Готовый перевод Карантин класса «Т» / Class T quarantine: ПРОЛОГ

PROLOGUE
* * *

The 22nd day of the year 447 of the space era

Khloe Star System, Ninth Sector of the Earth Union

United StarLines' intersystem liner Canopus

//"Two minutes to thirteen o'clock," Captain Kodus Lith noted automatically, staring in dismay at the enormous, slightly curved metallographic screen that occupied one bulkhead of the ship's wheelhouse entirely and partially encompassed the two adjacent ones. The continuous feed of near-space images from the forward-facing sensors, creating the complete illusion that this room was located at the very bow of the liner, was impressive even in normal times, and even more so now.

"What happened there?" one of the junior navigators finally dared to voice the question that had naturally arisen, perhaps, in the minds of everyone in the wheelhouse.

With difficulty, the captain tore his gaze away from the screen and glanced sideways at the speaker, but said nothing. He turned his head and stared again at the colossal structure of shiny metal, clearly visible in the darkness of space. It resembled a thick ring with four long, arrow-like antennas extending from it. He seemed to see something new in the otherwise ordinary hyperspace gateway. The intersystem liner Draug, traveling a quarter of an hour ahead, had just entered. Instead of accelerating sharply and dissolving into space, leaving behind a slowly fading ghostly silhouette, the liner froze, shimmered violently... and vanished with a flash like the birth of a supernova.

"A destabilization of the space-time continuum during hyperspace transition, causing matter to transform into radiant energy," whispered Canopus's first navigator, Tars Gen. He swallowed loudly.

"How can that be? The Draug, like us, was filled with refugees," his subordinate muttered, confused.

“Yes, they also took on board about twenty thousand evacuees from Freya,” one of the pilots agreed with him.

The atmosphere in the wheelhouse had become somewhat livelier when a short buzzer sounded, signaling that someone had contacted the liner.

"Attention, we have received an incoming request from the headquarters of the combined force stationed in the Khlo system for direct access to the ship's AI!" The clear voice of the Canopus AI named Lara rang out.

Everyone turned their eyes to the captain, who frowned in confusion and rubbed his chin. After all, all written and unwritten rules strongly advise against performing any manipulations with ship engines in open space. As a precaution. But the soldiers couldn't possibly be unaware of this.

"What's the reason for this request? An incident at the hypergate?" Kodus decided to find out.

“Confirmed,” Lara responded a few moments later, making the appropriate clarification.

After hesitating for a moment and taking another look at the overview screen, where one of the navigators had shown a replay of the tragedy that had happened to the Draug, the captain of the Canopus nodded and said with a heavy heart:

"Okay, we'll give them access."

After this, Kodus sent the appropriate confirmation code via a secure communication line to directly connect to the ship's AI. The senior watch pilot and first navigator did the same, as the security is tied to three electronic keys.

"What the...?" Tars blurted out when, a second later, his direct line to Lara suddenly lost contact. Seeing the others start to exchange confused glances, obviously also experiencing a similar loss of internal communication, he asked indignantly, "What, are they trying to reboot our AI or something?"

Alas, the first navigator's assumption seemed to be wrong, as Lara's voice rang out at that very moment. According to rules established in ancient times, when communication implants were not yet universal, she began to announce all critical changes in the ship's life. Only the soft female voice of the AI, as everyone thought, was now somehow different — cold and soulless.

"Attention, emergency depressurization of decks "D" and "C" has occurred! Access to the escape pods is impossible!"

"Attention, an unplanned course correction has occurred!"

"Attention, the engines have switched from economy mode to maximum thrust mode!"

Lara fell silent.

"What the heck?!" the senior pilot on watch said, stunned, staring, like everyone else, at the local star that had taken center stage on the metallographic display. It began to slowly grow in size.

And suddenly it occurred to the captain that what had happened to the Draug was not a tragic accident at all. The space-time continuum could be destabilized artificially... Using the same control module of the gate... The only question was, who needed this sabotage?

* * *

The 22nd day of the year 447 of the space era

The Khloe star system, a restricted alien invasion zone

Heavy spacecraft carrier Tiga, flagship of the combined force

"So for exactly thirteen hours, no changes in the combat situation at the Third Perimeter of the quarantine ring have been observed," Admiral Frog Trapp repeated thoughtfully after his subordinate, who had finished his report, looking distantly at the image of his interlocutor, visualized by the communication system.

