Fedorov gave him a long look. “Well, that is certainly a change of heart. I thought you were dead set on reclaiming Vladivostok and continuing your war on Japan.”
“How would that help our situation?” said Karpov. “It might help my Free Siberian State, but it would also continue to wreak havoc on the line of causality here. We’ve been trying to find a way to put the genie back in the bottle. Isn’t that what this mission to Ilanskiy was all about? Now Churchill has asked us to hammer the Germans with a nuke, all in the effort to get an agreement by both sides to refrain from any further use of those weapons. Suppose we could negotiate a similar agreement with this Japanese task force?”
“Finally, I begin to hear you talking sense,” said Volsky. “For a while there, I believed you were dead set on trying to take Kirov back to 1908, and deal with things there in a more heavy-handed manner. Now you sound reasonable. Yes. If we could get a negotiated agreement, that would be a much better solution. I second this proposal.”
Both Fedorov and Gromyko also agreed that this would be at least worth a try, and in spite of some reservations, they all agreed to make the strike on Peenemünde. Like Tovey had suggested, they would be fighting fire with fire—nuclear fire. Yet they hoped such a demonstration of both capability and determination would sober the Germans, and possibly prevent them from any further use of their own weapons.
“This will be dangerous,” said Volsky. “Once one man starts throwing stones, the other man picks one up and things can deteriorate very quickly. We are counting on Hitler embracing common sense here. What if he should react differently.”
“Then let us hope our strike prevents him from getting any more of these weapons,” said Fedorov.
So there they were. Tyrenkov would take another airship to Ilanskiy, and they would go there with him to stand a watch on the upper landing and await his return. Karpov would summon his younger self, and the two of them would discuss the mission planned for the strike against Peenemünde. Meanwhile, half a world away, and many decades in the past, Elena Fairchild, Gordon MacRae, Mack Morgan and company were finally stepping ashore on the Island of Cerigos, knowing the object of their quest was right there, so very close.
Yet what happened next was most unexpected. A Deep Nexus Point had yawned open in this moment, and everything was waiting for its vast jaws to close upon an unsuspecting world that might never be the same again after that had happened. Time itself was waiting, for Fairchild, Karopv, Fedorov, Tyrenkov, and all their secret missions. But another mission was underway, and it was something that not one of them could have ever suspected. Soon Fedorov, Volsky, Karpov and all the rest would come to learn that they were not the only ones with the terrible power to move in time.
Don’t miss the season four finale coming September 1, 2017
The war continues, and the Allies now plan and execute their next move in the West, even as Zhukov resumes his offensive against Armeegruppe South. As the Allied “Second Front” draws closer to Germany in the Mediterranean, Hitler and OKW must find the means to stop two powerful enemies from decisively turning the course of the war against them. Meanwhile, missions in 1943, 1908 and deep within the nexus on the Island of Cerigos threaten to unhinge everything and re-write the entire history to forge a new Prime Meridian.
As Fairchild and company proceed with their plan to secure the treasure hidden with the Selene Horse, their mission meets with a most unexpected twist. Meanwhile, Gennadi Orlov makes a most fateful decision concerning Ivan Volkov, and when Karpov sends his second self on the mission to deliver a powerful blow against the German Wunderwaffe programs at Peenemünde, an unexpected challenger appears.
Reading the Kirov Series
The Kirov Series is a long chain of linked novels by John Schettler in the Military Alternate History / Time Travel Genre. Like the popular movie “The Final Countdown” which saw the US Carrier Nimitz sent back in time to the eve of Pearl Harbor in 1941, in the opening volume, the powerful Russian battlecruiser Kirov is sent back to the 1940s in the Norwegian Sea where it subsequently becomes embroiled in the war.
Similar to episodes in the never-ending Star Trek series, the saga continues through one episode after another as the ship’s position in time remains unstable. It culminates in Book 8 Armageddon, then continues the saga in Altered States, which begins the second “Season” in the series, extending through Volume 16. The series is presently in Season 4, covering the Allied offensives in North Africa, and the winter battles of late 1942. Boldly enters the crucial year of 1943 in Book 27, aptly titled “1943.”
The best entry point is obviously Book I, Kirov, where you will meet all the main characters in the series and learn their inner motivations. The series itself, however, is structured in “seasons” with 8 books in each season. In Season 1, the first three volumes form an exciting trilogy featuring much fast-paced naval action as Kirov battles the Royal Navy, Regia Marina (Italians) and finally the Japanese after sailing to the Pacific in Book III. Book 4, Men of War stands as a sequel to that trilogy and the bridge novel that links it to the second segment of Season 1, beginning with 9 Days Falling.
The 9 Days Falling trilogy focuses on the struggle to prevent a great war in 2021 from reaching a terrible nuclear climax that destroys the world. It spans books 5, 6, and 7, featuring the outbreak of the war in 2021 as Japan and China battle over disputed islands, and the action of the Red Banner Pacific Fleet against the modern US Fleet. It then takes a dramatic turn when the ship is again shifted in time to 1945. There they confront the powerful US Pacific Fleet under Admiral Halsey, and so this trilogy focuses much of the action as Kirov faces down the US in two eras. Several subplots are also launched that serve to relate other events in the great war of 2021, and deepen the mystery of time travel as discovered in the series. The season ends at another crucial point in history where the ship’s Captain, Vladimir Karpov, believes he is in a position to decisively change events, the season finale, Armageddon.
Season 2 begins with the Altered States trilogy, where Kirov becomes trapped in the world made by its many interventions in the history, an altered reality beginning in June of 1940. It is here that a sequential alternate history retelling of WWII begins that will extend to the war’s conclusion in 1945. The opening volume sees the ship pitted against the one navy of WWII it has not yet fought, the Kriegsmarine of Germany, which now has powerful new ships from the German Plan Z naval building program as one consequence of Kirov’s earlier actions.
The Altered States saga spans books 9 through 16, initially covering the German attack on the carrier Glorious, the British raids on the Vichy French Fleets at Mers-el Kebir and Dakar, and the German Operation Felix against Gibraltar. Other events in Siberia involve the rise of Karpov to power, and his duel with Ivan Volkov of the Orenburg Federation, one of the three fragmented Russian states. (And these involve airship battles!)