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but they'd asked questions, almost like an inspection.
Crimra didn't see Gerro getting his ticket punched by that Duke. He acted like
he knew more than the exec, not that that was any great surprise to any of the
Sanducar's crew.
Crimra yawned. He shouldn't feel sleepy.
He stretched again, trying to stifle another yawn, aware that the breeze from
the vent was stronger, with a faint scent of ... something. He shrugged.
And yawned again. Blast! He shouldn't feel that sleepy.
The comm tech concentrated on putting his feet in exactly the correct position
in front of the swivel. Next, he grasped the arms and concentrated on lifting
himself out of the seat.
His arms wouldn't lift him, and he was yawning again, his mouth so far open
that his jaw ached.
From somewhere, the blackness came up and hit him.
Chapter LXX
Gerswin bent his forefinger in the odd configuration required to seal his suit,
and the faceplate slid closed.
He hoped none of the onboard crew of the Sanducar had been suited, not that
there would have been any reason for them to have been, not while in orbit and
on stand-down.
He raised his hand. The shuttle was sealed into the hold, both locks opened.
Gerswin and his crew of ten were outside the shuttle itself, hidden behind the
more than man-tall driver shields from the vid scanners and from the direct
vision of the tech who was in charge of the hangar and lock operations.
Gerswin was betting that there would be a single tech on duty, two at most.
If not, he was prepared to employ more direct means.
Nitiri, wearing the shipsuit of the shuttle's pilot, went through the power-down
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procedures, locked the shuttle onto the mesh, and exited from the forward shuttle
hatch. He stepped out, turned to look over the shuttle as if to give it a cursory
inspection from outside, then turned back and took careful steps toward the
interior lock.
The single on-duty tech looked up as Nitiri appeared, suit still sealed.
"Hey! You-"
Thrumm!
The tech crumpled across the console. Nitiri lifted him off the board. Carefully,
because he was wearing the heavy suit gauntlets, he made a number of changes to
the status board, the last of which unlocked the interior lock for Gerswin and the
nine others.
Gerswin clumped in last and manually sealed the battle locks to prevent
anyone from surprising them in turn. By the time he had finished cranking the
heavy bolts into their jackets and entered the hangar lock control room, Nitiri
was stretching out the unconscious tech in the only vacant comer. The others had
split into three different parties, each group with a small gas cannister.
The commander traced a question mark in the air, unwilling to use the suit
radio, since most suit frequencies would trigger the automatic defense alarms of
Imperial ships unless accompanied by the ship's own carrier code.
Nitiri stood, straightened, and shrugged, both gray gauntlets , held palm up.
Gerswin motioned to the nine to go ahead, then took a thin cable from his suit
pouch, along with the tool pack, and began to work. With three movements and
the use of two tools, he was plugged into the console.
The odds were against their completing the changes to the l ship's air systems
before someone stumbled across the intruders, and Gerswin wanted to know
when it happened.
He switched from frequency to frequency, from console station to console
station, but picked up nothing on the first sweep.
Ideally, he would have preferred the comm center, but that was obviously
impractical. Any alarm would show on the common channels within seconds, in
any case.
In the interim Nitiri placed himself, stunner still drawn, to cover the now-
closed portal from the main access corridor into the cargo control lock center
where they waited. The room was so small that anyone who entered would see
them at once.
Gerswin plugged to the lit stations on the comm panel.
"Sindra, Niter here. Do you know if Weryon is pushing dust again?"
"Negative, Sindra. Could be. Fores said that the exec's cabin was getting air that
smelled oily. Thought they'd fixed it."
"Just thought I heard some noise below in the vent system. ... Oh ... ohhh . . .
Wish Peres would get here."
"Why? You said she doesn't like you."
"Doesn't. Sleepy, and she's my relief."
"Got a while. It must be the waiting. Feel the same way."
"Dorfstuff! Hurry up and wait. Exec's off. Captain's gone. We're here. Who's in
charge?"
"The senior lieutenant ..."
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Another light blinked, and Gerswin shifted frequencies.
"Fores! Fores! Get the O.D."
BRING! BRINGG! BRINGGG!
The piercing ringing of the general quarters alarm shook Gerswin even through [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]