"Shit!" exclaimed Robson, from behind cover, as the suppressive fire came in from enemy positions. They were a squad of combat veterans, but the way the fire came in with hypersonic booms and tore forth chunks from their position was a new and unpleasant experience, even as the debris rained in on them in dangerous splinters and other hazards. They'd been prepared for the scenario of having the observation position compromised, but not quite prepared for the kinetic energy behind the enemy's attack.

Nonetheless, he quickly stowed his equipment, the light fifty, onto a grav platform that the Grathik designed to assist infantry by lessening their carried individual loads. It was derived from the concept of programs that were shelved by various militaries for lack of the technology base to follow through with a viable piece of equipment for battlefield use.

Just as the Grathik mounted heavy machineguns on drones that could be converted over to manned use by humans, they also equipped humans with these cargo units.

It made a difference; Robson was down to his rifle and the equipment necessary to fight for several hours, while leaving anti-material rifles, anti-tank weapons and the like to be carried by an autonomous vehicle that essentially was their pack animals...the first time they heard one talk, it was dubbed, "Donkey!"

And then some joker reprogrammed their squad's Donkey to sound like Eddie Murphy.

"Now I'm a FLYIN' donkey!" it sang out as the last gear was loaded on and it sailed down on counter-grav tech, the same exact tech that the squad's emergency escape equipment had. Once Robson had his carbine ready and saw others making their jumps, he made his; it felt like a parachute drop, something the Grathik added so as to psychologically reassure humans used to parachute drops. It was a gentle, rather than steep descent.

Donkey let them concentrate on setting up their perimeter, concentrate on their movement and freed up people that'd be humping heavier gear from even worrying. Indispensable, because, down on the ground level, they could focus on the rifleman's job.

That job was vital, because now they were on an alien street, on an alien station, with alien buildings blocking a lot of the line of sight, which provided alien soldiers concealment. The sounds of other fights off in the distance were present, but the silence of their position was overwhelming...