B00DSDUWIQ EBOK (28 page)

He
thought about that, recalling Svetlana’s whispers in his earbuds, words that could
make him the most powerful man alive in this pitiful situation. He would be the
man who knew tomorrow. That knowledge would certainly make him rich. Yes, they
will take the jacket, and it will likely go to the Commissar, given its unusual
quality and workmanship. In fact, I’m counting on that. It will make the man
very curious. It will get me very close. I will kill him, and then I will call
Fedorov and see what we can do.

The
sound of the helicopter receded now, high overhead, and he knew they had gained
altitude to avoid being seen. They know where I am, he thought. Well enough. I have
work to do here before they come for me, if they dare.

Part X

Fallen
Angels

“New war provok'd;
our better part remains

To work, in close
design, by fraud or guile

What force
effected not: that he no less

At length from us
may find, who overcomes

By force hath
overcome but half his foe...

Peace is despair'd,

For who can think
submission?

War then, war

Open or understood,
must be resolv'd.

―
John Milton, Paradise Lost

Chapter 28

The
American submarines dove to 150 feet and
hovered silently in the deep, unaware that
Kirov’s
sophisticated sonar
was still listening. A diesel-electric boat can be very quiet, but not by the
standards of modern sonar systems, and the men that operated them. Tasarov had
listened intently to the movement of the subs, giving Karpov easy course and
speed guidelines to avoid contact. For his part, Karpov was no longer concerned
about the undersea threat.
Admiral Golovko
was a superb ASW frigate on
his starboard flank, and
Orlan
was steaming off the port quarter. Each
had a helicopter in the air to keep a close watch on potential threats. He was
confident that nothing would get close enough to cause any harm, particularly
given the short range of torpedoes of this era.

Now
his Fregat mind swept south, like a watchful radar, trying to ascertain what the
Americans were up to. His KA-226 had them under surveillance, a little over 150
kilometers to the south, just beyond the surface range of the ship’s systems. The
contacts were piling up and he was representing the situation on the optical Plexiglas
screen, which was now cluttered with contact points. His battle in 2021 had
been against a single US carrier and a handful of escorting ships. Now he was
facing a real armada, upwards of 60 discrete contacts reported, and more massing
to the south.

Rodenko
seemed very edgy about it, watching the threat grow beyond the far horizon with
obvious worry. The Captain’s demonstration had produced nothing more than silence
from the enemy. Thus far the American fleet had not attempted to close, but
Karpov had stubbornly remained in place, cruising in a wide circle as he sized
up the situation.

The
Captain could see Rodenko’s restrained concern, and he stepped to his side.
“Well? What is it Rodenko? Why the long face?”

His
new
Starpom
shrugged, and he spoke in a low voice so the other bridge crew
would not hear. “Steep odds this time, Captain. That’s a very big force out
there.”

Karpov
folded his arms, saying nothing for a time. Then he turned to Rodenko and confided
in him. “I’ll admit this silence is somewhat unnerving. I would have expected
at least some response to the message we sent.”

“I’m
afraid we will have their response soon enough,” said Rodenko. “Those fleets will
move on us soon. You can count on it.”

“You
think they would dare attack us again after what I just showed them?”

“I
do, sir. I think we have only stiffened their resolve. Why else would they refuse
to answer our radio calls for negotiation?”

Karpov
considered that. Then asked another question that Rodenko did not expect. “What
would you do, Rodenko? How would you handle the situation if you were the Americans?”

Rodenko
raised his eyebrows, surprised Karpov would solicit his opinion this way. “Well,
sir. I think I would have no other option than a single massed attack, on a
very wide front, widely dispersed. They know that if they attempt to concentrate
we can inflict heavy damage, so they will have to disperse.

“And
how would you react to such a tactic?”

“Get
further east. Given the present position of their battlegroups to the south, I would
want to be able to access the Pacific if necessary. The KA-226 is getting returns
from the west as well, beyond Hokkaido in the Sea of Japan. I think we will
soon learn there are forces moving up behind us there.”

“Access
the Pacific?”

