Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

What I am more intrigued by are the nuclear-powered space probes. Sounds like something stemming from project Orion.

An interesting note on the armour constructing is the fact that a riveted construction is mentioned. Sounds like a Brigandine to me.
The power source of the Voyager program in TTL is exactly the same as it is in OTL. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MHW-RTG

The other thing is that the Germans ITTL based their designs of body armor on those found in museums, sort of like how the Stahlhelm was a simplified Sallet. In this case it is a Brigandine made out of Aramid and ceramic, with the rivets made from aluminum.
 
The power source of the Voyager program in TTL is exactly the same as it is in OTL. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MHW-RTG

The other thing is that the Germans ITTL based their designs of body armor on those found in museums, sort of like how the Stahlhelm was a simplified Sallet. In this case it is a Brigandine made out of Aramid and ceramic, with the rivets made from aluminum.
And the mission sounds pretty identical to OTL Voyager
 
Ben should think about going in to applied astronomy with various deep space probes and Hubble Telescope type projects.
NASA, ESA, and the JSA should be talking about dividing up projects and doing joint missions as so not to duplicate each other missions, about this time IOTL the United States was gearing up to do Skylab with researching long term effects of space missions.
There should be thoughts about trading rides on each other spacecraft.

Kiki is a hero to the Berlin PD from the East Station bombing and if the LAPD contacts them they could tell the LAPD about how Kiki got shot in the chest and only received massive bruising but nothing else.
 

ferdi254

Banned
It actually is the Voyager program just a different name. And Pluto still being a planet. And actually they are still alive.
 
There is a difference between nuclear powered and nuclear propelled. OTL probes have an onboard reactor to power their systems when solar radiation was too weak to do so. Project Orion was to use nukes as the main means to propel the craft through space, which has all sorts of issues politically, environmentally (if used near a planet, etc.*) and for any crewed spacecraft. If the US is proposing nuclear propulsion, that could be a problem purely from a safety perspective. What, for example, happens if the rocket putting the nukes into orbit for this probe explodes during takeoff? What happens if a paranoid nation-state (say, for instance, Russia) thinks this is a pretext for a covert attack? If anyone else proposed this method, the US would definitely raise these concerns.

(*such as Earth, for example.)

So this basically boils down to the eternal scientific & engineering conundrum: "Just because we CAN build it, does that mean that we SHOULD?"

In OTL, the answer was no. It will be interesting to see if the same is true ITTL.
 
What would happen if bullet hit a rivet?
More time in surgery as the rivet will need removing too.

Way back in the early 90's, the attitude from the RAMC NCOs training us was "wearing a kevlar vest will mean an extra 6 hours in surgery as the fibres need removing too".
So I'd imagine that if a bullet hit a rivet it would push the rivet through and into the skin at best, chest cavity along with multiple fragments of the bullet as well at worst.
 
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If plates are overlapped like fish scales there should no exposed rivets, other than possibly the top line.
I like that idea. Might make it unwieldy if the plates are a little thick, but if they're thin with lots of layers and overlaps then the movement restriction would posdibly be lower and repairs more economic.
 
What would happen if bullet hit a rivet?
From last August.
Finally, there was a notification from Koblenz stating that two pieces of her equipment needed to be turned in because they were being phased out. The first was the Panzerweste Ausf. E. It seemed that the aluminum rivets could pop out and injure the wearer under certain conditions, in the new Ausf. F Panzerweste that problem had been solved. Many found it strange that it had taken thirty years to essentially reinvent brigandine armor with more modern materials, but there they were.
 
Part 118, Chapter 1972
Chapter One Thousand Nine Hundred Seventy-Two



6th April 1970

Wahlstatt, Silesia

When it came to causing trouble Bas was a genius, particularly if it was gross. The problem was that he tended to direct his actions towards other bays within their dorm. He had yet to play a prank on another dorm, but Niko knew that it was only a matter of time until he did. Then all Hell would break loose. There was also the detail that Bas couldn’t seem to keep his mouth shut after he had done something, he always wanted everyone to know exactly who was responsible, so that he would receive proper credit. Late winter had brought out the worst in Bas because like everyone else he was bored, and it had fallen on Niko to keep him out of trouble.

Even now in early spring they were in a period of time where the school was basically doing the “Keep the idiots busy or else they will find something to do not to your liking” that Niko’s Opa had told him the importance of. Like everyone else, Niko knew that Easter Holiday was incredibly close and like everyone else he just wanted to go home for a few weeks of relative freedom. Constantly having to pay attention to what Bas was doing was the last thing that he wanted to be doing. So, he stopped paying attention until he caught Bas with two of the other boys from their dorm each carrying two buckets of rancid grease that they had gotten from the traps in the kitchens a few days earlier.

That had been when Niko had finally had enough.

