Non-Combatant. An Unaccounted Factor

The “Noncombatant” cycle transports the reader to a period when steamships become central elements. The main character uses knowledge from the future to change the course of a significant war that’s about to begin—the Crimean War, known in Europe as the Eastern War. The Russian Empire received a Viennese note demanding that troops be withdrawn from the Danubian principalities. England and France insist that Turkey begin hostilities, promising support. However, there is a factor that could change the plans of the European countries—but for now it’s underestimated by everyone. That factor is the fast steamship “Swan,” operated by a crew of noncombatants and not belonging to the military fleet, yet capable of surprising the enemy. The ship’s captain, Yuriy Davydov—formerly an admiral in the Cosmo Fleet, Sergei Tikhonov—already knows the story and isn’t going to stand aside from Russia’s war with those who are trying again to resolve the “Russian question.” A civilian with the status of a noncombatant, he intends to use every possible method to fight the enemy, ignoring protests from Europe and Petersburg that it’s “not allowed” to fight this way.