John Schettler - Stormtide Rising

“Quite surprising. Japanese carriers are usually packing helos.”

“Right, but not this time. Strike range on glide bomb ordnance is around 45 miles. If they got planes in that close to Kirov , then they had to be F-35’s. But from what I know, the Japanese didn’t have very many of those, and the few they did have active were down on Okinawa at Naha or Kadena. So how do we get a task force like this way out here, and with F-35’s?”

“How do we get them here in 1943, sir?” Belanov brought them back to the moment, and Gromyko nodded.

“That nice little control rod Kamenski gave us accounts for our presence here—but the Japanese?”

“We’ll never figure that one out, sir. They’re here, and that’s all that matters. So what’s our play?”

“Let’s figure this from the other fellow’s side of the fence,” said Gromyko. “Somehow they shifted here, and right into the middle of our little conference with Fedorov and Karpov—uninvited guests. They obviously rendezvoused with Takami , another ship that appeared here under mysterious circumstances, and I don’t think any of them had control rods from Kamenski.”

“Very strange,” said Belanov. “ Takami has been here for a good long while. This wasn’t the first time they tangled with Karpov.”

“Right,” said Gromyko. “Well, they called in some reinforcements.”

“Called them in? You figure they have some way of communicating with the future?”

“I was speaking metaphorically. But considering that, wouldn’t these events become … history? Wouldn’t the men and women in the future this time line gives rise to eventually know about what happened with Kirov and Takami?”

“That’s a lot of speculation, sir.” Belanov did not have the mental hiking shoes to wander down that path. “It’s a bit eerie to think they’re reading us like a book in 2021 and then sending back reinforcements to deal with us—with Karpov. I don’t suppose they would have known about Kazan .”

“They do now,” said Gromyko.

“Alright, but how did they get here, sir?”

“We got here. Perhaps they developed some means to follow us. Who knows? Then again, their presence here could be an accident. Kirov’s initial shift happened because of that detonation aboard Orel . We also know that Karpov and some of his flotilla shifted when that Demon volcano erupted.”

“Trying to sort through all the cards in the deck, Mister Gromyko?” Admiral Volsky had been resting, but feeling the boat move, he now returned to the bridge, approaching the two men where they huddled near the charts.

“Yes sir,” said the Captain. “Just trying to think things through. We were wondering how this welcoming committee got here. The way we figure it, they have at least one carrier, and with F-35’s. Throw in four or five destroyers and a replenishment ship, and this is one nice fat task force, way out here east of Ponape. That’s damn strange, sir. So we were wondering how they got here, and whether it was a willful shift, or an accident.”

“Could be a little of both,” said Volsky. “Mister Fedorov told me that he thinks Takami first appeared in the Sunda Strait, very near where that big volcano erupted.”

“That never happened in any history book I’ve read,” said Gromyko.

“A lot of things never happened, and Kirov is to blame for that—no, let me tell it truly—I am to blame. From the moment I gave the order to shoot down that first plane, we’ve had our paw in the beehive here. For a while, the honey was sweet, but our meddling has caused all these things to happen that never were—ships prowling the seas here that never were supposed to exist, and all this history skewed beyond recognition. I’ve already lived and vanished on one meridian—and died on another, if you can believe that. Yes, all those memories are right up here.” He pointed to his head.

“And the oddest thing about it all is that I have another Admiral Volsky in there too, behind all the others. He was just minding his own business at Severomorsk, when all of the sudden he wakes up here, aboard Kazan , and with a head full of all these insane memories. Frankly, there are times I still pinch myself, thinking he will wake up again, sleeping quietly in his office at Severomorsk, and with all this nothing more than a bad dream.”

“Well, this bad dream fires torpedoes.” Gromyko smiled. “On that note, our quarry seems to have given us the slip. We think they have eased off to the southwest to rendezvous near the rescue site for Takami . But they know we’re out here, sir. How should we proceed?”

“Any position update from Karpov?”

“Yes sir. He’s broken off and is heading south towards Rabaul.”

“That is a big Japanese naval-air base, is it not?”

“Yes sir, their main base supporting operations in the Solomons.”

Volsky shook his head. “Now what would that man be doing down there? Something tells me he hasn’t quite given up with his little crusade here.”

The others nodded. “Sir,” said Gromyko. “There’s one thing more. During that strike against Kirov , Chernov heard something that is more than a little disturbing.”

“What?”

“We think Karpov popped off a nuke.”

Volsky pinched the bridge of his nose. “Again?” he sighed. “Why in the world would he do something like that?”

“We got the after action report indicating two separate strike waves made an attack on his position. It simply read ‘Wave one extinguished—missile defense defeats wave two.”

“Extinguished?”

“Yes sir, and now Chernov says he thinks a special warhead was used. It was a glide bomb attack, sir, and by F-35’s. We were just trying to figure out how the Japanese got their hands on those planes, and why they were here.”

“Yes,” said Volsky, “more uninvited guests. It is obvious that they got them from the Americans. As to why and how they got here, that will remain our little mystery, and one they are probably still trying to solve as well.”

“Then you believe their presence here is an accident—not intentional, like our mission?”

“Intentional? I suppose only they would know the answer to that question.” Volsky inclined his head. “Thinking that would open some very dark doors, would it not? If they came here willfully, then that means they, like we, have discovered the means to move mass through time. That alone is cause for grave concern. It also means they came here intending to kill Kirov , as I do not think they would know about your boat.”

“Unless they read about us,” said Gromyko.

“What do you mean?”

“Well sir, we’re out here re-writing all this history. This would be recorded and known to those in the future.”

“Interesting…. Darkly interesting, Mister Gromyko. Yes, we are still re-writing history here, even as we try to erase all evidence of our own tracks, as per out little agreement with Karpov. I don’t think we can answer all these questions just yet, but I do think we ought to head south to find Kirov , and make sure Karpov hasn’t got a pen in his hand as he approaches this base at Rabaul to do any more writing in his personal history book.”

“Very well, sir.” Gromyko looked to Belanov. “Bring us around to 180, and make your depth 430, just above the layer, speed 24 knots.”

That was how they left the scene of that little engagement. Gromyko would never know just how close he was to his quarry, and what he might have risked and done there if he had decided to engage those last two contacts.

“Just to be on the safe side,” said Volsky. “I think I had better send a message to Karpov myself.”