Grand Alliance (Kirov Series) (33 page)

“I
understand what you are saying. That said… Have we reached an understanding
here? Do we stand together as allies and friends?”

“I will
draw up a formal accord, if you wish, and we can make it a diplomatic reality.
Hitler will take notice, as will Ivan Volkov. Who knows, this news may even
compel them to move against us sooner, so there is some risk in all of this.”

“Yes,
but you know they would come one day soon in any case. Perhaps now they will
take pause, and know that they will find stronger opposition than before. There
is much we must do, Kirov. Build those tanks! I can send you my engineers with plans
for new weapons that I believe your industry could bring to life.”

“These
terror weapons you spoke of earlier?”

“No,
merely more advanced versions of the things you may be designing even now. Yes,
we could build the awful weapons I spoke of, and perhaps we will be forced to
do so in time. We must certainly be ready to do so, and we must use all the
skill and guile we can muster to determine whether our enemies are building
these things. Volkov is the real threat. Hitler has the industry and the
military might, but Volkov has knowledge of things that can lead Germany
forward as well. We must know what they are up to, and be prepared to oppose
it.”

“How do
you think Volkov will react to our newfound accord here?”

“He
already considered that when he launched his attack at Omsk. Frankly, I believe
he thinks he can beat us to the punch by standing with Hitler.”

“Yet he
knows about Ilanskiy. He must fear that you could wield that ultimate power
against him.”

“Perhaps.
He obviously had some reason to try and seize that place. I do not know if he
fully understands what that stairway opens, but he was suspicious enough to try
and find out. Well now that opportunity is lost to him, and I will make sure
that he never gets his chance there again. I will be calling up more troops
from the east soon, enough to begin a real offensive on Volkov’s exposed right
flank.”

“You
will be calling up troops? What about Kolchak? What about the Japanese?”

“We
have time, Kirov. Not much time, but a little breathing space now before Japan
gets serious about entering this war. In our history they did not become an
active belligerent until December of 1941.”

“But
can you be sure that will repeat?”

“Not
entirely. In our history the Japanese never took Vladivostok, and all of Amur
province from us either. I was trying to see to it that they never could pose a
threat to us again, but as I have said, Volsky interfered and this is the
outcome of his stupidity. Who knows how much time we really have, but we may
have some months yet before Japan becomes a strong threat in the east. When
they did enter the war, they drove into the South Pacific and incurred the
wrath of the United States. That was their undoing. As they already have a
strong position on the Asian continent, and all of Amur province, my best guess
is that they will drive for the South Pacific Islands again.”

“Why
would they do that?”

“Oil
again,” said Karpov. “Oil is the blood of war. Over half a million men died on
both sides in the fighting to control the Caucasus. Your operation has already
began that tally. So the Japanese needed oil, rubber, and natural resources to
sustain their empire. The US and British initiated oil and steel embargos
against Japan in August 1941. The Netherlands East Indies followed along, so
the Japanese just took them. They nearly drove all the way to Australia.”

“I see…
Is Kolchak prepared for what might happen?”

 “Kolchak,
he is a tired, sick old man. I’ve been handling this entire affair with Volkov,
and as you said, I will soon replace him. That is one thing I
am
certain
of.”

“Well
enough. Kolchak was never going to amount to anything in any case.”

“Yes,
in our history your Red Guard had him executed! But it was Stalin’s Red Guard
that time around. Things will be different this time, Mister General Secretary,
very, very different.”

Karpov
extended his hand, and as Kirov took it, he felt, on one level, as though he
were shaking hands with the devil. The man called himself Lucifer, he thought.
I must be very careful in my dealings with Karpov. There is more driving his
ambition than his love of the Motherland. But for now… I think I will build
those tanks!

Part
X

Better Late
Than Never

“I fell in love with her the
moment she was late, though neither one of us knew it at the time because she
hadn’t arrived yet.”

―
Jarod Kintz
:
This Book Has No Title

Chapter 28

The
helos landed with deck crews ready to service and re-arm
the X-3s, though they were waiting on orders from the bridge. It was there that
Captain MacRae was taking final stock of the situation noting that the enemy
destroyer group targeted was badly disrupted. Three of the five destroyers had
reduced speed dramatically, their officers frantically radioing the flagship
that they had been attacked by rocket fire, with heavy damage. While most of
the ships were still seaworthy, two had been struck aft and had fires that were
threatening the powerplant and boiler rooms. A third had a holed hull very near
the water line that would force it to seek a friendly port. These ships could
no longer run at the speeds necessary to fulfill their mission. Half the French
destroyers in the fleet had now been largely taken out of the fight.

“Those
Sea
Skuas
are good for something,” said MacRae. “A pity we didn’t bring more
along.”

That
was their real dilemma now. They had left port in 2021 with ample munitions to
carry out their expected mission to the Black Sea, but somewhere they had
crossed an unseen border to this new mission, and there had been no time to
replenish the ship’s stocks. They had hit a battlecruiser and the French
flagship, but with uncertain results. Both vessels were still on an attack
heading and making 30 knots. They had hit a light cruiser and five destroyers,
but the core of the enemy fleet remained intact.

The
Captain huddled with Miss Fairchild, Mack Morgan and Mister Dean, and the look
on MacRae’s face spoke volumes. “So it’s come to this,” he said. “With the last
four missiles you’ve authorized for this fight, we might put some serious hurt
on at least one of their capital ships, but I think we’d have to use them all.”

“That
would even the odds a bit,” said Morgan, but they’ll still outnumber the
British fleet nearly two to one.”

