“Hit!”
This time, the blow is accurate. Three of the four projectiles reach the target, completely destroying the outlying sector of the space fortress, and then one of the Dawn destroyers splits into small pieces, hit by the heavy gun.
“The Red Army is coming!”
Through the broken gates of the northern fairway in the cavern, another squadron of the Red Dawn enters. Now the forces are finally equalized. The reinforcements are headed by the Mad Max; the Wasp Queen personally leads her troops into battle.
Having pushed aside the enemy and occupied a huge sector of the cavern, Elizabeth heads the main link. The new destroyers and transports replace the destroyed and failed ones.
“Quickly, cover us with fire. We’ll come closer and destroy the Citadel with nuclear shells!” Klimov points to Elizabeth’s firing range, which her destroyers must occupy in order to cover the cruiser at the moment of the decisive attack. But the unexpected response of the Wasp Queen destroys their carefully prepared plans.
“Hold the nuclear fire; we will capture the Citadel! In the camps on the outskirts, there are hundreds of thousands of prisoners; we came for them. We will seize the camps and transports on the piers, then take out the prisoners and undermine the Citadel from the inside!”
“By that time, Boddicker will pull his troops from the South Pole. We are losing time; we must attack immediately! We won’t stand against his whole fleet!”
But the destroyers are already leaving the Bolshevik to join the Queen’s main forces. Her squadron changes its system; the attack wedge diverges by sphere, and the destroyers occupy the flank positions, opening the way for the landing transport and minesweepers. They reset the second wave of bombs.
The Bolshevik’s senior officers are requesting urgent instructions; their plan of attack has been disrupted. The Bolshevik led Elizabeth’s squadron into the cavern, where they planned to destroy the Citadel with a joint nuclear strike. And now the Queen has unexpectedly stopped the shelling and is beginning the landing operation—Elizabeth promised that she would come for the prisoners, and she came for them. But Klimov and his crew have another order; they are required to inflict the greatest possible damage on Boddicker and his empire, regardless of any other considerations. And they can’t do this alone; the superiority of the enemy is too great.
“We will start landing; cover us!”
After clearing the passage, the landing ships advance forward, aiming at the transport hubs and giant repositories. The space fortress meets them with hurricane fire, and it’s only thanks to the fire support from the Bolshevik that the advanced group with great losses manages to reach the landing point.
“Geronimo!”
The battle goes on everywhere. The Bolshevik and the destroyers continue to repulse the pirates’ attacks while simultaneously conducting a fierce gunfight with the Citadel, covering the landing troops. The fortress fires back, also throwing large groups of unmanned fighters forward while simultaneously pulling the naval infantry from inside. Close to the Citadel, behind the last line of minefields, in the concentration camps, moorings, and berths, a fierce battle begins, where the first Red Dawn paratroopers fight against Boddicker’s soldiers.
Knowing about the enemy’s numerical superiority, Elizabeth throws her recruits into the first wave: former civilians, refugees of Earth and space who have passed the minimum course of combat training. Against Boddicker's soldiers in his territory they have no chance, but they will be able to hold out for a while, drawing fire to themselves and giving the second wave—the best fighters of the Red Dawn—the chance to successfully land.
“Charge with magnums!”
The original plan is broken, so the Bolshevik temporarily has to stop burning the enemy fortress. Concentration camps are intentionally built in such a way to cover the main, central spheres, and now the cruiser can’t finish off the Citadel with nuclear fire without destroying the captives and fighters of the Wasp Queen. The battle plan must be changed urgently, and the cruiser begins to shell the industrial parts of the Citadel, focusing on the arsenals and shipbuilding stock. If Boddicker manages to leave, he must be deprived of the opportunity to build new warships.
“Hit!”
The defensive capabilities of the Citadel are still impressive, and the barrage fire is still accurate, so just two of the four special shots pass to the target, destroying the external factories and the slipway with a half-assembled cruiser.
