Kitobni o'qish: «Vengeance Weapon»

Prologue

Two days after our return from the Delta Trianguli system, the Earth Federation Minister of Defense Bronstein received an honorable discharge. The distinguished Admiral was never able to fit into the new realities that emerged after Nelson and Knyazev came to the highest positions in the army and fleet. During the development of the operation to simultaneously remove the mental blocks froms the quargs in all their key star systems, he harshly criticized the already nearly agreed-upon plan, calling it an obvious adventure. To tell you the truth, I agreed with Bronstein in some respects, but the trouble with the now ex-Minister of Defense was that he failed to realize in time the risks that could have arisen if we had refused to carry out the operation.

By taking a wait-and-see attitude, the Federation would expose itself to far greater danger than by deciding to take active actions, even such adventurous ones as our sabotage. As practice has shown, we made it at the last moment. We would have had to deal with a combined strike fleet of the toads and quargs, against which the armed forces of the humans and lizards were almost impossible to resist.

President Tobolsky was frankly sorry to sign the resignation letter from his old comrade, but the Commander-in-Chief was well aware that the time had come for change, and that it was up to different people to lead the Federation’s army and fleet.

Fleet Admiral Nelson became the new Minister of Defense, again bypassing the commando General Knyazev, who remained Chief of Staff. Knyazev, however, took this quite calmly – he had fought under Nelson’s command for many years, and now the situation was simply back to what he was used to.

For almost two weeks, the entire Federation was going crazy with joy. The quargs’ withdrawal from the war was perceived by society as the end of the confrontation that had lasted three decades. The former enemies have returned the Gliese star system and all other occupied territories to us. The terms of the peace treaty did not provide for reparations as such – we still took into account the not entirely voluntary nature of this war on the part of the quargs, but our former adversaries themselves offered the Federation gratuitous supplies of raw materials and, if necessary, production and shipbuilding facilities to rebuild our fleet, which had been badly damaged in the battle of the Delta Trianguli.

We, the lizards, and the quargs all knew that we couldn’t stop, our next step should be a full-scale invasion of the toads’ space, as it would be foolish to give the enemy time to recover from defeat. But we didn’t feel ready to attack either, and the unclear situation with the Empire was hanging over me as a sword of Damocles. General Clay and Dr. Silk never made contact, but it was clear that something very unpleasant was happening on the other side of the portal.

Tobolsky summoned me to his office the day after Bronstein resigned. Judging by the fact that he did not invite anyone else to this meeting, the President was going to discuss issues related to my imperial past.

The Commander-in-Chief looked tired, but cheerful and determined, which has been a rarity lately. Apparently, our undoubted political and military success has added vitality to the President.

We were seated in the same open pavilion overlooking the park of the Tobolsky’s residence where so many important meetings with the President took place. I involuntarily glanced along the linden alley where we were walking with the head of state’s daughter when the former head of presidential security tried to capture us.

“Do you recall the story of the financiers’ conspiracy, Admiral?” Tobolsky grinned, following my gaze.

“Yes, Mr President. We went right over the edge then. How is your daughter? I hope Victoria’s health didn’t suffer from the chemicals they gave her.”

“Well, doctors assured me that nothing serious happened to her, although she had to undergo almost two months of rehab. But your wife can also tell you about it, she and Vika, I think, found a good rapport, and I invited you here for a somewhat different conversation.”

“I’m all ears, Mr President,” I allowed myself a slight smile.

“The Empire has stopped responding to our requests. Not a single ship has passed through the transport ring in the last two weeks. Due to the circumstances we both know, I have no better expert on the Empire than you, Igor Yakovlevich. Do you have any thoughts about what is happening?”

