Counter-attack

by Max Glebow

  Nelson thought for a while.

  “You know better, Rear Admiral. 'Invisibles' are your creation and your strong point. Act. Rear Admiral Lavroff, take command of the light forces,” the Commander gave the order and returned to control of the battle that had already crushed half our fleet.

  ***

  Yash was looking with grim satisfaction at the panorama of the unfolding battle. He finally managed to drag the humans into a head-on collision, and they started to suffer casualties, and those were very tangible losses. These ships being destroyed were much more important to their relatively small fleet than to the quarg fleet.

  By the minute, the formation of his ships was changing from a stretched column into something more meaningful, and was giving the attacking human battleships and cruisers a constantly increasing resistance. Some episodes, of course, darkened the overall movement towards victory, but they could not change the outcome. 20 Sword of Justice-class battleships and seven aircraft carriers with probe-scanners, which formed the core of the Yash's fleet, were to reach the battlefield within minutes and put an end to the combat. Yash did not see the power here to prevent his victory. Yes, of course, human torpedoes have already done much damage to his fleet, but the Commander knew that these weapons took a long time to be ready for reuse. Yash was sure the enemy still had these weapons ready for battle, but seven aircraft carriers should have been enough to defend against the threat. Yash did not believe that humans were capable of a more powerful strike than they had made at the beginning of the battle. This conclusion was further supported by the fact that the second strike made by the humans, when the ships converged for the artillery battle, was far less powerful than the first one. Humans may have had more torpedoes, but Yash believed that there could not be a lot of them left.

  “Enemy Light Force on traverse!” reported tactical officer,“They’ve engaged our flank patrol. The enemy is moving in an open formation and closing fast. The flank patrol is destroyed. We’re being attacked by at least 200 destroyers and corvettes, Commander Yash!”

  Yash made a wry face again. Humans couldn’t calm down, but the enemy’s actions gave him away. This attack was a desperate act. People wanted to destroy at any cost the aircraft carriers capable of covering Yash’s huge battleships with anti-torpedo veil. Apparently, the enemy understood that the remaining torpedoes he had were not enough to overcome this protection and wanted to deprive Yash of the aircraft carriers. That was stupid. The destroyers are not an equal opponent to the battleships, and he won’t let them get to the aircraft carriers.

  “Fleet to make change of formation. Battleships, cover the aircraft carriers and prepare to repel the enemy light forces attack.”

  The huge guns of the Swords of Justice opened fire on the human light ships. The destroyers and corvettes were desperately maneuvering, but the density of fire of twenty giant battleships left them little chance, especially given the ever-shrinking distance to their targets.

  “30 percent of enemy ships destroyed, Commander. They’re no longer approaching, their ships are dying before they can get closer to our fleet.”

  “Well, I can’t forbid people to die beautifully,” said Yash with a grin.

  For another minute, the Fleet Commander was enjoying an unprecedented spectacle of the enemy light forces' suicide feeling that he's done his job well, but the sudden alarm knocked all positive thoughts out of Yash’s head.

  “Torpedo attack!” there was outright fear in the voice of the tactical officer, “30 seconds to impact!”

  ***

  Yash came to his senses.

  “What about the Fleet?” wheezed out the Commander of the quargs.

  The tactical officer with his head bandaged and his arm hanging helplessly leaned over the Commander.

  “There are no combat-effective Swords of Justice left, Commander Yash,” reported he in a weak voice, “About 30 battleships and 17 cruisers remained in service, all damaged. Five aircraft carriers are still capable of setting up an anti-torpedo network, but if it’s destroyed, there’s no way to repair the damage.”

  “What about the adversary? ” Yash coughed up and felt pain in his chest.

  “Human ships broke up the distance, but they didn’t leave. They had just over 50 heavy streamers left, including one Sword of Justice-class battleship, albeit with considerable damage, and ten aircraft carriers. They’re probably waiting for their torpedo carriers to reload to finish us off with one blow. I don’t think we can stop them from doing that. And… they continue to broadcast their message to our ships.”

  “And what do they want to tell us?” asked Yash gloomily, “Have the lizards taught them to remove our block? And how does that help us? Would that give us instant death?”

  “That’s not entirely true, Commmander Yash. The quarg, who is reading the message, claims that people have learned to prevent our deaths in captivity when it comes to renewing the block. He won’t say anything about taking the block off. It’s not clear, and I guess the block stays, but its internal timer doesn’t work for some reason. He also says that humans have provided an adapted planet with an artificial sun and a normalized atmosphere to catured quargs. They live there alone, without guards, mining Americium and selling it to humans. All this is shown in the message...”

  “That’s a lie. They want us to surrender shamefully. It’s just a propaganda. What he’s saying is impossible.”

  “That’s what I thought, Commander, but this quarg, he is in our database. I checked his file. He was captured over ten years ago. There’s a slight variation in the actuation time of the timer, but the block should have killed him two months ago anyway.”

  “So this is a recording, and that quarg is already dead.”

