Victor did not engage in dialogues on any occasion, and the third point caused him bewilderment. "What kind of a fool would I be," he answered sharply but calmly. – if I told you about my connections. Or do you consider the Chums to be outright inept, incapable of planting an agent in our group? No… Even if they were, it would still be foolish to talk about it.
He addressed the rebels frequently, each time giving them strength by his steady and firm voice alone, which perfectly matched his stout figure and imperturbable face.
Here's a brief example of his speech (July 2, 2168, after the attack on the railroad train carrying the 22nd Imperial Chum Storm):
"Three hours ago, I gave the order to attack a train of chums traveling from Volgograd to Donetsk. An hour later, I watched thirty-five of our brothers fight for freedom. Now they're dead. Dead every last one of them. But free… God gave for this opportunity. One way or another, by staying alive or dying, but fighting, we will still be free.
Our brothers died as heroes fighting for freedom… our kin dying now in the mines and mines. I have never hidden the truth from you. Nor will I do so now… Only two plagues were killed in the attack. Just two… Yes, some will say, "Our brothers died for nothing. They only killed two." But they didn't. Because this is war. And you can't win a war without casualties. And without great losses there will be no great victories – in the last attack, having lost three, we destroyed forty. And that's not the only example.
To minimize the cost of today's losses is to be blind. One of the chums killed was Rumhir. Does everyone know him? My first task for this group was to destroy him. And they did it. Vladimir Krasnov, having climbed into the train, blew it up with him. Our brother died, but he accomplished the task. Who will now say that the feat of thirty-five sons of the Earth means nothing? I, like all of you, am sorry for those who died. But this operation was necessary as air… Our time will come soon. The dead children of Earth have brought it closer than ever, and we will not forget their lives and their deaths.
Don't look at the numbers. They mean nothing when freedom is so close."
After this speech, the rebels believed in victory not only because of Khmelnitsky's charismatic personality. In his speech the name Ruminhr was mentioned. This is one of the best specialists of the Black Stone Empire in organizing security and defense. Such chums can be counted on the fingers of one hand. If he arrived in Donetsk, the sector would turn into a fortress.
On the evening of March 25, 2170, Victor received a message from one of the commanders of the soma working in the Donetsk-7 group through a new channel ("thread") that had just been created.
After being ordered to study the "thread," Victor took up the message:
"Personally and top secret to Viktor Khmelnitsky.
I, Commander Soma, have decided to bring to your attention a number of the following factors.
One. The active treasury theft of our group's karak Manhra has been uncovered, and he has been asked to return the stolen raw materials and pay a fine. According to our information, he is short of funds, so instead of a fine, he intends to destroy the Maquis group, apparently yours.
Next. In order to increase coal production, Manhir has reduced the rest time for all of us to four hours.
