Stormtide Rising (Kirov Series Book 29)

by Schettler, John

  The others nodded. “Sir,” said Gromyko. “There’s one thing more. During that strike against Kirov , Chernov heard something that is more than a little disturbing.”

  “What?”

  “We think Karpov popped off a nuke.”

  Volsky pinched the bridge of his nose. “Again?” he sighed. “Why in the world would he do something like that?”

  “We got the after action report indicating two separate strike waves made an attack on his position. It simply read ‘Wave one extinguished—missile defense defeats wave two.”

  “Extinguished?”

  “Yes sir, and now Chernov says he thinks a special warhead was used. It was a glide bomb attack, sir, and by F-35’s. We were just trying to figure out how the Japanese got their hands on those planes, and why they were here.”

  “Yes,” said Volsky, “more uninvited guests. It is obvious that they got them from the Americans. As to why and how they got here, that will remain our little mystery, and one they are probably still trying to solve as well.”

  “Then you believe their presence here is an accident—not intentional, like our mission?”

  “Intentional? I suppose only they would know the answer to that question.” Volsky inclined his head. “Thinking that would open some very dark doors, would it not? If they came here willfully, then that means they, like we, have discovered the means to move mass through time. That alone is cause for grave concern. It also means they came here intending to kill Kirov , as I do not think they would know about your boat.”

  “Unless they read about us,” said Gromyko.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well sir, we’re out here re-writing all this history. This would be recorded and known to those in the future.”

  “Interesting…. Darkly interesting, Mister Gromyko. Yes, we are still re-writing history here, even as we try to erase all evidence of our own tracks, as per out little agreement with Karpov. I don’t think we can answer all these questions just yet, but I do think we ought to head south to find Kirov , and make sure Karpov hasn’t got a pen in his hand as he approaches this base at Rabaul to do any more writing in his personal history book.”

  “Very well, sir.” Gromyko looked to Belanov. “Bring us around to 180, and make your depth 430, just above the layer, speed 24 knots.”

  That was how they left the scene of that little engagement. Gromyko would never know just how close he was to his quarry, and what he might have risked and done there if he had decided to engage those last two contacts.

  “Just to be on the safe side,” said Volsky. “I think I had better send a message to Karpov myself.”

  “Very good, sir. Belanov will show you the way.”

  * * *

  “Signal on the secure channel, sir. It’s from Admiral Volsky.” Nikolin looked over his shoulder.

  “Send it to my ready room. Mister Fedorov? Care to join me?”

  The two men withdrew, with the hatch closed behind them. Karpov sat down at his desk, swiveling a pad device and tapping in the code to bring up the decrypted message”

  “Ah,” he said. “Someone is getting curious. It asks me to confirm or deny use of special warheads. Very interesting.”

  “Chernov,” said Fedorov. “He’s got ears like Tasarov. I don’t think that detonation went unnoticed. The blast wave would have hit the ocean surface very hard, even from the altitude where you detonated that warhead.”

  “Indeed,” said Karpov. He was already tapping out his response. “I suppose I should inform his lordship, as a curtesy—not a response to any order he may have intended with that message.”

  “Yes, your highness,” said Fedorov. “Who’s playing it high and mighty now?”

  “Alright, Fedorov. I’ll admit I can be haughty at times.”

  “To say the least.”

  “It isn’t that,” said Karpov. “It’s about boundaries. Volsky should realize that he doesn’t rank me here—not any longer. That time is long past. So I’ll confirm on his request, and indicate it was a necessary expedient to save the ship. He can believe what he chooses in that. But Kazan has turned and they are now heading south. The good Admiral wants to know where we are going.”

  “Well…. Where are we going? We broke off from that action some time ago.”

  “I’m taking us south, away from that damn Japanese task force. It isn’t the destroyers I worry about, but those F-35’s are a nuisance.”

  “That’s an understatement,” said Fedorov.

  “Well, we’ve broken off, and I don’t think they know where we are, but that engagement was most unwelcome, and it cost us.”