“None,” confirmed the virtual copy of two-star General Arvin Nitz, commander of the planetary part of the joint force.

“This is bad,” Frog Trapp did not hide his disappointment, having hoped until the very end for a completely different development of events.

"Are you still expecting another unpleasant surprise from our uninvited guests? Like the one they delivered last time, when they breached the Second Perimeter?" Arvin asked him, breaking away from the strict formality of conversation as an old acquaintance.

“Yes,” the admiral admitted, not considering it necessary to hide this obvious fact, and smiled wryly: “Especially since you know what day it is today.”

"Eleventh, if we count from the day of the last wave. That is, the aliens' preferred number," the general, who was in some bunker, nodded knowingly. Then, after a pause, he shrugged: "But I still see no reason to worry. The aliens simply have no objective possibility of providing the fivefold superiority in equipment and firepower required to break through our deeply echeloned defense. Even their enormous ship's resources are not limitless."

"Good, if that's the case," Frog chuckled, not bothering to remind Arvin that his predecessor had probably thought so too, unshakably convinced of the impenetrability of his own perimeter and the enemy's weakness. And where is this General Korres now? Perished along with nearly four hundred thousand troops in a sudden enemy breakthrough, a black wave that swept over the fortified positions of the quarantine cordon...

The commander of the combined force in the limited alien invasion zone shook his head, stretching his stiff neck, and sighed with frustration. Something was bothering him, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. Perhaps his underlying anxiety stemmed from the enemy's sluggish, half-hearted advance on the third perimeter in recent days? As if trying to build up reserves?

Lost in thought, the admiral shifted his gaze to the huge three-dimensional hologram occupying the entire center of the command post. The highly detailed image of the alien invasion zone seemed to have a life of its own, flowing and changing as new data came in from reconnaissance aircraft circling overhead. The only thing that remained unchanged was the giant black disc of the alien ship, covered with numerous jagged scars, which had literally crashed into the ground on the outskirts of the city, now completely deserted.

Yes, the first real encounter with our neighbors in the universe turned out to be not very encouraging... The ship of another civilization, which unexpectedly invaded the space of the recently explored star system of Khlo, initially showed no desire for dialogue. In fact, it simply ignored any attempts to establish contact, unceremoniously continuing its advance toward the center of the human-occupied system. Because of this, there was initially a strong belief that the unknown ship was a dead wanderer. However, the first and only attempt by a hastily assembled scientific council to prove the validity of this hypothesis ended in failure — an abordage bot that attempted to dock with the alien ship was destroyed by a volley of direct defense turrets that emerged from hidden niches. Although none of the scientific probes swarming around the uninvited guest in huge numbers provoked such a reaction, even when attempting to breach the hull integrity while collecting samples. This oddity ultimately remained unexplained. It's just that everyone had other things to worry about. After all, the huge black disc, slightly thicker in the center, began to slow down and maneuver actively! Clearly aiming for the planet chosen by humans! Quite naturally, this led to all scientific research being hastily curtailed and large guns being brought into action. It's just a pity that they weren't big enough... Even the combined efforts of the military fleet assembled in the system failed to destroy the alien ship, which was seven kilometers across. They could only damage it. The reflective power of the energy shield enveloping the black disc was simply incredible. So this cosmic wanderer reached Freya and descended, or rather, plopped heavily onto its surface, triggering a magnitude nine earthquake at its landing site...

For more than half a day, the alien ship that had crashed near one of the cities of Freya simply lay there. And then... Then it spewed forth a whole horde of strange, anthracite-black beetle-like creatures. They immediately broke through the first quarantine perimeter, deployed by planetary forces ten kilometers around the fallen disc. Only the second ring, separated from the first by a distance more than three times greater, managed to hold out with great difficulty. And even that was only due to the dispersion of enemy forces and the fact that the invading aliens' weapons consisted mainly of various lasers, which lost some of their effectiveness in a dense atmosphere, and the number of aircraft in the invasion armada was clearly insufficient to achieve sustained air superiority. And, of course, the unwavering steadfastness of the two 25,000-strong space marine brigades thrown into the thick of battle played its part...

But these uninvited guests still managed to instill considerable fear. They frightened everyone to such an extent that a mass exodus of Freya's population began even before the authorities announced a global evacuation. This is understandable, however. After all, the word that the aliens had no concept of noncombatants spread across the planet instantly. They apparently had no use for prisoners.

