Deep Black by Miles Cameron

Author:Miles Cameron [Miles Cameron]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Orion
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

19

A day later, there seemed to be heavy construction rigs in every passageway on the ship. Nbaro’s tab would reroute her between one meeting and the next, and Gunny Drun came to her next boarding party drill and led her two boarding parties to their assigned sector.

It was as if someone had opened a magic door. Suddenly there was a wide hatch, as big as the drop-shafts, between the O-2 and O-1 levels just aft of the Combat Information Centre. Nbaro guessed that two officer staterooms had been eliminated, just aft of what had been the cross-corridor. They went down a prefab ladder into an empty space that held welded-in lockers. Nbaro saw immediately that the space was armoured.

‘This is your Midway duty station,’ Gunny Drun explained. ‘In a Midway situation, there will be no gravity. Your station is armoured and supplied with food, water and basic medical gear.’ He pointed to newly installed remote stations outside, on the hatch and the ladder. ‘Anyone know where the term close quarters comes from?’

In Nbaro’s ear, Dorcas explained, but she didn’t feel like robbing Drun of his fun.

‘These are “closed quarters”, a little fortress on the ship. Sailors used to fortify a stern cabin and hold out as long as they could. You will do the same, using this as a base of operations to perform ambushes and raids against an invading force. Since this space is not on any plan of the ship, it should be impossible for the enemy to find you except by accident.’

Drun then walked them through two routes out of the closed quarters, both newly created, and laid out two different ambush scenarios. For the next week, as the corridors rang with construction and Nbaro stood watches and flew flights, she and her two teams practised rapid deployment, attacks and retreats. They practised carrying casualties, they practised deploying the remotes, they practised first aid, and in one remarkable exercise, they were a third of the way through an ambush scenario when another team burst over the barriers behind them.

Drun addressed then approvingly. ‘No blue-on-blue engagements. Excellent. Remember, it’s our ship, and a lot of spacers are going to get caught in the action. Assume anything in a full spacesuit or an EVA package is the enemy. But even there, we might have exceptions. Marines may be in full EVA kit – we plan to use the outer hull for some … sport.’ He grinned.

You’re enjoying this , Nbaro thought.

There were other changes throughout the ship. Some were palpable, like the corridor rerouting. The most obvious was that almost all the spacers cut their hair. It was simple efficiency; everyone on board, no matter their rank, was wearing helmets constantly. A sizeable portion of the crew was in EVA suits during all their duty hours, or body armour as they practised for boarding actions. Men’s facial hair vanished; Medbay passed out oral depilatories to all spacers wearing EVA suits on a regular basis.

Nbaro’s brown hair was cut to a brushy two centimetres.

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