There's something I can't seem to shake about the way the man is speaking through the hologram.
His face is stone cold, a look of serious concern in his eyes as he announces we've got company. But, despite that fact that he's pissed no one can deny that he's handsome. The kind of handsome that you don't find often. The kind of handsome where you wonder if they're real. He's almost too perfect to be tangible.
And that's what makes him so irresistibly irritating.
"What the fuck is going on, Commander?"
I hear Riley shout l behind me. She's got her ice blue hair in a braid and her eyes are so dark they look satanic. She smirks at me with her middle finger raised proudly. She's my partner in crime, but she's fucking terrifying when you piss her off. There's a fine line between her genuine smile and a smile that tells me she might just want to murder me.
Just a little bit.
I try not to shiver.
"We've detected abnormal activity aboard the Nocora. But we're unable to investigate further. Whatever's harbouring on this ship has disabled the firewalls. We can't detect it with our transmissions."
The ship is large- larger than most. And what makes things like this just a little concerning is how hard it is to detect shit like this. It could be anywhere right now.
How typical. It wasn't the first time this had happened. Sometimes we had found some stowaways from their home planets searching for an escape.
We usually didn't hear from them again once they were quarantined and dropped off at the next stop.
I sometimes wondered where those beings ended up. But I sometimes has the suspicion that some of them had ended up far worse from where they began.
I blink when I realise the stoic Commander has been talking. It takes all my strength not to roll my eyes when he looks at me with an incredulous look.
"I assume that means you want us to check it out? And not get killed. Or maimed."
Riley's responding to whatever he's just said. A lot about nothing.
Our Commander- we call him Drax, knows how much we love to use the word maimed instead of hurt, harmed. Whatever the fuck.
We like to take the piss otherwise everyone is too serious otherwise.
I'm glad I've got Riley with me. I would have packed my shit and left by now.
This profession. Guarding and killing- following orders. It takes a lot.
So we love to piss Drax off.
Sometimes I think he loves it. He's just jealous he can't mess around.
"Stop being a pest and get your asses down there."
He's frowning now.
I laugh at the fact we've actually annoyed him. He's that predictable.
"Okay, Commander. Shove that carrot out of your ass."
I'm genuinely surprised I have the guts to say this. It's not like I can't get fired.
But who ever said I gave a shit?
We leave the room before we hear his muffled response.
I assume it's nothing short of 'smart ass'.