A Mission for the Czar Read online

  A Mission for the Czar

  Gorg Huff

  &

  Paula Goodlett

  A Mission for the Czar Copyright © 2021 by Gorg Huff & Paula Goodlett. All Rights Reserved.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  1632, Inc. & Eric Flint's Ring of Fire Press handle Digital Rights Management simply: We trust the honor of our readers.

  Cover designed by Laura Givens

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Gorg Huff & Paula Goodlett

  Visit us at www.Warspell.com

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing: June 2021

  1632, Inc.

  eBook ISBN-13 978-1-953034-89-2

  Trade Paperback ISBN-13 978-1-953034-90-8

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: A Mission for Vasilii

  Chapter 2: Gold in Them Thar Hills

  Chapter 3: Ivan is Dead

  Chapter 4: A Case for the Khan

  Chapter 5: Miroslava's Contract

  Chapter 6: The Resolution Barbecue

  Chapter 7: Constitutional Convention

  Chapter 8: A Proposal and a Murder

  Chapter 9: A Year at Hard Labor

  Chapter 10: A Message from Kazakh

  Chapter 11: The Pop and Drop

  Chapter 12: Apprentice Detective

  Chapter 13: Politics and Boot Prints

  Chapter 14: A Wedding and Home

  Notes

  For Kevin Evans, the real Vadim. 1632's steam head and an all around maker of things. Including an actual working AK rifle.

  Chapter 1: A Mission for Vasilii

  Location: Ufa

  Date: June 1, 1637

  Vasilii Lyapunov fiddled with the mechanical pencil in the breast pocket of his tunic. It was a nervous habit and Vasilii had reason to be nervous. He was waiting for an audience with Czar Mikhail. Vasilii was not used to audiences with the czar, and would prefer to be even less used to them than he was. He was, at his core, an engineer. He built stuff. He didn't really do politics if he could avoid it.

  At least that was Vasilii's image of himself.

  The reality was more complicated.

  "The czar will see you now," said the young man who was guarding the door.

  Vasilii, dressed in his best but still nervous, went through the door. He didn't think he'd done anything wrong, but he couldn't think of any other reason for the czar to want to see him.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  The door opened and Vasilii heard Czar Mikhail say, "Come in, Vasilii."

  Vasilii went in and saw the czar lounging in a well-padded chair that had more in common with the La-Z-Boy than a throne. Next to the czar's throne was a comfortable loveseat, in which resided Bernie Zeppi and Princess Natalia Gorchakov, by now commonly known as Natasha.

  Bernie was the czar's up-timer advisor, while Natasha was the czar's advisor on matters technological, because she had been running the Dacha since it was founded at her family's dacha in 1632 and had been running the Ufa Dacha since it was established on their arrival in Ufa, not quite a year ago.

  Across from Bernie and Natasha on a couch, sat Colonel Ivan Smirnov. He and Vasilii had met several times and Vasilii did not like him much. Smirnov was a high-ranking member of a family at the upper end of the lower nobility. He was arrogant, opinionated, self-centered, with a sense of entitlement, and undeniably good at his job, which was surveying.

  After Vasilii bowed, Czar Mikhail waved him to the couch that Smirnov was sitting on.

  Vasilii sat as far away from Smirnov as the couch allowed.

  "Now that we're all here," Czar Mikhail said, "Jangir Khan is entranced by the notion of a railroad and wishes to begin the process of building one as soon as possible."

  Well, Vasilii thought, that explains why Smirnov is here, but what the fuck am I doing here?

  "Why, Your Majesty? The Kazakh are a . . ." Smirnov paused in the manner of someone looking for a polite way of describing something offensive. ". . . migratory people. Why not simply carry the goods from China in their caravans?"

  "Surprisingly enough, Ivan," Czar Mikhail said, "caravans wandering along their own route across the plains are quite difficult to tax. But a railroad is located just where you put it. Jangir Khan is hoping that the advantage of the ease of travel provided by the rail line will make up for the taxes he plans on charging on goods transported from China to here and vice versa."

