Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Seventy-Six



11th February 1974

Trebbin, Brandenburg

A lot of work had gone into recreating a World War One battlefield and almost as much work needed to go into keeping looking so bad. Jost had suggested that while they had the assistance of the Heer, they ought to just let them use it for artillery practice and a few live fire exercises. The Director had just shaken his head and said that it was not that simple. Modern Armies used tracked vehicles and the artillery tactics had changed considerably over the last sixty years. Saturation bombardment had given way to precision strikes and if massed artillery was used, it was of the “Walking” variety where shells were dropped just ahead of advancing Armored and Infantry Units. Basically, they just didn’t chew up the landscape the way that they used to.

Still, as Jost looked across the five square hectares of denuded landscape covered in shell holes filled with icy mud, rusted barbed wire, and trenches, he was reminded of how his father had said that he would have done anything to get out a place that had looked exactly like this. The only thing that they had been unable to duplicate was the smell. Jost’s father had said that there was always the smell of putrefaction in the air, something or someone was always rotting nearby. It didn’t matter if it was a week-old corpse or your own feet. There were also the smells of shit, burnt cordite and fuel oil mixed in. Jost knew that smell quite well having encountered it many times in the past, especially Russia and Mexico.

All of this had been done for a film that he had been cast in. When Jost had read the script, he had seen the slogan that was going on the film’s posters; When nations went to war, an ancient evil followed. He had found that intriguing. The story was set sometime in 1917 and started with a British Patrol in No-Man’s-Land that ended with the men later found torn to pieces. Over the coming days, the men on both sides of the line find that they have a common enemy that is stalking them across the battlefield, a supernatural entity that takes the form of a monstrous black dog with glowing red eyes called the Black Shuck. This leads to a temporary truce as men from both sides attempt to kill the beast, using whatever heavy weapons they can bring to bare after ordinary rifles and machine guns prove inadequate for the task.

Jost had gotten himself cast as Oberst von Fürst, the Commander of the German Regiment depicted in the film. And immediately found himself at loggerheads with the “Military Advisor” on the set, an American named Jamison Parker who had been one of the few people who both the German and British portions of the Production Team had agreed upon to fill that role. By hiring Jost to play the role of one of the supporting actors UFA had sidestepped that argument, not that Jost was complaining. It had gotten him a big role and he had other things to irk him. Like most of the extras in the film being from the 2nd Army, the 4th Division in particular, which was garrisoned in Wunsdorf-Zossen which was extremely close to Trebbin.

“Hey, Schultz, they know you are impersonating an Officer?” One of the wisenheimers yelled at him as he walked past with one of the heavy Mauser Anti-Tank rifles from the film on his shoulder. “Or an Actor!”

Jost gave the crumb a murderous stare as the others laughed. They thought he was no longer in a position to extract his revenge, so they stood there with a smirks on their faces. He understood that it was all in good fun but whatever it was that made them feel safe enough to make a comment like that, shouldn’t.

“Yeah, laugh it up punks” Jost said as a strap from the rifle sling was digging into his shoulder. 13-millimeter machine guns had been mounted on vehicles for decades. His father had told him about how they had been issued to infantry as well as the single-shot bolt action rifles like the one he had now. It wasn’t hard to see why they had fallen out of favor despite packing one Hell of a punch, their weight would cripple whoever had to carry any one of them for any distance. He was intending to shoot the rifle later that afternoon so that he could get a feel for the thing. “I’m going back to my caravan for now, enjoy eating your lunch in the mud and did you hear, it is supposed to snow later.”

The men gave Jost dirty looks as he walked to his caravan. Slamming the door behind him, he saw that food was on the table and that one of his assistants had turned the heat on as he placed the heavy rifle in the corner. It was the sort of thing that he could get used to. There were some things that he would never delegate or trust to others though. The character he was playing, Oberst von Fürst, was an aristocrat who would not tolerate a speck of dirt on his uniform and his boots needed to have a mirror polish. That made for a bit of work for Jost. There was also the bit about remembering to always walk like an asshole, but he had never had a problem doing that.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Seventy-Seven



14th February 1974

Tempelhof, Berlin

It was quaint tradition in America and Canada, one which Doug insisted on bringing to Germany. Not that Kat minded. Every year he brought her a bouquet of roses and a box of chocolates with the promise of doing something romantic later that night. That was why she had Suga looking quizzically at the vase that Kat had put the roses on the coffee table in the parlor.

“It was a gift from Douglas” Kat said, “A gesture of love that I appreciate that is part of an unofficial holiday, he does this every year.”

Suga just smiled and took a sip of tea after taking a bite of the toast with fig jam and a ham slice on it. Petia and Darya had thrown together a charcuterie plate for tea. Suga had grown up with the austere sensibilities of Post-War Japan where even in the Residences of the Royal Family extravagance was avoided and everything needed to serve a function. It was a sensibility that she had brought to the design of the New Winter Residence in Plänterwald, and Kat thought that the Residence was better for it. One of the ways that it manifested itself was that Suga rarely indulged in eating a large meal, mostly for appearances sake. Even after almost two decades living in Berlin, she still felt that people were watching and judging her. Empress or not. In Kat’s parlor, Suga knew that no one was watching her, so she could indulge a little bit. The one thing she avoided was the cheese slices. They were aged white cheddar that crumbled in your mouth and were wonderful with the fig jam. Suga said that cheese simply didn’t agree with her, and Kat was content to leave it at that. Now that they had exchanged pleasantries and had tea, Kat had a few questions. Like why Suga had decided that she needed to speak today? She figured that Suga would get to it, eventually.

“I am worried about Marie” Suga finally said, “She is troubled, having trouble figuring out who she is.”

“This is not exactly news” Kat replied, “I often have no idea who she is going to be from hour to hour, she changes personas the way most of us change our clothes.”

“I am aware she does that” Suga said, “But this goes deeper than that, Marie told me all about how she has no idea what she wants to do with her life and is being pushed to make choices she either isn’t ready for or else feels would be a mistake.”

“Why hasn’t she said anything to me then?” Kat asked.

“She doesn’t feel she can” Suga said, “That you would not understand.”

Kat almost told Suga that was garbage, of course she would understand… But then it occurred to her that it didn’t matter. Marie thought that she wouldn’t and that was enough for her to avoid the conversation. Kat was also aware that this shouldn’t be a surprise. She knew that most of her difficulties with Tatiana were because they had very similar personalities and that was a source of irritation. For years Aunt Marcella had warned Kat that Marie Alexandra was likely what Kat herself would have been like if things had been different. She didn’t need to know what her Aunt meant by that, if Kat’s mother had lived and her father had been someone else.

“I see” Kat replied in an icy tone. She was aware it was probably not wise use that tone of voice with Suga, who was powerful enough in her own right to make Kat’s life difficult even without getting Freddy involved.

“I am not trying to tell you how to handle your daughter” Suga said, “I just felt that you should know that she confided this in me, that you deserved to know.”

“Thank you” Kat replied, but even as she said that she realized something important. “If Marie trusts you enough to talk to you, please make sure that it is not misplaced.”

There were a few minutes of awkward silence as Kat and Suga seemed to have exhausted that line of conversation. The only sound was the ticking of the clock on mantle which Doug had acquired somewhere along the way. At that moment, Kat had the sudden urge to smash the thing to pieces. Suga finally broke the silence.

“I suggested to Marie that perhaps like me, studying abroad might be a good idea” Suga said, “I am aware of the consequences of that course of action, for all of us. I value to role she plays in the Imperial Court, and you might seldom see her if that happens. That is on top of the imposition that I already caused when she attended that school in Switzerland. For that I apologize.”

“There is no need for you to apologize” Kat replied, “She needed to learn how to function in that environment. I know that places like the Imperial Court are not the pressure cookers that they were back in the days of autocrats, but still…”

Kat just shrugged.

To get an apology from someone like Suga was rare, there wasn’t a whole that she could do over this matter though. So much was up to Marie and Kat understood that her daughter could be incredibly flighty even in the best of times.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Seventy-Eight



16th February 1974

Tempelhof, Berlin

“You do know that they have been arguing about you?” Angelica asked Marie Alexandra from the doorway of her bedroom. Curiously, Sophie’s dog Sprocket had evidently decided that Angelica was his person while Sophie was away, and he was sniffing around Marie’s room.

She was going through the extensive collection clothes and makeup with the intention of taking a walk to the market as someone else. It only took a bit of work, but the pale young woman with red hair who Marie saw in the mirror could vanish for a little bit. Of course, the old joke about how wherever you go, there you are had grown increasingly apparent as time wore on. This wasn’t helped by the University students who made up much of the staff of the market making a game of seeing through her various disguises. The trouble for Marie was that she didn’t want to be recognized, she just wanted to feel anonymous for a short time. The University students quickly figuring out who she was happened to be a reminder of how there were aspects of herself that she couldn’t change, which she found annoying. Marie also lacked her mother’s obsessive need for fitness, something that had infected Sophie. All of that combined to make Marie’s appearance, well… average. There was no other term that could be used, something which Marie found annoying.

Now Angelica, who meant well but was going about it the wrong way, had just reminded her that her parents had been arguing about what was going on with her. For the life of her, Marie could not understand why Suga had decided to act as an intermediary between her and her parents a couple days earlier. That had disrupted the equilibrium of this household.

“I know Angi” Marie replied, “And I wish they wouldn’t.”

With that, Angelica walked up and hugged Marie. She was rather surprised by that kind gesture. Marie supposed that it was an Italian thing, but they tended to like large families and Angelica had been alone for most of her childhood. She had delighted in finding herself the youngest in a large diverse family, taking things like Sophie’s inferiority complex or Tatiana’s need to be a complete bitch at times, and lately, Marie’s own drama in stride. She even got on well with Gretchen Schultz who stayed with them when Nancy Jensen was out of town.

“I cannot believe all of this is yours” Angelica said, her attention instantly diverted by the things that crowded every horizontal surface. Like every other girl who had set foot in Marie’s room over the last few years, Angelica found the collection that Marie had amassed over the last decade irresistible. It wasn’t just the various costumes and theatrical supplies, but books, toys, and various items that had just interested her at the time.

Marie could only hope that Angelica didn’t become a constant nuisance like Sophie had been before she had found other interests.

----------------------------------------------------------------

The conversation had consumed every moment they had been together for the last two days after the Empress had decided to get involved on Valentine’s Day. Doug had tried his level best to make that day special. His plans that had been unfortunately dashed and every difficulty and frustration had come to the fore. Tatiana was following in Kat’s footsteps, much to her profound disappointment. Malcolm seemed to have vanished. And now there was this problem with Marie Alexandra.

What was unsaid was that Marie was special to Kat in ways that the others were not, even Tatiana and Malcolm. Before she had been born, Kat had made some serious choices and that was reflected in how they interacted with each other. That also made Kat a bit resistant to letting her go.

“I made some calls today” Doug said, “The Canadian Embassy and the Dean of Admissions at my old University. They would be overjoyed to have Marie, especially with her being a legacy admission. This is one of the top Universities in Canada and they have a Liberal Arts program that seems like it was made with her in mind.”

It was the same University that Doug and his father had attended. That made it extremely easy, but there were other considerations though. He was aware that he had only mentioned this as a possibility, not that he would go ahead and make those calls. There was also one other thing that Kat brought up herself.

