Counter-attack

by Max Glebow

  “Fleet, set course for Planet Two. Maximum acceleration. Liaison officer, initiate transmission to all significant quarg facilities. I want to present them an ultimatum.”

  All my staff officers remembered the end of the star Ran battle, and no questions were asked.

  “Speak, Admiral, Sir. Simultaneous interpretation is now on.”

  “Defenders of the system,” began I my short address, “I’m Admiral Lavroff, Commander of the Fleet, which you now enjoy watching on your scanners. I think none of you are in any doubt that you are not in a position to confront it with anything. You have a simple choice: useless death or captivity. I know that for many of you, captivity has always meant the same death, but delayed for several painful years. However, this is no longer the case. Now, I’m going to play a recording that contains an address to you from your compatriot, who is currently living in the Earth Federation. I won’t tell you the details, you’ll see and hear for yourself. You have three hours to decide. That’s exactly the time it takes for my fleet to reach the effective firing range. It’s up to you.”

  On my orders, the communications officer shut down the transmission, and opened a secure channel to the ship of Colonel-General Swenson, the commanding officer of the landing forces of my fleet. The General, who proved himself well in the battle for the planets of Iota Persei, seemed to me to be a successful candidate to command the ground forces in this operation.

  “Colonel-General, Sir,” said I, “We’re not going to tackle Kappa-3 now. Our target is the prisoners. There are no orbital fortresses above the second planet, but there is a passenger and cargo terminal. It is desirable not to destroy it, but to seize. This is a task I’ll take on, there's a commando unit with the relevant experience on Dragon’s Tail. Your task is the surface of the planet. Once again, the task is extremely delicate. Captured people and lizards are very densely housed there. We must avoid by any means losses among them, so there will be no orbital strikes, only landing forces.”

  “The losses will be immense, Admiral, Sir,” Swenson replied grimly.

  “Only unmanned robots will go in the first wave.”

  “They may not be enough for this tactic, Admiral, Sir.”

  “This is war, Colonel-General, I don’t think I need to remind you of that. Is your task clear?”

  “That's right, Commander, Sir. Your permission to fulfill?”

  “Do it.”

  It’s been about an hour waiting, and then the communications operator broke the silence in the Dragon's Tail command post:

  “A call from the third planet!”

  “Turn it on.”

  A three-dimensional image of a middle-aged quarg appeared on the screen.

  “Admiral Lavroff,” he told after a brief pause. The quarg had difficulty speaking. “My name is Tshé, I command the defense forces of the system. We are ready to capitulate and hand over to you the orbital objects and the ships of the cover squadron, but I have one condition.”

  “A condition?” I half-arched my eyebrow, “Do you, Mr Tshé, think your position allows you to make demands?”

  “Not too much, Admiral,Sir, but we can blow up ships and factories with us, and we have the resolve to do so. Listen to the condition, and you’ll understand why I’m saying it.”

  “Okay, state your condition.”

  “You will not bomb the third planet and you will not land commandos on it. There are only civilians there. There are no troops on the surface, except for the forces of law and order, there are no your compatriots there, they’re all on the second planet.”

  “I’ll agree, if you fulfill one more of my demands,” I answered with a little thought, “You will secure the inviolability of the captured humans and lizards on the second planet and create all the conditions for their loading into my ships as quickly as possible, including the transfer of the orbital terminal with all personnel to my disposal.”

  “But...” The quarg was clearly nervous, “Admiral, Sir, it’s beyond my power. Prisoners on the second planet are guarded by special forces under central command. These are Surveillance units, and I don’t think they’ll accept your offer to surrender. They control the terminal, too, and I can’t give them orders.”

  “Then take the terminal by storm. You have enough forces to do that, the terminal is not an orbital fortress.”

  “Are you pushing me to commit treachery, Admiral, Sir?” The quarg has looked me firmly in the eye.

  “Tell me, Mr Tshé, did you, personally, want a war with us?”

