The CNS Zheng He hummed all around Melania as she woke up with a groan. Reflexively, she held in her breath and listened to the hum, then let out a long exhale and a curse in her mother tongue, a sign of mild annoyance. Another power coupling problem, just like last week. She weighed her options but decided against a shower, knowing she would come back from the job sweaty anyway. She put on her outfit, grabbed her PDA and got going.
It didn't take her long to get to the reactor section, and it took her even less time to locate the fault - under one of the control panels, a safety had been tripped and it's clear someone tampered with the cables. She reached for her PDA and called the person she knew responsible.
"Estefanía, it's Mel. I'm requesting a partial grid shutdown in sector D10 while I fix your mess. You owe me booze later."
"Puta madre! I thought I had it this time. The overflow-"
"Save me the explanations, I've heard you talk about the reaction mix and system capacity a thousand times."
The line stayed silent for a moment, save for some clicks and tapping on a computer. Soon after, the lights in Melania's corridor dimmed, then turned red, which meant the shutdown had gone into effect.
"There. I'm sorry."
"Hey, it's fine. I know what you're trying to do, but the propulsion subsystems have always been a pain in the ass."
"We waste so much energy in there! It makes no sense! The people who designed this ship should go back to fixing Citroëns!"
Melania chuckled.
"Well, we work with what we're given. I'm done, can you lift the shutdown and check the software for me?"
A few seconds pass in silence. The lights go blue and Melania can hear Jeanne gasp, then laugh.
"I did it!"
"Yeah, you lifted the shutdown, it wasn't a big-"
"Mel, you don't get it. Check your PDA."
Melania switched on a holo-display to see the system information better and her eyes widened. In spite of the ship burning a tenth of its normal reaction mass, all systems were at 100%.
"Babe, we're either going to be giga fired or promoted."