You stand up and rub your eyes, with a decision reached. You cannot get a contract, much less complete it in a timely manner, without both the Aegis in full functioning order and the officers to crew her. In the state the Aegis is in at the moment having an Enginseer Primus would be an immense help. With that post filled you could delegate the repairs of the Aegis into competent hands and get on with searching for the rest of the officers. Crew is also a concern, but they can wait until you have someone to do the recruiting and managing for you.

If you want an Enginseer Primus, then the best place to look you decide would be amongst the Enginseers currently working on repairing the Aegis. With a little luck, one of them will accept the position and serve you without too much fuss. You stroll back to your cabin and don your enforcer-pattern light carapace, and cover it with your wolf-lizard pelt cloak. Enginseers tend to work in hazardous environments, so the bit of extra protection would not go amiss. you glance at your weapons rack, and decide against bringing Serpent's Breath, your power sword. You grin as you admire the intricate wavy patterns in her un-energized blade from which her name sprang.

But if you are not going to bring a blade, then you are most certainly going to bring your two sidearms. Your grandfather's laspistol, richly gilded for all of its unfailing functionality goes into the Von Sebastion embossed holster on your left hip. Your personal favorite sidearm, an elegantly crafted foehammer, goes into the rather more plain but functional holster on our right hip, alongside the two over-sized 10-gauge shotgun shells for reloads. It may be ungilded, but the hammer cocks and the trigger breaks glassy-smooth, and the break-action barrel is beautifully blued. Properly attired and armed, you head down and aft towards the ongoing work-zones on the Aegis.

Several decks and half-an-hour later, you come across an observation gallery overlooking the ongoing work on the new Jovian-2 Plasma Drive. It’s on tick-over at the moment, providing enough power for the Life-support systems and work crews, but not enough for full-power operations. Given that a mistake in its installation would probably result in the Aegis being reduced to so much shrapnel, not to mention the docking berth she is parked in, you heartily approve of whomever made the decision to keep it on tick-over. Looking around, you spot a likely Enginseer, picked out by his grimy white robes, Omnisian-pattern Combi-tool, and the toolbox he has slung across his back on a heavy leather strap.

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Given the reduced gravity in this section of the Aegis, intended to facilitate the movement of large and heavy machinery, you simply vault over the rail at the edge of the observation gallery and drop the fifteen or so meters to the deck. The Enginseer looks over and cocks his head for a moment before moving to greet you.

"Jace Echo, Enginseer. I'm presuming that you are the Lord of this ship Sir...?"

"Tristan Von Sebastion. Yes, I am the Lord of the Aegis, and I'm looking for a good Enginseer Primus to head up her Enginseer department once repairs are complete. You wouldn't happen to know where I could find one, would you?"

Jace cocks his head the other way before answering, "I might at that Lord. I'm an Enginemaster myself, not an Enginseer Primus, but I'm also damn near the only Enginseer assigned to repairing the Aegis. There are a couple of Adepts finishing up their apprenticeships here and there, but most of the workforce is menials and robots. If you want I can put in a word with my bosses that your searching..."

You promptly cut Jace off, "You are the Enginseer that put so much of the ship back in operation in the past three months while I was dealing with the Administratum? Tell me, how much longer do you think it would take to get the Aegis fit to fly again, assuming she has the crew and Officers to do so?"

Jace nods, "Probably another two and a half months. I definitely want a look at that Vitae Life Sustainer before I give you a better guess though. I can feel a tremor in the deck every few cycles or so when something kicks against a bulkhead from her general direction."

You grin, "Make it two and you've the position, hierarchy be damned."

Jace nods again, "I'd best get back to it then." He moves off upship, headed for the Life Sustainer.