“Whatever you are planning, isn’t going to happen this time” Niko had said, as sternly as he could. Though his voice didn’t seem particularly strong to his ears.

“You’ve been such a killjoy since they gave you that pretend promotion” Bas said, “We aren’t doing anything.”

Niko had known instantly that Bas was full of crap, but in the months since he had been forced to be Bas’ minder, he had found himself out of loop when it came to what his friend’s plans were. There was also Bas’ belief that the Cadet ranks were pure theater that Niko was starting to find personally annoying.

“Trying to keep you out of trouble is enough to make anyone a killjoy” Niko had replied, “Everyone is getting tired of you getting the whole dormitory in trouble. You are going to get your butt kicked.”

“They never said anything to me about that” Bas said, ignoring the nervous expressions on the faces of those he had talked into helping with the latest caper.

“It is because I have been talking them out of it” Niko replied, “If you go through with, whatever this is this time, I won’t bother to stop them.”

That was when the reality of the situation had dawned on Bas. Finally. And the others had abandoned the prank as soon as they thought that he was having second thoughts. Niko had ended up helping Bas dispose of the grease in the rubbish bins by the carpark, far enough from the dorms that they wouldn’t have to smell it as the weather warmed.

What Niko hadn’t anticipated was that the grease had leaked out of the bin and across the asphalt of the access road over the following days. As March had turned to April there had been a cold snap, leaving the grease semi-frozen to the road. Oberstlieutenant Gruber, the School’s Headmaster had lost control of his car when he had hit that and had ended up in a ditch. Bas had been awestruck, claiming that Niko’s idea had been way better than what he had been planning on. It seemed to Niko that Bas didn’t need to be as smug as he was being over the whole matter.

The Staff had decided it was an accident, for now. However, Niko knew that would change in a hurry if they found out that it had been him who had put the grease in the bin with Bas. They wouldn’t believe that it really had been an accident, not in a thousand years. Niko also understood that he would instantly be demoted and be facing the wrath of his classmates. So, he tried to keep it as quiet as possible, knowing full well that the only thing that was preventing that from happening was Bas keeping his mouth shut until they left for Easter Holiday. The odds of that happening were remote indeed.

“What has gotten into you Nikolaus” The Mathematics Professor snapped, “Pay attention.” He must have noticed Niko being distracted. Somehow figuring out what X equaled if Y had a value of a third of X didn’t seem important. Not when the axe could be descending on him at that very second and he wouldn’t know that it was happening right up until he got called to the Headmaster’s Office. Then he would have the whole weight of the School as an institution squash him flat.

“Twelve days” Niko muttered to himself. Twelve days, less than two weeks until he went home on holiday. He didn’t have any idea how he was going to survive that long. He had told Bas that he would continue to prevent the others in the dormitory from giving him a well-deserved beating. At that moment, Niko was starting to lean towards giving Bas one of his own.
 
Cool chapter, though I don't see why it'd attach itself to Niko. All he has to do is Deny Deny Deny, and odds are they'll go 'Which is more likely: that the kid we promoted did it, or that the known troublemaker did?'

Heck, if necessary, Niko just needs to go 'I came across him and the other boys with the grease, told them not to or there'd be a beating, and he thought that was the end of it, but Bas must have followed up on it, the idiot...
 
Bas's dorm is going to throw him a blanket party here pretty quick. Even if some of them have to distract Niko for a few minutes to get it done.
 
Niko has the blood of generations of the Prussian Junker running through his veins and with extra time spent with his Grandfather the Kurfürst, he has taken his responsibilities seriously, on the other hand Bas is a true Schultz and without direction mayhem will happen.
 
Part 118, Chapter 1973
Chapter One Thousand Nine Hundred Seventy-Three



17th April 1970

Mitte, Berlin

It was the final slog in the days before her wedding and Kiki wanted to run as far as she could away from the whole thing. Looking at herself in the three mirrors at the white silk dress she was wearing, it just reminded her of how this wasn’t how she went about doing things. Under the lights of Klaus Voll’s studio, she could already see the direction that his hair and makeup people were going to take. In conjunction with the dress Kiki was going to end up looking like a porcelain doll, a look she had avoided for her entire adult life.

“You do look lovely Kristina” Voll said, “I did my best to keep it simple like you asked, but there are other considerations…”

Voll shrugged apologetically as he trailed off. The other considerations he mentioned were all too familiar to Kiki who felt ridiculous in the dress that he had designed. The politics and posturing that she felt had poisoned much of Kiki’s life as well as the constant need to keep up appearances. That was why the wedding was almost as much about the guest list as it was about her. This was because most of the voting members of the Imperial Council were going to be in attendance. It was seen as a chance for Kiki’s oldest brother and her father to score political points, and that was almost enough to make her consider trying to ban the two of them from the reception. Let them scheme to their heart’s content without her having to witness it.

