Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

It's a no win situation.
Kiki stays and does her duty - everyone else around her feels at greater risk due to her presence.
Kiki is sent home - Kiki feels like a deserter.

Solution: Kiki stays with the ship, but the ship is sent to Japan on standby ready to move, Kiki, being a Japanese speaker, is sent ashore to handle the political side and act as a staging officer, coordinating the international efforts to provide relief and be the public face of the operation. The Japanese Imperial House would provide a team of bodyguards that make Kage look like an amateur so Kiki would be safe, (after all, she is related by marriage to the Emperor of Japan).
In the meantime, a new surgeon is flown out to the Antonia Marie, and when the second Princess class ship is sailed out to support the Antonia Marie, Kiki is assigned to that ship to pick up her previous role and work the ship's medical crew up.
By the time a second ship has arrived, there will be a "stable" situation on the ground and a ring of steel around the hospital ships.

That's a possibility anyway.
 
Still another solution is that she stays on one the islands and trade places with a doctor who is stationed at a clinic along with a beefed up MA detachment for security.
 

ferdi254

Banned
If I were the captain of the ship I would only enter that area with Kiki on board if at least a carrier group would be with my ship.

Because if anything happens to the daughter of the Kaiser on your ship the rest of your career is measured in mm. The only question would be 9 or 7.62.
 
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Best thing Kiki can do is go home. I mean, she's already been to a lot of places, she's done a huge amount of solid work on the cruise, going on would just endanger the other crew aboard...

And she seems to recognise that at least a bit herself.
 
There was a similar situation with one of the British princes. They either cancelled or cut short his deployment to Afghanistan because his presence would attract extra attention to his unit. In Afghanistan, extra attention means extra casualties.
 
Part 116, Chapter 1938
Chapter One Thousand Nine Hundred Thirty-Eight



28th September 1969

Pohnpei

It was cost that decided things for Kiki and she was not happy about it. If she remained aboard the SMS Antonia, it would require dispatching Fleet Elements which represented eyewatering sums as opposed to the light units that would otherwise escort the Hospital Ship. Predictably Ben was overjoyed that Kiki would be returning with him which triggered a huge row. Her trying to tell him that he didn’t understand about how she was abandoning her responsibilities and him telling her that she was making excuses to be miserable. They had been talking past each other until in just became yelling over the frustrations that both of them had felt over the past few years. Eventually Ben had told her that her obsession with the past revolutions that had ended with dead Royals was unhealthy. Kiki wasn’t Marie Antionette and she needed to see herself as she was, not how she feared she was seen. That was over the line as far as she was concerned and she had told him so, only to have him point out that she wasn’t denying it. Fortunately, the villa was big enough for them to avoid each other over the next few days.

When Kiki was talking to the Cook, she discovered that the argument she’d had with Ben was the subject of Island gossip. It seemed that the whole community found seeing that the daughter of the wise High King Louis and her husband got into arguments like normal people did somewhat amusing. The Cook figured that it would be things like this that people would remember about the New German Times. That was a reminder of how the Islanders measured time. The Old Times, followed by the Spanish Times, then the Old German Times and the Japanese Times. The New German Times had started when the Japanese had been sent packing at the end of the Second World War and Kiki’s father was well regarded, mostly because he had built a house on Pohnpei and was wise enough to let the Islanders manage their own affairs. After the heavy-handed actions of the Japanese that must have been a very welcome change.

Kiki had pointed out that she had not married Ben yet and after the last few days… The Cook had just smiled and said that life was not perfect. It was a key part of the nature of people to have disagreements, especially if they cared. The Cook said that he saw it all the time, especially when couples discovered that Pohnpei was one of the rainiest places on Earth and they think that the weather has ruined their holiday. The Cook then reminded Kiki that it was also a part of human nature to make up afterwards.



Wahlstatt, Silesia

The Cadet Corps wore parade uniforms that were modeled after the dress uniforms of the Heer, with the blue coat and field grey trousers. That was for inspections, meals, and drilling on weekdays. Saturdays and Sundays were typically informal with a number of activities that they were strongly encouraged to partake in. Mostly it was so that they wouldn’t cause trouble because they got bored and destructive. Niko had noticed that their Minders always looked at Bas when they said that. It was not that the weekend activities were boring, far from it. Beyond the occasional walk into Wahlstatt to go to the Cinema or market. There were practical lessons in what were dubbed “Survival skills” that were an introduction to scouting. These were mostly taught by the members of the Senior Classes, the older students who Niko had mostly avoided in his first year for good reason. Things seemed to have changed, but Niko didn’t trust any of them, not for a second. Especially since there was a rumor floating around that swimming lessons were in the offing.

