“Leave it be?”
“Yes, no more nuclear torpedoes please. In fact, do everything in your power to avoid such an encounter. It may never happen, but if it does, use all your considerable skills to steer clear of that submarine.”
Sometime later, Gromyko was back on Kazan, and breaking the sad news to his crew that their trial was not yet over. “Yes, I know this will hurt. We’ve been longing for home, for our families, our loved ones, but so have our brothers aboard Kirov, yes? They’ve been out there a hell of a lot longer than we have. We tried to get them home again, but we failed the first time. We sailed with them, fought with them, and now we will not abandon them in their hour of need. We have new orders, and that is why we signed on, so we will carry them out. And then, perhaps one day, we will come home again, only to a world that we might yet be able to live in, and not the one we saw the first time we tried. Yes, we thought this might be that world, but not yet… not yet…”
He let that settle in, let the men take it all to heart, a good crew, a fighting crew, and there was a war waiting for them, one way or another. He did not have the heart at that time to tell them everything, that they may have to make that war with the very ship and crew they were now going back to find and rescue from the cold grip of time. That would come later…
“Chernov,” he said when the boat was finally rearmed and getting ready to get underway. “Did you ever refine your contact data on the British boat we tangled with?”
“You mean the Astute Class boat? Yes sir, I’ve worked on that a good deal, and I found some other data we had on file from a trawler we had listening one day. I can’t be sure sir, but the Intel that I’ve been able to gather would lead me to make a pretty good guess as to which boat it was.”
“Well?” Gromyko liked answers, not questions.
“The Ambush, sir. The second boat in the class. I’ll put my money on number two.”
“Ambush,” said Gromyko. “Good name for that one.” He smiled, and Chernov knew what he meant.
So here we go again, he thought. We’re a nice angry wolf, and with sharp new teeth… a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Kirov Series Season Four
Season Four concludes the battles in the West as the allies drive on Gibraltar, while Eric Manstein leads a dangerous new German offensive in the East. The war then continues into 1943, even while Fedorov conducts a desperate mission to avoid what he sees is the calamity of yet another paradox. It all begins July 1st with the season premier in a title to be announced in the weeks ahead.
In the meantime, look for the next Kirov Series battle book to feature all the great battle action from the East Front in one continuous and uninterrupted narrative.
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 reaching the end of Season 3, as the Allies launch their first offensive in the West—Second Front.
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!)
The second half of Season 2 begins with Three Kings. It covers the action in North Africa, including O’Connor’s whirlwind “Operation Compass” and Rommel’s arrival and first offensive, Operation Sonnenblume. The main characters from Kirov and other plot lines from the opening 8 book saga figure prominently in all this action, with a decisive intervention that arises from a most unexpected plot twist. Book 13, Grand Alliance continues the war in the desert as Rommel is suddenly confronted with a powerful new adversary, and Hitler reacts by strongly reinforcing the Afrika Korps. It also presents the struggle for naval supremacy in the Mediterranean as the British face down a combined Axis fleet from three enemy nations.
Book 14, Hammer of God, covers a surprise German airborne attack, and the British campaigns in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. It continues in Crescendo of Doom, the German response as Rommel begins his second offensive aimed at Tobruk on the eve of Operation Barbarossa. At the same time, the action in Siberia heats up in a growing conflict between Vladimir Karpov and Ivan Volkov.