Part 93, Chapter 1459
Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Fifty-Nine
3rd September 1961
Laupheim, Württemberg
Finding herself standing in the office of one of the few people in Laupheim who knew who Kiki was and seeing that he clearly didn’t care was not a comfortable experience for her. Major Kepler, the S7, had been yelling at her over an accident that had occurred earlier when another trainee had been injured, by her.
“If I felt that you had done this on purpose, you would be on the first train home” Was what Kepler had said, “Accidents happen in this field, so you need to accept that. Now get the Hell out of my sight Fähnrich Fischer!”
That hardly made Kiki feel any better about what had happened as she got out of the Major’s office as fast as she could. Just a few hours before Kiki had been involved in unarmed combat training and things had gone horribly wrong. She had been training in Krav Mega under Kat and Gia since she was ten years old. It had been drilled into her head that almost every man that she encountered would be bigger and stronger than she was. That was why Kiki had been taught how to use that size and strength against them. Kat had also emphasized that Kiki would likely have a lower center of gravity and should use that. It had taken her some time to realize just exactly what that had meant, and it had become less of an issue over time.
What had happened was because the man had tried to overpower Kiki in exactly the manner that Kat had warned her about, thinking that he could just grab and pin her. She not allowed him to get ahold of her in the manner that he had intended and had taken the offense as soon as she was aware that the initiative was hers. Unfortunately, that was where things had gone wrong. She had already kneed him in the stomach and was trying to knock him backwards when he had twisted around trying to keep his balance, so she had heard the sound of tearing cartilage and tendons. Kiki realized what had happened even before he had landed on the mat and the pain from the injury hit him.
What followed was Kiki having to render first aid on an injury that she had inflicted. Even as she had been doing it, Kiki kept having the intrusive thought that it was something that she would need to get used to. The last Kiki had seen of the man, he had been loaded onto an ambulance and everyone already knew that he was out. Injuries tended to do that and one like this would require surgery to even start to repair the damage to his knee. Apparently, the someone in the Brass was aware that trainees aspiring to get into the KSK, the successor to the vaunted SKA, might be tempted to knock their fellows out of contention. That was the reason why there were specific rules and regulations against that sort of thing.
Minutes later, as Kiki walked through the Mess Hall with a tray loaded with her midday meal, she noticed that the other trainees were looking at her differently. In the past they had looked at her with amusement, like if she were a mascot or someone’s little sister playacting. Now, it seemed like they were surprised that yes, it wasn’t an accident that she was here.
Tempelhof, Berlin
The summer had come to an end and Kat had found herself contending with her children. Tatiana and Malcolm had been dreading returning to school a week earlier for different reasons. Malcolm was still struggling with dyslexia and Tatiana had not exactly endeared herself with their teachers by arguing with them over the nature of her brother’s difficulty. Marie had started Kindergarten. Every day so far, she had liked going to be with the friends that she had made and the fun things she was doing. Kat knew from experience that Marie’s enthusiasm wouldn’t last for long. Soon enough Marie would discover the elicit joy of sleeping in when she was supposed to be getting ready for the day, particularly on cold mornings.
Into this stepped Emperor Louis Ferdinand with his usual timing. For the last few years Kat had been working as his advisor and occasional fixer, but this time he had made her an offer that he knew would tempt her, but she would be very reluctant to accept. Over the previous months, the SKA had been disbanded after the glaring problems with the organization had proven intractable. Interservice rivalry, turf battles, the difficulties encountered with coordination in all the recent conflicts and most of all, a complete lack of consistent standards in training across the service branches that contributed units to the SKA. The formation of the KSK was supposed to finally address those problems by uniting the disparate components of the SKA under a single command.
Now that Kat’s children were all school-aged, she was in the perfect position to command the KSK from Louis’ perspective, if she was interested. That would mean coming out of retirement and it would mean a promotion to Generallieutenant initially. Once the KSK was fully up and running, it would roughly be the equivalent of an Army Corps, that would mean that the command would need to be occupied by a General of Branch. Kat had told Louis that she would need to talk it over with Douglas before she made any kind of decision. Kat was left pondering if that would be several steps too far for a career that she had thought was over for a long time.
