Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

With Poland winding down, could Zella not do a dokumantary about what was goiung wrong in Poland prior to the war?

Sure it would / could be seen as an propaganda piece, but if she manages to capture the reasons and problems of the Polish state then it allows for the healing as the self serving nature is exposed.

As an added bomus she can after that do a piece on how the Germans are treating the Polish state now and what reforms are done.
 

ferdi254

Banned
At least if the admiral is having a thing with the secretary it makes it hard for spies from the other side to try the Romeo approach.

But if he is married a blackmail approach could work so a point the BND should know about.
 
Honestly if they wind up married before Ben and Kiki I think Louis (Kaiser) will just order his daughter married like it's Crusader Kings: the LARP
 
I wonder how Kiki would react if Ben eventually got fed up with it all, broke up with her and then found someone else.
 
I wonder how Kiki would react if Ben eventually got fed up with it all, broke up with her and then found someone else.
Part of me is really thinking Ben will ask to marry her, she'll say no, and Ben will find someone a year later, leading Kiki to finally snap in full once she realizes what she threw away.
 
I wonder how Kiki would react if Ben eventually got fed up with it all, broke up with her and then found someone else.
Part of me is really thinking Ben will ask to marry her, she'll say no, and Ben will find someone a year later, leading Kiki to finally snap in full once she realizes what she threw away.
Nah - if that was going to happen it’d have been years ago. There’s been too much time and emotion invested both in-universe and by the writer to end that way.
 
Part 113, Chapter 1875
Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Seventy-Five



30th August 1968

Washington DC

The 1968 Presidential Campaign was in full swing, the trouble was that the Press had dubbed this election “Barbiturate ‘68” due to how boring it had turned out to be, with the predicted winner being the status quo. The Smathers/McCarthy ticket that the Democratic Party had eventually gelled around had been compared to a plain baloney sandwich on white bread. All wasn’t well for Nelson Rockefeller though. He understood that just under the surface there were troublesome currents that could change everything in a heartbeat now that people were finally starting to pay attention.

At the Democratic Party Convention in Chicago, Richard Nixon had given the keynote address and he had some very pointed criticism towards the Rockefeller Administration. The weakening of the manufacturing sector and the failure to adequately support rising sectors that would one day dominate industry. Many within the Administration had discounted Nixon’s words, seeing them as self-serving with how computers and movies were what California had come to be known for. The idea that machines that were basically glorified calculators would one day be as substantial as smokestack industries was patently absurd.

Then there were the demonstrations in the South and Midwest for Civil Rights, the movements had lacked focus and unity at a national level, so things had not gotten too far out of hand. The morons in the Klan were keeping quiet mostly because their own ranks had been harrowed by the violence and subsequent FBI crackdown that had occurred a decade earlier. Rockefeller however knew that the relative peace couldn’t last. A series of letters had been delivered to newspapers and Congressional Offices claiming to be from Martin King saying that he had been a scapegoat for every violent action across the Deep South long after he had fled his home in Atlanta for parts unknown. Beyond being a witness in the Bloody Sunday Massacre on January 21st, 1945 and afterwards trying to seek justice to not much avail he not been involved in the wave of violence that had followed.

Rockefeller remembered that the Governor of Georgia had been blown up in his car only a few yards from where the massacre had occurred. For years it was widely assumed that Martin King had been the culprit, if for no other reason than the dearth of suspects. What if that assumption was wrong? And the United States was about to have a reckoning over not just that matter but the centuries that had preceded it. Rockefeller feared that it was juggling with atomic bombs.

One of the lessons that the Blacks had learned was to keep extremely quiet about who had done what. It had given the FBI fits over the years as investigations encountered walls of silence. Now Martin King himself had broken his silence. The letters had been posted from the National Headquarters of the ACLU in New York. While handwriting experts had said that the letters were real, they contained no clues about where King was or what he was doing. The man was a ghost as far as the system was concerned with the only photographs or records on file being decades old.

With Congress saying that they were going to start an enquiry into this matter and the papers getting ready to run feature stories. Rockefeller knew that all Hell was going to break loose when word of this got out.



