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Aht spilled in from the other side The ship’s interior was still pressurized That was odd, for battle conditions If the crew of the Stor out now Bobbie squeezed through first into the back of a bunk rooel-mattress bunks, not that different from the quarters on the Roci where the Marine fire teams were meant to sleep These beds were empty and neat She took a position by the doorhile the others pushed in A a plastic patch over the hole that bellied out into the space between the hulls like a balloon before it hardened

“I don’t want to shoot you bastards,” Alex shouted through the radio It was a code phrase The Stor to fail, and soon

Bobbie popped the door open, ducked her head out and back, and a bullet tore a streak out of the frame where her skull had been

“How many?” the man beside her asked

“At least one” She looked around the bunk rooe “This place is a death trap, and we’re out of ti left, you to the right with ht be one, duck back in Everyone else, into the bunks, on your backs Set up to shoot between your feet if the bad guys rush the door You have four seconds Go”

She picked high when they went out The woman crouched down beside her could have been anyone, but their lives depended on each other non the corridor, Bobbie saw the intersection where the fire had cole head bobbed out and back She aimed for it, but she couldn’t tell if she hit

Another doorway stood across the hall She pointed and gestured Theyin a rush Another cabin Bunks for twelve, but no sign that they’d been used No one fired at the for whatever reinforceotten them this far Skill had to take it from here

“Amos?” she said into the radio

The walls of the ship attenuated his response, but she could still hear him “Babs? How do you want to play this one?”

It had been too many years since her ship tactics, but this one at least was easy The ship had two points of vulnerability to boarding attack—engineering and coe, but if they were understaffed, they’d protect whichever one they thought she waswas to feint at one and hit the other

“I’ for ops Wait two ”

“You got it Are we looking to disable or blow up?”

The Storh the ship like a chain slipping off a shelf It was different enough fronize it as PDC fire They were going for the Roci

Before she could speak, Saba’s voice cah on the radio Evacuation tean, yeah? And then, aloing in The underground’s ships were ready to launch Medina’s sensor arrays were going down soon The as opening It wouldn’t stay that way long

“The first thing you find that kills this ship, do it,” Bobbie said