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Counter-attack

Page 7

by Max Glebow


  The generals and admirals didn't believe. Mazilescu was about to rip me to shreds, calling me a projector and an adventurer. Bronstein took his side, which I honestly didn’t expect, and then the Minister of Defense was joined by other high-ranking officers. Only Knyazev supported me unconditionally. A bit later Nelson joined him, fortunately remembering the losses suffered by the quarg torpedo bombers in the Battle of Barnard-3, when I managed to lure them into an unexpected massive strike by ground-based anti-orbital missiles. Barrington didn’t say anything, but he seemed to be wondering if he could arrange for the provision of the supposed construction sites with everything that is necessary within the right time frame, if the High Assembly so decides. If he didn’t say anything, then he thought he could do it.

  I would probably get eaten, despite the support of authority figures like Nelson and Knyazev, but Tobolsky took the floor again.

  “Gentlemen,” - pronounced he firmly and took a little pause, waiting for the noise to subside, “I understand your positions, it’s time to make a decision. We do not have time for a long scenario analysis of the situation, because it is too nontypical and our analysts have no relevant expertise. Therefore, a decision will have to be made as in the old days, relying only on the basic data we know, experience, logic and intuition.

  I am prepared to take full responsibility for this decision. Rear Admiral Lavroff, your plan is being taken as a basis. I don’t know how you’re gonna do it, but by 16:00 tomorrow, you and the Chief of Staff and Fleet Commander are to present it to me in writing in all necessary detail on underground defences, the composition of the cover squadrons and the main fleet, as well as the numbers and structure of ground forces on the planets.”

  There was a whirring of voices in the audience, and the President raised his hand, calling for silence.

  “All things considered, as of this moment, I am making changes to the structure and personnel of the General Staff and the Ministry of Defence. General of the Army Mazilescu, Sir, you are relieved of your post and placed in reserve. General of the Army Knyazev is appointed the new Chief of the General Staff. Fleet Admiral Nelson is appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Earth Federation Fleet. The Department of New Equipment and Armaments, headed by Rear Admiral Lavroff, is withdrawn from the Ministry of Defence and is granted provisional status as a new ministry. Fleet Admiral, Sir,” the President looked at the Minister of Defense,“You expressed your disagreement with the plan that has now been accepted as the main plan. I wouldn’t want to lose a specialist like you before the forthcoming battle. Are you ready to continue your work and participate fully in the implementation of the plan?”

  Bronstein was hesitant, we could see it clearly. He genuinely considered my plan to be a mistake, with no resentment towards me personally, I knew my boss well enough to understand that.

  “I’m ready, Commander-in-Chief, Sir,” the Minister finally said, “I have twice underestimated the adventures of Rear Admiral Lavroff, and I hope I am wrong this time too.”

  Chapter 5

  “There’s no way to make it, Mr Lavroff,” said Zverev, “You think I don’t understand what this product can give us? Even a child understands that we could have a huge advantage, but unfortunately, it takes at least four more months, no less.”

  I had to leave with nothing. We really were late with the mobile hyperportal, and the stationary hyperportals wouldn't have been ready for the coming battle either. Now, in the area of mobility, we had to rely only on the increased range of hyperspace jumps achieved by the use of beacons as locating reference points' generators. This intermediate result, obtained as the first real step to creating a hyperportal, proved to be very useful, it’s halved flight time in space with a network of beacons.

  Two days after the meeting at the President's residence Lit-ta contacted me.

  “Good to see you, Governor-General,” I smiled at the reptile that showed me her tongue on the tablet.

  “It’s good to see you, too, Admiral,” the lizard answered with a beautiful, pure voice of a grown woman, “We received information from your diplomats. The Senior commanded me to thank you for the warning.”

  “Thank you, Lit-ta, I appreciate the Senior’s gratitude, but I’m surprised it’s addressed to me personally...”

  “Take it easy, Igor, our official gratitude to your President went out two days ago through diplomatic channels, but it was your people who got the information. They also freed our compatriot, who, incidentally, was a very high-ranking person in our society before being captured. We are grateful.”