In Transit, Rural Brandenburg

Sophie remembered how she had felt when the train had neared Berlin a year earlier. Filled with dread as she anticipated returning home and that had not been misplaced. Her mother had picked her up from the station, annoyed that Sophie was too young to ride the U-Bahn by herself and she had to take the time to come get her. She had made the mistake of telling her mother about what she had done at the castle over the summer and now knew that her mother had listened with growing rage and resentment. She had erupted as soon as they were back in the apartment, yelling at Sophie about how spending a few weeks living in some Royal whore’s playhouse in the country didn’t mean that she was ever going to be anything other than trash. Then it had gotten really bad…

“Why are you trembling?” Ziska asked.

“I remembered something” Sophie said as she tried not to cry. “Something terrible.”

Ziska gave her a quizzical look and Sophie turned to watch the suburbs of Berlin pass by. Over the last year, other students in her school had though it was a funny game to make Sophie cry. She didn’t want Ziska to see her that way.

As the train pulled into the station, Sophie got to her feet, grabbed her bag, and started to walk towards the door. Only to notice that Ziska was struggling to do the same thing. A couple weeks earlier, she had told Sophie that her leg needed to be replaced every year. Just the process of having a new one fitted was uncomfortable and Ziska had come to hate how she was disabled.

“Do you need help?” Sophie asked, and she got an unexpected look of anger from Ziska.

“You’ve been helping me all summer” Ziska snapped, “Because you were told to.”

“No one told me to…” Sophie started to say.

Ziska just gave Sophie a look, before grabbing her bag and awkwardly hobbling towards the exit.

“Why are you angry?” Sophie asked.

“I can’t hide what is wrong with me” Ziska said, “You hide everything, and it is clear something is wrong.”

It had never occurred to Sophie that Ziska would see things that way. But what could she possibly do to help?
 
Nah - if that was going to happen it’d have been years ago. There’s been too much time and emotion invested both in-universe and by the writer to end that way.
Maybe just a shock to Kiki, at least - something to get her to really think of a life without Ben in it. 🤷‍♂️ At this point, I know if I were Ben, I'd propose just to get the rejection over with and make a clean break of it. It's getting kinda cringey now watching him put up with Kiki at this point. That's just me, though.
 
How much would you like to wager that P-M is just itching to throw a spanner their way? I’ll take odds!
One of the Port of Calls could be Bucharest Romania where Kira's plans from years before are coming in to play.
One of the things I have been posting about is there is no longer a need for nations to arrange marriages between the children of royalty for strategic reasons but there are always exceptions...
 
Part 113, Chapter 1876
Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Seventy-Six



1st September 1968

Jassel, Provisional Galicia

“You idiots can do whatever the Hell you want” Olli said, annoyed that the war was over, yet he was still dealing with the same garbage he had been dealing with for months. The delegation that had arrived at his farm as he was trying to put it in order was a part of that. Fortunately, Nele and most of his children were here to help with the cleanup. He was still trying to figure out how they would get through the next year without starving or having the banks seize the land.

The thrice damned Polish Special Forces had raided his farm early in the conflict. Though there had been nothing here for them, anything of value had been removed months earlier, they had still thoroughly trashed the place.

Olli supposed that he ought to consider himself lucky that the Poles had lacked imagination. Otherwise they might have torched the buildings and sown the fields with salt or some such bullshit. Of course, by the time they had raided his farm Olli was already making life miserable for the main body of the Polish Army north of Krakow and Poland itself was about to get invaded. Oli figured that meant that the men who had done it had probably been killed in dozens of extremely likely scenarios, which meant that justice had already been served without him needing to think any further about the matter. The problem now was that the Provisional Government couldn’t seem to get it through their thick skulls that Olli was no longer the leader of anything now that the crisis was over. That had been the thing that had saved him after he had surrendered to his own former Unit in the Heer.

“Unfortunately, General Bauer you seem to be the only figure who all the factions can agree upon” The Lead Flunky of the Provisional Government said.

“Major” Olli said under his breath but was ignored like always.

