Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II

[FBKampfer]

EVen for a fictional terrorist attack that is an interesting statement of support.

This TL has made me more sympathetic with nationalism than I'd previously been. While being of German descent, and 100% sympathetic with OTL Germany right up until the holocaust (in all openness including war to regain lost territory in Poland and France), I was also born and raised in the states, and it seems that the latter wins out (also an interesting perspective on 2nd gen immigrants in time of war).

While I don't support killing civilians, it is, undeniably, a militarily effective tactic. Very low costs on your end, and the enemy is forced to expend orders of magnitude more resources and time.

If you want to make something painful, and hideously expensive for unpleasant people, you're hard pressed to beat a terrorist campaign. History has born this out.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Twenty-Seven


22nd December 1962

Mitte, Berlin

What had played out in the vicinity of the Berlin East Railway Station had been brutally effective. Setting off a large bomb just outside the station which was full of commuters on a Friday afternoon had been merely the first stage. The second blast had been aimed directly at the emergency personnel responding to the first. Gunmen had remained in the area to ambush the additional responders as they had entered the area, only fleeing as large numbers of police backed by the military arrived. Evidence suggested that they had been armed with pistols and submachine guns that all fired the same very common cartridge, which would make tracing the spent cartridges alone difficult. Dozens had been left dead and hundreds more had been injured. The Railway Station was considered a complete loss.

At the moment, fingers were being pointed in all directions about who was responsible and who was going to take the blame for this calamity. There was no shortage of suspects. Throughout the Empire there were several separatist movements and a large number of malcontents who were mostly seen as harmless blowhards. The Polish Independence movement and Refus d'accepter in Alsace were no strangers to violence but mostly had had been relatively quiet lately because the efforts of the BII in subverting those movements had been effective. It suggested that there was a new player on the scene who had gone for making a big splash and they had directly targeted the State itself. Using large bombs carried by lorries had been a tactic used by Poles nearly a decade earlier and Berlin East had been the terminus of lines that extended to Moscow, Warsaw, Kiev and the Baltics. That pointed directly to a movement in the east, but intelligence said that in Poland and Slovakia the separatist and criminal elements were already scrambling to get out of the way of a crackdown that they knew was coming. They had obviously been caught flat-footed, otherwise they would have already vanished into the woodwork.

Then word got out that among those who had been responding who had gotten shot was Princess Kristina who had been on leave from the FSR…

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

“Try to hold still” Doctor Berg said, “Otherwise this will hurt more than it otherwise would.”

The Panzerweste Ausf. C, the type of flak vest that Kiki had been wearing had done its job in preventing a serious, possibly fatal, injury when she had gotten hit. Unfortunately, it had been like getting kicked in the chest and it had not been until well after midnight when Berg had taken the time to notice how stiff Kiki’s movements were that anyone realized that she had been injured. After that, word had spread faster than Kiki had thought possible and had grown with retelling. By then most of the seriously wounded had been evacuated, so Berg had time to give Kiki her undivided attention.

It was in one of the medical tents sitting next to an electric heater and under the high-powered lights that Berg had forced Kiki to take off the vest, as well as the parka and shirt that she was wearing underneath. Centered just next to her sternum, Kiki’s chest was livid with reds and purples. Berg had taken one look at it and said that it would need to be drained.

“Your whole nobility of character thing is wearing extremely thin” Berg said as she pushed the needle of the large syringe into the hematoma. “There are better ways of giving your life meaning other than getting yourself killed.”

Kiki looked down at the syringe that was filling with blood and lymph as Berg drew it out. She figured that now wasn’t the right time to have a sharp comeback to that comment.

“I heard through a colleague that you were referred to Minke Glas” Berg said as she withdrew the needle, “Perhaps you ought to talk to her about why you are constantly pulling these little stunts. Hold this.”

Kiki took over holding a cotton swab over the puncture as Berg reached for one of the instant ice packs that had come into use recently by the Medical Service.

“I’ve only met Doctor Glas once” Kiki replied, “I’m not sure if I will again.”

“Why wouldn’t you?” Berg asked as she switched the cotton swab for the icepack, “She’s good at her job, she was able to help Ilse Tritten and her problems are far worse than yours.”

That caught Kiki a bit short, Ilse was Kat’s younger sister. It also explained how Charlotte had known who Glas was in the first place. There was commotion outside, Berg stepped out and a draft of cold air came into the tent. A reminder that it was still December regardless of whatever else was going on.

