John Ringo: Vorpal Blade

And they all turned to look at the small cluster of armor gathering on the ledge.

“Uh, oh,” Chief Miller said as he exited the gate.

“Whoa!” Weaver said as he entered the area. “Well, ain’t that something. You were right, Miller. Let’s set the bombs and get the hell out of here.”

“No,” Miller said, pointing. “Wrong. Under the light.”

The cavern was so overwhelming, Berg had missed it. Right at the center, nearly half a kilometer away, was an arrangement of fungus that seemed to have no functional purpose. There were just arms of fungus, bending inward. And at the center was a black globe.

“Oh… maulk ,” Weaver muttered.

“So, rocket scientist,” Miller said. “What happens if you drop a bunch of unique quarks into a Chen Anomaly?”

“I haven’t the foggiest,” Weaver admitted.

“Me neither,” Miller said. “But my guess is it’s bad.”

“What the hell do we do ?’ Weaver asked.

“We take Colonel Che-chee down there,” Miriam said, suddenly at his elbow. “And she goes into the anomaly.”

Berg had splattered the nearest Demons, but there were others not much farther away. They had apparently gotten over their own shock at the appearance of the Marines and a group of four charged the armored Terrans. Weaver, Berg and Miller blasted them without really thinking about it, but others were coming, including from above them.

“Whatever we’re going to do, we need to do it now ,” First Sergeant Powell said.

“First Sergeant,” Weaver said. “Leave one team behind to hold this gate. Get everyone else out of here, now!”

“Bandit group eleven closing to laser range.”

“Open fire with both lasers when they bear,” the CO said. “XO, get ready for more damage.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” the XO said, rolling his eyes. Most of the forward section of the ship was open to atmosphere, the tough steel of the sub slagged into molten ruin. Not only were they missing their sonar but he and the CO no longer had a berth. One more solid hit and tactical and the conn were going to be eating laser fire.

“Time to warp point?” the CO asked.

“Two minutes,” the pilot said.

“Dragonflies at nine o’clock!” Staff Sergeant Sutherland shouted as the flies dove on the group.

There were only six of the things capable of flight, but one had already taken out Wangen with an unexpected burst of what looked one hell of a lot like a red-light laser coming out of its eyes. The group of humans and Cheerick had scattered, jinking through the air to avoid the flies’ fire as they charged the facility at the center of the cavern.

“Top!” Berg shouted. “You’ve got one on your tail!”

“Well get it off of me!” the first sergeant replied, then cursed. “Oh, the hell with this,” he said, spinning in place and firing to the rear.

The 7.62 mm rounds flew to the side of the fly then tracked back, ripping into its face.

“Oorah,” the first sergeant said, spinning back around. “.308 takes them out.”

“Two-Gun, scissor!” Corwin shouted, zooming left. A dragonfly banked to engage him and came right into Berg’s sights.

“Scratch two!” Berg said then ducked as a board nearly knocked him off his feet. “Watch it!”

Sergeant Cha-chai barreled onward, then reached up and swept back, ripping off the wing of a dragonfly that had been closing on Berg.

“Thanks, Cha-chai!” Berg yelled over the external speakers.

The last fly was shot down by First Sergeant Powell and the group of humans and Cheerick charged onward. The flies were fast but they weren’t maneuverable in the confines of the cavern, the only thing that had kept casualties down.

However, they were going to have to land. And the monsters on the ground had been following their progress hungrily.

“Lady Che-chee,” Miriam said, flying alongside the old warrior’s board. “I need you to take my hand. We are going into that black ball.”

“Very well, Miss,” Lady Che-chee said. “Together we shall triumph over any enemy.”

“I’m not sure there’s an enemy on the far side,” Miriam said. “But we shall see…”

“Burn-through!” the Tac tech shouted. “Laser One is down! Laser Two is down!”

“Nothing more we can do here,” Lieutenant Souza said, standing up. Even through his space suit he could feel the heat from the lasers that were lashing the hull. “Chief, evacuate the compart—”

The lasers from group fourteen finally burned through the steel of the hull and lashed the compartment, ripping through the targeting system, the tech and Lieutenant Souza.

“Everybody out of the pool!” the NCOIC said to the remaining radar tech. “We are leaving ! Conn, Tactical, we are down .”

“Engineering, Conn!”

“Tchar, Captain,” the Adari said, nursing the neutrino generator. The room was hotter than a summer day at Edenasai and the neutrino cannon was glowing the bright white of a metal in a melt. “We took a blast in Engineering. Eng is down.”

“Tchar, we need more speed! We’re getting hammered.”

“I’m giving it all I can, Captain!” Tchar said, just as another blast of laser fire penetrated the most protected compartment on the ship and a heat spall popped off the cover of the cannon. “She’s coming apart!”

“Deploy,” Captain MacDonald said as the group landed. The area was clear of the fungus, except for the strange overhanging growths. It was just bare rock, more granite, raised in what would be called a dais if it wasn’t so natural looking.

The Marines fanned out as the smaller, faster Demons closed.

“Hold this ground,” Weaver said as Miriam and Lady Che-chee stepped off their boards. The Royal Guard interleaved themselves with the humans, drawing their long swords and raising their shields. “We have to hold !”

“The enemy is on my right…” Top said.

“The enemy is on my flank…” Captain MacDonald continued.

“The enemy is to my rear…” Lieutenant Berisford finished.

“ I HAVE THEM RIGHT WHERE I WANT THEM !” the entire group of Marines chorused.

“Open fire!”

“Conn, Tactical, we are evacuating this compartment!”

“Pilot, rotate the ship,” the CO said. “Get some of this fire spread!”

Three of the groups had closed, coming in not only from straight on but also from the sides, slashing the Blade with laser fire. The ship had breaches in every compartment and was bleeding air and water into space. Even if they could make it into warp, they might not be able to limp back to Earth as damaged as they were.

“Rotating!” the pilot said as the air suddenly jumped about two hundred degrees.

“Hit on the sail!” the XO said. “It’s…”

The lasers from the dragonflies burned through the sturdy metal of the ship, ripping into the conn and into the XO.

“Breach in conn,” the CO said into the comm. “Damage parties to the bridge.”

He looked over at the blasted remnants of the XO and worked his jaw.

“Now I gotta train a new one.”

“Eat maulk and die!” Pearson screamed. The CO’s RTO carried the extra burden of the long-range communicators and thus less ammo. So his counter was dropping fast as the Demons came on in seemingly unending waves. “I am so gonna—”

Despite the fire of the Marines, the Demons were breaking through, and one managed to get its teeth in the Wyvern’s leg, ripping it out from under the Marine.

“ Behanchod! ” Pearson shouted as the Wyvern toppled. There were Royal Guardsmen on either side and one cut down, killing one of the Demons that swarmed the armor, but they could barely keep the Demons off themselves.