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I have been floating around the forums for a while reading other people's timelines, and i finally mustered the energy to start my own. I encourage comment. Feel free to have at me. Here is the POD.


9:13 AM
March 12th 1913 - Warsaw



"A dozen, please." Antoni Slawek deftly pulled the roses from his cart, wrapped them in brown paper
and handed them to the young lieutenant. By his accent he guessed him to be Ukrainian, not that it mattered.
"Sixty Kopeks", he answered as the flowers changed hands. The Officer pulled the coins from his purse,
and handed them over, then smiling, went on his way down Podwale and turned the corner onto Castle Square.
Antoni silently wished him luck with the girl, thankful that otherwise traffic was light, and went back to waiting by his cart.
Timing and precision would be the key, and he had waited, and planned, for the right time, so as to be sure. He had waited years in fact, and he had always been precise. He had been a clockmaker, a long time ago, in what seemed another man's life, and precision had been his hallmark. He tried not to think about that too much, it was distracting, especially today. But the thought came anyway, unbidden. Little August peering over the edge of his workbench in the old shop, and himself as a younger man, showing his 4 year old son what the tools did. "Patience and precision, Augustus, are what make a clock to be proud of."

But August Slawek had not been patient, nor had he followed his father in his trade of clockmaker. He had won a place at the University studying law. Antoni had been proud of his only child, so brilliant, so passionate, so patriotic. But patriotism in Poland was dangerous, and August was six years dead now, at the hands of the Department for Defense of Public Security and Order, along with Antoni's wife, Maryla. Killed "resisting" the arrest of her son for treason against the Tsar. Killed with Antoni's life as a clockmaker and father. But his love of precision was still alive, merely redirected. Now he was Antoni the flower seller, and he had been selling flowers at this spot for years, waiting, watching, precisely planning, gathering the tools he required. Every man needed a purpose in life, and Antoni Slawek had his. He looked up. The cars were coming, and he was ready. He calmly reached into his cart, under the flowers, found the button, and as the middle car passed the mark he had set in his mind, months before, he started the last clock he ever made, and pushed his cart out into the street. It was all perfectly timed, as he had planned.





10:35 AM
March 12th 1913 - Lublin


The Commander of His Imperial Majesty's XIV Corps, looked out the window at the drill yard and tightly said, "Read that last sentence back to me please, Sergei." "Yes General", replied his aide. "And so, to lay to rest these tensions, i would like to formally request a transfer from the Warsaw Military District, to whatever position his Imperial Majesty deems appropriate." The young ensign looked up from the desk, already knowing why his Commander was sending this letter to Petersburg. Everyone in the XIV corps Headquarters knew about the "tensions" in command. "Would you like to change this sir?" "No, it sounds right, append my name and i will sign it." Turning, the General exclaimed. "What is that noise?" The noise in question being the pounding of booted feet, accompanied by muffled yelling, in the entry hall leading to his office. There was a sharp rap on the door, and even as Sergei got up to answer it, Captain Bezmelnizin, the duty communications officer burst in, red faced from what had obviously been a full run from across the barracks yard, and waving a piece of paper. "Sir, Sir, there is a message from Warsaw!"

His Commanding General answered wryly, "I take it that is it in your hand? May i have it please, Captain, as i gather it is for me?" Bezmelnizin went ramrod straight, and thrust out the piece of paper towards his commanding officer. The General took the note and quickly scanned it. He looked up, "Captain, message to Military District Headquarters i am coming as fast as possible. Inform General Bulganin that he will need to report to Corps Headquarters to assume command, i will leave orders for him." As the Captain left, he turned to his aide. "Sergei, summon all the senior officers on post to the Staff Room. Briefing in 15 minutes." Reaching out to pick up the letter he had so recently dictated, he continued. "Then get my car ready with appropriate escort. We are going to Warsaw." Smoothly ripping his transfer request in half, General Aleksei Alekseevich Brusilov, deputy commander of the Warsaw Military District, finished flatly to his aide. "Governor-General Skalon has been assassinated, and i must take command of the district."





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