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to simulate gravity for most of the station.
    Bren saw marines huddling behind heavy equipment in the zero-gravity environment. Several of the men writhed against thick strands of glue that held them against bulkheads or the reactor wall. The Circle Fours commonly used glue rounds and other nonlethal weapons in combat.
    The spherical structure held many open spaces, but the lines of fire were complicated by heavy columns and piping leading to the massive fusion reactor at the center. A couple of men floated out in the open, unconscious or worse. The ASSAIL units clawed their way into the main atrium of the fusion plant connected to the walls by magnetic feet.
    Boom. Boom.
    Bren saw Meridian had double-holed a Circle Four, killing it neatly. Thin wisps of smoke from the cannons dissipated from the camera feed in a second or two. Bren hoped the spider bot didn’t show up in this environment. Shooting double or triple shots near the reactor was something he didn’t want to see happen, even from his control seat back on the Vigilant .
    Meridian crawled forward through the tall columns of piping and power equipment. Bren caught sight of another Circle Four, but it wasn’t moving. It looked like the marines had taken it out with a hand-launched missile. Meridian ignored the dead hulk. Its two 12mm weapons moved independently, watching for another Circle Four to come into a fire zone.
    Boom.
    Bren saw Mournblade had killed another security machine from across the bay.
    “I’m pretty sure there’s only one left, if it hasn’t disengaged,” Henley’s voice came across the marine command channel.
    “I have it on IR over here by the number three spoke,” a marine said. “I got an acknowledgment from an ASSAIL unit a sec ago.”
    Boom.
    “It got ’em, Colonel.”
    Bren checked and saw Mordecai had taken out the Circle Four as it approached the spoke the marine had mentioned. It had taken some counter fire, a few projectiles, and some glue, but its self-diagnostic indicated the machine was fully operational. Bren shook his head. Things had happened so fast once the fighting started. He’d have hours of footage to look over later.
    “Thanks, guys,” Henley piped over. “I’m getting my disabled men out of there. You can probe ahead or give us five, if you want us on your flanks.”
    Bren saw the marines giving the all clear in the large hollows of the fusion plant. Marines launched themselves up to snatch their free-floating friends and get them reeled back in. Several of them were breaking out white plastic canisters of solvent to start working on the glue that had disabled some of their buddies.
    “I’ll leave it up to them,” Bren transmitted. He expected the ASSAIL units to scout forward on their own, and they didn’t disappoint him. With the Circle Fours out of action, the ASSAIL units resumed the lead, spearheading the space force marines into new areas of Thermopylae.
    The space station was large. Meridian’s view showed Bren the luxurious innards of the station. The intelligence the UNSF had gathered indicated the station was divided into three zones of differing levels of security. The common area of the base was composed of reception rooms, a large kitchen, a medical facility, exercise areas, and even a small museum with items important to the company’s history.
    The ASSAIL team had been inserted into the second zone, which held the support infrastructure of the base. They found storage rooms, a fabrication plant, robot shops, a supply dock with a connected shipping office, a water systems room, and an atmospheric control room.
    At one point, Bren saw a space prep room with spacesuits lined along a wall. Meridian seemed to linger. Bren wondered why, but he didn’t want to ask since each interaction revealed more human weakness to the young cores. The machines had been on for twenty minutes. He also didn’t want to cause any delay in case another battle extended the mission total. He figured the red