Vorpal Blade

by John Ringo

  Stand My Ground

  Stand my ground, I won't give in

  no more denying, I've got to face it

  won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside

  if I don't make it, someone else will

  stand my ground.

  "Stand My Ground"

  Within Temptation

  "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.

  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, w
e 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.

  "Die you mothergrappers!" Pearson screamed, waving his Gatling back and forth as the Demons ripped into his armor. As a Demon face appeared in the opening, he spit at it. "I'll eat your soul and—"

  "Oh," Lady Che-chee said as they stepped through the anomaly.

  The far side was a small room, almost bare except for a pile of the blue moss. And the skeleton lying on it.

  "We need to move her," Miriam said, picking up a bone. "Quickly. Then you have to lie down there."

  "How do you know this?" Lady Che-chee said, reaching onto the dais and sweeping most of the bones away with one broad motion.

  "I don't know," Miriam said. "I just have a knack. Please. Hurry. More than Cheerick could depend on this."

  "Pearson's down," the first sergeant said to Chief Miller. "Can you fill the gap?"

  Miller had lifted his board up and was carefully engaging the approaching beetles with his sniper rifle while occasionally providing supporting fire with his Gatling. He looked over at the gap, where a Royal Guardsman was being ripped apart, and dropped down.

  "Got it," he said, sliding forward, then casually stepping off the board. Two bursts cleared the Demons in the hole and he strode into it, firing his Gatling into the mass of Demons, then switching to the rifle to fire at an approaching dragon. "Gotta love a target rich environment."

  "One minute to warp," the pilot said. He wished he could wipe his face. Even through his space suit the compartment was hot as hell.

  "Come on, baby," the CO said, patting the hull. "Hold together . . ."

  "I just lost power!" the pilot shouted. "We're drifting. Drifting fast, but drifting!"

  "Burn through in engineering! Drive down!"

  "That is not holding together!"

  "EEK!" Lady Che-chee squeaked.

  "What is going on?" Miriam asked.

  "I have a hard time telling," Lady Che-chee said. "I can see . . . everything."

  "Can you see how to control the Demons?" Miriam asked. "Especially, are there any in space, near the planet?"

  "I . . . yes!" Lady Che-chee said. "I think . . . yes . . ."

  "Couldn't we wait to patch these until after the battle?" Sub Dude asked, slapping a sheet of heavy steel down on a hole in the hull.

  "I wish," Red said, just as the steel blasted backwards, melting even as it moved.

  "Maulk!" Gants shouted, trying to jump back just as the gravity cut out. "Blow this for a game of soldiers!" he continued, floating in midair.

  "Grapp," Red said, his hand on his arm. "I think one of those melted pieces hit my suit." Air and red could be seen escaping between his clutched fingers.

  "Hang on, Red," Gants said desperately, trying to reach anything that he could bounce off of to get to the injured teammate. "Just hang on."

  "HOLD YOUR GROUND!" First Sergeant Powell shouted as Captain MacDonald was picked up by a dragon and killed with a single crunch. "HOLD!"

  The perimeter had shrunk to a tiny handful with their backs practically to the anomaly. The Demons were up on the dais and they'd been joined by their bigger brethren.

  "Die you grapptard!" Berg shouted, firing both pistols and his Gatling into a beetle's mouth. Even the .50 caliber rounds were sparking off of the beetle's mouthparts. And when it opened its mouth, it was going to close on his armor. "GRAPPING DIE!"

  As he screamed that the beetle suddenly stopped, then backed away.

  "Okay," Berg said, lifting up on his bite-trigger. "Running away works."

  All of the beasts were backing away, retreating to the edge of the room even as the Marines continued to fire.

  "Cease fire!" Top shouted, looking around.

  Lieutenant Patrick West was dead, his armor ripped open by Demons then crushed in the jaws of a dragon. Staff Sergeant Sutherland lay on the dais surrounded by a wall of Demon bodies. Holland was just . . . in pieces.

  Top, Berg, Seeley and Corwin were the only Marines left standing. Besides the Marines there were two Royal Guardsmen, one with a ripped up leg, Commander Weaver and Chief Miller.

  The latter's smoking Gatling tracked from side to side as the Demons settled in a distant ring around the Marine contingent.

  "That's right, you'd better run," Miller said, holding his rifle over his head. "SEALS RULE!"

  "Actually, I think the Cheerick rule," Miriam said, stepping out of the anomaly. "Right now, I'm trying to figure out how we explain to the captain that the dragonflies are going to tow him home."

  36

  This One Time Off Cygnus Alpha . . .

  "It's a planetary defense system," Weaver said, looking at the plans.

  The "anomaly room" had contained more than just the control dais. There were metal plates with complex formulas, schematics and a strange language.

  The entire assembly had been packed back out by the remaining Marines and Royal Guardsmen. The dead Marines from the battle were carried out on the backs of dragons. Remarkably tame dragons that followed the orders of Lady Che-chee like so many dogs. The whole procession had ended up in the palace along with the officers from the ship.

  "It might even be a system designed to fight the Dreen," he continued. "The big chamber is where the weapons are forged. But why do they track in on electrical signals?"

  "Want a guess?" Miller asked. "Somebody gained control of it during a war between Cheerick. Or maybe the last guardian of it set it to the simplest thing she could imagine, knowing th
at any enemy would use electricity."

  "But now we know what it is truly designed for," Lady Che-chee said, looking at the plans. "Yes, I saw all of this on the bed. Also I could see how to stop the Demons attacking."

  "And towing back the ship," Chief Miller said, looking over at Captain Blankemeier and grinning. "That was a hell of a sight."