Power Struggle

As time goes by, the whole country is preparing for war.

However, there is something big happened.

Lubyanka,

Andropov is dealing with all the documents and works as usual in his room. Suddenly, one of his men came in nervously and said,

"Comrade chairman, breaking news, comrade secretary has passed away ten minutes ago in his home due to a heart attack. I have ordered to lock down the news, but I worry it may not be concealed much longer."

Andropov was stunned, but then stood and walked out of his office immediately.

"Call our man to gather, inform Ustinov and Orgarkov about it, and consider deploying the military in Moscow City."

Before he had gone far, he suddenly thought of something.

"Control all the internal troops as well. Without any order that the central committee or the Politburo has approved they are not allowed to do anything. Those who did not obey will receive the death penalty."

"It is time to finish our anti-corruption campaign, the last fish that slipped through the net, Yuri Chubarnov."

Only Chubarnov have the potential to stop him from being the Secretary of the Union now. Konstantin Chernenko? Brezhnev's Dnipropetrovsk Clan? All of them have no right to stop him from being the Secretary when the KGB and the army are on his side.

Dnipropetrovsk Clan is a group of people closely allied with Brezhnev, without their help, Brezhnev could not succeed in the coup 20 years ago.

Speaking, Andropov leaves Lubyanka and gets in a car that goes to Kremlin.

On the other hand, Orgarkov, still planning the offensive plan, immediately decided to deploy the military to Moscow after receiving the notification.

"Which troops are closest to Moscow?"

He asked his staff.

"It is the 2nd Guards Taman Motor Rifle and 4th Guards Tank Division. Should we send all of them into the city?"

"Yes, all!"

Two divisions' first patch of troops entered the city after receiving the order within ten minutes since they were already in a semi-combat readiness mode.

However, simultaneously, the internal troops under Chubarnov moved faster. They receive the order almost at the same time as Brezhnev's death.

As an old man who was supposed to retire 'voluntarily' in 1979 due to health issues but was 'asked' by the Politburo to stay just because they only want things to go stable to protect their interests. Brezhnev's health condition worsened after staying in his position, especially after the war began.

Just like today, Brezhnev senses something amiss with his body. He asked his daughter and son, Yuri Brezhnev, who was also a member of the central committee and Chubarnov to come and see him to explain a few things to them.

"Galina, I won't survive tonight. After I die, you should live a good life and control your temper. Based on my friendship with Andropov, he won't do anything to you."

"Yuri, all the money you take, Andropov will ask you to return to the government. Just do as he asks, I understand Andropov, you may suffer a little, but it should be no problem to save your life."

Both of them stood aside and remained silent.

"However, Chubarnov..."

He then turned around and looked at Chubarnov.

"You are different, you are going to have some problems saving your life. He is an honest man who hates corruption. You should know what happened a while ago. He will let my children go, but that doesn't mean he will let you go. Your only chance is to let the Ministry of Internal Affairs take control of all important institutions immediately after my death and seize power immediately."

"As long as you can seize it, all of our members from the Dnieper will help you. By then, it will only be a better time to decide how the Union should go on, and your life can be kept."

Thus, troops from the internal affair are in action a few minutes earlier than the KGB and armies.

Yet, KGB troops still find a way to stop them on the road.

"Halt!" 

"By the order of Comrade Andropov, any troops from the internal affair are told to stay at their station unless they have received any order from the central committee. One more step, then you have violated the rules and will receive the death penalty. Go back to your bases, and nothing will happen to you."

Sokolov, with his task force, set up a roadblock, stopping all the internal forces that tried to pass. This time, Chernov and Sokolov returned to Moscow, as Andropov wanted to reform all the special task forces in the KGB. Their task force after the reformation will be named the Vympel Group.

"Commander, what should we do?"

The driver at the front asks his commander. The commander himself does not know what should he do as well. Once an ordinary person is involved in a fight between powers, he has no choice but to hope for mercy from the victor.

"Just stay at your vehicle, don't do anything until further notice."

