“Could be a little of both,” said Volsky. “Mister Fedorov told me that he thinks Takami first appeared in the Sunda Strait, very near where that big volcano erupted.”
“That never happened in any history book I’ve read,” said Gromyko.
“A lot of things never happened, and Kirov is to blame for that—no, let me tell it truly—I am to blame. From the moment I gave the order to shoot down that first plane, we’ve had our paw in the beehive here. For a while, the honey was sweet, but our meddling has caused all these things to happen that never were—ships prowling the seas here that never were supposed to exist, and all this history skewed beyond recognition. I’ve already lived and vanished on one meridian—and died on another, if you can believe that. Yes, all those memories are right up here.” He pointed to his head.
“And the oddest thing about it all is that I have another Admiral Volsky in there too, behind all the others. He was just minding his own business at Severomorsk, when all of the sudden he wakes up here, aboard Kazan, and with a head full of all these insane memories. Frankly, there are times I still pinch myself, thinking he will wake up again, sleeping quietly in his office at Severomorsk, and with all this nothing more than a bad dream.”
“Well, this bad dream fires torpedoes.” Gromyko smiled. “On that note, our quarry seems to have given us the slip. We think they have eased off to the southwest to rendezvous near the rescue site for Takami. But they know we’re out here, sir. How should we proceed?”
“Any position update from Karpov?”
“Yes sir. He’s broken off and is heading south towards Rabaul.”
“That is a big Japanese naval-air base, is it not?”
“Yes sir, their main base supporting operations in the Solomons.”
Volsky shook his head. “Now what would that man be doing down there? Something tells me he hasn’t quite given up with his little crusade here.”
The others nodded. “Sir,” said Gromyko. “There’s one thing more. During that strike against Kirov, Chernov heard something that is more than a little disturbing.”
“What?”
“We think Karpov popped off a nuke.”
Volsky pinched the bridge of his nose. “Again?” he sighed. “Why in the world would he do something like that?”
“We got the after action report indicating two separate strike waves made an attack on his position. It simply read ‘Wave one extinguished—missile defense defeats wave two.”
“Extinguished?”
“Yes sir, and now Chernov says he thinks a special warhead was used. It was a glide bomb attack, sir, and by F-35’s. We were just trying to figure out how the Japanese got their hands on those planes, and why they were here.”
“Yes,” said Volsky, “more uninvited guests. It is obvious that they got them from the Americans. As to why and how they got here, that will remain our little mystery, and one they are probably still trying to solve as well.”
“Then you believe their presence here is an accident—not intentional, like our mission?”
“Intentional? I suppose only they would know the answer to that question.” Volsky inclined his head. “Thinking that would open some very dark doors, would it not? If they came here willfully, then that means they, like we, have discovered the means to move mass through time. That alone is cause for grave concern. It also means they came here intending to kill Kirov, as I do not think they would know about your boat.”
“Unless they read about us,” said Gromyko.
“What do you mean?”
“Well sir, we’re out here re-writing all this history. This would be recorded and known to those in the future.”
“Interesting…. Darkly interesting, Mister Gromyko. Yes, we are still re-writing history here, even as we try to erase all evidence of our own tracks, as per out little agreement with Karpov. I don’t think we can answer all these questions just yet, but I do think we ought to head south to find Kirov, and make sure Karpov hasn’t got a pen in his hand as he approaches this base at Rabaul to do any more writing in his personal history book.”
“Very well, sir.” Gromyko looked to Belanov. “Bring us around to 180, and make your depth 430, just above the layer, speed 24 knots.”
That was how they left the scene of that little engagement. Gromyko would never know just how close he was to his quarry, and what he might have risked and done there if he had decided to engage those last two contacts.
“Just to be on the safe side,” said Volsky. “I think I had better send a message to Karpov myself.”
“Very good, sir. Belanov will show you the way.”
“Signal on the secure channel, sir. It’s from Admiral Volsky.” Nikolin looked over his shoulder.
“Send it to my ready room. Mister Fedorov? Care to join me?”
The two men withdrew, with the hatch closed behind them. Karpov sat down at his desk, swiveling a pad device and tapping in the code to bring up the decrypted message”
“Ah,” he said. “Someone is getting curious. It asks me to confirm or deny use of special warheads. Very interesting.”
“Chernov,” said Fedorov. “He’s got ears like Tasarov. I don’t think that detonation went unnoticed. The blast wave would have hit the ocean surface very hard, even from the altitude where you detonated that warhead.”
“Indeed,” said Karpov. He was already tapping out his response. “I suppose I should inform his lordship, as a curtesy—not a response to any order he may have intended with that message.”
“Yes, your highness,” said Fedorov. “Who’s playing it high and mighty now?”
“Alright, Fedorov. I’ll admit I can be haughty at times.”
“To say the least.”
“It isn’t that,” said Karpov. “It’s about boundaries. Volsky should realize that he doesn’t rank me here—not any longer. That time is long past. So I’ll confirm on his request, and indicate it was a necessary expedient to save the ship. He can believe what he chooses in that. But Kazan has turned and they are now heading south. The good Admiral wants to know where we are going.”
“Well…. Where are we going? We broke off from that action some time ago.”
“I’m taking us south, away from that damn Japanese task force. It isn’t the destroyers I worry about, but those F-35’s are a nuisance.”
“That’s an understatement,” said Fedorov.
“Well, we’ve broken off, and I don’t think they know where we are, but that engagement was most unwelcome, and it cost us.”
“Yes, missiles, a KA-40, and one of three special warheads. That was a heavy price to pay.”
“It might have been much steeper,” said Karpov. “We would have gone the way of Takami, and getting that damn ship was our only consolation. If not for the carrier, I would have stood and fought those destroyers, and beaten them too.”
“That would have taken a lot of SSMs” said Fedorov. “We decided that Takami wasn’t worth the missiles.”
“Only after they had expended all their SSMs,” Karpov corrected. “Between those three destroyers, they had 24 to throw at us. I would have swatted each and every one down. They just move too slow, and make easy quarry for our SAMs. But their SM-2 is very good. It even has a chance against our MOS-III. My problem is that I need every missile we have to remain a viable threat here.”