John Schettler - Crescendo of Doom

“I’m sure they are.” She gave Fedorov a quick glance, listening to Nikolin translate, but it was the tone of her voice that carried most of the message, with just enough of the edge of suspicion to be discernible.

“Well,” said Tovey. “First things first. We should coordinate our plans for Gibraltar. We’ve been lucky thus far. If that is all the Italians have to throw at us, I’ll be quite satisfied on our chances of slipping through at Gibraltar.”

“What about the Germans,” asked Elena. “Won’t they have planes at Tunis?”

“Possibly, though from what we have been able to learn, most of those squadrons have forward deployed to support Rommel’s move east. It seems we could not have picked a better time to try and slip out. The Germans will likely have something based at Gibraltar, and we should also expect threats from mines, shore batteries on both sides of that passage, and enemy U-Boats. As to the shore batteries, RAF has had a look at that for us. They say the Germans have what look to be a few artillery installations in the works near Ceuta on the Peninsula de Santa Catalina. I could pound them with those nice big 16-inch guns out there, but that does get a bit untidy. Any thoughts?”

“We will not want to waste any missiles on them,” said Fedorov after he had heard the translation. “Our own deck guns are a good deal more accurate than your main batteries, Admiral. They can engage that artillery long before we ever come inside their range, but again, that will be like ringing the doorbell, and serve to alert any other defenses the enemy may have in place. The preferred strategy would be to engage the batteries just as we make ready to run through the straits. It would mean waiting until we are very near their firing range, yet it will be dark, and we’ll be running black. I think the risk is acceptable.”

“We could also use my X-3s,” said Elena, when Nikolin had finished. “They could hover on overwatch, and engage those guns spot on, and only if we are discovered and it appears they are making ready to engage us.”

“A good plan,” said Tovey.

“Yet I’m more worried about the U-boat threat,” said Elena.

“That will not be a problem,” said Tovey. “At least that is what I am told by Captain Fedorov.” Tovey looked at Fedorov now, and received a confirming nod of the head.

“Miss Fairchild,” said the Admiral. “At a meeting with Admiral Cunningham, myself, and the Russian Admiral Volsky, something else was confided to us. It was being held secret, as so much of this business is, but as you and your ship are in the thick of it here with us, you must know what I am now about to tell you. The Russian battlecruiser is not the only vessel from their time that is present here in 1941. There is another boat, a submarine, and it is out in front of our task force clearing the way insofar as the undersea threat is concerned.”

“A submarine?” Elena was quite surprised, restraining a flash of anger at the same time. “Why wasn’t I told this before?”

“My apologies,” said Tovey. “You were not at that meeting, and the matter slipped my mind, though I had every intention of briefing you, for obvious reasons. I am told the radars and sonar systems on your ship are very good, and was worried you might discover this submarine on your own and deem it a threat. I put that aside, being told that this vessel was not near us at the time, but now, with this mission, you need to know.”

“I see… So things are being handled on a need to know only basis here. I cannot say I am happy with this arrangement, Admiral.”

“I apologize again, but please understand that we meant you no disrespect.”

“The submarine in question is our Yasen Class boat, Kazan .” Fedorov was forthcoming, seeing himself that Fairchild was not happy the information was withheld. “It is a very long story as to how it comes to be here with us, but I would be happy to brief you in full. It is not our wish to withhold information, and frankly, I do have many questions myself, chiefly concerning the matter of how your own ship arrived here.”

Elena folded her arms, looking the young Russian over and trying to size him up. She had a knack for getting a sense of someone, born from long hours negotiating business arrangements across boardroom tables, and with some very shady characters over the years. She could hear the obvious sincerity in the man’s voice, even with the language barrier. It was a struggle for her, at first, as she had only just come from a hot engagement with the Russian Black Sea fleet, losing a fleet tanker and a lot of her people there. Now here she was, wrapped up in this strange alliance with this Russian ship and crew, in another world, another time. It was still taking her some time to tamp down her old instincts and reflexes where the Russians were concerned, and now she had questions of her own.

“Alright,” she said finally. “I accept your apology, Admiral, and I’m not naive enough to think I will be privy to everything, but there are some things I should know, and yes, Captain Fedorov, the first is how this submarine came to be here.”

So Fedorov started to explain, trying to be brief, but fair and complete enough to satisfy this woman. Yet the moment he tried, he realized how tangled all of this was. Kazan was here because of Rod-25. That was the simple explanation as to how the sub had appeared. Revealing why it had been sent on this mission was another matter. It meant that he would have to explain a good deal about what had happened to them aboard Kirov , information concerning Captain Karpov, the mutiny, and his redemption. He told that story faithfully, and then spoke of the clues they had found in the Pacific as to how the war would begin in 2021. It was a little more difficult when it came to Karpov’s assignment in leading out the Red Banner Pacific Fleet, and his subsequent disappearance, wayward fall from grace, and mysterious re-appearance here in WWII. It was a lot to convey, and Nikolin was kept quite busy for a while, but Elena was spellbound.

“Amazing,” she said at last. “He ended up in 1908? Your ship was actually engaging Admiral Togo’s fleet there?”

“Our Captain Karpov was a very determined man,” said Fedorov. “When he found himself in that time, by chance we believed at first, he saw it as an opportunity to reverse Russia’s defeat at the hands of the Japanese Navy in 1905. In fact, it was always a struggle with Karpov, even while he served aboard our ship. He saw these events as presenting us with a definitive opportunity to change the history in a way that favors Russia.”

“Then he was trying to deliberately change the history? This wasn’t all an accident as I was told earlier?”

“Let me be clear,” said Fedorov. “Our initial displacement in time was the accident. Decisions this man made after that were willful, and though we must take responsibility for what we have done, we did not agree with Karpov, and were trying to stop him. We found ourselves here, bewildered, and soon pulled into the fire of this war. Much of what we did was simply to defend ourselves, as Admiral Tovey and his Royal Navy proved to be quite a formidable opponent! But yes, Karpov took deliberate action, and it was aimed at bettering Russia’s future, yet it failed. We later saw the terrible consequences of our meddling here. Ever since then, it had been our effort to try and prevent those consequences, one of which is that war we were starting in 2021.”

“And this Karpov took the fight all the way to 1908?” Elena shook her head, astounded to learn all of this, and inwardly nagged by a great unanswered question about it all.

“I was not surprised to see what Karpov planned to do when he found himself in 1908,” said Fedorov. “At one point, I thought we had seen him come to his senses, and take a more reasonable view. In fact, I came to like the man very much, and admire his skill at the helm. I learned a very great deal from him, and believe me, it was not easy for me to raise my hand against him. But it was absolutely necessary. Kazan was our only means of doing so, a threat so powerful that Karpov could not dismiss it. We removed the control Rod from Kirov before the ship sortied from Vladivostok in 2021, and the reason why is another long story I will confide to you later. Yet that allowed us to use this rod on Kazan , and to eventually stop Karpov in 1908.”