Part 121, Chapter 2030
Chapter Two Thousand Thirty
22nd November 1970
Berlin-Brandenburg International
“You remember how to signal if you want me to stop maneuvers?” Ben asked as he taxied the Black Knight towards the runway. “And don’t be afraid to use those bags we gave you.”
“Yeah” Zella replied. She and Yuri had worked with the crew to fit a few cameras into the cockpit. It was something that made Ben doubt that she fully understood what this involved.
The Crew Chief had been less than thrilled by the prospect of Ben taking Zella on this flight. Threatening to go home for the day if Zella got sick and spewed all over the cockpit, leaving Ben to clean up the mess himself. He had tried to warn Zella against this course of action, apparently though, she still had a lot of friends among the Luftwaffe High Command who had fond memories of her father. It seemed like at the OKL, whatever Marcella Markgräfin von Holz wanted, she tended to get.
Ben blamed Spark, who had earned that nickname after a hydraulic failure on his Pfeil had resulted in a wheels-up landing a few years earlier sent him skidding down the runway at Tegel, for this. He had put the idea into Zella’s head that she needed to have the experience of being in the cockpit to get the feel of what it was like.
Parking on the threshold, Ben looked at Zella in one of the mirrors as he tightened the oxygen mask around his face and lowered the visor. He had made sure that she was squared away back there as best he could, but he had the nagging feeling that Kiki would be furious if she knew what was about to happen.
“Ready?” Ben asked.
“Get on with it, Benjamin” Zella replied.
As was the practice, this started with the sort of take-off they would do if Berlin were under attack and there was a scramble. The Orkan launched down the runway from a standing start reaching takeoff speed in seconds at full throttle and reheat. As the plane launched itself into the sky, the only time Ben had experienced harder acceleration had involved being launched into orbit. Leveling off at six-thousand meters, Ben could tell that Zella was far from chastened.
“That was fucking awesome!” Zella exclaimed, “You made it sound like…”
Zella was cut off by Ben suddenly rolling the Orkan hard into a turn. She had no idea that this was just the beginning.
Rio Gallegos, Argentina
The sun hadn’t come up yet, but Kiki was sitting in Mess Hall working on the day’s paperwork while drinking sludge coffee. It had been another difficult night with her first having a dream set in some weird version of the Eighteenth Century watching as Ben and Freddy were dualist intent on killing one another. Kiki had retained her medical knowledge and had understood exactly what those old fashioned black-powder pistols could do to the human body. As she had begged them to stop, she had been roundly ignored. After she had woken from that one, it had taken her a considerable amount of time to get back to sleep. The next dream had been worse though she couldn’t remember any of the details. Just the lingering feeling that she had become a stranger to herself.
“Frau Oberfeldarzt” Kiki heard a voice say.
“How can I help you Herr Schmitz?” Kiki asked.
“You can’t, not at this moment” Schmitz replied as he took an orange from the basket at the end of the counter. “I think you are the one who needs help though.”
“The cheese stands alone” Kiki replied, as if that said everything.
Schmitz was something of a legend in the Medical Service. Having started out as an Enlisted Army Medic in the Soviet War and serving in every conflict since. He was credited with personally saving thousands of lives and had a reputation of being absolutely fearless. He had a wound badge in gold to go along with his other medals to prove that he had not always gotten out of every situation unscathed. As a Stabsfeldwebel-Lieutenant, which had roughly the authority of a Hauptmann, Schmitz was one of a handful of Warrant Officers in the Medical Service and he was presently managing the day-to-day operations of the non-hospital portion of the Regiment. Kiki seldom saw him because he preferred to work on the overnight shift.
“That is what comes of being the one charged with enforcing the rules” Schmitz said, “And as I am sure you are aware, being the XO is not a popularity contest.”
“I get that” Kiki replied.
“Look on the bright side Ma’am” Schmitz said, “You aren’t having to field complaints about that Argentine Surgeon they stuck us with, that one is a regular Lothario.”
“I’m surprised by that” Kiki replied, “If any of the Nurses had a problem then the individual responsible would be dealt with, harshly. They all know I take these matters seriously.”
“It’s not the problem” Schmitz said as he peeled the orange, “The Doctors and Corpsmen are finding it hard to compete with this guy.”
Kiki felt the stirrings of what she hoped would not be another migraine. The last thing she needed was drama among the Staff. “Anything else I need to be aware of?” She asked fearing the answer.
“The Marine who was brought in yesterday evening is symptomatic for hepatitis” Schmitz said, “We are waiting for the lab to get back, but I’ve seen this a million times.”
