Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Sixty-Six


15th February 1962

Kiel

Louis had been in the wardroom when the weather report had arrived. The USS O’Brian was back and Captain Hase was speaking with the Fleet-in-Being’s resident BND/Naval Intelligence Officer about what they were going to do with the CIA operation this time. On the television and everyone else was watching that. It was an encore presentation of that American Detective story was on that everyone had been talking about was on. Louis had already seen it, but still he would occasionally look up from his work to see the actor, George C. Scott, asking persistent questions of a suspect in an informal setting. Was that really how the police did things in Los Angeles?

Instead, Louis was trying to work on mastering stellar navigation. It was considered the next step from gaining his rating as a Coxswain and something that he would need if he was going to go on the expedition to New Swabia next year. Louis had gone to the pier in where the SMS Albatros II was moored. The research ship that had replaced the old aircraft carrier that had had borne the same name and played the same function until she had been stricken a few years earlier. The XO of the Albatros had taken one look at Louis and had handed him a lengthy list of skills that the expedition needed, no questions asked because they were always looking for volunteers. Louis had found the entire thing bewildering until Udi had pointed out that he would be volunteering to go to one of the very places that Grand Admiral von Schmidt was said to have exiled those who had really earned his wrath. There weren’t exactly a whole lot of people volunteering to go to Antarctica for that reason.

That hadn’t changed Louis’ mind, he saw that he had a chance to change people’s minds and actually go places that no one had ever set foot before.

Then the weather report came.

Captain Hase took one look at it and said that all leaves were cancelled and that the ships were to go to General Quarters. When Captain Hase was asked what was going on, all he would say was that the Navy had an enemy that was older than mankind. Later, Louis saw one of the Pilots who specialized in transiting the Canal come aboard and realized that whatever was about to happen, there was a chance that the Fleet-in-Being was going to be underway soon. In the following hours Louis discovered that was equally true of nearly every ship moored in Kiel.


Rangsdorf Airfield, Brandenburg

After the last several weeks of nearly continuous activity, the team had been unexpectedly been told to stand down and to cease active operations. The others on the team had been overjoyed, it was a chance to catch up on sleep and decompress a bit. Kiki knew better, especially when she learned that the other FSR Teams had been stood down as well. That meant that someone high up wanted them to be available. That was why she wasn’t surprised when word reached her that a meeting of the Team Leaders and their assistants was in an hour.

It would be the first time that Kiki had been in a meeting with the other nineteen FSR Team Leaders based in Rangsdorf at once. While Kiki was waiting for the Hauptmann to enter, she saw a name written on the chalkboard, Vincinette and wondered what that meant.

“You know what that name means?” Kiki asked Ingo, who was seated next to her as she pointed it out.

“What’s in a name Princess Kristina von Preussen?” Ingo asked. He would have preferred to have been catching up on sleep or just doing whatever he wanted, like the others were. While he had not complained about it, he was not happy either and joking about her name went along with that.

“I’m being serious Herr Stabsunteroffizer Ingolf Gerfried Reuter” Kiki replied. Ingo frowned. His father had been quite taken with the whole Neo-Pagan movement that was briefly fashionable twenty odd years earlier in Bavaria. Which was quite a contrast from his job working on an auto assembly line in Munich. The result was that Ingo, along with his brothers and sister, had names that sounded like they had come right out of one of Wagner’s Operas. He didn’t care to be reminded of that any more than Kiki liked to be reminded that she was a Princess.

“Touché Fraulein Fähnrich, and I don’t know what that means” Ingo said, “I sure that they’ll tell us when they’re ready.”

That made sense to Kiki as she sat there waiting and watching the room. Some of the other Team Leaders were talking and she noticed that most of them were Feldwebels of some sort. There were a few Officer Aspirants like herself, but they all seemed much older than she was and there was one other large difference…

With that the Hauptmann entered and everyone present stood to attention.

“Good Morning Men” The Hauptmann said as he entered followed by the Lieutenants and made his way to the front of the room. “And Lady” He concluded looking directly at Kiki.

One of the Lieutenants turned on the overhead projector as the Hauptmann placed something on it. A satellite picture appeared on the screen, white clouds and dark blue ocean.

“This is the latest picture of the Vincinette low pressure system” The Hauptmann said, “Our friends in Kiel have determined that it is a severe storm that could cause a water surge that could go over the top of the dykes on the North Sea Coast where an emergency has just been declared. It expected to make landfall tomorrow evening.”

Kiki heard that and realized that the teams had not been stood down at all. They were on standby for this.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Sixty-seven


16th February 1962

In transit near Rendsburg, Schleswig-Holstein

After a hectic night and a good portion of the day in which Kiki had to use every means available to her short of keeping her team on task at gunpoint as they had prepared, they had finally taken off towards the advanced staging area. However, as she would quickly learn most of the FSR teams and helicopter crews were converging on Bremen where they intended to ride out the storm. In a rare fit of good sense, Wunsdorf had decided that putting all their eggs in one basket in the face of a natural disaster was not a great call and had ordered the FSR Company based in Rangsdorf, as well as another Company from a different Airfield, elsewhere. As Kiki learned once they were in the air, their destination was a moving target.

It seemed that the Naval Officer commanding the caretaker crews responsible for maintaining the German Battleship Fleet while it was stored in Kiel had realized that he was sitting on a massive amount of excess capacity that was suddenly needed elsewhere. He had ordered his crews to bring the big ships back to life so that they lead the Fleet on a mission that couldn’t have been more different from what their designers had envisioned. Because the improvised Fleet that had been thrown together in Kiel for the relief effort wouldn’t reach Brunsbüttel at the western end of the canal until after the storm was expected to have passed.

As the Dragonfly approached to land on the fantail Kiki leaned out the door, the SMS Brandenburg was leading a procession of ships of all sizes. The Brandenburg herself, her two sisters and a smaller ship built along the same lines all dwarfed the ships that followed. She had been told that they were the Brandenburg, Preussen, Rhineland and Baier. When the helicopter flared and landed, Kiki stepped out as the engines were being shut down. It wasn’t her concern, but she knew that the Dragonfly would have its main rotor folded up and it would be put into the Brandenburg’s hanger. She couldn’t help but noticing the sky to the north-west looked particularly ominous as the sun was setting. Most of the equipment that they had brought was to remain aboard the helicopter. The rest of it was in their rucksacks and it was only what they might personally need. Already, she could hear the next helicopter coming in even as a group of Sailors worked to push the helicopter into the hanger.

“Now you lot will come with me and I’ll show you to your quarters. Try to keep from getting lost” Another Sailor said, this one seemed to be an Aspirant like Kiki and had a voice that was full of the sort of condescension that Sailors had for the those in the Heer. She also knew exactly who he was.

“Get over yourself Lou” Kiki said only to watch his jaw drop. Knowing him, he had rehearsed that stupid line and it had clearly not gone to plan.

“Uh, I wasn’t expecting you to be here Kiki” Louis said with a nervous smile as he recognized her. Then he turned and started walking rapidly forward, for lack anything better to do Kiki followed along with her team. She managed to keep Louis in sight even as her team drew curious looks from the ship’s crew. Up staircases that were practically ladders and down the narrow corridors. Finally, they came to a room that seemed to be a mess hall of some kind. A man was seated at one of the tables with papers in front of him and a cup of coffee from the look of it.

“Captain Hase, Sir” Louis said as Kiki caught up with him. “We have a bit of a situation.”

“Sorry, Sir” Kiki said, “My brother overstates the matter, I am hardly a situation.”

Captain Hase looked like he was trying not to laugh. “Kristina, I take it?” He asked.

“I prefer Oberfähnrich von Preussen, Sir” Kiki replied, “I’m here with the FSR and…”

Hase just held up his hand until she trailed off. Kiki noticed that her team was watching this exchange uncomfortably.

“Enough. If I made up your family as fiction no publisher would touch it because it would all be too unbelievable” Hase said then he turned to Louis, “Take them to their quarters and keep them out of the way like you were told to.”

“But there is Kiki and one other girl with them” Louis said, earning him a slightly annoyed look from Hase.

“Put them in the Officer’s quarters that are unused and send the rest to the enlisted quarters midships” Hase said. As soon as he finished saying it Kiki knew that she would hear a bit of grumbling from the men of the team she led. As a Team Leader she had access to every inch of the barracks while the portion that she and Mitzi shared a room in was expressly forbidden to them. This was just more of that.

“And one more thing” Hase said.

“Sir” Louis replied.

“Once you get them settled make sure that they get a hot meal” Hase said, “There might not be a whole lot of time for that over the next few days.”

As Kiki followed her brother down into the ship, the Captain’s words kept rolling through her mind. Was her family really that unbelievable?

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Sixty-Eight


17th February 1962

Pusan, Korea

Updates about what was going on in Hamburg was coming in as more became known. Cuxhaven had been hit hard by the storm, but the training and replacement base was already sending personnel to the city. The 2nd MID was on its way from Wilhelmshaven and it would be joined by mechanized units dispatched from throughout Northern Germany. As much as Tilo wanted the 2nd in Korea they were in the best place they could be at the moment. The 1st MID was to remain in Kiel. The 4th and 5th Marine Infantry Divisions remained reserve units based in Stettin and Danzig respectively. It would take war breaking out for those two Divisions to be reactivated and by the time they made it to Korea it would probably be a bit late for the 2nd MID.

Finding out that Joachim Peiper as somehow become the commander of the Sealion training detachment in Cuxhaven had been a much smaller bit of bad news for Tilo. Who the Hell put that lunatic in charge of anything? Tilo had heard that when it came to the concept of “King and Country” Peiper was an absolute fanatic with heaps brutality and absolute ruthlessness included. While he didn’t doubt that Peiper was an improvement over the man he had replaced, having to have the men Peiper trained closely watched to make sure that he had not passed on his worst habits would be an extra headache. There was also the aspect of someone able to keep Peiper under control, that someone would have to be even more ruthless and cunning than he was. Tilo suspected that he knew who that was, and it wasn’t exactly a surprise.

The real surprise was the situation that greeted Tilo when he came home that evening. A few men from the 3rd Marine Division’s Sealion were watching his house and the way they were acting was like a pack of dogs bristling at the sight of an intruder. A couple men were standing in front of the house and one of them was smoking a cigarette that smelled like it was made from the cheapest tobacco. Tilo had never encountered it in the field but he had been warned about that smell in particular, Russian soldiers.

“It’s an honor to meet you General Schultz” One of the Russians said with a smile that was anything but warm. The cavalier attitude that they had even though there were rough men nearby wanting to beat the tar out of them suggested that they were Special Forces themselves. No wonder the Sealions had reacted the way that they had.

“That’s nice” Tilo replied, “And what did you say your Outfit was?”

“I didn’t” The Russian said.

Tilo knew that pursuing this matter further would be fruitless. To get any answers he would need to beat it out of them and considering that they were Russians, they would probably get off on it.

Entering the house, Tilo saw the reason for the presence of the Russians. Jehane Alexandra Thomas-Romanova, Gia to her friends, was visiting with Nancy in the parlor.