“Brigadier General Dean was far removed from all politics, Mr President,” I replied, after thinking a little, “He had a very poor understanding of Imperial elite games, so my conclusions may not be entirely accurate. As long as Emperor Yort was alive, despite his advanced age, he firmly held the reins of the Empire. The maximum the elite groups could count on was to push him a little bit to make this or that decision, but just a little. After his death, the playing field changed. I was just thinking about the conspiracy of financiers. I think something similar could have happened in the Empire, only unlike our rebels, their imperial counterparts could have succeeded. I’m afraid we have no place in the plans of those who are now gaining the upper hand in the inter-clan struggle within the Empire.”

“But this is complete nonsense…” Tobolsky threw me a look of incomprehension, “They are losing the war to the toads, there is no doubt in our minds or theirs. We gave them the opportunity to leave their perishing world for our galaxy, and they shut it down for themselves. Where is the logic in these actions?”

“There’s a lot we don’t know, and that prevents us from understanding the situation correctly,” I shrugged my shoulders slightly, “but from conversations with General Clay and Dr. Silk, I understood that our hyperportal is not the only way for them to escape, although the alternative of escaping into the intergalactic void seems rather dubious to me.”

“Compared to evacuating to us, it certainly is,” Tobolsky agreed.

“So there’s something about leaving for our galaxy that doesn’t suit them, and I have only one guess about that…” I paused, gathering my thoughts, but the President did not rush me, silently waiting for me to continue.

“They would have to take everyone here, and that might not suit those in power in the Empire right now.”

“Explain your point, Admiral, I do not yet understand what you mean.”

“If one approaches the question of evacuation in the most cynical way possible, which is the only way these gentlemen know how to do it, one can see that the relatively rapid disappearance of the entire population of the Empire from the galaxy would lead to extremely undesirable consequences. First of all, the toads will realize that the inhabitants of the Empire have not been destroyed, but simply escaped. It is impossible to evacuate the entire population instantly, and the toads’ intelligence will find out about the portals sooner or later. What could this mean for them? If the humans have gone to an unknown point in space, they may return from there, having accumulated strength, and at the most unexpected moment. The toads will find themselves in a very unpleasant and vulnerable position, and it certainly will not suit them.”

“But what can they do? Fly to look for the inhabitants of the Empire in a conventional mode? But that’s absurd.”

“Dr. Silk argued that the level of technologies and fundamental knowledge achieved by the toads would, with sufficient funding and strong political will, let them find and destroy the inhabitants of the Empire in 20 years, wherever they escape to, so evacuation can only provide a reprieve. And neither Silk nor Clay doubted for a second that the toads would have the means and the will to do it. Their opponents, it is true, claimed that they did not believe in such a development, but they are not fools, and I am sure that they are well aware that such a risk does exist and is very real.”

“Let us assume that this is the case. So, what follows from that?”

“Those who now rule the Empire need a screen, a cover for their escape. They need a buffer that will allow the chosen ones to escape from their galaxy unnoticed. They are preparing a rescue for at most a fifth of the population, and the rest will simply be thrown under the steamroller of the toads’ attack, to convince them that the Empire is finished for good. It is not for nothing that the existence of the portal to our galaxy and the project to evacuate to the intergalactic void are strictly classified. Yes, of course, the authorities do not want this information to get to the toads, but they are just as careful to hide it from their own citizens, which also fits perfectly with the version I’ve presented.”

“Somehow this is all very shaky… The logic is undoubtedly present, but there are few facts, and you’re just making too much up and assuming,” Tobolsky shook his head doubtfully.

“I’m going by the information I have. I have no other theories.”

“All right, let’s assume that you’re mostly right. But what’s wrong with evacuating the Empire’s inhabitants to us?”

“We do not fit into their concept of the future world order. First of all, there are quite a few of us, and we will have to be reckoned with. Secondly, in addition to humans, there are also the lizards and quargs, with whom they will also need to build a difficult relationship. Finally, we can oppose the idea of abandoning four-fifths of the population of the Empire to its fate. If, all of a sudden, we were gone…”

“You don’t have to go on, Admiral, I get your point. The departure of the Imperial ships and the silence of their diplomats fit very well into the model you suggest.”

