"E. E. Doc Smith - D' Alembert 9 - The Omicron Invasion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

raid would be accomplished.

"The fact is," Jules pointed out, "we don't know how many of the enemy are stationed inside the
building at any given time."
 "Nor how many are billeted in the nearby ships, ready to help their comrades in case of trouble,"
Fortier added. "And there's no way to find out short of launching our attack."

"There may be no way of learning those numbers," Lady A said, "but we can try to minimize
them."

Jules nodded. "A diversion of some sort," he agreed. "It's the only way. If the aliens perceive a
threat from some other direction, they'll move some of their people to counter it, leaving this building
relatively unprotected. There'll probably be some defenders left back here, but it will maximize our
chances of getting in safely."

The bigger the diversion, the better," Ivanov said.

"And as luck would have it," Jules said with a tight grin, "there's a diversion-in-the-making
waiting for us just over the hill."

"The slave camp!" Tatiana exclaimed.

"Exactly. There's a few thousand humans kept there under guard, probably itching for the chance
to break free. If we start enough of a ruckus over there, aliens will come running from the base camp to
get things under control."

"Or they could just decide to wipe out the entire camp with a few well-placed bombardments,"
Lady A said. "That would erase our diversion along with a few thousand innocent lives."

"I didn't realize innocent lives meant that much to you," Jules said. "But I don't think they'll do
that. They've gone to considerable trouble to round up their slaves and start building this city of theirs. I
don't think they'd want to start over if they could help it. They'd at least make some effort to get things
under control in the camp before going to the ultimate solution. If we work it right, that should be all the
time we'll need."

"And in the meantime, a diversion in the slave camp would give you the opportunity to rescue
Periwinkle, wouldn't it?" Lady A asked sarcastically.

"I won't deny it," Jules said. "Why, is that such a terrible thing?"

"Not if we're careful to keep in mind that rescuing Periwinkle is at best only a secondary
consideration," Lady A replied. "The real mission will be in that headquarters building. Compared to that,
Periwinkle is expendable."

***

Exact details of the mission were discussed and argued over for the next several hours. The sun
had long since set before the team started putting their plan into operation.

They would split into two groups—one to create the diversion, the other to assault their real