"Quickly! Quickly! Everyone to your positions!" Mirokhin shouted, quickly gathering the men, lining them up along the side.
Soldiers ran across the deck, taking up positions, preparing to meet the enemy. This time there weren't fifteen, like in the last fight, but almost thirty men. They took their places, and dozens of rifle barrels were aimed at the sea.
Krasin's hull guns also began slowly training on the new threat.
"What's the best course for me?" Trident asked immediately, following Krasin. She quickly got her bearings, deferring to Krasin's lead.
The icebreaker-girl turned to her, giving her a brief, assessing look, then spoke:
"If you can put a couple of torpedoes into that scum, we'd all be very grateful," she said in a quiet voice, a faint smile, apparently from fantasies of the enemy boat blowing up, appearing on her face before she turned away from Trident and continued shouting, almost hoarse, urging the soldiers on. "Faster! Faster! Everyone, prepare for battle!"
"Aye aye," Trident said with a slight smile, closing one eye as she approached the side railing. She looked at her own hull, which was slowly sailing alongside the icebreaker's hull, shielded from the enemy submarine cruiser by it.
"I'm off!" she shouted to Krasin, then added. "May the depths not become your grave."
"May the ice open a path for you," Krasin threw back, stopping by the forward main caliber gun, which was already aimed and ready to fire.
Trident, after one last, brief glance at Krasin, quickly vaulted over the side railing and plunged into the dark, cold water. A bright flash of light shone for a moment by the icebreaker's port side, disappearing with a quiet, almost inaudible splash amidst the other sounds. Trident's rigging appeared around her.
It was a specific glider, over two meters long, which almost completely replicated the form of her own submarine hull, which had become this very rigging, except without the conning tower. The conning tower had transformed into a backpack on the Kansen's back, from which a pair of armored hoses ran to supply a respirator that had appeared on her face in the flash of light, covering its lower half.
Trident herself lay on her stomach on the glider's deck, grabbing two handles located just behind the diving planes. A spare oxygen tube protruded from the top of the machine, right in front of her face, in case the backpack was damaged.
It took her a second in the cold water to get used to it and her surroundings. The onboard sonar was working properly, and she immediately heard the powerful hum of the icebreaker's propellers, then distinguished the movement of the foreign submarine behind it. Tilting the glider forward slightly, Trident dove to twenty meters, sinking below Krasin's draft, diving under her, then, guided by sonar, headed towards X-1, preparing to attack.
******
Krasin didn't pay attention to the brief flash behind her. All her attention was focused on the submarine cruiser, which was steadily approaching.
"Krasin!" an angry, almost growling voice with a strong English accent sounded from the transmitter. "I'm giving you one last chance! Cut your engines and surrender! Or you'll go to the bottom!"
"Ha!" Krasin snorted briefly, a note of challenge in her voice. She'd been thinking about the previous battle lately and had come to one interesting conclusion. "If you could sink me and kill everyone on my board, you'd have done it without a second thought! You simply can't do it. Apparently, your masters—the Sirens—won't allow it!"
"You! Impudent smug creature!" META snapped furiously, before her voice returned to its usual tone. "You'll regret this soon."
"We'll see," Krasin replied, then cut the radio transmission, and at that same moment, her main guns opened fire.
Two plumes of water erupted near the submarine's hull, but with a significant shortfall. The fountains of water almost obscured how, using the conning tower for cover, people on X-1's deck were lowering small motorboats into the water.
"Captain!" Krasin shouted after her gun once again spewed fire and steel towards the enemy. "Enemy in the water! They're preparing to board again!"
"You heard her!" Orlin shouted to his men, preparing them for battle.
Meanwhile, the main caliber turret of the submarine also opened fire. Despite the damage inflicted on it last time, the forward gun mount had avoided it. Shells, flying out in a flash of fire and smoke, rushed towards the icebreaker's side. A moment later, the five-inch high-explosive shells exploded near the icebreaker's side.