  “No,” the quarg responded, after a few seconds, “But you know our circumstances.”

  “I do. And you think those who gave you the block deserve your loyalty?”

  “But they have the same blocks as mine, Admiral, Sir. They also...”

  “They’re wearing the uniforms of Surveillants, Mr Tshé,” I interrupted the quarg, “Surveillants are supposed to be voluntary, aren’t they?”

  “Yes, but...”

  “I’m not gonna bomb the third planet and land commandos on it, but I need the terminal intact with loyal personnel. You take care of your civilians, I take care of mine. It’s an adequate exchange, Mr Tshé. If you don’t want to take over the terminal yourself, take on board your battleships my boarding robots, they’ll do everything in the best possible way. All you have to do is moor the terminal offering up a polite excuse, the rest is not your concern. Have we got a deal?”

  The quarg had his doubts, but not for too long.

  “I’ll set up the cover squadron so that the third planet can block it from surveillance from the terminal,” the quarg has finally spoken, “Waiting for your boarding parties.”

  “I’m glad we came to an agreement, Mr Tshé,” I smiled at the quarg and broke the communication.

  I called Inga, “Captain Kotova, prepare your subjects for landing on the enemy battleships.”

  ***

  For the quargs in the orbital terminal in orbit of the second planet, the events looked unambiguous.

  A dozen enemy battleships led by a Sword of Justice-class ship separated from the main human fleet, set course for the third planet, and engaged the cover squadron. The planet was covering up the battle scene, but based on circumstantial evidence, the cover squadron had a hard time. In any case, it did not last long and soon began a disorderly retreat, leaving the planet to its fate. The enemy did not pursue the departing ships, presumably with the task of suppressing the planet’s orbital defences and the ground-based anti-space defense batteries.

  The cruiser and one of the battleships were probably destroyed in action, and the remaining battleship and aircraft carrier were now retreating towards the second planet. It was clear to the Commander of the Surveillants that these two ships would make no difference in the current scenario, but on the other hand, they won’t be superfluous, and at least they’ll try to make themselves look like an orbital group.

  “Battleship Innit is requesting permission to dock at the terminal,” a tactical officer has reported to the Commander of the Surveillants, “They’re asking us to take the wounded and replenish the ammunition from our warehouses. They are almost out of ammunition for anti-aircraft guns.”

  “That’s not surprising. This new human weapon requires us to just have a gigantic consumption of these shells,” the Commander showed knowledge of the matter, “I’m surprised they even let them get away with that much firepower. Give the Captain of Innit permission to dock.”

  The howling alarm broke the silence of the orbital terminal corridors almost immediately after docking. From the battleship hangars, boarding robots of humans rushed through the transition locks. The Commander of the Surveillants only heard of them, he never saw those monsters in battle, besides, he fought, because of the nature of his service, only in his youth. To his surprise, the robots didn’t kill anyone. Their machine guns used shells with soft bullets and low muzzle energy, so when these bullets hit the quargs, they just fell and suffered minor injuries and contusions. All the robots
that broke into the terminal not only fired, but also broadcast a message from their commander calling for an end to useless resistance and promising a life of dignity to those who would assist the humans.

  The orbital terminal was never prepared to defend itself against boarding. The Surveillants had no combat suits, and their personal weapons were only suitable for police events, so there was no resistance as such. Most middle- and lower-level personnel were civilians, who just hid in the corners with their hands covering their heads. The robots didn’t shoot them. It took a little over 30 minutes to seize the terminal, and it took most of that time to separate and isolate the Surveillants who ceased to resist from the civilians, who have agreed to continue their duties. Two hours later, the terminal was ready to operate again, but its personnel were given orders from a completely different source.

  ***

  “Admiral, Sir, General Barrington’s transport fleet and the transport ring group are coming out of the jump at the system’s edge,” reported the space control operator.

