Brittany Hawkins rounded the corner into the centerdeck passage on Deck Four of DSS Exeter at exactly the wrong moment. Or exactly the right moment depending on your side.

The intruders had their backs turned.

The Lieutenant dove into a service junction and drew her weapon. She keyed her commlink and set it to intraship.

“Hawkins to bridge.”

Nothing.

“Hawkins to bridge, come in. Emergency.”

Static.

Jammed?

Without time to make a plan, Hawkins peered out into the hallway, pulling her blaster weapon up by her ear. A sudden grasping weight slammed her against the bulkhead. She tried to turn under her attacker’s hands, but she was off-balance and stumbled out into the hall. Her weapon clattered to the deck just before a gloved clout spun her back against a locked hatch. At that moment, a marine PFC rounded the corner.

“Hey!”

Everyone looked up at once. The black-suited intruder and the marine grappled violently for a moment before the PFC was heaved back. Hawkins dove for her weapon. A blast of white-hot plasma energy impacted the bulkhead. Showers of sparks lit up the small hallway and junction just as the marine regained his footing. The lights flickered.

“Intruders! Intru–!” A hard arm to the neck silenced the young PFC, but the sharp sound of his warning had carried. Three more men and one woman emerged from hatches on either side of the cross-corridor and ran towards the disturbance.

Finally Hawkins gathered up her weapon and opened up on the large group of unidentified personnel at the opposite end of the centerdeck passage. She fired twice, hitting one in the leg and missing wide with her second shot. A burst of rapid-fire plasma answered and she scrambled into the cross corridor.

A voice shouted from further down the hall. “Sound the deck alarm! Repel boarders! All Exeter Marines acknowledge!”

Hawkins finally got to her feet and ran towards the small squad. The lights shifted red and the ship-wide alert system began to sound.

“What have we got, ma’am?” a young Strike Sergeant who couldn’t have been older than 20 asked.

“Two dozen. Armed. Not sure why they picked Deck Four or how they got aboard but there you have it. Communications are–”

Hawkins’ commlink beeped.

“Bridge.”

“Get me the Officer of the Watch!”

“Commander Pierce has the conn. Report.”

“Intruders, Deck Four! Exeter First Marines engaging! Hawkins out!”

The sergeant pulled the bolt on his TK40.

“What’s the word, ma’am?”

Hawkins glared past the wide contusion on the left side of her face, still trying to catch her breath. “Get those bastards off my ship, Sergeant.”

The young marine hefted his shock rifle and grinned.

“Yes ma’am.”