One of them, falling into the water just a couple of meters short of the side, showered *Krasin* with shrapnel, and the shockwave jolted the ship. Had this been an ordinary steamer, passenger or cargo, the force of the explosion would have damaged the plating, and the hull would have sprung leaks, but Krasin wasn't quite an ordinary ship. The ice, armored belt took the main impact, dissipating the force of the explosion.
But another shell exploded on the deck, uprooting one of the side cranes and knocking several men onto the deck. Those standing near them, who were luckier, immediately rushed to their comrades.
"Wounded here!" one cried.
"Doctor! Urgently!" shouted another.
At that moment, Malin ran up to them:
"What are you standing around for?" he asked, quickly looking them all over. "Quick, get them to the medics! We might still save them!"
"Aye!" the soldiers nodded in sync, picking up their wounded comrades and quickly dragging them to the opposite side, which wasn't under fire.
The two ships continued to exchange volleys. Another shot from X-1 hit the smokestack roughly in its middle, leaving a large hole. The return shot from Krasin hit the turret, between the submarine's guns. This didn't stop META from firing, but her shots became noticeably less accurate.
"Boarding boats off the starboard side!" someone shouted from Krasin's side as a lone submachine gun chattered. Then, a moment later, a dozen men were already firing at a small boarding boat. Its crew could be seen desperately trying to protect themselves from the bullets, but unsuccessfully: the boat lost power and, full of bloodied dead men, fell behind the icebreaker.
"Take them out!" shouted a man with a machine gun in his hands, reloading another magazine. He was already ready to aim his weapon at the enemy again when the water in front of him erupted, and a moment later, a girl in an ash-red uniform, with a sword in her hand and a noticeable scar on her face, stood on the deck before him. Instantly, the man collapsed, run through by the sword.
"Enemy on deck!" shouted another soldier nearby before the blade found him too.
X-1 was on Krasin's deck, hacking down the soldiers who were firing at the approaching boarding boats. She managed to cut down three men when three bullets hit her in the back, making her stagger. META barely had time to turn around when a heavy crowbar whistled past her head a couple of millimeters away, leaving a noticeable bloody cut on her face.
"You!.." X-1 growled, looking up, wiped the welling blood, and immediately raised her blade to block the ice axe blow descending upon her.
"Guess that wasn't enough?" Krasin smirked, yanking back her right hand, which held the ice axe, trying to knock the weapon out of META's hands.
X-1, with great effort, managed to push Krasin's weapon away, forcing her to step back, then continued the attack, delivering fast and powerful thrusts with her rapier, though they lacked precision and finesse. Krasin retreated, occasionally parrying, using the ice axe to deflect the attacks most dangerous to her. Her movements were fast but still slightly sluggish—the recent wound was making itself known.
X-1 swung, delivering a heavy slashing blow from behind her back. Krasin jumped aside, and the submarine's rapier sliced through the side railing like a hot knife through butter. META was momentarily stuck in that position, which Krasin used. The ice axe struck the submarine with its poll roughly in the area of the liver, making X-1 cough painfully. A distant, muffled explosion briefly interrupted their battle. Both girls turned their heads towards where X-1's hull was. A huge column of water erupted by its side, shooting dozens of meters into the air.
"What?!" X-1 exclaimed in amazement, looking at her hull in shock, feeling the damage spreading through it. "You!.."
A flash of light momentarily illuminated everything on the icebreaker's deck. Krasin squinted for a moment, covering her eyes from the bright light, and when it began to disperse and she lowered her hand—a hail of blows rained down on her.
X-1 backhanded her with the rapier as if it were a mere bat, then followed up that strike with a shot from her rigging. Both shells hit the Soviet Kansen, throwing her back, obscuring her behind a cloud of smoke.
"I offered you surrender," X-1 growled, standing to her full height, deploying her rigging.
Two massive manipulators, resembling a submarine hull, rested on either side of her. Each carried one artillery mount, their caliber comparable to the guns of a Dido-class cruiser. Behind her back was a massive oxygen cylinder, at the bottom of which were propellers, allowing her to move underwater. Though now it wasn't in the best condition—the rigging was sparking, riddled with holes from shells and bullets, one turret was almost destroyed. Next to the shattered gun mount gaped a large black hole—the result of V-5's torpedo hit.
