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@stnylan: To be honest, I'm still struggling with this. Also, I don't know if I should have Naryshkin take full revenge (exposing the whole thing to be a set up) or not. Questions, questions... 
@Brad1: Thank you! I love encouragements!
@calcsam2: See reaction to Brad1.
@Brad1: Thank you! I love encouragements!
@calcsam2: See reaction to Brad1.
@Brad1: Thank you! I love encouragements!
See the PM I sent you for Ideas
I hope you like it, it did take me a long time to write.
enjoy.
And yet again, Great AAR, keep up the great work, and I love how this is comming along.
Edit, wait on the PM, I think I will send it via E-mail.
See the PM I sent you for Ideas
I hope you like it, it did take me a long time to write.
enjoy.
And yet again, Great AAR, keep up the great work, and I love how this is comming along.
Edit, wait on the PM, I think I will send it via E-mail.
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I didn't receive any PMs... I'm sorry, I would have really liked to hear what you had to say... Are you sure you sent it? Please check. It should be still in your "sent items" folder or something...Edit: Oh, OK. I'll wait for the e-mail, then.
Chapter VII
The end of Trepov – part 1
June 28, 1835, St. Petersburg
It was the beginning of the evening. After a long period in which St. Petersburg had only seen sunshine and high temperatures, a refreshing summer rain was moving in from the Gulf of Finland. The first drops had already fallen on Palace Square as two carriages came to a halt. In the window of the second carriage appeared the face of a young man, czarevich Aleksandr Nikolaevich. He closed his eyes, stuck his face somewhat further out the window and let the fresh drops fall on his face.
His father had insisted he’d accompany him to Reval and take part in the inspection of the coastal fortifications and other military installations there, but the czarevich had found the whole trip quite boring. He had always tried to be a good, obedient son and loved his father dearly, but Aleksandr had never had the same fascination for all things military Nicholas had. There was little that attracted him in military life. He preferred discussion and initiative over obedience and orders, much rather spend his time in theaters than in barracks. Since the czarevich knew how much his father wanted him to grow up a soldier, Aleksandr chose to keep silent about his reservations. Now, he was just glad to be back in St. Petersburg.
The sense of calm the czarevich felt letting the rain drops fall on his face didn’t last very long. Nicholas, who had been riding in the first carriage, had, not surprisingly, already reached the large gate. Impatiently he was waiting there for his son: “Aleksandr, let’s go! March!” He always did that after he had spend some time with soldiers… Aleksandr sighed. He slowly opened his eyes, rubbing them to get rid of the rain drops that were hanging between his eyelashes. After this, the czarevich opened the door, climbed out the carriage and hurried to his father.
As the Czar and his son entered the palace, they found all the servants waiting for them in the Great Hall. Clearly, someone had been standing on the look-out. After the more or less compulsory greetings, one of the servants stepped forward and told his Sovereign: “I’m sorry to bring this up immediately after your homecoming, Your Majesty, but the Minister of Internal Affairs has requested a conversation with you on a highly delicate matter regarding state security.”
“If it’s important, I’ll see him, of course,” Nicholas said, barely paying attention to the person who had spoken to him.
“As you wish, Your Majesty,” the servant said while bowing and walking slightly back. As the Czar and his son hurried up the stairs to their own quarters, the servant immediately ordered someone to notify Naryshkin, who had said he would be waiting in his office.
Half an hour later, the Czar was informed Naryshkin had arrived. Not long after that announcement the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire walked into Nicholas’ study.
“Your Majesty…” Naryshkin, slightly nodding, said as he entered the room.
“Good evening, Pyotr Aleksandrovich,” Nicholas answered. He paused to take a good look at Naryshkin and immediately realized something was wrong. The man he knew so well, who had been healthy and full of energy just a few days ago, now looked tired. His face was grey, his eyes lackluster and it seemed like every move he made caused him great pain. What had caused this transformation?
Hesitantly, still not recovered from the unexpected sight of this burned out Naryshkin, Nicholas asked: “I heard you wanted to talk to me about a matter of great importance. I was told it affects state security. Is this correct?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Naryshkin answered, “that is correct. I very much regret to say this, but it seems that we have found a traitor in the highest echelons of the state bureaucracy…”
Nicholas’ facial expression hardened. Questions about Naryshkin’s appearance were forgotten instantly. Without any regard for the niceties of conversation, the Czar ordered in military fashion: “Report.”
I am not sure if Trepov will be destroyed but whatever happens it will be interesting (Unless Trepov shows up and decides to lecture about how to find the determinate of Matrices )
)
That's when Naryshkin says "It's you!" and arrests the Czar in the weirdest twist in the history of AARdom.
No really, I'm looking forward to the next update.
