Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Twenty-Six



22nd April 1964

Mitte, Berlin

The problems for Mithras was simple, for his plan to work he needed to force Kristina’s compliance and he needed to have those most likely to be dispatched to find her distracted. He figured out how to kill two birds with one stone and it had turned out to be absurdly easy. It had come in the form of grabbing eight-year-old Marie Alexandra von Mischner-Blackwood, the only difficult part had been luring out of her school. The look on Kristina’s face when she had been getting out of her car and had seen him with a gun to Marie’s head. She was a key part of his plan, and the best part was that if this worked the way it should, it would leave her reputation blackened as one last fuck you directed at the German Empire. Not that it would matter to her, there was no way that he would see her end this as anything but a corpse. Before then though, she was his ticket out of this city that he was certain was completely locked down by now.

Presently, they were driving through Mitte with a very specific destination. The microbus pulled up to a large building and in what may be considered an ironic move he handed Kristina an old K31 rifle left over from the Second World War. Unloaded, of course. He had to make sure that the witnesses had the right impression of what was happening.

“This is all very simple Princess” Mithras said, “That is the Imperial Bank, and we are going to make a rather large withdrawal.”

The others in the microbus snickered at that.

“In and out in two minutes and no funny business” Mithras continued, “If you do, then what we do to your little friend will be far worse than just killing her.”

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Kiki heard what he had to say and knew exactly what he was trying to do. She was getting a read on the man who called himself Mithras, had terrorized her for months and those who he had surrounded himself with. He was an ideolog, he pandered and bullied, but she was getting the impression that he wasn’t a great leader. He also had a higher opinion of his abilities than she felt was warranted by his actions. He had to know that by grabbing Marie he had ensured that even if by some miracle he survived the coming hours, Kat would bury him. Shouldn’t he?

There was other thing that she knew for certain though. These people were incompetent criminals. When Kiki allowed herself to be taken, they had searched her for weapons and had no idea what they were doing. Clearly, they had not been comfortable with the idea of touching her. They had missed the karambit that had been a gift from Kat years earlier that was in the small of her back in the manner that she had been taught. Kiki was biding her time until she could get Marie out.

Kiki was aware of the muzzle of one of Mithras’ followers sticking into her back as they walked into the bank. Unnoticed was that Kiki had worked the bolt of the rifle back and it locked open. Afterwards, when the CCTV footage was reviewed it would show that she was actually a hostage here. At least that was her hope.

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Overpowering the guards was something that Mithras knew his people were capable of. Getting them to not dawdle as they grabbed the cash on hand was the difficult part. It only took a bit of yelling on his part to get them moving towards the door. He threw one of the duffle bags to Kristina and made her walk out the door with it. They made their way out to the waiting microbus and as they reached the open doors. He caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye and one of his people was clutching his throat as blood welled between his fingers. Then the man holding Marie screamed as she bit his hand…

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Marie had been frightened since she had been grabbed a couple hours earlier. Then she had watched as they had used her to kidnap Kiki and that had just been awful. Then she had witnessed them forcing Kiki out of the microbus with weapons. Then minutes later as they were coming back, Marie saw Kiki slash at one of the men with a karambit like ones that Momma had promised to teach her to use when she was big enough. Marie saw it as an opportunity to do what she had wanted to do for hours and she bit the man holding her on the web of his hand between his thumb and index finger hard enough to draw blood, he screamed and let go of her.

“Get out of here now!” Kiki yelled at Marie, “Run and don’t st…”

Marie was already running, she heard Kiki cut off midsentence and that made her run faster.

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Mithras watched the girl run off just as the alarm went off in the bank and he could hear the sound of approaching sirens. He had to go and couldn’t do anything about that now which was aggravating.

He had clubbed Kiki down with the butt of his pistol as soon as he had realized that she had just killed one of his people with a small knife that she must have had hidden on her. He was afraid that he had killed as well at first her as she was bleeding heavily from cut on her scalp while laying in the street. For the rest of his plan he needed her alive and he was a bit relieved as Kristina moaned in pain as she was roughly hauled into the microbus.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Twenty-Seven



22nd April 1964

Mitte, Berlin

“What the fuck?” Kat said looking at the playback from the reel to reel recording of what had happened in the Imperial Bank of Berlin just a couple hours earlier. The guards were being questioned as to whether or not Kiki had been in on the robbery. As if the scene that had apparently played out just outside the bank didn’t make that perfectly clear. Several of the witnesses had all said the same thing about a detail that Kat was certain wasn’t an accident “She has military training and there is no way she wouldn’t know that she had it locked open.”

The men in the room didn’t dare disagree with her but it had been suggested that she was entirely too close to this matter to have as much involvement as she was taking. Kat had made several suggestions of her own about what they could do with themselves when they had spoken with her.

As if to add an exclamation point to what Kat was saying, the playback showed Kiki blindsiding the Jacobin whose body had been found on the street outside and she then attacked the others. The reason for that was clear when Marie took off running and Kiki was knocked flat by one of her captors. A moment later, they dragged her into the microbus that they were using, and Kat could see blood running down her neck even in the grainy black and white image. She had risked injury and death to get Marie away from those men. It was stupid and reckless, Kat realized that it was the only choice that Kiki could have made and still been true to herself.

The call that the bank had been robbed and Marie turning up at a Police Station out of breath and frantically trying to tell the Wachtmeister what had happened arrived at the same time. Marie being Marie, she was talking a thousand words a minute and wasn’t very articulate beyond telling them that her friend Kiki needed help over and over. Kat had collected Marie and had passed her off to Douglas who was trying to get the whole story about exactly what had happened out of their daughter. Doug had always been better at figuring out what was real and what was one of Marie’s flights of fancy when they talked. Today Kat feared that she simply didn’t have the patience if she had to deal with that. Kat also had a lot of questions about just how Marie had been taken from her school with them only noticing that she was missing during the morning rollcall and them calling Kat to find out if she was out sick.

The minimal security that Kiki insisted upon had also become an issue. The BII kept her under observation, prepared to step in if there was trouble. It was generally accepted that Kiki could take care of herself, so they accepted that she would leave point A and get to point B with minimal fuss. Her getting quickly grabbed off the street because someone had figured out how quickly gain compliance from her wasn’t what they were expecting. Yet it seemed that it was exactly what had happened.

All of those things were matters that would have to be examined in the coming days. In the meantime, Kat knew that she needed to get ahead of the current situation. Right now, Mithras had gotten a great deal of money and would be looking to get as far from Berlin as he could. With the city locked down, it was just a question how and just what did he hope to gain from having Kiki as a hostage? Kat picked up the phone to call Sven Werth, she had a few ideas of how to get ahead of this.



Tegel International Airport, Berlin

Kiki felt like her head was swimming as she sat there in the seat of the airliner as Mithras cursed under his breath at the latest predicament that he had found himself in. She could tell that she was badly concussed, her throwing up while she was being dragged from the microbus to the airplane through service corridors and how dizzy she had felt were signs of that. Mithras had been yelling at her the whole time, as if she hadn’t been feeling rotten enough at that point. Bulling their way onto an airplane that was waiting at the gate had been the final part of what Mithras said was his plan, only to hit a major snag when they boarded. The pilot had pointed out that Mithras could make all the threats he wanted because nothing was moving. Looking out the windows, they could see that all the taxiways were blocked off by 8-wheeled armored cars.

As the minutes they waited turned to hours, the armored cars converged on the airplane that they were sitting in. Kiki cared less and less about what was happening around her. Instead, she was filling with resentment about how Mithras had turned her into a liar. Kiki had promised Suga that she would be there when Suga had her baby. Instead she was sitting here because Mithras… No, she was tired of playing that stupid game, because Lothar had decided to include her in his deluded plot. Her head was aching, she was finding the sunlight through the windows painful and enough was enough.

“End this now before someone else gets hurt Lothar” Kiki said to him, “A real leader is honest with his people, you clearly don’t have a plan, just a fantasy where everything goes your way. It didn’t and now you’re trapped.”

Lothar gave her a withering look. “Shut up” He snapped.

“Am I wrong?” Kiki asked, “This is all because of your obsession over me. I got news for you, I already have a boyfriend and even if I didn’t, arrogant and stupid are dealbreakers for me.”

Kiki tried to get up out of the seat. She wanted to be in Lothar’s face when she told him that and more, but a fresh wave of nausea stopped her.

“Yeah, whatever” Lothar replied.

That was when they started to hear noise outside the airplane. Church bells probably hundreds of them. Kiki knew that they were rung after significant announcements were made. It if were a death it would be the solemn undertaking. For a wedding or a birth, it would be the wild rapturous sound like what they were hearing now. Kiki understood what that meant.

“You are a complete bastard” Kiki spat at Lothar with as much venom as she could muster.

Lothar just smirked; he saw this as a victory.

Then a thought occurred to Kiki, what that noise was perfect cover for. It was hilarious, and she couldn’t stop laughing.

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Hearing those stupid bells upset Kristina, Lothar saw that much. The stupid little princess who had probably never been told “No” in her entire life was being denied something. It served her right.

Then she started laughing. As he watched she put her hands over her ears, closed her eyes and was laughing. He was confused as to what she was doing when he heard a thud and a small canister was rolling around the airplane’s center isle by his feet. No sooner than he had registered that it was there when it exploded in a blinding flash of bright light and a blast that left his ears ringing. That was when the shooting started…

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Twenty-Eight



22nd April 1964

Mitte, Berlin

Berg was no longer Kiki’s Doctor, but with everything that had happened over the previous day having her available was a comfort. Kiki had been given medication for pain, but that didn’t seem to have done much for her headache. Instead it just left her feeling muzzy, like if her head was full of cotton padding. And the sharp pains as Berg worked on her head certainly were not helping matters, nor did the curious looks from passersby in the open ward.

“Imagine a ceramic pot full of jam” Berg said as she carefully cleaned the wound on Kiki’s scalp. “You had someone hit that with a pistol, a solid piece of steel and it wasn’t a checked swing either. This is going to need stitches and what is keeping Radiology?”

It was a reminder that an X-ray of Kiki’s skull had been taken as soon as she arrived in the hospital. It seemed as if everyone had seen the replay of the hit that she had taken outside the bank and were concerned that she had suffered a fracture as well as a concussion. Still, she had ended up better off than that twit Lothar or any of his people. The last she had seen of that crumb he had been strapped to a stretcher as his clothes were being cut off him after he had been doused in fire retardant because he had been practically standing on one of the blitzknallgranate 59s when it had gone off. While the BkG59 was specifically designed to stun and disorient rather than kill, anything close to the blast point could potentially become a dangerous fragment and there was also the risk of burns…

Of the three of Lothar’s followers who had been on the plane one had been in handcuffs, seemingly unharmed. The other two were in body bags having been gunned down by the Police Unit that had stormed the plane. Kiki hadn’t seen it happen though. She had covered her ears and closed her eyes when she had realized what was coming. Berg had said that she was amazed that Kiki had the presence of mind to do that. Kiki had told Berg that she thought that was a funny thing to be amazed by, only to be told by Berg that she had been sitting dazed in that airline seat for hours while negotiations between Lothar and the Police had broken down and he had made all kinds of threats against Kiki’s life. For her it hadn’t seemed like hours. The other story that had leaked to the press was that when the police were moving into position, they had heard Kiki telling off Lothar before laughing in his face. That wasn’t really what had happened, but she had a bad feeling that it was the story that people would want to hear.