  “It was a joint operation, Lit-ta. Your lizards have done a great job, too.”

  “Stop being so modest, Igor. We'll reward our lizards, of course, but the idea and organization of this raid are entirely yours, so much of the success is yours, too.”

  “Thank you, Lit-ta, but you didn’t just contact me to thank me in the name of Senior, did you?”

  “Not just for that, although that reason would be sufficient. The Senior has instructed me to tell you that in the event of an attack on your star systems, we will send help. Our fleet is weak at the moment, but we were able to gather twenty dreadnoughts. In terms of battle power, each of these ships is roughly the same as the standard quarg battleship. The squadron awaits orders in one jump from Iota Persei. The order will follow immediately as soon as we learn of the quargs' attack. I’m sure it’s you they’ll attack, but we can’t send the ships before it’s a fact. I think you understand that.”

  “That’s great news, your help could be crucial. I’m not authorized to make that decision, but I’m sure you can count on our help in the event of an attack on your territory. But why are you telling me this, Lit-ta?”

  “Because, Admiral, our help will be provided on one condition, Admiral Lavroff commands our squadron in your fleet.”

  “Lit-ta, you’re pushing my rank. Well, I appreciate that, but for now, I’m just a rear admiral.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away,” replied Lit-ta showing me her split tongue, “For the battle of Iota Persei, the Senior, by her personal decree, has bestowed upon you the rank of Admiral, our Admiral, of course, so now you can give direct orders to all the lizards in your territory. Congratulations, Igor, it’s a very high rank in our Fleet, only Fleet Admiral is higher, just like in your Fleet, and the Senior herself, naturally. That rank is honorary, though, because you haven’t taken oaths of allegiance to the Senior, but under the circumstances, no one’s gonna pay any attention to that. Today, an official notice of your new rank will be sent to your diplomats.”

  “I am grateful for your confidence in me, Lit-ta, but you have to understand that I was sworn in by the Earth Federation and loyalty to the humans will always be my priority.”

  “The Senior understands that, but we trust that you will do whatever it takes to ensure that the rank of Admiral of our Fleet never contradicts your oath.”

  You cunning reptiles! I admired the elegant decision of the Senior. She must have appreciated my proposal to create a joint fleet with mixed crews, tying our races together, and decided to consolidate the success. Well, I don’t mind, that’s better. I didn’t see the slightest sense in a conflict with the lizards.

  “I will do my best to ensure that there is no critical conflict between our races,” assured I the lizard.

  “I believe you,” answered the Governor-General, “and I also believe in your victory in the coming battle. All right, Admiral, congratulations again, but things are pressing. Just tell me, why didn’t your command promote you after Iota Persei?”

  “Probably because, in the opinion of the General Staff officers, I was already promoted to rear admiral in advance,” I grinned, “Six months ago, I was a major, Lit-ta, and in the Battle of Iota Persei, I have honesly worked this advance off.”

  “You were a major?” the reptile moved her head backwards, which meant extreme surprise, “Next time I see you, you’ll be sure to tell me how a major can become a rear admiral in six mont
hs. I’m very interested. Now, I’m sorry, time presses. Good luck, Admiral!”

  ***

  Zverev was almost right. A fleet of quargs was discovered exiting hyperspace one jump away from star Ran, more commonly known in the pre-cosmic era as Epsilon Eridani. Four densely populated planets and a powerful industrial infrastructure made this planetary system an attractive target for the enemy, but star Ran was not among the six most critical industrial areas for us, thus, the cover squadron in this system did not include heavy ships and aircraft carriers, and its defense relied on ground troops. Well, it was time to test my new tactics, and I was hoping that the commandos that made up the elite ground forces of the system wouldn’t let me down.

  We had prepared a detailed plan for Marshal Tobolsky, of course, but it didn’t end there. For almost a month, until the discovery of the quarg fleet, Chief of General Staff Knyazev and I were puzzling over the new ground forces tactics, we were torturing the staff analysts, forced them to calculate many different options. About a week later, Nelson and Bronstein joined us and began to break our plans, looking at them from their perspective and figuring out how they, in place of the quargs, would suppress our resistance. The criticism was very constructive, and we had to change our tactics several times, General Barrington, who was responsible for the construction of defensive structures and underground shelters, was infuriated each time. Nevertheless, we have prepared everything.

