Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Five Hundred Ninety-Nine



27th December 1976

Wunsdorf-Zossen

The house which had four generations of the Schultz family living in it was exactly like Henriette had imagined. Big, ramshackle, and apparently parts of it had been built on at separate times as the family had grown over the decades. Aside from the vegetable garden in back, the front and back yard were overgrown.

The last few hours had not been fun.

The real trouble had started innocently enough. Apparently, on the stroke of midnight New Year’s there were going a new set of laws in place that would not just cover Germany, but several other European nations as well that were signatories of the same set of treaties. There were dozens of changes that were going to be made, but the most significant was that travel across Europe from Poland to Portugal without passport checks would be possible. The thing was that for reasons that Henriette didn’t understand, the United Kingdom was not a signatory to the treaty in question. There seemed to be an assumption that she knew the reason for that, which she did not. The truth was that Henriette didn’t know as much about British politics as she might have liked. The current Prime Minister being William Whitelaw being openly despised by his Canadian counterpart, Pierre Trudeau, was about the extent of it.

That had resulted in more questions. Like why Henriette didn’t pay much attention to politics for example. And the answers led to more questions. Ones that she was certainly not about to answer, not to anyone’s satisfaction anyway. It was obvious that Helga and her daughters were perfectly happy to gang up on her. Then Helga dropped the comment about how the last time one of her boys had brought home an American girl to visit, she had already been pregnant, and they had been stuck with her. That had finally caused things to boil over, Henriette had directly told Helga in order for that to be the case a few things would have needed to have happened, which had clearly not. Besides that, there was not a chance in Hell that she was about to allow that to happen again.

As soon as she said that last part, Henriette knew she had made a mistake. Again? Exactly what did she mean by again? Yes, she had a daughter from a prior relationship. That was all she was about to say. Not to them anyway. And if what Katherine had told her was true then they had absolutely no room to judge her. She had told them as much as Sabastian and his parents had looked at her with shock. She had put up with that sort of judgmental nonsense and hypocrisy from the likes of Margot Blackwood for the last few years and was not about to put up with it from anyone else. Eventually, she either had to either leave to cool off, or else she was going to thump Helga or Ava with it being a tossup over which of them was being more insufferable.

Stomping out of the house, Henriette stared at the trees and the open field beyond. There was a fence line at the far end of the field and a large sign with Betreten Verboten! in red letters written on it.

“When it gets particularly cold in the winter, frost heaves can set off the landmines on the other side of the wire” Henriette heard a voice that sounded like if it had been gargling gravel say. What on Earth was on the other side of that fence that resulted in there being landmines?

Looking over Henriette saw Jost Schultz looking at her while smoking a cigar. Not seeing him or smelling the smoke was yet another mistake today. “Katherine warned me about them” She said, it being obvious who the them was in this case. “And she said that you were the worst of all.”

To her amazement, Jost started laughing.

“Kat never did have any forgiveness in her” Jost said, “Not in the last forty years that I’ve known her at any rate.”

“You’ve known her for that long?”

“Someone had to watch her brother’s back” Jost replied, “I did that all the way from Spain to Korea through Russia, and then I kept an eye on Manny for him in Argentina for all the good that did.”

“That doesn’t explain why Katherine said that about you” Henriette said.

“During the Soviet War, some of us messed about by talking the Photographer attached to our unit into going out with Kat” Jost said, “Regardless of them being married for the last thirty years, she isn’t exactly thrilled that I messed with her personal life.”

“Marie Alexandra is a dear friend” Henriette said, “And I would not want my brother’s friends playing that sort of game.”

“You have a brother?” Jost asked.

“No” Henriette replied, “But still…”

Jost just snorted and went back to puffing on his cigar. They stood there for a long moment in awkward silence. Katherine had told not to take sides in any the family conflicts she saw because all of them would take offense, but that felt like it was more or less impossible.

“Ma doesn’t dislike you” Jost said finally breaking the silence. “She just doesn’t like the idea of history repeating itself. Tilo and Nancy announced that they were getting married over supper and that she was already pregnant with Bas. To say that didn’t go over well is an understatement.”

“So that’s it” Henriette replied.

Jost shrugged. “There is also the specter of how Ava and Hanna got married too young under less-than-ideal circumstances” He said, “That didn’t happen with Inga because she happens to prefer women.”

