LITMIR.BIZ

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capturing an enemy cruiser in the Kappa Ceti system, Admiral Lavroff, with the help of the lizards of Governor-General Lit-ta, conducted an express interrogation of its captain. At the very end of the interrogation, the toad asked permission to ask the Admiral a question, and Igor Yakovlevich did not object. Well, the captain of the captured cruiser was wondering where we got the transport ring technology from. In his view, it was a technique that was far ahead of our technological level, and we couldn’t develop it without outside help.”

      In this place of the story Tobolsky laughed at his thoughts, and Knyazev fell silent, not knowing how to react to the President’s facial expressions.

      “Continue, Pavel Grigorievich, I’m listening to you very carefully.”

      “From the information received from the prisoner, it appears that the toads also possess the technology of the transport ring, but they are only able to use the equipment made by their ancestors. The two toads’ ships managed to leave the Kappa Ceti system unhindered and inform their leadership of the details and results of the battle, that is to say, it is safe to assume that the enemy has information that, despite our overall military and technological backwardness, we have an advantage in at least one strategic area.”

      “And you believe that could have prevented the enemy from striking immediately?”

      “Just before Admiral Lavroff’s departure for the Empire, I discussed the matter with him,” the General answered, a little hesitant, “I was interested in his opinion as the Admiral was the first to interrogate the captive toad while the prisoner was still shocked by the unexpected defeat and captivity. We arrived at two important conclusions together, which the analysts of the General Staff later confirmed. First of all, the toads fear death more than we do. For them, who live much longer than we do, death seems unthinkable. It’s the first thing that keeps them from jerking and making snap decisions.

      There’s a second thing. For the toads, their fleet is a non-renewable resource. We, lizards or quargs could lose dozens of heavy ships, and in a few months, new cruisers, battleships and aircraft carriers will take their place, and they will be a little better than the dead pennants. The toads are the opposite. If they suffer casualties, they will no longer be able to build ships of the same combat power. These two factors, combined with the knowledge that we have the technology to make the transport rings, cause them to delay and wait, preparing to strike for sure. They want to win without incurring losses, and in the battle at Kappa Ceti, Admiral Lavroff made it clear to them that if they went into battle now, there would be no bloodless victory.

      Therefore, in the quarg space, there is a frenzied preparation for a new offensive. Maybe the toads have decided to give them some of their technology, and now, by their calculations, we can’t exactly repel another strike, especially if their ships support it. But it will be supported from afar without getting involved in a close combat.”

      “Well, we’ll take this hypothesis as a working version,” summarized Tobolsky, “And what are you planning to do while our embassy is negotiating with the Empire?”

      “We’ll build ships and new transport rings, Mr President, and we will continue to monitor the enemy’s actions. We are now the weakest party and cannot afford any strategic initiative, at least until the results of the Lavroff’s mission are known.”

* * *

      Groombridge met us with feverish enemy activity. Our fleet was discovered even earlier than analysts had anticipated. Apparently, somewhere not too far from the jump exit point there was a stationary scanner, or the quargs once again upgraded their mass detector network. Anyway, our appearance almost immediately caused a mass exodus of everything that could fly under the protection of the orbital fortresses of the central planets of the system.

      We have not tried to interfere with this process – it is much easier to work with compact groups of quargs than to catch them all over the system.

      “Send them our ultimatum,” ordered I, observing the evolutions of the quarg ships.

      The appeal to the enemy, which we already used near star Ran and in the Kappa Ceti system, has now been redrafted and augmented. It was, as before, read by a quarg, but this time we significantly expanded the video series by adding scenes of the emerging capital of the independent quarg state in the Kruger 60 system and several short interviews with known quarg figures such as Mr Tshe, former Defense Force Commander of Kappa Ceti. They all confirmed that humans had learned to cancel a death order when the deadline for re-installing the mental block expired, but no one claimed that the block was being removed – it was simply not mentioned.

      To my great regret, Yash, the commander of the invasion fleet defeated near star Ran, had categorically refused to participate in this project, fearing for the fate of his many wives and children left behind. And his participation could have a tremendous propaganda effect, because everyone in the enemy’s world knew him. But, alas… Although, it worked out quite well.

      “There are no toads’ ships in the system,” the space operator reported, “At least our scanners aren’t picking them up.”

      That last remark seemed appropriate. We didn’t have precise data on the characteristics of the camouflage fields of the toads here, so it was impossible to say anything clearly about the presence or absence of the new enemy in the vicinity of Groombridge.

      “Fleet, start acceleration towards Groombridge-2.”

      According to the operation plan, in the absence of a reaction to our ultimatum, we were going to suppress as effectively as possible the resistance of the cover squadron, and thus demonstrate to the quargs the hopelessness of the resistance. That’s why I chose the planet where the enemy ships were now rushing into defensive formation in high orbits.

      Four orbital fortresses covered Groombridge-2, and the ships of the cover squadron were now creating a mobile defense component between them. The cover squadron was quite solid for the present meagre times, which have come now for the quargs after the death of their strike fleet: eight battleships, one of them – Titan-class, two aircraft carriers, which was a luxury for this formation, 11 cruisers and some three dozen destroyers and corvettes. The quargs must have remembered well our counterstrike on Groombridge in the last battle for this star system, so they decided to take precautions. However, given the current balance of power, it could not help them.

      In the few hours we traveled from the outskirts of the system to Groombridge-2, there was no reaction to our ultimatum, and by the minute, it was becoming increasingly clear that the quargs were not going to surrender without a fight. Well, a fleet is created to fight, except it was not the situation we’ve been in for years, so it was necessary to cool off some hot heads used to winning at any cost.

      “Set up a conference call with the ships’ command posts,” ordered I when there was about 20 minutes left before the firing line.

      “Done.”

      “Commanders of ships and units, Sirs,” I looked around long rows of holographic images of people, lizards and one quarg on the projection screen, “I want to remind you once again of our goal and the means to achieve it. You all know we came here to retrieve the Groombridge star system. Many of you fought alongside me near star Ran and in the Kappa Ceti system. Someone remembers me from the battle of Barnard-3 or even the previous battle of Groombridge. Now, Officers, Sirs, I must ask you to understand that I do not wish to see anything like that in this battle.”

      I saw wonder on the people’s faces, but I think that the quarg and lizards also experienced similar emotions, just I couldn’t recognize them.

      I smiled a little and continued, “In all the battles I have named, we were forced to fight being in the minority, or, like near Kappa Ceti, with an enemy far ahead of us in terms of military technology. Then the fate of the entire war and the lives of billions of people and lizards depended on the outcome of the battle, and at that moment, we were obliged to fight, regardless of any losses. The situation is different now. There are no our fellow citizens on the planets orbiting Groombridge.

      If we turn around and leave right now, no humans, no lizards, no free quargs will be harmed, and no military disaster will occur, which means we have to pay the price we’re willing to pay to win. For any loss of personnel, the

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