Pressing the flesh

Jane could not have been more shocked if the woman had asked to rub noses. The gesture was so.. primitive. Officers on starships were saluted by subordinates and saluted each other. They never, under any civil circumstances, touched actual skin and exchanged sweat. With personal space an absolute premium, that last boundary simply was not crossed.

Leuitenant Franketta Armard Jane had never needed to be told. Anyone that unobservant to protocol would never have graduated from the acadamy. Scoring be damned, If you couldn't cross a crowded hall of drunk superior officers without brushing shoulders you were a nobody, and destined to remain so. But maybe here protocol was different.

The hand was still there. Solid, firm, unshakeable.

Why is she called "Skin", Jane wandered.Maybe she was odd. Would the others laugh at her if she squeezed this girls hand, trying to fit in? The Officer decks were full of traps like this. Better perhaps that fools make fools of themselves in front of their peers than in charge of a million tonnes of steel and flesh. Jane had never liked it, but she had survived it for three years.

Hell, Jane thought. I just wrestled this woman in zero-gee, and didn't hesitate about contact then. Just think of it as combat. She took the hand aggressively, "I'm.." Leuitenant Franketta Armard Jane.. "Jane. Just Jane."

Touching Skin wasn't so bad. Warm, slightly rough.

Then the Red head emitted a laugh Jane did not like. "Is that a first name, or a last name, Just Jane?"

Jane really didn't want to bring up her family, but maybe Red knew or guessed more than she should. This could turn out badly.