Hammer of God (Kirov Series Book 14)

by John Schettler

  Volkov waved his hand. “That force is meant merely to pose a powerful threat to the enemy positions on the Ob River. Don’t you understand? The ground attack will precede the air operation, and it will pull in reserves from all along the front. I don’t care whether it succeeds or not, as it is only meant to engage as many enemy units as possible. Then the air mobile operation can proceed against Ilanskiy. It’s intent will be to move the 22nd Division as quickly as possible to that location, just as we did in that ill fated raid—only this time we will bring twelve battalions, not only two. Once the troops have landed, the air fleet will seek out and destroy any airship opposition, and we will also secure the airfields at Kansk, while interdicting the Trans-Siberian Rail in both directions. The fleet is to operate in a massed formation. I expect we will quickly destroy the three airships Karpov has near Ilanskiy, and any others will arrive piecemeal—and be destroyed the same way.”

  “It is likely they will hold them back once they see the size of the force we are committing,” said Kymchek.

  “In that event, one division will remain on station at Ilanskiy, and the other two will operate to seek out the remnant of the enemy fleet and destroy it. I want complete air superiority over Siberia when this operation concludes, and complete control of Ilanskiy.”

  “Yes sir, but what will we do there? It’s just a tiny railway station in the middle of nowhere.”

  “No Kymchek, it is very much more than that. It is right in the middle of everywhere, and once I have it, then we will see what Karpov has been up to there. You say he has artisans and engineers working that site?”

  “He has a significant group there, and they’ve been cutting fresh timber for some building project. I can’t imagine why he would want to expand that rail depot, unless he means to make it a major supply center—or perhaps a new weapons development site.”

  “He intends neither,” said Volkov. “He already has what he wants there—that damn railway inn. That is the whole of it, Kymchek—the inn! It will be the principle objective of the air mobile force. They are to take and secure the town, and gain control of that inn. Care must be taken to prevent any further damage to the building. None of Karpov’s engineers are to be killed or harmed. I’ll want to interrogate each and every one personally. Understand? And plans or construction blueprints are to be highly prized and brought to me at once. This is of the utmost importance.”

  “Very well, sir… But if I knew why this inn was so essential to you, I might be much more effective.”

  “In time, Kymchek. I will brief you on this later. For now, see that these orders are carried out—to the letter.”

  Volkov rubbed his hands together, and not because they were cold. At last he had the opportunity to completely eliminate Karpov’s airship fleet. As long as the crafty Admiral was on the scene, it had proven almost impossible to outmaneuver him. He always deployed his airships within close supporting distance, and his radar and air observation units would spot any incursion across the border, particularly after Ilanskiy.

  Yet I was never able to free up a force this size—twelve airships. They were always tied down in ground support all along the front, and half my fleet is still committed to that duty. Yes, it will be risky to pull so many ships off the line like this. We need their capabilities as recon and fire support units, but Sergei Kirov will be happy to see them gone for a time. I wonder if he will alert the Siberians? I’ve planned it so that each division will withdraw intermittently, and any ships remaining on the line will double their patrol run duty so as to give the impression that nothing has changed.

  Yes, a diligent enemy would see through that, but I am counting on the Siberians to be less than diligent at the moment. They undoubtedly have the same news of Karpov’s disappearance, and tomorrow it will be a full week since the Tunguska went missing. By now they will be wondering if they will ever see their little Admiral again, and getting to squabbling over who is in charge there. Another three days to pull my assault fleet together should do the trick.

  The fleet will assemble over Lake Ubinskoye west of Novosibirsk, and swing up above Tomsk. They have only one airship patrolling there, and we’ll brush it aside without a second thought. Then we run due west for 625 kilometers, and with favorable winds, we should cover that distance in just eight or nine hours. That will put us just an hour north of Ilanskiy, and we’ll land the whole division north of the town by regiments, with at least eight airships on overwatch while each regiment lands.

