Altered States -Volume III. Hinge of Fate

Chapter 29

“I’m afraid we are a little too far away to do much about Gibraltar,” said Fedorov. “Besides, what could we do? It will not be a naval operation. The French Fleet might also cause some trouble for Force H, but if Admiral Somerville is sharp he already has his ships up on four hour steam. He won’t want his battleships sitting at anchor if the Luftwaffe comes calling, and this they will certainly do if they mean to attack Gibraltar.”

“But surely that operation is of greater significance than our post here,” said Volsky.

“True sir, but again, what could we do? Gibraltar’s fate now lies with the mettle of its garrison. I don’t suppose you are contemplating putting Troyak and his Marines ashore there.”

Volsky smiled. “No, I think they have done enough with this latest mission. It is good to have them all safely aboard the ship again-including Orlov. But I can see that you were surprised it succeeded.”

“I was,” said Fedorov. “Especially after what Director Kamenski suggested. If Troyak could destroy the back stairway at Ilanskiy, then how did I find it and go down it in 1941? How did Ivan Volkov do the same in 2021? But yet, Troyak reports his demolition was a success.”

“How is this possible, Fedorov?”

“It’s a real mystery sir, like so much of what has happened in these last months. I have been muddling over it for some time.”

“Yes, I have seen you muddling, young man. I noticed your heart was not in the recent fire drill exercises.”

“I’m sorry sir, my mind was elsewhere, and it concerns Captain Karpov.”

“Or is it Admiral Karpov now?” said Volsky. “That man sees no limits. In his present position he can still do a great deal of harm.”

“Did you see Troyak’s full report sir? He noted that there were several airships present when they arrived; some belonging to the Orenburg Federation. I find it curious that they would be that deep inside Free Siberian territory. Troyak says there was a battle underway, both on the ground and between those airships. Yet we only just learned of the Omsk accord. What was that about?”

“Apparently that accord was not entirely successful.”

“Yes sir. Fighting has broken out between the Siberians and Orenburg again. A major offensive is underway.”

“It is very likely that Karpov and Volkov met at that meeting in Omsk,” said Volsky.

That gave Fedorov a start. “If they did meet,” he began, “do you think they would have recognized one another?”

“Who knows?” said Volsky. “Volkov was a young man when they first met aboard Kirov. He would be a man of my age now, ready for the pasture.”

“Don’t underrate yourself.” Fedorov said quietly. “You have many years of service left. But this is what I was worried about when I hatched that scheme to send Troyak off to Ilanskiy. If Karpov did realize Volkov was the same man he met on Kirov, then the next question he would ask would be a very dangerous one. He would want to know how Volkov came to be here, and that could lead him to discover it had something to do with Ilanskiy. That was, after all, where Volkov would have first appeared if he went back to 1908 as I did.”

“True,” said Volsky, “but haven’t we already solved that problem? You were just telling me Troyak was successful.”

“Yes, but I find it very suspicious that there was a battle underway at Ilanskiy. It leads me to conclude that both sides must know there is something significant about that place.”

“Well now that that stairway has been destroyed, you can rest easier, Fedorov.”

“I wish I could, sir. I was certain that something would happen if Troyak succeeded in destroying those stairs, but… nothing happened at all! I thought it would have prevented Volkov from finding them in 2021, and therefore prevented the rise of the Orenburg Federation. In fact, I was deathly afraid that we would be swept up in the whirlwind of change Troyak’s demolition would cause, but… here we still are. So I can only assume the stairway must have been rebuilt sometime before I first found it in 1941, and that prospect still has me very worried. For the time being, we have eliminated the grave and serious threat that someone could pass through that time rift to alter the past again, and by so doing compromise our own status and fate here in this time. Yet we must keep a close watch on this situation. The problem is not resolved.”

“Do you expect me to send Troyak in a blimp every other month to have a look?”

“No sir, that would be impractical, and dangerous. But this battle at Ilanskiy has dark implications. I think it means Volkov and Karpov both know about that stairway.”

“They had no great love for one another when they first met in 2021, so it does not surprise me that any agreement they may have reached at Omsk has fallen apart. Now they will tussle over Ilanskiy like a pair of dogs quarreling over a bone.” Volsky smiled as he continued.

