Why do I hear a karambit being sharpened in one ear, and talks of shipping not necessarily Imperial in the other?
Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
Love the relationship between Rep. Hendrix and Speaker of the House "Big" Bill Stoughton, the Speaker sees Hendrix as one of his protege and Floor Lieutenant, and Hendrix is still not certain why the Speaker has taken an interest in him.
I wonder if there is a Congressional Black Caucus (est. 1971IOTL) and how his fellow black Congress people like Barbara Jordan view his relationship with the Speaker.
As for Speaker Stoughton, every lunch is a working lunch and it helps him in his district for the voters to see him working and supporting a local establishment.
Tatiana has hopefully learned who the local bigwigs are this time around, and is able to find out on her own who are any persons that may have some importance for her reports.
Hopefully Zella will realize that Yuri will always be there for her when she is at her lowest.
I wonder if there is a Congressional Black Caucus (est. 1971IOTL) and how his fellow black Congress people like Barbara Jordan view his relationship with the Speaker.
As for Speaker Stoughton, every lunch is a working lunch and it helps him in his district for the voters to see him working and supporting a local establishment.
Tatiana has hopefully learned who the local bigwigs are this time around, and is able to find out on her own who are any persons that may have some importance for her reports.
Hopefully Zella will realize that Yuri will always be there for her when she is at her lowest.
A woman in her early 30s marries a man in his early 40s, both incredibly successful careers....and the problem is the age gap?????
I mean, rereading part1 now, ....
Emil (at this stage of the story) is a general-lieutenant, highest echelons of career military, links to nobility and politicians, and she is a successful writer/author and editor of a press agency....or the press agency of Berlin....
At best, both Emil and Maria are independent minded thinkers and unorthodox in their strategies at going against the societal/political norm of their careers and society in general. That there is the more insulting and controversial pov of the time.
Especially if maria's mother is somewhat really traditional....considering that we have never seen maria's mother at all
And somehow the agegap is the problem.
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This one those times when there is incomplete information being mentioned. The other half of the story beyond the age gap could be summed up by the phrase "Reckless man child who rides motorcycles and jumps out of airplanes for fun."
Zella acts a lot like her father at the same age.
She was probably hoping to get Maria to marry someone else she considered suitable.
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Part 139, Chapter 2396
Chapter Two Thousand Three Hundred Ninety-Six
4th August 1975
Lake Constance
Through some sort of technological wizardry, the phone on the Epione could receive calls. Ben had a vague idea of how it must work, just he had not really cared enough to investigate the matter. He also saw how the technology in question was used and it sort of made him wish that he could throw it over the side into the lake.
How had Zella even gotten this number?
That was the question that Ben had as he listened to the phone conversation between her and Kiki. From the sound of it, Zella was calling completely frantic over her latest personal crisis that was a direct result of the last personal crisis. There were times when Ben wished that Kiki would just cut Zella loose. They had been friends for decades and while Zella had shown that she would do anything for Kiki, there were often times when it came with loads of unnecessary drama that Kiki was forced to deal with.
“I understand that” Kiki said into the phone, “But I have obligations here and even if I could get up there this instant…”
Kiki listened, but she had taken off her glasses and was pinching the bridge of her nose. There was a look of frustration on her face. Ben knew that even for Kiki, dealing with Zella was like talking at a wall when she was like this.
“As I said, I understand” Kiki said, “Your situation… We don’t even know if there actually is a situation, is not going anywhere. So, you can wait a few days. Why not call Aurora or your mother? They are far closer.”
Kiki listened some more.
“No, I don’t think that she will say that Zella” Kiki said before listening some more.
The conversation carried on for several long minutes before Kiki finally told Zella not to do anything stupid or rash. Ben knew that was sort of a lost cause, but she always tried. Then with an exasperated sigh she hung up the phone.
“What was that all about?” Ben asked, only having heard Kiki’s side of the conversation.
