Kirov III-Pacific Storm (Kirov Series) (4 page)

“It seems there was nothing here to
merit a missile.”

“Thank God for that. With any luck we
may even find people alive on this coast. Perhaps not in the major cities or
ports, but in scattered enclaves like this.”

“It was largely uninhabited,” said
Fedorov, “even in our time. We might find something more at Port Hedland, about
a hundred miles up the coast. Then again, that was a major industrial port, one
of the largest tonnage wise in Australia, even though the town there is
relatively small. It might have been targeted. Beyond that lies Broome, then
Derby on King’s Bay, Wyndham, and then Port Darwin. Yet it is a thousand miles
to Darwin from our present location. Australia is a very big place.”

They would spend six hours there,
largely because there was water to be found that tested safe, and they wanted
to set up a brigade to haul it to the ship and replenish their stocks. Several
men had rigged out makeshift poles for fishing from the gunwales, and the mood
of the crew was better than it had been for many long weeks. The place seemed a
fisherman’s paradise, and the men hauled in nets with coral trout, red emperor,
scarlet sea perch, snapper and other specimens they could not name.

On the bridge, Captain Karpov walked
over to the Admiral’s chair, a smile on his drawn face. “Have we finally found
your island, Admiral?”

Volsky laughed. “I’m not so sure. This
one doesn’t seem large enough for the crew, and I don’t see any palm trees—or
pretty young girls. Perhaps we will keep looking, but I think we have finally
reached the edge of paradise at long last. The world north may be blighted by
the insanity of war, but there is no sign of it here. If our luck holds we may
find my island in due course. Anything on the map that looks promising,
Fedorov?” He craned his neck, looking for his
Starpom
, the ex-navigator
who had proved such an invaluable pillar during their last ordeal in the
Mediterranean Sea. He found him staring up at the ship’s chronometer, a worried
expression on his face.

“Fedorov, what are you doing there? A
watched clock never chimes.”

“This one will,” said Fedorov. “We’ve
been sailing eleven days and eighteen hours since we left St. Helena.”

“Yes, and all we have had these last
days at sea are endless empty hours. Why are you counting them?”

Fedorov said nothing for a moment,
though he wore a look of obvious concern. “Will the shore parties be long?”

“What? The shore parties? Oh, I would
think they will finish up in a few hours. Would you like to go ashore
yourself?”

“Me sir? No, I think it best to stay
on the ship just now. In fact, I think it would be wise to make certain we get
all the men back aboard as soon as possible.”

The Admiral frowned, his eyes
admonishing beneath his heavy brows. “What is it now, Fedorov? What are you
worried about?”

“The time, sir. We’re nearly at the
twelve day mark, and… well every twelve days we have moved in time. We may
still be moving for that matter. It could be that we have not yet settled in
the here and now, if you follow me, sir. If that is the case, I would like to make
sure we have everyone aboard well before midnight. And I think we had better
tell Dobrynin in engineering to keep a good ear on the reactors. They act up
every time we have moved into the past.”

Volsky’s expression faded. “Dobrynin
is running a maintenance operation now. Don’t worry about the reactors. As for
the men, there will be many who might prefer to stay right here,” he mused. “If
given the choice of this island or another ride on this ship, I might be sorely
tempted as well. But let us suppose you are correct.” He turned, leaning
towards the communications station. “Nikolin!”

“Sir?”

“Radio Sergeant Troyak and have him
wind up his detail as soon as possible. I would like every man aboard by 20:00
hours. It will be getting too dark for safe operations ashore in any case.”

“Yes,” said Karpov. “If any man is
tempted to drop anchor here we had better be wary. Let us not forget Orlov.”

“Agreed,” said Volsky. “Mr. Karpov,
can you signal those men fishing from the foredeck and see if anyone knows how
to snorkel?”

“Sir?”

“Yes, see if they can find us a few
nice fat lobsters, or even crabs. I’m tired of galley food and the taste of
something fresh would do us all some good. Anyone care to join me for dinner?”

Rodenko, Tasarov and Samsonov were
quick to make their reservations, and though they would enjoy their seafood
fest that night, time had other plans for them.

 *
* *

It would
be many long hours before they
realized what had happened. Troyak’s men searched the island for anything else
of use, skirting along the white strands to more rocky shores where they saw
images of strange creatures carved in the red stone. They searched every
building, finding some magazines and newspapers, all in English, and they
brought them back to the bridge for the officers to review. Fedorov found them
of particular interest.

“At last!” he said enthusiastically
when the Marine corporal brought them in. “Now we find out what happened!” He
took them eagerly. There was a copy of the NT News out of Darwin and his eye
immediately ran to the date: 15 September, 2021, and the headline was dark and
ominous. Fedorov knew just enough English to know what it meant:

WAR
ESCALATES!
MAJOR ACTION IN SOUTH CHINA SEA!
RAN FRIGATE SUNK!

“Nikolin,” Fedorov said excitedly.
“Read this and translate, will you?”

Nikolin took up the paper and read,
his eyes dark and serious as he translated. “Hostilities escalated today in the
South China Sea with a nuclear ballistic missile attack on the US Carrier task
force
Eisenhower
. It was reported that up to ten missiles, were used in
the strike, at least two with nuclear warheads, and five ships were sunk in the
attack:
Eisenhower
and four escorts, including RAN escort frigate
Darwin
which was operating as part of a combined fleet security force. United Nations
Security Council was quick to condemn the action as a flagrant escalation,
though any formal resolution was vetoed by both China and Russia.”

Fedorov’s face registered real
surprise, and both Karpov and Admiral Volsky drew near, looking at the newsprint
with obvious misgiving.

“People are still firing nuclear
missiles at battle fleets,” said Volsky…No offence meant, Karpov.”