“That accord, as you call it, would have been very bad news for Sergei Kirov. It would mean Orenburg could have transferred all the forces it now has deployed against Siberia to the Volga front. One side or another must have gone back on their word. Perhaps it was Karpov, which would fit his character well. If so, he has done us a great favor. You were telling Admiral Tovey about the possible German attack on Russia in 1941, and we both know the Soviet Union’s chances of surviving that are not good without the support of both Orenburg and Siberia.”

“Agreed.” Fedorov shrugged, seeming very disconsolate.

“You are looking as pale as Admiral Tovey,” said Volsky.

“I suppose I am, sir. Your remarks to him about the problem we face come July next year still weigh heavily in the equation. Yes, our candle is burning here. We are the light that shines twice as bright in this era, yet we both know the other end of that-we also burn twice as fast. Here we are talking about Gibraltar and the ground war in Russia and, in spite of all the advanced weaponry we possess, it seems we are powerless to influence these events, even a minor division scale action like Operation Felix where no more than three German regiments will make the actual attack.”

“We are a naval power,” said Volsky. “There is only one thing we can assure wherever we stand a watch, and that is control of the sea. In many ways that will decide whether the Allies ever can begin their counteroffensive. They must control the Atlantic and Pacific to bring the power they have to face their enemies on land. At this point in the war, control of those seas is hanging in the balance, and so you may take heart and believe we have some vital role that we may play here. Nothing can match us on the sea. Yet all power has limits, Fedorov. This is something you and I must know, and the one thing that Karpov forgot while he was here.”

“He remains a grave problem, sir-Karpov. Something tells me that there may have to be a reckoning with him in all this if we remain here.”

There was a moment of silence between them, as each one pondered that. Then Volsky nodded, speaking the thing they were both now considering. “We are a naval power,” he said, “but Karpov has established himself on land. And look now, Fedorov. He is at war with Volkov and the Orenburg Federation! Yes, Karpov is a threat, and a very dangerous one. But how is it said, Fedorov? The enemy of my enemy is a friend.”

“I see what you mean, Admiral, but given Karpov’s nature, the squabble between Karpov and Volkov may not be permanent. He is an opportunist, and he will do whatever is necessary to further his advance. One minute he signs an accord with Volkov, the next sees the two sides battling at Ilanskiy.”

“Yet this wedge between them is to our advantage,” Volsky pressed. “We must consider how to use their newfound enmity to strengthen our position-Kirov’s position.”

“Are you suggesting we try to contact Karpov and sound him out on this?”

“The thought has crossed my mind. As you said yourself, he may suspect we are here if he thinks we used Rod-25. He is now at war with Volkov, and though we do not know how that will turn out, we do know one thing-as long as those two fight one another, Sergei Kirov’s position is strengthened. You see, Karpov may call himself an Admiral these days, but he is really a general. He’s a force on land. If we could find a way to get him to see the importance of preserving Soviet Russia, then we could do much to affect the outcome of this war. Perhaps he can still be reasoned with.”

“Could we ever trust him again?” Fedorov asked the most obvious question. “He’ll do whatever it takes to further his interests.”

“So we must show him that it is in his interest to preserve Soviet Russia. Otherwise Germany will crush our homeland. Make no mistake, Fedorov. Hitler will smile and shake hands with Volkov until he has defeated Sergei Kirov. But Volkov is sitting on the one thing Hitler really needs-the oil fields in the Caucasus and Caspian region. He wants that oil. Do you think he will simply ask for it politely? No. Once he defeats Soviet Russia, Orenburg will be next on his list. I think we can get Karpov to see this, and to realize his fate would be the same unless he sides with the Allies.”

“You forget how headstrong and arrogant he can be,” said Fedorov. “He knows what we have in the magazine, and he will argue that we should use the full measure of our power here. I can hear it now.”

“Indeed,” said Volsky. “I suppose we could sail down there and deliver a nuclear warhead on the German assembly area in Spain if they are staging for this operation. The troops in Gibraltar would have quite a show, and the Germans would gasp in utter awe when they see their elite regiments evaporate before their eyes. Then I suppose we could send an ultimatum to Herr Hitler and tell him he gets more of the same if he does not relent and call off the wolves.”

“That is what Karpov would probably do,” said Fedorov.