  I nodded silently. So far, the operation plan has been largely respected. After all the ships of the fleet, including Barrington’s transports, had passed through the portal, it again divided into segments, and these ships, along with the evacuation ships and security cruisers, made a jump to the outskirts of the Kappa Ceti system. Following the plan, they advanced to the limit of the star's zone of influence, where the segment ships docked together again and formed the transport ring, ready to convey transports with former prisoners to the Barnard’s Star system, where everything has been prepared to accommodate rescued humans and lizards, it only remained to take them from the second planet.

  The terminal was under our control, but there were still surveillance troops and an unknown amount of anti-space defense. An impressive armada of our fleet has moved to the planet, having previously sent many reconnaissance probes into the atmosphere. No one fired on our probes, and the information they gave us calmed me down. The quargs did not prepare the Kappa Ceti-2 to defend against a space assault. In fact, one could have guessed it earlier, not having found orbital fortresses in its low orbits, but I wasn’t prepared to base my tactics on quesswork, so the landing party went to the planet according to all the rules, except for the preliminary treatment of the landing sites with missiles and bombs.

  We had enough landing force, and we used it to the fullest. Immediately after the first wave of unmanned robots, dropships with piloted commanding robots and their unmanned units were sent to the surface. With them, Inga went to the surface with a battalion of her Bisons, and she was extremely satisfied. I have so far held in high orbits large troop transports with heavy weapons as they may or may not be necessary.

  An attempt at meaningful resistance occurred only in the area of the spaceport, which received shuttles from the orbital terminal. The quargs did not dare to shoot at the terminal itself from the surface, not knowing what was happening there, but they fired at the battleships in low orbits. Except the fire density of the four anti-orbital missile batteries was so negligible compared to our forces that this volley of fire fell into emptiness, blown to dust by anti-aircraft guns of heavy ships. The fate of the surface batteries was unenviable. The guided bombs had the least possible power to not graze anything around them, but they were aimed precisely, and there were many of them.

  For the moment, everything was going smoothly, even too smoothly. In these situations, fate makes nasty presents for last, so I tried to be vigilant. However, the planet was under our complete control. A few hours later, General Barrington’s giant fleet approached it and the evacuation actually began. Some of the transports have landed on the planet, others have started docking to the orbital terminal to receive the humans and lizards raised from the surface by shuttles. I was looking at this huge logistics bacchanalia and I couldn’t calm down. The evil worm of doubt was pecking the top of my head. Something must have happened, something very bad, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.

  General Barrington estimated that the evacuation would be complete within five days. The transport ships were required to load on the second planet of Kappa Ceti, go up into space or disconnect from the terminal, reach the transport ring made up of ships-segments beyond the orbit of the sixth planet, pass through it to the Barnard’s Star system and transfer passengers there to small intra-system ships that were continuously moving the rescued people and lizards to the terraformed planets. This journey, together with the loading and unloading of passengers, took about six hours, but required the evacuation organizers to exert themselves at each stage. Naturally, all the off-duty soldiers and officers came to the aid of Barrington’s entourage. Inga, too, did not return from Kappa Ceti-2, chasing her Bisons down local roads and helping to gather former prisoners from small towns and villages, many of which appeared on the planet in twenty years.

  All this time, I felt restless, the situation was giving me the heebie-jeebies. You’d think it’d be calculated long ago, even by the most pessimistic estimates, no cunning quarg ass could spoil our holiday, for to enter this star system with small forces meant for the enemy a certain suicide, they simply could not muster up an adequate fleet, if they could do it at all. It seemed that I could safely watch General Barrington’s logistics show, close the portal, and get out of the system before the quargs, offended by my brazen escapade, had time to prepare a punitive expedition.