  “Yes, missiles, a KA-40, and one of three special warheads. That was a heavy price to pay.”

  “It might have been much steeper,” said Karpov. “We would have gone the way of Takami , and getting that damn ship was our only consolation. If not for the carrier, I would have stood and fought those destroyers, and beaten them too.”

  “That would have taken a lot of SSMs” said Fedorov. “We decided that Takami wasn’t worth the missiles.”

  “Only after they had expended all their SSMs,” Karpov corrected. “Between those three destroyers, they had 24 to throw at us. I would have swatted each and every one down. They just move too slow, and make easy quarry for our SAMs. But their SM-2 is very good. It even has a chance against our MOS-III. My problem is that I need every missile we have to remain a viable threat here.”

  “A threat? I thought we were trying to extricate ourselves from this whole scenario.”

  “Yes, yes, but what about Volkov? And now what about all these damn modern Japanese ships that appear so suddenly like this? What the hell is going on, Fedorov?”

  “I’ve told you what I think on that. The fabric of spacetime has been so damaged that things are slipping through, particularly when there is any active detonation event, like that Nuke you fired.”

  “We did not detect any more interlopers after that,” said Karpov.

  “That’s a relief,” said Fedorov. “The thing is this, Admiral. These detonations don’t have to occur here. They can happen at any point in time from this day forward. Think of all the nuclear testing that went on here in the Pacific after the war. Each one may have put a crack in time, and things can slip through. And what’s happening in 2021? My bet is that a lot of nukes are starting to fly, and that means trouble.”

  Chapter 35

  “You mean you believe things might still be coming through?” Karpov found that prospect very riveting. “Here? To World War II?”

  Thus far, this is where most of the shifts have brought things,” said Fedorov. “You got further back, to 1908, when you used a nuke here. And just now, you saw what happened to the ship when you fired off this one. We phased.”

  “Yes,” said Karpov. “I saw you vanish right before my eyes, and then reappear. “You phased, Fedorov.”

  “Somewhat frightening to think about.”

  “And you believe the ship phased with you? Why was I the steady observer. Did you notice anything?”

  “It all happened so fast,” said Fedorov, “in the blink of an eye. But a word to the wise. We phased, and if the ship had been closer to that detonation, who knows where we might have shifted.”

  “But I have removed Rod-25 and placed it in a rad-safe container,” said Karpov.

  “We don’t know if that is enough of a safety measure,” said Fedorov. “Hell, we don’t even know how the exotic materials in that control rod work their magic. The rad safe container may help, but it might not be fool proof.”

  “Interesting,” said Karpov. “Yes, the ship got back to 1908 alright, and that set up a good deal of misery that I’ve been trying to redress ever since. I would have solved it then and there, if not for your little crusade.”

  “Yes, yes, we’ve been over that. Well let me tell you something I’ve done recently in the here and now—a little secret project I’ve been busy with.”

  “Go on,” said Karpov. �
��You know how I love hearing about your little schemes.”

  “I seeded German intelligence with information concerning all the oil reserves Orenburg is sitting on now. It’s clear that Volkov has been using his knowledge of field locations to position his forces with the aim of controlling those resources. Many may not be developed now, but they will in the future.”

  “Yes, he’s already busy at Kashagan and the Tengiz fields,” said Karpov. “That man has sunk more tech dollars into improving his oil extraction methods than he has into building decent tanks and planes. I suppose he thinks his friends in Germany will supply all those other needs, while he provides the oil the Reich needs to keep running this war.”

  “That is what I thought,” said Fedorov with a smile. “So I did a little whispering.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I sent German intelligence a map of all present and future oil developments that would be under Orenburg’s control.”

  “Ah… Then you thought to drive a wedge into that alliance?”

