Steamwright Holm

Holm is a steamwright, a boiler-pressure specialist, and he runs the Pressure the way his guild ran foundry boilers: hot, and dangerously hot. The reactor sits near its limit because he wants the thrust, and the thrust wants the pressure. When a fight starts he vents the excess heat through the exhaust and charges the nearest enemy.

The ship rattles. The engine bay requires ear protection. Confederacy safety inspectors have filed thirty-four complaints. He has ignored all of them. He notes that the boiler has never actually exploded. This is technically true, and it is not comforting. His crew has made its peace with the red line, mostly by standing where the red line is not.