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.
“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.