“Wasn’t Inga a Nun?” Henriette asked.

“Yes” Jost replied, “And she probably would have stayed in the convent, but that sort of thing went out of fashion a few years ago. Not that I blame her, working with at-risk youths in Berlin is closer to what she wanted to be doing all along anyway.”

“I didn’t know” Henriette said.

“The fact that you got up in Ma’s face proves that you have a bit of steel in your spine” Jost said, “If you and Bas work out, she’ll probably warm to you.”

“We’ll see” Henriette replied, “And what is over there, beyond the fence?”

“Much of the Second Field Army and the offices of the High Command mostly” Jost said, matter of fact.

That had not been what Henriette had been prepared to hear.

 

[GSW]

Trudeau Sr is in power right now, interesting, wonder if Canada will get a right to property added into the constitution this time.

 

[Dan]

Another few days and Henni will be a Schultz by association.
No better friends, no worse enemies. Often all at the same time.

 

[theg*ddam*hoi2fan]

Another few days and Henni will be a Schultz by association.
No better friends, no worse enemies. Often all at the same time.

I’m reminded of that Terry Pratchett line about the Ogg family: they argue and badmouth each other constantly but if someone from outside the family is incautious enough to start something with one of them, the entire family will immediately close ranks and make that person their enemy for life.

 

[jlckansas]

Somehow having Henni stand up to Ma Schultz will mean she likes her enough to have no problems with her and Bas. Would be really interesting to have her best friend Marie come over and spend time there and actually fit in with the Schultz family with her ability to make herself be someone else.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

I’m reminded of that Terry Pratchett line about the Ogg family: they argue and badmouth each other constantly but if someone from outside the family is incautious enough to start something with one of them, the entire family will immediately close ranks and make that person their enemy for life.

The truth is that everyone knows a family like this. I originally based the structure of the Schultz family on that of my Paternal grandparents.

 

[ejpsan]

Whatever became of Reier, Tilo's "Brother from another Mother'?
With all the years he spent first watching Tilo's back, then looking out over Erik and Karl, I think that he would be very welcomed in the Schultz household.
Reier should have by now retired from the Marine Infantry with a very good pension, and him being single makes him a good catch for older, middle-aged women who are either widowed or divorced and would like a partner with solid guaranteed income, either that or he has become a full-blown alcoholic without anyone keeping him in line.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Whatever became of Reier, Tilo's "Brother from another Mother'?

Tilo returned the favor and had him appointed Drillmaster of the Imperial Naval Academy in Mürwik.

 

[dave_r_gilbert]

Tilo returned the favor and had him appointed Drillmaster of the Imperial Naval Academy in Mürwik.

Thats a favour for Reier, but a bit rough on the Imperial Naval Academy and those being drilled.

 

[duckie]

Thats a favour for Reier, but a bit rough on the Imperial Naval Academy and those being drilled.

Tssk Tsskkk...... It is an favor for all involved 1. Those drilled - if they can´t handle the attention off the Drillmaster, then they can dropout early and have a better life. 2. The Imperial Naval Academy saves a lot of time and/or money that is not used on these dropouts, 3. Reier is having fun...

 

[jlckansas]

Tssk Tsskkk...... It is an favor for all involved 1. Those drilled - if they can´t handle the attention off the Drillmaster, then they can dropout early and have a better life. 2. The Imperial Naval Academy saves a lot of time and/or money that is not used on these dropouts, 3. Reier is having fun...

Kinda like letting Jost be in charge of the plebes at the Imperial Army Academy. Just not as fun for every one else, Reier in his own way provides endless entertainment for the other Senior Enlisted/Officers.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Kinda like letting Jost be in charge of the plebes at the Imperial Army Academy.

While Jost was never at the Prussian Military Academy in Berlin, or any of the other Kriegsschulen, he taught Advanced Infantry Tactics in Mechanized Warfare to Soldaten fresh from Basic training.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Six Hundred



31st December 1976

Tempelhof, Berlin

The long hours waiting for midnight to roll around were always the same. They had been throwing a party for themselves but that had sort of tapered off after around ten o’clock. The result was that they were left battling boredom in various ways as the last hours of 1976 ticked down.

