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

set a moral decay in place. Quite frankly I'm tired of people
who have no interest in defending themselves. I signed on to
defend people, not spineless jellyfish, and that's what our
society has become. When the Insectoids arrive, many of them
will learn what hardship is like for the first time. Many of
the survivors, that is," said North, his tone so angry and
bitter that Dulin almost didn't recognize it. But then he
addressed Dulin directly, and that legendary calm was back.
"Are the fighters aboard yet?"
Dulin distracted, quickly turned to check his board.
"Uh, Yes sir. And I'm showing temporary repairs to the
cruiser have been completed as well."
"Compliment the repair crew on their fine work," said
North unemotionally. "Let's get under way. Set course for
June, maximum speed."


Chapter 2: The Brief Battle for June

Admiral Whyold Zarat was the soldier in charge of the
Directorate's fleet defenses.
North's opinion of the League's civilian leadership was
only slightly lower than Admiral Zarat's opinion of the
Directorate's civilian leadership. Until one year ago the
Directorate, the junior partner in the Alliance with the
League, was under the brilliant leadership of Steven Quick.
Quick, who was technically brilliant, had founded the
Directorate and ran it as an enlightened dictatorship for as
long as Zarat could remember.
Quick took over from the previous corrupt and inefficient
bureaucrats and created a model of government that even the
League, which had a traditional disdain for dictatorships,
found so admirable that they sent their people over to study
how their bureaucracy worked. Quick also built up and
modernized the Directorate fleet and made it a vibrant
partner in its coalition with the League, especially during
the early years of the war against the Insectoids.
But all that changed a year ago when Quick's ship blew up
under what could only be termed suspicious circumstances.
Quick's handpicked successor, Administrator (now Director)
Tel Kalin immediately took over, and quickly made a mess of
things.
First there was the explosion of the reactor at the enormous
military base on Tentus IV. Somehow a chain reaction started
which vaporized the base. The result: 20,000 sailors and
their families dead, 20 ships lost. It was a tremendous blow
to fleet morale. Kalin made things worse by pinning the blame
on several of the Directorate's most distinguished Admirals,
forcing a number of them into retirement before their time,
even though most of them had nothing to do with the accident