“And they might have succeeded, Mr. President,” said I looking Tobolsky straight in the eyes, “ If General Clay had taken away the Imperial battleships immediately after the first phase of the battle for the metropolitan lizards’ system, we would have been defeated. The Senior Lizard would most likely have died in that fight, and our alliance with the lizards might have cracked, if not broken altogether. And we couldn’t think of any operation to remove the mental blocks from the quargs, because we would be sitting in our systems and prepare for a hopeless defense. But Clay disobeyed the Admiralty’s orders and thus, in fact, saved us. And now he’s not answering his communicator, and neither is Dr. Silk. I’m afraid they’re both in trouble in the Empire right now.”

“But if everything is as you say, then now the Empire can turn from being our ally into an enemy,” slowly said Tobolsky, “Isn’t that too radical a conclusion to draw from your words?”

“The Empire can become our enemy, but not now. First, they get rid of the threat of pursuit from the toads by escaping through their portals into intergalactic space. And after that… It’s very sad to live in infinite nothingness, and I’m sure they’ll want to set foot on real planets again. But they can’t go back – the toads will sweep their galaxy clean of the people abandoned there. We’ll be the only humans left, and if we’re stupid enough to open a portal for them…”

“So maybe we should shut it down now, cutting off all relations with the Empire?”

“I’m afraid it will only make things worse. Realizing that they can no longer count on our world, the new leaders of the Empire will simply plant information about us on the toads, in order to further divert the attention of the «frogs» from their flight and lead them down the wrong path. We have to solve this problem in some other way. I don’t know how, but I need to get to the Empire and find out the fate of General Clay and Dr. Silk. They have relations with the right people, who may still have power and influence. The further I go, the clearer I realize that leaving through the portals is a bad way out for the Empire, or rather, it’s not a way out at all. And for us, their flight from the toads will also create serious problems, if not right now, then for the foreseeable future.”

“If running away is not the solution, what do you see as the solution? What am I asking, though? I know you too well, Admiral, to doubt your answer. But I would still like to hear it.”

“Mr President, once upon a time, in this very pavilion, when I was a lieutenant, I told you that the war with the quargs would probably be just a phase in our struggle for the right to exist.”

“I remember it, Admiral. I could not then fully accept Lieutenant Lavroff’s point of view, although, as it turned out, I should have taken it seriously.”

“We need to solve our military problems here as quickly as possible, Commander-in-Chief, Sir. If we don’t want problems in the near future, we have to make the Empire fight to the end and help it win, otherwise the threat of annihilation will still hang over us, and sooner or later the toads from Brigadier General Dean’s world will come here.”

Chapter 1

The head of the Imperial Defense Ministry’s own security service, General Las, had been sitting pensively in a chair in front of his personal holographic monitor for several minutes. His gaze was directed elsewhere, and the General seemed completely uninterested in the lines of updated information running across the screen.

The work, which he had begun at Marshal Klink’s suggestion, has in fact been finished. Except that Klink was no longer the acting supreme commander of the armed forces of the Empire. The investigation, initiated by his enemies in the Regency Council amidst the defeatist hysteria fanned by the online media, led first to the restriction of Marshal’s authority, and soon to his removal from office for his inability to effectively resist an enemy offensive that turned out to be not so large-scale. The whole thing – both the investigation and its results – was obviously bogus, but, as you know, one can find a key to almost every politician or official by doing a little digging into his past, so many members of the Regency Council somehow suddenly lost their critical thinking, and the decision to suspend Klink passed with unexpected ease, as did the order for his arrest, so far, however, only at home.

And now Las was faced with the question of what to do with the information obtained by his service.

