Trope-a-Day: Boarding Party

Boarding Party: Where battered hulks and surrendered ships are concerned, yes, if the delta-v needed to catch them is within reasonable bounds. Even occasionally elsewhere, with some specially designed boarding pods – but that’s crazy-difficult enough there has to be something really valuable on the other ship.  Of course, where it differs from the standard trope is in the flood of hunter-killer microbots (to turn anyone not planning on surrendering/honoring their surrender into hamburger) and infowar automation (to seize control and ensure no-one gets any clever-clever ideas about grav pong) that comes along with the guys in power suits.