Freelancer

A freelancer, also known as an independent captain or free captain, is a private individual who operates a starship professionally. They may offer a variety of services, predominantly in freight forwarding, passenger transport, and charter services, but are employed (often temporarily) in nearly every facet of interstellar industry.

Note: Though Freelancers are ubiquitous across the Orion Arm, the implications of the term begin to change as one progresses deeper into the Far Frontier. In the Local Cluster, Sea of Clouds and other highly developed regions, Freelancers are a normal, regulated part of interstellar society. In the territories surrounding the Colonial Republics however, the term has taken on a more multifaceted and legally gray role. Freelancer Captains operating in the Frontier are often associated with privateering, mercenary work, bounty hunting, smuggling and political agents.