Prologue

Two days after our return from the Delta Trianguli system, the Earth Federation Minister of Defense Bronstein received an honorable discharge. The distinguished Admiral was never able to fit into the new realities that emerged after Nelson and Knyazev came to the highest positions in the army and fleet. During the development of the operation to simultaneously remove the mental blocks froms the quargs in all their key star systems, he harshly criticized the already nearly agreed-upon plan, calling it an obvious adventure. To tell you the truth, I agreed with Bronstein in some respects, but the trouble with the now ex-Minister of Defense was that he failed to realize in time the risks that could have arisen if we had refused to carry out the operation.

By taking a wait-and-see attitude, the Federation would expose itself to far greater danger than by deciding to take active actions, even such adventurous ones as our sabotage. As practice has shown, we made it at the last moment. We would have had to deal with a combined strike fleet of the toads and quargs, against which the armed forces of the humans and lizards were almost impossible to resist.

President Tobolsky was frankly sorry to sign the resignation letter from his old comrade, but the Commander-in-Chief was well aware that the time had come for change, and that it was up to different people to lead the Federation’s army and fleet.

Fleet Admiral Nelson became the new Minister of Defense, again bypassing the commando General Knyazev, who remained Chief of Staff. Knyazev, however, took this quite calmly – he had fought under Nelson’s command for many years, and now the situation was simply back to what he was used to.

For almost two weeks, the entire Federation was going crazy with joy. The quargs’ withdrawal from the war was perceived by society as the end of the confrontation that had lasted three decades. The former enemies have returned the Gliese star system and all other occupied territories to us. The terms of the peace treaty did not provide for reparations as such – we still took into account the not entirely voluntary nature of this war on the part of the quargs, but our former adversaries themselves offered the Federation gratuitous supplies of raw materials and, if necessary, production and shipbuilding facilities to rebuild our fleet, which had been badly damaged in the battle of the Delta Trianguli.

We, the lizards, and the quargs all knew that we couldn’t stop, our next step should be a full-scale invasion of the toads’ space, as it would be foolish to give the enemy time to recover from defeat. But we didn’t feel ready to attack either, and the unclear situation with the Empire was hanging over me as a sword of Damocles. General Clay and Dr. Silk never made contact, but it was clear that something very unpleasant was happening on the other side of the portal.

Tobolsky summoned me to his office the day after Bronstein resigned. Judging by the fact that he did not invite anyone else to this meeting, the President was going to discuss issues related to my imperial past.

The Commander-in-Chief looked tired, but cheerful and determined, which has been a rarity lately. Apparently, our undoubted political and military success has added vitality to the President.

We were seated in the same open pavilion overlooking the park of the Tobolsky’s residence where so many important meetings with the President took place. I involuntarily glanced along the linden alley where we were walking with the head of state’s daughter when the former head of presidential security tried to capture us.

“Do you recall the story of the financiers’ conspiracy, Admiral?” Tobolsky grinned, following my gaze.

“Yes, Mr President. We went right over the edge then. How is your daughter? I hope Victoria’s health didn’t suffer from the chemicals they gave her.”

“Well, doctors assured me that nothing serious happened to her, although she had to undergo almost two months of rehab. But your wife can also tell you about it, she and Vika, I think, found a good rapport, and I invited you here for a somewhat different conversation.”

“I’m all ears, Mr President,” I allowed myself a slight smile.

“The Empire has stopped responding to our requests. Not a single ship has passed through the transport ring in the last two weeks. Due to the circumstances we both know, I have no better expert on the Empire than you, Igor Yakovlevich. Do you have any thoughts about what is happening?”

“Brigadier General Dean was far removed from all politics, Mr President,” I replied, after thinking a little, “He had a very poor understanding of Imperial elite games, so my conclusions may not be entirely accurate. As long as Emperor Yort was alive, despite his advanced age, he firmly held the reins of the Empire. The maximum the elite groups could count on was to push him a little bit to make this or that decision, but just a little. After his death, the playing field changed. I was just thinking about the conspiracy of financiers. I think something similar could have happened in the Empire, only unlike our rebels, their imperial counterparts could have succeeded. I’m afraid we have no place in the plans of those who are now gaining the upper hand in the inter-clan struggle within the Empire.”

“But this is complete nonsense…” Tobolsky threw me a look of incomprehension, “They are losing the war to the toads, there is no doubt in our minds or theirs. We gave them the opportunity to leave their perishing world for our galaxy, and they shut it down for themselves. Where is the logic in these actions?”

“There’s a lot we don’t know, and that prevents us from understanding the situation correctly,” I shrugged my shoulders slightly, “but from conversations with General Clay and Dr. Silk, I understood that our hyperportal is not the only way for them to escape, although the alternative of escaping into the intergalactic void seems rather dubious to me.”

“Compared to evacuating to us, it certainly is,” Tobolsky agreed.

“So there’s something about leaving for our galaxy that doesn’t suit them, and I have only one guess about that…” I paused, gathering my thoughts, but the President did not rush me, silently waiting for me to continue.

“They would have to take everyone here, and that might not suit those in power in the Empire right now.”

“Explain your point, Admiral, I do not yet understand what you mean.”

