“Oh? Let me guess. You produced about 400 last year in 1940. Correct? Before this war ended in the history I know, it took over 35,000 to beat the Germans. And that is just for the initial design with the 76mm main gun. A newer model with a better 85mm gun comes later, and it took nearly another 30,000 of those too! And that is just for the T-34 model tank. Now do you begin to see the urgency of this moment? 400 tanks? That is bird feed! You must scale up production dramatically, and make this a matter of the highest priority. Don’t you see what’s about to happen? Hitler will sweep into the Ukraine, take the Crimea and make a quick end of your little adventure in the Caucasus. Then the combined might of Orenburg and Germany will turn north. You won’t last a year, and once the Soviet Union falls then they’ll come east and finish me. They could do all this before the United States even enters the war, and that will be that. Hitler will dominate all of Europe, and he will join with Japan in the far east. The Axis empire will be invincible. Even with the United States and Britain allied, it took them until mid-1944 before they could muster the strength to invade the continent. And that was with a united Russia still locked in combat with 80 % of the Wehrmacht.”
“I must say that I have considered all this, and you describe the nightmares I have been having very well, Karpov. I know full well how vulnerable Soviet Russia is. This man from the upper floor, Volkov, has made German victory almost inevitable.”
“Yes? Well you have been up those stairs, Kirov, and I am a man from the upper floor as well.”
Karpov thought for a moment. He still had a few cards in his hand to play, cards that might trump all others. Should he speak of this? Kirov was no fool. He was a shrewd and determined leader, and he could be ruthless when pressed, even as Stalin was. So he will certainly not fail to understand the power I hold. Power is one thing he knows well enough. He pressed on.
“As to the matter of my disagreement with Admiral Volsky,” he began. “It centered on the power inherent in the ship we commanded. Volsky was taken ill, and I assumed command. I immediately realized the power I had at my disposal, and I was determined to use it. Volsky was not so inclined.”
“So you tried to seize the ship?”
“I did take it, but the crew eventually sided with Volsky, damn them all. They could not see what I saw-the necessity of using power to the fullest when necessary to achieve your aims. They wanted to dawdle about, thinking they could prevent changes in the history. Me? I wanted to write it all anew. Well, we have seen what their dawdling has produced. If they had done things my way, Russia would be supreme today, and not the broken, fragmented state it is now. Power, Kirov. You are no stranger to that bedfellow if you fought your way to the top here. Well… Before this war ends there will be weapons designed and deployed that will trump all others-weapons of unimaginable power. Volsky has them aboard that ship at this very moment, but he is too timid to use them. I know how they will be designed and built, Kirov. Understand? The Germans and British are tinkering with these weapons programs even as we speak. The Americans too! Yes, they will all be in a race to see who can deploy these weapons first. Thankfully, that time is many years off, but beware. Ivan Volkov knows this as well. He may have a similar weapons program underway too, and if he is successful…”
Karpov did not have to say anything more. Kirov was listening, his mind focused, his thoughts darkened with the burden of impending war.
“And I have one more thing…” Karpov hesitated, then pressed on. “Ilanskiy,” he said, “that lonesome railway inn. You wanted to know why Volkov would throw away a couple old Zeppelins and a few battalions of troops to raid Ilanskiy? Well, I learned something during our conference at Omsk. That was where Volkov went missing in our time-he was foolish enough to tell me so. After the conference ended, I got curious and went there to have a look around. It was only by chance that I ventured up that back stairway, and discovered what could happen.”
“I see,” said Kirov. “Yes, Ilanskiy. I begin to see why Volkov is so interested in driving east now. It is not merely to settle his flank so he can turn his full force on me. He wants Ilanskiy.”
“Correct, and he was stupid enough to think he could take it with this raid and drive all the way from Omsk in one fell swoop. Well he failed, on both counts. We are stronger on the ground than he realized. He won’t get over the Ob easily, if at all. I can stop him, Kirov, and I have Ilanskiy. Do you understand what I am saying now?”
“Only too well,” said Kirov.
