In my first game session as a player there was a skill check involving maintenance on the freighter.

Whilst my character lacks any skill ranks in Mechanics she does have a 3 in Intellect now whilst the help ultimately wasn't needed it led me to this question.

Can a character be able to assist someone making a skill check, even though the helper has no ranks in that skill so the person making that skill check still gains access to a boost die for their dice pool?

You use the highest attribute and skill of the two characters, if one character has a higher attribute and skill than the other, then you just add a boost dice.

@Talkie Toaster is correct there. If one person has an Intellect of 3 and Mechanics of 0, and the second has an Intellect of 2 but a Mechanics of 4, then you use the first character’s Intellect and the second person’s Mechanics to determine the Dice pool.

A caveat to this; If neither character has the skill, then you just go straight to the boost die bonus.