If you can trust one thing in life, it’s that criminals will always be criminals. The thought crept unbidden into my head, it was a personal motto, a reminder of the life I’d chosen and the people I tended to do business with. I didn’t think of it as a condemnation of my associates, rather, it was my way of keeping things in perspective. I preferred dealing with criminals, they were easy. It’s when you deal with the big fish, the ones who can ruin the lives of hundreds, even thousands, on a whim; that’s where problems surfaced. A memory poked at the edges of my mind, and I pushed it away. I didn’t want or need to think about that job. I mashed a button on the command console.

    The music blaring from the speakers on my ship’s bridge was a stark contrast to the tranquility of galactic space outside. I’d over-compensated on the volume, as I frequently did on bad days like this. I knew I should have made myself deaf by now with this kind of behavior, but it won’t happen; they won’t let it. There was that memory again. I shoved it back into my subconscious recesses.

The hiss of the opening bridge portal was drowned out by the intense racket I was making. The flashing amber caution light was the only reason I knew the portal had opened. It made me glad I installed that indicator in case anybody came in. It had saved my life a few times, especially with certain types of passengers I transported planet to planet. 

    I spun my pilot’s seat, turning to face whomever had chosen to intrude into my sanctum. The brunette female that entered was wearing her military fatigues, but not the combat armor I had initially seen her adorned with when her squad booked passage. My eyes fell on her side-arm strapped to her hip. It was a clumsy-looking, but deadly monstrosity, chambered with plasma rounds, by my estimation. 

    I watched her face scrunch up in annoyance as she walked in, the door soundlessly shutting in her wake. I didn’t need to read lips to know what she said, Can you turn that down? I gave a quick nod, adjusting the volume down to a more moderate level. Her stride didn’t break in her walk toward me, even after the noise was lowered. Once she was closer, I saw the rank insignia on her arm, and the nametag “Jensen” on the lapel. “Something I can help you with, Private?”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    She sat down in the chair’s twin next to me, drawing a wince out of me. Nobody has been in that chair since… I halted the memory before I thought about him. It doesn’t matter, I really should remove the chair anyway, ship only needs one pilot. “You really crank up your music,” the private addressed me, my train of thought careening into the abyss.

    I shook myself to clear my head, if only for a fleeting moment. It didn’t help. “Yeah,” I responded half-heartedly, “it helps block out the static.”

“Static? As in intrusive thoughts?” came the baffled question.

Whether it was distraction, mindset, whatever, I’d blurted out my problem. I shrugged, what the hell, I’ve already said this much, so I decided to continue. “No, it’s actual static, like you’d hear on a bad comms connection. Some days it can get really loud. A side-effect of something that happened to me a...a long time ago.”

She chuckled, “It must really be bad today, then. I could hear your tunes down the hall in my cabin.”

I nodded, “sorry, if I woke you up. What about the rest of your squad?”

She scoffed, “the Captain could sleep through a bomb blast, the rest are further down the hall, I doubt they noticed,” she shrugged, “I only heard because I was awake anyway. So, since we’re both up, you’ve got me curious now, wanna tell me about what happened to you?”

 It was my turn to laugh, “I doubt my troubles are that interesting to you.”

The corner of her mouth drew into a smirk, “How long did you say this jump was going to take?”

“Three days or so, unless mercs appear for a hostile takeover,” I replied.

“Then we have plenty of time. It beats sitting in a small room shuffling a deck of cards to pass the hours,” she gestured for me to go ahead.