Afterwards, Kiki had been taken straight to the hospital and her clothes had been taken away from her. Evidence, she had been told. As if a blood-soaked blouse, coat and an old pair of trousers could tell the instigators more than they already knew. That was why she was wearing white surgical scrubs as Berg cleaned and examined the wound on her head. A few minutes later, the developed X-ray that Berg had been waiting for arrived and the Radiologist stuck around to explain it to them. Kiki just tuned them out until Berg addressed her directly.

“It looks like you’re getting an extended stay here Kiki” Berg said, “Until we know for certain that you don’t have any other complications, that is. This should heal on its own in a few months without surgery though.”

Looking over their shoulder’s Kiki saw that the injury was worse than even she had thought. A linear fracture, a closed crack several centimeters in length was running across her skull lengthwise just above her right ear. She just wanted this awful day to be over already, she just had one more thing to take care of first.

“If I am not dying, can I at least go see my niece?” Kiki asked.

“Not with an open headwound” Berg said turning back to Kiki, “I’m going to do my best to keep the stiches small, but I know from past experience that you have a hard time holding still for more than five seconds.”

“Ever thought that it might have something to do with your specialty?” Kiki asked in reply and the Radiologist suddenly decided that they were straying into territory that no man wanted to hear discussed frankly including him and headed for the exit. Even as he did this, Berg had pulled a pen light from her pocket and was shining it in Kiki’s eyes. It was the second time that Berg had checked the reactions of the pupils in her eyes. It was the sort of thing that Berg did when she was worried, Kiki wished that she would stop because it was painful.

“The sensitivity to light and noise that are affecting you will pass” Berg said, “That man’s cowardice will not.”

That was typical of Berg’s opinion of most people she encountered. Kiki knew that Berg divided the world between those who willing to learn and those who did not. The vast majority of people fell into the latter category. Ignorance and cowardice were both sins in Berg’s mind and both of them could be corrected if an individual applied themselves. Kiki didn’t want to talk about that with Berg, not today.

Instead Berg seemed perfectly willing talk about what Kiki had missed earlier that day as she stitched her scalp. The entire time Kiki’s feeling of guilt kept growing, she had made a promise that she had been unable to keep.

“Friedrich and Suga understand why you couldn’t be there” Berg said, “You quite literally had a gun to your head.”

As Kiki felt the tug of Berg trying off the stitches, she wished that she knew that in her heart.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Twenty-Nine



23rd April 1964

Mitte, Berlin

It was after midnight and Freddy was still awake, holding his daughter who seemed to have no interest in sleeping at the moment while Suga was sleeping next room. He was still trying to wrap his head around the idea that he even had a daughter.

It had taken a bit of effort with the Registrar to accept Mirai’s first name. He had kept wanting to change the spelling to Marie, which was pronounced similarly. Freddy had remembered that Kat’s husband Douglas had stuck to his guns about how their son Malcolm should be named for his father which he drew inspiration from. He had argued that Mirai’s name should reflect who she was as the daughter of both her parents. His father, stepmother and Kat showing up had ended the argument. The Registrar might have stuffy and opinionated enough to argue with the Crown Prince, the presence of the Emperor himself, his wife and Chief Mistress of the Imperial Court when she wasn’t inclined to be nice was an entirely different matter. He had written down Mirai’s extensive name that filled many political and familial considerations on the paperwork before fleeing.

Charlotte had presented Suga with a pendent on a gold chain, bloodstone in one setting and a diamond in the other, a piece of jewelry that was symbolic of motherhood. It was a tradition that Freddy’s mother had started years earlier which Lotte and Kat had decided to continue. Freddy couldn’t help but notice that the jeweler had left room for additional stones to be set in the coming years. That was something that neither of them had dared to talk to each other about. Mirai had not been planned and Suga had stressed how they needed to be a lot more cautious in the future. Both Freddy’s father and Kiki had pointed out that the arrival of Mirai had been fortuitous. While the Junkers were not as powerful as they had been decades earlier, they were still a force to be reckoned with. Freddy having what they would see as a designated heir would have a stabilizing effect and shore up their support. They needed all the help they could get in the wake of the events of the prior weeks.

The door opened and the guards who were keeping the uninvited out, let Kiki, Ben and Sigi in with Nora Berg. Kiki looked like a wreck and there was a bandage around her head. Dark rings were under her eyes and she was unsteady on her feet. Supposedly she was badly concussed as well as being doped to the gills on painkillers. Normally she was pretty squared away but tonight she was as far from that as possible.

At least the hospital had cleaned Kiki up and put her in fresh clothes. When she had been brought into the hospital early that evening, she had been covered in her own blood. Freddy had seen the CCTV footage from the bank, Kiki had been hit hard but evidently had still gotten back into the fight later in the day if the police were to be believed. The KSK were probably going to lionize her for the role she had played; FSR, too tough to die, or some such.

Seeing Sigi and Kiki standing next to each other the kinship was obvious. Both of them were the same height and build as well as sharing the basic shape of their jaw and cheekbones. Thinking of Sigi as his Aunt was something that he was still getting used to. She liked having them as her extended family but showed absolutely no interest in being formally introduced to the Court. Freddy’s father had said that Sigi had found a way that worked for her and that they should respect that.

Ben still looked a bit lost. When Freddy had seen him the day before he had been booted out of the hangers that housed the 18th Fast Attack Wing when they had been used as the staging ground for the Commandos of the Border Protection Group. Freddy knew that Ben was a wing wiper. He was good at what he did in the cockpit but outside of his element he wasn’t exactly the most imposing figure. The Police had shoved him aside and told him to wait with everyone else. For months Freddy had been trying to understand his sister’s relationship with Ben. Something that the Police said that they had heard Kiki say to her captor as they had been moving into position. She considered Arrogant and Stupid to be dealbreakers. Ben didn’t seem to have either of those negative qualities.

“Introductions are in order” Kiki said with a warm smile that stood in contrast to how big a mess she was at the moment.

Freddy just shook his head before he looked at Mirai who was sleepy but as aware as she could be at this point.

“Mirai, this human car wreck is your Auntie Kiki” Freddy said, “Next to her is her friend Ben who your Grandfather might be having words with, in the near future and your Great-Aunt Sigi who somehow manages to be in orbit while on the ground.”

“Real funny Freddy” Kiki said crossly with no real heat behind it as she reached out to Mirai. He couldn’t help but notice that her hands were shaking. She really had gotten hurt this time.

“Ten fingers, ten toes, two eyes and a nose” Freddy said, “All where they should be.”

“I should hope so” Sigi said, “But considering this family that is always a bit of a crapshoot isn’t it. At least she wasn’t born with the Habsburg jaw.”

That was a reminder that Sigi enjoyed her insider/outsider status a bit too much. Something that Freddy might just remedy if he ever got the chance.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Thirty



23rd April 1964

Tempelhof, Berlin

Unable to sleep, Kat went to check on Marie. She was still sleeping in the same room that she’d had since shortly after she was born. To Kat’s complete astonishment her daughter was sound asleep with Fleur curled into a ball at the foot of her bed. When Kat entered the small Terrier looked at her without moving, Marie’s faithful guardian ready to bite the ankle of any intruder. Marie had kicked off her covers in her sleep as she tended to do, and the blankets were sliding off her bed onto the floor.

A dogeared copy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was on the bedside table. Douglas had been reading it to her again at Marie’s insistence, though she had the lines memorized to the point where she could play along with the roles. It was just one of many books that Marie had. On bookshelf were copies of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Peter Pan, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Treasure Island among others. Marie tended to love them, reading them over and over until they fell to pieces. She still lived in a world where there were always happy endings and good wins in the end.

Marie had no idea exactly how close a call she had. According to Kiki there had been a threat that Lothar de Maizière had made which had prompted her action. Kat’s blood had run cold that a man could suggest doing such a thing. To prevent that horrific history from repeating itself, Kat would kill without hesitation.

Lothar would answer for what he did, but it couldn’t play out the way that people thought it would. Kat had already heard that jokes about it only being a matter of time before he became tiger kibble were flying around. Kat really wished that British Military Intelligence that had found a different way to have disposed of Harold Philby. She had already left England before that whole sordid mess had played out. The British had wanted the entire shadowy world of the various national Intelligence Services to know their opinion of regicide even if it was someone else’s Regent. Instead, Kat had called in a favor that Jarl Gunnarsson owed her and arranged for Lothar to be protected, even from himself, for as long as it took. She wanted him to sit forgotten as the world passed him by. For megalomaniac like that, Kat was hard pressed to think of a more hellish existence then she was about make sure he got. When Kat spoke with him, she would make a point of telling that as well as telling him that he was still alive because she wanted it. That would eat him up from the inside out.

Looking at Marie, Kat was reminded of how she was the dreamer among her children. She was also rapidly approaching the age when adolescence and the demands of adulthood would change everything for her. Would the imaginative little girl survive that, or would she become someone else entirely. Kat knew that Tatiana had become more like her as she had grown older, it was something that Kat was finding rather disquieting. At thirteen, Tat seemed to exist for no other reason than to be contrary to Kat, turning every single thing into an argument no matter how trifling. If Marie started acting like that, then Kat feared for her sanity. There was also the annoying tendency for Kat to find herself using words that she had last heard coming from her Aunt Marcella three decades earlier, much to Kat’s complete aggravation.

As Kat picked up the blanket from Marie’s bed and threw it over her daughter, it occurred to her that issue wasn’t the only one where she was on the opposite side from where she was normally. An uncomfortable position. The FSR was a Jager Unit under the umbrella command of the KSK. That meant that when Kiki had been completely selfless and had risked her own life to save Marie, she also happened to save the daughter of the Commanding Officer of her Division. Kat had spoken her opinion around Kiki dozens of times that she felt that Orders and medals were just so much frippery, relics of an earlier era that the whole of society would be better off if it was forgotten. Kat had also come to dislike them because she felt they were used to promote war. Kat knew that her opinions had directly influenced Kiki in that regard.

Now she would have to convince Kiki to take the reward for what she had done. It hadn’t been determined yet as to what that might be. Kiki was on leave and out of uniform when events had unfolded. At the same time, if was felt by many that she had upheld the values and traditions of the Heer as well as those that the Medical Service and FSR were trying to foster as relatively new organizations. The Canadian Government had also inquired about what was going to happen because Marie was the child of a Canadian National and the Granddaughter of a high-ranking member of the Canadian Ministry for National Defense. Kat had been informed that as soon as the preliminary investigation was completed, a communique was getting sent to the Reichstag lauding Hauptmann Kristina von Preussen-Hohenzollern by official Wunsdorf. An action that seemed designed to force the hand of the Government.