“Margot will see this as some kind of victory” Kat muttered, “Her living in Montreal.”

Margot, Doug’s mother had never liked her. To Margot, Kat was one of those hated Huns who had killed thousands of soldiers from the British Empire, including more than fifty-thousand Canadians, radically altering the composition of the country in the process. Not that Kat had passed up any chances to needle Margot over the last three decades either.

“I wouldn’t go that far” Doug said, “You know as well as I do just how difficult Marie can be at times. With how she delights in being unconventional she will drive my mother up the wall. McGill was also affiliated with the Presbyterian Church until fairly recently, knowing that Marie has no issues going there will also be like an itch she cannot scratch.”

Kat was amused by that, but there was a bit of sadness.

“It would have to be up to Marie though” Kat said, “Living an ocean away for several years might not suit her.”

Her, or you? Doug thought to himself but didn’t say it aloud.

“Of course,” Doug said, “She will have a chance to go there this summer to take the tour, she might still decide to stay closer to home.”

Even as he said that Doug knew that Marie Alexandra would probably jump at the chance. What Suga had told Kat about Marie needing some distance to figure out the direction of her life was something that was impossible to ignore.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Seventy-Nine



18th February 1974

Los Angeles

Being in the Courthouse was odd. Of course, this entire case was odd. Over the last couple months, the arrangements had been carefully negotiated for a clip of video no more than a few seconds in length to be shown to a Judge with the State Attorney present. The issue was that the tape would need to be entered as evidence in an ongoing murder investigation. The State was taking no chances regarding mistakes that a Defense Attorney could exploit. The last thing they needed was to have the tape tossed at trial if this led to an arrest. As a newly minted Police Officer 3, Ritchie was able to elbow his way up to the front row. He had known that having stripes on his sleeve was to his advantage in the Army, that proved doubly so with the Los Angeles Police. Of course, having the looming presence of Big Mike right next to him didn’t hurt.

It was a complicated matter, especially considering the witness who could authenticate the tape. They were listening to Malcolm von Mischner-Blackwood give his statement on just how the video had been produced as well as how he was a Reserve Officer Aspirant in the German Air Force when he wasn’t a student in the Computer Science Department at a Major Research University in Berlin. It had been in that capacity that he supervised a team of Analysts who watched feed from orbiting satellites so that they could provide up to date information to policymakers in Reichstag as well as the advisors to the Kaiser.

The odd part for Ritchie was that he had a hard time working out in his head how Malcolm could be the cousin of Manny von Mischner. Where Manny was bigger than life, Malcolm simply wasn’t. Thin, of medium height and wearing a grey wool suit, he looked exactly what Ritchie would have pictured when he imagined someone who worked with computers. The other odd observation was that while Manny spoke with what Ritchie had come to learn was a Berliner accent, sort of like a Boston accent in the United States. When Malcolm spoke, he sounded like one that Ritchie had heard in parts of New England. His friend Jules Mullins from Maine had an accent that sounded very similar. Ritchie was also aware that Malcolm wasn’t a German name and his hyphenated surname included Blackwood as a part of it. That meant that there was probably an interesting story behind it.

Finally, the entire Courtroom was watching the video that was in odd colors due to the filters in place to see what was happening at night. Everything was exaggerated shades that reflected surface temperatures. Watching, Ritchie saw the beaches of Malibu, the houses, and the curve of the coastline before it turned sharply south. The camera was focused right on the beach where the body was found when murder happened, and everyone watched it play out. Almost everyone in the room was inured to street violence, but this felt different. They knew that the victim was the sort of person who the system was supposed to protect. This wasn’t the murder of prostitute on the Sunset Strip or a gang leader in South-Central which would probably hardly get noticed. This was a Co-Ed attended College in Santa Monica from an Upper-Middle Class family and that didn’t sit well with them.

“They got all of this from outer space?” Mike said in a low voice so that only Ritchie could hear. “This is like science fiction.”

There were murmurs around the Courtroom as others reached the same conclusion.

“I guess” Ritchie replied. He also kept his voice down. There was a lot of Department Brass in the room and pissing off the Judge was never a good idea.

It was then that they got to the part that everyone was waiting for. In the video, the perpetrator got into his car and drove off. This was important for two reasons. The first was that the car was a VW Rabbit, the color was hard to discern from the video, but they had been hunting for that car in connection to this guy for months. The other was that the license plate was clearly visible, so now they had a name and an address. That was enough for the Judge to sign off a set of warrants to search the suspects home, car, and whatever else happened to be in his name after they made the arrest.

After that it was a mad scramble for the door as everyone rushed off for what was going to probably be the one of the higher profile arrests this year. Ritchie didn’t bother, he had already played a major role in that he had been the one who Manny had contacted months earlier to tell him about the video tape and what was on it.

“I would say that it is going to be about thirty seconds before the newspapers run with this story, then every television and radio station will pick it up within minutes” Mike said looking at his watch. They both had seen reporters from the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other West Coast newspapers on the way in this afternoon. “So, everybody on the planet will know who this scumbag is in about half an hour or so.”

“So, it will be a race between the Department and the people in this guy’s neighborhood” Ritchie replied, “And they will be trying to get up the 101 at this hour. Good luck with that.”

That was when Ritchie noticed that Malcolm was standing there looking lost. He had come all the way from Europe for one purpose and now that was done.

“Want to come with us and watch the bad guy get busted?” Mike asked Malcolm who just stared at them.

“You can do that?” Malcolm asked.

Ritchie figured that no one would care if they did.

----------------------------------------------------------------

They had taken the long way around to avoid the traffic that snarled the Los Angeles freeways every afternoon. Even so, they got there before most of the action had taken place. Malcolm was riding in the back of Frankenstein as they had driven across town, hardly seeming to notice the frequently violent maneuvers that Ritchie threw the car into. As they arrived at the perimeter it was obvious that the three-ring circus was just getting started.

Ritchie had seen these things before, the News helicopters had arrived just about the time that the first squad cars had rolled in. Everyone who lived on the street was out trying to figure out what was going on and every opportunist in the neighborhood seemed to be making the most of it, whether it was picking pockets, running a short con, or telling a camera crew a bunch of nonsense. The fact that this was actually in Hollywood made the entire scene even more exaggerated, which he might have thought impossible.

Inside the perimeter, Ritchie saw that Captain Evans and the rest of the Tactical Division had set up and were getting ready to storm the apartment building where the suspect lived. To his eye it looked that what was about to happen was profound overkill with the element of surprise completely lost, and they would be doing it with the entire world watching…

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Eighty



19th February 1974

Los Angeles, California

It was after midnight and Malcolm had still not gotten back to the hotel that he was staying at. Instead, he was with Richard Valenzuela and Mike Washington as they had taken the long way back to Central Division wondering exactly what the Hell had just happened. Ritchie had said that everything had gone sideways before they had even left the Courthouse after Malcolm had testified about the tape. Afterwards, Ritchie and Mike had been among those trying to impose order on what had become a complete mess. It was sort of hard to tell people that there was nothing to see and to move along when there was obviously a whole lot to gawk at. Malcolm had just tried to stay out of the way all evening.

They had just arrived on the scene where they expected to watch the arrest be made. What they got instead was a surreal, chaotic display as crowds of onlookers and television news crews rushed to the building as the police tried to set up a perimeter. Even as they were trying to herd people away, a group of heavily armed officers who Malcolm assumed were the equivalent of the Counter Terrorism Units of the Federal Police back home grew impatient. The man who led them, who Ritchie identified as Captain Evans, was yelling into a radio microphone “That they needed to get in there that instant before that son of a bitch gets away or takes someone hostage.” Malcolm wasn’t privy to what was being said on the other side of that conversation but the expression on Ritchie’s face suggested that it had not been what was supposed to happen.

A few minutes later, the officers started firing tear gas grenades through every window of the building and the residents came flooding out, the front doors of the building to the sight of rifles levelled at them. The result was instant panic as the officers tried to figure out if the suspect who they were there to arrest was hiding among them. Then the building caught fire and that led to Evans getting into a shouting match with the Incident Commander from the Fire Department who wanted to put the fire out immediately. That argument dragged on for several minutes even as gunshots rang out inside the building and many of the shots flew the target and were passing through the walls of the apartment building. It was a miracle that no one out on the street was seriously injured.

Then the men who were under the command of Evans dragged out the well-ventilated corpse of Theodor Bundy leaving a gruesome trail from the building out to the street. By then the whole building was involved and the camera crews from the various television networks caught the entire thing. Evans was strutting around and seemed to be completely unaware of how bad all that had looked, as the building started to collapse in the background. Malcolm wasn’t from here and couldn’t pretend to understand the local culture, but even he knew that that the entire episode was a public relations disaster.

Sitting on the hood of the car that the two policemen had dubbed Frankenstein after the monster, they were eating food from a kitchen that had been built in the back of a lorry, or truck as they called them here. Ritchie had said that while he was in SoCal, he needed to get some authentic Mexican Food. Eating a Chicken Colorado burrito with beans and rice, Malcolm figured that Ritchie was right, this was good, even if it was incredibly spicy.

“That asshole had no clue what the fuck he was doing” Mike said.

“No point in getting bent out of shape” Ritchie replied, “It is what it is.”

“No” Mike said, “You know damn well that Even Evans is going to fail upwards for this, he’s a golfing buddy of the Chief of Police and the Mayor.”

“Even Evans?” Malcolm asked.

“That is what he is called by those of us who work on the street” Ritchie said, “Every time he messes up, he breaks even and somehow gets ahead, as if it never happened.”

“I see” Malcolm replied.

“That sort of thing is reserved for guys like that” Mike said, “Me and Ritchie, we’d have gotten the axe on the spot if we even thought of screwing up that badly.”

“Even with your respective ranks within your Department?” Malcolm asked.

“I’m Black and Ritchie is Mexican” Mike replied, “There are many in the Department who barely tolerate having us around as is.”

“In Berlin, we don’t have any Mexicans as far as I know” Malcolm said, “We do get Africans though, mostly from Cameroon or South Africa. They tend to be professionals, hardworking and not someone you would want to dismiss out of hand.”

“Things are a bit different here” Ritchie said.

“I was warned about that before I got on the plane” Malcolm replied, “The reality of it was not exactly what I expected.”

Mike snorted, as if there was something funny in what Malcolm just said.

With that there was nothing more to say about the subject, so they sat there in silence for a few minutes eating their meal.

Finally, Malcolm decided to mention something that had been on his mind all evening.

“What this reminded me of, not the event itself, but afterwards, was the 30th of June seven years ago” Malcolm said, “There was the same sort of feel, that order broke down.”

“What are you talking about?” Mike asked and Malcolm realized that an American might not be as aware of what happened on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Whereas the events of June 1967 were indelibly marked in the memories of those who lived in Berlin.

“A man, they never figured out exactly who, opened fire with a stolen Army rifle on street crowded with commuters” Malcolm replied, “A whole lot of people got hurt and killed.”

“I remember that” Ritchie said, “They never caught who did it?”

