Armageddon

Chapter 27

Volsky slowly placed the handset in the holding cradle, his eyes sad and deeply troubled. All the men were huddled near the communications station now. Kazan had sprinted south at high speed after they shifted, streaking silently through the dark seas at depth. Then, as their systems recovered one by one, they slowed and crept up to the surface to use the radio and make the call to Kirov.

What was Karpov thinking, thought Volsky? The man had relapsed into his delusions of making a decisive change to the history, and though the Captain’s final response was vague, Volsky did not think he was going to comply with his order to cease and desist in this operation.

“I’m afraid he is just buying time,” he said to Fedorov.

“Then what do we do sir?” The young ex-navigator had a pleading expression on his face. “I know it will be hard to raise our hand against Kirov, but we must act before the Captain does something irreparable.”

“Mister Kamenski?” Volsky looked to the Deputy Director where he stood nearby the console.

“I do not know the man, but he certainly made his intentions clear enough. We chose to come here aboard Kazan for a reason. I know we have put off the decision before us now, but the time has come. Yes, Armageddon is at hand, but what do we do here? Has it occurred to any of you that if we engage Kirov now the outcome of this event will be far from certain? You have missiles and torpedoes aboard this ship. Suppose we use them and the ship is damaged to an extent that it can no longer pose a threat here, yet here it remains, with weapons, computer systems, technology, and men who know all about them. And if we damage its reactors in any way, all these control rods are useless. This does little to solve our problem.”

“You are saying Kirov must be sunk.”

“At the very least, though that would still leave a remarkable shipwreck on the seafloor here, which is quite shallow in the straits, is it not?”

“The average depth is only 140 meters,” said Fedorov. “If he gets near any of the islands that will shrink to 50 meters or less.”

“Well, as time passes, a recovery of that shipwreck is a real possibility, if not a certainty. Then what?”

“I see…” Volsky shrugged with resignation now, knowing this question would eventually arise.

“Beyond that,” said Kamenski. “What about the question of survivors? Suppose your Mister Karpov goes into the sea and winds up washed ashore on a nearby island?”

“We could try to rescue them,” Fedorov suggested. “Assuming we prevail in this battle. If I’m not mistaken we have an emergency VSK pod in the sail that can hold up to 110 people.”

“That is correct,” said Gromyko.

“Well that is encouraging, but Kirov has quite a few more than that, if I am not mistaken.”

“About 700 men and officers,” said Volsky. “No, I do not think we can rescue them.”

“Which means we are facing a situation much like the one that sent your Mister Fedorov off to hunt for Chief Orlov.” Kamenski was playing the Devil’s advocate now, though they had all mused on these dark questions in silence before they were voiced here. “You would have to hunt down any man who might survive a conventional engagement. And there is still the other darker possibility that we may not survive, and Kirov sails on.”

“What you say is all too true,” said the Admiral. “It leaves us with only one option. If we engage Kirov, then we must prevail, and decisively. The ship and every man aboard it must be destroyed.”

“Completely destroyed,” said Kamenski.

“But Admiral,” said Fedorov. “We would have to use a nuclear weapon to insure this.”

Volsky lowered his head, eyes closed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Captain Gromyko. Can you use your sensory antenna or sonar to acquire the ship at this time?”

“Our radar has cleared up but we will have better luck with the sonar. It will hear Kirov long before we might acquire it with the Snoop Pair surface search radar. With your permission, sir I would like to move into the sound channel and see about that.”

“Do so. And you may also prepare your missile inventory for action.”

“Then you have decided to engage, sir?”

“Once we have acquired Kirov, I intend to fire a single missile as a last warning shot to Karpov. Would this compromise your defense of this submarine, Captain?”

“That depends on the range, sir. If I am not mistaken Kirov has Vodopad torpedoes that can fire out to 120 kilometers. Our P-900s can beat that by a hundred kilometers.”

“Yes, but that would mean we would have to open the range considerably. My feeling is that Kirov is no more than a hundred kilometers to the south at this time.”

“They must be in the straits preparing to engage the Japanese,” said Fedorov.

“If it comes to combat I would risk a missile launch even inside the Vodopad’s effective range. We are very stealthy, and the sonar on that system is not very sharp.”

“Agreed,” said Volsky. “I have seen all the live fire exercise data. We have never had good results with the Vodopad against our quieter submarines. So this is what we will do…We will fire one warning shot, a single missile. We will tell Karpov that he either alters course to Vladivostok or we must engage with a full barrage.” Volsky took a deep breath, as though he had just set down a heavy burden that he had been carrying for some time.