  Volkov smiled. Yes, Karpov knew an attack like this was coming one day or another. A pity he won’t be there to join in the fight, but things will be much smoother this way. I suppose he thought I would never risk another operation like this after the debacle with Symenko and the Alexandra. It was a shame to lose Petrov and the Oskemen as well, but at least I found out what I wanted to know about Ilanskiy. It matters! Yes, it matters a great deal to Karpov, and so now it will matter a great deal to me.

  Once the dust settles, and the area is secure, I think I may just go there and have a look for myself. Whatever Karpov was up to, it had something to do with that railway inn. Interesting that Sergei Kirov should also take enough notice of the place to support that raid with the Narva. Yes… Kirov knows that place matters as well. What will he do when he sees me pull this operation off right under his nose? Perhaps when I have a full division sitting on Ilanskiy, and the means of keeping it supplied with my airships, then Kirov might be inclined to talk about his little campaign in the Caucasus.

  Now then… With Kirov in mind, what do I do about that ship? Kymchek has finally confirmed that it is Admiral Volsky commanding Kirov. That was quite a surprise, as the last I knew he was chained to a desk at Naval Headquarters Fokino. How did he manage to get to the ship? For that matter, how did that entire ship and crew manage to get here? I had my suspicions about that ship all along, and now they are confirmed. There must have been some top secret project underway with Kirov. Was Inspector General Kapustin in the know? Was Director Kamenski involved? He certainly went to great pains to get me out of the picture, sending me off on that bear hunt for Fedorov—though that worked out much better for me than he expected.

  Yet the ship remains a serious problem, not only for me, but for the Germans as well. It has already stopped operations in the north, and now it is in the Mediterranean Sea backstopping the Royal Navy. What has possessed Volsky that he should side with the British? Yes, I know Germany is about to wreak havoc on the homeland in short order, but the British and Americans will be the ones strangling us for the next eighty years, and they will be the ones firing ICBMs at us in 2021. I know what Volsky must be thinking. He’s trying to change all that, and re-write the history after this war. But it isn’t going to end with Great Britain and America calling the shots this time—not if I can prevent that.

  No. The Germans are going to win this time, if I have anything more to say about it. After that, I’ll deal with Hitler in the years ahead. This business at Ilanskiy may afford me many more opportunities that I cannot foresee just now. A man must have patience.

  But the ship… that damnable battlecruiser. At the moment the Germans have no idea what they are dealing with. Yes, they’ve seen the missiles, and felt them as well. Perhaps this will spur them to get busy with their own missile development as I have been urging. Thank God they built those naval service jackets to last. I’m amazed that mine lasted as long as it did, and all those long hours extracting data, having things transcribed into my archive, will come in very handy in the days ahead.

  I can help the Germans along with their own rocket technology. Is Volsky doing the same thing for the British? And what about the warheads? That ship is certain to have several operational nukes in the magazines. They haven’t used any yet, not even to prevent the fall of Gibraltar, which was quite a surprise to me. Then again, they know this is going to be a long struggle, and perhaps they are sitting on those eggs for use later in the war.

  My own project is taking more tim
e than I had hoped. We have the materials, but those bumbling idiots in the research labs haven’t been able to enrich enough fuel yet. I suppose I shouldn’t complain. Look how long it took the Iranians to enrich the fuel for their first bombs, and that was in modern times. That said, it will be a few more years before I have a working bomb for testing. If the war goes as I foresee it, the bomb may not even be necessary. It remains to be seen how much fight Soviet Russia will have in it after I eliminate the Siberians.

  Certainly once Operation Barbarossa begins, the clock will be ticking for Sergei Kirov. Kymchek tells me the Germans have transferred Manstein to the southern front early. That is a most capable general. I have no doubt that he will push into the Crimea within thirty days, and once that objective is secured, Kirov’s Black Sea Fleet will be bottled up in the Sea of Azov, and useless to him. After that, I will see that the Germans drive on Rostov as soon as possible, and that will settle the matter.