  “Exactly. It may have already had an effect. I’ve had Nikolin picking up signals traffic, and we’ve been decoding German high level directives to field armies and such. I send it all to Turing at Bletchley park too. In any case, there have been some interesting developments of late—troop movements, redeployments. Hitler moved several Italian Korps into position along the Don and closed off all those crossing points. He’s also given orders for German troops to retain control of Baba Gurgur, and he’s sent another parachute division there to make sure that happens. The Turkomen divisions were getting pushy. In fact, we intercepted a direct order from Orenburg to their commander. He was to encircle and secure those oil fields, but Hitler has raised the ante. He had but one regiment there, now he’ll have four.”

  “Interesting,” said Karpov. “I’m sure my Tyrenkov had all of this as well, but I haven’t spoken with him lately with all this business we’ve been about.”

  “There’s more,” said Fedorov. “Orenburg has ordered a new Army from Kazakhstan to move to the vicinity of Maykop. Hitler gave his troops conducting their Edelweiss Operation direct orders that German troops were to occupy and secure those fields.”

  “I see where this is going,” said Karpov. “Very clever, Mister Fedorov; worthy of my own conniving genius.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment. I thought that if we could break that alliance, it would go a long way towards restoring the balance on the East Front. If the Germans do come to blows with Volkov, then we get a war in the east very similar to the one from our own history—with the full resources of all Russia united against Germany.”

  “Not necessarily,” said Karpov. “That would mean that Volkov and I would have to reach an accord, and that Sergei Kirov and Volkov would also have to mend fences. I’m not sure either one will happen. Right now I’ve had my brother building airships and raising troops to reopen the front at Omsk. It’s all part of my Plan 7, which I was very much enjoying now that I control all of Kamchatka and half of Sakhalin Island. In the Spring, I had another big operation planned for the drive on Vladivostok. Alas, if we do what we must, I’ll miss all that.”

  There came a knock on the door, and it was Nikolin, bearing a recent message transcript. He handed it off to Karpov with a salute, and was back to his post, but he wished he could have stayed there in that room to hear what would now be discussed by Fedorov and Karpov. On the way back to his post, he would lean in over his friend Tasarov.

  “Listening to whale songs, or rock and roll?” he asked.

  “What?” said Tasarov, removing his headphones. “I’m listening for any sign of those Japanese ships.”

  “Well I just heard something pretty dramatic. There may be a peace proposal being floated between Siberia and Orenburg. Can you imagine that?” He gave his friend a wink, and was off to his post. Nikolin always knew everything, privy to every message and secret of the ship in his position as chief of communications and encryption. But sometimes he knew too much….

  * * *

  “Well, Fedorov, your little scheme seems to have worked! Volkov actually sent old Doctorov to a secret meeting with my brother and Tyrenkov near Omsk. I don’t have all the details yet, but it appears that the Ambassador was bearing an olive branch.”

  “From Volkov?”

  “A document signed by his own hand.”

  “That is news,” said Fedorov, “very good news indeed.”

  “Assuming I treat with that criminal.”

  “What? Don’t you see what an opportunity this would be? You were just talking about it a moment ago. If Volkov turns, then the entire momentum of the war in the east turns with him. He’s a free radical, and one with terrible power to influence the outcome of these events.”

  “Assuming he lives to participate in any of these events,” said Karpov darkly. “Assuming he lives at all…”

  That got Fedorov’s attention. “Now what is that supposed to mean?” he asked.

  “Things have changed here,” said Karpov, “just as they changed in the Western Desert when you ran into that Brigade from 2021. We may have to take a different view of things now that these damnable modern Japanese ships have appeared. If we stay here, I think I would have to withdraw to the north soon to support the renewal of operations on Sakhalin. That is very near Japanese home waters, and so we’ll probably have to face that enemy task force again soon. Combat is always risky, as we’ve just seen. Suppose we get hit, or even sunk?”

  “Losing your nerve, Karpov?”