"You refused! Now don't judge me for what happens!" she roared, taking a fighting stance as the smoke enveloping Krasin began to clear.
She was kneeling on one knee. Her left hand was pressed against her left side, below the lungs, and blood was slowly trickling down it. Her other hand still held the ice axe, its point dug into the wooden deck, splitting several planks.
The Soviet girl slowly, with noticeable effort, rose to her feet, using the ice axe as a point of support, still pressing her left hand to her stomach. Krasin couldn't summon her rigging; if she did, she would doom everyone on her board to death, and what use were two massive manipulators that could only be used as a shield, not a weapon.
The ice axe traced an arc in the air, stopping right on X-1, like a duelist's rapier from the last century.
"You talk too much!.." Krasin growled with a pained expression as META rushed at her.
In a matter of moments, X-1 closed the gap between them, getting almost point-blank to the Soviet girl. Krasin barely managed to take a step back, avoiding the strike of META's blade, but at the moment she was preparing to respond with her own lunge, the opponent's rigging moved forward. A dull metallic screech sounded on the deck as X-1's rigging crashed into the ice axe, which Krasin had barely managed to put in the way of the Brit's blow.
Krasin was holding back X-1's heavy rigging with noticeable effort. Distracted for a moment, she looked up at META, and in that same second, she was horrified to see a bloodthirsty snarl and a gaze burning with beastly fury like daggers on her face. She pushed X-1's rigging away with effort, shifting slightly to the left, circling the submarine. The latter struck again with her blade, but it again crashed into the handle of the ice axe, and only at the last moment did she notice that the gun of X-1's rigging was aimed at her.
A shot rang out. The Soviet girl's body momentarily vanished in a cloud of gray gun smoke before flying out of it. After flying several meters, she crashed onto her own deck, rolling some distance across it before coming to a stop motionless.
"Well, that's that!.." X-1 exhaled with a slight pant, slowly stepping towards the defeated, unconscious girl.
Standing a couple of steps away, META raised her sword, preparing to end Krasin's life, when the water by the side literally erupted. X-1 didn't have time to do anything when four bullets struck her body. She managed to block some with her rigging, but only partially; some bullets still found their mark. META cried out in pain as her arm trembled and she almost dropped her sword, but was almost immediately forced to react to a new danger. She fired from her rigging, forcing her rival to tense up, before throwing a glance at her.
"British?.." X-1 exclaimed in surprise, seeing the characteristic uniform, before her gaze fell on the white cape with USSR symbols. "No... traitor!.."
"Look who's talking?!" Trident exclaimed, her eye wide with surprise, before sharply raising her hand, in which she continued to clutch her multi-barreled pistol. Her glider split into parts with a clang of metal, becoming armor protecting the Kansen's torso and limbs. She fired at the opponent again, but the bullets, embedding themselves in META's skin, merely got stuck, and the second Brit brushed them off onto the deck with a quick motion. Following this, X-1 responded with shots from her remaining gun turret, but both shells missed the agile V-5.
Trident maintained her distance, perfectly understanding that in close combat she couldn't long oppose the much better-equipped X-1, but behind the latter lay Krasin, whom she had to rescue. Cursing to herself, she began to wait for an opportune moment.
And finally, when X-1 made another lunge, that moment came. Dodging the blow, V-5 struck the opponent's elbow joint with her armored hand, disorienting her. Then, just as quickly, she was next to META, swinging her rigging. With a loud screech, Trident struck the damaged part of X-1's rigging. META staggered back from the force of the blow, but in that same second attacked with her blade, which now Trident was forced to defend against.
X-1 surpassed V-5 in everything: strength, speed, durability. Trident's only advantage was her agility, but this only allowed her to defend and occasionally counterattack—nothing more. Trident used her strengths to the fullest, spinning around X-1, delivering weak but still palpable blows. But despite this, X-1 was more experienced, and her blows found the Soviet girl. Gradually, the scales began to tip in META's favor.
