Exhaust it to use it. Refuel 1: put 1 cards from your scrapyard on the bottom of your hold, in the order you choose. With fewer than 1 there, you can't pay it. It keeps your hold from running out; the cards aren't salvaged, so they don't count for the Sapper engine (802.8). You keep this steam until the end of the phase; it pays your costs first. What you don't spend by then is lost. Only in your own watch, with the crossfire empty; it resolves at once. A base can use it in the turn it comes on board (307.4).