Then to Kiki’s complete mortification, her father and Freddy bulled into the tent only to look at her in shock before turning around and getting chased out by Berg. “You wanted to see if she was still alive. You saw, now get out” She said.

Berg was chuckling as she came back into the tent and threw a blanket over Kiki’s shoulders.

“There is a rather lengthy list of things that men cannot handle in my experience” Berg said, “Seeing their adult daughter’s body is right up there with childbirth I’m afraid.”

 

[NHBL]

WOW! Kiki's legend grows, and the situation gets messier and messier. Could have been MUCH worse, though; it could have been a freight car loaded with explosives and shrapnel. Granted, European railroad cars are small compared to American ones in most cases, but still...
Kiki should have triaged herself as walking wounded.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

I just ask because I can't recall Yugoslavia showing up at all.

ITTL What would have been Yugoslavia is a collection of small countries that are constantly scheming against one another and acting as proxies for the regional powers, Hungary, Romania, Greece and Turkey.

 

[ejpsan]

First off Kiki gets the Riot Act read to her again...

This points us to the Jacobians who seem to have socialist economic and political leanings and if they do come from the upper middle class then it just may be they are also ardent nationalists who sees the new immigrants as being very much part of the capitalistic materialism that is infecting Germany today.
These "Socialist Nationals" if we can call them that, are going to target the new immigrants and the Imperial Family who they see as the protectors of the immigrants and the capitalistic materialism they are opposed to.

 

[NHBL]

Right now, there's NO evidence of who did it--though the shooting proves that it was more than a lone wolf.

EDIT: Peabody-Martin likes my last post--that worries me.

 

[Loki-L]

This was a big and well organised attack for a new group. Usually there is some sort of learning curve for such movements.

To achieve something this big and complicated speaks of experience. There may be military veteterans among the group and those who used to be part of other groups, but an outside sponsor seems possible.

It certainly appears a lot more competent than the group who watched Kiki's boat.

There is a chance that the smarter separatist movements will let it be known that it wasn't them and distance themselves from the attack.

 

[NHBL]

If Kiki was the target, they would likely have blown up her boat.

 

[ferdi254]

I wonder where this comes from? Normally you would need a lareger movement of people to have some of them radicalized to go to such measures. ITTL more or less all the reasons for a student movement like the SDS are simply nonexistent. Neither the German RAF nor the Irish IRA came out of the blue as well as the Spanish ETA. The normal cycle is that you start with some somehow popular movement which gets into demonstrations, strikes, sitins... and some of the members are more and more wiling to first use direct force against real asset and then civilians getting targeted after some time of radicalisation (normally you see things like bankrobbery etc to get money as well).

Even in its high time the RAF would not have been able to set such a thing up (and that was 15 years after the founding of the SDS with the Stasi being in support, th near east conflict brewing and 13 years of Vietnam, none of which exist ITTL) it would have lacked the finances, the weapons and, most importantly, the number of skilled people (at max they were some 20 people willing to commit crimes which included killing people) and(!) they never went into the "kill as many people as possible" mode.

So IOTL such a thing did never happen because it never could happen even after WWII, the Nazis, Adenauer, the cold war, the Vietnam war, the left not utterly disgraced by Stalin.... what kind of movement has set up this one?

There has of course been (and still is) right wing terror aimed at killing maximum people (Oktoberfest) so the question is if the failed right wing revolution from back then is raising its head again. They would have the money, the access to the weapons and most likely enough people (even without foreign aid).

 

[ejpsan]

There is probably a huge disconnect that the population is feeling right now, Herbert Marcuse IOTL said that the cause of it was Capitalist Materialism in which while the class struggle that defined Marxist-Leninism philosophy has been basically solved but it has created a society that the individual no longer matters except for the jobs and goods that are created, bought, and sold, I probably have not put it correctly but neither would any of his young students got right also.
The way that student groups were usually formed IOTL was first around academic issues including admissions policies and in this timeline version of Germany the Post War reforms of Augustus Lang has given priority to veterans for admission and financial aid over those who did not serve.
I have speculated that the Korean Conflict was the spark for the Jacobians because if they come from the upper middle class and higher families, they are seeing a demographic change in who is getting in to some of the best universities in Germany, they are students that in the past would have gone to work in the factories, shops, and stayed on the farm but because they served in the military they are taking spots from the "more deserving" students.
There is also the factor that if the conflict continued to drag out, conscription would have returned which would have disrupted their studies, once again I have speculated that this is the first generation that has not been conscripted and there is a huge societal rift between the generations before who it was a fact of life that unless there was something disqualifying yourself you did your two years then went back to your life and you hoped that there wasn't going to be a war, and now where going in to the military is completely voluntary.

