Grand Alliance (Kirov Series) (11 page)

Then he
told them… he told them the whole long and bewildering journey that had brought
him to this place, beginning slowly with that last moment when he still sat in
the innocence of unknowing.

“It was
the 28th of July, in the year 2021, and I was at my station as acting Navigator
on the bridge of the Russian battlecruiser
Kirov
…”

Chapter 9

The
three men huddled together at the back of the FV432, and
Popski stood respectfully off to one side, waiting. He had heard more than he
expected in the briefing, and more than he could get comfortably under his belt
for the moment. Yet here were two British Generals taking the whole matter in
hand, and with the utmost seriousness. The Russian Captain was also there,
waiting while Kinlan activated a digital map of the region.

“Captain
Fedorov, that was one hell of a story,” said Kinlan.

“My
Captain says that is not too far off the mark,” said Popski. “It has been his
private hell for a good long time now, and while sharing it here might offer
him some relief, he knows that he has laid a heavy burden on your shoulders,
and those of all your men.”

“That
he has.”

Fedorov
spoke again and Popski interpreted. “I took a grave risk in telling you this,
and I hope that all I have said concerning the importance of secrecy was taken
to heart.”

O’Connor
had listened, dazed and confused at the outset, but then slowly embracing
another mood, one driven by a burning inner energy. At one point he had quietly
tapped his riding crop on his thigh as Fedorov spoke, his mind galloping ahead
like a wild beast, seeing a thousand possibilities if this incredible story was
true.

“You
know what this means,” he said, looking from Kinlan to Fedorov. “Why, if this
is true then you know everything—the history, the war, the outcome of all this
madness.”

It was
a question Fedorov had been waiting for, and he turned to O’Connor now, knowing
that silence on this subject would only invite frustration. Yet his answer was
much the same as the one he and Admiral Volsky had given Tovey.

“Yes,”
he began. “We know how these events once played through, but our presence here
in the past, and the actions we have taken, have obviously altered the course
of events, as I tried to describe in my briefing. The Germans never took
Gibraltar in the history we know, nor did they ever put troops onto Malta.
These developments will make for a dramatic change in the course of the war
here, but the most critical change is the civil war that continues within my
homeland. It took a strong, united Soviet Union to defeat Germany, and that was
with all the might of Great Britain and the United States thrown into the
equation as well. General O’Connor, the Germans have committed no more than two
divisions here at this point. Yet before this war ends, they will field over
300. Understand? Britain has not yet faced the real strength of the German war
machine, and so the outcome of events now is completely in doubt. I know you
look to me as a signpost with knowledge of all that is yet to come, but that is
not so.”

“But
surely you can provide the most valuable intelligence we could ever possibly
want,” said O’Connor. “Why, you at least know what did happen once, and whether
we stumbled here or prevailed. I’m no fool, and I know that mistakes are made
in war by men who have every good reason for acting as they do. You know all of
this, the victories, the blunders, the wrong turns and dead ends on the long
road ahead.”

“Yes,
what you say is true, insofar as any of the history holds true. In some ways it
does echo our own history. Your first offensive, for example, was known as
“O’Connor’s Raid,” and from what I have been able to determine, it played out
much as it did in our history—a bit early, but the outcome was the same. Yet
listen now, General, in the counter offensive now underway our history records
that you never made it safely back to Alexandria, and not because your Blenheim
crashed here in the desert and you met up with us. No. Both you and General
Neame stumbled right into a German column and you were captured. You spent the
next several years as a prisoner in Italy, escaping in December of 1943.”

“I see…
1943, you say? So we have a good long slog ahead of us, do we? The war drags on
another two years?”

Fedorov
was reluctant to get into a discourse on the future course of events, but he
knew he had to give O’Connor something here, if only to impress upon him the
true gravity of what they were all now facing.

“This
war goes on a good while longer than that. It eventually ended in 1945.”

“And we
prevailed? General Kinlan is standing here with his brigade, so we won the damn
thing, yes?”

