Always the tomboy growing up, her parents were not surprised when Ethel Tarpeia announced that she had decided to pursue a career in industry. But they could never have imagined that she'd end up as a pod pilot.

However, Ethel is not romantic about it. While others might be impressed by traversing the stars, Ethel is content to sit back and read the latest copy of the Annals of the Society for High Energy Physics while ferrying cargo in her Iteron, or to simply remain docked and work tirelessly to build the latest and greatest starships.