“We should look after the crew first,” said Fedorov. “We know men are missing. There may be others we do not know about—others we’ve forgotten.”
“Yes, we must count heads,” said Volsky. “Yet a few minutes ago no one here even remembered Tasarov. Taking roll call is going to be a bit of a problem under these circumstances.”
“Perhaps we can check all the ship’s records,” said Fedorov. “I’m beginning to think these changes are still underway, a process that has not reached completion. If that is so, there may be some record or clue that can help us. I suggest we start with the ship’s primary roster, and see if Orlov and the other missing men are still listed there. Yes, we might find some evidence—particularly the digital records. All the electronics seemed unphased by this last event… except the Purser’s computer. He had no record of any assignment to Kamenski’s quarters. I think we must act quickly now. Whatever seems to be happening to the ship and crew might still be underway. Mister Nikolin, see if you can find the ship’s roster in a digital file, then compare it to any printed physical roster we have. Check for discrepancies. Check everything.”
“Then we will finally have a count on the empty chairs,” said Volsky with a somber tone.
“As to where we are, and what happens next,” said Fedorov, “I do not think we can just sit here, waiting for the axe to fall. What? Will we watch people disappear, one by one? It feels like we are sitting here with all our heads on the chopping block, waiting for the executioner, or worse. No. I think we must do something. We still have those two control rods. Remember what we discussed? Time to go to Plan B.”
“But Fedorov,” said the Admiral. “Chief Dobrynin is gone. We have no one who can listen to the event, the reactors—no way to control the outcome.”
“We had no control over this the first time we displaced,” said Fedorov. “In fact, it wasn’t until we reached the Pacific that we put two and two together and figured out Rod-25 was responsible. I say we should just get on with the maintenance procedure, and see where it takes us. Anywhere would be preferable to this nightmare. We must try and take our fate into our own hands.”
“Spoken like a good ship’s Captain,” said Volsky. “If we end up in the Himalayas, sitting on some lonesome peak like Noah’s Ark, then we’ll all have a good meal, and hike out.”
Fedorov nodded, as he could think of no real reason why they should not try—aside from the possibility they might end up inside the Himalayas, which he had suggested to Volsky earlier, though he said nothing of that now.
“I think we must hurry sir,” said Fedorov, with more urgency. “We’ve got to take some action before it’s too late! These events are still unfolding. The longer we delay, the greater our peril.”
“Very well,” said Volsky. “Now that I notice all these stripes on my jacket cuff, I think I will start giving some orders. Mister Nikolin, get back to your station and dig up those digital files, but first send a message to the reactor room. Tell whoever is in charge that they are to retrieve the Beta control rod from storage and re-mount it in the number twenty-five reserve rod position. They are to prepare for normal rod cycle maintenance, to be initiated on my order, or that of Captain Fedorov or any senior officer on the bridge. Hopefully, no one else will be leaving soon…”
He gave them all one last look, as if trying to firmly fix the image of each man in his head, seeing the lines on their faces, their eyes, remembering them, loving them all. Then he smiled.
“Let’s get to work, gentlemen, before we end up having coffee with Orlov!”
That was life in a nutshell, thought Fedorov. They were all going to disappear one day, in one way or another, and then simply vanish from this world. It was all about the things they could do while they were still here.
* * *
Far away, perhaps in another time and place, the world Kirov had vanished from was still raging with the ravages of war at sea. As Rodney foundered, her hull rent open by the explosion of her own torpedoes, two ships appeared on the horizon, Renown and Repulse, rushing to the scene with guns elevated for battle. And off to the southeast, Argos Fire was dashing forward into the fray, the missile crews rushing to their stations.
Yet Kapitans Topp and Hoffmann were not to fight alone. Lütjens’ task force was also arriving on the scene coming out of the southwest like a sudden squall. There sailed the ship that had once been fated to meet its doom this very month, the Bismarck. And behind came another ship, larger, more powerful, looming like a shadow of death, the Hindenburg.
Not wanting to miss out on the action, Admiral Tovey had also altered his course to steam north to Rodney’s aid. Though he might come late to the party, HMS Invincible would soon make its presence felt with the roar of nine more massive 16-inch guns. It was to be the largest naval battle ever to be fought in the Atlantic, a collision of five battleships, three battlecruisers, and one interloper from another era, desperate to save Rodney, and not knowing her quest was already foiled.
But time and fate were fickle partners in the mad dance that was now underway. Things gone missing in one era, might be found somewhere else. No one knew just then where the quest for that missing key might now lead, or what the fate of England’s embattled new ally might finally be.
Kirov had left the world of the here and now, its sharp bow slipping into the grey shadow of Paradox. The strange effects had started with Lenkov, with that awful unheard sound, but they would not end there. Each moment was now bringing the ship closer and closer to that final tick of Time’s unfathomable clock—that final hour when Kirov would be held to account for all its many interventions in the history of these events.