“How are you Tilo?” Gia said, “I haven’t seen you in ages.”

“Good as can be expected” Tilo replied, “Who are the two cretins in front of the house?”

“Iosif and Luka aren’t causing trouble, are they?” Gia asked in reply.

“Not yet, but the Sealions don’t like them” Tilo said.

“I’m not surprised” Gia said, “Georgy insists that I have some sort of protection detail and I am the honorary Colonel of their Regiment, so they like to travel with me.”

Something about that tickled the back of Tilo’s mind. Nancy had mentioned the outfit that had welcomed Gia in that role and then he remembered.

“You brought two of them onto this base?” Tilo asked in disbelief.

“For my safety” Gia replied, “And they said that for them it would be fun.”


Hamburg, Germany

Mitzi had two younger sisters, but she had never thought of them as competitors. The relationship between Kiki and her brother Louis was very different. By dawn the scope of the disaster in Hamburg was clear and it was absolutely overwhelming. They had been among the first personnel on the scene when the Brandenburg steamed up the Elbe River once the storm had passed. Kiki had been driving the team from the instant they could be ferried into the flooded districts of the city. They had been searching houses and buildings, wading through hip deep water. Whenever they found someone alive, they guided those people out to waiting boats or helicopters to take them to either higher ground or one of the ships on the river.

Whenever Kiki saw her brother ferrying another boatful of people out to the Brandenburg, she would spur the rest of them forward. It had been midmorning when Mitzi had realized that Kiki was not going to allow her brother to upstage her. The result was Mitzi had lost count of the number of buildings that she had been in. Every time they cleared a building, they radioed it in and continued on. As Mitzi watched Rolf spray paint the marks on the front of the latest house, to let others know it had been searched and cleared. It had been growing more difficult as it had gotten dark and they were using flashlights.

Then Anton got a call on the radio. They were being ordered to return to the Brandenburg to get some rest. Mitzi was happy to get that order. She was tired, cold, hungry and soaked to the skin like the rest of team, but she saw the look of dismay on Kiki’s face. Mitzi knew in that instant that Kiki would keep doing this until she collapsed if allowed to.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Sixty-Nine


22nd February 1962

Pusan, Korea

General Han had thought that he had been doing the right thing by letting Gia through to see Nancy. Gia was a well-known figure with close ties to Russian and German Royalty, so she was someone who the Korean Government and Military understandably wanted to keep happy. He hadn’t realized that Tilo had not been uniformed about Gia’s impending visit or the presence of her bodyguards. When he had a chance to think about it, Tilo had concluded that with anyone in the sisterhood with the means coming to visit Nancy now that she was pregnant and having a hard time of it, he should have anticipated that Gia would show up eventually.

As for the rest, this incident had not exposed Tilo at all because he was aware of the realities of having Sabastian in the house. Nothing that went boom or bang was stored inside the house and because of a memory Tilo from had from his childhood of confidential documents being folded into paper airplanes and thrown off a bridge, none of those either.

It was things like that which were the reason why Nancy was saying that she hoped that she was carrying another girl. Tilo didn’t have the heart to tell her that while the girls in his family were easier than the boys initially, that changed in a hurry when they got older. Ava had gotten pregnant, then married, had three more children and then to their mother’s dismay, divorced her worthless lump of a husband before her twenty-first birthday. Hanna had gone much the same route except she had not gotten the divorce and had ended up with six kids before her husband had removed himself from the equation with a workplace mishap. Tilo remembered the funeral of Hanna’s husband as his newly widowed sister could barely contain her glee at finally being free of the drunken prick. Inga had turned out to be a lesbian, but if that was the alternative to ending up like Ave and Hanna then Tilo could not fault his youngest sister in that regard.

If it was another girl, perhaps her and her older sister Anna would take after their mother and be all the better for it.


Hamburg, Germany

When Louis Ferdinand arrived survey the damage to Hamburg as well as the surrounding countryside he had been shocked by the scope of the devastation. It had been reported that around a hundred people were confirmed to have died in the flood and twice that number could not be accounted for. While there this was an immense human tragedy, there had been a number of people who had stepped up and shown real leadership as the crisis had unfolded. He knew that he would be keeping a close eye on them in the coming days. One never knew when the next Augustus Lang or Emil Holz would step out of the woodpile. Into this was Louis checking on his daughter and he could see that he probably had good reason to be concerned. Pale and feverish, Kiki started coughing when she sat up as he entered the berth on the SMS Brandenburg that she was sharing with another young woman. Mitzi, if he recalled correctly. Just sitting up had taken much of Kiki’s strength when she was this sick.

“No fucking… medals” Kiki said as she tried to get her breath back, “Don’t you dare…” She then had another fit of coughing.

“I can speak to the Government of Hamburg or the Reichstag, but I don’t know if they will listen, even to me” Louis Ferdinand said, “Once they get reports of you ignoring your own personal well-being to continue the rescue effort it becomes the sort of thing that is impossible for them to ignore.”

Kiki winced at that. Louis didn’t have the heart to tell her that the Government of Hamburg had already decided that of the people who had come to the city’s aid there were a few dozen who had been particularly notable. Among them had been Louis Junior and Kiki.

“Where’s Charlotte?” Kiki asked, changing the subject.

“With Marie and Victoria in one of the processing centers, there are thousands of people who were left homeless by the storm” Louis said and as soon as he said it, he knew that he had made a mistake.

Kiki put her feet on the floor and stood up, “There’s still so much more to do…” She muttered before she nearly collapsed, and Louis had to grab her around the shoulders to stop that from happening.

“You’ve already done more than anyone asked” Louis said as he guided Kiki back on to her bunk. She was unable to do anything else as she was completely spent.

“You always were such a headstrong girl” Louis said as he pulled the blanket, “Some of us would like if you gave us a turn to save the world.”

Kiki just stared at Louis. He could tell that she had not found that remotely funny but telling jokes like that had always been the domain of fathers.

“Just rest and you can get back to the fight tomorrow” Louis said. As Kiki fell asleep, he saw that her face was thinner than he remembered, and her hair was nearly chin length. She had it cut short just before she had left six months earlier. It clearly showed just how long Kiki had been pushing herself so hard. Looking up he saw Mitzi was watching them.

“You don’t need to worry about her” Louis said to Mitzi, “After that little display you can be certain of it.”

Mitzi nodded nervously. She had seen the Emperor before during that review which in retrospect must have been a subtle way for him to check in on Kiki. Now, everyone knew that Kiki was his oldest daughter so when he had boarded the Brandenburg it hadn’t been just because he was here to meet with Captain Hase. Kiki had not exactly made things easy for anyone though. She had led team pushing herself as hard as she could even as the cough had gotten worse and Kiki had grown feverish with her ignoring it. When the floodwaters had receded and the FSR Teams had been withdrawn Kiki had finally accepted the fact that she was sick. The part that had surprised Mitzi was that Kiki had known that she had pneumonia, having had it before, but had kept going back into the cold and damp of the flooded city.

“Please keep her from doing anything more for the next few days Fraulein Gott” Louis said, “I don’t care if you have to lock her in here, if anyone has any questions tell them I ordered you to do it.”

Mitzi smiled at that.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Seventy


1st March 1962

Wilhelm Canal, near Hochdonn

Watching the countryside roll by from the deck of a battleship was an odd experience as Kiki was sitting on a chair just in front of Anton Turret of the SMS Brandenburg with Louis and Mitzi. Looking up Kiki saw the structure of a bridge as it passed overhead. Mitzi had ruthlessly enforced the orders of Kiki’s father with their Hauptmann’s backing and had kept her confined to her bunk until she had started to recover from her illness. Then once Kiki had been deemed well enough to leave the cabin, she had found herself having to answer to her superiors. They had firmly rebuked her as being reckless with her health. If she had collapsed in the field, her team would have been forced to care for her as opposed to doing their jobs. She had been lucky and there was not going to be a be a next time because she had learned her lesson. Correct? Then they told Kiki that she would graciously accept on behalf of the FSR and her team whatever reward she was due for in front of the press for her conduct because as a relatively new service it needed its heroes, or heroines in this case. That still wasn’t as bad as the phone call that Kiki had received from Doctor Berg who had coldly informed her that there was only so many times that her body could bounce back from a serious illness, if she destroyed it by neglecting her own needs then she wouldn’t be getting a new one.

A few hours earlier before the Brandenburg left Hamburg, Kiki had been forced to endure the awards ceremony with her team and in front of a large audience that included the Press and many notables from Hamburg. Despite her request to her father, Kiki had still been put up for a few medals. The first of the them had been presented to her there on the deck of the Brandenburg to much applause. Looking at it she saw the castle on the front of the red enameled medal on the red and white ribbon, words For Merit in War and Peace on the back. The Hanseatic Cross had been altered decades earlier to acknowledge that it wasn’t just going to be issued in time of war. And they had decided to give one to Kiki, which she felt was a bit of a farce. She would need to do the same thing again in Berlin in a couple days. It wasn’t something Kiki was looking forward to. The good thing was that part of the citation that showed exactly how many people she and her team has rendered aid to before bringing them to one of the pickup points to be transported to safety via boat or helicopter.

“This is a lot different than the trip west” Louis said with a smile as they were looking at the people who lined the bank of the canal. Kiki and Mitzi knew that they would need to take his word for it.

“It is always nice to be seen as the hero” Kiki replied.

“Sure, but you’re FSR and no one argues that you are not heroic” Louis said, “Before this, the people in Kiel saw us as a sort of necessary evil, this will change that for a bit.”

Kiki turned back to look at the village they were passing. She had no desire to correct her brother’s misapprehensions. Mitzi had told Kiki that she got the impression that Kiki viewed her brothers as competitors when they were around, it was something that had spurred her forward in Hamburg. She didn’t think that was true, but Kiki understood that Mitzi was an extremely astute observer. What if it was true?

With the mission over, the SMS Brandenburg was returning to port in Kiel and an uncertain future though the crew was certainly in a celebratory mood today. The three battleships and the Battlecruiser had been invaluable logistics ships for the rescue effort having also taken onboard thousands of evacuees. Photographs of sailors helping dazed people as they came aboard the battleships that had run around the world. It was rare for a battlegroup to receive the sort of attention that they were getting in peacetime. That had been made clear when the ships were mentioned in dispatches to the Reichstag. Captain Hase had been mentioned by name and the Fleet had promoted him to Kapitan zur See as a reward with the promise of further advancement if he wanted it.

Louis had actually been surprised when he had been mentioned by name as well. Kiki thought that was absurd, people tended to get weird whenever their family name was mentioned, reports and photographs of him tooling around in a boat from the Brandenburg had been circulated widely. Unlike Kiki he had no idea how many people he had helped because no one had been in radio contact with him. He was showing off a medal identical to the one that Kiki had gotten to anyone who listened to him for more than a few seconds. Kiki had noticed that her brother definitely had a crowd he ran with on the ships of the Fleet. Most of them were other Midshipmen like he was. There was also a Marine Fähnrich he had introduced as Udi who had already had a few adventures with Louis back in Kiel.