Tucking in Marie, Kat just looked at her and wished that she could remain how she was. “Sleep well” Kat whispered as she left the room.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Thirty-One



25th April 1964

Mitte, Berlin

The documentary film had finally run on ARD Television the night before just before the channel signed off for the night between one and two o’clock in the morning. No one had expected very many people to have watched it. Zella had suspected that the intention was to use it to fill a block of time that the staff at ARD couldn’t think of anything better to put there. Things had taken a strange turn when Kiki had gotten caught up in the events that had played out over the previous days and the response had been overwhelming despite the late hour of the broadcast. Zella was currently listening to one of ARD’s Executives tell why that was a bad thing over the telephone.

“I wouldn’t call that a problem” Zella said, “So why are you telling me that it’s a problem?”

“Because we are getting requests that your documentary be rebroadcast at an earlier hour” The Director of Programming said, “If we do that, someone else is going to have their show pulled off the air for some girl who no one has heard of who thought it would be fun to see her holiday film on television just happened to have had the luckiest timing of anyone that we have ever dealt with.”

“Oh” Zella said, not reacting to what he had just said.

“You are stepping on a lot of much more established people’s toes here Fraulein von Holz.”

Fuck them, Zella thought to herself but didn’t say it aloud.

“When are you going to do the encore broadcast?” Zella asked.

She heard him breathing on the line for a long second. “Tomorrow night” He said grudgingly.

“Thank you” Zella said. Before they exchanged pleasantries before she hung up the phone.

“Asshole” Zella muttered as she left her mother’s home office where she had taken the call.

“Who was that” Emil asked as she entered the parlor, where he was watching television. A news program that was reporting on the latest development in the ongoing civil war in China.

“Work related” Zella replied as she sat down on the couch next to him and drew her knees up under her chin.

“Work related or work related?” Emil asked, “I know that you and your mother have differing definitions of the meaning of that.”

Zella was a bit annoyed that he said that, there were times when her father knew a little too well what thoughts were running through her mind.

“Momma thinks that the project that I did last summer wasn’t real journalism and that I should spend the next several months following Bart Kovac around” Zella replied, “And that asshole from ARD just now seemed to be of the same opinion.”

“God forbid that Marcella von Holz has to pay her dues” Emil said, “No one is going to just hand you anything in this life unless they are half expecting you to fall on your face.”

“But what about that whole story of you running into the Red Barron?”

“That just proves my point” Emil said, “Manfred handed me a job that few others wanted because it was considered suicide and it was up to me to make it into something else.”

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“No one wants to see you declared a Passion Bearer just yet Kristina” The Metropolitan of Berlin said when he entered the darkened room where Kiki was resting.

Kiki nearly groaned at the mention.

The stated belief of the Orthodox Church was that she had been leading a virtuous life up to now. Or at least it served their interests to do so. If she had gotten killed a few days earlier then that would have been exactly how they would have played it. Kiki could mention a lot of things that she had done that were considerably less than virtuous but really didn’t think that they would care.

For the last few days Kiki’s head had ached and she found that light and noise were painful. Outside her room was a hospital environment that was full of those things. The Doctors had told her that the symptoms would fade with time and had offered her aspirin for the pain. So far, the only thing that truly helped was a quiet room with the blinds closed. She was spending a week under observation, which was figured to be long enough to determine if she was bleeding into her brain. Kiki knew that it should have been determined by now, but because of who she was the hospital was not taking chances.

Berg had stopped by and had gone over the X-ray with her. In addition to the current fracture there were the lines of where she had broken her nose years earlier still visible though that had healed. “It is what happens when you open a heavy wooden door with your face” Kiki said making light of the incident. Though the truth was that it had been the direct result of an assassination attempt on her mother which had further serious consequences down the line. Kiki’s mother had recovered physically, but psychologically she had never been the same after that. She had tried to control everything and make sure that everything was arranged neatly in its own little box. That had been what had ultimately caused her to clash with Kiki, something that had led directly to Kiki’s exile to Japan.

“Thank you for your concern” Kiki replied, “But I would suggest that you find someone better to fill that role.”

“Among your sisters is an Agnostic, a Lutheran and a Catholic” The Metropolitan said, “I have no idea what your brothers believe, so we are stuck with each other. Will we be seeing you tomorrow?”

That was a good question. The Orthodox Church expected her to show up on Sunday mornings if she was in Berlin. It was a good example of life going on because the world hadn’t stopped because she was injured. Next week, she was expected to be back in Jena for the rest of the term and that seemed very daunting.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Thirty-Two



28th April 1964

Mitte, Berlin

As Zella walked into the restaurant, she was surprised that the staff had no objections based on her appearance. Normally they would have.

“Good afternoon Markgräfin Marcella” The Host said, “The Lady is expecting you.”

Meaning that the Lady had told them exactly what to expect of Zella and in Berlin, whatever Dame Gerta von Wolvogle wanted she tended to get. Including getting the staff of a luxury restaurant to overlook the fact that she was wearing her usual leather jacket and blue jeans.

The invitation had arrived that morning inviting Zella here once she was done attending the day’s lectures at the Humboldt Campus. She had called into the BT and had told Bart of exactly where she was going, who she would be with and how she didn’t know how long it would run for. He had told her that he would be out on assignment when she made it in and that a list detailing what she was supposed to be doing in his absence would be on his desk when she got there. It was as her father had stated, paying her dues. That didn’t mean that she was particularly happy with her current lot in life.

Her father and his team were currently meeting with Wilhelm Messerschmitt, the head of engine development at BMW to discuss the application of a new four-cylinder motorcycle engine to compete directly with Honda. Her father had worked with the engineers at BMW over the winter to get the prototype built and Zella felt that there was a real story there. The Sport Desk at the BT was on top of it, but they were playing up the rivalry between the BMW and Honda racing teams. Completely missing the technical aspect of the story. Zella had realized before she had said anything that her angle on it was that of someone who already understood BMW motorcycles and engines as well as knowing what a departure this was. For anyone else it would be like watching paint dry. It was a mistake that Zella had made with her reporting on the music scene in Berlin, her articles had ended up requiring a basic knowledge of the scene itself. It had made her popular with the musicians but had served to keep her obscure with the general public.

“Wonderful that you made here today Marcella” Gerta said in her usually bubbly fashion. Zella couldn’t help but notice that Gerta’s daughter was sulking at the table and had made no effort at greeting. “Never mind Suse Rosa, she’s too busy being a sixteen-year-old with cramps to be worth paying much mind to. At least that is her excuse today.”

“Mother!” Suse said, mortified about what Gerta had just said. Zella couldn’t imagine her own mother saying such a thing.

“Very well” Zella said noncommittally. She had been warned that Gerta was a force of nature, sort of like a tsunami. Ether ride or get the Hell out of the way.

“I heard about Kristina” Gerta said, “That poor dear, she just gives everything doesn’t she.”

“I guess” Zella said, unsure as to what exactly Gerta might have heard. Whatever it was, Zella didn’t want to talk about it with her.

The public hadn’t yet been told that Kiki had been hurt far worse than initially reported. The Metropolitan had visited her in the hospital and had asked if she would be present at Resurrection Cathedral on Sunday morning. Kiki being Kiki she probably would have gone if Nola Berg had not stated on no uncertain terms that Kiki was not allowed to leave the hospital. Zella had gone to visit Kiki in the hospital and had arrived just in time to see her arguing with Berg. For Zella, it was very noticeable that Kiki wasn’t like herself, acting impulsive and was argumentative. It was also clear that she was hurting in a lot of respects this time and not just from her head.

“I also saw your documentary film” Gerta said, “It was a fun watch and rather daring.”

“Daring?” Zella asked.

“You do know how Bob Dylan is viewed by his own Government?” Gerta replied, “That boy who looked like a Spaniard who appeared a few times in the second half, an American audience would blow a gasket if they ever see that. Finally, I know the what you, Kristina and Victoria were wearing in Wisconsin was appropriate swimwear, that is still seen as being risqué in some circles.”

Zella had thought that Ritchie was fun to have around. She remembered that he had identified himself as Chicano once in conversation, but she hadn’t thought to ask what that meant. He had been working with Captain Parker, the Green Beret who had been tasked with keeping an eye on Kiki while she was in the United States. As for the swimwear, it was not as if they had been starkers.

“I also know what your problem is” Gerta said with an impish smile.

This ought to be good, Zella thought to herself. For ages everyone had an opinion on that subject that they all had been very happy to share with her.

“I don’t think I have a problem” Zella replied.

“Oh, but you do” Gerta said, “You are like your friends, the Moondogs. You are going to do something that will arrive with the impact of an atomic bomb, but you are not there yet. The world has to catch up with you first.”

“You rejected the Moondogs” Zella replied.

“Yes, I did” Gerta replied, “Because it is very possible that they could make a record that will change the world, but too much success too soon would wreck them.”

“What?” Zella asked, wondering exactly what she was listening to. Was Gerta putting one over on her?

“You’ll see” Gerta said with a smile before she picked up the menu, “You’ve got to try the soup of the day here, it is always really good.”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Thirty-Three



1st May 1964

Near Jassel, Poland

Lately, Olli had been busy enough to not had to think about some of the troubles that were intruding on his life. Servicing the straight four-cylinder diesel engine of the farm’s tractor now that it wouldn’t be needed for a time was a part of that.

The process of putting the planning and preparations that Olli had done over the winter into action was ongoing. Along with his sons he had spent much of the previous month clearing the fields of stones that had been heaved up by frost over the winter. Those stones had been used to build up the walls that marked the edge of his property or anything else where a readily available building material was needed. The plowing of the fields had gone smoothly enough, there was absolutely nothing about the newish Hanomag K55 Crawler tractor with its diesel engine and fairly wide 39cm tracks that Olli owned that he wouldn’t know about from his time in the Panzer Corps. It was ugly as sin and a bit loud but there was nothing that could be thrown at it on the farm that it couldn’t handle with ease. He had a smaller, wheeled Fendt tractor that he used for lighter duties. But it tended to get bogged down if used too early in the spring or in the autumn.

He had planted Luzerne in the fields where he had grown wheat the previous year. It was mostly for ground cover, but also to replenish the soil and he would be able to sell to anyone who owned livestock nearby. Rye had been planted in the remainder, beyond the cereal crop, rye grass had a lot of uses. Between now and harvest Olli wouldn’t have a single day off because the real work was just beginning. Weeds, pests and freak acts of God were what he had to contend with.

The lessons that had been drilled into Olli’s head by his father decades earlier on the family farm in Thuringia where becoming useful, though his father had only ever figured that Olli would be hired help on the farm. His father was long dead, but when Olli’s eldest brother had visited, he had been flabbergasted by the size of the plot of land that was Olli’s courtesy of the Federal Government after decades of service in the military.

