Star Marines. Ian Douglas

to kill someone in the line of fire beyond. It also switched his fire selector to single-shot. He raised his right arm, dragging the reticule in his visual field onto the black mass entangling Istook, and squeezed the firing switch. Nothing happened; Istook’s struggles had pulled her around until her suit entered Garroway’s line of fire, and the safety-interrupt in his combat computer had blocked the shot. Cursing under his breath, Garroway shifted his aim into the shadowy mass farther from the jerking form of Ishtook’s CAS and fired three quick-spaced rounds. Tentacles whiplashed, then came apart. Ishtook tumbled backward out of the thing’s grasp, bouncing hard off the opposite bulkhead. “Th-thanks, Gunny!”

      “Not a problem,” he said, snagging the arm of her suit and stopping her rebound. “Stay close!”

      “Gunny! The black-hats are on the run!”

      It was true. The attackers were vanishing from the tactical display—destroyed, or retreating back into countless small, hidden side passages.

      “Section! Who has Oritz’s boom-pack?”

      “Right here, Gunny,” Corporal Hood called.

      “Give it here.” They needed to plant these last two charges, then get the hell out of Dodge. “C’mon! In here!”

      His suit lights had revealed a side passageway leading off at an odd angle from the main one. Ducking inside, they found themselves in a small, elongated room with gtextening walls. “Place your weapon there,” he told her, pointing. He watched her back as she set her K-94 against one wall and release the nanoseal in its base, anchoring it solidly in place. “Set sequence Bravo.”