“Aye.
It’s either one good blow like that, or we wait for this bar fight to actually
begin and then break a bottle or two over the heads that seem to be doing the
most damage on the other side. Mister Dean?” MacRae looked to his XO for an
opinion.

“It
will be a rough go for the British,” he said. “The enemy will have a tremendous
speed advantage, and the weight of superior firepower. Yes, we might take one
out if we use four GB-7s in a tight attack salvo. That’s going to put 800kgs of
high explosives and a lot of excess fuel for the fire on one ship out there.
That will likely take it out of the fight. But that will also still leave them
four capital ships to the two British battleships, and from the intelligence
report these are some tough fellows out there, The
Normandie
alone has
enough throw weight in firepower to take on both the older
Queen Elizabeth
class battleships with a good chance of winning that fight.”

“So do
we hit that ship now, or wait and see what develops.”

“I’ll
say this much,” said Morgan. “If we hold until the action opens we can still
hit them with one good shot, or jab at them as you suggested. And at least
they’ll see us fighting. Fire now and we just have to tell them we’re done and
wave goodbye.”

MacRae
nodded. “Miss Fairchild?”

“I like
Mack’s angle on this. Let’s see what they actually do and then, when the action
opens, you do as you see best, Captain. But I’ll have to hold the line on that
missile count. God only knows what lies ahead, and those missiles could save
this ship in a difficult situation, and everyone aboard.”

“Understood.”
MacRae took a long breath. “Inform Captain Barry on
Queen Elizabeth.
Tell them we’ve hit seven enemy ships, but they’re still coming at them like
banshees on the fen. We’ll stay in the fight, but they need to stand to arms
and be prepared for a tough battle here.”

So it
was decided.

* * *

Aboard
the
Hindenburg
a final signal was flashing out to
Bismarck
—‘take
position ahead.’ and
Kaiser
was ordered to stand off with
Goeben
.
The Germans had decided to commit just two ships to the fray, the heavy
battleships that now moved to cooperate more closely with the French Squadron.
Lütjens had seen the missiles in the sky again, and saw the flaming descent of
one seaplane spotter after another.

“That
air defense is too precise and effective against a small number of aircraft,”
he said. “So I am ordering
Goeben
to stand her air crews down. No sense
sending those planes and pilots up to be blown out of the sky by these rockets.
Any word from the Luftwaffe?”

“Goering
was none too happy with the losses reported by the Tenth
Fliegerkorps,
sir. Fiebig wants to husband his planes on Sicily. That
said, Eighth Fliegerkorps has planes massing for the planned attack on Crete. They
have promised us support, and by the time we catch up to the British they may
be close at hand.”

“Good
then. Let them provide the primary air threat and we can save the handful of
Stukas
we have for better use.”

“One of
Ritter’s young new pilots has been making quite a name for himself—Hans Rudel.
He’s the same man who hit the British battlecruisers up north.”

“Oh?
Well if the air situation looks promising I will order them up. For now they
stay in reserve. How long before we can sight the British?”

“At the
rate we are gaining on them, no more than an hour.”

“Good. That
will be enough time for me to address the crew. We have not had our chance
against the Royal Navy, but now we test our guns and armor, Adler. Now you get
the battle you’ve been waiting for.”

The
Admiral spoke to his crew, telling them not to fear the new weapons of their
enemies, and to rely on their skill, and the guns and armor that made their
ship the finest in the world. Axel Faust, the brawny commander of the ships Anton
Turret, was listening with a smile.

“Hear
that boys?” he said. “Now we get to earn our keep. Let’s hope Wolfgang has
sharp eyes today. We’ve waited a long time to get our hands on the British.” He
was referring to the forward gun director where Wolfgang Fuchs would be sending
him his targeting data. His job was to see that the turret was properly trained
and sighted, the guns elevated to make the appropriate range, and the big shells
properly chambered for firing. Faust was the best in the fleet, scoring more
hits in gun trials in the Baltic than any other turret, or any man before him.
He had put a good many target barges under the sea, and now he wanted to test
his hand against a real enemy ship. Pounding the airfield on the Faeroes was
nothing more than a throat clearing operation, as far as he was concerned.

The red
light glinted off the dome of his large bald head, for he never wore his cap
when it came time for action, and he often removed his coat, particularly when
things got hot in the turret during a fast paced gunnery trial. He had served
aboard
Bismarck
when that ship went through trials, but was glad to be
selected to this prominent post aboard
Hindenburg
. He and Hans Hartmann
in Bruno Turret were the forward might of the battleship, and would most likely
be the first to fire given the approach they were making.

High
above in the bridge, Klaus Jaeger was watching his radar for any signs of the
enemy fleet, and he was soon able to report his first contact.

“Radar
contact, bearing 140, south by southeast at thirty-five kilometers. Hydrophone
confirms.”

“
Bismarck
sees it as well, sir,” said Adler looking at a message just handed to him by a
breathless signalman. The other ship was alongside now, moving ahead to take
the vanguard of the two ship German group. About two kilometers off their port
side they could see the shadowy silhouettes of the French ships. The heavy
cruiser
Colbert
was leading, followed by
Strausbourg, Normandie
and
Dunkerque
in the main battle line. Another heavy cruiser,
Algerie,
cruised with the light cruisers
Marseilles
and
Jean de Vienne
off
the forward port quarter of this line, and three fitful cats,
Lynx, Tigre
and
Panthere
were fanned in front of this formation as a destroyer
screen.