“The Union Navy retreat! The main pirate squadron has begun returning to the cavern!”
The Union ships shut down their operation at the South Pole and leave into open space. This means that the opposing Boddicker’s forces got the opportunity to turn around and are now fully back at the cavern. They will reach the center in an hour at the latest, and then the Citadel’s defenders will have an even greater numerical superiority. So it will be necessary to retreat with a heavy fight, and Klimov gives new orders to all ships that are not engaged in landing operations.
“Minelayers to the neck of the southern fairways: set up new minefields! All the rest—save your ammo!”
The Bolshevik inflicts another nuclear strike, continuing the destruction of the industrial sectors, and then starts to shoot with conventional heavy explosives; they have very little special ammunition left. In the Citadel, fierce fights continue; the paratroopers have broken through the first line of defense and have begun fighting inside the concentration camps and at the berths. Comrade Andrei requests urgent support—not support by fire but support in cyberspace.
“Sergeant Voronov—go and help the landing party! Joseph, cover her!”
“Roger!”
Uncle Joe takes on Olga's responsibilities, completely freeing her for a special task. The girl comes out of the ship’s Matrix, closes her eyes, and opens them already inside the Citadel, accompanying Andrei in his powerful on-board computer.
All around there is unimaginable chaos; the battle is everywhere. Communication is unstable, and strong interference threatens at any second to cut off the connection and throw her back on the Bolshevik, but now she needs to gain a foothold in the position at any cost and continue the fight.
The mind of Olga Voronov reigns on the ruins at the Citadel’s outskirts, taken by Andrei’s paratroopers. The girl watches, listens to, and feels what is happening inside the fire-covered and riddled compartments with tens of thousands of cameras, sensors, and locators. At her disposal are thousands of still functioning devices, from the simplest locks on the doors to the most complex security systems, and she must use them all to give her comrades at least some advantage against the superior enemy forces.
In some places carrying out Andrei’s orders and in some places acting independently, Olga performs an innumerable number of actions. She extinguishes fires in some compartments, opening the way for released prisoners, and at the same time sets fire to others, without letting Boddicker’s infantry move forward. She helps the paratroopers crack the sealed bulkheads and blow up any tunnels that the enemy can use. Taking over the machine gun turrets, she shoots at enemy positions that couldn’t be seized. She cuts the wires and makes new temporary lines of communication. She overcomes the throes of howling jammers, calls for fire support, shoots back the flocks of robot-killers, and conducts fierce melee fights with enemy operators and fighter-angels, ruthless in their quest to get rid of the stranger in every way. And all this time, she breaks ahead, punching through firewalls one by one, paving her way to the ultimate target—the trading piers and the few dozen transports on them.
“Olga, the truck’s control system is disabled and partially burned; we aren’t able to start the engines. Your task is to remove the lock and give us full power: we need at least a dozen such transports!”
“Roger!”
She must break down the enemy blockade, which has chained the ships tightly to the piers and muffled the engines, to set a fire in the boilers and be ready to start any minute. And even though overcoming the blockade an
d virus programs is her usual job, she is poorly versed in engines, so she urgently needs the help of experts, and Olga requests urgent consultations with Twins.
“Olga, start the general diagnostics. We’ll see what can be done there!”
In total, nearly four dozen different ships are standing near the concentration camps: from boats and small coasters to large-capacity transports. Almost all were damaged during the shelling and subsequent boarding battle, and all the electronics were burned by a self-destruct program. Most of them won’t be able to fly; the repair of a few survivors will take time, and the ships are needed right now. Olga sees the first groups of liberated prisoners at the unloading sites.
“So, sis, look carefully!” Conferring with his brother, Anatoly points out the suitable vessels to Olga. “We will use these ships; we have a chance to tear them from the pier. Get us some spare parts. And find some mechanics, even among the robots and the prisoners, just find them. We can’t handle this alone!”