“With conventional warheads?”

“No, Mister Kamenski, you have ably demonstrated the folly of that. Kirov has a very robust SAM defense. If all our missiles struck home I would rest easier and believe we might have a chance to rescue the few survivors that remain. Then we could also assure the wreckage is completely destroyed. But I am afraid that Kirov will get many of the missiles we fire. We upgraded the SAM inventory to P-400s before Karpov sallied with the fleet. They also have the Klinok system, then the Kashtan system, and the 30mm Gatling guns. Something may get through if we fire a full barrage, perhaps we might even get several hits, but not enough to assure the destruction we have spoken of.”

“Then we will use the nuclear warheads?” Gromyko waited.

“I’m afraid we have no other choice. We will have to hit the ship with everything we have. If the P-900s do not get through, then one of those torpedo rockets must do the job.”

There was a long silence as each man considered this, and then Fedorov offered a grim smile. “Now we are the madmen flinging nuclear weapons around. But something tells me that if we do not do this, and Karpov remains free to do what he wishes here, it is only a question of time before he uses another nuclear warhead himself.”

“Yes, and there is also the possibility that he will be so possessed by the threat we pose now that he will do so at once to assure our destruction. He may think we are at Vladivostok, as Fedorov told him, but the instant Kirov’s Fregat system picks up our warning shot he will know otherwise. I know Karpov. That hot minute will be one of intense peril for us all. He has undoubtedly done an aerial survey of the region and knows no other surface ships are behind him, so he will quickly deduce we are in a submarine. The list of those available with nuclear reactors is very short.”

“And he will know our bearing and approximate range the instant we fire,” said Fedorov.

“So the question is this-what will he do? Will he perceive the action for what it was intended, a warning shot, or will his fear of undersea boats blind him and compel him to make an immediate reprisal? If he does counterattack, how will he come after us? This is the crucial question. If he uses the Vodopad system, Captain Gromyko and I both feel our chances of surviving to make a second launch are fairly good. But what if he uses a MOS-III with a special warhead, just as he did in the North Atlantic? That missile could be over us in a matter of seconds, and we would have to be very deep to avoid serious damage.”

“The water here is not that deep,” said Gromyko.

“Any action we take will have risks,” said Fedorov. “If he uses a MOS-III, we will see it coming, and then we could still fire everything we have with the hope one of our own warheads gets through.”

“Unfortunately, in this event we may not survive to find out what happened.” Kamenski folded his arms, still kibitzing.

“Then I will contact the ship just as we fire and give fair warning. That is only just. It means we will have to drop the pretense of our being at Vladivostok, and all element of surprise, but that vanishes the instant we fire anyway.”

“Unless you make the first blow the final one,” said Kamenski.

Volsky looked at him, very troubled. “You suggest we make a pre-emptive nuclear strike?”

“We have always based our naval strategy around the struggle for the first salvo, Admiral. You know this as well as I do. Here you have pointed out the dangers inherent in a limited response. The warning shot could set Karpov off like a time bomb, and he could lash out with every intention of destroying us completely. The conventional barrage will not assure what we need to achieve here. So it is a process of elimination.”

“I understand what you are saying, Director, but I feel we must at least make one last chance at resolving the matter before the missiles fly. Find your target, Gromyko. In the meantime, we are going to send one last message before we do anything else.”

“Very well, Admiral. I’ll see what our sonar man has for us and report the moment I have any news, but this raises one last question.” Gromyko scratched his head, continuing. “Only Belanov and I know what has happened. The rest of the crew still believes we are out here facing the Japanese and Americans, but Chernov is very good. He will find Kirov, and he will recognize its sonic profile as well. How do I explain the situation when it comes time to fire on our comrades?”

“I had not considered this…Well I will be right there by your side, Captain. Leave that to me.”

Gromyko saluted and went forward to the main operations center to check with Chernov on sonar.

When he had gone Volsky shook his head, a discouraged look on his face. “What can they be doing out there? What about Rodenko, and Samsonov and the others? Did they not hear my order?”

“They may not know, Admiral. Karpov would have certainly been startled by the radio call. He may have taken it on a closed channel. You saw how devious he can be when he tried to take the ship before. It took Sergeant Troyak’s Marines to regain control last time.”

“Yes, well I cannot send Troyak over on a cruise missile, can I?”

“No sir.”

