Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Thirty-Seven


1st September 1957

Berlin

The wedding was nice enough, though Kat got the impression that Ilse would have been quite happy to have forgone the formal keeping up appearances portion of it, the ceremony and reception. The Graf for his part had caused a rare moment of agreement between Helene, Caecilia and Sonje Louise. They had been unable to understand how he had been far more supportive of Ilse than he had ever been of them. Kat thought she understood though. While the Graf could be harsh with his own children, they had grown up with every advantage in life and the expectations that had gone with it. Ilse had none of those advantages and the only expectation that anyone had of her was that she might one day follow her mother into an early grave in a potter’s field. She also bonded with the Graf over a shared love of the natural world, which was something that among his children only Helene had ever shown a whole lot of interest. The Graf had stepped into the role of father of the bride while his younger brother had stood in for him with Albrecht.

Now, with her marriage to Albrecht, Ilse had become the sort of Daughter-in-Law that many would have thought the Richthofen family would never except. The dark truth was that they had already seen the sort who many believed that they would have excepted, Lothar’s disastrous marriage. Kat had never met her, but the description that Helene had given had been of an aristocratic doormat who had turned to pills the same way that Lothar had turned to drink. Eventually, she had tired of Lothar and ran off with her riding instructor. Later on, after Lothar had his misadventure and ended up under the wheels of the Kiev Express, Helene had run into Lothar’s ex-wife and she was terribly upset because she had divorced Lothar and they had no children together, so she wouldn’t be entitled to any portion of the Richthofen Estate. The detail that her ex-husband was dead had not even entered her thinking. Such a delightful woman.

Now the reception was in full swing and Kat was dancing with Douglas while catching glimpses of Ilse and Albrecht, they were the center of attention as they should be. They both looked happy and that was something that Kat hoped would be lasting. In a few days Albrecht would be going to Cam Ranh to oversee the development of a training facility there. For someone with Ilse’s interests the jungles and oceans of South-East were truly a paradise. It was all that Kat could possibly have wished for her sister, she deserved more than anyone else that Kat knew to have things go her way for a change.

A glance at their table revealed that Kiki was still in her chair sulking. She had been like this all week since the boy across the alley had figured out that she was a Princess. Kat had talked to her a few times, mostly just listened. She hadn’t said so, but Kat knew that it was inevitable that Benjamin was going to eventually figure that out. She was also aware that Kiki had been enjoying herself as she had pretended that she was somewhat normal. The truth was that Kiki had a staggering amount to learn if she was ever going to lead a somewhat normal life. She was somewhat ignorant about certain things and badly mistaken about others. Kat knew what it was like to be Kiki’s age and how easily one could adopt and then discard personas. Eventually, Kat had discovered that the only person she was really fooling was herself.

Kat knew that she had to be patient with Kiki and her theatrics. Still, there had been a few times when she had felt the frustration boiling over. In the manner of teenage girls since the dawn of time, everything was the end of the world. Kat had seen that dozens of times with her other girls as they were growing up. She also expected it with Josefine in a couple years and with Tatiana eventually. She had mentioned that to Aunt Marcella who had just laughed as if Kat had told her the funniest thing she had ever heard. Starting tomorrow Kat expected that being found out would be the least of Kiki’s worries. Against all advice, she was still insisting on accelerating her education with the idea of completing two year’s worth of learning in one term. The Headmistress of Kiki’s gymnasia had told Kat that while she was welcome to try but didn’t think that it was feasible, and that Kiki was going to fall short. Kat had recently read an article about an out of control nuclear reaction, the process called meltdown. It sounded a lot like what was being anticipated with Kiki over the coming months. Either her mind or body was going fail her, either way Kat was prepared for it and if she played it correctly then Kiki would learn a valuable lesson.

There was also Benjamin to consider. Kat had spotted him on the roof of his parent’s house a few times. While he knew better than to point that telescope towards Kat’s house, he was still looking to see if the light was on in Kiki’s room. Kat had deliberately scared him with that file and had included a reference to Quartum. That operation was a matter historical record now. Few though, knew exactly who had been among the thousands of personnel involved with the project. Ben’s father had been just one of them and Kat had done that to see if the boy could keep a secret.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Thousand Two Hundred Thirty-Eight


8th September 1957

Hanoi, Vietnam

For Ilse the flight from Germany to Vietnam had been exciting, but it had come following a sour note. Ilse loved her sister, Kat taking her in had been possibly the greatest moment of her life, it had certainly changed it for the better. However, there were times when Ilse grew frustrated with her. Kat couldn’t seem to mind her own business. When Ilse had been boarding the airplane, Kat had advised her that she needed to get used to living with Albrecht and to get their issues as a couple sorted before they went on to the next stages of their relationship, then she had handed Ilse a pamphlet detailing her options in detail and implying exactly what Kat had meant.

It hadn’t been until Ilse found her seat next to Albrecht that she had finally expressed her frustration with Kat and her intrusiveness. Albrecht had listened to Ilse before he answered her, “In fairness, Katherine is just looking out for you and she doesn’t know what you haven’t told her.”

That had quieted Ilse for a while. It was something that she had discussed at length with Albrecht when he had first proposed to her and had said nothing to anyone else, especially not Kat. Kat would have insisted that she have certain things medically confirmed, things that Ilse was unsure she could handle.

For years Ilse had been told by Doctors that they were unsure that she could ever have children due to continuing issues from trauma and malnutrition she had suffered in early childhood. Then over the last year Ilse had watched Leni’s struggles and constant disappointment in that regard. She was aware that Leni’s background was very similar to her own and Ilse didn’t want to go through that. She feared that was what the future would bring if she and Albrecht did try. Kat hadn’t realized it, but she had touched a raw nerve.

Once she had gotten past her parting with Kat, Ilse had enjoyable flight. Landing in Vietnam though had been unlike anything she had ever experienced. Looking out the window of the car she had been amazed by the exotic city and the crush of humanity. There had been a few seconds when she had been walking from the airliner to the car that she had felt the fear of agoraphobia start to grip her mind. It was the first time that had happened in months. Albrecht had guided her to the car before she froze, something that she was grateful for.

“I think that you might be one of the few people I know who would be perfectly happy inside an Atgeir capsule” Albrecht had said.


Berlin

It was supposed to be a tribute, the elaborate hand-over ceremony where the Command of the First Foot Guard Regiment would change. All Kat wanted was to get over with it so that she could get on with her life. That was however not to be, Louis had one more errand that he wanted her to run in this capacity before she would be able to put it behind her. Having started this accidental career in the shadows, she would have preferred to have just left quietly. Instead, she had this big production to endure wearing an uncomfortable dress uniform and the medals that she personally despised. The result was that she was watching this event in a detached manner. Tomorrow she was going to fly to Washington D.C. so that she could retrieve Heinz Thorwald’s rifle. That was something that held far more significance, Thorwald had been there when she had first arrived in Wunsdorf and later on in Judenbach.

Looking over she saw that with the exception of Ilse, her entire family was here for this. Aunt Marcella, Douglas and the children, Hans and Helene along with their children, the rest of her brothers and their families. Hans had said that they were going to go out later to celebrate Kat’s impending freedom. The whole thing seemed surreal, being a part of one large extended family. Not that she was happy with all her guests. Nancy had brought Tilo along, Kat still couldn’t see what Nancy saw in him, but she was willing to overlook that in order to keep the peace. Kat had also caught a glimpse of Johann Schultz himself in a dark suit in the gallery. Working in the position that she had been offered as the Emperor’s Equerry and maintaining her position as Mistress of the Keys to some theoretical future Empress meant that Kat would never be entirely free of Schultz.

It was something Kat looked at that with considerable distaste, sort of like what she had found out when she had signed the documents that finalized her resignation as of 15th September 1957. She was subject to recall until her sixty-fourth birthday and while her Commission would be considered inactive, she would hold the rank of Generalmajor of Reserves until then. In 1984.


Tempelhof, Berlin

“Where is everyone?” Ben asked after Petia let him into the kitchen and he sat down across from Kiki. Petia went back to the stove. With almost everyone out of the house for the evening, most of the staff had taken advantage of the having the evening off and were elsewhere. Petia had seen it as a chance to cook something for herself and Kiki who was the only other person in the house.

“The Gräfin had to attend what she is calling a trial by ordeal” Kiki replied, “Douglas said that she is just being overly dramatic. Katherine is retiring from her Command to take on a different role in the Imperial Court.”

“You didn’t want to go?” Ben asked.

“No” Kiki replied with a heavy sigh, “My father is there, and I would have no idea what to say to him at this point.”

“Your father being Emperor Louis and all of that” Ben said with some trepidation.

“Don’t make it sound more serious than it is” Kiki replied, “He is my father yes, that is his title, but to me he is someone who tells silly jokes and would spend all his time tinkering with car engines or writing music if people let him.”

“I have a hard time picturing that” Ben replied.

“He’s been writing a composition that he says will be a tribute to my mother” Kiki replied, “I don’t know if anyone beside him will ever hear it though.”

Then after a long pause, “There is a formal dance that my school is putting on” Ben blurted out, “I wanted to know if you wanted to come, as my date.”

Kiki looked at Ben for a few seconds unsure of how to answer.

“I don’t know Ben” Kiki replied, “I would need to… Ouch!”

Kiki looked around for a few seconds in bewilderment. Ben was looking at her with a surprised look on his face, while trying not to laugh at the same time. Petia, who had just hit Kiki over the head with a wooden spoon just had a slight smile on her face.

“This nice boy finds the courage to ask you to go to a dance even with everything he knows about you” Petia said in Russian, “And you try to make up excuses to tell him no without telling him no.”

“It’s not like that” Kiki replied in the same language. Ben, who couldn’t understand any of that was just watching them.

“What is it like then?” Petia asked.

“I’ve things to do” Kiki said, “My studies.”

“Your studies will always be there” Petia said, “A night spent out is what you need, you might even find it enjoyable.”

Then Petia turned to Ben, “She will go with you, but you had better believe that this will need to be discussed with Katya” In a language that he could understand.

Ben looked overjoyed by this turn of events, Kiki was just confused by what was happening.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Thirty-Nine


9th September 1957

Idlewild Airport, New York City, New York

“Mind telling me how we got stuck with this again?” Parker asked.

“Because I didn’t know when to shut my fucking mouth” Jonny replied.

Parker wouldn’t disagree with that. Fort Drum had been informed that Colonel Katherine “Katze” von Mischner was coming to collect a rifle had that belonged to one of the founders of the German SKA from the FBI. When word of that had gotten around to the 1st Special Forces Group, Jonny had shot off his mouth that he knew what she looked like. That had been enough to get Jonny volunteered to get sent on the long drive from Fort Drum outside Rochester into New York City. Of course, misery loves company, and everyone knew that Parker was Jonny’s buddy, so he got volunteered a couple hours later. They were to escort her on the connecting flight to Washington D.C.

