Riddick sat silently at the few back seats the small ship housed. One leg was propped over the other and placed across his knees was a book of hand drawn maps and sketches of the indigenous creatures along with various field notes and quickly penned observations in a scrawling script. One particular sketch caught his attention; it was only partial but incredibly familiar. A large canine bust was pictured, a thick collar around the beast's neck complete with dragging chain. The pure feral nature in the beast's eyes was most appealing about the sketch; Riddick knew that look well. He had seen it many, many times before.
"Hellhound," Zasha spoke as she leaned over his shoulder. "Or at least that's what we called them. Not really canine but very feline in fact, odd. That one was named…Thrash I think. Yeah, says so on his tag." Riddick zeroed in on the point that Zasha had indicated, seeing the lightly drawn nametag and number just beside the heavy chain. He hadn't spotted that before but it was hard to find, even more so for his eyes. Sifting through a few more pages he found a few that were quite interesting indeed.
For the first couple of pages intricate drawings of various weapons were shown. The notes were written in a completely different hand; this one was neater yet still equally hard to read at first glance. Knife belts and various hidden contraptions were the main focus but on the backs of two pages were more…heavy machinery. A harness designed to hold the weight of a heavy machine gun and its large amount of ammo were sketched out quite intricately including a half body sketch and specific belt lengths and widths, not to mention buckle design. On the next page was a simple drawing of a human torso, front and back, obviously male for the lack of particular areas. Drawn out in red pen were areas of great damage, namely the floating ribs, kidneys, various arteries, and one spot that was near the third lumbar down. Drawn out in blue ink were pressure points and counter points were written out in green.
The last few pages were far more medical than the last consisting of circulatory systems, an intricate drawing of the lungs with the impact of plaque and decay grimly drawn on the back. The last few pages contained descriptions in medical terms that even Riddick didn't know about how certain bodily functions could easily be controlled through various implants, more specifically the heart and spinal column. Where a girl would get this information was truly astounding much less understand what it all meant.
"The last few pages are mine, the rest belong to my father. They're from his touring days with the Galactic Reserves." Zasha answered his silent questions from a control board. Riddick had figured as much as he flipped back through the pages. There really wasn't much else to look at the really caught his interest. He could only be amused by the drawing of a flower for so long. His attention drifted to the various display screens above the console Zasha was working on. The way her seat and he were positioned hid him from her sight which was all the better.
The main console was blocked out mostly by her seat but Riddick could gather just as much information from the various other screens. One off to the left listed various ports of call and what seemed to be contacts at each one by the names and various other bits of information listed there. Above that was what appeared to be a general system map holding information about various systems and major planets and industries thereabouts. A small screen between them was a speedometer of some sort and it read out the general cruising speed of a ship of this particular size. Below was what appeared to be fuel levels marked in the common language of red equals bad. It was flashing the falling number every few seconds but Zasha seemed to be paying it no mind. Off to the right was something Riddick couldn't quick make out. It was showing the track of something and it wasn't their ship or the one following them. Apparently Zasha had tabs going on someone else.
Riddick stood and slowly walked towards the front of the ship, his boots landing heavily and echoing in the otherwise mostly silent ship. Leaning over the seat he looked down to be met by an identical gaze. Zasha eyed him for a moment before looking back to the controls. The destination reader read out a different planet than the one they had been going to before. Riddick knew that planet. It was a hotbed of underhanded gambling and unregulated pit fights. A perfect place for them to hide out. "Other tracker is the decoy I sent out on take off. It'll lead them away long enough for us to get in contact with a guy I know." Zasha spoke, reading Riddick's mind once more. Was he that easy to read or was it just a woman thing? And this whole misdirection bit, that was most definitely a woman thing.
Zasha somehow snuck her way out of the chair and when Riddick looked back she was pulling on a heavy coat that reached her knees and most obviously was not hers. Various patches and bars on it made it out as a standard issue reserve jacket. The sleeves were far too long for her but that didn't seem to bother her. Pulling the garment closely about her she returned to her seat, ignoring Riddick for the moment. One more scan over the console and she swung her seat around to the side as Riddick assumed his seat of to the side in the secondary navigator's position. Propping her feet up on the center divider between them she settled down into the coat.
"That makes you look like a child," Riddick commented, propping up his own feet as well. Compared to his feet hers were infantile, not that extreme but she'd have a hard time walking in his boots if she wore them. Zasha eyed him over the high collar, pulling it back to speak. "I know. But space is a cold and lonely place. It's nice to have some sort of comfort from someone that I know loves me." Riddick was taken aback by her comment but of course it didn't show on his carefully trained face. Out of what he read off of her in their previous encounters she didn't seem like the kind of person who would need comfort or freely use the word love in any context. "To him I'll always be a child."
"And you hope to make yourself look grown up by bringing me in? Kind of an extreme coming of age." Zasha smirked at his comment, gazing out into the vast darkness of space. She didn't answer or say anything for some time and Riddick found himself nodding off before she spoke again. "It's not for him." Riddick was about to question her further but she had buried her face once more in that heavy jacket and had apparently closed herself off for comment.
Riddick catnapped for a brief few hours and when he woke Zasha was still sound asleep. He was surprised that she even dared to sleep with him uncontrolled in the way he was and free to go about any business he wished. Perhaps this was a trap? Or maybe a ploy to gain his trust? Or maybe he was just reading too much into this and she was simply asleep because she knew he wouldn't do anything. Somehow she had managed to scrunch herself into the pilot's seat so that she was sleeping in a little ball. While the rest of her body was hidden her head and neck had been exposed so as not to overheat in the confines of her father's jacket. Riddick watched her face as she slept. He could learn a lot about a person just by watching them sleep and it had served him well more than once.
The semi-darkness of the cockpit was only illuminated by the hazy blue glow of the console and the soft red of the flashing fuel gauge. The way her body was positioned she was obviously very closed off and guarded with her knees drawn in close and arms folded tightly about her. That was obvious. Riddick pushed his goggles up, eyeing her exposed face. The one thing about blue light is that it illuminates all the little things people try to hide. There were lines on her face; worry lines on her brow and around the corners of her eyes. A tight jaw set and scrunched up eyes were obvious indicators to inner turmoil and pain but had Riddick not been quite as able at doing what he was doing she would have looked the contented sleeper.
Apparently having a bad dream Zasha rolled her shoulder as if trying to brush someone away and rolled over so that her face was hidden. This was most interesting to the Furyan man as he sat back in his seat. Another hour of watching yielded nothing more that he couldn't already surmise with and educated guess. A proximity alarm sounded with a soft alarm clock-esque beeping. Zasha awoke easily and didn't notice that Riddick was still watching her. Untangling herself from her seat she leaned forward and tapped a few buttons. "You'd better secure yourself, we're going in for a landing." She said in a conversational sort of way as she pulled on her own straps.