Admiral Dier became the new acting supreme commander, and it was as a result of his conflict with Dier that Marshal Klink involved Las in an investigation into the origins of the wave of disinformation about the almost inevitable toads’ breakthrough that had engulfed the Empire. Now Las knew exactly who had set off the wave, and he was about to put together all the causes and effects, leading to an understanding of the plan, of which the media hysteria was a visible part. Except that Fleet Admiral Dier was now none other than his direct superior, and it was to him he was supposed to go with the report of the investigation. But Las was well aware of what would follow such a report. All the facts obtained by Las’s men indicated that Dier was a direct and very active participant in the cabal.

Las was not just an experienced and diligent officer or a reckless patriot who saw his only goal in the prosperity of the Empire, but, to his credit, he wasn’t a cynical beast either, ready to throw away all his principles and beliefs to save his career and his own skin. All his life, the General has found compromises that allowed him to simultaneously achieve his career goals and not feel like the last scoundrel, he managed to stay on a certain line and still think of himself as a decent person. But now there was no compromise, and the choice was really tough.

The investigation could have been quietly shut down, and it would not have threatened him and his family in any way, since there would definitely be a place for them in the new world. But then how to live with the knowledge that you could have prevented the deaths of billions of people and did not do it…

There was another option, much more risky and by no means guaranteeing a positive result. Las could finish the investigation at his own risk and bring the results to the people who still retained power in the Empire and who were able, and most importantly, had the will to change the current situation. It is true that these people were, if not explicit, then hidden opponents of the clan to which his current chief belonged, and from the departmental point of view, such actions, to put it mildly, went beyond the limits of what was allowed, and to call it what it was, it was bordering on treason. So such a move could have corresponding consequences for Las.

The General realized that he had managed to get between a rock and a hard place, with no chance of leaving that danger zone without doing something for which he would later despise himself.

Having finally broken away from the contemplation of some abstract point in space, Las reluctantly focused his gaze on the monitor screen. The General felt unable to make any decision. If one option is blatantly unacceptable and the other one is extremely dangerous, then one should seriously consider making no choice at all, and Las determined for himself that he would continue the investigation, keeping it as secret as possible and minimizing the number of agents working on it, and then, when the situation became clearer, he would decide what to do with the results of the investigation.

Having made this halfway decision, the General calmed down a little and looked more closely at the lines on the monitor.

So, what is known at this point? First, what is already found out with a high degree of certainty. The wave of panic was initiated by the network media, controlled by citizen Shun, a person, fairly well-known in narrow circles – the owner of a large network media holding company, that controls a large chunk of the information market in the Empire. Shun is a major figure, but still not one of the first row of imperial oligarchs, which means it is unlikely that he could act solely on his own initiative. Consequently, either he entered into an alliance with someone, or he was simply forced to start spreading panic among the population.

Even before Marshal Klink was removed from his post and placed under house arrest, it was clear that the Empire’s fleet was in fact only simulating a frantic effort to mobilize all its reserves to repel a hypothetical toads’ attack. At that moment it became clear to Las that Admiral Dier’s actions were well coordinated with the information campaign organized by Shun, and with the Klink’s summons to the Regency Council, which began the procedure for his removal from the leadership of the Empire’s armed forces.

The figure of Marshal Klink as a pale shadow of the Emperor more or less suited everyone until the unexpected appearance on scene of Brigadier General Dean, who had been lost to total obscurity for six whole years and had already been written off by all the opposing forces in the Empire. But Dean returned, and contact with the Earth Federation made significant adjustments to the balance of power. This forced the elite groups most affected by the change of balance of forces to move into action. All that remains is to understand what exactly their goals are.

Las’s agents managed to unearth quite a few interesting facts, and the most important of them was probably the Admiralty’s order to recall the Imperial squadron from the Earth Federation space under the very artificial pretext of mobilizing all forces to repel the toads’ general offensive. This order was not the only one. Within just a couple of months of this order, the Empire stopped virtually all shipments of military equipment and ships decommissioned due to combat damage to the Federation, previously conducted on a large scale on the initiative of General Clay.

