"Steve Gordon - Ensectoid 01 - The Ensectoid Invasion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gordon Steve)

August. The capital of the Alliance.
North's hands figited as he wondered if communications
had been jammed there too. Which could only mean the attack
had already begun there as well.
But after a few tense moments the screen crackled and
Markov's face filled his holocommunicator.
"War Admiral," he said curtly. A loud babble of voices
could be heard in the background on Markov's end.
"You've heard the news," said North, referring to the
transmission from the ship that briefly escaped the ambush at
Vitalics.
"We did. Was the entire fleet really destroyed?"
"We have no way of knowing without going and taking a
look," said North. "But if we haven't heard from anyone else
by now, it's a safe bet that there aren't entire battlegroups
in silent running."
"The entire fleet," said Markov, trying to wrap his
mind around it. "And the President, and the Vice President,
and the joint chiefs... all gone..." He paused a moment, as
if lost in thought, then snapped back into reality. "And your
battlegroup?"
North checked the scrambler controls. They flashed
green. He looked up at Markov. "We had a little ambush of our
own, but we're fine. We have only 34 ships left, so there's
not much we can do."
"Understood. What do you recommend?"
"The Insectoids will be coming," said North. "Your
orbital defenses will not be able to hold out long. My
suggestion is that you abandon your military headquarters and
disperse your troops and prepare for ground assault. Your
best strategy, if there is any best strategy, is protracted
guerrilla warfare to wear the enemy down."
Markov's face showed that the implications of this were
slowly sinking in. "Protracted? How long is protracted?"
North lowered his voice, though he knew the entire
bridge crew could still hear him. "We're about to go into
battle again, General." Picking his words carefully, he said,
"I don't know when, or if, we'll be able to communicate
again. I suggest you wipe your command files and-"
"Just a moment!" a third voice intervened, splitting
into their two-way communication. The face of Defense
Minister Novacan appeared. "Admiral North, where are you
going?"
"Into battle, sir," said North, picking his words
carefully. Scrambler or no, this communication could be
tapped and deciphered, with the right access codes. With the
President, Vice President, JCS, and most of the cabinet at
Vitalics, only Novacan had been left behind to mind affairs
on August.
"Battle where? Admiral, I order you to return to August