station.”
Everything the indentured medical personnel had told her made it clear what was going on.
“They’re going to try to board,” she said. “In a moment, they’ll claim—”
A loud squawk on the official channel nearly deafened her. “Thieves!” said an angry voice. “Stop at once! All three of you! Shut down your engines. Prepare for boarding!”
“Not in my lifetime,” Ky said to her bridge crew. “Do they really think they can take all three of us?” She touched the alarm that sent the ship to battle stations. “Prepare to repel boarders,” she said into the shipcom. “Unknown number, unknown tech at this time.” Then she called Argelos and Pettygrew. “We’re expecting an attempt to board; you’ll probably have them, too.”
“I see them,” Argelos said. “I’ve got my people arming up now. Damned Fishies! Should’ve known they’d try something. I wish I knew how many…”
“If that shuttle was full of them, quite a lot. They know how big our crews are, though they don’t know how well we’ll fight.”
“We’re not in position to support one another,” Hugh pointed out. “We’re still too close to use the beam without risking backflash damage; we can’t use the missiles because they’re inside the auto-delay distance.”
“To keep us from blowing a hole in ourselves, yes. And they know that, because they sold them to us. What do they have for close-in weapons?”
“Well, they can’t use missiles, either, until we get farther out, and they won’t, if their shuttles are this close to us. They have the perimeter platforms—”
“Light-hours away,” Ky said. “We’re in no immediate danger there. So how
do
they expect to attack us—with handguns?”
“Tools from their repair facilities to breach the hull and put armed parties aboard. And we don’t have any weapons designed to repel them.”
“That shuttle’s almost touching our hull,” Lee put in. “They’re evacuating…no, it’s an EVA crew. In armor.”
“If we had rocks,” Ky said, “we could at least throw them. The next time I have money, I’m going to put
something
out there we can repel boarders with.”
“They’ve got some kind of tools,” Lee said, over his shoulder. “Can’t tell what, exactly—”
“They’ll be used to boarding hostile ships,” Hugh said. “But they’ll expect disorganized, incompetent resistance. May I suggest that the captain get into armor?”
“I suggest everyone does,” Ky said. “They can’t get through the hull instantly…I hope…” She headed for her cabin, where she kept her personal armor. She and Hugh had made a plan for this situation, if it occurred, but they’d had no time to drill the crew in it. She suspected the others hadn’t, either. If everyone did what they were told, let the military crew handle it, casualties should be low—or even nonexistent, she hoped. And when it was over, and they were far enough away, she would enjoy blowing holes in Gretna Station…
Over the ship com came Hugh’s steady voice: “Battle stations. Battle stations. Prepare for hostile boarding. Remember your assignments. Nonmilitary crew, take cover and stay at your assigned locations. Fighting crew, report now…”
Ky’s implant gave her the crew reports: where they were, what weapons they had, what their sensors told them. She knew, through the implant’s connection to the ship, the instant an enemy hand touched the hull…and exactly what it was doing.
“Emergency air locks are supposed to be easy to exit,” she muttered. “Not enter…”
Vanguard
’s hatch lock finally deformed and let go under the combined attack of vacuum torches and brute force. “And that’s an expensive repair. Damn them.” But the attack on the air lock had been only a decoy—on the far side of the ship, a cargo hold opened suddenly, and a string of space-armored bodies drifted into it. Some cargo loader had managed to get the hold lock code. If they had all
Everything the indentured medical personnel had told her made it clear what was going on.
“They’re going to try to board,” she said. “In a moment, they’ll claim—”
A loud squawk on the official channel nearly deafened her. “Thieves!” said an angry voice. “Stop at once! All three of you! Shut down your engines. Prepare for boarding!”
“Not in my lifetime,” Ky said to her bridge crew. “Do they really think they can take all three of us?” She touched the alarm that sent the ship to battle stations. “Prepare to repel boarders,” she said into the shipcom. “Unknown number, unknown tech at this time.” Then she called Argelos and Pettygrew. “We’re expecting an attempt to board; you’ll probably have them, too.”
“I see them,” Argelos said. “I’ve got my people arming up now. Damned Fishies! Should’ve known they’d try something. I wish I knew how many…”
“If that shuttle was full of them, quite a lot. They know how big our crews are, though they don’t know how well we’ll fight.”
“We’re not in position to support one another,” Hugh pointed out. “We’re still too close to use the beam without risking backflash damage; we can’t use the missiles because they’re inside the auto-delay distance.”
“To keep us from blowing a hole in ourselves, yes. And they know that, because they sold them to us. What do they have for close-in weapons?”
“Well, they can’t use missiles, either, until we get farther out, and they won’t, if their shuttles are this close to us. They have the perimeter platforms—”
“Light-hours away,” Ky said. “We’re in no immediate danger there. So how
do
they expect to attack us—with handguns?”
“Tools from their repair facilities to breach the hull and put armed parties aboard. And we don’t have any weapons designed to repel them.”
“That shuttle’s almost touching our hull,” Lee put in. “They’re evacuating…no, it’s an EVA crew. In armor.”
“If we had rocks,” Ky said, “we could at least throw them. The next time I have money, I’m going to put
something
out there we can repel boarders with.”
“They’ve got some kind of tools,” Lee said, over his shoulder. “Can’t tell what, exactly—”
“They’ll be used to boarding hostile ships,” Hugh said. “But they’ll expect disorganized, incompetent resistance. May I suggest that the captain get into armor?”
“I suggest everyone does,” Ky said. “They can’t get through the hull instantly…I hope…” She headed for her cabin, where she kept her personal armor. She and Hugh had made a plan for this situation, if it occurred, but they’d had no time to drill the crew in it. She suspected the others hadn’t, either. If everyone did what they were told, let the military crew handle it, casualties should be low—or even nonexistent, she hoped. And when it was over, and they were far enough away, she would enjoy blowing holes in Gretna Station…
Over the ship com came Hugh’s steady voice: “Battle stations. Battle stations. Prepare for hostile boarding. Remember your assignments. Nonmilitary crew, take cover and stay at your assigned locations. Fighting crew, report now…”
Ky’s implant gave her the crew reports: where they were, what weapons they had, what their sensors told them. She knew, through the implant’s connection to the ship, the instant an enemy hand touched the hull…and exactly what it was doing.
“Emergency air locks are supposed to be easy to exit,” she muttered. “Not enter…”
Vanguard
’s hatch lock finally deformed and let go under the combined attack of vacuum torches and brute force. “And that’s an expensive repair. Damn them.” But the attack on the air lock had been only a decoy—on the far side of the ship, a cargo hold opened suddenly, and a string of space-armored bodies drifted into it. Some cargo loader had managed to get the hold lock code. If they had all
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