  The planets of star Ran had a population of almost nine billion people. It would be inconceivable to evacuate people from the system. It was only possible to remove the personnel of the cavitated shipyards and enrichment plants from the asteroid belt and from the orbits of gas giants to the nearest planets, otherwise it was not feasible.

  All four densely populated planets, however, began the planned evacuation of the population to underground shelters, which were built more than enough thanks to Barrington’s efforts. I didn’t think humanity would learn so well to dig holes over the millennia of its development, yet we are not moles, but we have been able to do so.

  A quarg fleet emerged out of jump behind the orbit of the ninth planet. This uninhabited and utterly useless ball of filthy mud and ice has never before seen such a representative delegation, and there was much to see. We were clearly mistaken in our assessment of the capabilities of our adversaries. A network of stationary scanners, not yet destroyed by the enemy, has impartially detected 150 battleships, including 20 Titan-class battleships, about 200 cruisers, 35 aircraft carriers, and a swarm of ships from a destroyer and smaller. Along with this fleet of unprecedented size there were hundreds of transports with troops. The quargs were serious about taking control of the system and had every reason to do so.

  When the report of enemy fleet numbers arrived via hypercoms, the silence in the command post of the battleship Titan became oppressive. However, it was not so easy to deprive Nelson of the will to resist.

  “Analysts report the balance of power,” ordered the Admiral.

  “One to seven by the firepower of the heavy ships, Commander, Sir. One to three on the mosquito fleet, but that’s a rough estimate, because we don’t know the composition of the groups on the new enemy aircraft carriers. One to four on the light forces. We also have 120 'Invisibles'. The enemy has no ships of this type.”

  “How will the balance of power change if we join our fleet with all six cover squadrons of industrial star systems?”

  “One to five, one to two and a half, one to three.”

  “Send squadrons the order to join the main fleet. We’re moving out. In three days we’re going to fight, gentlemen,” firmly pronounced Admiral Nelson, “We have no right to lose, so we win or we all stay near star Ran, the choice is yours. The fleet prepare to jump.”

  Nelson turned around and headed for the exit, telling me on the move: “Rear Admiral Lavroff, I’ll see you in my office in an hour.”

  “There are too many of them, Rear Admiral,” Nelson has spoken the obvious, when I sat down at the conference table, “I think you know very well that using line-of-battle tactic, they’ll tear us apart in a few hours. Our fleet has no trump cards other than your 'Invisibles', so we’ll have to build the entire battle on the tactics of using these ships. We can’t repeat the stunt we pulled at Groombridge, because there will be no surprise, and the quargs aren’t the same anymore.”

  “Well, it’s not just those tricks, Admiral, Sir...”

  “Put aside ranks, Igor.”

  “Yes, Sir. Well, Mr Nelson, we really can’t apply almost anything of the experience we got in the Battle of Groombridge. But after that fight, we had a few more encounters with the quargs, albeit on a smaller scale, and we were duty-bound to draw the right conclusions from them. That’s what we’ve been doing in my department, and we’ve developed a framework for the use of drone torpedoes in the new circumstances. Now, however, given the specific balance of power, some changes will have to be made in these developments. Nevertheless, the basis remains the same, and I am ready to give you my thoughts.”

  ***

  In the pauses between hyperjumps, we were getting information about the state of affairs in the system under attack, and while we were flying and clenching our fists being unable to render any kind of help to the defenders, the largest ground battle in more than 20 years of war with the quargs was being fought near star Ran.

  The quargs did not find our fleet in the system. Civilian ships involved in the evacuation of the space factories and shipyards immediately accelerated and jumped when enemy ships arrived. Apparently, the complete absence of our space forces had somewhat perplexed the quargs, in any case, their fleet had been idle for about three hours, evidently suspecting some sort of trick. But nothing happened, and the commander of the quargs ordered an attack. Having sent destroyers and corvettes to destroy cavitated industrial facilities, he divided his fleet into four squadrons and simultaneously attacked all terraformed planets.

