Long time ago I actually started an RP story about stealing a prison liner. Basically what the pirates did was stand on the out side of trade ring, disabled the ring via a jerry-rigged emp device (Not big enough to take out the electronics in thier suits) and let the liner and its escort fall into real space.
Since not attack took place, the escort made a quick patrol, decided there was no threat and proceeded through the now re-activated ring. A second device was detonated, which again disabled the ring and signaled a pack of bloodhound to come out from behind junk debris and catch the escorts off gaurd.
The kicker bit that ties in with the sub-topic of archiac weaponry in sci-fi is when the prison ship was passing through the ring, (Even though it was disabled the ship has mass and would not be able to stop moving until it was half way through) the pirates fired magnetic graplers attached arrows which were fired from compond bows. This allowed the pirates onto the hull which gave them the ability to breach the ship via a window on the bridge, and take control.
If you think about it there are many ways you can use old tech in a sci-fi setting. It has more to do with aplication of design then the design itself.