Malcolm could hear the disgust in Ritchie’s voice as he had asked that last question. “No, they didn’t” Malcolm replied, “It was like he vanished into thin air as soon as the shooting stopped.”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Eighty-One



23rd February 1974

Plänterwald, Berlin

“I suppose that you will include all of this too in your diary?” Suga asked Anne who played the role of unofficial Observer of the Imperial Court for the last few decades having seen two Emperors and three Empresses. Today, Anne was among the group walking with Suga along the river as they discussed matters ranging from the plans for going to University, possibly abroad, that the current Kammerfräulein, Kat von Mischner’s daughter Marie was making to the handsome members of the First Foot Guard Regiment who had been walking a respectful distance in front and behind them. Presently, the soldiers were having tangle with the strange geese who had appeared along the banks of the River Spree over the last few years, big brown birds with black heads and a white chinstrap. As it turned out, these geese were aggressive and territorial. Anne supposed that they would have to be to expand their range into new places. The Guardsmen were not thrilled to have such difficulty with the geese who had the option of retreating into the river if confronted directly and having an audience composed of the Empress’ inner circle.

A lot of thoughts ran through Anne’s mind as she considered how to answer Suga’s question. Everyone knew that Anne kept extensive diaries, chronicling everything that she heard and saw to the best of her memory. Only Kris Lehrer, the head of the BND’s secretive Falkensee School, could claim to have read the portion of Anne’s diary that included much of her early life. No one else had ever been allowed near to the dozens of volumes kept on a high shelf in Anne’s home office in the decades since. While there was a part of her that wanted to burn the collection of notebooks because much of what was in them was deeply personal. Whenever Anne went back through them, she discovered that they contained some of what she considered her best writing. Beyond her late childhood, her diary included things like her marriage and the birth of her children. Lately though, the double-edged nature of having it had made itself most keenly felt with the recent breakdown of her parent’s marriage.

Anne’s mother had said that with Anne and her sister Margot being grown there was no longer a need to maintain the pretense. Anne’s mother had known about her father’s infidelity for ages and had grown tired of it. When Anne had gone through the earliest volume of her diary, it was very clear that Anne herself had known about it from the time she was eleven or twelve. There was no escaping that. Her mother also said she had had enough of how she and Anne’s father led totally separate lives and all the divorce had done was make it official. In the back of Anne’s mind, she couldn’t help but consider that she was getting a preview of her own future when she had heard her mother mention that second part. While she had not found any reason to suspect that Martin was cheating on her, it was clear that they had been drifting slowly apart for years. At least her children, Otto, and Lina were old enough to understand that…

Anne was lost in her thoughts and not paying attention until she noticed that one of the geese was hissing at her from less than a meter away. A member of the First Foot was trying to shoo the goose away as he looked at Anne apologetically. The First Foot Guard Regiment took their role as the protectors of the Imperial family extremely seriously, the idea that they would have any difficulty with ill-tempered waterfowl as a bit of an embarrassment.

“I try to include as much detail as I can” Anne finally replied to Suga. “That way I can go back to my thoughts at that exact moment.”

“That sounds wonderful” Suga said. Anne could tell that the Empress didn’t really understand what it entailed. How writing was a meditation as well as a compulsion. If she couldn’t think of anything to write with her novels, she was scribbling in the latest volume of her diary. If she were unable to do either of those things, it swiftly became a source of anxiety.



New York City, New York

Ironies abounded here in the Big Apple.

The bastion of Free-Market Capitalism where the Stock Exchange had been practically built atop a Slave Market. Andreas had known little about America before he had landed in New York and frequently thought about how if he had a full understanding of the country he probably would have gone elsewhere. Now he was stuck here because he lacked the means to travel further. The Owner of the bodega where he worked was what Andreas had figured out was typical of the sort of opinionated self-styled revolutionary found in Manhattan. All about the “Revolution” but only so long as it didn’t cost him anything. That apparently included paying Andreas peanuts and holding his immigration status over his head if he ever complained about it. The truth was that the man was a Kulak and totally unaware of the role that men like him had actually played in history. With the store closed for the night, Andreas was mopping the floor while listening to the Owner pontificate at length about the events of the day and the uproar over something that had happened a few days earlier in Los Angeles.

From long practice Andreas had tuned the Owner out and considered his present lot in life. He had once actually struck a major blow for the revolution, and it apparently meant fuckall. Judging by what was on the covers of the trashy magazines on the media racks, the Hohenzollern Family was still firmly ensconced in Germany. Them along with their even more useless English and Italian cousins provided plenty of voyeuristic thrills for Americans. You might think that a nation which prided itself on having won a war whose entire purpose involved getting rid of a King wouldn’t worship those parasites the way they did.

“You missed a spot” The Owner said with the sneer that Andreas had long grown accustomed to. With it being winter, all manner of crud was tracked in off the street and the floor tiles were an odd color of grey which were impossible to keep clean for some reason.

With that, the Owner went back to reading the magazine that featured the schedules for upcoming horse races. It was nice to know that he worked for a self-styled revolutionary who shamelessly exploited the Working-Class while the crumb bet on the ponies, Andreas thought to himself sourly. How had it come to this?

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Eighty-Two



24th February 1974

Los Angeles, California

“Little Mike’s class was given a tour of USS Arizona down in San Diego and now he is talking about how he wants to join the Navy” Big Mike said.

“That is probably the entire reason that Navy keeps that ship” Ritchie replied, “To convince otherwise sensible boys to go squid.”

“I forgot, you’re the Army Man” Mike said, “The truth is that I don’t care about that, if this gets the boy a four-year ride at college or at least a career out of it, then he’s ahead in the game.”

When the USS Arizona, one of the last American ships in service that had been involved in the First World War, had been decommissioned in the second half of the 40’s the City of San Diego agreed to play host and have her moored in North San Diego Bay as a museum ship. The rationale had been that the ship represented the entire American South-West, not just the landlocked State that was her namesake. It wasn’t like if they could float her up the Colorado River, so it was something that everyone with a stake in it had eventually agreed to. It was a tour that Ritchie himself had taken a couple times when he had been in school, but beyond being awed by the scale of the battleship he had never taken much away from the experience.

Turning Frankenstein down a different street, Ritchie slowed before shining the spotlight mounted to the frame down an alley. Beyond the trach cans, dumpsters and the scurry of rodents, the four-legged kind this time, to get out of the light there wasn’t anything to see. They were back in their usual spot downtown working graveyard until they went back to working days in a couple weeks. Tonight though, it was about as cold and rainy as it ever got in Los Angeles and that was keeping the creeps indoors for once. Not that Ritchie was objecting. He found it sort of funny what people in Los Angeles considered cold after having spent a few winters in Upstate New York. There were a lot of things in the here and now that were like that.

The truth was that despite being in the same proximity, the streets of the Central Division were a long way from the faded glamour of Hollywood and the corridors of power within City Hall or Parker Center’s Glasshouse. The fact that Ritchie and Mike seemed to have gotten out of the latest mess that City Politics was embroiled in unscathed was nothing less than a miracle considering how they had been up to their eyeballs in it this time. Ritchie had no clue as to how that moron Evans had done it, but he had somehow made a suspected serial killer a sympathetic figure. There was screwing up, and then there was this which was right up there with accidentally starting a nuclear exchange.

“Would you mind if your boy Steve followed you into the Army?” Mike asked, “Or the Department?”

“I would have to follow Lucia’s lead there unless I want to sleep with one eye open for the rest of my life” Ritchie replied. “She wants our children to go to school. Have far higher aspirations. You know?”

“I get it” Mike said, “And children, plural?”

“Lucia thinks that we should start thinking about having another” Ritchie said, “So that Steve has a little brother or sister.”

“Traditional Mexican Catholic family” Mike said with a snort, “Six or seven children, though you and Lucy got a late start.”

“Don’t give me that” Ritchie said as they drove down the largely abandoned streets. “Unlike our folks, we have a goalie on the job.”

“That’s what she told you, you know what it means when she says that the two of you should start thinking” Mike replied, “It means that one of these days you’ll get an ‘Oh by the way’ and then you’ll be repainting the den after moving all your junk out of it.”

Ritchie was a bit annoyed by this turn of conversation.

“Speaking from personal experience?” Ritchie asked, his words sharper than intended.

“And a bit too much of it” Mike said, clearly amused.



Tempelhof, Berlin

“To what do I owe the pleasure this time Didi?” Kiki asked as the boy was sitting in the nurse’s station.

“Momma and Poppa have been yelling at each other again” Dieter said, “And Sepp is working tonight.”

Dieter’s parents argued frequently, and his oldest brother had a job that consumed much of his spare time. The trouble was that Dieter was ignored and he tended to seek out Kiki when that happened. Over the last couple months, he had become extremely familiar with the operations of the Emergency Department.

“That doesn’t mean that you can just come in here” Kiki replied sharply. This wasn’t the first time that she had him this and figured that it wouldn’t be the last either.

“If you were busy, I wouldn’t have come in” Dieter said.

“That can change in a heartbeat” Kiki replied, “We get a call about a pile up, plane crash, industrial incident, or God only knows what else and this Department gets swamped.”

“Really?” Dieter asked, actually brightening at the prospect of such an occurrence.

“You will swiftly learn to dread having such an alert come in when you are working the NA” Kiki said to Dieter.

“You think that one day I will” Dieter said.

“Why not?” Kiki asked, “There are lots of ways to become a surgeon, I joined the Medical Service when I was sixteen and was in the FSR as a Field Medic before I switched career tracks. You could just go to University like most of my students have done though.”

“For real?” Dieter asked.

Kiki was aware that she had just inadvertently given him a key piece of information that would be extremely useful. While no one in his family understood his older brother Sepp’s desire to go to University, joining the Military was something that all of them understood. She just hoped that she hadn’t created a monster.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Eighty-Three



4th March 1974

Plänterwald

After spending much of the prior month in Bohemia, Ben was home. He had been invited to be a Guest Lecturer and Instructor at the Luftwaffe Training School outside Čáslav. A hazard of that he had swiftly learned was that Michael, the King of Bohemia as well as Ben’s brother-in-law felt that while Ben was a guest in Bohemia Michael needed to pull out all the stops to keep him entertained. The results were somewhat terrifying, and Ben was grateful that Michael’s wife Alberta was able to somewhat temper Michael’s worst impulses. Alberta, or Birdie as she preferred to be called, said that it was because Ben was a decorated Ace Pilot and clearly a man who liked action. Michael saw him as a peer and wanted to make him a Knight of the Bohemian Realm, as in swords, armor and everything that went with it. Fortunately, Ben’s time in Bohemia had nearly run out and he had been on his way home before he had gotten caught up in any of his brother-in-law’s crazy schemes.

Now that he was back home, Ben had discovered that he was completely at loose ends. The University didn’t need him to fill in for any of the Professors in his preferred subjects, even the 18th SKG had little use for him at the moment. It wasn’t all bad though because that gave him loads of time to spend in far better company to take a walk with, namely Nina, Rauchbier, and Weisse. Rauchbier was wearing his red coat due to it being a late winter’s day. Weisse, despite Rauchbier being his sire was of a far fuzzier sort of Whippet that had emerged from Swabia. Normally, Weisse was the pampered pet of Nella and Nan, Kiki’s far younger sisters, but they were at school and wouldn’t be home until later. Nina didn’t care about any of that, to her the two dogs were her “Windies” which Ben figured was how she said Windhund.

