next to the WC, of course..Please, that's small time.
Next sortie, Ben needs to go out with a special piece of ordinance.
Her bike, attached under the wing of his aircraft.
Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
You know, I could see something like that happening if Zella walks up to him and clocks him in front of the ground crew, then goes and chats it up with Kiki.
Nah, just the ground crew hears about it. And goes "Nobody abuses our pilot but us", then does it. All it needs is a bracket and the bike. Both are pretty easy to accomplish.....
I figured it would be better if they saw it, but that's my experience with that sort of camaraderie there too
"He may be a weird, squrrelly kid, but he's our weird squirrely kid."
Part 95, Chapter 1503
Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Three
22nd August 1962
Anju, Korea
It hadn’t taken Zella long to figure out that visiting Kiki in Anju had been a huge mistake on several levels. First there had been Kiki seeing her as an extra pair of hands that needed to help and there were the people who surrounded Kiki asking Zella to talk to her friend before she killed herself. As Zella found out, Kiki was stopping only long enough to sleep a few hours each night before going out and she had already gotten in trouble with her Commanding Officer several times for working until she collapsed in exhaustion. Over just the day that Zella had been shadowing Kiki, she had seen the kaleidoscope of horrible things that Kiki dealt with every day and she was starting to wonder if Kiki had left her sanity behind somewhere over the prior months. The absolutely staggering part was that when Zella talked to her, Kiki said she wasn’t doing enough. Not that the surroundings of the few times they could talk helped matters. Kiki’s job was to stabilize patients and to assist the surgeons. Zella had been dragooned into Kiki’s efforts and the sound of an electric saw cutting through bone was the sort of thing that she had realized would probably haunt her dreams forever.
Above all of that, Zella discovered that the 2nd Army Corps and Fallschirmjäger Corps were massing around Anju. Commanding the Fallschirmjäger Corps was General von Hanover, who had once been the Aide-de-Camp of Zella’s father, so he had cheerfully welcomed her and what he had told her had been nothing short of astonishing. A massive joint operation was about to happen, Zella had arrived at just the right time to cover it. He had hinted that she wouldn’t have to wait for long. That had left Zella in a bit of a quandary, leaving now, she would just barely make the train home. If she stayed here, she would have the story she had come halfway around the world for but would also be earning herself a double helping of her mother’s wrath in the process. It hadn’t been until after she had left General von Hanover’s office that she had seen a number of journalists glaring at her. She had gotten the interview that they all wanted because she had an “in” and that had angered them.
For lack of anywhere better to be, Zella had returned to the base that 5th KHF operated from and was typing up a transcript of her interview with Ernst von Hanover in the mess tent. As she finished Zella noticed that the tent was empty and there wasn’t a whole lot of movement in the compound. When Zella asked one of the Soldaten doing KP where everyone was, he told her that the entire Helicopter wing had been ordered to stand down and that a special meal was being prepared for them. As the daughter of a Field Marshal, Kiki understood what that meant. The entire Wing was preparing for movement, the big operation that von Hanover had hinted at was probably happening in a matter of hours. All thought of leaving for Vladivostok vanished from Zella’s mind. When she asked where Kiki was, Zella got a dumbfounded look. She then asked about Lieutenant von Preussen and the Soldat looked a touch embarrassed when he told Zella that Kiki was down at the creek with the rest of the women in the Helicopter Wing.
It seemed that Kiki had grown a lot bolder here even if she was working herself to death in the meantime. That was something that Zella was not going to include in her story, but she did have a bit of a laugh because it was simply something that would have been unimaginable just a couple years earlier.
Near Sonchon, Korea
After a few hours of fitful sleep, Ji was kicked awake by the Hasa who looked at him banefully in the dim light of shelter that Ji had been sleeping in. The Noncommissioned Officer made it clear that he was perfectly happy to cut the throat of any man who spoke out of turn as Ji’s Company formed up and started walking towards the front. As they walked through the night, Ji saw the flash of artillery and the rumble of the guns and well as the explosions down range. The eastern sky was growing pale as dawn grew closer.