  Vasilii looked around at the czar, at Bernie, at Natasha, still wondering what he was doing here. Bernie was grinning and Natasha had a little half smile like she knew a secret, but then Natasha usually had a little half smile like she knew a secret. And she usually did.

  Vasilii was tempted to ask what he was doing here but restrained himself.

  Smirnov didn't. "If you wanted someone to consult on the steam locomotive," he said, "Vadim Ivanovich would've been a better choice." Then he looked over at Vasilii and added insincerely, "No offense intended."

  Bernie snorted and everyone looked at him.

  Then Czar Mikhail sighed, and spoke directly to Vasilii. "The reasons you're here instead of Vadim Ivanovich are first that you are rather more diplomatic than Vadim and, second, that you outrank Colonel Smirnov here."

  Vasilii was shocked by the coldness in the czar's voice. He looked over at Smirnov and saw the man's face getting red. He tried to pour a little oil on the troubled waters. "Colonel Smirnov is a colonel of cavalry. I have no military rank."

  "That is quite true," the czar said. "However, I am appointing you as the leader of the delegation, which will give you a civilian rank equivalent to a brigadier general." He looked at Smirnov and sighed again. "Colonel, you are an excellent surveyor and mapmaker and a first rate soldier, but you give offense as easily and as quickly as you take it. For right now, Jangir Khan is the most powerful noble in my realm. Soon we're going to have to deal with Sheremetev's armies to the northwest. I don't need to be dealing with a war to my southeast at the same time."

  "Your Majesty, I'm an engineer!" Vasilii whined.

  "You were also the delegate from the Dacha to the Constitutional Convention. And you served well in that posting, don't deny it, Vasilii. I was there," Czar Mikhail said, and then added in a mutter, "And got the Dacha special privileges they really shouldn't have gotten."

  Vasilii didn't agree with that. He believed that graduating from the Dacha with a bachelor's or master's degree should be the mestnichestvo, social equivalent, of rank in the lower nobility. It wasn't like they got lands with the title, after all. Which didn't matter at the moment, because it was clear there was no way he was getting out of this. "What is our mission, Your Majesty?"

  "Didn't I make that clear? Colonel Smirnov will be surveying and mapping the route for a rail line from Ufa to Shavgar, the capital of the new state of Kazak. Or a rail line from here to where the Syr Darya Jaxartes enters the Aral Sea. Which would be considerably shorter, but would then require steamboats along the Syr Darya.

  "Meanwhile, Vasilii, you will be negotiating with Sultan Togym about the structure of the rail line. Who will own what and how much of the revenue will go to Jangir Khan and how much will go to the crown."

  "But I'm an engineer!" Vasilii complained again. It did no good. While, in theory, Vasilii
was there to talk about steam engines, in fact he was to be the czar's negotiator for the railroad, determining who would pay for what and who would take what profit.

  "The other thing Colonel Smirnov will be doing is finding good line of sight locations for a radio telegraph system that we want put in place," Czar Mikhail said. "I have Jangir's approval for that much now, though we weren't planning on doing it until we got more tubes. But if we're going to be building a rail line, radio links become more urgent."

  "We still don't have that many tubes," Bernie said.

  "I know. We'll send a tube unit with the mission. When you find a likely spot—" He looked at Smirnov. "—give Vasilii the coordinates and he'll send them back to us, and we'll send out a team to set up a station. This isn't exactly a secret, but don't make a big deal out of it." The czar grimaced. "I'm supposed to be waiting until I have Kazakh's trained to operate the stations in the Kazakh lands. Ahh!" He grinned. "The State of Kazakh."

  The meeting went on and eventually Czar Mikhail called it to a close. Then, just as they were leaving, he said, "Vasilii, wait a moment."

