Chapter 11
"I'm fine, really. Just chill." Connor asserted, in a rather frustrated tone.
"Look, I know for a fact that something's up." Kruzer put forth, "You've been acting strange ever since I told you about the mission."
"Yeah, and I told you, like twelve times that I'm just tired."
"Well then why not rest? There's no use staying up more than you need to."
Connor didn't respond. He was growing tired of Kruzer's pestering. On the one hand, he understood perfectly why the big guy kept peppering him with questions he didn't want to answer, but regardless, he didn't feel like talking.
"Can't I just get some time alone?"
"Kid, you've been cooped up in this cockpit alone for the whole damn trip. It's not like you to shut us out like this."
He paused.
"Look, I'm not trying to be a nuisance, but we're a team. If there's something you know that we don't, you gotta spill the beans."
Connor turned to face the soldier, his tired eyes glossed over with a glassy consistency.
"I'm fine."
Kruzer's steel gaze was unwavering. He wasn't known to give up easily.
"The more you deny it, the more it becomes apparent." He finally said.
A moment of silence followed. The air became thick with tension, neither of the two wanting to give in.
Connor sighed, "If I tell you, will you leave?"
"We'll see."
The young bounty hunter narrowed his eyes.
"I don't know what's bothering me, okay? It's just this feeling I have in the pit of my stomach…this whole mission feels like a setup."
Kruzer tilted his head slightly to the side, "A setup?"
"Like I said, I don't know… It's just a feeling. Our target is out in the literal middle of nowhere, it's emitting radioactivity signals nearly identical to phazon, I just don't like it. It seems suspicious."
"What about that one mission a few years back when we intercepted a distress signal from a distant Galactic Federation ship, only arriving to find eight squads of pirates waiting for us? It can't possibly be any worse than that."
"That did suck quite a bit…" Connor replied, staring back out the window, "We hardly made it out alive."
"Hardly, but we did, and that's all that matters." Kruzer added, sitting down beside him, "This time will be no different."
The young bounty hunter kept his gaze glued to the window, "I hope you're right…"