The battle in the Citadel and around it continues; nearby, shells and bombs fall without a break, and the fires don’t cease for a second. All the while, Olga and her comrades hastily repair the broken ships. Passengers flood in like a wide stream—breaking the security barriers of concentration camps, the Dawn paratroopers begin to bring to the piers thousands of prisoners. The rescued immediately have to take injections of the stabilizer. Some of them, having escaped the barracks, immediately attack their liberators—they have already had brainwashing in Boddicker's laboratories.
“Attention, preliminary ignition. Get away from the ship!”
Olga cuts the moorings, Anatoly gives slow speed ahead, and the first transport reluctantly breaks away from the pier.
“The first one is ready; get the next!”
While Twins start the motors of three more trucks, Olga begins to drop cargo from the holds and immediately collides in battle with a powerful network hunter, hiding in the bowels of the central computer of the captured ship. This fight costs Olga all her strength and new wounds in her already badly damaged nervous system, and she doesn’t hide her joy when Andrei’s soldiers come to her rescue and decide the outcome with a powerful laser that incinerates the enemy computer.
“Hold on, comrade; reinforcements are already here!”
Precisely, here are the reinforcements—an assault boat has delivered a new team of experienced Dawn hackers. Elizabeth continues to throw new reserves into battle. Together, things will go faster.
“There are ignitions on the second, third, fourth, and fifth ships; in three minutes, we will start two more!”
“Andrei—set the mine!”
Having dealt with the ships, Olga again joins Andrei; she must help him set a tactical nuclear charge in the transport shaft that goes to the central parts of the Citadel. Meanwhile, the Bolshevik continues shelling with conventional shells, saving the nuclear shots to meet the pirate fleet.
“The first group is starting!”
Covered by destroyers, the first heavily loaded transports depart from the docks; their places are occupied by the next trucks. Somewhere nearby fall the new shots from the Bolshevik; an enemy infantry is coming, but Sergeant Voronov is worried by a much more serious enemy—a golden crystal has appeared again on the horizon. Having dealt with all the other opponents, the almighty fighter-angel has returned to his lair, and Olga doesn’t want to stand in his way.
“Andrei, faster, we running out of time! They can’t all be taken away; we must leave!”
The next two trucks are breaking anchor; the fire of the pirate squadrons is weakening. Boddicker’s fleet is regrouping, continuing to attack only with unmanned fighters and torpedoes. It’s not difficult to understand the meaning of this maneuver—while the Bolshevik is busy covering for the Queen’s paratroopers, the defenders can wait for the last minutes before the approach of large reinforcements to strike from both sides. In the meantime, a heavyweight champion, the fighter-angel, enters the battle.
Having easily dealt with the protective barriers, the golden angel increases its deadly radiation, and Olga, feeling the sizzling heat, is forced to run, breaking off the connection and returning to the Bolshevik. The next second, several Dawn operators are killed. The pirates are rapidly regaining control of the port sector; two trucks, almost ready to take off, freeze motionless—the engines are again blocked. Paratroopers are moving people to the last three transports, which have already started their engines. The pirates won’t be able to stop them.
“Andrei, take your troops; we're leaving! The main squadron is about to arrive!”
On the southern fairways, the pirate minesweepers cut through minefields, punching the way for the main fleet.
“Detonator for two minutes; the countdown has finished!”
The nuclear mines are ready for an explosion; the Queen's fighters are moving away, and the last ship is torn from the pier.
“There they are!”
The barriers on the southern fairways are broken, and new gates open, through which more and more warships are entering the cavern. Klimov again takes control of all surviving ships of the combined squadron.
“We must leave; set combat mode T! Keep your position!”
