Free Kirov Saga: Darkest Hour: Altered States - Volume II (Kirov Series) by John Schettler Page B

‘Kirov’s lot’ seemed to refer to European
Russians from the far west, or so he reasoned, though he could not understand
why.
    “Out
here you can forget all those nice European ways, and don’t think anyone here
will cut you any notice, whether you’ve come in from Leningrad or Moscow. Here
the Japanese empire is all that matters. Yes sir, and they’ve started expanding
again. If they don’t know that back west in Orenburg or Moscow they soon will I
suppose. Like I say, there’s troop ships arriving here every week. Rumor is
that my own ship will be commandeered soon for similar duty. Taking
Vladivostok, Sakhalin and all of Primorskiy and Amur province wasn’t enough
after the last war. No sir. Now they’ve got all of Korea, Taiwan, Manchuko, and
they may just push all the way to Lake Baikal if they have a mind to. Siberians
can’t do much about that, can they? Kolchak will try, but he’ll be no match for
these little weasels. Brutal when they get to war, and that’s a fact.”
    Karpov
was astounded by what he was hearing now. The last war? The man seemed to be
saying the Japanese invaded and occupied Russian territory long ago. He knew
that had happened once. Japan sent troops to Vladivostok in the midst of the
Russian Civil War along with troops from many other powers, British, French,
Italians, Czech, even Americans. They occupied the place in 1918 to support the
Whites but after Kolchak’s White Army collapsed in the war against the
Bolsheviks in 1919, the Japanese remained in Vladivostok until 1922, fearing
the rise of a communist state so close to their Imperial homeland.
    “So
600 miles is nothing,” said Koslov. “It’s nearly a thousand miles to Zabaykalsk
on the border. There’s Japanese troops there, or so I hear tell. More coming
every week. And they’re in Mongolia now too. Rumor has it that they’ve pushed
all the way to Ulaanbaatar. Damn industrious, these Japanese. They ran us out
of the only port we had on the Pacific. That was inevitable after what happened
before the war.”
    “This
war?”
    “The last war—the Great War as they called it. Something tells me this next
one will be even bigger. All the ships are bigger, and now they have
planes—planes on ships, mind you, and submarines too. No. This will be
the great war, but maybe we can stay out of if this time around. After all,
we’re still at each other’s throats, eh?”
    Karpov
did not know what to make of all this, and was very confused. Was this man
telling the truth or exaggerating. 1938? How could he possibly be here? Did
something happen to the ship? Did it move again and pull him along with it? But
how was that possible? Kirov had no control rod this time, and there was
no great explosion, nuclear or otherwise, that could have moved the ship. Then
the image from his nightmares returned, that horrible moment when he plunged
into the water, opening his eyes in a panic to see the long, evil shape of a
submarine lurking in the shallows beneath the ship. Could it have been real?
    “Are
you sure you are well?” Koslov was watching him closely now, but Karpov just
looked at him, saying nothing. “Well or not, it’s time you were on your feet
and off this ship. Considering you were put on by the Jappos, I’ll grant you
free passage this time. Get ashore and hole up in a good hotel for a while. The
whole harbor district is overrun with Asians, but inland the city is still much
as it always was. But mind what I said—wear an overcoat and don’t flash those
stripes on your cuff on the street or you’ll likely be picked up by the Jappos
for questioning, and you won’t like that one bit. No sir, not one bit.”
    Karpov
rubbed a cramp from his neck. “I will take your advice, Koslov, if I can find
an overcoat as you suggest.”
    “Look
in that locker, Captain. Help yourself… Tell me, are you regular navy?”
    “I
was.”
    “No
longer?”
    “It
seems not. At least I have no ship now.”
    “Where
were you