Marie Alexandra knew she’d had the option of going to the New Year’s Ball at the Old Winter Residence having received an invitation. Her parents had gone to that this year, as her mother felt that it was an obligation. For Marie, the idea of spending all night being forced to be social when she wasn’t really up to it wasn’t how she wanted to ring in the new year. Walking into traffic would be preferable. Instead, she was sitting on the couch in the parlor looking at the live television coverage of tens of thousands of people celebrating in the Opernplatz and Alexanderplatz with the volume turned down. Sophie and Gabbi were in the library playing records from the extensive collection of vinyl albums that had been acquired over the years. Presently, they were playing the latest record by Otis Redding. Marie found it funny that her mother had received it as an autographed advanced copy months earlier because the American Soul Singer knew that she was a fan. It was one of the quirks of Marie’s mother, despite her stated dislike of the United States she had been a fan of the early Rock & Roll music and as it had evolved into other forms, she had continued to listen those, even occasionally having the artists as guests in her house.

Angelica was engrossed in a novel by an author named Tom Robbins who Marie had never heard of before. Sophie’s friend Ziska was with her family as they had gone to Italy for the Christmas Holiday, otherwise she would probably be here tonight.

Henriette was playing solitaire on the coffee table with a deck of cards she had found somewhere. She had told Marie that her trip to Wunsdorf-Zossen had been like a bucket of ice water over her head. She had been a bit disappointed with Sabastian, how he had left her to fend for herself when his grandmother had been intent on picking her apart. As much as Marie knew she would probably regret doing it eventually, she had stood up for Sabastian. She had known Sabastian her whole life thinking of him as a little brother. She had also known the larger Schultz family, understanding how they were suspicious of outsiders. Sabastian would find some way to make it up to her because he ultimately wasn’t just his extended family. In a couple of days, Marie and Henriette would fly back to Canada, and they would go back to having to communicate via letter writing. So, if Henriette wanted to hash this whole thing out with him she had best not waste any time. Marie went back to watching the ongoing celebration in Opernplatz…

Some unknown time later, Marie was startled awake by Sophie and Gabbi. She must have fallen asleep for a little bit and her head had already taken on a muzzy feeling.

“You are going to miss the best part” Sophie said as she pulled Marie’s arm to get her off the couch. Sophie had been sick with the flu a couple months earlier and it had been a long recovery. This had provided her with the rare opportunity to just enjoy her life in a way she seldom had over the past few years. From Marie’s perspective, that had been good for Sophie. Her spending more time with her sister Gabbi was as well.

Opening up the front door of the house, they spilled out into the street. It was a cold, clear winter night. There probably would have been lots of stars, except the reflection of the city lights made impossible to see more than a few. They had done this for years, stepping out front and just listing in the last seconds.

There was a low buzzing in the air. In the distance, Marie could hear some of her neighbors counting down. Then there was shouting, and someone set off a string of fireworks. Then with a loud “BOOM!” the sky to the north was lit up by fireworks in the distance. Marie knew that those had been fired from a barge moored on the River Spree. There were also the sound of train horns that filled the air. The others started shouting “Happy New Year!” and Marie joined them. Celebrating having survived another year.



Fort Wainwright, Alaska

It had warmed up enough to snow. As absurd as that seemed, it was true. Once the ground temperature got below a certain point, snow became far less likely. As much a pain the winter weather was in the Alaskan Interior was at least there weren’t any mosquitoes the size of fighter planes as Mario had discovered the prior summer. There was only the risk of freezing to death while walking from the barracks to the mess hall and the sun rose above the horizon for no more than a few hours.

Laying in his bunk, Mario was staring at the ceiling under heavy blankets. It being the middle of the night, there was little risk of the Sergeants cooking up something for them to do. Still, that wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. You would think that with it being the coldest, darkest part of the year, operations would be at a low tempo. You would be wrong. It was something that had become a bit of a joke. They were training to fight in exactly these conditions, which was why it was expected that if the 11th Airbourne ever went into the field it would be the Sahara Desert or the Amazon Basin.

Looking at the clock under the red light at the end of the bay, Mario saw that it was after midnight. It was now 1977 and wasn’t that a kick to the head.

