John Schettler - Grand Alliance

“Not that I’m aware of. He says he just had it in his pocket. He was going to ask what Dobrynin thought about it, and I had that same idea. So I went by engineering right after we landed, and another odd thing happened. There was a problem with the reactors.”

This got Volsky’s attention. “What kind of problem, he asked?”

“It happened just as I arrived-some kind of flux event, and Dobrynin was not happy, so I left him to his work.”

“Very curious,” said Volsky. He reached for the intercom panel on the briefing table and punched up engineering.

“Chief Dobrynin, please come to the briefing room. This is the Admiral.” He looked at Fedorov. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“You suspect something?” said Kamenski.

“We have had these flux events with the reactors before,” Volsky explained. “They always seemed to be associated with the time displacements. In fact, that was one of the clues that led us to realize our own reactors were involved in the process. Well… The Chief has a lot of ladders to climb. Let us turn to other matters for a moment. You say that O’Connor has been briefed, and this new British General has accepted his situation. Good enough. When we got the news of Rommel’s retreat, the Admirals were overjoyed. Now we know why! This is the force on land we needed, Fedorov. It is a most significant turn of events.”

“And a very dangerous one,” said Fedorov. “It was an agonizing decision, but I could see no other way. Kinlan had to know everything, and O’Connor as well. The British leadership here cannot be left in the dark.”

“Agreed,” said Volsky. ‘This is why we decided Admiral Tovey had to be let in on our little secret. Well, it may comfort you to know that we have also briefed Admiral Cunningham. So I will enlist their support concerning the matter of Wavell.”

Now he told Fedorov of the strange appearance of the Argos Fire, and Kamenski listened quietly, a light kindling in his eye as Volsky related the details of the meeting with Fairchild and MacRae, and the battles they fought with the Axis fleets. “They did not like our missiles,” he finished, but I will say this as well-I do not like their air power. Eventually we will run out of SAMs, and after that the situation looks very different for us. They can continue to build their planes, but we cannot build more missiles.”

“Kinlan will soon face this same situation,” said Fedorov. “Our power is waning, but we are still strong enough to make a difference. We stopped Rommel’s advance into Egypt, and you have seriously hurt the enemy fleets.”

“True, but have a look at that battleship they towed in. The British lost their Queen Elizabeth, and this one, Malaya, was badly damaged. Battered. I doubt if it will ever be serviceable again. Yes, we hurt the enemy far worse. The Italians lost at least three battleships-our Vodopad torpedoes performed very well this time-and the French lost the Strausbourg. Yet all things considered, and after tallying the roster of missing souls at sea again, the balance of power has not really changed. The two German ships were damaged, but I think they will sail again. So the Italians still have battleships, and the French have the Normandie and Dunkerque — not to mention the ships they still have at Casablanca. Theoretically they could still amass a fleet that could overpower anything Tovey has left here. Without us he has only Warspite with his own ship, and those two carriers. So something tells me we may have to fight another major engagement soon. Yet we have bought the British time, and that counts for something.”

“What about Gromyko, sir?”

“He’s out there,” Volsky pointed. “I have him on a defensive patrol to keep watch over the Warspite until it reaches port safely. He will join us soon.”

Then we still have three kings here in the Mediterranean,” said Fedorov, “ Kirov, Kazan, and this Argos Fire.”

“ Three kings with dwindling missile magazines,” said Volsky. “We took inventory after the battle. Not counting the close in Kashtan system, we have 76 medium and long range SAMs left and 28 ship killers. Throw in the last four Vodopad torpedoes and that makes 32. Argos Fire has 106 SAMs left, but only 10 ship killers. As for Kazan, Gromyko said he used a salvo of eight missiles, and he put two torpedoes into the Strausbourg later. That leaves him ten more Onyx missiles and his remaining torpedo inventory, perhaps 30 fish. Given its stealth, his boat is perhaps the most powerful in the world now, but after those missiles and torpedoes are gone, he’s no more threatening than a ride at an amusement park. On paper it sounds like a lot of firepower, perhaps it is more than enough to win the next battle we find ourselves in. But between the three of us 115 SAMs and 21 ship killers and torpedoes were used in this recent engagement. Yes, we have another good fight or two left in the magazines, but after that the numbers will get serious.”

“Then we have to make our difference now,” said Fedorov. “We are as strong now as we will ever be again.”

“Yes, just as I am as old now as I have ever been, and younger than I’ll ever be again!” Volsky smiled. “I am not so much worried about our ability to control the sea against their navy,” he said. “It is their air force that plagues me. The strength of their air power was underestimated. We should have had you along to clue us in, Fedorov. They hit us with three waves, and thankfully, the third wave failed to find us in the storm.”

“Understood, sir. And as for Kazan. I think Gromyko’s boat might be able to use torpedoes from this era. The engineers could modify the torpedo tubes.”

“Possibly… This was a very long war, as you well know.” At that moment Chief Dobrynin arrived, just a little breathless from his five deck climb. He saluted, greeting the men Volsky gestured for him to take a seat.

“You wanted to see me, Admiral?”

“Have we had any reactor problems today, Chief?”

“Now that you mention it, there was one small glitch. You were there, Fedorov. Sorry to be so short with you, Captain, but when that flux alarm goes off it really gets my attention. It turned out to be a small event. The system settled down just after you left.”

“I see,” said Volsky. “Then the reactors are fine?”

“There was one other incident, just before the KA-40 mission was launched. It was the same thing, a flux alarm that got me all worked up, but before I could determine what was wrong, things settled down again.”

“Could this have anything to do with those control rods?”

“They aren’t in the system now, sir. I’ve retracted both to radiation safe containers, and I’m using an old spare in the number 25 spot now. Thankfully it doesn’t send us on a marathon through time when I perform routine maintenance.”

“Chief… Orlov found something that we’d like you to take a look at.” The Admiral gestured to the Devil’s Teardrop, still sitting on the briefing table near Kamenski. Dobrynin had noticed it, wondering what it was, but now he gave it a closer examination.

“Very strange,” he said. “It’s almost glassy smooth, and very reflective. Looks like it was machined, and then deformed to this shape by high temperatures. Yet there’s no heat damage visible. You say Orlov found this?”

“In Siberia,” said Fedorov. “Along the Stony Tunguska.”

“Why is it that name raises my hackles?”

“Orlov says it acts funny,” Fedorov explained. “It changes temperatures. In fact, it got very hot-too hot to touch-right when that incident happened in the desert, Admiral.”

Kamenski had been listening to everything, sometimes with his eyes closed, as if he needed a good long nap. The mention of Tunguska perked him up again, and now he spoke up.