Even if it doesn't, just "watching" Parker be completely baffled by the respect and fear Kat gets shown would be hilarious.
Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
Almost as hilarious as watching the extreme caution any ONI agent will exhibit in her presence. And Kiki telling him that her Tante Kat has her reputation for a reason.
Which is why, with the addition of beer and conversation, (breaking down some emotional communication barriers), it's possible.
Well, in this story it's possible anyway.
More likely, after adding beers and communication, my susoected result will be:
1) Parker loses his attitude towards Kiki
2) Kiki sees that Parker isn't actually a prick and, while not an item, do become freinds
3) an incident occurs that gives Kiki the epiphany she needs to get over herself and either end things with Ben or get engaged to him.
The former sees a slightly saddened, but relieved father, the latter sees a very happy father, a much changed attitude in a mother and an ecstatic Klaus Voll who gets to design a Royal wedding dress and probably the bridesmaids dresses too. It also gives Vicky a public occasion to be seen with her "close freind" Anna.
Could Rea take on LGBTQ rights as a cause celeb?
It would suit her nature and be an organic way for a rapprochement between the twins.
Kiki should already have a reputation for being a badass as there is footage of her using a knife to kill one of her kidnappers and most likely that footage was "leaked" to other intelligence agencies around the world.
Kat has a reputation that cannot be challenged by any one as she is "The Mother of Special Warfare" and her campaign in Korea during the recent conflict showed the world that she is the leading innovator of unconventional warfare.
Kat has a reputation that cannot be challenged by any one as she is "The Mother of Special Warfare" and her campaign in Korea during the recent conflict showed the world that she is the leading innovator of unconventional warfare.
I for one, very much approve of the Rauchbier Diplomacy. The occasional visit by such a friendly dog will help defuse tensions.
What would be even better would be some Russian Spetnaz be there and they, as a group, totally crap their pants and go crazy when she appears out of nowhere for an inspection. Then have Them explain to Parker what she has done.
It looks like very much that the Americans and Germans are planning for a joint operation against our mysterious target and they need some time to train together.
This is not being done for altruistic reasons but it seems that both the United States and Germany have a common purpose and this cuts down on any chance that anyone's toes will get stepped on.
I wonder what sort of protection our friend has, does he have disgraced former special warfare who are willing to work for anyone at the right price?r
t is very likely that this person has multiple passports from various small countries in Europe and South America that allows him to go anywhere without too much official notice.
This is not being done for altruistic reasons but it seems that both the United States and Germany have a common purpose and this cuts down on any chance that anyone's toes will get stepped on.
I wonder what sort of protection our friend has, does he have disgraced former special warfare who are willing to work for anyone at the right price?r
t is very likely that this person has multiple passports from various small countries in Europe and South America that allows him to go anywhere without too much official notice.
Part 107, Chapter 1750
Chapter One Thousand Seven Hundred Fifty
11th September 1966
Tegel, Berlin
Sitting in the cockpit of Black Knight III waiting for the Crew Chief to tell him when to turn on the fire control computer that had been dodgy lately, Ben considered what had and hadn’t changed. He was still in the Luftwaffe Reserve as a Hauptmann, though he had brought some additional prestige to the 18th Fast Attack Wing, which was a Landwehr Unit operating out of the City-State of Berlin. Before the Sino-Korean War, they had been regarded as little more than a club for bored Students and Businessmen playing at being Fighter Pilots. After Korea they were regarded as a force to be reckoned with, now with one of their own had volunteered for the Space Program, passed the rigorous training to become a Raumfahrer and orbited the Moon.
When Ben arrived back in Tegel he was greeted as a hero and had gotten the first Pour le Mérite in the 18th SKG. Wim however had a slightly different perspective. He had told Ben that his involvement in the Taxidiotis Program was brave but stupid. What else could be said about sitting atop a hundred and twenty-meter-tall pile of explosives and lighting it off. It was hardly a surprise that Ben had made into orbit, he would have ended up there anyway even if the launch had failed. With how cynical and risk adverse Wim was, there were times when Ben wondered exactly why he had become a Reserve Officer in the Luftwaffe.
Beyond that, Ben still trying to process everything that had happened over the previous weeks. He had been a part of a team that had made history when they had orbited the Moon. Commentators had mentioned that they had been the first people to lay eyes on the far side of the moon and soon a man would set foot there. They said that these were the first steps in a new era of discovery. All Ben knew was that the Professors who he couldn’t get to return his calls before he had left for Cam Ranh, were now behaving very differently. Every single one of his applications to enter Doctorial Programs in various Universities had been approved so he could pick and choose where he went next. That was far more cynical of an outcome than even Wim was prepared to imagine, so he hadn’t mentioned it to him.