With Clay himself, by the way, there was also some murky story, whether related to an unexecuted Admiralty order or to a badly executed one. As a result, Clay was now sitting in the detention center of the Imperial Security Directorate, and Las had no way to get him out of there, despite his high position and rank as a General. The rival agency would only have grimaced at any inquiry on this subject coming from the Ministry of Defense security services, in addition, it would not fail to hint to Admiral Dier that his subordinates go beyond the established unspoken norms in the relations of the Imperial secret services.

As far as Las knew, the Empire’s new allies were just now having some very serious problems of a purely military nature. Their adversaries were strong enough, as was clear from the fact that Clay’s squadron, which returned from the Federation space, had lost a battleship in combat. In such circumstances, the departure of the Imperial ships looked like an outright betrayal and could only be justified by a real military disaster taking place in the Empire. But there was no catastrophe, and instead there was only loud verbiage on the subject, and Las was faced with the question of why did the forces that had deposed Marshal Klink, imprisoned battle general Clay, and caused panic in the Empire need military defeat or even the death of the Earth Federation?

Las had a neutral attitude toward the new allies. In the General’s opinion, a contact between the Federation and the Empire was beneficial to both sides, and he did not yet understand why any of the Imperial leaders would want to completely mess up relations with an albeit weaker, but very useful human civilization from another galaxy. Nevertheless, Las had no doubt that breaking off relations with the Earth Federation could only do the Empire harm, and very significant harm. The General was also sure that the key to understanding the motives of those who started all this is hidden exactly in the relationship between the Empire and the Federation.A direct conversation with former Brigadier General Dean, now Admiral Lavroff, could probably clarify a lot, but now the Imperial Security Service had all the access codes to the portal linking the galaxies, and only they could contact the Federation. The other two people directly involved in Dean’s operation, namely General Clay and Dr. Silk, could have known these codes, as well as the hyperspace coordinates of the gates located in the Earth Federation space, and almost certainly they did know them. But Las couldn’t gain access to Clay, and as for Silk, the Doctor had vanished without a trace, and there has been no news about him for almost a month.

When the General was told about this, at first he did not even believe it. In the Empire, it is not easy for a citizen to escape the control of the state, especially when he is not a specially trained agent, but an ordinary scientist. But the fact remained that Dr. Silk had disappeared. His personal communicator was not responding to calls or being tracked by police and army scanners, and his bank accounts had not been used since his disappearance. It is true that Las’s analysts discovered several large purchases while checking the doctor’s accounts, which led them to certain thoughts. Silk clearly knew he would be looked for. Perhaps Clay somehow managed to warn him of his arrest and told him what to do, or maybe they had everything prepared in advance, just in case, and as soon as Clay didn’t contact him at the appointed time, Silk knew it was time to act. This option seemed even more likely to Las.

In principle, the General knew where to look for the Doctor. Silk must have escaped to a frontline area. Many star systems changed hands several times, and control over civilian movements in them was severely weakened. If the Doctor used someone else’s identification card and special means to falsify biometric data, then the easiest place for him to hide was where the population control system was temporarily disorganized. Las also knew something else – surely his opponents in the Imperial security service had come to the same conclusions and now they were working hard to be the first to find the escaped Doctor. So if Las wants answers to his questions, he should move his limbs very briskly.

* * *

Nelson summoned me to his office the day after my visit to the Tobolsky’s residence. I don’t know what the President said to him after our conversation, but the Minister of Defense looked somewhat puzzled. In addition to the Admiral there was General Knyazev in the office, this did not surprise me at all. These two officers once fought over a girl they both liked while on leave, back in their cadet days, and they’ve hardly parted ways since, despite serving in different branches of the military. Nelson lost his fight that time, but in the end that girl became his wife, and Knyazev… In general, the future chief of staff was not too upset by this fact, because very pretty candidates for girlfriends regularly appeared in sight of the brave commando cadet.