The dress itself looked nice in the mirror and Kiki reluctantly had to agree with that much. However, being on inside was a different experience. It was totally impractical, and it was so tightly fit that she felt like she could hardly breath or move. There were also the symbolic and social implications of the cursed thing. Nora Berg had pointed out that it being white was meant to imply that the father of the bride would not be giving away “soiled goods” as he led her to the bridegroom in full view of the community. Kiki didn’t need Berg to tell her about that, she had taken Theology classes at University while she had been waiting to get into Medical School. It had been clear to her that the Iron Age goat herders who had written much of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, had very troubling views of women and their Medieval counterparts had actually been worse in some ways. Berg’s response had been to point out that perhaps they seemed to have preferred the company of their fellow man and their goats, all while lusting after the sheep that they idolized. That had almost been enough to make Kiki ask Voll to make her a black dress and let the “community” make what they will of that bit of symbolism beyond the obvious which would be her telling them to mind their own business for once. Kiki had also noticed that her former Mentor had not turned down the invitation to attend next week’s farce of a wedding either.

“I know you have done your best Herr Voll” Kiki said looking at her reflection. “But this is just not me.”

“I’m sorry that you cannot get married in your Medical Service uniform including that horrible red coat and the green uniform medical personnel wear in the field” Voll replied waspishly, “I know that truly would be you.”

That was a wonderful idea that Kiki had not thought of until Voll had mentioned it.

“There’s nothing wrong with a Field Surgeon’s coat” Kiki said with the first smile she had managed today.

“Other than having your blood type and possible allergies embroidered on the front of it, among other things?” Voll asked, “At a wedding? I doubt that I would need to explain the problem with that, even to a complete philistine when it comes to fashion like you.”

“I had to earn the right to wear that coat” Kiki said firmly.

“Well, you could have just gone to a surplus store and saved yourself a lot of trouble then” Voll said. He had been in the Heer during the Spanish War but had been kept out of Soviet War because his personal preferences had become rather well known by then. So, Voll knew full well what that coat meant to Kiki and was clearly yanking her chain.

Kiki looked at Voll in the mirror’s reflection and blew a raspberry at him. He just gave her a smirk in return.

“It would be a shame if the people I have do hair and makeup just happen to play up that side of you” Voll said drolly, “By painting your entire face a delightful shade of blue or something equally absurd.”

“Like if I would care beyond having to go wash my face.” Kiki replied, “I am not some pampered Eighteenth-Century Princess who needs an entire staff just to roll out of bed in the morning.”

“I am perfectly aware of that” Voll said, “Your ancestors would have been horrified and scandalized by your behavior.”

“The feeling would have been mutual” Kiki said, “There are a lot of things that they would take exception to. This being the Second Realm which is formed by an upstart Prussian family. The First Realm having been abolished by an upstart Corsican who was trying to conquer Europe after taking over France. They would think that you were insane if you told them that.”

“I was referring to your career and choice of husband” Voll said, “A history lesson was not what I expected.”

“My mother was very much a creature of that earlier age” Kiki said, “So that is hardly ancient history, is it?”

That was also a subject that Kiki had discussed at length with Zella and Aurora dozens of times. What exactly did it mean for Kiki to be a Princess and Zella to be a Markgräfin in the modern world? It was easier for Aurora to define herself. Her family was Jewish and there would have been few places for her in earlier eras. For Aurora this was the best historical era to live in and she made clear that from her perspective, the same was true for her friends as well. She made no apologies for that. Kiki just wished that she shared Aurora’s certainty, because she felt at times like she didn’t really fit in anywhere.
 
Poor Kiki. Still trying to find her place in the world. Who thinks that she might end up as this world's version of Princess Diana, without the divorce and death by car accident.
 
Poor Kiki. Still trying to find her place in the world. Who thinks that she might end up as this world's version of Princess Diana, without the divorce and death by car accident.

In terms of shaking up the royal family and being its more 'approachable face', for sure. And depending on how any kids her and Ben might have shake up...

Who knows, by the 21st century ITTL the family might be more akin to Dutch or Scandinavian royals than the British ones - at the very least a lot of the ceremonial and the pomp might have been stripped away, along with marriages to commoners being more, well, common :p
 
Kiki just pretend that you are an actress in a play and the reception is the after play party.
Also it would be nice if you did something to acknowledge the role that Dr. Berg played in your life because you are the closest thing to daughter that she has.
 

ferdi254

Banned
Have you actually seen the last royal weddings in Scandinavia holzfan? Yes day to day a lot of ceremony has gone away but when it comes to weddings they roll out the whole package.

Yes, with all(!) the trimmings.

So in this case my sympathy for Kiki is nonexistent. There are a lot of advantages in getting born into a royal family, so some days of dress testing, make up and a large ceremony is a rather unsubstantial price to be paid for this.

So yes, here she is acting like a spoiled brat who wants to have everything her way.
 
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