There were rumors of course about her. That she while she wasn’t there during the formation of the German BNDs secret Hunter/Killer teams, Katherine had been one of their first direct recruits. Something that had recently been confirmed by the CIA when they had learned that she had been allowed to retire after twenty years in the German armed forces. They could do the math, and that meant that she was in for a considerable amount of time before she became known around the world as the one who had shot César Sauvageot. Then she had been in the first class of the German SKA, supposedly that translated to Special Warfare Division. After the war she had ended up commanding the Kaiser’s Guard Detail.

The result was that Parker had been expecting a bigger than life figure but the woman who left the airplane was not that at all. If there was a word for what she was, it was average. Red hair, mid-thirties, thin build, five seven or five eight.

“Colonel von Mischner” Jonny said in greeting as she got close.

“Generalmajor, Sergeant Casey” She corrected as she handed Jonny her bag with an accent that wasn’t at all what he was expecting. “Not that it matters, I’m out and that part of my life is done. You can call me Gräfin von Mischner, if you must address me at all.

Jonny looked at Parker, his face blank.

“What is a Gräfin?” Parker asked Jonny as they followed after.

“That is what they call a Countess in Germany” Jonny said, “Her brother warned me that she is a nasty piece of work, so be careful.”

“Meaning what exactly?”

“Meaning that she might not seem like much” Jonny replied, “But she is a force of nature, like a hurricane.”


Wunsdorf-Zossen

“Do you two young men understand the seriousness of your situation?” The Judge asked, “In order to make an example, so others within your community will not be tempted to follow your example I am strongly considering referring this matter to a higher court with a recommendation that both of you serve to longest time allowed under the law. So, again, do you understand?

“I’m sorry, Sir” Erik said, “I missed the bit in middle, we had a long weekend waiting for you to come in this morning. If you could repeat that for me, that would be great.”

While Karl had to admire the balls that it took for his cousin to have made a comment like that. It was just stupid for him to have said that to the Judge who would determine if this matter would be sent to a Higher Court. One that would send them off to some concrete and steel hellhole. The truth was that Karl knew that it didn’t matter, they had appeared before this particular Judge a few other times and it had been their youth that had made him go easy on them. The problem was that since then they had turned sixteen and while they were not considered adults under the Law, they were considered old enough to be held responsible anyway. Erik might not have realized it yet, but they were screwed the instant they walked into the courtroom. Now, watching the Judge’s face turn a livid purple, Karl just held the hope that whoever he referred their case to wouldn’t follow his recommendation that they be buried under the jail.

Then a miracle appeared in the form of Uncle Tilo walking into the courtroom.

As Erik and Karl watched Tilo went up to the front and was speaking with the Judge for a few minutes. Their grandmother had always said that Tilo was the smartest of her children, if anyone knew a way out of this mess it would be him.

Then Tilo came walking back, “You two idiots got caught vandalizing your school again?” He asked.

Both Erik and Karl started to make excuses as to what they had been doing and it swiftly became obvious that Tilo was as interested in listening to those as anyone else that they had encountered over the prior two days.

“Oberstlieutenant Schultz” The Judge said, “It is not too late for you to change your mind.”

“Their mothers, who happen to be my sisters would never forgive me if I did that, Sir” Tilo replied.

“Very well” The Judge said, “I am releasing them into your custody, it is however contingent on you following through with your part.”

In the following minutes they were allowed to just walk out of the courtroom, Erik and Karl couldn’t believe their luck. They ought to have known better when they saw what was waiting for them just outside.

“The good news is I was able to talk the Judge into letting you go” Tilo said, “The bad news was that I told him that the two of you would be going away. Far, far away.”

Erik and Karl saw the Platoon of Marine Infantry who were waiting for Tilo to come out.

“But Uncle Tilo…” Karl started to say as he realized what was about to happen.

“Ma doesn’t want you back and Pops is being very quiet because he knows who really runs the household” Tilo said, “The two of you have a choice, prison or Cuxhaven. What’s it going to be?”

Both Karl and Erik knew that it was no choice at all that they were being given.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Forty


13th September 1957

Washington D.C.

Stepping off the elevator Parker was annoyed by the itchy wool Class-A Uniform that he was wearing and walked down the hall towards the Countess’ suite. While the hotel staff was used to seeing military uniforms, the one worn by Parker and Jonny was different. They saw the unit patches from the 1st SFG and the green beret and knew that they reacted like they knew they were in the presence of something dangerous. Parker was finding it an annoyance.

The rest of the time, they had been with the Countess and it had been a whirlwind week. Katherine was in high demand throughout Washington. Various groups who existed to promote International relations, Women’s Groups and German Heritage Societies all wanted some of her time. Into this Gloria had stepped in, an outspoken young woman with aspirations to be a journalist who was from here in D.C. It was clear that while Katherine wanted to encourage her, even she found her presence trying at times. Parker found her to be a pain in the ass, but to his surprise Jonny liked the girl. For all the years that Parker had known him he had never really understood Jonny’s taste in women. Then again, everyone knew that Californians were a strange bunch.

Tonight, they were finally doing what the Countess had come here to do. Collecting the rifle that had been belonged to a German hero before it had been taken as a trophy in Russia. It had then been caught up in the convoluted Augusta Conspiracy and was used in the attempt to assassinate President Truman. President Harriman was making a big production of returning the rifle and trying to mend fences after some unfortunate business the prior spring where someone close to the Countess had gotten hurt for stupid reasons. Parker found Katherine in her hotel suite chatting with Gloria.

“You are telling me that medal can only be won by a woman?” Gloria asked, she obvious liked the idea.

“The Grand Cross of the Order of Louise can only be awarded to a Dame of the Order in good standing who has demonstrated repeated acts upholding the values and traditions of the Order” Katherine replied, she was pinning medals to the front of the blue uniform tunic she was wearing, the one in question was a gold and black enameled cross with what looked like diamonds and sapphires mounted on it that hung from a white ribbon. “As Dame Commander of the Order it was expected that I would be awarded it when it was instituted at the end of the war.”

As Gloria scribbled that on her notepad Katherine continued to put get ready. The Blue Max he knew about, the others were a collection of brightly colored ribbons and medals he would need to look up. What did that orange sash mean? The Division patch with the crowned eagle on her tunic and the red beret with the gold diving eagle pin on the table in front of her however put Parker’s teeth on edge. Throughout his training he had been repeatedly warned that for him Guard Divisions and Airborne were to be considered particularly dangerous. Apparently, the Countess had been explaining what the medals she was wearing meant. According to Jonny, who had gotten a couple of medals as member of an allied force in Mexico, the Germans didn’t give them for nothing. Each one represented a staggering amount of insanity and bloodshed, and they were awarded sequentially. The higher the medal, the higher the price. What did that say about the career of the Countess? She might be a woman, but she didn’t strike Parker as being a rear echelon type.

“Where is Sergeant Casey?” Katherine asked as she saw Parker.

“He went to the pull the car around” Parker answered, “We’ll need to get out there in a few minutes, he doesn’t take having to wait very well.”

“Good” Katherine replied, “While I don’t share your friend’s impatience, I want to get this whole thing over with.”

“Did the war teach you that, Ma’am?” Parker asked, half-jokingly.

“No, try having three babies” Katherine said in perfect deadpan, “After nine months you just want them out of you.”

Parker heard Gloria snort as she continued to write in her notebook. He knew that he had probably just walked into that one. He had seen the photograph of the Countess’ family that she kept with her. Katherine, her husband, an older woman that she said was her Aunt, her sister who she said had recently gone to Vietnam and five children. The husband, a Douglas Blackwood, was a rangy looking man with longish brown hair and an easy grin. Parker knew that German women didn’t necessarily take their husband’s name, she had said that he was Canadian with a Scottish-Québécois background. Of the children in the photograph it was obvious that the two oldest were not hers, the one with long curly hair was a teenager and the delicate looking blond was ten or eleven though it was hard to tell. Katherine had said that she had taken them in because they needed a family. With the other three, the family resemblance was extremely clear.

As Katherine got up to leave, she turned to Gloria who was packing up her things. “Are you coming with us Miss Steinem?” She asked.

“You are going to meet the President” Gloria said, “Wouldn’t I would be out of place?”

“Nonsense” Katherine replied, “I met his predecessor a few times through my work, you can do the same. Just keep close and be very quiet, observe.”

Katherine was smiling when she said that last part. It was as if she was inviting the younger woman into a caper of some kind. Parker was starting to see how she had been able to control the units that she was said to have. Oddly, it was because she was able to make life and death situations seem tolerable.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Forty-One


15th September 1957

Berlin

As the airliner descended into Berlin in the early morning hours Kat couldn’t help but notice how many of the dark gaps that existed during the years after the war had ended were finally gone. While the city had long been considered a world capital, the crossroads of Europe, where Eastern and Western met, it had taken two decades for her to reclaim that mantle. For Kat it was a wonderful thing to see because she liked to think that she had played a substantial roll in bringing back the city that was her birthplace.

This was also the last day that Kat would be considered active in the military. She intended to go home and just be a mother to her children for a while, Helene had warned her that she would get bored and would be begging for something exciting to do after a few weeks. Helene seemed to think that she was just going to sit at home and do nothing, that was the furthest thing from what Kat would be doing. Instead, she had taken the position that Louis had offered her. Regular hours and not having to worry about getting unexpectedly called away at any time, a chance to travel with Douglas when he went off on photographic expeditions, plenty of time to pursue her own projects. It all sounded so good her. She felt like she was secure for the first time in her life and it was a good feeling.

The meeting with the American President had gone well enough. Still though, he had been long winded in the manner that most of his kind were no matter their nationality and was a reminder as to why she disliked most politicians. Kat had heard the words that he had spoken, and they had sounded good if one could ignore the historical context with which he spoke and didn’t know about the not so neutral role that the country had played during the Second World War. Many in Europe had been speculating for years as to whether or not Stalin would have been so bold as to provoke the war had it not been for the sale of grain, oil and other war materials from the United States. Kat herself remembered her father’s cynical jokes about British rifle cartridges with American headstamps long before the Des Moines incident resulted in the United States entering the First World War. As much as Kat had wanted to give President Harriman a piece of her mind over all of that and how Asia had been treated, the Emperor had explicitly ordered her not to do that or tell anyone in America what she thought about what the President, no matter what he said. Kat was to accept Thorwald’s rifle on behalf of the SKA, she was to graciously thank the President for being a good host and she was to echo his sentiment that as Liberal Democracies their respective nations should be friends and allies. The whole thing had left a bad taste in Kat’s mouth.

Instead, Kat got to sit there quietly and do her best not to create an international incident. She had talked to Asia just before she had left for America and while Asia was recovering slowly it was clear that what had happened had taken a severe toll on her. Some part of her had been damaged in Danvers State Hospital and that was the slowest part to recover. The comments the hospital staff had made about her ethnicity and gender, how that meant that she was less than human in their eyes. She was just an object to them, a plaything. When they discovered that she would hit back they had done their level best to destroy her. She had been helpless, unable to stop them and that had affected her deeply. Kat understood what Asia was going through as she came to grips with what had happened, it was something that Kat wished that she didn’t. For Asia though, the most offensive aspect of all of this was that partially because of her the current incarnation of the Sisterhood had been effectively sidelined. Kat had told Asia that she shouldn’t read too much into that. The Sisterhood would be back in some form in the future, she just needed to be patient.