And this is not surprising. In the invasion armada — well, at least in the part of it that fell at the Second Perimeter — not a single alien, living or dead, was found. Only hitherto unknown robotics.

It was then that the preconditions arose for believing that humanity had encountered a completely alien civilization—a mechanical one. And subsequent events only confirmed everyone in this opinion. Exactly eleven days later, during which time the second perimeter had been transformed into a virtually impregnable bastion by the three hundred and fifty thousand armored infantry corps stationed there, the black ship released a new wave of robotics from its bottomless interior. Only this wave was no longer made up of beetle-like creatures that inspired awe with their appearance! The aliens sent a full-fledged Earth Union army into battle! To everyone's relief, it soon became clear that this army was formed from incredibly high-quality copies of human technology and was controlled by androids. For this, the uninvited guests from the unexplored part of space were immediately dubbed the Copiers.

The fighting at the Second Perimeter was fierce, judging by the dry reports. But despite everything, this barrier still fell. The attacking enemy was barely held back within the third quarantine cordon, deployed a hundred kilometers from the landing site of the alien ship. And this was only because Admiral Vorrus, who was commanding the Combined Forces at the time, ignored all the dire orders from above to minimize damage to the pearl of the newly formed Ninth Sector, one of the rare Earth-like planets, and gave the order to use heavy weapons from the Orbital Group.

And now, for eleven days, the third quarantine perimeter has been held by a seven-and-a-half million-strong ground force, supported by heavy combat equipment, a flotilla, and four Leviathan-class orbital fortresses, ready to launch their main-caliber tunnel guns at any moment.

"Come on, Frog, we've dug our heels in here so deep that no force can dislodge us," interrupted the general, apparently wanting to dispel the commander of the combined forces' concerns once and for all. And, no doubt for greater effect, he added confidently: “The blockade circle that has been created will not only withstand a new wave, but not even a mouse could slip through it now!”

"Well, well," the admiral smiled involuntarily.

Kord Tano, shuddering all over, cast a strange, perhaps crazy, glance at the admiral and wiped the streaming sweat from his forehead with his plump palm.

“What’s going on?” the commander demanded an explanation from him.

"The enemy has infiltrated the intersystem carrier, leaving Freya," the senior security officer whispered, his voice strangely limp and barely audible.

"Details!" Frog immediately perked up, merging his and the colonel's communication cocoons into a single, eavesdrop-proof space.

"Less than a quarter of an hour ago, on one of the ships involved in the evacuation of Freya's inhabitants, thanks to the latest biosensors installed on it to identify clones, 124 objects were detected whose biological age was one and a half to two days. Only three of them were real babies."

"But clones are grown for at least two or three years, right? So these are androids sent by the Copiers? Eleven groups of eleven machines?" The admiral immediately grasped the essence of the matter.

"I would say that they are more like complete copies of humans than the androids we are used to, with a synthetic-biological outer shell and mechanical insides," the colonel smiled faintly. “Our enemy continues to prove the accuracy of its nickname and confirm its unique ability to copy anything, even biological objects.”

"Have these infiltration groups already been neutralized?" the admiral interrupted him, trying to clarify.

“Yes and no,” the security guard hesitated. "When the liner's internal security forces attempted to block these creatures, they put up fierce resistance, during which one group of enemies broke into the engine room and, barricading themselves in, began to study the hyperspace puncture module, transmitting the data they obtained to the planet... Another group, having gained access to the hyperlink, began downloading technological data from the global information network, also sending it to Freya... while others broke through to the ship's bridge, where they attempted to change the coordinates of the long jump, redirecting it to a sector of the galaxy unexplored by humanity..." After a pause, he quietly continued: "Because of this, I gave the order to immediately shut down the hyperdrive, as a result of which the ship, which was about to jump, self-destructed."

“You have taken on a great responsibility, Colonel,” the admiral said quietly after a pause. “As I understand it, in addition to a few small enemy sabotage groups, there were several tens of thousands of civilians on the liner...”

“What was I supposed to do?” the colonel snapped weakly, “when the analytics service, which continuously monitors the situation in the Khlo system, sounded the alarm?” And suddenly announced that there was a threateningly increased chance that this alien space wanderer, despite its monstrous size, was not a colonizing ship at all, but an ultra-long-range automated reconnaissance probe!" Wiping the sweat from his brow again, he asked sarcastically: “Would you like to see an invasion fleet from such an advanced civilization visiting your home, Admiral?”