 

[Salamander]

You would think that with it being the coldest, darkest part of the year, operations would be at a low tempo. You would be wrong. It was something that had become a bit of a joke. They were training to fight in exactly these conditions, which was why it was expected that if the 11th Airbourne ever went into the field it would be the Sahara Desert or the Amazon Basin.

The rationale being that no-one would ever expect to encounter a mountain/arctic warfare division in the middle of a (non-alpine) desert or rain forest. One simply MUST consider the element of surprise in these matters.

 

[foresterab]

Fort Wainwright, Alaska

It had warmed up enough to snow. As absurd as that seemed, it was true. Once the ground temperature got below a certain point, snow became far less likely. As much a pain the winter weather was in the Alaskan Interior was at least there weren’t any mosquitoes the size of fighter planes as Mario had discovered the prior summer. There was only the risk of freezing to death while walking from the barracks to the mess hall and the sun rose above the horizon for no more than a few hours.

Laying in his bunk, Mario was staring at the ceiling under a heavy blankets. It being the middle of the night, there was little risk of the Sergeants cooking up something for them to do. Still, that wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. You would think that with it being the coldest, darkest part of the year, operations would be at a low tempo. You would be wrong. It was something that had become a bit of a joke. They were training to fight in exactly these conditions, which was why it was expected that if the 11th Airbourne ever went into the field it would be the Sahara Desert or the Amazon Basin.

Looking at the clock under the red light at the end of the bay, Mario saw that it was after midnight. It was now 1977 and wasn’t that a kick to the head.

Peabody-Martini,

Im not sure if you’ve ever worked in the north but this was an absolute excellent and 100% accurate description of the joys of the north.

Winter is often peak tempo just due to frozen swamps= easy access and bridges are just a case of thickening the ice enough to cross open water. Plus if you’re active the seasonal distortion effects get reduced.

Reading this has made me cold again though so time for a wee dram of warmth

foresterab

 

[ejpsan]

The ITTL 11th Airborne Division is a Light Infantry Division that is most suitable to fight in urban settings and in places like jungles, and guess what, Panama has both.
IOTL the Panama Canal Treaty is in the last stages of negotiations before the final treaty signing, ITTL there could be a greater reluctance on the part of the United States to sign a treaty to give control of the canal to Panama because it may be of even more strategic importance to the United States.
There was plans to widen the canal IOTL in the 1940’s when WW 2 broke out and it may have happened ITTL or not…
In any case, Germany would love to lease the canal from Panama on a long term bases and get the contracts to widen the canal much to the displeasure of the United States.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

The ITTL 11th Airborne Division is a Light Infantry Division that is most suitable to fight in urban settings and in places like jungles, and guess what, Panama has both.
IOTL the Panama Canal Treaty is in the last stages of negotiations before the final treaty signing, ITTL there could be a greater reluctance on the part of the United States to sign a treaty to give control of the canal to Panama because it may be of even more strategic importance to the United States.
There was plans to widen the canal IOTL in the 1940’s when WW 2 broke out and it may have happened ITTL or not…
In any case, Germany would love to lease the canal from Panama on a long term bases and get the contracts to widen the canal much to the displeasure of the United States.

As entertaining as that would be, there is no way that the United States would allow a rival power to even have the smallest chance of taking over the Canal Zone.

 

[ejpsan]

As entertaining as that would be, there is no way that the United States would allow a rival power to even have the smallest chance of taking over the Canal Zone.

Hence the possibility of the 11th Airborne finding out firsthand that the mosquitoes in Panama are just as big as the ones in Alaska…

 

[Salamander]

Hence the possibility of the 11th Airborne finding out firsthand that the mosquitoes in Panama are just as big as the ones in Alaska…

With the bonus that tropical mosquitoes, in addition to biting you, also transmit a wide variety of extremely nasty viruses.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two thousand Six Hundred One



2nd January 1977

Tempelhof, Berlin

“That was on Opa von Richthofen’s estate” Bas said, “I was nine, Niko would have been eight, Marie ten.”

They were looking a photograph of Marie, Bas, and Niko when they had been children in one of the barns on the estate. It had been done to recreate a similar photograph taken of Opa, along with his brother Lothar and sister Ilse decades earlier. The next photograph was of Bas and Niko at the seaside earlier that summer. Bas had gone to Kat’s house to send the afternoon with Henriette, this was because she was leaving tomorrow.

