John Ringo: Vorpal Blade

“This is my suggestion on spread, sir,” Lieutenant Souza said, shooting the plan over to the CO’s station. “It should take out the closest seven groups. But after that, we’re out of ammo. And the trailing four, unless one closes on the bursts, are going to catch us short of warp point.”

“Best we can do, Lieutenant,” the CO said calmly. “We’ll try to hold them off with the lasers until we can escape.”

“Yes, sir,” Souza said, knowing full well that was pissing in the wind.

“You have control over missile weapons systems,” the CO said, reaching over and inserting his key. One turn was all it took to open up the long-range missiles.

“Very well, sir,” Souza said. “Load all torpedo tubes…”

The cavern was high and round, looking very much like a natural bubble in the rock. It also appeared to be a dead-end. And its contents were anything but natural.

“Is that Dreen fungus?” Weaver asked, looking at the round patch of mossy substance that seemed to be rippling as if from some unseen wind. It was located on the east wall of the chamber, about twenty feet across and flanked by strange protuberances that looked something like fungi.

“Wrong color,” Chief Miller said, flicking on his white-light flash. The chief had outfitted himself not only with a Gatling, but with one of the remaining .50 caliber rifles. “I think it’s got to be some sort of door. All the Demons we passed couldn’t have come out of this chamber.”

“Yeah,” Weaver said. “But how do we open it?”

“Why open it?” Miller asked. “Set the damned munitions here and blow the chamber. That should stop the Demons.”

“I know how to open it,” Miriam said, sliding forward on her board. “And we need to.”

“Why?” Miller asked.

“Because we have to know where the door goes,” Miriam said cryptically, then squeaked on the external speakers.

Lady Che-chee slid forward on her own board and looked at the strange material. She squeaked at Miriam, who gestured forward.

Lifting slightly, the Lady flew over the Marines deployed in front of the moss and hovered between two of the protuberances, right at arm’s length. She took off her gauntlets and, reaching out, placed one palm on each of the fungi.

The moss began rippling harder, then drew back, revealing…

“It’s a grapping gate,” Miller whispered. “ Grapp me.”

…a Looking Glass.

“So we pop the damned bomb through the gate then get the hell out,” Miller said. “That gives us two weeks to get something better done.” The ardune weapon would destabilize the gate for at least that long.

“The ship was under attack by aerial forces,” Weaver said. “They didn’t come from this facility. This is just a gateway to the local area. What’s through there is the link to other areas, most likely.”

“Then we toss both bombs through the gate,” Miller said. “Full yield. Since it’s not local, I don’t give a maulk what it destroys.”

“No,” Weaver said, looking at the gate. “We need to find out where the Demons are coming from. You don’t get it. The Cheerick was the key to opening the gate.”

“How do we know?” Miller asked. “We didn’t have one of the Marines try.”

“Because Cheerick arms are shorter,” Miriam said. “The distance is right for a Cheerick Mother. This facility, these Demons, they have something to do with the Cheerick .”

“Look,” Miller said. “You’re the boss. We’re going to go wherever you say. But I guarantee the other side of that gate is a world of hurt.”

“It might also be the key to saving the ship,” Weaver said. “And this world. Captain MacDonald.”

“Done with your council, sir?” the Marine asked.

“We’re going through the gate,” Weaver said. “Send one man through. Have him report back if the immediate other side is survivable…”

“Two-Gun.”

“Yes, Top?” Berg said, both pistols and his Gatling pointed at the Looking Glass.

“You get the honor of finding out what is on the other side of that gate,” the first sergeant said. “Your job is to enter, determine immediate threat level, then open up a beachhead for follow-on. Do you understand your mission?”

“Clear, Top,” Berg said.

“Stand by… Aye, aye. Two-Gun. Take that beach.”

“Oorah!” Berg shouted, hefting both pistols and charging the gate at a run. “SEMPER FI!”

“Third group, down,” the Tac NCOIC said. “Fourth group… They’re scattering, sir.”

“Let them scatter,” Souza said as the SM-9 detonated. The explosion was far enough away that the screens didn’t blank. This deep in space there was limited EMP from the explosion so the radars didn’t even cycle down.

“That got most of them,” the Tac tech said. “Nine of the fifty still functional. No, two of those are banking off and heading back.”

“Vampire Five detonating,” the Tac NCOIC said. “That group didn’t scatter and bandit group twelve was close alongside. We got a piece of them.”

The radar screen was cluttered with the oncoming dragonflies. They clearly didn’t fear space and they were fast . Their acceleration in space was nearly twice that of the Vorpal Blade , worse than in air. There was no way the ship was going to make it to the warp point before at least five of the bandit groups were on them. And any one could probably destroy the ship at close range.

“Conn, Tactical,” Souza said. “Recommend rotate the ship to bring the lasers to bear…”

“There’s a ledge,” Berg said, as soon as he was through the gate. The words were said through gritted teeth as he instinctively clamped down on his bite-trigger, turning a group of three Demons into paste. “The room’s…”

He paused as he adjusted to the scale. Before he could continue his report, First Sergeant Powell was at his side.

“Holy smoke,” Powell said.

There was quite a bit of that. The chamber was massive , so large that Berg couldn’t see to the far side. A giant bowl lit by a bright spot near the center top that was hidden behind wreathes of vapor, it was lined with more of the blue fungus. But what the fungus was extruding…

There were thick lianas that dangled pods. One of them, fortunately about two hundred meters away, popped before his eyes, dropping a Demon onto a ledge similar to the one he occupied. The young Demon, nearly full sized but clearly shaky on his legs, toddled to a nearby pool and began to drink.

Larger pods moved sluggishly, revealing the figures of beetle Demons and dragons. There were, fortunately, far fewer of those, but the Demon pods… there were thousands of them.

And up near the ceiling, there were pods that sprouted other things. Drying their wings under the actinic light were things that looked like giant dragonflies with blue bodies and red compound eyes. Most of those looked recently hatched, but a few were older and already buzzing around near the ceiling.

Scattered along the walls and floor were Looking Glasses, hundreds of them.

The worst part, though, were the already birthed Demons. The chamber was packed with them. Dozens of beetles, at least nine dragons and hundreds of the relatively “smaller” Demons that had wiped out most of the company.