 

[sonofpegasus]

Kiki was shot with a Pistol calibre round, this implies a short range weapon. Her security team were with her at the time so I would have expected at least one of them to have got eyeballs onto the shooter. A trained team reacting would IMVHO have reacted with one or two securing the principle and how ever many are left going active defense.

 

[Rinasoir]

Kiki was shot with a Pistol calibre round, this implies a short range weapon. Her security team were with her at the time so I would have expected at least one of them to have got eyeballs onto the shooter. A trained team reacting would IMVHO have reacted with one or two securing the principle and how ever many are left going active defense.

A trained team would have tackled her and shoved her into a secure location, the principals desires in the issue be damned.

The USSS doesn't fuck around with the President of the United States in situation like this, and the US President (even ITTL) has a lot more straight power than the Kaiser does..

 

[Dan]

Hopefully here's a photo of Kiki, Beret on, medpack Bergan on, flak vest & boots on getting stuff done. Add that to the story of her being shot while treating people, then any fringe support for the group responsible, (the narrative is pointing at the Jacobins right now), is going to dry up in a heartbeat. That will leave the hardcore of followers who may find themselves PNG on the underground for bringing down too much heat.

 

[ejpsan]

Kiki needs to be punished for putting herself in danger again without thinking of the the consequences.
My idea would be to create The Order of Kristina that is given to first responders for actions above and beyond the call of duty and Kiki is the first one to get the award.
Kiki will hate this as she still does not think she deserves any praise for her actions and she definitely will hate any award being named after her.
Also what is going to happen is that the Berlin City P.D. is going be second only to the Marine Infantry in their support for Kiki.

 

[Wet Coast]

“Your whole nobility of character thing is wearing extremely thin” Berg said as she pushed the needle of the large syringe into the hematoma. “There are better ways of giving your life meaning other than getting yourself killed.”

...

“I heard through a colleague that you were referred to Minke Glas” Berg said as she withdrew the needle, “Perhaps you ought to talk to her about why you are constantly pulling these little stunts. Hold this.”

Right, because in an emergency an available, close by, highly trained first responder should just sit on her ass and do nothing and helping in an emergency is "pulling a stunt". I'm really coming to loathe Berg.

 

[duckie]

It also means the german police will start looking like the police that I remember from my teens. Imagine the the traffic checks I had as an 18 yrs old. Two police cars (30/40 meters apart) 2 officers in cover behind a car. 1 officer asking for your ID, his partner covering him 4/5 meters to his side with a clear line of fire, all armed with MP-5's. LOL you bet I was polite and had no sudden movements.

 

[Rinasoir]

Oh hey, during my re-read I just got to where our terrorist group would have gotten their ideas for the two bomb approach.

From the KKK... (Chapter 868, second section)

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Twenty-Eight


24th December 1962

Mitte, Berlin

The man who called himself Mithras stared out the window at the city under grey skies on Christmas Eve. The weather had changed from snow to a cold drizzle that seemed to seep into everything a few days previously. That was hardly the sort of thing that was typically associated with the holiday.

The attack on the train station had gone well enough, keeping his people from idiotically bragging about what they had done had proven to be the real challenge. Mithras knew that was how the State and Federal Police generally were able to catch criminals. It was the BII’s dirty little secret. More often than not, they got a call from an annoyed brother-in-law about the element that their wife’s younger brother was bringing into their house and then they took the blame so that domestic harmony was restored. Mithras had seen the truth with the infamous serial killers who had hunted within the realm that the BII was at a loss when they didn’t have an obvious motive or convenient informant. From what Mithras had heard, they were currently kicking over rocks in Poland to see what crawled out, so that bit of misdirection had worked. Mithras’ backers were pleased, but then all they cared about was burning the nation that they felt was becoming ossified under the House of Hohenzollern to the ground.

