Аннотация: Grandfather talks about the fleets of the Alliance.
Chapter 10.1 The clouds are gathering.
Eugene (Mendoir, June-July 2366)
Holidays, holidays... Just as I was happy about this time in my previous life, now everything has faded away, there is no joy at all. There is a movement at school, there are comrades and mentors, there is new knowledge and friends with common interests. On vacation, it's quiet and empty, just hunting, fishing, open-air concerts with Gina and an album, and exhausting morning workouts with my grandfather and like-minded people.
Five years have passed since I accomplished my stupid feat at the ferry. Grandfather then said,
"You and I, Zhenya, made all the possible mistakes we could. For me, this is generally an anthem of blatant incompetence. That's what stopped you from getting Feron out with biotics?"
and I was stuck... but really, what?
When we were invited by the local holovision show, grandpa, not at all embarrassed, laid out all his arguments, and the presenter had a stupor. Following grandfather's logic, we should not be praised, but on the contrary. Tolyat saved the situation by calling the studio. Our main rescuer commented on grandfather's words.
"Admiral, sir! You have made a decision in a situation of severe time constraints. I agree, it was suboptimal. Not wrong, as you claim, but suboptimal. Yes, you put your granddaughter's life in danger, and she didn't use her abilities as a biotic. But she hadn't been taught that either. She hadn't even been taught how to use biotics yet! And you, Mr. Admiral, were also not taught the correct actions during rescue operations. Those two short lectures that I gave you and others in the winter are very few! That's the task for you: to put such classes in the curriculum. Instead of tearing out your hair and sprinkling it with ashes, as you people say!"
The huntsman saved his grandfather's reputation. Although, I think that grandfather himself saved her no less - with his tough stance on his own actions. A blitz opinion poll conducted by the host showed that 95% of the population supports the grandfather and 5% are simply undecided.
When Joseph Hartman, Alex's dad, called later, he put all the dots on the "e". He said that the admiral needs to reflect less, and ask the society a question: does he need this training? And if necessary, ask this very society to help. After the transfer, people thought... and chipped in for additional simulators, a climbing wall was built at the grandfather's training ground, artificial thresholds were significantly expanded and improved what had already been built earlier. As a result, the queue for the landfill has grown even more.
I doubt that this can be attributed to my achievements, but I became the star of the school. A difficult, exhausting role... for six months, for some reason, the whole school considered it normal to come up and ask: "Hey, Shepard, how does it feel to be a heroine?" We calmed down only after I had to loudly promise trouble to my fans, and then inflict a few harmless but painful blows with biotics on the fastest ones.
***
That year Denis flew to Earth. Then, in the summer, the exam tests came, and my brother, in the presence of the governor of the colony, as a guarantor of the honesty of the exam, solved them all, and perfectly. How Vasyl roared when we saw him off - that's when it became clear that she wasn't at all indifferent to Denis, and azari, it turns out, are able to hide their emotions from empaths! But the further you go, the more interesting it gets - blue ladies are not very simple....
And so, for five years now, my brother has been gnawing at the granite of naval science. He's coming back for the holidays soon. Cadet or not- it's already Second Lieutenant Denis Shepard. Alexey followed him the following year, so both of my older brothers are future officers of the Alliance Air Force. Denis has a year of combat training ahead of him, and at the end of it he will receive an appointment. There is a good chance that by the time of the invasion, he may well reach the rank of rear admiral. There are a lot of events ahead - one Skillian blitz is worth it.
His grandfather told him to apply to join the Fifth Fleet, which is the most belligerent fleet in the Alliance, which means that experience and ranks are first and foremost there. However, you can easily lay down your head...my brother asked if the cadet's opinion was taken into account during the distribution? My grandfather replied that for the top ten in academic performance, they take it into account. Although many blockheads are asking to join the Second Fleet. We had a good conversation last year, and my grandfather told us a lot of interesting things back then....
"Those cretins from the Second Fleet!" He was saying. "Who needs these parquet soldiers? Why, the metropolitan Defense Fleet, the best ships, the best crews... blah blah blah! Yeah, now!"
"What are you doing, Arthur?" Grandma replied. "You were the commander of this fleet yourself...."
"Yes... and I remember that time with a shudder - I killed two years trying to make soldiers out of this meat, and I didn't achieve anything! During the naval exercises, they were unable to withstand even the Fourth Fleet, Liv. Patrol officers on frigates and corvettes smashed the heavy cruisers to smithereens. They took out the decks to the carriers and left without losing a single ship conditionally destroyed. What if the Second Fleet runs into someone stronger than the Batarian pirates? With the same Turians, for example! Yes, the Seventh Fleet of the Hierarchy will pass through our Second Fleet without noticing!"
