Corporal Marlin's face went white, but then he nodded, braced to attention, and marched briskly down the passage. Yu watched him go, hoping they had enough time for him to reach Bryan, and then withdrew into his cabin.
He thumbed a wall locker security plate, and the door swung open as the scanner recognized his print. The racked sidearms were in police-style shoulder holsters, not standard military ones, and he tossed one of them to each of his officers, then unsealed his tunic. He jerked on the shoulder rig and looked at Valentine as the engineer shrugged out of his own tunic.
'We're in deep shit here, Jim. I don't see any way we can hold the ship after I let the fuckers fill us right up.' The engineer's nod was jerky but not panicked, and Yu went on grimly. 'That means we have to cripple her.'
'Aye, Sir.' Valentine slid his tunic back on over his own shoulder harness and started shoveling magazines into his pockets.
'Who's got the Engineering watch?'
'Workman,' Valentine replied in disgust, and Yu's face tightened.
'All right. You're going to have to get in there somehow and throw the fusion plants into emergency shutdown. Can you do it?'
'I can try, Sir. Most of his watch is Masadan, but Joe Mount shares it to keep them from fucking up.'
'I hate to ask it of you, Jim—' Yu began, but Valentine cut him off.
'You don't have a lot of choice, Skipper. I'll give it my best shot.'
'Thank you.' Yu looked into his eyes for a moment, then turned to DeGeorge.
'Sam, you and I will try for the bridge. Major Bryan will know what to do when Marlin gets to him, and—
The cabin hatch opened behind him, and Yu froze for an instant, then turned his head sharply. A Masadan colonel stood in the opening, four armed men behind him, and his hand held a drawn autopistol.
'Don't you bother to knock on a superior officer's door, Colonel?' Yu snapped over his shoulder, sliding his own hand into his still open tunic.
'Captain Yu,' the colonel said as if he hadn't spoken, 'it is my duty to inform you that this ship is now und—'
Yu turned, and his pulser whined. Its darts were non-explosive, but it was also set on full auto, and the colonel's back erupted in a hideous crimson spray. He went down without even a scream, and the same hurricane of destruction swept through his troops. The bulkhead opposite the hatch vanished under a glistening coat of blood, someone in the passage shouted in horror, and Yu charged for the hatch.
Six Masadans stood in the passage, gaping at the carnage. Five of them grabbed frantically at their rifle slings as the captain appeared before them, pulser in hand; the sixth thought more quickly. He turned and ran even as Yu squeezed the trigger again, and his quickness saved his life. His companions soaked up Yu's fire just long enough for him to make it around a bend in the passage, and the captain swore savagely.
He jerked back into the cabin, lunging for the com panel beside his desk terminal, and slammed his thumb down on the all-hands button.
'Bounty Four-One!' his voice blared from every speaker in the ship. 'I say again, Bounty Four-One!'
Major Joseph Bryan drew his sidearm, turned, and opened fire without a word. The eight Masadan soldiers in the armory with him were still staring at the intercom in puzzlement when they died, and only then did Bryan allow himself to curse. He'd wondered why the Masadan lieutenant had wanted to tour the armory; now he knew, but thirty years of professional soldiering as one of the People's Republic's conquistadors made him double-check. He bent over the Lieutenant's pulser-mangled body and ripped the blood-soaked tunic open, and his face hardened with bleak satisfaction as he found the pistol inside it.
The armory hatch slid open, and he whirled in a half-crouch, but it was Corporal Marlin.
'What the fuck are
'He sent me to find you before he came up over the intercom, Sir.' Marlin looked down at the bodies and blood, and his eyes were bitter. 'I guess he had less time than he thought he did.'
Bryan only grunted. He was already yanking unpowered body armor over his uniform, and the corporal shook himself and followed his example. Both of them would vastly have preferred powered armor, or at least combat skin suits, but there was no time.
The major sealed his clamshell breast-and-back plate and snatched a short, heavy-barreled flechette gun from one of the racks. He'd just slapped in a magazine when he heard the ear-splitting crack of a Masadan firearm. He whirled towards the hatch once more, then lowered his muzzle as pulsers whined in reply and Captain Young appeared in the opening.
'I've got nine men, Sir,' the captain said without preamble.
'Good.' Bryan's mind raced as he slid ammo bandoleers over his shoulders. Bounty Four-One meant Captain Yu didn't believe his people could hold the ship, and given the numbers of Masadan grunts on board, Bryan had no choice but to agree. His own mission under Four-One was clear and simple, but he'd expected to have more men available before he set off to accomplish it.
He latched the bandoleers and grunted approval as Young beckoned five men inside and all six of them began armoring up. The captain's other four men crouched outside the hatch, armed now with the flechette guns Marlin had tossed them, covering their companions while they grabbed their gear, and Bryan reached his decision.
'I'm taking Marlin and four of your people, Captain. Hang on here for thirty minutes or until I tell you different, but don't ride it down in flames. If you're forced out, inform me before you leave—and make damned sure nothing falls into Masadan hands.'
'Yes, Sir.' Young said. 'Hadley, Marks, Banner, Jancowitz—you're with the Major.' The detailed men nodded, not even slowing as they continued to festoon themselves with weapons. Bryan waited until they'd loaded themselves liberally with ammunition, then waved them out.
' ... again, Bounty Four-One!'
Lieutenant Mount jerked in shock as the words crackled from the speaker. For just one moment, he stared at it in disbelief, feeling the confusion of the Masadans about him, then reached for his control panel.
Lieutenant Commander Workman had never heard of 'Bounty Four-One,' but he knew what Sword Simonds intended to happen, and the sudden, apparently meaningless message could mean only one thing. His pistol bullet shattered the lieutenant's head before Mount reached the emergency shutdown switch.
Commander Manning didn't even twitch as Captain Yu's voice rolled from the com. He'd known it was coming, and he'd already accepted that he was trapped on the bridge. As soon as the Captain confirmed a Four-One condition, his right hand touched the underside of the command chair's arm rest. A small panel that didn't show on any engineering schematic slid open, and his index finger hooked up inside it even as Lieutenant Hart produced his pistol.
'Get out of the command chair, Commander Manning!' the Masadan snapped. 'And keep your hands where I can see them!'
The Havenite helmsman lunged for the com officer's gun, but a pistol cracked twice somewhere behind Manning, and the petty officer slammed to the deck. His Masadan assistant stepped across his dying contortions to take over the controls, and Manning's face tightened in hatred. He snarled at Hart, but the com officer only jerked his gun hand.
'Out of the chair
'Lieutenant Hart!' It was the Masadan who'd taken over Maneuvering. 'She won't answer the helm,