Gloria, who had followed her around for the entire week had talked with her about her life in Germany. What Kat did when she wasn’t off being a soldier, secret agent or whatever it was she did. That had been fun, but there had been a few times when she had gotten the impression that Gloria had wanted her to answer questions a certain way and had been disappointed by the answers that she had gotten instead. Kat had eventually given her a bit of advice. She could cover the stories, or she could play a role in them, but trying to do both was a disservice to herself, her newspaper and her readers who would eventually tire of her having an agenda. Kat was unsure if she had gotten through to her, but she remembered that Maria had told her almost the exact same thing shortly before getting caught up in the Reichstag bombing ended her journalistic aspirations forever.

Kat had however parted on good terms with Gloria. They had last seen each other at Idlewild Airport, in the lounge as they had waited for their respective flights to depart. Kat was going home, and Gloria was headed to Los Angles to cover the unfolding scandal that was unfolding in the big Hollywood studios. Jane Wyman and her husband had fallen on hard times following his felony arrest a few years earlier. Now they were at the center of a prostitution scandal that many thought was going to be the undoing of the studio system. Personally, Kat felt that it was profoundly ironic that the scandal that took down the studios was someone doing on a small scale what the studios themselves had been doing for decades. Kat had told Gloria that there she thought that there would no good side to what she found in Hollywood, just different sides of bad and worse.

Once the plane landed, Kat trudged up the jetway, an agent from Lufthansa had made sure that Thorwald’s rifle was well cared for during the flight and he handed it to her as she walked past. Kat preferred to travel light and had never liked the risk involved when checking luggage. Thorwald’s rifle had been a bit different in that regard. Arrangements had been worked out with the airline ahead of time. It was with great relief that Douglas was there to meet her and help with her bag and the rifle case. The plan was that Kat they were going to drive across town and deliver the rifle to the military museum the instant the office opened. Her last duty to Thorwald and the SKA would be complete.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Forty-Two


20th September 1957

Berlin

In some ways this night was like a dream, but in others a nightmare. Especially with the unexpectedly disappointing way it ended.

Ben’s father had been joyfully talking up the times that he had gone to school functions with a handful of girls, one of whom had eventually become Ben’s mother. While the advice from his father had veered between useful and terrifyingly bad, it did help keep Ben’s mind off the impending dance. Minutes later when he had walked around the block to get Kiki, he had a part of his mind short-circuit when he saw her in the parlor of the Gräfin’s house. She was wearing a black formal dress and had clearly gone out of her way to make herself look good for this event. Kiki was normally sort of frumpy and plain. Seeing her tonight Ben realized that when she put in the effort, not only was she out of his league, Ben wasn’t sure they were playing the same game.

It had been the Gräfin’s husband Douglas who had reminded both of them of the significance of the night when he had wanted to get a photograph of Ben and Kiki. “Your parents are going to want to see the two of you two together Ben” Douglas said, “You father as well Kiki.” Ben felt his mouth go dry at the mention of Kiki’s father. His parents still thought that she was the nice girl from across the way, he had never figured out exactly how to tell them who she really was. According to Kiki, the Gräfin had a whole series of rules for her. Some of them made sense, Kiki said that she was notoriously messy, and Katherine insisted that she keep her personal space clean. Others were a bit more difficult. Like Kiki not drawing attention to herself while she was living in Katherine’s house. Basically, if the Press started camping outside the front door because they knew that Princess Kristina was living there then she would have to go back to her old life. That had been a strong motivation for Ben to keep what he knew about Kiki’s identity to himself.

While Ben had been having his photograph taken with Kiki, they were joined by Jo and Tat. The two younger girls had heard that Kiki was going to a dance and they wanted to go. Ben wondered if six-year-old Tat even knew what a dance was. Douglas had gently told them that their turn would come, that Kiki was being allowed to go to this because she was almost a grownup and that Ben was a responsible young man. Ben couldn’t help but notice the implied threat in the way that Douglas said the last part of that. There were times when Ben wondered if Katherine and Douglas knew that he sometimes imagined what he might see if Kiki forgot to close her blinds. Other times the more logical part of his mind told him that they weren’t stupid, so of course they knew. It was the reason he was not allowed to set foot above the parlor floor of their house.

The ride to the dance hall had gone well enough, though Ben couldn’t help but notice that the driver of the car looked like he could bench-press a Panzer, seemed to have no neck and gripped the steering wheel with hands that had scarred knuckles. Another one of Kiki’s not always so subtle security detail. When they got to the hall itself, there were a number of Ben’s friends form school. Apparently, most of his friend’s dates were from well outside Kiki’s normal social circle. Their entrance into the hall was met with whispers as the other girls saw them. Jealousy was not something that Ben would have anticipated, but he realized that he should have, coming to a dance with the prettiest girl was not something that he had very thought would happen.

When Kiki was introduced as his companion for the evening as Kristina Fischer, Ben realized that it wasn’t who Kiki was so much an idea of who she wanted to be. Someone with no background, who didn’t have a lengthy title, or needed to endure tedious ritual. Even though the dance itself was heavily chaperoned with everyone to remain on the dancefloor in plain view, the next few hours passed like a dream. Dancing with Kiki had turned out to be incredibly fun. A few times other boys from Ben’s school asked her to dance, Kiki had told him to get them refreshments while she handled the situation. No one said anything later, but Ben caught a grimace of pain, the clutching of a hand that had been creeping towards somewhere it didn’t belong and an approving look from one of the matronly chaperones. It seemed that Kiki knew how to take care of herself in situations like that.

Later, as Ben walked Kiki from the car to the door of the Gräfin’s house that was when it all went wrong. As the reached the top of the steps Kiki turned him and said, “Thank you for inviting me out tonight Benny, you are such a wonderful friend.”

For some reason that felt like she had just dumped a bucket of ice water over his head. “I was happy to” Ben replied, as his words sounded weak to his own ears.

“Good night then” Kiki replied as the front door swung open and Katherine who must have been waiting for her to get home let her in.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Forty-Three


1st September 1957

Berlin

For Kat, life had fallen into an easy rhythm and she had suddenly discovered that she had far more time to pursue her own projects. She had also been observing Kiki for the last few weeks wondering if should say anything. It was clear to her that Ben was smitten with Kiki, but Kiki had been pursuing her studies with single minded determination and seemed to have no idea of that. The closer that Kiki came to the end of the term, the more it became clear to everyone but Kiki that she had simply taken on too much this time and had set herself up for what was now most likely to end in failure in December. The Headmistress of Kiki’s gymnasia had told Kat as much a few days earlier after Louis had told the Headmistress that Kat was acting as his proxy when it came to matters like Kiki’s education. Unless there was a miracle, Kiki would not be able to meet the criteria required to sit the exams to complete her secondary education. Kat had been speaking with Louis, Douglas and Doctor Berg about what they were going to do when Kiki figured out that her plans would face a setback of at least six months. The hope was that Kiki would take it as a lesson, regroup and keep working until she was truly ready.

Today, Kat found herself in the office of the Mayor of Berlin, a place that had the same feeling as getting sent to the Headmaster’s office when she had been in school. There were few people that she wanted to meet with less than Herbert Frahm, the Mayor himself. The stated reason was that he wanted to discuss with her the plans she had for Alexanderplatz. The truth was that Frahm wanted to be seen meeting with her for political reasons.

It was all the result of the Press playing up the informal title that they had given her as Gräfin Katherine of Berlin, the Tigress of Pankow complete with the banner that hung from the ceiling in the Luftwaffe Exhibition in the Military Museum used frequently. Kat couldn’t help but notice over the years that the red cat had turned orange and now had black stripes. It somehow signified the roll she played in the city though Kat found it increasingly hard to see how.

Kat had told Helene and Doug about how absurd she found the whole thing and they had different reactions. Doug had said that she ought to consider it a compliment and go about her life as she normally would. Helene had said that she thought that there was more at play, her perspective that was people were looking for something and they found it in her. Some of the more recent immigrants from the Far East had even gone so far as to suggest that Kat was somehow an avatar of the city itself, that her life closely mirrored that of the city of her birth for the last three and half decades. Helene had laughed when Kat had first told her about that. “It does explain the traffic snarls early in the morning” is what Helene had said. Kat’s reaction had been to follow Doug’s advice to a degree, told them thank you and then calmly but firmly told them to stay away from her and her family.

“As you can see from the blueprints” Kat said, “The idea is for a series of buildings with open floorplans on the bottom floors.”

“And what is the business model for this?” Frahm asked.

“It varies” Kat replied, “The individual stalls are to be rented out on a seasonal, weekly or daily basis, the other parts of the building are to provide the needed infrastructure for the renters. The close proximity to the river and rail network is a plus as well.”

“An old-fashioned farmer’s market” Frahm said, “Except with refrigeration and out of the elements.”

“There is a bit more to it than that” Kat replied, “I have been in contact with several craftsmen in various trades who would enjoy having the space to work and sell their wares as well.”

“What does that look like in practical terms?”

“Imagine if you have a restaurant and need fifty kilos of potatoes every day” Kat said, “You also need the bins to hold them fabricated as well. To name one example.”

“Interesting” Frahm replied, “But considering the overhead of such a project, I don’t know how much of a profit you would make.”

“Profits would be nice but not necessarily the goal, this is going to be a cooperative effort run by a nonprofit corporation” Kat replied. She saw Frahm’s eyes narrow when he heard that. There were rumors about the size and source of Kat’s fortune. Considering that the truth seemed implausible, few of them came close to scratching the surface. Kat setting up a nonprofit, presumably for tax reasons was entirely in keeping with that. The truth was that she wanted to create something new and unique. It would also serve the purpose of helping out independent craftsmen, small farmers and business. Groups that Kat felt needed support anyway.

“It all sounds a bit utopian” Frahm said.

“Perhaps” Kat replied, “But everyone involved is a realist, so it’s expected to work.”

“If it will then how come no one has ever tried anything quite like this before?” Frahm asked.

Kat just smiled at that, the Mayor wasn’t looking far enough back. Things like this had been done for centuries, just not quite like this.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Forty-Four


6th September 1957

Lào Cai Provence, Vietnam

There was a joke about villages in the back country of Bavaria or Bohemia where the Mayor, Town Council, Magistrate and Chief Constable all have the same surname. Oberfähnrich Fischer, secretly known as Prince Friedrich of Prussia, saw that play out at every village along the Red River that General Kopp stopped at as they worked to keep the locals on side.

The German Pioneer Corps, in partnership with the Government and Riverine Navy of Vietnam were working on improving the year-round navigation on the Red River. It was a small part in the effort that the Vietnamese had started to modernize the country, improving the health and education of its people in the process.