“Yes,”
said Fedorov, knowing that answer would put at least one thing into O’Connor’s
soul—hope. “A grand alliance was formed between Great Britain, Russia and the
United States. Together we defeated the Axis powers, in a long and bitter
struggle that consumed all of Europe and Asia, and lasted until late 1945.”

O’Connor’s
eyes narrowed, an expression on his face akin to that of a hiker looking up at
a mountain he must climb, knowing he could get to the top, but realizing the
agony and hardship that climb might bring. Fedorov continued, needing to
emphasize the key point he had been trying to make.

“What
you must understand now, General, is that this history may not repeat itself.
There is no united Russia. Even if Sergie Kirov is inclined to join with you
now, Ivan Volkov is not, and the Siberians are a wild card that could figure
heavily in the outcome.”

“This
Captain of yours, what was his name again?”

“Karpov.”

“Yes,
well could you talk some sense into the man?”

“Possibly,
yet Karpov is a man of dark ambition. At the moment that appetite has led to
his conflict with Ivan Volkov and Orenburg—a Federation that never existed in
our history. Don’t you see now how dangerous the knowledge we possess is?
Volkov obviously used that knowledge to achieve the position he has. Our
wayward Captain Karpov has done the same. And both men know full well how all
this ended once. It may be that Volkov sees advantage now in his alliance with
Hitler, but realize how dangerous that is. Orenburg controls 80% of the oil
that Soviet Russia needed to prosecute its war—the very same oil Hitler
coveted, which was one reason he invaded Russia in the first place.”

“Yes, I
don’t have to be a mind reader or man from tomorrow to figure that much.”

“So you
see, the Soviet Russia today under Kirov is in a very serious and dangerous
position. At the moment, there is still a cautious neutrality between Germany
and the Soviets, even though Kirov has publically signed an accord with Great
Britain. There is fighting on the Volga, and in the Caucasus, and none of that
occurred in our history. Kirov’s army is on the offensive, but you, yourself,
know the bitter tides of war.”

“I do
indeed.”

“Exactly,
and if the Soviets are defeated…”

Fedorov
did not need to say anything more. He could see that O’Connor now appreciated
the gravity and the magnitude of all that lay before them. He nodded grimly,
but then looked up, another question in his eye.

“Indulge
me one step further, if you would, Captain Fedorov. I have come to gather that
this grand alliance you spoke of was short lived. This war you speak of in your
time, the war you are trying to prevent… Your country was our enemy?”

“Sadly,
this is the case. Soviet Russia and the West never found any true harmony after
the war. There were decades of guarded watch, on both sides. We called it the
Cold War, as no open conflict occurred, though both sides maintained armies at
the ready.”

“Yes.”
Kinlan had been listening to all this, and now he finally spoke. “This very
brigade stood a long watch in Germany as part of an allied force facing down
the Russians—and with German troops as our allies, if you can fancy that.”

“German
troops?” O’Connor raised an eyebrow at that. “I see the future holds a good
deal more than we might expect.”

“It
does,” said Fedorov. “But the enmity that separated our two nations need not
repeat, any more than the history governing your own personal fate has—though I
might advise you to watch where you are driving in the days ahead, General
O’Connor.”

O’Connor
smiled at that. “Then you have come here to try and mend fences and set things
right?”

“No,
our presence here was a complete accident. We have been trying to get back to
our own time ever since we arrived, but it seems time had business for us here,
and so here we stay.”

“But
you say you moved about from one year to the next?” Now it was Kinlan’s time to
look for answers. “How did you manage that?”

Fedorov
had not told them everything. He indicated that their position in time remained
unstable, but said nothing of Rod-25, or the stairway at Ilanskiy. He
anticipated this question as well, but knew that his best answer was to simply
say they did not know.

“We’re
as much in the dark as you are, General. In fact, we truly don’t know what
really caused all this to happen. It’s a mystery I could guess at, and we are
gathering clues as we go along, but I can’t say I have put all the pieces
together.” That was true enough, he thought.