“Zella’s grandmother died” Kiki said, something that Ben was already aware of. “She spent the entire following week in as constant an intoxicated state as she could manage. Earlier today she figured out that several of the personal and professional things she had been neglecting needed to be addressed. Zella being Zella, her first response is to panic.”
“Like how bad?” Ben asked.
“Bills unpaid, her employers are angry that the subject of the story that she had promised them died and she was unable to inform them until this afternoon, having her parents angry with her” Kiki replied, “All the usual areas where Zella gets into trouble, except this time it really feels like the end of the world for her.”
“Doesn’t is always feel like the end of the world with her?” Ben asked.
“Don’t be mean” Kiki said, “I know that you and Zella haven’t always gotten along, but she has always been a dear friend for me.”
Kiki always put it that way. Zella was her oldest friend from when she had first started going to school. Kiki had said that back then she had been incredibly sheltered and her admittedly introverted nature had made her an easy target for bullying. Past the negative aspects of Zella’s personality, she despised bullies and she had been exactly the sort of friend who Kiki had needed. Their personal loyalty to each other had meant a great deal to Kiki.
“If you want, I think we can arrange to be on a plane from Laupheim” Ben said, “A quick trip up to Berlin, get Zella sorted and back before anyone in the conference misses us.”
Kiki had trained at Laupheim when she had joined the FSR, the specialized Airborne Search and Rescue Regiment that was the elite of the Medical Service. Which meant that she knew exactly where it was.
“It is sweet that you suggested that” Kiki replied, “But Zella… The corner she has painted herself into will take more than a few hours to sort out. In medicine sometimes you have to wait and see.”
Ben had observed Kiki for years and had noticed when she did or did not say certain things. He had been when he had learned that she had been trained to handle patients and their families in certain, very specific ways. He had also learned to tell when he was being handled, like when Kiki chose which words carefully to inform him without telling him too much. Ben might have found that aggravating, but this was Zella. It was a thrill a minute with her and rarely in a good way.
“Then I guess we wait” Ben said before looking back to the book he had been reading before Zella had called.
Kiki didn’t join him back on the couch, instead she fretted around for a bit before going back the tiny space she used as an office aboard the Epione. She had let it be known that the clinic she had aboard the Motor Barge was open to anyone in the communities along the lakeshore. So far, it had only been the curious who had come. There had been journalists who had discovered that Kiki was an actual Physician the hard way.
4th August 1975
Lake Constance
Through some sort of technological wizardry, the phone on the Epione could receive calls. Ben had a vague idea of how it must work, just he had not really cared enough to investigate the matter. He also saw how the technology in question was used and it sort of made him wish that he could throw it over the side into the lake.
How had Zella even gotten this number?
That was the question that Ben had as he listened to the phone conversation between her and Kiki. From the sound of it, Zella was calling completely frantic over her latest personal crisis that was a direct result of the last personal crisis. There were times when Ben wished that Kiki would just cut Zella loose. They had been friends for decades and while Zella had shown that she would do anything for Kiki, there were often times when it came with loads of unnecessary drama that Kiki was forced to deal with.
“I understand that” Kiki said into the phone, “But I have obligations here and even if I could get up there this instant…”
Kiki listened, but she had taken off her glasses and was pinching the bridge of her nose. There was a look of frustration on her face. Ben knew that even for Kiki, dealing with Zella was like talking at a wall when she was like this.
“As I said, I understand” Kiki said, “Your situation… We don’t even know if there actually is a situation, is not going anywhere. So, you can wait a few days. Why not call Aurora or your mother? They are far closer.”
Kiki listened some more.
“No, I don’t think that she will say that Zella” Kiki said before listening some more.
The conversation carried on for several long minutes before Kiki finally told Zella not to do anything stupid or rash. Ben knew that was sort of a lost cause, but she always tried. Then with an exasperated sigh she hung up the phone.
“What was that all about?” Ben asked, only having heard Kiki’s side of the conversation.