“We also fear the growing influence of General Bachmann now that he is back in Krakow” One of the other Flunkies remarked.

“Why didn’t anyone shoot him when they had the chance?” Olli asked and saw a half dozen surprised faces looking back at him for saying such a thing.

“Excuse me Sir” The Lead Flunky said, “But was that a joke?”

It wasn’t, but Olli didn’t feel like debating the merits of killing a man who would inevitably become thorn in everyone’s side. Whether it was justified or not, especially after the events of the last few years.

“It would make things easier for all of us, but we can’t I suppose” Olli said, “Kicking him out of Galicia is always an option.”

“I’m not sure we could do that legally” The other Flunky said, “He would need to have committed a crime or somehow demonstrate that his presence is a breach of the ceasefire.”

The others were nodding in agreement.

“He raised an illegal military formation” Olli replied, “Is that good enough for you?”

“That’s ironic considering the role you played Sir” The Lead Flunky said.

“It was a role I never asked for” Olli said flatly, “Or wanted.”

That caused them to start talking among themselves, eventually they turned back to Olli.

“This is why you need to reconsider your stance General Bauer” The Lead Flunky said, “We need someone who can come up with creative solutions and also has the clout with all parties to make it happen.”

“Galicia needs you” One of the Flunkies who had been quiet up until now said.

As the third Flunky spoke up, Olli wondered if the smallbore shotgun he kept for disposing of various other kinds of pests had been unpacked.



Mitte, Berlin

The preliminary after-action report regarding the performance of vehicles and equipment in the Polish Operation was sitting on Hans desk, it ran on for nearly a thousand pages. There were other reports that were being compiled at that very moment, a postmortem of every aspect of the conflict was being conducted. What had gone right as well as what had gone wrong with suggestions of how to fix it. This happened to be the first report and Hans needed to know it before he presented his findings to a joint meeting of the High Command in a few weeks.

The Panther-Immergrün Gunschlepper was a standout performer, hardly a surprise really. There were very few infantry Divisions who minded having 15cm artillery available at a few moments notice. Far less successful were the artillery at a Regimental level. The towed 7.5cm field guns had proven to be hopelessly dated with Regiments preferring 10.5cm howitzers and 8cm mortars whenever they could get them. Hans was a bit surprised by the performance of the Reconnaissance/Cavalry units. The 8-rad armored cars had proven to be a somewhat dated design, having been in service since before the Second World War and it was suggested that a replacement be developed. Hans suspected that the replacement would probably resemble the vehicle it replaced in form and function. The various types of Luftpanzer V “Skunk” had been a mixed bag with the 84mm recoilless gun proving suboptimal in the field, while the type armed with the 30mm autocannon had proven shockingly effective. Finally, there was the Iltis. The unarmored utility vehicle had proven itself a useful vehicle in the field, taking on unlikely combat roles in the process. Hans was looking at the photographs of the wide variety of arms and configurations that the crews had utilized. He figured that flexibility was the reason for that success. The Panzer VIII Leopard…

“Momma wants to know if you are joining us for supper” Ina asked from the doorway. Hans had been so engrossed in his work that he had not heard her approach.

“I’ll be down in a few minutes” Hans said.

“Good” Ina replied and then she disappeared.

Hans knew that his taking command of the Polish Operation had brought the old fault lines in his relationship with Helene back to the surface. Whenever he went into the field, Helene worried that she would get a knock on the door from a representative for the Heer who would start the conversation by offering his deepest regrets. That always resulted in her being angry with him when he got back. That coupled with her being worried about what would happen to their son had put a lot of strain on their relationship over the last few years.

Ina’s reaction was to try to get them to reconcile. She was a sweet girl who always tried to be the peacemaker in the household, she just wasn’t particularly good at it though.
 
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The Kiki/Ben extremely slow non-express train is still chugging away.

Louis Jr. is just realising that he & Zella MIGHT be more of a thing. Zella, I think, already knows this, but is enjoying teasing both Louis & Kiki too much to push things any faster.

Sophie has made a friend in Ziska, she just has to let her in. Ziska will probably experience two extremes emotionally when Sophie does open up: horrified rage and total empathy.