No really, I'm looking forward to the next update.
@calcsam2: If everything goes according to plan, that is...
@Brad1: Nah, Trepov doesn't know sh*t about that.
@Morpheus506: Not the Czar, not the Czar! Don't you know it's always the butler?!
Next update late this evening (Amsterdam time)...
@Brad1: Nah, Trepov doesn't know sh*t about that.
@Morpheus506: Not the Czar, not the Czar! Don't you know it's always the butler?!
Next update late this evening (Amsterdam time)...
Chapter VII
The end of Trepov – part 2
To add some extra drama to the moment and to underline that this whole affair had really gotten to him, Naryshkin didn’t immediately react to the order he had received from his Sovereign. Instead, he silently pulled out the folder, turned it around, examined it closely, sighed and with an apologizing look on his face as if not someone else, but he himself had betrayed the Czar, laid it on Nicholas’ desk.
“This was found two days ago by the police in the apartment of a Jewish prostitute called Julia Eichenbaum,” Naryshkin said.
Puzzled, the Czar opened the folder and leafed through the first few documents. Naryshkin could clearly see Nicholas’ anger was mounting with every additional document that he laid eyes on. He started leafing through them with ever growing speed, barely reading anymore. The movement of his arm now was a mechanical one and had become a way merely to get rid of the rage that was rapidly taking over him. Abruptly, he stopped. He looked up at Naryshkin, his eyes signaling a readiness to devour someone. However, with no one to aim his built up anger at, Nicholas could do little but brusquely inquire where Naryshkin had gotten these documents from.
Slowly, Naryshkin started to inform the Czar about what had happened while he had been in Reval. He told about how Obolenskij had received information about a prostitute claiming she was having an affair with ‘the boss of the secret police’ and how he and Obolenskij had thought it best to discretely investigate the matter. He told about Adlerberg and the group of policemen he had send to search the apartment. He also told about the discovery they had made and the information they had received from the other women living there. And, to top it all, he told the Czar about Adlerberg’s theory, which, he casually added, sounded quite convincing, that Trepov had used Julia Eichenbaum as a courier to make the deliveries.
After talking continuously for more than a quarter of an hour, Naryshkin had said all he had come to say. The large and sudden contrast between hearing himself talking and the awkward silence that descended upon the room immediately after, made him believe the room was void of any sound whatsoever. After a few seconds, however, he noticed someone was heavily breathing. He looked at the Czar, who sat virtually motionless. The only thing that exposed him as a living being was his chest jumping up and down, pulling in and spitting out air at breakneck speed. Nicholas was looking out the window and didn’t say a word.
Hesitantly, Naryshkin informed: “Your Majesty, is everything all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” Nicholas answered, keeping his eyes fixed on the window.
“What are your orders, Your Majesty?” Naryshkin inquired.
“I want Trepov arrested and brought to the Peter and Paul Fortress as soon as possible,” the Czar said without any apparent emotion.
“As you wish, Your Majesty,” Naryshkin said, somewhat uneasy with the fact that Nicholas still hadn’t looked at him, but pleased that he appeared to have calmed down a bit. “Yesterday, I already ordered Adlerberg to prepare for such a task. Since you returned to St. Petersburg later than I had expected, we will have to arrest Trepov at home and not, as I suspected, at his work.”
“I don’t care where the arrest will take place. I just want him brought in now,” Nicholas said in a cold voice as he slowly turned his head away from the window and in the direction of his Minister of Internal Affairs.
The face he saw, filled Naryshkin with horror. Through the Czar’s eyes, Naryshkin could clearly see the all-consuming fire that raged within, a fire fuelled by the anger Trepov’s betrayal had given birth to.
Immediately, Naryshkin felt a cold, icy hand grab him by the heart and mercilessly press together the two heart chambers. His face turned pale as he realized the Czar had taken this all far too personal. In accordance with the military code he lived by, the actions described could only be punished in one way. Feeling himself getting weak in the knees, Naryshkin took a few steps back as the full, nasty truth hit him right in the face: he had just condemned Trepov to death…
And yes, I know I lied. It's just over 24.00, so not late this evening, but early next morning...
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All depends on where you read it from. It's only 23.08 here
An excellent twist at the end Suvorov, entirely unexpected. It makes Naryshkin seem a good deal more human, and in some respects tragic. The Law of Unintended Consquences is a great one to bring into play. where will it lead I wonder? Plenty of options, and Naryshkin's reactions in the short- and long-term are going to be very interesting.
The Czar comes across as someone not entirely human, more like a natural force, say a river. One can to some degree direct him, but every so often he will run in flood.
Waiting eagerly for the next installment.
