John Schettler - Ironfall

“What if he has it turned off?” said Gromyko.

“No,” said Karpov. “He’ll be confused. He’ll be wondering where his men are, and using the jacket to try and contact them. We could pick up that signal, home in on it, and get him. That at least solves part of the big problem here. It stops the Orenburg Federation from ever arising. As for Sergei Kirov, Fedorov has grown rather fond of him, and frankly, he’s much better for Russia. If we could at least solve the Volkov problem, that alone would introduce dramatic changes to this altered meridian.”

Fedorov raised an eyebrow at that. Getting Mironov was looking like a very difficult prospect. He had the man right in front of him, and now he was likely to slip away. We had our chance, he thought, and again, I blew that all to hell, though maybe that will be for the best.

“Yes….” He began. “Getting Volkov does do a great deal to fix this mess. It eliminates the Orenburg Federation, and even if Sergei Kirov survives as he did, he at least has a united Russia. In fact, without the strong opposition Volkov organized in the White Movement after Denikin’s demise, Kirov may have also subdued Kolchak, so there goes your Free Siberian State.” He looked at Karpov.

“Easy come, easy go,” said Karpov. “I told you I was willing to let all that pass.”

“Then what do we do here?” asked Volsky. “Is it just Volkov we’re after now?”

“If we can get him at all,” said Karpov, “then this may be our only chance. He’ll slip away just like Sergei Kirov if we don’t act, and take this opportunity while we can.”

“Agreed,” said Fedorov. He had harbored reservations about killing Mironov, and was inwardly wondering if that would wreck their plan to get Absolute Certainty on this mission. But in his mind, Volkov was fair game.

“So then the four of us go blundering down those steps to look for Volkov?” Volsky folded his arms. “I’m not sure how much help I would be in that scenario. You younger men might have an easier time of things, but this old man will be of no use to you.”

“None of us have to go,” said Karpov. “I can send my Man Tyrenkov. He’s already seen Volkov there once, and that was on the very day of his arrival, June 30th. He could get back there, and with no time limit like we have to worry about. Tyrenkov is a very reliable man. With a couple good snipers, he’ll get the bastard. I’m certain of that.”

“Just how certain?” asked Gromyko.

“Absolutely certain….” Karpov smiled. “Then all we have to worry about is Orlov.”

All they had to worry about was Orlov.

The Chief had turned and started back down those stairs, reaching the bottom and groping for the door handle. He pushed it open, the grey light a welcome relief from the stuffy darkness of the stairwell. This was the only way Fedorov could have gone, he thought. He certainly didn’t get past me in the dark.

He pushed the door open, and stepped into the alcove near the fireplace. Easing out into the dining room, he saw it was empty.

“Fedorov?” he called, looking around. “Captain? Are you here?”

Then he heard something, not in the room around him, which was still and quiet, but on his collar microphone. His service jacket was on passive mode, listening, but not broadcasting, and he heard a voice he did not immediately recognize, sounding a rather plaintive call.

“Team Seven, this is team leader. Come in team seven, this is Volkov—over.”

“Well I’ll be a monkey’s ass,” Orlov said aloud.

Fedorov always thought Orlov would continue on up the stairs, appearing in the years or months ahead, but instead, the big Chief simply turned back. The mishap on the stairs of Ilanskiy sees Orlov now make a most unexpected choice, and it is already beginning to have an effect on the altered meridian where Fedorov and company try to reach a consensus on how to proceed.

Meanwhile, the war continues in Tunisia, and the unexpected power of the Soviet offensive Manstein fought to contain forces Hitler to make some very difficult decisions. How can the army continue to fight on all these disparate fronts and still have the power to launch Operation Downfall, their great summer offensive against Leningrad?

With Churchill’s blessing, Elena Fairchild continues her quest for the key lost aboard Rodney , as the Argonauts embark on a most hazardous journey through the passages beneath St. Michael’s Cave. If they should reach the year 1804, everything Fedorov worries about could now be put at risk by an intervention that takes place over a century before the strange event at Tunguska that fractured the continuum. The shifting meridians of time have become the sporting ground of two vain and foolish men, even as Britain and France begin to square off for the long 11-year war that ends on the sodden fields of Waterloo.

The Kirov Series is a long chain of linked novels by John Schettler in the Military Alternate History / Time Travel Genre. Like the popular movie “The Final Countdown” which saw the US Carrier Nimitz sent back in time to the eve of Pearl Harbor in 1941, in the opening volume, the powerful Russian battlecruiser Kirov is sent back to the 1940s in the Norwegian Sea where it subsequently becomes embroiled in the war.

Similar to episodes in the never-ending Star Trek series, the saga continues through one episode after another as the ship’s position in time remains unstable. It culminates in Book 8 Armageddon , then continues the saga in Altered States , which begins the second “Season” in the series, extending through Volume 16. The series is presently in Season 4, covering the Allied offensives in North Africa, and the winter battles of late 1942. Boldly enters the crucial year of 1943 in Book 27, aptly titled “1943.”

The best entry point is obviously Book I, Kirov , where you will meet all the main characters in the series and learn their inner motivations. The series itself, however, is structured in “seasons” with 8 books in each season. In Season 1, the first three volumes form an exciting trilogy featuring much fast-paced naval action as Kirov battles the Royal Navy, Regia Marina (Italians) and finally the Japanese after sailing to the Pacific in Book III. Book 4, Men of War stands as a sequel to that trilogy and the bridge novel that links it to the second segment of Season 1, beginning with 9 Days Falling .

The 9 Days Falling trilogy focuses on the struggle to prevent a great war in 2021 from reaching a terrible nuclear climax that destroys the world. It spans books 5, 6, and 7, featuring the outbreak of the war in 2021 as Japan and China battle over disputed islands, and the action of the Red Banner Pacific Fleet against the modern US Fleet. It then takes a dramatic turn when the ship is again shifted in time to 1945. There they confront the powerful US Pacific Fleet under Admiral Halsey, and so this trilogy focuses much of the action as Kirov faces down the US in two eras. Several subplots are also launched that serve to relate other events in the great war of 2021, and deepen the mystery of time travel as discovered in the series. The season ends at another crucial point in history where the ship’s Captain, Vladimir Karpov, believes he is in a position to decisively change events, the season finale, Armageddon .

Season 2begins with the Altered States trilogy, where Kirov becomes trapped in the world made by its many interventions in the history, an altered reality beginning in June of 1940. It is here that a sequential alternate history retelling of WWII begins that will extend to the war’s conclusion in 1945. The opening volume sees the ship pitted against the one navy of WWII it has not yet fought, the Kriegsmarine of Germany, which now has powerful new ships from the German Plan Z naval building program as one consequence of Kirov’s earlier actions.