Poor Ollie. Reluctant military commander-in-chief now finding himself being dragooned into being an extremely reluctant non-partisan political leader. Possibly even the Prime Minister of Galicia.

I think its time for Hans to retire from active service. Either that or get promoted high enough that he no longer is eligible for field command.
 
Ollie for the Elector of Galicia and try to push for the best deal from Poland, Bohemia, or Germany because the area needs to recover and apparently one of the problems with Poland is that needed funds that were intended for Galicia was being repurposed by Warsaw.

Hans in the next round of changes for the top jobs for the Heer and OKW could get at least Deputy Chief of OKH which would get him out of the field for the rest of his career.
Helene is due to move up in the Cabinet ranks and if her party keeps gaining seats in the Reichstag she can be even become the Chancellor in a few years.

The Good Ship SMS LouZella in going to rival "The Odyssey" in the epics of time.

I think that Kiki is going to go in a depression next summer when she gets he M.D. and realize that it wasn't the finish line but a marker of how far see has come and how far she has to go.
Hopefully that will pass and will make her see that being with Ben is the best thing for her because he will always be there for her.
 
With Congress saying that they were going to start an enquiry into this matter and the papers getting ready to run feature stories. Rockefeller knew that all Hell was going to break loose when word of this got out.
That's going to be interesting.
Then there's another LONG simmering matter: The leaders of the Bonus Army that MacArthur "disappeared." That never had a resolution or fallout that I can recall.
 
Part 113, Chapter 1877
Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Seventy-Seven



4th September 1968

Mitte, Berlin

Returning to Berlin and attending Staff School was not something that Kiki was looking forward to. It seemed that she was being pushed away from her goals again. An unexpected event however completely derailed her life in a manner she couldn’t have imagined.

Sitting by the phone waiting for a call to learn the news about whether or not she was going to live was not Kiki’s idea of fun. She noticed that her left thumb was bleeding because she had chewed the nail down to the quick. It seemed like a trifling matter, but it showed exactly how things had spiraled out of control with absurd speed.

It had started with the best of intentions. Kat had wanted a medical examination conducted upon Marie Alexandra, the sort that was minimally invasive to make sure that she was developing normally similar to those that Kiki had been on the receiving end of when she had been Marie’s age. It had been Doctor Burg’s suggestion that because Marie trusted Kiki, perhaps she should allow Marie to see how the examination played out by volunteering to go through it first with the girl watching. It had gone well enough at first, the blood draws and various tests had been conducted. Kiki had been rather relieved to have it confirmed that she wasn’t pregnant, though she already knew. This was because when she had gotten together with Ben the prior month, they had not been particularly careful. It was well understood that no contraception was perfect. Marie Alexandra herself had been conceived despite Kat having an IUD similar to the one Kiki had. Then came the physical examination, using a sonogram to peer inside Kiki’s body to make sure that nothing untoward was happening. It had been when Berg had examined Kiki’s left breast that she paused for a minute, then had continued. Later, after they had successfully gotten Marie through it, Berg had pulled Kiki aside and told her that she had definitely felt a lump in her breast. Kiki didn’t need to be told the implications of that as she had felt what was like an icy wind blow through her.

As swiftly as it could be arranged, she had found herself in a different part of the hospital as a Surgeon had excised the tiny lump of flesh that Berg had discovered and sent it off to pathology. Kiki had been shot at, kidnapped, nearly had her brain bashed out, flown aboard helicopters that were awash with blood, and never once in all of that had she felt the fear she did as she waited for the results. Staring at the phone knowing that if the result were bad then the phone call was likely when her death sentence would be announced. There were treatments, surgery, radiation, and Chemotherapy. All of those would mutilate her body, make her deathly ill, and it was unclear if they would improve her long-term prognosis depending on how far it had spread. If she had cancer, then her future would be rather grim.

“Is everything alright Kiki?” Ben asked stepping into the parlor.

Just a couple weeks earlier Ben had implied that it was his intention to marry Kiki next summer. When she had heard that it had been as if her head had instantly filled with static, she had panicked and tried to rush him out of her room only to have him kiss her. All that drama now seemed rather trite and Kiki felt foolish for having engaged in it.

