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.
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.
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