“You were adorable when you were little” Henriette replied as they worked their way down the wall. “All three of you.”

Bas had tried to tell Henriette about how close he had been to Niko and Marie. Explaining that the two of them had always been around from his earliest memories. He had realized that the framed photographs that were hanging on the walls of Kat’s house could tell the story far better than he could. Photographs of Marie wearing a blue dress with a white apron to look like Alice from Alice in Wonderland or dressed up as Robin Hood. Niko at the age of five with a look of trepidation on his face as he was learning to ride a horse. The horse in question was a mare who Bas knew had been selected because she was incredibly gentle. Pictures from school, holidays, and family events. Very often, the photographs were of the various adventures they had been on. Questing for treasure, battling the forces of evil, or the like. It all seemed very silly in retrospect. There was not much treasure or evil to be found on Opa’s estate in Lower Silesia or South Berlin Suburbs.

“I wouldn’t use that word adorable to describe us” Bas replied, though Henriette clearly disagreed. She didn’t know how destructive they could be at times.

“Was Marie always the leader?” Henriette asked.

“She was the oldest” Bas said. That was just how it was when they were children. Besides that, even if all they ended up with was a few rusty nails or bits of brick at best when they dug for treasure or startled the occasional passerby. Marie always made it a whole lot of fun in process.

“Look at this” Henriette asked, “What is it from?”

It was a photograph of Marie Alexandra on the same staircase they were standing on now. She was wearing an elegant white gown and emerald jewelry that had once belonged to her mother.

“That was from when she was introduced to the Imperial Court at the start of the Winter Season” Bas replied, “I escorted Sophie to that last year. Or is that the year before now? I don’t know.”

That was a rather uncomfortable thing to admit to your girlfriend. Especially if you didn’t know where you stood because you were too thick to take her side when she stood up to your relatives.

“You escorted Sophie?” Henriette asked.

“Er… I did that as a favor for Aunt Kat” Bas replied, “Kat knew that it would look bad if Sophie was announced alone and her only real accomplishment at that time was that she was her ward. People saw her on the arm of Fähnrich Sabastian Reier Markgraf von Schultz zu Oppeln and that supposedly made a world of difference.”

“That is your full name and title?”

“It’s Oberfähnrich these days” Bas said, “But it is still the same.”

“That does sound impressive” Henriette said, “And Markgraf, as in a Count or something?”

“That would be my father” Bas said, “I just get called that as a courtesy. It is nowhere near as impressive as it sounds and if you ever go to Oppeln you will instantly know why. Especially since the last cement factory shut down a few years ago.”

“Cement?” Henriette asked, that clearly not something that she had been expecting to hear.

“It’s an industrial city with several large factories” Bas said, “The Medieval core and the canal system is still intact, so it could be a nice place. Just every time any of the heavy industry leaves a whole lot of jobs go as well. The people get angry, and they expect me or my father to do something. The Mayor and Town Council are perfectly happy to leave us holding the bag because…”

Bas trailed off when he realized that his frustrations over Oppeln had creeped into the conversation. Henriette didn’t need to hear that.

“You care about the people in this community?” Henriette asked, “Despite having had nothing to do with it until a couple years ago?”

“I feel like I have to” Bas replied. He and his father had found that the Mayor who he had been talking about had spent years insulating himself from democratic accountability, treating Oppeln as a personal fiefdom, the trouble was that the city had grown past that. Bas had wondered if it had been Opa von Richthofen’s intention that Bas and his father would end up on a collision course with the Mayor of Oppeln. It was only a question of whether or not he would be so stupid as to take on Bas’ father directly. At what cost though? Bas knew all to well that people who had been swindled long enough tended to get angry at the wrong people when that got exposed. So, it needed to be taken care of carefully.

“That seems very different from what your family is doing in Wunsdorf-Zossen” Henriette said.

“The truth about Oma and Hanna is that if they are steamed with you it isn’t always what they are complaining about” Bas said and he saw that Henriette seemed very skeptical about that. She didn’t have a lifetime of dealing them like he did.

“What is it actually about then?” Henriette asked.

“Oma is afraid that I will run off to Canada” Bas replied.

Henriette was clearly not expecting that answer.