  So it is only a matter of time now before this little squabble in the Caucasus ends favorably for me. Then I do my part and the oil flows west on any rail lines the Germans manage to clear and keep operational—and by sea as well. The accord recently concluded with Turkey was a major plum! It will mean I will also have access to their rail system. The question remains as to where my armies would be best positioned for the fighting in 1942.

  The British have had quite a few surprises this year. Losing Gibraltar, Malta and now Cyprus was quite a blow to their war effort in the Med. Now they think to redress the matter by securing Syria and Iraq, but with German troops able to move by rail, that is going to be much more difficult than they expect.

  These reports of a new British tank were most disturbing. Rommel’s setback was not foreseen at all. Kymchek hasn’t been able to get me any hard intelligence on those tanks yet. All we have is hearsay from the Germans. Who is calling the shots for the other side? Did they produce plans for an new armored vehicle? How could the British have produced it so quickly, even if they did have good plans? Was Volsky behind this development, or that little gutter snipe navigator of his? Yes, most likely this Fedorov I was after all those years ago—all those years hence. Odd to think of it that way. I spent my youth in days I will never see now, in the far off future.

  He settled into his chair, needing coffee, for there were still a great many things to plan and consider.

  Chapter 24

  Gromyko got the order to proceed into the Aegean Sea, scratching the back of his head as he looked over the charts. Kazan was already in the Eastern Med, and it had been useful in discouraging a flotilla of fast French cruisers and destroyers when they appeared off Cyprus, intent on reaching the Syrian coast. Two torpedoes had been used, wake homing on the speedy destroyers and taking out two ships before the flotilla scattered and reversed course for Taranto.

  “What do you make of this one?” he asked his Starpom, Belanov.

  “Restricted waters,” he said. “Particularly in the Dardanelles. Look at that bottleneck there,” he pointed at the chart, to a position just off Canakkale. “The channel is less than a mile wide there. Once we get into the Sea of Marmara there would be plenty of room to maneuver, but not there. What if they have anti-sub nets and minefields?”

  “They probably do,” said Gromyko, “but we won’t have to transit the Dardanelles unless we want to use torpedoes.”

  “You want to use cruise missiles?”

  “Why not? We know they’ll need to board trains on the Asian side, right near the existing Marmaray rail terminal. We have those exact coordinates and we can program the missiles to target that spot. It would be no good lurking in the channel waiting for big fat ferry boats. We wouldn’t know the schedule, and what good would sinking a few ferries do? We would have to get out of there right after the attack.”

  “I understand,” said Belanov. “So you are thinking we could saturate that rail terminal easily enough. I suppose that would do much more damage, but won’t it cause problems? There are already rumors that the British have been using Naval missiles. How would they be able to deny the attack? It would be a deliberate act of war against Turkey.”

  “I raised that with Admiral Volsky,” said Gromyko. “He has communicated our intentions to Moscow, and they are going to issue a statement that the attack was a reprisal for allowing German military units to transit neutral territory.”

  “The Soviet Union isn’t even at war with Germany yet,” said Belanov.

  “I know, but I’ll let Volsky sort that out with the British and Sergei Kirov. All I know is that I have obtained permission for a missile attack, and that seems the safest way to get the job done. Volsky says the British need time, and we have to do something to slow down the German troop buildup in Syria. So this is what we will do.”

  Gromyko pointed out a position on the navigation charts. “We can get here, between the Island of Lemnos and the Turkish coast. From there it is just about 300 Kilometers in a straight shot to the target. We can use the new Inertial Measuring Unit function on the guidance system. That chip can do absolute position tracking while the missile is in flight. I have no doubt that we can hit the target, even without GPS.”

  “Shall we set course now?” Belanov looked over his shoulder at the helmsman.