“Well, it’s not for me to judge you, Tano,” Frog softened his tone.

But he didn't have time to say anything else, as he was interrupted by a short beep, signaling a message arriving via hyperlink. He immediately displayed it on the screen that appeared before his eyes.

To the Commander of the Joint Force Group in the Limited Alien Invasion Zone, Admiral Frog Trapp.

In connection with the incident on the ship "Draug", the following is ordered.

1. Close the Khlo star system of the Ninth Sector of the Earth Union. Initially, with the group's forces, and later, by creating migrating minefields.

2. Implement Class T quarantine measures for the planet Freya in the corresponding star system. Quarantine implementation time is minus two hours from the time the notification is received.

3. Upon arrival of the autonomous orbital fortresses AOK-7 "Wakeful Guardian", form them into a permanent planetary blockade group.

Commander of the Earth Union's Space Forces, Nute Creed

Head of the Parliament of the Earth Union Solan Gredikh

And right after that, a red line of a message from the headquarters AI flashed.

Unlock codes for the production of 0412 "Emi" and POZ "Nate" weapons by weapon workshops have been received.

"Admiral?" Colonel Tano asked questioningly, not giving him time to fully understand the storm of emotions that had engulfed him.

Turning his blind gaze to the security guard who had caused such a mess, Frog, after long moments of hesitation, decided not to contact the high command and ask stupid questions about what to do with the troops currently on Freya and the remaining unevacuated citizens. Instead, he drafted an order for the fleet and sent it to the headquarters AI.

A moment later, alarm buzzers on the spacecraft carrier briefly howled, the lighting suddenly changed, and the voice of the aircraft carrier's AI was heard:

"Attention - combat alert! Combat alert! Wings, prepare to take off as soon as their ammunition complement is formed!"

This caused everyone gathered in the operations room to look up from their work. Frog, however, created a limited transparency in his communications and control cocoon, so he could experience his decision in solitude, even if only in semblance. However, he failed.

“Ah, you're still on the line, Arvin,” sighed the admiral, looking at the general who was waiting for the conversation to continue, and smiled grimly: “You were wrong. The Third Perimeter proved to be quite surmountable for the enemy. And it wasn't even a mouse that slipped through it, but a full-fledged diversionary group of Copiers, represented by new-generation androids, which captured one of the interstellar ships departing from Freya."

“That can't be,” Arvin stammered. “We literally can't take a step without bumping into some kind of scanning sensor... No android could remain undetected and slip past the perimeter.”

"As I understand it, the Copiers have launched production of an analogue of our advanced “fullbio” technology, which involves the creation of fully biological androids,“ Frog shrugged indifferently. ”Accordingly, it is impossible to identify them in a crowd of refugees using standard scanners."

“So what now?” Arvin asked the main question after a pause.

“Technoquarantine,” the admiral answered dully, looking away.

"Well, that's a perfectly logical decision," the general nodded understandingly. He only clarified the most important thing: "When?"

"Already," Frog replied without looking at his interlocutor. He simply couldn't look his old acquaintance in the eye as he essentially pronounced sentence on him and his people...

The quarantine, imposed with a countdown timer, does not imply the evacuation of troops stationed on the now-closed planet. And weapons of mass destruction—electromagnetic and neutron bombs, soon to be liberally rained down from orbit—do not distinguish between friend and foe, incinerating everything…

“That means they were pretty scared at the top,” the general summed up after a short pause, feigning cheerfulness.

“You bet,” confirmed the admiral, who didn't find it funny at all. “They even authorized the use of ‘dirty’ weapons during the quarantine measures. So we'll burn the Copiers ship and the surrounding area with neutron bombs.” Rubbing his temple, he looked straight at Arvin and said, “You have a corvette parked there somewhere, right? If you take the risk and make a hyperspace jump directly from the planet's surface, you still have a chance to leave Freya before the global orbital bombardment begins.”

"I know, Frog, I know," the general grinned wryly at this. And hung up.
* * *

Внимание! Этот перевод, возможно, ещё не готов.
Его статус: идёт перевод

Переведено на Нотабеноиде
http://notabenoid.org/book/88447/593747

Переводчики: Camrad_RIP