“To
be on their right flank, sir. The disadvantage of a dispersed line formation is
that we can maneuver to its flank, leaving the bulk of the line too far away to
effectively close the range when we attempt to break through. We just can’t sit
here and sail in circles. They have enough ships to form a pretty good net if they
sweep north suddenly. Remaining in the center of the line like this is dangerous.”

“Yes,
but they will regret trying to pull these fish in. We have three fast sharks here,
Rodenko, with teeth sharp enough to bite through that net if they get so bold.”

“Agreed,
sir, but if we move east we have other options. We retain the advantage of maneuver,
and our speed and endurance come into play as well. We also move away from
their forces to the southwest, thinning the odds somewhat. It’s a big ocean out
there. If we have to fight, we can move, hit, move, like a skillful boxer.”

“And
the Americans will try to get us on the ropes,” Karpov pointed to the Plexiglas
screen now. “They will try to force us back on the Kuriles and into the Sea of Okhotsk.”

“I
believe so, sir, at least if we stay here.”

They
did not have time to continue the discussion. The KA-226 radar feeds were now indicating
a significant change. “Sir, AEW One reports new movement from the Halsey Group,
now steaming north at 25 knots.”

Rodenko
gave Karpov a knowing look. “It’s begun. They are coming. I have little doubt we’ll
see movement from the Sprague group within ten minutes as well.”

“Radar,
how many discrete contacts on that new heading?”

“I’m
reading eighteen surface contacts, extended on a wide front now, sir. Three
contacts are leading that group some fifteen kilometers ahead.”

“Those
will be radar pickets,” Karpov decided. “Begin jamming on all bandwidths we identified
earlier. Isolate any new radar signals we can detect and begin jamming those as
well.”

“Aye,
sir.”

Rodenko
had been correct. The American ships were advancing north, closing the range, and
soon the ship began to get direct surface returns at extreme range, with additional
contacts advancing on the left of the Halsey group. Ziggy Sprague was on the
move as well.

“Yet
the numbers we’re seeing in this maneuver do not represent the whole surface fleet
to the south. Perhaps they are forming an advanced screen.” Karpov studied his
Tactical board with the positions of every contact glowing softly. “They must
be holding something back, at least a third of their force.”

“The
carriers, sir,” Rodenko suggested. “They would not want to advance with those ships.”

“Yes,
and they most likely left a screen of smaller destroyer class units with them. That
means the ships we are seeing in this advance would be their heavier class units,
perhaps accompanied by more destroyers and radar pickets. “

“They’re
trying to get in close so they can then make a rush at us for a gun battle,” Rodenko
pointed at the screen, gesturing with his finger.

“Of
course, Mister Rodenko, they have no
Moskit-IIs
. And I believe the reason
why their carriers have not launched yet is because they wish to try and coordinate
the air attack with a surface engagement. If they can find us with their
surface ships first, then those units can vector in their air groups.”

Rodenko
nodded his agreement, and Karpov considered the situation, stroking his chin as
he looked at the tactical board. They had been cruising at fifteen knots, and
now the Captain turned to the comm station.

“Mister
Nikolin. Signal the flotilla to assume a heading 90 degrees due east and increase
to 30 knots.
Orlan
will lead, with
Admiral Golovko
off the
starboard side.” The Captain looked at Rodenko, and winked at him. “Let’s get
some breathing room.”

“Sir,
aye,” said Rodenko, and he repeated the order to the helmsman.

Karpov
was still thinking. The carriers must be the contacts hovering beyond their surface
radar range. At the moment they were still the real threat in his mind. Old and
slow as these aircraft were, a massed air strike by hundreds of planes could be
very difficult to handle. But I still have S-400’s, he thought. I can hit them
even as they launch as long as the KA-226 can remain aloft in an AEW role. They
will have no idea we can fire at such range, and it could deliver a nasty shock
as they form up over their carriers, and before they disperse as Rodenko
suggests.

The
light of battle was in his eyes now, and he knew it would not be long before it
was kindled in the fiery tails of his missiles. They remain silent in the face of
my demonstration of overwhelming power. Very well, two can play that game. Let
us see how long it is before they are calling
me
on the radio.