“This is very hard… I can still see Nikolin sitting at his post with those headphones on, Tasarov lost in the sea beneath his headset, Samsonov stiff backed and ready at the Combat Center. They were good men, and it is a good crew-a good ship. To see it end this way…”

“There may still be hope, sir,” said Fedorov.

“I do not see it. And I have had my fill of weapons and missiles and war. It has also occurred to me that Karpov might be correct.”

“Sir?”

“What if he can prevent Japan from becoming the Imperial power it was in the Pacific? What if he can stop Japanese aggression and keep that nation out of the Second World War? Do you realize how many died during the war in the Pacific?”

“It is estimated that 22 million died in China alone, sir, and another 10 million died in other theaters.”

“So if Karpov succeeds in preventing that, all those lives are spared. It sounds noble enough, does it not?”

“Who can say?” said Kamenski. “Who knows what they would do in the years ahead, and all their ancestors?”

“You seemed to be convinced that this would cause some great catastrophe, Kamenski.”

“Perhaps…” The Deputy Director had a distant look in his eye now. “Then again, we were hard at work on catastrophe as we left it.”

“Well as we cook in the oven, I cannot help but wonder whether Karpov is doing the right thing here. I know we saw Karpov’s acts as those of a madman when he used that tactical warhead on the Americans in the North Atlantic. But look what happened! There was no Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and no bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic weapons.”

“No,” said Kamenski, “that sad fate was reserved for Vladivostok, or so Gromyko would tell us.”

The Admiral gave him a quiet look, still thinking. “Indeed it was, though I know nothing of that. Events are all jumbled up like a puzzle now, and I have no idea how things will look when we finally get it back together again. The history is so broken by what we have done that it seems impossible to heal, Fedorov. I know this is what you want, and what you hope for-a chance to set it all right again as it was, but that may not be possible now. Too much has happened.”

“We can try, sir.” Fedorov did not know what else to say.

“Yes, we can try by becoming madmen ourselves and smashing Kirov to dust with our own little cataclysm here in 1908. The catastrophe that was upon us in 2021 was the result of the history playing out just as you might want wish restore it! We could not stop it, even knowing it was coming. So here I am haunted by the notion that Karpov was correct after all. He thinks he can shape the years ahead with the power of Kirov. Imagine that power redoubled with Kazan. We could truly impose our will on the world, here and now, just as Karpov envisages it.”

The admiral looked for a chair, wanting to get off his tired feet, and slowly sat down.

“Don’t mind me,” he said. “I’m just a worried old man, like Kamenski here. We will try to set things right. I have no intention of conquering this world, and only hope we can get safely back to our own. But you must brace yourself against the possibility that we may not succeed. I doubt Karpov will relent. He will fight. That said, we will certainly have to destroy Kirov to be sure the ship and its weapons and technology do not further pollute this era of history, and then we must take the blood on our hands home, if we can get there. I wonder what we will find this time, even if we do prevail here?”

They were all silent, the depth of the irony and the sadness of it all weighing on them. Then Volsky spoke again, his voice dark with misgiving. “I dread the moment Gromyko calls us to the bridge with news of Kirov, Fedorov. I dread the order I must give to unleash the missiles in this submarine, and send them on their way. I dread this whole dirty business of war…”

“So do we all,” said Kamenski, “but it seems we cannot avoid our fate here, Admiral. There was even war in Heaven.”

“Indeed,” said Volsky. “Well here we have war in Hell, one demon facing another in the abyss, and I shudder to think that the world waits on the outcome.”

The Admiral’s worst fears were soon realized, though Gromyko’s voice sounded hollow when he returned to say that Chernov believed he had a contact nearly matching the profile stored for Kirov.

“As you might expect,” said Gromyko, “this was some news for the bridge crew. We all believed Kirov was lost. And Admiral,” he added with an edge of caution, “Chernov believes the ship is engaged in battle at this very moment. There’s a lot of noise off to the south now, and we’ve detailed a long line of surface contacts emerging from the Shimonoseki Strait-a very large formation of ships, sir. It has caused a bit of a situation, Chernov can’t understand why he has no profiles on any of these contacts. Beyond that, the mood of the crew is hot to get to Kirov’s side and join the battle. Chernov says the ship is making a hell of a lot of noise on sonar.”

“Yes, the thunder and clamor of war. Well it is time I went forward to speak with the men. Now we come to what may be the final log entry-for Kirov, for Kazan, or for time itself insofar as all this history is concerned. Now we come to the final battle, here on the edge of perdition. What is the word for it, Mister Fedorov?”

“Armageddon, sir. Armageddon.”