John Ringo: Eye of the Storm

“The shuttles are leaving ,” Mueller said as Payback slapped another charge on a door. “Maybe we should open this up… ”

The blast door slid to either side, revealing an empty corridor.

“Like that. Thanks, Kang.”

“Actually, that was Skank,” Kang said, his face sweating. “I’m trying to keep the Imeg from killing us.”

As he said that the shuttles blasted clear and there was a moment of wind again, quickly cut off.

“I hate vacuum,” Mueller said as he trotted forward. “It really sucks.”

“ Don’t make me laugh,” Skank said. “I’m having a hard enough time concentrating.”

“Tuthiri, tell your people to make sure the QT guns are not interfered with,” Jeff said as the ship maneuvered. It took a moment to pivot it to face the Imeg ship and it was taking fire the whole time.

“QT in target basket in five seconds,” the Gunnery officer said. “We’re getting pounded. Twenty percent drop in fire on the port side.”

“That is about to change,” Jeff said. “Honey, I think you’re the gunner on this.”

“QT guns charged,” Daisy said.

“Fire on bearing.”

“I have lock,” Guns said.

“Firing,” Daisy replied.

“What the hell?” Mangler shouted as the corridor bucked and the air began to howl with depressurization again. Between the shuddering deck and the wind he slid into a sprawl which was a good thing since a beam of green fire flashed over his head. “Glandri!”

The porcupine-like beings were spilling into a cross-corridor, laying down a withering fire with their neural whips. Mangler grabbed a stanchion and slid backwards, angling his rail-gun around the corner and firing. He wasn’t blind, though. The scope on the rifle fed to his goggles and he could lay down some pretty accurate fire that way.

Glandri blood was blue. That became apparent as it splashed all over the corridor.

Recto and Stalker stacked up on him, firing from a kneeling position and standing respectively. Stalker, though, leaned a little too far out getting his shots and Mangler suddenly had a thrashing body on top of him.

“Stalker’s down!” Recto snapped.

“Got ’im,” Fudge replied, grabbing the ankles of the clearing specialist and dragging him backwards. As he did Stalker quit convulsing, shuddered once and then was still. “Fuck.”

“Fuck this,” Mangler said, reaching behind his back and pulling out what looked like a flare gun with a thick grip. “Suicide-bars! Clear!”

The anti-matter grenade launcher did not have the same connection to his goggles but he didn’t care. He just aligned it with the corridor, fired all five rounds in the magazine and ducked around the corner.

A moment later the cross-corridor flashed with fire. A Glandri, most of it anyway, hit the starboard bulkhead and flopped to the floor.

He slid his rifle back around the corner, got a good look then stood up.

“Clear. But I don’t think we’re going to be using this route.”

“Enemy fire had dropped to minimal,” the Tactical Officer said. “Only two grasers firing… Make that none,” he finished as the ship shuddered from mass-driver fire.

The enemy cruiser’s surface had been stripped. It was open in multiple places and all of its gun emplacments were toast.

“That’s an ugly weapon,” Jeff said. “I like it.”

“Fire again, sir?” Guns asked.

“We want the ship to keep functioning until we get the teams back,” McNair replied. “So, no. Maybe later.”

“ What just hit us?” Goglugot asked.

“Unknown weapon,” the Combat Officer replied. “Apparently generated by the ‘aesthetic’ forward prominences. All starboard weapons inoperative. Four port-side weapons operative. Multiple hull breaches. Weapon caused a positive reading on the kratki detector. A large positive reading.”

“Can we still warp?”

“Negative,” the maneuvering officer replied. The Hotha raised four tentacles in the race’s equivalent of a shrug. “Engines are functional but all external warp nacelles are down. We have normal space drive capability and that is all.”

“Begin maneuvers to attempt to return to Caracool,” Goglugot said. “Continue to try to call for support. Surely someone must have noticed that there is a space battle going on around here!”

“Fuck,” Jake muttered.

Where the Himmit thought the Imeg might be hiding was a bulkhead. They could cut through it, but that would take time. Time they didn’t have.

They’d lost seven guys so far to the Glandri defenders and the Marro were starting to weapon up. They had to find the Imeg, grab him and get the hell out .

Worst, their sohon supports were starting to look rocky.

“Kang, can you figure out how to get to the Imeg?”

“Right, I think,” Kang said, his face sweating. “Right, left, down two crossings then left again.”

Jake sketched that out on the plans they had and sent it out.

“Let’s move people.”

“The target is attempting to slingshot around the jovian,” the Tactical Officer said. “Probably trying to run for home. Or maybe for support. Other ships in the system are attempting to close this position. Thirty minutes, minimum, before the first one comes into range. And that’s a destroyer. Easy enough to take out.”

“Cloaked ships?” Jeff asked.

“None apparent,” the TACO replied. “But we can’t detect them at more than five light seconds.”

“Stay alert,” Captain McNair said. “And get word to the colonel that he needs to either get the Imeg and get out or abort.”

“Clear,” Payback said as he fired the cutting charge. He opened his eyes and looked at the charge which was just sitting there. The initiator had gone off, but not the charge. “Dust Devil!”

“Trying,” Adept Hoover said, his teeth gritted. The charge flared, died, flared, died.

“Ain’t gonna do it,” Payback replied.

Gerrard , Pawle thought, calling to one of the support adepts on the Des Moines. Take over for me.

It is… hard , Highlands replied. The Imeg is immensely powerful .

Fuck hard, Pawle thought, savagely. Take over for me. I have more important things to do!

The charge suddenly flared white-hot and the door flew into the far corridor.

“Go!” Skank shouted.

“Easy for you to say,” Mangler muttered as green fire filled the corridor. He was laying down railgun rounds like he had unlimited ammo and he didn’t. He was down two thirds of his initial load.

He pulled his railgun back to reload and was just seating another mag, both hands occupied, when what looked like a green-glowing crystal ball bounced down the corridor.

“Uh-oh.”

He dropped his rifle and magazine, reaching down to scoop the thing up when there was a white flash.

Pawle held his hand up, deflecting the plasma explosion away from himself and Redman. But that was all he could deflect.

Mosovich winced as most of Alpha team was wiped out in one blast. The Hedren grenades were as bad as suicide bars.

“Bravo, bound forward and clear the corridor,” he said, looking around. Most of Charlie had been out of the area of effect. The only portion that wasn’t was Pawle and his team. Pawle and Redman were still there, and apparently unharmed, but Gombo and Leaf were both burned to a crisp.