As with Alan Turing’s watch, the ship had slipped into some sallow purgatory, waiting to be judged, and not knowing whether heaven or hell would greet them with that final tolling of the hour that Fedorov had feared for so long. Their presence in 1941 had been a grave and insoluble problem for Time.
On one side of that equation, the ship and crew were set to pierce the ground of infinity, to be planted in the cold northern seas of World War Two like a darksome seed of doom. On the other hand, that seed had already bloomed, a black rose, its thorny stem scoring the history as it grew, its dark flower a shadow in the Devil’s Garden of time. Yet only one of the two could remain when that final bell tolled, and Time would have to choose which side of that equation would balance through to the zero sum it was seeking now. Which would it be, the darksome seed or the black rose?
It was time to decide, because the hour of fate was drawing nigh… Paradox Hour.
The Saga Continues…
Season 3 of the Kirov Series opens with Volume 17: Doppelganger, where the answer to the dilemma that now faces Mother Time will decide the fate of the ship and crew. Battle still rages in the Atlantic, and Elena Fairchild arrives on the scene to discover the crisis aboard Rodney has made her quest for the lost key impossible. Yet there she meets one other uninvited guest, an American officer who reveals that he is not the man he seems. Together they consider what they may have lost, and how it might yet be saved.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Karpov has discovered that his own personal fate is also in jeopardy as his dwindling lease on time runs thin. Realizing the dilemma that had plagued Fedorov for so long, he rises in Tunguska, intent on seeking the heart of a gathering storm, in a desperate attempt to save his own twisted soul from the ravages of Paradox. As he peers through the shattered glass of history, deep into the mirror of time, he suddenly discovers his own self looking right back at him.
The exciting alternate history of WWII careens forward into 1942, as Germany now makes its great bid to destroy Kirov’s Soviet Russia and smash the last of the stubborn British resistance in the Middle East. Yet new weapons of war will appear, strange doppelgangers spawned from the legacy of Kirov. Now they darken the battlefields of Europe, when the tempo of technology leaps ahead to produce a new generation of tanks, aircraft and the deadly art of missile warfare arrives years early.
Don’t miss the premier of Season 3 of the amazing Kirov Series—Doppelganger.
Reading the Kirov Series
The Kirov Series is a long chain of linked novels by John Schettler in the Military Alternate History / Time Travel Genre. Like the popular movie “The Final Countdown” which saw the US Carrier Nimitz sent back in time to the eve of Pearl Harbor in 1941, in the opening volume, the powerful Russian battlecruiser Kirov is sent back to the 1940s in the Norwegian Sea where it subsequently becomes embroiled in the war.
Similar to episodes in the never ending Star Trek series, the saga continues through one episode after another as the ship’s position in time remains unstable. It culminates in Book 8 Armageddon, then continues the saga in Altered States, which begins the second saga in the series, extending through Volume 16.
How To Read the Kirov Series
The best entry point is obviously Book I, Kirov, where you will meet all the main characters in the series and learn their inner motivations. The series itself, however, is structured as sets of trilogies linked by what the author calls a “bridge novel.” The first three volumes form an exciting trilogy featuring much fast paced naval action as Kirov battles the Royal Navy, Regia Marina (Italians) and finally the Japanese after sailing to the Pacific in Book III. The bridge novel Men Of War is a second entry point which covers what happened to the ship and crew after it returned home to Vladivostok. As such it serves as both a sequel to the opening trilogy and a prequel to the next trilogy, the three novels beginning with Book V, 9 Days Falling. Each trilogy in the series is followed by a similar “bridge novel.”
The 9 Days Falling trilogy focuses on the struggle to prevent a great war in 2021 from reaching a terrible nuclear climax that destroys the world. It spans book 5, 6, and 7, featuring the outbreak of the war in 2021 as Japan and China battle over disputed islands, and the action of the Red Banner Pacific Fleet against the modern US Fleet. It then takes a dramatic turn when the ship is again shifted in time to 1945. There they confront the powerful US Pacific Fleet under Admiral Halsey, and so this trilogy focuses much of the action as Kirov faces down the US in two eras. This second trilogy also launches several subplots that serve to relate other events in the great war of 2021 and also deepen the mystery of time travel as discovered in the series. The trilogy ends at another crucial point in history where the ship’s Captain, Vladimir Karpov, believes he is in a position to decisively change events.