His hope was that whoever was on the receiving end of that was getting blown to bits and wouldn’t cause Ji any problems, but in the short time he had been a soldier he had learned that it never worked out the way he would have wanted. Ji knew for a fact that that it was true with his superiors and cold logic was that it was doubtlessly would be true with the enemy. The difference was that the Chinese would be trying to kill him, a complete stranger, on purpose. Try as he might, Ji could see no logic in that. Nor could he see any logic in what had caused the war itself. The Chinese had come over the border after they apparently had painted themselves into a corner after years of making threats.
As they got closer to the front itself, the ground grew rougher. This was one of the places where Tilo’s 3rd Marines had stood against the Chinese. They were highly regarded by the Korean Army, supposedly they were the dregs of German society but when push came to shove not a single one of them backed down, to defend a nation that none of them should have had a stake in. They called wherever they were home and fought for it as such. Ji had been told that no less would be expected of him. The zig-zagging trenches would have been instantly recognizable to soldiers of the First World War, they had come and gone out of fashion several times in that conflict and in the decades since. This conflict was no different. After a spell the artillery fire slackened and ceased. From here the artillery would be coordinated with the advance of frontline units. Ji had no idea where he knew that from, but it sounded right.
“Fix bayonets” The order came down the line. It had been debated about just how useful the weapons were. The Hasa made it clear that if the Chinese were able to dodge their bullets then it would be on the steel of the Korean bayonets that their luck would run out. “Await signal to start advance” Ji heard. What was that supposed to mean? What signal?
There came the thunderous scream of turbine engines as attack planes flew in low over the opposite lines and Ji was dimly aware of elongated oblong shapes tumbling away from the airplanes. The night was lit up brighter than day as clouds of white phosphorus ignited. Ji was pushed forward as one of thousands who went over the top in an action that would also have been instantly familiar to anyone who had been around in 1916.
22nd August 1962
Anju, Korea
It hadn’t taken Zella long to figure out that visiting Kiki in Anju had been a huge mistake on several levels. First there had been Kiki seeing her as an extra pair of hands that needed to help and there were the people who surrounded Kiki asking Zella to talk to her friend before she killed herself. As Zella found out, Kiki was stopping only long enough to sleep a few hours each night before going out and she had already gotten in trouble with her Commanding Officer several times for working until she collapsed in exhaustion. Over just the day that Zella had been shadowing Kiki, she had seen the kaleidoscope of horrible things that Kiki dealt with every day and she was starting to wonder if Kiki had left her sanity behind somewhere over the prior months. The absolutely staggering part was that when Zella talked to her, Kiki said she wasn’t doing enough. Not that the surroundings of the few times they could talk helped matters. Kiki’s job was to stabilize patients and to assist the surgeons. Zella had been dragooned into Kiki’s efforts and the sound of an electric saw cutting through bone was the sort of thing that she had realized would probably haunt her dreams forever.
Above all of that, Zella discovered that the 2nd Army Corps and Fallschirmjäger Corps were massing around Anju. Commanding the Fallschirmjäger Corps was General von Hanover, who had once been the Aide-de-Camp of Zella’s father, so he had cheerfully welcomed her and what he had told her had been nothing short of astonishing. A massive joint operation was about to happen, Zella had arrived at just the right time to cover it. He had hinted that she wouldn’t have to wait for long. That had left Zella in a bit of a quandary, leaving now, she would just barely make the train home. If she stayed here, she would have the story she had come halfway around the world for but would also be earning herself a double helping of her mother’s wrath in the process. It hadn’t been until after she had left General von Hanover’s office that she had seen a number of journalists glaring at her. She had gotten the interview that they all wanted because she had an “in” and that had angered them.
For lack of anywhere better to be, Zella had returned to the base that 5th KHF operated from and was typing up a transcript of her interview with Ernst von Hanover in the mess tent. As she finished Zella noticed that the tent was empty and there wasn’t a whole lot of movement in the compound. When Zella asked one of the Soldaten doing KP where everyone was, he told her that the entire Helicopter wing had been ordered to stand down and that a special meal was being prepared for them. As the daughter of a Field Marshal, Kiki understood what that meant. The entire Wing was preparing for movement, the big operation that von Hanover had hinted at was probably happening in a matter of hours. All thought of leaving for Vladivostok vanished from Zella’s mind. When she asked where Kiki was, Zella got a dumbfounded look. She then asked about Lieutenant von Preussen and the Soldat looked a touch embarrassed when he told Zella that Kiki was down at the creek with the rest of the women in the Helicopter Wing.