The issue that Mithras had was that he had had years to plan the attack on the station. Now his movement was expecting him to come up with something equally spectacular for the future and that was proving difficult. Any future operations he would basically need to think up on the fly and he had seen what had happened when the others in his movement who were only slightly younger than him tried to do things that way. That almost always blundered massively. They were children of privilege who were to foolish to understand just how lucky they had been in life. They weren’t exactly street-smart despite having spent their entire lives in this city, all they understood was that for the first time in their existence they were being told no and that made them easy to manipulate. They only needed someone to give them direction.

Then there was his other problem.

Despite being a student of the classics, the name Mithras was a part of that. He had always been fascinated by the mystery cult that had sprung up in the Roman Empire and how it had persisted for centuries without State sanction. In many respects he had modeled his movement after it, making sure that few within the organization knew the whole structure of it and those who did were carefully vetted. Lately though, the concept of Nemesis had been intruding on his thoughts. In this case, she was the Princess who gave up the life of a University student to take on a completely thankless task in a war that most of the public had preferred to ignore. It was as if she were a strange mirror image, even down to her choice of musical instruments. Word had it that she was one of the first people on the scene after the second bombing and that…

“Are you going to join us Lothar?” Mithras heard his mother say. A reminder about the day to day realities that he faced.


Hohenzollern Castle

Everyone was trying to keep the events of the prior days from casting a pall over the Christmas celebrations. Today, the meal in the Great Hall was a part of that with her family and their guests arrayed around the table in the traditional manner. Kiki had found herself seated between Michael and Louis Junior. Benjamin had come despite Kiki’s misgivings and whatever his relationship with her was, he had found himself seated just below the salt with the rather expansive family of the Mayor of Hechingen. A not so subtle way for Kiki’s father to acknowledge his existence and put him in his place at the same time. Kiki had however noticed that Freddy and Suga were seated together and she had a sinking feeling that she already knew the reason why the Japanese Princess was present. It was something that everyone had seen coming for the last twenty years.

All Kiki had been able to do over the prior days was recover from her injuries. Fortunately, her cambers in the castle were comfortable and the staff were more than happy to accommodate her needs when she had found that she could hardly move. The only thing she had managed to do before she had left Berlin was to arrange for Hera to be cared for. She didn’t want anyone else to try to remove the cat from the boat because getting Hera into a carrier was bloody business for everyone but her. Still, Hera did need to eat, and her sandbox needed cleaning. The castle was exactly as she remembered it and with it being situated on a mountaintop, it meant that the location was incredibly isolated in the wintertime if there was any kind of weather. As the multi-course meal wrapped up Kiki’s father prepared to make announcements the way that he did every year before the gift exchange.

“I’ll keep my words brief because I know that most of you have plans” Louis said. This was greeted with applause and Kiki did her best to hide her annoyance. He did the same joke every year and everyone played along.

“Let me begin with how blessed I feel to be surrounded by dear friends and family, in good health despite their best efforts.”

He was looking directly at Kiki when he said that last part and there was a bit of laughing around the table. If this castle had a trapdoor like in the movies, she would have cheerfully dived through it to get away.

“I am proud to announce the engagement between my son Friedrich and Princess Suga-no-miya Takako of Japan” Louis continued, “She is a very lovely young woman who we have gotten to know very well over the last few years and are happy to have become a part of this family.”

That was met with polite applause. Kiki knew that this news was not without controversy in either Germany or Japan.

“Also, as you are aware my daughter Kristina reaches her age of majority early tomorrow morning. My hope is that the Principality of Hohenzollern welcomes her as your new Princess and that she brings the diligence and dedication that she has learned over the last few years to her new role here.”

That was met with applause and Kiki was getting a lot of curious and calculating looks from down the table.

Her father continued on for several more minutes, but Kiki didn’t listen to any of it. She had completely forgotten that her father had set this up years earlier. Now it was something that she was going to have deal with.

 

[Wydo]

How many Lothars do we know? Manfred von Richthofen has a son named Lothar, right? But he seems a bit too old. A grandson maybe?

 

[Rinasoir]

How many Lothars do we know? Manfred von Richthofen has a son named Lothar, right? But he seems a bit too old. A grandson maybe?

Not a Richthofen, Manfred von Mischner would be the oldest Grandson and he's still, at most, 16. (Barring some previously unmentioned child of Helene's older brother from his ex-wife).

More than likely this is someone else, and their mothers identity would give it away.