Heavily armed marines from Second Paladins advanced two-by-two down the darkened reddish corridor leading to the loadlane for Auxiliary Power Seven. Internal sensors had confirmed more than two dozen distinct signatures of humanoid life forms at various locations in and around the engineering deck, but by now the intruders were doing a more than adequate job of concealing their locations with man-portable sensor scrambling equipment.

What was clear was the boarding party was heavily armed and highly motivated. They weren’t attacking or trying to advance and capture larger sections of the ship. For reasons unknown they seemed to be content to fortify Aux Con Seven, Reactor Seven and one of the coolant systems overload control mechanism chambers aft of the Assembly Room where the initial attack had taken place.

They seemed to be waiting for something.

“Left and right, Sanders. Left and right.”

Major Moody’s mic pickup thumped as he closed the transmitter. The three marines nearest the point of the squad were armed with Tennerith-Klivers 40/40 Assault Guns. They were two-handed weapons designed for short-range punch. The TK40s could fire concussive bolts of energy with ranged burst capability and do so as part of any pattern of fire. This eliminated the need for over-under designs with two kinds of ordinance. Like a grenade, a conc bolt could be set to detonate at range or detonated at range with another shot from the same gun.

At ranges under twenty meters, they were the equivalent of combat shotguns, if such weapons were being wielded by fifteen-foot-tall gorillas. One marine could lay down enough suppressing fire to pin a small company if he got far enough out in the open and really let his weapon get the bit in its teeth. Sustained fire from six marines could rip the first floor out from under a six story building in a matter of a few seconds.

Vital to the Argent’s marine units were the ship’s own defensive systems. All of the Second Paladins’ weapons were tuned to the deck battle screens such that any shot fired by an Argent marine would be absorbed by directional shielding around the decks, bulkheads, ceilings and doors. Properly configured, they prevented the assault teams from blowing holes in their own ships with their guns. The systems could also be tuned in reverse, allowing Argent forces to fire their weapons unimpeded while blocking enemy fire.

Unfortunately at the moment, the shielding on the port side of the ship was operating on reserve power at only 40% capability.

First Squad Corporal Benjamin Sanders stopped at the loadlane and peered around the corner. His tac systems performed a half-second analysis of the sixty foot corridor and reported no targets. He made a quick hand gesture and waited for instructions.

“Set ambient and advance. Two by two.”

Sanders crept quickly down the hallway and stopped, back to the bulkhead. The two marines following his lead silently arrived at his side a moment later. His tac suit alerted on the door, and the signal was transmitted to the rest of the squad instantly.

“Major, I have hostiles inside Aux Con Seven. Hatch is sealed. No damage visible to decks or bulkheads.”

Moody keyed his commlink. “Zony, this is Moo in Engineering. Confirm hostiles only in Aux Con–”

The hatch opened, and one of the hostiles casually emerged. When the lights from the assault team’s tac suits hit him he tried to scramble back inside and ran directly into the face of the rifle-armed intruder behind him. A shot punctured the ceiling and sparks showered all over the deck.

One of the marines behind Corporal Sanders fired a single shot form his TK40 which flashed down the hall and detonated, nearly overloading the battle screens and causing the deck to buckle and shudder. More intruders ran to the door and an all-out melee ensued. Sanders pulled one of the black-suited humanoids into the hall and slammed him back-first against the opposite bulkhead. Another marine struggled with the armed intruder and his weapon, causing another shot to go off. This one blasted a foot-wide hole in the opposite bulkhead. The overpressure from the explosion knocked Sanders off balance and he fell, pulling his opponent with him.

This left the armed intruder alone in the middle of the hall. He leveled his weapon and aimed at Major Moody before the marine officer punched three blinding white conc rounds into his midsection. He wheeled back over the other two and landed hard. His rifle clattered on the deck.

“Say again Assault Team. Say again!” Zony’s voice was modulated by static and harmonics over the intraship channel.

“Confirm hostiles only in Aux Con Seven, Zony. We’ve got weapons fire down here. You! On the floor! Hands where I can see ‘em or you’re next!”

Sanders and the intruder’s struggle abated somewhat, and finally the unidentified humanoid raised his hands in a gesture of surrender with Corporal Sanders’ arm tight around his throat.

“Confirmed, Assault Team. Six hostiles only in Aux Con Seven.”

“Private! Seal that hatch!”

“Sir?” the private replied. Unsure why they would close the door on the bad guys.

“Seal it!” Moo replied. “Sanders. Bring him and pull back. Let’s go.”

Sanders pulled the prisoner to his feet and shoved him down the corridor towards the Major.

“Zony, patch me to intraship, but only inside Aux Con Seven.”

“Affirmative, Major. You’re on.”

“Attention unidentified personnel! You have exactly fifteen seconds to put down your weapons and surrender your position or we will depressurize the chamber and take it by force! Acknowledge by knocking on the hatch three times with a weapon!”

Five seconds passed.

“Major, I’m getting odd readings from Aux Con Seven, are you sure–?”

The deck alarms all went off at once. The lights shifted to a painful bright yellow.

“Explosive alarm! Everybody out! Move! Move! Move!”

Moody grabbed one of the marines by the scruff of the neck and the prisoner with the other and charged back up the corridor away from the loadlane.

The explosion surrounded everyone and everything with a flaming gale force wind before the shockwave shattered the deck and bulkheads.