Snippet #2578671

"I'll get aboard then, start getting settled in and acquainted with the engines." She held out her hand for the captain to shake. Nodding politely to the other crew, and ignoring the wink entirely, she headed to the interior of the ship. It was always best not to encourage anything of that kind until she knew what to expect from the rest of the crew. Zasha had, on more than one occasion, dealt with men who thought that just because she was small and female that she was easy prey. With a female captain that might not be an issue as much, but she didn't want to rock the boat before everyone was even acquainted yet. Best to be polite but dismissive until she had taken everyone's measure, unless of course someone pissed her off while she was trying to be professional. They already had an Operative aboard judging from that helmet and uniform, as well as a few others that looked like they could handle themselves--including the captain--so she also didn't want to make a bad impression.

The engines were about as she expected, for the ship's class and model. She'd thrown her things down in a corner of the cargo bay, if this ship was like any other the captain would assign bunks according to whim or would make it first come first serve. Zasha wasn't picky about quarters as long as she had a bit of space for her parts, so she preferred to wait to be assigned or simply shoved into whatever small area was left. She'd taken this tack in most of the ships she'd been on, and it had proved to be the best way to keep from getting into a fight with an idiot about something meaningless like an inevitably cramped space on a cramped ship. If she had to kick ass and take names, she preferred to do it about something more important.

Zasha took a small tool belt out of her pack and slung it around her waist. This one just carried the basics, general wrenches and bolts, that sort of thing, for the kind of basic maintenance work she'd be likely doing on a daily basis to keep the engines running as smoothly as they could possibly be. In the Black, there were no margins of error. There was a thin hull and these engines keeping the crew from certain death, and she didn't want to be the one that failed. She checked the drives carefully, noting that they'd been maintained well and everything looked like it didn't have any long-term issues. True, she wasn't exactly taking an in-depth examination, but the engines indicated that the captain and current crew were at least competent. Later she would take readings off everything, note what was and wasn't running at optimum levels, but for now she wanted to just cover the bases. Even though it looked like that had already been done. These were her engines now, and her responsibility. She would leave nothing to chance.