Who could forget it with this, Mbia absentmindedly moved his hand, hit by a shell fragment during the operation to rescue President Tobolsky from an underground shelter. The arm recovered long ago and did not cause the Colonel any discomfort, but the memory of the injury remained.
Would you like to do that again?
Eh Is that a question?
Well, for now, yes.
Then it depends on what needs to be repeated. If this is about covert landing on the planet and reconnaissance, you know Im all for it. But if you need to attack an enemy company reinforced with combat robots with a bare ass again, pardon me, with small arms in your hands, do it without me if you can.
Yes, I remember that. That time your raid didnt go very well, even though you did a brilliant job, I agreed with the Colonel, but in this case, I hope it wont be necessary to fight, and not even to save anyone, except for a few million quargs now on the planets of Groombridge.
My ship wont have so many quargs, Yoon Gao raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly.
Something else will save them, and that is what I want to deliver to the planets with your help, Yoon. You and André know that weve been shooting a little bit here, and as a result, the orbital defense of Groombridge-2 has lost its fighting power. The new non-lethal ammunition was used well, but it turned out it didnt do us much good. Apparently, the toads have made changes in the mental block given to the quargs, and now they cant surrender to us. In fact, they couldnt surrender to the lizards before, because the quargs knew very well that the reptiles could remove the block, but now that, along with the cruiser captured near Kappa Ceti, we have got the equipment to remove the blocks, the situation seems to have changed, and the toads updated the conditions for activating the death-order.
It makes perfect sense for them, the Chinaman shrugged his shoulders, what I dont understand is, why didnt they do it right away? Why allow the possibility of any negotiations with the enemy or surrender in the previous version of the block?
A few hours before we met, two captive toads were brought here the captain of the captured cruiser and the doctor. I questioned them both again. The captain doesnt know much about the modus operandi of the block, but the doctor turned out to be more informed, which is no surprise. As it turned out, the number of conditions for the death-order to be triggered cannot be too high. Or, rather, it can be, but then theres a sharp increase in the risk of mental illness in the blocks host, and this danger is higher the longer such «overloaded» block is in the quarg brain. This makes it impossible to impose such comprehensive conditions as, for example, death in violation of any order of the masters. The quargs brain simply cant withstand this kind of setup. The toad doctor, of course, couldnt have known exactly what changes were made to the block, but he suggested that the conditions for activation of the death-order had expanded significantly. This was a deliberate risk, given the emergency that followed the Kappa Ceti combat. Apparently, the toads leadership hopes to solve the problem relatively quickly and get everything back, or even substantially weaken the block for a while if they can get rid of us and the lizards.
And what will it take for us to thwart the enemys wicked designs? Mbia was back in the conversation.
I issued an ultimatum to the quargs almost eight hours ago. I gave them 48 hours to voluntarily evacuate from the system and promised not to attack the planets or touch their transport ships. The result so far is zero, the quargs are sitting on planets with no activity. Only a few light ships have left the system. We did not stop them from accelerating and jumping, but I think it had nothing to do with the evacuation.
In fact, it would be strange to expect otherwise, Yoon Gao shrugged his shoulders. They have a very strong Internal Security Service, which is staffed only by the quargs, who have voluntarily chosen to side with their masters. So without their permission, no transport leaves the system.
I think youre right, Yoon, and all the more important is the task Im about to entrust to you. I need you to secretly bring a captured little toad recon ship to the surface of the planet in your ships hangar. And then with its help, our task force will visit their largest city, or the place where their chief person responsable for the planet lives.
The puzzled scouts went into silence for a while.
But, Igor uttered Mbia, being a bit confused, its not an army reconnaisance task, its a human intelligence mission, which, for obvious reasons, we dont do and never did. Wed need to make direct contact Yoon will take us to the planet, hiding behind a camouflage field, I mean, the Empire made sure and provided the necessary equipment for his department, but then what? Neither I nor my people are quargs. How do we get into their cities?
But you wont get there, André. You will land, secure and camouflage the temporary base, put the special task force in the captured recon ship and send it to the city, and then, after they complete the task, meet them and arrange for evacuation.
Will the quargs come with us? Yoon Gao has even lost his usual imperturbability for a moment.
Not only quargs, Yoon. The task force will consist of three two quargs and a toad.
* * *
The recruitment of the toad doctor went surprisingly smoothly. Unlike the captain of the cruiser, who gave us the information we needed only through the use of chemical agents that loosened his tongue, the doctor told many things voluntarily. However, Tlet was not a coward; rather, he was an unscrupulous and cynical being who had nothing but contempt for the top leaders of his state. He enlisted in the fleet solely for financial gain and status, and he thought his choice was right, as long as his duties were limited to the hassle-free work of a medic on the ship, that was escorting transports in the deep rear of the quargs. However, the combined attack of humans and lizards on the Kappa Ceti system brought into Tlets measured life a not too pleasant variety in the form of space battle and captivity.
The medic blamed his captivity on the incompetent idiot who commanded the convoy. According to Tlet, there was no point in getting into a fight near Kappa Ceti, but Commander Shreen, who was nothing but an inflated bubble, decided that simply leaving and reporting to the Supreme Leader was not enough. He wished to capture or destroy the hyperportal which, unexpectedly for them, was possessed by humans, and which this underdeveloped civilization simply could not have. Well, OK, he made that decision, but then why did he separate the cruisers? If the commander had sent all three warships to attack, things might have been different, but no! How can you leave the transport with the priceless Shreens carcass on board without cover? And the fact that this transport would have no problem getting away from any slow human ship, is an insignificant detail.
Anyway, my offer has found fertile ground, but the toad still had reasonable doubts, and I had to work really hard to get him to cooperate.
Tell me, Admiral, why should I be on your side? asked the toad, looking closely at me with his bulging eyes, Well, all right, lets say youre telling the truth and youre genuinely willing to do whatever you promised me here. Lets say, once again, that you and I will succeed, and you will win in the Groombridge Star system a grand, bloodless victory, capturing millions of prisoners. Whats next for you? You will return to your metropolis as a hero, but you will have no time to enjoy your triumph. I dont know how many more weeks it will take for the High Lodge to assemble a new fleet and join the quargs in invading your space, putting an end to this war, but Im sure its a month at the most. We make one more unlikely assumption that I will survive the upcoming slaughter, and I will be freed by my own. Should I continue?