So far, that meant Freddy drank tea until he felt like his kidneys were about to burst and he got to listen as the General talked to the locals at length over every single concern that they had over the project, no matter how minor. General Kopp had told Freddy that it often wasn’t about the often staggeringly long list of grievances that the villagers had. Instead it was about how the construction projects had often disrupted life in villages and the people who lived there just wanted someone in an official capacity to listen to them.

This was just one project of many, General Kopp had spent most of the last decade in Vietnam and had gotten to know it extremely well. At the same the same time, the General had made sure that Freddy understood the exact limits of their outsider status here. “We will always be Tây to them” He had said, “It is incumbent upon us that term doesn’t become any more of a pejorative when used in conjunction with Pioneer Corps.” Freddy could understand that. Still, he had found himself with an inordinate amount of power even as an Oberfähnrich in Vietnam and had realized that there would be a serious problem if anyone came who let that get to their head. Here, everyone knew that the Germans who had ventured around the world were the most skilled in their respective trades anywhere. Freddy had also heard how the rocket launches in Cam Ranh were viewed with awe by the people who lived throughout Vietnam.

As one of the handful of people in South-East Asia who knew the truth about who Freddy was, General Kopp had also made it clear to Freddy what his job in Vietnam was. He was to do what he was told, keep his mouth shut and ears open. If malaria or the weather didn’t kill him then he would learn a great deal in this country and that would ultimately be for the good of the whole of the German Empire. So, Freddy got to accompany the General, playing the role of the good subordinate as they took a motor launch up and down the river. He was however starting to wonder if it ever stopped raining.


Buenos Aires, Argentina

There were few things that Moses found less tasteful than the likes of Lee Johnson. Small minded, willfully ignorant and constantly overcompensating by responding with anger and attitude any time he felt like he was being challenged, even when he wasn’t. In short, Lee was the sort of Black man who bigots back in the United States loved to point to when they were trying to justify their hateful attitude towards all Blacks. According to a knowledgeable source that Moses had, Lee had been thrown off a cargo ship and had lacked the means to go elsewhere.

The trouble was that the small American Negro expat community in Buenos Aires was composed largely of those who had the wherewithal to leave the United States. That meant that they were professionals, educated and here in Argentina they enjoyed a mostly a middle-class lifestyle. All those were things that set Lee off because he thought that they felt they were better than him and as much as Moses hated to even think it, the man was little more than a parasite. The issue was that the community was turning to Moses to solve the problem. He had tried to tell the two men who had approached him, one of whom was a Baptist Minister, that Lee was a self-correcting problem. It had turned out that they had thought of that before Moses had and did not want themselves or anybody they knew to be around when that happened.

The trouble for Moses was that for all the talk on his radio show about how he was Moses leading the people to the promised land of musical enlightenment, he knew full well that the Argentinian Government could care less about him because in their minds he was a radio DJ who played music that was popular with University students and was just a disembodied voice on the radio. That might change in a hurry if he started to be seen as an actual leader. He had extremely good reasons to avoid that sort of official attention. Still, he felt he had to do something.

It was something that he pondered for a few days until Moses realized that he had to handle this situation differently. He was extremely well paid for his radio show. The result was that it became a simple matter of paying someone to knock Lee over the head and drag him onto a boat that would take him across the River Plate to Uruguay. Later he heard about how Lee had threatened the crew of boat that he had friends and would get even with whoever had done this to him. Lee claimed knew Martin King himself. Moses didn’t laugh at that, but Lee would never know the profound irony of what he had said.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Forty-Five


23rd September 1957

Berlin

“While Kol seems otherwise intelligent, we have noticed the difficulties that he is having” The Headmaster said, “Apparently, the same ones you have.”

It was something that Kat realized was coming a couple weeks earlier. For the last six years, as twin siblings Tatiana and Malcolm had more or less shared everything within certain expectations. They had only started sleeping separately when they had moved into the new house. Then at the end of August they had started school with the rest of their class and suddenly a vast difference emerged between them. Over the first couple of months Tatiana had picked up on her lessons with relative ease while Kol had encountered frustrating difficulties.

The worst part for Kat was that when she had listened to Kol’s description with the frustration at what was happening with him, she had a sinking suspicion about what was happening. She had a master’s degree in Psychology and among many other things had studied the work of Adolph Kussmaul and Rudolph Berlin. She knew better than to jump to conclusions, but this wasn’t a difficult one to reach. For one of the rare times in her adult life, Kat had found herself experiencing indecision in the face of an impending crisis because it was of the sort of situation that she had no idea exactly how to handle. She knew that she was going get a call asking to have this meeting eventually and it was from one of the few things that she couldn’t protect Malcolm from. That was why she had called the meeting herself.

“We will require further testing, but I’ve seen this before” The Headmaster said, “Learning difficulties can be overcome.”

It was exactly the same thing that Douglas had said. Worse, he had pointed out that Malcolm would still have every advantage in the world. Kat found that hard to believe, when she had pursued a career in law enforcement, she had seen what became of those who lacked basic literacy. Douglas had hardly reacted to that and said that Malcolm would probably struggle with academics if Kat was right, but eventually he would get his feet under him and find a career that he excelled in. They knew someone extremely well who that applied to. Kat knew what Doug was getting at and who he was referring to when he said it. That didn’t however make it any easier.


Austin, Texas

Tuning into the X was always hit or miss, you never knew what exactly you were going to get from border blaster radio stations that operated South of the Rio Grande. Sometimes it was Evangelical Preachers, other times it was news and events in Spanish. It was always interesting to hear the take on things in Mexico. It definitely was extremely different from what one heard on the news out of Dallas. Tonight, as Bud drove his pickup truck from the Mom & Pop Grocery that he worked at part time back to the dormitory of the University of Texas where he lived the X was broadcasting Moses Newton. It was a mixture of American and European styles of Blues, Jazz and Rock & Roll. Between the songs, Moses explained the connective tissue between what they were hearing. Normally, Bud might have tuned that out, but Moses could read the phone book and it would be absolutely captivating. He also loved the music. The American songs were many of the same ones he had heard for years, but the songs from London and Berlin were unlike anything he had ever heard before. Skiffle, Berliner Jazz and Gutter Blues had been new worlds opening for him.

Bud still had dreams of being a professional musician but pursuing that career full-time was out of the question. Back in Lubbock he had been faced with two choices, the draft and the Army or the University of Texas. His choice had been to go to College. He played out with his Fender guitar on Saturday nights, it was a fun thing to do and if Bud was being honest with himself, he was about as far from looking like a Rock & Roller as anyone could imagine. Recently, he had gotten more involved in campus life, mostly as a way to meet to meet girls, and in the process had been one of dozens approached by the head of the Student Democratic Club to volunteer to work in the 1958 mid-term elections. Everyone knew that this was just one part of the campaign that former Vice-President Lyndon Johnson getting ready to wage for Governor of Texas in 1960.

When Bud had said that he didn’t go much for politics he had been told that it didn’t matter. Politics would go for him whether he paid attention or not. What Mark Twain had said about it being either his money or his life was just as true now as when it had been written decades earlier. There was also the aspect of the Gubernatorial race heating up just about the time that Bud would be graduating. Getting in on LBJs campaign would be means to an easy, high-paying State job even if he wasn’t ambitious. Bud, not being stupid had asked what the catch was, that all sounded entirely too easy. The catch was that he to show up.

So far, Bud was just thinking about that. Showing up. It was the sort of thing that an Army Recruiter on his high-school campus had once said to him. He had a feeling that the demand was all too likely to be exactly the same.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Forty-Six


4th October 1957

Toronto, Canada

As the airplane rolled out of the hanger there was applause even from the jaded press pool. The latest prototype from Avro certainly was impressive.

It had taken considerable effort to entice Engineers from De Havilland and Arado to come to Canada to work on this project. As the manager of the project to modernize Canadian manufacturing, Sir Malcolm was at the center of the whole thing with Avro Canada and his reputation was on the line. That was why he was doing his best to ensure the project’s success. Originally, the Arrow had been envisioned as a large delta-winged pure interceptor. The engineers from Focke-Wulf had taken a different perspective. They had seen the data and research provided by Avro and had suggested that a smaller slightly less ambitious aircraft that was more flexible in its mission would be a better choice. They had stuck to their guns and pointed at experience gleaned from operations over South Africa and Mexico.

The current prototype was a twin-engine, delta-wing aircraft, even if was the smaller and simpler version it was still impressive. Most of all, the cost per airframe was somewhat less than the initial estimate. Now, they had to justify the existence of the new airplane to the Prime Minister, the Parliament and taxpayers long enough to put it into production. Sir Malcolm feared that would be a heavier lift. There was also the last letter from Douglas weighing on Sir Malcolm and what he should have realized would be Margot’s all too predictable reaction. She had seen Katherine as the enemy all the way back in 1945 when she had first met the girl. She had tried an honest effort to make peace but there was always the notion just under the surface that Katherine was ambitious, had highly questionable morality from Margot’s perspective and not to put too fine a point on it, was too German to be a good match for her son. For the last six years Margot had held her tongue as Douglas and Katherine had raised Tatiana, Malcolm and now Marie but this most recent development showed signs that it might disrupt the peace.

The term was supposedly coined in Germany from Greek meaning difficulty with words. Dyslexia. And it had been enough to set Margot off on a lengthy tirade regarding everything that she felt was wrong with her Daughter-in-Law who she thought must somehow be to blame for Sir Malcolm’s namesake grandson having that condition. Six years earlier, Douglas had said that Katherine had seriously considered relocating to Canada after she had a couple illnesses relating to being under the constant pressure of being an agent of the German Kaiserin. Now, Sir Malcolm was glad that they still had an ocean separating them. If Katherine had to sit and listen to any of Margot’s lengthy list of why she thought that Katherine was an unfit mother with this latest tribulation added to it, Margot would probably have had ended up it the hospital after having her bones systematically broken.

“I hear we have you to thank for the assist in finally getting her in the air” The President of Avro said snapping Sir Malcolm back into the present.

“I did only what was expected of me” Sir Malcolm replied. Malcolm had once headed up the RCMP Counter Intelligence Branch and he knew that the BND had very likely slipped agents in with the Engineers he had recruited. At this moment, there were probably German Experts on a Luftwaffe base somewhere looking over the blueprints of the afterburning Pratt & Whitney turbojet engines that the Arrow used. The Canadian Government felt that was a small price to pay in order to modernize their Industry and Military. If the Americans ever figured that out, then they would have a real mess on their hands.


Wunsdorf-Zosen

Stefan recalled that he once had a primary school teacher, Frau Amsel, who other students swore they had seen turn into a bat and fly away after classes one day. It was entirely believable because Frau Amsel certainly looked and acted the part of the witch who might have been burnt at the stake a few centuries earlier. She had worn old shapeless clothes that might have once been black but had faded to an undefinable color, her hair had been grey and hung in greasy locks. Most of all Frau Amsel had an intense manner, any unruly behavior would get the perpetrator a look that would freeze their blood. There had been a few times when that had not enough to get the individual to stop, it was something had never happened more than once.