“If one approaches the question of evacuation in the most cynical way possible, which is the only way these gentlemen know how to do it, one can see that the relatively rapid disappearance of the entire population of the Empire from the galaxy would lead to extremely undesirable consequences. First of all, the toads will realize that the inhabitants of the Empire have not been destroyed, but simply escaped. It is impossible to evacuate the entire population instantly, and the toads’ intelligence will find out about the portals sooner or later. What could this mean for them? If the humans have gone to an unknown point in space, they may return from there, having accumulated strength, and at the most unexpected moment. The toads will find themselves in a very unpleasant and vulnerable position, and it certainly will not suit them.”

“But what can they do? Fly to look for the inhabitants of the Empire in a conventional mode? But that’s absurd.”

“Dr. Silk argued that the level of technologies and fundamental knowledge achieved by the toads would, with sufficient funding and strong political will, let them find and destroy the inhabitants of the Empire in 20 years, wherever they escape to, so evacuation can only provide a reprieve. And neither Silk nor Clay doubted for a second that the toads would have the means and the will to do it. Their opponents, it is true, claimed that they did not believe in such a development, but they are not fools, and I am sure that they are well aware that such a risk does exist and is very real.”

“Let us assume that this is the case. So, what follows from that?”

“Those who now rule the Empire need a screen, a cover for their escape. They need a buffer that will allow the chosen ones to escape from their galaxy unnoticed. They are preparing a rescue for at most a fifth of the population, and the rest will simply be thrown under the steamroller of the toads’ attack, to convince them that the Empire is finished for good. It is not for nothing that the existence of the portal to our galaxy and the project to evacuate to the intergalactic void are strictly classified. Yes, of course, the authorities do not want this information to get to the toads, but they are just as careful to hide it from their own citizens, which also fits perfectly with the version I’ve presented.”

“Somehow this is all very shaky… The logic is undoubtedly present, but there are few facts, and you’re just making too much up and assuming,” Tobolsky shook his head doubtfully.

“I’m going by the information I have. I have no other theories.”

“All right, let’s assume that you’re mostly right. But what’s wrong with evacuating the Empire’s inhabitants to us?”

“We do not fit into their concept of the future world order. First of all, there are quite a few of us, and we will have to be reckoned with. Secondly, in addition to humans, there are also the lizards and quargs, with whom they will also need to build a difficult relationship. Finally, we can oppose the idea of abandoning four-fifths of the population of the Empire to its fate. If, all of a sudden, we were gone…”

“You don’t have to go on, Admiral, I get your point. The departure of the Imperial ships and the silence of their diplomats fit very well into the model you suggest.”

“And they might have succeeded, Mr. President,” said I looking Tobolsky straight in the eyes, “ If General Clay had taken away the Imperial battleships immediately after the first phase of the battle for the metropolitan lizards’ system, we would have been defeated. The Senior Lizard would most likely have died in that fight, and our alliance with the lizards might have cracked, if not broken altogether. And we couldn’t think of any operation to remove the mental blocks from the quargs, because we would be sitting in our systems and prepare for a hopeless defense. But Clay disobeyed the Admiralty’s orders and thus, in fact, saved us. And now he’s not answering his communicator, and neither is Dr. Silk. I’m afraid they’re both in trouble in the Empire right now.”

“But if everything is as you say, then now the Empire can turn from being our ally into an enemy,” slowly said Tobolsky, “Isn’t that too radical a conclusion to draw from your words?”

“The Empire can become our enemy, but not now. First, they get rid of the threat of pursuit from the toads by escaping through their portals into intergalactic space. And after that… It’s very sad to live in infinite nothingness, and I’m sure they’ll want to set foot on real planets again. But they can’t go back – the toads will sweep their galaxy clean of the people abandoned there. We’ll be the only humans left, and if we’re stupid enough to open a portal for them…”

“So maybe we should shut it down now, cutting off all relations with the Empire?”

“I’m afraid it will only make things worse. Realizing that they can no longer count on our world, the new leaders of the Empire will simply plant information about us on the toads, in order to further divert the attention of the «frogs» from their flight and lead them down the wrong path. We have to solve this problem in some other way. I don’t know how, but I need to get to the Empire and find out the fate of General Clay and Dr. Silk. They have relations with the right people, who may still have power and influence. The further I go, the clearer I realize that leaving through the portals is a bad way out for the Empire, or rather, it’s not a way out at all. And for us, their flight from the toads will also create serious problems, if not right now, then for the foreseeable future.”

“If running away is not the solution, what do you see as the solution? What am I asking, though? I know you too well, Admiral, to doubt your answer. But I would still like to hear it.”

“Mr President, once upon a time, in this very pavilion, when I was a lieutenant, I told you that the war with the quargs would probably be just a phase in our struggle for the right to exist.”

“I remember it, Admiral. I could not then fully accept Lieutenant Lavroff’s point of view, although, as it turned out, I should have taken it seriously.”

“We need to solve our military problems here as quickly as possible, Commander-in-Chief, Sir. If we don’t want problems in the near future, we have to make the Empire fight to the end and help it win, otherwise the threat of annihilation will still hang over us, and sooner or later the toads from Brigadier General Dean’s world will come here.”