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Fans of the long running Kirov Series may have a lump in their throats as Karpov (the younger) takes the ship into the Pacific for what will be the ship's final sortie. His prey? The Imperial Japanese Navy in 1941. Arriving after Pearl Harbor, Fedorov sets the course to intercept the Kido Butai as it returns to Japan.
Get ready
for action, because Karpov is going to lay into the Japanese Navy like Clint
Eastwood with a good piece of hickory. The action builds and builds to a climax
at the end of Chapter 15, until a problem presents itself.
Series readers will remember that the Modern
Japanese Destroyer Takami emerges from the ash covered Java Sea after Krakatoa
erupts, Captain Harada begins interacting with Japanese Generals and Admirals,
until he works his way up to a meeting with the legendary Isoroku Yamamoto
himself—and some of this interesting interaction is revised here. The remainder
of this volume is then every bit as riveting as the first 15 chapters, loaded
with naval combat, much of it devoted a long series of engagements between
Kirov and Takami as they stalk each other like a pair of Gladiators. Takami has
some surprising new capabilities to even things out, but remember, Karpov is in
the big Chair aboard Kirov, and can never be underestimated.
The Long Goodbye...
At the
conclusion of Volume 6, Sea Lions, Fedorov sustained an injury that
would take his life, but Karpov is not willing to let the author write his
co-conspirator in Time out of the story just yet. As he has done twice before,
he immediately rushes to the Kamenski Device in an effort to get to safe time
in the past where Fedorov is whole, healthy and well… But something goes wrong.
The Deus es Machina in a box fails to perform as anticipated. Enter Sir
Roger Ames for a look under the hood of the Kamenski Device to see if he can
identify the problem, which then launches Karpov on a mission to find the one
thing they need to get it to work properly again. This will soon take Baikal back to the
lake it is named for.
Season 8
has been a roller coaster ride with a number of twists from the more familiar
military fiction into the realms of both horror and pure science fiction. When
Karpov’s excursion in search of Kolchak’s Gold led him to a strange hidden
railway tunnel near the source of the Angara River we were all transported to
what the author calls “Strange far places,” a phrase he quotes from H.P.
Lovecraft. Then we got some riveting scenes where a platoon of rangers on
patrol along the Stony Tunguska face some of the very same creatures that both
Karpov and Fedorov stumbled upon while on opposite ends of Siberia. Fedorov
calls the creatures “Raptors” and what can only be called the “Raptor War”
begins, reaching its height at the mid-point of the season, in Coming Through.
Biology has a good deal to do with the outcome of that conflict, as Baikal
moves from one suspected entry point to another, finding and demolishing hidden
temporal rifts where the Raptors are coming through to modern years and wreaking
considerable havoc. On two occasions, Karpov resorts to heavy handed blows
against the Hordes of flying intruders.
Fedorov
wants to investigate a strong magnetic anomaly in the Taklamakan desert, which
leads to an amazing discovery. Then, trying to clean up loose ends and problems,
they decide to hunt down the German raider Kaiser Wilhelm, flying to the
deep south Atlantic to stop that ship’s meddling before it can return to
Germany with its great nuclear prize in hand. Once again, it is Fedorov’s
curiosity that then pulls the mission team further south into Antarctica. The
author confesses he has a strange fascination for stories set in polar climes,
possibly because he spent three years teaching Eskimos up near the arctic
circle in Alaska. This side trip was first presented as a visit to Operation
Highjump, which itself is wreathed in its own set of legends and lore. Then
the team makes another macabre discovery in a strange far place, and one that
will have some rather dire consequences.
The Author
has revealed that Sir Roger Ames is a man from the future, and then uses him to
make other revelations about the thing Fedorov’s team finds in the ice caverns
of Antarctica. It is certainly not to be mistaken for anything that evolved on
this earth, like the Raptors. This time the story goes full on X-Files and Sir
Roger, using his knowledge from the future, explains that if earth is visited by alien species some might be benign,
others not so benign. Using a metaphor, he characterizes the specimen Fedorov
has discovered in Antarctica as the “Murder Hornets” where Alien species are concerned. And
the team soon learns that their discovery could be quite dangerous, not only to
the mission crew, but to the planet as a whole.
Their
decision to return to Antarctica and settle the matter seems to tamp things
down, but the author has told us that plot line is not yet tied off. Now we
move on to the seventh book in this season, The Final Sortie, where the
author largely stays with the ship and crew as Karpov stalks the Imperial
Japanese Navy in the early days of the Pacific War in 1941-42, and raises hell. The action builds and builds
to a climax at the end of Chapter 15, until the arrival of the modern Japanese Destroyer Takami, which then sets off another series of battles against that ship.
At the end,
Fedorov confronts another mystery that haunts him from the days of the endless
fog the ship was once marooned in—something that effects the fate lines of
Volsky, Orlov and others. The cliff hanger here is the coming of Admiral Kita,
arriving early at Enewetok through the rift created by the US post-war Ivy Mike
detonation. That rift extended deep into the past, and delivers a powerful
modern day Japanese task force to the scene, one even stronger than what we saw
earlier in the series. Is this the nemesis the author will use to seal Kirov’s
fate? We’ll just have to wait for that
last volume coming the first quarter of 2022. Brothers, after ten years with
this story, it will be a sad day when it ends with the Series Finale in the
final book, appropriately entitled Journey's End. That said, the author has included an announcement at the end of
this book for a new series he is launching in 2022, something altogether
different that I’m now really looking forward to. The first Volume of that new tale is already complete, and John is working on the web site while he finishes Journey's end. Its in an entirely different genre.
For now, hop aboard Kirov for the Final Sortie. This one builds up at the end to what will likely be the last missiles to be fired by the ship and crew. The Series Finale, Journey's End is going to focus heavily on all the main characters, as each one's fate line is tied off, one by one. If you were there at the beginning, you'll definitely want to be there for the ending in these last two volumes. So join our 'Wanderers in eternity' and walk that missile deck once again, but be ready when the claxon sounds!
Kirov Saga #63
The Final
Sortie
By
John
Schettler
Part I –
Catch-22
Part II –
Wading In
Part III –
Karpov’s War
Part IV –
Hara’s Dilemma
Part V –
Moskit#10
Part VI –
Bloodhounds
Part VII –
Shadow Thread
Part VIII–
Strange Bedfellows
Part IX – Gladiators
Part X –
Devil in the Banda Sea
Part XI –
The Marathon
Part XII –
Homeward Bound
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