“Good afternoon Herr Bauer” Olli heard a voice say from outside the machine shed and Generallieutenant Erwin Bachmann stepped into view.

Bachmann still came around every few weeks because he believed that while Olli hadn’t joined his independent Division outright Olli was sympathetic to the cause. Shortly after Christmas Olli had called Kurt and had asked his opinion about the situation in Southern Poland. Because he worked in the Headquarters of the Panzer Corps itself these days, Kurt had a clearer view of the overall situation throughout the Empire. His advice to Olli had been to not make an enemy of Bachmann while at the same time not committing to anything either.

“General” Olli said in reply.

“Why am I not surprised that you use a machine like this” Bachmann said.

“It does the job well and doesn’t sink on soft ground” Olli replied, “The same reason that the Lynx is beloved by the crews that serve on them.”

“Experience like that we need” Bachmann said, “Most of our people were Infantry in their past lives.”

“We’ve had this conversation before Sir” Olli said, “And I’ve a commitment to this land and my family. If the Polish Army crosses my land then I’ll give them Hell, but until then…”

Olli just shrugged.

Bachmann frowned, he hated to hear that but understood Olli’s reasoning. Olli suspected that it was something that he probably heard a dozen or more times a day.

“The other thing you should know is that one of our key sources of funding from the Capital was cut off recently” Bachmann said, “We are going to need to make other plans, so I am open to suggestions.”

“Probably just as well” Olli replied, “In my experience the movements that best serve the communities are supported by those very communities. What would your money man know, or care, about what ultimately happens out here?”

Olli noticed that Bachmann’s smile had become fixed, he obviously did not agree with what Olli had just said. Then again, Olli had seen the consequences of violent, unfocused revolution in Spain and Russia. Bachmann had come through the same conflicts and had clearly drawn different conclusions.

“Still, that is a major setback to our plans” Bachmann said, “It means that everything is going to take a lot more time.”

“I’m a farmer” Olli said, “I understand time better than most and how everything happens in its own time. Being impatient is how you get into trouble.”

“I understand” Bachmann said, though Olli suspected that he didn’t. “I just wasn’t expecting a sermon.”

“The bible does have a great deal to say on the topic, but that is a discussion for another day” Olli said, and Bachmann seemed relieved that Olli wasn’t pushing that topic further. The bible also mentioned hypocrisy, moral cowardice and blind ambition. You reap what you sow and all that. Bachmann saw the farmers and tradesmen he spoke with as a means to achieve power, leveraging very real concerns they had about the Government in Warsaw to gain their support. He just didn’t realize how most of them already had him pegged.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Thirty-Four



15th May 1964

Jena

“Your head got scrambled in more ways than one. I think that as soon as you are free you need to take a long holiday” Peter said, “Somewhere quiet.”

That was the advice of Doctor Holz, who had taken the time to seek out Kiki on the edge of the field where she took Rauchbier to run every afternoon. She knew why he was here, everyone close to her had been concerned since she had left the hospital. Not acting like herself, was how it had been termed. Well, no shit. Kiki had known that she had a problem before she had left the hospital. The arguments with Nora Berg over trifling matters, the way that everything seemed to aggravate her and worse of all, her sudden inability to stay focused for more than a few minutes on any particular thing. That last thing had made her return to lectures and coursework an absolutely mortifying experience. The only reason that she didn’t have a massive backlog of that waiting for her was that Vicky had been keeping after her about that. Kiki was the big sister, so that wasn’t how that was supposed to work. Kiki also assumed that Vicky was the one who had asked Peter Holz to talk to her.

“You are saying that I should go sit and do nothing over the summer holiday?” Kiki asked.

“Yes” Peter replied, “External stimulus is not what need right now. You had the right idea when you took that boat to Prague. This time you should find a cabin in the woods or something. Try to catch up on the sleep you’ve missed pursuing your ambitions over the last few years.”

“Are you saying that my ambition is a problem?”

“If it is preventing your recovery, then I would say yes” Peter replied as Rauchbier ran back towards them. “I know that is out of the ordinary, but it happens to be the best thing you could do for yourself right now.”

“What if I get bored?” Kiki asked as she scratched behind Rauchbier’s ears.

“A little bit of boredom never hurt anyone” Peter said, “Besides that, if you take your dog with you, I doubt he’ll allow it.”

Kiki realized that if she did do what Doctor Holz was advising her to do, it wouldn’t be for a few months. Three agonizing, excruciating months spent how she had spent the previous weeks.

“You look troubled Kristina” Peter said.

“Between now and then is going to be difficult” Kiki replied.

“I understand” Peter said, “Just remember that you have family and friends who are here to help.”

At least he hadn’t brought up the subject of that stupid award that people felt that she had earned with her conduct during that mess in Berlin with Jacobin pretenders. Lately it seemed like that was all anyone wanted to talk about. Kiki had been ducking the issue and they were not taking the hint about how she real felt about the matter.



Wilhelm Station

The wind turbine didn’t look like what one would imagine one would look like. An ingenious contraption made from steel oil drums and steel tube arranged horizontally that would spin regardless of which direction the wind was blowing. It was just one of many of them that provided power to Wilhelm Station and unlike the fuel-oil that had to shipped in, running out of wind wasn’t a worry. However, Louis could tell that this type of wind turbine would not work anywhere else unless it was in the midst of a hurricane. Here in Antarctica the wind and pulses of cold air off the continent did the job, just the maintenance had to be diligent because no one wanted to have to come out here and do repairs in the depths of winter darkness. Louis didn’t have the first clue as to how the wind turbines actually worked, someone needed to be in charge though and he was available. He was supposed to be keeping an eye on the men who were working but the weather consumed most of his attention. Keeping an eye out for an approaching storm front and listening on the radio in case that was their only warning.

After weeks of working on the logistics for next summer’s research, Louis had been ordered to join the work that was being done to prepare for the winter months. Already he had seen a few of the autumn storms where visibility had dropped down to just a few meters at most. There was a reason why all the vehicles, including the Iltis cars that Louis and the crew he was supervising were using, were equipped with radio compasses. With how unpredictable the weather was, the possibility of getting fatally lost while traveling between line of wind turbines and the garage was very real. Even if it was only a few hundred meters at most.

The rear hatch of the Iltis opened and Louis felt a draft of cold air enter the cab. One of the men grabbed a jug of lubricant out of the crate in the back with the tools. Apparently, it had been formulated to not freeze at the frigid temperatures encountered here, Louis had been told that it had the viscosity of kerosene and probably wouldn’t work if used someplace with a warmer climate. It was just one example of the sort of technology that was required to survive here.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Thirty-Six



2nd June 1964

Potsdam

The party celebrating Nella’s fifth birthday had left the Marble Hall in the Summer Residence looking like a confectioner’s nightmare and it was something that Suga couldn’t have imagined that the adults who had surrounded her would have done when she was a child. While Louis Ferdinand had stressed that they all needed to be mindful of the situation while he worked to straighten out the family finances and keep their creditors at bay, he wanted things to be perfect on what he said was a major milestone for his youngest daughter. Nella seemed to be happier about the arrival of Freddy and Suga than about the rest of the party, she was especially gleeful that they had brought Mirai.

There were times when Suga got the impression that Nella thought that Mirai was an early birthday present. She said that she had always wanted a little sister. It was obvious that the concept of sister versus niece was still something that Nella was working on, there was a great deal of truth in it though. Nella was much closer to Mirai in age than she was with her brothers and sisters. All of Nella’s older half-siblings were adults, even Marie Cecilie who didn’t always act like one. If that really did mean that Nella would be like an actual big sister to Mirai then it would be a welcome development.

Suga herself wasn’t quite sure how an older sister behaved in that context. Her own sisters had been much older than she was, distant and largely removed from her life. When she thought about it like that, she realized that her own situation when she had been a child had been a lot like Nella’s. Of course, Suga had experienced the Japanese Imperial Court from an early age and hadn’t realized that the strict formality that was constantly demanded of her was out of the ordinary until Freddy and Kiki had entered her life. The informal way that her husband’s family behaved when they didn’t have to play the role of Imperial Family had been a shock to Suga at first and it had taken awhile for her to get used to it. She still found herself reverting to that sort of formal behavior around Freddy’s father and Louis Ferdinand usually responded by gently poking fun at her when he noticed her doing that. It was amusing to think about what might happen when she next returned to Japan.

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

From across the Marble Hall, Kat watched as Nella tried to get Mirai to respond to her by making faces. In the manner of babies since time out of mind, Mirai just stared at her. The patience that Nella was showing with her niece was wonderful to see. Like many others, Kat had been a bit concerned about Nella’s reaction to Mirai’s arrival. Would Nella resent no longer being the baby of the household she was growing up in? How would she react in a few years when Mirai became extremely interested in her possessions and whatever Nella happened to be doing at the moment? Kat only had the relationships between herself and Ilse and that of her daughters, Tatiana and Marie to go on. Kat hadn’t met Ilse until she was sixteen and her daughters bickered constantly.

There was also the unexpected social aspect of this party. It was something that Kiki had caused, though one could hardly blame her for it. The idea had gotten around that becoming the official friend and companion of one of the Princesses was a way of having a child’s future assured. The result was that there had been something of a scramble for an invitation. Kat would have warned the parents who attempted this not to try. It seemed like children were far better than their elders at seeing whether or not something was inauthentic, not yet having learned to blinker themselves with a lifetime of practice. There was nothing contrived about Kiki’s friendship with Zella von Holz and Aurora Friedmann-Pohorylle. Aurora deciding recently that she preferred to go by her Parent’s original surnames was a good example of that.

The parents who had been pushing their children to make Nella’s introduction looked dismayed as she preferred to visit with her infant niece. Their children just looked embarrassed.

All of that was far easier to contemplate than the conversation that Kat had just completed with the Emperor. The conclusion that the Sven Werth had reached was that the information that the Jacobins had received about Kiki and other members of the Royal family’s movements were entirely too good. It looked a lot like someone on the inside of the Palace security apparatus had been leaking that information and so far, no one who had been captured had mentioned who, or even if, there was an insider. Everyone remembered the “Red Nanny” from just before the Second World War, the woman who had allowed NKVD agents access to the Hohenzollern Palace. Kat had been caught up in the resulting bloodbath and had been the only person ever given a full membership in the Order of the Black Eagle who was not born into the House of Hohenzollern as a result of her actions that day. The lesson that Johann Schultz had made sure was drilled into Kat’s head was “Pick up the goddamned fucking phone next time you know an enemy is about to do something.” After more than two decades Kat still heard those words clearly every time that she considered taking a rash action.

It hardly mattered to Kat though because she had been asked to not participate in the investigation this time having been deemed too close to the matter.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Thirty-Seven



15th June 1964

Tiergarten, Berlin

When Jack arrived at Leary’s that afternoon, he found something unexpected. Two armed men barring his entry. The tavern was mostly empty, only a few men by the bar and the pair who were accosting Jack by the door. Leary Quinlan himself, his wife who was the tavern’s cook and the three of their daughters who worked for them were present. That seemed like a lot for a weekday afternoon, especially with a, whatever this was going on. A private party? It didn’t look anyone was celebrating anything.