The cottage that Kiki’s father had built for her truly was home these days. Originally, it had been a sop meant to satisfy her wanting to have a simpler life than the one led by most of her family. In the years since it had become their shelter from a world that frequently felt like it was spinning out of control. Within the forest-like grounds that surrounded it, one could just watch the seasons pass. Small animals had found they’re into it. Rabbits, squirrels, all manner of birds, there had even been talk of a fox or two that had been spotted near the rubbish bins. Ben took all of this in as he walked through the trees at a pace that Nina could keep up with as she talked at him about what they were seeing.

“The trees, leaves soon?” Nina asked.

“Soon” Ben replied, “But the grass will grow and there will be blossoms.”

“Blossoms?” Nina asked intently.

“You know, flowers” Ben replied.

Nina smiled at that. She was far happier today than she had been a few days before when Kiki and Ben had taken her in for a medical checkup that had ended with her receiving a vaccination for Chickenpox. It was something that Doctor Takahashi had cooked up. When Ben had spoken with the visiting Virologist, he had assured Ben that it was perfectly safe, and it complimented a number of other vaccinations that Nina had already received. Afterwards, Kiki had pointed out to Ben that there was a reason why you didn’t see many children’s graves anymore and told him the somewhat shocking detail that until fairly recently, depending on Social Class, between a third to half of all children died before reaching adulthood. Kiki had also mentioned that she wanted Nina to be ready to interact with other children as soon as they could figure something out because the last thing that she wanted was for their daughter to have a lonely childhood like hers had been.

“Poppa?” Nina asked, looking quizzically at her feet.

“Yes” Ben replied, even as he said it Ben noticed that the ground was starting to shake and he was able to hear the thud of hoofbeats, lots and lots of hoofbeats.

Picking up Nina, Ben ordered Rauchbier and Weisse to his heel for all the good it did.

A half-dozen men on horseback came through the trees. Even with the black fur hats and black cloaks making them look like something out of a nightmare, Ben recognized their uniforms of being of the 2nd Life Hussar Regiment. When they took over guarding the Emperor it was a memorable spectacle. The 2nd Hussars might look like something from a different century, but the carbines and pistols they were armed with were perfectly modern. If that didn’t work, the sabers they were also armed with would make getting shot preferable.

Nina just stared at the men as they came to a stop. The young Leutnant who was leading them, gave Ben a crisp salute. To them he was an Oberstleutnant regardless of his reserve status. But because he was holding Nina, he could little about that.

“Sorry to bother you, Sir” The Leutnant said a bit apologetically, “We were ordered to patrol the perimeter.”

“Horsy” Nina said as she reached towards the horse that the Leutnant was riding. Luckily, it was a bay mare unlike the high-strung Chargers that many of the Officers of the 2nd Hussars preferred. So, the horse just sniffed at Nina’s fingers.

“Careful or she’ll start looking for sugar cubes on your person Princess” The Leutnant said with a smile before he turned the horse away to rejoin his men. They galloped off the hoofbeats growing faint in the distance.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Eighty-Four



22nd March 1974

Tempelhof

“Your brother was there when the new South Wing of the of the Hospital was dedicated this afternoon” The Nurse said to Kiki, “I’m surprised that you weren’t there.”

Kiki knew all too well the reaction that her brother got among the female staff. They didn’t seem to care that he was married with three children, or perhaps it was because of it, but he was regarded in ways that she wasn’t exactly comfortable listening to. That was nothing compared to what happened when Louis Ferdinand Junior was mentioned though. He had come here to surprise Kiki a few times in his Naval uniform and nothing else got done in the Emergency Department for the rest of the day. Just getting a postcard in her Staff mailbox a few days earlier from Louis that had been posted in Havana was enough to drive gossip.

“Someone had to stay here in case of an emergency” Kiki replied.

There was also the matter a number of television cameras and photographers present. Kiki found that being a public figure as it were to be absolutely exhausting. This wasn’t helped by certain publications, especially those that were right leaning, implying that Kiki was a sharp-tongued misanthrope. The truth was that she had little time for the sort of nonsense that the Press reveled in and any Journalists who bothered her when she was working were swiftly removed from the building. So far, none of them had been stupid enough to come in as a patient, not after what had happened the last time. Nora Berg had told Kiki that if it ever did, she should make the most of the opportunity and that Doctor Schreier in Proctology had an excellent sense of humor. Kiki had a feeling that whatever the actual story was behind that little anecdote it was one she was happier not knowing.

“If you say so” The Nurse said, “But you must know about the Betriebskindergarten that is going in the New South Wing that will be open to the all the Staff’s children. You have a little girl, right? The Emperor mentioned that he had a niece who would probably be going there when it was complete, and it is a wonderful idea.”

Through long practice, Kiki kept the emotion from her face. Freddy had gone too far this time. He had to know that this solved several problems for her and her reluctance to have such an action taken in her name was well known. So, he had spoken in such a way that made it seem like she was somehow behind this. At the same time, she understood what his response would be. This was going to help a lot of people who worked in the hospital, Kiki just happened to be one of them. She was an adult who had to be aware of how the whole world didn’t revolve her. She imagined him saying that last part in the tone of voice that she had hated listening to since they were children, the one the let her know that she was being a fathead.

“Well, thank you” Kiki replied awkwardly.

What else was there to say?

----------------------------------------------------------------

“Is that a fact” Sepp said as he stood leaning on the counter at Benno’s. Dieter smiled and nodded his head.

Of all the things that his little brother could have wanted for his eighth birthday, an anatomy coloring book would have not been the first thing that Sepp would have imagined. Of course, he couldn’t have imagined Dieter in a bookstore either prior to a few months ago.

It had everything to do with that Doctor he had met. The one who had told him about how there was an open avenue to entering that profession if he wanted. It was nice of her to take the time to speak with Dieter, but at the same time Sepp knew that they had concerns in the here and now, not what they might be doing in ten years. Their mother already had a full plate, and their father was a useless lump who complained about how his trade was seasonal, it would pick up this spring when the weather warmed. Was that the truth or was it merely an excuse? Sepp was also aware that they were seeing less and less of Hagen as time wore on. He’d aways felt a responsibility to his younger brothers, having one of them running off getting involved in God only knew what was the exact opposite of that. Buying the coloring book for Dieter at least felt like he was doing something correctly.

“Yes” Dieter said looking at the pages that had not been colored in. “Most of our innards are pink and grey.”

“Did your Doctor friend tell you that?” Sepp asked.

“Not Kiki” Dieter replied, “Grumpy old Doctor Ott, who says he is counting down the days until he can retire.”

“If he is so grumpy then why is he talking to you?” Sepp asked.

“He said that he was wrong about Kiki and figures that he ought to give me a chance to mess up before he washes his hands of me” Dieter said.

Sepp almost laughed at that. His little brother had no clue about how the world really worked. Dieter was pestering professionals who saw him as a potential recruit if there was such a thing in the Medical field. So, they answered his questions in a good-natured manner.

“You want contrasting colors though” Sepp said looking at the colored pencil set that his brother had acquired from somewhere. “That way you can memorize which bits are which.”

Dieter looked delighted by that answer.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Eighty-Five



1st April 1974

Rural Brandenburg

Life moved on, there wasn’t anything else to say about it. After a couple years spent leading a Company, they had seen fit to promote Manny to Major and make him the Regiment’s S9. That put him in charge Civil Affairs which included managing public displays by the Regiment and fielding the large number of complaints from the communities around Wunsdorf-Zossen. His father had told him that he would probably work in a number of Staff positions within the Regiment and that they could be a lot of fun. Manny’s father had pointed out that before he had been the S2 as an Intelligence Officer he had been the S7 in charge of Training and Education. That had been like trying to push a string, especially when those higher up the food chain demanded that he show propaganda and VD awareness films at the start of the night’s entertainment. Civil Affairs had to be better than that. Today, that involved listening to the complaints as a live fire exercise involving much of the 2nd Army and Brandenburg’s Landwehr Divisions was carried out. He also had an unfortunate passenger as he went from community to community listening to complaints, mostly about the noise.

“You know what todays date is?” Captain North said from the back seat of the Iltis that they were riding in.

Once again, Manny was playing host to the American Observer with the massively inflated opinion of himself. He had told someone in the High Command that he enjoyed working with Manny and considered him a friend, which was news to Manny. Oddly, it felt exactly the same as when he had been made to take his little sister with him to the movies. Just that thought was a reminder that Ina and Christian Weise were an item according to their mother. It was something that he felt ambivalent about, sure Christian was a good man, but if he broke Ina’s heart then Manny would make certain that he regretted ever having been born, if he could find him. Last Manny had heard, Christian had been sent to Grafenwöhr in Bavaria. Meaning that Christian was in way over his head this time and that included the time that they had gotten overrun in Argentina.

“If it means that you cannot trust anything that anyone says today” Manny replied, “I figure that means the same thing in the United States.”

North just laughed, meaning that Manny had just hit the nail on the head.

Suse Rosa had talked about the elaborate pranks that her mother pulled on todays date in years past and the news reports that were complete nonsense. Flying penguins, spaghetti growing on trees, wild bratwurst in Northern Bavaria, Bielefeld getting overrun by rats which led directly to the problem of feral cats, had all been features on the evening news on the 1st of April in years past.

Maus, who had contrived to get himself assigned as Manny’s driver snickered and Manny knew that North had just inadvertently set himself up to be the butt of jokes throughout the barracks. The Amis were not exactly popular among the Enlisted, most of them had listened to what their fathers and grandfathers had to say on the subject for their entire lives. How the Americans were arrogant and unaware of what was happening outside their borders. That went double for someone like North, who had lived in Germany for more than a year and hadn’t seemed to have learned much in that time. Of course, Manny suspected that North wasn’t the ugly American that he pretended to be, for starters he acted the part of the buffoon without ever going over the edge into outright stupidity of the sort that would get him sent home. What could be more disarming than someone who everyone underestimated? Manny was aware that Johann Schultz had done that for years, very successfully.

It was then that they heard the distinctive sound of machineguns up the road. The MG42/48, the improved version of the same machinegun that had been in use since the Soviet War had been modified for use with disintegrating links and for use with armored vehicles in the second half of the forties. It still maintained its shocking rate of fire though, and that sound was unmistakable for anything else. There was also the somewhat sharper sound of the Vs.60 which was used in conjunction. Fighter-Bombers streaked by overhead with Manny catching a glimpse of the swept back wings and the white-hot glow of the engine exhaust.

“Damn” North muttered, “Sounds like a lot of metal getting thrown around.”

“Typically, this is the fun part” Manny replied, “The cleanup starts tomorrow. I can look forward to listening to farmers complain about how one of their cows has gone lame because a bit of this or that was missed, and it got stuck in their hoof.”

“You don’t have a dedicated exercise area?” North asked.

“Down south in Swabia” Manny replied, it wasn’t a State secret. “Just transporting an entire Army down there is not worth the costs involved.”

