Very nice little story! I don't read much of this kind of thing, but it kept me interested all the way through. Beecher was well-developed given the constraints of the word count. I particularly liked the story-telling break; his dry and self-deprecatory sense of humor came through very well.
Krystal is not a character at all, but a stereotype, right down to her name. Maybe that's by design, but it comes across as lazy.
I don't care much for the footnotes—I think most of that information could be removed to the prose or simply left unexplained. Also, the technical information on the pirate ships (the abbreviations J2M1, and so on) is clear to a Traveller but probably incomprehensible to anyone else. Specifically, you do not clearly draw the line between "gravities of acceleration" and the "M" abbreviation.
I was disappointed to see that it was your only story on the site. I'd very much like to read more!