“Jack Kennedy’s a good one” Leary said, “Lawyer out of Dublin these days. We froze together when we fought the Russians once upon a time.”

“Let him in” Jack heard a familiar voice say. “He is someone I would like to talk to.” The two men stepped out of Jack’s way.

Though Leary seemed to be relieved, he also would understand what he had just done by vouching for Jack. He hoped that he wouldn’t be putting an old friend into a bind by entering the tavern.

Sitting in the booth was a face instantly recognizable to any Irish citizen over the past fifty years. Now in his seventies, Michael Collins had retired from politics a decade earlier. His final speech as Taoiseach to the Dáil had certainly been memorable. He had told the entire body what he thought of their constant bickering in the face of the moral crisis that was affecting the whole of Ireland and the role he wasn’t going to play in solving it. A lot of very colorful turns of phrase had been introduced into the public record with that speech.

“I had wondered what had happened to you” Collins said as Jack sat down across the table. “I can’t stand your father or Joe Junior, they sat fat and happy while the world was tearing itself apart. You were out there in the middle of it then you just kind of disappeared.”

“Becoming Senior Partner in a law firm is hardly having disappeared” Jack replied, “Why are you here in Berlin Sir? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Collins gave him a rueful smile, “We are coming up on fifty years since we inked the deal that resulted in the mass shipment of arms into Ireland during the war for independence.” He said, “I was asked to help arrange the commemoration.”

Collins was one of the few men who had been present when that deal had happened who was also still alive. The German’s had honored that deal, but for the Irish it had turned out to be a double-edged sword. They had fought the British on equal terms for the first time in history, but those same weapons had then been turned on each other as the peace had been lost with the death of Éamon de Valera and the island had fallen into civil war. Collins' side had won that conflict, but at a terrible cost which the Republic of Ireland was still trying to reckon with decades later.

The two of then sat there in the booth for a long moment until Leary arrived with their drinks.

“I could ask you the same question” Collins said, “What exactly is a Senior Partner of a Dublin Law Firm doing in Berlin?”

“I’ve a rather prominent client who lives here in Tempelhof” Jack said, “She suggested me to her employer when it became apparent that an independent audit of his finances needed to be conducted. A few of the gentlemen who had been managing said finances had a lot of explaining to do.”

“Is there a chance that I might have been reading about this matter in the newspapers?” Collins asked.

Jack just smiled and took a drink from the glass that Leary had placed on the table. And nearly spit it out. A long-standing joke between Leary and Jack involved himbeere weizen and at possibly the worst possible moment he had given Jack a pint of the vile stuff.

“I take it that you were able to get the finances straightened out” Collins said.

Jack tried not to frown.

It was going to take months to make sense of the House of Hohenzollern’s finances. He had been able to arrange for a series of loans to keep things going until the situation improved. The fact that the money was from the numbered accounts belonging to Kat von Mischner that would eventually be paid back with interest, effectively laundering money through the coffers of the Hohenzollern family and the Imperial Bank of Germany. If anyone besides Jack or the Gräfin learned that had happened, then there would be Hell to pay. They had only told the Kaiser that Kat was making the loans and he had eagerly accepted the help. That had been when Jack realized that Louis Ferdinand trusted the Gräfin without reservations.

“That is an ongoing project that will continue on for a long time” Jack replied.

“Good for you though” Collins said, “Were you able to get your client’s employer as a client as well?”

“Not yet” Jack said, “That might take some doing and he already has his own legal team, I only was brought on because I had no dog in the fight.”

“Can’t have everything, can you” Collins said.

Jack couldn’t disagree with that. He had been informed recently about how the Berliner Daily had somehow acquired a large amount of cash and a photograph of him that had been in the possession of Lothar de Maizière. Jack didn’t need to be told the implications of why that had happened. He got the impression that working in Berlin long term would probably be bad for his health.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Thirty-Eight



17th June 1964

Potsdam

“There is nothing wrong with caring about what happens to people” Kat said to Suga, who had been somewhat agitated as they waited for more information, anyone else would have been nervously pacing around the room. “Just reacting this way to information from halfway around the world will drive you insane, because it never really stops.”

Word had arrived the night before about a large earthquake that had struck in Japan. Though Suga wasn’t aware if anyone she knew was in the region that had been affected, she still fretted over it.

Suga glared at Kat, “I’m not reacting like how you are describing me” She said curtly.

Whatever you say, Kat thought to herself. She had gotten fairly good at reading the Japanese Princess over the last couple years.

The truth was that the Japanese Government, Emergency Services and Military probably had the most experience of dealing with matters like these. Few other places got hit by as many earthquakes or typhoons on a regular basis. For Suga it was a reminder that she was a long way from the place where she had grown up and even if she would never admit to it, Kat knew that Suga got homesick occasionally. Freddy and Suga had been talking about traveling to Japan this summer. However, they were worried about the Far East being unstable and appearances. With how word was out regarding the embezzlement that had occurred, international travel might be seen as a frivolous expense.

What Suga didn’t know was that Kat had lent the Emperor enough money to pay all the outstanding debts that had accrued as a result of the actions of the managers of the Hohenzollern Trust. Louis had been concerned that Kat was sticking her neck out fiscally when they had been looking at the eye watering sums involved. What she hadn’t told the Emperor was that it allowed her to finally close out the numbered accounts, erasing the last connections with her father’s illegal enterprises.

The Swiss Bankers had said that they were sorry to lose her business after so many years. Kat had done her best to hide her annoyance with that. They didn’t care where the money came from so long as they got to manage it. Kat just knew that she would sleep easier at night knowing that the accounts where her father had squirreled away his ill-gotten gains were closed. It was a link to a past that she wanted forgotten. Otto himself had certainly never enjoyed his fortune, he had always lived in a manner that had allowed the Police and Prosecutors he bribed to look the other way. Yet somehow, it had worked. Otto’s eventual successor, Jarl Gunnarsson had shown no sign of developing the power or reach that he had enjoyed in his lifetime. It was a fact that Kat was sincerely thankful for.

“Look Suga” Kat said, “I spent a lot of time briefing Freddy’s mother when I was her Aide-de-Camp about what was going on in the world. All you do is observe and play your part in making your corner of the world a better place.”

Suga stared at Kat, probably wondering what the context of that comment was.

“You are in a powerful position” Kat said, “Pick up the telephone, call your father and ask him if any assets we have in the Pacific can aid their efforts. If I had to guess, I would say that the Antonia is already there.”

“Can I do that?” Suga asked.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Louis already has” Kat replied.



Jena

The schedule for the Final Examinations had been released and Kiki had never been more relieved to know that the end of the term was finally in sight. Ever since she had returned to University in May, Kiki had been struggling in a manner that she had never had to deal with at any prior time in her life. Doctor Holz had called her in for a series of tests with someone who turned out to be one of the top Neurologists in the world. The crack in her skull was healing nicely, but they had concluded that it was not the thing that had caused her harm. It seemed that the blow had been hard enough that her brain had hit the far side of her skull, getting bruised as a result.

Real life wasn’t like on television or the movies where someone takes a hit like the one that Kiki had taken, and they are fine in the next act. Instead what happened was what she was living through, where recovery took weeks or months. The Neurologist had told her that the effects should be temporary but having to return to University had probably prolonged her recovery. He had suggested that she go someplace quiet, avoid excitement and mental stimulation for several weeks, echoing what Doctor Holz had told her.

It was an open question as to just where she could go. Kiki didn’t know where she might find a cabin in the woods like Doctor Holz had suggested that she go. Vicky had come through though; she had asked Lea Bäcker if she had any ideas. Lea had said that her maternal grandparents had a guest house in Bad Reichenhall where Kiki had learned mountaineering when she had been training to join the FSR. It was supposedly an isolated chalet halfway up a mountain. If she could live without electricity and central heating over the Summer Holiday, then it was perfect. She had talked about that idea with Ben and he had asked if he could visit her in the Nineteenth Century. Kiki had said that she was looking forward to it.

When Kiki had told her father her plans, he had told her that her recovery was their priority. She had felt a bit of guilt about her continued absence from the Hohenzollern Provence and he had told her that the people there would be able to function without her. She would probably be surprised by the reaction she got when she did make it back. It seemed that despite the resistance that the town council had put up, the Sony/Telefunken factory was going up over the summer. Jobs and money in a community were always welcome.

Then the topic of money had come up and Kiki’s father had told her about the loans that Kat had made. Apparently, Kat had inherited all or most of the proceeds of her father’s empire when he had died. This had been discovered when an investigation ordered by Helene von Richthofen had been conducted. Kiki’s father had ordered the investigation stopped and the State Prosecutor sworn to secrecy. Kat had been investing that money back into her community, projects that revitalized Central Berlin not to mention Tempelhof. Now, Kat was using that money to help Kiki’s family while they were in a tight spot. “We are playing the long game here, and Gräfin Katherine is loyal to us” He had said.

Then Kiki’s father had said that perhaps they ought to consider giving Kat a promotion. Kiki knew that he was referring to her courtly rank. Kat would rather receive a public flogging than have that happen and Kiki had told her father that. He had then turned it around on her by asking if she was aware of how the Federal Council was going to be voting as to whether or not she should be inducted into the Federal Order of Merit. Something that she hadn’t known about until he mentioned it.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Thirty-Nine



3rd July 1964

Mitte, Berlin

There were times when Doug moved between confusion and amusement by the actions of his wife and the predicaments that she got herself into. This was even after they had been married for the better part of two decades. Simply put, if these things happened to anyone else then no one would believe it. Reality just kind of had a way of taking a smoke break whenever Kat’s name got mentioned. Today, Doug was photographing the event that was unfolding while trying to keep both Kat and Kiki out of the frame, neither of them looked happy to be here today.

When it was announced that Kiki was to receive the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Order of Merit for her actions over the course of her career and for the events of the prior April. She had told her father in Kat’s presence that she was declining the award. Kat had been the one who the Emperor had asked to talk Kiki around. In many respects, this was an extremely uncomfortable thing for Kat to do because she had been rather outspoken about what she thought about the subject and that had clearly influenced Kiki’s thinking on the matter. This time was different though. Kat had told Doug about how the Medical Service and FSR were both relatively new organizations and they needed the recognition.

It had been during the following conversation that Kiki had told Kat about what Louis Ferdinand had been planning for her as a reward for her years of loyal service to his family. He was talking about giving her a higher title, that of a Fürstin. Doug was fairly certain that a considerable amount of money that Kat had loaned the House of Hohenzollern recently might have had almost as much to do with it if he was being cynical.