Frau Amsel must have been middle-aged, but Stefan wasn’t sure if he could trust his memories in that regard. It was because he had encountered her in a market in Berlin recently and Frau Amsel had not seemed to have aged at all, though it had been at least fifteen years since Stefan had seen her last. She had not only remembered him but knew a disturbing amount of information about what he had been doing over the years. Perhaps she really was a witch.

Today he was reminded of Frau Amsel as he was introduced to Nizhoni’s Grandmother, Great-Grandmother and two Great-Aunts. They had come all the way from Arizona, and they had the same sort of intensity about them. They weren’t looking at him that way because he had been caught cheating off the math exam by looking over the shoulder of his neighbor at another desk. Instead, they were trying to determine if he was worthy to marry Nizhoni.

Nizhoni’s Great-Grandmother said something in the language of the Diné which Stefan could not understand. Nina translated for it for him, “She wants to know if you are a criminal like your father” Nina said.

That was when Stefan realized that they were going to be impossible to charm.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

I was able to get an old netbook up and running. Even if editing is a chore if I do not have a full keyboard, I will post when I can. As for data recovery, solid-state drives have their advantages. They tend not to be the point of failure and they are fairly easy to get data from. In the case of my laptop the electrical system is the point of failure, the board around the recharge port is toast. I need a new computer anyway, but the new paycheck I get that doesn't need to go to pay bills will not be until sometime next month. Oh well.


Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Forty-Seven


13th October 1957

Berlin

“It is about time” Kat had said about this wedding when she learned that Stefan, her younger brother and Nizhoni had finally set a date according to her husband Douglas. The dithering that the two of them had engaged in had been noticed and not just by Kat. There were many who thought that Walter von Horst had been too indulgent with his daughter, knowing that Stefan and Nizhoni had basically been engaged since Stefan had returned from Mexico. The truth was that Nizzi was just as stubborn as her father and pressuring her into a time-table not of her choosing would have caused her to dig in her heels and tell everyone where they could stick the idea of marriage.

The wedding itself was seen as more of the continuing of the intermingling of families that was an ongoing process. Another generation or two and there would probably no distinction between the Old Junkers and the New Junkers. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, nor was it expected to be the last. One only had to look at the old practice of slapping something additional in front of someone’s title to see evidence of that. Considering that these days titles tended to be awarded on the basis of merit and the changes in the laws in recent decades as opposed to what had been dubbed “The lucky sperm club” and it was likely that the old jokes about the family trees not having forks would probably be a thing of the past.

Personally, Jack found the notion of a nation still having Kings and Queens to be quaint, especially in a place like Germany which still had a patchwork of Principalities, Kingdoms and a zoo of various levels of nobility. The image he had was of a Knight holding a plot of land about the size of a football pitch that his family had lived on for the previous thousand or so years. It might be mostly swamp but it had always been theirs and it always would be.

Katherine had arranged for Jack to be invited through his connection with Hans and Walter von Horst. He had become the official representative of Reisimint Ilchríochach at this event. With the movie about the Irish Regiment that had fought in the Soviet War about to come out, it was felt that it would be good for an Officer of the Regiment to be seen at this event and it had not been at all what Jack had been expecting when he had heard that the daughter of Generaloberst von Horst was getting married.

For starters, all of the most prominent members of the EAAA were present. That included Horst’s wife Nina and his Brother-in-Law Piers Sjostedt. It had been a bit of a surprise to learn that there were a handful of Red Indians, or American Aboriginals as they preferred to call themselves, scattered around Europe and they were mostly in communication with each other. Apparently, Nizhoni von Horst was something of a poster girl for the Association, her mixed background. Navajo, Dane and Franco-German certainly had come together in a way that made her an extraordinarily beautiful woman. It was said that she had gotten involved with Stefan Mischner-Gerstle because he had found the courage to talk to her, even knowing who her father was. Jack supposed that there was a lesson in that.

The wedding itself and the reception that followed were certainly interesting. The odd mash-up of cultures and religions that had happened. Germany, the Navajo Nation and the Heer all got a say in how things had been conducted. The result was one that people would talk about for a very long time. The Bride’s Uncle was a Lutheran Bishop as well as a prominent member of the EAAA, Jack remembered that he had also done Katherine’s wedding a decade earlier. There was also a bevy of women who had come from Arizona as part of the wedding party and they were part of the whole odd mashup. Jack had watched as they had spoken with Katherine earlier that day before the wedding ceremony and while they had greeted her warmly, they had said something that had left Katherine perturbed and she had made a point of avoiding them after that. Jack hadn’t been able to overhear what had been said and he had to wonder what it might have been. It took a lot to tweak the Tigress’ nose these days.

There was also the spectacle of the Kaiser being present and that was reflected in this event being a preview of the upcoming social season. The daughters of every substantial family who just happened to have people in Germany who could contrive an excuse to be here had done so. Jack’s law firm had made sure that he knew that his reputation as a womanizer preceded. He was at this event representing not just Ireland and Reisimint Ilchríochach, but the firm as well, so he was to be on his best behavior at pain of death because the managing partner had told him all about the bloody death he would face if he failed to keep it in his pants. That didn’t mean that Jack lacked for dance partners at the reception. He was currently dividing his time between a socialite from Long Island and a Bavarian Princess. Enjoyable company, even if Jack knew that he would be sleeping alone tonight.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Forty-Eight


19th October 1957

Tempelhof

“Gräfin Katherine is having one of her bad days” Kiki said, “That is why things are like this around here.”

Ben had noticed that the household had seemed more subdued than usual after Kiki had invited him into the library on the Parlor Floor of the Gräfin’s house to help her study. Even though Kiki had put a record on, Rock & Roll from an American artist he had never heard of before. Whatever romantic ideas Ben might have had were quashed as Kiki went back to her books and asked him to help her with Algebra. He had always been good at mathematics, so Ben didn’t mind helping her. There was also the specter of Petia and the Ukrainian Maid to contend with. Even if Ben were stupid enough to engage in what Petia termed “funny business” with Kiki, he wouldn’t be doing it for long because the to of them were keeping a close eye on what the two of them were doing. Eventually, Ben had asked what was going on.

“Does this happen often?” Ben asked.

“No, not any more” Kiki replied, “According the Petia, things got extremely bad for Kat just after the Soviet War. I remember there were times when she came to meet with my mother, and she could hardly keep her eyes open.”

“What is going on today?” Ben asked, not really expecting an answer.

“She’s been trying to figure out what to do about Kol” Kiki replied, “There’s a school that says that they can take an individual approach to his education.”

Ben had heard his parents talking about what was going on with the Gräfin’s son and he had seen Kol around plenty of times. While Kol seemed like a normal rambunctious six-year-old there was something about him that made him see words scrambled or something.

“That would be a good thing” Ben said, “Wouldn’t it?”

“It’s a boarding school that offers intense education” Kiki said, “And because Tatiana tends to want to go wherever her brother goes Kat figures that both of her oldest children will be attending that school.”

“Oh” Ben replied, he had not thought about how not being able to see her children every day might affect the Gräfin. “How is she taking this?”

Kiki gave a slight humorless laugh. “She’s up in her room trying to sleep off her current funk” She said, “Unfortunately for her, Tat and Jo are trying to cheer her.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad” Ben replied.

“Jo knows what Kat’s favorite songs are” Kiki said, “She tries to sing them for her.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“You’ve obviously never heard Jo sing” Kiki replied, the look on her face suggested that Jo was probably not the most talented of singers.

“How bad can she be?” Ben asked.

“Jo thinks that enthusiasm and passion can make up for being tone deaf” Kiki replied, “I’ve tired to help her in that regard, but I guess I’m not a very good teacher.”

Ben knew that Kiki was quite good at playing that viola of hers. He found it hard to believe that she couldn’t help the other girl who had been fostered into the Gräfin’s care.

“Tatiana climbs into bed with Katherine and stays there with her until she feels better” Kiki said, “Kat thinks she shouldn’t do that, but hasn’t ever told her not to either.”

It sounded strange to Ben’s ears. He was used to hearing about Gräfin Katherine as this fearsome figure. The great Tigress who malefactors feared to cross. The woman who walked through walls and wasn’t in the least bit shy about using her legendary karambit. Apparently, she too could be overwhelmed by life.

“I got a letter from my friend Suga” Kiki said, changing the subject. “She said that her father consented for her to attend University here in Berlin. She starts in January.”

“The Japanese Princess?” Ben asked.

“Yeah” Kiki replied, “You’ll like her, she’s smart and funny.”

Ben wasn’t so sure about that. Besides Kiki, the only other Princesses he had met were Kiki’s two little sisters. They were identical twins and they seemed to have a lot of fun playing games with other people’s heads, Ben’s included. While he conceded that Vicky and Rea were smart, there was little funny about them. Unless you liked playing the straight man in their jokes.

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

Kat could feel Tat hugging her the way she tended to do when Kat got depressed. At least Jo had stopped singing and had joined Kat and Tatiana on the bed. Admittedly, she had gotten better over the previous months. It had been suggested that they needed to get her actual singing lessons because it was something that she clearly loved to do. Kol had gone with Douglas who was photographing Germany’s railroads as a part of an assignment that he was doing for the Government. Doug was gone this afternoon and would be gone for most of the next couple months to work on that project. The thought of not having her children near far sooner than she thought might happen had hit Kat a lot harder than she imagined it would. Then there was what Nizhoni’s Great-Grandmother had said to her…

“It’s wonderful you have a purpose Katherine, though it will always be your purpose.”

That had been unexpected and not welcome, hitting a little too close to home at a time when Kat had been trying to distance herself somewhat from the role that had defined her adult life. As the loyal retainer of the House of Hohenzollern. What if that was true? That she never would be free of that?

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Forty-Nine


31st October 1957

Austin, Texas

Bud had listened when Jason Wilson had addressed the Student Democratic Club at the University of Texas and had gone for beer with Jason afterwards. When they heard that a Lawyer was coming from Boston to help organize the student volunteers ahead of the off-year election for the national Party, they had been expecting an arrogant know-it-all snob with his head crammed up his ass. It had turned out that Jason was pretty down to earth for someone in his position.

While Jason had talked exactly like someone from coastal New England might be expected to, it turned out that he had moved around a lot as a kid because his father was in the military. That had included time spent in California, South Carolina and islands in the Pacific. That was why he knew how the country beyond his corner of it worked. When Bud had asked him about it, Jason had given him a sly look and asked him if he was sure that he wasn’t doing the same thing. It was a reminder that Jason was smart as a whip and that was something to look out for. Presently, he was telling everyone at the bar the story about how he was there when two German Marines managed to swindle the US Navy out of a couple cases of beer.

“It doesn’t matter that they were Germans” Bud said, “That whole thing would be legendary if any boys from Texas pulled it off.”

“I guess” Jason replied, “Still, the whole idea of two of their boys putting one over on one of ours, even if our guy was a moron for letting them do it.”

