Winter Storm (6 page)

Zolkin
nodded, seeing the gravity in the situation now, and realizing Fedorov was
trying to find a way to prevent Karpov from rewriting the history again.”

“Then
you believe he will attack the Japanese? Try to force them to relinquish
control of Vladivostok by using the power of this ship?”

“He was
certainly on that same course before,” said Fedorov. “He’s asked me to study up
on that history, and I think for no good reason. He’ll want to use my knowledge
as a weapon against Japan.”

“Yes,”
said Zolkin. “Knowing what your enemy is going to do, even before he does it,
is certainly an advantage.”

“How
can I stop him, Doctor? Before it came down to a real struggle for control of the
ship. Sergeant Troyak and his Marines were enough to stop him the first time,
but not before he set loose a special warhead. Then later, we had to come for
him aboard the submarine
Kazan
to try and stop him. That’s another long
story I’ll tell you later, but that time, it took the entire bridge crew
standing up and refusing his orders, and you nearly paid with your life. Had
Karpov’s aim been true…”

“I
understand,” said Zolkin. “Do you think we can find a few other allies here,
Fedorov? Might we bring Sergeant Troyak in on what we know?”

“That
was going to be my next move, but have you seen those other men that came
aboard at Kola Bay?”

“I’ve
certainly heard a good deal about them, and a big lout the crew call Grilikov.”

“Karpov
brought sixty security men aboard with him,” said Fedorov. “Grilikov leads that
contingent.”

“I
see…” Zolkin folded his arms. “Mister Fedorov, God bless you for carrying all
of this, and holding up as you have.” He put his hand on Fedorov’s shoulder.
“But you’re not alone now. There’s two of us who know the real truth, and perhaps
I may even recover my memory of these events. But one thing is certain, I’ll be
at your right shoulder from this moment on.”

“Thank
you, Doctor. That is a great relief. Perhaps together we can find a way to stop
this man, the Siberian, or at least answer that question.”

“What
question?”

“It
isn’t just a matter of how to stop him,” said Fedorov. “I must also decide
whether I should even try. The Allies are losing this war, and now Japan will
soon join the Axis. We could lose it all, Doctor. Germany, Italy, Orenburg and
Japan could win this war…”

Karpov
was pacing, as he sometimes would do on the bridge of the
ship, feeling restless and dispossessed. The Admiral’s stateroom aboard
Tunguska
was comfortable, with well appointed furnishings, a gas heater and stove,
ornate samovar for tea, and a beautiful writing desk. When he saw these things
he gave an instinctive nod of his head, realizing they would have been the very
same things he would have collected in a stateroom, but now they gave him
little comfort. All he could think of was the ship,
Kirov
, his command at
sea now the province of his other self, another version of his very being,
impossible but nonetheless there.

Tyrenkov
sat quietly in the chair opposite the Admiral’s desk, waiting to complete his
briefing, but the Captain had been too restless to sit. Eventually, to press
upon him the urgency of the moment, the intelligence Chief stood, his gloved
hands clasped before him, still waiting.

“Very
well,” said Karpov, in that same impatient tone of voice Tyrenkov had become so
familiar with. The acorn never fell very far from the tree, but which was the
tree? This man before him was the root and stem of the Siberian, with every
same potential, though all of it unrealized.

“What
is so important about Ilanskiy?” said Karpov. “I know the place in my day, an
insignificant little railway town east of Kansk near the Naval Weapons Armory.”

“I was
instructed to leave that briefing to the Admiral, but to press upon you the
importance of the place as our new fleet operations center and headquarters.”

“Ilanskiy?
Why there? It is far from the front lines.”

“The
Admiral will acquaint you with the reason for his decision to locate our
operations center there. I was merely to convey that fact, and the Admiral’s
directive that its defense and security is of paramount importance. The enemy
has already mounted two airship raids on that location. They are very keen to
control that place, and so the first priority of our fleet operations planning
involves the defense of Ilanskiy.”

“Very
well,” said Karpov sullenly. “How many ships do I have?”

“Six
remain from our original fleet, including the fleet flagship, which we are
presently standing on. Of these, three are permanently stationed at Kansk and
Ilanskiy,
Abakan, Angara
, and
Talmenka
. These are considered
heavy cruiser class airships, with eight guns, mostly 76mm recoilless rifles.
This ship is much stronger, as you have seen.”

That
failed to impress the Captain, who rolled his eyes momentarily, before asking
his next question. “The other two ships?”

