“All hands, all hands. Close-in systems declare boarding party proximity. All EVA personnel are to return to the ship immediately. Use of personal defense weapons are authorised. I say again, you are weapons free.”

I cursed, rapidly pulsing my thruster pack to bring me to a halt. I was armed, but the thrusters weren’t rated to handle the recoil of a HA-413B heavy automatic cannon.

I throttled up to a gentle curve around the heavy frigate, giving me a clear view of the airlock I’d left from. Two crewmen were outside it, applying cutting equipment to several particularly thick strands keeping the lock closed. Given my own experiences, they wouldn’t have much luck.

“Clear the airlock, clear the airlock. This is Reckall, stand by for explosive clearance.”

They pushed off hurriedly while I throttled to full power forwards. The autocannon whirred briefly, cycled once and stabilised.

Bracing for recoil, I loosed a long burst of fire against the airlock.