Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

I suspect it may not be Kat that does this rescue.
Although the mother and Grandfather may wish it was Kat by the time Kiki is finished.


Kat is, for want of a better phrase, a gangster in uniform. Sophie seems to have the hallmarks of a young Kat but without the loving support from her Father or Aunt Marcella. In fact, possibly more like Asia. Kat would recognise this and behave in much the same way Otto would, but with more finesse. The late night visit to a switching yard would not be out of the question.

Kiki would be far worse. She would be official. Nothing secretive, nothing "off the record", all by the book. It would involve Social Services, Doctors, Police, (eventually), the press would hear about it because of Kiki's involvement, (Angel in Grey strikes again). So whereas from Kat, they can run to the shadows like cockroaches when the lights are switched on and come back when Kat has finished, they would be cockroaches caught under a spotlight with nowhere to run if it's Kiki. And Kiki won't be the one doing the damage, it will just follow in her wake.
I wonder if the Kennel master and his wife would like to adopt Sophie?
 
Part 111, Chapter 1816
Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Sixteen



11th September 1967

Waltz Research Center, Peenemünde

Sigi watched the man in a spacesuit step off the ladder from a Lunar Module on the screen that dominated the Control Center. All the members of the Raumfahrer Program presently in Germany were in this room as they watched the latest landing as the Astronaut’s feet touched the Lunar surface. Everyone heard the static filled radio transmission of “Uhm… Houston, we made it” As Commander Jim Lovell of the U.S. Navy became the first American to stand on the Moon. This was met with a round of applause by those in the room. The Americans might be rivals, but they understood the Science, how every expedition to the Moon advanced human understanding and was of staggering importance. Far more than the petty squabbles that people engaged in on Earth.

There were also jokes flying around about how Naval Aviators taken a leading role in Space Exploration. Albrecht “Uhlan” von Richthofen, Eric “Winkle” Brown, and now James “Shaky” Lovell, Jr. all fit that description. The theory was that the requirement of landing on an Aircraft Carrier caused them to have a different mindset from their Air Force counterparts. As an Army Aviator Sigi didn’t think that she had much to add to that debate until it was pointed out that her mission was dominated by conducting close air support. Army pilots were trained with the understanding that they would constantly be under enemy fire and one of their own had been the first step by mankind on the Moon. Presently, Sigi had been promoted to Oberst and appointed as Operations Officer of Waltz Research Center. Every attempt to be assigned to a Helicopter Wing had been rebuffed at a time when Sigi just wanted to get back into the cockpit of an Attack Helicopter.

Ben Hirsch had come with Kiki, who had come as his guest. While the Administration of Waltz Center normally objected to girlfriends at events like this, Kiki’s military and social rank muted any objectives that they might have had. Sigi had enjoyed a pleasant evening at her apartment in Peenemünde with them before coming here. Kiki seemed to have something weighing on her. Ben said that she was currently mired in something at work that she had been required by law to report to authorities. Sigi had overheard her mention a name to Ben, Elke Sommer, mentioned having someone watched and how things were getting worse. All Kiki would say to Sigi on the matter was that something in her past had come back to haunt her without elaborating.

That sounded like what had become familiar to Sigi. As she had gotten to know her father’s family better she had come to recognize a typical Hohenzollern clusterfuck in the making, and knew that she needed to keep out of the way. The speculation that had started in the tabloids that she was Louis Ferdinand’s secret daughter was bad enough, it was also a bit too close to the truth for comfort. If the full truth of Sigi’s paternity ever became widespread knowledge… She shuttered at the thought. Kiki wasn’t the only one with things in the past that made a reappearance. Sigi had the most recent exchange of letters with Jay Parker, the first had been just him asking how she was and if she had any plans for her upcoming birthday. She had fired back a letter to the American stating that joke wasn’t funny. He had written back that he had intended no malice, but he did have some leave coming up and wondered if Sigi would be interested in meeting him for dinner in a neutral country. If someone from intelligence services of their respective countries was intercepting those letters, then they were probably laughing their heads off at the strange long-distance quasi-relationship that they had been carrying on over the prior year.

Parker had joked that perhaps Hollywood would be interested. Unless the plot of a Long-lost Princess who happens to be an Astronaut having an affair with an Army Officer would be considered too preposterous, that is. Sigi had read that with a bit of amusement, it was becoming obvious to her what Jay was and was not including in his letters.



In transit, near Waltersdorf, Brandenburg

The new International Airport that was being constructed was off to Zella’s right as she sped down A113 towards the junction with A10, known as the Berliner Ring, which circled the city. It was that new airport that had caused a great deal of controversy and had forced the Government of State of Brandenburg to take a far greater role in land use decisions then they had prior. As the City-State of Berlin had pushed outward to its limits, the towns and villages of the largely rural State that surrounded it were increasingly becoming suburbs of the Capital, especially to the south where there were fewer natural preserves of one sort or another. The problems of traffic, pollution, and crime, long seen as urban matters had become growing issues in Brandenburg with many people questioning just how independent the Government was from the nearby Capital City. The new airport was the last straw and response had been to pass a series of laws to sharply limit growth and urbanization, though Zella personally felt that they were pissing into the wind.

