last long. I called Inga, and we went for a walk in Central Park. Inga, in her elegant uniform, that fitted her perfectly, with the senior lieutenant’s shoulder straps, the Iron Cross on the chest and and the qualification tab with green long bands of combat experience looked irresistible in every sense. Early graduation from the Planetary Commando Academy and my personal relationship with the director of the Academy let me lay my impudent hands on her career. Inga received an extraordinary rank and the Iron Cross for boarding the enemy flagship in the Barnard’s system. Any commander would gladly accept an officer with such combat experience, but my request didn’t give them a chance, and Inga was placed at my disposal as commander of the Land Weapons Test Company together with Lieutenant Fulton and Lieutenant Jaswinder and a dozen other former General Schiller’s cadets.
A while back, I tried, but I couldn’t talk Inga out of a military career. Now, at least I managed to keep her under my supervision. I don’t want Inga landing on enemy planets in the first wave of commandos. I don’t want it, that’s all. By the way, it was the acute reluctance to send her on the attack that led me to the very, very correct idea, but I’ll talk about none of it now.
“Listen, Igor,” said Inga after listening to my emotional account of the meeting at the Ministry of Defence, “What did you expect them to do? That they would look into the mouth of some heroic captain who was barely eighteen? As I was able to see, you know people pretty well, you wouldn’t expect positive results of your attempt.”
“Of course you’re right,” I smiled joylessly, “but what do we do now? In six months, we’ll start losing one system after another, and this agony won’t last…”
“Well, I don’t think I can help you with that, although, if you have to go on any more adventures, you can always count on me. But seriously, remember what position you’re in right now. You have a lot of resources in your hands. Tell me, Mr Chairman of the Commission of the Ministry of Defense, can you, for example, organize combat tests of a new weapon by targeting the enemy’s rear shipyard?”
I was thinking.
“I guess I can. But it’s gonna be a local operation that won’t solve anything. Quargs have placed their docks in different star systems, and they must be hit simultaneously.”
“Well, that’s why you’re sitting in the general’s office, so you can think for yourself. Think about it, but not now. Right now, you and I are walking in the park and enjoying some rare moments of relaxation, in case you forgot.”
I hugged Inga and we walked slowly to the cosy pavilion by the pond, where there was a flock of fattened, colorful fish. There were kids on the beach who would throw food to the fish and have fun when the fish would bump into each other, trying to get to the good bits first.
“Lately, I’ve been having a hard time getting my mind off things and resting,” I said to Inga in low voice, “I keep thinking people around me are already dead. I look around, and instead of all that beauty and carelessness, I see very different pictures. Just look at them. They’re laughing and smiling like war is just a scary fairy tale, as if you could just close your eyes and it would disappear with all the problems. Why are they acting like this, Inga?”
“Not everyone knows what you know, Igor,” Inga’s mood has clearly deteriorated, “And if they knew, I’m not sure anything would have changed. Most ordinary people don’t believe that the world they’re accustomed to can suddenly collapse, and they keep acting like nothing’s happening.”
“Sorry to spoil your stroll.”
“You didn’t, but I really don’t feel like walking any more. Let’s go out for dinner, can you spare me one night?”
I shook my head to drive away the dark thoughts, and I laughed.
“Until tomorrow morning, I’m perfectly capable of putting off all plans to save this world.”
The morning arranged my thoughts in an orderly fashion. There’s no such thing as a stalemate situation, or, I would say, there are almost no deadlocks. There’s always an option, the real question is what price will be paid to achieve the desired result.
I had no intention of dying in an unequal fight with the enemy, it wasn’t my plan. I, of course, expected all the resources of the Federation to be mobilized, but as it turned out, I was overestimating my abilities. So we solve this on our own. What do we have?
The former Lavroff Weapons Company, and now the Federal Advanced Weapons Corporation also has some resources, and in my new position, I have the ability to contract out any private armoury companies. We’ll get to work.
Jeff and Professor Stein listened to me very carefully. Stein only shook his head, and the Chief Engineer wistfully said, “If we have ten revealed targets, and each requires about fifty torpedoes, it will take us… at least a year to produce 500 unique items the size of a pursuit plane on our own. And that’s not all. We’re going to need carriers, we’re going to need command machines, we’re going to need a lot of hardware. When do we train the pilots? We’re never gonna make it.”
“We won’t make it on our own. What I need from you is a project and one or two prototypes to test and train pilots. As soon as the technical documentation is ready, I will offer the Russian Weapons Concern, and maybe not just them, a contract to manufacture our products. So, gentlemen, do whatever you want, you may even spend the nights at work, charge me any money you want, but I have to see a sample in two weeks. Let it look like the fruit of the night vigil of a mad mechanic, but it has to work.”
“Christina’s gonna kill me…” said Jeff with fake horror, but I noticed in his eyes a feverish glint of anticipation of an interesting new challenge.
“Okay, I’ll get in touch with Lieutenant General ge and I’ll ask him to intensify the training for Cadet Yakovleva, so she won’t be around the Academy’s chief tech for a while.”
“No-no-no, you don’t have to do that, please,” bleated Jeff very quickly,“if she finds out what caused it…”
Stein rose up and walked away to the window. His shoulders were slightly shaking, the professor was laughing silently.
The Fifth Strike Fleet was stuck in the Solar system for a long time. The combat damage sustained by it’s ships required long-term repair under factory conditions, and the Martian shipyards were overloaded. In addition, the fleet had to re-form by two thirds. The losses in the Battle of Barnard-3 were catastrophic. The Fourth Fleet was completely lost, the Fifth Strike Fleet had to re-form, the orbital fortresses were destroyed… This has seriously undermined the Federation Fleet’s operational capability. But these unfortunate circumstances have brought the people I needed within reach.
“Good afternoon, Fleet Admiral, Sir,” I greeted Nelson as soon as I made contact, “Congratulations on your new rank.”
“Mr Chairman of the Commission of the Ministry of Defence, thank you,” the Admiral smiled, “You and I worked really hard that time. I see your shoulder straps have changed, too, Captain. Let’s put aside ranks. What new adventure are you up to?”
“Ehh… I knew my reputation wasn’t always clear, but I haven’t offered anything yet, and you’ve already identified it as an adventure…”
“Don’t mess with my head, Igor. I didn’t give you personal contact to get in touch with me for no reason. You and I both know that, so state it, state it.”
“I need your help, Mr Nelson,” and I gave the Admiral a brief account of the meeting at the Ministry of