Sometimes, doing nothing is better than doing something. As for the commander, Chubarnov is not an opponent of Andropov at all, even in the end Chubarnov has gained the victory, he followed the order as well, just stopped by the KGB forces, not responsible for doing anything wrong.

On the other side, Chernov led another special task group to Brezhnev's mansion, with all types of ways he could think of to stop Chubarnov from going to the Kremlin.

"You, you, lead your man and block all the entrances of the mansion and don't let anyone in or out. The others followed me !"

"Yes, Colonel!"

Chernov brings his group of men, gets into Brezhnev's Mansion by force and arrests Chubarnov. As long as they can arrest Chubarnov here, there is nothing that can stop Andropov from being the Secretary of the Country.

"Stop your step, this is the mansion of Comrade Secretary, what are you all trying to do? A military coup?"

Guards at the entrance try to stop them. But at the next moment, fists were hit on their faces. Chernov does not plan to waste time on them.

"By the order of the Lubyanka, we suspect that the death of Comrade Secretary was caused by spies from the enemies, from now on whoever tries to stop the KGB from working will be seen as the enemies of the Soviet Union!"

Chernov walks straight into Brezhnev's mansion, and sees Galina and Yuri, crying beside Brezhnev. He takes off his helmet and holds onto his hand.

"Deep condolences to you, Comrade Yuri and Galina. But we have something more important to do now, we suspect Comrade Secretary's death was a conspiracy of our enemies. I represent the KGB to apologize to you first if you feel offended."

"Search it out!"

Finish speaking, soldiers behind immediately spread out and look for Chubarnov. However, five minutes later, a squad leader came over and said.

"Comrade Colonel, we did not find out Chubarnov here."

He frowned. Logically speaking, this place had been under surveillance before they came. Chubarnov couldn't escape under their surveillance.

"Have you all looked for any tunnels or hidden exits?"

"That is what we suspect and we all looking for it, but I assume it will take a very long time. It is not that easy to find it out in the mansion of the Head of State."

Chernov then looks at Galina and Yuri, perhaps they have some idea. But in the end, he did not ask them, it was just a waste of time, even though they knew where the entrance was, Chubarnov already run somewhere else.

"Fall back, we will go for Plan B."

At this time, Chubarnov has already entered the city centre, somewhere near to the Kremlin. Chernov is right, he does escape from the Brezhnev's mansion through a tunnel. Beside him, is another old man.

"Comrade Chernenko, you must help me. Andropov is too strong, he is just like Beria 30 years before, and he holds all the secrets of us. We are just like the situation at that time, as long as you, all members of the Dnipropetrovsk Clan and Suslov united together, we can stop him from being the Secretary. Suslov is more suitable to be the head of the country than Andropov."

Suslov was not a competitive person, but he had the hope of becoming the secretary. The secretary of the Secretariat is equivalent to the second person in the Kremlin. The successor to the Secretary.

Chernenko listened and laughed. He is also a close ally of Brezhnev, who plays an important role in the Dnipropetrovsk Clan.

"Help you? How am I supposed to help you? Khurcheff and Malinkov defeated Beria in 1953 because Beria was arrogant, and more importantly, Zhukov was on their side, the army was on their side. But now? The 'Taman' Division and the 4th Tank Guard Division were already entering the city under Orgarkov's order, and who was Orgarkov supporting in the past?"

"And talking about Suslov, I don't think he will want to cooperate with a corrupted person such as you, do you think that Andropov's anti-corruption can go so well if there is no one in the high rank supporting him? You got no chance to fight with Andropov, my suggestion on you is to surrender yourself to him, maybe you will get yourself a chance to live."

Chubarnov listened feels annoyed, what Chernenko said was true.

"No, we still got a chance to win. Comrade Secretary left me a special guard that operates in the Kremlin. I met them when the Comrade Secretary was still alive, and he told the captain to listen to my order if there was any accident that happened to him. As long as the special guard can control the central committee and Andropov, we can win in this power struggle."