It seemed that costs were the limiting factor these days. People wanted a whole lot of things and didn’t want to pay for them. The present Government had enacted deep cuts to the military during the drawdown from the Patagonian War explicitly stating that continued overseas deployments were currently in no one’s interest. It was a shame though because Manny had liked Patagonia and would have liked to have had a chance to explore it properly without a war involved. These days, Rio Gallegos had reverted back to being the Navy’s turf now that they no longer needed the 4th Division to defend it.

“I see” North replied as they drove into the next village.

Manny could see a man who he presumed was the Mayor standing there in front of the Rathaus red-faced, biting his lip in anger. In the short time that Manny had held this post he had discovered that when they came out to meet him, it usually meant that something particularly egregious had happened.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Eighty-Six



4th April 1974

Bestensee, Brandenburg

An unassuming stone bridge had stood over a short river that ran between two lakes for centuries. No one had any idea of exactly how many centuries. Now though, half of it had crumbled into the river and the remainder looked like it was about to collapse at any second. While great pains had been taken to reduce the ground pressure of a Panzer VIII “Leopard II” and it was a marvel of engineering, it still weighed in at fifty tons. Some idiot tried to drive a Leopard across the bridge and physics came into play as it crumbled under the weight. Presently, there were three Bergepanzers working on fishing the Panzer out of the river and a surveying team from the Pioneers at work so that construction on a new bridge could start as soon as possible.

The Mayor and Local Council insisted that it was historic and therefor irreplaceable. The trouble was that Manny couldn’t find any record of the bridge up until a few days earlier. The Pioneers said that they could have a new bridge in place that would be far superior and would even look like old one, but the local Government was having none of it. They wanted their old bridge back exactly as it had been as if they had ever even thought about the bridge during their lifetimes. Which was basically impossible, and it fell on Manny to convince them of that.

The only good thing was that unlike a few days earlier, Manny didn’t have an obnoxious American shadow. One who everyone knew repeated every single thing he heard to his friends in the Central Intelligence Agency Station inside the U.S. Embassy. Manny had asked why Intelligence wasn’t dealing with North and he had been told that he was the Civil Affairs Officer and dealt with the public, and Americans in this country were part of the public, like it or not. Manny suspected that he was regarded as not knowing anything important enough to actually cause trouble. Sending North with him as he argued with Mayors and members of the Local Councils about whatever tomfoolery the rest of the Regiment was caught up in probably amused the Oberst and the Regimental Intelligence Officer as well.



Havana, Cuba

Anyone who knew how these things worked, understood the concept of hurry up and wait. There were a number of Naval ships gathered in the Port of Havana from around the world, invited there by the Cuban Government much to the annoyance of the U.S. Government which had been planning on having a Naval Exercise in the Caribbean Sea with much of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet gathered in Guantanamo Bay. It seemed that the U.S. Government had delayed the Exercise again and again in the hope that the international gathering of ships would get bored and leave.

It hadn’t worked out that way.

Presently, the SMS Grindwal was moored between the IJN Yoizuki and the RN Audace. Louis was perfectly aware that this particular grouping was no accident. The Captain of the Yoizuki happened to be Crown Prince Akihito of Japan and the Audace was Captained by Prince Amedeo of Aosta.

Louis had always got on well with the Italian Prince, the two of them were Naval Officers and the younger sons of Royal Houses. The odd wrinkle though was there was a growing faction in Italy who wanted Amedeo to elbow an increasingly problematic older brother out of the way and assume the title of King upon the death of his father. Of course, Umberto II wasn’t in poor health and had not said anything. There were rumors that Vittorio was aware this and he was handling the matter as well as could be expected, which was why Amedeo spent almost all of his time at sea.

Having Akihito join them was a bit novel. He and Louis were almost brothers, legally speaking. Amedeo pointed out that his older brother had been pointedly rejected by no less than three of Louis’ sisters, so he had every right to be in their company.

What that had come to mean in practice was drinks and playing cards in the tiny wardroom of the Grindwal. Akihito was something of a cardsharp having been taught how to play poker by members of the German Marine Infantry’s Sealions no less. He had tried to join Japanese Marines when he had graduated from University, but the Imperial Japanese Navy was having none of that. Akihito had been made a Midshipman, Command Track, and he was given the option of sitting down and shutting the fuck up. Louis supposed that it was the equivalent of Freddy joining the Pioneers if the Heer had the option of vetoing that choice.

As per what had become the tradition of using whatever coins were common in whatever port they were in, they were playing for Cuban Pesos and Centavos with Oberleutnant Lehr as the fourth man in the game. The conversation had turned to the 12.8cm main gun and Bofors 40mm L70 that both the Grindwal and the Audace used as part of their mixed armament arrangement versus the 10cm high-angle guns that had become the mainstay of the Japanese Fleet since the end of the Pacific War. Louis felt that both doctrines had their merits, the Grindwal was his ship though and as far as he was concerned, she was perfect. That was especially true when the likes of Akihito dared to point out her faults.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two thousand Two Hundred Eighty-Seven



13th April 1974

Tempelhof, Berlin

“Please keep in mind that you have to get started somewhere” Kat had said when Sophie had tried to put what had happened that day into perspective. “You have the chance to lead others forward, so make the most of it and you should know better than anyone that we seldom get what we want without putting in the effort. Finally, do I need to remind you that you are also supposed to be having fun?”

That afternoon Sophie had done another bicycle race in the Women’s Juniors on what was her birthday, and it had been a complete farce like it had been since the season had started. Everything that she had done over the winter had been to prepare for competition, which didn’t really exist. Instead, there had been a number of other young women around her age who saw it as a nice tour around this or that neighborhood or the countryside. If it had been on a track, Sophie would have easily lapped them and to her astonishment, that made her unhappy. They were being given a chance to take part here and they didn’t seem interested. Kat had pointed out that it had been a “Club Race” meaning that it had only been among cyclists within the same club. The races scheduled for later that season during the summertime would probably be more to Sophie’s liking.

Tomorrow, she had a small party planned with a few friends from school and Gabby was coming. Sophie was actually looking forward to that and as annoyed as she was about the events of the day. Not wanting to think about it, she had gone to bed early, only to have Kat’s words echoing through her mind. Sophie also had Sprocket licking her face and whining, meaning that he needed to go out unless she wanted a mess to clean up in the morning. With a bit of annoyance, Sophie climbed out of bed and reached for her coat.

“You are just lucky that I love you” Sophie said to Sprocket who had already at the door looking at her, wagging his stubby tail as she put on her coat. “That and being cute is the only thing keeping you from becoming a fur collar.”

With that, Sophie opened the bedroom door and Sprocket ran out onto the landing. Padding down the stairs, she saw the blue glow of the television in the parlor and the sound of canned laughter. Marie Alexandra and Angelica were watching some screwball comedy from the sound of it. If they saw her then they would invite her to join them, and Sophie just wasn’t in the mood. Sneaking down the next flight of stairs, the kitchen and dining room were empty with everyone probably having already retired for the evening. Walking through the pantry and laundry room, Sophie noticed the different smells. Spices and detergent mostly.

Stepping out the back door into the garden, Sophie saw the lights of the city reflected off the clouds and shivered in the cold. Looking at the stately rowhouses across the alley, Sophie was reminded of the old tenement she had lived in with her mother and grandparents. How that was a world away from here. Recently, she had found out that the tenement along with much of the neighborhood in Reinickendorf where they had lived had been torn down to make way for new housing estates. It felt strange knowing that something that loomed so large in her childhood memories, was simply gone. It was too bad that many of the other things that haunted her were not so easily disposed of…

That was when Sophie noticed that Sprocket’s attention was diverted from sniffing around the one of the trees and he was focused on the back fence. The reaction wasn’t aggressive, meaning that whoever was there was familiar to Sprocket.

“Psst, Zoe?” A voice asked in a stage whisper.

“Kat will kill you if she catches you sneaking around her house” Sophie said to Sepp who was looking over the back fence under light on the back of the garage as she approached him. “And isn’t this a bit far out of your way?”

“Ilona was at Benno’s today and she said that it was your birthday today or tomorrow” Sepp replied, “And I thought I would walk by and see if you were here.”

“So, you were waiting out here at night, in the hope that I would step outside?” Sophie asked, “Do you have any idea what that looks like?”

“I hadn’t planned that far ahead” Sepp said, “I was only here a few minutes trying to think of what to do.”

“Knocking on the front door, like a civilized man would do” Sophie said, “Ever thought of that?”

Sepp gave her a sheepish grin that suggested he hadn’t thought about that, or probably much else for that matter.

“I meant to tell you to have a happy birthday” Sepp said.

“Thank you” Sophie replied, “Now go home Josef.”

“Is that all?” Sepp asked.

Sophie was considering how to even begin to answer that when Sprocket, who must have felt ignored, jumped up on her. She bent down slightly and batted his paws away with her hand.

Looking back up she saw that Sepp was just staring at her, surprised. “Uhm… Goodnight then Zoe…” Sepp said awkwardly before disappearing down the alley in the direction of the street.

Sophie was bewildered at first, then she considered things from what must have been Sepp’s angle and almost laughed aloud. Between it being dark, her coat and the blue flannel nightgown she was wearing there simply wasn’t much to see. Sepp had gotten a glimpse of a bit of skin though and that had caused him to end the conversation, not that she had wanted it to go on. All of the comments that she had heard Petia make about boys basically being children until led by the nose into adulthood came back to her. She had just thought that Sepp was better than that.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Eighty-Eight



14th April 1974

Tempelhof, Berlin

Sepp’s mother was watching a wedding on television when he emerged from the room he shared with Hagen and Dieter. Rummaging through the kitchen, he saw that there was nothing to eat. With everyone busy, no one had thought to go to the market. That meant that Sepp would need to go himself to one of the few markets that was open on Easter Sunday. It was only a question of which labels he wanted to listen to his complain about, those in Korean or those clearly marked as Kosher.

“Who is getting married?” Sepp asked.

“The Czar of Russia to a Greek Princess” His mother replied, not taking her eyes off the television. “You got home late last night?”

Sepp didn’t know if that last part was a question, or just a statement of fact.

“I had an errand to run” Sepp said.

“It didn’t have something to do with that girl of yours, did it?”

“Yesterday was Zoe’s birthday” Sepp replied, “I stopped by her place to wish her a happy birthday.”

“Oh” Sepp’s mother said, it was as if she had expected him to deny it. “That’s her name, Zoe?”

“Sophie actually” Sepp said, “And don’t worry, nothing is happening because she is just a friend.”

Sepp’s mother seemed almost disappointed by that despite her frequently admonishing him not to throw his life away by getting distracted. Girls were just one of the distractions in question. The thing about Sophie being a friend, that was true except he wished she could be far more than that.

Just the thought of that though reminded Sepp of the awkward way that the brief conversation with Sophie had ended the night before. He must have interrupted her as she was taking her dog out as one of the final acts of the night, because she had been standing there barefoot in what he had later realized was a nightgown. When she had bent down to stop her dog from jumping up on her, he had caught a glimpse down the front of the nightgown. While it wasn’t something that he hadn’t seen before, beyond magazines and television he had seen women sunning themselves in the park. This had felt very different, and he had been left tongue tied.

“Whatever you say” Sepp’s mother said, seeming to not believe a word of that. “And have you seen your brother?”

“Didi is still asleep last I looked” Sepp replied.