While the battle between the two Kansen raged, Krasin slowly regained consciousness. First, her hearing returned, and then, with noticeable effort, she opened her eyes. Her vision swam and was blurry. She saw two figures continuing their fight, and how the advantage in it was gradually leaning towards META. Suddenly, her gaze stopped on something lying right in front of her. A strange, straight piece of metal junk was lying literally a meter away from her. It took Krasin a few seconds to understand what it was—her crowbar. With noticeable effort, she reached out her hand, gripping it tightly, then began to slowly, quietly groaning, get to her feet.
As this was happening, X-1's blow finally found its target. Trident crashed onto the deck, groaning loudly, and META stood over her.
"Well then!.. You know how to fight like a knight of His Majesty! But you chose the wrong side!" she said, raising her blade for the final blow. She could see that Trident was conscious and could perfectly see what she intended to do, but she had neither the strength nor the time to do anything.
Getting to her feet, holding her crowbar like a spear, with a guttural cry, Krasin rushed at X-1. The latter managed to react and turn to look at the source of the sound, but she didn't have time to do anything else. Wielding the crowbar like a pike, Krasin charged into X-1. The sharp tip, which normally served for breaking ice, pierced the ribs on the left side of META's body above the lungs and lodged itself in the shoulder blade. Krasin dragged the submarine for a few moments before crashing into the superstructure of the icebreaker's hull.
The bone immediately cracked, and the massive blade pierced through it and the steel plating of the superstructure, literally pinning X-1 to the wall. With a strong jerk, Krasin raised the crowbar upwards, preventing META from escaping her predicament, and as soon as it was done, she turned away from her.
The ship's deck was filled with the wild cries of pain from X-1. META was in shock and rage, feeling blood running down her body from the terrible wound. Her left arm was almost numb and hung uselessly. Then she placed her right hand on the cold steel of the crowbar protruding from her chest, in a desperate attempt to move it.
She looked at Krasin again, who was slowly, clearly overcoming the pain, picking up her ice axe from the deck, which had fallen from her hands. Realization quickly dawned in X-1's eyes as she, with her last strength, ordered her rigging to move forward and prepare to fire. The gun barrels rose, but a moment before the shot, a heavy blow from the ice axe fell on the remaining turret, instantly destroying it. Then a second, third, fourth blow rained down on the rigging, turning it into nothing more than twisted metal, after which Krasin looked at her.
"You will answer for everything!" the Soviet Kansen growled, switching her grip on the ice axe.
For a moment, genuine fear flashed in X-1's eyes, a fear she seemed not to have felt for many years. Her lips twitched, and a voice that seemed not to belong to her sounded from her mouth.
"TERROR! YOUR HIGHNESS! I NEED HELP! SAVE ME!" she screamed desperately, seemingly into the air, watching the approaching Soviet Kansen, who was advancing on her with a strange expression of anger and relief on her face.
X-1 tried one last time to pull the crowbar holding her out of her body, but again failed. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a purple flash somewhere off the icebreaker's side, followed by a distant, astonished exclamation from one of the soldiers.
"What is that?.."
Instantly, she guessed what it was. There was no time to think—Krasin was already swinging to bring the ice axe down on her body. Disregarding the pain, X-1 moved to the right, worsening her wound, and at that same moment, like a guillotine, the ice axe came down there. With a sickening crunch, bones were broken, literally crushed to powder, and X-1 barely remained on her feet, finally finding herself free.
Krasin looked in shock as META's bloodied arm fell onto the deck, and X-1 herself ended up slightly to the side. She swung at her, but META was faster. She pushed Krasin and rushed to the side railing, deftly picking up her sword with her remaining hand. The Soviet girl, quickly recovering, rushed after her, but the Brit was faster. She only paused for a moment at the icebreaker's side before vaulting over it. By the time Krasin ran to the side, she only saw META's figure disappearing into a purple rift in reality.
Krasin's face contorted into a vicious snarl, and her hand, ignoring the pain, struck the deck railing.
"That bitch got away!" the Kansen growled through clenched teeth. Rage gradually subsided, and the pain returned, because of which she almost collapsed on the deck.