3rd September 1961
Laupheim, Württemberg
Finding herself standing in the office of one of the few people in Laupheim who knew who Kiki was and seeing that he clearly didn’t care was not a comfortable experience for her. Major Kepler, the S7, had been yelling at her over an accident that had occurred earlier when another trainee had been injured, by her.
“If I felt that you had done this on purpose, you would be on the first train home” Was what Kepler had said, “Accidents happen in this field, so you need to accept that. Now get the Hell out of my sight Fähnrich Fischer!”
That hardly made Kiki feel any better about what had happened as she got out of the Major’s office as fast as she could. Just a few hours before Kiki had been involved in unarmed combat training and things had gone horribly wrong. She had been training in Krav Mega under Kat and Gia since she was ten years old. It had been drilled into her head that almost every man that she encountered would be bigger and stronger than she was. That was why Kiki had been taught how to use that size and strength against them. Kat had also emphasized that Kiki would likely have a lower center of gravity and should use that. It had taken her some time to realize just exactly what that had meant, and it had become less of an issue over time.
What had happened was because the man had tried to overpower Kiki in exactly the manner that Kat had warned her about, thinking that he could just grab and pin her. She not allowed him to get ahold of her in the manner that he had intended and had taken the offense as soon as she was aware that the initiative was hers. Unfortunately, that was where things had gone wrong. She had already kneed him in the stomach and was trying to knock him backwards when he had twisted around trying to keep his balance, so she had heard the sound of tearing cartilage and tendons. Kiki realized what had happened even before he had landed on the mat and the pain from the injury hit him.
What followed was Kiki having to render first aid on an injury that she had inflicted. Even as she had been doing it, Kiki kept having the intrusive thought that it was something that she would need to get used to. The last Kiki had seen of the man, he had been loaded onto an ambulance and everyone already knew that he was out. Injuries tended to do that and one like this would require surgery to even start to repair the damage to his knee. Apparently, the someone in the Brass was aware that trainees aspiring to get into the KSK, the successor to the vaunted SKA, might be tempted to knock their fellows out of contention. That was the reason why there were specific rules and regulations against that sort of thing.
Minutes later, as Kiki walked through the Mess Hall with a tray loaded with her midday meal, she noticed that the other trainees were looking at her differently. In the past they had looked at her with amusement, like if she were a mascot or someone’s little sister playacting. Now, it seemed like they were surprised that yes, it wasn’t an accident that she was here.
Tempelhof, Berlin
The summer had come to an end and Kat had found herself contending with her children. Tatiana and Malcolm had been dreading returning to school a week earlier for different reasons. Malcolm was still struggling with dyslexia and Tatiana had not exactly endeared herself with their teachers by arguing with them over the nature of her brother’s difficulty. Marie had started Kindergarten. Every day so far, she had liked going to be with the friends that she had made and the fun things she was doing. Kat knew from experience that Marie’s enthusiasm wouldn’t last for long. Soon enough Marie would discover the elicit joy of sleeping in when she was supposed to be getting ready for the day, particularly on cold mornings.
Into this stepped Emperor Louis Ferdinand with his usual timing. For the last few years Kat had been working as his advisor and occasional fixer, but this time he had made her an offer that he knew would tempt her, but she would be very reluctant to accept. Over the previous months, the SKA had been disbanded after the glaring problems with the organization had proven intractable. Interservice rivalry, turf battles, the difficulties encountered with coordination in all the recent conflicts and most of all, a complete lack of consistent standards in training across the service branches that contributed units to the SKA. The formation of the KSK was supposed to finally address those problems by uniting the disparate components of the SKA under a single command.
Now that Kat’s children were all school-aged, she was in the perfect position to command the KSK from Louis’ perspective, if she was interested. That would mean coming out of retirement and it would mean a promotion to Generallieutenant initially. Once the KSK was fully up and running, it would roughly be the equivalent of an Army Corps, that would mean that the command would need to be occupied by a General of Branch. Kat had told Louis that she would need to talk it over with Douglas before she made any kind of decision. Kat was left pondering if that would be several steps too far for a career that she had thought was over for a long time.
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