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. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    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.