Jamison stayed in his rack the minimum time he dared. As soon as he determined his roommates were asleep, he dressed, gathered his gear, and slipped from the room. He was soon joined by a number of other shadowy figures, sliding from one bit of cover to the next, avoiding areas where any form of night duty took place and those small inner compounds where guards stood watch.
Although one part of the spacecraft compound was active and guarded, a large section was not. All the ships rested on gantries and could be prepared to launch quickly, but only a few in one section were active. Those had either just returned from patrols or were prepared to depart in the next few hours.
As Jamison neared this dark and idle section, he stopped and waited a few seconds in a narrow alley between two buil
