Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

The 1976 Toyota Corolla, ugly yes, but with great mileage and a 4-cylinder inline engine capable of going a million miles.


1976_Toyota_Corolla.jpg
 
Wow, so Sepp has been issued a Gewehr, some of whose parts have survived two wars? On a similar topic, I've heard the Danish border guards on Greenland carried American WW1 era Model 1917 rifles into the 21st century to give themselves something that has a chance against polar bears. Maybe they still do.
 
As it had turned out, the Base had an entire shop for use of the Personnel to repair their own vehicles if they had the expertise. As it had turned out it was very different scene than working in his own garage with Bobby, who had spent far more time drinking Ritchie’s beer than helping him work. There were even a few men who had a working knowledge of Volvo engines.
I was wondering how you were going to handle this. My experience using these facilities in my USAF years was more like a DIY shop where you rented tools & mostly worked by oneself, but with three decades removed crosstime, it would be another atmosphere.
Toyota Corolla
Considering my first car was a 1987 Chevy Nova, (which then was a rebadged Corolla, before GM rebadged that and some other captive imports in their Geo line), I'm curious where the Corolla ITTL is in the late 1970's.
 
Wow, so Sepp has been issued a Gewehr, some of whose parts have survived two wars? On a similar topic, I've heard the Danish border guards on Greenland carried American WW1 era Model 1917 rifles into the 21st century to give themselves something that has a chance against polar bears. Maybe they still do.
The last documented use of Mauser K98 rifles in frontline service in OTL was in the early 70's, ironically by Reserve Units of the Israeli Army. ITTL seeing them in the hands of Forestry Rangers in the Giant Mountains late 70's would be extremely likely for the same reasons that the Danes continue to use Enfield M1917s in the High Arctic, the ability to depend on them in even the harshest of conditions.
 
The last documented use of Mauser K98 rifles in frontline service in OTL was in the early 70's, ironically by Reserve Units of the Israeli Army. ITTL seeing them in the hands of Forestry Rangers in the Giant Mountains late 70's would be extremely likely for the same reasons that the Danes continue to use Enfield M1917s in the High Arctic, the ability to depend on them in even the harshest of conditions.
Also the Enfield exterior is almost all wood and manual operated (two very important items in an sub-zero enviroment) and the cartrigde was designed in an era where it should be able to take down an cavalry horse , see https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/2015/07/24/m1917-rifle-in-21st-century-greenland/
 
Next up for Sepp, learning how to fell trees to block roads, switching signs to confuse invading armies, and the most fun thing of all learning to help wire bridges and tunnels for explosives.

Ellen Ainsworth-Livin' on Peabody-Martini Time, the CIA is right to check up on Kiki and Ben given their reputation just to make sure that they are not there to build a secret German military base, ironically, Kiki is going to find that Nurse Ainsworth is going to become her Right-Hand Person in getting the young doctors and nurses trained to her satisfaction.

By now the lightning-fast grapevine on the post is going to find out that Ritchie is more than "Nixon's Favorite", but that he is the real deal and will be treated with respect by all who are smart enough to know about his record in both the Special Forces and the LAPD, finding the nuclear bomb and keeping the public from finding out what happened until the military got the bomb out of the area, is more than enough to gain respect.
 
Ellen Ainsworth-Livin' on Peabody-Martini Time, the CIA is right to check up on Kiki and Ben given their reputation just to make sure that they are not there to build a secret German military base, ironically, Kiki is going to find that Nurse Ainsworth is going to become her Right-Hand Person in getting the young doctors and nurses trained to her satisfaction.
Ellen Ainsworth was only 26 when she died in OTL from a shrapnel wound at Anzio, it is not far fetched for her to still be alive without that bit of bad luck. Her involvement with the CIA is pure speculation on Kiki's part, but again it isn't far fetched.
 