“Zella’s grandmother died” Kiki said, something that Ben was already aware of. “She spent the entire following week in as constant an intoxicated state as she could manage. Earlier today she figured out that several of the personal and professional things she had been neglecting needed to be addressed. Zella being Zella, her first response is to panic.”
“Like how bad?” Ben asked.
“Bills unpaid, her employers are angry that the subject of the story that she had promised them died and she was unable to inform them until this afternoon, having her parents angry with her” Kiki replied, “All the usual areas where Zella gets into trouble, except this time it really feels like the end of the world for her.”
“Doesn’t is always feel like the end of the world with her?” Ben asked.
“Don’t be mean” Kiki said, “I know that you and Zella haven’t always gotten along, but she has always been a dear friend for me.”
Kiki always put it that way. Zella was her oldest friend from when she had first started going to school. Kiki had said that back then she had been incredibly sheltered and her admittedly introverted nature had made her an easy target for bullying. Past the negative aspects of Zella’s personality, she despised bullies and she had been exactly the sort of friend who Kiki had needed. Their personal loyalty to each other had meant a great deal to Kiki.
“If you want, I think we can arrange to be on a plane from Laupheim” Ben said, “A quick trip up to Berlin, get Zella sorted and back before anyone in the conference misses us.”
Kiki had trained at Laupheim when she had joined the FSR, the specialized Airborne Search and Rescue Regiment that was the elite of the Medical Service. Which meant that she knew exactly where it was.
“It is sweet that you suggested that” Kiki replied, “But Zella… The corner she has painted herself into will take more than a few hours to sort out. In medicine sometimes you have to wait and see.”
Ben had observed Kiki for years and had noticed when she did or did not say certain things. He had been when he had learned that she had been trained to handle patients and their families in certain, very specific ways. He had also learned to tell when he was being handled, like when Kiki chose which words carefully to inform him without telling him too much. Ben might have found that aggravating, but this was Zella. It was a thrill a minute with her and rarely in a good way.
“Then I guess we wait” Ben said before looking back to the book he had been reading before Zella had called.
Kiki didn’t join him back on the couch, instead she fretted around for a bit before going back the tiny space she used as an office aboard the Epione. She had let it be known that the clinic she had aboard the Motor Barge was open to anyone in the communities along the lakeshore. So far, it had only been the curious who had come. There had been journalists who had discovered that Kiki was an actual Physician the hard way.
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Part 139, Chapter 2397
Chapter Two Thousand Three Hundred Ninety-Seven
8th August 1975
In transit, Rural Germany
Kiki watched the countryside roll past sipping a cup of tea and eating a buttered roll. Those were the only things on the menu of the dining car which she didn’t find too objectionable. It seemed like everything else was too greasy or sweet for her liking. Her bodyguards had suggested that she get more than that, but she had declined. It was a choice that she was a bit worried she would come to regret later that afternoon.
Louis Bernhard had been fussy earlier. As much as she had been tempted to leave him behind with his father and older sister, she wasn’t interested in more time away from her son. She could have taken an airplane, but nine hours on a train, taking two entire days out of her way, would serve to help her put her thoughts in order. How she was going to deal with the situation and hopefully avoid bludgeoning one of her best friends to death with the nearest heavy object when she got there. If Zella said one word complaining about Kiki waiting until the conclusion of the Bodensee Conference to come help, it was a very real possibility that she would yield to that temptation. Those who had obligations and responsibilities were seldom interested in the complaints of those who didn’t.
Working as an Emergency Physician and a Field Medic had taught Kiki that there was little justice in the world and seeing causation or symmetry in events was a fool’s errand. That didn’t mean that it didn’t seem like there wasn’t often a perverse irony throughout everything. More likely than not it was simply a case of go figure. She had not wanted to discuss the details with Benjamin earlier that week, even so she had almost told him about the unlikely corner that Zella thought she might have painted herself into this time. Considering who Zella was and some of the things that Kiki and Aurora had gone through over the last few years, the sense of irony that Kiki had regarding this latest mess was too strong to be ignored.