“Yes, Karpov sees power as a blunt instrument. He exercises considerable guile to get himself into a position to use it, but when the time comes for its application, he fails miserably. Do you think Hitler would make peace if we stop his attack on Gibraltar this way?”

“No sir, I do not. Look what the Americans did to Japan when they first firebombed Tokyo, then dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, and still that was not enough. It required Nagasaki as a further demonstration that annihilation was at hand should the Japanese not surrender. They did not know how many atomic weapons America possessed at the time. There were only three, but they might have had fifty for all the Japanese knew.”

“Interesting,” said Volsky. “We have only three-the same power that the Americans will have five years from now. Would they be enough to win this war, or at least bring it to a halt? This is the nightmare I have considered ever since we made the decision to stay here and side with the allies. Yes, it means that we might kill a great many people if we use these weapons. Then I weigh that against the millions that will die in this war, and think the cost may not be too high. It is a real dilemma, Fedorov.”

Then Volsky summed things up. “So on the one hand we see the limitations of our Moskit-II missiles, and how powerless we are to effect events involving land operations. Then on the other hand we hold a hammer that could smash Berlin and probably even kill Hitler in one blow.”

“But would it end there sir? Would we also have to smash Orenburg and Volkov, and then Karpov too? And what about Imperial Japan? Their empire begins from a much stronger position in the Pacific than they had in our history. Might it not take all our warheads to tame that dragon?”

“I see what you mean,” said Volsky. “We get dropped into the midst of the greatest war humanity has ever fought. Sometimes I feel like that fellow in the American shark movie.”

“Shark movie? Oh yes-you mean Jaws?”

Yes, the one where he is throwing chum over the side and the great shark suddenly appears.”

“Who can forget that scene.” Fedorov smiled.

“Well I see this war,” said Volsky, “and in spite of all the power we have now, I sometimes think we are going to need a bigger boat. Tovey and the British know this to be true. They know they cannot defeat Germany on their own. All they can do is try to hold on as best they can.”

“Agreed, sir. They desperately need the Americans to enter the war as soon as possible. They are the bigger boat I think you speak of. But if Karpov doesn’t get them to declare war on Germany early as he did once, then it will be up to the Japanese to light the fire that prompts the United States to enter the war.”

“Pearl Harbor? Do you think it will happen in this time line, Fedorov?”

“That is a very real possibility, but as Tovey said, it will be a long wait until December of 1941, and we may have to face our hour of paradox before then.”

“So here is something you can put that scheming mind of yours to work on, Fedorov.” Volsky tapped his Captain on the shoulder. “How can we get the United States into the war as soon as possible?”

“They seem likely to sit for some time while they build up their armed forces, sir. But America can be roused to sudden anger, as we have seen. When their old battleship Maine blew up mysteriously in Havana harbor, they used it as a pretext to go to war with Spain. ‘Remember the Maine, to hell with Spain’ became their battle cry in the Spanish-American war. Then there was the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915. It was a British ship, but there were 128 Americans aboard, and it enraged the country, hastening their entry into WWI. Pearl Harbor had an even more dramatic impact.”

“Indeed,” said Volsky. “Then how could we create a similar incident here if the Japanese do not take the matter into their own hands?”

“You mean sink an American ship?”

“I know it sounds treacherous, Fedorov, but we must consider all our options now. This war is simply too big for us to manage. It is too big a weight for Britain to carry. You know this. It will be a year or more before they can even contemplate real offensive operations that could make any difference in this war. And what will they do? They cannot invade France alone. In fact, they could not even invade North Africa alone to deal with the Vichy French. Tovey was just telling us that. We need a bigger boat, Fedorov, and there is only one nation on this earth that can build it-The United States of America. Only they can build the planes tanks and ships that will eventually stop Germany and win this war.”

A bigger boat… A bigger bomb. That had been the mentality that drove the nations of the world to the edge of annihilation. General MacArthur would sum it up in a speech to the nation after Japan’s surrender when he said of the use of war to resolve disputes: “We have had our last chance. If we do not now devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door.”

Yet here, in the year 1940, Armageddon was still impossibly far away, over years of struggle and difficult sacrifice to be made by millions. For now, it was still about that bigger boat, the ships that Germany and Great Britain had built in their arms race before the outbreak of hostilities. And the largest and best ships on either side were now locked on a collision course to meet in the crucible of war.