An excellent twist at the end Suvorov, entirely unexpected. It makes Naryshkin seem a good deal more human, and in some respects tragic. The Law of Unintended Consquences is a great one to bring into play. where will it lead I wonder? Plenty of options, and Naryshkin's reactions in the short- and long-term are going to be very interesting.
The Czar comes across as someone not entirely human, more like a natural force, say a river. One can to some degree direct him, but every so often he will run in flood.
Waiting eagerly for the next installment.
I was surprised Naryshkin's plan didn't backfire. It seemed so planar that I half-expected he'd get caught. Very nice characterization of the Czar, too!
Chapter VII
The end of Trepov – part 3
Boris Trepov sat behind the large oak desk in his private study, reading some reports he had missed due to his trip to Reval. He knew these trips were an essential part of his position (the Czar never left St. Petersburg without being accompanied by the head of the Third Section), but Trepov felt ill at ease when not in the capital. Not being in St. Petersburg, the nerve center of the country, meant being cut off from the countless bits of information that were sent to the capital every day from the various remote corners of the Empire. To Trepov, the Russian Empire was like a sick man, who’s condition had to be monitored constantly in order to be able to react swiftly if serious complications were to arise. Of course, Trepov’s assessment of Russia was a gross overreaction, but that didn’t make his anxiety when not being in the capital less real.
As he opened the last folder that required his attention before he would call it a day, Trepov heard a series of loud knocks on the door. Since it was already late in the evening and all his servants had, just like his wife, gone to bed, Trepov had to go and open the door himself.
“Who could that be this late?” he wondered while walking to the door. “And why don’t they just use the goddamn bell?!”
Trepov opened the door, ready to demand an explanation, as he felt himself being pushed to the floor by brute force. Not being ready for such an impact, Trepov’s neck was thrown back and his head hit the floor, creating a nasty wound that almost immediately started bleeding. Also, Trepov felt his wrists being slammed to the floor and being held tight as to not give him the possibility to use his arms.
“What the hell is this?!” a stunned Trepov yelled.
Suddenly, it dawned on him that his attackers were policemen. Three of them were holding him down, the rest hurried by, into the house.
“I demand an explanation! What is this? Let go of me! Stupid imbeciles, do you have any idea who I am?” Trepov couldn’t stop yelling. He was definitely going to send all those puny policemen to Siberia for this!
While he lay there screaming, Trepov noticed someone walking over to him. The person stopped at his feet and looked down on the raging and raving head of the Third Section. Trepov recognized him immediately.
“Adlerberg! What’s the meaning of all this? Have you lost your mind? I’m gonna destroy you, you hear me? Destroy you!”
Trepov flew into another rage, trying desperately to free himself from the iron grip of the three uniformed men sitting on top of him. However, he only succeeded in further tightening their grip and after he had used up the last energy reserves he could tap into for this feeble struggle, Trepov calmed down. Heavily breathing, he looked up at Adlerberg, who gave him a mocking smirk.
“So, you think you still have the upper hand here? I must tell you then that you are seriously mistaken. You won’t destroy me, Boris Vasilievich. Instead, we, loyal subjects of the Czar, will destroy you!”
One could clearly see Adlerberg very much enjoyed talking to Trepov in this way. It was a standard “good confronting evil” scenario.
“We, loyal subjects of the Czar?!” Trepov exclaimed. “You are out of your mind, Adlerberg! Insane! I am the Czar’s most loyal subject and I’m sure he won’t be pleased to hear about the head of the Third Section being assaulted in his own house by an Ober-Polizmeister who has completely lost his marbles! You can kiss your career goodbye, Adlerberg! The only thing you can look forward to is a one way trip to Siberia, you stupid moron!”
Trepov grinned. He was untouchable. Adlerberg had screwed up, screwed up big time! And he was going to pay dearly for it…
@stnylan: You'll see how Naryshkin reacts!
Glad you liked it. I just thought it would be too easy to let everything go by Naryshkin's plan. The Czar is like a tank!@calcsam2: Thank you!
@Alikchi: Thanks for the praise! Naryshkin won't get caught, but he does get into some problems...
Update?? Please. I want to know what fate befell Trepov and/or Alderberg. And what of Naryshkin?? Inquiring minds want to know!
Please. I want to know what fate befell Trepov and/or Alderberg. And what of Naryshkin?? Inquiring minds want to know!
coz1 said:Update??
Sorry, but I am extremely busy atm. I really don't have time for an update now...
I am translating a businessplan for a new factory to be build in Russia from Russian to Dutch and that thing is giving me a head ache! No more updates for at least a day or 4-5, maybe more... You could always reread stnylan's AAR about Sergio once more!
You both have such wonderful stories going; I suppose in the interim, I shall have to in order to get my fix of fine novel-esque form. Good luck on the project. Look forward to the next update.