Re: Merry Christmas (Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, &c.), Everyone!
Yes, it was close to sunset by the time the two ships closed to within combat/boarding range. By the time the battle was over, the sun was sitting on the horizon, quickly setting. There was still sufficient light to sort through the loot.
As for a steamjack using a weapon, I couldn't find anything that specifically deals with it, but this is the way I interpret what I did find. If a steamjack has fingers/hand, it is nimble enough to hold a cup or a writing quill, but that nimbleness came with a cost--not much strength. This is a development problem, not a design problem. Whether the two could be accomplished simultaneously is still being debated. When mechanical hands were being developed, it was a conscious decision to make them nimble rather than develop a strong hand.
So a steamjack can use small mechancial tools without a problem. Most large tools are power tools; otherwise what's the point? In those cases, the tool has to replace the hand to get wired into the jack.
In the case of a mundane weapon, a hand with fingers can wield it. However, if it wants to apply its Strength bonus to damage, there is a 20% chance that the hand will be damaged from the effort/impact, in which case it'll be useless until repaired. Wielding a weapon with two hands will halve that chance, but wielding a two-handed weapon with just one hand will double that chance.