  “No, Commander, that’s not true. Or rather, it’s a recording, but he’s not alone, and there are other quargs appearing next to him, including those captured just a couple of weeks ago.”

  “Is it a fake?”

  “It doesn’t seem so. At least our devices didn’t show any signs of tampering.”

  Yash thought. He lost, and it was beyond question. The fleet is broken, it’s impossible to jump, the humans just won’t let them out of the star's zone of influence. Just a few more hours, and then the recharged torpedo carriers will arrive, and it’ll all be over in no time. One can die with honor, just what difference does that make? Some small ship will surely slip away, and the details of the battle will be known in the capital. He’s going to die here, but his wives probably won’t have their block renewed. It’s unclear about the kids, maybe they’ll get lucky. But if no one knows what happened here, the wives will not be harmed, at least until the circumstances are clear. And there’ll be no way to find out anything. Here and now, he is still the Fleet Commander, and nobody, no one in command of a ship disobeys his orders, it is simply impossible. Of course people won’t spare him. After the orbital strike on their cities, it would be foolish to expect leniency, but his subordinates were only obeying orders and humans' attitude towards them might be less harsh. If what this prisoner-quarg says is true...

  “Show me the recording,” Yash spoke hoarsely, taking his seat with difficulty

  ***

  “Fleet Admiral, Sir, the 'Invisibles' are reloaded. Attack readiness in 30 minutes,” reported I to Nelson.

  “Okay, Rear Admiral, we’ll start in 30 minutes. But I can see some doubt on your face. Something’s wrong?”

  “Maybe we should present an ultimatum? Let’s give them a couple of hours to think. They’re not going anywhere. I’ve been broadcasting our message for hours. Maybe someone will be starting to have doubts.”

  “It’s useless, Igor,” answered Nelson tiredly, “they won’t give up. They’ve never done it in space.”

  “Now something has changed, Mr Nelson,” I have accepted an appeal without rank, “I’ve given the quargs food for thought and I’d like to give them some time to digest it.”

  “Okay, let’s make it a couple of hours. Present them a
n ultimatum.”

  “Enemy battleship is on the line!” The operator sounded genuinely surprised.

  “Turn it on,” I and Nelson turned to the projection screen.

  Before us appeared the image of the command post of an alien ship, familiar from the captured battleship Titan. Everything was smashed, and there was a slight haze in the air. An old quarg was watching us from the screen. He kept his upright position with obvious difficulty, and seemed to hold only by willpower. The quarg spoke, and the automatic translator began to duplicate his words in English.

  “My name is Yash. I am Fleet Commander and I speak for all the quargs under me.”

  “I am Fleet Admiral Nelson and I speak for the humans,” the Admiral responded to the quarg, unwittingly imitating his construction of a phrase.

  “We are ready to surrender, Admiral Nelson. On my orders, all forces on your planets and those of my fleet, including those now beyond your reach, will stand down and surrender. But first I want to hear something from you. You've defeated me in battle, and it is worthy of respect, for my fleet was far stronger than yours. Before I give my orders to the commanders of my ships, I want to hear your answer to my question. I saw the address, but I need your word. Is it true what this quarg said and what was shown?”

  “Yes, Fleet Commander Yash, that is true,” responded the Admiral firmly.

  Yash turned to one of his subordinates without turning off the comms.

  “Orders to the fleet and ground forces. Cease hostilities, transfer all systems to hike mode, disarm weapons. Prepare to receive human inspection groups. All orders from their commanders to be complied immediately and in full.”

  The quarg looked back at Nelson, “I kept my promise, Admiral, now it’s your turn.”

  Chapter 9

  The Kruger 60 system looked like a disturbed hive. Transport ships carrying catured quargs to the colony as well as everything necessary for the survival of the vastly increased population, were swarming around the only terraformed planet.

  The planet had to be divided into two isolated territories, or rather, a new vast space, separated from the already developed zone, had to be urgently adapted for life. The new settlement housed quargs who had undergone the process of withdrawing the block. They could not be accommodated with ordinary prisoners for obvious reasons. If the information that people had learned to remove the block had leaked to the quargs with the block still intact, it would have resulted in the instant mass death of the prisoners. Therefore, the prisoners were separated, but the quargs, who had already undergone the procedure, were regularly seen by their comrades who had remained in the old settlement. This was done on purpose, so that prisoners did not have suspicions that something bad was happening with their brethren, who have undergone a 'medical examination'. On the contrary, the settlers, who 'accidentally' caught the eyes of the inhabitants of the old city, always looked satisfied and behaved with confidence.

  On the new territory, a city was being built that was completely different from the old settlement, the buildings of which were made of elements made by people. The new town was being constructed according to the quarg customs, and the higher the buildings, the better the old settlers saw it behind the straits that separated the new land from the long-developed territories.