“What?” Kiki asked as she realized that she had not been following the conversation and Louis had been talking to her. “Could you repeat that last part?”

“I’m going to Antarctica next year” Louis said.

“Does Poppa know?” Kiki asked and that got her a dirty look from Louis. Obviously not, and Louis intended for their father not to find out until it was too late to stop him.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Seventy-One


14th March 1962

Silesia

The big dog didn’t make noise during circumstances like this as he stared intently ahead across the clearing. It was something that Manfred felt was one of Rust’s best features. “You will find that this cat is far more than even you can handle” Manfred said as he kept Rust on a tight leash. He had been conducting his annual census of the deer on his property and looking for signs of the feral swine that had bedeviled him over much of the prior two decades. Instead, Manfred had found evidence of something else. His goal for decades had been to restore the land to its natural state and the large paw prints in the snow were what success looked like.

Rust gave a low growl, which caused Manfred to pull the leash a touch to let Rust know who was in charge here when the choke chain rattled. “To ground, hold” Manfred said softly and with obedience that had been drilled into him since he was a few months old. Rust went low to the ground, still he was ready to spring forward if given the command to.

Rust had been a gift from the Crown Prince and had arrived as a puppy to the Richthofen estate much to the delight of Manfred the Younger and Ina who had been visiting. Manny had discovered girls and much to his terror found that they had discovered him first, quite a bit earlier. Few creatures in nature were as territorial or as vicious to each other as adolescent female Homo Sapiens, which Manny had also learned the hard way. Ina had carried around Rust until he had gotten too big for that. Even at twelve, Ina came across as a girl who would one day be a wonderful wife and mother. It was something that Manfred didn’t dare mention in the presence of Helene. She wanted her daughter to aim for far greater things, but it was truth though. Then there was Rust himself. Manfred had heard the Akitas were excellent hunters and fiercely loyal to their own, both admirable qualities. Watching his eldest grandchildren playing with Rust when he was little had made the latter obvious. Manfred had his doubts about the former until the prior summer he had seen what Rust was capable of in the field once Rust had grown. It was also why he preferred to keep Rust on a lead until he knew exactly what he was dealing with.

Keeping his double-barreled rifle level and aimed at the far tree line in case there were any surprises. There were none. After a few minutes though, he saw movement. A lynx, a big one made its way cautiously along the edge of the clearing edging away from Manfred and Rust. For the land to support a predator like this was a sign of its health and for Manfred himself it was an example of a successful decade’s long effort.


Mitte, Berlin

Returning from her lunch, Kiki saw a floral bouquet of red and white roses. It was really quite lovely, looking at the card attached she saw it was from Prince Heikki of Finland. Kiki was sorely tempted to pitch the entire thing into the bin beside her desk but didn't. The woman who cleaned the office at night liked to take them home and Kiki had let her know that she was welcome to them.

When Kiki had called Mitzi the night before she had learned that the team had been put back into the field with Ingo in charge. That was particularly annoying for Kiki because she was stuck in the Ministry of War reading after-action reports of the efforts by the FSR in Hamburg. The process of examining the operation, finding out what went right and where mistakes were made so that the lessons learned could be put into practice in future operations. While she knew that Ingo was a capable leader, Kiki wanted to be out there in the field with her team, which was where she belonged. As opposed to sitting at a desk.

Again, and again, she got to read about how team leaders on the FSR were out in the field for upwards eighteen to twenty hours at a time while getting hardly any rest in the meantime. It turned out that Kiki wasn’t the only team leader who had gotten sick during the rescue effort. It was obvious that someone had to have known that she would be reading these reports. She was supposed to be presenting a report of her conclusions to the Inspector General of the Joint Medical Service in a few days provided that she didn’t shove a pencil through her eye in the meantime.

Then there was that other problem. Her getting a Federal Merit Cross in gold, a Lifesaving Medal and the Red Cross was talking about promoting her to a second-class medal. All of this had been done in a very public setting which had gotten Kiki a great deal of attention. The roses, letters and other gifts from men who were very interested in making the acquaintance of Princess Kristina. Only the Emperor of Ethiopia had been so bold as to offer her father a thousand head of cattle if Kiki would consent to be his bride. There was not a chance in Hell, but if only the others were so direct. The more subtle ones were the most obnoxious. An Industrialist had donated a considerable amount of money to the University Hospital and then had made his introductions with an inquiry if Kiki would consider meeting him for drinks when it could be arranged. Manipulative bastard.

“Men” Kiki muttered to herself as she reached for the next report.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Seventy-Two


26th February 1962

Potsdam

The name Kage Akio was proof that his Sensei had twisted sense of humor. It should have been a dead giveaway of just what Kage was, but instead it was viewed as something of a joke. That name had been given to him. It was necessary due to Kage having “died” in the fire and gas on the Night of Whispers in Kure as a child. Later being given to the somewhat dubious care of his Sensei, who was also Kage’s only living relative. It was an early lesson that had been taught to Kage and unlike the others it was relatively painless.

That had also been the start of Kage learning his trade, the one that had taken him around the world. Years of hard study, then Agents from the Japanese Government turning up at his Sensei’s door and telling him that his skills were too valuable and dangerous to be allowed to either go to waste from disuse or be sold to groups hostile to their interests. In return for Kage his Sensei had been given a dozen promising new students to train and a considerable stipend.

Before he had left the Ryū, Kage’s Sensei had advised him to continue learning and to remember that patience was their greatest weapon. In times past, they had been forced to accept patronage from the Japanese Imperial Court under similar circumstances. In time they would be forgotten again, and they could go back to living peacefully in the shadows.

Kage’s latest assignment was the Japanese Embassy in Berlin and he had taken upon himself to learn about the German people in one of the most direct ways he could think of.

Watching a Master Craftsman at work was always something to behold. Kage had insisted upon watching the much of the process over the last few months though he had declined the offer made by Fritz Shafer to help out with a few things. While such a thing would be unthinkable in Japan, the German Bladesmith saw things differently because he had started out as a Soldier and later took on his craft as a sideline. When Schafer saw Kage, he saw a prosperous young man who had time to take up such a sideline himself if he were so inclined.

Drawing the katana that Schafer had crafted to Kage’s exact specifications from the scabbard, he was impressed with the wavy lines of the metal that had been expertly forge welded of thousands of layers of differing types of steel. The hamon line revealed where the differential hardening had occurred. Just how Schafer had achieved this effect was very different then how a Japanese Bladesmith would have done it. The balance was also very different in Kage’s hand, livelier. He had seen how Schafer had carefully measured the width of the blade again and again as it had gotten closer to its final dimensions. That had been when Schafer had explained to him the concept of distal taper, it would be considered pure heresy in Japan to have done that. Kage didn’t consider himself bound by that sort of tradition and the result spoke for itself.

“I am honored to receive this Master Craftsman” Kage said as he put the katana back in the scabbard.

“Good” Schafer replied, “I’ll get one of the boys to wrap it up while we discuss the final payment.”

The Germans were refreshingly direct, Kage thought as he handed one of the apprentices the sword. Unlike Japan were such a statement would have included a dozen different meanings. Kage was also aware that the payment would purchase Schafer’s discretion. It was said that Schafer had many friends within the Intelligence Community of Germany, so he had to suspect what Kage was even if he said nothing about it.

“Until next time” Kage said as he handed Schafer an envelope containing a cashier’s check for the balance owed.

“Thank you” Schafer replied as he took the envelope.

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

“Cold bastard, completely unflappable and a real killer” Schafer said, “That was my impression of him.”

“An actual Ninja?” Kat asked, “That seems like something from a movie, not real life.”

“He was in my shop enough times to get a measure of him” Schafer replied, “What do you intend to do about him?”

“Nothing for now” Kat said, “The BND has people watching the Japanese Embassy because that is what they do and the BII is keeping watch on the known Yakuza associates and exiled members of the Japanese Communist Party. If this individual becomes active, then we will probably start to see people the Japanese Government considers enemies turning up dead.”

“So, follow the trail of bodies?” Schafer asked, “Didn’t you used to be more proactive?”

“Try living with three children and a teenager” Kat replied, “Learning to pick your battles is a big part of that.”

Schafer understood that well enough. Kat’s ward Josefine had recently gotten into a fight with another girl who had been trying to get close to a boy she had long fancied. The boy in question had then stupidly asked why Jo, who he had thought was a friend, had acted that way and gotten chewed out by her for being an oblivious moron. Kat had been forced to deal with the consequences. It was especially awkward because the boy’s mother was one of Kat’s closest friends.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Seventy-Three


1st March 1962

Shenyang, Liaoning, China

“Someone is going to do something stupid because they are buying into the bull that is being sold in Beijing these days” Jonny had said to Parker who had just come from Beijing.

Parker didn’t disagree with that assessment of the current situation. He couldn’t very well tell Jonny that because in China the walls always had ears and paranoia was the order of the day in the Chinese Capital. Everyone knew that the Nationalist hardliners were in the ascendency. Added to that was General Pan who had emerged in recent years as the Generalissimo’s strong right hand was a ruthless bastard with a total hatred anyone who had the audacity to not to be Chinese. If something happened to Chiang Kai-Shek then it was very likely that Pan would be in the best position to seize power. It was the very thing that had prompted the State Department to request that the Green Beret’s mission be extended past the end of the year. The real problem that Parker was discovering was that he was commanding a Platoon of men who seemed to have less to go home to with every passing day. The effect was corrosive.

“Just do your best to keep the mission on track” Parker said, “And if as you put it, someone does something stupid, then we will need to play it by ear.”

That had been a few days earlier and Parker was reminded of that as reports were coming in. The Chinese Army was shelling Korean positions across the Yalu River…

Parker could already hear what Jonny was likely to say about this situation though he wouldn’t take much pleasure in it. Just a cold, “I told you so.”


Mitte, Berlin

Freddy recognized the look on Kiki’s face and knew that she just wanted to smash something. Just nothing was handy. The head of the German Branch of the International Red Cross pinned a new medal to the front of her tunic unaware that she was fuming. Minutes before, Kiki had been presented with the Lifesaving Medal and Federal Merit Cross in Gold by the Chancellor. Freddy was sitting next to Suga with Kiki’s friends and family as she accepted this honor. Freddy knew that she had modeled herself on Gräfin Katherine, the Emerald Countess of Berlin and that included a complete dislike of gaudy displays like this one.

“It is nice that you are acknowledging that your sister is becoming an accomplished woman in her own right” Suga said as they joined in with the polite applause.

“No, she’ll always be the whippet to me” Freddy said, “Wouldn’t want her to be getting a fat head.”

“You didn’t poke fun at her earlier” Suga said.

