A Leap Across the Abyss. Макс Глебов

and fighters proved to be reasonably expected for the enemy. However, this knowledge could not help the quargs because the forces were too unequal.

      The torpedoes dropped their protective fairings, and 20 small rockets from each of their heads rushed towards the targets. The loosely secured drone scanners that made up most of the anti-torpedo network disappeared in blast outbursts just like they did before, but the quarg fighters, which had some armor, did not explode. New warheads did not even penetrate their thin fragment protection. Colonel Jeff’s men knew their business well, and the strike elements, like the full force of the explosion of the rocket’s warhed, dispersed in a plane parallel to the side of the aircraft, only slightly deforming it, but tearing down anything that projected beyond the hull. After three or four such strikes, the fighter lost all its ability to fight. Having lost its weapons and scanners, with a damaged propulsion system, it turned into a large escape pod for its pilot.

      “The first wave has worked well,” reported the commander of the «Invisibles». “The network is destroyed. 57 incapacitated enemy pursuit planes are drifting amid the debris.”

      “We’ll pick them up later. We don’t have time for them now,” answered I to the officer.

      “Second wave to target in three minutes. Third wave in five.”

      In the second wave, anti-aircraft torpedoes have been launched. Jeff and Stein didn’t even have to redo them, these munitions were already designed for the destruction of short-range guns and anti-aircraft missile launchers, and did not pose a direct threat to the crews of the ships, or, in this case, to the enemy orbital fortresses.

      The quargs quickly realized that our first strike was not aimed at the ships, but at the orbital fortresses. Even though they lost the anti-torpedo network and were unable to restore it, they tried to help the slow-moving armored giants under attack by opening barrage fire with their main batteries at the approaching torpedoes. But the accuracy of their fire without proper targeting left much to be desired, and the loss of torpedoes was negligible.

      In those minutes, the garrisons of the orbital fortresses must have prepared themselves for imminent death. The quargs knew what our torpedoes were capable of, they have seen more than once the disastrous impact they have had when massively used, even on the largest and most secure ships. And now we’ve used them on a really massive scale. 25 «Invisibles» at full salvo launched three waves of five hundred torpedoes each. For the four orbital fortresses, it wasn’t just redundant, it was an excessively large number, but I didn’t know how our new ammo would show up in real combat, so I thought I’d take some extra precautions, because Jeff warned me that torpedo expenditure was going to increase.

      The quarg orbital fortresses were covered with a continuous layer of explosions. The commanders of our ships who witnessed the beating were probably expecting to see the fortresses falling apart or swelling up by multiple internal explosions. Then their surprise turned out to be even greater when the externally intact armored spheres appeared to their eyes. It was only with a strong magnification that we could see the results of the impact on the projection screen in full detail. Twisted or simply cut barrels of major caliber guns, steamy craters instead of anti-aircraft emplacements, mangled missile silos… Not even a trace of the scanners’ sensors. Four orbital fortresses ceased to exist as combat units.

      “The ultimatum continues?” I checked with the liaison officer.

      “That’s right, Fleet Admiral, Sir. They are not reacting.”

      “«Invisibles» from number 26 to number 50, prepare for a salvo on enemy ships. Supply transports, reload the «Invisibles» which have finished firing with carriers of boarding robots.”

      “«Invisibles» are ready to launch torpedoes.”

      “Full volley!”

      Chapter 2

      “Tactical Officer, what’s going on?” Commander Kilsh’s voice sounded flat. “Why didn’t the orbital fortresses collapse? It was bound to happen with so many hits.”

      A tense silence occupied the command post of the cover squadron’s flagship for a few seconds.

      “The enemy used a new type of ammunition, Commander Kilsh,” finally answered the officer. “Telemetry data from orbital fortresses show that they have lost all external weapon systems, including anti-aircraft emplacements and major caliber guns, but there are neither internal damages, no casualties among the garrisons.”

      “But why do the humans have to go through all this trouble? With so many torpedoes, they could destroy our entire squadron, and as a result, they only managed to disable the four fortresses.”

      “There’s only one reason they could have been motivated by, Commander Kilsh,” said the analyst officer, “they didn’t want to kill us. This conclusion is consistent with the content of their message, which they continue to broadcast cyclically on common frequencies.”

      “What are the odds that all this is true?”

      “It’s the propaganda of the humans! It’s a fake! Didn’t you get that right away, Commander Kilsh?” The officer-Surveillant shouted with annoyance.

      “We have analyzed the recording,” the analyst reported, ignoring this emotional statement, “We compared the time of captivity of our soldiers and officers who appear in this message with the time of the likely activation of their mental blocks, and we’ve run the sound stream and the video series through a special program to compare voice, mimics, style and language to the samples we have. The on board computer did not detect any alterations. The video series was also not edited. The probability of counterfeiting is less than ten percent.”

      “Too late. It’s too late anyway,” the Сommander of orbital defence said grimly.

      “What’s too late, Commander Kilsh?” asked the officer-Surveillant in an insinuating tone. After the complete disappearance of Commander Yash’s strike fleet, the Surveillants became an integral part of the warships’ crews, and their powers were sufficient, even at the level of major units and fleets, to overrule commanders of any rank.

      “You, too, have undergone a recent update of the block, Officer Lins?” The Commander asked the Surveillant indifferently.

      “Of course,” there was a challenge in Lins’ voice, “and what does it matter?”

      “Now it doesn’t matter anymore,” responded Kilsh seeming outwardly imperturbable and turned to his officers, “Light forces, form a barrier in front of the battleships and cruisers.”

      Kilsh knew this maneuver was useless. If the human torpedo salvo has casually removed the veil of fighters and scanners, what can the corvettes and destroyers do against a new attack, except needlessly to perish? But the Commander just couldn’t do nothing. Had it not been for the renewed block in his head, he would have already given the order to end the useless resistance, especially since he was eager to believe the fairy tale humans were broadcasting on his ships. Kilsh was sick and tired of this senseless war…

      The alarm has interrupted the Commander’s reflections.

      “Enemy torpedo attack,” tactical officer shouted, “our light forces are under attack! Enemy torpedoes have breached the barrier!”

      “Open the barrage fire,” impassively commanded Kilsh, knowing full well that it would do little. The flagship’s hull shuddered from frequent hits. These strikes were not strong – the second wave of enemy torpedoes knocked out anti-aircraft emplacements on the battleship’s hull, clearing the way for the main attackers, who also were not long in coming.

      “Damage report,” demanded Kilsh when the ship’s shakings stopped.

      “Major caliber cannons and anti-aircraft systems destroyed. Space scanning efficiency 20 percent. The hull is breached in three places, but the damage only affected the outer sections. Damage to the propulsion system is being investigated. Four crew members were slightly injured.”

      “Make contact with the squadron’s ships,” requested the Commander. Having listened to the reports of the commanders of the ships and having given