Aden opened his eyes in the darkness and breathed in the stench of the dying incarceration ship. He felt the sonorous growl of the engines in the pit of his stomach. Somewhere close, there was breathing, heavy and deep and distinct from the constant background drone. Aden's hand immediately went to his left hip, deftly pulling out the compact plasma cutter and swinging it toward the noise. His finger trembled on the trigger, his own breathing became uneven and labored.
Something was strange, though. The sounds weren't malicious; they were not snarls or screeches or the guttural groans of a creature hunting. Just breathing, steady, not trembling with fear like his own. Aden lowered his weapon slightly and released the conditioned fear that had gripped his mind, letting ingrained guardedness take it's place. Carefully, he scooted closer to the body curled in heaps of once-white blankets streaked now in the filth and blood of previous owners. There was a pattern to the rise and fall of the tattered fabric. It was rhythmic, in perfect time with the inhalations and exhalations breezing by his ear. In the weeks that passed, there had been nothing but terror. Agony. Despair. Loss. Here was peace and stability. A calm he hadn't felt even in his own sleep.
Chase started a bit in his sleep and Aden flinched, mindlessly raising the plasma cutter. A violet eye flickered; suddenly there was a whirl of movement. The sleeping man rolled to the side and hoisted himself up. He knelt, weapon ready. Aden wasn't sure what technology Chase was using, but he lowered his weapon.
"On your knees, now." Chase ordered. His voice was robotically authoritative. "Drop the cutter." Aden dropped the gun. "Where's Shurry, she was keeping watch."
Aden's mind blanked.
"Answer me." Chase's index finger squeezed the trigger of his pulse rifle slightly. "I will shoot you again." The open threat cleared Aden's mind.
"She woke me so she could scout ahead. Said not to disturb you, since you never got much sleep." He did not apologize. Chase dropped the weapon and grunted.
