Kirov Saga: Devil's Garden (Kirov Series) (11 page)

“It
doesn’t look like we can outrun her, Captain. And we certainly can’t outgun
her. Why presume she would be hostile?”

A
minute later they saw the ship winking at them by lamp.

 “I’m
getting a lamp signal. There, sir. Right amidships. They appear to be coming
around in a wide turn now. I think they mean to come alongside us.”

“Mister
Robinson. Send for Mister Cooper, and tell him he’s to bring his sidearm to the
bridge, and three stout crewmen.”

It
seemed a feeble precaution given the size and vastly threatening look of this
ship, but the Chief nodded and went to see to the matter. Never a dull day at
sea, he thought. But what in God’s name is this thing come up from Neptune’s
locker? It’s a dragon, a real beast of a ship, and in ten minutes the damn
thing will be right off our port quarter!

* * *

“Well
Mister Rodenko? Seeing is believing.”
Karpov folded his arms, smiling for the first time in a good long while. “The
HD video feed was one thing, but there’s nothing like the evidence of your own
eyes.”

“I’ve
come to believe the impossible many times over on this odyssey, sir. But are we
wise to make such a close approach to this ship?”

“It
clearly poses no threat, Rodenko.”

“Of
course, sir. But what will they think of us?”

Karpov
looked at him, considering that. “They will think they are seeing the largest
ship in the world, Rodenko, and I intend to give them a good long look. Come
about and reduce to match their speed at 16 knots. Maneuver to come along side
that ship at 200 meters.”

“Very
well, sir.” Rodenko seconded those orders, though he had real misgivings. “You
realize that they’ll report our presence here.”

“Of
course they’ll report it. We’re likely to be the most memorable event of their
voyage.”

“Well
do we want word to get out, sir?”

“Why
not, Rodenko? We’re here, are we not? We were obviously displaced to this year
by that last detonation. It appears that nuclear weapons play havoc with the tick
of Mother Time’s clock. I’ve read some theoretical papers about it, though
Fedorov would probably give us an earful if he were still here.”

“I
wonder how he fared in his hunt for Orlov?”

“That
was ridiculous. What difference would Orlov make in the world? It was just a
waste of time and resources. That control rod should have been left here aboard
Kirov
where we could have put it to much better use.”

“It
seems as though we got our chance anyway, sir.”

“We
did, Rodenko, but I was remiss in thinking this single ship could confront the
entire combined Allied fleet in 1945. Yes, I’ll be the first to admit that. But
perhaps my own bull headed determination to make that engagement was the real
deciding factor in all of this.”

“I’m
not sure I follow you, sir.”

“Don’t
you see, Rodenko? I had the right idea to oppose the Americans—but not the
right time or place. Had we shifted just a few years further back in time as
before, I could have used this ship to determine the outcome of the Pacific
War. Fedorov believes our action in the North Atlantic prevented the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor and brought the Americans into the war early. Even so,
the Japanese seemed to be making a pretty good go of things at the outset. Then
we showed up and Volsky sailed us right into the middle of a major Japanese
offensive! We unhinged the whole scope of their operations and, in doing so, we
inadvertently restored the balance of power in the Pacific. The Americans were
able to establish themselves in the Solomons on Guadalcanal and defend that
outpost. Then the rest of the history played out as before. Our arrival again
in 1945 may seem like happenstance, but what if it was not? What if it was
meant
to happen this way?”

Karpov
had a distant, searching look in his eyes now, as if he were coming to this
conclusion for the first time, and suddenly seeing the possibilities inherent
in the moment—endless open possibilities, for now he found himself in a most
interesting position in time.

“It’s
1908, Rodenko! Nicholas II holds power in Russia now. The events of the early
revolution, Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg and the October Manifesto have only
just transpired a few years ago. The First World War won’t begin for another
six years! The Bolsheviks don’t throw out the Tsar until 1917. At this point in
time we could make decisive changes that would affect the history of the entire
20th Century! Think of it.”

Rodenko
did think on it, but the memory of that awful atomic blast and mushroom cloud
still haunted him. “I mean no disrespect, sir,” he began, “but haven’t we done
enough harm to the history of the 20th Century? I mean, what will happen there
in 1945 now that we’re gone? What happened to
Orlan?
We destroyed that
American battleship, but will they just leave it at that if they sink our
comrades?”

“That
undoubtedly happened,” said Karpov.
“Orlan
could not survive what we
were facing. It would have taken virtually every weapon we possessed to
overcome the American navy there. I’ll have to live with that, and with what we
saw happen to the
Admiral Golovko.
That we avenged in kind, but this
situation presents all new possibilities.”

“But
we have no idea how that intervention changed the history after we disappeared
in 1945, sir. What if the Americans retaliated? They also had atomic weapons.
Something tells me that all we did is make things very much worse than they
might have been. They knew we were Russian, sir. We barely scratched their
fleet in those engagements, but our actions left behind deep distrust, if not
outright enmity between the US and Russia.”

“We
left nothing behind that was not destined to be born in any case, Rodenko. You
remember the history of the cold war. The Americans will oppose us until it
comes to the final war in 2021. And that, I’m afraid, we will lose. Once the US
establishes itself as a world power it will not be defeated by an external
power.”

“Unless
it goes down with the rest of the world, sir. Isn’t that what we saw when we
shifted forward in time? Isn’t that why we sortied in the first place—to try
and prevent the destruction we saw?”