So, when Staber Arbeit had told them they needed to be dressed as if for inspection on a Sunday evening everyone was a bit surprised. Then Niko remembered the notice that had been posted on bulletin board weeks earlier, the one that everyone had either ignored, or had forgotten. That they would be entertaining tonight. Looking at his reflection in the mirror, Niko saw that the cloth Enlisted Man’s mess cap he was wearing hid most of his hair. That was fortunate because he had been hoping to avoid the attention of Arbeit, who would doubtlessly send Niko to the school’s Barber whose only tool was a pair of clippers, if the Staber noticed. It was a small rebellion, but Niko was finding that he needed to do these little things to avoid feeling like he was being ground under the Drillmaster’s heel.

Everyone else was curious about what was going on as they were led from the dormitory to the large multi-purpose room where instruction in gymnastics and martial arts happened. It was then that Staber Arbeit informed them that they were to be one their absolute best behavior tonight. Because it was heavily chaperoned, every stupid thing the even thought about doing would be seen and reported immediately.

Upon entering the room, Niko noticed that a couple dozen girls his own age were standing around with varying expressions of boredom on their faces.

“Just who among you knows how to dance?” Arbeit asked, “You are being called upon to help with these young Ladies.”

Without thinking about it, Niko raised his hand and realized that he was the only one to do so. He remembered learning to dance under his Mother’s instruction with his cousin Marie helping. That had been a fun diversion, but tonight it felt like serious business.

“Nikolaus, how nice of you to volunteer” Arbeit said, reminding Niko of the first rule of the military, never volunteer. Niko wasn’t even a soldier, but he should have known that.

“Ladies, let me introduce you to Prinz Nikolaus von Richthofen” Arbeit continued, “Grandson of Kurfürst von Richthofen.”

Niko couldn’t help but notice that there was suddenly a great deal of giggling among the girls. How exactly was this supposed to work and who had thought that it would be a good idea? He thought to himself as he wished he could fall through the floor.
 
While it was fun to come up with various dodges Kiki could have used, this is pretty realistic. It will be interesting to see if they do actually make up or if Ben has had enough.
 
Considering that Kiki grew up at a time when Germany was at a point that one more breakthrough from the Soviet Army would have meant that Germany would have been over run and there would have been a good chance that the Imperial Family could have been captured.
Kiki later finding out that Kat's "sister" Gia was actually her cousin Grand Duchess Jehane "The Last Romanov" would have brought up all kinds of fears that her imagination could think of.
It is very natural of Kiki to try to counter any perception of her as being a "Blood Sucking Parasite" by being as useful as possible, but her obsession about how others think of her has made her go overboard in over working herself, putting her health in danger, taking unnecessary risks with her life, and most importantly denying herself someone who loves her for herself and not who her family is.
 
Lol, volunteering for a dance. Man, I hated those things. Constantly stepping on toes. That’s when I knew I had no talent for dancing, about as much as I had for singing.
 
Lol, volunteering for a dance. Man, I hated those things. Constantly stepping on toes. That’s when I knew I had no talent for dancing, about as much as I had for singing.
I can relate.
Can't dance, can't sing.
For that matter, not a huge interest in music at all. Musicians would have to work for a living if everyone was like me.
 
The last update shows how logical the Author has been with this timeline.
First off the solution to the presence of Princess Kristina on the hospital ship has become too much of a distraction for the mission and it was dealt correctly and maybe now Kiki will stop pushing herself to the edge, she still can go out on other humanitarian missions but just not in to hot zones.
Second one the unspoken duties that elite schools has is for lifelong connections to be made in the social world.
That means young men are beginning to meet the young women of the same social standing who will later become acceptable wives for them in the future, or so their parents hope...
 
You know, I don't really get the Kiki think. She'd been to Korea, when it was an active war zone. And then before that as well, where it was just about to be a war zone, and had even crossed the front line. So deploying somewhere that is just adjacent to a war zone should not be that big a problem. How big is the Chinese Navy anyway? And that's not to mention the Prussian Royalties hang for deploying to conflict overall. Even curbed after one dead Crown Prince, we've seen more than one indicator that it's still there. So no reason in tradition to not keep her on board.

Especially since attacking a hospital ship would be something that few factions that want to present them as legitimate to the outside world would consider. That leaves non-state actors or the desperate. And while those might be a problem, as far as I can tell there is nothing specific there, aside from a nebulous general threat situation. No "we'll get the princess" or the like.

And if that threat is considered dangerous enough that they'd need heavier units because of one princess on board? Yeah, they'll soon regret not having them, when the ship gets hit without a princess on board.