Kat’s reaction had been predictable. Panic. What did she know about being a Sovern Princess? She had never even wanted to be a Gräfin in the first place and now this. Fürstin Katherine von Mischner zu Berlin? It sounded completely absurd and when the people of city they lived in learned of this, their reaction? Would people assume that she ruled the City-State of Berlin as opposed to the truth, that it only sort of applied to the portions of the city that she owned? Kat also understood Berlin like few others. She said that this was an invitation to the thousand or so factions within the city to all come to her with their hands out and they would likely rip her apart when they discovered that she had little to give them. It was one thing to have those in powerful positions owing her favors, it was entirely different to occupy such a position herself.

Kiki had thrown that reaction back in Kat’s face. Like Kat and that proposed social promotion, Kiki had a lot of reasons to refuse the award. It had been kept from the public, but she had sustained a worse injury than had been initially reported and had been struggling to recover. Kiki was planning on spending her Summer Holiday in a physically isolated chalet located on property owned by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Apparently, Rommel liked to play the role of Country Squire these days now that he was semi-retired when he wasn’t in Stuttgart or Berlin and a summer house located near where the German Army trained its Alpine Troops had been irresistible for him. Just the sort of person who could keep quiet about the presence of Kiki while she tried to escape from the world for a time. In the end, both Kat and Kiki had forced the other to accept what they were being offered and it was obvious that both were unhappy with how things had turned out. Doug was left wondering if the Emperor had known that this was exactly how it would play out when he had asked Kat to talk to Kiki.

As Doug watched, Kiki walked up to the podium where the Chancellor had been giving his remarks following those of the President of Federal Council when her name was called. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere other than here. Kiki had told him and Kat that she felt her role in the events of the 22nd of April were massively overblown and that she had been unable to even get out of the airliner seat that those twits had put her in. She felt that the storming of the airplane had been an unnecessary risk because Lothar de Maizière had thought that an airliner was like the U-Bahn, you got on and it went wherever it was going. Neither Kiki nor the airplane had been about to go anywhere. Doug had to disagree. The Police Commandos wouldn’t have acted unless they felt that there was no other option and multiple sources had repeated what she had in fact done. There was finally the fact that Kiki had risked her life to save Doug’s daughter. As far as he was concerned, not even this was enough of an acknowledgement of what Kiki had done.

As Kiki was presented with the Commander’s Cross to polite applause, the flash bulbs increased in tempo and Doug noticed that she looked very pale. That was seconds before she collapsed.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Forty



5th July 1964

Mitte, Berlin

Kiki remained uncertain as to the exact number of acoustic tiles that made up the ceiling of her hospital room. On either side the tiles were cut off by the walls. Was it half a tile, or a third, that was visible? Either way would affect the total. Then there was where the ceiling met the wall opposite the windows. There was only a thin sliver of tile visible. A tenth? Kiki didn’t know. She had plenty of time to count them when she wasn’t enduring the rounds of testing that she had been subjected to over the previous two days.

Exhaustion, stress and the effects of the light and sound while she had been accepting that stupid medal had made her feel dizzy and faint. All because of her incomplete recovery. That was the conclusion that the Doctors had reached. Kiki could have told them that before they had subjected her to a great deal of testing. Worse, she had collapsed in front of nearly every Press Agency of note. So, what had happened was splashed across nearly every front page and featured on nightly newscasts across the planet. The entire world knew that she had been worse off than she had let on and there was a flood of “Get well soon” letters and flowers that was being dealt with elsewhere in the hospital. The knowledge that there were a number of malcontents along with her Jacobin friends still floating around out there made it so that she couldn’t receive them herself. As she stared at the ceiling of her hospital room counting the tiles, Kiki wished that she could only screw up halfway for once in her life.

The only saving grace of her stay in the hospital this time was that she was in Neurology as opposed to the Emergency Department. The result was that she had her own room. Every mushroom cloud had a silver lining if Kiki had to guess.

First had come the physical tests, to eliminate any variables that might have caused her collapse and that was how Kiki had spent Friday night and much of Saturday. The results of the tests had been mostly negative but the things they had tested for had ranged from merely life altering to absolutely terrifying. Kiki had been relieved to learn that she didn’t have cancer. Compared with that, learning that she also wasn’t pregnant either seemed like an anticlimax. When she took the time to think about it, it wasn’t possible because she hadn’t engaged in the activity that could get her pregnant since that night she had spent with Ben in September. The same night that Berg had made fun of her about because she had supposedly woken her neighbors. Who knew that thin walls would be such an effective form of contraception? The old problem of Kiki not maintaining the best diet had been apparent though and she had found herself getting lectured by a Nutritionist before the Neurologists had taken her back for another round of tests.

Today though, had been an entirely different matter. Doctor Lehrer, the same Neurologist who had consulted on her case for Doctor Holz in Jena had come to Berlin with the intention of getting to the bottom of what had happened. He the brilliant idea of duplicating the conditions that had led to Kiki’s collapse in a laboratory setting and he didn’t seem to mind working on a Sunday. As it turned out, the Polish Doctor had been conducting studies on the effects of brain injuries like the one that Kiki had sustained. He had managed to talk her into being the subject of what was an experiment, and Kiki had been given yet another example of how her judgement was impaired. She had been given plenty of time to think about that as dozens of electrodes had been glued to her scalp.

The experiment had involved her listening to recorded applause and having a strobe light flashing in her eyes at various frequencies. Because they had recordings of what had happened, it had only taken a few minutes for Doctor Lehrer and his team to figure out exactly the right combination to make her feel dizzy. Because she was sitting down, she hadn’t felt faint, instead Kiki had experienced an extreme amount of nausea and had stopped the experiment before she had thrown up.

Lehrer and his people had seemed happy about what had happened. They had seen what they wanted in the EEG results. As Kiki had left, she had wondered where that left her. Doctor Lehrer said that he would get back to her later that afternoon and that he hoped that he would have positive news for her. In the meantime, Kiki was laying in the hospital bed, fretting and counting the tiles of her room.

The Nurse who was monitoring her stuck her head through the door “You have visitors Fraulein” She said before she vanished again.

Before Kiki could even react, Nella ran in and jumped on bed.

“Poppa said you were sick again” Nella said in a rush, “And he thinks he caused it this time.”

Looking over, Kiki saw that her father and stepmother had followed Nella into the room. They had embarrassed expressions on their faces, which meant that Nella had clearly spoken out of turn.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Forty-One



25th July 1964

Near Bad Reichenhall, Rural Upper Bavaria

It was a beautiful morning as Kiki walked up the trail to the old mountain chalet that would be home for the Summer Holiday. Rauchbier was sniffing at everything and tugging at the leash that Kiki had him on. Gertrud had warned her that if she didn’t keep her dog under control and he caused trouble with the sheep that grazed around here then it would upset the shepherd. No one wanted that.

“My father lived up here before the main house was livable” Gertrud said as she led Kiki onto the covered porch that ran the length of the chalet. Kiki was studying her features knowing that she was Lea Bäcker’s mother. “If you don’t mind not having the full amenities of a spa hotel then you’ll probably enjoy it here.”

That was a bit of an understatement. The place was extremely rustic. Set into the side of a mountain and made mostly from wood that might have been painted once upon a time if the red and white flecks were anything to judge by. It faced a meadow that was pleasant enough except the ground dropped away steeply. A couple hundred meters away, Kiki could see the trees that hid the main house from view. That was where Kiki had left her car because there was nowhere closer. Going the other direction up the mountain was the Austrian border only a kilometer or so away.

When Gertrud opened the door, Kiki was expecting musky air, instead it was the pleasant smell of lavender.

“I had it cleaned out when Lea said that you were coming Kristina” Gertrud said, “She said that you needed someplace quiet to recover after that cretin hit you. I saw that on television and it looked bad.”

For the thousandth time Kiki wondered if anyone hadn’t seen the clip of her getting clubbed over the head. She wondered if their view of it would change if they saw the part that had been cut out where she had stabbed that man with the karambit before getting between her captors and Marie Alexandra.

The single room that made up the chalet seemed practical enough. A bed sat in one corner and a wood burning stove was in the other. The stove was of a type that was instantly familiar to anyone in the military. Beyond just providing heat, it could be used for limited cooking and had a built-in water boiler. Shelves that held tins, bins and packages as well as other household goods lined the back wall. A table and chairs dominated the center of the room.

“Everything you need is here” Gertrud said, “The outhouse is around back just past the clothesline, the lamps are full and there is a box on the shelves that has matches, candles and additional oil. If you find you need anything else, or even just a meal you don’t have to make yourself and a hot shower then don’t be afraid to come down the hill.”

Kiki looked around; this place really did seem perfect.

“Thank you” Kiki said, “You are very kind to let me stay here.”

“You were just lucky that your sister asked when she did” Gertrud said, “Lea is going on leave for the next year in a couple weeks.”

“I didn’t know” Kiki replied, Lea was the Operations Officer of the First Foot Regiment. A highly sought-after position. “Why would she do that?”

Gertrud just looked at her like if it was something too obvious to mention. Then it hit Kiki what that meant, and it occurred to her that she knew absolutely nothing about Lea’s life outside the Regiment. “Oh” Kiki said “Sorry, I didn’t realize.”

“Nice to know that my daughter’s male colleagues are not the only ones who can be oblivious at times about such matters” Gertrud said, “Her and her husband have been trying for some time. No matter, I’ll get my son Joseph to help you with your luggage.”

“I didn’t bring much” Kiki replied, “I understood that it would be a bit of a walk to get up here when I packed.”

“Nonsense” Gertrud said, “He needs to get out of the house occasionally because if he lays about for the Summer Holiday then my father will doubtlessly find something for him to do.”

“What does your son do normally” Kiki asked, wondering how he had a Summer Holiday like a student.

“He teaches Art Appreciation at the University of Munich” The tone of Gertrud’s voice suggesting what she thought of her son’s vocation. “He plays at being a writer, but no reputable publisher would accept his work, even at gunpoint. Josef a bit too much like his father, who is out of the picture before you even ask about him.”

It was probably just as well that Kiki hadn’t asked.

Just then Rauchbier hopped up onto the bed and Gertrud shooed him off. “I had the ropes tightened and the mattress aired out yesterday” She said, happy to change the subject away from her family.

“Wait” Kiki said, “Ropes?”

“You’ll figure it out soon enough” Gertrud said, “Your copy of the key is on the table, welcome home Kristina.”

With that Gertrud left, leaving Kiki alone in the chalet. She wondered if she ought to have told her host that she went by Kiki. It hardly mattered now.

For lack of anything better to do, Kiki sat down on the bed and discovered that it was a bit too soft for her liking. However, the alternative was sleeping on the floor and that didn’t seem like a pleasant idea. Rauchbier jumped back up onto the bed and sat beside her. Welcome to the Summer Holiday, Kiki thought to herself as she scratched behind his ears.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Forty-Two



29th July 1964

Near Bad Reichenhall, Rural Upper Bavaria

You have a stove, a lantern and a lamp but only one match. Which one do you light first? The answer was obvious when you thought about it. That logic problem kept running through Kiki’s mind as she went about rejoining humanity after a few days basically hibernating. She had an entire box of matches though.