That wasn’t something that Bud would disagree with, though it confirmed something that he suspected about Jason. According to his introduction Jason had attended Harvard Law School. Bud knew that a man who had that in his background could go to New York become a partner in a high-powered law firm and be a multi-millionaire before they turned forty. Instead, Jason had gone to work for the Democratic Party for what amounted to a pittance. That meant that he would one day soon be in the running for office, probably in his home State and his ambitions extended far beyond that.


In transit, Rural Brandenburg

Riding in the cab of the newest electrically driven locomotive was certainly an experience. The Imperial Railway had been able to dispense with the tender car or fuel bunkers that the older locomotives needed with this new design. It got all the power it needed from the cable that ran above the tracks. It also marked a profound change from how the railway had done things over the previous century. Douglas had been hired to do the photography for an in-depth article about those changes.

Steam and Diesel locomotives were getting pushed further east as electrification and automation changed the way the railroad did things. The numbers of crew required to be aboard the trains had also been sharply reduced and many workers, particularly the older ones, were facing uncertain futures as a result. That was something else that Doug had been documenting. The Journalist who he was working with had suggested that it was a small taste of things to come as the economy changed. Doug was deep in thought as he watched the landscape roll by.

The photography was going well, which stood in stark contrast to what was going on at home. Kat, who Doug loved dearly, could be the most infuriating person on the planet sometimes. When she was unhappy, Kat frequently wallowed in misery and was determined to make herself as miserable as possible. Then there was the loss of Kira to factor in. Since the death of Kat’s powerful patroness, something new had creeped into Kat’s life, aimlessness. As much as Kat had frequently resented Kira’s manipulations, the late Empress had more often than not, given her a kick in the right direction.

As near as Doug could tell, Kat have convinced herself of this idealized version of what she thought her post-retirement life would be like. He had heard her talking about how she would finally be the sort of mother her children needed her to be. It was clear to him that she had already been exactly the sort of mother that she needed to be. She had other ideas as well, ones that didn’t take up as much of her time as she had thought they would. Her idea for what to do with Alexanderplatz was brilliant, but once the construction companies had been lined up and the blueprints finalized there wasn’t a whole lot of hands on work for her for the next several months. The Emperor didn’t need her around as much as she had first thought either.

For lack of anything better to do, Doug had called Aunt Marcella. She had decades more of experience in dealing with Kat’s moods than he did. Marcella had just told Doug that water finds its own level. If he gave Kat enough time, then she would eventually figure out what she needed to do. Of course, he had asked Marcella what he should do in the meantime. Marcella had said that he could start by not throwing his dirty clothes onto the floor. There were very few women who didn’t like it when their husbands picked up after themselves.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty


4th November 1957

Berlin

Aunt Marcella had once told Kat that by having children there would come moments when her life would come full circle. Where she would have to answer for her own choices and conduct. The difference was that she would be seeing it from the other side of the equation as a parent. Taking in Kiki and Jo had sped that process up. Kiki was pushing the boundaries of her newfound freedom and Jo was extremely close to an age when everything was about to get a whole lot more complicated with her.

It was Kiki who was causing Kat’s latest headache as she found herself staring at what could be a potential royal scandal in the making. While it wasn’t the worst thing that she might have done, it was the sort of mistake that could loom over Kiki’s life in the years to come. The issue for Kat was that she had done something very similar when she had not been much older than Kiki. That was why she found herself having to tread carefully.

It had everything to do with something that Kiki had agreed to do with Zella and Aurora which Kat would have advised her not to do if she hadn’t found out after the fact. The three young women were sitting in the basement strong-room of Kat’s house. A room that only Kat and Douglas had been in since construction had been completed. It was the repository of all of Kat’s deepest secrets and it was as secure as she could make anywhere on Earth. Kat didn’t want to risk having anyone overhear this conversation. Just being in here seemed to make Aurora and Kiki aware of gravity of the situation. Zella however, had the same “screw you” attitude that she always did these days. It was said that the slight scar that Markgraf von Holz had over his left cheekbone was from his mother slapping him hard enough split the skin when he was a teenager. It was easy to see why that had happened if a young Emil Holz was anything like his daughter. Maria had told Kat that she felt lucky that Zella had high standards and had turned her nose up at almost every boy she’d met otherwise there would be a whole new level of trouble for her to get into. Today, Kat had stumbled onto what Zella had led the other two into and it was something that had to be dealt with.

“Do I need to tell you three why this is incredibly dangerous?” Kat asked as she dropped Zella’s sketchbook onto the table in front of them.

“I’m supposed to be expanding my portfolio” Zella replied, “It’s just art Tante Kat.”

With that Zella stuck out her lower lip defiantly. Kat took a deep breath. She was resisting the urge to repeat history by slapping Zella across the face and reminding herself that she had never abandoned any of her girls. As much as they had deserved it at times.

“I understand that this is art” Kat replied, “And your talent in that regard is what poses a problem. Imagine what would happen to Kiki and Aurora if your sketchbook fell into the wrong hands. They are both instantly recognizable.”

That was clearly a thought that Aurora and Kiki would have had. They looked uncomfortable now that Kat had brought it up. Zella still maintained her air of nonchalance over the matter. In her artistic efforts, Zella had talked her two friends into being models for her drawings. That had included studies of them close up, things like their hands and faces. The one that Zella had done of the left side of Aurora’s face and ear was incredible. However, included were several drawings of Kiki and Aurora’s bodies which had gone over the line. Zella was totally unrepentant on the matter, that was something that was going to need to change in a hurry. Fortunately, it was no longer Kat’s problem as the red light above the entrance of the strong-room started blinking, the signal from Doug that Maria was here.

“They were helping me” Zella said, “And I didn’t force them to do anything.”

“I take a different perspective” Kat replied, “And so does your mother.”

That was what finally broke through Zella’s wall of insolence.

“When did you…” Zella started to say.

“I have my ways” Kat said in a voice that let Zella know that the discussion was over. “Maria is upstairs Zella, I would suggest that you go now.”

Like a prisoner walking towards their execution, Zella trudged out of the room. Kat heard the door close and knew that Maria would be reading Zella the riot act in a few minutes. Kat had other concerns.

“I would have thought that the two of you had better judgement” Kat said.

“We were just trying help Zella” Aurora said, “No one thinks that she can be an artist and she keeps getting told to find something else that would be more practical.”

“Still” Kat said flipping open the sketchbook, “Didn’t you think that this was taking things too far?”

There were a series of extremely intimate drawings of Aurora and Kiki, in what Kat had noted was Zella’s style they were extremely detailed. Aurora’s appendectomy scar, a mole on Kiki’s right breast and a thousand other details were plain to see.

“Don’t blame Zella” Kiki said, “It was my idea.”

That caught Kat short.

“Would you mind telling me why you would do such a thing?” Kat asked.

“Because I wanted to” Kiki replied, “And we were supposed to be models for her art. That was a part of it.”

At that moment, Kat was acutely aware of an envelope stored in a safe that was in this room that contained photographs taken of her by Douglas before they had gotten married. How was she supposed to handle this without looking like a complete hypocrite?

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty-One


6th November 1957

Tempelhof

Kat hadn’t looked at these photographs in years. She had them spread out on her desk and she couldn’t help but feel totally disconnected from who she had once been.

“You are still just as beautiful” Doug said as he walked in from putting Tat and Kol to bed. Jo was already asleep, and Kiki was still sulking in her room after Kat had spent a great deal of time over the prior two days trying to get her to see how potentially dangerous her actions had been. There was also the open question of what to do with Zella’s sketchbook and how that related to the photographs. Doug, being ever practical, had told Kat that she knew where the fireplace was. At the same time, Kat knew that someday in the future Kiki and Aurora might appreciate a reminder of who they once were on a purely physical level.

“Gravity and children have done a lot of damage since these were taken” Kat replied as Doug sat down in the chair across from her.

“Not really” Doug said, “I would say that your appearance had just gotten more interesting is all.”

Kat gave him a sour look.

“I ran out of things to say to Kiki” Kat said, “I kept coming back to what I might have said to the young woman in these photographs.”

“You could tell her that she has had a good life over the last decade” Doug said, “A good marriage, wonderful children and you’ve done most of it on your terms.”

“I think she would have been horrified” Kat replied. She remembered at the time letting Doug take these photographs was as much as she could have managed. It had been more than a year after that, well after they had become engaged before Kat had finally found the courage to do more with him. There had been many times when she wondered how he was able to tolerate someone who was such a complete mess.

“Horrified?” Doug asked.

“I was convinced that my biology was a death sentence” Kat answered, “The very idea that I would one day be carrying twins would have sounded like macabre comedy and learning how Marie was conceived would have caused me to have a panic attack.”

“Things did turn alright for you” Doug said.

“I know that” Kat said with a scowl, “But that isn’t the point. The person who I was would have been mortified and that doesn’t get me any closer towards how to deal with Kiki. If this is how she behaves when she thinks things are good. What are we going to do when things going to do when she learns the truth?”

It was a problem that Kat had been wrestling with for weeks. Kiki was going to get some very disappointing news at any time and Kat had been trying to get ahead of the inevitable personal crisis that was sure to follow. Having Kiki already acting out was something that further complicated matters.


Wadden Sea, off Cuxhaven

On fifth week of training, the Cadre had been told by their Drill Instructor that living in a nice heated barracks was making them soft. What had happened next was that they had been shoved onto landing craft that had ferried them out to the SMS Eisbär, the ship that was to be their new home for much of their training. For weeks now they had been bobbing in the ocean on this ship that was anchored outside the shipping channel on mouth of the Elbe River. It probably wouldn’t have been that bad during the rest of the year, but with winter setting in things had gotten difficult.

Today, the Drill Instructor had announced that they were going back to the barracks because their bleeding-heart Oberst had decided that going about training on an ice-covered deck was considered too dangerous. As Erik and Karl learned the relative comfort of the barracks would come after a climb down a cargo net into a waiting landing craft while wearing a full kit. It was a bone crushing fall or landing in the drink. Life vest or no life vest, the weight of the kit was enough to drag someone straight to the bottom. Even if a man could get their gear off fast enough to avoid drowning, they would have only a few minutes before hypothermia set in.

As the second and third youngest men in the Cadre, Erik and Karl had also been tasked with minding the youngest. If anyone outside their Platoon found out about Niko’s real age there would be Hell to pay. Nicolas Nguyen was the son of a Vietnamese mother and a German Marine who records indicated had been killed in the battle of Da Nang. Niko had hopped trains all the way from Saigon to Cuxhaven and had lied about his age so that he could enter his father’s profession. Eventually, someone had gotten around to doing the math and had realized that Niko couldn’t be more than fourteen-years-old. Even so, Niko was just as much of a legacy as Erik and Karl were as the nephews of one of the Division’s heroes. That was why the Officers turned a blind eye to his presence and the Drill Instructor made sure that he would be kept out of combat positions until he was older. The scuttlebutt was that Niko was expected to be the first of many who were likely to arrive in Cuxhaven.

“Took you long enough” Erik said as Karl climbed down into the landing craft. Increasing, Karl was getting annoyed with his cousin. Erik shooting his mouth off constantly had caused them considerable grief since they had come to Cuxhaven.