  “No, quite the contrary. I’m just listening to my head. It tells me that we have some hard days ahead. This new Japanese task force could cause a great deal of trouble. Imagine what they could do if they aren’t eliminated? They could stop the momentum the Americans are building up in the New Hebrides, I’ll guarantee that much. Those F-35’s would make short work of a few Essex Class carriers, and never even be seen while they do so. The Americans will be cruising along, and then their carriers will simply begin exploding right under their fat asses.” Karpov smiled. “Oh, how I’d love to see the look on Halsey’s face when that happens.”

  “Considering that he almost ran you off the map in 1945,” said Fedorov. “No offense intended.”

  “None taken, Fedorov. I get your point.”

  Now Karpov lapsed into silence for a moment, thinking. “Fedorov,” he began. “Suppose we’re going at this all the wrong way. All these contaminations we’re trying to cleanse from the time line seem to be multiplying. We set our minds on getting Takami , and now we’ve a whole new enemy task force out there to deal with.”

  “Yes,” said Fedorov. “Don’t remind me.”

  “Well this isn’t going to be as easy as we first thought.”

  “I never thought it would be easy.”

  “True, but you thought it would be possible, otherwise why commit to this course of action in the first place?”

  “I suppose you’re right.”

  “Well,” said Karpov, “things have changed. The presence of that new Japanese task force may present us with an insurmountable problem.”

  “You really don’t think we can beat them?”

  Karpov narrowed his eyes. “Like I said, I’m just reasoning this all out. I’m a realist, Fedorov. You saw what it took to fend off that surprise F-35 attack. We had helos up, and the damn planes flew right through their radar coverage. If we engage again, this ship will do harm, I can assure you that, but we may have to take our lumps to do so. We could survive one hit, and possibly two, depending on where the weapon struck us. But tangling with that task force here and now is going to be very dangerous. Kazan has a better chance than a surface ship like Kirov . He has both stealth and speed at his command, not to mention the missiles and torpedoes. If we continue this fight, we’ll have to rely a good deal on Gromyko.”

  “How would you proceed?”

  Karpov thought for a moment. “I would picket Kazan , well north of my position, and then I’d bark like
a dog until they get a fix on me. They’ll come for me, and to do that, they would have to run right over Gromyko. That’s when he throws everything he has at them, and I mean everything. If he can’t take them out with his missiles, then he should also strongly consider resorting to a special warhead.”

  “What? didn’t you hear what I just said about the fragility of the continuum?”

  “Yes, I heard all of that, but if you want the job done concerning this new threat, you have to be ready to use a hammer.”

  “Well, you might just end up smashing your own thumb,” said Fedorov. “I’d be very cautious about throwing another nuke here.”

  “Agreed,” said Karpov. “Your scheme to drive a wedge between Hitler and Volkov was very clever, but there may be another way. We could roll the dice again.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What I mean is this—beating that Japanese task force isn’t going to be easy, and if we do, our missile inventory is going to be very thin when we’re done. Kirov has 33 SSMs left under that front deck. And we’ve only 24 S-400’s remaining. After that, we’re down to the medium range enhanced Klinok system. They aren’t nearly as effective as the Triumf , and their range maxes out right around the typical release point for another of those damn glide bomb attacks. That means that they can penetrate our radar coverage, and probably get to their release point safely if I don’t have the range of the Triumf to deal with them first. If I get another sixty bombs inbound, we’re finished. The Klinok system can’t handle that kind of saturation attack. Oh, we’ll get many of them, and it will be a grand fight when they get in close and the Gatling guns and Kashtans go after them, but I’m telling you right now—we’re going to take hits. We stand a very good chance of losing the ship. That eradicates us from the time line, eh? But it may leave the Japanese ships here to raise more hell. Kazan has only so many missiles. Gromyko won’t get them all.”

  Karpov was finally telling it like he saw it, and now Fedorov had another angle on why he had instinctively resorted to the use of a special warhead. As powerful as Kirov was, it was not invulnerable any longer. A carrier with good strike planes was still top dog, and it wasn’t likely that Kirov would ever get close enough to the flattop to use its missiles.”