“Igor Yakovlevich,” Nelson began the conversation as we were seated at the conference table, “the President is very determined. He tasks the army and fleet with preparing a joint strike against the toads’ planets as soon as possible. The quargs’ representatives got excited about the prospect and are ready to send their entire fleet, down to the last ship. The lizards are somewhat more restrained. They have all their occupied planets back, and they have never fought a war on another’s territory. Nevertheless, they, too, are ready to take part. So the decision to invade toads’ space can be considered made. It is only a question of developing a plan of operation and timing. I’m sure you already have some thoughts on that, and we’d like to hear them.”

I was a little puzzled by this start of the conversation. It hasn’t surprised me for a long time that Nelson and Knyazev are willing to listen to my opinions, but still, they were both my supervisors, and, in theory, they should have given me the task first, and then ask my thoughts on the method of accomplishing it. But since this is the case, let’s lay it out…

“We know too little about the enemy’s defense system, Mr Minister,” replied I, picking out my main doubt from the pile of thoughts about the upcoming operation, “Our scouts, even those equipped with imperial camouflage fields, are still unable to gather information on the composition of the cover forces of the toads’ planetary systems. Apparently, their planets and orbital fortresses have scanners that are superior to imperial models.”

“But then why didn’t they use them on their ships?” wondered Knyazev.

“I asked myself the same question," I nodded to the General, “I think this is stationary equipment, too cumbersome to use even on battleships. There is one more point. From the interrogations of the captured toads, we know that there are some weapons on their planets and in the orbital defense system, inherited from their ancestors. All this is so classified that even the commanders of warships can’t properly describe these weapons and their capabilities. Their fleet commander, of course, had this information, but he died in the Delta Trianguli system with his flagship.”

“So we may encounter something very serious when we try to hit the metropolitan toads’ system?” Knyazev rubbed the bridge of his nose with his bent index finger.

“It is difficult to say,” I shrugged my shoulders, “the same prisoners claim that the state of these weapons systems is not well known. In their memory there have been no exercises on their use, which means that it is a perfect pig in a poke. But of course, we must take into account that this pig can be very toothy and clawed. In my opinion, we should not start with hitting the planets, but with reconnaissance-in-force. Since we can’t even send unmanned probes into their systems, we’ll have to go in with a strong squadron, not to take over the planets, but to find out the combat potential of the enemy defenses.

This operation has another purpose. As far as we know, the key toads’ star systems are connected by transport rings, or hyperportals, as they are called in the Empire. We need to find and destroy these devices. Modern toads can’t build them, and if we succeed in destroying the portals, we will deprive the enemy of mobility and gain a decisive advantage in this matter.”

“I see another plus in this version of the plan,” added Knyazev, who clearly liked the suggestion, “that such a strike can be prepared quickly. It would not require a giant fleet. After the defeat in the Delta Trianguli system, the toads are clearly short of ships, which means that they can only counter us with stationary defense systems, as a result, they are unlikely to be able to effectively protect their transport rings, always located far away from the planets.”

Nelson was silent for a while, and then he grinned faintly at the corner of his lips and abruptly changed the subject adopting an official tone.

“Late last night, a conference of the heads and top military leaders of the Allied nations was held via hypercomms. It was about our future plans together, but the operation that ended with the battle in the Delta Trianguli system was also discussed. Your actions, Fleet Admiral, Sir, were highly appreciated by all participants of the meeting. The President of the Earth Federation, the Senior Lizard and the Headman of the Quargs have instructed me to inform you of their joint decision. You have been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet by the Council of Heads of State. You are tasked with planning and executing a strategic operation to capture enemy star systems and force the adversary to surrender. During the preparation and conduct of the operation, the general staffs of the armed forces and the heads of military-industrial complexes of the allied states are ordered to give you every assistance as a matter of priority. Congratulations, Igor,” Nelson suddenly switched back to his usual tone, lowering his voice slightly, “It really is an honor and a great trust. However, you know it as well as I do.”