Ellen Ainsworth was only 26 when she died in OTL from a shrapnel wound at Anzio, it is not far fetched for her to still be alive without that bit of bad luck. Her involvement with the CIA is pure speculation on Kiki's part, but again it isn't far fetched.
The CIA IOTL did infiltrate humanitarian groups around the world up until the '70s, one of their biggest targets was the Catholic Relief Society because they could get into places that no other groups could get to.
Also, IOTL R. Sargent Shriver, the first Director of the Peace Corps made absolutely sure that the CIA didn't get in sniffing distance of the Peace Corps, as that would have destroyed any creditability that it had.
 
IIRC the OTL Canadian Forces "Rangers" based on the First Nations peoples of the far north used the classic Lee-Enfield Mk. 4's until 2020 or so when it was replaced by the C19
C19_Lee-Enfield (1).jpg
 
Part 153, Chapter 2788
Chapter Two Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty-Eight



19th August 1979

Breslau, Silesia

Finally seeing her daughter walk down the aisle was incredibly welcome for Patricia. Even if the setting beggared belief, the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Breslau. It seemed that because of the need to keep up appearances this venue had been imposed on them.

There was considerable irony in that Henriette had found herself here because of her friendship with the granddaughter of Margot Blackwood. It was also ironic that someone like Margot would love this event if it involved anyone other than the Lane family, who had earned her disapproval, and was located anywhere else on the planet. Because this was a wedding involving a member of one of the “New Junkers” families to the proxy of another, due to Henni being the dear friend of the daughter of the Prefect of Berlin. There were a lot of people whose titles went back centuries present. There was not as much wealth as there might have been in past generations. Augustus Lang had seen to that in a way that any Marxist could only dream of, breaking the power of the “Old Junkers” families. During the Soviet War they had been fighting for their lives and the taxes levied against the old estates had been exorbitant even as the war itself had taken its toll on them personally. They still called themselves “von” this and “zu” that but often the vast fortunes their families had once had, were long gone even as new, more ruthless, families moved to replace them. Patricia had not heard it from them, but only a couple generations earlier the Schultz family had been farmers in Bavaria and Marie’s grandfather had supposedly been the leader of crime syndicate along the lines of the Italian Mafia. Patrica wondered if any of the old families understood the implications about where their own family’s wealth and power had actually come from, even if that had been centuries ago.

As the mother of the bride Patricia was waiting by the altar with Sabastian’s curiously American mother Nancy and she could see the Kaiser Friedrich IV himself sitting with his family in the front row, surrounded by security. Friedrich looked more like one of the men who Patricia’s husband worked with in Home and Automobile Insurance Sales than he did to what Patricia had imagined the Kaiser might look like. Curiously, he was wearing the formal uniform of a German Pioneer Service Officer. It was relatively plain compared to the vast amount of gold and silver braid along with every sort of medal to be seen around the cathedral, just an Iron Cross the Kaiser had been awarded for bravery with him having been nominated for it by Dietrich von Schultz for his actions in Poland, and the Pioneer Service Career Badge. Nothing to prove, that was what Bert said on the subject. The other German Service Branches were well represented, with dress uniforms of differing colors. Mostly it was blue tunics with grey trousers for the Army and white trousers for the Marines. Sabastion’s Uncle Lenz was wearing the sky-blue uniform of a Luftwaffe General. King Albrecht of Silesia, whose household Sabastian had practically grown up in, was wearing a Navy Admiral’s uniform with so many medals and orders it looked like he was about to fall over.

Sabastian was waiting nervously in the front with his father, Markgraf Dietrich von Schultz zu Oppeln, Patircia translated that to the English equivalent of Marquis, of Oppeln as well as the Marshal of Silesia. It was a position staggering importance as Patricia had learned when she and Robert had found themselves being shown around Breslau a few days earlier by Sabastian’s Uncle Jost who had been with the German Army during the siege of Breslau by the Russians decades earlier. Patricia recognized him as an actor from the sort of movies that got played on television late at night. Jost’s stories had mostly been humorous, every corner had a story of something inexplicable or miraculous that had occurred. He had pointed out the Cathedral, which the wedding was taking place in, had been heavily damaged during the fighting with one of the spires having been blown off the building and the other still bearing deep scars from that episode. He told them that it had taken decades to rebuild Breslau.

