Chapter Seven Hundred Five
26th January 1949
Berlin
Gianna was listening to the Professor talk about how nitrates had affected world history. Who knew that fossilized bird droppings had made the world go around and that that the British had enjoyed what was close to a world monopoly until innovative technology from right here in Germany had changed that? The Professor, obviously. Gia also knew from a previous course that she’d taken that it had granted the British a powerful position over the European Continent, it enabled them to dictate when wars would end through a good portion of the Nineteenth Century. It had been theorized that this might have played a role in the decision of the British to declare on the German Empire in 1914.
That course had been in History which was far more interesting, and the Professor then had been interested in presenting how it all fit together. This was introduction to chemistry, a course that Gia was required to take to get the right number of Science Credits. And this Professor seemed like the sort who could make the preparation and eating of ice-cream sound like a boring, distasteful task by describing it. He then started describing how nitrogen was taken from the very air around them. Something that sounded like it could be interesting if the Professor had a delivery other than a monotone drone.
Mercifully, the class ended. Gia packed up her notebook, textbook and headed for the door. Before she could reach it, she found herself confronted with a certain type that she had come to know entirely too well in recent days. Older, mostly mid to late twenties, having the look of former military conscripts, not particularly bright. Always with the same questions. “Are you really Nicholas the Stupid’s Grand Daughter?” He asked, with no real heat behind it. They had to find that clever on some level, but Gia couldn’t see it. Sure, she remembered her Grandfather before he died. A brokenhearted old man with the weight world resting on his shoulders as guilt slowly ate away at him. These men would never understand that. All they understood was that the failure Nicholas to be an effective Czar and the October Revolution had resulted in their lives being irrevocably disrupted years later. It could have been worse, it could have been one of the wannabe Bolsheviks who stylized themselves to be student radicals who had accosted her a couple times in the last month. The recent events in America might have pushed speculation about her out of the papers but these groups of students on the fringes of the left and right hadn’t missed a beat.
“Leave her alone” Asia said sharply, which caused this man to back down. Men like him were only brave in groups. Which was why they were best avoided in the first place. Gia was glad that Asia was with her in this class, which she was taking for the same reason that Gia was. The difference was that Asia was majoring in Literature. Gia had been working towards a degree in Journalism, but now she had no idea what she was doing. Her job and future at the BT seemed to be gone forever. These days she was either in class, brooding in her bedroom or listening to Freddy talk excited about how he was going to starting his Secondary Education at a real school in the upcoming Summer Term.
Gia had realized this week that she would have to call Doctor Holz and make an appointment. It was the first time she’d felt the need to do that in months. Her own feelings of remorse about the mistakes she’d made and how she’d taken everything for granted. The sudden lack of direction in her life, the radical changes in the way that people saw and treated her. Those were things that she needed help with before she exploded.
Walking out of the lecture hall into the corridor, Gia and Asia were met by Leni, Anne and Kristine. No matter what happened the Sisterhood took care of their own, the changes in Gia’s situation were included in that.
Near Strydenburg, South Africa
The hiss of the rocket before it hit had become a familiar sound. This one struck the road, burying itself before it exploded, showering them with clods of dirt and gravel. This time Jost caught sight of the flash of the launch and fired a stream of green tracers. The rest of the men took his lead and if Hans had to guess the two men who had just fired that rocket were having a hot time in their efforts to flee. The 13mm machine guns mounted on the lories opened up adding to the din.
Jost, being Jost led a Half Squad into the bush after the rocketeers. He came back a short time later with a wicked grin on his face and the pipe-like 60mm rocket launcher noticeably full of 6.5mm holes. “This is nothing compared to what happened to the operator of this thing” Jost said proudly.
The Half Squad had also engaged with an unknown number of riflemen, but they had closed with their opponents and the 6.5mm automatic rifles were pure murder in a close in fight like that. Later Hans had typed up the report, using the best numbers available and as close a description of the tactics that they had used as he could remember. A day later the Brass sent their compliments to Hans for a job well done and stated their intention to decorate Jost for bravery and leadership. Hans figured he’d wait a bit before he told Jost about that last part. The Spear was having a hard-enough time fitting his head through doors as it was.
(need a black cat smiley)