Under the Ice

“Because of the great advances of the last three decades, I can reveal the details of our present mission with full confidence that our difficult goal can be achieved. For the Neva has been picked to undertake a perilous journey deep into the frozen waters of the enemy. It is a mission in which failure of any sort can’t be accepted, as the future security of the Motherland rests in our hands!”

Noting that he had his audience’s rapt attention, Mikhail Kharkov continued.

“Two days ago, the plane carrying our beloved Premier, Alexander Suratov, disappeared off the northern coast of Baffin Island. The Bear-E recon plane that was sent up to monitor the Flying Kremlin on its flight to Ottawa, watched the II76 drop off its radar screens. No further contact of any type was established with the Flying Kremlin, and it is presumed to have crashed with the subsequent loss of all aboard. Now the question is, was this tragedy the result of a mechanical failure, or was another party responsible for the death of our great leader?

“According to the instructions of our Defense Minister, General Ivan Zarusk, I initiated an immediate investigation in an effort to answer this question, and the facts I soon uncovered were shocking. Fifteen minutes before the 11–76 dropped from the radar screens a final time, a flight of two American F-15 Eagles took off from Thule, Greenland, with afterburners fully engaged. At this same time, a top-secret NORAD radar installation known as Polestar was monitored directing a powerful beam of electronic interference toward the Flying Kremlin. It is my supposition that this activity was not an innocent probe, but signaled a deliberate attempt by both the Americans and the Canadians to jam the Il-76’s sensors, while the F-15’s proceeded to blast our aircraft out of the skies with a Phoei-ix air-to-air missile.”

“Why, that’s incredible!” dared Viktor Belenko.

“Wouldn’t such a thing be a direct act of war?”

The admiral sneered sardonically.

“It certainly would, Senior Lieutenant. But before we can answer this act of cold-blooded murder with a suitable response, the members of the Politburo have asked me to provide them with concrete evidence proving it was a willful act of Imperialist aggression that sent the Flying Kremlin plummeting down to the frozen ice fields below. And with the Neva’s invaluable help, I intend to do just that.”

The veteran only had to snap his fingers a single time to get Konstantin Zinyagin into action. With sweat rolling down his flushed forehead, the stocky Zampolit unfolded one of the charts he had brought along, and spread it out on the table. Both of the submarine’s senior officers recognized this map as an exact twin of the polar projection currently gracing the Neva’s chart table.

After consuming a mouthful of tea, the admiral continued.

“If I’m not mistaken, taking into account the course which I relayed to you at the beginning of our journey, and the fact that we have been traveling at flank speed, our current position should be somewhere between Svalbard and Franz Josef Land. If we continued on this same course, in another twenty hours or so, we’d be transit ting directly beneath the North Pole. Long before we reach the Pole, it is my intention that the Neva turn toward Cape Morris Jesup and the Lincoln Sea. Here we will penetrate the Nares Strait between the western coast of Greenland and Ellesmere Island. Utilizing such a direct route, we will enter Baffin Bay and be in perfect position to access the frozen waters of Lancaster Sound.”

“Excuse me. Admiral,” interrupted Sergei Markova.

“But I question the wisdom of using the route you just mentioned. The Nares Strait is not only extremely narrow with treacherous currents, it is also littered with American and Canadian SOS US arrays.

Such undersea hydrophones will surely pick up the Neva as we initiate our transit. Wouldn’t it be more prudent to approach Lancaster Sound from the other direction, by way of the M’Clurc Straits?”

Quick to support Sergei was his senior lieutenant.

“I agree with the captain. Three months ago, the Neva attempted to penetrate the Nares Strait and enter the waters of Baffin Bay undetected. After carefully skirting the known SOS US station at Alert, off the northeastern coast of Ellesmere Island, we activated our anechoic masking system and cautiously continued southward. Yet for all our circumspection, waiting for us as we entered Baffin basin was a US Navy P-3 Orion that was able to tag us with an active sonobuoy on its very first pass. Surely this indicates that no matter how stealthily we might travel, the Nares Strait’s SOS US line will be able to pick us up.”

“I appreciate the wise feedback, comrades,” Admiral Kharkov responded.

“And under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t hesitate to heed your excellent advice. But we currently find ourselves in a situation where time is of the essence. For it’s imperative that we reach Lancaster Sound with all due haste.”