“Correct,
but once again, we had the wrong time and place. The Fleet was no more capable
of effectively opposing the Americans in 2021 that we were in 1945. Yes, we
hurt them in both engagements, but they can replace their losses and carry on.
That is not the case for Russia. The losses we sustained were decisive. Volsky
has nothing left to fight with now, unless
Admiral Kuznetsov
survived. So
that war comes down to bombers and missiles. And I’m willing to bet that you
are also correct that we caused more harm than anything else by our actions in
1945. The Americans will take a hard line with Stalin from the very beginning.
It was the wrong place, but now we are here, Rodenko. 1908!”

“I’m
sorry that I don’t know the history of these years well, sir.”

“We
just took a licking in the Pacific that stopped Russian expansion into
Manchuria. It wasn’t the Americans this time, but the Japanese. They kicked our
ass in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904. You remember your studies at the Naval
Academy, yes? The battle of Tsushima Strait was fought three years ago. It was
bad enough that the Japanese were able to destroy our 1st Pacific Squadron and
take Port Arthur. My God, they even shelled Vladivostok! Then the Tsar
dispatched our Baltic Fleet and it sailed 18,000 miles to even the score—but
was utterly defeated in the Tsushima Strait. That broke the back of Russian
power in the Pacific, and it became the dawn of the Rising Sun. Japan emerged
on the world stage as a major power. It was truly shocking that a small country
like Japan could best us in battle like that. We had one of the strongest
navies in the world before that war. Yet when it was over we were reduced to
the status of a third rate power at sea.”

“I
remember now, sir. Yes, the only naval force Russia has now is bottled up in
the Black Sea.”

“Not
so, Rodenko. See that ensign flying up there?” Karpov pointed to the Russian
Naval Jack flying proudly from the mainmast of the ship. “That steamer over
there has undoubtedly had a good long look at our flag by now, and the world
will soon come to know and respect it once again. Russia may have lost her old
Pacific Fleet, but now she has a new one!”

Rodenko
gave the Captain a wide eyed look. “But sir… You mean to intervene here…after
what we just went through?”

“Where
else? We’re here, are we not? There is no Rod-25 aboard, and unless we run
afoul of another volcanic island ready to blow its top, here is where we will
stay. I suppose I could play a little Russian Roulette and fire off another
tactical warhead to see if that moves us again, but who knows, Rodenko? For all
we know we could just be blown deeper into the past.”

Rodenko
scratched his head, realizing that the Captain made a good point. They were
trapped in 1945 until the nuclear scalpel sliced open the time continuum again
and…and now they were here.

“What
do you propose we do?” Karpov continued. “We could take Admiral Volsky’s
approach and go find an island. Yes, we could choose any little Pacific
paradise we desire, take it, hold it, and live out our lives while the history
rolls forward to whatever doom awaits it in the future. Or…we could use the
power we have now to decisively change the course of those events. The US has
not yet established itself as a great Pacific power. The Japanese have only
just made their appearance on the scene. This world has nothing to oppose us
but old pre-dreadnought battleships half our size! There aren’t even any
aircraft to worry about. The Wright Brothers have just developed their first
flying machines. The skies are completely empty here! Understand? We can outrun
any ship that tries to approach us, and destroy any vessel we encounter with a
single missile or torpedo if we so choose. We aren’t facing a desperate battle
in 2021, or 1945, where we must fight for our very survival.
It’s 1908
,
and here—here this ship is invincible!”

Part IV

Changes

“Here's
to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers…
You can quote them, disagree with
them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things…
Because
the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the
ones who do.”

—
Apple,
Inc.

Chapter
10

“Turn
the page, please. Yes… there in the
right hand column. See for yourself… Page 363.” Kamenski pointed out the reference
in the
Chronology Of The War at Sea
, and Admiral Volsky squinted,
needing his reading glasses, but what he saw filled him with foreboding.

“Dear
God,” he breathed. “Karpov engaged the US Pacific Fleet!”

“Apparently
so.”

“He
sunk the battleship
Iowa
…” Volsky read silently, a sadness rising in his
eyes like a shadow. “I see…” he breathed heavily. “Then it appears that Karpov
has fallen back on his old ways. He obviously did this after he took the time
to deliver that letter to us, which means he deliberately sortied into the
Pacific again to confront the Americans.”

“It
appears that he bit off more than he could chew this time.”

“And
he used a tactical warhead, just as before. But my God! The American reprisal
against Vladivostok was terrible! Wasn’t that enough, three of our ships for
one of theirs?”

“Actually
the score was somewhat more even. I believe your enterprising Captain also sunk
an aircraft carrier, several destroyers and a couple cruisers. It seems he was
a very busy man. And in that final battle the
Iowa
scored a hit on what
they describe as a Russian destroyer and broke its back before she, in turn,
was sunk.”

“By
an atomic weapon! I might have known Karpov would revert to his old ways. A
bear is a bear, whether it is hunting for honey, fish or foul. But if the
Americans bombed Vladivostok, then what are we doing here? How is it the
history has survived to bring the two of us here like this? The odds against it
ever happening would be staggering.”

“Hiroshima
is a thriving modern city today. The same for Nagasaki. The Americans destroyed
both—at least in one rendition of the history. We rebuilt the city, or so I
have learned. In fact, should you discuss the bombing of Vladivostok in 1945 with
anyone else in your headquarters here they will already know about it.”

“You
remember Hiroshima? No one else seems to here. I let it slip once…Pearl Harbor
as well, and all I got were blank stares.”

“Yes,
I remember Hiroshima, and Pearl Harbor as well. They happened in the old world
you and I left behind so long ago. No one else here will know about them,
though they will know that Vladivostok was bombed in 1945.”