“I didn’t need to” Freddy said as he looked at the FSR team that Kiki led. They looked like they had all escaped from a secondary school somewhere to his eye. They were a mixture of Medical Service and Airborne Infantry. He was aware that they had all trained extensively in each other’s disciplines. It was a part of the reason why the FSR training was considered so tough, those in it needed to wear many hats. What did Kiki’s success there mean for the entire family? Freddy didn’t say it out loud, but he remembered that incident when he had slipped on ice during that inspection tour. The FSR Training Cadre had not reacted, they had stood in silence. In light of what he had just said into Kiki’s ear that had been particularly damning. Freddy was not one of them and never would be, but Kiki was. He was still trying to square that with her being his little sister.

There was also the note that Kiki had slipped to him. Whippets are not meek, have fangs, are swift runners and were historically the companion of poachers. It would be a shame if one ever took a bite out of your backside. -Kiki, your loving sister. It had read.

That was quite a bit more assertive than Kiki had ever been in the past.

“I personally think that your family’s attitude towards service is laudable” Suga said, “If I had even thought of joining the Japanese Army the entire country would have had a collective heart attack. It was bad enough when they learned I was studying abroad.”

“1917 casts a long shadow” Freddy replied, “If we acted like the Italian Royals then the Reichstag would cheerfully give us the boot because if there was a revolution then they would be next.”

“Because of Russia?” Suga asked, knowing the answer of that already.

“There are also different ideas of service” Freddy said, “Kiki got into the FSR, whereas I went to Vietnam and learned to surf.”

“You did far more than that” Suga said, “I’ve heard about the rise in the standard of living over the last decade in Vietnam. You played a big role in that.”

“I guess” Freddy replied.

As he watched, Kiki was headed back to her seat. Their father stopped her and said something to Kiki who just shrugged. Then Nella ran over and hugged Kiki around her legs with Charlotte chasing after. There were flash bulbs going off the entire time. This would put an end to all the speculation that the tabloids had engaged in regarding Kiki and Charlotte feuding with each other, Freddy thought to himself.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Seventy-Four


5th March 1962

Kiel

Contingency Sigma Phi was now the operational framework of the High Seas Fleet. Because of that, the Brandenburg was a hive of activity as Louis watched with the others in disbelief as freight trains came down the tracks that ran onto the pier and dozens of lories. The same process was playing out elsewhere as the ships of the Fleet in Being were to be fully crewed and prepared to put to sea so that they could provide fire support for amphibious operations in the Far East with the North Pacific Squadron. On the heels of the events of a month earlier it was enough to give anyone whiplash.

Looking across the harbor, Louis could see the USS O’Brian at its mooring. The American CIA ran that ship to gather information on the actions of the Fleet and over the prior weeks they had been given a front row seat of some pretty major events. Captain Hase said that it had been arranged for the O’Brian to be buried in red tape for the next several days and their radio signals would find an unexpected degree of interference. Louis knew that with the substantial amount of contraband that the American ship had aboard any Customs Officer would quickly find all sorts of excuses jam up its crew. That meant that once the Fleet got underway, they would have a substantial head start before the whole world knew they were in the move. It was unavoidable that the British or the French would spot them, it would take a miracle to transit the English Chanel without that happening. Then would come the Straits of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal.

It was said that in Switzerland, there was a debate that was going on in the League Of Nations over the recent actions by the Chinese Government and the shelling across the Yalu River. News had reached them earlier that day that despite the efforts by the Koreans to blow up the bridges the Chinese Army had crossed in force. That meant that the time for debate had passed and that resources that had already been allocated were headed towards the Korean Peninsula.


Tempelhof, Berlin

Kiki felt like she had been acting like a complete idiot over the prior hours and now she was going to have to deal with the very real consequences. It wasn’t like she had been drinking, because she hadn’t. Instead it was because she hated the public image that people had of her and she was faced with the reality of the 5th Helicopter Wing deploying to the Far East taking her with it. Unfortunately, in very act of rebelling Kiki felt that she had made herself an entirely different cliché.

The night before, Kiki had gone to a mixer of students who had come through the War Academy together the prior year and it had this definite feel to it. Like if it was the end of the world and nothing they did mattered. Then she had discovered that Benjamin Hirsch was present, and they had started talking. It wasn’t like the awkward time when they had ended up in the same class. Rather, it was like when Kiki had been living in Kat’s house and they’d had fun talking over the back fence. He had listened as she had talked about making it through the FSR training. Ben had told her all about how he had made it through months of serving on the Staff of the Gräfin’s brother Hans with the psychotic Stabsfeldwebel Schultz breathing down his neck the whole time. Then he had found himself sent to Lars-Reichlin Airfield where he had gone through flight training over the summer.

It had been an enjoyable evening but that was where in retrospect things went sideways. Kiki had left with Ben and they had picked up where they had left off a few years earlier when they had kissed on the balcony on the Summer Residence as the reception of her father’s marriage was winding down while on the elevator going up to the small flat that Ben was renting. What followed was Kiki having a rare moment where she had sort of lost control. Zella had spent years joking that Kiki was going to do that one-day, pent up demand was how Zella had put it. She was finding it somewhat bothersome that Zella would be correct over such a matter.

Kiki remembered how they had barely made it through the front door before they had started shedding clothes. The thing that might have made what happened next painful for her had been lost somewhere along the way in hard training over the prior years. The fact that she hadn’t even noticed at the time seemed to validate Doctor Berg’s assertion it was mostly a cultural thing important to men who knew little about female anatomy. Even so, it had taken Kiki and Ben a few tries before they had gotten it right.

When Kiki crawled out of Ben’s bed with the grey light of the predawn, she was looking for her glasses so she could find her clothes. She was reminded of how nothing had changed. Kiki and Ben were still impossible as a couple and always would be. Glancing at the bin containing a handful of used condoms, Kiki looked away. At least she’d had the presence of mind to get that part right. She found her glasses on a table that Ben used as a desk. As she was gathering her clothes, she noticed that Ben was awake and watching her.

“You don’t have to leave Kristina” Ben said sleepily.

“Actually, I do” Kiki said, “I’m supposed to be back in Rangsdorf today.”

“Oh” Ben said, sounding disappointed. “You can use the shower if you want.” Then he rolled over and fell back asleep.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Seventy-Five


7th March 1962

Rangsdorf Airfield

A couple days earlier, Kiki had told Ben a half-truth because she had just wanted to leave his flat that instant. Yes, she had been due in Rangsdorf, but there had been a couple stops along the way. The most harrowing had been lunch with Doctor Berg just a few hours later. Berg must have sensed something about Kiki’s reticence in the conversation and had needed only minutes to drag the truth out of her.

“So, did you enjoy your night of passion?” Berg had asked.

And then the answer that Kiki had given her without thinking about it, “Watching television would have probably been better.”

Berg had a big laugh over that one. Then Berg had said that it was actually understandable that as a young woman in an uncertain situation with potential danger in the near future Kiki had sought comfort with someone who she knew was safe and could be trusted. Then she had made Kiki explain that, yes, she had used protection only to have Berg ask if that was all that she had used. She was not happy when Kiki had told her that and after lunch Berg had practically dragged Kiki back to her office and had injected something into Kiki’s thigh. She hadn’t seen the label on the bottle, but in the two days since then Kiki had been nauseous, fatigued and had a spitting headache that had not gone away. The day before Kiki had called Berg and asked what was going on. Berg had informed her that those were the expected side effects of the drugs that she had been given and that she had explained all of this to Kiki before, in her office. If she felt like this again in a few weeks and was late then she had best have a talk with her Helicopter Wing’s Medical Officer. That was really funny, so funny that Kiki had forgotten to laugh. Kiki remembered that she had been so incensed that Berg had done the injection that she had not listened to what she had been saying at the time.

Now, Kiki felt like crap as the 5th KHF waited for further orders. They were to play a support role to the 1st Fallschirmjäger Division but as that Division still awaiting transport, so was the 5th KHF. So, they were killing time in the Mess Hall waiting for news beyond what they already knew. The Chinese had secured a bridgehead across the Yalu River and the situation was still too fluid for anyone to get a handle on it. Rolf and Anton had been telling dirty jokes, but Kiki didn’t have the energy to tell them to shut the fuck up as much as she wanted to. Lunch was supposed to be served in a few minutes, hopefully something to eat would settle Kiki’s stomach.

“Then the Missionary says, I choose death over Bunga Bunga” Rolf said as he got to the punchline of the joke that he was telling, “The Cannibal Chief looks at him and says Death… BY BUNGA BUNGA!”

The other men around table laughed at that. Mitzi looked annoyed and Kiki was strongly tempted to ask Rolf to give back the minutes of her life that it had taken for him to tell that joke. What the Hell had possessed him to tell a joke like that in mixed company? Kiki could only imagine what Kat would have had to say, there were some things that the Gräfin felt shouldn’t be joked about. Kiki let her face fall to the surface of the table, the cool lacquered Masonite surface felt good against her cheek.

“You okay Kiki?” Ingo asked.

“That joke made me ill” Kiki replied, which caused the others around the table to laugh.


Andong, China

As Jonny drove towards the bridge, he saw how close the Koreans had come to dropping it when he saw the twisted metal and scorched beams. The Japanese had built the bridge decades earlier they had not skimped on the engineering so when the Chinese Army had attempted to force their way across the bridge the explosives had gone off and the bridge had remained standing. It was simply something that no one on either side of the Yalu River had been expecting. Still, the Koreans had fought to hold the far side of the bridge while their sappers had made a valiant though ultimately futile attempt to finish the job. The Chinese Army had made it through into Sinuiju on the Korean side, but the butcher’s bill had been horrendous. Jonny knew that he was getting a glimpse of what was ahead in this campaign.

Presently, Jonny was driving in a borrowed Jeep that had been sold to the Chinese Army. He had gathered his team earlier that day and had made sure to go over the rules of engagement with them. They were here as advisors, so that meant that they had the right to defend themselves but unless they were attacked directly, they were only to observe. Sitting in the passenger seat of the Jeep was Ritchie and Simon was in the back seat. The rest of the Squad was in the Jeep a few lengths ahead. As they crossed into Korea, Jonny remembered that he had made his opinion known in several reports back to Washington and his opinion had not changed. This whole campaign was folly and no matter what early successes the Chinese had, eventually they would come to grief.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Seventy-Six


9th March 1962

Rangsdorf Airfield

“I wouldn’t be too sore with Doctor Berg” Kat said over the telephone, Kiki could hear Marie talking at Kat in the background until Kat told her that she would listen as soon as she finished talking to Kiki. Marie responded by asking if Kiki was coming to visit that weekend, only to be shooed away by Kat.

“Do you have any idea what she did?” Kiki asked.

“Injected you with a heavy dose of a progesterone drug mixture that would keep you from conceiving in case any swimmers got through the condoms that you said you used properly” Kat replied. Implying that Kiki might not have been as cautious as she had thought she had been.

Kiki stood there for a long moment unsure how to respond. She had suspected that was what Berg had done and had only started to feel better the day before. From the description that Kat had just given it was small wonder that she had felt so sick. Berg had kept her from getting pregnant by using that drug mixture to convince her body that she already was.

“How do you know that?” Kiki asked, dreading the answer that she knew she might get.