  Vasilii got a resentful look from Ivan, who didn't like anyone getting the czar's attention when he wasn't.

  Once Vasilii was seated again on the couch, Czar Mikhail said, "Once you reach Jangir Khan, I want you to impress on him that he needs to actually start having people vote if he wants to have representatives in congress. And see if you can get him to do a state constitution."

  That, of course, led to more complaints that he was just an engineer. Which didn't impress the czar any more now than they had before, and Vasilii got a lecture on internal Kazakh politics. While in theory an autocrat like Mikhail, in fact Salqam-Jangir Khan's situation was closer to the situation of Russia before Ivan the Terrible. The clan leaders were essentially kings in their own right, with a loose allegiance to the khan. A lot of them weren't going to be all that happy with the new statehood of the Kazakh lands and Vasilii was to encourage Salqam-Jangir Khan to use as much honey and as little vinegar as he could manage with them.

  "More carrot and less stick, Vasilii," Czar Mikhail finished. "Make that clear."

  Location: Ufa Dacha, Room 22B

  Date: June 1, 1637

  Vasilii opened the door to their apartment to see Miroslava lying on the bed naked, with her nose in a book. Intent on not being distracted by her state of undress, Vasilii asked, "What are you reading?"

  "Basic Russian dictionary," Miroslava said. The basic Russian dictionary was a picture book, in that it showed the printed word next to a picture of the item. In spite of that, it wasn't designed primarily for children, but for adults just learning to read. And Miroslava had already read it through. By now Vasilii knew that Miroslava had an eidetic memory, but he also knew she took a certain comfort in rereading books that she had already memorized. He didn't understand why. It was just the way she was.

  She rolled onto her side, so she was facing him and asked, "What did Czar Mikhail want?"

  Vasilii grimaced. "He's sending me on a mission into the Kazakh Khanate. We're going to have to come up with a route for the China railroad."

  Miroslava lifted an eyebrow, but all she said was, "When are we leaving?"

  "You're not going!"

  "Why not? And who's we?"

  "It's dangerous!"

  Miroslava waited, and Vasilii realized she asked two questions and was waiting for the answer to the second.

  "Colonel Ivan Smirnov will be in charge of mapping the route and in command of a unit of streltzi who will act as guards. I have to go along because Smirnov is an ass."

  Miroslava gave a jerky little nod which caused certain parts of her anatomy to jiggle in a most distracting manner. Then said, "How is it more dangerous for me than for you?"

  "You're a woman!" Vasilii said before he'd really thought things through, then hastily added. "A beautiful woman. I, at least, am unlikely to be the object of an attempted rape."

  "I am more likely to face attempted rape here without you, instead of there with you."

  There was at least some truth in that, Vasilii knew. Miroslava's new status gave her some protection, but her old status as a bar girl, and her beauty, both turned her into a target. As long as Vasilii was here in the same city with her, simply his existence provided quite a bit of protection. But how much of that protection would continue after he was gone from the city was hard to say. On the other hand, how much his protection would be worth out in the hinterland, surrounded by Kazakh warriors was another question he didn't have the answer to. "You've never even ridden a horse."

  "And I shouldn't be riding one now," Miroslava said. "If we're scouting routes for a railroad we should take a train engine."

  Actually. Vasilii thought, that's not a bad idea. They didn't exactly have a train engine as in a locomotive engine. What they did have was a couple of steam tractors. The steam tractors weren't as powerful as a locomotive engine would be, but they wouldn't be pulling nearly the load either. And using one of them along the proposed rail road route would act as a decent test bed to determine whether or not the ground would support the weight of a train. "I don't know what we would use for a wagon though."

  "You should go take care of that, then." Miroslava sat up, which caused more jiggling, but the enticement that had been there in her earlier movements was missing now. "I have things to do if we are going to be spending time in the Kazakh plains. When are we supposed to leave?"