She was immediately caught under the arms by Trident, who had recovered from the blow and managed to jump to Krasin's side. Her wounds were serious; there were noticeable cuts and bruises in several places, her uniform was torn in several spots, and its white parts had turned slightly crimson, but overall, her condition was much better than Krasin's, or, especially, X-1's. Krasin transferred almost all her weight onto Trident, then her gaze fell on the soldiers on her deck.
Orlin had kept his men from intervening in the Kansen battle, perfectly understanding they had no business there. So all this time, his unit continued to finish off the remaining groups of boarders trying to approach the icebreaker's side. They were dealt with almost at the same moment X-1 escaped from the deck, so no one could support Krasin in her fight.
When the last machine gun burst died down, a near-tomb-like silence suddenly fell over the deck. The soldiers silently exchanged glances, expecting some trick, some trap that their enemies had undoubtedly set. But time passed, and nothing happened.
"Brothers!.." Mirokhin began in a hollow, hoarse voice, looking around at everyone, "we did it! We fought them off! HURRAH!" he shouted, tossing his hat into the air; the others followed suit, and the air around the icebreaker erupted with a single thunderous "HURRAH!"
"We did it!" Krasin exhaled joyfully. Pain and fatigue clouded her mind, and the Kansen, leaning against the wall, slid down. Darkness swallowed everything before her eyes.
******
A day later, Orlin, Malin, and Trident gathered in Krasin's cabin. The submarine had carried the wounded Kansen there after the battle and began treating her injuries. After some time, she was joined by Vera, who had returned to the cabin to be with Krasin. At first, Trident was indignant at the sight of the little girl, but she eventually accepted her help.
Krasin woke up only after midnight but immediately fell asleep again from the lump of warmth next to her—Vera was sleeping beside her, clinging to her as if to the last significant thing. In the morning, they were visited again by Trident, who once again examined Krasin's injuries, after which the icebreaker Kansen left for a short while, citing an urgent matter she needed to attend to.
It was at this moment that Malin and Orlin entered the room. At first, they were somewhat surprised that Krasin wasn't there, but they stayed, waiting for her, talking with Trident.
"What did I miss?" Krasin asked listlessly, opening the cabin door, instantly drawing all eyes to herself, for aside from Vera and V-5, no one had seen her since yesterday. Numerous bandages were visible under her rather loose clothing; in some places, they were slightly raised due to the cotton wool helping to stop the bleeding. Her bandaged face was somewhat scorched, and a black soot mark remained on her cheek.
"Krasin? What happened to your face?" Orlin asked in amazement. "Did you climb into a barrel of ashes after such a wound?"
"On my face?" Krasin blinked, quickly raising her hand to her face, wiping away the blackness. For a few moments, she looked at the soot on her fingers, then said with annoyance:
"Some still remained."
"Where were you?" Malin asked in a calm tone.
Krasin walked through the entire cabin, sat down on her bed, turned to face the others, and lowered her eyes to the floor, then muttered quietly:
"Had to... destroy something."
"Destroy..." Trident repeated quietly, thoughtfully, then looked up at Krasin, waiting for her to continue.
"That creature... what was left of it on my deck," Krasin gave a quiet smirk, and a fire gleamed in her eyes, "serves us now, at least something useful came from its miserable life!"
For a few moments, she froze with a joyful, slightly crazed expression, then it disappeared, and she, looking around at those present, asked:
"So why did you come?"
"Well, to inform you about everything that happened while you were out," Trident replied.
"And to find out what awaits us next," Orlin added in a more friendly tone, "after all, you're in charge on this ship."
The conversation soon continued. The talk again turned to the losses, which, unfortunately, had occurred during the last enemy attack. Orlin slumped again as he reported five dead, bringing the crew down to ninety-five people. Although the losses were less than in the previous attack, these fallen were also decided to be buried at sea without further debate.
Next, the conversation turned to the course and an assessment of the remaining journey, how much farther they had to go, and how long their supplies would last. Given the current speed and condition of the icebreaker, Krasin announced that the expedition would reach Murmansk in three days. Then V-5 added that another patrol of Soviet submarines was coming to meet them, as well as the destroyer *Gremyashchiy*, which had left Murmansk last night and was heading towards them at full speed.