Chubarnov sees Chernenko still feels hesitant after listening to his words, continue to say.

"Don't you remember what happened in the past, we do not have the tradition of showing mercy to losers, even those potential competitors. Even if we have any grudges, we can resolve them after we deal with him. But if we down, we are all done."

Chubarnov is not wrong. Most of the time, or more accurately every time the Soviets had a change in power, it never went in peace. It is accompanied by the blood of thousands. The Stalin era, Khrushchev era, and Brezhnev era, all got to their places with blood, just a matter of less or more.

Chernenko remains in silence, he does worry that he will get purged if Andropov gets his place.

"Well, the main thing is you can get your job done, else it still will be useless even if you have gained my support."

In the Vladimir Hall of the Kremlin, some have already arrived, and the expressions on their faces are complex.

Today's emergency meeting will decide who will be the Secretary of the Soviet Union. It may just be a grand war of words, or there will be bloodshed today. Maybe someone will reach the end of his life.

Chubarnov takes a deep breath, as he gets here, he is temporarily safe now. Andropov will not send the army here to arrest him no matter how bold he is. Just need to worry about those KGB task forces, but as long as everything goes well, even these task forces will not change anything.

Before entering the hall, Chubarnov walks to a room beside it, where the special guard was. The captain passes him a pistol, and after checking it is loaded, Chubarnov hides it in his bag briefcase.

This was proven to be effective, it is how Beria was arrested. Zhukov took out a pistol in the meeting and arrested him in public, and today, he wants to repeat it. And furthermore, there is also a whole group of supporters that will support him.

Brezhnev became the secretary because of his weakness. Under Brezhnev's rule, everyone lived in peace and highly supported his policies, such as the most popular lifelong system for cadres.

Now, with Brezhnev's death, the original balance was broken in an instant. The high-ranking officers in Moscow were divided into two factions. One faction wanted to continue Brezhnev's path, also known as the conservative, and wanted to maintain their privilege and control of the nation.

The opposing faction the reformists, recognized that the nation was in a significant crisis and required reform. Andropov was among them. Over the past year, the economy has undergone some reforms, and corruption has decreased, however, these were only two of the country's primary issues. There is more that is hidden.

In the original history, there is even another faction a few years later, the Disintegration, who only wanted to gain their interest by selling their own country.

When Chubarnov entered the hall, Andropov has already reached and sit on his place. Looking at Chubarnov, Andropov felt a little regretful. Although he failed to arrest him, it would not affect the overall situation.

The great Union cannot fall apart because of internal reasons. Andropov must grasp the power of the Soviets and promote domestic reforms.

Today, Suslov will be presiding over the meeting, except for those who are not in Moscow, such as Ustinov, he often had to travel to inspect various military factories and supervise production. Almost everyone has reached. He starts the meeting.

"I believe everyone knows what is the purpose of today's meeting. We mourn the loss of our General Secretary Brezhnev. Now, I propose a three-minute silence for the departed General Secretary Brezhnev. Although he is gone, we will continue to move forward along the revolutionary path he opened up for our Soviets and for the struggle to liberate all mankind."

Three minutes later, the moment of silence is over.

"Although the General Secretary has left us, his spirit will always guide us forward." Suslov continued,

"In the past year, under the leadership of General Secretary Brezhnev, the Union achieved brilliant achievements. We hold from the invasion of the orcs and undead, we hold Leningrad and Baltic, and more importantly, we have even launched a counterattack to their home. We could not achieve all these without the guidance of Comrade Brezhnev, we would not have the strength to do this if he did not guide us to build a strong army."

"At the same time, to continue to develop the Union, we must have someone to take over the burden of the general secretary and lead us to move forward. We must decide who among us shall be the next General Secretary. This decision is not merely about leadership, it is about the future of socialism, our economy, and the defence of the people's revolution."

"Now, I want to mention a person, who has shown his ability during the period and has been trusted by Comrade Secretary. When Comrade Secretary was alive, he repeatedly affirmed his work ability."

