“Because Sergeant Troyak will be with me.” He folded his arms.
“Troyak?” Karpov raised his eyebrows. “You’ve spoken to him about this?”
“He volunteered this afternoon, and two of his best Marines will round out the team. In fact he showed me comm-link devices you can use to track us on extraction. They use them for special operations.”
“You told him everything? He and his men know the risks?”
“And they also know what’s at stake.”
Volsky smiled. “Well, well, well… Yes, if you take Troyak back we will definitely get your letter, and I think you will get to Kizlyar as well. I have little doubt of that. But make no mistake, Fedorov. This is still going to be dangerous. Troyak and his men are among the best in the fleet, but they are men nonetheless, not robots. A bullet will kill them, and you, easily enough.”
“I understand, sir. It’s the risk we’ll have to take.”
“I admire your courage in this, but I must tell you that Kirov may not be able to come back for you.”
Fedorov knew this was the one weak link in his plan. Kirov might soon find itself in battle, and there was no guarantee that the ship would survive or ever find a way to extricate itself and use Rod-25 to return for them. But he had a plan.
“There’s another way, sir. Kirov is not the only ship with nuclear reactors. The Anatoly Alexandrov is in the Caspian Sea at this very moment and it operates two KLT-40B naval propulsion reactors-the exact same power rating as Kirov.”
“ Anatoly Alexandrov?” Karpov raised an eyebrow in surprise. “That’s just a floating nuclear power facility. It was delivered via the rail quay at Kaspiysk to Gazprom for use in its Kashagan superfield offshore drilling operation. But I don’t even think it is crewed at the moment.” Karpov knew much about the operation as he had been a former executive in Gazprom before coming to the navy.
“Precisely, sir. It’s fully functional, but not yet scheduled for operations-and with no crew on site it is just perfect for what I have planned. All we would have to do is send Dobrynin and a few engineers with a security team from the ship. It’s anchored about ten kilometers off Kaspiysk harbor, and that is only about 120 kilometers south of Kizlyar! We can fly Rod-25 to Uytash airfield at Kaspiysk tonight. We have a coast guard base there, hovercraft, helos, the entire 77th Guard Naval Marine force at our disposal. If the Admiral orders it, we could easily commandeer the Anatoly Alexandrov, secretly install Rod-25, and it would shift the entire facility back. It displaces only 21,500 tons, which is less than Kirov. Perhaps we could move one of the new assault landing ships at Kaspiysk. I believe the Lt. Rimskiy is stationed there. It can range out to 1000 kilometers, requires only a small six man crew, and can transport 140 tons-a fast hovercraft, a helicopter, or even tanks! If you moved it tight on the Alexandrov, I think those reactors will shift it back as well. That would give our Marines a fast mobile platform for the extraction mission, and a few surprises inside in case we run into trouble. You can signal your arrival by radio and home in on us. We can meet you anywhere on the Caspian coast!”
“Amazing,” said Volsky. “You have the whole mission planned!” He sat with that for a moment, thinking, and realizing that as wild as the operation seemed, they had to try.
“Very well…It’s decided. You have your mission, Fedorov, but why not launch it from the Alexandrov? Why risk the long journey east from here?”
“It will take time to set things up in the Caspian, Admiral”
“Yes, perhaps several days, even a week.”
“But I can leave tonight from here. Yes, it makes for a long, hard journey in 1942, but if I don’t act immediately the situation could change here with these recent developments. A week from now who knows what we will be facing? We should act immediately, sir. This way I can verify the day of our arrival with a letter as planned. We know the approximate time we might displace to from the Engineering Center, but not so with the Alexandrov. ”
“Suppose you appear in September of 1942 as with Markov, but the Alexandrov shifts to a different date, perhaps in 1943 or 1944? Or not at all?”
“These are the risks we will have to accept, Admiral. If the relief force shifts late, then we wait for you. If you never come…Well, I will write you a long letter about us.” Fedorov smiled, but it was clear that he knew all too well that this might be the last night he would ever see the world he had been born to, or at least the semblance of that world, changed as it was, a chameleon of time and fate.
“Very well,” said Volsky heavily. “Go to the test bed facility and call me on a secure line when you are ready. On my command have Dobrynin run the procedure. I will issue orders immediately and Dobrynin can then lead a team with one or two engineers and a Marine detachment from the ship. They’ll be on a plane for the Caspian region tonight. Admiral Kamilov is an old friend-he commands the Caspian Flotilla and I can arrange for everything Dobrynin will need when they get there. The remainder of the Ship’s marine detachment will go with him as well. The whole thing will be a top secret operation, and make that stick.”
“Thank you sir!”
“Don’t thank me yet, Fedorov. We may never see you again.”
“We’ll win through, sir. I can feel it.”
“I believe you…and may God go with you, but what if this mission fails, and you are trapped there in the past?”
“I’ve considered that, sir, and I have a solution.”
“What solution? What will you do?”
“We will have to end our lives… It sounds terrible, but it would be the only way.”
Neither man said anything. Volsky rubbed his brow, then spoke softly, a sadness in his voice. “Orlov heard the siren’s song, and now we follow. We jump right overboard even though we see the bleached skulls on the shore. But the end of that song is too often death. Let us hope you and the others do not have to pay that price.”
He looked down to the harbor, saw the Admiral Lazarev again, breathing deeply. “This leaves the ship free to do what we must in the here and now.” He turned to face Karpov.
“As for you, Captain, you are going to lead the Red Banner Pacific Fleet out tonight. Weather conditions have been worsening and it looks like we will have a storm on our hands. It will keep prying eyes in space from following our deployment. I’ve recalled Admiral Golovk o and Orlan, a couple of new ships to keep Kirov company. You’ll also have the cruiser Varyag, four Udaloy class destroyers and our best attack submarine in escort, the Kazan. The rest of our submarines have already deployed in a wide arc east of Japan.”
He reached for a map to show Karpov his plan. “We will use the storm front for cover. Your mission will be to rendezvous with the Admiral Kuznetsov, add those four ships to your flotilla, and then we thump our chest. There won’t be another surface action group within a thousand miles with the firepower you have at your disposal, and you’ll have carrier based air power and anything else we can give you from our airfields. You will be the most formidable force at sea, so while Fedorov is on his way to the history books, you will take Kirov and lead the fleet north of Hokkaido to the Kuriles. You are acting Task Group Commander. Understood?”
“Very well, sir.” Karpov sat taller, the pride in his eyes evident.
“You are to conduct operations intended to make a show of force, but not to provoke or engage our adversaries. If you find the flotilla under direct and immediate threat, then you will take appropriate offensive and defensive measures utilizing conventional weapons only. I repeat. No use of tactical nuclear weapons is authorized. You will have them, but you must not use them unless you receive a direct order to do so. Is that clear?”
“I understand, sir.”
“Other than that, you have complete discretion as to how to employ your force to achieve our ends. Deter the enemy, and if he will not be deterred, then oppose him, but realize every missile you fire may be the one that sets off this war in earnest. Then the ICBMs fly. Remember, Karpov, if a nuclear warhead is your only tactical option, then your battle has already been lost, and the fleet with it. I believe you, of all men now walking this earth, know the hard truth of that. In fact, you are the only man in this world now who has ever ordered the use of a nuclear weapon in anger. Let us hope that first time was the last.”
Karpov nodded, his eyes serious, realizing what the Admiral meant all too well. “Rely on me, sir. I will not let you down.”
“I will rely on you both, as I did before when I could not stand on these old legs and was stuck there with Zolkin in the sick bay. The world is on your shoulders now, gentlemen, not just the fate of the ship. God go with