“This isn’t a race” Karl growled in reply. His helmet was doing nothing from keeping the pellets of ice from hitting his face and it was starting to smart as he helped Niko find a seat as he came down the net.

“Think that Uncle Tilo will have us over for dinner on Sunday?” Erik asked.

“You know that is not up to him” Karl replied.

Erik looked a bit disappointed by that reminder. Tilo might have had them, but weeks earlier Erik had said something that had caused Tilo’s wife Nancy to throw them out of her house. Another bit of joy that Erik had brought into Karl’s life.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty-Two


27th November 1957

Berlin

“I am truly sorry Kristina” The Headmistress had said, “While I find your diligence and hard work commendable, I cannot in good conscience allow you to take that examination. With your educational and emotional development where they are currently, I do not feel you are ready.”

Kiki had only a hazy memory of what had happened next. She had started bawling as her whole world had caved in.

She supposed that Kat must have come and collected her because she had come back to her senses she was in her room. Through the window Kiki had been able to see the grey light of the pre-dawn through the blinds, so she had been there all night. She had been aware that her throat was raw, her eyes hurt, and her nose was sore. Kiki was also aware of how she was completely exhausted, but she had not been able to stand another minute in that house. She had needed go someplace she would feel safe and no one would think to look for her so that she could process what had happened.

That was why she was in the hospital cafeteria. A tired girl who looked like she had been crying simply didn’t stand out there. What Kiki had failed to factor in was Doctor Nora Berg as she had dozed off.

“You look terrible” Berg said as she startled Kiki awake, “You aren’t neglecting your health again, are you?”

“No” Kiki replied, “I had a really awful day… yesterday.”

“I know” Berg replied, “Katherine called, she asked if I had seen you.”

“What did you tell her?”

“That I would keep an eye out.”

“No, what I mean is. Did you tell her I was here?”

“Not yet” Berg replied, “I figured I would let you do that, when you were ready.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet” Berg said, “She’s worried about you, afraid that you’ll do something stupid.”

“Oh” Kiki replied with some bitterness. She wasn’t too thrilled with the Gräfin at the moment. She had concluded that Kat must have known what was going to happen before Kiki had. Over the last several weeks Kat had said a lot of things that now in retrospect were intended to soften the blow.

“You’ve got to see things from her perspective” Berg said, “She wants to protect you and that includes protecting you from yourself at times.”

“I just wish that she didn’t just assume that I was stupid.”

“Kiki, you can’t help yourself” Berg replied, “You have the emotions and hormones of any other teenaged girl. Stupid is sort of baked into the cake.”

“This isn’t going to turn into another one of your talks about birth control?” Kiki asked.

Berg just laughed, “That is one of the risks of having your mentor be an FG” She said, “I’ll be right back, with fresh tea. If you want breakfast I would suggest not running off.”

Berg was probably right about that, specializing in what were termed “women’s issues” certainly put all of that directly in her wheelhouse. And the paper cup of tea that Kiki had been drinking had gotten cold after she had dozed off. Berg came back a few minutes later followed by Hospital Porter who was carrying two plates of food on a tray. One of the advantages of being a Senior Doctor meant that Doctor Berg seldom had to wait in line for anything.

“You aren’t here because of me?” Kiki asked.

“No” Berg replied, “I never went home, and you aren’t the only one who had a rough night. I had a complicated delivery that ended badly, difficult labor only to find that it was case of Anencephaly. Something that I’ve only seen once before and hoped to never see again.”

Kiki who had been studying Greek and Latin for all the good that had done her translated that. “No in-head?” She asked.

“It means exactly what it sounds like” Berg replied as she was buttering her toast, “Born without most of their brain. There are few things I hate to see more than a baby born only to watch it die a few hours later.”

That put things in sharp contrast. Compared to that, Kiki’s problems seemed very trite.

“I was told that my school would reevaluate my situation at the end of the next term” Kiki said, “In six months.”

“I’m sure your boyfriend will be happy to learn of that” Berg replied offhandedly.

Kiki felt herself blush at the mention of that. “Ben is a boy and he is my friend” She blurted out, “But I would hardly call him my boyfriend.”

“Does he know that?” Berg asked, “Because Katherine told me that the boy is totally infatuated with you.”

Kiki really wished that Kat had not told Doctor Berg about Ben. She shoveled some of the scrambled eggs on her plate into her mouth to keep from saying something untoward.

“Katherine also told me about your efforts to support your artistic friend” Berg said with practiced nonchalance, “Better hope that this Ben never sees those drawings, or his head might explode.”

With that Kiki choked on her eggs.

“Now” Berg said, “I know that Katherine is very strict about you having boys only on the floors of her house where they can be seen at all times. I only ask because as your Doctor it is important that I know if you have been creative in getting around Katherine’s rules.”

As she finally managed to get the mouthful of eggs down. “No, I’ve done nothing like that” Kiki blurted out.

“Are you sure?” Berg asked sternly.

“Yes” Kiki replied, “Why ask me such a thing?”

“Because it is important” Berg replied, “With the death of your mother and now this latest setback you are particularly vulnerable, emotionally anyway.”

Kiki heard that, in her own blunt way Nora Berg was concerned about what would become of her. “You’re right” Was all she could say in reply.

“Good” Berg said, “Because the last thing I want to see is you in one of the theaters in a few weeks or nine months depending, because you allowed yourself to be taken advantage of.”

There was blunt and then there was horrifying, especially when Doctor Berg wanted to hammer a point home.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty-Three


28th November 1957

Cuxhaven

“What is this holiday again?” Karl asked.

“Thanksgiving, we’re hosting a potluck and that is all you need to know” Nancy said sharply. Erik was mercifully keeping his mouth shut, but that didn’t stop Karl from complaining as Nancy had pressed the two of them into helping as they dinner ready as the party was going on in the next room.

Tilo had talked her into letting his nephews back into their house for this. Nancy had reluctantly agreed to give them another chance, however it was with the understanding that if they repeated their past transgressions in her house, they were gone for good this time. According to Tilo they had been getting the shit kicked out of them for the last couple months and had been sent out to the ship where trainees for the Marine Infantry were to become accustomed to life on a Naval transport. His hope was clearly that they might have learned something during that time, but Nancy didn’t share that hope. She didn’t see how that training might have taught them any respect, especially after the sort of misogynistic jokes that Erik made about her when he had mistakenly thought she wouldn’t overhear.

Nancy had seen the dynamic within the Schultz household. How Jost and Lenz behaved exactly the same as Erik and Karl. Tilo had a chance to break that pattern with himself and with Sebastian as he grew older. Having his nephews in this house would work against that if they were going to act like creeps.

Into this had stepped Nicolas. Nancy could see how the boy seemed particularly lost and she knew full well what it was like to be between two cultures like he was. The difference was that Nancy at least looked like she belonged. Outside of Cuxhaven, Niko didn’t really fit in anywhere. Cuxhaven itself reflected all the places that the 3rd Marine Infantry had been deployed to over the prior decades. That was the reason why Thanksgiving, an American Holiday was being celebrated here. The food at the table was an odd fusion of German, American, Mexican and Asian dishes.

Nancy had extended an invitation to Kat and Douglas. Kat had phoned to tell her that one of her girls, Kiki, was having a personal crisis at the moment though and she would try to make it up around Christmas time. When Nancy asked how bad it was, Kat had answered that Kiki had suffered an educational setback, her disappointment over that had brought the still raw emotions over the death of one of Kiki’s parents to the surface and it was a mess. “You know how teenaged girls can get” Kat had said, “Everything is the end of the world, for Kiki it really does feel that way. Lucky for us Doctor Berg, her mentor, was able to get through to her.” Kat then said that she would rather be in Cuxhaven as opposed to keeping an eye on a fifteen-year-old, so she wouldn’t do anything stupid. Nancy had said that it was sort of a lost cause because most people grow up despite their self-destructive best efforts to do otherwise. Kat had laughed about that and said that she felt she owed Kiki’s mother to at least try to her out of trouble.

That was a bit disappointing. Nancy had been looking forward to seeing Erik and Karl cowering in fear when they realized they had infuriated the wrong woman and Kat wouldn’t satisfied with merely having them thrown out of the house.


Kon Tum Province, Vietnam

Freddy had been given one day to familiarize himself with the hydro-electric project before he had been expected to lead a group of Japanese businessmen on a tour of the vast construction site on the Krong Poko River. The reason for this was that he was one of the few Officers in the Pioneer Corps who knew Japanese currently in Vietnam. Presently, they were watching barges with mixers and pumpers that were on the river. The operation was in full swing and concrete was being pumped into what would become the dam at the rate of tons per second.

“We are expecting the dam to generate between six and seven hundred megawatts when completed” Freddy yelled over the noise of the diesel generators, “It will be seventy meters in height, and it will create a lake that will cover between sixty and seventy square kilometers.”

The businessmen certainly seemed impressed by the raw numbers as they chatted among themselves. As it had since time out of mind, the future of Vietnam was dependent upon commerce. The Vietnamese Government was also acutely aware that despite their desires, they were a nation that was behind the rest of the world in terms of development. They needed interests in other nations interested in investing in Vietnam. It was either lucky or unlucky depending upon one’s perspective that China sat just to the north of Vietnam. In recent years the moribund giant that had once dominated the entire region was showing signs that it might one day reassert itself. That had been enough to get the other nations in East Asia to put aside decades of animosity. Nothing like having a common enemy, Freddy thought to himself.

This dam was one of several that were being built as the Vietnamese had been informed that the potential that their nation had regarding hydroelectric energy was huge. There was also the side benefit of clean, safe drinking water being made available on a scale never before seen in South-East Asia. The Japanese businessmen were trying to gauge the potential of Vietnam as a market and a manufacturing base.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty-Four


2nd December 1957

Cam Ranh, Vietnam

As much as Albrecht was going to miss Ilse when she left to return to Berlin, he had realized that she needed to go before her health further deteriorated and had made the arrangements for her to go. She had taken a sabbatical from her position at the University of Berlin and had come to Cam Ranh just to be with him. It was something that he felt a stab of guilt over with every new illness she seemed to get. In the first weeks after their arrival she had been stricken with malaria. That had been followed later by a different fever a month later that had left her feeling faint and badly dehydrated. She had also been rapidly losing weight, which wasn’t good. The Doctors had said that it was because her body was having trouble adjusting to the tropical heat and humidity. The best thing for her would be spend time in an airconditioned building until she could be sent home.

The whole time that this was going on Ilse had not complained. That was something that Albrecht had noticed about her, Ilse tended to just accept things the way they were no matter how unacceptable her situation was. It might have been something she had learned to do as a survival mechanism early on, but in Vietnam it was clearly working against her.

“Your sister is expecting you” Albrecht said as he helped her up the stairs onto the airplane.

“I’m so sorry Bert” Ilse said, “None of this turned out the way it was supposed to.”

“Stop apologizing” Albrecht replied, “I wouldn’t be any happier watching you kill yourself as opposed to going home. Besides that, I’ll be following you in a few months.”