“Not Dieter but Hagen” Sepp’s mother said, and Sepp almost groaned aloud. “I cannot recall seeing him since Friday afternoon.”

Something that Sepp knew about Hagen, that his mother seemed uninterested in, was that he was a complete psychopath. If Sepp had to guess, his brother was somewhere pulling the legs off an insect or the like. The last thing on Earth Sepp wanted was to be spending the one day off this week he had running all over town looking for a younger brother who probably didn’t want to be found.

----------------------------------------------------------------

“I have no opinion on the matter, now go tell your friends that” Kiki said to a tabloid reporter seconds before he was dragged off by Hospital Security as members of First Foot were standing between her and the reporter.

It was something that had happened several times already today and it had been suggested by the Hospital Administration that she go home for the day. While no one had suggested that it was her fault, the tabloids wanted her opinion about the Russian Czar’s wedding, he was a distant cousin of hers. The trouble was that Hospital was short-staffed because of the holiday, she had a job to do, and they were interfering with it. At the same time, after what had just happened a few minutes earlier she probably would have liked to have left of her own accord.

“Bad day Princess?” A familiar voice, one that Kiki had not heard in a long time, asked.

“Do you people ever quit?” Kiki asked as she tried to wave off the two men from the First Foot who were about to thump this man. She knew from experience that them doing that would be counterproductive. By doing it they would become a part of the story. For some demented reason, this man had to pick today of all days to show up.

“I am not one of ‘you people’ if you mean like that guy who your goons just dragged off” Hunter Thompson said. The American Journalist had been sitting unobtrusively in the waiting room, ignored by Hospital Security and the First Foot.

“The First Foot are hardly goons” Kiki replied.

“Potato pototo” Hunter said, whatever that meant. Judging by the tone, Kiki had a feeling that she would probably deck him if he explained it.

“Why are you here?” Kiki asked, when she wanted to tell him to just go away.

“Because it is where the action is” Hunter replied.

“Or is it because the Russian Government refused to allow you into their country?” Kiki asked flatly.

“You know about that?” Hunter asked in reply.

“It was a good guess” Kiki said. Every other serious Journalist was in Moscow at that moment including Zella who had left the day before. The fact that Hunter was skulking around a hospital in Tempelhof spoke volumes.

“There was a bit of a misunderstanding last year with a story I ran with” Hunter said, and Kiki really didn’t care what he had to say in his defense. She was tired of these games.

“You want a story?” Kiki asked, “Come with me then.”

She started to walk back in the direction that she had just come from not really caring if Hunter could keep up. She walked back to the cubical which had been curtained off, the cleanup had not yet begun. Basically, it looked like a charnel pit with blood everywhere along with the detritus of a failed surgical effort and the body of the young man who Kiki had been unable to stabilize was still there with a sheet thrown over him.

“He was brought in with multiple stab wounds, believed to be the result of criminal activity and I couldn’t save him” Kiki said, “You probably saw the police leave after taking everyone’s statements.”

Hunter just stood there surprised, and it took a lot to surprise someone like him. He had said it himself that she was having a bad day. He had just been unaware of what that looked like.

“I am about to go tell a family something that will absolutely wreck them” Kiki said, “Do you want to watch that too?”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Eighty-Nine



17th April 1974

Mitte, Berlin

It had taken a few days, but Hagen had finally turned up and it was in number two on the list of places where Sepp didn’t want to find him after the City Morgue, the Central Police Headquarters in the center of Berlin. They had been holding him for questioning. Due to his age, they were treating the matter delicately, far more so than Sepp felt was needed because all Hagen had done was laugh in their faces despite them having him dead to rights. They had asked Sepp to help try to get Hagen to talk, but Hagen had done nothing more than flip the conversation around on him and it was all Sepp could do not to throttle the little twerp.

The only thing that Hagen had to trade was information, namely who had put him up to it, and if he didn’t give them something he was looking at spending the next decade in Neustrelitz, a place that they had been warned about since the first time they had gotten in serious trouble. Murder was far more serious than a broken window or some candy pocketed in the market. Sepp’s mother had even less luck than he had, and he had left the Police Headquarters in disgust leaving his parents to sort it out.

If that were even possible.

Walking down the street towards the subway station that would take him back to Tempelhof, Sepp hated the feeling that he had failed as a brother and as a person. He was supposed to be looking out for Hagen and Dieter, and this was the result. He also remembered the things that he had been thinking about Hagen, many of which he had said aloud in the past. That was when he noticed that a car, a black Mercedes-Benz touring car had slowed to match his pace and he had a sinking feeling that a monumentally rotten day was about to get even worse.

The Driver got out of the car, and he didn’t look like what Sepp had always imagined a Chauffeur would look like. Instead, he looked like one of the thugs that hung around some of the seeder taverns and poolhalls that Sepp was aware of with the only difference being that his clothes were nicer.

“The Lady wants a word with you” The Driver said opening the back door of the car. In that moment Sepp knew that if he were smart, he would turn and run but everyone knew that the Tigress had people everywhere so running and hiding were out of the question. If the Tigress wanted a word, it hopefully meant that she was still debating about whether or not he would be a snack.

With a great deal of trepidation, Sepp climbed into the car and couldn’t help but noticing that the door closed in the same authoritative manner as the steel doors inside the Police Headquarters. The woman sitting there was one who he had never met in person, he had seen her on television or mentioned in the newspapers. A woman with faded hair that had once been red and eyes that looked right through you. He was also suddenly aware of her connection to Sophie and how that further complicated matters.

“I’ve been where you are right now Josef” Katherine said in greeting as the car started moving. “There are some people who don’t want to be saved, or worse, can’t be.”

“Hagen is not like that” Sepp said defensively. Even as he said that he knew how trite that sounded to his ears. If they were talking about anyone else, would he be nearly as defensive?

“That is not up to you to decide” Katherine said, “Has it occurred to you that your brother needs help that he might now be able to get?

Yes, Sepp thought to himself, he had thought that, but he would be damned before he said that aloud. “No” Sepp said, “There has got to be a better way.”

“If you have any better ideas on what to do with a… Your brother is what a twelve or thirteen-year-old who is accused of a major crime then all of society is listening” Katherine replied, “Especially because of the name of the Emergency Surgeon involved, which appears in the police reports. These are very deep waters your brother has found himself in and it is not going to just go away.”

Sepp didn’t know how it was possible, but this whole thing was worse than he had thought it could possibly be.

They sat there in silence for several minutes as the car proceeded south from the center of the city. It occurred to Sepp that Katherine lived in the same neighborhood he did, even if they were on very different streets.

“If I can ask you to do something for me, please?” Katherine finally asked, breaking the silence. “Be careful with Sophie, she has had a difficult enough life.”

“That isn’t what it looks like to me” Sepp replied.

“There is a lot you don’t know about, and it is a subject that she never talks about with anyone” Katherine said, “You seem like a responsible man, so try not disappoint her.”

“We are just friends though” Sepp said, “Me and Zoe that is.”

Katherine seemed amused by that.

“The next time the two of you flirt with each other over the back fence try not to do it directly under my bedroom window” Katherine said with a knowing smile.

Sepp was a bit embarrassed that he had apparently done exactly that.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Ninety



19th April 1974

Heinersdorf-Pankow

It felt strange being back in the old neighborhood where Kat had grown up. It wasn’t just her though. Hans, Ilse, and Stefan had all unknowingly lived within a few kilometers of each other. Kat still felt a bit of regret about Ilse. If she had known about her then Ilse’s childhood would have been far different, and the consequences wouldn’t be so severe.

The neighborhood itself had radically changed over the last few decades. The railyard which loomed so large in Kat’s memories was gone, and the largely Working-Class residents had been largely displaced by professionals who worked in the city. The single-family homes with the garden allotments had become highly desirable in a curious twist of fate. Many of the families that had once lived here had taken advantage of that fact to sell so that they could move up in the world. Still though, the feel of the old Medieval village which Heinersdorf had once been remained and some of the light industry in adjoining neighborhoods persisted. The house that Kat’s Aunt Marcella had once owned had been sold to a young family and she had told them that she had nothing but happy memories of the place, which was mostly true.

The reason for Kat’s presence today in Heinersdorf, was both a celebration and a funeral of sorts. Gert, who had been loyal to her family his entire life, had passed away recently and the question of what to do about the tavern and the building it occupied had come up. The truth was that Gert’s had been barely breaking even if not operating at a loss for years as the regular customers had dwindled in number. Kat had been happy to keep Gert afloat, he could have retired but the community that revolved around the tavern was his entire life.

The trouble for Kat was that there was a lot of her own history tied up that building. It had been in the apartment above the bar where her father and one of her half-brothers had killed each other at the end of a sequence of events that Kat herself had put into motion. Her father had already been dying of lung cancer and Kat had decided that Urban was too dangerous keep in circulation. The way it had played out had not been in anyway like Kat imagined, especially because her father’s last act had been to claim that Kat’s actions in exposing his organization were his own. It was fortunate then that when the building had been surveyed extensive dry-rot and water damage had been found along with the crumbling masonry and wiring that predated the First World War. Simply put, it would cost more to repair the building than it would to simply knock it down. With the growing interest in Otto Mischner, it was just as well that the building was about to be torn down. The last thing on Earth Kat wanted to see was a shrine dedicated to what he had been. Besides all of that, the land that the building sat on was worth a considerable amount, so it had not been a hard choice for Kat.

At the moment, all that was left was the walls. The rest had been gutted with workers tearing out the timbers, plumbing, and anything else salvageable. As Kat watched through the chain-link fence, a large backhoe on tracks with a claw attachment on the end of the arm was directed to the front where it ripped a large chunk out of wall on the top floor. Bits of brick wall crashed into the sidewalk below. The rest of the wall slowly followed, no matter what else happened the place was going to be just another memory in a few hours. Turning away, Kat went back to her car.

“Got what you came for Ma’am?” Boris asked as he opened the door for her.

“Yes” Kat replied, without elaborating.



Plänterwald

It was said that Doctors were among the worst patients, what about when the patient was the child of a Doctor? The Pediatrician who Kiki had taken Nina to had threatened to throw her out if she didn’t stop being demanding and second guessing him. It was a simple enough diagnosis, an ear infection, which was common for children Nina’s age. Acetaminophen formulated for children for the pain and a course of antibiotics would clear it right up.

Still though, Kiki could see that the Acetaminophen did little to ease the pain that Nina didn’t understand. She was used to working in the Emergency Department where she could get action and results quickly. All she could do was wait for the drugs to take effect like any other parent would. Fianna had given Kiki a heating pad and she was sitting with Nina on the couch with it on her daughter’s ear. It was the first time in the last couple days that Nina had been able to hold still for more than a few minutes since this had started.

“She’ll be right as rain soon enough” Fianna said to Kiki with a smile.

Kiki knew that was the truth, she had seen it herself many times professionally. It just felt different when it was Nina. Ben had said much the same thing, hovering around them until Kiki had told him to take Rauchbier and Weisse out for a run. Just the thought of Rauchbier reminded Kiki of how it was growing harder to ignore how he was getting older. A decade earlier, Rauchbier was a part of a silly joke and Kiki had been reluctant to accept him at first. These days it was hard to imagine life without him. It was like that Comedian in the American sitcom that Zella liked to watch when it was rebroadcast in Germany, “Home is where the dog is” and “Every dog comes with tragedy included.” Those might seem like a contradiction, but Kiki understood that both comments were true at the same time.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Ninety-One



29th April 1974

Plänterwald

The contents of the report that Kiki was reading was very dry, if she had to guess it had to do with the authors of the report being aware of the implications of the material. The alternative was to run screaming from the room.

