Harried by the Captain’s suspicion, Fedorov desperately tries to find allies on the ship, and gets a most unusual visit from Doctor Zolkin that gives him a faint glimmer of hope. Kirov is bound for the Pacific, with tensions slowly rising on the ship itself as the crew is briefed to gird themselves for war.
On the Russian Front, Sergei Kirov struggles to hold the line at the gates to Moscow when the Big Cats arrive on the scene of Guderian’s bold thrust at Tula. The action soon brings two storied tank killers face to face in the desperate fighting, where the battlefield becomes the scene of a very personal duel.
In the Western Desert, the British try to move Rommel off his Gazala Line in a modified version of Operation Crusader, but both sides learn some valuable lessons in the crucible of war.
The action soon moves east, where bigger battles loom when the ship and crew find themselves on the eve of a most fateful day as Japan prepares to strike. Karpov has plans for the Japanese Navy, and he soon sets the ship on a collision course that threatens to ignite the fires of the Pacific War in a massive conflagration that threatens to change that history forever.
Meanwhile, Admiral Volsky has secretly made contact with the Commander of a British submarine, and sails for a rendezvous with Admiral Tovey. He is bound to deliver his charge in the precious key entrusted to him by Anton Fedorov.