“Because your elders do talk to each other, especially those entrusted with your care” Kat replied, “I spoke at length with Doctor Berg about how she would have handled… My own situation when I was younger. The subject came around to what we should do in case you became sexually active. Later, we spoke with your father about it and he ordered Nora to do whatever was necessary to avoid a scandal.”

“When was this?”

“It was shortly after Marie was born” Kat replied, “Your mother was still alive at the time, I remember that, so about five years ago.”

“Oh” Kiki replied, so Berg had acted on her father’s express orders. This whole thing just kept getting better and better.

“Just call Doctor Berg and let her know you are well” Kat said, “She cares a lot about you, even if she has an odd way of showing it sometimes.”

“I’ll think about it” Kiki replied, she didn’t like how her voice sounded through the earpiece when she said that. She sounded immature, like the spoiled Princess many people thought she was.

“When you do, you might also discuss some of your other options if you want to avoid this sort of thing in the future” Kat said, “I know that is unsolicited advice, but it is based on my own experience.”

With that the conversation came to an end. Kiki said her goodbyes and hung up the phone. If even Kat, who had very little love for Nora Berg, was telling her to make peace then she had best listen. She also owed Berg a chance to make this right. Picking up the phone, Kiki dialed the number for the hospital exchange.


Washington D.C.

It was unexpected. At 8PM Eastern Standard Time the face of W. Averell Harriman, President of the United States of America appeared on television sets across the country.

“My fellow Americans” Harriman said, “Tonight, I feel I have a duty to inform you that a state of war exists between the Republic of China and the Empire of Korea in addition to States allied with Korea.”

Harriman paused, for a few seconds.

“While the United States of America is not now, nor will be, on a war footing, but we stand for the self-determination and sovereignty of free people around the world. We have an obligation to stand for the values upon which our Nation was founded. E Pluribus Unum, Out of many, One. That is the motto of our great country. It has always been true that people could come from around the world and be welcomed to be a part of the great tapestry of America. Frequently, those people came from nations that had declared that a nation could only exist for the people who were part of the tribe that dominated it. In America, we have rejected that form of tribalism many times. While we have on occasion fallen short of our ideals, we have always strived to be better.”

Harriman paused to turn the page on the notes in front of him.

“Twenty years ago, the we watched in horror as much of the world was consumed by barbarism unseen since the days of the fall of the Roman Empire. The Soviet Union, an Empire that was built upon the bones of millions dead and a war machine fueled by the blood of millions more, was rightfully defeated. Just what replaced it was a darkness far older and more pernicious, an Empire whose most notable founder believed that the great questions of the day would not be settled by speeches or majority decisions but by blood and iron. Augustus Lang, this man’s eventual successor showed the world how to create a new form of Colonialism. Where the Client State itself becomes an instrument of its own subjugation.”

“Tonight, my fellow Americans, the world stands at a crossroads. We can continue to watch the spread of Feudalism under a thin veneer of token democracy, with its Emperors and Kings, Counts and Dukes remaining firmly entrenched in power. Or we can choose to take a stand. Not with bullets and bombs, but by telling these retrograde forces of the past, that the free people of the world have had enough. Over the past century, the people of China have witnessed their nation being dismembered, addictive drugs being imported into it so that foreign merchants could turn an ever-greater profit, cultural sites looted, and their people left starving. Tonight, we choose to offer our support, because they are saying that they have had enough at long last.”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Seventy-Seven


12th March 1962

Mitte, Berlin

As Kat left the building that housed the headquarters for KSK she was accosted by journalists shouting questions as she made her way to the car park. So much for it being a secret location, Kat thought to herself. It was something that she was unaccustomed to, but obviously word had leaked out that she had been tapped to lead the composite Division, so suddenly everyone remembered who she was. Today, that came in the form of shouted questions. It was hardly a surprise that they mostly were related to the expanding crisis in Korea and the televised address that the American President had done a few days earlier. Kat’s personal opinion was that all of this was a consequence of events that had occurred decades earlier. She remembered reading about the 1940 Presidential Election when she had been visiting Emil and Maria in Australia. That election had come down to Internationalism vs. Isolationism. She had remembered that both sides had very good reasons for their perspective. The Isolationists had won that debate and now, two decades later, they were finding that the consequences of that policy were not to their liking.

“I cannot comment on policy” Kat said, “I can only repeat what the Chancellor’s statement that we do not consider the Americans our enemies, we have shared values and history and it is deeply regrettable that their President has taken this tact.”

The Chancellor had made certain that everyone at all levels of Government were singing from the same hymnal book, with particular attention being paid to those who were considered loose cannons. Kat had been included among those loose cannons though she couldn’t think of anything that she had done to warrant such consideration.

“Will this crisis affect your plans to attend the wedding of Grand Duchess Alexandra?” One of the reporters asked.

That was something that Kat could comment on.

“There is nothing on Earth that will keep me from attending the wedding of one my sisters” Kat replied.

That resulted in more questions from the journalists as Kat walked though the gate to the secured car park. It was widely known that she had a somewhat expansive definition of who she considered her family. That included a lost Russian Princess who she had welcomed into her household.

Getting into her car, Kat turned on the ignition and music from the University Radio Station filled her car. It was the strange mutation of Surf Rock that had reached Germany over the prior year or so. The emphasis was different, that was for certain. It took a special sort to surf the waves on the North Sea. It was reflected in the music that they played, harder and grittier than their fun in sun counterparts in California. That was what she listened to as she drove out of the center of the city towards Tempelhof, rather than turn for home, she headed for the Humboldt Campus and the Teaching Hospital.

The invitation had been strange. Nora Berg had said that her usual Monday lunch appointment was going to be out of town and that Kat was welcome to meet her in Hospital Cafeteria. Kat was tempted to show up early and meet Berg in her office just to tweak her nose, but she had said that Kat had a negative effect on her patients back when Kat had been one of them.

No one gave Kat a second look as she entered the Cafeteria. It was something that was rare for her these days and it was actually welcome. After placing her order, and hopefully preempting one of Berg’s favorite tricks, Kat found the table and sat down across from the Doctor.

“How are your children Katherine?” Berg asked, not looking up from the medical journal she was reading. “Is Malcolm still having difficulty reading?”

“Yes” Kat replied with a touch of anger. “You ask around about my children?”

“I follow all the children I’ve helped bring into this world” Berg said putting the magazine down. “Yours are no different than the rest. I don’t see too many paternal twins though, so Tatiana and Malcolm do stand out in that regard.”

“Oh” Kat replied. That question was simply a matter of courtesy and there had been no ill intent behind it. Berg had been present while Kat had been in delivery in case there were complications and had been tasked by Peter Holz to make sure that Kat took proper care of herself when she had been pregnant. So, she was genuinely interested in knowing how Kat’s children were. “Malcolm is still struggling, he had Tatiana helping him cover for that for a while, but his teachers got wise to that.”

“Marie?”

“Thriving” Kat replied, “Her Kindergarten Teacher gets driven to distraction by her constantly asking questions.”

Berg found that amusing.

“And you?” Berg asked, “Any regrets about how you did things? I know that Marie was a surprise, IUDs rarely fail, but it does happen.”

“No” Kat said, “She is wonderful.”

“Good” Berg replied, “Now, about the recent amorous adventures of a young woman whose father had hoped would have a bit better sense.”

“I think that it was somewhat sensible” Kat said, “She understands the odds of her survival in the coming months and doesn’t want to die a virgin. Benjamin Hirsch cares about her and isn’t a brute, so he was a decent, although not a particularly skilled choice.”

“I worry though” Berg said, “If she was in an emotionally vulnerable state, Kiki could have been taken advantage of.”

Kat just smiled and shook her head. “According to the BII team that keeps tabs on Kiki even though she has requested not to have a full security detail, it was Kiki who came onto him.” She said, “Much to Ben’s surprise and I think that Kiki wasn’t the only one who lost her virginity last week.”

“Are you saying that we should be happy this happened?”

“No” Kat replied, “Far from it, but it was her choice, which is the important part.”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Seventy-Eight


19th March 1962

Near Tongrim, Korea

The Army of China was touted as the largest in the world. What that meant in practice was that it was slow moving and ponderous but extremely difficult to stop. When it had made its way across the Yalu River the badly outnumbered Korea Army had thrown everything that they had at it but in the lowlands south of Sinuiju the lack of a geographic barrier had favored the Chinese. The Korean Army had fallen back to a range of hills around the village of Tongrim where the 3rd MID was in the process of digging in.

When the 3rd Marine Infantry Division had been tasked with holding the strategically important road between Sinuiju and Pakchŏn, Tilo had ordered that every Marine, regardless of specialty, drop what they were doing and grab a rifle. The result was that the 3rd MID was at full strength but its numbers were bulked up with hundreds of Cooks, Quartermasters and Mechanics. There would probably be a price to be paid after this because Tilo had stripped the Division of key support staff, but for that to become a problem most of them would still need to be alive. Tilo was trying to project confidence for his men to see, but he was finding it difficult.

Tilo had even gone so far as to go to Brig and take whatever hardcases they hadn’t yet shipped back to Germany. Even with him dangling the offer of a pardon in return for good conduct and distinguishing themselves in combat, Tilo didn’t trust them not to engage in bad behavior in the field. That was why he had kept them in the same Company and close enough to keep a close eye on them. Reier had told that lot that Tilo was doing it because he wanted to surround himself with the real ass kickers and if they thought for an instant that Tilo was some Staff Officer sitting in the rear while there was fighting to be done then they had another thing coming. The scary part was that Tilo had enough of a reputation that they had bought into it. While it was unthinkable that a General might get caught up in the fighting, if they were getting overrun then there was a possibility that it could happen.

Tilo had been told that reinforcements were on the way, but he had not been given a firm time frame as to when that would happen. The Japanese had offered to send an entire Army Corps to Korea only to be rebuffed by the Korean Government. When the Chinese had been saber rattling a couple years earlier the Japanese had quietly sent a few military representatives to lay the groundwork should such a step be necessary. This time, the Koreans didn’t even want that. As Tilo looked through his binoculars at the Chinese troops massing to the north he thought about how nice it was that they had that kind of luxury in Seoul. Nancy had said that she was in contact with the Japanese and German Embassies and was trying to work something out, to see if there might be some way to win the Korean public over. Not necessarily to the side of the Japanese, but to Tilo and his men’s. Sell them the idea that the Japanese Army deserved a chance for the small amount of redemption that they would gain if they helped the 3rd MID. Tilo wasn’t holding his breath, it would probably take more time than he had left to work that miracle.

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

The first probing attack had gone ahead as planned and it had gone about as well as Jonny had thought it would. There was a Division dug in along the ridge South of Tongrim. There was artillery in place behind the ridge and machine gun nests all along the front. The ripping cloth sound of an MG42 was unmistakable for anyone who had been in Mexico. The same was true with the clatter of the rifles and the snap-hiss sound of a Panzerfaust. The thing was that the Krauts had obviously improved their anti-tank weapons since Mexico because Chinese tanks were getting knocked out at five or six hundred yards where the old Panzerfaust 250 was exactly that, only effective out to 250 meters. It was fortunate that they didn’t seem to have very many of those or else more tanks would have been lost.