Denis sat in silence and, I felt, was very surprised. The beauty and pride of the Terran VKS turned out to be complete bullshit.... Then I remembered the beginning of the third game-how the Reapers went through the metropolitan defense fleet as if it didn't exist. A short contact, and only a pile of burning debris falls to Earth from orbit.
"Grandfather, what about the border guards? The Eighth and Ninth fleets of the Alliance have good performance," Alexey asked.
"The good ones are good! But you won't get used to it - with your attitude towards the xenos, and especially considering the brotherhood with the Turians."
"But why?"
Border guards are still xenophobes. A forge of personnel for Cerberus. Damn fascists, it's not nighttime to remember them! Don't ask to go there, or you'll get there."
"Well, they're dealing with Batarian pirates and other galactic trash." Denis tried to intercede for the border guards.
"Are the Fifth and Fourth Fleets polishing space? Do you know, my grandchildren, that the pirate clans of the Term are already almost half human? And how many people among the mercenaries are of the same Eclipse? Almost a third already! And how the loyalty test goes in the Eclipse is generally a byword!"
"Maybe you're praising the Fifth Fleet because you spent most of your service there yourself? Russian Russians, and Uncle Steve is the chief of staff there, and in general, they openly call him Russian, and we are Russians! Maybe that's why... or maybe it's because I've never seen such a mess as on the Second One, not even in the largest free state, the First Fleet. And that, in comparison with the Second One, is an exemplary order. Although the fleet of long-range reconnaissance and covert operations, with a long separation from the bases, there is no way without freedom. You'll go crazy with fatigue if you spend six months in a tin can side by side. You, Deniska, will be quite appropriate there, with your adventurous nature - so you can ask to go there, just not to the border guards!"
"But there is no faith in Cerberus and its leader. You know, this asshole doesn't care about humanity - he's only interested in power. Personal unlimited power - and he goes to it, not disdaining any methods," grandma inserted a monologue into the grandfathers. You're kind of upset, Arthur. Sit down and have a cup of tea, otherwise you're blushing all over."
"Ah, ah!" grandfather waved his hand. "The "exo-Geni" are stirring, this "nursing mother" and "drinking father" for Cerberus. They're having a row with RM and promising problems. Recently, their representatives stated at the Alliance Congress that RM's international programs endanger the interests of humanity. They're probably passing off their own or Cerberus' interests as the interests of humanity.... What do you say, Liv? What does your hacker support service say?"
"In the winter, Mendoir flashed on pirate and mercenary forums, but now it's gone. It's strange... they talk about any colonies, but not about us. It's very similar to a distraction operation."
"I agree, Liv. Something began to smell rotten. Did you warn the governor?"
"Of course, he knocked out another corvette from the corporation, so we have three of them now."
"We could use a couple of Turian corvettes, and then any pirate would wash up. And the guys will have a hard time on our shells, although Vitya is an intelligent group commander and knows his job perfectly well. Eh-huh..." the grandfather sighed. "That's how scallops can build warships, not like ours and the blue ladies... no offense, Ham!"
"Come on, Grandpa! That's what the whole galaxy calls us.... We've already gotten used to it."
"What about us?" Vasya squeaked from Denis's armpit.
"And you girls know how to build beautiful, huge, unwieldy flying coffins."
"But what about the cruise ships of the White star class?"
"Vasenka, honey, don't confuse civilian and military products! These are, without a doubt, completely different things. There are no complaints about your civilian equipment at all, except for the price! And your race can't build warships... and you're not much of a fighter, if you'll excuse my bluntness."
"But, Admiral Arthur, sir! But what about the landing?"
"Vasil, my child, you can't win a war by amphibious assault, especially since how many troops do you have? According to the latest data, there are eleven divisions. That's just over 120,000 paratroopers-on 56 worlds and 42 billion people! Yes, we only have about one and a half million troops... and the infantry units of the planetary defense, and the colonial militia, and there are also special police units. To put it all together, there are more than 20 million fighters for a total of 19 billion people in all the worlds. I'm not talking about Turians at all - they have a tenth of the population in the army, and the rest have received good training in it. If there is a big fight in the galaxy, who will fight for your Republic? Cabaret dancers or demimonde ladies? Or maybe T'Loak's Aria with Eclipse?"
"But, Admiral..."
"Oh, Vasenka, Vasenka... People have a good proverb: "A nation that doesn't want to feed its army will either feed someone else's or feed worms!" Your biotics mentor, what's her name?... It seems that Nair Haren complained that the recruitment was bad - the Asari did not join the army. Those who are poorer prefer to become either a dancer or a gang, and those who are richer - anywhere but the army. Just imagine - a mighty enemy will come into our space, whatever that archaeologist of yours called them... Dr. T'Soni, I think... The Reapers. Who will the Republic meet them with?"
There was a heavy silence. And my grandfather remembers that show, it turns out!