Chapter 10
Bobrova
5 May, 1937
Bobrova sat at her desk, staring at a series of papers giving reports for the past few weeks. Nearby, the radio was tuned in to the Moscow station, with
The Sea and Sinbad's Ship from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s
Shéhérazade softly playing.
Seated across from her was a middle-aged man wearing a navy suit. His head was crowned with a balding scalp, while a thick mustache grew out from under his nose. From between his lips rested a pipe, the bowl of which held with one hand while the other rested on his knee. Smoke puffed out the side of his mouth, swirling about the room like dancing patterns in water. This man was an engineer known as Nikolai Vavilov. He had been brought onto the government staff to assist with the research and development, as well as to lighten the load of Bobrova’s efforts to modernize Russia. And no small effort that had been, at that. When she had first been assigned her governmental role, the initial feeling was that she had basically been asked to perform a miracle. Indeed, she might have preferred to be asked to bring a man back from the dead than revive Russia’s industry and trade. The hiring of that Maksim fellow had influenced a fair number of people, but not enough to bring the workers together under one banner and away from the Bolshevik and Menshevik red flags. Many saw him as a spokesman who could give some good speeches, but not a true leader. At the very least, Nikolai could offer something productive.
Reading over the reports, Bobrova could see the start of the year had been a progressive one. The machine tools for Russian factories had been upgraded, with the old ones moved to the museums where they should have gone decades ago. Construction equipment had also been upgraded, and Bobrova had gotten the approval to get more upgrades done to keep them up to speed. Now crews working on Russian infrastructure had some capable material to work with, while those in Russian factories had less incidents of machinery breaking down and needing repair. Not that Russian industry was anything to boast of at the moment.
Still, the largest dilemma was that anything she desired to upgrade often got interrupted by the military. They were busy running tests on a new plane that was to serve as close air support, currently named the Grushin Sh-Tandem. They were also requesting upgrades to the turrets on cruiser ships. What’s more, they had just completed research for magnetic detonators on their destroyers, as well as releasing a new line of light tank called the BT-10. Point being, Bobrova’s efforts to upgrade the industry were going slow.
“How is the progress on our radios?” Bobrova asked.
“Going along at a reasonable pace,” Nikolai replied. “We have had to… do quite a few workarounds. We took some models imported from Germany and did some backwards engineering. And by imported, I mean I had my sister bring one back after she visited it.”
“What did she think of Germany?” Bobrova asked. “I’ve heard conflicting things.”
Nikolai shrugged. “She enjoyed herself enough. She said it’s much better than it used to be, after the war. Her only disappointment was that she didn’t have a reason to go ride on the Hindenburg. I hear it’s making a trip to America as we speak.”
“Was there any cause for concern? I think the Rhineland incident made many nervous.”
Nikolai shrugged again. “She didn’t stay very long, but people on the streets don’t seem too concerned about war. The big news there was an increase in coal production.”
“What of… the way I hear they treat their Jews?”
Nikolai frowned. “Ah. She did see some wearing stars on their person. There were one or two stores with graffiti. She didn’t-”
Suddenly, the radio clicked, and the music came to an abrupt stop. The voice of the female announcer came on the air:
“We interrupt this broadcast for a special news bulletin. Japan has declared war with China. I repeat, the Empire of Japan has declared war against the nation of China. General Wrangel’s government has yet to comment, although Russian troops along the border with Manchukuo have been placed on alert.”
Bobrova lowered the papers and frowned. That made things serious in the world. It was bad enough with Spain and Finland both going into civil war – now, two of Russia’s most powerful neighbors in the east were at war. She wasn’t one for geopolitics, but it didn’t take a political scientist to understand the implications of this: Russia had interests in China, and Japan and Russia still had misgivings in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War. A stronger Japan on the borders of Russia would probably cause a lot of worry in Petrograd. Which would, of course, mean the military would desire even more support for their technology, with little going to her.
“Do you think the generals will want to go to war with Japan?” Nikolai asked.
Bobrova shook her head. “I highly doubt that. At least not right now. The attitude I’ve been seeing from Wrangel and others is that they don’t want to get embroiled in anything while they’re trying to get Anastasia on the throne.”
Nikolai whistled and brought the pipe to his mouth. “It is quite the situation she’s taking the throne on. One of her only capable allies in the midst of civil war, and two of her biggest neighbors in a major war with each other.”
Bobrova nodded, then returned to her papers. As much as her situation often presented its own headaches, when she pondered Anastasia and what she was about to undertake… well, she didn’t envy the poor girl…