Kerry declined the third glass, and listened eagerly to the LT's description of their assignment. "Fucking Navy" she growled at one point. She grinned at the ROE. The orcs were notorious for killing everything on a planet and "orc-forming" it, replacing the flora and fauna with their own rather disgusting variants. "With pleasure sir!"<br/><br/>The orders re civs made sense, and she was about to ask a question when the Ships' Captain announced the brace. She wasn't hanging about, "SIRYESSIR!" shot from her lips as she shot to her feet, snapped off a salute and was back in the platoon room before the last of the impacts rocked the ship. The gravity lurched and Kerry broke her stride briefly, keeping the magnets on her boots in contact with the metal decking. "SUIT UP! ON THE DOUBLE, REMEMBER WHO YOUR OPPO IS AND CHECK EACH OTHER'S GEAR. WE ARE NOW AT ACTION STATIONS. COME ON YOU MAGGOTS!<strong>MOVE IT!</strong>"<br/><br/>Her own gear was. back in the sergeant's mess. That was going to be a problem. She was just about to get on comms, when the door slid open and a navy cadet, staggering under the weight, dumped the whole load down by the door, "Major's complements, Sergeant."<br/><br/>Paige grinned back and Snapped a salute to the cadet, who did outrank her even if that rank was only nominal and an accident of birth.<br/><br/>She moved quickly as the gravity lurched sickeningly again, but no impact came. "Evasive manoeuvres",  she said aloud to anyone who was interested. Troop carriers were not the most agile of the ships in the fleet. This was the worst bit for the grunts. Stuck in the bowels of a warship with absolutely no idea what was going on, other than they were obviously in a combat zone. The ship could be blown to a million pieces any second and they would never know. Or their compartment could be holed and the air sucked....<br/><br/><tt class="bbc_tt"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;">WARNING! PRESSURE DROP! SEALING COMPARTMENT!</span></tt><br/><br/>The words came mechanically from the speakers even as they lit up on a warning sign over the door and the bulkhead slid closed with a clang, sealing them in. "SHIT! EVERYONE FREEZE!" The 206th was a light infantry unit. They didn't have the heavy combat armour that would keep them alive in a vacuum. Of course the hull breach could be outside their compartment, in which case they would be fine. But she needed to know.<br/><br/>Everyone froze and stood, waiting. Someone dropped a clip and it rang loud on the deck. Paige scowled at the culpret and then listened hard. There. A high pitched whistle was faint in the air but it should not have been there. She grabbed her chalk dust from her kit and the emergency patch from beside the bulkhead, then walked slowly down the room, tossing chalk dust into the air, towards the outside of the ship, always towards the one side, watching how it moved in the air.<br/><br/>There! She lunged at the spot that the dust was moving inexorably towards.  A hole about two mil across was allowing the precious air to be sucked out into the vacuum beyond - a vacuum where the next platoon's room had been. Luck of the draw, she thought, shrugged and slapped the patch over the hole.<br/><br/>Now to find what had caused it.<br/><br/>She turned, in time to see Pvt Adrian Selwood sag forward and collapse. "Damn! Medic!" She knelt beside him, but there was a small hole in the back of his helmet. The light above the door went green and the mechanical voice said:<tt class="bbc_tt">Pressure stabilized, equalizing. Pressure equalized, opening compartment.</tt><br/><br/>It was only then that Paige swallowed hard, allowing her ears to pop. "Well don't just stand there, get your fucking gear on, you slugs!"