The last time Ben had talked to Kiki she had said that she was going to be in Laupheim for the next few weeks refresher training in the FSR and getting various recertifications. He was going to be free next weekend, perhaps he ought to go there. He hadn’t seen her in person since he had gotten back to Earth.
Trieste, Austria
Louis was looking at the deck of the Windhund and it was so clean that he could eat off it. Normally, he wouldn’t complain about this sort of extremely rare occurrence, but this was entirely because of Zella. She had told the crews of the boats that she needed stock footage of them going about their duties of maintaining the boats and if that turned into a competition over who could keep her attention as Zella and Yuri had worked their way up and down the pier.
After a couple days of that, even the Landing Craft that that were a part of the flotilla were sparkling in the sunlight. The one exception was LB-222 whose engine was out, and the men were rebuilding it. It was fortunate that the LC used a MAN diesel engine that was commonly used in lorries all over the world. That made parts easy to find, but that didn’t resolve all the panels being removed and the rest of the LC being a greasy mess. Zella had found plenty to film there as well. The rub for Louis had been when she had asked him why the flotilla needed the slow, wallowing tubs in the first place. He had to explain the role they played in the flotilla’s logistics and if he needed the Marines who were presently guarding the pier for an operation in the coming months then they would prove invaluable.
Naturally, that led to Zella having a lot of questions about future operations and Louis had just shrugged, telling her that he cannot answer questions like that. Still, all the Navies of the world thrived on scuttlebutt, so Zella had still found out about the Q-Ship that they were going to resume hunting in a few days and was angling to come along. The entire purpose of having Zella and Yuri in Trieste was so that she could get film of him in action.
“What are we going to do about her?” Louis asked Borchardt.
“So long as she keeps the men pulling in the right direction and shows no favoritism to any of them, then you don’t need to do a damned thing” Borchardt replied.
“Marcella wants in on the hunt when we leave” Louis said, “You know as well as I do how much trouble she could cause.”
“I would suggest that you ditch her then” Borchardt said, “Except if you pass up on her filming something that the Navy wants filmed, then you’ll be lucky if they send you back Wilhelm Station for the rest of your career.”
Louis had been afraid that those would be the choices he was stuck with.
11th September 1966
Tegel, Berlin
Sitting in the cockpit of Black Knight III waiting for the Crew Chief to tell him when to turn on the fire control computer that had been dodgy lately, Ben considered what had and hadn’t changed. He was still in the Luftwaffe Reserve as a Hauptmann, though he had brought some additional prestige to the 18th Fast Attack Wing, which was a Landwehr Unit operating out of the City-State of Berlin. Before the Sino-Korean War, they had been regarded as little more than a club for bored Students and Businessmen playing at being Fighter Pilots. After Korea they were regarded as a force to be reckoned with, now with one of their own had volunteered for the Space Program, passed the rigorous training to become a Raumfahrer and orbited the Moon.
When Ben arrived back in Tegel he was greeted as a hero and had gotten the first Pour le Mérite in the 18th SKG. Wim however had a slightly different perspective. He had told Ben that his involvement in the Taxidiotis Program was brave but stupid. What else could be said about sitting atop a hundred and twenty-meter-tall pile of explosives and lighting it off. It was hardly a surprise that Ben had made into orbit, he would have ended up there anyway even if the launch had failed. With how cynical and risk adverse Wim was, there were times when Ben wondered exactly why he had become a Reserve Officer in the Luftwaffe.
Beyond that, Ben still trying to process everything that had happened over the previous weeks. He had been a part of a team that had made history when they had orbited the Moon. Commentators had mentioned that they had been the first people to lay eyes on the far side of the moon and soon a man would set foot there. They said that these were the first steps in a new era of discovery. All Ben knew was that the Professors who he couldn’t get to return his calls before he had left for Cam Ranh, were now behaving very differently. Every single one of his applications to enter Doctorial Programs in various Universities had been approved so he could pick and choose where he went next. That was far more cynical of an outcome than even Wim was prepared to imagine, so he hadn’t mentioned it to him.
The last time Ben had talked to Kiki she had said that she was going to be in Laupheim for the next few weeks refresher training in the FSR and getting various recertifications. He was going to be free next weekend, perhaps he ought to go there. He hadn’t seen her in person since he had gotten back to Earth.
Trieste, Austria
Louis was looking at the deck of the Windhund and it was so clean that he could eat off it. Normally, he wouldn’t complain about this sort of extremely rare occurrence, but this was entirely because of Zella. She had told the crews of the boats that she needed stock footage of them going about their duties of maintaining the boats and if that turned into a competition over who could keep her attention as Zella and Yuri had worked their way up and down the pier.
