CHAPTER 5
Wednesday, 11 March
1000 hours (Zulu +2)
Tretyevo Peschera
Near Polyamyy, Russia
“The Americans!” Marchenko looked up from the papers. “You believe they
will interfere with Operation Audacious Flame?”
“It is possible. The Military Council in Moscow believes that once
there is a clear threat of a nuclear exchange in our civil war, American
intervention in our affairs is a certainty. Already they move to
blockade our fleet from the open sea.” Karelin pulled a set of maps from
among the papers, spreading them out on the desk. His finger came down
on a group of symbols clustered off the Norwegian coast north of the
Arctic Circle. “Here.
Eisenhower and her battle group.” His finger traced the coastline south
to Denmark. “The Kennedy. Blocking our access from the Baltic.” The
finger moved once more, coming to a group of symbols east of Iceland.
“And the Jefferson, returning to the Norwegian theater after her battle
damage repairs and refit in the United States. Other American battle
groups are reported to be on the way as well, some to the North Sea,
others to the Mediterranean.”
“What can they do?” Marchenko scoffed. “Even the Americans, with their
vaunted technology, cannot shoot down an ICBM in flight. They abandoned
their Star Wars program years ago.”
“Perhaps they cannot shoot down our missiles,” Karelin countered. “But
they can dog our PLARBs with antisubmarine aircraft and with the Los
Angeles attack submarines attached to their battle groups. They can
blockade our ports and challenge our submarine forces as they deploy.
They could even track our PLARBs to their strategic bastions, moving
quietly and unobserved, with orders to open fire should they hear the
missile tube hatches on our submarines open. If they think it in their
interests to prevent a launch, they will not hesitate to fire first in
such a confrontation.”
“Are … are we at war with the Americans then?”
“Bah!” Karelin made a dismissive gesture. “What does it matter?
Officially, no, we are not at war. Not since the last units of our
Scandinavian expeditionary force surrendered and the Blues invited the
UN bastards to occupy our cities. But then, if you examine the record,
you will find that we were not officially at war with the Americans when
we invaded Norway either. The entire episode was characterized in the
UN as an ‘incident,’ a ‘Peace-keeping action.” The Western governments,
you see, fear even the admission that a state of war exists between East
and West. Oh, there have been threats from Washington and the various
Western puppets since Marshal Krasilnikov’s coup, of course, the bellows
and head-tossings of angry bulls. But no decisive action … beyond
this threatening deployment of these carrier groups of theirs.
“It is our plan,” he continued, “to attack first, to hit them before
they can hit us.”
Marchenko drew in his breath with a sharp hiss.
Karelin looked up sharply. “This frightens you?”
“It occurs to me, Comrade Admiral,” Marchenko said with great
deliberation, “that one reason the Fascists lost the Great Patriotic War
was their decision to attack Russia while still fighting England. Later,
at the moment the Hitlerites were getting their first taste of General
Winter, they added the United States to their list of enemies.”
“Be careful, my friend. Your words could be seen as dangerously
revisionist.” Even yet, senior Red Army officers did not admit that the
Rodina had received substantial help from the West during the Second
World War. Still, Karelin was impressed, and pleased. He’d not pegged
Marchenko as one who would venture any opinion contrary to the Party
line. Perhaps there was hope for the man yet.
“I only state the obvious, Comrade Admiral.” His shoulders slumped, and
he turned in his chair for a moment to stare through his office window
at the bustling work in the shipyard below. “I wonder if future
historians might regard our decision to attack the United States while
we are fighting the Blues as, ah, somewhat less than tactically sound.”
“It is a gamble certainly. But you must remember that while the
Americans like to make big noises, they will be unwilling to involve
themselves deeply in our internal problems.”
“They fought willingly enough in Norway.”