  Vasilii realized that he had lost the argument about whether Miroslava was going or staying. And he didn't really regret the loss. He was glad that Miroslava preferred to be with him.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  After discussing things with Miroslava he went to see Vadim Ivanovich.

  Vadim, as usual, was in the steam engine factory.

  The steam engine factory had a poured concrete floor. It wasn't the only building in Ufa with a concrete floor either. By now there were many small cement factories dotted around the various tributaries of the Volga River. It had become a cottage industry. And as the capital of the United Sovereign States of Russia, Ufa could afford to have the cement shipped in.

  There were any number of one-off steam engines scattered around the factory floor in the process of being built, rebuilt or taken apart for parts. There were smaller shops around the large factory floor, but Vadim was in one corner of the main room, lying on a shop creeper pulled halfway under a steam boiler, using a large monkey wrench to pull a flow valve.

  Vasilii, recognizing the always greasy shop coveralls Vadim wore, walked over to the corner calling Vadim's name. Vadim ignored him.

  He kicked Vadim's foot. "Come out of there, you illiterate peasant."

  Vadim rolled out from under the boiler, looked up at Vasilii, and grinned.

  "What for, you effete bookworm?" Vadim reached up with a greasy hand. Vasilii took it and hauled the man to his feet. Not an easy task, as Vadim weighed two hundred and fifty pounds if he weighed an ounce.

  In fact, Vadim Ivanovich was a streltzi craftsman who had been only semi-literate when he arrived at the Dacha, and while Vasilii had a better theoretical understanding of steam engines, Vadim had a feel for the things. They almost talked to him. Over the last four years, Vasilii had learned to trust Vadim's "feel" for steam engines, and they had become friends, mostly within the limits that their different stations allowed, but not entirely. Bernie's influence was stronger in the Dacha than anywhere else in Russia. It was so strong that Vadim Ivanovich, at least on the shop floor, felt comfortable teasing Vasilii about his education.

  "So what brings you to a place where men actually work?" Vadim Ivanovich asked as he wiped his hands with a dirty rag.

  Vasilii hooked a thumb at a door. "Come into the office and I'll tell you about it."

  Seated in the office with a couple of small beers, Vasilii and Vadim talked about railroad trains and the engines that pulled them. All steam engines have certain things in common, but there is a great deal of variation.
r />   In Vasilii's mind the many variations were divided into three general categories:

  First were: Crude steam engines; in which water was pulled directly from the river, fed into the boiler, run through the engine, and allowed to escape as steam. Doing it this way was simplest and easiest to build, but used more fuel, and the boilers inevitably developed problems with rust from the corrosive elements in the water that was boiled. Most of the people who died in steam engine accidents were using this sort of steam engine.

  Second were: Industrial steam engines which were well-built and had evaporators so that the water used by the steam engine would be pure, and had condensers so that it could be recirculated and lose less of the energy produced by the external combustion. They were really built in only two places in Russia, right here in Ufa and in Murom, the city formerly owned by the Gorchakov family.

  Then there were: Delicate steam engines. These were the ones where weight and efficiency were at a premium. These were steam engines that went in the dirigibles and would go in the multi-engine steam aircraft that Vasilii was working on.

  While Vasilii worked on the delicate steam engines, Vadim Ivanovich worked on the industrial steam engines, which were no longer experimental, though they weren't that far from it.

  Vadim Ivanovich set his small beer down and said, "Okay, Vasilii, what's this all about?"

  Vasilii sighed and looked around the office. It was a smallish room, about ten by fifteen. On one wall was a set of open wooden cubby holes containing pieces of paper which Vasilii knew from experience would be plans and notes on projects in the works. There was a drafting table in one corner and a somewhat larger table that they were seated at. There was also an ice box in another corner, from which they'd gotten their small beers. Having put it off as long as he could, Vasilii looked at Vadim and explained what the czar wanted.

  "You can't. I have too much to do! I can't be running off with a bunch of horse barbarians."