“They
are east at Irkutsk, one ship by that name, and a second in the same class,
Novosibirsk
.
These are twelve gun battlecruisers, as compared to
Tunguska
, which has sixteen
guns, our only true battleship. And as you can see off our port side, we have
just taken lend lease on two more battlecruiser class airships, from the
Soviets, the
Riga
and
Narva
.”

“And
our enemies? What about this Orenburg Federation you’ve told me of?”

“Their
fleet was originally composed of twenty-four ships, but recent engagements have
reduced it to sixteen. Our present intelligence indicates they have no new
construction underway, while we will have one more ship in the
Tunguska
class available soon, to be named
Baikal
.”

“Then
they will still outnumber us sixteen to nine.”

“That
ratio will soon be addressed. Sergei Kirov has agreed to move his Black Sea
Fleet airships north and cede them to our control.”

“Big of
him,” said Karpov. “Considering that it is our troops marching off to defend
his capital now.”

“Our
capital,” Tyrenkov corrected him quietly. “The Admiral has instructed me to
refer to Moscow in that manner, as he sees the eventual reunification of the
Soviet Union to include all of Siberia and the Orenburg Federation after Volkov
is defeated.”

“Of
course,” said Karpov, half attending to the briefing now, his mind seemingly
lost in the clouds as he gazed out the port side window.

“Three
more airships will join us within the week,” Tyrenkov continued, the
Odessa,
Rostov,
and
Sevastopol
. The addition of these five Soviet ships,
along with our newly built
Baikal
, brings our fleet to eleven battle
worthy units. And we will have an advantage in firepower, even though the enemy
might still outnumber us, because many of their airships are in the smaller
cruiser class. The three new arrivals are flying directly to Ilanskiy as we
complete the expanded mooring tower facilities at Kansk.
Riga
and
Narva
will depart soon to bolster the Far Eastern Battle Squadron, which can also be
quickly reinforced from Ilanskiy.”

“Very
well.” Karpov waited. “What else?”

“Your
land force in the west has presently been reduced to four rifle divisions.
Three are still manning our fortified Ob river line east of Omsk, though the
enemy has pulled all but two divisions from that sector for their operations
against Volgograd. One division is now assigned as a permanent garrison at
Ilanskiy, the 78th Siberian Rifles.”

“Garrison?
What for?”

“Sir,
the enemy airships can transport troops. I will brief you on the operations
recently concluded, but they have the capability to repeat that if they so
choose, and move the equivalent of a decent brigade sized formation by airships.
A rifle division on defense is now deemed sufficient to hold Ilanskiy secure,
and we do not anticipate any overland threat from the west. At the moment the
principal concern of the Admiral is the Japanese.”

“Yes,
and he’s taking my ship to the Pacific to see about that.”

“Our
ship, sir,” came Tyrenkov’s subtle correction again. “The battlecruiser
Kirov
has now been designated the flagship of the Free Siberian Navy.”

Karpov
smiled. “I suppose you will tell me all about that now.”

“Not
much to speak of,” said Tyrenkov. “As you know, we have no real Pacific port of
any size to accommodate a fleet, and no shipbuilding program or dry docks of
any kind. But we do have three destroyers, five submarines, mostly lent to us
from the Soviets. To there you can add several corvette class gunboats, coastal
lighters, and a small merchant fleet operating in the Sea of Okhotsk out of
Magadan.”

Karpov
shook his head. “I still cannot believe the Japanese have taken Vladivostok.”

“That
and much more, sir,” said Tyrenkov. “They control all of Primorskiy Province,
southern Khabarovsk, and all of Amur Province. They have also occupied all of
Sakhalin Island, and the Kuriles, as far as Kamchatka.”

“They
control that as well?”

“They
invaded southern Kamchatka six years ago, but do not have any significant
military presence there now, perhaps only a few naval battalions at
Petropavlovsk, as they perceive us powerless to do anything much about their
presence there, having no navy, and with land communications so forbidding in
Koryak Province to the north. That may change with the outbreak of war. My
intelligence indicates the Japanese have a plan to move against the Aleutians.
In this case, we may see a reinforcement of their facility at Petropavlovsk.”

“Then
we would be wise to move before they do,” said Karpov, his mind slowly warming
up to the strategic situation in the far east. Do we have troops out there?”

“Twelve
divisions, mostly in the vicinity of Irkutsk and Baikal, to keep an eye on the
Japanese Kwantung Army. They’ve shown no inclination to push farther into our
territory, and frankly, I do not think they will at this point. Kolchak was a
fairly experienced naval commander, but not much on land. Thankfully, we have
good generals there to mind those affairs, and you should know that these men
will now answer to the Admiral, and by extension, to you.”

“To me?
What about Kolchak?”