Enemy ships are rapidly approaching, but they no longer manage to outrun the explosions of the nuclear mines that have completely destroyed the piers and concentration camps. The Bolshevik gives one more nuclear strike, finishing the destruction of the industrial sector, then breaks forward, catching up with the main squadron. Olga takes one last look at the Citadel—the space fortress has been engulfed by fire and seriously damaged. Many of the spheres and cylinders have been destroyed, but the main, central part is still preserved; the cruiser didn’t manage to destroy it. Having violated the battle plan and conducted her unexpected rescue operation, the Wasp Queen has caused their mission to fail; Boddicker probably survived the blow, although he suffered some very serious losses. They have failed at their task.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: SOMETHING FUNNY IS GOING ON
“That’s all.”
Jenna finishes her report and takes a step back, taking her usual place in the shadow of the Chairman’s massive throne.
A response isn’t immediate. The information provided by Miss Donovan requires some time for reflection. There is something to think about—first of all, they must consider the losses incurred. But even more attention is focused on another age-old question: who is to blame?
A black gentleman, thin as a pole, nervously wipes his old-fashioned gold-rimmed glasses and then voices his claim, carefully weighing every word.
“And how could the Union support Elizabeth in her war and openly oppose Tartar? How could this unnatural military coalition come through?” Putting his glasses on, Mr. Truman moves forward, carefully examining the interlocutors. “I would very much like to hear your thoughts on this, Mr. Morgan . . .”
“Don’t push me, Robert, just don’t,” a big, fat man fumes another Cuban cigar. “For me, this event was a complete surprise . . . ”
“And who assured us that the Union would never take the side of the Queen?! Who promised full support from the Politburo?!” Unexpectedly explodes a middle-aged Japanese man, whose face has turned purple with anger. “Who promised that the Queen’s attack on Tartar would be her last fight?! You failed us all!”
“No one imagined that this idiot Boddicker couldn’t withstand Elizabeth's blow and would suffer such losses, and all that after all the money that we invested in him! And mind you, it wasn’t me or my organization that was training him . . .”
“And do I have to feel better now?!” The Japanese man isn’t going to reign in his anger. “Morgan, you son of a bitch, do you have any idea how many volunteers will join the Queen after her victory?! Here, take a look, gentlemen!”
He shows a short video—two young people are agitating in some Supernova colony against the background of the red star familiar to everyone.
“It’s happening in my territory, in my colonies
, right now. And my people, my staff, they listen to these rebels! And when I ordered them to put things in order, you know what happened? The naval crew refused to use their weapons! My naval crew, wholly recruited from the Japanese, refused to comply with my order! The people I believed in—they took arms against me, dropped the flag, and hijacked the destroyer! And I was afraid to pursue it, because I can’t be sure of my abilities! Right now, it’s one crew, and tomorrow, what—the whole Navy will turn their guns against us?! If this happens, ladies and gentlemen, I hope we all have enough time to put our heads between our legs and kiss our asses for goodbye!”
“Mr. Onodera isn’t alone in his fears; in my territories, the same things are happening. Everywhere there are agitators; everywhere there are volunteers. And the worst thing is that there is a good possibility of a mutiny in the Navy. Personally, I didn’t dare use naval crews to restore order, and I didn’t send the Marines, only the police and private contractors,” the tall, gray-haired woman confirms. “Yesterday, their strength was enough for that, but now we can’t guarantee anything.”
“So, we stand on the verge of a mutiny. What do our supporters in the Union say?”
“Their situation is even worse. The Politburo is frankly afraid of its own fleet and army, afraid that the crews will rise up against it. It’s alleged that the notorious joint attack on the Citadel was an initiative of naval officers, with which the Politburo was forced to agree.”
“Is this a military coup?”
“Not quite yet, rather a redistribution of forces. But the military faction took much more power and authority than they have in the past.”
“Who leads the military?”
“Admiral Romanov.”
Jenna presents the brief dossier of the rising star of the Union’s Navy.
“Romanov . . . is he the one who served with Klimov, the captain of the Bolshevik?”
A King Word And a Gun Page 24