It had been like a rubber band snapping. Once Kiki no longer had any commitments or obligations, she had just sort of fallen flat. Except for taking Rauchbier out occasionally and seeing to her own personal needs she hardly got out of bed for the first few days. It wasn’t until she was there that Kiki realized just how much the presence of other people had grown stressful for her. The fact that she would need to find matches to light the hurricane lamps had kept her in bed after dark. Mostly she had just slept, the itchy wool blanket on the bed was sufficient to keep her warm. Today though, everything changed with the weather. Wind was howling and Kiki could hear rain pounding on the roof. A reminder of just how exposed her accommodation was.

Realizing just how grimy she felt, she realized that unless she wanted to wash with cold water, she would need to heat it first. That was when she discovered that the vessel that held the hot water was empty and there was a note tacked to the wall telling whoever was last in the chalet in the autumn to make sure to drain it before winter set in. Kiki could only imagine what might have happened to have prompted such a note be left there. It took a bit of time, but Kiki managed to fill the tank with several buckets of water from the pump that she had seen outside. Starting the fire in the stove turned out to be a bit more of a challenge. She sat on one of the chairs by the table and just watched the fire as she waited for the water to heat up.

Looking over Kiki saw that her duffle bag and guitar case were right where she had left them. She had only removed a Hertha jersey and grey trackpants to sleep in. She couldn’t smell it, but she figured that they must be taking on a personality of their own. The process of washing and getting on a fresh set of clothes had turned out to be the easiest part of the whole process. She threw her dirty laundry into an empty basket she found. Finding the case that held her glasses in the duffle bag took a bit of time, but she was feeling human again. Looking around, Kiki realized that the contact lenses that she wore these days were probably not going to see a whole lot of use in a place like this. Ben had joked that she was going to live in the Nineteenth Century. Well, there she was.

Looking at the shelves, Kiki looked at the cans. Beans, soup and stew seemed to be predominant. Finding a can of pea soup and pan, it took her a considerable time to locate a can opener along with a bowl and spoon. It wasn’t until she started heating it up that Kiki realized that she hungry.

It was about then that Rauchbier turned and focused on the door. He had been watching Kiki intently as she prepared her meal in the manner of most dogs, acting like he was starving though Kiki knew that he had eaten an hour earlier. Unexpectedly, there was knocking on the door.

Opening the door, Kiki saw a man whose face she knew but she had never been introduced to, Erwin Rommel.

“Lucy and Gertrud asked me to check up on you” Rommel said, “I’ve seen you walking your dog in the meadow the last few days, but they wanted me ask how you were. I saw the smoke and figured that now would be a good time.”

“I’m surprised that you didn’t just tell one of your people to do it” Kiki said, “No one wants to go out in a storm like this.”

“This isn’t a severe storm in these parts, just a rainy afternoon” Rommel said, “And there is a bit of deference to you being the Princess Royal.”

It was a reminder of just who Kiki was in relationship to the other people around her. Erwin Rommel had been a Field Marshal. In the wake of two successful campaigns where he had been the Theater Commander and a stint in the High Command of the Heer, he was considered a Markgraf but didn’t go by that title for whatever reason. These days he was the head of the Department of the OKW that did purely theoretical work, trying to discern the strategies of future conflicts. Considering that he had written a series of books that had shaped the structure and tactics of the Panzer Corps and the Dragoon Infantry, he was perfect for that role.

“The idea that a Generalfeldmarschall should concern himself too much with what a Hauptmann is doing is absurd” Kiki said, and Rommel gave her a slight smile. Besides her, there were few other people presently in Bavaria who outranked him in any respect.

“Normally I would agree” Rommel replied, “But I also wanted to meet my guest.”

That wasn’t exactly what Kiki was expecting to hear.

“Also, a young man has been calling, asking me to pass a message on to you that he called, and Lucy wants to know if you are interested in having lunch with us on Sunday” Rommel said.

“Thank you, Sir” Kiki said. Ben had been calling Rommel’s house, unaware that there was no phone in the chalet. What must her hosts think of her because of that?

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Forty-Three



30th July 1964

Mitte, Berlin

No one had ever said that Ji was stupid, but he had been accused to not thinking things through many times. He had lived and worked in Berlin for more than a year and had stopped thinking about the ramifications of that. It was debatable as to whether or not he was thinking at all much of the time. It was that very thoughtlessness that had landed him in a holding cell that seemed too small one person alone in here. Ji couldn’t imagine what it would be like if there were several.

It had started from a kind gesture on Ji’s part. With Bora starting University Ji had been intrigued by the idea of furthering his own education. While the idea of what Bora was doing seemed impossible to Ji, the courses at the local Trade School that he had seen brochures for around the store occasionally seemed far more realistic. One of the courses in question taught the installation, repair and servicing of industrial heating and refrigeration systems. Han Suk was always complaining about how those systems were always breaking down and the men who did the repair work were not always fair in how they conducted their business. Suk was hardly alone in those complaints. Ji’s thinking was that if he got involved then he could provide a needed service to a market that already existed. Ji just had not thought about who might be paying attention to who applied for a course like that.

Ji had gotten picked up by authorities before the ink was dry on the application. The only real surprise was that it hadn’t happened sooner. He had gotten comfortable and complacent. He had plenty of time in the holding cell to consider the matter as he waited to learn what was going to happen next. And he was being made to wait, for the better part of two days so far.

The door swung open and one of the guards, who had not said a word to Ji previously spoke up. “The Lady wants to talk” He said, “You’ve not caused us any trouble, so don’t start now.”

Should he have been causing them trouble? Ji thought to himself as he was led down the hall to the interview room. That seemed extremely pointless. Ji had gotten the impression that the guards were looking for an excuse to stomp on him over the previous two days. Not giving them that excuse seemed like it was the best course of action.

“The Lady” as it turned out, was a woman in her forties. She was still attractive, though her red hair had a bit of grey in it. All of Bora’s comments about how Marie looked like her mother came back to Ji as he walked into the room. He also remembered that Marie’s mother was supposedly insane. Fürstin Katherine, the Tigress herself.

“Leave us” Katherine said to the guard, who just nodded respectfully then turned and left. Much to Ji’s astonishment.

They sat in silence for a long moment before Katherine pulled a thick folder out of a bag by her feet and dropped it on the table. When she opened it, Ji saw that his whole life was there. School scores, his military record and even medical files. It might not have seemed like much, but those records would have had to have come from Korea and from the looks of it, had been translated. That, in of itself, was an astonishing display of power.

“I indulge my daughters entirely too much” Katherine said, “Marie Alexandra heard about what happened from Han Soo-Jin and she is frightened about what will happen to you. I agreed to look into the matter to keep her from causing more trouble.”

Ji had younger siblings, so he knew exactly how much of a problem a child intent on mayhem could pose. Enough to get one of the most powerful people in Berlin to see him in person apparently.

“I apologize if Marie has been behaving badly on my behalf” Ji replied.

“Marie hasn’t been misbehaving” Katherine said, “She is just extremely persistent and stubborn when she wants something.”

Ji could hear the annoyance in her voice. That meant that Marie must had badgered her mother into coming here. Whether or not that was a good thing remained to be seen.

“You work in the same building as my husband” Katherine said, “That is the reason why the KSK and BND gathered information on you, especially after what happened a few months ago.”

Ji had the BND and KSK onto him?

“Don’t worry” Katherine said, “We have far more pressing matters than a Store Clerk in Kreuzberg. The Berlin Police see things differently though.”

That was a bit of a relief, it didn’t do anything to change his situation.

“One thing I don’t understand from looking at your records, is that you skipped out on several opportunities. You could have leveraged your service in the Korean Army to go to University, get job training or who knows what else. There are Government programs” Katherine said, “Instead, you come halfway around the world to sweep floors and mind the store? Trying to sign up to learn about fixing refrigerators in laudable, but still… Help me understand this.”

“No one told me about any of that” Ji replied. No one had, all that had happened was that he had returned to home village and had seen for himself that there was no future there. Traveling to Germany, to work in the shipyards of Kiel or Danzig had been the original idea, but that had fallen through. When Ji had reached Berlin he had found that while the streets were not paved with gold, he had earned more money in a year working as a Store Clerk than he would have in five back in Korea if he had gone to work in the cannery beside his parents. The idea that the Korean Government had simply not told that he had other options was a bit too in keeping with his experience.

“It doesn’t matter what you were or were not told back in Korea” Katherine said, “What are we going to do with you today?”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Forty-Four



31st July 1964

Munster

There were several armored vehicles parked in the field that Kurt was looking at. The first was yet another update of the legendary StuG that was a continuation of a series of vehicles that many felt went all the way back to the original Raupe Panzers of the First World War. The second was an American M-7A3 Buford that had been captured from the Chinese in Korea. Kurt approved of the choice of name that the Americans had made. Major General John Buford was one of the most important Generals that most people had never heard of. At von Wolvogle’s insistence, Kurt had read many accounts of wars fought around the world from Greeks right up to modern times. The American Civil War held a lot of lessons, both good and bad. The Old Wolf had mentioned Buford by name, saying that the Cavalry Officer who had selected the very ground upon which the later Battle of Gettysburg had been fought had been key to the Union victory there. The third vehicle was the one that Kurt was here to see though. The prototype of the new series of Panzers.

Kurt thought that the prototype was incredible, and it represented everything he had been asking for over the previous years. The Panzer VII Lynx I and II series had an extraordinary run over the previous two decades. However, encounters with American made Buford Tanks in Korea and Intelligence reports of Russian Tanks had revealed that they were fast approaching obsolescence. Now, Kurt was looking at one of the first Panzer VIIIs already designated as the Leopard.

The 12.8 cm main gun of the Jagdpanzer VIII Skorpion had proven successful in Korea, just the open turret that left the crew vulnerable was unpopular for obvious reasons. The Skorpion had only ever been intended as an interim solution and the Leopard mounted the same gun. It remained to be seen if the Heer would field another cannon armed tank destroyer now that interest in guided rockets was growing. The composite armor was a new development, it was both spaced wherever possible and the armor itself was of layers of steel and ceramic on top of the improved anti-spall lining that was already in use in most of the Panzer Corp’s vehicles. A version of it had been put into use in the last variants of the Lynx and had proven itself in Korea. The very latest fire control and optics had been installed.

The rest of Panzer seemed familiar enough. A coaxial 8mm machine gun as well as a 13mm heavy machine gun in a ring mount around the commander’s cupola and another 8mm on a flexible mount in front of the loader’s hatch. The Junkers super-charged diesel engine was a time proven design.

“You’re the expert on Panzers” Hans asked, “So, what’s your opinion?”

Hans von Mischner was the General who had perversely been put in charge of determining the equipment needs of the Panzer Corps in the coming years. Fortunately, Hans had enough sense to admit that he didn’t know enough about Panzers themselves and had asked for Kurt’s help.

“I like it” Kurt said, “You might find that you’ll have a hard time fitting one of them into your office though.”