  There was a growing desire to relocate, but our policy remained unchanged. The only quargs who were allowed to pass through the block removal procedure were those who were at risk of dying from the block triggering. Of course, we could speed things up, but we were working on improving the technology and we hoped that, over time, we would be able to remove the block without damaging any of the patient’s memory. Some progress had already been made, but it had not yet been significant, nevertheless, we preferred to wait and not to mutilate the memory of prisoners without an emergency. And in order to relieve unnecessary tension in the old settlement, where all the prisoners captured near star Ran were taken, the Ministry of Defense had almost doubled the purchase prices of the Americium, and this has greatly improved the understanding of the parties.

  After the surrender of the quarg fleet and ground forces in star Ran system, it became clear to all of us that for more than 20 years we had been dealing with an unusual enemy, a significant number of soldiers and officers of whom are fighting against us not of their own free will. But the nature of the forces that compelled them to fight remained unclear to us. Besides, the fact that some of the quargs fought not under duress, but according to their own beliefs, did not make it easy for us to understand the situation.

  I came to Kruger 60 for two reasons. First of all, I wanted to see for myself what had changed about the work with the captured quargs, and especially about the procedure for removing the block. And second of all, I needed to have a private conversation with the General of the Army Barrington, who had been here for a week dealing with prisoner-of-war issues.

  Nelson discouraged me from going there.

  “Igor, we’re practically without a fleet,” persuaded me the Admiral, “We even have to assemble the internal systems' cover squadrons of destroyers and single cruisers. Almost all the heavy ships are being repaired, and there is a catastrophic shortage of aircraft carriers. I need you here to speed up the construction of hybrid battleships, as these ships have proven themselves in battle.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Mr Nelson,” I assured the Admiral, “My leading experts, Professor Stein and Chief Engineer Jeff, have proven more than once that they can meet the most demanding deadlines when it comes to vital projects. And now they’ve been joined by Сolonel, or rather, by Major General Slin-at, who personally led Dragon’s Tail into battle and who knows firsthand the value of this type of ship in a combat. I need to get to Kruger 60, where General Barrington is now stuck, taking care of the needs of the expanded quarg colony. No force can pull him out of there, and without Barrington, there can be no operation to free our prisoners.”

  “What are you talking about, Rear Admiral? What operation? Where will you get the ships for it? Have you forgotten that our fleet almost died near star Ran?” Nelson's voice sounded metal.

  “In two weeks, 20 dreadnoughts promised by the lizards will arrive. With these forces, we have to get through this. A pair of mobile transport rings won’t be ready for two months, Zverev just won’t make it any faster, so we still have time to prepare.”

  “Have you given your views to the Minister of Defense?”

  “Not yet. It doesn’t make any sense before I talk to Barrington, besides, I could really use your support, so first, you and the General of the Army Knyazev will see this plan.”

  ***

  General Barrington has been under such strain that it seemed to me he could start to steam by a minute. If he had been told six months ago that he was going to build cities for quargs, the General would have laughed in the face of such a joker. But the arrival of nearly a million prisoners required the development of new approaches, and the Federation again turned to him for help.

  Nevertheless, Barrington found time for me, albeit a little.

  “It’s good to see you, Igor,” smiled the old General, “I’ve heard about your role in the battle of star Ran. Congratulations. There was a situation that, let me be honest, I had serious doubts about the outcome of this fight.”

  “It wasn’t only you who had doubts, Mr Barrington, and what we got is not a great achievement. The cost of this victory has been too high.”

  Barrington nodded silently, agreeing, and shifted the conversation to another subject:

  “I’ll be here for two weeks. I don’t know what surprise you brought me this time, but you can’t count on me until then,” told me the General, and I could tell by his voice that he was holding his own with great difficulty. Fatigue made itself felt, especially given his age.

  “You’re right, as always,” I put a little smile on my face, “I came here to ask you again to do something no one else had ever done before.”

  “Well, lately, I don’t remember you
giving any easy-to-solve problems,” Barrington grinned, “so I don’t think you can surprise me very much.”

  “I’m afraid you’re mistaken,” I shook my head, and the general raised his eyebrow. “My department has conducted a deep reconnaissance of the quarg rear systems. As a result, we have discovered a planet on which the enemy is holding our prisoners. The scouts managed to get one man and one lizard out of there, and they told us a lot of interesting things...”

  “Igor,” Barrington stopped me. “I’m running out of time right now. In a couple of weeks, you’ll have another chance to tell me the details. I know you well, and I know exactly what you’re up to. The only thing I’m interested in right now is how much?”

  “The former prisoners were unable to give precise numbers, but...”

  “How much, Igor?” The General repeated the question in low voice.

  I sighed like I was about to jump into icy water.

  “Seven to eight billion people and about three billion lizards.”

  ***

  This was probably the first time I haven’t broken any written or unwritten rules in the preparation of an operation and did not trample upon the fundamentals of subordination in the most cynical way. The Minister of Defense might have been pleased. I even gave the diplomatic authorities advance notice of my contacts with Lit-ta. The head of the department, Araika Farmanyan, of course, struggled not to pull a face while communicating with me, but in the end, she agreed on my plan, what choice did she really have?

  “Hello, Admiral,” Lit-ta answered my call almost instantly, as if waiting for it all this time, “Congratulations on your victory.”