The cover art of one of the books makes her look a lot like Terry Farrell. With good make-up, I think she could look young enough, and she certainly has enough height for the part. She has lots of experience at working with SFX, techno-babble, and some hand-to-hand fighting in futuristic martial arts, too.
Another possibility would be Lexa Doig (Rommie on Andromeda). She doesn't have the height, but she is younger, has a more exotic face, and still has plenty of SF acting experience.