Kiki was going to help Zella this time, but she was thoroughly fed up with her acting like a child. She had spoken to Nora Berg and her mentor had mentioned how she needed to be firm that this need to be the last time she did that.
Strait of Gibraltar
SMS K024 Grindwal was leading a squadron comprised of two of her sisterships, Type 1970 Class Corvettes K064 Ozelot and K026 Säbel, along with the old Type 1939 Fleet Torpedo Boat T35 Estoc were plying the narrow waters between Spain and Africa. Louis Ferdinand Junior imagined that they were an impressive sight as they raced east in loose formation. He had even considered asking the Captains of the French and British ships that had shadowed them since they had transited the English Channel. It was well understood that any movement by elements of the High Seas Fleet would get their attention. The Grindwal had passed alone through waters the British regarded as their own a few different times and that had never garnered such a reaction as a squadron of warships had. Even if they were just three Corvettes and a single Torpedo Boat. Even now, they had the two Destroyers from the Spanish Navy on a parallel course escorting them in the same manner the French and British had.
SMS T35 Estoc was old friend of Louis, having been a part of the Flotilla based in Trieste during the previous Greco-Turkish War eight years earlier. She had a different Captain now, but the familiar lines of the old Torpedo Boat were a welcome sight. He remembered the hunt for the Q-Ships that had been attacking shipping in the Adriatic Sea and how that had ended with him demanding more firepower if that was what they were contending with. Having a video recording of that battle widely broadcast certainly helped. The Estoc had been what the Fleet had sent. Only later had Louis found out that the Estoc was one of the last ships in the Fleet still in service that had taken part in the Battle of the South China Sea. It was said that the Captain of the Estoc was always informed that he could easily find himself facing Court Martial if he allowed so much as a scratch on her paint. Louis hoped that was a joke because the Estoc was a part of his Command.
“Our friends have sent someone else to the party” Borchardt said before nodding ahead.
Three ships crested the horizon to the east. They were still too far away to tell who they were. Probably French or British if Louis had to guess. Though the Italians were not outside the realm of possibility. Louis had always been on good terms with the Italian Navy and the current Crown Prince of Italy was a friend of his. Amedeo had sent a message to Louis that he was looking forward to entertaining him. He missed being in command of the RN Audace and had spent much of the last several years at sea. The unexpected, but not exactly tragic, death of Amedeo’s older brother had required him to put aside his naval career, something which Amedeo remained unhappy about. He had apparently leaped at the offer to discuss the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean when Louis had sent the message asking what he knew about it.
8th August 1975
In transit, Rural Germany
Kiki watched the countryside roll past sipping a cup of tea and eating a buttered roll. Those were the only things on the menu of the dining car which she didn’t find too objectionable. It seemed like everything else was too greasy or sweet for her liking. Her bodyguards had suggested that she get more than that, but she had declined. It was a choice that she was a bit worried she would come to regret later that afternoon.
Louis Bernhard had been fussy earlier. As much as she had been tempted to leave him behind with his father and older sister, she wasn’t interested in more time away from her son. She could have taken an airplane, but nine hours on a train, taking two entire days out of her way, would serve to help her put her thoughts in order. How she was going to deal with the situation and hopefully avoid bludgeoning one of her best friends to death with the nearest heavy object when she got there. If Zella said one word complaining about Kiki waiting until the conclusion of the Bodensee Conference to come help, it was a very real possibility that she would yield to that temptation. Those who had obligations and responsibilities were seldom interested in the complaints of those who didn’t.
