Vengeance Weapon. Макс Глебов

I know, is a pack animal, and any pack needs a leader. In the battle we just witnessed, Major Lavroff acted as the leader.”

      “So a pack of ‘Theropods’ is capable of fighting on its own, even in conditions of complete suppression of communication channels?” General Schiller was interested.

      “For a while, definitely. Even an individual ‘Theropod’ will continue to follow the last order received, or a predetermined sequence of orders. The set of these orders, of course, is limited, but the list is quite extensive. For example, you and I have seen the pack perform the task of capturing and mopping-up the territory. After receiving the order, the Theropods fought on their own. Major Lavroff did not interfere in the actions of her subordinates.”

      “But the latest models of our drones can also continue to perform the received task in the absence of communication," I reminded Lit-ta, “This function is especially developed in boarding robots. How are the ‘Theropods’ better?”

      “They’re better because we can produce millions of them a month, Admiral, as long as we have enough plasma cannons and protective and camouflage field generators," Lit-ta replied softly, “But now we have the quargs with their fantastic industrial power, so there won’t be a problem with that, I suppose.”

      I nodded silently to Lit-ta and pulled out my communicator.

      “Mr. Minister of Defense? Admiral Lavroff speaking. Do you have an opportunity to come to Ganymede? How urgent? Well, I think you should see this. I believe what we want to show you can make a big difference in the coming campaign. General of the Army Knyazev? Undoubtedly! His presence is also highly desirable. Thank you. We’ll be expecting you.”

      “Nelson, Knyazev, Lavroff, Kotova, I beg your pardon, Major Lavroff…” General Schiller said thoughtfully, running his hand over the gray hair at the back of his head and taking out his communicator, “it surely reminds me of something… I think I’ll warn the Academy’s supervisor, General of the Army Vasnetsov, and the civilian administration of Ganymede as well, because, you know, anything can happen.”

* * *

      General Las once again carefully reread his agent’s report. Dr. Silk’s trail was discovered in the Kappa Giyan star system, recently overrun by the toads but retaken from them during a counterattack, planned by Marshal Klink. The central planets of the system survived two landing parties, first by the toads and then by the Imperial forces, which knocked the «frogs» out of the cities and industrial areas they captured with heavy losses. To say that the infrastructure of the planets has suffered is to oversimplify the facts. Actually, all that was left there was ruins. The detritus of the multi-level cities were to be cleared and rebuilt for many months.

      It was there, in the chaos and confusion of the front-line zone, that the elderly volunteer was found, succumbing to the wave of patriotic enthusiasm, caused by the hysteria in the media. He arrived from the central worlds of the Empire to help the authorities of the system to rescue people trapped in ruins and to rebuild destroyed cities and military facilities. It was quite reasonable, by the way, and plausible.

      But Dr. Silk did not hold back, he could not keep away unnoticed, engaged in some low-key debris removal, when millions of affected civilians were in urgent need of medical care, and medical personnel and equipment were woefully lacking. The doctor remembered his younger years, when as a field medic he used to pull guys and girls back from the brink of death, those, who had been cut with plasma cutters from the warped armored compartments of the walking tanks after the battle.

      The doctor opened himself up. He was still listed as Colweg, a service systems engineer, but the medical knowledge and experience of an unremarkable volunteer suddenly surfaced. He explained that he gained this knowledge while maintaining medical equipment, but it nevertheless drew the attention of the local security officials and, through them, of the General Las’ agent. After that, the issue of identifying the missing doctor was no longer a problem, and now Las knew exactly where to look for Silk, but it looked like the head of the Ministry of Defence security was too late after all.

      A general toads’ offensive – a real one, not that invented by Shun’s journalists – struck the Empire’s peripheral systems entirely unexpectedly. The online clamor, extinguished by the assurances of the new acting commander-in-chief, has just subsided. There was even talk of a large-scale counterstrike by Admiral Dier’s staff, which again required a mobilization of all forces and reserves. But the toads were unwilling to play along with these plans. A simultaneous attack on seven star systems shocked the Empire’s fleet and army. Kappa Giyan had not yet been attacked, but Las was well aware that if this continued, its turn would come very soon.

      “Major Tealc,” said the General into his communicator, “Get my ship ready for takeoff immediately. We’re going into the front zone, so provide an escort.”

      “Three destroyers?” asked the Major.

      “No,” Las hesitated for a second, “considering the situation, add an escort cruiser to them.”

      It was a mess around the toads-attacked systems and nearby stars. The Empire’s best warships, which over the past month had been gradually concentrating in initial positions for Admiral Dier’s planned spectacular counteroffensive, were now being rushed to battle sites to plug more and more holes in the defenses. The hyperportal network could not cope with the enormous flow of ships and cargo, making battleships and aircraft carriers wait for hours for their turn to make a jump. Those hyperportals whose coordinates the toads’ scouts managed to determine before the strike were attacked and were either destroyed or severely damaged, and all standby mobile portals have already been engaged by the fleet in the most critical areas.

      It was not for nothing that the toads had been relatively quiet for almost three months, allowing Dier and those behind him to weave their intra-imperial plots in relative comfort, but, unlike the imperial officials, they were not engaged in simulation of ceaseless activity, but were actually preparing a powerful strike.

      Despite General Las’s high status, his small squadron found it very difficult to get into the Kappa Giyan system. The stationary hypergate emplaced in the system were jammed for days ahead with transports of urgent military supplies and the wounded rescued from the ruins of cities. Of the three backup portals placed one jump away from the system, two were severely damaged after toads’ attacks, and the third portal was completely unable to cope with the endless stream of ships seeking to enter or leave the system.

      “Do you have any idea who you’re talking to, Colonel?” Las could hardly contain his emotions, looking at the image of the tired and frenzied officer in the uniform of the military transport service, “I’m the head of the Ministry of Defense Security Department! And you claim you can’t find a slot in the transfer schedule for my ships?!”

      “I can, General,” answered the Colonel with utter hopelessness in his voice, “but not before 12 hours. I have shipments with «super urgent» status waiting in line for hours. And this includes stasis pods with women and children with complex injuries that can no longer be helped here. People die every minute on these transports without any help. What can I do? Make them wait any longer?”

      Las gritted his teeth. He did not know how to explain to the Colonel, who was certainly right in his own way, that by rescuing the inhabitants of Kappa Giyan, he was jeopardizing the operation on the outcome of which the lives of billions of the Empire’s inhabitants might depend.

      “All right, Colonel,” the General finally made up his mind, “There’s no need to change the schedule. Put my squadron in line to jump in 12 hours, all but one ship. My medium recon ship will fit in the hold of the evacuation transport going into the system. Give me the coordinates of the portal where they jump to you, and alert the commander of the next ship in line that he’s going to Kappa Giyan with the cargo.”

      Las was taking a risk. He was well aware that his escort would not be able to join him for at least 15 hours. Anything could have happened in that time, from an invasion of the toads in the system to the appearance of heavily armed rivals from the Imperial security service. In either case, having warships behind him wouldn’t hurt the General, to say the least, but Las saw no other options.

* * *

      The star whose planetary system