. A strong cat, possible pack. If Riddick was ever interested in making a pack.

Shifting again, Riddick growled around the bit in his mouth. He was curious. The cat had sparked an interest in him. It was annoying. He couldn’t do anything about that right now either. Soon.

Pulling at his restraints, Riddick smirked around the bit. He could hear the faint sounds of the ship rocking, screws unscrewing, metal peeling.

~Looks like I’ll be out of here soon.~

********************
Xander’s POV
********************

Xander learned one new thing. He didn’t like cryo pods! He was bored! So, so, so, verrrrrrrrrry bored! And playing tic-tac-toe with ones self was mind numbingly retarded. Almost drunkenly Xander lifted his finger to the fogged glass and drew a picture. A dog with a big bad assed cat beating the shit out of it. Sighing Xander started drooping off to sleep again. But just as the sleeping dust started clouding his eyes a loud popping sound echoed from the front of the ship.

Yawning Xander reached lazily for the opening handle of the door. It was probably nothing. But years as a scooby, then years as a young prince under guard had taught him never to dismiss anything as nothing. Forcing his body to work Xander popped the door open as slowly slid from his seat. Just as the cloudiness started leaving his slit eyes blaring sound started and lights flashed.

Xander looked around. “Well shit! I can’t even travel without something happening . . .”

*******************
TBC Review.