"Clear!" The guard that had fired the taser shot called out.

"Who are you?" A voice called back.

"Pratt… Badge T89Y!" The other man stepped around the corner, rifle held high, sweeping from side to side.

"Jesus, what the hell is this?" His eyes fixed on Pratt. He had seen him around the mess a few times. He had something to do with cargo; at least he was sure that was where he had seen him.

"Not a clue… Heard the shots, came running… How is it you managed to escape the gas or whatever it is?"

"Hull breach? Maybe… Alarm went off and I grabbed an emergency mask. There were three of us, two of us made it in time… You think we hit something?"

"Or something hit us, right? Has to be." Pratt reached down, pulled the body closer, and then pulled the man's arms back one by one. He used plasticuffs and secured his hands behind him. He keyed the com button on his wrist implant, released it and looked up first. "Did you call it in? Is the Sec. Com. up?"

"Spoke to him, he is."

Pratt keyed his com button once more. "T89Y…" he listened to the clean, low crash of static. "Base… Base this is T89Y…"

"Baylor," came the answer. "Operations are thin, repeat thin… What is your situation, T89Y?"

"Got a bad guy; myself and, "he glanced over at the other man, reading the tag on his uniform, "Baker." The man wore no badge. "We don't know the circumstances here; we have one down, taser pistol," he kicked the taser pistol a little further away from the body, gripped the back of the man's jumpsuit and turned him over. "Best, that's the name of the bad guy…" He rifled his pockets and found nothing but a set of keys. "Keys in his pocket," he flipped the small set of keys from side to side. They were shaped funny. Nothing he had seen before...

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