Yili was engrossed in her work. The Argent engineering section had to be seen to be believed. Reactor Seven towered over the assembly chamber where the Chief Engineer had set up shop. Lieutenant Yili was seated at a workstation observing changes in the chemical residue from alternative fuel mixtures and absently poking at a salad.

After her quiet and unheralded arrival as the new officer in charge of the entire engineering staff aboard the Argent, the other crew members weren’t too sure what to make of her. It took some time to get her to mention her last name was Curtiss. Some of the junior officers suggested a nickname of “Annie” while others preferred “girl with a gun” as she seemed to be permanently armed with a heavy blaster/disruptor pistol in a low holster on one side. Engineers were almost never armed. For one thing, they had enough tools and equipment to carry around. For another, most of the engineering crew had long since let their rifle and pistol skills wither. As crew aboard a Skywatch starship, they were required to pass basic training, but once they got their ship and assignment, most found themselves far too involved in their work to worry about regular visits to a rifle range for training. Besides, there were always sentry marines posted.

During the first few shift changes and especially during the battle drill, Lieutenant Curtiss had started a habit of wandering around the section and arriving on the scene of less-than-successful efforts by other engineering crew members precisely when the raised eyebrow of a senior officer would do the most good. She would rarely speak. She would only observe, add a quiet “mmmm” and then leave. At first, the engineering crews thought she was being critical, but she never followed up. After a few rounds of this they weren’t quite sure what she was doing.

The results, however, could not be argued with. Engineering crews would start obsessively checking their own work to avoid the nod and the “mmmm” from the chief engineer and in the process, in the space of scarcely a day, both efficiency and productivity had started to climb. Without a word, the OCE officer had turned the sprawling department into the beginnings of a self-checking, self-supportive team. All this was just fine with the lieutenant, of course. What she really wanted was peace and quiet so she could learn the ins and outs of the Argent’s reactor array and power systems as quickly as possible. One thing her new ship was not was a Yellowjacket fighter.

The assembly bay for multi-axis laser-activated (MALA) fusion Reactor Number Seven was appropriately spacious. Most of the atmosphere exposed surfaces were coated with white anti-static paint to help prevent charge buildup from the ionized coolant mixture. The Von Mansfried design reactor chamber resembled the base of an enormous grain silo surrounded by waist-level control consoles and the emergency isolation shield mechanisms. Two levels of gantry walkways were constructed overhead, each designed to grant crew members access to the baffles, electronics access panels and emergency facilities at assembly levels two and three. Each was thirty five feet higher than the one below it. A ladder extended from gantry three to the chamber escape hatch at the ceiling level more than 12 stories above the deck.

It was impressive enough on its own. What Yili and all other chief engineers knew was politicians and press were always humbled when they learned Citadel-class capital ships like the Argent had seven more just like it, each one capable of a sustained maximum output of 40 megawatts and theoretical burst capacities of up to half a gigawatt. Reactor Seven was currently quietly operating at a fairly reserved 1.5% of full capacity, with most of its energy being used by Flight Deck Three to cycle fighter and gunship battle screens for testing.

Other engineers occasionally wandered through the Reactor Seven assembly room, most carrying man-portable pieces of testing equipment from one place to the next. Some of the heavier stuff was mounted on wheeled trucks for convenience, and some of the really heavy pieces of equipment and tools were transported by driven vehicles.

Unfortunately, none of those crew members, engineers or patrols noticed the shadowy humanoids gathering on gantry three. Their plans had been underway for several minutes without detection. Some of the marine guards had been lulled into a false sense of security by the formidable nature of the automatic intruder alert systems and as a result, they had allowed their powers of observation to become rusty.

The fact that everyone would later agree saved the ship was that Reactor Seven was also being guarded by Major Moody’s low-key guards for Lieutenant Yili Curtiss.

“Intruder!”

Yili looked up with a start and saw one of the incognito marines dive towards the deck alarm. The soft sounds of beam weapons fire filled the chamber and blinding lances of white light rained down from the overhead gantry. The young marine never made it to the alert console.

The boarding party knew they had only a few moments delay before the entire ship would know they were there, so they put those moments to deadly use. The other of Lieutenant Curtiss’ undercover guards actually managed to return fire before he was driven behind an auxiliary power generator to avoid being vaporized where he stood.

The next group of crewmen to enter Reactor Seven’s assembly chamber came under immediate attack. The one leading the truck carrying oil and fuel residue from Paladin landing mechanisms was instantly vaporized by a center-of-mass shot to the chest. The others had more fortunate cover positions behind the truck and managed to escape the chamber altogether.

The Lieutenant moved quicker than most would have believed she could. She ducked under her workstation and swiftly moved towards a cover position behind Auxiliary Power Two. She was only three yards from safety when one of the intruders confronted her at deck level.

All Yili could see was a dark humanoid form of some kind wearing what might have been an all-black tac suit. Whatever it was, it seemed equally surprised to find anyone so close.

The intruder drew a bladed weapon and lunged, driving the point down towards Yili’s back. Argent’s chief engineer ducked into the motion and slammed both her fists down on her opponent’s instep. She actually felt at least two bones break. There was a muffled cry of pain before both of them crashed to the floor in a rolling struggle.

The lieutenant’s combat training took over and in moments she had driven the intruder’s knife into his chest. She dragged the body with her behind Auxiliary Two and activated her commlink.

On the bridge, Zony was busy punching a hole through Nemesis Eight’s interference to establish a solid channel with Alert Three. When the indicator for an intraship hail directly to her designator came through, she answered it right away.

“Bridge, Signals.”

Yili’s voice was an urgent whisper. “Zony, this is Yili in Reactor Seven. Intruder alert. I say again, Intruder alert. They’ve shot two of my men and wounded a third. I need Moo to deploy assault teams at all the strike points on the port side of Reactor Six. Acknowledge.”

“Affirmative, Jack Four. Hold the fort. We’re sending the cavalry.” Zony switched intraship communications over to wired channels and activated an EM communications blackout. Dominique responded with a series of security options, which the signals officer activated on her own authority.

“Captain, we have an intruder alert in Reactor Seven. Communications are black. Engineering is requesting backup.”

Hunter turned to Moo and shouted “Go!” The Major scrambled back down the Deck One corridor towards the magneto-lifts, activating his commlink as he ran. It detected the ship’s communications blackout and shifted to one of three pre-selected frequencies not affected by the electronic noise the rest of the ship’s repeaters were broadcasting at maximum power.

“This is Tango Charlie! Repel boarders Reactor Seven! Repel boarders Reactor Seven! Assault armor to all strike points!”

“Annora, sound General Quarters all decks. Intruder protocols. Stand by environmental defenses. Neek, let’s start with protocol one.”

“Affirmative, Captain. Signals has already activated all automatic security protocols.”

“Three cheers for efficiency,” Hunter said. “Zony give me a tactical view of Deck Twenty Nine, port side aft. Overlay locations of all biological life signs and then subtract anyone wearing a commlink.”

“Acknowledged. Tactical on screen.”

The Captain had just gotten out of his chair to take a closer look when intraship wired communications channels sounded the alert tone. “Bridge, this is Skywatch. Kilo X-Ray One is on an intercept course bearing three-two-one range seven million miles and closing!”

“Zony, scrub Alert Three’s ID pass! Scramble formation and stand by for attack orders.”

“Bridge! CIC! Missiles in space and tracking! Vampire! Vampire! Vampire!”