It was the latest assessment by the Planning Division of the KZS on what they could expect in the event of a Peer-to-Peer war. Unlike most other Service Branches, the Medical Service didn’t feel any need to present a rosy, optimistic picture. Instead, it was unrelentingly grim. They figured that Berlin would be bracketed by Hydrogen bombs. With the river crossings, rail yards, highway junctions, administrative structures, and an International Airport, it was a target rich environment. Estimates were of initial casualties in the millions. Any surviving medical facilities would be overwhelmed. Basic supplies would swiftly run out and resupply would be more or less impossible. There would also be no electricity or running water. This report had been compiled so that they could make plans in the event of something like this occurring, but it was proving difficult to see past the despair that this engendered.

The long-term projections were actually worse. Factoring in the effects of radioactive fallout on a population and the likelihood of nuclear winter, civilization ending was a given. Extinction was a very real possibility. If they were extremely lucky it would only mean a return to the Dark Ages. It also laid bare why Kiki had been given access to this report, she had direct access to the ears of her brother Freddy and Chancellor Brandt. They figured that she would mention this to them.

It seemed strange to Kiki that Armageddon was actually boring when it came down to it. No final judgement, no last battle between good and evil, no Gabriel’s horn because there wouldn’t be a second coming. Instead, it was just the end of everything, full stop. It was perfectly in keeping with Nora Berg’s comments about how mankind was the cleverest and most vicious of all monkeys. At the end of the day they were still monkeys, regardless of how they tried to pretend otherwise, and that included flinging feces at each other. Just the nature of what was being thrown had changed. Nora had said that in order to survive they needed to finally evolve past that.

Putting down the report, Kiki looked out the window of her home office, it was a nice spring afternoon. A tugboat, one among the hundreds of similar craft that plied the inland waterways, was towing a line of barges down the River Spree. It was a reminder to Kiki that there was a wide world out there full of far happier things than the dreadful report that she had been reading. Months earlier, there had been talk of her going to the South of France this summer. Aurora had said that she was far more interested in doing that than going to Russia like Kiki had last year. It was just one idea among many, but escaping everything, even if it were just for a few weeks suddenly felt like it would be a very welcome development.



Jassel, Galicia-Ruthenia

Olli was happiest when he was able to peacefully go about his work on his farm. Today, that included running the Hanomag tractor as it towed a plow across the field. As had become tradition, once he was through tilling his own fields, he started work on those of his neighbors. For him it was extremely welcome after wasting years in Krakow as an advisor to Queen Marie Cecilie. He had refused to take part in electoral politics, staying above the fray as it were. Finally, it had seemed that things had settled down enough for him to go back to doing the things that he preferred. He was certain that Marie Cecilie had named the highest award for gallantry in Galicia-Ruthenia the Cincinnatus Order, in which he was Knight Commander, just to poke fun at him.

Olli’s oldest son, Conrad had returned to Krakow, and by extension Jassel taking a job with the Galician Ministry of Agriculture. His wife, Nele joked about how some City girl was going to turn his head one of these days, but that hadn’t happened yet. It wasn’t as if there wasn’t enough of that going on closer to home. While Louisa, Olli’s oldest daughter had decided to go to University in Lwów, his second oldest daughter Janine had not been interested in furthering her education and had gotten married the previous summer. Now Janine was expecting, and Olli wasn’t sure what to make of his first grandchild being on the way.

Looking over his shoulder, Olli saw Hugo, his second oldest son driving the light Fendt tractor that was towing the seed drill behind him. Olli had warned him that he was going to get bogged down, but he insisted that he needed to help out this way. That hadn’t happened yet, but it was only a matter of time until it did and then Olli would need to tow him out, the Hanomag was good for that even if it was a waste of time. He had only relented because he felt he needed all the moments he could get with Hugo. Now that he had reached the age of sixteen, Hugo probably couldn’t be kept on the farm for much longer. He had told Olli that he intended to follow in his footsteps but not as a Farmer. That meant the Army and Nele had been understandably livid when she had learned he had made that decision. She had been hoping that Hugo would go to University like Conrad and Louisa.

It was too soon to know what thirteen-year-old Jonas would do. He seemed to prefer causing trouble, which in Olli’s experience was what was expected of the youngest sons. Of course, with a name like Jonas was it really a surprise? Nele had insisted that they name him after her father, who had also been a troublemaker in his youth.

Finally, Olli passed four-year-old Nele, named for her mother, as she sat on the edge of the field making a crown out of dandelions. She smiled and waved as he passed, which Olli returned. She had been a complete surprise for Olli and Nele, but it had worked out and she had Queen Marie Cecilie as a Godmother. For her the move back to the farm was still a novelty after having spent most of her life in Krakow.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Ninety-Two



5th May 1974

Nicosia, Cyprus

Even here as an Administrator for the British Empire, Jack Wick was acutely aware of his place in the world. Some men it seemed were destined to be mired in Middle Management. This wasn’t helped by the obvious play on Wick’s name that had followed him like a curse since childhood, namely lackwit. All the efforts at improving himself in the years since had failed, University and then time spent in the Army where he had ended up as a Supply Officer. Finally, that had resulted in his posting in an out of the way place where the lack of respect that others had for him would not be an issue. Only to have the younger sister of the Emperor of the Hellenic Empire marry the Russian Czar which had emboldened the Greek majority on this island. A night over drinks jokes had been thrown around about how the natives were restless and it was only a matter of time before the shooting started.

There were times when Wick wondered if this was what it must have felt like on the frontiers of the Roman Empire as Rome had decayed and the Empire was slowing collapsing. Looking out his office window, Wick saw that the crowd of protesters who were out there most days, demanding that the British leave Cyprus the same way they had India and most of Africa, had swelled in number. Wick was also acutely aware of the other crowd that was also growing in number around the side of the building, Turkish Cypriots who were all too aware of what had happened in Albania and Bosnia. They knew what would happen to them at the hands of their Greek neighbors if the British left the island and many were not wasting time in getting their documents in order to leave. There was nothing new about intercommunal violence, Wick had seen plenty of it in India when he had been in one of the last Regiments to leave the Subcontinent.

The trouble was that England was less than welcoming towards immigrants of any kind at the moment, it didn’t matter whether or not they came from a British Dominion. Wick’s Superiors had told him that in history there had always been winners and losers, that was just how it shook out. He had realized in that moment that they were unable to see just where they fit in in that bloody equation. After Trafalgar, they had gone from victory to victory, conquering most of the world. Then at their height, some Archduke in a place few had ever heard of got himself shot and suddenly the wind was no longer at their backs. Wick saw that they were already on the downslope, just these days it was getting harder to ignore that it felt like they were gaining speed. Wick didn’t know just what the final crash would look like but saw it coming.



Windward Passage, between Cuba and Haiti

Just being here in these waters was amazing. Looking at a nautical map, Louis Ferdinand Junior had seen names that had fueled his imagination since he had been a boy. Port Royal and Tortuga, the places that the Brethren of the Tides had been based out of during the Golden Age of Piracy. There were also many other spots on the map of the Caribbean that he recognized. He had joked with Borchardt about running up the black flag and finding Spanish treasure convoys. The Warrant Officer had just shrugged and said that sort of flag was used by Submariners these days before spitting over the rail, like if he were dispelling a curse. Louis had called him a killjoy and Borchardt had just smiled. Both of them had experience in dealing with actual pirates and neither had any romantic notions about them. Still, there was a part of Louis that had been thrilled watching the swashbuckling adventures in Errol Flynn movies when he was a boy.

After weeks of waiting, word had reached them in Havana that the American Carrier Group that had been hiding in Guantanamo Bay, was finally putting to sea. For the crew life had been easy in Havana, so many of them were reluctant to get moving. Once they got to sea and Louis had told them that they were on the hunt, that had changed their tune in a hurry.

The latest from Intelligence was that the Carriers were due south of them and steaming towards the exercise area well over the horizon. The presence of the Grindwal, Yoizuki, and Audace was to observe the exercise. However, there were extensive rules of engagement that needed to be observed that basically boiled down to Do not start a goddamned war or cause an International incident in the process of carrying out that mission. That didn’t mean that there wasn’t plenty of fun things that they could do without stepping over the line.

“Launch the Cuckoo” Louis said, and the crew scrambled to make it happen.

----------------------------------------------------------------

The USS Gridley was escorting the USS Saratoga, Carrier picket duty to keep unauthorized boats and aircraft out of the exercise area. After weeks of waiting in the Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, the armpit of the Caribbean, they had left in the dead of night during what they had been told was a gap in unfriendly satellite surveillance.

Now standing on the bridge, Captain Carter watched as a small, unmanned aircraft clearly painted in German Navy colors slowly flew past, probably photographing everything in sight the buzzing of its propeller coming into earshot. He was half tempted to blast the thing out of the sky but knew that would be pointless. Whenever the Germans were not using “Kuckuck” Drones for recon, they used them for target practice. They were the very definition of small, cheap, and expendable. Built mostly from wood covered in fabric, the drone was also difficult to see on radar.

Carter had tried to warn the Fleet that all their efforts were useless because there were dozens of eyes in Cuba who were not thrilled by the presence of the US Navy and all they needed to do was pick up a phone. This was proof that they hadn’t fooled anyone.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Ninety-Three



12th May 1974

Wilmersdorf, Berlin

“You are here Kristina, and it is not Christmas or Easter which I find to be a bit of a miracle” Zakhar said in a manner which made it impossible to tell if he was joking. Like always, he was wearing solid black, as an ascetic he looked with disdain upon the finery that a man of his station might embrace. He had not pulled any punches with his criticism of the other churches whose leaders didn’t share his perspective on the matter. He had at least combed out his beard so that it didn’t look like a bird’s nest. The Metropolitan of Berlin had insisted on speaking to Kiki today when all she wanted was the comforting rituals of childhood. Of course, her beliefs had taken a real beating over the years, which hardly helped matters.

“Things have changed at work” Kiki said, “I am no longer on call on Sundays so that freed up a bit of time.”

The truth was that the Hospital had started enforcing her actual schedule because it was felt that she was going to burn herself out. That had been an issue for years and Kiki wished that they would just let her do what she was comfortable with. Having it pointed out to her again and again didn’t help matters.

“Something that I understand” Zakhar said, “Satan violates every Law of God, so him not taking a day of rest is hardly a surprise. That would keep one of your particular vocation quite busy most days.”

Something that Kiki was thankful for was that while Zakhar was an extremely conservative, inflexible, religious fanatic, he had an attitude common among those from Siberia or the Russian Far East where in times past survival hinged on everyone working, no exceptions. Still, she was under no illusions about him being progressive in any other matters. He seemed to think that the only people who mattered were those who were the right kind of Christian. Those in other Denominations were apostates and people with different religions deserved to get stepped on. Freddy had said that it was people like Zakhar who were causing him a great deal of indigestion as the Greeks and the Turks continued their endless quest to exterminate each other.