Jonny just hoped that whoever was in charge up there was smart enough to withdraw his men in good order while he still could. It was because tomorrow a force many times the one they had just stood off would be attempting to force the road at the north end of the ridge.


Tumangang, Korea

The elements of the 8th Panzer Dragoon Infantry Brigade and the 26th Jagdpanzer Battalion were the first units to cross the bridge over the Tumen River from Russia followed by the 5th Panzer Brigade. At the guard post on the far side of the bridge, a handful of Korean conscripts stood awestruck at the sight of the lead elements of the 4th Division crossing the bridge. Not just the Lynx Panzers, StuGs, Skorpions and APCs, but hundreds of lorries and halftracks as well.

Olli sat in the Commander’s seat of his Skorpion and whipped off a sarcastic salute to the conscripts as he passed. They didn’t know it yet, but the entire 2nd Army Corps under the Command of some of their greatest heroes from the Second World War was entering Korea. Looking over the splinter shield, Olli couldn’t see him, but Kurt was in the lead Lynx of the 5th Panzer. A few days before they had departed from Germany, they had learned that General of Panzer Dragoons Hans von Mischner had been appointed to Command the entire 2nd. Olli only knew him by reputation, he knew far more about his crazy sister because she was a close friend of Kurt’s wife.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Seventy-Nine


24th March 1962

Near Tongrim, Korea

For five nightmarish days the 3rd MID had held the ridge, but as the Koreans had been forced back their position south of Tongrim had grown untenable. They were short of everything that Tilo could think of and he had been informed that fresh supplies were being redirected to Sonchon, where the 3rd MID had been ordered to fall back to take up a fresh defensive position. A storm was rolling in off the ocean, so once it started raining, they would have the perfect cover for their retreat. The Navy was going to shell the Chinese positions, but it had turned out the Destroyers of the Pacific Fleet were vulnerable to rockets fired from the shore, so they were conducting hit and fade attacks. That meant that whatever distraction they would provide wouldn’t be for long.

“Spread the word that we are going to be falling back in a few hours” Tilo said to the Regimental Commanders in the dugout that he was using as a Command Post as he concluded telling them the plan, “The men are to leave whatever parting gifts for our Chinese friends that they think are appropriate.”

That got him a round of laughter from the gathered men before they left a few at a time. As Tilo left the dugout himself, he noticed that three of the men he had pulled from the brig fell into step with him. He had noticed that the obedience that they had begrudged him after he had sprung them was gone. Now, a few of them always accompanied him as he went up and down the lines. When asked, they had said it was because he had stepped up to the line and none of the Brass that they had been with in the past had ever done such a thing. It was entirely because of one instance, when a section the lines had looked like it was about to be overrun, Tilo had grabbed whoever was available and reinforced it. That had included him on the fire step at one point, though he had not actually fired his weapon.

Stepping into a different dugout, he saw Reier standing there with one of his nephews, Karl Dunkel, as he tried to get Karl to eat something. Five days in Hell and Tilo was very aware of how it was not coming without cost. One of the casualties had been Erik Garver. Because they had been inseparable for their entire lives, Karl was completely lost without his cousin. Tilo had simply not had the time to figure out just how bad Erik had gotten hurt or even if he was still alive. He just knew that Erik had been evacuated and Karl wasn’t doing well. Sticking him with Reier had been the best he could do at the moment.

Tilo knew that no matter how this turned out his sisters were unlikely to forgive him for this.


25th March 1962

It had turned out that the German Marines had abandoned their positions overnight. Jonny had tried to warn the Chinese General that they should not be in any rush to take the ridge. He hadn’t been listened to and the result was a blood-soaked mess. Landmines, trip mines as well as traps of every description and there were even rumors that the Krauts had hidden explosives inside the corpses of their own dead. Touch them and they go boom. One would be hard pressed to think of a greater insult directed at the Chinese. As Jonny watched, a Chinese Private was brought down the hill with a wooden stake driven through his foot. He was one of the lucky ones. Just minutes earlier a half dozen men had been carried down after a Bouncing Betty had gone off and sliced their legs out from under them. A clever trick that the Krauts had come up with, a landmine that is set on a timer. The guy who steps on it starts the countdown, so rather than getting that one guy it could get several.


Pusan, Korea

Since they had arrived in Korea, they were once again waiting to see where they would go next.

The mail had caught up with them though and to Kiki’s surprise she had gotten a package and several letters. The package was from Kat’s Aunt Marcella containing several items that she thought Kiki might find useful. A deck of cards, chocolate bars, socks and a small sewing kit. There was a letter from her father that mostly told her to be careful and wished her well. There was photograph of her father with Charlotte and Nella. Then a letter from Zella and Aurora wishing her well and letting her know how much they missed her. A letter from Doctor Berg asking if she was taking care of herself. Kiki would need to write a letter back to Berg letting her know that she was taking care of herself and that she knew she wasn’t pregnant. That last part was particularly annoying. Finally, there was a letter from Ben, and he had only written one sentence; You never did get a chance to see the photographs. With love, Benjamin. Included was a photograph of Ben behind the controls of an airplane as he had been learning to fly.

When Kiki saw that, she couldn’t help but blushing a bit at the memory. That had been the reason she had been going with Ben up to his flat in the first place and she had completely forgotten about it.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Eighty


28th March 1962

Near Tongrim, Korea

Traffic inched down the Coastal Road much to Jonny’s frustration. He had told the others that he would be back once he had reported in with Parker, but that had taken far longer than he had expected. The Chinese Airforce had done a credible job so far of keeping the Korean and German fighter/bombers at bay, but the Generals were taking no chances. That was why most movement of men and supplies was taking place at night. Jonny had found himself caught up in that.

“They were Hellbent on holding the ridge because they were buying time” Jonny had told Parker when they had talked. Jonny had sought out Parker to try to get a wider perspective on what was happening, and it seemed to be confirming his suspicions about where this misbegotten war was going. Today had been another day of observing the Chinese smashing their head into a wall, just the wall now included far more barbed wire, concrete, artillery and landmines, lots and lots of the cursed things

Parker had said that the events that Jonny had observed were part of a pattern that had been repeating itself across the Northern part of the Korean Peninsula. The Chinese Army bulling across the first geographic barriers and encountering a series of holding actions. Then hitting a heavily fortified defensive line and being stopped cold. To set up and man such a line must have taken time, so the holding actions must have been taken by what must have been Regular Army units to give the Reserves that time.

Here on the Coastal Road, the Chinese Army had the greatest initial success and then had found itself fighting the German Marines. Jonny found them strange. They billed themselves as the worst soldiers in the world, reveling in fact that almost all of them had been thrown out of the German Army first and sent to the Marines. Yet they had fought tenaciously to hold onto a piece of ground thousands of miles from home. After they had retreated from that ridge, Jonny had seen a written on a wall words translated roughly to, “The ground under our boots is always German soil” that seemed to explain a great deal. He had sent photographs of that back to the Embassy in Beijing. It was the sort of thing that the Analysts in Langley tried to find the deeper meaning in, beyond the painfully obvious.

Off to his right, Jonny saw one of the rocket batteries fire off an anti-shipping missile. On most nights Destroyers based near Seoul would cruise up the coast and shell the Coastal Road and then try to escape before the missile batteries got a lock on them. Jonny figured that it was more of the same as he lit a cigarette. A minute later, there was a flash on the horizon. Another Destroyer just went into the drink, Jonny thought to himself. Then came several more flashes of light and the missile battery went up in a column of flame. He was still trying the process what he had just seen when there was great concussion and Jonny’s jeep was flipped onto its side with him in it. Rolling into the ditch, Jonny realized that he had burnt his lips on the cigarette that had been in his mouth. There came another wave of shells exploding, but these ones burst in air and there was loud buzzing noise, like a million angry bees. Laying in the ditch on the side of the road, Jonny looked up and saw what looked like a man nailed to the side of one of the trucks.

Two thoughts occurred to him at the same time Battleship guns and fléchettes. Only the Krauts would be murderous enough to combine those two things. Jonny also knew that he needed to get out of here before they followed it up with…

The whole world seemed to shatter as the road was bracketed with high explosive shells. Jonny’s mind raced as he tried to remember something, anything, that anyone might have told him about situations like this. The only thing that came to mind was his Drill Instructor at Fort Lewis talking at him along with the other newly minted Privates, declaring that if they were ever really fucked to try not to piss themselves in the end. It wasn’t a comforting thought because it was already too late.


Tegel, Berlin

Meetings in the Hanger were normally boisterous, today’s meeting was very different. A pin drop could be heard after the news was announced that their fast attack wing, SKG 18 was getting sent to Korea.

The truth was that they were all University Students who had been encouraged to pretend that they were Pilots. Now as their Commanding Officer addressed them it was sinking in that it was no longer just for pretend, and it could very well get them killed. Over the previous months they had flown mock missions while flying the Arado Pfeil that had come in the form of dropping concrete bombs on targets, it was a lot of fun but mostly because no one was shooting back.

This had always been a possibility. The Arado Pfeil had been the result of the collaboration with Avro Canada. Just unlike the Arrow, which was a pure interceptor, Arado had seen a different potential. A key difference was that the Pfeil had been fitted with turbofan engines as well as six hardpoints under the wings and a seventh under the fuselage. Combined with the internal bomb bay and relatively large fuel capacity it made the Pfeil an excellent light bomber.

“This is good news for you Benny” One of the others whispered at him, “Your girlfriend is already there.”

Ben had made the mistake of mentioning that little detail a couple weeks earlier, without mentioning her name. Little did they know that if Kiki spotted him in Korea then she would happily kill him and save the Chinese the bother. He had another reason to avoid Kiki over there as well, the Gräfin. Somehow, she had learned of what had happened and had Ben pulled aside so that she could tell him that if he breathed a word about it to anyone then the bright future that he presently had would evaporate. After Katherine finished systematically destroying his life, he would be lucky if he would be allowed to change his name and become a street sweeper in some foreign country.

At the same time, Ben missed Kiki terribly. Especially after the surprise reunion and what had happened. She thought that she was plain, her face too thin and bespectacled. That her body was short on features that would have made her attractive as well. Ben thought that she was wrong about that. Kiki was smart, clever and bolder than she thought she was. Kiki had also been the first woman that he had ever seen naked in person. Sure, Kiki didn’t look like the bombshell models he had seen in photographs, but somehow that made her more real in his mind. She had also not laughed or gotten angry with him over some of the clumsy mistakes that he had made on the night that they had spent together. He just wished that Kiki could see herself as others saw her.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Eighty-One


30th March 1962

Incheon, Korea

Standing at the rail, Louis saw that crowds of people who watching the Battleships come into port. They had traveled in radio silence halfway around the world and had announced their arrival by pasting what was believed to be several Chinese Divisions and a few costal batteries. They had fired a few salvos of the experimental anti-personnel shells and it was yet to be seen just how effective the things were. Louis understood the concept of airburst. He also understood that the Navy liked redundancy, evidently the Admiral had as well. So, they had fired a few salvos of high explosive shells to make sure that whoever was ashore was really unhappy.