Kiki’s day had hardly started, and it was already going bad.
22nd November 1970
Berlin-Brandenburg International
“You remember how to signal if you want me to stop maneuvers?” Ben asked as he taxied the Black Knight towards the runway. “And don’t be afraid to use those bags we gave you.”
“Yeah” Zella replied. She and Yuri had worked with the crew to fit a few cameras into the cockpit. It was something that made Ben doubt that she fully understood what this involved.
The Crew Chief had been less than thrilled by the prospect of Ben taking Zella on this flight. Threatening to go home for the day if Zella got sick and spewed all over the cockpit, leaving Ben to clean up the mess himself. He had tried to warn Zella against this course of action, apparently though, she still had a lot of friends among the Luftwaffe High Command who had fond memories of her father. It seemed like at the OKL, whatever Marcella Markgräfin von Holz wanted, she tended to get.
Ben blamed Spark, who had earned that nickname after a hydraulic failure on his Pfeil had resulted in a wheels-up landing a few years earlier sent him skidding down the runway at Tegel, for this. He had put the idea into Zella’s head that she needed to have the experience of being in the cockpit to get the feel of what it was like.
Parking on the threshold, Ben looked at Zella in one of the mirrors as he tightened the oxygen mask around his face and lowered the visor. He had made sure that she was squared away back there as best he could, but he had the nagging feeling that Kiki would be furious if she knew what was about to happen.
“Ready?” Ben asked.
“Get on with it, Benjamin” Zella replied.
As was the practice, this started with the sort of take-off they would do if Berlin were under attack and there was a scramble. The Orkan launched down the runway from a standing start reaching takeoff speed in seconds at full throttle and reheat. As the plane launched itself into the sky, the only time Ben had experienced harder acceleration had involved being launched into orbit. Leveling off at six-thousand meters, Ben could tell that Zella was far from chastened.
“That was fucking awesome!” Zella exclaimed, “You made it sound like…”
Zella was cut off by Ben suddenly rolling the Orkan hard into a turn. She had no idea that this was just the beginning.
Rio Gallegos, Argentina
The sun hadn’t come up yet, but Kiki was sitting in Mess Hall working on the day’s paperwork while drinking sludge coffee. It had been another difficult night with her first having a dream set in some weird version of the Eighteenth Century watching as Ben and Freddy were dualist intent on killing one another. Kiki had retained her medical knowledge and had understood exactly what those old fashioned black-powder pistols could do to the human body. As she had begged them to stop, she had been roundly ignored. After she had woken from that one, it had taken her a considerable amount of time to get back to sleep. The next dream had been worse though she couldn’t remember any of the details. Just the lingering feeling that she had become a stranger to herself.
“Frau Oberfeldarzt” Kiki heard a voice say.
“How can I help you Herr Schmitz?” Kiki asked.
“You can’t, not at this moment” Schmitz replied as he took an orange from the basket at the end of the counter. “I think you are the one who needs help though.”
“The cheese stands alone” Kiki replied, as if that said everything.
Schmitz was something of a legend in the Medical Service. Having started out as an Enlisted Army Medic in the Soviet War and serving in every conflict since. He was credited with personally saving thousands of lives and had a reputation of being absolutely fearless. He had a wound badge in gold to go along with his other medals to prove that he had not always gotten out of every situation unscathed. As a Stabsfeldwebel-Lieutenant, which had roughly the authority of a Hauptmann, Schmitz was one of a handful of Warrant Officers in the Medical Service and he was presently managing the day-to-day operations of the non-hospital portion of the Regiment. Kiki seldom saw him because he preferred to work on the overnight shift.
“That is what comes of being the one charged with enforcing the rules” Schmitz said, “And as I am sure you are aware, being the XO is not a popularity contest.”
“I get that” Kiki replied.
“Look on the bright side Ma’am” Schmitz said, “You aren’t having to field complaints about that Argentine Surgeon they stuck us with, that one is a regular Lothario.”
“I’m surprised by that” Kiki replied, “If any of the Nurses had a problem then the individual responsible would be dealt with, harshly. They all know I take these matters seriously.”
“It’s not the problem” Schmitz said as he peeled the orange, “The Doctors and Corpsmen are finding it hard to compete with this guy.”
Kiki felt the stirrings of what she hoped would not be another migraine. The last thing she needed was drama among the Staff. “Anything else I need to be aware of?” She asked fearing the answer.
“The Marine who was brought in yesterday evening is symptomatic for hepatitis” Schmitz said, “We are waiting for the lab to get back, but I’ve seen this a million times.”
Kiki’s day had hardly started, and it was already going bad.
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