During this conversation, the heavy cabin door opened and the short silhouette of a girl flashed between everyone and ended up on the bunk next to Krasin, who, as if nothing had happened, simply let her behind her back, under the blanket. Seeing the Kansen's calm reaction, the other interlocutors didn't show any sign, and the conversation continued until quiet snoring was heard from behind Krasin's back.
"Why is she here?" Malin finally asked, looking at the girl with some interest.
"Her father died during the boarding. She has no one left, so I took her in," Krasin sighed, pulling back the blanket and stroking the girl's head.
"She's not the only one like that," sighed the old polar explorer, "and they are all with others now... only this girl is here now. From the outside, it looks like she's your daughter."
"Daughter?" Krasin repeated, looking up at Malin for a moment. "Daughter... does it really seem that way?" she asked in a strangely bewildered voice.
"Yes, it does," Malin nodded, putting his hand to his chin. "Why do you ask? I thought you had such experience."
Krasin shook her head, whispering quietly:
"No, that definitely wasn't the case."
"As research has shown, we cannot have children," Trident's voice sounded unexpectedly. "We Kansen have existed for a long time, but real research on this issue only began recently. Some experiments were conducted in the Royal Fleet before the First World War, and then after the First World War, they worked on this a lot, but nothing. No matter how much they tried... nothing. Though, back then we needed a crew to function..." she added quietly under her breath so no one could hear.
"What will you do with her?" Orlin asked, leaning forward slightly.
"She has no one left," Krasin muttered grimly, examining the sleeping girl, then continued, "if it's possible... if she agrees, then I'm ready to take her with me... adopt her, so to speak."
"Do you think they'll allow you to do that?" Trident asked her.
"We'll see. In any case, first, we need to reach the mainland. Have we covered all the questions?" she asked, looking up at the others.
They silently nodded before getting up from their seats one by one and quietly leaving the cabin, leaving Krasin alone. After a while, she, sprawling on the bed, fell fast asleep.
******
Three days later, a few hours before noon, with the rays of the rising March sun, the dark, barely visible silhouettes of several ships appeared on the horizon before the entrance to the mouth of the Kola Bay. Minutes later, the engines of fighter planes sent to cover the returning convoy buzzed in the sky.
A considerable crowd had gathered in the port, both ordinary townspeople and soldiers and medics. The grapevine had spread the news of Krasin's arrival with the wounded on board like a steppe fire that couldn't be hidden from. Every person in Murmansk and Severomorsk knew about the icebreaker fighting its way through the ice, saving brave soldiers.
Hospitals and medical aid stations were actively being prepared. Everyone contributed to meeting Krasin and her companions. Admiral Platonov himself was not in the city; he, along with the staff, had gone to Arkhangelsk, working with the Second Squadron of the Northern Fleet. Meanwhile, the First Squadron stationed in Severomorsk remained under the command of Rear Admiral Vladimir Kasatonov and the flagship—*Sovetskaya Rossiya*. They, like all the city's residents, were awaiting Krasin's arrival.
Slowly, the icebreaker entered the Kola Bay and began to maneuver slowly within it, crushing the ice in its path. At some point, several port tugs and armored boats approached the ship's side and began to assist it in maneuvering. While this was happening, Rossiya, Kasatonov, and all those gathered could get a closer look at her.
The condition of Krasin's hull was truly dismal. The funnels were riddled with holes from shrapnel and bullets, as well as a rather large breach in one of them. Many machine gun mounts were turned into burnt-out steel structures. Several cranes on the sides were either completely missing or also represented twisted wrecks. The side of the hull was covered with several large holes from artillery shells.
A quiet murmur went through the crowd as people who were more emotional or sensitive looked fearfully at the arriving ship. Finally, Krasin took her place at the pier, and her ceremonial gangway lowered to the dock. The people fell silent, and medical personnel lined up next to it, ready to board immediately. But then a commanding shout came from the deck, and Captain Orlin appeared on the deck along with his fighters. The first to be brought off the icebreaker were stretchers carrying a dozen of the most severely injured.
