Kirov III: Pacific Storm

Chapter 14

It was a long hour fighting the fires aft before Chief Byko reported they had the matter under control. Three more men were injured in the fight, scalded in spite of their heavy gloves and damage control aprons. They had rigged the external pumps to bring in long jets of seawater, and the fire teams bravely held a line just forward of Kirov’s second 152mm battery, and the vital ammunition magazines beneath it.

On the old Kirov, the place struck by Hayashi’s plane had once been a series of small towers where the Volna ‘Top Dome’ and the 3R95 ‘Cross Sword’ fire control radars had been installed. In the major refit that produced the new ship, these older radars had been removed, replaced with alternate systems located forward, and the small towers had been re-metaled into a squarish structure that became the aft battle bridge. It was a spitting image of the main bridge, which had been moved well above and behind the old forward bridge, high on the main mast.

The equipment destroyed in the aft citadel would remove their primary backup should any damage ever occur on the main bridge, but the ship could still function efficiently without it. The fact that the facility was completely redundant, with its own unique cabling, wire and power leads, limited the damage to the rest of the ship’s power and electronic systems.

Byko did have one concern while the fires were still being fought. The Vodopad torpedo launchers had been located directly beneath the aft citadel, just below the main deck level, where long, sleek weapons were also stored in underdeck magazines. Were it not for the second barrier of the aft citadel floor, another 200mm thick reinforced armor plate, Hayashi’s plane might have plunged right on through to those magazines and set off an even greater explosion.

By the time the fires were finally out, and Byko could get men up on the pyramid of the aft mast, the pursuing enemy had slowly made up half the long lead Kirov had built up with its small two knot speed advantage overnight. The ship was just over the horizon, her main mast perhaps not even visible to the enemy yet. Byko reported he had divers ready, but Volsky was concerned and wanted to increase speed as soon as possible. He decided to postpone the undersea hull inspection, and ordered a small increase to 25 knots.

It was either that or they would soon have a gunfight on their hands, and he was again hoping that speed could be used instead of vital missiles. The Torres Strait was just under a hundred miles east, and Fedorov advised that they would have to be cautious in those reef-infested waters where the main sea channels were very shallow. Speed now, caution later, thought Volsky. Then he relinquished command to Fedorov and went below to check on the men. After a hit like the one they had just experienced, he thought it best to see to his human assets as well. Morale was also a vital part of his ship’s fighting quality, and he wanted to take the measure of the crew and give them heart.

The infirmary was a natural first stop, and the Admiral was disheartened to see the long line of men waiting for Doctor Zolkin’s attention. They all smiled, saluting crisply when they saw him, at least those with good right arms. A few looked fairly well bruised, but their injuries were not serious. Volsky spent time with each man, walking the line and thanking them for their service, promising them better days ahead. When he finally reached the sick bay he peered inside to see Zolkin attending to a man prone on his surgery table, his face masked, intent on his work. The blood stains on his jersey were evident, and for a brief moment their eyes met, though no words were exchanged.

The Admiral moved on, heading aft until he finally neared the section where the damaged battle bridge would have been. He was a deck below the aft citadel, but the ladder up opened to clear sky now. And he could see all the way up through the open hatch into to the citadel and noted the gaping hole in the armored roof. 200 millimeters of armor, almost eight inches of hardened steel, had once seemed a safe and sturdy barrier to him, but when he saw the sharp edges of the twisted metal, blackened with fire and soot, he realized just how vulnerable the ship was to any weapon their enemies could deploy against him.

He spent some time with Byko there, asking about any possible secondary damage until he was satisfied that the ship could still function without any major system failures.

“I’m sorry to have to put you and your men to work this early,” said Volsky. “And I’m afraid it may be a long day, Byko.”

“Just my job, sir,” said Byko. “But you will have to excuse the condition of the ship aft of this point. I still have hose lays from here to the helo bays, and men with acetylene torches are still cutting metal.”

Surgery on the men, thought Volsky, and surgery on the ship. Thankfully neither the crew nor the ship had been dealt a fatal blow.

“What about those turbines, Chief? We may need more speed soon.”

“That minor leak I reported earlier is well repaired, sir. We’ve taken a few hard blows, what with those near misses and the helo explosion, not to mention the missile misfire. We’ll need some metal work aft if we can ever make a friendly port again, and a good paint job.”

Volsky smiled. “Come to the officer’s dining room tonight. I’ve a good cigar to share with you, Byko. You’ve earned it.”

The Admiral clasped him on the shoulder, and then turned to head forward again, looking for the nearest ladder down. He wanted to check with Dobrynin next, and see how the reactor was faring, and he soon found him leaning over his monitors, squinting at the dials and gauges there.

“I trust all is well here, Dobrynin?”

“Sir,” the Chief Engineer saluted. “No problems to speak of. Considering the work we’ve given them on this outing, the reactors have been fairly stable.”

“What about those odd sounds you reported earlier?”

“Those were quite strange, sir,” said Dobrynin, scratching his head. “It seemed there was a neutron flux in the core. I could almost hear it, if that makes any sense. You get to know every sound these systems can possibly make in time, and I could hear a distinctive difference.”

Volsky nodded. “Any idea what may have caused it?”

“Nothing comes to mind, sir. At first I thought the core could have been affected by radiation from those other nuclear detonations, but it’s too well shielded, sir. No. Whatever caused it was an event inside the reactor itself.”

“When was the last time you heard anything odd?”

“Well, sir…” Dobrynin seemed to be fishing for his thought. “I believed I heard something two days ago, but it was very subtle, not at all like those earlier events, and the flux readings in the core were barely disturbed. I would have reported it, but it settled down, then came and went for a while. I thought I was hearing something, then when I would listen it was gone.”

Volsky raised an eyebrow at that, thinking of how Rodenko’s radar systems had obtained contacts, then lost them before the signal finally firmed up and they knew they had shifted in time again. The reactors, he thought. Maybe it wasn’t the accident, or even the detonation of that warhead in the Atlantic. Perhaps this odd time displacement is being created by something going on in our own reactors!

“I understand you have been concerned about cooling problems?”

“Just a minor malfunction on some feed water valves. I had it corrected in a few hours, sir.”

“Have you kept regular log entries on these variations?”

“Of course, sir. And we have a digital record of the entire system performance readouts being logged in real time and stored to memory.”

“I see…” Volsky rubbed his chin, thinking. “Dobrynin…Could you have a look at that data for me? Take particular notice of anything odd, anything that might have accounted for this vibration or sound you report—this flux business. See if you can chart it out for me.”

“Very good, sir. I’ll have the men run a full readout report and we’ll go over it with a fine toothed comb.”

“Good man,” said Volsky. “And if we have to make speed soon, any potential problems you can foresee?”