“I am waiting for a call” Kiki replied, knowing that answer didn’t even began to touch what she was going through.

“Your step-mother told me what happened” Ben said, “She told me that she though you shouldn’t be alone.”

Kiki tried not to be annoyed. Charlotte meant well, but she tended to speak out of turn at times.



Wahlstatt, Silesia

“Making mistakes is a part of growing up” Niko’s father had told him weeks earlier. “What defines you however is seeing your choices through even after you know you’ve made a mistake.”

Niko hadn’t understood what his father was getting at, at the time. But now, after his introduction to the Wahlstatt School, he was starting to get an idea. The rigid discipline that the school emphasized meant that every minute was structured from the instant he awoke in the morning until he fell asleep at night. Opa had told him that he would get a lot out of his time here if he made the most of it, but for the life of him, Niko had no idea how to go about doing that.

The worst part was that it had been his choice to be here. Opa had said he was proud of him. His father had implied that it was a mistake and his mother had clearly not wanted him to go. On the first day when the school’s Drillmaster, Stabsfeldwebel Arbeit, had made his introduction. He had made a point of telling Niko that he didn’t give a shit who his grandfather was, if Niko thought that he was going to be featherbedding for an instant then he was in for a rude awakening. Afterwards, Bas has told Niko that he was an idiot if he thought that he would have been treated any other way.

The days since had been spent tripping over his own feet, running afoul of the school’s multitude of rules, and learning that the senior classes were best to be avoided at all costs. Laying in his bed seconds before the lights were going to be turned off, on a mattress and under a blanket that were both too thin it occurred to him that every adult in his life might be correct about this whole thing though they had all said something different. How was that even possible?
 
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It had started with the best of intentions. Kat had wanted a medical examination conducted upon Marie Alexandra, the sort that was minimally invasive to make sure that she was developing normally similar to those that Kiki had been on the receiving end of when she had been Marie’s age. It had been Doctor Burg’s suggestion that because Marie trusted Kiki, perhaps she should allow Marie to see how the examination played out by volunteering to go through it first with the girl watching. It had gone well enough at first, the blood draws and various tests had been conducted. Kiki had been rather relieved to have it confirmed that she wasn’t pregnant, though she already knew. This was because when she had gotten together with Ben the prior month, they had not been particularly careful. It was well understood that no contraception was perfect. Marie Alexandra herself had been conceived despite Kat having an IUD similar to the one Kiki had. Then came the physical examination, using a sonogram to peer inside Kiki’s body to make sure that nothing untoward was happening. It had been when Berg had examined Kiki’s left breast that she paused for a minute, then had continued. Later, after they had successfully gotten Marie through it, Berg had pulled Kiki aside and told her that she had definitely felt a lump in her breast. Kiki didn’t need to be told the implications of that as she had felt what was like an icy wind blow through her.

As swiftly as it could be arranged, she had found herself in a different part of the hospital as a Surgeon had excised the tiny lump of flesh that Berg had discovered and sent it off to pathology. Kiki had been shot at, kidnapped, nearly had her brain bashed out, flown aboard helicopters that were awash with blood, and never once in all of that had she felt the fear she did as she waited for the results. Staring at the phone knowing that if the result were bad then the phone call was likely when her death sentence would be announced. There were treatments, surgery, radiation, and Chemotherapy. All of those would mutilate her body, make her deathly ill, and it was unclear if they would improve her long-term prognosis depending on how far it had spread. If she had cancer, then her future would be rather grim.

Oh Lord...

After all she's been through, if cancer's what does Kiki in... :(

Just a couple weeks earlier Ben had implied that it was his intention to marry Kiki next summer. When she had heard that it had been as if her head had instantly filled with static, she had panicked and tried to rush him out of her room only to have him kiss her. All that drama now seemed rather trite and Kiki felt foolish for having engaged in it.

On the other hand, if it turns out not to be cancer...this little brush could remind her 'Hey, carpe diem, Kiki'.
 
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