It seemed that Kiki had grown a lot bolder here even if she was working herself to death in the meantime. That was something that Zella was not going to include in her story, but she did have a bit of a laugh because it was simply something that would have been unimaginable just a couple years earlier.
Near Sonchon, Korea
After a few hours of fitful sleep, Ji was kicked awake by the Hasa who looked at him banefully in the dim light of shelter that Ji had been sleeping in. The Noncommissioned Officer made it clear that he was perfectly happy to cut the throat of any man who spoke out of turn as Ji’s Company formed up and started walking towards the front. As they walked through the night, Ji saw the flash of artillery and the rumble of the guns and well as the explosions down range. The eastern sky was growing pale as dawn grew closer.
His hope was that whoever was on the receiving end of that was getting blown to bits and wouldn’t cause Ji any problems, but in the short time he had been a soldier he had learned that it never worked out the way he would have wanted. Ji knew for a fact that that it was true with his superiors and cold logic was that it was doubtlessly would be true with the enemy. The difference was that the Chinese would be trying to kill him, a complete stranger, on purpose. Try as he might, Ji could see no logic in that. Nor could he see any logic in what had caused the war itself. The Chinese had come over the border after they apparently had painted themselves into a corner after years of making threats.
As they got closer to the front itself, the ground grew rougher. This was one of the places where Tilo’s 3rd Marines had stood against the Chinese. They were highly regarded by the Korean Army, supposedly they were the dregs of German society but when push came to shove not a single one of them backed down, to defend a nation that none of them should have had a stake in. They called wherever they were home and fought for it as such. Ji had been told that no less would be expected of him. The zig-zagging trenches would have been instantly recognizable to soldiers of the First World War, they had come and gone out of fashion several times in that conflict and in the decades since. This conflict was no different. After a spell the artillery fire slackened and ceased. From here the artillery would be coordinated with the advance of frontline units. Ji had no idea where he knew that from, but it sounded right.
“Fix bayonets” The order came down the line. It had been debated about just how useful the weapons were. The Hasa made it clear that if the Chinese were able to dodge their bullets then it would be on the steel of the Korean bayonets that their luck would run out. “Await signal to start advance” Ji heard. What was that supposed to mean? What signal?
There came the thunderous scream of turbine engines as attack planes flew in low over the opposite lines and Ji was dimly aware of elongated oblong shapes tumbling away from the airplanes. The night was lit up brighter than day as clouds of white phosphorus ignited. Ji was pushed forward as one of thousands who went over the top in an action that would also have been instantly familiar to anyone who had been around in 1916.
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From the maps I have been looking at the Korean and German forces are just north of the part of Korea where it is at its narrowest and that is going to give them some room to maneuver in.
With massive Naval bombardment from the west in the Yellow Sea and near control of the air by the Germans, the Chinese Army is systemically being blasted and starved of supplies while their soldiers have to fight without rest for days in the opening of this offensive, I would not be surprised if after an initial stiff resistance the Chinese Army suffers massive collapses of their units that allows the more mobile forces of Germans and Koreans to breakthrough and reach the Yalu River and cut off any retreat.I
Maria is going to be in a quandary because Zella has run off and put herself in danger but also Zella is getting the stories that other reporters are not and that is giving the BT an edge over the competition.
Zella is also going to write how much Kiki is putting herself in and that will just make Kiki by far one of the most popular royal in Europe.
For Kiki she is going to get after this war is over (assuming she survives) the most gaudy medal that the Emperor of Korea has to offer and having her accept it is going to be the hardest thing she is going to do in this war.
Kiki will also be offered her choice of any medical school to attend with the unspoken understanding that she has to take some time and be available for fundraising events.
With massive Naval bombardment from the west in the Yellow Sea and near control of the air by the Germans, the Chinese Army is systemically being blasted and starved of supplies while their soldiers have to fight without rest for days in the opening of this offensive, I would not be surprised if after an initial stiff resistance the Chinese Army suffers massive collapses of their units that allows the more mobile forces of Germans and Koreans to breakthrough and reach the Yalu River and cut off any retreat.I
Maria is going to be in a quandary because Zella has run off and put herself in danger but also Zella is getting the stories that other reporters are not and that is giving the BT an edge over the competition.
