He scoffs, looking up at York for once. "Not always. I can't even tell you how many times we got into fights with first contacts. Not the friendliest bunch out there. Or sometimes too friendly. Remind me to tell you about the time Trip got impregnated."

Good times.

But right, mines. "I was pinned because I went out to dislodge it, and one of the spikes it used to attach to the hull decided to do so straight through my leg. The captain had invited me to breakfast to get to know me--which was predictably a disaster--so when he came out to help, he wanted to continue the conversation. He said it helped to settle his nerves." Another scoff. "And it didn't calm mine, but what was I going to do about it, get up and walk away? Add to that was that the minefield was generally invisible and there was some kind of cloaked ship that wanted us out of the territory as soon as possible, and they didn't really care who was still out on the hull so long as we went to warp. Do you want to know what happens to a person if they're outside a ship and that ship goes to warp? You don't."