John Schettler - 1943

“Yes, you would have to expose your sensor mast to target the helicopters,” said Volsky. “That would make your position known, particularly after you fire your SAM. All the helo has to do is fire their torpedo in response. You might shoot down that helo, but then you would have to deal with that torpedo in the water, and perhaps more than one. It would also tell the enemy mother ship exactly where you are, and Kirov has three helicopters.”

“So both sides have good face cards in their hand,” said Gromyko. “As it stands, they are vulnerable to my stealth and missile attacks, but we are vulnerable to those helos. The key is who finds the other first.”

Volsky shrugged. “It’s a pity that we even have this conversation,” he said. “Here we are, discussing our Assassin’s Creed. It is most unseemly.”

“So there is no way Karpov might be reasoned with?”

“I find that most unlikely.”

“Then if I had to kill that ship, I would start with a full salvo of those 3M-54-E Series missiles, but I would want a firing position that would mask their approach for as long as possible.”

“Explain,” said Volsky.

“If I could find the ship close to one of these islands—a nice big fat one—then I would fire from the opposite side of that island. If it had sufficient elevation, it would create a radar blind spot. I would fire right down that dark zone, and then they might not pick up the missiles until they start their final attack maneuvers. They would climb to avoid the land mass, and then immediately dive for the high-speed terminal run at sea level.”

“Do you think they would get through? Kirov’s missile defense shield is very good.”

“All we need is one good hit. I hesitate to bring this up, but if this was real war—the kind I trained to fight in 2021, then the last missile in that salvo would have a special warhead. If I see the first fifteen shot down, then we detonate the last one before they get it. The blast wave, shock and EMP will all have strong effects.”

“Yet there may be other exotic effects as well,” said Volsky. “Remember what happened to you in the Atlantic.”

“Only too well.”

“You know,” said Volsky. “This may sound odd, but there are three layers of memory in my mind. One is the life I led when we first left Severomorsk to go out for those live fire exercises. The ship was carrying a lot of older munitions then, just to get rid of them. We were going to double down on the Zircon after we reached Vladivostok. The second layer of memory is from the second coming of Kirov , and we had much the same in terms of overall weaponry, but better SAMs. Yet I also remember the life I was living in when Kamenski herded me into his little scheme here. In that world, the one that just serviced your ship, there was no Kirov, at least not any ship by that name. It was renamed Admiral Ushakov , just as the Frunze was renamed Admiral Lazarev. Both those ships had troubled reactors, and are scheduled to be scrapped. So only two of the Four Boys, as we called them, were still at sea.”

“And the other two brothers?”

“Oh, those were renamed as well and eventually put into deep modernization programs, the Admiral Nakhimov was finished in 2018, and Pytor Veliky in 2021. They got new teeth, ten 3S-14 vertical launch system modules that could each hold eight missiles. That dramatically increased firepower and endurance, from the 20 old P-700s we were carrying, to eighty SSMs. Pyotr Velikiy , for example, got all Zircon class missiles.”

“Formidable,” said Gromyko.

“ You see, we never cannibalized those ships to build the new version of Kirov. They are still from the original class, yet vastly upgraded. Strange how in these other two life lines the ship seems to be different from the models we created in the world I come from.”

“Yet all three are dangerous,” said Gromyko. “Is Kirov carrying special weapons?”

“Of course. They will have at least three.”

“Would Karpov resort to using them?”

“He already has! In the first time loop, there was no Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor as a result. After the second coming, the ship went north to Murmansk instead of south into the Atlantic, and we have Mister Fedorov to thank for that. So, one turn of that ship’s rudder, and we get Pearl Harbor back. I can see how the men from the future might fear Kirov, and why they sent Tovey’s group those warnings. Captain, that is a clever attack plan, though one that would need Kirov to be in a particular spot to succeed. What if it fails?”

“After moving off axis to one side or another, I would then continue to close until I got inside Zircon range. Then I would fire all sixteen of those, and the last with a special warhead. If they manage to stop them, then I go to the Kaliber 3M-54-E1s, and when in range, I throw all eight. After that, it’s down to torpedoes, but I think I would have killed that ship before things got that far.”

“Yes,” said Volsky. “They’ll have to expend a lot of SAMs to get those Zircon missiles. They move too damn fast. They won’t be able to rely on one S-400 getting a hit each time. So it may come down to how many arrows Karpov still has left in his quiver, and whether or not we can achieve surprise.”

“He knows we’re out here somewhere,” said Gromyko. “Fedorov certainly knows.”

AdmiralVolsky thought for some time, listening to the quiet hum of the boat, feeling its sleek, stealthy power as it glided beneath the sea. What were they planning to do here? Gromyko was laying out the best possible strategy for his attack on Kirov , on the ship and crew that he felt so close to in his mind and heart. There were memories there, layer upon layer, that he could not push aside. He imagined the string of missiles this sub would fire, emerging from the sea and starting their deadly run in to the target. There was Fedorov, Rodenko, Nikolin, Tasarov, Samsonov, and yes, his dear old friend Doctor Zolkin.

“I don’t like it,” said Volsky. “I know it makes the best military sense to attack as you advise, but I cannot steal up on that ship and unload all these missiles. I cannot sit here, wondering whether they have killed that ship and crew. No, Captain, I think I must first knock on that door.”

Gromyko nodded. He had made his case for how he would attack if pressed, but deep down, he was not eager to do so. “I understand,” he said. “Yet what ammunition do you have that might prevail over Karpov?”

“That remains to be seen. Can they pick up a signal on the secure comm-link?”

“It was designed for extreme long range communications.”

“Very well, I want to use it… Now.”

Gromyko extended his hand, pointing the way as they stepped out of his cabin and went down the narrow passage towards the command sail. Stopping at the bridge, he told Belanov to run shallow and deploy the sail mast for long range communications. They found the signals station, where Lieutenant Alexi Karenin was at his post, head lost in his earphone set, listening. Jr Lieutenant Genzo Gavrilov was at his side, the man the crew called “GG.” Born in Vladivostok, his father had married a Japanese woman from Hokkaido, and Genzo was bilingual, with fluent Japanese as his second language. The two men had been listening to Japanese radio traffic.