“He was
eliminated.” Tyrenkov’s statement was as cold and heartless as the operation
that ended Kolchak’s life. A simple hunting accident, or so it seemed, and so
it was reported. Yet Vladimir Karpov was now named the head of the Free
Siberian State, and, as he listened to Tyrenkov’s briefing, the Captain’s inner
vanity and sense of self aggrandizement quickly embraced the notion that he was
now much more than he once was, even though he stood in the shadow of his elder
self.

“We
must not underestimate the Japanese,” said Tyrenkov, qualifying his remarks.
“Their Kwantung Group is still the largest and most prestigious Command in
their entire army. General Tojo, the present Japanese Prime Minister, was once
its Chief of Staff. During his tenure there, he increased Japanese penetration
into Mongolia, and beefed up their presence near Lake Baikal. That army is
presently commanded by General Yoshijiro Umezu, and his Chief of Staff is
presently General Heitaro Kimura. It was he who led the Siberian intervention
in 1918 to greatly expand Japanese occupation of our former territory. Now what
was known as the
Hokushin-rin
, or ‘Northern Advance’ by the Japanese
into Siberia, has been largely realized. It is my assessment that they will
take a defensive posture, and concentrate their efforts in the South Pacific.”

“How
many divisions do they have?” Karpov cut to the quick, the kind of curt
question Stalin might have asked, for in his mind that was all things came down
to.

“Fourteen
divisions, organized in a number of small armies, and two brigade sized armored
formations, with numerous smaller supporting units.”

“Then
we match them?”

“On
paper, but their provision in artillery, armor, mobile units and air power
greatly overshadows our Far East Command. We have been in defensive positions
for the last decade. Oh, there was an engagement at Khalin Gol, but that was
not much of anything, and it’s clear who now hold that ground. We’d like to see
it a victory, but in reality, it is their army on our turf now, and not the
other way around.”

“They
have airships like ours?”

“No
sir, they never extended that technology as we have. Their Kwantung Air Corps
is nonetheless very powerful. We cannot match them in the air, by any means.
Yet our airships are remarkably resilient to small arms fire. It will take a
significant cannon to seriously bother one, at least 37mm or better. Otherwise,
their present inventory of aircraft can annoy us, cause casualties, attack the gondolas
and engines, which have only light armor. But we can out climb them, and mostly
out gun them and make them pay a dear price for attacking us. They usually
confine their air operations to ground support and reconnaissance.”

“That
will change soon,” said Karpov. “They have a very well trained naval aviation
corps. I will have to speak with… my brother, to plan our strategy soon.”

“I’m
sure he is eager for that as well, sir.”

Karpov
offered a thin smile. “Tyrenkov… The other men here. How will this be
explained?”

“At the
moment, they have been told nothing. In fact, they believe you are their
commanding Admiral. And why should they think otherwise? In time, I believe it
is the Admiral’s intention to present you as an identical twin brother, which
is not very far from the truth, I suppose.”

The
telephone on the desk rang, and Tyrenkov walked briskly to answer it. “Yes?
Very well, I will inform the Admiral.” He set the receiver in its cradle, and
smiled. “Our Air Commandant Bogrov has reported the ship is in sight. We will
be making our close approach within thirty minutes.”

Karpov
seemed very glad for the news, taking in a deep breath and straightening his
jacket.
Kirov
would soon be in sight again, beneath him, its tall
battlements and radar domes gleaming in the wan sun. He went to the cabin
window, smiling to see the telltale white wake of a warship ahead, and wishing
he was back aboard.

“I
suppose this is somewhat difficult for you,” said Tyrenkov.

“Somewhat…”

“Do not
fear, Admiral. You will settle into your role here soon enough.”

“Yes,”
said Karpov, “that’s a good way of putting it, isn’t it—my role. This is all
just nice theater for the moment, a little act to keep the men in line. Yes?
Well, do not think of me as a simpleton, or a yes man, Chief Tyrenkov. I saw
the wisdom in what my brother proposed, and I willfully accepted this post.”

“Of
course, sir.”

“I did
not think it came with such perks… that’s quite a samovar there on the side
table.”

“A
gift, sir, from Sergei Kirov.”

“What?
He gets twenty divisions and we get a samovar and five airships? It sounds like
he got much the better of that deal.” Even as he said that, the Captain knew
quite well what else was on the scale in those negotiations—the ship,
Kirov
,
the greatest concentration of raw military power on this earth.”

“Did my
brother know I was aboard that ship?”

“Sir?
No, I do not believe he was certain. In fact, he thought this situation could
not happen, that it would be either one or the other who must survive, but it
never occurred to him that you would both survive the… incident.”