In principle, the General knew where to look for the Doctor. Silk must have escaped to a frontline area. Many star systems changed hands several times, and control over civilian movements in them was severely weakened. If the Doctor used someone elses identification card and special means to falsify biometric data, then the easiest place for him to hide was where the population control system was temporarily disorganized. Las also knew something else surely his opponents in the Imperial security service had come to the same conclusions and now they were working hard to be the first to find the escaped Doctor. So if Las wants answers to his questions, he should move his limbs very briskly.
* * *
Nelson summoned me to his office the day after my visit to the Tobolskys residence. I dont know what the President said to him after our conversation, but the Minister of Defense looked somewhat puzzled. In addition to the Admiral there was General Knyazev in the office, this did not surprise me at all. These two officers once fought over a girl they both liked while on leave, back in their cadet days, and theyve hardly parted ways since, despite serving in different branches of the military. Nelson lost his fight that time, but in the end that girl became his wife, and Knyazev In general, the future chief of staff was not too upset by this fact, because very pretty candidates for girlfriends regularly appeared in sight of the brave commando cadet.
Igor Yakovlevich, Nelson began the conversation as we were seated at the conference table, the President is very determined. He tasks the army and fleet with preparing a joint strike against the toads planets as soon as possible. The quargs representatives got excited about the prospect and are ready to send their entire fleet, down to the last ship. The lizards are somewhat more restrained. They have all their occupied planets back, and they have never fought a war on anothers territory. Nevertheless, they, too, are ready to take part. So the decision to invade toads space can be considered made. It is only a question of developing a plan of operation and timing. Im sure you already have some thoughts on that, and wed like to hear them.
I was a little puzzled by this start of the conversation. It hasnt surprised me for a long time that Nelson and Knyazev are willing to listen to my opinions, but still, they were both my supervisors, and, in theory, they should have given me the task first, and then ask my thoughts on the method of accomplishing it. But since this is the case, lets lay it out
We know too little about the enemys defense system, Mr Minister, replied I, picking out my main doubt from the pile of thoughts about the upcoming operation, Our scouts, even those equipped with imperial camouflage fields, are still unable to gather information on the composition of the cover forces of the toads planetary systems. Apparently, their planets and orbital fortresses have scanners that are superior to imperial models.
But then why didnt they use them on their ships? wondered Knyazev.
I asked myself the same question," I nodded to the General, I think this is stationary equipment, too cumbersome to use even on battleships. There is one more point. From the interrogations of the captured toads, we know that there are some weapons on their planets and in the orbital defense system, inherited from their ancestors. All this is so classified that even the commanders of warships cant properly describe these weapons and their capabilities. Their fleet commander, of course, had this information, but he died in the Delta Trianguli system with his flagship.
So we may encounter something very serious when we try to hit the metropolitan toads system? Knyazev rubbed the bridge of his nose with his bent index finger.
It is difficult to say, I shrugged my shoulders, the same prisoners claim that the state of these weapons systems is not well known. In their memory there have been no exercises on their use, which means that it is a perfect pig in a poke. But of course, we must take into account that this pig can be very toothy and clawed. In my opinion, we should not start with hitting the planets, but with reconnaissance-in-force. Since we cant even send unmanned probes into their systems, well have to go in with a strong squadron, not to take over the planets, but to find out the combat potential of the enemy defenses.
This operation has another purpose. As far as we know, the key toads star systems are connected by transport rings, or hyperportals, as they are called in the Empire. We need to find and destroy these devices. Modern toads cant build them, and if we succeed in destroying the portals, we will deprive the enemy of mobility and gain a decisive advantage in this matter.
I see another plus in this version of the plan, added Knyazev, who clearly liked the suggestion, that such a strike can be prepared quickly. It would not require a giant fleet. After the defeat in the Delta Trianguli system, the toads are clearly short of ships, which means that they can only counter us with stationary defense systems, as a result, they are unlikely to be able to effectively protect their transport rings, always located far away from the planets.
Nelson was silent for a while, and then he grinned faintly at the corner of his lips and abruptly changed the subject adopting an official tone.
Late last night, a conference of the heads and top military leaders of the Allied nations was held via hypercomms. It was about our future plans together, but the operation that ended with the battle in the Delta Trianguli system was also discussed. Your actions, Fleet Admiral, Sir, were highly appreciated by all participants of the meeting. The President of the Earth Federation, the Senior Lizard and the Headman of the Quargs have instructed me to inform you of their joint decision. You have been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet by the Council of Heads of State. You are tasked with planning and executing a strategic operation to capture enemy star systems and force the adversary to surrender. During the preparation and conduct of the operation, the general staffs of the armed forces and the heads of military-industrial complexes of the allied states are ordered to give you every assistance as a matter of priority. Congratulations, Igor, Nelson suddenly switched back to his usual tone, lowering his voice slightly, It really is an honor and a great trust. However, you know it as well as I do.
* * *
We had a meeting of the Chiefs of Staff and the Allied war industry ministers the very next day. I knew the military-industrial potential of the Federation and the lizards quite well, but the capabilities of the quargs really shocked me. After listening to Head Kosh who led the military-industrial complex of our former enemies, I clearly understood the danger we had got rid of by avoiding further confrontation with the quargs. Now I understood how the quargs managed to rebuild their defeated fleets at such a fast rate. Yes, technologically they lagged behind the Federation in many respects, but they far exceeded us in production and shipbuilding capacity. The amount of extracted and processed resources they produce, our industry could not even dream of. This is what can be achieved when the economy is fully mobilized for military purposes. About this I once told Tobolsky, but at the time the highest officials of the Federation were not too inclined to listen to me. Well, all that power was now ready to work for us, willingly and enthusiastically, and I wasnt going to pass up opportunities that fell into my hands.