John Schettler - Crescendo of Doom

“That is very troubling,” said Elena. “Why we never knew about that site is equally vexing.”

“Perhaps it was unknown, even to those who made these keys,” said Fedorov. “Or perhaps they suspected another rift was open, but never found it themselves. For that matter there may be others that no one has yet to discover.”

“A harrowing thought,” said Elena. “Just managing the two sites we knew about was more than enough. Yet now I see that it is imperative that we obtain the key, and locate this last site.”

“Well,” said Tovey, “I don’t see why you just weren’t told about it in these odd signals you received.”

“Perhaps for the same reason,” said Elena. “It is dangerous for anyone to know such a place exists, and even more dangerous to venture there. The condition we find the world in now results from one man’s inadvertent trip through a rift zone, and I do not mean to flay you with this, Captain Fedorov. I fully understand how you feel, but imagine if others knew of these rifts in time, and decided to use them…”

The darkness of that thought was a shroud over them all at that moment, deepening the silence, until Tovey spoke again. “Good enough. As to our HMS Rodney , I think I can be of some assistance. We find ourselves in a most interesting place, heading for Gibraltar and the Atlantic beyond. This little coincidence you speak of is presently underway. The players are on the stage and the first act is in the works even as we speak. If history does rhyme, then Rodney may have apart to play here as well. I can Imagine Admiral Holland is looking at this situation with Hindenburg very seriously now, and sizing up what assets he can commit. I’ll be in touch with him soon enough.”

“Admiral,” said Elena. “As to HMS Rodney , I do hope that ship comes to no harm. If it were to be sunk…”

“I understand,” said Tovey. “I shall see about keeping old Rodney safe and sound. Don’t worry.”

“Oh, but I must, Admiral. That was drilled into my head when I was briefed for that little trip to Delphi. Do not think that the history can protect you once you intervene. This is what I was told. Everything is on the table now, gentlemen, and not just this ship and key. It is all riding the whirlwind, as we seem to be. And if we are not cautious, if anything slips here, then god only knows what could happen next. The reason the makers of these keys didn’t just send us a nice little message telling us how to find the missing key is a dark one. They’re gone.”

“Gone?” Tovey looked at Fedorov, and then back at Elena.

“Yes Admiral. The key makers are gone. The changes rippling forward in time have been building and building, like a great tsunami. The messages they sent to us were their last attempt at saving the situation—saving the whole damn world I suppose. Because somewhere out there, in the years rolling on beyond the time where Captain Fedorov and I once lived, there is a darkness so all consuming that it devours everything. We were given a word for it from these people in the future, whoever they were. They called it a Grand Finality. A rose is a rose, gentlemen, and in that description I find yet another word that might express it just a little better— calamity .”

Silence. The only thing Fedorov could hear now was the sound of his own pulse, beating like a drum, and timing out the rising crescendo of doom.

The hour and day that Fedorov and the crew of Kirov have long feared draws nigh, the moment of insoluble conflict, when their greatest enemy is not another hostile ship or plane, but their own selves—Paradox Hour.

Yet before that moment comes, the ship finds itself in one of the greatest naval chases of all time. It is May, 1941, and a powerful German battlefleet has broken out into the Atlantic. Admiral Tovey is fast on the heels of Hindenburg , but must first run the gauntlet of Gibraltar to get into the hunt. With him are three of the most powerful ships in the world, Kazan, Argos Fire, and the battlecruiser Kirov . Yet Admiral Lütjens will not fight alone. The Kriegsmarine now sorties with all its might as Raeder throws the dice in a desperate bid to prove his navy’s worth and power.

As Admiral Holland musters the fighting ships of the Home Fleet to join in the chase, Admiral Raeder springs yet another surprise in the north, and soon the Royal Navy is reaching for every warship it can find to beat to quarters. One ship called to the action harbors a secret, the missing key Elena Fairchild is so keen to find—HMS Rodney . It is now at grave risk, and should it be lost, the secret it might unlock will be lost with it, and the doom Fairchild so darkly describes may then be unavoidable.

Join Anton Fedorov, Admirals Volsky and Tovey, Captain Gromyko and a host of historical characters as the chase unfolds, a race against time itself, and the shadow of doom that hangs over the world. Meanwhile, consumed by the fire of his own thirst for vengeance, one other man figures prominently in that fate—Vladimir Karpov—for he holds yet another key to the outcome of all these events, as he sets himself on another chase of his own, desperate to find and cow his arch rival and enemy, Ivan Volkov.

Don’t miss the grand finale of “Season Two” of the amazing Kirov Series, coming soon from the Writing Shop Press.

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 saga in the series, which will extend to Volume 16.

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 as sets of trilogies linked by what the author calls a “bridge novel.” 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. The bridge novel Men Of War is a second entry point which covers what happened to the ship and crew after it returned home to Vladivostok. As such it serves as both a sequel to the opening trilogy and a prequel to the next trilogy, the three novels beginning with Book V, 9 Days Falling. Each trilogy in the series is followed by a similar “bridge novel.”

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 book 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. This second trilogy also launches several subplots that serve to relate other events in the great war of 2021 and also deepen the mystery of time travel as discovered in the series. The trilogy ends at another crucial point in history where the ship’s Captain, Vladimir Karpov, believes he is in a position to decisively change events.