Karpov nodded. “None taken, sir. But
it does feel somewhat odd to realize I was the first man with his finger on the
trigger like that—and just a matter of seven weeks ago in the actual time we
have lived out here on the ship, yet it seems another life to me now.”

“It is another life, Karpov,” said
Volsky. “You’re another man now, and better off for it.”

“Aye, sir.”

“There’s more, Admiral,” said Nikolin,
continuing. “
SinoPac
representatives claimed the US
task force was violating territorial waters, which American representatives
immediately denied. Ambassador Stevenson stated categorically that the fleet
was sailing in international waters and vowed the strongest possible measures
would be taken in reprisal. The attack followed the controversial sinking of
the sole Chinese aircraft carrier
Liaoning
on September 7th,
presumably
by torpedo attack from an American submarine as the carrier embarked from
Dalian and entered the East China Sea south of the 38th parallel. Analysts
believe the attack may have been a reprisal for the sinking of the American
attack submarine USS
Key West
by a Russian cruiser August 28th in the
Pacific, as well as a warning to the Chinese not to press their demands for
full integration of Taiwan into the People’s Republic of China. Tensions
between
SinoPac
and the West have been high since the
loss of a Russian ship in the Arctic Sea in July and several incidents
involving both Russian and British planes in the waters around Iceland.”

“Nothing seems to change,” said the
Admiral. “Our pilots have been thumbing their noses at the Americans for
decades, and they have done the same with us. What else, Nikolin?”

The young Lieutenant continued. “It
was also learned that US Naval forces have now put to sea on full war alert,
sailing from ports on the east and west coast of the United Sates and that the
US was now on a full wartime footing. Meanwhile, missile attacks continue on
the beleaguered isle of Taiwan after hostilities began there earlier this week,
further ramping up the tension. No use of nuclear weapons has been reported.
NATO representatives in Europe have also detected a large Russian buildup along
the German border, and increased activity at bases in Poland.”

“So it began in Asia,” said Karpov.
“The Chinese patience ran out with Taiwan and the Americans sunk that old relic
we sold them after they lost that sub.” The
Liaoning
had been originally
built by the Russians, laid down as the
Riga
on December 6, 1985 and
eventually launched as the
Varyag
, The ship was never really completed,
lacking electronics, weapon systems and other key components. When the old
Soviet Union broke up it was given to Ukraine and began to rust away,
eventually stripped of most useful equipment before it was put up for auction.
An enterprising Chinese businessman bought the hulk under the pretense he was
hoping to create a floating theme park with it at Macao, and it was summarily
turned over to the Chinese authorities, refitted and completing sea trials in
2012.

“That ship was built at Nikolayev
South,” said Fedorov. “Shipyard 444. That’s a very unlucky number for the
Chinese. It looks like it was ill fated after all. I wonder why the US targeted
that ship for reprisal.”

“I was slated to serve on that ship,”
said Volsky. “Better to die in battle than sit there as an amusement park like
Minsk
and
Kiev
.”

The Chinese had also acquired those
aging Russian carriers.
Minsk
, once the heart of the Russian Pacific
Fleet, had been docked at Shenzhen to create a theme park called “Minsk World”
for Chinese tourists, and
Kiev
was now the centerpiece of the
Binhai
Aircraft Theme Park at Tianjin. The Russian Navy had
become a laughing stock, their once proud ships now places for Chinese tourists
to amuse themselves… Until the new
Kirov
was launched.

“This could have been one of a number
of incidents that preceded a general war,” said Fedorov. “So it didn’t happen
during the first cold war. The future we saw was the result of a war fought in
our day, and just after we displaced in time. It looks like Russia and China
squared off against the West and it came to more than harsh words in the
Security Council.”

“So nothing really changed,” said
Karpov. “It was still old unfinished business where Russia and the West are
concerned. As for China, this attack against Taiwan was inevitable. I have no
doubt that the  Americans were moving that carrier group up as a show of
force. The Chinese taught them a lesson. Good for them. Is there any further
news?”

“That looks to be the latest paper.
Apparently whoever owned those homesteads on the island took off for the
mainland soon after this date. I suppose if we investigate the other towns to
the north we may find more news sources like this.”

“I think we must do this,” said
Volsky. “As much as I hate to discover more ruined cities, for the sake of the
men, I think we must discover what really happened—how this business ended.”

“We have already seen how it ended,”
said Karpov, “and thinking I was the man who started it has not been an easy
thing to carry.”

 “Don’t be too hard on yourself,
Captain,” said Volsky. “The  choice to use nuclear weapons in war was not
ours this time, not yours either. What chills me now is the thought that we can
never get back to our old lives again.
This
is our world now. This is
home, gentlemen, all that’s left of the world after the war that began in 2021.
We slipped out the door just before it happened, like a thief in the night, but
now we live with what remains—if anything does remain.”

“So much for our visit to paradise,”
said Karpov.

Chapter
3

Kirov
sailed north that night, passing Port
Hedland just before dawn, but seeing no sign of life there. They were well out
to sea again, some fifty miles off the Australian coast and heading north for
the small port of Broome at about 18:00 hrs when Fedorov saw the ship’s
chronometer finally pass through the twelfth full day. It was a tense moment
for him, though the other officers were not aware of it and many were below
decks at the time on rest shifts. He wanted to be on the bridge when the second
hand swept out the last of the twelve day interval, and was peering keenly
through the viewports for any sign of a discoloration or disturbance in the
sea. Yet he saw nothing, and a call to engineering also reported no
fluctuations or odd vibrations from the reactors. All seemed as it was before,
and he watched the sun rise on August 24, year still unknown, without realizing
that the ship was about to cruise through an unseen barrier, completely
imperceptible, through the reefs and shoals of nowhere to a place where the
rising sun they would next see would be something quite unexpected.