Having Zakhar in Berlin seemed like it was asking for trouble and Kiki knew that it was only a matter of time before she ended up in some sort of dispute with Zakhar. Perhaps he would do everyone a favor and get run over by a heavily loaded lorry before that happened, but she knew that she would never be so fortunate.

“I don’t know if Satan has anything to do with general human stupidity and malice” Kiki replied, “Even less to do with plain bad luck.”

“Malice is easy enough to understand as his work” Zakhar said, “As for stupidity and bad luck…”

Zakhar just shrugged.

At least he wasn’t so arrogant as to assume that he had all the answers. This time anyway. Even he had to admit that people did stupid things constantly with no involvement of the supernatural.

“And just who is this?” Zakhar asked looking at Nina who was peering around Kiki’s legs at him. Like all small children she tended to stare at people who were odd. Zakhar probably knew perfectly well who Nina was, he was just acting like he didn’t.

“My daughter Nina” Kiki replied.

“A proper name” Zakhar said, “You would be shocked by some of the names that people in this country give their children, especially those who are of the second or third generation out.”

Kiki knew that he was referring to the ethnic Russians who lived in Germany, especially in the major cities such as Berlin, Munich, or Hamburg. Most of them were almost totally assimilated after so long outside of Russia, first as political exiles, and later economic refugees. To their children and grandchildren, Russia was almost a place of mythology. Kiki remembered the reactions of Yuri, who Zella had involved herself with, when he had gone to his mother’s hometown and found that the people there were not particularly welcoming. As far as they were concerned, he was German, while in Berlin he was seen as Russian. Kiki doubted that was something that Zakhar was prepared to actually address, not with the way that he easily fell into an “Us versus Them” dynamic.

“I’m sorry” Kiki said, “But when she gets bored things broken.”

“I understand completely” Zakhar said.

It was totally plausible and not a complete lie. Still, it was far better than if Kiki told Zakhar the truth, that she simply did not trust him. She also needed to convince the Hospital to let her work Sundays again to avoid these sorts of situations in the future.

One of Kiki’s bodyguards helped her get Nina to the waiting car, something that she was deeply thankful for. There were times when she envied how Ben didn’t always need to bother with the public aspects of her life. Religion was a small part of it. As an Academic, he fell into the category of Nonreligious/Decline to State and that didn’t seem to mean a whole lot beyond sleeping in on Sundays. Just the fact that people seemed to accept that without question was a bit of a minor annoyance.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Ninety-Four



13th May 1974

South-East of Jamaica, Caribbean Sea

The USS Gridley was one of the most powerful warships ever constructed. While she was a dedicated anti-aircraft platform, in the event of war she was designed with a stand off capability in mind, to launch cruise missiles that would find their targets without aid once the information had been loaded by the crew of the Gridley. What was kept in mind was that there were other ships whose mission included hunting the Gridley and destroying her before she got the chance to launch. Captain James “Jimmy” Carter had that in mind as he saw the three ships cruising abreast on the horizon, and getting closer with disturbing speed, two Destroyers and a slightly smaller Corvette.

Carter understood what Naval Intelligence had to say about their respective Classes and capabilities. What Intelligence didn’t know were intangible things, especially their Captains. These were honest to God Princes who could have lived lives of luxury but chose a rigorous life at sea. He knew Louis Ferdinand Junior quite well having gotten to know the German Prince in Trieste a few years earlier and knew that he was the sort who wouldn’t let little things like odds get in the way of the mission. It was hardly a surprise that he had been the one who had launched the drone that had given Carter’s CO such a headache on the first day. He didn’t know the other two, but when his XO had heard that they were being trailed by German, an Italian, and a Japanese ships he had asked if someone could tell him the rest of the joke. Everyone around the table in the wardroom had laughed except Carter who knew that they were not to be trifled with. Now, it wasn’t funny, not in the least.

“A message from Commander von Preussen” One of the Radio Operators said, “He is asking for your permission to approach.”

“Tell him that it is granted” Carter replied.

It was just like Louis, Carter thought to himself. All courtesies observed, right until it came time for him to color outside the lines. Carter had seen plenty of that in the Mediterranean when he had been commanding the old USS Blue, an outdated Destroyer that had excelled in her second life as a surveillance ship. Carter had spent a lot of time on the Blue shadowing the German Navy. Which was part of the reason he had been asked to do this, the other being that he had told the Admiral that he knew Louis when he had been asked if he could do something about “Those damned foreign ships.” Getting Louis on the horn had not been difficult, when Carter suggested that they meet to hash this thing out Louis had said that it was a parley, not a meet much to Carter’s annoyance when word had gotten around the crew of the Gridley about that. Yes, they were in the Caribbean Sea, but this was not a ride at Disneyland. Having a young Captain of a rival Navy being seen as a dashing Corsair by his crew presented its own difficulties, especially considering that Carter preferred a more calm and resolute style of leadership.

As the SMS K024 Grindwal drew closer, Carter could see the jagged lines of her paint scheme, different shades of grey designed to make determining her range and bearing difficult. The IJN Yoizuki was painted in broad irregular grey and blue stripes which was likely meant to serve the same function. Finally, the RN Audace was painted a vivid white in a tradition similar to that of the British Navy during peacetime. It didn’t take too much imagination for Carter to realize that he was looking at different doctrines at play. It the age of radar it hardly mattered how the ship was painted, however it related to how the ship’s crew saw themselves.

After a few minutes, a small boat was spotted coming from the Grindwal, with corresponding boats leaving from the other ships leaving from the small flotilla. As it drew closer, Carter spotted Louis wearing the white tropical uniform of German Naval Officers, a second man wore a similar uniform, a third who was piloting the boat, wore the dark blue uniform of a German Sailor, while four other men wore the field uniform of the German Military. The Marines aboard the Gridley bristled at the mere sight of them, and a voice whispered in the back of his head that Louis’ bodyguards were Sealions from the German Marine Infantry. Carter also noticed that the pilot of the German boat was wearing what looked like an American ballcap with gold lettering on it, an idea that the Kaiserliche Marine could only have copied from the US Navy. It was an amusing thought.

As Louis boarded the Gridley, he was followed by another Officer, who looked to be an older man with a weather-beaten face and grey beard.

“This is… Senior Deck Officer Borchardt” Louis said in English for introduction. Carter was aware that the Germans had their own versions of Warrant Officers to fill specialty roles, this was the first time he had ever met one of them. “Akihito and Amedeo will be here shortly, as the most junior among us it was felt that I was best suited to make introductions.”

“I saw that you are a Commander, or the equivalent” Carter said, “Not a Captain yet.”

“Probably not for a while” Louis said, and Carter knew that was a load of crap. If half of what Carter had heard about what Louis had been up to was true, then news of Louis’ promotion was due at any second.

“That is all well and good” Carter said, “But do you have any idea what this meeting is all about?”

“I am not supposed to say until everyone else gets here” Louis said, “But I think that my High Command and your Joint Chiefs of Staff have gone mad.”

“So, it’s a day that ends in Y” Carter said jokingly and he realized that Louis hadn’t been.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Ninety-Five



14th May 1974

Caribbean Sea

Lighting a cigar, Louis was standing on the fantail of the USS Gridley he was having a moment of contemplation as he looked up into the night sky. Few people understood what it was like to be on a ship out at sea far from the noise and light pollution of the cities. That was especially true here in the Caribbean where it felt like the night sky was a crystal bowl that arched just overhead.

Louis Ferdinand Junior’s understanding was that the US Navy had grown tired of the game that they had been playing and had decided to just invite the small flotilla he had been a part of to join the exercise. Of course, that was with the understanding that the Americans would be devoting everything they had to learning the capabilities of the three ships. Louis had discussed it at length with Akihito and Amedeo, the three of them were sticking their necks out here. If the Americans learned too much, they would have a serious problem. But if they hid everything, they would just be burning fuel while their hosts kept them carefully contained. Akihito had pointed out that they needed to find a balance and Louis wasn’t inclined to disagree. In the meantime, he had remained aboard the Gridley to iron out some of the minor details and that had lasted into the early morning hours. Compared to the Grindwal, the Gridley was massive. The crew was proportionally larger as well.

Louis knew that there were members of his family who would be all over him if they knew what he was doing at the moment, but it was one of those when in Rome sorts of things. In Havana, what were arguably the best cigars in the world were readily available at prices that even the lowest ranking Sailors could easily afford. Naturally when the Grindwal had left port there had been hundreds of boxes on board. Louis himself had bought several boxes along with some cases of fine aged rum that he and his XO, Isaak Lehr, were keeping in the “Doomsday” locker which only the two them had keys for and both keys had to be turned at once. It was the most secure place on the ship and the other items that they shared the space with, which oddly looked like industrial garbage disposals, were secured in their lead lined cases, and wouldn’t do the rum or cigars any harm. Louis had seen how the crew had run through what they had brought on board within a few days of leaving port.

“Enjoying your morning Mister von Preussen?” Louis heard Captain Carter ask.

“It has gotten early, hasn’t it” Louis replied, “Want a cigar?”

“My wife would kill me when word of that inevitably gets back to her” Carter replied, “Enjoy your freewheeling life as a young bachelor while you can.”

Louis was aware that Carter didn’t actually mean that last part.

“An extra one for me then” Louis said.

“You still think that our respective Governments have gone mad?”

“No more than usual” Louis replied, “It is just when it comes to the implementation that it causes a lot of trouble.”

“I understand that your brother got involved this time” Carter said, “I guess the Navy is sort of your family business.”

“The Navy was a big part of what my great-grandfather was about, he was buried in the Naval section of a military cemetery” Louis replied, “In the years since, my Grandfather was an Army General and my Father was an Airforce Reserve Officer, Freddy was in the Pioneers… Sort of like your Army Corps of Engineers.”

“Quite a history of service in your family” Carter said.

“That is one way to put it” Louis said, “Sometimes I think it has more to do with feeling useful more than anything. If you have ever seen some of the things that, Michael, my other brother gets up then you would probably understand.”

“Isn’t he the one who imagines himself to be King Arthur?” Carter asked.

“It is far more involved than that” Louis replied, “And there is absolutely nothing imaginary about it.”

“To live in a world where Knights, Kings and Queens are still a thing” Carter said, “It would almost seem romantic if you were not aware of the blood-soaked history behind it.”

“At least two of my sisters would agree with that” Louis said.

“The Doctor and the Revolutionary?” Carter asked.

“I would say that Rea is mostly harmless” Louis replied, “I do however think that the boosting Universities in Krakow and Lwów are closest thing to her actual aspirations made real, long term.”

“And your other sister, Kristina, getting your highest medal for valor without ever firing a shot” Carter said, “That drew the attention even from my church.”

“It is not that simple, not at all” Louis said, “Kiki is an idealist and willing to walk through fire for what she believes in. That is not always a good thing.”

“Even I can understand the nobility of her purpose” Carter replied.

“That is easy, from a distance” Louis said, “I have known her my entire life and have a different perspective.”

“And just what is that?” Carter asked.

“Kiki, Princess Kristina, is possibly the most dangerous person that I have ever met” Louis replied, “And it is entirely because she would blow up the world if she thought that it was necessary to save it.”