He
turned to Rodenko again, and saw he was watching him, a curious look on his face.
“Mister Rodenko,” he said. “Bring the ship to battle stations and signal same
to the fleet.”

“Battle
stations. Aye, sir. Signaling now.” Then another thought occurred to him and he
approached the Captain with a question. “Sir, what about those two radar pickets
in close?”

Sprague’s
group still had two ships very near the Russians. They had been shadowing at a range
of fifteen kilometers for some time, yet had never attempted to come any closer.

“Time
to lose our shadow,” said Karpov. “We’ll give our young Captain on
Admiral Golovko
a taste of battle. He could use the experience. Tell Ryakhin I want him to put
one P-800
Oniks
on each of those shadowing ships.”

Known
as the
Yakhont
on the export markets, the missile was a fast supersonic sea
skimmer much like the original
Moskit.
Karpov knew his order was provocative,
another jab at the raging bull to the south, but he could not allow those ships
to stay within visual range. He ordered Nikolin to warn them off and, when they
saw no compliance, the signal to fire was sent over to
Admiral Golovko.

The
battle was finally joined.

* * *

Sprague
was out on the weather deck watching the air
crews spotting the
Helldivers
on the flight deck below. Movement at
last, he thought. The word had come down from on high just minutes ago, and flashed
to all fleet Task Groups in theater. The massive naval juggernaut was turning
north; not just a few radar pickets this time, or a single strike wave off a
few carriers. No, this time they were going in force to say hello to Uncle Joe
up north and put the Russians in their place.

He
had seen the massive detonation hours ago on the far horizon to the northeast. The
evil looking mushroom cloud had loomed up in the distance, towering higher by
the minute, and it took hours for the upper level winds to shear off its top and
blow the colossal war cloud into a pallid smear over the sea. Whatever had caused
it had been massive, an explosion far greater than anything he had ever seen in
his life. He had heard the rumors of another event in the north Atlantic,
though he was not there to see it firsthand. This war is going to end just like
it started, he thought. We lost the
Wasp
in ’41, and then it was said
some kind of massive bomb sent
Mississippi
and TF 16 to their doom. Now
we lose the
Wasp
again, and look what’s on my horizon—another bomb.

There
was a dull echo to it all, a hollow ring that spoke of impending doom. No matter,
he thought. We’re going up to see about it. I’ve got the fast cruisers and
destroyers out in front, four light cruisers with the eight destroyers in Desron
62. Halsey has even better ships in his front scrimmage line—five cruisers,
three of them heavy, and Desron 50. Behind them come the real heavy hitters.
I’m sending
South Dakota
and
North Carolina
, Halsey has
Missouri
and
Iowa
. Let any one of them get in range of these Russian ships and you
can call it a day. All it will take is one battleship to get in close.

We’ve
been through tough situations before. The Japanese threw four battleships led by
Yamato
at me off Samar, along with eight cruisers and eleven destroyers,
and all I had was a hand full of destroyer escorts with 5 inch pop guns to
protect the jeep carriers. But we held the enemy at bay, and licked them in the
end. That’s exactly what we’ll do now, he thought. We’re going to ram an iron
fist into the Russians and end this war once and for all.

He
looked at his watch. They were ordered to spot strike groups and be ready for takeoff
by 16:00 hours. He had been ready for the last ten minutes. With
Wasp
gone
and casualties from the first sortie up north he was light on aircraft, but 180
of his original force of 260 planes were still crammed onto the decks of his
three remaining carriers. Halsey had another 350. Let them have a look at over
500 planes darkening their skies when the order comes in. Even as he thought
this he also knew the Brits were coming as well. Admiral Fraser was taking
TF.37 around the north cape of Hokkaido, watching the far left flank in case
the Russians had anything left in Vladivostok. He had four more carriers, 27
surface ships, including two more good battleships, and another 260 strike planes.

Any
way he added it up, it spelled a swift and overwhelming victory, but it was a new
world now. That distant cloud on the horizon loomed over the sea with a threat
of utter extinction at its root. The world went absolutely crazy these last
years, he thought. My God…Look what we did to Tokyo when Curtis Lemay let the
bombers loose. The world went insane, and now we’ve really got the means to end
it all if it comes to another general war.