"Everyone knows who I am saying, Comrade Andropov, the head of the KGB, under his leadership, the agency smells and finds all the traitors and enemies that hide inside our country. He is the one that Comrade Brezhnev asked to be our new Secretary when he is still alive."

"Agreed. Comrade Andropov is the best person to hold the leadership of the country. He joined the revolution in 1936 and fought on the front line in the Great Patriotic War, participating in the guerrillas' battle against the Germans. He also successfully handled the Hungarian incident and avoided the passive position of our Soviet Union in the international arena. Over the years, he has shown us with his actual actions that he is the guiding light of our Soviet Union." Followed by Suslov, Orgarkov speaks.

"Yes, I agreed Andropov to be our new secretary as well." Gromyko who had not shown up for a long time also stated his position. 

Once Gromyko has stated, that most of them know who to support, he is more inspiring as a veteran senior.

"Objection! I do not agree with Andropov being our Secretary." Chubarnov stands up emotionally.

"Comrade Brezhnev just passed away for not even a day, why do we even elect the new Secretary in such a hurry? I suspect the death of Comrade Brezhnev was because of someone, and this guy, is you, Andropov!"

"Andropov is the guy who killed Comrade Brezhnev. Just ten minutes after Comrade Brezhnev's death, Andropov KGB forces break into his mansion and loot it. How could he know it in such a short time? Because he conducted the assassination on Comrade Brezhnev!"

"I believe everyone still remembers not long ago there was a series of our officers being killed. Suicide, accident, disease, it was just a lie. They all die because of Andropov, Andropov was using the power he had to eliminate dissidents, and further control the country."

Listened to all the accusations from the Chubarnov, Andropov laughed.

"Well yes, Comrade Chubarnov, I do admit that I lie. These officers did not die because of all the reasons you said, their deaths are relevant to the KGB. It is not because they are dissidents, but because they have been mind-controlled by the enemies and trying to destroy the interest of the country. We did not tell the truth because we worried it might cause panic in the country, so I decided with the help of the KGB, we would eliminate all those who do not hold their loyalty to the country anymore."

"But talking about the death of Comrade Brezhnev, I have a different opinion from you. According to the KGB intelligence, you are the one who killed Comrade Brezhnev. All Comrades, do you want to know why? "

"According to Comrade Brezhnev's mansion guards, they saw you and your wife came to see him this morning. But you left without your wife just ten minutes before we received the news of Comrade Brezhnev's death."

"It is difficult to not suspect you according to your behaviour. Is it such a coincidence? Comrade secretary passes away just after you leave? I believe the answer is obvious, you are the one who killed Comrade Secretary."

"You try to force Comrade Brezhnev to designate you as his successor in front of everyone. Unfortunately, Comrade Brezhnev is smart enough to see your trick and not willing to do so, you did not stop and continue forcing him, thus causing him a heart attack."

Chubarnov was stunned by what Andropov had said. It is the KGB, that they were able to fabricate a perfect lie in such a short time. It won't take much time for them to prepare all the evidence of Chubarnov killing Brezhnev.

"No, I did not. I did not even leave from the entrance, I ..."

He subconsciously wanted to refute it, but he suddenly reacted. No matter what he says Andropov must have another script. It is just a waste of time talking nonsense with him. 

Chubarnov looked at Chernenko sitting aside, Chernenko slightly nodded his head, telling him to do it boldly.

"Huu..." Take a deep breath, telling himself he can do it.

"Enough Andropov, I am tired of listening to your bullshit. Now, by the name of the central committee, and also the party and people, you are arrested." Stimultaneously when he was speaking, he took out the pistol in his briefcase and pointed to Andropov.

Then, pointing upwards and firing, following the instructions, as long as the special guards heard the gunfire. They will enter and arrest Andropov. With the confidence, Chubarnov pulls the trigger.