After a couple days of that, even the Landing Craft that that were a part of the flotilla were sparkling in the sunlight. The one exception was LB-222 whose engine was out, and the men were rebuilding it. It was fortunate that the LC used a MAN diesel engine that was commonly used in lorries all over the world. That made parts easy to find, but that didn’t resolve all the panels being removed and the rest of the LC being a greasy mess. Zella had found plenty to film there as well. The rub for Louis had been when she had asked him why the flotilla needed the slow, wallowing tubs in the first place. He had to explain the role they played in the flotilla’s logistics and if he needed the Marines who were presently guarding the pier for an operation in the coming months then they would prove invaluable.
Naturally, that led to Zella having a lot of questions about future operations and Louis had just shrugged, telling her that he cannot answer questions like that. Still, all the Navies of the world thrived on scuttlebutt, so Zella had still found out about the Q-Ship that they were going to resume hunting in a few days and was angling to come along. The entire purpose of having Zella and Yuri in Trieste was so that she could get film of him in action.
“What are we going to do about her?” Louis asked Borchardt.
“So long as she keeps the men pulling in the right direction and shows no favoritism to any of them, then you don’t need to do a damned thing” Borchardt replied.
“Marcella wants in on the hunt when we leave” Louis said, “You know as well as I do how much trouble she could cause.”
“I would suggest that you ditch her then” Borchardt said, “Except if you pass up on her filming something that the Navy wants filmed, then you’ll be lucky if they send you back Wilhelm Station for the rest of your career.”
Louis had been afraid that those would be the choices he was stuck with.
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Normally I would say to get orders form higher, but ... but seen as lacking in initiative is a thing too. Well he could always ask in an indirect manner.
Asking whether he should embed an know international war correspondent in his unit sounds better than there's a young journalist who wants to come along for the ride.
Asking whether he should embed an know international war correspondent in his unit sounds better than there's a young journalist who wants to come along for the ride.
Ben has become the darling of the Luftwaffe PR office. Citizen-airman turned war hero & Raumsfahrer = recruiting officers dream poster boy. Which will, of course, panic Kiki. If he does decide to visit Kiki on the weekend, I can actually see Parker being more of an accidental relationship counselor than a love rival, with one of his snarky anal retentive comments succeeding where everyone else's sage advice has failed.
P-M, could you please make that happen? If only to enable Parker to get a gift basket & hand written note from the Kaiser thanking him for his services to the Empire that significantly fails to mention exactly what the particular service was, thus leaving Parker totally confused as to why he's received them. Bonus points if Richie works out why and just bursts out laughing at the look on Parker's face.
Meanwhile Louis Jr. has discovered that Zella has wrapped his entire flotilla around her little finger. There probably isn't a damn thing those sailors won't do for her, especially if they think that she's the flotilla commanders woman. Which they probably do, due to scuttlebutt; his crew sees how they interact, put 2 & 2 together to get a number that may or may not be 4, next thing the entire flotilla "knows" the score.
From the point of view of his superiors, while the whole op is technically still classified, the fact that they approved & sent a news crew to film everything would suggest that they have no real objections to Zella & Yuri being embedded into the flotilla for its up-coming campaign. Footage of gleaming patrol-torpedo boats, leaping into action as part of a successful multi-national anti-piracy campaign designed to settle the tensions in the Balkans and bring a dangerous international criminal & gun-runner to justice would be extremely valuable for PR & recruiting purposes.
As for the multi-national part, we know that the Croatians, Austrians, Italians, Germans & Americans are involved, but what about the British & French? They have long standing interests in the region, (Malta, Cyprus, Suez Canal, etc.), plus a soft spot for the Greeks & an extreme dislike for pirates. I don't really see them sitting this one out.
P-M, could you please make that happen? If only to enable Parker to get a gift basket & hand written note from the Kaiser thanking him for his services to the Empire that significantly fails to mention exactly what the particular service was, thus leaving Parker totally confused as to why he's received them. Bonus points if Richie works out why and just bursts out laughing at the look on Parker's face.
Meanwhile Louis Jr. has discovered that Zella has wrapped his entire flotilla around her little finger. There probably isn't a damn thing those sailors won't do for her, especially if they think that she's the flotilla commanders woman. Which they probably do, due to scuttlebutt; his crew sees how they interact, put 2 & 2 together to get a number that may or may not be 4, next thing the entire flotilla "knows" the score.
From the point of view of his superiors, while the whole op is technically still classified, the fact that they approved & sent a news crew to film everything would suggest that they have no real objections to Zella & Yuri being embedded into the flotilla for its up-coming campaign. Footage of gleaming patrol-torpedo boats, leaping into action as part of a successful multi-national anti-piracy campaign designed to settle the tensions in the Balkans and bring a dangerous international criminal & gun-runner to justice would be extremely valuable for PR & recruiting purposes.
