A very brief fight.

The Bitch shuddered and a metallic thump echoed through the spacecraft as the Helcion **** ship came alongside the orbital defence platform and its armoured docking port locked onto the station's airlock. The Helcions had already gathered by the entrance to the docking port and were arming themselves from a locker nearby. The Helcions, to my surprise, were not wearing what I would consider battle armour appropriate for the intense close-quarter fighting that typified boarding actions. True they had pulled on items such as helmets and gloves, but were mostly still dressed in ruanite catsuits. Latoyah unhooked a number of heavy belts from the arms locker and shared them among the Helcion crew and after a nod from the Captain handed me a belt as well. I looked at it curiously and noted the chunky powerpack attached to the rear of the belt. The reason for the powerpack was clear enough, the belt contained a deflector shield of some kind. They were not unknown in UCS space, but the amount of power they consumed meant that they had exhausted power very quickly. Knowing that Helcion technology was only slightly advanced to the Colonies I guessed that the shields would be marginally superior to those I had seen. Even so, the powerpack would run empty if the Marines were able to hold for a few minutes and that would leave the Helcions defenceless against armoured troopers.

Once everyone had strapped on their belts the Captain signalled the crew to stand ready. Whipp and Latoyah, the Helcion muscle of the crew, took up position on either side of the docking port. Both women carried large launchers of a kind I had never seen before. They each slapped the control on their belts and there was a humming sound as they were surrounded by a blue iridescent light.

"The rest of you shield up," Domino ordered as she triggered her own belt and was surrounded by its protective barrier. "Don't want to lose nobody to a stray ricochet."

The Ryoko, Lyoko and Momo activated their shields and after a second or two I found the right button and slapped my palm down on it as I had seen the Helcions do. My belt powerpack started to hum and then I was viewing the scene through a shimmering blue glow of the **** shield. The Captain gave a nod of satisfaction and turning back to the docking port she triggered the breaching charge. There was a muffled thump behind the door to the docking port as the outer door of the platform's airlock was blown in. The docking port slid open and beyond was a short passage to the defence station's airlock, the outer door already collapsed inwards and lying flat. Only the inner door stood between us and the platform interior now.

"Okay Sweetcheeks, time to shine," Domino called back to me and tossed a small pack of electronic tools in my direction. "You're a Colony engineer, override the door control. It will be less messy than blowing it in."

I caught the small pack and hesitantly passed Domino and her thugs to access the door control. The door itself had reinforced plexiglass panels and I dared a look inside the corridor beyond. The corridor stretched out to the right before turning inwards. I could even see the barrels of **** rifles and the helmeted heads of the defending marines aiming towards the door I stood inside, ready to open fire as soon as the door opened. I fumbled with the tools, wondering if I could delay opening the door long enough to exhaust the Helcion power packs for their shield to some degree. Levering the cover off the door control I worked as slowly as I could, making a job that I could have completed in a few seconds last a minute.

"Hurry it up there you slut." Domino called out impatiently. "Ten seconds and I'll use a fucking grenade and you want to bet on the shield deflecting that?"

I dragged it out until the last couple of seconds of the Captain's warning and then disabled the door-locking mechanism. As the door hissed open the Marines opened up on full automatic fire and I threw myself flat on the deck as my shield fizzed and flared with several slug impacts being absorbed. I could hear other shots and ricochets pinging past me towards the Helcions. Whipp and Latoyah raised those strange launchers and fired. Two large projectiles shot overhead, but instead of exploding in the corridor they bounced off the walls and pinballed back and forth off the walls and down the corridor towards the Marines. The projectiles were large segmented metallic balls and I lowered my head expecting an explosion as they bounced around the turning of the corridor where the Marines were defending. Instead of an explosion, there was only a muffled pop and I heard shouts of warning and surprise from the Marines. Then came screams and loud shocked cursing and the sound of frantic scuffling. The Helcions fired again and two more metal spheres careened off the walls and around the corner of the corridor shortly followed by more yelling and screaming.

A few seconds passed and there were no more volleys of rifle fire from the Marines, only the continuing sound of a struggle taking place around the corner of the corridor and panicked cries for help. Domino casually stepped past where I lay cowering and walked towards the corner of the corridor, apparently confident that she was in little danger. When Whipp and Latoyah strolled after her, equally at ease I picked myself up and followed with far less confidence. As I rounded the corner after the Helcion boarders it took a moment or two to comprehend the scene. The metal spheres contained a robotic drone that had activated once near a target. The segmented metallic body of the drone resembled pictures I had seen of a cobra rearing up ready to strike and must have formed the outer shell of the spheres. From this upright body, now standing slightly taller than a human, four flexible arms or perhaps more accurately tentacles extended with each limb tipped with a magcuff. Four Marines had been seized by their wrists and ankles and immobilised by the drones. Two more Marines had been selflessly attempting to free their comrades when the Helcions and I rounded a corner, with a snarl they dove for the **** rifle lying at their feet only for three stun beams from the Helcion's handguns to hit them as they began to lift the weapons. They dropped wordlessly limp to the deck beside the cursing and struggling soldiers held the grip of the drones.

"Should only be a couple left," Domino stated smugly, watching the frantic efforts of the captured Marines to free themselves. "Whipp, Latoya, Sweetcheeks with me. We'll round them up. Should be in the command centre. Rest of you prep this cargo for transport back to the Bitch's **** hold."