“But
you say you saw the outcome of the war—our war—in 2021? How was that possible?
How did you get back there?”

“As I
have said, our position in time was unstable. We moved forward again, like a
rock skipping off a pond I suppose, but then fell back again. On one of those
skips, I think we arrived at a future time beyond the onset of that war, and we
saw the utter devastation of the entire world—our world. Then we fell back again,
and now that we are here we decided to try and do something about that. It
started with the hand of friendship we extended to Great Britain. That grand
alliance has to begin somewhere, does it not? Perhaps this time we can hold it
together.”

“Good enough,”
said O’Connor. “Any man who’ll sail and fight with Admiral John Tovey is a
friend in my book. And as for you, General Kinlan, I don’t think there’s any
question where you and your men will stand in this fight.”

“None
sir. I signed on to fight for the Crown, no matter who’s wearing it at the
moment.”

“Good
enough, but may I ask… As to the chain of command.” O’Connor gathered his
thoughts, then came out with it. “Are you and your men prepared to fall into
line behind our current leadership?”

Kinlan
had thought about this, and knew the question might soon arise. O’Connor was a
Lieutenant General, and the ranking officer present in the British chain of
command. “It seems you are a couple rungs up on the ladder, General O’Connor.
Yet you must understand my position here is … rather unique. You saw the inside
of that tank, and I daresay that the methods we use have changed somewhat when
it comes to war fighting. I have the greatest respect for you, and for the
chain of command, and intend to do all in my power to cooperate and achieve
victory here. But we fight a new style of maneuver war, General. I think it is
one you would take to easily enough. In fact, your tactics and maneuvers are
well studied in our training schools.”

O’Connor
seemed to glow at that, very pleased.

“That
said,” Kinlan continued, “if the General would grant me the license of a free
hand here, I think it would best serve the interests of all concerned.”

“The
Captain has a point on that,” said Popski. “Aside from yours truly, General O’Connor
is the only man here in theater that knows what we have been discussing. He
says that General Wavell will most likely have to be briefed, but wonders where
the line should be drawn.”

“Secrecy,”
said Fedorov on his own in English. “Is very important.” Then Popski translated
further.

“Some
men must know the truth I have shared with you. Certainly all the men of your
brigade will know in due course. As to the men of this time… I think the less
they know the better. The true nature of this unit, and its origin, must be
kept the most closely guarded secret. This may mean that it would be best, as
General Kinlan suggests, if this unit remains a separate fighting entity.”

“Yet
you’ve told us your own ship now flies the flag of our own Horatio Nelson,”
said O’Connor. “You sail right alongside HMS
Invincible
.”

“Yes,
but we remain the sole authority insofar as the operation of our ship is
concerned, and there are no British seamen aboard
Kirov
. Only one man in
the Royal Navy knows we are from your own distant future, Admiral Tovey
himself. And he has even held this secret from the Admiralty, and from your own
government.”

“I see…
Somewhat cheeky, wouldn’t you say?”

Popski
found a Russian equivalent for that, and Fedorov smiled. How could he impress
upon this man the utter seriousness of this situation. “General,” he began.
“Suppose knowledge of our presence here became generally known. I would say you
have a thousand unanswered questions in your mind about what the future holds,
and as I have told you, not all of that future is rosy. The war in Asia ignites
into a new conflict just five years after this war concludes. It continues for
over a decade, then the oil wars begin, the struggle for resources and energy
that has its roots even in this conflict. Yes, there are marvelous things in
the future, like that digital map there on General Kinlan’s television, but
there is poverty, inequality, racism, disease, and yes, there is war. Any
knowledge of these events can become a poison in this world. There are wonders
ahead, but also darkness and terror, and like our Ivan Volkov, and Captain
Karpov, there are men who would use the knowledge of the future for personal
gain, and many others who would stop at nothing to obtain this knowledge.
Understand?”