TL;DR: I just don't see any indicator in writing why the threat would be so much more with Kiki still on board.
 
You know, I don't really get the Kiki think. She'd been to Korea, when it was an active war zone. And then before that as well, where it was just about to be a war zone, and had even crossed the front line. So deploying somewhere that is just adjacent to a war zone should not be that big a problem. How big is the Chinese Navy anyway? And that's not to mention the Prussian Royalties hang for deploying to conflict overall. Even curbed after one dead Crown Prince, we've seen more than one indicator that it's still there. So no reason in tradition to not keep her on board.

Especially since attacking a hospital ship would be something that few factions that want to present them as legitimate to the outside world would consider. That leaves non-state actors or the desperate. And while those might be a problem, as far as I can tell there is nothing specific there, aside from a nebulous general threat situation. No "we'll get the princess" or the like.

And if that threat is considered dangerous enough that they'd need heavier units because of one princess on board? Yeah, they'll soon regret not having them, when the ship gets hit without a princess on board.

TL;DR: I just don't see any indicator in writing why the threat would be so much more with Kiki still on board.
Korea was a conventional war situation. As such, it was expected that the enemy would play by normal rules. So if Kiki had been captured she’d have just been another POW.

In a civil war, though, especially one like this, there’s much more of a willingness to play dirty. Or, for example, for one side to aim deliberately to kidnap Kiki and try to use her as leverage to squeeze arms/recognition/whatever out of Germany.
 
Korea was a conventional war situation. As such, it was expected that the enemy would play by normal rules. So if Kiki had been captured she’d have just been another POW.

In a civil war, though, especially one like this, there’s much more of a willingness to play dirty. Or, for example, for one side to aim deliberately to kidnap Kiki and try to use her as leverage to squeeze arms/recognition/whatever out of Germany.
Let's see what would happen if one faction kidnaps a German princess in that case.

Even if you can get some price out of Germany, they will be your enemy afterwards. More likely even before a deal is made. Germany acts as a Great Power in this world, they can't really afford to appease one civil war faction, meaning there will be retaliation.

And then there are the other factions. Who all will gang up on the one in order to get some favours in turn from Germany by freeing Kiki.

If we can assume rational actors? It's a no win scenario for the kidnappers. (There is no get the Germans out in analogue to Prince Harry in Afghanistan; So that leaves what? The crazy desperate operating on a shoe string anyway already)

And that's not even considering other things. Korea war showed quite clearly that China isn't a naval power. With a civil war going on, it makes the logistics of a naval based kidnapping/taking over a hospital ship iffy. Unless I misremember Germany has airfields/has aircraft stationed on airfields in both Taiwan and Korea, making an aerial assault on the ship similarly difficult, even discounting the ship and escort in full.

And then there's public perception to consider. Pulling Kiki out is basically an admission that Germany considers itself unable to project power into the Chinese Sea to an international audience. And to the domestic public? The "nobles" get pulled out, while the "commoner" gets still sent into danger.
 
Pulling Kiki out is basically an admission that Germany considers itself unable to project power into the Chinese Sea to an international audience.
Was there any backlash when Prince Harry, I think it was, was pulled out of Afghanistan? Pulling her out because her unit was in a dangerous situation is one thing, but pulling her out because she would be a target and, by being there, put others in danger, is another.
 
And then there's public perception to consider. Pulling Kiki out is basically an admission that Germany considers itself unable to project power into the Chinese Sea to an international audience. And to the domestic public? The "nobles" get pulled out, while the "commoner" gets still sent into danger.

Was there any backlash when Prince Harry, I think it was, was pulled out of Afghanistan? Pulling her out because her unit was in a dangerous situation is one thing, but pulling her out because she would be a target and, by being there, put others in danger, is another.
There wasn't any backlash that I can remember. IIRC, the general feeling was that it was good he'd done his bit, but pulling him out was the sensible thing to do.

It'll be the same here.
 
I'd have to look into it again, but as far as I remember there was clear propaganda from Taliban side about attacking Harry in particular, putting his unit into danger. Pulling him out denied them this opportunity of high profile propaganda.

On the other hand here we only have some nebulous threat due to Civil War - that threatens the whole ship the same and as far as I can tell only vaguely and not Kiki specifically. Unless I missed something reading the last 10 updates or so. And even then, the actors in the civil war are trying to become a legitimate government. Starting that by kidnapping a foreign royal is kinda bad optics.


So either there is enough threat to pull in a heavy escort anyway, change the route completely, or no real reason to pull her out.

Because from the way I read that 26th September bit, the only vague threat against her specifically is from criminal elements maybe in Taiwan or Saigon. And she'd survive without shore leave there.
 
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