Very quickly, they were on the pier, where they were quickly directed further. Then Orlin himself disembarked. Quickly passing through the cordon of doctors, he found himself next to Rossiya and Kasatonov.
"Greetings, Comrade Rear Admiral and Flagship!" he said quickly, saluting the fleet command. "Captain Grigory Petrovich Orlin reports: ninety-three people have successfully reached Severomorsk."
"Comrade Orlin," Kasatonov replied sternly. "Your reports stated that the base on Novaya Zemlya was fine. What happened there? Where are the rest of the people?"
"Comrade Admiral..." Orlin sighed, his breath catching, "we were attacked. Over a month ago by enemy forces controlled by the Sirens. We held out as long as we could until Comrade Krasin arrived."
"Then why didn't you inform us?" Kasatonov asked, his teeth almost grating, raising his voice slightly. "What was all that nonsense about everything being normal there for?" His hands clenched into fists.
"C-Comrade Admiral!.." Orlin stammered slightly, taking half a step back. "That wasn't the case. We sent messages about the situation, but... but they didn't reach you..."
"Didn't reach?.." Kasatonov muttered. He looked at Rossiya, who was standing next to him, and asked quietly, "But we did receive radiograms from Novaya Zemlya and other meteorological posts... unless..."
Realization dawned in his eyes as he finally understood what was going on. Kasatonov was about to say it when Krasin approached from behind:
"The radiograms coming from Novaya Zemlya were fakes," she said for the admiral. "The Sirens were jamming all signals from the meteorological post and sending their own messages, passing them off as ours. When I arrived at the archipelago, the captain had already lost a hundred and thirty men defending the base from the Siren cultists."
"So that's how it is," Kasatonov's face darkened. "So Novaya Zemlya is lost to us."
"Krasin," Rossiya nodded briefly to the approaching Kansen. Despite the difference in rank and status, Rossiya sincerely respected Krasin for her past merits.
"Rossiya," Krasin replied in kind, "good to see you again."
"Likewise," the battleship grunted and asked in a more serious tone, "you're saying the Sirens were jamming their signals for about two months?"
"Yes," Krasin nodded, "the captain and Malin, the head meteorologist, say they had no communication for a month by the time I arrived there."
Rossiya muttered something under her breath, nodded, then looked up at the Rear Admiral:
"Comrade Kasatonov, if that's the case, then I'm afraid all messages from other posts are nothing more than Siren messages."
"..." the man replied dryly and profanely.
Rossiya clenched her fist in anger:
"They're frolicking in our waters, and we can't even stop them! The moment we stick our noses out, they immediately throw their aircraft at us, damn them thrice over!" she swore, baring her teeth.
While Rossiya and Kasatonov questioned Orlin about the events on Novaya Zemlya, Krasin quietly slipped away. She returned a few minutes later with the girl sitting on her shoulders.
"Comrade Admiral, Rossiya, Captain," she listed them all in a calm, slightly cheerful tone before continuing, "with your permission, I request to be dismissed."
Kasatonov remained silent, and Rossiya nodded, still standing with a surprised expression. As soon as consent was given, Krasin slowly trudged away from them, and when she was far enough away, Rossiya quietly, thoughtfully asked:
"Who was that? On her shoulders?" she asked, glancing sideways at Orlin.
"That? Vera Alekseeva. Her father served under my command and was killed during the boarding of the ship. And Krasin took her in," he sighed, then added, "when we spoke with her, she said she wants to adopt her."
"Adopt, you say," Rossiya whispered thoughtfully, watching Krasin slowly walk away from them, the sun's rays beating down on her back.
The people delivered by Krasin were quickly placed in hospitals in Severomorsk and Murmansk, where the wounded and sick were helped back on their feet. Malin was assigned to meteorological teams helping to forecast the weather. Orlin, along with his men, including Mirokhin, were incorporated into the Murmansk garrison. Aidmar and his wife went east; rumor has it he was seen on Yamal some time later.
Finally, the icebreaker was put in for a rather lengthy repair, and the Kansen herself received a long leave, which she decided to spend with her adopted daughter.