As for the multi-national part, we know that the Croatians, Austrians, Italians, Germans & Americans are involved, but what about the British & French? They have long standing interests in the region, (Malta, Cyprus, Suez Canal, etc.), plus a soft spot for the Greeks & an extreme dislike for pirates. I don't really see them sitting this one out.
Having Zella embedded with the Winehund checks off many boxes for a lot of interests.
For the KLM ever since Eugene Faust took color movies of The Battle of the South China Sea the KLM has been using the publicity to further it's own agenda and having the public see the KLM fighting pirates is made to order.
For the House of Hohenzollern having the youngest son of the Kaiser leading the flotilla shows that the Family serves the Empire and Nancy at the Imperial Family Press Office will milk it for all its worth.
For ARD having it's rising star reporter being first with the story under fire just adds to the prestige it got from the Krakow Massacre and will lead to higher ratings and more cooperation from potential sources and subjects of future stories.
For Sony the sales of video cameras and portable editing machines will go thru the roof as many television news organizations will move faster to video from film..
For VW the news van that Zella is using is the prototype that they will market to other news organizations and the newer models will have things like a reinforced roof so that pictures can be taken from them.
This may spur the earlier creation of microwave transmission to satellites uplink stations for remote live reporting and the ability to directly beam up a signal from the news van it self.
As a side note Maria seeing her daughter reporting under fire is just going to make her want to strangle Zella while at the same time make her feel very envious that she did not have that same opportunity when she was Zella's age.
For the KLM ever since Eugene Faust took color movies of The Battle of the South China Sea the KLM has been using the publicity to further it's own agenda and having the public see the KLM fighting pirates is made to order.
For the House of Hohenzollern having the youngest son of the Kaiser leading the flotilla shows that the Family serves the Empire and Nancy at the Imperial Family Press Office will milk it for all its worth.
For ARD having it's rising star reporter being first with the story under fire just adds to the prestige it got from the Krakow Massacre and will lead to higher ratings and more cooperation from potential sources and subjects of future stories.
For Sony the sales of video cameras and portable editing machines will go thru the roof as many television news organizations will move faster to video from film..
For VW the news van that Zella is using is the prototype that they will market to other news organizations and the newer models will have things like a reinforced roof so that pictures can be taken from them.
This may spur the earlier creation of microwave transmission to satellites uplink stations for remote live reporting and the ability to directly beam up a signal from the news van it self.
As a side note Maria seeing her daughter reporting under fire is just going to make her want to strangle Zella while at the same time make her feel very envious that she did not have that same opportunity when she was Zella's age.
Some units that might exist but haven’t been seen:
Italians X MAS units
UK. RN Special Boat Service
UK. RAF Regiment
France. 1st Regiment Etranger Parachutistes
Those would fit right in here. UK has Cyprus, Italy is definitely involved in a nautical manner, and the French would be here also.
Considering the geography of the area, Italy would be involved with both naval & aviation assets, it IS their backyard, after all. The Brits have the Med. fleet units, Royal Marines & SBS and RAF. France, definitely naval units with Marines backed up by the FFL (almost certain to have legionaires who speak the local languages). Although, after some thought, the British & French would be better suited to patrolling the Aegean & Eastern Med. for "pirates", while the Russians, Romanians & Bulgarians Keep an eye on the Black Sea.
Looking at this, between Kat's Police VW, Nancy's requirement for a VW Rally car/Film Star and now Zella's mobile editing suite minibus, someone at Volkswagen is going to give serious attention to spinning off a department specifically for this kind of high profile, high cost but high reward work. Expect the Sondereinsatzfahrzeug* Gruppe to become a thing very shortly.
*Apologies to any German speakers, it was the closest I could work out for Special Purpose Vehicles Group.
*Apologies to any German speakers, it was the closest I could work out for Special Purpose Vehicles Group.
Perhaps a young RM officer called Paddy Ashdown serving in the SBS might make an appearance?!?
One thing that may come up is, that Parker has to face and accept that the death of his buddy and mentor... [insert name] is not the fault of Germany. Because I think that is what is souring him towards all Germans.
Also at @Dan if you mean something like Ambulance and Fireengine, Spezialfahrzeug could fit. At least the pictures I got show such.
Also at @Dan if you mean something like Ambulance and Fireengine, Spezialfahrzeug could fit. At least the pictures I got show such.
That kind of thing but slightly more specialised, so an all wheel drive fire engine to tackle forest fires or an Ambulance that cen drive up a mountain if the weather stop rescue Helicopters flying, down to one off comissions for ARD to kit out a wagon to follow the next Berlin to Banjul rally.