Working as an Emergency Physician and a Field Medic had taught Kiki that there was little justice in the world and seeing causation or symmetry in events was a fool’s errand. That didn’t mean that it didn’t seem like there wasn’t often a perverse irony throughout everything. More likely than not it was simply a case of go figure. She had not wanted to discuss the details with Benjamin earlier that week, even so she had almost told him about the unlikely corner that Zella thought she might have painted herself into this time. Considering who Zella was and some of the things that Kiki and Aurora had gone through over the last few years, the sense of irony that Kiki had regarding this latest mess was too strong to be ignored.
Kiki was going to help Zella this time, but she was thoroughly fed up with her acting like a child. She had spoken to Nora Berg and her mentor had mentioned how she needed to be firm that this need to be the last time she did that.
Strait of Gibraltar
SMS K024 Grindwal was leading a squadron comprised of two of her sisterships, Type 1970 Class Corvettes K064 Ozelot and K026 Säbel, along with the old Type 1939 Fleet Torpedo Boat T35 Estoc were plying the narrow waters between Spain and Africa. Louis Ferdinand Junior imagined that they were an impressive sight as they raced east in loose formation. He had even considered asking the Captains of the French and British ships that had shadowed them since they had transited the English Channel. It was well understood that any movement by elements of the High Seas Fleet would get their attention. The Grindwal had passed alone through waters the British regarded as their own a few different times and that had never garnered such a reaction as a squadron of warships had. Even if they were just three Corvettes and a single Torpedo Boat. Even now, they had the two Destroyers from the Spanish Navy on a parallel course escorting them in the same manner the French and British had.
SMS T35 Estoc was old friend of Louis, having been a part of the Flotilla based in Trieste during the previous Greco-Turkish War eight years earlier. She had a different Captain now, but the familiar lines of the old Torpedo Boat were a welcome sight. He remembered the hunt for the Q-Ships that had been attacking shipping in the Adriatic Sea and how that had ended with him demanding more firepower if that was what they were contending with. Having a video recording of that battle widely broadcast certainly helped. The Estoc had been what the Fleet had sent. Only later had Louis found out that the Estoc was one of the last ships in the Fleet still in service that had taken part in the Battle of the South China Sea. It was said that the Captain of the Estoc was always informed that he could easily find himself facing Court Martial if he allowed so much as a scratch on her paint. Louis hoped that was a joke because the Estoc was a part of his Command.
“Our friends have sent someone else to the party” Borchardt said before nodding ahead.
Three ships crested the horizon to the east. They were still too far away to tell who they were. Probably French or British if Louis had to guess. Though the Italians were not outside the realm of possibility. Louis had always been on good terms with the Italian Navy and the current Crown Prince of Italy was a friend of his. Amedeo had sent a message to Louis that he was looking forward to entertaining him. He missed being in command of the RN Audace and had spent much of the last several years at sea. The unexpected, but not exactly tragic, death of Amedeo’s older brother had required him to put aside his naval career, something which Amedeo remained unhappy about. He had apparently leaped at the offer to discuss the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean when Louis had sent the message asking what he knew about it.
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The goal for Kiki & Co. is not letting this be the last time they help Zella, but to start helping Zella make some progress.
So far, Zella has really only hurt herself and hasn't dragged other people down in her depression spiral, but on the other hand, both Kat and Kiki when they were in the deepest parts of their depressions DID hurt others emotionally, but no one gave up on them, including Zella in regard to Kiki.
All we need now to make the gang complete is for RADM (lg) Carter to show up with some ships of his own.
Don’t remember anything either. Also wonder what happened to Dillinger’s book.
In reverse order: Dillinger's book was published just before his death. He was murdered by John Aleshire whose cover Dillinger had blown.
Anne's book was published and caused a falling out within the Sisterhood, some wanted Anne expelled, others were far more forgiving. Kat laid down the law that while Anne had breached their trust, she had done it under extreme circumstances which none of the Sisterhood had helped her with, as doing so would have negated the circumstances that led to the book being published. TL: DR version was "Tough, it's partly your fault too, get over it".
The unpublished manuscript is still in the possession of Sarah Schmidt.