Like the others, Shiah settled into a bunk of her own, close to Octavia, Phrike, Natan and Gate. She cradled the lascarbine in her lap as her eyes went over the faces in the gloom of the red lighting -- they were still waiting for the crew to fix them some proper lights. Nathan went off on another insane tirade and Shiah shook her head. "He's not even going to make it to the battlefield," she sighed to herself, but his final question (how does the rifle work?) made her go over her weapon again, inspecting the trigger, charge pack and sights. She hadn't held one of these before but she was clever and thought she figured it out pretty quickly. 

"Here," she said as she approached Nathan cautiously. "Look, I'll show you." She went over the various parts of the weapon, pointing at the stock and putting it up against her shoulder while she looked down the sights, her finger around the trigger. "And then you just squeeze. The Emperor will take care of the rest, yeah?" she finished and smiled at Nathan, wondering if it was wise to try and get on his good side. She saw Octavia on her kot with Gate and realized that the Arbites had called her name during roll call. She'd been a Guardsman. "Hey, lady, you were in the Guard, right? Am I right about how this thing works, or what?"