It wasn’t until they got back to the hotel room that Bert had patiently told Patricia that the Oberfeld Hans who Jost mentioned leading the Company was Marie’s Uncle who was later given a Field Commission, and for a Sergeant to be leading a Company means that it must have been completely decimated. Patricia knew that Bert had been a young Sous-lieutenant serving as Staff Officer under the command of General Rodney Keller when he had arrived in Russia just after the conclusion of von Wolvogle’s winter campaign. He said that he had been riding on a train that passed though hundreds of kilometers of destruction that spelled out clearly that the war had already been going on for years by that point, and the hollow-eyed expressions of the soldiers who had endured that was something that was sort of impossible to unsee.

With that thought, the organ music changed. It was customary on both sides of the Atlantic for processional to be led by the flower girl and ring bearer, Patricia’s granddaughter Alice and the five-year-old son of one of Sabastian’s cousins were playing that role today. Patricia had been a bit concerned about what anyone might have to say about Alice being Henriette’s from a prior relationship but no one seemed to mind. That and the very extreme off chance that Jayden Barclay might be stupid enough to interfere with this. According to Bert, Jayden was staying gone this time, which he had said ominously without elaboration. There were times when Patricia got the impression that there was a side of her husband who she really didn’t want to get to know. She saw that any time the subject of Jayden came up.

Alice was followed by Marie Alexandra von Mischner zu Berlin and her escort, the Nikolaus von Richthofen, the Prince of Breslau. The two of them were actually cousins, but they saw each other more like siblings with Sabastian as the middle brother. Then Henriette finally entered the cathedral, and this far exceeded everything that Patricia had ever wanted for her.
 
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Would Tilo's friend, confidant, mentor and old running partner Reier be in charge of security to keep people like Jayden out? There is security and then there is security for things like this. I could see that Bert might have spent some time with Tilo in private discussing matters and sharing need to know information in an informal since about some family matters. Also where is the Asia, Japanese, Korean, Formosan, and Vietnamese contingent? You left out Tilo's friends from there.
 
I bet this took a hell of a lot of cross-referencing the different family trees.

Peabody Martini staggers away from writing that chapter for a well-earned rest.
 
Also where is the Asia, Japanese, Korean, Formosan, and Vietnamese contingent? You left out Tilo's friends from there.
They are present, just not mentioned yet.

You might recall that the funeral of Manfred von Richthofen had to be broken up into a few different pieces. This is another event like that.
 
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This wedding shows how much the House of Hohenzollern relies on the loyalty of the Mischner, Richthofen, and Schultz Families, and Kaiser Friedrich and his family showed their respect by attending this wedding.
Kaiser Friedrich is also going to touch bases with his East Asian counterparts with the help of his wife's aide, who is very well known in international circles for her skills in languages.
Maybe Marie could spend the rest of her break before going back to Trinity by spending some time working in the Kaiser's office helping to review any upcoming laws, treaties, trade agreements, and any other legal issues that comes before the Kaiser so that the Kaiser can be briefed about them and ask the necessary and uncomfortable questions when he meets with the Chancellor.
If this happens, then Marie can hopefully understand that a law degree, especially from Trinity will give her more options and flexibility to do what she wants to do with her life even if she doesn't practice law.

Yes Patricia, your husband is an insurance salesman for a company that no one wants a visit from...
 
Yes Patricia, your husband is an insurance salesman for a company that no one wants a visit from...

IIRC, Bert doesn't actually work in "Insurance," does he? ;)
It depends on how you define insurance. Joint Task Force sounds like innocuous bureaucratic speak, but so are other similar terms such as Detachment Delta or Special Operations Executive. The fact that Marie was asked to infiltrate Camp X at the direction of Bert Lane and Paddy Mayne should suggest a thing or three.
 
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