John Schettler - Armageddon

“And do not forget Tasarov,” said Volsky.

“Tasarov?” Kamenski did not know the man.

“He is the sonar operator aboard Kirov, and one of the very best in the fleet. His ear for sonar is every bit as good as Dobrynin’s where these reactors are concerned. If we do take the hard road, and that would be to take action without first contacting Karpov, then Tasarov will be the main obstacle to our success.”

Volsky folded his arms. “This will not be an easy mission,” he said with obvious sadness in his voice. “These are my men-the fighting crew of Kirov. That ship has been through hell and back again, and to think of what we may now have to do is most unsettling.”

“We need not decide our final course at the moment,” said Kamenski, “but I agree, this will be a major fork in the road, and in some respects it influences a choice we must make before we get underway. I assume we have an approximate idea of Kirov’s general position in 1908, Mister Fedorov?”

“We were able to generalize their signal as coming from the Sea of Japan, and Karpov confirmed that.”

“An encouraging start, but ships move, so we must wonder where he might go.”

“He will most likely look to dominate the Japanese Imperial Navy,” said Fedorov. “This will be necessary if he is to have any real influence there. To do so he will have to engage that fleet in battle, and he will be up against a very wily Admiral Togo, perhaps one of the greatest Admirals in modern naval history. If I had to bet on it, I would guess the action would occur at a key chokepoint waterway-either the Yellow Sea, or the Straits of Tsushima.”

“Alright,” said Kamenski. “You and the Admiral can plot all this out on your navigation maps, but my question is when do we sail south-in time, that is? Do we proceed in the here and now? Or do we shift back to 1908 first and make our approach in that era?”

Volsky nodded his head gravely. “I can see how this choice relates to the other decision we must make. If we sail south now it will be very risky with the Americans and Japanese all stirred up here. That said, we might be very close to Kirov when we appear and achieve complete tactical surprise. Then again, if we make our approach south in 1908 the journey will be relatively safe and quiet, except that silence in the sea gives our mister Tasarov the best possible chance to hear us coming. We have a great deal to decide here gentlemen. But I suggest we get to the Admiral Kuznetsov first.”

Schettler, John

Kirov Saga: Armageddon (Kirov Series)

“There’s one other matter before we go, said Fedorov. “Orlov has asked if he could come with us,”

“Orlov?” Volsky’s face revealed some hesitation over this. “The man has already jumped ship once, Mister Fedorov. This may not be wise.”

“That is not how he tells the story now, Admiral. He says there was an electrical fire on the KA-226 and they were unable to communicate with us. The radio was dead.”

“I see…And the jamming?”

“I asked him about that, and he claims the emergency systems came on during the fire. Then he saw our missiles and jumped. The pilot could not get out in time.”

“You believe him?”

“I would like to, sir.”

“Even so, what does he contribute to the mission?”

Kamenski spoke up now, raising a finger to make a point. “This Orlov was the man Mister Fedorov rescued in 1942? That means he has moved in time, Admiral. He is here in the nexus point with us, whether we bring him along or not.”

“A lot of others have moved in time as well. I had a full reinforced company of Naval Marines with Mister Fedorov. Are they all in the borscht with us?”

“In some regard, but Orlov is special. This Mister Dorland, the American Physicist, I have read his work as well. I think he would call Orlov a free radical, someone at large in the meridians of time with a great deal of influence. After all, if Fedorov had not gone after him, then we would not now know what Karpov was planning or even where he was. The history might have simply changed, and we would have changed right along with it-in fact, we might not even exist! Orlov led Mister Fedorov to 1942, and from there he fell through to another gopher hole and found Karpov in 1908. That was either very fortunate, or very fated. Time lifted her skirts to show us where Karpov was hiding, and we have Orlov to thank for that knowledge. You can leave him behind, but somehow his life and fate seems closely associated with the outcome of this saga.”

Volsky considered that. “I suppose we could keep a good eye on the man if we do take him. I know Orlov. If we leave him behind he will start talking to anyone who might listen about his little exploits. Very well. He can come, but I will have words with the man before we launch the mission. I want no nonsense.”

“As acting mission commander I restored Orlov as a Captain of the second rank,” said Fedorov. “He thought we had come to arrest him for court martial. In fact, he thought we were trying to kill him. Those S-300s we fired left him with a bad feeling. I think he attributed it to Karpov, but I was Captain at the time, and the final authorization to fire came from me, though I haven’t told him that yet. So I thought restoring his rank would be a good way to start again with this man.”

“Perhaps, you are right, Fedorov. Very well. I will let this decision stand and confirm his rank as Captain. Send him along with Engineering Chief Dobrynin.”

“There’s one other thing, sir.” Fedorov looked from the Admiral to Kamenski now, the light of something very important in his eyes. “On the way west to find Orlov I discovered something quite alarming.”

“Go on, Mister Fedorov, you have told us nothing of that journey, but I assume it was somewhat dangerous. What happened?”

“We stopped at a small railway in east of Kansk at a place called Ilanskiy.”

“Yes, there is a naval arsenal just south of that location,” said Volsky.

“Well there is something else there too, Admiral, something very important.” He went on to describe the inn, the stairway, and the strange incident that had occurred, along with the meeting with Mironov.”

“My God,” said Kamenski. “The stairs took you to the year 1908? You are certain it was Kostrikov?”

“I was just as shocked as you seem, Director, but it was him. I looked up photos of his early life, and I never forget a face. I met Sergei Kirov there in the dining hall, but the really significant thing I discovered was on that back stairway. Kirov got curious about me, I suppose. He may have been suspicious of my uniform, and he came up that back stairway. It brought him from his world of 1908, to the one we were in at that moment, 1942.”

“Astounding! Then there is some kind of rift or tear in the fabric of time there,” Kamenski’s face belied that he knew more than he was saying now, and Fedorov could perceive it.

“This is how I came to understand it, Director, and I think it all has something to do with the Tunguska event.”

“Yes,” said Volsky. “Mister Kamenski and I came to a similar conclusion. These control rods have materials in them that we now believe originate from that event. Whatever it was that exploded over the Stony Tunguska River Valley that day, it has created some very unusual effects.”

“It may be that this rift in time was not the only one to result from that event,” said Kamenski quietly.

“You know of others?”

The silence after that question was very telling, holding the answer in the affirmative within its emptiness. “Yes, gentlemen, we know of others. This one, however, is something new. This we did not know. To think that it may have existed there on that back stairway is most troubling. Who may have traversed those stairs in the past, coming and going from one era to another?”