“You promise?” Ilse asked with a smile as they found her seat.

“Yeah, I promise” Albrecht replied before he kissed Ilse on the forehead and whispered, “I love you.” He couldn’t help but noticing that she was feverish even then.

On the way out of the cabin, Albrecht had a quick word with the Steward who recognized who he was. Basically, he had made very clear that he wanted Ilse taken care of during the flight.

A day later, Albrecht was still smarting about how things had worked out. Worse, only hours after he had put Ilse on the plane, Walther von Braun made an announcement that also made Albrecht into a liar. The Atgeir Project was being scrapped in favor of the new Dioscuri Project. Albrecht was being asked to stay on in Vietnam until the end of the next launch cycle, several months longer than originally planned. Even as tolerant as Ilse had been of his career, he couldn’t imagine that she would be happy with this turn of events.


Moscow, Russia

Decent food, terrible company.

That was the conclusion that Gia reached as sat at the table with her cousin and his wife. Like always, the subject had turned to Gia’s rejection of the latest round of suitors.

“What can I say?” Gia asked, “You have terrible taste in men Georgy, it’s something that I have trouble getting past.”

Gia heard Lidiya snicker over that.

“You and Fyodor are possibly the only two people in all of Russia who can get away with telling me that joke” Georgy replied.

“It is not that you have terrible taste George” Lidiya said, “It’s just that the sort of educated, articulate men that Sasha is attracted to are rather thin on the ground in this country.”

That caused Georgy to glower at his plate.

“That Georgian bastard was chucked into the crematorium more than a decade ago and he’s still causing me grief” Georgy muttered, “He is like syphilis, the gift that just keeps on giving.”

Gia knew who the “Georgian bastard” her cousin was talking about was. From what she had observed, the damage that Joseph Stalin had done to certain sectors of the economy and the Universities were going to take decades to repair. In his displeasure over that Georgy had proposed that the 18th of December be declared a national holiday so the Russian people could properly express their regard for Stalin’s memory. Over the last couple years that had taken the form of getting drunk and burning an effigy of the late despot unofficially. Earlier this year Georgy asked the Duma to make it official. Normally, that legislative body was like herding cats, with debate over minor matters frequently stretching out for weeks. It had taken them three hours to pass the law giving the holiday the official stamp of approval.

This year there were several large papier-mâché likenesses of Stalin and his deputies that were going to be put to the torch in Red Square. Similar events were planned in every corner of Russia. It was said that the vodka distilleries were gearing up because they actually expected to run out of product. Gia had also heard many terms used to describe Stalin. This was the first time she had heard syphilis used, it was however a perfectly appropriate description of Georgy’s situation.

“Do you need to use a term like that George?” Lidiya asked.

“No” Georgy replied, “But when describing that man, I find that no terms can be too vulgar.”

“I am agreeing with Georgy on this one” Gia said, “Not something I do often.”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty-Five


12th December 1957

Mitte, Berlin

Emil remembered how this event had been a raucous affair in the twenties and thirties. One giant party and everyone was invited. Things were certainly very different now. The parade had been cancelled again and again due to economic crisis, war, then another war and finally another economic crisis. When they had finally gotten around to organizing a new celebration the sharply reduced numbers were noticeable. That had definitely caused things to be muted. This year was no different.

The day itself certainly lent itself to a somber occasion, cold drizzle with it not quite cold enough to snow. Emil was one of thousands who were in this march that was making its way down the wide boulevard that ran through central Mitte from the river towards Brandenburg Gate. Their numbers had been added to with the addition of those who had fought in the Soviet War and the Pacific. There were some quibbles about those who had been in South Africa and Mexico. Emil was perfectly happy to welcome them, they had earned their place here.

“Markgraf von Holz?” Emil heard voice ask. He saw a large camera pointed at him alongside a woman with a microphone who had shouted the question when they had spotted him in the parade. “Can I ask a question?”

Emil just shrugged. Maria would have his hide if she found out he had snubbed the press and she had enough on her plate these days with Zella being a pill.

“In your opinion, what is the best way that we could honor veterans?” The woman asked before she held out the microphone for Emil.

“By not creating any new ones” Emil replied before he resumed walking. He heard the reporter shouting additional questions at him and he ignored her. Emil had said all he needed to say.

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

“What is your choice going to be?” Vicky asked mildly, “In or out?”

Rosa gave her a dirty look, even as Rea kept her silence. Rea had been against them including Rosa in this latest caper, but over the prior months they had discovered the limits of their abilities and their usual partners in crime were simply unavailable because they were doing it at their Gymnasia. Kiki might have been able to help, but their older sister tended to ask far too many questions these days. Living with Katherine had that unfortunate affect on her. Kiki just wouldn’t just take things at face value these days. Nor did she put a whole lot of trust in them, much to Vickie and Rea’s annoyance.

They had discovered the hard way that Aunt Cecilie was far less tolerant of their games then their mother ever was. Enlisting the help of Rosa had shown just how far the fortunes of the twins had fallen since they had lost their mother. Rosa was the daughter of the ruling family on an Island in the Carolines and it had been assumed that she would be friends with Vicky and Rea. So far, it had been a relationship of convenience at best for Rosa and the twins.

“I’m in” Rosa said, “But you have no right to give me an ultimatum like that.”

“We don’t owe you anything” Vicky stated.

Rea nodded. Whatever disagreements that she might have had with Vicky, Rea knew the importance of keeping a united front.


Tempelhof, Berlin

For the last week and a half since Ilse had come back from Vietnam there had been a fair amount of tension between her and Kat. Doug knew that Ilse’s health had always been fragile, just now that had become a real issue with Kat. Kat wanted Ilse to take care of herself and Ilse wanted her sister to mind her own business.

When Ilse had gotten off the plane she had been sick, and had taken a few days to start to be on the mend. Kat had offered to call a Doctor for her, Ilse had given her a flat no. She had been seen by several Doctors in Cam Ranh and knew what any Physician that Kat might call would say. That Ilse needed to rest and wait until she got better. The exact same thing that she had been told before. Kat had confided in Doug that she felt that Ilse was being neglectful, and Doug had once again been forced to tell his wife that she shouldn’t be trying to save everyone. Ilse was a grown up and she could make her own decisions.

Now Ilse was getting ready to go back to the University. The Environmental Sciences Department was pleased to be getting her back months earlier than they had thought they would. She said that she had to go to work, otherwise she would sit at home and imagine wringing Albrecht’s neck. The day after Ilse arrived from Vietnam she had gotten a telegram from her husband telling her that he had learned in changes to the various projects within the Space Program. Those changes would keep him in Cam Ranh until at least next August. To avoid dwelling on that, Ilse was preparing the lectures she was going to give about her findings on the effects of industrial pollution. Doug wished her well and was thankful that Kiki was somewhat of a distraction for Kat, otherwise he would have been stuck in between an argument between the two strong willed and stubborn Mischner sisters. Not a comfortable position to be in.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty-Six


21st December 1957

Cuxhaven

According to Doctor Holz it was guilt that was driving her actions. Knowing that Ilse had been living as an orphan, suffering through abuse and neglect at different turns while she had living family members just blocks away was one of the few things that Kat felt weighed on her conscience. Whatever the reason, Kat had been told to butt out by Ilse, with Doug and Aunt Marcella telling her that she needed to listen for once.

That last part had hit close to home. Kat had been trying to get Kiki to listen to her. If she was the refusing to listen herself then what sort of example was she setting? After Ilse had quickly bounced back after coming home Kat had held her tongue. She still had her misgivings, but Kat made sure that Ilse knew that for Kat to maintain her silence, Ilse needed to agree that she would tell her if anything was wrong.

As for Kiki, Kat had figured out a way to keep her out of trouble at home at least. She had encouraged Josefine and Tatiana to spend as much time as they could with their “Big Sister” Kristina. Despite Kiki’s tendency to want to blow up her life lately, having Jo and Tat along for whatever she might do had forced her into a position of responsibility. Kiki’s own sense of duty made it difficult to walk away from the younger girls. Petia was also keeping an eye on the three of them, that made it so that Kiki wouldn’t have a chance to get in or cause any trouble. The fact that Petia seemed to know every trick that a young woman might made Kat wonder what a young Petia Fydorova might have been up to a few decades earlier. Probably just as well. As if Kiki didn’t have enough on her plate, her sisters had been caught in the act of stealing the answers of an upcoming examination at the same Gymnasia that Kiki attended. It might have ended there except Marie and Victoria had attempted to play the “Imperial Princess” card to get out of that mess. That had backfired spectacularly and even Kiki was under new scrutiny as a result, at a time when she really didn’t need it.

That was why Kat had been at first uncomfortable in going with Doug to a Christmas party that Nancy and Tilo were hosting in Cuxhaven. Doug had told her that there would always be something considering who she was dealing with and she needed to take a few hours away before the von Preussen family drove her insane. Or at least more insane than she already was.

Being on a Naval Base was certainly a new experience for Kat. It was also interesting to see how Nancy had adjusted. There was an international flavor to this place, particularly among the wives of the Marine Infantry and Naval Personnel who came from all over the globe. Nancy fit in perfectly with that odd assortment.

On a sour note though, was the presence of Tilo’s nephews. Kat remembered Erik and Karl from an encounter a few years earlier. The vicious minded little boys had grown into boorish young men. Hardly a surprise considering who their Grandfather was. It was a bit disappointing that they seemed to have inherited none of Johann Schultz’s ruthless cunning. It was also noticeable that they were staying as far from Kat as they could without actually leaving the house. There were times when having the right sort of bad reputation worked wonders.


Washington D.C.

“It would be like the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff making a comment like that” The National Security Advisor said.

That was a bit of a surprise. The division of the Central Intelligence Agency that monitored German television had stumbled across a brief comment made by Field Marshal von Holz at their equivalent of a Veteran’s Day Parade. The Field Marshal who was the Head of the German Armed Forces was an elusive character. He seldom appeared before the Press and when he did, he got people’s attention. Emil von Holz didn’t look like much, middle-aged, wearing the field uniform of a German Paratrooper. Only the Grand Cross of the Pour le Mérite that he wore, the absolute highest award for gallantry and historically only awarded to Generals who had destroyed another Army in the field suggested that he was anything out of the ordinary. Averell Harriman could see the truth behind the comment that the German Field Marshal had made. Still though…

“What do we know about this man?” Averell asked, “An American General would not have said that because people might call him a peacenik.”

That resulted in snickering around the room. Many Americans had this idea that the German Army was the brutal led by the effete. Those who had seen them close up in Mexico had a different impression but not enough to push that stereotype aside.

“Anyone who read the intelligence report on Emil von Holz would not think that way Sir” The National Security Advisor replied, “He felt free to make that comment because he has the standing to make it.”

“Meaning?” Averell asked.

“That man has overseen the decimation of entire nations and incinerated whole cities” The National Security Advisor said, “Ask the Russians or the Japanese how much of a peacenik Field Marshal von Holz is.”