Hans just smirked at that.

Everyone knew that Hans had a collection of the “toys” in his office, or at least the things that would fit into his office. They represented the various ideas that he had championed. The two big ones that he was pushing were an improved version of the light mortars that had been copied from the Japanese and a better way to incorporate the 40mm grenade launcher that he had personally filched from the Americans. Hans said that giving an infantryman a one-shot weapon was kind of stupid, even if it was one Hell of a shot. It seemed that the Americans were working on the same problem and Hans had been pressing most of the small arms manufacturers to find a solution.

“Beyond you saying that you like it, is there anything more that you could tell me that the Reichstag would buy into?” Hans asked, “Hoping that the unit cost is enough to give them a heart attack is not the best strategy.”

It always came down to the same questions. Could they afford the latest thing? If they could, would the politicians approve the spending? Or finally, would what they already had continue to work for a few more years? If they didn’t have ready answers for those questions, then they had better be prepared to get nothing at all. Kurt remembered that he had once chafed under that system as his superiors explained that to him. Now he was the one who had to do the explaining.

“Sir?” Kurt’s latest Aide asked nervously.

Fähnrich Aaron Kolb was just out of the Academy and Kurt had agreed to take him on as a favor for an old friend. Aaron looked out of place here, the ill-fitting grey coveralls and black beret that the rest of the Brigade had pointedly told him he couldn’t wear the Panzer Corps pin on didn’t help.

“Yes” Kurt replied.

“Your wife called” Aaron said.

“And?” Kurt asked.

Aaron gulped before saying, “She wanted me to tell you that Suse got into another fight, outside of school this time at least. Her words and she would like to know when you will be home to handle it.”

Kurt concealed his aggravation at that latest message.

“Very well” Kurt said, “Go back to what you were doing before Fähnrich Kolb.”

Hans chuckled as Aaron ran off. “Is it me or do they seem to be getting younger and dimmer as time goes on” He said, “Suse Rosa though, she’s a real firecracker.”

There were all kinds of things wrong with what Hans just said. Aaron Kolb was Fritz Kolb’s son, a man who had been on the crew of Kurt’s Panzer in Spain and the Second World War. As for Suse, she was constantly underestimated because of her small size. Her short temper and the fact that she fought incredibly mean swiftly made whoever provoked her regret it. Kurt was caught between being proud that his little girl was a fighter and wanting to brick her into her bedroom until she stopped acting like a child.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Forty-Five



2nd August 1964

Tempelhof

For some reason Ina felt that she couldn’t go to her parents for her latest problem. Instead she came to Kat’s door.

“There is something wrong with me” Ina repeatedly insisted on because of what had happened with her friend Suse getting into a fight on Ina’s behalf a few days earlier.

Kat knew what the real problem was. Ina had inherited the best aspects from Hans and Helene. Kind, optimistic, big hearted and generous to a fault. Unfortunately, she seemed to completely lack the hard-nosed sensibility of her parents and had a serious blind spot towards those who she thought were her friends. The result was that she was taken advantage of constantly. In recent years, Ina had grown into an extremely beautiful young woman and that had drawn a great deal of jealousy from her peers as well. Simply put, Ina was an innocent in an extremely mean world and those closest to her, her best friend and brother were getting into fights to protect her. The thought of what might happen to Ina if she didn’t have that protection chilled Kat to the bone.

“There is nothing wrong with you” Kat said to Ina.

“But I started that fight” Ina said, “If I had just not lent Lili that money then Suse wouldn’t have confronted her about it.”

“You have no control of what other people do” Kat said.

Kat’s understanding was that Lili had talked Ina into loaning her what amounted to a week’s worth of pocket money to her. A month later Lili had shown no inclination towards paying it back and Suse had decided that it needed to be taken care of. It had swiftly escalated from shouting to a physical altercation. Unlike most girls, Suse wasn’t afraid to throw a punch and she had pretty soundly thrashed Lili. Gerta, who was ill-equipped to deal with the situation, had found herself having to deal with angry phone calls and threats of legal action by Lili’s parents.

“Momma says that I do and that these things happen because I don’t think things through” Ina said.

That sounded like the sort of thing that Helene would say, it also suggested why Ina had come to Kat this time. She needed to talk to someone who seemed to understand. The problem for Kat was exactly what did she tell her niece?



Near Bad Reichenhall, Rural Upper Bavaria

In the end Kiki decided that she needed to accept Lucy’s invitation to have the midday meal with her family. Apparently, everyone was going to be there except for Lucy and Erwin’s son had had remained in Stuttgart. He didn’t get up this way during the summer as much as his parents would like and was too involved with his work according to them. Her hope was that her hosts would not go all out on her account. Gertrud had just smiled and said that there she might have trouble getting that through to Lucy.

Brushing out her hair, Kiki wished that the chalet had a mirror and not for the first time. Luckily, the blue floral print sundress she was wearing was simple enough that she didn’t need to see what it looked like. Peering in the hand mirror, Kiki thought that her hair looked alright before looking over her shoulder at Rauchbier who was watching her from under the table, his tail beating on the floor from the instant he was noticed.

“We’re going out” Kiki said, and the dog was on his feet and at the door in an instant.

Kiki clipped his leash onto his collar before opening the door filling the chalet with bright sunlight. It was a gorgeous day with the crystalline clear blue sky, the mountains across the valley looking like they were close enough to touch.

The sheep who had appeared in the meadow were going about their usual sedate lives. The lambs stopped what they were doing and ran to ewes who kept wary eye on Kiki as she passed. They wouldn’t go anywhere near so long as she had Rauchbier with her.

“They just don’t want to play with you Smoke” Kiki said as they walked down the trail.

Rounding the trees, Kiki saw the main house. Its design was clearly inspired by the mountain chalet like the one that Kiki was staying in, just on a larger scale and it had amenities such as electricity, telephone and running water. Knocking on the door, Kiki waited patiently until it swung open, answered by Gertrud. “Lucy will be glad you made it” She said as Kiki entered. The house was filled with mouthwatering smells as Kiki made her way back to the dining room. Rauchbier ran ahead with the single-minded determination of dogs towards the familiar. Kiki was wondering what he was doing when she saw that Benjamin was already at the table talking to Erwin.

“What are you doing here?” Kiki asked as Ben scratched behind Rauchbier’s ears.

“I called here a few times to see how you were doing and the General decided that I should come and see for myself” Ben said.

“I think that it is wonderful that your sweetheart came so far out his way for you dear” Lucy said as she walked in from the kitchen, “We would have warned you that he was coming except you’ve been a bit scarce since you got here.”

Kiki was trying to figure out how to respond to that. Sweetheart?

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Forty-Six



5th August 1964

Near Bad Reichenhall, Rural Upper Bavaria

Although their hosts insisted that they observe propriety, they had allowed Ben to stay for a few days. It was an offer that he was more than happy to take. Kiki had wondered why he had. The truth was that between University and what had happened last Spring, they had hardly managed to have seen each other in months. The opportunity to see her without having to contend with all the stupid Royal protocols that he knew Kiki hated interfering was always welcome. Sitting on the back porch of the Rommel’s house listening to Kiki play her guitar as the sun set certainly counted as that.

When Ben had first called to see how Kiki was doing, he had learned that there were only a handful of people who were allowed to see or speak to her while she was recovering in the mountains. He had been prepared to be disappointed, but to Ben’s surprise his name was on the list. There had been a bit of trepidation when he realized that he was on the phone with Generalfeldmarschall Rommel. It didn’t matter if he was retired of not, he was the former head of a Service Branch, nor it didn’t matter if Ben was in a different Branch. He could squash Ben like a bug if it suited him to do so. That was why it was a bit of a relief when Rommel had mostly been curious about who exactly he was and what his involvement with Kiki was. Ben had told him the truth, minus a few details that weren’t anyone else’s business. That he and Kiki had been in a relationship, he had not been able to see her as much as he liked, that he, along with everyone else had seen her collapse and that he was worried about her. What followed was a series questions about veracity of what Ben was saying. He was certain that there must have been calls to the First Foot and possibly Kiki’s father. The thought that the Emperor might get reminded that Ben was still in the picture was the sort of thing that filled him with dread. It wasn’t as if he would ever forget what happened last time.

The look of surprise on Kiki’s face when she had walked in and had seen him at the table on Sunday night had been worth the trip so far out of his way. Still, it was nice that his presence here didn’t involve a lot of sneaking around. Even if Ben didn’t need to presume that a mouse didn’t fart here without Erwin Rommel knowing about it, he had seen how destructive Kiki’s habit of doing that had been back home. The worrying part was that Kiki seemed to enjoy employing subterfuge even if it wasn’t really needed. It wasn’t a game he wanted to play anymore.

“That girl doesn’t pay much mind to that which she leaves behind” Kiki sang the first verse of the song She walks in Sunshine in accompaniment of her guitar. She had told Ben many times that her singing voice was awful. While she wasn’t classically trained like her sister Vicky, her voice was more than adequate for singing the sort of pop song that she was currently playing. She progressed through the verses until she reached the chorus. It was funny how Kiki playing the song this way changed the emphasis. When the Moondogs played it, people heard the poppy chorus as opposed to the verses.

“No wonder Zella hates this song” Ben said to Kiki who stopped when he said that.

“She made a point of ignoring the band the next time they came through Berlin, not putting the announcement of their show ahead of time in the Berliner” Kiki replied, “It made for a boring show, apparently. I wasn’t there, hardly anyone else was either.”

“Remind me not to anger her in the future” Ben said.

“Zella’s bark is worse than her bite.”

“Having her run over my foot with her motorcycle is quite a bite” Ben said.

“That was an accident and she did feel bad after that happened” Kiki replied, “She was actually worried that she might have seriously hurt you. There is a side of Zella that few others get to see.”

Ben wasn’t sure that he believed that. Kiki’s best friend seemed to revel in being the ultimate bad girl rocker. Somehow, the two of them had maintained a friendship for more than a decade though they seemed to have little in common.

The conversation was interrupted by Rauchbier barking excitedly as one of the Rommel’s grandchildren chased him around through the trees. The four-year-old boy was perfect for this. Kiki had been reluctant to let Rauchbier off his leash for the last week because of the sheep that were around. There was no end to the sort of trouble that he might get into with them. Tonight, she was able to let him play with the children in the house.

Looking up, Kiki looked at the mountains that the sun was setting behind.

“That mountain is Hoher Göll” Kiki said pointing towards one to the south-west. “When I was learning Mountaineering, it was one of climbs my cadre did. There is this subpeak where you can look down on the valley that is spread out below you like a map, it is an incredible view.”

“And what is the drop off like?” Ben asked.

“You are at the top of a cliff” Kiki replied, “About hundred and fifty, two hundred meters. I don’t know. You obviously wouldn’t want to build a house up there but it’s something you ought to see some time.”

“No thanks” Ben said.

“An Ace Pilot, afraid of heights?” Kiki bemusedly asked.

“That is completely different” Ben replied.