  But I couldn’t stay still. I pulled the fleet out of orbit on the second planet, leaving a pretty strong squadron there in case of any kind of surprise, and I redeployed the main forces to the transportation ring. It was the hyperportal I thought was the most vulnerable link in our operation. If it’s damaged, we’ll be stuck in the Kappa Ceti system like a fly in a web. Warships and troop transports in such a situation still had the opportunity to get home with the usual chain of linear hyperjumps, but the big evacuation ships didn’t have that chance, they couldn’t fly through hyperspace. In the wild rush to prepare this operation, Barrington proposed a very elegant solution - huge ships without hyper-engines. It was cheap and cheerful, and most importantly, we made it. But the flip side of this decision was the inability of these ships to move through subspace without a transport ring.

  I’ve been sending scouts around the system and its environs, they’ve rummaged about all the quarg orbital objects, checked the satellites of the giant planets and the asteroid belt. There was nothing dangerous and nothing interesting. For 48 hours, everything went according to plan, even ahead of schedule. The quargs had three dozen transport ships, and we’ve included them in our logistics chain, promising the crews preferential treatment in captivity. And then something happened that no one could have foreseen...

  “I’m viewing an emergence of four unidentified ships out of a jump,” reported the operator on duty, “Admiral, Sir, it’s not quargs, we’ve never seen anything like it before.”

  “Show the image on the screen,” ordered I, and felt that the tension was growing. It was exactly what my cranial animal with its drumsticks warned me about.

  Unknown ships have exited hyperspace between the orbits of the seventh and eighth planets. It was a rather risky navigation, given the possibilities that humans and quargs had. We spotted them right away, as I flooded the system with scanners and patrols. Apparently, the unexpected guests had absolutely no idea that there can be present anyone other than quargs near Kappa Ceti, anyway, for a few seconds they were confused, doing nothing, even though our patrol corvette was in the vicinity of their point of entry into normal space. The commander of the corvette took his time, too, not understanding who was in front of him.

  The alien ships looked unusual. One of them was clearly a major transport. These carcasses are easily recognized among ships of any race, the need for a large inner space dictates the same design solutions, and ships like this usually don’t carry much of a weapon, which is is immediately apparent, too. In the predatory silhouettes of three other ships of a size comparable to our cruisers, the combat a
ssignment was immediately guessed.

  The major caliber weapons looked unusual, but generally recognizable, but the close-range combat systems and the graceful structures coming out of the hulls of the warships in several places hardly spoke to my comrades. They gave me the shivers and the chills. What I saw threatened us with terrible defeat. The enemy ships - and what else could they be if the quargs weren’t their adversaries - had defensive fields and plasma cannons. I’ve seen enough of these things as Brigadier General Dean.

  “Fleet, prepare for battle!” I tried to put in my voice the confidence that I didn’t really feel, “Form a defensive combat order, we’ll protect the transport ring and the corridor from it to the second planet.”

  “Admiral, but there’s only three of them...” started sayng Slin-at, the Captain of Dragon's Tail, but I interrupted him.

  “Now you’ll see what these three are worth.”

  Confirming what I said, a plasma charge flashed, and the patrol corvette disappeared in a bright flash. There was little debris, and the plasma cannon shot vaporized the entire bow of the ship and turned most of what was left into a melted rock.

  In the command post of Dragon’s Tail, there was an oppressive silence. Fortunately, plasma cannons did not have a high effective range of fire, but in close combat, they were indeed a terrible threat to any Federation ship. Actually, I was the only one here who knew about it, and the rest of my staff felt the shock of seeing it.

  “'Invisibles', take up position in combat order behind the heavy ships,” I began to form up the fleet before battle, “Tighten the formation, we’ll need maximum fire density. Titan-class battleships, do not move forward, drone torpedoes and pursuit planes will work first.”

  I kept watching the enemy. Apparently, these ships didn’t come to Kappa Ceti to fight. They had some business of their own. Three cruisers were probably just escorting the transport. Who knew what their relationship was with the quargs? Apparently, they were allies, but judging by the blocks in the quargs' brains, the loyalty of such allies could be questionable, hence the three cruisers to cover the transport ship.