  “See to it. I’m going aft to check on the missile bays. This will be a night attack, so time our arrival appropriately.”

  “Aye sir.”

  * * *

  Elena Fairchild was stewing in her executive suite when the knock on the door came that she expected. “Come,” she said quietly, and Captain MacRae entered, removing his hat. She gave him a long look, remembering that last fitful night here before they launched the mission to Delphi. That seemed so long ago now, though she knew she could count the days if she thought about it. Yet so much had happened, the discovery of that strange box at Delphi—the device—the unexpected time shift it caused.

  Now it was that mystery that continued to haunt her, and she wanted someone to talk to, someone to share the burden she was carrying. Gordon was the only one she could take to heart, and she was glad to see his smile. It had been all business on the ship since the shift that brought them here, and she longed for a simple human moment where she could put this incredible situation out of her mind for a time and just live.

  So she took this opportunity, saying nothing, and merely walking across the room, her eyes on MacRae’s the whole while, and embraced him. He took the opportunity as well, his Captain’s hat dropping unceremoniously to the carpeted floor, and the kiss long and deep. They would spend some hours there, as they did before, and found the time and place a sanctuary that they both dearly needed to hide in, a refuge from war, and fate, and time itself. When it was over she felt whole again in a way that was hard to describe, grounded, joined to someone, and not trapped in the isolation of the solitary watch she had maintained these many years.

  The Watch… She was still officially Watchstander G1, though now the very ship she had been told to look out for was riding at anchor with the British fleet, not 300 yards off their starboard bow. So I guess my watch is over, she thought. Geronimo has turned out to be a friend this time around, and not the demon ship that bedeviled us in the past. That alone strained her mind, because she realized something profound in coming to that conclusion. This wasn’t the world she had left behind with her oil filled tankers off Delphi. In this place, none of the history that had led to her taking this position in the Watch had even occurred, though strangely, there seemed to be evidence and odd artifacts from that reality that still dangled like loose, errant threads in the tapestry of this world.

  The box she had found… That note signed by Admiral John Tovey, and then the other box he had mentioned when they spoke here after that first tour of the ship. How did these things get here? Tovey had told her that Bletchley Park had come across a file box of evidence that could only have come from that other world—the world she left behind. He said it was found within the archives of BP itself, as if it had b
een there for years, covered in dust and long forgotten.

  “Gordon,” she said after they had finished a light meal together, talking superficially of the workings of the ship at first, and getting assurance that all was in order.

  “I know that tone well enough by now,” he said calmly. “So what are you worried about this time?”

  “Not worried,” she said. “Just curious, I suppose. That box we found at Delphi… It’s been nagging at me.”

  “Aye, Mack and I have tried to get a handle on that, but he hasn’t any ideas either.”

  “Not something our Intelligence Master could help us with this time,” said Elena. “It’s very odd. I told Admiral Tovey about it, and that note with his name on it. He seemed to take it in stride, as I suppose he’s seen more than a fair share of the impossible in these last months. Yet he had no answer for me either. The note said it would serve to keep us in a safe nexus, and I’ve some inkling of that, but I just can’t figure how it might work.”

  “Safe nexus? The last time you brought that up, we ended up here.”

  “That we did. Mack came in with the report of that odd interference on all comm systems—couldn’t raise anything, not even on AM or FM.”

  “Yes, and you said something very odd, Elena. You seemed to know some mischief was underway.”

  “I guess I could feel it,” she said. “The shift was happening—the time shift that brought us here.”

  “Did you expect that to happen? Did you know about all of this?”

  “Not at all. At least I didn’t expect things to happen as they did. But I haven’t told you everything, Gordon. That key I have, the one that opened that hidden chamber at Delphi, and the one we used on that box…. Well, it isn’t the only one. There are others.”

  “Others? Other keys? Other boxes like that one?” He pointed to the back bulkhead that hid the secret inner office where the Red Phone was harbored.