The expected gunshots did not appear, but bursts of laughter came to his ears. Chubarnov did not understand and looked at the pistol. It is a pistol, a water spray 'pistol'. 

In the room beside, Chernov sits on a chair, playing with the pistol that is supposed to pass to Chubarnov with one hand. The other hand holding a mirror, looking at the hammer and stickle symbol that has weld on his chest.

"Well well well. Illusions, a new technique, I wonder how many things had given to me. Having more feeling of being a part of this world."

Besides Chernov, are the Captain and a few members of the special guards who got tied and thrown on the floor. His task force and also the other members of the special guards standing around them. Even if Chernov did not use his ability, it would still be the same ending.

These special guards, half of their members were men from the KGB, and the others also defected to the KGB side the rest of the time. From the first day the special guards were formed, or maybe even before, it was known by the KGB.

Why risk your own life to join a power struggle with those men on the top, especially knowing there is no chance for your side to win? 

Now, they are waiting for the orders from Andropov to arrest Chubarnov.

Back to the hall.

"Alright, alright. I believe it was just a coincidence, you have nothing to do with Comrade Brezhnev's death. I apologize for the KGB mistake, for not realizing you are a mental illness." Andropov says with a smile.

"Guards, guards, bring Comrade Chubarkov to the hospital. He may need some rest now," Orgarkov shouts toward the outside of the hall.

Chubarnov is unbelievably looking at all these happenings. He has thought that losing in this fight is a power struggle, it is normal to have a winner and a loser. But now, he is more like a joker.

He looked at Chernenko and asked for his help. Chernenko did not even look at him but joined Orgarkov, asking for guards.

Guards! Guards! Why are you all so fucking slow? Why did not you all realize Comrade Chubarnov was ill, I will complain to your supervisor after this."

Chubarnov's brain immediately goes blank after this, he does not even know what has happened when the guards bring him outside.

Perhaps it might take some time for Chubarnov to think of why Brezhnev will ask him to do all these instead of other members of the Dnipropetrovsk clan. 

Thkhonov, who has almost the same power as Chernenko, Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, the first secretary of the Ukraine SSR, Kirilenko, member of the central committee. These men are more likely and have the qualifications of being the Secretary of the country, but why is Chubarnov doing all these things?

Only gambling. If he wins, the Dnipropetrovsk clan can continue their rules. If he loses, there is nothing to do with the Dnipropetrovsk clan, even Andropov wants to clean them out, he won't be able to clean every single one of them in a short time. At least, in a very long, Brezhnev children will be fine.

Looking at Chubarnov carried out of the hall, Suslov continued the meeting.

"Alright, anyone else has any objection to Andropov being the secretary of the country?"

"No? Alright, then we will vote for it, raise your hand if you agree."

Everyone in the room raised their hand.

"I see everyone raised their hand. Then let us congrats Comrade Andropov for being the sixth leader of the Soviet Union and the fourth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union with a support rate of 100 percent."

The whole hall burst into warm applause.

"Comrade Andropov, please feel free to speak."

"Our country is the most powerful in the world, but now, some of our comrades have begun to sleep on their achievements and gradually separated from the people. They have forgotten our Soviet party program and the promise made by Comrade Lenin when he led our Bolshevik uprising! However, there are enemies at the gate now, and I will give those who I have mentioned a chance to improve themselves."

"Now, the focus within our party is to unite and defeat our enemies! We must make it clear to anyone who tries to make us bow down to them that the Soviets are sacred and inviolable, and we must avenge those who died in the process to comfort their lost souls."

The second day after Brezhnev's death, the news and radio only reported about it. 

Brezhnev will be given a state funeral after three full days of national mourning and then buried in an individual tomb on Red Square at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. Yuri Andropov, Brezhnev's eventual successor as general secretary, was chairman of the committee in charge of managing Brezhnev's funeral.

The entire Moscow city was guarded by soldiers and police.

At least, many of the Soviets understand one thing. The old era has gone, and a new one is coming. It is just a matter of whether it is with hope or no.