Chapter One Thousand Seven Hundred Twenty-Eight
24th June 1966
Jena
Sitting in the hallway outside the room where she had just been grilled about what she had learned over the prior two years, Kiki was trying not to hyperventilate as she dreaded what the result would be. She was still waiting on the results of the written portion of the Examination and it felt as if the entire process was designed to be an elaborate torture with all the anticipation followed by additional waiting. Kiki hadn’t frozen during the oral portion, but she worried that she had babbled during parts of it as it now seemed like a blur. Everything that she had done in the past, helicopters full of wounded, life or death decisions needing to be made in seconds while getting shot at. Yet here she was, almost undone by getting questioned by three experts in the field she had been pursuing a career in for years.
“I would suggest wearing your uniform for the next exam” Doctor Holz said. Kiki hadn’t heard him approach she had been so wrapped up in herself. “It helps you feel confident and acts like armor. Regardless of what the Examiners say, they are impressed by that sort of thing.”
That was a reminder of how Kiki had tried to dress smartly in business formal, to look professional. That had not worked, and she had been left feeling like a child playing dress up. Also, there would be other Examinations in the future. Just the thought made her want to groan aloud.
“Eighteen months?” Kiki asked, “If I didn’t blow it this time.”
“You passed the written exam” Holz said, “It would have taken considerable effort on your part to have failed the oral portion. Except for how you tend to talk too fast when you are nervous, you knew what you were talking about.”
“Thank you” Kiki said, hoping that Doctor Holz was correct about that.
“Besides that, you have a summer in the Caroline Islands pack for” Holz said.
“I haven’t thought about that” Kiki replied, “Ben still thinks I’m going to visit him in Peenemünde and Rauchbier, what am I going to do with him? Hera?”
“Your boyfriend was moved up to second alternate for the Taxidiotis III Science Officer’s slot” Holz said, “He is departing for Cam Ranh this week but didn’t want to distract you from your exams. So, I think that he will be understanding if he doesn’t see you for a few more months if you are. The dog and cat are a bit easier to sort out.”
Kiki sat there in silence for a few moments before Holz offered her one last bit of advice.
“You should spend your Holiday doing what you want to do, regardless of where you spend it” Holz said, “Ignore the political machinations of your father and just enjoy yourself. Spend time with your sisters and niece or sit on a beach and read a book or two.”
“Again, think you” Kiki said.
Salamis Naval Shipyard, Salamis Island, Greece
The Greek Marine Sentries looked at the SMS Windhund with complete nonchalance. These were among the most elite soldiers in the Greek Military. The Simonov carbines that they carried showed a great deal of wear and the state of their uniforms would have caused any Senior Officer in the KM to go ballistic. It was clear however that these men were all proven killers and their lack of polish was entirely because they were constantly in the field. While the last Greco-Turkish War was more than a decade behind them, the ceasefire remained very tenuous and frequently broke down, just not into open warfare yet. There were frequent skirmishes that occurred along the Turkish border in Anatolia and at sea it could be argued that the war had never really ended.
All the Greek Marines who Louis had talked to had been involved in boarding actions and firefights in the recent past. The smuggling operations that the Windhund had been sent to help combat had been described to him as shoveling shit into a bottomless bin by Anthypaspistis Fotios Papadopoulos, roughly the equivalent of a Oberstabsbootsmann, who the commanded the Marine Sentries on the dock that the Windhund was moored to. As Fotios put it, guns went south, opium, cocaine and hashish went north. There were vast fortunes to be made and that attracted mafiosos who were not picky about who they did business with. Unless they were trying to kill each other over the profits or national interests came into play, that is. Fotios had explained that their job was to see to it that the Turks didn’t get those guns or the cash. What the Greek Mafia happened to be up to was for the Federal Police out of Constantinople to deal with.
The cynical realpolitik of that was irksome. Louis might have told Fotios how making sure that the crooks who controlled your locale were your crooks had worked out in Germany by generating lawlessness, corrupting everyone it touched and making those at the very top of the heap richer than the Junker Class. He figured that Fotios probably already knew that, which had been what prompted the comment about shoveling shit. Louis had then asked Fotios what the actual mission was? To make it expensive for the bastards, was the answer that Fotios had given him.
Louis was going to be spending the next several months in the Eastern Mediterranean doing that?