After slowing to take the turns in the interchange, Zella shifted into higher gears of her new BMW motorcycle. It was a version of the Café Racer K3 prototype that she had seen in her father’s garage and it was everything that she had imagined it would be. State regulators had been reluctant to approve the design because it had gone too fast in testing. When word of that had gotten out, BMW Motorrad had not been able to keep with demand and Zella had been one of those put on the waiting list. When she finally got it, she had discovered that the engineers who worked for her father had completely reworked it and it showed as she accelerated onto the orbital highway with the throttle wide open. It was the sort of thing that John Lennon had joked with her about the last time the Moondogs had swung through Berlin. Instant Zen.

Zella needed this after what she had gone through over the previous week. Kiki had asked Zella to help document an instance of child abuse that she suspected. After spending a few days with Yuri watching that woman berate and knock the shit out of her kid, she’d finally had enough. She had given the tapes to Kiki and washed her hands of the entire thing.
 
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Wasn't Elke Sommer (Elke Baronin von Schletz) one of Kiki's classmates? If she is Sophie's mother, damn...

Sigi & Parker are progressing slowly in their relationship. Should be fun, especially for the spooks on all sides, who I would guess will be evenly split between those who think both are bloody idiots and those who think they make a cute couple. It goes without saying that all spooks will be seeking a way to turn the relationship to their advantage. CIA has the inside track on this because Parker.

And Zella & Yuri exhibited immense levels of self control while on stakeout for Kiki. I would not be surprised to see a major documentary in the not too distant future exposing the ugly underbelly of everyone's society.
 
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It is good that Jim Lovell gets to step foot on the Moon ITTL.
I believe that IOTL American astronauts were prohibited from going back to combat slots which ultimately made getting promotions harder to get.
Glad to see Kiki becoming more comfortable being seen with Ben in social settings.
Kiki is really going to bring her wrath upon Sophie’s mother.
 
Wasn't Elke Sommer (Elke Baronin von Schletz) one of Kiki's classmates? If she is Sophie's mother, damn...

Kiki & Parker are progressing slowly in their relationship. Should be fun, especially for the spooks on all sides, who I would guess will be evenly split between those who think both are bloody idiots and those who think they make a cute couple. It goes without saying that all spooks will be seeking a way to turn the relationship to their advantage. CIA has the inside track on this because Parker.

And Zella & Yuri exhibited immense levels of self control while on stakeout for Kiki. I would not be surprised to see a major documentary in the not too distant future exposing the ugly underbelly of everyone's society.
Unlikely that the Elke mentioned here is von Schletz. First off, von Schletz only changed her name to Sommer because she was acting in films outside of Germany.

It's most likely someone who doesn't exist OTL:
“Lighten up Princess” Vera said with her usual smirk, probably reading Kiki’s thoughts from looking at her face. “They are just joking around.”

“Was it a joke for Elke?” Kiki asked flatly. She wasn’t in the mood to hear excuses.

“That was different” Vera said, the tone of her voice suggesting that she knew that what she said was particularly lame. “She knew that she needed to be careful.”

Behind those catcalls was a suggestion that they were sexually available despite the rules against fraternization. Elke had broken those rules and had paid a heavy price for it. She had been removed from the barracks a week earlier. It was very noticeable that no effort had been made to figure out who she had broken those rules with.
 
Unlikely that the Elke mentioned here is von Schletz. First off, von Schletz only changed her name to Sommer because she was acting in films outside of Germany.

It's most likely someone who doesn't exist OTL:
Good point. I'd forgotten about Kiki's basic training and the shit storm that occurred when that idiot got handsy with her.
 
It is good that Jim Lovell gets to step foot on the Moon ITTL.
I believe that IOTL American astronauts were prohibited from going back to combat slots which ultimately made getting promotions harder to get.
Glad to see Kiki becoming more comfortable being seen with Ben in social settings.
Kiki is really going to bring her wrath upon Sophie’s mother.
Sigi is being put on the command track of Space program. She might not like it or even notice it yet, but as they get more actual astronauts into the program, they need more command staff and actual commanders of different programs and she has been identified as fitting the requirements for this. The interesting parts will be how things get divided up between services and countries.
 
Good point. I'd forgotten about Kiki's basic training and the shit storm that occurred when that idiot got handsy with her.
So Elke get tossed out for fraternization, and then finds out she’s pregnant. A single teenage mother in the fifties would not have it easy. Then she hears that one of the girls in her barracks was a princess and that unholy hell was rained down on the guy who tried to get hands with her. She is still a horrible person but I can definitely see where she might be nursing some bitterness.
 
So Elke get tossed out for fraternization, and then finds out she’s pregnant. A single teenage mother in the fifties would not have it easy. Then she hears that one of the girls in her barracks was a princess and that unholy hell was rained down on the guy who tried to get hands with her. She is still a horrible person but I can definitely see where she might be nursing some bitterness.
Just as I was about to make the same point...
Elle was most likely to have been abused by her own parents and escaped at the first opportunity only to come back home in shame.
At the training base Sodat Fisher was called "Princess" by the training cadre and her fellow trainees only for it to come out that she is a real Princess and doesn't that make Elke mad and there is Sophie the cause of all of Elke's problems.
 
Sigi is being put on the command track of Space program. She might not like it or even notice it yet, but as they get more actual astronauts into the program, they need more command staff and actual commanders of different programs and she has been identified as fitting the requirements for this. The interesting parts will be how things get divided up between services and countries.

That's the career path of an officer; the higher your rank, the fewer chances you have to do the fun stuff, like the flying that you joined up to do or actually steering the ship.
I've even heard a sailor say they felt a little sorry for (some) of their officers because they rarely got to do the fun stuff after they finished training.
 
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