John Schettler - Devil's Garden

“It’s 1908, Rodenko! Nicholas II holds power in Russia now. The events of the early revolution, Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg and the October Manifesto have only just transpired a few years ago. The First World War won’t begin for another six years! The Bolsheviks don’t throw out the Tsar until 1917. At this point in time we could make decisive changes that would affect the history of the entire 20th Century! Think of it.”

Rodenko did think on it, but the memory of that awful atomic blast and mushroom cloud still haunted him. “I mean no disrespect, sir,” he began, “but haven’t we done enough harm to the history of the 20th Century? I mean, what will happen there in 1945 now that we’re gone? What happened to Orlan? We destroyed that American battleship, but will they just leave it at that if they sink our comrades?”

“That undoubtedly happened,” said Karpov. “Orlan could not survive what we were facing. It would have taken virtually every weapon we possessed to overcome the American navy there. I’ll have to live with that, and with what we saw happen to the Admiral Golovko. That we avenged in kind, but this situation presents all new possibilities.”

“But we have no idea how that intervention changed the history after we disappeared in 1945, sir. What if the Americans retaliated? They also had atomic weapons. Something tells me that all we did is make things very much worse than they might have been. They knew we were Russian, sir. We barely scratched their fleet in those engagements, but our actions left behind deep distrust, if not outright enmity between the US and Russia.”

“We left nothing behind that was not destined to be born in any case, Rodenko. You remember the history of the cold war. The Americans will oppose us until it comes to the final war in 2021. And that, I’m afraid, we will lose. Once the US establishes itself as a world power it will not be defeated by an external power.”

“Unless it goes down with the rest of the world, sir. Isn’t that what we saw when we shifted forward in time? Isn’t that why we sortied in the first place-to try and prevent the destruction we saw?”

“Correct, but once again, we had the wrong time and place. The Fleet was no more capable of effectively opposing the Americans in 2021 that we were in 1945. Yes, we hurt them in both engagements, but they can replace their losses and carry on. That is not the case for Russia. The losses we sustained were decisive. Volsky has nothing left to fight with now, unless Admiral Kuznetsov survived. So that war comes down to bombers and missiles. And I’m willing to bet that you are also correct that we caused more harm than anything else by our actions in 1945. The Americans will take a hard line with Stalin from the very beginning. It was the wrong place, but now we are here, Rodenko. 1908!”

“I’m sorry that I don’t know the history of these years well, sir.”

“We just took a licking in the Pacific that stopped Russian expansion into Manchuria. It wasn’t the Americans this time, but the Japanese. They kicked our ass in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904. You remember your studies at the Naval Academy, yes? The battle of Tsushima Strait was fought three years ago. It was bad enough that the Japanese were able to destroy our 1st Pacific Squadron and take Port Arthur. My God, they even shelled Vladivostok! Then the Tsar dispatched our Baltic Fleet and it sailed 18,000 miles to even the score-but was utterly defeated in the Tsushima Strait. That broke the back of Russian power in the Pacific, and it became the dawn of the Rising Sun. Japan emerged on the world stage as a major power. It was truly shocking that a small country like Japan could best us in battle like that. We had one of the strongest navies in the world before that war. Yet when it was over we were reduced to the status of a third rate power at sea.”

“I remember now, sir. Yes, the only naval force Russia has now is bottled up in the Black Sea.”

“Not so, Rodenko. See that ensign flying up there?” Karpov pointed to the Russian Naval Jack flying proudly from the mainmast of the ship. “That steamer over there has undoubtedly had a good long look at our flag by now, and the world will soon come to know and respect it once again. Russia may have lost her old Pacific Fleet, but now she has a new one!”

Rodenko gave the Captain a wide eyed look. “But sir… You mean to intervene here…after what we just went through?”

“Where else? We’re here, are we not? There is no Rod-25 aboard, and unless we run afoul of another volcanic island ready to blow its top, here is where we will stay. I suppose I could play a little Russian Roulette and fire off another tactical warhead to see if that moves us again, but who knows, Rodenko? For all we know we could just be blown deeper into the past.”

Rodenko scratched his head, realizing that the Captain made a good point. They were trapped in 1945 until the nuclear scalpel sliced open the time continuum again and…and now they were here.

“What do you propose we do?” Karpov continued. “We could take Admiral Volsky’s approach and go find an island. Yes, we could choose any little Pacific paradise we desire, take it, hold it, and live out our lives while the history rolls forward to whatever doom awaits it in the future. Or…we could use the power we have now to decisively change the course of those events. The US has not yet established itself as a great Pacific power. The Japanese have only just made their appearance on the scene. This world has nothing to oppose us but old pre-dreadnought battleships half our size! There aren’t even any aircraft to worry about. The Wright Brothers have just developed their first flying machines. The skies are completely empty here! Understand? We can outrun any ship that tries to approach us, and destroy any vessel we encounter with a single missile or torpedo if we so choose. We aren’t facing a desperate battle in 2021, or 1945, where we must fight for our very survival. It’s 1908 , and here-here this ship is invincible!”

“Turnthe page, please. Yes… there in the right hand column. See for yourself… Page 363.” Kamenski pointed out the reference in the Chronology Of The War at Sea , and Admiral Volsky squinted, needing his reading glasses, but what he saw filled him with foreboding.

“Dear God,” he breathed. “Karpov engaged the US Pacific Fleet!”

“Apparently so.”

“He sunk the battleship Iowa …” Volsky read silently, a sadness rising in his eyes like a shadow. “I see…” he breathed heavily. “Then it appears that Karpov has fallen back on his old ways. He obviously did this after he took the time to deliver that letter to us, which means he deliberately sortied into the Pacific again to confront the Americans.”

“It appears that he bit off more than he could chew this time.”

“And he used a tactical warhead, just as before. But my God! The American reprisal against Vladivostok was terrible! Wasn’t that enough, three of our ships for one of theirs?”

“Actually the score was somewhat more even. I believe your enterprising Captain also sunk an aircraft carrier, several destroyers and a couple cruisers. It seems he was a very busy man. And in that final battle the Iowa scored a hit on what they describe as a Russian destroyer and broke its back before she, in turn, was sunk.”