"Michael McCollum - Antares 03 - Antares victory" - читать интересную книгу автора (McCollum Michael)

“We will attack without warning, we will strike hard and swiftly, we will close with our enemy at every
opportunity, we will pummel them without pause and respite. If we are audacious, we will have the advantage
of surprise. Indeed, wemust have it, for without surprise, we will lose the coming campaign. You have all seen
the roster of ships taking part in this operation and must know what it has cost us to assemble this many
combat units so far from home. If we lose, the human race will be on the defensive for years to come while
our worlds rebuild what we will have lost.
“The stakes are high, ladies and gentleman, but the prize is worth it. After too many decades of fighting
holding actions, we are striking into the very heart of our enemies’ domain. There we will be outnumbered and
outgunned. We can give no quarter in the coming action, nor can we seek any. Our foes are xenophobes who
oppose the very idea that we exist. They cannot help it. The impulse is baked into their very genes. For that
reason, we cannot give them a break. If this is to be a war of extinction, it is our job to see that the other side
does most of the dying.
“As we go into danger, I would leave you with the following thought: We are not deploying this fleet
merely to gain a narrow tactical edge. We do not seek a long-term strategic advantage. This time our goal is
nothing less than total victory.”
The admiral paused a few seconds to give his words time to sink in. He was gratified that he detected no
false bravura or mindless smiles at the prospect of going into harm’s way. The mood of the gathered officers
seemed one of grim determination. He approved of their attitude. The coming days and weeks would be grim
indeed, and they would require all the determination the human race could muster. He finished his scan of the
audience with a nod towardDrake.
“I will now turn this briefing over to the man whose wild idea this operation originally was. Since no good
deed ever goes unpunished, he will be in operational command of those of you who will engage in the initial
assault.
“Ladies and gentlemen, AdmiralRichard Drake, of the Altan Space Navy.”
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Drakeclimbed to his feet in the careful way people do in minimal gravity. Springing up too quickly would
merely have caused him to bounce a couple of meters into the air, possibly to hit his head on the maze of
bare piping that cluttered the overhead, most certainly to look foolish until he floated back down again. When
he had achieved an erect posture, he moved carefully to the podium, not so much walking as gliding his feet
like an ice skater across the deck plates.
He took a few moments to arrange his material and to check the order of his presentation, already
loaded intoVictory’ s main computer. Then he looked up at the expectant crowd, took a deep breath, and
launched into the plan that he and a few thousand others hadspent the lastthree years perfecting.
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Task Force Spica. As you are well aware, the
Antares Supernova of 2512 really messed up this section of space.”
AsDrakespoke, the holocube flashed to show the exploding star in its depths. Around it, etched dimly in
glowing red paths that were not quite straight, were the foldlines of the Antares Foldspace Cluster. “When
Antares blew, it changed the focus of foldlines all over the cluster and caused a new foldpoint to appear here
in the Napier system. That foldpoint led directly into the heart of the Ryall Hegemony.
“You’ve all read books or seen holo-epics of that first encounter with the Ryall. You know how the Ryall
fleet came boiling through the foldpoint to rain nuclear fire down on New Providence without provocation, even
as its population was evacuating to escape the supernova’s radiation. That was how we humans first learned
of the Ryall, and of their xenophobia.
“It has been more than a century since that first clash, and for all of that time, humanity has been on the
defensive. Even though we seem well matched in terms of technology and weaponry, we have been steadily
losing this war for twelve decades now. Four years ago, we discovered the reason why.”
Drakepressed a control on the podium and a diagram appeared. On it, the dimly glowing paths from
Antares emanated like the strands of a spider web. One of these strands terminated in the Napier system,
where the war had begun. Another pathway originated inside the Antares Nebula and arched across the
screen to terminate in a star with the odd name of Eulysta.