The engineers run the ship. Bottom line. The captain can give all the orders he wants, but nothing's going to happen until the engineers make it happen. Bottom line. People that talk a lot bug the shit out of me. If there's a problem with the ship, I'll figure it out. Just leave me alone so I can think. You'll have my report when I have something to report.

  But just between you and me, this piece of crap we're flying now is about the scariest ship I've ever served on. It sat in a scrapyard for years, unshielded; bombarded with gamma rays, x-rays, cosmic rays. It hasn't been inspected other than a visual once-over. It needs to be in space-dock, inspected in detail and overhauled from the keel up. But no one's interested in doing that now. They just want ships. Anything that will fly.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  So, we're about to take this tub into combat and keep our fingers crossed that nothing breaks. I can think of about a million different ways to die in this scenario.