The next bridge novel is Armageddon, Book 8 in the series, which concludes the opening 8 volume Kirov Saga, continuing the action as a sequel to Book 7, while also standing as a kind of prologue to the next eight volume saga that begins with the Altered States trilogy. In this third trilogy, Kirov becomes trapped in the world made by its many interventions in the history, an altered reality beginning in June of 1940. The opening volume sees the ship pitted against the one navy of WWII it has not yet fought, the Kriegsmarine of Germany, which now has new powerful ships from the German Plan Z naval building program as one consequence of Kirov’s earlier actions.
The Altered States saga spans books 9 through 16, initially covering the German attack on the carrier Glorious, the British raids on the Vichy French Fleets at Mers-el Kebir and Dakar, and the German Operation Felix against Gibraltar. Other events in Siberia involve the rise of Karpov to power, and his duel with Ivan Volkov of the Orenburg Federation, one of the three fragmented Russian states. (And these involve airship battles!)
The sequel to the Altered States Trilogy and the bridge novel leading to the next set is volume 12, Three Kings. It covers the action in North Africa, including O’Connor’s whirlwind “Operation Compass” and Rommel’s riposte with his arrival and first offensive. The main characters from Kirov and other plot lines from the opening 8 book saga figure prominently in all this action, with a decisive intervention that arises from a most unexpected plot twist. Book 13, Grand Alliance continues the war in the desert as Rommel is suddenly confronted with a powerful new adversary, and Hitler reacts by strongly reinforcing the Afrika Korps. It also presents the struggle for naval supremacy in the Mediterranean as the British face down a combined Axis fleet from three enemy nations.
The Grand Alliance Trilogy continues with Hammer of God, covering a surprise German airborne attack, and the British the campaigns in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. It continues in Crescendo of Doom, the German response as Rommel begins his second offensive aimed at Tobruk on the eve of Operation Barbarossa. At the same time, the action in Siberia heats up in a growing conflict between Vladimir Karpov and Ivan Volkov.
You can enter any of these trilogies that may interest you by first reading the “bridge novel” that precedes the trilogy. For example, to read the 9 Days Falling Trilogy, begin by first reading book 4, Men Of War; and to read the Grand Alliance Trilogy, begin by first reading book 12, Three Kings. To enter the third saga that begins with Volume 17, Doppelganger, we advise you to first read the bridge novel Paradox Hour, though your understanding of the characters and plot will be fullest by simply beginning with book one and reading through them all!
More information on each book in the long series is available at www.writingshop.ws
KIROV SERIES - SAGA ONE: Kirov
First Trilogy: Kirov
Kirov - Kirov Series - Volume 1
Cauldron Of Fire - Kirov Series - Volume 2
Pacific Storm - Kirov Series - Volume 3
Bridge Novel:
Men Of War - Kirov Series - Volume 4
Second Trilogy: 9 Days Falling
Nine Days Falling - Kirov Series - Volume 5
Fallen Angels - Kirov Series - Volume 6
Devil’s Garden - Kirov Series - Volume 7
Bridge Novel:
Armageddon – Kirov Series – Volume 8
KIROV SERIES - SAGA TWO: Altered States (1940 – 1941)
Third Trilogy: Altered States
Altered States– Kirov Series – Volume 9
Darkest Hour– Kirov Series – Volume 10
Hinge Of Fate– Kirov Series – Volume 11
Bridge Novel:
Three Kings – Kirov Series – Volume 12
Fourth Trilogy: Grand Alliance
Grand Alliance – Kirov Series - Volume 13
Hammer of God– Kirov Series – Volume 14
Crescendo of Doom– Kirov Series – Volume 15
Bridge Novel:
Paradox Hour – Kirov Series - Volume 16
The series continues into 1942 & 1943 with:
Doppelganger – Volume 17
Discover other titles by John Schettler:
Award Winning Science Fiction:
Meridian - Meridian Series - Volume I
Nexus Point - Meridian Series - Volume II
Touchstone - Meridian Series - Volume III
Anvil of Fate - Meridian Series - Volume IV
Golem 7 - Meridian Series - Volume V
Classic Science Fiction:
Wild Zone - Dharman Series - Volume I
Mother Heart - Dharman Series - Volume II
Historical Fiction:
Taklamakan - Silk Road Series - Volume I
Khan Tengri - Silk Road Series - Volume II
Dream Reaper – Mythic Horror Mystery
You can view information on all these books at:
www.writingshop.ws
or
www.dharma6.com
Email: mailto:[email protected]?subject=Kirov Series
Table of Contents
Part I – Escape
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Part II – Ghost Ship
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Part III – Keeper of the Keys
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Part IV – Turnabout
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Part V – Lenkov’s Legs
Chapter 13<
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Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Part VI – The King’s Business
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Part VII – Choices
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Part VIII – Peake’s Deep
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Part IX – Maxim 17
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Part X – The Uninvited Guest
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Part XI – Twisted
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Part XII – Empty Chairs
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
The Saga Continues…
Paradox Hour Page 32