Not that it was an entirely one-sided affair. All the Battleships had taken hits from coastal artillery and missiles. Mostly it had done little more than scorch the paint, but the Rhineland had taken a troubling hit on the face of her Caesar Turret. It was still trying to be ascertained just how much damage the 42cm guns had taken. The SMS Baier had one of her radar arrays completely destroyed which was considerably easier to fix.

“Looks like we get to be heroes” Louis said.

“Perhaps” Udi replied.

“What do you mean? Perhaps?”

“Look for yourself” Udi said, and he pointed to a section of the pier that already had a ship moored to it. Louis recognized her, the SMS Prinzessin Marie. The vast white ship with the red cross painted on it was a hive of activity, helicopters circling, and ambulances lined up on the pier. There was a war going on and they had played only a relatively minor role in it so far.

As the SMS Brandenburg passed the hospital ship, Louis saw men sitting on the deck staring back at him. These were the lucky ones, those who weren’t injured badly enough to die if they were forced to wait. Even so, they looked like they had been run through a meat grinder. Then it occurred to Louis that these were men from the 3rd Marine Infantry, Udi’s Division even if he was currently on detached duty.


Cholsan, Korea

“The Chinese weren’t sure what to do with him, so they brought him here” Parker said.

The rest of the Squad was trying to wrap their heads around what had happened. For as long as the 1st SFG had been around Jonny had been there. Everyone knew that he was the toughest bastard in their outfit, larger than life and indestructible. Yet here Jonny was, just one of a still unknown number of men killed when the road had come under heavy shellfire. They were able to identify him with his dog tags, otherwise he would have been too much of a mess.

“It’s like God is watching and rolling the dice” Huck said, “Sooner or later, your luck runs out.”

“My mom would say that God had less to do with it than just taking too many chances” Ritchie said, “

No one disagreed with that. They all knew that Jonny had pushed his luck a thousand times and had always come out ahead until this. He had also been outspoken in his belief that their mission to China was a shitshow waiting to happen. Time would tell if he was correct or not. Either way, they all had a bad feeling that Jonny wouldn’t be the last one to be sent home in a box.


Mitte, Berlin

To Emil’s astonishment, BMW was happy with the results so far in the ongoing Motorcycle Grand Prix season. They had even discussed incorporating features from the racing motorcycle into the upcoming model year. If only the rest of Emil’s life could have similar examples of clear-cut success.

Maria and Zella were fighting again. This time it was the sort of battle that Emil knew all too well that as a father he would be on dangerous ground if he got involved. Still he didn’t like having his wife and daughter at odds with each other. It seemed that Maria had learned a few things about Zella’s personal life recently that she didn’t approve of.

When Emil had pointed out that while Maria had some good points, Zella was legally an adult and that Maria was overstepping her bounds by trying to assert control of her. He had earned himself a withering look from Maria. After that he had stopped trying to mediate between the two of them. That didn’t stop the two of them from complaining. Zella thought that Maria was controlling, old-fashioned and closeminded. It was an extremely ironic thing to believe about Maria. At the same time, Maria thought that Zella was irresponsible, selfish and immature. Emil didn’t disagree with Maria, but he knew that Zella would be forced to grow up eventually.

It all came to a head when Emil got a call to the phone line in his office. It seemed that Zella had landed in the hospital and she was afraid of Maria’s reaction when she learned what had happened. She had waited until she knew Maria had left for work and made the call. It had been when Emil asked the obvious question that Zella had gotten vague and evasive.

Minutes later, Emil had arrived at the hospital only to get intercepted by Oberstarzt Berg. He knew the Doctor worked closely with his brother and specialized in “Female issues” so it was hardly a surprise that she would be involved.

“The last thing Marcella needs right now is for you to be judgmental” Berg said, “She is going through an extremely hard time and there is already a great deal of self-recrimination involved. That is usually true in a case like this.”

“I get that” Emil replied, “How is Zella? Can you tell me?”

“She is young, and I expect a full recovery, eventually” Berg said, “Did she tell you what happened?”

“She was reluctant to say exactly, she was in the hospital because she started bleeding unexpectedly” Emil said, “She went out of her way to avoid her mother which says a great deal.”

“I’m not surprised” Berg said, “She gave me permission to speak for her in this matter when you got here. The word she couldn’t bring herself to use with you is miscarriage. As I said, try not to be judgmental and do not bring that up with her before she is ready.”

“I see” Emil said, knowing how Maria would react to this. Stepping into the hospital room, Emil saw Zella staring at the ceiling. Her eyes were puffy, so he knew that she had been crying. He could recall many times when she had been a child and had done the same thing when she had a particularly bad day. Emil sat down in the chair beside the bed. Back then and probably now as well, Zella would talk when she was ready to.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Eighty-Two


2nd April 1962

Tempelhof, Berlin

“I’m not either of your parents” Berg said, “There is absolutely nothing you can tell me that would surprise me. So, when you are ready.”

Berg said that as soon as Zella sat down. She had been sent home a couple days earlier. Berg knew that Zella was still bleeding though. Not physically though, instead it was the sort of mental wounds that a Medical Doctor couldn’t treat as easily. The reason for the invitation was that Berg missed having the weekly lunches with someone she could talk to about ordinary things. Zella clearly needed someone she could talk to other than her father. He had patiently waited for her to tell him what had happened, and she had. It was a simple enough story, with her friends moving on personally and professionally as well as the ongoing conflicts at home, Zella had been left with some serious problems. She had no direction in life or any idea about what she wanted. It was something that had left her vulnerable, someone had seen an opportunity and had taken advantage of her.

Berg suspected that it was the junior Professor who had suddenly resigned in the middle of the term and had told everyone that he was planning on spending some time abroad. She wondered if she spoke to the Porters in the Casualty Department, they would tell her that he had come in with contusions and other trauma associated with having been on the receiving end of a beating. A beating that had come with the promise of far worse if he didn’t go somewhere far away. Berg wondered exactly how much his wife must have known and what she would make of the sudden move.

Dealing with Zella herself was a bit of a challenge for Nora Berg. Zella had been perfectly content to have a British Musician spread the rumor that she was gay widely because it caused other Musicians to not hit on her and once they thought that she would never be into them they tended to treat her like if she were one the guys. At the same time Berg saw her as someone who was hurting and in need of help. While Zella had not opened up about her sexual history prior to recent events, some of the things that Kiki had said about her friend suggested that Zella had hardly been chaste as a teenager. Kiki had also talked often about how she wished that she was more like Zella, who was fearless and bold. What Berg was discovering was that Zella was a deeply insecure young woman who projected a false front of being bold that she didn’t exactly possess. Then she had had a class being taught by a man who knew how to spot those insecurities and exploit them, coercing Zella into sexual relationship and dropping her the instant she became an inconvenience.

Zella sat there for a long moment poking at her lunch with a fork. Over the last few days it had become apparent that Zella wasn’t eating the wrong things like Kiki had, it was that she wasn’t eating at all. “You don’t want to hear it” She said, “It’s all so pathetic.”

Why was it that some men’s greatest talent was in destroying the self-worth of young women? Berg thought to herself. The contrast between the now and when Zella had confronted her the prior summer was just staggering.

“Fine then” Berg said, “What do you think of Kiki getting back together with Ben Hirsch?”

Zella bristled at that mention.

“I swear” Zella muttered, “If he breaks her heart, I’ll gut him.”

Berg smiled inwardly. Zella was still Zella, she just needed time to remember that.


Mitte, Berlin

“Are you going to be here for the rest of the afternoon Miss von Preussen?” The Marine Guard asked politely in English with what she now knew was a Southern drawl, “We’re holding an event later and we don’t want to land you in hot water with your father again. Arrangements can be made.”

Rea was actually smarting at how ineffective her latest attempt at activism was. She had spent days trying to gin up support for this event. Protesting the war in Korea and the tacit American support for what was essentially a war on Germany and their allies. Aside from Japik, there were only a few others who could be bothered to show up. And today Japik had a dentist appointment, so he wasn’t here. Rea had two brothers and a sister who were caught up in that mess, so she felt obligated to be here. Just the fact that she was now on a first name basis with the Marine Guards in front of the United States Embassy was something that she was finding a bit grating. Right now, all Rea wanted to do was just go home and scream into her pillow.

“Thank you, Corporal Oswald” Rea said to one of the Marines who guarded the front entrance.

“It’s the least we can do” Oswald said, “Any news about your family, the ones in Korea?”

“No” Rea replied, trying not to let him see the worry on her face.

“That is actually good news” Oswald said, “It means that nothing has happened to them.”

“Thank you” Rea replied, “That does make sense.”

Oswald just shrugged, “My wife asked if the next time you came around if she could meet you” He said, “She’s never met a real-life Princess.”

“I am not a tourist attraction Lee” Rea said.

“And I was hoping that you might make an exception this once Marie Cecilie” Oswald said. One of the things about these Marines, particularly those who came from the same geographic region was how they combined first and middle names. Rea’s was no exception.

“You don’t need to be nice to me” Rea said.

“You catch more flies with honey than vinegar” Oswald replied.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Eighty-Three


6th April 1962

Seoul, Korea

Kiki had helped establish the guidelines that were now the source of her aggravation. Kiki and her team had been ordered to stand down and she had been placed on a few days of light duty after what had not struck her as particularly arduous work. They had been aboard the helicopters that had been ferrying wounded from the aid stations to proper hospitals. The primary job aboard the helicopter was the keep them stable while in the air. While it wasn’t the mission that they had been trained for, it was contributing. And as it turned out, someone higher up had been keeping track of just how many hours Kiki had been spending in the air. That had been her undoing.

That was why she had been temporarily reassigned after only a week and the reasons behind it were obvious the instant that she had entered the chaotic household of Generallieutenant Schultz in Pusan. Nancy was six months pregnant but was still making a large push on behalf of her husband who was in harms way. Kat had said that Nancy tended to waffle when it came to important decisions, waiting until events forced her hand. There was another side to that coin however, once Nancy made up her mind to do something then nothing could stop her from doing it.

“I hate stubborn little boys and their egos” Nancy had said the previous day when she had hung up the phone after talking to the Japanese Prime Minister. The bad blood between the Japanese and the Koreans went back centuries, that was a fact that no one could escape. Still, having the Chinese Army inside Korea wasn’t enough to get them to put their differences aside and realize that they had a common problem. The Korean Government was demanding an apology that would be suitably contrite for the decades of occupation that they had been subjected to. The Japanese Government had turned around and said that those responsible were all dead and that they were not responsible.

