and wished that he had never had to do so. Mental illness was too deeply rooted in his brain, having long ago passed into an irreversible stage.
“Local drones are activated.”
“That's better,” Hirch nodded. “Lieutenant Crate, you're in charge on the bridge. If there's any news, I'm in my quarters.”
Twelve million kilometers from Earth, the cargo bay hatch opened in the hull of the automatic reconnaissance ship, and nine small cylindrical vehicles floated out one by one. Turning on their weak engines, which left almost no emission trace, they began a leisurely acceleration toward the third planet of the system. Minidrons covered by camouflage fields could remain undetected for a very long time and were able to sneak up close to reconnaissance targets. Lieutenant Commander Hirch was not going to take any chances and preferred to trade time for information.
“Drones are in orbit, Lieutenant Commander, Sir,” the reconnaisance drones operator reported. “Now we have more information.”
“Report.”
“There is a constellation of scientific satellites orbiting the third planet. They have good camouflage fields, so the drones probably didn't pick up everyone, but some satellites are damaged and therefore easier to detect. Apparently, this is a consequence of the arrival of the cruiser Admiral Kuhn in the system. It probably just didn't have time to destroy the entire network, or it was distracted by another enemy.”
“Do the satellites have weapons?”
“The drones were unable to penetrate the camouflage fields of the active satellites, but judging by the wreckage of the destroyed satellites, they are unarmed. Apparently, the base on the natural satellite was designed to study the civilization inhabiting the planet. The drone managed to download some information from one of the almost dead satellites. It couldn't access the shared network, but it broke into the local data storage, and now we know a lot about about what was happening on the planet before Admiral Kuhn arrived here.”
“It can wait,” Hirch brushed him off. “What is known about the base itself?”
“All exterior structures are destroyed. There is no sign of the camouflage field generators, but scanners have not been able to penetrate deep below the surface. The lower levels of the base could have survived, with a fairly high probability of doing so.”
“Could anti-space defense assets have been preserved there?”
“They could, especially if they were located at some distance from the base itself and were used only at the very end of the battle. It is possible that hangars with fighters or in-system transport ships have also survived.”
“Is the enemy showing any activity?”
“There is no absolute certainty, but drones are picking up signs of short-range communication systems. The orbital constellation seems to be exchanging data with someone on the planet's surface and with the base on the natural satellite.”
“What's going on down there?”
“There's a big war going on over there, Commander,” replied the ship's deputy commander for armament, “The Aborigines enthusiastically destroy each other, using primitive technology that is two hundred years, maybe two hundred and fifty years, behind ours. The only problem is that there are a lot of these wild people out there. The resources of the Consul Pran are not enough to destroy them all. Besides, it's not certain that we'll be allowed to do it in peace. Going to the planet with an incomprehensible object on the satellite behind us…”
“Don't take me for an idiot, Korff,” Hirch grimaced. “Forward me all the data delivered by the intelligence. War on the planet is good for us. If we can't kill the natives on our own without undue risk, why not help them do our job for us? I think covert support for the losing side would be a good solution. Senior Analyst, in eight hours I want to see a preliminary computer analysis of the main scenarios of our intervention in the course of combat operations on the planet. The goal is to expand the scope and intensity of the conflict as much as possible. There must be no winners in this war.”
Chapter 2
Vice Admiral Gun'ichi Mikawa stared intently into the night sea. Today his luck had smiled on him. In the difficult battle just ended, his squadron defeated U.S. and Australian allied forces covering the landing of the American troops on the island of Guadalcanal.
The Solomon Islands were one of the most important points in the Pacific Ocean. With the airfield already nearly completed on this strategically important island, Japanese aviation would be able to control considerable water space and operate on convoy routes connecting the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
The Americans also understood the importance of Guadalcanal and were not going to let the Japanese gain a foothold on the island and build an air base there. The Allied amphibious landing began on August 7, and attempts to prevent it with air strikes had only limited success. As darkness fell, however, the Imperial Navy entered the fray.
Allied ships covering the landing fell into the trap set by Mikawa off Savo Island. Their four heavy cruisers went down. Another cruiser and two destroyers sustained serious damage, while not a single ship in the Imperial Navy even lost combat effectiveness[1]. It was an undoubted victory, but it was no less important to make the next decision. It was now, after the destruction of the cover ships, that the way to the American landing zone was open, Mikawa's cruisers could reach the defenseless American transports unloading equipment and ammunition on the island shore. However, somewhere in the darkness of night the American aircraft carriers were hiding, and if morning caught the Japanese ships in range of their planes, this victory could turn into a catastrophe.
It was a difficult decision. Vice Admiral Mikawa understood that his ships would need time to regroup, eliminate the effects of enemy shells and to reload torpedo tubes, which was a laborious and time-consuming procedure. The Japanese ships had few shells left, and there was no air cover. The few seaplanes based on the cruisers don't count – they're just scouts. A brief meeting with members of the staff only confirmed Mikawa's near decision not to risk the squadron, and at two hours and twenty minutes he ordered his ships to begin withdrawal.
Suppressing a heavy sigh, the Vice Admiral temporarily turned over command of the squadron to the commander of the cruiser Chōkai and headed for his quarters. The victory warmed his soul, but the decision made did not give the squadron commander peace of mind and brought unpleasant thoughts.
The first months of the war brought a number of resounding victories for the Land of the Rising Sun. After the tremendous success in attacking the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, the destruction of two British battleships in the South China Sea, the capture of Burma, Malaysia and the Philippines, the successful landing of General Yamashita's army at Singapore followed, as did the landing at Bali and the capture of the islands of Sumatra and Timor.
In the battle in the Java Sea, Rear Admiral Takagi's squadron sank five enemy cruisers and five destroyers, almost completely destroying the Anglo-American squadron that was trying to prevent the Japanese from taking over Java Island. As early as the eighth of March the garrison of Java surrendered and thereafter the entire Dutch East Indies were seized by Japanese troops almost without resistance. Then, in March, they occupied the Andaman Islands.
Japanese-controlled territory moved close to the shores of Australia. On the nineteenth of February their aircraft bombed Darwin, and on the third of May the island of Tulagi was occupied without a fight, and a major battle for New Guinea and the Solomon Islands unfolded.
Nevertheless, the
In real history, on the night of August 9, 1942, Vice Admiral Mikawa's squadron of seven cruisers and one destroyer defeated a squadron of cruisers and destroyers of the United States and Australia, which outnumbered the Japanese, in the battle off Savo Island. Not a single Japanese ship was sunk. The Allies lost four heavy cruisers. Another cruiser and two destroyers sustained serious damage. 1,077 Australian and American sailors were killed. Japanese casualties were limited to 58 men. Three cruisers sustained moderate damage. This undoubted and striking victory, however, was not used by Vice-Admiral Mikawa to disrupt the landing of American troops on Guadalcanal Island, although all the conditions were in place to do so. The clearly erroneous decision not to continue the attack and to retreat was influenced by fears of being hit by aircraft from American aircraft carriers after sunrise.
Mikawa did not know that the enemy carrier formation had left the combat zone, having suffered serious losses in deck fighters, and did not take the opportunity to destroy Allied transport ships at anchorages off the coast of Guadalcanal with impunity. As a result, the Japanese missed their chance to fundamentally change the course of the battle for the Solomon Islands and New Guinea.