  Run was an old, well-developed and densely populated star system. Each of the major planets was protected by eight orbital fortresses. Clearly, in any scenario, they didn’t stand a chance without a cover fleet, so in all the systems from where we took the ships, the people from these orbital objects were immediately evacuated to the surface. But there was no sense in wasting the fortresses as such. If it’s possible to control from orbit the combat robots landed on the planet, why can’t orbital fortress be controlled from the surface? Especially if your communications systems are well protected from hostile electronic warfare means. It was time to test my Academy idea.

  Immediately after the discovery of the enemy fleet, the defenders of the planets sent orders to the orbital fortresses to change positions, and all eight armored giants slowly assembled in a dense group, covering the largest cities of the planets, empty and dead cities abandoned to their fate by the population who had gone into underground shelters. But the enemy didn’t know it yet...

  The first surprises for the quargs began before four large squadrons, each of which had the right to be called a full fleet, reached the vicinity of the planets to be attacked.

  The fleet commander received reports from destroyers sent to demolish industrial facilities that the ships were attacked by enemy torpedoes and suffered casualties. The cavitated objects were armed with these obnoxious weapons, and even though there were a few launchers in every factory or shipyard, the light forces of the quargs were unable to defeat them, since one hit by a drone torpedo was enough to render a destroyer, still less a corvette, completely incapacitated. The range of effective gun fire did not allow small ships to shoot targets from a safe distance, and now they were forced to retreat and wait for larger ships or aircraft carriers to approach.

  The commander of the quarg did not want to be distracted by secondary targets and, having ordered the easy forces to wait, continued to attack the central planets.

  ***

  Colonel General Camilo Matos commanded the defense of the most populous planet. Ran-3, with four billion
people, had a military force equal to its status, now stationed in underground bunkers, securely hidden from orbit by EW complexes recently brought to the planet in huge numbers.

  The Colonel General did not wonder how the crackerjacks on Earth managed to create this miracle, but enjoyed the fruits of their labours. Matos took the new tactics with great satisfaction. At first it seemed delusional to the General, but after the visit to the system of the new Chief of General Staff Knyazev, he thought first, and then changed his mind to the contrary. Knyazev conducted a demonstration exercise. He invited the generals in command of the ground forces on the planets to the command post of one of the ships charged with the task of attacking the ground base of a hypothetical enemy from space. Despite their best efforts, the ship’s scanners were unable to locate the positions of the anti-space defense batteries from orbit, because they were safely hidden in bunkers covered by new camouflage systems. And when the attacking group attempted to land commandos, the transports received a rocket salvo almost at close range, with unfortunate consequences. Now, the Colonel General was going to test this scheme on the quargs.

  The control center for the defense of the planet was below the surface at a depth of more than a kilometre. Standing opposite a three-dimensional tactical projection, Camilo Matos observed an enemy squadron entering the high orbits of his planet. Normally, a fiery battle would be raging there by now, in which the cover squadron, supported by orbital fortresses, would try to prevent the enemy from breaking through to the planet. But there was no fleet, and all eight fortresses gathered in a tight group above the capital. The enemy decided to start with them. Five huge battleships moved forward and began to approach the fortresses.

  The orbital defenses were commanded by Rear Admiral Sverdlov. Matos knew Sverdlov as a very conscientious officer, even too conscientious in the view of the Colonel General, which prevented the Rear Admiral from taking the initiative at the right moment. But by giving him an order, one could forget about the order and have no doubt that it would be carried out precisely and on time. Matos did not like to meddle in Fleet affairs, but he knew that Sverdlov was instructed personally by Rear Admiral Lavroff, a very young high-ranking officer, almost a boy. But it was his department that created these EW complexes and unpiloted planes, not to mention the drone torpedoes, which meant this guy was wearing his shoulder straps for a reason, although… who knows what his personal contribution to all this was?

 

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