Nancy had considerably better results with the Australians, Thai and Vietnamese. It seemed that the other nations that were emerging around the Pacific Rim were interested in the greater national community that they were part of. So far, there had been only one instance of anyone questioning Nancy’s role in this and finding out that she could get Kiki’s father on the phone, even from Korea, had settled that in a hurry. Nancy represented the House of Hohenzollern and didn’t speak for the German Government. In Germany that might have meant that she could be politely listened to and then dismissed, here in the Far East she was someone who could not be ignored.

Today, they had different mission. The hospital was like any others that Kiki had ever been in, except this ward was full of patients who had been wounded in combat and were awaiting evacuation home because their injuries were deemed too severe for them to recover in Korea.

As Kiki watched, Nancy had her hand on her belly as if to protect her baby. Some of the things that they were seeing were horrific. It was Kiki’s opinion that anyone who wanted to go to war should be forced to walk through to place like this. Oddly, the patients seemed happy to have them on the ward.

“Weren’t you the girl on the chopper?” A man said and he tried to sit up. Kiki could see that his chest was a mass of bandages and there were tubes coming out of it.

“Stay there” Kiki said as she got him to lay back down. There had been dozens of sorties that she had flown on. Six stretchers and room for anyone who could sit on the floor, the number of men who would have seen her were in the hundreds. It wasn’t a surprise that some of them would have ended up in here.

“You got a name?” The man asked.

“Kristina” Kiki replied, and she saw him smile.

“Thank you” He said.

Strange as it was, little things like that seemed to mean everything for them.

Catching up with Nancy, Kiki saw that she had found who she had come for. Erik Garver, her husband’s nephew. Grabbing ahold of his chart, Kiki saw that he had taken some shrapnel injuries that were mostly superficial except for one that had gone through his throat, nearly causing him to bleed out and damaging his larynx. He was due to be on the next flight to Berlin where the faculties existed to attempt to repair the damage. The Doctor’s had recommended that he not talk until they had a handle on how bad it was.

“There have been a lot of times where I wanted to cut your throat because you made some smartassed comment to me or your Uncle” Nancy said to Erik, “But this isn’t something that I wanted to see.”

Erik gave Nancy a dirty look and the men in the adjoining beds laughed at that. It was a reminder that these men were mostly Marine Infantry. It didn’t matter how dire their predicament was. They would inevitably see the humor in their situation. It was something that Kiki had noticed once she had started working closely with them.

Erik picked up a notepad that was on his bed and angerly wrote something down and handed it to Nancy who read the two-word statement.

“I’m sorry Erik” Nancy said, “I am your Aunt, so this would be inappropriate.”

That caused a new round of laugher. Whatever Erik had said to offend Nancy it had certainly been enough for her to use it to extract a measure of justice.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Eighty-Four


9th April 1962

Near Sonchon, Korea

It came as a great relief to Karl that Erik would be home by now and that the Doctors were hopeful that he would fully recover eventually, just he was unlikely to return to the Marine Infantry any time soon. Uncle Tilo had taken a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that Erik couldn’t talk, in fact it seemed like everyone who knew him had that reaction. Sure, it was funny, but at the same time Erik had gotten seriously hurt and had almost died.

The thought kept intruding into Karl’s mind that being free of his cousin was a millstone that he no longer he no longer had around his neck. Erik was gone and he was better for it. He had promised Aunt Ava that he would keep an eye on Erik, that had not stopped him from getting jammed up again and again because he couldn’t stop Erik from shooting off his mouth at inopportune moments. The fact that after four years in the Marine Infantry, Karl still only held the rank of Gefreiter with his Commanding Officer constantly threatening to take that away was entirely because his cousin. At the same time, this was the first time in Karl’s life that he had been separated from Erik for more than a few days.

Oberstaber Reier and his friend Niko Nguyen had kept a close eye on him after Erik was wounded. Now, with word having come that Erik was home, Reier had backed off and the Feldwebel in charge of their Squad had just told him to stick with Niko for the time being as if Karl were a new recruit trying to figure out his place. Then it occurred to him that in many ways he was.

Over the last few days the 3rd MID had been pulled back from the front lines. To rest and prepare for whatever came next. Karl had witnessed the Battleship bombardment that had stopped whatever momentum that the Chinese Army had in the wake of them falling back to Sonchon cold. Even in the dark of night, that much earth getting churned up had been extraordinary. The next morning, Karl had been shocked by the sight of hundreds of vultures and crows around the battlefield. Reier had said that he had also seen plenty of rats and foxes around as well.

“You are seeing nature in all its glory out there, Kid” Reier had said, “We are all just food when something gets an opportunity to take a bite.”


Tempelhof, Berlin

“How about this for a deal?” Berg asked, “I agreed not to judge you when we first talked in the Casualty Ward, can you agree to stop judging yourself for a few seconds.”

Zella poked at her food, her friend Aurora who also shared a room with her had said that Zella was eating which was a good sign. However, Aurora had said that Zella’s mother had withheld the keys to her motorcycle because she worried about what Zella might do. So, Berg had called Maria Acker and learned once again that she thought that her daughter’s present crisis had been a long time coming. It was something that Berg had been aware of, but she had listened to Maria anyway because it did provide some insights. A couple months earlier, there had been a series of arguments between Maria and Zella because Maria had noticed that Zella had been acting strangely. “I thought that she was smarter and more cautious than this?” Maria had said when the subject of Zella’s miscarriage came up, “I just don’t understand it.” Something about that caught Berg’s attention, she suspected it and was somewhat disgusted. It was a part of her job to see patterns, and this was just one more thing that she figured would need further examination.

“I talked to your mother” Berg said, “She’s worried about you.”

“Worried, or validated?” Zella asked in reply.

“Don’t give me that Zella” Berg said, “You are her daughter, that is something that will never change.”

“What did she say?” Zella asked, “That I am a spoiled brat and that I’m reckless? That was what she said when I told her that I lost my virginity when I was seventeen.”

Berg was a bit annoyed, disputes between mothers and daughters always seemed to fall along similar lines.

“Try to have a little perspective” Berg said, “Your feeling sorry for yourself is the height of selfishness. Think of how you mother feels. You do realize that if you had carried that pregnancy to term it would have been her first grandchild?”

That caused Zella to stare at her plate.

“Your mother also said that she thought that you were smart and cautious in matters like this” Berg said, “She wants to understand and so do I, help me understand. Beyond the obvious, what about this was so shattering for you?”

Zella just stared at Berg. It was the moment that Berg had seen many times before. The realization that she wasn’t going to go away sinking in. In Berg’s experience, most people wanted to tell their stories. Often for her though, the stories tended to be the sort of things that many of her patients found embarrassing. That was a big part of why nothing surprised her anymore.

“I told you it was pathetic” Zella replied, “I did everything I was supposed to do, I insisted and got pregnant anyway. Then when I told… He said that there was no way that it was his because of what I had insisted on.”

That pause in there spoke volumes to Berg.

“That happens often, and some men are just like that” Berg said, “I fail to see the problem.”

“I wished it would just go away” Zella said, “And it did.”

Guilt, Berg thought to herself. Even if it was completely irrational, people still felt it.

“How sure are you that you did everything right?” Berg asked.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Eighty-Five


10th April 1962

Mitte, Berlin

Staring at her drink, Zella was reminded of just how naïve she had been. It was her usual, soda water with a twist of lime. Or at least the half-melted ice floating at the bottom of a mostly empty glass that had contained that drink. No matter what drink was ordered for her, this was what the bartender made. It was because of stupid tricks like this one that she had thought that she was so smart. Doctor Berg told her the truth, she had been taken advantage of and she wasn’t the only woman that he had done it to. When Zella had asked what would possess a man to engage in that sort of sabotage, Berg had said that other than being a manipulative, abusive prick she didn’t have the faintest idea. It was enough to make her want to throw the glass against the nearest wall.

“Whatever you are thinking of doing, don’t” John said from behind the bar, “I don’t want to clean up the mess.”

“Did you ever want to see someone dead?” Zella asked, “I don’t mean run over by a car dead. I mean the torn apart by rabid dogs, that sort of dead.”

“I plead the Fifth” John replied.

“The what?” Zella asked.

“The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution” John replied, “It says you cannot be forced to incriminate yourself.”

“Oh” Zella said, turning back to her drink. Another silly joke and one that she should have gotten. “You know about this sort of thing?”

John just smiled and there something about the look in his eyes that was unsettling. It occurred to Zella that despite having known John Elis for years, she didn’t know very much about him. At least not what he had done before he had opened the V8 Club in Mitte.

“I was a bit wild when I was a young man” John said, “The U.S. Navy couldn’t straighten me out, so I spent some time in a different sort of State Institution. So yes, I understand what being that angry with someone is like.”

“Excuse me?” Zella asked, somewhat surprised by the implications. “How would you even be allowed to travel? I would have thought that Berlin…”

“I cut a deal with your Government for services only I could provide” John said, “And your Old Man was one of the ones enforcing the terms before he retired.”

“I had no idea” Zella said at a loss, “I’m sorry, I can leave…”

“Don’t bother” John said as he refilled Zella’s glass, “I like you even if your father is a son of a bitch. At least he isn’t Johann Schultz, he was a man who deserved to be ripped apart.”

Zella remembered Schultz, later she had learned that he was a high-ranking Officer in the BND. A rarity like an American in Berlin these days would inevitably have had an encounter. There were other things about the club that Zella had long thought were merely eccentricities of the owner. Most notable was the top of a crate labeled Imperial Shipping AG, Berlin-Kiel-Wilhelmshaven nailed to the wall between the door to the office and the door to the Gents. Zella had never been able learn the explanation…

“A bit of free advice that is worth exactly what you paid for it” John said as he put a fresh drink in front of Zella, “Before you go find a pack of rabid dogs, go tell the Skel’s wife. It will have the same affect.”

“I didn’t tell you what happened” Zella replied.

“There are only a few things that can make a girl like you that angry” John said, “All of them tend to be caused by the same thing.”

Zella hid her annoyance at once again being predictable. John’s advice was good though, she might just need to look into doing it.


Geneva, Switzerland

After the latest missive from Washington, Adlai Stevenson was starting to wonder what they were smoking. This entire thing with China had hubris written all over it. Word that several Americans had been killed over the previous days in the Korean conflict had reached official Washington and they were demanding answers.

While the roots of the conflict were laid twenty years earlier in how the European Powers had pursued the Pacific War, the Chinese wouldn’t be nearly as bold without the systems and equipment that Washington had been licensing to them. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek wouldn’t be attempting to get revenge for what he dubbed a Century of Humiliation. The only thing they saw in Washington was dollar signs. It didn’t matter who won or lost in China because the longer the war went on the more equipment would be needed.

It was Stevenson’s job as Ambassador to the League of Nations to somehow providing a rational justification of the policy. It wasn’t easy.

“The Germans and their Korean friends are pressing a slanted version of events” Stevenson heard one of his Aides say, “Historically, the United States has not supported aggressive war.”

The ignorance of that comment was profound. If anyone from south of the Rio Grande heard that then they would laugh their heads off. The Banana Wars proved that profoundly wrong. That might also set off the Chinese who had conveniently forgotten American involvement in China over the previous century for as long as it suited them.