Zella is also going to write how much Kiki is putting herself in and that will just make Kiki by far one of the most popular royal in Europe.
For Kiki she is going to get after this war is over (assuming she survives) the most gaudy medal that the Emperor of Korea has to offer and having her accept it is going to be the hardest thing she is going to do in this war.
Kiki will also be offered her choice of any medical school to attend with the unspoken understanding that she has to take some time and be available for fundraising events.
So, Ernst August is still in the military. Shouldn't he have some sort of duchy to run back home? Is his father still alive?
A quick look at Wikipedia has him be the oldest child and heir born before the point of departure for this timeline with no older siblings. OTL his father died in 1953, if he is still alive ITL he might not be for much longer. Chances are this is his last assignment before he will have to retire to sit on a throne full time.
He probably also still remembers being used by Zella's mother to get an in with her father and considers giving her access as highly ironic.
Any article that Zella writes about the plight of Korean refugees will be badly received in Korea, but giving her connections there won't be much authorities can do about it. Meanwhile in Germany people are likely to be able to relate to the idea of people evacuating from an invading enemy. Many will compare what Koreans did for their fellows to what German did or what they wished they had done or how they misremember doing it and find the Koreans wanting.
This might get some charities some boost and make German authorities put pressure on Korean leaders to clean up their act. This sort of outside pressure could help avoid the sort of mindset that led to some of the worst atrocities under south Korean leadership in OTL.
A quick look at Wikipedia has him be the oldest child and heir born before the point of departure for this timeline with no older siblings. OTL his father died in 1953, if he is still alive ITL he might not be for much longer. Chances are this is his last assignment before he will have to retire to sit on a throne full time.
He probably also still remembers being used by Zella's mother to get an in with her father and considers giving her access as highly ironic.
Any article that Zella writes about the plight of Korean refugees will be badly received in Korea, but giving her connections there won't be much authorities can do about it. Meanwhile in Germany people are likely to be able to relate to the idea of people evacuating from an invading enemy. Many will compare what Koreans did for their fellows to what German did or what they wished they had done or how they misremember doing it and find the Koreans wanting.
This might get some charities some boost and make German authorities put pressure on Korean leaders to clean up their act. This sort of outside pressure could help avoid the sort of mindset that led to some of the worst atrocities under south Korean leadership in OTL.
I am thinking more of a USS Pueblo type incident with the difference that the Germans will get Korea to back down and not inflame the Americans.
Doubtful. I was thinking more in a clusterfuck of an incident, possibly involving Chinese PT boats, an nearby American vessel, and a KLM unit firing missiles, the PT vessels managing to evade, and the still primitive programming of said missile re-acquiring targets in the American Vessel, with the tragic consequence of the American vessel being mission killed......
If a British vessel wandered into the area and got hit, the official reaction would be pretty much "What the fuck were you doing in a war zone?"
Running down to Port Arthur from Vladivostok?
I mean it would be a ship that should be neutral, carrying cargo from a country that is neutral, to a territory that could (I'd need to reread to be totally certain) be currently Special Administered by a neutral nation.
And if you want me to believe that a merchant captain wouldn't take a route through a warzone if he thought it would save a bit of money, then mate, you'd need to be literally Jesus
If the owners of that ship wants to make a profit, One Word - Insurance. Loyds of Londen doesn't cover active war zones, and even if you get some cover, the rates would be through the roof.
Counterpoint, this is a Britain without WW2.
A Britain that still firmly thinks it rules the waves, and that a Union Jack on a ship means it is safe as houses.
Unless the Chinese or Koreans have issued a statement of "Unrestricted Submarine Warfare", arrogance is going to win the day.
And even then, so what if the Captain decides to lie and void his insurance by going through an active warzone. "German missile kills British Crewmen" is the sort of thing that can bring down governments.
Nah, it'll probably american made but chinese operated missiles.
Even bets if it'll be some minor neutrals, a big dog (ex. UK) or an american merchant. Bonus points if it just delivered a crago of 'scrap' to China.
Even bets if it'll be some minor neutrals, a big dog (ex. UK) or an american merchant. Bonus points if it just delivered a crago of 'scrap' to China.