21MAR3025

I should have stayed a bandit.

Now, before anyone gets all high and mighty about "but Scootch, you said you were turning your life around!", let me clarify: I meant that in the purely existential sense.

Because at least as a bandit, I knew people were trying to kill me.

Now? Now I have to guess.

It started two days ago when I docked at this little outpost on the edge of nowhere. The kind of place where nobody asks questions as long as you’ve got credits to spend, and most of the drinks come with a warning label. Seemed like a good spot to restock, maybe not have to fix my ship with adhesive patches and good intentions.

I was halfway through not drinking the questionable beverage I ordered when a guy in a too-clean flight jacket sat down next to me. Didn't say a word. Just slid a data chit across the table like we were in some spy holo.

Now, I don’t know about you, but when a stranger hands you something in a place like that, you don’t touch it.

Unfortunately, my curiosity has the survival instincts of a lemming.

I picked it up.

The moment I did, he just stood up and left, disappearing into the crowd.

Problem: When I got back to my ship and checked it, there was nothing on it. Nothing. No data, no encryption, no hidden files. Just empty storage.

Which means it wasn’t about what was on the chit. It was about me picking it up.

That’s when I realized I’d been made.

I did what any rational, self-preserving individual would do:

1. Panic internally.

2. Throw the data chit into an airlock and vent it into space.

3. Leave the outpost so fast my thrusters almost melted.

And now here I am, drifting in deep space, because the moment I took off, my ship’s long-range comms mysteriously stopped working.

This means one of two things:

1. I picked up some kind of tracking virus, and someone is using me as a very dumb homing beacon.

2. Someone on that station was already watching me and made sure I’d have no way to call for help.

Either way, I have no idea who they are, what they want, or why they picked me.

What I do know is that this is exactly the kind of nonsense that gets people airlocked in the middle of nowhere.

I’d say I was overreacting, but a few minutes ago, my proximity sensors picked up a ship shadowing my course.

So yeah. I should have stayed a bandit.

Quote of the Day:
"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not actually following you."